A/N: Hello, fellows! Hope a month and a few days isn't too much of a wait. To be honest, this would've come out much sooner if I didn't finally fall into the rabbit hole that is hololive on June 8th, about 12 hours before... Yeah, I had to set my priorities on watching Kiryu Coco right away, especially since she was my first exposure to hololive. I could've fallen a year ago thanks to her if I didn't get so invested into Ace Combat and its lore instead. You'd think Max0r would've bridged the gap for me 10 months ago with his AC7 video, but I guess I was too stubborn for my own good. At least I made it through 18 months worth of streams in those past 3 weeks for Kaichou's sake. We Tatsunokos and other fans wish her safe travels, no matter where she ends up.
Chapter 9: All Fun and Games `Til Someone Gets Knifed
Early one morning, two school buses full of U.A.'s hero course freshmen departed from the campus. Just as the wheels of the bus spun, propelling it forward, the wheel of fate turned ever so gently, slowly but surely guiding the forces of good and evil on their clashing paths. Finally, to the cacophonic joy of the students and the suppressed delight of the League of Villains, the school trip was underway.
Most students onboard chatted amongst themselves, while Katsuki glared at the sea of trees as if he wanted to burn them down with sight alone. Denki charged Eijirou's phone while the latter tried to show the glaring kid memes of them at the Sports Festival, and Tenya did his best to manage the noise the only way he knew how: yelling at everyone to keep their voices at reasonable volumes.
Meanwhile, Ochako stared at her reflection coming from the pitch-black screen on her phone. Though it was a simple flip phone, it was practically her only lifeline with her second family. No offense to her parents, since they loved and raised her as good parents should, but the League gave her hope and a future in a world that ridiculed her for being born "lesser" than everyone else.
Occasionally, a shadowy fog in the woods could be faintly made out, only to scatter shortly afterward. On the other end of the black patches, Kurogiri irritably monitored the bus. Sitting at the bar, Tomura traced the bus's path on a large map of Japan.
The shadowy figure asked, "Is all this really necessary, Tomura? We could always track her phone as I do with yours. It's demeaning to use Warp in such a ludicrous way."
Tomura scowled at him and rebutted, "Eraserhead might've confiscated it. Wouldn't put it past him. `Sides, if they detect a signal leaving the camp and trace it back to us, U.A. will start its investigation right then and there. Can't have that, now can we?"
"Ugh, very well. If we have no other choice…"
Eventually, the students reached the camp, or at least, they thought they did. Rather, Class 1-A stopped to meet the heroes that would watch over them for the next few days, the Wild, Wild Pussycats. After a brief introduction, a rapid rockfall triggered by Pixie-Bob kickstarted their training from hell. But between the countless battles against rock golems and the long trip to the actual camp, 'training to hell' would be a more fitting term. Whatever she would end up calling it, Ochako already knew she was right in wanting another villain strike as she and the rest of her class limped the last few steps to their destination.
That night, despite how exhausted she was, Ochako stayed awake looking at the night sky while everyone else went to bed. The traitor glanced at her phone, grimacing when she saw the lack of a signal, and gave a heavy sigh. The brunette wanted to warn Tomura about the Pussycats before he or Kurogiri got hurt, but perhaps the general isolation was what made this location so enticing for U.A. She thought, Guess we'll actually have to train tomorrow. Will the tracker even reach them from here?
Suddenly, Ochako heard the floorboards behind her creak, and she got up and turned into a defensive stance. She quickly dropped it once she registered the long green hair of her target.
"Tsuyu?" she muttered. "What are you doing here? Didn't you say you were gonna go to sleep?" The poor girl looked like she could drop dead at any second, too.
The frog girl tilted her head and responded, "Just wanted to wait until Mineta was asleep or was caught before turning in for the night, *ribbit*." Both girls shivered at the thought of him peeping on them. If Ochako didn't have an excuse to stay up before, she certainly had one now.
Tsuyu continued, "How about you, Ochako? What are you doing out here?" The brunette shifted her eyes to her phone, and then to the night sky.
Ochako replied, "I… wanted to take some pics of the stars. The city just doesn't let them shine like they do here." Indeed, the stars above twinkled and shimmered, performing a light show millions of years in the making for those that would only get to witness the next hundred, give or take.
Nodding her head, Tsuyu walked beside her. "Y'know, Ochako, we should really get the others here with us tomorrow. We could spend the night watching the stars together."
