Hello again everyone! I hope you all enjoyed last week's chapter covering the first third of the Son of Justice take on the Heroes: Rising movie, because it's only going to keep growing bigger and bigger from here. I can only hope it meets your expectations. Please let me know your honest thoughts in either a personal message or a review. Anything would be greatly appreciated.

I would also like to take this opportunity to let you all know my plans for adapting or tackling a School Briefs or Team-Up Missions format side story series for this continuity, since the votes clearly showed that you'd like to see that. So here's how this is ultimately going to pan out:

Upon further looking back at some of the chapters I originally wrote as either 'Part 0' or Time Skip, wherein it primarily focused on Nikolay spending time with his classmates, I realize that those could practically be considered School Briefs stories in and of themselves. However, I could still make short stories out of the tales in that spin-off that are simply too big for me to not acknowledge, while other stories presented take place in parts I've already given extensive attention to in previous chapters; in which case I would only need to make minor adjustments to those chapters in order to incorporate the proper details.

With that being said, as I'm currently in the middle of planning out this story's take on the Endeavor Agency Arc; once I finish with that, I'll start planning out the first School Briefs one-shot or short story, and whichever other ones I consider big enough to warrant their own similar effort going forward, and those will be uploaded on that corresponding Saturday, in place of a chapter on this main story. I'll keep you all regularly updated each week as to how that's going to look. And whichever major updates I make to past chapters as I go along, I'll let you all know of that as well, so you can go back and visit and see for yourselves what changes were made. The only major change to this format of doing things will be my inclusion of an original Valentine's Day chapter in this main story, as Volume 6 of School Briefs revolved around Valentine's Day.

And as for the potential Team-Up Missions spinoffs or one-shots; from what I can gather, that entire period could be said to take place during the few months our Heroes spend in preparation for the inevitable Paranormal Liberation Front Arc; or the Paranormal War Arc. However, considering the sheer abundance of characters to choose from for Nikolay to potentially team up with, not just in Yuuei, but from other Hero schools and Hero Agencies in the meantime, I simply feel I'd ultimately be choosing characters that you, my readers, don't want to see as much.

Therefore, I want to leave that up to another poll I'll be putting up on my account page, where I'll have listed all the potential characters I can think of from all of those different categories, and you all can pick who you would personally like to see Nikolay team up with and/or work under. I'll make a couple one-shots out of those, from the six categories that get the most votes, namely three students for him to work together with, and three Pro Heroes for them to subsequently work under.

I can only hope this will be enticing enough for you all to throw your votes in. If you want, you could even PM me some potential ideas you have for these little side stories. I want to be able to engage with all of you and have you all be able to contribute to this colossal effort of mine in some way.

Anyway, I'll have the poll for the Team-Up Missions choices on my account by the end of this weekend, so please keep your eyes peeled, and I'll keep the polls results open this time so I can be regularly up-to-date on who you would all like to see.

I would once more like to sincerely thank you all for your continued reading of my story each day; just as I would like to once again thank my three beta readers, consultants and friends: Mizu, Jonny and Carlos.

And I would once more like to sincerely thank all the current contributing DA fan-artists: Syyndev, Akane Kahomi, AliceKuroCross, Suki-Chan2509, effasempai, Eliza-Frost, Vanera-Taro and Yumake.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters and the original events surrounding them.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 126

Villains Attacking

(Злодеи Нападают)

To Nikolay's immense relief, today was thus far proving to be a far sight better than yesterday had been. Every task that the northern shore fishermen had in mind for him, Shoto and Kouji were as clear as day, and immensely simple. With the use of Nikolay's Remote Shockwave ability, he was able to channel outward Kinetic Blasts from out the hulls of the barnacle-laden ships he was to attend to; popping them all right off in bulk with ease and no further risk to the hulls.

At the same time, Shoto had been able to utilize his Ice by sending a cold front deep into the depths of the waters a further ways out, creating ice blocks on the bottoms that would ultimately lift up to the surface, carrying a number of sunken boats with them, which the local salvage crews were quick to get to work dismantling themselves, in the hopes of being able to use what materials could be recovered to make new functional boats.

Then, once the boats to be sent out for the day's worth of fishing were cleared to go, Kouji was easily able to communicate coordinates for the fishermen to head off to for the best catches, courtesy of the seagulls.

It was all pretty standard work, from what the three young Heroes had expected from the job descriptions. What they hadn't counted on, was being personally invited by the same fishermen to come on deck and help them out with their work, considering some of the oldest members of the community were currently in no shape to work as they normally would. Considering it was still ultimately helping people in need, none of the three saw any reasons to say no. With a helpful offering of anti-seasickness medication for Nikolay; courtesy of one of those same fishermen; the three were soon setting sail with the whole hearty lot.

And that was what the majority of their work day ultimately ended up consisting of: Nikolay, Shoto and Kouji working together across the handful of fishing trawlers out on the open water to help make sure every bit of rigging was in place, and helping with the sorting and subsequent storage of massive loads of fish.

And all the while, the overall upbeat atmosphere of pure comradery between these seasoned men of the sea and their young add-ons for the day, couldn't help but leave Nikolay with a smile on his face and a song in his heart; quite literally.

"Nam nuzhny takie korabli na morye (We need such ships at sea)

Chtooby my mogli s lyuboii volnoii posporit' (So that we can fight with any wave)

Mayaki nuzhny i nuzhen nam lokator (We need beacons and we need a locator)

A eshyo nam vernye nuzhny rebyata (And also we need faithful lads)

I togda voda nam kak zemlya (And then the water's like land for us)

I togda nam akipazh sem'ya (And then we'll have a crew as a family)

I togda lyuboy iz nas ne protiv (And then any one of us wouldn't be against)

Khot' vsyu zhizn' sluzhit' v voyennom flotye (To serve the whole life in the fleet)."*

Once the sun began to turn orange with early dusk, the fishermen had officially decided that they'd each gained enough of a load to head back home to the island; leaving Nikolay, Shoto and Kouji all breathing deep with physical exhaustion and the pride of an honest day's hard work well done, not just because of the many thanks and congratulations expressed by their temporary co-workers.

As the boats proceeded to turn around and head back, a pronounced grumbling from Kouji's stomach prompted the rocky-headed young Hero to express: "I wonder if any of these fish we caught might end up on our plates tonight."

To hear their normally very quiet classmate express such a thought was quite a surprise for Nikolay and Shoto, before one of the fishermen on their current boat answered wholeheartedly: "Well, ask and you shall receive, young Heroes! You've all worked hard enough for us; you deserve a sushi that'll knock your socks off guaranteed!"

As the old sailor laughed with anticipation, Nikolay chuckled while waving his hand: "Oh, please, you don't have to do that for us. This is your livelihoods, after all. Besides, the smell of fish is so thick on us, I think I can taste all of it already."

Shoto took a brief whiff of his own clothes; his face slightly grimacing in distaste that Nikolay was in fact correct, before then speaking up as forwardly as ever: "Nobody ever really says such a thing with such an amused look on their face, Bezpalov."

Nikolay normally would've made an effort to breathe through his mouth to avoid having to keep breathing in the smell, but he didn't let it bother him too much as he could easily understand Shoto's wonder as to how he could still be so upbeat despite his words: "Well, the city I was living in before coming to Japan; Vladivostok,; was also a pretty considerable fishing hub for the eastern coast, as well as being an industrial and trading hub. Dad worked a lot on the shipping yards, almost right on the water sometimes. So the smell of factory smoke, salt water and fish isn't exactly something I'm unused to."

This seemed to be a good enough answer for Shoto, while Nikolay then looked to Kouji, remembering what he'd said to start this whole conversation:: "You know, what you just said actually reminds me of something I'd been wondering all day, Kouda-san. Since your Quirk allows you to talk to animals, and for them to talk back to you, does none of what we just did here today actually bother you?"

At first, Kouji looked as awkward as he usually did, being put on the spot by having one of his classmates talk to him directly, but once he bowed his head to avoid eye contact, he actually formed a smile. "Well, my Quirk so far hasn't allowed me to talk to every species out there. I can only really talk to small land mammals, insects, some species of birds, and very few species of fish. But despite that, I've come to learn that animals all around have a far better understanding and acceptance of the whole cycle of life than humans do. They all seem to understand the necessity of the whole eat-or-be-eaten law of nature in order to maintain balance in every ecosystem. That kind of acceptance of their own mortality, the role they play in the whole cycle…there's something I just found really…reassuring about that. I-I'm sorry, I know I'm rambling. To answer your question, Bezpalov-san; no, this kind of thing doesn't bother me too much."

Before Nikolay could answer with the genuine wonder he felt at just the possibilities of things animals stood to teach people through Kouji's Quirk, the momentum of their trawler came to a sudden stop, the engine idling, thus spurring the three Heroes back to their feet, instinctively assuming the aged old engine had given out…until further investigation of the rest of the fleet showed that the other boats had come to a stop as well, and none of the fishermen looked remotely confused…but rather concerned.

"Hey, what's going on?" Nikolay asked the first of the men he could see on deck, before Shoto suddenly spoke up with a chilling seriousness in his voice to match the looks on their faces: "Look, in the direction of the island: smoke!"

Nikolay and Kouji both nearly gave each other whiplash, they turned to look the way they'd been headed so fast. And indeed, just as Shoto had said, there were several unmistakable plumes of black smoke just peeking over the horizon, with the peaks of Nabu Island's two mountains soon emerging for them to get a better look.

"You up there! Please, can you tell us what's going on? Where is that smoke coming from?" Kouji suddenly called up, cupping his hands around his mouth in order to better amplify his voice to the seagulls up above. A multitude of differently toned squawks were all Nikolay, Shoto and the fishermen could hear, but when the two Heroes saw the shock evident on Kouji's face, they both felt their bodies naturally go rigid as he looked to them.

"We've got a serious situation, Todoroki-san, Bezpalov-san! The ferry from the mainland has just broken through the breakwater and plowed into the harbor, but it's no accident! They saw four Villains come out! One of them was destroying all the other boats in the harbor with what looked like projectile hair spikes, and the other three have wandered further into the island in different directions!"

The sudden invasion of four Villains wasn't what immediately got Nikolay's nerves flaring up; but rather the thought of the rest of their classmates, wherever they were right now on the island, and how ready they were for this. With that in mind, he immediately turned on his heels towards the captain on the bridge. "CAPTAIN! PLEASE CALL THE YUUEI HERO OFFICE! LET THEM KNOW WHAT WE JUST SAW AND HEARD!"

Thankfully, the captain was well ahead of them, as he was already dialing the number on the phone connected to the boat's console. However, when Nikolay saw how the older man's face sank, he and his partners could likewise feel a chill, just as he spoke out: "The line's dead!"

Looking back to the island, the three Heroes could feel anxiety and determination both go rushing through them as they drew out their cell-phones, speed-dialing the first of their classmates they could think of, only to all see the same message on their screens: no signal. Nabu Island was on one single communication network all throughout. If the boats couldn't get through, then that meant nobody on the island could get in touch with one another, or the mainland. Whoever these Villains were, they clearly knew what they were doing; as proven when another of the fishermen with a pair of binoculars suddenly exclaimed: "LOOK! MORE SMOKE, COMING FROM THE DIRECTION OF THE TRANSCEIVER STATION!"

And that proof was precisely why they knew they needed to act in every way, as Shoto immediately turned to the rest of the men on the boats. "All of you, how much fuel do your ships have left over?"

The moment the fishermen all answered as to have between a fifth and a fourth of a tank left per each of the six boats, Shoto immediately proceeded to lay down a bridge of Ice behind the whole fleet. "I know it's unfortunate to have to abandon your hauls, but time is of the essence! We'll head to the island to deal with the Villains, but we may likely need Pro Hero backup! Consolidate all your leftover fuel into the most efficient ship and head as far northeast towards the mainland as you have to in order to get a signal, and then call the authorities to bring Pro Hero backup over here!"

Fortunately, their home being under attack by Villains was all the incentive the fishermen needed to go forward with Shoto's instructions, while he hurriedly took the lead to the bow of their current ship, laying down an extensive trail of more Ice across the water towards the harbor, while Nikolay quickly formulated the closest thing he had to a plan. "Alright, the first thing we need to do is get back to the Yuuei office and regroup with whoever is still there or has made it back from their jobs, helping whichever civilians need us along the way!"

Shoto and Kouji both nodded, and the red-white-haired Hero proceeded to jump the rail onto the ice, with Nikolay immediately following suit with Kouji right on his heels. The moment Nikolay finished tethering his partners to him with a spool of his Capture Cord, he proceeded to launch them both forward with timely Kinetic Blasts from his hands across the Ice, with Shoto continuing to lay down the trail ahead of them all the way until they reached the harbor.

"Kouda, can the birds see if anybody in this area is in danger?" Shoto asked once they were less than a handful of seconds away from making landfall, observing the extensive damage already done to all the buildings around.

The instant Kouji faithfully answered "No", Shoto proceeded to aim the cold front emanating from his right hand and foot upward, creating a massive Ice ramp extending over the rooftops of this small developed area. Nikolay, following his lead, proceeded to channel a further buildup of his ever-growing strengthened Kinetics out his hands the moment they were about to go over the ramp's edge, thus sending the three young Heroes airborne to an extensive degree; timing further elevating blasts out his feet several times along the way as they flew over the heart of the national park in order to keep them high up and mobile. And every step of the way, Kouji was keeping in contact with the birds as to any current signs of civilians in danger.

But while there may not have been any sign of danger thus far, the moment they crossed the midpoint and could see the southern part of the island, they were met with even more trails of smoke emanating from the forests neighboring the beach, and several unmistakable bright blue beams of light shooting out from somewhere within the downtown area; Yuga's Navel Laser clearly being pushed to its limit.

And no sooner had they spotted the bright laser beams in the distance, did Kouji urgently point out: "Look! It's Tokoyami-san up ahead!"

Following his pointing finger, Nikolay and Shoto quickly spotted Fumikage tearing through the air with Dark Shadow like the wind; all four of them clearly closing in on the rooftop of the Yuuei office just below, which the returning trio's trajectory was just about to land them on top of, before Shoto quickly laid down another brief ramp of Ice onto it in order to smooth out their landing.

And the moment the three finally came to a stop against the frame of the roof, they quickly spotted a good half of their classmates having already gathered out front where Fumikage had just landed; an urgency clear as day on his face. "Reporting in!"

"Same here! Four Villains hijacked the mainland ferry and drove it into the northern harbor, and they destroyed the transceiver station!" Shoto just as quickly shouted down from the roof to his universally concerned classmates, just before the approaching sound of an electric scooter's motor became apparent, and a single panicked older man came to a screeching halt in the office entryway.

"There's a Villain wreaking havoc over at the downtown shopping arcade! There's a couple Heroes already fighting, but they need help!"

All the gathered 1-A students could feel their blood collectively go cold at this news, even before Eijirou instinctively muttered the reminder that this meant Minoru, Tooru and Yuga were all in trouble.

As the confirmation of the situation was setting in on the Heroes already gathered, including Nikolay's group up above; Fumikage quickly followed up: "There's a Villain attack occurring down at the beach as well! Ojiro-san is fighting a defensive battle while Asui-san and Shouji-san are evacuating the civilians! They're asking for help!"

As Nikolay impulsively brought his hands up to clutch anxiously onto his head at the escalating scale of just what they were dealing with; the faintest flicker of light managed to catch just the corner of his eye enough to prompt him to turn around and make sure he wasn't seeing things, only to immediately shield his eyes.

There was indeed a flashing light he could now see was coming from atop the mountain that overlooked the eastern half of the national park. What was more, the longer Nikolay observed the pattern with which the light would come and go or linger, remembrance swiftly struck him, as he hurriedly turned back to call down to his classmates, just as several more smoke trails slowly began to rise up from that same direction on the other side within the park itself. "Hey! One of the lookout towers from the park is signaling us! It's an SOS!"

Knowing now that they had three simultaneous Villain attacks to deal with, Tenya immediately stood tall and rigid; his eyes behind his glasses razor sharp with focus, as he began pointing to his specified classmates, who he could already see were visibly trying to cast their worries aside. "There's no time to lose! Everyone here, split into three groups and deal with the Villains!

