It had been a quiet morning all things considered. The people of Scaris Island went about it like they did any other, with most heading off to work in the town or nearby fields, while tourists flocked the beaches, explored the town, or even hiked through the woods around the mountain.

Then that changed, when the people in a quiet neighborhood near the edge of the woods looked up, only to see the gigantic horror marching toward them.


And here they thought they could have a quiet vacation.

One minute, Itsuka, Tetsutetsu, and Setsuna were on a nice hike through the woods, with slipping and falling on the muddy trail was their greatest worry.

The next they were listening to a loud series of crashes and screams so loud it sounded like the town was coming apart. Accompanying the sounds of general carnage was an ear-splitting screech.

"Setsuna!" Itsuka said.

"On it." Setsuna detached her head and floated it into the air. "Villains attacking the neighborhoods! It looks like a group of giant praying mantises?!"

"Praying mantises?" said Itsuka. "Ok. Take Tetsu and fly over there. Once there, I want you evacuating the civilians while Tetsu fights the Villains. I'll try and catch up as quickly as possible."

"Got it Kendo!" Setsuna picked up Tetsu and flew off while Itsuka got out her phone and began dialing.

"Kendo?" said Mina. "What's going on? Is it a Villain attack?"

"Yes! I'm on my way there now! See if you can intervene!" Itsuka said.

"On it!" Mina hung up.

Itsuka activated her quirk, enlarging her hands until they were almost as big as she was. Using her quirk's the enhanced strength, Itsuka climbed the nearest tree and leaped off. She leapt from tree to tree, rushing toward the sounds of the fighting.

She was halfway there when Setsuna's arms wrapped around Itsuka's, lifting her up while Setsuna's mouth and ears floated next to her.

"What's going on?" said Itsuka.

"I'm evacuating the area as quick as I can!" said Setsuna. "But those things are tough, Tetsu can't last much longer!"

"Any idea what they want?" said Itsuka. Scaris was a good distance from any other island so backup wasn't an option. Maybe they could somehow draw the Villains off?

"So far they just seem to be wild animals on a rampage."

Itsuka nodded. "Good to know." They cleared the treetops, giving Itsuka a look at the her opponents.

They were a group of enormous red praying mantises that were at least thirty meters tall, making them bigger than Mount Lady. They had bulbous yellow eyes and two claws, one curved and one straight, which they used to rip and tear the houses around them.

In short, they were ugly and they were big.

"There are smaller ones, larva by the looks of it, crawling around behind them and attacking anyone they can sink their teeth into," said Setsuna. "I'm still doing my best to get the civilians away from them."

"Alright," said Itsuka. "Drop me here." Setsuna set her down about one hundred meters from one of the mantises.

A stray claw swipe sent a car flying through the air, which crashed down next to them. After making sure it was empty, Itsuka lifted the car and threw it at the monster's head.

Itsuka grinned as the car hit the mantis right in its ugly mug. Unfortunately, the giant mantis didn't seem hurt. Instead it turned toward Itsuka and let out an annoyed screech.

That was a bad idea...

The creature walked toward her, its claws brandished.

Before it could reach her, several floating body parts began flying around its head and smacking into it, distracting the mantis. Setsuna! The mantis tried to hit her, but the pieces were too small.

Seeing an opportunity, Itsuka climbed onto a nearby rooftop and leapt onto the mantis' back. Itsuka pulled back her fist and punched it with all her strength.

Nothing. No cracks, no dents, no reaction. Her firsts could break tungsten, but mantis didn't even notice her! Itsuka needed to hit somewhere more sensitive. Then she saw it.

The eyes!

Itsuka scrambled up its neck, onto the back of its head, then got right next to its eyes and punched. The mantis recoiled, letting out a startled shriek.

Itsuka grinned. Felt that didn't you? She punched again and again. The mantis thrashed, but Itsuka held firm.

The mantis started swinging its claws, trying to swipe her off. One nearly hit her, but Itsuka rolled to the side to avoid being cut in half. Itsuka tried to hold on, but she saw another swipe coming and let go.

Itsuka caught herself on a nearby roof then dropped to the ground safely and looked up.

The mantis was staring right at her. While its face wasn't expressive, Itsuka had a pretty good idea what it was thinking.

Uh oh.

The mantis raised its claw.

Itsuka braced to dodge, but before the mantis could attack, Itsuka heard a familiar battle cry.

Tetsutetsu slammed into the mantis' neck, having apparently been thrown by either Setsuna or the other mantis. He grabbed its head and began punching its eye.

This time the mantis was ready and swatted Tetsu like a fly. Tetsu slammed into the street, creating a small crater.

Itsuka ran to him. "Tetsutetsu!"

Itsuka pulled him to his feet. However, just as she got Tetsu standing, Itsuka saw the mantis' claw swinging right for them.

