"Mineta… You ready for this?" Genki asked as he slipped on a replacement shirt.
"You bet I am!" Mineta said as he synched the 10,000,125 headband around his head, situating himself on Genki's shoulders. "They wanna take this thing from me, they'll have to pry it off my cold dead scalp!"
"Love the enthusiasm, because it might just come down to that," Genki said trying to make light of it all. "Mei, how're your support items?"
"Green across the board, el capitan!" Mei said as her Hover Boots whirred to life, lifting her feet above the ground as she adjusted the harness linking the two teens together.
"Alright, the name of the game is run-for-your-lives. Mei, you keep your hover boots online, I'll be the engine dragging you along, so this leaves your hands free to deploy Support Items," he stated, the girl nodding her head enthusiastically. "Mineta, use your Quirk as much as physically possible and warn me of anyone trying to flank us from-range. I'll keep us on the move until the final timer."
"Can you really keep it up for that long?" Mineta asked.
"This isn't like the Obstacle Course Race where I have lots of runway to build up speed. If anything, I'll only be able to reach half my max blps before I run the risk of running us out of bounds. And that's if I highball it," Genki confessed. "Even if I can't destroy military-grade robots right now, if anything, I'm at least proud of my stamina."
"Oh really?" Mei said with a manic glint in her eyes. "I might just have a use for that kind of stamina."
"Mineta, if you get an erection from this, I'm going to tuck you under my arm like a football, I swear to god," Genki said flatly.
Mineta was very upfront about his wants, so his personality was rather transparent and easy to predict.
"G-Got it…" Mineta returned. "You sure all this stuff's good to go?" he asked looking at the equipment they were all clad in.
"You bet your bottom yen it is!"
"But why do I only have this one thing? You two have tons of gear," Mineta complained as he held a type of net-launcher that could fire up to five times before reloading.
"Mineta, you're too small to use anything but that Capture Item," Genki stated as he adjusted the harness Mei had synched around his torso. Fanning upward from his shoulders were thin wing-like protrusions with six adjustable air-jets dangling from the ends. Strapped to his legs were what looked like high-tech leg braces that synched around his thighs and ankles, sleek guards on his knees. "You only have five shots and there isn't any extra ammo, so only use it as an absolute last-resort," he said before looking over his shoulder at Mei.
Mei herself, in addition to the Hover Boots that had carried her through the previous event, Mei had equipped herself with some kind of foam gun filled with viscous white fluid connected to a backpack. Between the three of them, without anything to significantly reduce their weight, the jetpack wasn't really all-that-viable a tool, and Genki's speed alone made the Hover Boots a more-useful implement. Also, because she'd jury-rigged her own Arrow Launcher harness from the previous event and synched it to Genki's own, Mei was now firmly attached to her team, even when she was using her hands to operate her other Support Items.
"So… We've got a few minutes remaining. Mind going over everyone's Quirks again so we're al on the same page?" Genki asked as he looked around. Because their team had the highest point-value, they'd been situated in the dead-center of the arena, every set of eyes focused solely on them.
"Alright, let's see…" Mineta hummed as he looked around. "Over there, you see that green-haired kid who came in second right behind you? That's Midoriya Izuku. His Quirk's really similar to All Might's, but he's more like a glass cannon than a meat tank. Situated as the front of the horse is Iida Tenya; his Quirk [Engine] lets him run really fast. The back left is Uraraka Ochako, her Quirk lets her nullify gravity for whatever she touches, and the back right is Tokoyami Fumikage; his Quirk is basically like something from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure."
"I see," Genki nodded, taking note of the green-haired Midoriya, a red 690 slapped across his forehead.
"Next we have Todoroki Shoto; he can freeze things solid. Yaoyarozu Momo can synthesize any material she can think of, but she needs to expose her skin to do it. Kaminari Denki, has a Quirk that lets him electrocute everything around him."
