Sorry this took so long to get out. Fight scenes are weird and I hate them. On the bright side one more chapter until we're out of fight scenes for a while.
Summary: A new challenger approaches! They will not be the last. USJ part 2 of 4
Three students trudged through the water of the Shipwreck Zone, a sea of villains left in their wake cursing at their backs.
"I had a bowel movement this morning, so those things'll stick all day." said Mineta, who was currently being dragged by Tsuyu so that he did not drown.
Midoriya looked back towards the villains, all bound together by Mineta's quirk. His jaw trembled and he began to mutter anxiously. "We were lucky that was all of them. I took a huge gamble. Normally, they would've kept some people underwater in reserve. I was trying to keep my composure, but I couldn't stay calm. This is dangerous. I have to be more careful-"
"Midoriya, stop that. It's scary." Tsuyu interrupted him, jolting him out of his depressing spiral. Izuku turned towards her as Tsuyu let go of Mineta, having reached a place where he could safely stand. "Rather than reflecting back, shouldn't you think about what to do next?" she bluntly commented.
"Y-You're right," Midoriya winced again, all the more conscious of his broken fingers, twinging as he lifted his hand to inspect the damage.
"Are you all right?"
"Y-Yeah." he smiled to hide his pain, although it looked more like a grimace and decided to change the subject. "Anyway, we should make getting help our top priority. It would be best to follow the shore and avoid the central plaza as we head toward the exit."
"That's true. Mr. Aizawa has drawn a large number of villains to the plaza." Tsuyu agreed, still considering Midoriya's poorly hidden wince.
'But there are too many villains.' he thought to himself, thinking back to when Aizawa first ran into the mass of villains. 'Of course, Mr. Aizawa is trying to suppress them…'
"...but I think he overexerted himself by jumping into that crowd of villains to protect us." he finished his thought out loud, Tsuyu and Mineta turning towards Izuku in shock.
Mineta gasped, his face visibly twisting in fear even with his mask, "Wait, Midoriya, don't tell me you…"
When Midoriya didn't say anything to deny his idea he continued, "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"I'm not thinking of doing anything that'll get in his way." Midoriya reassured with wide eyes, defending his idea, "But if we can just find an opening and lessen Mr. Aizawa's load, even a little…"
Reluctantly, the two gave in and, moving together, the three made their way towards the main plaza. Mineta cringing whenever a scream echoed throughout the building.
"Hey, Midoriya, we're just here to see how things are going, okay?" Mineta reminded, voice trembling and far too aware of the dangers of their current situation.
"Ribbit." Tsuyu nervously agreed.
"I know." he said somewhat absentmindedly, "We'll run away the instant it seems dangerous."
When they arrived at the edge of the water, it became clear that their teacher seemed to be handling the situation. Throughout the plaza unconscious villains were laying on the ground, battered and bruised in Eraserhead's defense of his students. Only a few villains remained standing, leaving the students with a hopeful feeling that everything would be okay in the end.
Knocking out another villain, Aizawa Shouta noticed a disturbing man with hair so white it seemed blue sprinting towards him. He leapt off of the unconscious criminal and shot out his capture weapon towards the unsettling individual, who seemed to be muttering something underneath his breath that Eraserhead was unable to hear.
The two men sprinted towards each other, the villain grabbed hold of an end of the capture weapon and reached out towards Aizawa before receiving a swift punch to the gut. The soaked students gasps went unheard by the fight's occupants.
The villain recovered quickly and firmly took hold of his target's elbow. Eraserhead gasped in pain, realizing that he was out of time.
Smile almost unnoticeable, the man spoke in a hushed tone, his hand-covered face leaning in closely to the underground hero. "It's hard to see because you keep moving around, but there's an instant when your hair falls." His captive tensed, his burning red eyes widening in panic.
The villain's quirk quickly showed itself, the cloth under his grip fraying and tearing, "That's when you've finished an action. And the space in between has gotten shorter and shorter." The cloth had now fully disappeared, leaving Aizawa's very skin and muscles vulnerable to this brutal assault.