"Think they'd still be up for it?" She had her doubts, and honestly, who could blame her? Today had left them all ragged and worn-out. Would they even have the energy to crawl back to their beds tomorrow?!
Tsuyu shrugged, admitting, "I don't really care how many make it. I just think it'd be fun to stargaze with my friends." She let out a drawn-out *ribbet* before continuing. "It'd be the first time I had an actual group of friends to do that with."
Actual. That single word formed a massive lump in Ochako's throat. It stabbed at her not because of how mistaken the other girl was, but by the titanic amount of faith Tsuyu had in using that word.
All Ochako could croak out was, "I-I'm sorry…" She had no clue whether she wanted to finish that sentence with 'to hear that' or to apologize for what she would soon put the poor girl through. Tsuyu picked up on her guilt, but dismissed it as Ochako feeling powerless to change what was already ancient history.
The green-haired girl rebuked, "It's not something to get worked up over. I managed to get at least one friend before enrolling in this school. I wonder how she is…" She'd love to go on about her serpent friend, as strange as that sounds for a frog girl, but the night was still young, and for the girls to stay young, they needed their beauty sleep.
At 5 A.M. in the morning, Class 1-A woke up to the sound of a shrill whistle and the sight of their stern teacher's face.
Shouta Aizawa announced, "Hurry up and eat. You have half an hour to do so. Then, step outside. Got it?" The students barely managed to wolf down their meals on such a short notice, but all of them managed to make it on time. Outside, their teacher was waiting, holding the same baseball they used on their first day of classes.
The teacher requested, "Bakugou, mind showing us how much you've improved since then?" The blond boy frowned at him, but accepted the challenge earnestly.
Katsuki declared, "Aight, is every one of you greenhorns watching? You better, because this is how a pro uses their Quirk!" As he finished his sentence, he threw the ball, putting all of his might, his anger, and his rage into a massive explosive blast, larger and brighter than the one they saw during the Quirk Apprehension Test. The ball transformed into a comet, burning through the sky before violently crashing to the ground. It was clear as day… or perhaps a comet in the night sky, but the ball flew much further than it did before.
The class watched Katsuki turn back to them, bearing a bloodthirsty grin. He roared, "Well? Beat that!" Internally, he reflected, Damn, that smarts! Nearly sprained my hand there, but hey, it's worth it to prove a point to these chumps.
The pro hero checked his receiver, only for the screen to display 'ERROR'. Unamused, he turned to the class representative. "Mind retrieving that for us, Iida?"
The successor to Ingenium saluted proudly. "It would be an honor!" He took off, and a few minutes later, returned in a panic. "Mr. Aizawa! The ball… It's totally ruined!"
Katsuki's confidence fell as he rushed to the rule-abiding classmate, Though wrapped in Tenya's heat-resistant sports jacket and air-cooled by his running, a faint heat could still be felt off of the clump of metal that used to be the baseball's data-recording system. The rest of the ball burned up as it flew.
Aizawa sighed as he turned to address the class. "Up until now, your growth has mainly been focused on training you how to use your Quirk creatively and while under pressure. In other words, you've been training your wits and your nerves. Now, most of you will be focusing on strengthening your Quirk itself, so that you may have more power to wield and more applications to use that power.
"A few of you, however, will take a slightly different approach to today's training." With but a glance, he singled out three people in particular: Katsuki, Izuku, and Ochako. "In addition to raising the power of your Quirks, you'll also refine your control and restraint of your Quirks, so that no more needless collateral damage ensues."
Ochako pouted. You accidentally bonk your teacher on the head once, and now you're guilty for life…
She experienced vertigo again and again in a large inflatable bubble rolling downhill to train her inner ear against motion sickness. It worked to a degree, since it made keeping her footing on an extremely fast spinning platform easier to manage. What was not easier to manage, however, was having to dodge baseballs shot at her from pitching machines. Though she had a heavy iron shield, there was no handle and the edges were sharp, forcing her to use her Quirk to pilot it at all times, even while it was outside of her field of view.
This second trial seemed to be built around testing her reaction time against fast targets and her spatial awareness with regard to objects she controlled. Fitting, considering how Tenya's speed overwhelmed her on two separate occasions and that Thirteen had to take a short break to recover...
All in all, Ochako wouldn't call her time in camp a vacation in the slightest. Then again, she'd much rather go through this again than have to dunk her hands in boiling water over and over…
Later that evening, Tsuyu and Ochako managed to convince the other girls to come stargazing with them.
