Jirou was panicking. She wasn't ashamed to admit that; she was just a student, after all, and wasn't supposed to be facing real villains just yet. So yeah, the thugs surrounding her, even if they mostly had rattata and zubats, were scary. Sue her. Luckily, Yaoyorozu was there to be a beacon of reason, and Kaminari was there to remind her that she wasn't the stupidest person present.
"Maybe we could charge them!" Kaminari shouted, bravado very blatantly covering up his rising panic.
"There are too many," Yaoyorozu corrected him. "We need to get to the high ground and attack from a position of strength."
As Jirou had Whismur pound away a Zubat that was trying to bite her, she asked the perfectly rational question, "will they let us? They kind of control the field at the moment!"
Gritting her teeth and looking about in frustration, the elf yelled at the trainers, "hey, do you remember our training battle?"
"Yeah, and this is not exactly the time to bring it up!"
"I don't mean how poorly you two did," both noticed that she didn't disagree with the idea that their performance was poor, "I mean the power that Kaminari displayed."
"You mean the same power that fried me?" Jirou demanded.
"Yeah," Kaminari awkwardly agreed. "Pichu has the raw strength to take these guys out, but he'll probably hit us too."
"I have an idea, just be prepared to release every bit of your Pocket Monster's power when I say so!"
"These kids ain't shit!" Some thug shouted. "Come on, guys, these Pocket Monsters are wimps and the knife-ear should be easy pickins.' Let's go for it!"
Several dozen rough looking men accompanied by several dozen Pocket Monsters rushed forward, so eager for their quick and simple victory that they didn't notice the elf pull a new drone out from her bag and lay it on the ground, nor question why the two girls grabbed onto it before they got close. It wasn't until they were all practically on top of the trio, and one of them shouted 'now!" That they began to suspect that something might not be on the up-and-up.
The raw electrical power that coursed through all of them was quite the lesson in situational awareness. Several of them convulsed and panicked. Others were tossed to the ground, their Pocket Monsters fried beside them. When the yellowish bolts of electrical power finally faded, only one man was standing. Unfortunately for the UA students, that man was not Kaminari. Once more, Pichu showed too much eagerness and sent just as much force into both itself and its trainer as it did the enemy. While both simply stood there, dumbly, unable to appreciate Jirou and Yaoyorozu cheering from their rubber platform, one villain stepped forward unperturbed.
"You know, I really hate to do this to a fellow Electric-type, but orders are orders." A greenish dog-like creature barked beside him. "Electrike, Bite the kid. Enough to make him bleed to death."
Jirou and Yaoyorozu, of course, had no intention of sitting back and letting this happen.
"Whismur, Outburst!" While the pink fluff-ball jumped forward and exploded in a wave of sound, Yaoyorozu deactivated the rubber-drone (and her father had questioned that one's usefulness, what did he know?), and sent out a medical drone and one loaded with smoke bombs.
"Keep him focused on you, I'll provide cover and help Kaminari!" Yaoyoruzu shouted at Jirou, which the other girl agreed with. Unfortunately, shouting it meant that the enemy heard as well.
"Thunder Wave!" He yelled, and sure enough a burst of electrical energy, much weaker but more focused than Pichu's, issued forth, short-circuiting the elf's drones and causing Whismur to freeze in place as the electrical shock locked her muscles. "Now, two pretty girls like you, it would be a waste to just kill you, so let's do this the easy way…"
Whismur, fighting to its last to obey its master's last order, briefly overcame the paralysis, rushing forward with all of its might and screaming.
"I don't have time to deal with you. Electrike, Roar!" The thug shouted.
Electrike obeyed; the monstrous, booming sound resounded throughout the landslide zone, filling everyone who heard it with dread. Even a trained Pocket Monster should have had difficulty resisting the urge to run; Jirou just grinned. Sound was Whismur's domain, and when the man turned around, not even bothering to check whether his attack worked or not, the unaffected pink puffball jumped in between the trainer and his Pocket Monster and released more waves of sound, losing complete control as it worked to cause more and more damage. It didn't stop, even when both of its enemies were rolling on the ground in pain, in little better a state than those villains that Kaminari had sacrificed himself to take out.
When Whismur finally managed to calm itself down, it looked upon its accomplishment with pride. A lot of pride, in fact, more than it had ever felt. All of its training, all of the power it had gained throughout its life, had counted when it really mattered. It gathered power. It gathered skill. It did the right thing. It felt the bond between Monster and trainer, and it…grew. The power within expanded and, even though its own awareness hadn't caught on, its senses were improved, even if everything looked…smaller.
