Twisted Nightmares

Chapter 19

Attack on the Camp

Midoriya shuffled nervously as the Pussycats passed out little tags that would let the students know who their partner was for this exercise. It was a test of courage apparently. Class B was setting up in the forest in chosen spots to hide and "Scare" the Class A students. The A students in question would pair up in small groups of two, and walk through a set path through the forest.

They had to hopefully not get scared half to death when they did this activity. Midoriya's smile had died completely when he had found out he was going to be by himself, since there was an odd number of students thanks to the group of student who failed the exams. Said students were yanked from Class A's group to be in a study session with the teachers.

If you managed to squeeze the truth out of Midoriya, he'd tell you that he was actually really wanting to be Uraraka's partner. But unfortunately that honor went to Tsuyu, the frog girl. But Tsuyu was a very nice girl, so Midoriya knew that his crush was in safe hands for this "Test of Courage" activity tonight.

The issue though was the lack of students present. The new amount of students changed the number of participants, it was an odd number, and he was to be isolated in this "Test of Courage". Midoriya felt that he wasn't the bravest person here, that honor would go to Bakugo.

Bakugo probably didn't have the basic understanding of what "fear" was. He would probably just get mad instead of being afraid, as he didn't completely understand the concept of fear. Then again, Bakugo just reacted to anything negative with anger. He was a hotheaded kid who might need a little bit of an attitude adjustment, but he definitely had backbone when it came to frightening scenarios.

Midoriya still was feeling a bit spooked, even if it wasn't even his turn yet. Bakugo would probably just blow up whatever Class B student that got too close in order to try and scare him. Well, at least some sparks, no matter how mad Bakugo would get Midoriya was sure his hot tempered classmate wasn't looking to be expelled.

Speaking of frightened...

Midoriya's thoughts went back to his easily frightened classmate, Mineta. He probably wouldn't like this activity, and if any previous events from this week taught him anything, The grape haired boy might get into a yelling match with someone from Class B. One insult is all it took for Mineta to set him off. Midoriya really hoped that if it happened, Mineta wouldn't be in trouble. I should probably ask him to keep it cool tonight, just in case...

Midoriya turned to the side of him. "Hey, Mineta-"

Mineta wasn't there.

All the thoughts in his noggin ceased at once. "Uh..." Midoriya began, grabbing the attention of his classmates. "Where's Mineta?"

The Pussycats had now taken notice of the grape boy's sudden disappearance. "What? Where did he go?" Pixie said.

The other Pussycat's began to glance around as well, but the grape boy was no where to be seen. "He's not going to just skip this training session." Mandalay said. She knew some students didn't like this activity, but straight up running and skipping the class... That wasn't allowed. She was going to give Mineta an earful next time she saw that little gremlin boy.

Mineta's fellow classmates, including Iida, and Ojiro had began looking around as well to see if Mineta was wandering off without permission. "Perhaps Mineta is too frightened to do the activity?" Ojiro wondered aloud.

"Either way, he cannot just skip a training activity such as this!" Iida said, chopping his hand. "The entire point of this is to face your fears! The Pussycats said that this was a Test of Courage! Failing to take part in this should be considered failing it!"

"Relax kid, I'm not going to let him skip..." Mandalay said. She knew a way to get the brat scrambling back here. Especially if everyone knew.

It was time. After days, hours, minutes of waiting, the time had finally come. He had planned, prepared, and prayed so that he wouldn't fail. The dark summer night felt like freezing winter, as the reality of the situation came crashing down on Mineta. Cold beads of sweat ran down his face. The time had come after all this time.

He'd distracted himself today with talking with his friends, laughing, joking, socializing, and just not thinking about the topic. It was a rather horrifying thing to know that people were going to get hurt, and possibly die. Tonight, people would suffer. Tonight, people would be hurt. Tonight, someone was probably going to die. Because today...

The League of Villains would strike. And Mineta had to do everything in his power to stop it.

So far, he knew only two villains would definitely make their scheduled appearance: The lizard one, and the salt block guy. He remembered their faces very well, since it was basically the last thing Mineta saw before his chest was forcefully caved in thanks to the villains.

He briefly remembered his friends surrounding him, and mourning him as he bled out in front of everyone. He knew very well the villains were pretty pleased when they struck the fatal blow to his small form. Well, now it was his turn to laugh.

