I am back, after over a year of no new chapters. Sorry this took so long, I'm a fairly slow writer without writers block. And I had a lot to get through on top of working on other projects. With that out of the way let's get on with the chapter.
Chapter 8: The Bigger Picture
"Let the first match, BEGIN!" All Might announce from the viewing room.
He stood with all the other students as they watched Nana and Mezo enter the building on one screen. On another it showed Momo and Eijiro waiting for them. As Nana and Mezo made their way through the hallways, all the camera's suddenly shut off.
"What in the world!" All Might exclaimed.
"All Might sir, what's going on?" Tenya questioned.
"I'm not sure. This shouldn't be happening." He replied as he tried to see if something was wrong on his end.
"Young Midoriya, Young Shoji, can you hear me." He spoke into the mic.
There was no response.
"Young Yaoyorozu, Young Kirishima!" He shouted.
Again, no response.
"This isn't good." All Might muttered.
"What's going on, why aren't the screens working?" A boy with spiky blond hair asked.
"It's because someone's jamming them isn't it." A boy with split red and white hair noted.
This elicited a gasp from all the students as a feeling of dread began to grow within many of them. Before All Might could respond, two villains came out of the shadows to attack him. Then said villains realized just who they were attacking.
"Oh shit!" They shouted before they were incapacitated by All Might.
He quickly triggered the alarm as panic immediately spread throughout the students. At least that still works. They only seem to be able to jam everything around the building where the exercise is, it seems.
"Villains?!" A short boy with grape-like hair shrieked.
"How did they get in!" An invisible girl exclaimed fearfully.
"What are we going to do!" The blond exclaimed.
"WORRY NOT STUDENTS!" All Might declared with a smile. "Now is not the time to panic! I am here and will make sure we all get out of this!"
The mere presence of All Might managed to drive away the fear they felt.
"Young Jiro, plug into the wall and see if you can hear anyone around us." All Might directed.
"Y-y-y-yes sir." Jiro, a girl with short purple hair and headphone jacks hanging from her earlobes, replied as she immediately plugged one jack into the wall.
"All Might, is there anything we should do?" A frog girl asked.
"Stay close, stay safe, and keep on the lookout for any more villains. These dastardly foes managed to sneak this far into UA undetected. They cannot be underestimated." All Might directed.
"What about Midoriya, and the others?" Ochako asked nervously.
"Until I know you all are safe I can't go to them. That could be falling right into the villain's ploy." All Might replied. "Young Jiro, did you find anything?"
"Nothing yet. I think we might be in the clear." She replied. "Wait… I hear a few people coming."
As if on cue, several teachers burst into the room. Much to the relief of the students.
"What's going on All Might?" Aizawa demanded.
"Villains have snuck into the training exercise. Two also got in here and managed to attack me before I swiftly took care of them." All Might explained, much to the surprise of the other teachers.
"I see." Nezu spoke up. "Aizawa, Midnight, I want you to take the students here to safety. Mic, take the villains and make sure they are securely bound. The rest of you will come with me to get the rest and deal with these villains."
"Yes sir!" They all replied.
Meanwhile…
Nana quickly rolled out of the way just as her attacker was about to impale her. She looked to him just to seem him disappear in a distortion. She clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"A villain." Mezo noted.
"And unless this maze is also his doing, there's more than one." Nana added.
"The question is, how did they get in without triggering the alarms. And why hasn't All Might tried to contact us?" He questioned.
"If I had to guess, I'd say they'd have at least four people here. One who's distorted this place, the one who attacked us, another one jamming our coms and likely the camera's, if they're still around, and lastly one who snuck them in. But that's my best guess. There could be more, there could be less." She answered.
Mezo looked at Nana, curious at how calm she appeared to be.
"You're probably right. Regardless, we need to be careful and assume we're on our own here." He noted.
Nana nodded before turning to look at Eijiro and Momo who had been cautiously looking around since the attack on Nana.
"HEY GUYS!" She shouted.
They looked up to her.
"My best guess says there are four villains here so be careful!" She explained.
"Looks like we're thinking the same thing! So what's the plan?! I say we try and find whoever turned this place into a maze!" Eijrio suggested.
"WHAT?!" Momo shrieked. "Are you crazy?! If he can turn this place into a maze like this then who knows what else he can do!"
"Actually, the ability is more limited than you think. He probably can't use it to hurt us or he'd done it already. Also the maze isn't shifting at all to even try and separate us so he also probably can't change it after the initial shape is set!" Nana pointed out. "Maybe…"
Her instincts flared to life as a blade neared her neck. [One for All] flared to life as she quickly dodged the attack and counter-attacked with a kick at the same time. Her assailant, the same man from before, was sent flying back before he vanished in a distortion.
