BEN 10 DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. MY HERO ACADEMIA DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. THE GOVERNMENT SAYS I CAN'T MAKE DEATH RAYS ANYMORE. I CAN'T HAVE ANYTHING.
Well, this is cool, this story is now a year old! Let's celebrate with a new chapter, and a new opening!
(Odd Future—Uverworld, TV version)
The music starts, and the title briefly flashes across the screen, followed by Holo-Ben. He smiles, flickers, and then vanishes.
The scene changes to show Midoriya and the others of Class 1-A training at the summer camp. Midoriya smiles at his friends as he brings his hand down on the Ultimatrix, but doesn't notice green bolts of energy flickering across it.
There is a bright flash of light, and when it fades, we see Shigaraki standing back to back with All For One. Shigaraki crosses his arms as silhouettes of the League of Villains appear in front of him. All For One rests his hand on an alien device. Both fade away and are replaced by Azmuth, who closes his eyes sadly.
The next scene shows Midoriya, battered and covered in blood, standing protectively in front of Kota. In front of them, Muscular raises his arms to kill them both.
The scene changes again, showing Midoriya and Uraraka in darkness. They reach for each other, but shadowy arms pull them apart, and the black background turns red.
When the red fades, it shows All Might in front of All For One. On All Might's right side are Lemillion, Gran Torino and Sir Nighteye. On his left side is a green portal, out of which step several figures that are hidden by the light.
As the music winds down to a close, Midoriya is on his knees, clutching his left arm. Darkness and tears spill from his eyes, and he throws his head back in pain.
My Alien Academia
Chapter 29
Darkness Rising
"Thank you for seeing me on such short notice," Tsukauchi said as he sat down. "I know that you're very busy."
"You told me that you had information regarding Eri-chan," Nezu pointed out. "It would have been irresponsible and heartless to delay this meeting."
"More like a lack of information," Tsukauchi corrected sheepishly, but then became deadly serious. "It was, quite frankly, astonishing that there is no record of the girl anywhere. I even reached out on an international level to see if she was the victim of human trafficking, but there was no report of a girl matching her description going missing." He laced his fingers together in a way that Nezu's paws couldn't—something the principal was jealous of. "Eventually, I went to our Internal Affairs department and suggested that Eri's existence might have been covered up by someone in law enforcement."
"That was a big risk, Detective," Nezu said. "Your career could be jeopardized."
"It paid off." Tsukauchi handed over a flash drive. "You'll find the details there, but the short version is that an officer who retired a few years back had ties to the Yakuza. They used those ties to force him to erase all digital and physical evidence. We wanted to bring him in for questioning, but he's dead—heart attack, the coroner says."
"That's suspicious," Nezu mused. "But the Yakuza? They've been nearly wiped out, haven't they?"
"We thought the same thing, but they've still got enough influence to pull off something this risky." Tsukauchi sighed. "I'm aware that Sir Nighteye's agency is currently investigating a Yakuza group; I'll get in touch with him and see if Eri has any connection to his case."
"Thank you," Nezu said. "Any information about Eri-chan would be appreciated. May I inform her guardians about these developments, and anything else you discover?"
"Guardians?"
"Midoriya Izuku and Uraraka Ochako," Nezu explained. "They were the ones who rescued Eri-chan in the first place, and she's quite close to them."
Tsukauchi thought about it for a moment. "Very well, but please keep the circle small. And I'd advise against telling the girl anything she doesn't put forward herself; I've heard she's quite fragile."
Nezu's thoughts drifted to Eri; at the moment, she was being watched by Recovery Girl, and probably being spoiled rotten. The old nurse treated people better the younger they were, so Eri was like a granddaughter to her by now.
"Don't worry, Detective; I think she'll be in good hands."
What worried him was how Midoriya and Uraraka—and, by extension, the rest of their friends—would react when they found out concrete details about Eri's past. He just hoped that their training would prepare them for any future conflict.
…
Midoriya had wondered about what kind of training he and his class would go through. Within two hours, he regretted ever thinking about it. He wasn't alone; even the most resolute of Class 1-A hated their lives at that moment.
Training had begun at the crack of dawn. Aizawa had kicked down their doors and dragged them outside—in a few cases, literally—to where the Pussycats were waiting. This time, it was the entire team; Mandalay and Pixie-Bob were joined by Ragdoll, a woman with green hair, yellow outfit, and an orange ring painted around one eye, and Tiger, a tall, muscular man with short brown hair and a triangular beard. He wore a brown version of his female teammates' costumes; despite how silly he looked, he had quickly become the most terrifying of the four.
The goal of the training was simple—Quirks, like muscles, got stronger as they recovered from heavy use. With that in mind, each student would push his or her Quirk past its limit; if such a thing just wasn't possible, then how they used their Quirk would be the focus. Each student had a specific training regimen, tailored in such a way that they would get the most out of their efforts.
Unlike training at UA, Midoriya and his friends had no time to support each other; they were too busy trying not to die.
Sero spent hours shooting tape into the distance, with only short water breaks to make sure he didn't die from dehydration. The goal was to improve the strength of his tape, and the speed with which it was created. After the first hour, Sero didn't even care; he just focused on shooting his tape and not falling over.
Asui focused on improving her muscles by climbing up a sheer cliff—not just with her arms and legs, but also her tongue. Before the day was over, even her tongue was blistered and worn out.
