Chapter 27: Ten Million Dollar Man
"Deku, that was amazing!" Shouted an exhausted Uraraka as she jogged over to me. "I can't believe you got first place, and so fast! I'm jealous!" She wheezed, still attempting to catch her breath.
Chuckling at her undamped enthusiasm, I patted her on the head as more and more students began to trickle in through the tunnel. Handing Uraraka a bottle of water, I made to invite Iida over as well, but thought better of it when I saw him lamenting over his sixth place finish.
After approximately another fifteen minutes, the last students arrived in the stadium from the opposite direction, having given up at some point along the course and opting to turn back the way they came. After a quick headcount, Midnight ushered the students to gather in front of the stage as we had prior to the first event.
"The first game for the first years is finally over, and what a game it was! Now, let's take a quick look at the standings shall we." Midnight said as she laid a seductive finger against her lower lip.
The names and student photos began to appear on screen, but I blinked in surprise when the count continued past the forty-two students it had ended with in canon. Just when I thought the system was simply going to show all two hundred twenty students, it halted at number sixty-four.
I suppose that makes sense. They probably assume all forty hero students will make it to the next round, but it would look really bad if one or more didn't, so they give us some breathing room. It also allows more than just two non-hero students to go through to the second round.
"Only the top sixty-four will advance to the next round, but don't be too let down if you didn't make the cut. We've prepared other opportunities for you to shine." Midnight finished, licking her lips hungrily.
What is wrong with this woman?
The slot machine reels appeared once more and began to spin, quieting the stadium once more.
"Prepare yourselves, for this!" Midnight proclaimed extravagantly right as the reels came to a halt on 'cavalry battle'.
The crowd briefly erupted into more cheers before Midnight restored order with a crack of her whip. As she began to explain the rules of the game, I found myself entirely focused upon the image on screen.
All Might weighs like six hundred pounds in his muscle form. How the hell are three people holding him up like that?
I pondered this existential question until Midnight arrived at the distribution of points. Within moments, the eyes of every student still in the competition had become fixed upon me. A healthy dose of anxiety arose and I decided to deal with it in the most appropriate way possible.
"Ten million? That's all? You wound me, Midnight." I said with a laugh.
The pro heroine blinked in surprise but quickly recovered, her lips curving into a sadistic smile. "We'll see if you still have that confidence when the game begins. Now then, you will all have fifteen minutes to find a group of between two to four students. The game itself will also last fifteen minutes, and remember, if you make a team fall on purpose, you're disqualified."
"What classifies as 'on purpose'?" I asked, regaining the attention of several students who had already begun to seek out groups.
Placing a slender finger on her cheek, Midnight hummed softly. "Direct attacks. So in your case, Midoriya, using your quirk directly on an opposing team would result in disqualification. That said, if you were to use your quirk on the ground or air around them and they were to fall over because of it, that would be legal." Midnight quickly searched through the crowd of students before finding who she was looking for. "Todoroki, I'll use you as my other example since you had your quirk on full display in the first event. If you used your ice to create a pillar that knocked over another team, you would be disqualified, but if you cover the nearby area in ice and another team were to slip and collapse, that would be fine."
The assembled students voiced their understanding, and with another crack of her whip, Midnight began the countdown.
I brought a hand to my chin and considered potential teammates for the hundredth time that day. Iida would definitely be ideal, but he's certain to team up with Todoroki just as he did in canon. The same goes for Momo. I'm on good terms with Class B, and they saw my quirk in the first round, so it's possible some of them might agree to team up with me. If I duo with Tokage, I could just put her on my shoulders and she could fly her upper body into the sky, but there's a decent number of ranged quirks here, and Katsuki would chase after her. Pony? She could brace against the blowback from One for All better than almost anyone else here, and her horns would be useful depending on the control she has at this point. Shiozaki? That's protection from Kaminari, and Shoto won't use his fire on her. But wait, how would I explain how I know what their quirks are? Shiozaki didn't follow Monoma's plan and came in fourth using her vines, but Tokage and Pony stayed back with the rest of Class B.
No, there's no time. Besides, if I try to recruit one of the Class B kids, there's a high chance they turn me down anyway. The longer I wait, the higher the chance that Tokoyami finds a different group. Hatsume will wait until the last second in an attempt to share the ten million point spotlight, and Uraraka will standby as well, so I do have some wiggle room, but those two are a great combination anyway. No, I have to stick with my original plan. Izuku made the best decisions he could in canon. All I need to do is add the meta knowledge I have and we will clear most of the potential hurdles.
"Uh, Deku?"
Turning to the interloper, I blinked owlishly at Uraraka, who was giving me a concerned look.
"I've been trying to get your attention for like a minute now. You've just been standing there mumbling. Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.
Huh, so I guess I do mutter out loud sometimes…
Shaking my head to clear away the clutter, I smiled at the diminutive girl. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking of a plan, that's all."
