Chapter 24: Cavalry Battle

Pov Ricolo: 

Find a team? Great, this event is based on teamwork. My eyes quickly glanced at Todoroki and Deku before abruptly Todorki spoke. " I will not be teaming up with either of you. Not because y'all are weak. Instead, I think of both of you as my arch-rivals. And plan on defeating both of you during this festival. " Hmph, he clearly has something to prove. So, Todoroki is out of the equation and truthfully, I don't want to team up with Deku because of the ten million headband that will be dangling off his forehead. 

I look at Deku seeing him staring at me with his mind racing. He's obviously trying to think of a way to ask me to join his team. But before he could ask, I just shook my head at him and walked away with my hands in my pocket. In the corner of my eye, I see a defeated look engulf his face. 

Ignoring his face, I walk past several people until the sound of hurried footsteps enters my ears and Mina sprints towards me. She comes to a sliding stop with a grin on her face before she speaks while pointing at me. " So! We're becoming teammates, right?! " I don't know, she isn't exactly the strongest person around. I glance around before I let out a sigh. It makes sense that no one would want to team up with me. They don't know my quirk and I hardly talk to anyone in my class. Looks like she is the only option that I have. 

" Yeah. Sure. " I say to her, the grin on her face grew wider and she was about to speak until abruptly a high-pitched voice spoke catching both of our attention. " Hey! Ricolo can we join you, please? " The voice came from Mineta and the dude with six arms, I think his name is Shoji. Not exactly, the team I imagined but it is better than nothing. 

" Why not? But quick question, why do y'all want to team up with me? " I ask Mineta and Shoji. Shoji remained quiet as a confused look appeared on Mineta's face and he spoke. " Because you're strong? " Same reason as Mina, oh well. But here's a better question. 

" We have around ten minutes to form a plan. So, do you have any ideas? "...

Ten minutes have passed. And I'm currently sitting on Shoji's back who has spread out his arms horizontally sort of like a square. And a single headband is dangling off my neck while Mina and Mineta sit next to me. We are currently waiting for the signal to begin. Right when I thought about the signal a voice screamed out. 

" The cavalry battle begins now! " As soon as the voice screamed this, the crowd roared out causing the ground to shake under us, I scoffed at the noise and looked over towards Mina. Before speaking. 

" The timer is thirty minutes. So, let me ask you a question. Should we wait until the end before trying to collect headbands or should we go after them from the beginning? " She just smirks at me before responding. " The answer is obvious. We're going after them from the jump. " Alright, she can't blame me, if she gets exhausted. I slowly stand up while talking.

" Did you hear that Shoji? Sprint towards them. Preferably the weak ones." Shoji just nods and starts to sprint towards some class 1-B students. As we sprint towards them, Mineta looks at me and speaks. " How are we going to get headbands? Just run towards them? " 

" No. I'm going to jump at them. And fly past them grabbing onto their handbands. Shoji, circle our target and catch me before I hit the ground. When I land back on Shoji, I want Mineta and Mina to leave an obstacle that will give us time, like a pool of your acid. " I say while pointing at Mina, she just nods at me, while I slowly begin to crouch while glaring at two students. A man with a long ponytail and a man covered in brown fur.

Without speaking another word, I leap off Shoji, flying towards the group, catching them off guard. I repeat the force of my jumping increasing my speed, causing me to soar through the air with my left hand extended out. The man with the ponytail quickly crosses his arms, while air flows through the gaps in my finger until my hand slips through his loose guard grabbing onto white headbands.

I quickly yank the headband snapping it off the man's neck. He could only watch as my body flew past them, approaching the ground until Shoji appeared catching me. I slid across his back before Mina stopped my momentum catching me. Instantly, Shoji started to sprint away from the group while Mineta began throwing balls at the ground. 

I watched as we slowly gained distance away from the group while I wrapped the headbands around my neck, before slowly standing back up. I take a deep breath before talking. " Mina don't worry about catching me next time. And focus on creating an obstacle. And Shoji get a little closer next time. " 

Tch, It's been a long time since I worked with a team. I forgot how difficult it is to work with other people. The headbands we got are worth 125 points, adding that with our starting score of 525, we got 650. I glance up at the scoreboard, we are currently in fourth place, just beating Todorki. But I'm sure he's going to get more. But-Huh?