"Todoroki Shoto… The son of the number-two Hero, Endeavor," Genki hummed regarding the white-and-red-haired teen he'd left in the dust twiceover, a 415 plastered across his forehead. "Hrmm… His team looks a little bare."
"Well, the guy can be a bit of a prude, so it's to be expected. Plus, he probably really sucks at asking people for help," Mineta shrugged before getting back to the topic at hand. "Over there we have Bakugou Katsuki, the guy who made everyone pissed at him at the beginning."
"Yeah, I remember that guy. Can anyone say 'anger management issues'? What about 'ego'?"
"Katsuki's Quirk basically lets him fire off explosions from his hands. The spiky-haired guy in front, Eijirou Kirishima, can turn himself rock-hard. The girl on the left, Ashido Mina, can produce adis, and the guy on the right, Sero Hanta, can fire tape from his elbows."
"I wonder what he does about shirts," Genki hummed as the teen with the 645 on his forehead glowered at him.
"Over there we have Asui Tsuyu and Shoji Mezo. Asui can basically do anything a frog can do, and Shoji is a muscly octopus that can grow eyes, ears, mouths, and noses on the ends of his arms."
"Oh, the cute Mutant-type girl," Genki hummed as he beheld the girl's 285 headband. "Um… Are those guys over there missing someone?" he said turning to another 1-A team, seemingly absent a Rider.
"Oh… That must be Hagakure Toru's team," Mineta drooled as he beheld the topless invisible girl. "Hagakure has the power to be invisible 24/7/365, Rikido Sato gets roid rage whenever he eats sugar, Jiro Kyoka has the ability to project soundwaves through her extending earlobes, and Koda Koji has the ability to talk to animals."
"I hope he doesn't sic any birds on us. Not a big fan," the teen grumbled.
"Oh, and over there with that purple-haired kid is Mashirao Ojiro. His Quirk gives him a really muscly tail. For some reason, he looks really out-of-it," Mineta hummed as he looked at his remaining peer, the blond-haired teen vacantly staring in front of himself as he and a 1-B student supported the only other General Course student.
"Whatever you two do, don't talk to the guy with purple hair. In fact, let's stay far away from him," Genki hummed as he glanced Shinso's way before focusing back on the teams nearest him.
"Why so defensive?" Mei asked.
"Let's just say he can really get into your head, and leave it at that."
"Agh! Time's up!" Mineta cried as their fifteen-minute countdown timer finally reached zero.
"Your fifteen minutes are up. Time to get started!" Midnight said doing some arm stretches.
"That's right folks! Our thirteen teams have been assembled, they're lined up, and ready to move!" Present Mic announced.
"Interesting… the teams they've come up with," Aizawa grumbled, still half-asleep.
"Here it comes! The starting signal! Blood begets blood in this pulse-pounding match!" Present Mic screamed as everyone synched their headbands around their head, Team Gokiburi's 10,000,125 the apple of everyone's eye. "Three…! Two…! One…! START!"
"Minoru! Hatsume! LET'S DO THIS!" Genki roared as the match began in earnest and countless aspirant heroes bore down on them.
"This is really a fight for the ten-million, and everyone knows it!" Tetsutetsu cried, running 685 points strong.
"Hah hah hah hah! We're coming for you, 'Gen-kun'!" Toru cackled giddily, her male teammates unsure where to look.
"BASTARRRRRRD!" Bakugou raged.
"I don't care if you're in the General Course! We're coming at you with everything we have!" Izuku shouted out.
"You won't get away from us!" Iida shouted as he, Ochako, Fumikage, and Izuku bore down on Genki's team faster than anyone.
"Big mistake!" Genki shouted as Mei's Hover Boots whirred to life and oil poured out of his perforated soles. "Goki Thruster!" he roared as a hiss-like roar exploded from his palms, propelling his team sidelong at the last moment while Iida's feet hit the oil slick with a loud *Squelch*
"Oh no!" Ochako cried as their team's momentum turned on them, the group swiftly screaming towards the out-of-bounds line at the edge of the field no matter what they did.
