The next part of the sports festival was about to begin and it had once again been announced using a randomiser. 'Why bother, if you already know what the next task is.' Thought the telepath as she listened to Midnights over exaggeration.
"42 of you managed to qualify to the next round. Prepare for your nest test, a cavalry battle. Those of you 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 really means." The teacher said with a smile. "Izuku Midoriya placed first in the qualifier, he'll be worth ten million." The telepath couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid, all eyes were on him and he was going to be a huge target for his classmates. "First years, these are the rules of the cavalry battle, the game itself will last 15 minutes, your teams points will add to your total, each of you will know by your headbands. Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your teams score. Stolen headbands will be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them, and another thing, if your headband is stolen or your team falls down, you can keep playing until times up. This is going to be rough, you may use your quirks as much as you like. But there are still rules, make the team fall off on purpose and I'll slap you with a red card, you'll be disqualified. Now you've got 15 minutes to form your team, I recommend you get started." Midnight explains.
The team formation was going to be key in their teams victory so the two had to work fast to pick the perfect teammates for the task. "Hmm, it looks like class 1B have been strategising for a while, they came up with a solid proof plan however they will need to work harder to get more points." The green haired girl said to her partner. He looked up at her as they both observed the people who were already getting chosen for teams.
"If you don't decide quickly, there won't be anyone left." Shinsou said, irritating the telepath.
"Those two." She says while pointing towards two blondes from 1A. "The one with the belt would be the front of our formation and he will use his naval laser to defend against head on attacks. The other will be positioned at the back of the formation with me and use his tail to block off any hidden attacks that I will be able to sense. You will be the rider and try to snatch as many head bands as you can." She said while dragging Shinsou towards the two blondes. He swiftly nodded his head as they quickened their pace.
Their first teammate would be Yuga Aoyama. Shinsou made him join the team easily, so they quickly walked their way over to the other boy. Mashirao Ojiro was next to join the team, Kokoro found it quite unsettling to see their eyes look so lifeless but she did commit to doing whatever it takes to win. "Ok let's try this out. Aoyama is at the front, me and Ojiro at the back, and Shinsou the rider, I'd say this formation is pretty solid." She complimented her own witty and quick thinking.
"Do we have a strategy?" Asked her indigo haired teammate.
"What would we do without one, my sleep deprived friend?" She teased. "Well actually the strategy is to stay as far away from team Todoroki as possible. He plans to immobilise and trap the teams that are close to him and get rid of any opponents who also want to ten million. So I'd say that we wait until the teams are immobilised, then we take any headbands that we can manage to collect."
Shinsou nodded and they took a glance at the timer to see how much time they had left. "We still have half the time left, so, tell me what we are gonna do until Todoroki freezes the others." He insisted.
"We defend, that's why I chose these guys, the tail can defend against attacks from behind and the naval laser can defend against head on attacks. I can read the thoughts of anyone who comes near us, so surprise attacks aren't an issue. However class 1B are my main concern. We're gonna be easy targets for them." Kokoro paused and glanced at the teams around her. "They wanted to place low in the first challenge so that they could have the opportunity to be overlooked in this one. Our main priority is to defend where as they want to attack the lower headbands. It gets even worse when they are all working together."
"A team of hero course students is bad enough but when a class of 20 are all out for us, we should expect the worst. I hope your plan works." Said Shinsou as he glanced towards the timer which was slowly running out.
"If worse come to worse then I've been working on another aspect of my quirk but it's not too strong and I'd only be able to fool half the team. However, it would throw off their balance and teamwork, which should be enough." Shinsou looked shocked but that only caused Kokoro let out a smirk. "See if you'd actually trained then maybe you'd be able to get stronger." She scoffed and watched the timer run out.
"Oh goodie, time to get this party started." Said the blue haired teacher who began stretching her arms. This caused the four to get into the positions that Kokoro had previously instructed. She gave a smile of encouragement towards Shinsou and listened to other students hype themselves up, it was actually quite motivational.
"All right first years here's one final countdown before the game starts. 3. 2. 1." Present Mic said to the stadium.
"Begin." Announced Midnight, which resulted in all the students stepping into the boundaries. To the telepaths dismay, her team was being labelled as 'team Shinsou' which was ironic because she'd done all of the work. To begin with, her team had a total of 425 points and they could only hope that they could defend that amount until Todoroki made his move.
All of the teams had set off and had instantly went towards the highest headband, only a few teams had the initiative to sit back and watch it play out. First to try and grab the headband, had a quirk that could liquify the ground, and trapped the 10 million easily. However, the targeted team had put together a plan, and with Mei Hatsume from the support course, they could escape.
"C'mon we have to keep our distance from the 10 million." She said to Shinsou who made the team travel to the opposite side of the square. "Oh and this may be obvious but please don't stand near a corner." She pleaded.
The team stood still for what felt like hours and awaited some action. "Here comes our first challenge." The green haired girl warned. "Use the naval laser to blind their vision and defend the points." She commanded. From a quick observation, Kokoro gathered that the opponents had a sugar quirk, which was useless without sugar. A earphone quirk which the tail could defend against. An animal quirk, that the user was too scared to summon. And an invisibility quirk which posed useless against the telepath who knew her every movement.
