The sounds of fighting surrounded Shoto. The clang of metal against bone, the shrieks of dying monsters, and the rumbles of explosions filled the air. He didn't have time to pay much attention, though. He leapt backward, barely avoiding the moblin's club as it swooshed through the space he had occupied. The force of the missed swing caused the creature to overbalance. It yelped and tottered around to the side, trying to get its weapon up again, but it was far too late. Shoto stamped his foot into the ground, sending a wave of ice cascading toward the creature. Once it reached the creature, Shoto twisted his foot.

Schnnck!

The wave of ice became a crystalline spike that impaled the creature. Its eyes widened and it shrieked in pain before going limp, its club slipping from its grip and clattering to the cold, rocky cliffside. Shoto nodded to himself as dark, purple-ish liquid leaked from both the creature's mouth and wound alike; one less creature to worry about.

Another explosion caught his attention, and he turned in time to see Bakugo blast one of the smaller bokoblins over the edge of the cliff into the canyon below. His classmate was grinning maniacally as he spun to search for another opponent. Shoto caught his attention, and the blond scowled. "What're you doing just standing there, you idiot?"

Shoto simply sighed and shook his head. "The same as you, though I believe we're done here."

Bakugo looked confused for a moment before he came to the same realization that Shoto had had. Aside from some groaning and quiet voices, it seemed that the rest of the fighting had finished as well. Shoto surveyed around the site of the small skirmish and nodded. That morning, a traveler had ridden through Taban, the small hamlet surrounding the Tabantha Bridge Stable, to warn the villagers that she had seen a group of monsters heading their way. He and Bakugo had decided to go with the small group that had been assembled to fight back the creatures. They had crossed the bridge and set up a small barricade of wood and ice on the other side. When the monsters had finally arrived, the villagers had been ready.

And from his observations, it appeared that the fight—'Could this be called a battle?'—had gone well for the Hylians. A few were being bandaged up, but at least Shoto didn't see any of them amidst the bodies. "This went better than I expected."

Bakugo's eyes narrowed as he scanned the area as well. "I hate to admit it, but you're right, Icy-Hot. From what the extras in the village had said, I thought we were in for a real challenge. This was too damn easy."

"That's because we had the two of you."

The two teens turned to find a man wearing rusty old armor approaching them. "Thanks to your magic abilities, we were able to rout the creatures much more easily than times when they had raided in the past," he said. "I think the worst injury anyone received was some broken ribs, and that only because the young fool thought he could block a moblin club with his small shield."

Bakugo snorted. "Damn, and here I thought Deku was stupid."

"In any case," Shoto cut in, "we're glad that we were able to help. It's the least that we could do after your people took us in, Tongo."

Tongo's smile brought out the familiar wrinkles in his leathery face. "It's the least we could do. And you two have been a big help in the week or so that you've been here."

"Before we get too sentimental," Bakugo growled, "what do we do with all these damn bodies? Didn't you people say that they come back to life sometimes?"

If the older man was upset by Bakugo's lack of respect, he didn't show it. Instead, he just gestured toward the cliff. "We'll dump them into the canyon. That way when the blood moon comes, we won't have to worry about them coming to attack again."

Shoto nodded and walked over to place his right hand on his icicle spear. He concentrated, and the ice extended out and into the ravine. The body slowly slid off and fell into the abyss, its strange purple blood the only sign that there had ever been anything there in the first place. He sighed silently as he heard another explosion behind him and watched another body go rocketing out of sight. He turned around and glared at Bakugo, who just grinned. "What? I just made it even more dead."

His reply was cut off by a distant shriek of terror. He spun on his heel, searching for the source—and froze, his eyes going wide in surprise.

Flying slowly toward them was some sort of monstrous machine. It bobbed in the air as it tracked something beneath it, a round section at the bottom that looked like an eye even from this distance moving to and fro. Suddenly, a bright blue beam of light erupted from the "eye," lancing down to the ground below and causing the earth to erupt in a violent explosion. Evidently, it missed its target, as it started floating in a different direction.

"What is that?" Shoto asked.

"That's a Guardian," Tongo said, voice tight. "The dead can wait; we need to get out of here now. If that thing sees us, we're all dead. Whatever poor fool attracted the thing's attention will be soon, if he isn't already."

