Chapter Thirty: Strike Three
"Alright, everyone!" Midnight announced with a grand flourish towards the giant screen that dominated one side of the field, "Now that we've all had a second to get the first event's applause out of our systems, I shall announce the second event! What could it be? THIS!"
On the screen there appeared three words: Capture the Flag.
"That's right! It's that popular game that I'm sure so many of you are familiar with, except this version comes with a twist!" she twirled on the spot to illustrate her point, "In just a moment we're going to have everyone break up into teams of four with one very special team having fivemembers due to the fact that the first forty-one students to pass will be moving on! Why forty-one? Because here at U.A. we go BEYOND!"
"PLUS ULTRA!" the crowd shouted on cue along with Midnight.
"The rules are simple." she continued after the uproar had died down, "Each team will be given a flag that has their point value listed on it. They will then have five minutes to choose a base of operations and strategize. Once the game starts, teams will have fifteen minutes to accumulate as many flags as possible! The members of the teams with the most points will advance to the third and final event until we have a total of sixteen members advancing. It all sounds pretty simple, right?"
Midnight licked her lips and Izuku Midoriya dry-swallowed nervously. He felt as though something terrible was coming.
"I'm afraid there's a bit more to it than that!" Midnight revealed, wagging a finger and winking at the camera that was recording the event, "You've all probably been so busy watching me that you haven't been paying attention to our lovely little construction crew!"
Indeed, Power Loader, Cementoss and a crew of a couple dozen mixed robots and engineers were bustling around the field, hastily excavating, erecting and even, on the part of a few workers, painting lines on the ground.
"Each team will have its own designated territory." Midnight explained, "In an ordinary game of Capture the Flag, getting tagged by the enemy while in their territory would send you to that team's jail, where you would have to be freed by one of your teammates. I'm here to tell you that is NOT the case today! If you get tagged by another team while you're in their territory, then you have to go back to your own base before continuing the game! A tag is defined as any form of intentional bodily contact initiated by an opposing player. If, for instance, you pushed another player out of the way while still in their territory, you would be safe!"
Izuku was thankful for the clarification, but it was beginning to sound like Midnight was suggesting that they would be-
"You heard me right, folks! Anything and everything goes! Quirk usage is perfectly legal and offensive actions are encouraged! Just don't take things too far, okay? No kicking them while they're down and once you've tagged an enemy player, you are not allowed to prevent them from returning to their base. Similarly, tagged players are not allowed to engage in any action that is unrelated to returning to their base. Oh, and no damaging the flags! Now, before we start breaking up into teams, allow me to reveal each participant's point value! It's actually very simple: Number forty-one is worth ten points, number forty is fifteen, number thirty-nine is twenty and so on."
Then midnight smiled evilly and Izuku swore that she was looking directly at him.
You know, some people would kill to have the R-rated Hero look at them like that.
"There is one very lucky exception, however." she said, which did nothing to ease Izuku's impending sense of doom, "The first-place winner, instead of being worth two-hundred and ten points, is worth ten million!"
Oh, fuck me.
Don't encourage her.
"So, without further ado, here's what you're all worth!"
The screen changed to show the list of participants, sorted by point value.
1st: Izuku Midoriya – 10,000,000
2nd: Katsuki Bakugo – 205
3rd: Tenya Iida – 200
4th: Mezo Shoji – 195
5th: Ochako Uraraka – 190
6th: Eijiro Kirishima – 185
7th: Shoto Todoroki – 180
8th: Ibara Shiozaki – 175
9th: Juzo Honenuki – 170
10th: Fumikage Tokoyami – 165
11th: Hanta Sero – 160
12th: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu – 155
13th: Mashirao Ojiro – 150
14th: Yosetsu Awase – 145
15th: Tsuyu Asui – 140
16th: Momo Yaoyorozu – 135
17th: Rikido Sato – 130
18th: Mina Ashido – 125
19th: Koji Koda – 120
20th: Kyoka Jiro – 115
21st: Sen Kaibara – 110
22nd: Kosei Tsuburaba – 105
23rd: Denki Kaminari – 100
24th: Kojiro Bondo – 95
25th: Reiko Yanagi – 90
26th: Hitoshi Shinso – 85
27th: Itsuka Kendo – 80
28th: Jurota Shishida – 75
29th: Shihai Kuroiro – 70
30th: Yui Kodai – 65
31st: Hiryu Rin – 60
32nd: Nirengeki Shoda – 55
33rd: Kinoko Komori – 50
34th: Togaru Kamakiri – 45
35th: Neito Monoma – 40
36th: Pony Tsunotori – 35
37th: Tooru Hagakure – 30
38th: Setsuna Tokage – 25
39th: Manga Fukidashi – 20
40th: Mei Hatsume – 15
41st: Yuga Aoyama – 10
"It appears that everyone from 1-A and 1-B made the cut." Shoji observed.
"Yeah, and that guy from before too." Kirishima added.
"What guy?" Izuku asked, desperate to ignore the hungry looks that were being directed his way by everyone that was not part of Kacchan's crew.
"Oh, that's right, you weren't there." Kirishima realized, "Well, that blond kid from 1-B showed up and started talking a bunch of smack. Bakugo was about ready to blow his head off but that Shinso guy broke it up before it could get too hairy. Then he basically threw down the gauntlet to the entire Hero Course but hey, what can you do?" he shrugged with a smirk.
