Chapter One Hundred and Two

It all happened so fast.

Kendo had been having fun at the summer camp. It wasn't like anything that she'd ever experienced before, but she was a Hero Student now, so that just made sense!

It'd gotten a little… intense, and, yeah, having them all pass out while eating dinner was a bit much, but that was just Hero Camp for you.

This… This wasn't Hero Camp anymore.

But they hadn't realized it until too late.

She'd woken up with Sero, the tape guy, Sato, the muscle guy, and Tsubaraba, the blowhard, though nothing on the level of Monoma. Everyone had been worried, but she'd gotten them together, found the note the Pussycats had left them, and then they'd set off.

At first it had been smooth sailings, as Kendo knew how to use a compass, and they'd not seen a single sign of the 'monsters' that Pixie-Bob was supposed to make. And, from the 1-A boys' descriptions of them, they'd be hard to miss. At first the forest was silent, but, eventually, they could hear others that'd started to fight in the distance.

And then it had happened.

She hadn't even known they'd been attacked, a slight whirring noise their only warning, until Sato shoved her out of the way, and a light green spinning circle of energy, studded with teeth like a sawblade, came tearing through the forest, narrowly missing them both as it cut halfway through a tree, which fell to the ground.

Sero threw up lines of tape, catching an off-white javelin that came for him, the weapon made of bone as it tore halfway through, before getting caught.

Kendo turned, activating her Quirk, getting ready to fight, when another glowing, oversized sawblade came for them, but then a man's voice called, "Sato Rikodo, STAY."

The big guy froze mid-dodge, unable to move, as Kendo, who'd jumped in the other direction, threw her enlarged hands down and tried to push off, to get to him, but she wasn't fast enough, and was still feet away when the blade hit, tearing through his chest in a geyser of blood that spun outwards, painting the grass, and he went down with a wet thump.

"Sato!" Sero called, glancing back, as more bone javelins came at them, from the same direction as the voice in the forest, and the other boy dodged them, only they were meant for Tsubaraba, who'd formed an invisible barrier with his breath, which shattered, but with enough time for him to get out of the way.

"Damn it!" the tape-boy yelled, throwing out lengths towards the person they could see, but-

"Hanata Sero, Stay!"

But the teen froze, as the figure in the trees moved to the side, sending more javelins at the now defenseless boy. However, Kendo had seen this happen already, and was already moving, tackling the rigid teen out of the way, though he was clearly struggling against the control, yet unable to do anything.

"Kosei, Run!" Kendo ordered, picking up the dark-haired teen she'd saved, her brown-haired classmate nodding and turning to-

"Kosei Tsuburaba, Stay!"

She could tell where the voice was, now, near the bone guy, but, as another green sawblade came rushing in for her classmate, she couldn't get to him in time. Left with nothing else, she threw Sero at the boy, hoping to save them both, only to watch in horror as the tape-making teen, whose paralysis suddenly wore off, understood what she was doing, and tried to throw out a line to get to Tsuburaba in time, his tape instead bouncing off one of her classmate's invisible barriers instead.

And this time the blade struck its target in the head, killing her classmate instantly.

"No!" she screamed, the horror of what she'd seen freezing her in place.

But Sero didn't stop, scrambling to his feet, throwing tape in the direction of their attackers, and a strand at her, yanking her towards him even as more javelins almost hit her legs, the teen yelling, "We gotta go!"

The sudden jerk to her body shocked her into action, and she started to run, following behind the boy, another sawblade coming for them, and missing, a woman's voice calling out, "Come on, Sho, make 'em slow down!"

"Shut it, Hakai," the commanding voice replied. "Gimme a, oh, good. Itsuka Kendo, PUNCH!"

Running, caught off guard, the orange-haired girl's body moved on its own, even as Sero turned to try and grab her as she stiffened. But she didn't stiffen, striking forward instead, catching a surprised Sero off guard, as she slammed her still enlarged fist into him, sending him flying into a tree, bouncing off with a crack only for a Javelin to slam into his gut, pinning him to it with a cry of pain.

