Holding her breath for extended periods of time was something Yuka was very well versed in. Since she wasn't immune to the gasses that she could produce with her quirk, she had spent her entire life training her lungs so that she could hold her breath when she didn't have her mask on.
But even so, the experience of having black liquid shoved down your throat and lungs felt incredibly uncomfortable even for her. As she emerged from the viscous blob, she fell down to her knees, clutching her chest as she started to cough profusely. She could feel her lungs burning from being filled with that vile transposing liquid and she could scarcely get a hold of her cough as she fought for every single breath. Her colleagues slowly started pouring in as well after being ejected from their own blobs of disgusting fluid.
"That was so gross!" Toga complained loudly.
"This black stuff reeks!" Twice yelled. "I love it!"
They stood in what seemed like the ruins of a large building that had been seemingly freshly razed by some sort of explosion. The debris around them was still fuming from the blast and the dust had only just started to settle. With the dust still lingering in the air plus the fact that her lungs had just been severely irritated by that black teleporting liquid, it was no wonder that Yuka had trouble breathing right now, but despite that, she still managed to notice that a few of their number were missing.
"Where's-" she started to say, before being interrupted by another fit of coughing. "W-Where's Dabi?"
She looked around for him and saw his unconscious body lying a few feet away next to Kurogiri. It took everything that she had to get herself up on her feet despite her cough not calming down and she rushed to his side to make sure that he was alright. Gran Torino had delivered him quite the blow to the head, but despite that, Dabi was still breathing and was going to pull through.
She then looked up to see that Bakugou was standing a few feet away from them. He seemingly had also been teleported to their current location. He seemed stupefied by the looming presence of a dark figure standing some few meters away from him. Yuka hadn't noticed him until now and an immense feeling of dread overwhelmed her as she noticed the intricate mask that he was wearing.
"Master..." Tomura said as he saw the man approach.
"So, you've failed once more, Tomura," he said to him, his cavernous voice resonating inside his dark mask. "But you must not be discouraged. You'll try again. That's why I brought your associates back with you." He looked over at Bakugou. "Even this young man, because you judged that he was an important piece of your game board."
There was so much about this man that reminded her of her own father. The man that had taken her in when she was first brought to the Shie Haissaikai... From his imposing presence to the way he spoke to Shigaraki, it was hard not to compare them together, but contrary to her own father, this man seemed a lot more gentle with his young pupil.
"Start over as many times as it takes," the man said as he extended his hand towards Shigaraki. "I am here to provide you with help. All of this... is for you."
The others stared at the two with uncertainty. They recognized the man's voice from their meetings with him, but hearing his voice in person had a completely different effect. There was something unnerving about his presence that made everyone around him uneasy and his aura exuded pure unrivaled power. Yuka was no stranger to powerful men. She had grown up surrounded by them throughout her childhood and had learned to keep her composure when in their presence, but there was something about Tomura's master that left her in complete awe.
She had managed to keep herself from coughing for a few seconds while she checked up on Dabi's condition, but as soon as Shigaraki's master stopped talking, her coughs came back with a vengeance.
"Well now, you must be the one Tomura's been speaking to me about," the tall man said as he turned his attention over to her. "The one that used to run with the Shie Haissaikai, correct?"
Yuka did her best to get a hold of herself. "And you... must be the one everyone else in the Underworld's been talking about... All For One."
They all stared in astonishment as their attention turned towards All For One. He let out a soft chuckle as his voice boomed out of his hollow mask.
"My, what a clever girl you are," he said as he laughed amusingly. "I must admit, I wasn't expecting you of all people to know who I was. Afterall, the Yakuza have come to think of me as some kind of urban legend throughout the years."
He started to make his way towards her. She could sense his footsteps growing closer and closer to her, and with each step, it felt like his aura was getting more and more intense as he approached her.
"But your father knew better than to think of me as some kind of fable..."
As soon as he mentioned her father, her eyes lifted up to look at him directly.
"You... knew my father?" she managed to say in between coughs.
