It wasn't long before Izuku and Pyrrha managed to get themselves back on track. While the conversation between the two of them did feel a little more restrained after what happened with Bakugou, the feeling in the air was a bit lighter. There was no doubt in Izuku's mind that Ruby and Kacchan would make it to the ruins... they were both extremely skilled and strong. That battle showed him that more than well enough. He just sighed as he scratched the back of his head. The last hour had been absolutely miserable... but he felt that they were already halfway through the journey.
'Heck, if we stay on course we'll probably reach the ruins in around about two hours,' he thought things seemed to be looking up.
It would not last long.
At that moment, Izuku and Pyrrha felt the ground shake, and could hear the distinct sound of wood being stretched and snapping under heavy force. The two looked around for a moment, desperately trying to pinpoint exactly where that sound was coming from, the hugeness of it mixed with the natural echo of the forest only further amplified its effect. Suddenly, Izuku saw it. Ordinarily it'd be hard to see much of anything in that forest with how thick the tree line was. Heck, that was how the Beowolves had managed to maneuver so close to their group so often... but this time, it was easy to see.
After all, when something flies up and above the tree canopy and begins soaring through the air, it usually is easy to spot.
"I... Is that what I think it is?"
"Yeah... that's... that's an old Nevermore." A loud caw resounded through the forest as the large Grimm beat its wings, soaring up into the sky. Even from so many miles away, the large avian Grimm was readily seen. If Izuku had to guess, it was just a little under four miles from their position. He didn't know why it was getting up now, perhaps it was the presence of so many students in the forest, but he tried to assure himself that nothing bad was going to happen here. After all, it could just be that the giant Nevermore was waking up from its slumber due to the ruckus. It wasn't like anyone actually accidentally stumbled-
They heard it cry before they saw it start to fly circles in the sky, doing its best to maneuver around the canopy of the forest as it... Oh God.
"It's following something." Izuku muttered aloud as he stared on at the scene. The Nevermore was on the move... it was dangerous to be in this Forest now.
And it was dangerous to be whoever was being hunted... hunted by this giant Grimm.
'Was anyone here actually capable of fighting something like that?' his mind raced, thinking of the hunters he had seen in action, 'Would Kacchan even be able to handle a Grimm of that size…'
"Izuku... I know the plan was for us to walk to the ruins but... but this just got big. We need to run and we need to get out." Pyrrha's words rung in his ears as he stared at the Grimm. His mind flashed to ten months ago... when a similarly horrifying monster had Bakugou in its grasp, its claws dug into his shoulder and pinning him to the ground.
"Izuku, we need to run!"
'Well... she said run...'
"Izuku!"
Somewhere deep inside him, there was a voice screaming that she was right.
'This is too big for us,' he thought, 'I only got my Aura two days ago. We can't possibly take on a Grimm this big and this old... heck, I can't even tell how old this Nevermore is potentially. They usually don't actually make it to adulthood because of how weak they are when they're born. Even those that make it to be as big as a normal person are pretty frail. For this one to have gotten big enough that it was a large, black blot in the sky even from miles off... it has to be old.'
'It has to be dangerous.'
'There's no shame in running away from something like this. After all, I'm not a hero yet. I haven't mastered One For All yet. I haven't even been accepted into Beacon yet.'
'I'm not a real Huntsman yet…'
"I know."
It's all he can really say. He knew that what Pyrrha was saying was what made the most sense rationally.
And yet there he went, sprinting off towards the Nevermore, a terrified expression on his face and a dawning horror on hers as she saw him take off.
"Izuku!"
"I know you're right! I know we should run... but that thing, it's circling something! It's looking for people... and we can't just leave them to it!"
'After all, it was like Toshinori said…'
'It's a Huntsman's job to run toward danger,' his hero's voice spoke from the back of Izuku's mind, 'To risk everything to save people. It's the true essence of the job. When an innocent voice cries out, we rise to the call!'
He knew that Pyrrha would in no way be wrong to make a break for the ruins, to leave him to what most people would consider a suicidal charge...And he was glad when, an instant later, he heard her footsteps quickly fall in behind his. As he ran, he desperately tried to contain the tears that threatened to well out.
"So... what's the plan?" She asked, sounding somewhat nervous, as he pushed his body as hard as it could go. Ten months of training and newly infused Aura pushed his body to limits he didn't even know existed within him, all the while keeping his eyes on the Giant Nevermore as it circled in the sky, cawing out as it swooped... before rising back up into the sky, a loud shriek accompanying the gesture.
