Chapter 48: The Ferals

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

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(Previously)

Kirishima whined, "Please don't tell me we gotta search through the women's clothing part of some store; that's so creepy." He hoped that it was just the women’s clothing and not something like their underwear or lingerie.

Furasu wasn't eager for such either and hoped they could focus on the other. “What about hobbies? That could cover a few of the teachers.”

Midoriya approached a map printed on the wall of one of the malls. Looking it over, it didn't give details for the rest of the levels but did inform them that the mall had 9 levels, and they were on floor 3. It also had information on where stores were, with a helpful spot denoting where they were on the map. "According to this map, there is a clothing store near here. We can check it out while the rest look through the Kosho across from it."

"Sounds like a plan," Awase stated as the group grabbed their carts and moved deeper into the building.

In the shadows, unknown to them, they were being watched. Bright, curious, and eager eyes watched them move before moving away, not making a sound as they sought to wait for the perfect chance to pounce.

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The other teams had already made their way into the place, with the Burning Sunsets having been given an entrance that put them on the second floor, which seemed nearly identical in design and layout to the floor below them. Not that they would know, as the levels were large and the floor thick, making it hard to hear anything that wasn't exceptionally loud.

Yaoyorozu had already made them a set of shock-absorbing wheels, which they had to take time to install, but they were giving a smoother ride even though they had only found 2 figurines thus far.

“Anything?” Yaoyorozu asked as Kuroiro pulled himself out of a shadow, having gone ahead, much like Shoji and Kendo, to try and find more.

The shadow walker shook his head. "Nothing is hidden in hard-to-reach spots in the area, " he reported. Kendo had been the one who located a Serenity figurine worth a measly 10 points, and Shoji, the cement-based hero, the Cementoss doll that Serenity led them to, had a figurine worth 20 points.

“And these figurines don't seem to have any peculiar smells or look to them, so they blend in pretty well, all things considered," Shoji added, as their plan to perhaps try and find them through other means was proved a bust.

"Well, either way, we should follow the clue and head down to the construction supply store," Kendo noted. That was where the Cementoss figurine pointed them towards, but it was on the other side of the floor, a pretty long walk considering their time limit.

Walking through it, Yaoyorozu, having created flashlights, pointed them around towards dark spots, trying to perhaps spot a sign or figurine that was missed. All while she was just a little bit excited, as it was fake and meant for an event. This was technically her first time going to the mall and with friends. At least, she liked to think of them as friends. She tried her best not to antagonize anyone in the class and was cordial with them.

“Quite the odd mall, but I suppose one would wish to have such an establishment here.” She smiled as she looked around, the rest looking back at her in confusion and then at each other. There was a silent debate on who should be the one to burst her bubble as Yaomomo seemed so happy for some reason. They didn't want to be the ones who would ruin that.

Eventually, Kendo seemed to lose the debate and had to be the one who bite the bullet. "No…really, no. Stores like this don't typically set up shop in a mall. They try to have dedicated buildings because of their merchandise.”

“Then why’d they put one in here?” Tetsutetsu asked, having been left out of the prior conversation.

Shoji answered, "Probably to add to the situation. If all these are based on heroes, then they probably tried to add locations that would match them."

“Then can’t we just search each spot we come across?” Kuroiro suggested it will yield better results and delay when they run into another team.

Yaoyorozu shook her head. Now that she was thinking seriously about things, she could see some theories form. "They must have thought about that and planned for it, seeing how, according to that floor plan, the mall has several stores with the same name scattered throughout its structure. For all we know, the clues could carry specific instructions on which floor to search."

In fact, knowing how Eraserhead operated and how much the rest of the staff liked throwing curve balls, she was confident that they had done such a thing. While what they had found didn't support that, they were both low-level figurines, and surely they would have placed a few around the starting floors to try and give them all some points before they had reason to venture deeper.

"Yes, a means to waste the time of those who prove impatient," Kuroiro muttered, only to hear something rustling. A shrub that on its own wouldn't have been noted, but when they were underground with no breeze, "What was that?"

"I heard it as well; something's moving around in the shadows." Shoji formed ears on the ends of his tentacles, listening as Yaoyorozu flashed her light across the place. She couldn't hear what had set the two off, but she would trust them, with the girl spotting...something moving, too fast to see what it was as it dashed behind some cover before her light to really illuminate it.

Shoji heard it, however, and movement around in other spots as well. "Make that something, " he corrected as they all shifted to gather around the trolley, keeping it defended from all sights as Tetsutetsu, Yaoyorozu, and Kendo all geared up for an attack from another team.

