A Calvary Battle?

AN: It's been a while since the last chapter, and this one is very long, so have at it.

*Shiro POV*

I leap across the finish line, a big grin on my face as Present Mic announces, "Shiro Hirota snatches the position of first!!!"

The crowd cheers wildly after seeing my performance and I take a few deep breaths and look up at one of the big screens located around the arena, watching the remainder of the students finish up the course.

My eyes find Midoriya who is desperately running back to the stadium, 'I figured. He sacrificed an arm. At least I managed to cripple him a little. His future performances will be heavily affected.'

I continue to watch as more and more people start crossing the finish line. Ibara Shozaki from Class B takes second, while Juzo takes third. Iida is in fourth and Midoriya miraculously managed to take fifth due to his previous lead. Sixth through tenth were Tokoyami, Kirishima, Sero, Tetsutetsu, and Momo in that order.

When Izuku crossed the line he immediately looked around until his eyes landed on me, and his expression changed into a glare.

I give him a smile and a buzzer blares suddenly as random student crosses the line and Midnight announces, "Forty-two people have crossed the finish line! The first game of the first year stage is officially over! Now, Let's take a look at the results!"

Both of us turned to the stage that Midnight stood on. Once again, a big screen pops out of the ground and it cycles through several names and faces, showing each placement for each student.

I raise my eyebrows, 'I'm impressed. Everyone except for the two that I eliminated got in. And Class B got everyone, not bad.'

Kuro snickers, 'Poor kids. They didn't even make it past the first round.'

I ignore him and look at the four people who got in that weren't from one of the hero courses, a pink-haired girl with yellow eyes, and strange headgear, two kids from the general course and… Shinso.

Midnight starts speaking, "The top forty-two made it to the next round. It's unfortunate but don't worry even if you didn't make it! We've prepared other ways for you to shine. The real competition begins next."

She licks her lips with an evil smirk, giving me an uneasy feeling.

She cracks her whip as the wheel reaped on the screen and starts spinning again, "Now then, here is the second game, I already know what it is, but what could it be? What could it be?"

She lets the wheel roll for a bit until it starts slowing, "Here it is…"

The wheel finally stops, "A cavalry battle!!!"

I nod my head thoughtfully, 'That falls in line with my prediction. The only problem is… how do you win? A normal calvary battle involves a headband around the rider and if that gets taken, then you lose… but this is U.A.'

Midnight gestures to the screen, "Let me explain. The participants may form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but there's one thing that is different…"

She pauses dramatically before continuing, "Based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value."

I look around briefly, 'If they are doing that… then that means… based on who is on your team, the value of your team changes. So it's a battle for points?'

"Starting from the bottom, points are assigned and increase by five each time. So, forty-second place gets five points and forty-first gets ten. And the point value assigned to first places is…"

I grin as I look at my point value, "This will be a lot more challenging than I thought."

"Ten million!"

People turn to look at me with hungry expressions on their faces, and I let out a sigh, "So in other words, if you can take down the team with first-place… no matter how you placed before…"

An amused smile forms on my face, "You will stand at the top."

Midnight smirks as she looks at me, "That's right. It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!"

I nod my head slowly, 'Well, then… I better make one hell of a team.'

Midnight points to the screen, and several images pop up, "Now then, I will explain the rules of the game. The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its member's points, and the rider will wear a headband with that total on their forehead.

Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them. And the most important thing is that even if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you are not out!"

My smile gets even wider, "Oy, oy. You're telling me that there's gonna be around twelve teams on the field the whole time!?"

My classmates talk excitedly and bounce potential strategies off of each other, and Midnight cracks her whip again and everyone quiets down.

"During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But it is still a cavalry battle. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose! You'll be removed immediately!"

I kiss my teeth in annoyance and I get rid of a plan to place large strands of Bungee Gum on the floor to "trap" people and unbalance them.

Midnight fails her whip, "Now, you have fifteen minutes to build your teams. Start!"

Immediately, several of my classmates rush over to me and beg to be on my team.

"Hey, Shiro. Let me be on your team."

"Can I join your team? I can help you a lot!"

"You stand out, Let me on your team so that I can show my babies!"

"You're gonna need someone manly!