That is, if he didn't completely screw this up. He didn't know if his second quirk was a one ticket only, or a specific number of tries, or that he could keep going as many times as he pleased. For all he knew, this could be his last one, so he had to make it count.

He felt relief, knowing that at least Mina, Kaminari, and a handful of other students were safe in the building where they were getting lessons from Aizawa and Vlad King, since they had failed their exams. Mineta felt slightly envious of their position right now, safe and far away in a brightly lit building. The natural fear of the dark and the unknown that lurked inside of it wasn't exactly giving Mineta a boost of confidence as his shoes crunched twigs and scraped against little rocks on the ground. Ever since he sneaked away from the main group waiting their turn to do the main activity to get what he needed.

He had brought everything, including his gas mask, (with reflective lens, even if it costed a few extra bucks from his wallet, it looked cool. It was purple, how could he turn down the opportunity? You had to look stylish) but he was starting to regret the reflective lenses, since they kinda dimmed his sight in the dark. He'd have to make do. He also had brought his trauma kit, but he preferred to call it a "Medkit" since trauma kit sounded a bit more...gruesome.

He also, brought...his box cutter. He wasn't looking forward to using it if he had to, but if a villain managed to capture him... He didn't want to use it at all. He crossed his fingers that he wouldn't have to use it.

After collecting his things, Mineta ran back into the night. He'd have to go around the group, in order to reach the two villains without being spotted. If he just barreled through, someone would obviously try to stop him, since he wasn't supposed to be wandering out alone. Probably would say something like "Mineta you're not allowed yet" or something like that.

As he jogged, he felt the gas mask slightly jiggle up and down as it wasn't a tight fit, the rubber edges rubbing against his skin. It was irritating, but he'd have to make do. Mineta knew his main priority: He'd immobilize the two villains, then run off and make his way to find Yaoyorozu. She'd definitely cooperate now, but that thought had made him facepalm earlier. He had completely forgot to ask Yaoyorozu to make the masks, he was so preoccupied with everything else happening these past few days at the camp.

But now she'd definitely help, and maybe Iida would cooperate with passing out the masks. Mineta knew that he had to wait a little, because he left a bit early, seeing as the time it took for him to sneak away, grab his stuff, and then make his way back the main group of students and heroes. Well, near them at least, he knew the direction the villains came from, so he'd just have to plant himself in a position close enough for Mineta to get the drop on them.

Heh, it almost sounds like I'm prepared.

In reality, Mineta did not feel prepared. He was absolutely terrified, but forced himself to move in order to do what was needed to be done. When he was back at the cabin gathering his belongings, his hands were shaking with terror. He was just a little kid, and he was about to go toe to toe with villains who easily had killed someone before.

Well they did, they killed you. His subconscious quickly reminded him.

He shook the dark thought from his head. They had seen his quirk on television though, so they would have a very good idea on how he fought, since they had seen it when he combated in the Sports Festival. Well he suspected they did, unless villains couldn't afford cable? Well, they probably could of went to a beat down pub or something with their crappy tvs, even they would probably be broadcasting the Sports Festival, no matter how run down the pub was.

"Mineta! Come back to the group immediately! Not participating in the required class activity will result in punishment!"Mandalay's Telepath called to him. It seemed someone had actually noticed his absence, then. Now he had to be a bit more quiet now thanks to her interruption.

He figured Mandalay probably thought that he'd come crawling back since they both knew Aizawa probably heard that as well. Mandalay probably bet that the fear of punishment from the feared Pro Hero would bring him back. Well, she was wrong. Maybe another time, another universe. But not this one.

Great, now everyone knew that he was loose somewhere in the forest, but they didn't know where at least. He wasn't very easy to spot either. Given his size, he could fit in most bushes since he was laughably short. He thanked his lack of tallness, which was something he usually didn't do. He'd easily be able to hide from his classmates,

Or villains.

And thanks to Mandalay, he had to be a bit more sneaky when he arrived near the group. Since the Pussycat's telepathic member had notified basically everyone in the damn forest of his sudden disappearance, they were keeping an eye out for him.

Instead of being a tight group and impatiently waiting for their turn, some of the students were more spread out, and some like Midoriya even called his name. Not too loudly at least, but loud enough for anyone in the general vicinity to hear his voice. Mineta cursed under his breath as his bespectacled classmate Iida, almost managed to spot him. Mineta hated that the extra weight he carried now had slightly slowed him down, making him burn twice the energy as he tried to speed up on his way back.

