Chapter 17: Into the Woods Part 3
Shortly after his fight with Todoroki, Izuku found himself in an area of the northwest section of training ground Omega. The area looked fairly unremarkable, looking like the rest of the forested area with large trees and mostly even terrain. The only thing that set this area apart from ninety percent of the rest of the western area of Omega were a few large mounds here and there. Grass and plants covered them, giving the impression that they had been there for a while. However, Izuku knew that those mounds hadn't been there yesterday. That they were a result of them making their true hideaway.
After landing on the ground, it took Izuku a moment or two of walking around to find what he was looking for as they had opted not to use any markers. If they would have a hard time finding it then the heroes would have a harder time finding it. At least, that was the line of thinking. Even if the heroes had decided to check for permits, there was still a large amount of ground to cover and it wouldn't tell them what they had done exactly.
Eventually, Izuku found the camouflaged trap door on the forest floor. One large enough for the bomb to fit through. Quickly checking his surroundings, and constantly listening for Bakugo's screams of rage, the green-haired teen lifted it up revealing a long tunnel that reminded him of a metal sewer pipe shooting straight down. The walls of the tunnel were smooth, the only exception being a built-in ladder running along one side. Rather than using the ladder, Izuku leaped down. Using the tricks he had learned from Mrs. Kendo, Izuku controlled his fall by leaping from side to side while being careful not to touch the ladder. In he did well, let's just say he was glad that the tunnel wasn't too deep.
When Izuku landed, he found himself at the end of a small bunker. Small being the keyword. The bomb was at one end, maybe ten steps away from where he stood. On either side of the room were metal benches, Itsuka lying on her back on the right side.
This had all been part of the overall design. Rather than having some massive complex, with seemingly endless tunnels you could get lost in or some fortified structure in the middle of the woods, Izuku believed that controlling the flow of battle would be most important. At least in this situation. The tunnel leading down here would only allow one person to enter at a time. Meaning, in most circumstances, the heroes would have to climb down one at a time where Itsuka and Izuku would be waiting for them. The lack of space also worked in their favor in hand-to-hand combat. Less room meant there was not as much space to dodge and if you weren't used to it then the fight would be harder. Thankfully, neither Izuku nor Itsuka had that issue. Using the limited space, Midoriya could more easily reach his opponents to use Divine Dividing without pulling out his wings. Following that, Itsuka could easily punch their lights out. The limited space also helped them slow down the enemies so that, if they felt they would be overwhelmed, they could still call for backup and hold out till help arrived.
Of course, Izuku took into account that this would not work with everyone. Todoroki, for example, could use his ice to freeze everything in here and then just walk right on in while they remained frozen in place. Kaminari could have used his electricity to zap everything in the room. Even Bakugo could have caused them a problem simply by using his quirk to smoke them out. Honestly, Izuku was thankful for the hero's team placements as it made it so much easier for them to deal with the bigger issues. That and Tokage's information gathering.
"So, how did it go?" asked Itsuka, still lying on the bench as she stared up at the ceiling.
"Surprisingly good," said Izuku with a sigh as he sat down across from her. Though, like his, he got to see more of her leg than he normally would and felt an intense blush appear on his face. After quickly averting his eyes, he continued. "I-I decided to go after B-Bakugo first. Lead him on a bit of a chase, though it ended sooner than I thought it would. To be honest, I had thought I would either have to go between fighting Todoroki and letting Bakugo chase me around Omega several times or just letting the others handle him. But it all worked out. Seems someone managed to convince him to let me go."
At that, Itsuka sat straight up with wide eyes. "Wow, either Shinso is on their team and Tokage missed him or we just experienced a miracle," stated the orange-haired girl.
"Who knows," laughed Izuku. "Bakugo isn't stupid. Sure, when he gets angry he lashes out-"
"Which seems to be all the time," interrupted Itsuka.
"But if you can get through to him and know the right words to use, you can get him to calm down enough for him to see reason," finished Izuku. "And it looks like 1-A has someone who can do that. Hopefully, they'll continue to operate under the idea that I only brought him over here to waste time."
Itsuka pouted slightly. "And here I was hoping we'd get a rematch," she said with a sigh.
"Hey, I'll be happy if no one shows up," replied Izuku with a slight smile, finding Itsuka's pouting face cute…as well as something else. It stirred something inside of him that the teen was slowly beginning to realize he had. However, he pushed it down in order to continue. "It means that we win. I'll take victory with boredom any day of the week."
Iysuka frowned at that for another moment before finally letting out a huff of defeat. "As much as I want to, I can't argue with that logic," she said while leaning back. "And what of everyone else? Come on, spill the beans. I'm in the dark on what's going on out there and bored!"
Izuku grinned, feeling a gleam in his eyes that some would have considered villainous. "They have been dealt with," he said, leaning forward a bit so that the lights above them cast a shadow over his eyes. Now only the light from his green pupils could be seen along with his grin which was getting a tad toothy. "And soon the package will be delivered."
-x-
"Todoroki! Kaminari! Tokoyami!" yelled Yaoyorozu, panting slightly as she spoke. The richest girl in 1-A was now standing in front of a new device she had created after realizing a small oversight in her planning. While the earpieces had been a wonderful idea in her mind, the issue was that everyone could hear what they were saying. Meaning if she wanted to talk to someone privately it wouldn't work. So, she had used her quirk to create a simple tablet along with all the coding she needed to make it work. With this device, she could single out individuals or groups with only her being able to hear everything. Though now she wished she had added in a tracker to the communicators.
That wasn't the only thing she had created since the start of the exercise. After hearing that Midoriya had engaged with Bakugo, she had a sudden realization. If they did manage to capture someone, Midoriya could just fly in and rescue them. All he had to do was break into the police transport vehicle, remove the capture tape, and they would be free. Once that happened they could either attack and capture her while destroying their base of operations or just leave. Honestly, she didn't know which was worse: to have a potential group of 'villains' attacking her all at once or to be considered so beneath their notice that they just walked right past her. So, to aid her, she had created two cannons. She would have made more, but their creation as well as the special flash bangs she had loaded them with had eaten up a large amount of her lipids. And that wasn't even factoring in making the tablet! But it was better than nothing. Hopefully, she would be able to take the flying teen down with them. Or perhaps disorient him.