Her body twitched, and was then under her control again, as she ran to try to help, furiously thinking of what first aid she knew, only to have to break off as another green sawblade spun in front of her, and more javelins came for Sero. He managed to block two of them, only for the command of, "Hanata Sero, STAY!" to make him seize up, three more catching him in the chest, the boy going limp.

"Oi! Disuku!" a second man snapped. "I said the chick's mine!"

"Then get her already, Hone!" the woman argued, and, turning around, she could see the three figures emerge from the forest. A tall, thin, professional looking man with bone spurs sticking out of his arm. A woman in dark green leather, spinning another energy blade between her palms. And a second man, tanned, and with animal ears sticking out of his hair, rubbing his throat as if in mild pain.

"Fine, Disuku, keep your panties on," the bone man replied, thrusting his hands towards the teen, the spurs launching forward into the full spears, which, now that Kendo could see them coming, were easy enough to dodge, but her mind was running frantically.

Sato was on the ground, twitching, still alive, if barely, Sero was out of it, but hopefully still alive too, and Kosei was, Kosei was dead and she had no idea how to handle it, but she had to do so fast. The neck guy could give commands, but there was a cooldown, or else he would've done it sooner, so she needed to do something, and she needed to do it now.

"What're you doing here?" she demanded, causing the Villains, because what else could they be, to laugh, but in that opening she moved, darting forward, hands at the ready.

She caught bone guy off guard, slapping a fist into him, as he was in her way, sending him flying, and the woman sent a disk at her, which she dodged, risking it to slap it away, the top of the construct hot but manageable, as she closed on the controller, hands reaching forward, to cover his mouth, and, and she didn't know what come after, but-

"ItsukaKendoStay!"

It came out in a rush, as he ducked, her hands already closing on his head, but her body went stiff and she crashed into him, unable to move.

The man pushed her off him, as she struggled, but her muscles were locked up, forcing her to stay completely still.

"Fuck!" the tan man swore, animals ears twitching, his voice hoarse. "Shit, Kuiru, you okay?"

"Fucking bitch," she heard the bone-shooter swear, unable to turn her head, but the sound of him walking back was clear. "Ichi, what the hell!?"

"Cooldown's the cooldown," the other man shrugged, looking around. "Okay, that's it for our payday. Let's kill these 'heroes' and get the hell out of here. I'm looking forward to finally making rent, and paying off what I owe Mrs. Takamuru."

Kendo felt herself be picked up, as the javelin Villain, Kuiru, sneered, "In a sec. Bitch owes me."

"Owes you?" Ichi replied, confused. "Dude, they haven't got anything. Hell, you heard Mr. Inugami, they couldn't even sneak a tracker in. All these kids have got is what they're wearing. Just kill her and let's go. Disuku, can you-"

There was the hum of a disk, and a wet tearing noise from where Sero was.

"Ugh. Uh, thanks," the controlling Villain finished. "Come on Kuiru."

But the bone Villain, dressed like a salaryman, dropped her on the ground, and then pulled her hands above her head, able to reposition her, while every time she tried to move, she couldn't. "Oh, I'm gettin' something all right," the Villain sneered, before using his Quirk to stab her through each hand, through her palms, into the ground, and she tried to scream in pain, but her throat was as paralyzed as the rest of her.

In the distance, thunder boomed.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Ichi demanded. "We're here to kill them, not, not that."

"We're fuckin' Villains, you little bitch," Kuiru shot back. "We're gonna kill 'em anyways! Might as well have some fun first!"

"No!" Ichi argued. "That's, no. Disuku, you're a woman, tell him that's fucked up!"

At the edge of her vision, the woman, idly spinning another disk over her palm, stepped next to Kendo's head, commented, "Eh, she looks like some of the snooty whores that gave me shit growing up. She probably did too. Going to a rich place like UA? Rich bitch probably deserves it."

The tanned man looked at the other two Villains in disgust. "You, you know what? Fuck it. We did the job, I'm heading back to the exit point. You two sickos have fun. Itsuka Kendo, Release. And sorry."

