Chapter Summary: The cavalry battle begins and everyone gives it their all to take home first place.

The moment that the last word broadcasted across the stadium, the field came to life with movement. Like a tidal wave, each team came rushing together fluidly, flooding the field with their footfalls. In the epicenter of the oncoming tide stood Katsuki and his teammates.

"It's all a battle for ten million points!" exclaimed a student from Class 1-B. His wild eyes shone with malicious intent as his cavalry drew closer. "We'll see how big you feel once we take you down, you braggart! "

However, despite the forces driving towards him, Katsuki did not order his team to move. In fact, for all the anger he was capable of and the foolhardiness that could come with it at times, Katsuki didn't feel that bothered by what was ahead. Instead, he faced the teams with an eerily calm disposition.

'That's right, you wanna-bes,' he thought, watching as faces with names he didn't care to remember drew closer, 'come at me. See how much it matters.'

In the midst of the crowd, he saw Icy-Hot's familiar head of hair, the distinctive colors allowing Katsuki to track his progress as he and his cavalry made their way across the field. The familiar heat of anger within his chest dared Katsuki to lash out at him, to bring his team charging towards him so he could snatch that headband of his stupid head and scream in his stupid face about what a stupid idiot he was–

"Bakugou!" Shitty Hair shouted, snapping him out of his thoughts. "What's our move? They're coming right at us!"

Before he could answer, however, a boisterous voice rang out above the wave of teams: "You're not getting away!"

Then, to Katsuki's surprise, his team collectively stumbled and dipped lower. He grabbed onto Shitty Hair's shoulder for purchase and glared downward. "What the hell?! "

Shitty Hair's face betrayed his panic. "We're sinking! Did the field just turn into quicksand or something?"

Katsuki's eyes flitted upwards to meet the oncoming teams and he locked eyes with a wild-eyed boy atop his team. Was it his Quirk making them sink? Or was it one of his teammate's? He looked to the cavalry in question and glowered at the front horse in the formation. His dirty blond hair whipped around his shoulders as he ran and his strange looking teeth grit upon meeting Katsuki's gaze, his angular eyes narrowed with equal parts focus and anger.

'I bet that's the culprit,' Katsuki thought silently, his grip on Shitty Hair's shoulder growing tighter, 'we gotta get out of here before we sink further.'

"Shitty Hair!" he ordered. "Quit just standing around and press the damn button already!"

"O-Oh, right!" Shitty Hair exclaimed. He glanced behind him briefly. "Ashido, Hatsume, get ready! And watch your faces!"

The girls did as told and turned away as Shitty Hair pulled up the control button. He pressed down on it and in an instant, Katsuki heard the jetpack on his teammate's back start to warm up. Two long streams of exhaust shot out from the back and with it, the team began to pull out of their trap. When they began to make lift-off, Katsuki gripped Shitty Hair's shoulder and silently noted how much smoother of a trip this felt than using his own explosions. Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

"They flew?! " someone from down below shouted. "How's that fair?!"

Katsuki had it in him to scoff. "You snooze, you lose, wanna-bes! "

Then, out of the corner of his vision, he caught the glint of something coming towards him. Just as quickly, however, a glob of shiny liquid came shooting the air and enveloped the projectile. A disgusted shout from down below drew Katsuki's attention down to one of classmates– Ears, as he called her– and he watched as her earjacks retracted back towards her, covered in what looked like slime.

"Nice try, Jirou!" Pinky shouted. "But you're gonna have to do better than that! "

A grin spread across Katsuki's lips. "Good shot, Pinky."

"Ashido!" she corrected sharply.

"Whoa, you didn't throw acid at her earjacks, did you?" Shitty Hair questioned. "Doesn't that hurt?"

Pinky shook her head. "I can control how corrosive my acid is, remember? I just made it heavy and slimy enough to ward her off. But I doubt she'll come at us again like that! "

"First Place!" Goggles interrupted. "We have to make a landing! Where to?"

Katsuki huffed. "It's Bakugou! "

"There!" Shitty Hair interjected. He pointed down to an empty area of the playing field. "Ashido, Hatsume, get your boots ready! We need to make sure we don't flub the descent!"

"Right!" Pinky affirmed. She glanced over at Goggles and nodded at her. "On the count of three! One!"

Goggles adjusted her hold beneath Katsuki. "Two!"

"Three!" the both of them shouted. In tandem, the boots beneath their feet activated their jets and streams of air came bursting out. From how Goggles described them while talking strategy, she had claimed they were pressure activated and were highly intuitive to the user's movements, which was both a strength and weakness in its own regard. An advantage in the hands of someone with experience; a hindrance in the hands of someone who was still getting used to it.

A tight squeeze from Pinky nearly made Katsuki jerk away from her. "Watch it!"

"Sorry!" she exclaimed. She pursed her lips and didn't look down. "Oh, man, would it be bad if I closed my eyes?"

"Yes!" they all shouted.

There was no time for them to argue, however, as their feet began to touch down. Katsuki grunted and latched onto Shitty Hair's shoulder while his team's feet collectively hit the ground, leaving a cloud of dirt all around them. He covered his mouth with his free hand and squinted to keep the debris from clouding his vision too terribly.

"Not exactly the smoothest landing," Shitty Hair commented, "but we're not trying to get a pilot's license, so it's fine if we landed on the runway a bit roughly."

