Rewind
Chapter XIII: This Time I'm Coming Like a Hurricane
With the passing of the day that Izuku expected the attack, Aizawa handed out the students' phones, allowing them to call their parents for the first time since the camp started. Mere hours later, All For One had passed the location of the camp to Tomura, who passed it on to Dabi. By this point, Dabi had become Tomuras' right-hand man and was put in charge of the Vanguard Action Squad, as well as being given equal control of the Nomu. As such, Dabi was able to order the VAS however he wanted, and he was going to take full advantage of that. "Alright, listen up. We're going to run this how Stain would have. That means no harming the students any more than absolutely necessary to get our targets. That especially applies to the two of you," he added, glaring at Muscular and the truly insane Moonfish. The two of them were easily among the most bloodthirsty of the lot, including Toga, who literally drank blood. "If you want to go all out, do it against the adults, no one else! Next, these two are not to be harmed whatsoever," Dabi continued, holding up two photographs. "They are mine and mine alone to deal with, got that? If any of you mess with them, I'll turn you into ash." Each member of the VAS nodded their ascent, however reluctantly. "Finally, here's a list of our targets and pictures of them. Do not lose them or I won't be the one killing you, Shigaraki will."
"And what about Ingenium?" Spinner asked.
"These are students, Spinner!" Dabi growled out. "Holding true to Stain's principles means that we do not kill kids! They are still learning what it means to be a hero, which means they can still change and grow into true heroes. Stain's principles are what we need to follow, not his madness."
Camp continued to pass silently, with the only real excitement coming from three sources: Monoma's continued provocations against A, Mineta's spying attempts (all thwarted,) and Izuku attempting to break through Kota's walls. Three days passed like that until, on the final night of the summer camp, the Pussycats once again had the classes divide up, this time for a scavenger hunt through the forest. However, a mere thirty minutes into the hunt, purple smoke could be seen in the forest, as well as signs of a fire. "Everyone in the forest, put your masks on now!" Izuku called into the radio he was wearing. Momo had come up with the idea when he had privately explained that he was expecting the attack to come while they were separated. Izuku had been so proud of her for thinking of that when he had forgotten to, especially since it had shown yet again that she had the capability to be a leader. Then he was distracted as Ragdoll was covered in a red aura and dragged away.
Magne once again threatened the Pussycats' life, only for Spinner to interrupt. "When deciding if someone should live or die, we must be careful to abide by Stain's principles."
"And what principles are those?" Izuku demanded. "I've actually looked into what he said, and nothing makes sense! He held All Might up as the ultimate hero, yet everything he complained about, All Might did as well. Stain even attacked those who did nothing that he complained about! I counted at least six heroes that Stain killed who, by his own reasoning did nothing wrong!" Spinner froze at that. He thought back at those that Stain had attacked and paled, realizing that, as much as he hated to admit it, the young hero was right. What did All Might do that made him different? There were so many All Might endorsements that he doubted even the hero knew what all carried his name. This would require some serious thinking. "Even ignoring his hypocrisy, what could the Pussycats have done against Stain's beliefs? They're rescue heroes, not glory seekers or money-hounds. All they want to do is live a normal life when not working and save lives when they are!" Izuku finished.
His arguments knocked Spinner so off balance that Tiger was able to easily take him out. Mandalay then turned to Izuku and ordered "Return to camp, you're in charge on the way there. Don't engage anyone!"
"Can't do that," Izuku said. "Iida, you get everyone else back to Aizawa and Vlad! Defend yourselves if necessary!"
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Mandalay demanded.
"I need to save Kota!" Izuku explained before taking off with Float. Thankfully, between his increased speed and flight, he was able to reach Kota and Muscular much quicker than the first time, and he sent the villain flying into the rock wall with a solid "Manhattan Smash!"
"What are you doing?" Kota asked as Muscular flew into the cliffside.
"Everything's going to be okay, Kota," Valiant responded with a smile. "Because I am here to protect you."
"Well now, isn't that a familiar line?" Muscular said with a grin. "I hope you intend to try to keep that promise with all your strength, Midoriya Izuku. Before we start this little game, I wonder if you could help me out?"