"Bakugo-san, Kirishima-san, Kaminari-san: intercept the Villain at the shopping arcade! Yaoyorozu-san, Jirou-san, Ashido-san: work on relief and evacuation of the civilians in the shopping arcade area!

"Todoroki-san, Sero-san, Tokoyami-san: come with me to the beach! Uraraka-san, assist Asui-san and Shouji-san in evacuating civilians from that area!

"Bezpalov-san, Kouda-san, and Sato-san: intercept the Villain at the national park and evacuate the civilians from that area!"

But as Tenya was giving his orders, Nikolay suddenly spoke up: "Wait, we know everyone who's already at both areas, but where's Midoriya-san?"

To this, it was actually Bakugo who answered: "That brat from last night called here talking about this Villain attack before the lines went down. That Deku went rushing up there without even asking for any backup, that damn idiot."

As Nikolay and many others felt their throats go dry at the thought of one of their own being all alone in the middle of this, regardless how strong Izuku was, Tenya once more took control: "For now, there's nothing we can do about that. Since Bezpalov-san's team is heading in that direction, all of you keep your eyes open for any sign of Midoriya-san, and don't hesitate to assist him if he's in need of it once you've evacuated the civilians! Alright, everyone; we're the only Heroes on this island right now, and we're the only ones who can save the people here! We all know our jobs! Yuuei Academy Hero Course Class 1-A: move out!"

Without any hesitation; save for Nikolay and Mina exchanging a momentary glance with each other that communicated the exact same sentiment between them clear as day: "Please be careful"; the student Heroes of the Yuuei office instantly split up into their three teams; Tenya and Mina taking charge on ground while Fumikage, Ochako, Bakugo and Nikolay all proceeded to take off with their teams into the air in their three different directions; all of them silently hoping their peers were holding up long enough for them to get there.

Downtown

From the moment their patrol downtown had been disrupted by a multitude of explosions and screams; Minoru, Yuga and Tooru had all found themselves in the midst of a seemingly endless standoff with but one Villain; a man whose entire body was wrapped in blood red cloth that left him looking like a Kevlar vest-clad mummy.

That was quickly proving to be his Quirk, as with every single strip he sent flying to any inanimate object around, once they were completely wrapped, they all seemed to gain a life of their own, all led by their connecting strands like puppets to attack the three Heroes and any civilians unfortunate enough to still be out in the open as they fled for their lives.

And as the Villain's onslaught continued to push the brave trio further and further back, Yuga and Minoru both tried to fight with their respective Quirks as diligently as they could. But with every inanimate enemy they were able to take down; several more just took their place. And now, with their backs all but literally forced to the front doors of the local hospital, the two boys both knew they were just at their respective limits; Yuga collapsing to his knees with how twisted his stomach felt, and Minoru almost being blinded by the blood running down from his scalp after all the hairballs he'd popped off and thrown up to this point.

But no matter how worn out they were, their enemy showed no signs of stopping, as they now had a multitude of these mummified puppets about to converge on all three of them.

"AOYAMA-SAN! MINETA-SAN! HAGAKURE-SAN!"

The sound of Denki's distant voice calling barely managed to reach their ears in time, before they suddenly found themselves mere feet from a barrage of sudden Explosions, taking down all the mummy puppets in front of them in the blink of an eye…with none else but Bakugo standing as the smoke cleared; his fighting spirit burning hot in his eyes. "You're struggling too much against a bunch of pawns, you damn extras!"

At that same moment, the few puppets that had tried to literally get the drop on the newly saved trio, were suddenly bum-rushed in mid-air by a flying Eijirou's Red Bullet punch, quickly followed up by Denki throwing his Sharpshooting Gears onto the nearby pillars, using the arcing Electricity he shot into each of them to spread to the remaining puppets around, swiftly clearing the area for their classmates. "Red Riot and Chargebolt are on the scene, too, y'know!"

"EVERYONE!" Momo's voice likewise came calling right after, spurring an overjoyed cry from Tooru upon seeing her, Kyouka and Mina rushing to her, Minoru and Yuga.

As Mina and Kyouka hurriedly helped Yuga and Minoru back to their feet respectively, Momo was already one step ahead. "We'll help evacuate the people of the island and provide first-aid relief."

"AP SHOT: AUTO CANNON!" Bakugo roared out a battle cry as he began firing a high-speed volley of Explosions from his extended arm, laying waste to all the further puppets rushing in as Mummy kept sending his strands out at every second after taking into account the larger number of Heroes he now had to deal with.

Thankfully, while Bakugo was busy laying waste to every opponent he could see, Eijirou was quick on the reflexes to drive his Hardened fists into whichever puppets tried to flank his teammate, up until one strand managed to latch onto one of his extended arms. "OH NO!"

BKOOM!

But upon hearing his friend's surprised outcry, Bakugo quickly leapt and severed the strand with a well-aimed Explosion, setting Eijirou free…only for multiple more strands to suddenly come flying in from multiple directions at once, latching onto Bakugo's costume specifically, reeling him away while Eijirou and Denki were both still in the middle of fighting more puppets, unable to react in time.

And as Bakugo was being pulled higher and higher, he was naturally trying to fight back against his restraints with all his strength, but it was as though his costume itself was actively resisting against him. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!"

"Objects wrapped in my bandages will move only according to my will. It doesn't work on actual people, but the artificial materials you're wearing on your body right now will work just as well." As Mummy proceeded to explain this, knowing he had the most troublesome Hero off the board; Bakugo's whole body was now completely encased in more and more wrappings, now resembling the same bulky human-shaped golem that all the other puppets did, slamming into the ground where Eijirou and Denki stood like a sledgehammer, forcing them both on the defensive. "GO AHEAD AND FIGHT AMONGST YOURSELVES!"

"STOP, BAKUGO!" Eijirou cried out as the mummified student was rearing back for another slamming attack. But there was simply no hope that words would somehow be able to overcome the power of Mummy's Quirk, as Bakugo once more came slamming down with explosive force, separating him and Denki further.

"He's being completely controlled. What should we do, Kirishima?" Denki asked, clearly sounding at a complete loss, with Eijirou looking no better. "You're asking ME?!"

It was a bitter pill to swallow that, even if they weren't vastly outnumbered right now; Bakugo's inherent power was so great that he on his own would've been like an immovable object against the two of them.

And the two of them couldn't even dwell on that thought for long, as several more strands came flying from their blind spots, quickly ensnaring Denki and Eijirou with ease, while Mummy confidently strode onto the battlefield. "You Heroes have two choices: become my puppets, or be defeated by your friend. What's it going to be?"

As Denki and Eijirou both clenched their teeth in a desperate lack of ideas…the heavily mummified Bakugo suddenly began shaking violently from within; his furious voice barely muffled from underneath it all: "Stop screwing around!"

Suddenly, one of the mummified body's arms began to expand, and with a split second of sparks emanating from within, the whole thing was suddenly engulfed in a massive Explosion, destroying several of the other puppets around and cutting Eijirou and Denki free at once; leaving Mummy visibly shocked to see Bakugo now completely free amid the clearing smoke; his fiery red eyes staring daggers into him.

"Don't underestimate me, you mummy bastard!" As Bakugo spat this defiance, Mummy quickly glanced and realized that the explosive young Hero's right arm was now devoid of the grenade-shaped vambrace that his left still had. 'So he sacrificed his gear of his own accord, huh?'

At the same time, Bakugo was still momentarily thinking back: 'I can't believe fighting with that Russkie against Class B actually gave me an idea for costume improvement! If I have to part with any of it, I'll make sure each piece packs a real punch for the sorry asshole it's going to!'

With not a second more to be wasted, Bakugo immediately blasted off into the air, just as Mummy threw multiple strands at him in an attempt to try and capture him again. But this time, Bakugo knew what exactly he was up against, and his reflexes were on an entirely different level, redirecting himself and blasting away at every strand that got anywhere near him.

As Mummy desperately tried to back away and flee, Bakugo wasn't allowing him the chance, boosting himself past the speed of sound in order to take him down. Mummy, realizing his strands weren't going to do him any good, proceeded to go for the sword on his back; his final resort, swinging it with killing intent right in Bakugo's face…only for the hotheaded Hero to easily redirect himself around the arc of that swing, quickly ending up right behind the Villain's back.

The moment he saw Mummy proceed to follow up with a backwards swing of his sword; Bakugo proceeded to blast off over his head, meeting the side of a building and kicking off of it in a flawless ricochet, propelling himself out one hand with another Explosion, and plowing his body weight and momentum dead center into Mummy's torso, slamming him hard into a wall, with his left arm aimed square at his head as he grinned sadistically. "I've been saving this up, too! DIE!"

BKOOOOOOM!

Just like that, Mummy, the wall behind him, and the next several dozen yards on the other side were engulfed in a fiery column of an Explosion, leaving the Villain motionless and smoking as the dust cleared, leaving Bakugo standing victorious; to the cheers of Eijirou and Denki as they'd watched the whole thing play out.

Just then, Momo and Kyouka both came rushing back out of the hospital; the two girls visibly worried after having heard that cacophonous final blast. "Everyone, what about that Villain?"

The moment Momo thought to ask, Bakugo spat back defiantly, as though it were so obvious: "What? I beat him easily."

Ignoring his cockiness for the moment, Eijirou quickly asked: "What about the rest of the civilians?"

"It's too dangerous to keep them here, so Mina-san and Tooru-san are helping evacuate them to the west district." Kyouka answered, just before another deafening blast of Bakugo's Explosions cut them off; the five Heroes only able to watch as their ill-tempered classmate was already taking off.

"I'll leave the rescuing to you guys! I'm gonna go crush the rest of those Villains!" he called back to them as he flew off…specifically in the direction his classmates knew Nikolay, Rikido, Kouji and Izuku had all ultimately gone.

From the moment the huge bestial Villain called Chimera had emerged from the flaming woods neighboring the beach; Mashirao had taken charge as the one to meet him head-on, while Tsuyu, Mezo and now also Ochako had worked together to evacuate the civilians from the area. But upon Ochako's arrival to help Tsuyu; Mezo had quickly gone rushing in to provide the tailed Hero some much-needed backup.

And none too soon, for as strong as Mashirao's fighting skills were, Chimera was meeting his attacks and either deflecting or countering them with a devastating strength that he alone simply couldn't hope to match up against. Even when Fumikage had previously tried to fight against him with Dark Shadow at the beginning, he'd been able to punch it head-on with enough strength to dissipate it entirely; hence why Mashirao had ordered him to get back to the Yuuei office to call for backup.

After Chimera had managed to send Mashirao flying again after deflecting one of his dropkicks; the Villain found himself being hurriedly rushed by a furious Mezo, only to swiftly reach forward through his incoming tentacle fists and clutch hard onto his masked face, lifting the most physically dominating student in all of Class 1-A off his feet like a sack of potatoes; grinning sadistically as he looked into his one visible eye. "So, you're a mutant Quirk-wielder like me, huh? Looking the way you do, you must've suffered some terrible prejudice of your own, right? Tell me, did you ever have a day where you resented your parents for bringing you into this world?"

VRRRRROOOM!

Before Mezo could even formulate a response, Chimera's sharpened ears caught the incoming sound of a powerful roaring engine rushing down the beach, as Tenya had finally made it onto the scene, kicking his Engines into a Recipro Burst once he saw the situation his classmate was in.

With the utmost precision, Tenya hurriedly circled around Chimera's back before the Villain could get a bead on him; leaping up and driving a high-speed leg into his head. However, even with the immense driving power behind it, that attack didn't even make Chimera flinch; but where Tenya was concerned, it didn't need to, as he quickly took that opportunity to grab onto Mezo and ricochet himself off the Villain, hurriedly putting distance between him and the two Heroes.

Fortunately, this provided a further opening, as Shoto likewise came rushing in their place, wasting no time before sending a speeding wall of Ice right at the Villain, quickly encasing him in it up to his neck, while up above, Hanta came swinging out from the trees, sending multiple lines of his Tape to tightly bind around the Villain's body just before the Ice engulfed him.

And all at the same time, Fumikage likewise finally came flying back onto the battlefield, this time focusing on enlarging Dark Shadow's arms in both length and mass, in preparation to either crush Chimera into unconsciousness in a tremendous clap, or a double downward hammering strike.

But even when immobilized, and seeing this attack coming for him, the monstrous Villain only grinned in anticipation. "Don't overestimate yourselves!"

BOOM!

With the utmost ease, he suddenly caused all the Ice and Tape keeping him in place to shatter with nothing but his own raw strength, before he suddenly sent himself flying with a super-strengthened jump; driving a devastating fist straight into Fumikage; Dark Shadow only managing to shield him from the brunt of it at the last possible second. Alas, it was still enough to send him slamming hard into the sand with the rest of his classmates.

They all now found themselves together, standing against this one Villain, who through nothing but his Quirk, strength and iron will, was somehow managing to outmatch the lot of them. "You're all still quite young, but the fact is there are too many Heroes on this island right now!"

Shoto immediately proceeded to send another speeding wall of Ice his way, but this time the Villain was more than ready; stopping the near literal force of nature in its tracks with a single shattering punch; putting the young Hero on the defensive, before quickly realizing Chimera was utilizing that moment of distraction to leap into the air, ready to drive a fist through him straight into the ground. It was thankfully only through Hanta's quick thinking that he was able to reel Shoto out of the way at the last possible moment.

"Dammit, he's holding us down with pure power alone! Iida-san, what should we do?!" Hanta finally exclaimed as he and the rest of his team were clearly trying to think of what else they could do against this powerhouse of a Villain.

Tenya, listening to the remaining sounds of the frightened civilians behind their backs; stood steadfast, and sounded even more so: "Right now, we should just be thinking of how we can hold this Villain here, until the civilians and Ojiro-san are done being evacuated."

With Ochako and Tsuyu still busily removing the civilians and the battered and beaten Mashirao out of the vicinity of danger; Tenya and Fumikage both proceeded to launch the next offensive, just as Chimera came rushing out the dust for them.

"BLACK ABYSS!" "RECIPRO BURST!"

With their mutual battle cries, Tenya proceeded to cleave another boulder clean in half with a razor sharp kick, just as Dark Shadow proceeded to engulf around Fumikage's body, before launching forward and smashing the airborne piece into a barrage of even more; surely enough to force Chimera to a stop.

But the Villain instead brought one devastating foot down on the ground, creating a massive enough impact to explode the bedrock around him; the resulting debris stopping the two Heroes' own projectile attack from connecting, and thus buying himself that much more extra time to close the distance further. "NOT PUTTING UP MUCH OF A FIGHT, HEROES!"

With no other options, Shoto proceeded to level his left hand in the Villain's path, and let loose an all-powerful inferno from it, ready to burn him of all energy to fight he had left.

But what he didn't expect, was for Chimera to instead meet even this new attack head-on, by breathing an even greater blaze from out his mouth, easily overwhelming Shoto's Fire, and forcing him to erect a last-second shield of Ice to protect himself and his teammates from the collision.

Mezo spread his Tentacles out at as far as he needed in order to help Shoto's Ice shield protect the remaining civilians from the waves of intense heat coming off as fire met Ice. And as Chimera's attack ran its course; but more importantly upon seeing both sides of Shoto's Quirk being evenly matched or overwhelmed; even Tenya couldn't keep it to himself: "There's no telling how much longer we can hope to keep this up! If we can at least hold out until the last of the civilians is evacuated, then we can double back, regroup and re-strategize!"

"Mahoro-neechan, we need to tell the Heroes about the Villains!" Katsuma's voice was filled with fear and desperation, as Mahoro urgently guided him along by the hand.

"My cell-phone doesn't work, so there's nothing I can do about that!" she anxiously snapped back; keeping her eyes focused on the trail ahead.

From the moment they had seen the ferry crash into the northern harbor, watched as the four Villains emerged and proceed to instantly lay waste to everything before them, and then tried calling the Heroes only for the lines to go dead; Mahoro had wasted no time in running as fast as her two legs could carry the both of them.

And after several desperate minutes, they were finally rounding the last corner in this remote part of the countryside, where a single white house stood ready for them; their family home, the one place she knew for a fact they could hide safely. "Let's get home first, and let the people in the village-!"