However, Midoriya was only one of many worries she had right now as she tried her damnedest to get a handle on the situation. So far Todoroki, Kaminari, and Todoroki weren't speaking to her. She had no idea if they had been captured, knocked out, or simply on the run and unable to talk back. The only solace she had at the moment was that there hadn't been an announcement alerting them that they were so gravely injured that they had to be removed from Omega. If only those three were her only worries. She hadn't heard anything from Team B yet. Yaoyorozu had tried several times now to talk to them and the only thing she had gotten was giggling. Something was wrong. Oh, and on top of all that, Mineta was acting up. Instead of trying to find more villains, he was treating this like a game and trying to 'accidentally' bounce into Hagakure's naked front and butt! His antics were slowing down the scouting team!
"Hey, friendly coming in," came a voice that caused Yaoyorozu's eyes to widen. She turned around and, upon seeing who it was, dropped her tablet to rush over to him. It was Kaminari! The teen had entered the base camp, covered in dirt while one arm was holding onto the other which hung limply at his side.
"Kaminari, what happened?" demanded the rich girl, quickly going over the wounded arm.
"I think," began Kaminari, but paused to hiss as Yaoyorozu took hold of it and began to feel it for injuries. "You know, any other day having you feel me up would be a dream come true."
That caused Yaoyorozu to frown as she looked at him. "Is now really the time for that?"
"Sorry, sorry," replied the teen with a wince. "Guess my brain is still a little fried from overusing my quirk."
"What happened," asked the creator quirk user, pushing aside certain comments that she could already hear Jiro making in her mind. "Last I heard, you were being attacked. Who was it?"
"Yeah, I got attacked. No thanks to the rest of my team, leaving me behind like that," said Kaminari before sighing. "I don't know who they were, except they were the creepiest-looking guys in that class. They just came up out of the ground. Or, wait, did they both come out of the ground or did that you guy come out of the shadows?" Kaminari then paused before shuttering. "I remember calling for help, then the next thing I know I'm wandering through the trees with my arm banged up not too far from here. Best guess I've been able to come up with is that I overused my quirk before taking off running. Probably ran into several trees along the way."
"Right. Well, good news is that this is treatable. It'll only hurt for a moment," said Yaoyorozu.
"Wait, it'll-" began Kaminari before a loud cry filled the air around him as his dislocated arm was reset. "Damn it!"
"By the way," continued Yaoyorozu with a frown. "Why didn't you contact us as soon as your head cleared? You had us worried." The rich girl then narrowed her eyes, watching to see what he would do. Then, much to her relief, he pulled out the communicator out from his ear and held it up.
"Because the damned thing got fried when I used my quirk," he said, placing the broken piece in Yaoyorozu's hands. For a moment, the girl said nothing as she examined it as best she could with her own eyes. Though, it wasn't hard to see that he was telling the truth as there were several parts that had darkened on the tiny device due to electrical burns. Slowly, she cursed herself for not considering this flaw before.
"I apologize," she said with a bow. "I should have taken that into account. I'll make you another one."
"Thanks," said Kaminari. Then, as Yaoyorozu began to create a new earpiece, the electric teen continued. "Nice to know that someone in this class cares about me. Everyone else just left me behind to fend for myself."
Momo winced slightly at the words as they held more than a little truth to them. "Sorry about that," she whispered, handing her fellow classmate the earpiece. "I should have done more."
Sudden realization flashed across Kaminari's face as he raised his hands and began to wave them around wildly in a dismissing manner. "Hey, hey. I'm not blaming you," he said quickly. "I mean, you were over here all by yourself. Not much you could have done. Heck, everyone else was too far away as well. I'm more pissed off at the rest of my 'team' for just ditching me."
Yaoyorozu gave him the briefest of smiles. "Thank you," she said, feeling a little better than he understood why she wasn't there when he needed help the most. "Though, Tokoyami did say he was going back for you. It happened after you were attacked since he said he saw the electrical sparks from your quirk."
At that, Kaminari looked a little sheepish. "He did? Wow, now I feel like an ass," he said before a look of panic crossed his face. The teen then grabbed Yaoyorozu by the shoulder, surprising her. "Wait, he came back for me? There where is he? Is he ok?"
"I…don't know," replied Momo as Kaminari let go of her shoulders. "His last communication was telling us that he was going back for you. I've tried to contact him since but there has been no response. I think…" The heiress's words trailed off as she finally began taking in this new information, coming up with a scenario. In her mind, she could see Kaminari shocking one or two possible members of the villain team before wandering off. Maybe in that time, another member of 1-B came to the area to check up on his classmates and helped them back onto their feet before Tokoyami got there. Then… "I think we should operate under the assumption that Tokoyami was captured."
"What?!?" yelled Kaminari looking ready to make a mad dash into the woods. "Then we have to go and-"
"No, that would be a bad idea," interrupted Momo. Kaminari looked ready to argue, but the rich girl continued before he got a word in. "Right now, the only two people we have are you and me who are free at the moment. I could call in our scouting party, but they're busy with their own job. And as for everyone else, Team B is not really answering their communicators and Team C hasn't reached their destination yet. Going in by ourselves would be a bad move. Especially given that we don't know who we are dealing with exactly. Not to mention that they have more than likely moved on from that spot, taking Tokoyami with them. Without knowing where they are or how many we are dealing with, going off on a rescue mission would just end up giving the villain team more captives."
"But," began Kaminari, looking torn. Yaoyorozu felt she understood what was going through his head as he looked between her and the forest. That he understood her words, that heading out there now would do more harm than good, yet felt like he had to do something.
So, Yaoyorozu decided to comfort him a little. "Don't worry," she said, doing her best to sound reassuring. "We'll get him back. Depending on where they are taking him, one of our teams is bound to run into them. Or our scouting party will catch wind. Until then, we need to sit tight."
