Coco: Hope you liked the last chapter on this three-part update! Things are really starting to heat up. You ready for what's next? XD

"Are you sure we shouldn't go after her?" Royale asked as they climbed out of the crater.

Rina, who was sitting in her wheelchair calmly, smiled as she placed her hand in her chin as her elbow rested on the arm of the wheelchair.

"She'll be back." Rina said. "Once her friend is safe, she will return to fight because she won't want us near anymore of her little friends. She'll put herself in harm's way without hesitation, so we'll wait until she returns."

Royale shrugged because they didn't care either way as long as the mission went accordingly.

"I wonder how everyone else is doing." Royale said.

"They're fine," Rina assured them. "I'm connected to them now. Everything is going according to the plan."

Moonfish has made contact with the other target, and with the help of Twice, Dabi is keeping Eraser Head and Vlad King preoccupied while also cornering their prey. Ayano and Katsuki had no where to go that wasn't right into the hands of one of their people like Mr. Compress who was lying in wait. Spinner and Magne were taking care of the Pussycats and Toga was out dealing with any students who might interfere. And hopefully collecting a few blood samples along the way. Then that one idiot Muscular was fighting with Midoriya Izuku. The green-haired brat should be dead in a few moments. Rina then shifted in her seat.

"She's back." Rina said.

As soon as the words left her mouth trees were ripped from the ground and thrown at her and Royale. Royale stepped between Rina and the trees to take the blunt of the attack. The trees hit dead on, but Royale wasn't even fazed as their body absorbed the kinetic energy right out of the trees as soon as they made contact with them. They then threw out their arm with a backlash of wind pressure sending the trees back. Ayano, who had been hiding in the foliage, was nearly sent backwards, but she held up her hand to stop the trees and throw them away.

"Nice try, love," Royale said. "But force like that is useless against me."

Ayano frowned. She didn't know what this villain's quirk was, but it was like they absorbed the blow of the trees completely. But then they attacked with such force after. Even when they attacked to take out Ayumi, they hit hard as if their quirk was some kind of strengthening quirk.

"In all honesty, you and the little miss behind me are a weakness for someone like me." Royale said. "But unless you can figure out how, darling, I have little to worry about. So, please, throw whatever you want at me. You'll lose either way."

Ayano didn't openly react to Royale's words as she tried to remain calm. That was the key to winning. Remaining calm and fighting smartly.

'They said direct attacks won't work…' Ayano thought as she kept Rina's prying mind at bay. 'But that's not important right now. I'll keep distracting them with physical blows. The second Rina is distracted, we'll break through her link and find all her little friends.'

Hive hummed in reply as Ayano raised her hand to send a volley of orbs at the pair. Once again Royale took all the hits, which seemed to lose all the force behind them the second they made contact. Ayano ignored this, however, as she kept it up.

'Does she really just plan to keep attacking like this?' Rina thought in disbelief. 'She's only going to wear herself out at this point and make it all the easier to invade her mind. Seems too easy.'

Despite her thoughts, Ayano just kept sending volley after volley of orbs at the pair. Rina shook her head a bit in disappointment. She expected more out of Ayano. Even if Hive is dormant like Master had told her, Ayano should have still been able to do more than this. Rina sighed about to give one final shove to push through Ayano's psychic defenses. However, she stiffened when one of the minds she was connected to was silenced.

'No, that idiot Muscular was defeated?!' She thought angrily. 'How?!'

She didn't have long to think about it though as Royale was suddenly picked up and slammed into her. This knocked her out of her chair and onto the ground, and as she was distracted, she felt Ayano's mental presence rush her mind. Rina tried to push back, but Ayano's presence was too strong as if something was backing it up.

'Hive?!' Rina realized as she felt its familiar presence.

Rina then felt her mind go blank as Ayano finished taking control with her own telepathy. Royale, who picked themselves off the ground, look to Rina who laid limply on the ground.

