The villain - turned around and suddenly booked it in the other direction.

"He's running?" Asked Sero.

"I believe it's more accurate to say he's letting us go," said Tokoyami.

"He's mine."

"Don't," said Iida. "For all we know, this could be a trap. Besides, you can't go after him alone. The four of us couldn't even take him down together."

"Yeah, but—"

" We have to make sure the islanders are safe. That's part of our job as heroes."

When the evacuation was finished, we headed back to the main location, to find that Midoriya and Bakugou had been horribly injured in the fight, trying to protect the two kids who'd gotten lost earlier, and everyone was pretty damn worried. I went to the healing room where they were lying unconscious while the doctors attempted a rescue.

"What if the villains attack here next?" Asked one of the two small children they'd rescued from the main villain.

"There's no need to be concerned. If that happens, I promise we'll do our best to protect you."

"It's a good thing there are so many vegetables on the island."

"What did they do with the villain we captured?"

"Oh. He's chained up in the basement boiler room. But he refuses to talk. Hasn't said a word."

Uraraka joined us. "I brought food. How are Deku and Bakugo doing?"

"They haven't regained consciousness."

"Not yet. The doctors from the clinic are doing everything they can to heal them. "

"Thanks for all your hard work."

The doctors shook their heads.

"I apologize. Our powers have helped us close their wounds, but I'm afraid that's all we can manage. We can't do anything for their broken bones."

"They need to be taken to the hospital on the main island."

The little boy knelt down next to them. "Can I try something?"

"Katsuma?" Said Uraraka.

"He might be able to help. His Quirk is cell activation. We're not really sure if it can be used to heal injuries, though."

"They were hurt because of us! I can't just let them suffer like this! Please!"

"I'd appreciate your help, Little Katsu."

"Thanks!"

He placed his hands on them, and it appeared whatever he was doing was actually saving them, healing their injuries. Looked like it took something out of him, though.

"Katsuma. You should rest a little bit."

"I can't. I'm not done yet."

"You're tired."

"I can push through it."

And Midoriya and Bakugou both woke up.

"Mister Deku!" Said the boy.

" Bakugo!" Said the girl.

We regrouped with Iida to discuss things and decide what to do.

" Here's the current situation. Communications are down and the electrical grid is destroyed. We can't call for help."

Yaoyorozu sighed. "I made a drone earlier. It'll send an SOS message once it's close to the mainland. But the flight is at least six hours. Plus, even after someone comes across it, the heroes will need time to assemble and travel to us. In the meantime, I doubt the villains are gonna sit around and wait."

"Right now, our top priority is to protect the people of the island. If that means fighting villains, so be it."

"Yeah, but how?"

Mineta whined "The one guy beat up Midoriya and Bakugo so much that they almost didn't survive."

"Four of us took on the beast. And that wasn't enough. And our numbers are dropping."

Jirou nodded. "Yao-momo and Kaminari both used up a lot of their Quirks already."

"Yay," said Kaminari, nearly losing focus.

"We know there are at least three villains left, but there could be more. If they attack us together, we probably don't stand a chance."

"It would help if we knew what the villains were after."

Uraraka nodded. "Mm-hm. Then we could come up with a plan."

The little boy piped up.

" I know what the villains are after. It's me."

"What did you say?"

" That bad guy said he wanted to steal my Quirk."

'So, it's power theft. He has the same Quirk as All For One."

"Okay, at least we know why they're here."

"We can just, like, take the boy and run away—"

I interrupted. "It's not going to be that easy. These guys are serious. What if they start making threats? They could end up killing somebody if we don't hand him over."

"So what're we supposed to do?" Said Mineta.

"You have to hand me over to the villains!" Said the little boy.

"What?" Said Uraraka.

"He said he wouldn't kill me. And it's fine if I end up losing my Quirk. As long as it means everyone on the island is safe."

"No, we can't do that," said Midoriya. He and Bakugou were both standing in the doorway, nearly recovered.

" Deku!" Said Uraraka

Iida stared. "Midoriya! You're okay?"

"And it's all thanks to Katsuma's power."

"Not with my Quirk. It's no good for hero stuff," said the boy.

