Chapter 16: Into the Woods Part 2
Bakugo let out a savage cry as his explosions rocketed through the forest zone of Omega. With each blast he shot forward over the trees, only barely aware of the leaves that were being burnt in his wake or the branches that were falling to the ground. None of that was on his mind. His only thought was getting to Deku
Deku. Just thinking about that freak was enough to cause additional veins to appear on his forehead and arms, launching him with additional force while his heart beat so fast he might end up getting a heart attack before he turned eighteen. But how could he not be angry at the nerd? What happened at the Sports Festival had been humiliating! Not only had Deku made him look like a fool twice during the first two rounds, but then he stole his spot in the finals! His destiny of being one of the best heroes, if not the best, heroes to ever walk into the school on day one had forever been tarnished by that fucking thief. To make matters worse, the worthless extras that existed in this world continued to laugh at him! How many times had some snot-nosed kid looked at him, pointing, and then said 'Mommy look. It's the big baby from TV.' That stupid kid was lucky his mother had enough brains to get out of his sight or else he would have unleashed hell upon that toddler!
Thankfully, he was getting a chance to put that damned nerd in his place before he left for his internship. Deku probably thought he was being smart, making them cross the forest in order to eat up time and drain their stamina. But he would show him! He was The Great Lord God Explosion Murder…even if Midnight had shot down that name as well as several others. Stupid whore. Still, he was going to win this all on his own! He was going to go there and while those stupid extras in 1-B sat there, twiddling their thumbs as they assumed he would wait for the rest of his class, he would catch them off guard. He would go in there, explosions raining down on all those stupid villains till they were too bloodied to do anything else. He would be the one to take down an entire group of villains, coming up on top just like All Might. He would then capture the bomb, showing that he was the best. That there was no one else who could possibly reach his-
"Hey, Bakugo. Fancy meeting you here," came a voice right next to Bakugo. Eyes wide, the blonde bomber turned his head to see Deku of all people flying next to him with a smile on his face. "Brings back memories, doesn't it? Remember the times we used to-"
With a savage howl, Bakugo adjusted his position by twisting his body around so that his body was facing Deku's. Then, without warning, he pointed his palm at the nerd while detonating a powerful explosion. One so powerful in fact that it sent the ashen-haired teen backwards and down to the forest below. It was rough, crashing into several braches but his body was tough enough so that it endured with only a few rips to his costume before landing in a crouching position.
"That was rude," came Deku's voice from right behind him. Turning around, he spotted Deku sitting on a tree branch while kicking his legs back and forth like he was a little kid again. And what's more, he was completely unharmed! Not even a single stray hair looked like it was on fire. "Sort of reminds me of that time you slipped into the river and got mad when I tried to help you up."
"SHUT UP AND DIE!" screamed Bakugo, leaping into the air with enough force that he was only a foot below the branch Izuku was on before he felt gravity pulling on him. He helped in his return to earth by firing off another explosion. He watched as the flames began to envelop the tree, the branch crashing into the ground right in front of him. But there was no-
"You're really having a hard time coming to terms that I can fly," said Deku. Spinning around, Bakugo saw his childhood annoyance hovering a few inches off the ground. "And this time I'm in a much less confined space."
"Just stand still and DIE!" screamed Bakugo, leaping towards Deku with everything he had before unleashing explosions from both hands. The blast this time hit a tree, causing the shitty thing to fall to the ground in several pieces.
"Ah, I think not," said Deku now several yards away.
"Bakugo, we are getting reports of a series of explosions," came Ponytail's voice in his ear. "What's going on?"
"Just think about it for a moment," continued Deku as Bakugo ignored Ponytail's annoying voice. "What villain in their right mind will say 'Oh, you want me to stand still while you unleash explosions on me? I had no idea. Terribly sorry about that. Here, let me make it up to you by standing perfectly still'. Somehow, I doubt that will-" Bakugo let out another war cry and he ran towards Deku only to watch as the green-haired nerd seemed to vanish from sight only to reappear in the trees several yards further away. "Happen," he finished with a smirk.
Bakugo landed on a tree branch, his back hunching while the teen's arms were lifted up so that they were almost at chest level. The ashen blonde was panting now, head lowered as he felt new veins appearing all over his face. He could almost feel his eyes darting around slightly from side to side, completely unfocused as the rage continued to build in. How was this happening? How was fucking Deku of all people treating him like a joke? It made no sense! He had always been number one, the best of the best growing up. Then that fucking nerd somehow gets a quirk and suddenly he's better than HIM?!? No fucking way!
"Deku! You're dead!" screamed Bakugo again, launching himself through the air in the direction he had last seen the damned nerd. He spotted his target easily, floating in the air with his hands behind his back and a grin of all things on his face! Then, when he saw his death coming towards him, the damned coward turned tail and flew away so quickly that he was nothing but a streak of light. But that didn't stop Bakugo. Oh no, he continued to blast his way across the trees.
"Bakugo!" came Ponytail's voice again, louder than before. "What is happening out there? Are you in trouble? Do you need help?"
