"Things are going well," Ragdoll noted. "I'm already sensing their weaknesses fading bit by bit."
"We're already at Day Six of training, and Pixie-Bob is looking forward to the Test of Courage." Mandalay nodded. "By the way... We should really give her time off. She needs a boyfriend, like, yesterday..."
Ragdoll and Tiger nodded in agreement. Seeing her try to hit on every cute boy in the two classes was getting annoying.
Meanwhile, Hitoshi stumbled out of the woods, his body covered in blue streaks. Himiko was also stumbling out, her mind looking rather addled.
"Daddy, I wanna get off the roller coaster..."
"I claim this territory...for Spain!" Hitoshi slurred, pointing to the sky before falling on his face.
That evening, Izuku noticed Kota again. It seemed like the kid had been getting more and more interested in the students as if trying to figure out why they were really training.
"Isn't that the kid from the hot springs?" Shoto asked.
"Yeah, he's Mandalay's nephew," Ben said, having also noticed the boy's presence. "He apparently hates the idea of heroes. But... Maybe he's starting to understand why such people are necessary. I tried nudging him in the right direction."
"Speaking from experience, words aren't always enough. More often than not, it's actions that really get your point across." Shoto said. "After all, it was those sorts of actions that snapped me out of my funk when you kicked my ass back at the Sports Festival."
"You got that right." Ben chuckled. "Still, I feel like the best that could happen is if Villains somehow found their way here and attacked."
"Highly illogical, Ben," Penny said. "This is one of the most tightly secure areas in Japan. Almost nobody knows about its proper whereabouts."
"Still, our teachers gave us free rein to use our Quirks in case of emergency." Izuku pointed out. "So you never know..."
"Alright, now that we've eaten our fill and the dishes are clean, it's time for…" Pixie Bob began.
"The Test of Courage!" Mina finished with a cheer, joined in by other students just as excited.
"Class 1-B will be our scarers. Then every three minutes, one pair of students from Class 1-A will head down the route and pick up a marker with their names on it." Pixie-Bob explained the rules. "Those who are the scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Instead, you must use your Quirks to terrify the others!"
"That's gonna be easy for Tokage. All she has to do is remove her head and place it on a low branch." Tsuburaba noted.
"Well, now it's not so scary if you just tell us how it's gonna happen." Hilda pointed out.
"The class that makes the most people wet their pants with creativity and imagination wins!" Tiger proclaimed as Pixie-Bob and Ragdoll cheered behind him.
Mandalay could only keep a neutral face at their antics before feeling someone tugging on her skirt. Quickly looking down, she was surprised to see Kota standing there and not somewhere else. He was usually gone, hiding at his secret place at this time.
"Is something wrong?" Mandalay asked her nephew worriedly, kneeling down to him. "Are you hurt?"
Kota took a peek over at the other members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats. Though they were focused on the students, he could see that they would glance over at Kota, wondering if they needed to help.
"Nothing… I just felt like staying here tonight...If that's alright."
"Of course!" Mandalay smiled, happy her nephew was seemingly starting to open up to her, even if it was just a little.
The students soon quickly drew lots to be paired up, with the pairings going as followed:
Team 1: Fumikage and Shouji.
Team 2: Katsuki and Shoto.
Team 3: Kyouka and Tooru.
Team 4: Momo and Yuuga.
Team 5: Ochako and Tsuyu.
Team 6: Oujiro and Minoru.
Team 7: Tenya and Kouji.
Team 8: Izuku and Mina.
Team 9: Denki and Rikidou.
Team 10: Eijirou and Sero.
Team 11: Ben and Hilda
Team 12: Kirby and Penny
However, before Class 1-B could get to their positions, Izuku and Ben felt their Haki go off. Hilda also felt [Danger Sense] panging in her brain. The three didn't know why this was happening until Pixie-Bob spoke up.
"What's this burnt smell?" Pixie-Bob pondered.