Able to move, the hero student tried to pull her hands up, but they were pinned, instead using them to lift herself up and kick the disk Villain in the face, the woman falling back with a cry of pain, as she tried to get up, only to have her legs grabbed and pulled back down by the Bone Villain.

"That bitch! I'll fuck up her face!" the woman screamed, even as the man went for his belt.

"Just leave her alive long enough fo-"

CRACK

And everything from the sternum up on the man was gone, blood splattering the ground, the trees, her, the shockwave shoving Kendo into the ground, a crackle of lightning closing in on them.

"FUCK!" the woman yelled, turning and throwing a disk, then leaping aside as it flew back out at her, the constant crackling closing quickly, and Kendo picked her head up enough to see flashes of yellow come hurtling through the trees, headed right for them, Disuku throwing another sawblade as the clearing lit up, flashing towards them, and-

"Denki Kaminari, Stay!"

And then it froze, a foot away from the woman, and Kendo finally realized what she was looking at.

It was the boy from 1-A, looking almost inhuman, arms and legs shifted to jagged electric claws, one hand headed right for the woman's face, blade-like talons about to rip her head off, but now he'd been stopped.

The Villianess fell back, breathing hard, swearing, "What the FUCK!? I thought, what's, Fuck!"

"H-Holy shit, he killed Kuiro! Like, it was.." the ordering Villain breathed, then winced, holding his head. "And, fuck, he's, get him Hakai! I don't give a shit what the boss said, I don't want to die!"

Nodding to herself, the woman stood, hands shaking, as she formed another sawblade, and Kendo didn't want to watch, but she couldn't look away.

"Thought you were hot shit, did you?" the Villainess demanded, working the disk bigger and brighter. "Well fucking die!"

"No."

Then Kaminari, despite being held like she was, moved, electric hand snapping out to grab the spinning disk of energy, stopping it cold, while, with his other, he tore through her head in an instant. Tossing it away, the electrical student turned towards Ichi, who backed up, panicking.

"Denki Kaminari, Stay!"

But he didn't stop, slowly stalking forward.

"Denki Kaminari, Stop!"

But he didn't stop, flicking his claws free of blood.

"D-Denki Kaminari, DIE!"

"No."

Falling backwards, the Villain asked, horrified, "O-Oh fuck, that's not you're a-actual name, is it?"

At that the student stopped. "It is. But my soul is my own."

Then there was a blur of motion, outside the range of her vision, a wet tearing, and the sound of several things hitting the ground.

And then, a moment later, Kaminari was by her side, limbs still glowing, as he looked her over.

"Shit," he swore that… other quality of his voice fading. "Kendo, are you-"

"Sato!" she yelled, finding her voice. "He might still be alive!"

The blonde winced, then was gone, back a moment later. "Let's get you-"

"Sato!" she repeated, she, she couldn't be the only one alive. She just couldn't be.

"Is gone. I… I wasn't fast enough, and.." he trailed off shaking his head. "Hold still, this, this is going to hurt."

As he reached above her, she knew what he was going to do, and grit her teeth, twitching at the stinging shocks he was giving off, and bit back a yell as the electricity seemed to coat her palms, before, with a cool feeling, one was free, then the other.

"Shrink them," he ordered, and she did so, the gaping, bloody holes in her hands shrinking, but still bleeding, as Kaminari seemed to hesitate.

"We, we need to wrap these," Kendo stated, trying to remember her medical training.

"Fuck it," her schoolmate said instead, the electricity around him fading, electric limbs turning normal as he firmly grasped one of her hands, the tip of his now flesh and blood finger glowing… pink, with bits of blue?

And from it, a blue liquid slowly dripped into the wound track, expanding into a… foam?

"That's… that's Yaoyorozu's Quirk," Kendo couldn't help but note.

"Yeah," Kaminari shrugged. "Turns out my Quirk isn't Electrification, but power copying. Kind of like Monoma, but in reverse, since I need to spend a lot of time around someone to pick it up, and weakly, but then I don't lose it." On the top of his hand, a bit of jelly formed, swirled about, then dripped down, the same consistency as Ashido's. "But it's only started doing it lately, and it's a bit of a secret, but you needed medical attention. Other hand."

