Cavalry Battle Start! Pt1

As the roar of the race died down, the students began to relax, as much as their tension would allow them. They had a short break before the next round was announced, primarily so various wounded students could get patched up by Recovery Girl.

Tanya watched as Sato, Midoriya, and several others left the field for care. 'I see. There's a layer of strategy to being healed. Recovery Girl's Quirk draws stamina from her patients, meaning you have the option to trade stamina for health. I know Sato and Midoriya will take that gamble. They're both too wounded, and Sato's Quirk does worse to him, so he should be fine.'

Bakugo, who was amongst the crowd waiting for the next round, flexed his wrists. They burned from the strain, and the pain sharpened if he moved his wrist too far back. He glared down at his forearm as he continued to flex his wrists back and forth. 'I don't need Recovery Girl for this. It's not enough to stop me.'

Tanya squinted and watched as Shoto left the arena, but not towards Recovery Girl's ward. He kept reaching to his right side and cracking off the ice that had grown on him. 'I wonder what he's up to?'

"Mmmwaah." Recovery Girl smooched Sato's head as he laid on the cot. She had wiped up the blood and dirt from Rikido's face before bestowing her healing kiss.

Sato smiled softly at her as a small wave of fatigue rolled over him. "Thank you Miss Recovery Girl." He said with a nod.

"Thanks Recovery Girl!" Midoriya cheered with a big, bright grin from the cot next to Sato. "I don't know what I'd do without you!"

"You boys must be more careful." Recovery Girl waved the top of her syringe cane at them while shuffling away to treat the other patients. A fair bunch of them were sitting at the edge of their cots, feet down in buckets of slightly warm water to treat their frostbitten feet as Recovery Girl made her way around the room.

A heavy air hung between Sato and Midoriya as they sat in the cots, letting Recovery Girl's Quirk mend their bodies. Rikido stared at his knees which hung over the edge of the small bed, while Midoriya kept glancing over at him, too nervous to say anything.

A murmur of conversation ran around the ward as students talked to each other. Some were complaining about feeling the race was unfair. Some were crying from the pain they were in, others from failing again.

"If you have something to say." Sato spoke robotically, trying to hide his emotions. His brown eyes were lost in the space above his feet. "You should just tell me."

"I… I want to know what's hurting you so badly?" Izuku timidly asked. His once bright smile took on a more somber and sad weight. He shifted upright, clenching his uninjured left hand over his chest. "If there is anything I can do to help you, I will."

Sato turned to look at Midoriya, to measure him, to find a crack of sarcasm or a hint of smugness… only to find a genuine smile. He took a deep, focused breath that reminded him how tired he was, as his shoulders lost their tension and he put his guard down. Some part of him feared that he was too trusting… too open… but it wouldn't deter him.

"All my life, my Quirk has been seen as… mediocre." Sato admitted as he tore his eyes away from Midoriya. He shifted upright in the bed, scooting back far enough to rest his back on the wall.

Izuku's smile dropped as he listened intently. He gripped his cot sheets a little as he felt he could empathize.

"It takes resources to activate, has measurable time limits, hard limitations, and more traditional emitters are often deemed better. I prided myself…" Sato admitted as he stared down at his calloused hands, even his grip was stronger than steel, "No, I held my strength as my sole source of pride as a hero."

Izuku smiled once more as he spoke up. "I think your Quirk is amazing, Sato! You're strong, durable, enduring, and you're getting faster every time I see you use it!"

"Must be easy for you to say, with a Quirk like yours …" Rikido said dully as he glanced back at Midoriya. He was cold with that statement, accusatory in the softest sense.

Izuku's eyes widened as he shifted back a little. "Sato, that - that wasn't what I had meant at all! I don't mean to look down at you! You're amazing!"

"And yet, I must look up at you ." Rikido spoke as his voice quivered, ready to either break into sadness or rage and it couldn't decide which dam would break first. " You admitted it yourself. Those giant attacks you fire off, that's your real strength. "

"..." Izuku couldn't answer back. His jaw dropped a little as he was faced with a truth he hadn't realized. 'Being number one… means to be better than everyone else. But that means that everyone else has to know they are worse than you.'