As they waited for the rest of their party, Tsuyu noticed Ochako's apprehensiveness and nudged her, whispering, "Hey, are we gonna do this or not, *ribbit*? They already agreed to this."
Ochako replied sheepishly, "A-ah, yeah. Sorry. This is just the first time I've done this seriously, y'know? I don't wanna take away from anyone else's fun." I hope we don't get into any trouble tonight...
Soon, the other students arrived, having cleaned up all of the metaphorical blood and literal sweat and tears they shed earlier. Both Toru Hagakura and Mina Ashido were visibly excited, their eagerness as transparent as the former.
Toru exclaimed, "I can't wait to watch the stars with you gals!"
Mina roared, "Yeah! Girl's night time!" Behind them, Momo Yaoyorozu and Kyouka Jirou followed, unable to match their level of enthusiasm.
Momo warned them, "W-we should really tone it down. Mr. Aiwaza might tell us to stop if we make too much noise. Oh, should we even be staying up this late?" Just as she started to worry, the girl with earjacks patted her on the back and gave a reassuring smile.
Kyouka replied, "Relax, we're all just trying to unwind after a stressful day. Is there anything wrong with that?"
"I-I suppose not…"
Suddenly, Toru pointed towards the sky and declared, "I'll be the one to find the most constellations tonight. Just watch me!"
Tsuyu countered playfully, "Please. I did this with my siblings all the time. I got this," activating the girls' competitive side.
Ochako joined in, "Not to put a rain on anyone's parade, but I think the winner's obvious. Only a zero-gravity hero like myself can even hope to see into the deep abyss of space!" Everyone else started laughing at her absurd logic.
Kyouka joked, "Yeah, don't think it works that way, Uraraka. Has the motion sickness finally driven you mad?"
"N-no! I'm just the one that's most closely associated with space here, so it makes sense," the brunette reasoned. She stopped to point towards Momo, who seemed to be creating something using her Quirk. After applying the finishing touches, she stepped aside, revealing a telescope mounted on a tripod.
Momo proposed, "How about this? We each get a few minutes to use this telescope, and while we're looking though, we write down the names of the constellations and what they look like. The winner…" She paused to think of a suitable reward.
The pink-skinned girl interrupted her, declaring, "We'll have to bow to the winner and add 'of the stars' to their name for a whole month!"
"You're on!" the others said in unison.
They spent the next hour or two finding constellations and purposely making their own, laughing as the stars provided an audience to their tomfoolery. With too many incomplete or incorrect answers, they never found out who won in the end, and they honestly didn't care to know. They were just having fun. Though they all woke up a bit worse for wear compared to the boys, Ochako wouldn't trade that night for anything else, not even all the wealth in the world, and she was certain the others felt the same.
The following night, Ochako and Tsuyu wandered through the dark forest together. The forest, normally ringing out with the sounds of life, barely made a peep save for the rustling of leaves against the wind or the crunching of soil underneath the students' shoes. The brunette already tried to rush through the woods, making sure they were as far away as possible from anyone else while passing off her haste as wanting to finish as soon as possible. However, they just heard about the League of Villain's attack and priority on capturing Katsuki through Mandalay's Telepath Quirk, and Ochako was not pleased in the slightest.
Why him of all people?! There's probably a few different Explosion Quirks out there, so there's no need to just take it. They'd go for Todoroki if that were the case. If anything, the only way Bakugou could help us in any meaningful way is if he join-. Oh no, she deduced. In her own opinion, getting him on their side was more trouble than it was worth.
Ochako figured, Negotiations aside, his superiority complex and refusal to cooperate with others would only make working with him hell. Not that I'd ever be caught dead working with someone like him.
Though she braced for a more human threat to pop up at a moment's notice, Ochako shivered as her mind wandered to all of the wild beasts that could be lurking just out of sight. A low croak drew her attention back to her partner, who extended her hand.
Tsuyu asked, "You seemed upset. Would it make you feel better if you held my hand?"
The brunette briefly contemplated the offer before shaking her head and giving a reassuring grin. "No need. I feel safer already with you by my side."
Honestly, she just didn't want to get too close to Tsuyu, as that could jeopardize the plan Tomura had set up. She thought, How can we be split up long enough for Toga to steal my blood? Maybe she could hold me hostage, or- Luckily for the girl, she didn't have to think for much longer before she noticed the glimmer of sharpened steel heading her way.