Shoji didn’t think it was one of them.

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2 floors beneath Shoji and his team, Todoroki's team found themselves in a similar situation, only it seemed to be worse for them as they could make out sounds all around them, movement, but the lights being partially down, there were plenty of shadows and hiding spots for the unseen enemy to hide in. “Shishida? Have you identified our opponents?" Shiozaki asked, having wrapped her vine around their cart to protect the Vlad and Ectoplasm figurines they found, the former only worth 10 points and the latter 20.

Shishida, having shifted into beast mode, kept on sniffing the air. With his acute sense of smell, he had long memorized what their classmates smelled like. He frowned as he kept trying to spot them but could detect the closest being a floor above. "No, but I can tell you it's none of the others."

"That doesn't bode well for us. If not another team, then who is it?" Yanagi asked the big question, as she couldn't use her quirk without first seeing what she targeted, and whoever was hunting them kept out of sight.

"It'll help if we could see them, but they're scurrying everywhere. I can't just freeze the floor in any random direction." Todoroki frowned, as he could do that and just target the entire place, but he was the only one with shoes designed for such frosty conditions. The last thing he wanted was to be slowed down by his teammates because of his actions.

"I can't use my quirk if they don't respond, but I can't just start talking out my ass either; the less they knew about it, the better," Shinso whispered to them.

"This isn't ideal. We don't have time to waste on this, but we can't move either. Not without more information." Shiozaki spoke, only to be interrupted when they heard an explosion, followed by the mall's structure shaking.

“What was that?” Shinso asked as he held onto Shishida to keep from falling. “And earthquake?”

"Worse, it's Bakugo." Todoroki glared at the ground as that shock came from below, which meant that-

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"Get them; they have a rare Inversal figurine!" One of the machines screeched as a horde fell onto the Sapphires. They had been sent the deepest into the depths, starting on the 5th floor, and not even a minute after finding an Inversal figurine worth 40 points, they had been jumped.

“Kill the fakers!” another machine screamed, rallying the rest of its mechanical sisters. They had all been dressed up to look like regular people, with hero shirts, hats, and other memorabilia, some of which they were using as weapons as they stormed Uraraka's team.

“Just what the fuck is going on?” Bakugo yelled as he dodged a predictable swing from on, landing an explosive punch to its chest, which knocked it back, only for its joints to bend in ways that sure as hell weren't normal as it picked itself up, but his attention shifted to another.

“I’m afraid that I’m as useless as you all,” Aoyama replied as he used Reflect to create a barrier against a few others. The android crashed into and pressed against it like eager fans would as they waited for the stores to open.

But unlike people, they weren't flesh and blood nor untrained. They were faster, stronger, and could use much more force, which he felt as they pressed against the barrier, forcing him to prepare and try cutting them down. Still, as he did so, he noticed something under their wigs. A logo he's soon before.  "Wait…I recognize those models.."

“Where did U.A. get them?”

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All Might had the same question as he and the rest of the first-year teachers watched the events as they unfolded. “When did we get those? If I’m not mistaken, they’re similar in design to the J.O.Y.E. and J.E.N.N.Y models we saw in Professor Midoriya’s lab.”

“That is because they’re made by the same company,” Nezu cheerfully replied as they watched the androids continue to attack the students. Their fanatical war cries were loud and clear for the audience, who cheered as they got their dose of violence.

He always did find that…pleasing to consider about humans. Like any other sentient creature on the planet, they sort simple things like watching others fight, though no such things as territory or mating rights were on the line for this.

Sipping at his tea, he continued to explain. “I was so impressed with them that I put in a rush order to get our hands on as many as possible!” He crackled as Midoriya’s team placed Furasu in the cart for her protection. Tsunotori and Awase acted as point guards. At the same time, Midoriya, using flames this time around, and Tetsutetsu engaged with the worst of the android assault.

"Is that safe? I would assume they'll not be made to be fragile and predictable like our typical robots." Saffron asked as it seemed like all four teams were struggling against foes that didn't go down easily and were quirks to get up.

Nezu didn’t share their concerns. "Oh, they're quite safe, I can assure you of that. I asked that they modify this first shipment so the students would have an easier time fending them off."

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'When did U.A. get their hands on-' Saiko asked herself as she recognized those models. They were similar to the J.E.N.N.Y, a version meant to be produced for French security forces. How did they get to Japan, and why were they here?

