Xerayn's Note- Warning, there's a graphic description of blood roughly at the start of the chapter, and mild swearing
"Right, we know there are a couple of people with hardening quirks. I guess my gun won't work then," Mustard sighed, his smoking gun still pointed at Tetsutestu, who had activated his metal quirk. "Doesn't really matter though, because in the midst of this gas, it's just a matter of time before you breathe your last."
Tetsutetsu stayed low as he covered his mouth and complained silently. A pistol? Seriously?! And he shot my mask right off… what's up with this pip-squeak? He's wearing a school uniform, surely he's our age or even younger.
The hero student launched in for another attack but got knocked back by another shot.
"Coming straight on, huh? And why're you just charging in like a madman? Give me a break," Mustard waved his gun around while aiming again. "You're barely worth killing."
But Kendo had came in for a sneak attack, and Tetsutetsu quickly took the bullet for Kendo. Kendo panicked while Tetsutetsu began to run out of breath. He tried to say to Kendo to retreat but it was badly muffled by his hand.
Mustard, however, was still monologuing to himself, just like a villain in movies would. He cackled manically, "It's two-on-one, so one of you decided to hide for a sneak attack? Ha! Simple, pitifully simple."
The purple gas, thick in the air and pulled on the feet, swirled around the young villain as he unveiled more information. "I'm creating this gas and controlling it! Every move you make creates ripples and tells me where you are! There's no hiding from me!"
Kendo looked over and worried over the still down classmate, whose eyes were furrowed, nearly closed. "Tetsutetsu, you're bleeding…"
"Why's that so unthinkable to you? You're from UA, so show me something more! Well, I guess I could forgive you for an attack like that, you are only first years…" Mustard said, completely invisible.
Kendo tried to find the source of the voice, but Tetsutetsu used it as an opportunity to launch another attack. He kept low to the ground and charged in, readying his other fist.
"Wait, you dummy…!" Kendo tried to stop, but she was too late.
"Fool." Mustard said shortly with bite, as he reappeared briefly and shot him again.
Tetsutetsu kept his head down and in a defensive guard, as he fought to regain his balance. The gas around him hid his fellow classmate, and he was really struggling to not take a breath.
"It seems that you're softer than before. Is that metal skin losing its edge? Isn't it getting hard to breathe? How long will you last? How much longer can you steel yourself?" Mustard taunted in the shadows. He positioned his gun and fired again at the hardened student.
"Simple hardening types like you often end up as physical brawlers. Guys who rush in without thinking. Hey," Mustard reappeared as he pondered, "aren't you supposed to be heroes someday? It doesn't make much sense to me, how a simpleton like you gets praised because of your school's reputation…"
Another shot was fired, and another. Tetsutetsu was on the ground, enraged at the words of the villain, but could do nothing about it.
Mustard continued. "You're pampered by the world just because of your school! Don't ya think it's not right?!" He kicked Tetsutetsu away easily.
"Damn…" Tetsutetsu could only mutter quietly as his vision began to blur. He was finally running out of air, and was going to pass out in seconds.
"Tetsutetsu!" Kendo launched towards Mustard, hand outstretched.
"Like I said, I can detect your every move." He stated calmly.
But Kendo activated her quirk and her hand instantly grew, hitting Mustard and knocking him back.
"Just reading our moves isn't enough! Don't look so smug over your lame quirk!" Kendo shouted, all fired up as she enlargened her other hand and began to create a tornado effect from waving them about. "Whether a quirk is lame or not depends on how you use it!"
How?! The gas is blowing away… Mustard thought as he braced himself.
"YOU'RE the fool, Mr school uniform. Carrying a gun around is just another way of saying you've got no confidence in a fight. Because at least us simple minds at UA…" Kendo began to say.
"Why, you…" Mustard aimed again, this time at Kendo. But he noticed Tetsutetsu launching an attack from the back. He tried to dodge but it was to no avail.
He braced for impact in that split moment as Kendo finished her speech. "…Have grown beyond the point of ever thinking that there's no hope!"