"Uraraka! Make us all lighter!" Izuku called out.
"Wh-What?"
"I have a plan! Trust me!"
"H-Hai!" the brunette replied as she tapped every member of her team and herself for last, staving off the nausea as-best she could.
"Everyone, hold on!" Izuku called out as their feet left the ground, the out-of-bounds line passing underneath them with scarcely a moment to spare. 'Don't let the egg break… Don't let the egg break… DON'T LET THE EGG BREAK!' Izuku chanted to himself as they neared the edge of the arena. His arm becoming alight with [One for All], he swung it out launching a gale of wind into the audience in front of him, sending him and his team back into bounds.
As his team staggered to regain their footing, Team Gokiburi was already well away from them.
*MHA*
"Mei! Your babies are amazing!" Genki awed as he ran, the leg gear following his movements with absolutely zero lag, making him feel lighter than air.
"If you think my Custom Leg Parts are amazing, wait 'til you see my Auto-Balancer!" Mei beamed happily.
"GET BACK HERE YOU BUG BASTAAAAAARD!" Bakugou raged as spurred his team toward the ten-million-plus-point headband.
"CHAAAARGE!" Kirishima roared as he used his [Hardening].
"INCOMIIIIING!" Mineta cried as Bakugou's murderous glare bore into them.
"Hey, Red!" Genki shouted as he whirled on the coming opponents, the Auto-Balancer on his back making that motion too nearly effortless. "Come at me, bro!" he said waving his hands around like a mantis.
"You asked for it!" Kirishima cried out moments before Genki threw his right leg up, a wave of oil spilling out of the sole of his shoe and spattering all over him and Bakugou, the feet of his team slipping every which way as their traction was reduced to near-zero.
"You paid attention to the hands when you should've been watching the foot," Genki taunted. "Mineta! We're leaving!" he said as he whirled around, the Custom Leg Parts and Auto-Balancing making the 180-turn almost instantaneous.
"Eat it, you dick!" Mineta cried as he ripped off a dozen of his protrusions and scattered them around Team Bakugou's feet, barring their march forward much to Bakugou's consternation.
"Mother FUCKER!"
"Language!"
*MHA*
"Okay! What now?" Mineta asked as they left Team Bakugou in the dust, the hairs on Genki's body rising as the air around them changed.
"Incoming! From three sides!" Genki called out as Ibara Shiozaki, Kyoka Jiro, and Tsuyu Asui closed in on them from all sides with their ranged attacks.
"AAAAUGH!" Mineta cried as he clamped his hands around the ten-million-point crown like his life depended on it.
Genki whirling to his right, without even looking his hands snaked out grabbing Kyoka's [Earphone Jack] and Tsuyu's tongue, Ibara's [Vines] descending on the grand prize the moment his hands became occupied. Before the thorny protrusions could reach it however, Genki leapt upwards, his jaws clamping shut around the vines as he jerked his head back, drawing them taut as he bit down into them.
"How? He shouldn't have seen me coming!" Kyoka growled as her ears were tugged, a similar sentiment crossing Tsuyu's mind as her oral muscle remained firmly in the oily-haired teen's grasp.
Before they could ruminate on this more however, the color suddenly drained from Ibara's face, the girl letting out a blood-curdling- "EYAAAAAGH!" –that practically made her team jump out of their skin.
"Ibara! What's wrong?" Tetsutetsu cried, panic setting in as the normally-composed girl completely lost her shit.
"Make it stop…! MAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOOOOP!" Ibara cried as broke formation and threw herself to the ground, nearly taking Tetsutetsu with her as she began rolling in the dirt, frantically clutching at her scalp as she wailed. After several shriek-filled seconds, Tetsutetsu barely escaping a disqualification, the vine-haired girl suddenly grasped the roots of the vines that Genki held between clenched teeth, before ripping them out much to the shock of her team and spectators alike.
