Chapter 44:

(All right, last chapter with Claus before we return to the MHA side of this shared universe. Let me tell you, I've been working on tons of things, but my off time always revolves around praying and this. Either that, or drawing & video games. Speaking of which, to those on Archive, should I post some of those drawings, if interested? They're sketches in my sketchbook, but it should be kinda cool. Anyways, enjoy!)

They were getting closer and closer to the next floor. But going through all these Chimeras was exhausting to say the least. Claus swung his stick and hit one of these little Screwloose. These things were a menace to deal with, Kumatora punched and kicked them the best she could.

"I'm so sick of this s*!" She said, Claus tried to channel his powers, and then pink light surrounded him. "What does that do?" Fuel asked, unsure of what the new power is. "I dunno, but…Fuel, look out!" Claus shouted, swinging his stick at the attacking Screwloose, and the pink lights flashed before shooting that Chimera into the air.

"You okay?" Claus asked, "Yeah, I can keep going. We've got a few more!" Fuel said, watching Boney kick a few of them off the side. "Grrr….RUFF RUFF! (These things are OUTRAGEOUS!)" Boney said.

"No worries, Boney, we're almost done…" Claus said, swinging and kicking the last few. The four of them became exhausted, "What I wouldn't give to be in a hot spring right about now." Fuel said, rubbing his eyes and the sweat off his face. "We're…We're gonna be fine, right? We're not like reaching higher altitudes, right?" Kumatora asked Fuel and Claus.

"I-I don't think so. It isn't as big as Volcano or Snowcap Mountain…" Claus explained, "Sheesh, that was annoying. Let's hurry and get up here before anything else happens." Claus said, walking up the ladder.

"Hey, what happened to ladies first?" Kumatora said. Claus had just laughed nervously, "S-Sorry, got a little ahead of myself." He simply said. He watched as his friends managed to climb up the ladder. Even Boney, if anyone could believe that.

(So few. So proud. So emotional…

Sorry, just thinking of music)

Claus lifted the cover up to climb into a room he didn't expect to be painted with such bright and flashy colors. They ended up climbing to a room painted white, pink and blue. It looked like some sort of playroom.

"What…IS this?" Claus asked, he wasn't expecting a room like THIS to be in the tower. The four of them looked around. "Is this…a hot spring?" Kumatora asked, looking at a star shaped tub in front of them. Fuel looked at a few toys that were lying around, seeing stuff like a stuffed red teddy bear, bicycles, and toy airplanes.

What caught his eye was something he was hearing about from the mainland. "Claus, this is what I was talking about!" Fuel pulled out a few figurine of men wearing weird outfits and capes. "See this? This is the current Number One Hero, All Might." Fuel said, "And let's see…Best Jeanist, I think…?" Claus was curious about the mainland's society, and he looked at the figure of this All Might guy. "Well, he certainly looks like he has the confidence of a hero?" Claus said, holding the figurine in his hand.

"OH, I DIDN'T REALIZE WE HAD GUESTS!" A voice popped over from the other side of the room. The person in question…wasn't human. A robot with blonde hair walked up to them, wearing a blue maiden dress.

"WELCOME, WELCOME! MY NAME IS LI'L MISS MARSHMALLOW!" She introduced herself.

Claus and the Nowhere Gang looked at the automaton. "What the heck is this place…?!" Kumatora asked, "I don't know…" Fuel said.

"AH, THIS IS KING P'S ROOM. IF YOU WISH TO LOOK AROUND, YOU MAY." Miss Marshmallow said.

"Ruff ruff!(Ask her about this place, she doesn't smell hostile…But that could change!)" Boney said to Claus.

"G-Good call." Claus was skeptical and was ready to fight if this thing turned hostile. "What do you mean? Who's this "King P"?" Claus asked.

"KING P IS OUR LEADER." She simply said, "NOW THEN, IF YOU HAVE NO FURTHER BUSINESS HERE, I'LL KINDLY ASK YOU TO—"

She then turned to Fuel, who grabbed one of the toys. This one was set in a trophy stand.

"IF YOU TAKE MASTER KING P'S VERY PRECIOUS "FRIEND'S YO-YO", I WILL BE MAD." Miss Marshmallow threatened, now looking angry. Fuel backed up with this strange toy very much in his hand.

"MAD! MAD! VERY MAD MAD MAD MAD!!!!!!!" She began to shout, while rushing right at Fuel! "Whoa!" He shouted, before Claus managed to push her back by swinging his stick at her. "Get ready, guys! She's coming at us!" Claus's eyes lit up and his friends got ready to fight, Miss Marshmallow rushed for Kumatora and tried to slash her!

"Big mistake, you sack of s*!" Kumatora said, confidently. She smirked as she punched the mechanical maiden to the back of the wall. Boney snuck around and bit the robot maid's arm before she lifted him and through him into the tub! Boney managed to get up from out of there, barking angrily.