"I…ok," he said with great reluctance.
Then…
"Hey!" came a voice that caused Momo's eyes to narrow. Turning around, she saw Mineta running towards the camp with a rather large slam mark on his face. Her look of disdain prompted him to answer the unspoken question. "Jiro slapped me and said to get out of her sight. The others agreed."
"Of course they did," sighed Yaoyorozu, feeling her shoulder slumping. What had she been thinking placing Mineta on a team with a naked, albeit invisible, girl? Not to mention a coward who would have gone running the second he sensed danger? Oh right, he would have freaked out the moment a real fight started in the forest the same way he did during the USJ attack. Crying while flinging his balls around before hiding. And the reason she didn't want him here was because she didn't want to deal with the walking sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen alone. Now, she supposed, she had to take one for the team. On the plus side, she wasn't alone.
About fifteen minutes later, a new figure approached the base camp. It was Todoroki! However, it was a version of the teen that no one in the class had ever seen before. Starting from his head, his hair was disheveled with patches of dirt and mud on his face. His clothing, which was basically his gym uniform, was equally dirty with a few cuts here and there. Though Momo noted that there were no cuts on his body. She also noted that he had stumbled here on foot, instead of using his ice to propel him.
"What happened?" asked Momo, noticing that her fellow recommended student was panting heavily.
"Midoriya," gasped Todoroki. "I fought him shortly after the exercise started."
At that, Momo frowned. "Bakugo also fought him," she stated, her lips pursed.
"It was after that," said Todoroki simply, his tone suggesting that that was enough. Which was typical of the teen. Still, something felt off.
"Why didn't you use your ice to get back here?" continued Momo. That caused Todoroki to freeze in place. He gave her a look for a moment, scowling as he did so before holding up his left hand for all to see. He stared at it, appearing to concentrate on it for several long seconds before he lowered it. He then lowered his hand with the air of someone who had just proven their point when the answer should have been obvious.
"Midoriya kept cutting my quirk in half," he said finally, presumably noticing the blank stares he was getting from not just Yaoyorozu but Kaminari and Mineta as well. "As soon as I woke up, I tried to give chase but found myself weaker and unable to do so. This will pass, in time, just like it did with Bakugo and Kirishima. But I don't know how long so I decided to come back here. I've been struggling to run back here since then." Looking annoyed, Todoroki then made to move past them only to have Yaoyorozu block his path. The dual quirk user shot the girl a dirty look but she ignored it.
"If that's the case, then why didn't you tell us anything?" she demanded. At this, Todoroki blinked almost owlishly. Like he didn't understand.
"You know, with your communicator," said Mineta, pointing to his ear.
"My…oh right," he said, understanding finally dawning on him. He then reached up to his ear only to then pull out nothing. "It seems that they removed it. Could I get an-"
"It's Toga!" cried Momo, thrusting a palm forward at the Todoroki impersonator while at the same time using her Creation quirk to create a staff from it. The staff impacted Toga right in the chest, no doubt being caught off guard. As the fake began falling to the ground, Momo shot a glance over at Mineta who seemed to be cowering slightly. With her eyes, she told him to use his quirk to capture the fake. Instead, the tiny student pulled out his capture tape and leapt at 'Todoroki' with a primal roar. Using mobility that Momo didn't think that Mineta had without the use of his quirk, he spun around the fake to tie him up. Even ending it by making a bow out of the capture tape.
Kaminari just clapped at this.
"Good job," said Yaoyorozu, picking up the captured villain who was barely putting up a fight. "Though why didn't you use your quirk?"
"What? Is that what you wanted me to do?" he asked. "I figured you just wanted me to tie him up. Also, I, er, sort of overused my quirk."
Shrugging at that, Momo brought Toga to the prisoner's bus. The Todoroki impersonator struggled slightly, breathing out things like 'you're wrong' and 'you've got the wrong person'. However, Momo ignored all of this and simply opened the doors to the back of the bus before forcing him/her inside. Then, without sparing the faker another look closed the door.
"Ok," she said as she walked away from the vehicle. "Since we now have a villain captured, I want the both of you to remain here as backup."
"Sure thing," said Mineta as Momo went back to retrieve her tablet. Though, as she picked it up, she could hear the tiny teen continuing the conversation with a blush on his face and a wide smile that showed off some of his teeth. "I hope the next person we capture is a real cutie."
"Oh yeah, that would be great," said Kaminari, glancing down at his purple ball-headed buddy. "Any 1-B girl's who caught your eye?" Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Momo went back to work trying to coordinate with the rest of the teams.
-x-
"Hey Izuku," Itsuka said as she laid on her back on one side of the small, underground bunker she was currently in. A hum was all she received from the only other occupant, causing her to turn around and look at it. Like her, he was lying on his back with his hands behind his head. Taking it easy for now and conserving his energy…not that he needed to considering what he had done to Tokoroki.
"Yeah?" he said at last.
"I was just wondering what's going on with you," she said, before getting into a sitting position. She noticed that her green-haired friend's eyes and she could tell by his following expression what he was going to say next. "And don't give me that 'it's nothing' excuse or anything like that. You've been acting down ever since you came back from the Principal's office. Something is clearly bugging you." She paused, taking a breath to help keep her voice under control. "Izuku, you know you can talk to me if there's anything bothering you. It's what friends do."
"I," began Izuku before suddenly looking distracted. Like he was having a conversation with himself or something. It was a look she was very familiar with, seeing him have it multiple times since they first met. After a moment, he sighed before sitting up.
"I guess I should start with a little confession," he began before looking at Itsuka right in the eye. "It's about the expo. When I found out that I was going and I could bring one other person, I first thought of my mom. I know she's not as big into heroes as I am, but I thought going on a vacation to a manmade island with all expenses paid would have been a nice gift. To say thank you for all that she's done for me. However, she said she couldn't go. That it was just too short of notice and that she had to take care of business that, well, is the kind of stuff you can't just toss onto someone else."
