|Chapter 18: Kidnappings

Kota's Hideout

"Akira, what in the world are you doing here?!" Izuku shouted as ran up to his Brother and slapped him on the back of the head. "You were supposed to be leading the others back to the camp and wait for me!"

"I did!" Akira, however, wasn't having the Izuku-Special today and slapped him right back. "But you were taking too long and I could feel you hit something all the way back in the forest!"

Rubbing the back of his head, Izuku just sighed in acceptance. "Fine, stay, but get Kota out of the way fi-"

"Hahahaha!" A loud laugh echoed across the mountains and the two teens were reminded that they shouldn't have been talking. "I felt it! I FELT IT!" Pure glee were the only words that properly described Muscular's voice; it was unsettling. "My senses weren't lying to me last night; there's many of you with the warrior's spirit!" His eyes – biological and technological – locked on to Akira and they glowed red. "I must have your blood."

"Right, that's not happening." Sighing, Akira grabbed Kota and jumped away from the fight to leave the boy in a tree. "Kid, no matter what, don't move from this tree; we're going to fight that big guy right there and we'll right back; okay?"

Luckily for the black-haired teen, Kota seemed to understand and sat down on the branch without a struggle. "Okay."

"Great." And with that, Akira jumped back down to the fight, his quirk running throughout his body. "Alright then, no distractions now, you blood lusted monster."

"Good." Ripping off his shirt, Muscular let more muscle fibres grow all over his upper body to create a sort of armour around him. "I want your best; if it takes getting that kid out of here, so be it." Before lowering himself into a crouch and getting into a fighting stance.

Rolling his shoulders, Akira got into his own stance and began to whisper to himself. "Full Blossom… 80-"

"Wait, you say 'Full Blossom' when you turn on your quirk?" Izuku was able to hear him very clearly though and tilted his head at him. "Really?"

"Uh… Yes?" And, confused by the interruption, Akira turned to his friend with a raised eyebrow. "Do you say something in your head as well?"

Izuku just activated his quirk and punched his fists together. "Full Cowling: 40%!" Before letting his glow intensify and a strong wind to pick up around him. "Since I'm letting out my quirk as a kind of hood."

"… Mine's better." Activating his quirk again, Akira let his heart pump out a lot of his Chi before resuming his battle stance. "Full Blossom: 80%!"

Just in time as well, as Muscular was on both of them the moment they finished powering up with a muscle-covered fist shooting out towards them. "Let's go already!" And he was grinning.

Though, that was wiped off not a moment later as Izuku stopped the fist in its path and Akira weaved around him to nail the man in the face with a knee, knocking him back and making his ears ring.

And if that surprised him, he was positively flabbergasted by what happened next.

"Up top!" After spinning around a barrage of wildly thrown fists, Izuku jumped above Muscular before bringing down a hard punch to the back of his head.

"Down here!" At the exact same time as Akira went beneath the man and uppercut him right in the chin.

The resulting literal knuckle sandwich discombobulated their opponent and the two took that opening to attack everything they could in tandem with one another.

Simultaneous right and left hooks to Muscular's face.

Kicking out the back of his knee and palming him right in the chest, causing him to slam into the ground.

A dual axe kick to his sternum.

And then, finally, throwing him into the mountain and proceeding to dropkick him further inwards.

"Hahaha…" All of it was laughed at though as Muscular basked in the pain inside the mountain; his battle-crazed grin accentuated by his bloodied face. "It hurts so much! I love it!"

"Okay, this guy is insane." Letting his quirk die down, Izuku took a large leap back and hoped the man would distract himself long enough for him and Akira to come up with a plan. "We're doing damage but that doesn't really mean much since I'm pretty sure he'll be able to keep going as hard as he can until he drops."

"So we've got to find a way to get past his muscle fibres." Not letting his quirk die down, Akira held up his arm and concentrated. "Okay, there is this new technique I've been wanting to try with my quirk for a while now and-"

"Really, you want to start experimenting with your quirk now?" Izuku looked at Akira like he was crazy.

He was.

"Wait, no, I'm not!" Backtalking the author – and getting a confused look from Izuku – Akira closed his eyes and began to let his quirk flow through his body. "Just… Hn… Just watch."

Oh.

This looked different.

"What in the world…?"

Whereas usually Akira's quirk took the appearance of his veins glowing with the golden power of his Chi, whatever he was doing now gave him a shining, golden aura over the top of his skin like an outline.

"What's wrong, Izuku?" Turning his eyes back to Izuku, Akira gave his friend a somewhat smug look. "Our quirks work somewhat the same; can't you do this?"

Izuku just gave him a flat look in return. "What exactly is this?"

"Full Blossom; Resonance." Letting out more power, Akira's aura intensified and caused a three-part harmony to sound off around him. "It's kind of like your sparks; my energy is condensed into a layer on the top of my skin. The only difference is that this will ignore defences… Hopefully."

New technique! Full Blossom; Resonance! An experimental form of Akira's that lets him push out the power of his Chi from his veins to the top of his skin to cover him in a protective aura! This means his Chi is no longer confined by Akira's skin and can seep through his opponent's to resonate in their body and effect their internal organs! There is a trade for this though!

· Ignoring Defence: The main upside of Resonance, Akira can now ignore the natural defences of most of his opponents and directly attack their insides!

· Increased Defence & Enhanced Regeneration: With his quirk's energy now on the outside of his body, Akira has an increased defence from most attacks and can address his own surface level injuries quicker!

· Decreased Strength: The trade-in for his new abilities, Akira's strength is reduced now that his Chi is no longer running throughout his veins and empowering his muscles!

· Cooldown Period: Another trade-in of Resonance; Akira's energy no longer being confined inside of his body means he loses Chi the longer he fights in this form! It takes a while for him to get it all back!

"… That's just the Unblockable Drumming Beat!" Izuku exclaimed with a small smile and a laugh. "You stole that from that really old anime."

