A/N: Wheeew, that's a long one, guys... Maybe the longest chapter up until now. Hope you don't mind. But it's the main part of the whole USJ thing, so I really hope you'll like it :-)
Chapter Nine: Byakko's True Self
The feeling of falling down at a high speed mixed with being swirled around lets Masha's stomach turn upside-down. Without any time left to think or at least to scream, she gets thrown through a broken window into a building that already looks like it collapsed a long time ago. Her body reacts instinctively wanting to land on all fours but clashes into another human body instead. "Gotcha!" the young tigress hears a familiar male voice and recognizes his reassuring scent. "Thanks, Kirishima!" she mumbles looking up at the crimson haired boy who sits on the dusty floor with her and has grabbed her by the waist. Her sight is still a little blurry and her head can't stop spinning, but she doesn't feel any pain thanks to her kind classmate catching her before an impact.
"You okay?" the teenage girls asks him and he nods pulling her up on her feet. Just then she notices that the red head has activated his hardening quirk and exhales relieved. In the next second something explodes right beside the two students and they turn their heads in unison to see Katsuki who already jumped into action and fights one of the villains surrounding them in the cramped space of the broken building. The blond boy points his wrist cannons at the guy and launches him to the ground with an explosive attack without any hesitation and takes on the next enemy right after.
Seems like a whole group of rogues has already waited for the classmates to arrive in front of them quite eager to take the lives of the high schoolers. Without thinking twice also Kirishima and Masha join Katsuki's side to fight their way out of this mess. While the red haired teen hardens his fists and knocks his opponents unconscious with brute force, the cat girl lunges at one of the villains as a feint only to step behind him very quickly, launching an attack at his back which sends the dude flying and crashing into two of his comrades who wanted to jump in for a surprise attack. The trio collides with the wall and thuds on the floor motionlessly.
When Masha turns around to help the boys, she finds them staring at her with the rest of the villains scattered on the ground around them as well. "I never want to be the one pissing you off", Kirishima comments with a grin and the white- and black-haired girl twitches her tiger ears in amusement. "Yeah, that's Katsuki's job anyway", she claims back pointing at the blond with her finger. "You wanna die, damn cat?!" the spiky haired boy fumes, but she just shrugs it off. "No, thanks"
The young tigress shifts her attention back to the villains to survey the area and make sure that none of them will suddenly jump back on his feet to counterattack again. "Bunch of weaklings!" Katsuki grunts sounding somehow disappointed causing Masha to roll with her amber eyes. "Alright guys, let's hurry and find the rest of our class. If we are still within the USJ, then everybody else probably is too and not all of them have offensive skills like we do. I'm worried about them. We gotta make sure they're safe, especially since we screwed things up when we got in the way earlier", Kirishima speaks up thinking back at how he and Bakugo jumped towards the warp villain. "If Thirteen had been able to suck up that villain with her black hole, then we never would have been separated like that. We have to make it up to the others!"
But as expected Katsuki only turns away from him sneeringly with his arms crossed over his chest. "If you want to track down everyone then go and have fun", he snaps. "I'm gonna murder that warpy bastard!" His grin grows wide and wicked, but the crimson boy doesn't seem convinced at all. "C'mon don't be an idiot, man", he argues and shakes his red-haired head. "Our physical attacks won't hurt that guy" Of course the hot head doesn't even care enough to listen properly. "Shut up, shitty hair!" he explodes. "I'm gonna take that guy down 'cause he's their way in and out. If I cut off their escape route, they'll be stuck here and have to pay for what they've done!"
In the middle of the two boy's fight, Masha senses something crawling out of a corner of the room and her feline eyes search for what her ears and her nose have detected already. As a camouflaged rogue is stupid enough to dare try to attack Katsuki, his hand and Masha's hand dash forward at the same time with the spiky haired teen grabbing the head of the chameleon dude exploding it with a targeted hit and the tiger girl digging her claws deeply into the enemy's shoulder. "If all the villains here are small fries like these guys were, then our classmates can handle them on their own", the blond boy states unimpressed while Masha cleans her claws from the blood of the lizard guy with the fabric of his own shirt.