Shinsou used Aoyamas bright quirk to temporarily blind their opponents and they swiftly ran in a diagonal direction. All was going well and they had planned to avoid conflict until the telepath sensed the earphone girl form a quick plan. "To your left use the tail in 3,2,1." Shinsou obeyed and they had successfully hit away the earphones. "They're gonna try again so we might as well steal their headband." The green haired girl said while thinking of a strategy. "I'm gonna use my new move to throw off the one on the left and the one at the back. Just charge towards them." She ordered again.
The telepath had been working on this skill for a while and has successfully used it on multiple occasions. She can put thoughts into peoples head already, however instead of words, she was going to place an image. Her opponents would be forced the believe that team Shinsou had disappeared, when in actuality, they would be charging straight towards them. With half the team conflicted with their whereabouts, they could get past their defence and steal the headband.
"Shinsou, go to the left, so we can use the tail, and don't worry if you can't see her arm, she isn't too strong so you should be able to just push past it." She reassured while commanding the team. 'Why couldn't this be called team Hajime' the girl pouted to herself.
So far her plan was working and they had managed to get past their defence without the earphone girl or the strong one noticing. The animal voice user just cowered in fear, Kokoro almost felt sorry for him yet she was also dumbfounded that he had managed to get into the hero course. She was brought out of her thoughts when she sensed that the invisible girl was going to grab our headband instead of defending her own.
"SHINSOU TAIL" she screamed hoping that she was quick enough. She let out a sigh of relief when they rushed past them with both headbands. "Thank god."
"Hajime, do you know if Todorokis gonna make his move anytime soon, I don't think that teams gonna be happy we stole their headband and ran." Shinsou stated.
"So far I've gathered it's gonna happen at half time, and we need to stay clear because he's gonna use the electric boy to catch everyone off guard." Kokoro replied while glancing towards the timer.
"So under a minute. I'd say we are pretty distanced." Shinsou said as the team once again, waited for an opportunity.
"In all honesty, we don't even need anymore points, we could just slither through to the finals with this. But it's not certain so we should stick to the original plan." Just as she finished her sentence, a bright flash of electricity surrounded team Todoroki. Most of class 1B were taken out and team Todoroki kept a few headbands.
"How about we sit tight for a bit and see how this plays out?" Shinsou suggested while observing the situation. Kokoro nodded and started to tune in on the other teams thoughts. Most of their thoughts were just strategy's however one of them hit her like a truck. Katsuki Bakugo's thoughts were louder than his own voice, the telepath would hate to be on the receiving end of his wrath.
The task had started to come to an end and all focus was on the 10 million points. Giving class 1B the perfect opportunity to strike the idle team. "We've got incoming, their quirks are metal, vines, weld, and softening. We don't stand a chance in a fight, however we can use their quirks against them. If you manage to control the vine girl, then we can force her to deliver their headband to us. She seems obsessed with god and stuff so just say something about that." Kokoro observed. It's true, most of their quirks were flashy and the girl couldn't help but feel aggravated that she couldn't fight them, but she still wanted to win.
"OH MY GOD." Shinsou screamed at the top of his lungs. Kokoro gave him a strange glance and raised an eyebrow. As if to say 'really?'
"Don't use the lords name in vain." Came a quick scream back from the target. The duo shared a smirk and used her quirk to tie up the team and hand over their headband. Just in the nick of time.
The alarm quickly sounded and indicated that the round was over, both Shinsou and Kokoro were beyond relieved and Shinsou released their teammates from his hold.
"Huh, what happened where am I?" Said Ojiro in a panicked tone.
"Chill out. We may or may not have had your assistance in getting into the finals. I think you should be grateful because now we all are guaranteed a place in the spotlight." Kokoro explained.
"What are you talking about." He insisted. While the other boy was just content in getting into the finals.
"I'm just gonna walk away, because you're gonna be angry either way, and this puts less stress on me." The brains of the team left the scene with Shinsou following her.
"Thanks for your help, I don't know what I would have done without you." He said with genuine gratefulness. Kokoro let loose a smile and placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Listen, I can't help you in the finals and if we end up against each other then I'm not going to hold back. I'm sorry if it goes that way, I hope our friendship won't falter." Kokoro stated. It may have been a rude thing to say however she wanted to win and so did he, so from here on out, they would be on their own.
"I understand, I'd do the same thing. But I'll still support you when you lose against me." He teased.
"Ha, as if I'd lose against you, I told everyone I'd win whatever it takes. So I'm not holding back and like I've said many times today. I trained." She once again reminded him of his mistake of not training.
"All right I get it I should have trained, why are you so concerned." He groaned.
"Tch, I'm not concerned I'm just annoyed. How was I supposed to get here if my partner didn't train."
"It all worked out, right partner?" He joked.
"See, this is why I was annoyed."
Their bickering continued until they had finally been given the line up of the fights. This was going to be difficult.
Authors note: I obviously didn't create my hero academia, I only created Kokoro Hajime and the plot that I've adapted to her. Yeah, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter :)