Kyoko huffed as she followed behind Bakugo, getting more irritated by the second. They had been traveling through the forest that sat at the base of the mountain for over an hour. She had tried suggesting a plan but was quickly cut off by Bakugo saying he didn't need a plan and that he would find them within the hour, tops.

"Are we going to go with my plan yet?" Kyoko whined trailing up the hill, "It's been an hour."

Bakugo's shoulders tensed up as he turned around to look at Kyoko. She quickly regretted saying things and the look on his face made her freeze. He sauntered down a few steps and lowered himself to be face lever with her.

"I'm following the trail that the hiker's would have taken and I'm looking for signs within the foliage while you have been pouting and huffing behind me like a child who didn't get there way." He turned back around and started back up the dirt trail.

"Because you wouldn't even try to listen to what my plan is!" Kyoko stomped her foot.

One of the downsides to Kyoko's quirk she had learned throughout the years, is when a strong enough emotion surged through her it would affect her surroundings.

She watched helplessly as the ground rolled upwards towards Bakugo, loosening the dirt underneath the foot he was about to set on the ground. His foot caught into the newly produced pot hole and his arms flew up as he moved downwards into the hill. Kyoko brought her hand to her mouth and a tiny screech was trying to figure out whether to turn into a laugh or a cry. Bakugo popped up off the ground and he headed straight towards the cherry faced woman. Dirt smeared on his cheeks and a few tiny clumps caught in his blonde hair.

"Are you trying to pick a fight?!" He hollered as he stomped towards her, his vermillion eyes seering into her.

"No, that was an accident I swear! You just made me so irritated I lost control of my quirk."

"Whatta piss poor excuse for not having a handle on your fucking quirk!" He was in her face yelling.

"Maybe if you'd treat me like a God damn equal and not some fucking nuisance, we could have put both our heads together and would have been closer to figuring out where these hikers are!" She could feel her ears getting hot from scolding him and was refusing to break eye contact as she continue to raise her voice, "Trees communicate to each other; I can tap into the roots and listen to find out if there's an area that have people!"
Bakugo backed away from her, his jaw clenched, "Fine, what do you need to do to figure that out."

"I just need a tree and to sit and listen." She began to walk off the small path towards a thick Jezo Spruce tree, slipping her bag off her shoulders.

He followed, shuffling his fingers through his hair to shake out the dirt. Kyoko sat with her back against the trunk, closing her eyes and placing her hands onto the roots that were jutting out of the ground, inhaling deeply.

She called it her mind's eye, but she had the ability to follow images of what nature and animals were telling her. She could travel through the connecting roots as the guided her to where she needed to go. Pulling her well over 15 miles North until they stopped her.

She slowly opened her eyes, releasing the roots and saying a quiet 'thank you' to the tree. She looked up to see Bakugo staring at her, anticipating her results.

"About 15 miles North there seems to be a gathering of collective energy that the trees have picked up on. I don't have more information than that though." She stood up grabbing her bag.

"So, we walk until night fall and be there early in the day. Tell Deku to have a rescue party ready to come out tomorrow."

Kyoko pulled out a small silver walkie. She tapped on the device and looked for the contact she needed.

"Deku, you there?"

"Did you find them?"

"No, but we knew the whereabouts now." Kyoko headed back towards the path with Bakugo, "It's about 20 miles from the entrance, we should make it by morning. Get a rescue team set up to get them out by noon."

"You got it. From what it sounds like the mountain has been having a lot of rockslides lately. The town says it's pretty unusual to be having so many. You two be careful now."

"Okay, see you tomorrow. Thanks." Kyoko hung up the device.

After another hour passed by Kyoko begged for another rest stop, breaking the silence that had fallen over the two. Bakugo scoffed at her but stopped in his tracks.

"You walk around patrolling for hours and you can't do a simple hike?"

"It's lunch time and I want to eat." She shimmied her backpack strap off and let it dangle off her arm as she dug around in her bag.

