Chapter 40: Tower

"Hell Spider!"

A web of flames caught a group of strange beings, their diverse forms only having jagged red eyes as a common factor. The fire disintegrated them in a blink before burning out.

Endeavor popped his neck, earning a satisfying crack. He hadn't expected the night to take a turn for the worse, but as a long-time hero, he was always prepared to respond.

And respond he did. In the five-odd minutes the monsters had been on the loose, Endeavor had already cleared three blocks and dispatched more than a hundred of the pests.

Unlike Hosu, where the Heartless kept coming back again and again, these ones stayed down with a good hit or two.

He just wished for some backup to-

A group of short monsters with sharp metal claws rushed him. Endeavor turned to engage, only for a very familiar lion to pounce on the mob and mangle them all in a second.

Then, an equally familiar penguin slid to Endeavour's side. The colorful bird hopped to its feet and honked something that sounded vaguely like a glacier cracking, which the hero's mind somehow understood.

"I see. That is indeed a problem." Having the maniac that invaded the USJ back at the start of the year doing a repeated performance on I-Island was an international disaster waiting to happen. Not to mention all the people currently on the island for the expo. "Your group is taking care of the ground troops, but what about I-Tower?"

The penguin honked again, and what it said caused Endeavor to let out a long sigh. "Of course, just what I need. If All Might wasn't literally tied up, I would make a formal complaint about him endangering my son." The penguin cackled while waving its fin at the tower, making Endeavor frown. "I believe Izuku to have also been influenced by his teacher's bad example. And no, I'm not doing this to only blame All Might."

The penguin gave the hero a flat stare, but then shrugged and called for its friends. The lion stalked closer while keeping an eye on the cloud of dissipating dark smoke that where a mob of monsters a moment before, and an equally colorful owl flew in and landed on Endeavor's shoulder.

"We have to move quickly and secure the fairgrounds." He pointed at the penguin, "You, go ahead and locate the hostiles, focus on scouting." He turned to the lion, "You and I will be the vanguard, strike hard and fast, and try to not fall behind." Lastly, Endeavor raised his hand which had been holding a paper bag since the start of the chaos to the owl, "And you, hold this and make sure you don't drop it. Guide any civilian on the way to the safe areas we clear."

Enji had been doing fine fighting with only one hand, but the gift he bought for Rei would be safer away from the line of fire. He already had enough headaches getting it to let all the effort and trouble be in vain.

The creatures cried their affirmations and followed his commands, making Endeavor nod in approval. If his interns were half that quick on the uptake, Endeavor would have double the number of contracted sidekicks. Huh, there was a thought, maybe he should invite the rest of the kids from 1-A to his agency.

An idea to consider later, right now, they had a crisis to stop.

—

'C'mon Toshinori, think. You can get out of this if you manage to buy yourself five seconds, seven tops!' It was easier said than done, as everybody in the ballroom was held at gunpoint. The Nobodies had eyes on him at all times, and the groups were too spaced out to try a blitz attack before they could hurt someone.

He had been so careless! If Toshinori hadn't gotten taken by surprise he wouldn't be in such a bad spot, but just look at what happened. He flinched! Like a rookie!

Shaking the useless self-criticism, Toshinori tried to come up with a plan. Looking around for anything that could serve as a distraction, he frowned at the lack of anything in reach. Even if there was, his hands were tied and he had four Berserkers with their claymores on his back.

A glint hit him in the eye. Toshinori looked up at the source of the light, only to blink in surprise. His successor was up on the next floor, with something like a skylight looking into the ballroom. Izuku had used his Keyblade to reflect the light and catch Toshinori's eyes, and the moment the hero saw him the boy pressed his open notebook into the glass.

Written across two pages was a simple message. 'WE GOT THIS!'

Diplomacy failed and a distraction was out of the question, so Toshinori would bet his chips on his boy accomplishing another miracle. Toshinori nodded, making Izuku do the same. Without further ado, the boy turned and ran out of view.

Toshinori lowered his head and prayed the kids would be okay. Inko caught his eye, the woman having seen the byplay and looking worried. "He'll be fine." He mouthed the words, trying to assuage her concerns.

Izuku would be fine. He had to be.