Before I could finish my train of thought, a shadow was cast above us causing me to look up. Deku? How the hell is he flying, I quickly watch him land directly in front of Shoji, forcing Shoji to slam his arms into the ground coming to a screeching stop. Is he wearing a jetpack? Where the hell did he jetpack from? I looked at him confused until suddenly the jetpack started to smoke before a pink-haired woman screamed out. 

" No! Not my baby! "

Judging from that scream. I'm guessing they can't use it anymore. But, should I really go after the ten million headband this early? It'll paint one big ass target on my back. I glare at Deku, as he stares at me sweating. I keep staring at him until I notice something. Todoroki has moved back into fourth place with 885 points. I'm guessing he got two more headbands. I quickly glance back at Deku before he abruptly snaps his head back. 

And Todoroki appears directly behind him. Seeing him completely focused on Todoroki, I start crouching and speaking, talking to Shoji. " Shoji. Appear behind Todoroki instead of Deku. " He nods before I launch myself towards Deku, causing him to snap his head back forward while he waves his head at me and is about to scream out before suddenly I yell out to him. " I'm not targeting you, Deku! " 

His face morphs into one filled with confusion before finally, his eyes widen and he speaks. " Tokoyami! Create him a platform with your quirk " Tokoyami trusting his words, quickly creates a platform using his quirk letting me land on it before I leap off it, repeating my actions repeatedly as I fly towards Todoroki. 

Todoroki's eyes dilated as he quickly looked down at Momo and was about to yell out towards her but before he spoke, I grabbed onto one of his headbands snatching it off his neck, flying past him, until I flipped in the air and landed on Shoji. As soon as I landed on Shoji, the crowd roared out with applause causing my ears to ring. I glance down at the headbang grabbed reading it. Good, I got the 615 one-

" OH! What's this?! Team Todorki has fallen to eighth place! With only 270 points! Team Ricolo has jumped to second place with 1265 points! " Screamed out Present Mic, interrupting my thoughts. As I try to tone out Present Mic voice, Todoroki looks back at me slightly annoyed before he looks back at Deku and orders Iida to sprint towards him. That's exactly why I didn't want the ten-million-point headband. Even though I just stole his biggest headband Todoroki is still focused on Deku. 

But it's good now. We can now focus on protecting these headbands and we will- BANG! As I thought this, a sudden deafening gunshot rang through the sky before a sharp pain coursed through my veins...

Several minutes prior to the bullet being fired.

Standing on top of the edges of the stadium, a man wearing a long dark cloak with a massive sniper rifle strapped to his back could be seen, watching the students preparing to get ready for the cavalry battle. Directly next to the man was a walkie-talkie sitting on the floor, the man was standing quietly. Until the sound of static admitted from the walkie-talkie, followed by a feminine voice.

" Kiro, you're in the clear. Luckily, for us, this security seems to be quite sloppy even though a villain attack happened recently. Over. " 

Kiro let out a scoff, as he grabbed onto rifle on his back and slowly laid on the ground, propping the sniper directly in front of him. The man waited patiently, watching the cavalry battle begin. Waiting several minutes, until finally he looked into his scope, and inhaled deeply. 

His eyes set on Ricolo, who had stolen the headband from Todoroki. A cruel grin crept onto Kiro's face until he fired the rifle causing the rifle to jump back, slamming into his shoulder. The bullet soared through the air, spinning rapidly, soaring past several students until precisely piercing into Ricolo's shoulder. The force of the bullet launched Ricolo back off Shoji's back as blood poured out of his wound. 

Ricolo's body fell towards the ground until he wildly swiped his hands towards Mina grabbing onto her horns, catching himself. Mina gritted her teeth as she grabbed onto Ricolo's wrist slowly pulling him back onto Shoji. Ricolo was on his knees as his fingers quickly dug into his wound and pulled out the bullet. Ricolo looked at the bullet with his fingers covered in crimson blood. His eyes scanned the shell of the bullet until he abruptly crushed the bullet, dropping it on Shoji's back.

Mina looked at Ricolo worried before Ricolo spoke." I'm fine. Also, I'm sorry for grabbing onto your horns. " Mina looked at him dumbfounded before yelling

" Who cares about that?! You're definitely not fine, a massive piece of your shoulder is missing- " Before Mina could finish speaking, Ricolo's bloody hand suddenly shot out covering her mouth. Ricolo stared into her eyes until he spoke once again. 