But in between one step and the other; several lightning fast purple beams suddenly shot across the house, before the entire building exploded in an overwhelming shockwave, knocking the two young siblings onto their backs; only able to look on in despair as their home was now a pile of smoking rubble…before a pair of bright yellow lights suddenly emanated from within it; an electronically filtered man's voice speaking out with it: "Found you…"

Emerging from the smoke and making a patient stride towards the two terrified children, was the masked and sharply-dressed Villain known only to his comrades as Nine; his glowing yellow eyes dimming back to his natural cold grey, as he had his gaze solely focused on Katsuma. "…Cell Activation with Type B Blood. Boy, I'm going to steal your Quirk now. Don't worry, I won't kill you."

The moment Mahoro heard this; despite how fast her heart was racing and her blood was chilled with fear, her body took complete control, as she instinctively stood protectively between them, while Katsuma could only keep shaking in fear. "Don't come any closer!"

Alas, the defiant words of a little girl meant less than nothing to Nine. His eyes kept staring as though she wasn't even there, as he kept approaching them more and more. With every step, Mahoro could feel her heart leap up into her throat, but she refused to move out of his way so long as she knew her little brother was here. "I…I-I said don't come any closer!"

In that moment of kneejerk desperation, Mahoro threw a defiant hand forward, sending a giant Hologram of a pink-colored Chinese lion out into the Villain's path; snapping its jaws shut upon him, before just as quickly vanishing…and he was still strolling along like it was even less than the nothing it really was. "I know it's just an illusion."

Knowing now that her Hologram Quirk had tried and failed, Mahoro couldn't think of anything else to do but clutch onto Katsuma protectively, feeling his trembling match her own, as Nine's shadow now loomed over them; one hand reaching for the little boy before him.

WOOSH!

But in a flash, Izuku suddenly came flying from practically out of nowhere; scooping up the two little kids in his arms before proceeding to sprint across the road into the thick woods on the other side; launching them all high into the air through the foliage once they were several wide strides in, gliding through the air to further safety; much to the siblings' surprise…all while Nine now had his glowing yellow eyes focused on Izuku; calmly walking into the woods after them. "A Power Quirk, huh?"

Having cleared this patch of forest in that one leap, Izuku quickly touched back down, releasing the two children in his arms the moment he did; his heart racing no slower than theirs. "Are you both okay? Can you run?"

"Yeah." Mahoro and Katsuma both nervously answered, only reassured slightly by the calming smile he was wearing on his face amid the bright green sparks emanating across his body. "Good. Hurry up and get away from here as fast as you can, okay?"

This thankfully was all the convincing they needed to start running as fast as they could. Right now, Izuku was just immensely grateful that during his regular work earlier, he'd taken the liberty of asking some of the locals about the two children. That was how he'd come to learn exactly where they lived, and therefore where to go once this all had started.

Izuku, now knowing they were putting as much distance as possible between themselves and a fight, finally let his smile drop as he got back to his feet, turning around and heading back into the woods just in time to see the same Villain was now calmly walking his way, almost looking as though he were taking a normal Sunday stroll. "Stop! Why are you targeting those kids?!"

"Move." This was all the Villain before him had to say, as though he were speaking to someone less than an insect daring to stand in his way.

And Izuku, still not knowing exactly what kind of Quirk he was up against, could only tighten his face in anxious anticipation, refusing to let any fear show; instead channeling his Quirk to have the green sparks start emanating again. "No way I'm moving!"

Not even slowing down a bit, Nine instead proceeded to lift one hand towards the young Hero foolishly standing against him. "If you're going to get in the way, then I'll kill you."

WOOOSH!

In a flash, Izuku kicked himself off, flying like a bullet to drive his foot straight into the Villain's masked face. But his momentum came to a sudden stop several feet early, as though his foot had slammed into a wall, in the form of three transparent disc-shaped shields emanating from Nine's hand between them.

Not wanting to stay this close, Izuku quickly sprung backwards from this wall, but the moment he did, Nine proceeded to quickly lift his other arm, from which five glowing purple laser beams suddenly shot out like bullets from his fingernails, forcing Izuku to continuously kick himself off the nearby trees to avoid getting hit before ultimately taking cover; his heart racing and a cold sweat beading on his tense face.

'An invisible wall made of air, and lasers he shot from his fingertips?! Two Quirks that aren't related at all…that's almost exactly like…ALL FOR ONE! Does he somehow possess the same gene as him and Vukodlak do…or is this possible through some other means? It doesn't matter right now! I can't let him get to Katsuma-kun and Mahoro-chan! If I can just keep him preoccupied like this until I know they've gotten away, that's good enough!'

With teeth clenched and hands at the ready, Izuku quickly leapt back out into the open, aiming his right arm straight at the Villain with one finger curled up at the ready. "DELAWARE SMASH AIR FORCE!"

With a rapid sequence of curling in and flicking forward with each of his fingers, and with One For All empowering each one, Izuku fired a multitude of his high-speed wind attacks at the Villain. But as the young Hero moved in a circular formation to keep his enemy from getting a bead on him for a counter-attack; Nine once again summoned up another of his disc-shaped invisible barriers, wide enough to cover his entire body where he stood, thus taking every one of these projectile attacks without even breaking a sweat.

"Stone-like blasts of air…that's an interesting way of using it." With nothing more needing to be said, he proceeded to simply flick his hand forward, sending that same invisible shield flying at high-speed through the ground, enough to knock Izuku off his feet; upon which Nine once more raised his other hand and shot another series of the purple Laser Bullets from his fingernails.

Seeing this next attack coming while he was still helpless in midair, it was all Izuku could think to do to pull his arms and legs in, rolling himself up into a ball in order to try and reduce the likelihood of his getting hit. For the most part it worked, but he had to fight the burning pain of one managing to slash deep across his left cheek; the warmth of blood already running from it.

All the while, having seen that same electrical-looking energy emanate from out the Hero's body when he moved; Nine admittedly had his own curiosity further piqued. "First a gust of wind, and now this much different energy. Just how many Quirks does he have?"

As Izuku slammed hard, dragging across the ground before correcting himself back into his battle-ready stance; his heart was hammering away in building unease. 'If the enemy is an unknown; rather than prolonging the fight with the analytical approach, I should naturally attack first. ONE FOR ALL: FULL COWL…20%!'

With the multiple glowing red cracks of energy spreading across his body, and the green bolts intensifying from all over, Izuku braced himself for a further attack, channeling all his focus into something he just knew would have to be enough.

But even as he did so, he never realized just what it meant when Nine's eyes started glowing yellow again, as he closely observed just what was going on within the Hero's body; a spike of fascination occurring in his chest. "His power suddenly increased!"

WOOOSH!

Izuku was already flying across the ground and leaping high into the air, throwing his momentum and body weight into a devastating downward kick aimed straight for the Villain's head. "WITH ALL THE POWER I CAN USE RIGHT NOW…ST. LOUIS SMASH!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

With the explosive force of an artillery strike, Izuku drove his feet straight down, creating an explosion of dust and tree pieces that towered over much of the island…but within that overwhelming vortex of pure wind power; Izuku was still technically airborne, as his attack had been met straight-on by another of the Villain's Air Walls, stopping him dead in his tracks, and leaving Nine with not a hair out of place.

Izuku genuinely couldn't believe what he was experiencing right now. 'Twenty percent…ISN'T ENOUGH?!'

And while Izuku was feeling his chest fill with horror and desperation; Nine could only feel an immense anticipation as he took in just how much power this boy was wielding. "This Quirk…this power…"

In the blink of an eye, with Izuku's momentum taken; Nine quickly withdrew his shield, only to swiftly throw both his arms forward, clutching tight onto his head, keeping him off the ground. "…is worth stealing."

Before Izuku knew it, another vortex of a glowing blue energy began to swirl from out of his body into that of Nine; his mind racing with first confusion…then even greater horror; enough to make his heart nearly stop. 'Steal…did he actually say steal?! So this Villain…he really does have the same Quirk as All For One! No…no, I have to stop this! One For All is about to be stolen!'

Sadly, even as Izuku tried to squirm and kick his way out, nothing was getting him free of Nine's vice-like grip; the masked Villain's cold eyes narrowing as he looked deep within his latest victim, trying to get a clearer look at exactly what kind of Quirk he was about to take within himself.

For but a split second, he could distinctly make out seven human-shaped figures now standing before him; two of them indistinguishably blurred, while the other five gradually cleared up to where he could make out four men and one woman.

BOOM!

Suddenly, another burst of powerful air emanated from between them, finally forcing Nine to release his grip on Izuku, who collapsed listlessly to the ground; his face wrenched with strain, while Nine could only look to his own two hands with confusion. "I can't steal it…no, I don't have enough free spaces for all of them. This kid…he actually possesses the potential to possess more than one Quirk without his mind or body being completely destroyed."

Of course, while Nine was currently looking upon him as though he was looking upon the future most powerful being on Earth; Izuku was feeling anything but, as no matter how much he was trying to mentally will himself to; his body felt completely paralyzed.

In the end, the fascination in Nine's eyes dimmed into a grim realization. "I can't take his Quirk…and as long as he exists, he is a direct threat to me. Alas, I'll simply have to eliminate him instead."

BOOOM!

With a split second of a yellow glow as he conjured up another Air Wall from his hand; Nine sent it slamming straight into Izuku's prone body again; sending him flying out the other side of the forest and straight into the side of an adjacent hill; leaving him battered within the crater left behind.

"MISTER DEKU!" "DEKU!"

As Izuku was still straining to get his body to move, and for his mind to make sense of what had just happened to him; he could suddenly hear the unmistakably real sound of Mahoro and Katsuma's voice from nearby. His blood went cold with shock as he looked to see the two small children running down the hill towards him.

"R-run away…you two…" Izuku strained to tell them as bit by bit, his body was starting to regain its ability to move; all while the two siblings could only look in shock at how badly beaten up he already was. "B-but you're hurt…"

"It's fine, just hurry! He's after…you two…!" Izuku all but literally pleaded as he tried to get back onto his feet…only for his whole body to suddenly jerk violently against his will, as the now-emerging Nine swiftly sent two closely grouped Laser Bullets straight through the left and right sides of his torso; knocking every ounce of wind out of him as he could barely stay on his feet.

"Please…get away from…here…!" Izuku could barely croak out with how badly his newest wounds were bleeding, while he still tried to stand and act as the shield for the two terrified children behind him; Mahoro's teeth clenching and her eyes overflowing with tears as she saw the Villain continuing to approach like an actual Angel of Death; raising his arm again to finish Izuku off.

"No…no…NOOOOOOOOOO!"

Barely a couple minutes ago…

Just as before; with his Quirk having had its threshold become so much stronger as it had; it was thankfully no extra effort for Nikolay to carry Rikido and Kouji along on the tethers of his Capture Cords as he launched all three of them up towards the peak of the eastern mountain bordering the national park. As he repeatedly boosted them up higher and higher through the Kinetic Blasts of his feet, they could all see the growing number of plumes of black smoke filling the sky, which prompted Kouji to think ahead by calling out to the fleeing birds he could see:

"EXCUSE US! PLEASE, CAN YOU HELP US TO SEE HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE STUCK IN THE FOREST?! WE NEED TO HELP THEM GET TO SAFETY!"

This thankfully seemed to convince the birds en masse to turn around at his command; and just in time, for the moment the three Heroes crested the peak of the mountain, they were met with the overwhelming sight of nearly half the national park engulfed in an inferno.

And it was all the courtesy of a single adult woman Villain with long dark red hair, expertly maneuvering her way from the top of one tree to another, swinging her head in order to whip her hair around, from which multitudes of what looked like hundreds of razor sharp spikes flew out in formation, all being ignited by the flames and embers filling the air, in order to spread the destruction to whatever parts were left untouched. With one specific whip of her head, her now-flaming hair spikes were even demolishing the visitor center and the foundations of the support poles to the zip-lines with ease. Thankfully, it didn't look like any civilians had tried to use it today, as there weren't any people on the lines that they could see from here.

Unfortunately, Nikolay and his teammates couldn't take in the scope of the situation for long, as not only could they hear the multiple panicked screams of the civilians down in the woods trying to flee the raging fires and flying spikes, but the Villain herself had by now spotted the three brave intruders, already reeling her head back in preparation to skewer them right out of the sky.

Nikolay had to actively fight the urge to fire another supporting blast from his feet; thus forcing him, Rikido and Kouji to plummet a ways down in order to make the Villain's attack miss, while he only fired off one last supporting blast to slow their momentum before they finally met the ground.

As Nikolay hurriedly undid the Capture Cord threads from around his classmates, Kouji could hear a multitude of various-toned squawks and bird calls from up above, thus prompting him to inform his teammates: "They're saying they can see about three dozen civilians scattered all around this area of the park. A lot of them are fleeing for the visitor center, but it's already in flames! The rangers are trying to redirect everyone, but the fires are spreading too fast!

Knowing that the Villain was now going to be gunning for them personally, Nikolay knew they only had one chance. "Sato-san and I will try to keep the Villain busy! Kouda-san, call out to whichever animals in the woods you can speak to, and tell them to help you guide the civilians to the mountain foot path! It leads all the way around back to town, and it didn't look like the flames had reached there yet!"

Thankfully, Kouji seemed to completely understand this, as he wasted no time bravely charging into the woods, calling out at the top of his lungs to the woodland creatures that were still around, relaying Nikolay's exact orders.

And as for him and Rikido; knowing they could entrust Kouji to see the civilians' safety through effectively; they were now on the offensive, as the female Villain known as Slice came gliding through the air to the top of another tree, where she had a clear line of sight on them. "If you're getting in my way, young Heroes; then blame nobody but yourselves!"

The moment they saw Slice begin to whip her hair; Nikolay and Rikido instantly split up; forcing her to start swinging her hair in an infinity shape, sending a two-front barrage of her hair spikes right on both their heels; ignited by the flames and embers and not. With the help of his Sugar Rush, Rikido was like a bolt of yellow as he ran from cover to cover. At the same time, Nikolay quickly launched himself up into the air, redirecting himself in midair and ricocheting off the trees every which way he could go in order to likewise stay behind cover and get around to the Villain's blind side.

The moment he had a direct opening, he tried to launch himself at her flank, but Slice was just as quick on the reflexes, as she easily spun herself around and sent a whole sweeping arc of hair spikes straight at the oncoming Hero, who quickly managed to deflect the number guaranteed to hit him with a charged Kinetic Blast from his hands.

But in that split second he took to defend himself, Slice easily let herself drop down from the tree branch she'd been perched on, letting her body's downward momentum swing her hair behind her; sending another skyward barrage of spikes from underneath Nikolay, forcing him to boost himself up and forward to try and avoid getting hit, but still ultimately getting an open slash across the calf of his right leg.

Slice proceeded to expertly leap and swing her way across several more trees like a crimson flash, while Nikolay hurriedly redirected himself and launched himself in a dive-bombing motion for where she looked to be stopping.

But this was ultimately the lure Slice had counted on him falling for, as instead of perching herself again, she instead once again used her momentum and her grip on this tree's trunk to swing her whole body around it, whipping her hair fast enough behind her that when she emerged out the other side and the hair swung in front of her; another high-speed barrage of deadly spikes came erupting out, with not enough room for Nikolay to dodge out of the way, instead bringing both his hands forward. "KINETICHESKIY GATLING!"

A rapid fire of deafening Kinetic Blasts hurriedly shot from out all the holes lining Nikolay's gloves; forcing Slice to jump out of the way while her latest swarm of spikes was being quickly whittled away by the shockwaves tearing through the air. But it still wasn't enough to save Nikolay from all of them, as he felt the burning pain of several more lucky spikes slashing across his left arm three times, his right twice, and across his left shoulder once.

As Nikolay managed to stick the landing on a larger tree branch to re-coordinate himself; Slice hurriedly swung her way up to the top of another zip-line pole that granted her just enough of an elevated advantage on him, just about to whip her hair to skewer him from his blind side…before the sound of something large flying through the air from behind her back quickly forced her on the defensive, sending a much more concentrated storm of her spikes straight into the trunk of an oncoming flying tree; courtesy of Rikido uprooting it and throwing it at her like a spear while her back was turned.

