Chapter 14: The Underground Labyrinth within the Swamp
"This place is a shithole," Bakugou simply growled.
"C'mon, Bakubro, be nice about this place," Kirishima said.
"Okay, fine. This place is an aesthetically pleasing shithole."
"Wow, that's the first nice thing I've ever heard you say," Kaibara joked.
"Shut up, monsterfucker, you have no right to judge me."
"Why were we saddled with that nickname, again?" Tsuburaba asked.
"You two monsterfuckers know exactly what you did!"
"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP?!" Momo shouted. Turning around, she looked towards her squad's angelic guide. "Melissa, please tell me this is the right place!"
"We're in the right place all right, a map made with magic doesn't lie," Melissa answered. "Though, I'm not exactly sure where this tribe is in all this… muck."
"Muck" was an appropriate term for this swamp the SREU found themselves in. As far as the eye could see, there were only decrepit trees, fog, and green, bubbling mud-water.
Momo was secretly glad that they brought boots that went up to their shins.
"Okay, well, where exactly is this hidden village?" Kendo asked. "Because if it's deeper in this swamp, I don't think that the cars will be able to fit through all the tree roots."
"It's around here somewhere," Melissa said.
Momo groaned as she heard her boots make another squelching sound. She knew General Aizawa approved of her town idea, but she didn't think they would be actively seeking out locals and asking them to emigrate to the Collibus Hills. Especially not in a place like this!
When Melissa heard about the project's approval, she insisted they head out to a marked location south of the base, near where the bunny warriors were living. Apparently, she knew of a hidden village there, but she never mentioned it was in the middle of a swamp!
Well, they didn't come here first. Technically speaking, they went to Uwabami's home first, followed by Hagakure's cave. And okay, maybe Momo agreed to go along with Melissa's idea because she was in a good mood due to the fact that both Uwabami and Hagakure agreed to look around the Collibus Hills and consider moving there, but still!
She could have at least told them they were going to a SWAMP.
"I swear to Christ, if I have to kill another goddamn giant leech…" Rin hissed.
Oh, yeah, Momo almost forgot about that. This swamp was teeming with what the brainiacs back at the base decided to classify as "megafauna," or in layman's terms, giant animals.
Giant frogs, slugs, cranes, and of course FUCKING LEECHES were prevelant in this swamp. She ended up having to shoot a couple of them Kodai stumbled across.
She also ignored how Kodai seemed almost disappointed when Momo killed them.
Of course, such zoological discoveries were promptly dissected and properly stored in her magic bag, but two things, aside from the fact that they were blood-sucking monsters, made them feel like hollow victories: One, Melissa had already mentioned leeches as one such megafauna before, and two, her subordinate's attitudes were really getting to her.
"Sacre bleu, it's hot out here…" Aoyama complained.
"It's not hot as it is humid, actually…" Tsuburaba explained.
"WILL YOU ALL STOP FUCKING COMPLAINING?!" Bakugou shouted.
"Lieutenant Yaoyorozu," Momo's radio went off. "It's me, Monoma. My team found some sort of man-made structure. It's a few minutes drive north east from your location. Over."
"Understood. Thank you, Monoma. Over and out," Momo said into her radio. Turning around, she shouted, "Everyone into the LAVs! Momona's team found something!"
"Yes! Air conditioning! Finally! I'm sweating balls out here!"
"Too much information, Kaibara," Kendo groaned. "Too much information."
The two LAVs pulled up where Monoma and the others were waiting, the dirty water of the swamp splashing on the tires as they came to a halt. Slowly, the doors opened, and Momo stuck her head out. "All right, Monoma, let's see what your team found."
"It's right this way, behind these trees," he said, pointing in that direction.
Momo took a close look, and sure enough, there was something behind those trees. It somewhat resembled a cave opening, but it was more… aesthetically pleasing.
"Oh, great," Bakugou sarcastically said. "We found a hole."
"A hole? A HOLE?!" Kaibara shouted, offended. "Look at this! The tessellations spanning across! The symmetrical opening! The straight lines! This, you uncultured swine, is a TUNNEL!"
"Is he really that upset over it?" Sato asked.
"He spent years getting his degree, he's gonna use it," Tsuburaba said.
"Whatever it is, it's clearly man-made," Kodai said.
"Right… I guess we found the entrance to this hidden village. It just happened to be… underground," Momo said. "So… who's going exploring with me?"