“All would you look at that, folks. Looks like the mall wasn’t completely abandoned after all.” Inversal seemed calm about the change in events and how they lied by omission to the students.

“You're probably wondering who this lovely bunch is. Well, let us explain!” Supercharge took over from there, her voice carrying through the arena and into the depths of the mall via its announcement system. “We all love our fans. Who doesn't? It doesn't matter if you're just a humble chef, a radio talk show host, a movie star, a singer, or, like us, a pro hero. We can all have fans.”

“But, we can all agree that for many things and people, there exists the type of fan that poisons the well. The ones who know everything, who buy all your merchandise, who write fanfics about you and get cruel and violent when their opinions and wants aren't met.” She continued, though many watching could see where they were going.

“You'll all see them at cons; you've watched them bully children out of action figures for the sake of their collection. They have all your body pillows. Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to introduce the Feral Fan!” Present Mic announced as if he was opening a new theme park, the crowds watching in awe at the android as now many yelled and cheered for the students to destroy the representation of such terrible fans. Those who could ruin their fandom and their favs reputation with their actions.

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“Should I feel offended by that label?” Midoriya asked as he used Will-O-Wisp to send two bullets made from flames into the android horde, one seeing its arm blown off and the other nailed clean through its chest and, at last, slumping over.

“What? You’ve ever done something like this?” Kirishima shook his head, having been dog piled by some; its hardened hair tore into the androids, allowing him to punch his way free out of them, though many remained on their feet as they clambered for the Eraser figurine, calling it super rare and worth dying for, or in the case of the one that seemed to be leading this group, worth killing for.

Midoriya shot a genuinely angry look at him for assuming such, using Fire Fang to rip into another couple of androids, chewing on them before metaphorically spitting out their burnt top halves. "No, but people keep throwing us all into the same darn bucket because some people get lost in their love for heroes!"

Midoriya didn't know how often he had gone to an All Might convention and seen the sort of folk. They stuck out like sore thumbs yet were so deluded and selfish that they acted like they spoke for all of them. Not even All Might himself coming out against their behavior several times over the years could stop them!

“Nah, this ain’t love, this is madness!” Awase yelled as he fended off some with a crudely made bat from some rebar and wood he welded together, Tsunotori's horns helping to keep them off him. At the same time, the terrified Furasu stayed in the cart, its shield active in case one got through. “We need to get the hell outta here!”

"We'll fight our way through them, get the Midnight figurine, and get out!" Midoriya yelled as they couldn't abandon it. Kirishima, we form up and smash right on through them. Tsunotori, Awase, grab the cart and gun it. We don't know how many of these things they are!"

"You don't need to tell me twice; the sooner we leave, the sooner we can leave these creeps behind!" Tsunotori yelled.

"Get ready, Kirishima, I'm about to turn up the heat!" Midoriya called out as he started taking deep, controlled breaths, gathering heat into his hands and letting it build.

"Bring it on; my hardening can take it!" Kirishima stood ready, facing the incoming horde of crazed machines.

“Lava Plume!" Midoriya cast, unleashing a giant gale of bright, searing, hot orange and yellow flames that engulfed the entire path ahead, catching everything in its wake. Kirishima stood his ground, even as his back was treated to what a roast chicken went through in 30 minutes in only 10 seconds. The androids, on the other hand, let out confused, pained yells and screams, which would have been heart-wrenching if…

“How can I get merch if I’m dead?”

“My sister will sell my collection if I’m not back home by 6!”

"I gave up dating to be the ultimate collector; I can't fall now, no!!!"

…If they weren’t so damn goofy.

Eventually, Midoriya ceased the attack, his hands twitching as he quickly shifted to his normal form to give his incredibly hot hands time to cool. He had learned that he couldn't immediately jump onto ice.

His attack, while powerful, didn’t take out all of them, but it did render many slow to respond. The perfect chance for Kirishima, now shirtless from the flames, to leap into action. His harkened fists and kicks smashed any that still tried to stop them.

"Let's get moving!" Awase yelled as he and Tsunotori, the latter using her horns to help, grabbed the cart and ran through the path made for them.

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With Uraraka's team, they somehow managed to fend off the worst of the android fans and made it to the 6th floor, sealing the stairs they used with some well-timed explosive strikes from Bakugo. It wouldn't keep them out and limit their escape options, but with each level having around four staircases on top of two elevator shafts, they could afford it.

