Tsuyu stared at the plethora of villains. The villains stared back. Tsuyu focused on a particularly snake-like villain, who stared at her. The two remained unmoving until the villain looked away. Tsuyu allowed herself a small smile. "Midoriya-chan," she said, turning back to Uraraka and Midoriya, who were discussing something, "The villains aren't doing anything."

"They- er- they aren't?" Midoriya asked, looking over the railing on the ship.

"If I may make a guess," Tsuyu continued, putting a finger on her cheek in thought, "I would say that they don't actually know what our Quirks are or what they do. After all, if their purpose was to kill me, why would they put me in the watery area?" Tsuyu pointed at the domed building covered in flame decals. "My Quirk gives me the strengths and weaknesses of a frog, so I'm more at a disadvantage in hot areas because I dry out."

"Hey, yeah..." Uraraka said. Making a fist, she shattered one of the windows (Tsuyu was happy to see that her hand was gloved) and grabbed one of the shards of glass. "Here, my Quirk removes gravity from an object. If what you're saying is right, Tsuyu-hon..." Uraraka then touched the glass with her fingertips, making it float. She then sent it over the water and released it. Tsuyu, Uraraka, and Midoriya watched as a couple villains swam a few centimeters further than they would need to for an ordinary shard of glass.

"So, they don't know our Quirks." Tsuyu nodded. "But then again, we don't know Midoriya-chan's Quirk either, do we?" She turned to Midoriya, who immediately began visibly sweating.

"M-Me?" He stammered, suddenly looking like he would rather be in the water still, "Y-You know my Quirk, Asui-"

"Tsuyu, kero."

"...R-Right, Tsuyu-san. Uh, y-you heard Aizawa-sensei, it's a reactive Quirk that gives me powers as I need them." Midoriya explained, shifting his eyes away from her. Interesting.

"Like the strings, Midoriya-chan?" Tsuyu asked, and Midoriya flinched. Very interesting. "I've seen you make those strings, Midoriya-chan, and I know that those aren't part of a momentum-based Quirk, like your speed or your kinetic energy. And if it were a reactive Quirk, why didn't it keep your outfit from getting incinerated?"

"Hey, that makes sense!" Uraraka said in an epiphanic tone, "You had that really strong string back in the entrance exam, too, but you didn't have that really good speed!" Oh, so they were exam mates. Tsuyu wondered who else was in their arena - she only recognized Kaminari from hers.

Midoriya started to tremble. "I-I-"

"Man, I'm tired of waiting!" Shouted someone from the water, and suddenly an enormous blade of water cut into the ship. The ship began to rumble as it slowly started sinking.

"Shit!" Midoriya swore, and Tsuyu felt her eyebrows rise into her hair. She didn't know that he swore. "Tsuyu-san, Uraraka-san, I promise I'll tell you guys about it afterwards, but right now, we have a huge problem! Unless we do something now, we're really gonna be in trouble! Uraraka-san, your Quirk is low gravity, right?"

"Zero gravity, actually," Uraraka replied, "But virtually the same, yes!"

"Alright... Then..." Midoriya proceeded to grab a shattered board and just managed to rip it out of the floor. Tsuyu felt impressed. "I have an idea!"

Within minutes (it was lucky the ship was sinking so slowly), there was a huge pile of debris and miscellaneous objects like bottles and lamps from the interior of the ship. Midoriya, working quickly, generated some string from his hands and loosely tied the objects into a huge ball.

"Alright, Uraraka-san's gonna float me and the ball into the air, and the moment that she releases her Quirk, I'll use my kinetic energy ability to spike it into the water. If I'm right, not only will the ball explode like a shrapnel grenade, it'll create a whirlpool that'll suck them in, with the string naturally tangling them up like seaweed at a beach!"

"Interesting..." Tsuyu said, "But what about us? Won't we be trapped in the pull as well?"

"Not exactly..." Midoriya turned to her, "Because that's where you come in! The water is your territory, and if you're able to grab me with your tongue and leap far enough away from the whirlpool, and we can just swim to safety!"

"I see..." Tsuyu nodded. Made sense. "But what if it doesn't work?"

"..." Midoriya looked like he wanted to say something, but he looked like he was physically holding himself back. Tsuyu didn't need him to, though - she fully understood the risk.

