Izuku leapt up into the air, the signal for Hagakure to Flashbang Stain. As he rose into the air, Izuku closed his eyes and waited for the flash. The darkness behind his eyelids was briefly lit up, and he immediately opened his eyes to see that Stain was once again stunned. Izuku conjured Blackwhip and pulled himself closer to Stain, honing in for a twelve percent smash on the Hero Killer. Izuku was able to note that it was slightly easier for Blackwhip to come out when he was using Dark Gauntlets, so he tucked that away for later.
He landed on Stain, pushing him to the ground with the force of his legs. Izuku wasted no time in getting to work, sending blow after blow at Stain with as much power put behind it as he could take. Dark Gauntlets did help some, giving him that edge of twelve percent, but it would only be in the places Blackwhip covered, which meant the hands and forearms for now. Izuku hammered Stain in the face, not pausing for anything as he wailed on the man who'd killed Tenya Iida.
Izuku could see the moment that Stain's senses refocused from the Flashbang from Hagakure, but it was too late. He'd already sent three or four hits straight to his face, and Izuku wasn't giving up now. He kept blasting Stain's head into the ground with his punches, the rock under the Hero Killer's head slowly forming cracks in it. If Stain had a nose before, Izuku was uncertain, he didn't anymore, as Izuku kept pummeling him into the ground with all he had.
"Midoriya!" someone shouted. He wasn't sure who.
Stain wasn't trying to fight back anymore. Izuku kept going. He began to hear a wet noise with each hit that landed, but kept going. Izuku tried to experiment with thirteen percent, but found that it was just above what he could handle, even with his Dark Gauntlets up. He went back down to twelve percent and threw another messy punch at Stain's face. His eyes were closed now, and Izuku suddenly felt that realization sap every bit of fighting spirit he had. It was like all the adrenaline just left him in one instant, and he let his arms hang at his side, down on either side of Stain's body.
Izuku looked at his face, how beaten he looked. He'd done that. It had felt good. He knew it was bad, but Izuku was satisfied that he'd done that. His hands ached, but Izuku had done it. He'd beaten the Hero Killer, just like he'd wanted to those months ago. Izuku stood, and let himself come down from the high of adrenaline. His hands were really starting to hurt now, and One for All left him as a throb sent painful tingles through his hands. Izuku looked around and saw that the lizard, Spinner, had been caught by Pixie-Bob's Quirk, and Tiger was in hand to hand combat with Magne.
His classmates were standing off to the side, looking at him. Izuku raised his arm and waved at them, but they didn't wave back. Koda was backing away from him, Ojiro and Sato were looking at him with hesitant expressions. Hagakure became visible and didn't take her eyes off Izuku's hands for some reason. Tsu was trying to help Ochako up, but failing to get her to stand on their own. Vlad King was well and truly paralyzed, but was being propped up by a block of earth from Pixie-Bob's Quirk.
Tiger landed a hit on Magne so powerful that it knocked her back into a tree, and knocked her out. He dragged her out and shoved her into the same earth prison that Spinner was in, and Izuku leaned down to do the same, but was stopped by a shout from Mandalay.
"Don't! Midoriya, don't touch him," Mandalay said, putting her hands up in a placating gesture.
"I was just gonna chuck him into the pile, but alright," Izuku said, stepping away from Stain's unconscious body.
Tiger walked over and hesitantly stepped past Izuku in order to drag Stain over to the earth prison. Izuku wondered why everyone was being so weird to him now, but realized that he'd been a little brutal with Stain before. He laughed at that, and waved his hands in front of him dismissively.
"If you're weirded out by how I beat him, don't worry about it. That's the guy who killed Iida, so I only did what he deserved. It's fine," Izuku said with a chuckle.
He saw the Pussycats all exchange looks. Izuku's classmates all gasped and recoiled at the news, but he was sure that they'd be fine. He looked over at the Pussycats again and saw that they were serious, frowning and looking toward him. Izuku wondered what he'd done wrong, and frowned as well.
"Midoriya, are you okay?" Mandalay asked.
"Oh, I'm fine. A little ache-y, but it's manageable," Izuku said, flexing his fingers.