"You and at least one other person have stolen the Domain Expansion from the same anime so you can't talk." Akira countered. "And most heroes have their moves, costumes, or entire persona based off of popular pieces of media; doesn't really matter if it helps us beat this guy." Before re-entering his battle stance with a grin. "Now throw up your domain and let's kick his ass."

Izuku didn't really want to argue with that and just stuck his hands out with a shrug. "Okay, let's do this then." Before activating Smokescreen. "Domain Expansion: Cloud of the Flame's Ashes."

A giant cloud of dark ash covered the mountain area they were on soon after his words just as Muscular finished pulling himself out of the mountain. "Oi! What the hell is thi-" And he wasn't given a second of respite after that as a green blur rushed past him and struck him in his jaw. "Hey! This isn't how warriors fight; these are cowardly tricks! Get out here and fa-"

Two more blows cut him off and Muscular had to come to terms with the fact that he wasn't going to get a straight fight anymore. So, he put up his arms in a boxers stance and hoped that his senses would be enough to get him through the fight.

"Over here!" Muscular turned to where he heard the voice only to get struck right in the back of his shoulder and then across his entire right arm, leaving it limp at his sides.

'What the shit?' And before he could even address that, he heard a gust of wind from his right and immediately struck out at it. "Agh!" Only to meet air and then have that arm reduced to nothing at his sides as well. "Where the hell are yo-Gnh!"

"Blossom of the Bud." Akira suddenly shot out of the smoke and struck forward with an open palm to Muscular's chest, causing a golden glow to ripple around him before his muscle fibres slowly crumbled.

'Damnit, I need to make more-' And, in response, the large blonde quickly tried to replace them. 'What?!' Only to find that his quirk wouldn't respond. "What did you do-"

For what felt like the millionth time – for Muscular at least – the man was cut off as Izuku shot out of the smoke and capitalised on his lack of defence. "Ha!" And dropkicked him right in the chest, winding the man and putting him on his knees.

"Wait…" Not feeling his arms or quirk respond, Muscular finally came to some semblance of sense and realised the situation he was in. "No!" He was in an obscured battlefield, completely defenceless, and unable to move. "No, no, no, no, no!"

And, suddenly feeling the drop in pressure, Izuku rushed right back towards Muscular and got under his face. "Enjoy your flight." Before uppercutting him in the chin, breaking his jawbone and sending him skywards.

"…Damn, he's really getting some height." Walking out of the smoke, Akira squinted his eyes and watched the man become a small dot in the sky. "He'll fall back down soon though; what do you want to do?"

Izuku's ears twitched at that question and he quickly smiled. "We can do the thing we talked about." Excitedly, he let his quirk run strictly through his arms and acted out a straight right punch. "Yeah?"

And, not having any better ideas, Akira nodded in agreement. "Alright, let's do the thing." Before letting his quirk out again. "Full Blossom: 100%!"

"Full Cowling!" Izuku was quick to do the same, especially once he was able to see Muscular again. "50%!"

"Double…" Reeling back their fists, the two waited until Muscular was just above them. "Detroit…" Before striking outwards with all that they had and then some. "SMASH!"

BOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!

The resulting shockwave shook the mountain they stood on, the mountains around them, and the ground beneath everyone's feet for over a kilometre.

As for Muscular…

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" He impacted the face of the mountain at the speed of a bullet and was buried three metres deep in pure Earth. "Ha…. Strong." Before finally succumbing to the damage he was dealt and falling asleep in his own blood.

And only once they were sure he was out, Izuku and Akira let their own quirks fall back down into their cores. "Holy crap…" Just as their own butts fell to the floor. "That was intense."

Sinking to the ground as well, Izuku tilted his head at the man in the mountain. "Yeah, but at the same time… That went significantly better than I thought it would've gone."

"Oh, absolutely." Nodding at the sentiment, Akira let out a breath. "That old anime was right, don't go one on one with your opponent if you can just team up on them; this went great."

"I think the Americans call it 'jumping' people." Sighing as his Brother fixed them both up with his quirk, Izuku quickly stood up and looked out towards the forest in front of them. "Now… What's next?"

Answering his question, Akira jumped off somewhere before landing back on the mountain with a crying Kota in his arms. "Don't worry, kid, we got that guy; no sweat." And then pointing out to the facility. "We've gotta drop him off first if we want to go anywhere."

"Oh, yeah, right." With that decided, the two shot off. "Let's go!"

Forest Clearing

After dropping Kota off at the camp – to a very confused and angry Aizawa; they were definitely getting a detention for this – Izuku and Akira quickly made their way back to where they last saw Mandalay to inform her of the news.

"Uh…" Only to find a ragged Pixie Bob huffing and having a small tantrum on the ground. "Pixie Bob, are you-"

"I'm perfectly fine!" Slamming her hands on the ground, the blonde pro caused a small wave around her and sighed. "Stupid villains got away after a dumb shockwave took out my sentinels. Twice!" The two teens tried not to look embarrassed at that. "And I told Mandalay and Tiger I'd be able to handle it; what a joke."

Looking around again, Izuku tilted his head. "Where are Mandalay and Tiger?"

Pixie Bob just pointed back the way the two had come from. "She and Tiger rounded up all of the students they could and led them back to camp since I said I'd be able to handle the two villains here… DAMNIT!" Once more slamming her hands on the ground, she caused a much bigger wave of dirt that the two students had to jump over.

"Were they able to get everyone?" And, ignoring her quirk tantrum, Akira asked the important questions. "Is everyone safe and back at the camp?"

Unfortunately, Pixie Bob shook her head. "No, four of the 1B students and eight of your own classmates are still out there somewhere." Before deciding to stand up after properly cooling herself down. "I should probably take you two back though since-"

Anything else the heroine might've wanted to say or do was cut off as a flash of wind caused her to shut up and the two boys in front of her ran off into the forest; quirks active.

