Chapter 20: Vanguard Action Squad

Hey howdy hey hello, welcome to the show! Enigma's back with chapter twenty!

Wow... chapter twenty already? Really?

Yeah, I know. At this rate, the school festival will probably be at about chapter forty or fifty, which if I'm not mistaken is where the anime currently is. I'm a manga reader, though, so y'all don't have to worry about me catching up too quickly.

Enjoy!

Feel free to review, but don't just rip into me. I'm doing this for fun, not excessive criticism.

Day three was just more of day two, the class wasted no time getting back to training, with the notable exception of those taking remedial training.

"Oi, remedials. I don't see your muscles moving." Aizawa glared.

"Yeah, yeah!" Kirishima grit his teeth.

"I'm sorry, it's just… sleep… deprivation…" Ashido tried to get herself moving.

"Yesterday's remedial lessons were…" Kaminari cut himself off before he continued.

"Running on so little sleep is always tough!" Moxie groaned, chugging an energy drink.

"Told ya, didn't I? That this was gonna be rough?" Aizawa went on to list exactly how everyone had to improve, "Above all else, every last one of you here were exposed during final exams! While you train, I want you guys to think long and hard about why it is exactly that you lot are so much more tired than everyone else!" He yelled at them, going on to shout at Uraraka and Aoyoma as well, for their barely passing scores.

"Right… let's get to work!" Moxie placed himself between the two stone walls, getting back into the same routine.

"Meow meow meow, allow me to change the topic… let's talk about tonight's plans!" Pixie-Bob spoke up, "We're doing an inter-class test of courage! After training hard, you get to play hard! See? Carrot and stick!"

"That's right, it totally slipped my mind…" Kendo nodded.

"Great… more terrifying activities…" Jiro groaned.

"Revelry in the dark." Tokoyami muttered.

"I take it we'll also be participating in fun events like this?" A member of Class B spoke up.

"I'm rather interested in the 'inter-class' aspect…" Monoma spoke up.

That Night

"Our stomachs are full, and the dishes are clean! Next up is…"

"The test of courage!" Ashido jumped in, interrupting Pixie-Bob.

"Before that, and though it pains me to say it, the remedial bunch…" Aizawa stepped in, "…are going to have a review lesson with me starting right now."

"No way!" Ashido screamed.

"With the exception of… Moxie."

"Huh? Me?" Moxie's eyes widened in surprise as Aizawa stepped up to him.

"Yes, for certain reasons we've decided you ought to participate." Aizawa nodded.

"You spend too much time training!" Ragdoll chopped Moxie on the head, receiving a wince of pain from the boy, "You need to do more with your life, so you'll be participating as well!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Tiger roared, "You'll be participating, that's the end of that!"

"No fair, how come he gets to have fun? Come on, let me play just once!" Ashido shouted, as she and the other remedials were dragged away.

"At least this way we have an even number." Moxie shrugged after hearing the rules.

"Actually, not quite! Hiryu!" Ragdoll turned to the silver-haired girl, "You'll be with me, at the halfway mark!"

"A-Alright!" Hiryu ran to Ragdoll's side, glad she didn't have to go through the forest and get scared, "W-Why?"

"Because you might have a heart attack otherwise!" Ragdoll told her bluntly, leading her down the path.

In the end, Moxie was paired with Jiro, having drawn number 3. About ten minutes later, the two of them set out on the path, Moxie significantly more willing than Jiro.

"D#mnit… they said it was carrot and stick, but this isn't any fun…" Jiro grumbled, her arms crossed.

"Hm? Are you scared?" Moxie asked.

"No!" Jiro shouted angrily.

A few minutes later, as Moxie and Jiro made their way along, a head popped out of the ground. Jiro screamed and stumbled back, as Moxie instinctively activated his Quirk, bouncing back, before he recognized Class 1-B's Kodai.

"Hey, that was pretty good!" Moxie grinned, reaching down to help her out of the mud formed by Honenuki's Quirk.

"Kodai! Everyone sh#t their pants because of your trick!" Honenuki laughed, popping out of the bushes with Kendo.

"Yeah, you're the star of the night!" Kendo gave her a thumbs up.

"By the way, did you notice?" Honenuki asked, as Moxie helped Jiro up, the girl's breathing was still shaky, "Doesn't it smell like something's burning?"

