Cavalry

Stepping into the crowd of students Nick already heard them start to talk to him, asking him if he wanted to join a team with them. Ignoring their requests Nick declined most of them as he made his way over to the student in mind.

Walking up to them Nick saw them about to make their way over to another group of people but putting a hand on their shoulder he said, "Hey, want to team up?" Just as they were turning around.

Looking down at the already tall boy Nick smiled at Mezo, his head tilting to the side as he waited for an answer. Hearing him Mezo just thought for a moment before nodding his head, it was clear he was debating the risk over the reward but it only happened for a moment.

Mezo knew that he was bound to win if he was teamed up with Nick, he was stronger than anyone else here by far. Even with the target on his back of 10 million points and the anger both Bakugo and Todoroki had towards him… there was no reason to hesitate to team up with his friend.

"Let's do it," Mezo said through his mask. His eyes lit up a bit as he and Nick clasped hands. "Who else are we taking on our team?" Mezo said, curious.

"Who else? Do we need anyone else? Your arms will be perfectly capable of defending the headband and with my movement anyone else would just be a bother to manage…" Nick said as he cracked his neck a bit, declining someone that came over before they could even speak up.

"Wait, me defending the headband? Am I going to be the rider?" He had thought one of the reasons Nick had picked him was because he could carry the boy easily despite his height.

"My quirk activates through touch, so I would prefer to be in constant contact with the floor. I have no reason to ride if you with your arms are perfectly capable of defending the headband and I can easily back you up if you need it." His voice was slightly amused as he looked down at the boy. "Don't worry, I can carry you easily even by myself."

They were both easily the tallest people here apart from maybe the beast boy, both being over 6 feet tall.

Seeing that Todoroki had made his original team he nodded his head, that was good. He would prefer if the tournament changed but when he heard that voice of Eijiro he knew that it wouldn't happen. Seeing that Bakugo was trying to find a fourth member he knew that he wouldn't be siding with Eijiro for one reason. Eijiro was Nick's friend, and Bakugo despised Nick.

Turning to the redhead he tilted his head as he listened. "Hey Nick have room on your team?! You guys are both super manly and I was wondering if a spot was open?"

Wondering how the team composition would change if they took in the redhead he turned and looked around, seeing if there was another team he could recommend the boy to. Midoriya had made his canon one, the only reason he had gotten into the tournament was because of Tokoyami and his dark shadow.

Turning back to Eijiro he saw that Shinso had taken Sato now instead of Yuga since the boy never made it to the top 42 this time. That meant that Koda, Toru and Jiro didn't have a fourth member.

He wanted Eijiro to at least make it to the tournament though. "Alright, you can join us. No one else though. Eijiro you can ride, make sure to take care of the headband. Mezo focus on defending him, I will handle attacking." He wasn't happy that he wasn't going to be able to use his planned team but that didn't matter. Adding the boy didn't really change much. Mezo could still easily defend. With Eijiro staying inside the shield of Mezo's arms he wouldn't have to do much and he was confident the boy could handle any attacks that did slip through. This was probably better than what he originally planned.

Seeing the change that this had it looked like Bakugo had dragged Ojiro into his group leaving Shinso with Sato. Shinso's team now him, Sato, the blue-haired kid, and Yuga, who had made it in because Mineta wasn't in anymore. Who knows where the kid had ended up. Shaking his head he gave up trying to figure out how everyone had moved around. With all the groups mingling he didn't bother trying to figure it out.

Koda, Toru and Jiro were still together. Now with Asui the frog girl. Things had shuffled around a little bit. But not much in the end.

Having seen how things have changed Nick stood to the side with his team waiting for the rest of the teams to finish. Counting down the 15 minutes in his head as he looked up at Midnight who coming back to her podium yelled out at the top of her lungs. "NOW RAISE YOUR WARCRIES!! AND FIRE THE SIGNAL!! MAY THE BLOOD ON THE ROCKS BE WASHED BY YET MORE BLOOD! NOW'S THE TIME FOR U.A.'S DEADLY FEUD!"