And the only thing she had to remember them by were their final words. "Sorry, Pixie Bob!"

"….FUCK!"

Somewhere in the Forest

As Izuku and Akira ran through the forest, they made sure to keep their eyes peeled for absolutely anything that moved. "Wait." However, it was the greenette's ears that ended up catching something instead. "What's that rustling-"

"Guys!"

"AH!" Turning around on the spot, the two immediately punched at whatever called out behind them.

"Uh…." And were immediately grateful that they forgot to activate their quirks once they saw it was Shoji. "Good to see you too?" Even better, he had caught both of their punches with only a bit of struggle.

"Shoji!" Sighing in relief, Akira drew back his fist and went up to hug their youngest classmate. "You're alive, thank goodness, we thought something bad happened to yo-AAAAAAHHHHH!" Only to scream in horror once he actually processed the state the multi-armed teen was in. "What in the fuck happened to your hand?"

Lifting up his severed appendage, Shoji just shrugged. "Oh, just a small wound; a villain with really sharp teeth bit it off." Despite the fact he had just lost a limb, he was surprisingly calm. "It'll grow back soon enough though; it was only a duplicate." Ah, that explains it.

Akira wasn't having that though. "Nah, bring it over here; I'm stopping the bleeding." As soon as Shoji gave him his hand, he let his quirk do its work until he was sure his classmate was fine. "Alright, there we go." And with that done, the black-haired teen moved onto the second pressing matter. "Wasn't Tokoyami with you, where is he?"

"I am here."

"JESUS!" Turning around with a kick, Akira had to once more count himself lucky for not prematurely activating his quirk. "Tokoyami, not cool!" Though, wouldn't have mattered much if he did; the bird-headed teen dodged it. "Don't sneak up on people like that."

Shrugging, Fumikage tried to do his best to look apologetic. "Apologies, friend." He wasn't very convincing. "It was a corner stone of mine and Midoriya's training and is somewhat second nature now."

'Part of training; can't help it.' Akira took a second to translate Fumikage's elder speak and deadpanned at the raven-headed boy once he did. "Right, whatever." Before, once more, moving onto the important matter. "Izuku and I were told that eight of us and four of 1B are still out here; twelve in total. With you two found, we've got ten to go, so we need to find everyone fast and then book it back to camp where we can all watch each other's backs; alright?"

Fumikage and Shoji nodded but the latter of the two seemed to have a question as he put up a hand. "That plan works fine, but…" He brought out three eyes and looked around them with a raised eyebrow. "Where'd Midoriya go?"

"What do you mean?" And, not noticing the disappearance of his Brother, Akira turned around to jerk his thumb at where he remembered the greenette to be. "He's right her-" Only to find said teen missing. "Where's Izuku?"

"Yo."

"FUCK!" Three for three and another accident avoided. "Come on; really? Now of all times we're doing this?" Yup.

Sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, Izuku chuckled alongside his other two classmates. "Sorry, Akira, saw the opportunity and thought it'd lighten up the mood." Tough, he was quick to get back into gear and start walking further into the forest. "I heard some explosions and floated up to check it out; Katsuki and Todoroki are fighting it out with someone right now that way, so I'd suggest we get moving."

Nodding, the other three steeled their expressions before following after their green-haired classmate. "Let's go!"

Somewhere Else in the Forest

"Todoroki, hit the deck!" Jumping over his heterochromatic classmate, Bakugou let off a massive explosion towards the sea of blades that were heading his way. "Ha! Take that, shithead!" And destroyed them in their entirety.

Not wanting to be left out, Shoto covered the ground with ice before skating right under their opponent and raising an ice pillar to trap them in place. "You'll burn for that hand!" Before shooting himself up with his flames and letting an ice-covered haymaker connect with the villain's face, disconnecting him from his bladed teeth-stilts.

"This blood… It's mine…" For the past however many minutes it had been, the villain in question was slowly regaining some semblance of mind as they had the sense quite literally beat into them. "Must… CAPTUR-"

BOOOM!

A point blank explosion right in the insane man's face was quick to shut him up and he looked up in – for the first time – fear at what stood above him.

"You chose the wrong students to mess with, you bastard." Bakugou, red eyes shining and a pressure that invoked victory, kept his boot pressed as hard as he could into the villain's sternum. "Todoroki."

"Already on it." And Shoto, dual-coloured eyes shining their respective colours and a pressure invoking honour, reeled his ice-covered fist back. "Have a nice nap." Before once more letting it fly into the villain's face, knocking him out.

And all of this, fight and finishing lines, was witnessed by Izuku and the others. "Sweet Mother Mary." Grabbing the attention of the other two teens, Akira shook his head in disbelief. "That was – and I can't believe I'm admitting this – amazing, Katsuki."

Raising an eyebrow at the group, Bakugou turned around to them. "Were you dumbasses just standing around while Todoroki and I were fighting?"

An action that Shoto copied. "I know we won, but we could've used some help to make it easier."

"I grabbed Tsuburaba." Shoji added, revealing the still unconscious 1B student on his back, secured in a number of duplicate arms. "He almost got hit by your ice pillar after it fell."

"… I actually forgot he was here." Shoto admitted, looking a bit sheepish. "What are you guys doing here though? You were all supposed to move back to camp."

Izuku shook his head. "Akira and I weren't going back until we made sure everyone was safe; we found Tokoyami and Shoji on the way and now they're coming along with us to do the same."

"Yeah, and with you two we've got a solid group to face almost anything that tries to grab us in this forest." Akira added, stepping up. "So let's keep close and keep moving; we've got six more of us left."

Nodding – reluctantly in Bakugou's case – the boys all entered a tight formation before running off, following Izuku's Danger Sense.

Yup, Still in the Forest

"Don't you dare…" Kicking outwards, Tsu launched the blonde schoolgirl attacking Ochako into a tree before rushing right after her, a vicious look decorating her blood-stained face. "Hurt my friends! Kero!"

