13.01.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I'm here with your weekly dose of Stranded featuring fluff, some more fluff, a quick action flick and an introduction that I hope many of you were waiting for! But first, the comments!:
n1ght4ury20 - Your wait is over then!
DragrexTheBrit - I can't really answer a PM if I don't receive it huh? If you want to ask for a spoiler then do it via PM and I may humor you but I'll definitely answer. If it's just an idea or a question to clear up something that wasn't mentioned then feel free to put it in a review!
TheGreatBubbaJ - Great to have ya here!
ndbarnyak - I was thoroughly fucking confused by this comment to the point of rewriting my answer two times but now I think I now what you meant - the name that we are having a debate about right now does not indeed have a 'u' in it. But it also doesn't have a 'o' either. It has a 'ō' which as I've found out just now is something of a cross between 'u' and 'o', so since I can't be bothered to remember how to do 'ō' on my keyboard I decided to do it via 'ou', the way that I feel is the best. Don't like it, I'm not forcing you to stay, but if THAT is your biggest issue with this fic then I can say with no small amount of pride that I'm doing a pretty good job so far!
And now - the chapter!:
The situation was bad, but it could be arguably way worse.
For example, there could've been nothing behind the waterfall, no secret cave entrance that conveniently enough saved their lives. Or the water could've caught up with them before they even made it to the crossing.
Still, none of the girls could really blame Izuku for panicking and blowing the problem out of proportion. They all knew first-hand just how caring and selfless he was normally, but now that the one in danger was his daughter, it was no surprise that his instincts flared up like a New Year's Eve firework show.
"We should rest, even if just for a moment." Momo said to the green-haired man at the front of their group.
"But Shu-" He was about to argue, but Momo wouldn't let him, not when they were all about to collapse.
"No buts. She's alright. She's breathing, her heartbeat is stable and there doesn't seem to be anything going on with her at the moment. It's like she's just asleep." The raven-haired beauty laid out the facts and waited for Izuku to mull them over, prepared to continue if he was to refuse.
Thankfully that wasn't the case and as soon as she noticed his shoulders sag she knew she won the dispute. His entire posture deflated as his muscles relaxed and he took a deep breath before slowly exhaling with a sigh.
"I'm sorry, I overreacted." Izuku agreed with tiny amounts of guilt dripping into his voice. "You're right, Shu is fine and she probably wouldn't want to run us rugged because of her. Let's rest, as long as you need to." He decided and as soon as the words left his mouth the girls collapsed to the ground in nigh perfect sync, groaning as they did so.
"This ground is so nice and soft…" Tooru nearly moaned out, letting your legs rest after pushing them to the limit for a few hours would do that to ya.
The sight of his girls dropping to the ground in exhaustion made the guilt he felt disappear as it was replaced by a metric fuckton of embarrassment.
"I really should've paid more attention to them. I'll definitely find a way to make it up to them later!" Izuku thought to himself as he sat at the edge of the sled which they were currently using to transport Shuusa along with their supplies.
He didn't know what took control over his body at that moment, but before he realized his hand was already on Shuusa's head. He was slightly confused at that but didn't have time to ponder on it as his hand suddenly started moving all on its own, effectively ruffling his daughter's hair in a gentle manner. He had to admit, it felt good to do that. It almost felt right to him. For a split second he could've sworn that he felt her lean into his touch and that brought a small smile to his face. Izuku continued ruffling Shuusa's hair for a few more minutes as the girls watched on with teary eyes.
"That's so fucking precious!" They all thought in perfect sync.
They rested for about half an hour before resuming their journey, they still had to find an exit out of the cave system that they took shelter in. The path, whilst filled with turns and slopes, was relatively straightforward with only a couple of outcroppings that probably led to nowhere.
Now that Izuku got rid of his tunnel vision he made sure to check up on the girls from time to time so that he doesn't run them rugged again.
They spent close to two hours wandering the cave before they felt a stray breeze wash over them, no doubt a sign that the exit was close.
Sure enough, with every step they took the occasional gusts of wind became more and more frequent and the air around them shifted from the heavy, dust-filled smell of the caverns to something much more pleasant. Some would say that the change was like a breath of fresh air.
Few more steps allowed them to finally catch a glimpse at the end of the tunnel and another couple of steps after that had them standing in the open once again. And what a nice view welcomed them.
As it turns out they've climbed quite high while confined to the caves - although they had a sneaking suspicion that they would've ended here even if they continued to go deeper and deeper underground - and were currently standing on a cliff edge of a mountain. A real, tall mountain like the kind you'd see on the postcards! If postcards were even a thing still. Wait, are postcards still a thing in the twenty-third century? I'm getting side-tracked.
