Cavalry Battle Beginning

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-(Musutafu/U.A. High School/ Sports Festival Stadium)-

Jotaro was having all kinds of stress at the moment. He had ten million points and knew that -most likely- not a single person on the field would want to team up with him during the second contest. After glancing around at all the faces staring at him once again, he sighed loudly and placed his attention back on the 'R-rated Hero.'

"Goddamn it all..."

"First years! These are the rules that you'll abide by during the cavalry battle:" The holographic screen behind her started to change; it now began displaying visuals for her rulings. "The game itself will last 15 minutes, individual point values will be added together to reach your team total, and everyone will know how much you're worth thanks to your headbands."

'I need as few people as possible on my team or else mobility will become a problem...' As Midnight continued to speak, Jotaro had already begun to concoct a plan to help counterbalance his current dilemma. 'And the person with the headband needs to be as unnoticeable as possible...'

"Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can." She continued. "Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them!"

'The only way for my plan to work is if it were two people -- me and another contestant...' Jotaro persisted contemplating. 'My partner absolutely must have some sort of concealment-type Quirk, or..."

Slowly, he looked up and began scouting the field. Apparently, Jotaro recognized that he had been describing someone he knew from his classroom, someone who was ideal for his plan work. It took him only a few moments to find this person, almost confusing her with another whose face appeared similar to a manga bubble.

'Invisibility...' Once he had found his soon-to-be partner, Jotaro waited for the rest of Midnight's orientation to end before he went to recruit her. "Bingo."

"And the most important thing is that even if your headband gets stolen, or your team falls down, you can keep playing until time's up!" As she said those words, Jotaro overheard others gossiping amongst each other about certain aspects of the cavalry battle. He subsequently stepped back a little so he could closely listen in on their conversations.

"It's anyone's game, then..."

"And since there are 42 contestants, there'll be ten or 12 teams fighting on the field the entire time."

"Sounds hard..."

'Ten or twelve,' He noted, slowly shuffling to the side to hear more from his other classmates.

"So, if you lose your headband at the beginning, you have more time to make up a plan, yeah?"

"I dunno, Mina. Maybe we should wait and see how the teams turn out before we start strategizing."

'Nothing helpful over here,' Jotaro moved around the crowd some more to find anything else useful he could use. Sadly, everyone either kept to themselves or had nothing useful to learn from. 'Give me a break...'

"This is going to be rough," Midnight warned. "You may use your Quirks as much as you like, but there are still rules! Make a team fall on purpose and I'll slap you with a red card, and you'll be disqualified!"

"Tch," Bakugo scoffed. "Damn."

'No fighting here either? That's disappointing," Jotaro remarked.

"Now, you've got 15 minutes to build your teams," A countdown that read '15 minutes' suddenly appeared on the screen behind Midnight. "I recommend you get started!"

Once she finished talking, everyone started to team up with other players. Jotaro, in a way, mirrored their actions and went immediately in the direction of his goal, hopefully before she picks a squad to work with.

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As expected, Bakugo was getting surrounded by several of his classmates who knew of the value of having him on their team.

"You should team with me!"

"No, you definitely want me by your side."

"I don't wanna beg, but please."

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"Wait, remind me what your Quirks are again, and your names!"

Toru laughed a little at his response, thinking it was unbelievable that he would say something so egocentric.

"Nice joke, Bakugo! But we really need you to decide!"

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"Quirks and-"

"YOU'RE NOT KIDDING?!"

Some of his classmates stepped back a little, aghast at his egomaniacal personality.

"But we're your classmates! I'd understand if it were Class B's, but-"

"-can you really be that self‐centered?!"

'He's a hot head, but he came in fourth and has 200 points,' From above, All Might was watching Bakugo closely. 'And considering how versatile his Quirk is, I'm not surprised people are trying to join up with him.'

He then noticed that Jotaro was going up to the blond's crowd, appearing quite focused for some reason. 'Is he going to ask Bakugo to team with him...?'

Some of his classmates glimpsed to the side for a moment and saw that Jotaro was stepping toward them. 'Wait- is he going to put aside his differences with Bakugo and team up with him?! They'll be unstoppable!'

However, in an unexpected move, he approached Toru first, 'What was he doing?' They wondered.

"Toru."

"Yes-" When she heard her name being called, Toru turned and realized that Jotaro was in front of her. She blushed a little when she noticed how close he actually was -- their height differences was staggering. "Uh- yeah, JoJo?!"