Hearing that caused Bakugo to grit his teeth, anger being diverted to a new target. "Fuck no!" he spat aloud to the dumbass who had the audacity to assume that he needed help against anyone. "It's only fucking Deku." Just then, he spotted his target again. This time he was sitting on a branch, waving at him.
"Wait? You're fighting Midoriya?" asked Ponytail as Deku flew away.
"No, the damned coward is running," spat Bakugo as he continued to give chase. "I'm managing to keep up with him."
"You're keeping up with Midoriya?" repeated Ponytail, disbelief clear in her voice.
"That's what I said," snapped Bakugo. "The damned nerd is heading east. So before you get your fucking ears cleaned, tell the rest of the worthless extras to stay out of-"
"Bakugo, STOP!" cried Ponytail, her voice in a panic. Not that Bakugo cared all that much as he felt the nerves in his ears screaming in pain like when the old hag's voice began grating on him. Somehow, he managed to land on a branch that creaked slightly from the added weight but managed to hold.
"What the fuck Ponytail?" demanded Bakugo. "No, who the fuck do you think you are telling me-"
"I'm telling you to use your brain!" Ponytail all but screamed at him through his earpiece in a rare fit of anger. Bakugo's eyes widened, clearly surprised that the prime and proper extra had this much fire in her. Then, when she spoke again, it was done in a more composed fashion. "Bakugo, I know you're smarter than this. So, please, think about it. Everyone knows you have it in for Midoriya. We know it. 1-B knows it. Also, Midoriya is fast with those wings. So fast that he can appear as a blur. And yet you are keeping up with him? Please tell me you see something wrong with this picture!"
"He," began Bakugo, but stopped himself. He wanted to say that the damned nerd was looking down at him, stopping from time to time to taunt the explosive teen. But the moment the words tried to form on his lips, they felt wrong. Something was-
"Hey Bakugo," came Deku's annoying voice. Looking up, he saw Deku in the air overhead waving at him before flying off. Seeing this made the ashen blonde's eyes narrow.
"Yeah, something is wrong," growled Bakugo. "That damned Deku just came back to wave at me. Something is up."
"I don't know what their plan is, but it is clear that 1-B is using your hatred of Midoriya to lead you around like a carrot on a stick," stated Ponytail. "For all we know, he could simply be leading you around the forest and away from the bomb until time runs out making you look like a fool. Or he could be trying just to wear you out without having to touch you so that you become too exhausted to continue. Or leading you into a trap! We'll stay away from that area just to be on the safe side."
"Yeah, good call," Bakugo admitted reluctantly. With a sigh, Bakugo then turned so that he was facing westward while his jaw clenched. There was a part of him that hated this. A part of him that thought he was running away from a fight he could win. But that was the thing, even if he pounded Deku so hard that they had to pull his worthless ass out, it would be only a single battle vs a war. If he lost this exercise because he was too busy killing Deku, then Deku would still win in the end!
Besides, in the end, he would face that worthless piece of shit again. Once that nerd realized that their little plan wasn't working and the bomb was in danger, he would come flying towards him! Then Bakugo would finally put Deku back in his place. With that thought, the explosive teen flew off towards his original target.
-x-
"Did you hear something?" Awase almost rolled his eyes at Shiozaki's question, but he managed to hold himself back. Instead, he turned to look at the vine-haired girl who was not wearing her hero costume. Instead, she was wearing what she considered her casual attire which, thankfully, was not something you wore to church. It was a long-sleeved, sky-blue dress with a sunflower pattern on it that went all the way down past her knees.
"No…dear," he said, feeling awkward as he said it. Dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt, he felt his cheeks turn red from his comment. Even if it was all part of the pair, staying in character even if it didn't look like anyone was watching, was super embarrassing! Thankfully, Shiozaki seemed equally embarrassed as her vines moved to cover her face. While he couldn't see her expression, Awase could see that her ears were turning red.
Midoriya, if we lose I'm going to kill you for making us do this for nothing , thought Awase as he looked around the room he was in. Currently, the two students were in a long log cabin fit for a family of four. Somehow in the span of a day, the teachers had made sure that it had running water, indoor plumbing, a fully stocked kitchen, furniture, a solar generator, and a garden in the back! Hell, someone (Midnight) had also managed to create a series of pictures of them together as well as stocking the drawers with some rather revealing nightwear.
How did that woman keep her job here?
"I'm going to head out to the garden," said Awase as he moved to the front door. "If I hear anything fishy, I'll let you know."
"Y-You should just stay inside," stammered Shiozaki. "The signal is very weak. I doubt we could call anyone if any trouble arises."
"Will do…love," whispered Awase, mentally telling himself that this was just an act. That he was just saying the same lovey-dovey things his parents always said to each other. That it didn't mean anything and if anyone else from the class was watching this he would weld them to the bottom of a plane!
-x-
"What was that?" asked Todoroki to no one, pausing as he heard a loud crash. It wasn't the first one he had heard, moving through the trees using his mother's ice. Ever since the exam had begun, Bakugo had been using them effectively to cross the distance needed to get to their target. Yet now, they were getting bigger and there was something heavy falling to the ground.
Curious, Todoroki veered off course to check it out. What he found a few minutes later was both surprising yet unsurprising at the same time: a fallen tree that clearly looked like it had been blasted apart from the trunk. Clearly, Bakugo's doing given the tendrils of smoke rising from it as well as the faint smell of nitroglycerine that 1-A was sadly becoming used to. But why did he do it? While many of the other trees in the area had received damages, none of them were this severe. Bakugo, when he was in the right frame of mind, had enough control over his quirk to not let something like this happen. So what set him-
"Midoriya!" said Tokoroki, eyes widening for a moment before they narrowed and his hand clenched into a fist. He could feel the blood beginning to boil in his system, anger taking over. He hadn't gotten the lecture that man had given him after the Sports Festival, about how if he had just used that bastard's fire then he could have saved his headband from those floating hands. Nor had he gotten over his overall failure, his chance to prove to that man that he didn't need that man's flames to become a great hero. He had watched Midoriya take on the strongest people in his class, Kirishima and Bakugo, and somehow come up on top!
"Objectively, I'm stronger than him," stated Todoroki as he began to run in the direction of the fallen debris. "Yet, somehow, he's been able to upstage me every time our paths cross. I won't lose. I'll defeat Midoriya using only my mother's ice and then win this exercise all on my own! That will prove to them-"
"That you like to talk to yourself a lot," came a female voice. Upon hearing it, Todoroki came to a skidding halt as he looked around. He remembered that voice from somewhere. He knew he did. But, when he looked around, nobody was there. It was like he had heard the voice of a ghost, ready to leap out at him.
It was only then, as Todoroki looked around at the sea of trees around him, that he felt utterly alone. He felt vulnerable. The half-hot half-cold teen gulped before trying to steady himself. Trying to reassure himself that he could do this. Reminding himself of just how powerful his mother's ice was. That with it, no one stood a chance against him when they were fighting fairly.
"There you are," came a new voice. Turning around, Todoroki's eyes widened to see that it was Midoriya. He was just standing there, wings extended, with a look of joy in his eyes. And…was he writing in a notebook? "Oh, I have so many questions about your quirk. I got to see a little of it at the Sports Festival, but I have so many questions! Does your body somehow generate the ice or do you pull in moisture around you and then freeze it? Or do you somehow summon it from another dimension? That would be so cool!"
As the green-haired boy continued to talk, Todoroki felt himself thrown through a loop. This…This wasn't what he had expected from Midoriya. Based on how he acted when he fought Tokoyami, Bakugo, and Kirishima, Todoroki was expecting something more timid. Heck, the image that Bakugo gave whenever he talked about certainly supported that theory. But this?
Then, confusion left Todoroki as clarity returned. "Enough of this," said the stoic teen as he sent a massive wave of ice towards his target. When it was over, a mountain of ice that reached above the tree line could be seen. However…
"Your ice certainly is impressive," said a voice right next to Todoroki right before he felt a hand touching his left cheek. "But I noticed that you have an obvious weakness. Divide." Todoroki tried to elbow Midoriya, to knock him away before it was too late. In that moment, he felt himself being drained. Todoroki's body felt heavier, his breathing becoming more labored. It was like his stamina was cut and everything he had been doing up until now was catching up with him.
"No, I can't lose," gasped Todoroki. "Not like this." The teen glanced around, only to see Midoriya standing a few feet away with his back against a tree, the notebook was gone. His green eyes were now focused on mismatched ones with a look that was analyzing him.
"You know, for all the talk about you being one of the best recommended students, you're pretty straightforward," commented Midoriya, now seeming less than impressed. "It's useful, don't get me wrong. That ice allows you to tackle a wide array of problems that would give most heroes out there a hard time. But, at the end of the day, all you do is throw vast amounts of ice at the problem to simply overwhelm the issue. On top of that, you only use your right side. Meaning it's easy to predict which direction it's coming from and if your fast enough you can get out of the way. A group of villains with a skilled long-range emitter-type quirk could take you out in a heartbeat."
"Shut it. I'll never use my left side or that man's flames," snapped Todoroki. Upon hearing this, Midoriya's eyes narrowed giving him the appearance of someone who was pissed off. "What? Are you going to lecture me like my father does? Talk about all the people I could save if I just swallowed my pride and used my fire on the off chance I go up against someone my mother's ice is useless against? Spare me! I've heard it before. I refuse to use it."
"No, that wasn't what I was going to say," replied Midoriya, eyes still narrowed. But before either teen could say anything else, a loud crack could be heard. Turning, Todoroki realized that the ice was cracking for some reason. And it was on his left side!
Before Todoroki could do anything, the ice shattered. Flying out of it was some random teen from 1-B who Todoroki didn't know, his arm spinning rapidly like a drill. While that was strange and potentially dangerous, what was worse was the fact that there were now several very large and very sharp ice shards flying toward the 1-A student! Rapidly, his mind began to process how to deal with this situation. He could just heat his left side to begin melting the ice the moment it touched him, but that was too slow and he would still feel the impact. If he launched fire- NO! He wouldn't do that! Instead, he turned away from Midoriya to raise an ice wall to protect himself from his own ice and give him time from this new villain. However, when he began to use his quirk, Todoroki noticed something was off. The ice wasn't as thick as he could normally make it at this level. And, what was worse, he was creating it slower. Generating it at half the speed he normally could.