" Trust me, I'm fine. I've dealt with far worse. " Ricolo slowly dropped his hand from Mina's mouth before he looked over towards Midnight who was staring at him significantly concerned. " I'm fine! Keep the cavalry battle going! " Yelled Ricolo clearly in pain. Midnight quickly glanced around the crowd, but they were still cheering like nothing happened. Midnight looked around confused until Ricolo spoke.

" They won't notice. That's the person's quirk, the one that shot the bullet. He can limit who hears an action. I'm guessing he didn't notice you. Or he might have done it on purpose. Who knows " Ricolo quickly dropped onto his side grabbing onto his shoulder. Mina hearing what Ricolo said, started to look around and noticed that none of the students noticed the bullet. She looked down at Ricolo before asking a question. 

" Why did we notice it? " 

" Because y'all are right next to me. He might be able to limit noise but he's not that good. " Mina swallowed her spit and was about to ask a question. But suddenly stopped, noticing that Ricolo was looking at something. Mina looked back seeing that a group was rapidly approaching them, before Mina suddenly yelled out. 

" Shoji wrapped your arms together and create something similar to a hut, and Mineta throw something at the group approaching. " Seeing that Ricolo was in no condition to lead, Mina quickly decided to take over commands and try her hardest to defend the remaining headbands...

A Few Minutes Later: Inside A Shabby Bar

" What the hell? What happened to him? " Asked Shigaraki staring at the box TV. He had just seen Ricolo with a massive gash on his shoulder. His face was pale and he was clearly exhausted. The portal stared at the TV before it spoke.

" I don't know, what happened to him. I didn't hear or see anything. " Shigaraki scoffed at the portal's comment before he murmured under his breath. 

" What great information. " The portal looked at Shigaraki confused not hearing what he said, as abruptly Shigaraki stood up from the bar stool he was sitting on and started to approach the bar exit. The portal looked at Shigaraki confused before Present Mic suddenly screamed through the TV. 

" What's this?! Todorki has successfully stolen the 10 million headband from Deku with Iida's sudden dash of speed! " Shigaraki looked back at the TV before shaking his head and speaking. 

" I'm going to the occasion early, I'm going to wait outside the arena for Ricolo. "...

Back at Sports Festival:

" One Minute remains! Until the end of the timer! "

Screamed out Present Mic, causing the crowd to roar out, a cheeky grin crept onto Present Mic face as he took a deep breath before speaking. 

" The current standing is like this. Team Todoroki is in first place, Team Bakugo is in second place, Team Ricolo which started strong is narrowly clinging to third place, and finally, Team Shinso is barely in fourth place, with a ten-point lead over Team Midoriya! " 

As Present Mic screamed this out, all across the arena, panic covered the students' faces, as they quickly dashed towards over students. Including, Team Midoriya which was rapidly approaching Team Todoroki. Sweat poured down Deku's face as his mind raced with possibilities. Until he made up his mind and balled up his fist. 

Deku's fist started to glow, shocking Todoroki who stared at Deku's fist in awe, he watched as Deku came mere inches away from him, until completely off instinct he activated his quirk causing fire to cover the left side of his body. The fire illuminated Deku's body as the two got ready to clash until suddenly, Deku swiped his arm causing a gust of wind, to blow Todoroki's arm away. Giving him the perfect opportunity to grab onto one of his headbands.

Deku's arm shot out snagging onto one of the headbands wrapped around Todoroki's neck, in a single swift motion, he completely snapped one of them off. A surprised look covered Todoroki's face as he quickly turned but before he could reach out, a sudden voice screamed across the arena.

" ITS OVER!! "  This voice was no other than Present Mic, Todoroki could only glare at his left palm with a sad look on his face, as the crowd began to roar loudly. As cheers filled Todoroki's ears, he glanced around the crowd before locking eyes with his father, who was leaning on a wall with his arms crossed. Endeavor grinned at Todoroki causing the sad look on his face to morph into one filled with anger. But the anger would have to wait, as an announcement was quickly made.

" The final positions are like this! Coming in first place is Team Todoroki! Coming in second place is Team Bakugo! Coming in third place is Team Ricolo! And finally, coming in fourth place is Team Midoriya! " Screamed out Present Mic, causing the noisy crowd to grow even louder. 

Tears began to fill Deku's eyes until suddenly, in the corner of his eye, he saw Midnight standing next to Shoji who was still covering Ricolo and the others. The two were having a conversation, one Deku couldn't hear. He could only look at them confused...