In the meantime, they could focus more on the point of the event as Uraraka picked up a Thirteen Figurine, one that seemed to come with detachable black hole swirls, which made her wish she could keep it. “We’re doing pretty good for ourselves.” She cheered as she set the C-ranked figurine into their floating cart, which held another C-ranked figurine in Supercharge and a D in Inversal.

"Oh yeah, that's 50 points since we lost those stupid ferals." Tokage gave Uraraka a high five.

"I hope I never met such people; it was like they were…" Iida didn’t have quite the word to describe the horde.

"Feral? Well, it kind sucks as if we get popular as pros, we're bound to have some." Tokage shrugged, as it'll be a pain, but like a headache and bad weather, you couldn't avoid it.

Iida gasped at the notion that he would have such a wild following. "I will discourage such unclothe behavior from my supporters! It's in direct conflict with the ideals of heroism that I seek to uphold for my fans to behave in such a manner." Bakugo just grunted at how dumb Iida was being about this.

"You can clarify, my friend, but I doubt it'll mean much." Aoyama chuckled as people liked to only consider the fans of heroines like Mirko, Midnight, or Ryukyu when discussing terrible and/or suspicious fanbases. Still, well, it existed for most heroes. Even if one wasn't conventionally attractive or wasn't often in the news, there was bound to be a small cult-like following.

He learned that the hard way when he and Izuku, in their infinite wisdom as 13-year-olds, looked up stuff on Gang Orca and went to the wrong website. His mother was just as horrified when she heard the two screamings 'why,' came into his room, and found what was on the screen.

"Just tell people like that to piss off; I don't get time to deal with crazy people." Bakugo reluctantly joined the conversation, though as long as his fans didn't involve him in their weird shit, he didn't care what they did.

Tokage gave him an odd look. "Somehow, I can both see you having none of that and all of it. There is no middle ground, " she stated as he doubted something with his…everything will build up the typical sort of fans.

“The hells that supposed to mean?!”

"Quiet," Aoyama called out, stopping Bakugo before he could get into a one-sided screaming match. The blonde was about to turn on him for daring to tell him what to do, but Aoyama had already drawn his blade and let yellow sunlight flow into it, causing it to glow.

Even Bakugo could see what this was and went along with things, though he wasn’t happy and hoped that what was about to happen gave him an out. “You heard something?” Uraraka asked, keeping an eye on their trolley in case more of those ferals showed up.

“I saw something. Something small, " he replied. A moment later, something shot out towards him. Aoyama batted it aside with his blade, its glow revealing what it was. "It's Tsunotori!" he yelled as the horn, slightly damaged, turned and shot towards him once more, Aoyama choosing to cut it in two this time around.

"Heads up!" Tokage called out as she detached a man and sent him in front of him, taking the hit from another horn, slowing it down, and allowing Bakugo to leap into action and blast it and her hand to bits. "Dammit, Bakugo! I'm not target practice!"

"Then get out of the way," Bakugo yelled back.

“Snowscape." With that quiet call, most of the ambient heat in the area was pulled towards a single source, rapidly dropping the temperature and creating a localized snowstorm.

"Cold!" Tokage cursed as she could already feel it start to set as around them, frost gathered on shattered glass, and ice crystals formed

“The heck? Is this Todoroki?” Uraraka asked, as their P.E. uniforms were not made for the winter, not when the Sports Festival was held in the middle of spring!

"No…" Aoyama kept his guard and stance even as he started to see his breath. He had seen this before, and if he acted as he thought he would-

“Ice Shard.” Again, a near whisper in the cold wind and from the darkness ahead of them, he saw a giant spear of ice launched towards them.

“Solar Beam!” His blade shined brighter as Aoyama performed a slashing motion, creating an arc of yellow sunlight that shot out, meeting the ice spear mid-way between the two parties. Where the inherent heat and power in his strike managed to counter the ice spear, but most form once it was destroyed.

"You can come on out; your plan failed." Aoyama called out, taking a breath before beginning to glow himself. His glow illuminated the poorly lit mall hallway and provided much-appreciated heat to the rest of his party.

Slowly, two people approached from the darkness. The first was Tsunotori, whose horns floated around her at the ready. The second was Midoriya, having shifted into ice. Floating in his hands was a soft-looking snowball, innocent and fluffy. But Aoyama didn't dare drop his guard, and neither did the rest.

"I was hoping that we wouldn't need to get into a prolonged fight, but it figures you'll be able to read me so easily," Midoriya called out.

"I've known you quite a long time, old friend. There's not a lot you can do that can surprise me," Aoyama retorted, keeping it in front of their trolley as Tokage and Iida locked it down.

