After waiting for about, what, ten more minutes? Fifteen? I don't really know. The other participants arrived.
I don't remember the 42 students who originally passed aside from some from Class A. So I'll assume that despite my monstrous advantage, the ones who were supposed to arrive according to the canon did.
There was a short break of a few minutes for everyone to catch their breath, and then the roulette game was played again.
As expected, it landed on the cavalry battle.
Therefore, I have...
"First place will be worth one million points!"
I couldn't have said it better, Midnight.
Automatically, everyone turned their gazes towards me.
Do they think they can see me as a target to hunt?
Clearly, they don't know their place in this Festival.
"Try to take the million points from me. I dare you to try," I said to no one in particular as I smiled and slightly activated One For All for more drama.
Those who were near me and heard my words averted their gaze a little. They were cautious, but they were still going to attack me.
Not that I care. A bunch of teenagers whose potential hasn't been exploited? Dealing with that is not a problem.
A Nomu, on the other hand, well. That's a load of crap.
"You have fifteen minutes to choose your teams! Good luck!"
Yeah, good luck to them.
Should I stick to the canon and imitate Izuku's team?...
It was a good team, really.
Tokoyami is an excellent defense; few things can hold him back.
Hatsume is like having constant tricks in the middle of an online match.
And Uraraka... She removes gravity and is a good friend. Besides, she's approaching me.
She probably wants to team up.
What a good friend she is.
"Let's team up, Midoriya!"
Yep, an excellent friend.
"Sure, Uraraka... Although, are you sure? I have the million points, after all." An unnecessary question. I know her answer, but I want to hear it anyway.
"Yeah... but I think we should team up with people we know," she replied with a nervous smile.
"Alright, if you're okay with it, so am I. Now follow me, I have ideas for the two remaining members." I don't plan on going for Iida or telling him my strategy like the original Izuku.
"Who do you have in mind, Midoriya?" she questioned me.
"Tokoyami as our defense and a girl from the support course as our support."
"But... what about Iida? He's our friend too. Isn't that unfair to him?"
You're too innocent for your own good, Uraraka.
"Iida has already teamed up with Todoroki. Look, there they are," I explained, pointing to Iida, who was with Kaminari, Todoroki, and Yaoyorozu.
"Wow, I thought he would team up with us," she responded, somewhat dejected.
"Yeah, but it's okay. It's important for him to try new things. It never hurts to step out of our comfort zone." I have no idea why I'm giving her such a sermon. But hey, it's nice to pretend to be someone wise and not a teenager who spends his time learning philosophical phrases from Naruto.
"That... actually makes sense. That was a good analogy, Midoriya! It's like trying a new food! You don't know if you'll like it until you try it!"
"Exactly! As long as he doesn't go chasing some super crazy villain for revenge, then it's fine!...."
I think... I've said too much... Her look is quite confused right now... Did I screw up?
"...Why would Iida seek...?"
"WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT!"
"Is that how you discovered Mochi?! By trying new things?!"
"Huh?... Yes! That's how I discovered Mochi! Mom had bought some one day, and she said that..."
False alarm, ladies and gentlemen... I almost screwed up, but no. I managed to make a comeback at the last moment and scored a goal in extra time... Sorry, wrong sport.
Uraraka continued to ramble on about how she discovered Mochi, and I kept moving towards where Tokoyami was resting.
He doesn't know it, but... He's going to be on my team.
"Tokoyami, do you have a team?"
Straight to the point, just as any man with gothic tendencies like Tokoyami appreciates.
"I don't, in fact. You want me to join your team, right?"
And he also gets straight to the point, just as I said. Thanks for your wise lessons, Batman.
"You're right. I think that with your absolute defense, my raw power, gravity on our side thanks to Uraraka's Quirk, and the last member I want on the team, we'll be the Dream Team of today."
Let's see if listening to YouTube ads all the time paid off.
"...Fine, I like the way you think. Let's be a team, Midoriya."
Closer every day to being a proud publicist, that's me. Izuku Midoriya, professional publicist.
"Perfect, now let's go get our last member." I started moving towards where Mei was checking something that I'll assume is safe... Who am I kidding, it's probably going to explode. When I decided to ask Uraraka something about her Quirk.
"Hey Uraraka, a small question..."
"—and then I tried it and realized how glorious Mochi is! After that..."
"...Maybe I'll ask her later..."
I will not question anything related to Mochi again if Uraraka is nearby... It's like opening Pandora's Box, only Pandora's Box had a limit. Uraraka seems not to.
I proceeded to ignore Uraraka, for the sake of my food comprehension, and tapped Mei on the shoulder, causing her to turn around and look at me with those eyes worthy of a scope from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
"What do you need?... Oh, you're the first place! Let's team up!"
GG Ez, I've got a team.
"You're in, tools girl." I can't call her by her name since she hasn't technically told it to me, and I don't want to come off as the team stalker who knows people's names.
"Alright! Let's go kick some ass, team!" I exclaimed enthusiastically, although only Uraraka seemed to share my excitement.
Tokoyami was... in his dark reflection moment.
And Mei, she was checking what looked like... a freezing device? It seems this girl is a fan of "Despicable Me."
