Drageria
Ch. 34: A Strange Reputation part. 4
"I can't believe you started a stampede!", Shinso exclaimed as he ran.
"I can't believe they broke out! Shouldn't the fences be strong enough to withhold them?", Kirishima shot back as he ran.
The five teens were now hot purists of the stampeding livestock. They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, even while running with a box of pizza and a baby panda. But their pursuit was in vain. They were already a few minutes behind the animals, and they had broken through several fence lines used to make out different pastures with ease! It was only a matter of time before they hit the town!
"The animals are free range, the only fences are around the towns, plus there for the imagery of enclosure. A mind game for animals. They're not that strong!", Izuku exclaimed as they all pushed themselves as fast as they could.
"Now you tell me!", Kirishima shot back.
"Guys, focus, what are we going to do?! Dragerian livestock are really dangerous if provoked. If they get into town, they'll trample everyone and things in their way!", Momo told them with haste.
"We could use Ochako's quirk.", Kirishima offers.
But Uraraka shook her head as she told him, "I can only float three tons. Some of these animals are way heavier than that, plus there are too many."
While panting, Izuku thought fast, "We can try to distract them with another loud sound."
"And then what!? How are we going to calm them down?!", Shinso asked in a strained voice.
"You could do that!", said Kirishima while pointing to him.
Shinso rolled his eyes and griped, "My quirk only works on intelligent creatures."
"Well, it may be our only shot.", Izuku interjected before commanding, "Uraraka, you and Momo float ahead of the stampede. Kirishima, you throw them away with all you have. Get the stampede to go to the left. Shinso, you and I are going ahead; we'll try to use your quirk. If not, well figured out a way to tire themselves out."
The teens nodded and set out. Izuku and Shinso diverted to the left and ran off to offset the herd. At the same time, Kirishima grabbed Momo and Uraraka after their gravity had been taken away and threw them with all his might before collapsing onto the ground! The two girls flew through the air at breakneck speeds while overtaking the whole stampede. They had made it to the town in seconds, where the herd was only a few hundred yards away. They had to act fast!
The people had already seen the incoming stampede and had begun running for their lives! Everyone was so stunned by the sight that even Ladon was caught off guard! At this time, several of the kids were climbing up or around him, and unknown to him, Eri was on his tail. When Ladon got excited or shocked, he jerked his body part up stiffly, which caused the girl to get launched into the air!
Back with Momo and Uraraka, the girls stood between the field and the town with nothing to defend but their bodies! Uraraka was panicking as she tried to warn any people away from the emanating danger, but Momo was cool-headed. She quickly handed the panda off to the other girl and opened her shit as she created something strange and large!
Once she had finished creating it, it looked like the world's largest didgeridoo. Then she created an air compressor, and using both, she blasted out a sound so loud she had to wear ear muffs over her ear! But it worked in the end, and the sound scared the animals off to the left, where Izuku and Shinso were waiting.
Once the two boys separated from the others, they ran to one of the few trees in the pasture and climbed it. Izuku vaulted Shinso up to a branch, and Izuku vaulted himself up there with his own natural agility. Once on top, Shinso asked the big question.
"Any idea how to get animals to respond to me?", he inquired as Izuku thought fast.
Looking around after coming up with nothing, he saw one of the many feed barrels scattered around the pastures, standing close to their tree. Jumping down and running to it, he scooped out a huge portion into a container and hopped back up to the top while handing it off to Shinso, saying, "Use this!"
Shinso looked into the bucket and observed, "A bucket of treats?"
"They love this stuff. Call out and use your quirk.", Izuku instructed him.
Soon, the two felt the tree branches shake as the stampede came their way not too far off. Seeing them come, Izuku called out, "Here they come!"
Shindo mentally prepared himself, gulping and nervously licking his lips. He was used to talking to people but never shouting. But he knew if he didn't, then who knew where the green might end up or trampling. At least Kirishima had natural protection.
So he mustered all the courage he could and yelled, shaking the bucket, "Who wants treats?"
This grabs the attention of the pigs, a few cows, and many of the chickens! The Dragerian fowl looked as if a chicken had become an ostrich but just as smart as the bird. When they heard his voice, their heads popped up to him, and Shinso felt their reply in his mind. It was faint, like trying to hold something heavy on a string, but it was there. So he took control over the mind he could and made them lead the herd straight into the open pasture to tire themselves out!
Once the animals were gone, Izuku turned to Shinso, hugged him, and exclaimed in joy, "It worked!"
Shinso buffers up a bit, both uncomfortable and embarrassed by the affection, and pushes him away while asking him, "Somewhat. Now what?"
"Let's meet up with the others and regroup.", Izuku replied.