And had said blonde schoolgirl not gained her bearings quickly and moved out of the way, she would've been hit with the other kick Tsu threw. 'Holy shit!' Which broke the tree she had crashed into in half. '… That's kinda hot.'

Not wanting to give her opponent any respite or room to move, Tsu chased right after her again and began to assault her with a barrage of kicks. "Kero! This was supposed to be fun! No villains, just fun times with everyone!" Not all connected – the blonde was surprisingly fast – but the ones that did caused a devastating amount of damage. "And you've taken that from us! Kero! Kero! Kero! Kero!"

'Sweet gore… She's a lot more powerful than her profile said she'd be.' The blonde girl was now having trouble breathing and suddenly wished she had laced her knives with a paralysing agent – ideas for next time though. 'If there is a next time.'

Luckily for her, a rustle in the bushes made both the frog girl and Ochako look away from her. "Ochako! Tsu!" And she thanked whoever that black-haired boy was for the distraction as she was gone not a second later. "Are you two alright?"

"Kero, be careful, there's a-" Looking back to where her opponent last was, Tsu was shocked to find that there was now only empty space. "Damnit! Kero! She got away!"

"She ran as soon as she saw Akira." Standing up, Ochako ripped the knife she had in her shoulder right out and threw it to the ground with a grunt. "Sweetie, would you mind-"

The brunette couldn't finish her question before Akira was hugging her and healing her shoulder. "Sweet Lord, are you okay?"

"Pfft, I'm fine, Akira." And while she didn't dislike the care her boyfriend showered her with, Ochako had to gently push him off so that her shoulder could get some room to breathe. "It's just a stab; we've both gone through worse."

Calming down her breaths, Tsu turned to her four classmates with a tilted head. "Kero, what are you four doing here? Everyone was supposed to be heading back to camp. Kero."

Shoto poked his head at that. "I said that as well."

"We weren't going back to camp without making sure everyone was okay." Izuku started, looking at Shoto as he did. "Since I was able… to…" However, his brain slowly caught up to what his frog classmate just asked and he needed to make sure he heard her right. "Four?"

Quickly coming to the same conclusion, Akira, Shoto, and Shoji all turned around and immediately began to panic. "Shit, shit, shit, shit." Two of them were missing. "Where the hell are Katsuki and Tokoyami?"

"Ho, ho, ho…" A loud – and incredibly annoying – laugh answered Akira's question and the gathered students all turned their eyes towards the source. "They're right here, dear students!" And found a masked man in a trench coat posing at them.

Shoto tilted his head at the man. "Who the hell is this guy?"

Shoji did the same and raised an eyebrow. "Why does he look like that?"

'Rude.' Ignoring their mean comments, the man presented two, glowing marbles to them. "Your friends lay here in my clutch, bound by my quirk, and unable to escape." Looking at them closely, one could make out two miniature versions Bakugou and Fumikage seemingly float in a pocket dimension. "I must say, your tight formation made it difficult to grab the blonde one, but I found a way." Laughing, the man jumped to another tree with surprising strength. "Now, I shall depart; thank you for your friends! They will make great assets to the League of Villa-"

Not a second after the organisation's name left his mouth did the masked villain find himself having to dodge a fast moving punch from Izuku. 'Damn!'

'Damn!' And he was glad he did; the wind pressure from the punch had destroyed the tree he was standing on. "W-well, you almost had me there!" Trying to regain his composure with a very strained laugh, the man began to slowly back away. "B-but I can see when I am not wanted, so I shall take the hint and skedaddle right on out of here." The man reached into his mask before suddenly bringing out two new marbles and throwing them at the students. "Not without a departing gift though!"

SNAP!

And with the snap of two fingers, the marbles broke in the air and summoned two Nomu that began to fall onto the students with gargles and screeches that echoed in the forest.

One was a large, dark-coloured Nomu almost identical to the one they faced at the USJ. However, this one's limbs were replaced with dark steel prosthetics and a similarly designed tail, while its eyes were glowing a dark gold.

The other was a burgundy-coloured Nomu of the same size that had no prosthetics but had small jet holes spread across their soles, palms, and back. Their face was also obscured by a metallic mask that warped perfectly around their head.

Wait, it's Nomu Time? Been a while since you called me in to do one but here we go! Let's see… Ah, these guys! The Demonic Cyborgs! A-Class Nomu, Kong! A-Class Nomu, Jet!

Kong – Original Name: Unknown

Quirks:

· Steel Monkey: Well, this is an astounding mutation quirk! It replaces the end halves of Kong's limbs with metallic prosthetics that are much more durable and powerful! He even has a metallic tail that he can stretch to use as a meteor hammer!

· Scanner: Whoever had this emitter quirk definitely had their pick of careers! This baby replaces Kong's eyes with technological ones that allow him to read his opponent's movements to predict what they'll do next! He can even analyse the amount of force behind hits in Newtons and calculate their trajectory!

Jet – Original Name: Unknown

Quirks:

· Full-Body Jets: A pretty straight forward transformation quirk and what Jet's name is based off! This grants Jet the ability to sprout forth propulsor jets from anywhere on his body, giving him speedy, omnidirectional movement!

· Berserk: A simple but powerful emitter quirk that lets Jet transform his endless rage into a red-coloured energy to enhance his strength! He constantly has this active and causes his skin to appear burgundy in colour!

"Shit!" Akira's eyes widened and he hugged Ochako tightly again before jumping out of the way. "Dive!"

Shoji held on to the 1B student on his back while simultaneously creating more arms to grab Tsu and Shoto before also moving out of the way of the Nomu's trajectory.

"Great!" Not Izuku though. "More Nomu!" Now, while the fights he had previously didn't leave him with many injuries, the energy he had expended, mixed together with the lack of sleep from the night prior to this one, left him drained and now he was running on fumes. "Show me what you got!" A bit of adrenaline as well, so he was in a fighting mood.