"Yeah, that's understandable," replied Itsuka, tilting her head as she was curious as to where this was going. If she was being honest, she had fully expected Izuku to ask his mother first. Given how close they were and how much he talked about her at times, it only made sense that he invited her. Hell, she would have been pissed if he hadn't asked her first! Still, why was he acting so weird? Was he really that upset that she couldn't go?
"After I spoke with her, I asked someone else. Someone other than you," continued Izuku, this admission shocking Itsuka. After all, who else was there?
"O-Oh," she said, looking away while trying to sound like it really wasn't all that important that she wasn't his second pick. Even though it kind of was. "So, ah, who did you ask before me?"
Izuku's hands clenched into fists. "M-My dad," he replied before taking in a deep breath. "My mom...after she said she couldn't…suggested that I ask my dad."
Itsuka felt her eyes widen at that as she hadn't even considered that her friend would have asked his dad. Izuku's father was always an elusive topic. The man was mentioned from time to time, though the most Itsuka could ever figure out about the man was that he was helping to pay the fee to let Izuku train at the dojo and that he wasn't around all that much. It had also never escaped her notice that whenever she came by the man wasn't home. The closest she had ever come to seeing him was in pictures on the wall. From what she had gleaned, he was taller than Inko, with messy hair that Izuku had inherited only black. He had also grown it out longer, tied up in the back. The man was also where Izuku got his freckles from, though the man's seemed more random. The last thing that had caught her attention was permanent stubble on his chin.
"He actually picked up when I called him," continued Izuku, pulling Itsuka out of her own thoughts. Now she could see her friend looking down. "We made a little small talk as I made my way to class before I asked him if he could come."
"And he said no?" guessed Itsuka. Much to her surprise, Izuku shook his head.
"He said yes," said Izuku.
"Ah," was all Itsuka could say as she stared at her green-haired friend. Blinking a few times, she did her best to try and process this. He was upset because his dad said yes? Did that mean they had a sour relationship or something? Had he been hoping his father would say no? Wait, if he said yes then why did he ask her? Something just didn't add up.
"He sounded really excited too," continued Izuku, his eyes now downcast as he clasped his hands together while his fingers intertwined. "L-Like he was happy to be spending time with me. I asked him if he was sure and he said he was looking at his calendar right now and it was all clear and…and…" Izuku gulped, body shaking a little. It was like he was watching a horror movie for the second time, knowing that the creature that scared him on the screen was about to show up at any moment making the experience all the more tense. "Then, just as we said our goodbyes and I was about to end the call, he told me to wait. Then said he made a mistake, that he couldn't go. Then he hung up before I could say anything."
Upon hearing that, Itsuka felt something so foreign to her that she honestly didn't know how to express it. What she had just heard sounded so unbelievably cruel. Sure, there were far, far worse things that a parent could do to their child. But to get your son's hopes up like that, dash them, and then run away made her wonder if the man had done all that intentionally. Now, she had made him relive all of it. And without the shock of the moment, it probably hurt a thousand times more.
"I'm sorry," she said, crossing the small room so she could sit next to him. Without thinking too much about it, she pressed the side of her body against him. And a moment later, she felt him returning that pressure. For a moment, the two just sat there leaning on each other. Then she spoke again. "When was the last time you spoke to him? You're father, I mean."
Izuku swallowed. "It was when I first got my quirk," he said, his hand reaching for Itsuka's to hold for comfort. Of course, she let him. "He didn't even call when I won the Sports Festival. I guess it's a little silly for me to complain about something like that. Whining about not hearing from your dad when everything else is going your way. Probably makes me sound childish."
"No," said Itsuka. "It makes you human."
"The last time I saw him, I was six," continued Izuku, sounding like a floodgate had opened and it was hard to close. "He…He went to work in the U.S. shortly after the doctor declared me originally quirkless. He just…wouldn't look at me. There was also something different about him. I can't really remember everything that was happening. But, ah, he came back when I was six. That day, when I heard he was c-coming back, I was so excited." Izuku let out a humorless laugh. "I remember fighting with my mom, saying I didn't want to go to school that day because I wanted to be there when dad came h-home. She still made me. When I got home, I waited by the door all day. When he showed up, it was an hour before I had to go to bed. Then, the next morning, he was gone. Like the whole thing had been a dream. All I knew was that he had to go back to work. After that, just the occasional call."
"Izuku, I'm sorry," said Itsuka, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and pulling him in closer for comfort. She was only vaguely aware that her breast was pressing against his arm, but she was more concerned about comforting her friend than worrying about something like that. "Damn, I really suck at the whole hero thing. I thought talking about whatever was troubling you would help. Only I made it worse." She then paused as Izuku wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping themselves from separating.
"You asked because you cared," mumbled Izuku. "Believe me, knowing that is more than enough."
For some time, the two sat there in silence.
-x-
"Are they going to, ah, you know?" asked Mt. Lady. At that moment, the pro hero was leaning forward in her seat with her eyes glued to one of the many screens that were showing them the first-year students in the exercise. Something that both Midoriya and Kendo had forgotten as they continued to hold each other. They also apparently didn't know that all three pro heroes could hear, if they so chose, everything that was going on. Why had they decided to listen in? Well, it had been decided as a group for them to at least turn on the volume so that if something inappropriate started happening between a boy and a girl in an enclosed space when they thought that maybe no one was watching they would pick up on it.
"I don't think so," said Kamui Woods, arms crossed over his chest. "Though, this isn't the best time for a conversation like this. They both need to keep their heads in the game." The wood-using hero then brought up his notebook and began to write a few things. "Kendo should never have brought up the subject like this. If she was worried about how it would affect their operation, she should have brought it up either before or after the exercise. As for Midoriya, he should have just said that he'll tell her later. It's not the sort of behavior that we expect from heroes."
