Chapter 71: Horns and Muscles

(Previously)

“Neither of us can fight him, not like this. We need something bright, a light source.” Shoji's response only made her wish that Midoriya were here more. Still, he was busy handling one thing, and Tsunotori was no doubt long gone to save Kota. So, she’ll make do here.

“Who was behind you?” she asked, as neither she nor Shoji could produce light. She had a feeling that with a rampage this bad, even if she had her phone, its flashlight wouldn't do much more than give away their position.

“Bakugo and Todoroki, both should be able to do just that, but Tokoyami is standing in our way and is attacking everything that moves.” Shoji’s response, while grave, did give them some hope. Both Bakugo and Todoroki would be ideal for this. All they had to do was get past the thing they couldn’t hope to best to get to them…

Well, Yanagi supposed they had hope. Now, they just needed a plan that wouldn't end with them being smashed corpses in a forest.

Line Break

Tsunotori didn't like going out at night. Sure, she knew there was plenty of fun to be had at night, clubs and dance halls were a thing, but she was more of a morning gal. Even when she pictured herself as a pro, it was always as someone who worked the day shift but was back home by 4PM to just snuggle up, watch anime, and eat sweets.

And yet, tonight was the exception as she raced over the canopy towards the mountain. Having broken the canopy when she left, she could spot through the darkness the flames in the direction Midoriya noted, which looked nothing like normal. They weren't the typical colour and definitely weren't Todoroki's; instead, they burned a bright dark blue, releasing a ton of smoke into the air.

“I gotta get to Kota and get the little one back to camp. Then I can swoop back in and…” She kept trying to keep herself focused, as riding at night was something she was not good at, but she couldn't afford to go slow and safe either. In her panic, she almost didn't catch the scent. “What the? That ain’t smoke…”

Below her, covering a large part of the forest, was a pinkish cloud of gas. This was even stranger, as no one she knew could make that. Yaoyorozu, maybe, but she would need to make a lot of it. She couldn't have just done that by accident.

“Just what is going on? Was there a gas leak? A truck carrying something toxic? No. This part of the forest is nowhere near the roads.” Tsunotori thought aloud, as the fire and now this? Something was going on, something real bad.

“Everyone!” Tsunotori nearly fell over, needing to use 2 more horns to keep stable as she heard Mandalay’s voice in her head.

“Mandalay?” What was happening now?

“Two villains attacked us; there may be more coming. Everyone, return to camp immediately; the test of courage is cancelled. All students, get back to camp; you're not to engage with the villains!” The rescue specialist announced to the entire camp, and Tsunotori realized that she was right—that there had to be more than two villains.

“Then this means…but how did they find us?” Tsunotori asked, as they went through so much to keep them off the grid. None were even allowed to send back texts that could give descriptions of the area. Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the mountain. “I gotta get to little Kota and fast! Fire is one thing, but villains are a different ball game!”

She couldn't hear anything, but she knew that her classmates and friends had to face their own issues. But as much as she wanted to jump in and help, ' Sorry, everyone, I know that you might need my help down there against these villains, but I need to save someone who can't save himself, please let me be fast enough!'

Line Break

Midoriya was approaching the flames when he heard Mandalay’s call, which confused him. “Villains? Here?” He stopped, as the scent of smoke was stronger now, and Koharu could better track the heat the flames were giving off.

“I suppose we know the cause of this little fire.” Koharu guessed.

"Yeah, but why?" Midoriya started moving again, tracing the smell with Koharu's help. “Why start a fire and give up the element of surprise? Was it to lure us to it?” If this were a villain attack, wouldn't it make sense to lure the pros to what could be seen as an odd fire and then strike? But if Mandalay gave the message, wouldn't that mean the villains had chosen to strike the clearing first?

He had questions, questions he had no answers for, but he wasn't without options as he broke the tree line, finding a large patch of the forest engulfed in bright blue flames. Frowning, he figured this had to be a villain's work. No flames would be this hot naturally. Maybe that was why it wasn't used as a distraction; it'll be a dead giveaway.

“They’ll find out why we’re the rulers of the element.” Midoriya took a breath before unleashing his own flames. The green clashed with the blue as he directed his flames upwards, sucking up as much oxygen as they could before harmlessly dissipating above the burning treeline.

