~ 12 ~
Midnight was just announcing the second game, a cavalry battle. As she was explaining the game to the students, Ryuka was listening closely, but already trying to decide who she should form a team with.
"And the point value assigned to first place is....ten million!"
"....."
"So I guess it's not gonna be Izuku-chan...." Ryuka thought with a sweat drop. As soon as the rules were explained completely, they got fifteen minutes to choose their teams.
Ryuka was immediately crowded by her classmates and even people from other classes, trying to get her to form a team with them. The girl looked them up and down closely, deciding of who could be of use.
"Do you wanna team up with me?" Ryuka turned to the side, just starting to open her mouth but before a word could come out, she stopped, looking into the purple eyes of her co worker friend.
After a second, her mouth shut close tightly, glaring at him as a sign that she won't fall for his trick.
"That bastard, I'm nearly one hundred percent sure that he was going to use his Quirk on me. The way he's behaving these days, I'm not surprised, just a little angry, maybe." Ryuka thought, watching as Shinso smiled in defeat, knowing that his attempt failed as he started to walk away.
Ryuka turned around as well, ignoring the people that were fawning her from all sides to get her to join their team.
"Hey! Hey! Tanaka, let's team up!" She heard a familiar voice call out from behind her. Turning around, she got face to face with a red haired smiley face.
"Ahh, yes, yes, let's team up, strong man." She amusingly agreed, making Kirishimas eyes sparkle at the comment. He turned around, wiping off the proud tears from the corner of his eyes.
"So, are you gonna be the rider?" He asked, seeing that the girls eyes weren't focused on him anymore, but on someone in the distance.
"Come on." Ryuka began to walk into a direction, Kirishima following close.
Todoroki and Iida were just walking towards each other, Todoroki obviously having the goal to invite him into his team, given the other two walking by his side.
"Join my team, Iida." He offered with his monotone voice.
"Tenya!" The two boys turned around to see Ryuka and Kirishima walking towards them.
"Team up with us." She spoke in a serious tone. Iida seemed surprised, now looking between Todoroki and Ryuka back and forth. He took a step into one direction. Ryukas direction.
"Sorry Todoroki, but I will join their team." He spoke firmly, making Ryuka smirk and Todoroki glare at her.
"Good choice, Tenya, very good choice." Ryuka chirped while slapping him on the arm. Kirishima agreed with a smile.
"I want to win, Ryuka-san, and I acknowledge that you have that goal too. I will trust you that I made the right decision. So let's win!" He spoke very firmly, making weird movements with his hands. Ryuka and Kirishima only looked at each other, chuckling at the boys seriousness.
"Okay, sit down." She commanded, sitting down on the grass crisscrossed. The boys looked at her weirdly, but complied anyways. They were now sitting in a circle, discussing their plan.
"Okay, a few things in advance. We all wanna get Izuku-chan's ten million headband, that's obvious. A few of the fools will attack him right away without thinking, a few will stay at the sidelines and take the headbands from the other teams unnoticed. We have to look out for either one." She began, the two boys nodding in understanding.
"You see that guy?" She said, pointing over to Shinso. "Don't go near him, and if he says something to you, don't even dare to say one word, don't even hum, understood?" They nodded yes again.
"Okay. I already have a plan in mind, but that I'm telling you all this doesn't mean I want to do everything on my own, this can't be done without teamwork." She stated.
"I understand Ryuka-san, tell us the plan." Iida answered.
"Yeah! If it's from you I have no doubt it's good!" Kirishima encouraged.
"Wrong. It's fantastic." She stated with a smirk. "So, I will be the rider. Kirishima, you'll be behind me, you're strong and you can steady the most weight. Tenya, you'll be in the front, you're fast and you can think quickly. But our formation will be broken many times, as I am planning in jumping around the field...."
- - - - -
Aizawa had just stood up from his seat beside Present Mic, walking to the room where the teachers all sat. Then he spotted Keisuke sitting there, eyeing the arena closely.
Most of the other teachers weren't there at the moment, probably using the short break. Aizawa knew Keisuke from his time as a teacher at U.A, the two of them got along well, considering that they barely spoke.
Keisukes blue eyes landed on the black haired teacher, a smile forming on his lips. "Aizawa, nice to see you're well, why don't you sit with me for a minute?" He happily offered, he actually liked the guy for some reason.
"Suzuki, I see you came to watch your niece." Aizawa said, walking over to him and taking a seat next to him, also looking at the arena now.
"Yeah, if I'm not at home almost all the time, I can at least come to this big event, don't you think?" He spoke seriously, a little guilt flashing through his face. Aizawa eyed him from the side.
"Tanaka has a lot of potential, and she didn't fall on her head, she's smart, a smartass." Aizawa spoke monotonously. Keisuke only smirked at that.
"...A few weeks ago, there was a class exercise. The students had to work in teams and complete a task in one of the high buildings at the training area." Aizawa started to tell Keisuke, making the man look at him curiously.
