"Allow me to explain the rules." Midnight began with a dramatic wave of her whip. "The game itself will last fifteen minutes. Individual point values will be added together for your team's total. And everyone will know how much you're worth thanks to headbands. Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your team's score. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, or carried in your hands."
"That means the more you have, the harder it will be to see." Said Kendou.
"Also, even if your headband is stolen or your team falls down, you won't be disqualified. However, if the rider for your horse is one who hits the ground, you're done. And each team must have four members, no more, no less. You will also be able to use your quirks however you see fit. But, there are still rules. Make a team fall on purpose and you will be disqualified."
"So we can't just blast our way through the other teams. And we need to watch how we use our quirks."
"And now for the points value." The R-Rated heroine continued. "To make things more exciting and make your results from the last event more important, we've added a nice little twist. You have been assigned a point value based on when you returned. The last person will be worth five points, and then second to last will be worth ten and so on. Only Shouto Todoroki, who returned first, has an exemption to these rules. You see...he will be worth ten million points!"
Every set of eyes in the stadium turned towards the boy with the two-tone hair. Most people probably would've felt unnerved by the target now painted on his back. But the student in question looked completely apathetic to it all.
'Wait...Todoroki? Is he related to Endeavor? Actually, they do share somewhat of a resemblance.' Midoriya thought once the boy's name registered in his mind. He did find it kind of odd how someone who could possibly be related to the flame hero had an ice based quirk of all things. 'Maybe he's from a different side of the family.'
'He's the guy who got the top spot on the recommendations exam.' Tokage said to herself.
With another wave of her whip, Midnight started the countdown for the students to assemble their teams. It didn't take long for the shuffle to begin. And the students wasted no time in branching off and conversing amongst their classmates.
Before he could even make a move, Midoriya felt something wrap around his shoulders. He quickly turned his head to see none other than Tokage giving him a toothy smirk. "So, you ready to do this partner? I'm counting on you!"
"Y-you wanna team up with me?" He arched an eyebrow at her.
"Hell yeah! Your quirk is perfect for this kind of thing."
'Of course she'd only want to partner up with me because of my quirk.' Midoriya internalized before quickly shaking those thoughts out of his head. It was only logical to factor quirks into a team up like this.
"Plus it's best to team up with people that you know. And the both of us are pretty smart so it's bonus. Now, let's go look for the rest of our team."
"Who did you have in mind?"
Tokage chose not respond before grabbing the green haired boy by the arm and leading him towards the gaggle. A couple of minutes passed before the girl spotted a head of gray hair standing by itself on the outside of the group.
"Yo Yanagi, you don't have a team yet do you?"
"No." The girl shook her head. "I was going to try and team up with Kendou-chan and Tetsutetsu-kun, but the two of them decided to work with that other guy." She said while pointing towards the two classmates in question. Tokage turned her gaze in that direction to see her two friends along with Shiozaki listening to some guy with wild purple hair and bags under his eyes talk.
'Damn, I was hoping for at least one of them to join us.' The girl clicked her teeth. "Well, there goes the rest of my plan. Metalhead or Itsuka would've been the perfect frontman."
The group of three looked around for a minute in hopes of locating their final member. Most everyone was still shuffling around and the only people available seemed to be members of 1-A. Tokage had nothing against the students in the other hero course. But it was too risky to add on someone who's quirk and skillset was a complete unknown.
Suddenly out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya spotted another student walk away from a group of his classmates. Their combination of quirks was already pretty good, but this one student in particular had exactly what they needed to get into the next round. "How about him?" He asked while pointing at his suggestion.
The two girls followed his finger to where it was pointing and Tokage couldn't help but smile at the idea. "I like the way you think, Moptop."
Midoriya, Tokage and Yanagi quickly shifted over to the boy in question. Yosetsu Awase, Class 1-B's resident foul mouth. Before the headband wearing student knew what was happening, Tokage had grabbed him by the shoulders and spun him around. "Awase, you're on our team." She told him matter of factly.