Shoto glanced back at the flying machine, his mind racing. "You take the others and leave. Bakugo and I will take care of this."

"What? B-but you'll be killed!"

"Like hell we will!" Bakugo's grin had grown even wider as he stared up at the machine. "We've beaten bigger things than that shitty junk heap. This'll be easy!"

"Bakugo's right. Besides, we're training to be heroes; it's our job to protect people." Shoto turned to his classmate. "Think you can distract it?"

"Distract it? I'm going to murder the damn robot."

"Then let's go."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Bakugo blasted himself into the air, the explosions from his palms rocketing him toward the machine. As soon as he lifted off, Shoto stomped his right foot onto the ground, causing a narrow sheet of ice to race out toward the area the robot had blasted. He glanced behind him at Tongo, whose face had dropped in surprise, and said, "Get the others out of here."

As the words left his mouth, he took off skating down the path. Ahead of him, an explosion blossomed on the side of the machine, causing it to wobble and knocking its next laser off target. 'Good, Bakugo's got its attention. Let's find whoever it was chasing.' He forced himself to go faster, creating more ice and using it to push himself forward.

Within moments, he was passing the site of the first explosion. Dirt and rocks had been tossed everywhere from the blast, which had formed a small crater. He shifted a little of his ice to sweep over the area, putting out the little fires that remained from the blast. He didn't take much more time to investigate the crater, though; ahead of him, he could see the remains of a small building of some sort, with the Guardian flying around overhead. He stopped pushing with his ice and allowed himself to slide to a stop in front of the ruin. His right side twitched, and he winced in pain.

'Damn, I overused my ice between this and the fight earlier.' He let his fire ignite a little and could feel his body relaxing. He couldn't wait until he was fully recovered though. Shoto could hear Bakugo taunting the Guardian above him, but knew that he would probably need a break soon, too. He stepped into what remained of the small hut and looked around, immediately spotting what the robot had been chasing.

A small man wearing an outfit that looked like it was a few sizes too small was huddled next to a giant backpack in the shape of a beetle. The man looked up as Shoto stepped in, and his eyes went wide. "What are you doing here? Get away before the Guardian gets you!"

"It's all right. My friend is keeping it busy. We've come to get you out of here."

Before the man could respond, another explosion from above shook the remnants of the building, followed by a loud crash somewhere outside. Before Shoto could look, Bakugo flew through the door and tumbled to a stop, panting.

"Did you kill it?" Shoto asked.

"No, I just blew the rotors off the damn thing! Shit's made out of something that's blast resistant; my explosions barely scratched it."

"That's because you have to hit its weak point."

Both of the UA students turned toward the man and his strange backpack. "What weak point?" Bakugo growled, explosions popping from his hands. "Weren't you listening? I blew up the entire damn robot and barely blew it out of the sky. And who the hell are you?"

The man frowned at Bakugo. "That's hardly the attitude a hero in training should have. To answer your questions, I am Beedle, a traveling merchant. As for the Guardians, it is common knowledge that their weak point is their eye."

Shoto's eyes narrowed as the man's words registered. "How did you—"

"There will be time for explanations after the Guardian is taken care of. For now, know that your friends are all right and that I've been looking for you."

With that, the merchant turned back to his pack and continued rummaging through it. Shoto could feel Bakugo tense up next to him, and he reached out to grab the blond's arm. "Leave it. Let's figure out the machine first."

"I told you not to tell me what to do, Icy-Hot!" Despite his protest, Bakugo followed him out through a broken wall and around the building. The two cautiously approached the side of the building that the machine had fallen on and peered around. Shoto quickly spotted it, and he realized just how important it was to destroy it. The Guardian had come to rest on the top of a small rise that overlooked the main road that ran from the canyon to Taban. Purple-red light pulsed across its body as it slowly scanned the landscape. Its winged head twitched back and forth before turning to face the two boys. As it saw them, the purple light ceased pulsing and began to glow brightly, and a thin beam of red light shot out from its eye and began to trace circles on Shoto's chest.

As soon as the tracer light appeared, Bakugo yanked Shoto back behind the wall of the house. "We need to wait for a minute until the damn robot forgets about us. It doesn't take long for it to lock on to you."

