Author's note: I have swapped out the line breaks for -0O0- because of the issues with AO3. I can't find a reasonable way to place in line breaks without having to manually read each one. If my chapters were smaller, this wouldn't be an issue though.
With this new method, I hope that AO3 will accept these. I am sorry for the inconvenience regarding line breaks in the past to my AO3 readers, and I apologize to my readers for the change in style.
-0O0-
Aizawa read the audio system's buttons before he pressed mute on their microphones. His other hand was on his forehead. "Was it really logical to ask that with the audience listening?"
Present Mic shrugged with a big, dumb grin. "What? It was more fun that way! Besides, anyone who could have seen through our double meanings would also have been able to come to that same conclusion."
He kicked his feet up and snapped his fingers before pointing down at the audience. "Besides, the entire stadium is booked out with an overwhelming majority of heroes. I bet many of them already figured out how off the rails things could go."
Aizawa hummed as he felt almost inclined to agree with Present Mic, yet disagreed on a fundamental aspect.
'That's only part of the picture though. Many of the people watching do not know to watch for anything more than the flashiest Quirks. Powerful emitters, super strength and speed, they're not seeing anything beyond the surface level or what is readily shown. Koda had done nothing for the early part of the battle, but in a single move was able to threaten every team. Yaoyorozu hasn't attacked directly enough to draw the audience's attention, yet her support has allowed her team to become an incredible threat. Aoyama and Kaminari would not be anywhere near as dangerous as they are without her support. It's illogical to not see the full picture, but their views are conditioned by the media's focus on traditional powerhouses.' Aizawa thought to himself.
-0O0-
Todoroki glared as Sato charged full tilt towards him. The giant wanted to close the gap as quickly as possible.
"Tenikari is overhead! Aoyama, take aim!" Momo called out as she began to create a net. 'She must be planning a two pronged assault.'
"Forgive me." Aoyama said weakly. His face was pale and his legs shook while his stomach tightened like a snake squeezing in on itself. He hunched over, one hand around his gut while the other gripped onto the platform. He allowed himself to slip onto one knee to lower his center of balance. "I cannot dazzle like before."
"Leave Sato and the others to me." Todoroki said dryly as his body temperature dropped again. 'Sato has a simple mind while using his Quirk, which is only a five times strength boost. My ice output can overpower Ashido's acid. As for the other pink haired girl, I know nothing about her.'
"Kaminari!" Momo gave her next order with determination. "Aim for Sato!"
"I'll zap them like the others!" Kaminari nodded before aiming his staff out beside Todoroki, who raised an annoyed eyebrow toward the assistance that hung out just in front and beside him.
SshshrrrRR! Todoroki brought a foot up before stomping forwards at a low angle. A current of ice coursed from the ground and ran towards Sato's feet.
"Raaah!" Sato crouched in his run before leaping into the air. Mei's boots hummed before he took off. He soared up into the air.
'Higher than I was expecting, but jumping into the air with no way to dodge is a bad idea.' Todoroki glared up at the brute as he stomped again, this time from a higher angle. 'He can't block this.'
SsshHHRRR! A fresh patch of ice grew from in front of him before sprouting into a jagged pillar that shot up towards Sato.
"Acid hose!" Mina shouted as she leaned over Sato's shoulder. Her hand reached out and began to spray out a stream of gray acid.
Hissss! Cruck! The ice's growth was cut off as Mina's acid cut into it. It hissed and cracked as she kept the pressure up until it nearly melted away.
Crshhs! Sato smashed through the weakened pillar, continuing his descent.
"You're miss Yaoyorozu right!?" Mei asked as she pulled Mina back up. She then grabbed out her net gun and lifted it up. "I really want you to see my babies!"
"Huh?!" Momo was caught off guard by Mei's request. She brought her eyes off of Tanya to see Sato and the two girls falling towards her team.
Mei fired her net gun at Momo with a playful, manic grin on her face. 'Three nets left. I hope she likes this one!' She thought.
Wfffr! The net landed over Momo as she gasped before struggling. "Kaminari, Todoroki! Watch out for Tenikari!"
"Sugar-" Sato roared as he brought his fists over his head, "SLAM!"