Numbly she offered him her other limb, and he continued, "Mei and I designed this stuff to the nines, so it's got coagulant properties, to use as an emergency wound immobilizer. With your Quirk, you can probably go to half expansion, and be fine, but anymore and the size differential will probably rip the plugs out, so stay at one-third if you need to fight."

He stood, pulling on her wrist to help her up to, looked around, grit his teeth, and shook his head, stepping away from her, limbs shifting back to solid lightning.

"Y-You killed them," she said, the words spilling out of her without meaning to. "You killed them all."

"It's what they're doing to us," he offered, flippantly, and she almost yelled at him, but she could see the tightness in his eyes, as he pointed the way he'd come. "Mina and Yanagi are that way," he directed, thin bands of glowing gold, like cracks in his skin, spreading over his face. "Hurry and you can move with them. It'll be safer that way."

Only two? That means… Kendo thought, but couldn't say it, feeling numb as she tried not to look around, at her dead classmates.

"KENDO!" Kaminari snapped, and she flinched, putting her hands up. "You can freak out later. This is a crisis zone. Being a Hero means you need to keep moving. The longer I spend here, with you, the fewer people I can save. Can you make it to them?"

In the far distance, more screams could be heard, and in another direction, a bestial howl rang out into the night, almost like Shishida's, but.. wrong.

"I, I can," she nodded. "Thanks, Kaminari."

He glanced around, grimacing, before turning away, "Just wished I'd been faster. Go, Kendo, I need to-"

"Wait!" she called out. "They said their boss' name was Inugami! And they've got an 'exit point' somewhere!"

The glowing teen looked over his shoulder and met her gaze, nodded, and told her, "Understood. Be safe."

And then with crackle of electricity, he was gone, having thrown himself forward, grabbing a tree with extending limbs, and using it to push himself even faster, until he was out of sight.

Leaving her alone.

Surrounded by corpses.

Feeling tears welling up, the numbness starting to fade, feeling herself start to break, she pushed her feelings back down and took off at a run, hoping she could save someone tonight.

MHA

Shoji ran, trying not to feel like a coward, and failing, but he wasn't the only one he was trying to save.

He'd awoken with Asui, Shishida, and Kodai.

The instructions had been clear, and made sense, especially with the previous night's lessons, and Shishida, the beast man, had gone camping a lot with his father to 'get in touch with his inner animal', so had been the one to lead them.

They knew they'd face combat, so Kodai had gathered twigs, to throw and use her Size Quirk to turn into logs as needed, as well as a handful of pebbles to turn into boulders, while he'd used his arms to make eyes with enlarged pupils to better see, and ears to hear any enemy approaching.

It'd taken them longer than they thought, but he'd heard another group coming. From the sound it'd been people, not mud monsters, and he'd told the others, one man from the incoming group jogging ahead, towards them, calling, "Dibs".

Seeing them, their foe been in a costume that looked like construction gear, and Shoji had thought he'd been a Pro Hero that the Pussycats had brought in for the exercise, to change things up from the dirt-monsters they'd been fighting all week.

The man had grinned, and made a 'come at me' gesture, Kodai shrugging and throwing a stick at him, which grew, even as Asui had stiffened, and shouted, "No, don't!"

The dark-haired, expressionless girl had looked the frog-girl's way, as the man had stepped forward, not dodging her attacking, instead meeting the log with his open palm, slapping it. Abruptly, the 'log' stopped, then had started to crack, Shoji reacting instinctively to bring his arms up to cover his head as Asui jumped away.

Then the log had exploded, sending a blast of knife-sized wooden shards their way, the moment Shoji had covered his face. The stabbing pain from the shrapnel piercing his arms, and the webbing between them, had been intense, but he'd kept the parts of himself he couldn't regrow safe, which was vital.

Opening his many arms, he'd seen the beast-man had grown, using his Quirk, Asui was in a tree, but Kodai…

She'd been caught in the center of the blast, and there was just enough of her intact for the image to burn itself into Shoji's brain, forever.

