Chapter Twenty-Nine
At Present Mic's declaration that it was Ochaco that had come in first, not Izuku, as she'd been hanging on to him when he'd gone back-first through the gate, the crowd started to cheer anew. It was likely just because of the fact that it was yet another upset, even as both Bakugo and Todoroki shot her ugly looks, upset in a very different way.
"But I, but you, I, I shouldn't be the winner!" the girl in question declared, panicked, looking to Izuku with an earnest, apologetic gaze, so close to him they were almost touching. "It should be you!"
Midoriya, however, just shrugged, mouth quirking slightly, blushing a little, and replied, "We did it together, Uraraka. Like Kaminari said, that's what matters. I'm just glad I could help you as much as you helped me."
He smiled at her, the expression surprisingly heartfelt and honest, and the girl reddened, levitating slightly, mutely nodding as my friends walked over, along with two others.
"Asui, Iida, glad to see you both made it through the first task," I greeted.
The frog girl cocked her head slightly, glancing between me and Mina, who looked a bit tired, and a little annoyed, but hadn't said anything. "Are you not glad that they made it, Ribbit?" she inquired.
"No, I'm glad," I disagreed, "I just knew they'd both make it, though I was a little surprised to see them working together," I noted, turning to the pair, remembering their declarations on the subject.
"Just because we did, Mister, doesn't mean you're right!" Mina informed me, frowning, and poking me in the chest.
I just raised an eyebrow, "No, I'm right for entirely different reasons," I teased her, smiling.
My secret girlfriend pouted at me, before sighing, and looking away. "Yeah, you were," she admitted, smiling a little herself. "So, if we had, how'd this've worked with. . ." she trailed off, waving towards my harness, and at Mei, who'd already stripped off her backpack and had slipped out a compact tool kit, tweaking and fixing the overloaded parts of her tendrils.
"We would've made something that'd've incorporated your talents," I shrugged, shooting the inventrix a chiding look, "And not pulled it so close with the flight."
The subject of my annoyance didn't notice.
"Either way, water under the bridge," I said, turning back to the group. "If they're following their pattern, next up is a group event. If we can, the four of us should team up. Or maybe even eight, if that's allowed."
Momo spoke up for the first time since the festival started, "It won't be. The teams the last decade have always been five, at most."
"Furthermore, we should make our teams based on capabilities, not happenstance!" Iida rebuked, and I rolled my eyes.
Looking past him, I saw more and more people start to trickle in, well over the forty-two that'd be allowed into the next round, and tried to look to see who's made it. It looked like all of both Hero Courses had, but I wasn't familiar with everyone in Class 1-B, so it was hard to tell them apart from the others, especially with everyone dressed the same.
"How did you know it was a race?" Yaoyorozu asked me, getting the attention of the others.
"What makes you say that?" Midoriya asked in turn, glancing my way, as I looked confused, not about knowing, which I had, but about why she thought I had.
Momo looked at me carefully. "You had us train moving quickly, helped us with our endurance, and that's not even talking about how you made sure your friend came up with these for me," she stated, gesturing to her feet, and the electric roller skates she wore. The design was such that she could walk with them normally, switching to 'skate' form with the press of a button. It was mechanical, not electronic, which was something Momo had been able to visualize pretty easily once she had the plans.
"Oh, give!" Mei said, suddenly by the creationist's feet, man-handling her to remove the boots. Like a gremlin with its prize, and giggling madly, the inventrix scurried back to her backpack, and the toolset packed within, examining the molecularly-constructed tech.
"Um. . ." Midoriya articulated, uncomfortable.
I just laughed. "Mei takes some getting used to-"
"Brilliance usually does!" the girl in question extolled, having already broken apart the device and looking over it with her enhanced sight.
"But she's extremely good at what she does," I finished, getting a nod of agreement from the dreadlocked girl. "And if the task was anything that needed you to move around quickly, the skates would be useful, Momo. Same for endurance. I'm sure we've all done our share of cardio, right?" I asked the others.
Iida nodded seriously, and Midoriya, with a chagrined smile, nodded as well. Asui shrugged in what I interpreted as a 'kinda', while Ochaco, having calmed down and landed, looked around at the others, realizing she was the only one who hadn't, Momo and Mina already admitting to having been trained by me. To be fair to the girl, Denki hadn't trained that way before the admittance exam either.
