Chapter 22Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text7:03 AM, Monday
Even after so much time had passed, it still felt so weird to have a quirk that she'd never remember using. Ochako knew exactly how to activate said quirk and had even seen herself activate it through Izuku's eyes, but she'd never truly know what it'd be like to do so herself.
Reset was a big red button that was always sitting right there in front of her, just waiting to be pressed- only instead of setting off an explosion, it'd erase an entire timeline. It was awesome yet also so very terrifying to constantly have that kinda power at her fingertips.
The activation words for her quirk had become a taboo to her as a result, too dangerous to dare say out loud whether her hands were pressed together or not. With one mistake Ochako could rewind the entire world or force a permanent bookmark on its progress- and to think that just a few years ago her biggest worry was making things float!
Despite all of the worry that came with it, though, in the end, she couldn't deny how amazing her second quirk was. All Ochako had to do was press her fingertips together when the time was right, watch that soft little blue glow as it seeped out between her hands, and-
"Save; Monday, 7:03 AM."
7:03 AM, Monday(First Reset)
-let herself say the words. Then she'd immediately glance back up, ignoring the sudden drain on her stamina to meet the eyes of the one and only person whom her quirk seemed to affect.
Izuku's lips lifted into a tired smile as soon as he came back to his senses. She also saw some pride in his face, along with a decent bit of something else that she couldn't make out.
Ochako didn't think she'd ever get used to watching her best friend suddenly change in the blink of an eye.
"How was our first Sports Festival, Izuku-kun?"
"...It was a lot," Izuku said after a moment. "But it was pretty fun overall. I have quite a bit to show you."
Well, that sounded good-
"But first we need to uh, call Tsukauchi."
Oh.
7:14 AM, Monday(First Reset)
"Do you remember how you told me about the Hero Killer, Tsukauchi-san?"
Whatever Ochako had been expecting him to start the call with, it wasn't that.
She'd heard about the Hero Killer, of course, with how quickly news about him was spreading throughout the nation. But the villain hadn't made appearances anywhere near Musutafu yet, so outside of a request to look out for him from Tsukauchi she hadn't thought about him in weeks. Prophet calling about a guy with that title could only mean something horrible had happened.
The audible pause on the other end of the line told her that Tsukauchi had realized the same thing. "...Yes, I do. Did you see him?"
"No," Izuku replied, "Not directly. But he shows up in Hosu today. I don't have an exact timeframe- I just know that he ambushed Ingenium on his patrol and gave him severe, almost fatal injuries before making his escape."
"Fuck," Tsukauchi cursed, mirroring Ochako's thoughts. "Okay, thanks for the heads up. I'll try to get some more heroes on him. Anything else, Prophet?"
"...Please save him, Tsukauchi-san."
With that, Izuku hung up. He put his modified phone on his bed and fell back into his chair with a sigh.
Ingenium. Tensei Iida. Their friend's brother.
"I'm so glad that I have this quirk," Ochako murmured quietly, speaking around its name as always yet endlessly grateful for it nonetheless.
"Yeah. Me too."
11:42 AM, Monday(First Reset)
The waiting room was filled with anticipation, quiet conversations, and the muffled cheers of the crowd that leaked in through U.A.'s thick stadium walls.
Izuku seemed content to sit in his thoughts- probably thinking up some super tricky last-minute scheme or something- as Ochako spent her few minutes of prep time talking to the others. Mina and Jirou were going on about how they weren't allowed to bring their hero costumes(the rule made sense, but damn did Ochako wish that she could bring her grappling hooks anyway) while reassuring Tooru about her chances of being seen by pros with her quirk(if anything, a floating gym uniform stood out more than everyone else!).
It was pretty cheesy, but just being around everyone helped settle down the fluttering butterflies in Ochako's stomach. Despite the fact that she was about to, y'know, put everything she had into beating them into the ground, it was fun to compete against her classmates like this. They were all in this together and doing their best to win!
She was jerked out of her thoughts when Todoroki stood to his feet and leveled a stare of steely determination at her- no, at her partner sitting next to her. The dual-haired boy crossed the waiting room in long strides until he stood right in front of them, uncaring of how he'd gained the entire room's attention in the process.
What was the strongest student in their class- the son of the Number Two Hero, the scarred guy who hadn't spoken more than a few words to anyone in his entire time at U.A.- approaching someone for? What was he going to say?
Emerald green eyes met blue and gray ones in turn, expectant and unflinching. The way Izuku looked back at him almost felt cold, somehow, as if he was the one who could lower air temperature at a whim.
"Midoriya. You took a win against me during the battle trial," Todoroki stated. "I acknowledge that you are extremely skilled in combat, even more so than I am. But in the face of pure power and training, it won't matter in the slightest. I am going to defeat you today and achieve victory."
That wasn't the kind of speech you gave to a passionate rival for a fated battle between men, or to start a friendly competition with your classmate- there was genuine anger behind those words, anger that might not have even been entirely directed at Izuku. Ochako clenched her fists.