"Sebone, talk to me!" Royale said.

Rina didn't respond but it didn't look as if she had been knocked unconscious from the fall. Her eyes were wide open and fixed on Ayano who stopped her assault. Royale studied the younger psychic as Ayano wasn't moving either. In fact, she almost looked frozen.

"Shit," Royale cursed then launched themselves forward.

They went to attack Ayano to break her concentration, but as they swung their fist forward, Royale's fist hit a psionic wall. Royale growled then started swinging fist after fist at the wall that separated them from Ayano. Ayano mentally winced at the onslaught but tried to hold on as she dove deeper into Rina's mind.

'Get the information needed, relay it to the others,' Ayano reminded herself. 'This is how you will help, Ayano. This is how we'll defeat the villains and win.'

Ayano reached into Rina's mind while connecting to the link she had set up with the other villains.

'There are ten villains,' Ayano sensed connected to Rina. 'Rina makes eleven. They're spread out on either side of us students. Fire on one side and gas on the next.'

Ayano groaned feeling Rina try to push back and on top of Royale trying to break through her psionic dome, Ayano didn't have much time.

'I have to connect to everyone.' Ayano thought. 'Don't know if I can do that though. My quirk is already so stretched thin.'

Though as she was thinking that she felt Mandalay's quirk reach out and connect everyone once more.

'Everyone in Class A and in Class B, in the name of the Pro-Hero Eraser Head you are granted permission to engage in combat.' Mandalay relayed. 'I repeat use your training. You may fight these villains!'

Well, Ayano was already doing that, but thanks to Mandalay opening the link, Ayano could just latch onto it and piggyback off Mandalay's quirk to send her own message.

'This is Ayano reporting in!' She called out. 'I have been able to temporarily subdue the telepath, but not for long as I am currently still being attacked by a second villain. I don't have much time before I must cut the link again, but please listen. There are currently eleven villains in the area. Though I am assuming one was defeated as I don't sense his conscious mind any longer. I can send you their location based on which of us that are nearby. I'm not sure why, but they're trying to pin down a certain area using the gas and the fire as if trying to trap something…or someone.'

Without seeing their faces, she knew her news had to send a chill down the spins of her comrades.

'They're after you and Kacchan, Ayano!' Izuku's panicked voice entered the link. 'I don't know why, but the villain I fought was looking for the two of you!'

This had Ayano's eyes widening as she wondered what the villains wanted with them. Though maybe she shouldn't be too surprised. Her sister is allied with them for some reason, so maybe that was part of the reason. But Katsuki…she didn't understand why they wanted him at all.

'Don't worry!' Izuku continued. 'I'm on my way! I'll help you both!'

'No, just stay back, Izuku!' Ayano ordered as Katsuki mentally shouted, 'Shut up, you damn nerd!'

She sensed Izuku falter but knew he probably wouldn't listen to them for long.

'I can handle things on my own!' Katsuki added. 'I'll kick this guys' ass and then go kick the asses of those proving too much for Aya. I'll show you I'm better than both of you!'

'This isn't the time for trying to outdo each other!' Ayano snapped. 'This is serious!'

Katsuki was about to retort, but Aizawa's voice cut through like a knife to silence them.

'That's enough,' He said firmly. 'Both of you need to keep calm. If you're their targets, you need to be smart, Bakugo stick with Todoroki and whoever you might be with. Ishida, hold on until I can get to you. Give me your location. And don't argue this time. You know you can't push your quirk right now.'

Ayano frowned knowing he was right, but she didn't want to put anyone in more danger than she had to.

'I can't do that, Sensei.' Ayano said. 'If I give it to you while the link is open like this and I can't control it too well, I'm sure a few reckless knuckleheads will try to run to help. I can't risk that. I've relayed what I needed to most, but I won't be able to hold on much longer and there's still something else I must do before the telepath gains control again. Sorry, but this is the end of our conversation for now.'