Iida ran the entire perimeter of the camp all day. When he wasn't pushing his engines to the point of stalling out, he was running normally to increase the strength of his legs. His only breaks involved exercises for his core and arms, to keep his entire body in shape.
Ashido continually used her acid against pillars created by Pixie-Bob. She increased the potency in increments, building up her resistance so that she could use stronger acid later. She had also been provided with an acid-proof gym uniform, so that she could use her acid over her entire body without worrying about melting her clothes.
Todoroki created rapid-fire waves of fire and ice. The point was to build up his resistance to temperature, so that he could use even colder ice and hotter fire. He was also trying to speed up how quickly he could create both, with the goal of using them at the same time.
Yaoyorozu sat at a table next to Sato; she created a variety of objects, while both of them ate as much food at possible. One of her weaknesses was that it could take some time to make something, so she was using her Quirk as much as possible to speed up the process. It was also hoped that her Quirk would adapt to let her create objects with fewer lipids spent.
When Uraraka wasn't lifting boulders with her Quirk, she was making herself float. She was trying to reduce her nausea, while also improving how much weight she could lift at any one time. At the moment, her limit was just over two tons; Aizawa told her in no uncertain terms that he expected her to add another four hundred pounds to that limit by the time they returned to UA.
Midoriya had proved to have the most difficulty. The sheer variety of his aliens meant that he couldn't focus on just one to practice with; the Pussycats had files on all his available forms, so they decided on five for every single day, training one at a time until the Ultimatrix ran out of power. When that happened, he would spend another hour training as a human—running, pushups, or anything else Tiger could come up with.
At the moment, he was sparring against Tiger as Four Arms—or, rather, he was trying to spar. Tiger's Quirk, Pliabody, allowed him to twist and contort as if he didn't have any bones at all. Even with four fists striking from different angles, Four Arms had yet to land a single hit; it was almost as frustrating as sparring against Togata.
Wait a minute…
Four Arms narrowed his eyes, and then drew back his arms. He clapped his hands together, creating a booming shockwave that bowled Tiger over; the big man rolled to his feet, and shook his head to clear the ringing in his ears.
"Not bad," Tiger admitted. "You should have followed up, though; this might be a spar, but you shouldn't let your opponent recover."
"Okay," Four Arms said tiredly, just as the Ultimatrix dial flashed red; a moment later, he turned back to normal.
"Well, looks like your 'break' is starting." Tiger chuckled. "Get some water, and then I want to see you running laps."
"Yes, sir." Midoriya shuffled over to a small stand that had been set up for the students, with cups and chilled water on a table.
"I think that's the first time I've seen Tiger get hit in a while," Mandalay, who was in charge of the stand, said cheerfully. "Of course, now he's going to work you twice as hard."
Midoriya groaned; he wished he could turn into Swampfire to get rid of his aches and pains, but Aizawa had expressly forbidden using him. He claimed it went against the point of the training, but Midoriya thought he was just being cruel.
"Oh, I wanted to apologize for yesterday," Mandalay said. "About Kota, I mean."
Midoriya caught a tiny bit of movement in the corner of his eye; there was a puff of dust as someone much smaller than anyone except Mineta ran around the corner of the cabin.
"It's fine," he said. "But why does he hate me so much?"
"It's not you—it's Heroes in general." Mandalay sighed and handed him some water. "He's been like that since his parents died. Did you hear about the Water Hose Heroes?"
Midoriya thought about it, then winced; Water Hose was the shared name of a two-person Hero team, specializing in rescue work, usually those that required water-based Quirks. They had been killed in the line of duty two years earlier by a Villain known as Muscular; while Water Hose hadn't been too high on the charts, their deaths had been an unexpected tragedy in the Hero community.
"I know what happened," he said. "What does that have to do with Kota?"
"They were his parents." Those four words made Midoriya drop his water in shock. "Since then, anything having to do with Quirks or Heroes sets him off. Even I can't get him to talk sometimes." Mandalay sighed again. "Anyway, I just wanted you to know where he's coming from."
"I… I understand." Midoriya turned away, but then paused. "Um… I'm sorry for your loss."
Mandalay's smile was pained, but sincere. "Thank you. Now, you'd better get going, or Tiger is gonna give you even more to do."
Midoriya winced, and then took off jogging. He tried to stay focused on his training, but his thoughts kept drifting back to Kota; he wanted to help the boy, but he had no idea how to even talk to him, let alone save him from the pain he was clearly in.
Well, I've got some time to think while I run. Maybe I'll come up with something.
…
"I was wondering if you'd gotten lost, or chickened out," Dabi taunted as members of the Vanguard Squad assembled at the forest's edge.
"Hey, you should know better than to rush a lady," Toga snapped as she adjusted her new equipment—a mask over her mouth, a scarf decorated with fangs, and set of tanks on her back that connected to large syringes. "Ugh, I hate this. Couldn't they have gotten me something cute?"
A young boy in a middle schooler's uniform and an armored gasmask shrugged. "It's from the black market; be lucky if it even works."
"No, she has a point, Mustard," a beautiful woman with long, red hair said. She wore a black double-diamond mask, and wore an outfit of blacks and purples. "A lady should always look her best."
"I totally agree!" Twice said, leaning towards the older woman with obvious affection. "You know the old saying: if you look good, you feel good! Which is total bullshit!"