"I'm in!" Kaibara said. "I wanna know what sort of minerals they used to make this!"
Tsuburaba also raised his hand. "Wherever Sen goes, I go!"
"Ehh… as long as we don't have another cave-in…" Bakugou said.
"I'm right behind you, Bakubro!" Kirishima smiled.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT, SHITTY HAIR!"
"Sure, why not?" Uraraka said. "I'm a bit curious, myself."
"Great, and with Melissa, that makes seven," Momo said. "Monoma, you're in charge while I'm gone. Radio me in fifteen minutes. If I don't respond, send in a search party after thirty minutes. Once we hit the one hour mark, presume that we're all dead and drive back to the base."
Monoma gave her a salute. "Morbid, but understood, Lieutenant."
"All right, those coming with me, grab your water bottles, weapons, radios, whatever else you need now," the raven-haired said. "It's time for us to go spelunking."
"IT'S NOT A CAVE, IT'S A TUNNEL, GODDAMMIT!"
"With all due respect, shut up, Kaibara."
Entering the tunnel wasn't anything special. All Momo and her hand-picked team of problem children had to do was walk into the entrance. What was special was the tunnel itself.
Sure enough, Kaibara was right about what he was ranting earlier. The tunnel was definitely man-made. The floors, walls, and ceiling were all made of smooth tiles, each one of them perfect squares, and parts of the room were glowing with installed lights.
Upon a closer look, Momo saw that the "lights" were glowing green rocks.
"Private Kaibara, give me a geological analysis."
"Well, given its coloration, I would have to say the walls are made of slate rock, but it would take a lot of time and effort to simply make a single smooth tile of the things," the geologist said. "It could also be serpentinite, but I could be fooling myself with the lighting in this room…"
"Speaking of the lighting… what exactly is it?" Momo asked her team.
"They're glowstones," Melissa answered. "A type of ore that absorbs mana and emits a faint green light. I've also heard rumors that they come in different varieties of colors."
"I'm definitely taking one of those," Kaibara said. "You know, for research purposes."
"Hold on," Momo said. "We haven't even met the locals yet, so we're going to wait a bit, before asking them nicely if we could have one of their glowstones, instead of stealing it."
"It's not stealing if they don't find out!"
Katsuki didn't pay attention as his superior began chewing out Monsterfucker #1 over the simple idea of stealing being wrong, but instead, paid more attention to the tunnel walls.
Specifically, something he found indented into the tunnel walls.
It looked like one of the stone tiles was chipped away at by something, and from what Katsuki could tell, whatever it was happened to be big, powerful, and liked to ram into things. Did some rhino find their way in here and decided to smash up a part of the architecture?
"Oi, Round Cheeks, go grab Monsterfucker #1 and get him over here."
"My name is Uraraka!" Round Cheeks shouted. "And don't call Kaibara that, it's mean!"
"Oh, yeah? Then how'd you know I was referring to him, and not his friend?"
The brown-haired woman sputtered at that. "I… uh…"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Katsuki said. "Now, please, hurry up."
"You know you can't be such a dick, right?!" she shouted at him.
"Fine, fine," Katsuki groaned, standing up. "I'll do it… my… self…"
The astrophysicist looked at him with concern. "Bakugou?"
"Where the fuck… is everyone else?" Katuski asked.
"And, to top it all off: STEALING IS WRONG!" Momo shouted.
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Kaibara said. "Sheesh, someone can't take a joke!"
"I'm not in the mood for jokes!" the raven-haired woman hissed. "All day today I've been hearing all of you bickering like children while we we've been in a megafauna-infested swamp, and –"
"Uhh… Momo?" Melissa called out.
Momo turned around. "What?"
"Where are Uraraka, Bakugou, Kirishima, and Tsuburaba?"
The lieutenant immediately did a double-take as she looked around for her four missing soldiers. Not finding them, she went for her walkie-talkie. "Come in, is anyone –?"
"Hey, guys, this is Tsuburaba!" a familiar voice cut her off. "What the hell is going on? Kirishima and I turned our backs for one second and all of you suddenly disappeared! Where are you?!"
"Where are we? Where are you?!" Uraraka's voice came in. "Bakugou and I were just walking through the corridor together, and the rest of you just got up and disappeared!"
"Wait, how are all of you lost?!" Momo asked.
"Bakugou noticed something off with one of the corner tiles, so he went in for a closer look, and he was done and we turned around, no one was there!" Uraraka replied.