BWOOM!

Before she could follow up with another spike barrage to take Rikido out, a sudden upward shockwave erupting from out the top of the pole beneath her feet forced Slice up into the air, as Nikolay had likewise utilized the opening to throw one of his charged-up larger tuning forks into the side of the structure, channeling that collective vibration straight up to where she stood.

Unfortunately, Slice's acrobatics managed to help her realign herself so she landed square on her feet at the foot of the pole, but Nikolay was already fast on the move, throwing his body into a midair roll, as he used all of that momentum and subsequent building Kinetics to charge up in his feet. "REZONIRUYUSHCHEYE KOLESO (RESONATING WHEEL)!"

SLAAAM!

Slice barely managed to leap back out of the way as Nikolay released his built-up Kinetics out his feet upon slamming onto the ground, producing a massive shockwave that ended up throwing the Villain off balance, sending her rolling several feet before catching herself on her hands and feet, before just as quickly whipping her hair to send more spikes to take out the speeding barrage of pine cones, pine needles, tree branches and rocks that the shockwave was subsequently sending at her.

The moment Slice knew she'd taken Nikolay's projectile attack out; she quickly realized he was no longer knelt where she'd once stood, hurriedly looking up to find the young Hero descending upon her with his two larger tuning forks in his hands, reeled up above his head in preparation to slam them both and their respective Kinetic buildups straight onto her own head.

But with a confident smirk, she proceeded to throw her long hair over her face, directly between her and Nikolay, meeting the full force of his attack with ease, as the resulting shockwave rippled through her suddenly hardened hair and nothing more. Her hair was actually acting like a shield, to Nikolay's disbelief.

"Don't get too full of yourselves, you little brats!" As she proceeded to chastise her young opponents, and Nikolay was still momentarily too stunned to launch himself off her solidified shield of hair; Slice proceeded to whip her head to the side, using that mass to swing Nikolay away along with it, sending him flying over a dozen feet through the trees and brush. He went slamming off of one and rolling down the embankment of a nearby hill, before instinctively reaching out and grabbing onto the protruding feeder root of a nearby tree, stopping his momentum just short of rolling right into another open crevasse just below where his feet now hung.

As Nikolay hurriedly got back onto his feet, he recalled his large tuning forks with the Magne Grips on his gloves, and went running back up the slope to get back into the fight. At the same time, Rikido had decided to further act while his partner was indisposed, grabbing another massive half-burnt tree trunk and trying to either slam it down on Slice, or hit her with it like a baseball.

Alas, her reflexes and mastery over her Quirk were proving to easily outdo every tactic Rikido could come up with on the fly while his Sugar Rush could still last; expertly weaving, ducking and jumping over every attack and meeting it with exceptional martial skills of her own, interspersed with quick minute swings of her hair to either knock him around, or try to cut or stab him up with her spikes. Each hit was ultimately taking its toll on Rikido, but the adrenaline coursing through his body was making it feel as though nothing was happening, thus allowing him to keep up the pressure with his immense speed and strength, thus giving the Villain no chance to regroup or strategize. 'She's way faster and stronger than I thought! But if I can at least keep her distracted until Bezpalov-san, Kouda-san or anyone else can get here, then that's good enough for me!'

As Slice quickly leaned back and leapt out of the arc of another two-set of Rikido's punches and fist slams; an unnatural glimpse of movement out the corner of her eye forced her to divert her attention, just in time to see Nikolay come flying out from the brush, with several small tuning forks tucked between the fingers of his fists, just before he proceeded to throw them all one arm swing at a time at her; multiple resonating blasts of bass erupting from his fingers as he did so, to add to their momentum and striking power.

Slice barely managed to duck out of the way of some, while quickly whipping her hair fast enough to deflect the rest, while also sending more spikes to try and take Nikolay and Rikido both down; this time being just enough that a timely and well-aimed Thunderous Clap from Nikolay managed to deflect those coming his way as well, while Rikido hurled another thick chunk of tree into the ones heading for him.

"I've had just about enough of you!" Slice exclaimed with great impatience, instantly charging at Nikolay. But the moment she even spoke, he subtly flexed his wrists in a way that activated the small green light on the Magne Grips of his gloves.

With her heart and adrenaline both racing so fast as she charged in her anger, Slice didn't notice the incoming sound of small projectiles flying in from behind her back, before she felt several of the small tuning forks she'd dodged and deflected come slamming hard into her back all at once, knocking her through the air while they flew the rest of the way into Nikolay's waiting hands.

And the moment he saw Nikolay's trick work, Rikido was just as quick to rush in, slamming his fists down into the ground hard enough to make the bedrock between himself and Slice explode, sending her listless body flying further before slamming hard into the side of another nearby zip-line pole.

Nikolay immediately dashed in, ready to deliver the neutralizing blow so they could finally end this fight. From there, a few Thunderous Claps delivered skyward to the burning trees would surely be enough to extinguish the flames and send the remaining embers high enough into the sky they would extinguish on their own, thus putting an end to the fire.

"WHOA, WHAT THE HELL?!"

But as Nikolay ran; an exclamation from Rikido drew his attention mid-stride, only to come to a surprise out of pure shock. Far ahead, between the park and the northern harbor, there was what looked like a giant cartoonish replica of Izuku slowly rising up to a towering height; most likely big enough for everyone across the island to see.

Before Nikolay could even ask just what was going on, he noticed that this depiction of his classmate looked as though it were bloodied and beaten up, just before the sound of Mahoro Shimano's voice suddenly came out of it: "Someone…please…protect Deku!"

As Nikolay and Rikido were both stricken with the horrible realization that Izuku had to be in that direction and was in serious trouble; Slice had likewise regained her bearings, and heard the same message echoing across the island. Remembering where the rest of her partners had decided to go across the island to distract all the present Heroes, it didn't take long for her to reach the one natural conclusion: 'Nine-san ran into some unexpected resistance…but there's no telling how long he'll be able to keep pushing himself before he starts succumbing to his symptoms again! I've wasted enough time fighting these damn children! I'm on my way!'

Throwing herself into a forward standing roll, Slice proceeded to whip her hair forward, sending another lightning-fast barrage of spikes straight at Nikolay the moment he heard her start to move again. He already had his arms both raised and firing a pair of desperate last-second Kinetic Blasts to try and deflect her attacks, but it was already just too much…which was why Rikido was just as quick to react; grabbing a nearby boulder and throwing himself into the fray with it as a shield, quickly being chipped away into gravel as it took the rest of Slice's attack in the two Heroes' place.

But in those brief seconds that her attack ran its course, Slice decided to take that opportunity to break into a mad sprint in the direction of the giant Hologram, leaping and swinging her way through the trees as she left Nikolay and Rikido in her dust, just as they both realized it for themselves.

"BEZPALOV-SAN! SATO-SAN! WE'VE MANAGED TO EVACUATE THE LAST OF THE CIVILIANS THROUGH THE FOOT PATH LIKE YOU SAID!" Kouji's voice suddenly came calling from just a short ways away; clearly trying to sound as optimistic as he could, despite having likewise seen and heard the message regarding Izuku.

And it was that reminder, along with the fact that another Villain was now headed his way, that spurred Nikolay into squatting to charge up another launching blast. "There's no time for all three of us to fully attend to the fires! I'll go help Midoriya-san!"

Nikolay was already taking off into the air before Kouji or Rikido could say anything; neither of them wanting their partner to risk going into even greater danger all on his own, while also realizing they couldn't risk the evacuated civilians being left on their own in case they ran into another Villain on their way to safety.

Despite Mahoro's fruitless attempt to try and call for help, Nine was continuing to coldly approach his finished prey; ready to dispose of this one last bother before finally claiming his real prize. But as he had his eyes solely focused on the three before him, he failed to notice another party flying like the wind from his left.

BKOOOOOOOM!

Right before he was met with a colossal fiery Explosion consuming where he stood; courtesy of the newly arrived and ready Bakugo.

But as the smoke quickly cleared, he too found his attack rendered ineffective, by the split-second Air Wall the Villain had created on reflex; his eyes measuring this new Hero up and down. "An Exploding Quirk?"

"FOUND YOU, DAMN VILLAIN!" Bakugo snarled as he quickly leapt back, gaining some distance between himself and his new opponent; all while Izuku, Katsuma and Mahoro could only look on with relief and surprise respectively at his arrival.

Not even looking to address his unwitting audience, Bakugo angrily declared: "YOU KIDS LOOK CLOSELY…AT THE STRENGTH OF THE MAN WHO'LL BECOME…"

BKOOM!

With another powerful Explosion, he was off like a shot, tearing across the grass and ready to deliver hellfire straight into the waiting Villain's face. "…THE NUMBER ONE HERO!"

The moment Nine raised his hand to block with another Air Wall, Bakugo swiftly launched himself up and over his head; granting himself a clear shot at the Villain's back with his hand already primed to blow. "GOT YOU!"

But Nine was just as ready; raising his other arm and firing another lightning-fast barrage of Laser Bullets from his fingers; forcing Bakugo to delay his attack and focus on redirecting himself through the air from every single one; with the last just managing to likewise cut across his right cheek and nearly cleave through the ear.

And with Bakugo's offense having been forced into an evasion, that allowed Nine the opportunity to turn himself around, raise his left arm, create another Air Wall, and mercilessly plow it straight into Bakugo once he tried to charge again; knocking him silly in mid-air, and slamming hard into the ground before Izuku and the siblings; to their collective shock.

"KACCHAN!" Izuku exclaimed, already trying to move; but the flaring of agonizing pain in his torso kept him grounded, just as Bakugo's own pained voice tinged with rage. "Dammit…all…"

Realizing Bakugo was already getting back up, while he himself still couldn't, Izuku knew there was at least one thing he could still do to help. "Kacchan, listen: that Villain has multiple different Quirks! He steals them!"

Standing squatted and ready to get right back into the fight; Bakugo indeed took Izuku's words of caution to heart. "Damn…just like All For One then, huh? THEN I GOT EVEN MORE REASON TO CRUSH HIM!"

BKOOM!

With a speed and precision as though he hadn't even been knocked down at all; Bakugo launched himself in a mad diving flight for Nine; who was once more already getting an Air Wall ready with one hand, and Laser Bullets primed with the other; firing them rapidly, while Bakugo quickly redirected himself through and around them, never taking eyes off his target. "Once I've seen it one time…"

But as Bakugo raised his right fist to unleash another Explosion right in his face, Nine created that Wall in full…only for Bakugo to use the kickback of the ensuing Explosion to throw his body into a leftward spin that took him right around to behind the Villain's back, digging his feet in to stop his momentum so he was right in the perfect position.

But as Nine had his free arm already aiming back to riddle the bothersome Explosion Hero with holes, Bakugo swiftly used his posture to support his weight with one hand, throwing his legs up and kicking that hand away, taking away Nine's quickest means of defense, while the Hero himself quickly landed back on his feet; his left hand already primed to let loose. "…IT'S NOT GONNA WORK ON ME AGAIN!"

WHAAAAAM!

Before anyone could even blink; Bakugo found himself getting plucked right off his feet, as a gigantic blue finned serpentine head erupted without warning out of Nine's back; its elongated neck extending further and further while snapping its jaws firmly shut around its prey.

While Izuku, Mahoro and Katsuma could only look on with disbelief at this sudden new Quirk the Villain apparently had been keeping in wait; Nine himself proceeded to apathetically clench one hand into a fist; compelling this Hydra-like extension from his back to suddenly drive its full momentum and weight straight into the ground, with Bakugo taking the full brunt of that impact; unable to wriggle free with his torso and arms both completely pinned down.

Seeing his childhood friend in such an overwhelmed position sent Izuku's own adrenaline rushing like a tsunami in his veins, as his mind kept screaming for him to move, even if just the slightest bit; slowly but surely getting back onto his feet as his eyes burned with an angry fire at the Villain looking upon them both like they were so insignificant.

But as Bakugo struggled with his restraints, and Nine had his cold grey eyes watching Izuku and then the two little children mere feet away; Izuku spotted the slightest speck in the distant sky emerging from the horizon of the woods and rapidly approaching…with an elated recognition striking him just as hard as the inspiration that came with it, as he hurriedly aimed his arm at Nine; fighting through the immense pain in his chest as he curled one finger back, waiting for that one fraction of a second when this would surely pay off.

"RAZGROM VLADIVOSTOKA-ALYASKI!" "VLADIVOSTOK-ALASKA SMASH!"

BWOOOM! SMAAASH!

With Izuku's Air Force and Nikolay's concentrated Kinetic Blast colliding into each other just above Nine's head; a massive explosion of pure physical energy erupted, blinding the two young Heroes in a cloud of dust and kicked up earth…before Izuku saw the same terrible yellow glow of the Villain's Air Wall facing him.

But before Nikolay could see the same thing on his side behind Nine's back; he was suddenly met with a second giant blue serpentine head erupting from it; forcing him to hurriedly boost himself back and upwards in a split-second physical reflex; the Hydra head closely chasing after him with no effort. Realizing this, Nikolay hurriedly fired out his hand in order to send his body into a sideways spin, just barely avoiding getting grazed by its fins as it shot past him. With no other idea what to do, Nikolay hurriedly brought his hands flat together as he aimed at the passing neck. "OGLUSHITELNYY KHLOPOK (Thunderous Clap)!"

BWOOOM!

The powerful concentrated forward shockwave that emanated from between his hands was enough to cleave straight through the neck; the severed part instantly bursting into nothingness on impact. But before Nikolay could even begin to think of celebrating discovering a vulnerability in this Quirk; the ending of that Hydra neck suddenly engorged and shot out two consecutive splitting heads; both aiming directly for him, and forcing him to once more start blasting himself away and around, knowing now he'd just made this that much harder for himself.

As Nikolay continued to dart and propel himself one after another as the two snakelike heads chased after him doggedly; he knew he couldn't afford to keep attacking them like before; doing so would only make more if he wasn't fast enough; assuming speed would even make a difference. And he couldn't focus on that for too much longer, as Nine was already adding further to the assault by firing more Laser Bullets from his left hand at the bothersome foreign Hero; Nikolay barely managing to stop his forward momentum enough to avoid getting one straight through his head, but still ultimately getting one slashing across his right pectoral up to his right shoulder before he hurriedly launched himself that much higher up; causing the two pursuing Hydra heads to collide into each other.

As Nikolay was going as fast as he could to avoid getting caught by either attack; his eyes honed in on Bakugo, still pinned to the ground under one Hydra head. 'Attacking that thing itself won't help anyone…but there is one thing that might make a difference!'

"BAKUGO!" He called down to get his classmate's attention, just as he came freefalling down at greater speed than natural; the two other Hydra heads already diving in from behind to slam him into the ground right alongside Bakugo.

Without a moment to lose, Nikolay charged up as much Kinetic power into his right hand as he could; bringing it forward just before he would naturally come crashing down; firing that further-strengthened Kinetic Blast all-but point-blank into the ground just next to Bakugo; creating another powerful impact explosion that sent enough rubble flying to momentarily stun the two Hydra heads above.

But Nikolay wasted no time sticking around before they'd recover and attack him again; once again launching himself into a mad low-flight close to the ground. It was all because he knew that the crater he'd just made would grant Bakugo the flexibility he needed; and Bakugo himself instantly realized this as well, as he could finally move his right arm enough to get it free…and with that realization came his usual menacing grin as he slammed his palm straight into the side of the Hydra pinning the rest of him down. "DIIIIIE!"

BKOOOOM!

Another overwhelming fireball of an Explosion instantly engulfed the entirety of the Hydra's head; allowing Bakugo to get back onto his feet, only to immediately take off in an Explosive launch after the other two heads once again chasing after Nikolay; boosting himself up and over, until he was practically just above Nikolay's head as he dashed; momentarily hanging upside down with his hand at the ready as he was directly in the two heads' path. "AP SHOT: AUTO CANNON!"

Just as before, a rapid-fire barrage of Explosions instantly emanated from his left hand and vambrace; annihilating the two heads and the entirety of the three total necks before they could try multiplying further.