"The plan is we find whatever it's chasing... and hope that they're still okay by the time we arrive. When we figure out who we're working with... well, we'll make a plan then." He knew it probably didn't sound reassuring that he didn't have much of a plan going into this... but... he supposed there was one option.
One For All.
Izuku swallowed a nervous lump in his throat as it came to mind. Toshinori had been clear; the ten months of training had gotten Izuku far but there was no way his body was anywhere near ready to handle the kind of backlash One For All could send back through him. He wouldn't die or lose all his limbs... but it wouldn't be pretty. Toshinori didn't go into specifics, he suspected because his hero didn't want to completely keep Izuku from using it if he needed to... but the threat of what could happen was clear enough. Still as he heard the caw from so far in the sky above him, he couldn't help but wonder which was be the bigger threat to life and limb at this point.
It's took almost a quarter of an hour of running but eventually the Nevermore's position was close enough to their own that he could start to make out the fine details of the creature... and boy did he wish he couldn't. This thing was big for a Nevermore alright. It had definitely had time to grow up into this beast that flew above Izuku and Pyrrha. Panic momentarily set in on Izuku as he saw the creature begin to dive again; no, not now, not when they'd only just arrived. The arc was sharp as it dove for the forest canopy, whatever it was looking for clearly in its line of sight. He knew enough about Nevermore's to know what was next; the big ones especially like to launch their feathers off their body in order to try to pin in or, worse, pin down their prey. Judging by the opening of its wings, he'd think it-
A sudden roar of a pair of engines surged throughout the nearby forest as Izuku and Pyrrha flinched, eyes immediately darting towards the source of the noise. The Nevermore, likewise, seemed to screech in annoyance and arc back up in the air, not having released its payload of feathers. Though Izuku could only hazard a guess, he'd wager that whatever it was aiming for in that moment had likely quickly moved out of its line of sight. Pyrrha brought up her rifle and took careful aim but, with the Nevermore moving as fast as it was and with the altitude it was gaining, her attempt would be a potshot at its gut at best.
"Even if you aimed for the torso, Grimm are homogeneous. Your bullet wouldn't have much of an effect unless you aimed for the head." Pyrrha nodded as she switched her rifle back, for now. The roar of engines was still loud and ongoing in this part of the woods.
"If I had to wager a guess, I'd say that's our fellow would be student..." Pyrrha muttered and he nodded in agreement, his mind already racing for the identity of the student in question before either of them noticed him burning through the underbrush not even twenty yards away.
After all, there's only one student here Izuku knew of that would have access to Dust-Powered engines as part of their gear.
"Tenya!" He screamed over the sound of the engines, the helmeted visage of the Ingenium Armor turning toward Izuku.
"Izuku? Izuku Midoriya! Pyrrha Nikos as well?!" The response, first uncertain and then a mix of oddly relieved and worried met them as the flames gave out on the back engines of the armor, Tenya slowly grinding to a halt as the two approached the armored would-be Huntsman. "What are you two doing here?! Haven't you see the creature haunting the sky? The Nevermore could easily spot you two and then you'd be in terrible danger! You should've made a run for the ruins!" Despite this, Izuku could tell that Tenya was at the same time relieved to see a friendly face... or, well, that's what Izuku could tell about his gesturing. His voice was as stern and consistent as ever and the helmet made it hard to read his facial expression.
"We know... but... well, we couldn't just leave someone to deal with this thing on their own!" He declared unabashedly, to which Pyrrha nodded her full ascent. Tenya's body language flinched back for a second before, after a moment to recover, he bowed his head slightly.
"I suppose I shouldn't be turning my nose up at those who would potentially aid myself and my partner so readily. Thank you both... I apologize if my first reaction seemed ungrateful." There was a surprising unity between the tone of his words and his body's gesturing this time; still and open mixed with the appreciation that resonated in his words. Honestly, it made Izuku smile a bit.
"Speaking of, where is your partner? I haven't seen them." Tenya nodded his head vigorously and, before long, he's back to gesturing.
"This was part of our initial plan for dealing with the Nevermore; while the creature is quite fast in the air, Wind-Dust powered engines in the legs of my armor give me access to short bursts of great speed on the ground. Great enough that I can bait the Nevermore into attempting to dive for me before I speed off out of its line of vision... though, I'm afraid that my armor makes it quite easy for the bird of prey to spot me once again. In addition... well, the sudden change in direction and momentum that comes with these bursts of speeds leave my already ill-acquainted sense of direction with this region all the more out of position. I'm afraid I would get quite lost if left to my own devices. My partner suggested that she'd keep us on track through the forest, dipping in to put me back in the right direction before disappearing within the canopy again to stay out of the Nevermore's sight. Given that this would allow me to do my own work with avoiding the Nevermore and keep her in a safe position to keep us moving to the ruins, I thought this was a very suitable plan." Izuku nodded along slowly; the plan did make a lot of sense, given what the Nevermore would've been capable of, still...
