And we back! I'm glad you guys enjoyed the last chapter and how the festival began. Hopefully you guys enjoy this chapter just as much. I'll be going over the cavalry battle and final stage in this one, honestly I want to finish this arc quickly as the following one has a lot more action. Anyways that's all I have to say for now let's get onto the action.
A few moments after crossing the finish line the rest of the students began trickling in. Todoroki followed by Bakugo then most members of class 1-A. Most of the students had their hands on their knees as they inhaled deeply trying to catch their breath. He could see some looking distressed as they crossed the line, no doubt hoping they had made the cut.
"Alright everyone here's the list of the top 42 who will be continuing on to the next round." Midnight announced, immediately all eyes turned to the board except Izuku. Having finished first he didn't bother looking up, instead he looked around to see his classmates reactions. That would tell him all he needed to know.
Sure enough all of them looked satisfied. Well, most of them did. Momo looked upset and he could faintly hear her complaining to the girls about something Mineta did. She must have felt his gaze as she turned her attention to him and shot him a small smile which he returned. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Momo's fellow girls. He couldn't help but feel amused as he watched the girl's face begin to turn red as Mina whispered something in her ear.
Luckily for her she was put out of her misery by Midnight announcing that the next part of the festival was about to begin. The jumbo screen lit up with the words 'Cavalry Battle' on display along with some images to go along with it. The voluptuous woman went on to explain the rules of the battle. Each team was to be comprised of at least two members and four max, the main objective was to collect the other teams headbands. Each participant had been assigned points to them depending on how they placed in the race.
Izuku however was worth the most at 10 million. Naturally this put a giant target on his back. She proceeded to give them 15 minutes to assemble their teams and prepare for the event.
He looked around to see who he could possibly recruit and saw everyone rushing to form a group with the best odds of winning. He turned his attention to Momo but saw that she was already in a group with Todoroki. Pity.
"I only really need one person" He thinks to himself as he scouts the others. Damn if only Todoroki hadn't taken Momo for his team, a part of him thinks the dual hair colored boy picked her to spite him. Wait, that was it. He looked closer to the ground and saw just the man he needed. Heading in his direction he noticed everyone keep their eye on him but none made an effort to recruit him.
"Mineta, please join my team." He told his short classmate. "I'll be the legs and you be the rider."
Mineta scratched the back of his head looking nervous and glanced around to find someone to take him. He was out of luck however as like his classmate no one wanted to team up with him.
"I don't know man, everyone will be on us if it's just us two. Hell even if we had four we'd be a target."
"Don't worry I have a plan. Your quirk will be perfect for this event." Seeing that he wasn't getting through to the young man he went through everything he knew about Mineta in his head up until now. All the conversations he'd overheard in class and things the boy had said. He smiled inwardly as he figured out how to talk him into it.
"Mintea, you like women don't you?" That got his classmates attention. "Would I be wrong to guess that you're trying to be a hero for recognition? I'd imagine doing good in this event and proceeding to the next one would really help get your name out there." He pitched. He saw the purple costumed boy's eyes widened as he took in his words. Just a little more. "I think if you got strong enough and your name gets out there, eventually you'd be having women that look like Midnight hanging off your arm."
He had to refrain from shaking his head at the now drooling boy. While he didn't have thoughts as lecherous as the shorter boy, he couldn't deny it wouldn't be half bad if women like Midnight gave him their attention.
"I'm in." The boy all but yelled. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
"Good. Now we wait for the event to start." The two boys stood next to each other for the next few minutes until the 18+ only hero took the mic and told all the teams to get ready. Izuku stood in front of Mineta and those who had their eyes on him watched as his body turned into the familiar white color indicating him using his mochi. The other competitors, now having their rider secured turned to the duo to see Izuku form two giant blobs of mochi behind him, though they were still connected to his body.
Slowly the Mochi began to change shape, stretching and compressing in certain areas until two copies of the green haired boy were standing behind him. They were perfect copies, the only difference being that they were fully white and the clothes they wore were also made of mochi and had no color. The two were connected to him by a thick string of mochi attached to his back. "Alright Mineta hop on" He told the smaller boy as all three Izuku's knelt down.
Mineta jumped up and his eyes widened when a small seat was made out of mochi for him to sit on. He wiggled in the seat only to see that he was completely stuck there.
"Perfect. He has no chance of falling off and my clone technique worked. As long as they're connected to me I can move them freely." Izuku thought as he turned to Midnight who along with the crowd stared in fascination.
"Alright students on my mark. Begin" She announced. As expected the teams all moved at once, those closest to the duo coming after them first. Willing his mochi to do as he wanted the two clones jumped back at the same time as he did avoiding a swipe from one of the teams reaching for the headband that he'd entrusted to Mineta.