"Grah!" And Jet was apparently in a fighting mood too as his back suddenly sprouted ten jets and he shot himself downwards to the green-haired teen, fist outstretched.

However, before it could connect, it found itself stopped by a pillar of ice. "Got you!" And Shoto stood on top of it, left hand stretched outwards with flames just begging to be released. "Burn!" So he let them fly.

Almost right after he stopped his attack, Akira chimed in and shoulder-charged the red beast with all the strength he could muster, throwing it back into a tree. "Let's go, Todoroki!" Before chasing after it with fervour; Shoto not far behind.

This left Izuku with-

"Bagah!"

Yeah, that.

"Fall!" Luckily, the greenette was still very much in a fighting move and jumped towards the beast with an axe kick… That it dodged. "Hn." Said dodge also put it directly in the path of the pieces of cracked Earth that Izuku made by smashing the ground.

Though, all that did was put a few dents and scratches on Kong's metallic limbs. "Gbah!" And, unlike its other Nomu Brothers, this one had the sense not to rush forward and get in a fighting stance. "Fah…."

'Oh… That's new.' So reversing the roles, Izuku took the initiative and moved. 'Let's go!' Blitzing forward, the greenette stopped right in front of the Nomu – letting it strike the ground in front of him – before shooting around the forest. "Over here!" Tree to tree, moving in a ring around the beast; Izuku overloaded what he guessed was Kong's processor while letting Smokescreen leave trails of ash to obscure him.

That distraction provided him with the perfect cover not a few moments later. "Grah! Bah…"

'Perfect.' Stepping off a tree – and breaking it in the process – Izuku appeared right below Kong as it looked around tirelessly for the teen. "Down here." Before uppercutting him just as he looked down, shooting him into the air. "Whoo!" He followed suit quickly.

"I got it, Hikaru!" Meanwhile, on the other side of their small battlefield, Shoto had just frozen the burgundy's Nomu legs as it tried to fly upwards after Izuku. "Go!"

"Full Blossom; Resonance!" Not needing any provocation, Akira rushed towards the burgundy beast and weaved around its punch before sending a flurry of quick punches to where he guessed where its pressure points were. "Yes!" Causing both of its arms to hang limply at its side. "Todoroki!"

"Already on it!" And, seeing the opportunity, Shoto was quick to skate over towards Jet and jump on his back before grabbing his head with his hands. "Whoever you were before, I'm sorry!" Then forcing his left hand on the metallic mask of the Nomu and heating it up as high as he could. "Hn…. GrrrrrRAAAAHHHHH!"

It fell limp in seconds, its brain turned to an unsavoury dinner inside of its helmet. "Fall!" Kong wasn't too far behind, falling on the ground with all of its metallic limbs ripped off and Izuku on top of him. "Ha! Got 'em."

"…Holy shit." Obviously, the others – sans Tsu – were a bit put off by the level of violence. Though, they were quick to move past it after remembering what they were facing.

"Well…" After taking a few moments to really process what just happened, Akira spoke. "Katsuki and Tokoyami are still with the masked guy, so we have to chase after him. Now."

Nodding, Izuku activated Float and held out his arms. "You and Todoroki grab on then, I'll be able to catch up in no time." The two were quick to latch on to him and the greenette looked to Tsu. "You'll get them back safe, right?"

"Kero, I'd rather go with you guys and kick some ass…" Tsu started, sighing and unfolding her arms. "But I guess I can do that much, Kero."

"Great!" Letting One For All power up in his legs, Izuku readied an air blast from his soles. "Peace!" Before shooting off and out of sight instantly.

Forest

'That kid wasn't normal.' The masked villain thought to himself, jumping across the trees as fast as he could after seeing the green-haired kid he was supposed to capture rip all of the Nomu's prosthetics off. 'Scratch that, none of them were!' His mind flashed to the flames, ice, and golden light he saw while leaving and he shivered. 'What the hell kind of ship is Yuuei running if those are first year-'

"Hey, asshole!"

The man's shoulders slumped and he tried to pick up his pace. "Oh, fuck off-AGH!"

Edge of the Forest

In a clearing at the edge of the forest, five villains all sat around idly; two were clearly insane and smiling despite the situation they were in, while the rest had their heads down.

"This has been an absolute mess." Magne shook her head as she cleaned her guandao, shame written on her face. "Muscular was absolutely destroyed, Mustard is choking on his own gas somewhere, and Moonfish was humiliated so bad he stopped being insane. Oh, and don't even get me started on those Nomu things, they barely worked."

"The profiles Shigaraki gave us were filled entirely of false information." Spinner had his buster sword out in front of him and was keeping his senses flared for any approach, but it was difficult given the rage he felt towards the man-child that hired them. "The green-haired boy has more power than we could've hoped to deal with and his classmates aren't far behind."

Sighing, the scarred villain just tapped his feet in boredom. "And after all that trouble I spent trying to tire him out last night."

A villain in a full bodysuit was quick to run to the scarred-man's side after hearing that and pet his shoulder frantically. "Worry not, Dabi! Our mission isn't finished yet!" Before doing a complete turnaround and sulking. "Yes it is… It's all over…"

"Mr. Compress was the one tasked with the important objective, Twice, we were just running interference." Returning the favour and reassuring his fellow villain, Dabi pet Twice on his shoulder. "As long as he doesn't fail, we can go back to Shigaraki without worry."

"Worry?" Tilting her head sceptically, the blonde schoolgirl raised an eyebrow at the scarred man. "Actually, I'm glad this was brought up; why are you all worried about handy-manny? Any problems and we could just-" At this, she raised her knives and stabbed forward. "You know?"