"Alright, you all have ten minutes to form teams while we finish setting up. Choose carefully!" Midnight announced before hopping off her platform to get out of the way of the construction crew.
"Tch. This blows." Kacchan griped.
"Yes, I see what you mean." Iida agreed.
"What are you guys talking about?" Ochako wondered.
"The teams can only be four or five people." Kacchan replied, "We're gonna have to split up. I didn't really wanna have to crush you guys until the final event."
Izuku nodded silently, having come to the same conclusion.
"Well, what do we do then?" Ochako prompted.
Kacchan was about to answer, but Izuku beat him to the punch.
"It's obvious, right? I'm the weak link here since I've got this ten-million point target on my back. Whatever team I end up with is going to have their work cut out for them. The reasonable thing to do is for you guys to form a team of five and cut me loose. You'll have a better chance of advancing that way."
Ochako surprised Izuku by tugging her arm off of his shoulder and shoving him, stumbling slightly as she regained her balance.
She looked mad.
"Deku-kun, that's a really dumb thing to say for someone who's supposed to be so smart. Do you honestly think we'd all abandon you because of something like that?"
"Yeah, man. I mean, that'd be one of the least manly things we could do!" Kirishima seconded.
"Besides," Kacchan added, "if I just took all the awesome for myself then it'd hardly be a fair fight. I don't want some cheap victory from you, Deku; I want a real contest. You know as well as I do what the third event usually is. You and me are gonna finish what we started in the Battle Trial today in front of all these witnesses! So, we're gonna split the team down the middle, half to you and half to me. We'll agree to stay out of each other's way and we'll all make it to the final event."
"Bakubro!" Kirishima seemed to be on the verge of manly tears, "That's the sort of shit that'll make me follow you to hell and back! So manly!"
"You see?" Ochako said as she took her place at Izuku's side while he processed the events that were taking place, "One way or another, we'll stick together."
"I shall also stand by you, Midoriya-san." Shoji gave him a thumbs-up.
"Guess that means you're with us, eh, Iida?" Kirishima grinned.
"No."
Silence fell.
"Iida-san…what are you saying?" Izuku found his voice.
"Do you remember our first day, Midoriya-san, Bakugo-san?" Iida asked, looking even more serious than usual, "The three of us were the ones who made the biggest impression. We were 1-A's big three; the ones that everyone saw as the strongest and most charismatic. I do not feel that way about myself, but the one thing that I cannot deny is that the two of you have proven yourselves time and again while I have been left in the dust. Our performance in the first event is just one more incidence of this. The five of you are all wonderful friends. Indeed, I consider you my best friends. However, I feel that I must prove myself here today. To that end, I shall challenge you. May the best team win."
With that, Iida strode off in the direction of some other 1-A students and was gone.
"Well, that sucks." Kirishima observed, "I can see where he's coming from though."
"Kiri!" a pink bundle of energy glomped the redhead from behind, wrapping her arms around his neck as he took a half-step forward to balance himself, "You've still got a spot left on your team, right? Right? I want in!"
"What do you say, boss?" Kirishima looked to Kacchan, "You've seen what Ashido can do; I think she'd really crank up the manliness of this team."
"Sure, whatever." Kacchan replied flippantly, "I guess we could do worse. Let's go find our fourth person then. See you in the third round, Deku."
"Yeah." Izuku responded with a determined nod. Now all he had to do was find one more member and-
"Hey, you! Yeah, you! Mr. Ten-Million!" an unfamiliar female voice caused Izuku to spin around, only to find himself face-to-face with a pink-haired girl with yellow eyes that had odd markings on the irises that resembled crosshairs, "I wanna use your position to my advantage, so let me on your team!"
Izuku backed up a step or two, since the girl was muchcloser to him than he was comfortable with. In doing so, he noticed that she was decked out in all sorts of gadgets. It was then that he recognized her from the obstacle race.
"Ah! You're that girl from the Support Course!"
The recognition made the girl's already wide grin grow even wider.
"That's right! Mei Hatsume, inventor extraordinaire, at your service! Along with all of my super-cute babies, of course!"
As Mei started waxing eloquent about her myriad inventions, which she referred to as "her babies," Izuku slowly became hopefully optimistic about his team's chances.
With Hatsume-san providing equipment and support, this might actually be possible!
Izuku scanned the field.
What we need is the right sort of base; the kind that will negate our team's weakness to ranged attacks…there!
"I have a plan." Izuku said, getting everyone's attention immediately, "Follow me."
Ochako, who had recovered enough to walk on her own at this point, saluted him.
"Yes, sir!"
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Shoto Todoroki was honestly doing his best to remain calm and focused for the coming event.
"Todo, come on! Help me find a fourth person!"
A certain invisible girl who had immediately added herself to his team when they were given the go-ahead by Midnight, however, was making that rather difficult.
"I already found someone. You pick."
"Yaomomo-chan doesn't count! She came to you! You didn't have to do anything!"
"You came to me too, so technically I found two people."
"Excuse me? I found myself, thank you very much." Shoto was unable to tell exactly, due to Hagakure's invisible nature, but he could have sworn that she was pouting. He was only partially sure however, due to the fact that she also sounded like she was trying not to laugh.