"Thanks," Izuku said, not sounding thankful at all. "I don't care what you say, though- you aren't going to win this festival, Todoroki. I won't let you."
Todoroki narrowed his eyes.
"'Didn't take you for the kinda guy to pick a fight, Todoroki," Ochako commented. "If anything, I would've expected Bakugou to be the one throwing challenges around before we've even gotten inside the stadium-"
"You got something to say, Round-Face?"
"You gonna deny it, Blondie?"
Bakugou scoffed. "I don't need to challenge any of you worthless extras, 'cause I'm the strongest. None of you stand a fucking chance- so if Half and Half's gonna be declaring war on anyone, it should be me!"
Man, did he even hear the words coming out of his own mouth? Ochako was suddenly glad that she'd scored first in the entrance exam- can you imagine what kinda speech Bakugou would've given in her place? Yikes.
Kirishima stepped in with his hands raised in an attempt to keep the peace. "Whoa, whoa! There's no need to fight guys, we're all classmates here-"
Todoroki was already walking away with that same quiet purpose that he'd approached them with. Ochako glanced over at Izuku to see him watching Todoroki's retreating back, ignoring the rest of them entirely.
Huh.
12:04 PM, Monday(First Reset)
"To kick things off for y'all, we've got a speech from our very own first-year representative- 1-A's Uraraka Ochako!"
Showtime.
The smile Izuku gave her as she left his side quelled the last of the nervousness that she felt, equal parts proud and warm. For all that her best friend idolized All Might, she thought, the Symbol of Peace's trademark grin really had nothing on his.
She was completely calm by the time she stepped up to the podium and took the microphone from Kayama-sensei's waiting hand. She tapped her fingers against the deep blue of her gym uniform yet didn't float. Her feet stayed firmly planted on the ground, steady and unwavering.
Ochako smiled.
"Hello everyone, and welcome to the U.A. Sports Festival. None of you are here to hear me talk- except for my amazing family watching from home, of course!- so I'll keep this short and sweet. I wish every student competing good luck in the coming events, and pledge to do my absolute best to win them myself. Plus Ultra!"
The crowd roared back her school motto, and Ochako stepped off the podium with it still ringing in her ears.
12:30 PM, Monday(First Reset)
The first event was the easiest.
Especially for Ochako, whose primary quirk made every single obstacle in this race meaningless. She could float right over robots, canyons, and minefields alike.
The only real problem she faced was the competition. Without her grappling hooks and without much to kick off of, she couldn't build up much speed while in zero gravity. She might get through the race without much effort, but floating herself through everything would be super slow- she probably wouldn't make the top ten in the end, while being a massive target for the other students the whole time.
It was a good thing that she had a partner who could run faster than almost everyone else and memorize every future move that their competition would make.
"Do you need to see the memory again?" Izuku asked, quiet enough that the students crowded around them couldn't overhear.
"Nope, I've got it," Ochako whispered back.
Izuku nodded. Then he turned around and lowered himself slightly, just enough for Ochako to hop up onto him. Her legs wrapped around his back as his arms went under her ankles to stabilize her. Her hands landed on his shoulders to achieve full contact.
Her stomach fluttered again, but this time the feeling had nothing to do with nervousness.
This was the best way to play to both of their strengths- as Izuku's memory of their first loop had shown- but holy shit was it embarrassing! She couldn't believe she was about to piggyback her best friend on national television.
"Ten seconds," Izuku said.
But she'd promised her best mere minutes ago, and she was damn well going to deliver on that.
"Three, two, one-"
"START!"
She activated her quirk just as Present Mic's voice boomed through the tunnel, and Izuku leaped into action.
He cleared the crowd of students within a second, soaring above their heads while they were still starting to move. Her hair grazed the top of the tunnel as they flew. They burst out of the chokepoint and into open air before anyone else, both of them glowing the same bright pink.
Ochako held onto him a little tighter for balance and pressed her fingertips together.
"Release!"
Izuku took most of the impact, but she still felt the jolt as his feet hit the ground. He landed smoothly into a sprint with the momentum, long since accustomed to the effects of her quirk.
"What's this? It looks like Uraraka and Midoriya have broken through the crowd first, working together to get a lead on the rest!" Mic announced. "I didn't think I'd see any listeners would be working together at this stage!"
"It's only logical to," Aizawa said, sounding much calmer than his counterpart. How'd they even get him to be a commentator, anyway? "Especially with quirks like theirs."
Ochako heard sharp pops behind her, along with the odd crackling sound of cement freezing over.
"They aren't alone though, folks! Todoroki, Bakugou, and Iida are right behind 'em- one slip-up and that first-place spot is up for grabs! Man, 1-A sure seems to be a cut above the rest!"
"Class 1-A has survived villains and fought in real combat. They share a sense of drive and urgency from experience that their competition just doesn't have yet."