Goggles let out an excited squeal. "How do you like my babies, First Place? Aren't they just precious? There's no beating their manufactured cuteness!"

Despite her nickname for him, Katsuki couldn't keep himself from grinning. "You may be a weirdo, Goggles. But I'll be damned if you don't make some fine-ass equipment."

"Whoo-hoo!" broadcasted Loudmouth's voice from the intercom. "We're barely two minutes into the battle and it's already proving to be a total free for all!" He chuckled into the microphone. "Keep an eye on those headbands, kiddos! You can even ignore the ten million points and go for the other chart toppers!"

At the mention of that, Katsuki's grin began to fade. Speaking of his fellow chart toppers: where were Icy-Hot and Deku? As much as he wanted to believe that he had humbled the nerd during the last event, he wasn't counting him out of the running just yet. Meanwhile, Icy-Hot seemed like the type to hold a grudge and if Katsuki had gotten third place like him, he would have developed a nasty one that he'd likely carry for the rest of his days.

"Crap!" Shitty Hair exclaimed. "We've got teams coming at us from three, six and nine o'clock! We gotta bounce!"

A growl rumbled out of Katsuki. "Then let's lose 'em! Get a move on, extras!"

Subconsciously, he gripped the fabric of Shitty Hair's shirt and fought back the urge to snarl aloud. As much as it pained him to do so, Icy-Hot and Deku would have to wait. First, he would have to knock down the rest of the B-list idiots that were trying to swing their weight at him.

Years ago, if someone had told Izuku that one day, he would be competing in the U.A. Sports Festival, he was sure that his younger self would have passed out from the shock, if not outright died. As dramatic as it sounded, he had watched pretty much every Sports Festival that he could since he had first learned about them. His mother recorded each year that competed and he would analyze them over and over again until he had nothing left to write– which, of course, never happened. Some part of him wished that he had his notebook with him to take notes.

Sadly, that wasn't really possible, given that he was pretty much in the school equivalent of a warzone.

"Look out!" Uraraka called out. "We got some Class 1-B students coming our way!"

Izuku's eyes trailed to the left and there, he saw a couple of teams running towards him. Taking the lead by a landslide was a two person team, with the rider on top of a single horse. He recognized the rider as being one of the few students to start plowing a path after Todoroki had sent one of the Executors falling down. His black hair was pulled into a neat braid and his dark eyes burned with intensity as he raised his green-scaled arm.

" Faster , Shishida!" he ordered.

His fur-covered classmate nodded beneath him. "You got it, Rin!"

The scales on Rin's arm rippled beneath the sunlight and shifted while he flexed, their sharp ends raising upwards. He used his other hand to grab his elbow and steady his aim. Sensing what was coming, Izuku brought up his own hand and pulled back his middle finger, allowing One For All to slip down to it. Right as Rin's scales began to shoot off his arm, Izuku released the tension on his finger.

"Smash!" he exclaimed.

The scales almost instantly changed trajectory and shot back towards Rin, whose eyes widened. He raised up his arm to block his eyes and grimaced deeply when they made contact with his skin. In preparation for another assault, Izuku repositioned his hand and stared Rin down. However, before he could actually fire off, darkness moved in his peripheral vision and he heard a loud shout from behind him.

"Good work, Dark Shadow," Tokoyami adulated from below Izuku. As if on cue, his shadowy companion drew back to the front and nodded in acknowledgement towards him. "Please continue to keep watch of our blind spots."

Dark Shadow snaked around him with a hum of content. "You got it!"

Izuku glanced backward to see another team struggling to regain movement and realization dawned on him. "Nice going, Tokoyami. You're doing great at handling our omni-directional mid-range defenses!"

Tokoyami merely looked ahead. "That is why you picked me, isn't it?"

"What the–" shouted Rin, drawing Izuku's attention back towards his team. "What happened to my headband?!"

With a flash of pink, Izuku yelped with surprise as not one, but two headbands dangled above his head. Trying his best not to cringe, he gingerly unlatched the velcro that wrapped the headbands around the long, slimy tongue over him and inspected them.

"Nice going, Asui," he complimented, wrapping them both around his neck. Once he was sure they were secure, he shot her a thumbs up. "That's almost 200 more points!"

As soon as her tongue withdrew back, he heard her croak, "I told you to call me Tsu!"

"Sorry!" he called out, silently admonishing himself. He really had to get better about that. However, he wasn't able to focus on it for too long when more teams came up on the horizon. "Let's get going! We've still got a ways to go before time runs out!"

"On it!" Uraraka replied. "Where to?"

A near-feral growl from behind alerted him to the presence of a 1-B team, led by a silver-haired, manic-eyed boy. Izuku readied his pointer finger for another flick and nodded his head to the side. "Away from here, preferably!"

As a unit, his team began to move, the opposing teams quickly following after. It didn't pass Izuku's notice that a majority of the teams were students from outside his class, or that they all looked as though they wanted to tear him and his team limb from limb.

'I guess I have Kacchan to thank for that,' he thought, his lips pulling into a slight frown. Perhaps he would have considered it a talent at how adept he was at making so many people angry at once if it didn't blow back onto the rest of their class in the process. 'Class 1-B has a serious ax to grind with us.'