Luckily, Iida turned to look in another direction. Mineta took his chance to run to the pathway where his two new "friends" were going to make an appearance. He'd have to play the ambush game, trying to combat them in a straight foward manner was an absolute impossibility.

No matter how many flips, jumps, or rolls he did, it wouldn't save his hide in hand to hand combat with villains, including one that had a damned sword. And the one with the salt block, man that was a nasty weapon. Easier to dodge though, but it might be just as fast since it's wielder had definitely been going to the gym. Those muscles obviously weren't for show.

Salt block, then. Mineta decided he'd go for salt block then. That stupid magnetic quirk or telekinetic quirk, didn't matter. It was the biggest threat, if he was able to use that quirk on Pixie...

Mineta stomped the thought out of his head. He couldn't be focused on "what-ifs" right now, not when he had the chance to make everything right.

Mineta hid behind the push, patiently awaiting his guests arrival. He knew it was time when he smelled that rancid stench of the toxic smoke in the sky. He'd have to get the drop on them, and he had to succeed the first try. He couldn't fight both, no matter how many grapes he hurled at them.

In truth, his heart rate skyrocketed. Mineta felt awfully anxious, but also terrified. He knew he had the steel to take the aggressive route with these villains, but it was still a scary thought nonetheless. It felt like that natural childlike fear of something in your closet, or what's under your bed. He couldn't afford failure tonight. People's lives were in his hands, whether they liked it or not. Not that they knew.

"Ooh, I cannot WAIT to get my hands on that one idiotic cat one."

A voice threw Mineta off for a second. Already? I was just in time then...

The villains had finally arrived, intent on hurting innocent lives. But Mineta, he wasn't going to allow that. It was time to take the fight to the villains.

"Which one?"

"What?"

"Sorry, which cat? There are four of the feline ones."

"Oh, right. The blue one, I think her name is Pixie Bob."

"Yeah, that Earthflow of hers is pretty nasty. Let's aim for her first, yeah?"

"Oh, I'll go for her alright!"

Mineta was pretty sure he felt vibrations in the ground as the huge forms of the villains approached his well picked hiding spot. It was a decently high branch, but very well obscured thanks to the ungodly amount of branches that grew around it. It wouldn't hurt too much to drop down, but Mineta had placed some grapes on the back of the tree, sort of like a rock wall. Thanks to the squishy like nature of his grapes, they were rather quiet as Mineta crept down. He had taken his shoes off as well, not wanting to cause too much noise. The socks would dampen the noise of his feet well enough.

"Oooh the anticipation is killing meeee~"

"Quiet! They're going to hear you!"

"Right, right."

Mineta carefully took two grapes off his head. He was close now. He was pretty sure he could even hear them breathing, since there was just the crickets of the night, and them. Mineta tried to suppress a shiver as he realized the spooked shrieks of the students doing the Test of Courage activity had stopped as soon as the toxic smoke appeared. He knew he had to step up the pace, people were getting hurt, injured, or possibly killed the longer he took.

He quickened his pace, and began his assault.

Throwing the two grapes he held in his hands at the feet of Salt Block, he felt a pang of satisfaction as the two grapes landed directly at the villains feet. It was a lucky shot, the angle they landed made one section of the grape stick on the feet, and the bottom of the grape stick to the ground.

Salt Block had begun to notice the weird feeling at his feet, catching his attention. And maybe the fact his feet refused to leave the ground was another cause of concern. "What the..." the villain said in an irritated voice. His heels would no longer lift up. Mineta watched as the villain experimentally pulled, the front of his feet lifted just fine, but the back part refused to rise.

Mineta began his assault on salt block, throwing a flurry of grapes to cover multiple parts of the villain's body. The adhesive little grapes stuck on, and stayed on.

Now lizard had noticed as well. "What the hell?! What's on you?!"

"Oh, I, I don't know! They're all over me, and they're sticky too!"

Only when Mineta temporarily halted his assault to back off did lizard notice the newcomer. He didn't look very pleased at all upon seeing Mineta, since his surprised expression quickly twisted into a rather displeased one.

"It's one of the students!" Lizard cried, pointing a clawed hand towards Mineta, who had two more grapes in his had once more. "What the hell is that on your face?" Lizard said. He squinted his eyes, then widened them. "A gas mask? Then that means..." Salt Block's eyes widened as well as they realized what was happening. Lizard angrily pointed a clawed finger at Mineta in an accusatory manner. "How the hell did you know about the poison smoke?!" Lizard cried angrily.

