The second event was something Felix was wildly unfamiliar with. A ‘Cavalry Battle’, whatever that meant. But he had caught the important details of the game, at least.

Essentially, the first forty-two competitors will team up in groups of two to four. Headband points will be assigned to each of them ranging from ten million for first place to five points for forty-second place. The teams will then fight for each other’s headbands to gain or lose these points.

Which meant that those at the top, like Izuku, Felix, Todoroki, and Bakugo, were prime targets for headband snatching.

“Team up with me, exchange student!”

“No, you’ll want me!”

“Please, I’m begging you!”

It was a miracle that Felix could still breathe as the multitude of students piling on top of him only increased further by the second.

“Please, everyone. I don’t even know what your powers are.” The boy was trying his best to placate the competitors staring hungrily at him. He was starting to regret showing off too much of his power by dispatching the robots so easily.

More students descended upon him, until he managed to spot an opening.

“Hey Izuku, a little help here?” Felix gasped for air. “Can I be on your team?”

The crowd went silent in disappointment as the most powerful competitor walked towards the most valuable participant.

“M-me? Are you sure?” Izuku looked ready to cry. “I have ten million points; everyone is going to be after me.”

“No, you’re going to join me,” a dry voice spoke. “After all, you promised to be on my team, remember?”

Felix turned around, coming face to face with a grinning student. His eyes narrowed in recognition; there was no way he would forget that purple haired kid who declared war on his class.

“Since when did I-”

Felix froze, his eyes glazed over.

“Felix? Are you okay?” Izuku’s voice was distant, fighting for attention against the heavy fog that clouded his mind.

What the hell? A telepathic attack of some sorts? I can’t… control my body…

He could feel his body walking towards the kid. Felix struggled against the oppressive intruder in his mind, pushing back against the walls closing in on him. The foreign presence was fiddling with the controls in his brain. Panic flooded him.

Crap, my memories! I can’t let him see my memories!

Felix’s psychic power focused into a single point, breaking through the telepathic walls around him.

Get out of my head, vermin!

He growled in frustration, throwing a punch at the intruder in his mind-

“Guh!”

A powerful gust of wind burst from the boy, pushing all the students back. Felix charged at the General Studies student, who had fallen over his feet and was still too stunned to react. His eyes glowed fiercely.

“Don’t ever get in my head again. You hear me?” he growled, seizing the boy’s wrist roughly. “You’re not the only one who can play mind games, Hitoshi Shinsou.”

He let go of Shinsou, who was looking visibly shaken by the violent reaction. Felix turned his attention back to Izuku, leaving everyone else to wonder what the hell just happened.

“What was that?” Izuku queried.

“Beware the serpent’s tongue,” Felix warned. “A single question from him is enough to poison your mind.”

Izuku stared at him blankly.

“Anyway,” Felix said, resuming a cheery tone. “Can I be on your team? It’s better to team up with people you’re already familiar with, right?”

“Oh! Well, we have Tokoyami and Uraraka here… So you can be our last member.” Izuku’s face was creased with concern. “Although, we would be having the two highest points on the same team… That’s just going to make us an even bigger target. We’re going to need a solid strategy if we want to win this.”

“Let’s keep it simple, eh?” Felix smiled. “Do you want to go on the offensive or defensive?”

“Can you elaborate?” the boy with a crow’s head on his shoulders asked in a low voice.

“I’m assuming you’re Tokoyami, right? Nice to meet you,” Felix replied. “To answer your question, the defensive strategy would be for me to shield our entire group for the entire duration of the game. I could also telekinetically snatch everyone’s headbands when the game starts, winning the match immediately. That would be the offensive strategy.”

“I think you’re either overestimating us or underestimating everyone else here…” Izuku gave a crooked smile, scratching the back of his head. “I’m doubtful we can hold out just by staying still for the entire game.”

“Indeed. We would be made even more of a public enemy if we took everyone’s headbands right from the beginning,” Tokayami added as a monster-like shadow popped out from his torso. “Dark Shadow here can only fend off so many attacks. Fighting in the daytime diminishes his combat ability too, since light is his weakness.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Don’t worry, people. I have a plan,” Izuku said confidently. “There’s no doubt that everyone will be gunning for us once the game starts. We can’t fight them all, but all we have to do is run away. With Uraraka’s zero gravity, Felix’s telekinesis, and Dark Shadow watching our back, I’m sure we can pull this off!”

“Yeah!” Ochaco pumped her fists enthusiastically. Felix smirked.

Yeah, we got this.

~ ~ ~

“Now, raise those battle cries!” Present Mic announced from his umpire seat as the twelve calvaries assembled themselves. “It’s time for U.A.’s bloody battle!”

Izuku fastened his headband, sitting himself comfortably on Felix’s psionic seat with Ochaco and Tokoyami flanking his sides. The psychic had even taken the liberty of including a seatbelt to strap him in snugly.

“Light the signal fire!”

Bakugo’s and Todoroki’s respective teams were already staring daggers at them.

“Counting down to the brutal battle royale! Three! Two! One!”

This is it.

“Start!”

The competitors wasted no time as the closest four teams descended on Izuku’s team like a pack of ravenous wolves.

“Make your choice, Midoriya!” Tokoyami called out. “Fight or run?”

