Chapter 7: Sports Festival, Start!
Class 1A, Start of Next Week
Izuku and his classmates were all idly chatting with each other now that they were back in class after their long weekend. The USJ incident from the week prior had made the national news and every hero student – and regular student – in Japan had heard of the infamous 1A by now.
At first, the general public had been worried at how easily Yuuei had been infiltrated by a group of villains and called for a press conference. These fears, luckily enough, were quickly quelled when security footage from the USJ – thank God the cameras had their own backup generators – was shown to them and they saw the villains be destroyed by the class of freshies.
Izuku, Akira, and All Might's fight against the Nomu had also done wonders for the public's worries.
The Hero Board also now had a new sub-board dedicated to Akira after they saw the footage of him disabling the Nomu's arms. They were comparing him to China's current number one who apparently had a similar quirk and ability.
'Shit.' Jirou's ears suddenly picked up the distinct sound of their teacher's footsteps down the hall and she rushed back to her seat. "It's Sensei! He's almost here!"
Her words got the rest of the class into gear immediately and they all shut up before sitting down.
"Good morning… Class." Just before Aizawa reached the door and walked in. "It's nice to see you all are still behaving after the long weekend." He spoke with an edge of suspicion and his eyes roamed over the students before he decided to drop it. "Now, before you start your classes today, I have another important announcement for you all."
His vague statement caused a light panic in the class.
'Not another surprise trip. Not another surprise trip. Not another surprise trip.'
Yeah, they weren't exactly enthusiastic for a repeat of the last 'important announcement.'
Luckily for them, Aizawa turned on the screen and showed them Yuuei's sport stadium. "Yuuei will be holding our annual Sports Festival in two weeks' time." His words alleviated their fears and made most of the class excited.
"Uh, Aizawa-Sensei?" Some, however, still had concerns. "Are you sure that we should still be holding this festival after what just happened last week?" This was Ojiro's.
A question that Hagakure nodded at. "Yeah, what if that villain group tries to attack again?" She asked; the girl wasn't scared for herself, more for the civilians that would be present at the event. "They do have a warper; it wouldn't exactly be hard for them."
Aizawa understood their worries but waved them off. "Rest assured that this event will be properly protected." He started. "Don't forget, this event is both for civilians and heroes; any villain stupid enough to attack would be met by half the heroes in Japan."
Shoji put up his hands. "Why exactly are so many heroes taking time out to come watch us?"
"Because this is where all the students at Yuuei make their impressions on the world." Their teacher explained, flicking through a number of support, business, and hero agencies on the board. "If a student makes a good enough impression on the heroes, then they might be asked to intern with said heroes; that gives you a head start in the hero business."
"Intern?" Ochako asked, raising her hand. "What's that?"
"I'll explain that to you all after the festival." Aizawa said, waving off her question. "Now, listen closely to this." The class leaned in. "This school only offers its students a chance like this three times; once a year, each year you're here." He started, somehow managing to look at all of them in the eyes at the same time. "Don't slack off, train as hard as you possibly can, and make sure to go beyond…"
The class grinned and shot their hands up. "Plus ultra!"
"Good." Aizawa nodded with a smile before walking off. "Homeroom is dismissed then."
End of the Day
Luckily for the students of 1A, their first day back had no surprises for them; everything was normal at the school.
Their teachers hammered in everything they could into their brains.
Lunch Rush served the greatest food known to mankind for really cheap.
And a group of third year support course students fired off a rainbow confetti canon into 3B for some ongoing prank war.
So, all was well…
Up until they tried to leave their classroom.
"Can I fucking help you?" Bakugou asked, staring out at the sea of students blocking their way out before locking his eyes on the indigo-haired teen at the front of the crowd. "Jesus, who spiked all of your drinks with caffeine?"
The teen at the front took the question with a shrug. "Insomnia's a bitch." His bored tone reminded the students of 1A of Aizawa… They could almost see resemblance if they squinted. "As for your first question, I'm here to meet the oh-so infamous Class 1A."
Most of the students crowding the hallway nodded at the insomniac's words in affirmative.
"Okay, you've met us." Bakugou, however, just wanted to go home and was not in the mood for bullshit. "Now can you get the fuck out of my way so I can go get-"
Kirishima slapped the ash blonde over the head before he could finish his sentence. "Dude, not cool!" He suddenly grabbed Bakugou by his waist and hoisted him over his shoulder before placing him back inside the classroom. "Sorry about him." The red-haired teen grabbed Izuku and placed him down where Bakugou was. "Here, try again."
"Wait, what?" Izuku turned around as soon as he was placed down and looked at the redhead in confusion. "Why me?" His question went unanswered as Kirishima closed the door and gave him a thumbs up from the window. "What?"
"Yo, green bean." The indigo-haired teen got Izuku's attention with a wave and looked him over. "Are you the class rep or something?"
The green-haired teen shook his head. "Well, I'm the vice rep." Before bowing and sticking out his hand. "Izuku Midoriya, nice to meet you."
Izuku's actions obviously surprised the teen in front of him, but the indigo-haired teen shook it off before shaking the greenette's hand. "Hitoshi Shinso." He bowed back in respect. "Good to see that at least one person in the hero course has manners."
Izuku just smiled awkwardly at that. "Ummm…" He looked out the many students watching the interaction and almost shrunk in on himself. "Was there something you needed?"
The greenette's question reminded Shinso that he was here to do something and he nodded. "I'm just here to declare war on your class, that's all." He said with his continued flat tone. "Did you know that someone from General Studiescan transfer into the Hero Course if they do well enough in the Sports Festival?"
