章 2276: 18
It took a little bit of time for the remaining spots to be filled. Izuku watched as his fellow first years slowly found their way past the minefield, using their quirks and capabilities as they saw fit. Their faces were alit with both delight and relief after reaching the end — almost as if they had just passed through the gates of Tartarus and made it out through the other side.
Meanwhile, Izuku was still a bit taken aback by the sudden realization that he had placed eleventh for the third time in a row in regards to U.A. scoreboards. He realized that the actual probability of such a thing occurring was rather low, astronomically so. Then again, he also knew that the chance of someone actually rigging his scores was an actual impossibly. But that didn't deter from the fact that—
"Oi! You're doing it again. But in the third person this time. Stop. It's creepy."
Izuku stopped muttering upon hearing the voice. He turned, finding an unsettled Manga looking at him with a bunch of scribbles scattered around his face..
"I— wha?" Izuku sputtered meekly.
"You were talking about yourself. In the third person." Manga said.
Izuku blinked at the statement. "You're kidding."
"Nope! The lab rat here heard right!" exclaimed Mei, popping up beside Manga. A frazzled Pony wasn't too far behind. "You were going all hoobally joobally about placements and stuff!" Mei continued with fingers wiggling as she spoke.
Izuku scrunched his face in confusion. "Hoobally… joobally?"
Mei just nodded eagerly.
"No, you know what, never mind. How'd you guys fair in the placements?" Izuku asked.
"Not too shabby, if I'd say so myself! I was a mere two people behind you in thirteenth place." Mei stated.
"Heh. I got thirty sixth place myself. Uraraka and Pony passed me like the breeze after I got them out of that ice," Manga added.
"Pfft. You're just slow," Pony chided.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Uh-un!"
"Uh-huh!"
Izuku chuckled at his friends' antics, turning towards Mei. "So what'd Pony get? I'm not too sure I can ask her myself right now."
Mei cackled in amusement. "Quite an improvement from when she could barely speak Japannese, eh?"
"Heh, that's Pony for you, even if she still struggles in some aspects."
"Mhm! Anyways, I think Pony got in with twenty-seventh place, oddly enough. I mean, Anti-grav got eighteenth. Pony should've been around there, she and Anti-grav were running together."
"Anti-grav? You mean Uraraka?" Izuku looked back towards the pair of Manga and Pony. "Where is Uraraka, anyways?"
"Hmm?" hummed Mei. "Eh," she shrugged noncommittally. "I don't know. I think I saw here… somewhere around there." Mei motioned her hands into the crowd unhelpfully.
"Anyways," Mei continued, "Pony's really fast on those legs of hers; she would've outpaced most of the others. Unless something was hampering her. But in that case, I bet that she couldn't gotten further up if she just used the—"
"I already said that I wasn't going to use those! Never never!" Pony interrupted. "They look all weird on me!"
"But Pony! Imagine the possibilities if you coul—"
Izuku stopped Mei before she could get into another one of her invention-centered rants. A cloud of bugs covered her face in seconds.
Some may have been disgusted by the fact that they had just had their face covered by bugs, but Mei had gotten used to it. She embraced it, even; she said it was just a working hazard with working with Izuku.
Izuku went to open his mouth to speak, but stopped himself when he noticed someone was missing.
"Where'd Manga go?"
"Went to go talk with Kendo-san," Pony replied.
"Ah," Izuku realized. "The girl with the orange hair that's in your class, right?
"Mhm."
"Huh, ditched the three of us, eh?"
"I think it was the bugs," came the muffled, buzzing voice of Mei. "You know how he is with them." Izuku looked back to Mei. He decided that she'd spent enough time under the bugs and released his hold on them. The bugs dispersed.
"So, twenty-seventh, eh?" Izuku switched topics, turning back towards Pony.
"Yup. Why?"
"Ehh— Well… Honestly, umm…"
"You think that I could've done better, don't you?" retorted Pony.
"Huh? Oh, uh, it's nothing, really—"
Pony giggled. "I'm just kidding, Zuku. But you are right. I definitely could have placed higher."
"Huh? But then why didn't you—"
"Midoriya!" came the voice of Iida. Izuku turned at the interruption, finding the glasses-wearing boy approaching him. "Congratulations on your placement," he said as he stood in front of Izuku and Pony. "You trailed just behind me; quite an accomplishment without a speed quirk or something that would have circumvented the mines. I... didn't quite see how you did that, though. What'd you do?"
