After the Dust Settles: Bakugo x Ochako

Chapter 38: Battle on Elytria

Ochako struggles to lift the crumbled palace. The pieces are much too large to move all at once. They need to be cut down to size. She concentrates more than ever, but too no avail. She's feels herself losing the battle to reach the cell as her body can't take much more of her Zero Gravity.

The storm clouds have been brewing above her and she sees out of the corner of her eye, figures reigning down from fissions in the malevolent sky while rain is falling and searing her skin on contact. She sees a peek of several pairs of gunmetal gray eyes boring into her as she tries to focus on her task.

They're here. The Veil of Shadow.

Mindcraft's villains are converging on them. There are so many, at least 20 give or take, as she turns to face them with spite burrowed behind their malicious eyes.

How can he have so many under his control?

Artemia steps in front to block their access to her, "Have faith Ochako, I will keep you safe."

Artemia crouches with her swords at the ready in her hands. She disappears in a cloud of shadowy smoke and reappears next to two villains and unleashing a powerful swing of her dual swords. The villains dodge, and she disappears quickly and reappears behind one slashing at their back making them crumple to the ground sheathing one of her two swords to her back. She jumps at the other head on, and they lift their hand to do what looks to send an attack her way until she shadow warps mid jump and reappears at their side. She grabs them by the arm driving her sword into their side before disappearing with them and reappearing over the edge of the cliff next to the Sakura tree. They slide off her sword with eyes bulging from the pain as they plummet into the depths of the unknown.

She reappears at Ochako's side moving her sword with a flourish to rid it of the villain's blood. Ochako is in awe of this woman. She is powerful and strong, yet strikes without hesitation. It's a quality that scares yet intrigues her.

"Don't worry, I didn't kill them. My swords are laced with a sleeping poison. It will keep them down for the remainder of our fight. Meridian should have collected the one I sent over the cliff," Artemia winks without a hint of fatigue in her voice.

Sure enough, Ochako sees Meridian placing the unconscious villains next to each other away from the fight to focus on the other villains closing in. Ochako nods and returns to her task of getting to the cell. The other villains converge on Artemia as she battles them all with little hesitation.

Ochako feels the static electricity build up in the atmosphere again and sees the clouds above churn in torment.

Something else is coming.

The sky splits in two and she sees Mindcraft in his robotic exoskeleton gear enter Elytria from above while a bolt of lightning crashes down on the lone Sakura tree splitting it down the middle in two only to reduce it to a fiery inferno. Her heart drops seeing the only source of life on this small planet burn in finality. The ground begins to shake, crack and destabilize beneath her sending a shiver down her spine.

Mindcraft stands there in his specialized gear staring her down. He lands close to Ochako springing himself into action and bringing a roundhouse kick to her stomach launching her backwards hard into a boulder. She activates her quirk on herself quickly to soften the blow, but the force still knocks the wind out of her. She faintly hears her name being yelled off in the distance as she tries to gather her senses.

"Ochako!" Artemia yells and during that fraction of a second of distraction, one of the villains lands a devastating blow to her side catapulting her into the sky. She shadow warps only to reappear a short distance away clutching her injury with blood coming from the corner of her mouth.