SshHHhrrR! Todoroki stomped his foot again, his teeth grit as a new pillar of ice rose up. This one was wide and stocky and slanted over his team.
CCrsHHH Thud! Sato slammed down on the ice roof. Cracks ran across it as his fists crashed into the crystal defense.
The roof began to hiss as Mina's acid began to bore a hole straight through.
Todoroki aimed a hand up and blasted it with frost, replacing the ice. 'This is like sparring with Endeavor again.' He fumed to himself as he felt that he had to defend against an endless onslaught of moves.
"Hey HEY HEY!" Kaminari began to panic as he tried to move his copper pole. The end of it was embedded into the ice. "I can't move my pole!"
"You were in my way." Todoroki hissed under his breath. A puff of frost came out as his right side was starting to grow ice.
Shoto raised an eyebrow as he could hear Sato's boots hum before the structure shook from his jump. 'Where is he going?'
Momo's eyes widened. She brought down a hand under the platform and began to create a new copper pole that extended out of her net and towards Kaminari. "Take this, quick!" She cried out.
Kaminari let go of his pole and reached down to take Momo's new one. 'We can do this! Before-'
Fffwwoo. Tanya slipped in overhead. Her large, white wings nearly grazed the jagged ice roof as she flew in.
"Eek!" Aoyama screamed out as he brought his hands up to protect his head. His body shivered from his sick stomach and he could barely stand up. "Someone, help me!"
Tanya jabbed a hand into Aoyama's personal space, grabbing the tails of his headband before yanking. It popped right off and slid from his head. "You are all-"
Kamanari ditched the pole as he leapt up with his left hand extended. His hair raised up as lightning jumped around him. 'I just need to tag her!'
"Far too slow." Tanya grinned wickedly before flapping her wings and shooting backwards, away from Kaminari and Todoroki.
"Be not afraid my lost lambs." A saintly voice called out from beyond the ice.
Everyone on Momo's team had a sense of dread wash over them.
"Your shepard is here."
Momo thrashed as she produced knives from her skin, slashing away at the net and scrambling to get it off of her. "Everyone, we need to move, now!"
Todoroki's face went blank, opting to show no emotion. His heart raced for a moment as he stomped his foot again.
SshHHRrrRRR! The ice erupted around them, creating a den with a single exit. Light from above began to grow darker as vines crawled over his icy bunker.
"RUN!" Kaminari screamed as everyone on their team turned around, making Todoroki the back horse with Kaminari and Momo at the front.
Crrrch. Crush. The vines began to dig through the ice like worms slamming their heads into the dirt.
As their team ran, chunks of ice fell from the ceiling as vines reached down towards their team.
"Freeze." Todoroki ordered as he reached his hand up and fired a frigid blast at the prodding vines, freezing them solid.
As their team made it out, vines had completely overtaken the bunker, crushing it in a barrage of green tendrils.
"I know she's pretty and all!" Kaminari screamed as their team ran away from the green tide sweeping towards them. "But she's really freaking me out right now!"
-0O0-
Mere moments ago, Rikido Sato had slammed down atop Todoroki's ice shelter.
CCssssCCH! The ice cracked under his boots as his fists pounded against the roof.
"Aach!" Mei cried out as the wind was knocked out of her on impact.
Mina raised a glob of acid and got ready to chuck it at the ice. "Why didn't these ones come with cushioning?!" She complained.
Mei groaned from the dull pain but a grin came to her face anyways. "The next version of these babies will come with landing features. Failure and repetition is an important step in the baby making process!" Mei beamed in joy as she raised a thumbs up to Mina.
Hisss. Her acid began to melt through the ice, only for a blast of frost to repair the hole.
Tanya flew down to meet her teammates in a hurry. Her smile was gone as she was afraid but focused. Her eyebrows furrowed in determination. "Everyone! Get out of here! I'll get the bands and meet back up with you!"
"What's going on?!" Mina asked as Sato squatted down, following Tanya's orders.
Mei rapidly tapped Mina's shoulder as she looked behind them. "Ms. Pink Girl Whose Name I Forgot, there's our issue!"