"I wasn't there, but I saw the videos. Well, one thing came to the other, and the building began to crumble." Keisukes eyes went downcast, already assuming what the man was getting at.
"As far as I know, Tanaka is not a person to openly show her fear, but in that moment, she completely froze on the spot. The look in her eyes was terrific, it was like she was in a nightmare and couldn't wake up. I have to admit that I'm a little curious as to why that is." The black haired man finished, still looking down at the students in the arena.
"...I can't tell you the exact story, but there was something traumatic brought up. She didn't even tell me about this incident." The blonde man spoke.
"So you mean that she suffers from trauma?" Aizawa asked.
"Ryuka suffers from a lot of things. Horrible Nightmares, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, one is a condition called Low Latent Inhibition." Keisuke explained, making Aizawa raise an eyebrow at the new information.
"I'm not familiar with the last one." He answered.
"Well, people who suffer from Low Latent Inhibition, see everyday things just like you or I do. Like a simple lamp for instance." He started, Aizawa looked at him with squinted eyes, not quite understanding what he was getting at, yet.
"But, where we just process the image of the lamp, they process everything. The stem, the bulb, the bolts, even the washers inside. Their brains are more open to incoming stimuli in the surrounding environment." He continued, now looking at the black haired teacher again.
"Other peoples brains, yours and mine, shut out the same information, we have to do it in order to keep our sanity. Low latent inhibition results in extremely accurate instincts because of the high level of thought processes. They will most definitely notice the smallest details and changes about you or the surrounding."
Aizawa listened closely. "That sounds exhausting to me, to be honest."
Keisuke nodded. "If someone with a low IQ has Low Latent Inhibition, it almost always results in insanity. But, if someone has a high IQ, it almost always results in creative genius." Keisuke finished his explanation, staring into the black eyes of the man next to him.
"Are you saying Tanaka is a genius?" Aizawa asked hesitantly. Keisuke smirked at that, turning his gaze to Ryuka, who was still sitting on the ground with her teammates.
Ryuka's blonde haired uncle only smirked. "...Maybe that, or maybe she's just insane."
Aizawa answered nothing to that, just closing his eyes and sighing deeply.
- - - - -
The fifteen minutes were almost over, the teams were made and the plans discussed.
Ryuka, Kirishima and Iida made one team of three, just as Bakugo, Sero and Mina, and Todoroki, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu. Izuku was in a team of four, just like most others.
Everyone got ready to start as Present Mic announced that the time was up.
"Now, let's go!" He shouted, giving the go for them to start their attacks. Immediately, everyone began to storm into Izukus direction.
Ryukas Team also went into his direction, but with another purpose then the others. As they went into Hagakures direction, Ryuka managed to steal her headband easily without her noticing as she and her team were too focused on their target.
"That was too easy." She said, watching impressed as Izuku and his team flew into the air.
"Look, Bakugo is flying after him!" Kirishima commented worriedly. "What if he gets the headband now?"
"He's a fool. What's the point of stealing the ten million headband now if you just turn into the main target for the rest of the round? We'll do it my way." Ryuka reassured, still having her eyes on Bakugo.
Just as she was about to place Hagakures headband around her neck, she noticed something from beside her.
Suddenly, the Headband in her hand was ripped away, but before the person could touch Ryukas own headband, she dodged away, but the person still managed to touch her hand.
"Huh?" When Ryuka turned to the person, she saw a blond boy that was looking at the blue sparks that came out of his hand, a smirk on his lips.
"That's really a powerful Quirk you got there." He said, showing off blue electricity to surround his arm.
Iida and Kirishima looked rather shocked, but Ryuka just glared at him, already having figured out that he probably copied her Quirk.
But before she could make a move, he blinded her with the electricity, attacking with barely any control. And when she could see clearly again, the blonde boy was already out of reach, going away with his teammates.
"Ryuka-san, are you alright?" Iida asked worriedly, regarding she just got attacked by a load of electricity.
"Yeah, that's my own Quirk, it doesn't hurt me." She answered. "What about you two?" She asked, checking her headband and feeling what she was already assuming, it was gone.
"Yeah, it didn't really hit us." Kirishima answered.
"We have zero points now, but don't panic, we'll do as we discussed, so ready yourselves." Ryuka commanded, having her eyes fixated on the blonde guy.
The blonde guy, named Monoma, was just talking to Bakugo arrogantly, stealing his quirk and attacking with it, just like he did to Ryuka.
"Ah, while I'm at it, you're famous, aren't you? As the victim of the sludge incident!" Monoma said to Bakugo.
"Tell me about it once, About how is feels to be attacked by villains once a year-" But his sentence was interrupted by someone flying above him.
Ryuka had jumped off of Kirishimas hardened shoulder, using her electricity. She stepped one foot on Monomas shoulder, grabbing her own headband and his in the process, and ripping them off his neck. This all happened in barely two seconds.