Several voices called for her to not do it, but she cut the connection again as she had done earlier. She then looked to Royale who was still trying to break through her defenses.

'I have to immobilize them for at least long enough to give the others a chance to retreat or get the upper hand in their fights.' Ayano thought. 'Hive, her abilities…have you copied them?'

'Yes, they have rejoined Hive.' Hive replied.

Ayano ignored the whole 'rejoined' thing as she let out a breath. If she remembers correctly, Rina had an empathetic ability. Ayano remembers the pain inflicted upon her by that quirk, so let's see if that memory helps her use this ability.

'While I'm still connected to them,' Ayano thought. 'I'll attack…'

Royale watched as Ayano's white orbs started to turn red. Similar to how Rina's eyes change color. Royale didn't even have time to brace themselves as they felt immense pain fill them. They cried out falling to their knees. Ayano heard several cries of pain travel through her mind as she used Rina's quirk. Ayano hunched over feeling pain herself as her brain felt as if it was being split in two.

"Arrrggh!" She cried out in pain as it ripped through her body.

She couldn't keep this up for long, but even a few seconds…a few seconds should help.

"What is up with him?" Shoto wondered as he saw the tooth guy hunched over shouting in pain.

"Who cares?!" Katsuki snapped. "Let's just take him down already!"

Katsuki shot forward to take down the tooth guy without listening to Shoto who called out for him. Katsuki hit the guy hard with an explosion and sent him flying. He hit a rock that cracked underneath the impact and fell to the ground. His cries of pain ceased that led Katsuki to believe he was unconscious.

"Okay, let's head back." Katsuki said as he turned around. "That idiot Aya needs help. I don't care what kind of act she puts on. She's clearly at her limit."

And there's no telling if she was at the top of her game anyway. She might already be beaten. The very thought had his jaw clenching tightly.

"I want to head back and help too, but we can't breathe the gas." Shoto pointed out. "Besides, if you and Ishida are the targets, we shouldn't put you two together. It'll just make things easier for the villains."

Katsuki growled as he walked forward and put his face right in Shoto's face causing the two-hair-toned boy to lean back.

"I don't give a damn!" Katsuki snapped. "I'm going back, and you can't stop me, Icy-Hot! Besides, if you hadn't noticed, the gas is clearing!"

Katsuki pointed behind Shoto, which had Shoto turning to see the smoke was indeed clearing.

'Did someone defeat the gas villain?' Shoto wondered.

"Now, you can keep going forward if you want because you're scared, but I'm going back in." Katsuki said more calmly than a second ago as he stepped back towards the way they came. "Ayano said they were using the gas and fire to set a trap. If we go forward, we'll be heading right for it. If we go back the villains will have to regroup and think about their next step. Either way, I'm going to save her."

Shoto's eyes widened slightly at Katsuki's words as Katsuki looked over his shoulder to give Shoto a determined stare.

"I'm not leaving that idiot on her own." Katsuki said. "So, you can either stay the hell out of my way or help if you can even manage that."

Katsuki then took off running back down the path. Shoto watched him go for a moment before following.

'I'm on my way, Aya,' Katsuki thought. 'Keep fighting until I get there. Don't you dare lose!'

'I can't hold on anymore,' Ayano thought as the pain was becoming too much.

She was spent. Her body shaking as if it was in shock and she felt blood running from her nose.

'I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry, everyone,' Ayano thought as she dropped her quirk.

All the pain stopped as she fell forward to the ground. She curled up on the ground as she felt consciousness start to leave her for the second time in twenty-four hours. As she finally fell into the blackness, Royale was recovering and standing onto their feet.

"Damn, brat," Royale growled as they wiped the blood from their nose. "You'll pay for getting me filthy with my own blood. No one is allowed to do that."

Royale kicked Ayano hard in the gut and sent the girl flying. She hit a tree hard and Royale could practically hear some of the girl's bones crack.