"No, that's not what I mean. Not physically …" Mandalay trailed off, clearly hoping he'd get it.
"Oh, you mean like emotionally? I'm alright. I'm better than alright. I just put down the Hero Killer! I wish we'd have gone to Hosu, Hagakure. We could've put an end to him like that," Izuku rambled and snapped his aching fingers, seeing Hagakure look intensely uncomfortable at his mention of her.
"You kids need to get to safety. Vlad's still paralyzed, so Pixie-Bob will go with you to the lodge and you'll hunker down," Mandalay said.
Pixie-Bob nodded her head in agreement, and made another earth bed for Ochako, who was also still paralyzed. Izuku wondered how long Stain's Quirk worked for, and if it affected different blood types in different ways. What if paralyzation was only one effect, and Quirk inhibition or forced Quirk activation was an effect on a different type? That would be cool. Izuku felt like his limbs were filled with static, and his mind felt like it was elsewhere, and it made for a weird out of body experience that kept him still as everyone else started to move on to the lodge.
Tsu stopped in front of him, looking at him strangely. Their eyebrows furrowed and Tsu slapped Izuku across the face lightly, bringing him out of his weird state. Izuku stumbled back, gasping for breath. He was able to look back and say that those thoughts that he'd had were weird, and foreign, and definitely not Izuku as he normally was. Something was happening. Was it … the same thing that had happened during the Sports Fest? Was it All for One's influence seeping through again? Izuku didn't know, and that made it scarier. He was thinking horrible things, and he needed it to stop. He looked at Hagakure, and saw that she was staring off into the forest. They'd defeated the Hero Killer together, so why had he said that they should've done it earlier? That wasn't fair to her, or to Izuku himself. That was just … weird.
A single flash of purpose struck Izuku, giving him a small bit of energy back and reminding him of something he still needed to do. He hadn't known why he'd stopped working toward that goal, as that had been the one thing driving him to fight; making sure Kota was safe.
"Oh! Kota!" Izuku said, beginning to run off.
Tsu's tongue wrapped around him and kept him from going far. Izuku looked back at them with wide eyes and silently begged them to let him go. They just looked at him with a leveled stare and raised an eyebrow at him. Right, they still thought he was in that state of craziness. He had to prove to them that he was trustworthy with this.
"Tsu, please! I need to save him. He could be in danger! Look, that wasn't me before. I think something's wrong, but I'll work it out! I just need to save Kota first!" Izuku said, pleading with them to let him go.
Tsu unraveled their tongue and let it retract back into their mouth, but didn't stop staring Izuku down as they did. Izuku gave a nod, and immediately fired up One for All again, Full Cowling style, to run off toward Kota's secret hideout. He was grateful to them for letting him go, but couldn't ignore the voice in his head as he made his way down the path.
"Be careful," Mandalay projected, and then cut off communication.
Izuku raced down the road, but had to stop using One for All as he began to lose steam halfway through. This leech was becoming a big problem. Instead of running the whole way there, Izuku figured that he might as well fly, and used his Dark Slingshot technique to hurl himself over the trees and get into a position where he could see the secret hideout from where he was. He could see a small blob of color that could've been Kota, but the thing that drew Izuku's attention was the larger figure covered in a black cloak that was standing over him.
"Push past it, Izuku," he murmured, charging just his fingers with One for All, as well as covering them with Blackwhip in a miniature version of Dark Gauntlet once again for that boost in power.
Using this combination, Izuku fired off Dark Sniper, but it fell off in terms of speed about halfway there and didn't make it to whoever was at the hideout with Kota. Izuku cursed under his breath, but let go of Float for a few moments so that he'd fall closer to the treeline and be able to use that to get closer. It felt like things were going faster as Izuku seemed to almost teleport to the cliff as he moved closer, but that was probably just the adrenaline working. As he pulled himself closer to the hideout, he could hear more of what was going on up there, and it sounded like Kota was crying.
Izuku used his final pull to get himself up onto the cliff and immediately fired up Full Cowling: Dark Gauntlet style, pushing past his fatigue and maxing his power out at twelve percent. Izuku blitzed the figure, but he turned around to see what was happening and revealed his face. He looked like an older, taller, more muscular Bakugo, with a nasty scar running up his face. Izuku didn't care about any of that, though, and threw a punch at him square in the nose. This punch was caught, however, by the man as he chuckled at Izuku.