"Very well," Tsuyu said. She then coughed up some mucus and spit on the string, to Midoriya's slight disgust. "My mucus is slightly toxic. Not enough to kill, but enough for a light stinging sensation. It'll help distract them a little, I think."

"Uh... Thanks." Midoriya said. He turned to Uraraka. "Ready?"

Uraraka cracked her knuckles. "As I'll ever be." She touched the ball with her fingers, then Midoriya, floating them both up. "Although, Tsuyu-chan," She said after a minute, "I do worry what'll happen if this doesn't work."

"The villains seem pretty confused, though, so we're good on that end." Tsuyu said. Seeing Midoriya's wave, Tsuyu said, "Go."

"Release!" Uraraka whispered, turning off her Quirk, "I hope this works. I have someone I'd like to take to dinner."

"Oh?" Tsuyu said, grabbing Uraraka around the waist and preparing to jump. "Perhaps Midoriya-chan?"

"What?! N-No, I m-"

"COMET..." Came a loud scream, "SPIIIIKE!" And with that, the ball exploded into the water with extreme prejudice.

"There it is." Tsuyu jumped, holding the gobsmacked Uraraka in her arms and shooting her tongue with pinpoint accuracy, wrapping it around Midoriya's waist. Flinging him towards the other side of the ship, where there were the fewest currents, Tsuyu could only think about how cool that whole thing was.


"Fuck! Why the hell do these strings sting so much?! It's like we're in the middle of a bunch of jellyfish!"

"Ow- What the- Is this glass?! Are you kidding me?! This really isn't worth it! I'm out! I'm done!"


Toshinori gave a forced smile as Principal Nedzu continued to talk and talk and talk. He loved the administrator like one would a pet dog (if their pet dog were also potentially a small bear or a large rat (or maybe a stoat?)), but goodness him, he had a class to get to. Speaking of...

It really is odd that Aizawa has yet to contact me... Toshinori thought, Considering he is the one who gave me a cell phone in the first place... Not to mention, Hirooki has yet to call me either... Just what is going on...

Suddenly, the door slammed open. "Pardon me for intruding!" Shouted a particularly out-of-breath Iida Tenya, still in his hero costume. Were they back already? "But All Might-san! Principal Nedzu-san! There's huge trouble!"

"Calm down, young Iida," Principal Nedzu said, hopping off the couch, "What seems to be the matter?"

"Villains!" Iida Tenya shouted, causing Toshinori and Principal Nedzu to freeze. "They've invaded USJ! They've taken out Number Thirteen-san, and Aizawa-sensei is currently fighting them off! There's almost a hundred villains there, and they've blocked off all communication! The rest of my class is also trapped in USJ, and they sent me due to my Quirk being the best for marathon running!"

"Even counting young Midoriya?"

Iida Tenya shook his head, "One of the villains has a warping Quirk that allowed him to scatter us like sand in the wind! I was the nearest to the door, and I am unsure as to where in USJ Midoriya-san is!"

"Oh dear..." Principal Nedzu said, "This is extremely serious, young Iida." He turned to Toshinori. "All Might, you go on ahead. Either capture them or simply stall their departure; so long as you buy us time, you can do whatever you wish. Young Iida."

"Principal!"

"Come with me." Principal Nedzu left the room, with Iida Tenya following him. "We're going to raise the alarm."


Fumikage watched in frozen horror as Dark Shadow leaped at Hagakure's location. That horror turned to relief as Dark Shadow missed Hagakure's rain-soaked outline by a good hair and smashed a building behind her, burying a villain under rubble.

"Oh... Wow..." Hagakure said, probably awestruck.

"I-I do apologize-"

"Cool!"

What.

"That was awesome, Tokoyami! I didn't know you could make Dark Shadow do that! Your control must be really precise!"

What.

"It's power and speed and precision are so good! What's it's range, then? It's strong, so it's gotta be a close-range type, right? Is its staying power any good? It's probably a B if it's so strong. Oh, but what about its developmental potential? Is it-"

"Hagakure-san!" Fumikage interrupted her, throwing a rock at a Villain with distinct toad-like properties, "This is truly not the time for this! I need to tell you something about my Quirk, but first we must remove ourselves from this situation!"

"Pfft, easy!" Hagakure said in a teasing manner. With almost no effort, she picked up Fumikage in a bridal carry, to his shock and Dark Shadow's amusement. "Get outta the way!" She shouted, barreling down an alleyway past the buried (yet still alive, if the moans meant anything) villain.

