Izuku sighed in relief as the priest left. He hadn't done more than drop his bag before the old Zora had appeared, and while he wasn't Recovery Girl, Kapson certainly had a wealth of medical knowledge. He'd checked over each of the three students, asked them about their physical, mental, and spiritual fortitude, and generally made them feel welcome.

Once he'd finished his inspection, he'd applied a salve to Ashido's leg while mumbling something. He'd admonished her to avoid placing too much stress on it for the next few days and before leaving to go look for Link.

"Man, he knows his stuff!" Ashido exclaimed, gently poking at her bare leg, which was still faintly glowing from the salve. "My leg feels like it did this morning."

"It would be good to have some of that salve," Yaoyorozu said.

"Or some of that stuff Link made," Izuku added.

"I've been thinking about that." With a sigh of relief, Yaoyorozu collapsed into the bed to Ashido's left and began massaging her foot, easily the most improper Izuku had ever seen her. "Oh gods, what a relief."

Izuku exchanged glances with Ashido, who smirked. "Well, don't keep us waiting!"

"Oh! Forgive me. When I could, I have taken the opportunity to examine some of the plants we have encountered and have observed Miss Purah and Symin's research. Much of the flora and fauna of this world seems to be infused with a low level of... well, magic. Salves and potions created from these have greater restorative properties than the equivalent medicines on Earth."

"I guess that makes sense," Ashido said. "My leg kinda feels like Recovery Girl kissed it."

"Maybe Mr. Kapson could tell us how to make some? Having some on hand could b-be useful."

"It is useful."

Izuku jumped and spun toward the voice.

Yneira was leaning against the doorway, grinning. How long she'd been standing there, he didn't know. Sometime between when they'd last seen her, she had swapped from her traveling clothes to a red-gray-gold suit similar to the shozoku the Sheikah and Yiga wore. Her black hair had been freed from its usual ponytail and cascaded down around her shoulders.

The mercenary leered at him. "Lesson for you: always be aware of your surroundings, even when you're somewhere that feels safe. Especially when you're somewhere you feel safe."

She strolled into the room and threw her bag on the bed farthest from the door. "The king and his son informed us of the situation. Turns out, the Zora wanted to ask us to do the thing you all were already planning to do, and they're just thrilled that we're here. Well, most of them. Some of the older crowd were none too pleased to see Link. Something about their princess dying because he didn't stop the Calamity."

Yaoyorozu frowned. "That hardly seems fair. Link also perished."

"Grief does strange things to people. Speaking of, has our intrepid Champion come by yet?"

Something about the woman's question triggered alarm bells in Izuku's head. They hadn't told her Link was the Hylian Champion, and the last people who had known that had been dressed like Yneira... and had tried to kill them.

He was saved from responding by the sound of clomping boots. After a moment, Link appeared in the doorway. The girls gasped, and Izuku couldn't help but stare. The Champion looked terrible; his eyes were red and had a hollow, faraway cast, and his steps were slow, as if he had a great weight on his shoulders. Where an hour ago he'd been cheerfully determined, all that seemed to have abandoned him.

Ashido was the first to recover. "Link, what happened to you?"

"Seriously!" Yneira pulled a towel from her bag and tossed it at Link. "You've been gone ten minutes and you come back looking like someone died! Did that old Zora gut the prince?"

Link flinched in the middle of toweling off before slowly shaking his head. "No, no. Sidon's fine. I... More of my memories returned."

'Uh oh.' The last time Link had remembered something, it had been the memory of his death. He'd looked pretty bad then, too. Not sure he wanted to know the answer, Izuku asked, "Which memories?"

Link just shook his head and slogged over to the final unclaimed bed, tossing Yneira's towel back to her before opening his pack.

Silence enveloped the room as he rummaged in his bag. Izuku glanced at the others, at a loss for words. Ashido mouthed something that he thought was, 'Give him some time,' before turning toward Yneira. "So, the Zora want our help. That's super neat, but what do we need to do?"

