Itsuka swallowed, her throat dry as beads of sweat trailed their way down the side of her face. Warily, she eyed the villains who'd interrupted the day's proceedings as she slowly made her way along the edge of the field towards Yoarashi. The villain covered in disembodied hands stood idle, scratching his neck as he talked to the misty figure called Kurogiri, either ignorant or uncaring of the orangette's movement.
"Kendo," Yoarashi greeted tersely when she finally reached him, his voice low, eyes never once moving from the villains.
"We have to get out of here," Itsuka whispered just loud enough for him to hear. "There's numerous Pro Heroes in the stands, not to mention the U.A. teachers and all the others watching from around the country. The heroes nearby are no doubt making their way here, but right now, no licensed hero can act because we're in the way and they'd need to protect us."
"I know," Yoarashi responded curtly. "As much as I'd like to help, to actively try and do anything but defend ourselves would be considered vigilantism, and with so many cameras trained on us, there'd be nothing we could do to deny it."
"You're right," Itsuka agreed, turquoise eyes flickering to the only other student on the field, "but my biggest concern is him."
Yoarashi turned his head to glance in the direction Itsuka was looking before quickly looking back at the villains once more. "Bakugo?" He questioned, doubt clear in his voice. "He is quite spirited, but I believe he would know better than to engage the villains."
"You would think so," Itsuka agreed, grimacing slightly as she recalled the standoff she'd gotten in with the explosive blond and Todoroki during the protect the president exercise, "But if there's one thing you should know about Bakugo, it's that-"
"You know," a rough voice cut Itsuka off, "it's rude to talk about people right in front of you as if they're not there." Turquoise eyes met crimson red orbs that peered at the orangette through a wall of fingers. "I'm here to send a message," the leader of the villains said as he scratched his neck idly, "So far, we've proven that our stealth stat is maxed out so no place is safe from infiltration. Still, I feel like we can do more…I know!" The villain perked up, straightening from his slouched posture as an idea struck him, "Here in the heart of U.A. surrounded by countless heroes with the world looking on, what better way to show our ability than by breaking some of U.A.'s oh so precious eggs? Nomu," the villain raised his right arm, a single finger casually pointed towards Kendo, "kill the girl."
A black blur, that was all Itsuka saw. One moment the beaked villain was standing in the middle of the field next to his boss, the next there was a blur of movement racing towards her left side. Itsuka's eyes tried to track 'Nomu', but by the time they reached the muscular monstrosity, it was already beside her, its right fist racing towards her head. The curled hand encompassed her vision, but while Itsuka was turning her head and eyes to track Nomu, her left arm was already moving, years upon years of martial arts training ingrained into her body had her lifting her arm on instinct alone in order to provide even the barest of defense against the attack. Her quirks weren't far behind either One for All raced through her arm, highlighting the limb with orange veins, Big Fists following almost immediately after. Kendo's arm expanded just as Nomu's fist slammed into her, but that wasn't the only thing to hit the orange haired girl. A shout of "Kendo!" reached Itsuka's ears at the same time a burst of wind struck her side, knocking her off balance and turning Nomu's attack into nothing more than a glancing blow still powerful enough to send Itsuka spinning off the battlefield and into the grass surrounding the concrete ring.
"Hey, no third partying." The masked villain complained before he turned towards the other black villain besides him. "Nomu."
At its master's command, the eyeless Nomu charged forward with speed comparable to its 'sibling', stopping right in front of Yoarashi and using its momentum to launch a devastating punch. Already prepared, Yoarashi leapt backwards while thrusting his hands forward to launch two blasts of air into Nomu's broad chest. The monster didn't even flinch, merely stepping forward to launch another attack. Seeing the students being targeted, the heroes that'd been waiting at the edge of the stands to intervene began to leap over the guard railing, rushing forward to help.
"Geez, did no one hear what I said?" The villainous mastermind muttered, seemingly unconcerned with the numerous heroes charging towards him. His tone however betrayed him; he sounded gleeful, as if this was exactly what he wanted. "Fine, if you heroes want to get involved, allow me to give you something to deal with. Kurogiri!"