As they made their way through the rainy city, Fumikage extrapolated. "You see, my Quirk is more of a curse than anything, a demonic possession-"

"An evil spirit that yet stands beside and fights for and with you?" Hagakure interrupted, clearly amused. "Hm, left or right?"

"Left." They continued running. "You are partially correct- that is how he acts in the sunlight, when shadows are at their weakest. However, in the umbral abyss of darkness, he becomes a raging demon on par with the fiercest of daitengu, the wildest of yamanba, and the most savage of all the rakshasa in the hell of needles! It is in this lightless oblivion that he controls me, not the other way around!"

"So, why not walk the road of twilight?" Hagakure asked. "Also, do we risk going through the door and coming out the other side, or do we make this upcoming right?"

"Right, there may be some villains lying in wait in the buildings."

"Good plan."

"Now, Hagakure-san, I must ask you to keep this most darkest of secrets, as I fear what this information could do in the hands of, say, Bakugou-"

"Man, no one likes him, huh? I think he's kinda hot."

"What-"

"Hot-tempered, that is! Ahaha, got ya! But yeah, my lips are sealed."

"You are an imp, do you know that? Make this left. Also, what did you mean by 'road of twilight'?"

"Oh, man. So, there's this kid named Sora, right? And he's just an island boy who dreams of adventure..."


Shigaraki Tomura watched as his mook party members struggled against the midboss. Really, he didn't know why he thought this would go as he planned out. It was simple. Stupidly simple. Mind-numbly simple! And yet, it all went wrong the minute All Might didn't show up.

That stupid All Might! He should have just waited. Time-sensitive events were the worst, he knew, but today he was reminded that escort missions were even worse than that, because some of the party members were getting antsy over the fact that they couldn't kill the generics, and then All Might wasn't even there in the first place, and-and-

Tomura scratched his neck hard, taking off some dried-up skin. The Noumu behind him watched him. At least they still had their max-level dps-tank hybrid. He really would have to thank Sensei for the great gift of this Noumu, because apparently some of his higher-level units were complete nimrods, if that gigantic glacier, those explosions, that huge Discharge attack, the calls for backup from the fire zone, the huge geyser from the shipwreck zone, and even the fight before him was any indication.

How hard was it to kill a bunch of kids so weak they didn't even constitute as Stage One Midbosses?!

Tomura continued to scratch and gritted his teeth and growled and stared at the scene and - hold on.

There was a pattern.

He still had a chance.

He grinned and stopped scratching.

At once, Eraserhead was before him. Tomura reached out to him and watched as his hand came in contact with Eraserhead's neck. Just as he predicted, Eraserhead's hair swept up in a sort of phantom force as his Quirk failed to activate.

"I see... So I was right..." Tomura chuckled and his grin grew wider. Eraserhead ripped Tomura's hand off and the two began to trade blows. "Eraserhead, your goggles... You pride yourself on them, hm~? They're used to hide where you're looking, so you can handle crowds easier, ri~ght?"

"...What are you getting at?" Eraserhead growled.

"I'm saying, you can't be keeping eye contact at all times. There have to be times where you blink." Eraserhead tsked. Perfect. "Those intervals are when your Quirk stops working, and your hair flops back down. And that interval..." Tomura grabbed the bindings flying around them and disintegrated them the moment Eraserhead blinked. "Has been steadily increasing for the past few minutes!"

Eraserhead swore and kicked some dirt up. Tomura couldn't see clearly, but he could make out a huge figure leap in front of him. Excellent.

The dirt settled, and Eraserhead found himself staring up at a massive behemoth of a monster.

"Say hello..." Tomura paused, and grinned through Father, "To Noumu."


Ochako was carried up to shore, totally soaked. Looking to her right, she saw that Tsuyu and Midoriya had also made it. Looking back, she saw that the villains were all fighting the waves and entangled in string, and the ones that weren't were trying to keep their brethren from sinking after getting knocked out by debris. She gave a relieved sigh; they had won this one.

Then she looked down at her hand and found it grabbing Tsuyu's shirt in a very risque manner. She immediately let go, blushing extremely heavily.

"We don't talk about this?" Ochako whispered to Tsuyu.

"Sure, kero." Tsuyu replied. If Ochako didn't know better, she'd say that Tsuyu was amused.