"That reaction time was just insane!" Kirishima fanboys and his crimson eyes begin to sparkle. "You guys really are a great combo. I couldn't even see your movements!" Masha glances at Katsuki, but he avoids her gaze turning his head away from her. "Tch! I don't need your help, stupid cat!" he clarifies and starts to walk off on his own. "So if you losers want to go and save the rest of our class, I don't give a damn. I'm gonna fight!" The cat girl sighs and exchanges a glance with a still enthusiastic Kirishima. "Hey, wait a minute", he stops Katsuki and smiles confidently. "I think what you're actually tryin' to say is that you believe in our classmates, right? That's thinking like a man, Bakugo. I'll follow you!"
Just as Masha is about to agree with her red haired friend, she takes a look out of the window right next to her to check on the situation outside of the collapse zone she and the two boys got warped into and stiffens abruptly. Her eyes land on a huge bird-like creature with an exposed brain on its head which sits on top of something. Horrified the young tiger girl gasps as her enhanced sight reveals that the ugly monster is sitting on an awful looking Mr. Aizawa. Wide eyed she watches the large villain smashing the face of the black haired teacher into the ground and twisting his arm behind his back beyond its breaking point. A desperate whining sound escapes the throat of the teenage girl looking at the scene far away from her helplessly and in shock, causing her two male classmates to join her at the window.
They appear right on time to witness how the light blue haired skinny dude who is covered in hands reaches out to touch Tsuyu and how the bloody and broken Mr. Aizawa stops him with his quirk in a last attempt to save his student. The trio exhale in unison, but Masha's eyes linger on her godfather. "U-uncle... S-Shota...!" she sobs and her body starts to tremble uncontrollably in anger and fear. Her heartbeats speed up and begin to boom loudly in her own ears as a huge amount of adrenalin pulses through her veins. The white and black haired girl notices the situation she's trapped in too late and her mind goes blank. A rage beyond words lets her amber eyes glow wildly, her tiger stripes expand over her whole body covering everything down to her legs and feet as well and just in the moment when Izukyun decides to jump into action and punch the monstrous bird mutation with everything he's got, her worry takes over the rest of her remaining sanity.
Masha's body bursts out in a whitish light blue energy, breaking the wall right in front of her only with the pressure of the shockwave and creating a round crater on the ground around her feet. Katsuki and Kirishima back off dumbfounded, gaping at the cat girl speechlessly as she begins to cry furiously under her violently shaking body. At the sight of the muscular black villain being completely unaffected from Izuku's powerful attack and now her childhood friend being in obvious mortal danger together with her uncle Shota and her two friends Tsuyu and Mineta, Masha's cry grows deeper and turns into a threatening growl. Her heart races painfully in her chest and her limbs start aching as she cowers down on all fours to prepare for a mighty jump through the gap that is now wide open in the wall of the building.
"Masha!" Kirishima shouts alarmed, but Katsuki shuts him up. "Idiot! Remember what that damn Deku nerd told us. She's out of control right now!" Not to mention that the blond boy knows that she has already killed people in that state of mind and that she would feel terribly guilty if she started to attack her own classmates. Nevertheless he can't help but to have mixed feelings about that sudden outburst of hidden powers, being impressed and pissed off at the same time. Is that what she never wanted to show anyone? It's like a déjà vu of discovering damn Deku's powers. Disgusting! And yet... exciting...! Goddammit!
Fortunately for the boys Masha doesn't pay any attention to them anymore with her prey in sight and dashes out of the collapsed structure leaving behind a strong blast of wind and a deep hole in the floor where her feet kicked the ground to enhance her bounce. The cat girl jumps so high that she practically flies down the collapse zone and only needs two or three rooftops more to jump over and to arrive near the water zone with the shipwreck directly besides her uncle who is covered in scrapes, bruises and blood. Cracks in his elbow reveal his bare veins and muscles and the massive pain in Masha's heart grows even worse. Never before has the young tigress seen this kind of damage.
With an enraged snarl she turns around after making sure that uncle Shota is still breathing and having pulse and sees red as she catches the creepy bird mutation reaching for the young Midoriya boy who tried to protect his two fellow students still remaining in the water pond. So Izukyun must have been on the shipwreck with Mineta and Tsuyu earlier. Before the teenage girl actually knows what she's doing, she sprints over to him, her boiling emotions and sheer force flowing through her entire body, trying to do anything to prevent that enemy from hurting her best friend, but also very well aware that no amount of strength that she'd be able to punch with would damage this guy.
