Heroes Never Die It's Hero Time

by CreateGunner1209

One would think that in a world where everyday people possess impossible abilities nothing would really be a surprise. Izuku Midoriya, who upon the age of four was diagnosed as quirkless, was denied of his dream of become a hero that can save everyone with a smile. But fate gives him a chance; allowing him access not to one but a universe of powers and abilities.

54. Ch:49 Fun Guys

*No time to talk! Let's read! Oh, also there's a new piece of artwork!

***New artwork by "Voidv25" on Deviant art called "Henzu(Monster)" it's great! Finally you guys will have a full on visual and image of what Henzu A.K.A. Nue looks like! Woah! I worked closely with Voidv25 on this one, even provided my own draft of Henzu as reference. So what you see is how I imagined Henzu to look like.

This story has a TV Tropes page so feel free to check it out.

Disclaimer I do not own the rights to Ben 10 or MHA.

*Warning!* Some creative liberties were taken in reference for one of the characters in this chapter. I will explain more in the ending Author's Note.

---

Ch.49 Fun Guys

"Ha! See! I told you that'd be fun!" Hisashi Midoriya laughs as he strolls over towards the Rustbucket, as a large old cabin that was converted into a tourist trap sits behind him.

In his hand, he's holding a pair of t-shirts: an orange shirt with a puma and a purple shirt with a panther on it.

They're the exact same shirt but either way he clearly couldn't pick which one looked better, so he bought both.

Izuku Midoriya eyes the tourist trap warily gripping the rim of his hoodie while also adjusting his new cap over his head. "I don't know. That place was clearly a scam."

Izuku also didn't like the way that old man was playing off such fake-monster attractions as real. Come on a pre-teen wolf boy? Right. That was just a poor kid wearing a wolf costume and fake fangs and ears. Although the girl in the colorful sweater was nice, albeit she was kinda too much.

"Those weird exhibits also gave me the creeps." Izuku admits with a shiver. "Not to mention everything in the gift shop was way overpriced." He swears the so-called "Man of Mystery" was adding zeros to every price tag whenever no one was looking.

"Yet you still got that hat." Hisashi points out.

Izuku frowns before pulling off the hat and examining it. It's a blue and white hat with a blue brim and a dark blue pine tree embodied on the front. "Well, it caught my eye."

Though he actually wanted that strange looking journal with a golden handprint on it but, again, that old man kept jacking up the price so Izuku turned away.

Hisashi enters the Rustbucket first, tossing the shirts aside to shove away later. "Chop! How's our guest doing this fine morning?"

Chopper spins around. ^Bo-wap.^ He beeps slowly and slowly like he's frustrated and defeated.

The response causes Hisashi to frown. And upon seeing his face Izuku frowns worriedly in response as well.

Chopper wheels to the side, revealing Kraab's severed head laying on the floor.

"Don't you posers listen?" Kraab asks sarcastically. "I told ya already, you won't get anything out of me!"

Izuku glares, he can't help but compare this kind of situation to those he has with Argit. "You know, we can always do a little more…aggressive tactics."

Kraab out right laughs at the notion! "Hahaha! Right, like a baby-faced brat like you is capable of being a hardcore badass."

Izuku pouts, his baby face becoming more exaggerated as a result. "Hey, I can be…badass."

"Right, and I can touch my toes." Kraab chides.

Izuku winces in pain, his pride taking a heavy hit.

^Bzzz wo.^ Chopper adds in a mocking manner.

Kraab lets out a hearty laugh! "Hahahaha! You said it!."

^Wap wap!^

"Hahaha! Right! The only thing badass about him is his looks! Oh wait, no that's only when he's transformed! Haha!"

^Wa Wa Wa Wa!^ Chopper's whole-body shakes as he laughs aloud with his fellow machine.

"No kidding! His Galvian form is more intimidating than him! Ha!"

^Wa Bz-bop!^

"Hahaha! He is a sad sack of nerves! Hahaha!"

"Don't become friends at my expense!" Izuku snaps. "And how did you know I could transform?" He eyes down at Kraab with a very suspicious glare. "You really are after the Omnitrix?"

Kraab blinks, confused. "What? Oh, that thing?" He eyes the watch curiously. "Ha, yeah, I bet I could cash it in big time. But hey, like I've said, I don't know." Memory erased and all that.

Izuku isn't buying it, this is all just way too sus. "Then how'd you know about what it could do?"

"Oh, he told me." Kraab answers all casually as he tries to gesture towards Chopper.

Chopper gives the Midoriyas a shrug of his mechanical limbs. He couldn't help getting dragged into a conversation with the alien.

Izuku nearly tumbles over at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. "You were supposed to interrogate him, not talk to him!"

Hisashi let's out a good-natured laugh as he takes the driver's seat. "Hahaha! This is going to be a lot more fun than I thought."

^Wop wop.^

"Hahaha!" Kraab laughs! "A stand of broccoli is way scarier than him!"

Izuku scowls, annoyed and irritated. "Okay. We get it."

Hisashi sweatdrops. "Yeah, way more fun…maybe?"

---

Hisashi sets the Rustbucket to park as he gazes out the windshield with a smile! "We're here!"

"Yo, keep it down!" Kraab wines from atop the table. "Not everyone here enjoys the sound of your voice, kay?"

"Harsh!"

At the same time, Izuku hops out of the RV only to immediately deflate as his shoes hit the dirt and leaves littering the forested ground. "We're…camping again?"

"You bet!" Hisashi cheers, stepping out behind him. "Yesterday was just a one day stop. Here's where I really wanted to be! Welcome to Camp Opinicon of Felucia National Park!"

Felucia National Park is a vast range of wilderness found within a small mountain range. It's known for its treacherous terrain, caves, and thick woodlands.

As for Camp Opinicon it's a relatively newly made campground that's been equipped with any and all activities one could find when outdoors. Just from the campsite Izuku can make out a climbing wall, a lake, an archery range, a playground, and a massive lodge. And of course the place is swarming with campers. Each and every one of them making full use of what the campground and the National Forest have to offer.

"This is going to be great!" Hisashi cheers! "There's so much to do here! I don't know where we should start."

From within the RV, Kraab cried out in outrage! "Hey! What about us?!" He is of course referring to himself and Chopper.

"You two stay here. And be sure to behave yourselves, alright?"

^Bz-bop!^

"Yeah, what he said! Don't just lock us away! This is discrimination against all machines!"

Hisashi snaps, yelling out! "You're a cyborg! And a criminal!"

"So?!"

Izuku sweatdrops watching this all go down with an awkward smile. His breath hitches as the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Izuku quickly spins around towards the thick woodlands nearby. For a brief moment there it felt like…he was being watched?

He scans the tree line, but nothing stands out to him. Nothing at all but the dark forest floor.

And so with no signs of anything strange Izuku heads off to set up their campsite.

"Grh grh grh…" A quiet low growl hisses from within the darkness as a pair of green eyes illuminate within the depths. "Cghghghghhrrr…"

---

The Midoriyas go about their day trying out everything Camp Opinicon has to offer; starting with archery.

Izuku grips the bow tightly, slowly taking aim at the target that's been taped to the side of a haystack. Slowly Izuku takes a steady breath and upon exhaling, he releases the arrow.

*Shink!*

And with just one try he nails a bullseye!

Hisashi blinks, stunned and amazed all at once. "Nice shot, Champ."

"Thanks." Izuku bushes. "But I think I'm just lucky."

He grabs the next arrow, aims, exhales, and shoots.

A near perfect bullseye.

Hisashi's eyes widen in shock! "Then that's one hell of a lucky shot."

---

"Wah!" Grey Matter's hand nearly slips off the cliff face as a fierce wind rushes by.

Gritting his teeth Grey Matter leaps to the next outcrop, gripping the rock tightly as he pulls himself up. He breathes heavily, refusing to gaze down the cliff and to what could only be his impending doom. "I won't give up here. I will conquer this summit and take my rightful place in history!"

And so with determination in his heart Grey Matter continues his climb up towards the heavens!

Hisashi, however, is very confused. "Um, Izuku… It's just a climbing wall. It only has a Class of 5.2." I.E. super easy.

Like for real, Grey Matter isn't even that high up; he's actually at eye level with Hisashi who's been spotting the little alien from the ground.

Either way, Grey Matter's too immersed in his own delusion to listen! "I won't die here! I will prove to the world my glorious victory over nature!"

Hisashi sighs, accepting it. "Well…at least he's having fun." Or at least he hopes so.

---

"There we go." Hisashi sits back, tucking away the woodcarving as he admires his handy work.

After signing up Izuku and himself for a wood carving lesson they were finally allowed to make their own carvings. And Hisashi made a moose. "Ah, so, peaceful. So relaxing."

Who knew woodcarving could give someone such peace of mind?

*RRRRRRRRR!*

Hisashi jolts up, startled, at what sounds like the buzz of a chainsaw!

But it's no chainsaw, instead XLR8 is spinning round a large log like he's Taz the Tasmanian Devil. Spinning around and around as wood shavings and sawdust fly through the air.

"Phew! Finish!" XLR8 declares with pride!

In place of the log now stands a very tall wooden bear statue! The bear stands on its hind legs at about the same height as Izuku himself.

XLR8 spins around, presenting his masterpiece! "Ta-da!"

Hisashi lights up, his eyes dazzling in awe. "Amazing! Such talent!"

"Thanks." little does he know that this was actually XLR8's 6th try.

The rejects were stashed away, far away, in the woods; where no one will ever find those terrifying abominations.

---

And then they moved on to the high ropes course.

The obstacle course is way up in the trees, the ropes weaving about through various challenges, connecting from one tree to the next, creating an elaborate labyrinth of high ropes challenges.

And of course Izuku couldn't pass up any of those challenges. But how can he possibly get through them all? Simple! He can't…but Ditto can.

"Weeee!"

"Ha Ha!"

"Woah!"

"Help! I'm stuck!"

An army of Dittos have completely taken over the course, all running around and screaming as they each try to conquer their individual courses.

You have some showing off just how limber they are by swinging from rope to rope! "Tarzan's got nothing on me!"

Others show off their courage, or lack of intelligence, by racing each other through the course while so up high in the air.

"I'll win!"

"No way! You're going to eat my dust."

"No! You'll be eating mine!"

And then you have those fighting over the courses, like who can take the zipline first.

"Me first!"

"No! Me first!"

A third clone hops forward, snatching the zipline that begins to wheel away. "Ha, you snooze, you lose!"

"No fair!" The other Dittos shout!

---

And then Hisashi took Izuku over to the lake to learn how to fish. And after a while of not catching a thing Izuku got impatient and figured that if he used 2 lures he'd get something twice as fast. And so Four Arms had been summoned!

"This is…boring." Four Arms grumbles, sitting cross legged on a boulder as he holds two separate rods in the water. He's been eyeing the bobbers for a while now and he's still hasn't had a single bite.

"So boring…!" And he's hungry too. There's got to be something to eat. "Hey, Dad." Four Arms looks over towards Hisashi who's been fishing on a nearby boulder. "Can you pass the-…chips…?" His voice trails off as he finds that Hisashi is a bit preoccupied.

Hisashi blinks back at Four Arms as a wriggling worm sticks out the side of his mouth like it was a piece of spaghetti.

Without saying a word Hisashi slurps it up.

Four Arms gags, grabbing his mouth as he chokes back his vomit, his complexion turning into all sorts of shades of green.

And after a moment, Four Arms ends up feeding the fishies with his own lunch.

---

And thus brings an end to their eventful day, with the Midoriya men returning to Rustbucket for some rest. Or at least they try to.

"Itchy! Itchy!" Izuku whines as he desperately scratches at his itching foot.

It wasn't a bother before but for some reason his foot's been acting up, getting all itchy and irritated for no reason!

"This sucks… Stupid athlete's foot." Izuku whines as he props his foot onto the table so he can better scratch it.

Sitting on the same table, Kraab gags at the sight. "If you're going to scratch yourself can you at least turn my head away?"

Izuku ignores him, continuing to scratch as both Kraab and Chopper look on.

After scouring the cupboard, Hisashi comes back with a plastic jar in hand. "Here you go." He hands over the jar. "This'll treat that athlete's foot. It kills all sorts of fungi, so it'll work like a charm."

"Thanks." Izuku takes the powder and begins to shake away at his foot and shoes. "So, itchy."

As the powder does its job, Izuku begins to settle down, slipping his shoes back on.

In the meantime, Hisashi sits down from across the table. "So, how do you like Camp Opinicon so far?"

"It's fun." Izuku responds with an honest smile. "There's so much to do here and there's so many people."

"Right."

"But everything seems so new too? Did they just fix the place up?"

"Actually this camp is brand new. It opened earlier this month actually. It's so new that they're still working on some more extensive trails. Tomorrow I'm hoping we can go out for a hike. I heard there's a trail that'll take us all day to complete."

"Sure, that sounds like fun."

"Great!"

*Thump! Thump! Thump!*

"Be right there!" Hisashi yells out, prompting the knocking on the door to stop!

He gets up and walks over to the door but not before turning back towards Izuku. "Make sure he keeps quiet will ya?" He points at Kraab.

Izuku nods, springing up and grabbing Kraab's head.

"Oh, no you don't!" Kraab screams! "You can't keep me quiet! I don't come with a mute button you know! I will never be sil-mhph!"

A thick towel is enough to muffle him just before Izuku stuffs him back inside the cupboard.

Meanwhile Chopper wheels just out of sight, shutting down to make sure that he stays quiet.

With everything set, Hisashi flings open the door.

One of the Park Rangers stands outside, he waves in greeting, smiling up towards Hisashi and Izuku. "Hello there gentlemen. I sure hope I'm not bothering you."

Hisashi smiles back. "Hello, sir. And you're not a bother at all. What can we help you with?"

"Well sir." The ranger pulls out a stack of papers from his back pocket. "I was wondering if you've seen any of these campers while you were out today."

Izuku strolls over, peering over Hisashi's shoulder so they can both examine the papers.

The papers are in fact a stack of photos, photos of seemingly random people with nothing in common.

Izuku frowns as he flips over a photo of a kid. "Who are all these people?"

The ranger's smile turns sour as he composes himself and gives them an honest answer. "They're missing."

The Midoriyas gasp! "Missing?!"

Izuku gulps. "All of them…?"

"Afraid so." The ranger admits with a sad frown. "I'm going about the campgrounds for information or any sightings of them."

Hisashi frowns, giving over the last of the photos. "Well, I'm sorry to say but we haven't seen any of them."

"I kinda figured." The ranger admits, regretfully.

Hisashi raises an eyebrow. "You figured?"

"Well in truth most of them all went missing rather recently while out hiking."

"While hiking?"

"It's nothing rare. In fact we half expect some of them to wander back into camp on their own. But it's really no surprise. A lot of our hiking trails are quite expansive, some can even take several days to complete, and not to mention we have a lot of uncharted caves in the area. So a few of them may have gone spelunking and gotten themselves lost."

That can't be good. "Is there anything we can do?"

"No need. The local rangers and police are already on it."

Izuku frowns, adding in. "What about the heroes?"

The ranger needs a moment to think. "Um, I think we have a few heroes on the case. But right now they're all just scouring the woods for any signs of them. We requested some other heroes that specialize in this kind of thing to join us but they're busy searching for a villain at the moment and having no success." Apparently the villain attacked a campground and started a huge fire, but they got away. "So they'll be there for a good while."

Izuku frowns, defeated. "Oh."

"That's a shame." Hisashi adds before apologizing. "Sorry we couldn't be much help"

"It's okay." The ranger offers them a small bow and a soft smile. "Thank you for your cooperation. And please don't be afraid to explore our trails. The nature and scenery are definitely worth the trek."

Hisashi grins back. "Don't worry. We can take care of ourselves."

The ranger raises an eyebrow before looking over and seeing Izuku scratching his foot again.

"Athlete's foot?"

Izuku grimaces as he grabs the powder again. "Yeah."

"Yeah, everyone gets that around here." The ranger takes his leave. "Well, good night."

"Night!"

"Oh!" The ranger stops, spinning around after remembering something. "If you gents are hungry we've got a camp wide barbeque going on by the main lodge. Feel free to head on over for some grub, kay?"

Hisashi nods. "Kay!"

And so the ranger moves on to the next campsite and Hisashi seals the door shut.

As the lock clicks into place a sense of dread and worry sets in over the RV.

Izuku frowns, sitting back into his seat by the table. "That was still a lot of missing people, though." So many.

"I know." Hisashi frowns, his expression serious yet unreadable. "And he knows that too."

Izuku frowns, confused. "Then why'd he brush it off?"

"It's bad for business to openly demonstrate worry. It'll scare the rest of the other visitors away." Hisashi can see their logic about not openly worrying, plus on the other hand this kind of thing isn't all too uncommon in such large open woods. "And besides, it does make sense. New trails are often confusing as they haven't been well established yet. And Felucia National Park is huge, and this is far from the only campgrounds. So with the number of visitors that come here the statistics for missing peoples is just naturally high."

"That sounds really unsafe."

"It is. But it sounds like they've already got quite the number of resources on this so I wouldn't worry." Hisashi sheepishly chuckles. "Although that sounds hypocritical coming from me."

"Those people…maybe we can help too."

"I love that selflessness, I really do." However, even they can only do so much. "But the police and heroes have got this one well in hand. They know these mountains. We don't. If anything we might just get ourselves lost out here if we're not careful." Seriously, it's not a good idea to have those unfamiliar with an area, especially the wilderness, to go out and try to find others while not getting lost themselves. More often or not the search party needs its own rescue party to come and get them if they're not careful. "We'll leave this one to someone else…this time."

"Okay…" Izuku doesn't like it, but in all fairness it's probably for the best.

Hisashi frowns, he can tell this isn't what Izuku wanted to hear. What he needs to do is distract the boy, but how? Wait, he's got it! "Tell you what. I'm hungry! So let's head over to the cookout the ranger mentioned."

Upon being offered some real food, not at all related to bugs or grubs, Izuku lights up with drool already leaking from his mouth. "Sure!"

And so they go and oh boy is it one hell of a cookout.

The cookout is taking place in front of the main lodge, out on a large grassy field. Everywhere you look massive grills have been set up along with food stations allowing people to grab what they want when they want. And speaking of people, the place is packed to the brim with campers and visitors as they all chow down on burgers, hotdogs, kabobs, corn, and so much more.

Izuku stands off to the side as he waits for Hisashi to return with their plates of food. As he stands around his ears begin to wonder, and he begins to accidentally eavesdrop on a few conversations here and there.

"I just don't know. Why would he go hiking while we were at the shooting range?"

'Hiking?' Izuku's ears perk up, turning ever so slightly to eye the two campers talking to each other from nearby.

"I don't know. That guy's always had the bad habit of wandering off."

"Yeah, but he never got lost before. I mean, dude, it's been two days and they still can't find him."

"I know, man. But we just have to wait until they do."

Izuku frowns, turning away from their conversation. 'I guess their friend is one of the people that went missing.' But that is strange, getting lost when you're supposed to still be in the campsite? How could that happen? Maybe he was drunk? Maybe…?

As Izuku contemplates his ears wander and pick up on another nearby discussion between two worried women.

"Where could he have gone? He's never left me for so long!" One of them whines with worry.

The other woman couldn't care less, however, treating it all with indifference and without care. "Face the music, sis. He probably ditched ya for some other chick."

"No! He wouldn't have! He's just lost, that's all!"

"Sure, whatever."

Izuku's eyebrows scratch up. 'Another one?' But maybe the other woman is right? Maybe the guy went off by himself and ditched them.

A camper whimpers from nearby to his friend. "Those woods are creepy."

"What are you talking about? The mountains are gorgeous."

"No, it's just that, it felt like I was being watched."

"Get over yourself. You're just being paranoid."

Okay, that's it! Izuku can't take it anymore! People missing. Sensations of being watched. This is all just way too fishy. This can't be normal. It all just seems so…off.

Before Izuku can really begin to dwell on it, a call snaps him out of it.

"Hey, Champ!" Hisashi presents the plates of food looks like he got them a hotdog each with a side of beans, chips, and corn. "Sorry for making you wait."

"No, thank you!" Izuku takes his plate, temporarily forgetting about the missing people.

Hisashi scans the crowd before something bright catches his eye. "Hey so there's a bonfire going on over there. Wanna eat there?"

"Sure."

Izuku and Hisashi squeeze their way towards the center of the massive campfire, finding a pair of logs to sit down at while a huge fire hums within the firepit.

The two enjoy their food, finishing it all off with satisfied smiles and full bellies. And so to digest they relax under the warmth of the fire until the sun disappears just out of sight. At the same time one of the rangers, an older gentleman, wobbles forward, taking a seat at the foot of the fire. He taps his cane against his seat, a large log, gathering everyone's attention.

"Come around everyone. Listen to my tale, your life may very well depend on it." The flames of the fire rage forth, highlighting the dark shadow's around the man's eyes and unkempt white beard. His whole demeanor radiates with a sense of ominous dread. "This is the story of Kinyuu."

Izuku and Hisashi perk up as do other nearby campers who all begin to crowd around, unable to resist the allure of a good campfire story.

The ranger keeps his eyes locked onto the flames as if wary of them, like they'll reach out and snatch him up into the inferno. He scans the nearby woodlands for any signs of danger before leaning close and reciting his ominous tale. "Kinyuu was but a small child, wanting nothing more than to play and have fun under the summer sun. But he was a strange lad, very strange and troubled and, often taking his playing too far. One day his…friends had had enough of his antics. They led him out to these very woods. They said "Hey, Kinyuu! We're going to play hide-n-seek! You hide and we'll look for you!" Kinyuu, in his never-ending desire for play, was ecstatic. He didn't think twice about their motives or plans. And so he hid, hid away where his friends couldn't find him so easily." The ranger's gaze softens sympathetically as he recalls the rest of the tragic tale. "But his so-called friends had left him, they left, not bothering to search for him. "This'll be hilarious." They said."

The ranger takes a shaky breath, his white beard rustling with the soft cold breeze of the night as the entire crowd remains deathly silent, awaiting his narration. "They never came And so Kinyuu, in his ceaseless naivety and desire, remained hidden waiting for them to find him. And he waited. And waited. And waited. He waited for so long his body eventually began to decay away, it began to be eaten by the forest itself. He continues to wait, his eyes glimmering with innocent playfulness and joy, for the time that his friends will come."

From under the glow of the fire, Izuku's gaze falls, sombered by the ranger's story. Kinyuu…sounds a lot like how he used to be. A naive boy that wanted nothing but to fit in, to smile with his friends… Only for those so-called friends to push him away. To degrade and shame him for being…different, And like Kinyuu…Izuku did nothing but wait and wait, hoping things would change, while he rotted his life away. But things did change. Things got better, but… 'Just how much of that was luck?' Izuku has to wonder.

"But Kinyuu's tale doesn't end there."

Izuku snaps out of his thoughts as the ranger continues his tale. "As Kinyuu waited he began to cry out: "This isn't fun. This isn't fun." He continued to cry and cry, never moving as he loyally waited for their return, never moving as his body began to melt away into the earth. Not until he drew his last breath, did he finally come to the harsh realization; this cruel fate that's now been dealt to him was no game. But torment. And for the first and last time in his young life, little Kinyuu became enraged. Crying out into the moonlight as his body became one with the forest floor."

A shiver runs down every camper's spine, even though no wind could be felt.

"Even though his body was gone, it was too late for Kinyuu's spirit to escape the cursed forest. And now he lurks the shadows, hiding just out of sight, searching for his friends. So that they might finish their game." The old man shakes his head in regret and in utter sorrow on Kinyuu's behalf. "But it's been so long that poor Kinyuu can't remember his friends' faces. And so he drags anyone he mistakes for them into the woods. Where he forces them to play game after game until his victims collapse from exhaustion. Once you've fallen to your knees, unable to walk, barely able to breathe, that's when Kinyuu swallows you whole, like the earth had done to him." The elderly ranger looks at the hushed crowd, it feels like he's making eye contact with each and every one of them, making sure they are listening to his words. "Heed my warning. Kinyuu's spirit haunts these woods. He hides, and waits, and searches. And if he deems you a friend…he will drag you down to play his morbid games."

The chilling tale has the crowd in a trance, their breaths silent as the dark night sky, only the crackle of burning wood breaking the silence.

"That's total bullshit!"

Izuku goes cold in an instant, turning a ghostly pale. 'I…I know that voice!'

Izuku, shakily, fearfully, turns his head just ever so slightly from across the campfire and sure enough his hunch was correct.

"You totally expect us to buy that shit?!" Katsuki Bakugou gripes as he leans back in his seat with a nasty scowl.

