After seeing Ikumi's hard work pay off, Inko could only sink back in her chair as the tension bled away.

"She-she took first!" she gasped, tears of joy springing from her eyes. "I can barely believe it, my little girl took first!"

"I knew Katsuki and her were cooking up something crazy for the festival but damn, I didn't expect them to shock us that much!" Mitsuki breathed, customary grin replaced with a stunned expression.

On the TV, Present Mic was similarly stunned. However, he made a swift recovery before turning to the camera with his usual enthusiastic grin.

"MAN, WAS THAT AN AMAZING FIRST ROUND! WE'VE STILL GOT RACERS COMING IN, SO WE'LL GO OVER THE STANDINGS WITH AN ACTION REPLAY LATER!"

Inko couldn't help but smile tearily as she saw Ikumi's face displayed on screen, her daughter looking tired and dirty, ribs heaving with exertion but still standing and charming the audience behind the TV with her toothy exhausted grin. While the other students filed in, some of them looking distinctly put out by being beaten to first place, she wiped at her tears.

"I don't think there's a Hero who doesn't know your name now, Ikumi."

—

Ikumi panted, looking around as the rest of the racers filed in. A part of her couldn't believe that she had managed to take first with Kacchan and Mina, that it was some sort of fluke. But there she was, first place. Had it been any other event she would be sporting a gold medal by now.

Uraraka came up, a competitive grin on her face. Her chubby cheeks were flushed with exertion and she was covered in grime and sweat, but she seemed almost radiant with her enthusiasm.

"Man, that was so cool, Midoriya! When you breathed fire like, 'whoosh,' and then just dashed ahead!"

Next to her, Iida looked dismayed. The normally broad-shouldered, confident student looked almost half his size.

"I…I didn't place first in a race with my Quirk?!" Then he shook himself, straightening his shoulders and taking a deep breath, resuming his usual demeanour. "Well, I suppose this is a sign I still have much to learn about being a Hero!"

In spite of herself, Ikumi smiled at his serious antics. "Y-yeah, you'll place first next time for sure, Iida."

The boy nodded, a glint of determination reflecting off his glasses from his eyes. "Indeed! Next year, or in our classes, I shall be victorious no matter what kind of race it is! Nevertheless, my most sincere congratulations for making such an opening!"

"Uh - thank you?"

Iida beamed, giving her a thumbs up while people filed in. Shoji came in soon after, waving to her.

"Congratulations on that last stretch, Midoriya."He sighed dryly, an eye turning to look at his back. "Though I might have made it in earlier without somebody hitching a ride."

"Who-"

"Aw, man…" Mineta pulled himself free of Shoji's back, a slightly disappointed look on his face. "I knew I should have gone ahead with my plan to stick to one of the girl's backs! I mean, if I'd snuck a ride on Midoriya-"

He suddenly stopped when Kacchan put a hand on his shoulder. Instantly, the mood in the arena turned from elation to pure, unadulterated dread.

"You thought about sticking to Midori for a free ride, huh, Grape Bitch?" Kacchan asked the shorter boy with deceptive calm. All the other students in the area were convinced that they were about to witness a murder.

Mineta turned slowly toward Kacchan and flinched. "Uh… that was - that was just a joke! Yeah!"

Nervously laughing, he ran and hid behind Shoji. Instantly, the mood dissipated, replaced again with elation at the recent victory. Ikumi shook her head, turning back to the centre stage as more and more contestants trickled in.

'Good on him for sticking up for her and the other girls, at least.' Ikumi thought, stretching her shoulders. Even if Mineta had improved after the USJ, the thought of him sticking to her or another girl made her feel uncomfortable.

Present Mic's voice rang out the arena, quieting the crowd. "AWRIGHT, EVERYBODY! NOW THAT ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS ARE IN, IT'S TIME FOR THE NEXT EVENT! BUT BEFORE WE GET INTO THAT, WE'VE GOT A TIEBREAKER TO DETERMINE WHO GETS FIRST BETWEEN MIDORIYA, BAKUGOU AND ASHIDO!"