Ochako sidestepped the knife, and then another, before she pivoted to face her assailant. Her legs froze as she recognized the yellow cardigan and blonde hair of a young girl charging towards her. It's her, she realized. The brunette abruptly felt damp muscle wrap around her torso before she was flung aside.
"Move, Ochako!" Tsuyu exclaimed, letting out a yelp as a knife's edge grazed her tongue.
Picking herself up, the brunette charged at Himiko before the latter could act, feinting a grab at the villain's left arm before going for her right. Then, Ochako twisted the arm behind Himiko's back and shoved her to the ground. To prevent her escape, she pressed down on her using her own body weight. The battle ended before Himiko even realized she fell for the trap.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ochako saw Tsuyu step closer. In a fit of panic easily confused for paranoia, she falsely warned, "Don't come any closer! I still don't know what her Quirk is!" Once the frog girl halted, a creepy laugh grew louder as the subdued villain figured out what was actually going on.
An unnerved Ochako pressed down slightly harder and asked, "W-what's so funny about all this?"
The blonde murmured, " Oh, nothing. I just noticed that we're pretty alike." She flashed a knowing grin at her captor before continuing. "After all, we share the habit of playing nice and innocent before going for the kill!"
Suddenly, Ochako shook as she felt the searing pain of a needle piercing her leg, as well as the spreading of the mild paralyzing agent coating the needle. Her limbs felt unresponsive and she lost her grip as a machine attached to the needle threatened to suck her bone dry in minutes. Himiko's imitation of it didn't help either, leaving a ringing in her head.
Enraged, Tsuyu shouted, "Stop doing that to my friend!" and leapt towards the two, intending to stomp the villain into the ground. The girl in the cardigan easily rolled Ochako off of her and ripped the needle out before dodging the attack. Himiko bore a toothy grin as she retreated into the woods.
The blonde responded, "Friends, huh? I'd love to be friends with you real soon!"
The green-haired girl wanted to pursue her, but her priorities were in helping Ochako recover. "Are you feeling alright?" she asked.
The other girl slowly regained feeling in her limbs, and then responded. "Been through worse, been through better. I should be alright now. Let's regroup with the others." Internally, she reflected, That was close. Don't know if I could've held out by myself. The attack's already begun, so how many more villains can we expect to run into?
As they ducked and sprinted back to camp through the unlit woods, Ochako peeked through the brush and spotted a few silhouettes standing around passively. Once she and Tsuyu closed the distance, they identified the shadows as those belonging to several of their classmates. The latter girl got their attention with a loud croak.
Mezo Shouji sighed, "Oh thank goodness. It's just you two. I thought there was a villain nearby." He carried Izuku on his back, and the latter appeared like he was pummeled to a pulp.
Shouto explained, "The five of us have been on high alert ever since Midoriya told us what the League was after." He got confused faces from the two girls.
The long-tongued girl inquired, "Five of you? There's only three of you here." Izuku and the other boys looked around bewildered, each doing a headcount, and then another to verify.
Izuku, his arms battered, bruised, and broken, screamed, "K-Kacchan? Tokoyami? W-where'd they go?!" A gaudy laugh resounded from above, and as the students looked skyward, they saw a black cape, a yellow suit, and a white mask.
"Hahahaha~! I would like to thank my unwitting assistants. Without them, this bit of magic might not have been possible." The villain revealed two small marbles between his fingers. "Now watch as I, Mr. Compress, make your powerful bird friend and Mr. Bakugou… disappear! This little firework in particular shall make for a grand finale for the League's onstage performance!" The villain leapt away from Shouto's icy assault and fled, alerting the rest of the Vanguard Action Squad of their completed objective.
Seriously? Can't he gloat when he's back at base? Ochako mulled. She definitely recognized the masked magician from the reports, but the reports failed to mention his apparent love of showboating.
Izuku roared, "We can't let them take either of them!"
Acting fast, Izuku devised a plan to close the distance between them and Mr. Compress. The boy and Shouto climbed atop Mezo's back, waiting for Ochako and Tsuyu to launch them.
The brunette stopped him. "Before you go, Deku, take this." Ochako ripped strips of fabric off of her shirt to bandage his arms as makeshift bandages. A small part of her wanted to buy time for Mr. Compress's escape. A bigger part of her was tired of seeing her friend's constantly-broken arms go without any sort of aid. The biggest part of her, however, would rather not have the League of Villains waste their time on a lost cause. Thus, as the girls launched the trio of boys, Ochako used her Quirk to put as much force into their toss as possible.