The boy looked at the three of them for a moment before nodding his head in understanding. "Okay, fine with me. I was gonna team up with Monoma's group, but they kicked me out for Tsuburaba."
"Alright, now that we have everyone let's go over strategy."
"So what's the plan?" Yanagi inquired.
"We have a decent number of points in this group. But shouldn't we be figuring out how to grab that ten million points? With Midoriya here, all we need to do is get that headband and have him float us out of everyone's reach."
"Actually Awase-san, if anything we should be avoiding Todoroki-san's team?"
"What, why?!"
"Moptop's right, we should stay as far away from his group as we can. Everyone's gonna be hounding whoever has those points. So we should stick to the outside and stay incognito."
"Okay…" Awase nodded. Midoriya and Tokage were two of the smarter kids in class so he trusted that they could come up with a good strategy. "So how are we going to do this?"
Midoriya couldn't remember the last time he felt this nervous as his group waited for the horn to sound. Looking around the field and staring down his own classmates made his heart rate jump a bit. Sure, they weren't the main target. But he was certain that a couple of teams were going to be coming after them based on their quirks alone. Yet despite his nerves, Midoriya was feeling really good about the impending chaos. Especially with the strategy that their group had concocted for this event.
Out of nowhere, the boy felt a light squeeze on his left shoulder.
"Damn dude, I can almost smell your nervousness from here." Tokage smirked at him. "We'll be fine."
'Man, his shoulders are solid.'
"Are you guys sure that you want me as the rider? I mean, either one of you would make a lot more sense." Awase asked for the fourth time.
"You're actually the perfect person for the job." Yanagi answered. "Since you can weld the points to your head, everything that we manage to get will be safe."
"All you need to do is keep your eyes peeled, hold on to those points and let us do the heavy lifting." Tokage added on.
"Okay." The 'weld' quirk user nodded.
"Beginning the second event! Prepare yourself for this totally brutal battle royal!" Present Mic said as his voice rang through the stadium. "START!"
As if on cue, almost every team in the stadium charged directly for Team Todoroki. This was to be expected though and it gave their team the perfect chance to scout out the competition. Fifteen minutes was more than enough to secure a spot in the final round. For now, they were just going to play the waiting game.
Just as the two greenettes predicted, all of the attention in the stadium was strictly focused on the ten million points. While most every other team around them made their plays at the guaranteed victory, Team Awase waited for their opportunity to strike. Luckily for them, that opportunity came when one of 1-A's teams ran right past them. Their rider appeared to have some sort of invisibility quirk, which meant that you couldn't see where their hands were moving. But seeing as the headband was facing away from them, the student wasn't paying their group any attention.
"Yanagi." Tokage told the girl while pointing. The 'poltergeist' user gave a quick nod and used her quirk to discreetly lift the headband off their head. The girl wasted no time in floating the piece of cloth back over to them and letting Awase catch it before welding it to the back of his neck.
'She was able to do that with such finesse. I probably would've jerked that person's head if I tried to do it.' Midoriya briefly marveled at his teammate's skill.
With their first score of the day, Team Awase decided to move around. Staying in the same spot wasn't a good idea. On top of that, the mob was slowly making their way over to them. The game went on for another few minutes and their team managed to discreetly grab another headband without the other noticing. That group was yet another team made up of members from 1-A. Tokage was able to reach inside the masked kid's protective shell and slip the headband off that Tsu girl without her noticing.
Everything was going according to plan until their team began sinking into the ground. The students looked over to see Team Monoma heading towards them. Their group consisting of Tsuburaba, Honenuki. Kuroiro and of course, Monoma.
"Sorry guys, but you weren't the only ones keeping a low profile." The 'copy' quirk user taunted. "No hard feelings, right?"
"Dammit!" Tokage cursed before squeezing her teammate's shoulder. "Moptop!"
"On it!" Midoriya said before activating his quirk and lifting them out of the quicksand. Although the area that Honenuki could manipulate was large, it wasn't any trouble for the boy to float them to safety.