She was weird, in other words. Not annoying per-se, but certainly someone who never failed to rattle Shoto's cage.
Which was an activity she seemed to take an absolutely fiendish delight in.
"Um," Yaoyorozu was looking slightly nonplussed by the interaction taking place before her, "if it helps, I joined you because I thought that I could provide some assistance with Creation, as well as the fact that I know from firsthand experience that your strength is genuine, Todoroki-san. You are also a good deal more reasonable than several of our other classmates and thus, easier for me to deal with."
"Yaomomo-chan," Hagakure said exasperatedly, "Todo is impossible. Seriously, I can't take him anywhere."
Shoto could feel his eye twitching.
Don't engage. Don't encourage her.
Don't do it.
"I'm sorry," he found himself responding, "have you looked in a mirror lately?"
"Shockingly enough, I have not."
"That's because you're impossible."
Shoto was met with silence as the two girls (presumably, in Hagakure's case) looked at him with confusion.
"To…see." Shoto was forced to explain. "You're invisible. So…you're impossible to see. Hence the…mirror."
Hagakure took a step closer to him and patted him on the shoulder in a consoling manner.
"You see?" she said to Yaoyorozu, "Can't take him anywhere."
"Just…go find a fourth person." Shoto said resignedly.
As she skipped off towards Koda, who was standing nearby and looking nervous, Shoto took a moment to take a long, deep breath and cool his head.
That girl was going to be the death of him. Or someone else.
Why did he let her hang around him again?
Seriously…call him impossible. She was impossible.
Hence the mirror.
Shoto had been proud of that one. It was clever. Nuanced. It wasn't even a joke, because Shoto Todoroki did not tell jokes. It was more of a…satirical observation used as a witty retort.
Yeah.
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Denki Kaminari could hardly believe his luck. Not only had Jiro joined up with him almost immediately, but now he had Iida too!
Sure, Jiro had stated that her main reason for joining up with him was the she would still be able to make him listen to her if he overused his Quirk and that it would look bad if the Class President failed to advance because of something like that, but Denki knew that there was more to it than that.
For one thing, they had worked together before and knew each other's strengths. For another, despite whatever Jiro might say to the contrary, they got along fairly well. If Denki was being honest, she was the first person he would have chosen for his team. It was good to know that she agreed, albeit in her own special way.
Then there was Iida; their resident speed demon. Denki may not have been the brightest bulb in the box, but even he immediately realized how useful such a teammate could be. Plus, as the third-place finisher, he was worth almost as many points as Denki and Jiro combined.
That took care of offense as far as Denki was concerned, so they just needed someone who could handle defense.
Defense…
"Yo, Prez, you look like someone's blasting scratch noise into your ears. What gives?" Jiro inquired as she poked him with one of her Earphone Jacks.
"Yes, if there is anything we can do to assist, please do not hesitate to inform us." Iida added.
"Well, I'm trying to work out who we should go after as our fourth member." Denki explained, "We have a strong offense now, but we need someone more suited to defense."
"I get ya." Jiro nodded, crossing her arms, "We've got the big noisemakers but we still need a solid bass line to tie it all together."
Iida, meanwhile, was scanning the field, taking stock of who remained.
"I believe I may have a solution. See if you can locate a base with a decent amount of shade. I shall return posthaste." then he sped off.
"Well, I guess we leave it to Iida, then?" Jiro sought confirmation, which Denki immediately gave in the form of a sharp nod as he strolled off towards what looked like a concrete bunker that led underground.
"If there's one thing he's not, it's unreliable." Denki stated with full confidence, "Whatever it is he's up to, he'll pull through. We just need to do our part, right?"
Jiro made a noise of assent as they walked, trying not to look like they were up to something.
"Hell," Denki added after a moment, "he'd probably do my job better than I would. I was honestly expecting someone like him to win it."
He nearly ate shit when the shorter girl shoved him hard in the back.
"Don't sell yourself short. You're supposed to be the front man, right?"
"I…guess?"
Why was she mad? She was usually the first to take jabs at him. Denki pondered this while Jiro, unheard by him, muttered something about a wasted vote.
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Neito Monoma was thinking. This was not unusual; he was usually thinking. This was simply what he did. It had been his plan, after all, for most of the 1-B students to deliberately lag behind in order to get a better idea of what their counterparts' Quirks were.
That plan, incidentally, had worked like a charm. Well, except for that team of six that had decided to screw gravity and fly all the way to the finish line. That was hardly even a speed bump though, since Neito had prior knowledge on a couple of them and had been able to deduce the rest from what little he had seen.
That Midoriya, the one who had won first place and a big fat target to go along with it, he was the one from the USJ incident. Neito knew that he Quirk involved fire from the image that had been shown, but he didn't know exactly how it worked. The big one, Shoji, was simple enough to understand: he was a mutant-type and therefore useless to Neito.
Second-place, that Bakugo. He was the one that Neito had taunted before. His Quirk had been on full display as he used his explosions to steer their makeshift aircraft. He could probably have some fun with a Quirk like that. Third-place, that rich kid from the Iida family, also had an obvious Quirk; his whole family was built on speed and engines that were integrated into their bodies. Technically a mutation and, therefore, not something that Neito could use.