Now, how did Izuku decide the formation in the canon? He was at the head... Super obvious. Uraraka was on his right if I'm not mistaken, Mei on his left, and Tokoyami was in the front, defending.
I have a team, I have memories that give me the advantage in this tournament, and I have more power than I should originally have.
That victory is right in front of me. I can see it, I swear.
"Alright team, I need your attention, please," I said aloud, making my teammates turn their gazes towards me.
"This is the plan..."
And so, explaining the same thing Izuku planned in the canon, I gave them my plan.
There was a minute and a half left to start the game, and we were already in position.
From my point of view, I could see Bakugo's team and, on the other end, Todoroki's team.
Both teams stayed true to the canon, which makes it easier for me.
Shoji is "alone," but I know that Mineta and Asui are hidden. When they approach me, I'm going to send an Air Force to all their faces.
Shinso has Ojiro and is the only one not interested in my headband. Smart on his part, but he's already destined to lose against me.
Monoma has the guy who makes air shields Naruto-style and two others I don't know. I really don't have, nor have I ever had, any interest in Class B.
Vlad King had the misfortune of being an extra in Horikoshi's work, along with his class.
Although maybe some of them were important for the final battle of the manga... which I'll sadly never get to see. I wonder how they managed to get to All For One and Shigaraki.
"Are you ready, Midoriya?" Tokoyami asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts.
"Of course. As ready as I can be, being the best of the best."
Why are they giving me blank stares? I'm just stating a fact.
"Nah, I'm kidding. Let's win this properly."
"That's better. I prefer the kind and funny Midoriya over the arrogant and defiant one."
Did Uraraka just say that? Her? The Uraraka I considered my friend until less than half an hour ago?... The betrayal, the disappointment, my friend.
"Uraraka... You're breaking my soul," I replied with feigned pain.
"But you're right," I said with a smile this time.
"...You're weird, Midoriya."
Try transmigrating and see if you're not weird. I'm a social outcast.
"Begin!"
Already? That was fast.
"Alright team, on the move."
Instantly, they started moving forward. A large number of groups were approaching us.
The rules state that you can't attack a team just for the sake of attacking.
But... they are all coming to attack us. This means it would be self-defense, and besides, technically, I don't plan on attacking the teams directly.
They can't forbid me from punching the air, right?
So I increased One For All to 20% and sent out an extremely uneven Air Force to force them to flee or fall.
And you know what? It worked. No team fell. But most of them stumbled and changed direction when they saw I was pointing my finger at them again.
It feels incredible, pointing with a finger and making everyone back off... I feel powerful, and I'm barely scratching the surface of my full potential.
I may not have a tailed beast, but I do have the power to change entire climates with a single punch, and that's something to keep in mind.
But back to the race for my million points.
Todoroki's team and Bakugo's didn't approach me.
Which is strange, because I expected Bakugo to be insulting me in Aramaic by this point and Todoroki to be trying to recreate the iceberg that sank the Titanic, but with me at the center.
I guess my power is enough to make them cautious.
Another thing to be proud of.
We started moving towards the center of the battlefield.
Which could be considered foolish, but it's a matter of perspective.
I have the million points, and everyone wants to take them from me.
I'm the golden goose at this moment. If I position myself in a corner, everyone will inevitably come to attack me from the sides.
But if I position myself right in the center, I'll be surrounded by teams.
But so will the rest.
If they're smart, and I can attest that most of them are (Kaminari, Mineta, or Mina don't count; they clearly don't have what it takes), they'll ignore me in favor of not getting too involved with the other teams around them.
A clash between so many teams in the center benefits no one. Therefore, I'm safer in the eye of the hurricane than outside of it.
Ironic, but you don't survive seventeen years of your life in Latin America without thinking outside the box.
"Is this safe, Midoriya?" Uraraka asked with some fear as she watched the teams pass so close to them.
"Safe? It's not. I literally dared them to take the points from me, Uraraka. Nothing is safe if you stay near me."
You have to be honest; I've been talking shit to everyone who crossed my path in this Festival. I wouldn't be surprised if most, if not all, of them resent me.
"But I'm the strongest in the class, and I'd become a vigilante before losing in this fourth-rate tournament."
"You make weird comparisons, Midoriya."
"That wasn't a comparison, Tokoyami. I am going to become a vigilante eventually. And I'll look epic while doing it."
Details, Batman, details.
"Batman?"
"...You wouldn't get it."
We continued moving for about nine minutes. It's complicated to do a countdown in my head while facing all these superpowered kids.
We came across some secondary characters from Class 1-B.
At one point, I found myself surrounded by mushrooms from a girl with a bowl haircut even more noticeable than Uraraka's.
All it took was generating a small air pressure with One For All to free myself, and to scare the girl in the process.
Shoji was eliminated, which surprised me because they didn't get to attack me as it happened in the canon.
Monoma was humiliated by Bakugo, and it's probably the only time I'm happy to see Bakugo being Bakugo with someone.
Todoroki's team eliminated some guys from the support course... Very forgettable, I must say.
And with just three minutes left in this competition, both Bakugo's team and the son of Endeavor's team decided to attack me.