"With what?" Izuku asked, though he was fairly sure what the villain wanted. Even though Kacchan hadn't gone nuts at the Sports Festival, there was no way All For One and Shigaraki wouldn't be interested in him.
"We're looking for a few people. Now, let's see," he stated, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of paper. "Where can I find Bakugou Katsuki, Kamakiri Togaru, Kuroiro Shihai, Mineta Minoru, Monoma Neito, Shisada Jurota, Shoji Mezo, Todoroki Shoto and Tokoyami Fumikage?" Izuku stared in shock, not that his face showed it. Why were there so many students on the League's list now? Did calming Kacchan down really change that much? And why those students? Shoto made sense, assuming he was right about who Dabi was, but why the others? "I'm going to guess by your silence that the answer is no. Good, that means we can get to the real fun and fight!"
Muscular went to punch Valiant, but a quick jump to the side allowed him to dodge it. "Tell me something, what makes you think I'd even consider telling a murderer like you where my classmates are?"
"Simple, kid. If you do, I'll make your death nice and painless. Otherwise, I'm going to have fun just beating you to a pulp!" Muscular threw yet another punch, but once again Valiant dodged it, resulting in the cliff wall gaining a large crater.
"You'd have to be fast enough to hit me first!" Valiant called back. With that, he started hitting the villain as hard and fast as he could, coming from every direction he could. Muscular kept bulking up to the point that his body was completely out of scale with his head, but even Kota could tell that he just wasn't fast enough to keep up with Midoriya. Kota stared as this high school student … no, this hero moved so fast that to his eyes, he was just a blur of color, all to protect him from the monster that killed his parents. Why would he do that for him, after all he'd said and done? The only reason that made any sense was the one reason that, honestly, still didn't make any sense to Kota: he did it because he was a hero. Because he was willing to risk his life to protect someone he hardly knew. Midoriya even took a hit to protect him when the villain decided that he was too fast to hit and tried to take out Kota!
However, the boy had noticed a couple of problems. First and more immediately for him, Midoriya was almost creating a tornado on the cliff, which meant that Kota had to back away from the fight … if it could actually be called a fight. Muscular hadn't even managed to lay a finger on Midoriya outside of the one sacrificial hit! Honestly though, Kota didn't care about any of that. First, he could still watch even from his safe spot around the corner, and second, who cared if the villain could actually fight back? This was the monster that killed his parents!
The second problem that Kota had noticed was growing worse and worse though. The wall that Midoriya had been launching himself off of was cracking, and any minute now, it would collapse. And as Midoriya called out "Kansas Smash!" it happened. The entire wall collapsed, starting a rockslide that overwhelmed the villain, sending him tumbling to the valley below. Kota cried out in fear that his hero had gone down as well, only to realize that Midoriya was … flying?! "Sorry, Kota, I don't think you're going to be able to come up here anymore unless you're willing to let Pixie-Bob know about it. Now, get on my back, we're not done yet."
"What do you mean?" Kota asked as they took off.
"There are more villains down in the valley, and while I don't think they're all on this guy's level, all our lives are in danger. We need to warn the Pussycats and Aizawa-sensei. Also, because of the fire, you can help if you're willing to."
Kota had barely nodded when they spotted Aizawa. "Sensei! I've got some information for you!" With that, Izuku briefly told him what had happened with Muscular, including the fact that the villains were after students.
"What happened to your arm? Did you go too far again?" Aizawa demanded.
"No, just had to sacrifice an arm to protect Kota. And no, I didn't forget about Hosu."
Aizawa thought about what he said and made a decision. "Fine, but tell Mandalay something for me as well."
"Can I have it in writing? I don't want her thinking I'm just telling her what I want to do." Aizawa raised an eyebrow, silently demanding to know what he meant. "I already told the others to defend themselves if necessary," Izuku confessed.
"Right," Aizawa grumbled. The problem child should consider himself lucky that I always carry a pen and paper, he thought as he wrote the note, along with a secret note that would confirm the message was actually from him.