"I need you for my team." He replied plainly. "Do you want to you join-"

"YES!!" It was an immediate response, was she desperate? "Uhm- who else is in our team by the way?!"

"Only the both of us is necessary," Jotaro said, strolling in a different direction with fewer people around to explain his plan. "Follow me."

"Uh- hold on for a moment!" He complied and waited for a second. Suddenly, Toru turned around and quietly screamed 'YES,' fist pumping the air before following him. "Alright, I'm good!"

"Right..."

The others were surprised at what Jotaro was planning since only having one person on your team during a cavalry battle was basically suicide; what was he thinking? Mina, however, was thinking about something else, something along the lines of 'date.'

"That bold move earlier must've definitely meant something! I'm sure of it now!"

"What you say, Mina?" Sato asked.

"Nothing!" She then huffed and gave a nod to Jotaro for finally taking the 'initiative' in his 'relationship' with Toru. 'Well done, JoJo, I guess you won't need my help for long!'

Meanwhile, Kirishima showed up and began making his case to Bakugo about why he should be on his team.

"Bakugo! I was gonna try Todoroki, but he already picked a group. So, hey! We should team up!"

"Hey, Dumb Hair," Bakugo said rudely, making it clear he didn't have any respect for his classmates no matter how courteous they were.

"MY NAME IS KIRISHIMA!!" He yelled. "AND MY HAIR'S NOT THAT DIFFERENT FROM YOURS!!"

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While Jotaro and Toru were walking together, quietly making their way to a spot that was somewhat clear of other contestants, she attempted to start up a conversation.

"So... why'd you pick me by the way...?"

"Because you were the perfect candidate for my plan," Jotaro replied, glancing around for anyone who would try to spy on them; Mineta was seen begging on his knees to Shoji for some reason.

Toru's heart beat a little faster when she heard this; in a way, it could be considered flattering. She quietly squealed something to the side before turning to ask him a follow-up question.

"I'm perfect? In what way?'

"You're invisible."

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"Uh... that's evident, but how does that help us win, exactly?"

"Well, since you're invisible, we can hide our points better than everyone else because they'll be thinking they're just headbands floating in the air."

"So they'll think the points are just gonna go floating to the ground or something?"

"Yeah, but to be honest, I didn't really think too hard about it," Jotaro then came to a halt. "But if it's only two people on one team, then we don't have to worry about mobility."

"Wait, but teams have to carry each other- OH MY GOD!!" Toru realized that Jotaro was probably going to have to carry her during the contest, with her... area behind his head. "S-so y-you're r-running r-right?"

"That's correct," Jotaro answered. "By the way, I'll need you to do something else for me, alright? For the sake of the cavalry battle, of course."

"Which is...?"

"Take off your shirt."

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"WAAAAAAAAHHH?!" Toru shrieked; it was a request without any context. "YOU PERV!!"

"HOLD ON, JUST HEAR ME OUT!!" She had revved back her hand to prepare a slapping attack on Jotaro, but he quickly put up his arms in defense of his request. "It's not something perverted! Okay?!"

"Huh?!" She was now flushing red all over her face again. "What are you saying-"

"-the rules don't specify that we have to keep all of our clothing on during the contest, which means we can take off our clothing if it hinders our Quirk's function!"

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"Oooh~! It's because I'm invisible! But wait- wouldn't it be smarter if I just wore nothing at all?"

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"Do you not want to wear anything at all...?" Jotaro blushed a little at the idea of a girl's private area at the back of his head; it surely would serve as an immediate distraction, but the potential was limitless. "I-I mean if you don't want to then I won't force you!"

"O-oh, okay!" Toru stuttered, reddening a little. 'So embarrassing of me to even suggest that~!!'

"Ahem-!" Jotaro coughed, regaining his composure. "So we're on the same page, right?"

"Yeah! Let's do this!"

Unbeknownst to the two, Izuku was slowly creeping up behind them; he was still without a team. "Oh, hey... what's up, JoJo...?"

"Izuku..." Jotaro knew the green-haired pupil of All Might was probably still attempting to find or make a team, basing it on the sound of his voice. "I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to find a different team, bud."

"Oh- sorry!" Izuku exclaimed, appearing a bit disheartened. "Uhm- but aren't you missing another person, or...?"

"It's a two-person team."

"Huh?! Only two...?! But isn't that kinda risky?! And besides that, you still have ten million points on your head!"