The zero-gravity hero reckoned, Go figure the one time they don't ask me about my classmates is the one time they do something like this.
While Ochako and Tsuyu were looking for their classmates, Himiko bobbed and weaved through the brush and trees for several minutes until she reached the rendezvous point, which was occupied by two other villains.
"I'm back~," she sang as she entered the clearing.
Running a hand through his jet-black hair and bearing a scowl on his stitched face, the fire wielder Dabi asked, "Did you meet your quota?"
"Nope! I only had time for one," she replied without a shred of guilt or shame. The others began to believe that she was almost proud of being so underachieving!
The masked Twice exclaimed, "Just one?! The hell happened to you?" Then, he spoke higher, "That's just wack!" and then deeper, "The boss man won't be happy 'bout this."
She reassured them. "Don't worry, guys. The one I sucked up happens to be the one that matters the most. I just know it!" Himiko believed. Shigaraki told me to not kill anyone I took blood from so I could use them later without anyone worrying about the dead coming back to life. We also spent last night surveying the place, but now they had specific places for us to go to and not to go to. At first, I thought that was all just common sense, but it did seem strange that the mist guy made sure I teleported close to that girl of all people.
Dabi inquired, "And how can you be so sure about that?" He remained stoic as Himiko hopped closer and tapped his nose with a faint 'boop' from her.
She smirked, exposing her sharp fangs to the others. "Because, silly! I'll be able to copy her perfectly. After all, she's just as ruthless as us."
Twice exploded, "Why didn't you just say so?!" "Sounds reassuring. Not! What does that even mean?" As he and Himiko blew raspberries at each other, Dabi scanned the horizon, watching for any sign of ally or foe alike.
The arsonist warned, "Look alive. We've got guests." Across the treetops, Mr. Compress leapt towards them, though not without unwanted company. They successfully caught up and tackled to the ground several meters from where the villains stood.
Himiko stared at the student that caught her eye. The boy's bruised, bloodied body and busted bones brought bliss to the bloodsucker, and she brandished her blade, biding breathily for the break to break the busybody's body beyond his bounds. With but one gaze, the villain had already found love, a passion that outmatched what she felt for Stain. She would enjoy draining him of every drop of blood possible.
As Dabi sent a wave of fire towards the students, fully aware Mr. Compress would make a small foxhole for himself, Himiko rushed towards the green-haired and grey-haired students while Twice suppressed the hot-and-cold student. The flames set the trees around them alight, further suppressing the students' movements. Then, Dabi rushed over to the magician and helped him up.
Just when it appeared that Shouji rescued his classmates, the two marbles reverted into shards of ice from Shouto's previous attack, and Mr. Compress taunted his foes once more, revealing the two prizes literally on the tip of his tongue. Although the fire illuminated the forest, several concentrations of black smog emerged, heralding the arrival of Kurogiri and the departure of the Vanguard Action Squad.
But with the chaos and the crackling fire surrounding them, the villains never heard the rustling bushes and frantic footsteps. Dabi, however, noticed a glimmer of unnatural light from the corner of his eye.
All at once, Mr. Compress felt a concussive blast strike him square across his jaw, shattering his mask and jerking his head to the right. The marbles were sent flying, but the pyromancer swiftly plucked one out of the air, letting the other slowly roll towards Izuku.
Dabi examined his catch, and reassured the performer, "We got what we came here for. Let's go. There's no time for an encore."
Mr. Compress grumbled, "Fine… As a reward for your efforts, the audience gets to see what it has won!" With a audible *snap*, he reversed his Quirk, revealing Fumikage at the wayside… and Katsuki in Dabi's clutches.
The villain in stitches mocked his fellow fire wielder, "Looks like the Todorokis just can't come in first. Isn't that right, Shouto?" Content with the look of stark horror on Shouto's face, he turned his gaze to the boy that continued to fight despite everything. That fire in his eyes… I've seen those flames of determination before... What an ugly light.
In a split-second, the villains vanished, the burning forest left as the only proof of their crimes. The source of the light blast, Yuga, ran up to them and checked on them. Ochako and Tsuyu made it just in time to hear Izuku's blood curdling screams. He released all of his pain, anger, and grief for the mountains to hear. Everyone was so drawn by his raw display of emotion that most of them did not notice Ochako's reserved sigh of relief. Only Mezo picked up on how glad she was that the attack was finally over.
From the ashes of today, what will arise tomorrow?