"Sounds like you're real proud of your kids, Eraser! But we're about to see just how much they've learned with our first obstacle- the Rockin' Robo Inferno!"
A few zero-pointers came alive in front of them, massive monoliths of deep green that rose up to a height taller than most buildings. Dozens of red eyes bore down in obvious threat.
Ochako grinned up at them.
"Over or under, Izuku-kun?"
"We went over them last time," Izuku noted idly. "Let's see if going under saves us a few seconds."
She activated her quirk again- but this time, she made sure to only float herself along with Izuku's uniform and shoes. The added weightlessness gave him a huge boost in speed while still keeping them grounded.
He cut a path through the staggered statues, running under gigantic robotic limbs and weaving through the maze of metal with the bold confidence of someone who already knew exactly where to go. The lurching robots didn't even come close to touching them as they passed the first obstacle, her weightless form clinging awkwardly to his back all the while.
"I feel like a baby koala," Ochako muttered.
Izuku laughed, and she felt his shoulders rise with it. He was barely out of breath.
"Don't worry, Ochako, you'll be the one carrying me through the next round."
"That's totally different, Izuku-kun, and you know it!"
It only took Izuku a few well-timed jumps to dodge Todoroki's frost as it nipped at their heels- the show-off had frozen every single zero-pointer in place behind them with a single attack. He'd even ensured he did so while the robots were off balance to fuck over everyone else.
Their lead increased as they reached the second obstacle- and proceeded to fly right over it in a gentle glide. Bakugou passed Todoroki here with his own explosive flight(screaming at Izuku as soon as he entered earshot, of course) as Iida adapted surprisingly quickly to slide along the ropes connecting the cliffs.
It sure was strange, Ochako thought as they flew, to live through something you had already seen memories of. Longer memories like this really hammered that feeling in.
Izuku had made frequent glances over his shoulder in the first loop- even as he memorized the incoming obstacles- so Ochako knew exactly when to float them over threats coming from both in front of and behind them. She also knew that all of 1-B was being super passive in this stage in order to gain an advantage later on because Tokage Setsuna possessed a transformation quirk that split her body into fully functioning parts that she controlled through a type of telekinesis that was rather perfect for this and Honenuki Juzo possessed an emitter quirk that softened the-
Ochako shut her eyes tight and forced away the sudden burst of analysis, the beginnings of a headache stirring in her brain. Cool as they were, Izuku's memories always came with way too much info.
"How's your nausea?" Izuku asked.
"Still fine. How much of a break do we get before the first event?"
"Only around ten minutes," Izuku said, turning his face slightly towards her. "But when you add in the time it took for Midnight to explain the cavalry thing and to get everyone into teams, it's more like fifteen."
Ochako hummed. "That's long enough for me to recover. I'm good to float us over the minefield too, then, unless you want to…"
"Yeah, that's our best bet. I didn't see where all the mines are last time, and Todoroki's going to attack as soon as we drop into his range."
Something about the way he said the boy's name made Ochako frown. "What's the deal with you two, anyway? I didn't think you cared about the battle trial that much. Did something else happen?"
Izuku hesitated a second too long. She suddenly wished she'd asked him that question when she could see his face. "Kinda? We talked. It got pretty personal. I learned a lot about him."
"And?"
"...And then I got pissed off."
Ochako blinked at him. What?
"Oh, what's this? It looks like Todoroki has made a sudden comeback in the middle of the third obstacle, passing Iida in the blink of an eye!" Mic declared. "His ice sure is versatile, huh? He is now head-to-head with Bakugou and fighting fiercely with him for balance over our minefield! Who will triumph in this elemental clash? And ahead of them, we have Uraraka and Midoriya...who just glided over the finish line. They don't even look like they're paying attention to us. Wow."
"Flight quirks have a bit of an advantage in this stage," Aizawa pointed out mildly.
"We should really do something about that, huh?"
"Yeah."
12:42 PM, Monday(First Reset)
"-except for our first-place winner, Midoriya, who's worth a special 10 million points!" Midnight smirked, cracking her whip against the ground. "You know what they say, heavy is the head that wears the crown!"
Every student turned towards Izuku with those words, realizing that his headband was the only one they needed to win the second stage. Izuku just watched them back.
"You have ten minutes to get your teams ready, everyone! Good luck!"
"Are we gonna go with the same team as we did last time?" Ochako asked him. "That worked out pretty well."
They'd ended up in fourth place, sure, but the four of them had made it past the second stage despite the massive bounty on them. Hatsume's gadgets and Tokoyami's Dark Shadow were a huge help.
Izuku shook his head. "Nope, we're trying something new. Can you go get Kaminari? I'll bring Yaoyorozu."
"Alright!"
Ochako found Kaminari and his bright yellow hair almost immediately. It looked like he'd just missed Jirou before she joined Hagakure's group.
"Hey, Kaminari! Wanna join up with us?"
