Izuku walked out onto the field next to Uraraka, squinting at the sudden brightness from the sun. He shot a glance at Uraraka, who looked even more serious than she had the day before. Smiling at her, he overheard Kirishima behind him.

"Listen man, so you messed up yesterday. Don't let it get you down. That's not manly!" Kirishima said. As Izuku looked over his shoulder, he saw Bakugo glaring at Kirishima.

"What are you talking about, Shitty Hair? I'm fine. Not my fault if the extras can't handle a few singed hairs." Bakugo said. Izuku rolled his eyes and looked back at the stage where Midnight was taking her place. She waved to the crowd as she reached the center of the stage. Izuku couldn't help but shudder at the strange smile on her face.

"Yesterday there was an obstacle course race, and our theme was announced as Heroics following its conclusion! Today our victi— ahem, students— will be engaging in a new event!" She thrust her whip up at the screens, showing a king sitting on top of a hill. "—King of the hill! Our students will gather into teams of up to four people and earn points by being on top of the hill! Whichever team has the most people on the hill when we call time will instantly progress in the festival! Everyone else will be determined by points!" She exclaimed. Izuku could hear students, and even some louder members of the audience, asking how this fit "heroics". She let out a laugh and cracked her whip near her microphone to get everyone's attention. Midnight then pointed up at short clips of heroes fighting villains to protect civilians and getting past villains to save people.

"This round is supposed to show a hero's determination to protect civilians! Whether that is through fighting off villains till help arrives, or whether it's fighting through villains to get to civilians in trouble. As for who gets to start on top of the hill? It will of course be Izuku Midoriya, whose score blew everyone else's out of the water yesterday! He and his team will start on the hill in the center of the stadium!" She pointed at the concrete hill rising out of the ground, Cementoss waving at everyone. She then pointed to smaller hills getting built as well.

"Of course, with the amount of people we have competing, it would be impossible for most teams to gain points if we only had one hill! That center hill can be considered the main objective while these other side objectives are worth less points! But what's more worth it? Going for the big hill for the most points and the chance at an instant pass into the finals or going for points to hopefully scrape by?" She asked. Izuku felt panic start to set in. With so much attention already on him, he was pretty sure people would be expecting him to hold onto the main hill the entire time. He glanced at Todoroki and Bakugo, both of whom would be major challenges, along with the other students whose quirks were a mystery to Izuku. When he actually looked up again, people were already running around and forming teams. Great, something else he wouldn't be good at. The whole student body knew his main weakness already. Overusing his magic left him tired, and using his magic when he was already exhausted usually led to him passing out. He'd use a stamina potion but, well. It would look like he was taking drugs if he did that.

"Deku, let's team up!" Uraraka shouted. Izuku felt a tremendous pressure fall off his shoulders as soon as he heard that. Turning to see her, he blinked at her even more determined expression. She glared at the competition around them, before turning back to give him a bright smile.

"YEAH! We'll win for sure!" Izuku said. Uraraka blinked at him before blushing and rubbing the back of her head.

"I-I mean we should probably get some more help, I know you're super duper strong and all, but we need help. There's plenty of people I won't be able to float, at least not without some kind of assistance." She said. Izuku nodded. He was probably going to be the powerhouse of the team. Judging from watching Todoroki and Bakugo interacting with people, Izuku concluded his two "rivals" had no interest in even approaching him as a teammate. Izuku sighed as he tried to think of who he could even approach to ask to join his team.

"Midoriya, would it cool if I team up with you? Or do you already have a team?" Izuku turned to see Jirou looking at him, her jacks doing little twirls while she knelt down and adjusted her speaker boots. What shocked him even further was Shoji jogging up to them. Stopping in front of them, he glanced between Jirou and Uraraka before directing his gaze at Izuku.

"Hey is Jirou on your team already? I was hoping to join your team and I was actually thinking Jirou would work well with you, Midoirya." Shoji said. Izuku blinked. He really hadn't expected anyone to want to be on a team with him. He was strong, sure, but his strength was pretty limited in how extreme he could take it. Well… he actually had a plan for the end of the event but he wasn't sure how he could pull it off.

"No, I think this team could work. Shoji can distract them and fling people away. Uraraka can support him at close range since most people will be intimidated by how big Shoji is. Jiro and I can support at range. I think this could work!" Izuku said. He started talking his plan out with his teammates.

"I don't think that holding the hill indefinitely will be possible. Against Todoroki and Bakugo, I think I'm probably the only person with the raw power to hold them off. No offense to any of you, but they're stupidly strong." Izuku said. Jirou and Shoji nodded while Uraraka glanced around with narrowed eyes, scouting out their competition. Izuku summoned his cane and started stabbing the dirt with it, drawing figures of the hills and their team.