The sound of a chuckle got her attention and the blonde turned to Spinner with a huffed face. "Toga, it is not Shigaraki we are afraid of." He picked up his blade and laid it across his lap before letting his scales rub on it. "This blade has cut down more powerful men than him… But the man behind Shigaraki is not one to be trifled with."

Toga actually put away her knives in curiosity and sat up with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"The man behind Shigaraki is a myth in the underground; I can barely believe someone like that man-child is backed by him." Dabi started, putting the blonde's attention on him. "Everyone calls him Sensei… A man said to be as old as the first quirks and the top of villain society in the entire Asian continent; a Z-Class Villain."

Spinner nodded. "A man with power beyond even an army of quirks and the ability to give and take freely the quirks of others if he so pleases it."

"Really?" Toga looked unconvinced; not a rare reaction, the others were too. "The amount of Z-Class villains worldwide can be counted on two hands and you're telling me one of them is wasting their time with Shigaraki?"

"A Z-Class villain doesn't waste time." Dabi quickly cut in, chiding the girl. "They invest it, and this one has invested more than any other villain in his bracket could ever give."

"Hm…." For a second, Toga just swung her legs and looked up in thought before shrugging. "Alright, I guess I'll believe you; no point in lying." And immediately went back to lying down and flipping her knives around. "I wonder what's taking Mr. Compress so-"

"INCOMING!"

CRASH!

The gathered villains immediately shot to their feet less than a second after the crash and activated their quirks while raising their weapons. However, they didn't move as whatever crashed into them was obscured by a cloud of dust.

"Dear friends, a little help?" Though, that cloud was quickly waved away to reveal a furious trio of students holding down Mr. Compress; Akira and Shoto on his arms while Izuku took his throat.

"Ah, Mr. Compress!" Twice jumped for joy at seeing their last – uncaptured; kinda – compatriot before once more doing a complete turnaround and sagging. "You've found new friends…"

Toga's eyes were roaming over all three boys and she was getting hot from the amount of blood she was seeing, even if it wasn't theirs. "Ho… Ha…" In response to the growing feelings of pure, unadulterated lust building inside of her, she grabbed two of her knives. "Can I stab one of you?"

"Ha, no." Dabi wasn't having it though and stuck his hands out. "There won't be anything left to cut once they burn." Before letting out a torrent of raging, roaring, blue flames that demanded death towards them.

"Nope!" However, Izuku and Akira both let their quirks out in response and dissipated the flames, making room for Shoto's own fire to fly undeterred towards their opponent.

It didn't work. "Yeah, no." With a simple wave of his hands – and a bit of blue fire – Shoto's flames were thrown away like an unwanted child. "Not even close to strong enough." Extra win, Mr. Compress was more than capable of using that small window of distraction to escape from his hold.

"Thank you, compatriots." The masked man was quick to dust off his trench coat and resume his previous dramatic pose; pointing right towards the three students. "As for you, children, you almost had me!" Before turning to Twice. "Do the thing."

And, quick to listen, Twice stuck out his hands before activating his quirk, summoning two Nomu that perfectly resembled the two that the students had just faced before with a menacing pose. "Die, hero scum!" Then he bowed. "Good luck!"

Honestly, the bipolar villain was aiming luck at the wrong people; he should've given it to the Nomu.

"No…" With One For All rushing through his body, Izuku blitzed towards the two beasts before they made two steps and grabbed them by their throats; tight. "More…" And, with Float activated, he shot himself right in the sky, carrying his opponent's all the way with him. "Nomu." Before shooting right back down to Earth and slamming them into the ground , turning them both to literal mush.

"Aw man…" This, obviously, upset Twice as he crossed his arms with a huff. "That was cool!" Though, he quickly gave the greenette a thumbs up and a smile.

The rest of the villains did not share his sentiments and actually looked at Izuku with a bit of apprehension. 'Shit.' Apprehension was quick to turn to fear once his glowing, emerald eyes looked their way and let out a pressure so powerful and familiar that most of them had only felt it from one other person.

And that man hadn't even been in the same room as them.

"Alright, that's quite enough." The distorted sounds of fabric ripping echoed throughout the forest clearing alongside the new voice and everyone – student and villain – looked around to see purple mist forming close to them. "Tomura wishes to wait no longer; I am praying that you completed your objective and captured the five targets." Two yellow eyes sprouted from the mist and Kurogiri suddenly formed. "Did you?"

After recomposing himself from the feat he had just witnessed prior, Mr. Compress stood tall and removed his mask. "While not all five targets were apprehended, Mr. Kurogiri, Shigaraki will be happy to know we captured the Bakugou and Tokoyami boys." Sticking out his tongue, he revealed the two, shining marbles with Bakugou and Fumikage inside. "So, mission complete?"

Kurogiri took a second to think before swirling around. "…. It will do." And then disappearing into his own portal, leaving behind one last message. "Get back to base; now."

The rest of the villains were quick to copy the mist man's actions and quickly backed towards their own portals, quirks and weapons aimed at the three, furious students trying to kill them with their stares.

"Well, well, well." Not Mr. Compress though. "It would seem as though we have won this battle." He was just a tad bit proud of himself and really wanted to show it. "Not fast enough this time, but perhaps-"

SHHOOOOOOOM!

A small pillar of blue light shot past Mr. Compress' face and destroyed his mask while simultaneously forcing the marbles out of his mouth.

"Your Nomu…" And, looking to the source of the beam, the gathered group saw a bloodied, bruised Aoyama sticking a smoking hand out. "Ruined. My. HAIR!" He wasn't wrong, the French teen's usually smooth hair was frizzled, standing on edge, and even burnt at some of the ends. "Bastard!"

Another blur rushed over Aoyama and once more aimed itself at Mr. Compress after the teen finished and the villain suddenly found himself doubling over. "Yeah! It's gonna take me hours to fix this!" The source; a pawed fist sticking itself right into the villain's gut, courtesy of a one Ms. Ragdoll. "Inconsiderate prick." And, with that done, the green-haired pro snatched one of the marbles out of the air before having to back up from a wall of flames.

