The Green Scar slowly opened his eyes, blinking as he took in the sight of the ceiling. He was alive, it seemed. That was reassuring, he had to admit. 'I really need to stop with my bad habit of almost dying on a battlefield only to be awakened an unspecified amount of time later. Last time, I got sent three hundred years ahead.'

He looked to his left, finding Usagi sitting there. She was doing the oddest face, half-glaring, half-smiling at him, which made the result look like a pout. "Sup." He managed to say. She went full glare. Nice work, Monster Hero, nice work. "You know, I…"

"Why are you always so reckless?!" Usagi shouted, punching the mattress, "What made you think that was a good idea?!"

"Which one? I have taken a lot of choices that sound bad in hindsight."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe getting yourself killed again and again by an ancient all-powerful dragon."

"Ah, that one." The Green Scar sighed, "Yeah, that one was a risky move." He frowned, "Uhm, Usagi, your great-great-great-grandpa has a bit of a problem."

"Which is?"

"I can't move my body. At all." He tried to move his fingers, but they barely trembled.

"Yeah, they said that could happen."

"They?"

"The doctors. Your body went through a lot of stress all at once. You… died. Several times. It didn't stick, thankfully, but it's hardly the kind of damage a body can take without some consequence."

"Like what?"

"You are going to be bedridden for a while, I'm afraid. A mix of how much you used your Quirk too. You used the Second's, didn't you?"

"Yep. No regrets." He winced when he tried to move his arm and the limb decided to not cooperate, "Alright, some regrets. I'm sorry Usagi, alright? But at least now we can go home."

Usagi looked away, and he suddenly had a thought. "You… Know how to get us home, right?" She kept looking away, and then started to blush. Blush! "Usagi, you didn't use that magic spell on yourself, get lost in the Multiverse, and only then found your way here, right?"

"… Eheh, so it's a really funny story…"

"Usagi!"

"It was foolproof! We realized that it wasn't a disintegration spell pretty fast, once we asked Eclipsa, who just laughed and said something like 'Oh it was supposed to be a disintegration spell, for sure, but I think her lack of control morphed it into a portal spell, luckily for the Green Scar and unluckily for me'" Izuku grimaced. Damn, that was cold Eclipsa. "and that meant you were sent to another dimension! So, I grabbed my Scissors, Star blasted me with the spell, and then I went looking for you."

"And then you found out the Scissors only work between dimensions, not between the different universes."

"… Yeah…"

The Green Scar really wanted to facepalm now. "I don't get it, where did you learn to be so reckless, self-sacrificing and impulsive?!" Usagi just stared at him, and after a moment the man looked away, "Yeah well, youngsters are supposed to learn what not to do from their elders."

Usagi sighed, "We will find a way home. Get some rest for now."

The Green Scar yawned and made to reply, but before he could his eyes closed and he fell asleep again.

He really needed it.

-x-

Apocrypha looked up from his bed. Since he had woken up, he had been left free to move between the bed he had been given and the bathroom at the other end of the infirmary, but no further. He understood why, of course, but it still grated him. First he was kidnapped, and then left to be a prisoner. He supposed Hawks taking him out early had been a blessing in disguise, considering he had no injuries left to heal, but the fact it had been so easy for the man was equally grating. 'So much for being a lesser Chapter of the Guild.' He thought. He'd have to deal with that later.

He checked around, but of course, there was nothing useful to find. Even if he wanted to use his magic, all of his summoning spheres had been taken, along with his clothes. He had a few extra ones sewn in there, sewn in the sleeves, but they had either noticed or gotten lucky. He realized what he ws doing and slumped back on the bed, sighing.

"Looking for something?" The Bell Witch asked from the next bed over. She had been already awake when he had come to, probably the result of getting priority since her injuries were more severe, if not by much.

"Apparently, I feel the need to try to take out the League for All and anyone called Izuku Midoriya. Which is not something I usually spend my free time thinking about."