"See? Slice and Twice get it." Toga had pulled off her mask, revealing her puffed-out cheeks; it would have been cute, but the other Villains had quickly come to recognize the sadistic glint in her eyes.
Slice fondly patted the girl on the head. "Now, now, I know that look. Save it for the Heroes, okay?" She glanced at Dabi. "Where are the others?"
"Already at their positions." Dabi sat down on a rock and rested his head in one hand. "I hate to admit it, but Shigaraki made the right call when he paired Muscular and Chimera; that dog-guy is probably the only one who can keep that psycho in line."
Slice raised a perfectly-manicured eyebrow. "What about Moonfish?"
Toga made a face, Twice hugged himself dramatically, and even the stoic Mustard shuddered; Dabi shrugged. "Eh, he's held down by Spinner and Magne. They'll let him out tomorrow night."
"Since we have time, do you want to call any of the Heroes for yourself?" Slice sat down across from him. "I know Magne wants to kill at least one of those Pussycats, don't ask me why."
"She doesn't like girls she thinks are prettier than her," Twice piped up. "She told me that in confidence, please don't say anything!"
"If I see one, I'll kill 'em, but the one I want to kill isn't here." Dabi smiled, stretching the staples holding his skin together. "Believe me, if he was here, I'd have burned down this whole forest by now."
"Just leave any cute wannabes to me," Toga demanded. "I know we're not supposed to kill them, but I just want to find a few that I like and make them so much prettier!"
Mustard slowly put Slice between him and Toga.
Dabi chuckled. "Hey, as long as you don't kill them, go nuts."
"Aw, thanks, Dabi! You're the best—you know, when you're not all broody."
"Tomorrow night can't come soon enough," Mustard whispered.
…
The students were allowed two hours for dinner—which was code for 'twenty minutes of eating, and using the rest of the time to rest, in case of a last-minute burst of training'. The Rising Stars were so tired that they couldn't even scrounge up the energy to stick together; instead, they sat wherever they could, ate, and in Asui and Sero's case, fell asleep. Asui, like all the other students who had failed the exam, had been given even more grueling exercises, and shorter breaks than anyone else, and were so tired that they could barely get their food. Thankfully, their classmates had taken pity on them and helped prepare their meals.
Midoriya found himself eating dinner next to Shiozaki and Kendo. Both girls were as exhausted as he was; Kendo's hands were swollen and red, and she could barely hold her chopsticks, while even Shiozaki's vines looked tired.
"We have two more weeks of this," Kendo groaned. "I think I'm gonna die."
"Look on the bright side," Midoriya said, "if we don't die, think of how much stronger we'll be."
Shiozaki made a noise that might have been agreement, or it could have been air escaping her lungs as she flopped over, fast asleep.
"At least she can recover faster in sunlight," Kendo muttered petulantly. "Watch, she'll be back to her old self as soon as the sun comes out."
Midoriya wished he had the energy to write that down in a notebook, because that was really interesting. He was reminded of how many attributes Hawks shared with birds, and wondered if Shiozaki had a similar relationship with plants.
His thoughts derailed when he spotted Kota in the distance; he was walking up a path near the base of the mountain, hands shoved in his pockets and posture hunched. Midoriya was reminded of his own childhood, and how his Quirkless status had driven him to despair. Kota's situation wasn't like his, but Midoriya had learned the value of just having someone around. Maybe the boy needed a stranger to vent to.
"I think I'm gonna go for a walk," Midoriya said and got up quietly, so as not to wake Shiozaki. "See you later, Kendo-san."
Kendo waved him off, and then took a cue from her classmate and fell asleep. Midoriya grabbed another helping of food and took it with him up the path. It took a while, but he found Kota, sitting on a rock and staring at nothing in particular; Midoriya coughed to get his attention, and when the boy whirled around, he held up the tray of food.
"I didn't see you eating," Midoriya said. "I thought you might be hungry."
Kota scowled. "Go away! This is my secret base!"
Midoriya didn't leave, but he kept his distance; he didn't want to get punched again. "This is a cool spot for a secret base. I wish I'd had something like this."
"Why would you want a place to be alone?" Kota sneered. "I thought Heroes loved attention."
"Actually, I get nervous talking to strangers." Midoriya shrugged. "Sometimes I get nervous talking to friends, too." He pointed to another rock. "Can I sit down?"
"Whatever."
Taking that as a yes, Midoriya sat down. "Why do youwant to be alone?"
"Because I hate Heroes," Kota growled. "My aunt is always talking about work, and she drags me around to be with people I hate." Then he paused, and glanced back at Midoriya. "Why did you want to be alone?"
Midoriya smiled bitterly. "When I was a kid, I thought I was Quirkless. Everyone treated me like a freak, and no one wanted me around. There were times I wanted to just hide from everything."
"I wish I was Quirkless." Kota looked down at his hands. "If Quirks weren't around, then Heroes wouldn't be around, and then my parents…"
"Heroes were around before Quirks," Midoriya said before he could stop himself; after everything he'd gone through, hearing someone say they wished they were Quirkless set him off. "Firefighters, doctors, anyone who stepped in to help for no reason—they were all called heroes, before it became a job."
"That's dumb," Kota said. "Why should anyone risk their lives to save someone else? They'll just get killed."
So that's what it is, Midoriya thought. Because of what happened to his parents, he thinks anyone who acts like a hero will die.