"Yeah, what's going on here?!" Tsuburaba asked.
"Melissa…" Momo looked at her angel friend. "What the hell is this place?"
"This place can't be just a tunnel," Bakugou said.
Ochako looked at the demolition expert in confusion. "Huh?"
"I've seen a lot of fantasy anime, and if it wasn't for the fact that this place was well lit and clean, it would scream "dungeon," to me," he explained. "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Just to be clear… you watch fantasy anime?" Ochako asked.
"IT WAS STUDY MATERIAL!" Bakugou shouted. "I just needed to know how to survive out here, a literal fantasy world! It's no different than the Monster Manual I carry around with me!"
"Sorry, sorry, it's just… you don't seem like the kind of guy who watches anime."
"IT'S A PERFECTLY NORMAL BONDING ACTIVITY BETWEEN COUP–"
CRREEEAAAKK…
Bakugou stopped yelling, as the two of them watched the corridor to their left suddenly have a wall fall from the ceiling, cutting off their access to that specific hallway.
Ochako swore she could hear Bakugou whisper, "Oh, no."
CRREEEAAAKK…
Before she could ask him what that meant, the two of them turned around to see that the wall behind them was suddenly gone, and replaced with another long tunnel.
"This isn't a dungeon," Bakugou said.
"ALL OF YOU!" Momo's radio blared to life again. "STAY FUCKING PUT!"
"Bakugou?!" she replied. "What is the meaning of this?!"
"THIS PLACE ISN'T SOME KIND OF TUNNEL, IT'S A GODDAMN LABYRINTH!" Bakugou's voice answered back. "WE DIDN'T GET LOST, THE WALLS SHIFTED AROUND US!"
"What?!"
CRREEEAAAKK…
Before Momo could reply, she, Melissa and Kaibara watched as a new wall was suddenly erected behind them, cutting them off from their quick way back to the entrance.
"Oh, shit, Bakugou was right," Kaibara realized.
"YAOMOMO, HOLY FUCK!" Momo's radio blared again.
"Kirishima, what's going on?! And what's with that nickname?!"
"Half these walls are fake!" Eijiro shouted. "Also, I thought the nickname was manly…"
"Wait, what?! What do you mean that half the walls are fake?!"
"Tsuburaba placed his hand on one of the walls for balance, and his hand just went through it!" the redhead explained. "It's like some kind of hologram, or an illusion!"
"I ALMOST NO-CLIPPED THROUGH REALITY!" Tsuburaba shouted.
"Okay, so let me think," Momo said, scratching her head. "We're trapped inside a maze where half the walls are either constantly shifting, or where the other half are illusions."
CRREEEAAAKK…
"Um, guys?" Melissa called out. "We have a new problem."
Momo looked over to where the blond angel was pointing towards, only to see that the walls were making a familiar noise, but none of them actually moved around them.
CRREEEAAAKK…
"Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me," Momo cursed.
"What? What is it?" Kirishima asked.
Momo forgot for a second that she still had her button on the walkie-talkie's speaker. Quickly explaining, she said, "Some of the walls are making that shifting noise, but aren't actually doing it. So to recap: Not only do the walls shift, but some of them also trick us by playing us the same audio, and some others are just an illusion. They're trying to trick both our eyes and ears."
"Not to mention our sense of direction," Uraraka added.
Neito breathed a sigh of relief at how quiet it was. This was indeed the life. While his subordinates might not be currently enjoying the boredom, Neito certainly was. After all, boredom and quiet meant that nothing was currently wrong.
He could enjoy cuddling with Itsuka on top of one of the LAVs, soaking up some sun.
"Hey…" Itsuka said. "It's been fifteen minutes, you better radio in."
"Mmm… you're right," Neito said, grabbing his radio. "Lieutenant Yaoyorozu, this is Monoma. It's been fifteen minutes, I'm calling in to make sure that you guys are still alive, or whatever."
No response.
"Great… all right, we'll go in to find them in another fifteen."
"Understood," Itsuka lazily smiled. "Now… where were we?"
Yep, this was definitely the life.
"So… what do we do?" Ochako asked. "Better yet, what are you doing?"
Bakugou gave her an answer as he laid down on the floor. "I'm staying put. The first rule of being lost in the woods is to stay right where you are. There's a good chance that trying to find the way out yourself will only get you even more lost. So, I'm staying right where I am."
"Okay… what's the second rule of being lost in the woods?"