At the reminder of his friend, he spared a glance around the field. He didn't get a chance to see where he had gone off to once he and his team had taken to the air, but he knew that Kacchan wasn't the type to go quietly; he was fairly certain that Death himself would have to drag him kicking and screaming into the great beyond. As big as the bounty was on his head, Kacchan wasn't going to lose it without a hell of a fight.

'That girl from the support class seems to be the linchpin to his formation,' he mused, recalling how they all moved as a fluid unit, 'her items offer maneuverability that will aid them in evasive measures. It's a good balance to Kacchan's power, Kirishima's defense, and Ashido's dexterity.'

"Who else wants some, you wanna-bes?!" shouted a boisterous voice. Izuku turned and, without an ounce of surprise, found his old friend as the source from yards away. Kacchan's crimson eyes were borderline manic with anger and aggression, his upper lip curled back in a snarl that bared his teeth. He raised one of his hands up from Kirishima's shoulder and brandished his fingers like claws. "I can do this all day!"

" Focus , Bakugou!" exclaimed Ashido, whose head peeked out from behind him. "We can't get stuck in between a bunch of teams, remember?"

The student from the support course's head popped up from the other side of Kacchan. "Listen to her, First Place! My babies aren't going to get any sort of recognition on a losing team!"

"It's Bakugou! " Kacchan corrected sharply. Even with the distance between them, Izuku could practically hear him growl like he was right next to him. "Let it rip, Shitty Hair!"

Kirishima's face betrayed deep-seated annoyance. "I told you it's Kiri–"

Before he could finish, Kacchan brought his fist down hard on his head. "Now!"

A memory of Auntie Mitsuki slapping Kacchan on the back of the head caused Izuku's lips to draw into a thin line. 'Looks like the apple didn't fall too far from the tree…'

"Three o'clock!" Uraraka exclaimed, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We got a team at three o'clock!"

"Looks like they're mad about me taking their headband," Tsuyu commented.

Out of the peripheral of his vision, Dark Shadow jumped into action and a loud CLANG! made Izuku's head snap towards the source. It was yet another two-person team and he guessed that they were from 1-B, as well. The green-haired rider hissed as he drew his forearm to his chest defensively, where a long, curved blade jutted out. Seeing its sharp edge gleam in the sunlight made Izuku swallow hard.

"Great defense," Izuku commented, giving Tokoyami's shoulder a gentle squeeze, "that didn't hurt Dark Shadow, did it?"

In response, Dark Shadow glanced back at him with a taloned thumb pointed upwards. "Not a scratch!"

Just as the beginnings of a smile began to creep across Izuku's lips, a startled yelp leapt from his throat when two projectiles came soaring over his head. He patted his head to make sure that he hadn't gotten nicked or that the headband disappeared.

"What was that?! " he blurted out, looking left and right for the source.

Uraraka let out a terrified squeal. "Deku, duck!"

With another fearful yelp, Izuku bent down low and braced onto Tokoyami for purchase when a loud whistling sound went over his head. He clutched his teammate's shoulder as he began to sit upright.

"Sorry," he murmured.

Tokoyami appeared unbothered. "Don't be sorry. I fear what one of those to the head would have done."

Izuku blinked in confusion and followed his front horse's gaze, where he found a horned-girl. She was the only one holding up her rider, who was the green-haired boy from before.

"Let's see if you can dodge this! " she proclaimed. To his astonishment, the pair of horns shot forth from her head and came directly towards him. Dark Shadow immediately sprang forth and blocked the assault, but he wasn't fast enough to deflect the second pair that followed shortly after.

"Whoa!" Izuku called out. He swiftly moved his head from side to side to avoid them both. "You can make duplicates of your horns? "

Over Dark Shadow's form, he saw the girl grin viciously. "Sure can! Your class isn't the only one who packs a punch!"

Despite the attempted attack, Izuku couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from quirking upward. "That's so cool! How are you able to control them so well?"

The girl blinked. "Huh?"

"Midoriya, now isn't the time to be analyzing!" Tsuyu interjected. Her tongue extended outward and snatched one of the horns out of the air with incredible dexterity. She sent it back towards the two person team and withdrew her tongue back to her mouth. "We have to focus! "

Uraraka gripped Izuku's leg tightly. "She's right! We still have people coming at us, even with most of the teams going after the ten million points!"

A squawk of displeasure escaped Dark Shadow as he blocked a hard slash from the rider's blades. The girl beneath him grinned and let out a loud laugh.

"Guess your class isn't as good as everyone says you are!" she taunted. "What happened to the class that beat up a bunch of villains?"

A squeeze on his leg brought his attention back down to Uraraka and his eyes met with hers. Amidst the clang of metal as Dark Shadow continued to defend against the assault brought on by the rider and Tsuyu's tongue trying to grab onto the floating horns, her gaze held a strange level of calmness that brought some level of ease.

"Get that egg heated up," she murmured, glancing down at his hand, "I got this."

Understanding melted his remaining doubt. "Got it."

With one last look, Uraraka's friendly smile turned into a haughty grin. She braced her feet on the ground and nodded back at the girl. "Why don't you come closer and find out what those villains did at the U.S.J.? Come at us with all you got!"