Point is, the view was nice. Like real nice.
Yeah, both of their bases had their own charm - the first having the waterfall and the giant tree surrounded by a river and the second being really abundant in resources - but this was just breathtaking, not nearly as breathtaking as a certain twenty-first century actor of canadian descent but definitely beautiful in its own right.
As far as the eye can see - trees. Nothing but trees, with some really, really tall ones dotted nearly everywhere, breaking up the uneven surface of the leaves and creating something that humans could only ever hope to recreate. There were some smaller mountains and hills here and there, but the one they were currently on the side of was by far the tallest one around.
When they finally got over the shock and had their ability of logical thinking returned to them they began to wonder how exactly they were going to get down from this ledge. Yes, the view was incredible and they wouldn't mind admiring it from time to time, but this was by no means a good place to stay for an extended period of time as there was no food or water there. They could take shelter in the cave at least but to be honest they were getting pretty sick of the caveman and cavewomen lifestyle already so they'd prefer not to if they had a choice.
Thankfully there seemed to be a trail leading down the mountain from where they were, just wide enough for their sled to get through, so without much thinking they set out to continue their journey, their current goal being to find a suitable place to camp out at and let Shuusa recover in peace.
The horizon grew closer and closer as they descended the mountainside and was eventually completely obscured by the leafage with only the peaks of the giant trees breaking through. The group stopped just before the last stretch that led directly into the forest, at a point where the path widened out a fair bit and formed an elevated platform with a good view of the area as it was situated just below the leaves. This still wasn't a good idea to set up camp, but it'd have to do for now as the night was coming and they didn't really fancy having to explore uncharted - and probably dangerous - territory in the dark, especially since Momo didn't get to craft the rest of the girls anything for self-defense.
With that in mind they started unpacking their stuff from the sled and setting up sleeping spots. Once that was done they parked the sled directly on the path to block access for potential predators. Or at least give them a few seconds to prepare in case anything feels motivated enough to mess with them. If only they had a white can of Monster and a plastic chair…
The group decided unanimously that someone had to stay up and watch the area while the others slept and Izuku was quick to agree, although Tooru was quick to jump in and say that he was to wake her up around midnight so they could switch as having Izuku go without sleep for an extended period of time could be even worse than not having a watchman at all.
He was eventually pressured to give in and the girls, satisfied with winning the argument, went to sleep cuddling each other for warmth as they prefered to have a soft mattress to sleep on and that left only a singular blanket to use as a… well, blanket.
Tooru woke up just as planned, but it was clear as day - or rather night in this case - that Izuku wasn't the one to shake her awake. One look at the position of the moon in the pitch black sky confirmed her suspicions and she was about to confront her boyfriend on the topic but paused once she laid her eyes on him.
Izuku was currently sitting besides Shuusa's makeshift bed and was just looking at her, probably deep in thought or lost inside his own head.
Tooru stretched her back out, driving any and all drowsiness from her system, before approaching the greenhead. He acknowledged her approach as his back had straightened out the moment he heard her but his eyes didn't move away from his daughter.
"You're worried." Tooru stated as she sat down next to him.
"Obviously." He replied with a small smile. "I can't believe I grew fond of her so quickly."
"Well, we can." Tooru said with an even bigger smile. "It's just who you are. Remember how you became Eri's big brother the moment you two met? Or how you managed to flip Kota's worldview upside down in a week after a bumpy start?" The last one was meant more as a joke, but it must've awoken some deeply hidden PTSD as Tooru could've sworn that Izuku's entire body flinched as the memories came back.
"Y-Yeah, I kinda understand where you're coming from, but this feels different. I don't know how to explain it…" Izuku fumbled over his words, trying to dress his feelings into a coherent sentence.
"I don't think you have to explain it to any of us. We more or less feel the same way you do. At least I do." Tooru confessed and placed her hand on Izuku's to show her support. "It may seem bad right now, but I'm sure we can find a way to help Shu, together." She assured him.
Izuku for his part looked deeply moved by her words and his smile got just a tad bit more upbeat than it was just a moment ago.
"Thank you." He replied simply.
"I'm still mad at you for not waking me up when you were supposed to." She joked and her voice carried no venom with it.
"I lost track of time since I sat down here…" Izuku admitted with a hint of embarrassment.
"Figured that out myself." Tooru said before motioning to the girls sleeping behind them. "Now that I'm awake though you can go ahead and get some sleep yourself." She said and Izuku didn't even try to argue with her, knowing fairly well how that'd end.