She pulled out two meal bars, tossing one at Bakugo. She looked up as she opened the wrapper, watching a few puffy clouds drift by. It had been quite some time since she was able to be surrounded by nature and even though she had a sense of urgency to find the missing hikers, she also felt relaxed by being in her element. The smell of the crisp pine needles and dirt almost overpowered the smell of the peanut butter chocolate scent of her meal bar. A small smile spread across her face as she looked around at the foliage, the mixture of deciduous and coniferous trees, the overgrown ferns and thorn bushes with a few wild flowers popping out of the ground.

A red-yellow color in the brush caught her eye as she shewed her food. She walked towards the color and squatted down, curious if there could be a clue about the hikers under the green leaves of the forest floor. The leaves rustled as she noticed black spots over the bright colors and her eyes grew wide. She quickly moved back the rustling moved towards her.

"Snake…Snake…There's a SNAKE!" She screamed as she headed towards Bakugo, who was a foot or so away.

Without much though, she leapt towards the blond man, who in turn hooked one arm under her legs as she wrapped an arm around his neck, pointing with the other to the snake slithering out of the woods.

"You're afraid of this thing, tch—"

"That is a Tiger Keelback and by the looks of how its arching its neck, it's threatened by us and wants to spit venom. Go, go , go!" Kyoko's voice began shaking.

She watched the snake become smaller, realizing Bakugo had jumped into the air to create distance between them and the snake. With one hand he activated his quirk to send them further down the path until the snake was finally out of sight. Once his feet hit the ground he dropped Kyoko.

"I thought you had an affinity for animals…" Bakugo growled as he walked down the path.

"There's no reasoning with a pissed off snake, wait a minute… how'd you know I had an affinity with animals?" Kyoko scrambled to get up and chase after the hero.

Bakugo kept walking, not entertaining Kyoko in how he knew that about her, "Hurry up, and if you ever do that again, I'll throw you!"

…

Atori looked at the card slot on the machine, she quickly peered down to the barely open vault door. She came up with two possible scenarios' either the nail was lost in the machine, or the nail was somewhere on the ground. Her eyes scanned the ground first, wanting to check the easier scenario first. Her eyes stopped on the crack of the sidewalk by the ATM. The light gold sparkle of the glitter caught her eye. She squatted down, happy she got the easy outcome she wanted.

"Shinso, you have gloves on you right?"

He loomed over her, his shadow covering the area Atori squatted over, "Yeah, why?"

"I found the nail, obviously. I don't want to pick it up with my hands, that's nasty."

Shinso had brought a small bag with him and began digging through it.

"A Ziploc bag and plastic gloves." He began to put the gloves on.

Atori watched him take over, picking up the glittery nail and placing it into the plastic bag.

"I don't know how close this will get us to catching the perp." She brushed off her hands as she stood up, "but it's worth a shot. They've started to see the fingernail striation patterns are unique much like a fingerprint, but it's newer technology."

"Well, let's bring this in and make a plan B incase checking for DNA doesn't work." He was already walking down the sidewalk.

Atori hurried to catch up to him, a yawn slowly escaping her mouth, "As long as we get coffee after, I'm so tired! Kyoko left early this morning and I had to see her off and give her an extra confidence boost! I hope everything is going well."

Shinso made a small 'ah' noise as he glanced over to Atori, "Do you think the glue could have the nail pattern on there?"

"That or I'm hoping it took skin when it broke off."

They walked in silence for a while before Shinso spoke again. His voice was low, causing Atori to have to focus on what he was saying.

"I was invited to go onto Present Mic's radio show and wanted to know if you would like to tag along… I know you said you ere a big fan…"

"No way! Put You Hands Up Radio? You're being interviewed? Yeah, of course I'll come along! Thank you!"

…

"We are just going to have to stop for tonight, it's best to set up the tent before it's too dark." Bakugo finally stopped in a small clearing a couple of feet off the path they had been using.

The backpack that he hadn't taken off since they started their mission was finally on the ground as he pulled out the small tent he had packed.

"You packed a tent?" Kyoko's voice dropped, realizing she probably should have also packed one herself.

"And you obviously didn't. What did you pack?" He asked while piecing equipment together.

