"Well, well, well, now you all know the rules!" Present Mic's voice boomed across the stadium, vibrating through the very concrete structures Cementoss had erected. "All of you spread out in the arena, you four, claim your spots, and then… LET'S GOOO!!"
The starting horn blared, a piercing sound swallowed instantly by the roar of the crowd and the sudden explosion of movement on the field. Dust kicked up as dozens of students sprinted in every direction. Chaos reigned for a moment as teams scrambled – some heading directly for the shimmering mini-flags scattered across the varied terrain, others racing to secure advantageous positions for their main flags.
Team Iida didn't waste a second. "Midoriya-san, now!" Iida commanded, his arm chopping the air with characteristic precision. Midoriya, focusing intensely, drew back his fist. Not a full power, destructive blow, but a controlled impact. "DETROIT... SMASH!" His fist struck the ground, sending cracks spiderwebbing out and dislodging sizable chunks of concrete and earth – perfect ammunition.
Instantly, Uraraka was there, tapping each piece. "Release!" she cried, her Quirk activating. The heavy debris lifted, floating eerily around their designated flag spot. "Shinso-san, find your cover! Uraraka-san, establish the perimeter!" Iida directed, already scanning their surroundings. Shinso, a ghost in the whirlwind, slipped between the levitating chunks, his expression unreadable as he found a vantage point hidden within the makeshift asteroid field.
Their setup was soon tested. Three students from Class 1-B, perhaps seeing the unusual defense as vulnerable, made a rush. "They're just floating rocks! Go!" shouted the leader, launching some kind of sticky projectile from his head.
"Now!" Uraraka yelled, deftly maneuvering a slab of concrete to intercept the shot while making another chunk spin threateningly towards the attackers.
From the heart of the swirling debris, a calm, steady voice emerged, "Trying to attack already? How foolish."
The lead attacker paused, his eyes meeting the unseen Shinso's gaze for just a fraction of a second. "Wha—?" His expression went slack, eyes glazing over.
"Stop. Turn around and walk away," Shinso commanded. The student obeyed instantly, turning stiffly. His teammates faltered, confused and suddenly wary. Uraraka didn't give them time to recover, sending a larger piece of debris tumbling towards them, forcing a hasty retreat.
"Great work!" Iida praised, having just returned from getting a mini-flag. "Maintain vigilance!"
Team Shoto operated with cold efficiency. As Shoto himself shot forward on a path of slick ice, eyes already scanning the field for targets, Momo was already hard at work. Sleek, metallic rods emerged from her arms, gleaming in the sunlight. "Yanagi-san, if you would!" Momo called out.
Reiko Yanagi, her white hair obscuring half her face, focused intently. The rods lifted into the air, hovering silently at designated points around their stationary main flag. "Kaminari-san, controlled discharge, please!"
Kaminari clenched his fists, sparks dancing around him. "Alright, trying not to short-circuit the whole stadium!" Electricity arced from his body, connecting the floating rods. Crackling lines of blue energy formed a humming, hazardous cage around their flag zone.
"Whoa! Instant electric fence!" Kaminari grinned, despite the concentration etched on his face. Momo nodded, already creating backup conductors. Their defense was formidable, freeing Shoto for his offensive role. He'd already bypassed one minor skirmish, snatching a mini-flag near the edge of the arena with a quick blast of ice.
Team Souta's strategy unfolded with deliberate speed. "Shiozaki-san, initiate defense," Souta ordered calmly.
Ibara Shiozaki clasped her hands in prayer for a brief moment before her vine-like hair erupted outwards. Green tendrils snaked across the ground and wove into the air, rapidly forming a dense, thorny barricade around their stationary flag. The barrier pulsed with life, intimidatingly thick. "The Lord's bounty provides a strong shield," she murmured.
Simultaneously, Shoji deployed his Quirk. Multiple arms extended, sprouting eyes and ears that swiveled, granting them unparalleled reconnaissance. "Multiple teams clashing each other, west sector. Bakugo is moving erratically, northeast. Team Shoto seems to have established an electric perimeter," he reported in monotone bursts.
"Dark Shadow, scout high!" Tokoyami commanded. The sentient Quirk cawed and shot skyward, a swift shadow surveying the battlefield from above.
"Excellent," Souta acknowledged. "Shoji, maintain watch. Tokoyami, support Shiozaki if needed, otherwise stay flexible, but try to ignore my brother's team, it's not worth it. I guess he did the same. I'm moving out now."
Without waiting for the nearest points, Souta moved with fluid grace, his heterochromatic eyes fixed not on a flag, but scanning the positions of the other top teams. He headed directly towards the heavy contested area. That 'small advantage' he envisioned required opportunity.
Team Bakugo was, predictably, less synchronized. "GET OUTTA MY WAY!" Bakugo roared, launching himself forward with explosions, completely ignoring Kirishima's attempts at forming a defensive strategy around their own stationary flag.
"Bakugo! Wait! We need to defend!" Kirishima yelled, hardening his arms as he took a defensive stance near the flag. He exchanged a weary look with Mina and Honenuki.
Juzo Honenuki sighed, kneeling and placing his hands on the ground. The area around their flag turned soft and viscous, a muddy trap for unwary attackers. "Ground secured," he stated flatly.
"Yahoo! Acid rain incoming for anyone dumb enough to try!" Mina cheered, hands poised to spray corrosive liquid.
"We'll hold the fort!" Kirishima declared, watching Bakugo blast past two students from 1-B to snatch a mini-flag, only to immediately draw the attention of another three-person team wanting to steal it. "Dammit, Bakugo! You gotta bring it back here!" Kirishima shouted, knowing it was likely falling on deaf ears as Bakugo reveled in the fight.
The field was alive with skirmishes. Quirks flashed – lasers, horns, elementals, mutations – as teams clashed over the 40 mini-flags, defended their bases, and eyed the potential jackpot of stealing another team's main flag. The minutes ticked by, precious points accumulating for teams successfully holding their ground, while others risked it all for the higher-value captures, knowing they had to return the prize to make it count. The Flag Frenzy had begun in earnest.
The air crackled with energy – both literal, like the humming cage around Team Shoto's flag, and metaphorical. Five minutes had passed in a blur of skirmishes, captures, and desperate defenses. Mini-flags were constantly changing hands, though getting them back to a team's base proved the real challenge.
Souta Todoroki plunged into the chaotic western sector, the epicenter of the fiercest fighting. "Okay, let's turn up the heat," he muttered, igniting his Quirk. Bright Blue flames erupted, enveloping his body in a controlled inferno that shimmered like liquid fire but left his Uniform intact – his favorite technique, the Nova Body.
With precise jets of flame erupting from his feet, he launched himself into the air, soaring above the ground-level chaos. Orange lightning, the tell-tale sign of Souta's personal Full Cowling, flickered faintly around his limbs for just a moment as he executed a sharp aerial turn, dodging a volley of hardened projectiles from below.
His eyes scanned the battlefield. Down below, a four-person team had cornered a lone student from General Studies who clutched desperately onto two mini-flags. "Time to make an entrance," Souta grinned. He angled downward, extending a hand.
Not a blast, but a wave of intense heat washed over the aggressors, forcing them to shield their eyes and momentarily halting their attack. In that instant, Souta swooped past, snatching the two mini-flags from the bewildered student with practiced ease. "Thanks for holding these!" he called back, already rocketing away with another fiery burst, leaving confusion in his wake.
He didn't head straight back to base; instead, he continued weaving through the battles, adding the captured flags to the two he'd already secured, his gaze sweeping the area, searching for that perfect 'opportunity'. He specifically avoided engaging Shoto's ice trails, sticking to his earlier resolve.
Meanwhile, Bakugo was a whirlwind of fury. Having already lost one flag and retrieved it after a brutal close-quarters fight, he was now trying to bulldoze his way back to base with two more mini-flags, pursued by Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and his team. "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME, YOU STEEL FREAK!" Bakugo roared, detonating explosions behind him to propel himself forward while simultaneously trying to blast his pursuers.
"LIKE HELL! THOSE POINTS ARE OURS!" Tetsutetsu yelled back, his steel body absorbing the blasts with gritted teeth.
Back at their base, Kirishima, Mina, and Honenuki were holding firm. Kirishima, in his Unbreakable form, blocked a barrage from another team trying to capitalize on Bakugo's absence. "Damn it, Bakugo, think about the team!" he grunted, skidding back slightly. Mina laid down a wide arc of acid, forcing attackers to detour around Honenuki's softened ground. Their defense was solid, but Bakugo's recklessness kept them constantly under pressure.