As the two boys jumped down from the tree, they ran for the town, where they quickly met up with Kirishima and the girls. The girls waved them over, and the two boys finally took a minute to breathe and relax. There, Izuku told them that their plan had worked!
"We did it!", Uraraka cheered.
"We saved the town!", Kirishima exclaimed excitedly.
But their celebration was cut short when they heard someone yelling, "Someone help! A small girl is in the back of a lion!"
When the teens heard this, they bolted into the two squares, where they saw a group of people trying to maneuver out of the way of the scene unfolding. They could only see a lion running and jumping around like crazy as a little girl screamed while holding on for life! Just as the teens tried to assess the situation and act accordingly, something about this scenario seemed…off.
"Hey. Isn't that-?", Kirishima began to say until Izuku figured it out faster, yelling, "ERI!"
Before any of them could act or think, Izuku was already running into the fray, throwing the pizza box into Shinso's arms! First, he took one of his Escrima sticks and threw it with pinpoint accuracy, hitting the lion on the head and stunning it! He then grabbed a banner, and as the lion tried to run again, he threw it over its eyes, making it unsteady and blind! He then ran at the lion, did a kid sit summersault, grabbed Eri, and landed as the lion smashed into a building!
Looking down at the bundle in his arms, Izuku asked in concern, "Are you okay, Eri?"
Eri, shaken by the experience, looked up with watery eyes and replied, "I'm okay, Izuku."
Just then, his friends ran up to him, and Momo asked, "Izuku! Are you okay?!"
He nods before saying in realization, "I'm good, but what about the lion?"
As the teens approached where the animal mindlessly crashed, Kirishima asked, "That's a lion?"
Confused by his question, Izuku looked over to the beast and instead saw a huge, slivered-colored blob crawling out of the banner and sinking into a sewer grate. Izuku blinked a few times before blabbing out in stupefaction, "What in the-!? What is that!?"
"Oh! That was a mimic! What a relief.", Tachibana sighed, placing a hand on his chest after getting worked up from the story.
"A Mimic?", all the teens asked at the same time.
Tachibana nods and explains, "Yeah, a mimic. It's an amorphous creature that can take the form of whatever it sees. I use them as unsuspecting security around the towns. They're perfectly harmless. Their bark is far worse than their bite, so to speak. Though I'm not sure why this one took the form of a lion?", after shaking his head from getting off-topic, he paraphrased, "So if I'm following correctly, Eri, who was playing with Ladon, accidentally vaulted her off his tail from the stampede and onto a lion which was a mimic. You saved her, and then the mochi cart incident happened; how?", he asked curiously as Uraraka blushed.
"We were just about to get into that.", Izuku told him.
After the commotion had settled down a bit, it was apparent that Izuku's last-minute actions caused one of the pedestrians to come into a bit of trouble. A hidden-looking man had somehow had a whole bunch of papers he was toting around, gotten knocked from his hands and fly all over the floor.
Seeing the man scramble and struggle, Kirishima offered a hand, saying, "Oh, so sorry about that, sir. I hope you're alright. Here, let me help you collect your papers."
"No! I'm fine! Really!", the man insisted a bit too firmly.
"Please, I insist as a…", Kirishima began to say with a smile until he looked at what he was collecting and observed, "These are some strange papers you got."
"Don't look at them!", the man yelled, grabbing the papers he held and scrambling for the rest.
"Hey, wait a second.", Momo suddenly said as she joined and picked up a few papers, skimming them over before saying, "This is personal insider information on the workings of Drageria. How did you-?", only for the man to make a mad dash and Momo to yell, "HEY HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
Just as the teens began to run after the fleeing man, he knocked into and over a mobile mochi cart to try to impede them. The only person it worked on was Uraraka, who stopped and fell to her knees at the sight. Some unsavory memories flashed through her mind, all reminding her of her past.
Since she was a little girl, Uraraka has been loved extensively by her parents. Though they had little, they did all they could to provide her with a good life. Even though they owned a construction company, the business could have been more booming. Uraraka wanted to help, but her parents always told her to do something that her heart desired, not what was needed at the moment. But things took a turn when her father had to take out loans to keep the business afloat and adequately pay their workers. Then the loan sharks came, and soon, they'd likely have to close the company down for good. But then Tachibana's message came through, and they took it. With the company on the edge of collapse, them nearing poverty, and loan sharks making their threats more and more, even involving her, they had no choice but to flee.
After landing on the island, her father introduced himself to Tachibana and told her about his credentials. With very little to consider, Tachibana made her mom and dad the co-operators in Drageria's construction, and there was a lot to have! And life was much better here.
Now, how does this relate to the mochi cart? Well, she knew the value of money and, moreover, food. Food should not be wasted! Food is sacred! Food is everything! She used to go days without a proper meal and knew how much a hot meal menu cost! Seeing this was unforgivable!