"Takuma Sakurazuka was a man of great integrity," he replied. "A pity that his career was cut so short. I had a bright future in store for him and his peers..."
There was something unsettling about his words that made Yuka's blood run cold, but she couldn't dwell on the feeling too long as her lungs were racked by another violent fit of coughs. As she was struggling to catch her breath, she felt All For One extend a hand towards her which made her recoil.
"You needn't be afraid," he said to her gently. "I merely wish to alleviate your current condition."
She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, coughing into it. As she pulled her hand away from her mouth, she could see that it was now covered in blood and her lungs were starting to hurt quite profusely. She looked up at All For One, still weary of the hand he was extending, but at this point, she didn't have much choice. Without her medication, it would be near impossible for her to recover from her current state and she could already feel her mind going numb from oxygen deprivation. So, reluctantly, she grabbed hold of the man's hand and immediately felt that he was doing something to her body. A wave of relief washed over her as the burning in her lungs subsided and her cough completely vanished. She breathed in deep and was surprised to hear that her breaths weren't accompanied by the usual raspy timber she had come to expect. Once she was back to peak condition, he helped her up and stepped away from her to rejoin Tomura.
"What... What did you do to me?" she asked in astonishment.
"I gave you just a little taste of a handy little regeneration quirk that I've acquired throughout the years," he explained. "You should find that your condition has been vastly improved."
Yuka couldn't remember the last time she had breathed this easily. It seemed like an eternity ago since she couldn't hear the rasp in her own breathing and, despite the lingering smoke and the dust, her lungs were breathing impeccably well even without her mask.
"This is... I..." she couldn't find what to say in that moment. "...Thank you."
She could hear him laughing behind his mask. "Consider it a favor repaid for an old friend."
She stared at him for a moment. A million questions were buzzing in her mind right now. How did All For One know her father? What was their relationship? Did he have anything to do with her father's death? She wanted to ask all of these questions, but this was hardly the time to reminisce about the past. They were wanted fugitives and the heroes could show up at any moment to interrupt what they were doing. Still, she needed to know more, especially if she was going to be working for this man.
"Were you responsible for my father's death?" she asked bluntly.
She needed to know before she did anything else. The rest of the League stared at her in shock while she stared back at All For One with distrust in her eyes. She then heard him laugh again as he turned to face her once again.
"Your father and I had a mutually beneficial relationship," he said to her. "There was no reason whatsoever for me to have him killed." He turned away from her. "But now's not the time to be discussing such things. I suspect you have questions regarding his passing, and I assure you, there will be time for us to discuss this after we are done here."
She looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out if he was lying to her, but with his mask on, it was hard to read any sort of expression coming from All For One. Still, his body language didn't seem to indicate that he was lying to her. This either meant that he was an exceedingly good liar or, more likely, that he was being truthful with her. Had he really killed her father, why would he have bothered to heal her? It would have been more convenient for him to let her die so that she couldn't stand in his way later on. Even though he seemed genuine in his response, Yuka still had her reservations about him, but for now, she would have to set them aside if she wanted to get out of this ordeal alive.
"Aah... There you are."
Her attention shifted from All For One to the fast moving object that was heading straight for him. After a few short seconds, All Might came crashing down from the sky onto All For One, sending massive amounts of wind pressure all around them.
"I'll have you return my student, All For One!" the pro hero bellowed as he struggled against his adversary.
"Have you come to kill me a second time, All Might?" the villainous man replied.
As they pushed each other back, they released a huge shockwave around them that toppled everyone around to the ground. Yuka preemptively crouched down to mitigate most of the impact and as she rose back to her feet, she saw through the dust cloud that both of them were still standing after that huge blast.
"It's only 5 kilometers from here to the bar, and yet it was at least 30 seconds after I sent the Nomu that you arrived... You've gotten weaker, All Might," All For One taunted.
"You're one to talk!" All Might rebutted. "It's kind of difficult to ignore that fancy life-support mask you've got on. Aren't you over exerting yourself?"