"Same." She groaned, pushing herself up, only to wince and touch her side, "Ugh, sheep suck."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it." She grumble, "Either way, seems we aren't the only ones here." She looked around, and he did the same. The samurai, Mustard and Anubis were all asleep on the other beds. Some of them were still asleep since the fight, but the samurai had woken up since. Anubis and Mustard on the other hand seemed to have been hit the worst.

"Not all of us. We are missing the Midoriyas, the Prowler, Sagawa…"

"Those people are in a different area." A new voice interjected. The man that walked in was Hawks, but clearly not the same one that had defeated Apocrypha. This one was clearly a few years older, for one, and wore a pair of glasses.

"Can we help you?"

"God I hope so. Name is Keigo Takami. Call me Keigo. I'm not a member of the League for All, so apparently, I can talk with you without being lynched. Yay." The man sat down, "So, you have been cleared as the people we can just keep here without additional security. Congrats. Do you have any hints on the possible location of the True League for All?"

"Who?"

"The woman that woke you up earlier and gave you the lynching order."

"Ah, right." Apocrypha shook his head, "I barely remember that."

"She probably forced you to wake up in the first place by giving an order. Either way, you are not criminals in your home world or are still minors we can't detain without a reason." He stared at the Bell Witch, "Better not give us one."

"I'll be good." The Bell Witch replied, "Just don't show us Midoriyas or League members. We can't exactly go against the Crest."

"I know." Keigo yawned, "We are still deciding what to do with you, but until a decision is made you are expected to not leave the infirmary without permission and an escort. Any action in that sense will result in the trespasser's transfer to our special detaining facilities…"

"We end up in prison?"

"It's not a prison, it's a group of special rooms where we put people that use a power that makes them go insane or lose control so they can calm down. They just happen to also work as prisons." Keigo shrugged, "To be honest, they are not even that bad, but you'd probably prefer limited freedom to none at all. Really the escort is more to prevent you from attacking a Midoriya if you run into them."

Apocrypha nodded, sighing.

Well, it sounded like they were in for a lot more waiting.

-x-

"You are sure of this?" Kiruka asked, looking at the young child. Kai was a good kid, and really didn't deserve to be put in this situation.

"Yes." Kai said immediately.

"There is no taking it back." Kiruka warned, but if anything the child seemed happy about it. She had never seen a One for All wielder that eager to give away their Quirk.

"Could you not try to talk him out of it?" Hawks – the Hawks from the Fantasyverse, not the one she had asked for help in interrogating the people they had recovered – asked, "It's kind of important that I recover the Quirk."

"Why?"

"The Demon King would love to conquer our island. Not having a workable One for All makes our defenses a lot weaker. If we could afford it, I'd leave it to Kai, really, but we can't." He paused, "Not to mention that Kai himself doesn't seem to want it."

The child nodded slowly, "I'm… I'm happy if it helps others, but I don't want to… I don't want to use it ever again."

Kiruka knew instantly that there was no convincing the child to reconsider. And why should he, anyway? One for All with Teleport inside… Yeah, it was way more trouble than it was worth. She nodded and looked at Hawks, "We will give you instructions on using Teleport. I don't know if the Quirk will activate sooner or later, but better safe than sorry."

"Thank you." The man bowed, before turning to the other man in the room, "Dekirn, I have a favor to ask."

"A favor?" The thief asked. Kiruka had offered him a spot to sleep before taking him bad, and now he had accepted.

"I want you to help me bridge the gap between Colfire and Nion. If we play our cards right, we can work together, instead of staying separate."

"And why do you need a thief?"

Hawks made to open his mouth, but Kiruka shook her hand, "Deal with it while you are alone, alright? I don't want to get involved in another world's politics. Just make sure you go through the legal channels."

"We will. It wouldn't help otherwise."

She sighed in relief, "Alright. Either way, I will take you back home and then you will figure it out from there. With Arkin's death, the Demon Lord won't try a kidnapping again, but…"

"He will definitely try murder." Hawks shrugged, par of the course, really. Fighting his armies has always been dangerous. I will just have a bigger target on my back." He smiled, patting Kai on the head, "Better me than you, right kid?"