Masha jumps up once again and ignores the sharp pain running through both of her ankles which she put a bit too much strain on earlier by rushing down the broken buildings so carelessly. With a quick and smooth movement of both of her arms she lets her sharp claws run through the bird's open head, its brain clearly being the weakest point of the huge monster. The black muscleman stumbles backwards crying out in pain and stopping his attack on Izukyun temporarily, however the disgusting being doesn't drop dead as it should have after receiving so much damage on a vital part like its brain. Not that the tiger girl cares much at the moment, but at least she hasn't killed the villain.
For a second all eyes are on the white and black haired girl with the fierce feline eyes and covered in her tiger stripes from head to toe and she bares her fangs at the creepy mutation and the skinny dude behind it who wears hands on his body like bracelets and gives her a more than interested look from behind the palm covering his face. Tsuyu and Mineta come to their senses quickly upon hearing their classmate's angry hissing and they begin to swim away, out of the reach of the two villains while Izuku stares at his childhood friend from behind her in shock, having realized in which state of mind she currently is in. "M-Ma-sha...?" he stutters in a low and shaking voice, but his friend doesn't react, fixing her amber eyes on the two opponents and preparing for a fight letting her claws grow off her toes as well. With another threatening growl her hands light up with the whitish blue energy once again and the ugly bodyguard in front of her takes a step forward bringing his enormous hands up to the tiger girl who doesn't back down.
"Masha!" the greenish dark haired boy panics, but a resonating slam coming from the entrance of the USJ interrupts him. The doors open widely and reveal a tall figure in a heroic pose. "Have no fear students!" All Might booms ripping off his tie from his neck. "I am here!" However the cat girl continues to concentrate on her foes getting ready to use the advantage of them being distracted.
In an instant and even faster than her tiger senses can keep up with, strong arms wrap around her, the young Midoriya, uncle Shota and their two classmates in the water and carry all of them out of the dangerous situation to a safe place far away from the two villains. "What the heck?!" Mineta wonders surprised as they are set down carefully with their beat-up teacher. "Everybody back to the entrance", the blond number one hero commands. "And take Aizawa with you, he doesn't have much time" Even through her clouded mind the words of All Might reach Masha's heart and her worried eyes linger on her black-haired godfather as Tsuyu, Izuku and Mineta shoulder the unconscious homeroom teacher. "Yes, Sir!" they reply in unison, but the young tigress already made up her mind. In her current rage-mode she has other plans. Those bloody little bastards who dared to attack her school and hurt her family and friends will regret the very day they were born into this world!
Prey! her tiger instinct yells inside of her. Hunt down! Kill! So while her green haired best friend informs his greatest idol about the fact that the black villain bird could take his strongest punch without any damage and even survived Masha's claws slicing his exposed brain, the teenage cat girl focuses her glowing energy into her legs and lunges at the guy who uses hands as body decoration. After All Might's appearance that dude seems disoriented and stressed now and he's definitely the brain of this trashy group who call themselves the League of Villains. Not to mention that thirsty gaze he shot her before out of his red eyes creeped the hell outta her. Besides that it's kinda obvious that the birdie is a better match for the number one hero himself and the young girl doesn't want to interfere in a high class pro fight. Separate the boss from his bodyguard and take them both out as fast as possible. Or so she thought...
"Oh no, Masha! Watch out!" the cat girl hears Izukyun cry and All Might curses at the same time which isn't exactly the best sign. As fast as the blond hero had rescued them earlier, the muscular mutation guy shows up right in front of her only a second before she could lay a hand on the light blue haired villain. In slow motion Masha recognizes the number one hero throwing himself into battle as well, but this time he won't make it in time to shield her because the bird's huge fist is ready to strike. In a last minute attempt to dodge the tiger girl quickly changes her direction and turns to the side, but the massive impact hits her straight into that left side of hers, pushing the air out of her lungs and sending her flying until she is stopped by a rocky wall she crashes right into.