Jirou was so glad that the immediate threat was resolved that she barely had time to process her Pocket Monster's evolution.
--
Todoroki was unimpressed. One Night Shade, one down Pocket Monster or occasional Atavist. That had been the entirety of his experience since landing. It should have been scary, he noted, surrounded by villains who were all on the attack, but it just…wasn't. All of the training his father had put him through came to the front of his mind, and he saw every one of their mistakes, every one of their weaknesses, everything he could do to beat them. "Rock Smash," he ordered as a Rattata charged them, its fangs glowing, only to go down just as fast as the rest of them.
"I can…help," Hagakure awkwardly noted from beside him.
Kecleon was there and ready to fight, but much like herself was largely stuck staring as the truly impressive Shoto Todoroki made mincemeat of their attackers. He didn't seem the slightest bit scared; if anything, he looked bored, which surprised her as she was shaking in her boots no matter how much she tried to suppress it.
However, when she saw how coolly he took care of everything, she was content to sit back and relax…"gotcha!" A thug grabbed her from behind.
Kecleon rushed to her side, but was struck by the hooves of the thug's Pocket monster, a giraffe with a black head growing from where its tail should be. To be honest, it looked weird even by Pocket Monster standards.
"Todoroki!" Hagakure screamed, showing a lot about her mindset at the moment from her choice to scream to her classmate rather than her Monster, and the boy answered.
"Nightshade!" He called out, no more interested in spite of her predicament (which an emotional part of her brain was a little miffed by, she had to admit), which blasted giraffe-thing with ghostly energy that…passed right through it. "A Normal Type," Todoroki noted, unfazed. "Rock Smash!"
Sableye charged forward to do just that, connecting with its claws as the larger Monster tried desperately to dodge. While it hit, it didn't have that same 'oomph' that the Fighting-type move normally held against Normal-types.
"Confusion!" The thug shouted back at him, which caused Todoroki to barely smirk as it did nothing to his Dark-type. Recognizing that, the criminal switched tack. "Crunch!"
The Giraffarig flipped around, the second head on its backside opening to reveal a row of razor-sharp fangs that glowed black before biting into Sableye. It was fortunate that its Dark-typing protected, as loathe as Todoroki was to admit it. The Dark half came from his father, but it was saving him here, and could save him some more. This was what Endeavor had been talking about, back when they trained, the giraffe-like Pocket Monster that had a Normal-Psychic dual type. It's Normal typing would make Ghost attacks worthless, and the Fighting type moves he had trained specifically to deal with Normal types weren't strong enough to overcome the Psychic typing's resistance…Sableye knew Dark-type attacks. In spite of his stubbornness on the matter, his father had managed to drill a few into the Monster. They would be more than useful here; in fact, his best option, unless one of his allies had a Bug-type to use.
No, he wasn't his father. "Rock Smash!" He called again.
"Crunch!" The other man responded. The two Monsters clashed, Sableye striking at the right angle to crack a stone and Girafarig empowering its jaws to bite as hard as possible. While it didn't come out unscathed, Girafarig won. Sableye was tossed back, significantly worse for wear.
'Looks like your classmate won't be able to save you," the villain leered as he held a knife to Hagakure's ear.
"Kecleon, Feint Attack!" She called out in desperation. Kecleon vanished from sight, subtle movements in dirt below making it look like he was about to strike from the left…until he appeared on the right, black energy speeding up his claws as he struck Into Girafarig's torso.
"Confusion!" The villain answered, and sure enough Kecleon was blasted with mental energy, but while it hurt him badly it also made him a Psychic-type, something the villain wasn't expecting when he ordered another Confusion. Had he gone for a Crunch, he probably would have won there.
Hagakure apparently had a Dark-type move up her sleeve and the wherewithal to use it. Suppressing his issues with the type as a whole, he exploited the distraction and damage she had caused and ordered Sableye to go back in, launching Rock Smash after Rock Smash.
--
Shigaraki was certain that his undead minions had just enough control of the situation that he could sit back and take stock of how many little brats his hired help had managed to kill. That should at least piss off the Heroes who made society so unlivable, if this attack achieved nothing else. It would, if the rabble wasn't even more worthless than he feared. They're all…losing…to children.