He looked around the room, at all of the other students who didn't even make it . 'They had come all this way, gotten into the best hero academy on their academics. Many of whom likely had Quirks perfectly suited for hero work, even if they didn't make it into the hero course; none of them had even placed 42nd. All of them had it better than I ever did and yet… they're so far from their dreams…'

Sato's voice shook as a few tears rolled down his face. His voice remained quiet, soft. A personal pain came to full display. "You're… better than me. You're stronger, faster. You get better grades and your strength is second only to All Might. You can praise me all you want, but I will not allow myself to be made irrelevant by you."

"So…" Izuku gulped as he put everything on the line. He gripped the side of his gym pant leg as he offered, "What can I do to help you?"

Sato wiped away his tears, his face still a little red from the sadness and pain. He sniffled for a moment. "Nothing… You have to give it your all, I can't tell you not to."

"Hu?" Izuku gasped a little in confusion. He sat up straight and placed his hands in his lap.

"So go all out. And I will too." Sato winced as he knew what he was saying would be brutal. He hugged his arms around his muscular stomach and hunched over a little. "This will likely be… my last chance to beat you. "

Izuku nodded curtly. "I'll give it everything I've got."

He stared into Sato's eyes, a purity shone from within, "And Sato, win or lose, you'll be a hero. And that will always be amazing."

Sato looked down, letting go of his defensive posture and straightening up before giving Izuku his big, dumb grin. It felt painted on, merely a lie. "Of course. We'll both be heroes!" He gave a forced cheer as he tilted his head and raised his broad arm to flex, trying to sell the lie of joy… mostly to himself.

"Aoyama!" Recovery Girl bonked her staff on his head. "How many times do I have to tell you, my Quirk does not cure your stomach aches!"

"But Mademoiselle! My tummy hurts!" Aoyama whined to her with his hands around his stomach.

Bonk!

In a service hall, far from the eyes of the media, the students, and of his father, Shoto Todoroki shuddered from the cold. He was pushing himself.

Crunch .

He dug his fingers under the ice chunk on his hip and peeled . It cracked and crumbled as he pulled it off like a massive crystalian cast. He grit his teeth as his body ached from the cold.

Crunch. Crrrrack.

" Hu !" Shoto let out a grunt as he worked to remove the ice from his body. The pieces piled to the floor. His stomach churned as he knew what came next during the recovery process.

Ffffwush .

Fire ignited over his left side. It wrapped around his arm and shoulder like a cloak that waved up at him.

'Disgusting… but necessary.' Shoto thought to himself as he brought his left arm in front of him to better warm himself. He could feel the frost receding as his breathing slowly returned to normal. Minute by minute, he could feel the sharp grasp of the cold letting go of him.

He glared down at the fire. Even though he felt its warmth, he couldn't feel any more cold in its orange light. It was as though he could see his father staring back at him behind the low, steady flames.

"Tsk." Shoto looked away as he shut off his fire. He was warm enough to at least feel his fingers, which was enough for him. He began to walk back to the arena. "I still have a festival to win."

Back out in the arena, various groups of friends began to gather around each other. Tanya watched all of the social cliques remanifest, even as she began to wonder what Quirk synergies they would, or wouldn't, have.

"Hey Tanya. You doing ok?" Mina asked as she rubbed her arms and shivered. She put on a bright, albeit discomforted smile, as she tried to rub away the pain. "You look pretty serious. Or, more than usual."

Tanya glanced at her classmate, looking her up and down and crossing her arms. "I should be asking you the same. What happened to you?"

Mina let out a sigh as she stopped rubbing her arms and stood up straight. She put her hands on her hips as she was a little upset. "It was Todoroki. The guy covered me in ice and bailed."

"Oh, you're cold?" Tanya asked as her mind began to race. 'I've seen Todoroki's power in action during class. He's had to have had a lot of training to be that powerful.'

