I backed away from Butterfly. Couldn't help but freak out a little facing off against such a crazy antagonist!

"Oh dear, it seems we have been countered!" murmured Aoyama, in his usual absurd voice.

"So embarrassing, you guys can see me!" moaned Hagakure.

"Gotta prove ourselves!" I reminded them. "No giving up now. Let's show em what we UA students are made of!"

"Not showing us much of what you're made of so far!" called Butterfly.

"Well, this problem is simple enough!" I countered, and grinned. Quick thinking, Mina. Who goes for who here? Simple.

"Aoyama, you take Splatter! Hagakure, Butterfly!" I turned to Goggles. "And she's mine."

Duh! Aoyama and Hagakure's quirks both use light, so Goggles was mine. Otherwise, simple. All we gotta do is swap baddies!

I slid on acid towards Goggles. Hagakure and Aoyama behind me ran towards their opponents.

"What makes you think we'll agree to your little switch?" called Butterfly after me.

"Ultimate move!" I cried, ignoring her and jumping straight at Goggles as she attempted to blind me with flashing light - easy to even use acid veil as a shield for my eyes! "Allover veil block!"

"Behold my true dazzling light!" Aoyama's voice came from behind me as he blasted the paint-hose out of Splatter's hand. And Butterfly cried out as Hagakure chorused, "Warp Refraction!"

I was there in time to sock Goggles on the jaw, using the momentum from my slide to add some weight to the punch.

Musha emerged from the shadows as I jumped on top of Goggles to pin down her arms, Aoyama pushed Splatter against the wall, and Hagakure snuck up on Butterfly, having shed her whole costume.

"I see," said Musha as Hagakure secured her capture. "Did the three of you forget that you were supposed to be competing?"

Oh. Whoops!

"Well, if this were a real heroes vs Villains fight," I reminded him. "We'd have to work together anyway to beat them, wouldn't we? That's how we'd act in the real scenario."

"Hrmph," he snorted. "Pro Heroes often must compete with other agencies. Do you three have no desire for the fame, fortune and glory that comes from outshining the other heroes on the floor?"

We hesitated.

"Well, it's not that that isn't part of it," I said slowly. "But - we've faced off with real villains, you know? And when you're facing real bad guys, that kinda stuff isn't important."

"Not at all!" said Hagakure.

"Mmm."

Musha looked at us, then slowly - nodded.

"You will all three report to my agency this weekend. Be prepared for villain activity."

YAY!

Prompt on the weekend, Hagakure, Aoyama and I were out at Musha's agency in our hero gear.

"So exciting!" I gushed. "We're really taking on bad guys now! WE've actually got a work study! A good one with a top ten pro!"

"Hard to believe someone as ridiculous as you actually beat me," muttered Goggles behind my back. I threw out my jaw at her.

"Attention!" Musha joined us. "We have a mission. A villain outbreak we have been investigating recently. There have been disturbances in the downtown area involving a villain with a very disturbing ability."

He tapped a display on the wall, and a visual flashed up of - what appeared to be a bare alleyway. A track had been dragged through it, and seemingly everything down to the ground stripped away - as if my acid had burned a hole through it.

"All that we know is that the villain is seemingly able to remove or destroy all matter in their way. We are investigating this area and will require top vigilance. This villain is dangerous. Several have died. Stealth is called for. Invisible Girl."

"Yes, sir?"

"Scout ahead. Do not be seen. Use this reflective comm. It won't be completely invisible, but it will be hard to see. Keep your voice down. Signal us when you see the villain and observe what you can of their quirk. I would like to be prepared."

"Understood!"

We moved out in a patrol unit, marching very regimentally behind Musha.

"Scary villain stuff, huh?" I asked Aoyama.

"Do you think perhaps - it is that dreadful Shigaraki?" he whispered to me.

"No way! His quirk - I mean, I haven't seen it yet, but according to Eiji - Kirishima, it leaves lots of dust. This guy isn't leaving dust or anything."

"His quirk seems to work rather like yours and mine," Butterfly told me. "A form of corrosive acid."

"Any reason this villain's running around destroying stuff?"

"None that we know of yet. The attacks have so far appeared random. But they have taken lives, so this is no joking matter."

We stopped in an alleyway. Musha handed HAgakure her inviso-comm.

"We have predicted based on the recent patterns a chance that the villain may strike here," he told her, pointing to a coordinate post. "Spy there for at least an hour. If they haven't appeared, we will assume the predictions were incorrect."