That just left the redhead and the girl. Neito had not seen the redhead in action himself, but Tetsutetsu, who was currently doing some stretches to limber himself up, had reported that he had a Quirk strikingly similar to his own Steel. That meant that the only Quirk remaining was the gravity manipulation, which had to belong to the girl by process of elimination.
It was a simple deduction, really.
As for teammates, Neito had immediately recruited the sturdy Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and, after a bit of consideration, the bizarre Manga Fukidashi. Both of them were useful in their own right, but both were also uniquely useful to Neito by virtue of his Quirk.
That just left one remaining spot and Neito had known who he wanted since the ten minutes had started. He sauntered towards the student and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Yo, long time no see…"
He had experienced his Quirk firsthand, after all.
"…Shinso-san."
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After the ten minutes had passed, there were noticeably fewer students in the central area of the field. Midnight did not bother commenting about this, though she did give a knowing smile.
"Now that everything is all set up, would each team please choose a captain and send them forward to claim your flag! You will then have five minutes to choose a base and come up with your plan of action. The first team to be inside of a given base is considered to have claimed that zone. With that in mind…three zones have already been claimed. That was quick!"
One by one, the team captains reported their members and claimed their flags. As they did so, the giant screen updated with the team name and point total.
Team Midoriya: 10,000,400 points
Team Bakugo: 665 points
Team Kaminari: 580 points
Team Todoroki: 465 points
Team Aoyama: 440 points
Team Honenuki: 405 points
Team Awase: 375 points
Team Kendo: 340 points
Team Kaibara: 330 points
Team Monoma: 300 points
"You may have noticed that the individual team members aren't listed. That's on purpose! You won't always know what you're getting yourself into, so the ability to plan and improvise is key!"
Izuku put on a show of walking directly to a base that he knew was unoccupied. As he had anticipated, several of the other teams were doing their best to burn holes in the back of his head with their eyes. That couldn't last though.
"Alrighty, Captain-san, do you read me?" Hatsume's voice crackled in his ear from the communications device that she had provided to the entire team.
"I hear you, Hatsume-san. What's the situation?"
"Me and the big guy have been keeping an eye on the other teams and it looks like just about all of them have stopped watching you. There's still a couple, but you can't do anything about that."
"Understood. Returning to base now."
Izuku then adjusted his course to curve back to the territory that his team had actually claimed, which was a small cave that had been formed from excavated earth, reinforced with some form of adhesive and placed against the wall of the arena.
When Izuku returned, he found Shoji scanning the entire field with six tentacleyes and Hatsume peering at some of the further bases, here irises contracting and expanding oddly. She had explained that her Quirk was Zoom, which allowed her eyes to zoom in on distant things like a pair of high-powered binoculars. Ochako was keeping herself concealed in the cave at Izuku's request, since it would benefit them to keep their team makeup as much of a surprise as possible. Hopefully the shadowy cave was also contributing to this.
"I'm pretty sure that there's two or three teams that know we're here." Hatsume reported.
"Got any idea where specific teams have set up shop?" Izuku prompted.
"Team Bakugo is in the area immediately to our left." Shoji reported, "Our other side is occupied by Team Kendo, though they do not seem to realize our location."
"What's our plan, Deku-kun?" Ochako asked, her expression determined.
"Well, I'm tempted to put the entire team on defense." Izuku admitted, "As long as we can hold on to our flag, there's no way that we won't advance, even if one other team managed to gather all nine other flags. There's one big problem with that though."
"We would be vulnerable to area-of-effect Quirks." Shoji nodded, "Todoroki-san comes to mind, as does Kaminari-san. This is not even considering what sorts of Quirks the members of 1-B may possess." Izuku nodded, confirming Shoji's assertion.
"That's why the only one who will be in the base itself is Shoji-san."
"What?!" Ochako was clearly shocked by this. Hatsume seemed to be some mixture of intrigued and nervous.
"Baby! That sounds super-risky! I like it!"
Shoji did not say anything, simply meeting Izuku's eyes with his two normal ones for a moment before nodding.
"I have faith in Shoji-san's ability to defend our flag." Izuku stated, "After all, with the cave protecting us from ranged attacks, all he has to do is tag anyone who enters before they can take the flag. A single touch is all it takes to send them back where they came from. Who better for that then the one with six arms? Not to mention that sneak attacks are unlikely to work on him. If worst comes to worst, he can always radio for help."
"I shall not fail." Shoji said, taking the flag from Izuku and planting it firmly in the center of the cave.
"Hatsume-san, you'll be something of a floater. I need you to patrol our territory and hinder any intruders as much as you can. You'll also be using your Quirk to try and predict whether or not we're about to get swarmed. Make sure to keep in contact."
The pink-haired gadgeteer considered this for a moment before grinning widely, a sudden sparkle in her eyes.
"Ah-ha! I've got just the baby for this! Don't worry, boss-man, I'll be sure to show off as much as possible!" she bolted out of the cave without a second thought.
"That just leaves you and me, Uraraka-san." Izuku turned to Ochako, "We'll nominally be on offense, but in reality, we'll be serving as decoys."
"What do you mean, Deku-kun?"
At this, Izuku gave a smile that made Ochako's eyes widen.