"Your partner has to be pretty good at keeping out of sight for her to continually avoid being spotted out by the Nevermore."
"Eh, it's a bit of an acquired skill is all. Nothing that special." The three turned their heads up toward the canopy of the forest, Izuku's green eyes going wide with surprise and recognition as he spotted a, at least somewhat, familiar pair of amber eyes looking down at them.
"Blake!"
"Gotta admit, didn't think the first person I'd see after Tenya here would be you Izuku... but I won't complain." Her eyes turn toward Pyrrha as she raised an eyebrow. "Guessing your his partner?"
"Hello!" Pyrrha waved back as Blake nodded, before looking back toward Tenya.
"Anyway, the ruins aren't that far off from here; if we keep up this dead sprint, we should arrive within the hour... though, I think our plan might require a bit of changing now that these two are here." He blinked for a moment as Blake spoke, before a moment of realization hits him.
"Wait, so Blake, you and Tenya?"
"Indeed... while I would likely be able to carry you two with me for a while, the additional strain it would put on my engines and their current supply of Dust would likely falter before we hit the ruins." Tenya's helmet dipped to the side as he shakes his head. "My apologies; it was my own carelessness that caused the Nevermore to-"
"Not this again..." Blake shook her head as she looked over to Izuku and Pyrrha. "Tenya's 'carelessness' was that he didn't notice this thing sitting a couple miles away from us before it decided to wake up... and that the first thing it happened to spot was his armor. He's insisting that he should've seen this coming."
"Why of course! Izuku here earlier showed what good can be done for a Huntsman when he takes preparation and foreknowledge seriously! That I was not ready to account for such an occurrence in this test was a failing on my part."
"... I mean, Tenya, I'm not-"
"Trust me, it's better that you just leave it. He's... a bit incorrigible." Blake shook her head as she looked back up to the Nevermore which had, again, begun circling in the sky. "We should probably come up with whatever plan's going to get us to the ruins and quick. Won't be long before we're spotted out again."
"As much as I hate to say it... I think we have to fight it. The thing's too fast in the air for Pyrrha or I to have a realistic chance of running away from it ourselves, and it can spot us pretty well in the canopy as well... and I'd rather not test the limits of what you have left in your engine unless we have to Tenya." The blue haired young man nodded underneath his helm, his agreement unspoken. "Our best bet is to somehow clip it's wings and get it on the ground level... once there I think we stand a much stronger chance of going toe to toe with it. We don't have the sort of Dust or abilities that can forcibly pin it to the ground from down here... so we'll have to get someone up there."
"We only have one shot at this; the Nevermore's Grimm Anatomy means that any attempt by us to try to hit it with our guns or an impaling weapon isn't going to do nearly enough to break through... who knows how tough this Nevermore's feathers are with how old it is. The fact that there's technically nothing under there for those types of hits to disrupt... it means that if we really want to have a chance of crippling it, we need to cut it and cut it deep." He nodded as he looked around, Pyrrha most obviously having taken his words to heart most; if anyone was going to have a chance at crippling the Nevermore, it was her. "Tenya and I will distract it by continuing to draw it into diving us. When it gets low enough, we need you to get up there and clip its wings... it looks like it'd trying to maintain a distance of around a story or two above the treeline. It's trying to get its own best shot in... that's when we have to go for it."
"My Semblance might be able to help with that... I can create a shadow clone that we can jump off of mid-air. I can probably get her a bit more distance myself by acting as another platform... but we'd need something else to really get her up there." Blake muttered as she rubbed her chin. The idea sounded good, but like she said, they needed something a little more to get her into the proper position.
"My shield." Pyrrha relays, pulling Akoúo̱ from her back. "I can use my Semblance to give have it stay in the air above me. Once I jump from Blake, I'd be able to use it as a stepping stone in order to reach the Nevermore's wing." Blake nodded quickly as she reached a hand out.
"You'll follow in after my own jumps... I'll throw the shield up and then you can use it from there." Pyrrha nodded in agreement as she quickly handed the somewhat large shield to Blake, who turned back to Izuku.
