Chapter 038

Katsuki pushed his hand out to blow it up in the Class B loser's stupid face, but the guy managed to dodge him, slapping his hand out of the way and sending their teams past each other.

"Hey, whoa!" Kirishima exclaimed, trying to right himself and turn.

Katsuki whirled, ready to attack again… and received a healthy dosage of his own Explosion back into his face.

The team skidded backward again. As the smoke cleared, the blonde was holding up his hand, grinning. "That was fun."

Katsuki's jaw dropped. "Bakugo? Someone has the same Quirk as you?" Kirishima asked in disbelief.

"ARRRGH! BASTARD!" Katsuki attacked again, sending his explosion up like a smokescreen as Kirishima leapt forward to hit the other boy with Hardening.

But this time, when the smoke cleared… the other boy was hardened too, and he was blocking Kirishima's attack. "Such nice Quirks, both of you. I still think I like mine better, though."

"WHAAAAAT?" Kirishima yelled as the Class B team backed up. "Mine TOO?"

"Idiot," Katsuki said calmly. "He copied it. His Quirk mimics other Quirks."

"Bakugo, watch out!"

Another Class B team had come in, led by a guy with a metal head. He sprayed a ton of glue between the other two teams, landing around Ashido and Sero's feet.

"Joining the fight, Bondo?" the blonde boy asked his classmate.

"Monoma, hurry!" One of the copier's teammates. "We should get out of here; right now we've got enough points for the top four!"

Both 1B teams began to turn and run. "AFTER THEM!" Katsuki roared.

"The glue is solidifying!" Sero cried.

"I'll melt it with my Quirk!" declared Ashido, spraying acid out of her shoe and onto the glue.

"Hurry! We've got zero points right now!"

Monoma turned to them, smiling. "There's no hard feelings, of course. You were the one who provoked us, after all. When you made that stupid pledge on stage."

Katsuki snarled in fury. I pledged… to be number one. Not just first place… an INDISPUTABLE first place!

𖦹𖦹𖦹

"TEAM MONOMA IS NOW IN SECOND! TEAM KAGAMINE IN THIRD! TEAM TETSUTETSU IN FOURTH!" Mic shouted.

Shota leaned forward, watching Bakugo pursue the Class B team who'd just taken all his points. In fury, he'd leapt up off his team to grab the bandanas, but one of the B students had put up a wall of air. Bakugo shattered it in fury and ripped the headbands off. Sero pulled him back with tape. Monoma's team barely escaped with one left.

"HOOOOO!" Mic boomed. "Team Bakugo takes their points back and some to spare, putting them back in the top four! Monoma's team is now fifth!"

"Monoma…" Shota spoke up. "Class B certainly had a valid, reasonable strategy. However…" his eyes flashed back toward Kagamine, ever so briefly. "He failed to count for the difference between those aim for the top…"

Sero shot out tape. Ashido shot out acid. Monoma's team tried to put up another barrier, but Bakugo shattered it again, taking back the last bandana.

"… and those who don't," Shota finished.

"Bakugo is merciless!" announced Mic. "He's gotten all the bandanas off Team Monoma!"

𖦹𖦹𖦹

"ONE MINUTE LEFT!" Present Mic shouted.

From high in the stands, Endeavor frowned. His son's team had managed to trap the ten million points thanks to his ice, but the green-haired boy had managed to elude them the whole time. Shoto kept trying to send out ice attacks at the shadow creature, while the dark-haired girl (he believed she was from the Yaoyorozu family) created weapons to attack with. But the creature had them completely outmatched, and they had yet been unable to create an opening.

Endeavor's eyes fell upon the boy that his son was supporting. He was tall for his age, with spike blonde hair. His eyes were a furious yellow. A warper… my boy, you chose your teammates wisely, but taking on a supporting role? This Kagamine may have a powerful Quirk, but it is NOTHING compared to yours.

You didn't become the number two hero without having a good knack for observation during combat. Through conjecture, he had figured out the shadow creature's weakness. Light. Shoto, if you would only use your fire, you could create the opening you need. But yet… you chose to support the warping boy from the right, making your left arm unusable. This rebellious charade… will it ever end?

𖦹𖦹𖦹

"Everyone, there is less than a minute left," said Iida, as the two teams stood facing each other down. Len was bleeding from multiple spots thanks to Dark Shadow's talons. Yaoyorozu had kept the creature from taking any of his bandanas, but the ten million remained firmly around Midoriya's head. "I'm sorry," Len told his teammates, grimacing in pain. "I just can't get close enough."