However, Mineta wasn't about to give away his little secret. He was ready for any move they dared to make against him.

Salt block's face also had a grimace as well, as he tried lifting his foot experimentally in an attempt to lift it from the ground.. "Ew, he put these little sticky balls on me! Gross!"

The green villain squinted his eyes hard, and suddenly, his eyes widened. "Wait a second, I know this one! I saw you're idiotic performance at the Sport Festival on TV! The one with the purple balls on his head!"
So they could afford TV's, at least I know they have the cash to buy basic technology. That is if they didn't just steal it, or watch in a sports pub.

"Mineta, huh? A little pervert challenges me? Don't think we don't know your quirk is, and from what I've seen today...You're probably going to die." The lizard sneered, readying his sword.

Mineta however had backed off, knowing that they would swing their weapons if he got too close.

"But I'll give you credit, you got some nerve sneaking behind us and taking the aggressive route." Lizard said, a cocky smile on his face was apparent now. "I'm rather impressed. Thought little chickenshits like you would just hide at the first side of danger. For you to rush us and attack... Not bad at all. But backbone or not, you're not getting out of this one alive, brat."

Salt block suddenly had a smug smile on his face as well. "I think you should come closer, little boy. I'm going to crush your tiny little skull."

Mineta frowned. How was salt block going to reach him from back there? Mineta wasn't going to risk running around them, well at least not yet.

His question was quickly answered when his body began to oddly glow, and he felt himself moving forward. Mineta knew exactly what was happening. Stupid telekinetic quirk. Reacting on instinct, Mineta took two grapes and slammed them into the ground and held on tight. Mineta felt his heart skip a beat as he felt himself lift in the air thanks to Salt Block's odd quirk. But he was held fast thanks to his grapes. He tightened his grip on his grapes instinctively.

Maybe this silly quirk wasn't so bad after all.

"Clever little runt, aren't you?" Lizard cackled, now grinning once more. He charged Mineta, with his sword held high, ready to strike down on the child.

Mineta did not like his current situation at the moment. The magnetize or whatever was pulling him towards both villains, but thanks to his grapes he didn't budge. Lizard however, was advancing towards Mineta with his blade. He had to act fast. The group of his friends weren't far from here, if he used the magnetize at the correct moment...

He'd have to make the perfect shot, only one try to get this correctly. And if he failed, it was game over.

The grape boy patiently awaited as lizard just got close enough, within a 10 foot radius. Mineta let go with one hand, and grabbed a grape from his head with his free hand. He angled his arm to a degree for a good pitch.

Here goes nothing...

Mineta hurled the grape as hard as he could, aiming right for Salt Block's head. The adhesive sphere made a slapping sound as it made contact with the skin on the villain's face.

"Eugh! It's on my face!" Salt Block cried.

Mineta let go of his other grape. Knowing that people can't use their quirks very well if they get distracted was a very nice bonus, thanks to Mineta overhearing some of Midoriya's ramblings. The pull was still there, but halfway there it stopped, Mineta dashed past Salt Block, with Lizard probably not too far behind.

"Come back here, you little shit!"

He heard footsteps behind him, he blindly chucked two grapes behind him, not wanting to spam his quirk and make himself bleed. He had to get there. He just had to. One villain was already dealt with, for now at least. The sound of the advancing steps of the villain terrified him as he sped towards the group.

Mineta could of cried tears of joy once he saw the beautiful sight of the Pussycats and his classmates. They seemed to have temporarily stopped calling for him, as the next group of students was already sent. Pixie was sniffing the air, probably the scent of the poisonous smoke hitting her nostrils. This was where it began. It was where he remembered shoving the unsuspecting Pro Hero out of harms way.

Well, now it was time for round two. Mineta took a deep breath and screamed at the top of his lungs.

Pixie Bob knew something was wrong the minute some of the screams of the frightened kids stopped. It wasn't just a silent night with the remaining students chattering on about minuscule affairs in their lives anymore. The awkward crickets and the yelps of the frightened students came to a complete halt. She didn't feel any better considering the fact there was now a ominous purple smoke surrounding the entire forest. Was there a fire? Smoke from a forest fire wouldn't burn her nostrils like that though. It smelled...

