Concealing myself in the shadows of leaves, I leaped from tree to tree in search of any classmates who needed help. As I traversed, I kept trying to recreate that form that I was in, but I couldn't even feel an ounce of electricity flowing through me anymore. It was as if that singular attack that I had landed on Sandman was some latent energy that my body set aside for emergencies. Regardless, I was thankful that I was able to use it when I needed to.
Now that the adrenaline had faded, I definitely had a few broken bones, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. That villain didn't hit me many times, but he sure as hell hit hard. If not for my Quirk giving me natural durability, I'd be a human pancake.
"Ochaco!" I heard in the distance. It was Asui. I didn't hesitate or think, I just followed the sound until I found the two of them.
There was a clearing in the trees, and I could see Uraraka pinned down by another girl. Midoriya, Shouji, and Todoroki emerged from a nearby bush at the same time as I. When Asui called out to us, the girl attacking Uraraka had fled. Before she left, she glanced at Midoriya and me, smiled, and then disappeared into the darkness.
We rushed to Uraraka. She was hurt, but her injuries were nothing compared to what happened to Midoriya. Shouji carried him on his back since both of his arms and one of his legs were broken. I thought I had it bad, but he looked like shit.
"Midoriya, are you alright? Why are you out here? You need to rest, man," I told him.
"There's no time. Join our group. We have to escort Kacchan back to camp."
"Where is he?" Asui said.
Panicked, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Shouji turned around, expecting Bakugo to be behind them.
"Neat trick, yes? I believe Bakugo's talents would be a waste if he were cast as a hero," said a voice hidden in the trees. Upon closer inspection, I could make out what he looked like. He was a masked magician of sorts, wearing a brown trenchcoat while juggling a marble between his fingers.
Midoriya, enraged, screamed at the villain. "Give him back!"
"Give him back? Bakugo belongs to no one," said the magician. "He's his own person."
Todoroki and I threw ranged attacks at the villain, but he simply leaped over them and landed atop a different tree.
"Where's Tokoyami!? He got him, too?" Shouji shouted.
Damn it. How could they all be so careless as to let this guy kidnap two of our guys? No, these are some of UA's top students. I doubt they were careless. This guy is just that powerful.
"Ah, yes," said the magician, flashing a second marble. "I am an entertainer, you see? Taking Tokoyami was nothing more than improvisation. Yes, when I saw your avian friend take down our dear Moonfish so violently, I knew that his power could be of use to us as well."
"You can't take them!" Midoriya bellowed.
"Morales!" Todoroki yelled before throwing a barrage of ice at the villain. That's all it took for him and me to be in sync. I stepped and hopped atop his barrage of ice like stepping stones, using my webs to propel me forward. I could tell that the magician didn't expect such a speedy and collaborative effort.
The magician leaped from his tree, taunting us as he did so. "Sorry, kids. I am not a combatant, you see, I specialize in trickery and sleight of hand!"
"I don't give a damn!" I yelled, firing a web at him. He changed his trajectory in mid-air, dodging it before fleeing with quickness that rivaled mine. "Get back here!" I called out, following the pathway of tree branches he leaped from.
I was wrong about his speed; it didn't just rival mine, but it outclassed it. The more we stepped, the greater the gap between us grew.
Damn it! If I weren't hurt, I could catch up with this guy no problem! C'mon legs! Just for five more minutes! Work, damn it! Work!
At the start of the year, I hated Bakugo; Tokoyami and I hardly exchanged more than a few sentences. Still, they were my friends. I would do anything to protect them. I'd give my life to save theirs if I had to. All I could think about was that moment when I unlocked that hidden power within myself — for just ten seconds, I had transformed into a higher state than I'd ever achieved. I tried to bring it out, I started to scream as I begged for that hidden energy within me to make itself known again, but alas, I was completely out of it.
It was then that I could hear Midoriya and the others yelling behind me. Putting two and two together, I understood what was happening. Combining Asui and Uraraka's Quirks, they launched themselves toward the magician, but Asui's throw was off target.