"Don't tell me you lost consciousness," Royale said with a scoff when the girl didn't even grunt in psin. "I want to hear your screams. It's the only penitence I'll accept from you for making me bleed."

"Leave her be," Rina said as she managed to push herself into a sitting position. "Until we have what we need from her, she is to be kept whole."

Royale growled in annoyance but did nod. They then moved to gather the unconscious girl, but they were then hit with a powerful blast that momentarily blinded them. They didn't budge thanks to their quirk absorbing the force. However, it did give those who attacked to snatch Royale's prey out from under them. Royale clicked their tongue in annoyance as they turned to face the new players. Katsuki and Shoto, who was still holding the unconscious Kosei, were now here with the prior holding onto Ayano.

"Now, I'm even dirtier," Royale said. "You brats should really learn not to fight so messily."

Katsuki scoffed as he narrowed his eyes at both Royale and Rina who was gaining more control over herself by the second. Katsuki then looked to Ayano who was laying limping in his arms. She looked to be in terrible shape and had blood staining both nostrils and down her chin. There was even blood coming from her ears.

'Dammit, Aya, you idiot.' Katsuki cursed. 'Why the hell did you have to push yourself like this?!'

Of course, he didn't get a reply. He shook his head as he carefully set Ayano down on the ground.

"Icy-Hot, keep your eyes on these two," Katsuki said meaning Kosei and Ayano. "Those two bastards are mine."

"You can't rush in recklessly." Shoto argued. "We don't know their quirks specifically. One is most likely the telepath Ayano had been dealing with. I'm guessing the one on the ground over there, but that might not be her only ability. Also, we don't know the other one's quirk at all. But they didn't even flinch when you used your quirk on them. We need to tread carefully."

Katsuki felt his eyebrow twitch the more and more Shoto spoke as his hands curled into fists as well.

"It doesn't matter what their quirk is," Katsuki said. "I'll just keep hitting them until they drop dead!"

He put his hands behind him to use his explosions to send himself propelling forward. He kicked out his foot as he went. He went to aim right for their head, but Royale didn't even flinch. Katsuki's kick landed, but something felt off. Royale didn't even move, and it was like the force of his blow was absorbed. Royale made their move next as they swiped out their hand to backslap Katsuki. Katsuki was certain he felt the bone in his jaw crack as he was sent spiraling backwards. He hit a tree then slid down to the ground as he spit up some blood.

'What the hell just happened?' Katsuki thought. 'That kind of effortless strength…they hadn't even swung that hard, but it was enough to send me flying…'

"How did that feel?" Royale asked the blonde as they tilted their head. "That was the force from that first attack of yours back at you. You see, that is my quirk. I absorb energy in all its forms. Like, physical attacks for example. I absorb what you try to hit me with and then my body metabolizes, which becomes enhanced by the energy absorbed. This means the more you hit me the stronger I become. So, please, have at it, little boy. Let's see who drops dead first."

Katsuki grit his teeth together while ignoring the pain in his jaw as he did the action.

'Dammit, if that's the case, Aya is the best option to go against this damn villain,' Katsuki unwillingly admitted.

She could stop them without having to touch them, but she wasn't an option considering her current state.

'It doesn't matter,' Katsuki thought stubbornly as he stood. 'I'm not losing here! I'm going to be the number one hero! I'm not going to lose to some small fries like these guys!'

Though before he could move forward to fight, the ground shook violently. Katsuki, Shoto, and even the villains turned to see what was going on as the ground continued to shake. All they could see was something large and dark tearing through the forest at an alarming rate before someone called out.

"Bakugo, Todoroki, one of you give us some light!" Mezo shouted as he came running in with Izuku on his back.

Katsuki and Shoto didn't even have time to ask what was going on as a very large Dark Shadow started rampaging the area. He swung at everyone in sight meaning Katsuki had to move out of the way before he was hit alongside those villains. Katsuki looked on in shock as he saw Fumikage crying out while trapped inside his own quirk.