As Tanya swooped over the edge of the ice shelter and slipped under, Mina looked at what Mei was talking about before her face went pale.
A sea of vines were slithering towards them. Shiozaki and her team stood not far behind. All to her left and all to their right, the vines stretched as far as the arena would allow.
"Up up up up! Now!" Mina cried as Sato's boots hummed to life.
"That's full charge, go!" Mei shouted before take off.
VVVVFFWWooossHhhH! Their team took off like a rocket. The air whipped past so fast that it was deafening as it yanked and dragged on anything exposed.
"Be not afraid my lost lambs." Shiozaki's saintly voice called out to them all.
"Your shepard is here." Shiozaki raised her hands towards Tanya's team and her vines rose to her will. The vines shot up into the air, chasing the team as they stretched.
Mina made the mistake of looking up. Her lips pulled back and her cheeks stretched from the drag as she squinted. "AuhhhhHHHH!"
Vines chased them up into the air, failing to catch up to them after they reached their maximum height. Beneath them, the ice began to crack as Shiozaki assaulted Aoyama's team as well.
Mina pulled her head to the side and looked over the arena and saw how far Shiozaki's vines had reached by now. From the north end all the way down to where she was now, green vines controlled the entire domain. A line of foliage and of domination.
As they reached the apex of their jump, Mei zoomed in on several other teams. "It looks like we're not the only team being targeted. The two loud blondes are being assaulted as well."
They began to fall and Mina looked over and her paling got worse. "You didn't put landing gear on something that can jump several stories!?"
"Didn't I already answer that!" Mei complained back as her grin began to fade for fear as they fell. "Oh. I see the problem now…"
Tanya flew back towards them with her new headband on. "I'm not letting my team crash now." She grit her teeth.
"Heeelp!" Mina cried out as Sato's eyes went wide while picking up speed. Mei clutched tight to Sato's back, shoving her face in and screwing her eyes shut as though she could block out the danger.
Tanya flew up behind her team and grabbed Sato's harness. She arched her shoulders back like she was deadlifting. Her teeth ground together as she opened her wings wide. "You're. All. So. Heavy!"
"I promise, I swear, if I live through this I'll follow safety testing before any babies leave my workshop!" Mei prayed as she held on for dear life.
"Rchh! NngHH!" Tana strained as her back hurt. Her wings caught the air and pulled on her spine and ribs. Her arms burned from her team's weight.
"Ahh huh!" Sato gasped as his voice finally caught up to him.
"Come on Tanya!" Mina cheered her friend on while terrified.
The team began to glide forward more and more. Tanya's feet planted into Sato's lower back as she tried to fight the torque of her team pulling her.
Sato put one foot out ahead of the other as he aimed to run when they hit the ground.
"Dropping now!" Tanya barked as she let go of her team and shot forward without them.
Sato hit the ground and ran as fast as he could, stumbling and catching himself on his hands while scrambling to avoid rolling over.
Csshhhh! "Raaagh!" Sato fell onto his knees and hands as he skid to a stop. The orange red dust of the arena kicked up as he slid along, unwilling to roll with his team on his back. He panted as he caught his breath.
Mina pumped a fist up in the air. She roared out in excitement, "We're alive! Let's goooo!"
"No more untested babies…" Mei mumbled to herself as she pried her reddened, shaking face off of Sato's back.
"Ah, ahhh." Sato hissed in pain as he picked himself up slowly. His hands were road rashed red as blood trickled down from his abrasions. His knees shook as the gym pants shredded from the drag and had torn completely through on the knees. The redness of abrasion and a few trickles of blood came through. Something clicked behind his kneecaps as he straightened himself up.
Mina grimaced as she saw the damages. "Aye-shhh. You ok there big guy?"
Sato gulped as he stood up to his full height slowly and sniffed a little. A few tears ran down his face as he grit his teeth. "Yeah. I'll be fine…"
"Sato!" Tanya called out as she glided in before landing on his back. "Start moving! Shiozaki is still after us. That glide only bought us some time."
Tanya flicked her wings before shakily folding them up behind her. Her lip twitched from the soreness as she rested for a moment. 'That carry hurt. Just a quick breather and I'll take off again.'