"Ruff ruff!(Claus, she smells mechanical! Use your lightning powers!)" Boney shouted at his baby brother, "On it! PK Thunder!" Claus said, shooting a ball of purple lightning the machines way. The robot maid shrieked in a malfunctioning voice. Claus, Boney and Fuel then rushed in for a combo attack, before she grabbed Claus's stick and threw him to the side by it, kicked Boney and Fuel into each other.

They managed to get up and see what Miss Marshmallow had in store next.

The robot maiden had unleashed a sharp claw and drill, with all three boys rushing in to her. "ACTIVATING "ULTRA TICKED-OFF SYSTEM"!" She said, rushing towards the boys again.

Fuel used one of his Wall Staples to block off the claw before it grabbed him.

Kumatora launched a few Thunder Bombs are her, "Over here!" Kumatora said, trying to get the maid's attention off the boys! She managed to do some good damage, and she ran in with the drill spinning. Claus managed to shoot another shot of lightning at her, and ran in.

"Get away from my friends!" Claus said, feeling some of his anger in that moment.

Miss Marshmallow managed to shoot the drill in his way, but he blocked it off with a PK Counter! Claus then grabbed the drill's arm and pulled in Miss Marshmallow to punch her in the face!

"ERROR…ERROR…" She began saying, seeing as she was now taking bad damage. Claus was unrelentingly powerful, throwing in a powerful strike from his stick. His power lighting up with purple and yellow lights.

"How am…I…so…" Claus began to think to himself. He wasn't sure how he could master these power so quickly, but he seemed to be doing a better job at using them.

That swing sent Miss Marshmallow to the other side of the room.

"Grrrgh…Is everyone okay?" Claus asked. "A-Are you? You really lost yourself in that, Claus." Fuel said.

"Non-Nonsense." Claus could see there was some damages from the claw. He could see cuts on his arm.

Miss Marshmallow had electricy coming off of her, "ERROR…ERROR…YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW-SO-SEW-SO-SO…" Miss Marshallow was now speaking nonsense. "GREETINGS, CHEESE POPSICLE! THE NUMBER YOU HAVE DIALED IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PORK CHOPS. FROM EAST TO WEST IT GOES GOES BROKEN BROKEN OH SO SOW SEE BROKEN!" She whirred and clanked, making a bunch of noise before blew up.

Claus just took a few deep breaths and sat in the hot spring with Boney, helping him recover his injuries. "You okay, Boney? You got pretty banged up there…" Claus then said, "Ruff ruff.(I'm fine. I should be asking you that.)" Boney said, nuzzling close to him.

"I'm fine. But sheesh, that was intense." Claus said, rubbing his head and easing into the hot water while he healed.

"I'll say, I've never seen you go as wild like THAT before!" Fuel said to his best friend. "But why go through all the trouble of us grabbing…what exactly IS this?" Fuel asked. "I think she called it a "yo-yo"?" Kumatora said, asking Fuel to see what it does. She looked at the string, "Uh…okay…maybe I'm supposed to have it like this?" Kumatora said, before realizing what this thing might actually be.

"Now I get it! It's like a flail!" Kumatora said, swinging it around, "Ow!" She said. "Yeah, that must be what it is. I've never heard of "yo-yos" before when I learned anything about the mainland." Fuel said, thinking this may be some sort of weapon. "Claus, you want to see?" Fuel asked.

"Yeah, I wanna see." Claus held his hand out and look at the wonder in red. He saw the string Kumatora wrapped around her finger and wrapped it around his own. "I didn't realize that the mainland kids weapons…" Claus said, seeing it reel out and then slowly back it. "I guess it could be useful." Claus suggested, swinging it around.

The Nowhere Gang decided they would press on, since it was clear they weren't at the top yet. Claus had a lot on his mind, "Everything about this is so…bizarre. The yo-yo thing…I don't get why, but I feel like it's important somehow." Claus then remembered the "King P" the automaton maid had spoken about. "Who's King P? And what does he want with the islands?" Claus asked himself. "Either way, I'll find out. I'll…" Claus then thought of the lightning strikes, his parents crying at the grave of his brother, and the indoctrination of Tasmily Village.

"I'm gonna get stronger, so this King P guy can't stand in my way." Claus declared, unknowingly pushing into darker thoughts. Or maybe, he was being pushed.

(Meanwhile)

Fassad was en route to the Thunder Tower, and thought about the description of the intruders. A girl was hidden among them and a dog was wearing a mask. "That leaves one of the to be the boy if I'm correct." Fassad smirked was eager to see the video footage from Li'l Miss Marshmallow. Maybe then, they could begin the next part of his master's plan. He then made a call on his radio. "Evacuate all personnel from the premises. We need to make them think they've succeeded." He ordered his troops.

(Okay, here we are! I hope you enjoyed it! We will return to Claus' somewhere AFTER the Hero Killer Arc, I believe. And when we get there, we will have more surprises in store. Also, I hope I wrote that fight scene well. I know it was nothing special, but I've been trying Arcane's technique of SHOWING capable fighters instead of TELLING by you characters are fighters. Lemme know what u guys think. Stay strong and awesome! And I thank Jesus that I have an ability to write.)

Philippians 2:3 KJV:

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem each other better than themselves.