"You were training together?" Asui asked, extrapolating from Momo's statement, looking to the three of us thoughtfully. "What if you have to fight each other, ribbit?"
"Then we'd already be in the finals," I shrugged, "And we'd have a much more impressive fight, since none of us would be insta-defeated because of some hidden move."
That got a nod of agreement from the frog-girl, but before we could continue, Mei interrupted us with a cry of, "You got these wrong!"
"I. . . what?" Momo replied, taken aback. "But I followed the blueprints exactly!"
Stepping in as translator as Mei went full-Support technician, I mediated. Momo had indeed followed the plans, but she didn't know the tools that went into making them originally. With her unique construction method, she didn't do what the normal method did automatically, and neither I nor Mei had realized this was going to be an issue until she looked over the finished project, the Support engineer having just handed me the plans and moved onto her next project.
Midoriya and friends watched, heads bouncing back and forth from Mei, to me, to Momo, back to me, back to Mei, only to start the process again. It took a good ten minutes, and Yaoyorozu had to make a half-dozen more skates before Mei declared it 'good enough', which meant it was good enough to be sold commercially, and at a premium.
As we were wrapping this up, Midnight walked up to the stage, requesting "Gather, my cute little students! Let me see all of you!"
Shaking my head at the inappropriate phrasing, I easily hefted Mei's gear, carrying it over to where the rest of our class had gathered, Hatsume barely paying attention as she got back to making some last-minute tweaks to her equipment while I held it steady for her, ignoring my classmates' stares.
"The first game for the first years is finally over, and what a game it was!" the Pro announced, her mask pushed up and sitting on top of her hair for some reason. "Now let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?"
First was Ochaco, then Midoriya, me and Mei sitting at number's three and four. Bakugo was fifth, Todoroki was sixth, with the horn girl, whose name was literally Pony, and the vine haired girl, named Ibara, taking seventh and eighth. Iida and someone I didn't know where were ninth and tenth, with Asui, who was literally on Tenya's back, ranking as number eleven and the list kept going from there.
From the looks of it, every single member of both Hero Courses got in, which on one level made sense, but on another, given my partner, was just disappointing. Did the Support Course students not make anything they could use for this, or had they, unlike Mei, been capable of making support items, but not of using them themselves?
Their teacher was a Pro Hero, in addition to being a Support Technician. You'd think at least a fifth of them would've ended up following his lead.
Even then, I noted that, as the list sped by, mind control boy had barely squeaked in at thirty two, along with, of all things, a business course student wearing an eyepatch, which didn't look nearly as cool on a Freshman as the pose he had for his picture showed he thought it did.
"Only the top forty-two will advance to the next round," Midnight continued, after the winners had scrolled past on the display behind her, "but don't be too let down if you didn't make the cut. We've prepared other opportunities for you to shine," she purred, licking her lips exaggeratedly and giving us all a half-lidded stare that, if I were actually my age, might make me request adult supervision.
The crowd was still cheering sporadically, and after she let that statement sit for a moment, she continued, "Now the real fun is about to begin: the chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight. Give it your best!" Whipping her flog into the air, the display behind her started to spin, once again giving the pretense of randomness. "Let's see what we have in store for you next! Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be, the waiting is torture!"
I just had to sigh, assuming that this was more of Japan's weirdness, as anyone like that at a sporting event back home couldn't get away with half of what she was saying without someone complaining loudly enough for the administration to take action.
Pushing her mask, more a giant pair of glasses that did nothing to hide her identity, back down, she announced, "Prepare yourselves, for this!" With a wide, sweeping gesture, the screen stopped on 'Cavalry Battle', the staff not having changed this event either.
"Allow me to explain!" Miss Midnight stated, turning her back to us, the screen showing a somewhat comical image of Present Mic, Snipe, and Thirteen standing in a triangle, supporting a seated All Might on their shoulders and conjoined hands. "The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit. In theory it's the same as a regular playground game," she noted, shooting us a sultry, over the shoulder look. "But there is one difference. Each player has been assigned a point value based on their results from the obstacle course."