The next time Masha opens her amber feline eyes, she feels a throbbing pain in her head and an even heavier agony in her upper body. Some of her ribs must have been broken by that punch. Her body is covered in bloody scratches and bruises and her skin tight body suit is torn apart and dirty. She winces and tears fill her eyes, but she manages to stand up on her feet watching All Might and the mutated enemy in an intense exchange of blows not so far away from her. "That's because Nomu here has shock absorption. The only way you're going to hurt him is if you gouge out his flesh", the blue haired skinny villain answers to something that the number one hero must've said before. "Of course I don't think he'll sit back and let you do that. You've finally met your match"
With growing frustration, rage, fear and concern Masha observes the fight between the two giants that develops more and more to the disadvantage of the blond pro hero as he gets caught by his opponent who drives his claws into All Might's side, holding down his bulky body in a way that looks painful. It doesn't take much time for the purple warp gate villain to arrive and to suck both of them into his smoky portal. The cat girl realizes that this is their plan how to kill All Might, pulling him into the gate and closing it halfway, cutting his body into two halves. Izukyun seems to have understood as much as well because he leaves Mr. Aizawa with Tsuyu and Mineta and comes running back at the scene with one hand outstretched towards his idol to help him, but the warp gate guy is quick in his reactions and blocks the young boy's way.
Right before the green haired boy can run into the portal, an explosive attack strikes the purple vapor. "Get the hell outta my way, Deku!" Katsuki demands with a wide sinister grin on his face aiming at the metal plates within the violet smoke, shoving them to the ground. Just then Masha notices that there actually is a body covered by the warp gate cloud, so physical attacks could work if they were well aimed enough. "Guess I found your body that time, you smoky bastard!" the spiky head mocks and the cat girl blinks surprised when ice starts to cover the limbs of the black bird that was called Nomu by the hand-dude. A glance to her side shows her that Todoroki has also joined the fight, freezing the large villain who holds All Might in a strong grip.
"One of your poorly trained thugs told me that you're here because you think you can kill All Might", the calm boy with dark red hair on one half and snow-white hair on the other half of his head explains monotonously. The number one hero is able to break himself free now that two of the villains are immobilized by his students. "Are you alright?" Izukyun worries as Kirishima enters the fight with a war cry attempting to smash into the light blue haired hand-villain with his hardened fists, but the skinny dude dodges the crimson boy at the last moment. "Dang that was going to be cool", the red head grumbles displeased. "The Symbol of Peace will not be defeated by the likes of you", Todoroki promises as the whole group take their fighting stances once again.
Katsuki looks down at the warp gate with his red eyes and scoffs at the villain about how he was able to figure out that he has a physical shape when he attacked him together with Kirishima. The enemy grunts annoyed under the teen's grip and the blond sparks off some tiny explosions from his palm. "Don't ya dare move!" he threatens. "You try anything funny and I swear I'm gonna blow your ass up so bad they'll have to piece you back together for weeks!" Kirishima next to him snickers about his comrade. "Oh, that doesn't sound very heroic", the red-haired boy teases and usually Masha would've agreed with her classmate and taken the chance to make fun of the light blond hot head, but her mind is still full of thick fog only letting through extreme emotions and the will to destroy the fools who entered her territory unauthorized.
"Kids these days really are amazing", the blue haired villain says with his raspy voice. "They make the League of Villains look like amateurs, can't have that" He turns around to the larger frozen bodyguard bird and the beast suddenly begins moving breaking off its limbs that were covered in Todoroki's ice. "How can he be able to move?" Izuku questions. "He's all messed up!" Even All Might staggers back a bit at the sight of the ugly mutation starting to regenerate and grow new limbs while the hand-dude informs him casually that this creature holds multiple quirks and was modified to take the number one hero on even at one hundred percent of his powers. That Nomu is basically a highly efficient punching bag that hits back. Not alive. Not human! Masha's inner tigress tells her, but she doesn't pay much attention to it. He's an enemy, he's dangerous and he has to be defeated. That's all there is to it.
"First we need to clear our escape route", hand-guy commands and Katsuki's eyes widen in shock at the meaning of his words. "Nomu, get him!" Although at least three of her ribs are cracked, her head is about to explode and both of her ankles are strained already, Masha's body moves faster than her clouded mind allows her, running towards the spiky haired boy and tackling him to the ground in the attempt to push him out of the monster's way that charges at him with its lightning speed. A loud explosion occurs as Nomu's massive fists strike against something. "Kacchan!" Izuku shouts clearly worried about the light blond boy.
