Silver and Gold // BNHA OC

Eleven

"Forty-two of you qualified to move on to the next round," Midnight announced. The board behind her spun, ready to decide their fates. "Gird your loins and prepare for this next test!"

"A cavalry battle!" The board stopped spinning, and Midnight lashed her whip down. "Those of you who are at the top will suffer the most. Of course, that's something you'll hear over and over again at UA. Show us what Plus Ultra means!"

Midnight shifted her attention to Midoriya, pointing her whip at him.

"Izuku Midoriya placed first in the qualifier. He'll be worth ten million!"

Everyone in the class turned to look at him, and Ichika honestly felt sorry for him. She was still in the top, sure, but most people would be going for the ten million points. They wanted to come out on top, and make their name heard.

Ichika wanted that too, but she also wanted to stay cautious. They could go for the most points, or just keep what they had and play it safe.

Midnight explained all of the rules. 15 minutes, points would be represented by headbands. The more headbands you have, the harder it would be to manage, the rider could not touch the ground—

And, of course, they could use their quirks as much as they wanted.

After she finished explaining everything, students began choosing their teams.

I have to play this smart. Bakugo and Todoroki will be going for the ten million points... Ichika thought, scanning the crowd around her. I don't want to take on both of them, so I'll be better off if I just avoid them both. In the end, I'm guessing either Bakugo, Todoroki, or Midoriya will have the ten million... That means one of them will be in first, and the other two will likely be in second and third, unless Midoriya doesn't have time to collect any more headbands and gets knocked out of the final rounds... The thought saddened her, but she shook her head. She couldn't help that. She continued strategizing. Bakugo may be blinded by his hunt for the ten million headband and if he gets any of his bands stolen, he'll be out. I can't count on that, though; he's smarter than he sometimes acts. Todoroki will probably collect more headbands on his way to the ten million. If I steer clear of the three of them, I'm almost guaranteed fourth, which means I would advance to the next round.

So it was decided. Winning first in this round wasn't all that important; she just wanted to advance to the last challenge and take her shot at the championship.

She wanted to team up with other high-placing students, which would mean teaming with kids from Class B.

Ichika found the three who placed right below her; Ibara Shiozaki, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, and Juzo Honenuki.

She approached them with a smile. "Hi! I'm Ichika Sakurai, from Class A. I placed fourth. I was thinking we could team up? If the four of us were to form a team, we would have 735 points, which would keep us pretty well off," she was quick to explain. "If we just avoid the top three and—"

Tetsutetsu looked over at her skeptically. "Hey! You're the kid that tore into that guy from general studies!" he exclaimed, pointing to her.

Ichika rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah, that's me," she chuckled. "I promise I'm normally much nicer than that, he was just testing my patience. So, what do you say to teaming up?"

She held out her hand, looking up at the three hopefully.

"I think it would be a wonderful team," Ibara said, her hands clasped against her chest.

"Yeah, sure! You'll be the rider, and I'll be your horse!" Tetsutetsu shook her hand, his grip firm. "So, I didn't see you much during the first battle, but I caught glimpses of you going head to head with those three in the top. It was kinda like a battle out of Star Wars, or something, the way you were flipping around! You kinda looked like a Jedi! So, is that your quirk? You're super aero-dynamic or something? Oh, or maybe you can control objects and sense things like the Force?!" he punched the air. "You gotta tell me how it works!"