The girl huffed and pawed at the ground angrily. "Oh, it's on! "

"Tsunotori, what are you–" the rider shouted, only to yelp with surprise when she charged forward. Izuku allowed One For All to creep its way down his arm and he held the heat in his hand, placing his thumb on the top joint of his middle finger preemptively. He wasn't sure what Uraraka had in mind, but he trusted her enough to know she wouldn't lead them astray; she wanted to win just as badly as he did. As Tsunotori drew closer to their cavalry, he felt Uraraka's hold on him shift.

"Release!" she exclaimed.

Then, to his utter amazement, he watched as one of Tsunotori's horns came sailing downward. The point made its stake in the middle of the rider's green hair, making it look a lot like a tree stump sitting in the grass. He went still upon impact and stared straight ahead with wide eyes for a long moment, his mouth slightly agape. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he let out a loud shriek.

"Tsunotori, what the hell?! " he screeched. "Look what one of your stupid horns did!"

Despite the horror on her face, Tsunotori somehow had it in her to look indignant. "It wasn't my fault, dingus!"

"Don't call me a dingus!" he retorted. "If anyone here is the dingus, it's you! "

With a single tap on his thigh, Izuku took that as his cue. "Smash!"

Neither Tsunotori nor her teammate were prepared when the force of Izuku's flick came their way. He had made sure to only let out a small amount of force so as to not knock them over and get a penalty from Midnight, but even then, his opponent dug her hooves into the ground to hold herself up right.

"Let's go!" Izuku ordered, squeezing Tokoyami's shoulder. "We have to keep moving!"

A small ribbit came from Tsuyu. "Nice work with that horn, Uraraka."

"I only managed to get it because of you," she replied, smiling back at her warmly, "you're the one who grabbed it for me."

The corner of Izuku's lips tugged upwards. "Nice job, you two. Now we can–"

Just then, someone's fingers brushed the back of his head and he blinked. He whipped his head around in time to see one of his headbands go flying, its tails blowing in the wind. A gasp startled out of his throat and he brought his hand around his neck to see if his remaining headbands were still there, only to exhale when he still felt them. His relief was short-lived, however, when he heard a derisive chuckle.

"Your class really is so small-minded," said an unfamiliar voice, "you should all learn to think about the bigger picture."

"What the–" Uraraka sputtered. "Where did he come from?!"

With yet another blink, Izuku peered up to see a blond-haired boy sitting atop a cavalry of 1-B students. They all slowed to a still in front of him while the leader slipped the headband around his neck. As his words began to sink in, Izuku furrowed his brows.

"What are you talking about?" Izuku questioned. "What bigger picture?"

The rider did not turn to regard him. "You remember how Midnight said that the obstacle course was just the first round? Well, we all figured that they wouldn't eliminate that many of us right off the bat." With the slightest tilt of his head, Izuku spotted gray irises peering at him from the corner of the rider's eye. "Would they?"

"Huh?" Tsuyu said, mirroring Izuku's confusion.

Finally, the rider turned his head fully and his eyes locked with Izuku's. His smile eerily reminded Izuku of a cat.

"Assuming they'd keep at least 40 contestants for the second event," he went on, "all we had to do was make sure that we stayed within that group as we ran." The corner of his lip pulled upward, turning his grin into a smirk. "From our place in the middle ranks, you and your class granted us the chance to see your Quirks and their capabilities. And my , didn't you make that easy by trying to win the preliminary round?"

Realization dawned on Izuku. "You all planned this as a class."

"You catch on quick, at least," the boy replied, making Izuku flinch, "although, not all of our classmates were on board with the idea… But it's playing out rather well for us, don't you think?"

"Now who wants to take a look at each team's points so far?!" Present Mic announced. "We're about seven minutes into this round, so let's get those rankings thrown up on the screen for everyone to see!"

With a loud chime, Izuku turned in tandem with a couple of others on the field and he gasped. The whole stadium seemed to collectively go silent with him, their cheers and shouts quickly evaporating into murmurs and whispers.

"Hold up here," Present Mic commented, his voice unexpectedly quiet, "this is an unexpected turn of events…" He quickly regained his volume before continuing. "Aside from Bakugou's team, Class 1-A isn't doing too hot!"

Sure enough, Present Mic's commentary matched what the screen depicted. Although Kacchan's team was leading the pack with his ten million points, the highest ranking member of Class 1-A was Todoroki's team, who was sitting at fifth place. Izuku quickly added up his team's points and realized very swiftly that the 650 points his classmate had were the ones he and his team had started the round with. Izuku was directly behind him in sixth place with their collective 195 points, but aside from that, everyone else's teams from 1-A were at a solid zero.

'Holy crap,' Izuku thought, staring at the board, 'they had a whole long-term strategy and threw the qualifier to put it in motion…' With one final glance at the rankings, he turned back to the boy. 'It was a huge risk, but it could help them leave a bigger impression with the audience… It's a classic underdog story.'

He stared at his opponent's headbands, quickly adding them up to try to match it to a team on the board. After another glance at the board, he finally had a name.

"Monoma," Uraraka breathed out, voicing his realization aloud, "you're in second place."

Monoma's eyes glinted with malicious satisfaction. "How kind of you to notice… I guess you and I are twins in that regard, Midoriya. Seeing as how that was your placement in the last round."

" Fuck! What the hell is happening?!"