Sato nodded beside us. "I get it, it's a point-based system. Like the entrance exams. That seems pretty simple."
"Which means each team will have a different cumulative value based upon the makeup of their team," Momo noted, Mina nodding and 'uh-huh'-ing. "But then. . . Oh, I think I understand."
" Everyone would understand if you'd let me explain!" Midnight snapped, and both girls shut up, hands up in apology. Slipping back into character, she continued smoothly, "Now then, the point values go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. Thus, forty-second place is worth five points, and forty-first is worth ten. And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is. . . Ten Million !"
"oh no," Ochaco squeaked, voice small.
Smiling, I laughed. "So, Uraraka. How's it feel to be All Might?"
"What?" she asked, confused, even as the other students around us eyed the girl with hostility and greed, sizing her up.
All except one.
"Because everyone is after the top spot," Izuku nodded, understanding instantly, looking to the girl. "If you'll have me, I'd like to be on your team. We worked pretty well before, want to do it again?"
Like she was drowning, Ochaco grabbed onto Deku's sleeve. "I, really!? But everyone's gonna be after me!"
"Then we just need to be better," he smiled, his statement easily carrying to the mic, the screens above us showing the interaction, which I only now realized was part of the show.
I shouldn't be surprised, I thought, shaking my head. When it was him under the spotlight, Izuku froze, unused to the attention as a Quirkless kid, but when it came to someone else needing help? No hesitation. There was a reason the kid was the protagonist, after all.
"And you'll need to be," Miss Midnight purred. "It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overcome the top!"
After her overly dramatic declaration, the rest of the rules were hashed out. Each team only got one headband, which was the combination of the entire team's score, which had to be worn from the neck upwards, as did any stolen ones. We'd have fifteen minutes to fight, an eternity in an actual combat situation, and no team was ever truly 'out', even if they lost their headbands or were toppled. Weirdly enough, making another team 'fall' would disqualify us, despite the fact that we could use our Quirks freely to ostensibly do that very thing.
With fifteen minutes to make our teams and plan, she left us to our own devices, and I looked around. "So, us four?" I asked my three friends, and Mina laughed, nodding.
"I'd rather use the fame of being with the number one to drag attention to my Babies," Mei announced, and I knew her well enough to know that she didn't mean the implied message of 'I want to abandon you', "but since our come-from-behind victory plan didn't work out the first time, we'll just have to do it again!"
"Starting off with six-hundred and eighty points isn't 'from behind,' but sure, let's do that," I smiled. "You grab our Babies from storage, I need to ask MM something real quick."
Getting nods from the others, Mei dashing off to go grab the trove of gear we'd been throwing together for the past several weeks, I jogged over to the stage, where Midnight was watching. "That was fast," she noted, her microphone off, "but I shouldn't be surprised at your ménage à quatre. Are you sure you can. . . satisfy all three of them?" she teased, leaning down to talk to me, crossing her arms under her bust.
"Pretty sure," I shrugged, my eyes not dropping, getting a grin out of her. "Bit of confusion though. You said you we could use our Quirks, but not to make the others 'fall', but isn't that the entire point of using our Quirks? To attack, cause the others to falter, and grab a headband? Because I'm pretty sure Bakugo or Todoroki are going to do things that could cause someone to fall over, given their powers."
I could see her process that, and she stood up, clicking the mic on, "One last little thing, when I said you couldn't use your Quirks to make others fall, I meant you couldn't injure them more than you would in a spar. A bit of rough play is encouraged!" Clicking it off, she leaned back down. "Thanks, Kaminari."
"You meant 'fall' like in battle?" I asked, getting a nod and a grin from the older woman. "Downside of flowery language is that it creates ambiguities. In poetry, or any kind of art, that's the point, but for rules. . ."
The Hero Art History teacher nodded. "But it does make for a much more titillating performance, don't you agree?"
I laughed, and nodded in return, heading back to Momo and Mina, Mei riding her hover-sled full of Support Items towards them as they watched. She swung it to a halt, hopping off and cracking it open. "Now this is a chest that I'm proud of!" she announced, Momo giving her a questioning look while my girlfriend just laughed, given what was said during their first meeting.