"Bastard! What the hell did you do to her?!" Yosetsu Awase raged as the oily-haired teen spat out the now-inert vines.
"Winning this event, that's what!" he said before he turned his attention to the 1-A students at range, scrunching his brow in concentration causing his most-potent oil to spill from the pores in his palms and onto the appendages in his clutches.
"Gck!"
"Tsu! What's wrong?" Shoji asked as Tsuyu suddenly trembled.
"Don't… know… Tongue… going numb…" Tsuyu gurgled as she strained to pull her tongue free. The appendage leaving the teen's oily hand, a meter of pink oral muscle hung limply from the girl's lips once it had been reeled back in.
"Eek!"
"Kyoka! What's wrong?" Toru asked as the rocker girl's body suddenly went rigid.
"S-s-s-s-s-sooooo g-g-g-g-g-g-g-groooooossss…!" Kyoka stammered with a reddening face as her knees buckled, nearly taking her team along with her too as Genki waggled his fingers. Looking around and seeing that the other teams had momentarily halted their assault, likely in response to Ibara's sudden panic attack, the oily-haired teen let Kyoka's earlobes go, her teammates steadying her before she could collapse onto her face.
"Holy crap… What the hell did you do to them?" Mineta asked dumbstruck, a little bit of drool leaving his lips as the three girls were left in varying states of distress.
"No time! We need to move!" Genki ordered as they retreated to a sparse area of the field, Mei giggling madly as she launched fat globules of riot foam around the feet of the stunned teams.
For the next few minutes, Team Gokiburi was able to remain out-of-reach of their contemporaries. The first team to step onto Mei's harmless-looking riot foam learned the hard way that, while nowhere near as sticky as Mineta's [Pop Off], its adhesive power was quite significant since said stepper almost lost a shoe. With Mei's Custom Leg Parts and Auto-Balancer equipped to the most-agile person in the Cavalry Battle, no-one could even come close enough for Mineta to worry about using his Net Launcher, the ten-million-point crown remaining tantalizingly out of reach.
"OH CRAP! IT'S TODOROKIIIII!" Mineta cried as the two-toned teen made his way towards them, a long iron pole in his hands as his right half slowly frosted over. "Quick! Do something before he freezes us all!" he cried as Todoroki made to stab the rod into the ground.
"Goki Oil Flow: FULL BLAST!" Genki called out as he squared his feet and thrust out his arms, a small wave of oil flooding out of his feet and his palms onto the ground around them moments before the ice neared them. To everyone's shock except Genki's own, Todoroki's Ice Age-esque attack was actually parted by the puddle of oil Team Gokiburi was situated above.
"What the heck?!" was the sum thought of Class 1-A as they witnessed this.
"Whoa! Didn't see that coming!" Present Mic gawked.
'That oil… If it's analogous to sweat, the impurities might be what stopped it from freezing over,' Izuku thought watching from a distance. He'd seen Mineta's Quirk first-hand as well, so it was too-dangerous to carelessly approach the ten-million-point crown.
"Mineta! Cover our retreat!" Genki said as Mei pushed into his back, her Hover Boots pushing them over the ice.
"You got it! EAT MY STICKY BAAAAAALLS!" Mineta cried as he began ripping the grape-like protrusions from his scalp and scattering them like caltrops behind them, effectively halting Team Todoroki's advance. "Thank god that's over," the diminutive teen sighed as he wiped his brown, a bit of blood dribbling down his temple.
"Don't relax just-yet. We've got four more teams moving in on us," Mei pointed out as her [Zoom] caught their course shift.
"Oh COME ON!" Mineta cried as the teams led by Kendo Itsuka, Kodai Yui, Hiryu Rin, and Togaru Kamakiri lunged at them, a fair amount of ire in their eyes for what Genki had done to Ibara.