"Divide," came Midoriya's voice, Todoroki briefly felt his touch on his left side again before he sped away. Now his ice felt like it was moving at a snail's pace while being as thin as paper. The ice that was coming towards him easily broke through without losing any obvious momentum. But what was worse was what happened with the no-name. His arms stopped spinning as he landed on the ground. At first, Todoroki thought there had to be a time limit for how long he could to that. But that might not have been the case as the teen lifted a leg that began spinning while the one that was still on the ground began rotating him at high speed. In the blink of an eye, Todoroki felt the impact right into his side sending him flying. What made it all worse was how sluggish his body felt, how weak he felt.
"Divide," came Midoriya's voice as arms wrapped around Todoroki's chest to catch him. The dual color-haired teen was then dropped to the ground, wincing in pain. Looking up, he saw Midoriya was now looking down at him in disappointment.
"Don't give me that look," gasped Todoroki as he reached up with his right side. "I don't need that man's flames. I'll become the top-" Todoroki was then silenced as Midoriya placed his hand over his mouth.
"Divide," said the teen. Then, for the next thirty seconds, Midoriya divided Todoroki three more times until he was as helpless as a newborn and passed out.
-x-
"Man, that was savage," commented Kaibara as he walked around the prone figure of Todoroki. Lightly, he tapped his foot against the 1-A student's shoulder to see if he got a response. When none came, Kaibara looked over at the Vice Rep to see him walking away. "Never seen you give anyone that look before. Kind of surprised me."
Midoriya stopped for a moment before glancing over at the prone figure of the teen they had just taken down. As he stared at the young Todoroki, memories flashed through his mind. He recalled all the days back when he was younger trying with all his might to levitate something, anything, like his mother could. He remembered the times he nearly passed out trying to breathe flames like his father. Thinking about that while looking at the 1-A student caused an ugly bubble of anger to form in Izuku's stomach.
"I guess he just hit a nerve," said Midoriya before looking forward. "Anyways, I'm heading over to Kendo. You all know what to do."
-x-
"I thought I heard something again," said Shiozaki as she came rushing out of the cabin. "Please tell me you heard that. It sounded like something big was cracking or crashing."
"Sorry, too busy working to pay attention to anything like that," commented Awase as he continued to use his quirk on the pieces of wood in front of him. Though glancing out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shiozaki placing her hands on her hips while her cheeks puffed out slightly.
"Too busy to keep yourself safe? To not look after your own well-being?" she demanded. "What could be more important than that?"
"Well, I was making this for you," said Awase, slightly embarrassed as he pulled up his little project before sticking it into the ground. It was a large cross. He had managed to find some decent wood in the forest that surrounded them that was straight enough. Once he had collected the right sizes, or at least close enough, he welded them together in the right shape. And around the base of the cross, he had planned on surrounding it with small stones he might be able to find near the lake that was practically right behind there, no, the cabin they were using.
Only because he was bored of course.
"Awase," whispered Shiozaki. "Why did you…"
"I, ah, figured you would like this," he said slowly, doing his best to figure out what to say while staying in character. "I mean, when we left the city, we forgot some of your stuff. I know we plan on going back and getting it later, but I figured this would do for now." He then looked over at the Christian girl to find her face had turned bright red as she seemed unable to meet his eyes.
"That…was very kind of you," she whispered. "Thank you." Somehow, hearing that made Awase's heart flutter and made him want to work a little harder just to hear her say that to him again.
-x-
Meanwhile, over with Tokoyami, the raven-headed teen continued to move through the trees using Dark Shadow. The sentient quirk grabbed onto a branch, pulling them forward and, while Tokoyami was in mid-flight, would then reach out to grab the next branch. An effective way for him to move around in this environment. Thankfully the level of light was decent. Not too bright, making Dark Shadow too timid and not too dark making him lose control.
"WHAT IS THAT?" screamed Kaminari through the earpiece.
"Kaminari, what is it? What's going on?" came Yaoyorozu's voice.
"A shadow," came Kaminari's voice, every one hearing him breathing hard now. "But not just any shadow. Oh God, eyes just…appeared in it. Those freaky eyes just stared at me for a moment before it grinned. It grinned at me, showing off its teeth! Shadows don't have teeth! Not even Dark Shadow has teeth like that!"
"Get a grip sparkplug," growled Bakugo. "It's probably just that split bitch. Just stop being useless and hurry the fuck up."
"Dude, I've seen her teeth and they look nothing like," began Kaminari before his voice reached a new level of panic. "What was that? I think there's more than one of them. Guys, I think I need help! Why did you leave me behind?!? I can't do this on my own. My quirk, it'll fry- Where did you come from?!? NO!" Kaminari then let out a scream followed by the crackling of electricity. Turning his head to look behind him, Tokoyami saw arcs of lighting shooting upwards and in all directions. No doubt his classmate had used his quirk on everything around him.
"Kaminari!" cried Yaoyorozu in panic. "Ida. Tokoyami. Bakugo. Todoroki. Can anyone help him?"
"I'm afraid I'm a bit lost at the moment," came Ida's voice over the com link.
"Damn useless extra slowing us down," growled Bakugo. However, there wasn't anything from Todoroki causing tensions to build.
"I'll head back," said Tokoyami. "I saw the sparks. I should be able to-" The teen was cut off as something came into his field of vision fast! It looked like a flying, two-pronged pitchfork. Instantly, Dark Shadow went on the defensive getting between it and Tokoyami. However, just before it was about to collide with the living shadow, the pitchfork split into two! They separated, swerving around Dark Shadow who looked from one to the other as if trying to decide which one he should go after. And, as they got closer, it finally clicked in Tokoyami's mind what these were. He had seen them before, at the Sports Festival.
Not that that information did him any good as the objects he now realized were horns collided with his stomach before instantly coming together and tightening around his waist. A moment later, Tokoyami was flying upwards above the trees and away from any darkness. And there, standing on a pair of floating horns, was the American 1-B girl as she cheerfully waved at him.
"Hello again," she said with a bright smile as they floated high above the trees. "Looks like you're captured."
"One would think," replied Tokoyami before Dark Shadow lunged out. The horned girl's eyes widened in surprise as Dark Shadow punched her in the face before she could move away, knocking her off her horns. This, in turn, caused the horns holding him to lose their flight so that he fell with her. For a moment, the shadow user cursed himself. From this height, all it would take was one wrong move and he would come out of it with a broken arm or rib. Or worse.
"Dark Shadow!" called out Tokoyami. As the shadow beast shot downward, the hero in training looked over at the girl who had momentarily caught him. His heart raced, seeing that she was falling head first towards the ground! If she hit the ground like that, then surely she would die! Would a teacher be able to get here in time? Who was watching this?
But then, just as they were coming close to the canopy, the girl twisted in the air so that she was now looking at him. After bringing her fingers next to her horns, the girl shouted "Horn Cannon" causing her horns to shoot out of her head followed by another pair instantly regrowing before they two were shot out. Two of the four horns went to grasp her waist, righting her before Tokoyami's eyes before slowing her movement. The other pair went for the shadow user. And while the horns that had helped her had seemed gentle, the ones aiming for him were now so. With Dark Shadow away from his body again, the horns collided with Tokoyami's gut so hard that it knocked the air out of his lungs before launching him into a tree. A cry of pain erupted from the teen's beak, the back of his head colliding with the bark of the tree so hard that his vision momentarily swam. Groaning, he managed to see the blonde girl being gently placed on a branch before grabbing the base of her horns to hold like blades.
By this point, Dark Shadow had returned. Its claws grasped at the horns that were now pinning the bird-headed teen against a tree, tugging at it with all his might. However, it seemed that the horn had buried itself deep into the wood and would not be so easily moved. To aid his companion, Tokoyami reached out to try and help, only to have more horns flying out at him. They collided with his legs and arms, pinning him in an awkward position. One even came dangerously close to his manhood, causing Tokoyami's eyes to widen in horror.
"Are you captured now?" asked the blond, dropping one of her horns to rub her cheek which was swelling slightly from the blow Dark Shadow gave her. To answer, Tokoyami did his best to struggle with his bonds. Yet, despite his best efforts, he could not gain any space between himself and the tree.
"It…appears I am," admitted Tokoyami. He then gave the blond an intense look. "So tell me, are you going to use your capture tape now?"
The blond said nothing, just letting out a hum as her eyes seemed to twinkle a bit. Then when she spoke, you could hear the mischief in her tone clear as day. "Well I could," she began, "but I don't feel like getting punched by that shadow again. You're pretty much captured at this point anyway even without the tape. So, what should I do with you?" Somehow, the grin she had on her face sent shivers down Tokoyami's spine.
-x-
Elsewhere in the forest, Team B was making its way through the forest. Monoma had copied Tsu's Frog quirk, allowing the two of them to move through the forest with greater ease. With them, Ojiro carried Aoyama on his back as the tailed teen used his additional limb to swing from tree to tree. As for Sero, he was trying his best to do a Tarzan impression using his tape. Though sometimes he got a little stuck when he overswung.
About fifteen minutes after they had left their main base of operation, the group stumbled across their first clue. Asui was the first to spot it, several footprints in the dirt leading in the direction they were heading in with a few others half hazardly covered up. Like someone had been trying to be stealthy but got sick of all the work. Shortly after that, they spotted something else. Red droplets on the ground.
"Do you think it's blood?" asked a concerned Ojiro as he looked around while Aoyama's knees began to shake loudly. Not helped by the full suit of armor he was wearing
"Doubtful," replied Monoma as he poked at it with a stick. "Far too bright. Plus it's dried and not caked into the earth. I'd say it's more likely that those inferior students of 1-B were trying to trick us using fake blood or paint."
"Hey," shouted Sero. Everyone looked up to see him standing there, just up the path and pointing at something. "I found some more. I think there could be a trail." Sure enough, as soon as the rest of the party caught up to the tape user, they could not help but spot the paint or whatever it was on the ground along with more footprints. And looking forward, they could see clear evidence that someone had been walking through the foliage along with more spots of red.