"Bakugou, man. Chill."

Izuku gasps! 'Kirishima's here too?!'

Bakugou scoffs. "That story was totally lame. Tell a real scary story, God Dammit!"

Kirishima stands nearby, trying in vain to calm the ash-blonde. "Dude, relax, it's just for fun."

The elderly ranger, however, doesn't appear to be offended; rather he looks worried for Bakugou's own sake. "Believe what you will. But those who choose to ignore my warning may just become Kinyuu's next victim."

"Shut up, old man! Get real!"

"Bakugou…"

Izuku is stone cold, his eyes staring holes into Bakugou and Kirishima. He's just stunned, he never expected to see these two in the middle of the woods, especially a campfire!

Unfortunately for Izuku he was remaining a bit too still for too long, so long that Hisashi notices and silently follows his gaze. "Hey isn't that Mitsuki's kid, Katsuki?"

He had said that a little too loudly because Bakugou instantly starts, sitting up and scanning the crows until he locks onto a head of messy green hair.

The two boys lock eyes, green to red, staring at each other with dumbfound expressions…

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?/WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

---

Izuku plops down in the passenger seat, turning around with a heavy sigh. "I still can't believe you managed to drag Bakugou out here."

Kirishima chuckles from his seat at the table. "Ha. I know, right. But believe it or not he actually agreed."

Bakugou, sits across from Kirishima and his back towards Izuku, scowls with a nasty tsk. "Shut up! If I knew Deku was gonna be here I wouldn't have come!"

After collecting their thoughts at the campfire Hisashi moved the three classmates back towards their campsite, where they all huddled into the Rustbucket to explain why they're all here.

Kirishima's grin widens as he takes in the RV's interior. "So, can I assume you two are on some sort of father and son road trip? That's so manly!"

Hisashi smiles, leaning against the fridge. "We sure are. Just us, and no one else."

Izuku looks away, tightening his mouth as he does so. He probably shouldn't point out that they have a droid hiding out in the bathroom or a severed head of a cyborg stashed away in the cupboard.

Hisashi smiles on, continuing the conversation. "What have you boys gotten up to so far? Did you try out the high ropes course or the climb wall?"

Kirishima lights up. "Heck yeah, they were great!"

Bakugou scoffs. "Those were nothing. I practically beat them all without breaking a sweat."

Izuku scowls from the front seat. 'Of course he has to make everything into a competition.' he lets out a heavy sigh, already exasperated with Bakugou's poor attitude.

He was a little too loud as Bakugou turns around, scowling at the sight of Izuku's exasperated expression. It bothers him, it does, watching him act like everything's normal. He looks so plain, so weak and harmless, but even Bakugou can't see that anymore. Not after his tantrum during the Practical Exam.

His red gaze hardens as he eyes Izuku, almost warily.

Meanwhile, Hisashi chats away with Kirishima. "So, you two got any plans for tomorrow?"

Kirishima needs a moment to think about it. "Um, well, I think we said we'd go hiking tomorrow. Take one of their longer trails for the day if we could."

Hisashi's smile widens. "Hey, you know what? Izuku and I were planning the same exact thing. Do you boys wanna come with us?"

And in that moment, both Izuku and Bakugou jolt up in shock and dread.

Bakugou snaps up! "No way in hell am I going anywhere with Dek-blah!"

Kirishima's hand clamps his maw shut, as the redhead grins up at Hisashi. "That'd be great! The more the merrier, right?"

Hisashi grins. "Absolutely."

Neither Izuku nor Bakugou feel the same way. But Izuku isn't about to tell his dad or Kirishima no at this point.

"Fuck no! I'd rather go by myself, you got it?!"

"Dude don't be like that. It'll be fun."

Izuku sweat drops; something tells him that this will be anything but fun.

After discussing their meet up time, Hisashi sees the boys out. "Get some rest because we gotta be up bright and early!"

"You got it." Kirishima grins, before strolling away.

Bakugou lingers back, scowling in annoyance as he gazes back up towards the Rustbucket.

Once again both he and Izuku lock eyes. Bakugou seems almost wary of Izuku, but angry at the same time, his hands are stuffed into his pockets but Izuku can tell they're flexing like he's getting ready to…defend himself.

But without uttering a word, Bakugou turns away as he too heads back to his tent.

Izuku frowns, watching them off into the silent campgrounds.

With his gaze distracted he fails to notice the various sets of illuminated eyes, watching and waiting from within the pitch-black forest. The eyes follow the boys along before trailing back towards the RV. And soon the presence of dimly illuminated gazes grows and grows, and low clattering chirps begin to fill in and meld with the sounds of the night wind and crickets. "Cghghghghhrrr."

---

'This sucks.' Both Izuku and Bakugou internally grumble to themselves as they are forced to hike side-by-side through the mountain trail.

"Isn't this great?!" Kirishima slings his arms around the two, forcing them closer. "Just us men out in the wilderness! Nothing could be manlier! Am I right?!" He is way too excited for such an early hour.

Especially for Bakugou who lets out a lowly dangerous growl. "Kirishima. Let go of me."

"Naw! I don't think I will." Kirishima says a little too joyfully.

Izuku struggles against Kirishima's arm, he glares back behind them towards Hisashi. "Why did you have to invite…them?"

Hisashi smiles on, gripping his hiking pack tighter. " Oh, come on, this'll be fun. The more the merrier I always say."

Izuku snaps, breaking free of Kirishima's grip! "YOU'VE NEVER SAID THAT! NOT ONCE!"

Meanwhile, Bakugou breaks himself free from Kirishima's grab. "This totally bites! Let's ditch these losers!"

Izuku, overhearing, scowls in annoyance grumbling under his breath. "That's funny…coming from you…"

"Tsk?!" Bakugou halts in place, he heard that, his anger flaring. "What. Did. You. Say?!"

Izuku starts before glaring right back at Bakugou. "I didn't say anything."

"Bullshit!" Bakugou roars. "You called me a fucking loser!"

Izuku scowls. "Your ears must be damaged thanks to your explosion, because that's not what I said."

"You're such a fucking liar!"

Kirishima tries to intervene before things escalate. "Come on, Bakubro. Can't we just get along? At least for the day?"

Bakugou humphs, turning his head indignantly.

Izuku scowls, turning his head away too.

Kirishima sighs in defeat, lingering back a bit until he's at pace with Hisashi. "Ah, man. He's even more high wired than before. Why can't they just get along?"

A sad smile graces Hisashi's lip as he watches the two boys argue and bicker. "Once upon a time, they used to."

Kirishima's jaw drops, and rightfully so! "What?! No way?!"

Hisashi chuckles. "Yeah, believe it or not they were inseparable when they were little, since their daycare days in fact. But a lot has changed since those days." Too much in fact…

Kirishima scratches his head, he almost can't believe it. "I mean, I knew that they've known each other since before high school. But I had no idea they've known each other for that long!" Kirishima frowns, sorrowfully. "I guess they would have gotten along then at some point, but." He looks forward only to see that Izuku is now fully yelling back at Bakugou, both trading curses and insults as they hike forward. "Nowadays, They seem to be at each other's throats more and more."

Speaking of which, the two look like they're actually going to literally jump at the other's throat real soon if nothing is done.

Sensing the tension and brave enough to step in, Kirishima shoves his way between them, separating them. "You know what? Why don't we trade walking buddies for a little while? Yeah?"

Bakugou gives the red-head a nasty scowl as Izuku frowns on in irritation but neither of them airs their gripes as Izuku slows down to separate himself from the two.

Kirishima takes the lead guiding Bakugou while Izuku slows down until he eventually meets with Hisashi's pace and the front pair are a few meters away.

Hisashi remains silent, not saying a peep as they continue with their hike as Kirishima calms Bakugou down just up ahead.

Izuku eyes the back of Bakugou's head before his eyes drift over towards his Dad. "I know what you're up to?"

Hisashi starts, before giving an innocent smile. "Oh, and what's that?"

"You want us to be friends again. Don't you?" Izuku accuses him a bit critically.

Hisashi doesn't answer, he smiles on like the question wasn't at all a surprise.

Izuku, however, doesn't relent as he continues to gaze up at his scheming father.

"No."

Izuku starts, totally taken by surprise by Hisashi's calm and truthful response.

Hisashi looks Izuku in the eye and states. "I want you two to learn to cooperate."

"Excuse me?"

"It's a fact in life that everyone has to work with someone they would rather not. No one can get along with everybody." No matter how much they want to or how much they try. You can't make everybody happy. Doing so is nothing but a fantasy. "Sometimes we have to put aside our own petite differences in order to reach a common goal."

Izuku shakes his head. "What does that have to do with hiking?"

"It doesn't." Hisashi admits, however. "But it could mean something more when you two actually become pros."

Izuku starts, his breath hitching, taken back by Hisashi's honesty.

"As heroes we often have to work with all sorts of characters. And sometimes we can…disagree with those characters. But when it comes to protecting lives…there's no room for arguments or competition." Hisashi's gaze turns serious, like a veteran who's been his way through too many battles. "We've got a job to do and nothing will distract from it."

Hisashi pauses, allowing his words to sink in, before his expression falls into disappointment. "The way you two have been acting…it makes me sad…and worried. If you two can't get along or behave yourselves while out on a hike… How can anyone expect you two to behave yourselves during a real life-or-death situation?"

Izuku starts, offended. "It's not my fault! Bakugou is-"

"It doesn't matter who's fault it is. What matters is if you both can move past it. Because a day will come where you'll have to rely on each other. But if you can't see past your differences, well…" Well that's when they or someone else is going to pay the price for their mistakes.

And Izuku…understands; if they're unable to even work together to save others or to even fight a villain then they could lose their lives. Or worse they could be the reason someone else gets hurt… He gets it, he does.

He's not the only one as Bakugou stares back at the two, not in irritation or hostility, but with interest and in silent thought. After a moment he looks forward away from the Midoriyas.

Hisashi, with a knowing look in his eyes, smiles ever so slightly as he watches Bakugou.

And so the group of four continue with their hike and this time they are mostly able to enjoy themselves, although both Izuku and Bakugou make an effort to avoid any interactions between them. The path is actually a real challenge with a few places they have to boulder up the slope. They spotted a herd of deer grazing in a field. Later they were able to take in the gorgeous view of a valley. And at one point they got charged by a wild boar that was crossing the path, although it soon turns tail and ran when Bakugou started charging him with fiery Explosions.

After a while the tension has all but washed away with the mountain wind, and everyone's actually able to have a peaceful mountain hike.

Well mostly as the group come across a pair of college guys. They look worried, confused, and in a rush as they head in the opposite direction, speaking in worried tones.

"Where is he?"

"I don't know. He said he had to take a leak."

"Yeah I know. But where'd he go?"

One of the college students spots Izuku and his group. "Oh, hey, hold up guys!"

Kirishima stops first, looking up as he uses one foot to scratch his other foot. "What's up?"

"Have you guys seen our friend pass by?" The guy pulls out his phone and shows them all a group photo of him, his friend, and the guy they're looking for. "He looks like this." he says pointing to their third member in the photo.

Hisashi eyes the photo closely before responding. "No. We haven't seen anybody all morning."

The guy scowls, worried. "Shit."

His friend frowns, looking at his buddy. "Did he get lost?"

"I don't know. Maybe he went back to camp."

"Maybe. Let's go check." The college guy addresses the group. "Sorry for bothering you."

And they take off, back towards the campground before they could respond.

Izuku frowns, watching them take off down the path. "Another missing person?"

"Whatever." Bakugou sighs, heading forward to continue the hike. "They don't matter."

"Bakugou, wait!" Kirishima chases after him leaving the Midoriyas behind for now.

Izuku frowns, shaking his head slowly, this just doesn't feel right. "This is weird right?"

"A little bit." Hisashi admits feeling just as off about this as Izuku.

"What do we do if…we get lost?"

"Don't worry. I got us covered. Look." Hisashi reaches into his pocket and he flashes Izuku his Plumber Badge.

Izuku's eyes widen. "Your badge?!"

Hisashi nods, smiling. "Yeah, it has a tracker inside that any Plumber can access. Plus a communicator so if we get lost we can send a signal to Chopper to come and find us. Plus he has an internal navi-system, so he'll be mapping the way back." It's sort of a GPS that can leave behind an invisible breadcrumb trail that only Chopper can follow.

"Cool." At least they have something.

Not wanting to turn back after coming so far, they continue forward, coming upon another sheer slope with large boulders that they have to climb over to continue the trek.

Bakugou arrives at the top first, blasting himself up and over the steep slope with one Explosion. Hisashi arrives at the top next, but he actually climbs up. And not far below him is Izuku who's taking his sweet time to climb up, not wanting to really rush today.

"Ah, I can't take it!" Kirishima cries out from the bottom of the slope.

He falls to the ground, kicking his boots off, before furiously scratching away at his irritated feet. Izuku stops his climb, turning back towards his classmate. "Athlete's foot?" It must be really bad if it's forcing Kirishima to take a break.

"Yeah, sorry." Kirishima whines as he scratches away. "You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you all when this settles down. Kay?"

"Alright, if you're sure. Take your time. We're not going anywhere." Izuku calls back as he continues to boulder his way up.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine! Ah! So itchy!"

With his back turned, Kirishima fails to notice the rustling of the nearby ferns and shrubs as a low hum calls out. "Cghghghghhrrr."

---

With a grunt Izuku shoves himself to the top of the steep rocky slope.

Standing nearby, Bakugou scowls when he spots Izuku crawling up the slope. "Hey! Where's the blockhead?!"

"He's down there." Ignoring the shouting, Izuku points down the slope but it's so steep and there are so many protruding boulders that they can't actually see Kirishima from this angle. "His athlete's foot was acting up, so he'll need a minute. He said he'd catch up when he's ready."

As Izuku dusts himself off, he finally notices that his Dad isn't up here with them. "Hey? Where's my Dad?"

Bakugou tsks, annoyed like it's beneath him to even answer. "Who cares? He went on ahead because of some bullshit reason."

Izuku pouts, he's starting to become irritated, but he bites back his tongue. "And that reason was?"

"I don't know! Said he heard shouting or something!"

"So then…why are you still here?"

"Duh! He told me to wait for you morons. So hurry it up!" Bakugou marches forward, his patience finally running out.

Izuku gasps. "What about Kirishima?!"

"You said it yourself, he'll catch up!"

With a frown and a sigh, Izuku chases after Bakugou, figuring the sooner they move the sooner they'll find his Dad.

---

Speaking of which, Hisashi jumps down from the fallen tree trunk and back onto the path. His eyes are peeled and constantly scanning the forested path ahead: the path narrows out and it's blocked from both sides by thick brush, ferns, and grasses.

Hisashi peers around. 'I know that scream came from this direction.' He peers downward. "Huh?"

Down under the matted grass, something's caught his eye.

Hisashi reaches down to dig it out but stops, his eyes widening as he takes in the matted grass. The matted grass is all pointing in one direction, flattened out and even ripped as something heavy was dragged through the grass and into the forest.

'Okay, now I'm worried.' Hisashi reaches for his cellphone, pulling it out from his pocket. 'I better give Izuku a call. Maybe he's seen something.'

As he searches for Izuku's number, a little fluffy-dot lands softly onto his screen as does another and another and so on.

"Huh?" Hisashi peers up and sure enough a dusting of tiny fluff-balls are raining down from within the woods. "What is this? Snow?" He breathes as he cups his hand and tries to catch some of the dust.

Hisashi inhales, sighing, as he examines the dust. "Hang on this is…this is…" His thoughts waver, his mind becoming foggy, and his eyes begin to droop.

The dust continues to rain down and then with a thump Hisashi passes out onto the trail, his phone falling from his hand.

Silence falls as the tiny off-balls die out. A rustling from within the grass and shrubs disturb the silence as something steps closer. "Cghghghghhrrr."

---

Izuku lets out a long-frustrated sigh as he tries to keep pace with an annoyed Bakugou.

He tried walking side by side with the guy, but he just kept speeding up, like he was trying to get away from him. And so Izuku gave up and is now trailing behind by a few paces.

The air between them has been tense, awkward at best, neither of them able to come up with anything to say to the other. Not like either of them really want to in the first place. It's such a struggle, they can't even make eye contact with each other. There's like a wall between them, a thick brick wall with barbed wires around its mass.

Izuku frowns, recalling Hisashi's advice: "It's a fact in life that everyone has to work with someone they would rather not. No one can get along with everybody. Sometimes we have to put aside our own petite differences in order to reach a common goal."

'Common ground?' But what common ground could they possibly have? They both wanna be heroes? Maybe that can be their common ground…? Well if it was that simple wouldn't they have come to see eye to eye by now? Then what? They just can't get along, there's just too much bad history between them… From their childhood, junior high school days, and even into high school. They've never been able to get along as well as they used to… Can they really change that? Probably not. So then-

"Would you shut up, already?!"

"AHHH!" Izuku clamps his hands over his mouth. 'Was that all out loud?!'

Judging by Bakugou's very annoyed and irritated expression, the answer is yes, it looks like he was muttering under his breath the whole time.

Izuku gulps. "How…how much did you hear?"

"Huh?! Like that fucking matters?!"

Izuku sighs. 'Guess he didn't hear anything.'

Bakugou turns his gaze forward, and down towards the ground where something catches his eye forcing him to a stop. "Hey, Deku."

Izuku pauses, biting his tongue as Bakugou squats down and combs his hands into the matted grass.

"Look." Bakugou stands up and pulls out what looks like a hiking backpack that's been ripped apart and torn like a pair of dogs used it as a chew toy. "Looks like a bear got itself a poor chump."

Izuku pales as he examines the backpack. After a moment he collects himself to scan the rest of the ground and scattered across the trail are all sorts of items that must have been in the pack from food cans, a canteen, a folded-up tent, and even a torn sleeping bag.

It might have really been a bear attack…

But Izuku isn't so sure as he scans the trail. "Then where's the tracks? If it was a bear, where are the claw marks or even its pawprints?"

Bakugou scowls, he hates it whenever Deku's right. And he is right there are no tracks to be seen: no claw marks, no pawprints, no blood, and not even blades of fur.

But then again maybe he missed something, and so Bakugou scans the ground again for any clues. And sure enough he spots something else.

"Hey, Deku." Bakugou leans down and snatches up something shiny off the ground. "Does this look familiar?"

Bakugou holds up a cellphone. With a press of a button the home screen illuminates to life. There on the homescreen is a photo of Izuku and his Dad! The photo is actually one they took at Naofumi's Tanuki Park, right before the rabies incident!

"My Dad's phone?!" Izuku gasps, snatching the phone out of Bakugou's grip. "What's it doing here?! Where's Dad?!"

"How should I know?!" Bakugou shouts back.

Even so they both know something's wrong. Why would Dad leave his phone? Did he drop it? No, no way it fell out of his pocket. He must have pulled it out, but why?

As Izuku eyes the scattered items and the torn backpack does it all click.

Turning a ghostly pale, Izuku freezes in place, his heart stopping. This may not have been a bear attack…but…but a villain?!

Bakugou frowns, finding Izuku's petrified face weird and punchable. "What the fuck's wrong with you?"

"Kirishima…" Izuku whispers.

"Huh?!"

"Kirishima… We left him behind…on his own."

Bakugou doesn't seem to get it right away, but then he starts as his eyes drift down towards the mauled backpack.

Without missing a beat Izuku spins around and darts back down the path in the direction they came from!

"You moron! Don't go running off!" Bakugou screams, chasing after him!

The two race back towards the slope, betting on the chance that they'll run into Kirishima before then. They don't.

Izuku cries out as they reach the steep slope. "Kirishima! Where are you?!" He tries to peer down but once again the large protruding boulders block his view of the bottom.

Bakugou scans the nearby woods for any signs of the idiot. "Where you at Shitty Hair?! I'll kill you if you don't get your ass out here!"

There is no response, not even the rustling of leaves or the cry of an animal responds back.

Izuku can't take it, leaping down the slope. "He might be down there!"

Izuku leaps from boulder to boulder not caring at all that one misstep will mean a twisted ankle.

His feet land onto the ground with a loud thud! "Kirishima! Where are you?!"

There's no answer.

Bakugou leaps down, slowing his fall with an Explosion as he lands beside Izuku.

"Where is he?" Izuku wanders aloud, scanning the ground hoping that he might see some tracks. "Is that?" He bends down and picks a boot off the ground. "Is this Kirishima's boot?"

Okay if Bakugou wasn't convinced that something was wrong before then he is now. "Not even he's dumb enough to walk off without a shoe." Bakugou scowls, his fingers flexing, as if readying themselves for a fight. 'First a backpack, then Mr. Midoriya's phone, and now Shitty Hair's boot?' Everything about this is screaming at Bakugou's instincts: and they're all telling him to fight. What, though? Not even he's sure.

*Rustle!*

In an instant Bakugou has eyes peeled and trained towards the source of the noise: the nearby shrubs lying just below the tree line. His hands spark at the ready as he prepares to deliver the first strike at whatever's stalking them.

It takes Izuku a moment to finally notice Bakugou's stance, and the instant he does he becomes very nervous as she follows Bakugou's gaze. There isn't rustling anymore but judging by Bakugou's killer intensity, Izuku isn't about to take any chances as he slowly reaches for the Omnitrix. They have to be ready to defend themselves, no matter what the threat might be.

And so they wait and wait for someone or something to come forth from the depths of the silent forest. But nothing shows itself, not a thing as they are only greeted by silence. And then like spontaneous thunder, the loud bang of a shotgun rings out across the valley!

*BAAANNNG!*

Flocks of birds scatter into the air, deer take off at full sprints, and Izuku spins around in a panic! "Was that a gunshot?! It sounded like it came from the camp!"

*BOOM!*

Without any warning, Bakugou blasts himself high into the air. Using his Explosions to hover in place he quickly scans the horizon, and there in the distance, in the direction of camp, does Bakugou hear the telltale signs of a struggle. From up in the air he can almost make out the sounds of screaming, shotgun blasts, and the crashing of cars, trees, and pots. "What the hell?!"

"What's happening?!" Izuku cries out from below!

Bakugou thrusts his arms back! "DIE!" With a massive Explosion, Bakugou is rocketing through the air like a missile that's been aimed right towards the campgrounds!

Izuku scowls, it wouldn't have been too much for the guy to answer. Oh, well. But either way it looks like he was flying in the direction of camp, so all he needs to do is get there first.

As Izuku grips the Omnitrix, he can't help but smirk as he thinks up of, what he thinks is, an appropriate line. "I have the need for speed!" And with a slam of the dial Izuku' body morph and shifts until the sequence is complete.

"What the?! I said I needed speed…not turtle speed." Terraspin grumbles, totally dejected. "Well it has been a while. Besides, I can work with this."

With his head tucked into his shell, Terraspin's flippers fan out and rotate allowing him to hover in place. And with the right angle and adjustments, Terraspin soars up into the sky like a frisbee, spinning through the air and after Bakugou and the campgrounds.

---

"Run!"

"Villains are attacking!"

A stampede of campers rush through the campgrounds, they're all in a panic as they flee for their lives!

"Move it people! Out of the way!" A ranger shoves his way through, aiming his shotgun at the villains.!

*BAAANNNG!* *BAAANNNG!*

He got two of them! And with his confidence and adrenaline high, the ranger spins around, barking out orders! "Hurry! Everyone to the-AHHH!"

Several pairs of thin, spongy arms grab and pull the ranger down as several strange and otherworldly creatures begin to pile over him.

Several campers cry out in horror as the creatures spew out puffs of tiny dust-particles over the struggling ranger who silences upon inhaling the dust.

"Ahhhh!"

"What are they?!"

"Cghghghghhrrr." The squad of Living Mushrooms chirp and scowl as they turn their attention back towards the campers as several of their comrades begin to drag the unconscious ranger away.

The Living Mushrooms are short, with large caps over their stubby and warped bodies. Their eyes glow green as their two sets of mouths click and chatter together. "Cghghghghhrrr."

"Eeeekkk!" A woman who tripped screeches as a trio of Living Mushrooms rush her!

The Living Mushrooms pounce! "Cghghghghhrrr!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Die!"

*BOOOOM!*

And with a single blast the Living Mushrooms are obliterated, torn apart by the sheer force of Bakugou's terrifying Explosion!" "HA!"

Bakugou slides to a stop, the Explosion drawing the attention of more Living Mushrooms. "Now this." Bakugou grins as his palms spark with mini-Explosions. "Is my kinda summer fun!"

The woman, meanwhile, is totally shocked by the kid's appearance and Quirk! "Who are you?!"

Someone else is running by overhears and calls out! "Hey I know him! He's from U.A.!"