—

Shouto could feel Endeavour's judgemental eyes on him as the screen flickered, displaying the last stretch of the race. The action froze when they crossed the line, zooming in to check who had officially crossed into the stadium.

"WELL, CAMERAS DON'T LIE! BY A MATTER OF A CENTIMETRE, ASHIDO TAKES FIRST PLACE WHILE BAKUGOU AND MIDORIYA TAKE JOINT SECOND!"

Ashido looked stunned, a mildly disbelieving look on her face. Midoriya had a similarly stunned look on her face, seeming to shrink in on herself from the scrutiny. Next to her, Bakugou grit his teeth, before assuming a determined frown.

His eyes narrowed, focusing on the explosive blonde. Shouto had seen that look too many times on his father's face to just let it go. While his father had never lost his temper in public… there was a lot that happened behind closed doors, after all. He wouldn't put it past Bakugou to take his frustration out on Midoriya later.

"The top 44 students from the first round will pass on!" Midnight grinned, cracking her whip. "If you've placed lower, don't worry - you're going to have an opportunity to show your stuff to the crowd later!"

Her grin turned vicious, a smile fitting for a hero who resembled a Dominatrix. "For those of you who have survived, in this next stage, things are going to heat up!"

The screen behind her flickered, blurred. Midnight revelled in being the centre of attention, grin widening as her eyes flashed with a mischievous glint. "So get ready, all of you! The next event is…"

With a flash of light, the next event was revealed, and Midnight cracked her whip toward the screen dramatically. "CAPTURE THE FLAG!"

He stared at the screen, wondering. This wasn't a game he was familiar with - Endeavour had considered such games to be a 'waste of his time,' after all.

His classmates seemed to have a better idea of what it entailed, though. A

"Heck yeah, capture the flag!" Ashido cheered with Kaminari. A blonde girl with hooves and impressive horns cheered loudly as well.

Shouto focused on Midnight. Whatever the challenge was, he would beat it without using his father's fire. No matter what.

—

When he saw those words, Hitoshi couldn't help but wince. Oh, great, a team game.

Uncaring of his mild panic, Midnight-sensei kept talking. "It's a game that demands speed, agility and skill! You're going to divide yourselves into teams of four and then challenge everybody else for the most points!"

His left eye twitched. That's fine and all if you know people here, but I only know Midoriya and the other class presidents. And I can't imagine most people would want to team up with somebody from general studies who hasn't demonstrated a 'flashy' Quirk.

Especially since everybody else was stronger than him. Though he was relatively fresh from the first round of the Sports Festival, Hitoshi would admit he wasn't the most athletic person. He'd tried to work on his speed and agility as best he could after failing the Entrance Exams but seeing the other Hero students, it was painfully obvious that he hadn't improved enough.

On the screen behind her, All Might in his horrible yellow suit posed with a grin and a ball in hand, standing next to Cementoss, Ectoplasm and Snipe. "Now, the rules are basically the same as Capture the Flag in regards to how you score more points - take a flag, or ball in this case, from the other team and bring it back to your base before time runs out. Still, this game of Capture the Flag is getting the Plus Ultra treatment!"

Robots not yet destroyed by the other students darted around, painting a circular area in the middle of the stage, then dividing the rest of the playing field into eleven equal areas. Other robots painted circles near the back of each territory, obviously meant to hold the balls. Hitoshi was pretty impressed, and judging by the 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the other students, he wasn't the only one.

Midnight grinned. "First of all, there's eleven teams on the field, but only four of them will progress to the next round. Attacks can come from any angle, and you can defend your base in any way you please, so long as the balls aren't stuck so only one person could remove them."

Mineta and the guy with tape dispensers for elbows whose name he knew but couldn't remember, groaned out loud. Another Hero student with a headband and a hulking guy with what looked like a helmet for a head also looked disappointed.