"Does anyone else have a problem with this? Ribbit?" asked Asui, feeling sweat beginning to form on her forehead.
"I do," said Ojiro, his body tensing as he got into a fighting stance. As if expecting someone to attack them at any moment. "There's something really wrong with this."
"Oh please, you give those 1-B mongrels too much credit," laughed Monoma. "Clearly they thought that now, this deep in the forest and so far away from the main gate it was safe to let down their guard. Why, I bet that Yaoyorozu was correct in her assessment that the area that Bakugo picked out was far too obvious and instead they set up camp around here expecting us to run right past it. That just goes to show the superior mental fortitude of 1-A!"
Asui and Ojiro were about to speak up, but before they could Sero spoke up. "He's got a point," the tape user pointed out. "We didn't see any signs of them up till this point. Maybe whoever was walking through here just got tired of covering their tracks or was just lazy. No need to think too hard about this."
"I agree monsieur," said Aoyama, though he could be seen shaking from head to toe. "Also, do we have any better leads?"
Ojiro frowned at that but then sighed. "I suppose you're right," he said. "But, we should keep our guard up just in case. If this is a trap, we can turn it around on them and maybe capture a few."
"Shouldn't we tell Yaoyorozu? Ribbit? Just to be on the safe side?" asked Asui who still had concern in her voice.
"Absolutely not!" stated Monoma. "If Bakugo gets wind that we might be close to the bomb then he'll rocket over here to try and seek all the glory for himself!"
"More like he'll be trying to get a rematch with that Midoriya guy," commented Sero, shaking his head. "Seriously, what is that dude's beef with the guy? He attacks Midoriya in the cafeteria, screaming his head off and threatening to kill him…only he looked a thousand times more likely to do it that time. And when he came back from his suspension, all he would say was that he was 'going to find out how that worthless Deku cheated and got into U.A. before he killed him'. All before his loss at the Sports Festival. If he thinks for a moment that Midoriya will be here, guarding the bomb, you can bet he'll be screaming for his death as he blasts over here."
"And we would lose the element of surprise," added Aoyama.
Reluctantly, Asui went along with them. Mostly because Ojiro wasn't taking the villain team as lightly as the rest. She felt that along with the tail-quirked teen, if anything went wrong, then they could figure out a way out of whatever trap was set. Or, at the very least, get a message out to the rest.
So, with that, the group followed the trail and five minutes later found where it led. To say they were surprised was a bit of an understatement. Before them laid a clearing that had a doorway in the middle of it. Not just any door, but a heavy metal one like the type used in bomb shelters. Behind it was a small metal structure that was close to the ground, with some parts lower to the ground than the door. But that wasn't what was so strange. It was the signs! Yes, someone had posted several signs with each one written in red paint! One said: This is a trap. Another read: No bomb here. A third read: Just ignore this place if you want to win.
"They…can't be serious," said Sero, who felt more confused than Kaminari when he fried his brain. Even Asui seemed thrown through a loop.
Standing near the door and looking very annoyed to be doing so was a student they had only seen in passing. Overall, he looked like a mantis wrapped in a black cloak. Just him, standing there.
"Do you think there's only one guard?" asked Ojiro, glancing around the clearing and the sky to see if he could spot anyone else. However, despite his best efforts, he couldn't find anyone. Bitterly, he wished they had thought of bringing a support hero along with them. Someone who could be able to tell if there were any other people around. Or, better yet, support equipment that could do the same job. The last thing he wanted to do was go running in blind.
"Seems that way," said Monoma. He sounded a little unsure despite the brazen and confident front he was currently putting up. "If I had to guess, the rest of them are spread out across the training ground. No doubt confident that we would be looking for the bomb elsewhere so they left a skeleton crew to guard it. Typical 1-B overconfidence."
Asui gave Monoma a look, clearly not liking what he was saying. Nor did she like anything about this situation before her. Something was wrong, she felt it in her froggy bones. And by looking at Ojiro, he seemed to feel the same way.
"Well, no matter what, we should check it out," said Sero. "After all, nothing ventured nothing gained. Am I right? And even if it is a dud, then we can bring back a captured villain while marking this place off as a possible enemy camp! It's a win-win!"
"But what if it is a trap? Ribbit?" Asui pointed out.
Sero just rolled his eyes. "Please, who in their right mind tells people it's a trap?" he asked. Asui opened her mouth, but Ojiro spoke up first.
"I agree that we need to check this place out and we have an opportunity to reduce the villain's forces by one," he said, giving Sero and Monoma a meaningful look. "But, we would be wise to proceed with caution. Let's not rush in."
"Fine, fine," said Sero, waving him off. The only one who hadn't said anything was Aoyama who seemed to inch back a bit, clearly nervous about the whole thing.
Several moments later, four of the five heroes rushed out of the trees surprising the mantis teen. Asui was first, using her tongue to try and wrap up the villain's leg. The mantis teen saw right through this, leaping high into the air as sharp steel blades sprouted from the sides of his arms. From his location in the woods, Aoyama fired a beam of light which nearly hit its target. Distracted by this attack, the mantis teen seemed to overlook Sero who ejected the tape from his elbows to wrap up the mantis teen's legs. With a powerful tug, the villain was slammed to the ground next to a waiting Monona who touched his target in order to copy his quirk. With a laugh, Monoma ejected a blade from his wrist and pressed it against the next of the villain.
