#something something honenuki traps the villains in quicksand

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

And into the cavalry battle we go! Can’t believe this is gonna take three whole chapters to get through… sports festival feels way too long already, man, and I’m only a handful of chapters into it...

[No. 28 - Strats, Strats, Strats]

We start off with Shouto speaking to his team, explaining that he chose them in order to make the most stable formation. Kaminari will guard the left and keep people away with his electricity. Yaomomo takes the right, makes the insulator, and shields and supplements their movements. Tenya takes the lead, since his mobility and physical stature make for good defense. 

One of them (I think Tenya?) asks if Shouto will hold people off with his ice and fire. Shouto doesn’t reply right away, instead looking over to the stands - more specifically, towards where Endeavor is watching from. He tells them no, in battle, he refuses to use his left side.

Huh, they do have the same eyes here. Wind dude kind of has a point. 

As the teams stand along the outside of the perimeter of the battle arena, Present Mic does a final, rhetorical check to make sure the teams are formed and are ready to go, then announces the start of the countdown to the battle royale. We jump around a bit as the countdown is given: Monoma tells Tetsu^4 no hard feelings, which Tetsu returns. Toshinori watches on from the stands. 

We see team Bakugou and team Todoroki in formation and ready to go, both of them focused on a single target. Izuku himself has gotten over most of his nerves and now is focused on the moment. All of them have their point totals given and also broken down by members of the team, in case you weren’t able to do the math yourself from the previous chapters. 

Since Hori is giving the team point breakdowns for our three main teams anyways, this is where I want to insert the team and point totals for all the teams, from most to least points on the headbands:

Team Midoriya [10,000,325 P]: Midoriya [10M] + Uraraka [135] + Tokoyami [180] + Hatsume [10]

Team Tetsutetsu [705 P]: Tetsutetsu [165] + Honenuki [190] + Awase [155] + Shiozaki [195]

Team Bakugou [665 P]: Bakugou [200] + Kirishima [170] + Ashido [120] + Sero [175]

Team Todoroki [615 P]: Todoroki [205] + Iida [185] + Yaoyorozu [130] + Kaminari [95]

Team Mineta [420 P]: Mineta [125] + Shouji [145] + Asui [150]

Team Hagakure [330 P]: Hagakure [25] + Jirou [110] + Satou [140] + Kouda [115]

Team Monoma [305 P]: Monoma [35] + Tsuburaba [100] + Kuroiro [65] + Kaibara [105]

Team Shinsou [295 P]: Shinsou [80] + Ojiro [160] + Shouda [50] + Aoyama [5]

Team Kendo [225 P]: Kendo [75] + Tokage [20] + Komori [45] + Yanagi [85]

Team Kodai [165 P]: Kodai [60] + Bondo [90] + Fukidashi [15]

Team Rin [125 P]: Rin [55] + Shishida [70]

Team Tsunotori [70 P]: Tsunotori [30] + Kamakiri [40]

Have fun keeping track of points in the canon event, or mix stuff up for your own teams if you wanna do alt teams or whatever. Anywho, moving on, as Mic announces the start of the match.

And of course, it’s no surprise that several of the teams immediately rush Izuku’s team, even though I feel like it makes way more sense for them to hang back and wait until there’s only a few minutes left in order to actually take the points. But I suppose competitiveness and all that. More specifically, it’s team Tetsu^4 and team Hagakure after team Midoriya first.

Tetsu is the first to acknowledge (loudly) that the whole match is really a fight for the ten million, and everyone knows it. Hagakure herself is just eager to be going after Izuku, which is inch resting. Competitive, she do be. 

Tokoyami notes the two teams incoming and ready to attack, and checks with Izuku (in his own way) what their response will be. While the girls are a bit in wonder at Tokoyami’s choice of words, Izuku says that of course they’ll be running away. Honenuki, no doubt hearing this, attempts to prevent them from moving by causing the ground under them to soften into a gloop that they start to sink into. 