This man threw Izuku to the ground, and ripped his cloak off to reveal that his arm was covered in what looked like muscle fibers, if Izuku was remembering his biology textbook from middle school correctly. A shock went through Izuku's brain as he realized that this was Muscular, an A-Rank Villain. Izuku watched as Muscular's arm returned to normal, and the man looked down at Izuku with a smirk.
"Well, looks like you do have powerful friends, kid. Izuku Midoriya himself. Just the man I was hoping to fight. Shigaraki said you were a monster, and I'm something of a monster myself, so I think we should duke it out to see which one of us is better. Huh? How about it?" Muscular went on, grinning like a maniac.
Izuku didn't say anything, just got back up and stared Muscular down. Why was he up here? Did he want to hurt Kota? Could Izuku protect Kota from this kind of threat? There were a bunch of unknowns, but Izuku did know one thing. He needed to keep Kota safe from this guy so that he could bring him back to Mandalay, safe and sound. As long as he knew that, Izuku would do anything to make it happen.
"Who, why so serious, kid? It's not like I'm gonna kill you or anything. No, that's Shigaraki's pleasure. Along with your buddies, of course," Muscular said.
"My buddies?" Izuku asked.
"Yeah. You wouldn't happen to know where Katsuki Bakugo and Hitoshi Shinso are, would you? I was hoping to get them before you, warm up a little, but it seems like we're going for the main course first up," Muscular said, flexing by having muscle fibers break through his skin and triple the size of his arms.
Danger Sense pinged, and Izuku leapt up just in time to dodge a strike from Muscular. The hit landed on the rock where he'd been standing just a moment ago, and it cracked and blew apart from the impact, falling into the forest below. Izuku hoped nobody was down there. He Floated in the air, watching as Muscular confusedly looked around trying to spot Izuku. Izuku released Float and fell through the air, charging up one hell of a hit in his right arm. He went to twenty five percent in that arm, and piled on Blackwhip so that he could have a chance at protecting himself. Soon, Izuku's arm was twice as thick as it normally was and was pulsing with twenty five percent of One for All.
Muscular whipped around as Izuku landed on his back, turning and almost throwing Izuku off if it weren't for his grip on Muscular's hair. Izuku pulled his juiced up arm back and let it thunk into Muscular's upper back, sending the Villain into the ground with a loud crack and Izuku into the air from the recoil. Kota wasn't affected by the blow's recoil, still standing over by the rock wall and shivering in fear, so Izuku directed his trajectory with Float so that he landed between Muscular and Kota.
When he landed, Izuku's arm throbbed and felt like it was paste under Blackwhip's shell. It was totally numb, but somehow on fire at the same time, and Izuku was sure that he'd broken or fractured something. He couldn't move it well without a shock of pain going up his arm, but Izuku knew that it had been worth it to get that hit on Muscular.
"Kota, are you okay?" Izuku asked, his voice breaking.
"You came for me?" Kota asked, running toward Izuku with tears in his eyes.
"Of course! Now, we need to get out of here before—" Izuku tried to say, but was cut off.
Dark laughter erupted from Muscular, stopping Izuku in his tracks. He looked over to see the Villain picking himself back up and looking right at him, grinning as a red mark formed on his face. Muscular pointed at him as he stood, his eyes dangerously focused and his laughter dying down.
"Is that the best you have? Shigaraki said that you were as strong as All Might. I've faced stronger fighters in the ring. Let's go, little man! Show me that power Shigaraki hates so much!" Muscular said, forming muscle fibers around his legs and setting off Danger Sense.
Izuku was able to throw up a Blackwhip Shield in time, but Muscular ripped right through it as he reached out toward Izuku's head. Danger Sense was going crazy at this point, but Izuku ignored it as he contemplated his next move. Izuku ducked down and kicked his legs out at Muscular's own, but it didn't even budge him. Seeing that this was the case, Izuku grabbed Kota and held him close as he pushed off Muscular's sturdy body, sending him hurtling across the rocky floor and toward the path that led away from this place.