Yneira allowed herself to be redirected and launched into a summary of their meeting with the king. He sounded like a great guy, honestly, and the mission didn't seem too hard. The hardest part sounded like it would be getting the arrows from the lynel. They ran over some plans, but it was hard without knowing the terrain.

After a few minutes of planning, Izuku slipped out of the conversation and glanced over at Link. The Champion had dried himself off and was sitting on his bed, staring at something in his hand. He edged closer, trying to get a peek. Link looked up at him and tilted his hand to reveal a white stone with golden script around one end.

"Isn't that—"

"The stone from Ta'loh Naeg's shrine, yeah. I found it when I was looking for my towel." He spun it around in his hand before pinching it between his fingers. "It feels almost like a bulky quill."

"Maybe it was supposed to be one? We have chalk sticks back home that kids use to draw on stone. I bet this works the same."

"Huh." Link twirled the stone around before smiling. "You think the Zora would get mad if I tried?"

"If it's chalk, it'll wash right off." Honestly, the Zora probably wouldn't mind. Even if they did, Link needed something to cheer him up. "Why don't you do it by the wall?"

"If it doesn't, I'm telling the innkeeper it was your idea." Link knelt by the bed and placed the tip of the chalk against the worked stone and drew a straight line. Rather than the scritch of chalk against stone and the line of powder that Izuku had been expecting, the stone soundlessly traced a line of light.

Link looked up, eyes wide, before continuing to write in purposeful, concise strokes. After a moment, he stood back up and stepped back. A single glowing word shone up at the two of them. The Hylian script that Izuku was still struggling to understand seemed to hover in the air. It was beautiful, in an odd way.

"I d-don't think that's coming off with water," Izuku said. "What'd you write?"

"My name. Figured if we got in trouble for graffiti, they might as well know who did it."

"That's fair. I wonder what it is—"

"By Calamity, what's happening to you, Link?"

Izuku jumped at Yneira's shriek and quickly turned to look at Link—and gasped. The Champion's body had begun to dimly glow, though the light was intensifying as he watched. Link held up his hands and examined them with wide eyes, but before he could say anything, he dissolved in bits of pale yellow-black light that rushed up through the ceiling and disappeared.

"Um, what the hell just happened?" Ashido asked from her bed. She'd sat up straight and was trying to see around Izuku.

"I don't know!" Izuku said frantically. "W-we were messing with some weird chalk stone that he found, b-but it wasn't chalk and wrote his name in light—wait, the writing's gone too!"

"The effect looked similar to teleportation with the Slate," Yaoyorozu stated with the air of someone who was trying to be calm in the face of panic, "but the light dissolution was creme-black specks, not blue streams. Perhaps this chalk causes the user to teleport involuntarily?"

"Or maybe you're supposed to write where you want to go?" Ashido suggested. "You said Link wrote his name, right Midori? Maybe he got sucked into the matrix or something."

"Hold on, can we back up a moment?"

Izuku looked over at Yneira. The woman seemed more frazzled than the rest of them; her eyes were wide, and she had gone stock-still. When she spoke, her voice was tight. "What do you mean, teleportation? You all seem pretty familiar with it; does he do this often when he's depressed?"

Izuku exchanged glances with his classmates. How did you explain teleportation to someone who wasn't familiar with sci-fi? He struggled to find the words and breathed a sigh of relief when Yaoyorozu began to speak.

"Teleportation is, in this case, the near-instantaneous transport of a person or object from one location to another. We have observed and experienced this phenomena before, but never in this manner."

"And no, Link totally doesn't just dip after getting hit with feels," Ashido added irritably. "He's too solid a dude for that. I bet he woulda told us about his memories in the morning."

Yneira seemed to relax infinitesimally, but only for her panicked expression to slip into a scowl. "Well, shame we won't find out now. Ganon, but do you know how hard it'll be to explain to the king that Link just vanished? He's not going to see it as a good sign."