"Oh?" said Mt. Lady, a sly smile on her face as she gave her fellow hero a look through half-lidded eyes. "But, they're not heroes right now. Remember, they're the villains." Kamui Woods' body grew stiff at that remark, eyes slightly widening at the same time. He then glanced over at Mt. Lady who was giving him a look that wanted to see how he would handle this. Turning his attention back to his notebook, the pro hero began to cross out large chunks of what he had written.
"I'm too old for teenage drama," said Death Arms as he took a drag from his cigarette, his eyes drifting towards a screen showing another one of the hero teams that seemed ready to walk into a trap.
-x-
Kirishima ran his hand along the walls to the entrance of a large cave embedded in the wall of one of the rocky parts of Omega. They had not been exactly looking for this cave or any cave to be precious. Just checking out the middle areas between the zones where groups A and B were looking.
If he was being honest, when they had first approached this area, he had been ready to call Yaoyorozu and tell her that this felt like a waste of time. The area was nearly completely made of stone, with canyons of various sizes and shapes scattered about the place. Some of the canyons went up two to four stories tall and were wide enough for a truck to drive through. These were in the minority, however, as the rest were so thin you had to hold your breath to get through. The ground was also loose, with plenty of rocks shattered about the place that could easily cause you to trip. It just felt like a really stupid place to hide the bomb as there was basically no cover. All the heroes had to do was walk along the tops of the canyons and they would see everything!
It was while doing just that, however, that they managed to find one thing that made them glad they hadn't just walked away. A cave. After getting to the ground with the aid of Uraraka's anti-gravity quirk, Team C found themselves in front of the current location.
As Kirishima checked the area, he noted that there were signs that people had passed through here recently. In front of the cave were a bunch of small stones that were at least two footprints in length. Well, two of his shoeprints at least. How did he come up with this measurement? Because he could see a few prints in the stones. Maybe four or five different tracks all leading inside. There were also signs that someone had dragged something inside.
"Alright, let's check this out," said Sato, a grin on his face as he began walking into the cave. However, he was stopped when Uraraka grabbed his wrist. Jumping slightly at the sudden contact, he turned to look at the anti-gravity girl with a questioning look.
"I think we should let Yaoyorozu know about this. She should at least be kept in the loop," said Uraraka, her voice doing its best to be firm. However, they could all tell that she was at least a little nervous at the moment. Whether it was because she was trying to assert herself in this situation or if it was because she was nervous going into a cave it was hard to tell.
Sato opened his mouth to say everything was fine, but Ashido cut in. "She's right," said the acid user, glancing around. "If this is where they hid the bomb and something happens to us, everyone else needs to know. And if it's a trap, then they know where to go to rescue us."
"Oh come on," said Sato, his voice not exactly dismissive. "You've both overthinking it. I mean, look around. There's no one here!"
"Just because we don't see anyone, doesn't mean they're not here," snapped Ashido. "They could be waiting inside to ambush us."
"And we'll be at a disadvantage," added Uraraka. "If they are in there, then the villains have a better idea of the layout of the cave. Meaning they can better ambush us or set traps. Also, I won't be able to use my quirk to its fullest in there. Same with Kirishima. He can harden his body, but if he uses the strength-enhancing part of it then there's a good chance he might bury us alive!"
"Ah, come on now," said Sato, though they could all hear in his voice that the sugar teen was beginning to sound unsure as well.
At the same time, Kirishima was deep in thought. Uraraka had a good point. While he had managed to get a little better at controlling the quirk All Might had given him, it still required a lot of concentration to use the right percentage of the quirk's power. If they did get into a fight, the goods were sadly too high that he would lose his control and accidentally use more power than he should. If that happened, getting caved in would be the least of their problems. He might accidentally kill someone, breaking his arm in the process, and then they would have to deal with the cave collapsing on them. But, beyond himself, the others would have a harder time. Mina still used her acid for greater mobility when she fought. While she could still use it to fight in the cave, there was a greater chance that she would end up crashing into the walls or falling into some pit she didn't see. This was U.A. after all and he wouldn't put it past the school for them to have placed a bottomless pit in here. As for Uraraka, he got her point. Taking away gravity would just let them float to the ceiling where they would then be able to just kick off. In fact, with all the surfaces inside, removing gravity from the enemy might be a boon.
Also, he had just watched the first episode of that old anime Goblin Slayer last night and he didn't want anything like that shit to happen to them. Not without knowing that backup could reach them quickly.
"Look, we lose nothing by telling Yaoyorozu about this," said Kirishima, watching as Uraraka's and Ashido's faces lit up. "But we do gain a lot by telling her. Plus, it's just really unmanly to keep secrets from your allies." With that, Kirishima contacted a very appreciative heiress to inform them of the cave as well as their concerns that this might be a trap.
"Thank you for informing me," she said, her tone telling everyone that she was speaking with a smile on her face while a hand rested over her heart. "To be safe, please check in at least every five minutes. If ten minutes go by and I don't hear anything from you then I'll do everything in my power to send backup."
"Thank you. This is Red Riot signing out," said Kirishima, a hint of pride as he said his hero name.
With that done, the group made their way into the cave. As Uraraka began to fish through her supplies looking for her flashlight, the other three checked their surroundings while there was still plenty of light. So far, there didn't seem to be much. Once the flashlight was out, they continued to move letting the brunette lead the way as the entrance grew more distant. The air, which had been warm outside, now held a bit of a chill while feeling somewhat humid. Above their heads they could hear the squeaking and the fluttering of wings from bats, making Sugar Man flinch in fear. And along the walls were various mushrooms.
In fact, the deeper they went, the more mushrooms there were. At one point, an entire wall was covered with them.
"Is this," began Ashido, her voice sounding slightly strained. The pink-skinned girl then brought a hand to her throat to rub it a little before continuing. "Normal?"
"I…don't…know," said Sato between coughs. Kirishima also let out a few coughs as well, his own throat feeling tight while his head felt a little dizzy. But he was sure he could continue.
"Though they…look a…little…creepy," continued Sato, hacking between his words before needing to rest his palms against his knees while bending over.