The students' stifled gasps fortunately were drowned out by his groans of pain.
"Don't push yourself , Eraserhead."
Skin flaking away, the hero's muscles were being eaten at by this gruesome quirk. Pieces of skin fell down as if they were made of paper, revealing the muscles and tendons underneath.
Desperate, he shoved away his captor and fell back into the swarm of villains who had regained consciousness in the moments where he was being attacked. 'My elbow's crumbling!', he thought to himself, defending against the grip of his enemies while holding his injured arm.
"That Quirk isn't suited for fighting long fights against a large group, is it?" remarked the supposed leader, dragging himself up from where Aizawa had disposed of him. "Isn't this too different from your usual job? What you're good at is a short fight after a surprise attack, right?"
Eraserhead panted, surrounded by henchmen, and mindful of the fact that he did not have many options left. His quirk activated, he scanned his surroundings for any possible attacks or actions that he could take.
The villain continued. "Even so, you jumped right in to fight us from the front. Was that to put your students at ease?"
Aizawa blinked. His hair began to fall and one of the villains surrounding him attacked. Wrapping him in his capture weapon, Aizawa used him to deflect a different assault from his enemies, resulting in Aizawa standing once again around their fallen bodies.
He turned to face the leader once more, fully aware of the danger he posed.
"You're so cool! You're so cool..." he exclaimed, impressed but far too relaxed given that Eraserhead had just disposed of what remained of his forces. Aizawa narrowed his eyebrows, confused.
"By the way, hero…"
Eraserhead turned away from him to the source of the heavy breathing coming from beside him. His heart dropped as he laid his weary eyes on a monster. The figure looked to be a foot taller than the hero with dark blue skin and red scars placed unsettlingly over his broad form. His face was by far more horrifying, with the teeth of a predator and lips that vaguely resembled a bird's beak with eerie, unblinking eyes bulging out of its exposed brain.
"I'm not the last boss."
In an instant, the monster raised his bulking arm and assaulted the exhausted teacher. Roughly grabbing onto the pro hero, it repeatedly bashed him against the floor of the USJ. Aizawa was left broken and bleeding in the hands of the villain's unnatural ace in the hole. Weekly struggling to get free, Aizawa cried out in pain as the monster's grip tightened.
"I'll tell you, Eraserhead." The leader's eyes narrowed gleefully, eager to share his plan, "He's the anti-Symbol of Peace, the bioengineered 'Nomu'."
His goggles discarded on the floor, He screamed in pain as the Nomu crushed his already injured arm in its grasp, blood seeping out of his wounds as he lay defenseless on the floor.
"You can erase Quirks. That's wonderful, but it's nothing impressive." The villain stared unflinchingly at the brutal scene his minion had created. "In the face of overwhelming power, you might as well be quirkless."
Furiously Eraserhead tried to negate the Nomu's quirk but swiftly found himself being slammed into the floor, cracks appearing where the beast had placed pressure, showing the monster's true strength. His hand dropped to the floor, too focused on his body's pain to try anything. 'It's like he's breaking a twig. I'm sure I erased his quirk. That means he is just that strong.' Aizawa worried to himself, the monster grabbing onto his head, 'He's as strong as All Might. ' The Nomu brutally slammed his head into the floor.
In the waters beside the front plaza, the three students witnessed this brutal show of strength.
"Midoriya, I can't take it anymore," Mineta whispered, covering his mouth with trembling hands. "I'm sure you must be having second thoughts, right?"
"Ribbit," Tsuyu silently asking the same thing.
Midoriya only stood still, frozen in horror with what was being done to their teacher.
Out of the blue, the mist villain appeared once more beside the attack's leader. "Tomura Shigaraki." He called out.
"Kurogiri," Shigaraki responded, "Did you kill Thirteen?"
"I put Thirteen out of action, but there were students that I was unable to disperse, and one of them was able to run away." Reported Kurogiri. He hesitated before adding on, "There seemed to be two other children who appeared out of nowhere with an animal companion. I imagine that they're some upper-year students who were asked to assist with the lesson and arrived late. While they seem to be heroes in training, I didn't recognize them as the interns of any local heroes."