Shishida had roared in rage, fur full of wooden shards, running on all fours for the man, the Villain, who'd grinned, reached in a pocket, and pulled out a handful of coins, which, not saying a word, he'd flourished, smoothly arranging themselves between his fingers, like an evil magician, and moved to slap with his other hand, Shoji unable to stop him, unable to help, as the beast-teen was, at point blank rang-

A long tongue had shot from the side, wrapping around the man's wrist, and dragging it to the side, the moment the villain completed his attack, metal shards shredding the tree beside him, causing it to fall, just in time for, with a roar, Shishida to slam a fist the size of the man's torso into the Villain, sending him flying off to hit a different tree with a bone-shattering crunch.

"There's others!" Shoji warned, pointing deeper in-

"Ha! Dumbass!"

The voice was deep, and from the darkness a lumbering man, as big as Shishida was, came. It was a Hippo Heteromorph, who body-checked the bestial teen backwards, a gaunt man following, who reached into a satchel at his side and threw out white shards, which exploded outwards into human skeletons which, instead of forearms, had long bone blades.

In the distance, thunder boomed.

"Shishida! We've got the big guy!" Asui had yelled, the 1-B student nodding, Shoji noting the boy's glasses were broken, but then they'd fought.

Running forward, the pseudo-octopus Heteromorph had taken on the Heteromorphic Villain, the large, dark-skinned, fat-seeming man willing to go along with what they were doing. While Shoji was strong, he hadn't been so arrogant as to believe his strength of arms was enough to overpower the older Villain, and instead had treated it like one of his spars with All Might.

And, while strong, this Villain had been no All Might.

Fighting against the Number One Hero, that man had been strong, and fast, and skilled.

This man had just been the first.

Instead of meeting the punch head-on, he'd grabbed the Hippo-man's fist with three hands and pulled, the Villain's weight giving him a solid base, but the brute was leaning too hard into his strike, so did most of the work for Shoji, letting him sweep in with his other set of arms, clustered together, in a single punch to the liver, his opponent's height, head and shoulders above even the tall student, making the hit easier to pull off.

"GAH!" the attacker had gasped, muscles seizing against what would normally be a low-blow, but, as All Might had advised, when facing overwhelming odds, where victory was not assured, it was preferable to use a low-blow that disabled an opponent instead of being pushed into lethal force, or, worse, letting the Villain win.

The Hippo's return hit had been easily dodged, an extra arm with an eye letting Shoji see that Shishida had waded into the dozens of Skeletons, their blades unable to pierce his fur and hide, then understanding why Asui had made that call, as Shishida had closed on the constructs' creator.

Speaking of, his classmate had come leaping in, with a jumping kick to the Hippo-Villain's head that sent him staggering, allowing Shoji to slip in, slamming out with both sets of arms into another liver-shot, the Villain suddenly shaky as he had reeled back, his legs collapsing under him, temporarily paralyzing him, but then more noises had come from the forest, a woman covered in a bright-green crystalline exoskeleton, with crystal claws, leaping from the trees towards the beast-boy.

Asui had lashed out with her tongue, to slap the female Villain away, but the woman had twisted, taking the hit, but stabbing out with her claws in turn, cutting his classmate's tongue, being sent into a tree but taking the hit on the crystal she wore, perfectly fine.

Tsuyu, however, had not been.

Instantly, the cut had turned black, and Shoji's classmate crumpled, the girl starting to shake, as Shishida had struck down the skeleton controller, turning towards this new attacker, only for three more to come walking out: A blonde woman whose hair glowed and whose hands were sparking, a guy whose head was made out of slime, and a man who was an extremely-Heteromorphic hornet, complete with carapace and wings, a stinger on his thorax, but two also jutting out of his arms, one over each hand.

Shoji had hurried to Asui, the girl trying not to fold up into the fetal position, convulsing, dark veins spreading from her mouth, and he had picked up the girl, not sure what else to do.

