Chapter 17- Strategy, Strategy, Strategy!

"Now the real fun is about to begin! The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight. Give it your best! Let's see what we have in store for you next! Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What could it be?" The arena waits in silence, watching as the screen before them slows to a stop on Calvary Battle.

"Calvary Battle? I'm terrible at those!"

"I wonder how they'll split us up?" The students mutter to themselves in uncertainty, looking to Midnight for clarification.

"The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit…" Midnight continues to ramble off the obvious rules, including how the cavalry battle and the point system will work. "And the point value assigned to the first-place contestant is… 10 MILLION!" Every student turns to me, the ravenous hope in their eyes vanishing as I stand there, unimpressed. They sigh in disappointment as they realize no one will be able to steal my points, and they might as well give up now. Midnight licks her lips, her face reddening as I glare at her. She glances away, continuing with the instructions. "Now, you have 15 minutes to form your teams. Good Luck!"

The contestants begin to meander around, friends joining together and strangers nervously approaching each other. I glance at my hand, fiddling with the ring on my finger.

[I need to be able to hear the intentions of my possible teammates. I better take this off.]

I slip the ring into my pocket, swaying slightly as the thoughts around me suddenly explode in my head.

'This is going to be impossible.'

'We'll never get those points!'

'We'd have better luck going after Midoriya.'

'If I team with Saiki, I'll win for sure!'

"Uh… Saiki? Will you…"

<Yeah, I don't care.>

"Really? Thank you!" Kaido happily bounces around me for a split second, but quickly corrects his childish behavior by covering his face with a bandaged hand. "We'll defeat all those in our path." I roll my eyes, ignoring his stupidity.

"Hey, you. What's your quirk?" I turn around, my dead-inside eyes meeting another pair.

'Once he answers he'll be under my control. Perfect.'

"Mine? Oh, it's-" Kaido's face goes blank, all life seemingly leaving him.

"I wasn't asking you. But you seem fine. Join my team." Kaido nods, walking over to the boy and his other teammate.

"So, what's your quirk?"

[I'll play along for now.]

<I'm a->

'Got him.' I allow my face to fall to a blank position, gaping my mouth slightly to make sure it sells. 'Good.'

"Join my team." I walk behind him, falling in line with Kaido.

'Perfect. There's no way I'll lose with him.'

"Times up! Please gather with your teams while we tally your points!"

"THESE ARE THE TEAMS!"

"KUSUO SAIKI, HITOSHI SHINSO, SHUN KAIDO, AND KUBOYASU AREN, FOR A TOTAL OF 10,000,280 POINTS!"

"IZUKU MIDORIYA, OCHACO URARAKA, RIKI NENDO, AND FUMIKAGE TOKOYAMI, FOR A TOTAL OF 705 POINTS!"

"KATSUKI BAKUGO, KINESHI HAIRO, EIJIRO KIRISHIMA, AND HANTA SERO, FOR A TOTAL OF 660 POINTS!"

"SHOTO TODOROKI, KOKOMI TERUHASHI, TORITSUKA REITA, AND DENKI KAMINARI, FOR A TOTAL OF 550 POINTS!"

"TETSUTETSU TETSUTETSU, TENYA IIDA, MASHIRAO OJIRO, AND REIKO YANAGI, FOR A TOTAL OF 425 POINTS!"

"IBARA SHIOZAKI, TSUYU ASUI, TAKAHASHI, AND TOGARU KAMAKIRI, FOR A TOTAL OF 420 POINTS!"

"METORI SAIKO, NEITO MONOMA, KOSEI TSUBURABA, AND SHIHAI KUROIRO, FOR A TOTAL OF 415 POINTS!"

"MOMO YAOYOROZU, ITSUKA KENDO, AND MEI HATSUME, FOR A TOTAL OF 240 POINTS!"

"CHIYO YUMEHARA, CHISATO MERA, AIURA MIKOTO, AND PONY TSUNOTORI, FOR A TOTAL OF 235 POINTS!"