But then a weapon slotted in between Tetsutetsu and Mustard, and Tetsutetsu got launched backwards, landing close to Kendo. Kendo gasped and Mustard frowned, spinning around to see his saviour.
"Urgh, you really could not deal with two students by yourself? How pitiful. Guess Dabi was right after all." Seeker said in a monotone voice.
Everything stood still, while Seeker slowly moved Void Gear into a more advantageous position. Tetsutetsu was gasping for air rapidly while the deadly purple gas was thin, almost non-existent, and Kendo stood with a panicked expression as she observed.
"What do you mean?! They just caught me off guard, that's all! I don't need your help at all, go back to torturing that person you've been looking for." Mustard spat back at Seeker.
"Right now, there are much more pressing issues. I'll have my fun after I finish my job here," Seeker stepped forward towards the two students who shuffled into a battle stance. "After all, you've messed up your part so spectacularly."
Vanitas pointed his keyblade forward, and aimed it from student to student, smiling cruelly. "Eeny, meeny, miny, mo. Who will be the first to go?"
"Who are you anyway?!" Tetsutetsu shouted in the midst of his fear.
"Hmm… you can call me Seeker, if you'd like. Although I doubt you'll survive after this to say to anyone." He stopped on Kendo and tensed.
"That's enough!" Mustard put his hand out to stop Seeker, who scoffed. "I can deal with them myself! I don't need you babying me. Especially since we're of a similar age."
"What…?" Kendo whispered.
"It doesn't matter who's facing us, just fight already!" Tetsutetsu ran in and attacked again, doing an uppercut to Mustard's mask, cracking it to bits.
Kendo took advantage of the situation and ran in too, enlargening her hands at the last moment and tried to take down Seeker. He however dodged easily and placed his keyblade high into the sky, pointing towards Kendo.
He was distracted, and yet managed to dodge my attack… his instincts are amazing. Kendo thought but got interrupted as Seeker seemingly appeared behind her. A teleportation quirk?!
"Don't get in the way, and I won't fight you. You are of no interest to me, however my 'teamates' may frame it that way." Seeker said lowly in her ear before slashing her three times, leaving small cuts.
Kendo groaned as the wounds stung, but tried to bite back the pain. She looked up to see Tetsutetsu had knocked Mustard out and he was on the ground, cheek bruised- but more importantly, Seeker walking calmly over to Mustard.
"You had potential. So much wasted potential. But you squandered it, relied on your power too much. Got too confident in your weak abilities," Seeker said calmly, but it had undertones of promised violence. "You had your opportunity, but it was pointless to give you one. You don't deserve to be with us anymore."
Kendo's eyes widened as Seeker raised his blade over Mustard's heart. She struggled to get up and tried to stop Seeker but she was too late.
"Truly a weak link, Mustard. Goodbye, and thanks for your service." Seeker said without emotion as he stabbed his weapon deep within Mustard's chest. Seeker twisted and cleanly pulled the weapon out, a snapping sound being heard. He tutted at his bloodied weapon before walking silently away.
Kendo and Tetsutetsu looked on, shell-shocked and traumatised, completely still with wide, uncertain eyes. The blood trickled out onto the ground, creating a small lake onto the ground and painting the shards of Mustard's old mask. The purple gas finally dissipated in the area, and the battle in that part of the forest ended in still silence.
Todoroki formed another glacier of ice using his feet to try and stop the villain Moonfish, as he shifted his grip on an unconscious Class B student, Kosei Tsuburaba. But the villain used his metal-like extendable teeth to smash the ice, gradually weakening their defense. Moonfish was bound tightly, with only his mouth visible in the black cloth. But he was overpowering the two easily.
"I can't get close to him! Guess I have no choice but to blast him to hell with full power!" Bakugo shouted angerly as Todoroki added more ice to their shield.
"No!" Todoroki shouted, left side gaining more frost.
"If the trees catch fire, just cover 'em with your ice!" Bakugo screamed back.
"An explosion would block our field of vision! What happens if it doesn't finish him off? He's got us beat in both range and firepower!"
"There! I see ice. They must be fighting!" An unknown voice shouted in the distance, freezing both sides of the battle momentarily.