At its name, the warper acted, seemingly turning in on itself before vanishing. Moments later, dark portals opened up all around the stadium from which numerous villains began to pour out into the unsuspecting audience. That's when the screaming really began.
Sprinting down the staff-only hallway he knew led towards the teacher's private box, Shota Aizawa didn't even attempt to slow his stride as he raced towards the sharp corner ahead of him. Keeping his momentum Shota jumped, planting his foot against the left wall and pushing off of it. His right foot pressed down on the wall ahead of him as he turned, eyes widening beneath his mask as he caught sight of the two dozen villains standing in the hallway besieging the closed door that was no doubt their target.
Launching his scarf, Aizawa leapt off the wall, his knee coming up to slam into the face of a villain with some kind of carnivorous plant for a head. At the same time Aizawa pulled, dragging a villainess with gorilla arms backwards the young woman letting out a surprised "eep" as she was pulled off balance and into two of her comrades.
It took a moment for the rest of the villains to realize they were under attack, long enough for Aizawa (or Eraserhead as he was now acting in a hero capacity) to deliver some quick blows to the three knocked over villains, knocking them out for the time being. Seeing their comrades downed, the closest villains let out a battle cry as they charged forward. One girl's stone-like hair leapt towards Eraserhead while her two companions raised their arms; one's fingers ended in some kind of cannon-like barrels, while the other's arms transformed into blades. The three grinned, no doubt thinking their numbers would see them carrying the day, but their ferocious smiles turned to confusion as Eraserhead's eyes widened underneath his mask and their Quirks deactivated. Using their confusion as an opening, Eraserhead sent his capture scarf flying and, wrapping it around the villain to the far left, swung them into their allies, sending all three into the wall with a loud thud the sound of which made it clear none of them would be getting up soon.
"Everyone be careful, it's Eraserhead!" A four armed villain with rock-like skin and a black mask over his head bellowed as he pushed his way to the front. "Me and some of the boys had a run in with him a few years ago, he can deactivate your Quirk by looking at you." Aizawa stood up, reeling in his weapon as the villain stepped forward cracking his knuckles, "Although you never were able to deactivate my Quirk, were you? It took me a while to figure it out but I got it eventually. Your Quirk doesn't affect those with mutation Quirks, does it?"
Charging forward, the villain laughed as he lashed out with his lower left arm with a clearly telegraphed punch Eraserhead had no trouble ducking under. The villain swung his two right arms around but Aizawa leapt upwards. Gripping his capture weapon with both hands, he wrapped it around the front of the villain's throat as he flipped over his head, using his weight and momentum to pull the villain off the ground and throw him down the hallway. The mutant Quirk user hit a few of his comrades as he ragdolled further away from Eraserhead before he finally stopped, lying on the floor dazed, though still conscious. For a moment the villains paused looking at their fallen wannabe leader before turning back towards Eraserhead. The man stood there, his scarf floating around his neck like a living serpent while his black hair floated upwards defying gravity in the process. "He was right," Aizawa muttered as he stepped forward menacingly, and a few of the villains found themselves unconsciously stepping backwards, "My Quirk doesn't affect those with mutations, but no hero is a one trick pony. Now either come at me or get the hell out of my way."
"Why is this happening?" 1-B's chubby vice-representative Nirengeki Shoda complained as he used his Quirk to intercept the sheets of papyrus launched by a villain with a body made entirely of paper. The papers exploded on impact, but the villain didn't have time to launch another attack before Jurota Shishida smashed into him, slamming the paper-like villain into the ground.
"It doesn't matter," the beastly boy said as he turned looking for other potential threats, "What are your orders?"
"Huh?"
"Vlad-sensei appointed you as class vice-representative. Since we haven't heard anything from him or any of the other teachers and Yoarashi is indisposed, you're currently the one in charge."
"Umm, I don't-"
"Geez, just say something," the battle eager Kamakiri complained as he swung his arms, a blade cutting into his opponent's chest, downing him with a yell.