"Awwww," the woman with the green crystal armor had cooed nastily. "Did the little froggy not like the taste of my toxic exoskeleton? Such a pity, I hear it's to die for, but she must've not got enough. Don't worry, I'll give her one more taste. That's all she'll ever need."

The warning had been clear, Tsuyu might survive now, but another hit would end her, and the poisonous woman would target the defenseless girl. Gathering up Asui, Shoji had held her to his back with three arms, trying to figure out how they were going to survive this. They'd already taken down three, four more… four more might be doable.

The electrical woman was trouble, the slime guy's powers might not be related to his heteromorphic trait, like Ashido's, or Koda's weren't, but the hornet man was straightforward at least. If Shishida took the toxic crystal woman, like he'd taken the bone-blades, then-

"Go. I'll hold them off."

Shoji had looked to the bestial teen in shock, while the Villain's just seemed amused.

"You, you can't take them all on," the many-armed student had said. "You'll die!"

The large man grunted, growing larger, and shaggier, then had nodded. "Frog Girl needs help. Better two then four." His voice had grown gruff, more growl than words. Turning his attention to the others, he asked the villains. "You four. Why do this? We not hurt anyone."

In response, the hornet man had laughed, a mocking, buzzing sound. "Why not? We're stronger, we're better, and you two might play like good little dogs, but we're all animals deep down! So why not have some fun?"

Shishida, already ten feet tall, nodded, taking off his glasses and crushing them in one hand. "Law of Jungle? Heh. Okay. Always Wonder. Beast Held In. Me Man, Not Beast. Now? Time to Let It Out."

And then the man tossed aside his eyewear, growing larger, and shaggier, body starting to distort, with the sound of tearing flesh and snapping bones, furred hands growing into long claws, all remains of his clothing falling away, turning from a beast man, into a man-shaped beast, mouth elongating, hair darkening, bone spikes emerging from his knees, his elbows, down his spine, mouth opening wide to reveal two rows of sharpened canines.

And Shishida had Ḥ̸͐Ỏ̶̩W̵̬̏Ļ̷͐E̴̗̔D̵̛̠.

The sound shot had down Shoji's spine, a primal terror that made all but the bug-man take a step back, even as, distantly, the multi-armed teen could hear more of Villains coming.

The Student's call brought to mind the dark, wild, untamed places, out of fantasy stories, and the primordial beasts that dwelt there.

Looking over his shoulder, face twisted and ugly, Shishida's bloodshot eye, pupil glowing a dull red that stood out in the darkness, had pinned Shoji where he stood, and the other student commanded, "Ř̴̰ů̸̝n̶̛̺.̵͔́"

"I'll see you later!" Shoji tried to promise, but they both knew that was a lie, as he had turned and ran, extending eyes to watch behind himself, headed away from the other Villain group that was coming, able to see as the Hornet-Man took off after him, wings buzzing-

Only for Shishida to lash out, covering the insect heteromorph's entire body with one hand, the Villain stinging uselessly at the hardened flesh.

"B̷̤͌u̸̽ͅg̷̲̑ B̶̢̈́á̶ͅd̶͇̉.̷̢̓"

And then, in a single movement, he'd crushed the Villain's body, dark ichor shooting out of the top and bottom of his enormous fist, before, with another, smaller h̶o̶w̷l̴, Shishida had thrown himself at the toxic crystal woman, a long whip of flame coming from the Villains that were now joining the fight, and then the 1-B student had slipped out of sight, and Shoji had just kept running, and running, and running, an array of eyes and ears out, as, behind him, Asui's convulsions had slowed, the girls breaths shallow, but she was still alive, for now.

And Shoji kept going, feeling like a coward, trying to make it back to camp, with a single thought on his mind.

Where are the Pros?

Music:
happened – My Hero Academia - MANNEN NO. 2 (EXTENDED)
CRACK – Stain's Theme - My Hero Academia: Season 2 OST
Let It Out - Paleowolf - Feral Spirit

AN: Sorry for the wait. June's my birthday and I'd started falling behind on other projects, so this got put on the backburner for a month, but I'm back to my normal rotation once more! And, yes, this Arc has wrapped up on and Subscribestar.