The woman gasps, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You gotta help us! We-"

"Shut up!" Bakugou snaps, silencing her with one bark. "You all run away if you want. Just stay out of my way!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!" Another trio of Living Mushrooms attack instigated by the Explosions and shouting! "Cghghghghhrrr!"

"DIE! You damned Goombas!" Bakugou unleashes a fiery Explosion, charring the poor creatures to ash. "Hm." Bakugou smirks as he eyes the charred remains of the creatures with a sense of pride and glee. "Pathetic. I'm barely breaking a sweat."

"Bakugou!"

Bakugou scowls, peering up in time to spot a spinning turtle descending down towards the ground.

Terraspin tucks his head out as his feet make landfall. "What's happening?! Why is everyone in a panic?!"

"Isn't it obvious?! It's these stupid Goombas!"

"Goombas?!" Terraspin questions, turning his attention towards the rest of the campgrounds.

Camp Opinicon is in total chaos as an army of Living Mushrooms, now dubbed Goombas, attack everyone and everything that they can. They're snatching anyone that they can, spewing out puffs of white-dust, which is most likely spores, that are putting their victims to sleep. He can't see much of anything else as campers flee and panic across the site, trying their best to avoid being attacked by the strange creatures.

The whole thing makes Terraspin sick to his stomach, even more so as he begins to come up with possible explanations. 'What are these things? Are they…aliens? Maybe? What are they after? What do they want?''

"Quite stalling, dammit!"

Terraspin snaps out of his thoughts as Bakugou's hands begin to light up with mini-blasts.

"Get moving or I'll kill you." Bakugou growls, stomping forward closer to the chaos.

"Hang on! We should work together!"

Bakugou goes quiet as he eyes Terraspin for a moment, as if he's considering it. But it becomes clear that he's already come to a decision. "DIE!" And with a mighty blast he rockets forward, towards the incoming enemies!

Terraspin frowns. 'Was that towards me or the Goombas…?' He'd like to think it was towards the latter.

Meanwhile, Bakugou's going all out, letting loose for the first time since school's been out for the summer. He blasts away any and all Goombas that foolishly cross his path. "Haha! Oh, I needed this!" He swings around, obliterating a squad of poor, defenseless Goombas. "Die! You buttugly toadstools!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!" A trio of Goombas charge in from the side.

Bakugou's nasty grin grows wide as he eyes his next victims with merciless glee.

But before he can do anything, Terrapin drops down, landing atop the Goombas and smashing them into pancakes. "Take it easy will ya? This isn't some video game." Just as he says this he spots a few shiny objects on the ground. "Oh, look coins!" Terraspin cheers as he bends down to try and grab them.

Bakugou scowls in annoyance.

"Okay." Terraspin sighs, giving up since he's unable to grab the coins with his massive flippers. "We…we need to work together here. We need a plan."

Bakugou's scowl hardens. "I got one: we destroy them!"

Terraspin scowls back. "That's not a plan! We need to be smart about this and hold back for now!"

"If you wanna hide in your shell then fine." Bakugou growls, glaring up at the turtle alien. "But leave me out of this."

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

Bakugou and Terraspin turn around to spot several groups of Goombas chasing after some terrified campers.

"We need to-"

*BOOM!*

And with that Bakugou blasts himself away and right towards the danger.

"-plan…" Terraspin sighs. "This isn't cooperation…"

With no other choice, Terraspin tucks in and spins away into the air.

While he hovers above the campground, Terraspin manages to spot several campers crashing into a tent as a horde of Goombas quickly catch up to them.

"Special Move!" Determined not to see anyone harmed, Terraspin dives down his blades spinning and spinning after as he dives down like a flying saucer! "Turtle Power: Buzzsaw!"

Like a flying buzzsaw, Terraspin cuts and slashes his way through the Goombas, slicing them with his spinning blades like a mower to grass! "Guess they couldn't cut it."

"Cghghghghhrrr! Cghghghghhrrr!"

As Terraspin hovers in place a large number of Goombas all climb atop of each other creating a giant pile of themselves. The pile grows taller and taller as the Goombas climb over each other in order to reach the flying Geochelone Aerio.

"You guys want some more, huh?" Terraspin soars higher and higher, coaxing the Goombas to climb higher and higher but there's no way they could possibly catch him as Terraspin eventually reaches the clouds. "Okay."

He's high enough. And so with a quick spin around Terraspin aims the back of his shell downward towards the climbing Goombas. His blades spin generating a powerful whirlwind to act as a huge thruster that rockets him downward!

"Shell Smash!" Terraspin shouts out his special move as loud as he can, and like a missile crashing down from the heavens he smashes into the column of Goombas splattering them like they were made of paper mache!

Terraspin slams into the ground and obliterates the Goombas with a loud crash! But despite the power of the impact he's fine thanks to his sturdy shell.

He pops his head out and gets to his feet, scanning the nearby debris and mushroom parts lying around. "That sure did a number on them."

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

Okay, maybe not. As more and more Goombas flood into the campgrounds.

'Where are these things coming from?!' Terraspin internally screams!

"Help!" A woman shouts out in fear as a group of Goombas rush her!

Without even thinking, Terraspin flies in scoping the woman up and turning his body, using his shell as a battering ram that deflects the first few Goombas away. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yes. AH! Look out!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!" More Goombas attack!

From the side an ash-blonde rushes in, swinging his hand forward and unleashing a blinding attack!

*BOOM!*

"Stupid Deku!" Bakugou screeches! "You're in the way!"

*BOOM!*

With one big blast he repels the rest of the squad away.

With his flank covered and the woman fleeing to a safe area, Terraspin takes a moment to reassess the situation. 'Seriously where are they coming from?'

He looks and looks until his eyes land on the forest's edge, where hordes of Living Mushrooms emerge from the shrubbery and grasses like zombies rising from the graze. "They're coming from the tree line!"

"Then I'll blow them to bits!" Bakugou shoves Terraspin aside! "So move it coward!"

'Coward?' Terraspin growls angrily.

And so he does nothing but watch at first as Bakugou unleashes a barrage of Explosions upon the incoming hordes. One after the other the Explosions take out several squads of the creatures, but they just keep coming!

"Come on!" He roars! "I want a challenge you useless, worthless pieces of decaying crap!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goombas are more than willing to accept the challenges as they now focus all their efforts on a single point, him.

They come and come even as they are met with a fiery and burning demise but nonetheless they charge in. And soon enough Bakugou finds himself surrounded from all sides as the Goombas crawl closer and closer.

"Let's go! Bring it!"

The Goombas however don't move any closer, they stop.

Bakugou hesitates, not sure what they're up to, but he soon finds out.

From the tops of their caps, clouds of white spores are unleashed. And like a fog settling over the ground the spores begin to rain down on Bakugou.

But he's not stupid nor oblivious, he's seen them pull this trick earlier. And so Bakugou inhales and holds his breath as the spores rain down round him, trying to put him to sleep.

The Goombas creep closer and closer as they await their victim to fall to their sleep powder.

Bakugou snarls, albeit with his mouth shut tight, grinding his teeth as his fingers flex, ready to deliver some killing blows. But before he can make a move the hair on the end of his neck stands on end as a calculated wind washes over his head.

Bakugou stares up to find Terraspin flying overhead, he's generating a vortex around Bakugou and shielding him from the surrounding enemies!

"High Winds Tornado: EF0!"

The winds collide and thrash becoming a tornado, albeit one on the weaker side of the spectrum, but the high winds certainly still live up to their name. The winds expand and pick up the lightweight Goombas like a vacuum sucking up dust bunnies. The Goombas chirp and flail about as they're sucked in. The Tornado then begins to move away, washing over Bakugou who was smart enough to tuck himself to the ground, leaving him unharmed.

The High Winds Tornado: EF0 rips through the campgrounds, sucking up any Goombas that are unfortunate enough to cross its path. The winds rip and roar, washing over the panicking campers with ease and leaving them mostly untouched minus their ruffled hair and clothes.

"Cghghghghhrrr!" Upon witnessing their fellow comrades disappear within the swirling winds, the rest of the Goombas call out in retreat, rushing back for the cover of the dark woods.

And so with the last of the enemies gone, Terraspin ends his tornado with a big flourish that sends the captured Goombas flying in all directions!

The poor creatures soar and crash into the surrounding woods like eggs falling on concrete.

And so thanks to Terraspin's actions the danger has passed.

Terraspin gently lands on the ground, looking around to make sure everyone's okay. "Is everyone okay-AH!?" A small Explosion goes off right in his face making him flinch and stumble backwards! "What was that for?!" Terraspin screams, rubbing the smoke and heat out of his eyes.

"They were mine." Bakugou growls, acting like he should be the one offended. "I didn't need your help, Deku."

Annoyed, Terraspin turns away, not bothering to even humor the ash-blonde. "Believe what you want."

"Tch!"

Before Bakugou can air his own irritation, a ranger who looks like he got pretty ruffed up hurries over to the hero students. "Thank you! Thank you so much! You guys are heroes!"

Bakugou scoffs. "Duh!"

Terraspin reverts back into Izuku. "Is anybody hurt?"

"Not sure."

As he says this the head ranger rushes over. "We'll set up an infirmary right away!" he looks to his fellow ranger. "Get to it."

"Right!" And he takes off.

Izuku frowns up at the head ranger. "What happened? What were those…things?"

"Don't know." the head ranger shakes his head. "They just came out of nowhere and started grabbing people,."

"What?"

"I saw it myself. Those mushrooms were carrying people off and into the woods."

"Why would they do that?"

"It was Kinyuu." Responds an elderly gentleman.

Izuku and Bakugou spin around to spot the white-bearded Oldman from last night's campfire.

"Oh, not this loser again." Bakugou whines.

"Not now." Izuku scolds his classmate as the older ranger joins them. "We need to contact the police. Maybe get some heroes out here."

"We can't, I'm afraid." The Oldman interjects. "Our phones are down. I'm afraid Kinyuu destroyed the radio tower."

Izuku frowns, ignoring the tidbit about the supposed ghost of the woods. "Then maybe someone can drive to town."

"Good luck with that!" A group of remaining campers march over with a young college man leading the way. "I just checked my truck's engine." The college guy explains. "And it's been clogged up by some weird orange fungus."

Izuku turns to the head ranger. "What about that search party? Are they nearby?"

"No." he responds. "Last we spoke to them was last night and they're miles away, it'll take them hours to get back. And without a radio there's no way to contact them."

Bakugou scowls over at the campers. "Then it looks like you're all walking out of here."

"I wouldn't advise that." Says the old man. ""The nearest town is 30 miles away. You won't make it there before dark." The Oldman frowns, worried. "And without shelter I'm afraid anyone who attempts the trip will only fall victim to Kinyuu's schemes."

A chill runs down the entire camp's spines since no one is willing to relive the trauma that's just unfolded. Even with a ghost or not, leaving would mean possibly leaving themselves defenseless against those Goombas.

With all of this to keep in mind, Izuku tries his best to make heads and tails of the situation. "So we can't call for help. We can't walk out of here. And we have no idea what those things are or what they want. And what's worse is that people were kidnapped." Izuku's gaze turns serious as he mulls over their options. "As things stand the situation's only going to get worse."

That was definitely the wrong thing to say as the nearby campers and ranger all begin to give in to the fear and panic.

"What if they come back?"

"They have my son! Please someone!"

"I knew we should have stayed in the city!"

"We're all gonna die out here!"

"What do we do?!"

"SHUT IT!"

The entire camp goes silent, biting their tongues in response to the commanding and overbearing presence.

"Losers…" Bakugou scowls, marching forward, finding all of them pathetic and weak. "You can all stay here and hide if you want. I couldn't give a crap!" A blast from his palm sparks out! "But I know what I'm gonna do." He growls. "I'm gonna kill the bastard who did this."

Izuku starts, this is bad he can tell that Bakugou's about to do something really reckless…and stupid. "We need to think about this first!"

"There's no time for thinking! Now's the time for action, god dammit!"

Izuku scowls. "How can you be so sure?! Huh?! What's your game plan?!"

"It's fucking simple!" Bakugou roars. "Those Goombas were being controlled!"

Now that makes Izuku pause. "What…?"

Bakugou calms down, annoyed, but he's willing to explain his thought process at least. "Those toadstools were fucking weak but somehow they were able to strategically target the radios and the cars while stealing people right from under everyone's noses." He then gestures to the piles of mushed and scorched Goomba parts lying around. "Look around, these things don't even have organs!"

Izuku turns pale. "Actually I was trying not to think about that…" It would have been really disturbing if they did have organs.

"They don't have a fucking brain, dumbass. So how were they able to be so organized?"

Izuku's eyes widen as he finally understands Bakugou's point. "Because they have a leader!"

"You finally just realized?" Either way Bakugou's grin widens as he fantasies about the villain he's going to snuff out. "But yeah. I'm gonna find the Mushroom head and fucking annihilate him!"

"You mean that metaphorically right?"

Listening in, the old man sighs, shaking his head in disappointment. "You children are so high spirited, but it's a fool's errand. Neither of you will stand a chance against Kinyuu."

Bakugou snaps! "Shut your trap old man!" With a huff he spins around and begins to march away towards the woods.

Izuku shouts! "Where are you going?!"

"Weren't you listening?! I'm gonna find that villain and turn him into sautéed mushrooms!"

"What about the kidnapped people?!"

"They're not my problem!"

Izuku scowls, chasing after Bakugou, and cutting him off. "Fine, go after the villain! But not without me you're not!"

"Huh?! Get out of my way Deku." His glare hardens, glowing red. "Or die."

Despite the possibly very real threat, Izuku stands his ground. "Alright fine? But how are you even gonna find this villain?"

As expected Bakugou doesn't have an answer. "Shut up! I just will!"

Izuku sighs. "I knew it. Lucky for you I have a way."

Bakugou blinks, not sure what that could possibly mean.

Izuku smirks, glad to get one over on Bakugou. "Wait here, I need to get something from the RV."

---

^Wz-wop. Wz-wop.^

"Chopper stop whining. This is for Dad, for Hisashi."

^Bo-bop.^

"Why do I have the feeling you were badmouthing your own owner?"

Because he was, Chopper definitely was. But they don't really have a choice but to use Chopper to track down Hisashi and the other campers including Kirishima, and maybe even the villain or alien or…ghost that's behind all this.

With a bored scowl, Bakugou eyes the droid curiously. "So, why the hell do you guys have a robotic trash can?"

^Wo-bzz! Bzz-bop!^ Chopper beeps, offended!

Izuku ignores the droid's outcries. "He's my Dad's robot. Got him from… I-island actually! And besides he'll be able to track the GPS my Dad has on himself."

Seriously, it was a good thing Hisashi decided to take his Plumber Badge with him today. Sure he could use Wildmutt but with how many people were taken and to who knows where, Wildmutt may have just gotten himself confused by all the tangled-up scents. Plus they would have to keep stopping and waiting for the Omnitrix to recharge before they could continue the search.

And so here they are following Chopper through the dark, treacherous woods that stretch far across the mountain valley. They've actually been hiking for a good hour now and there still doesn't appear to be any signs of kidnapped campers, Hisashi or Kirishima, or even the Living Mushrooms.

"This doesn't mean we're working together; you know!" Bakugou barks up, following along begrudgingly. "I'm just using you so I can beat the crap out of those fungus turds!"

Izuku frowns, already wishing he could have left the ash-blond behind. "Typical…"

And so they hike on, following behind Chopper. They don't exchange any words between each other as the tension and awkwardness from before finally seeps its way back in. The wall that has been reconstructed was only slightly forgotten thanks to all the excitement. The air is tense and heavy as the two do everything they can not to even look at each other, knowing that it'll only upset them.

And so deeper and deeper they go, delving into the dark woods until they finally spot something that definitely shouldn't be there.

Izuku stops as does Chopper. "Are those?"

Up ahead beside the side of the hill are some heavy machinery: an abandoned excavator and a bulldozer. The machines don't look that old since there's no rust or even signs of degradation. Well except for the masses of orange fungus that's growing around them like blankets.

Bakugou frowns, stopping as he spots it too. "What are those doing here?"

Izuku frowns as he steps closer towards the machines. He eyes them warily as he approaches especially the oozing orange moss-like fungi covering the machines. The orange moss isn't just taking over the machines, it's all over the place, it's spread across the ground, onto the rocks, and even into the canopy of the trees.

"Is this some sort of fungus?" Izuku questions as he pokes the squishy mass.

"Who knows?" Bakugou responds, his attention on something other than Deku and his moss. "But I know what that is."

Izuku peers up and his breath hitches as his eyes land on the massive opening in the side of the hillside. It looks like these massive machines must have dug into the side of the hill and uncovered a hidden cave underneath. But what's really disturbing is the orange moss-like fungi spewing out of the cave like a carpet as large glowing mushrooms line the cave walls and floor like lanterns.

Bakugou grins like he's found a treasure trove of loot. "Found ya."

"Hang on!"

Bakugou tsks. "What now?!"

"We can't rush in there. We have no idea what we're walking into. We have no idea what's in there or if all the missing people are there too. We need to be smart about this."

"Screw that! If we go in there hard and fast we'll destroy that damn villain before they could even blink!"

Izuku sweatdrops. 'This is getting us nowhere.' What he needs to do is…reach Bakugou halfway…maybe. "Okay, but what if the place is a maze? By the time you find the villain it might already be too late for everyone, for my Dad…For Kirishima." Hopefully this works.

It does. Bakugou actually pauses, hesitating, like he's considering the fact that others might get hurt. Or at least he won't actually be able to rush in there and kick ass like he wants to without knowing the way.

Izuku wants to gasp aloud, is Bakugou actually listening to him?! Well now that he thinks about it he has…sort of started to work with others… Well okay he'll at least listen to Uraraka but even that feels like it's only when it's to his own benefit. But hey he can work with this.

Izuku eyes the mouth of the cave warily, he can almost hear the chirping of the Goombas lying in wait inside. "We need to scout it out. But how?"

Bakugou eyes the cave as well and after a moment of thinking, Bakugou grins evilly as he pulls out his phone. He eyes it and then looks over towards Deku and his robot.

Izuku notices Bakugou's terrifying expression. "W-what's with that look?"

"I have one hell of an idea." The mad bomber grins as he stomps over towards Deku. "Don't fight me on this."

Izuku suddenly becomes very nervous. "W-why w-would I do that?"

"Because you're not going to like it."

---

"You were right, I really don't like this."

"Shut up! You were the one that said we gotta be smart."

Grey Matter scowls as he slides down the orange mossed rock and adjusts the phone that's been tied to his back with a shoelace. The phone's camera sits a little over his head while the screen illuminates behind him. The phone is recording while also displaying the image of Bakugou watching from his phone at the entrance of the cave. Chopper is beside him, his antenna spinning as he boosts the phones' signals.

Grey Matter stealthily ducks behind a large glowing mushroom, peeking his head out to make sure the cave tunnel was clear of any Goombas or any other threats. "Okay, fine. But why the phone?"

"So we can record your death." Bakugou responds matter-of-factly.

"WHAT!?"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

Grey Matter cups his mouth shut as he dives behind a stalagmite, using it as cover as a wandering Goomba passes by.

"Keep your trap shut, Deku." Bakugou half-whispers half-scolds through the phone. "Are you stupid or something?"

Grey Matter sweat drops, not at all approaching the jab at his intelligence.

Once the coast is clear Grey Matter continues his way through the elaborate cave system. The cave tunnels twist and intersect creating a labyrinth. Despite being underground there is plenty of light as mushrooms as big as trees and small shrubs illuminate the cave, their reddish orange hues match the orange moss layering the ground and walls. The orange moss-like fungus is soft and sticky like a glob of webbing that coats anything and everything, growing over any open surfaces of the cave.

Grey Matter squeezes himself between crevices and the large mushrooms to avoid detection from the patrolling Goombas. He climbs up a section of tall mushrooms and hops along their heads to get past another patrol.

All the while Bakugou watches on through the camera, mentally taking note of where Deku's going, mapping it all out in his head.

Grey Matter squeezes his body to the ceiling, clinging onto the orange moss tightly as a squad of oblivious Goombas pass by from underneath. "There are so many of them."

"Pft, they'll need more if they wanna stop me."

"But… Where are all the people?" Grey Matter frowns, he's been traveling through the system for a while now and there's been no signs of anyone other than the Living Mushrooms. "Where's Dad and Kirishima? Where are the campers?"

"Why don't you keep going and find out?"

With no other options, Grey Matter continues forward. After a while he eventually leaps down onto a patch of regular-sized glowing mushrooms, bouncing off of them and onto the orange fungi carpeted ground with a thud.

And without warning, the ground shakes and rumbles, shaking the entire cave!

"Wah!" Grey Matter grips the floor, bracing himself. The rumbling subsides giving him a chance to collect himself. "What was that?!"

Bakugou frowns, to him the phone was shaking around for some reason. "What was what?"

"Didn't you feel that?!"

"No."

"The ground shook!"

Bakugou frowns, confused. But he doesn't linger on it as movement from the camera feed catches his eye. "Hey Deku. Look to your right. I see something."

Grey Matter frowns, peering over towards the stand of tree-heighted mushrooms. But Bakugou's right, something's moving around between the tall stalks of the mushrooms.

Curious Grey Matter sneaks closer, as quietly as he can, trying to get a good look. His curiosity leads him on as he presses his back to one of the mushroom stalks, before cautiously peering around to see what it could be.

Grey Matter gasps as does Bakugou through the phone! "Dad!/Kirishima!" They both shout a little too loudly!

"AH!" Kirishima leaps back, his shoulder hitting the orange-mossed cave wall as he raises his hands up in self-defense!

Hisashi blinks, spinning around in surprise before he eventually looks down and spots the Galvian. "Izuku?!"

"I'm so glad you guys are okay!" Grey Matter cheers! "What happened?!"

"Shhh!" Hisashi shushes, peering around the tall mushrooms to make sure they haven't been spotted. "Make sure to keep the volume down."

Grey Matter bites his lip, nodding in a silent agreement.

After making sure the coast was clear Hisashi sighs, smiles, and kneels down and offers his hand at Grey Matter's feet. "I know you'd find us." He reaches into his pocket and flashes the little alien his Plumber Badge.

Grey Matter nods as he hops onto his Dad's open hand. "Yeah, good thing you had that on you."

As Hisashi raises the alien to eye level, his expression becomes cold and serious. "Izuku. What happened?"

From the phone, Bakugou cuts in and answers before Grey Matter can even breath. "Those fucking Goombas attacked the camp and made off with some poor losers."

Kirishima gasps, spinning around Grey Matter so he can see Bakugou's face displayed on the cellphone. "Wait, is that Bakugou?!"

"Yeah it's me you moron!"

"Where are you?"

"I'm outside the stupid cave with the trash can."

^Wa-bop!^ From the side of the screen they can see Chopper's little metal hand waving at them.

Meanwhile, Hisashi frowns, cupping his chin. "The camp was attacked? That explains the commotion we heard." He knew he heard a number of Living Mushrooms scuffling and dragging away something in the distance through the echoes of the cave system. Guess they were dragging away more victims.

Grey Matter scans the two humans, glad to see they're unharmed minus Kirishima's missing boot. "What happened to you guys? One second we're separated and then you're both gone! Did the Goombas get you?"

Kirishima nods. "Yeah, they got me while I was putting on my shoes."

Hisashi grimaces. "And they got the drop on me with their spores."

Grey Matter figured as much but it's nice to know the specific. "Well at least you two were able to escape. Now we can get out of here."

Kirishima blinks, tilting his head to the side. "Escape?"

Hisashi frowns, like he's thrown in the towel already. "We didn't escape."

The transformed Izuku is taken back. "What?"

Hisashi explains. "We're just playing along so we can find the prisoners and the exit. That's why we haven't left yet."

"Playing along?" Now doesn't that sound ominous? "What were you playing along with?"

On que the cave begins to rumble and shake, throwing everyone off balance as the mushrooms sway with the ground. But what's ominous is the child-like laughter that's echoing throughout the cave, increasing in volume as the rumbling grows! "Hehehehehehaha!"

Bakugou watches on stable ground as Kirishima and the Midoriyas are thrown to the ground! "Hey, what the hell's happening?!"

As Hisashi loses his foot, he grips Grey Matter and barks! "Stay out of sight!" That's all he says as he tosses Grey Matter away and out of sight behind a path of small shrub-sized mushrooms and stalagmites.

Grey Matter lands atop a patch of bare rock that's been untouched by the orange moss as the mushrooms hide him from view. Grey Matter stumbles to his feet as the rumbling grows along with the volume of the psychotic giggling.

And then just when it seems like the cave's ready to cave in on itself from all the shaking a mass of the orange-moss surges out from the ground before the shaken and slightly fearful Hisashi and Kirishima.