"…Huh?" Moonfish managed to say.
Out came Shoji with Midoriya on his back, the two running from carnage behind them.
"Flesh…" Moonfish creepily said as he focused on the two new individuals.
"Bakugo! Todoroki!" Shoji yelled. "One of you, please give us some light!"
Tokoyami's quirk, Dark Shadow, saw Moonfish and crushed him with one enormous claw. It writhed and swirled as Tokoyami fought with himself to restrict Dark Shadow and keep it contained. Todoroki and Bakugo stood watching in shock before Midoriya shouted.
"Kacchan!" He said in relief.
"Shoji, Midoriya, and Tokoyami?" Todoroki frowned, confused.
"Give us some light, quick! Tokoyami's on a rampage!" Shoji snapped the two out of the daze as he continued to dodge.
Dark Shadow attacked again, and Shoji barely carried Midoriya and him to safety. Ice shattered underneath, the shards flying everywhere.
"Attacking indiscriminately. A good fire should-" Todoroki began to say.
"Wait moron." Bakugo stated surprisingly calmly.
Moonfish began to pull himself up by his teeth, making an awful grating sound against the rough dirt. Dark shadow noticed the movement and began to float over to the supervillain.
"Fleshhhhh… no good. Flesh. Need flesh. No good. No good. Can't forgive you. I'll be the one to see those boys' innards! Do not snatch my prizes!"
Moonfish was fully up, and he used his other teeth to try and launch a counter attack. The jagged metal pierced through Dark Shadow, but it did nothing but enrage the sentient quirk. It growled before grabbing Moonfish and slamming him through multiple trees, until he landed against another trunk, where he stopped moving. Moonfish's teeth were completely torn out, as well as some of the belts around his head were ripped open too. Bakugo watched with a smile as Moonfish was eliminated in a minute by his classmate.
Dark Shadow came back to the group as he writhed and screamed for more vengeance and rage. But Todoroki and Bakugo quickly stepped in and with the increase of light, Dark Shadow retreated back into Tokoyami.
"Ah…"
"I'm your worst possible matchup, see…" Bakugo said while keeping his explosions going.
Tokoyami looked confused before remembering the Sports Festival a few weeks prior, where he had to fight Bakugo and lost. "Thank you. I'm saved."
"We were struggling just to survive against that guy, but in an instant you…" Todoroki stated in slight amazement.
"You okay Tokoyami?" Shoji asked.
"Shoji… I'm sorry. You too Midoriya. My spirit is still lacking," Tokoyami criticised, "The moment your spare arm went flying, I gave in to the rage and unleashed Dark Shadow. It was the deep darkness of the night, along with my own anger. They combined to spur him into a frenzy, but then he grew beyond my control and wound up injuring you, Shoji…"
"Save that for later." Shoji stated, before Midoriya jumped in.
"Right! We know that one of the villains' main targets is Kacchan. Him and Sora. " Midoriya shouted, still on Shoji's back.
"Bakugo and Sora…? They're after them? But why?" Tokoyami got up.
Shoji explained. "Not sure… at any rate, Vlad King and Mr Aizawa are both at camp. Having two pro heroes there probably makes it the safest spot around."
"Sora carried Kota over to camp earlier, he should still be there." Midoriya reasoned.
"I see. So our mission is to safely deliver Bakugo to camp."
"But last I saw, the Pussycats were fighting villains in the clearing. We're sure to get spotted by those villains and take the path, so let's cut through."
Bakugo stood in the middle of the discussion, looking blankly at his fellow classmates.
"But we're not sure how many villains there actually are. They could still pop up anywhere."
"That's where Shoji's sensing abilities come in! We've also got your ice, Todoroki- and if it's all right, Tokoyami, there's still Dark Shadow, which we can control now. A lineup like this might even give All Might a scare!" Midoriya said with confidence.
"What the hell is all this about?!" Bakugo yelled.
"You stay in the middle of the group." Todoroki calmly explained.
"No one's protecting me, you extras!" Bakugo protested.
"Let's move."