Now, the Aizawa lookalike had asked this question rhetorically.
Izuku did not hear it like that though and took it as a genuine question.
"Yeah, that was my backup plan if I didn't get into the Hero Course." One that he answered truthfully. "Either that or Shiketsu." The greenette had correctly theorised that the entrance exam wouldn't be kind to people without powerful quirks, so he thought of using the Sports Festival.
This was, of course, before he received One For All.
"Oh…" Shinso, taken slightly aback, did not have a response to that. 'Isn't he that wonder kid on the Hero Boards; why would he have a backup plan?' The indigo-haired teen looked around for an escape route to the now awkward silence. "Anyone else have something to say?"
"Hell yeah, I do!" Luckily for Shinso, someone evidently did; a grey-haired teen with bushy eyebrows that pushed his way to the front of the crowd. "I'm Tetsutetsu-Tetsutetsu from Class 1B! I'm here on behalf of my class to declare war on you guys as well!" The teen brought up his arms and they both turned to steel. "We could've taken on the villains you guys did even better than you did, so don't go walking around with a big head!"
Evidently, that was the wrong thing to say as the atmosphere did a complete flip. "I'm sorry…" Izuku started, his awkward smile now a face of chilling rage. "What did you just say?"
The steel teen was obviously put off by the expression he was receiving. "I-I said don't get a big head just because you fought some villains!" He bellowed with uncertainty. "You 1A bastards probably think you're better just 'cause you got on some sub-board and your families are rich; some of us have to work to get where… We… Are…" His exclamation died in his throat as Izuku's eyes glowed.
"A group of villains invade this school and attempt to kill my class and I…" Izuku's voice was low and green and black coloured lightning danced around his eyes. "And all you care about is the thought of us thinking we're better than you?"
Tetsutetsu coughed awkwardly and tried to back down. "I-uh…"
"And how dare you." Izuku had risen himself to stand straight and his eyes bore down on the steel teen. "You don't know my classmates; you don't know me." His green and black lightning was shooting off his face and everyone found a growing pressure on their minds. "We worked to be where we are; don't you ever-"
"Okay!" Akira suddenly opened the door and stood in front of Izuku, his quirk flowing through him and outwards to counteract his friend's power. "I probably should've been the one out here to deal with this; sorry about that."
Fumikage walked out and took Izuku's side. "Thank you for defending us, friend." He said sincerely, Dark Shadow coming out and giving him a thumbs up. "But we don't need a scene right now."
Mina skipped out of the classroom next and took Izuku's other side, hugging his arm. "Yeah, we can just let them think what they think; who cares?"
Their words and the pink girl's beaming smile was enough to make Izuku power down and sheepishly rub the back of his head. "Ah, I'm sorry." He looked down in embarrassment. "I… I didn't mean to go on a tangent there, I just-"
"It's fine, Izuku." Akira said, moving away from the crowd and leading his friend away from the scene; the students around them parting like the Red Sea for them. "Alright, let's just go get some Mochi and cool down, yeah? That place around yours has your favourite flavour."
Izuku nodded and weakly smiled. "That'd be nice."
Ochako also nodded, suddenly appearing next to the group at the mention of her favourite treat. "Mochi!"
As they walked off, Shinso kept his eyes on Izuku. 'Interesting…' The pressure he felt on his brain when the greenette was talking tugged on his own quirk. 'Very interesting.'
U.A Stadium, Weeks Later
Weeks had passed since the incident in the hallway where the students of 1A had their cohort declare war on them. The entirety of Class 1A had taken their fellow student's declarations to heart and had trained themselves extra hard since then. They broke up into groups and worked off each other to better themselves and ultimately build team skills.
They weren't about to be shown up; the others started the war; they were going to finish it with all they had.
At least, most of them were. 'This isn't like the other times; even just using more than 15% can cause enough collateral damage if I'm not careful.' Izuku was looking downwards in thought in the 1A waiting room and resolved himself to keep it simple for today. 'Avoid fighting and only use 15% if it comes down to it.' He nodded at his logic – terrible and absolutely hypocritical but he tuned out that voice in his head – and smiled.
"Yo, Izuku, you good?" Akira hadn't missed his friend's face going through a mini-brooding session and felt as though he needed to ask. "Your face is doing something weird… er than usual."
The greenette looked at his friend with a flat face before smiling again and waving him off. "It's nothing, Akira, I'm fine." He lied. "I'm just a little nervous; there's gonna be a lot of people out there and I don't want to make a fool of myself." That wasn't a lie.
"Oh, yeah, that totally makes sense." Ochako said, leaning on Akira's arm as she spoke. "It's definitely gonna be nerve wracking for you since you have to give the student pledge."
"Oof, yeah, wouldn't want to be giving that."
"Wouldn't even know where to start."
"I'd blank on stage."
The other members of 1A nodded in agreement but Izuku's thoughts halted and he did a double take. "I'm sorry." He wasn't. "The student what?"
"The student pledge, friend." Fumikage repeated. "You will be giving a small speech to the gathered audience before we begin our activities today."
Izuku's fear of hurting someone was overridden by his fear of being the centre of attention and he pulled an unwilling expression. "Why me?" He asked, not wanting to give a speech. "Why?"
"You placed first in the entrance exam." Kirishima explained, placing a hardened hand over Bakugou's mouth before the blonde could even try to argue. "Going off the entrance exam, if they didn't choose you, they'd have to choose…" His eyes went to his left and he just shook his head. "You're the best student in our cohort for this; it's just a thing."