Shoto glanced at him. "I could step out and freeze it. That might take it out."

"Or it could leave it as a problem for some unsuspecting traveler!"

"Do you have any better ideas? If your explosions couldn't puncture it, then my ice certainly won't. I can push it fast, but not that fast. I'd probably end up knocking it over."

Bakugo swore again under his breath before stalking away. Shoto let him go and turned back to the problem at hand. They needed to hit the thing in the eye, probably with a large amount of force. He could push his ice along pretty quickly, but only in sheets or blocks. He hadn't quite gotten to the point where he could send out a wave of ice spikes fast enough to puncture metal. His fire probably wouldn't help at all in the situation either, if Bakugo's lack of effectiveness was anything to go by. He examined the problem from a couple of different angles, but couldn't see any way out of it. 'I can't spear it. The most I'd be able to do is knock the damn thing ov—'

Shoto's breath caught as the inklings of a plan formed in his mind. He looked up to search for Bakugo, only to find the blond staring back at him. "You look like you've just had a revelation of some sort," Bakugo said. "So, spill the beans."

"More like the beginnings of one. You used your quirk to launch that ball during Aizawa's test. Can you do that with other things?"

Bakugo's eyes narrowed. "Of course I can. Same basic principle, really."

Shoto nodded and triggered his quirk, focusing on shaping the ice into a spear-like shape a few centimeters thick. Once it was long enough, he used his fire to melt through the base enough to snap off the rest, leaving him with an icicle spear about a meter long. "The two big problems that I kept running up against were that the Guardian's eye only stops moving when it's going to fire, and that nothing you or I can do at the moment can penetrate its armor. The most I can do is knock it over, which—"

"Which would keep its head from moving since its got those stupid wing things on it." Bakugo nodded, stepping forward and yanking the spear out of Shoto's hand. "Once it's knocked over, I fly over and blast this thing into its eye." He hefted the spear in his hand for a moment before smirking. "You're a crazy bastard, Todoroki. You know that?"

Shoto felt his lips twitch upwards in a small smile. "I have been told that, yes. Mostly by you, I think."

"You deserve it, you Icy-Hot bastard." Bakugo hefted the spear a couple more times. "Before we start, make this a bit thicker. Enough of it needs to survive the blast to kill the stupid thing."

Shoto complied, and within moments, the two were ready. He nodded at Bakugo, whose face was covered with the same manic grin that appeared every time he fought, before he stepped out. Immediately, the Guardian turned back toward him, its tracer light blinking into existence. He tried not to focus on it as he slammed his foot down and channeled his quirk, sending a wave of ice rocketing toward the machine. Within moments, the ice reached his target, and he willed it to surge upwards, knocking the machine backwards into the dirt. A rush of hot air washed over Shoto as Bakugo launched himself over the uneven wall of ice, his manic grin stretched across his face. "Take this, you metal bastard!" he shouted as he jumped over the final barrier and pointed the icicle spear at the robot. "DIE!"

FSCHEEW!

CRUMPT!

The projectile rocketed downward, disappearing behind the ice wall. Bakugo leapt down as something exploded, sending smoke and chips of ice into the air, and together the two waited for the smoke to clear. When it finally did, Shoto used his quirk to create a platform beneath his feet, raising him into the air in order to examine the aftermath of their combined assault.

What was left of the icicle was embedded into the robot's eye. The area around the impact site was blackened, though whether from an energy overload or from Bakugo's explosions, he couldn't tell. Whichever the case may have been, the plan had worked; the last of the purple-red light faded, leaving the machine a dull, inert mass of scrap metal.

"Yeah, take that you damn pile of junk!"

Shoto glanced over and realized that Bakugo had climbed up beside him. "Yeah, it looks like we did it."

Bakugo went silent as he looked over at Shoto. After a moment, he nodded to himself. "I still think I would have killed it eventually, but… good job. That plan seemed like something that idiot Deku would come up with."

'Guess that's all the acknowledgment I'm gonna get.' Shoto nodded back and turned to face the ruined building. After a few more moments, the merchant they had saved stumbled out of the building, his abnormal backpack forcing him to bend at odd angles to get through the door. When Beedle finally made it through, his jaw dropped as he stared up at the two of them and the fallen machine. "Beedle heard the yells, but didn't expect to see that things had gone so well. Did you destroy it?"