"I'm going to need your quirk for a bit." Izuku told his partner as they headed away from the teams. The two clones extended one of their arms along with him. "I need six orbs on each arm please." Doing as he was told Mineta began popping the balls off his head and placing them on the mochi limbs presented. Fortunately his head didn't bleed from the amount of orbs he took off in the process.
Once done the greenette retracted the arms. "It's over." He commented. Mineta wasn't sure how but the finality in his classmates voice was enough to make him not question it. The two continued to run around the arena making sure to always keep the headband out of reach. Bakugo and Todoroki both came at them plenty of times only backing off when another 'easy' target was near them.
"As long as we keep our headband we don't need to do anything." Mineta said happily.
"True but we're here to get the pros to notice us. We're not just gonna run around we have to do something to stand out. That's where these come in." He replies indicating to his three arms that still have Mineta's orbs attached to them.
"Well it has to be soon because time is running out." Mineta told him. "No one's gonna be impressed like this."
Izuku nodded. "How fast can you throw those balls on your head?" He questioned as he smacked the hand of one of the 1-B students that was trying to reach for their headband.
"Pretty quickly, but if I take too many my head will start bleeding."
"Perfect. Once we're upside down you start throwing the balls as fast as your little body allows you to." Mineta's eyes widened and was about to ask what he meant by upside down but was stopped as he felt himself propelled high into the air, well above the stadium.
All eyes turned to them as they hit the peak of the jump and turned themselves upside down. The sound of Mineta screaming was drowned out by the cheers of the crowd.
"Woah what is this!?" Present Mic yelled. Everyone watched as Izuku used his arms to create momentum for them, allowing them to being spinning at a rapid pace as they began their descent.
"Go!" Getting over his fear the small boy begins pulling the balls off his head and throwing them upwards towards the ground. Down below the competitors all knew what was happening and began moving around doing their best not to get hit by the balls. Class 1-A knew if one touched you it wouldn't come off until Mineta manually removed them, class 1-B tried to avoid but didn't do much after one hit and didn't do anything to them.
In the end every team ended up being hit due to the fact that they were all grouped together and there was only so much space to move. Some hit in the arms others in the head but the majority of the orbs hit the ground. As they neared the ground the mochi user hardened his body as they landed to avoid hurting himself.
"What a move! They landed in the center of the arena, what will happen now!?" Mic asked the crowd, which only served to fire them up even more.
"Fuck dude we're in the center. There's only seconds left everyone's gonna get us!" Mineta panicked.
"Calm down. You think the girls are gonna like someone who starts panicking at every little thing?" That worked like a charm as the perverted boy immediately ceased his screams and tried to look serious.
"They are gonna come at us. But due to the orbs on the ground they'll have to take specific steps to get to us unless they wanna be stuck in place." He thinks as he looks around them taking note of where the orbs landed. "Which makes predicting where they'll be easy."
Midnight announced that there was ten seconds left until the event ended and everyone used the remaining time to try and take their headband. Izuku smirked as the teams approached. "Here we go"
Once they got close enough the three arms that he had Mineta put orbs on all shot out in different directions, each one sprouting another arm wherever an orb was placed. The result was 21 arms being shot out in total.
"Incredible!" Mic yelled as all the arms retracted and the duo once again jumped into the air to ride out the final seconds. Midnight called for the event to stop just as they began their descent. Upon landing Izuku and his two clones each raised their arms into the air showing multiple headbands in their possession.
The crowd went wild as the images of Izuku and Mineta were displayed on the screen as being in first place but stopped shortly afterward as Midnight asked for their attention.
"We have a unique situation here. The next phase of the festival requires the winners of the cavalry battle, however, we've never had a case where one team collects every headband. Normally a handful of teams would continue on but in this case we'll be taking a brief recess to discuss how we'll proceed. please take this time to use the restrooms or to get some food and drinks. We'll be back shortly." She announced before walking off to find out how they'd proceed.
It was about twenty minutes later when the voluptuous woman returned. "Thank you all for your patients. After discussing it with the rest of the committee we've decided that the cavalry battle will be restarted. However, the team consisting of Midoriya Izuku and Mineta Minoru will not participate as they have qualified for the next event.
The rest of the teams please prepare to start again." She announced as she led the two away. The two young heroes in training were led back into their classes waiting room and told to watch until it was time for the third event. The teams all battled it out against each other again, this time there was much more action between them as they weren't all going for a single target.
A little while later the even concluded and the winners were selected for the final round. Midnight once again asked for everyones attention and went on to explain the next event. "This will be the final event of the UA sports festival. It will be a tournament style battle consisting of one on one matches, with the winners moving up the bracket until ultimately only the champion remains. The first round will be as follows…" She says motioning to the screen.