They both stared at each other for a moment. Meanwhile, Yuka looked around to see if everyone was alright. No one seemed hurt even after the blast, except for Kurogiri and Dabi, who were still out cold. Yuka remained close to them to keep a close eye on them as things unfolded.
"I won't repeat the same mistake I made 5 years ago. You hear me?" All Might proclaimed. "I will take young Bakugou back and I will make certain that you stay locked up for the rest of your sad life... right along with your despicable League of Villains!"
He started to lunge at All For One at the same time the masked villain lifted his arm up in front of him.
"Looks like you've got your work cut out for you," he answered as his arm started to grow in size. "This will be hard for us both."
His arm turned into a pressurized air cannon as he blasted All Might with an insane amount of power, sending him flying a few blocks away and knocking down a few more buildings along the way. Yuka watched in awe as these two giants dished it out at each other, causing mass destruction in their wake.
"All Might!" Bakugou yelled as he realized that his idol had been blown away by All For One.
"Don't you worry," the man replied. "It'll take more than that to kill him." He then turned to Shigaraki. "Get off the battlefield, Tomura, and take that young man with you..."
His fingertips suddenly turned black with bright red streaks as they extended into sharp, glass-like tendrils that he used to stab Kurogiri's body. Yuka then watched in horror as Kurogiri's body started moving on its own thanks to All For One's quirk.
"Kurogiri, warp them away," he ordered.
"Be careful!" Magne said as she ran over to him in a panic. "One of the heroes messed with him and he's unconscious. I'm not sure what's going on but if you can teleport, why don't you get us out of here?"
All For One turned his attention over to her. "My warp power is still new, Magne. There is much I need to learn about it. It's distance is limited and while he can teleport to specific coordinates, I only transport people to and from my own location." He looked down at Kurogiri's body. "It's easier to have Kurogiri do it."
With the help of his own quirk, All For One was able to forcefully activate Kurogiri's quirk despite him being unconscious. After a few seconds, a large warp gate started to form over him as All For One retracted his fingertips from him.
"Leave this place," he repeated to Shigaraki.
"What about you?" Tomura asked.
Before his master could answer, All Might suddenly emerged from the rubble of the nearby buildings that had been toppled over by All For One's previous attack and was now charging straight for him once again. All For One then started levitating into the air.
"You're not thinking, Tomura," he said to his young apprentice. "There remains much room for you to grow!"
Battle was met once again between the two giants as Tomura watched them intently. While the two rivals were busy fighting each other, Compress and the others made their way towards Yuka's position. Mr. Compress extended his hand towards Dabi, trapping him in one of his marbles for better transportation. He then looked over at Yuka and threw the marble at her for safe keeping. After catching it in her hand, she quickly glanced down at it, peering into its shiny surface to see Dabi's sleeping silhouette nestled inside.
"Let's go, Shigaraki," Compress called out to their leader. "While our masked lead is keeping All Might entertained, claim your prize."
All eyes shifted towards Bakugou, who soon realized that he was in deep trouble. He stared at the members of the League of Villains, trying to keep his cool, but Yuka could see that his fists were shaking slightly.
"This is going to be fun," he said as he readied himself.
Yuka stepped forward as she inserted Dabi's marble into her pocket. She then reached around her waist for her sword, pulling it out as she took her stance before Bakugou.
"We'll see about that..." she answered coldly as her hand curled tighter around the hilt of her katana.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that All Might was trying to intervene, but luckily, All For One was keeping him at bay. With the Symbol of Peace out of the way, Bakugou couldn't possibly hope to win against the entirety of the League of Villains.
Yuka opened with the first attack, lunging at Bakugou while he was distracted. The blond still managed to dodge her at the last second, sending out an explosion to displace himself. Her colleagues soon join after, delivering their own attacks in hopes of capturing him. But Bakugou was staying on the defensive, creating as much space between them as he could so that they couldn't reach him. He knew that he was vastly outnumbered and that it was only a matter of time before they would gain the upper hand. Yuka knew this as well, and with her lungs performing at an even greater capacity than before, she had all the energy and time in the world to whittle him down little by little.