"Black smoke!" Mandalay warned, holding onto Kota.
The others quickly turned towards the source of the smoke to see rising in the distance. Before they could do anything though, Izuku heard something move behind them all. Quickly turning around, he saw a light in the distance that suddenly went flying towards everyone.
Pixie-Bob, also noticing this, had just enough time to raise an earth wall when the enflamed tree barreled into it sending her flying from the force of the impact. As Tiger and Mandalay checked on her. Clapping could be heard.
"Man, I knew she was a Hero but I didn't expect her to react so fast," Thrax said as he appeared from the trees. "Hello, everyone greetings from the League of Villains' Vanguard Action Squad. We are your special entertainment tonight."
Thrax gave a malicious smile as he took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.
"Think we'll all turn up the heat in here."
Before anyone could make a move, a pink glow surrounded Pixie-Bob, catching them all by surprise before she was suddenly dragged by another figure who stepped out beside Thrax and slammed a giant magnet staff into her face, shattering her visor and giving her a concussion.
"Heh, I always hated this bitch." Chuckled the figure, revealing themself to be a masculine woman with sunglasses, dark red hair, and stubble.
"Easy there, Magne baby," Thrax said smoothly.
"How the heck are Villains here?!" Minoru asked in horror.
"How are you this evening, UA High School?" Spinner greeted as he leaped into the fray alongside Thrax and the woman. "Pardon our intrusion but we have some targets we need to take out!"
"Nice Stain cosplay. What, you one of his fans?" Hilda asked.
"I'll admit, I was inspired by Stain's crusade but I aim to be better than him," Spinner said as he drew his weapon, which was a lot of bladed objects wrapped in chains and belts, forming a makeshift sword.
"Bastards! You dare strike Pixie-Bob?!" Tiger growled. "She's started worrying about getting married recently and was doing her best to find happiness as a woman. And then you had the audacity to hit her face. You can't damage a woman's face and just laugh about it!"
Suddenly, a voice singing an old rhyme rang through the air, its voice changing from a gentle whisper to frighteningly low at random intervals. Thrax, Spinner, and Magne smirked while everyone else was put on edge.
"On candy stripe legs the Spiderman comes..." A movement of something dashed behind the trio of villains, causing the heroes to turn around. "Softly through the shadow of the evenin' sun."
"Uh, y-you guys hearing that?" Denki nervously asked.
"Stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead..." Izuku, Ben, Hilda, and Penny all scanned around, trying to find wherever the voice was coming from. "Looking for the victim shivering in bed."
Suddenly, Pixie-Bob vanished from everyone's sight as they gasped but Thrax, Spinner, and Magne just kept grinning evilly.
"Searching out fear in the gathering gloom..." Unseen to anyone, the monster slithered back toward his pals. "And suddenly a movement in the corner of the room."
"Kota, go with the students. You know the shortest way!" Mandalay urgently said to her nephew.
"And there is nothing I can do when I realize with fright..." The voice was suddenly able to be pinpointed, causing everyone to see who had snatched Pixie-Bob. "That the Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight."
The monstrous creature came behind Thrax, Spinner, and Magne while holding Pixie-Bob by her collar. The monster resembled something long and lean in all his blasphemous royal purple and gold glory, speaking in a slithery, snake-like voice.
"Hello...FRIENDS." He finished that sentence by exhaling creepily.
"W-Who the heck are you?!" Awase asked.
"Oh, just a traveling freak..." The monster said before his body twisted and molded back into a human-like form, causing Tenya's eyes to widen when he recognized who it was.
"You! I saw you during the Sports Festival!"
"Oh, you recognize me! I'm so touched!" Parten grinned, showing centipedes and termites skittering across his teeth. "Not a lot of people tend to keep me in their minds these days."
Mandalay immediately used her Quirk, to inform everyone that villains had invaded the camp. Ragdoll had already disappeared, running ahead to make sure the students in the forest were alright.