"Keep going." Sato nodded his head before leaning forward and getting back to running. He started off slow before ramping up, opening his stride and letting the pain wash away. 'My team needs me. I have to keep going.'
Mina grinned up at Tanya. "So, we got Todoroki's headband! Pretty sweet huh!"
Tanya nodded for a moment as she looked into the distance while thinking. "With this band, we can more easily secure a top four position. Another high value band and the next round is guaranteed."
"The exploding blonde has the most bands though." Mei pointed out as she kept an eye on Shiozaki's rolling tide of vines. "Although, it seems like he and the other blonde are having a hard time with the vines."
"Bakugo," Tanya reminded her ally of his name, "and yes. By the looks of it, he's overexerted himself again. Sato, change course. We will not approach close enough for Shiozaki to grab us. I will handle getting the bands, you guys stay back."
"Let's go fight another team!" Mina Ashido cheered as she pointed to Bakugo. 'It's nice of Tanya to give Sato a breather. That was a pretty messy fall.'
'I need my team to cover my escape route. Between Sato and Ashido, it's unlikely Shiozaki will be able to bind them.' Tanya thought to herself. She didn't really worry too much about Sato's condition, he was still able to run.
Sato nodded as he veered his run to turn towards Bakugo's team.
-0O0-
Sen dashed as fast as his spinning legs could take him. The chunks of Setsuna flew alongside him. "Shiozaki's lost it!" He shouted as he leapt over a vine that swung to grab at his drill spinning ankles.
Setsuna's hand, still holding onto his jacket collar, knocked on his neck in confirmation. Her floating eye was worried as she watched over Sen, giving him a yank to help dodge attacks he wouldn't have seen coming.
"Heh." Sen smirked through his fear. "Wouldn't want to be Monoma right now."
Sen dropped into a slide as Setsuna yanked him down. A vine had reached for his neck, narrowly missing. He then bent his knees and brought his forearms to the ground.
He spun his legs below the knees along with his forearms, causing him to shoot forward. His calves and forearms acted like the wheels of a small car.
Sen leaned to the side, following Setsuna's pull, dodging another path of vines that shot after him by racing around like a racecar.
"Ugh!" He grunted as he stopped his leg spin, causing the torque to shoot him upward. He then stumbled back to his feet before zipping away once again.
"Come on Pony, take Monoma's band from me!" Sen cried out as Shiozaki's vines continued their assault.
-0O0-
"Bluurgh!" Monoma gagged as he fired glue out of the holes in his face, freshly copied from Bondo.
The glue slathered over the vines, clumping them up for Rin's scale shots to shred through.
"Targets I can hit." Rin grinned as he prepped more scales on his arm.
Yui Kodai reached across to Rin's prepared arm, touching his scales. She gave him a confident nod.
"I don't know what you're planning, but I'm trusting you." Rin took aim and began to fire.
His scales flew through the air. As they flew, they began to expand to the size of shields thanks to Kodai's quirk.
SShhhER! The scales cut through Shiozaki's tide of vines, slashing through the air.
Rin prepared another barrage of scales, reaching his hand over for Kodai. "Do it again!" He ordered with a voice full of glee.
She high fived him with a blank expression, applying her Quirk to his scales.
"If we keep this up." Bondo huffed as he ran as fast as his lumbering form could take them. "We might just make it out!"
"Be not afraid my lost lambs." Shiozaki's voice rang out for all to hear.
"Your shepard is here."
Monoma tapped Bondo on the back of the head. "We were the underdogs! We could have held out and victory would have presented itself! Yet you had to say something like that!" He whined before he turned around and sprayed out more glue.
"I'm sorry!" Bondo cried as he tried to pick up the pace.
Rin and Kodai paled as the tide of vines surged like an oncoming tsunami. A wall of green rose up, towering over them.
Monoma grit his teeth in anger. He dropped Bondo's Quirk before reaching down and copying Kodai's Quirk. "Rin!" He called out. "If we're going to win this, don't stop firing!"
Rin nodded as he tried to muster up what courage he could in the face of Shiozaki's tidal wave. He brought his hand out and began to fire, not stopping for Kodai to reapply.