"Clothes, snacks, toothbrush…like you know… necessities…" She slowly sat on the ground watching Bakugo.

"And it never went through your mind that you would be potentially sleeping in the wilderness on a rescue mission?"

"I may have been over-confident in how fast we were going to complete this mission…" "What luck, you get to sleep under the stars tonight." He scoffed pushing the pole through the slit in the material.

"What luck I have a compassionate partner that'll share his tent with me?"

He looked up from his little project, his face was stern as his eyes narrowed at her. His jaw tensed as he stared. The look was scary and intriguing to Kyoko as she tried doing her best to give off puppy dog eyes to him.

"Don't think that stupid look will work. IF you aren't going to help me set the tent up, you are staying outside." He grumbled as he went back to piecing the tent together.

Kyoko smiled as she got up from her spot to help get their shelter for the night put together.

Twenty minutes later they were anchored into the ground and Bakugo was building a small fire to give them light as the sun was finally set and the first few stars dotted the sky. Kyoko had already used the tent to switch into sleeping clothes and sat by the fire, waiting for Bakugo to change.

"You're seriously wearing Sailor Moon pajamas, what are you, 8?" He barked as he climbed out of the tent and sat next to the fire.

"At least it's not as boring as a black tank top and sweatpants." Kyoko stuck her tongue out at Bakugo.

"I'm not the nerd sporting Tuxedo Mask merch."

"Just the nerd spouting off characters." Kyoko pointed out.

He grunted as he tossed another stick into the fire. A yawn escaped Kyoko, now that they had stopped moving, she could feel the exhaustion set in. The warmth of the fire wasn't helping either; her heavy eyelids dipped down and she began to nod off. A hypnic jerk brought her back and her eyes shot open looking at the dancing flames. She tried to stifle another yawn before deciding sleep was winning. She stood up, dragging her feet to the tent.

…

As much as Kyoko loved the outdoors, camping was never on her radar. She usually woke up with either a kink in her neck or knots in her shoulders, in the addition to being freezing cold. Though this time she was rolled up like a burrito in the only blanket Bakugo had packed.

As she helped pack up the tent before heading off, she noticed she didn't feel sore like all the other times she had to camp. She watched Bakugo pack up the tent and sling the bag onto his shoulders. Both of them had already changed into their hero outfits and headed in the direction Kyoko had felt the energy from the day before.

"What kind of tent did you purchase? Usually I wake up in pain when camping but this tent gave me no issues!" She smiled up at him cheerily.

He looked down at her, bags under his eyes, "That would be because you used me as a pillow no matter where I moved to. I switched spots four or five times and kept waking up to you curling up next to me like a cat."

Heat rippled up her body as her smile faded away. She broke eye contact with him, muttering a 'sorry' before speed walking ahead.

…

Atori glanced down at her phone, taking a break from her newest gadget she was fiddling with. She read through her updated messages from Kyoko, cackling as she scrolled through them.

Kyo: I keep making myself look like an idiot. I yelled at him because he wouldn't listen to me, and he called me a child… I may have gotten mad and accidentally tripped him. AND THEN A SNAKE APPEARED, and I got freaked out and leapt into HIS ARMS! That's not even the worst of it…. I apparently was trying to snuggle him in my sleep…I'm so embarrassed and can't wait for this collab to be done.

Atori: If he were that bothered by it, he would have either woken you up or yelled at you this morning about it. The mission will be over soon and you'll be on your merry way back to me to test out this new gadget I'm working on 3

Atori hit send, setting the phone on to the table. As she picked up her wrench her phone screen lit up again, this time with Shinso's name. She took several seconds to decide whether or not she should pick up the call; after deeming it would be more obnoxious to deal with the percussions of not doing her job, she swiped up on the green icon and brought her phone to her ear.

"Is this an emergency?"

"Uh…I was just going to ask if you wanted to come with me to meet up with Present Mic for lunch, but if you are too busy—"

Atori popped off her stool and began powerwalking to her room, "What? No, no, no, I'm not busy. I'd love to tag along."

"Come to the café we stopped at the other day, we are meeting there at ten."

"I'll be there, see you soon!"