He whirled around at the sound of her voice. "Uraraka! That'd be awes-wait, you're with Midoriya, right?"
"Yep."
Kaminari scratched his cheek, suddenly uneasy- probably because of Izuku's ten million points. Couldn't really blame him for that.
"Don't worry, we've already got a plan to win this," Ochako reassured. Not that she actually knew what said plan was, yet, but Izuku definitely had one. "We'll get to the third stage, no problem!"
Kaminari glanced over at Izuku. Then he looked back at her with a tentative smile.
"Okay."
Izuku was talking to Yaoyorozu as they returned, his hands gesturing wide to describe some kind of object as she nodded in understanding. He brightened up when he saw the two of them approach.
"Oh, Ochako, you got him! Nice."
Yaoyorozu blinked at Kaminari. "Suddenly, some of your requests make far more sense, Midoriya-san."
"Do you think you can make all of them?" Izuku checked.
"I believe so."
"Make all of what?" Kaminari asked.
"Midoriya gave me a list of chemical formulas and structures- or, to put it more accurately, he implanted the memory of them directly into my mind," Yaoyorozu explained. "And the pure detail within...when did you even have time to design all of these? It's even labeled for convenience!"
"They're just a few ideas I had," Izuku stated simply with a smile. "Feel free to use them in the third round, too, when we get there. But there's a reason I'm giving you this, Yaoyorozu-san. Creation forces you to carefully recollect formulas in order to make things, meaning that your biggest weakness is speed ."
"Emitters that require more complex operation and increased mental strain to use properly often adapt their user's brain as well to keep up. I bet that you've always been great at short-term and even long-term memorization of simple strings of information, despite that sort of enhancement bearing no direct relevance to your actual ability. This adaptation still doesn't compare to legitimate memory quirks- you probably still need to regularly study your formulas to maintain total mastery- but it's definitely something. I can't even imagine all the precise changes to your brain chemistry and overall biology needed for it all to even work, not to mention whatever the hell you're doing with your lipids and energy conservation-"
"I'm totally lost," Kaminari muttered.
Ochako coughed lightly, trying and failing to suppress a smile. "The point, Izuku-kun?"
"-right! The issue you face is that your mental adaptation by itself isn't fast enough to keep up with active combat. I've noticed in class that it takes way too long for you to run through all of your quirk's options in the face of a threat, choose one of them, remember its exact composition, and then create it to respond to said threat. You'll probably get faster at it with training, but for now, that method is just too inefficient- an opponent can rush you before you even finish a single item."
Yaoyorozu stared at him. Her shoulders had hunched in some time into the thorough and accurate breakdown of her and her capabilities, yet the heiress still held her head high. "...What do you suggest, then?"
"How many rooms does your house have, Yaoyorozu-san?" Izuku suddenly asked.
"208." Yaoyorozu tilted her head. "Why?" She didn't seem to register the shocked looks Ochako and Kaminari threw her way. Holy shit, rich people were crazy. What did they even need all that space for?
Izuku pressed on. "And how many of those are you intimately familiar with?"
"183," Yaoyorozu said with a small smile. "I was a rather adventurous child growing up."
"...Right. Okay, now form your house in your mind- really build it around you in your mind's eye. Start with the inside structure and work outward, filling in all the details you can remember. What do the walls look like? How cold is the air within? What do the hallways feel like when you walk through them? Fit each of your 183 rooms exactly where they go and then hold this mental image tight in your mind until it burns into your memory."
A minute passed.
"Got it?"
"Yes."
"Pick out 15 of your rooms, preferably ones located near each other, and place one of the designs I gave you in each of them. You can do this however you want- maybe a poster of bright text on the wall you see when you walk in the room, or a notebook laying open on the furniture- it doesn't matter as long as it's something tangible that you can visualize and remember. Now, whenever you want to remember something, I want you to imagine yourself running to the right room and instantly having it at your fingertips. Organize everything you need like this so you'll never have to stop and look for anything again."
Yaoyorozu's eyebrows furrowed in concentration. "...I never thought of methodizing my memories in such a way. Though it may take me a while to get used to, this process will make me far more efficient. Thank you for teaching me it. Is this how you use your quirk, Midoriya-san?"
"Yeah. And you're going to be our main offense and defense in this stage, so really, this is partly for my benefit. There's no need to thank me."
"...Damn, you really weren't kidding about that quirk analysis thing, huh?" Kaminari said.
"Nope!" Izuku smiled brightly. "Want me to do yours next?"
Kaminari's face twisted into a grimace. "...My quirk is uh, fine. Electrification is pretty strong and also kinda useful for other stuff. The problem is me. No matter how damn hard I try to control my electricity, it just doesn't work. Sorry, I'm like the worst person you could've chosen for this event- if you guys are anywhere near me when I light up you're gonna get shocked too. I don't know how much of a help I'll be, Midoriya-"
"Yaoyorozu-san, can you make the first two designs, please?"