"What a shame." Smouldering, – in every way possible – Dabi grabbed the marble that Ragdoll missed and shot out another wave of fire. "You better hope that we got the bomb kid; Shigaraki wanted him above all else." He glared at Mr. Compress as he spoke.

The man in question just sulked. "God damnit, my beautiful exit scene…. It's ruined." Before snapping his fingers, releasing his quirk's hold, and stepping back into his portal.

And, as the marbles' prisoners were freed, it released Fumikage onto a surprised Ragdoll, knocking them both over, and a very confused Bakugou, throat held by Dabi.

"Alright, the main objective is still a success; that's at least something." Keeping his quirk on, the scarred villain let his captive know that he could sear the back of his neck with one wrong move. "I sincerely hope that I never have to meet any of you again… So, please, burn in Hell." Before raising his other arm and letting out a tsunami wave of blue flames far bigger than anything else he had thrown out so far.

"Shit!" And, seeing this, Akira and Shoto both activated their quirks again to try and part the flames while Ragdoll grabbed Fumikage and rolled behind them.

However, neither of them were faster than Izuku. "Nice try." With One For All running through his body, the greenette shot through the flames and got right up in front of Bakugou and Dabi before grabbing the villain's hand and forcing it up. "But that doesn't work to well on me."

An action that Dabi only smirked at. "Not even as a distraction?"

SKLURT!

Spinner was suddenly at his fellow villain's side and swinging his sword, slicing Izuku diagonally across his face and sending his blood everywhere. "AGH!" And at the same time, Magne appeared below him and sent her guandao straight through his abdomen and right out his back. "Hn…."

"IZUKU!" Akira, Fumikage, and Shoto all activated their quirks after witnessing their friend get stabbed and shot forward immediately. "Bastards!"

"Sorry, kids." But Spinner and Magne had already disappeared while Dabi threw Izuku into a portal with a flaming blue hand on his back. "But you were just too slow." Before jumping back himself, leaving no trace but his last wave of fire.

And with that, they were gone.

"No…" Shoto watched the left over purple mist of Kurogiri's portal wisp away with the wind, and with it, their hope. "No, no, no, no…"

Izuku was gone.

Bakugou was gone.

No one else moved; none of them could bring themselves to do so.

They had…

Failed.

?

Izuku laid frozen in shock on the wooden floors of wherever he was; hands stuck clutching his abdomen and the scars on his face while also trying to deal with the searing pain on his back. "Hn….Agh…." He could smell the burning of his flesh and knew that he was sitting in a small pool of his own blood.

His grunts of pain weren't the only sounds in the room though, small idle chatter from the villains around him covered his sound and he tried his best to listen.

"I mean… It's not all of them, but you got the two I wanted the most." Shigaraki shrugged as he looked at the two students lying on the floor; he grinned maniacally. "So I guess I'll have to say good job."

"Don't patronise us, Shigaraki." Spinner wasn't taking it though and raised his buster sword upwards; pointing it right at the man child with a snarl. "Your profiles were outdated and filled with false info; we're lucky to even be alive right now, much less having completed the mission."

Magne nodded as she cleaned the blood off her blade. "We had to tire the green kid out last night and wait until he was hyper focused on the bomb kid before we could even hope to land a strike on him." Her eyes travelled to the green-haired teen and she looked at him apprehensively. "And I'm scared that he's still moving."

Toga shrugged at that and got down to Izuku's face before holding it in her hands. "I don't know, he looks really cute like this… And hot." Before kissing his neck and forehead to grab some blood, smiling lustfully as she did so. "Hm… That tastes nic-"

An explosion sent at the girl's stomach had her skidding back into a chair and Bakugou kipped himself up before standing over Izuku. "Don't you dare try and touch him like that while he's down, bitch." His red eyes glowed with bloodlust and mini explosions went off his palms as he held them out to his sides. "Anyone else try sick shit like that or even get close and I blow this stupid bar to kingdom come."

Dabi was clearly amused by this as he held up an arm before letting his flames coat it. "Ooh, boom boy's feeling a bit protective now; is he?" His eyes glowed turquoise and he grinned. "Please give me an excuse to burn-"

"Dabi." Shigaraki's hand – with one pinkie raised – held the scarred villain's arm tight. "He's not on our kill list; we want him." Before looking him right in the eyes, an actual serious expression on his face. "So don't do anything rash; we can just restrain him."

Reluctantly, Dabi lowered his arm, if only out of surprise from the seriousness that Shigaraki spoke with.

"Nah, that's not happening." Bakugou didn't lower his arms though, he kept them out and let his small explosions get bigger. "Like I said, one move and you're all-"

BONK!

A loud thudding sound resonated for a moment before the blonde dropped right to the floor, unconsciousness taking him. Though, he was at least able to lie on top of Izuku before he passed out.

"Jesus, these kids are terrifying." Putting down the staff end of her weapon, Magne just shook her head in exasperation. "Seriously, what the hell kind of first years are this serious and dangerous?"

Mr. Compress looked up at that. "That is precisely what I was thinking; Yuuei's standards must be higher than we anticipated if they can-"

"Stop." Kurogiri's voice cut through the ongoing conversation and he held a phone in his hands; they were shaking. "It's Sensei."

Spinner, Dabi, Mr. Compress, and Magne all stood straighter at the name and looked at the mist villain with wide eyes and a single question. "Seriously?"

"Yes, it's him." Kurogiri moved the call to the T.V they had in the bar and steadied his breaths. "He's finally awake."

Izuku's ears didn't miss that last statement. 'Sensei? Awake?' And while he was still writhing in pain on the floor, he was more than capable of dual processing to gather whatever information he could. 'This has to be All For One.'

"Answer it." Shigaraki demanded, his fingers twitching as he tried to keep himself still. "Don't make him wait."