The white- and black-haired girl looks down on Katsuki lying on top of him and panting heavily and the blond stares back at her for a moment with large, astonished red eyes and an open mouth until he snaps out of it. "Get the hell off of me, stupid cat!" he growls angrily, but this time he isn't able to hide his blush that takes over his face, only this time Masha isn't interested in stuff like that at all. "Whoa, Masha! That was damn fast!" Kirishima swoons and also Izuku and Todoroki seem surprised. "How could you react like tha-... Holy crap what happened to you? Are you okay? You look messed up as hell, girl!" he notices as the cloud of smoke and dirt begins to clear and the cat girl lifts herself up stumbling. She figures that All Might must've moved in as well since she landed behind Kirishima, Izukyun and Todoroki. There's no way that she herself could've been strong or fast enough to manage that distance with Katsuki's additional weight.
The young tigress turns her head and spots the number one hero with his arms crossed before his face to block Nomu's attack. "These are kids and you didn't hold back!" the blond man scolds the villains. "They didn't give me a choice. He was threatening my friend", the pale blue haired guy claims back with a gesture towards Katsuki. "These kids are no angels. Trying to slice Nomu's brain and freeze his limbs? If he didn't have super-regeneration as one of his quirks he would've died. And the plain looking one attempted a maxed-out punch on me" He shifts his attention to the young Midoriya and the green haired boy gulps. "What kind of hero does something like that? You think you can get away with being as violent as you want if you say it's for the sake of others. Well, you know what, All Might? That pisses me off! Why do people get to decide that some violent acts are heroic while others are villainous? Casting judgement as to what's good and what's evil. You really think you're the Symbol of Peace?" He starts laughing hysterically. "You're just another government sponsored instrument of violence. And violence only breeds more violence. I'm gonna make sure the world understands that once you're dead"
Quite fed up with all that nonsense coming out of that creepy dude's mouth, Masha growls at him furiously receiving his attention and glaring at him with her enlarged eyes. "Oh, gimme a break! You dare..." she starts barely being able to use human words at this moment, her voice sounding dark and raspy like a snarl. "...to enter my territory without permission, scaring and threatening my friends, hurting my family and trying to kill one of my teachers and after all that you still got the nerve to talk like that? That's some confidence, bro!" She grins maliciously at the villain noticing that her classmates around her hold their breaths. "You're just having some fun here with us, right? I can clearly tell. You enjoy stuff like that, yet you're just a little wimp who doesn't have the guts to admit it openly. Fine with me, though. Let me help you a little. I'm gonna join your fun little game and show you the true meaning of the words Plus Ultra!" While she's speaking her body begins to glow as she concentrates her energy. "Did you know that an injured beast is always the most dangerous? So you want violence, huh? Chaos, yes? I'm gonna be generous then. It's been a while since I've been able to go on a rampage!" Masha threatens with a strong gaze at Nomu while the hand-guy grins wickedly like she had shown him something exciting. "Gouge his flesh out, was it? Thanks for the hint, I'll try that one. You can't kill what's already dead after all, am I right?" With that being said her fangs and claws grow even longer, the light engulfing her body flashes and wind comes up under the pressure of the young cat girl's power.
The light blue haired villain watches her in stunned silence as the shape of her shining body changes slowly. "Masha, no!" Izukyun cries desperately, being the only one who knows what's going on. "Stop it, please!" But it's too late. With a loud and feral roar a fully developed giant white tiger jumps out of the whitish blue light, wasting no time the large predator pounces on the bird-like creature using its mighty claws to leave behind deep and bleeding flesh wounds that regenerate as quickly as they're created. Masha's friends stare at her in her tiger form in absolute awe, only the messy haired boy with the freckles lowers his head and clenches his fists. Even All Might is awestruck for a short moment.
"So she is a shape-shifter", Todoroki comments in his usual flat tone, but it doesn't match his facial expression that clearly shows how surprised he actually is. "Dang that was awesome! Why didn't she tell anyone she's able to do something mind-blowing like that? If it was me, I'd definitely show off with such an ability!" Kirishima wonders while Katsuki isn't even able to say anything. "You've never seen only the slightest bit of my true self and you better be very grateful for it", he remembers Masha telling him that at the therapy center and grits his teeth.