"It doesn't matter how hot the flame; starve it of oxygen by starting a second flame, and it burns out," Midoriya repeated the move, getting some results as the flames, which had been spreading like water over an overfilled bath's edge, slowed down.

But he could see it wouldn’t be enough, so he turned to Koharu. "You handle that side; I'll handle this one!" She nodded as she slithered off his body, shifting into her second form before heading in another direction. She sent blasts of flames into the blaze, cutting off its oxygen supply and choking out the flames.

Feeling his jaw healing up from so many blasts, Midoriya got back to it. Unseen by him and Koharu, someone was watching him from the shadows where the dancing flames couldn’t reach. Faded yellow eyes racing him, like a bird of prey scouting its prey before it dived in.

‘Just as I thought, light the fire and the cold-blooded beast will come to warm its belly.’ The figure snorted, fixing on their gauntlets. They silently watched as Midoriya handled Dabi's handiwork, and his snake pet got further away from him. ‘Midoriya Izuku…I hope you give me a good fight.’

Line Break

Minutes before the first strike happened, Eraser walked those gloomy students back to the main building, uncaring of how much they whined and begged. They hated it now, and would for years to come, but if they even absorbed half of what he was trying to impart onto them, they'll be that much better in their classes, then exams, and soon, as heroes.

And for him, and the rest of the staff, that was the reward. Both for them, having not to hear about their students being grievously wounded or killed, and for the students who could one day thrive as pros.

Of course, his students didn't take kindly to him referring to this as a reward. Still, he didn't expect that, as he led them into the building and back into the classroom they had used the night before. Vlad, his fellow teacher, was already present.

“For tonight’s lesson, we'll work on behaving in an emergency. If you don't appreciate how much you're falling behind your classmates, the gap will only grow into a chasm," Eraser told them as the students took their seats. Some looked annoyed, others sad about missing out on the test of courage, but none turned away.

Vlad nodded. "He's right. You can hate it all you want, but you can't let yourselves slack off. You, out of everyone, need this. However, when the final day comes, you'll be allowed to participate in whatever the Pussycats cook up."

“Really?” Kirishima perked up.

"Please don't mess with us!" Ashido followed suit, only to sit down as Eraser looked at them both, his quirk active.

He released his quirk only when he saw they were back in their seats. "That depends on how well you perform during these extra classes. Hard work is rewarded with good food, but the results get fun time."

“Yes, sir!”

Monoma chose that moment to try and start something. "Well, it won't be class B, which you must look out for. We'll ace this and leave the inferior class in the dust." His fellow class B classmates hardly batted an eye at his taunt, while class A just looked tired.

"At this point, I'm more worried than angry. Does he have an off switch?" Ashido asked, as Monoma reminded her of Bakugo, just fewer explosions and more shit talking.

"You'll have to ask Kendo about that," Tetsutetsu replied. Though Kendo would probably deliver a chop to Monoma's neck, it was better than what Tokage and Midoriya did, as Tokage just engaged with him and directed his focus elsewhere while Midoriya…well, he was pretty sure Monoma liked messing with him more than he did shit talking class A.

"Just tune him out and focus on getting the best scores." Sero quipped, as he was still a little salty about being here, all because he had to take one for the team during his finals.

Neither teacher reacted to the little discussion among their students, but they did have a schedule to keep. “So Vlad, how should we handle things tonight?”

Vlad hummed momentarily, as they had some plans. Still, they had agreed after the previous class to try to alter them to get better results. “I was thinking a sort of team-based exercise, we can split them into groups of 3 and-”

“Everyone!” He and the entire room paused as they heard Mandalay's voice.

"It's Mandalay's telepath," Kirishima noted.

Ashido let out a little, awkward laugh. “So weird, being able to hear her thoughts.”

"It is sort of annoying that it only works one way, though," Kaminari added, to which Monoma scoffed.

“Probably for the best she can’t hear people’s thoughts whenever she wanted.” After the mess with Mineta trying to perv on the girls, he would pity anyone who had to hear what went through that guy’s head at any given time.

“Everyone, quiet.” Eraser silenced them, as Mandalay wouldn't reach out for no reason. More than that, she sounded alarmed and incredibly alert.