'Wow, despite me having a point value of ten million, they still want to be on my team? I'm amused that they have such faith in my abilities.'

I look over them and sigh, "You guys, know that I can't take all of you right?"

They quiet down at this and I scratch the back of my head, "Mina, your acid will be useful. Welcome aboard."

Mina yells out, "Yeah!"

I point to a spiky red-haired boy, "Kirishima, your in as well. I need a strong shield."

Kirishima grins and pumps his fist, "Roger that!"

I look at the others, "Sorry, but my team is full now."

They look at me with confused looks, and Sero rubs the back of his head, "What do you mean, Shiro? You only have three people."

I chuckle lightly as someone walks over, "Oh, I thought it was obvious."

Momo flicks her hair back and I gesture to her, "Momo's on my team as well you know."

The others wander off in disappointment and Kirishima looks at me excitedly, "So, what's the plan?"

I grin and explain my idea. At the end of it, Kirishima and Mina are both shocked and Momo nods her head thoughtfully, "Yes, that would work."

Kuro laughs madly in my brain, 'Ahahaha! This is gonna be good!'

But Kirishima shakes his head, "But… that's not manly at all."

My expression turns serious as I look at him, "Listen when we become heroes, there are times on the job when you can't be manly and have to take a better approach."

I still see the doubt in Kirishima's eyes and explain further, "Remember the combat training exercise we did? How I had Asui sneak through the vent? That was a logical and indirect approach to complete the mission. If I were to approach it like you, I would've rushed in headfirst and attempted to take you both out, right?"

He nods his head and opens his mouth to say something but I cut him off, "That would be a mistake. There is a higher chance of getting injured or possibly killed. It may not be you, but your teammates, or the other heroes with you. Do you get it? As heroes, we need to take the best option."

He stays quiet for a bit before sighing, "Fine, it makes sense, but I still don't like it."

I grin, "Don't worry, that's where you come in. Even if my plan works, it's not a hundred percent to get everyone, so we will need to deal with the rest."

'But if it goes really well, then we won't even need to fight anymore.'

His mood improves and he nods his head, when Mina asks, "What about the audience? Won't some of them get caught in it too?"

I pat her shoulder, a smile on my face, "Don't worry, I'm always thinking several steps ahead."

I roll my neck, before looking at Momo, "I'll be back soon, by then we'll only have around ten minutes to get everything done. We'll be running on a tight schedule, you think we can make it?"

She crosses her hands over her chest and smirks, "You underestimate me, Shiro."

"I knew I could rely on you."

I start walking over to Midnight who is observing all the groups. I follow her gaze and see Shinso who is walking over to Ojiro.

Shinso calls out, "Hey, Tail man!"

Ojiro turns and looks, "Yes?"

Immediately, Ojiro's eyes go blank and Shinso smirks at this, 'So it must be either eye contact, or the target has to respond. Either way, I have to be careful.'

When she sees me coming over, her eyes narrow slightly before calling me out.

"Do you need something Shiro?"

When she said my name, that caught the attention of the people around us, and they all looked over to see what was happening.

I ignore them and continue walking towards Midnight, "Can I ask you something? Privately?"

She nods her head and we head to the back of the stage, away from the ears of most of the students, "So, what kind of plan do you have that involves me?"

I raise my hands and shrug my shoulders a sly smile on my face, "What are you talking about, Midnight Sensei? I just wanted to ask you about how your day has been."

She doesn't look amused and I quickly drop the act and return to my normal expression, "So, I have a plan to stay in first and basically..."

Once again, I explain my plan and explain how the audience may get caught up in it.

She nods her head thoughtfully, "Impressive. That's quite impressive, Shiro. Fine, I accept! I'll call Cementoss over to make proper arrangements."

As I start to walk away, she opens her phone and scrolls for a bit before tapping once and putting it up to her ear. It starts ringing and very soon someone picks up.

"Ken, listen, I need you on the floor. We need to do some quick renovations."

I rejoin my group where Momo is covering something with a blue plastic tarp, "Good idea. While most people won't know what we'll be making, I still don't want to give people any ideas of what we'll be making."

I create six poles that are each eight feet tall. I plant them into the ground in the shape of a hexagon around the blue tarp, and Momo walks over and opens the front of her shirt to create more, but I stop her.

