06.01.2023
It's I, the Absolute Madman and I welcome thee in the year 2023! I'm not gonna lie to you with promises of 'new year, new me' as I'm personally more of a 'same shit, different year' kind of person, so you can be sure that Stranded will keep on comin' and that the madness will not stop! But before we start the year properly let's answer the comments, some of you waited the whole year for me to do so afterall! (nope, not sorry):
InsaneMakaioshin - Sure thing!
DragrexTheBrit - Whilst she is capable of some manipulation of organic matter it has certain flaws, ones that will be eventually lifted off of her when... I'm not gonna spoil it, but you are welcome to guess, what could allow her to suddenly control plants and stuff.
Gadget boy - Welp, if you thought that things were looking up then you might have to reconsider! Also on the topic of girls - we will be having no new arrivals as the entire cast is here, and in fact was here for quite some time already. If you're confused about the 1-B girls, don't be, it'll all make sense soon. Like next Friday. Or maybe the one after that. Not sure.
AndrewtheManiac - Maniac, ey? A fellow man of culture for sure. Fret not good sire, for she is alive and doing well as will be shown... soon. Again, I'm not sure if we're gonna properly start the second part of the story next week or if we'll need to wait a bit longer.
evilstatistic19 - Didn't see ya for some time and was honestly expecting 'evilstatistic20' to show up soon lol! Glad to see you're still with us!
And with that out of the way enjoy the, unbelievably long, chapter. I'm not kidding, it has 4.3k words in it instead of the usual ~3k. Fuck it, it's a new year, I can spoil ya a bit!:
Izuku may have been a bit too quick to jump to conclusions, especially if those were even remotely positive or held a slither of hope in them. The father/daughter duo spent at most an hour scouring the new land before opting to return to the camp to tell the others about what they found, but as soon as they crossed the barrier it became pretty obvious that much has changed during their short absence.
The wind picked up some time after they left and resulted in the clouds moving much quicker, already ending up covering the entirety of the visible sky. And as they expected the dark clouds brought rain with them, rain that wasted no time waiting and started pelting the entire area with tiny, harmless droplets. They may be harmless, but Izuku was well aware of what they could do in the long run, so he and his daughter headed straight back home.
It was easier said than done however as the amount of rain that this area was suddenly subjected to was pretty crazy, even for this world's standards, and the densely packed trees already had trouble soaking up all of the water which resulted in puddles of mud forming everywhere in a matter of minutes.
Now that they thought about it, they shouldn't have left those detachable platforms as it would be quite easy to simply carry them with them and they'd be most useful in these rapidly worsening conditions.
They had to take a handful of detours along the way as some of the older and taller trees failed to stay upright without the help from a solid, dry layer of dirt and fell over, blocking the straight path back to the river and slowing down the duo.
Another thing slowing them down was Izuku worrying about the girls. Since all the rain clouds came initially from the direction that their river was headed in, it was easy to assume that the clouds were somehow traveling upstream. And if the clouds that he believed were over their cave when they left were already blown away to this area, then there was a good chance that something even worse took their place. That's why he insisted on Momo staying behind and keeping things in check if something unexpected were to happen. Knowing that someone like her was there did help calm his nerves somewhat, but he won't be completely calm until he sees them again, so they need to hurry up.
The situation looked even worse the closer they got to their camp, but they eventually managed to cross the treacherous muddy minefield and were able to reunite with the rest of their group.
Just like Izuku expected, the rain did get heavier while they were gone, but Momo was able to keep it under control with some makeshift improvements like erecting a short stone wall between their drainage ditch and the entrance to their cave which hopefully was enough to stop any water that would otherwise be able to reach their abode unobstructed.
Needless to say Izuku was very impressed, even more so when the Momo explained that they took turns hacking away at the cavern's walls to get enough stones for the wall. They unfortunately didn't have any mortar at hand so they couldn't bind the rocks into a single solid structure. Although even if they did have it, there was only a very slim chance that the mortar would have enough time to dry out given the weather outside.