"Please stop reminding me," Toru sighed, thinking she should've put some thought in before joining Jotaro's team so quickly. "I'm already in pretty deep..."

"Oh, sorry!"

"We'll be fine, but I really think you should go find yourself another team to join, your running out of options."

"Huh-" Izuku immediately glanced around and realized that a lot of the contestants have already teamed up. 'Unlike Todoroki, Kacchan, or JoJo, I didn't use my Quirk in the first round, so no one has any confidence in me!'

"Uhm..." Toru noticed that Izuku was beginning to have a panic attack and went over to calm him down. "Maybe you can try-"

"-Deku!" Uraraka suddenly appeared from behind Izuku. "Let's team up!"

"URARAKAAAA!!" Izuku cried, turning around and crying a waterfall. Jotaro noticed the ground was getting pretty. "A-ARE Y-YOU SUREE?! PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE NOT K-KIDDING!!"

"Of course not! If we team up, then we'll win!"

"Uh..." Izuku turned to look at Jotaro who was picking his nose. "Um, you're either overestimating me or underestimating everyone else here..."

"What about you two?" Uraraka asked. "Wanna make it a team of four-"

"-We're staying as a team of two," Toru answered, making it sound like a statement. "It's for mobility purposes."

"Oh, I see..." Uraraka tilted her head a little when she heard Toru's response, beginning to have the same thoughts and deductions as Mina. 'Is this because of that bold move earlier...? Have they become a couple already?'

"Oh, well, phooey!" She remarked, looking at her teammate. "I still think it's better to team up with people you like anyway, right?"

Izuku then closed his eyes tightly, he started to blush a little, and his face began to recede. Consequently, Toru began to redden as well when she heard Uraraka's words, thinking that the two's team-up was comparable to herself and Jotaro. '"People you like?" Wait- does that mean JoJo likes me?!"

"Yeeee~!" Toru squealed, bouncing up and down happily.

'What is she so happy about...?' Jotaro wondered, diverting his attention back to Uraraka and Izuku. 'And why does he look like he just ate a lemon...'

"Is something wrong? You look so gross," Uraraka asked.

"No, I just thought my chest was gonna explode for a second..." Izuku said, turning away to wipe away the tears from his eyes. "Actually, I wanted to team up with you, too! Thanks a lot!"

'Ugh, get a room...' Jotaro moaned, tilting his cap down to cover his eyes.

"You're right. For a game that requires so much teamwork, it's smart to find people you communicate smoothly with."

"Yup, yup!"

"In fact, if we had your Quirk and one other person..." Izuku clenched his fist. "Actually- I might have a solid plan! Now, where's Iida?!"

"Huh?" Izuku began sprinting away, searching for his other friend. Uraraka immediately followed, leaving Jotaro's team alone after saying a quick goodbye. "Oh, uh-! See you guys on the field! And good luck!"

"Thanks," Jotaro gave her a small nod.

"You too, guys!!" Toru called out, waving goodbye. "Okay, now what do we do, JoJo?"

He took a moment to look around at his surroundings. As expected, most of the students had been eyeing him the whole time. 'Their gazes... they think we're prey or something, huh?'

"Now, we wait."

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15 minutes passed, a loud alarm once the countdown ended made that much obvious, and it was time for the second contest to begin.

"Now then, it's about time to get started!" Midnight said, doing some arm stretches to limber up.

"Hey, hey, look alive!" Present Mic said, tapping Aizawa awake.

"Hm...?"

"After fifteen minutes to pick teammates and talk strategy, twelve cavalry teams are preparing to go head‐to‐head!"

"I see some unexpected student combinations," Aizawa remarked, noticing that there was a single team of two on the field -- Jotaro Kujo and Toru Hagakure. 'Only two?' (I combined the other two teams of two during this contest)

[Cavalry Battle OST]

"Come on, everyone! Get your hands in the air! It's time for an arena‐thumping battle royale! Let me hear ya scream!"

Jotaro knelt down and allowed Toru to get on his back; she was shirtless and wearing the ten million points around her neck.

"Are you ready?" Jotaro asked, getting a nod from her in response. "Good."

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"I chose the three of you because I believe we'll make for the most stable formation possible. Let's start with Kaminari."

"Alright."

"Kaminari, you're our left-wing, use your Quirk to keep enemies at bay. Yaoyorozu, you'll take the right-wing - focus on insulation and defense. Iida, you'll take the front - mobility and physical defense are your priorities."