“That’s easy…” Izuku muttered to himself, before raising his voice again. “We run!”

Izuku felt his stomach lurch immediately as Felix burst ten metres into the air in less than a second. Amazement sparkled in his eyes, but there was no time to waste admiring his friend’s power now.

“Land there!” Izuku pointed at the patch of land furthest away from everyone else. Felix obeyed without hesitation and touched down in an equally short amount of time. But that proved a fatal mistake.

“Whoa, what’s happening?” Ochaco piped.

“Crap, our feet are stuck!” Felix exclaimed as the team began sinking into the ground as though it was suddenly made of soft mud.

“It must be that guy’s quirk!” Izuku pointed at a student whose mouth resembled that of an exposed skull. The ground was rippling like waves from where he stood.

“This is bad,” Tokoyami said darkly as the ground hardened again around their knee level. “We are literally stuck in the worst possible situation.”

Purple balls flew in their direction, accompanied by an elongated tongue as Mineta’s team dashed towards them, intent on stealing credit for the Mud-man’s efforts. Shinsou’s team was also charging towards them from the other side, carried by a dazed looking Ojiro from Class 1A.

“Izuku,” Felix asked his fretting leader, who was looking more desperate as more teams showed themselves. “Permission to immobilise our attackers?”

“W-what?” Izuku squeaked in a confused voice. “Granted?”

A deafening crackle tore through the air as a huge psionic wave burst from Felix’s body. It crashed into the attacking teams, splitting most of them apart and disqualifying them immediately.

“There we go,” Felix said with satisfaction in his voice as the crowd erupted in cheer at the psychic’s impressive display of power. “All too easy.”

The other competitors stopped in their tracks and turned to each other, suddenly remembering that they could fight amongst themselves for the headbands as well. Izuku heaved a sigh of relief for the much needed respite as Felix dislodged everyone’s feet from the ground.

“You make a formidable ally, Pagonis,” Tokoyami said. “To dispatch so many people in a single move… I’m surprised you aren’t already a pro hero.”

Izuku’s gaze fell on Class 1A’s Mashirao Ojiro, who was rubbing his head tenderly. The dazed look in his eyes was gone for some reason, and he was looking around with a confused expression. His eyes narrowed, looking at the back of Shinsou walking off. Whatever that General Studies Student’s quirk was, it clearly had something to do with mind control.

“Uhm, guys?” Ochaco’s nervous voice sputtered. “Mineta got me.”

Izuku gasped, noticing the purple ball sticking Ochaco’s boot to the ground. And to make matters worse, her boot was not a simple shoe that she could easily slip off.

What? But I thought Mineta’s team was-

“Over here, Midoriya…”

Izuku flinched as a human tank made of six arms covered with webs of skin charged straight at them. Mineta and Tsu were barely visible, almost completely protected by Mezo Shoji’s dupli-arm quirk.

Is that even allowed?!

Streaks of ice cornered the defending team as well, and a bolt of electricity bursted towards them. Dark Shadow popped up, shrinking away in apparent pain as it took the brunt of the attack.

Todoroki had also joined in the fight, carried by Tenya as well as Kaminari and Momo on his flanks.

The ice user casually sent another line of ice towards Tsu’s team to freeze them in place while Momo passed a long pole to her rider. Tenya increased his speed, carrying the determined looking Todoroki closer to his target.

Felix swiped his hand as a thick psionic wall began to materialise between them, but Todoroki’s team suddenly vanished with nothing but a flash and the sound of a roaring engine. Izuku looked around frantically.

What? Where’d they go-

“Recipro burst!”

Izuku’s head jerked back roughly as Todoroki appeared from behind the boundaries of the psychic barrier, swiping the most valuable headband from him.

“Impossible!” Felix grunted in surprise as Tenya grinned at them. “Such speed!”

“No… give it back!” Izuku’s quirk ignited in his arm as he stretched out to snatch the headband back. Todoroki’s eyes widened in shock as flames started to spread on the left side of his body.

Izuku fanned the flames out with a powerful sweep. He cringed in pain. His hand hurt, but it was thankfully still not broken. The boy seized the opportunity to twist his body with the momentum, reaching out his other hand towards the off-balanced Todoroki.

He flipped the headbands inside out to hide their point values, but he put the ten million point headband on last. Which means…

“I got it!” Izuku snatched the top headband right back from Todoroki as the crowd roared in excitement again. Todoroki spun around in anger, stretching his hand for Izuku-

“Not so fast!” Felix’s eyes glowed again as he made contact with Todoroki’s face. He faltered for a moment as though his power had activated suddenly, and Momo took the chance to slap his hand away.

An aggressive yell burst from above them.

“Who has the band?!” Bakugo had appeared out of nowhere and was three metres in the air, hurtling towards them. “Icy Hot bastard!”

“Wait, we were wrong!” Felix shouted desperately, stretching out a pink coated hand. Izuku looked around in confusion. Another headband was ripped out from the bottom of Todoroki’s neck. Bakugo was inches from them-

“Time’s up!”

Bakugo fell to the ground abruptly, as though suddenly remembering to obey the law of gravity. The last headband that Felix attempted to seize hit the floor at the same time.

The explosive boy growled, smacking the ground in frustration.