Team Iida continued their methodical approach. Iida, using a short burst of Recipro, zipped past a skirmish to snag an unguarded mini-flag near the arena wall. Midoriya, green energy crackling around him, used Full Cowling to leap onto a crumbling structure, grabbing another flag perched precariously on top. They rendezvoused near their base, depositing the flags as Uraraka and Shinso gave a quick thumbs-up, having just used their 'rubble orbit' and Brainwashing combo to deter another curious team. "Excellent work! Let's secure two more!" Iida declared, already planning their next coordinated strike.
Shoto continued his relentless flag hunt, his ice Quirk proving brutally effective. He created slick patches to trip opponents, walls of ice to block escape routes, and flash-froze the hands of anyone trying to grab a flag he was targeting. He moved with chilling efficiency, returning periodically to the electric cage to deposit flags, his expression unreadable as he noted the growing pile. The humming defense held strong, an intimidating barrier few dared to approach.
"ALRIGHT LISTENERS, WE'RE DOWN TO THE FINAL FIVE MINUTES!" Present Mic screamed, his voice heightening the already frantic energy. "POINTS ARE CRUCIAL NOW! ONE BIG STEAL COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING!"
Desperation began to set in for teams lagging behind. Team Tetsutetsu, having failed to wrest the flags from Bakugo, turned their attention to the seemingly impregnable fortress of Team Shoto. Their point total was low; they needed a big score.
"Okay guys, Plan B!" Tetsutetsu declared, eyeing the crackling fence. "Their flag is worth ten points, plus we stop them gaining defense points! I'm going first – my steel should handle the shock! Tokage, Awase, back me up!"
"You got it!" Setsuna Tokage grinned, detaching her hand. Yosetsu Awase prepared his Weld quirk.
Tetsutetsu took a deep breath and charged, his body shimmering into solid steel. "COMIN' THROUGH!"
"Intruder! Northwest!" Kaminari yelled, seeing the charging figure. Sweat beaded on his forehead. "Momo! Yanagi! Brace yourselves! Gonna crank the voltage on that section!"
"Adjusting output!" Momo responded quickly, manipulating controls on a device she'd created. Yanagi grunted, her concentration intensifying as she fought to keep the designated rods perfectly stable under the increased energy load.
Tetsutetsu slammed into the electric field. A blinding flash of blue-white light erupted, accompanied by a deafening CRACKLE-ZZZZT! Electricity surged violently, throwing Tetsutetsu backward several meters, his steel form smoking and pitted, but remarkably intact. He groaned, stunned but conscious.
"WHOA! HE TOOK IT LIKE A CHAMP!" Mic roared. "BUT THE FENCE HELD!"
However, in the split second of the impact, as the energy field momentarily fluctuated, Setsuna Tokage had acted. Her detached hand, launched just before Tetsutetsu hit, slipped through a slight warp in the energy field near the ground. It skittered like a spider towards the main flag pole.
"Inside! Something's inside!" Kaminari shouted, unable to pinpoint the small target immediately.
Yanagi gasped, spotting the dismembered hand scrabbling at their flag. Reacting purely on instinct, she focused her Poltergeist Quirk, trying to violently shove the offending object away. But the energy surge from the fence hadn't fully dissipated. As she channeled her power, a feedback loop occurred. The nearest floating rod, still unstable, overloaded. With a sharp zap, an arc of raw electricity lashed out, striking Yanagi directly.
She cried out, her body convulsing for a second before slumping to the ground, unconscious. The rods she controlled clattered to the ground, creating a significant gap in the electric cage.
"YANAGI!" Kaminari screamed, momentarily forgetting the fence as he spun around.
Momo was already moving, kneeling beside her teammate. "She's unconscious! Medical team, now!" she yelled, pressing a button on another created device – likely a distress signal.
Medics rushed onto the field as Midnight's voice cut through the arena. "Reiko Yanagi from Team Shoto Todoroki is unable to continue! She is eliminated!" A hush fell over the nearby sections of the crowd. "Remember the rules, students! Eliminations happen, and individual points matter more than ever!"
Shoto, returning with yet another flag, arrived just as the medics were carefully placing Yanagi on a stretcher. He saw the gap in their defense, Kaminari's panicked expression, and Momo's grimly determined face as she quickly created replacement parts. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, his ice-blue eye colder than ever. He deposited his flags, the new gap in their defenses a glaring vulnerability.
Across the field, Souta witnessed the commotion around his brother's base. The sudden gap, the medical team... A slow, calculating smirk spread across his face, the flames around him burning a little brighter. "There it is," he murmured, his eyes gleaming with fiery determination. "The opportunity." He changed direction, abandoning the general skirmishes and blasting off towards Team Shoto's compromised position.