Midoriya made it to shore, finally. He coughed up some water and kneeled in the shallows. Looking forward, he gasped in shock. "Guys, get down!" He yell-whispered, and the three sank so that they were stomach-level in the water. Ochako followed Midoriya's gaze, and gasped at the sight.

The giant monster was pinning Aizawa-sensei down, face first in the concrete.

"Pitiful," Said the periwinkle-haired man standing above him, "And you call yourself a hero? It took me seconds to figure out how to defeat you. A waste of a midboss, I'd say."

"Shigaraki Tomura." Said Kurogiri, materializing behind Shigaraki Tomura. Ochako blinked, shocked by his sudden appearance. "I deeply apologize, but a student has escaped."

"...What?" Shigaraki said in a dangerous tone that put Ochako's skin on edge.

Apparently Kurogiri either had gold balls or was more powerful than he appeared, as he continued without hesitation. "One of the faster students managed to escape my grasp." Ochako sighed in relief - that was clearly Iida. "I have taken out Number 13-" She heard Midoriya let out a horrified gasp. "But I was held back by a combination of four other students-"

What her classmates did, exactly, Ochako didn't hear, because Shigaraki had grabbed the metal plate holding Kurogiri together and brought him close to his face. Ochako noted that he had his pinky out, like she did sometimes. That probably meant his Quirk required all five fingers to activate.

"You let." Shigaraki gritted out. "One of those mooks. Escape?!"

"Shigaraki Tomura," Kurogiri said, "You know very well that if you dispose of me, you will be easily captured, Noumu or not. Let me go this instant."

"You... You...! " Shigaraki growled, and threw Kurogiri back a few centimeters. "Mrgrgrgrgrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" He began to scratch furiously at his neck with both hands. "Are you kidding me?! This is game over! Reinforcements will arrive, and half of our units are down! The one cleric I brought is OOC, and none of my strats will work because they have Snipe, and Ectoplasm, and Midnight, and Present Mic, and Recovery Girl, and that fucking Principal! AaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Suddenly, as easily as it started, it stopped. Shigaraki Tomura was totally calm. "I guess it's fine," He said in an eerie monotone, "If it truly is game over, then we might as well go out in style. And let's start..."

Ochako blinked, and Shigaraki was gone.

A small "kero?" was heard, and Ochako turned to Ts

She froze.

Shigaraki Tomura was right there.

"...With killing this Golden Slime right here."

Uraraka Ochako didn't know what, exactly, Shigaraki Tomura's Quirk was, but if he was this fast, and if her hunch was correct in that he only needed to touch his victims, then things just took the worst possible turn.

With one fluid motion, Shigaraki grabbed Tsuyu's face.

Nothing happened.

"...What?" Shigaraki said. Slowly, he turned around. Ochako followed his gaze, and saw that Aizawa-sensei, despite all odds, was gazing at Shigaraki with his Quirk active, nullifying whatever the hell Shigaraki's Quirk was.

"Are you still alive?" Shigaraki said in an exasperated monotone as he dropped Tsuyu unceremoniously in the water. "Noumu?"

With not even a sound, Noumu crushed Aizawa-sensei's face into the ground.

Shigaraki turned back around. "Let's try this again."

"Y-" Suddenly, Midoriya jumped out of the water. "You get away from her!" He shouted, throwing a fist at Shigaraki. Ochako instantly knew what Midoriya was trying to do: his kinetic energy thing that he had been using since before the school year! This was sure to-

Midoriya's fist met a wall of organic black-blue, like one would find on an infected wound. Surprisingly, it remained in place, despite taking the whole punch.

It was Noumu.

Noumu took Midoriya's face, and in its gigantic hand, Midoriya's entire head was engulfed in its grip.

"I am getting..." Shigaraki droned in an icy fury, "Pretty fucking sick and tired of you kids. Noumu..."

Noumu's grip tightened, and Midoriya's body went frighteningly still. Ochako felt a pit grow in her stomach.

"Crush."

Suddenly, at that exact moment, the doors to the USJ exploded, drawing Ochako, Tsuyu, Kurogiri, Shigaraki, everyone's attention due to the echoing sound.

There, in the afternoon light, stood the silhouette of All Might.

"Ah, All Might, then..." Shigaraki mumbled, "Looks like death shall not be taking me after all... What a great NG+..."

Ochako almost didn't pay attention to that - her attention was drawn to the scariest sight she had ever seen in her entire life, bar none.

All Might's complete and utter lack of a smile.