Her voice echoed out of the stadium from the countless speakers. Present mic talking about the twelve warhorses alongside Aizawa who was more interested in the teams themselves.

"3!!"

The entire stadium echoed as the crowd cheered the number at Midnight's lead.

"2!!!"

The ready contestants finally finished scrambling into position. Nick at the front with Mezo behind him, back to his back, the cocoon that his arms made housed Eijiro who was peaking out through a slit, wearing the 10 million point headband. The cocoon was between the two of them and Mezo was basically being worn like a backpack with both tendrils and his arms holding him onto Nick. His legs were tucked up against his chest so that Nick was the only person carrying the team.

"1!!!!"

The crowd roared as some stood in excitement.

Teams eyes were staring at both Nick and his teammates as they debated the worth of going after the most powerful contestant and his clearly strong defences or going after smaller teams.

"START!!!" Midnight let out the starting signal with the loud roar of the crowd following her command. Teams sprang into action as everyone started to run around the field.

The ground around Nick exploded as they were sent high into the sky on a pillar that halted most teams. Todoroki's wave of ice crashed into the stone pillar making the ground shake slightly but Nick didn't stumble for a moment.

Hearing the blasting before it even got here Nick saw Sero pulling Bakugo's team up the side of the pillar using Ashido's acid to make the ground slippery enough to slide on. Ojiro was at the ground leading the charge with Bakugo using blast to push them faster but made them shake causing the team to stumble. The people making the horse gritting their teeth but the white rage driving Bakugo also silenced any complaints that they would have made.

Nick standing at the top of the pillar with his teammates on his back and looked down at the rising Bakugo and Todoroki he grinned. Staring down at the remaining teams that saw the three titans clash had decided to fight each other instead. Not getting involved with the battle that had risen into the air.

Seeing Bakugo fly off his horse and rise into the air he twisted his foot and suddenly a wall flew from the pillar along with stone tendrils lashing out towards the boy. The wall cut Sero off from pulling him to safety and the tendrils darted at the ash-haired boy from every angle.

Blasting one of the tendrils away Bakugo knew that if he touched the floor his team would be forced to leave the stage and regroup before joining again. Blasting another tendril to rubble he looked at Nick with a mad grin as if saying, "This all you got?" But the raised eyebrow left him in confusion. He was beating the tendrils why was Nick so confident?

Seeing Bakugo blasting around Nick just shook his head, Bakugo was good yes, but compared to Nejire? He was nothing, he was a bit faster and more unpredictable but his awareness was clouded by rage and his experience in a real fight was basically nothing. He was weak.

The tendrils exploded from the ground expanding into thinner wires that wrapped around Bakugo from behind as he was forced to defend himself from the ones in front of him that grew harder plating that his blasts were not able to penetrate.

"Todoroki is almost here." He heard Mezo who was behind him say. His extra eyes and ears kept a keen awareness of the situation and any possible surprise attacks that could occur during the chaos that was happening.

Nodding his head he simply deconstructed the centre of the pillar as he fell to the ground. His eyes held Bakugo as he got wrapped in stone and slammed into the ground, the pillar suddenly shifted and moved to throw Bakugo's team from where they were standing and forcing them to try and land as they were separated.

Trying his best Sero grabbed his two teammates with tape as he used the pillar to lower them to the ground. Wondering where Bakugo was but the crash next to him quickly answered the question as their teammate was mercilessly thrown into the floor by a tendril of stone. The dust settling to show the boy shakily getting to his feet once more ruined by Nick with seemingly no effort whatsoever.

As they were forced to leave the arena to 'regroup' so that they could enter the game again. Running from the floor as a wave of ice passed through where they had been standing Todoroki's team sliding on skates moved away from Nick's team as the boy single-handedly supported the weight of his team as he slammed into the floor like the fall of a boulder. Cracking the concrete with his impact.

As Todoroki's team was forced to run from the barrage of rocks that attacked them Ida used his engines to force them to run, the skates on their feet from Momo forcing them to go in a straight line with Todoroki's ice making a path on the floor.