Midnight playfully shook her head. "Sorry, that's been done before, and it makes for a really boring match! Besides, that's only for the balls - sticking other people to the ground is fair game!"

They looked happier hearing that, much to Hitoshi's dismay. Midnight continued, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Secondly, you can steal somebody else's ball in transit, either by tagging them or just grabbing it out of their hand." This was demonstrated when Eraserhead took the ball out of All Might's hand with an utterly done expression, while the Symbol of Peace fell to the ground dramatically.

Hitoshi sniggered at the imagery, managing to disguise it as a cough as Midnight continued. "If you get tagged by another player, then you're in jail for three minutes or until another teammate tags you out - so don't all get in jail at the same time." All Might demonstrated this by rescuing Snipe from the middle area, the cowboy themed Hero giving him a thumbs up.

Another plan got scrapped, just like that. He watched Midnight intently as she finished explaining the rules.

"Finally, each team's points will change based on the placement each of its members took in the last race!"

Hitoshi blinked, considering while the rest of the students talked about it. So the people who came in higher have more points. On the one hand, they have a better chance of making it to the next round… But it paints a target on their back as well.

Plus, having to defend a base as well as carrying balls back there meant that he couldn't rely on Brainwashing to make a team for himself. Maybe if it was a cavalry battle, things would have been easier - he could have given a generic command like 'follow my lead,' and be done with it.

Midnight grinned. "So your points start at 5 at the bottom, and increase by 5 each place - so 5 for 44th, 10 for 43rd, 15 at 42nd, and so on and so forth!" Then she frowned."That is, except for the first and second places. They're going to get something a bit different this year."

That caused the other students to pause in their musing. "Um… Why them?" A brown haired girl with pink cheeks asked. He didn't like the grin on Midnight's face as she turned to look at the girl.

"Since they were so close and made such an impression, we decided to divide first place's points among them, with Ashido getting the bigger share!"

The pink girl blinked, stunned. Midoriya swallowed anxiously. Hitoshi could get her nervousness, but it wasn't like the points were going to make that much of a difference-

Midnight's whip cracked. "When you're standing at the top, everyone guns for your head. As such, Ashido gets four million points, while Bakugou and Midoriya get three million apiece!"

Hitoshi and everybody froze. Practically as one, they turned to look at the three who had made such a huge impression on the audience.

Bakugou's face was twisted into a demonic leer. Ashido had a similar grin on her face, the bright pink girl stretching to warm up. And Midoriya looked like a deer in the headlights under the force of everybody's stares, an anxious sweat breaking out.

"This is a survival game where anybody could make a comeback!"

…On second thought, I could have had it worse.

—

Ikumi's heart thundered as everybody stared at her. For a fleeting instant, she felt like she was back in Aldera with judgemental eyes staring at her.

Sure, she has a strong Quirk… But what Hero would be interested in somebody like her?

Then she shook herself. It's not like that. Everybody just wants to win this and be seen by the Pros.

Still stressful, though.

Midnight grinned. "Now that we've discussed the point system, we've got to talk about the other rules! Stating the obvious here, but Quirks are allowed, so this is going to be one hectic match! Even if you don't have a flag in your base, as long as you can secure another flag, then it isn't over!"

Ikumi nodded, pulling at her lip as she thought. So, everybody else needs to balance offence and defence… Well, except for me, Kacchan and Mina, since getting our flags would guarantee a place in the next round.

She was jolted out of her train of thought when Midnight's whip cracked."You've got fifteen minutes to choose your teams, so get to it!"

A lot of 1-A immediately came up to her, Kacchan and Mina, clamouring for a teamup. Kaminari stretched his hand out to try and be more visible. "Hey! Pick me!"

Sero grinned at her as well. "Sure, I can't just tape the flag to the ground like I wanted to, but I'd still be useful!"

Ikumi's mind clicked away. With how many points I have, any team I'm on is going to be on the defensive for the entire match. So I need somebody who I can always count on to help guard the flag…

She turned to her best friend, who was staring at the crowd of people in front of them, before turning to her. Awkwardly she coughed. "Um… K-Kacchan-"

"Like you have to ask," he grunted, before a grin split his face. "As far as I'm concerned, you're always on my team!"