Oh no, quicksand! Too bad it’s not movie quicksand. Izuku quickly realizes whose quirk it is (I think) and tells Ochako and Mei to turn away for a second. Then, once they do, he turns on the jetpack, and they all go flying up and out of the pit trap and over the heads of the teams going after them. Tetsu realizes that the support girl must have provided the tools for flying, still focused on going after them. Hagakure calls for Jirou to try and stop them, with Jirou sending out her earjacks to try and keep them from getting away - only for Dark Shadow to smack away the jacks, allowing team Midoriya to make a clean escape.

Tokoyami tells Dark Shadow well done, and to cover the teams’ blind spots. Dark Shadow accepts the task with great enthusiasm, twisting around to watch behind all of them. Izuku takes a moment to gush over Tokoyami’s quirk, talking about how its defensive power was just what they needed, and how now the team is covered at midrange from every direction. Tokoyami is the one to point out how Izuku is the one who chose him. 

Ochako gives her team warning before they land, with her boots (from Mei) being the first to hit the ground with a poof of dust blown away from her landing site. Mei asks how Izuku is liking her babies, bragging about how cute they are and how she made them that way. Izuku complements the mobility they’re giving the team and Mei’s work in general, leading to her gushing more. Meanwhile, Izuku reveals in his thoughts that Ochako had made everyone except herself weightless, so that all the weight that’s being carried is her plus their clothes and equipment. 

Ochako, meanwhile, is a bit put out that Izuku hasn’t gushed over her part in all this, because the only part he gushed over her about was internal. Izuku, you should have complemented her work out loud as well, you dummy.

Team Hagakure prepares themselves to go after Izuku again, only for Sato to notice something important - the headband she was wearing is gone! Hagakure is shocked and freaked out, trying to figure out when and how it happened. Meanwhile, Monoma and his team are heading away, Monoma spinning said headband around his finger as he says to consider him an opportunist. 

We get a bit of an overhead view of a number of the teams running around the battlefield (which was very helpful in putting together the team listings). Present Mic states that two minutes have just passed, but the battlefield is already chaotic. Everyone’s scrambling for headbands, but there isn’t just the ten million out there! Other high rankers are also worth a shot as well. 

Just as an overview here, we see team Tetsu^4 and team Hagakure are still going after team Midoriya, with Shouji just there in the corner of the textbox approaching from behind as well. Teams Rin and Shinsou are rushing at each other, as are team Todoroki and team Kendo. Team Mindoriya, meanwhile, just seems to be trying to get out of the way on foot.

Shouji (or is it Mineta hiding inside the ‘bunker’ made by Shouji’s dupliarms?) laughs a bit, saying how this isn’t a scramble, but a one-sided massacre. Yeah, in retrospect, that sounds way more like Mineta. But also, Izuku thinking Shouji’s alone, even though this event is a cavalry battle, so maybe it was him? Eh, whatever. Tokoyami notes that they have to keep their distance, since fighting multiple foes is a bad idea. However, that plan goes a bit awry when Ochako steps on what turns out to be one of Mineta’s quirk balls, causing her to become stuck in place. Izuku quickly tries to determine where Mineta is, only to be surprised when he sees Mineta hiding inside Shouji’s dupliarm bunker. 

Someone (maybe Ochako?) asks if that’s legal, which Midnight confirms it is. As if that’s not enough, Tsuyu, also on Shouji’s back, lashes out with her tongue, just missing both Izuku and Tetsu thanks to their timely dodges. As she retracts her tongue, she complements Izuku’s dodging; Izuku wonders how many people Shouji has hiding on his back. 

Tsuyu quickly reminds Izuku to use her first name, but probably isn’t heard since team Midoriya make a strategic retreat back into the sky - breaking one of the hoverboots in the process, unfortunately. Present Mic comments on how team Mineta using the size difference of its members to form what can be more considered a tank than anything. Mei is distressed at the destruction of her baby, with Ochako apologizing but noting that they got away.