“Two villains attacked us, and there may be more coming. Everyone, return to camp immediately; the test of courage is cancelled. All students, get back to camp; you're not to engage with the villains!” As they heard the rest of the message, and the students all grew worried, their teachers were quick on the draw.

"Eraser, I'll keep the fort here; you go and retrieve the rest of the students," Vlad told the underground her.

“I’ll be back!” Eraser turned to rush out of the room.

“Hold on-!” He slammed the door shut, cutting off whatever Sato was trying to say as he raced down the hallway for the exit.

‘If it’s a full-scale attack, then we're in big trouble.' When he got out, he saw that things had devolved quickly, as he could see a vast curtain of smoke and the glow of what seemed to be blue flames in the distance. ‘That fire…it has to be the villains’ work, but why didn’t Mandalay alert us to-’

A voice spoke up beside him, catching him by surprise. “Looks like your concern for your students has you getting distracted, Eraser.”

“Vla-!” He didn't have time to activate his quirk; flames were already crawling over the woman's outstretched hand, before a gale of searing hot blue flames enveloped where he had been standing. The force of the blast was enough to knock Dabi's hand back, and the woman needed to adjust her stance to avoid falling over.

Looking at the light of her flames, she gave her demand. “You pros are in for a lucky day, we ain’t here to fight you guys. Stay out of the way and you might be the only one hurt."

Line Break

With the Pussycats, they, like the students, had been caught completely by surprise, and before they could act, Pixie-Bob had been pulled towards the intruders, no doubt the quirk of a quirk, and been given a nasty headshot, which knocked her out. Now standing over their comrade's unconscious body, the 2 villains made their statement.

"Good evening, students of U.A. High. We are part of the League of Villains Vanguard Action Squad." One of them, a lizard heteromorph with green scales and wearing a copy of Stain's gear, introduced them.

“The League? Here?” Ojiro asked, as this didn't make sense. U.A. made sure this place was off the map. The Pussycats weren't staff or alumni, so there would be no reason to venture this far out unless they knew, but then how would they?

Tiger let out an angry growl, taking a step forward, but the second villain, who dressed plainly and seemed to be the muscle of the duo, stopped him. Waving her finger at him, she gestured to how she held her weapon against the downed Pixe-bob’s head. "I wouldn't be so harsh now, little heroes. I could crush this little kitty's head so easily; even being tripped up and dropping my magnet could do a lot of damage."

The heteromorph stepped up, not to fight but oddly standing between the two sides. "Now, let’s not be hasty, Big sis Mags, you two, Tiger-let’s keep things calm so needless bloodshed doesn’t happen, how else are we to live by the principles set by Stain when it comes to proper judgement?”

Iida's face turned foul as he recalled how things had ended that night. "Stain? Are you disciplined by that madman?"

“Hmm, I recognise you.” The villain hardly seemed offended by his description of the hero killer, instead snapping his fingers. “Yes, you were at Hosu, weren’t you? You battled against Stain and struck from behind.”

"Well, let's see how well you do in a direct fight, so please allow me to introduce myself." He reached for his back, drawing out the massive weapon he had been carrying—a blade in the loosest sense, a collection of blades and knives welded and held together by belts. "Call me Spinner, and we're here to make Stain's dream a reality."

"I don't care who you are,” Tiger shot the man’s introduction down, shaking in rage as his eye never went far from his downed teammate and friend. "The woman you have lying there is a pro-hero called Pixie-Bob. She's a pro hero who has saved countless lives, and she's giving her all for these young heroes. Pushing them to be better."

"She's looking for a mate, but otherwise, she's content." He flexed his hands, and from his pawed gloves came claws, sharp and ready for action as the man was nearly seeing red. “What gives you villains the right to cut such a happy life short?!”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not a hero’s job to be happy?” Spinner laughed as he charged, engaging Tiger in a fight, forcing the pro to watch for his weapon, as it was closer to a morning star covered in spikes, and then elongated into a traditional sword, and thus he had to be careful. Mandalay wasn't idle either, jumping to fight the second, who thankfully chose to fight them over trying to harm Pixie more and risk getting taken out of the fight early.