The child nodded, and Kiruka leaned closer, "What will happen to him?" She whispered.

"Mh? Oh, that. Well, he will inherit his father's life pension for being a past One for All user. Someone will adopt him. I'll make sure it's a good family." He replied, "Or maybe I will just adopt him."

"What?" Kiruka asked, surprised.

"He is a nice kid, and he will have One for All's embers inside his body for a while. Better staying with me if anything bad happens, right?" Hawks chuckled.

"I suppose I'll leave that to you." Kiruka replied, "Ready?"

Kai nodded, took a deep breath, and pulled one of his hair out, handing it over. Kiruka expected some confusion, since that was usually what happened, but Hawks just scarfed it down instantly. She supposed he was prepared for it. "Did… Did it work?" Kai asked.

"We will have to wait and see. If it doesn't, just try again. One for All is purposefully hard to take away from its user, and it can be held back by even lingering feelings of not wanting it to go. If that happens, just spend some time thinking about the decision to hand it over, usually it helps." Kiruka said. Kai nodded.

"If it helps, I think it worked." Hawks said, "Hard to say for sure, right now, but it did feel a bit… odd."

"It's probably just that you ate some hair." Dekirn pointed out, before turning to Kiruka, "I'm sure the Prince and the court will have more to say, but Colfire will certainly reward you for your help. Killing Arkin and reconquering Mikona is an incredibly valuable help in our quest to defeat the Demon Lord. We owe a debt we won't be able to return."

"Same for Nion. Your help was fundamental in recovering One for All. Since I'm an envoy of the country, I can in full confidence say we will return what we owe to the League in full."

Kiruka smiled. "Thank you." She simply said.

But she already had an idea.

-x-

"Am I wrong or there are less and less people around?" Revenant asked, puffing on a cigarette.

"Everyone that doesn't need to be around is going back home." Argali replied, holding back his desire to tell the teen to stop smoking underage. It wasn't the point right then, even if as a teacher he had a very low tolerance on his students doing that. "Spider-Man went back to his own universe earlier. He is going to inform the authorities that the Prowler is in custody."

"In custody?"

"They are having a bit of a hard time deciding what to do. Sending her back home is the obvious choice, but they don't really know how to prevent the other League from swooping in and breaking her out of jail. Even putting her in Tartarus, who knows if they can break her out."

"I see. And the others?"

The man sitting to Revenant's right puffed the cigarette as well, "I met Superior, Horizon, Paladin and the Martian. They are all going to the League's headquarters." Gun explained, before taking a deep breath off his cigarette, grinning, "Man this is good, where did you get it?"

"Keigo. He said it was a good brand and it seems he was right."

'Speaking of bad examples…' He sighed, "What about Piper and Kitsune?"

"They will stay here a bit longer, like us. The League doesn't want to put all their eggs in one basket, so they will keep us separated." Gun puffed again.

"Say, aren't you a wanted criminal in your world?" Revenant suddenly asked, "I thought the League would want you locked up."

"It's complicated. I'm an outlaw, which yes, means I've robbed and killed people. But I'm also a guy that has saved a shit ton of people thanks to my working outside the law. Chucking me in jail isn't exactly a good thing." He finished his cigarette, tossing the remainder on the ground and stepping on it, "Not a bad thing either, but apparently the League isn't exactly in the shape to debate the best way to handle me, and I have no reason to hurt anyone. Lucky me I guess."

Argali made to say something, then decided to let it go. It was the League's business. "So, tomorrow the Tournament, uh?"

"Ugh, don't make me think about it." Revenant grimaced, finishing his own cigarette with a last breath, "I have to fight Ruin, and you know what's the plan?"

"You have nothing?"

"I have some basic ideas, but if someone can stop me, now that the Battlemaster is out, it's Ruin."