"I will get you there," said Iida. Todoroki and Yaoyorozu gasped.

The bespectacled class rep had a determined expression on his face. "After this, I will be unusable. Don't waste this opportunity, Kagamine. Prepare yourself."

"Huh? Wha…"

"RECIPROBUUUURST!" Iida put EVERYTHING into his engines, and suddenly they were accelerating forward, faster than Len could comprehend. His head pushed back, his cheeks flapped. Dark Shadow was trying to rise up but wouldn't get there in time. Midoriya's eyes became saucers of fear.

As they passed at lightning speed, Len reached his right hand out and pumped all the energy into it. Two meters.

He warped the ten million headband safely into his hands. Dark Shadow had swiped at him again, but they were getting away now, first place safely secured.

Iida came skidding to a stop, out of breath. "Yes!" Yaoyorozu sang in ecstasy. "Well done, both of you!"

Iida looked up at his teammates. "My engine has now stalled. That was a move I put everything into. A secret I hadn't told anyone in class yet." He looked back up towards the enemy team. "I told you, didn't I Midoriya?" he called to them. "That I would challenge you."

The crowd was screaming, going wild. "The tables have turned!" Present Mic shouted.

Len held the ten million headband in his hands, slightly in shock. They were all cheering for him. He couldn't believe it. Thousands of people… noticing me, for the first time. It was beyond anything he'd ever imagined. Is this why they're all so competitive? To get a taste of… this?

"Here they come!" Yaoyorozu warned.

"I can't move very well… my engines…" Iida coughed.

"Kagamine!" Todoroki called to him.

Len looked up, and his blood ran cold. Uraraka and the support girl were boosting Midoriya towards him. Dark Shadow loomed up in front of Tokoyami. There was a look of brave desperation on the green-haired boy's face… and he pulled his fist back, charging lightning and energy through it.

Len's heart skipped a beat. He's going to use his Quirk on me. It doesn't matter if he breaks his arm, I am fucking toast. Midoriya grew closer and closer. "I can't counter that!" Len alerted his teammates. "Help me!"

Todoroki raised his right arm, ready to send out ice…

Dark Shadow got ready to attack…

Off to the left, Bakugo's team burst through the ice, headed towards them…

Midoriya opened his fist, and swiped with his powers, opening his palm and sending out a gust of wind. Todoroki was blown off course, and his ice went shooting out of bounds. Len blinked in shock as the wind buffeted at him… and then Midoriya reached out, and ripped the ten million bandana from his throat.

"NO!" he roared, whirling. "IIDA!"

"My engine is still stalled!"

"ONLY SECONDS REMAIN!" Present Mic shouted.

"DEKU, HALF AND HALF, CRACKHEAD!" Bakugo roared, exploding off his teammate's shoulders and toward them. "THAT TEN MILLION IS MINE!"

"We still have enough points to advance!" Yaoyorozu cried.

" I don't care." Len's teammates froze in shock as he reached out with both hands, pulling the ten million bandana to him with an eruption of yellow light. It glitched in and out of reality in Midoriya's hand, threatening to flash. Dark Shadow shot out to attack Len again. Todoroki sent out ice. Yaoyorozu created another shield. Bakugo grew closer and closer, like a human bullet.

"Three!" Midnight cried.

"AAAAARGH!" Bakugo shouted, reaching out an exploding hand.

"Two!"

Len grimaced, pulling, pulling. My willpower… can be as STRONG AS YOURS, MIDORIYA!

"One!"

The band flashed from Midoriya's hand to his, just as Bakugo arrived, screaming with fury.

"Time's up!"

Bakugo halted his attack, falling unceremoniously on his face between the three teams.

The crowd erupted in cheers and screams. Len relaxed on his teammate's shoulders, out of breath. "I… I got it…" he turned over the bandana, showing the number 10,000,325. "We're advancing."

"Well done, Kagamine!" Iida praised.

"Yes!" Yaoyorozu cried, as the three of them put him down. Then, she threw her arms around Len's neck. "We did it!"

Len's eyes widened in shock as he realised she was hugging him. "Oh… um…" over Momo's shoulder, he made eye contact with Mina, standing next to Sero and Kirishima. She was staring at them.