—

"Okay, what's the plan?"

To Kyoka's question, Izuku hummed in thought and turned to Melissa, "How tall is I-Tower again?"

"Two hundred floors."

Denki deadpanned, then groaned, "I'm never skipping leg day again. Ever!"

Katsuki rolled his eyes at the electric dumbass, "Yeah yeah, tough luck. Anyway, we run all the way up and kill that mask fuck?"

"I mean, no way it's gonna be that easy but…" Izuku shrugged. "It's not like we have many other options."

"So what are we waiting for? Move out, people!"

"Wait! The security system is on, the whole tower will be blocked and sectioned off." Melissa knew, her father had designed it and he wasn't shy about telling her the details.

Mina giggled, waving Melissa's concern away, "Like something like that ever stopped us before. We deal with worse on a slow day!"

Izuku nodded, giving the still-concerned girl a bright smile, "We got this in the bag. And if push comes to shove, I still have this!" He slapped his right wrist, making the Full Gauntlet come alive and envelop his arm over the suit sleeve.

Melissa blinked, twice, three times. "Why do you still have that on?"

"I don't know how to take it off!" Izuku's smile and merry tone went against the absurd he just spoke, which made Melissa miss a step and sputter.

She swore she was forgetting something.

Still held by Ochaco, Eri pouted fiercely, "It clashes with the suit."

"Save the island first, worry about fashion later. Let's go!" With Izuku taking point, his friends were quick to follow.

They went through the second floor until they reached the emergency stairs. There the group of young heroes found their first blockage.

Nobodies.

A group of Dusks jumped them in a blink. Thankfully, some of them were faster than even that.

"Smash!"

"Die!"

"That's lights out!" Denki, feeling great that his overclocking paid off more and more, grinned while blitzing a series of Dusks.

He actually managed to pull ahead from Izuku and Katsuki, being met with a Berserk. Before he could be flattened by its claymore, Hanta and Minoru flew in and clotheslined the Nobody with a string of Tape.

That bought Denki enough time to zip inside its guard and bury his fist into the Berserk's torso. The Nobody had his feet taken off the ground by the force of the punch, and a sudden and violent burst of electricity made it return to the Nothing it sprung from.

Denki blew his fist and grinned, "Not bad for three cafe attendees, huh?" He traded high-fives with Minotu and Hanta, both also sporting smug smirks.

Katsuki rolled his eyes while waving smoke from his hands, a cloud of fading Nothingness around him, "Tryhards."

Izuku punched his friend's shoulder, "Let them have it. You yourself are happy that you guys can take Nobodies out for good, unlike Heartless."

"Point." He turned to the rest of the group, the 1-A (plus Melissa) squad having taken point to not get in the way but be in a position to help their friends if they needed it. "C'mon slowpokes, we have stairs to climb!"

That they sure did. For the first ten flights, they went up unbothered. Then the chaos reignited.

Melissa watched in awe as Eijiro slapped away a shot from a Sniper. The red laser went through its original shooter and took it off the battle in a blink.

A Berserker swung at Fumikage, but the boy only extended his hand and pulled off Dark Shadow's arms, twisting them into a scythe. He hooked the claymore and brought it down, with two quick steps he escalated the weapon and hopped onto the Nobody's shoulder. He brought the edge of his weapon to the Berserk's neck and pulled. The Nobody puffed back into Nothing and Fumikage landed softly on his feet, not a feather out of place.

Momo knelt and popped a grenade launcher from her leg. Two handles came out of her back window, which Mei and Kyoka were quick to grab.

The inventor pulled the bolt of her rifle to make sure the chamber was loaded, while the rocker girl plugged her jack at the base of the handle.

The vibro-blade and magical munitions made short work of the Nobodies, leaving the way clear.

Momo pulled one of the red pearls from her collar and popped it into her mouth, only to pant for breath a moment later, "Spicy, spicy!"

Izuku used the head of a Sniper as a springboard to jump back and land beside his vice president, "I think I might have made a mistake on the recipe somewhere."

"Oh no, my stocks are back to full, I just didn't expect it to be that spicy." A pill that could top off her lipids in a second? It was perfect for her and Momo wouldn't trade it for anything, she just had to get used to the taste.