Izuku sighed in acceptance and deflated. "Of course that's why." He suddenly regretted destroying as many villain bots as he did; he would've settled for anything if it meant he didn't have to do a speech. "Stars, I've got nothing."
"You better get thinking, green bean." Jirou said, standing up. "Present Mic just called us out."
Akira stood up and rolled his shoulders. "Let's go then." He said before pausing as Ochako grabbed onto his back like a koala. "Am I just gonna have to deal with this?"
Ochako simply nodded her head. "Yup!"
U.A Stadium
Shouting and cheering; that was what awaited the first-year students as they all walked out onto the stadium fields.
Up in the crowd the audience was a mix of everyday civilians, students' families, all manner of businessman from a variety of companies, and many heroes. It was a huge confidence booster for some of the students, seeing the turnout the festival had, but the audience only served to enhance Izuku's nervousness.
"That's quite enough!" A voice called out, followed by the crack of the whip. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Yuuei's First Year Sports Festival!" Everyone turned the source of the voice and saw the referee for the day's event.
R-Rated Hero: Midnight.
"Midnight's our ref?"
"Dude, she's really beautiful."
"Am I straight?"
The reveal of their referee caused a number of chatter from both students and audience alike. "Before we start today's events…" However, it was stopped as the purple-haired woman cracked her whip again. "Can Izuku Midoriya of Class 1A please come and give the pledge."
Izuku sighed in resignment and walked up to the stage; he took the microphone from Midnight with a small smile before taking a deep breath. "Hey, everyone, thanks for coming out today!" He greeted, trying his best to push down his nervousness. "I'm going to be honest here, I don't have a big speech for you guys; I don't have a speech at all." The greenette started, shrugging. "I didn't even realise I was giving this pledge until, like, ten minutes ago." His statement earned some chuckles from the audience.
'Yeah… I probably should have mentioned it to him.' Aizawa thought, sitting in the commentator's booth. 'I'm sure he'll be able to come up with something off the top of his head.'
"But I do have a message." Luckily for Aizawa, he was right; Izuku stood straighter and suddenly seemed more confident. "No matter what happens today, no matter if you lose and are on the floor, don't give up; because there's nothing crueller than letting your dreams end midway." He started, sparking a fire in the audience and his fellow students. "In the words of an old pro, smile and stand up." All Might looked at his student with a large grin. "Because those who can smile in a world of strife and challenge are always the strongest!"
The greenette finished his speech with a loud and confident voice and all was silent afterwards. Then someone clapped; then another, and another, and more. Soon enough the entire stadium was standing up and cheering for Izuku, making him blush slightly in embarrassment.
After the applause subsided, the greenette bowed to everyone and walked as fast as he could to hide in the middle of his class. As Izuku did so, several of his fellow students gave him curious looks; they couldn't exactly catch a read on him and that made them wary of him.
'What is it?' One in particular student with red and white hair was extra curious as he observed the greenette. 'What drives you?'
Midnight, however, was gushing over the speech with a large smile. "Oh, such youth!" The woman exclaimed with a high-pitched tone before standing straight. "Alright, let's get started on the first event!" She cracked her whip again and the stadium screens began to choose a game.
They stopped on…
"Alright, looks like we got the obstacle race!" Present Mic said from his perch in the commentator's booth with Aizawa. "What fun is awaiting the students here, Midnight?"
"Only the best." The purple-haired woman answered back; the screen in the stadium all changed to show a map of what would be the obstacle course. "This is a four-kilometre course around the stadium starting at the east entrance!" Midnight exclaimed before looking down at the students. "Do be careful though, my dears, our obstacles aren't for the faint of heart." She cracked her whip at them and laughed as they flinched back. "The first 42 of you to make it back through the west entrance will get to compete in the second event; now, line up!"
The students did as she asked, each giving the obstacle course map a quick once over before moving over to the starting line. However, it was looking to be a difficult start as everyone pushed each other to try and get to the front.
'Huh, that looks like a disaster waiting to happen.' Izuku took notice of this and decided to just go to the very back of the crowd. 'Can I…' He looked up and nodded. 'Yeah, I can.'
The only ones who managed to notice him moving back were Aizawa and a certain red-winged hero in the hero booths. 'What's he up to?'
Seeing that the students were lined up – and more than ready to go – Midnight began the countdown. "On your marks…" The students all tensed up and got into running stances. "Get set…" Quirks began to shoot off and activate and the crowd became restless with chanting. "Go!"
Midnight's whip cracked and the doors to the stadium's east entrance swung open, prompting all the students to rush through it at once.
However, that was the problem.
"Hey, get out of my way!"
"Did you just step on my tail?!"
"You stepped on mine!"
"It's too damn crowded!"
The students pushed and shoved each other trying to get the through the much too crowded tunnel.
But not Izuku. 'Tweet, tweet, I'm a bird.' Activating Float, the greenette shot upwards and flew over the stadium. Now, he could've just flown through the tunnel but, as Akira had put it on the bus to the USJ, he liked to be extra. "Whoo!" Flying and turning in the air, Izuku angled himself back down to land in front of the tunnel.
And he did so gracefully.
'Of course he's already at the front.' Shoto suddenly felt someone push him too hard from his back and his quirk immediately activated. 'Enough of this.' Letting his right side take over, the tunnel suddenly became filled with ice, making a clear path for Shoto to move through.
"Hey, what's this?"
"Bastard!"
"I can't move!"