Suffice to say the girls were pretty tired after that, but their energy was quickly replenished when Izuku and Shuusa revealed what they'd found on their journey. Not only did it fill them with hope but it lifted their spirits considerably too. Although Izuku was quick to add that the clouds were moving fast and that they'd need to do too if they didn't want to have to trudge through mud all the way to the paradise he'd just told them about.
Yet even with that warning in mind they couldn't help but be excited at the prospect of not having to deal with constant rain and the risk of drowning in their sleep.
They had very limited time to make the transfer, so they decided to get to work and start packing the most useful items right away.
Momo meanwhile snatched Izuku away and told him about something she wanted to do to increase their odds of success which turned out to be a sled.
Izuku was at first confused about stretching their manpower and resources thinner in times like these, but it didn't take Momo much time to convince him about her idea. If they were to carry all of their stuff on their backs then it'd make all of them heavier and thus make it easier for them to get stuck in the mud. A sled on the other hand could relieve them of the weight and distribute it over two long skids as opposed to two relatively small feet.
In the end Izuku agreed to help her and after grabbing his trusty axe, as well as a very steamy 'thank you' kiss from Momo, left to gather everything from the list that Momo gave him. She had everything written down already and simply passed the piece of paper to him as soon as he agreed, so he couldn't help but wonder if she was so confident that he'd agree or if perhaps she had a plan to try and 'convince' him if he were to refuse?
No point wondering about it now, there were trees that needed to be cut!
Cutting trees was not a challenge at all for someone with Izuku's physique and a never-blunting axe. Hauling the wood back home was the real challenge as before taking every step Izuku first had to dig himself out of the mud into which he had sunk on the previous step. Yup, it was an absolute slugfest to start off and would probably remain as such if Shuusa and Momo didn't come up with some strange powder that could instantly dry the ground on contact.
Yes, it did sound like a revolutionary invention that could possibly allow them to stay where they were without a care in the world, but as with all great things there were some limitations to it.
First and foremost it was a powder that needed to be manually spread on the ground to dry it and as it was only reacting with the mud on contact it didn't get rid of the water that was too deep for it to reach. This meant that whilst the effect was instant, it faded away quickly. But that was something that Izuku could live with as all he'd have to do was keep throwing it under his feet as he walked to create a narrow passage. There was however a second, much more detrimental, issue, one that Izuku would never bring himself to ignore. It had nothing to do with the usage of the powder, rather it was a glaring flaw in the process of producing it.
You see, this wondrous powder was created thanks to the combined efforts of Momo and Shuusa, but it was the latter that had done the bulk of the work as the main ingredient used to create the aforementioned substance was a certain element that only Shuusa could synthesize thanks to her unique ability. Unfortunately it quickly became quite obvious that synthesizing this element severely impacted Shuusa's health and quickly drained her energy, making her groggy and sleepy all the time.
Izuku was very thankful to both of the girls for looking out for him, but as soon as he learned what it did to his daughter he forbade either of them from making more of it, stating that he already had more than enough to finish what he started.
The girls were very moved by Izuku looking out for his adoptive daughter to say the least and even dropped what they were doing at the moment just to coo at the sight.
He also wasn't lying and even though the amount of powder he had at his disposal was relatively small, this was by far not the hardest obstacle that he's had to overcome in his life, so finding a solution to the task at hand was as easy as clenching your butt cheeks and yelling out 'smash' at the top of your lungs. Only this time he wouldn't end up plummeting towards the ground at terminal velocity.
Izuku was well aware that his supplies were limited so instead of stretching them thin over multiple trips he opted to simply cut down enough trees to gather the necessary amount of wood for Momo's sled and then dragged all of them back home in one trip using that monstrous strength of his which thankfully had nothing to do with One for All and everything to do with his training regime which he stuck to very diligently even after his control over All Might's power increased tremendously.
Still, this rare show of unmatched strength served as a reminder, and most probably quite a turn on for some, that Izuku - whilst being a really chill guy and great boyfriend material - had the power to snap skyscrapers in half with a single swipe of one of his Quirks. As if the fact that he had multiple Quirks wasn't overpowered enough. Yet despite all the girls looking at him in awe he couldn't help but focus on the completely star-struck expression on his - adoptive - daughter's face.