The room fell silent. 'No, I guess they wouldn't. The Zora might see it as a sign that the Goddess—do they worship Hylia?—their gods' have forsaken them.' They'd still have to try to subdue the Divine Beast, but without Link, that felt like a much more difficult and dangerous task.

Izuku turned back toward where Link had been. The glow was back. It was faint, but the floor was definitely glowing. As he watched, the glow increased in intensity before suddenly, little bits of pale yellow-black light shot down through the ceiling, slotting into place and reforming Link like a puzzle. As the final piece fell into place, the glow faded and Link gasped.

"LINK!"

"You have returned!"

"Where in Ganon's name did you go?"

The Champion held up a hand to forestall their questions and just leaned back and stared at the ceiling for a moment, breathing heavily. Something about him seemed different. He seemed more vibrant than he had been; his face was more full of color, and was he… more muscular? Izuku squinted, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

After a few moments, his breathing slowed, and he looked down. "We've got problems. A combined force of monsters and Yiga will attack us while we're attempting to access the Divine Beast tomorrow. They've joined forces with your League of Villains."

"Are you okay, dude?" Ashido asked. "I mean, I don't really doubt you, but are you sure about that? You were kinda messed up when you came back."

"Ashido's got a point. What'd you see?" Izuku asked.

"I'm sure. I can't share why I know right now, but I promise you that I am positive; the assault on Ruta is in danger. We're going to have to change our plans some."

"Hold on, Champion." Yneira leaned forward, her scowl firmly in place once more. "That explanation might fly for these kids, but I need something more concrete."

Link's eyes took on a calculating look, and he seemed to be weighing something. His answer was slow, deliberate. "When the time comes, you will know what to do, Yneira. For now, however, this is yours."

As he finished speaking, he held out the stone. Yneira recoiled. "You're kidding. After that thing ate you?"

"You'll notice that I'm fine. And please, I insist." Link walked across the room to stand directly in front of her. "You have my word as a warrior and a knight of Hyrule that it will not harm you."

She squinted up at him before hesitantly accepting the stone. "All right, I'll take it. I expect an explanation later."

Link nodded. "I promise, it will all make sense eventually. For now, we need to discuss our plans for tomorrow. I'll need to meet with the king to plan the assault, and I'd like you there with me, Yneira. Yaoyorozu too; you've a good head for tactics, and quite frankly, we may need your help producing supplies."

"What about me and Midori?" Ashido piped in.

"Y-yeah, what about us? Shouldn't we be at the meeting too?"

"No," Link said with a quick jerk of his head. "Unfortunately, I have a more dangerous task for you two. For reasons I still don't understand myself, you two need to be the ones to go up Ploymus Mountain."

"And you're sure of it?"

"Yes, Master. The children and their Champion will attempt to capture the giant elephant by end of day tomorrow."

"Excellent. Gather our forces and establish a presence on the shores around the machine. The erstwhile heroes will come to you."

All for One sat on his throne, gazing down at Kurogiri as he bowed and went to do his bidding. It was short notice, but the past two days of preparation meant he had a decent-sized strike force. Oh, it might not be a true army yet, but it would be enough to wipe those children and their mutant hosts off the face of the land.

There were still the other creatures to be cleansed, but that would come soon enough. His gaze turned heavenward, toward the giant glowing pustule that the former Yiga wench swore contained the Calamity. As he watched, it twitched and pulsed, and he allowed himself a smile.

Yes, soon this kingdom would be his, and with the power that it was hiding, he would make this world his own.

While Link and the others talked strategy with the king, Izuku had asked a couple of the Zora guards if they could give them a lift up to Ploymus Mountain. He'd been a little concerned because they weren't as big as Sidon was, but they quickly put that worry to rest. They'd climbed up on the Zora's back at the foot of the falls and were rocketing up the falls within moments.

Riding a Zora up a waterfall was exhilarating. The Zora's thin frames hid a surprising amount of muscle, and they rocketed up the falls like a reverse roller coaster, surging in and out of the water like salmon. Izuku glanced over at Ashido in one of the moments where they could see each other and exchanged grins. 'This is too cool!'