Seeing no time to dodge, Itsuka ducked behind Tetsu, who threw himself in front of her to let his metallic form to take the brunt.

The mantis' claw swatted them both like a pair of golf balls.

As Itsuka tumbled through the air, she noticed they were about to crash into a house. Itsuka enlarged her hands and held them in front of herself like a shield, smashing through a window without injury.

Itsuka got to her feet and rubbed her now aching side. Apparently, she'd landed in someone's living room. Tetsu came out of an adjacent room, his skin normal aside from the layer of dust and dry wall.

As Itsuka surveyed her surroundings, she saw a pair of children hiding behind a chair.

Itsuka gave them a soft smile, "Hey there."

The kids flinched. Out of the corner of her eye, Itsuka saw one of the mantises slowly coming for the house.

"Don't worry, we're Heroes. We're here to get you to safety," she said in her most soothing voice possible

The kids slowly came out. She and Tetsu quickly picked them up. "Come on, let's get you out of here," said Itsuka.

They ran out the backdoor, seconds before one of the mantises sliced the house in half. They gave the children to the closes5 adult they could find, then ran back to join Setsuna, who'd half reformed on the edge of the neighborhood.

"They're…too strong," said Setsuna. She held out a hand. "Here. I sent my hand back to the rooms and got the spare coms. But there's a problem."

"What?" said Itsuka.

"On the way, my eye spotted three more closer to town. The others are fighting them, so we won't be getting help from them."

Three more? Itsuka looked at the devastation wrought by the mantises. If they did this in so little time then...

What Itsuka wouldn't give for some backup right now…


Izuku and his team sprinted down the hall toward their masers as alarms blared.

"I hate Kamacuras!" Hayama said for the fifth time.

"Me too," Zeni said for the fourth.

Kamacuras were the pests of G-Force. Weaker than the big G, but far more numerous.

As they entered the hanger, Izuku mentally recited what he knew of their opponents.

Mild class 3. Resistant, but not immune to tank fire. Sustained fire from a single maser can bring one down. Main threat are the claws, one like a scythe, the other a spear. Can fly up to mach 2 but needs time to build speed. Can use flight ability to charge opponents, but lacks maneuverability when doing so. Recommend dodging sideways.

They passed Ishikawa's team on the way to their masers, along with Sakaki's. As they passed the latter, Izuku heard Hayama murmer, "Oh look, the Pequod squad."

Well Hayama, points for literacy with your insults.

One of Sakaki's shot back, "Says the member of the loony bin."

Had his team gotten a new nickname?

Izuku climbed into his maser and began running through the check-ups. Ready to go.

"All good here," said Izuku. "Zeni?"

Zeni gave him a thumb's up. "Ready to go!"

Over the com, Yashiro said, "Ready."

"Ready willing and able," said Akiba. "Let's squish those bugs!

"Alright," Izuku switched frequencies. "This is Midoriya! We're ready!"

"Roger," said Sakaki. "Get onto the landing craft."

"Roger."

Izuku and his team of masers boarded a craft and set off for the island. By the time they arrived, the beach had already been cleared, letting the tanks roll across.

Ishikawa's masers would fight the two closest to town. The four in the neighborhood would be fought by Izuku and Sakaki's teams.

Let's exterminate these bugs.

Mina sprayed another jet of acid onto the scythe-like claw. Once again, it melted a shallow groove but did no meaningful damage.

Seriously! thought Mina. That that was my most potent acid! How tough are these things?!

Mina leapt away from the retaliatory claw strike qirh a series of back flips. She expelled a stream of viscous but harmless acid from her boot, letting her slide across the ground like she was wearing skates. She was so glad she'd brought her Hero costume's boots.

In the corner of her eye, Mina saw Jiro jabbed one of the mantises with her earphone jack. It didn't do any damage, but did anger the thing. Fortunately, Jiro ducked behind the nearest house and ran for it before the mantis could attack.

None of their attacks were working! So far, the only one who'd actually hurt the monsters was Kaminari with his indiscriminant shock, but even that didn't seem to injure them, just drive them back. Even worse, Kaminari was nearing his limit after electrocuting two of the three. There were four with Setsuna and Kendo.

Noticing a nearby civilian, Mina slid over and scooped him up, carrying him a few blocks down. "Here you go," Mina said putting him down. "It should be safe that way." She pointed. "Help anyone you see along the way!"

"Thanks Alien Queen!" he said.

Mina slid back to the battle, passing Ojiro and Toru ferrying a family out of their house. The mantises continued their rampage virtually unchallenged, destroying everything in their path.

How to damage these things? They had to have a weak point somewhere.

Getting an idea, Mina slid directly at one of them. She dodged one of its claws and went right under it. She pointed her hands straight upwards, right at is belly. "Acid shot!" She sprayed a torrent of acid from her hands as she slid, not stopping until she was out from under it. She turned around and surveyed her work.