"Dad's so cool…" She mumbled out and Izuku suddenly realized why his mom was prone to crying whenever he did… pretty much anything really. Only this time it was the parent impressing their child and not the other way around.
Dragging all of the wood back to the cave was quite the challenge as even with Shuusa's drying powder his feet were still prone to sinking into the ground every other step. Well, he figured that at least it was only with every other step and not every single step so that was certainly an improvement. He honestly was too scared to even try and imagine what it'd be like to have to do all of this without the drying powder.
He decided not to dwell on it too much as they still had things to do before they'd be able to move out and the weather certainly won't wait for them to prepare, so he joined Tooru, Mina and Kyouka in organizing the stuff they had so that once the sled was ready they wouldn't have to waste time sorting through all of their belonging and would only have to load it up before departure. Speaking of the sled, Momo and Shuusa got to work as soon as Izuku returned with the wood and made considerable amounts of progress, but had to take a break as night had come and the last thing they needed was two members of their group fainting from exhaustion while on the road.
As soon as the twin suns rose though it was back to work for all people involved. The bulk of the work had been completed before Kyouka suddenly realized that something was amiss, literally.
"Wait, quiet down for a moment." She ordered and a complete silence settled over the cave.
Kyouka's expression slowly turned from worried to outright spooked whilst the others simply sat still in confusion, wondering what this was all about.
"What's wrong?" Mina asked, slightly unnerved by the sudden command but oblivious as to what could've caused it.
"Isn't it too quiet?" Kyouka questioned and as the silence returned for a second time everyone focused on it.
Now that they knew what to look for it was easy to notice that their cave was indeed unnaturally quiet, almost as if a bubble that blocked all sound appeared around their base suddenly. Normally such peace would be a welcome change from the constant sound of rain drops pelting anything and everything they could reach, but this was different. This wasn't the comforting silence that might come after a storm. It was eerie and foreboding, like a harbinger of things to come.
Izuku suddenly perked up, gathering the attention of everyone else, and sprinted into the back of their cave where the gaping abyss was located. The girls wasted no time following right after him, a sense of panic spreading amongst them like a wildfire. And for a good reason too.
"No way… How could that happen?" They heard him utter and were about to ask what he was talking about but they quickly realized what he meant and couldn't stop themselves from gasping in surprise.
Their reservoir, the massive pit that seemed to lead directly into the abyss, was full. A completely undisturbed lake had formed in its place. At first they thought it simply impossible to have happened overnight, but then noticed something. A couple of things actually.
Waterfalls. In the past there were at most three small creeks flowing down into their cave system and that stayed true even throughout the constant downpour. Now though they could easily count at least a dozen decently sized waterfalls crashing directly into the reservoir, somehow managing not to disturb the surface or even create the tiniest of ripples.
But that wasn't the bad news. The bad news was that the ends of the pipes that were supposed to drain water from their safety ditch were now completely submerged in the lake. And this meant that their first line of defense had been rendered useless just like that.
"We need to hurry up. We need to hurry up, now!" Momo commanded and sprinted back to finish up her work on the sled, Shuusa following close behind her.
Working under pressure was something that Aizawa made sure to drill into them with harsh training and unbelievably unfair scenarios. Nothing could've prepared them for the amount of pressure that they were feeling right this very moment.
Momo's hammer slipped out of her hand more times than she'd care to admit and she almost turned her thumb from a 3D model into a 2D print out after she nearly dropped the nail she was about to hit at full force. Shuusa, normally stoic, was fidgeting in place and constantly trying to help Momo go faster even when there was nothing she could do. Kyouka, Mina and Tooru were double and triple checking everything to make sure that they got everything right and that they'd be ready as soon as Momo finishes the sled. Izuku meanwhile was standing in the doorway to their home, watching with bated breath as more and more holes in their last line of defense began to leak and falter.
One rock gave him quite a scare when it toppled over, swept off the top of the short wall by a rogue gust of wind. Yet he remained vigilant and as soon as Momo yelled out that she was done, he was the first one to start packing their stuff up, with the others joining him immediately after.