Like a chemical fire. Toxic. Poisonous. Fatal.

Her train of thought was abruptly cut off though, because a certain student's voice distracted her for a second. A high pitched one at that

"HELP!" A tinny voice pierced her eardrums, almost making the Pro Hero cover her ears in pain. She turned to see...

"Mineta?" Midoriya said from beside her. The grape boy was running very fast, and he was wearing a gas mask? A form behind him was also running as well, rapidly advancing on Mineta. Pixie frowned. Was that one of the other teachers...

Her question was quickly answered as it finally caught up to poor Mineta, and lunged for him.

"HELP, VILLAINS! VI- ARCK!" Mineta's pleading for assistance were cut off due to a clawed hand latching on to his little neck, and lifting him off the ground.

"Mineta?!" Iida cried at the sight of the grape boy being held close to Lizard's chest.

"I didn't expect us to be introduced in such a quick manner, but thanks to your little pervert friend here, my buddy behind me is currently stuck on the ground!" Lizard's grip on Mineta's throat tightened just a little at the mention of Mineta's work on Salt Block behind him, who was still struggling to with Mineta's sticky grapes without removing his shoes. "But that matters not! We are the League of Villains, and I've come to dispose of false heroes like yourselves!" He motioned to his Stain mask he wore with his free hand that held the sword on his shoulder.

Pixie was shocked. Shocked at the villains that dared to trespass on their property. Shocked that they dared to attack the children. But as she looked at Mineta's gas mask, she realized something. So the smoke is toxic. There's no way this is a coincidence. Why else would he have a gas mask?

The girl with the creation quirk probably made it for him. Probably. She readied to use her Earthflow. "Let the child go." The questions could wait till later, a child's life was in danger.

"Afraid I can't do that girlie, I know about your stupid earth quirk or whatever. If I even see a speck of dirt move, my claw is going into this kid's jugular." To show he wasn't joking around, he tightened his grasp on Mineta's neck, aiming the thumb towards the vein on the grape boy's exposed throat. Pixie growled in anger, and didn't move from her spot. Tiger was also by her side in confronting the villain that held Mineta. The other one was more alarmed at something else. Mandalay's eyes widened. If there were villains here...

"Kota!" Mandalay suddenly said with widened eyes. "I don't know where he is!" Panic was clear in her voice, not knowing where the young boy was at the moment. It all made sense though now, the smoke, the lack of hearing the students, and these people. The League had planned this for some time now. And they were wanting to take whoever they could out of the picture.

Kota...where are you?

"I can get him!" A voice called from behind her. A tuft of green hair was now in her line of sight. Midoriya stood proud. "I can get him! I know where he is!"

Mandalay didn't like sending a child to do her job, but she had no choice. She had to help with this whole hostage situation now. She finally gave in, nodding for Midoriya to rescue the young boy. The green haired boy immediately turned and sprinted into the night without hesitation.

He'll definitely be a good hero when he grows up.

As the other two Pussycats confronted the villains, she turned and used her quirk to warn everyone of the villains arrival. They had to make their way back to camp, and they shouldn't use their quirk. They'd get hurt trying to fight trained villains.

This was very professionally planned, and the students weren't ready. Especially Class B, they probably hadn't seen a villain in their lives, they hadn't fought one either. The students were outclassed in a sad reality, so the new goal was to get as many students to safety as possible. As much as she wanted to fight the villains, protecting the students was the number one priority.

Mineta struggled as the villain had a very tight grip on his throat, not evening risking of loosening his grip for just a second. Lizard probably was just slightly fearful of having heroes in training and three Pro Heroes standing in front of him. It was not an even fight at all, but the scaly villain had a hostage, which stopped the Pussycats from making any advancements.

Lizard seemed to be slightly amused as he saw the angered looks on the people who stood side by side in front of him. "Heh, it seems we have a bit of a stalemate here!" Lizard cackled deviously. Mineta trembled in fear as he felt the villain's claw press into his neck.

He tried not to cry, for he was terrified. He had planned poorly, but at least Pixie Bob was out of harms way. So he could check that off the list. But now he was once more in the villain's sight, but that was obvious since a sword wielding lizard threatened to poke a hole in his jugular.

He heart footsteps behind him. Heavy footsteps. Footsteps that didn't sound like a student would be that large.