"She really hates being like that!" Izukyun sobs with tears filling his gentle green eyes and the other boys shoot him confused glances. "She's always hated and feared that side of herself telling me she loses her humanity during the transformation and that she's scared of not being able to change completely back to normal. Masha never considered herself as a fully-fledged human being, but rather as a beast in human shape with human thoughts, feelings and ethics that nevertheless goes out of control way too easy. So, if she wouldn't be able to keep and protect her human values that represent who she is and what kind of person she wants to be, she could as well turn into the monster that's sleeping inside of her"
After this explanation the boys look at the white tigress facing off against Nomu once again, speeding up her attacks in order to overpower his regeneration skills. "No way!" Kirishima says sadly and his crimson eyes land on the young Midoriya boy. "Then why is she doing that right now? Did she lose herself completely? It didn't seem that way to me at all!" But before the greenish dark haired boy has a chance to answer, Katsuki speaks up. "There's no way that damn cat lost every little bit of her mind right after telling off that moron. That was intended. Isn't that obvious? She even announced it while talking to that bastard", he clarifies and Izuku nods. "She's trying to create an opening for All Might and since our enemy has shock absorption and super-regeneration quirks there's just no need for her to hold back. Masha wants to wear him out and slow him down as much as possible and she won't stop until she's reached her own limit to make sure that she won't be able to attack anyone of us by accident anymore. But I think what actually triggered her in that state of mind was seeing Mr. Aizawa getting hurt so badly and worrying about all of us being in an equally dangerous situation. It was her protective instinct that made her go berserk, I'm completely sure of it!"
Todoroki watches the tiger on its war path thoughtfully. "Her strategy, if you can call it like that, isn't too bad. We've got them outnumbered", the icy guy states. "And Kacchan found the warp gate's weakness", Izuku affirms with a nod of his head. "These dudes may act really tough, but we can take them out with All Might's help" Kirishima hardens his arms ready to fight. "Okay let's do this! And let's safe Masha, too!" But the blond number one pro hero balks their plans. "Don't attack!" he calls out to the teenagers. "Get out of here. It's enough that young Shirogawa put herself in a pinch like that. As her teacher I'll have to scold her properly after getting her out of here safely" Todoroki shakes his two-colored head in disagreement. "You would've been in trouble earlier if it wasn't for me, remember? You need our help", he reminds him. "I thank you for your assistance", All Might replies genuinely. "But this is going to be different. Now sit back and watch a pro at work!"
The Symbol of Peace starts powering up while his students still surround him. "But you're also hurt and bleeding", Izukyun argues worriedly. "And you're almost out of ti-..." He stops himself before finishing the sentence, remembering that his classmates are listening to their conversation as well. At that moment they hear a pained howl and spot the black Nomu stamping the white tigress to the ground and smashing one knee into her back to hold her down causing the hand-dude to smile creepily with his cracked lips. "Nomu, Kurogiri, kill him!" he instructs his bodyguard and the portal guy with a gesture towards All Might. "I'll deal with the children" And with that said he instantly begins sprinting at the students. "Heads up, looks like we're fighting after all", Kirishima warns, however before anyone has actually time to attack, the blond pro hero jumps in and launches himself to the skinny villain.
His fist gets intercepted by Nomu again, but the shockwave alone is enough to fling the light blue haired dude into the air and to prevent him from harming the kids who're all watching their great idol with pure admiration as he starts fighting the bulky mutation with countless hits. "Weren't you listening? One of his powers is shock absorption", the leading villain who just got blast away yells as he lands on his feet skillfully. "Yeah, what about it?" All Might calls back continuing to throw powerful punches at Nomu, each slam they exchange causing another wave of wind pressure and with their attacks being completely matched in speed and force.
"He's going to fight that brain guy head on?" Izuku asks unbelievingly, yelling over the sound of the whistling winds around them. "Whoa, they're so fast!" Kirishima shouts back while having trouble to keep himself from falling. Meanwhile Masha remains in the deep crater she had been crushed into and her overextended and utterly broken body changes back taking on her human form again. Almost unable to breathe and trembling in stabbing pain she manages to lift her head. In absolute astonishment she watches the blond pro hero moving his arms faster than her teary feline eyes can process, giving his all and even more against the beast that is supposed to match his own strength. Punch after punch carefully calculated, yet still over one hundred percent of what he should be able to do. This is what it would take to become a true hero, going beyond own limits and doing the impossible in the name of good.