"So I think the plan should be to hold off the other teams for as long as possible. Then when the two heavy hitters actually get to us, we retreat to a smaller hill till they give the signal that time is almost up. Then Uraraka will float all of us and I'll launch us towards the main hill again and do a hail mary to blow everyone away from the hill. I'll pass out but the four of us should be the only ones on the hill at the end. What do you guys think?" He asked. Glancing up from the drawing on the ground he saw his teammates staring at him. Rubbing the back of his head, he guessed they didn't like his plan.

"Um, I mean. I know it's not the most solid plan, but it's the best chance for us reaching the finals ya know?" He asked. Jirou was the first to break her stare and laugh.

"Um, yeah, I'm fine with the plan. Just, did you, like, stay up all night last night thinking out plans for like every kind of event that we could have done today or something?" She asked. Izuku blinked at her as Shoji and Uraraka both nodded in agreement with her question.

"Uh, no. I kind of just came up with it on the spot. Honestly though, looking at our competition, we might be able to hold the hill indefinitely. We'll just have to change the plan up to react to how our competition acts." Izuku said. Looking at his "main competition", Todoroki looked like he was talking to a girl from 1-B with wild green hair, Momo, and Tokoyami. Izuku knew he could at least fend off Todoroki and Tokoyami. Shoji could probably deal with whatever Momo could make, but the girl from 1-B was a wild card. His eyes met Todoroki's for a moment, both of them staring at each other for a moment before a buzzer went off.

"Everyone, get to your starting positions marked by Cementoss! Team Midoriya, get to the hill in the center of the stadium!" Midnight commanded. Everyone started moving towards their spots while Izuku looked away from Todoroki and started walking towards the hill. He didn't have time to check out all the teams but he couldn't help that.

"We just have to make sure we advance." Izuku whispered, more to himself than to his teammates. They reached the hill and started to climb. He jolted when he felt a fist lightly punch his shoulder.

"No, Deku, we're going to win." Uraraka declared. She flashed a bright smile at him while they walked. Izuku couldn't help but feel a little hopeful. Maybe he'd be able to go toe to toe with Todoroki long enough to let them keep the hill! Reaching the top of the hill, Izuku started tapping the structure with his cane. Solid, probably wouldn't burst apart at any small spells he did. Though, if he and Bakugo started trading blows… well. He just wouldn't think about that till it happened.

"As a note, students, the little hills are worth one point per second for each student from a team on them! The big hill is worth four points a second for each student from a team on it! GO!" Midnight shouted. Izuku saw Todoroki's team sprinting towards the big hill immediately. Sighing and deciding now was as good a time as any to try out his constructs, Izuku slammed his cane into the ground. Several earthen golems rose out of the ground, each roughly as tall as Shoji, though not nearly as imposing even with the massive shields each carried. They lacked any weapons because Izuku was fairly certain he couldn't assert enough control over each of them to keep them from seriously injuring a fellow student. He sighed as he felt a drain on his stamina, though it was far less than what he thought it would be.

"Damn, Deku, that's smart!" Uraraka shouted, her eyes scanning the approaching teams to see what they would be up against. An explosion above them made Izuku look up and see Bakugo dropping toward him specifically. Izuku hopped away from the blast Bakugo made as he touched down. Izuku saw him glaring and readying another explosion when suddenly he was floating and getting grabbed by Shoji.

"Got em, Midoriya!" Shoji said before he was sent flying by an explosion. Bakugo seemed to have forgotten he was under the effect of Uraraka, however, and was sent flying in the opposite direction, tumbling in the air rapidly.

"Shoji, are you okay?" Izuku asked. The masked man unfurled his arms from around his torso and gave him a thumbs up. Suddenly,a wall of ice shot out of the ground, separating Izuku from the rest of his team and leaving him to face off against Todoroki's squad alone. Izuku pointed his cane at the four of them, raw magical energy swirling around him as he got ready. He wasn't sure he could take all four of them at once, but he had a few ideas on how to stop Todoroki and Tokoyami at the same time.

"Midoriya." Todoroki said calmly. Izuku looked around the hill, well at least what he could see of it. He could hear his teammates fighting on the other side of the wall, but he couldn't get to them, at least not till he took care of his opponents.

"Todoroki, Momo, Tokoyami, girl from class B, nice to meet you, If you think you're going to steamroll me…" he trailed off, letting them figure out what he was going to say on their own. His eyes shot up to the scoreboard, his team ahead by a significant margin, for now at least.

"I'm Setsuna, nice to beatcha." She said. Izuku smiled at the pun a little. Todoroki scoffed as he lunged ice towards Izuku while Tokoyami sent Dark Shadow the same way.