Izuku turned with Monoma to see Kacchan a few yards away, angrily beating at Kirishima's head. While he shouted out expletives and profanity, Ashido kept jerking her leg back and forth, her eyes wide with panic.

"I'm stuck! " she cried out. "I can't get the boot out!"

"My baby!" the other girl shouted. "Get my poor baby out of that mess right now!"

On the ground, a large puddle of gooey liquid had encapsulated itself around the giant boot Ashido wore on her left foot. She stuck her other foot into the sludge and smoke began to rise, indicating that her acid was eating away at it. Ashido scrunched up her nose and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Press the button, Shitty Hair!" Bakugou ordered, hitting faster than before. He placed a hand over his own mouth to block out the smoke, but even then, he was still so loud. "We can't get surrounded!"

"I'm doing it!" Kirishima shot back. "And stop hitting me! I'm not a punching bag!"

Another chuckle brought Izuku's attention back to Monoma. "Uh-oh… looks like Bondo landed them in a sticky situation."

Before Izuku could make a guess as to who that was, the sound of an engine kicking on filled the air. He watched in astonishment when two strong jetstreams of air blasted out from behind Kirishima and with it, the rest of the team began to lift off. (Now that he had gotten a good look at it, had the jetpack been modeled after Airjet's? He would have to ask once he got the chance.) His expression quickly turned to horror, however, when he noticed that Ashido's boot was smoking.

"My baby! " the support girl shrieked, her voice still carrying over the sound of the jets. "What did they do to you?!"

A snide snort brought Izuku's attention back to Monoma. "I guess her little gadgets aren't as solid as she thought." He brought a hand to his lips as his smirk spread further. "That ego-maniac might not get his big win after all…"

Izuku's hand clenched subconsciously. "What?"

"Monoma, they're coming," murmured a member of his opponent's cavalry, "staying still is only going to put us at risk."

Beneath him, Tokoyami nodded. "He's right, Midoriya. We should take that as a cue to get moving."

Izuku's teeth locked together. As much as he detested the way Monoma spoke about him and his peers, he knew that wasting energy on defending either would only cost them the little time they had. The Sports Festival had far too much to offer for him to get caught up in such a petty feud. With a nod, he squeezed Tokoyami's right shoulder, hinting him to go that direction.

"Oh, but before you go running off…" Monoma cut in, "you're already a bit famous, aren't you? I recognize you from the news, back when the sludge villain attacked. Crazy that you keep running into villains, isn't it?"

Ice ran through Izuku's veins as his memory flashed in rapid succession and his body seemed to relive the sensations in real time. The way his feet pounded against the pavement on the fiery street, down past the barricades and towards Kacchan. His heart beating like a sledgehammer through his chest while he tossed his book bag to discombobulate the villain and clawed helplessly in hopes of saving his friend. How his throat felt so tight because the smoke in the air made it hard to breathe, just like how the sludge villain trying to slip itself down his throat had left him unable to gasp for air, let alone scream for help.

"Midoriya?" Tsuyu questioned. Why did her voice sound so far away?

If the emotions that swarmed inside of Izuku were present on his face, Monoma gave no acknowledgment. "You'll have to tell me about it some time… I mean, with that Quirk of yours, I would have thought that you would have been able to take that villain out no problem. I guess you weren't as adept with it back then… Or maybe you're just dumber than you look."

Izuku knew this tactic well; he was being goaded. It was one of the many ways that his bullies back at Aldera liked to torment him. They knew if they provoked a big enough reaction, he'd either get upset or, worse, start crying, which would only reflect badly on him. He was always reprimanded for how he reacted, while the others were never spoken to about how they acted to begin with. Just the thought of it made Izuku clench his fists even tighter.

"Let's get moving," he told his team, his eyes cutting away from Monoma's predatory gaze, "there's still time on the clock, so that means we can turn this around."

Another chuckle rumbled out of Monoma. "Mm, history is repeating itself… You're running wildly with no plan in hopes of helping a bleak situation you can't possibly put a stop to. Just like that villain attack."

With his teeth grit together, Izuku faced forward. "We need to keep an eye out for Todoroki. He's probably going to come after us sooner or later."

"Or maybe he's going after your friend ," Monoma commented. He giggled and oh, how it made Izuku's blood simmer. "I mean, it figures… Wouldn't be the first time he landed himself in hot water."

Izuku's head snapped towards him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Monoma met his gaze coolly. "Oh, come now… You saw it for yourself. First the sludge villain, then the U.S.J., and now, he's got a target on his back that everyone is looking to shoot a bullseye into." He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "It's so funny how your friend keeps finding himself in the position of the victim, isn't i—"

A loud scream cut Monoma off and within a matter of seconds, a gust of strong air came blowing towards him. His opponent's eyes widened to the size of saucers and he raised his hand to shield his face from the fierce wind. A member of the cavalry— a brown-haired boy— took in a big gulp of air and exhaled, which spread out and solidified into a makeshift barrier in the air. The remainder of the wind rushed around the wall of air, allowing Monoma and his team to recover.

"Deku!" Uraraka shouted. "Oh my god, is your hand okay?"

With a blink, Izuku looked down and stared in shock at his raised hand. His middle finger twitched, while the rest of his hand was overtaken by tremors. Thankfully, nothing seemed to be broken, but that did little to reassure him.