It was a good thing that they had everything prepared ahead of time as when they were just about done with loading the stuff onto their sled, they heard something truly horrifying. The stone wall outside had collapsed and when they looked towards the entrance they could already see water starting to trickle inside.
"Alright, we've got everything packed, let's move before we get pincered by the water!" Izuku commanded and the girls were quick to comply as they all grabbed the smaller bags they were supposed to carry and led the way out of the cave.
They encountered their first obstacle nearly right away as they had to lift the sled over the little stream that was flowing through the second exit but with five hero students it was an easy task to pull off and they didn't waste much time on it. Still, it took them long enough for Mina to notice that the previously undisturbed surface of the lake was starting to break as waves and ripples decorated it with beautiful circular patterns. A shame that they needed to run and couldn't afford to watch this spectacle unfold.
Exiting out of the cave the group immediately turned left and started following the river upstream, hoping to cross it where it was most shallow so that they don't have to wrestle with the current too much. They let themselves relax a bit as it seemed that they'd evaded the imminent danger. That wasn't the case.
"Look!" Tooru yelled out as she pointed behind them.
The others turned around as well and were stunned once they saw that the water level in the river was rising so fast that they could clearly see it from a distance! They thought that crossing over to a different zone would at least buy them some time, but that turned out to be a wrong assumption and now they ended up in a race against time.
"We need to move before the river floods and cuts us off!" Momo stated and was the first one to kick it into high gear with the rest following close behind her.
Izuku tried his best to keep up with them but the more he tried to go fast the deeper into the mud his feet sank. The load wasn't that heavy and the skids were doing an excellent job at spreading the weight over a wider area, but the ground on their path had been so thoroughly soaked that it gave in almost as soon as his foot touched it.
The girls realized what was going on and came back to help him by pushing the sled from behind, hoping to alleviate at least some of the stress.
With their powers combined they were able to keep a decent pace and things were looking quite good from their perspective. But things were about to get real complicated real quick.
First they heard the quiet sound of rushing water from behind put paid it no mind, focusing on the task at hand instead. However they couldn't ignore it forever, especially since it was getting louder and louder by the moment. Eventually Shuusa turned around just to see what was causing the ruckus and what she saw prompted her to immediately notify others of what was going on.
"Dad!" She shouted whilst pointing behind them.
The group stopped to see what Shuusa was pointing towards and their hearts sank in perfect sync once they saw that most of the ground behind them wasn't there anymore and in its place was water, copious amounts of it. And it was getting closer and closer by the second. They didn't waste any more time on gawking at the sight and doubled their efforts, intending to outpace mother nature herself.
They looked back from time to time and were glad to see that the distance between them and the water was slowly but steadily increasing, meaning that they were doing a good job so far. They couldn't let their guard down just yet however as now they realized that they weren't going to be safe until they crossed the next barrier.
The group was making some incredible time and the giant tree was in their view for some time already, meaning that they were about to get to the crossing which would mark something around the halfway point in their exodus. But, as they were about to discover, it would also mark the end of the road for them.
"No way!" Izuku yelled out and the girls quickly ran up to join him at the bank of the river.
What they saw had killed any and all semblance of hope that they may have had. As it turns out the current must've suddenly increased in strength over the past two days and it was strong enough to wash away the sand that made up the crossing. Now not only was the river as deep as everywhere but the current also made it practically impossible to cross.
Despair was quick to take over their hearts as tears welled up in their eyes, Izuku gritting his teeth so hard that they could shatter at any moment. But just as they were about to resign themselves to their fate, a stroke of good luck had given them one last option.
"The waterfall…" Momo mumbled out with her eyes dimmed over and unfocused. She quickly shook her head to get back to reality before speaking up to her friends. "Everyone, we need to get to the waterfall, there's still a chance!" She yelled out and was devastated by the lifeless looks of her friends.
"What's the point?" Kyouka responded. "You've seen what's going on. The place we were headed towards is probably looking just like this, so what's the point in fighting?" The notion seemed to be shared by most of the other teens, but not all of them, as there was still some fight left in Izuku.