He gave Kota a small nudge and pushed him away from himself, urging him to run. He didn't need to see this. Kota stayed at his back, though, and Izuku let himself laugh despite the buzzing pain that was running up his arm. Of course he'd stay. Taking a deep breath and keeping his eyes on Muscular, who was pacing and seemingly getting ready for their next clash, Izuku thought of what he could do to win this fight. He could completely break himself, fire off a one hundred percent smash. That would surely put him down, right? It probably would, but he hadn't run the risk of breaking his arms in so long, and he was already pushing it with how he'd been using Dark Gauntlet. It was a high risk, high reward type of situation, but he still wasn't sure. One of Izuku's most promising options was Fa Jin. If he could emulate higher percentages of One for All without actually exceeding his limit, Izuku could win this, but the vestiges wouldn't talk to him. So, he was screwed.
"What are you thinking about?" Muscular asked from his spot near the cliff's edge.
"How I'm gonna beat you," Izuku said.
"Oh, a confident one. I like that," Muscular said, his voice growing deeper as he tried to intimidate Izuku.
"That's why you joined Shigaraki's suicide squad?" Izuku asked, an idea practically beating him over the head.
"Of cou—what?" Muscular, asked, tripping over his words at the question.
"That's what this is, right? He doesn't care about what you want. He's just using you to get to me," Izuku said, spitting out the words he wanted to emphasize.
Muscular stood there for a moment, trying to puzzle out what Izuku had said from the looks of it. Izuku smiled, knowing that he'd gotten Muscular confused and had a shot at taking him by surprise. He was about to fire off some Blackwhip at him, but Muscular just laughed and kept on grinning that same grin that shook Izuku's confidence.
"Of course I know that. See, all I really want is to fight. If you let me fight, I'll gladly let you walk all over me. Now, show me your power. I want to test you out before Shigaraki gets to you," Muscular said, enhancing all four of his limbs with his Quirk.
Izuku got a ping from Danger Sense, and threw up two Blackwhip Shields at their maximum durability, completely reinforced with One for All's power. They went up not a second before Muscular beat down on them with his massive fists, sending dust flying away from the three of them as the impact reverberated through both of their bodies. Izuku felt the shocks travel up and down him, but kept himself stable. He gritted his teeth and pushed up with his feet, managing to move upward despite Muscular pushing down on him.
As he got to a standing position, Izuku let the shields fall and free up his hands. This caused Muscular, who was still pushing down on him, to push his hands all the way into the ground and through the rock. He stayed hunched over, but looked up at Izuku with a feral grin. Izuku charged up his right arm with fifty percent of One for All and pounded Muscular's face, causing almost audible breaks in his arm and for the two of them to be flung away from each other.
Izuku rolled along the ground, getting scratched up from the jagged rocks, and stopped as he hung halfway off the cliff. He saw Kota almost go flying off the edge from the shockwave, but Izuku grabbed him with Blackwhip and kept him safe. He laid there, looking at where Muscular had been thrown against the rock wall, and waited. There was a lot of dust around that had been kicked up by the blast, and Izuku thought that he may have just ended the fight as it began to clear and no other sounds were made.
That thought was dismissed, however, as Muscular's red, meaty arms pulled him from the rubble and he began to laugh once again. Izuku screamed, wondering how in the world he wasn't at least hurt by now. Izuku tried to move his arm so that he could push himself up, but found that it wouldn't move properly. He tried to force it, but that just broke the brief illusion of numbness and made Izuku get a flash of pain. Looking at it, Iuzku knew why he'd gotten so much pain from such a little movement, as the arm he'd used to go over his limits twice now was red and twisted in ways that weren't natural. It was still able to be moved some, but one more of those big hits and that arm was done. Maybe permanently, thinking back to what the doctor he'd seen during his internships had said. Izuku pushed that thought away and used his one good arm to stand in front of Kota, even though he didn't like that he was defending without anything behind him.
"Oh, that was better! Still not All Might, though. Come on, why are you holding back, kid? Don't I deserve it?" Muscular said, slowly inching closer as he packed on muscle mass.