"And you'll be attacking and creating diversions of ice and fire. Is that right?" Iida assumed.

"Not quite," Todoroki replied, glancing up towards the crowd. "When I'm in battle..."

Up at the top row was his father, Endeavor. They both glared intensely at each other.

"... I never use my left side."

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"Okay, all you first years! I hope you're happy with your chosen teams!"

Jotaro straightened out his back, lifting Toru a little bit higher in the air; there was a cool breeze that made... certain parts of her body harden.

'Could there have been any worse timing?!'

"Let's get this party started! One final countdown before the game starts!" Present Mic shouted. "Three!"

"Get 'im," Bakugo murmured, cracking his knuckles.

"Two!"

"He's ours," Todoroki asserted, staring at Jotaro.

"One!"

'Come at me,' Jotaro challenged.

"Begin!"

Multiple footsteps can be heard running toward Jotaro's position. He pivoted and saw that the first contestants that were trying to get the ten million points were Tetsutetsu's team.

"It's basically one big battle for ten million points!" Tetsutetsu yelled. "Huh, wait- where is it?!"

'Looks like her Quirk is working nicely, that's good,' Jotaro remarked, swiftly sidestepping Tetsutetsu's team and avoiding getting his team's headband stolen. However, Jiro's team suddenly appeared from behind.

"I'll be taking that headband, JoJo!"

Suddenly, Tetsutetsu's front runner used his Quirk to soften the ground, causing Jotaro to begin sinking into the ground.

"Huh?! What's happening?!" Toru exclaimed, noticing that they were now slowly sinking.

"We're sinking..." Jotaro remarked. He furrowed his brows and utilized Star Platinum to help him leap out of the ground and high into the air. The crowd cheered loudly at his performance; it was truly remarkable to see such gifted youth.

"There goes Kujo! Flying high into the air!"

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!!" Toru screamed, holding Jotaro's head tightly as they began falling toward the ground. "WE'RE GONNA DIE!!"

"He jumped?! Damn it!" Tetsutetsu's team changed directions and went after Jotaro's team again.

Jotaro landed with a loud crack, breaking the ground beneath him. He then spun around, irritated that multiple teams were still in pursuit; this contest was no doubt going to be the most stressful. 'Give me a break...'

Out of nowhere, Jiro appeared once again and tried using her Quirk to grab the headband their headband. "Stay still!"

"Not a chance!" Jotaro yelled back, ordering Star Platinum to slap away the ear jacks.

"We're getting surrounded!!" Toru shouted.

Jotaro looked to the side and saw Bakugo and Tetsutetsu's teams inbound on their position; he needed to act quickly. "Then we're going up!"

"HUH?! NOT AGAIN-!!" Toru's pleading availed to nothing as she and Jotaro were now flying above the playing field. 'All this jumping is starting to make me nauseous!'

"Damn it! Full speed ahead! Go after them!"

"Hey, wait! Jiro! Your headband's gone!"

"What?!" Jiro began to feel around her head for the headband; Sato was right, they were gone. "Who?!"

"Well, that was easy," Monoma remarked, running away from Jiro's team; they had stolen their points.

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"Wow! Barely two minutes have passed since we started, and it's already a total free for all!" Present Mic exclaimed. "Watch those headbands! You can even ignore the ten million points and go after the other chart toppers!"

Jotaro landed but was now once again in another conflict with a different team; he dodged as multiple purple balls flew past him and Toru.

"Mineta?!" Toru exclaimed, looking around for the little cretin. "Where's he at?!"

"This is too easy!!" Mineta cackled, nowhere in sight but continuing to fling his balls (context) at Jotaro's feet. "It's not a fight. It's more like a massacre!"

Jotaro looked in the direction of Mineta's cackling and saw that he was concealing himself under Shoji, a practically impenetrable fortress if anyone tried to steal their headband. "He's under Shoji!"

"Team Mineta's coming in like a tank, making clever use of how compact their members are!"

Hearing this news, Jotaro comes to the conclusion that he must make a quick escape. "Shit, I'll have to use 'that' technique; Mineta's got us pinned down!"

"What?! Is it dangerous?!" Toru questioned; she didn't want to get caught up in whatever he was planning to do. "Please tell me before you do it!!"

"I'll use my legs!" He said, slapping his thigh. "It's very cowardly -I must admit- but we have no choice!"