"JUZO HUNENUKI, KOJIRO BONDO, AND SETSUNA TOKAGE, FOR A TOTAL OF 195 POINTS!"

"NIRENGEKI SHODA, MANGA FUKIDASHI, SEN KAIBARA, AND KINOKO KOMORI, FOR A TOTAL OF 180 POINTS!"

"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! NOW, ONTO THE FESTIVITIES!"

The teams tense up as they realize the games are about to begin. They side glance at the brainwasher, who is wearing the headband reading 10,000,280. He doesn't seem to notice or care. The timer counts us down, and soon the arena is filled with chaos as students reach for each other's headbands. I follow my team as we run around, easily dodging any pursuers.

"I'll be taking that now."

The leader raises his head, signaling us to stop. Todoroki and his team are before us, Teruhashi on top. Neither team is fazed by the other, one being too confident and the other too out of it. Todoroki makes the first move, signaling for Kaminari to blast us. He hits Aren, but it doesn't do much damage. He tries again, putting more effort into the blow. Shinso motions to me, and I block the blast, which ricochets and hits Teruhashi.

"AHH! Todo, they hit me!" Teruhashi pouts, gently rubbing her arm where the shock hit.

"You'll be fine."

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO THE PRINCESS WITH SUCH UNINTREST!" Reita yells from his position in the back, under Teruhashi.

"Yeah, Todo, that hurt my feelings." She whimpers, allowing a single tear to drip down her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Todoroki apologizes, his face blushing as he glances away from the girl on his back.

While they were arguing we were able to slip away, continuing to avoid the occasional desperate students grabbing for the headband.

"HEY, LOSERS!" I glance behind me, retaining my brain-washed face as Bakugo flies up behind us. He seizes the headband, blasting away from us and landing back on his perch. We turn around fully to face the opposing team.

"Give that back." Shinso mumbles, annoyed by this seemingly minor inconvenience.

"Why the hell would I do th-" Bakugo stops, his gaze glazed. Shinso chuckles, motioning for Bakugo to come towards us.

"Hey, Bakugo! Snap out of it!" Hairo yells, noticing that Bakugo is staring into space. Kirishima looks back at his friend, unsure what to do.

"It must be that guy's quirk. Hairo, Sero, let's get out of here!"

"Right!" The pair answer, grabbing a hold of the limp Bakugo to run the other direction.

"Bakugo! Bring me those points." Shinso growls, narrowing his eyes. Bakugo looks over his shoulder, nodding slightly before jumping off his teammates, flying toward Shinso with the points in hand.

"Bakugo what are you doing?" Sero cries, grabbing him with tape and pulling him back in. He crashes into his team, flailing to escape their grasps.

"Settle down!" Kirishima begs, hardening and catching the boy's leg as he tries to blast off again. The hit sends not only waves of pain through Bakugo, but also flames of anger as he snaps out of it.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He screams, blasting toward Shinso with rage in his heart.

"Well, that's enough of that." Shinso sighs, annoyed that his fun is over. "Saiki, take them all."

I, with a blank face, use my powers to lift every headband in the arena, pulling them off the heads of the riders.

"SAIKI YOU FUCKER!!!"

"Wha-?"

"Hey, wait!"

"Quick, grab it!"

Multiple riders jump forward, reaching for their points, which only fly further away.

Some use their quirks in an attempt to grab the material.

Others just watch in despair as the headband flies away.

Bakugo screams in anger as he blasts forward, grabbing his original headband.

Sero pulls him back in with tape. Bakugo grips the headband as if his life depends on it.

"TIMES UP! AND WHAT AN AMAZING WAY TO END IT! ONLY FOUR TEAMS HAVE ANY POINTS LEFT, SO THOSE TEAMS WILL BE MOVING ON!"

Kaido and Aren begin looking around, confused. I do so as well, acting clueless as the boy walks away.

"Thanks for the help." Shinso smirks, putting a hand up in a wave while walking away from our group.

"Saiki, what just happened?"

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