"Save your energy. We can use Bungee Gum."

She nods her head and I create several large sheets of Bungee Gum and connect them to the poles. The result is a bright pink stall that surrounds Momo completely. By maximizing the pigmentation, I turned it from its usual cloudy pink to a very solid pink.

I look at my two teammates, who are standing around, "You guys should get ready, stretch out, and stuff. I don't want you guys to get hurt during this."

Mina nods her head in understanding and Kirishima does the same.

I open one of the sheets and start walking in, then something enters my mind and I look back at the pair, "If you get bored, you could always prevent people from looking in at what we are doing."

I point to Shoji who is quietly watching us, and Kirishima grins and gives me a thumbs up, "You got it!"

I close the curtain and Momo passes me a gas mask, which I slip on, "Well, then. We should get to work."

*General POV*

Many eyes were drawn to the mysterious pink stall that was erected in the middle of the stadium and naturally, people were curious.

Izuku narrowed his eyes and watched the extremely blurry movements behind the wall of Bungee Gum, 'If he's hiding something, then he must have some sort of plan. He forced me to sacrifice my arm to break free out of his trap and he knocked out both Kacchan and Todoroki, so he isn't afraid of playing dirty.'

Izuku sighs before looking at his team, made-up of Iida, Uraraka, and Hatsune, 'I just knew what he was doing.'

The audience had a better view than the students, but not by much. Only those in the top boxes could clearly see what was happening.

All Might grimaces as he sees Shiro mix several liquids together with ice, 'Based on what I'm seeing, he must be making some kind of poison. But, that's insane. Poisoning his own classmates, and the audience would get caught up in it as well. It looked like he talked about it with Midnight, but I still don't approve of it.'

He opens his phone and dials a number and it rings for a bit before a female voice comes out, "All Might? What do you need?"

"What is Shiro making?"

Midnight gives a light laugh, "I think it would be better if you just watched. You're probably concerned about the students and the audience, right? Don't worry, he assured me of the student's safety and I already called Ken over to do some last-minute building."

All Might sigh and shakes his head, 'Knowing her playful personality, she won't tell me.'

"Well, I look forward to seeing what he will do."

All Might let out a sigh and leans back in his chair. Thirteen, who was sitting nearby, looks at him curiously.

"So? Did she tell you what he is doing?"

All Might shakes his head, "Nope, we will just need to watch this play out."

Back on the field, Ken Isayama, or Cementoss, walks on the field and starts creating tall walls around the arena, much to the audience's annoyance.

"What the hell are you doing!?"

"How can we watch like this?!"

Everyone turns to the large TVs displayed around the stadium, where a video of Present Mic shows up, "Due to safety issues, a barrier has been erected. You may still watch on these large screens."

The crowd shouts their displeasure, but the barrier stays up.

*A few minutes later*

*Shiro POV*

I wipe some sweat off of my forehead and look down at our accomplishment, 'This… this should work.'

A total of ten pink balls, each the size of a tennis ball, and each of them filled with a clear liquid. I stuff them into my pockets and disassemble the stall.

A buzzer blares, and the screen says, "Times up!"

Midnight grins excitedly, "Now, it's about time to get started then!"

Midnight tells us to take positions and the teams all gather on the sides. With Mina on the left, and Momo on the right, they were going to take care of defense. Kirishima being the spearhead to keep the balance and lead the charge. I climb on top of the "Horse" and grin excitedly as the brains and major player of the operation.

Present Mic talks excitedly, "After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy, eleven calvary teams are lined up on the field."

Aizawa speaks in an undertone, "There are some interesting teams out there."

I look at the headband given to me, '10,000,420, huh? Ironic.'

AN: I did actual math based on their placements and it just happened to be 420.

Dramatic music starts playing, the crowds start cheering even louder, and Present Mic Yells out, "Now, let's raise those battle cries! It's time for U.A.'s bloody battle! Light the signal fire!!!"

Hanging it around my head, I hold it together using Bungee Gum to prevent people from snatching it.