They ended up climbing three falls in total, the last one reaching nearly to the summit. Their rides crested the top of the final ledge with a leap before splashing down in the pool at the top. Izuku barely had time to register he was underwater before his guide, Novar, pulled him to the surface.

"Careful there, traveler!" Novar said as Izuku coughed up some water. "I did my best to keep you out of the wake; you are not built for such activities. Oh! No offense."

"No-none taken," Izuku spluttered. Somewhere to his right, Ashido's guide surfaced, followed by Ashido herself, who gasped so loudly when she broke the surface that he was sure it had to be at least partly for effect.

The Zora, however, didn't seem to take it that way. "It seems we were over-anxious and have taxed you and your companion," Novar said, extending an arm. "Here, latch on and I will guide you to shore." His guide didn't wait for him to say anything; as soon as he had a grip, they were off. Even hindered as he was, Novar had him to the shore within seconds, heaving him out of the water onto the rocky sand.

As Izuku sat up, another splash and thump heralded Ashido's arrival. "That was awesome!" she exclaimed as she flopped down next to him. "Seriously, way cooler than any coaster."

"Yeah, thank you both again for your help," Izuku said.

Ashido's guide, Nevalo, slapped the water. "Think nothing of it! This is a wonderful service you are performing. Between you, your companions, and the prince, we have a real shot at taming the Divine Beast."

"Tides know, we need it," Novar grumbled. "We will wait here for you to return. While we are both formidable warriors, I fear we would only be a hindrance against the lynel and its electric arrows."

"Sounds good!" Ashido chirped. "You mind if we leave our bags and swimsuits with you?"

The Zora nodded in unison, and Nevalo splashed the water again for emphasis. "Of course! Go change into your armor; we will await your return. Go with the current, heroes!"

Izuku grinned and hauled himself to his feet. "We will. Thank you!"

With a glance at Ashido, he trotted off toward one of the trees surrounding the reservoir to change. Before they'd left, Yaoyorozu had pressed a pair of waterproof rucksacks and swimsuits into their hands, which Izuku was still thankful for. Had they gone forward as planned, events likely would have played out with two thoroughly soaked UA students trying to sneak around a giant monster.

And, as he pulled a small towel out of his bag, there were other benefits. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed modern clothes. Even swim trunks, which weren't all that comfy, were less itchy than the rough-spun Hylian tunics had been. He also had to admit—privately, to himself, where no one else could see the steam coming out of his ears—that Ashido had looked great in her teal two-piece.

He carefully pushed the thought away before it could incapacitate him. The last thing he needed was for the very pretty girl to come looking for him and find him a gibbering, mumbling mess behind a tree.

A few minutes later, he emerged, fully clothed and armed once more. His shield was strapped to his arm, and he had one of Link's extra swords strapped to his back. He'd also augmented his Hylian tunic's leather armor with a few pieces of Zora silver-steel; he now had a pair of greaves and a sweet armored half-sleeve on his right arm. He flexed his arm back and forth before nodding in satisfaction. 'Not too heavy, and it should hold together when I power up One for All.'

When he got back, he found Ashido waiting for him. She, too, had been given some silver-steel armor. Under her cloak, she had fastened on—or had one of the Zora fasten on, likely—a small breastplate that covered her upper chest and a pair of armguard gauntlets that left her palms open. She looked up as he approached and jumped to her feet before firmly sticking the butt of her spear into the shore. "Ashido Mina, ready to slay some monsters!"

He snorted and again tried to ignore just how good she looked in her current get-up. "Well then, Miss Ashido, we'd better not keep these nice Zora waiting. F-fall in!"

Ashido solemnly nodded and hefted her spear. Behind her, the two watching Zora grinned as the two UA students started up the trail. After a moment, the mock seriousness became too much, and Izuku started to laugh. Ashido grinned at him. "Midori, I'm shocked; this is a very important mission and is no time for joking around."