"Kacchan!" Izuku called out making the blonde frown.

"Shoji and Midoriya," Shoto murmured. "And is that…Tokoyami?!"

It had to be as Dark Shadow was his quirk, but it was hard to believe the monster that was raging now was their classmate's quirk.

"We need some light now!" Mezo said. "He's out of control!"

He then had to dodge Dark Shadow as the large shadow-bird tried to take a swipe at him.

"He's attacking blindly." Shoto said as he set Kosei down beside Ayano. "I'll use my fire."

Katsuki held out his hand to stop him, however, which had Shoto looking at him in confusion.

"Not so fast." Katsuki said.

Shoto didn't know why Katsuki asked him to wait, but he held back for now. After recovering from the first attack, Royale looked to Dark Shadow in annoyance. Rina wasn't as lucky as she was laying off to the side unconscious.

"And yet another uncivilized brat," Royale said. "Is hitting things the only thing you brats are good at? If that's all you have, you'll never beat me."

Royale went to counter against Dark Shadow, but the beast moved much faster than them and snatched them up in its dark claws.

"You don't matter, insignificant bug!" Dark Shadow howled as it tightened its hold on Royale.

Royale was about to break free, but Dark Shadow ended up throwing the villain with all its might into the air. Royale went sailing over the trees far into the distance before crashing down out of view. Once they were gone, Katsuki smirked.

"That might not have finished you, but you won't be back for a while, will you, moron?" He asked.

He then turned his attention onto Dark Shadow as the beast roared in anger. He raised a hand with a small explosion collecting in his palm. He rushed forward with Shoto, who had his fire at the ready, following his lead.

"It's not enough!" Dark Shadow raged. "Not enough!"

Dark Shadow then cried out in pain as he was hit from both sides by Katsuki and Shoto. The light from their attacks weakening Dark Shadow and making it retreat into Fumikage. Fumikage gasped falling to his knees onto the ground as Dark Shadow was returning to him and finally calm.

"And once again I'm a terrible match up for you, bird boy." Katsuki said.

"Thanks," Fumikage said. "You saved me."

Katsuki just rolled his eyes in reply as he went over to where he had left Ayano. He crouched down next to her while reaching out to place his hand against her forehead. It was burning up at the touch. And he was sure he had heard that psycho nurse mention a fever when Ayano had passed out during training earlier.

"Is she okay?" Izuku asked from his spot on Mezo's back.

"Does she look okay, idiot?!" Katsuki snapped in reply.

Izuku flinched at Katsuki's tone, but wisely kept his mouth shut as Mezo stepped up to check on Fumikage.

"My friend, are you okay?" Mezo asked. "You did what we needed you to."

He said this to give Fumikage some comfort, but the shorter boy still seemed troubled by what happened.

"Shoji, I apologize," Fumikage said as he stared down at his hands. "You too, Midoriya. I'm still too far immature. Anger consumed me, and I let my quirk take over. The influence of the darkness combined with my fury spurred Dark Shadow into a frenzy until it got so strong, I couldn't contain it and I ended up hurting Shoji!"

"We'll deal with that later," Mezo said shocking Fumikage. "That's what you'd say if our roles were reversed."

Fumikage soon nodded to Mezo's words as he pushed his feelings aside for the time being.

"Okay, I don't know if you heard earlier, but we found out the villains are after Kacchan and Ayano." Izuku filled in the group.

"Bakugo and Ishida?" Fumikage murmured. "Are they trying to kill him? Why?"

"I don't know, but I think we should get to camp, it's the safest place now as long as Vlad Kind and Aizawa-sensei have regrouped there." Izuku said.

"But what about Jinsoku?" Shoto questioned getting everyone to pause. "She was with Ishida, and Ishida reported she was taken out first by the villains. But she isn't here now?"