Glancing over, I saw Midoriya and Uraraka approach Iida, and get shot down, Ochaco looking hurt while Izuku just looked disappointed.
"Hey, Mei, you made sure to brand everything, right?" I asked, getting a questioning look, and a nod. "And you packed everything that was stable and okay'd, including the extras?" Another unsure nod. Turning, I called out, "Izuku, over here!"
His head whipped in my direction, and I waved him over. Turning back to the others, I motioned for Mei to distribute out the gear, and she nodded, handing Mina the better version of her gloves that the inventrix had whipped up in half an hour, my girlfriend's inefficient design annoying the heck out of the Support student.
Momo and Mina both got electrically conductive harnesses, sized for them, and started to put them on, though they both shot me questioning looks of their own as the other two approached.
"What is it, Kaminari?" Izuku asked, walking up to me.
"First, call me Denki," I told him, reaching in to grab some of our prototypes. "Second of all, is it just you two?"
When Deku was effectively powerless, unable to use his Quirk without breaking his bones, he'd needed a full team to carry him, and had done remarkably well despite his lack of usable powers. With him able to channel One for All safely, maybe because of my advice, but much more likely All Might's personal tutelage, that was no longer the case.
Izuku looked over to his teammate, starting to hedge, "Maybe we could find som-"
"It's just the two of us!" Uraraka insisted, glancing over to Iida, who had approached Todoroki, expression firming as she looked back at me, not taking her friend's rejection nearly as well when it had been her that been refused help, instead of Midoriya.
"All right," I said, reaching in and grabbing the initial builds of the harnesses Mei and I were currently wearing. They couldn't channel nearly enough electricity to make our plans work, but that wasn't going to be an issue in this case. "Put these on. I'll show you how they function in a sec."
"Denki," Momo prodded cautiously. "Are you sure you should be doing that? We're going to be competing with them, after all."
Mei, who I'd talked this over with, got Mina's attention before she could add her own condemnation, explaining the enhanced capacity of her new gloves, as well as the fore-arm guards that worked to enhance the effect. Knowing Mei, I'd put it at a fifty-fifty chance she was doing it on purpose.
"No, we're not," I disagreed. "When it comes to points, they've got ten million. That means, as long as they keep that one headband, they'll pass, but everyone is going to go after them for the 'top spot', which means we can better focus on the others. Hell, we might be able to do the same thing as them, running the entire time and still passing, but I'd like to crack into the thousand-point range before we consider doing that. Additionally, if they win while wearing gear with Mei's insignia, that's just better for her as a Support student."
"It's your symbol too, partner," Mei disagreed, grabbing the better version of the boots she'd designed for Momo from the chest, "Now sit, Printer, and let's get you some actual Babies, instead of your cheap knockoffs!"
The creationist looked to Mina for support, but my girlfriend just shrugged, so the heroine let herself be distracted. Turning back to the short pair of heroes behind be, I saw they were having a bit of trouble getting everything to work. Deku's harness was sized for me, and I had to un-thread and re-thread the clamps, ripping out a few wires in the process, but it only took a few seconds, using the tools in Mei's chest to tweak it.
"Alright," I said, hand crackling with electricity. "Now hold very still."
Deku, eyes wide, snapped straight, thin red lines crisscrossing his skin as he activated his own power. Shaking my head, I put my palm against the chest-piece, channeling a charge into it, another hand on his shoulder to draw off the energy if it started to become too much. This version didn't have a charge-meter, but as soon as the extra lightning started to spark over him instead of into the rig, I drew it off and took a step back, the entire thing booting up, the clamps cycling, one not quite doing it right.
Cutting a channel into an active circuit was normally very very dumb, but with my Quirk I handled it easily, getting it to function correctly.
"Alright, now you," I said, sparking and turning to Ururaka, who, to her credit, after taking a subconscious step back, let out a long breath and approached me. Her harness fit better, just a little bit less in the bust department than Mei, and with a few tweaks it sat perfectly. Her charging panel was on her back, and I did the same thing I did for Deku, bringing it up to full.
Doing so dropped me to sixty percent of my max, still recharging from the obstacle course, but I'd be at eighty-ish by the time we started, in. . . only ten minutes? Make that seventy-ish, and I needed to hurry this up.
