Katsuki's POV:
I hadn't wanted to be stuck with Icyhot in this pathetic attempt to cover up extra training, but once we'd run into razor teeth it wasn't terrible to have his aid. If only he would stop hounding me about staying out of range of the villain so I could get a hit in. That was starting to piss me off.
"This is enough, time to hit this guy with a huge explosion!" I snapped.
"You can't!" Icyhot argued. He was still worried about the forest.
"If the trees burn just put some ice over them, idiot!"
All he did was make another ice wall. I was about to turn to him to tell him to fuck off for the millionth time when we heard a huge crash, and the creak of several trees snapping. Then a couple of call-outs from that stupid deku. He was leading something straight to us.
"Bakugo, Todoroki! One of you, give us some light!" Some extra that was carrying Deku shouted out. I watched as whatever they were running from squashed the villain we had been fighting. Wait, that looked awfully familiar. That was bird brain from the Sports Festival.
"Hurry, some light!" The extra called again.
"That's Tokoyami." Icyhot said, setting down the unconscious guy we'd found. "He's attacking blindly, I'll use my fire."
"Wait." I said, getting an idea. I was almost surprised Icyhot hadn't seen it as well.
The villain lunged at the shadow in a weak ass effort to beat it. The shadow snapped the villain's blades in half and I grinned. "Now finish him." As if taking an order, the shadow slammed the villain into a tree, where they laid unconscious.
I dropped the arm and rushed in, both me and Icyhot subduing the bird's quirk in seconds. "Once again, I'm a terrible match for you bird boy." I let the explosion in my hand simmer to nothing before taking stock of the surroundings. Meanwhile, the others were discussing the battle like we were done fighting or something.
I turned to start into the forest to look for more villains, when that stupid nerd had to speak up. "Where are you going Kacchan? The villains are after you!"
"To find the villains and give them a piece of my mind. Besides, I've gotta go find my girlfriend. Damn, Deku, you really are slow." I replied, not bothering to even glance at him.
"Kacchan! You can't go, it's too dangerous." There was a hesitation at the mention of Anika, but that was all. "I'll find Anika after we get you to the Pros."
"Or I go find her now." I said. They weren't even listening, just rounding me into their stupid line. Fine, maybe Anika was back there already.
We started a trek through the forest, something that was seemed to be a reoccurring theme for this stupid camp. Right as we were coming up on some sort of fight beyond the bushes, I heard a faint footstep, felt a hand on my wrist, and that's all I remember.
Izuku's POV:
"But Deku, if you're protecting Bakugou, then where is he?" Asui asked.
What? "What do you mean? He's right-" Kacchan was missing. So was Tokoyami! Standing in a tree, a man in a performers mask leaned casually on his cane.
"Nice trick, aye?" He spoke, twirling a few marbles in his hand. "I took the lad you're talking about with my magic." He held a marble out as if on display. "A talent like his would be squandered were he cast as a hero. We'll give him a grander stage where he can shine."
We had been so careful, so well aware up until- That must be it! He must have grabbed Kacchan and Tokoyami while we were helping Uraraka and Asui! "Give him back!" I exclaimed.
"Give him back? What an odd thing to say. Bakugou doesn't belong to anyone. He's his own person, don't be so arrogant. Foolish and arrogant, just like that sister of yours I'd say." He felt around in his pockets and it hit me. He had Anika too. He fished another marble out of his pocket. "She seemed too avid to be the lead of a show not cast for her, though I think in our dance she serves as a nice set piece, no?"
"Let them go!" I cried out out, trying to urge myself to move from Shoji's grasp. "We'll get them back!"
"Right now!" Todoroki said, making a move with his ice.
The villain dodged, continuing his monologuing about how they were just giving those who have drive and talent a choice, and a glimpse at the good life.
"You bastard! You can't take them!" I had no energy left to give chase after fighting Muscular. Todoroki passed off a student rom 1-B to Uraraka and started to attack with ice again. Flip after slip he dodged Todoroki's ice, his gloating getting more and more grandiose. He'd taken our classmates, our friends. My sister.
"Sorry, but I'm not designed for combat, so I think I'll have to skip this fight choreography. Until we meet again." He tapped his mask, speaking into a radio. "Vanguard action squad, I have the target. Our show has officially come to a close. Meet me at the rendezvous point in the next five minutes for final bows." With that he bounded away.
"They're going to take them, our friends." Todoroki said, making for one last reach with his ice, to no avail. My mind was racing, trying to find some way to help. Some way to save them. My classmate. My oldest friend. The person who knew me best in this world. They were slipping from my grasp. "They can't! They can't take them!" I cried out.
"We'll stop them!" Todoroki agreed as we took off after the villain.