"Now then, don't give us any trouble and lay there like the inferior student you are," said Monoma as Asui began to wrap the villain in the capture tape. The villain said nothing, just spitting right into Monoma's face as a last act of defiance.
"Alright, now I think only a few of us should go in," said Ojiro once the villain was captured. The tailed teen then turned to the forest, bringing his hands up to his mouth. "Hey, Aoyama! You can come on out. We need to-" The teen's shouting was cut off as a loud crash filled the air, so loud that it deafened the tailed teen's words. A half a heartbeat later the heroes heard the sound of dozens of birds, flapping their wings and crying out as they took to the air as if fleeing from some natural disaster. Tensing, the hero team began to look around, doing their best to defend themselves from whatever it was.
Monoma glanced down at the captured villain, ready to demand to know what was going on. Yet the words died in his throat when he saw the mantis teen's expression. He looked scared. No, terrified at what was likely to come. Made all the worse when they heard a savage, beast-like roar.
Then, from out of the trees, came a large, fur-covered beast. All of the heroes watched as it ran through trees, knocking them over or simply shattering them as it ran on all fours. Also, even from this distance, they could not miss those massive jaws or the large amounts of saliva that were flying around with every thrash of its head.
"Get into the building!" shouted Ojiro as he made a quick decision, perhaps the best he could make. Strength-wise, this thing was on a whole other level. There was a chance that they could fight him off, Ojiro's martial arts training coming into play, but considering how easily it was moving through the trees he expected that only his blows would be able to do any damage. And if he got taken out, they were done for. They could try and run into the forest, but even with their greater mobility, it would be hard to escape. Especially with Monoma's time limit and him carrying Aoyama. And even if they did run away, where could they go? Back to the main camp where only Yaoyorozu was? No, the best course of action was to get into the building. It was plainly obvious to Ojiro that this beast could not fit through the door. And if this was a student, a member of 1-B using his quirk, he would have to deactivate it in order to get through the door.
No one else argued with him, everyone scrambling to the door. The heavy metal door was difficult to open, creaking as it slowly slid forward. But the charging beast-man, who had just entered the clearing, gave them the adrenaline rush they needed to speed up the process. They all then rushed inside, pulling the door closed as one before spinning the giant wheel-shaped handle to lock it. The sound of a heavy click brought them reassurance even as the beast man pounded on the door. Only barely could they see any dents, but each one of them was followed by a whimper barely audible through the door.
"Oh man, I thought we were dead," gasped Sero as he looked around. Before them was a stone stairway with metal inside to help reinforce it. Looking further, he saw it went down two flights before stopping at another similar doorway. On the walls were radiation signs as well as a few industrial-strength lights.
"Where's Aoyama?" asked Asui, sounding fearful. Her question brought forth a new level of fear in everyone as no one had seen the naval laser user. Slowly it dawned on them that, as he had been further away from the door, he had either run further into the forest…or hesitated too long in running to the door. Meaning they had locked him out.
"Let's," began Monoma only to pause before swallowing loudly. "Let's press forward and see what they were guarding."
As the blond began walking down the steps, Sero reached out and grabbed Monoma by the shoulder to spin him around so he could face the remaining members of their group. "Hey, what the heck man! We can't just leave Aoyama out there to fend for himself!"
Monoma, however, just knocked the hand off of him. "Please, you're acting like all this is real and that they'll actually kill him or something. At worst, they'll bang him up a little before wrapping the capture tape around him. Besides, it's his own fault for being so far away from the rest of the group. And, even if this was real, should we sacrifice the entire group just to save one cowardly hero?" stated the copy teen. Before he continued, they heard a few more banging from the other side of the blast door. "Listen to that! They are trying desperately to get to us in here. Meaning the bomb has to be in here! If we can touch it, this exercise is over. Meaning we save Aoyama and end up being the heroes who foiled the villain's plans. We will be the ones in the headlines!" With that, Monoma turned and walked down the stairs while laughing like a madman.
Sero, for his part, glanced over at the blast door while his hands clenched into fists. "Damn it!" he swore before following the copy quirk teen. And, after a moment, Asui and Ojiro followed. As much as they hated to admit it, going out right now would be a bad idea as none of them had a quirk that could help in this moment. The best they had was Asui vomiting out her stomach acid and hoping it hit someone standing right at the room. But that was a long shot, one where, if they failed, there was a good chance that the teens up there would be upon them. At least in here, the beast teen would have to turn off his quirk or get smaller. Plus, if the bomb was in here, all they had to do was touch it and everything would be over just like Monoma said. If it wasn't, they were going to contact the rest of the class whether Monoma liked it or not.
Though, the fact that Aoyama hadn't contacted anyone via the comlink was worrisome.