'Did I…?' he thought, his eyes wide. 'I didn't even realize that I…'

"Whoa," Monoma exhaled, snapping him out of his thoughts. His opponent straightened up his posture and, to his frustration, smirked at him over his shoulder. "Struck a nerve there, did I?"

"Couldn't have pressed the button faster, could you have, Shitty Hair?" Katsuki spat. He swore, his knuckles were so white from clenching them, his bones would tear through the skin. "So much for not getting in the middle of a bunch of teams!"

"The button got jammed!" Shitty Hair barked back. "Besides, I might have gotten it done faster if you hadn't been knocking my head every five seconds!"

A jolt from behind them cut their argument short, accompanied by sputters of a failing machinery. "Less arguing, more focusing on landing!" Pinky exclaimed.

With a grimace, Katsuki slowly released his vice grip on his teammate's shirt and scoffed. His eyes trailed downward to the fast approaching field and he caught sight of a couple more pieces of their boot falling down. That damned wanna-be in the other hero class had sloshed whatever concoction from his head and desecrated the creation that had granted them an edge and an easy escape. He should have figured that they would try to do what they could to limit their maneuverability, but he hadn't expected it to come so fast or for his own team to be so slow to get out of it.

'If it weren't for Pinky's acid…' he thought, then shook his head. 'It doesn't matter now. We're already halfway through the game and no one has gotten our headband yet. So long as we hang onto it, then we'll make it to the next round.'

Despite the inner saboteur that whispered his placement into first place would only be by default, Katsuki didn't dare to dignify it with a response. He had been in the lead far too many times to allow himself to lose it by doubting himself. It was such a shame he couldn't keep himself from doing so to his teammates, his last resorts at best and anchors at worst.

"Those monsters better pray I don't catch them!" Goggles asserted as they made a shaky landing. A low, steady growl rumbled out of her when she spared a glance at the destroyed boot Pinky wore. "My baby… Don't they know how long I spent bringing you into this world?"

"Save the drama for your mama," Katsuki griped, rolling his eyes, "you can always build another one."

Even through her lens, he could feel the venom in her stare when she turned to regard him. " Watch it, First Place! This team-up is only out of convenience! Keep it up and you'll find out just how inconvenient I can make things!"

A nasty retort rested on his tongue, but he quickly swallowed it back. Focus. He had to focus , damn it, he couldn't lose himself in his own fire when he and his team were still running through the brimstone the Sports Festival tossed them into. Clearly their strategy to evade others wasn't going to work as well with one boot out of commission, so what was their plan now? Running would only get them so far with everyone going after them and by god, Katsuki did not want to go out with his tail between his legs. He was better than that.

However, just as he and his team were gathering their bearings on the ground, a heavy gust nearly knocked them all out of their grasp. An involuntary chill ran down his spine as the familiarity of the blowing winds brought forth memories, memories that quickly led him to the conclusion of who caused them:

'Deku…' he realized with a snarl, shielding his eyes until he was certain the gales died down, 'who are you throwing your weight at this time?'

He glared across the field, searching for that mop of green hair with a contempt he could hardly keep down. When he finally locked onto his form, a growl reverberated in his chest and his palm spread out until his fingers took on the shape of claws. Everyone who had been in the direction of his little stunt all staggered and tried to regain balance; but it was the team who stood a couple yards from the source of his ire that caught his attention. Familiarity scratched at the back of his mind when he saw the blond-headed boy straighten up his posture and turn to regard Deku, only for realization to quickly take over when he saw him smirk– that same, stupid smirk that he had wanted to wipe off his face the first time they crossed their paths with one another. It wasn't until he brushed his hair back out of his face that it confirmed his suspicions.

"Bakugou?" Shitty Hair questioned. "What are you–" Then, he fell silent as his own gaze tracked Katsuki's. "Oh, crap… Is that–"

"Yeah," Katsuki confirmed, not even letting him finish, "you bet your ass it is."

Although the wanna-be's name escaped him, Katsuki's memory was not so faulty– or in this case, a blessing– to allow him to forget his first encounter with the rider that opposed Deku. It had been on a Sunday, not too long after the villain attack brought all of the first years to their doorstep to see Katsuki and the rest of his peers. While Blondie may not have been one of the faces in the crowd, he alluded to knowing of Katsuki's declaration to Dark Circles, going so far as to call him a "brat". As far as Katsuki was concerned, the wanna-be needed to get better material for insults; it was nothing he hadn't heard before. [1]

"Midoriya, let's move!" exclaimed Bird Brain. He hadn't even realized that Deku picked him for his team, let alone his front horse. "He's not worth it!"

Malice glinted in Blondie's gaze. "Aw, what's the matter? I didn't hurt your feelings, did I? You know it's not very heroic to be so sensitive. "

Something dark flashed in Deku's eyes and despite himself, Katsuki snorted. 'Oh, buddy, you're not the first to say that… But you might be one of the few to actually get clocked for it.'

"Monoma, c'mon, " stressed a wanna-be beneath Blondie, "don't provoke him. You're only stooping down to their level."

" Our level?" Uraraka barked out. "Our class didn't do anything to you! It's not like we asked to get attacked by villains!"

Below him, Shitty Hair scoffed. "Looks like he's trying to stir up trouble again… What is that guy's problem? "

"Probably overly compensating because he feels insecure," Pinky piped up, "you see it all the time with teenage boys."