Too bad someone was prepared for their second takeoff, and really, really wants those points.

Izuku: Oh fuck I’m gonna die.

Katsuki, looking pretty gremlin-y, as per the norm, yells how Izuku is getting pretty damn full of himself (which is hilarious in its irony.) Izuku quickly calls for Tokoyami to react, and Dark Shadow takes the explosive blow meant for Izuku despite the massive discomfort in its expression. Katsuki is confused, but has no time to make a second attempt, as Sero tossed his tape and latches onto him, pulling him right back into the waiting arms of his team. 

Present Mic wonders whether leaving one’s unit is allowed, which Midnight confirms is allowed on a technicality - aka his feet didn’t touch the ground. In the staff booth, Death Arms comments on how those class A kids sure are something else. In the crowds, people comment on how it’s fun to watch, what with all the flashy moves, and that it’s just the level the kids are at after fighting real villains. 

Present Mic cuts back with with more commentary, stating how both the doggedly pursued first place team and the determined pursuers from class A are nothing to sneeze at. He then draws attention to the current standings, asking rhetorically how said teams are doing after seven minutes of play. There’s a moment of silence, the crowds and the two in the announcement booth shocked as they actually register the standings.

Why, it looks like almost all the points are being held by teams from class 1b! What a plot twist!

Monoma sweeps by, grabbing the headband right off of Katsuki, as he comments on how it’s too simple, really. Katsuki demands the head back back, threatening Monoma with death, while Mina comments on how easily he caught them by surprise. 

Monoma goes into a bit of a monologue on how Midnight’s announcement of the first event made it obvious that the number of participants wouldn’t be thinned that much in a preliminary. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine that a good number of students would be advancing to the next event - around forty or so. It was really the perfect opportunity to hold back and observe their soon-to-be-rivals’ quirks and tendencies, so it was only fair they ended up placing more modestly. 

Kirishima asks if the whole class was in on it. Monoma says that no, not everyone was, but it wouldn’t have been a bad idea, instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a horse going for a dangling carrot. Meanwhile, team Bondo approaching as well. How is Katsuki taking all this?

Not great. And of course, because Monoma has no chill, he turns back to give Katsuki a mocking look, commenting on how Katsuki’s already a celebrity - the victim of the sludge incident! He’ll have to ask sometime, how does it feel to be attacked by villains on an annual basis?

RIP Monoma, you fucking dead. Katsuki tells Kirishima there’s a change of plan. As Monoma glances back at him curiously, we see that Katsuki has gone completely feral and around the bend, and is probably actually going to murder a man by the end of this. Katsuki’s plan? Before going after Deku, he’s gonna murder every last member of Monoma’s team.

Izuku, apparently overhearing Monoma’s monologue, notes how class 1b threw the qualifiers and planned for the long game. Even before the sports festival, he had the impression that they were stronger than they seemed, and that they want to end class 1a’s supremacy. On the other hand, because of that, they aren’t quite so deadset on targeting Izuku. 

Izuku starts to talk to his team about how it shouldn’t be too hard to evade - only to be cut off both physically and verbally by team Todoroki getting in front of them. As Present Mic announces the match being halfway over already, Izuku takes a deep breath and recenters himself, stating how it won’t be quite that easy. Shouto states kind of menacingly that they’re coming for him; other teams are shown briefly reaction to the loss of points in their own ways. 

We close out on Present Mic noting that class B is on the rise, but in the end, who will wear the ten million point crown?

Anywho, glad to finally have that chapter done, even if there’s still two more before we get through this second event and finally move on to the finals. At the least, this sports festival stuff has actually gotten me thinking about the reasoning behind the decisions made for the entrance exam and sports festival, which I will probably end up making posts for after this arc is over.

See y’all next time! Character sheet will be up in just a moment.