"Now that's not a nice to say, shroom," came an unfamiliar voice, causing everyone there to tense up. Slowly, with shaking hands, Uraraka shifted their only light in the direction they all believed they knew where the sound had come from. And they were right. Down a nearby short hallway that they had almost missed, was a girl in a red mushroom-like costume sitting on a rock near the back. She smiled at them, sending chills down their collective spines while looking at them with those unusual eyes while kicking her legs back and forth.
But, it was what she said next that truly frightened them.
"After all, these lovelies were made just for you," said the 1-B girl, her smile somehow growing wider. At that moment, the cave walls seemed to explode with various mushrooms. Breathing became so much harder, the heroes being forced to stumble backwards as the villain's laughter echoed through the cave. Ashido tried her best to help, creating and then splashing acid against the walls. However, this did little to help as the fumes created added to their nausea. More of the mushrooms were creating spores, making it more and more difficult to breathe as none of them had masks with respirators.
Somehow, they managed to make it to the cave's exit. For a moment they all thought that they would be able to escape, gain some fresh air in their lungs, and then come up with a better plan. That, they quickly discovered, was too good to be tried. Standing there at the entrance was an oval-eyed teen. He took a deep breath before exhaling something.
Sato was the first to figure out what that something was, eating some sugar to give him the boost of strength he needed to try and reach the villain. However, he was stopped several feet from his target by a seemingly invisible wall! Now dumber, Sato backed up before trying to repeat the process only to once again run into the invisible wall. Naturally, he tried it a third time, and so on.
"A…barrier?" coughed Ashido as she fell to her knees, one hand on her stomach. By this time, Kirishima had noticed that most of them, save Mina, had mushrooms growing on their costumes and bodies. He knew and could feel that he had several on his shoulders and a patch running down his back. Uraraka had several sticking out of her hair and a few on her belly. Sato, well half of his arms were covered in them as well as having patches on his legs. The only reason Ashido seemed to be spared, at the moment, was probably the acid she was no doubt secreting through her pours to protect her.
"Let's put an end to this, shall we? Shroom?" came the girl's voice. Looking back for a moment, they could see the mushroom girl walking towards them slowly. As she did, it was like a field of mushrooms were growing in her wake.
Kirishima was about to do something. Either to ask Mina if she could use her acid to break the barrier or if he should do it himself. But that was when he noticed another villain standing there at the entrance. It was a girl, her face looking like an emotionless mask as she stood next to the oval-eyed boy. Feeling his heart rate quicken, Kirishima reached out a hand and prepared to shout as he watched her press her fingers together. But it was too late. In an instant, all the small rocks they had stepped over while entering the cave returned to their normal massive sizes to block the exit further while trapping them in darkness.
Gritting his teeth, Kirishima began to charge up One for All in his arm. This would not be the end of them! He would not let this be where their part in this exercise came to an end. He refused to go down without a fight! Why? Because it was unmanly!
Also, both he and Ashido couldn't afford to fail given how low their grades were.
With a roar, Kirishima's body hardened while he punched forward. The force of the blow did the trick, destroying the barrier and sending rubble flying across the canyon like beads from a shotgun shell. But the backlash, that was a whole other story. The wind shot back at them, knocking back anyone who wasn't bracing themselves or holding onto anything. Which, sadly, was everyone but Kirishima who had dug in his heels to brace himself. He could hear the mushroom girl screaming as she was flung down the cave followed by the rest of his teammates until a loud thud was heard. What's more, his arm was broken. But that was a minor concern at the moment as he needed to make sure that he hadn't accidentally killed anyone.
Sighing, Kirishima stumbled back into the cave hoping that, with the quirk user out, that the mushrooms would be gone. However, as he walked with his broken arm hanging limply by his side, the teen knew one thing: even though they had beaten this trap and captured several of the villains, they had still lost.
-x-
"Come on. Come on," grumbled Awase under his breath, making sure that no one could hear him. His eyes were laser focused on the task before him, waiting to see if there were anyone foolish enough to take the bait. All while doing his best to remain perfectly still.
Then, after a minute or two, he saw something. Movement under the surface. Hands clenching tightly at the tool that would seal his target's fate, the teen grinned wickedly. With his eyes focusing like this, he could practically see the fish-brained fool slowly checking out the bait. Just a moment and then he would have-
"How's the fishing coming along?" came a voice right behind Awase, causing the teen to not jump into the air and to not make a cry that sounded like a five-year-old girl. After landing on his feet from not doing either of those things, Awase looked back at the water before sinking to his knees. The trout he had spotted heading towards the hook of his fishing line had been spooked away.
Meanwhile, Shiozaki glanced over at the empty bucket next to him with a frown. "Not great I see," she said.
"Hey, I almost had one," growled Awase, fuming as he wanted nothing more than to throw the fishing rod he had borrowed from his father onto the dock. Seriously, why was fishing go god damned hard! And the way Shiozaki was acting made it all the worse. Like she was mocking him, perhaps even implying that she could do it better! Well, that wasn't going to happen. He'd let her have a piece of his-
"Here," she suddenly said, snapping Awase out of his rage. He stood there, staring at Shiozaki for a moment with wide blinking eyes that noticed a slight blush on her face. Slowly he looked down at her hand to see a glass filled with a dark red liquid along with some ice cubes floating in the middle.
"Ah, thanks," he said while taking the glass. The teen then held it up to the sun, staring at it with one eye open like he was examining it or something. "Didn't know we had anything like this."
"We didn't," said Shiozaki before holding up her own glass. "I made it from the berries in the garden." The girl paused, her blush deepening slightly. "I wanted to thank you for that cross-up put up. A-As well as for volunteering to catch us dinner. You're very reliable."
"Thanks," muttered Awase as he stared into the drink, doing his best to remember the back story. "Hopefully the roads will be back open soon. Or we can get a signal. But, until then, let's just try to enjoy ourselves."
"Yes, the Lord has given us everything we need to survive," added Shiozaki as she took a sip of her drink. "It would be a sin to waste such precious gifts."