HIs fist clenched, and he resisted the urge to throw a tantrum. Waving his arms about and screaming about how unfair life was really wouldn't fit the image of the dignified master of evil he was trying to cultivate; society needed to be destroyed if someone like him was going to thrive, and it wasn't going to be afraid of someone acting like a…well, he didn't want to think of it as 'childish,' but he knew what the NPC's would say. Their scripting was unoriginal like that.
Instead, he looked to see if there were any within his own range; if the summons were useless, send in the PC himself. It was basic logic, and made sense from a balance perspective. You didn't want the henchmen being so powerful that they overshadowed the main characters, did you?
--
Mineta was glad that the villains were gone. That meant that the scary part was mostly over; he, Asui, and Midoriya just had to run away to safety while their teachers handled everything. The only problem was that Midoriya wasn't doing that. He was just staring at Aizawa-sensei struggling with the villains, with a far-away look that Mineta somehow understood even without having much experience.
"Midoriya, we're students. We'd only get in the way. Aizawa-sensei can handle himself; let's get to safety."
"Mineta is right," Asui agreed, "proper protocol would be to find somewhere safe until the crisis is over."
"We're Hero students," Izuku started to argue, before Asui cut him off.
"Students, Midoriya, students, not Heroes yet."
"But we're capable, we just beat all of those villains, and we have power…"
Gyarados, rather than his classmates, shut down this line of reasoning. It slammed against a nearby wall for no apparent reason other than letting out unspent aggression, causing some tiles from the roof to fall down on the group.
Once they dodged them, Asui noted, "you can't even control your Monster. I'm exhausted, and Mineta's scared."
"Can we just look?" Izuku begged. "If you really think there's nothing we can do, then we'll move on, I swear."
Mineta was completely unmoved by this exchange, but Asui understood what he meant when he emphasized that they were Hero students. Just leaving Aizawa-sensei to deal with that massive horde didn't sit right with her either.
"Just a look," she agreed, ignoring Mineta's groan of dismay, While Midoriya turned his monstrosity back into a Magikarp. "Then we run for it."
--
Shigaraki did not have to search for long before his eyes noted enemy mooks approaching aggro range. Three silly little brats were apparently looking out for their sensei. How cute. It disgusted him. He called on the dark energies that existed at the boundaries of death, wondering which spell would be the best to rip them apart.
--
Hypno managed to shatter the bones in one of the zombies right before it dug a claw into Eraserhead's shoulder. The pitiful thing continued to mindlessly claw and swing at him even as it was no longer able to walk. The sight was so pathetic that it honestly made him understand why Necromancy was practically banned, not that the horrific nature of the situation beforehand hadn't already clued him in. This battle of attrition wasn't going his way, and he couldn't afford time for idle thought, so he ran back, trying his best to avoid as many strikes and deal as much damage back as he could…until he noticed the Weasel Atavist going after his students. That couldn't stand.
"Hypno, ignore me, Disable him!" He cried right as the head villain launched burst of black energy right toward Asui.
Because Hypno was focused on the attack far away, he couldn't focus on the forces surrounding him. Obeying his master's instructions, he allowed himself to be consumed by several skeletal fingers, who held him in place long enough for the Gorilla Atavist to come in for the strike. The ghostly and dark essence that sustained these beings was wreaking havoc on the psychic energy that sustained Hypno, and he no longer had the wherewithal to dodge when the gorilla's fist went straight for his face. It would have been brutal, had his master not chosen to be an idiot.
--
Asui, Midoriya, and Mineta were still focused on just getting a look when the Weasel Atavist who seemed to be leading the whole thing noticed them and sent a burst of black energy toward them. They didn't see it, so worried were they about Aizawa-sensei seeming to struggle more and more, until it just about struck Asui's head. Luckily, it was only 'just about' because it stuttered from existence right at that spot.
Unluckily, that was because Aizawa had stopped focusing on his own battle in order to look after theirs, causing his Pocket Monster to get captured and himself to get brutalized blocking a punch that he really shouldn't have tried to block with his human body.
Seeing their teacher crumple to the ground, all three of them were frozen in terror, while the villain started, of all things, throwing a tantrum about how none of the kids died until he noticed Aizawa's state.
--
That almost satiated him, until the entrance to the USJ exploded and a beautiful, shinning portmanteau of a mermaid and a sea serpent burst through the door, one that everyone with the slightest awareness of society at large recognized on sight.
"Have no fear, for I AM HERE!" A familiar voice shouted, though more angered than reassuring compared to his normal tone.