Shoto slid by her side and gave Momo a cup made of ice full of cold water. "Here, if you need more just ask." He went past her and completed the maneuver with a fire fist that popped a Dusk like a firecracker.

The red on Momo's face wasn't solely because of the spiced-up pill anymore, but no one called her out on it.

They felt in a sort of rhythm where they would go up a floor, get stopped by a group of Nobodies, fight, win, and repeat. That went on for seven floors before something broke the pattern. That being Melissa's heels that snapped without warning.

Before she could fall face first and probably break her nose, a pinkish-purple glow surrounded her, stopping her fall. Melissa was gently floated up and put back on her feet, not worse for wear save the little scare.

Everyone turned to Ochaco, who had her hand not holding Eri extended and emitting the same glow. She smiled at their shocked faces, "Yeah, I'm as surprised as you guys." She ignored Katsuki complaining under his breath that she 'stole his thunder and then tried to act cute' and Eri gushing about her magic, focusing on Melissa instead, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll just have to keep going without those things." She took out the broken heels and discarded them without fanfare.

Eri broke out of her Midoriya Mumbling Moment (trademark still pending), and gasped in horror, "You can't walk around without shoes!" She flashed away from Ochaco's grasp with a Skip, the brunette blinking at the golden afterimage, and picked up the broken heels.

It was a simple light blue pair without grand flair or charm, made worse by the broken heel platform. Eri couldn't do much about that without at least some silver tape and a bandaid, but she could use the rest of the shoe. Her horn lit up, and Eri started to poke the side of each shoe, leaving glowing dots behind. She then started to connect the dots with her finger, seemingly drawing constellations on them.

Giving her work one last once over and nodding in satisfaction, she tapped her knuckle against the broken heels, and they shattered like glass. The fragments floated in the air for a moment, then shot back into place. In the end, hovering above Eri's palm was a pair of blue flats marked with prints of chrysanthemums that slowly fell on her hands. "Here, all better now." She offered Melissa the shoes, only to realize she and everyone else were staring, "What?"

"I'm having a hard time making an argument against the magic thing now." Melissa accepted the shoes and put them on. They were the most comfortable thing she ever wore.

Izuku finished noting everything he just saw down and stashed his notebook, "Okay, back to it then."

Five floors later, they encountered their next problem, a barricade. A solid steel door was covered with black and white thorns, blocking the way to the next flight of stairs.

Izuku grabbed Katsuki's arm with a vice grip before the blond could step closer to the door, "Don't."

"What the fuck are those things?"

"Long story short, those thorns are made of Nothing the same way Nobodies are. The only problem is…" Izuku gulped, remembering missions with Roxas and Xion, and how those ever-present barriers were no joke, "If you try touching that, you'll get sliced to ribbons."

Eijiro stepped closer to the two, "Should I make a way through?"

"NO! Your quirk won't help at all."

"Why not?" Defense was Eijiro's whole thing, how those thorns would pass by his Hardening?

Izuku seemingly read his mind, answering the unspoken thought, "It's Nothing, meaning they won't slice through you Hardening, they'll create empty space to go through places where your body was occupying, like the middle of your arm."

The faux redhead grasped his arms and shivered, he didn't want to have a bunch of holes simply starting to exist in his body. Looking away from the blocked gate, Eijiro saw a door leading into the floor they were on properly and an idea struck him. "Hey, this place has more than one stairway, right? Let's go to the other one."

To be fair to him, I-Tower indeed had three different emergency stairways to help evacuation in case of emergencies, so Eijiro's plan was valid. The only problem was that he rushed to the door to the floor before anyone could say anything. Like Izuku, who had Danger Sense buzzing in his head warning of problems waiting just beyond the door.

Eijiro burst through the door, and then he heard it, the vuosh distinctive of a Nobody materializing.

In a fraction of a section, everything happened in a frantic rush.

Izuku threw his Keyblade to his friend, "Eijiro!"

In a reflex with no conscious thought behind it, Eijiro extended his hand and grabbed Heroes Rising. From all the times they trained together and from all the times he found himself at the business end of the Keyblade, Eijiro intimately knew how heavy it was.