"HAH! NOW LET'S SEE IF YOU CAN HANDLE ELECTRICITY JUST AS GOOD AS I CAN!" She yelled with a grin, emitting electricity out of her foot to jump away again, shocking him in the prosses.
As she was flying in the air, she saw Iida sprinting her way. He caught her in his arms bridal style, making sure her feet didn't touch the ground. Just then Kirishima came also running their way.
"That was so manly! Now we're second place! And that blonde guy can barely move!" Kirishima stated smiling, showing off his shark teeth as they got back into formation.
"I know, I went light on him. Wouldn't be fun if he passed out just now." She stated, looking at the fight that was bubbling up between Bakugo and Monoma. "But sadly I couldn't catch all his bands."
They were standing very close to Izuku's team now, noticing that other teams all went to attack him at the same time. Ryuka's eyes trailed to Todoroki, seeing him throw some kind of blanket over himself.
Ryukas eyes widened as she saw the yellow sparks of Kaminaris electricity. She reacted fast, creating a wall of blue electricity in front of her and her team, shielding them from the shockwaves.
The other teams didn't have it so well, they got all immediately shocked by Kaminari, weakening them instantly.
After his attack was over, Ryuka let her wall of electricity disappear, glaring at the back of the red and white haired boy as his team ran away into Izuku's direction.
Just then, Todoroki froze the ground behind him completely, capturing all of the weakened teams and also Ryuka's team. Her eyebrow twitched angrily.
"Ah, what the fuck! I'm starting to hate his fucking ice!" She shouted in frustration, letting a strong strike of electricity crash to the ground, freeing the feet of her teammates.
"Thank you for shielding us back then, Tanaka, that was a fast reaction." Kirishima complimented, slowly walking over the ice like Iida to reach the normal ground again.
"The time is running out Ryuka-san! We need to get Midoriya's headband now." Iida rushed, making Ryuka growl as she watched Izuku's team fight against Todoroki's team.
"I know. Just wait a little longer."
Todoroki had created a ice wall around them, but Ryuka could still see what was going on. Yaoyorozu must've created something to make them faster, giving Todoroki the opportunity to grab Izuku's headband.
As they both went to attack, Todoroki infused his arm with his fire, while Izuku used his Quirk to create a gush of wind to put out Todorokis fire.
In a swift motion, he grabbed the highest headband on Todorokis neck, ripping it off, thinking that this was his ten million points headband. Just then he recognized that is was the wrong one, leaving him with only 70 points.
Present Mic announced the ten seconds mark.
Kaminari attacked Dark Shadow with his electricity. All of a sudden, Bakugo appeared from above, his target being Izuku as he flew towards him. Everyone's eyes landed on him, as well as Todoroki's.
Then, Todorokis eyes widened, someone came from behind him, from the air. Ryuka stepped one foot on his shoulder, grabbing the ten million headband with a lightning speed.
"Surprise." And with that, she ripped the headband from his neck and jumped off him again.
All that happened way too fast for him to react. Ryuka jumped high into the air again, her eyes landing on Iida that was way too far away than planned, currently having trouble to move because of Kaminaris shocks.
Ryuka's eyes widened, not because she couldn't land safely on the ground, but because she was not allowed to hit the ground.
She didn't have a long time to think as she was already about to hit the ground, but then, two other arms caught her just in time.
"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic yelled, making everything and everyone stop.
Bakugo fell to the ground. Izuku stopped his attempt to attack Todoroki, and Todoroki continued to stare wide eyed at the black haired girl that was held bridal stile by Kirishima, who was the one that caught her in time.
There was silence for a second, before Ryuka and Kirishima realized what happened.
"YEEEAAAHHHH!" They shouted, as the crowd began to cheer.
Kirishima threw Ryuka in the air lightly before catching her again, cheering with her the whole time.
"That's the end of the second round, the cavalry battle! Who would've guessed that surprise at the end?!" Present Mic yelled excitedly.
Ryuka jumped out of Kirishimas arms, tackling the boy into a hug, laughing loudly with him.
Iida came over to them, smiling at his team proudly. Ryuka slapped his shoulder violently while laughing.
"Now, let's take a look at the top five teams right away!" Present Mic began to speak again. "In first place, Team Tanaka!"
"Even though we won, it was really close at the end." Ryuka spoke as she stood between her two teammates.
"Yeah. I'm sorry I jeopardized the plan at the end." Iida apologized seriously.
"Don't worry man! We made it, didn't we?" Kirishima tried to cheer him up.
"In second place, Team Todoroki!"
"In third place, Team Bakugo!"
"In fourth place, Tetsute- Huh? What, it's Team Shinso?! When did he come from behind?!"
"In fifth place, Team Midoriya!"
"These five teams will advance to the final round!" Present Mic announced.
"Now, we'll take an hour break for lunch before we start the afternoon festivities! See ya!"
- - - - -