"What about the people they're trying to save?" he asked. "If they don't step in, and someone dies, then someone else's family has to mourn. Because of Heroes, there's a chance that nobody dies."
Kota whirled around. "Well, that didn't work for my parents! You don't get it, do you? Just leave me alone!"
"Common sense doesn't really work on kids," Ben commented. "Especially if they're still grieving. You should probably give him some space."
"Okay, Kota." Midoriya rose and tried to ignore his protesting muscles. "But you should still eat."
Kota turned around and pulled his hat lower, not saying a word. Midoriya left, uncertain whether he'd made things better or worse.
"You can't save everyone," Ben said sadly. "Especially if they don't want to be saved."
Midoriya nodded tiredly; he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he jumped when Uraraka put a hand on his arm.
"Sorry, Deku-kun," she said, as Midoriya worked to get his pulse back down to healthy levels. "What's wrong? You looked so sad."
"I'm okay, it's just…" Midoriya sighed and hugged her, nestling his head on her shoulder. "Can I just stay here for a minute?"
Uraraka could tell that he was upset, but he didn't know quite what to say. Without knowing what was on his mind, all Uraraka could do was hold him.
"Sure thing, Deku-kun." She reached up and stroked his hair. "Sure thing."
…
The second official day of training was much like the first—pushing the students past their limits in a way that was just barely considered ethical, if you were to look at it the right way and squint. Midoriya was already tired when he started, and when the sun actually rose, he felt like he was ready for bed.
"Come on, Midoriya!" Pixie-Bob laughed. "You can do better than that!"
Eatle would have scowled, but his insectoid features were incapable of much more than narrowed eyes, and he was too tired to retort. Instead, he ducked under one of Pixie-Bob's constructs and chewed off its leg. His massive horn glowed, and then fired off a beam of green energy that punched a hole through the construct's torso. The remains fell to the ground, only to reform into two smaller monsters, each shaped to look like an ogre out of a fantasy movie.
"Oh, great," Eatle muttered, and then narrowly avoided a stream of tape. "Whoa!"
"Sorry!" Sero called out. "I tripped and shot in the wrong direction!"
Eatle grumbled something that he would never have said even in his head before, but he was tired, and his self-control was fraying. That was another part of the training, though Aizawa would never tell any of the students—Heroes had to work through the most frustrating of circumstances, and the students needed to learn how they might react in the field on a really bad day.
After fighting a dozen more constructs, the Ultimatrix timed out, and Midoriya fell to his knees.
"Hey, none of that," Pixie-Bob said. "Go for a run, and then come back here for pushups; you know the drill by now."
"Y-yes, ma'am." Midoriya hauled himself to his feet and started to run.
"How is he doing?" Aizawa asked, once Midoriya was out of earshot.
"Well, he's determined, I'll give him that," Pixie-Bob. "His Quirk is as much a challenge for us as it is for him—half the stuff I threw at him was on the fly. Still, now we have a good read on him, and we came up with a training regimen after I confirmed some stuff this morning."
"Is there anything in particular you think he should work on?"
Pixie-Bob shrugged. "Nah, your file on him was good; it's less about power with him, and more about technique. Almost every one of his forms has a unique style, and he needs more experience. If he can polish everything he has to above-average, he'll be in the top twenty his first year out of high school, no doubt about it."
"I'm not looking for above-average skills," Aizawa said in no uncertain terms. "I want my students to be the best. If you think Midoriya is better suited for learning technique over increasing his raw power, then go ahead, but I still want him exercising when he turns back to normal."
"You got it, Eraser!" Pixie-Bob squinted at Midoriya's distant form and frowned. "He's slowing down. Maybe I should send one of my monsters to 'motivate' him."
Aizawa hid his smirk behind his capture tool. "Whatever you think is best."
…
That evening, the students had been given what they thought was a reprieve. They were allowed to stop the grueling training early, and told to eat and get cleaned up. At first, even the most cynical of them thought that maybe this would be their chance to do something fun, like they'd hoped.
Those thoughts were dashed when they saw the Pussycats sans Ragdoll waiting for them, each with an evil smile on their faces.
"Tonight, we'll be playing a fun little game," Pixie-Bob said. "We call it 'the Test of Courage'."
"It's pretty simple," Tiger continued. "Your two classes will be split up, and you'll pair off; one class will travel through the woods, and the other will do their best to scare the piss out of them! You get points for every team you scare, but the other team gets points if they don't freak out. Ragdoll will be at the halfway point on the route to give you your points; think of her as the 'safe zone'."
"That doesn't sound like fun at all," Ben muttered, and Midoriya silently agreed with him.
"Don't worry, you'll switch roles after the first round, so you'll be able to get some sweet revenge," Mandalay assured them all. "Oh, and no causing physical harm; beyond that, anything goes."
"Yep, so you kittens can really see what you're made of." Pixie-Bob grinned. "Ragdoll will be keeping tabs on everyone with her Quirk, so you won't have to worry about getting lost."
"Class B, you'll be doing the scaring first." Tiger pointed at the woods. "Pair up, and move out!"
"Not so fast," Aizawa said. "Everyone who failed the exam will be coming with me for extra studying. If you're not brain-dead by the time you're done, maybe you can spend an hour having fun before bed." He paused and did a quick headcount. "Shinso, Class B has an odd number, so you'll be filling in."