"Make some sort of signal for help to come," Bakugou explained. "For example, a smoke stack for people to follow. But since there's no firewood here, I've gotta do the next best thing."
The brown-haired woman looked at him curiously. "And that is?"
"Making noise," Bakugou said, pulling out his radio. "Lieutenant, Shitty Hair, I've got a whistle with me. I'm gonna blow on it for a bit. If you can hear it, try to follow the sound to me."
"You brought a whistle with you?" Ochako asked.
"I brought a lot of things with me. Whistle, flashlight, C4, a few other things," Bakugou listed off. "Anyways, you might wanna cover your ears, this is gonna get pretty loud."
"Do you hear anything?" Eijiro asked, as he kept walking.
"Nah, man," Tsuburaba answered. "And to be honest, Bakugou's plan has some flaws. Like, sure, we can hear sounds clearer through the atmosphere, but they also travel slower than they do through, say, solids. Plus, the shifting walls open a whole bunch of new problems."
"Mm. You know, you're pretty smart," the artificial redhead said.
"Of course I'm smart! I'm a meteorologist! I have a degree and everything!"
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that, uh…" Ejiro stopped talking as the two of them turned the corner, only to find one of the shifting walls opening up to a completely new room.
"Whoa," Tsuburaba whispered.
The two of them walked into the new room. It was massive, way bigger than the tunnels, and circular. All around them were massive columns, with the floor of the room filled with flowers. And in the center of the room was a massive white crystal that was shining.
"I think… that you might wanna radio this in."
Eijiro Kirishima had to agree with that one.
"Hey, guys, it's Kirishima," Momo's radio flared up. "I think that me and Tsuburaba just found the center of the maze. We can see, like, six different entrances to the place."
"What else do you see?" Momo asked.
"Umm… a bunch of columns, flowers, and a big crystal? Oh, look, there's some stairs."
"All right, stay put, we'll try to find our way to you. Over and out."
"How are we supposed to find them?" Kaibara asked.
"Hmm… Melissa, do you have anything that sees through illusions?"
Melissa smiled at that. "Now you're speaking my language. VERUM ASPECTA!"
Momo could see Melissa's irises and pupils disappear, leaving nothing but white sclera. If it wasn't for the fact her eyes were glowing with holy light, she would have called an exorcist.
"Okay, we're close, I can see Kirishima and Tsuburaba," Melissa said, as she stared off at some wall. "We need to go straight, take a left, another left, pass one false wall, and we're there."
"All right," Momo said. "Let's go."
"FWEEEEE!"
"Bakugou, stop! Didn't you hear the Lieutenant?!" Round Cheeks shouted.
Katsuki pulled the whistle out of his mouth and looked at her. "Yeah, I heard. She said her team was gonna try and find Shitty Hair. She never said anything about us doing the same."
"Yeah, well, they're not gonna try to find us now!" the brown-haired woman said, rubbing her ears. "You're wasting your breath, and I think I'm gonna get tinnitus!"
"Listen, just because Ponytail and her idiots are gonna try to find the center of the maze, doesn't mean that they might stumble across us while doing it!" Katsuki explained. "Hell, who knows? Maybe they'll be able to hear us from the center of this goddamn labyrinth!"
"All right, fine! You –"
CRREEEAAAKK…
Both of them stopped talking, as they heard one of the walls at the end of the hallway and around the corner open up. Katsuki considered trying to figure out the pattern of movements coming from the maze, so now might be as good a place to start as any other.
However, fate decided to play him a different hand.
Because at the end of the corridor, they both heard a sound.
"Footsteps?" Round Cheeks mumbled. "You think it's the others?"
"Maybe," Katsuki said, standing up. At the end of the corridor, he could see a figure approaching them. He couldn't make out much, aside from their funny-looking hat. No, not a hat…
In an instant, something in Bakugou's mind clickled. Earlier in the labyrinth, he saw that a part of the wall was indicted, like some kind of horned animal, like a rhino, rammed it. But what if it wasn't a rhino… what if it was something more… bovine… like a cow… or a bull…
"Uraraka," Katsuki whispered. "Pull out your gun."
The astrophysicist looked at him confused. "What? Why?"
"What's the most famous story featuring a labyrinth back on Earth?"
"I dunno… the Greek myth one, maybe? Theseus and the… Minotaur…"
"Is this the place?" Momo asked.
"Just up ahead," Melissa said. "We just have to wait for the walls to shift."