"Not too much. Mostly sore from some light freezer burns." Mina shook her head. "I had it a lot better than some of the runners back at the start. A lot of them are already in Recovery Girl's care with some serious frostbite."

"It appears Todoroki is as driven as the rest of us." Tanya frowned as she realized she would be facing Todoroki in whatever team battle the second round contained.

"He also toppled one of those massive robots onto the other students." Mina threw her hands up in exasperation. " Driven is taking it lightly."

Tanya brought her thumb up and pushed on her lip in thought, her eyebrows furrowed as she began to seriously consider the threat. 'This could be worse than I had realized… Now that I think about it, none of my teammates have flight. Mina melted the ice earlier, and Sato will be hard to pin down, but whoever joins our team after that will need to be able to support us.'

'We have real threats to our safety now.' Tanya's eyes went wide as she continued to mull over how bad it was. 'Todoroki is a threat with his ice and carelessness. Midoriya is reckless with too much power for his own good. Bakugo might escalate the fighting too far. Shiozaki is under Being X's influence… That is a lot of threats.'

Mina leaned over, sticking her big pink face into Tanya's personal space.

Tanya leaned back as she gently pushed a wing into Mina's hip to hold her back. "Yes?" She asked with a dead tone.

Mina had her big, bright grin on. "You're worrying too much. It's a sports festival!" She stood back up and clenched her fists. "We'll push ourselves and win!"

Tanya took a deep breath. 'Mina is… correct. There isn't much strategizing I can do without knowing the next game. Any additional effort will be fruitless fear mongering.'

She put her hand down, letting go of her hard thinking pose. "You're right. We have no other option than to play it as we receive it and fight hard."

Mina spun back on a foot, cheering "That's the spirit! Let's go get 'em! Plus Ultra!"

Tanya nodded sharply as her combative grin crept onto her face, her wings flexed behind her with the desire to battle. "To victory. Plus Ultra."

Once all the students who had moved onto the next round had taken to the arena opening, Midnight strutted back onto stage. The holographic screen burst back to life, displaying Midnight as she gave a sultry smirk to the camera.

"Welcome everybody! To the second round!" Midnight shouted out as she raised her flogging whip and cracked the air.

The crowd erupted into cheer as the heroes gathered were excited to watch the new rookies show what they could do.

"The next round will be-!" Midnight began her announcement as she spun around and put her hands up for the screen. The screen displayed a slot machine styled setup that spun around. Dramatic music hyped up as the crowd quieted down in anticipation.

Cavalry Battle!

"The Cavalry Battles!" Midnight announced as she once again gave an exaggerated turn that showed off her hips to face the students. "Competitors will mount each other in groups of either three or four."

The screen displayed a cavalry battle team setup. The hero Thirteen was in the front with her hands behind her, holding up All Might with Present Mic to the left, straining to hold up his left foot as well. The very top of Snipe's hat peaked out over All Might's thigh as he was to the back right, holding up All Might's right foot.

Despite the amused strain his peers were showing in the photo, All Might had a giant grin and was giving a laugh as he pointed forwards to victory!

"There are two or three bottom players," Midnight stated as she snapped her flogger at the screen, "henceforth named horses. Only one person can be on top. This is their rider. Teams will start in a set formation."

"The rules beyond the setup are simple, so listen up!" Midnight cracked her whip again, trying to break the air after her innuendo laced speech.

"The rider will be given a headband with the team's point value on it. The points will be determined by the highest placed member in the race." Midnight began to strut across the stage as she declared the rules.

"The headbands will only count towards the team's score if the rider is wearing them either around the neck or head. The more bands you have, the harder this will become."

The screen displayed All Might with a scored headband that read Number 1! Then he got another headband around his neck. And another… and another. More and more bands began to stack atop his neck until he resembled a mummy.

"The horses can not be split up. They must maintain contact, or close proximity, otherwise their team will be disqualified."

Present Mic let go of All Might's foot and took a step back to stretch out with a green check mark. The clip was played again but this time Snipe let go and backed out of arm's reach of his team to take aim with his gun, only to be paused with a big red X.

"The rider cannot touch the ground or their team will be disqualified and their bands will be dropped."