Kaminari paused mid-sentence, confused, as the mentioned girl proceeded to hand Izuku a large white sheet and a long narrow rod.
"I know about your weaknesses. That's why I had Yaoyorozu make these, Kaminari. This cloth-" He held up the sheet she'd given him. "-is super resistant, so it'll keep us safe while you go wild. And the rod's the opposite, so you can direct your quirk through it to shock exactly who you want to."
Kaminari blinked twice. Then he looked down at the simple items Izuku held in pure awe.
"Something to direct my quirk through...why didn't I think of that?"
"I have a dozen things I want to say about your quirk and its side effect, not to mention other ways to possibly control your voltage, but unfortunately we don't have the time to get into it right now. I'll save that for later."
He turned to her.
"Now, last but definitely not least-"
Ochako grinned at him. "Me."
"You," Izuku agreed. "I've already given you enough lectures for a lifetime on Zero Gravity- not that I'm done analyzing it yet, mind you-"
"Of course."
"-so we can skip that. Your job is gonna be floating all four of us with your quirk. We'll use that mobility to escape at first and after that, uh, I guess we do our best to guard my headband. Our position will be much safer once we steal some of the others in the process. Any questions?"
"None!"
"Nope."
"No."
"Then let's get ready."
12:46 PM, Monday(First Reset)
They got into position.
Just like Izuku said, Ochako was the one carrying him this round- along with Yaoyorozu and Kaminari at his sides. Their headbands were all tied tight and secure around Izuku's forehead. The insulated sheet was held by Yaoyorozu and angled so that she could cover herself, Ochako, and Izuku when needed, and Kaminari already had his copper stick leveled at their enemies.
"You have less than sixty seconds left until we begin, everyone! Make sure you're all nice and comfy!"
The weird horse formation Team Midoriya was in wasn't exactly comfy, but they could hold it until time ran out. The bigger problem, in Ochako's opinion, was the way every other team was leering at them like lions waiting to pounce- ready to swarm them from the start.
They wouldn't get the chance.
"Are we all ready?" Izuku's voice sounded from above her.
"Yeah!"
"Yup."
"Yes."
"Jump in three, two, one-"
"Begin!" Midnight yelled.
"Now!"
Ochako activated her quirk on all four of them, their clothes, and handheld items before they leaped up as one. In an almost exact replica of the obstacle course, Team Midoriya escaped into the air from the very first second.
Several things happened within that same moment. The concrete and dirt liquefied below them, softening as if they were mud. Thick, thorny vines struck at the spot where they had just been, soon followed by tethers of tape, purple balls, globs of glue, and a huge hail of horns.
"Holy shit," Kaminari breathed at the sight. "They really want your headband, man!"
"Well, they aren't getting it!" Ochako shouted.
The four of them slowly floated up above it all, glowing bright pink and probably looking ridiculous as hell. Kaminari and Yaoyorozu hadn't even experienced her quirk before this- she was glad that they'd managed to hold on.
"It looks like Team Midoriya has managed to dodge the initial swarm! But how long can they survive against this onslaught?"
Zero Gravity allowed them to dodge the first wave of attacks, including that tricky softening quirk from 1-B. And the longer they stayed up here, the more likely the enemy teams would focus on each other instead of them.
But there was a single enemy in particular that had both a very strong grudge against Izuku and the capability to still reach him. Since Team Midoriya didn't have any way to actually move once they got into the air, they were a wide-open target for-
"DEKU!" Bakugou screamed.
"Shield!"
Yaoyorozu complied just in time and Izuku raised the newly formed shield in front of his face- already knowing exactly where the rabid blonde would aim. The arm-length steel construct was built extremely thin, letting 1-A's Vice President create as fast as possible, yet also curved inward to deflect the heat of an explosion.
And since they were currently under the effect of Zero Gravity, Bakugou's attack actually knocked Team Midoriya flying away from him when they blocked it.
"Where the fuck do you think you're going, Deku!"
"Away from you!" Izuku called back cheerfully.
Bakugou blasted after them with a scowl, rapidly crossing the new distance between them. Apparently, just launching yourself dozens of meters away from your team in the middle of a cavalry battle wasn't against the rules.
"What now?" Kaminari asked. "There's no way that's gonna work twice."
"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "But it doesn't need to. Kaminari, jab him as soon as I give the signal. Keep a tight grip on your end of the rod and focus on pushing your electricity through it. Yaoyorozu, you've got the perfect creation to spring on him in the opening."
Bakugou might've abandoned his team, but they still had theirs.
"Wait, what's the-"
Izuku chucked his thin shield at the approaching blonde like a frisbee and the gleaming metal cut a straight path through the air. Bakugou carelessly batted away the projectile and lunged in with a smirk- only to jerk back at the very last second as Kaminari's electrified rod brushed his uniform sleeve. And then, before he could even register how close he'd come to being shocked, Yaoyorozu's net expanded right in front of his face.
Ochako grinned. A triple threat that not even Bakugou Katsuki could dodge.