"We're going to exploit a few loopholes in the rules."
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"Are you sure about this, Awase?"
"Absolutely!" Yosetsu Awase grinned as he staked his team's flag as deep into the ground as he could get it before placing both hands around the base and concentrating for a moment. A short burst of yellow cracks spidering out from where the flag met the ground confirmed that his Quirk, Weld, had been successful.
"We'll divide and conquer!" he declared as he pumped his fist, "Our flag is welded to the ground at the molecular level! There's no way to separate it and breaking the flags is illegal! Anything we get will be completely untouchable!"
"I just hope you know what you're doing…" Yui Kodai shook her head, remembering a certain old adage about counting one's chickens before they hatch.
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"Are you sure about this, Ashido?" Kirishima said, looking as though he was having second thoughts.
"Absolutely!" Ashido grinned as she covered their team's flag in acid that was deliberately not quite strong enough to damage it, "I'll be here to protect it, of course, but if anyone tries to steal it, well…they'll be in for a nasty surprise!"
"I like it." Bakugo said, rolling his shoulder in preparation for what was to come, "This means that the three of us are free to focus on offense! I'll go by myself and Kirishima and Ojiro will team up. As long as we each bring back a flag, we should be in the clear."
Ojiro gave Kirishima a pat on the shoulder.
"What's the use in worrying? It's true that we didn't have the time to plan anything better, but the other teams are working under these same restrictions, right?"
Kirishima had to admit that the man had a point.
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"Are you sure about this, Todo?" Hagakure voiced her concern as she folded up her gym clothes and laid them in a neat pile, along with her shoes, by the base of their flag in order to make full use of her Quirk.
"What part of the plan sounds bad to you?" Shoto asked, raising an eyebrow.
"None of it, it's just…"
"If I may," Yaoyorozu interjected, "I believe that she means to say that the three of us staying back to defend the flag while you go out into the field alone may prove risky."
Koda nodded, seconding this statement.
Shoto took a moment to process the fact that they would be concerned over something like this.
"To be blunt," he responded, "you all would probably get in my way. If I have to worry about catching one of you in the crossfire, then I won't be able to use the full extent of my abilities."
"What do you mean, Todo?"
"I mean," Shoto said as he casually strolled away from the pit that served as their base, "I'm going to exploit some loopholes in the rules."
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"Are you sure about this, Monoma?" Tetsutetsu said, eyebrow raised, "I mean, it just seems kinda…you know."
"I am very sure, Tetsutetsu." Neito reassured his teammate, "I understand and appreciate your concerns, but our fifty-fifty split will provide excellent results, just you wait. Besides," here Neito felt a grin stretch across his face, "if you follow our plan, then you're guaranteed to shake things up a bit."
"You aren't worried about getting in trouble?" Fukidashi asked while Shinso looked on, his tired expression unreadable.
"Trouble?" Neito cocked his head, "Why, Fukidashi-san, all we're doing is exploiting a small loophole in the rules."
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"You know, I've been thinking," Denki said to his team as the last of their five minutes ticked down, "fifteen minutes of prep time followed by a fifteen-minute event and that was all after the opening ceremony and the first event and then the time that they took introducing the second one, then the third event after that…doesn't this all seem a bit too long? I mean, they have to do this two more times today, right? For the second and third years?"
"I am sure they have it all planned out, Kaminari-san." Iida replied while Jiro and Tokoyami listened in, "Besides, fifteen minutes for this event does not seem that long to me at all. If anything, it will go by in a flash."
"Why's that?" Jiro inquired.
"Because the rules here favor defense."
"Alright!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the field once more, "Ready or not, the second event starts NOW!"
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Shoto strolled purposefully to the very center of the field, where all of the territory lines intersected. He had already been on his way when the starting signal was given, so he reached the center with time to spare before the first wave of students converged on it.
See, people were predictable, especially when they were under a time constraint. The average person is able to move most quickly in one specific direction: forward. This meant that the average person had an unconscious inclination to charge straight ahead when time was an issue. Now, Shoto was not naïve enough to consider the lion's share of U.A. students average, but there was no doubt in his mind that there would be at least a few who adhered to this way of thinking.
He was proven correct as several students came screaming out of their respective gates at full-tilt. Shoto mentally counted down in his head before unleashing his Quirk in the form of a large field of ice that radiated from his person and froze the legs of those who were not quick enough to jump and avoid it.
"Fuck you, Half-and-Half!" one of whom was Bakugo as he sailed over the field using his Quirk to boost himself. Oh well; you couldn't have everything. At least he had managed to lock down a few members of the other teams.
After all, there was no rule that said that he could onlyinterfere with those in his own territory.
Now to find Midoriya's team…
…Oh. He was right there. Out in the open. With Uraraka keeping watch by standing on top of the cement structure that must have been their base.
…Were those vines blocking the entrance? One of the highly-placed students, Shiozaki, had possessed vines for hair. Perhaps Midoriya had teamed up with her for strategic purposes? It seemed like the sort of thing he would do. Shoto had certainly not seen it coming, so that was more points in Midoriya's favor.
Unfortunately for him, there was no way that such a defense would stop Shoto. Or Bakugo for that matter, but he seemed to be keen on attacking other teams for some reason.