Just like every other attack. Superficial damage, no sign she had actually hurt it. The mantis started to turn around, but Mina easily slid away before it could turn around.

She slid through the destroyed street, passing destroyed houses, overturned cars, and skating around rubble. The place looked less like it had suffered a villain attack and more like a typhoon had run through it.

Mina was shaken from her thoughts when she noticed something moving behind a car. A civilian? She got closer, only for a caterpillar-like creature the size of a sofa to crawl out and lunge at her.

Mina jumped up, put her hand on the creature's head and vaulted over like she was break dancing, spraying a dose of acid from said hand for good measure.

Mina landed and turned to see what the heck it was.

The creature's eyes that resembled the mantises, but its body was shaped more like a giant worm. Or larva. Unlike the mantis' hardened carapace, this thing's skin looked rough and leathery, almost looked like an elephants'. Its limbs were small undeveloped stumps, though judging by its lunge from earlier, that didn't slow it down one bit. Its mouth had mandibles which opened and closed as it turned toward Mina.

Mina got into a fighting stance wishing she could use her acid man right now. Unfortunately, she was in her normal clothes which, unlike her Hero costume, had minimal acid resistance. Meaning that there was no way she was doing that.

The larva lunged. Mina danced to the side, then sprayed a jet of acid at its face, gradually increasing its corrosiveness until the larva squealed in pain and fled, moving far faster than its bulky body should be able to.

Mina noted the intensity she'd been using when it ran off, resolving to use it again if she found any more.

Before she could do anything else, Mina heard screaming from a nearby house.

With the help of some acid from her boot, Mina kicked the door down and entered. Another mantis larva was inside, threatening a young couple. Mina sprayed it in the eyes, sending it running. She escorted the civilians out, and ushered them to safety.

Once they were out of the area, Mina contacted Ojiro and Toru. "There are smaller larval versions of those things attacking civilians in the houses!" she said. "I think they're their larva!"

"We know," said an exhausted sounding Ojiro.

"We just ran into them," said Toru. "I think those things were bringing their babies so they could…feed."

Mina shuddered at the thought. Seconds later she saw the two and slid over to them. There were bloody scratches in the air where Mina assumed Toru's arm was, and Ojiro had a bite mark on his tail.

Jiro ran up to them, dragging a worn out Kaminari. "We need a plan!" she said. "Kaminari drove one off, but he can't do much more!

"Yaaeah…" said Kaminari, obviously on the verge of going stupid.

What could they do? Mina tried to think of something and, not for the first time, wished they had back up right now.

It was at that moment that their coms buzzed. "Attention Heroes, this is Captain Haruo Sakaki of the AMF. Stand down. We will be handling the fighting from here."

Kaminari tapped his com. "I'm sorry who?"

The voice growled. "The Anti-Megalosaurus Force, the organization tasked with fighting monsters. We have jurisdiction against the Kamacuras and will fight them ourselves."

Hold up!" said Mina. "You can't seriously be asking us to walk away! Those things are crazy strong and we can't just let them destroy the neighborhood! Are you sure you can even beat them without help?"

"Yes. We are perfectly capable of fighting them. Now step aside. This is our hunt Heroes," Captain Sakaki said with obvious irritation.

Jiro opened her mouth, "But-"

"There are still civilians in the area!" Another voice piped in. "Are you going to waste time arguing with us, or are you going to save them by getting them evacuated? We can handle the monsters."

Mina and the others looked amongst themselves and reluctantly nodded.

"Fine. Get here fast," said Jiro.

"Will you be using your quirks?" said Mina.

The second voice became cold. "That's none of your concern. Just do your job while we do yours." The com went silent.

Rude, thought Mina.

Jiro stabbed her jacks into the ground. "We've cleared most of the houses down here, but I need to check the ones on the far side." She pointed behind the mantises.

"That's also where most of those freaky larva things are," said Toru.

"I'll take you there," said Mina.

"Me, Toru, and Kaminari can go further down and make sure everyone gets out of the mantis' path," said Ojiro.

"Got it," said Mina. Jiro climbed onto Mina's back. Mina relayed this information to those AMF guys. They acknowledged and told her to be weary of friendly fire.

As Mina slid around the battlefield, she glanced at the mantises. One of the mantises cleaved a house in two, like it was made of paper.

Those AMF guys had better either have really strong quirks are some really big guns-HOLY SHIT, ARE THOSE TANKS?!


You thought that was Godzilla at the end of last chapter, but it was I! Kamacuras!

(or maybe you didn't, at which point, good job)

Fun fact, that bit with the Kamacuras larva comes from the book Godzilla: Monster Apocalypse (or at least a summary of it on Youtube) which says that when Kamacuras attacked New York, larva preyed on people in the subway.

Hope you enjoyed! (Reviews bring me joy)