Chapter 34:

Mineta: Rising

"Come out, little boys. Uncle Carlitos got a balloon for you! It's an explosive surprise." The killer clown stalked through the forest as Mineta covered Kota and Cruz's mouths while hiding in the bushes. The clown exudes this extreme aura of death around him, almost as if he was the Angel of Death itself.

Mineta wasn't sure but he swore he could hear Cruz say his prayers in Spanish faster than a cheetah running through the savanna. He tried shooshing him down with little success. He knew Cruz was having a panic attack, having met his kidnapper again.

"I said I'd give you a head start. You're running out of time, my dear audience. Tick. Tock!" Carlitos taunted them as they continued hiding through the bushes.

"What are we supposed to do? Think, Mineta, think!"

"You're going to die," Cruz whispered to him, making him stare at the kid.

"What?"

"My quirk. You're fated to die by Carlitos' hand." Cruz explained to him. Mineta's eyes widened as he remembered what Cruz' quirk was. It's a one of kind, and it's not like any other. The ability to see fate, and now this kid told him a killer clown is going to kill him. If Mineta was anything like his past self, he would have panicked and the clown would have found them. He simply closed his eyes.

"No, not right now. Not right now. I want to live." He calmed himself down before opening his eyes again and facing Cruz. "Did your quirk say I have to die now?"

"Que?"

"I'm gonna assume you said 'What?'," Mineta patted the kid and did his best to smile. "Your quirk tells you who will kill me, but it didn't tell you WHEN they will kill me."

"Por-"

"Kid, he'll kill me in another day, but not today. Go! I'll buy you time and beat this guy!" Mineta stood up along with the two kids and pointed their exit. Mineta turned around, facing where Carlitos headed.

"If nobody delays him, he'll cause too many problems for the heroes. I hate this, but what the hell," Mineta thought to himself as he strategizes his approach against the killer clown. "Now, from what I've heard, he usually plays with his targets. He rarely takes them seriously… I got an advantage, and I can work from there."

"HEY! CLOWN!" Mineta called out to Carlitos as he plucked two of his balls from his hair. With only a laugh as a warning, Mineta was immediately face-to-face with the killer clown. He screamed in defiance as he shoved his quirk to Carlitos' nose and mouth before quickly jumping away. The clown responded with a look of amusement at the midget while slowly suffocating to death.

Mineta didn't stop with his attacks, throwing ball after ball, to make sure the clown stays and to buy himself time to set up. He could see Carlitos' shoulders shake, as if the clown was laughing. As if the clown was thinking 'Good job, but you won't get away.'

After covering the clown completely with the purple balls, he began setting up. Balls that stick to each other and balls that repel from each other. Surrounding the trees around the area in a small radius. Before he could even finally set up, Carlitos' trap exploded.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! GOOD ONE! You may have been included to my Top Five favorite persons of the year." The clown told him as his entire body regenerated from the self-explosion. He started creating his explosive balloons out of thin air by the hundreds. The clown, however, didn't notice some of the balloons sticking to the grape traps Mineta had set up.

"I just need to play safe." Mineta thought to himself.

"NO POINT PLAYING SAFE!" Carlitos, with blinding speed, was instantly in front of him again and grabbed the grape boy by the neck, and slammed him on a nearby tree.

"SHIT!" Mineta panicked internally as he tried and failed to struggle out of Carlitos' chokehold. The clown smirked at him and tossed him away. Mineta skidded on the grounded, coughing and heaving for breath. "He holds on tight. How strong is this guy? How fucked am I?"

The clown didn't stop. He picked Mineta up again and slammed him into the ground. And again. And again. After the third one, Carlitos stood up and began pacing around Mineta like a cat playing with its food. Blood was pouring out of Mineta's head and mouth. It wasn't because of his quirk.

"You know, not a lot of people manage to kill me on their first try. You did. You have good timing with your balls, hehe." The killer clown snickered at his own joke, ignoring the fact that he could easily kill the vulnerable midget right then and there.

Even when struggling, Mineta was given time to think. Carlitos is still not taking him seriously. "Yeah, keep looking down on me, prick."