Everyone moved to make their way back to the classroom to gear up. Before they could even get far, though, a cloaked figure with a mask suddenly blocked their path.
"Hoo, looks like I got lucky. I wanted to find a scenic view, and ended up getting lost for a little before finding you lot." The figure chuckled darkly.
"Mandalay!" Tiger shouted. "I'll handle these four!"
"Three, if you please," Parten said, giving a peace sign before suddenly turning into an eldritch mass of black tentacles that absorbed Pixie-Bob into its form before slithering away through the trees.
"Sorry about that kid." Thrax chuckled with a shrug. "His Quirk, [Cronenberg] is definitely something that could make a killing in the Horror Movie biz."
Mandalay frowned before jumping ahead, landing in front of the students. Though she was uncomfortable with Tiger fighting three villains at once, both of them had a bad feeling about this particularly cloaked man.
"Huh, the kid's got a nice hat. Trade you for this lame-ass mask," The man said as he took off the mask to reveal his face. "The boss made me wear it because I'm new and they really wouldn't give me a say in the matter."
At the sight of his face, both Mandalay and Kota froze. Standing right in front of them was a face they could never forget. A scar on the left side of his face with a prosthetic left eye. Blonde hair and a maniacal grin.
Both of their minds flashed back to a certain news report in the past.
"Water Hose. They were wonderful Heroes whose bright lives were cut short by a single cruel criminal. The suspect is still on the run, with police and Heroes trying to find him, but his whereabouts are currently unknown. The suspect's Quirk is a simple power-up type, but yet very dangerous due to his ferocious nature. If you see this face, contact the police or Heroes immediately. In addition, the suspect is thought to have sustained an injury to his left eye from his fight with the Water Hose duo…"
Along with the newscast was a photo of the man along with his name and a general description of him.
Standing right in front of them was the murderer of Kota's parents, Mandalay's sister and brother-in-law, as well as many others.
"Muscular!" Mandalay hissed.
"Hm? You look familiar….. My left eye is starting to ache," Muscular hummed, looking at Mandalay "Well, let me kill you to feel better!"
Mandalay immediately charged forward, her claws aiming for Muscular's face, which he dodged.
"Students, run now!" Mandalay shouted.
"Heck no! We're not leaving you!" Kirby argued.
Muscular grinned as he activated his Quirk, [Pump Up]. Muscle fibers suddenly protruded over his skin, wrapping around his left arm before forming a bulging muscular arm. Muscular slammed a punch where Mandalay was, who just barely managed to dodge the attack. Despite seeing him create a crater with his punch, Mandalay flipped back onto her feet before charging forward once more, aiming feral swipes at his face. Muscular quickly raised his left arm, blocking the swipes.
"Oh, feisty kitty, aren't you?" He mocked.
His face changed when he saw Mandalay aim a kick at his nuts. Quickly raising his leg, he knocked Mandalay's kick away. Mandalay hissed as she tried to change tactics again, only to lose her balance when she felt herself being pulled back, noticing a pink glow on her.
"Come here, little pussycat," Magne grinned only for her concentration to be disrupted by Tiger, who tried to slam a punch on her, only to be blocked by Spinner's giant sword.
"Hey, you know Big Sis Magne holds a lot of respect for you, Tiger! You're both advocates for Trans Rights!" The reptilian man said with disappointment in his eyes. "Yet, you dare try to strike her from behind? How dishonorable!"
"Villains like you shouldn't judge us about honor!" Tiger growled before Thrax suddenly delivered a roundhouse kick that knocked him away.
Thanks to Magne's distraction, Muscular was able to capitalize on that and wrap his muscular hands around Mandalay, slowly crushing her ribs and arms.
"Let go of me you stupid muscle head!" Mandalay gritted as she fruitlessly tried to kick Muscular.
Muscular took a closer look at Mandalay's face for a second before smiling, as if something dawned on his face. With a grunt, Muscular slammed Mandalay into the ground, causing her to cough up blood. He then used one hand to pin Mandalay on the ground, his hand wrapped around her throat.