The orange mass of moss-like fungi…cheers? "Yay! I found you! I found you!" The unknown creature juvenile cheers, his voice sounding a lot like that of a little kid who's having the time of his life at a day camp.

Grey Matter is stunned as he takes in the creature. It's so bizarre yet cute at the same time. "Bakugou…what the hell is that?"

Bakugou has no fucking idea.

The orange mass is small, but its body looks like it can stretch and shift along with the orange moss. It does have a face albeit it is nothing but a set of glowing green eyes and a small mouth.

Hisashi forces a fake smile, acting along with the fungus creature's whim. "Hooray, you found us…"

"Yeah I did!" The orange mass shrinks into the orange moss layering the floor before popping back up beside Hisashi, its body stretching up to meet him at eye level. "I told you I was the bestest at Hide-N-Seek!"

Kirishima forces a grin. "Yeah, you sure are. I guess it's your turn to hide now."

"Hm…Nope!" The orange mass laughs, mocking Kirishima as he dashes his hopes! "Now that we finished that game, we can play another one!"

Hisashi's and Kirishima's smiles drop.

"We'll play Simon Says, and I'll be Simon!" The orange mass begins to circle around his two playmates, his body rising and falling as he circles them. "Or we can play Jumpy. Jump! Jump! Jump! Jump!"

As the childish creature cheers and begs to play his game, the cave rumbles and shakes as the orange-moss covering the entire cave also begins to react to the creature's demands as tendrils and masses of the orange fungi begin to shake and rise.

Grey Matter jumps back before a stray tendril of orange fungi accidentally strikes him forcing him closer towards the cave wall. Both Grey Matter and Bakugou watch on as Hisashi and Kirishima are thrown around by the living ball of orange fungi.

Bakugou blinks, scowling at the screen. "What the fuck is this bastard's deal? What is he five?"

"Maybe…maybe he's just immature." Grey Matter watches as the creature basically throws Kirishima against the cave wall. "Or unstable…" He corrects.

Meanwhile, the creature has the two playing Simon Says, his body popping in and out from the orange moss carpeting the cave as he barks out any ridiculous command he can come up with. "Simon Says touch your nose, Simon says tickle your toes, Simon Says dance in your bows, boop-bop-beep-bop dippity doze!" The ground shakes and rumbles throughout the entire game, making it very difficult for Hisashi and Kirishima to continue.

"Ah!" Kirishima nearly falls over as the rumbling intensifies! "Hey, um, can you may be calm it down little dude?"

The living mass of fungi jets out of the ground a mere foot away from where Grey Matter's hiding! "Sorry! I'm just so excited!"

Grey Matter's breath hitches as he presses himself against the wall, nearly panicking out of fright!

Hisashi, knowing where the Galvin is, acts quickly, coming up with the first thing he can think of to distract the being. "Uh, hey!"

The creature's green eyes blink over at older Midoriya. "What?"

"Do…do you like heroes?"

The creature goes quiet, the silence causing Grey Matter to sweat nervously due to the possibility that the creature will either notice him or not take too kindly to Hisashi's question.

As it turns out he doesn't have to worry about either.

"Yeah, I like heroes! I love playing heroes, too! They're so cool! And I'm so cool!" The fungi creature cheers and shouts as it swings over towards Hisashi.

The creature spins and circles around Hisashi, who in the brief moments the creature is looking away he signals for Grey Matter to get moving.

Grey Matter gets the message and sneaks off towards the way he came, moving slowly and quietly while avoiding the orange moss-like fungi covering the ground as best as he can.

Hisashi forces a smile, praying this will distract the creature for a while. "Well, did you know I'm a hero?"

"Woah! Really?!" The creature gushes, leaning in a little too close. "Cool!" he cheers before diving down and vanishing within the fungi carpet. It goes quiet before he pops out from a different spot. "What's your superpower?!" He dives down and pops up behind Hisashi. "Where's your cape?" He pops in between Hisashi and Kirishima. "Is he your sidekick?" He pops in from the cave ceiling above. "Do you have a super cool hero nickname?!"

Grey Matter sweat drops as he watches the creature fanboy over the pro hero. 'Is that what I'm like when I meet a new hero?'

Meanwhile, Hisashi keeps the creature distracted. "Yeah, my codename is Cinder."

Kirishima, not quite sure exactly what's happening, plays along anyway. "I…I have a nickname too. It's Red Riot!"

The creature's jaw drops, awing. "Woah! Woah! Woah! Cool! Cool! Cool!" He spins around cheering, waving his stubby arms in the air. "I want one too!"

Kirishima frowns. "Want what?"

"Duh! A hero name, a doy! I want a name too! A cool one!"

As the creature demands a name, Hisashi peers over and he notices that Grey Matter's nearly out of sight. He just needs to hold the thing's attention a little longer. "Okay, how about…" He pauses theorizing over the creature's abilities and appearance. "How about Mycelium?"

The creature frowns, pressing his stubby mossy hand to his chin, stroking it. "Hmmmmm. Nah! That's too boring!" The creature's childish voice booms with rage, becoming annoyed and succumbing to a temper tantrum! "I wanna a cool nickname! I wanna! I wanna! I wanna!"

The cave rumbles and shakes as the fungus creature throws his tantrum!

"Woah! Okay! Okay!" Hisashi waves his arms around as he tries to keep his balance, thankfully the waving around caught the creature's attention. "Well, our codenames are based off our Quirks so…" Dammit what would sound cool that's related to mushrooms?

Kirishima peers over at the small orange fungi-bodied creature with curiosity and trepidation. "You probably want something related to a fungus…" And like that Kirishima grins as a name suggestion pops into his head. "I know! How about this, Fun Gus?"

Hisashi frowns. "Fun…Gus?"

"Yeah." Kirishima grins, proud of his creativity. "Like Fungus but you split into two: Fun and Gus, Fun Gus!"

Hisashi grimaces. "You can't be serious?"

But he is and so is the creature, who's actually considering the name.

"Fungus…? Fungus…? Fungus? Fun…gus?" And then it clicks. "Hey, I get it now! Fun Gus! Fun Gus, yeah!" The thrilled orange creature spins around his body morphing and coiling up into the air like a spiral as he cheers and declares out to the world! "My hero name is Fun Gus!"

[Look up "Fun Gus" from "Kipo and the Age of Wonder Beasts"]

With a forced smile, Kirishima cheers up at the celebrating Fun Gus. "It's a great name!"

Hisashi sweat drops. 'It's not.' But he dares not say anything, he doesn't really want to deal with a villain who's mentally unstable as this one.

Meanwhile, just out of sight and close to the tunnel that will lead him towards the exit, Grey Matter observes from afar with the phone recording from his back.

Bakugou groans out what everyone's thinking. "That name's super lame."

Grey Matter shrugs. "Aw, I kinda like it."

"You would."

Ouch.

But with Fun Gus thoroughly distracted Grey Matter finally leaves the vicinity, disappearing from sight completely.

But he can still hear his Dad trying to hold Fun Gus' attention. "So, Fun Gus. What do you want to play next?"

Fun Gus lights up. "Oh, boy! Let's play Ring-Around-the-Rosy! I love the swirling, squishy, and dizzy feeling my tummy gets!"

At the same time, Grey Matter hops from one bush-sized mushroom to the next using them as trampolines to get as much distance as he can between him and Fun Gus.

He jumps from mushroom to mushroom, moving at a steady pace.

At least until Bakugou, watching from the phone, yells out! "Deku, look out!"

Grey Matter lands atop a rather large maroon-colored mushroom. "What ?! Where?!" He flails his head about, but he doesn't see anything!

"Look down dumbass!"

"Huh?!"

"Cghghghghhrrr."

Weird that sounded like it came from under him… That's because it did. "Ah oh."

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goomba makes a grab for the Galvin on his head but the little guy leaps away and onto the ground to get away!

"Cghghghghhrrr." The Goomba angrily glares down at the little alien.

Grey Matter smirks back up at him. "I'm not that easy to catch alone you know."

The Goomba…appears to be smirking just before the sounds of its clicks and calls echo and resonate all around them! "Cghghghghhrrr!"

Grey Matter pales as other nearby mushrooms come to life and a squad of Goombas all glare down at their tiny target.

Grey Matter quivers. "Yeah, see, that'll be enough."

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

"Ahh!" Grey Matter leaps up and away as a Goomba lunges for him.

He dives, slides, jumps, and twirls evading each grab at slash that comes his way! All the while panicking and trying to get away from the Living Mushrooms!

"Fight back dammit!" Bakugou screams! "Tear them apart! Can't you fucking transform into something else? Something useful?!"

"Ah!" The Galvin screams as he nearly gets stepped on! "I can't! Ah! I'm a thinker not a fighter! Besides, I can't transform!" He's got the time limit after all.

"That's it I'm going in!"

"No! We still don't know where the prisoners are-Ahh!" He's surrounded, the Goombas actually managed to corner him against the orange mossed cave wall.

Bakugou scowls. "Well you're dead."

"Don't give up on me so soon!" Grey Matter cries! "Besides I have an idea!" He proclaims as he reaches for the phone and begins to mess with the screen.

The Goombas creep closer, poised at the ready to snatch him.

As they creep closer, Grey Matter smirks as he presses his hand against the phone's screen. "Say cheese!" And with a press of his finger the phone's camera snaps a photo, the flash blinding the squad of Living Mushrooms!

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goombas cry out as they lose their vision!

They rub at their eyes, some even blindly lunging forward in the hopes of grabbing the alien even if they can't see. After a moment their eyesights return only for them to find that the alien has seemingly vanished!

"Cghghghghhrrr!" With their target lost they all scatter, splitting up in different directions in search of their prey.

With the monsters gone, Grey Matter squeezes his way out from the crevice. "See, Bakugou. They're too dumb to catch me."

Bakugou scoffs, not bothering to make a comment.

With his confidence returning Grey Matter goes ahead and strolls his way forward figuring he's all but in the clear with the exit only a few turns ahead.

After a moment of walking Grey Matter slowly comes to a stop, peering around there isn't any sign of Goombas or Fungus: nothing but none sentient mushrooms lie about as the orange- moss-like fungus carpet the floor and walls. There is nothing to disturb the peace. But then…why does he feel like he's being watched?

Bakugou frowns. "Why'd you stop?"

"I…I feel like I'm being watched?"

"By what?!"

"I don't know!" Grey Matter scowls before taking a breath and calming down.

He takes the time to scan the area again going over the tree-heighted mushrooms, to the cave ceiling, and the intertwining tunnels.

After a while he eventually settles on the orange fungi covered cave wall. It's strange it feels like he's being watched but not by something but by the cave himself. He scans the wall until his eyes drift onto a strange circular indentation. Curious he peers closer and closer focusing on the indentation, his instincts trying to tell him something's up with it.

The indentation smiles, its green eyes illuminating in the dark cave. "Hello! Hehehehehaha!" Fun Gus giggles as tendrils of orange fungi snake out from the walls and surround Grey Matter!

"AH! Fun Gus!" Grey Matter leaps back but the tendrils are faster!

The snaking masses of fungi snatch Grey Matter out of the air, swallowing him up within themselves. The Galvin struggles trying but failing to free himself.

Fun Gus smiles gleefully as he raises the little amphibian up into the air. "My very own froggy doll!" He cheers, shaking the poor froggy around!

"I'm. Not. A. Doll!" Grey Matter screams as he's thrown around.

Bakugou gasps, shouting from the opposite end of the phone! "Deku! Deku!"

---

Bakugou watches on both pissed and somewhat worried since he can do nothing but watch as the orange spongy fungi completely consumes Deku and the phone. "DEKU!"

The screen goes dark as the phone's camera is completely swallowed up and after a moment the feed cuts away completely. They lost the signal.

Bakugou scowls at his phone like it's personally offended him by daring to shut off. And so pocketing his phone, he gets up and begins marching towards the cave entrance. He's sat on his ass far enough as it is.

Chopper starts, waving after the ash-blonde. ^Wa wa wa.^

Bakugou eyes the cave, proud of the fact he was paying attention to where Deku was going, his fingers flexing "Looks like I'll have to kick that bastard's ass myself."

---

Grey Matter coughs and chokes as he finally emerges from his spongy fungus prison.

"Izuku!/Midoriya!"

Grey Matter looks up and finds himself back where he started with Hisashi and Kirishima and of course…

"Looky! Looky at what I found!" Fun Gus excitedly proclaims as he waves the Galvin around! "Isn't he weird?!"

Hisashi sweats nervously as he tries to calm the situation. "Um, Fun Gus. Why don't you put the frog down? We don't want to hurt him do we?"

With a pout, Fun Gus holds Grey Matter close, shielding him away from Hisashi. "No! I wanna keep him!"

Hisashi's smile nearly breaks but he keeps his cool, an irk mark begins to form. "Well, if you keep him his family might miss him."

"So?!"

The irk mark on Hisashi's forehead grows. "Well wouldn't that make you feel bad?"

"But I wanna keep him! I'll take good care of him, promise!" Fun Gus grins and raises the bipedal frog into the air! "Plus he can fly!"

Said froggy frowns confused. 'No I can't.' Oh yes he can, at least when he has some…assistance.. "Ahhhh!" Grey Matter screams as he's whipped around in the air while Fun Gus uses him as a toy airplane!

"Hahaha! Look, look, see!" Fun Gus tosses the frog-like alien up, his body snakes into the air and grabs the little alien before holding him close! "I love Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing!"

"Uh…" To Grey Matter it feels like his eyes are still spinning, he's dizzy and dazed but even so he has enough cognate sense to correct the unstable kidnapper. "M-my n-name's…G-Grey Matter!"

Fun Gun gasps in awe! "You can talk?!"

"Um." Oops, maybe he should have gone with the frog act. Okay he can bounce back from this; he just needs to play dumb! "No." Okay, not that dumb. "I mean…um… Kero."

…

Hisashi slaps his face.

Kirishima chuckles, embarrassed on Midoriya's behalf. 'Was he trying to copy Asui?'

Meanwhile, Grey Matter is sweating buckets as Fun Gus holds him close, his green glowing eyes shining in glee and childlike wonder. "Hahaha! You're so cool, Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing!" The unstable villain rapidly waves Grey Matter around like a ragdoll! "You're my new favorite toy!" With a toss, Fun Gus's tendril catches the Galvin by his foot, hanging him upside down. "I'm gonna play with you forever and ever!"

Grey Matter grimaces as he dangles in the air. "Oh, well I certainly hope not.'

Grey Matter gets his wish as the Omnitrix beeps red before unleashing a veil of red light!

Fun Gus flinches, the light blinding him. "Ah! My eyes! My eyes!" With a shake of his head and a blink of his eyes Fun Gus finds a human Izuku dangling in the air rather than Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing.

Nervously, Izuku smiles. "Um, Hi there."

Fun Gus blinks his demeanor, turning sad as he peers around the fungi ridden cave. "Where's Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing?"

"Um, I'm afraid Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing had to leave."

Fun Gus is in utter disbelief and shock. How could he? "He…left…" His expression begins to turn and twist from sad to sour. "He left me. He. Left. ME!" Fun Gus cries out in agonizing anger, his tantrum shaking the very cave and orange fungi around him! "RAAAHHH! No! No! No! No! I don't want him to leave!" Blinding by his childish tantrum Fun Gus ignorantly shakes and wipes Izuku around in the air! "I want Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing back! Give him back! GIVE ME!"

Izuku reaches for the tendril around his leg but it's no use, he's being whipped around way too much for him to make sense of which way is up or down! "Ahhhh! Fun Gus! Please! Calm Down!"

Hisashi scowls, leaning forward and getting ready to intervene. He's held off so far because he wanted to playthings out, get information: on Fun Gus, on the situation, the prisoners, the cave system.

He watches hoping that by some chance he might still be able to do all that but with Izuku is trouble he can't afford to wait too long. But then again if he wants to strike the villain he needs a clean shot where Izuku won't end up on the receiving end of his Fire Breath.

"I. Want. My. Mr. Silly Froggy-Thing back!" Fun Gus cries out, his face distorting and twisting with rage! "I wanna play with him!"

A loud booming voice calls out! "I'll play with you!"

Fun Gus' tantrum ceases as he immediately spins around, his beaming smile lighting up the room! "Really?!"

From the nearby tunnel, Bakugou rockets in, laughing all the while like a maniac! "Hell yeah, I'll play with ya!"

Allowing his momentum to carry him, Bakugou flies himself right at the villain, he thrusts his palms out towards Fun Gus' naive and obliviously smiling face!

"It's called, MURDER!" Bakugou roars as he produces one hell of an Explosion!

The Explosion rips and tears through Fun Gus, completely obliterating him into a thousand pieces that splatter the walls, mushrooms, and even onto Hisashi and Kirishima!

Meanwhile, Izuku is flung to the side where he plops to the ground with a squish as he lands atop a mass of mushrooms!

Kirishima wipes away the splattered Fun Gus' parts off his face. "Woah! You did it Bakugou!"

With a cocky smirk, Bakugou peers over at his friend. "Hm, of course I did. He was weak."

For a moment his eyes drift over towards Izuku, almost accusing him of something.

Izuku notices, scowling in response, but with a sigh he lets his irritation go as he picks himself up.

A worried Hisashi rushes over. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Izuku admits. "The only thing that's hurt is my dignity."

Hisashi sighs, relieved, before he goes back into pro hero mode and turns to address the rest of the kids. "No way those Living Mushrooms didn't hear that. Let's find the others and get out of here."

Both Kirishima and Izuku shout out! "Right!"

Before they can even take a step, the orange fungi covering the cave shakes and rumbles, masses of orange fungi lashing out as if they were alive. Because they are.

The earth rattles and shakes as Fun Gus' disembodied voice echoes out from all directions! "No. No. No. No! No! NO!" Fun Gus's head swirls and expands upward, his glowing glaze turning cold and dangerous as he eyes the intruders. "No one is stealing my new toys!"

The entire group goes cold, upon witnessing Fun Gus' impeccable recovery!

Izuku shakily tries to calm the situation as fast as he can! "Wait, Fun Gus we can explain-!"

"LIIIAAAR!" Fun Gus roars his head expanding and distorting for a moment, and for a moment Izuku could have sworn he saw knife-like teeth from within the villain's mouth. "You're a big fat liar Mr. Fake-Froggy Broccoli Baby! You wanna steal my toys!"

"No! I-"

"DIE!"

The heat of an Explosion forces Izuku back! A powerful whirlwind lashes at his face until the heat and the flying pieces of Fun Gus all wash away.

"Bakugou!" Izuku shouts!

With a smirk, Bakugou grins, flicking off the broccoli head as if it's cool.

However, his moment doesn't last long as a tendril of orange fungi lashes out and coils itself around Bakugou's neck, lifting the surprised and struggling teen into the air!

Popping out from the side of the cave wall, Fun Gus cries out! "You're mean!" He throws Bakugou down, slamming him into the ground! Bakugou lands hard, groaning as his head throbs, and the carpeted moss begins to curl up and over him as if to swallow him whole. "I don't like you! I hate you, Sparky Sparky Boom Man!"

Bakugou snaps out of his daze, blasting himself free and up into the air like a crazed feral animal! "Like I care what an unstable piece of shit thinks of me!"

Fun Gus morphs back into the orange fungi. And Bakugou's palm slams into the carpeted cave wall before an Explosion blasts away part of the wall!

From the other side of the chamber, Fun Gus rises but instead of retaliating he takes a big breath, his body expanding like a balloon, before he wails out in agony and rage! "RYYYAAAHHH!"

Izuku, Kirishima, Hisashi, and Bakugou all cover their ears as Fun Gus' wail splits open their ears.

And after a moment Fun Gus settles down, he quiets down and their hearing returns. And they don't like what their ears are greeted by.

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

In comes a hundred Goombas, the Living Mushrooms flood into the tunnel like water, as they all claw and tear their way towards their master's enemies. "Cghghghghhrrr!"

Fun Gus's true nature begins to creep out as he actually smiles down at his victims, his superiority and ego rising as his body slowly snakes and rises above them. "If you won't play nice. Then I won't either!

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goombas attack!

The hero and heroes in training, however, don't flinch at the oncoming army. Kirishima's hardening proves effective as he can easily tear through the Living Mushrooms' bodies that are far too flimsy and delicate in comparison. Bakugou thrusts his hands in all directions blasting away any Goomba that dares to get too close. And Hisashi easily deflects and burns away any Goombas that get near him or the kids, using his Fire Breath as a whip to keep the creatures at bay.

They each stand their ground, not daring to give their enemies an inch forward.

Well mostly any way…

Izuku flails around trying to keep himself alive as he does his best to avoid capture or being torn apart by the rapid Goombas. With his Omnitrix charging and without his Omni-Shield, he's virtually defenseless! Sure one-on-one he can put up a fight, but he's hardly been trained to take on an entire freaking army!

"Cghghghghhrrr!" A few Goombas manage to surround him.

"Ahhh!"

"I've got you, man!" Using his Hardened body, Kirishima literally plows his way through the squad of Goombas, using his Hardened arms like a pair of axes!

With the last of the current Goombas left lying on the ground in chunks, Kirishima checks on Izuku. "You good?"

Izuku breathes, nodding frantically as he admires Kirishima's work "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

"Hehehehehehaha!" Fun Gus lets out a haunting giggle as he rises above the battle. "You'll never win! You'll stay here and play with me forever!"

With a blast, Bakugou rockets up and over the Goombas, shooting himself right at the head honcho! "In your fucking dreams!"

Before Bakugou can launch his attack several tendrils of moss fling out and grab him by his limbs and neck, catching him and stopping him in place.

"Looks like I have you. Hehehe." Fun Gus giggles wickedly. "I know, let's play tug-o-war!"

As Bakugou is about to blast himself free, the tendrils all tighten and snap into place, twisting him around before pulling him in all directions!

Bakugou growls and hisses in pain as his muscles and limbs twist in ways they're not supposed to.

Izuku and Kirishima gasp! "Bakugou!"

Bakugou grits his teeth, his eyes glaring daggers at the smug looking Fun Gus who's leaning in a little too close as he makes silly faces at Bakugou. Bakugou howls out as he powerfully twists his own body and struggles against his binds! "DIE!"

Explosion after Explosions rage forth, incinerating Fun Gus' mossy form like tissue paper to a fire!

The tendrils snap and burn away, freeing Bakugou! "Come back from that you living-sewage pile!"

In response Fun Gus does come back from that, he morphs out from the ground, appearing behind Bakugou like a massive towering wave of fungi.

Fun Gus smirks down at the stunned ash-blonde. "Ha Ha! You can't kill me! You can't kill me! Take that Sparky Sparky Boom Man!" He sticks his tongue out for good measure.

Bakugou scowls, his frustration peeking. "Fuck you!"

Kirishima however brings up a good question. "How? Bakugou blasted him to bits! How does he keep getting back up?!"

Izuku already begins theorizing the reason. "It must be his…Quirk. Perhaps he's a Mutation type Quirk that's melded with the fungus lining the cave. That would explain it, his Quirk might give him regeneration-like powers or at least his consciousness is spread throughout the fungus and he just manipulated what he sees his body to be as a source to focus on. His quote-on-quote body is a focus point whereas his true mind and body are one with the fungus and he's just manipulating it. Or perhaps he's able to move and transport his consciousness around through the fungus faster than Bakugou's Explosions. Or maybe-"

"Can it, Deku!"

Izuku's mouth clamps shut as his face turns beat-red. "Ah!" Oops! He didn't mean to be muttering away like that.

"Hehehehe!" Fun Gus giggles! "You're funny, Mr. Fake-Froggy Broccoli Baby!"

"You damn freaking coward!" Bakugou roars! "Come over here and face me!"

"Hm. Nope! But my toys will."

"Cghghghghhrrr!" With help from Fun Gus, who carried them over like they were riding a wave made of moss, the Goombas have the kids surrounded from all sides. "Cghghghghhrrr!"

The kids prepare to defend themselves before Hisashi leaps in from above, shouting at the top of his lungs! "FIRE WALL!"

With a single breath Hisashi spews out a jet of flames. The flames bend and dive onto the ground before racing to the side and circling the group. The heat generates a circle of tall flames that barricade the humans from the Living Mushrooms.

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goombas back away, fearful and meek as the heat keeps them at bay.

Fun Gus sees this, scowling, before he lets out an agonizing screech! "Ahhh! No fair!" As he screams his little head off, his face becomes larger and more twisted with rage as tendrils of moss-like fungi twirl and flail around him! "You're. All. CHEATING!"

Several columns of orange moss splash down onto the roaring flames, extinguishing them in one go!