"I got you!" I yelled, landing on a branch before firing my webs at the trio. I then used all of my strength to correct their course, launching them at the fleeing villain. It was the perfect shot; they were able to tackle him and bring him down to Earth.
They landed with a giant crash, and I landed behind them a few seconds later. The magician's friends started attacking us. There was the creepy blonde girl who was attacking Uraraka earlier, and this weird guy wearing a skin-tight bodysuit, changing his voice with every sentence he spoke. Todoroki and I immediately went on the offensive; however, we were stopped by Shouji.
"We're done here!" he shouted. I looked back to see that he was holding two marbles in his hand. "I managed to take Bakugo and Tokoyami out of his pockets when he wasn't looking."
"Good work, Shouji," I said.
"Color me impressed," he said. "I'd expect that with someone with so many hands!"
Todoroki put up a wall of ice to separate us before we fled. As we ran, the warp villain that had attacked us at the USJ had arrived and started transporting the villains elsewhere. It was then that the magician revealed the final trick up his sleeve.
"Don't worry, our mission was complete. I thought I'd let the children gloat for rummaging through my pockets."
The magician removed his mask, taunting us with his words in the process. "If a magician is flaunting something shiny, it means that there is something else that he doesn't want you to see." He stuck out his tongue, revealing two marbles, the ones he'd captured Bakugo and Tokoyami inside.
He snapped his fingers, and the marbles in Shouji's hands transformed into a ball of my webs and a block of Todoroki's ice.
"How!?" I yelled out.
The magician laughed. "During your joint attack, I transformed your webs and his ice into dummies and slipped them into my pocket." The magician started to disappear into the warp villain's portals, taunting us throughout. "One last bow as the curtain falls!"
It was then that a beam of energy smacked the villain in the face. It was from Aoyama, who was hiding in the foliage. I always thought he was weird, and a little dumb, and annoying, and pretty lazy; honestly, I didn't think he had what it took to be a hero until that moment. Instantly, he earned my respect.
The magician spat out the marbles, and a window of opportunity opened. I leaped forward, grabbing one of the marbles while Todoroki went for the other. His hand was so close, mere centimeters away, but in the end, it was retrieved by one of the villains. His face and arms appeared grafted with burned skin, and he grinned at Todoroki.
"Poor little Shoto Todoroki..." he said, disappearing into the portal. At the same time, the magician snapped his fingers, and Bakugo transformed back into himself, being held by the grafted villain by the neck.
Now!
"You're not getting away!" I yelled, firing a web at Bakugo's chest. It connected, and the villain's eyes widened. Just when I started pulling on the web, the portal closed, and my web snapped.
Midoriya yelled for his friend, tears falling down his face. Shouji was helping Tokoyami get back onto his feet while Todoroki stared blankly at where the portal once was. As for me, I fell on one knee, exhausted. Bakugo and I weren't close, but still, I cried for him. If I'd acted just a second faster, I could have saved him.
Before the portal closed, there was a moment where Bakugo and I locked eyes. He then looked at Midoriya. I truly believe that at that moment, he realized that the world didn't work the way he thought it did. He wasn't invincible; he wasn't the strongest. And for the first time in his life, I think he silently asked us to save him.
But we failed.
I failed.
Midoriya kept screaming, bashing his face into the dirt. The way he yelled for his friend only made the tears rush out even more for me. I walked over to Midoriya and knelt beside him, putting a hand on his back.
"Hey," I said through my tears. "We're gonna get him back. We're going to save Bakugo, whatever it takes. They won't get away with this."
I comforted him as he wept, and eventually, he passed out from his injuries.
It wasn't long before emergency services had arrived. Fifteen out of the forty students were unconscious from the gas, eleven were injured, and thirteen were unharmed. Of course, one was missing. When it came to the adults, Pixie Bob was in serious condition after a blow to the head, and Ragdoll was missing.
Only three of the villains were captured. When I showed the police officers where I'd beaten Sandman, all of his fragments had disappeared. He'd escaped.
What was supposed to be a fun getaway with freinds turned into a nightmare, one we would never wake up from.
Thus, the training camp concluded.