It was strange; from one moment to the next, they both started heading towards me.
That should scare me, but I have a strategy in mind to face them.
Todoroki will try to trap us in an ice dome, and Bakugo will attack with his explosions, abandoning his team in the process.
I can take advantage of that.
"Mei, activate the flying boots! Uraraka, remove our gravity! Tokoyami, have Dark Shadow keep us together!"
We have to eliminate them one by one.
Quickly, my whole team followed the orders, and we started flying across the playing field.
Todoroki tried to send an attack with his ice, but all it took was for Tokoyami to strike, and that was it.
But my real target was getting closer.
"DEKU!"
Are there Guinness World Records for the repetition of a word? Because Bakugo surely has one to his name if that's the case.
(Wait for it.)
I activated One For All again at 20% in the fingers of my right hand.
Something that Gran Torino took hours to explain to me. It's how to hit someone in their joints and take advantage of it.
Did you think he just jumped and punched for the sake of it?
Nope, he hits his enemies' joints to incapacitate them efficiently.
And the most common and easiest dislocation to cause is the shoulder.
The shoulder, or rather the shoulder joint, is formed by three bones:
The clavicle, the scapula, and the humerus.
But that doesn't matter. What matters is that the upper part of the humerus is shaped like a ball and is located within the socket formed by the scapula.
So, what happens when the ball comes out of the socket formed by the scapula? A shoulder dislocation occurs.
It can be partial or total, depending on how far out it has come.
Why am I explaining all this? Because that's exactly what I'm going to do to Bakugo.
When I noticed that Bakugo was already in my attack range with Air Force, I extended my right hand and prepared to fire.
"Bakugo! Stop fucking around and get a life!"
I released my attack, and the effect was immediate.
The air pressure that formed hit Bakugo's shoulder directly, and with my enhanced senses, I could hear the bone crack and pop out of place.
The expression of pain Bakugo had for a brief moment was a sufficient answer if I had any doubts.
He can't stay in the air with an injured arm like that. He started to fall from the loss of balance and ended up being caught by Sero and his tapes.
Seeing that Bakugo's injury was more dangerous than his team originally supposed, they began to move away.
One down, one to go.
There are only two minutes and thirteen seconds left.
Yaoyorozu was creating something. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a taser or something similar that would cause damage to Mei's rocket boots.
But I still need to make Todoroki see reason, and I know something important happens here for that to happen.
"Mei, make the rocket boots lose power until we touch the ground."
"Are you sure? We can stay up here and win."
"Under other circumstances, I would do that. But I need Todoroki to use his fire side."
"Yes, do it. Trust me."
I managed to convince her to do it, and we returned to the madness that was the battlefield.
Yaoyorozu stopped creating whatever she was creating, so I guess I was right about the taser or whatever it was going to be.
Iida is increasing the power in his feet. Is he going to perform that risky move? Didn't that happen later? They still haven't made Kaminari use the volts and paralyze the nearby teams.
Although, looking around me, there are no teams nearby.
It seems they don't want to mess with two teams whose power is undisputed.
I like that.
I sharpened my senses to the maximum with One For All and prepared for Iida's move.
A small prick behind my head alerted me to what was about to happen.
That drew a smile on my face.
I think I just awakened another Quirk, and one of the most useful ones, if I may say so.
There's only a minute and a few seconds left.
Iida shoots off at an overwhelming speed.
Todoroki's hand approaches my face, but by activating One For All in my left arm at 15%, I knock it away with a slap.
Fire comes from that hand for a brief moment...
I did what I was trying to do.
Todoroki and his team end up a few meters away from us.
I still have the million-point headband on my head, and the two most problematic teams are out of the game.
I won again.
Todoroki looks at his left arm with terror and another emotion that I'm not able to recognize.
I order my team to retreat while he's still in a state of shock, and they don't pursue us.
Iida is out of the game, Shoto is in shock, and Bakugo's team is on the defensive because their leader has a dislocated shoulder.
My team, on the other hand? Is in perfect condition, with a million points on our heads and our spirits sky-high.
Oh yeah, time's up, by the way.
"Time's up!"
Another test passed.
"Good job, team. You're the best," I congratulated them as I stretched on the ground. "Let's do it again next year."
"Yes, I must say we did excellent."
"I couldn't have said it better, Tokoyami."
"Thanks for securing the victory, first place. Now I have to go. My babies need to be at their best for the next round!"
I wouldn't expect anything less from Mei.
"We were great! And it's all thanks to you, Midoriya!" Uraraka replied cheerfully.
"It was thanks to everyone, but we shouldn't celebrate yet. There's one event left, and it won't be in teams."
The battles are left.
And therefore, the hardest part of this Festival.
For the others.
Author's Note:
Hey.
Did you enjoy the cavalry battle?
I know I said I would bring this chapter right after the previous one.
But I realized it would take more words to write it, and I didn't want to summarize it unnecessarily.
So I took an extra day, but it ended up being [X] words.
As I mentioned, this arc won't have too many changes because it's quite one-sided.
The next chapter will cover part of the battles and the chat with Endeavor that I've been wanting to write for a while now.
See you.