CRREEEAAAKK…
And then, as if on cue, the wall ahead of them went into the ceiling, and like a gate, revealed to them the room up ahead. One of columns, flowers, a massive crystal, and…
"Kirishima! Tsuburaba!"
"Lieutenant Yaomomo!" Kirishima smiled.
"Kosei!" Kaibara shouted, tackling Tsuburaba.
"Sen! Hug me, brother!"
"I'm glad to see that you're all still alive, but we still have to find Bakugou and Uraraka." Turning around, Momo looked towards the resident angel. "Melissa, can you find them?"
Nodding, Melissa scanned around the room with her glowing eyes, before saying, "I see them. They're at the north-western part of the labyrinth. But… someone's with them."
Momo's eyes widened at that. "What? Who?"
"I don't know, but whoever they are, they're approaching our friends, and fast."
"Melissa! Intercept them, now!" Momo commanded.
The angel nodded, and extending her wings, she was off.
Momo seriously hoped that whoever they were, they didn't harm her squadmates.
Neito could feel his boots squelch from the dirty water as he jumped off the LAV's roof.
"Lieutenant Yaoyorozu, it's Monoma, come in!"
Still nothing but radio silence. Guess they were doing this.
"All right, everyone! The Lieutenant hasn't responded, so we've gotta go in and find them. Kodai, Sato, Aoyama, you're with me. Everyone else, stay back here with Kendo," the blond said, grabbing a rifle. "If we're not back in an hour, presume we're dead."
"Please, be careful in there," Itsuka said.
Before Neito had a chance to reply, someone else opened their mouth.
"Uhh… sir?" Rin called out. "We might have a problem."
"What is it?" Neito asked. "More giant leeches?"
The blond decided to ignore how Kodai perked up at hearing that.
"Thankfully, no, but… you might wanna look over there."
Neito looked over to where Rin was pointing, to see two massive eyes popping out of the water. Not only that, to make matters worse, they were swimming towards the group.
"Rin… what the hell is that thing?"
The zoologist insanity went into his analysis mode. "Definitely another megafauna, eyes are on the sides of the head, long snout, scales, avid swimmer, that thing is a –"
BOOM!
The giant animal lifted itself out of the water like some sort of kaiju, and then proceeded to charge towards the group, letting out a cross between a roar and a hiss.
"ROOOOOAAAR!"
"GIANT CROCODILE!" Rin screamed.
"EVERYONE, OPEN FIRE!" Neito shouted.
Immediately, everyone began shooting bullets at the absolutely massive reptile in front of them (over eight meters, if Neito had to guess), from Sato and Kodai blasting it with pistols, to Aoyama sniping it from the top of one of the LAVs, to everything in between.
Sorry, Lieutenant, Neito apologized. Guess you'll have to wait for us a bit.
Melissa flew as fast as she could within the confines of this cramped maze, certain that Momo was following behind her. She just had to make another quick turn, and…
"Oh! An angel! You must be with the Arms of Fire!"
Melissa paused, as she saw that… Bakugou and Uraraka were perfectly fine. Looking towards the newcomer, the angel saw that she was a… fairly small minotaur.
"Umm… who are you?" Melissa asked.
"On, right! My name's Pony! Pony Tsunotori! And I need your help!"
Author's Note: And so, the first part of the second series has begun.
For those wondering, this is going to follow the same formula as the previous arc, where every two chapters, the squad will explore a new place, making it four new places in total. After that, they'll go back and report everything to Aizawa, all while the plot continues to grow in the background. But that's for later. For now, the comments!
Hansledane: Yep, that's one of the big twists; Bakugou's gonna be a father, giving him even more motivation to come back from these missions alive. And while they are a minor plot point, Yostubashi and friends really are in it for the money. And the United States is gonna be playing an even bigger role in the future, trust me. Glad you noticed the new tags I posted, and I shall now leave you to your theorizing! Ciao!
valkrus: Fixed the typo. And as for why this village is hidden, it either explains it in this chapter or the next one. Or it doesn't, I don't particularly remember.
And now, for the last bit of shilling…
If you want more content, visit my Discord, the link is /3PFYSt8Dqz. You can chat with others, post memes, fanfic recommendations and prompts, role play, fan art, and we even have a writer's corner now! I'll also drop by with announcements and chat with you all every now and then! Also, if you want to add me as a friend, my username is Ernalore#8663! Just please make sure to follow the rules!
Thanks for reading, and once again, see you next time!
- Ernalore