"I see him over there!" Momo shouted as she pointed to the man now on another platform.
His figure quickly retreated into a hallway.
"We can't stay around here just waiting to be attacked! Finding the man who made this maze is the best option! If we defeat him things may return to normal!" Eijiro shouted.
"I'll admit I don't have a better plan at the moment." Momo noted.
"Think we can smash our way through the walls to make it easier?!" Mezo asked.
"I tried that earlier! Whatever this guy did it's made these walls insanely durable! We'll have to follow the maze!" Eijiro shouted.
"We should try and meet up!" Momo stated. "It'll slow down the search but we'll be safer!"
"How 'bout we met up now!" Nana shouted.
"What do you…" Momo began.
Suddenly, Nana picked up Mezo and in a flash of light rocket towards them. She landed safely before placing Mezo down who blinked in surprise.
"After seeing that other guy walking on a different angle when teleported I figured it'd work for me." She stated.
They all stared at her for a few seconds, unsure of how to respond.
"Well that make's things easier I guess." Eijiro noted.
"Indeed, we'd have enough trouble locating the villain responsible for this let alone each other." Momo added. "Speaking of which, we should get moving, we can't waste anymore time."
"Agreed." Mezo replied as he created many ears and eyes. "I can keep a lookout for any attack."
"Good thinking. For the formation through the halls we'll have Kirishima in front, Yaoyorozu and Shoji in the middle, and I'll bring up the rear." Nana replied.
"I see… yes… that's a very good formation. I'll prepare what I can that might help us as we move." Momo added.
"Good, let's get moving everyone." Nana directed.
"Right!" They all replied.
They headed down another hallway, different from the one Momo and Eijiro exited.
Meanwhile…
All Might grimmly looked at the building before him. On the outside nothing seemed to change much. However all the windows were now covered by the wall and all but one entrance was sealed in the same manner. All attempts to break into the building through brute force have failed. Even Cementoss' quirk was unable to change anything about the building. As said hero finished his attempt at affecting the building, All Might turned to Nezu.
"What do we do now sir?" All Might inquired.
"Hmm… You and I'll go in. I have a feeling my intelligence will be useful here. Though try to be careful when fighting around me." Nezu directed.
"Understood sir. You won't have to worry." All Might replied.
"Of course." Nezu replied. "The rest of you remain out here and secure the perimeter. Make sure none of the villains escape."
They all nodded and got to work immediately as Nezu got onto All Might's shoulder. The duo quickly entered the building. The first thing they noticed upon travelling inside for a bit was the twisting hallway with pathways connecting to it at strange angles.
"Well… It would seem I was right about being needed here." Nezu noted somewhat jovially.
Is now really the time to be taking that tone sir? All Might thought to himself as they continued down the hall.
Meanwhile…
The quartet of students slowly made their way through the maze. Their pace was slow as they kept their eyes sharp and their ears opened, looking for any signs of attack. The path they walked was full of twists, turns, and odd angles. It was as though they were in Daedalus's labyrinth, a near unsolvable maze, something that was taking a toll on them mentally.
"Grr… this is getting annoying." Eijiro grumbled.
"It wouldn't be much of a maze if it was easy to solve." Momo pointed out.
"Doesn't make it any less annoying." Nana added.
"Well thankfully I think I've gotten a better idea on how to solve this maze." Momo stated.
"YOU DO?!" The other three exclaimed, causing Momo to jump in surprise.
"Y-yes…" She stuttered. "I've been keeping track of our progress and memorizing where we've been to the best of my abilities."
"Really?" Nana questioned in surprise.
"That's impressive." Eijiro commented.
Mezo nodded in agreement. All of this caused Momo to start blushing.
"I-i-it's nothing really. I have to memorize the exact composition and dimensions of whatever it is I want to make with my quirk so a good memory and good spatial awareness is practically a requirement." She replied.
"I won't call that 'nothing'." Eijiro stated.
"Yeah, won't sell yourself short. That's really impressive." Nana added.
"Indeed." Mezo also added.
Momo's blush intensified.
"Can we please stop talking about this! It's embarrassing!" She exclaimed.
This earned a laugh from the other three as Momo pouted. Once the laughed died down, she cleared her throat.
"Anyways, back to the topic at hand. I've managed to pick out a pattern with the maze's layout." Momo stated.
"Wait, why would this guy make a maze with a pattern? Won't a random maze be harder to solve?" Eijiro brought up.
"It's possible it's a limitation of either the quirk or the user." Mezo pointed out. "Either way it's a lead to help us getting out of here."
"Yes, just keep in mind this is still imperfect so there'll be few hiccups along the way." Momo pointed out.
"That's fine. We'll work with what we've got." Nana replied. "So what's the pattern you've found?"