Izuku clutched his side and tried to get his chuckles under control. "Hahaha… Oh, I n-needed that, hahaha. You look so serious, like, like—like a toddler trying to show you something 'very important,' hahahaha."

"I do not!" Ashido puffed up her cheeks in mock indignation before dissolving into peals of laughter. "Okay, maybe I do, haha."

Eventually, Izuku managed to get his laughter under control, straightening out and exchanging another glance with Ashido. Her black eyes were alight with mirth. He'd never noticed how warm that blackness was.

The blackness shifted. "Whatcha lookin' at, Midori?" Ashido asked.

Startled, Izuku gave himself a shake. "N-n-nothing. I was j-just thinking about, er—about how we're supposed to do this. Wh-what d'you think?"

Ashido snorted, but thankfully let the subject change. "Well, the way I see it, we've got two options. We can be sneaky, or we can go monster walloping. We only need the shock arrows, and Link said that lynels are super tough, but… I heard some people talking as we left the Domain."

"I think I know what you mean." As they'd been leaving, they'd passed a group of Zora—youths or young adults, if he had to guess; they'd looked fresher, smoother, than their guides—arguing heatedly. One of them had been berating the others for baiting people into jumping from Shatterback Ridge. The jump itself sounded crazy, but a few of the kids had been injured by the monster on the ridge. "There's always going to be stupid kids, but if a monster's putting them in more danger…"

"You say as if we aren't stupid kids. But yeah, I getcha. And since this thing uses shock arrows, I betcha it targets the Zora specifically."

Izuku grimaced and started up the trail again. "You're probably right. Let's check it out; if we th-think we can take it, we'll go in."

The two fell silent as they hiked up the path. Soon, Izuku started to see signs of the lynel's presence. The occasional patch of mud contained hoof prints larger than any he had ever seen, entire trees had been uprooted and shattered, and some of the boulders had been small spots stained with something suspiciously dark. He stepped past one such spot marked by the twisted, splintered remains of a silver spear, and gulped.

This, he decided, was not going to be easy.

A meter or so from the top of the trail, he noticed something glinting in the tree trunk. Further investigation revealed an arrow, though unlike any he'd seen before. Instead of a standard arrowhead, the yellowed metal had been shaped into something like a twin bolt of lightning. When he pried it out of the trunk, small arcs of electricity sparked between the two prongs before going out.

"So that's a shock arrow," Ashido said. "I wonder how zappy they actually are?"

"Guess we'll find out later," Izuku said. Ashido nodded and held out the empty quiver she was carrying, which he carefully slid the arrow into. "One down, a bunch more to go."

Ashido opened her mouth to respond, but something behind him caught her attention. Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, and before he could turn to see what she was looking at, she dove into him and knocked him down behind the tree. As he stared up at her, she gently placed a finger to her lips before rolling off of him and pointing toward the top of the rise. Slowly, carefully, Izuku peered out from behind the tree.

Strolling around the puddle-strewn plateau was the largest, most primal-looking centaur Izuku had ever seen. Its body was the size of a draft horse, and its torso looked like Muscular's had before he went overboard. It wielded a wicked, convex-edged sword and a shield covered in blades, with a quiver and a bow on its back. Its head was covered in a wild mane of rust-red hair, and while Izuku couldn't get a good glimpse of its face, he was positive it was as bestial as the rest.

They watched in silence as the creature stomped around the plateau before disappearing behind one of the large boulders that dotted the vista. "How in God's name are we supposed to fight that?" Ashido breathed as they slid back down by the tree.

"Very carefully," Izuku said, though he had his own doubts. "Let's see, pros and cons/"

Ashido tilted her head. "Well, we totally outnumber it. And I betcha it doesn't turn super easy; it's gonna be fast 'cause it's a horse, but it's a lot bigger than one and horses need room to turn, and there's not a whole lot up here. And it's probably, like, a lot better with its weapons than we are with ours."

"We've got our quirks though. I think that'll definitely surprise it." Izuku peered out from his hiding spot again, his thoughts churning furiously as he analyzed the field. "Okay, I think I have a plan…"

FWOOOM!