"We can't really give up now though, can we?" He said in an even tone as he once again grasped the handle of the sled. "We are U.A. students, and we are future heroes on top of that. Overcoming unfair odds is what we do. Even if everything we do is hopeless, all we have to do is simply go beyond. Plus Ultra to the end. We got so far, we might as well take a couple more steps."
As he was doing his impromptu speech the girls couldn't help but feel their will to fight be restored, not completely mind you, but just enough to take a couple more steps. Now, with determination written all over their faces, they were ready to move once again.
"Lead the way." Izuku said with a grin, one that Momo was quick to mirror.
Getting to the waterfall wasn't that hard and took them at most ten minutes even with the mud beneath their feet doing everything it could to slow them down.
At first they were skeptical about why they were even here in the first place but that was quickly cleared up when Momo told them to stick close to the cliff. As it turns out, there was a cave entrance hidden directly beneath the curtain of the waterfall! Not only that, but, instead of staying on the same level or going deeper into the ground, there was a clearly noticeable incline!
Momo stood proudly at the entrance into the unknown. They had no idea where it could lead to. It could be a dead end for all they know, but it was their only chance and if this was where they would die then at least they'd die trying to survive and not waiting for death to claim them!
Getting the sled inside the cave was a bit tricky due to the ragged rock formations guarding the entrance, but that didn't stop them for long. They eventually entered the cave and wasted no time, heading deeper right away as water began creeping inside. It almost looked like their race against time was still on but the water level eventually stopped rising, meaning that they were finally safe.
But they still headed deeper inside before allowing themselves to rest even for a moment, wanting to make sure that they were safe before letting their guard down.
Once they found a bigger cave they decided to finally sit down and let themselves rest, the exhaustion quickly catching up to them. They spent quite some time just catching their breath, only just now realizing how tired they were, but once their breathing returned to normal they started giggling. And then chuckling. And then they exploded with laughter.
"We did it!"
"I thought we were gonna die for sure!"
"Take that you force of nature!"
Various cheers echoed inside the cave as the group finally had a chance to relax from the stress. But even with the danger no longer present, Izuku still had the gut-wrenching feeling that something was wrong. And his gut wasn't wrong. His head quickly snapped to the side, his eyes immediately locking onto his daughter who wasn't nearly as enthusiastic about their achievement as the rest of them.
"Shuusa? Everything alright?" Izuku asked cautiously, the feeling making his stomach do a backflip as anxiety flooded his entire body like a tidal wave. "Shu?" He got up and started slowly approaching her when she suddenly leaned to the side before toppling down to the ground. "Shuusa!" His scream caught the attention of the girls who quickly realized what was going on and also approached the girl.
Izuku was already looking her over for any sign of injury but panicked even harder when he failed to find anything that could explain her suddenly fainting.
"Izu, look at her hands." Momo prompted him with a hiccup in her voice.
Izuku did as he was told and immediately froze once he saw what Momo wanted him to see. Shuusa's hands were coated with powder. Not just any powder mind you. It was the drying powder. One that only Shuusa was able to create, but not without paying a price for it.
It was then that Izuku realized that she must've been dropping it as they walked and that's why she insisted on being at the front of their group. That's why at times it felt as if mud and quicksand had a baby that was hellbent on dragging them in and then suddenly the ground felt as stable as it could get.
"I told you not to do it!" Izuku screamed at the top of his lungs, not angry at his daughter but at himself for not noticing it earlier. He picked up his unconscious daughter and then turned to the girls. "We can't stay here. I don't know how but we have to help her." There was desperation in his voice, but his eyes were blazing with determination.
The girls immediately agreed with his reasoning and even though they were tired they were ready to continue, for they weren't out of the woods just yet.
We have a daughter down! I repeat, we have a daughter down! You can put down the forks and torches, she's not dead! In a life-threatening state, yes, but still amonst the living.
So, I honestly feel like the chapter came out quite good and for once I'm not finishing it a couple of minutes before midnight, so that's a twist for sure!
I don't remember if I had anything to say, so I'mma just skiddadle outta here! Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!