Shinso nodded tiredly and shuffled over to Class B. The students who'd failed the test were dragged off—literally, in Mineta's case, as he complained that he'd had a plan to 'scare the pants off the girls'—to study. The Rising Stars waved sadly as two of their number left.
"Okay, now that they're gone, everyone pair up," Mandalay ordered. "We'll give Class B ten minutes to get started, and then we'll release Class A to their tender mercies."
Midoriya turned, but Uraraka already took his hand in hers. "This isn't the moonlit walk I was hoping for, but it's something."
"Y-yeah."
Uraraka grinned. "Don't worry, Deku-kun, I'll keep you safe."
Midoriya blushed, and his friends laughed. They wouldn't do so again for a long time.
…
Dabi sighed for what had to be the hundredth time in the last hour; Toga had been chomping at the bit to have her fun, but Shigaraki had been clear in his orders—they would move out only when it was completely dark out. Toga had tried to go early, but Dabi's stern orders and Slice's gentler approach kept the psychopath in line.
Finally, the time had come.
"Let's go," Dabi said. "Show these kids what real terror looks like."
…
With the entertainment of teasing Midoriya over, the other Rising Stars paired up; Iida stood next to Yaoyorozu, and Ashido fist-bumped Sero. The rest of Class 1-A split up, and got ready to move out; they waited until Class B had moved out into the woods, and were then directed to go down different paths in staggered increments.
"So, what do you think they'll do to try and scare us?" Uraraka asked as she and Midoriya walked.
"I'm not sure," Midoriya admitted. "I don't know most of their Quirks very well. I could see Shiozaki-san tugging at us with her vines; that could be scary."
Uraraka imagined the feeling of one of those vines wrapping around her ankle, and shuddered. However, something happened that distracted her from the test.
"Um, Deku-kun?" She pointed off to her left. "Is that smoke?"
Sure enough, Midoriya could see a pillar of smoke rising in the distance. "That's not from the campsite. It can't be Shoto, he's not taking this test, we would have heard Bakugo's explosions if it was him—it might be someone from Class B, but it's a terrible idea to use fire in a forest…"
"You're pretty bright, kid." The unknown voice made the two tense, and it got worse when a woman stepped out of the shadows. "As a reward for thinking so quickly, I'll give you a reward—it was my friend who started that fire, none of your classmates."
"Wh-who are you?" Midoriya asked, hand drifting to the Ultimatrix.
"You can call me Slice," the woman said. She held out her gloved hands, each finger tipped with a long blade; her hair, gleaming in a way similar to metal, rose in snakelike coils over her shoulders. "I'm a member of the League of Villains."
Midoriya's blood turned to ice. What was the League doing here? How did they find the training camp? Most importantly, what would he and Uraraka do now?
"W-well, Slice," Midoriya said as he and Uraraka slowly backed up, "I d-don't suppose we c-can t-talk about this?"
Slice laughed. "Oh, that's cute, Midoriya Izuku; if you were anyone else, I might even let you go just for making me laugh." She shrugged. "Sadly, I have my orders, and they involve dragging you back to Shigaraki—how much pain you go through before that happens is entirely up to you."
Midoriya swallowed nervously; after Hosu, he had always wondered if Shigaraki would try something again. It seemed his fears were justified.
"Izuku." Uraraka's voice shook, but she kept her eyes locked on Slice. "You need to get to Aizawa-sensei and the Pussycats. He has to know about this, and you can get to them faster."
"B-but what about—"
"I'll be fine." Uraraka's smile was wobbly, much like his own. "I'll be right behind you."
Midoriya knew that she wanted to buy time for him to warn the rest of the campers, and while he knew that that was the responsible thing to do, his brain and his heart had both decided 'NOPE' at the exact same time. Heroes saved everyone; that had been a part of Midoriya's core belief since he first saw All Might on the internet, and he wasn't about to betray that value now. There was a flash of green light, and then Uraraka was in XLR8's arms.
"Hold on tight," he said, and by the time Slice's hair lashed out, it only hit empty air.
Not that it mattered to Slice; capture had never been something she'd been good at. Torture, pain, and death were her skills; she could have attacked while they'd been talking, but she was certain that they would lead her to even more targets.
Humming softly to herself, she followed the trail XLR8 left behind.
…
When he heard screams in the distance, Iida pushed his glasses further up on his face. "It seems that Class B has already started."
Yaoyorozu strained to identify the screams. "I think that last one was Mina. If she could be so easily scared, why did she want to hear ghost stories?"
"Maybe she just does not like jump-scares." Iida looked anywhere but Yaoyorozu, which she found adorable. "I admit that I am not fond of them either."
Yaoyorozu would have teased him, but she was too busy staring at the knife that was suddenly buried in her shoulder. Then the pain registered through the shock, and she cried out.
"Momo!" Iida tried to catch her as she stumbled back.
A new voice giggled in the darkness. "Ooh, you have a beautiful scream. Can I hear it again?"
Yaoyorozu drew in a sharp breath as her hand went to the wound; blood dripped through her fingers, and an ecstatic gasp could be heard.
"You look even prettier when you're bleeding! It makes me want to cut you more!"
Iida stood protectively in front of Yaoyorozu as Toga stepped into view. "Who are you? Why are you attacking us?"