"Well, like I said," Todoroki stated. "I've got your weakness pinned, Midori—" Izuku pointed his cane at them and closed his eyes. A brilliantly bright flame burst towards Todoroki, melting the ice long before it reached Izuku. Opening his eyes as he cut off the spell, Izuku saw Dark Shadow recoiling too, smaller than it had been. Izuku smiled, his theory had been right after all. Dark Shadow wasn't just a quirk name. The creature inside of Tokoyami really was a shadow, which meant that light was its weakness.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you over your hubris!" Izuku said. An explosion rocketed through the ice wall, Bakugo's team rampaging through the remains. Kirishima, Tsuyu, and Iida were following the bombastic blonde. Izuku sighed and jumped away from the follow up blast, swinging his cane to divert most of it with a gust of powerful wind. Glancing back up at the scoreboard, Izuku felt his heart drop. His team was only earning ten points at a time, meaning that two of his teammates had been forced to go to a different hill. Glancing around, he saw Shoji and Uraraka fighting at another, smaller hill. They seemed to be holding it down, though, Uraraka using Shoji as a distraction to float and fling their opponents away. Izuku looked around for Jirou, worrying that maybe Bakugo's team had gotten to her before he felt a fist slam into his jaw. Rolling with the punch and looking around, trying to identify his attacker as his vision cleared, he saw a levitating arm near him.

"Setsuna." He said simply, leaping away from the arm as it rocketed at him again. He aimed at it with his cane, hitting it with a burst of wind and sending it sailing. He groaned as a leg slammed into his back. Rolling forward with the attack, he groaned as he landed on his face.

"Yup! Neat right?" she asked. He let out another groan. it was pretty cool, whatever her quirk was. Izuku didn't have time to readjust though as her fist rocketed toward him again. He heard an explosion followed by a "DEKU!" from Bakugo to his left. Izuku started to summon a shield of dark, regardless of maybe Tokoyami somehow making Dark Shadow stronger from it. Izuku was interrupted by a burst of sound that sent both of the opposing teams tumbling. Jirou ran through the hole in the ice, panting. Her uniform was slightly ruffled and partly torn off her shoulder.

"Midoriya! Uraraka and Shoji got run off by Bakugo's team!" Izuku nodded, already knowing that from his brief observation. He stood up to make sure Jirou was okay when a flashbang grenade landed in front of him. Holding his cane up in front of him, he created a shadow in front of him right as the flashbang went off. Cringing as he was briefly deafened, his ears ringing loudly, he slammed his cane into the ground, pointing it in roughly the direction the flashbang had come from. The earth rippled and cracked. Solid pillars of stone erupted from the concrete and shot out a short distance before stopping. Hearing Momo grunt, Izuku knew that he'd stopped the assault for a second before dropping his shaded wall and reaching out for Jirou. She seemed dazed, worse than Izuku had been by the grenade, which made sense with her enhanced hearing. Slinging her arm over his shoulder, he helped her stand up and started walking towards a different part of the main hill. Hearing both Bakugo and Todoroki's teams going at it behind them, Izuku tapped his cane against the ground and separated them with an earthen barrier. Groaning as he lowered Jirou to the ground, he stood up and rubbed his jaw.

"Setsuna's punch felt like getting hit by Kirishima. She could be rough to fight one on one." Izuku mused while he looked up to see the scoreboard. He felt his heart sink as his team slowly hit fourth place and started to teeter towards fifth place. Suddenly a buzzer went off, right when his team was fifteen points from fifth place.

"And that's time, students! Our top four teams are moving onto the final event tomorrow!" Midnight shouted. Izuku fell down, clutching his chest as he let out a breath he'd been holding. Jirou stirred next to him, groaning before sitting up.

"Did we win?" She asked. Izuku looked at her and laughed before falling onto his back.

"Yeah, we made it, just barely. Looks like we're fighting in the tournament." Izuku said, barely hearing the cheering of the crowd over his own racing heart. He smiled at Shoji, who was running over to him while carrying a nauseous looking Uraraka on his shoulder. Izuku could almost picture what had happened. She'd overdone it, obviously. Smiling as Shoji sat her down, Uraraka just groaned and looked at Izuku, managing a half smile and giving him a thumbs up.

"D-deku, we did it!" She shouted, before spinning around and dry heaving onto the ground. Izuku smiled warily at her before Shoji coughed and pointed at their competition.

Izuku saw Bakugo and Todoroki shooting him death glares. Sighing and shaking his head, Izuku could care less right now. His team was in the finals. That meant he'd get a chance to really show his stuff… and maybe teach Todoroki a lesson. He looked back at his soon to be opponents and glared back, both of them seeming taken back by the pressure Izuku was putting off. Glancing down at his cane, he blinked in surprise at how brightly it was shimmering. Forcing himself to calm down and control his magic output, his cane quickly quit shimmering.

"Yeah, we did it!" He said, turning back to smile at his team. Shoji seemed to be the only person from their team in good shape. Izuku was… fine, but he was feeling a little tired. Not nearly as bad as yesterday, but he could tell that his breathing was heavy even with the short rest he'd gotten running away from Bakugo and Todoroki's teams. Tomorrow was going to be interesting, given the teams that had made it.