"The plan after that is that you guys'll land somewhere quick while the Nevermore falls to the ground. Tenya and I will run up to you and start the fight, keeping it busy while you guys get back on solid ground and get everything back in order. We'll join up and finish it off afterward." Everyone nodded; the plan was sound enough to the group and for the gathered would-be hunters, it certainly beat trying to outrun the flying monster. With a mighty caw the Nevermore made its presence known again, the group looking back up to see it as it began to circle again.
"And if it looks like we 'can't' kill this thing by ourselves after all?" Blake asked, a slightly grim tone in her voice as Izuku take a shuddering breath.
"Then we make do with the fact that we got it down onto the ground in the first place and run for the ruins. Hopefully we'll get there before it can even think of getting airborne again. Once we do we can hopefully meet up with everyone else and, from there, we can work as a group to take it out. Hopefully there'll be folks there who're a little more suited to taking on a thing like this than us." Izuku admitted, somewhat sheepishly, as the others responded with quick affirmation. It's the best plan he had at the moment. If it went through, then they'd all just have to hope their legs could carry them.
Izuku could only imagine that the Nevermore was scanning the forest beneath it quite carefully for its prey. He and Tenya, the pair of you not even attempting to hide so as to help with this part of the plan, were readily found. Thankfully it seemed like it missed Pyrrha and Blake or, at the very least, it was more interested in the prey that was readily presenting itself to it rather than the prey that was hiding itself. With a mighty 'caw' the Nevermore gave one more circle and then began to dive. Izuku and Tenya ran for a bit to try to guide the trajectory of its dive, trying to give Pyrrha and Blake that perfect moment they needed to pull the plan off. Izuku barely spotted them himself amidst the canopy, the pair of them ducked down on the tallest branch they can find that will still hide them as they watched the Nevermore dive.
It's a sight to behold, he thought. Blake's the first one up off the branch, launching herself with a grace that even dwarfs what he had seen Pyrrha manage. From this distance he couldn't tell but, with a slight breath to hone her focus, a solid copy of Blake was formed right beneath her feet, Blake setting her feet on top of the copy of herself and propelling herself up even higher. At the height of her jump Blake tossed Akoúo̱ into the air, the shield spinning just a handful of feet away from the Nevermore as it dived. Pyrrha was soon to follow; though she initially seemed hesitant and, indeed, her leap into the air at first seemed like it was doomed to lose momentum before she could reach Blake's clone, a quickly tuck and roll gave her back enough control of her rise to see to it that she reached the first clone. With her own step she propeled herself up toward Blake who, then, cupped her hands together and set them underneath Pyrrha's feet. As Pyrrha jumped and Blake Belladonna threw her, Pyrrha was sent rocketing to her shield. She drew Miló next and, with a glare of determination, activated her Semblance. In the blink of an eye a black aura surrounded her shield, steadying the piece of metal in the air as Pyrrha took a solid step onto it.
The Nevermore, so dead set on Izuku and Tenya, hadn't even noticed Pyrrha and Blake. And now there she was; right behind it and its beating wings. She had even managed to position herself right behind where the weakest point would be; if she could cut there, if she could cut with just enough force... that would be enough to cripple it. And that would bring the avian monster crashing down to the ground.
Izuku held his breath as Pyrrha gave a mighty shout, two-handing Miló as she swung it down into the Giant Nevermore's wing.
He could hear it from even down here. The slicing of flesh as the Mecha-Shift weapon was driven into the meat of the Giant Nevermore. He could imagine the smile that formed on Pyrrha's face, it would've had to match his. She had met her mark and met it true! She had struck the Nevermore dead on!
But while the beating of the creature's wings halted, it hadn't become erratic and uncontrollable. Izuku watched in horror as the Nevermore's head cranes over, slowly but surely, until it's red eyes had Pyrrha in their sight. Pyrrha, hanging on by a bare thread with her blade as she looked back into the Elder Grimm's gaze, her own green eyes going wide in realization.
It hadn't been enough.
The Nevermore reached its wings back as far as they could go, the force of it being enough to knock Pyrrha loose from them. The creature had found a new target and one that it took personal offense to; a target that had managed to get up on it and attack its form. The creature screeched and and hollered horrifically as it gave a mighty beat of its wings, the beast trying to stop itself in mid-air, to halt its momentum, and quickly turn to face this foolish prey.
Something happened though. Something that the great old beast hadn't seen coming; with a geyser of black fluid, the creature's wing spasms from its wound, the gigantic Nevermore cawing out as it's movements in the air became erratic. For a brief moment Izuku dared to hope that it'll crash to the ground, that they all could collect Pyrrha before that creature could take back to the sky again and get out of there. But no... the creature's momentum stalled thanks to its wound but it was eventually able to force itself back into a glide, its red eye still on Pyrrha as she began to drop. It wouldn't let the opportunity pass it by... he could tell just by looking at it that as soon as it was able, it would turn on Pyrrha and try to tear her apart...