What she hadn't accounted for though was the huge wall of ice that suddenly emerged from behind her. She managed to roll out of the way just in time, but as she was recovering from the roll, she saw a group of young students fly off into the air. One of them called out to Bakugou and before they knew it, he was blasting off to meet them. Shigaraki tried to stop him last minute, but even he failed to grab him before he had the chance to blast himself into the air.
"Why do you keep showing up everywhere?" Tomura said as he angrily clenched his fist.
"Don't let them get away!" Compress shouted. "Who can do distance?"
"Kurogiri and Dabi! But they're down!" Spinner answered.
"You two, come here," Magne said as she approached the pair.
A small magnetic field started to form in between her hands, growing larger and larger as she channeled her quirk. She then engulfed the two men in the magnetic field and charged it so that Compress would get launched into the sky.
"Ready?!" Magne asked.
After a few more seconds of channeling, she released her quirk, sending Compress soaring through the air. He was well on his way to catching up with the group of boys when suddenly, Mount Lady emerged from the rubble below, gigantifying herself so that she could intercept Compress midair. He came face to face with the gigantic lady, making her nose bleed as he flew straight into her before plummeting down.
"We can still catch them!" Magne yelled out. "You two, come h-"
She was interrupted by Gran Torino's sudden arrival. With the same velocity he used to knock out Dabi earlier, he managed to take down Magne, Twice and Spinner all in one go. Yuka stayed on her guard. With Bakugou out of the way, All Might wouldn't need to pull any of his punches anymore.
"Three left over here," Gran Torino said as he turned his attention to the remaining three members of the League of Villains. "I'll handle 'em!"
"Tomura, I do not want to die in this place!" Himiko said as she turned to her leader.
Her mood instantly changed when she saw Yuka stepping in front of her with her sword drawn.
"No one's dying tonight," she said in a serious tone.
"Yay! My hero, Mia!" Toga mused joyfully.
Yuka and Shigaraki readied themselves for any incoming attacks. Gran Torino tried to land a hit on Tomura with his quirk, but Shigaraki was ready to intercept him with his own quirk.
"You are dust!" he declared as he stuck his hand out in front of him.
But as he was preparing to intercept Gran Torino, All For One used his Quirk Activation power on Magne, which turned Toga into a north pole and all of the boys into south poles.
"Huh? W-Wait you guys! You're coming at me too fast!" she yelled out as all of the unconscious men started rushing towards her, ultimately pushing her into Kurogiri's warp gate behind her.
Tomura and Yuka were the only two left on the battlefield and they were both struggling against the magnetic pull from Magne's quirk. Tomura desperately wanted to stay by his master's side, while she was trying to stay behind to make sure that he passed through the portal with them.
"Come on Shigaraki!" she called out to him.
"Wait! Don't...! Master!" Shigaraki protested as he continued to struggle against the magnetic pull. "Your body is too damaged!"
He felt the magnetic pull suddenly grow stronger as Yuka stepped towards him. Once they were close to each other, Tomura fell backwards against her and they were both pulled simultaneously towards the warp gate.
"No I... won't go!" Shigaraki objected, reaching out towards All For One as he started to disappear into the portal.
The two of them fell backwards into a dimly lit office. As the magnetic pull from Magne's power subsided, Yuka slowly freed herself from Tomura, who had fallen on top of her. Once she was up on her feet, she looked around to see if everyone had made it through the portal.
"Is everyone alright?"
Toga groaned in response as she struggled to free herself from the pile of men she had been buried underneath. Yuka quickly made her way over to help her out, helping her up once she was cleared of the unconscious men. Once she was back on her feet, Toga flung herself at her, taking her into her arms and burying her head in the crook of Yuka's neck.
"That was so scary," she said as she held her tightly in her arms. "I'm so glad it's over..."
Yuka froze as Himiko held her in a tight embrace. She wasn't sure how to react at first, but after a few moments, she ultimately reciprocated her embrace, taking her into her arms and holding her tight. Admittedly, she was also relieved to be out of that dangerous situation and even more relieved to know that Toga and the others had all made it out safely.