Ikumi sighed fondly. Some things never changed. "If you insist, Kacchan."

He hopped slightly to hit her on the back. "Damn right Midori! Together, we're gonna take the first to end all firsts!"

Ikumi smiled faintly as she looked for more team members. She wished she shared his confidence in winning this match - especially since teaming up meant that there was even more incentive for others to attack their base. We're going to need a couple more people…

Her eyes widened as she caught sight of an old friend. "Kacchan!"

—

"Oi, Stabby. Wanna join the winning team?"

Togaru blinked, looking over at Midoriya and Bakugou. "You're asking me to join you?"

The arrogant blonde grinned at him. "If we work together, we're gonna beat the shit out of everybody."

Midoriya smiled sheepishly. "I-I've got a plan for the match. Admittedly, we're going to be on the defensive for most of it… But it'll be good to work together!"

"I hate to admit it, but you're almost as good as we are." Bakugou sighed. Coming from Bakugou, that was a compliment.

Togaru looked at Midoriya, then winced. "Sorry guys… But I want to be on another team."

Midoriya looked stunned and a little sad, but Bakugou got a look of dawning comprehension. "You want to challenge us or something?"

He couldn't help but grin at Bakugou. "After that first round?"

Seeing Midoriya and Bakugou pull prissy Mr. Ice Prince Todoroki down a peg had really hammered home how much of a difference there was between them.

Togaru nodded. "Yeah, I wanna prove that I've got what it takes to stand on the podium."

He gave Midoriya an apologetic look. "Sorry about this."

For her part, his green haired friend just gave him an understanding smile. "You're just as bad as Kacchan for challenging yourself. No hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings."

"Aw, man, Kamakiri!" Kirishima bounded up. "You had to make a manly speech like that before I could?"

Togaru just shrugged in response. The explosive blonde looked at Kirishima, before understanding. "I'd better see you in the next round, Shitty Hair."

The redhead just grinned, teeth glinting. Then he turned to Kamakiri. "Hey man, you wanna join me and Ashido? Or do you wanna go with your own buddies?"

He looked over to where Ashido was smiling, and then back to Monoma, who was giving him some weird hand signs. Togaru raised an eyebrow at the display, to which Monoma just slapped his hand to his forehead, and pointed to his team.

Right, Monoma's plan to beat 1-A now. He cast an eye around the groups, thinking. On the one hand, Monoma's plan was actually a good one, especially since Kendo was going along with it. But knowing Monoma, he would laser focus Bakugou and Midoriya to try and beat them all. Knowing his friend and rival…

Plus, Monoma would be pissed. That was almost as good as angering Bakugou, honestly.

Decision made, he gripped Kirishima's hand. "Yeah, teaming up with Ashido sounds fun."

—

Neito glared at Togaru as he left with the enemy. "Traitor," he muttered to himself.

Next to him, Kendo gave him an odd look. "You're getting upset over him joining a friend from 1-A? That's a bit petty."

"It's not petty! They-they've brainwashed him!" He exclaimed.

She gave him an unamused stare. "Right."

Neito's eye twitched. "Especially since, even now, everybody's focused on 1-A, especially after that last round."

He held up a hand. "And yes, I'm aware that I'm technically to blame for encouraging our classmates to hold back!"

A bitter note crept into his voice."But what makes them so different from us? One Villain attack?"

He wasn't about to wish for Villains to attack his class or anything like that. But the eyes of the crowd had been firmly fixed on 1-A since before the Sports Festival. Everybody had written the other Hero class off before the matches had even started.

Kendo tapped her chin. "It's hard to say, but they are living up to that attention. Even you have to admit that."

He winced. "Yes, yes, Midoriya was impressive." And she had delivered a good speech too - not that he would ever say something like that in front of the enemy. Especially since anybody from 1-B could have made a better one.