She wrestled herself into a white sundress she found in the back of her closet. She ran to the bathroom mirror, tossing her hair into a messy bun. She looked herself over, happy she put make up on after she woke up since she was now on a time crunch. Walking as fast as her short legs could go, she slipped on black flats and headed out the door of the apartment.

She turned a 20 minute walk into a 15 minute walk by taking few short cuts. She was greeted by a surprised Shinso when she finally reached the café. He was standing outside in a simple black button up shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his forearms, and black fitted jeans.

"Meeting an idol is a dress-up worthy event for you, huh?" He pulled his lips in tightly, looking over Atori. "You look nice in that dress."

Atori could feel heat coming off of her ears, she had no doubt she was probably blushing, and she fake coughed into her elbow to cover her face. Shinso turned to grab the door handle and pulled it open, gesturing for her to go in.

She started scanning the tables the second she walked in, searching for her favorite loud hero. Shinso tapped on Atori's shoulder to grab her attention and pointed to the booth in the back where the long-haired blond man sat.

It felt like rocks were weighing Atori down in place. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to walk up to the table until the purple haired man placed an hand on her back and gave her a slight push, guiding her to the booth.

"Yamada, this is Atori Meku."

The older man stood up, with one hand he was twirling some of his mustache hair and the other he pointed to Atori with a finger gun, "Atori Meku; the knowledge Replication hero! It's an honor to finally be meeting you!"

"Oh no, the honor is mine!" Atori slightly bowed as he took his seat.

Yamada ushered the two to sit down, and he brought his coffee to his lips.

"How has it been Yamada?" Shinso asked.

"It's been great, ya dig? Thanks for coming out today!"

"Of course, are we prepping for the interview?"

Present Mic smirked at Shinso, "Oh no, we are doing that on live air my man! I actually am hoping to get some help."

Shinso opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by his phone ringing, he looked at the screen, "Sorry, I need to take this."

He left Yamada and Atori at the table and stepped outside. Atori looked back at Yamada, perplexed as to why he would take a call in the middle of the conversation.

"Maybe you could help as well! This is usually the time of year where we start to ask Pro Heroes if they are willing to volunteer at the Academy; either for spars with each other, or guest appearances to trainings. What do ya say?"

"I'm more of a support class type of gal, but I have this inanely strong friend, Kyoko, and I know she'll do it. Whatever you need her to do!" Atori offered her best friend up.

Yamada perked up, "Stardusk huh? Oh yeah, that'll be great!"

Shinso reappeared in his seat, "Sorry, that was the police, I'll tell you about it later. Anyways, what do you need help with?"

"Are you up for helping out training new students at UA?"

"I think that is more of a Midoriya thing, have you asked him yet?"

"Yeah! Him and a few of his peers have already agreed. I am worried about Bakugo going overboard though."

"Oh! Pair him up with Kyoko!" Atori grinned.

Shinso looked over at Atori, "Would that be wise?"

"I don't see why not… They are currently teamed up on a mission now."

"I'll tell Shouta! He will be thrilled there are more pro heroes willing to help out!"

"I don't think thrilled would be the word I'd use, but whatever helps you out, Yamada." Shinso rested his elbow on the table and set his chin on his open palm.

…

"Dynamight, I can hear voices behind this rock wall, come down this way." Kyoko called up to the top of a cliff she had slid down.

Slabs of mud and rocks littered the area, after closer inspection Kyoko noticed that there was supposed to be an opening at the bottom wall of the cliff- no doubt to a cave that avid hikers would journey into.

A few seconds after yelling up to Bakugo, he was jumping down the cliff and using his quirk to ease his landing. Kyoko pointed to a slit in the rocky formation and a cool breeze slipped out of the slot.

"Hey! We're Pro Heroes and we are going to get you out, so get out of the way of the wall!" Bakugo barked loudly.

Bakugo stepped back and help his hands out, getting ready to blast through the bulk of rocks that were piled in front of them.

"Move Bubblegum Head."