No more than thirty seconds later, Izuku took down Spinner and destroyed his weapon. With that done, Izuku delivered his messages. "Mandalay! Kota's safe and with Aizawa-sensei! Ragdoll, I need you to tell me where Katsuki and Shoto are! Also, I have two messages for Mandalay to send out!" First, he delivered Aizawa's handwritten message, which Mandalay didn't want to believe, but the message referenced a case that no one outside of the Pussycats and Eraserhead knew about. Then Izuku handed her the second message, and Mandalay's eyes rose in shock. No wonder Aizawa was so insistent on the students defending themselves! "Classes A and B! By orders of Eraserhead, you are hereby permitted to fight back against the villains! Use your training! Also, the villains are targeting you students! Bakugou Katsuki, Kamakiri Togaru, Kuroiro Shihai, Mineta Minoru, Monoma Neito, Shisada Jurota, Shoji Mezo, Todoroki Shoto and Tokoyami Fumikage, all of you are targets! Avoid combat, stick to a group and get back to camp as quickly as possible!"
While the message was being sent out, Izuku flew over the forest looking for those who had been doing the scavenger hunt. Once again he heard gunshots, but now he knew that they were coming from the center of the gas. Well, that explained what he had heard about Kendo and Tetsu last time! Of course, the fact that the villain carried a gun meant he must not be very good at hand-to-hand combat, making him easy prey for Tetsu.
As he flew deeper into the forest though, another sound came to his ears: the sound of people fighting. Figuring his classmates had found a villain, Valiant charged towards the sounds. What he found though, was not what he expected. "What … is going on here?" he asked aloud. Kirishima was being attacked by Kamakiri, Sato was attacking Tsuburaba, Ashido was attacking Bondo, while Komori danced around. And why were there mushrooms everywhere?!
"Ill met by moonlight, aspiring hero," came a voice that Izuku didn't recognize. When he found the source, he stared in confusion at what he was actually seeing. The being he found looked even less human than Tokoyami did, as he had green skin, pointed ears and an overly long, pointed chin. Oddly, he only wore a vest and shorts along with knee-high boots, all in purple.
"Who are you?" Valiant demanded.
"I am that merry wanderer of the night. Those that hobgoblin call me, and sweet Puck, that shrewd and knavish sprite call'd Robin Goodfellow!" the villain said as an introduction. Valiant just stared in confusion. Why, of all gimmicks did he have to choose speaking in verse? "Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe."
Then there was a flash of light, and to Izuku's surprise, the landscape had completely changed. No longer was there a forest, but a hellscape with a red sky, scorched land and dead trees as far as the eye could see. "What's going on?" Izuku wondered aloud. A tingle along his spine warned him of danger, but he couldn't see anything coming. Suddenly, there was an impact to his left arm, right where Muscular had hit it! What was going on? Okay, think! What do I know about his quirk? When I first showed up, everyone was fighting each other, and now I'm somewhere completely different from where I was. Also, I'm getting hit without seeing anything. That adds up to … "An illusion quirk!" he shouted out, just before he took another hit to his broken arm.
"Thou speak'st wiser than thou art ware of," Puck replied. "And here we wander in illusions: Let no bless'd power deliver us from hence!"
"You don't get it, do you? Now that I know what your quirk is, I can beat you!" With that, Valiant closed his eyes, listened to his danger sense, and when the time was right, sent an Iowa Smash into the villain.
Instantly, all the illusions that Puck had created vanished and everyone started looking around in a daze. "Umm, why are we fighting each other?" Kirishima asked.
"Blame the villain over there," Izuku answered, pointing to where Puck had landed upside down and back first against a tree.
"Midoriya, you should go back," Kamikiri said. "That arm of yours really needs tended to."
Izuku looked down at his arm, and was shocked at how much damage Puck had done. The bone was actually sticking out of his arm now, and he had mushrooms growing all over the place! "Huh, never had that happen before," he said as he brushed the mushrooms off. He was actually kind of excited about this, it had been a while since he'd had a new kind of injury! How would Recovery Girl's quirk work this time?
"Seriously?!" Oh, had he been talking out loud?