Oh, well. More for Shoto. He made a beeline for Midoriya's base. The other boy did not seem to have noticed him yet.
"Deku-kun! Todoroki-san is inbound!" Uraraka suddenly cried.
"Already?!" Midoriya spun around and saw Shoto approaching, "Crap, we didn't plan on him showing up this soon!"
Why not though? Shoto had made it abundantly clear that he was gunning for Midoriya back in the waiting room. Could it be that Midoriya had forgotten during the rush of the first event, or had he gotten cocky and thought that his display might possibly dissuade Shoto?
Either way, he had made a mistake. As soon as he moved to tag Shoto, he would be frozen where he stood.
But Midoriya didn't approach him. If anything, he was slowly backing away towards the base.
"Deku-kun, what do we do?!" Uraraka was attempting to hurry him. For good reason too. Soon their base would be within Shoto's ideal range.
"I don't know!" Midoriya shouted, "If we try and tag him then he'll just freeze us and we'll be useless after that! Maybe…" Shoto could see the gears turning in his head and as Midoriya's shoulders slumped, Shoto could see that he had given up.
There really were some fights that you just couldn't win. If he had been given more time to plan, or if he had been given more freedom of movement, then perhaps Midoriya could have put up a better fight. As it was, he had come to the only logical conclusion…
"We need to retreat. Once he gets the flag, he'll fall back to his base to defend it and we can get more points from the other teams. We aren't equipped to deal with him right now!"
…Cut his losses and run.
"Dang it!" Uraraka stomped on the roof of the base as she forced herself to accept the situation and Midoriya wasted no time in grabbing her and sailing off in a seemingly random direction, weightless.
Well, Shoto had honestly thought better of him, even if his decision was a rational one. Midoriya didn't seem like the type to just abandon his objective like that.
It was with a feeling of anticlimax that Shoto extended his right arm and froze the base from top to bottom. If anyone was inside, then their legs would be frozen, but no more. He wasn't out to hurt anyone, after all.
"Eek! S-so mush ice!"
"Lord in heaven, where did it all come from?!"
Shoto raised an eyebrow. There were two distinct female voices coming from inside the base, neither of which he recognized. Had Team Midoriya adopted a completely defensive strategy?
As Shoto shattered the frozen vines at the entrance, he beheld Shiozaki as he had guessed, as well as a girl with a mushroom-style haircut that covered her eyes. The interior of the base was also littered with various types of frozen mushrooms. Must have been her Quirk.
"Apologies, but I'll be taking that flag now."
"Y-you're Shoto Todoroki!" the mushroom girl gasped, "But why? Our flag isn't worth very mush. We thought you'd be going after a higher-profile team!"
"Indeed, that is a good point, Komori-san." Shiozaki agreed, "Pray explain yourself, Todoroki-san, since it seems that we are no longer able to resist you."
Wait…
What?
"This isn't Team Midoriya's base?"
"Heavens, no!" Shiozaki looked truly confused, "This humble chapel is the sanctuary of Team Kendo!"
"Then why…"
Oh.
Oh.
Son of a bitch. He'd been played. Midoriya had taken Uraraka and deliberately made him think that another team's base was theirs. Of course he hadn't tried to tag him, because it wouldn't have mattered if he did! All he needed to do was stall for time!
Fuck! Now he couldn't trust that whatever base Midoriya was defending was actually his.
That was it. That was checkmate. Unless he stumbled upon Team Midoriya's base by accident, Shoto would have no way of finding it and he wasn't about to waste time just wandering around.
Shoto used his left hand to thaw the ground by the base of the flag and yanked it out, noting that it was worth three-hundred and forty points, which would bring his team's total to eight-hundred and five once he brought it back.
That would just have to do. He would keep an eye on the scoreboard and freeze anyone who entered his team's territory. If things started looking bad, then he would go on another hunt to whatever base happened to be nearby.
As Shoto made his steady way back to his base, he could hear Present Mic enthusiastically announcing the first capture of the game, but he tuned him out in favor of his own thoughts.
Well-played, Midoriya. I'll see you in the third event.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Katsuki Bakugo was suspicious.
Not in the sense that he was a suspicious type of person, though people that didn't know him very well might have thought so. No, he was suspicious of something.
In particular, the apparently-unattended flag standing in some unknown team's base.
"This has to be a trap, right?" he grumbled to himself as he walked in a circle around the flag, looking for any signs of foul play.
The hell of it was, he didn't find anything. Either whoever trapped this thing was a goddamn expert, or it wasn't actually trapped and somebody was just a huge idiot.
Only one way to find out.
Katsuki gripped the shaft of the flag and yanked, but the flag didn't budge.
"…The fuck?"
He tried a few more times, but it was stuck fast. Apparently it had somehow been glued to the ground.
Well, alright. If that was how it was going to be, then he would just have to get creative.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Mina Ashido was feeling pretty good about herself. She had personally repelled no fewer than five attackers so far. As she had intended, even though one of them had gotten their hands on the flag, it didn't matter. They had barely budged it before they dropped it, sporting some fresh acid burns on their hands. While they were distracted, she had tagged them and sent them on their way.
After re-securing the flag to the ground and refreshing the acidic coating, Mina had decided to take a peek outside and see how things were going.