Shigaraki turned to face him, stunned at what Kurogiri had just told him. "Huh?"
"Kurogiri, you…" he scratched his neck in agitation and began to breathe heavily, shaking in rage. "If you weren't a warp gate, I would've crushed you to pieces." He froze, ignoring the mark he had left on his neck.
"We can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over." He decided. "Man, it's game over this time. Let's go home."
Mineta gasped and, with tears in his eyes, whispered excitedly, "They're going home? Did he say they're going home?"
"That's what I heard." the girl cautiously answered.
He began to cry tears of joy and grabbed onto Tsuyu. "All right! We're saved!" His hand gripping at her chest.
"Yes, but…" she froze and began to blush fiercely.
A second later, Mineta's screams were muffled by Tsuyu holding his head underwater. "I have a bad feeling about this, Midoriya." She commented.
He nodded. "Yeah. For them to simply retreat after doing all this…" his concern blatantly displayed along his face with questions racing in his mind, 'Don't they want to kill All Might? If they leave like this, U.A. will just beef up their security. "Game over"? What's going on ? What are those guys planning ?'
They saw Shigiraki's head turn their way and froze, "Oh, yeah." Shigaraki said nonchalantly, with one eye looking straight at them, "Before we leave, let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!"
He rushed towards them and aimed his outstretched hand at Tsuyu's head. Midoriya's mind filled with horrifying visions of what exactly would happen to Tsuyu, but nothing happened.
Shigiraki muttered, "Damn it," ignoring the sheer terror in Tsuyu's eyes and turned back towards the plaza. "You really are cool, Eraserhead."
The Nomu lifted the hand holding his captive's head once more, preparing to slam it into the ground.
SLICE
A pink sword appeared, tearing through the thick muscle of the Nomu's arm, the arm which had previously slowly been crushing Aizawa's skull. It's grip loosened, the arm dropping on the floor of the facility as the Nomu staggered back in surprise.
Eraserhead collapsed to the floor, blood still seeping from his semi-conscious body. A dark-toned woman stood in front of him, with a tattered pink formal gown and shining bracelets decorating her forearms. This absolute stranger stood ready to defend their teacher with her life.
"So," she began shifting her weight to the side in a show of confidence, "I imagine you're the villains, given the fact that you appear to be wearing actual human hands. Poor fashion choice by the way."
Shigaraki blinked in surprise, slowly moving away from the students, "Who the fuck are you?"
She snorted, raising an eyebrow at the villain, "Who the fuck are you?"
Throwing his hands up in frustration, he shouted. "I asked you first!"
She made a soft noise of disagreement and shrugged, "I kinda asked you first actually, but I'll let that slide."
Shigaraki once more began to scratch at his neck, "Kurogiri, who is she?"
"She is one of the upper-year students I mentioned who showed up late to the lesson." Kurogiri explained, "The arrival of this young lady and her companions distracted me and allowed one of the students to escape in the confusion."
"All Might's not even here yet and the plan has already fallen to pieces."
In the background, the Nomu could be seen with his arm slowly regrowing. Connie, catching sight of this, muttered. "Well, that's absolutely horrifying." She blinked, "Wait, what is that? I-is it like a golem?" She was about to ask something else before she noticed the barely conscious figure at her feet. Swearing under her breath, she whistled sharply and hoped that Steven would come along with Lion to her aid.
Luckily, before the monstrous figure had fully regrown its arm, Steven and Lion appeared, bounding out from the rubble by the stairway to the facility's entrance. Jumping off of Lion, Steven hurriedly placed his hair behind a pale pink headband and assessed the situation. "What is that?" Steven wondered aloud in morbid curiosity.
"I'm pretty sure it's some sort of golem," Connie remarked quietly, fixing her gaze on the creature. "Would you mind healing the teacher and getting those kids out of the way while I fend off the monster? I think the other villains will probably wait until they absolutely have to do something before they act so it should be fine."