"Now that you mention it, this smoky stuff's suddenly appeared…" Kendo nodded.

"Maybe Bakugo or one of the others got so scared that they went ahead and blasted off their Quirks or some…" Honenuki trailed off and collapsed, unconscious. Jiro, similarly, collapsed next to Moxie, who quickly picked up his teammate.

"Yui, Moxie, don't breathe this smoke in!" Kendo shouted, expanding her hand to grab both Kodai and Moxie, protecting them from the smoke, "It's poison!"

"This has been pretty fun, right!?" Ragdoll laughed.

"I-I guess…" Hiryu scratched her chin.

Suddenly, out of the darkness barreled a Nomu, sprouting many different arms tipped with tools like hammers, chainsaws and drills. Ragdoll quickly leapt out of the way as Hiryu took to the air, dodging the Nomu.

"Get back to the others!" Ragdoll told Hiryu, "Leave me, I can handle it!"

"A-Alright! I'll send help!" Hiryu agreed, flying off, making for the starting area.

As Hiryu flew through the air, some kind of white blade shot out of the forest, puncturing her right wing and sending her crashing into the forest with a scream.

Kendo, meanwhile, was holding her breath as best she could while carrying Kodai, Jiro, Honenuki and Moxie.

"Kendo!" Tetsutetsu shouted, running out of the forest with an unconscious Shiozaki in his arms, both of them wearing gas masks.

"Tetsutetsu! Ibara!" Kendo shouted, "What's with those masks?"

"Yaoyorozu from Class A happened to be nearby and made 'em for us! Awase is leading them to the Class B safe zone for aid! Here, we got a bunch!" He tossed them to Kendo, Kodai and Moxie, who placed them on Jiro and Honenuki as well.

"Thanks! Let's head back to the facility. With no idea of where the villains are, it's far too risky out in the open like this…" Kendo explained.

"No! I'll stay and fight. I'm leaving Shiozaki and Kodai's safety in your hands." Tetsutetsu argued.

"Huh?! I could've sworn they told us to avoid conflict…" Kendo pointed out.

"I think, deep down inside, you've always known it… no matter how many times you tried to tell yourself otherwise…how far ahead Class A is…" Tetsutetsu shook his head, "But I've definitely known! We all took the same test to get into the same academy, and now we're going through the same curriculum. So what's different between us? It's clear as day! What they have that we haven't had… exposure to danger! They've made the most of their perilous situations and turned them into invaluable experience!"

"I don't know about any of that…" Moxie scratched the back of his head, "But we wouldn't be very good Heroes if we turned our back on these Villains, eh? I'm with you! Like me or not, they're threatening my friends too!"

"Right! Don't try to stop us, Kendo! After all, as part of year on Class B Hero Studies, if I don't stand up for what I believe in here and now… then when?!" Tetsutetsu turned his arm to steel, "I'm going to find them, and when I do, I swear I'm gonna pummel them to the ground!"

"Hiryu, are you alright?" Shoji asked, finding Hiryu picking herself up off the ground, a hole in her right wing.

"Something… attacked me…" Hiryu groaned, her head pounding from the crash, before she saw the bleeding stump of Shoji's arm, "Sh-Shoji-!"

"It's fine…" Shoji shook his head, "What cut off was just a duplicate."

"S-Still…" Hiryu scratched her chin, before a huge, shadowy arm came crashing through the trees. Shoji quickly grabbed Hiryu and ran out of the way, narrowly avoiding being crushed.

"Is that… Tokoyami?!" Hiryu shouted.

"After he saw me lose my arm… even though it was just a duplicate… he completely lost control of his Quirk!" Shoji explained, still carrying Hiryu without thinking about it, "Without any light, he's been rampaging out of control!"

"Todoroki… or maybe Bakugo could help?" Hiryu tried to think of some solution.

"Members of Class A and B…" Mandalay's voice rung out in everyone's head, "I hereby authorize you for combat!"

And there it is! What'd yah think?

Everything's set up for some real great action in the next chapter, so look out for that!

Also, I swear I don't intend to keep having Hiryu and Shoji work together. I do kinda ship them, but it's not something I intend to actually have in the story, I seriously don't know how they keep ending up like this...

Enigma, signing off.