Frostbite

Chapter 8: Capture The Flag

My mind began to race, referencing every instance of this I had seen from children's game to war game. But none of those would make sense for eliminating any more than half of the current group, and everyone knows that the final event of the UA Sports Festival is always a one-on-one combat bracket.

"We all lucked out today, folks!" Cheered Midnight, clutching the mic with both hands.

"Capture the flag is a four person, team oriented battle! Each student will be equipped with a flag belt, held onto their waists only by a weak snap! If it is pulled off by an opponent, or ripped off due to carelessness, that student is eliminated!"

I felt my eyebrows pull together, in frustration, as I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. What they are referring to is actually the game: Flag Tag. It's almost exclusively played by children in the US, with the exception of some no-contact sports. It was glaringly obvious to me what they were setting up, although I assume most of the students are going to take what she says at face value.

She continued, "Each group of four students will have to work together in order to eliminate opponents, while protecting the flags of their teammates! The last sixteen students standing will advance to our final event! Students are allowed to run, hide, or fight; but they are not permitted to hide or reinforce their flags, fly consistently, or remain in the air or underground for extended periods of time."

The pro paused, allowing tension to build as she turned to point at Midoriya.

"There are two exceptions to the rules that I have announced! For coming in first place, Izuku Midoriya is only allowed to form a team of two! And, anyone who removes his flag, or the flag of his partner, will immediately advance to the next round!"

Well, that shored up the numbers to make sense. But, it also put an obvious target on the back of the number one ranked contender. That serves as an appropriate comparison to professional hero careers, where the top ranked people are always operating at a disadvantage.

And along the same lines, the people who finished the race closest to last: got to see what most of the other competitors are capable of. After all, I knew basically nothing about anyone outside of Class A. And that knowledge came from seeing their performances so often in regular training.

"All participants, please head towards our lovely facility attendants so you can choose your teams while we reshape the arena!" The perverse pro signed off, blowing a kiss to the group.

I turned and began walking slowly towards a large, empty, storage room. It was flanked by adult staff wearing bright yellow UA shirts. So, we're expected to put teams together. Ones that will compliment our strengths, as well as be good fits for the scenario. Every moment of this is a learning lesson, one that the heroes in attendance will be scrutinizing our performance for.

My pace had dropped me towards the back of the pack as we reached the opening. I had already put together a few rough team concepts, but one of them stood out as the most optimal.

"Jiro, Jenna, Midoriya, Tokoyami!" I shouted with a wave, making sure they all heard me.

For some reason, each of them seemed surprised to hear their name. They all approached at about the time the storage door was rolling closed directly behind me.

"Uhm... Decklin? Why'd you call us all over?" The green haired boy asked. "This is too many people for a team, especially if it includes me."

"Or were you perhaps spacing out again?" Jenna added, cocking her head to one side.

"Actually, I just need to yell at one more... Oh! She's already coming over. Nevermind." I droned, ignoring most of what they had asked.

The group turned to see the pink haired girl from the support class walking towards us, accelerating slightly when she noticed the attention aimed her direction. She started to speak excitedly as she arrived.