Steven nodded and carefully took the unconscious man into his arms and, ignoring the disturbed looking man running towards him, jumped over him and landed gently beside the river. Gesturing for the three students to come with him, Connie engaged with the monstrous figure behind the retreating group of children, with Lion as her backup.
Silent but terribly confused, the three students followed behind Steven and only began to speak when Steven stopped at the staircase leading towards the main entrance. Ducking behind a relatively large boulder by the steps, most likely left by one of the unconscious villains in the plaza, Steven set down the man and tried to answer the students' questions.
"I'm sorry," he says, trying to hide his headache behind a brilliant smile. "Could I get your names before we talk about what's going on?"
Three disbelieving stares met his pained smile.
"Of course not," he mumbled. Reaching up to knead at his temple, he sighed. "Okay. First off, I have the ability to heal people but I have no idea what exactly will happen if I use it right now because it tends to feed off of my mental state; however, my stress levels are rising every second and my headache only seems to be getting worse. Still, I would like to see if I can heal your teacher."
"Why are you asking us?" Tsuyu bluntly questioned the stranger.
His smile softened, "Because I don't want any of you to panic beyond our current situation. I probably wouldn't be offering this if his injuries were less severe. Also," he added absentmindedly, "Most teenagers would rightfully freak out if an absolute stranger kissed their unconscious teacher."
She blinked and slowly began to nod. Mineta, terrified by everything he witnessed, had ignored the entire conversation. Midoriya, on the other hand, had thankfully been paying attention and after glancing at Tsuyu gave his assent.
Steven figured that was probably the best he was going to get.
Leaning down, he gently kissed the man's hand. The children watched as their teacher's injuries began to mend, beyond what even Recovery Girl was capable of doing. Smaller injuries shining in a soft light before mending. The elbow that was viciously destroyed by Shigiraki began to knit back together, the newly repaired skin showing no sign of damage. The damaged skull seemingly piecing the bones back together, the crushed fragments being fixed together in a misted pink glow.
Their teacher's eyes shot open, almost colliding with the healer. Aizawa's quirk instantly activativing in the face of an unknown entity, he dove at the intruder.
"SENSEI STOP!" Midoriya yelled, rushing to pull their teacher off of Steven. Tsuyu and Mineta stayed still, wide-eyed at the miracle they just witnessed, something beyond what even Recovery Girl was capable of.
They all froze, however, when Steven summoned a pink barrier separating himself from Aizawa.
'What on earth?' Midoriya thought, utterly fascinated by the man who seemed to defy everything he knew about quirks - and he knew a lot about quirks.
Aizawa paused when it became clear that his quirk wasn't affecting the bubble. Looking at the stranger for what seemed to be the first time, he asked. "Who are you?"
The man paused and grinned sheepishly, "The answer to that question would take way too long to answer, longer than the time we have right now. Connie and Lion are already exhausted from our previous escape. Plus, given your state when I healed you, I don't know if she can defeat that golem on her own." He blinked, "Well at least not while fending off those other two."
Aizawa blinked, absorbing this information while taking another long look at this stranger. He gazed at the elegant but foreign fit of his clothes despite the fact that they were clearly singed and torn in various places. Glancing back at his students, he saw that they weren't afraid of this man, despite clearly being astonished at his power.
Turning back to the intruder, Aizawa was about to respond when he realized just how young he was. It was clear in the baby fat still resting on his cheeks, the hair uncared for in a way that spoke beyond the damage done to his clothes, and the fearful uncertainty he tried to hide in the face of this unsympathetic adult.
'Goddamn it,' Shota thought to himself, staring in the face of someone barely older than the students he was currently teaching.
The boy stared in confusion when Aizawa stopped using his quirk.
"What's your name?" Aizawa asked softly, wordlessly apologizing for his original hostility towards the teenager.
"Steven." He answered. Looking Aizawa over in hesitation, Steven seemingly came to a decision. He stood up, the pink bubble unfurling around him and offered a hand to the man he had healed only moments ago.
Aizawa took it.