However, it also meant that no one else would have a chance at winning. "We can't be having that." And Akira didn't like that at all. So, with his quirk activated, the black-haired teen punched the ground, causing a quake that shattered a small portion of the ice around him. "Nice try, two-tone!"
His action spurred others with strength quirks to do the same and everyone eventually found themselves free from the ice. "Yeah! Nice try, two-tone!"
Back with Izuku, he had stopped to free everyone from the tunnel before moving, incidentally letting Shoto overtake him. Right now, the two were the first to deal with the obstacle course's first obstacle; the-
"Robo-inferno!" Present Mic exclaimed, cutting off the author. "Welcome to the first obstacle, kiddos! I hope you all remember the entrance exam!"
The villain bots from the entrance exam were all spread out along the straight outside of the stadium, weapons primed and eyes glowing an intimidating red. There were even a group of zero-pointers at the back just punching their fists together.
"Wha- Is this what was in the hero entrance exam?!"
"Sweet mochi, those things are huge!"
"How are we supposed to get past this?!"
Evidently, not everyone in the general course had taken the hero course exam and were obviously very jarred at the sight of the robots in front of them. Even the general course students that did take the hero course exam took a few steps back as they remembered their own performance against the robots.
The hero course students, however…
"So, this is what you faced in your entrance exam then." Shoto said, walking forward with his hands in his pockets as a duo of zero-pointers aimed their sights on him. "I am…" Activating his quirk, the heterochromatic teen rushed forward; skating on his ice without a worry even as the robot's fists closed in on him. "Not impressed." The teen's hand suddenly shot up and a wave of ice the size of the stadium followed, throwing back and freeing in place the zero-pointers.
"Sweet Santa Claus!" Present Mic's shout was heard even by the students. "Winter is here, folks, and Shoto Todoroki just started us off with a bang!"
"Hey, he froze them up for us!" A student from 1B called out, a smile on his face. "There's a path; let's go!"
"I wouldn't if I were you!" Shoto shouted back, feeling that he should at least give his competition some proper warning. "I didn't freeze them in the best position!"
The teen's warning came true not a moment later after his statement as all, but two of the zero-pointers began to fall to the ground, missing almost everyone.
Almost everyone.
"Oi, Todoroki! What the hell, man!" Kirishima shouted, digging himself up from the zero-pointer's chest. "That was so not manly!"
"Yeah, you're lucky that it was us crushed by these things!" From the zero-pointer next to Kirishima, Tetsutetsu emerged; his entire body shining with steel. "Someone could've gotten seriously hurt!"
Izuku took a breath as he saw that the two students were okay before moving to the front of the crowd, putting himself as the first contender for the Robo-Inferno. Next to him, Akira, Fumikage, and Bakugou also walked up and they all smiled at the challenge in front of them – or grinned maliciously in Bakugou's case – before rushing forward, quirks activated.
"Woah! Looks like we've got the four-horseman tearing through the inferno!" Present Mic exclaimed as the cameras focused on the four teens running through all of the villain bots. "They're clearing up a path for everyone!"
And they were. The four teens dispatched groups upon groups of villain bots as they were rushed; three of them doing it so that the others could have a chance and the last – guess who – because he wanted to blow some shit up.
He wasn't the only one though.
BOOM!
"Hahaha!"
"And what follows the four horsemen? APOCALYPSE!"
"Burn, iron-thugs!" Right arm constructing itself into the muzzle of tank, Momo rushed forward with a smile, also wishing to blow some shit up. "Boom!" The shells that fired off from her turned the two remaining zero-pointers into robotic donuts.
Seeing this, Izuku turned off One For All and activated Float again before turning to Akira. "I'll see you at the finish line, Akira!" He called before shooting off. "Don't fall too far behind."
Akira watched his friend fly off with a flat look before taking a two-pointer's staff out of its hands and snapping it to size for himself. "If I catch up to you, I'm gonna shove this stick up your-"
"And Todoroki has made it past our second obstacle without a hitch! Putting himself in a comfortable and far ahead first place!" Present Mic called out as Shoto began to run the final stretch of the race. "And as he does, the rest of our contestants are entering the second obstacle themselves! Say hello to The Fall, kiddos!"
It was a large chasm separating the first and final stretches of the obstacle course that looked impossibly deep. Pillars of stone were scattered in between the gap connecting everything together with large, metallic wires that the students were expected to use to cross.
Izuku was really glad he was flying because he hadn't even noticed the fact that he was flying over a chasm until the voice hero had called it out. And now that he knew, the greenette had two questions.
One, where in the world did this come from?
Two, are they trying to get sued?
'I really hope there's a net at the bottom of this.' Izuku thought to himself, idly floating in the middle of the canyon and peering down to the bottom which he couldn't really see. 'If there isn't then that's serious-'
"Aaaahhh!" A loud scream cut off the greenette's thoughts and he turned to see Mina slipping off one of the wires. "Shit! Shit! Shit!"
"Mina!" Izuku activated One For All and immediately surged downwards, grabbing the pink-skinned girl and holding her tight. "Oh my stars!" The greenette secured the girl in his arms after making sure he had her and immediately flew to the end of the obstacle before sitting down. "Are you okay?"
Mina had a large blush on her face from the position she was in but managed to nod. "Yeah, I'm completely fine." The pink girl wasn't lying; Izuku holding her in his arms meant she could feel all the muscles she usually just liked to look at. 'God, my face probably looks weird.'
'Stars, she looks absolutely adorable.' Meanwhile, as the girl in his arms was feeling self-conscious, Izuku was looking at her as if her rose skin was glowing. "I…" The sound of an explosion caught his ears and he saw Bakugou flying past them while screaming bloody murder, cutting him out of his trance. "Sorry." And making him put Mina back down on the ground.