"How about we call a truce?" Tokage smirked back. Monoma may have been a weasel, but he was smart enough to see that they were at a disadvantage when it came to quirks.
The group of boys simply stared at them for a moment before Monoma gave Honenuki the signal to turn around. The blonde haired boy had been hoping to copy Midoriya's quirk. But trying to get close to them was going to be an obstacle that would take up a lot of time. Instead, their team opted to go after the loud mouth blonde from 1-A.
With that minor inconvenience out of the way, Team Awase continued avoiding the rest of the teams. They were sitting comfortably in third place, but no one was even paying them any attention. The only real hiccup came during a brief face off with Team Kodai where Bondo almost glued their feet to the ground. But besides that, they managed to stay safe.
Back in the commentator's booth, Present Mic was doing his best not to spoil the fun.
"Geez Shouta, your class isn't even paying attention to the 1-B teams. I don't think any of them have even checked the scoreboard in a while." The voice hero commented while placing his hand over the microphone.
"They're too focused on the ten million points. It may be logical to prioritize eliminating Team Bakugou and Team Todoroki altogether, but they're neglecting half of the other competitors." A heavily bandaged Aizawa groaned out.
"Part of me wants to rain on their parade, but I can't wait to see how they'll react if the standings stay how they are now."
"They'll just have to learn the consequences of not being aware of their surroundings."
As the clock began winding down, Tokage couldn't help but smile at how easy all of this was. Sure she didn't really get any chances to stand out so far, but she'll have more than enough opportunities for that in the tournament. The green haired girl was about to start celebrating right then and there before an audible gasp from Yanagi brought her back to reality.
"Midoriya-kun get us off the ground." The grey haired teen said earnestly.
"Wha-"
"Now." She ordered.
Midoriya didn't give it a second thought and immediately lifted their team into the air. And it's a good thing that he did. Because barely a couple of seconds later nearly half of the field was assaulted by a massive wave of electricity. All Team Awase could do was watch their classmates convulse in discomfort at the unexpected attack.
"What the fuck was that?!" Awase asked while looking around.
"There." Yanagi pointed to Team Todoroki. "I remember that blonde boy's quirk from the entrance exam. He used it to electrocute a good amount of robots in one area."
The other 'telekinesis' user in the group took a second to watch Team Todoroki continue maintaining their hold on first place. Bakugou had just made a pass at them, but the ashe blonde boy's attack was thwarted by a wall of ice. It was in that moment that Midoriya noticed the large stone rod that Todoroki used to freeze the ground with. Now he thought about it, the heterochromatic student had used similar techniques during the obstacle course.
'Does he need contact with the ground to freeze things?' He wondered before Awase gave him a nudge on the shoulder and told him to go the opposite way.
With that last obstacle avoided, Team Awase was able to hold on to third place. There was a mad dash for the ten million points at the end, but they managed to stay out of the way of that nonsense and keep everyone else at bay. And barely a few seconds later, the sound of the horn signaled that the battle was over.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's check out the standings for the cavalry battle. As you are all aware, only the top four teams will advance to the next round!" Midnight announced as she dramatically motioned towards the monitor. "With 10,000,455 points is Team Todoroki in first place!"
Naturally, the crowd began cheering for the winners.
"In second place, Team Bakugou. With 1,685 points!"
More cheers followed the announcement of second place.
"Taking the third place spot, is Team Awase. With 1,590 points!"
"Who?" More than a few of the 1-A students said in unison while checking the other teams. Midoriya could almost feel the death glare that Bakugou was giving him across the field.
"In fourth place is Team Shinsou. With 670 points!" The R-Rated heroine announced.
'Who the hell is Shinsou?' Tokage thought as she looked around. After a brief second of searching, the green haired girl's eyes locked onto the group consisting of Tetsutetsu, Kendou, Shiozaki and that same purple haired boy from earlier. What was strange was that everyone on that team aside from the tired looking student all had confused looks on their faces. And Tetsutetsu was rubbing his eyes really hard.
