Star Sign

Part 17~The Battle

"Oh, goody. It's time to get this party started." Midnight grinned, stretching out her arm as Present Mic woke Aizawa up.

"After 15 minutes to pick teammates and talk strategy, 12 cavalry teams are preparing to go head-to-head!"

Aizawa leaned closer, his eyes drifting over each of the teams. "I see some unexpected student combinations."

"Come on, everyone, get your hands in the air! It's time for an arena-thumping UA battle royale! Let me hear ya scream!"

Katsuki gulped as he pulled the headband on. Kirishima led the charge, Izuku and Hatsume stuck at the back together. Over 10 million points were assigned to their team. All they had to do was defend it.

"Okay, all you first years! I hope you're happy with your chosen teams! Let's get this party started!" Present Mic grinned, holding his thumbs up and pissing Aizawa off. "One final countdown before the game starts! Three! Two! One!"

Midnight grinned, taking over. "Begin!"

In a flash, all the teams charged at Izuku and Katsuki.

"Alright, Taro, One shot, don't kill anyone." Izuku became surrounded with light as Taro charged forward, surrounding them and drilling into the earth as she had done before. The students stopped, closing their eyes as the team burst out the top of the smoke screen.

Hatsume's jetpack burst, lifting the team-high in the air, leaving a cloud of dust behind and falling debris following them. The students spun around, trying to stop them.

"Jiro, now!" Hagakure called out as Jiro's earphone jacks extended, not getting close to the team and hitting the nearby team. Jiro muttered a laugh assed apology to the other team as they continued on their battle.

As Kirishima came crashing to the ground, Hatsume's hover boots kicked in, giving them essential seconds to brace themselves for impact, debris flinging everywhere.

"So, what do you think of my babies? Aren't they just precious?" Hatsume looked across as Izuku nodded.

"They're amazing. But I can't help but wonder if the jet back would be more efficient with more compact fuel."

"Will you both stop talking, tech? My brain can't handle it," Kirishima complained as Izuku stuck out his tongue.

"Just cause you have a lower intellect doesn't mean you should stop us from having delightful conversations."

"Wow," Present Mic interrupted, "barely two minutes have passed since we started, and it's already a total free for all! Yeah! Watch those headbands! You can even ignore the ten million points and go after the other chart toppers!"

Laughing, Mineta's team approached, covered completely in Shoji's arms.

"This is too easy," Mineta boasted. "It's not a fight. It's more like a massacre!"

"Trouble incoming." Izuku glanced behind him, a frown on his face. "Team, protocol 8-3."

"What does that mean?" Kirishima glanced back as Katsuki forced his head down.

"It means run."

"Can do!" Kirishima tried to dash forward, but Hatsume called out for them to stop.

"I'm stuck." She tried to pull on her foot, but it wasn't budging.

Izuku cursed, glancing at the problem. "That's Mineta's. He must be nearby."

"Yeah, I am!" Mineta's voice echoed from across the stadium. "From right over here. Hi, Midoriya." Mineta waved from inside Shoji's arms, a creepy look on his face.

"Great, he's being creepy again."

As Mineta disappeared into the darkness, a tongue shot out. Tsu's tongue came closer as Izuku twisted his arm, shooting it with a small dart. It wasn't sharp, more a child's toy dart that sticks to the wall, but from experience, he knew they tasted bad.

Tsu recoiled, shaking her tongue in an attempt to get rid of the dart and almost hitting Tetstuetetsu's team.

"Get up out of here." Izuku dodged barely as the purple ball tried to stick him down.

"Team Mineta's coming in like a tank, making clever use of how compact their members are!" Present Mic's running commentary was not helping.

"Sorry, Hatsume." Katsuki swung his hand around, pressing the button before she could tell him not to.

The shoe broke in half as Hatsume sobbed, biting her lip and refusing to look down. "My baby!" As they came crashing down, they barely managed to stay upright with the broken shoe, the rubble scattering around them.

"Good job, Hatsume." Katsuki smiled as Hatsume nodded solemnly.

"It's harder to control where we're going with just one foot."

"Don't worry, we'll repair it later," Izuku smirked, turning to Katsuki. "I think it's time for protocol 31-2."

Katsuki gulped, sharing a look with Hatsume. "You sure."

"Yep. Time for chaos."

Kirishima looked scared. "Are you going to fill me in?"

"Just don't stop running no matter what. And when things start going up in smoke, don't breathe until we tell you to." Katsuki glanced over the stadium, pulling out a new button. He glanced across the field, meeting the eyes of the others.

"As expected, everyone's after the first-place team, giving them no time to catch their breath. What a show this is! Now who wants to take a look at each team's points so far? It's been seven minutes, so let's get those rankings thrown up on the screen."

The audience, for once, was quiet.

"Hold on here. This is an unexpected turn. Other than Bakugo, Class 1A's not doing so hot."

True to Present Mic's words, only Katsuki's team and Todoroki's team had any points left in the entirety of class 1A and Hagakure's team just lost all their points.

"Your class is too small-minded. Think bigger." the strange blond smirked, pulling the headband over his neck. "Midnight said the obstacle course was just the first game, and we figured they wouldn't cut that many of us right off the bat. Would they? Assuming they'd keep at least 40 contestants for the next event, all we had to do was make sure we stayed within that group as we ran. From our spots in the middle ranks, we could fully observe the Quirks our rivals had and judge their capabilities. Only a fool would obsess over winning the preliminary rounds, wouldn't you agree?"

Mina growled, glaring at the blond. "I don't care about winning. I just don't want that jerk to get through."

Hagakure nodded as she pointed forward. "Dark shadow, attack!"

Dark shadow whipped out, barely missing the annoying blond as Jiro, Mina and Tokoyami charged forward.

"We're going to wipe that smile off your stupid face!"

Izuku chuckled, watching Mina burn the hair off Monama's hair as Midnight scolded her. "It was an accident," Mina claimed, but it was clear she didn't mean it. Izuku was so distracted he almost ran into Kirishima when he stopped.

Todoroki glared at them as Present Mic screamed. "And now we've reached the halfway point of the game!"

Katsuki sighed, shaking his head. "Shame, with the plan 1B had, I thought we would be in the clear."

"You should know better than that, Kacchan. Those at the top are always targets." Izuku smirked to himself. "Remember, Kirishima. Don't stop running. I think it's time to show him why."

Katsuki smiled in response, rubbing his eyes as he took a breath, and the ground was covered in smoke.

Boom.