Ochaco Uraraka was in the centre of the path, holding her arm as the shirt underneath began to turn red. Tsuyu Asui was beside her, focused on the enemy ahead and one arm protectively holding Uraraka back.
"Is your arm ok Ochaco?" Tsu asked, voice steady.
Uraraka nodded slightly.
"Mm… mmm… too shallow. Not enough!" A blonde haired villain with two messy buns either side of her face decided after looking at her knife. She wore a school uniform underneath a mask and other bizarre equipment- including a lot of small knives and daggers.
"What kind of jerk comes out swinging with a knife like that?" Tsu continued.
"I'm Himiko Toga! And you two are real cute," She began to wave her knife about. "Uraraka and… Asui."
"They know our names…" Uraraka whispered.
Tsuyu responded in a low voice back. "From the Sports Festival, probably… people found out a lot about us then. Puts us at a disadvantage."
Toga reached behind his back and switched something on. "But so little blood is no fun. Usually with a good wound… I can suck it all out…" Toga began to make slurping noises before pulling out another weapon, this time a nuzzle. "With this machine, a little cut's all I need to drain you dry. Makes my job sooo easy.
"So I'm gonna stab you."
Toga launched into action, low to the ground and straight for the two girls. Uraraka panicked, but Tsu wrapped her tongue around Uraraka's body and launched her into the air, away from the danger.
"Run back to camp. Getting permission to fight didn't mean we should beat the villains. It meant that we should protect ourselves. That's the kind of guy Mr Aizawa is." Tsu explained.
"You too, Tsu!" Uraraka shouted back.
"Of course me too-"
"Tsu," and Toga sliced into her tounge. "Tsu. Little Tsu. Cute name. Imma call you that too."
"Cut it out! Only people who are my friends can call me that!" Tsu tried to run away but her long hair got caught by Toga's machine nozzle, trapping her by a trunk.
"Ooh. Well, guess that makes us friends! Yay!" Toga beamed even brighter.
"Tsu!" Uraraka slid to the ground but then ran towards the battle again.
"You're bleeding already, Tsu, my good friend!" Toga walked over and got too close to the young student to be comfortable. "Isn't blood cute? I love it sooo much."
"Get away from her!" Uraraka shouted.
Toga launched her knife at Uraraka who dodged underneath. She went through the words that was drummed into her when she did her internship with the pro hero Gunhead. As she remembered the words, she did the actions too.
Against a knife wielding opponent, spin on one leg and vanish from the opponent's line of sight. Grab the wrist and nape of the neck. Press down hard! And yank! Gunhead Martial Arts!
Uraraka kept Toga to the ground as she looked up to her classmate. "Tsu, get her hands with your tongue! Tie her up, can you do it? You hurt?"
"That was awesome, Ochaco…! Gimme a second with the tongue."
"Ochaco… you're cute," Toga said, startling Uraraka. "You've got the same scent as me. There's someone you're crushing on."
Uraraka frowned but said nothing back.
"…And you're thinking you wanna be just like him. I can tell. One girl to another." Toga blushed.
What? How'd she…?
"Of course you wanna be like the one you love. It's natural. So you end up decking yourself out to look like him, or her, or them. But after enough time, even that's not enough. You literally want to become him. There's no helping it."
Toga's smile came more demonic as she slowly began to push the nozzle into Uraraka's bare leg. Meanwhile Uraraka did not notice, so distracted by what Toga was saying.
"So what's your type? I lo-ove tattered guys reeking of blood. That's why I always carve people up in the end. Right, Ochaco? It's fun, right? A good romance is so much fun!"
Uraraka winced in pain as blood was sucked up into Toga's machine. Toga was in some sort of trance, as she kept on muttering the words 'suck suck'.
"Ochaco?!" Tsu tried to reach out with her tongue but it still was not fully recovered from the cut.
The bushes rustled nearby, and Shoji, Midoriya, Todoroki and Tsuburaba entered onto the main path. They exclaimed shouts of surprise before Toga shot up, nozzle retracting, knocking Uraraka off her feet and running into the forest.