Seeing that his partner had taken a sip of her drink, Awase raised his glass to do the same confident that the anime cliché of the girl being horrible at cooking and not knowing it would in no way apply here. However, the moment the liquid touched his tongue, his eyes went wide before they began to water more than Midoriya's when he cried. To say it was sour would have been putting it mildly. It was like someone had condensed a million pickled lemons and kumquats into a single drop.
He then looked to Shiozaki, wondering if there was something wrong with her taste buds only to find her sticking out her tongue while also looking ready to cry.
"To be wasteful is a sin," she said.
[hr]
Elsewhere, Ida was still running through the forest far from his destination. Truth be told, he probably could have gotten there faster. However, with his lack of any device to help him navigate through the forest effectively and in an orderly fashion, it was taking him longer. Add to the fact that his mind kept going to his brother...
Shaking his head while trying his best to keep his eyes open for any unorderly roots that were sticking up out of the ground, Ida buried those thoughts. For now at least. As much as his cherished friend Uraraka hated it, he was going to Hosu to deal with the fiend who had ruined his brother's career. And nothing would stop him. Then, he needed to set some things right. Things he had been putting off for far too long. But, for now, he needed to focus on why was he sinking?
Blinking in realization, Ida noticed that his movements had come to a crawl while his legs had sunk into the earth up to his kneecaps. He could still move, but moving seemed to cause the process of sinking to quicken.
Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. The ground hardened back to normal. But there was one teeny, tiny problem with that: he couldn't move his legs. For the next moment or two, Ida moved his arms like he was running while trying to move. Trying his best to get the engines in his legs to help him escape. But the problem was that the earth, in its softened state, had managed to slip into his exhaust pipes which made things more difficult.
Realizing that he had no choice but to dig himself out, Ida forward slightly ready to begin with the humiliating task. However, before his fingers could make contact with the dirt, his helmet flew off his head. With wide eyes, Ida raised his head to look at the now floating helmet which began to turn to look at him face to face. For a moment, it hovered there before colliding with his skull. For a moment, Ida winced in pain before anger began to rise within him. Were they mocking him? Trying to make a fool out of him?!?
"You vile fiends! Cowards!" yelled Ida at the sea of trees before him, his voice seeming to echo all around him. "Is this how proud students of an illustrious school such as U.A. acts? Have you no honor nor shame at using such underhanded and childish tactics? Come out and fight me fair-" Before Ida could finish saying what even he knew at some level was foolish, he felt another blow collide with his head. This one was several times harder than the first one, so powerful that it forced Ida to bend backwards.
For a moment, Ida felt his world go dark. Before him was a vast nothingness that lasted for only a moment. But, when he opened his eyes with a start, he found two things of note. One was that he was bent over in an uncomfortable position looking up at the leaves on the trees trying to block out the blue sky above. The other thing was that his arms had sunk into the ground up to his elbows!
Panic raced through him as his own powerlessness quickly became apparent. He tried to struggle out of the earth, but nothing he did would allow him to budge. Not helped by this rather awkward angle.
Just then, the three villains who had done this to him emerged. A lipless teen that Ida had noticed a few times at lunch, a gloomy white-haired girl, and a shorter teen. As Ida stared at them, at the three villains, something took hold of him. He began to wonder if this had been what had happened with his brother, trapped isolated, and alone waiting for backup to arrive with a villain standing before him. He began to struggle violently, trying to desperately free himself. Thoughts were becoming jumbled, but there was one that was most prominent: if he couldn't take these three down, how could he take down a pro like Stain?
"Let me go!" screamed Ida, glasses falling off his face in the struggle. "Fighting three against one is the mark of a coward! Release me and face me in an honorable fashion."
"Ah, I hate to break it to you, buddy," said the lipless teen, drawing Ida's ire. "But…we're the bad guys right now. We don't play fair." As the lipless teen spoke, the shortest of them walked over to Ida who simply growled at him. Then, once the smallest of the trio was right by Ida's side, he slammed his fist right into the speedy teen's gut.
"Unlike you, we're taking this seriously," said the teen who had punched Ida who was now trying to recover after having all the air forced out of his lungs from that blow. As it was now, the teen could easily look down at him while holding up the fist that just punched him. "Unlike you. We've been watching you run around this forest for a while now, trying to figure out where you were going. If you had bothered to focus on this for a few minutes, you probably could have reached your destination. Instead, your head was elsewhere."
"You," seethed Ida as the short teen began to walk away. "Don't you turn your back on me! I can-" Ida got no further as he felt another impact right into his gut, several times stronger than the first causing him to black out.
-x-
"Damn it!" screamed Bakugo as he leapt up into the air, an explosion NOT caused by him erupting on the ground below. The teen's costume had several large, visible rips in it as well as a gash on his left cheek that was bleeding pretty badly. Streams of smoke rose up from several different parts of the teen's body including his shoulders and boots.
As gravity pulled the teen downward back to the battlefield, Bakugo felt his anger boil. He had arrived here a few minutes ago, alone. Normally, he would have been fine with that as it meant there would be no fucking extras to get in his way. And that once the fighting started, fucking Deku would either show up so he could beat the ever-living crap out of him or they would call him and the nerd would be too cowardly to show up. That he would just cower where he was, just like in middle school. Just like in the cafeteria. Or like he almost did during the Sports Festival.
However, when he arrived, there had only been one person waiting for him. Some freak with a comic speech bubble for a head. He was just standing there calmly, hands in his pockets like Bakugo was no big deal. Now, after several minutes of bouncing around the area, the ashen blond had realized a few things. The first was that he could have used the rest of the shitty extras on his team. Not to win the fight of course. The idea that he needed help was insulting! But, they could have made themselves useful and looked for the damn bomb instead of having him split his focus. Second, there was a good chance that, even if the other extras were here, they wouldn't have found the bomb. Through all of his leaps and bounds over this part of the forest, he had spotted nothing. No shelter, no building, no shitty extras guarding it. There was nothing other than this freak here.