Evading a headshot swing from the giant magnet, Mandalay called out to her teammate. "Tiger, I've already got the message out. Trust the safety of the other students to Ragdoll. You and I will hold the line here!" It wasn't ideal, but Ragdoll wasn't just a hyperactive woman but a capable pro. She formed their group and was quick on the uptake. She could find the students and return them to camp through another route.

Sending a bunch of nothing thoughts into the villain's head to stun them, Mandalay managed to land a kick to their guts, folding them, only for their foe to recover and continue fighting her. "Class Rep, you're in charge! Get everyone back to camp now!"

“Understood!” Iida nodded, wishing to rush into the forest, but he had learned his lesson from Hosu. The best he could do was get the rest back to camp and return as soon as possible to help bring back other students.

Line Break

“Kota? Kota! I hope you can hear my voice. Hurry up and get back to camp! I'm sorry I can't come to you. I don't know where you are or where you keep running off to. Forgive me, and just come back home fast!”

Kota hardly heard Auntie's voice in his head; his attention remained on the man approaching. He couldn't see his face, but he was just bad news; Kota just knew it. He had been shocked when he looked up and saw the fires and what looked to be a funny-looking air in the distance. He thought that those hero wannabe losers had started doing something dumb, but…he didn't know who did it.

He watched them train for two days, seeing what they could do. Outside, two of them, including that one with the snake, could not make fire, and even then, it was orange and green flames, not blue. But the gas…he didn't know.

Before he could return to camp for the night, he was approached by a giant of a man, taller than Uncle Tiger. And a lot beefier too.

"I came up here to scout for a good vantage point. I didn't think I'd find a little kid here." The mysterious man spoke, sounding almost bored, and yet Kota felt terror in his bones. There was something else there, something that made his brain scream at him to run as fast as he could, as far as he could.

"You got a cool hat; I like it." Kota didn’t care for the compliment about his hat. "Why don't you trade me for this dumb mask? They made me wear it because I'm new, and they said they couldn't get a shipment of the good ones in time."

Finally gaining control of his legs, he did the only sensible thing he could: turned tail and ran screaming. The man didn't seem phased by this as he reached for his mask, tossing the thing aside.

"Oh well, why don't you and I have some fun up here?" he asked before he jumped, getting past Kota and landing in front of him. As he did so, Kota could see something moving under his cloak, a clock that was falling away, revealing more of the man. “Ready?”

Kota didn't hear him, not when he saw his face and found himself back then, back to when Auntie had come over because his parents couldn't, which he hated because they rarely did that. Auntie wouldn't tell him why they didn't come home.

In slow motion as the villain moved, Kota recalled seeing the news and hearing that…that his parents...but he remembered something else. A face he could never forget.

‘It’s you…!’ It was this man’s face, and now…now he was here for him. “Mama…Papa…!” He was crying, he didn't wait to die, he didn't! But he couldn't fight, he couldn't run, and now he-

“Get away from him!” a voice screamed from the side. A moment later, something snagged his shirt and pulled him out of the way of the punch, which slammed into the ground like a small explosion, tossing up rock and stone like sand on the beach.

Coughing, Kota, teary-eyed and confused, looked around. He…wait, what had happened? Looking, he saw that his shirt had been pierced by 2 weird-looking horns. A moment later, a girl landed at his side and immediately wrapped him up in a hug.

“Wha-how did you?” Kota couldn't understand what had happened, but Tsunotori didn't have time to explain it. Not when she had nearly been too late to save him from this bastard who would try to murder a child.

“No time, hang on, Kota-boy.” She would like to fight him, but she knows her limits, and this guy… seemed like too much trouble.

“Wha!” Kota couldn't say a word as Tsunotori, holding him to her chest, jumped off the ledge. She landed on a pair of her horns, which she rode in the direction of camp.

Muscular pulled his fist out of the ground, amused by this turn. "Oh, now that's unexpected, hold on, I didn't get a good look at her, but I'm pretty sure no girls were on the list." He paused to think it over, but shook his head, a smile forming on his face as he bent his knees, his legs bulging. “Oh well, might as well check to be sure.”

Tsunotori was confident she was putting good distance between them and the mountain. Still, she couldn't just fly at max speed with a passenger in her, even a small one like Kota. She needed to be as careful as the situation, and part of that was putting even more distance between them and that bastard.