"Oh. Darn," She said dejectedly, looking back at the group of students. "There are too many now, and I don't feel like dying. Bye bye."
But Toga's eyes widened at the sight of Midoriya, who somehow completely beaten up but still conscious. She did not stop for long though before disappearing away.
"Wait-!" Uraraka tried to run after her but Tsu, now back onto the ground, stopped her.
"Careful. We've still got no clue what her quirk is."
The two different groups met up and began to exchange information.
"Who was that girl?"
"A villain. She was nuts."
"Uraraka, you're hurt!"
"I'm fine. I can walk, anyway… but look at you, Deku!"
"This is not time to stand around. Let's keep moving." Todoroki interrupted.
"I'm just glad you two are ok…" Midoriya said. "Oh, I know! Come with us! We're guarding Kacchan and heading for camp."
"Huh? Guarding Bakugo?" Uraraka frowned.
"Then where is he?"
"Huh?"
When everyone turned around, sure enough, Bakugo had disappeared without a sound. The straight path was barren, except for the trees standing guard on either side and the mud underneath being a mix of wet and bone dry.
"Looking for him?" A masculine voice said, behind the group and perched on a tree branch.
He was mysterious, wearing a long yellow coat, a dark orange to red garment underneath with redder gloves to match, and long elegant white boots. He wore a black top hat with a black and white mask covering his face, and also used a white walking cane too- more for fashion than practicality.
"I've taken him. With my magic. He's not a resource that belongs on the heroes' side. We're going to put him on a stage where he can really shine." He elaborated.
"What? Give him back!" Midoriya shouted and kept on repeating.
"'Give him back'? What an odd thing to say. Bakugo doesn't belong to anyone." The villain fiddled with blue marbles in his hand.
"Move!" Todoroki barely warned before he shot ice up at the villain.
He simply jumped to another branch and continued his 'speech'. "We're just a bit fanatical when it comes to our values. All we wish to show him that there are… other ways. Because you kids today, you have your values chosen for you, from the very start."
Shoji glanced backwards quickly, to the straight path. "It's not just Bakugo… Tokoyami's gone too!"
"There was no need to even confront us… he's mocking us." Todoroki realised.
"Sorry for my bad habit," the villain continued as he continued fiddling with his marbles in his hand, "I'm an entertainer at heart. Taking Tokoyami was just a bit of ad-libbing. Moonfish… old 'Bladetooth' as he was known in prison. Even a natural-born homicidal maniac like him, was handily trampled by your rampaging friend, so I decided to take him too!"
"YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM, YOU JERK!"
"Calm down, Midoriya."
Todoroki launched into action once more. "Uraraka, take care of him!" He gave Tsuburaba to Uraraka as he ran in to battle and launched a massive glacier of ice.
The villain flipped over the ice attack with ease. "Sorry, but deception and running away are actually my only specialties! I can't go toe-to-toe with heroes in training," Mid-air he tapped his ear and communicated to the rest of his villain group. "Vanguard Action Squad! The target has been successfully captured! Short though it was, our mission has come to an end! As planned, be at the evacuation point within five minutes of this transmission!"
"They're done here…?" Uraraka frowned.
"Wait- does that mean they got Sora, too?!" Midoriya exclaimed.
"Not going to happen! You're not getting away!" Todoroki yelled.
"They're after our friend! Please let us out there!" Kirishima tried to persuade, at the evacuation spot.
"Absolutely not." Vlad King stood guard at the door.
"Given that the villains' numbers are unknown, wouldn't any extra help on our side be beneficial?" Iida pointed out.
"Mr Aizawa himself told us to fight!" Kirishima pointed out.
"Only in self-defence. Everyone should be making their way back here." Vlad King said, but looked quickly at the door, where a click was heard.
"Mr Aizawa must be back. Let's just ask him then!" Kirishima continued.
"Wait, that's not-"
Vlad Kind pushed all the students down, as his back felt the heat of blue flames. The door and glass exploded into shards, while smoke briefly came into the room. It quickly dispersed as the blue flames became concentrated around a figure.
"Isn't that the villain who was already beaten?!" Mineta pointed out.