Neito managed to rally, though. "Still! 1-A only had that opportunity because we held back!"

"Hm…" Kendo shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. But even you have to admit that 1-A isn't as arrogant as you thought they were."

"I… suppose that's true," he managed to get out. Much as he hated it, 1-A wasn't as unlikeable as he had thought they were initially.

He was used to people looking down on him because his Quirk wasn't strong enough to make him a Hero by itself. And maybe that coloured his perception of 1-A, since they had a lot of people with Quirks worthy of main character status he knew he couldn't attain.

His smile returned. "But even so, we're going to show them why we hung back in the first round. Aren't we, guys?"

Tsuburaba and Kaibara gave him a thumbs up. "You got it, Monoma!" Tsuburaba grinned.

Kendo sighed. "Just don't be too bad a winner."

Neito nodded, looking around the 1-A students. What better way to defeat 1-A than by using their Quirks better than they ever could?

—

"Hey! High Scores!"

Ikumi blinked, before starting when a pink haired girl with a similarly feral smirk to Kacchan's barged up to them, shoving her face into Kacchan's while ignoring his scowl. "Let me in on your team!"

"Absolutely not," he glowered.

"Um… who are you?" Ikumi managed.

The pink haired girl just laughed, removing her goggles to reveal yellow eyes with crosshair pupils. "Simple! The name's Mei Hatsume, the soon to be greatest Support engineer in the world!"

Kacchan actually bit out a laugh at that. "You've got balls, at least."

Ikumi shot her friend a look which Kacchan summarily ignored. Sighing, she gave Hatsume a questioning look. "I-if it's not rude… why do you want to team up with us?"

"Simple! Since the spotlight's on you guys from that last round," her smile widened, "then that means that if I team up with you, my super cute Babies will be on full display as well!"

"B-babies…?" Ikumi weakly muttered. She hoped that this conversation wasn't going where she thought it was going.

"Yeah, my Babies!" The pink haired girl pulled out a bulging backpack and threw it open dramatically, displaying a horde of items, much to Ikumi's relief.

"I had so many potential options, I couldn't figure out which ones to keep - in fact, I asked a robot to carry on the rest of my Support gear since I couldn't carry it all by myself!"

One of U.A's robots beeped, hustling through the crowd of students with a tray of items. She smirked at their expressions, before focusing on Kacchan. "You want to take the first to end all firsts, right? Well, I can definitely help you with that!"

Seeing that, Kacchan paused as he held up a bracer. "Huh. Not bad, Goggles."

Ikumi nodded, listening while she looked for another team mate. "Now, we just need one more…" Her eyes drifted through the rest of the crowd, before spotting the perfect teammate.

"There!"

—

Mina grinned at Kirishima as he returned. "Man, am I glad to have you on my side Kiri!"

He chuckled, clenching a fist. "Well, Bakugou's already teaming up with a friend. Might as well do that as well."

She turned to the other boy with the insect head. "You're Kamakiri, right? Kiri's talked about you a bit. Nice to meetcha!"

Kamakiri just nodded. "Yeah, I heard a bit about you from Midoriya and Kirishima." he grinned. "I'm guessing you know what my Quirk does."

Mina nodded. "You make knives come out of your body, right?" When he nodded, she beamed. "Alright! Just need one more person crazy enough to team up with us, and we're set!"

"Hey, Ashido!" Uraraka came up, a grin on her face. "You still have room on your team?"

"Sure thing!" Mina gave the pink cheeked girl a thumbs up. "Great to have you, cause honestly I have no idea what I'm doing."

Uraraka grinned. "Have to admit, being on the second highest scoring team is pretty intense, not gonna lie!"

Kirishima nodded, a huge smile on his face. "That's why it's so manly."

"You are definitely my kind of people," Kamakiri smirked.

—

Shouta drifted back to the land of the living when he felt Nemuri shove him in the side. "Hey, wake up Eraser. Show's about to start."