It lit up revealing a bracket showing who would be fighting who. Izuku looked at the bracket, trying to find out who he'd be facing. Looks like he'd be going up against one Shinso Hitoshi.
"Shit she's gonna kill me I know she is." Looking down he saw Mineta staring at the screen and followed his gaze to see he was going up against Mina. He patted the boys head twice and gave him a silent 'good luck' before breaking away from the others. Everyone was looking around trying to find they're opponent either to say good luck or to trash talk in the case of a certain 1-B class member.
"The first match will begin in one hour starting with Midoriya Izuku vs Shinso Hitoshi." Midnight announced before walking off. The crowd all seemed mildly put off as they had to wait once again but many stood to stretch or even head to the restroom again to not miss any of the action to come.
An hour later both the fans and the pro heroes in attendance were ready. The fans because they knew this years first years were different from the rest. The pros were of similar thought though they wanted to see just how much talent they could possibly recruit. "Will Midoriya and Shinso please make your way to the stage." Midnight called from the center of the fighting ring. This only seemed to egg on the crowd even more as the two competitors appeared and stood facing each other. Up in the crowd the students who didn't make it to the finals were also watching in anticipation. Those from 1-A more so than the rest. They were all looking hoping to see what else their green haired classmate could do. They'd seen him fight a bit during his battle against Bakugo but that had been more of a one sided beat down. They were hoping someone, namely todoroki, could push him to really try.
"Begin!" Midnight yelled before moving out of the ring. The two boys stayed still, neither moving or saying anything until Shinso spoke.
"After this match ends I'll be taking your place in 1-A."
"How exactly do you plan on doing that?" The green haired boy asked genuinely curious. Shinso sounded too confident in his words but hadn't displayed anything to back up his claim. The moment the words came out of his mouth he felt his body stop responding to him. He could move his eyes and think but couldn't force his body to move at all.
"Just like this. Go ahead and walk out of bounds." Shinso ordered. His body turned and began walking towards the edge of the arena much to the shock of the spectators.
"So that's his game. He brainwashes people." He thought to himself as he tried to force his body to obey. "Come on stop." He yelled inwardly to no avail. If he had the ability to he'd be grinding his teeth in anger and frustration. He'd made it this far only to be told to lose like this. "Damn it I said Stop!" He yelled in his mind.
What happened next was felt by everyone. All throughout the arena all normal spectators, students, and even pros felt a sudden pressure surround their being. The crowd was silent as the pressure increased, and suddenly one by one people began falling over with their eyes having rolled into the back of their heads. Most of the normal civilians and some of the general course students along with a small portion of the pro heroes met the same fate. As quick as it had happened the pressure suddenly lifted. For a few moments no one said a word.
"People around the arena have been knocked out! What's going on? Is it a villain attack?" Present Mic yelled while looking around frantically.
"No." Eraserhead's monotone voice cut in. Everyone turned in his general direction in the commentators box waiting for him to elaborate. "It was from Midoriya" All eyes immedietaly turned to the green haired boy who was glaring at his opponent, not the least bit affected by what had just happened. The lack of reaction and look on his face was what led his homeroom teacher to deduce it had been his doing.
Izuku took a deep breath and used his thumb to crack each finger, making sure his body was obeying him again. Shinso meanwhile looked at him with wide eyes not understanding how he'd broken his control.
Izuku rushed forward towards the purple haired boy. He at least respected Shinso a little more when rather than stay frozen in place he tried to punch him as soon as he'd gotten close enough but it was no use. Izuku's body opened up letting the fist go through him and delivered a hard right to the boys face.
"How did you break my control?" Shinso asked as he shakily stood up while rubbing his chin. Unfortunately for him his green haired opponent didn't answer this time, having deduced how his technique worked.
Izuku pulled his right arm back and willed it to increase in size before punching Shinso out of the ring.
"Shinso has been knocked out of bounds and is unable to continue. The winner is Midoriya." Said boy rolled his shoulders a bit as he walked off the stage and back into the waiting room where the others still having to fight were at. No one said anything to him as he stepped inside and sat along the wall, but he could feel all eyes on him.
Now that he had time to rest it hit him. "I used Haoshoku Haki." He thought to himself. He'd successfully used all three types and couldn't wait to learn to call it at will.
Alright Imma go ahead and end it there. What did you guys think? Any suggestions or comments on what you'd like to see in the future? Also if any of you are Hunter x Hunter fans I have a story in mind in which Deku is born a bit earlier, like Eraserhead time period. His quirk would be Bandit Secret which most of you know what it does. Im thinking a deku x Midnight or Mitsuki. I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to do it but if you guys are interested let me know.
Anyways stay safe you guys.