This time it was worse. Eijiro felt as if someone had dropped a mountain on his shoulders. Before his knees could give out, Eijiro Hardened his body. When that proved not enough, he did it again, and again, and again and again and again. When Eijiro proved himself Unbreakable, in both body and spirit, the weight was gone.

In the fraction of a section for that exchange to happen, three Dragoons dived at the Hardened human statue with their spears. The humanoid dragon Nobodies twisted around their lances and thrust them downward.

Eijiro raised Heroes Rising over his head horizontally, one hand on the handle and the other on the body. The weapons clashed and sent a shower of sparks flying.

Eijiro remained standing, Unbreakable. With a jagged grin, he threw his arms up and sent the Dragoons scattering.

His one freebie spent, the Keyblade disappeared from his hand and flashed back to its rightful wielder's grasp.

Izuku flew in with Heroes Rising crackling with energy. With three slashes too fast to see, he dispatched the Nobodies. Landing softly, he turned to his manly friend and grinned.

"I knew you're worthy."

Something seemed to buzz in Eijiro's chest at the words. Unnoticed to him, Eri, Ochaco, Katsuki, Shoto, and Tenya felt the Light in their hearts become a little brighter.

Mina marched to her horn buddy and put a finger right on his still-Hardened face, "Don't go running off like that."

"But I-"

"Not buts!"

Eijiro gave a hasty salute, "Yes ma'am!" When Mina's glare didn't let off, he broke out in a cold sweat.

Katsuki brushed past the two, "Flirt later boneheads! We still aren't even a fourth of the way to the top." Ignoring their sputtering denials, the bomber walked to Deku. Both hid by the corner leading to the main area of the floor.

They took a quick peek and grimaced. Katsuki, who was kneeling, looked up to his friend who stood right behind him, "What are those?"

"Sorcerers." Izuku kept an eye on the two floating Nobodies patrolling the open area of that floor, some form of indoors plaza. The straight jacket-like forms hovering had red hard-light cubes orbiting them lazily, but the key bearer knew how dangerous they were. "They're up there on the hierarchy, and they're pretty strong too."

"Then what's the plan?"

"Oh, I know!" The person to answer wasn't Izuku or any of their combat-trained and tested friends who had been hearing the conversation from a few steps back. No, the person to say that was Eri, who walked past the duo and stood in plain sight of the Sorcerers.

The six-year-old girl, in her little ornamented dress, looking completely non-threatening… blew a raspberry to the Nobodies.

Her taunt worked, and the Sorcerers flew closer while their laser cubes started to spin faster.

Izuku and Katsuki jumped from their hiding spot to flank Eri, putting themselves between the Princess of Heart and the Nobodies.

They didn't need to, because before the eyes of most of 1-A and Melissa, Eri achieved the impossible.

She trusted her palms forward, both glowing light-blue…and letting off electric sparks?

"Blizzard-Thunder!"

From above the Sorcerers, frigid blue bolts of lightning fell and struck the Nobodies, flash-freezing them into ice statues that burst violently thanks to the electric charge coursing through them.

Everyone stared in shock at the girl for the second time that day.

Katsuki was trying to understand what he just witnessed, and failing. He burnt every single word of Izuku's notebooks about magic in his memory, and what Eri just did was impossible. She molded her magic to be both a Blizzard and a Thunder spell, simultaneously, becoming two entirely different states at once.

That was impossible. It was literally telling her magic to be hot and cold at the same time to freeze while burning something, without one getting in the way of the other. It was like asking water to be dry. It was impossible.

With that in mind, Katsuki felt justified in turning sharply to Deku and growling, "What the actual fuck? What was that? It doesn't work like that!"

Izuku, who had become almost catatonic, blinked his eyes back into focus, "It doesn't work like that- but it did- but magic can't do that- but she managed to-" Izuku started to mutter, only to cut himself and restart multiple times.

Melissa watched who she saw as the unofficial leaders of the group go in a spiral and asked with a great dose of concern in her voice, "Are they okay?"

"I don't think so." Ochaco sighed and walked to the duo, hitting both on the back of the head, "Okay, shut up both of you. Eri, sweetie, can you explain what you just did?" Ochaco also knew that magic wasn't supposed to work like that, somehow, but unlike the other two, she got a grip and asked the person that did said impossible feat instead of freaking out.