Grumbling, Shouta shed his sleeping bag. Partially feigning tiredness, he gave the groups that had been assembled a lazy look over as they made the finishing touches on their bases. "They've formed some interesting teams," he noted.

She hummed, before cracking her whip, causing Shouta to scowl at the noise.

"Okay, time's up! Hopefully you've come up with an actual plan for the next round. If you haven't, well, that's too bad!"

Yamada's voice cut through the air. "ALRIGHT, EVERYBODY! LOOKS LIKE THE TEAMS ARE ALL SET! GIVE THEM A CHEER AS THEY GET READY!"

The crowd roared its approval.

Shouta rolled his shoulders, looking out at the students. While he was sure none of them would object to the teacher's judgement, it was better safe than sorry. Worst case, if a Quirk went out of control he could neutralise it.

—

Katsuki glanced over his team one more time. "You ready to take the greatest goddamn first place U.A's ever seen?" He growled as he adjusted Goggles' jetpack.

Sure, maybe it was redundant. But if he wanted to attack while still staying mobile, having a second option for mobility wasn't bad.

"THREE!"

Midori nodded, adjusting the oversized bracer-gauntlet combination Goggles had given her. "Don't worry, Kacchan," she muttered with a determined look in her eyes, causing him to grin widely.

"TWO!"

Goggles giggled, the pink haired girl covered in a small arsenal of gadgets. "Ready to win!"

"ONE!"

The last member of their team, Octopus, didn't say anything as he adjusted his own harness of Support gear, just giving a thumbs up. Katsuki took a deep breath, waiting for the final signal-

"BEGIN!"

And almost immediately, several people dashed for their base. "This round's a fight for your points and everybody knows it!" Shittier Hair yelled, running at Goggles.

Thick Lips grinned, pouring a small sachet of stuff down his throat. His pupils dilated, a few veins standing out on his thick neck. "I'M THE CONDUCTOR OF THE SUGAR TRAIN!" He roared, dashing at Katsuki's team.

"WOW, TEAMS TETSUTETSU AND HAGAKURE ARE MAKING A BEELINE FOR BAKUGOU'S BASE! CAN THEY MAKE IT PAST BAKUGOU'S DEFENSIVE LINE, OR WILL THEY BE SENT TO JAIL WITH THEIR TAILS BETWEEN THEIR LEGS?"

Katsuki grinned. Like you need to even ask. Flinging his arms behind him, he threw himself forwards, flying at Thick Lips at lightning speeds. The larger student tried to grab him, but Katsuki had Goggles' jetpack. Quickly firing it in the opposite direction, he halted in the air over the larger boy's wild swipe, dropping to the ground and tagging him in one smooth motion. "Gotcha-"

He barely avoided Thick LIps' swipe, rolling back. "You got tagged, asshole!"

Unfortunately, he wasn't listening to Katsuki at all. "I WON'T - wait, what?" Thick Lips's pupils went back to their normal state. Behind him, Eraserhead loomed.

"Tag," he commented drily, jabbing a finger towards the central jail area. Slumping, Thick Lips went to the centre, giving his teammates an apologetic look. The weird clown guy just slapped a hand to his face, before a jet of thick, yellow-white liquid shot from his hands and knocked an attacker back.

Off to the side, Goggles's weird harness pulled her out of the way of Shittier Hair's attempt to tag her. "As you can see, Support Companies, these Hydraulic Bracers react in a split second, allowing you to dodge attacks with ease!"

Octopus tagged the other jerk, causing him to groan in anguish and stomp off to the jail area. "We'll be back!" He warned.

Katsuki grinned, even as Disney Prince hurried from his base to get Thick Lips out. "Bring your fucking A-game, Shittier Hair! We'll crush you as much as you like!"

"Kacchan-" Midori's nose twitched, and she suddenly dashed to the side, grabbing at apparently thin air. "Shoji!"

Octopus wasted no time, firing a net gun at the space and entangling an invisible figure. They struggled to get out, but then slumped.

"Tag," Eraserhead called once more.