Before he was able to go however, Tooru gave him a quick hug and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, pride welling up within her as soon as she noticed the wide grin appear on his face.
"Goodnight." She whispered before letting him go and taking the position besides Shuusa in his place.
The group woke up the next morning, feeling well rested without the threat of being drowned in their sleep for once, and immediately began packing up their belongings to continue their journey.
Living inside a cave provided a great advantage of having to secure only a single entrance, but camping out in the open would require much more effort to achieve a similar level of security. Hence why it'd be great if they could find a spot that had some kind of natural defense like a small valley or a depression surrounded by cliffs.
Moving through the forest turned out to be quite the challenge however and their exploration was seriously hindered because of that. On top of that, Izuku informed the girls that he heard some distant howling at night so splitting up was not an option. This meant that they were stuck traveling at a snail's pace with their eyes and ears open wide and searching for even a sign of danger.
Understandably they weren't able to cover much ground during the day, though they were able to leave the mountain behind them, so they were once again forced to improvise an encampment for the night. Thankfully they managed to locate another mountainside trail that looked almost identical to the spot that they camped at the previous night.
Izuku volunteered to take the first shift too and this time it was Momo who decided to join him later in the night. This time however Izuku made sure to keep track of time and woke Momo up just a couple of minutes after midnight, just when the distant howling stopped, before going to sleep himself.
The exact set of events happened on the next day as they once again struggled to keep moving at a decent rate and were once again forced to camp on a mountainside as they failed to locate a potential spot for their new base.
That's where the similarities between the two days end however as their third night in this uncharted territory was much more eventful than the previous two combined!
Izuku once again agreed to take the first shift and watch over the camp whilst the others slept. His worries were once again free to take hold of him with no one and nothing to distract him from them and the pit in his stomach began forming anew.
Almost three days had passed since Shu fell asleep and refused to wake up no matter how many times he wished for it to happen. Her condition wasn't improving at all, but it wasn't deteriorating either so he still hoped that she would eventually wake up on her own.
He spent the next couple of hours next to his daughter as he threw a log or two into the campfire from time to time to make sure it didn't go out in the middle of the night. He made sure to keep track of the moon's voyage across the sky so that he knew when to wake Mina - the girl that offered to take the second shift tonight - up.
However, just as the end of his shift was coming up he heard something. It may have been faint but it was also impossible to miss with how quiet the forest was tonight. Izuku opted to remain seated in place, his body tensing up but ultimately still to anyone that wasn't watching him too closely.
He waited and waited as the sound of rustling grew closer to their camp. It eventually vanished but was quickly replaced by the sound of loose stones being kicked by something that definitely didn't see well in the dark.
Izuku used the heads up to assume a position that made him look like he was asleep whilst letting him keep an eye on the path leading to their camp. The sounds grew closer and after a few tense moments he was finally able to see the source of the commotion.
A humanoid figure was stalking its way around their defensively placed cart. Unfortunately they stayed away from the fire so Izuku couldn't make out their features, so whilst thankful that he didn't have to fight another saber-tooth, he was still worried about the outcome. He had his spear at the side and was just waiting for the right moment to strike.
The figure seemed to either not notice him or decided to ignore him for the time being so Izuku was able to watch them approach the girls. One thing he was able to make out about the intruder was that they definitely knew how to handle themselves in a fight. This would've made this even sketchier than it already was, what with him not being able to use One for All and stuff, but he had the element of surprise on his side and he decided to use it.
Izuku hesitated long enough and finally pulled the trigger on his attack. He sprung into action, grabbing a hold of his spear in one clumsily fluid motion as he charged the perpetrator.
They were barely able to turn around when they heard him move but he covered the distance between them too quickly for them to put up a guard in time.
Izuku's momentum sent both of them tumbling to the ground with Izuku ending up on top of the figure that groaned in a feminine manner, the sudden noise waking up the girls.
Izuku struggled with his opponent briefly but was eventually able to overpower them and pin their arms to the ground as the weight of his body was enough to keep their legs locked in place. Only then did he allow himself to finally relax a bit and see who the person was.
The thing that he noticed first and foremost were the fierce teal eyes looking up at him with the barely contained rage that he recognized nearly right away.
"Kendo?"
Yup, we are officially in the second act so to speak. Yay. Much enthusiasm!
I once again got nothing to talk about except the new fic which is going to have its third chapter released on Monday so if you're interested go check out 'The Righteous Knight and The Evil Within'!
Shameless advertising aside - have a great day and come back next Friday for more Stranded content!