Katsuki scowled. "Why did you look over at me as you said that?"

A loud clear of the throat brought him to the other side of his formation. "Hello? Time is still counting down! What's our next move, First Place?"

"It's Baku–" he began to say, then let out an aggravated sigh, "you know what, it's not even worth it! Screw evasion– let's bring it to their doorstep!"

"What?" Pinky exclaimed. "Are you saying we should go on the offense? But one of our boots is completely totaled! How are we supposed to get away if we get stuck?"

Although the itch for violence left his hands clenched, a smirk found its way across Katsuki's face. "We don't."

The confusion on Shitty Hair's face quickly faded away into fearful realization. "Oh, no, no, no , Bakugou, don't you–"

Katsuki didn't hear the rest of his plea, for the sound of his explosions drowned it out entirely. He had done well to at least jump upwards into the air before letting off the first blast and trusted that Shitty Hair activated his Quirk in time to soften the blowback. If the rest of his teammates screamed or cursed at him to come back, he didn't hear them, nor would he have listened to them anyway. He had tried to play the game a different way, to fall out of his default strategy, but at the end of the day, Katsuki was not the type to run from his problems or his foes; He'd rather go barrelling right at them and prove just how wrong they were to come at him in the first place.

"Hey, assholes!" Katsuki called out. His teeth bared in a vicious smile as he drew closer to his prey and their eyes collectively turned towards him. "You just gonna stand around, or are you fuckers actually gonna make a move?! "

Deku (likely knowing from experience) reacted quickly. "Tokoyami!"

The same could not be said for Blondie, however, whose face was painted into a portrait of shock and terror as Katsuki's trail of smoke spread around him and his team. A yelp slipped past his lips when Katsuki's palm made contact with the shadowy beast that Bird Brain wielded. Having anticipated the pushback from his opponent, Katsuki quickly threw his arms behind him and let out another flurry of explosions to both keep him airborne and disturb the earth below. Clumps of dirt came flying upwards and mixed into the smoke, leaving the cavalries around him discombobulated.

"You keep starting fights with the wrong people, wanna-bes!" Katsuki proclaimed. Through the smoke, he could see Blondie's head of hair and he chuckled. "None of you are gonna make it past this round so long as I have anything to say about it!"

Blondie's eyes only grew wider. "Tsuburaba!"

With a deep intake of air, Blondie's front horse blew outwards, producing a strong gust. To Katsuki's bewilderment, the air took on the shape of a square, blocking his way to his target. A growl rumbled out of him and he cocked his arm back. As soon as he felt the familiar heat in his palm, he reeled his arm forward and slammed his hand right into the artificial wall, forcing a heavy-handed blast right into it. The cavalry collectively gasped as it crumbled to pieces before them.

'It may not be the smartest play…' Katsuki thought, using the forward momentum of his body to fall closer to his prey. As soon as his fingers slipped around the edges of two headbands, he curled them into his fist and gave them a good tug. 'But I'll be damned if I go down without a fight.'

Kacchan really had a knack for scaring the absolute daylights out of Izuku. Perhaps it would have been too optimistic of him to think that he could eventually grow to expect these things and not be taken aback– better yet, not left screaming and seeking cover. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if Tokoyami and Dark Shadow hadn't been faster in blocking his attack.

"Where the heck is his cavalry?" Uraraka exclaimed. "Did they go airborne again?"

Tsuyu let out a croak. "Not this time. Look. "

As if it were waiting on her cue, a thick, black cord shot out from the remnants of smoke and pierced the air towards Kacchan. During its voyage through the battlefield, the metal projectile at the end of it spread out into a sharp, claw-shape, its metallic surface gleaming in the sun. Kacchan snatched it out of the air just under the extensions and gripped it so hard that Izuku could see his knuckles turn white. Just as quickly as it came, the cord retreated back towards a now-visible Kirishima, dragging Kacchan back through the air.

"Whoa!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Bakugou just got separated from his horses! Is that even allowed?"

A small chuckle came from Midnight. "He never touched the ground, so technically it's okay!"

Below him, Uraraka let out a small huff. "Of course Bakugou would be the one to test that theory."

"Nifty little loophole you got there…" Monoma snarled, watching ruefully as Kacchan took his spot as the rider once again. "But I guess it makes sense that he would take a shortcut, huh?"

From afar, Ashido blew out a raspberry. "You're just mad you didn't come up with it yourself, Copycat!"

On the other side of her, the girl from the support course pulled down her lower eyelid and stuck out her tongue. "Sucks to suck!"

Kacchan grinned as he slipped the headbands around his neck and let out a chuckle. Among them was the points that Izuku and his team had grabbed after the game started, which only brought a frown across his face. As much as some part of him screamed to get them back, he knew that would be swinging into an already agitated hornet's nest and that the risk might not be worth the reward. Then again, did he really have much choice? There were only five teams on the field that had points to their name, his own included; that made their options scarce.

