Forgotten World

Part I - The Lost City

Momo was perched on one of the smoother rocks, her hand over her chin as she contemplated, "I was so sure we were going the right way. And our pace was much quicker than the group's, so we should have caught up by now."

"It's easy to get turned around in a place like this. For all we know, we could be walking in circles," Midoriya acknowledged.

"Why are we trying to find our way back to them, anyway?" Kaminari inquired, leaning his back against a tree and folding his arms. "Shouldn't they be trying to find us?"

"Don't you ever listen?" Bakugou snapped. "Sensei explained before we left that if we get lost, it's our problem, not his. We have to find our way back ourselves."

"Well that's great. Just great," Mina whined.

Tokoyami stared down at the trickling stream, as if mesmerised, "We are doomed."

Midoriya chuckled nervously, "Let's not get our hopes down just yet. It's only been two hours and we still have a long time until nightfall; we can do this if we work together!"

"And we've been doing a great job of that so far," Shinsou deadpanned, wearing a jaded expression.

Bakugou's head snapped toward him, "WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?"

As the others were bickering in the background, Ashido abruptly scrambled to her feet and began walking away from the group. "Hey, where're you going?" Kaminari questioned.

Mina glanced over her shoulder and replied, "Girl's gotta pee." When she turned back to locate a bush to hide behind, her eyes locked onto something that froze her in her tracks. Ashido felt her stomach lurch; her skin prickled with fear and her primal instincts were bellowing at her to run. She began taking slow steps back towards the group. "G-guys..." she stuttered, her whole body trembling with fear.

"Hm?" Yaoyorozu replied, looking up at her. "Oh my gosh," she breathed, eyes widening as she saw it. The boys gave her a quizzical look before swivelling their heads to find out what the two girls were staring at.

A jaguar, it's glossy ochre yellow eyes fixated on the humans, was cautiously approaching them. Its underbody was touching the ground, shoulders hunched as it readied to pounce at any moment. Despite its dangerous temperament, it was a majestic creature; it's coat pattern had an intricate design, unlike anything else, and its long, curling tail gave it perfect balance. Its wide paws sunk into the earth and its fangs were bared in readiness.

"Don't make a sudden move," Yaoyorozu warned in a whisper. "Kaminari, I'm talking to you." Denki paused mid-step, body trembling. The jaguar observed each of the students carefully, as if selecting its victim. Its eyes stopped at the bird-like hero.

"You must be kidding me," Tokoyami muttered.

"What do we do?" Ashido hissed.

"Don't run or it'll give chase. And keep your eyes on it. We need to back away from it slowly," Midoriya appraised quietly.

Bakugou gritted his teeth into a ferocious snarl, jumping to his feet. Explosions erupted from the nitroglycerin in his skin as he taunted the creature. "I'M GONNA EXPLODE ITS FACE," he screamed. The jaguar flinched at the sudden yell and looked at Katsuki as if deciding on whether or not he was a threat.

"Wait, no! Don't kill it! Jaguars are on the boundary of becoming extinct," Hitoshi pleaded, surprising everyone. He just really likes cats.

"I wasn't going to kill it!," Bakugou retorted angrily.

"Then what should we do?!" Kaminari cried out as he saw the jaguar avert its focus back to Tokoyami.

Midoriya was hurriedly trying to come up with a plan. Surely one of their Quirks could help them, but nothing he could think of would work. One For All, Explosion, Electrification and Acid could all seriously harm the jaguar. Creation would take too long and Momo was already tired out from the humidity. Most of the light was blocked out by the leaves, so Dark Shadow would go berserk. And Brainwashing doesn't work on animals. He could see that backing away would do them no good now; the creature was seconds away from attacking. There was only one final option now, "RUN!" Midoriya activated full cowling and surged forwards, pulling Fumikage out of the jaguar's reach moments before it could sink its claws into him. Yaoyorozu, Ashido and Kaminari turned and bolted, leading the way through the jungle. Shinsou pushed Bakugou, urging him to run instead of fight, earning him a grunt, but they both began running, following after the others. Izuku and Tokoyami turned on their heels and fled. Midoriya glanced over his shoulder to see that the jaguar had given chase; It was quickly gaining on them. He focused his attention back on where he was going, trying to improvise a plan. At the front, Bakugou was now leading the miniature stampede. He spotted a thick wall of vines approaching them and swore when he realised he had left his machete back at the stream. He changed direction, turning right, only to be stopped by a rapidly moving river. Yaoyorozu, Ashido and Kaminari soon caught up to him and stopped.