CLICK

"Kurogiri…"

'…. Huh?' As the voice of the apparent embodiment of pure evil permeated the air, Izuku didn't feel any sort of fear or even worry simply because of the man's tone of voice.

"The Doctor told me about a mission that you and Tomura executed without his help or even consent…" The man sounded… Tired? He was even yawning. "For his sake, I'd like to know what the operation was and if it was a success." Worse, he sounded familiar.

Scarily familiar.

"Of course, Sensei." However, before the greenette could think on that, Kurogiri began to talk. "Tomura put together a squad of elite agents to invade Yuuei's training camp to abduct a number of hostages and possible recruits." The mist man's eyes shifted over to the two students on the floor and he tried his best to stand straight. "Though… We were only able to grab one recruit and one hostage."

The man on the other end of the phone hummed in what seemed like surprise. "Yuuei… Why are we targeting them? Tomura." However, despite that, his voice was more than enough to make even Shigaraki stop his slouching and stand straight. "Who was the hostage you captured… And who executed the operation?"

Izuku's eyes widened at that and he suddenly realised an important detail. 'I have One For All.' He had what All For One was hunting for… And he was lying defenceless in a pool of his own blood, unable to do more than listen.

"Izuku Midoriya, Sensei." Shigaraki, while trying to remain respectful, let out a small chuckle as he looked at the student who had caused him so much grief, writhing on the ground. "And Dabi, with the help of Spinner and Magne, were able to incapacitate and capture him."

"Izuku?" The man's voice spoke with too much familiarity for Izuku's liking and yet the greenette still didn't find himself scared. "Dabi? Spinner? Magne?" Especially when the man sounded like he was lost.

"Don't forget, he's not omniscient, Tomura." Kurogiri leaned down to Shigaraki's ear and chided him with a whisper. "The last he awoke was a year and a half ago; he knows not of our operations or our newest members."

Izuku was able to hear him though; it was all he was focusing on, after all. 'Wait, its mid-August right now…' Doing the math quickly in his head, the greenette's mind exploded with revelation. 'February last year… I didn't even have One For All back then!' In his mind scape, Inner Izuku one and Inner Izuku two both looked at the drawing board they had been building and shrugged. 'All of the Nomu, the attacks… If he didn't make them… Who did?'

Before he could try and think for answers, Shigaraki…

Hold on, it looks like he's bowing.

"I'm sorry, Sensei." Oh, wait, he's serious? "Dabi, Spinner, and Magne are three of our newest members; a powerful flame user, and two skilled weapons specialists." The three villains in question didn't dare move or even smile at the praise; frozen in fear. "As for Izuku Midoriya…" Shigaraki leaned down to the teen and put four fingers on his head. "He and his stupid friends have been a constant thorn in all of my plans; him more than the rest of them."

"Izuku…" Again, the man's voice was lined with familiarity and the sounds of movement could be heard. "Show him to me."

Despite the soft tone he asked, one would think he demanded it by how fast Spinner and Magne moved Bakugou off him to lift him to his feet.

And, even though it hurt, Izuku opened his eyes to try and see the man on the other side of the phone. 'Of course.' Only to see a shadowed reflection of himself as he stared at a black screen with an audio symbol. 'It makes sense; given how bad All Might looked when-'

"What's wrong with him?" A demanding tone cut off Izuku's thoughts and made everyone in the bar – sans the greenette – flinch. "What has happened to his face?" Whereas before he sounded tired and groggy, this voice sounded as though he was on five cups of coffee and a shot of adrenaline. "Answer me!"

Every villain's head unconsciously shot towards the floor and Shigaraki flinched backwards. "Sensei, getting him here unharmed would've been impossible; we had to-"

"Kurogiri." The misty man stood straight at his master's voice and he nodded. "I want the boy warped to me… Now."

"Uh…." Kurogiri tilted his head in confusion. "Pardon, Sensei?" And while he did not want to make his master repeat himself, he couldn't help but question the order he was given. "Did you say-"

"Warp. Now." The man's voice asked for a second and last time and was edged with the promise of violent retribution should he be denied his request. "Don't make me ask again."

Kurogiri wasn't going to do that. "My deepest apologies, Sensei." He bowed so low that his head hit the bar in front of him but he ignored that and waved his hand, creating a portal underneath Izuku and whisking him away. "It is done."

A grunt of pain was heard as Izuku was suddenly on the other side of the line and the man hummed in acknowledgement. "Thank you, Kurogiri." Before ending their transmission. "Goodbye."

And as he did, he left behind a group of slightly confused and incredibly rattled villains with a single thought between all of them. 'What the fuck?'

9066 Words! Ay! Ay! Ay!

Alright, the Forest Training Camp Arc is done! That was fun while it lasted; I'd like to think these were some of my best chapters so far!

Now, let's address some things.

To start, the Muscular fight. In their first fight in the anime, this guy was tanking up an outlandish Izuku's "1,000,000%," obviously, this was probably exaggerated but that's still counted – in my books – as a 100% smash. In their second fight, Izuku was beating him up with 40%; however, this was with the assistance of Blackwhip and Smokescreen.

Here, Izuku doesn't have Blackwhip but he does have Akira who has a technique that did the same thing Shindo's quirk did but at an accelerated pace. Add on the skill they collectively hold – which is more than canon Izuku's – and they got through the fight at about the same speed and the same amount of injuries – None.

As for why they didn't get through it faster, it's because Muscular had… And that really helps in the big fights.

Speaking of… Not everyone has it, but some people do. Those who do will find themselves more powerful while using it when compared to when they're not using it. It's not a hereditary trait, definitely not; it's all mental and is a lot easier for some rather than others, some can even apply it to other things.

Finally, the kidnapping.

Yeah, Izuku got kidnapped; that's it.

Anyway, let's just get going on the next chapter because after that is another one of my favourite arcs.