Solstice and Eclipse: Part II

Chapter V: An Invitation to Join

"I don't need help from that bastard!"

"Come on man." Kirishima groaned. "His quirk is crazy strong. We could use him."

"Kirishima's right." Ashido added. "Didn't you hear about what he did at the USJ? He totally kicked ass!"

"Plus, he could be useful for taking down Todoroki's team." Kirishima said.

"We already have racoon eyes to melt his ice. And I can take that icy hot bastard myself!"

"Yeah," Kirishima said, "but we could use a hard counter to Yaoyorozu. That'd be him."

As much as Bakugou hated to admit it, Kirishima had a solid point. Ponytail and her damn creation quirk could prove to be a problem. He gritted his teeth and yelled in frustration.

"Fine!" He finally shouted. "Hey, blindfold!"

In more or less words, that was how (L/N) found himself on Bakugou's team, his left hand locked with Kirishiam's while his right braced itself on the same man's shoulder, creating a step for Bakugou who wore a headband bearing the numbers 685.They positioned themselves at the southeastern corner of the arena, poised on the balls of their feet, ready to pounce as soon as the buzzer sounded.

"Listen up." Bakugou growled. "As soon as the match starts, we're headed straight for Deku. Our victory is going to be undisputable. Got that?!"

"Hey, ease up man." Kirishima said as Bakugou slammed his fist atop his skull. "You're not the only one here to win this thing."

"Listen up, blindfold." Bakugou continued. "If we lose because you trip over your own feet or something stupid..."

"Don't condescend to me." (L/N) said irritably. "Midorya's team is at our 2 o'clock. Todoroki is on our 10. You focus on what you need to do."

"Yeah." Ashido said. "Just worry about getting that headband and leave the rest to us."

"Alright then." Bakugou said with a sadistic grin, small firecrackers flickering in his palms. "Let's kill these losers!"

His words echoed alongside the sound of the buzzer that signaled the start of the match. Kirishima, Ashido, and (L/N) ran towards Team Midorya, and they weren't the only ones. It seemed everyone had their eyes set on the 10,000,000 tied around Midorya's head.

"Hey, on the right!" Kirishima warned.

Several teams had decided to take advantage of the frenzy and seized the opportunity to snag some of the other headbands in the mad race for first. Kirishima's warning was in regard to one of those teams, fast approaching on Ashido's side. (L/N) felt Bakugou turn to address the threat, but before they so much as got within blasting range of Katsuki's quirk, they ran into a shimmering wall of solid light.

"I've got this." (L/N) said. "Just focus on getting Midorya's headband."

It wasn't so much that (L/N) wanted to win but securing the 10,000,000 points was the fastest way to end this. Once Bakugou successfully snatched it they could simply play keep away and run down the clock. And with (L/N) on their team, there was no way anyone would ever take it from them. It was just the path that required the least amount of effort, that was all.

Unfortunately, Midroya and his team were doing a surprisingly good job at fending off their competition. Though (L/N) could have followed them to the skies, doing so while carrying three other people would greatly reduce his speed. Even if he did give chase, Midorya's team would easily outrun them. It seemed he had put a considerable amount of thought into his strategy. Uraraka's Zero Gravity combined with Hatsume's gear had given them a distinctive mobility advantage. That combined with Tokayami's ability to cover their blind spots meant they were in for a real fight.