And she was stuck in the air.
Alone. Black was already been falling back towards the ground, the black haired young woman finding it easy enough to grab onto a tree branch to cease her fall. He saw her point Gambol Shroud's pistol up towards the Nevermore and, for a moment, he thought she might even dare to make the shot... but she hesitated.
She hesitated because if she missed, she could hit Pyrrha... and she's already got a world of trouble on her plate.
'Pyrrha's up there…,' the world stopped for a moment, 'because of my plan. I risked my partner's life, on this plan. I risked it instead of my own...because of the power that I can't cont-…'
...
"Tenya... get me up there, right now." The armored young man's head snapped over to Izuku, and the green Huntsman fanboy was sure that underneath that helm was a wide-eyed and disbelieving expression.
"Izuku! You can't possibly be serious! I couldn't just-"
"Get me up there or I'll get up there myself!"
Izuku's turned his head towards Tenya and... he could only imagine how he looked in that moment. Desperate? Terrified? He couldn't say for certain.
Whatever it is he saw, Izuku was surprised that it caused him to grab his hand as the engines roared to life.
"Then allow me to give you a hand." And soon enough Izuku was moving faster than he had ever thought he would in his life. This, this was the speed that the Iida family was famous for... or at least, a fraction of it. Tenya secured his hold on Izuku further, his hand clawing up to wrap around Izuku's bicep as Izuku's does the same. Both of their eyes are locked on tight to the Grimm as they rushed forward. Before long, Iida gave a loud roar and, with a mighty kick, jumped into the air, the force of his engines carrying him up as he did so. With a shout, and with the momentum of this behind both of them, Tenya tossed Izuku forward, Izuku's own muscles clenching to meet Tenya mid way as he pushed along with him. Izuku was sent rocking forward as he heard the sounds of Tenya's engines kicking off jump behind him, the stalwart student ducking quickly as he begun a hasty fall back to the ground.
As Izuku rocketed up he watched as Pyrrha tried to land one more desperate hit on the Nevermore's wing, but this one barely even clipped it; whatever that last swing had been was probably damn near the best he could hope for. Pyrrha's gaze turned round, likely expecting to try and find Izuku and Tenya on the ground... her green eyes went wide, shocked, as her eyes met his, only for Izuku to rocket past her toward the Giant Nevermore.
'Come on,' Izuku readied his fist, cocking it to lay into the great bird, 'Come on!' he searched deep within himself for the power that had so recently received.
...
'It feels... warm,' the energy that was rising from his core overwhelmed him at first. Soon it began to flow into his right arm, all the while, he kept his eyes locked on his target. He was getting closer, and he was starting to feel the wind flow over his skin as he approached.
'But,' he thought, 'I thought I had my long workout clothes on?'
There were sounds in the background, Pyrrha screaming, the engines sputtering as Tenya adjusted himself back to the ground, the background woosh of the Nevermore's wings flapping. But all of this had been so much white noise to Izuku's ears. All that mattered now was the power flowing into his fist. A power that he honestly couldn't describe. It's not his, and he can't control it, it almost feels like his arm is beginning to come apart at the seems, but…
'If I can just knock this thing down for long enough that it doesn't get to them,' the power was not his, but right now it was all he had, 'if I can just make up for my stupid plan putting them in danger, that'll be enoough. That is my job. That is my responsibility! That is the only way to be the Huntsman I need to be!'
In that moment he saw a flash of Toshinori in his mind, his ever present smile beaming forward. Izuku heard his parting advice... and for some reason, here and now, it resonated with him like it never had before.
'SO CLENCH YOUR BUTT CHEEKS, KID!'
'... and yell this from the DEPTHS OF YOUR HEART!'
"SMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!"
The explosion of wind wasn't like what he felt the day Toshinori appeared in his life. It wasn't as strong as the punch that had saved both Izuku and Bakugou and changed the weather on his account...
But Gods, it was still so intense. Izuku was practically thrown back by the impact after his fist landed on the Nevermore's torso. His green eyes tried to focus in on it, tried to find the enemy he had just devastated... only to realize, as the darkness around began to plummet away in large globs, that he could see the Nevermore everywhere. It's feathers had been blown all about the area and the body of the beast itself, rapidly dissolving as it plummeted towards the earth, was in about a dozen different pieces.