"Zap!" cried the freak, the word appearing in the speech bubble as he said it. A moment later, the edges of the bubble became jagged reminding Bakugo of lightning. But he couldn't dwell on that for long as from those jagged lines came actual lighting flying towards him.
Third: this freaks quirk was bullshit!
Gritting his teeth, Bakugo used his explosions to propel him upwards and to the side. Just in the nick of time to as, had he been a half a second too slow, the lightning from that freak's head would have collided with his foot. That, in turn, would have sent the electrical charge all over his body!
"Kaboom!" yelled the freak, his speech bubble growing in size as the words grew before wind and dirt came flying towards Bakugo as if there had been a sudden explosion. He had no idea what this freak's quirk was, but it seemed it could do more than one thing. So far, the 1-B extra had made the ground hot when he said 'sizzle, sizzle', made the air colder when he 'shiver, shiver', and the ground shake by saying fucking 'rumble, rumble'. In other words, he just held onto them longer, shouting them with his hands raised up into the air like an idiot. What made it all worse was that somehow that made his quirk more powerful. Or maybe it was just him.
Bakugo's thoughts were then interrupted as a new freak came out of the dust storm flying towards him. So stupid Chinese looking extra looking slightly less dumb with a piece of paper covering his face than the freak on the ground. Growling, Bakugo swung his arm ready to knock this clown out of the sky so he could go down there and murder the freak he had been fighting. However, when his fist connected with the worthless extra's arm, it was Bakugo who felt the pain. Wincing slightly, he glanced at where he had struck to see thick green scales covering the teen's arms.
China Boy, or whatever he called himself, grinned as a foot connected with Bakugo's gut. Spit and stomach fluids were forced out of the bomber boy's mouth as he was sent flying backwards. Meanwhile, the extra on the ground must have said something that Bakugo hadn't paid attention to, spraying him in water and forcing him down towards the ground. As he fell, Bakugo used his explosions to propel himself away from the waterfall that had materialized out of nowhere only to then feel a pain in his leg. Before Bakugo could look down to see what it was, he caught a glimpse of something flying past him. There, flying through the air, was a green scale about the size of a small coin and looking razor sharp. Half a second later, Bakugo felt more pain all over his body as the other scales did not miss their target.
Finally, Bakugo crashed into the ground. Pain coursed through his body as he struggled to get up. Nothing felt broken, but he would have to double-check to be sure. He knew without a doubt he was bleeding. And wet. Oh, he was also very, very pissed. Not helped by the fact that the two extras who had done this to him were standing above him, looking down at him from the ledge of a cliff.
"Let's see now, what did you say back at the Sports Festival?" asked the Chinese extra in a mocking tone. "Something about how you were going to win? Consider yourself officially knocked off your high horse once again. Though, I'm a little jealous that Kendo and Midoriya were the first two to do so." New rage fueled Bakugo, letting out a roar as he got to his feet. Not that the extras were smart enough to worry about this as they continued to taunt him. "Oh, what's the matter? Are you going to throw another temper tantrum?"
"JUST DIE!" screamed Bakugo, extending an arm toward the 'villains' while pulling a pin from his gauntlet. A gauntlet full to the brim with his nitroglycerin.
The explosion that followed was far more powerful than anything that Bakugo had expected. Almost laughing as it happened, he watched as the rocks almost appeared to be vaporized before him. The earth moved and quaked before his might, being blasted into the air or falling to the earth like the trash it was. Trees snapped in half before catching on fire, the plum of smoke rising high into the air. With savage glee, Katsuki Bakugo watched all of this. He was a hero because he had won.
Then…
"BAKUGO!" came a ringing in his ears. The voice of ear lobes. Groaning in annoyance, the teen brought a hand to his ear to talk to the worthless extra who was currently stumbling around in the woods like a clueless idiot.
"What do you want?" complained Bakugo, eyes fixed on the flames.
"We just heard a loud explosion!" yelled the punk extra. "Was that you or is there another psychopathic bomber in 1-B?!?"
"Hey, there's no one else like me in the world," said Bakugo sharply.
"Great, well then I know who to yell at then!" snapped ear lobes, causing Bakugo to roll his eyes. "That explosion you caused is interfering with our search. I had my jacks in the ground when it happened and I'm surprised I'm not deaf! Oh, it also scared away all the animals meaning Koda can't talk to them."
"Meaning you two are even more useless than before. Perfect," sneered Bakugo, though he was slightly surprised at how fiery the punk girl was at this moment. Normally she acted like she didn't give a damn about anything.
"Oh, don't you dare give me that you asshole," growled ear lobes. "The exercise is almost over. Now, because you were probably not paying attention to what was being said since it came from us 'lowly peasants' I will fill your fucking majesty in on it so you'll know how royally FUCKED we are. Team B is MIA, possibly captured by the enemy somewhere. Team C is heading back to base camp and are in bad shape. Good news is they managed to capture a few of the villains. Bad news is several of our guys were accidentally hurt. As for your team, it's in shambles as you don't know where three of your members are. And since I don't hear you bragging about beating the exercise, I'm going to assume that you DON'T HAVE THE BOMB!"
Ear lobes words were like getting an entire bucket of cold water dumped onto him. Turning his back to the slowly growing forest fire, Bakugo began to panic. She was right. The damned extra was right. No one knew where in this entire zone the bomb was nor did they have a clue. And time was running out!
"You're useless," Bakugo said after a moment. "It was your job to look for the bomb in case Ponytail was wrong."
"You were wrong too prick," spat the punk girl, her words another slap in the face to Bakugo. "One of the locations we decided to check was on your recommendation so don't blame Yaoyorozu. And your not-so-little explosion is the reason I can't continue looking for the bomb! My ears are still ringing! So how about…you…" The girl's words trailed off for a moment.
"What?" asked Bakugo after a moment. "Damn it. Don't tell me they caught your worthless asses as well."
"No," said lobes, her voice softer now. She sounded, well, confused. "It's a house. There is a nice house in the middle of the zone." At that moment, a tree fell right behind Bakugo as his red eyes widened.