"Oh, great! I was wondering if you wanted to team up with me?" She asked cheerfully.
I nodded enthusiastically. "Definitely! I was just about to find you and ask. Now then, all we need is-"
"There you are! Team up with me, person in first place!" Hatsume demanded, coming within inches of my face.
Uraraka yelped in surprise at the sudden intrusion, but I smiled brightly as my second piece fell into place. "There you are. I was just about to come looking for you. I watched you on the screens during the first event. I think your gadgets could come in handy during this fight."
Hatsume grinned manically and chittered something unintelligible before somehow pushing herself even closer to me. "You recognize the potential of my babies? I knew I liked you, uh… What's your name again?"
Laughing off Hatsume's eccentricities, I offered my hand. "Izuku Midoriya. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Grasping my hand with her own, Hatsume introduced herself exuberantly. "I'm Mei Hatsume, support course prodigy. You and I are going to make the most beautiful babies together."
I heard Ururaka splutter in shock behind me as I laughed at Hatsume's peculiar word choice. "Well, you'll have to take me to dinner before we start on that,-" Ururaka emitted another choked sound at my response. "-but we can start with punching our tickets to the final event."
Another wicked grin crossed Hatsume's features. "This is going to be great for my public visibility. Now then, let me show you my babies!"
Going through the arsenal of inventions Hatsume had brought with her, I found myself slipping into excited discussions with the inventor more than once. Forcing myself to focus on the task at hand, I excused myself from my two teammates and hurriedly made my way over to where a couple dozen students were still standing awkwardly off to the side.
Mostly the general students and some of the less outgoing support students. I imagine they'll end up just forming groups with each other in the last few minutes. They won't stand a chance, especially without a plan.
It didn't take long for me to find the boy I was looking for, leaning against the stage in silent contemplation. "Tokoyami, I need you on my team. Will you join us?"
Tokoyami observed me curiously for a moment before his eyes flit to where the point distributions were still displayed on the holographic projector. "What did you have in mind?"
"That's my plan. So, are you in, Tokoyami?" I asked.
Running a thumb along the underside of his beak, Tokoyami looked over the array of gadgets laid out before him. "Yes, I do believe this will work quite well. I must say, Midoriya. I'm surprised you were able to conjure such a well devised strategy on short notice like this."
Shrugging my shoulders, I pointed to Hatsume, who was busy making last minute adjustments to her jetpack. "Hatsume gives us incredible versatility. We're lucky she had everything we could possibly need. You and Dark Shadow are clear on what to look for, right?"
Tokoyami nodded in confirmation. "Yes. It would indeed be troublesome if one of us were to be stuck to the ground by Mineta's quirk."
"I won't let any of those weird ball things get close!" Dark Shadow agreed, flashing a thumbs up.
With a contemplative frown, Tokoyami continued. "Todoroki has not used his fire in battle up to this point in the school year, and to my admittedly limited understanding, that is due to personal reasons that are unlikely to have changed. Bakugou specializes in close combat, so I'm not particularly worried about him either, at least not in this event. Yaoyorozu is always a significant threat, but given that this is a team battle, it will be difficult for her to exploit Dark Shadow's weakness with items that can be created in the midst of battle. As for Aoyama…" Tokoyami rubbed the feathers on the back of his head uncomfortably. "At this point in our training, I don't believe he will prove to be a serious threat."
Uraraka and I chuckled at the insinuation, but motioned for our teammate to continue.
"Therefore, I believe that Kaminari is likely our biggest threat. It is always possible that one of the other students possesses a light based quirk, but unless it is particularly potent, Kaminari is still the more troublesome foe." Tokoyami finished.
Nodding my head in agreement, I gestured to Hatsume as she finished her tinkering and came to join us.
"Don't worry about that, shadow guy! I have a few babies that will come in handy for Sparky." Hatsume assured us confidently.
Okay, I think that's it. Monoma and Shinso won't come for us, and Kacchan will be distracted going after Monoma until the battle is effectively over. Todoroki and Kaminari will disable anyone else coming for us with their combo attack, so we only really need to worry about them and the opening rush. We can get away at the start no problem, and I trust Dark Shadow to protect us from Mineta now that he knows to expect the balls. Hatsume will handle Kaminari, so that leaves Iida's recipro and anything that Yaoyorozu is able to create. I can handle recipro since I know it's coming, and at this point in her development, Momo can't really think on the fly. We'll still need to be ready to deal with anything unexpected, but between my preparation for what happened canonically and my knowledge of Class B's quirks, we shouldn't be caught off guard, at least not by the hero students, and I doubt the non-hero kids beside Shinso are going to do much. Most of them look like they're about to piss themselves at the idea of going up against the hero course.
Not long after we had finalized our strategy for the battle ahead, a loud buzzer sounded through the stadium and Midnight came to stand atop the referee podium.
"Oh goodie. It's time to get this party started!" She announced, drawing a roar of approval from the crowd.
Game time start.