He didn't even need to look to know that Pyrrha was just 'staring' at him. Heck, he was fairly certain he even felt Tenya's and Blake's eyes on him too as he just floated there in the air for a moment.
"You…"
"What?"
"How?"
'Oh, that's right,' he suddenly felt the weightlessness that had so defined the past few seconds give way to the pull of gravity, 'I'm falling to my death.'
Before the scream could even tear itself from his throat he felt something impact him in the air. A quick glance around showed a wildly whipping waist-length ponytail as he heard the telltale signs of Pyrrha Nikos shifting her weapon into another form. She reached her arm out, coiled it around his waist, and before he even knew what was happening, Izuku found himself in the secure grip of his partner.
A loud 'bang' was audible shortly after and Izuku screamed for just a moment out of surprise. He and Pyrrha were soon carried by a strong momentum towards a nearby tree and, with a solid 'thud', Miló once again secured his position onto a tree.
It was that kind of day, it seemed.
He blinked a bit as he realized that the only reason he wasn't still falling was that Pyrrha still had a very solid grip on him. Turning his head up his green eyes met hers, wide with a mix of awe and stunned shock.
"Izuku... what, how, what did you do?"
"I... my Semblance is dangerous to use." The adrenaline was slowly starting to stop pumping through his body, allowing him a chance to actually gather his thoughts and think about his response. "I didn't want to use it but... you were in trouble. After following my plan! How could I leave my partner in the crossfire like that?" He took a few breaths as the panic finally left his system and he realized... the both of them were going to be alright. Because he had used One For All to destroy that Giant Grimm... in one punch!
Still, they weren't the only ones there. Izuku turned away from Pyrrha, who looked oddly touched at his sentiment, as he turned his head back to the ground. "Hey! Are you guys okay!?"
"... Are... are 'we' okay? Izuku! You just... and then the Nevermore... you're asking if we're okay?" Tenya seemed about ten different kinds of stunned if his body language was anything to go by, meanwhile Blake from her own tree branch just nodded, her ribbon moving in the breeze.
"What about you? You said your Semblance was dangerous... what did you mean?" Izuku blinked a couple times. It was a bit surprising that she could hear him from all the way over there but, then again, he had pretty much been yelling just then. This seemed to snap Pyrrha out of her own fog as she looked down at him.
"Yes, Izuku, what exactly did... you... GODS IZUKU, YOUR ARM!"
He turned his own eyes to look down at his arm and... holy woah. He didn't know quite what to expect when Toshinori warned him about One For All back lashing against him while in his current state but, seeing it now, he fully understood why he warned him ahead of time. His gauntlet hid most of the damage, but he realized that if his hand looked anywhere near as busted up as the knuckles of his gauntlet, then it probably didn't look all that good. The fact that his arm from all the way up at his shoulder down to where his hand disappeared into his gauntlet is bruised a light purple didn't raise much confidence either. Cautiously he reached a hand over to his gauntlet and slipped it off to confirm that the damage went all the way down.
He winced and sucked in air as he did so, the lack of adrenaline now allowing him to feel the full spectrum of pain that had previously hidden in the back of his mind. As he expected the damage did go all the way down to the tips of his fingers, themselves similarly bruised. He knew that every bone beyond his elbow is broken; he can just barely move any digit or part of his arm beneath that point and even trying produced a lot of pain. The skin around his knuckles was cut up and busted in places, though whether that was from One For All or his hand getting cut up by the pretty much ruined knuckles and fingers of his gauntlet he had no idea.
Well, even more reason to hope that he passed the Initiation now... it'd take a lot of the Lien he had left to actually fix up the fingers of Emerald Gust. Still, it looked like that was where the damage was its worst at least; the entire rest of the gauntlet actually held up pretty well, the steel having withstood the impact.
"Y-Yeah... I really don't have control over it yet so... this happens whenever I use it. Still, I had to..." Pyrrha just nodded slowly, still somewhat stunned by the entire flow of events she slowly scaled down the tree, carrying you in her arm as she did so.
"Hey. It's okay, I still have one goo-"
"You just broke your arm to kill a giant Grimm to save all of us... I won't hear a word of it." She sounded pretty certain of that too. Still, it was easy enough for Izuku to hit the forest floor and, soon after that, Blake and Tenya joined them at the bottom. Their reactions to the sight of Izuku's arm are equally mixed, Izuku thought; Tenya seemed to be on the one hand stunned at the length Izuku went to in order to fix this and relieved that he helped him in that toss, fearing what might've become of his legs if he hadn't helped, while Blake just seemed utterly blown away. She kept looking between Izuku and his arm and he saw that she just looked... puzzled. More puzzled than even a second ago when all she had to comprehend was that he one-punched a giant Grimm.