"Okay, since we're right next to 1-A, move that direction and try to regroup with them."
"What!? Why?" that was Monoma.
"Because we don't know how many of these villains there are," Shoda explained. "We stand a better chance working with them than worrying about some stupid rivalry only you seem to really care about."
"It's not stupid-"
"Just shut up and do what the Vice said!" roared Shishida as he sent a villain flying with a swing of his arm.
"Fine," Monoma huffed, "but I want to make it clear that we didn't need their help, they needed ours." Slowly, 1-B fought their way towards their sister class. In brief moments of calm, Shoda took a moment to scan the stadium trying to figure out the situation. Yoarashi, Kendo, and Bakugo were still in the center of the stadium, each of the students now engaged in battle with a Nomu. The heroes that had been charging forward to help were now engaged with a small horde of villains that had suddenly appeared, eager to do battle.
The crowd itself was in a panic; screaming, they were on the verge of rioting as they tried to all rush at once towards the nearest exit. Some heroes were trying to assist but found themselves unable to quell the panic as they had to regularly stop and engage some villain nearby, which only caused the crowd to panic more. At the very least, the general studies, business, and support courses were gone. Their stands were also free of villains, although given their near proximity to the hero seats and the private hallways they had access to as students it was entirely likely they'd just been able to evacuate the quickest with the least interruption. 'Still, that's at least one small mercy,' Shoda thought.
Quickly turning his attention back to the battle it wasn't long before 1-B cut their way through to their sister class. Both sides seemed to pause briefly, although they quickly regrouped and turned their attention back towards a common foe, one that quickly fell before the combined might of Japan's best and brightest. When the fighting finally ended, the two classes took a moment to recuperate before turning towards one another. "I'm 1-B's vice-representative Nirengeki Shoda," the small boy introduced himself, stepping forward. "Is anyone missing from your class?"
"We're only missing three students," a blue haired boy Shoda recognized as Tenya Iida said, standing at attention. "Kendo and Bakugo were both meant to compete in the finals and Yaoyorozu, our vice-representative, was still in the clinic getting healed by Recovery Girl. Everyone else is present and accounted for."
"Good," Shoda sighed, thankful about having one less thing to worry about. "Okay, what about us?" he asked, turning towards his class. "Anybody missing from 1-B?"
"I'm here."
"No."
"Present." Various students mumbled.
"What about Kodai?" One of the girl's asked, although Shoda was unable to make out who. Turning, he tried to pick out the black haired perpetually blank-faced girl from the sea of faces.
"She was going to try and find the bathroom before the finals started," the silver haired Yanagi offered. "Though I do not believe she made it back before they began."
"Should we try to find her?" someone asked hesitantly. For a moment Shoda considered it, but he quickly dismissed the idea. "No," he said, continuing before any protests could be made. "It's too dangerous to split up or go looking with so many villains around. The best thing we can do is to evacuate from the stadium and leave this situation to the Pros to handle."
"But what about Kodai?"
"She's probably fine," Shoda said reassuringly. "She would have been in the hallways only accessible to staff, students, and those with special permission. I doubt any villains were able to infiltrate the area, much less have a reason to. In all likelihood, she's already left the stadium and is waiting anxiously for us outside."
"But you don't know that!"
"Yeah, who put you in charge!?"
"I did!" bellowed Shishida, veins throbbing. "In the absence of the teachers and other representatives, Shoda is currently the one entrusted with authority. He's in charge, and if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me."
"And me," Kamakiri said, unsheathing his blades threateningly.
"Well, I suppose he's better than nothing," Monoma sighed casually, hands behind his head, although Shoda noted how the blond subtly brushed against Kamakiri's arm, something the human mantis acknowledged with a subtle glance and nod at the blond.
"I suppose it is the Lord's will." Shiozaki muttered, hands folded, "I too will assist as best as I am able." The other members of the class offered their own murmurs of support.
"Well," Kamakiri asked now that the majority of 1-B had made their position clear, "still have something to say?"