"Your harnesses have integrated batteries, which will help supplement any other items you grab and hook into their systems," I informed them. "Mei, you got your loadout?" She nodded, and I motioned to the container. "Anything in the chest should be good to grab."
I myself grabbed a capture gun, opening up the holster on my harness and slotting it in, as well as the backup shield. Hopefully we wouldn't need it, Midnight's revised orders preventing the need, but I knew how out of hand things could get with teenagers, let alone superpowered ones.
"R-Really?" Midoriya asked, looking at the chest full of items. "Oh wow! You've got a jetpack like Airjet, The Buster Hero! But if I'm carrying Uraraka then. . . can I?" Mei nodded, and Izuku grabbed it, turning around, and passing it to Ochaco. "Use this!"
Mei got to work, helping the gravity-nullifier to put it on, explaining its capabilities, and I heard someone walk up behind me, asking, "You're handing out items? I'd like one."
"Sorry, I'll be going after everyone else's headband," I replied, turning around, only to freeze as I felt something slam against my Defenses, hard, my expression going blank as I realized what just happened .
Shinzo, the Mind Controller from the General Studies smirked. His power required a response to kick-in, but then, short of injury, it let him give direct orders to his victims, as long as it didn't require them to think or talk. "Come on, I'm sure you can spare a few things," he stated, and again, his Quirk bounced off my Mind Defense. "Step aside so I can grab a few."
I smoothly unholstered my pistol and levelled it, point blank, at his face. "I said no, Villain. Use your Quirk on me again and I'll shoot you, then have a very interesting conversation with the staff about using your Quirk on people before the event starts."
The smug grin dropped from the Brainwasher's face, and he sputtered, "How. . ."
"Electrical powers mean mind-based Quirks are hit or miss on me," I smiled back maliciously, "But I know when they're used." I wouldn't lie to Mina, but this piece of trash was fair game. "Now walk away, and know that if you go after me and mine, you will lose."
From the corner of my eye, I saw Miss Midnight staring intently at us, and Shinzo glanced her way as well, holding up his hands. "Hey man," he said loudly, "you could've just said no-"
"I did, and you tried to command me, now leave," I insisted just as loudly, not letting him play the image game. His expression turned ugly for a moment, his true self shining through his apathetic mask, obviously not used to being told no. However, he turned his back on me and walked away, likely to go brainwash someone else into being his teammate. Either the teachers knew, and didn't care, or they didn't know, which I found. . . unlikely, given they had everyone's abilities on file, and thousands were watching us.
Then again, from what I could tell, this kind of underhanded bullshit was something that existed in the larger Hero community, so maybe this was a training all its own, just like the cavalry battle itself was.
"Um. . ." Midoriya said, looking between me and the retreating Shinzo. It was obvious he wanted to say something, but he didn't know how to phrase it.
Mina had no such problem.
" Denki, what the hell?" she demanded. "You said he. . ." she trailed off, connecting the dots, mouthing 'Defense', and I nodded. " Ooooooh! Yeah, screw that guy! "
Now the others were staring at her, just as confused as they were before. "Psychic Quirks rarely work on me," I explained, holstering my weapon. "It might be because of my Electrification Quirk, which could make it so that the electrical impulses of my neurons are hardened against outside influences."
It wasn't, but it might be because of that.
"That said, it didn't kick in until I replied to him," I advised, "which means that might be part of it, so if he talks to you, don't respond." I looked around, getting nods from the other five, noting how a couple others nearby were eavesdropping. Shinzo using his Quirk during the event was. . . well, I didn't like mind control, but it was fair game in this setting. However, using it on people before it started? Shinzo might have a complex about having a 'Villain' power, but damn if his actions didn't do more to make him one than the power he was born with.
"To think he would- how unsportsman-like!" Yaoyorozu huffed, and I smiled, glad it wasn't just me.
"Agreed, I might bend the rules a little, but even I have limits," I said, glancing at the timer, only four minutes left. "Let's get everyone kitted out, hammer out some basic plans, and then let's dominate this thing!"
AN: As usual, the next two chapters are up on !