He was right. The villain, whose name was Dabi, came out of the flames, grinning darkly. He was the same villain who Aizawa had beaten into a pulp earlier, but he was back. He reared up his right hand with more flames but was too slow, as Vlad slammed Dabi into the wall, activating his quirk and solidifying his blood into a crystal prison.
"Blood Control… he's so strong! That's our teacher for you!" Monoma bragged.
"Why not get cocky? You're playing right into our hands. The second you lost the initiative signalled your defeat." Dabi coldly said.
Vlad King said nothing as Dabi continued. "You've got the top hero training academy, UA, and the Symbol of Peace, All Might. The two most trusted foundations of our hero based society. But now one mess after another is shaking that trust… First, the attack on the USJ. Then, Hosu. The mall as well, though that was more of a happy accident. Don't you think that loss of faith will spread like wildfire throughout society? Think about it. How your careless administration keeps allowing attack after attack. You're so weak! You couldn't even stop a criminal organisation from abducting your students."
"You- did you…?! Bakugo and Sora…?!" Kirishima trailed off.
"So that's how it is?! Don't mess with us! This is gonna hurt!" Kaminari sparked some electricity between his fingers.
"Take a look. Just a few of us have driven you lot into a corner." Dabi said.
"It's no use Vlad."
Aizawa kicked Dabi's head to the ground as he entered the room, slamming him into the ground and turning him into gloop onto the ground. Aizawa pounded the ground again and again and again until nothing remained.
"He's just here to rile us up. We won't get any intel out of him."
"Mr Aizawa!" Kaminari smiled.
"See? He's just a fake. I already dealt with one." Aizawa finally stopped slamming his foot to the ground, but that was more to do with his foot becoming stuck in the liquid-gloop than anything else.
The two teachers began to confer with one another about what they've been doing, while Kota wandered back into the room after needing to go to the toilet.
"Did a fight happen in here or something?" He muttered to himself before sitting ontop of one of the desks at the back of the room.
Aizawa was getting ready to leave again but Vlad stopped him. "Hang on Eraser, who knows how many more of them might attack here?"
"You can handle it alone, Vlad. Look at this fake. He's tried the same trick twice now. I'm pretty sure those aggressive attacks were meant to keep us pros focused on this spot. It was a strategy designed to make us worry, despite their lack of numbers." Aizawa calmly explained.
"If there're so few of them, then we should be out there!" Kirishima protested.
"Indeed! They can't beat us with our numbers advantage!"
"No," Aizawa looked back at the students. "You'd get in our way, and besides, they're targeting students. We know about Bakugo and Sora. There could be others too. We're overwhelmingly short on intel. In order to win, we've just gotta make sure everyone stays safe."
A little earlier
Sora was running through the forest, towards the noise up ahead. He had Kingdom Key out, a large risk, but it was the most effective way to activate flowmotion and to cut down any shrubbery that might slow him down. Up ahead, voices were heard, and it was the only indication of what direction Sora should be heading. But they were getting increasingly more emotional, more like shouting than talking, and it made Sora anxious. So flowmotion was deployed and caution was thrown out of the window.
He slid to an abrupt stop, dust being kicked up and a little bit of mud now clinging to Sora's shoes. Sora breathed hard and long as several unversed were skittering in the same direction, all towards the same commotion Sora was trying to reach. However, the unversed- nearly all of the flood variety, but there was some archravens too- turned towards Sora slowly.
"Not so fast!" Sora exclaimed as he readied his keyblade.
He was not going to let these monsters find any of his friends- any of the heroes, anyone at all- he was going to make sure that nothing worse happens, and make sure Vanitas was ok. He was going to help his friends after this fight, and then find Vanitas and help him, too, and then he was going to find a way back home. Simple.
Sora tiredly sighed at the mental list before his gaze hardened.
He activated flowmotion again and shot towards one of the two archravens. He flipped in the air, kicking the archraven in the process, before swiping at it with his keyblade. At the end of his combo he lost momentum and began to fall to the ground, but not before slamming the archraven down with him. The archraven created a small creator which hit some of the floods first, before Sora came in with a similar attack, which decimated the rest of the floods. The archraven was on its last legs by this stage, and while flying about, slightly dazed, Sora did one last swipe and down it fell, disappearing into particles of darkness.