Iida stepped forward, face blank. 1-B tensed before the blue haired boy bowed at an approximate 90 angle. "I apologize for the complaints my class has raised, Shoda-san. We will be in your care, so please do your best to reciprocate."
"Does that go for you guys too?" Shishida asked, glasses shining. The other members of 1-A voiced their agreements, although their enthusiasm differed widely. Still that was fine Shoda thought as the students began to make their way towards the exit, right now he was being a hero by saving what he could.
Ducking under the knife swung by a villain in a black bodysuit, Himiko frowned as she lashed out with her own weapon, cutting the man's throat with a single swing. The villain collapsed, knives dropping from his hands as they reached up to clutch the slice in his neck leaking precious life blood. For a moment Himiko pondered the dying man, wondering whether it would be worth the effort needed to bend down and drink some of his blood herself. She quickly discarded the idea in favor of simply licking her blade clean as she turned and hurried to catch up to Izuku.
The green haired boy was acting weird, which was saying something considering it was her noticing. His eyes were glazed over but focused as he made his way down an empty hallway meant solely for staff use. He was talking to himself, muttering softly, repeating the same word again and again, though it was too soft for even Himiko's amazing hearing to detect.
Still disguised as the black haired violet-eyed woman she'd pretended to be most of the day, Himiko followed her green haired boss while studying his back. He'd begun to act weird as soon as that strange light had begun to shine from one of the boxes he'd said was reserved for those with some kind of importance. The light had seemed to capture his entire attention, like it was all he could focus on. Himiko knew Izuku had said something based on the way the hero assassin lady had turned in shock, but she hadn't been able to hear what was said over the panicked scream of the crowds that villains were attacking.
Her eyes furrowed; of course that was just her luck, wasn't it? Going on an actual date with Izuku to see Momochi perform, eating food together, the pleasant scene of blood splattering the stadium arena grounds as students battled each other like glorified gladiators, it was everything she'd wanted. Even the intrusion of the assassin lady Izu-kun called Nagant wasn't enough to ruin her wonderful day. After all, her hair was just so pretty, long and colorful like licorice when she would bind two different flavors together to create a whole new one. Her blood probably tasted like candy. Wait, was her hair flavored too?
Himiko shook her head. No, she had to focus, don't get distracted. Where was she? Ah right, the villains. Yeah, leave it to some crusty boy and his wannabe butler to ruin her date. Himiko scowled. If she got a chance, she'd stab them for their offense against her and she wouldn't even drink their blood! Not that she wanted to, she mentally gagged and stuck out her tongue in disgust at the thought. Just by looking at them she knew that they'd taste disgusting. Crusty would no doubt be incredibly bitter, smokey would taste like ashes, even the three bodyguards looked like they wouldn't be any good. They all looked dead, like living corpses, and Himiko's intuition told her they'd taste the same. She liked blood: warm, hot, crimson blood, and she had no intention of chugging formaldehyde from some mad scientist's escaped lab experiment.
Still, she'd drink it if Izuku wanted her to. If it helped him, she'd drink as much as she could. In the chaos, they'd slipped away from Nagant. Himiko had thought Izuku would have led her to either Momochi or an exit, but instead the green haired boy had made his way through the panicking civilians, and it had been all she could do to keep up in the chaos and stay close to him as he led her to a door labeled, 'Staff Only'. The door, of course, hadn't opened at their presence since they weren't in the U.A. systems, but with a simple stretch of his hand and an application of Overhaul, Izuku had made the door disappear. It had surprised Himiko; the boldness Izuku was displaying; she hadn't expected it, but glancing at where she'd noticed a camera was hidden, she noted that the small device was powered down. Either a villain or a hero apparently had a Quirk that was disrupting some of the electrical signals. Not all of them though since the lights were still on, but it would explain why U.A.'s fabled security wasn't acting up to its full capabilities.
Stepping up to walk beside Izuku, she frowned at the greenette's lack of a reaction to her presence. "Izu-kun?" She called. No response. "Izu-kun?" She asked, a bit louder. Nothing. It was like he didn't even know she was there.