"Now I know why you looked familiar. You're related to the two who took my left eye, aren't you? The Water Hose Duo. You kinda look like the female bitch of the group."
Mandalay weakly tried to pull Muscular's arm off, but couldn't summon enough strength to do so.
"Before I forget, I guess I should ask if you know where Midoriya and Torekuroshi are. They're on the capture list." Muscular mused. "As well as you and the rest of your little kitty litter as well. That's why Parten took Pixie-Bob, by the way."
"Those two kids left with the rest of the group earlier!" Magne shouted as she blocked a ferocious swipe from Tiger, who Thrax tried to swipe at his long index claw, which was glowing brightly and hotly. "Finish her off and catch up to them!"
"Relax, baby, Deidara, Tommyrod, and Vetto are already on their way," Thrax reassured as he thrust his glowing index claw down on Tiger, only for him to flatten and bend to the side.
"So that gives me more time to kill this bitch. I'm sure the Big Bad Boogeyman will still be able to pluck her Quirk off her corpse!" Muscular grinned as his grip tightened around Mandalay's throat, only to feel something hit the back of his head as he turned around to see Kota there.
"You…. Water Hose… My mom and dad...Did you torment the two of them? Before you killed them?" demanded Kota with tears in his eyes.
"Kota…" Mandalay whispered weakly. "Get… away."
Muscular blinked before he figured out who the kid was. "Huh? Seriously? Those losers were your parents? Well then, this must be fate! The Water Hose Duo, they're the reason I have an artificial eye in my left socket now."
"This is all your fault! Nothing in the world is right anymore, and it's all because of crazy people like you!" Kota shouted, hot tears running down his face.
Muscular looked annoyed before sighing, "Brats are always so quick to shift the blame. Don't get the wrong idea, I didn't kill them because they took out my whole eye. I just wanted to kill people, commit crimes, spite my shithead twin brother, the usual evil person stuff. And those two tried to stop me. And the result was what we all wanted to do. What's wrong is wanting to do something that you aren't able to do, just like your papa and mama!"
Kota could only look at Muscular in fear as he began to walk towards him. However, before Muscular could take another step, he felt someone grab onto his leg. Looking down, he saw Mandalay hugging his foot, trying to stop him. While he had been monologuing, he had unintentionally let go of Mandalay in favor of killing the kid.
"Kota, run!"
"Tch, annoying bitch. Almost forgot about you," Muscular scoffed, jerking his leg off Mandalay's grip before viciously stomping on her wrist.
"Come on, Muscular, don't toy with your food!" Thrax sneered as he grabbed Mandalay while Tiger was held back by Magne and Spinner. "Hey, Deidara, catch of the day!"
With a flick of his wrist, the Villain threw Mandalay into the sky as a man with blonde hair in a ponytail with bangs covering one of his eyes swooped in while riding on a dragon made of clay, catching Mandalay in his arms as he flew off.
"You got it, Thrax. I'm gonna scatter some more of my art around to keep the students occupied as we catch the targets!"
"NOOOOOOO!" Kota cried as Muscular scoffed and raised his fist to crush him.
"Sorry, kid. Say 'Hi' to your mommy and daddy for me, okay?"
However, before Muscular could bring his fist down, he was suddenly struck in the face by a powerful explosion, courtesy of Katsuki, who had managed to deck himself out in his Hero Costume.
"Threatening a little kid? That's definitely a low!" Ben snarled as he slammed down onto the ground, ice and fire erupting around him as sharp winds danced across the field.
Joining the two were Izuku, Hilda, Nia, Mipha, Itsuka, and Shouda, who were also dressed up in their Hero Costumes.
Muscular, despite this sudden setback, merely grinned, seeing Izuku and Ben present and accounted for.
"Well, well, if it ain't the two the boss wanted us to nab!"