Grinning Nick opened up a chasm beneath them. The ice and stone parted as they suddenly were grabbed by tendrils from the depths as they were suddenly and unexpectedly yanked apart from each other and thrown against the walls. Todoroki did his best to flood the pit with ice but his left side was mercilessly attacked and the already freezing chill limited his power. The swift action soon pulled the team apart as they were thrown against the floor and forced to 'regroup' before entering the fray again.

Grinning at the beating of the two biggest teams in less than a minute Nick just cracked his neck, he hadn't even bothered to take their headbands. What was the point? If he wanted to take headbands then only his team would have any points at the end.

"Behind us!" He heard Mezo call out as a dark shadow dashed towards them. Using the shadow of the pillar, ice and pit to increase its power. Seeing this Nick just grinned as he turned to face the beast. It might be a challenge, as far as he was aware dark shadow didn't have any matter to disassemble.

Pulling the ground to follow his command he made a bunch of spikes and launched them at the beast. Shattering the stone against the aggravated mass of shadow. Causing it to flinch. Dashing forward he charged up his right arm and punched it as hard as he could. He felt his muscles explode from the shoulder downwards towards the wrist. For those that had perception enough to keep up being All Might and very few other heroes, they watched the boy's arm ripple like a wave passing under the tearing skin as it reassembled behind the moving wave of black muscle mass.

As the force was delivered Nick bound his legs to the floor, the ground wrapping around his legs and melding his feet with the stone as he grounded himself, letting the force of the punch travel through his body and into the stone that exploded beneath his feet.

The ground cracked as Dark Shadow was sent tumbling over the arena. Seeing Dark Shadow weaken significantly he was confident in the power of the punch. Feeling many other teams try to take advantage of his momentary lack of movement he channeled his quirk into the floor and the stone blew apart shrouding the air in a mist before reassembling into spikes that made the entire arena hostile.

Hearing the explosions of Bakugo joining the fray he grinned. He was enjoying this.

Nick didn't take a single headband but the number of times he beat Bakugo into the ground he was surprised the kid was still standing. Todoroki had some sense, after the third failed plan they actually tried to put together they gave up. Focusing on gaining other points from the weaker teams. Midoriya was able to gather headbands as well despite dark shadow being significantly weakened.

Other teams tried to attack him but soon most did the best they could to not get caught up in the retaliation to Bakugo's insistent attacks. Seeing the kid be forced to leave the arena once more limping as he held his right leg. His team berated him as Sero threatened to tie the menace up he could help but feel good about himself.

He let Mezo shine too, not taking care of every attack so the boy could show his talent. Eijiro couldn't do much but was able to defend against a few attacks that came when Mezo focused on assault.

With the constant battles, Nick was surprised Todoroki wasn't using his fire, in the original he had used it against Midoriya for a brief moment of defence, then again being beaten by Midoriya and he were two very different things. In the face of overwhelming power, what could a bit of heat do?

Jumping high into the air Nick looked down at the battles going on below. Bakugo's rage had become directed at Monoma once more with Tetsutetsu doing well for himself with his versatile team. Seeing that Bakugo had some sense talked into him or was shit talked about enough by Monoma to switch the target of his rage to something beatable.

Crashing into the floor again he made another pillar and standing on the edge of it looked down into the arena. "Mezo, keep your eyes open for any attack but let Eijiro breath a bit." Nick said as he looked down at what was happening.

"Damn, it gets hot in there!" Eijiro said as the arms opened up letting him stand. Mezo moved a bit to try and get comfortable and hold Eijiro steady as the redhead stood on his shoulders.

As the crowd started the 10-second countdown, the intense final scuffles of the last few desperate teams were fiercely intense.

Seeing the time was almost over he watched the last scuffles finish before breaking the pillar apart and letting himself fall to the floor. Holding both of his teammates in stone tendrils as he put them all down safely.

Staring up at the leaderboard he waited for Midnight to call out. "TIMES UP!! Now shall we see who the top 4 really are!" She called causing the crowd to cheer as the board flickered loading the final rankings as she called them.

"In first place completely dominating the beginning was Team Hendrix with a shattering victory!" Her voice was loud as she pointed at the landing trio of winners.