... That thought still hadn't sunk in entirely and wouldn't. There was other considerations to be had.
"Alright, you two are safe... that's what Pyrrha and I came here for... let's... let's start heading to the ruins. I'd rather not put anyone else at risk while I'm like this... I won't be able to fight as well."
"Put us at... are you for real?" Blake muttered under her breath as she stared at Izuku. Before he could answer Tenya just nodded.
"Yes of course, it isn't that far off now and we can hurry. Have no fear Izuku, if something were to happen I'd gladly have your back." The wild gestures of Tenya gave Izuku cause to smile as Pyrrha readily agreed with the sentiment. Blake was a bit slow on the uptake but, after a moment to collect herself, even she nodded her head in firm agreement. Izuku was glad when they all got off at a relatively quick pace; he'd really rather not put them at further risk of any Grimm attacking while his arm was like this. He was really not sure of how long it would take to fix.
'I mean, Aura is supposed to be able to heal wounds right? So now might be a good time to test it out.'
It turned out Tenya was right; the ruins weren't that far off. Izuku really wasn't surprised; when he and Pyrrha had been running at full tilt, Tenya and Blake had been doing their best in order to get to the ruins themselves. He was certain they would've made it there if they hadn't been under attack from the Giant Nevermore themselves. Apparently Blake had pretty much gotten the exact distance to the ruins herself as well and the pair had decided to take it slow going, much like he and Pyrrha had. While the four of them had taken it relatively easy and, amidst Tenya, Pyrrha and Blake conversation flowed, he focused his Aura into his right arm. It felt very warm but... well, by the time he arrived at the ruins he didn't actually feel that much progress yet.
When they do arrive... well... uh...
"What happened here?"
One Ursa was solidly frozen in place, the Grimm stuck in a sheet of ice; either it was dead and the ice was keeping it from dissolving or, perhaps worse, it was still alive and just couldn't move at all, not even its open eyes. Another Ursa was just finishing dissolving, its many pieces slowly disappearing. There were several scorch marks, impact zones and pieces of the dirt kicked up, likely from bullets having hit the ground scattered across the open terrain as well as the remnants of Beowolves, or at least their burning pieces, were dissolving into the air.
The students gathered, on the other hand, didn't look all that bad. Some looked pretty worn out but, for the most part, it seemed like everyone was fine. When Izuku had spoke up, however, nearly a dozen pair of eyes turned to see who had just walked into the clearing.
"BLAKE! IZUKU! PYRRHA! YOU GUYS ARE ALIVE!" Ruby Rose's high pitched voice echoed through the clearing and, despite Bakugou's roar for her to keep it down, she and the others ran over to them. He saw several familiar faces gathered in the group; Yang, Shoto, Weiss, Ruby and a reluctant Bakugou. There were a few faces that he hadn't met yet too; there was a boy around his age with black hair pulled back into a low-hanging pony-tail, with pink strip of hair hanging just off the side of his head, a girl with orange hair who had hefted a... large hammer across her shoulders with ease and, finally, a girl with long dark green hair who's somewhat large black eyes just peered curiously at his group.
"Miss Rose, please..." Weiss grumbled slightly before she turned to Izuku's group. "We were worried though; we had guessed that the Giant Nevermore had picked up on some group but... well, we all kind of had our own hands full here..." Weiss' description of events was quickly derailed as the orange haired girl suddenly jumped out of nowhere and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"A bit full? It was crazy over here! I didn't think we'd see another Ursa after the two Weiss and I had already fought in the forest, but Ren and his partner were nice enough to bring another one... they all broke though so that's still kind of a bummer..." She shook her head slightly as Weiss just seemed drained and defeated by the orange haired girl's energy.
"Please... get me away from her... Nora's insane..." Izuku blinked as he realized that Weiss and this girl, Nora, must be partners. He looked into Weiss's eyes for a moment, and saw some kind of void of pure exhaustion, and from that… a strange pity almost emerged.
The boy, referred to as 'Ren' just shook his head as he looked back to the four who had just arrived. "We would've stopped to deal with it ourselves but then the Nevermore appeared in the sky." Ren spoke in a very short, nearly monotone voice as he looked on at the group, Shoto just nodding in silent agreement. The two turned to face each other for a moment and while there seemed to be some silent conversation Izuku was not picking up on, the fact that these two were a team as well was evident.