"I figured he wouldn't be much of a problem, given how you handled yourself yesterday."

"There is a world of difference between the two." Revenant replied, "And I got a lot of help, yesterday. I'm not even sure what happened at the end of that fight, really. Apparently I helped fighting the dragon, but the last thing I remember is the death throes of the Greed knocking me out."

"Cap said the same thing. Something about having lost consciousness against Muscular, but apparently running back to Arsenal. Maybe something about your super soldier body?"

"For the last time, Cap and I don't have the same kind of body. No Super Serum involved to create me." He whispered an 'I wish it was that easy', a sound barely audible between Revenant's teeth, but Argali didn't comment on it. Instead, he stood up.

"Well, I will go check on the League members. I need a passage to their headquarters too, after all." He cracked his neck, letting the weight of his horns fall on both sides, "Can't have them forget."

"Well, you aren't leaving for a while, you are still in the Tournament."

"Only until tomorrow." Argali replied, "I'll give it my best shot, but Kamihara is too strong for me, by quite a margin. Not that it matters, I already found Kendo thanks to the League."

"Pity, I was hoping you would win."

"So that you could beat me?" Argali asked. Revenant just smiled, and he snorted, "You are an ass, Revenant. I'll miss you once this is all done."

Revenant smiled, and Argali knew what he was thinking. Without Arsenal and the Battlemaster, his chances of winning had just grown a lot. There were still some big hurdles to challenge, but there was a path to victory.

-x-

Ojiro clutched Midoriya's hand and dragged him in a hug, along with Itsumi.

"Goodbye, Izu." He said. It was strange to think how attached he had grown to the pair of Midoriyas. To think something like this would ever happen... Well, he wouldn't complain. Those kids deserved it, even if the person they were... connected to didn't.

"Thank you, guys." The Hero-in-Training said, "I… I'm sorry I can't take you home yet." He looked it. Ojiro understood why he felt that way too, considering he found it rather similar to how Shoto always felt responsible for everything going wrong back home with The Imprisoners, but... Well, frankly he couldn't blame Izu, just like he couldn't blame Shoto. They were trying their best.

"Hey, you have been doing great. Take your time." Ojiro patted him on the back, "Frankly… Right now, I'm not sure what we will do. With this whole True League for All deal, we can't count on as much help. Even if we go back…"

"… Let's not think about that, alright?" Itsumi took a deep breath, "We can deal with it when the time comes."

Ojiro smiled. Her reaction proved, at least, that she was thinking about what he had said. The man glanced at Deku. "Say, Izu, what's with the Tournament, by the way?"

"Just a plan to get more people on our side. Though, admittedly, I'm not sure how well that is going. We found some people, but then I called in those favors to help in the Fantasyverse. Some might agree to help but…"

"But some won't. Makes sense, but it was a good attempt. I'm sure you can find a way." Ojiro replied, giving him an encouraging thumbs up. He frowned, noticing Izuku's expression.

"Actually…" He started, before breathing in, "Nevermind. It's not important. I'd tell you two to have fun, but there isn't much of a chance there."

"Not until the True League and All for Deku are dealt with, no." Ojiro replied, and he noticed the look Izuku and Itsumi gave him, "What?"

"It's just… You look surprisingly happy, Ojiro. I know you always try to be, but I didn't expect you to be so positive about the enemies awaiting." Itsumi replied.

"Shouldn't I be? You saw the battle of the Fantasyverse. We won! We won, and… I know, it's a lot to say, but… But it feels so good to finally win. To finally know you are making a difference." He closed his fist and breathed in. His mind flooded with images of… other times, other fights. Of having to hear about the deaths of his friends or of having to… see them. See friends and more slip through his fingers as they fought a losing battle. 'Yui…' "I know it's wrong to say this, because some people did die, but… But this was a victory. I think if we did this, we can do anything. It will take time, it will take effort, but we can do it. We can save our worlds."

Itsumi and Deku smiled after a moment. After another round of goodbyes, Kiruka, who had been waiting patiently, stepped in.