"OI! CUT THAT SHIT AND KILL THAT CLOWN!" His inner Bakugou voice shouted at him, encouraging him to stand up, set down two of his balls, and bounce off it and land into the trees.

"Oh, hide and seek? I used to love that game. Usually, the losers die. Trust me, grape boy, winning is to die for." Carlitos laughed again at his own joke while juggling a pair of explosive balloons he created. He snapped his fingers and ten balloons stuck to a tree exploded. There were at least a hundred more balloons. The clown noticed that it was darker than usual.

"Huh, good night for a fight, am I right, grape boy? Tell me, did Cruz tell you how you're gonna die?"

"YEAH! YOU'RE GONNA KILL ME!" Mineta answered back, still hiding in one of the trees.

"Ooh, kill you? I always loved that boy's quirk. Shows me which is which. Who will be fun, and who would be dead. But you? You're fun AND soon to be dead!"

"YOU HAVEN'T MET SOMEONE LIKE ME, THEN! YOU MAY BE THE ONE TO KILL ME, BUT NOT TODAY, NOT TOMORROW, NOT NEXT WEEK! I'LL DIE TO YOU ON MY TERMS!" Mineta used his quirk to launch himself out of the trees and tackling Carlitos into his trap. The one filled with balloons.

"What the-?!" The clown had a shocked look for the first time, not expecting this. He started noticing that most of his balloons were stuck to the balls. A lot of them. Some are even clumped together.

"These balloons, they explode when you want them to, but they also do it automatically upon skin contact, am I right?" Mineta glared at the clown, panting, relieved that he managed to trap him.

The clown blinked and laughed. Not at him, no, he was laughing because he was excited. Mineta was aware of that. "Outsmarted, no, outplayed by someone like you? If I knew any better, I wouldn't have been playing around. That only means one thing…"

"One thing?"

"I need a vacation," Carlitos answered casually. Mineta deadpanned at the killer clown, but Carlitos explained his case, "You showed me that I'm getting really sloppy. Maybe because everyone I faced except two others, including you, just try to brute force their way into beating me. Oh man, I need some time to take a break. Fine, you don't die today, what's your name?"

"Minoru Mineta."

"I'll remember that name in this year's Top Five Favorites of mine. When the inevitable happens, and we fight again, I won't joke around," The clown glared at him, making him back away in fear, only for the angry expression to disappear. "Blow me up now and tell the police where I'm at. Or else, I'll escape and kill everyone here."

Mineta didn't even need to think twice as he pulled the trigger on his trap, causing it to start tightening around the clown, with the balloons attached. The grape boy ran away once the trap starts moving on its own.

"I did it! I survived! I didn't die!" Mineta was limping from his injuries and he was sure that he broke a rib. "Nothing that Recovery Girl can't fi-"

The universe decided to punish him for no reason when he felt his entire body become smaller and smaller until it was compressed in a tiny ball. "Can't breathe! Can't breathe. I'm gonna-"

"Whew, gotcha. Magnificent show you put back there with the clown, but, I may have use for you," The masked magician only know as 'Mr. Compress', said as he placed the compressed Mineta in his mouth. "Of course, I better get out of here before I get caught up by that big explosion."

Meanwhile, Carlitos was still stuck to the trap. He made no effort in escaping, chuckling to himself as his explosive balloons close in on his face. "Tartarus Vacation, here I come."

Yakuza Tendencies

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM*

"What the fuck was that?" Murry, Juzo, and even Yui were startled by that big explosion.

"Sounds like something Bakugou would do, but that explosion was too big, even for him," Juzo said while looking at the big smoke cloud that was caused by the big explosion. "Whoever did that is gonna be some serious problem."

"...Smoke." Yui reminded them of their goal.

"Aight, we heard ya," Murry said as they walked deeper into the toxic gas. "So why you ain't talkin' that much? Not a lot to say?"

"Hmm," Yui answered Murry's question. If Murry was being honest, he just wants to start a small talk with these two to calm everyone's nerves, especially his. If he even loses control, these two would breathe in the toxic gas and knock themselves out. He is not carrying two unconscious bodies again. That one time with Rappa was more than enough.

They walked deeper into the forest, where the smoke is at its thickest. Murry turned around to face the two. "If you wanna walk out now, last chance."