"Yes! I just picked a Thunder and a Blizzard and put them really close, then they kinda became one thing. If I brought it too close it wouldn't work, but just enough and they touched but didn't mix, like the paint Natsu let spill that time Mamaroki came to visit." Eri spoke all that too fast for Melissa to get, but the others were used to Izuku and caught most of it.

It still shouldn't have worked, at all, but Eri did what she did with so much childish confidence and not knowing better that it all somehow worked out in the end.

While Izuku and Katsuki had an existential crisis, Ochaco picked Eri back up, "That's great, sweetie, but please don't run off and jump into danger like that, okay? We already have enough trouble with Izuku doing it." Her scolding made Eri slump, but the jab against Izuku got a chuckle out of her.

While Izuku protested, Katsuki rolled his eyes. Not even a week and Ochaco was already talking like Aunty Inko.

That was actually kinda scary.

"We wasted enough time, let us proceed." Fumikage took the front, with Dark Shadow ushering the rest to move.

Now back on track, they found the other set of stairs. That was where the good news ended. The stairway was crowded with Nobodies, with at least three times the numbers they saw before.

"Oh, it's gonna be one of those days." Kyoka sighed and got ready, the fight was on.

—

The group stumbled into the Eightieth floor. After being forced to switch stairways no less than ten times, with the eleventh just now, and facing an ever-growing number of Nobodies, everybody was in need of a breather.

Melissa watched helplessly as Izuku panted like a dog, Shoto steamed, Denki sparked and spasmed, Kyoka nursed a headache and sore hands, and Momo dry heaved. "Are you guys okay?"

Minoru, who was bleeding profusely from his head and trying to keep it from staining his suit, waved her off, "That's not even an average Thursday for us."

Hanta stopped blowing on his irritated elbows to chuckle, "We drop buildings on each other on Thursdays. I don't think that's a fair comparison."

"Exactly!" Minoru managed to get a laugh from everyone, successfully raising his friends' spirits.

Melissa, not for the first time, asked herself what U.A. taught those guys. "Is there anything I can do to help?" She had been feeling useless with the way she contributed a huge nothing to the battles till now.

Eri Skipped directly into Melissa's arms, who held the girl in reflex. The little unicorn whispered something in her ear.

"Do I have to do that?" Eri nodded. "Fine." Melissa linked her fingers with the little girl's, raised their interlocked hands, and then they both chanted…with different amounts of enthusiasm.

"Curaga!"

A green light all but burst from them, washing over 1-A and healing their sore bodies.

Katsuki waved off the spectral flowers around him and huffed, "Piggybacking out of someone to cast a spell is cheating."

Denki raised his now functional arm, "I'm not complaining!"

Just as he finished speaking, a grinding noise startled the group. Behind them, heavy hydraulic doors slammed close before the black and white thorns they all learned to fear covered it.

Kyoka shot Denki a glare, making the blond wilt, "It wasn't me!"

"Guys!" Izuku looked further ahead, where the doors at the end of the corridor were also closing. "We have to move!"

That was enough to make them bolt. The doors kept closing, both ahead and behind, boxing them little by little.

Tenya saw that the door leading into the floor proper they were about to pass wasn't blocked by the thorns. "There!" He blazed ahead with his Engine and smashed the door open, his friends right on his heels.

Denki and Fumikage leaped to Tenya's rescue, quickly blocking two sharp limbs that came from the floor.

"Assassins!" Izuku grimaced. Axel's troops hadn't parted with their leader on good terms.

"We're on it!" Mina and Ochaco jumped at the half-submerged form of the Nobodies. They might have the strange power to phase into solid ground, but that didn't stop the girls.

Ochaco used her gravity magic to pull the Assassin to her, smashing her fist into the Nobody and sending it packing.

Mina was more direct, she used her Acid to melt the floor and the Assassin with it.

Without breaking stride, they rushed onto the floor, which appeared like some kind of indoor garden.

"There's an elevator up ahead!" Melissa pointed to the center of the space, where a structure went up to the next floor and beyond. "We can get to the hundredth floor with it."