"And finally, we have Team Kodai. With 330 points!" She motioned toward the only other team that was able to retain their headband. Apparently they played a more defensive strategy but never seized the opportunity to get some extra points. Also, Kodai shrunk down her headband and kept it wrapped around one of her fingers.
"Congratulations to all our competitors! But especially to our sixteen finalists! We're going to take a brief one hour lunch for our fans and students to relax before the final round and prepare the arena. But before that, here are the matchups for the upcoming one-on-one tournament." Midnight said with yet another exaggerated motion towards the stadium monitor.
On cue, the first bracket for the final tournament appeared on the screen.
Midoriya vs Todoroki
Iida vs Awase
Bakugou vs Tetsutetsu
Shiozaki vs Kaminari
Shinsou vs Ashido
Tokage vs Sero
Yanagi vs Yaoyorozu
Kendou vs Kirishima
While Tokage and the others were high-fiving each other for making to the final round, Midoriya couldn't help but feel a slight tingle down his spine. 'I'll guess I'll be going up against the favorite in the first round.' He thought as he turned his gaze towards Todoroki, only to be met with the sight of the teenager looking aloof and completely uninterested.
"Man Midoriya, you're a lifesaver dude!" Awase patted the green haired boy on the back.
"Huh?"
"Awase-kun is correct." Yanagi stoically added. "If it wasn't for you then we wouldn't have been able to get passed this round."
"W-Well you guys did a r-really good job too." Midoriya nervously retorted.
"Y'know...for someone as powerful as you are, you're pretty humble. Usually people with strong ass quirks are major dickwads."
"O-oh uh, y-yeah…."
"We should hurry and get to the cafeteria before it gets crowded." The gray haired teen suggested.
While the three of them began their journey to get some much needed lunch, Tokage went to go check on her friends. The remaining members of Team Shinsou were all giving each other weird and confused looks.
"You guys okay?" The 'lizard tail splitter' user asked with much concern in her voice.
"What the hell just happened?" Tetsutetsu looked around in a perplexed manner.
"I don't…" Kendou started while shaking her head. "I don't remember anything..."
"Neither do I." Shiozaki echoed.
"What?" The other green haired teen tilted her head in curiosity. This didn't sound good at all.
"That guy, the one with the purple hair. I...I think he did something to us!" Tetsutetsu suddenly blurted out.
"I think Tetsutetsu's right."
"Do you guys need to head over to Recovery Girl?" Tokage asked the trio.
"I don't think so."
A now annoyed Tetsutetsu slammed a fist into his open palm. "That son of a bitch! Where the hell does get off doing something like that? I don't even remember what he did to us!"
"Shiozaki-chan, do you not remember anything at all?"
"No." The vine haired girl shook her head. "The last thing I remember is you three approaching me and then everything went...foggy."
Tokage turned towards the tunnel to catch a glimpse of Shinsou casually strolling his way over to the exit. Something about this wash fishy. The fact that three of the strongest students in her class had no recollection of what happened certainly didn't sit right with her.
"Well...whatever that guy did, you can just get back at him during the next round. Actually, you might not even get a chance since I might have to fight him before any of you." The girl smirked with thumbs up.
"Ugh...this is so annoying! Just what the hell is that guy's quirk?"
"Worry about it later. For now, let's just get some food in our guts and start strategizing."
"Setsuna's right." Kendou interjected. "There's nothing we can do about it now. We just need to pay close attention to that Shinsou guy during the first round. Plus, I kinda want a chance to get back at him for doing whatever the heck it is that he did to us."
"That's the spirit!" Tokage cheered while grabbing the three of them of them in her arms and making a beeline for the cafeteria. "Neither of us are going up against him in the first round so we can scout him out. Now let's go get our grub on!"
On his way to the cafeteria, Midoriya made a detour over to the locker room to grab his phone. Once he retrieved the device he wasted no time looking up the highlights from the previous two rounds. More specifically, the highlights of Shouto Todoroki.