"It's out of commission," Shoto said as he lowered himself to the ground.

"Not that that's what you should be concerned about." Bakugo leapt down and stalked over to the merchant. "Now, start talking. How the hell did you know that we were looking for the extras that pass for our classmates?"

Shoto saw something flash in Beedle's eye, and when the merchant responded, his voice was tight. "Beedle recommends you work on your attitude, Bakugo Katsuki. It is hardly fitting for a hero."

"How did you—"

"I did promise you an explanation, and Beedle is a man of his word." Beedle ignored Bakugo's sputters and fiddled with a flap on his backpack for a moment before producing a small piece of paper. "Now, am I correct in assuming that you are Todoroki Shoto?" Shoto just nodded, and the man continued. "Good. Beedle had thought as much, but I wanted to be sure. I met your classmate Midoriya Izuku and his mentor All Might; they are currently traveling with the Hylian Champion Link to Kakariko Town, though Beedle doesn't think that they'll stay there for very long."

Shoto felt his lips curving upwards as he smiled at the man. "So they're all right?"

"Oh, yes, they're perfectly fine. They asked me to keep an eye out for you and your other classmates and to direct you toward the Dueling Peaks Stable."

He breathed a sigh of relief. While he had been glad to find his classmate and that he was no longer in the League of Villains' custody, the prospect of a potential lifetime of just him and Bakugo had woken him in a cold sweat a few nights ago. It was something that he wanted to avoid at all costs.

After a few seconds of thinking, he registered something that Beedle had said. "Wait, where is the Dueling Peaks Stable? Is it far?"

"Just one moment."

Beedle dug around in the front pockets of his bag some more, mumbling to himself about needing to sort the entire thing, before finally extracting a roll of parchment that he unraveled to reveal a fairly detailed, if primitive, map. As he and Bakugo leaned in to see, Beedle flipped the map around toward them and tapped a point on the upper left portion of the map. "This is where Taban is…" He paused, tracing his finger across the map and eventually stopping at a spot a little right of the center. "…and this is where the Dueling Peaks are."

'That's so far away!'

Bakugo echoed his thoughts. "That's halfway across the damn country!"

"Indeed. The journey is made longer by the fact that the roads through the center of Hyrule field aren't safe to cross." Beedle tapped a large, green area of the map. "Monsters and Guardians have claimed this region. The few settlements and outposts are like Taban, stables and villages that have sprung up in sheltered locations along the region's borders."

"If the 'monsters' in the area are anything like the trash we disposed of earlier, that won't be a problem," Bakugo growled.

Shoto nodded in agreement, but didn't say anything as he followed the road from Taban with his eyes. After a few moments, he looked up at the merchant. "How long would it take to make it to the Dueling Peaks from here?"

"Two, maybe three weeks, Beedle thinks."

"And if we cut straight across through the trash?"

Beedle glanced up at Bakugo, and Shoto did as well. Bakugo was staring at the merchant, his eyes blazing pits of intensity. "Well, merchant man? How long if we were to cut straight across?"

The merchant shook his head. "A week, maybe ten days."

"Then that's the route we take."

"I agree," Shoto said. "At this point, the wisest thing we can do is reunite with the others. We're more likely to find them if we head in that direction. Though I do want to take a detour on our way back."

That caught Bakugo's attention. "What sort of detour could an idiot like you who's only been in this world for a week possibly want to make?"

Shoto tapped an area on the map to the south of them. It depicted a round, ruined arena a little ways away from the main road. "I found a monster that I had to retreat from when I first woke up. Now that I know what I'm up against, I want a rematch."

And yet another chapter that was supposed to be from a few different viewpoints but ended up just being the one. It was fun to write, and I'm looking forward to finding out how some of the other kids react to their first encounters with Guardians. Shout out to Evil Angel on Discord, who edited this chapter and pointed out a bunch of details that didn't quite line up.

As always, thanks for reading, and I hope you all enjoyed it. Next chapter might be a bit delayed, as my next semester of university starts up next week, and I don't know what my homework load will look like yet. So until next time!