"Mei! You ready to do the thing!"
"You bet your buns I am!" Mei said with a grin and a thumbs-up.
"Alright… LET'S GO!" Genki said diving headlong into the quartet of teams closing in on them in a phalanx. As Genki rushed forward, Mei actually flew back, her equipment from the previous exam doing more than keeping her attached to Genki by a hardline. Genki clearing half the distance between them, he snagged the lines behind himself and drew them forward, Mei accelerating at an arc at an incredible speed and closing the distance much to their shock.
"SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE BABIES!" Mei squealed giddily as she flew sidelong towards the four teams like the business end of a hammer throw, the girl firing a thick heavy stream of riot foam from her gun at near-point-blank range and locking up the four teams' feet. Shishida Jurota and Tsunotori Pony unfortunately-enough were left pinned to the ground on all fours, and as the foam expanded to several times its original size when exposed to the open air, the two quadrupeds were almost smothered in it.
"Rgh! Don't let him get away!" Itsuka growled. "Hit him with everything you've got! For Ibara!"
Their mobility effectively nullified, the 1-B teams retaliated with their ranged attacks instead.
Tokage Setsuna using her [Self-Amputation] Quirk fired out her arms reminiscent of a certain round-nosed pirate. Bondo Kojiro released a thick viscous [Cemedine] from the holes in his head in a flying wave. Fukidashi Manga used his [Comic] ability to materialize the onomatopoeia for the word "OBJECTION!" in large stylized Japanese characters. Rin Hiryu fired his [Scales] like an SMG. Tsunotori Poni launched the horns from her head with cannon-like force, a new set regenerating almost instantly.
"Mei! Arrows!" Genki said pointing at the ground, Mei's practiced hands disconnecting them in an instant before re-directing her arrows into the ground. "Now! Cover your ears!" he said thrusting his right arm out, grabbing his wrist. "Gokiii..." he intoned as he began burning through energy like a furnace, wisps of steam rising from the corners of his mouth. "Oil..." he intoned as countless veins began to angrily throb against his skin, his muscles beginning to swell as pressure built. "CANNOOOOOON!"
At the last possible moment, mere moments before the "bullet wall" of projectiles from the 1-B teams could hit them, the pores in his hand suddenly opened up unleashing a loud *BOOM!* as compressed gas laced with secreted chemicals under high pressure shot forward. The resulting recoil throwing him backwards like the force of a bomb, as Auto-Balancer, Custom Leg Parts, and Wire Arrows alike whined and screamed in protest, Mei wrapped her arms around her meal ticket's torso, heedless of her plentiful bosom pressing into his muscular back. The chemical-saturated blast meeting 1-B's attacks partway, there was clearly no contest as the oil caused the wall of glue-like [Cemedine] to scatter into fat globules, the compressed air component of the attack causing everything to fly backwards, the 1-B teens screaming as they were spattered with a combination of all their own Quirks.
"HOLY CRAP!" Mineta screamed. While it wasn't even close to the time Bakugou pulled the pin on his grenade-shaped Support Items, the force behind that attack was still quite substantial.
"Hey, are you okay?" Mei asked peeking over his shoulder, making no real effort to pull her breasts away from his back as she beheld his arm falling limply to his side, hand convulsing as skin and muscle began to bruise.
"I'm fine. Can't let them know how-much that took out of me," Genki said hiding the throbbing of his right arm with a confident toothy smile, the teen rubbing his thumb across his nose as he beheld the havoc he'd sown.
"So, we managed to fend most-everyone off. What now?" Mei asked as Genki drew them away from the carnage, those of a more pragmatic nature taking advantage of the chaos to further their own ends by attacking the defenseless 1-B students, mindful of getting trapped in the mountains of [Cemedine].
"We waste enough of their time to make them realize pursuing us isn't cost-effective," Genki answered.