"He he," Izuku laughed abashedly. "It wasn't anything too special. I just used my bugs, really. Used them to navigate the minefield by planning out my steps."
"Huh. I'm impressed yet again, Midoriya. You've must have undergone a lot of practice with your quirk, haven't you?" Iida complimented.
"It's— it's nothing like that, really. It sort of just comes to me, you know?"
Iida gave out a curt laugh. "You're too humble for your own good. Anyhow, we should keep quiet. I believe that I spotted Aoyama shooting through the gate just now. He should be the last of us."
True to Iida's word, once Aoyama had passed the gate, Midnight announced that he was the last to make it through to the second round.
It wasn't long until the festival continued on its way, Midnight announcing the next round's Cavalry Battle.
The score point system that utilized the placings from the obstacle race actually made Izuku thankful that he wasn't in first, considering that Todoroki's headband weighed in at ten million points.
And so, with fifteen minutes on the clock and various strategies already forming in his head, Izuku set to work in building his team.
His first action was turning back to Iida's position, wishing to use his speed for the front position of the team setup. Only, he found that his speedy friend was absent, and instead all the way across the way with Todoroki along with Tsu and Jiro.
That's strange. Why would he purposely want to work with Todoroki? That just paints a huge target on his back. The same goes with Tsu and and Jiro. Why? Are they that confident in Todoroki? Well, I suppose that makes sense, I would be too if he—
A hand on his shoulder spurred him from his thoughts. "Now that's better," said Mei. "You're actually speaking like a sane person again. So, what'd 'ya say? Team with me and Pony?"
"Uh, ye— yeah. That's good. We've doubled down on mobility with you two then. And a little too on offense with Pony's horns. My bugs can help with omnidirectional surveillance, but I'm not too comfortable with their combat ability against someone like Bakugo or Todoroki. We need someone with greater offensive ability in that regard."
"Why don't you just use your bugs en masse? Can't you just blanket the area in them?" asked Pony.
"Nope. I, uh, actually asked about that earlier, yesterday to be precise. The school said that I had to wait to make it to the third round. Something about it not following the 'intent to harm' rule if I were to encase everyone in a flood of bugs. 'Malicious intent,' apparently."
"Seriously? Seems like they were just undermining you," Mei suggested.
"Well, there's not much we can do about it. We'll just have to cope. But, I do have someone in mind. In fact," Izuku looked around, and found the person that he had in mind. In a few seconds, he was behind his target and was placing a hand on the boy's shoulders. "Gotcha!"
Tokoyami turned around to face Izuku. "Midoriya?"
"Hi, he-heh. You, uh, you want to join my team? You don't have to attack if you want to, though. Defense would just be fine."
"Defense?" Tokoyami said, somewhat surprised. "That's a rather interesting choice, considering how my quirk gets weaker the brighter the environment is."
Izuku smiled. "I thought that was so. It makes sense, considering that Dark Shadow is, well, a shadow. His offensive power would scale with darkness, just like it did back at U.S.J."
Tokoyami spared a glance at the two behind Izuku, taking a moment to observe them. "Heh. Sure. Use me as you see fit, then."
"Yes!" exclaimed Izuku. "We've got the optimal team setup, I would think. I'll be counting on you, then."
Team Midoriya stood at the ready. Pony held her ground at the front of the formation, doing her part to support Midoriya on her back. Mei had her Hover Soles on, as well as one of her iterations of a "move pack." She opted for the thruster pack instead of the turbine powered one, as its thrusters were moveable, and thus able to point backwards to aid in forward movement. Tokoyami held his head high, Dark Shadow peeking out and edging for a fight. All the while, Izuku sat at the top, a small army of flying insects surrounding his headbands. The swarm was there to deter some away from targeting them, though he knew that was hopeful thinking. There were some like Bakugo, after all, who would be willing to shuffle through some bugs for a second if it meant coining a win for their team.
Looking around, Izuku found that there were a couple notable groups among the twelve that were formed. Izuku found Manga, though he was acting for a back leg for Yaoyorozu. Kendo was at the front of that team, with another girl he didn't know as the other leg.
Team Todoroki consisted of Iida at the front, with Tsu and Jiro as the legs supporting Todoroki. Meanwhile, Bakugo had Kirishima at the helm of his group, with Sero and Ashido at the back.