The screen displayed mummy All Might falling off of his team. He got up, took off of his headbands and put them on the ground before walking away with his team.

"However, enemy teams cannot commit attacks that would provoke the previous two rules. You cannot knock another rider to the ground nor can you split up the horses."

The screen showed All Might's team being hit with a massive blood splash from Vlad King. In the first clip, All Might was knocked to the ground and a red X flashed over Vlad King. In the second clip, Present Mic was washed away and again Vlad King was given a red X.

"Teams must stay within the bounds or they will be disqualified. Even if one member is out of bounds, the entire team will go with them."

The screen displayed a cartoony version of the arena setup with a short, wide red cylinder over it to mark a 3d boundary.

"Pay close attention, we are flashing the boundary line now!" Midnight cracked her whip as a red shine slid around the arena through the air.

The holographic red stripe created the outline of the barrier as it was projected into the world. Its walls went from the edges of the dirt circle, all the way up to twice the height of the arena's inner walls where it had a flat top.

"And there is one last rule." Midnight licked her lips as she stared down at Tanya. "The first place of the race will be rewarded with the one million point headband ."

"Huh?" Tanya's eyes widened as all eyes were on her. She wasn't scared, this changed nothing for her. 'High ranked and targeted by everyone. Now this is a familiar sight.'

"This will guarantee moving on to the next round." Midnight gave Tanya a good stare as she played with her whip. "So you better hold it tight."

Crack!

"Now hurry along players! You have riders and bottoms to group with and not a lot of time!" Midnight cried as the screen began to count down.

Tanya didn't shrink back from the stares as she turned around only to be met with Mina's ready and eager smile. Tanya gave a smirk, "Glad to see you're still with me."

"Like I'd go anywhere else!" Mina shot back as she puffed up her shoulders all proudly. She pointed at Tanya with both of her hands, "Let's give all these teams a taste of what we can do!"

Tanya nodded happily before she saw Sato's towering form moving through the crowd.

His face was determined, focused, and a glint of hunger behind his brown eyes. "If you will have me, I will happily be your front horse."

Tanya smiled as she looked up at him. 'Good. Looks like my team building is paying off. Two of my preferred picks are already lining up to be with me.'

'She's smiling. It's good to see she thinks of me as a friend.' Sato thought to himself as he looked down at Tanya's creepily large grin.

Mina put a finger up then let her wrist relax to point at Tanya. "Has anyone ever told you that your smile is creepy? Like, in a good way."

Tanya's smile dropped as she looked over at Mina in confusion. "What… does that even mean?"

Sato scratched at his face as he looked away sheepishly. "I mean. Mina has a point. I can't judge, but I do agree."

Tanya sighed as she put her head in her hands. "Uugh. Of course this is where your brains are at." She ran her hands back as she took a deep breath. "Now, unless we want a three man team, I'm going to try to get us a fourth."

Tanya began to walk away as Sato and Mina chatted behind her.

"Wait, whatchu mean 'you can't judge'?" Mina looked up at Sato and put her hands on her hips in sass.

Sato looked away as he tried to recover from the situation. He put his hands up, palms out in defense from Mina's stare. "I, uh, I can be intimidating. It's the size, you know?"

Mina slugged Sato in the arm as she chuckled. "Haha. You big oaf, you don't scare me and you ain't all that scary."

Sato rubbed his arm when he was hit. "Heyy. Ok, fine, I might not be scary to you but I promise I can be intimidating. At least to the villains."

"Oh I'm sure the villains are gonna fear ya!" Mina cheered as she brought up her hands by her face and wriggled her fingers, "Just like they'll fear the dreaded Alien Queen !"

"Heheh." Sato giggled with the back of his hand brought up to his mouth. "Is that your hero name?"

Mina snapped as she announced, "Absolutely! I've been wanting that name for a long time!"

"I had a hero name sort of picked out too." Sato blushed as he scratched his cheek again.

'The big guy's embarrassed over it.' Mina squinted as she brought up her fingers to her jaw in a check shape and nodded at him. "Let me hear it."