With both his partners and friends now free and laying on the attack; Izuku was finally ready, blocking out the lingering pain as he channeled his Quirk to kick himself up high into the air; ready to channel all of the energy he could use into his fist so he could drive it into Nine while his eyes were on Nikolay and Bakugo; both of whom were likewise now preparing to charge at him from three different fronts; Nikolay already having one of his larger tuning forks in hand as it began to vibrate with growing frequency as he channeled all the Kinetic power he could into it.

But Nine, realizing the disadvantage he was in; instead focused something else through his body, as his once glowing yellow eyes…now began to glow red; causing the skies directly above this battleground to turn dark and stormy, rumbling with thunder and flashing with lightning.

"DETROIT SMA-!"

Just as Izuku had begun to call out his finishing move to collide with the attacks of his friends upon Nine; the entire battleground was suddenly engulfed in an instantaneous bright light, as a concentrated barrage of lightning suddenly came hammering down around Nine; overwhelming electrical currents tearing through Izuku and Bakugo's bodies without mercy; sending them both smoking and writhing to the ground.

It was honestly a miracle that Nikolay was still standing once the electrical storm had passed. The only reason why, was because the moment his ears had heard those beginning crackles of a lightning strike; it was like his body itself took complete control, as his arm wielding the tuning fork instinctively swung upwards, throwing his weapon high up into the air with all that Kinetic buildup to send it higher and higher, enough to channel the lightning bolt that would've naturally stricken Nikolay himself, into the metal tool instead, like a lightning rod.

But Nikolay couldn't allow himself to feel relief that such a fluke of a reaction had saved his skin, for he'd been stricken with horror at the sight of Izuku and Bakugo both having gotten hit in full, being sent to the ground. And that horror just as quickly turned into anger, as he followed up by swinging a quickly charging left fist straight for Nine's head.

But even when the Villain's eyes reflected surprise that his Weather Manipulation Quirk hadn't eliminated all three of the Heroes as expected; his own reflexes were still on point, as he easily lifted a hand and created another Air Wall to take that entire punch and the Kinetic Blast that fired through it. This sensation only piqued the slightest bit of interest in the Villain as he muttered: "Another simple Kinetic Energy-based Quirk."

BWOOOM!

With no hesitation, he proceeded to drive that whole Air Wall straight into Nikolay's body at point blank range; sending him flying and dragging deep across the ground; leaving a deep gouging trench in his wake.

Nikolay's breathing was pained and wheezing as his head spun and rang all at once, feeling all of that physical impact ripple throughout his entire body in agony…before it all came rippling back towards the same focal point it had just entered from, up and down the whole front of his body, before finally erupting out in another bigger-sized Kinetic Blast about three-quarters as powerful as Nine's initial attack; flying in fast enough to catch the Villain further by surprise; this time not prepared to make another Air Wall so suddenly.

As a result, that example of Nikolay's tried and tested Refracting ability ended up slamming full-on into the Villain; scoring the first direct hit since this entire battle had even started, as he was sent flying but a few feet, before another pair of Hydra heads erupted from his back and dug into the ground in order to bring Nine to a stop before he could slam into the side of the hill.

Settling back on his feet while shaking off the impact and shock of Nikolay's surprise counterattack; Nine looked up with growing annoyance at the single remaining young Hero standing far across the field from him. Nikolay was visibly on his last legs, as he still struggled to breathe and stay steady when he saw the Villain was already staring him down with his glowing yellow eyes.

But as Nine used his Scanning Quirk to really get a better idea of exactly what this foreign young Hero's power really was; his eyes subtly widened with surprise at what he was really seeing. 'This boy…it's not just a simple Kinetic-based Quirk…it's Kinetic Absorption and Release. So that's why he was able to take my counterattack and send even a portion of it back at me on a rebound. But what's this? There's something else in there…what? It's nowhere near as large, but there's even just a spark of the same Quirk that was within that other child Hero. To think there are two young Heroes with the potential to possess multiple Quirks in the same place, and to even somehow different portions of the same one…interesting.'

"He doesn't have much fight in him left. I may as well eliminate these other two bothers first." Nine commented out loud as he began to aim both hands at Bakugo and Izuku's prone bodies; his fingernails already beginning to glow.

The moment Nikolay saw this, on top of the terrified expressions on Katsuma and Mahoro's faces; his heart began to race like mad, numbing him to the pain of his clearly broken ribs as he hurriedly blasted himself forward from his hands; once more flying low across the field towards Nine, ready to fight back at him with everything he could muster; no matter how many different Quirks he clearly had.

But as soon as that resonating sound of pure rumbling bass reached his ears; Nine muttered under his breath: "And he takes the bait."

With calculated swiftness, Nine suddenly lifted his other arm and aimed all ten purple-glowing fingertips straight at Nikolay; opening fire with a full barrage of Laser Bullets.

The instant Nikolay realized he'd fallen for the Villain's trap, he immediately followed through by firing another Kinetic Blast from his right hand, sending himself into a sideways spin at a speed fast enough to help him skirt around all ten beams, while still keeping his forward momentum to drive his full weight and building Kinetic power in his other hand straight into the man on impact.

PSSSHT!

But the moment Nikolay's dodging spin had stopped, and he'd gotten ready to launch himself forward that much faster; he saw that Nine's eyes were still laser focused on him, as though he'd expected the Hero to take this very course of action; his right hand already aimed straight at him with fingertips still glowing.

And before Nikolay could even physically react, he felt an overwhelming piercing pain shoot all throughout his body, as a single focused Laser Bullet shot him straight in his sternum in a perfectly straight line; emerging out his back through his spinal cord, expertly severing it in half.

Nikolay's legs instantly gave out from underneath the exit wound like rubber.

Nikolay's body didn't even collapse face-first into the ground as he flew the rest of that way; his mind still in absolute shock and agony as Nine expertly reached out and grabbed him by the face; lifting him up further off the ground as he looked into his one terrified green eye; listening to his hyperventilating ragged breaths alongside the terrified whimpering of the Shimano siblings nearby; both of them too scared to move anymore upon seeing their three Heroes get so summarily annihilated.

"Don't worry. As bothersome as you all are, I'm not going to kill you. But I should have just enough free space for your Quirks and the boy's Cell Activation in total…so I'll be taking those now." As Nine coldly announced his intent; his eyes shifted over to settle on the trembling Katsuma once more; slowly and methodically approaching the small child while continuing to carry Nikolay's listless body in one hand like a slab of meat; reaching outward with his free hand so he could take both boys' Quirks at once.

Until he suddenly felt something clamping down on his legs; looking down with mild annoyance to see Izuku and Bakugo; even despite their overwhelming injuries; having crawled their ways over to grab onto him, even in the most ineffective means to just try and slow him down. "Don't…you hurt…them…" "Th-the fight…ain't over…yet…"

"Honestly, Heroes really are a bother." Nine muttered coldly to himself as he redirected his free hand, driving another quick Air Wall into the two struggling boys like a hammer to a nail.

BZZZT!

Suddenly, Nine's entire body was engulfed in that same overwhelming agony that felt like it was tearing his body apart from the inside out at the molecular level; forcing him to release his grip on Nikolay; who collapsed into the crater alongside Izuku and Bakugo like a pile of bricks; gasping, wheezing and trembling where he lay.

Nine's whole body hunched over as he tried, in a fruitless effort, to block out this torture flaring all throughout his body.

"NINE-SAN!" Suddenly, the familiar sound of his accomplice Slice's voice reached his ears, as the female Villain finally emerged from out the same woods that Nikolay had originally approached from; paying no mind to the three broken down Heroes as she knelt at her comrade and leader's side. "Nine-san; please, get a hold of yourself."

But Nine was in no mood for such platitudes or anything else, as he struggled to raise one commanding hand for her. "The boy…and the…f-foreign one…take…them…"

Without question, Slice was already on her feet; eyeing the troublesome foreign Hero she'd just been in a battle with, and then the terrified little boy at the foot of the hill; before focusing her Quirk so her hair turned into a multitude of forward-facing spikes aimed at the children. "Understood. Don't any of you try to struggle."

WOOOOSH!

But just as she began to approach; the entire field was suddenly beset upon by a near cyclone of crows, leaving no open air around for the two Villains to see their way through.

That was all Kouji had needed to do upon seeing the state of the battle; as with that blinding distraction put in place, Mezo quickly came rushing into the field, scooping up Katsuma and Mahoro in his arms without breaking his stride; following after Kouji as they made their escape. At the same time, Ochako came diving down from above, rapidly putting her full hands to Izuku, Bakugo and Nikolay together; while Tsuyu was close behind; quickly wrapping her tongue around the three boys and carrying them through the air as she hopped madly after Ochako.

As they quickly made their escape through the woods, Ochako quickly chanced a glance back to make sure she hadn't been seeing things, overcome with a desire to know once she saw Nikolay was still seemingly conscious. "Kolya-san, are you alright?! What are Deku-kun and Bakugo's conditions?! Can you tell?!"

But the only answer she got was something that (through her rudimentary understanding of basic body part words and even more basic grammar in Russian, courtesy of Tunguska) left her and Tsuyu both chilled to the bone; especially knowing what was bound to happen once the rest of their classmates would see them like this; as Nikolay barely managed to form the words through his pain and shock: [[M…m…m-my legs…I…I-I can't…f-f-f…I can't feel m-my legs…!]]

Back in the clearing, once the crows had finally dispersed, Slice and Nine were both quick to realize that they were now alone; all his opponents and both his targets had vanished without a trace. And with his body still reeling from the agony of his symptoms; the electronic filter of his mask couldn't hide the frustration and anger in Nine's voice: "Follow them, Slice! No matter where they're going…get those boys, no matter what it takes!"

But despite his admittedly rare showing of any kind of anger; Slice didn't let it get to her, as she placed a calming hand on his back. "Nine-san, they can't leave the island. You should focus on letting your body heal right now."

With that, she proceeded to draw out a small flare gun from her pocket, firing it straight up into the sky, where it produced a piercing white light that reached all the way down to the beaches; where Chimera was still in the middle of his vicious stand-off against his own young Heroes.

But upon seeing that light, all the violent intent in his colossal frame disappeared without a trace. "So that's it, huh? Looks like you all just made it out of this with your lives, Heroes."

And to all their collective confusion, he proceeded to turn his back on them and repeatedly leap higher and farther in his escape, leaving them to stew in the wake of their own near-stalemate/defeat; as Hanta uttered in disbelief: "What? He's actually running away?"

"I think it's more accurate to say he's letting us go for now." Tenya answered in well-hidden frustration; mirrored by Shoto impulsively starting to chase after him before Tenya quickly grabbed him by the shoulder. "Wait, Todoroki-san. Think about it: he's someone we couldn't take down even with all of us here. It's dangerous to go after him alone. Right now, we need to regroup with the others at the agreed upon evacuation site, and make sure all the civilians are safe. That's a Hero's job, too."

Tenya could easily understand the conflicted look on Shoto's face as he kept looking back and forth between his classmates and the woods Chimera had just retreated into…but in the end, he knew the class president was right.

And so, with all the civilians having been cleared from the beaches, they proceeded to all head back to where it had been agreed they would move all the civilians to; all the while hoping that everyone else had managed to hold their own better than they had.

A couple hours later that night…

The dreary raining weather that was pouring down on Nabu Island had not only managed to help put out the fires that had consumed half the national park, but also couldn't have better encapsulated the general mood among the Hero students of 1-A, and the citizens themselves. Every neighborhood and a good portion of the main town had been laid to waste, and the massive lightning strike earlier had fried the entire electrical grid across the entire island.

Through the shared efforts of Ochako, Tsuyu, Mezo, Mina, Tooru, Minoru and Yuga; all the civilians had been redirected to gather in a massive warehouse facility on the western end of the island. It provided plenty of room to provide them shelter, as well as the amenities needed to be able to provide for them.

With the help of the local farmers, they'd managed to amass a bountiful supply of multiple different vegetables and other ingredients in order to provide food for the now-displaced civilians. While Momo and Denki continuously pushed their Quirks to provide water and electricity respectively (with Kyouka keeping watch in order to keep them both nourished and caution them away from pushing themselves too hard); Tenya and Fumikage took care of providing blankets and cots for the all civilians to sleep on; while Eijirou, Mashirao and Yuga took care of supplying the food that Kouji, Tsuyu, Tooru, Hanta and Mina were busily preparing in the kitchens.

"It's a good thing there's so many different kinds of farmers here. I don't even want to think what would happen if we'd run out of food for everyone." Hanta commented as he came in with a crate full of carrots.

"What's the story with that Villain we captured?" Kouji asked while busily stirring one of the large soup pots; prompting Hanta to look back the way he'd just come from. "He's been locked up in the boiler room in the basement. So long as Kaminari is providing power, Todoroki-san is keeping an eye on him. We've tried questioning him over and over, but he's just refusing to talk, no matter what."

THUNK! "OW!"

Out of nowhere, the sound of a kitchen knife hitting wood and Mina letting out a pained yelp snapped all her present classmates and the assisting civilians at attention; seeing her clutching her left hand while a thin trail of blood was running from the side of her index finger.

But even as her grip was tight and her body was trembling with the pain…Tsuyu, Tooru, Hanta and Kouji could all see that the anguish on her face was not because of accidentally cutting herself while chopping the radishes.

And this recognition and understanding was what prompted Tsuyu to step in, grabbing her close friend by the arm. "C'mon, Mina; the doctors will take care of that easy-kero."

As the two girls took their leave for the moment; Tooru let out a similarly emotional sigh while hurriedly washing the cutting board clean again. "Poor Mina-chan. She's been trying so hard to keep it together since we all regrouped here. I'm honestly surprised this didn't happen sooner with how tense she's been."

"Not like any of us could be able to blame her, though." Hanta responded while quickly taking Mina's place in chopping up more of the vegetables. "Seeing the shape Bezpalov-san was in with Midoriya-san and Bakugo-san…that was painful enough for the rest of us to see. But for her…God, I don't think I can even imagine it."

As Tsuyu helped guide Mina along to the small room serving as the infirmary; they both ended up running into a similarly worried-looking Ochako; who just as quickly took notice of the cut on her friend's finger, and the sadness on her face that far exceeded it. There was clearly no need to even ask how Mina was really feeling or what she was thinking about right now.

After all, she'd been feeling the exact same way, which was what had brought her back here.

Opening the sliding door so they could all three step inside, they could see the small handful of local doctors were still hard at work tending to the minor injuries of the few civilians who hadn't made it here completely unscathed. But by far, it was their three classmates that had received the absolute worst of it.

As one doctor hurriedly guided Mina to an open spot on the floor beside Nikolay, Izuku and Bakugo; he hurriedly and gently cupped his hands over her injured finger; producing a warm yellow glow that managed to seal it right back up without even a single trace of a scar to show for it.

But her own injury was the last thing on Mina's mind, as her emotionally distraught eyes were focused on Nikolay; who while already having had his wounds coated over with her healing salve at the beginning; was still lying on his back with a multitude of further bandages on his torso, shoulders, legs and arms, while staring emptily at the ceiling with a thinly hidden and similar anguish in his green eyes; even as one doctor kneeling over him was placing his hands to his torso, creating a similar healing glow.

"How are Deku-kun, Kolya-san and Bakugo doing right now, Sensei?" Ochako finally asked as she provided another of the doctors with some hot towels; watching as two other doctors were trying to provide the same Healing Quirk treatments to the two fully unconscious boys lying side by side.

Alas, none of the three working doctors could fake an overly optimistic expression. "I'm sorry, but all our Quirks can do is close up their wounds. The internal damage is still there in all three of them, and it's very extensive. The foreign one, I'm afraid…won't be able to walk again; his spine has been cleanly severed."

That these doctors were saying something so terrible with such an unflinching certainty, was a fact that had Ochako's hands tightening with stress and worry, while Mina was already reaching and holding Nikolay's right hand in both of hers; gently rubbing her thumbs against it to let him know she was really here; biting her lip in a futile attempt to keep from shedding tears once she saw his eyes were already drowning in their own.

"Nikolay…please tell me if you can hear me…please…" Mina uttered under her shaking breaths as she refused to let go of his hand. She was slowly shaking her head in a meaningless attempt to try and block out what the doctors were saying about his now-crippled condition; the thought enough to almost make her feel physically sick with heartbreak for him.