The center of the field was frozen over along with the base located two over from hers, so Todoroki was clearly on the prowl. That could be a problem. Well, at least there didn't seem to be anyone else in the area-
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" a student who appeared to have a speech bubble where his head should be suddenly leapt out from around the corner and started screaming bloody murder. Mina responded appropriately.
"AAHHH!" *SMACK*
Namely, by letting out an involuntary scream of her own and slapping the shit out of the poor kid.
She was about to tell him to go back to his base and think about what he'd done, when a large student who appeared to be made of steel dashed through the entrance on the opposite side.
"Nice one, Fukidashi!" he laughed, "Way to take one for the team!"
It had been a distraction! Mina whirled around and shot towards the boy, who had finished yanking her team's flag out of the ground.
"Put that down!" *KRONG* "OW!"
Note to self: slapping metal people is a bad idea. The metal person in question blinked at her before giving her a sharp-toothed grin that reminded her of Kiri.
"You know, I don't think I'mma do that. I think I'll just take it back to my base. 'Scuse me."
He exited the base and Mina, after taking a couple of seconds to process the fact that he was still holding on to the acid-covered flag, pursued him.
"Hey, wait! I tagged you!"
"So?"
"So you need to put that flag down!"
"Nope. All I need to do when you tag me is head back to my base, which is what I'm doing."
"I'll stop you!"
"You can't do that, remember? Once you tag someone, you have to leave 'em the hell alone until they get back to their base."
"You…that's…"
Shit. He was right. He had her team's flag and there was nothing she could do about it.
Should she chase him? Try and steal back the flag? No. She'd be outnumbered and at a disadvantage if she did that.
"Damn it!" she stamped her foot in irritation and stomped back to her base to wait for her team members to bring back more flags.
They, at least, could do their jobs right.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Tenya Iida was pacing back and forth in front of one of Class 1-B's bases, trying to work out a plan of attack. He had originally planned on just barreling past the defenses, snatching the flag and then dashing out before they had the chance to react, but upon his first attempt, one of the defenders, a rather bestial-looking fellow, had reacted by significantly increasing in size and bestiality.
Tenya was not a betting man and therefore did not fancy the idea of charging headlong into the literal jaws of the beast. He would need to find a way to circumvent this foe instead of facing him head-on. After all, a single touch would be enough to send him back to his starting point.
Especially because, judging from the rumbling growl emanating from the furry guardian, who was now standing on all-fours, he might have an interest in inflicting a bit more than a simple touch.
In fact…he was looking rather antsy. As though he were having some trouble standing still.
"Shishida-san," he heard the gray-haired girl say from inside the base, "you need to calm yourself. You should transform back."
"Lady Yanagi, I am afraid that this is not an option." the beast, apparently named Shishida, responded with a growl, "For you see, in the very instant that I take this course of action, he will undoubtedly charge. Fearsome though I am, I do not have confidence that I will be able to resume this form in time. We must not underestimate the speed of this one."
"Forgive me for saying so, Shishida-san," Tenya said, getting an idea, "but I must confess myself surprised: your visage and your mannerisms are at odds with one another."
"Indeed, Sir Iida." Shishida agreed, his claw-like fingers digging into the ground, "I am a gentleman with the body of a beast, but one cannot help what one has been born with; they can only make the best of it."
"Oh?" Tenya lifted his chin ever so slightly, arching an eyebrow as he did, "One who is so clearly a beast pretending to be a gentleman deigns to lecture me? Me, a scion of the Iida family, who have borne naught but Heroes for generations?"
"Sirrr," Shishida growled, shoulders hunching, "I must advise you to watch your tongue. Some of yourrr statements may be taken as offensive."
"Oh, was my meaning unclear?" Tenya gave his most condescendingly aristocratic smirk, "My apologies, allow me to re-iterate: You are beneath me, Shishida-san."
"RRROOOOAAAAAHHHHH!" Shishida could not take any more and leapt towards Tenya, "SIIIRRR IIIDAAAA! I CHALLENGE YOU TO FISTICUFFS!"
"No! Shisida-san, get back here!" the girl, Yanagi, called from in the base.
Well, he was certainly faster than Tenya had anticipated.
But not by much.
T – o – r – c – h – b – e – a – r – e – r
Denki had reached his destination and motioned to Jiro to approach. They had decided to scout out the base nearest to theirs, reasoning that if they were repelled, then it wouldn't take them long to recover. At the same time, they didn't want to be discovered, so they had elected to sneak.
The plan was simple: Jiro would plug one of her jacks into the wall of the base and try and figure out how many were inside. If it was one or two, then Denki would charge in, zap everyone in the room, grab the flag and bail. If he overdid it, then Jiro would grab the flag and bail, ordering him to follow her.
Even if they failed, they still had Iida off somewhere else. As long as they could get a flag back to their base, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow could defend it. As his bird-headed classmate had explained, Dark Shadow grew stronger while in darkness and/or shadows. Go figure.
"Hear anything?" he whispered low enough that any normal person wouldn't have heard him. Jiro was anything but normal, however, particularly when one used one of her Earphone Jacks as a microphone.
"There's two…one's named Shinso…the other one hasn't given his name." she whispered into his ear, eyes partially closed as she concentrated, "That one, he's talking about some plan or other…saying that his teammates should have no trouble taking a flag."