"Sorry about my fashionably late arrival, darlings! These little sticky spheres are quite icky"

Salt Block had rejoined with Lizard, and Mineta noticed that Salt Block had to take his footwear off thanks to the grapes Mineta hurled at him earlier when he ambushed them.

"It was just a simple distraction, no need to worry about it!" Lizard said. He seemed slightly more chipper at the fact his ally had rejoined him. "We just have these idiots to worry about!"

"You're a damn coward," Pixie growled. "Hiding behind a damn child because you lack the spine to fight me."

"I'm a villain, sweetheart." Lizard sneered. "I don't play fair. I play to win." He held Mineta in the air triumphantly as an example. "But as much as we like talking about honor and cowardice and stuff like that..." Lizard began.

"We do have to wrap this up darlings, we have a job to do!" Salt Block said as he swung his item threateningly. He focused on Pixie. Time to join this kid, you idiotic Pro Hero.

"M-Magnetize..." Mineta managed to gasp out. Pixie lowered her guard for a split second in confusion. "What?" What was the kid trying to say? Magnetize? Was that the villain's quirk?

"G-grab the ground. Gra- UGHCK!" Mineta choked as Lizard quickly realized what the grape boy was attempting to do. "Spoilsport!" Lizard cried as he slashed the side of Mineta's neck with his claw. He cried out and struggled as the blood dripped out of the small wound on his throat. It wasn't the jugular, but it still bled nonetheless.

Magnetize? Pixie thought.

It was only when she glanced down that Pixie noticed that she was glowing now. She had a confused expression for a second, but quickly caught on to what was happening. Mineta's warning from a minute ago echoed in her head, and she reacted on instinct. Pixie quickly dug her claws into the warm earth, and prayed that the engineers that made her costume technology were competent. She curled her fingers around the inside of the paw glove as she felt herself get pulled towards the villains.

Luckily for Pixie, her fellow Pussycat's reacted just as fast, and grabbed her arms just in case the claws weren't enough. Salt Block ceased his quirk usage since he finally seemed to understand that his quirk wasn't working.

Wrong move, asshole. My turn.

Pixie called upon the earth to slam a mound of dirt into Salt Block, who was slammed into the side of a rather large tree. It wasn't enough to knock him out, but stunned him for a temporary amount of time. For how long, she didn't know, but she'd take advantage of every second that was earned from the temporary distraction. And Lizard was actually taken of guard, not expecting for the Pro Hero to have the spine to actually attack when there was a hostage in play. Lizard looking the other way had seemed to be distracted enough, as he looked in surprise at his comrade being slammed into the pillar of wood.

His grip on Mineta loosened. Just enough for Pixie to take advantage, and call upon the earth for another mound to rise from the ground. She carefully aimed her dirt under Mineta, and it rose.

Both characters were sent backwards however, it seemed her aim was not good enough, but he was out of Lizard's grasp for now. Lizard and Mineta slapped on the ground, since Pixie purposely didn't slam them into a tree in fear of harming the grape child. "Tiger, go!" Both Pussycat's knew that they only had one shot to do this correctly. They had to get this in one shot.

Pixie wanted to run in and help, but with her quirk being the most useful in this terrain, things would go very bad if she got taken out. She didn't know how long Mandalay could last if Tiger somehow got taken out of the picture. If it got too bad, she'd step in. Mandalay had finished her telepathic message to the students and was standing by her side.

Hearing Pixie's command, Tiger nodded and rushed towards the small boy who was trying to get up, still dazed and confused. The wind had been knocked out of Mineta stunning him momentarily, but he didn't want to risk anything. Tiger sped up his pace, intent on grabbing the boy.

He was almost there, the boy was within arm's reach! Tiger reached out with his paw...

Only to be feeling something pull him away from the boy. He noticed the arm he was reaching out with was glowing now, and he knew exactly who it was. Salt Block had apparently recovered already, and now was trying to buy his scaly companion some time. Tiger didn't have time for this. He started running towards Salt Block, who's eyes went wide in alarm since he didn't expect the Pro Hero to rush him.

A good hit in the villain's head knocked him out cold. Now he turned back to Mineta, and realized with horror that Lizard was getting up off the ground, his sights set on the grape boy as well. Lizard was closer, as Pixie's Earthflow had knocked him and Mineta in the same general direction.

But Pixie couldn't use Earthflow, not when Tiger was so close! It would just knock them apart, possibly buying Lizard more time to hurt the boy. She had to trust that her friend could reach Mineta in time.