An uneasy queasiness formed in the blonde's stomach. Something was wrong, but she had no idea what. At least now that she was closer, she knew what Izuku was saying: a name he repeated over and over. "Eri. Eri. Eri. Eri." An image rose in the blonde vampire's head of a trembling white haired girl with crimson eyes and a horn on the right side of her head, clothed in a dirty cloth that could barely be called a dress, stained bandages wrapped around her arms and legs. All Himiko could do was swallow as the unease in her stomach turned from a faint queasiness to an all out alarm, complete with flashing signs and sirens. Yet the girl could do nothing but follow after Izuku as he led her to wherever it was they were going.
Aiming down the sight of her rifle, Lady Nagant exhaled as she fired, her hair bullet streaking across the stadium to strike a villain with sickle-like claws and stalk eyes that had been about to ambush an unsuspecting hero as he worked to evacuate an elderly couple. The villain went down, unconscious since her bullet had been blunted and the hero turned. Catching sight of his would-be ambusher, the hero quickly moved to restrain the villain before looking around for whoever had helped him.
Nagant herself had already moved on, the fighting around her had fallen off, the few villains nearby had been nowhere near her so she'd been able to quickly incapacitate them. Unfortunately, their presence had been enough to drive the crowd into a panic, sending the civilians stampeding for the exit. The last Nagant had seen of her captors was a mess of green hair disappearing into the crowd, the one armed witch that was his bodyguard following after him.
Despite the setback, she at least had names to go off of: Izuku Midoriya, childhood friend of Katsuki Bakugo, and Toga for the woman. The latter wasn't much, but it was a start. As for the former, once this mess ended she planned to do a private investigation to figure out just who this Midoriya was. She certainly wouldn't be letting her superiors know about him. If they knew that the boy had knowledge of even some of the things she'd done, then it would be in their best interest to make him disappear, and Tsutsumi had no intention to let that happen before she had a chance to talk to him again. After that she'd decide what the best course of action was.
'Excuses,' a voice whispered in her mind, 'you liked talking to him. He made you feel special, didn't look at you like the monster you are. Not even Aizawa can do that.'
Shaking her head, refusing to spend a moment longer on the subject Kaina craned her head looking upwards towards the teacher's box. The light she knew to have come from Eri was now gone, but it did nothing to relieve her fear. She was worried about her little unicorn, wanted to be certain she was alright, but even more concerning was the fact that Eri's Quirk had activated here. It was bad enough the Safety Commission was already keeping an eye on her, but now, with the eyes of the world no doubt turned towards the attack, the odds of people investigating the light and finding out just what it was Eri could do had increased exponentially.
Kaina knew that Shota would do his best to protect her, and given Eri's sheer cuteness and Shota's history, the staff would no doubt help him. Nezu alone would be enough to defer some, those who didn't want the principal coming forward with the countless secrets he no doubt held, but others wouldn't care. Rewind offered too many possibilities, and no matter how much they might want to, U.A. couldn't take on Japan, let alone the world. Not when their infamous defense had failed so spectacularly on international television.
Some would recognize that it wasn't their fault, that for all their preparations, they couldn't account for every possibility, but most wouldn't care. Once things were over, the fear of the civilians right now running mindlessly for their lives would turn to anger. Anger that would need to be properly managed so it didn't target the wrong people. But all that could come later. As a scream rang out through the stadium, Kaina focused her attention on the center of the field. Her eyes analyzed the situation in a moment as her rifle came up, her free hand tearing a clump of hair from her scalp that she molded even as she stuck it inside her gun and fired. It took less than a second before the bullet was flying towards the figures below, but this wasn't a blunt bullet Lady Nagant fired. No, this was a live round, a bullet meant to kill.
Itsuka screamed as her arm finally gave way, her bones snapping as the limb twisted itself in ways no arm ever should. Pain burned through her body, but even as she screamed, the beaked Nomu didn't pause, merely continuing its assault.