An action that she secretly didn't like in the slightest. "It's fine." She shot Bakugou a hateful glare before looking back at Izuku with a wide smile. "Go and win the race, Izuku."
Izuku nodded and Float activated again. "Yeah, I should probably stop messing around." Before shooting off with a smile.
And once more, Izuku had to thank the stars in the sky that he had gotten Float since he would've ran into the third obstacle and been-
"-Blown the hell up!" Present Mic exclaimed, once more cutting off the author. "That's what'll happen to you if you're not careful in… THE MINEFIELD!" Three of the mines in question exploded as the hero said this. "They won't kill you, but these aren't gonna tickle either!"
Izuku simply cruised along after hearing this, he could just fly over them all. 'Ah, my competition.' Coming up behind Shoto and Bakugou, the greenette decided to fly facing backwards so that he could see their faces when he passed them.
"What?"
"The fuck?!"
And they were priceless.
'This is too good!' Izuku was internally laughing his ass off as he saw the two activate their own quirks and forego their safety route in turn for trying to beat him. 'Well…' In response, he put right arms up before flicking with 15% of One For All, creating a flash of wind that staggered the other two teens and set off all the mines around them.
And as the greenette flew away, Present Mic commentated it all the way. "That's right, folks, Izuku Midoriya just completely passed and blew away our last two leading competitors!" The man exclaimed, shaking Aizawa. "And here he is now; your first-place winner for the obstacle course; IZUKU MIDORIYA OF CLASS 1A!"
Thunderous applause permeated the stadium air as Izuku landed and he did a small bow to the audience, smiling widely.
Shoto and Bakugou both pulled in behind the greenette respectively after a few moments, both breathing heavily and sending glares at Izuku. It took a while, but Kirishima also made it through in ninth place – followed by a wheezing Akira – and managed to tackle Bakugou before he finished stalking over to Izuku.
And after the last student finally finished the race – some short kid with purple balls for hair – Midnight cracked her whip to signal the end. "What a wonderful race; let's have another round of applause for all our competitors, shall we?" Her request was immediately met and the crowd roared with shouts and whoops of praise. "Thank you! Now, may the first 42 students please come to the centre."
The first 42 was – as one would expect – filled with almost exclusively hero students; all students from 1A and 1B had made it in without trouble. There were only two exceptions to this; Shinso and a crazy, energetic, pink-haired student from the support course.
"I will show my babies to the world!" She was very eccentric.
Midnight cracked her whip again and pointed up to the commentator's booth. "Presentation Michael!" The entire audience laughed at the name. "What is our next event?"
Present Mic also managed a chuckle at the familiar name before spinning the wheel on the screen. "We have…" It spun and spun before stopping on the next task. "A CAVALRY BATTLE!"
Midnight and other members of the audience rubbed their ears at the sheer volume of that particular announcement. "Thank you, Mic." The purple-haired hero said before the screen changed again. "The rules of this challenge are simple; you students shall all make yourselves teams consisting of two to four players." Some of the students were already moving towards each other. "Each team will be assigned a point value which shall be determined by the individual points of each member; those points are decided by your placing in the last event!" The screen changed again and showed off the placements. "Last place will have five points and it will continue up in intervals of five, all the way to first place who shall have…"
'210 points if my math is right.' Izuku thought, doing the calculation in his head. 'That's just me by myself, I'll have to account for whoever my team is and-'
"Ten million points!" Midnight announced, interrupting the greenette's thoughts.
Said announcement caused Izuku to sigh. 'Yeah, that checks with my luck.'
The announcement also seemed to make him the number one enemy to all the remaining students, sans a handful of 1A students. They all shot death glares at Izuku, each one promising the same thing.
'I'm gonna rip that headband off you.'
Now, Izuku could've easily ignored all of this and he did… Kind of. 'What in the world?' Without even asking it to, the black and green lightning of One For All began to dance on the greenette's skin before circling him and making his eyes glow.
The pressure from that unintended action could be felt across the entire stadium and the audience could feel something attacking their minds. But it was nothing compared to what the students were feeling, all who dared to glare at Izuku found their knees shaking and minds being pulled into unconscious.
Luckily, before any of them could actually pass out, Midnight cracked her whip, breaking the tension and snapping Izuku back to attention. "You can all use your quirks however you wish to keep your points safe or to steal others." The purple-haired hero explained before squinting her eyes at the students. "But not causing harm to each other." Her serious tone obviously got the message across as they all nodded. "Great! You have five minutes to assemble your teams; go!"
Izuku, after getting One For All back in control from its strange power glitch, looked around at the sea of students. Most of them were avoiding him but he could spot a few that would go with him if he asked. 'With the amount of points I have, I can afford to not have a big team; just one would be-' His eyes suddenly locked onto a tuft of indigo hair and he smiled. 'Perfect.'
And as Izuku walked over to Shinso, pulling him onto his team without even asking the Aizawa lookalike, he completely missed Akira, Ochako, and Mina trying to look for him.
Five Minutes Later
"And it is time for the cavalry battle, folks!" Present Mic announced after their small break ended. "Let me tell you, I can spot some pretty sick teams down there."
"Indeed there are." Midnight said before looking at two teams in particular. "And a couple of interesting ones."
Izuku's team only consisted of himself and Shinso, the latter wearing the headbands around his neck while he held onto the greenette's back. 'It's like I weigh as much as a doll to him.'