"Yes, sir. What am I looking for? Any clue what they look like?"

"No. But you will see matter disappearing from a villain attack. That should be easy to recognize."

We waited, standing vigilant on teh street as if walking patrol. Civilians waved to us and we tried to look cool, while my heart beat horribly in my chest. I was trying not to freak out - but anticipation kept washing over me. What if Hagakure's in trouble? Why haven't we heard from her? No news is good news, right? She's probably just in stealth mode. No real trouble, right? This is just routine. Totally routine, nothing to be scared of or for -

Then, over the comm, cam Hagakure's voice - and it was scared.

"G-guys - "

"Hagakure! Report!"

"Ssshe's - here...Oh my god -"

"Description!" said Musha as we ran after him towards Hagakure's position.

"So - slimy - I'm - I don't want her to notice me-"

We rounded the corner of a street overpass. Or the remains of one. The overpass had seemly been dissolved into nothing. Car pieces, cars driving out of hte way on the street.

The villain looked - well, trailing around her in every direction was pink-orange goo. It was extending out across the landscape and absorbing everything around her - a car drove out of control onto a pile of goo and sunk into it like quicksand. The goo was dribbling out from her legs and arms. The vague form of a body we could see was as rail thin as a skeleton, dressed in black, and with a Noh-theater style mask over the face with a weird smile and closed eyes - no eye holes. A tuft of purple hair.

"Ew," I gasped as the goo absorbed a tree.

"Villain, cease!" declared Musha, drawing a sword. The villain was looking at us now. I had no idea where Hagakure was, but based on her voice I wanted to find her and hold her. Maybe because I was a little scared too.

The villain turned to Musha. And the goo was coming our way.

"Do not touch it!" he proclaimed, as Butterfly grabbed me and Aoyama and lifted us into the air.

"Wait, I can help!" I pointed out. Musha and the other two were headed for the villain, flashing blinding light her way. The light seemed to indeed blind her - but what help was that gonna be?

"Letme help!" I yelled at Butterfly.

"We will both help," she told me. "We are not escaping. We are aiming. Can you project your acid like a gunshot?"

"Yes!"

"Then we will both shoot at the absorption material and dissolve it. We must see if our shots are effective, while the others blind her."

"I will help the blinding" said Aoyama, blasting at the goo as well from our awkward angle. It almost missed. The light just seemed to go in.

"NOt promising," said Butterfly. "Ready, Pinky? Let's aim - fire!"

We coordinated our blasts at the same time into the slime.

And it - went in.

There was a tiny hiss from my acid, but it was a bit like someone eating spicy food. The villain hardly seemed to notice.

"Oh, crap!" I cried. And then I saw that my senseis were - in the process of distracting the villain for us - inches from the goo. It was sizzling against Musha's shoe as he swiped at it with a sword - which absorbed -

"No!" I cried.

"Gluttony", hissed a voice. From seemingly nowhere - another villain was suddenly standing there, next to the goo villain. This one's back was turned to me, but I saw a tight green dress, and the back of a Noh mask. "Focus, you stupid pig. Quit playing with your food and get the job done."

The goo villain gave a very creepy laugh. "But it's so so so fun! They're so very tasty and so stupid! Are't they Envy? So tasty!"

"Envy," said Splatter, turning to face the new villain. "And Gluttony. A theme, I suppose. You're a team?"

"Hardly," hissed Envy, who I realized wasn't just speaking low, but actually spat out words like a snake. "Merely associates. Hm. Splattering paint? Hardly useful. Hm...ssss...I much prefer..."

She turned to face me. I got a vague look at a Noh Mask - with a frown and angry glare, for jealosuy I guess - before the villain lfited her arm and shot out - a cannon of acid!

We barely got out of the way in time. The acid went past us and hit the bridge.

"Acid," hissed Envy. "Very useful for a villain. I hope we fight again."

"She copies stuff," I mumbled. "Like Monoma. But she didn't even touch me! How'd she do that?"

"Too many heroes," hissed Envy. "Get rid of them, Gluttony."

I froze. What the heck could we do against that thing?

Luckily for us, get rid of them meant - dissolve another piece of hte overpass with a tossed handful of goo, sending cars careening over the edge.

We had to hurry towards the bridge. I dissolved a door and window to pull a family out and skate them to safety down the side of hte overpass, while Butterfly carred a car, Musha sprang to catch civilians who had bailed out -

Hagakure too had appeared from nowhere to catch some. And when we looked back, the villains had disappeared.