The Next Generation

C20: The Cavalry Battle

Chaos erupted all at once. Teams of three and four took off, using quirks and superhuman abilities to rush at the biggest target in the arena.

Midoriya's ten million points.

Optimus kept to his same strategy, letting them take the lead. Jiro's eyes widened and she wanted to grab Optimus and make him run into the fray, but she didn't. Optimus stood there, watching, and soon enough, he found his opening.

Momo, Kaminari, and Ida made up a team that held Todoroki above them. Optimus watched as Momo spread a sheet over them and Kaminari grinned. Optimus swung Jiro around and knelt, getting them close to the ground and out of the line of fire as electricity arced overhead. Cries were heard as the teams were hit. Optimus swung around as Todoroki released a second attack, spread ice along the floor and freezing the other teams in their tracks.

Now.

Optimus ran forward at the other teams from behind. They struggled to get unstuck, but even then, their attention was on Team Midoriya and Team Todoroki. They weren't the threat.

The ice was.

"Get ready," Optimus told Jiro. "We're going to fall."

"What!?"

Optimus jumped as soon as solid ground ended and ice began. He landed on top of a team of papers and Jiro yelped in surprise before reaching out, panicking, and yanked away all four of their headbands.

"I'm sorry!" Optimus announced before stepping on someone and jumping at the next team. 

This time, they saw him coming. That was okay, because Optimus wasn't going to make it all the way to them. He landed on the ice, grabbed Jiro's knee, and slipped. This time, he was expecting it. He landed on his aft, Jiro nearly fell off, but Optimus pulled her sideways, changing their momentum, and stabbed his sword into the ice. They swung behind the other team. The people on it couldn't turn around, they were knee deep in ice.

Jiro gasped, reached and and grabbed someone's shirt.

"Hey! Get off!" the silver guy shouted as Jiro reached over and stole just one bandana. He reached out to her head, but the moment his hand was too close, she sent off a pulse of heavy metal. The soundwave slammed into their team and pushed Optimus sliding across the ice in the opposite direction.

Optimus stabbed his sword into the ice again before pulling them the rest of the way onto dry land. He stood up and started walking backward as the two teams in the back yelled at them. Todoroki had just stolen the points from some of the teams in the front.

"That was awesome," Jiro admitted. "It worked really well, but did you really have to fall like that? You scared me!"

"Todoroki's ice is slippery," Optimus replied. "I'm sorry for scaring you."

Jiro laughed, but before she could reply, she spotted the board.

"We're in third place!" Jiro exclaimed.

"We only need to be in the top four to make it to the final round of the sports festival," Optimus reminded her. "Now all we have to do is make sure no one takes our points."

Jiro nodded. "Defense. Easier than offense, I think."

Optimus backed up further.

Todoroki was still going after the big prize, trying to take the ten million. He'd sectioned off a part of the arena, meaning Optimus and Jiro wouldn't need to worry about those two powerhouses. Bakugo might still be a threat, but one of the 1B class teams had provoked him. So long as Bakugo was pursuing them, they wouldn't be a threat either. Three teams were still struggling to get out of the ice, which left five teams active.