"Deserve it? For … what?" Izuku asked, spitting out what felt like a tooth as he found his footing.
"For killing your little buddy there!" Muscular said, before shooting forward at a blinding speed.
Izuku felt like everything slowed down as he realized what Muscular was doing. He was going to kill Kota to get Izuku to use one hundred percent. He could even see it happening in real time, as Muscular dashed just slightly to the right of him in order to reach Kota behind him. Izuku panicked, letting the fear overcome him for a brief moment, before steeling his nerves and letting twenty percent of One for All flood into every part of his body. He let Blackwhip run up his arms in their entirety, as well as run down to his legs and cover them like boots. He felt things click and groan inside him as he moved to block Muscular's advance, but felt Blackwhip holding him together. A name came to mind for this new technique, 'One for All, Dark Cowling'. Izuku didn't know why this name came to him, but it did. He'd figure it out later.
Izuku felt Dark Cowling straighten out his broken arm, which made him scream at the top of his lungs. He used that pain to push himself forward and meet Muscular in the middle, where he grappled the Villain with this new technique. Izuku's limbs felt like they were going to be torn apart any second, and he swore that he could hear his bones creaking as he moved, but the two forces met in the middle and Izuku was able to stop Muscular, even though he did push Izuku back slightly. A few dozen Blackwhips shot out of Izuku's back in order to push him forward, keeping him from being pushed back and anchoring him in place.
"Leave him out of this!" Izuku screamed, hearing his voice break but not really caring all that much anymore.
"Oh, are we finally ready to go all out?" Muscular screamed back, laughing like a madman.
He didn't give Muscular a response, just kept pushing back on his hands. The two grappled with each other for a moment, neither one gaining or losing ground, until Muscular managed to take a step, forcing Izuku on the defensive. He should have known that twenty percent wasn't going to be enough, but this was his last desperate plan. Muscular could break out of Blackwhip, he could overpower what was the absolute limits of One for All without breaking bones, he barely couldn't outpace Izuku's reaction time, even with Danger Sense warning him in advance. It felt like Muscular was so far out of his league that Izuku was just wasting his time stalling for nothing. Izuku felt his arms going numb from the strain, and wondered if this was it; if this was when his Quirks finally weren't enough to save him.
"I said it before, kid. Show me your power!" Muscular said, increasing his muscle mass yet again and towering over Izuku like a demon with fire in his eyes.
That was the last thing that Izuku saw before Muscular slammed his muscled-up body into him, completely trampling him and forcing Izuku down. Everything after that was darkness. Izuku felt his Quirks stop working, One for All fading from his body and Blackwhip retracting back into his limbs. Everything stopped.
Izuku felt his arm stop hurting, and wondered how that was possible. He was suddenly able to breathe, no longer being crushed by Muscular's overwhelming strength. No, that wasn't right. It was still dark. What was happening? Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? Wrong again, as Izuku opened his eyes to see smoky wisps of energy floating around him. This was the vestige realm. He looked around to see nobody else with him, and finally let out the tears that he'd been holding off on crying for Kota's sake.
He sobbed, letting out everything he'd been feeling. Izuku fell to his knees and cried, letting himself just sit there and be miserable for a length of time that could've been minutes or hours. He didn't know how time worked in this place, as it seemed to be inconsistent between instances. During the Sports Fest, he'd spent a matter of moments in the vestiges' mindscape, yet when he'd come out of it, minutes had passed. Just earlier that day, though, he'd been sent to the vestige realm by All for One and it had remained analogous to real time. It was strange, and hard to grasp, but Izuku couldn't bring himself to care. He needed to get back to his body and save Kota!
"Calm down," a voice said, a new one that Izuku had never heard before.
Izuku whipped around to see a tall man with his hair tied up and a bandana covering his forehead. He had a military vest on, or at least it looked like military gear, and strange gloves on. He had a cold stare, and he was leveling it at Izuku. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, before the man sighed and gestured to himself.
"We've never spoken before, but I believe you know who I am," he said, his voice deep and calm.
"You're … the second or third user. Why are you just talking to me now?" Izuku asked, jumping up to a standing position and facing the man.