My eyes narrow as I look at the potential threats, 'Izuku, Uraraka, Iida, and from the looks of it a support course girl. They will pose a threat. Shoji, Mineta, Asui, and Tokoyami will be a surprisingly dangerous combo. Tetsutetsu's team is also a pain. Same with Monoma.'

The screen flashes and shows as many perspectives as possible for the audience.

"All right! You've made your teams, right? I'm not gonna ask if you're ready or not!"

I look at Kendo who is on the team to the right of me, "Kendo. No hard feelings, right?"

She grins excitedly at me, "Yeah, don't come crying to me after you lose!"

I smirk at this, "I won't… lose that is."

Momo passes out gas masks to Mina and Kirishima.

"Now! Let's get this bloody battle royale started! Start the countdown!"

I roll my neck, slip on my gas mask, and narrow my eyes, "Remember our goal…"

"Three!"

Kirishima grins, "Keep the headband!

"Two!"

Mina smiles and says in a muffled voice, "Have fun!"

"One!"

Momo smirks, "Win!"

"START!!!"

Six of the other ten teams charge towards us, all of them being part of Class B with Toru, Jiro, and Sato making up the sixth. The other four teams were mainly students of Class A, who were wary of whatever I was planning. Shinso was staying back and watching everything play out.

'No doubt he wants to take advantage of the chaos and grab a few, but just enough to qualify. As for the rest…'

I look back at the five teams charging at us, an evil glint in my eye, "Too bad, I had hoped to get more of you at once, but this will do for now."

I take six of the balls out of my pocket and hold three in each hand.

A vine flies towards us, and aims for my head, "Mina!"

"Got it!"

She whips her hand forwards and releases a wave of acid, melting the vine midair.

'Now!'

Pulling my hands back, I toss all six balls onto the feet of the lead member for each team. One person tries to remove it, but most of them ignore it and continue to charge.

I grin excitedly, "Did you know? Bungee Gum has the properties of rubber and gum. Also, I can mentally control it as well as disperse it as I please. So let's see what's inside those little balls, eh?

Seconds later, each ball pops, releasing the liquids inside. It splatters all over each person's foot and gets on some of the clothing of the members behind them.

Kendo laughs, "What was that supposed to be?"

But she almost falls as her lead horse loses their balance and almost trips.

"Reiko? What happened? Why did yo-"

But she quickly stops speaking and shakes her head to get rid of a headache, "I'm glad that it worked."

Present Mic yells out dramatically, "Ho Ho Ho! It looks like Shiro has done something to almost half of the other teams!"

All around me the teams that were once charging have all stopped and are shaking their heads, each of them trying to get over the sudden headache that struck all of them.

Momo quickly passes me a huge deck of cards and I coat them in Bungee Gum before launching them like a machine gun. The cards fly towards all of the teams and stick into them at crucial parts, joints, arms, hands, and such.

By the time I was done, the poison had done its job and all of the teams were unconscious, and all of them were kept standing by the wads of Bungee Gum I used to hold them together.

It was almost creepy, six teams. All of them standing, unconscious.

Shinso grins and see's this as a chance, "Stupid! All these headbands are up for grabs now!"

I shake my head, "Not quite."

Connecting a few strands of Bungee Gum to some cards, I whip them forwards, each of them latching onto a headband. Shinso almost grabs one of the headbands, but it gets yanked back by my cards.

I laugh lightly as I look at the six headbands in my hand, "This is quite satisfying."

The leaderboard changes suddenly as six teams are moved to the side, all of them having zero points. My team stays solidly in first place gaining an extra 2215, making our total amount 10,002,635.

I look up to Midnight who, despite hearing my plan, is speechless, "I assume there are no problems, right?"

She quietly nods, and Present Mic does his thing, "OH MY GOD!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!! JUST TWO MINUTES IN AND SHIRO ALREADY HAS SIX OTHER HEADBANDS!!! NOT ONLY THAT BUT HE KNOCKED THOSE TEAMS UNCONSCIOUS AS WELL!!! ERASERHEAD, YOUR KID IS NUTS!!!!"

Instead of his normal grumble, Aizawa says in a serious tone, "Strategy, athleticism, a good brain, and a quirk to use it with. The kid has it all. We've never seen a result like this, and I doubt we will when he leaves this place. I don't like playing favorites, but I will admit, the kid has talent. That stone wall in front of your lot was also from him. Without that half of you would've fallen unconscious as well."