Hisashi scowls and ducks as a stay tendril whips at his face! After the tendril swoops over his head he spins and fires off a stream of flames, incinerating the threat to ashes. But he can't relax as more and more tendrils fly his way forcing him to either dive out of the way or to counter with his flames before he is either whipped, grabbed, or even impaled.

The same can be said for Bakugou as he jets himself up into the air as he evades the incoming tendrils as well as the swipes of the Goombas below.

"Ahh!"

"They got us! Bakugou! Mr. Midoriya!"

"Help!"

Bakugou lands beside Hisashi, they then look over only to find that both Kirishima and Izuku have been snatched up by the tendrils and Goombas. Already they've been pulled away by the Living Mushrooms and fungus, far from their reach or their help as they are swallowed up by Fun Gus' orange mass.

The two cry out! "Izuku!/Kirishima!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

That was the wrong move because they've now given the Goombas plenty of time to produce clouds upon clouds of sleep-inducing spores into the air.

Hisashi meets the sports with flames, of course, but with every inhale of breath he takes he inhales more of the spores that cause him to choke and gag. Even so he powers through to generate jets of flames to produce more Fire Walls, the heat should force the air to rise and hence possibly keep sweep the spores away, albeit temporarily. However with so many Goombas around the creatures dive over the flames to help snuff it out, leaving the rest for Fun Gus to smother away.

Bakugou is having worse luck as he tries to literally Explode the spores away, but with so many and without a proper method of ventilation he can do nothing but delay the inevitable.

The clouds of spores hinder their vision, and they can hear nothing, but Fun Gus' cold and psychotic giggling mixed in with the clicks and chirps of the Living Mushrooms; neither of which they can see.

From within the clouds, orange tendrils rip through, grabbing the two humans by their faces! The tendrils morph and squish, covering their noses like a massive plug, cutting off their air supply.

The two desperately hold their breaths as the clouds of spores fall over them like snow.

But a few stray tendrils lash out and smack them both right into their guts!

Bakugou and Hisashi gasp, the wind is knocked out of them, and upon inhaling do the spores truly take their effect.

Bakugou and Hisashi struggle to stay on their feet, and they struggle even more as Goombas rush in and grab them both, forcing them down as they become weaker and weaker.

Even so Hisashi manages to get to his feet and set a few of them ablaze before he's snatched up by another tendril and pulled away into the fog!

Bakugou struggles to get up as the Goombas weigh him down and the orange mossy carpet of fungi begins to swallow up his arms and legs, pinning him in place.

From within the falling spores, Fun Gus' glowing eyes breach the fog like a ghost inhabiting a dark forest.

Bakugou spits, glaring up at the villain as his eyes become heavy. "You're gonna…fucking pay for this…"

From within the cloud, Fun Gus stretches in closer. He grabs his lower eyelid and pulls down as he sticks his tongue out at Bakugou.

And that's the last he's able to make out before the darkness and the heaviness of sleep pull him down.

---

"Baku… Bakugou… Bakugou…! Hey, Bakugou! … For god's sake, would you just wake up already?!"

Bakugou snaps awake, his vision blurry and cloudy from his reluctant sleep.

"Oh, good. For a minute I was kinda afraid you were dead."

Bakugou peers over to his right and he finds Deku of all people suspended beside him. Deku's arms and legs are covered in Fun Gus' orange moss, gripping his limbs and pinning him in place in the air.

"Deku?" Bakugou tries to move but something's stopping any of his limbs from budging.

He looks and finds that he too is suspended in the air, his hands completely enveloped in the gross squishy fungi as are his legs. "What the fuck is going on?"

"We were captured." Izuku admits defeatedly.

Bakugou scowls, spinning his head around. On his left side he finds himself beside a suspended Kirishima. On Kirishima's other side is an unconscious Hisashi who must have been inhaling most of the spores thanks to how his Quirk works. Hisashi is dangling upside down, the fungus completely cocooning his body, pinning his arms and legs, and a splotch of fungus is muzzled around his maw, probably in an attempt to gage him and prevent him from igniting his flames at full capacity. If he were to wake up.

"He got us." A single tear leaks out of the corner of Kirishima's eye.

Bakugou takes that as a challenge. "Not for long."

Izuku immediately yells out! "No, wait!"

"What now?!"

Izuku gestures down at their feet. "Look."

"Huh?!"

What could possibly be a good excuse not to use his Quirk to get out of this?! But whatever. He goes ahead and looks down. And sure enough he finds a good excuse why he shouldn't use his Quirk.

They are in fact being suspended over a massive pit in the ground. The pit is wide, so wide that if they fell from their current positions they would not be able to just reach out and grab the walls. As for the pit itself, it's so deep that they can't even make out the bottom. It's just that deep.

Izuku sweats as he eyes the massive pithole. "If you use your Explosion Quirk you'll be sending the rest of us down there."

Sure Bakugou could escape and maybe he can grab onto one other person but with their binds all intertwined with each other they'll all plummet. And there's no guarantee Izuku will even be able to transform since his hands are bound up by the sticky fungi.

"Who knows how far it goes. With this moss I might not be able to activate my Quirk, Kirishima can't fly on his own, and my Dad's out cold."

Kirishima grimaces. "In other words…"

Bakugou gets it, and he hates it. "That bastard's got us by our fucking balls."

On que, Fun Gus curls down from the moss enveloping Bakugou's hands. "Yup!"

Bakugou roars out, his head snapping forward as he tries to take a bite out of the being. "You!"

"Me!" Fun Gus cheers as he morphs away into the binds.

He then pops back into view, this time at the edge of the pit and this time with a smugger smile "You all thought you were so smart. But I was more smarter and more tougher than you all."

"When I get out of here I'm gonna smash your face in!"

"Too bad, meanies like you have to stay in the timeout corner."

As Bakugou screams his head off, Izuku takes a moment to scan their surroundings. "Where are we?"

Fun Gus is more than happy to answer! "We're in my toy box!"

"Toy box?!"

"Yup!" Fun Gus declares with a spin.

The three hero students finally take in their surroundings and it certainly isn't good.

The so-called Toy box is a prison! They're in a giant cave chamber that reaches about three stories high. Along the walls line cells that are filled in by the same people that Living Mushrooms kidnapped earlier. They're all held captive behind veils and bars of orange moss-like fungi. A squad of Goombas patrol the chamber, acting as guards for their master's prisoners.

Tall mushrooms, the size of trees, line the walls, illuminating the cave chamber that's pretty barren for all intents and purposes. The floor is completely carpeted by a thick layer of orange fungi with several large mounds protruding off the ground that are just a bit bigger than speed bumps.

Izuku gasps when he spots the hostages! "It's everyone that was kidnapped!"

Kirishima beams! "We found them!"

Fun Gus lifts his chin up in pride! "Yup, and they're all mine! They're all my new toys! And we're all going to play and play and have tons of fun! And none of you are invited!"

Kirishima grins, relieved. "Well that's a relief." A tendril wraps around his waist. "Huh? AH!?" The red-head is pulled away, ripped out of his binds!

His classmates cry out! "Kirishima!"

Fun Gus pulls Kirishima in close. "But I like you Mr. Red-Red Boy!" The mad kidnapper states with a wide grin! "You're nice. You make me feel happy!"

"You know, I'm actually told that a lot…" Kirishima admits, embarrassed and nervous.

"You'll be my new favorite! And so will my new robot-toy!"

Izuku starts, blinking. "Robot toy?"

^Wawawawawa!^

From the only exit within the chamber, a wave of orange fungi pulls in a grey and orange robot.

Izuku gasps! "Chopper?!"

Chopper flails about, his body stuck in the moss. ^Wa-Bop! Bzz-op!^ he must have tried to follow Bakugou inside but got himself captured in the process.

Fun Gus coils around the droid with a delighted smile. "Yay! Now we can play!"

Izuku frowns as Fun Gus tosses Chopper up and down. This…thing, this villain, is insane and so is his…power? What is his power? Well he seems like the chatty type maybe…maybe he can find out. And the more he learns the more he has to work with to make a plan. Maybe. "Why…? How are you doing this?"

Fun Gus morphs away and then pops out from the binds above Izuku's head. He blinks down at Izuku, confused, as his body stretches down.

Izuku clarifies. "What's your…superpower?"

Fun Gus starts. "Oh, you wanna know?" Fun Gus suddenly becomes rather bashful, pressing his stubby hands together as he considers telling.

"Y-yes…"

Bakugou glares at Izuku from the side. "Deku." He warns. What is he up to?

"Not now Bakugou." Izuku hushes under his breath.

Fun Gus spins around, giggling to himself. "Hehe. Okay, I'll tell you." he coils around Izuku's body until rising back up towards his face. "But if I do, do you promise to play with me?"

Izuku flinches, but he goes along with Fun Gus' whims, for now at least. "Yeah, I promise."

"Deku." Bakugou warns, but Izuku silences him with a look.

And it works as Fun Gus finally reveals what Izuku assumes is the name of his Quirk. "My super doper power is called Mycelium!"

Izuku raises an eyebrow. "Mycelium?" Well that certainly fits.

"Yup!" Fun Gus cheers! "Dr. Bald Bushy-Mustache said that I can control mushrooms! Isn't that cool?!"

"Yeah, it is." Izuku nods, his eyes drifting over towards the squad of Goombas guarding the prisoners. "And what about them?"

Fun Gus turns and spots the Goomba. "Oh, them. They were my first toys!"

"First?"

"I made them. They're like dolls! Look." With a wave of his stubby hand the Goombas all freeze in place; Fun Gus waves his hand and the Goombas all begin to jump in place. "They have dumb dumb brains, but they play with me! But they're boring and I wanted new toys to play with!"

Hence the kidnappings.

Izuku frowns, this is seriously becoming worrisome, not like it was anything but to begin with. "Then why didn't you just go out and make some…new friends?"

Izuku honestly was expecting a rather insane and psychotic answer; like one would expect from a villain, But instead he's met with a cold and sullen silence as Fun Gus actually frowns, his gaze. "I…can't leave. I'm stuck here."

Izuku's eyebrows scrunch up, even Bakugou and Kirishima seem worried.

Izuku hesitantly speaks up. "Stuck here?"

Fun Gus nods. "I can only go where the mushrooms are." He points to the mass of orange moss-like fungi that's growing over every surface of the cave.

Now, only now does Izuku finally understand. Fun Gus's Quirk, Mycelium, is a Mutation type Quirk. His entire body is composed of a special and unique orange fungus that resembles moss that carpets the cave's floors, walls, and ceilings. But the true power of his Quirk is that he can manipulate the orange fungi which is his own body, that also explains how he's able to regenerate or appear to be unharmed by fire-based attacks. However he can also manipulate other species of fungi and mushrooms, like the Goombas. Speaking of if he made those things he must be able to manipulate the mushrooms on a genetic level and the puppeteering of the Goombas was just a side effect of that, hence why the other mushrooms in the areas haven't come to life or attacked them.

The tradeoff however is that he can't go anywhere. It appears he can only move within his own body which can only grow and spread at a set rate. So in reality Fun Gus is a prisoner in his own body and the cave is the only home he can ever have. He is literally bound to this place. And that must have…broken his mind.

The childish way of talking, the desire to play and have toys and friends, the kidnapping. Fun Gus must have been trapped here for who knows how long?! His mind must have broken after being alone for so long…

"I'm sorry…"

For a moment Fun Gus looks empathetic, appreciating the pity. "It's okay." And with that his broken mind takes hold once again, as he smiles juvenilely at his prisoners. "That's why I have them!" He gestures towards the Living Mushrooms. "And they bring me new toys and friends to play with!"

Okay, Izuku sees his opportunity. He was able to strike a chord, perhaps he can reach an impasse with the poor fated mutant. "Yeah, about that. Are you sure you really need this many?" He scans the other hostages.

"Yes! The more toys and friends I have the more fun I'll have!"

"Oh…"

"Besides, when they break I can just get new ones!" Fun Gus cheers, excited about the prospect of the future toys he'll get to play with.

Izuku's blood goes cold. "Break…? New ones…?"

"Yup!" Fun Gus snakes away from the teens, towards the center of the large chamber. "Lookie over there." He points and circles a few of the mounds hidden under his orange fungi that lie on the ground.

The teens and the droid all eye the mounds skeptically but after a moment of really taking it in, they all pale, their hearts stopping and turning ice cold.

The mounds are not mounds of fungi but of people, individual people! The victims look weak and skinny, drained and sickly as they lie silently in a pained unconscious state on the cold hard ground. The orange fungi carpeting the ground is slowly growing over them, swallowing them up like they're being eaten by the earth itself.

Kirishima gags, shivering in place. "That's just wrong."

"What are you doing to them?!" Izuku screams!

"Oh, they're broken." Fun Gus states, bored and indifferent.

Bakugou blinks, unable to take his eyes off the poor saps. "Broken?"

"Yup, we were playing and playing and playing and they broke! They fell down and didn't get up." Fun Gus pouts, annoyed. "The party poopers said they were tired. But I know they're lying."

Izuku understands the situation immediately. Fun Gus forced the poor prisoners to play his twisted games until they literally passed out from exhaustion. He probably doesn't even give them a chance to eat or rest: they play and play and play until their bodies give out, until they're broken.

Fun Gus gleefully cheers, as his stretchy body flies over the poor victims. "But that's okay! I have new toys! And I still have fun with my old toys!"

Izuku's blood runs cold. "What?"

"Yeah! When my mossy-fungus mushroom stuff covers them, it makes me feel really good and happy! Like I have a full tummy! Hehehe!"

The heroes-in-training pale as they eye just how drained, skinny, and exhausted the victims look. And from what it sounds like, Fun Gus' fungi is actually draining them of their own energy and nutrients. He's feeding off them! He's actually eating them!

That would explain what he's been eating all this time. And perhaps, maybe, his fungi grow due to the nutrients he receives. So…so how many toys has he gone through to get this big? To cover an entire cave system?!

Izuku doesn't even want to think about it, especially as he eyes a few mounds of poor victims who have already been completely swallowed up by the orange fungi. And it appears his classmates have also come to the same dark realization.

He feeds so he can grow and spread his…games.

"I'm bored now. Let's go play!" Fun Gus pulls Kirishima and Chopper alongside him. "We'll play Cops and Robbers, and then we'll race, and then jump rope, and then we'll wrestle! Oh and maybe Jenga! I have lots and lots of logs we can play with!"

Kirishima calls out for his friends! "Midoriya! Bakugou!"

Bakugou calls back, unable to free himself! "Hang in there Kirishima!"

^Wa Wa!^

Izuku yells out! "You too, Chopper! We'll save you!"

^Wa Wa…!^

Fun Gus drags the droid and teen out of the chamber and out of sight. A harsh silence befalls the chamber as the prisoners all despair in their cells while Izuku and Bakugou remain suspended in the air with no signs of escape or fighting back. With the pit dangerously below them and the patrols of Goombas monitoring the fungus prison.

Hisashi remains unconscious and unresponsive even as Izuku calls and shouts for him to wake up. But he doesn't so much as stir. Those sleep inducing spores must have really done a number on him. He was able to hold off the effects the longest out of all of them, but that also means he was exposed to them longer than everyone else. Hence why he hasn't woken up yet…

And so with their only real hope of escape lying suspended in the air, bound, gagged, and unconscious there's nothing they can do but stir in humiliation and trepidation.

"This is such…bull." Bakugou grumbles while he tries to ball his hands within the sticky binds.

Izuku blinks, he didn't quite catch that. "What?"

"This is Bullshit!" Bakugou snaps! "I got my ass handed to me! Raahh! I'll kill that son of a bitch!"

Annoyed by Bakugou's foul mouth and poor attitude, Izuku totally dismisses him. "Right. Good luck with that."

Bakugou definitely feels irked. "Just you watch. Just watch and see. I'll take this villain down no problem, Deku!"

Okay, now Izuku's starting to get annoyed. "And what?! How're you gonna do that? What are you gonna blast us free, save yourself, and let me and my Dad fall?!" He snickers, coldly. "Then again that wouldn't really surprise me…"

Bakugou scowls, annoyed and somewhat hurt. "What do you know? Just you watch, Deku." His fists clench so hard that one could hear his hands cracking from the tension even from under the fungus binds. "I'll show you." Bakugou hisses in frustration.

"What's with you, today?!" Izuku snaps, shaking his head. "One second you're against anything I say and the next you're willing to at least work together. Sure to a point, but still. Why are you so hell bent on this guy?"

All day he's been going after the villains and monsters all on his own. Wanting to take them all out by himself!

"I can take him out myself, no sweat." Izuku looks up and eyes the Omnitrix that just so happens to be free of any fungus. "I just need the right transformation."

Bakugou frowns, he remains calm, but he eyes Deku like he's a dog that may or may not go on the attack. "What? Like that Human Torch form of yours?" His eyes narrow, analyzing Deku's oncoming reaction. "So you can incinerate everything, again?"

That strikes a particular nasty chord with the greenette. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Bakugou goes quiet but he doesn't stop eyeing him with an air of suspicion and accusation.

After a minute Izuku realizes what he's implying, and he doesn't like it. Not one bit. "Is this about what happened at the…Practical Exam?"

"You bet it is." Bakugou growls, frustrated. "The Exam was my time to show all of you who's boss! I was gonna beat All Might into the ground myself! But you got in the way, like always!"

Izuku's ready to snap back but he holds back as he tries to stay civil about this. "Look I lost my cool, I was in a bad place." Izuku slouches, frowning sorrowfully as he regrets his actions. "Besides I didn't really beat him…All Might was just…not fighting back…"

He…he didn't want to hurt Izuku anymore than he already had…

Bakugou scoffs. "That's rich. Coming from the same chicken shit that was too scared to fight All Might in the first place. Then still lost his fucking mind." He watches for Izuku's reaction. "All because you got some beef with All Might."

Izuku goes cold, dread bubbling up from within. "You…you heard that? "

"I have ears, Deku. And I'm not fucking stupid."

He heard it all and was able to mostly put the pieces together. Deku and All Might met at some point and Deku begged All Might if he could be a hero too. But the pro hero told the loser the hard truth: a Quirkless nobody can't become a hero. Or at least a former Quirkless nobody.

But there was of course a few more details Bakugou couldn't exactly fit into place. "What the hell happened between you and All Might?"

Izuku goes quiet, biting his tongue. Not wanting to delve back into these particularly bad memories.

"You weren't scared." Bakugou accuses. "You were fucking pissed at him. But I guess it makes sense, after all. He thought your stupid dream was a waste of time, too."

Izuku's temper flares for a moment, his past scars and old torments aching and piercing his mind. But he holds back.

"What the hell happened?" Bakugou questions. "Why in the fuck did All Might think you were a villain?" That was especially odd, even for Bakugou. Deku? A Villain? Yeah, that'll be the day. Maybe in an alternate universe, but Deku becoming a villain here? No way.

So then… "What the hell happened?"

Izuku averts his gaze, his shame beginning to grow. "I overreacted, alright. Besides…it's none of your business anyway."

"It is when I almost get my ass incinerated, too!"

Izuku's breath hitches at the hurtful yet truthful jab.

"You ruin everything!" Bakugou shouts, his body shaking with rage and frustration.

"How do I ruin everything?"

Bakugou…doesn't answer right away, instead with a tsk he twists his head away from Izuku.

Izuku frowns, annoyed and irritated, but he doesn't air it.

After a moment, however, Bakugou finally responds, his voice choked yet angry, like he's trying not to sound defeated. "Ever since we started U.A. you've been besting me. Showing me up. Getting better than me!" Bakugou cries out! "And it's not just you!"

There's Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Uraraka and heck even some of the extras could put up a good fight if they had the guts for it. But ever since coming to U.A. he's met nothing but the harsh reality that there are those who can be on the same playing field as him. Or even…those who are better than him.

"I'm going to become the Number One Hero!" Bakugou shakes with frustration, choking as he admits his own failures. "But I've failed again and again, and every time I have the chance, the chance to show how great I am. You or someone else fucking ruins it." His body trembles and shakes, not of fear, but of the sheer pressure of his own shortcomings and frustrations with himself: he feels weak, worthless…a failure. "I hate it. I fucking hate it. The Battle Training, The Sports Festival, the Practical Exam. I've failed and failed again and again." Bakugou cries out with all his frustrations and faults on his sleeves! "I can't stand it! And it pisses me off.!"

Bakugou's eyes drip with frustrating anger that has been eating away at him since his first loss. His first loss against Deku. "How could someone like you, Quirkless Deku, become so powerful? So much better than me?!" he chokes. "Your power…it can stand up to All Might. Even hurt him." Bakugou hangs his head in defeat as he recalls the sheer power of Heatblast's attacks against the Number One Hero. And how he…he could do nothing but watch like a chump. "While I…I couldn't do a thing… I couldn't even get close… I feel so…useless…like I'm the weakling now."

"It's frustrating. I hate it so much." His fist clenched, his teeth grind, as tears sting his eyes. "That's why I'll get stronger, I'll become stronger, better than you all. And I'll defeat every fucking villain that dares to stand in my way." He will get stronger; he will get better. "I want to be a hero, too, god dammit!" That's his dream, his ambition, always has been, and always will be and he'll earn it with his own two hands! He will become the Number One Hero! He needs to prove it just to everyone but to himself that he's strong, too! That he can be a hero! "I need to know if I'm worthy too!"

'Worthy…?' Izuku…understands.

Ever since coming U.A. Bakugou's world view has been turned on its head. Everything he believed has been challenged and rejected. And as a result he's been feeling unworthy of his own dream…

Like how he felt for so many years. The years that the world rejected his dream too…

Like him…Bakugou needs to know if his efforts and struggles are even worth it.

"The Exam…there's still a bad taste in my mind. I screwed up, royally." Izuku admits, regretfully. "Believe me what happened during the Exam…I didn't want any of it to happen." And believe him if he could go back and do it all over again he'd make sure none of it would play out as it had. But that's not how life works. "But that shame is something I'll have to deal with. Because you're right Bakugou. I…I did ruin your chance. because of my own frustrations and anger and regrets…I ruined all of our chances to show our classmates, our teachers, and our friends just what we were capable of." He failed to show them the kind of heroes they want to be. "I made us look like total failures…"

Bakugou is silent, watching Izuku with intrigue, disbelief, and a sense of a long-forgotten nostalgia for better days…

Izuku continues, softly chuckling to himself. "You know…for a long time. I always saw you as a worthy hero…"

Bakugou starts.

"When we were kids I always saw you as the gifted, brave, and heroic best friend." And in a way that still holds true to this day. Bakugou's personality is certainly less than desirable but he does have what it takes to be a great hero. And Izuku isn't ashamed to admit it. "I looked up to you for so long. And even though we're not friends anymore, heck I don't really expect us to ever become friends again, but even so I still think you're worthy of becoming a hero."

Bakugou's stunned, shocked even. This was the last thing he expected from Deku… Sympathy…

"You're…rough around the edges." Izuku continues, although that's sugar coating it. "But you're smart, skilled, and powerful. You always have been. You say you failed, but what about the Survival Training? You clearly won that. Not to mention you made it really far into the Sports Festival and I'm sure if we fight it may not have gone down like it did during the Battle Training. When you do win, you've been winning on skill and smarts alone. Whereas I…I sometimes feel like it was all thanks to dumb luck for me…" He always needs others to help him to save the day…

"I got lucky. A late bloomer to have a Quirk sure, but even then…I sometimes wonder if I even deserve this power… Can I really say that I deserve it after using it so carelessly and dangerously?" Especially after his outburst against All Might? Should a child really be in charge of such power, of such an advanced alien weapon? "Can I call myself a hero when I end up hurting those around me?"

The question hangs in the air like a potent cloud of smoke that silences everything that it swallows up.

Eventually, Bakugou breaks the silence. "Then earn it… idiot."

Izuku startles, staring at Bakugou like he just implied something insane. "You may not have had your Quirk long, but any idiot can see you've already got a good handle on it." Seriously, for being a late bloomer, he's got wicked control over his transformations. But it makes sense, he's seen Deku's notes about heroes and their lame Quirks, so he knows Deku's mind is more than capable of breaking down his own powers in an instant. "And if there's a weakness or you make some stupid mistake then fix it." Bakugou declares with a growl, his face in a scowl even though what he's saying is rather…positive. "Work for it. Do whatever you have to beat your weakness and win!"

Bakugou recalls the conversation he had with Best Jeanist: "They seek to protect and aid others, you seek your own goals. They are willing to work together, you are not. And they are willing to seek out and listen to those around them, and you…" He trails off, wanting Bakugou to finish the thought.

"Could care less…" Bakugou finishes.