"I'll take it!" Hanta was considering anything a victory at that point. That included the fact the elevator wasn't blocked by the thorns.

"Look out!" Izuku's warning made Ochaco extend her hand and pull the vanguard back just in time to not be impaled by Dragoons. "We got more incoming!"

More Nobodies materialized one after the other. Not only that, as the cherry on top of that disaster sundae, the elevator doors opened. From it, two men clad in tactical suits walked right behind the Nobodies.

"I hate to say it, but that damn masked brat was right." The taller one huffed, his webbed hand that looked like fans waved in the group of young heroes' direction, "There were some idiots dumb enough to try pulling a fast one over us."

The shorter man chuckled, before bulking up, his body inflating and shredding his suit, skin turning purple and muscles ballooning to multiple times their original size. "It's always the same thing. Somebody tries to play the hero and gets bodied!"

Katsuki watched extra one and two with the face of someone who just stepped on something nasty and had to scrape it off their shoe. Honestly, he would prefer more Nobodies, at least they were a challenge. "What a waste of fucking time."

Rolling his eyes, he turned to Eijiro and Shoto, "You two idiots are with me. Peppermint, send them up. Eijiro, you know what the fuck you need to do already so get on with it!" Katsuki waved the rest of the group off, "We'll catch up in a minute, so try to cover some ground, will ya?"

Katsuki cracked his neck, his palms sparkling. That wouldn't even be a warm-up.

"Hey!" Izuku called for him, the bomber not turning but slowing down his stride a fraction. "Better hurry up or we'll get to the top first!"

The Light in his chest flared while Katsuki laughed, "In your dreams, shitty Deku!"

Izuku laughed and traded a nod with Shoto just as he slapped his right hand on the ground and created a pillar of ice that shot them up to the catwalks on the next floor.

The Nobodies and villains tried to open fire, but a very angry missile barreled onto them before they could do anything, a manly boulder not far behind.

"Will they be okay?"

Eri patted Melissa's shoulder, answering her question with a simple, "Don't worry."

"How could I not? How aren't you guys worried?"

Izuku turned to her, his overcoat fluttering like a cape and adding flair to the simple motion, "If Kacchan and I could fight All Might and not lose, then those guys have no shot of taking him down."

Tsuyu nodded and complemented, "Katsuki is too angry to die, and both Eijiro and Shoto are too competitive to let him have that over them." She ribbited a chuckle, "You should be worried about the other guys."

The group hopped off the ice pillar and hit the ground running, only to have their momentum instantly killed by every door on the floor being covered by the black and white thorns.

"Oh, come on! This is cheating!" Mina shook her fist to the ceiling as if Vanitas could see her, "Are you so scared we're gonna wreck your crap that you had to wall us off like that?!" The ceiling offered her no response.

Momo clapped and got them back on track, "We reached a dead end. Any ideas on how to circumvent it?"

Mei raised her hand not holding her rifle, "That air duct isn't barred!" She pointed at a grating on the ceiling, no thorns covering it.

That gave Melissa an idea, "There's an emergency ladder that leads to the control room! We could use it, we only need someone to lower it for us."

"Ah, that makes things easier." Mei aimed and shot, blowing the grating right off and clearing the way. "So, who's getting in there?"

Fumikage looked at Dark Shadow, "How much can you reliably shrink?"

"Not enough." The Dark Guardian slumped. He had trouble getting any smaller than his default form since his transformation.

"Izuku?"

The key bearer also slumped, "I never got around to learn that Mini spell."

Eri tilted her head, "But what does being small have to do with anything?"

Melissa elaborated to the girl in her arms. "We need someone that can fit in the vents to get outside the tower, climb it to where the emergency ladder is, then use the vent there to get inside again and lower it."

"Oh!" Eri nodded with a smile on her face Melissa would promptly learn meant nothing good. "Okay!" With a Skip, Eri flashed away.

Everybody felt a moment of abject panic before turning to the air duct, seeing Eri's legs disappearing in it.

Ochaco rounded to Izuku and glared at him, "I blame you."

"I also blame me. Minoru!"

