Chapter 10

"Deku?!", Uraraka managed to rasp out.

Uraraka awakens, hacking up dust and debris. Her eyes burn and begin to water from trying to see through the dusty haze before her. There's a light yellow glow in the room that seems to be in constant motion. While trying to look around for where the glow is coming from, she realizes she's not under the mind control anymore. She musters up all of her strength to push herself up, feeling a sharp pain in her forehead and chest as she does so. Blood trickles slowly from a gash over her left eye. She touches it softly, wincing at the pain. Pulling her hand back she looks at the red stain and flinches. She resumes scanning around to find where the light is coming from through the haze. A few feet away she can see a couple live wires flapping around almost looking like fireflies in a sandstorm.

"That woman said she was working for AFO, right? That explains the multiple quirks", Uraraka says, choking on particles of debris still floating in the air. "I have to get to Deku. Where am I?"

She looks down at her torn Christmas sweater and rips a piece away, using it to cover her nose and mouth from the debris. As she begins to stand, she feels an intense sharp pain that continues with each breath she takes.

Are my ribs broken?

She steadies herself as she surveys her injuries and her surroundings with the little light available. From a quick observation, she landed in a business building that was closed for the night since she couldn't locate or hear anyone nearby.

That blast was way too strong. I'm lucky to be alive honestly. I'm glad there weren't any civilians around either.

Another sharp pain shoots through her chest. She gasps as she clutches her sides.

I'm wasting time. Deku or anyone could be in danger and I'm supposed to be a hero. I need to make sure him and anyone else around is safe.

"I gotta get out of here!" Uraraka exclaims to the empty room.

There's shattered glass and rubble surrounding her and clinging to her clothes. She dusts off what she can and carefully maneuvers through the wreckage towards the wires. As she gets close, the light reveals that she has a lot more cuts and bruises than she first assumed.

"I'm okay, everything will be okay", she says softly.

As she looks past the live wires she can see a giant hole revealing the night sky.

"This must be where I crashed in from?", she says softly.

Ochacho taps her shoulders and brings her hands together to make herself float. She winces as she accidentally touches a cut on her shoulder.

I can be more stealthy if I float to them rather than climb out.

She floats out the hole and sees more damage that was caused from what seems to be a big fight. Deku must've been fighting hard while she was useless to do anything. She spots Deku following the woman further down the street. His eyes are completely white and lifeless.

He must be under the same control I was under. She can't take him, I won't let her!

"I need to stop her and save Deku", Ochaco says with pure determination in her voice. "This is why I'm training to become a hero, to save people!"

She gently pushes off the building and floats to just above the woman preparing to attack.

Her eyes narrow as she moves back against a building and places her feet and hands against the wall preparing to push and launch herself towards Deku and the villian. She knows she won't have another chance to catch her target off guard like this so she has to get this right; no time for mistakes. No matter how much pain she's in she knows she can do this.

Ochaco closes her eyes and takes a deep shaky breath to calm herself. As she opens her eyes she smiles. A familiar smile she's seen All Might and Deku do right before a fight.

"I can do this," she says, her voice trembling slightly.

She pushes her body off the building towards the woman. She brings all her finger pads together and they glow a bright pink.

"RELEASE", she yells as her body plummets at an intense speed to come down on the woman's back.

The woman dodges and tries to send a blast Ochaco's way as she simultaneously pushes Izuku out of the way as he falls to the ground like a limp doll.

"Not this time", Ochaco yells with a smirk.

She lands and rolls out of the blast radius just in time. She holds her ribs, still wheezing from the pain. She shakes her head, trying to ignore the pain and sprints right towards a nearby trash can.

I have to stop her before she can try anything else.

As she runs she brings her finger pads together and taps and holds a trash can and flings it towards the villain. The trash can and garbage flies towards the woman, floating weightlessly and obscuring her vision.

"Release!" Ochaco shouts as she brings her fingertips together and the waste drops onto the villain. As the woman screams from a rotten banana peel touching her hair, Ochaco takes a nearby motorbike and removes its gravity. She lifts the bike and spins, swinging the bike with all her might in the direction of her opponent while she's still distracted from the waste coating her head.

"YOU STUPID BRAT YOU RUINED MY HAIR!" the woman screeches frantically, shaking her head.

Perfect, she's distracted. She won't see this coming.

With a fierce expression Ochaco brings her hands together. She has to time this perfectly.

"I'm running out of time. I won't have a hold on him forever and if I release him to control her I know he'll beat me. I can't lose like this, not to some kids, not when my dreams are about to come true", the villain cries trying to sweep falling trash from herself.

"Release!" Ochaco shouts once more.

Distracted by the trash, the villain doesn't notice the bike flying right towards her and it slams right into her chest, pinning her to the ground. She hits her head on the pavement, knocking her out instantly.

Deku is suddenly released from the villain's mind control. He jolts awake, looking around when he spots the villain on the ground and Ochaco still in her fighting stance. Deku and Ochaco lock eyes.

"Uraraka?" Deku says with a confused expression. "Hey whoa you're hurt!?"

He gets up and begins to jog toward her as he speaks with tears in his eyes and Ochaco also begins to limp towards Deku.

"Deku don't worry I'm fi-" Ochaco starts as her legs suddenly give out on her.

She feels herself falling when she sees a flash of green, she then feels two strong arms catch her before she hits the ground. He holds her in a cradle, holding her as close as he could without hurting her. She notices that Deku is shuttering and shaking. He was crying.

"Are you okay, Deku? Did she hurt you?" Ochaco said through a pained strained wheeze.

"You saved me again… I was useless and you could've been hurt way worse because of you trying to protect me against Marionette right? I'm fine… But you were hurt again because of me. When Blackwhip lost control I didn't want anyone to worry about me again. And when you got hurt I felt so guilty. I promised myself I would try my best to not let you get hurt again… I'm so sorry Uraraka. I could've done more... I let myself get mind controlled like with Shinso all over again. How can I call myself a hero if I can't even protect one of the people I care about most? I owe you so much Uraraka but I keep letting you down," Deku said, trying to keep his composure but still crying.

"So her name was Marionette?", Ochaco asks with a pained laugh. "Anyway Deku, I know you want to save everyone. But I want to be a hero too. You can't do it all alone, we've worked as a team a few times before and we always won in the end even if it didn't go exactly as planned."

She chuckles, "I know you want to be like All Might but just be Deku and keep doing your best. You see we still won!"

Deku, still holding Ochaco, looks deep into her eyes searching for any hint of doubt but as always her eyes are bright and pure. He knows she means every word.

"Uraraka… thank you", He chokes out as he pulls her into an embrace.

They held firmly onto each other as flashes of blue and red and the sound of sirens surrounded them. Even though she was in a lot of pain, Ochaco wished she could stay in his arms like this forever.

Author's Notes:

Aw man this took some time. I really wanted to give Ochaco a proper fight since I really wish we could see her fight more in MHA. I hope I did her justice.:) Also I promise we're getting to her birthday XD I apologize for how long this took and I appreciate everyone who reads this! Love you guys!

PS. I was trying to add humor with the trash scene but idk if it came off that way.

PSS sorry Ochaco took so much damage this chapter I wanted to show how bada** she could be!