Monoma leaned over, shoving his hand onto the back of Rin's own. One of his eyes squinted shut as he began to rapidly apply Kodai's Quirk over and over. "Aaha!" He gasped in exertion.
'My Quirk allows me to copy anyone else's Quirk on contact.' Monoma thought to himself, reciting who he was for strength. 'Yet, I can never train each Quirk to be as strong as the initial users.'
TktkkTkKKTKkk! SshHer, Sheher, shhher! Rin filled the air with expanding scales as sweat poured down his face.
'Yet I'm no mere copycat!' Monoma cried to himself as he strained Kodai's Quirk. 'I'm one of a kind!'
"Scale! FULL AUTO!" Rin screamed as he pushed himself to keep firing, faster and faster.
Takakakaka! SHSHSHSHHER! More scales, more expansion, more shredding. Shreds of vines shot into the air as scales began to shatter from the rapid impacts or get lost, embedding themselves into Shiozaki's vines.
"AahhAA!" Monoma screamed out as his Quirk dropped Kodai's duplicate due to overexertion. "NOOOO!" He screamed!
But it was never going to be enough, as Shiozaki's green tide eventually swept over Monoma's team, burying them.
Midnight cracked her flogging whip. "Team Monoma is out! Recovery droids will be dispatched!" There was a hint of worry in her voice as she hoped Monoma's team would be ok.
Midnight raised a finger to her ear, patching in to the teachers. "This sports festival is getting heated. I want Easurehead's eyes on this before anyone gets hurt."
"I assure you all," Vlad King's voice came over the radio, "Shiozaki has enough self control not to hurt anyone. Once I saw how overwhelming her output was, I had her practice on cheap pottery so as to not break anything."
"People aren't pottery." Eraserhead groaned back. "They're harder to predict. I'm watching this festival, no one will get seriously hurt. I promise that."
Midnight sighed to herself as she pinched her brow. "Alright. I'm glad to hear you're watching."
-0O0-
"Be not afraid my lost lambs." Shiozaki's voice rang out for Bakugo's team to hear.
"I am very afraid right now!" Sero quipped as he fired off another line of tape to wrap up more vines.
"Your shepard is here."
"SHUT UP ALREADY!" Bakugo roared out as he prepared another flak shot between his hands. He aimed at Sero's bound sections, destroying swath after swath of vines. His wrists burned so badly that his snarl began to shiver in pain.
'Invisible bitch's team took a lot out of me.' Bakugo growled to himself. 'I got the million point headband, but I can't fly away and secure my victory. No other option other than to fight for it!'
Even so, Bakugo's team was slowly being overwhelmed by Shiozaki's vines as they ran.
Ojiro's tail was coiled around Bakugo's waist, preventing him from falling over as he kept turning to fire his flak shots at the vines.
Smoke began to fill the air behind them as Bakugo's explosions kept going off.
"Hey!" Ojiro called out as he saw a shadow swoop over them. "Tenikari's here!"
Jiro groaned as she brought her earjacks up. Her eyes locked with Sato's as he stood back. "And her team is blocking our escape route…"
"Chicken wings can fuck off! She can't approach us anyways!" Bakugo barked as he glanced up at Tanya, who was circling overhead.
He grit his teeth as he took aim at another of Sero's tape binds. 'If Chicken Wings knew how bad of a condition I am in, she would push her advantage. I can put up a tough front and try and stall her out through sheer confidence.'
Bakugo strained his wrist as he fired his attacks to be bigger. They contained more of his sweat, and took more force to launch them.
Tanya smiled to herself as she saw Bakugo's wrists twitch. She banked around as she flew back over them. 'He's at the end of his rope. Koda may have made the mistake that cost his team the victory, but he wore Bakugo down for me. Reminds me of my days in the empire, running myself ragged between multiple opponents.'
Tanya's eyes widened as a lone, dark pigeon came crashing into Bakugo's team. 'But Koda's out? Unless his Quirk has a longer duration than I thought…'
The bird flew directly into Bakugo's personal space.
"How many birds do I have to deal with!?" Bakugo shouted as he swung his hand at the pigeon.
"Haha!" A voice laughed at him as someone jumped out of the bird as Bakugo slapped it aside.