"I'm the third. You can call me Sankitsuo. Izuku Midoriya, you've gotten yourself in quite the situation, haven't you?" the third, apparently named Sankitsuo, said.
"Yes, which is why I need your power," Izuku shot back.
"That won't be happening. Why do you think that we have distanced ourselves from you?" Sankitsuo asked, beginning to pace around Izuku.
"I don't know! Tell me, please!" Izuku cried.
"It's because All for One is looking for you, and he can do that through us, now. We've kept our distance because allowing you into this place stimulates the psychic link he created with it when he attacked us almost three months ago. Do you understand this, Izuku Midoriya?" Sakitsuo explained.
"That doesn't hold up! Shinomori gave me his Quirk after that happened!" Izuku replied.
Sankitsuo stopped pacing. He looked at Izuku with a grim expression, scowling at the mention of his successor. Izuku frowned at that. What was that about?
"Hikage was a fool. He should never have given you Danger Sense. None of them should have given you their abilities. None of that power should have been placed into the hands of a child," Sankitsuo said, narrowing his eyes.
"All Might was my age when he got One for All, and look what he's been able to do with it!" Izuku argued.
"Build a toxic culture promoting bystander apathy and blind hope? Hope means nothing if you can't act on it, and as is, that is exactly the way your world is headed," Sankitsuo replied.
"Then let me change that. Lend me your power, and I can make a difference. At least let me save Kota. I don't even have to keep your power, just lend me Fa Jin so that I can keep him safe and then take it right back. I don't care how, just let me save him," Izuku said, pleading with his predecessor.
Sankitsuo seemed torn. He paced around Izuku, thinking to himself silently. It went on like that for more than a minute, and Izuku began to get impatient waiting for the man to make up his mind. It felt like hours had passed since he'd gotten to the vestiges' realm, but he couldn't know if that amount of time had passed in the waking world. For all he knew, Muscular had slaughtered Kota and everyone else at the camp. Everyone he loved could be dead, and it would be his fault for standing here and arguing with a ghost. Eventually, though, Sankitsuo came to a decision.
"I will not be allowing you to use Fa Jin," he said, looking Izuku dead in the eye.
"What?" Izuku said, his voice faint.
"You don't need it. You already have a power that will get you through this trial, and it isn't a Quirk," Sankitsuo said.
Izuku was about to ask what he meant by that, but noticed that the two of them were fading into smoke. That meant that he was waking up. Izuku tried to grab onto Sankitsuo to prolong their conversation, but his hand slipped through as a bright light overcame the space. Izuku closed his eyes as a searing pain returned to his arm and an ache spread throughout his entire body. That was not what he'd missed about the waking world, so it fit that it'd be the first thing to return. Izuku closed his eyes as the light became too bright to keep them open, but immediately went away.
When Izuku opened his eyes once more, he was on the ground with a broken arm on the cliff. Muscular was floating above Izuku, looking at him in confusion. Izuku looked back at him with the same expression, wondering how that was happening. Had he done that? Had Float evolved to affect things other than Izuku? No, because he wasn't using Float. It had to be someone else. Izuku looked over at Kota behind him to see that he was just as terrified as ever, but he was doing anything that could make Muscular float. So what was it?
A drop of water falling on his head made Izuku look back up at Muscular, whose head was actually soaked. Izuku's best guess was that it was Kota who'd done that, since his parents both had water Quirks. It made sense that he'd have one, too. But, that meant that none of them could have floated Muscular. Izuku was about to stand, but stopped when he saw a flash of pink crawl over Muscular and force him to the ground, cracking the rock keeping them up.
Izuku sat up, but had to take it slow because of his arm. He looked around and saw that Ochako was floating up above where Muscular had been, her sleeve torn up to act as a real tourniquet for the cut she'd gotten from Stain. She must have come after him when Stain's Quirk wore off and floated Muscular, and Izuku let out a relieved sigh at that. She'd saved both him and Kota, though Muscular was still writhing on the ground. Ochako improved her Quirk over the few months since they'd found this new use to the point that she could choose by how much gravity was intensified when she chose that effect, and it had saved Izuku and Kota's life.
"Ochako!" Izuku yelled, a wide smile on his face.