Time seemed to slow down, as Lizard panicked. Tiger was about to knock him out cold with his paw fist. Without his sword, he couldn't avoid the punishment from the buff Pro Hero. Once that paw made contact with his skull, he'd probably wake up in a jail cell. And he'd probably be kept in that cell for many years, since he was a villain attacking UA.

Lizard was very aware of how overprotective the teachers were of their precious students, so his sentence was probably going to be very severe. But he'd have the last laugh. Or he'd try to at least. AS the boy struggled in his grasp. He felt the boy's head in his hands, and he felt the little hands that weakly attempted to pry off his clawed hands. Smiling, he twisted.

CRACK

The hit on Lizard was very solid, so solid that Tiger thought he might of broken the villain's nose. Not that he cared though, but his nose or jaw was definitely fractured at the very least. Lizard's grip on Mineta was completely gone as the reptilian villain went limp after taking the full force of Tiger's fist. Tiger quickly grabbed the boy, and ran back towards the group.

"Nice one, Tiger" Pixie congratulated her friend on successfully rescuing the grape haired boy, who was lying still in Tiger's arms.

The buff Pro Hero gently nudged Mineta. "It's alright kid, your safe now."

Mineta however did not budge. He was completely limp. A feeling of dread began to eat at Tiger's stomach. "Kid?" The other Pro Heroe's quickly caught on to the slight tone of worry in Tiger's voice.

"Tiger? What's wrong?" Mandalay said cautiously. Tiger gently removed the mask from Mineta's head, and froze.

Mineta's eyes weren't closed, he wasn't asleep, or unconcious. Mineta's eyes were open.

But they were completely dull and lifeless. Devoid of any light.

The feeling of dread increased tenfold. "Kid?" Tiger's voice was more desperate. "Kid, wake up! Cmon!"

Mineta didn't budge. The other Pussycats gathered around. Pixie seemed to voice the horrid question lingering in the three Pro Hero's minds. "Is..Is he?"

Tiger gently tried to roll Mineta over, to see if there was any injuries on the grape child's back. Tiger took his glove off, and cautiously put his finger over the jugular on Mineta's tiny neck.

No pulse.

Tiger's eyes widened. But the kid looked fine! How did he...?

It was only when the buff Pro Hero ran his hands and felt his neck. His eyes realized with horror what had happened. When he punched the Lizard, the crack wasn't the villain's nose getting broken, or his jaw fractured. The loud crack he had heard was actually Mineta's...

Tiger slowly clenched his hand into fits, and punched the ground in anger. Mineta was dead. He had failed. The Lizard had snapped the poor child's neck in a ditch effort to get one final blow on UA before he fell. Tiger stood up, and turned to his fellow Pro Heroes. "He's...he's gone."

Pixie took a step back, obviously in shock at the fact that the student was gone. Mineta was gone. She felt enraged now, it wasn't a very hero like thing to think, but she wouldn't mind curb stomping the villain's heads in right about now. They deserved worse then just rotting in a fucking jail cell.

The other students were in shock as well. Iida bowed his head in respect for the poor boy. Ojiro reeled back, still not completely absorbing the fact that Mineta was dead.

Out of all the people standing there, Mandalay took it the hardest. She stared at the empty eyes of the deceased child still gently in Tiger's hands. It was only then did Mandalay realize just how small of a child Mineta really was. How frail he was. If he was just a bit smaller, he would be the same exact size as...

Kota.

A dark image flashed in her mind of Kota being a dull, empty eyed body on the ground. The very thought of it horrified the red clad Pro Hero. But a dead child was a cold reality now, as she stared at Mineta's lifeless corpse. She was crying before she realized it.

Pixie attempted to comfort her by embracing her friend gently, trying soothe her. But she knew she had to relay what happened to here to Aizawa. If she knew the Underground Hero, he was probably already in combat.

Mandalay hugged Pixie one last time, then turned towards the building where he was last in. After getting control of her small sobs and her breathing, she used Telepath.

Aizawa was currently engaged in combat with a strange scarred villain who wielded blue fire for a weapon. The first time he had fought the villain was inside the building he was currently standing outside of. The villain had come in and engaged Vlad King and Aizawa in close combat, with the Blood Hero quickly immobilizing him thanks to Class B's teacher's quick thinking. Their victory was shortly lived however, as the villain proceeded to taunt then before meltingaway in front of their very eyes.