When Nikolay was finally able to open his mouth; he could only speak out in response to what he'd just heard confirmed about the state he was in; feeling as though he were trapped in a mental void of his own making. "Ya pytalsya borot'sya…potomu chto ya prosto khotel spasti ikh. Chto ya sobirayus' delat'? Kogo ya mogu seychas spasti? Deiistvitel'no li ato dlya menya? (I tried to fight…because I just wanted to save them. What am I going to do? Who can I possibly save now? Is this really it for me?)"

Mina, Ochako and the doctors all couldn't begin to actually understand what Nikolay was muttering repeatedly to himself amid his gasps and choking tears; but it was all his body language with his devastated expression that said it all clear as day.

This was what made Mina's simultaneous sadness at her boyfriend's condition, frustration at not having gone to the mountain herself to help them, and her building anger towards the Villains responsible for all of this, start rolling into one overwhelming lump of emotion in the pit of her chest as she bowed her head; gritting her teeth as her tears rained down onto his hand she was still clutching. "Is…is t-there really…n-n-nothing *sniffle*…nothing that can be done for them, Sensei?"

With a similarly regretful sigh, the doctor attending to Bakugo answered: "For their injuries; their best bet would be at a hospital on the mainland. But even with their resources; your friend's chances of getting his spinal injury repaired to regain the use of his legs are slim at the very best."

Mina couldn't hold it back in any way upon hearing this; bowing her head and breaking down into devastated sobs; prompting Ochako and Tsuyu both to step in and hug their weeping friend.

"Let me help."

The sound of a little boy's voice suddenly broke the overwhelming air in the infirmary; as everyone looked to the entrance to find Mahoro and an especially driven-looking Katsuma standing before them; Ochako being the only one to actually recognize them from yesterday.

Under the watchful eyes of the Heroes, doctors and locals in front of them, Mahoro spoke up: "That Villain from before described Katsuma's Quirk as Cell Activation. I think that's ultimately what it takes for any injuries to heal, right? We…we don't know for sure if he can actually heal all their injuries or not, though…"

But where Mahoro was sounding more and more uncertain with every word; Katsuma steadfastly refused to do the same, continuing his way further in: "They all got hurt protecting us. That's why…I at least have to try. I have to save them…no, I WILL save them!"

Nobody among them looked certain if this would work, but considering what few options they had otherwise, it was at least a long shot that Mina, Ochako and Tsuyu were willing to take; and the doctors themselves proved no different, as they finally removed their hands from the three boys. "We'd like to ask for your help too, Katsu-kun."

"Okay!" Katsuma didn't even hesitate as he rushed over, kneeling in front of Izuku, Bakugo and Nikolay; noticing how the latter was the only one conscious, as his green eyes looked down his own body into his own from where he lay.

With his young face taut with nervousness and focus, Katsuma reached his hands out, placing them upon Izuku and Nikolay both; where a bright green glow began to emanate from his hands, soon spreading across the entirety of both their bodies; to the wide-eyed wonder and cautious anticipation of the doctors and the three female Heroes watching this unfold; all of them silently hoping over and over that this would actually work, with Nikolay likewise thinking the same thing as he became lost in the sensation of Katsuma's Quirk reaching deep within.

In a lonely isolated lighthouse on the eastern end of the island; Slice had quickly taken care to arrange what little she could so that Nine had a place to rest and slowly but surely recover. Having to fight this latest flaring of his symptoms had taken a great deal of his remaining energy, so once she'd been able to provide him an excuse for a bed, he was quickly unconscious. From there, it was all Slice could do to keep the place dimly lit with a single candle while systematically checking his vitals the best she could.

It had been like this; the two of them sitting in a grim silence for the last couple of hours while Chimera had decided to keep watch outdoors, just in case the young Heroes had decided to try anything under the cover of this stormy night. Every minute that passed where he didn't come barging in to say such a thing was a blessing, as far as Slice was concerned. Of course, that was also while having to consider the unmistakable issue that was Mummy's clear and apparent capture at the hands of the Heroes. But knowing him as well as they did after all their years working together; there was no doubt between them that he wouldn't give the Heroes anything to work with even if his life depended on it.

Finally, after an unbearable short while; Slice was snapped out of her single-minded focus on Nine, when the door opened up; Chimera silently making his way inside to get out of the rain. "How's Nine-san doing?"

"He's fine. He should be back up and rejuvenated in a few hours." Slice answered in as straightforward a diagnosis as she could possibly give. Even if she knew their leader would be back to normal upon waking up; it still did nothing for the fact that Nine would still have this damned incurable illness hanging over his head like a guillotine.

And this grim understanding was no less apparent on Chimera's face, either; as he looked forlornly upon Nine's sleeping body. "With or without Mummy-san fighting alongside us, Nine-san's plan here will succeed…it will…I know it will."

The longer he looked upon the sleeping form of his longtime leader and comrade; Chimera could feel his chest tighten with an unspoken anxiety and worry. After having spent so much of his life as a Villain on the run; hunted everywhere he went by Heroes, and detested as a monster by everyone else; the day Nine had come into his life and saved his life; both literally and figuratively; was a moment that was more precious to him than anything else.

Into an old life of pure aimlessness had stepped a man who actually treated Chimera like an equal; who had a genuine goal set before himself that he was actually inviting him and his future comrades to become a part of: the destruction of this unbalanced world of Heroes that shunned him into the very monster they always called him.

And in its place would come the recreation of a much purer world, where those with the strongest Quirks would rule over the weak; a true human version of the laws of nature. Such a vision was simply too beautiful for the likes of Chimera, Slice and Mummy to turn their backs on. Because Nine had given them that dream, they would follow him to the ends of the earth and back, no questions asked. They both knew and accepted this wholeheartedly.

And it was only precisely because they knew they would need their leader to possess an even greater power than the Weather Manipulation he already had; that they had held their tongues when he'd first informed them of his decision to accept the offer by the mysterious doctor only known as Ujiko, to be subjected to a lengthy experiment that would endow him with a power beyond imagination, even if it would stand to take years for the process to be completed without risking destroying his body entirely.

The night they had finally been reunited with their old friend and leader had been a truly joyous occasion for the two remaining comrades of Nine; even if the fact of the experiment's results were that his body would only be able to possess an extra eight Quirks at maximum. So long as they found the right Quirk for him that would finally allow him to cure himself of the cellular degeneration sickness brought on by the power of his original Quirk that convinced him to volunteer for the experiment in the first place; then all this struggling would be worth it.

Chimera simply had to keep telling himself to believe that. But when looking upon his first real friend in this world in this state he was currently in; it was difficult for him to be able to accept it…and even less so the thought of their plans ultimately failing. "I'm counting on you, Nine-san…we all are. So please…please don't die on us."

Katsuma had continued to try and apply his Quirk to both Nikolay and Izuku for nearly an entire hour without stopping. Mahoro, the doctors, and even Mina, Ochako and Tsuyu tried to convince the little boy to pace himself once they could see the tiredness begin to reflect in his eyes and posture. But every single time, he stubbornly refused; assuring them all every time that he could somehow feel that his Quirk was working.

And it was only after that first hour had passed, that Katsuma finally lifted his hands off both boys' chests; hunching over and gasping for breath as he felt all the energy having left his body. As the doctors tended to him to make sure he was alright, Ochako couldn't help but ask: "Are you okay, Katsuma-kun? Do you need some time?"

But to hers and her friends' surprise and subsequent happiness; Katsuma lightly shook his head. "No…I'm…I'm okay, really…and…and so is he. I could feel it…my Quirk suddenly stopped moving into him just now."

As the girls and doctors all looked, they could see that Nikolay looked just as surprised, and not just because of what Katsuma was saying. Straining to lift himself up on his elbows so he could see for himself; Nikolay focused his sight on his feet; his face straining as his brain tried to communicate his commands to the muscles in his lower body…before his toes began to actually curl inward, and subsequently unfold; before repeating the same process with increasing ease once, twice, then finally three times, as his legs began to slowly bend at the knees.

"OH MY GOD! KOLYA-KUN, IT WORKED!" Mina nearly screamed in a tearful joy once she saw Nikolay slowly get himself into a sitting position with considerable difficulty; only waiting until he'd finished doing so before quickly throwing her arms around him; her brightly smiling face streaked with unstoppable tears as she held him close, crying into his shoulder as he held her in return; tears of a miraculous sense of thankfulness filling his eyes as well.

And it wasn't exactly like they were alone in this overwhelming relief, as Ochako and Tsuyu both looked similarly overwhelmed with gratitude that something was finally going right; especially when the doctor tending to Izuku had a stethoscope to his chest; his face likewise reflecting an astonished wonder. "His heartbeat is already much healthier than it was before. Katsu-kun…your Quirk actually is healing their internal damage."

Katsuma and Mahoro both looked absolutely stricken with surprise of their own that his Quirk had proven so effective; while Nikolay took a deep breath with no difficulty while continuing to fold and stretch out his legs with slowly increasing ease. "It's true…my ribs feel as good as they ever did again…and my legs…it's pins and needles inside right now; but otherwise I can feel my muscles responding the way I want them to, like nothing even happened! In fact…I actually feel more energized than I did before! Oh my God…Katsuma-kun…balshoi spasibo! Thank you so much! You're a literal lifesaver; a true Hero!"

With Izuku and Bakugo still being unconscious; to hear even one of the three Heroes that had gone through so much for the sake of him and his sister, had Katsuma's face lighting up with an overjoyed realization.

And Nikolay was far from the only one to express his immeasurable gratitude for the boy's actions; for as soon as Mina finally released her embrace around him, she had her tear-glistened eyes set on Katsuma. "Absolutely right, you totally are! Katsuma-kun, you're amazing!"

But the moment she began to move in to hug Katsuma in her gratitude; his body began to wobble with dizziness; quickly prompting Mahoro to grab onto him to keep him steady. "Katsuma, you've already pushed yourself real hard! Please, at least take some time to rest and get your strength back up."

But instead, Katsuma vehemently crawled his way so he was now between Izuku and Bakugo; once more applying his hands and Quirk to both of them. "No…I can keep going, I promise. Even if Mr. Kolya is okay, Mr. Deku and Mr. Bakugo still need my help."

Nikolay, Mina, Ochako, Tsuyu and Mahoro could all only look on in amazement at Katsuma's borderline stubborn resilience; ignoring his own physical exhaustion for the sake of making sure Izuku and Bakugo would be okay just like Nikolay now was. And as Katsuma himself continued to try and focus all the power of his Quirk as he could into the two remaining injured Heroes, he resolutely kept repeating to himself in his head: 'A Hero doesn't give up, no matter what.'

Realizing there was nothing he could be able to do to try and help Katsuma in his task; Nikolay groaned through gritted teeth as he tried to hurry and get the blood flowing through his legs like normal again; struggling to get up until Mina and one of the doctors attentively helped him onto his feet; the latter firmly stating: "You need to take it easy, son. You just went through a miracle of a recovery, there's no telling how long it'll be before you're up and walking like you were again."

Already out of breath, Nikolay answered: "Then please give me some crutches or anything like that. I gotta tell everyone…about that Villain we fought…they all need to know…about his Quirks."

It wasn't even Nikolay's refusal to remain immobilized here that left Mina, Ochako and Tsuyu visibly shaken. It was the fact he was referring to the Villain responsible and his Quirk as a plural; with his clarity of speech giving no reason to think he didn't do so intentionally.

Looking at the clock on the wall, Tsuyu answered: "The civilians should all be resting already, so Iida-san is probably calling for everyone to gather for a sit-rep already-kero. There's no better time to tell them than now."

Thankfully, the doctors were indeed able to provide Nikolay with crutches to keep himself mobile until he was certain his legs were fully back to normal, while Mina and Tsuyu stayed close to keep him steady in case he seemed at risk of collapsing again.

With that done, the four Heroes quickly made their way to the agreed upon meeting room deep within the warehouse, where all the rest of their classmates had already just gathered; all of them understandably shocked at the sight of Nikolay up and about again.

"Dude, how is this possible? Uraraka-san told us you couldn't even feel your legs! I…I thought…" Eijirou exclaimed as he approached his foreign best friend; his sharp teeth grinding with tension as he tried to keep himself from getting too emotional; remembering how devastated he'd likewise felt when first seeing him, Izuku and Bakugo in such terrible shape.

And that thought quickly got him back to focus. "What about Midoriya and Bakugo?! Are they with you?"

"Katsuma-kun is treating their wounds right now. It's because of him that Kolya-kun is walking again! His Quirk is an absolute miracle!" Mina quickly answered; not even trying to hide the happy tears in her eyes again as she affirmed Nikolay's recovery out loud, as though that was finally cementing for her that this miracle was real.

As everyone else (save Denki, who had long since shorted himself out trying to power the generators enough for the whole night) likewise expressed their astonishment and relief that Nikolay's most grievous injury had been healed; Tenya eventually took back control over the whole room. "Everyone, there's no denying that we're all overjoyed that Bezpalov-san's injury has managed to be treated, and that Midoriya-san and Bakugo-san may very well be close to recovery as well. But we cannot allow ourselves to forget why we're here. We need to give a complete summation of the situation we find ourselves in. That's the only way we can put together a proper plan of action for ourselves and the civilians we're protecting here."

With nobody about to argue with his reasoning; they all quickly took their places around the office; allowing Tenya to finally begin. "Thank you. Now, here is where things currently stand: the communication and electrical grids for the island have been completely destroyed, so we are unable to call for help."

Suddenly, Shoto raised a single hand into the air, signaling his desire to speak up. "Everything's been happening so fast, I didn't have a chance to tell you all. When the fishing fleet we were with saw the smoke from the island out on the water, I instructed the sailors to consolidate their fuel into their best ship, so they could take it as far as they needed to get a cell-phone signal from the mainland and call the authorities to send in Pro Hero backup. Chances are they've long since gotten within that range since then, sent the message out, and have been received by the Coast Guard."

Everyone's eyes reflected surprise and immense relief that Shoto sounded so confident in this turn of events; with Kyouka sounding quite cautious in her optimism: "So you're saying that, as we speak, there could be a ton of Pro Heroes from different Agencies and Yuuei on their way here?"

Shoto, however, looked similarly cautious as he kept his arms crossed. "Most likely, but without some direct way to communicate, we have no way of knowing for sure. And even if they are, it would still take considerable time for them to get here…and there's no way of knowing if the Villains will wait that long before coming after us again."

And that thought had Minoru and Tooru both (figuratively) visibly shaking in their seats; the tiny Hero exclaiming with pure terror in his voice: "Ooooh maaaan…are you kidding me, Todoroki?! Even just one of those Villains was too much for each of our groups to take on alone! The only reason we got one captured was because he was up against Bakugo,and who knows how long he and Midoriya could be out of commission for?! If the last three Villains do come back, they're bound to know we're all gathered in one place, and they'll come in equal force together! We don't stand a chance against that!"

Nikolay suddenly proceeded to raise his hand as well; a grimness on his face that left nearly all his classmates feeling a chill go up their spines as Tenya gave him the floor. "There's something I have to tell you, about the Villain me, Midoriya-san and Bakugo all fought. He…I still can't believe it, but he had multiple Quirks he used to fight us with; the kind that had absolutely no kind of relation to each other. It was just like…just like that Villain who All Might, my Dad and Endeavor all fought back at Kamino Ward. I don't even know if those were ALL the Quirks he had, or if we simply didn't push him enough to use all of them."

Naturally, Nikolay could see that the idea of their facing a Villain with multiple Quirks, and the reminder of the Villain that had forced All Might into retirement and taken Tunguska's arm; had everyone visibly shaking in dread, before Tenya finally said what they were all silently thinking: "A Villain with the capability for multiple Quirks…before Kamino Ward, I didn't think such a thing was possible…and then came Midoriya-san, Kirishima-san, Uraraka-san and Asui-san's experiences against the League of Villains alongside the Shie Hassaikai. Could that mean that the League is somehow connected to the Villains we're up against right now as well?"

SLAM!