Izuku looked around, eyeing the eager faces of all the team. Everyone was ready, their minds set in taking the win for the second round. And all that pent up excitement was released when Midnight announced the start of the match.
Most of the teams beelined for Todoroki, aiming to be the first to snag the ten million point headband from the thermodynamic boy.
However, just like Izuku had, it did seem that Todoroki had thought his team setup. Itonsidering the way Tsu wrapped her tongue around Todoroki to lower him towards the ground. As his hand touched the ground, a giant wave of ice sprouted similar to the act Todoroki had done back during the obstacle race, encasing most in his ice. Team Todoroki then sprinted off, their intent seemed to be placed in the art of evasion for the most part.
Izuku and his team watched on in the distance, seeing the ensuing entrapment of their fellow contestants. Then a lightbulb went off in Izuku's head.
"Head toward the ice! Tokoyami, used Dark Shadow to pave a way to the other contestants!"
The other three followed up on Izuku's orders, making their way towards the trapped contestants.
"We're currently in fifth place," Izuku explained. "But if we head up on there and start picking off the weaker targets…" Team Midoriya came upon a team with someone who blew a wall of what seemed like air in front of them. However, the barrier was easily worked around since that team was still encased in ice. The others attempted to move to stop izuku, but it was a pointless defense. And with that, Team Midoriya was a little over two hundred points further in the lead.
"What's this!" yelled the exuberant voice of Present Mic. "Look at that! Team Midoriya is taking advantage of the others' misfortune and taking their headbands!"
Team Midoriya continued on their way way, closing in on a trapped Team Yaoyorozu. Unfortunately, their advance was halted with the appearance of a giant word wall that Manga had conjured. "Izuku!" yelled Manga in a panic. "Don't you dare come any closer! I'll spam my attacks on you!"
"Hey Manga!" Izuku greeted, completely ignoring Manga's spiel. "Hello Yaoyorozu, Kendo, and umm… girl I don't know," Izuku continued.
"Gee, I'm the only one without a greeting?" said the girl.
"Hi Setsuna-san!" said Pony.
"Ah! There we are. Hey, Pony!" the girl responded.
Izuku attempted to have his insects go on attempt to steal the headbands by flying over the barrier, but a swath of heat came from a makeshift flamethrower via Manga's improvised aerosol words and a lighter Yaoyorozu had created. "You'll have to do better than that if you wish to take our headbands, Midoriya," the creation girl said.
Just then, the girl — Setsuna — launch her arm off of her body as well as half of her head, setting up a barrage of projectiles towards Izuku and his team.
"Oh wow! It's kinda like my bug control! I wonder if she can see and hear through those too?"
A loose piece of Setsuna that appeared to be her mouth zoomed by, shouting out, "I can! Cool, ain't it?"
"Seriously, that's what your concerned with right now!" exclaimed Mei. "Sure, they don't hurt all that— Ow! All that much, but we—"
"Right! Sorry!" Izuku used his bugs - aptly gathered from his waiting swarm off the field - and launched a counter offensive against the floating bits of Setsuna.
"Let's get out of here. This place is getting to hot, anyways. The rest are about to break free from the ice.' Izuku noted.
Pony obliged, turning the other way and back away from the ice field. Team Midoriya continued to romp around the field, taking a few headbands here and there, losing some too. Some spoils were harder to retrieve than others, one example being the headband they'd stolen from the mobile tank that consisted of Shoji, Mineta, and Aoyama.
It was all going well for Team Midoriya until three minutes were left on the countdown.It was then that an irate Bakugo was suddenly hot on their trail.
"DEKU!! Come back here!"
"Shoot!" Izuku said. "Keep going. I'd rather not have to deal with his—"
A line of Sero's tape shot past them. Izuku was confused at first, wondering about the increasingly lengthening piece of tape, until his backward facing bugs saw Ashido launching some forward acid and Kirishima hardening up. "Defense! Bakugo's about to—"
Izuku's yells were drowned out by the incoming blasts of explosions. Team Midoriya was quick to act, but not quick enough. Bakugo came flying sideways, having no care for the bugs around Izuku's neck, taking seven of their eight headbands.