So they had a limited time before more people showed up.
"Anything else before I go in there and give 'em some shock treatment?"
"Hang on, they're talking really quietly…something about…rats?"
"SCREECH!" a voice suddenly bellowed from within the base, accompanied by a piercing tone that seemed to slice through the air and stab directly into Denki's brain.
"AAAHHH!" Jiro let out a scream of pure agony as her body convulsed before she fell to the ground.
Denki had managed to stop from crying out, but he could only imagine how bad the pain must have been for his teammate with her enhanced hearing…and she had been pushing that to the limit just then.
…Shit! Was she…was she actually okay?
Time out.
Time the fuck out.
"Jiro…" Denki turned her face to him. Her eyes were unfocused and leaking tears. She didn't seem to be aware of him. That wasn't the worst part though.
"Jiro…come on…" the worst part was the blood leaking from her ears.
"Jiro! Stay with me, damn it!"
There was a loud voice saying something, but Denki couldn't understand what it was saying. It was like his ears were full of cotton.
Movement.
Denki shot to his feet and turned to see a familiar face. It was the indigo-haired boy that he had spoken with before, Shinso.
This was Shinso's base.
Had Shinso done that just now?
He was wearing an expression of shock on his face and extending a hand to Denki. So, he wasn't the one then.
He was saying something, but Denki couldn't hear him.
The one who did that to Jiro was still in the base then.
Well, there was only one thing to do.
"Sorry, Shinso-san," Denki said as his electricity sparked to life all over his body, "I don't think this is your fault, but I need you to move."
Without waiting for a response, Denki charged forward and shoved Shinso hard in the chest, sanding him stumbling backwards, twitching as the electricity did its thing. Denki shot through the door, having to catch himself by overextending his leg and falling into a deep crouch.
…My balance is shot…
It turned out that was a stroke of good fortune, since a hand was outstretched right where Denki's head should have been.
Then he saw the owner of the hand.
It was that guy. The one who had not only antagonized his entire class, but belittled what they'd gone through at USJ as well.
And now he'd hurt Jiro.
Strike three, motherfucker.
Denki lunched forward drunkenly and seized the boy by his shoulders, slamming him against the wall and focusing his electricity into his hands in a single burst.
"TASER FLASH!"
The room was briefly illuminated by a bright spark of electricity that contained Denki's full potency, but only focused it through part of his body instead of all of it. The result was a single, instantaneous, short-range burst that was equivalent to getting hit by his Indiscriminate Shock at full-power.
Plus, it only left him feeling a bit loopy instead of going full derp-mode. Of course, given his current status, this wasn't really of much comfort.
Flag. Get the flag. There was no point in all of this if he didn't at least do that.
Denki staggered over to the flag, allowing the unconscious boy to slump to the floor and wrenched it out of the ground, kicking up a chunk of dirt as he did so.
How much…three-hundred?
Heh. The flag that was worth the least.
Typical.
"Shinso…" he muttered as he exited the cave and saw the boy standing up, "I am not in the mood right now, so kindly fuck off. We'll talk later."
Shinso was saying something, but seemed to realize that Denki couldn't hear him. He pointed to the ground behind him instead.
Jiro was looking at him.
"Hey…" he stumbled over, using the flag as a walking stick, "Alright…let's get you up…"
That was easier said than done though, as Denki currently felt like his center of gravity was about three feet behind him and to his left.
Then another person knelt down and helped Jiro to her feet, one arm slung across his shoulder.
It was Shinso. He reached out and tapped Denki on the arm and mouthed "tag." He then pointed back towards Denki's base.
Oh, so they had known the whole time.
Sure, why not?
Denki took Jiro's other arm and, with Shinso's help, got her back to their base. Along with the flag.
"Sorry…" Denki said to Shinso as he collapsed against a wall, taking Jiro down with him.
Shinso made an "X" with his arms and shook his head emphatically before pointing to himself.
No. I'm sorry.
"Damn, man…" Denki said with a pained smile, "…why you gotta go and be so cool?"
Shinso said something to Tokoyami that Denki couldn't hear and then, after receiving a poke in the chest, left.
Denki felt a tug on his sleeve and turned his head to see Jiro mouthing something to him.
He pointed to one ear and shook his head, smiling sadly.
She slumped back against the wall, sliding down it a bit before she was stopped by his shoulder, her own shoulders shaking slightly.
Damn, was she crying now? Well, he couldn't blame her if she was. Hearing was kind of her thing. If it was scary for him…he could only imagine.
"Hey…" he reached over, intending to do…something, but she turned to face him and he saw that she was...laughing?
"Huh?"
She took one look at his face and started laughing even harder, pointing at him even as she slid a bit further down the wall, grabbing his shirt for support.
"What's so funny?" his meaning must have been clear, because she pointed to his face and then made an exaggeratedly dumb-looking face to illustrate her point.
"Oh, so my face is stupid, huh?" he yanked on her shoulder, causing her to slide the rest of the way down the wall and collapse into his lap, where he began tickling her.
"I'll show you whose face is stupid! Who's making a stupid face now, huh? HUH?!"
She ineffectively tried to stop him, howling with mirth that neither of them could hear.
They remained like that until a quartet of medical bots arrived to take them away.