‘Okay, just stay calm, Pony. You don’t need to fight; you just need to get Kota back to camp. Teacher Vlad and teacher Eraser are there; if he follows, they can handle him.' Vlad was one of the most capable people she knew. He had fought tooth and nail for them at the USJ, and she was confident he could handle what would be a child killer.

Eraser, though, would be better as everyone in U.A. knew him, the guy who, with a single look, could leave just about anyone bar mutants like her quirkless. Even then, not like she could shoot off and control her horns under his gaze. Besides, she didn't have permission to fight even if she wanted to. No, best thing to do was to get Kota to safety, get the heroes to handle this, and then ask for help with this shit show…yeah, sounded like a good enough plan to her. It would go faster if she could just call ahead.

“Why did we not bring our phones? I could use someone like-!” As she grumbled, Kota raised his head and looked over her shoulder, his eyes wide in panic.

“Look out!” Tsunotori swung hard to the right. The act might have just saved her life as Muscular came barrelling towards them like a human boulder, but where a rock would have just sailed on by, no thought on how it missed its mark, a rock was not what Muscular was.

As he went by, with glee in his eye, his hand snapped out and grabbed onto Tsunotori’s right ankle, crushing it near instantly as she couldn't hold back the scream of pain as she was dragged to into the forest below, just barely being able to break his hold on her but that didn't mean she had a easy landing, all she could do was hold onto Kota, and shift so that it was her back which crashed into several tree branches, each feeling like someone took a baseball bat to back. Still, it slowed her down just enough so their landing wasn't fatal.

Coughing, she could feel the bruises forming, and how her right ankle was useless now. If she could look down, she wouldn't be surprised if her foot were limp. Hearing a crashing noise, she looked to the side, spotting that the villain had landed as well, no worse for wear.

“Hey now, don't just leave, we can have fun together!" Muscular taunted her, Tsunotori having seen Shishida enough time training to recognise a charge when she saw one.

“Kota-boy, hold on!” She couldn't stand, much less fight, in a condition. So, she didn't, shooting off another pair of horns, they looped around, hooking under her armpits, and despite how hard it was to move her ruined foot, she was off This time, Muscular wasn't able to grab onto her as she tried to make it back to camp.

"Whoopsie, probably shouldn't have hit you that hard, don't want you dying on me before I can ask a question. Do you have any idea where a kid named Midoriya could be?" Muscular yelled at her. Tsunotori gasped as she thought of her friend.

“m-Midoriya?” What could they want with him?

Unfortunately for her, Muscular saw her reaction, and his smile only sent dread down her and Kota's spines. "Oh, so you do know. Well, why don't you share it with me?"

“We need to get out of here!” She yelled as she tried to increase the speed, moving in a zig-zag formation to keep him from trying to jump after her. But Muscular wouldn’t be so easily lost as he gave chase, the man moving fast through the trees, knocking some over as if they were little more than stacks of paper.

"Silence doesn't help you, you know. I was given a job, and it'll be a pain that someone figured out you knew and didn't get any answers. Besides," he gripped two trees as he passed by, his arms bulging as he ripped them out of the earth and tossed them, one after the other, at her.

Tsunotori was able to avoid the first, but Muscular had been smart and thrown the second in the spot he knew she would end up. Tsunotori was forced to drop, her horns leaving her armpits as the log sailed right over their heads, Kota screaming in fear as they felt the whoosh of the air, only for Tsunotori to feel her back be bent nearly to the point of snapping in two.

Muscular, having launched himself at her, struck her back with a ferocious shoulder tackle which sent Pony towards the earth. “You can’t run from me!” As he laughed, again, she turned to protect Kota the best she could, using her horns, she tried to soften the landing the best she could, but still got clocked in the left shoulder, she couldn’t even scream as she felt the limb pop out of the socket, among other things as she tumbled into the dirt.

“Oh hell yeah, this is just what I wanted, to see some blood!” Muscular laughed as he approached the downed duo, Kota unable to run, not when Tsunotori wouldn’t let go of him as she forced herself to stand, her face dirty and blood flowing from several cuts, the worst being one on her forehead. Still, she glared at Muscular in defiance.