He looked around to try and find the other archraven but it was nowhere to be found. He also thought he missed one flood too, but there was not any more unversed about.
Maybe I miscounted? It's definitely possible… Sora pondered, but he snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a scuffle nearby.
He unsummoned his keyblade and quickly ran towards the sounds of a battle. He stopped at the edge of a path, still in the undergrowth, to see Uraraka pinning down a blonde girl, and Tsu hanging against a tree trunk. He was about to run in and help, but a rustling nearby caught his attention.
"Huh-"
"Night night." An unknown voice said coldly before Sora got hit with something hard.
Everything spun, before turning as black as the night sky.
"Hey, Dabi you hear that message? Pretty exciting. Mr Compress sure got the job done quickly, huh?" "He took his sweet time, though! I'm getting sleepy over here." Twice talked idly.
"Enough of that. He did well for us. Now we just wait for everyone to get here. This spot was supposed to be concealed by a wall of flame and gas, but the gas seems to have cleared. Seeker stepped in, then. Now we can't go with the original plan…" Dabi sighed.
"Damn right! Just as planned." Twice waved his arms behind Dabi.
Nearby, Aoyama was crouching behind a bush, Hagakure and Jiro at his feet. He was sweating like mad, hand over his mouth, while he looked over to the two villains nearby.
Dabi heard rustling and looked over to the bush, apparently seeing Aoyama. But Dabi quickly looked back as Seeker returned to the meeting spot via a portal he made himself.
"You're early!" "Why didn't you arrive earlier?!" Twice greeted Seeker.
"Hello to you to. We got what I was looking for?" Seeker coldly glanced at Dabi, and Aoyama became even more petrified.
"Apparently. Dunno why you want to play with him so much, but I'm not in a position to question."
"I've already told you all I need to. Maybe one day you'll understand." Seeker shortly responded, ending that conversation.
"Hey, Dabi! This is totally unimportant, but sure you don't gotta call back that Nomu?" "They said he only reacts to your voice, right? Seems pretty freaking important!" Twice butted in.
"Ah, damn. You're the one who reminded me to use it in battle."
Seeker leant against a tree and closed his eyes. "What's a Nomu again?"
"You forgot already idiot? It's a superpowered monster with multiple quirks that our gracious leader blessed us with. And I have my own personal monster."
"Crap! Crap! Craapp!" Yosetsu Awase shouted, Yaoyorozu being melded to his arm and swinging low to the ground.
"Little Kitty." The Nomu seemingly talked back. He was an imposing figure, large and wearing a creepy mask- never mind that he had several chainsaws coming out of his back.
"Yaoyorozu! You still alive?! Hey! You gotta run! They're after us!"
Yaoyorozu winced in pain as her black hair went into her face. "I'm sorry…Awase…I-I'm ok!"
"Crap! Damn it! What's going on?! What the hell is all this?!"
Awase tripped, and ran out of breath at the same time, plunging him to the ground. He shielded Yaoyorozu with his body as one of the chainsaws was aimed straight for him. He closed his eyes and waited.
And braced for impact.
And waited.
"Uh…?" Awase opened his eyes to see the chainsaw getting retracted back.
The Nomu repeated 'Little Kitty' again before stomping away, the chainsaws completely gone from his back.
"What now? Why's he leaving?" Awase frowned in slight relief.
Yaoyorozu began to shuffle as she seemed to be thinking hard. She activated her quirk and handed over a small button.
"Awase…use your quirk on this! Put it on him!"
"What? A button?"
"Quickly!" Yaoyorozu pleaded. "He's getting away."
Awase frowned but used his quirk, welding, on the Nomu's back, sticking it on him. He ran back to safety as he began to shake.
"It's on him, ok? But no more. This is too scary."
"Good. Let's get out of here."