"Sugar Man." Sato stated as a goofy yet shy grin bloomed on his face.

"Sugar Man! Now that's sweet!" Mina laughed at him.

Sato decided to lean into the fact he got Mina to laugh by flexing his arms in a pointing pose like All Might's. The awe factor was undercut by his shaky, blushing smile. "Look out world! Here comes Sugar Man !"

Tanya marched through the crowd. She can feel the eyes on her. Her wings rose up and took more space as she wanted to make her presence known. 'Enemies on all fronts. Few, yet close allies. High rank but still need to take the position I want. This is all the same as my last life. Just in gym uniforms at an academy for superheroes in spandex.'

Tanya pushed through the crowd till she found who she was looking for.

"Bakugo." She called out with a neutral tone. "I am here to offer you a deal."

Bakugo silently growled as he turned to meet her. "Unless that deal is me kicking your ass, don't fuck with me Chicken Wings!"

Tanya furrowed her brows as she was once again annoyed by Bakugo's stubbornness. She put her hands behind her back as she took a more militaristic pose. "I have the one million point headband. Any team who holds this band by the end of the round is guaranteed first place."

"Spit it out already! I know all this shit!" Bakugo barked at her as he brought up a hand that crackled with explosions.

" I want you on my team ." Tanya growled at him as she glared into his eyes. " It would be an easy victory ."

"For you ." Bakugo spat. "Piss off. I am winning this myself ."

"This is a team match ." Tanya grit her teeth as she tried to remain diplomatic.

"It's your team under your command!" Bakugo shouted at her as he jammed a finger into her collarbone and pushed her back. "I will not be a pawn for you! Get that through your bird brain and beat it!"

Tanya's rage flared as she was shoved back. She brought her fists to her sides, breaking her diplomatic stance. "Would wearing the band yourself make you happy!?" She barked.

"It isn't about the fucking headband!" Bakugo shouted down at her. " I don't take orders from you! "

"Fine!" Tanya shouted at him before backing down. "Have it your way!"

"I will have it my way! " Bakugo barked as he stepped back. "I already put together my own team of extras myself! "

"We're not your extras." Jiro stated coldly as she spun her earphone jack around her finger.

"We did join his team even with him shouting at us." Sero grinned as he held up his jaw.

Ojiro sighed dejectedly as he rolled his shoulder. "I know I'm normal and all, but being called an extra stings."

"Shut up extras!" Bakugo barked over his shoulders. "Follow my orders and we'll kill the competition!"

"This whole 'extra's' thing isn't going to work out." Jiro lowered her eyebrows to squint at Bakugo while putting her hands in her pockets.

"Shut it Ears! You have one job!" Bakugo turned around and started shouting at Jiro. His hands crackled with mini explosions.

Tanya blinked in surprise as she watched Bakugo's team devolve into chaos. 'He has no idea how to lead beyond brute force… This will be fun to watch.' She smirked before walking away.

"Alright Bakugo. I'll see you during the cavalry battle." Tanya gloated as she marched away from his chaotic mess of a team.

"I'LL KILL YOU LIKE THE REST!!!" Bakugo cried out after her as he became nearly feral. His teeth ground together as he hunched over and growled. His palms gave off an orange glow as explosions cracked over them.

"We still need a fou-" Tanya muttered to herself as she approached her teammates only to be cut off. She jerked in surprise as Hatsume Mei blasted through the crowd to get to her team.

"I will take the spot!" Hatsume Mei cried out in glee as she ran up to Tanya.

'This team has the top headband! The support companies are sure to be watching if I am with them!' Mei grinned to herself as she brought her hands up to sell herself.

"I brought plenty of my babies! " Mei nearly cackled as she spun around, showing all of the gear on her body. " Aaand I have moooree! "

"Hello Mei." Tanya said dryly as she smoothed her feathers from being startled. "We were just looking for another teammate."

"I-!" Mei nearly went off again, about to try to sell herself more before she was cut off.

"- Am already accepted." Tanya stopped her with a small smile. "Your inventions are nothing short of incredible, and you have proven yourself quite capable."