"Talent will only get you so far…" He has flaws too, he knows that. There are things he doesn't get as readily as others. But if he wants to get better than he sure as hell will, he'll make sure every lesson is only another step for him to reach the top.

Bakugou scowls. "Talent will only get you so far…"

Now it's Izuku's turn to be stunned, shocked into utter disbelief. But after a moment of processing it all he can't help but to chuckle at the irony. "Says the guy who was a natural born bomb."

Bakugou actually cracks a smirk. Before he shakes it off and replaces it with his usual nasty frown. "Yeah, whatever. Can't have you moping around and dragging us down. I don't exactly wanna have to drag your ass outta here if you die."

"Ha… Thanks…I guess."

Bakugou goes quiet as he scans the chamber before looking back at Izuku, and before his eyes drift up towards the strange watch on his classmate's wrist.

As he stares at it he can't help but recall Uraraka's words from during the Survival Training: "If you fight by yourself…you'll never win."

He knows he can win by himself; he's done that for years. But…if he wants to ensure a total victory, a totally one-sided fight, then he needs to work together with the extras, not against them.

"Use us, Bakugou." Ochaco continues, speaking the absolute truth. "You're a lot smarter than you let on, your grades prove that. And you handle your Quirk so expertly it's actually kinda amazing! And when you put those together, you get a terrifying combination! So instead of your fists use your head and make a plan. Take the lead and show us how to win!"

Bakugou eyes the Omnitrix and then he drifts to his own bound hand that's been swallowed up by the fungus. His bound right hand is only lying a foot away from Deku's own left arm. He then inhales and lungs for the watch! He struggles and flails in his bindings as he tries and tries to reach for the strange device.

Izuku's eyes widen. "What are you doing?"

Bakugou continues to struggle, speaking whenever he lunges and struggles forward again and again. "No way in hell, I'm going to be mushroom feed!" His body stretches closer, his hand pulling on the fungi. "I'm getting us the fuck out of here." His hand struggles and shakes against the binds as he forces it closer and closer. "And then, WE'RE GONNA SHOW THAT BASTARD'S WHO'S BOSS!"

"What are you-" Izuku goes quiet as he finally sees just how close Bakugou's fungus covered hand is to his own.

Bakugou growls, twisting his body as he so desperately tries to break through the tough binds. "My Explosion Quirk won't work. I hate to admit it but you're right, it's too risky." He might be able to only save one of them, maybe both, but one wrong move could send one of them or all of them to their death. "But if you can transform then you can slip away and get us out of here!"

"Bakugou…" Izuku watches as Bakugou struggles not just for the Omnitrix but for his help. He's asking for his help. But in his own Bakugou way.

Izuku smirks, they may not always get along, they may not be friends, but they sure as hell can kick some massive butt together. "Squeeze the sides of the face plate, and then press down!" Izuku yells! "Try to get Stinkfly or maybe XLR8!" Although it doesn't really matter since any transformation would do.

"No way! The Human Torch guy will smoke all these bastards!" With one last push Bakugou's fungus-covered hand grabs the Omnitrix! "You ready, Deku?!"

Despite how unreal the situation is, the two of them working together, Izuku shouts out, determined to win this too! "Yeah!"

Bakugou manages to squeeze the face plate, the Omnitrix beeping and glowing upon activation, and with his hand over the dial Bakugou growls out in determination. "It's fucking Hero time."

And with a press of his hand Izuku disappears behind the all too familiar transformation sequence!

Izuku can feel his body morphing in all sorts of ways. It feels like something thin and tight is taking him over from under his own skin. His sense briefly shutting down and his eyes squeezing themselves shut. His body stretches and bulges as limbs stretch, and he can feel several protrusions rip out from his back. His shoulders feel like they're standing up, the flesh squeezing his head before the new growths rip open, freeing his head!

The transformation barely lasts a second, before Bakugou blinks and stares at the transformed Deku. "What…in the hell is that?"

'What in the hell, indeed?' The transformed Izuku stares down at his…NEW TRANSFORMATION!? He appears to have transformed into a Living Plant! Or rather a Living Venus Flytrap!

This alien is a humanoid plant-like being with one eye in the middle of his face and with flytrap-shaped flaps with teeth framing his head. His entire body is green with five vine-like legs and his arms are long and slim with four super long and very thin fingers. Protruding from his back are rows of some strange black-colored seed pods. And of course the Omnitrix symbol is worn on his front.

Bakugou repeats his question. "What the hell is that?"

"Beats me." The Living Plant's single eye blinks down at his transformation. "I've never seen him before." But if he's a plant then perhaps…

Concentrating and imagining Ibara's own Quirk several sets of large thorns pop out from his arms and rip through his binds like they were made of paper.

The alien falls but his thin root-like legs stretch out and grab onto the sides of the pit, stopping his fall.

The alien blinks up at Bakugou and his unconscious dad, and almost like a snake his torso stretches up, allowing him to snake up into the air until he's eye level with Bakugou.

He eyes the binds around Bakugou's arms and around his Dad's body. He then peers back at his hand, focusing, and then a set of thorns pierce out from where his knuckles would be. "But I like what he can do."

With a swipe of his back hand, the thorns tear through the fungus.

Bakugou instantly blasts himself forward, propelling himself away from the bottomless pit while The Living Plant uses his free hand to catch his dad. His fingers expand and stretch to wrap themselves around the unconscious pro hero. With a stretch of his arm, he gently drops Hisashi at Bakugou's feet before slinking himself over to safety and away from the pit.

Bakugou stares at the new transformation. "You're an actual living piece of Broccoli. Lame. But whatever you did was good for a Walking Sprout."

The transformed Izuku frowns. "Walking Sprout? No, I think I like," With a twist of his body, a stretch of his fingers, and a somewhat cocky smirk the new alien poses and declares his new alias! "Wildvine!"

Bakugou sweat drops but ignores the name, not bothering to point out that Deku's already used the word "Wild" for another transformation.

Instead he turns his attention down to the unconscious adult. "What about your old man?"

Wildvine's head snakes over his Dad, examining him. "Hey, Dad. Wake up!" he nudges his shoulder, even having his thin fingers tickle his side.

But there is no reaction.

Bakugou stomps forward, shoving Wildvine's head to the side. "Step back!" He squats down and places hands near Hisashi's head, both hands parallel to the man's ears but far enough away to not be touching him.

Wildvine blinks, curious as to what he's up to.

Without a countdown, Bakugou's hands unleash bursts of small scaled Explosions that ring into the hero's ears!

"WAAAHHH!" Hisashi howls, grabbing at his ringing ears and slightly burned sideburns. "What happened?! Where are we?! Izuku, is that you?!" Well it looks like Bakugou's tactic worked.

Wildvine nods, gesturing towards the Omnitrix. "Yeah, it's me."

"What's going on?!" Hisashi shouts, scanning the chamber. "Where's Fun Gus?"

"The idiot's keeping him busy." Bakugou replies. "And so is that robot of yours."

"Robot? Oh, you mean Chopper!"

Wildvine interjects. "In any case we need to go get Kirishima. He's with Fun Gus!"

"And so is Chopper!" Hisashi adds, worried about his friend.

Wildvine doesn't exactly feel the same way. "Yeah, sure… I guess."

"Don't bother." Bakugou snaps, coldly.

Wildvine gasps! "Bakugou! He-"

"He'll be fine." states Bakugou, speaking truthfully and honestly, not at all cruelly or ironically. Although albeit a bit coldly. "Kirishima's an idiot, but he knows what to do. He can handle himself."

"But-"

"Look, Kirishima will distract the big mushroom turd while you guys get these chumps out of here." He gestures towards the other prisoners.

Hisashi frowns. "What are you going to do?"

A cruel smirk dances on Bakugou's lips. "I'm gonna beat the crap out of that villain."

Wildvine gives the ash-blonde a deadpan stare. "At least help us free everyone first."

"Tsk! Fine!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

The trio spin around, in all their scheming they somehow forgot all about the Goombas patrolling the chamber!

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The squad of Goombas charge.

Bakugou grins, stepping forward to meet them, his hand swung back at the ready.. "I'll help by taking care of these losers!"

*BOOM!*

A fiery Explosion obliterates the Goombas, sending rubble flying everywhere!

Wildvine only stares, dumbfounded as a tiny piece of rubble bounces off his venus flytrap-like flap. "I…guess that works too."

And so they all get to work on freeing the other prisoners. With Wildvine focusing on the prisoners stuck in the cells located higher in the chamber. He uses his stretchy body and arms to grow tall and reach them as well as give them rides back down to the ground. Hisashi in the meantime takes care of the prisoners on the lower level of the chamber, burning away the fungus covering their cells with his Quirk. And all the while Bakugou is definitely enjoying himself as he ricochets around the large chamber, turning all the Goombas he finds into ash and globs.

Hisashi is able to organize the kidnapped victims as they're freed while Wildvine gathers the poor souls that have already begun to be consumed by Fun Gus' orange moss.

The poor souls are unresponsive, but he can make out the faintest of pulses. And thankfully a few of the other prisoners were willing to take them off his hands so Wildvine could focus on defending them.

Although, when Wildvine reaches for a few bodies that have already been completely swallowed up by the moss. Hisashi cuts himself, offering to check himself and ordering Wildvine to check on the others; distracting him. The pro hero uses his flames to burn a cut through the mounds. He peers inside each one before turning away with a grim look on his face.

Within a few short minutes they freed all the prisoners: there appears to be fifty of them in total!

Hisashi turns to address the two teens. "This is a big group. We all need to stay close and make sure no one gets grabbed again."

Wildvine nods. "Right."

Bakugou sighs. "Whatever."

Hisashi turns towards the herd, taking command and their lead! "Now let's go, people!"

The victims all nod and mutter their thanks as Hisashi directs them towards the exit.

"WAAAAHHHH!" From the tunnel's mouth, Something red comes crashing in! Skidding across the ground like a red meteor.

Everyone screams and panics as dust, bits of fungus, and ruble are thrown into the air and the crashing red blur comes to a halt.

Bakugou gasps when he sees what exactly crashed! "Kirishima?!"

Kirishima groans but he looks relatively alright as he deactivated his Quirk. "Hey, Bakugou." He groans holding his head. "How are you guys holding up?"

Wildvine slinks over. "We should be asking you that."

Kirishima blinks up at the new transformation. "AHHH! Another Mushroom?!" He screams in a panic!

"Seriously, dude?" Wildvine gives the red head a deadpanned glare. "Come on, I'm clearly a plant."

Kirishima starts. "Oh, whoops. Sorry Midoriya."

Bakugou frowns. "What happened?"

Kirishima grins sheepishly as he gets to his feet. "Oh, well, um, as it turns out…Fun Gus is a pretty poor loser."

"YRRRAAAHHHH!" An ear-piercing screech resonates across the cave system.

The ground shakes and trembles as the carpeted orange moss quakes and rumbles.

Everyone screams and cower as the rumbling increases!

^Wa wa Waaa!^ From the cave mouth a panicking Chopper races in, his arms flailing and positioned behind him!

Hisashi immediately gets the message. "Everyone get down!"

Everyone drops to the ground just as Fun Gus crashes through the tunnel and into the chamber! Rubble goes flying as tendrils of orange moss flail in the air, lashing and whipping at anything and everything! "No fair! You cheated! Cheated! Cheated! CHEATED!"

Kirishima winces before glaring up at the psychotic villain. "No way! That's how you play Jacks! I won fair and square!"

"Yraaaaahhhh!"

Bakugou slaps the back of Kirishima's "Don't argue with the unstable lunatic, moron!"

"Right, sorry man."

"Yraaaaahhhh!" Fun Gus cries out, his face expanding and distorting as tendrils fly out in all directions!

He spins and spins, throwing his version of a childish tantrum! He storms around the chamber, tossing boulders and tall mushrooms aside like he was throwing toys in a playroom! All so he can have his temper tantrum!

With Fun Gus losing himself to his rage, Hisashi takes command. "Chopper lead the way; you've got this place mapped out right?"

^We-wop!^

Of course he does. He mapped his way as Fun Gus carried him inside, plus he was linked to the phone's signal as well. He basically has the entire cave system mapped out at this point.

"Alright." Hisashi turns to address the teens. "You three take everyone and get out I'll stay and-Wah!"

Suddenly a barrage of tendrils whip out from the ceiling above!

People scream and panic as the teens and pro hero are targeted. Hisashi burns away a few of the incoming tendrils but another tendril pops out from the ground beside him! Hisashi dives away, closer to the other prisoners, to evade the attack.

As the tendrils come crashing down on them Bakugou blasts himself back, away from the others, as the tendrils slam into the ground.

Kirishima scoops up Chopper and dives out of the way, towards the herd of prisoners, rolling them away from the barrage.

Finally, Wildvine literally weaves his way through the incoming tendrils. Snaking in and around them before leaping out besides Bakugou.

Bakugou and Wildvine spin around to find that the thin tendrils have all slammed into the ground so hard that they left little craters. But what's worse is that they've been cut off from their friends and the others.

Wildvine rushes forward. "Come on!"

Bakugou follows suit but then a web of orange mossy tendrils slam down, intertwining with the previous tendrils, and completely blocking their escape. Fun Gus has created a wall of fungus, preventing Wildvine and Bakugou from the exit and the others.

Hisashi yells out from the other side! "Kids!" He can still see them through the cracks and holes left in the thick gooey yet sturdy webbing.

Izuku calls back! "We're okay, Dad!"

To Wildvine's right, Bakugou unleashes a blinding blast that repels a group of incoming tendrils. "Stay focused, Deku!"

"Kids!" Hisashi is just about to burn away the wall when Kirishima busts in.

"Oh, boy. We have our own problems."

"Cghghghghhrrr!" Hisashi spins around, towards the exit only to find an army of Goombas rushing in!

"Hang on, Kids." Hisashi sprints forward to the front of the group, willing to put himself between the victims and these monsters.

Meanwhile from the other side of the blockade, Fun Gus's tantrum has worsened tenfold. His once somewhat cute appearance has become morphed and twisted, turning ugly and more monstrous. "You liars! You meanies! You cheaters!" He roars as his body pulses bigger and more menacing. "You're stealing my TOYS!"

Fun Gus lashes out as two tendrils the size of steel beams rocket forward at the two teens!

The two teens dive to the side, as the columns crash into the ground.

Bakugou roars as he blasts himself around the chamber, his feet gliding over the floor. "We're done playing your games you worthless villain!"

Fun Gus scowls down at Bakugou. "I know a game we can play." Even more tendrils morph out from the chamber walls. "How about tag?!" And so the hundreds of tendrils all fire out, aiming right for Wildvine and Bakugou.

Bakugou greets the tendrils with an Explosion, burning them away with a single blow. "Try something else will ya!"

Fun Gus scowls before letting out a high-pitched scream! "Yraaaaahhhh!"

From under him the moss rises and grows before crashing forward like a tidal wave of orange fungi.

Wildvine scowls, he raises his hand and watches as his fingers intertwine and twist with each other. His twisted hand and fingers begin to expand into narrow blades and the texture changes to be a bit woodier. He raises his hand up high into the air, stretching it, before swinging back down towards the incoming wave!

"WOOD-AXE CHOP!"

His axe attack slices through the wave like a knife through butter! The wave splits apart and fizzles out as the two sides completely miss the two teens.

Bakugou chuckles, watching Fun Gus' dumbfounded and irritated expression. "You're getting good with this guy."

"Thanks." says Wildvine, as he begins to retract his outstretched hand. "This guy's growing on me too."

His hand continues to be reeled in when it suddenly stopped before it can reach him.

"Cghghghghhrrr!" A horde of wild Goombas have appeared.

And they're preventing Wildvine's arm from escaping by grabbing it with their grubby hands and sharp teeth.

"Hey, let go of me!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!" The Goombas begin to tear through Wildvine's flesh, their teeth piercing through his arm with ease!

"Wah!" Wildvine screams! "Hey, I'm not a salad!"

He tugs on his arm but with a nasty retching ripping sound his arm splits apart!

"AHHHH!" Wildvine screams, holding his dismembered arm! "My arm! My arm! Oh, the pain! The agony! I'm-I'm going to wither away to nothing! Quick, someone grab the rest of my arm, maybe Recovery Girl can sew it back on!"

Wildvine peers over but he turns pale as he witnesses the Goombas feasting on his dismembered hand. "Waaahhh!"

As Wildvine wails and panics, Bakugou actually doesn't seem all too concerned.

"Why aren't you freaking out?!" Wildvine shouts!

Bakugou sighs. "Dude, you're a plant."

"SO?!"

"Look at your arm, dumbass."

"Huh?!" Wildvine peers down and lets out a sharp gasp, his hand's miraculously grown back already! "My hand!" Wildvine cries. "It's okay!"

Bakugou sighs. "How did you not notice?"

"Well…I guess I panicked." Actually when he thinks about it he didn't actually feel that much pain when it did rip apart, guess he lost himself there for a minute. Oops.

"Hehehehehaha!"

The teens look over to see that Fun Gus' twisted face has broken out into a smile, his smile now layered with knife-like teeth and fangs. "You're funny, Broccoli-Tree!" Tendrils form around him, wriggling in the air. "Let's keep PLAYING!"

The tendrils lash out!

With a wave of his hand and a well-timed Explosion, Bakugou destroys the tendrils with ease.

Feeling rather cocky, Bakugou smirks. "Is that all you got, Turdface?! Come one give us more!"

"Yraaaaahhhh!" Fun Gus screeches, throwing another tantrum!

Wildvine chuckles as he takes Bakugou's side. "Sheesh and I thought you had a temper problem."

"You're the one with the problem!" Bakugou snaps, his face comedically enraged.

"Right…" Wildvine then peers over towards the wall of webbed fungi that's blockading their escape.

From through the crevices and holes he can spot Hisashi and Kirishima fighting off an army of Goombas all on their own. They definitely have their hands full as they both try to fight off the Goombas, while protecting the other prisoners, and lead them out towards the exit that's teeming with Living Mushrooms.

Wildvine turns back towards Bakugou. "We need to keep these things' attention on us." He gestures towards the Goombas who have just finished their meal.

Bakugou gets ready to fight them off. "And how do you suggest we do that genius?!"

"Cghghghghhrrr!"

Bakugou easily blasts them away, finishing them off.

Wildvine eyes Fun Gus who's starting to calm down and turn his attention back onto them. "He's the Mycelium."

"I know, that's his Quirk!"

"No, I mean yes, but…what I mean is that he's the brainiac here. He's the boss, the head honcho."

"So?!"

"Well then, if we attack him won't the rest of the mushrooms focus their attention on protecting him?"

Bakugou peers over at the blockade and watches how Hisashi and Kirishima are struggling to keep the army of Goombas at bay while protecting the extras.

"So." Bakugou smirks up at Wildvine. "Your plan is to go straight for the villain."

Wildvine smirks right back. "Yeah."

"Now that's the kind of fucking plan I like."

"Well, technically, it was your plan."

"I know."

"Yraaaaahhhh!" A horde of tendrils lash out from the enraged villain! "You're CHEATERS!"

Wildvine's vines lash forward and wrap themselves and bind up the first onset of tendrils, binding them together and giving Bakugou the window he needs to rocket forward!

Bakugou swerves and blasts his way through the oncoming tendrils like a fighter jet evading incoming fire! He spins and dives and shoots up as he quickly descends on his target!

"DIE!" Bakugou roars as he blasts Fun Gus' head apart in a glorious display of brute power!

Fun Gus quickly reforms on the other side of the chamber but Wildvine was ready!

The Living Plant's arm slings forward and delivers a solid punch to Fun Gus' side!

"Yrah! No fair! No fair! No Fair! NO FAIR!" Fun Gus screeches as sets of tendrils sprout out at Wildvine's roots!

The tendrils grab him before he can react and hoist him up, suspending him in the air! "You're so annoying! Annoying! Annoying! Annoying!"

"Really? I'm the annoying one?" Wildvine questions before he tries to struggle himself free.

As he struggles, one of the pods on his back breaks loose against the tight tendrils and falls off.

The pod falls and falls until it impacts and upon impact the seed pod explodes like a smoke grenade! Unleashes a veil of light smoke but the power of the blast is enough to tear through the tendrils and even leave a tiny blast crater in the ground!

The tendrils give away and Wildvine goes plummeting down. Acting fast, his arm lashes upward, his fingers turn sharp and thin just before they pierce the cave ceiling. Wildvine stretches up, stopping his descent as he peers down at the blast mark below.

Wildvine smiles. "I think I'm loving this alien more and more." He reaches back and pops off one of the pods, observing it. "Time to sow some seeds."

Meanwhile, Bakugou blasts his way through the oncoming tendrils! He quickly pounces upon Fun Gus and was ready to deliver another direct hit!

But Fun Gus quickly retreats in his moss and disappears before the Explosion is released. He reappears behind the surprised Bakugou!

Bakugou scowls up. "You bastard."

Fun Gus grins menacingly before pouncing forward, but then something pops and explodes him from behind! "Yrraahh!"

Fun Gus retreats as Wildvine swings in from above!

Wildvine swings, using his arms as vines, while each of his roots holds onto an exploding seed pod.

Fun Gus snakes into view from below, his body racing up in an attempt to grab Wildvine!

Wildvine drops a pod that blasts Fun Gus head off!

Fun Gus reemerges on the other side but Wildvine swings around and tosses out a few more pods that implode on impact! Forcing him back again!

Fun Gus reemerges at ground level, but he's forced back again as a grinning Bakugou deals a massive blow! "Haha! Got ya that time!"

As Fun Gus reels back in searing, burning pain, he lets out another high-pitched screech that echoes across the cave that rubles alongside his raging temper! "YRRAAAHHH!"

The screech catches everyone's attention, specifically it catches the attention of his own minions!

From the other side of the web of moss and fungi, the army of Goombas quickly redirect their attention from Hisashi, Kirishima, and the prisoners towards the barricade. They all lunge at a single point in the barricade as the rest push their way forward to help them, ignoring the prisoners entirely as they all claw, tear, and chew their way through the barrier.

Hisashi sees this and quickly assumes what's going on.

"Dad! Dad!"

Hisashi peers up, higher across the barrier, where he sees the head of a Florauna calling for him.

"Izuku!"

"Get everyone out while you can! We'll distract them for as long as we can!"

Hisashi frowns. "Izuku, this is reckless!"

"I know! But there could be more enemies in the rest of the cave and there's too many people to guide! Don't worry about us, focus on saving them and then come back!"

Hisashi doesn't like this, not one bit, but he can't really argue with Izuku's thought process. With Fun Gus and the Living Mushrooms distracted, Hisashi, Kirishima, and Chopper have a better chance of making sure the rest of the victims make it out safely.

"Alright, but if it becomes too much you have to retreat. Got it?!"

"Got it!" And with that Wildvine swings away, off to help Bakugou who's been relentlessly pursuing their foe.

At the same moment the Goombas break through the barrier and begin flooding into the rest of the chamber.

Hisashi turns to the prisoners. "Let's move it people!"

He dashes forward, leading the way.

Kirishima rushes to his side. "Are we really going to leave them behind?!"

"No!" declares Hisashi. "We're not. We're coming right back after we save everyone. So the faster we move the faster we can help out."

"Right!"

---

Wildvine lands beside Bakugou just as the army of Goombas begin to flood into the chamber.

It appears their plan is working!

Wildvine gets ready. "Here they come."

Bakugou prepares himself too. "God damn they're annoying."

And so the two blast and blow away the competition, literally. Bakugou goes on a wild murder fest as he blasts and blasts every Goombas his eyes land on. While Wildvine is basically doing the same thing: using his pods like grenades to blow up the legions of Living Mushroom monsters.

Bakugou jumps, stomping his foot into the heads of the Goombas. "That's where you belong, losers!" he raises his hand up and aims down, unleashing a blast that shoots up rubble, heat, and smoke into the army!

Meanwhile, Wildvine scowls down at a squad of incoming Goombas who're all running in a single file line!

Wildvine's fingers twist together, becoming a spear, he then lashes his arm forward and the makeshift spear pieces through each of the Goombas' torso!

Instead of ripping his arm out of them, Wildvine lifts them all up into the air with roar! "Yaah!"

The Goombas all fail in the air as they try in vain to release themselves from their impalement.

"Yaaaahhh!" Screaming out, Wildvine slams them down, swings them against the cave wall and into their other comrades on the ground before ripping his arm out of them and letting them fall to the ground as heaps of dead mushroom flesh.

Wildvine turns around and grins stupidly at his classmate, impressed with his own ruthlessness.

Bakugou actually cracks a smile. "And people say I'm scary. Ha-Woah!"

A stray tendril swings at them both!