'Monoma and the rest of his class threw the preliminaries on purpose, ' he recalled, glancing over at the subject in question, 'which means that they probably won't go after Kacchan in particular and will focus more on beating our class collectively… But even so, that means–'

He didn't get to finish the rest of that thought when the sight of fog accompanying his breath made him go still. He gripped Tokoyami's shoulder in a silent warning to prepare himself and turned just in time to see none other than Todoroki appear with his cavalry. Despite the time that passed on the round, he and his team looked as though they had barely broken a sweat whatsoever. The only points they seemed to have were the ones that they started the game with, a revelation that had the gears in Izuku's head turning.

"Well, well, if it isn't Icyhot!" Kacchan proclaimed. He brought his fist into the palm of his other hand and cracked his knuckles. "I was wondering when you'd be brave enough to show your face in front of me again!"

Todoroki was unperturbed. "I'll be taking that now."

Almost instantly, the smirk on Kacchan's face faded. "Huh? You bein' serious?"

Izuku clutched Tokoyami firmly, his insides churning. Todoroki was always hard for him to read, his expression as cold and unmoving as his walls of ice. Beneath him, his teammates were focused and intent, their eyes all locked onto the teams around them. He peered over at Yaoyorozu and, upon seeing her shirt open, his eyes widened.

"Guys," he breathed, looking down at his own team, "get ready… We don't want our egg to get cooked this early on."

" Oi , what are you on about over there?!" Kacchan snapped. "What's with you and the egg metaphors, Deku?!"

With a sigh, Tokoyami shook his head. "I had hoped this confrontation would come later… But it seems fate has other plans for us."

"And so do the other teams," Tsuyu piped up, a low ribbit droning in her throat, "everyone's coming down this way!"

Sure enough, Izuku caught sight of the remaining teams heading towards the epicenter of where he, Kacchan, and Todoroki's teams were all gathered. There was nowhere for them to run, let alone hide– it was time for them to face what was coming their way.

" Now , Iida!" Todoroki ordered. "Forward!"

Uraraka gulped. "This is it, isn't it?"

Izuku nodded solemnly. "It is… Guess we don't have a choice now."

Everything that came after felt like it was in slow motion: Todoroki calling out to his teammates. Kacchan raising his hands and preparing to let out a couple of blasts as Iida pulled them all forward. A long, sharp appendage shooting out of Yaoyorozu's arm and planting itself in the ground. Todoroki pulling a long cover from her as it shot out of her side and tossing it over himself and his teammates… Except for Kaminari, whose entire body lit up with electricity.

"Indiscriminate shock: 1.3 million volts! " he bellowed.

Being discreet during the first half of the round had been quite a challenge for Shoto. In between the teams looking to grab his headband and trying to get close to his marks, all he was left to do was bide his time until opportunity finally made itself known. He couldn't help but feel a bit smug in his assumption; tracking Bakugou's progress had eventually pulled him towards Midoriya, just as he initially wanted. However, he would be a fool to go after only one of them or even ignore the rest of the teams– that was why he decided to forgo just killing two birds with one stone, and decided to simply shock the entire flock before him.

"Less than six minutes left," he murmured out loud, slipping his face out from underneath the insulated blanket. It had taken quite some time for Yaoyorozu to be able to whip it up, but it had been completely worth the wait. He rested his hand onto the jagged stake that Yaoyorozu made and allowed his ice to creep downwards, his frost spreading across the dirt at a rapid pace. "It's time to make a move!"

As his peers recovered from Kaminari's shock, they let out cries of surprise as the ice left them immobilized across the field. He uttered an apology for the brash action, but didn't allow himself to dwell on it; it wasn't anything Recovery Girl couldn't fix.

"Todoroki stopped those teams right in their tracks!" Present Mic proclaimed. "Looks like he's playing an extreme level of freeze tag!"

"But only after Kaminari's Quirk stunned them," Aizawa commented, "he adapted his strategy for the obstacle course to make it more effective against those who escaped it the first time."

Hearing that was almost enough to bring the beginnings of a smile to his face. 'I can see why they made you a teacher, Sensei.'

The team glided along easily across the field, uninhibited by their opponents as they struggled to recover. One team lead by a girl with bright, ginger hair jumped up with surprise as Shoto snatched a set of headbands from her neck.

"I suppose there's no sense in letting you keep these," he commented. Despite their screams and curses, he slipped them around his neck. "Now… Onto–"

Then, he blinked and stared in bewilderment upon looking back at Midoriya's cavalry. While the rest of his team was still recuperating from the shock and struggling to move in his ice, it appeared as though Midoriya had just… vanished . But where could he have gone? Surely he wouldn't be so crass as to abandon his team in such a dire moment?

"Looking for me? " exclaimed a familiar voice from up above.

Shoto's eyes scaled upwards until he caught onto the sight of Midoriya, to his astonishment, floating in the air. Although his lips were pursed in discomfort and his hands shook, he forced himself to remain steady and raised his hand up. He readied his aim by clutching his wrist and slipped his middle finger behind his thumb.

"Smash!"

A/N:

[1] Curious about this meeting and the feud between Monoma and Bakugou? Check out chapter 1 of the Mr. Yagi Side-Stories series to see for yourself. (Not necessary reading, but it is supplemental material to the main storyline!)

And now, we have one more chapter of the cavalry battle before we get into the next round of the Sports Festival. This arc has been the one that I've agonized the most over due to the amount of changes and shifts I made to the canon storyline, so I appreciate your patience as I work through the tournament! Expect to see some more shake-ups in the following chapters.

Until next time~!