Did this villain have a second quirk? Or was it the work of another villain that hid in the deep parts of the seemingly endless forest? But now, he was fighting the scarred man once more after the villain had attempted to ambush him when he exited the building. Aizawa was about to go for a knock out strike after he had gotten his scarf secured around the villain's body. Then, a voice echoing in everyone's heads stopped him in his tracks.

"Eraserhead.. Mineta...Mineta's dead. I'm so sorry."

All the thoughts of the current events in Aizawa's head came to a grinding halt. Mineta was... he was dead? Anger began to cloud the Pro Hero's judgment as the villain cackled. "Wow, they actually managed to take a kid down huh? Guess I misjudged them. Then again, it probably wasn't a challenge for them, since it was just a stupid bratty kid. Good riddance."

Aizawa's eyes glowed red as he quickly struck at the laughing villain, who just melted into a pile of mud like last time. Another clone.

Grief combined with anger was the thing driving Aizawa to keep going now. He quickly sprinted into the forest, intent on finding the one responsible. Once he found the real version of this villain, he'd beat him until the scarred brat begged for mercy.

He didn't shed any tears, but his soul was burning at the fact one of his students was dead now. He would of denied it if you had asked him, but he deeply cared for the safety of his class. Even if they were rather troublesome at times, Aizawa was protective of them. And now, one of them was dead.

Dead.

Never to come back.

Kota was completely speechless. The teen who he punched, and insulted, and originally had been written off as completely useless, had saved him. Kota was terrified as the muscle villain had attempted to kill him, only for Midoriya to jump in and completely wipe the floor with him. It was an amazing display of power, none that Kota had ever seen before in his life.

The only person who could do anything similar to Midoriya was All Might. Kota briefly remembered watching the buff Pro Hero on television, and being amazed at the huge amounts of strength he had. It was eerily similar how they almost had the same form when they punched a villain in the face.

"Kota,"

Midoriya's voice pulled Kota from his thoughts. He looked over to the panting boy who had a hopeful smile on his face.

"We need to get you to safety! Aizawa's probably our best bet on protecting you, since, well..." the green haired boy's gaze dropped to his own arms, which were battered and broken since he had engaged in combat to save Kota's life.

Kota hesitantly nodded, and climbed onto Midoriya's back. The green haired boy began to jog in the direction of the camp, to where Aizawa hopefully was. The teen had only gotten a few steps in when a voice made Midoriya come to a complete halt.

"Eraserhead.. Mineta...Mineta's dead. I'm so sorry."

Kota's blood went cold. He didn't know who Mineta was, but he knew Mineta is definitely a person.

Well, was a person. A dark thought reminded him.

Midoriya had completely stopped jogging, his face now having a look of complete and utter horror. He muttered to himself. "M-Mineta? Mineta's... he's, he's g-gone? N-no..."

Kota noted with fear how Midoriya's voice was now shaking slightly. His savior dropped to his knees, and the boy quickly took that hint to get off of Midoriya's back for now.

As he climbed off, he noted how the teen's shoulders shook with each small sob. Tears were now running down Midoriya's face as he mourned the fate of his grape haired classmate. Whoever Mineta was, he was gone forever. Kota could only hesitantly rub Midoriya's back, not knowing any other way to comfort him. Midoriya mourned for what seemed like several long minutes, then his sobs turned into sniffles, until he got up. Kota noted how Midoriya's eyes were now a bit pink from him crying so much.

"Mister Izuku?" Kota asked, caution clear in his voice. He knew that the boy might've needed more time.

"I, I uh, I'm...I'm okay now." Midoriya didn't even bother trying to give a reassuring smile to the kid who stood in front of him. He closed his eyes tightly to squeeze the tears out. He desperately to keep his voice steady. "C-Climb on. I still have to t-take you to A-Aizawa. I-It's not safe out here."

Kota felt that Midoriya needed more time, but he couldn't do it out here, where dangerous villains were still lurking about. He hesitantly climbed back on, and Midoriya disregarded to jog, instead settled for sprinting. It was faster, but would take more of Midoriya's energy. But he couldn't care less right now.

Because Mineta was dead.

Finally, after all this time, Mineta's story finally begins.

Seperated a lot of paragraphs to make it look less cluttered, and changed some sentences. This is a huge chapter. If you liked this chapter, please Review/Follow/Fav!