"Kota, are you alright?" Mipha asked worriedly as she, Itsuka, and Hilda checked up on the crying young boy.
"I recognize this fucker..." Katsuki scowled. "Goto Imasuji, the twin brother of Tadao Imasuji AKA Tanktop Master of the S-Rankers."
Hilda's fist clenched and her body startled crackling with white and pink energy. Izuku was in the same boat, a tremoring force seemed to erupt off of him, which caused the villains and Tiger to falter and stare in shock at him.
Katsuki smirked. "Heh, showing off that Conqueror's Haki, Deku? Good on ya, you shitty nerd!"
"Guys, you get Kota out of here," Hilda said dangerously.
"But..." Kota whimpered.
"Don't worry, kiddo. You're about to see a real treat here." Ben grinned, eagerly awaiting the ass-kicking that was about to happen.
Spinner had to blink, rubbing his eyes for a bit. For a second there, he could've sworn he saw All-Might standing in both Izuku and Hilda's place.
"You alright, Spinner? We should try and sneak attack them, catch 'em off-guard!" Magne said but Spinner stopped her.
"Those kids… They were there when Stain was captured, too. Just now, I got shivers down my spine. I almost thought I saw All-Might for a second there."
Suddenly, the rumbling of an engine alerted the remaining three villains. Spinner, Magne, and Thrax saw it coming with Observation Haki and all of them quickly dodged, while Spinner blocked with his giant sword.
"RECIPRO BURST!"
Tenya spun as fast as he could while hurtling towards the sword. The kick slammed into the sword, where the chains that connect the blades broke off into pieces. Spinner looked in shock at his blades falling to pieces, allowing Tenya the perfect opportunity to land another roundhouse kick to Spinner's face, knocking him out.
"Shuichi!" Magne cried in alarm as she ran to her partner's side.
"Whooo, sweet moves, kid!" Thrax smirked before turning to Tiger, who had been facing him one-on-one. "Guess we'll have to let you go, Tiger. Can't leave our buddy here for the cops."
Suddenly, a blue energy portal formed as Magne picked up Spinner and pulled him in, Thrax following them as he gave a mocking salute before jumping backward into it as the portal closed.
August had managed to help create a portal for Magne, Spinner, and Thrax to escape through as he quickly contacted Tomura.
"Shigaraki, the UA students were indeed rather prepared for our arrival. Spinner has already been knocked out and we had to retrieve him before he could be captured. Muscular is fighting them now."
"Knowing him, I doubt he's gonna last much longer," Tomura noted on the other end. "Dabi and Moonfish are off doing their own thing and I'm seeing Tommyrod, Vetto, and the others cornering their fair share of Hero Students, but they might be in for a surprise at how much they've improved."
"We managed to bag Pixie-Bob and Mandalay at least." Deidara said as he hopped off his Clay Dragon, which he dubbed 'C2' thanks to the power of his Quirk, [Clay Bomb], which allowed him to create and mold exploding clay.
"And Ragdoll isn't too far behind if what I'm hearing from Mr. Compress is true," Parten smirked as he walked over as well.
"However, there is something else I must advise you about, Shigaraki," August spoke. "It seems that somebody we thought had lost contact for potential recruitment just showed up as well."
Back with Izuku, Katsuki, Hilda, Ben, Itsuka, Shouda, Mipha, and Nia, the eight were guarding Kota as Tiger made his way over to keep him safe.
"I know the boss said not to engage you, but that power I'm feeling coming off is too tempting to ignore. Powerful opponents always get my blood pumping. Come on! Show me your blood!" Muscular groweld out with a feral smile.
"Oh, you want us to show you blood? Then get ready..."
Taking a deep breath, Izuku slowly spread his legs open, assuming a horse stance. Then, with a grunt, he slightly bent his knee with his hands over his knee as he activated the power of the [Gum-Gum Fruit], forcing the blood flow to go down.