The heterochromatic teen was powerful, there was no denying that. And his quirk could cover a wide area in an instant. However, as he was looking over the footage from the boy's exploits during the obstacle race he took note of one particular detail. Every time Todoroki used his quirk, it came from a body part that was in contact with the ground at the time. He mainly used his feet, but every now and then he would freeze something by touching it with his hand.
'I guess I was right after all.' Midoriya told himself.
It didn't take long for the boy to make it over to the student cafeteria and grab his food. Like usual, he went with a decent sized bowl of katsudon and a large glass of water. On any other day, he would've quickly scurried up to his normal lunchtime location. But seeing as they were in the stadium instead of the main campus, that wasn't really an option for him. Midoriya began searching for a nice, quiet place to eat his food and go over his strategy. But a familiar voice caught his attention.
"Hey Midoriya-kun, we saved you a seat!" Honenuki called out to him. The boy looked over to where the lipless teen was sitting only to see that his class had pretty much taken over an entire section for themselves. Although he would've preferred eating alone, the stunning lack of open seats heavily influenced his ability to make a decision.
"T-thank you, Honenuki-san." He said as he took the open spot across from the boy. This particular seat was at the end of the table. To his right was Yanangi and across from him on Honenuki's left was Tsunotori.
"Are you ready for the next round? You're the first one up, right?"
"Y-yeah." Midoriya nervously answered. "Sorry you guys got eliminated in the last round."
"Eh, it I what it is." Honenuki shrugged. "Honestly, that guy from 1-A with the explosion quirk just got the better of us. I thought sinking his teammate's feet would've been enough to slow him down. But I guess it wasn't."
"Yeah, blast man very fast with powers." A slightly dejected Tsunotori added on.
As it turns out, Team Bakugou was the reason both of their groups didn't advance to the tournament stage. Apparently Monoma decided that it would be a good idea to antagonize the boy about some incident that occurred a while ago. And Tsunotori's team had their headband stolen from them in the final seconds.
"Well, you guys still did great out there." Midoriya told them in an attempt to brighten up their moods.
"Hey, better luck next year right? At least we got a chance to show off to the pros a bit. So I'm not too worried about internship offers. Plus, I get to relax for the rest of the day and enjoy the show. And I'm definitely looking forward to how you handle Todoroki-san." Honenuki joked.
"That guy got first place in both events. He's probably the overall favorite to win the entire thing." Awase added on from his spot next to Yanagi. "If anything, Midoriya's got to face the toughest opponent right out the gate."
"I overheard some of the 1-A guys say that he's the strongest one on their class while we were in line." Kaibara spoke up.
"Midoriya-san will do nice, because he can jump through air. That other guy only freezes things." Tsunotori was next to voice her opinion in broken Japanese.
"He still shouldn't take the guy lightly though. I remember him during the recommendations exam. He's powerful as hell and he's quick with his ice."
"Oh yeah, I forgot you got into U.A. on recommendations." Awase waved his chopsticks at the lipless teen.
"Yeah, barely." Honenuki shot back.
"What do you mean?" Midoriya asked.
"The only reason I got in was because someone else pulled their application a couple of days after the exam was over. If it wasn't for that I would've had to take the regular entrance exam like everyone else."
"Why the hell would someone pull their application from U.A.?" Kaibara wondered.
All Honenuki could do was give him a confused shrug. "Who knows? Either way, Midoriya-kun's gonna have his work cut out for him."
"He'll be fine!" The horned teen gave Midoriya a thumbs up.
It was certainly an odd feeling for the boy to be given a vote of confidence by anyone, let alone another classmate. Although he did appreciate the kind words, his mind was more focused on the task at hand. If everything they were saying about this Todoroki guy was true, then he was going to have to be careful.
The conversation went on pretty normally for the next fifteen minutes before the stadium's intercom sounded. "Will Izuku Midoriya and Shouto Todoroki please report to the designated waiting area."
With that, the green haired boy stood up and began making his way over to the exit.
'Alright Izuku, it's showtime.'