"No," Yui answered. Juzo nodded along with her.

"Look, man, no offense, but seeing you with that sword, we both got an idea on what you're planning to do."

"Wait, what? Oh, the katana? I ain't killing them, I swear," Murry wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not. He had killed, unwillingly, for Overhaul before but that was to protect Eri. He already got enough blood on his hands. "Besides, I'm only gonna slash him in the chest. Trust me, they usually survive that."

"Hm?" Yui asked, her word placing pressure on his shoulder.

"Like the movies, homes!" Murry raised his arms in exasperation, accidentally slicing off a branch from a tree. Yui lifted her eyebrow with doubt, making Murry cringe.

"Look, we're just gonna back you up and take down this gu-"

*BANG*

Instinctively, Murry turned around and sliced the bullet in half before it could reach him. He faced Juzo and Yui, who had a surprised look on their face.

"See, homies? This is why you bring a sword to a gunfight," He pointed at his katana. He immediately pulled them to a nearby tree for cover. "Aight, what's the game plan?"

"Get me close to the guy and I can sink him," Juzo said while Yui picked up a few pebbles. She handed them to Murry.

"...Throw this." She ordered him to do so, which he followed. He threw it at the masked guy at full force. He heard Yui snap her fingers and the pebbles enlarge to the size of the wheel. Unfortunately, the gunman avoided it.

"You think you heroes are so great." The villain started doing a monologue. All three of the hero student's eyes widened when they heard his voice.

"These fuckers are hiring kids now?" Murry asked, now sure with himself on not killing the person. He wouldn't kill them either way since that would make a mess.

"Just get me close and we can end this!"

"Right, get behind me." He readied his sword as Juzo got behind him for cover. They ran forward with Murry slicing the bullets in half. Every time they got close, Mustard would jump out of the way and reload his bullets.

"You won't get me that easily." Somehow figuring it out, the gas villain aimed for Yui, who had her head sticking out from behind the tree, placing Murry and Juzo on high alert.

*BANG*

Murry got in front right on time to slice the bullet in half, with the remains hitting him on the shoulder.

"Ggh!" He gritted his teeth as he fought through the pain. This isn't looking too good for the three of them. He could have easily beat this guy in his smoke form, but transforming would leave his fellow students vulnerable to the bullets.

"One down," Murry heard the villain say. The realization hit him as he looked at Juzo's unconscious form, with Mustard aiming at his head. Murry was able to get in front of Juzo but not enough time to slice off the bullets, taking more hits to the chest and right shoulder. "Give up already, hero scum. I win this one."

"You really think I'm out of the g-ghh!" He knelt down, not being able to handle the pain. He clutched his bullet wound, not used to it since he usually dodges bullets instead of taking them.

"Die."

*BANG*

Murry opened his eyes, seeing if he's in hell. He wasn't. He was still where he is, knelt down, and in pain. He swore Mustard was aiming for his head. He looked at his front and found out why.

"No." He muttered under his breath as Yui laid unconscious in front of him, blood gushing out of her abdomen. "NO!"

"Two down, one more to-"

*SHNNG*

Before the villain could even react, Murry had already sliced his hand off. After a three-second delay, he began screeching in pain as blood spurts out of his wrist. His amputated hand, laid on the ground as Murry stared him down.

Ignoring the pain, Murry inhaled as much of Mustard's toxic gas as possible and transformed into it, entering Mustard's body and filling it with the toxins of his own quirk. Once he was done, Mustard was on the ground, gagging and struggling to breathe.

"For their sake, I ain't killing you. That won't stop me from knocking you out, tho." Murry stomped on Mustard's head, completely shattering the villain's mask and knocking him out for good. The smoker pulled out a cigarette, lit it up, and began smoking the pain away. He hurried over to Yui's body and checked for any pulses.

"She's alive!" He exclaimed. He was sure Mustard won't be waking up for a long time. He picked up Yui and Juzo's unconscious form and began walking back to camp.

Crucifying the Cannibal

This was by far, Ibara's easiest fight. Moonfish's teeth proved no trouble for her vines as it easily shattered when she puts more back into it. The serial killer struggled as the vines began entangling and squeezing his entire body hard.