Tears leaked from teal eyes as she retreated, unable to take even a moment to recuperate. A realization struck her like lightning: she was about to die. Her life didn't flash in front of her eyes, she didn't get a feeling of peace, all she felt was the desire to live. As Nomu reared back, Itsuka swung her unbroken left arm, channeling all her power into it. The limb grew in size and slammed into Nomu's chest, the power of One For All flowing through it, but the beast was merely driven back a few feet as Kendo's arm and final hope shattered.
Exhausted, the last of her energy spent, Kendo watched with dead eyes as time seemed to slow down. The Nomu approached emotionlessly, its beady eyes locked onto her. Behind it, Yoarashi mouthed her name in a scream, the orangette could not hear. The master of air raised a hand in her direction but before he could act, the blind Nomu slammed a fist into the distracted hero-in-training's chest, launching him down into the dirt.
At the edge of her vision, she could see Bakugo, his face twisted in a savage grin as he let loose a silent explosion into the four-eyed Nomu, no doubt yelling his trademark catchphrase. The green skinned creature opened its mouth either to let out a pained scream or shriek in defiance as it seemingly absorbed the explosion falling backwards. In the momentary pause, Bakugo seemed to hear Yoarashi's shout, his red eyes flickering over towards her brows furrowing. He seemed about to head her way when his opponent sat up behind him, its four eyes staring down at Bakugo as it towered over the blond. Its body glowed, as Bakugo spun around, but he only managed to partially turn before Nomu's body detonated in a massive explosion that consumed them both.
Then darkness filled her vision. Craning her neck, Itsuka looked upwards at the Nomu standing above her, its beaked head lowered to look at her as it pulled back its arm to end her life. Itsuka tried to move, tried to find one last desperate well of strength to draw from, but her body was spent, tired and broken. Looking up, Kendo tried to brace herself as best she could as she looked her murderer in his empty eyes. Nomu stepped forward, its arm descended, a flicker of movement she barely caught and then Nomu suddenly collapsed, crumpling into a heap of muscle in front of her, its brain bursting in a shower of black blood and viscera.
Everything seemed to pause for a moment, both heroes and villains ceased their fighting to stare in disbelief at the unmoving body. In the sudden silence, only a single voice spoke up, "Hey, what did you do?!" Kendo's eyes moved from Nomu to the villain covered in hands as he stepped towards her threateningly, eyes wide with anger. "What did you do to Nomu?!"
"Shigaraki, control yourself," the misty Kurogiri ordered.
"Shut up." Shigaraki demanded, whirling towards his ally. "She did something, she cheated. It's the only way she could have beaten Nomu just when he was about to finish her." The villain exhaled, visibly trying to take control of himself while Kendo struggled to her feet. "It doesn't matter though," Shigaraki said, oddly upbeat, "After all, it's not like whatever she did will be enough to put Nomu down."
"What?" Kendo asked softly. Shigaraki turned to look at her, but her question was answered instead by the body lying at her feet. It twitched once, twice, three times… then it moved. A hand planted itself firmly on the ground which the undead creature used to raise itself back to its feet. As Kendo and everyone else watched on in horror, the flesh of Nomu's broken head began to regrow.
"Super Regeneration," Shigaraki explained, his voice full of glee, "A passive skill that lets Nomu heal itself no matter how much damage you inflict. Cut off a limb, break its body, Nomu will come back from it as if the damage never happened." Standing upright, Nomu took a step towards Kendo, who unconsciously stepped back, "How do you like him? He was made specifically to go toe to toe with All Might himself, the anti-All Might if you will." Shigaraki laughed as Nomu drew back its arm, but before either could do anything else, Nomu's head was consumed in an explosion.
Shigaraki's laughter died abruptly as Nomu stumbled backwards. Itsuka felt an arm wrap itself around her waist as she was pulled away from the creature and to the edge of the field.
"What?" Shigaraki growled.
"Bakugo?" Itsuka questioned, unable to hold back her surprise. It was indeed the class 1-A bomber, still sporting an arrogant smile.