Akira, since he couldn't find Izuku, had himself, Mina, Ochako, and the pink-haired student from the support course on his team. The black-haired teen took the front horse position with Ochako and the support student as the back horses and finished the team off with Mina as their rider.
Said pink-skinned girl was looking over at Izuku's choice of team with a small pout on her face. 'Damnit, that could've been me if I-' Realising where her mind was going, her pout turned to an embarrassed face and she fought to keep her cheeks from turning lavender.
Kirishima had taken charge of his own team and had taken Bakugou first, ignoring the blonde's protest at wanting to find his own team; someone needed to keep an eye on him. The red-haired teen had taken the position of the front horse and Bakugou as his rider – cough – with Sero and Fumikage added on as their back horses.
Shoto's team was definitely an interesting and very powerful team. The heterochromatic teen grabbed Iida as his front horse, grabbing himself the best available option for speed, Momo as his first back horse for her quirk's flexibility, and Kaminari as his final back horse for the teen's pure power. With Shoto riding on top of all three of them with his own quirk, the audience had quickly called them the ultimate team.
Surprisingly enough, Koda was another member of 1A that had taken control of his team. The mountain-headed teen had taken the form of a large, black-furred bear and took the position of all three horses. On top of him, Jirou took the back to blast away any chasers, Sato took the front to smash away any of their main problems, and Hagakure sandwiched herself in the middle of the two with their headbands while making herself invisible.
Finally, the last members of 1A had been rallied together by Tsu under an iron fist – well, foot. Aoyama, being their only emitter quirk, took the front horse position as their main offence while Shoji and Ojiro took positions as back horses. With their transformation quirks, the two teens were able to completely cover their back and protect their rider, Tsuyu motherfucking Asui. While they were a strange team, none could deny that they were a strong team.
With the teams the way they were, it seemed as though it was Class 1A against Class 1B.
"I say we stop wasting time on this!" And Present Mic wanted to see it. "What about you, folks?" The hero took the thunderous roars as an affirmative agreement. "Midnight, get this rodeo started!"
"Of course!" Midnight flicked her hair back before extending her whip and cracking it. "Begin!"
All teams, both 1A and 1B, had been training their sights on Izuku and Shinso.
So, as soon as they heard the event start, they all rushed the two.
"Hold on tight, Shinso." An action Izuku saw coming as he immediately activated Float and charged 15% of One For All in his legs.
Shinso, feeling the power radiating from the greenette's legs, held onto Izuku so tight anyone that didn't know better would've thought he was trying to choke him. "You don't have to tell me twice." He said, securing their headbands.
And as the first teams began to get close to Izuku, the greenette shot up into the sky. "Peace!" Izuku's take off was followed by a large flash of wind that blew over the other teams. "Whoo!"
This – apparently – did not sit well in any of the 1B students' minds. "Hey, you can't do that!" One of them called. "That's completely unfair!"
"Yeah, how are we supposed to get to you?" Another 1B student shouted, blades sticking out of his entire body. "Get back down here."
"Ah, ah, ah!" Izuku wiggled his finger with a firm expression. "I can count five of you that could reach me if you tried! I'm using my quirk the best way I can to defend my points and this way I don't hurt anyone." He stuck out his tongue with a smile. "Them's the rules!"
Down on the ground, all of the students turned to Midnight with an expectant expression. "Come on, Midnight-Sensei! Tell him to come down."
"No." Unfortunately for them – mostly 1B – Midnight did not share their thoughts. "Midoriya is right, there are students here in all teams capable of reaching him if they wished it." She cracked her whip again. "Resume!"
Seeing that they weren't getting any support, a blonde rider in 1B pointed forward. "Class 1B, get those 1A bastards!" His exclamation immediately turned all of the 1B teams against the 1A teams and vice versa.
It was the class battle Present Mic wanted. "Yes! We've got a class battle down there, folks!" The voice hero exclaimed, getting his money out. "I know I've made a bet on this already, have you?" There were many roars of agreement. "Hell yeah!"
'Well…' Aizawa decided he should probably watch this… He had a bet with 1B's teacher. 'Might as well see.'
From above the stadium in their comfortable position in the air, Izuku and Shinso watched the class battle as observers.
An action that confused Shinso. "Uh... Aren't you gonna help out your class?" The indigo-haired teen asked, tilting his head. "I get that it could get ugly for us, but I feel like I shouldn't let that get in the way of a class battle."
Izuku didn't need to think and shook his head. "No, my classmates are plenty capable of taking care of themselves without me." The confidence he spoke with surprised Shinso. "I'd be surprised if a 1B team gets above third place."
Following his statement, part of the stadium floor became covered in ice while another became obscured by a large explosion. The roar of a bear echoed through the air and multiple craters began to appear on the ground.
"Ah… I see." And Shinso watched this all with no small amount of surprise and slight fear. 'If this festival follows the pattern… I could be going up against one of them in a fight.' He gulped. 'I hope they're open to talking.'
The indigo-haired teen was brought out of his thoughts as he felt Izuku swerve without warning. After a small moment of screaming and regaining his bearing – he did choke the greenette this time – he saw that Izuku was holding a pink-skinned student's arm who seemed to be wearing… A smoking jetpack.
"…Hi, Izuku." Mina greeted nervously, an embarrassed smile on her face. "How you doing?" Inwardly, she was cursing Akira and Ochako. 'I knew that this was too damn risky!' However, she stopped her mental cursing as Izuku suddenly hoisted her up by the arm he held and secured her against himself by her waist. 'Aaaahh! Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!'