"HA!! You thought that you could have dodged me? Fat chance, nerd!" Team Bakugo zoomed away, along with seven headbands that placed them in the lead in second place. Izuku hastily checked his remaining headband, finding it to score a measly one hundred and five points. Looking up at the scoreboard, he found that that placed his team in seve—
"Whoa! Talk about a quick rebound!" announced Present Mic. "Team Bakugo has just swept the as-so-far untouched Team Midoriya right off their feet! They're in danger now! Especially with there being only a minute left!"
"Shoot!" Izuku yelled. "Bakugo!" he screamed in resentment.
"H—hey, Izuku. It's alri—"
Whatever words were coming out of Mei's mouth were drowned out when Izuku noticed a black smog in the distance. He spied Iida, with black smoke emitting from his exhaust ports. Team Todoroki currently wasn't moving. Izuku quickly, yet discreetly, sent a few bugs ahead to take all he could from the situation.
"Good thing tha… you were abl… stop Yaoyor… Almost go… en milli…"
Dang it. I thought I had this listening thing down. Guess it really slips up when I'm not concent—
"Than… but no… engi… stalle…"
Izuku heard enough. He sent the bugs towards Todoroki, scouting the headbands on his neck. His flies found headbands ranging from a myriad of scores, but there was only one that mattered. There was only one that Izuku was aiming for; the ten million point headband.
"We're going after Todoroki!" Izuku suddenly explained.
"What!"
"R—Really?!"
"Midoriya, certainty you don't think—"
"There isn't any time! We're aiming for the headband second from the bottom! Take that one at all costs! Mei! Wire Arrows, but release the tension on them!" Izuku commanded. "Leave them limp and hand them over! Set the thruster pack to its final setting. Get ready for a final push!"
"Heh, if that big brain of yours says so... Fine then!" Mei cackled. She disengaged the Wire Arrows and handed them to Izuku, who held one wire in each hand.
"Tokoyami!" Izuku continued. "Hang on to Mei! Have Dark Shadow ready for an assault!" The bird-headed boy looked over at the girl in uncertainty. "Go ahead. I won't bite!" mused Mei.
Tokoyami sighed, attaching himself to Mei and readying Dark Shadow over his shoulder.
"Pony!" Izuku exclaimed. "Just like you practiced. Horn Charge!"
"Yes!" Pony immediately got on all fours and zoomed towards Todoroki's team. Izuku found himself on her back, utilizing the wire arrows to pull along Mei and Tokoyami as a pseudo harness. Mei's thruster pack lessened the burden of the weight, dramatically helping their speed increase. And right at Team Todoroki's position flew in a swarm of bugs numbering in the thousands, gathered at a moment's notice from the stands. Three bug clones formed around Todoroki, Tsu, Jiro, and Iida. They acted as an initial distraction.
In just a few seconds, Team Midoriya came to a surprisingly close distance to Team Todoroki. The sudden burst of speed via Pony's charge and the boost from Mei's pack caught Todoroki's team completely off guard. The human shaped bugs helped to keep their approach as abrupt as possible.
Within feet of Todoroki and his team, Pony stood up, fixing the position of her hands to launch four horns at near point blank range. Izuku kept up with the abrupt movement by way of Mei, whose body in accompany with Tokoyami cushioned and rebounded his backwards movement, allowing him to keep up on Pony's shoulders.
Izuku's bugs swarmed forward, keeping up the assault, as did the dual charge of Tokoyami's dark shadow. They advanced ever still, and as they closed in, Izuku grabbed for Todoroki's neckline, where the headbands rested in plain sight.
The faces on Team Todoroki were in a state of shock. Jiro was barely able to knock two horns of course, with Tsu redirecting one of the other horns. The other horn got Todoroki on the head, dazing him slightly. Izuku took the chance to deconstruct two of his clones and direct them for the headbands in an attempt to take them. The oncoming danger seemed to be too much of a threat to Todoroki, however, as both of his sides upwards of his torso flared up in response.
A good portion of Izuku's bugs died to the divided hot and cold, but it didn't matter. As Izuku closed in on Todoroki's fireside, the fire-consumed arm of Todoroki was swatted away by Dark Shadow. The resulting assault led to Izuku being able to secure a single headband; the second band from the last.
Todoroki was shocked still, looking at his arm like it was some foreign object. The rest of his team prepared to move and snap Todoroki out of whatever daze he was in, but it proved to be for naught. The buzzer signified the end of the Cavalry Battle sounded not too long after.
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