"You can activate cells. It speeds up regeneration and enhances physical performance. Thanks to your Quirk, I recovered super quickly! It's an amazing

ability, Katsuma. I'm so grateful."

"You really mean it?"

"We're not gonna let anything scary happen to you. That's the whole reason we came to this island, right?"

Bakugou added, "Why are you losers so on edge? All we gotta do is k*ll some stupid villains, right?"

He and Midoriya were sharing a look, an intense look at each other like some kind of conversation was going on between them without words. Some kind of secret, the one they both share regarding Midoriya's connection to All Might…

"Bakugo!"

"Don't worry. We'll definitely protect you two."

"The villains are as good as dead."

"And we'll keep everyone else on the island safe, too!"

"Obviously we'll win."

The despair - that feeling of panic - seemed to be lifting from everyone. Like Midoriya and Bakugou had said the magic words.

" I agree with both of you. I'll help however I can."

"Me, too!"

"I'll protect the people with everything I've got!"

"We have to fight!"

"Heck yeah."

"I can't fix Mr. Matsuda's tractor if he's not around," joked Kaminari.

"You can count me in."

"Granny Sato still has plenty of years left ahead of her."

"I've got your backs."

"Me, too."

"Awesome!"

"Let's stop 'em!"

"I'm in."

"Yeah."

"Um, obvi!"

"Ribbit."

"Let's do this, you guys!"

"I know we can!"

" Moi aussi!"

" We're heroes, right?"

"We'll overcome the impossible."

"It's just like we always say. We are going to go beyond!"

And all together, "Plus Ultra!"

We assembled on the cliff to keep a watch out.

I asked, "What's the plan, Midoriya?"

"We know there are at least three villains here. If we use the castle ruins on the edge of this cliff as our base, that leaves only one route for the villains to reach us. When they approach, we'll split them up with a preemptive strike. Use the terrain to our advantage."

"Then we blast 'em to hell," said Bakugou.

"The civilians can hole up in the cave on the side of the cliff. We'll personally guard Katsuma and Mahoro. We should also secure an escape route in case it comes to that."

"How're we going to deal with the villain who has multiple Quirks?"

Midoriya explained, "In the middle of our fight with him, it looked like he suddenly doubled over in pain. Using all those powers one after the other was probably too

hard on his body. I bet that's why he's trying to steal Katsuma's cell activation ability."

"] I see. So we simply exhaust him,"I nodded.

"We'll attack him in waves and make him use his Quirks until he's at his limit. Since he can steal powers, we'll want to avoid close combat if at all possible. Hopefully that will be enough for us to defeat him."

"But even if we can't...we just have to last long enough for help to arrive!

That's all this is about."

"No way. We're gonna kick the crap outta these losers!" Said Bakugou.

Shoji suddenly alerted us that they were coming.

"There they are. There's three of them. They're taking the path you predicted."

Midoriya turned to them. "Yaoyorozu. Aoyama. We're counting on you."

"Okay. We've only got seconds. Get ready. Navel Laser to max output."

"Energy Charge!"

Yaoyorozu counted down, "Five, four, three, two, one!"

"Allons-y, Can't Stop Twinkling, it's my Supernova!"

"Plus Ultra!"

"This is it!"

Yaoyorozu activated her canons.

"I made these using the last of my lipids. One final atttack and then I'm spent!"

And the two of them took out the path as planned. The villains were blast-off in separated directions.

Iida, Kirishima, Asui and I were assigned, then, for a rematch.

Protect the children at all costs.

"Well, they got me on my own," said the villain as I sealed him to the ground with ice.

"He's trapped!"

"Our plan worked!" Said Iida.

"Not quite," said the villain - and he had somehow pulled himself free? "Did ya have to go and freeze me like that?"

"It's time for round two."

The villain laughed. "Heh. You think this is a joke? Nah, kid. Today I'm serious."

"Oh, trust me, we are, too!"

Iida nodded. "Now that the islanders are safe, we can go all out."

"Let's stop this guy. Recipro Turbo! It's time to end this.

"Ribbit!" Said Asui.

"Right!" I added.