Toga tapped her mask with one finger and tilted her heard. "Ooh, you're handsome too, and I'll bet you'll look even better when I slice you open!" She paused. "Wait a second—I know you! You're one of the people Mr. Stainy attacked before he got caught!"
Iida narrowed his eyes, while behind him on the ground, Yaoyorozu created some bandages for her shoulder. "You're a follower of that madman?"
"Never met him before," Toga admitted. "But he's the reason I joined the League of Villains, so I guess you could say he's my hero!"
"He's no hero," Iida spat. "He's a murdering monster that doesn't deserve the title of hero!"
"Tenya, we need to go," Yaoyorozu said as she got back to her feet. "We have to get to Aizawa-sensei and the other Pros."
Toga slid two more knives out from inside her sleeves. "Not so fast, pretty girl. I don't want to kill you, but I really want to see just how pretty I can make you before you can't scream anymore!"
Yaoyorozu leaned closer to Iida so that she could whisper. "Flashbang in five seconds, then run."
Iida didn't take his eyes off Toga, but nodded. He counted to five in his head, then closed his eyes; he heard the sound of the flashbang going off, and then Yaoyorozu jumped onto his back.
"Run for it, Tenya!"
Rather than reply, Iida poured everything he had into a Recipro Extend and blew past Toga. He knew better than to pick a fight with a Villain armed with bladed weapons when he wasn't prepared.
"Hey, that's cheating!"
Iida heard a whistling noise, and then a meaty thud somewhere close. "Momo, are you all right?"
"I'm fine!" Yaoyorozu called back, her voice strained. "Just run!"
She just wanted him to keep going; she didn't need to distract him with the second knife in her back.
…
"Hanta, duck!" Ashido threw a glob of acid that landed at Twice's feet; it threw off his aim with his wrist-mounted bladed tape measure, which would have taken off Sero's ear, if not his whole head.
"Oh, crap!" Sero swung himself onto a tree branch, then used another strand of tape to pull Ashido up with him. "What's going on? How did the League even find us!?"
"That's a good question, kid!" Twice shouted. "Too bad I'll never tell!"
"This guy's nuts," Ashido whispered, trembling in fear.
She had no idea where Kendo and Tetsutetsu had gone; they had gotten separated when Twice showed up in the middle of the Class B students scaring them.
"We have to get back to camp," Sero said; his voice shook, but his arms were steady as he helped Ashido. "It'll be easier if we stay in the trees."
"Y-yeah, you're right." Ashido bit her lip. "It'll be hard to find our way in the dark."
"We came from that direction." Sero pointed behind him.
"How can you tell?"
"The moon was in front of us when we started."
"Oh. Smart."
"Thanks." Sero grabbed Ashido again and swung to another tree, just as Twice cut away the branch they'd been standing on. "Come on, let's go!"
…
"Does anyone smell something, ribbit?"
Monoma tore his attention away from his worksheet to sneer at Asui. "Aside from the reek of Class A's failure? No."
Todoroki almost glared at the 1-B student, but it occurred to him that Asui wouldn't have made a comment like that when they were supposed to be studying unless it was important. He inhaled deeply, and immediately recognized it—the smell of fire and smoke was a constant in his house, even when Endeavor wasn't around.
Vlad King, an experienced Hero with honed instincts, also knew what it was. "Everyone, get down!"
The door to the study hall exploded inward, but Vlad King used his Quirk, Blood Control, to create a wall of solid crimson—his own blood, now hard as stone. The door shattered upon impact, the pieces falling to the ground still burning with blue fire.
"Not bad," Dabi said as he strode inside, clapping slowly. "Those reflexes are no joke. That's a lot of blood you just used, but you're still standing; I guess you just replenish it instantly, huh?"
Rather than waste time talking, Vlad King just grunted as he fired an enormous wave of blood. Dabi met it with a torrent of blue fire from one hand; what resulted was a mass of red steam that filled the room with the smell of iron.
Todoroki knew fire better than anyone else in the room; it was practically instinctive, especially after he had decided to use his left side. He knew almost instantly that Dabi was leagues ahead of him when it came to fire, even if he didn't know his name. He had to leave this to Vlad King, whose experience and nature of his Quirk would hopefully match Dabi's raw power.
"Get behind me!" Todoroki snapped, and created a wall of ice between the fighters and his classmates.
The heat from the steam was balanced by the cold of the ice, so Asui wasn't terribly affected; she was the calmest as she stood beside Todoroki, ready to move if necessary. Kaminari sparked with electricity out of reflex, and Jiro's jacks waved back and forth. Kirishima had Hardened his entire body, ready to shield anyone who needed it. Surprisingly to those who knew him, Mineta had one of his balls ready to throw, and though he shook like a leaf, his eyes were as steely as any Pro Hero.
Todoroki felt a tap on his arm; he turned and saw Monoma, whose right arm was dusted with frost—exactly like his own Quirk.
"I can copy the Quirk of anyone I touch," Monoma explained, only a trace of haughtiness left in his tone. "If one ice-related Quirk can help, then two will be even better."
Of course, all their preparations were rendered pointless; Aizawa burst into the room, his Quirk erasing Dabi's in an instant. As soon as the blue fire died out, Vlad King charged in and grabbed Dabi by the face and slammed him into the nearest wall.
"Kinda brutal, don't you think?" Dabi grunted. "I thought Heroes were supposed to have restraint."