"Izuku!" Ochako yelled back, though her tone was a lot more severe.
He frowned, not entirely clear on where they stood after he left her paralyzed to go and save Kota. Ochako released her Quirk on herself and dropped onto the ground, staring Izuku down. She walked over to him and frowned, helping Kota away from the edge before she held a hand out for him to take so that he could stand. Izuku did just that, getting to his feet with a few grunts of effort. The two of them looked over Muscular for a moment, waiting to see if he could break out, before relaxing.
"Thank you. How'd you know to come here?" Izuku asked.
"A walking earthquake screaming 'show me your power' was hard to miss. I'm just lucky I got close enough to touch him; he was really distracted with beating you into the ground," Ochako answered.
"Yeah," Izuku said, his bad arm throbbing.
"What were you thinking, Izuku?" Ochako asked, her voice shaking. "Why'd you just leave me there, frozen, to watch as you ran away to face something nobody could have expected? This guy almost killed you. He would have if I didn't follow you. I could excuse the stuff with Stain as a battle high making you act differently, but you could have gotten help," she elaborated.
"I'm sorry. I've not been myself. It's to do with what Aizawa has me doing in the woods. Well, had. Looks like camp's over," Izuku said, laughing off the way the night had gone.
"Yeah," Ochako agreed, looking out over the forest.
The forest was a mess. A thick plume of black smoke was rising from around the middle, but a smaller, pink mist was spreading from a few dozen meters away from that point. It was swirling around, centered on a point that was too specific to be natural. It was definitely a Quirk, so that was at least six Villains that he was able to say were running around in the forest, four of which had been defeated. There were probably more, but Izuku wasn't going to think about that now.
"We need to get Kota to the Pussycats," Izuku said.
"And yourself. Look at you," Ochako said, gesturing to his broken arm.
"This is nothing new. Did you see how Muscular got drenched? I think it was him," Izuku said, turning his attention to Kota himself who was looking between Izuku and Ochako with wide eyes.
"Is that true?" Ochako asked, kneeling down to his level.
"Yeah. I can make water," Kota said, blushing slightly due to the attention.
"You could help a lot, Kota, if you used your Quirk where the fire is. You'd be our hero," Ochako said.
Kota's eyes widened, and he looked up at Izuku. Izuku gave a thumbs up with his good hand, which made Kota look back at Ochako and nod. Ochako smiled, and held her hand out for him to take, making him float once he did. Kota panicked for a moment, but Ochako quickly put him down and returned his gravity as she seemingly realized something.
"This guy," Ochako pointed at Muscular.
"Yeah. If you release him, he'll come after me. They're all after me, Hitoshi and Bakugo, by the way," Izuku said.
"Whoa! Good to know," Ochako said, swallowing nervously. "If I throw him up and then let him come back down, can you use your good arm to knock him out?" she asked.
"I can do better than that," Izuku said, smirking.
Ochako returned his smirk and pressed two of her fingers together, making Muscular glow faintly pink once again and rise into the air. Only, he didn't stop when he reached a certain height. He kept going, and going, and going until he almost disappeared into the clouds. Only when that happened, though, did Ochako let him come back down, increasing his gravity to force him back down. As he approached, Izuku fired up One for All all over, but let Dark Cowling take over his legs. Izuku amped up One for All to twelve percent and leapt, meeting Muscular in the air and drop kicking him in the face, the one place he had never armored himself with muscle fibers.
The two of them fell, the momentum and force of the kick pushing the air around. The two of them fell back down to Earth, Muscular landing face down on the rocks and Izuku managing to land decently. It still jarred his broken arm, which he really needed to get checked out, but other than that, he was totally fine. Izuku looked over at Ochako, who'd already used her Quirk on Kota and lifted him onto her back.
"Let's head back to the lodge, where we're holed up for now," Ochako said, lifting into the air under her Quirk's power.
"Let's," Izuku said, using his own Float to do the same.
The two of them set off, ready to face whatever the rest of the night would bring. Izuku hoped for the best, but it wasn't looking bright. The image of the Hero Killer's bloodied face and Aizawa's unconscious form still played in his mind, but he supposed that he was headed right toward both of them, so he'd be able to check up on things soon enough.