Len pushed Momo gently off. The creation girl blushed. "Sorry," she said. "I got a little caught up in the moment."

"That's… alright."

"That's the end of the cavalry battle!" Present Mic declared. "Let's look at the scores! In first place, Team Kagamine, obviously!"

The three of them looked to Todoroki, who nodded in approval. "It seems my strategy was correct," he said.

Huh? Len clenched his fist. Not going to praise your teammates for helping you at all?

"In second place, Team Bakugo!"

"Damn…" Kirishima was saying. "We were so close!"

"Yeah, it's a shame…" Sero looked down at his team leader on the ground, who was pounding his fist and kicking his legs. "Bakugo, you good?"

"Grrrrrr! NO!"

Mina blinked. She couldn't seem to stop looking at Len.

"In third place, team Tets… wait, it's team Shinso? Where did they come from?"

Len looked around for that team, which he recalled had some Class A students on it. He couldn't see anything over the ice walls Todoroki had built.

"And in fourth place… Team Midoriya? Wait, I thought they had zero!"

"Huh?" Len's team looked at the scoreboard, and then over at Midoriya's team. Tokoyami was standing with his arms crossed. Dark Shadow rose up, a bandana in his jaws that read 670.

"Huh? My original headband?" Len felt his head. Sure enough, it was gone.

"I stole it during one of our clashes, and kept it hidden, just in case!" Dark Shadow declared to him.

Behind them, Midoriya had begun to cry with happiness. Len's eye twitched. "It's fine…" said Iida. "They may have stolen it, but we still got first."

"Sorry about cutting you up like that," Tokoyami told Len.

"I'm not sorry!" Dark Shadow echoed.

"Shut up and be nice," Tokoyami ordered.

"These four teams will advance to the final round!" said Present Mic, over the crowd's cheers. "We'll now break for lunch! Come on, Mummy Man, I'm hungry."

𖦹𖦹𖦹

Todoroki Shoto was confused. Around him on the green, his classmates were discussing the match, as they got ready to head back for lunch.

"Iida-kun, where did you come up with a move like that?!" Uraraka demanded.

"I was just trying to… ahem. Sorry. I was just trying to compete with Midoriya."

Midoriya. I need to speak with him. Shoto glanced back up at his old man, glaring down from the stands. He probably thinks it's an easier win if I use my fire. For a moment there, I considered trying to use it to protect Kagamine, but… 

"That's disappointing, ribbit. Well, at least you two advanced, Mina-chan, Sero-chan."

"Eh, Bakugo did most of the work," Sero was saying. "We didn't do much."

"Len made it to the next round, too," Ashido muttered. "Hey, where is he?"

Shoto looked up. He'd barely been overhearing the conversation, and now… Kagamine was standing in front of him. The warping boy was looking up at the cheering crowd, but he was definitely standing there with purpose.

"Do you have further business with me?" Shoto asked.

Kagamine chuckled. "You… really are annoying, aren't you?"

Shoto froze. "What?"

Kagamine turned to face him. "Back there in the prep room when you challenged Midoriya, I was ready to do nothing short of punching you in the face. The only thing holding me back was that it wouldn't be very heroic."

Shoto swallowed, confused. He… what is he talking about… 

Kagamine shrugged. There was a strange light in his eyes, yet unseen. "It takes a lot to get me mad, I guess. But lately I've been getting more and more upset, and I've figured it out. It's because people are more worried about being good heroes than good people. In their pursuits, they don't consider the feelings of others. You said yourself that you don't want to bother making friends. You don't respect Midoriya and Bakugo as rivals. And you didn't respect me and Iida and Yaoyorozu as teammates. Before you say anything, just know that I think you'll be a very talented hero. But you won't be a good person. A great hero, but a bad person." His lips curled into a smile. "Just like your father."

Shoto growled and stepped forward, trying to grab the other boy's shirt collar. How DARE you! But Kagamine only slid back, not teleporting but moving very quickly.

"Don't touch me," he said in disgust. "I've made up my mind. Since you've decided to be a bad person in single-minded pursuit of your goal, then I'm gonna be a bad person as well." His fists were trembling, and his voice shook with fury. "I'm going to aim for the top. But not because I want to win. I just want you to lose. You challenged the wrong people, Todoroki. It's not Midoriya or Bakugo you should be worried about. It's me. I'll make sure you remember this as the day of your defeat. And it will be HUMILIATING." He stepped away, tears in his eyes. "See you soon."