"I don't know about this…" Mina put her hands on her hips and shook her head slowly. "She's not in the hero course. How can we expect her to battle it out with the others."

"I appreciate the stated concern, however we don't need her for her fighting ability. We have that covered already." Tanya nodded with confidence for her peers. "For any combat training she lacks, her equipment and our training more than makes up for it. Additionally, Mei's equipment grants us a distinct advantage that gives our team an unforeseen edge over our peers. "

"That's an awful lot of big words." Mina blinked dully at Tanya. "But, Sato and I are pretty good. So," Mina gave an uncomfortable shrug, "let's see how this plays out."

"How do you know this girl?" Sato asked cautiously as he scratched his cheek with one hand and pointed at Mei with the other.

Mei turned and grinned in excitement at Sato as she began to reach towards him with grasping and wiggling fingers. "Hehehe." She laughed deviously.

Tanya sighed a little, both annoyed and in fondness for the inventor. "Yes, I met her a while back in the infirmary for -" Tanya's eyes widened as she realized what Mei was about to do, "Stop right there!" Tanya dove into action.

She grasped onto Mei's harness to stop her from getting to Sato, wanting to feel him.

"Come ooon!" Mei whined as she reached out towards Sato, her hands grasping at thin air rather than exploring Sato's body like she wanted. "He looks like he can handle my babies!"

"Woah." Sato called as he stepped back and put his hands up. He was concerned about her before and now she was getting too excited for him.

"And I thought I was playing Cupid." Mina giggled to herself as she stepped back and watched the chaos.

'Damn, this girl is strong!' Tanya thought to herself as Mei kept pushing forward. Her shoes dragged through the dirt as Mei marched like a work mule.

"I'll have them get gear from you in the future if you stop." Tanya grit her teeth and bartered with her.

"Well why didn't you say so!" Mei cheered as she instantly stopped her push, only to cause Tanya to slip.

Tanya whipped her wings out and flapped at the ground to right herself before she ever crashed. She took a deep breath as she fixed her ponytail. "Well, glad we got that all sorted out…"

"Ok… Please don't get all handsy with me?" Sato gave a little bow with his hands together. "You seem like a girl who really likes her craft, and I can relate to that. I'll happily pay you a visit if you don't… do whatever that was to me, ok?"

Mei pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. She grinned with maniacal glee as she thrusted them towards Sato, stars shined in her crosshair eyes. "I want that in writing!"

"We should team up." Todoroki stated dryly as he walked over to Momo.

Momo raised a hand up to her collarbone as she considered his offer. She was happy someone chose her. "Oh, I was just putting together a team. I'm happy you're here."

Kaminari gave a big smile as he put a double thumbs up. "Ah sweet! We got the son of the number two hero here!"

Todoroki glanced at Kaminari for a second, giving him a bone chilling glare. "Do we have any other picks to deal with the fliers?"

"I was considering picking Aoyama for his navel laser." Momo stated as she folded her hands together politely. "He's the longest ranged student in the class. Between him and Kaminari for short range denial, we'll be able to fight the flying students."

"With him as a horse, he wouldn't have a good way to aim high enough." Todoroki pointed out as he maintained a bored expression.

"I was planning on making him the rider." Momo put her hands together. "I even had plans to create things at the start of the race to make his aiming even easier."

Todoroki squinted as he asked, "I believe I should be the rider." His tone, while still cold, held annoyance.

"The positions are irrelevant beyond headband scoring. Having Aoyama as the rider gives him room to aim freely. While having you as the front horse allows you to freeze without restraint." Momo stated as she began to lead the group to look for Aoyama.

" Besides , it's not like being the rider and leader are the same thing." Kaminari put his hands up as he tried to defuse the concept, following along with Momo.

'I want their versatility and power.' Todoroki thought to himself as he realized what he had gotten himself into. 'It would make my route to my victory easier.'

"Merci! Thank you for picking me!" Aoyama cheered as Momo had given him the offer to join. His lips quivered and his face was a little more pale than usual. "I will not let you down!"