Mina swore as she slid under another fire blast. "Seriously, since when do centaurs breathe fire?"

Midori's plan had been simple: with his quirk, he could be the tank and pull aggro while she zipped around the lynel and whittled away at it with her spear. And it worked—for a few minutes. They managed to catch the monster by surprise and had gotten right up close and personal before it could do more than roar in challenge, and she'd gotten in a few good slashes on her way past. It was smart, just the kind of thing she'd loved about Midori.

That was when she discovered that the lynel's brown-gray hide was tougher than normal, like natural armor. Unlike with other monsters, which reacted to being stabbed basically like a human would, this thing had basically shrugged off her attacks and ignored the cuts and gashes she had been able to make. And it healed. When she skated by for another pass, the wounds had already stopped bleeding Malice and were slowly closing.

Sure, that was super obnoxious, but each cut she made seemed to slow the healing down, so she kept at it. Within a few passes, its legs were covered in bleeding lacerations, though she hadn't managed to land any debilitating blows yet.

Things seemed to be going just about as well for Midori. He was able to keep all the attention focused on him, but he was constantly dodging and blocking attacks. She'd been right; the lynel was both better with its weapons and stronger than they were. Or than Midori normally was; Superpower definitely helped even the playing field, but it couldn't protect his shield, which was slowly being stripped away.

So yeah, that was a bit worrying. They were managing it okay though. And then the thing's chest and throat had started to glow, followed by it spitting actual fireballs.

'Seriously, that's such BS.'

Which brought her back to the present. She came out of her slide next to Midori. Up close, she could see that he had a couple of nicks and scratches, but nothing too serious so far. "It was a good idea, Midori, but it ain't working anymore. What's the plan?"

"Full-on assault," he said, drawing his sword. It looked pitiful next to the wicked blade the monster was waving around. "I'm going to try and disarm it. It's time to show this thing what On—Superpower can really do."

'There's that weird catch again.' She filed it away to ask about later. "Okay, that should help. I'm making progress with its legs, so I'll keep at it. Sooner or later, it won't be able to move, healing powers or no."

His face tightened. "You might need to hit it with your quirk to keep it from healing."

She winced. She'd known it was only a matter of time before that option was presented. It wasn't that she didn't think it was strong enough to do damage; she was pretty sure that she could actually melt someone with it. More than anyone, she knew what her acid could do. It had burned her pretty badly for the first week or so before her body turned from lovely tan to lurid pink, and even now, she could feel the tingling in her feet that signaled that she had pushed it too far. Actually applying max acidity to something alive…

"…Ashido! Focus, Ashido!"

She shook her head, forcing herself back into the moment just in time to jump away from a slice that would have cut her in half. The lynel reared back to swing at her again as she started skating, but Midori took the opportunity to rocket into its side, driving his sword deep into its flank.

The lynel's roar of pain and rage thundered across the plateau. Mina winced from the sheer volume, but kept going, zipping behind one of the boulders to help her gain speed. When she popped out again, she noticed that Midori had jumped clear and was kind of staggering where he stood. The lynel seemed to sense his disorientation, and she screamed as it lashed out at him.

Green lightning flickered across Midori's body, and as the lynel's sword reached him, he raised his shield and pushed.

CRNCH-CLANG!

Ptang-ding-ding-tink!

The force of Midori's parry ripped the lynel's sword from its hand and sent it clattering away into the boulders. It also shattered his shield, leaving him with a splintered plank dangling from his arm, which hung limply by his side. The lynel stared at him in shock, obviously trying to process that something so much smaller could do such a thing, before it mimicked Midori and slammed the face of its shield into him.

Mina skidded to a stop as Midori was launched. Everything seemed to slow down as she watched her friend go soaring through the air before crashing into one of the boulders and slumping to the ground. He groaned and rolled over, but his movements were sluggish—and the lynel was bearing down on him.

Before she could think, she was moving, skating toward the demon with as much force and speed as she could muster. "Hey, ugly! Why don't you pick on someone who can still fight and leave my boyfriend alone!"