"You sure think highly of your Nomu," Bakugo smirked at Shigaraki, "But just cause beaky over here has a regeneration Quirk doesn't mean that Four-Eyes does. He might be able to take my explosions and throw 'em back but I know my explosions, they hurt. For all your talk all I had to do was bomb him until he couldn't take it anymore." Indeed, with a quick turn of her head, Itsuka caught a glimpse of Four-Eyes lying motionless at the edge of the field, its green skin still smoking.
Shigaraki actually growled as he scratched his neck, "Annoying." He muttered, "Why's it so hard to kill some upstart brats? They're supposed to be weak cannon fodder. How are they putting up so much of a fight?"
"It's because we're the best!" Bakugo bragged, "Weren't you saying something about these things being strong? Four-Eyes certainly didn't seem that way to me."
For a moment, Shigaraki didn't respond. He stood there silently, menacingly. In that brief pause, Itsuka swore to whomever might be listening; it didn't matter what happened in the near future, should they make it out of this alive, she'd somehow find a way to strangle Bakugo even with her broken hands until she drove it into the blond's pea sized brain to not antagonize villains when they were under attack!
"Kurogiri, go deal with the airbending brat." Shigaraki ordered, eyes locked onto Bakugo. "These two are mine." The sentient smoke cloud didn't say anything, merely portaling away as Shigaraki stepped forwards, his hands opening and closing at his side. Lowering himself into a crouch, the pale haired man charged towards Bakugo who welcomed him with an outstretched hand and an explosion. The blast didn't strike Shigaraki though, instead being tanked by 'Beaky' who appeared in between Bakugo and his master. The monster didn't even recoil, standing still as Shigaraki leaned around him, his hand outstretched towards Bakugo's face.
But Bakugo didn't just wait, his free hand was already rising palm upturned, unleashing an explosion that filled the space between them, warding off Shigaraki's attack. The villain growled but it wasn't him who struck but rather Nomu the brute reaching through the explosion to grasp Bakugo's right shoulder. The blond screamed as his bones ground against one another, but he didn't stop launching explosion after explosion into Nomu's black skin. Beaky showed no reaction until a fist emerged from the myriad of explosions to bury itself into Bakugo's chest. The hand holding Bakugo's shoulder released him, allowing the blond to collapse to the ground next to Kendo, where he promptly vomited.
"That's not very heroic," Shigaraki noted as he stepped around Nomu to stand above the downed students. "What happened to you being the best of the best? The strongest?"
"Screw. You." Bakugo wheezed.
"Hard pass," Shigaraki waved away the offer. "You must have thought yourself so special for beating Nomu, well let me tell you something: he was the weakest of the three. He was supposed to help hold off the heroes, but if he lost to you, then he couldn't even do that. He was useless. Useless, useless, useless. I would kill it myself but it isn't even worth the effort."
Lying on the ground, every part of his body in pain, Bakugo's head throbbed. It was like a nail was being driven into his brain from the inside and it hurt like hell. 'Not now,' Katsuki begged, recognizing the pounding in his head. He'd felt this before, back when he'd watched a video of the slime incident. He was regaining his memories, 'Not with the villains attacking.' But his mind didn't care. The words of the villain replayed in his mind: useless, kill, and suddenly Bakugo wasn't in the stadium he was in a classroom dressed in his black middle school gakuran.
"Come on, you could at least say something back." A voice Katsuki recognized as extra one said.
"Don't say that." Extra two cut in, "He's pathetic, useless, what else did you expect? He can't even face reality."
Katsuki was facing the classroom door, but the words caused him to pause in front of it. There was only one person they could be talking about. He opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, but his mouth continued to move on its own even as his head turned against his will and he finally laid eyes on Midoriya. The greenette's head was down his back towards him, but Katsuki would recognize that bushy green hair anywhere. "If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it." He said, and Bakugo's eyes widened. There were a million things he wanted to say but not that, yet he couldn't stop himself, this was only a memory. "Believe you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a last minute skydive off a roof."