Unaware of the pink girl's thoughts, Izuku looked up to Shinso. "Shinso, can you put the 80 over Mina's head for me?" He hugged Mina closer to himself so that she was above him and secured her so she wouldn't fall. "Please?"
'Oh…?' Shinso could see the lavender covering Mina's entire face and held in a chuckle. 'Well, it's not like we can lose.' Inwardly, the indigo-haired teen filed what he just discovered away for later before dropping the point band lazily over the pink girl's head. "No problem, green bean."
Seeing that the band was on Mina's head, Izuku smiled before lowering them back down to Akira. "Good luck, Mina." The greenette said as he placed the pink girl back down in her front horse position.
'What am I, chopped liver?' The action caused Akira to cough at the greenette. "Excuse me?"
A cough that Izuku waved off as he flew away. "Yeah, yeah, you as well, Akira." He said before the team shot away from him. "Alright, we should get going as well-"
Walls of ice, vine, and… Stone kanji suddenly surrounded Izuku and Shinso and three teams cut off most of their escape routes. Most.
Directly in front of them, Shoto stood triumphantly with his team and many headbands. To his left, Bakugou was just barely being held back by Kirishima and was actually barking. Finally, to his right, a team of four 1B students glared at him. Well, mostly, one of them had a speech bubble for a head so it was hard to tell.
"We'll be taking those points you have on your neck now, Midoriya." Shoto stated as though it was fact. "You can't beat all of us." Beneath him, Iida's engines revved. "So, you shou-"
"Ha! As if, half-n-half." Bakugou suddenly shouted, cutting the ice teen off. "I'm getting that ten million and my team is winning this bitch!"
From the 1B team, Tetsutetsu stood up. "Both of you 1A bastards shut it!" He shouted, making sure not to look directly at Izuku. "1B is getting that ten million and we're gonna show you guys up!"
"Oh don't start with me, real steel!" Bakugou barked back. "After getting that ten million from Izuku we're coming for your headbands next!"
"You two won't even get halfway." Shoto said coolly, knowingly pissing Bakugou off. "Iida will get us to Midoriya before you can even blink."
The three teens' small argument eventually turned itself into an all-out shout match between the three teams and they all collectively forgot about first place for a moment.
A moment that Izuku used to his advantage as he started flying upwards. "I'm surprised they forgot to make a roof." The greenette said, watching the teams argue with a tilted head. "Did they just forget the whole flying part of me flying?"
Shinso shrugged and resecured the ten million. "I say we don't look the gift horse in the mouth and get out of here."
Izuku nodded and the two slowly ascended back into the sky, their ten million points wrapped safely around Shinso's neck.
It was another two minutes of arguing before the three riders stopped arguing with each other and Bakugou came up with a compromise. "How about this; first come, first serve!" The blonde shouted before turning to jump at Izuku. "What the hell!" Only to find that the greenette wasn't there.
"I was trying to tell you, Todoroki, Midoriya was flying up." Momo said with an exasperated sigh. "We were all trying to tell you." Her fellow horses nodded sadly.
"Damn." Shoto lowered his head in defeat and embarrassment; he felt like a bigger idiot than Kaminari.
"Hey! You said that out loud!"
Back up in the air, Izuku and Shinso comfortably waited out the rest of the game with the exception of a single, brave 1B team led by a very annoying blonde. Not that it mattered, they were blown apart with a well-placed air blast.
After that, it wasn't much longer until the-
"TIME IS UP!" Alright, Presentation Michael is the author now; I'm out. "Hell yeah! Let's take a look at the results people!"
Cavalry Battle Results:
1st Place: Team Shinso – 10,000,000 Points
2nd Place: Team Todoroki – 800 Points
3rd Place: Team Bakugou – 795 Points
4th Place: Team Ashido – 610 Points
5th Place: Team Tetsutetsu – 435 Points
Midnight did a count of the qualifying competitors and saw that the number of qualifiers didn't match the number they needed for their next event. "We are still in need of two more competitors for the last event!" She announced with a crack of her whip before turning to the team in fifth place. "Can you four please discuss who will be competing?"
The team nodded, happy that they were going to be able to represent their class and turned to each other for a few rounds of rock paper scissors. After that was done, it was decided that Tetsutetsu and a girl with vine-like hair would be competing in the finals; the former was frustrated at how badly 1B was beaten but resolved himself to bring home first place.
"Alright, now we know who's competing!" Present Mic called out. "But what is our game? Midnight…"
"As it has been for our past many festivals, our third event shall be…" The purple-haired hero cracked her whip and the screen changed into a bracket. "A one-on-one tournament!" Midnight twirled at the applause and bowed before everyone. "However, before that, we shall take a break for our recreational activities and then we'll gather for the tournament." She explained before covering her mic and looking down to the students with a much sweeter and motherly smile. "Go on, kids, scram and go get yourself something."
The students all nodded with large smiles on their face before rushing off to the cafeteria, eager to get some of Lunch Rush's food.
And as they did, Izuku looked down at his fist with a worried look before shaking his head. '15% is all I need for this.' He thought to himself with a nod. 'No hurting anyone.'
U.A Cafeteria
"Midori-bro, please!" Kirishima shouted, trying his best to push Izuku back. "We don't have to hurt anyone over this!" He activated his quirk to add more weight to himself, but it was in vain.
Behind the greenette, Fumikage and Dark Shadow had both taken one of Izuku's arms to assist Kirishima. "Friend, this small one is not worth your rage!" But even still they made very little difference.