"A real hero will always find a way for justice to be served!" All Might booms with total conviction as he launches the Nomu to the ground with thunderous force, causing the entire ground to quake and the USJ building starts to shake around the small group of high school students who're able to witness this scene with their jaws dropped to the floor. "Now for a lesson", the mighty number one hero exclaims strongly. "You may have heard these words before, but just as young Shirogawa has promised a little earlier, I'll show you what they really mean" He powers up once again hitting the black villain with more than one hundred percent of his strength and shooting him up into the air, through the shattering roof of the dome and far away into the sky while a last enormous shockwave rushes throughout the whole USJ building. "Go beyond. Plus Ultra!", All Might yells heroically leaving his students gazing at him in pure fascination.
"That was like a finishing move in a video game!" Kirishima breathes excitedly. "He beat the shock absorption out of him! I've never seen that kind of brute strength!" Katsuki's red eyes still observe the cloud of dirt swirling around the blond pro hero. "Imagine having power like that", the light blond boy thinks aloud. "He punched that monster so fast that it didn't have any time to regenerate" He glances over to Masha still being stuck on the floor and struggling not to black out after the secondary damage she received again and wonders if she had predicted all of that and wanted to lay a proper groundwork for All Might with her last attack in her most powerful form she would've avoided using if it hadn't been for an emergency situation like that.
"I really have gotten weaker, back in my heyday five hits would've been enough to knock that guy out, but today it took three hundred might blows", the number one hero smiles proudly coming out of the smoke he created during his fight with the muscular bird villain. "You've been bested, villains!" All Might declares turning around to face the two remaining figures, Kurogiri the purple warp gate and the hand-guy with his light blueish hair. "Surrender! We all want to get this over with quickly"
Masha from her place inside the hole in the ground, Todoroki, Katsuki, Kirishima and Izuku all look at the leading villain, his body shaking in anger and panicking on the inside at the realization that his modified mutation didn't beat the number one hero as he expected it to. Scratching his neck maniacally he begins to speak with the portal dude as they consider switching to another plan while All Might teases and provokes them to come and get him if they still dare.
"Man, this is intense", Katsuki grunts. "As I expected", Todoroki agrees and relaxes his body. "There's no reason for us to fight right now. He'll handle this" The boys nod at each other and turn around to finally start making their way back to the rest of their classmates. "Come on Midoriya. We should regroup with the other guys and take Masha with us. She's been hurt pretty bad and the last thing we wanna do is get taken hostage or get in All Might's way", Kirishima calls out to the green haired boy who doesn't make a single move and stares at All Might worriedly, standing in a stiff and tensed up posture. However as the underling villains taken out by Aizawa earlier start to wake up again, the students quickly change back into their fighting stances. "I think All Might can hold his own against those two main guys", the crimson boy says and glances at Katsuki and Todoroki. "Let's make sure these dudes don't hurt anyone else" Together they prepare for another fight, but Izukyun is still frozen on his spot looking at the number one hero. "Midoriya, are you coming?" Todoroki asks again but doesn't get a reply while hand-guy and the warp gate suddenly make a move and charge at All Might again with the blond pro hero not reacting at all and only standing rigid as the two villains come closer and closer to him.
Masha, clearly sensing why her childhood friend seems so frightened for his great idol who has reached his absolute limit in his muscle form and obviously has run out of time a while ago already, tries pushing her aching and shivering body into movement by force and pure willpower. She ignores the bare agony rushing through her torso like a lightning strike because of her broken ribs and breathes as flat and as little as possible while fighting to get on her knees at least. Tears begin to flow down her hot cheeks and her head hurts so bad that she blacks out a couple of times for only a few seconds before she comes back to her senses right away. Somewhere she can feel warm an sticky blood flowing down her body, but she refuses to give up, especially as her best friend dashes forward so fast that both of his legs break under the pressure of his power quirk.
"Whoa, Midoriya!" she can hear the red-haired Kirishima marvel at his classmate and the cat girl gazes in horror at the green haired boy launching himself towards the two villains threatening All Might. Move! Move! Move, for God's sake! she orders her busted body and with a war cry of sheer desperation Masha crashes one foot into the ground using up everything she's got left to propel herself forward into Izukyun's direction. The young tigress reaches the messy haired teen in midair at the moment the creepy blue haired hand-dude places his arm through the smoky body of the warp gate grabbing for Izuku's face and coming dangerously close with his fingertips. Masha wraps her arms around the young boy's body utilizing the speed of her jump to change their course and to escape the villain's menacing touch very closely.