A flash of light, and the two were back at the League's Headquarters, right in the conference room Ojiro had seen a few times before.

"So." Shoto asked the moment they appeared, standing behind a large table, next to Power Suit and surprisingly Bakugo, both busy discussing something that sounded like specs for new weapons. "I hear you had an eventful mission."

"You could say that. But it's good to be back." Ojiro replied, Itsumi nodding at his side.

"It's good to have you back, Mashirao." Shoto said, "You'll have to tell me everything."

Ojiro grinned "Sit down then. I have a fun story for you."

-x-

Deku looked at the empty space for a moment longer. Too short. It was too short of a time. He hadn't known the others for a long time, but he knew they deserved more help than what he could provide. They needed to…

"Are you ok, Deku?" A voice asked. He turned to see Huanli, and shook his head. They would deal with it later, for now he could just think about his next step.

"Sorry, just got lost thinking about our situation. How are you, Huanli?"

"Good enough!" She gave him a grin, "I'm going to give quite the performance tomorrow."

"You know what I'm talking about…"

"Right…" She sighed, "Mo- Master is fine. She is still out, but that's to be expected. She probably had to consume a lot of her Qi. Her body will consume a lot of energy to recover."

"Couldn't you transfer more Qi in her?"

"I could if I didn't have a fight the following day." She groaned, "I would love to help her, but even if I did that, she would also have to deal with the exhaustion from Canary's Quirk. The Green Scar can't move, and I doubt the Master would be different."

"What about Canary?"

"Still down for the count too. Quirk exhaustion, the doctors said." Huanli yawned, "Speaking of exhaustion…"

"You should rest."

"So should you." Huanli replied, "We have a tough day tomorrow."

"I know." Izuku passe a hand through his hair, "I am tired, but I'm not sure if I want to sleep. I had some weird dream yesterday night."

"A nightmare?"

"Something like that. I don't know." Izuku shrugged, "I'm probably just exhausted, you are right. Zuzu hasn't found anything weird, and it was quite the taxing fight. Izumi was sleeping like a rock last I saw her, and we probably want to follow her example."

Huanli chuckled. "The President of the Student Council knows best."

"She does." Izuku replied, and they both started to laugh.

-x-

Izuku woke up in the Vestige Realms. The shroud of darkness that had covered him before was slowly giving way. His hands, arms, legs, most of his chest and back… his face. He could speak now, he realized a moment later.

"Finally, Nineth." Daigoro Banjo sighed in relief, "I was wondering how much longer would it take for you to move on from the charades to actually talking."

"What Banjo means…" En elbowed him in the side, causing the man to gasp and stumble back, "Is that you did a good job."

"An excellent job." The Third replied. Izuku looked at the past Teleport user, and wondered what he thought of his own Quirk now. But before he could ask, Nana coughed, diverting Izuku's attention.

"There is just a small thing we need to talk about." The woman said, "The unwanted guest."

"Guest?"

"You didn't realize, of course. They are hiding, for now." Nana sighed, "But we can feel them. There is something on the very edge of the Vestige realm, something new lurking and waiting."

Izuku gulped. Considering the Vestige realm was essentially Izuku's own mindscape, knowing something was lurking in it wasn't reassuring. "Any idea of what it could be?" He asked. Nana shook her head, as did the previous users… Until his eyes landed on the First and Second, who just looked worried. "What about you two?"

"I have an idea…" Yoichi admitted, though the way he said it made it clear he felt it was absurd.

"It's ridiculous, Yoichi. You know it is." The Second countered. "Just because it might be similar, doesn't mean it's the same."

"Do you have a better explanation for something suddenly appearing in Midoriya's mindscape?" Yoichi countered. The Second made to reply, but then Deku stumbled. He watched his own body vanish into mist, Yoichi saying something akin to 'Good luck, Nineth.', before Izuku woke up.