The man was impressed, as he had killed plenty of them. They rarely gave him that look, at least, not after he'd had his chance to rough them up first. "That's right. You were in that festival thingy, weren't you? File said you're American." Tsunotori, through the pain, was listening, trying to do what teacher Vlad had taught them when it came to situations like this.

Gather info. They didn't know how the villains knew where they were, but if this guy babbled, she might as well learn what she could. She wasn't that big at the festival, but she wasn't so sure that was the only source of info they had. If that was it, why call it a file? Now, maybe she was getting too invested or misunderstanding Japanese again, but she…she felt like she was right in her gut.

As she forced her body to move through the pain, Muscular kept on talking, clearly not seeing her as a threat.

"Well, I heard Americans are some of the toughest bastards out there, so don't go breaking on me yet!" Tsunotori yelled at him as she fired off a barrage of her horns at him, aiming for his face, which he blocked, his arms covered in thick exposed muscle acting as a defence.

“You wanna fight, then come and get it, you steroid abusing asshole!” She screamed at him, increasing the firing rate of her horns.

"Is that all you got? You got spunk, but you're gonna need more than that. Smashing through the puny attack, Muscular charged ahead and brought his foot down on where the two were, not to kill but enough damage to the girl that she couldn't move as he questioned her.

The kid could die for all he cared; he wasn't nearly as much fun.

Only when he came down on the spot did he see that he had smashed up the dirt and rock, but no bodies. Looking to the side, he saw Tsunotori making a break for yet again, this time zooming through the trees, which only made the villain laugh. "Well, I'll be damned. All that to run away? I thought Americans were better than that!”

Tsunotori ignored the laughter, the taunting, and how badly hurt she was and how much she wanted to just lie down. Instead, she focused on Kota, who was a little worse for wear and had a little bump on his head, but he was safe; he was alive.

Kota looked at her with such wide, terror-filled eyes, so different from the little shit who was antagonistic to all of them. She wanted him back to that, as no child should look so scared. She tried to keep his spirits up by putting on her best impression of Star and Stripes. “Kota-boy, everything will be okay.”

“But your leg, you’re hurt!” Kota cried, and the two heard Muscular chasing after them. He ploughed through the trees with little effort as he kept calling for them to fight, to get crushed by his strength.

Pony ignored that, throwing her head back in a small laugh, empty bravado, but something she hoped would help. “Tis but a scratch, it’ll take more than that to bring down this mare.” She would wink, but one eye was constantly being hit with her blood, so it was best she kept her reliable eye open as she zoomed, dodged, and weaved through the trees.

“But…” She quickly kissed Kota's forehead, causing him to blush in surprise and confusion as she flashed him a small, honest smile.

“A hero saves people, Kota-boy.” She might have been hurt, and her smile small, but Kota couldn't hear any weakness or deceit in her words. She sounded like Mama when she would hug him. "As long as you need saving, I won't give up."

He couldn't respond as Muscular tossed a boulder at them. Tsunotori evaded it but slowed down, giving the muscle-bound villain the chance to leap into view.

“Found you!”

“I will protect you!”  Tsunotori declared as she launched another barrage of horns at Muscular.

Line Break

Well, my oven's fucked, and the worst part, the building's probably gonna refuse to have it replaced, as he always does when my roommate and I insist it can't just be fixed, as the 'fixes' last a week at best. I was just left bitter when I tried to bake a cake for a little get-together, only for it to first undercook, and when I put it back in, having flipped the mould so the undercooked bottom could get some heat, less than 2 minutes later, it nearly caught on fire. So yeah, I had to call ahead and ask someone else to bring a cake since I didn’t have funds to buy one…so much fun.

Line Break

Well, I can say that when I first made this story, I had never thought I would have Pony face off against Muscular, but now that I have…well, she's gonna give the guy one hell of a fight. I've got something really special cooked for the next chapter. And that ignores that we haven't seen how Shoji and Yanagi are handling a rampaging Tokoyami, who's watching Midoriya work and their plans for him.

Also, I heard a while ago and confirmed it as I wrote this that Ragdoll came up with the idea for the WWP, though I would say Mandalay is the leader just because she's the straight man and because she can transmit orders with a literal thought.