As a shadow cast over her face, she stood up from her knees, clutching her fists. She said in a low and threatening tone, "That bastard."
"U-Uraraka? Are you okay?", Izuku asked carefully as he saw the girl acting strangely.
But she suddenly turned to the group, fire blazing in her eyes, and commanded, "Kirishima! Throw me!" When Kirishima hesitated, she half yelled, "Do it now!"
"Okay, okay!", Kirishima exclaimed in fear, grabbing the now weightless girl and lugging her with all he had!
Uraraka flew through the air, passing through the hole in the crowd made by the fleeing man, and Uraraka caught up to him in seconds! She grabbed the man, and using her weightless state, she threw him around a circle, mid-air, and threw him against the ground with all she had! She threw him so hard that she ended up creating a crater in the ground with his body!
"Holy!", Shinso exclaimed.
"Woah!", Izuku marveled.
"Uraraka is so manly.", Kirishima fan-boyd.
After returning her own gravity, she stood over him and yelled, "And that's for destroying the best food cart in Drageria, you bastard!"
Tachibana's eyes moved to Uraraka, who was not so carefully sneaking mochi while they spoke. He turned back to the group and said, "I…have no words. Moving on, continue, please."
"Fear not, good citizens of Drageria.", Uraraka proclaimed after stepping away from the downed man and addressing the crowd.
Unbeknownst to her, she had accidentally removed the man's gravity, and he was now floating up and away—a fact that her team had tried to point out.
"Uraraka.", said Sinhso.
"For we have saved the town."
"Uraraka.", said Kirishima.
"And one of its greatest assets."
"Uraraka.", said Momo.
"No longer will you have to be starved of the glory that is mochi!"
"Ochako!", Izuku half yelled.
"What?", she asked after being cut off from her victory speech.
"The spy is floating away.", Shinso stated while pointing behind her.
Looking back, she saw the hole was no longer filled, so when her eyes traveled up, she saw the unconscious man floating skyward and away. Her sweat dropped, and she exclaimed, "Oh shoot!", touching her fingertips together, she called, "Release.", and the man's gravity returned alongside him, falling straight into a building that was on fire, prompting the girl to shout, "Oh double shoot!"
"You dropped him into a burning building!", Shinso griped while running past her with the others.
"Yeah, I see that!", Uraraka yelled back while running with them.
As they ran to the sight of the fire, the flames had already reached their epoch! The whole building was engulfed, and if they didn't act fast…well, they hoped the man would die from asphyxiation first. But they would also lose their leg against whoever was trying to espionage them. So, without thinking, Izuku jumped into action!
"Don't worry, guys. I've got this!", he exclaimed as he handed Kirishima the pizza box.
"Izuku, wait!", Momo called out, but the teen had already rushed into the flames through the broken door. Groaning at him, Momo handed the panda off to Shinso and created a fire hazard suit while saying, "Hold the baby!"
With a fire suit on, Momo juniper into the flames. Meanwhile, Izuku was running, jumping over the flames, and flaming…everything. He vaulted himself off beans and walls and anything not burnt to nothing. Sliding under a beam, he ran up the stairs and found the man lying on a bed. Thankfully, he didn't fall through the roof and onto the hard floor that was on fire, and from the looks of it, he was still alive. So Izuku ran over, grabbed the man, slung him over his shoulders, and began to run out with him.
Unfortunately, as he came to the bottom of the stairs, one of the beams fell and collapsed on top of him! Izuku and the man were pinned down, and worst of all, Izuku got bonked on the head, so things were blurry! Fortunately for him, a figure clothed in a fireproof suit came to his aid! It was Momo, and the girl was already rolling up her shirt to create a car jack. She placed it under the beam, lifted it up, helped pull Izuku and the man from under, and ran outside with the two!
On the outside, the whole building was engulfed in so much fire that it looked like it would fall on itself any second! Kirishima, Shonso, and Uraraka were getting worried, but since none of them could realistically withstand the fire, they could only wait, keep the people away, or try to put it out! Luckily, Momo and Izuku came out of the front door just seconds before it collapsed, allowing the two to exit with ease!
The other three teens grabbed the escapees and pulled them out of the way from the fire before the building could fall over! Once free, Momo made an oxygen mask for Izuku and the man to catch their breath from nearly suffocating while she removed her fireproof suit.
"Nice job, Izuku, you too, Momo!", Uraraka congratulated them.
Once Izuku could speak without coughing, he turned to the tall girl beside her and said, "Thanks for the save, Momo. I really didn't -wait; what are those?", he asked while pointing to the basket in her other hand.
"Kittens.", she said happily while showing the basket full of baby cats of different colors.