Outside of the window was the light of dawn, the early morning sun signaling the beginning of another day of the Tournament, but Izuku had barely the time to process all that, given the much more pressing issue. A reddish-green sludge bubbled out of his shoulder, slowly pooling over his chest, arching upward like a monster awakening from its slumber. A large maw of white fangs appeared in it, opening to reveal a long, thin mouth, followed by white eyes that reminded Izuku of Spider-Man's mask.

And then the creature smiled. "Hi." They hissed.

Izuku screamed.

-x-

"They froze all of our accounts!" Redestro shouted, slamming both hands on the table, "They arrested everyone they could get their hands on too! We lost seven Lieutenants, tons of Pro Heroes…"

All for Deku shrugged, "You can make up for it with the people I had Spinner recruit. The Volcano Thieves and the Zoo Villains, are strong enough they cover losing some guy like Slidin'Go."

"That's not the point!"

"It is. You still have money in the offshore accounts you had Skeptic set up. You lost the Gunga base and Deika is now under a tighter control, but Hawks can't really prove the whole city is on your side, he can only determine a majority is. The Hearts and Minds Party will take a blow, but Trumpet made it out and most of the other higher ups never met Hawks, so he could only take down a few."

"Do you hear yourself?! It's a miracle we got the Doctor out of the Hospital with Shigaraki." His Quirk started to slip, his hands growing in size and cracking the table, "We can't…"

Then a knife appeared under his jaw. He looked down, to see the toothy grin on Himiko Toga's face. "You heard All for Deku." She said, "If he says we can do it, we can."

Redestro stared at her. "You know, I don't believe I ever showed my… appreciation for what you did to Curious, Toga."

"Oh? Maybe you should-"

"Toga…" All for Deku called, and Himiko turned around instantly.

"Y-Yes, Iz- All for Deku?"

"Stop antagonizing Yotsubashi, will you?"

"Of course. I was just helping…"

He offered her a smile. Another world or not, this was still another version of the woman she loved. He wasn't going to scold her too harshly for something like this. "I know, Toga. Believe me, I know. I do think Redestro also understands what you are saying. We need to trust each other. We prepared in advance, and saved both the High Ends and the Near High Ends. The only reason we can say we risked Shigaraki is that we waited the last moment before risking the transfer to another location, and we did it. Twice is taking care of patrolling the area and keeping us informed. Dabi, Compress and your Spinner are still active. We didn't lose anyone fundamental to our cause, and we can still negotiate using Machia. Not to mention, my resources are untapped and the ones from Alien King's are far from fully committed. So long as I'm here, we are winning Redestro."

"It surely doesn't feel like it among the lower ranks." The man replied stubbornly, and Midoriya sighed. He always appreciated how direct Redestro was, it just proved annoying at times.

"Fair enough, let us make a show of strength, then." All for Deku replied.

"Like what?"

"How about we wipe out the Top 10 in a single day?" He calmly stated. Redestro's eyes opened wide, almost popping out of his skull. It was almost comedic, but All for Deku continued. "One of your High End was enough to almost kill Endeavor. You have five, I have fifteen, Alien King has about thirty he could send if needed." All for Deku grinned, "If we send thirty fully charged High End, three for each Hero, do you think they have a chance to survive?"

Judging from Redestro's look, he didn't.

(XX)

Guests:
Argali from Sheep can be Heroes by Dramatic_Spoon
Revenant from Locked in Digital by Rogue Druid

Readers: Man, we haven't seen All for Deku in a while, I hope we get to see that soon.
Me: Oh, alright, here he is.

So yeah, important chapter on a lot of things, including, you know, the fact that Deku, Spidey, Dekiru and Canary created a Symbionte, but hey, All for Deku is back, and he is planning to do horrible things. Yay...

Meanwhile, anyway, we get more stuff. Some people have left for a new destination, of course, and we have people going home too. And those left have to discuss what is coming next. After all, the Tournament is still a thing, and it's starting soon. With only 14 fighters left, it's not much longer until we end it and crown a winner.