-x-
Outside…
"It seems that Sir Midoriya's plan played out as he expected," said Shishida, one of his enlarged arms banging at the door. Meanwhile, the rest of him had shrunk down as much as he could in order to regain enough of his logic. He used this time to remove the capture tape off of Kamakiri with his other hand.
"Yeah well, I don't really like it much," stated the mantis boy as he stood up straight. According to Midoriya, the plan was to lure them into a false sense of security and overconfidence before Shishida came barreling in. Hopefully, their fight-or-flight instincts would advise them to retreat from such a threat, and heading into the bunker. When they heard from Setsuna that the more hot-headed members of 1-A were heading further north, it made the plan seem more likely to succeed. Honestly, if Midoriya had left the plan like that, he would have been pissed. But, thankfully, that wasn't the case as the green-haired class vice rep had enough foresight to realize they might try to fight. If that was the case, Shishida was supposed to free Kamakiri first. Together the pair would then push as many of the 1-A students into retreating into the bunker as possible while capturing those that fled.
Speaking of people fleeing, Kamakiri heard a rustling in the bushes. Figuring it was the coward who hid there firing that stupid laser at him, the green-skinned teen grinned slightly as he began to walk towards the woods.
"At least I get to have a little fun," he muttered before leaping forward. Unlike in that previous fight where he took a dive, his leap was long and fast. Using his fighting skills, Kamakiri's feet landed on the trunk of a tree for only a moment before he rebounded off of it. Sailing from tree to tree, barely making a sound, he quickly came across his target. And what he saw disgusted him to no end. His target was dressed up like a glittering knight, yet he was bent over with his head in a bush and his ass raised. The rustling he heard was from this coward shaking so hard that it was moving the bush!
"Pathetic!" yelled Kamakiri as he descended upon his prey, blade extended and swinging in an arc. The 1-A coward turned his head to look at him, fear visible even through his stupid useless visor. Then, somehow, the knight managed to roll to the side. Though not soon enough to completely miss the swipe. A large chunk of his cape had been sliced off while a small chunk of his side armor was now on the ground. No doubt those support students would be pissed. But it was a useless piece anyway and it was this coward's fault, not his.
"No, no!" cried the coward as his hands reached down for his belt. Realizing something was up, Kamakiri lunged to the side. Just in time too as a laser was fired from the belt, burning a hole through a couple of trees!
"So you do have some fight in you!" cheered Kamakiri with a grin, leaping from tree to tree again as he circled his target. "Good to know hero! That means I don't have to go easy on you!" At that moment, the knight looked ready to piss himself. But Kamakiri didn't care all that much as the teen fired a few more shots, each one a miss. After the third, the coward fell down on his knee while his hands went to hold his stomach. He tried to raise his head, teeth grit, however, Kamakiri chose that moment to drop down so that his elbow collided with the teen's skull.
"At the very least, you stood your ground like a man," said Kamakiri, giving the prone hero in training before him a small bit of respect. "Though you should have listened to the signs. Would have saved you a whole lot of trouble."
-x-
Back in the bunker, Monoma and crew opened the second blast door. Thankfully, this one wasn't as rusted and seemed to open with greater ease. As one, the group looked into the room and their eyes widened at what they beheld. The room looked entirely made of cement with small rectangular sheets of metal along the bottom of the walls. Everything was bare save for an object right across from them covered in a sheet. Something that looked bomb shaped!
"There it is!" cried Sero in relief as both he and Monoma rushed deeper into the room.
"I have a bad feeling about this," muttered Asui as she and Ojiro slowly walked into the room, maybe a step or two away from the door. If anything happened, they could keep the door from closing all the way and help get them out of there.
"I kn-" began Ojiro, but stopped as Monoma, with a flourish, unveiled the object from underneath the sheet. As soon as he did, something like orangish-brown dust flew up into the air and quickly entered their lungs due to the small size of the room. At once, everyone began coughing so hard that the door slammed shut seemingly on its own. Both Asui and Ojiro turned, trying to open it back up. To escape from this enclosed room full of what they were now realizing were spores from the giant mushroom hidden under the sheet! What kind it was, none of them knew nor did they care as escaping to breathe in fresh air was at the forefront of their minds. But that objective seemed out of reach as they were only now realizing that there was no handle on the door, a loud clicking sound seeming to now echo through the room. Ojiro narrowed his eyes at the door, leaping up to spin around and bash the door down with his tail. Or, at least, he tried to. Due to his near-constant coughing and the lack of air in his lungs, Ojiro couldn't put as much power needed into his jump, falling to the ground before his tail ever touched the metal. What's more, he was feeling weaker and his thinking was getting a little fuzzy. In fact, it was so fuzzy that it was like the fur at the end of his tail. Such a funny thought.
"What hehe is hehe happening?" asked Sero between a burst of laughter. He then began to sway, feeling the world melt and spin around him. Not like he cared as new colors began to swim through his vision. He could see words, smell sounds, and just felt so freaking amazing. Nor was he the only one as the rest of the group seemed to be on the same train to whateverville that he was on.
It was then that one of the steel rectangles on the wall slid up, revealing the face of a living glue stick. Glue then shot into the room, coating all of them in it. Before long, everyone was wrapped up in glue cocoons and hung from the ceiling laughing the entire time.