"It's time for the Boss Level!" Shigaraki was excited rather than scared.
All-Might looked down on his charges, the bright youths that he was supposed to be guiding and protecting. In particular, he should have been here. If he hadn't used up so much of Milotic's power stopping petty robberies and…there was no time to focus on that now. He had to be ready to fight. None of the children seemed to have been killed yet, thank God, so he had time to correct his mistake.
He started by going for a haggard and ruined-looking Aizawa. Milotic roared as she smashed through the horde of zombies, letting out a burst of draconic flame at the gorilla, causing it to scream in pain as it found itself forced to let go of Hypno. The Atavist was terrified, but the zombies weren't. Unable to experience such emotions, they let go of Aizawa and swarmed All-Might.
Kurogiri and Alakazam popped into existence right next to Shigaraki as he reveled in All-Might's difficulties.
"Sir, the children are pushing back on our hired help, and the Pros are closing in. It might be time to go."
"Not yet," Shigaraki whined. "I need to wreak some havoc first! All-Might has to suffer!"
All-Might was not suffering. Milotic effortlessly smashed zombie after zombie with her tail and boy, not even relying on a single Move to carry the day. To everyone looking on, it seemed like this would be another effortless victory for the Number One Hero. Izuku, however, thought back on Aizawa's comment on the 'over-hyped idiot' from when they first got here, and then on the fact that All-Might probably should have been part of this class from the start…was Milotic running on empty? Izuku had seen Feebass. If All-Might's Pocket Monster lost the benefits of Outsider's Growth…
"All-Might can handle it from here. We should run for it," Mineta spoke up.
"I agree. It was a nice sentiment, Midoriya, but there's really nothing we can contribute now that All-Might is here," Asui concurred.
Izuku was about to give in to their reasonable demands, but then he saw Milotic's scales strain and warp a bit. It was subtle, not something anyone who wasn't focusing on it would see, but it confirmed his suspicions. Outsider's Growth was fading. All-Might didn't have long. Noting this, his companions were unable to make him move.
Shigaraki observed the battlefield, looking for his opportunity to take down All-Might. "We can still hurt him, Kurogiri. There's no need to restart the game just yet." Ignoring the man's frustrated sigh, Shigaraki looked to Alakazam. "I want to try something, and I'll need your Pocket Monster.
"Sir, we need him to escape!"
"I'll keep him safe, don't worry. I'm good at escort missions." Before Kurogiri could waste his time by objecting further, Shigaraki channeled the magics he knew and spoke once more in that indescribable language. "Instrument of Vengeance. Steal Strength."
While the first spell did target Alakazam's spoons, they weren't the basis of this little experiment. No, he wanted to see if he could imbue a Pocket Monster's moveset with power. 'Instrument of Vengeance' allowed a weapon to cast a Black spell, and moves were technically a type of weapon, weren't they? While he hadn't heard anything about this on the limited Black Magic meta, it was, well, limited, usually being used by Iron Fang wackos who wouldn't work with Pocket Monsters or loners hyped on their own power. Ignoring the hypocrisy of judging the latter group with his own inclinations, he was pleased when he felt the spell.
It worked within his internal compass, at least. Now to see what it could do to All-Might and Eraserhead.
"Alakazam, Psywave," Kurogiri reluctantly ordered.
Milotic and Hypno both found themselves thrashed by a sudden burst of energy. It was wrong; Hypno thought it felt like a Psychic-type attack, which meant that he should have resisted it, but it was hitting him worse than a normal attack. Milotic didn't feel like it was any stronger than it should be, but she definitely felt the sense of wrongness. Moreover, she felt her body weakening, far faster than it should be.
When the gorilla Atavist came around for another strike, she was knocked back, again, and again, and again. Hypno and Eraserhead both leapt to the mammoth man's back, doing what they could to stop him, but the Atavist only took a few seconds to punt them both into the ground. Aizawa was not going to be getting back up again; multiple bones were shattered.
Izuku saw Milotic starting to let off steam. She was turning back to Feebass, with the villains still there and ready to kill, and everyone watching. He couldn't let this happen.
"Gyarados!" He cried out. Magikarp transformed once more. It was so much faster than the last few times, so much more smooth, but Izuku had no time to notice that. He was far too busy rushing toward the two villains who were causing so much pain and suffering for his mentor and his teacher.