"What the fuck? Get this shitty thing off me!"
A weighted net was the perfect counter to him- it was large enough to cover his entire body, durable enough to resist his desperate explosions, and heavy enough to drag him back down to earth. If Bakugou's remaining team members hadn't managed to catch him just before he hit the ground, he would've been eliminated right then and there.
"It worked!" Kaminari exclaimed happily. "None of you guys got hit by my quirk, right?"
"I have not," Yaoyorozu confirmed.
"Nope!" Ochako replied. She'd felt a little worried when she saw him light up, but the insulated sheet sure worked like a charm!
"Great job, guys," Izuku said. "That'll keep him down for a while."
A familiar thrum reached Ochako's ears, the sound of some kind of robust machinery yet nothing like the droning of her parent's machines or Iida engines. She furrowed her eyebrows.
Where had she heard that before?
"Ochako, drop us!"
Ochako didn't hesitate. "Release!"
Team Midoriya fell out of the sky, losing their pink glow all at once, and a swarm of white horns flew right above their heads. The horns were very clearly directed at Izuku- or, more accurately, the very expensive headband tied to him.
Their newest challenger swooped into view behind the barrage.
"Hatsume?" Ochako blurted.
"Heya Ten Million!" Hatsume beamed at them. Her goggles were lifted up to expose her scope-like eyes and rested just under her headbands. Two 1-B students were at her sides and lifting her up into the air with the help of two rocket boots, her signature jetpack, and a swarm of flying horns. She had all the same inventions and gear on her from the last loop.
The horn girl was Tsunotori, Izuku's memories told her, and the guy with all the sharp edges was Kamikiri.
"All the eyes are on you- so I'm here to steal all them off ya! Horns, do the thing!"
Shit.
Landings were tricky with her quirk. Ochako had to let go of everyone and then catch them again just before they hit the ground so that she could Release a second time afterward to finally touch down. Doing this with four people and accounting for all the stuff they were wearing and carrying took some serious focus.
Doing it all while dodging a buncha horns was tough. Yaoyorozu's quirk reflexes and shields were the only reason they didn't immediately lose the ten million upon landing, and said shields were being knocked away faster than Yaoyorozu could make them.
" So close!" Tsunotori exclaimed in English.
Ochako activated her quirk on her entire team for the fourth time in rapid succession, making her gut twist with the sudden rise of nausea inside of her. And since her hands were busy holding onto Izuku she couldn't even clutch her stomach or pressure points. She pushed through it anyway.
"Hold onto him, guys!" Ochako called.
This time she floated only Izuku and everyone's uniforms- leaving the team far lighter, yet still weighed down to the ground. Then they sprinted away from their attackers.
"Hey, get back here!" Hatsume yelled. "I still need to show off my babies!"
Kaminari and Yaoyorozu weren't that fast, Ochako realized, even with her quirk. Most people didn't run every day like her and Izuku. Hatsume only had two teammates in this loop, too, so she was even more mobile than when she'd been on their team. Team Midoriya couldn't outrun her jetpack and rocket boots for long.
"Go straight for now," Izuku told them. "Then in a few seconds start curving our path to the right."
"Got it, Midoriya!"
"But wait, that route will take us closer to the center of the arena," Yaoyorozu protested.
Ochako sighed. "Of course it will."
"We'll be swarmed instantly!"
"Nope," Izuku replied cheerfully. "We won't. See, we're on the ground now, so-"
She felt the ice before she saw it.
The chill was painfully tangible in the air around them as it pressed against her skin. Her gym uniform could barely suppress it and by the way Yaoyorozu and Kaminari were shivering, neither could theirs. But their shoes were all far worse off- in fact, they'd just been completely frozen solid.
"Wow, what a crazy show of power!" Present Mic exclaimed. "In a single second, Todoroki has rooted every other team in place! Incredible!"
"Every other team but one," Aizawa pointed out.
"I gotcha now, Ten Million!" Hatsume shouted in triumph. Her scope-like eyes gleamed as she closed in on them, her jetpack humming behind her. She stretched out a hand to pluck her prize.
And from the other side came Team Todoroki, dashing towards them with single-minded purpose. Iida's engines let them cross the arena in no time at all as Sato's strength easily carried them forward.
Maybe they could fend off Hatsume, but there was just no way Team Midoriya could deal with both of them at the same time- especially while stuck like this.
So they didn't.
"Oshaaa!"
In a single motion, Ochako threw Izuku's weightless form away from her as hard as she could. She launched him straight up into the air mere seconds before Hatsume reached them, every point they had still firmly tied to his head, and all eyes in the stadium tracked him as he sailed farther and farther into the sky.
If Bakugou could do it, why couldn't they?
"It looks like Team Midoriya has...gotten rid of their rider? He uh, can't fly, can he?"
"He can't," Aizawa confirmed warily.