Then they suddenly turned to look at everyone else. "In hindsight, it didn't make much of a difference; it was dealt with easily enough." Shoto finished as Ren nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, then my adorable little sis ended up barging in with her partner with about eleven Beowolves on their tail." Yang reached over and grabbed her sister in a headlock, much to Ruby's whines of displeasure. The scene brings a bit of a smile to Izuku's lips as Yang just pumped an arm. "But Beowolves ain't no thing to a group of hunters like us. Honestly, we were all more worried about the Nevermore than what was here... I guess you could say that the Beowolves were more Bark than-"
*THWIIIP-WHACK!*
"OW!" Yang let go of Ruby as she brought her hand to the back of her head, a slight wince on her face. Izuku was actually pretty stunned when he saw what had whipped Yang across the back of her hair; a long, prehensile tongue that, as it flew on back to its source, slipped back into the mouth of the girl with the long, dark green hair. Huh, a Frog Faunus. "Tsu! Stop hitting me every time I make an awesome joke!"
"Your puns barely qualify as jokes Yang, ribbit." 'Tsu' spoke with the end of her tongue just barely hanging out of her mouth. Honestly her vacant expression and the calm tone of voice she employed made it hard to tell how much she meant that to be taken seriously herself, but she didn't seem to dwell too hard on the matter as she looked at Izuku.
"So... Izuku right?" You nod a bit as 'Tsu' just tilts her head. "You alright there, your arm's... well, it looks terrible." He winced slightly as someone finally noticed, the rest of the group looking down at his badly bruised limb themselves. It was silent for a moment as everyone took in the sight.
...
"OH MY GOD, IZUKU, ARE YOU GOING TO DIE?!"
"WOULD YOU SHUT UP YOU RUNT, HE'S OBVIOUSLY NOT!"
"DON'T TALK TO HER LIKE-"
"GUYS!" It was finally Weiss Schnee who screamed out, causing everyone to stop panicking or shouting or talking as they all turned to look at her. The Schnee Company Heiress looked like she's had a 'long' day in The Emerald Forest. "Maybe we should stop SCREAMING at each other for JUST. ONE. MOMENT... and let these guys explain what happened." Everyone nodded slowly as Weiss spoke and, indeed, Pyrrha, Blake and Tenya immediately set into what happened.
Blake and Tenya described how they first came across the Nevermore but they seemed almost in a hurry to get past that part. Indeed, the story only really slowed down in its telling when it came to the plan... when it went into Izuku's use of One For All to kill the Nevermore in one hit, that's when it pretty much grinded to a halt as they talked about his Semblance. He tried to step in to assure everyone that it was fine but, well, Tenya's excited gesturing and recounting of the story, along with Pyrrha's deadly serious look, made it hard for Izuku's attempts to move past this pretty much useless. Even Blake spoke highly of what he had done, despite how little he himself thought of his actions. It was something he 'needed' to do in order to save them because he had put them in that spot in the first place, he really didn't see how it was admirable.
Though, it seemed readily apparent that just because he didn't think it was that big of a deal that everyone else was in ready agreement to the contrary.
"Holy cow, are you serious?!" Yang shouted as she reached forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "This guy? This guy right here who could barely step off that airbus without stuttering took down that gigantic friggin' thing all on his own?" She pointed at him with her other hand as she said this and, once again, he was pretty embarrassed to be in such close contact with a girl.
"I... honestly wouldn't believe it if there weren't so many people corroborating it but... I mean, when we saw the Nevermore just disappear from the top of the tree line suddenly, we hadn't imagined..." Weiss seemed utterly stunned as she spoke. Everyone else's reactions were on a line graph between those two emotions; some were just utterly surprised while the rest were completely flabbergasted and excitedly asking you questions.
The only person who didn't fit between those two responses was Bakugou.. he just stood back, giving Izuku a pretty odd look. After a moment Izuku winced and, before anyone can ask, they all heard the slight popping sounds coming from his arm. It was a bit weird to see as some bones shifted in place to get back into proper position and to see the bruising very slightly die down... but it did at least confirm that, given enough time, he could make his own progress healing his arm.
"SO COOL!" Ruby and Nora practically declared at the same time. Finally, he had enough of people making such a big deal out of this, his face thoroughly red, as he just scratched at his cheek.
"A-Anyway... if everything's really been taking care of, maybe we should actually pick up the relics from the ruins? Get this exam over with?" Everyone blinked slightly, as if only just now remembering the point of the entire ordeal. It gave him a laugh and he smiled as he looked over to the set of ruins set just outside of the forest itself. He took a deep breath and began to walk over there toward those ruins…
… and toward his future as a Huntsman.