Izuku whirled, emerald eyes wide in shock, yet Katsuki couldn't say anything, his body simply moving on autopilot to raise a hand which cackled and popped with miniature explosions. Then he left, left Izuku there in the classroom trembling like a leaf.
'No. No, no, no, no, no. That can't be right. I didn't say that. It wasn't me.' Yet no matter how much he wanted to deny his words, deep inside, Katsuki knew that they were indeed his own.
"Bakugo, move! Wake up you idiot, we have to go!" Red faced, Itsuka screamed as loud as she could at the blond as she desperately tried to drag him away from Shigaraki. Body broken, she could sympathize with Bakugo wanting to lapse into unconsciousness, but that didn't give him an excuse to nap and leave it up to her to save his ass!
"Deku," Bakugo moaned.
"Wow, talk about a 180." Even with a mask, Itsuka knew that Shigaraki was smiling. "For talking so big, he certainly didn't live up to my expectations."
"Because he lost to Nomu?" Itsuka growled. "You said you were going to beat him but you ordered that creature to do it instead, didn't you?"
"What'd you expect me to do?" Shigaraki shrugged. "Fight fair? I'm a villain, I'll take any advantage I can and Nomu here's a powerful tool indeed. In fact, I think I'll let him be the one to deal with you two. Nomu."
The beaked villain charged at its master's command, arm drawn back. Itsuka turned, throwing herself across Bakugo's body in a last ditch effort to protect him. Eyes clenched tight, she braced herself waiting for the inevitable blow to come, but nothing happened. There was no burning in her chest. Her body ached and arms burned, but there was no new pain. After a moment, Itsuka turned and her eyes widened.
A broad back, covered in a blue bodysuit tightly stretched across the muscles underneath. Yellow hair from which two tufts emerged. It was a figure that had worldwide recognition, and while Itsuka could only look on in disbelief, Shigaraki had no trouble growling his name with hatred. "All Might."
The #1 Hero gripped Nomu's fist with his left hand before delivering a powerful punch to its abdomen that sent the beast flying backwards in an uncontrolled tumble. Villains and heroes dove out of the way as the monster flew by them and slammed into the stadium wall which shattered underneath it. "Everything will be alright." All Might said as he stood tall. Across the stadium, cameras focused on the Hero and the villains unconsciously stepped back.
"I knew he was strong, but for him to one shot Nomu…"
"His presence, I'd heard of it before, but to experience it is something else entirely."
"Why?" Blue eyes burning with passion tracked those around him discerning friend from foe. Cheers rang out as civilians moments ago fleeing for fear of their lives felt reassured, that no matter what happened, things would be alright. "Because I am here."
Author's Note:
Happy Halloween everybody, before we begin I ask for a moment of silence to honor the passing of Whooptidoo who has been holding his breath since *checks notes* September 19 while awaiting this chapter. But I cannot be blackmailed so easily. Anyway here you go, lots of different view points both this chapter and next but overall I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. As for my new story over on Patr-eon it's going pretty well. I'm trying to finish up the last few things so I can hopefully get it up today but it might unfortunately be just a few days longer. I honestly feel so bad but at the same time I love how it's looking.
Anyway I created a discord since that seems to be the new thing everybody's doing, you can find it here /AUnubVSJ. My fanfic recommendation to check out this time is Welcome to the (insane) world of Pokemon by CaptainMoonshine. Realistic Pokemon oc/si that I am loving and I think is the top Pokemon fanfic on this site. Highly recommend, very dark and bloody plus his first Pokemon's a yandere, you gotta love it. I got a new poll up on my profile page that I want you all to vote on so do that. As always make sure to leave a comment to motivate me and until next time this is the devil that's going to find a coven of hot witches to sponsor tonight signing off,
- D'yavol Lucifer 3:)
*IMPORTANT NOTICE*
All the cover art for my stories are ones I found online. I am really interested in using fanart provided by you the readers to replace them. If you're interested draw something up and pm me so I can send you the details on where to send it or pm me and I'll give you some details so you can draw one. As I say in my bio if I use it I may add you as an oc in one of my stories! Isn't that exciting!
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