"'Cowardly?!' I don't like the sound of that!!"

Shoji was closely listening to Jotaro, getting a little concerned about what 'secret technique' Jotaro was about to perform.

"Whatever he's planning has to be crazy insane... we must get his headband before-"

"-THE TECHNIQUE IS TO RUN AWAY!!" Jotaro pivoted and made a full 180-degree turn, running at lightning speed away from Shoji's team; Asui, seeing the two hightailing it outta there, tried to use her tongue to grab their headband before they were out of her range.

"Crap! They're too far!" She remarked, retracting her tongue back in her mouth.

"What the hell kind of technique is running away?!" Shoji exclaimed.

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"WHY ARE YOU STILL RUNNING?! TAKE A BREAK ALREADY!!" Toru yelled.

"I'd love to, but I have a feeling that-" Jotaro was interrupted when he heard screaming coming from behind; it was Bakugo and his team. "-we're in another goddamn battle!"

"Don't think for a second that you're safe, JoJo!" Bakugo yelled loudly as he glided toward Jotaro's team with his Quirk.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Toru shrieked. "HE'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!!"

"I'VE GOT YOU!!" Bakugo reached his hand out to grab the headband. "GIVE IT TO ME!!"

"NOT A CHANCE!!" Jotaro shouted.

Star Platinum, using its invisible body, intercepted Bakugo's hand. His explosions would cause Jotaro's team and himself to be sent backward in opposite directions.

"WHOA!!" Present Mic yelled. "WHAAT?!"

"What the hell was that?!" Bakugo was sure that he could've grabbed the ten million just then. "I'm sure I touched it!"

"Bakugo has been separated from his horses!" Present Mic exclaimed, watching as Sero used his tape to pull Bakugo back to his teammates' arms. "HUH?! Is that even allowed?!"

"He never touched the ground, so technically it's okay!" Midnight gave a thumbs up.

"Give me a break..." Jotaro muttered. Even though his stand took the brunt impact of Bakugo's explosion, it still affected its user to some degree. "Are you alright, Toru?"

"Yeah, I'm g-good!"

"As expected, everyone's after the first place team, giving them no time to catch their breath!" Present Mic remarked; cameras flashed all around as the audience and photographers took pictures of the contestants' stunts. "What a show this is!"

"With all those flashy Quirks, I can't decide who I should be watching!"

"Looks like the experience fighting villains made that class level up super fast!"

"Now who wants to take a look at each team's points so far? It's been seven minutes, so let's get those rankings thrown up on the screen!"

Screens above the stadium start showing the leaderboard scores of everyone on the field. However, what everyone saw on the screens was so shocking that they all started to quiet down almost immediately. "Huh? It's kinda..."

"Hold on here..." Present Mic muttered, closely inspecting the team rankings for himself. "HOLY CRAP!! This is an unexpected turn! Other than Kujo, Class 1‐A's not doin' so hot!"

Jotaro and Toru turned their heads to look at the leaderboard themselves; it was suprising to see that their class was not accumulating many points -- or any at all, in fact.

"Even Bakugo is losing!"

Jotaro and Toru glanced to the side to see Bakugo without his headband, taken by some cocky-looking, blond Class 2-B member. As predicted, the dialogue between the two teams was becoming more and more hostile -- as seen by Bakugo's contorting and twisting face.

'Those guys aren't making it to the finals...'

"Good luck," Toru muttered, assuming that Bakugo was about to kill that other blond kid. 'And rest in peace...'

"Hold on- this is actually great for us..."

"Hm? Great how?"

"If Bakugo's team is distracted with class B, then we'd only have to deal with our own classmates."

"Oh yeah!"

"But there's a problem with that..."

"Huh?! What problem?"

Suddenly, Jotaro started skitting across the ground, causing Toru to yelp; he seemed to have stopped in front of another team. "Why are we stopping?!"

"And now we've reached the halfway point of the game!"

"The problem is that..." Jotaro spoke while pointing at the new group of contestants before them. "... they're our classmates..."

"As the cavalry battle enters its second half, it's anyone's game! Class 1‐B has made an unexpected showing, but who will wear the ten million points in the end? That's the real question, sports fans!"

"I'll be taking that, now." Todoroki declared, glaring right at Jotaro.

"I knew... that you'd show up sooner or later, Todoroki."

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The chapter still doesn't sit right with me... oh well! What can ya do?

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