"Stop. Breaking. My. TOYS!" Fun Gus screeches as more tendrils fire out at them both!

Wildvine's body snakes and bends in odd places to avoid the incoming strikes but it's too much for Bakugou who gets thrown back and ends up slamming into the cave wall, the tendrils pin him in place as the moss begins to swallow him up!

Bakugou growls and struggles against the growing fungus. "I can't be taken down so EASILY!" And with a roar he slams his palm into the side of the cave wall and fires!

The Explosions shake and demolish the wall in seconds, freeing him from his binds. Bakugou leaps forward and just in time as a small rockslide occurs and a massive boulder pours out from the cave wall and into the chamber.

Bakugou eyes the boulder before peering over to see the last remaining legion of Goombas charging right for the transformed Deku. "Deku!"

Wildvine spins around, upon being called the wrong name. "Wildvine!"

"I don't care!" Bakugou then slaps the large round boulder that's bigger than he is! "Use this!"

Wildvine's arm lashes out and his long fingers grab onto the boulder. His fingers and hand grow and twist around the boulder until it's fully secured.

With the boulder secured and Goombas fast approaches, Wildvine lifts and pulls with all his might, his legs literally rooting themselves into the ground! Eventually he is able to pry the boulder and swing it around as he yells out a new improvised special move! "Green Machine: WRECKING BALL!"

The makeshift wrecking balls swings around and slams through the oncoming Goombas like they were nothing but bowling pins! Wildvine twists his body around and around, keeping the momentum allowing the wrecking ball to wreck absolute havoc on the poor monsters.

"No! No! No! No! No! NO!" Fun screeches out, his fangs becoming bigger as well as his head!

With the last few of the Goombas taken out, Wildvine lets go of the boulder, allowing it to fly through the air and right into Fun Gus' distorted and twisted face!

The boulder plows into him, squishing him like a bug that went splat!

Wildvine grins. "Bet he felt that one."

The ground then shakes and rumbles as the boulder is swallowed up by an outburst of orange moss! Fun Gus reemerges bigger than before, his mouth layered with rows of knife-like teeth, his glowing green eyes actually began to shrink into his body as the orange moss protrudes and expands, and he begins to lose his orange color as mixes of red and maroon seep in.

"I hate you! You're mean! You're cheaters! You're thieves!" His body continues to expand and expand, as massive tendrils shoot from all sides of his body and his ever-growing mass becomes suspended in the air by the web of tendrils and fungi. "I. Will. DESTROY YOU!" His voice is no longer childish but that of a deep and menacing presence. One that is cold and merciless.

And his form definitely fits the new voice as his entire mass is nothing, but a ball of fleshy fungi all suspended in the air by webs of tendrils. Upon the mass is a massive open maw field with layers of knife-like teeth.

Fun Gus…no, not Fun Gus, but the true Mycelium roars out in a declaration of war! "I shall feast on your flesh and make your nutrients my own! I will reform my army and together we shall lay siege to the surface and consume EVERYTHING!" The cave shakes under his booming roar!

The two teens shake off their fear, no matter how menacing or terrifying the Mycelium appears to be, he is still a villain and lives are still at stake. "We'll stop you!" They both cry out in declaration!

The two jump in action, landing the first strikes!

Bakugou flies through the air, gliding over the Mycelium's hide like a bullet. As he blasts himself up and over the enemy Bakugou unleashes Explosions down at the living fungi, carving away at his mossy flesh!

"RAHHHH!"

Meanwhile, Wildvine swings up, his body snaking through the air as he slashes and claws at the Mycelium's tough hide. He's sure to grab as many pods as he can and flings them towards the monster. The pods of course explode upon impact, tearing through the fungi with relative ease.

"RAHHHH!" The Mycelium roars in outrage, as more the fungi covering him slowly reforms and repairs the damage.

"I will crush you! RAAHHH!"

The entire cave system shakes and buckles as the orange moss carpeting the cave walls and floor seep and break their way through the earth itself! The rumbling doesn't cease as the fungi pry out large columns of earth and rock!

"RAAHHH!" The Mycelium roars out as he thrusts the fungi-covered columns of earth forward as if he were controlling the earth itself!

Bakugou and Wildvine dive to the sides as the first column nearly crushes them both!

Bakugou flies up but he has to cut off his own Explosions and plummet down to avoid being slammed into from the side by another column!

Wildvine is having the same amount of luck as he snakes across the ground bobbing and weaving his way through the oncoming columns and tendrils!

Bakugou lands near the cave wall and he immediately takes off in a sprint but he screeches to a halt as a massive column intercepts his path, he turns but another column cuts off that escape too!

Bakugou's eyes widen as the towering Mycelium prepares to land the finishing blow with another column!

Wildvine is nearby, quickly understanding the situation, and in a panic, without so much as thinking, his body rushes forward! "Kacchan!"

Bakugou doesn't even see him coming as he watches his impending doom falling down on top of him!

But Wildvine makes it first, throwing his body in the way and shoving Bakugou out of the way!

*CRAAASSSHHH!*

The heavy column smashes into Wildvine, burying him into the rock and rubble with an earth-shattering crash!

Bakugou pales, his breath hitching, and his heart stopping. "DEKU!"

There's no reply, no movement, just the silence of the earth.

The columns then shift and are lifted away by the fungi as the Mycelium prepares to strike again.

As the columns are moved away, from the impact craters a few stray black pods are thrown across the chamber and the pods explode across the Mycelium's body, making him screech in pain! "RAAHHH!"

Bakugou gasps, blinking down at the craters.

From within a smashed looking Wildvine crawls out, his plant-like body already repairing itself. "Ow…"

Bakugou blinks, almost relieved but mostly pissed because Deku actually had him worried there! "You moron! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Sorry…" Wildvine grumbles, holding his head thanks to a major headache. "I…my body just…reacted is all."

Bakugou scowls, annoyed, but he doesn't make a comment.

"RAAHHH!" The Mycelium roars out, his scream causing the earth to shake and rumble again, but this time it was much worse than before! "You will all die under my strength!"

The cave is actually beginning to fall apart all around them as huge chunks of earth and boulders fall from the ceiling! Looks like ripping those columns out from the ground has destabilized the entire hillside!

"It's a cave in!" Wildvine shouts! "We have to shut him down here and now!"

"What?! No, we gotta get out of here!"

Bakugou unleashes everything he has as he rockets forward! But instead of aiming for the Mycelium's body he aims for the tendrils holding him up! Bakugou blasts one webbing before rocketing himself to the next, and the next: ricocheting around like a bouncing bomb!

"RAAHHH!"

Bakugou roars out his new special move! "Explosion Murder Chain Reaction!" Bakugou rockets around like this, destroying every tendril and webbing in the blink of an eye!

It's a chain reaction indeed as the last few of the tendrils are unable to hold the Mycelium's full weight. Not only that, the tendrils Bakugou managed to destroy were also set aflame! And the flames are already spreading across the villain's form!

The Mycelium screeches in pain! "RAAHHH! RAAHHH! RAAHHH!"

And then the last of his tendrils snap and down his giant mass goes, crashing to the ground!

Bakugou grins victoriously from the air, falling as well, but watching as the Mycelium comes crashing down.

Wildvine's arm stretches up and catches him in midair before reeling him back in.

The two watch as the massive ball of fungi goes silent and settles across the cave floor in a giant heap. They watch as the nearby towering mushrooms wither and die out as does most of the orange moss covering the cave as well.

---

Meanwhile, Hisashi and Kirishima fend off a legion of pursuing Goombas as the last of the prisoners finally make it outside the cave and into the forest!

"Cghghghghhrrr! Cghghghghhrrr! Cghghghghhrrr!"

Hisashi and Kirishima pause as the Goombas suddenly reel back in pain and agony, before they collapse on the ground and wither away.

Upon seeing the Goombas fall the newly freed prisoners cheer and celebrate!

Hisashi stares at the cave entrance in awe. "They did it."

Kirishima joins him, a wide grin on his face. "Those two are so cool!"

Chopper jolts in place, his sensors picking up on a disturbance. ^Wa! Wa-wa bop!^

Hisashi pales before the ground beneath them shakes, throwing everyone to the ground!

But the worst thing is that the earthquake caused the mouth of the cave to cave-in, sealing it off!

"No!" Hisashi leaps to his feet! He rushes to the cave-in and immediately begins to dig away, but the boulders are too big and too many! "They're still in there!"

"Look out!" Kirishima grabs Hisashi and pulls him back before another large boulder could crush him.

The ground continues to shake and rumble as the prisoners all scatter for the woods.

Hisashi, Kirishima, and Chopper all watch on in horror as the hillside begins to cave-in on itself.

"No…"

---

"We gotta go!" Wildvine shouts over the crashes of the falling rocks and debris! "We gotta go now!"

"Then move it!" Bakugou shouts back as he takes off for the exit with Wildvine hot on his heels.

They sprint as fast as they can as the cave falls apart around them, but it's too late as a rockslide overtakes the entire exit, sealing them inside the large chamber with the defeated Mycelium.

"We're trapped!"

"No shit! Fuck!" Bakugou rushes towards the sealed entrance. "I'll just blast them away!"

"Bakugou look out!"

Bakugou peers up only to see more of the cave fall down over him!

Wildvine, acting quickly and on instinct, grabs Bakugou but instead of reeling him in; he wraps his own body around him! His limbs twist and intertwine around himself as he uses his own body to shield his head and Bakugou! All as the cave totally and utterly falls and crashes down upon them!

---

From outside Hisashi, Kirishima and Chopper helplessly watch as the entire hill disappears having caved in on itself leaving an open wound in the earth that's nothing but a field with broken rubble, boulders, and smashed in trees.

The three all go silent as sorrow and regret begin to seep in.

But then the faintest of scraping and the movement of dirt catches their ears.

From within the rubble a large green sprout springs out from the earth. It stretches up and over them like a tree that grew in the matter of seconds!

And like a flower Wildvine unwraps himself, stretching out his aching limbs as Bakugou clings to one of his venus flytrap-like fins.

Wildvine looks around before spotting his Dad.

He grins down at him in apology. "Sorry, about the scare."

Bakugou laughs! "Speak for yourself, that was fucking awesome!"

"You kids…" Hisashi sighs, holding his heart in relief. "You're gonna give me a heart attack someday."

Kirishima grins, just happy to have them back!

Chopper, however, actually looks a little miffed like he was betting on them not to survive.

"Haha!" Bakugou laughs, grinning at Wildvine! "Told ya we could take the bastard!"

Wildvine grins right back, feeling the same way.

---

Hisashi takes a seat in the booth, the Rustbucket sits just outside the window in the parking lot of the restaurant. "Well that camping trip didn't exactly go as I envisioned it too."

"Ha!" Bakugou laughs from the seat across from him! "It was a whole lot better than I thought it would be!"

Kirishima grins from beside Hisashi. "Guess you're happy."

"You bet I am!"

Izuku chuckles sheepishly from Bakugou's side. Although if you ask him he's just happy to be away from Camp Opinicon and Felucia National Park.

After timing out, they gathered up the victims and led them all back to camp. And talk about happy reunions as families, friends, and colleagues were returned. The ranger quickly got to work on providing any and all first aid especially for those in bleaker conditions, having lost their nutrients and all.

The rangers were also able to fix up one of their jeeps and make their way back into town while they were gone. Once there he was able to make contact with the search party of other rangers and pro heroes.

Once police and pro heroes were able to arrive they set to work on collecting statements. And of course Izuku and Bakugou were thanked and praised for their efforts in saving everyone and defeating the villain, Fun Gus. Thankfully Hisashi was able to convince the officer to mark down their actions under self-defense, not wanting them to be sought after by the legal authorities for technically breaking the law. The officer however was more than willing since one of his own friends was taken and returned too.

And so after such a chaotic time Hisashi offered to drive the boys back into town for some well-deserved pizza!

"Although…"Hisashi frowns. "I checked in with the rangers over the phone. Apparently they haven't found Fun Gus yet."

The boys pale.

Izuku gulps. "Did he get away?"

"They're not sure." Hisashi admits with a frown.

Bakugou waves it off any concerns. "Big deal!" His hand pops with a small Explosion. "If that bastard shows his face again, I'll be there to beat his ass black and blue all over again."

Izuku actually doesn't feel the same way. "Maybe…next time we let the pro heroes handle it." Because seriously he'd be dead if it weren't for the fact that the Florauna DNA also gives him regenerative properties.

"Huh?!" Bakugou scowls, yelling in Izuku's face! "Don't tell me you're going chicken shit again, Deku?!"

Irked, Izuku scowls right back. "No! I'm just saying I don't want to fight him again!"

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't want to die, maybe?!"

"What?! Almost dying builds character!"

"How?!"

Kirishima chuckles watching the two argue and bicker like an old married couple. "Looks like they're back to hating each other."

"I'm not so sure." Hisashi admits with an intrigued look. "They might not like each other but…I do think there is at least some respect between them."

There's gotta be. After being pinned to work together for a great good, there has to be some form of new respect for the other that they may not have had before. And if that's the case hopefully their respect will only continue to grow.

Hisashi smiles at the thought. "At least they learned to work together rather than against." Perhaps they might be able to push each other forward rather than hold each other back.

"WHAT!? Pizza with green chilies, onions, and pepperoni's the best by far, Deku!"

"And all I'm saying is that a pizza topped with spinach and Italian sausage is a good option!"

Hisashi sweat drops, as the argument between the two teens somehow transitioned into a debate about the best pizza toppings. 'Well hopefully they can find some more common ground.'

The waitress stops by, their pizza in hand. "Here's your order fellas." She drops the pizza in front of them.

Izuku and Bakugou stop bickering, their eyes locking onto the layers of mushrooms covering the top of the pizza.

They both gag! "Ew! Gross!"

Looks like Hisashi found the common ground faster than he thought.

"What?" Hisashi chuckles as he grabs a slice. "Was ordering this in poor taste?" He doesn't bother to listen to their outcries as he chows down on his favorite kind of pizza topping.

Izuku frowns in his seat, turning back to his Dad. "Going back…do you think they'll find Fun Gus? Before he can do anything again?"

Hisashi swallows. "I'm sure. With his body bound to that cave he couldn't have possibly gotten that far away. They'll find him."

"Oh, good." Izuku sighs. "That is such a relief to hear."

---

It's dark out as rangers, police, and pro heroes are all scouring through the woods. Search lights shine down at the caved-in hill as patrols dig through the rubble for any signs of life. They've been here for hours and there hasn't been a trace or sign of Fun Gus. No mushrooms, no orange moss, nothing. It was like he was never here.

But they search and search without any progress.

One ranger, the elderly gentlemen who loves ghost stories, watches on from under a large oak tree. He watches on silently and mournfully as the excavation and search continues.

"Poor, Kinyuu. I hope you can find peace and true friends in the next life…" And so with his cane in hand and his lantern in the other he hobbles away from the large solitary tree.

And so darkness creeps back in as the excavating goes quiet for the night.

From the brush a little squirrel, out past his bedtime, scurries across the forest floor. He jumps and scurries his way towards the oak, coming to a stop at the base so he can check his surroundings.

The squirrel peers around, checking for any predators. But there's nothing in the trees. Nothing in the brush. And certainly nothing within the crevice between the oak's large roots.

And so, feeling at ease, the squirrel takes a second to groom himself. He pats his head and rubs his paws together as he dusts himself of dirt and debris, totally and utterly at pea-

"Skrrrreeeee!" In a flash the squirrel is pulled into the black crevice from underneath the oak tree. Disappearing without a trace.

"Hehehehehaha!" A childish giggle echoes through the night as a pair of glowing greens eyes and a glowing grin form from inside the dark hidden crevice. "Hehehehehaha!"

---

THE PREVIEW:

Izuku: That was too much! Oh, geez I need a vacation from my vacation!

Wildvine: It wasn't all bad, was it? You got me out of it, didn't you? Plus you made nice with Bakugou.

Izuku: Yeah, I wouldn't really say we made nice. More like we'll behave ourselves in front of others.

Wildvine: Well if it bothers you, I promise you that the next stop will be nice and relaxing. No villains, no drama, nothing but hours upon hours of quiet time that'll all pay off in the end.

Izuku: What are you getting at? Why do you say that?

Wildvine: Because we're going fishing! I hope we reel in a whopper!

Izuku: Oh, cool. And, huh? Hey wait! I just saw something in the water!

Both: Next time: Ch.50 Off the Hook!

Wildvine: I wonder, are fish vegetarians?

---

A month…a whole freaking month. This chapter when I outlined it was meant to be short! Like the outline was only a page long! How did this happen?! Like it was so short I thought it'd be boring. But it just dragged on and on! I really need to start cutting things out for the sake of updating sooner. And sorry I totally forgot my own promise to do an Omake to fill the void and the wait time. Dammit, I suck. Well either way the newest chapter is finally here, and I hope you guys enjoyed it.

***So I'm willing to bet a lot of you are wondering why I chose to make Fun Gus and the Mycelium essentially the same being? My short and easy answer is to say that I wanted to. But I'll give you guys more of an explanation.

Well for starters I was actually really confused on whether or not the Mycelium was an alien or not. When I was a kid I always thought it was a mutant mushroom kinda like how there were mutant humans like Clancy, Gatorboy, Porcupine, and so on. And when I tried to look it up nothing outright said the Mycelium was an alien, but it said the "Living Mushrooms" were an alien. But that actually confused me more because were the "Living Mushrooms" a different species altogether? Did they land on earth and fall to the Mycelium's control? I was just so confused about it all.

So I chose to make the Mycelium a human with a Mutation type Quirk. And combining him with Fun Gus was sort of part of the reason for that. I always thought Fun Gus was fun and I really liked "Kipo and the Age of Wonder Beasts'' (P.S. Go check it out, it's on Netflix. It's great, you'll love it too.). And so I figured of combining the two to help give the Mycelium more personality and more of a background. Plus if I ever chose to use him again then I have something to work with, hence why I left his ending open in the end. I have nothing planned as of yet and I have no idea if I ever will, but I rather have the option than throw it out completely.

Also after the next chapter the alien foes are going to start hitting the ground running so I wanted to use the more earthly threats first before we get there.

***New artwork by "Voidv25" on Deviant Art called "Henzu(Monster)" it's great! Finally you guys will have a full on visual and image of what Henzu A.K.A. Nue looks like! Woah! I worked closely with Voidv25 on this one, even provided my own draft of Henzu as reference. So what you see is how I imagined Henzu to look like.

*Some of you (most you) already guessed it but Wildvine has joined the roster! Woah! I really like his powers, there's so much fun to be had with them!

*So funny enough in my first original idea for this chapter I wanted Kinoko Kimouri from Class 1-B to show up and play a role, but I cut her out a while back. Sorry but there wouldn't have really been a good pay off for her and I'd never really use her again anyway so I dropped her in favor of trying to do some more character development for Bakugou. Plus I think the fandom agrees that Bakugou is the type to like hiking in the woods so it worked out.

*Camp Opinicon is the same name of the camp Ben, Gwen, and Grandpa Max went to when they were attacked by the Mycelium and the Living Mushrooms.

*Felucia National Park. The name Felucia is in reference to a planet from star wars that's filled with illuminated aliens, plants, and fungi.

*Oh, also the reason I refer to the Living Mushrooms as Goombas was because saying Living Mushrooms is lame. Goombas' a lot more fun to say and write so I went with it :)

*Oh, BTW. Fun Gus' real name is actually Kinyuu. "Kin" means mushroom while "yuu" means fun. So, "Mushroom Fun" or "Fun Mushroom" is his real name.

To be clear, Ben Ten characters (with a few exceptions) will be given Japanese names especially if they originated from Earth. And their names are in the same vein as how Horikoshi names his characters.

For example, Henzu Uuichi. "Hen" means "change." "Zu" means "matter." And "Uuichi" is in reference to the word "Juuichi" which means "11". So Henzu Uuichi translates to "Changing Matter 11" or "11 Changing Matter."

So if you go back to Ch.47, at the end a certain name was dropped and it can be solved with this scheme in mind.

---

Responses for "Guest" reviewers from Ch.48:

Zack: For the road trip any plans for more aliens for the Omnitrix

like Blitzwolfer Humungousaur Whampire Shock Rock?

CreateGunner1209: Well as you've probably seen. Yes, more aliens are on the way. Whom? I won't tell you. Why? Because admittedly I am a bit of a troll ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But I will say that Shock Rock will not be appearing. Ever. If you check the Special Announcements charter I explain more on why that is.

---

AcceptableGhost: For a rushed chapter, this is very good. I think you made it the perfect length, and it does not feel rushed. I love the references you made. You were also able to get Izuku to use Heatblast some more.

Plus, I loved how Psyphin was just dissing on Kraab so passively.

CreateGunner1209: Actually looking back I think you're right especially after this chapter has somehow become my longest chapter yet! 120 pages long! My god that's crazy! And that doesn't include the page lengths I use to respond to Reviews or the Author's Notes!

---

Guest: What's your favorite chapter you've written? Mine's probably the parent day one.

CreateGunner1209: Hm, to be honest Parent's Day was very satisfying since it was so last minute and came off a poorly received chapter so it's definitely up there. But I think I also Love "In To the Deep End" because of Gang Orca and "The Final Straw" because so much of my hints and setups were finally payed off.

---

DeadCool14: Oh my God, Yes! All these references, they already made my day! Also nice twist on the Heatblast counter fire scene, great way to show Deku's growth and I love how you're building up his and Hisashi's relationship.

Aunt Vera isn't an Anodite, she's Grandpa Max's human sister she showed up in the classic series once and again in Omniverse, she appeared in the episode Permanent Retirement and in Clyde Five, she's a fun character.

Is Diamondhead gonna do the moves he did in A Change of Face and The Unnaturals?

Can you have Allen the Alien from Invincible cameo?

Also this since it has to do with superheroes, could you add this? . just for fun.

Are you gonna have the Omnitrix symbol mean something, like how in UAF it was the intergalactic symbol for peace and in Omniverse it just meant Galvan technology?

Does Mr Baumann have a Quirk?

Why don't you wanna add both Murk and Perk Upchuck?

Can Ditto dig and breathe underwater like in Omniverse?

Will there be more interactions with Class B?

Did both Nana and Gran Torino know about aliens or was it just Gran Torino?

Kinda late to ask but where did Shinso place in the midterms?

Did you see the new And Beyond episode about Big Chill? What did you think about it? And what did you think of The Ice Pack?

Will Deku learn Gunhead Martial Arts instead of Uraraka?

Is Vilgax gonna get his Alien Force powers via All For One giving him Quirks?

CreateGunner1209: Thanks! I'm glad all the references were fun! And so was the chapter apparently! And opps I misunderstood the Aunt Vera question. But either way the answer is still no, she won;t be appearing and neither will a version of her be appearing. So by extension there will be no Clyde Five either.

Also what do mean "moves" for Diamondhead? Do you mean those ramps he made to get around? Then yes I just haven't had the right place to introduce that skill yet.

I still have to watch Invincible. I am behind on so much right now. And I'm sure I'll love it when I start it.

Also if you added a link it did not appear so i have no idea what you are talking about.

I guess I was going to have the Omnitrix mean the exact thing for the Galvins because I am using the "Red-Spot" symbol for the Plumbers.

Mr. Baumann does and not showing it was my own fault. I didn't think about it so next time I see a good opportunity I will try to introduce it within the story itself. I should have an opportunity to do so in an upcoming chapter or two.

Okay I'm not doing the Murk and Perk Upchucks because again it's up to you how you envision the transformations. Plus I'm never going to explore them or their species outside of Upchuck. Maybe they'll show up as a side thing but nothing more than that.

Um I don't think Ditto can dig? He was in the sand and he's very nimble. Plus I don't think he can breathe underwater either. He just held his breath like how all cartoon characters are able to stay underwater for minutes while screaming, talking, and such without any real issues. At least until the director is like, oh, yeah, physics they should be drawing by now.

I want there to be more interactions with Class 1-B and I have at least one or two ideas coming up to do that. At least during the Training Camp Arc.

I'm pretty sure I have answered this question before for you. Only Gran Torino knew about aliens! Nana never found out. Why? Because Gran Torino found out after her death.

Where did Shinso place? IDK. It doesn't really matter. I can;t even remember what most of the class ranked anyway.

I did see the new And Beyond. It was "cool." So for the Ice Pack…I know what you're doing. You want to know my opinion so you can segway into convincing me to add them for the story later. Nice try! But in all they were fine. But in all fairness I always thought Big Chill's species were nomads that traveled the universe all alone.

No Deku will not learn Gunhead Martial Arts.

Also I'm not answering the Vilgax question. I have warned you before about asking questions that cross into spoiler territory.