With no warning and a despairing cry, Minoru suddenly slammed his face into the table; sobbing hysterically. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE AND WORSE! WHAT THE HELL DO THESE VILLAINS EVEN WANT THAT WOULD BRING THEM ALL THE WAY DOWN HERE?!"

"The Villains are after me." The sound of Katsuma's voice suddenly declared from the entrance to the meeting room; shattering the air among the entire class of Heroes as they all looked in surprise at his and Mahoro's sudden appearance; the little boy standing steadfast despite the nervousness on his face; Mahoro visibly looking like she'd tried to stop him from speaking up. "He said that he was going to steal my Quirk."

This revelation visibly struck everyone he could see immensely, and that was even before Nikolay likewise spoke up: "It's true, I heard him say as much after he'd shot and grabbed me. I could've sworn I'd even heard him say he was going to steal my Quirks as well. I don't know why he said it like that, as though I had more than one; but my whole body was in so much shock then, I could've likely heard anything that wasn't actually real."

"Quirk hijacking…" "Also like the Kamino Ward Villain, then-kero…" Fumikage muttered grimly as Tsuyu likewise agreed. It was a feeling that was inescapable among the rest of the young Heroes, as they now knew just what kind of a threat they were up against.

In fact, the thought couldn't help but get Momo to utter aloud as a memory came rushing back: "A Villain with the capacity for destruction normally wielded by an entire group…the kind of threat that can't be taken down by one Hero or a small group…but an army to match. This is exactly the kind of threat that made Tunguska-sensei spring that surprise third test on us back at the Final Exams!"

While everyone else clearly was stricken with that same remembrance; there also came the dreaded memories of just how royally they'd been beaten around before barely managing to eke out that same victory. Only then, Tunguska wasn't deliberately aiming to kill them. That fact, made this situation all the more terrifying for them all.

But out of that choking fear came a rising sense of drive within all their chests, now that they actually had a good idea just what it was the Villains were after, as Mina suddenly spoke up: "If those Villains are after Katsuma-kun and Kolya-kun's Quirks; then if we could just help them both escape—"It's not going to be that easy."

Shoto's swift cut-off of Mina's admittedly reckless plan brought all eyes back to him. "Let's not forget these are full-blown Villains we're dealing with here. They destroyed every boat in the northern harbor, and we haven't heard anything from the civilians of there being any boats left unscathed at any other harbor, either. These Villains are clearly too thorough to let a major flaw in their plan like that slip by unnoticed."

Mezo, likewise keeping his tentacles folded across his broad chest in contemplation, similarly spoke up: "Plus, even if that weren't the case, and we tried to sneak them out, there's no question the Villains would kill all the remaining civilians on the island in retaliation. They might just threaten to do the same just to get us to hand him over anyway."

"Then what should we do?" Tooru asked; clearly at a loss, herself, as to what they could possibly do to win against such overwhelming odds.

"GIVE ME OVER TO THE VILLAINS!" Katsuma suddenly exclaimed; his voice straining with the sheer impassioned volume with which he spoke out; terror and anxiousness written all over his face, while all the young Heroes around looked as though they couldn't believe what they were hearing. But that still didn't stop him: "Those Villains originally came here for me! He even said he wouldn't kill me! If you just give me to them, maybe they'll leave everyone else on the island alone! I don't want anyone else to get hurt or die because of me…so if letting them take me will save everyone, then I'll do it! I'm fine with losing my Quirk if that's what it takes!"

Every single one of Nikolay's classmates were utterly speechless; as was he. Here was this little boy, having looked one of the most terrifying threats imaginable head-on, and he was actually telling them to offer him up to that threat for the sake of everyone else. He couldn't even defy himself to think of an even greater show of the most absolute Heroic sense of courage and selflessness. To even think of himself back at Katsuma's age seemed like an insult to this kid's example; those two couldn't have been any more different. It was like he had taken what Nikolay and Izuku had not only said to him earlier this morning, but also what they and Bakugo had all physically done to try and save him and his sister, and molded it all into himself as one grand example to follow.

"We can't do that!" Suddenly, Izuku's tired and strained voice called out in defiance from behind Mahoro's back; drawing the Shimano siblings and the rest of the 1-A Heroes to look and see another of their once-critically injured classmates walking his way inside; clearly having heard everything being said up until now.

"Midoriya-san, are you all better already?!" Tenya asked in shock and relief all in one, to which Izuku firmly nodded before looking to Katsuma with a deeply grateful smile. "That's right…all thanks to Katsuma-kun's Quirk. I may have been out for a while, but I could've sworn I'd heard that it worked for Kolya-san's injuries as well…and I can already see I wasn't simply hearing things."

With that, he proceeded to kneel down so he and Katsuma could look each other in the eye. "Cell Activation. Accelerated cell regeneration…and even enhanced performance. I feel even more pumped up than I did this morning. Thanks to you, I've already recovered this much! You have a truly amazing Quirk, Katsuma-kun! Thank you! I promise that we won't let anything scary happen to you anymore! That's what we're all here for!"

"Mr…Deku…" Katsuma could barely even get the words out, as having now received the heartfelt thanks of two of his Heroes; on top of just the relief that his Quirk had managed to help save them, had him crying where he stood.

But even the serenity of that moment couldn't stand up to the abrasive nature of Bakugo's sudden announcement; having likewise finished fully recovering and making his way over; filling the doorway with his arms crossed. "So all we have to do from here is kill those damn remaining Villains, right?"

Seeing the last of their waylaid classmates back on his feet and good as new was just the energy boost the whole class needed, as Eijirou had instantly shot up to his feet; wide-eyed and pumped all at once to see Bakugo back in action; while Nikolay could just feel his chest swell at the sight of his two fellows fully recovered alongside him; especially when Izuku finally broke the heavy eye contact he had then with Bakugo, to address Katsuma and Mahoro again: "We will definitely protect you two."

And that was what drove Nikolay to put aside his momentary crutch and get onto his feet as well; the rest of Class 1-A's eyes now set on the three standing young Heroes in front of them. Nikolay looked from Izuku, Bakugo, Katsuma and Mahoro, and his own hands as he too spoke: "That's right. Every single thing we've all done to get this far as Heroes has been nothing but struggle. That was what made everything that had happened to me yesterday bring me down like it had…because it felt like all my struggling had ultimately been for nothing.

"But I'm tired of feeling like that after all this time, after everything we've all gone through together. I'm tired of feeling completely ineffective compared to all of you, because I know that's not what I am. That's not what any of us are!"

With that, Nikolay suddenly turned to look all his classmates in the eye, so they could all see the reinvigorated fire in his eyes that reflected that in Izuku and Bakugo as well. "WHAT WE ARE IS HEROES, AND HEROES DON'T GIVE UP! NO MATTER WHAT DID HAPPEN, OR WHAT MAY HAPPEN TO ME, I'M NOT GIVING UP WHEN EVERYONE ON THIS ISLAND IS COUNTING ON US ALL TO PROTECT THEM!"

The sheer conviction and weight of Nikolay's declaration could physically be felt among all the watching young Heroes, as Izuku smiled and nodded in a stoic approval of his words; and Bakugo simply pounded his fists together in anticipation that someone else seemed to be reflecting his will to fight.

At last, Shoto got up to his feet; looking his three fellows in the eye. "Midoriya, Bakugo, Bezpalov, count me in."

And without hesitation from there, Ochako suddenly rose up; her own eyes now burning with a Heroic drive all her own. "Count me in, too! I want to do everything I can for the people of this island!"

Then the finally recovered Denki not far behind: "Me too! If I don't do my part to help the people here, I'm forever gonna be stuck at my 'yay' stage. Hardly a good look for a Hero, y'know?"

Then Tenya: "I, as well! I want the kindhearted elders of this island to live a long and happy life!"

Then Mina all but jumped from her seat and onto her feet; pink fists clenched and at the ready. "I'm in, too! The kids here don't deserve to be afraid, but to know us Heroes will save them from anything and everything!"

On that note, Tsuyu likewise stood at the ready. "Me too. The people here have been so kind to us; it's only right we do everything we can for them, now more than ever-kero."

Then finally Eijirou, pounding his ready fists together, mirroring Bakugo: "Me too! With all of us working together, we can accomplish the impossible!"

And like an ever increasing domino effect, the rest of the 1-A Heroes defiantly rose up and declared their full intent to fight alongside each other, and give their all to save Nabu Island and its people; every single word filling themselves and each other with hope and the drive to win. Nikolay alone couldn't feel any prouder to be a part of this whole team; while Katsuma and Mahoro could only watch on in absolute wonder at this gathering of true Heroes unfolding before their eyes.

With the entire class of 1-A having now universally declared their intention to fight against the Villains; Momo calmly spoke out in preparedness to lead the call: "It's like we always say, Class 1-A."

With an agreeing smile and nod, Tenya lifted a courageous fist to the air. "Go beyond…"

And everyone, instinctively feeling the words come soaring up their throats, threw their ready fists into the air and called out from the bottom of their hearts in unison: "PLUS ULTRA!"

And with no further room for doubt or hesitation among any of them, Izuku addressed Tenya: "Iida-san, please go get the mayor. I have an idea, but we're going to need all the civilians' cooperation to make it work, so he'll need to know what we're doing so he can help further convince and organize them."

Tenya did so with due haste, and no sooner did he come back with the island's mayor at his side, did he and all the 1-A Heroes gather around the meeting room table, where with the press of a button on the side; it opened up to reveal a medium-sized screen that instantly projected a complete map of Nabu Island and its small nearby neighbor.

From here, Izuku immediately proceeded to lay out his plan, pointing out the small island of Mt. Shiroyama: "Alright, here's the plan. We know there are at least three remaining Villains out there. We'll use the castle ruins with a sheer cliff behind us as our base and leave the enemy with only a single route to reach us. Then, we split up the Villains with a preemptive strike. Using the terrain in each area, we'll beat them into the ground.

"Todoroki-san said these islands were both volcanically active before, and thereby they both have extensive cave networks. We'll have the people of the island evacuate into a cave in the cliff behind the castle ruins. Katsuma-kun and Mahoro-chan will be guarded by us. We also should secure an escape route to use if it comes down to it." As Izuku explained all of this, nobody seemed to have any objections or doubts in the plan so far.

Which was why when Nikolay spoke up next, what he had to say came as such a surprise: "So far, so good...but I've been thinking: with the Villains all being as powerful and as fast as they are, all it'll take is one slip-up from even one member of one team for them to catch onto what we're doing, and try to regroup with each other. If that happens, then we've lost our advantage; especially on such a small area like that island.

"That's why I'm suggesting that if the Villains are looking to capture both Katsuma-kun and myself…that we split up their targets; leave them no choice but to separate their forces in their pursuit, to a degree that would make it difficult for them to regroup." The moment Nikolay finally said it out loud; he could already see the various looks of nervousness and reluctance on everyone's faces; with Mina naturally looking the most opposed to it. "Kolya-kun, are you seriously saying you're gonna use yourself as bait? It's only because of Katsuma-kun's Quirk that you're walking again; please don't do something so reckless!"

Despite Shoto, Izuku, Eijirou, Tooru and soon everyone else voicing their agreement; Nikolay remained unshaken. "That's just it, though: I won't be…because we would be laying out a convincing line of false bait to lead even just one of them into a trap."

With his mind running at full speed from here, Nikolay turned to Bakugo and Momo. "Bakugo, you said that the reason you figured out Mahoro-chan's Quirk was Holograms, was because of the lack of a shadow, right? Well, what if Yaoyorozu-san were to Create a couple articulated, battery-powered, remote-controlled decoys that Mahoro-chan could anchor Holograms of me and Katsuma-kun to; providing a shadow and thereby making them look that much more real?

"We could use them to lure even one of those Villains into one of the several caves across the main island, where one team could ambush and neutralize them, or at least collapse the cave mouth of choice, in order to keep them from regrouping with the other two. We could ask the park rangers for a map of the cave system, so that the ambush team could know which way to go to escape, whether the plan works or not."

To Nikolay's hope, nobody looked as though they thought this was the stupidest plan they'd ever heard. Seeing that kind of consideration on the likes of Izuku, Shoto and Tenya was an especially encouraging sight; especially after Momo chimed in: "I have actually been looking into some recent work my family's company has been doing on robotics, along with Hatsume-san's recent work from the School Festival…so such mobile decoys wouldn't be outside my ability to Create."

With that, Izuku turned to the town mayor: "Mr. Mayor, everyone on this island knows Katsuma-kun and Mahoro-chan far better than us. Since they're now resting, you're our best way of knowing: what can you tell us about her Hologram Quirk in any kind of detail?"

Thankfully, the older man didn't look lost in any of the Heroes' planning at all, as he confidently answered: "Well, Katsuma-kun's Quirk only recently manifested, but we've had a little more time getting used to Mahoro-chan's. She's been able to conjure up a few at a time, and they can move for a pretty fair distance away from her. Of course, you'll need to run this plan by her in order to get those Holograms to move with your decoys in a manner that won't give away the trick to the Villains when the time comes."

This knowledge was especially useful, as Nikolay answered: "That's good to know…because those won't be the only two Holograms she'll need to make. Whichever of us decides to act as the ambush team in whichever cave is chosen, she could make Holograms of those Heroes as well. That way, the Villains won't suspect that anything is amiss when they see all of us together on the neighboring island."

Nikolay's addition to the plan was sounding so thorough by now, Rikido was surprisingly the next one to speak up: "Just speaking from what Bezpalov-san and I saw yesterday, and especially from what I've heard from all of you about the other Villains we fought; I'm personally going to say that if we should be luring any of the Villains into the caves; it's that one with the flying spike hair. In an open battlefield, that power is insanely dangerous. But in a place as closed in as a cave, she won't have nearly as much room to maneuver or coordinate her attacks with."

Considering everything they now knew about all their opponents; Rikido's suggestion sounded very sensible. But even at this point, Ochako and Hanta both looked quite doubtful, as the former answered: "It's a good plan, but we don't know for certain if any of the Villains will actually go for it." "Yeah, once they see that there's two Bezpalov-san's and two Katsuma-kun's, they're obviously going to realize that there's a trap being set for them."

However, Shoto chimed in with a contemplative look on his face, and a surprisingly confident tone: "That's true, but with Yaoyorozu-san's decoys providing a shadow to make the Holograms look real; they won't have any way of knowing which pair is their real target or not, and they won't be willing to pass up either opportunity, just in case. They'll have no choice but to send at least one of their own to make sure…but no matter who ends up taking the bait; the fact remains that they won't leave their leader to fight on the smaller island all on his own. So we'll then have to execute Midoriya's plan to split up the ones that do come that much further."

Having remained silent and taking in all the details of the plan up to this point, Fumikage finally stepped forward: "The job of the ambush team will be to cut off the Villain that follows the decoys, and neutralize them…such a task will require Heroes with Quirks that are equally effective at close and long-range combat, with the best control over those Quirks so as to avoid any excessive damage that could cause the chosen cave to collapse. As such, I'll volunteer for the cave ambush team."

And following that same reasoning, Mina surprisingly stepped forward as well; an inspired gleam in her eyes. "I'll help Tokoyami-kun, too! The more I hear about it, the more Kolya-kun's idea sounds like a really good one on top of Midori-kun's. The two of us together should be enough. We can ask the rangers to point us to a cave that's far enough away from the others, so the Villain that comes won't try to slip in another way to get the drop on us."

With the first of their classmates having now chosen their roles in this whole grand mission; Mashirao, Mezo and Kyouka stepped forward next; the tailed young Hero steadfastly declaring: "If the real Katsuma-kun and Mahoro-chan are going to be hiding in the neighboring island, then we'll act as their personal line of defense for the remaining Villains that come after them."

And with that, Kouji, Rikido and Tooru stepped up next; the invisible Hero bravely volunteering: "If the cave system is extensive enough for all the rest of the islanders to hide out, then we'll stay back to protect them, just in case anything unexpected happens. You can count on us!"

With those three additional perimeters now having had their roles filled; Shoto finally turned to Izuku: "So we have Bezpalov's decoy/ambush plan, and security for the kids and the islanders filled out. But now that leaves the ones who will actually fight the Villains that come to the other island. What exactly do we do about the leader with his multiple Quirks?"