*MHA*
True to his word, with everything Team Gokiburi had going for it, the general consensus was soon spread that it was in fact, not cost-effective to pursue them. The more time they spent chasing the Golden Snitch, the less the teams of lower point-values had to secure their own place in the next block.
Especially since those caught in Mei's expanding riot foam were still trapped, in addition to being spattered with [Cemedine].
With Genki's headband less and less of a target as the Support Items on his legs gave him incredible acceleration he wouldn't be able to achieve purely on his own, the Hero Course students pursued one another instead. Most-notably was Katsuki Bakugou pursuing Izuku Midoriya, coming up with the inventive strategy of jumping off his own horse before being drawn back in with his teammate's [Tape].
Of course, the real upset came when Neito Monoma snatched away several of 1-A's headbands all under their noses. This earned him the ire of Team Bakugou alone, while Team Todoroki attempted to corner Team Midoriya. However, what Todoroki wouldn't realize was that, with a new common enemy in Gokiburi Genki, Iida teaming up with Izuku would in fact deprive him of a significant speed advantage, leaving them at a stalemate as the frizzy-haired teen collected some of the leftovers Genki had left behind on his own rampage.
Genki of course hid the throbbing pain of his arm from the use of his clutch move extremely well, and after what felt like an eternity, the Cavalry Battle finally came to an end.
"TIME'S UUUUUUP!" Present Mic screeched, causing Bakugou to fall flat on his face mid-lunge toward Izuku's scrawny neck. "Let's see who the top teams are right now!" he said as various teams bereft of points wailed in agony. "In first place with a guaranteed slot for the final event for holding onto the ten-million-point crown, Team Gokiburi!"
Team Gokiburi
10,000,125
"My thighs are chaffing…" Genki panted, his exhaustion hitting him once the adrenaline died down.
"In second place… Team Bakugou!"
Team Bakugou
1,295
"GAHHHH!" Bakugou raged once more.
"In third place… Team Shinso?!" Present Mic gawped, sounding quite surprised by the second sudden upset.
Team Shinso
1,170
"Thanks for your help," the purple haired teen said as Ojiro and Nirengeki regained consciousness.
"In fourth place… Team Todoroki!"
Team Todoroki
910
"Damn…" the [Subzero]-wielder bit out angrily, now that two General Course students stood above him.
"And in fifth place… Team Midoriya!"
Team Midoriya
805
"That was too close…" Izuku said bursting with tears, all other teams after him zeroed out after the rampage caused by the second event's first place team.
"What a turnabout! Those headbands went every-which-way!" Present Mic squealed excitedly.
"Quite," Aizawa hummed.
"And with that, these five teams will now proceed to the final event!"
*MHA*
AN:
It took a bit of doing, but I was able to rework the teams around given both Mei and Mineta changed teams. I also took into consideration that, since Izuku AND Iida were similarly competing for First Place, there wouldn't be a reason for the prior to ostracize the prior, hence I wrote them working together due to their familiarity with one another and "shared enemy".
Since Genki took 1st Place in the Obstacle Race, everyone else lost 5 Points, hence why Yuuga, valued at 5 Points at 42nd Place in the canon, was booted from the game completely with one more person above him. Izuku, Todoroki, and Bakugou were the highest in Canon, but bumping them down to 205, 200, and 195 Points respectively changes the paradigm substantially.
As for all the other point values, Shinso was extremely subtle as he acquired what he himself was able to, and Genki and Mei's combined rampage towards the end of their action sequence left plenty of teams in a vulnerable state to have their points taken.
Also, the reason I incorporated 5 Teams instead of 4, other than allowing me to include the "milestone" battles that would define several people's characters, was because since Genki's team retained the 10,000,000+ point headband, they were guaranteed an "in", and all the other teams had zeroed out.
Anyway, please give me your thoughts, comments, and criticisms. Until next time…
GO BEYOND!
EXCELSIOR!