"The second place goes to Team Todoroki after a fierce comeback from there first defeat!" She followed motioning to the boy who just looked away with his teeth clearly clenched.

"Third place goes to team Tets- no wait. Team Shinso… somehow?" her voice mocking confusion, she knew how though as she looked at the smirk Shinso who just smiled at the clearly pissed Tetsutetsu.

"And fourth place is taken by… unexpectedly!" Her voice built tension as she motioned towards the fourth-place participants.

"TEAM BAKUGO! Who despite the rage got mad at something else! With a surprising brutal attack on a previously high ranking team Monoma!"

With that Nick looked over towards Bakugo who was sitting on the floor. Monoma was clearly shocked by whatever had happened. Looking closer at Bakugo he could see that he was covered in wounds and glaring daggers at Nick. Matching the boy's eyes he simply just nodded, knowing it would make the team more furious. Saying a good job after so clearly losing in his eyes.

With all the teams cheering of comforting each other Midoriya was clearly happy with his place in fifth, they had almost come close to third but the hindered dark shadow had made them lose some of their points to a raging Tetsutetsu in the later half of the game.

With the teams slowly filtering out of the ruined arena Nick saw Cementoss approach the stage and look at the pit and broken rubble pillars with a small sigh. Taking pity on the other man Nick disassembled and reassembled most of the stage. Most of the rubble stayed to the side since he wasn't bothered to touch and merge it back into it, leaving only a few easily fixable spots for the man.

Looking at Cementoss he held up a thumbs up to the man who just smiled in thanks before holding a thumbs up back. Grinning at the small interaction for some reason he moved with Mezo and Eijiro who had waited for him out of the main stage and to the back area waiting room once more. Seeing both Midoriya and Bakugo going over to Recovery Girl once again he gave a silent prayer to his mentor.

---

Todoroki the entire time was glaring at Nick before turning to the side, scoffing as he stormed off to another area of the waiting room. He clearly was debating something but decided against it. Nick spent that time making small talk with Mezo to fill in extended silence, the two boys were happy just to sit in silence with each other. Eijiro had gone off to talk to the rest of his friends.

Soon the lunch break was over and everyone was moving back into the stadium, some mumbling about how the positioning would work for the tournament round.

As they made their way forward Midnight yelled, "All right, now I'll determine who fights whom through this lottery. Once the match-ups are decided, we will do a bit of fun recreation, and then we'll commence!" Her voice was cheerful, "and one more note! Since the first place team was only three people, Midoriya the leader of the fifth team will be moving forward."

Just as she was about to continue the blue-haired kid from 1-B that was on Shinso's team spoke up, after his speech about not stepping up since it would defeat the purpose of the sports festival. Sato soon agreed although with some hesitation. Yuga, however, continued onwards, getting some filthy looks from both the crowd and some students.

With that, the positions were offered to two members of the fifth team. Tokoyami instantly won one because of his power and use. With that Hatsume stepped down, already having 'advertised her babies.' Enough, offered the position to Uraraka but after Kendo spoke up about Tetsutetsu the girl agreed and the position was passed on to the metal man.

With that out the way, Nick finally saw how the match had changed up just a bit, with lots soon drawn from the box and with that the screen lit up with the order that things would be going.

The new bracket showing:

1. Midoriya vs Shinso

2. Todoroki vs Sero

3. Kaminari vs Hendrix

4. Yuga vs Ashido

5. Momo vs Tokoyami

6. Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima

7. Shoji vs Ojiro

8. Bakugo vs Ida

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Finally managed to finish the chapter for today. Got time to just sit down. Finishing the second round! Let me know what you think! It was really fun to write and I can't wait to get onto some of the bracket fights, I am thinking I will just glance over the canon ones that wouldn't have changed much. But some are now different with the changing of positions and teams. Still wanted to keep Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima though because eh.

Thanks for all the support! It really helps me keep on writing! Please leave reviews and comments with any advice or ideas that you have! I will do my best to respond tomorrow, however I am tired so I am going to bed now. Thanks once again!