At the same time gunshots ring out through the dome coming from the entrance of the USJ facility and the two teenagers fall to the ground safely. "They're here!" All Might proclaims and sounds as relieved as Masha and Izuku feel upon the arrival of their pro hero teachers and principal Nezu who begin to fight the villains immediately. The tiger girl who landed on top of her friend hurries to roll herself off of him since the green haired boy is also injured and starts to crawl away from him and the number one hero, now in his true skeleton form. On hands and knees she pants heavily until she notices Kirishima running towards his classmates.
"Midoriya, Masha! Are you okay?" All three of them Izuku, Masha and even All Might himself sweatdrop at the thought that the crimson boy will discover the number one hero's secret if he keeps coming any closer and the green haired boy tells him to stop almost freaking out inwardly. Luckily one of the newly arrived teachers, Cementoss creates a thick wall between the blond pro hero and the messy haired boy with broken legs on one side and Masha and the approaching Kirishima on the other side. "For your own safety, please stay back. Join your classmates at the front gate and leave the injured to us. We will take care of those unable to make it to the infirmary themselves", the pale gray hero explains in a calm and polite manner.
"Oh, that makes sense", the red head answers and attempts to help Masha. "Stay away!" she carks, her voice almost breaking. "I don't trust myself right now. Leave me, the teachers will handle that later, you've heard him" But her red haired friend furrows his brows at her angrily, activating his hardening quirk and lifting the cat girl up on her feet with his arms supporting her waist and her shoulders despite her strong protest. "What are you saying?" he scolds her and stops walking every time she winces in pain. "How could I possibly leave you behind like that? Don't be mean! I've not been afraid of you even once today. I'm rather amazed at how strong and brave you truly are! You jumped into action a few times when we others were still frozen and you tried to protect us and All Might. You should be proud of yourself. You're freakin' awesome, Masha!"
He continues praising her like that until they arrive at Katsuki's and Todoroki's side where the crimson haired boy tells them that Cementoss just sent them to regroup with the others, but Masha isn't able to concentrate on Kirishima's words because it costs her entire willpower to keep walking without either passing out or crying in pain, even with the strong grip of her kind classmate helping her. "Do you really think it is a good idea to take her with us like that?" the white- and black-haired girl hears Todoroki's monotonous voice. "She didn't want me to come close to her at all. That's the best I could do. I'd rather carry her as well, but she won't let me", Kirishima explains the two-toned boy sounding frustrated.
Of course as Todoroki has already expected, it doesn't take much time for Masha's legs to give out and she collapses to the ground starting to cough heavily. Worriedly the red head kneels down and stays by her side gasping in shock when the cat girl suddenly throws up a surge of blood. "Holy crap!" he curses and also Todoroki and Katsuki widen their eyes at her. "Seems like my broken ribs perforated something", she informs the boys casually not noticing the shock on their faces. "I have internal bleedings"
As Kirishima begins to panic at her words, Katsuki glares furiously at Masha. "Broken ribs?!" She nods weakly. "Yeah, at least three of them, maybe more. I don't know, the pain spread through my whole body already, so I can't really tell which parts are messed up anymore" At her matter of fact remark the light blond boy fumes even more. "How the hell are you even able to move?! And give us such an important information before you're on the edge of dropping dead you damn cat!" he explodes and gives Kirishima an aggressive push. "Move it, you extra! I'll need some force here!" he says firmly causing his two classmates to truly worry for a short moment, until the spiky haired boy picks the young tigress up to carry her himself. "Try to resist and I'm gonna kill you with my own two hands, that clear?!" he growls and starts running towards the stairs at the main entrance of the USJ with Todoroki and Kirishima following right behind.
"Geez, you had me worry for a sec, Bakugo", the crimson boy comments. "Shut up, shitty hair!" the blond shouts back. "You're just being too nice to that stupid loser!" Hearing the boys quarrel like that somehow helps to put Masha at ease and she smiles weakly in Katsuki's arms. "Thanks, you guys", she mumbles in a low voice. "And sorry for causing trouble" Leaning her head on the blond boy's shoulder she closes her amber eyes and breathes in his heavenly scent of sweet melting caramel before her consciousness fades away.
A/N: And we've made it through USJ ladies and gentlemen! As always thank you very, very much for reading and lots of love for my followers and readers who favorited my story, I hope you're gonna stick around until the end. Also I'm grateful for your reviews you guys, you're awesome! Hope to see ya all next time around as well.