And next to them Shoji, Sero, and Ojiro were struggling in a similar situation with Akira. "Hikaru, calm down!" Shoji shouted, trying his best to pull at the black-haired teen's waist with all of his arms while the other two took an arm each.
"No, let me go!" Akira shouted, pushing forward and making his three holders stagger. "That little shit is getting it and that's that!"
You see, the 'little shit' was the small, general studies student with ball-like, purple hair that had finished last in the obstacle course. The small teen had walked up to the girls of 1A and had tried to convince all of them that they were supposed to be wearing rather revealing cheerleader outfits for the interlude games.
That alone had pissed Akira off and he made an effort to make it obvious that he would kill the grape-haired teen if he continued.
Unfortunately, the general studies student hadn't noticed and, even worse, – for him – had turned to Mina and made a very derogatory and shaming comment about her mutations.
That was when the pressure hit him.
Akira's loud rage had been terrifying, but it was nothing in comparison to what the green and black lightning that rolled off Izuku made the tiny teen feel.
"Dude, come on!" The grapist tried to plead in vain, not knowing his fate had already been sealed. "I just wanted to see some hot chicks!" His eyes went back to Mina, then Izuku, and back and forth for a few moments before he waved his hands. "Wait, the mutant chick doesn't have to do it, just the others! Mutants aren't exactly easy the easiest to look at so-"
Izuku saw Mina flinch at the comment from the corner of his eyes and his entire form began to glow as he saw tears fill her eyes. "You would dare…" One For All was raging right alongside him and – to everyone else – it sounded like multiple people were talking at once when Izuku spoke.
That both terrified and spurred the other boys in 1A that weren't already helping to get around and start pushing. Iida and Sato both jumped on the front of Izuku with Kirishima and Koda turned into a gorilla before jumping on Akira.
However, this was still all in vain.
"Please tell me that this isn't anyone important or special!" Sero shouted to no one in particular, struggling to keep his tape strapped to Akira's right arm. "I can't keep this up for much longer!"
Ojiro nodded as his elongated monkey tail failed to hold on. "We need to know if our friends have a chance of getting into serious trouble or not if they hit him so we know if we should double down!"
At the back of the hall, Shinso suddenly stood up. "No, please, feel free to let your friends go." The indigo-haired teen said, holding up his phone to record the beatdown he knew was coming. "You'd actually be doing a lot of girls – including the ones in your class – a favour if you let go." Next to him, all the other general studies students nodded.
Hearing this, all the boys dropped to the ground, heaving heavy breaths. "Thank God!" Kirishima said, letting his quirk off. "Go at it, guys." He thought before he quicky added. "No quirks!"
Akira cracked his knuckles. "Fine by me."
Izuku said nothing but continued to stalk forward.
Fifteen Minutes Later
"All contestants, please make your way back to the stadium!" Present Mic called out, disrupting the viewing party that the cafeteria had gathered for the beatdown.
Izuku picked up the purple menace before throwing him in the air, setting him up for when Akira threw a powerful hook kick at the gen-ed student, sending him into a pillar.
Sero decided that they had done enough and finished their combo by wrapping the purple-haired pervert onto the pillar with tape. "Alright, that was enough." He said as though what just happened was normal.
Iida nodded, chopping the air as he spoke. "Quite; we all have our tournament rounds to participate in!"
Taking a big breath, Izuku and Akira both smiled before walking back to the stadium.
And as they did, Ochako grabbed onto Akira like a koala and peppered his face with kisses while Mina just stood a bit closer to Izuku, matching his warm smile with one of her own.
U.A Stadium
Midnight cracked her whip to get the crowds attention as the last sixteen students made their way onto the field. "It is time!" She exclaimed with a pose, causing the crowd to roar in applause. "We shall now be beginning the one-on-one tournament to determine who will be our winner this year!"
"That's right, folks, it's fighting time!" Present Mic shouted, pointing to the screens. "Let's see who fights who and get this show on the road!"
Tournament Fights – Round One:
Match One: Izuku Midoriya vs Hitoshi Shinso
Match Two: Mina Ashido vs Ochako Uraraka
Match Three: Shoto Todoroki vs Hanta Sero
Match Four: Fumikage Tokoyami vs Akira Hikaru
Match Five: Tenya Iida vs Mei Hatsume
Match Six: Denki Kaminari vs Ibara Shiozaki
Match Seven: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs Eijiro Kirishima
Match Eight: Momo Yaoyorozu vs Katsuki Bakugou
Izuku observed the brackets before he looked at Shinso with an analytical glance. 'Hold on…' Before suddenly realising that he hadn't seen Shinso's quirk in action for the entire festival… Nor had anyone else. 'If he still has as much conviction as he does then he has to be confident in his quirks ability; either that or he's quirkless.' And that didn't fill with much hope. 'If he is then he probably has martial arts training; then I have to account for the fact that quirkless people don't really have limiters on their body so-.'
"Izuku." Mina had noticed her favourite greenette's worried expression at having to fight Shinso and decided to get right next to him and elbow him in the side. "You don't have to worry about anything." She said in a sweet tone, her hand brushing against his for a small moment. "You're one of the strongest people in the school and I believe in you; you got this."
Luckily for the pink girl, her words got Izuku to smile. "Thanks, Mina." And also got him to blush.
A blush Mina just knew that she had as well. "No problem."
Meanwhile, to the side, Bakugou had grabbed Kirishima and was giving him a loud, motivational… Rant.
It had to be one hell of a rant though because the red-haired golden retriever looked like he was ready to take on the world by the end of it.