"And I also know you. So I knew you'd react like this if my opening move failed." Midoriya smiled as Aoyama took a moment to realize something.

Why had they been so flashy with that horn unless…

"Yeah!" They all turned and saw Kirishima rushing them from the rear; Aoyama turned, looking back, and saw Midoriya's snowball changing, becoming a ball of pure frost.

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“What the hell? Frozen? But we just got here!” Shinso asked, breathing heavily as they turned the corner and found the stairwell frozen.

"It had to be Midoriya. His quirk can also produce ice, remember?" Yanagi stated.

"It sounds like he was blocking us off so he could focus on another team, but who?" Shiozaki asked, as he couldn't have known it was them on this level, could he?

Todoroki glared at the ice as if it had insulted him before he turned and walked towards the other flight of stairs. “We’ll try and find another means down.”

Shinso looked at him like he was insane. "You can't be serious. Just melt through the bloody thing, and we can get the drop on them."

“No, we look for another one.” Todoroki didn't bother to turn as he walked off, leaving Shinso fuming while the rest sighed.

"Oh, for the love of-" Shinso was about to try and goad Todoroki into speaking just so he could brainwash him to stop acting like an idiot, only for the glass front of a flower shop to get smashed in as one of those androids jumped out.

“I see them, and they still have the Present Mic figurine! Oh my God, it’s super rare!”

Another came running, at their back, another dozen of them. “Claim it from their dead hands! They don’t deserve it!” The leader yelled.

"Persistent." Shiozaki’s vines lashed out, creating a barrier between them and their chasers.

“Run!” Yanagi focused less on that and more on their cargo, as they couldn't afford to let any of it get damaged.

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“Shoji?” Yaoyorozu asked, as they've been busy themselves. After handling the crowd of ferals, they had managed to find 4 more figurines, but for a while now, the place had been shaking as the others fought, though what they were fighting was unknown.

Hence, Shoji placed several of his ears on the wall and floor, as they were confident the rest were below them. "It's the others. It sounds like Midoriya's team is confronting Uraraka's and Todoroki's moving away from this area." Shoji reported.

“Why?” Kendo asked, as she doubted Todoroki's team knew they were up here. If he did, she would have suspected he would plan an ambush of some kind.

"Blocked route, we could break through, but," Shoji started, to which Kuroiro nodded.

“Right, time constraints.” He didn't have a watch on him, and there wasn't some screen they could look at to see how much time they had left, but he knew at least five minutes had gone by, maybe seven.

Yaoyorozu thought it over, as while they had managed to find some okay figurines, even locating a B-ranked Lumiose, whose to say that more like it weren't deeper into the mall and that the others hadn't found them. They had no means of knowing, and it wasn't like the teachers announced their board positions. There was also the fear that they'd run out of stuff here, as their last clue led them to the first.

"We can attack Todoroki's team as they try to ascend lower. Ideally, while capturing one or more of their figurines." She decided.

“And if we can’t?” Tetsutetsu asked.

“Then we seal them on their floor with these,” Yaoyorozu said, turning her way and pulling her shirt up, exposing her belly. They watched as she used her quirk to create something before she turned around and revealed what that was. “And make a break for it.”

“Do you even know how to use those?” Kendo felt like she had to ask, considering Yaoyorozu was casually holding plastic explosives and a detonator.

Yaoyorozu looked mildly offended by the question. "Of course, I have studied how to use most of what I make and tried to get practical experience. It's easy to accomplish with explosives as I could head out to demolition sites, one of our subsidy’s controls.”

Her response only confused the rest of her team all the more. 'A subsidy demolition service, and she says that without shame or pride, it's just a fact of life.' Shoji was starting to see that there were well-off, there were wealthy, and then there were rich.

And then there was Yaoyorozu rich.

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Well, after an annoying weekend filled with more delays and interruptions than fun, we're here with this week's chapter of this. It'll be the return of this story to Ao3 and fanfiction, which I can only assume a lot of people are excited about.

When it came to the chapter itself, well, I won't lie and say I wasn't inspired by R.E.P.O., but not because I play it. My brother does, and I've seen and heard him scream in frustration and joy enough times to know that it'll be a fun little event, particularly with what I have planned for the rest of the Sports Festival.

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Current Rankings:

1st Place: Swift Blacks

2nd Place: Mighty Golds

3rd Place: Burning Sunsets

4th Place: Stylish Sapphires