Aizawa directed that last bit to the audience after hearing their displeasure earlier.

I turn to my opponents with a cocky smile while brandishing my four remaining balls, "C'mon, ten million points is up for grabs!"

All the other students have the exact same thought, 'Fuck that shit! I'll take my chances going against other people!'

The four remaining teams turn on each other and start fighting to get each other's headbands.

Mina says in a questioning tone, "Aren't we gonna go join them?"

Before I can reply, Momo shuts him down, "Why? We are in the lead by miles, and Shiro's plan has shown people that if you go up against us, you'll lose."

Kirishima frowns slightly, "So that's it? We just stand here and wait till times up?"

I nod my head, "Yup. The chloroform is powerful enough to keep them knocked out for half an hour from just a whiff."

Mina looks amazed, "Chloroform? Isn't that the thing assassins use and stuff? How'd you make that?"

I shrug my shoulders, watching as Asui grabs Kaminari's headband, "Pretty simple stuff. The standard recipe is just bleach, acetone, and ice. After that you need to let it sit and distill it. Of course, the one I made has a little extra so that it works faster and you can make it quicker. I also can skip the distillation phase, but it still works well enough. The liquid itself is a threat, but the real thing is the gases produced from it."

Kirishima looks up at me, "Gases? What's so special about that?"

"The gases produced have the same potency as the actual liquid, so it is much more effective if you can get the gas into their lungs, rather than force it by using the liquid form. It's pretty simple if you mess around with it enough. The first time I made this, it was actually an accident and I was unconscious for an hour."

Kirishima laughs, "So even you mess up sometimes, huh?"

Once again, I shrug my shoulders, "Of course. No one is perfect. I hone my body and mind to make it the best it can be, and even then I'll mess up a few times."

Kirishima wipes away some tears at the edge of his face, "That… that was so manly!"

After an uneventful ten minutes, Present Mic yells, "TIMES UP!!!"

We watch as Kaminari's team made up of Sero and the two kids from general studies, attempt to attack the other students and try to take their headband. None of the other teams were fighting, due to all of them knowing that as long as they kept their points, they would qualify.

I look up at the scoreboard, a smirk on my face.

I climb off of my "Horse" and take my mask off, while Mina stretches her arms out, "You know, if you were just gonna stand there the whole time, you could've had the lightest person on there. It would've been easier for the people holding it."

I give a smile, "I wouldn't have been able to execute my plan without using both hands. Besides, I'm pretty sure that I am around the same weight as you, so it wouldn't make much of a difference."

The other teams disassemble themselves and they all throw a dirty look at me.

I disperse all of the Bungee Gum I used as support for the other teams, and the all fold like cards.

"They should be fine. They'll start waking up in ten to fifteen minutes."

Present Mic clears his throat, "Now, let's look at our top four teams right away!"

Cementoss takes down the stone wall and the camera focuses on us, "In first place, sitting comfortably at the top, with 10,002,635 points. The undisputable winners! Team Shiro!"

The crowd cheers wildly and Present Mic has to wait for the crowd to calm down before continuing.

"In second place, Team Mineta, with 965 points!"

Mineta laughs maniacally, "Muahahaha!!! We are unstoppable!"

"In third place, we have Team Midoriya! With 570 points!"

Midoriya sighs and scratches the back of his head, "I wish we could've gotten more points in total, but Shiro is hogging them all."

Iida comforts him, "Don't worry too much, it was a smart decision. Simpler to qualify with fewer points than to risk getting eliminated. At least you didn't need to use your quirk."

He nods his head at this but still has a look of disappointment.

"Last but not least Team Shinso with 335 points!"

Shinso sighs but says nothing.

"These four teams will advance to the final round!"

The crowd cheers loudly and Present Mic announces, "Now then, we will be taking a one-hour break for lunch before we start the afternoon festivities. See ya! Oy, Eraserhead, let's go grab some food, I'm starving."

"I'm going to sleep."

AN: So… I've been thinking… what should his hero name be?

Next chapter, I will have that speech from Kuro I mentioned two chapters ago.

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