"PAINPAINPAINPAINPAIN! I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL EAT YOU! I'LL KILL YOU!" The cannibal kept repeating the same words, much to Ibara, and Katsuki's disgust. Todoroki remained stoic, not caring about the criminal. He was carrying a student from 1B who fell victim to the toxic gas anyway.

"CRUCIFIXION!" She yelled as she broke the cannibal's straight jacket and held him up with her vines in a similar manner to that of the Roman's execution method. "Katsuki, finish him."

"Music to my ears," Katsuki smirked as he blasted himself up in the air and started building momentum. Like a Beyblade, he began spinning in the air with smoke following him, until he finally let out a big explosion on Moonfish at point-blank range. "HOWITZER IMPACT!"

The explosion broke the vines holding the cannibal and sent him through multiple trees, only stopping at the tenth one. He laid there, unconscious. All three were surprised that they managed to handle the serial killer quickly.

"Hey, good job holding him up like that," Katsuki gave Ibara a hearty pat in the back while smiling. She turned away, trying to hide her small blush while Todoroki takes note of this. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STARING AT, ICY HOT?!"

"Nothing."

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM*

"What the fuck was that?" They heard a big explosion coming off near the cliff.

"Whatever that is, we should avoid it. We need to find anyone else that might be in trouble." Ibara tugged Katsuki's shirt to stop him from heading toward the source of the explosion.

"Tch. Fine." He went the other direction and the two followed him deeper into the forest.

Different Outcomes

"Okay, so that monster thing is a nomu?" Awase asked Momo while they were busy running away. They were lucky enough to not run into any more of those things. Still, he can't shake that feeling of guilt from leaving Kenshi behind to deal with the nomu alone.

"Almost the same thing that attacked us at the USJ. It was only stopped after Midoriya destroyed its brain." Momo said grimly, remembering Izuku's face for the rest of the day after killing the nomu. She felt pity that he had to kill something that used to be human.

"So what? The only thing to stop them is to destroy the brain?"

"That, and or restrain the one giving them commands. So far, we have no idea on who is commanding that nom-"

"ROOO!" Kenshi whizzed past them and had his entire body slam to a tree. The wolf was unfazed by the seemingly powerful attack and stood back up quickly "Oh, hello children. Don't worry, wolves can take punishment. Added that to the modifications added to my body, this nomu is child's play."

Kenshi stopped talking by jumping in front of Momo and stopping a chainsaw from chopping off her neck with his bare jaws. He bit down and completely shattered the chainsaw.

"Those chainsaws are quite an annoyance. Awase, would you mind welding the chainsaw into the ground? I'll create an opening for you," Kenshi ducked below another swing from a chainsaw arm and bit off the torso, which only regenerated. "As for you, Yaoyorozu, try and target the brain any way you desire. Perhaps making you run away without considering your assistance is a mistake on my end. Of course, you both back away when I ask you two."

"R-Right," Opening up her shirt, she created a crossbow from her stomach. "Just give me a good opening!"

"A crossbow? Haven't seen that in a while. Very well, Awase, be ready." Kenshi bit off one of the nomu's arms and got on top of the monster. The wolf increased in size and pinned it down. "Now, boy!"

Awase quickly went to work after Kenshi's signal. He carefully touched the arms of the monster and welded them into the ground, restraining the nomu from any other action it could take. The monster roared but Kenshi bit down its neck hard.

"Yaoyorozu, now!" Kenshi called out.

Momo aimed her crossbow at the creature's brain, ready to fire the shot, but an idea came across her mind. She lowered the bow and started creating something else.

"Yaoyorozu?"

"Kenshi, wait, I have a better idea. We have to let the nomu go."

"WHAT?!" Awase cried out, not wanting to release the nomu from its spot. The wolf tilted his head, curious about Yaoyorozu's proposition.

"How about we do a decisive move that can cripple the League of Villains?" She showed the tracker to Kenshi, letting the wolf know of her intention.

"Hmm, hunt them down by their tracks? Good point." Kenshi shrank down to his normal size and hopped off the nomu.