Kyoko's upper lip twitched. She placed her hands on the rocks cake in mud, there was a layer of charcoal on some of the rocks. She took a deep breath and pushed into the rocks. The pieces began to mold back into the cliffside, revealing the opening of the cave. She expected to see the group to be fairly close to the entrance but when she peered in, she didn't see a single body. She glanced back at the Explosive hero, unsure of the knot that was tying in her stomach.

"Hello?" She called into the tunnel, hearing it echo.

A faint 'help' echoed back in response. Bakugo passed Kyoko, a vexed expression on his face. Kyoko jogged to catch up to him. She had sworn she heard people near the rocks when she first came down, how they were now no where in sight was confusing.

Her eyes widened a bit; unless someone had purposely trapped these people in a landslide, but why?

She bumped into Bakugo's back.

His voice was low as he held his arm out a way, "Stand guard."

Kyoko looked over his shoulder, in the middle of the path stood what looked to be a large man caked in coal. On further inspection she realized that he wasn't caked in coal, but practically made of it. An eerie gurgling gasp came out of his mouth. Kyoko took a step towards him, only to be held back by Bakugo.

"He sounds like his is in pain, we need to help." Kyoko grabbed his forearm and shaking it.

"Shut up you idiot, you can see the hikers behind him. Some are passed out and the ones that aren't, look terrified."
Kyoko looked past the mysterious figure, looking at the kidnapped hikers.

Her voiced dropped, becoming serious, "What did you do to them?"

A raspy voice came out of the man's mouth as he stepped towards the two, "…Friends…"

Bakugo studied the surroundings, "Can you get the hikers out of the here?"

"Through the exit behind us or by making an exit? If I make an exit, I'll need some time."

"I'll buy that for you, but you need to move fast, got it?"

"Let's get it." Kyoko twisted the balls of her feet into the ground.

As Bakugo lunged towards the man, Kyoko Manipulated small slates of the ground under her feet and used them as skates to push herself to speed past the two engaged in the brawl. The coal man turned to take off after Kyoko but Bakugo blasted him with his quirk, knocking the man back several feet. Bakugo moved so that he would be the man's obstacle to get to Kyoko and the others.

The pink haired hero rushed to the small group. She placed one hand on the ground and one hand on the wall of the cave. The victims that were conscious held varying expressions from fearful to hopeful.

"We'll get you guys out of here safely, once you are up on the cliff, there should be heroes ready to get you out of here." She stated before focusing her energy.

A circular crack appeared in the dirt around the group, and the ground began rising up. The cave ceiling broke away into sand, creating an opening for the rising hill of ground. Kyoko stayed on the cave floor, watching the piece of land lift up; a few of the hikers gasped in awe as they rose to the surface. The noise trigged the man to look over at Kyoko. He swung his arm, hitting Bakugo and sending him flying.

"No! My friends!"

A gaseous smog emitted from his mouth as he charged towards the woman. Arms stretched out in front of him. Kyoko couldn't move from her spot, glancing to the cave ceiling to make sure the hostages were up completely before she could take her hands from the ground. She looked back to the villain, fear glazed over her eyes at how close his hands were to her now. The smoke now rolling out from his joints, immobilizing her on the spot.

His hands curled around Kyoko's throat, causing her to gasp and intake more of the polluted air. As she looked at the man closer, she could see tiny cracks in his body, with what looked to be lava coursing through them. It clicked that he was emitting Sulfuric Dioxide. She grabbed a hold of his wrist, trying to free herself from his grasp.

"I'm not done with you yet!" Bakugo's voice echoed in the cave.

He kicked into the villains shoulder, knocking him off balance and releasing Kyoko. She took a big gasp of air as she dropped to the ground and began coughing from the amount of toxins she breathed in.

Off to the side, Bakugo let loose with his quirk, blasting his target with his special AP shot attack. The impact caused the coal man to fly into the cave wall, hitting his head on a protruding rock and falling to the ground, unconscious.

As Bakugo tied up the kidnapper, Kyoko was on her hands and knees hacking in between gasps of air. She placed a hand on her stomach as she coughed, her vision tunneled and before she passed out from the lack of air, she saw the blond hero rushing towards her with an inaudible yell.