"Aw, nuts," Clothes complained, her Hero costume shimmering into view under the net. She shook a fist at Ikumi. "Damn your sense of smell!"

Ikumi just shrugged, tapping the palm of her gauntlet. A massive shield unfolded, blocking one of Grape Bitch's balls from touching her.

"Hey, why does she have a Hero Costume?!" Blonde Jerk shouted.

"I was approved for this since it's the only way I can actually use my Quirk!" Clothes shouted back. "Unless you want me to go naked on national television-"

"No! No, that's fine!" Blonde Jerk looked a bit rattled at that.

Clothes let out a 'hmph,' crossing her arms and running off to the jail area.

Katsuki smirked. Show that asshole what was what.

—

Neito grit his teeth, turning away in frustration (definitely not embarrassment). Midoriya and Bakugou had chosen their team well, and they worked well together, demonstrated with the latter switching with the former to deal with another competitor. Combined with the multi-armed giant Shoji's sensory abilities and Hatsume's many, many inventions, it would take a lot to get past them.

His eyes lit up when he saw a couple of practically abandoned 1-A bases, teams too thinly spread or distracted to notice. "Now there's an opportunity…" he purred, glancing over at Kaibara. Without a word, they ran in to secure some points and eliminate a threat to 1-B sweeping the game.

Since the focus was on 1-A's arrogant Bakugou right now, that just left a new opening for him to exploit. And if he could get some of their Quirks while he was at it…

His grin split his face. I'll be able to crush Bakugou's arrogant face with his classmates' Quirks!

—

Mezo's eyes craned around their territory. "It seems that they're backing off," he noted, one arm reaching for the bandolier of gadgets Hatsume had supplied him with. After seeing his Quirk in action, Hatsume had insisted on equipping him with a huge number of her inventions, on the grounds that 'having that many arms and not using them to hold my Babies is criminal.'

Personally he felt that so many items were unnecessary clutter, preferring the absolute minimum. But he could definitely see the wisdom in having more options available to him. Something to think about for his Hero costume.

"Really?"

Midoriya managed a smile, hefting her shield. "We just have to hold out until the round ends-"

The air chilled. An engine revved menacingly, cutting through the roar of the crowd.

Mezo turned, and exchanged a grim look with his teammates. He had known that it would happen sooner or later. He brought his arms up, fresh rounds slotted into the chambers of the netguns.

Iida had a look of stoic determination on his face as he came forwards, flanking his team mate.

"We'll be taking that ball, if you don't mind," Todoroki stated dully, ice creeping down his right side.

AN: Wow this went through some mutations.

The Second Round of the Sports Festival is happening!

This went through a whole bunch of mutations just to get to this point. Originally I was going to be boring and use the standard Cavalry Race, except I remember giving myself conniptions and tying myself into knots with point values and other nonessential stuff in Villain Notebook. Then I decided on dodgeball. But then I wondered if it would work with like 12 different teams on the field and agonised. Then, finally, I decided on Capture the Flag.

A couple of OCs later for even division of the teams and here we are! Some bits were more surprising than others, I have to say.

What is Todoroki planning? What about the other teams? Did I delay this chapter partly because I kept changing team compositions?

Yes to the last one but eh. I like to change things up, especially with some other characters. I thought that Shoji and Kamakiri should be teamed up, and I hope the team choices feel organic. Shoji was chosen because he's a friend and his sensory abilities are amazing, Kamakiri is a friend who can cut through lots of stuff with his knives.

Another part of why this took so long to put out was that I tried to do too much in one chapter. Hopefully there's enough action to keep y'all excited for what's to come.

As always, thank you Banchoking on Spacebattles for editing this Hot Mess. Another thank you to my friend Monster Kohai for her help with editing and suggesting horrifying ideas that will probably not make it into the main story. And thank you to my one supporter, W C Purdy for your continuing dedication!

Next time, we'll finish this round! Please give me comments and likes so that I may charge up my energy for the next instalment. Until next time!