In an instant, the bottoms of his legs distorted, expanding a bit as if pumps were located at the ankles. A second later, his legs returned to normal, but the increased blood flow circulated around his body. As soon as the blood returned to his body, his torso expanded in size a little. His skin turned pink as steam began to drift off from his skin.
As for Hilda, she took a sumo stance and began doing squats at a rapid pace, building up kinetic energy as she channeled the power [Fa Jin] through her mixed with OFA.
"Huh? What are you two doing, imitating a steam engine?" Muscular asked in confusion before scoffing. "Well if you aren't going to do anything, then I'll start killing!"
As the brute lunged, he suddenly found himself wracked with pain and spitting up saliva as both Izuku and Hilda plowed their fists right into Muscular's stomach.
"ONE FOR ALL: FULL COWLING!" Hilda shouted.
"GUM-GUM GEAR SECOND!" Izuku cried.
Muscular was sent flying back, only for the tree branches to stretch and catch him before slingshotting him back towards the eight teens, skidding across the ground on his face as Ben had manipulated the Element of Wood to control the trees to do so.
"Why are you trying to kidnap the Wild Wild Pussycats? And what about Ben and Izuku?" Nia asked, readying her chakrams.
Muscular coughed as he got up. "Shigaraki told us that his mentor wanted the Pussycats' Quirks. As for those two punks...He had a vested interest in them specifically."
Recovering, the villain charged at the group like a locomotive, only for his eyes to suddenly bug out as Itsuka enlarged her fists and slid on her knees to deliver a powerful punch straight to his crotch.
"From what I'm seeing, your Quirk augments your muscles to the point the fibers come out of your skin and cover you like armor!" The Class 1-B Class President noted. "However, it augments ONLY your muscles, so other parts of your body are vulnerable. Such as the nerve bundle located near your privates, which has very few muscles surrounding it."
"Damn, son!" Ben winced, covering his groin protectively.
Izuku, at speeds faster than the eye could track, moved next as he appeared in front of Muscular, pulling his fist back.
"I heard you say to Mandalay earlier that it's wrong for a person to do something they aren't able to. But that's the thing. Even against impossible odds, people will still do what they can to keep their promises. If there's any reason that Water Hose couldn't keep their promise... It's because of YOU!"
Muscular quickly held his muscle-enhanced arms up to block Izuku's rapid-fire barrage of stretchy punches.
"GUM-GUM JET GATLING!"
"Damn, he's got a good defense. It's gonna take more than Izuku to bring him down!" Ben said.
Shouda noticed a pebble nearby and got an idea. He quickly launched it right at Muscular's vulnerable eye as he reached for a few protectors. He screamed in pain as the pebble struck his vulnerable optic nerves, and again when Shouda triggered his Quirk, creating a second stronger strike that had Muscular's head rolling back. Mipha moved along with Nia, forming a pair of giant water gauntlets as she grabbed him and slammed the villain into the mountain, trapping him in the rock as Nia delivered a double stomp that dug him further into the ground.
Muscular tried to pull himself out, only for the ground to shift even further and pull him deeper in, leaving him unable to struggle as Izuku and Katsuki leaped into the air at the same time before diving down upon him.
"Kaachan, care to double the firepower?" Izuku asked as he activated the power of the [Nitro-Nitro Fruit].
"Heh, the one time I'm actually glad to see that power!"
Muscular gasped as the two students erupted with energy, barreling in on him.
"DOUBLE HOWITZER IMPACT!"
Muscular increased his muscles as much as he could, but the two attacks only flayed the muscles away, letting them strike Muscular directly. As Kota saw the man who killed his parents finally fall, he realized something.
"These two were giving it everything they had... Just to save me... Just like my parents were trying back then..."
Tears were still falling down his cheeks, but now for a different reason. He finally got it. He finally understood why people chose to be heroes.
Muscular has been defeated but the other members of the Vanguard Action Squad are still causing trouble. How will the rest of UA's young heroes be able to handle them?
Also, a surprise appearance from Deidara as a member of the League!