Her stomach did a frantic front flip. She forced it back down. Don't let go don't drop him don't throw up don't let go don't drop him don't throw up-
Team Hatsume swerved upward for Izuku, not interested in the three of them. Iida's engines screeched as he abruptly came to a halt as well. Yaoyorozu quickly formed a net gun and fired it to stop the support student- only for Kamikiri's blades to slice it apart before it could reach her.
"Shit, we have no way to help him from here!" Kaminari said. "Why'd you throw him, Uraraka? How's he gonna-"
Tsunotori's quirk, Horn Cannon, allowed her to detach and shoot the horns on her head. Since she could grow a new pair almost instantly, she could spam it to fire off a whole storm of the things.
Sounds like a pretty strong ranged quirk, right? And Izuku was just floating there aimlessly. At first glance, he has zero chance of dodging dozens and dozens of horns, not to mention avoiding Hatsume and Kamikiri as well once they flew up to him.
The thing was, though, that Team Hatsume didn't care about attacking Izuku himself. All they wanted was his headbands- Hatsume wanted the spotlight to show off her babies, while Tsunotori and Kamikiri wanted to guarantee they made it to the next round as hero students. In sharp contrast to Bakugou, none of the three were really aiming at her best friend.
Horn Cannon didn't just shoot horns. According to Izuku's perfect memory of the last loop, Tsunotori could also telekinetically control them after launch- yet, only up to four at a time.
If Izuku knew both exactly where his opponent would aim and how many projectiles they'd send then, well, Ochako would bet on him getting out every single time.
A dozen horns shot towards a weightless Izuku only for him to twist his body into a sort of horizontal spin mid-air, executing a copied move that'd make a a master trapeze artist faint. He tucked his head full of headbands and kept all their points safe as Tsunonori's projectiles pierced the air past him. His blue uniform gained several new cuts.
Four horns broke off from the pack and looped around as emerald-green eyes tracked their path. The first one was batted away by his hand and the second grazed his cheek, both extremely close to just ripping the points off him.
But Izuku's spin lined his sneakers up perfectly with the last two approaching horns, letting him kick off them to propel himself far away from Team Hatsume- once again escaping free with the help of his opponent's attacks.
"-get out of that." Kaminari finished, stunned.
Going straight down to reach for his own team would've put Izuku within range of Todoroki. And going up would make him an open target for the team with a jetpack. So Izuku instead shot himself at an angle towards the other teams. Namely, the ones that were still frozen by Todoroki and unable to get free.
"C'mon guys, let's go!" Ochako urged quickly. "We've got to catch him!" A few slashes of a created blade got what was left of their team free of the ice and running after him.
She watched her green missile strike Team Hagakure first. Neither Koda, Hagakure, nor Jirou had any defense besides the latter's jacks, so their headbands were snatched right off their invisible rider as Izuku flipped forward, landed on Koji's shoulders, and launched his weightless self off again. He flew right by the closest team to Hagakure- Shishida and Rin from 1-B- and took their headbands as he passed as well.
Unlike Bakugou, Izuku couldn't fly. He needed to calculate exactly where he would bounce off next and what to use to kick off for every single movement he made- with the only objects in this flat field being other competitors. And if he touched the ground even once their team was screwed.
His luck ran out with his third target. After watching the weightless wonder blitz two teams, Kendo- the orange-haired president of 1-B- had more than enough time to react to his approach. Her giant hand(almost the size of Izuku's whole body!) swatted him aside like a bug and knocked him flying away before he even got close. At the same time, her telekinetic teammate Yanagi reached for the headbands Izuku had just stolen and pulled two ]out of his hands before he even realized what was happening.
If Ochako hadn't so carefully tied their points to his head, he probably would've lost them right then and there, too. Of course, Izuku 's only reaction to being countered and slammed that hard was pure delight at the sight of two new quirks- even while he had zero control of his current momentum.
He was now flying off to the left and moving even further away from Ochako, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari with every second. Sure, that meant he was also further from Todoroki and Hatsume, but it still put him at more risk. Especially since the only team in that direction was-
"Gotcha!"
A mass of tape abruptly stopped Izuku's flight and snared him in a bundle of white.
"Nice catch, Sero!" Mina exclaimed.
"So manly!" Kirishima said.
Sero grinned. "Thanks!"
"There's no escape now, Deku!" Bakugou barked. "Reel him in, Duck Tape!"
"I told you, it's not duck tape-"
"Yeah, like that isn't even the right color-"
"Doesn't matter!"
Izuku's trapped form was yanked helplessly toward Bakugou's team. Mina reached out first, her eyes fixed on the most expensive headband in the arena. Her hand closed around the ten million, brushing against his forehead in the process-
And then the pink girl let suddenly go of the headband. Her eyes went wide and unfocused as her usual perfect balance vanished from one second to the next before Mina toppled backward where she stood, nearly taking her whole team with her.
"Whoa, Mina, what're you doing?"