Xerayn's Notes 16 (how is it that many?!):
Merry Christmas everyone! Nothing like a possible kidnapping and the darkest chapter for Christmas Day. We only have a little bit more to go to cover the entire Summer Camp- but the next bits are real game changers :D
But since it's Christmas, I felt I owed you guys something. So have the LOV doing something I didn't get to do this year. Also, just before I go, Happy Hanukkah and just in case, Happy New Year too!
The League of Villains meandered around their base, figuring out what to do. They were told to stay low and wait for further instructions, but that was from Shigaraki several hours ago. Now, silence was resting in the bar, as the villains stared awkwardly at one another. The only sound was the occasional squeak of Kurogiri cleaning glasses behind the bar.
Toga frowned and pouted at the display before lighting up. "This is so not cute. I know! Let's do a Secret Santa or something!"
"A Secret Santa?" Seeker questioned.
"It's the middle of summer Toga, not Christmas time." Dabi deadpanned.
"I know, I know, buuuut. Icebreaker! It'll be fun! Something to do! Who's in?'
"Might as well," A lizard called Spinner spoke up.
"Nothing better to do, I suppose." Another villain called Magne added.
"Why bother with things like that?" "A great idea, let's do it right away!"
And like that, everyone gradually came to a consensus- more out of boredom than anything else. Rules were established, and time limits set. Everyone had to get one item, no more than ¥1,600, by the end of the day. It had to be something that your person would possibly like, and not just something random. Pieces of paper with their names on them were put into Mr Compress' hat, and each villain took out a random name. This was the order:
Toga: Mr Compress
Dabi: Spinner
Twice: Magne
Seeker: Toga
Magne: Dabi
Spinner: Kurogiri
Mr Compress: Seeker
Kurogiri: Twice
"Remember to meet up here before 5PM! Then we'll hand the gifts out to another." Toga said as she left the bar, skipping.
Every member left the bar, except for Seeker and Kurogiri. Seeker looked at his hand where he was gripping his piece of paper, as still as a statue on a calm day. Kurogiri set down the last glass he was cleaning and walked over to the young boy.
"Are you ok Seeker? Do you require a lift to any place? I know that you sometimes struggle with your own portals."
"I'm fine." Seeker said in a neutral tone, but his shoulders were hunched as if he needed to do something unpleasant.
"If you say so." Kurogiri went to leave.
"Wait."
"Yes?"
"Nothing."
Seeker left in his own portal shortly after.
Everyone was back at the base three hours later, with their gifts in either bags or badly wrapped. Some people, like Seeker, had much more trouble than others finding gifts, and Spinner looked like he went through a war. But other than that, all the presents were in a pile in the centre of the room with each villain's name on it.
"And… time! Find your gift!" Toga yelled with joy.
Seeker reached the pile of gifts first, and frowned as he saw that in the large gift bag addressed to him, there was a tiny present at the bottom. He pulled it out to see it was a standard pack of cards, and he looked at Mr Compress. "Really?"
"Now you can learn to have as much magic and grandeur as moi. A perfect gift, wouldn't you say?"
"I guess. I used to have a coworker who liked cards, at least." Seeker grumbled.
"Oh? How interesting." Mr Compress continued the conversation as he opened a pair of new gloves from Toga.
Meanwhile, Spinner, Twice and Magne were huddled together in their own corner of the bar, sitting at a table together. Twice had gotten a new packet of cigarettes, to his joy (and hatred), Magne received a keyring of a magnet and Spinner received a set of kitchen knives. They pocketed their items and were now just chatting idly amongst themselves and watching the chaos from afar.
Dabi had one look at his gift but quickly turned his back on the rest of the League. Instead he ordered a drink from Kurogiri who also did not like his gift too much. They quietly voiced their complaints to each other in comradery.
Toga was the only one by herself, and she became extremely giddy. She skipped over to Twice and shoved a packet of old bath bombs in his face.
"Look! Look! I got bath bombs! BATH BOMBS!"
To the side, Seeker bowed his head slightly in relief. He had no idea what he should get, or what he even lifted was. Not that he would say anything.
To put it briefly, when Shigaraki walked back into the room, he yet again walked into chaos.