"You put the lives of innocent students in jeopardy with that little lightshow," Vlad King growled. "I'm within my authority to break every bone in your body."
"Too bad I'm not the one you really want." To everyone's shock, Dabi started to melt like a candle, until he was reduced to a grey puddle on the floor.
"Eraser!" Vlad King glared at the other teacher. "What happened? How come you didn't erase his other Quirk!?"
"That wasn't his Quirk," Eraserhead realized as he put on his goggles. "Someone, another Villain, made a copy of the real one and sent it here. It was a distraction!"
"We need to get outside and call for help," Vlad King said, and then glanced at the students. "What about them?"
"They'll come with us," Eraserhead decided. "Outside is better than being trapped in a building that might get burned down." He paused for a moment. "Todoroki, use your ice to take care of any fire Vlad doesn't put out; Monoma, you've already copied his Quirk, so you get to help him. Everyone—if we run into more Villains, leave them to us. Only fight if you have no means of escape."
"Aizawa-sensei, what about our classmates?" Jiro pointed to the window, where pillars of smoke could be seen rising from the trees. "Are they going to be okay?"
Aizawa sighed, and he seemed to age ten years in an instant. "Right now… I don't know."
…
Understandably turned around by what had just happened, Midoriya and Uraraka accidentally went further up the trail, and ended up running right into Ragdoll and tumbled to the ground.
"Whoa, kittens, what's going on?" Ragdoll helped up Uraraka as Midoriya turned back to normal. "You couldn't have gotten scared by the others that badly—"
"Villains!" Midoriya interrupted. "The League of Villains is here!"
Ragdoll was an experienced Hero, and there were a few things you didn't lie about—fires in movie theaters, medical emergencies, and Villain attacks. Her cheerful smile dropped away, and she closed her eyes; her Quirk, Search, allowed her to track up to one hundred people at once, and know their weaknesses. She hadn't known about the Villains because she hadn't been actively looking for them. Now that she wasn't just focusing on the students, she knew Midoriya was telling the truth.
"Okay, kittens, you stay with me," she said, her tone deadly serious. "We'll head back to camp, gather up anyone else we come across, and then the other Pros and I will grab anyone we—oh no."
Even in the darkness, Midoriya could see how pale she was. "Ragdoll? What is it?"
"It's Kota." She pointed at the nearby mountain. "He's at his hiding spot, and two of the Villains are close by."
Midoriya stepped forward. "I can get him!"
Uraraka could tell from the way he blinked after speaking that her boyfriend had just volunteered for something dangerous without thinking.
"You're not going anywhere without me," she said, but Ragdoll put a hand on her shoulder.
With her other hand, the Pussycat rubbed the back of her neck. "I am going to be in so much trouble for this… okay, Midoriya, you can go, but you only have permission to fight if you have no other options. Just get Kota and get out. Am I clear?"
Midoriya nodded. "Yes, ma'am!"
Ragdoll gave Uraraka a sympathetic look. "He has to do this fast, and that's a lot harder when he's taking someone with him, and we don't have time to discuss it. You can help me gather up the other kittens."
Uraraka reluctantly nodded, and then turned to Midoriya. "Be careful, Deku-kun."
"You too." A flash of green light later, and Jetray flew off in Kota's direction. "I'll be back soon!"
Uraraka watched him go for a moment, but she had barely taken a step back in the direction of camp when Ragdoll stopped her again.
"Uraraka-chan, be ready to move," she said. "We've got company."
"Well, that's not very polite," Slice pretended to pout. "I like to announce my own entrance."
"You've made a pretty bad decision," Ragdoll said as she slowly moved Uraraka closer to the trees. "You can look forward to a long stay in Tartarus for this."
Slice just smirked. "Oh, the League is reaching heights of power that can't be contained by your little prison. Soon enough, we'll be ruling a country that's been plunged into darkness!"
"I think we'll have to say no to that." Ragdoll raised her paws, and steel claws popped out of the gloves.
Slice lifted her own hands, and moonlight glinted off the blades. "My claws are bigger than yours, kitty."
Ragdoll tried to leap backwards with Uraraka, but Slice's hair lashed out, cutting the nearest trees into kindling.
"My hair can cut through solid stone," Slice boasted. "All I have to do is hit you once!"
"Then we won't let that happen." Ragdoll was amazingly calm during this, her eyes darting around as she looked for the best move to make. "Uraraka, keep moving! I'll handle this."
Slice tried to impale Ragdoll on her hair, but the Pussycat nimbly flipped over the attack, and then rushed in close. She ducked under Slice's blades, and raked her claws across the other woman's leg.
"Don't underestimate a cat, no matter how cute she looks," Ragdoll taunted, holding up the paw that now dripped blood. "We tend to scratch when we're annoyed."
Slice hissed in pain; her hair split into a dozen tendrils that lashed out almost at random. Ragdoll twisted, flipped and spun, barely able to avoid getting hit. It became almost like a dance, but with one of them unconscious or dead by the end.
Both women were so focused on the fight that Uraraka realized no one was paying any attention to her. She crept around as quietly as possible, until she saw an opportunity too good to pass up—Slice's back was to her, and her hair was too far forward to be a threat.
I could make her float, and then Ragdoll can end this! Uraraka nodded to herself. I can do this; this is what I've been training for!
Ragdoll saw Uraraka move, and her eyes went wide. "No, don't!"