The diminutive boy sighed, "On it!" He took a running leap out of the walkway and quickly made his way up the wall and to the ceiling, leaving a trail of purple orbs behind. Minoru got into the duct just in time to see Eri slipping out of the building.

"Wait!" Minoru crawled as fast as he could, getting to the edge and seeing a long fall before him… but no unicorn. He turned around to look up and saw Eri pulling an Izuku and running up the wall.

"Of course, he taught her that too." Minoru pulled two more spheres from his head. "Of course, she runs ahead with zero thought." He started to climb after the girl with shocking speed and dexterity, covering various floors in seconds. "Of course, I'm the one that has to rush after the kid who inherited zero survival instincts."

Minoru considered Izuku a true friend, but he was so getting back at him later. "PLUS ULTRA!" He went right past Eri and up to the right floor to clear the way.

Right as he got to the window and saw the ladder they were after, a sound that was getting increasingly familiar and annoying sounded from behind him. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me." Minoru weaved to the side, barely dodging a Dragoon's spear.

The weapon broke the plexiglass making the twisting body shoulder check Minoru inside the floor.

He rolled back to his feet and spat a blob of blood. A busted lip beat being shishkebabed. "We all know where this is going, so get on with it already."

A bunch more Dragoons and Dusks manifested on both sides of the corridor-esque room, trapping Minoru in the middle of the mob of Nobodies.

The young hero cracked his neck, "Bring it."

The melee broke out in a blink. A spear came for Minoru's head, only to be sidestepped and only catching a hair orb on its tip.

Minoru hummed over a swipe from a Dusk, leaving two orbs to get caught in the springly arms.

He ducked under a lance swipe that also only hit an orb, going in and punching the Dragoon in the gut. Minoru then leaped and used the Nobody as a springboard to throw himself at two other Dusks.

The silvery forms lunged at him, but Minoru stuck more orbs to them and kicked the Dusks at the other Nobodies.

They crashed, and the multiple orbs he left behind stuck. One Nobody to another, spears to the floor and walls, it was already enough to turn the situation. Minoru wasn't stopping only on a turn, he was gonna flip it on its head.

The young hero threw himself at the cluster of Nobodies, weaving between, under, over, and right through the twisty forms. He hit and stuck more and more purple hair spheres to his foes, who got more and more tied and trapped.

By the end of it, Minoru was standing over a jerking and convulsing mass of Nobodies, trying to catch his breath. "I might not be the strongest guy in the class, but you can bet I'm just as crazy as all my friends!"

Clapping made Minoru almost slip. He glanced at the broken window, seeing Eri had used it to come inside and had stood by the wall to not get in the way of the beat-down Minoru dished out. "That was cool!"

He grinned and rubbed his nose with a smug smile, but a heavy jerk from the Nobody yarn made Minoru remember where he was. "Say, do you have any other of those double-flavored spells?"

"Of course I do! Here, I'll help." Eri pointed her hands to the Nobodies, her palms glowing a fiery orange and covered in whirlwinds. "Aero-Fire!"

Minoru leaped off just in time to see the cluster of Nobodies being swallowed by a tornado of blazing winds that cut them to ribbons and burned them to ashes.

Eri put her fists on her hips with a self-satisfied smile, and Minoru could only shake his head at the sight. She would be as much a menace as Izuku.

"C'mon, let's get this show on the road." He got the ladder, where a convenient lever opened the hatch underneath and lowered it.

Izuku saw the ladder coming down and leaped on it, climbing steps by the dozens so he could check on Eri and Minoru. "Hey! You guys okay?"

Minoru crouched by the edge of the hatch with Eri behind him, "We're fine! Come on slowpokes, we have a tower to climb!"

The whole group had smiles on their faces. They were almost there.

Izuku gave a determined nod and kept climbing. 'Everyone, wait just a little more. We'll get to the top and save I-Island!'

Done! Fucking finally! AAAAAAAAAAAA!

This took longer than I would've liked, and I ended up missing the fourth anniversary of this story, but what matters is that in the end, it's here!

As you all saw, Melissa embraced the chaos, and the magic. Eri showed she's a magic menace, and just a menace in general, like Izuku. Mineta had a, honestly, pretty cool moment.

I know, I'm as surprised by the last one as you are.