---

Danny156: Great chapter!

CreateGunner1209: Thanks!

---

Paradox: This was a fun chapter. I love the Mitchell's vs the machines references and you fit Krabb in perfectly. Is hie going to develop Stockholm syndrome or something. That might be fun. Man Izuku is going to have some stories to tell. Also I had an idea for if Izumi gets a droid himself. They could just attach Krab's head to it for 'community service'. Could be funny and prevent the need for a whole new character. If the rest of the arc is as fun as this chapter I think it's going to be a home run.

CreateGunner1209: Thanks! I loved those references too! I'm still figuring out the details but in a way Kraab will learn to…accept his new circumstances. And yeah I'm sorta thinking the same for Kraab but we'll see. If it's going to happen it won't be for a while.

---

Guest: Will you be checking in with the rest of class 1-A at some point during this arc?

CreateGunner1209: As you saw in this chapter. Yes. Not everyone but some MHA character will be popping into the chapters to say hello and to help out. As of now I think there will be only 2 chapters where I solely focus on members of Class 1-A with no Deku in sight.

---

Atom king: This is a most fun chapter I have ever read so far with at the start of the chapter Izuku and his dad fixing up the rust bucket to ready to go to their road trip now with know who else is coming with them is chopper that's awesome maybe during this trip Izuku will learn how to talk to him.

Now I love how the trip started with a sing along but with not just any song it's the Goofy movie song the open road along with the theme park of tanuki which lead to both Izuku and Hisashi needed to go the hospital to get their rabies shots than eating a questionable Burger, get a speeding ticket, go on a dangerous donkey ride all while unknowingly avoiding crab , now I won't lie I cried bit on the Goofy movie elements mostly cause nostalgia cause when ever I felt down on the dumps, the movie always cheer me up.

Now the clothes that the two wearing is great with Hisashi wearing the red like Max did the Ben 10 and Izuku wearing his hoodie I like it.

Now for the main event the fight with crab it's awesome to have Hisashi fight we get to his fighting skills and his fire power, while Izuku as heatblast take care of the forest fire and save any body trap in the fire. Izuku figuring out that he can absorbed fire and it boost his powers I love the fire tornado eat your heart out endeavor there's a new fire hero on the planet, now I like the cameo of the wild wild pussycats showing up and the and to fight a villain only to find the campsite empty though I'm curious will they recognized Izuku when he use heatblast in front of him?

It's seem Izuku and Hisashi had hitchhiker in the form of crab's head I wonder what plans you have for that in later chapters?

Now since you're using the Goofy movie elements there's three elements I hope to see the first one is bigfoot or different kind of cryptid showing up, the second is the perfect cast and finally is the part where Goofy and Pete talk but with Hisashi and endeavor instead , anyway I'm probably asking for to much this is the best chapter I have ever read so far please keep the incredible job.

CreateGunner1209: Thanks I thought it was a lot of fun too! And yeah Izuku's going to learn it'd get old real fast if he constantly needs a translator for the robot.

Also I feel the exact same way about the Goofy Movie, too. So nostalgic and it hits my feels every time.

Yup and throughout this arc Hisashi will be keeping that shirt as Izuku will be keeping his hoodie that was gifted to him by Ochaco.

So the Wild Wild Pussy Cats didn;t actually see Deku. Heck they didn't see Deku at all. Ragdoll's Quirk "Search" only allows her to see Quirks. So she saw Hisashi's Quirk but she didn't see Hisashi himself. They never knew Izuku was there.

As for Kraab I wonder too. I have some ideas but we'll see how they play out.

I thought about Endeavor showing up and maybe with Shoto but nothing I came up with I liked.

Anyway glad you enjoyed Ch.48 I hope Ch.49 was good too.

---

Jakesurfboy: Hey don't worry about getting the chapters on time, I get things happen so don't worry about it plus this chapter was really good and I like how Krabb is know hitchhiking along on this arc. Also in your list of Easter eggs you didn't mention the Kung fu Panda reference of Mr Ping talking about the recipe or I was just blind and didn't see you write it down but that my favorite reference. Plus the fact the Izuku is no longer worried about Heatblast is great I'm glad he can use him again so yeah this was a good chapter

CreateGunner1209: Thanks although I still feel like I'm taking to long. But I'm sure it'll get better. Truth be told, the summer is my busiest time so I have to put writing off a little more often than I do any other time of the year.

So I didn forget that easter egg, the Kung Fu Panda one. But I didn't edit the mistake because afterwards I was like "You know I wonder which readers watch good movies?" And I got my answer I think ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

---

DevilishMan87: Will we be seeing Animo any time soon? Because he is aligned with the lov and we only gotten small reminders of him and haven't seen him at all.

Wrong transformation Ideas: (Some of these aliens haven't appeared yet, but I still thought they were funny)

Izuku: I doubt Wolfram's quirk is useless against lodestar!

*Turns into upgrade*

Izuku: Upgrade! ...Do you do this just because you find it amusing omnitrix?

Izuku: Come on Heat Blast!

*Turns into Swampfire*

Izuku: Swampfire! ...eh, close enough.

Izuku: Now would be a good time for feedback!

*Turns into XLR8*

Izuku: XLR8! Oh come on those two don't sound anything alike. They don't even share one letter! ...Or number!

Izuku: Please give me Diamond Head!

*Turns into Megawatts*

Izuku: Megawatts! … Why? Just why?

Izuku: Come on Wildmutt!

*Turns into Water Hazard*

Izuku: Water Hazard! ...Well it could have been worse.

CreateGunner1209: I wanted to bring him in for a chapter but it might clogg things up at this point. Things can still change so who knows. That said after the Training Camp Arc we will be seen way more often, promise.

---

Arsenal: What did you think of the zillo beast I mentioned in my previous review?

CreateGunner1209: Did I not answer that? I thought I did. Well if anything I would have the Zillo beast as part of the Nemitrix if I were to introduce it. It is still in the air as of now but we will see. And it would be Way Big's predator.

---

Shark: This was a fun chapter and I can't wait to see what other classic Ben 10 story you pull into yours. Wonder how Kraab will affect the rest of the trip

CreateGunner1209: Thanks! I got some ideas for Kraab, they might not all make it or really be that good but we shall see! To be honest the ideas I have for him after this arc are way better, I think.

---

Guest: ¿En este viaje contarás la historia de hisashi de como se convirtió en plomero y demás ?

¿Cuando tetrax regrese se quedará en la tierra por un tiempo o se irá después sinseramente me gustaría que regrese?

¿Jajaja me imagino a Izuku comiendo comida alienígena por qué lo de aquí solo eran gusanos lo cual no es mucho eventualmente hisashi comerá verdadera comida alien como pesés espaciales asquerosos y que apestan y plantas y insectos de otro mundo?

¿Si arias que RATH agas poses de jojos? Serías lo máximo y divertido

¿Y los que aparecieron eran los gatitos salvajes salvajes verdad ? Jejeje introducción anticipada

Oye no te olvides de heatblast también tiene terraquinesis y puede volar en una tabla roca u también controlar piedras ardientes que son como balas de cañón no te olvides de eso

¿Y que los bebés de Izuku serán cuan los aliens ya sean rebelados al público verdad o será antes de eso? Jejeje m imagino a los compañeros de Izuku con cara de WTF al ver que su compañero ahora es madre y los padres de Izuku y Izuku actuando como mujer embarazada al enterarse de eso pero todos sería genial y también sería jenial que almenos uno se quede con Izuku solo uno podrías los demás que se vayan pero recuerdo que abia uno que era más pequeño as que ese se quede con Izuku porfabor

Y das podés ser sutil con las referencias a Marvel sabes recuerdo que pusistes muy poco de discreción los acuerdos de zocovia sabes

A también que frío pude crear ice por cualquier parte de su cuerpo no solo la boca no se te olvide y sabes yo lo imagino como en un fanar que esta en Google dónde tiene más rasgos de polilla como una bufanda blanca en en cuello y otras cosas

¿Me preguntó cómo será la revelación alien al mundo jeje estoy seguro que ya lo estás preparando verdad?

CreateGunner1209: No, not yet. To be honest I kinda wanted to save that for more of the Endeavor stuff later on.

As for Tetrax you will have to wait and see. I think he'll stick around for a little bit but then I might have him go off somewhere else.

Yup! Well Hisashi already eats that stuff he's just trying to get Izuku used to the gross palette of food. He won't succeed BTW.

JoJo poses would be fun.

Yes the Wild Wild Pussy Cats made cameos!

As for Heatblast. I know I know. I don't want to show off all alien abilities right at the start otherwise nothing new for them will occur. Also technically we never saw Ben actually use that move before he just made it up for Allen but he never actually did it.

Okay the Baby Big Chills will end up the same as Ben's. Gone and forgotten about into space. I never really liked that episode and the only reason I am doing it is because people are asking for it. If I do a sequel series maybe they will return but that's getting too ambitious.

I usually make the references on the spot. So I'll try to add another Marvel one. Technically I did have one recently during the "Side Quests" chapter. With the living planet comment from Hisashi.

White scarf? What are you talking about? Big Chill? Yes I know he can make ice anywhere but like I said I want Izuku to figure his aliens out over time to keep things new and exciting for me as a writer.

I am preparing for it, it is constantly on my mind. But it won't appear for a while so I have time.

---

Guest: Good chapter, i didn't find it disappointing in any way, don't beat yourself up, i hope that things are improving for you now

CreateGunner1209: Thanks and they are. I didn't lose motivation while writing, it just took a long time. Sad to say, but hey it's out now!

---

Farouk: The latest chapter of mha manga has show us how corrupted is the society is, I mean what do you expect from a society that filled with ciVILIAN.

CreateGunner1209: Haha! I See what you did there.

---

Nick4Speed: Another fun questions I like to ask. Let's just say that Izuku is a childhood friend with one pro heroine and when they reach adulthood they got involved romantically together. Which one of this heroine are suited with the future greatest hero of all time and WHY.

Miruko (Rabbit heroine)

Ryukyu (Dragon heroine)

Midnight (The Rated-R heroine)

Mt Lady (The Giantess heroine)

CreateGunner1209: I'm assuming this is an if question. Right? Out of these options I think Miruko or Ryukyu. And that's mainly because I see fanfics about those two being the same age as Izuku or Izuku being aged up with them. So it's a biased answer, admittedly. Besides Midnight's too much, Mt. Lady I don't see it.

---

Farouk (again :) : The MHA fandom...

The past ofa users explained why ofa is dangerous to be used by another quirk user and why it's more effective to be wield by quirkless person like deku. Also they grateful that deku is the 9th and the last user of ofa.

FANDOM : Mirio is more worthy than stupid Deku...

Deku finally have a character growth, wear his mask and being a badass by fighting villain left and right while trying to bait Shigaraki and Afo out despite not being able to get sleep for several days. He also beat Muscular for the second time while looking like a badass vigilante.

FANDOMS: Deku still fucking soft, he doesn't change...

Izuku able to use 45% of ofa and manage to unlock two more quirk, Smokescreen and Fajin.

FANDOM: His too overpower uuhh I hate this manga.

ME: Oh dear LORD please grant this humble servant the ability to punch people in the face over the internet.

CreateGunner1209: People will hate what they can. Admittedly I think that people are hating on MHA because it is popular. Like how some people hate on Lucario from Pokemon because it's popular. But when MHA eventually emets in end everyone's going to love it and hating it will mean blasphemy! People are dumb and like to argue it's best to educate them or if you know you can't change their minds then ignore them.

---

Guest: Why are Ripjaws and Waterhazard both in the starting 9 aliens?

CreateGunner1209: Alright, the first 9 aliens were picked for story reason not necessity or what I liked. I figured out how to fit every alien into the story first and then I took the one's I couldn't figure out and eventually narrowed it down to those nine. So the 9 originals were the remainder of what I got after I planned everything else out. And I think it payed off well.

---

Insert name: You may say that this chapter wasn't worth ir, but to me it was one of my favourites. It was really funny and it gave Izuku closure with the Heatblast situation. I honestly can't wait to see what they will encounter next in this road trip, especially now that Kraab is tagging along.

Also, could you consider a Rick and Morty cameo in the future, maybe?

CreateGunner1209: Thanks and after some time I do feel better about it too. And I will try. Most (all) of my easter eggs and cameos come to me as I write. I rather not try to work around a cameo and figure out how to set the entire chapter up to do it. The opportunity needs to show itself, so it may be a while.

---

Dreadbot: I like this chapter I thought it was pretty funny and deku head count just keeps growing. I understand what it's like to be completely exhaust and have to do something so I get it please keep writing

CreateGunner1209: Thanks! And I will!

---

Icy (Ch.20) : I just wanna say, I loved how you are writing this story still keeping to the main canonical parts, yet still adding your own twist to the plotline! Also, the little part on the Dittos playing Monopoly has to be true, and it was really hilarious! I found this story yesterday, and now I can't pull myself from it

CreateGunner1209: Thanks! I really am trying to stay close to cannon. At least for now anyway. And I love that scene too with the Dittos! It was inspired from an OddOnesOut Youtube video actually.

---

Icy (Ch.38): I'm sorry but I had to make the joke.

Hizashi Midoriya finally came back with the milk

CreateGunner1209: Hahaha! He did and he got it from the Milky Way (͡ ͡° ͜ つ ͡͡°)

---

Guest (Ch.26): RATH: LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING WILD WILD PUSSYCAT CAMP CONSOLER FOR THE HERO COURSE FOR CLASS 1A AND 1B RATH WILL NOT BE THE FIFTH MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM BUT IF WANT TO FIGHT YOU GOT A PIECE BUT YOU JUST BIT OFF MORE THAN YOUR STOMACH CAN CHEW

EVERYONE IN CAMP : ... THAT MADE NO SENSE !

RATH: GRRRRRRRRR I KNOW

CreateGunner1209: Haha! Funny! Hahaha!

---

Special guest: Best fanfiction I've read in a long while thanks for writing this!

CreateGunner1209: Thank you! I'll try my best, promise!

---

Guest: Personalmente espero que no desaproveches a Kraab, ya que me gusta esta nueva personalidad casi cómica que le diste, ahora me imagino momentos hilarantes con el, además del hecho de ser ahora una cabeza.

PD: mencionaste que planeas hacer que la clase 1A tenga una especie de "compañero droide", ya me lo imagino a Kraab con ese rol, donde estará con ellos a regañadientes, o terminar en manos de Mei Hatsume (qué Dios se apiade de él si pasa lo segundo).

CreateGunner1209: I am leaning towards that actually. But that may not pay off until sometime after the Training Camp. For now he'll be around and I'll be giving him small moments, kinda like One-One. At least for now.

---

UA Alumni: Do you read the manga My Hero Academia: Vigilantes? It's honestly a good read, I highly recommend it, plus everything in that manga is canon to the main series. We also get history, backstory, and information on a bunch of characters that you can't find in the main series; unless you read it on the fandom wiki. Characters such had Eraserhead, Kurogiri, All for One, Stain, Midnight, Hood, Rappa, Fat Gum, Endeavor, Naomasa Tsukauchi, Mirko, Ingenium, and many more all have some involvement and backstory/history in this canon prequel manga so I highly recommend that you read it.

CreateGunner1209: I was reading Vigilantes but caught up and fell off of it because the wait time was too long. So I am behind. I do like it though I know about Aizawa's backstory stuff too. I know I made it past that part at least.

---

Guest: i can't wait to see more of this story, im especially hyped for any of the following scenarios:

-Hizashi/Endeavor backstory and possible start of endeavor redemption arc (although that is likely to take a while, maybe after endeavor becomes number 1 hero)

-More people joining the plumber cadets ( Momo, Tenya and Shouto being the most likely to join)

-Deku, Ochako and Bakugan taking the final exam at the summer vacation

- More alliens being discovered of course (personally rooting for NRG, Snare-oh, Upchuck and Pesty Dust)

CreateGunner1209: You're guess is correct. I won't really explore Hisashi's/Endeavor's backstories until then. It just fits better there than here.

More will join. Whom? Guess we'll have to wait and see.

I am excited for their remedial exam too! It should be fun! Or at least I hope so.

I'm excited for new aliens too! Some will get here sooner than others obviously. And sadly but it'll be worth it.

---

Guest (Ch.26) : Is looma is gonna claim deku as her husband after seeing him at the sports festival

CreateGunner1209: Nope

---

Guest (Ch.26) : Vilgax : IZUKU MIDORIYA I VILGAX CONQUER OF BILLION'S HAVE RETURNED TO EXACT MY REVENGE FROM YOUR IMPUDENT COWARD BEFORE ME THIS TIME YOUR DEFEAT WILL BE ABSOLUTE !

Ma vreedel : HEY SQUID DILLY !...get

Vilgax: Arg! Mrs vreedel nice seeing you ..so anyway Izuku I have to go ( vilgax leaving in ship )

Deku: ?!

CreateGunner1209: I actually do want a version of this scene. I really do but we'll have to work up to it first.

---

Guest (Ch.11) : In the quirk assessment test shouldn't he he place first because momo is not stronger or faster than any other aliens

CreateGunner1209: No. because of his timelimit he was able to do some stuff as an alien and others as a regular human So Momo had a more consecutive score in the long run. BAsically the alien was scoring 10 points but Izuku himself was scoring fives. But Momo was scoring an average of 8 all throughout the tests. Therefore she won out.

---

Guest (Ch.1) : Dang if you see new movie trailer that should be a forever knight arc and maybe a war between them and dagon and flame keepers circle

CreateGunner1209: I saw it a while back actually. But I'm waiting on what do until I actually see it in theaters. Literally, when I watches Heroes Rising I figured out what to do for my own story then and there as I was watching and leaving the show!

---

S1Ayer4fun: Uraraka: uuummm... uuh... hey Deku!

Deku: Yes Ochako.

Uraraka: ahem... well I want to ask something.

Deku: Okay? What is it?

Uraraka: uuuhhh... what is it called when your crush has a crush on you too!

Deku:...

Deku brought both of his hand together in front of his face before slowly spreading the hand down in reverse 'U' formation while saying...

Deku: IMAGINATION...

Uraraka: (0_0)

CreateGunner1209: Hahahahaha! Oh, that's cold!

---

FlamingFireBlaze: You know what would be fun. Deku transform into megawatts and decide to get into Bakugou suit and shock him repeatedly. It's possible you know since the Omnitrix can alter the wielder's personality.

CreateGunner1209: That would be and Buzzshock would do that. Or at least he'd do that to a villain.

---

Guest: Dude luzku gone Batman mode in latest chapter are you going to do the same on ochako or luzku plus have you seen Ben ten ultimate alien when Ben go rampage on every villain to know where Kevin please do that to luzku when ochako go rogue and missing and he will go rampage on every villain to know where ochako is

CreateGunner1209: I know it was great! Now how I will handle it is still in the air and too be honest I might have gone full AU by then anyway so we shall see what happens.

---

Extra: Have read the latest chapter of BNHA, it's awesome!

Wimp Deku is dead people, Beast Deku is coming right up.

Also fuck all the the haters who think that Deku is a pussy.

CreateGunner1209: I read it. Trust me I read it. And I totally agree. I never agreed with them anyway.

---

Guest: Is there any connection with Osmosians? Or did humanity evolve quirks itself? Better yet, did aliens breed with humans to jump start quirks?

CreateGunner1209: I do have an answer to this question BUT I will not share it. Not to be mean but that crosses heavily into spoiler territory and I rather keep it close to my chest than let it slip out. Sorry but them's the rules

---

Ink Tank: Have you read 5 Years Later?

Celestial-Sapiens? Honestly, did not like this species and much preferred the explanation of the "collective unconsciousness" from Shin Megami Tensei Persona beautifully explaining that reality originated from the minds of all living things. Same thing with Anodites, if powerful species like this exist it kinda throws out the balance and stakes in any story and just kinda makes it joke like Omniverse did with Ben 10. Really hoping you're not planning on bringing these overpowered concepts back because it ruins the balance in my opinion.

Does Magic and a Gwen come into play at some point? Once again above explanation really ties in the spiritual aspect of things! Code Geass, Berserk (RIP Miura) & Neon Genesis Evangelion explores the Collective unConscious And now you have a chance to do it on a universal scale.

My problem with Ben 10 Villians is that they are just that Villians, unlike BNHA antagonist which actually contribute to the overall story... are you doing anything about that? Like the only villain they really explored was Vilgax because Ben made him his destined villain way back in the past in Omniverse.

I guess following the Ben 10 PlotLine is one way to introduce more Ben Characters, but I think it hilarious when people do crossovers with incomplete stories and then some new aspect of the main canon story completely destroys crossover progress, karma is punishing them. Like Ochaco getting OFA, now that we know it's dangerous for Quirk Users to obtain it since it will inevitably kill them by drastically reducing their lifespan (which I think is how Deku will kill AFO in the end personally!) . Uraraka is living on borrowed time, lol! U better do something about that or she ded!

I know you're trying to be original and I'm glad you're diverging where you can, but a little planning out can help prevent plot holes like this one above! Some reviews I read surprised me that you didn't research some parts of the stories and this is where I believe problems might start coming up!

Stay healthy and hopefully we get another update soon!

CreateGunner1209: No, I haven't read it yet. I should but I keep putting it off. Sorry. To be honest I am behind on a lot: reading, TV series, movies, etc. Life's been too busy and I've been working hard on this story.

Now I'm not sure how much you've actually read of this story or at least if you read the Author's Notes. But I will put it all here for simplification.

I might do Alien X but he's an endgame sort-of alien, basically I'm gonna wait and see if I want to add him for the final arc type stuff. And in another Author's Note in the "Magical Girl uravity" chapter that Anodites will not be making an appearance. I sort-of have a substitute for them (a not as powerful substitute) which will play out later on.

In the same chapter I also use the entire chapter to explain that Magic isn't a thing in this AU. I didn't want to deal with Magic and try to explain its rules, worlds, people, etc. While still trying to do world building for the other Ben Ten and MHA stuff. So I cut it out before the story got too completed and clogged. It would have been way too much. I'm sticking with the sci-fi elements here, not fantasy…although people fantasize about MHA and Ben Ten but whatever.

And yeah I get that about the Ben Ten villains. And if you read the current arc then you might know that I'm about to bring in more Ben Ten related villains. Especially ones I hope to keep around in the long run. And that includes diving into backstories, developments, and interactions. I have a lot of ideas I want to share and do for a lot of them. Heck I'm doing something different with Kraab already, I also have a big plan for Henzu (A.K.A. Kevin Levin), and Dr. Animo who is with LoV working in the background, for now at least.

Hell, even in this newest chapter I overhauled the Mycelium's motives, personality, and powers. But admittedly that was more for fun than anything else.

And finally I do see your points about planning it all out and stuff. But I've already got that all covered and figured out. Heck the moment I learned about OFA killing its Quirked users I immediately had like 5 ideas to fix it in story without breaking, continuity, rules, or contrivansious. It's all good to the point I'm actually excited to show you guys how I'm going to get around it. Plus it's fanfic if I chose to ignore than I could (I won't but you get my point). But in any case I've already got ways to fix the OFA issue and all without causing problems or breaking any rules from either MHA or Ben Ten! Like I said I'm actually kinda proud of what I came up with and it already fits in so well with the plans I've already got for the story overall. But in all fairness my more endgame stuff is…temporary. Or rather I haven't fully cemented myself to one idea in case the manga throws a curve ball or two. I'm keeping my plan overall flexible. And besides at somepoitn like all fanfics I may have to go full AU by the time that occurs.

Oh, I also do think that Deku (canon) will defeat AFO too by sacrificing OFA.

Also which researched parts do you mean? Yeah I guess in some cases I should have better studies up on some Ben Ten lore but hey if it wasn't covered in the show, which is the main medium for this info, then I don't really have a responsibility to go out of my way to figure out what's fact and what isn't. Because even the Ben Ten creatures have backtracked and refuted themselves before on many of the Ben Ten issues, continuity, and other topics.

Besides this may be a crossover but it's a heavy lean towards the MHA side of things anyway with Ben Ten elements thrown in. So thank you for your concern but I feel pretty confident in myself. Now will I have some struggles in the future? Forsure, definitely, it's unavoidable. But I think I am leaving myself room and options to work with.

Anyway I hope you check out the story in full, disclosure my first 8 chapters are not the best. I was still figuring things out as a writer. But hey I think I've developed a lot since then!

Thanks again for the review and sorry about the long wait for a new chapter.

---

Guest: It been 4 weeks not 2 weeks why

CreateGunner1209: Because life. Yeah sorry I forgot how busy my summers could be. The summer is probably when I'm the busiest compared to the rest of the year. I'll try to do better but that may mean shorter chapters.