Slice, aware of the girl's intentions ever since leaving her sight, smiled cruelly. A cord of hair flipped around and fell like an axe.
Uraraka felt the pain, saw the blood, and screamed.
…
At that moment, Jetray really wished he could move someone quickly without risking harm, because he wanted nothing more than to snatch Kota out of there and fly like hell back to camp. Standing in front of the little boy were two giants; one looked like a professional bodybuilder, with short blonde hair and a horrible scar over one side of his face, and the other looked more like something Midoriya would turn into, with a wolf's head, birdlike talons for hands, and a reptilian tail.
Jetray could have just grabbed Kota and tried to fly away, but there were two problems. First, he had no idea what the Villains were capable of; for all he knew, they could rip him in half just by looking at him, especially if he was busy trying to get Kota to safety while flying slowly enough that he wouldn't endanger him. The second problem was that Kota would probably get completely freaked out if a flying manta-bat swooped in and grabbed him. He might struggle and fall in midair.
That left him with another choice—stay and fight until the Villains couldn't get up, or fight long enough to figure out a way to safely extract Kota.
But, as the bodybuilder reached out to grab the boy, Midoriya knew he didn't have any more time to think. He slapped the dial as he flew down, but the Ultimatrix chose that moment to malfunction; just because Ben's life-expectancy had been extended didn't mean the watch wasn't still damaged.
Instead of NRG as he'd intended, Water Hazard landed between Kota and the Villains, but he made do with what he had and blasted both criminals with torrents of water. The men were driven back a few feet, but their own incredible strength resisted the pressure. There was also another problem—with the water hitting them, Water Hazard was unable to clearly see what they were doing, so he was caught by surprise when an arm covered in muscle fibers punched through the water and smashed him in the chest.
"Please, is that all you've got, kid?" Muscular sneered. "I was hit worse by those Heroes I killed a while back."
Water Hazard had been so focused on just keeping Kota safe that it was only now that he recognized Muscular for who he was. A small part of him that wasn't focused on the fight felt terrible for Kota; no one should be powerless in the face of their parents' killer.
He tried to touch the Ultimatrix dial, but Chimera rushed in and grabbed his arm. "Muscular, remember the plan! This is the kid Shigaraki warned us about!"
"Right, right." Muscular clotheslined Water Hazard, and then Chimera heaved him over his shoulder to slam him into the ground. "Even if we keep him from transforming, I thought he'd put up more of a fight."
They know what they're doing, Water Hazard realized with no small amount of fear. They can beat me if they don't let me turn into something with better chances!
"Wh-what are you doing!?" Kota demanded, eyes full of tears. "You're j-just g-gonna get killed!"
"I'm going to be… a Hero." Water Hazard forced himself to his feet. If the Villains weren't going to give him the opportunity to transform, then he would just use what he had.
"I'm going to save you, Kota… no matter what!"
Yeah, we're ending the chapter here. I'm not sorry. I'll try to have the next chapter up before the year ends, but 2020 decided to kick me a few more times before it gets taken out back and shot.
My brother is getting tested for COVID, and my aunt was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Also, shortly before posting this chapter, I had an electrical fire in my house. Thankfully, that last one was taken care of immediately, so there's that. Basically, what I'm saying is that this year blows.
Anyway, some things I want to talk about regarding this chapter:
Aside from Midoriya, everyone is basically training as they did in canon. However, Midoriya still has the same problem he's had since the beginning—too much variety. Just because he has aliens for every situation doesn't mean he's experienced enough with them. He's got a long way to go before he's on Ben's level.
Then there's Kota. I feel bad for this kid; his Hero parents were killed on the job, and he's surrounded by constant reminders every single day. If I was a 6-7 year-old kid (or however old he is, but I think he's in that ballpark), I wouldn't want someone who wants nothing more than to be a Hero to try and talk me around. Even adults can't always process that kind of grief, much less an immature child.
Uraraka's actions during this chapter might be a problem with some of you, but consider this—if you had powers, and a bad guy seemed very distracted, and you had a clear shot at their back, would you take it? I probably would, and every one of Uraraka's experiences with Villains has ended up with the bad guys beaten or running away. She got cocky, and Slice is terrifyingly powerful; she was only beaten in Heroes Rising because Tokoyami had the home field advantage, and she still managed to defeat Ashido, even with her hair severely damaged.
As always, please consider buying my book, Alpha Sanction, by Josh Gottlieb. You can find it on my site (link in my profile), or on Amazon as an eBook or physical copy. I'm getting close to finishing the sequel, so now might be a good time for some holiday reading.
If that's not your cup of eggnog, you could always donate on P-atreon (link in my profile). Remember, you get rewards on the higher tiers, including a PDF of my book! Every little bit helps, and I greatly appreciate everyone who's already donated.
Speaking of which, thank you to the following good little Muffins:
Serious Muffins: SpaceEmperorSpar, Nimrod009, Anders Lyngbye, Matthias Matanovic, ChaosSpartan575, John Collins, Red Bard, Aaron Meek, Shaolin Khalil, killroy225
Incredible Muffins: RaptorusMaximus, michaelb958, Crazyman844
Ultra Muffins: Matthew Bunting, RangersRoll
Next Chapter: Students fight for their lives, and one brave soul sacrifices everything for his friend…
Stay safe out there!
Plus Muffin!