Sensei was right. All-Might really is getting weaker, Shigaraki noted. The Number One Hero's Pocket Monster had to have dealt with Apprentice and Journeyman level Black Magic before. As uncommon as it was, more than a few villains had blundered their way into figuring it out. This wasn't enough to stop the man, he knew that full well. But he saw very well that All-Might and his girly mermaid thing were floundering. Cracking a grin and fighting the urge to giggle distracted him from the giant blue sea dragon slamming into his location until it was almost too late; he only avoided it because Kurogiri had the sense to teleport them a short distance to the side.
"What the hell is that thing? No one told me this Boss Level had multiple stages!"
Rather than address his comments, one of the Hero brats ordered the massive monstrosity to use Dragon Rage. Knowing what that move did well enough, Shigaraki relied on his weasel-like legs to leap to the side and managed to avoid most of the green pseudo-flame. "You Heroes are all the same! Use government sanctioned violence to oppress the rest of us!"
Once again, the brat ignored him, this time going for a Thrash rather than repeating Dragon Rage. It was a good move; the thing could control where its tail went more than it could direct the burst of flame, making it much harder for Shiagaraki to dodge. So, rather than dodge, he screamed 'Wrack' in the weird language. It did nothing to stop him from getting smacked across the floor, with several bruises and possibly a broken bone to show for it, but it meant the trainer was down for the count, flaring in pain and crumpled to the ground in a futile effort to resist it. Without the trainer, the Pocket Monster suddenly became useless, roaring and thrashing about at anything and everything it could. Shigaraki briefly mused that it might actually manage to do more damage than his henchmen.
All-Might was almost forced to realize that he had to give up. Milotic was past her limit already, and he couldn't fight off the undead by himself. The best move would be to grab Eraserhead, get out of there with the children, and hope that reinforcements arrived in time to prevent the villains' escape.
He would have done so, too, were it not for young Midoriya's foolish heroic instinct. He saw the boy jump in, successfully manage to control Gyarados in a way he hadn't before, and then be crumpled like a rag-doll by some spell the Weasel Atavist cast. He flared Outsider's Growth. Something went wrong with it. He knew full well that there would be consequences for it later, but he didn't care. "MIlotic, Surf!"
The water from the surrounding pools swelled up, and Milotic called it to her. A massive wave, far larger than anything another Water-type using Surf could create, grew beneath, before it crashed onto the battlefield, taking the Gorilla, taking the zombies, flowing around Aizawa and Hypno, smacking right into the Weasel and the Alakazam trainer, barely annoying Gyarados, and once more managing to spare Izuku with Milotic's abnormal control.
As he was thrashed and thrown about by the crushing waters, Kurogiri didn't even hesitate before using his Psychic link with Alakazam to get them out of there immediately. Shigaraki could yell at him for ignoring orders later.
--
What few villains hadn't already been taken down by the students were quickly wiped out by the staff members that arrived on the scene. Exploud showed that he could do more than shout loudly to help Present Mic get others' attention, while Midnight's Bellaroom sprayed spores all across the field, sending several of the thugs to sleep. Snipe's cyber-enhancements let his dwarf body operate a gun with inhuman efficiency, while Hound-Dog released all of his Atavist strength.
This wasn't just Hero work to them, not today. This had been an attack on UA itself, and these bastards had to pay. Recovery Girl was quick to get to All-Might and Aizawa as fast as she could; even with the students in danger, it was clear to her where the most grievous injuries lied, just as it was clear to her that the bumbling lummox had overdone it. Again. She was going to give him a scolding like never seen before when he woke up, she swore, that it would do any good. She sighed at the thought as she infused them both with White Magic.
--
Izuku had to be monitored, even though he didn't feel that injured. Apparently Black Magic could have lingering effects, and they wanted to watch him. Just to be certain. He understood, but didn't like just sitting in a hospital bed, wondering what was going to happen to him. It gave him time to think. What did All-Might do, just to save him? Would going overboard with Outsider's Growth like that hurt him too badly? Was it his fault?
Moreover, had Gyarados made progress? When they were attacking Shigaraki together, the Pocket Monster was obeying him. It wasn't a single order before rampaging, or an ambiguous situation where rampaging was what Izuku wanted of him, it was Trainer and Pocket Monster working together, they way they were supposed to. He suddenly understood what every other Trainer must feel all the time. So why did it happen then, and not before? What changed?
He wasn't getting any answers waiting for Recovery Girl to look him over, and that frustrated him. He wanted to work on this epiphany. He wanted to do better, so he could be better. So that others wouldn't have to be hurt in the future because of him.