Surely there was something we could do. Anything. He was so fast, we couldn't catch him on foot. Maybe we could fly- "Uraraka!" I shouted. "You have to make us float! Then Asui, you need to use your tongue to throw us as far as possible!" This might not work, but it was the only plan I had. "Shoji, hold me and Todoroki and use your quirk to correct our trajectory as we fly. And then, Uraraka, when the timing is right, release us!"
"I see," Shoji said, starting to move one of his arms to grab Todoroki. "Human bullets."
"But Deku!" Uraraka argued. "You're still going to fight with those injuries?"
She was right to question me. If I lost consciousness during the throw or the fight then I'd be dead weight. "Midoriya, you stay here. With that much pain-" Todoroki started.
"Trust me Todoroki." I said through grit teeth. "I don't feel any pain right now. I can do this." I looked to Uraraka. "Hurry!"
Uraraka hesitated, then quickly took off her jacket, ripping it apart and bracing my arms with it. Shoji wrapped his left arms around Todoroki and Uraraka tapped us. Asui wrapped us in her tongue, and just like that we were hurling towards the villain. And right into the villain.
As we made contact with the villain I felt my stomach drop and knew that Uraraka must have released us. We came crashing down with a huge bang and a scream from the villain, right into the supposed rendezvous point where the other villains were.
There was no time to recover from the harsh landing. "Give them back now!" I demanded again. We had only seconds left for our surprise landing to be of use.
It was wasted trying to find the marbles. The villain disappeared from under us and a volley of fire was launched towards us. We were barely able to dodge it, and even then I felt like every atom of my body was singed.
I barely had any more time to react before the girl from before with Uraraka and Asui lunged at me, poised to stab me. Thankfully, Shoji pulled her off me and threw her aside. I was finally able to get to my feet.
I tensed to attack as I watched the marble villain reappear and go up to a charred villain with black hair. Shoji held me back though. "We're done. He gave away his best trick. I'm not sure what his quirk is, but I'm willing to bet the marbles you stashed in your pocket have something to do with it. So I'm guessing these are Bakugou, Midoriya, and Tokoyami." He held up 3 small blue marbles.
"Shoji! You got them!" A sense of relief washed over me momentarily. Now we just had to get out of here and to the camp.
"Well well, color me impressed. I would suspect someone like you would be good for sleight of hand." The marble villain replied.
We wasted no time talking, just ran to the forest, only to stop dead in our tracks. "A Nomu!" I shouted to the other 2, eyes on the green blob in front of us. We changed course, narly charging straight into the warp villain.
I anticipated an attack, but instead the villains all began to retreat. This didn't make sense, didn't they want Kacchan?
"We aren't leaving without the kids." The burnt villain said, securing my thought process.
"Oh Dabi, they were so proud of rooting through my pockets I thought I'd let them gloat." Marble Villain replied, turning to us. "You see kids, this is a basic rule of magic. If I'm flaunting something shiny, it's because there's something else I don't want you to see." He slid his mask off halfway and stuck out his tongue, revealing 3 shiny blue marbles. With a snap of his fingers the marbles in Shoji's hand evaporated, revealing slabs of Todoroki's ice.
They were duplicates, he must have made them when Todoroki made his ice wall. He'd bested us again. "Damn it!" I charged at the 2 villains. His wuirk must have let him compress and hold things!
"Just a little misdirection. Forgive me, I'm a sucker for a plot twist." He started to back away into the portal.
"You can't do this!"
"Just a final bow, and then the curtain-" A laser fired right at his face. What? That looked like Aoyama's naval laser!
The marbles fell from his mouth, and we all lunged for them. In the process, my already weak body fell over itself and I collapsed. I watched from the ground as Shoji grabbed one marble, and Todoroki... missed the grab for the other 2. The burnt villain had them now.
I forced myself up, ready to fight for the marbles back, when suddenly everyone was uncompressed.
Shoji had Tokoyami, and the burnt villain, Dabi, had Kacchan around the neck and Anika at his feet. She looked like she'd sustained serious burn damage. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and started to drag them both through the portal.
No. He couldn't! They couldn't take them both! Not either of them! I had to move, to go faster! To save them! "Kacchan no!" I cried out. I was almost there.
"Stay back... Deku..." Kacchan spoke through the hand tight on his throat. A moment of hesitation filled my body. That was all the villains needed. They were gone, like they had never been there.
My body crashed through the air where the portal had been, landing harshly to the ground. No, this couldn't be happening! "ANIKA! KACCHAN!" I screamed, anger and sorrow and pain and frustration lacing my voice. I couldn't form any more words, and a scream built in my throat. I don't know how long I sat there before I lost consciousness. But no amount of time could make up for the seconds I wasted when I could have saved them.
(HEYYYYY guys. Haha. We're gonna ignore how long I've been gone. I've been slammed recently with Christmas around the corner and finals soon and all that. Sheesh. New chapter on probably Wednesday evening or Thursday. Love you all. ~Sho)