Latibule

16 - ᴄᴀᴠᴀʟʀʏ ʙᴀᴛᴛʟᴇ

For the next few minutes I tuned out the rest of the teams — with the exception of the ones we were going for or the ones attacking us — and focused solely on my task that was making sure nobody got too near. It took only a few precise shots to make some of the teams stumble and stop — but not fall, luckily — while the others were a bit more challenging. Once I even had to send out a wave of energy, which almost ended badly as I miscalculated the directions.

As the end neared, we went for Midoriya's team again.

"Now, Iida, forward," Todoroki commanded, his sentence also a warning for me and Yaoyorozu. A second later, Iida sped on, Yaoyorozu and I riding along on roller skates that she had made for us.

"Yaoyorozu, be ready to protect us."

"On it." Yaoyorozu immediately activated her quirk, taking action only a split second after Todoroki had finished.

"L/n, I trust that you'll take care of Tokoyami."

"Got'cha," I nodded, a bit more confident than usual due to the three near me being so well-minded about their abilities.

We neared and Yaoyorozu drew a protective blanket over everybody except for me. I departed from the group for a split second — which was okay because Todoroki didn't fall — and released a shockwave that shook the ground enough to leave us ahead of everyone, therefore allowing Todoroki to freeze the other teams to the ground right after I rejoined them.

We were nearing fastly, leaving the other teams behind an ice wall.

Tokoyami charged at us with his quirk but Yaoyorozu was in my way and I couldn't protect us. Luckily, she managed to do so with a metal slab that held long enough for Dark Shadow, Tokoyami's quirk, to draw back.

We kept advancing towards them and they kept backing up, most likely trying to make a quick plan.

A minute later, we also stopped, our team captain looking to be deep in thought. I knew why. After all, Midoriya was being rather clever with keeping to Todoroki's left side where he couldn't use his ice to freeze them in place.

"Everyone, we have less than sixty seconds. I'm gonna do something that'll make me useless to you."

I tensed slightly at Iida's words before looking at Todoroki and Yaoyorozu, both determined to win. "If that's your choice."

"Make sure you get that headband," Iida said, crouching in a position that clearly told us that he'd be running any second now. "Brace yourselves, hold on tight!"

We were off. In less than half of a second, we had the 10 000 000 point headband and were so far from Midoriya's team that there was no way they'd be able to get it back.

"Iida, what was that?" Todoroki asked, expressing what we all thought.

"I forced my quirk into overdrive, which gives me explosive power," Iida explained. "Unfortunately the recoil stalls my engines for a while. It's a secret move I've been saving, no one in the class knew about it."

I looked to my left and Midoriya, as stubborn as ever, was leading his team to charge at us again. I felt heat ignite above me and looked to see Todoroki's arm on fire. It was something I'd never seen before, almost as if he had been refusing to use his quirk.

Midoriya charged at us and sliced his hand through the air, taking out our defenses. Luckily we had switched up the headbands and Midoriya got the 20 points, not the 10 000 000.

"Todoroki, better watch yourself," Iida scolded. "That was too close."

Something had changed in the way Todoroki felt and I wanted to reassure him but I found no words so I said nothing.

The last ten seconds started, the crowd counting us down and reminding us of the pressure that had been placed on our shoulders.

Tokoyami charged once again and I raised my hand to fire a continuous blast, constantly moving it so Dark Shadow would have no way to advance towards us.

Bakguou blasted through the ice, going for Midoriya before he realized that we had the points and changed direction.

I ran out of energy and let go, Midoriya's team taking the chance to charge at us again.

Iida couldn't move, just like he said would happen.

"Yaoyorozu." Todoroki called out to our last hope of protection before grabbing the metal rod she had made and freezing it.

The seconds on the screens ticked to zero.

"Time's up!" Present Mic declared.

Midoriya's team stopped dead and Bakugou face planted to the ground. I relaxed my shoulders and raised a hand to tap Todoroki's arm. He flinched, drawing his left hand away.

I gave him an apologetic smile. "Could we put you down now?"

"Of course."

He slid off and I stretched, a bit sore. Blood started circulating again and for a second my balance left me and my vision went black.

The feeling was gone as quickly as it came and I made my way towards Bakugou's team, waving to them as I got closer. "Hey, guys, good job!" I congratulated, making my way around Bakugou who was hitting the ground with his fist like a kid throwing a tantrum.

After fist-bumping Kirishima, Sero and Mina, I went over to tap the ash-blond's shoulder because, as amusing as the sight was, I knew he'd want to see the results. "Hey," I started carefully, ready to back away.

He stopped his fist-thing but didn't look up.

"Come on, Bakugou, don't be a kid." I pulled him up from the ground but he only scoffed and tore his arm away from my hand.

Once again, I was left to wonder what the guy thought of me. Luckily, I didn't have time to go down the rabbit hole as Present Mic started talking.

"In first place: team Todoroki."

I smiled, happy that I got to play a little part in the win.

"In second place: team Bakugou."

"Ahh, we were so close to first," Mina whined before glancing at me. "You're so lucky, L/n."

"Eh, sure, but we're moving on," Sero said, trying to be enthusiastic.

"I don't think our leader would agree with that. Like at all," Kirishima deadpanned. I directed my eyes to Bakugou who was standing a little away from us, his frown so deep it almost cut his face in two.

I glanced up at the leaderboard to see what I'd missed during the conversation. Team Shinsou in third place and, surprisingly, team Midoriya in fourth.

I looked at Midoriya, who was crying for who knows what reason, as I tried to figure out how he'd gotten the headband. They hadn't reached us, had they?

"These four teams will advance off to the final round!"

I swallowed, shaking my head to clear it as I turned t0 Bakugou who was looking a bit lonely. "Hey, I'm going to find something to eat and drink. Want to come with?"

Bakugou stuffed his hands in his pockets but walked beside me. "Whatever."

I looked back at Kirishima, Sero, and Mina but they were already walking the other way, having their own conversation. I just shrugged before Bakugou and I started walking towards where we'd heard the food would be.