Kurioro launched his hand into Bakugo's face and snatched at his bands. "Gotcha!"
"Ears! NOW!" Bakugo barked as he brought a hand up to protect his headbands. He released a small explosion that momentarily protected himself from Kurioro's assault, but the smoke blocked his sight.
"Ack!" Kurioro grunted from the explosion as he stuck his hand, now smeared with Bakugo's soot, onto Bakugo's shoulder. He squinted from the shock before disappearing in the smoke.
"Heartbeat! Stun!" Jiro shouted as she jabbed her earjacks into the smoke. Her eyebrows in shock as she didn't hit anything.
"Too dark for you?!" Kurioro taunted as he jumped out of Bakugo's soot stain like a genie from a bottle. He yanked off a few of Bakugo's headbands, all but two.
"SHWOOOSH!" A flying word shouted as it zipped towards Bakugo's team. Black mushrooms sprouted from its surface as it veered wildly through the air.
Kurioro kicked off of Bakugo's back, just narrowly dodging Jiro's jacks as he backflipped through the air. He gave Bakugo's team a shit eating grin as the moment his feet touched the black mushrooms, he disappeared into them.
"You bastard!" Bakugo shouted as he brought his hands up to fire a flak shot at Kurioro's vessel. But before he could take the shot, Sero's voice stopped him.
"Shiozaki's still coming!" Sero cried as he worked extra hard to tape everything he could. His usual smile began to falter in pain. "My skin is drying out over here!"
'He doesn't have the one million.' Bakugo bit back his rage at having to watch some of his points sail away. He lowered his arm and shot away some of Shiozaki's vines, saving Jiro's heels from being snatched.
As Bakugo swallowed his pain, both physically and emotionally as he fired his flak shots down at Shiozaki's vines.
Fwoosh!
Bakugo blinked as a flash of white feathers shot past him. His teeth ground together as his rage grew. He could no longer feel the bands on his head. "Fuuuuu-!"
-0O0-
Tanya flew back into the air as she held both of Bakugo's bands in her clutches. Her smile shined with genuine glee as she placed them around her neck. "That brings me up to one million, nine hundred and fifty!"
Fwrfwrfwrfwr! Pony's horns shot through the air around Tanya.
Tanya immediately dove and went into evasive maneuvers as Pony restarted her chase. "You don't know when to quit, do you?!" Tanya shouted.
"We're hero students!" Pony chimed back as she lined up more shots on Tanya. "We wouldn't be in UA if we gave up so easily!"
'I have to stay low.' Tanya thought to herself as she glided over Shiozaki's green tide. 'If I go high, Pony can use horn storm. Any slower and Setsuna can grab me.'
"I cannot allow you to escape." Shiozaki called out as she raised a hand. Vines began to shoot up from her green tide like massive, reaching pillars.
GggRrFWOO! Vines stretched and reached for Tanya as she banked as hard as she could.
'She has to have a limit!' Tanya thought as more horns shot past her only to get lodged in Shiozaki's vines. 'Pony struggles on rapid changes in direction, and Shiozaki is still only human! Let's take them for a run!'
Tanya flexed her wings as she rocketed forward over Shiozaki's green sea. 'I was saving this trick for the one on one battles, and as long as Bakugo and Aoyama don't see it, I'll still have the advantage.'
As a pillar shot up directly in front of Tanya, she brought her wings wide and immediately changed direction with a burst of wind.
'Using my wings air controlling abilities like thrusters!' Tanya announced to herself as she began to fly in jagged lines through the air.
"Wooow now!" Pony cried as she tried to avoid Shiozaki's vines. She brought her flying skis to the side as she tried to arch her flight around one of Shiozaki's attacks.
"Pony!" Setsuna cried out as the both of them lurched.
"Nooo!" Pony screamed as a vine coiled around her calf and thigh, dragging her down. She began to fire off horns rapidly, filling the air with a barrage of horns.
She brought her hands together as she focused. "HORN STORM!"
Setsuna tightened her grip around Pony's shoulder as she tried to help lift Pony up as they went into free fall, being pulled down by Shiozaki's grasp.
Horns began to shoot around them wildly, hacking through vines like bullets.