She didn't know if it understood her words, but her tone must have been enough because it swung around to face her. As it did, it pulled Midori's sword from its flank, reopening the already healing wound. It licked its lips and grinned in anticipation.

'Let's see how you like some of my Acid Shot!'

Acid began to pool on her arm and in her free hand. Once she was close enough, she flung it out in a wide arc, catching the lynel in the chest, side, and legs.

SHZZZ!

It roared in pain again, but she didn't stop this time. As she flew by, she slashed out at the point she'd struck with her acid and, for the first time the entire fight, felt her spear bite deep into the demon's flesh.

Mina allowed herself a grim smile at the creature's surprised shriek of pain before spinning around launching even more of her Acid. Within moments, she had coated the lynel's entire side and rear, and it writhed in agony as its hide began to blister. She skated around it, waiting for an opportunity to put it out of its misery.

The moment presented itself when the lynel dropped its sword and started clawing at its burning flesh. Mina pushed herself forward and leveled her spear toward the lynel's chest. The distance closed rapidly, and once she was close enough she leapt forward and thrust as hard as she could.

SHZZ-Squelch!

Her spear sank deep into the monster's chest before hitting something hard and stopping. The force of the sudden stop killed her momentum and jolted her to a stop. Not waiting for the lynel to react, she yanked the spear out and, acting on instinct, sprayed another shot of Acid toward the wound.

The creature roared again before slowly sagging to its knees. Her blast had caught it straight in the wound, and wisps of Malice had already begun curling out from the wound and snaking across its torso. As she looked it in the eyes, behind the pain, she thought she saw a grudging respect before they filmed over with Malice and it collapsed.

Mina waited just long enough to make sure the lynel wasn't getting up before rushing over to her unconscious friend. Midori'd definitely had better days; he had a gash above his eyes that was bleeding pretty badly, his face was different shades of blue and purple, his arm looked like it had been dislocated at least (though given how often he'd broken it, she honestly wasn't sure), and his breathing, while even, was definitely shallower than she would have liked.

As she took in the injuries, she could start to feel panic returning. "Okay, don't freak out. This is part of your job. And he's totally banged himself up worse than this. Where do I start? The face?"

That seemed right. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she remembered Thirteen saying that face wounds bleed a lot, so it was hard to tell how bad they were. "Okay, so let's see. First we need to clean it up. I've got water, but no rag… aw, to heck with it."

She grabbed the corner of her tunic and tore a strip from the bottom, poured some water on it from her canteen, and then used it to dab away the blood. Thankfully, it looked like the cut wasn't actually that deep, but it was still bleeding pretty profusely. She needed to close it, but she didn't have anything but her makeshift rag, their tattered tunics, and her quirk.

Her quirk! She glanced at her hand and formed a small bubble of gray goo on her fingertip. She could adjust how viscous and acidic her acid was; maybe she could make it sticky? She concentrated, and suddenly the gob felt a lot tackier.

A part of her mind recognized that what she'd just managed was super cool, but she pushed it away for later. She dabbed away the fresh blood again with her free hand before pinching the cut closed and slicking the goo over the top. When she let go, the goo held.

"Yes!" she crowed. "Now a bandage, just to be safe. No bandages—oh, I can use the rag. Let me rinse it out a little and… there we go!"

It was a bit ghetto, but it worked. And now he had a super-snazzy-and-totally-not-bloodsoaked bandanna! The bleeding solved, she decided to check out his arm. Before she could do more than lean over him though, he groaned, and his eyes fluttered open.

"A-Ashido? Wh-what're you—d-did you kill the lynel?"

"Hey, you're alive!" Mina pulled him up into a hug, be careful not to squeeze his arm, before pushing him back down. "I mean, I totally knew you were alive, but you scared me there for a moment!"

"Y-yeah, I th-think I'm fine." He shifted in place and winced. "Okay, maybe not fine. I think my arm's busted, and my back hurts."