For everyone else, it was indeed a very vital question; one that Izuku miraculously didn't look perturbed by, as he looked to Bakugo and Nikolay to help them both remember just as clearly: "When Kacchan, Kolya-san and I fought him, he suddenly looked like he was in immense pain. It's probably too hard on his body to use all those Quirks for an extended period of time. That has to be why he's targeting Katsuma-kun's Cell Activation Quirk specifically. He's likely only aiming to take Kolya-san's to add onto his arsenal as it is, with how varied that Quirk has proven so far."

Putting aside Izuku and Nikolay's shared assumption of why the leader Villain was aiming for his Quirk over anyone else's; Tenya's eyes lit up with understanding: "I see, so the plan is to tire him out, then."

Izuku nodded; his eyes lighting up with confidence by the second. "That's right. We'll attack him in waves and force him to use his Quirks continuously. Since he's able to steal Quirks, we'll have to do this in a way that avoids close-quarters combat as much as possible. If that lets us defeat him, that's great…but even if we can't, if we can just last until Pro Hero backup arrives, then that's enough."

"As long as it helps us to protect everyone." Shoto stated in acceptance; even knowing the odds were still going to be quite against them.

But Bakugo was the exact opposite, clenching a fist in defiance. "No! With all these plans in place, so long as everyone does what they're told to…WE'LL DEFINITELY WIN!"

With everyone now in full agreement to every branch of the plan, the next hour was crammed with everyone having to put in their work to make sure everything would work; from Tenya assisting the mayor in informing all the awakened civilians of the plan to evacuate to Mt. Shiroyama; the rangers helping Mina and Fumikage to pick the best isolated cave to conduct their ambush in, as well as the quickest way to guide the decoys and their pursuing Villain there; Izuku informing Katsuma and Mahoro of their respective parts to play in both aspects of the plan; all the way down to Nikolay and Rikido busily working together to make as much food as possible to provide Momo, so she could have all the energy she needed to Create the decoys, their batteries and remote controls he asked for, and more if most likely need be.

Time was certainly not on their side, as Momo was continuously pushing herself to make decoys that would work properly. From there would not only come the task of helping teach Fumikage and Mina how to control them, but also seeing if Mahoro would be able to project and anchor her Holograms to them in time, before they would all have to make the trek to Mt. Shiroyama. If they were going to be able to pull this plan off in time before the Villains would make their move, then it was going to be close.

But, in the end, even though Momo was exhausted; she had managed to finally Create a pair of quite realistic and articulated decoys that matched Nikolay and Katsuma's respective heights; with the batteries and controls to work with them following soon after.

Once she had proceeded to take her leave with the decoys so that she could have Mahoro practice her Holograms on them alongside working the controls; Nikolay and Rikido both took that chance to just collapse into the first seats they could find; both still exhausted from all the insane work they'd done yesterday and tonight, on top of the building tension of the battle that was to come in practically no time at all.

In all honesty, Nikolay hadn't wanted to say so, but he could still feel that awful sensation of having previously been paralyzed because of the Villain's leader. The thought of ending up that way again and failing to protect himself or Katsuma from that man's intentions was nothing short of bone-chilling. When he'd first suggested his addition to the grand plan, he couldn't blame Mina one bit for having expressed her unwillingness for him to put himself at risk like she had.

"Kolya-kun?"

With almost cosmic timing; Mina's voice softly called out from the doorway just nearest where the two boys were sitting; catching them both by surprise. "Mina, what are you doing here? Yaoyorozu-san just got all the gear for the decoys Created. You need to learn how to control them with Tokoyami-san."

On the other hand; Rikido, seeing the look of considerable concern on Mina's face, could quickly tell she had something of serious weight to get off her chest with Nikolay, and thus quickly took his leave; going out to assist everyone else with getting the civilians to the next island safely once it was time.

As Mina took Rikido's place; sitting quietly next to her boyfriend, Nikolay finally focused on her expression as well, now that they were alone for now. "Mina…please tell me what you're thinking. You didn't want me to keep any of my thoughts or feelings from you yesterday, so please do the same for me."

Without any hesitation, Mina took Nikolay into her arms; her fingers clutching onto the back of his costume tight as her shoulders trembled. "That Villain…he hurt you so bad the last time you fought, Kolya-kun…even with Midori-kun and Bakugo fighting right there with you. I…before Katsuma-kun stepped in, I didn't know what to do. I-I thought you'd lost so much of yourself forever, and I couldn't do anything about it…and I hadn't just gone over to where I knew you were so I could help, in the first place. I was so angry at myself…and at them for having caused all this.

"I'm so happy you're okay…but I'm still really scared, Kolya-kun. What if he does it to you again, and this time Katsuma-kun isn't there to make it better? What if something even worse happens to you? I mean, you said so yourself, that the Villains want your Quirk just as much as his. I admit, I hate it…I hate the idea of you putting yourself out there, right in their sights like this." In this admission of just how much Mina was fearing for his life right now, she was showing such incredible resilience to keep from crying, now of all times. Perhaps this trembling spreading all over her body was a way of making up for those tears.

When Nikolay embraced her in return, he could feel Mina only slightly begin to calm down as she felt his warmth and his heartbeat; just as her own was helping to calm his own nerves. "To tell you the truth: I don't like it, either. If there's anywhere I want to be right now, it's with you and Tokoyami-san. Yeah, those caves will limit the Villain's movements, but that goes for both of you, too. But no matter how much I refuse to give up…the fact is that I just don't trust myself if I were to be in there with you two. What if something was to go wrong, and my claustrophobia got me to freeze up at the worst possible time, when you'd both need my help? Whether I'd live or die in the end, I know I would never be able to forgive myself if that happened."

Finally loosening their embrace so they could look each other in the eye and speak their words in unabashed honesty; Nikolay continued: "I'm still scared out of my wits about having to fight that Villain again, no matter how many of our friends I'll be fighting next to…but at least if I'm out there, I know I can actually do something, no matter how bad things could get…just like we've always managed to do so far, right?"

Looking in each other's eyes; it was undeniable to them both that so long as they could both remain confident in their capabilities in their own respective battles to come, instead of dwelling on their wishes to be at each other's sides elsewhere, then it would help them to carry themselves through to the end that much better.

And so with that understanding of just what it was her boyfriend was trying to say now that they would truly be fighting apart from each other; Mina gave Nikolay a smiling nod of pure faith. "Too right! We've always come out swinging before, and it's always helped us to win every other time, so why would this time be any different? You've got a class full of the coolest Heroes yet fighting with you, Kolya-kun, and I know they're all just as thankful to know they have you to help them out, just as much as I know you are already to have them! We can do this!"

Mina couldn't have been any happier when she saw the same smile of confidence on Nikolay's face in response to her words, before they instinctively brought a single hand together, clutching on tight as he answered: "I know we can, Mina. Even if you're in those caves and I'm all the way out there, I know you and Tokoyami-san will win this, no problem…and I promise I'll help everyone with me to do the same, no matter what."

With nothing more needing to be said now that their spirits and courage were both burning so bright at the most crucial hour; Nikolay suddenly leaned in and brought his lips to Mina's in a lingering and much-needed kiss for both of them; as he could clearly tell when Mina brought her free hand up to caress the back of his head while eagerly pressing her lips to his in return.

As soon as their mouths finally parted, Mina had to hurriedly shake her head to try and get rid of the strawberry blush marks on her cheeks; hurriedly making her way back the way she'd originally come. "I better get back so Yaomomo can teach me how to work the decoys with Tokoyami-kun. You're all probably gonna be hitting the road before too long. Good luck, Kolya-kun! I love you!"

"I love you!" Nikolay immediately answered back from the bottom of his heart; taking the chance now that he was alone for a moment, to let the long withheld shudder in his body run its course; knowing that he wasn't going to be on this island to give Mina and Fumikage backup in case they needed it. But it had taken so much effort to try and swallow that fear and replace it with honest courage and the faith in himself that he already had in everyone else. He couldn't just throw that away now.

As he began to turn to take his leave so he could help with the mass evacuation; he was suddenly stopped by the sound of a much softer voice calling from behind his back: "E-excuse me…Mr. Kolya?"

Looking back, Nikolay was very surprised to find Mahoro nervously watching him from just around the doorway Momo had previously left through; only now stepping out and approaching once they'd made eye contact. "Mahoro-chan, I thought Yaoyorozu-san was testing to see if your Holograms would work with the decoys. We don't have a lot of time before we have to leave."

Looking back, the little maple-haired girl's eyes sank to the floor as she began nervously squirming; a look of utter shame on her face. "We already did all that. If I can just project through my head what I want the Holograms I make to do, then the rest is real easy, and they can move around even when they're real far away from me, too."

Nikolay sighed in relief, knowing now that his portion of the plan was guaranteed to work from the start now. But from there, he then proceeded to approach her as well. "Well, then why aren't you with Katsuma-kun? Things are bound to get really scary again before too long; I would think you wouldn't want to let him out of your sight."

Bowing her head even more, Mahoro answered: "You're right, I don't…but because things are going to get scary like you said…I didn't want to leave without apologizing first."

As Nikolay knelt down so they could be on the same eye level, he likewise couldn't hide the confusion on his face, while Mahoro had to practically force herself to look him in the eye, visibly on the verge of crying. "Last night at the castle ruins, I pulled that prank on you, Deku and Bakugo because I hated that all you Heroes were here and Katsuma was admiring all of you! To me, Heroes were all nothing but talk…and when I saw you back then; the looks on your face and the way you carried yourself; I thought you were nothing but a big scaredy cat, while Bakugo was all ego and Deku was incompetent!

"But the whole time you tried to help fight that Villain with them…and even the whole time you were talking with all the other Heroes…you still had this really scared look in your eyes…but you still looked and sounded so genuinely brave and sincere about wanting to protect us and everyone at the same time, just like they and everyone else did. That's why…I wanted to apologize to at least one of you before it's too late! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry for ever thinking Heroes were nothing but talk!"

Mahoro's tiny hands now balled into fists; her whole body trembling as much as her lip she was biting down on as she tried and failed to keep tears from falling from her tightly shut eyes.

But as Nikolay remained kneeling in front of her, taking all of her words into consideration; he remembered everything Katsuma had told him and Izuku about why she was the way she had been that night…and that remembrance brought an understanding soft smile to his face.

"You know…I actually understand why you felt that way back then, Mahoro-chan." As soon as he said this, Mahoro's trembling came to a stop, as she slowly lifted her head; a confused look in her eyes when she saw he didn't look like he was making that up.

"Katsuma-kun told Deku and I yesterday morning about why you hated Heroes…and I really do understand. The truth is that I also lost my mom, back when I even younger than you are now…and that, on top of a lot of other things, made me hate not just Heroes, but Villains and everything to do with Quirks in general. I felt that way for a very, very long time. It wasn't until my Dad and I ended up coming to Japan, and I met all my friends here…that I was finally able to process that pain, and finally start moving forward again. That's the only reason I'm here right now, trying to be the Hero I always wanted to be, by helping to save you, Katsuma-kun and everyone else on this island.

"I understand that you don't want your brother to go off and try to become a Hero because of how dangerous that life is…but that's just the thing: being a Hero isn't just about fighting Villains in order to save people. The fact I've come to learn the most ever since coming to this country, is that everyone has the capability of being a Hero in their own ways; even ways that don't include fighting.

"I mean, look at me, for example. If someone like me, who'd gone the majority of his life wanting nothing to do with Heroes or Quirks, could make it to this point, then that should already tell you a lot. But beyond that; look at what Katsuma-kun did for Deku, Bakugo and I. He didn't even hesitate to try and help us, even when nobody was sure his Quirk would be able to do anything for us. That's incredibly Heroic, right? And what about what you're doing to help us right now? We asked you to use your Quirk to try and help us fight against a bunch of super strong Villains in order to save everyone…and you didn't refuse in the slightest, even though I know you're just as scared as we are. You've already been proving yourself to be just as much a Hero without even thinking about it, Mahoro-chan."

The way Mahoro's eyes lit up with a profound realization of this through his words, was enough to make Nikolay's whole body go warm with the same kind of pride in her and Katsuma's mutual incredible courage and selflessness. "You see? Just because you may feel badly towards Heroes at any point, doesn't mean you don't have what it takes to become one; either one of you…and we're all incredibly grateful to you both for that already."

As soon as Mahoro did the only thing she could think of to respond: a simple flustered nod; Nikolay finally got back up to his feet and began to take his leave to help with the evacuation effort. And with his encouraging words still ringing loud and clear in her head just as much as Izuku and Bakugo's examples did; Mahoro's eyes lit up with a determination all her own, as she eagerly turned around and made her way back to reunite with Katsuma.

Where she had once felt hopelessly terrified and overwhelmed, she now felt ready to do everything conceivable in her power to help all these Heroes to save their island, no matter what it took.

Tuesday, December 16th

Within the next couple of hours, the evacuation to Mt. Shiroyama had been carried out with no delay or difficulties. The civilians had taken refuge in the cave systems within the mountain; Katsuma and Mahoro had been safely sequestered into the castle ruins with their protection, and all the Heroes had officially taken their respective places, now lying in preparation for when the Villains would finally make their move.

And back on Nabu Island, as the sun had finally risen on this new day; Nine had at last fully recovered, taking this chance to stand on the beach and gaze upon this undoubtedly fateful sunrise, knowing that one way or another, his goals would finally be met today.

And Chimera, as he watched the sheer aura of unbreakable determination his leader was exuding as he basked in the sun's rays, could feel that certainty just as much. No matter what would happen, he would give everything he had to finally help Nine's vision become a reality.

"Nine-san!" Slice's voice came calling from the other side of the beach; drawing her leader and comrade's attention as she came racing back, with her hardened hair in crab leg-like spikes to spring off of to boost her speed. "The Heroes made their move in the cover of night. They've evacuated all of the civilians into the castle at the top of the neighboring island's mountain."

"So then that's where the targets are, huh? What, are they expecting us to mount some kind of siege?" Chimera asked rhetorically; only to suppress his urge to chuckle when he saw that Slice didn't look nearly so amused.

"But there's an unexpected issue. I observed the whole bunch of them while they were moving. The targets are indeed with them…but I also saw them both trying to sneak their way through the ruins of downtown long after the fact, as well."

This news certainly had Chimera visibly shocked, but when Nine turned around; his eyes were just as cold and unflinching as they ever were. "We know that the boy's sister has a Hologram Quirk. This is a desperate attempt at a ruse, even for a bunch of young Heroes like these. Her Holograms don't even project shadows; that makes it quite obvious."

"But that's just it, Nine-san: they did have shadows. And in the dark of night, it was impossible to even tell if the same two of them in the crowd had them or not. Either one of the pairs could be the real targets."

Slice was exercising masterful calm in the face of this unexpected complication in their plan; just as much as Nine himself was, as his head barely bowed in contemplation. "Interesting…if there's no way for us to know for certain which ones are real…we certainly can't risk either one getting away by focusing all of our attention on one pair over another.

"So we'll have to go for a two-front battle for this. Chimera-san, you'll come with me to the castle island. Slice-san, you go after the pair you saw here. Do whatever you have to in order to stop and capture them…but try to just wound them. I can't take all their Quirks if they're dead. If they turn out to be fakes, then double back to us as fast as you can."

"Understood, Nine-san." Slice answered with a respectful bow, before swiftly turning back and springing off on her hardened hair to begin her pursuit of the two on this island, while Nine and Chimera likewise proceeded to make their way to the land bridge connected to Mt. Shiroyama; Nine's eyes laser focused not just on the road ahead, but the very future itself.

"Let's go collect our prizes. One who is destined to become king doesn't need to rely on cheap tricks to win."

* These are the lyrics to the Russian Navy song, 'Akipazh Sem'ya' (The Crew Is One Family)

And there you have it, everyone. I always feel really proud when I'm able to formulate even a portion of a plan that feels like it could actually fit in with the strategies portrayed in this series.

But what do you all think of this chapter? Please let me know, be sure to vote in the Team-Up Missions poll when it comes up on my page by the end of this weekend, send me PM's of any potential one-shot story ideas you'd like to see in this little series of one-shot spinoffs, and in the meantime, I will see you all with the next chapter on 05/20!