"Grrr!" Pony furrowed her brows in focus as she telekinetically juggled shooting horns around her.
More vines slithered around her legs, and then she knew it was too late. 'I can't hit so close to myself!' Pony realized as she and Setsuna were burrowed.
"Setsuna! We're not going to make it!" Pony cried out as she focused on two horns. "But I have one last plan!"
Setsuna nodded as she let go of Pony and flew up, cutting herself into pieces to avoid being grabbed by Shiozaki. "I'm all ears Pony."
-0O0-
Sen dashed as fast as his spiral legs could take him. "Why hasn't Pony taken this band from me…" He groaned to Setsuna.
The vines had largely forgotten about him. They crept forward slowly, but Sen still wanted to get as far away from them as he could.
Setsuna flicked the back of Sen's neck and he shook his head. "Ugh! I actually enjoyed having your help. Alright Setsuna… I'll see what I can do… I wish you luck."
Setsuna's hand on the back of his collar was swapped out for a few chunks of Setsuna which looped around his head like his own headband.
The rest of her dropped to the ground, the life leaving them as she discarded those pieces. She would regenerate them herself.
"Just gotta keep my head down." Sen muttered to himself as he stopped his spiral sprint and slipped into a light jog.
-0O0-
"Tenikari is resilient." Shiozaki groaned as sweat began to pour down her brow.
A faint light behind her eyes began to simmer down as she had been pushing her Quirk to the extreme in pursuit of Tenikari. Shiozaki had already covered over half the arena in a bed of vines, so she always had vines ready for Tanya.
But the strain began to build up as she had to mentally swap between vines.
She'd take control over a patch and fire up a length after Tanya, who would air dash out of the way. Then Shiozaki would have to drop connection with those vines and swap to a different section of vines. One mind, too many vines doing too many different tasks.
'Then there are the other teams.' Shiozaki thought to herself. 'With how much pressure I have established, letting up pressure is only asking for them to force an offense on me. Todoroki has not fired off any more ice glaciers recently-'
Shiozaki dropped her train of thought to send another barrage of vines after Aoyama's team.
'If I allow Todoroki to warm back up, he could fire off a frost wave and kill my entire front line, then build an ice wall. That would be a major setback. I suppose I could help Shishida climb over it, maybe he could jump over-'
Shiozaki once again dropped her train of thought to swap over to attacking Midoriya's team, only to grimace as they jumped away.
She shook her head to clear the pointless thoughts as she returned her focus back to Tanya… while still having to juggle the other groups as well.
Shiozaki raised a hand again as she began to reach more vines towards Tanya, firing off pillar after pillar.
Fffwww! A pair of whistling sounds came rushing towards her.
"Shiozaki, look out!" Tsuburaba cried out as he brought his hand up to protect himself.
Shiozaki's eyes widened as a pair of horns came rocketing towards her. 'No!'
Crash! The horns shattered through the air barrier Tsuburaba had made for Koda's bird swarm.
They lost most of their momentum off of the initial impact yet still slammed into Shiozaki's arm and chest, knocking the wind out of her. "Auck!"
The horns levitated back into the air.
Juzo Honenuki reached over and slapped the horns away, melting them before they could deal any more damage. "Those could have done a lot more damage had it not been for Tsuburaba's barrier."
Shiozaki rubbed her chest where she had been hit as she struggled to regain breath. "Right. You have my appreciation, Tsuburaba and Honenuki."
"Aw, how sweet. Thank you both." Tsuburaba blushed as he was momentarily distracted from fixing the barrier, instead beaming in pride.
A single detached hand flew in and snatched Shiozaki's headbands.
"What, did you forget about me?" Setsuna taunted as she pulled her body back together over what remained of their barrier. Her floating hand came rocketing back towards her. "How saddening. If my heart were in one piece, it would break!"
Shiozaki glared at Setsuna. Her eyes were cold and sharp as she whipped her control directly towards Setsuna's bands. "I will not be losing those."
Setsuna's grin grew wider. "Ha! In your prayers Shiozaki!"
Shiozaki shot several vines at Setsuna, maintaining control over them rather than letting go.