"Wait, we're seriously letting this nomu go?" Awase was understandably hesitant with this entire plan since he has been weighing the pros and cons of Momo's plan. "Can't we just…I dunno?"

"You can always release the nomu once we're far away."

"And I don't smell anyone near who is an ally that is near us right now," Kenshi reassured Awase, which was enough for the welder student.

"Fine. ON ONE CONDITION!" He grabbed the tracker from Momo's hand and welded it to the nomu's back. "Yaoyorozu, you're my one-year coupon for Starducks. Any frappe I want, you'll be paying for it."

"Easy enough."

Teacher's Point

"That was easier than I thought," Dabi said to himself as he stared at his hand, thinking he disintegrated the two heroes. "I thought these heroes were supposed to be trouble."

"WE ARE!" Gran Torino tackled him at full-force into the ground while Aizawa stepped on his head. "HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE, BASTARD?!"

"Like hell I'd tell y- ggh!" Dabi was interrupted when Aizawa stomped on his arm, breaking it.

"You think you can endanger my students on MY WATCH?!" Gran Torino told Dabi with venom dripping off every word. Aizawa agreed with the old man.

"I'm not the one you should be worried abo-"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM*

"What was that?!" Aizawa asked Dabi again, setting his foot on the fire user's head.

"The clown."

Aizawa's eyes widened when he realized who Dabi meant. "Carlitos? Here? SHIT! NOT HIM!"

He began running towards the direction of the explosion with no sign of stopping.

"OLD MAN, DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"

"Damn young people, always going ahead without a plan."

Meanwhile, in the lodge…

"LET GO OF ME!" Inasa was struggling against Vlad King's quirk. He wanted to help out. He's not going to let his friends fight alone. "I CAN HELP! I SWEAR!"

"Calm down, kid! Let us handle this!"

"But I can back them up! I can-"

"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!" Whatever argument Inasa and Vlad King was having, Riku grew tired of it. This was the first time she raised her voice in front of anyone. They were all shocked to see Riku acting upset. "I-I g-get it, okay? Y-you want to h-help b-but, we shouldn't r-right now. I-If the v-villains a-ambushed us t-then there would be more w-work for the heroes. I-I want t-to help too but t-the best t-thing we can d-do now is to stay h-here and n-not let them worry about u-us, okay?!"

"How sad…" They heard someone enter the door to reveal a heavily burnt villain. Vlad King acted quickly and slammed him into the wall. "Oh man, and I thought I could make a mess here."

"WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Wouldn't you like to know, Vladdy boy?" The villain began melting into a liquid, revealing itself to be a clone.

"A clone? You kids stay put. That means you, Inasa." He pointed at the wind user, who was still in shock after Riku unloaded on him.

"You know I'm not the original, right, old man?" Dabi told Gran Torino, who was still pinning him down before melting into a puddle.

"Gran Torino!" He heard Iida call out to him. The boy was with the other students that were supposed to walk through the Test of Courage. All except…

"Shishikura, Mora, where are the rest of your classmates?!" Gran Torino asked them in a worried tone, knowing full well that Izuku and Chifu were part of the group. Nagamasa bowed his head in shame while Seiji scowled at the ground, angry at himself. That only confirmed Gran Torino's suspicion. "Damn it all! All of you get back to the lodge! I'll get the others."

Gran Torino flew to the direction of the camp as fast as he could. He's not going to let those villains win this one. "Damn it, boy. You better not get yourself killed!"

Aizawa had been running through the forest for a while now. He stopped to take a short break and catch his breath. "That clown better not do any-"

He saw a rustle in the bushes. Alerted, he activated his quirk and readied his capture weapon. "Come out of that bush. I know you're there."

"W-WAIT!" Instead of the clown's, he heard Cruz' voice pop out of the bushes. The Mexican boy came out of the bushes with Kota, who also looked scared. Aizawa got in front of them to check for any wounds or injuries. Luckily, he only found a bruise on Cruz' back.

"Where were you two? There are villains here; I need to bring you back to the lodge." He was about to pick both of the kids up but Cruz refused.

"N-No, you got to help him!" Cruz begged to him and Aizawa realized what he meant. One of the students is fighting the clown.

"WHO?!"