Just then, an old lady with a hefty lady cat on her shoulders came up and happily exclaimed, "Oh, thank you, young lady! My cat just had kittens, and I was so worried. Thank you for rescuing them."
Heading off the basket, Momo told her as she took back the panda, "All in a day's work."
Tachibana blinked as he stared at them. He looked at Izuku, who looked like smoked meat, and asked, "Where did the fire come from?"
Momo informed him, "From what I gathered, Prince Ladon got so scared by the stampede that he spewed a glob of his poison, which somehow caught fire on the building."
"I heard it was a barbecue place.", said Kirishima.
"That would explain the explosion.", Shinsho stated aloud.
"No! Not barbecue! It's the second best thing in the world next to mochi!", Uraraka exclaimed while falling to her knees in despair.
Taking a deep breath while rubbing his eyes, Tachibana began to say in summary, "Okay, to summarize this whole shebang. You saved some puppies, which weren't puppies, from drowning. They lead you to a hidden drug ring that was trying to establish itself on the island. You intervened, which caused a stampede. During which, Eri was vaulted onto the back of a lion, which was a mimic, because of Ladon.", he said while looking down at the girl in his lap who was playing with a toy. "After a successful rescue, you discovered a spy from another country trying to steal valuable info, after which Ochako floated him up.", Tachibana paused as he flipped the page over and read while staring at the girl, "After he knocked over a Mochi cart."
Ochako whistled innocently while trying to avert his gaze, her face covered in mochi after eating her thank-you gift from the vendor.
"Only for him to land in a building on fire. Once again, caused by my son.", he continued as Eri let out a happy squeak from the toy doing something she found funny.
"Which you then ran inside of to rescue him along with a litter of kittens.", Tachibana continues as Izuku simply nodded, causing soot to fly everywhere.
"Izuku.", Tachibana began with a sigh, placing his face under his thumb and between his hands. Izuku stiffened, and Tachibana said with exasperation, "I sent you out to get a pizza."
Izuku looked away while the others sighed in disappointment. Eri grabbed a paper on the table and handed it to Tachibana, who smiled and thanked his little helper.
"Okay, explain this last one to me.", Tachibana continued as he finished reading the paper, squinting his eyes as he asked, "How do you accidentally stop a bank robbery?"
"I don't know. It all happened so fast!" Izuku shouted, covering his face with his hands. He was utterly overwhelmed and embarrassed at this point.
"But hey! He got you your pizza. And it's still hot.", Kirishima tried to point out the brighter side of this whole thing while pointing to the crumpled, ripped, and toasted box that was somehow in one piece.
"Well, at least you did that. And the best part is, Arete has no idea.", Tachibana agreed with a sigh while opening the box to take a bite of the pristine pizza.
Only for the woman in question to barge into his office and say, "I have no idea about what?", only for the busty woman to stop and gasp before the sight in front of her.
Not the five kids looking like they had been through hell and back, but Tachibana was eating a slice of pizza when he should be on his purge! Tachibana paused mid-pull of the cheese as he looked between the stunned woman and his food. Quickly hiding the remains behind him and swallowing what was in his mouth, he tried to play it off cool while covering the box in his wings.
"Arete! This, um, this isn't what it looks like!", Tachibana sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than she was.
But Arete wasn't falling for it, obviously, and stated firmly, "Really? Because to me, it looks like you're cheating during your purge!"
"No?", Tachibana replied.
"How long has this been going on?"
"No?"
"Have you any shame?!"
"No?"
Arete growled as she marched up to the god, who was hiding his head in his shirt like a turtle, and exclaimed, "That's it, Lord Tachibana! I'm going to keep an even striker watching over you and temporarily closing down your guilty food vendors for an additional month!"
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", he and Uraraka exclaimed like they were in a movie scene.
"Lady Arete, don't you think that'll be bad for the business?", Momo tried to reason with the woman.
"They'll be compensated for the lost business from the Drageria Royal bank.", Arete assured her before grabbing the pizza and turning around. She marched to the door and yelled, "And your new purge starts now!"
"No! Arete! At least let me have the pizza!", Tachibana begged while reaching out his arm pathically, only for the woman to ignore him and leave without another word.
Uraraka, who was also mourning with the king, suddenly found her inner fire and yelled with gnashing teeth, "That woman is the devil! She must be stopped!"
As Uraraka ran off to….do whatever she was planning on doing to Arete, Izuku called out, trying to stop her as he yelled in warning, "Uraraka, wait! She's-!", only for the floating girl to rush out of the room and only a few seconds later did she roll back in, hitting Tachibana's desk, causing papers to fly all over, and leaving the girl to lay out with starts dancing before her eyes as Izuku finished off saying, "Unassuming."