He was worried. He's been worried since Ayano first told the group that Ayumi had been taken down. Ayano couldn't even tell them her exact condition.

"Aya probably took the Streak away from the battle before engaging the enemy." Katsuki said. "We don't even know if this is where they first made contact."

"He has a point, but I'm worried too." Izuku said. "We should search for her before we head back."

"It will be hard to protect Bakugo and Ishida while also looking for a missing classmate." Fumikage pointed out. "I don't want to leave anyone behind, however, most of our class and Class B are out here. We don't know any of their conditions or where they are. If we stop to look and search for everyone and try to save them, we won't make it back to camp where it will be safe for Bakugo and Ishida. We have to try and have faith they are alright."

Izuku supposed he had a point, but he was still worried about Ayumi. There was no telling what kind of condition she was in and she was probably still on her own.

"But—!" Izuku tried to protest.

"I'm fine, so let's go back to camp, yeah?"

The boys all whirled around seeing Ayumi leaning against a tree and looking worse for wear. Her clothes were torn and dirtied and they could see an ugly bruising on her exposed sides. There was also blood running down her head.

"Jinsoku!" Izuku exclaimed. "You're okay."

"For the most part anyway." Ayumi said. "I hate to say it, but that one villain took me out with one hit. They broke several of my ribs and rendered me unconscious. Thanks to my quirk my accelerated healing, I'm able to move now, but can't do much else."

"We're just glad you're okay." Shoto said as he walked towards her.

Ayumi gave a smile and shrug before she let him help her over to their group of friends.

"Okay, we can go now," Izuku said. "We can keep Katsuki and Ayano between us as we make our way back to camp. I think we should take the shortest route and cut through the woods instead of staying on the path."

"We don't know how many enemies there are." Fumikage said. "We might come across them by chance."

"There's eleven according to what Ayano said earlier." Izuku said. "And I know for a fact a handful have been taken down, but for the rest we can use Shoji's search ability. And Todoroki's freezing power, and if Tokoyami's okay with it, we can actually use Dark Shadow now that we can control him."

Katsuki was getting annoyed with all this discussion going on around him. Especially since these losers were talking about how to protect him of all people.

"Honestly, with a group like this, we can probably even go up against All Might," Izuku said.

"Yeah, hate to burst your bubble, but while we do have some useful players here, we also have some dead weight." Ayumi said. "Me being one of them. I can barely walk in my state let alone run and fight. You aren't in a state to fight either, Deku, and then we have one unconscious Ayano and one unconscious member of Class B. How do you plan to deal with that?"

Izuku frowned knowing Ayumi had a point, but he wasn't sure what else they could do.

"With stakes this high and with two people that need protecting, the rest of you don't need distractions like protecting a couple of injured." Ayumi said. "So, leave me here along with the Class B kid. We can hide in the bushes until things are safe or until help arrives. I'd say leave Deku too, but I know he won't stay behind, so I'll save my breath."

"What? No!" Izuku said. "We can't leave you guys behind!"

Ayumi sighed though didn't seem surprised by Izuku's refusal to her plan of her staying behind.

"If you think about it, it'd be safer for us who are too injured to fight to be away from the villains' targets." Ayumi insisted. "The villains don't care about us. We're just collateral in the end. Besides, you won't be able to fight properly if you're covering for us too. So, the most logical thing to do is leave us behind. In a few minutes, I should be alright enough to at least make a run for it with this guy with me."

She pointed to the unconscious Kosei who was still laying on the ground at their feet.

"Don't argue and go." Ayumi said. "We're aspiring heroes and need to trust each other in times like these. I'm trusting all of you to get Katsuki and Ayano back to camp—to our teachers. So, you trust me to handle things here."

It wasn't like they could argue with that, and while Katsuki hated all this talk about him needing protection, he kept his mouth shut as he picked up Ayano. He'd take care of her, and if he needed to fight on the way back to camp, he would. He'd protect the both of them.