"With how hard you hit that rock, I bet it hurts. Can you get up?"

He nodded. "If you give me a hand, I th-think so. But what about the lynel?"

Mina flashed him a grin and leaned back so he could see. "Toasted."

Midori's eyes widened as he took in the smoking corpse. "Holy shit."

"I know, right?" Mina's grin faded as she glanced back at it. A small cloud of Malice was streaming from the monster's wounds and drifting into the sky. With any luck, their guides would see it and come up to investigate. "To be totally honest, I wasn't really thinking. I just knew that you were down for the count and that the big bad was gonna getcha. My body kinda reacted on its own."

He gave her a startled look. "Oh?"

"Yeah. One second I'm watching the lynel make Midori pancakes, the next I'm zooming at it, yelling at it to leave you alone."

"I think I heard that before passing out." He paused for a moment before his face flushed about as red as she'd ever seen it. "D-d-did you call m-me your b-b-b-boyf-friend?"

Mina froze. Had she? Oh shoot, she totally had. Was that how she really felt about him? Sure he was cute, and super smart, and, like the nicest guy she knew. Always willing to put himself on the line to protect others. Always willing to listen and talk about stuff that wasn't just shallow fluff. But that was just part of his job, right?

Right?

All of the facts 'clicked' into place in her mind and all added up to the same thing. None of the cheesy chick flicks she'd seen had prepared her for this!

'Well, in for a penny.' Mina took a deep breath before letting it out in a rush of words. "Okay, so, like, I think I like you, Midori. Like, really actually like you. I don't know when it happened, but you're super cute and nice and you're always looking out for others—or for me, as the case may be—and make me feel safe and happy, so I guess it might have been inevitable. I think I want to explore this more—it's kinda a first for me, so I don't know what any of what I'm feeling means—but I also totally get it if you don't feel the same way."

When she paused for breath, she almost choked when she registered his expression. She'd never seen anyone actually look flabbergasted before. Midori's eyes had taken on a glazed quality, and his mouth was moving, but no words were coming out. 'I might actually have short circuited his brain if he can't even find the words to mutter,' she chuckled to herself.

Eventually, after an eternity of silence, Midori managed to stammer his way back into speech. "I—um, well, uh—th-thanks?"

"Thanks?" Mina swatted his good arm. "I'm baring my soul here, and all you say is thanks?"

"Ouch! S-sorry, I think you cooked my b-brain. Let me, um—let me try again. I'm glad you like me—I li-li-lik-like you, too! B-but I don't know if th-that's just 'cause you're p-p-pretty. C-can I th-think about it?"

Mina nodded, feeling some of the heat drain from her cheeks while her heart beat faster in her chest. 'Did I jinx it? He probably just wants to make sure that he wouldn't be taking advantage of me, right? It's not that he's interested in someone else like Ochako… right?'

She did her best to squish the doubt out of her voice as she answered, "Yeah, that's fine. I kinda want to think about it too, but I wanted you to know 'cause… Well, life's short, and we might not make it home. Heck, we might end up as lynel chow. It'd stink to keep something like that a secret to the end."

As he started to respond, a shout echoed over the top of the mountain. Mina peered out from behind the boulder and saw their guides peering worriedly across the plateau. "We're over here!" she yelled back. "Can you come help Midori? He's been hurt."

The Zora must have seen or heard her because Nevalo pointed in her direction and the two started jogging over. She leaned back behind the boulder and sighed in relief. "At least they came up. I wasn't sure about getting you back down the mountain."

"Y-yeah, that's gonna be interesting." Midori glanced past her at the lynel's corpse and sighed as well. "You should probably go grab the shock arrows, or this'll have b-been for nothing."

"Good idea. Stay here until the Zora get here, okay? We'll talk more about it later, okay?" When he nodded his head, she rocked back to her feet and skated back over to the dead lynel to get its equipment before the Malice ate it. Even as she removed the nearly-quiver of shock arrows, she tried to settle the pit in her stomach that she might have just messed up the easiest friendship she'd ever had.