"Remember that main room we've been in a few times? The one with all the upside down stairs and platforms." Momo began.
They all nodded.
"Most of the paths seem to revolve around that room with a few off-shoots. We follow those and we might find either a way out or the one who's done all of this." Momo explained. "I have a good idea on what might be an off-shoot based on what I've observed so just follow my lead when we get to an intersection."
"Alright, we'll leave it to you then." Nana directed. "Let's get moving."
"Right." They all replied with a nod.
Thus, they set off again with a renewed sense of determination. Progress was still slow however. They ran into many dead ends along the way, or ended up back in the large main room. Eventually however they arrive in another more open area. Before them stood five villains. One was a large man who looked like the mix between a man and a bull. The other was the teleporting villain they had encountered earlier. The third was a man decked out in full white and yellow body armor that was clearly worn and old. The fourth man looked almost ghost-like with his pale white skin, hair, and loose fitting clothing. The final man looked like a normal Japanese business man. He was the farthest back of the five, sitting on a raised platform.
"It seems we've found our villains." Mezo noted.
"Indeed." Nana added.
Momo swallowed her nerves as Eijiro prepared for combat.
"What's the plan, Midoriya?" Eijrio asked in a whisper.
"If my guess is right, the villain furthest from us is the one who made this place a maze. We'll have to get through the other four though. I'll handle the bull-man you take on the armored one since we can match them blow for blow. Shoji, you take on the warp villain. You'll be the best at keeping track of him. Yaoyorozu, you'll handle the ghost looking villain. Your versatility will help deal with whatever he has up his sleeve." Nana directed in a hush tone.
They all nodded.
"It seems you've finally reached us. We were wondering when you were going to show up. It'd have been terribly boring if you ended up trapped in the maze and died of thirst." The business man villain noted. "But you're here now, so come, face us, face your death!"
The four students steeled themselves. 'Good luck kid. Don't forget what I taught ya.' He… don't worry Red Riot, I've got this. Neither side moved, each waiting for the other to make the first move. 'Be Careful Izuku.' I will. The brief few seconds they waited there seemed to stretch into an eternity. Nana took a deep breath.
"Let's go!" She shouted.
The four students rushed forwards, head long into battle.
Elsewhere…
Schonheit sat in her office watching a news broadcast. On it was a news report on the attack currently going on at UA. Next to her was Chiyo.
"It'll appear this attack of yours has already caused quite the stir, milady." She noted.
"Indeed, it seems everything is going according to plan." Schonheit replied.
"I have to ask though, was it wise to send that team there? They are one of our better ones." Chiyo inquired.
"My dear they were the perfect team to send. Why, I gave them the option of dropping out and they refused." Schonheit explained. "They're a group of thrill seekers, and there's nothing more thrilling than mounting a covert assault on one of the most recognized and well guarded hero schools in the country."
"I see." Chiyo replied. "They're also not as heavily connected to us as some of the other teams, which means it'll be harder to trace back to us."
"Ho ho ho… you are learning a thing or two. But there is another reason for this attack that I've seen you've yet to pick up." Schonheit noted.
"And what is that milady?" Chiyo inquired.
"Word on the ground is, some up and coming villain has been gathering up a bunch of small-timers for a massive attack on UA." Schonheit explained. "When I heard this I knew there had to be more. A newcomer getting this kind of support, not impossible, but highly unlikely. And I was right. It seems that the old thief is making moves again."
"You mean All for One?" Chiyo asked with a hint of surprise.
"Indeed, I had hoped All Might would have dealt with the bastard for good, but he's still kicking it seems." Schonheit noted with a great deal of disdain.
She sighed.
"But why would All for One support some up and coming nobody?" Chiyo questioned. "Unless…"
Schonheit smiled.
"Unless…" She repeated.
"Unless, he's on his last legs and he's looking for someone to build up to take his place. Or better yet, he takes over his protege and claims a new young body for himself. With how long he's been around he's bound to have some way of doing it." Chiyo pointed out.
"Fu fu… exactly what I was thinking." Schonheit replied. "Thus, with this attack, UA will be more on guard, making any subsequent attacks even harder. And because of that, we'll have taken the proverbial wind out of this upstart's sails. Which all leads to throwing a wrench into All for One's plans with him being able to do nothing. And if some hero students happen to die, all the better."
"Truly ingenious milady." Chiyo cheered in awe.
"HAHAHA yes yes praise me more!" Schonheit exclaimed.
And that's all folks. I'd say hopefully next chapter won't take as long to get out, but I said that last time and look what happened so... If you want me to be able to produce more content, please consider supporting me on subscribe star. (search zmanxv and the link is on my deviantart page). Til next time.