"I- I have no idea! What the fuck did I just-"
"Tsk. Get it together, Raccoon Eyes!"
Izuku used the confusion to stretch his hand out and tag Sero's elbow with a second memory. With Sero now also falling over, Kirishima was forced to use all of his sturdy steadiness to stabilize the team. Bakugou managed to land a single blast on Izuku's arm, actually provoking a wince from her friend, but in turn, Izuku managed to twist free of the tape and escape. His eyes met Ochako's across the field and he kicked off towards the rest of Team Midoriya- his aim and balance slightly off thanks to his own quirk.
"One minute remaining!" Mic announced. "Grab all the points you can, y'all!"
Now was their chance! With no rider and most of their stuff still weightless, Team Midoriya rushed towards their airborne leader.
Hatsume was too far behind to stop them. Their biggest obstacle was the team running in front of them- Team Todoroki, who were just too damn fast thanks to Iida's engines. They'd gotten between the members of Team Midoriya the second they realized they were trying to unite.
"Flashlight!" Izuku yelled in mid-air.
Tokoyami leaned forward and Dark Shadow shot out of him in a dark blur. The sentient quirk lunged for Izuku to intercept-
Yaoyorozu pulled out her newly formed creation with her signature sparkle and flicked it on, casting Team Todoroki in a sudden spotlight. The flashlight was tweaked for maximum power and only designed to be used once, making it so blindly bright that the four humans had to shut their eyes in the face of it. Dark Shadow instantly shrank back into Tokoyami and Todoroki's icicles missed Izuku completely.
It was a little tricky, but working together Ochako, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari managed to catch a weightless Izuku and stabilize him on their horse formation once again.
"That was so fucking cool, guys!" Kaminari cheered.
"That was ridiculously reckless, both of you!" Yaoyorozu scolded them. "If a single team had managed to knock him down..."
Izuku laughed, sheepish. "It was, wasn't it? But it worked. Though, a little warning before you yeeted me would've been nice, Ochako."
Ochako grinned up at him. "I knew you'd be fine."
Izuku had managed to keep the ten million throughout the entire event. With less than a minute on the clock, everyone was about to get a lot more desperate to change that. Pretty much all of the other teams had already broken free of the ice and were now eying Izuku's ten million headband. It'd guarantee them victory no matter how few points they had right now.
So just like the start of the calvary battle, every other team rushed straight for Team Midoriya. They came in from all sides and this time, not one enemy was underestimating them. Hatsume, Tsunotori, and Kamikiri's approach from above meant that they couldn't even escape into the air like they'd done before.
Good thing they still had one triumph card left.
"Kaminari, do the thing!"
Kaminari was clearly running on fumes at this point, but his eyes lit up anyway as he prepared to use his strongest move.
"Here goes everything! Indiscriminate Shock..."
Yaoyorozu covered them all tightly in the insulated white sheet as the competition stepped into their trap.
"...1.3 Million Volts!"
Bright yellow electricity raced out across the ground to cover almost the entire area, shocking every single team around them in a single, brilliant flash that almost matched Todoroki's earlier strike.
Every student was stunned in place as their muscles locked up from the current. The only two teams spared were Hatsume's, as she desperately swerved her jetpack out of range, and Todoroki's as his insane reflexes had made an ice shield just in time.
"No, my babies!"
"What? I can't move!"
"Ow! Shit, what the fuck -"
"They had a move like that this whole time?"
"Great work, Kaminari," Izuku said. Unfortunately, the dude was too dazed from his own quirk to respond.
The whirl of engines rose above the sounds of shocked students as Team Todoroki stepped out from behind their ice shield completely unharmed. Iida said something and then his legs started to glow a bright, brilliant blue-
"I'm counting on you," Iida declared with determination. His legs started to glow a bright, brilliant blue. "Hold on tight. Recipro-"
Ochako blinked.
"-BURST!"
A sudden gust of wind rustled her hair and brushed against her skin, and she opened her eyes to see that Team Todoroki had suddenly reappeared behind her. Sato looked dizzy on his feet, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow's eyes were wide, Iida's engines were smoking up a storm, and-
Todoroki Shouto was staring down at his empty hands in disbelief.
"And that brings an end to our calvary battle, everyone!" Mic's voice boomed throughout the stadium. "Stop the horses 'cause we've got a clear winner! Team Midoriya takes first place by a landslide with 10,000,570 points!"
Notes:
Update! And it's a pretty long one!
The first event didn't feel like a great place to end, so I ended up stuffing both events into this chapter. You can probably tell just how much fun I had writing the calvary battle by how it turned into a chaotic mess, but hopefully it still flows well. I tried to give everyone a chance to shine. I really love Yaoyorozu and her quirk(she really is overpowered as hell) and Kaminari's Electrification is very underrated. Also, a buncha 1-B kids appeared because people don't mention them enough.
I feel like every time I write Ochako's quirk, I ignore almost every law of physics there is. That should probably be a warning tag of its own for this fic.