"Tsuburaba! We need a new barrier!" Juzo ordered as he pointed behind Setsuna.
"I see what you want." He grinned before he took in a deep breath.
Setsuna looked over at Tsubaraba and smirked as she was busy juking Shiozaki's attacks. 'He's not trying to restore the initial dome. He wants to cut off my escape route. I suspect a larger dome, or maybe a large wall behind me.'
"Fhh! Ffh! Ffh!" Tsubaraba began to blow out smaller disks. "Plates for Shiozaki!"
Juzo reached as far as he could and slapped the remains of the shattered barrier, turning it into goo. As it began to droop down, it faded away back into air.
Shiozaki, using her main hair, took the disks. Her hair wrapped around each disk, forming a larger surface for each vine to work with.
'Oh! Now that's clever! They're like tennis rackets!' Setsuna grinned wildly as she flew directly up and away. She detached her hand, still holding the bands, and sent it away from her. She then detached her arm into pieces, leaving her upper torso, shoulder, and what was left of her head floating above Shiozaki.
"Even with those! You can't stop all of me Shiozaki!" Setsuna laughed as she sent down her arm chunks towards the team and sent her hand off to the side.
Shiozaki shot her head vines straight after the bands. Her vines were scarily swift, placing the disks around the hand and boxing it in. "I didn't need to stop all of you. Merely the ba- ACK!"
Shiozaki gagged as one of the Setsuna arm chunks slammed into her throat.
"Shiozaki!" Shishida gasped. "We need to get to another team! We don't have anyone who could stop Setsuna! And with her still in play, Tsunotori's team won't accept a loss!"
"Now you're putting the pieces together!" Setsuna cheered as she smacked a chunk into the side of Shishida's head, angering the gentle-beast. "You got Midnight to disqualify all those previous teams because you buried them all! But Pony and I knew ahead of time that-!"
Tsuburaba tried to put up another dome to protect themselves from Setsuna, only to get neck chopped from Setsuna for his efforts.
"I'll still be in play! You're the biggest threat this class has, Shiozaki! But there's nothing you can do to stop me!" Setsuna bared her teeth into a wide grin.
She launched her chunks at Shiozaki's team before discarding all of them into lifeless chunks that slapped against them. She even discarded the hand that was boxed in with the bands.
Setsuna's smile shined in confidence as her entire body began to reform. Piece by piece, she regenerated back into her full self, all except for her left calf, which was currently with Sen.
"So, what'll be Shiozaki?" Setsuna ran a hand through her long, dark green hair as she smirked down at the team. Her smile was confident, controlled, and calculating. "Don't go tearing yourself up over the answer."
Shiozaki rubbed her neck as she glared up at Setsuna's smirk. 'It's disgusting to see that smile. It reminds me of Tenikari's, but far too playful.'
-0O0-
Author's Note - It's been a year since I last touched this chapter… I barely remember where I was, or what I wanted to do.
I struggled for a year to find my love for MHA. I love this fic, I love the fun of it all.
But… I began to struggle with the source material. It put me off in ways I don't necessarily like. So every time I reached for this fic, the source material would be glaring at me, making me feel uncomfortable to continue.
During the writing process, my trusted editor pointed out a flaw halfway through writing this chapter. I lost thousands of words of progress… All in pursuit of perfection.
It only deepened that suffering. Pushed me further and further away from this fic.
The flaws of the source material. The pain from the pursuit of perfection.
Now I'm past that. Fuck it, we ball.
So here, enjoy a mini recap of what would have been the end of this chapter!
-0?0-
The teams clashed, and bands were traded around in the chaos.
Bakugo's team held a few bands, including the big prize band.
Tanya's team fought hard and held several bands herself.
Ibara's and Momo's teams worked to eliminate the opposition, rendering other teams unable to compete, all except for Pony's team which fought to prevent Ibara from winning any bands.
Aoyama was unable to continue into the next rounds. His stomach was spun into sickness, and he was carted away.
Izuku's team was in first place. Tanya's in second. Bakugo's team came in third. Momo's team in fourth. And with Aoyama down for the count, Ibara would move on to the next round.
-0O0-
Author's note - There! End of the cavalry battle! Let us begin the next chapter!