"M-Mineta!" Cruz answered. Aizawa's eyes widened after hearing his student's name. "We can go back on our own. P-Please, you need to help him!"

"If anyone you don't know gets close, HIDE," Aizawa instructed them and the boys nodded automatically. After making sure one more time that there won't be any ambushes on their path, he sent the kids on their way. He continued running to Carlitos' direction. He was already close.

"Mineta…you better not be…" He stopped himself when he arrived at the location of the explosion. The area in front of him was practically turned into a wasteland. The trees were destroyed, some are still on fire. There's a large crater in the middle. There were remnants of Mineta's quirk now covered in ash.

"No…" Aizawa fell on his knees, thinking he fell again. That was, until he heard a familiar voice.

"Why don't you put a smile on that face? The boy is alive and kidnapped!"

He turned around to see the head of the clown. Only the head. Carlitos was smiling at him with a chaotic aura waiting to burst out. Aizawa walked up to the clown and picked up his head. "Look at you. Reduced to nothing but a head."

"Oh, don't worry about it. My body will grow back eventually. Now, don't think you got ahead of me on that one. HAHA!" The clown laughed at his pun which made Aizawa roll his eyes. He hated this clown. "Don't tell me you're still mad? I didn't kill your friend back then, we both know that."

"You kidnapped and experimented on the person that killed Oboro."

"But I didn't kill Mr. Loud Cloud. I mean, you were very careless back then. So good to see you grow," A tear flowed down Carlitos' cheek as if he was a father that's proud of his son. Except, Eraserhead wasn't his son. "If I had a hand right now, I'd wipe the tear off my face. Besides, I need a vacation. Consider me captured."

"You think Tartarus won't hold you?"

"I'll eventually escape. Until then, I'll be busy contemplating some new knowledge. You should be proud of this Minoru Mineta. He outwitted me and I lived longer than any of you in this camp. Even that old bastard; Gran Torino," Carlitos chuckled to himself, amused, even when Aizawa dropped his head and stomped on it. "That boy knew I'll kill him eventually. Instead of crying, he accepted that fate. The only problem? He said he would delay it and so he did! When I meet him again, he won't come out alive."

"Not unless I stop you, clown bastard."

"Oh, I pity you and your naivete. You know, stomping my head into a bloody puddle would only hasten my regeneration. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

Tired of the clown's taunting, Aizawa gave the head one last stomp before picking it up. "Mineta has been kidnapped. Not the worst scenario but not the best one either. They won't get away with this."

He strapped Carlitos' head to his pants and began running. "Oh man, this reminds of that video game I once played."

"Shut up, head."

"HA! SEE?!"

My My, Just How Much I Missed Ya

"There's that redhead bitch over there." Katsuki easily spotted Trish's unconscious body.

"Setsuna is lying over there," Ibara pointed out. Todoroki followed them quietly and set down the unconscious body of Tsubaraba. "Someone must have dragged them out of the toxic gas."

"There's people over at that side." Todoroki pointed at the people over the bush. Katsuki rolled his eyes when he saw the familiar green tuft of hair.

"Fucking Deku."

"Katsuki, calm down."

"I am calm!" They walked over to the group. The frog, Uraraka, the blonde bimbo, and Deku was there. However, the one who surprised Katsuki the most, "Ah shit."

"Villain!" Todoroki was about to ice the knife-wielding girl but Katsuki stopped him.

"Why did you-?"

"Katsuki, do you know her?"

"Know her? I didn't think she was actually real," The blonde bimbo and Deku were too distracted to notice him. "That's Deku's ex-girlfriend. Himiko Toga."

{- To Be Continued...

Next chapter, we get the backstory of the Idiot Trio(Izuku, Camie, and Himiko)

Bakugou: Idiot Trio? Seems fitting. Emotional Idiot, Romantic Idiot, and Idiot Prince

Really bro?

Bakugou: Why the fuck not?

By the way, MINETA WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY

Bakugou: For real. That fucking clown played with his food for too long and got played himself. He'll be back.

Yeah, but he won't be a problem for a while. That clown is a true wild card. Like he said, he's taking a vacation in Tartarus.

Anyway, leave a like, subscribe, and comment. PEACE!