"I'm just glad you're all alright," she said in a low voice.
She felt Toga's arm grow tighter around her waist. "I'm glad you're okay too, Mia..."
Once she was freed from Toga's embrace, Yuka turned to see how Tomura was doing. What she saw seemed all too familiar to her. Shigaraki was sitting on the ground, eyes empty as his mask had fallen from his face. He stared blankly at the floor, palms shaking as he whispered to himself.
"Master... Master..."
Slowly, his hands reached up to scratch at his neck, and the more he scratched, the more he itched, until finally, his fingernails started digging into his skin, leaving long red strokes along his neck.
"Hey," he heard a voice coming from behind him.
Yuka hesitated for a moment. Touching him while he was in this precarious mental state was dangerous, but she couldn't help but feel sympathy towards him. He was afraid to lose the man he saw as his own father, a feeling she was all too familiar with, so she laid her hand on his shoulder, snapping him out of his anxious spiraling. The fact that he remained motionless was incredibly reassuring to her.
"It's not over," she said to him in a calm voice. "He's probably all over the news. Let's wait and see how this all turns out."
She then let go of him, leaving him alone for the time being. She didn't want to push him harder than he was willing to go.
While everyone was still unconscious, Yuka and Toga pulled up a video covering All For One and All Might's fight. As everyone slowly started coming around, they all started gathering around the screen to see how their fight was going, as every major news outlet was covering their fight in real time.
It seemed at first like All For One was going to annihilate All Might, especially since he had exposed to the world what the Symbol of Peace really looked like, but ultimately, it was All Might who emerged victorious. Despite his victory over All For One, his pristine image had been shattered in an instant. Even though All For One hadn't won, the repercussions of their fight would ripple through the entire world and ultimately, that's what was important. Despite this, Yuka couldn't help but feel for Tomura's loss. His father might not have been killed in battle, but the situation still felt all too similar to her own.
As he sat in the corner of the room with his arms wrapped around himself, he stared blankly at the wall, eyes filled with rage. The others seemed reluctant to say anything to him, or even look at him for that matter. Yuka wasn't sure how she was supposed to act around him. When her father had died, she had left everyone she ever knew behind and had set out on her own. She couldn't trust anyone and couldn't stand to be around all of the people that reminded her of him. She couldn't stand to be around anyone, for that matter, which was probably how Tomura was feeling right now. So, she motioned for everyone to leave the room once the news coverage was over. Kurogiri still hadn't recovered from his trauma and as they were moving him out of the room, Compress remembered Dabi's marble, which was still in Yuka's possession, and held out his hand towards her to retrieve it.
Yuka stared at him for a while, not understanding what he wanted from her, but after a few seconds, she finally remembered the marble still tucked away in her pocket and immediately retrieved it to give it back to him. She couldn't believe she had been carrying it with her this whole time and was embarrassed to know that Compress had also noticed it. As he retrieved the marble from her, he let out a slight chuckle, which set a wave of heat to Yuka's blushing cheeks.
"Let's see if he's come around," he said to her as he released Dabi from his spherical prison.
As he reversed the effects of his quirk, they saw Dabi's unconscious form flop down on the floor. They both instinctively went to catch him, but were unsuccessful.
"Hmm... He did take a significant hit to the head," Compress pondered. "Maybe you should stay with him to make sure he wakes up."
Yuka nodded affirmatively. "Sure, just help me move him into the room. I'll keep an eye on him."
Compress acquiesced to her request and helped her move Dabi into the same room Kurogiri had been moved to. The two men laid in adjacent beds and Yuka pulled up a chair for her to sit on so that she could supervise their recovery more comfortably.
"I'll let you all know when one of them wakes up," she assured Compress.
Once she was left alone with the two unconscious men, she let out a long sigh. It had been a long and trying day. So much had happened and so much had been revealed. She remembered how All For One had promised her answers regarding her father, but now it seemed like she was never going to get those answers, not as long as All For One was locked up in Tartarus...