I'm thankful Samae showed up back there to help out and take Hagakure. Now I'm darting through the seemingly endless woods to find anyone else. There are sounds everywhere, but not quite sure which ones to follow. I'm just running to whichever sounds closer.

The good news is that Samae said some of them didn't even enter the woods and have followed the teachers back to the building. If Samae was one of them though and he was in group six, then I can conclude that nine students are already safe, counting Hagakure. That means there are probably fourteen others still out here. Then again, there's 1-B as well, and if Kyor stayed behind then I can only guess that-.

I suddenly hear a loud roar echo somewhere out here. I stop abruptly and carefully glance around. I find myself on an actual path, but I can't tell where. I'm still concerned about the monstrous call though. A villain? Nah, I can't draw to that.

Soon there's another earsplitting sound. It sounds like trees crashing from something big. Among that though are a set of heavy footsteps and possibly voices. I bring out my flames to be safe and phase for whatever's coming.

"SESHIN!! LIGHT! PLEASE!!"

I turn my head to voice, and I spy Shoji running and carrying someone. There's something else behind him as well, and my eyes soon widen at the crashing trees being pushed aside by two massive claws behind him. Just when I thought I was done with terrifying beasts for the night, there just has to be another chasing my classmate!

As quick as I can, I turn on my toes and sprint off. I feel both Shoji's and the beast's presences behind me and only getting closer. My heart then jumps as I feel a hand grab me by my jacket and yank me upwards. I land in some sort of net and somewhat calm down as I realize it's Shoji carrying me to keep up. I decide not to question how he's running so fast while carrying someone and glance up to get a better look at the thing chasing us. Another claw suddenly reaches out to lash out, just barely grazing Shoji's boot! This is bad! I'm only slowing him down!

I quickly summon my flames and move them around me. I give the command and slightly levitate slightly off his back but still low enough to carry me with him. Hopefully this helps.

"What the heck is that?!" I scream over the calamitous noise and Shoji's heavy breathing. It looks almost familiar with it's fizzing shape and glowing demon eyes.

"It's Tokoyami!" another voice explains next to me. I look down at the figure next to me to find a badly beaten Midoriya. "He's lost control of Dark Shadow, who's raging out! We're out looking for a classmate who give us a light source to calm him!"

I get the idea and try my best to concentrate. I summon the rest of my flames and make them follow behind. I raise my hand to give the command to ward off the monster and swing my hands to give a path of evasion. Dark Shadow roars loudly and slashes at my spirits, making them flicker. All the while, he's still chasing us, but he starts to slow down. I try harder, guiding my fire to get closer to it to get a better effect. I've definitely ticked it off, but it's not letting up.

"It's not enough!" Midoriya warns, prompting me to glance down at him. "It's weakening him a little bit, but it'll take something brighter!"

"JUST LEAVE ME!!" I gaze back up at the beast still following us. Tokoyami is there but is trapped in what looks like Dark Shadow's veins near it's chest. "I CAN'T CONTROL IT!! LEAVE ME!!"

"No, Tokoyami!" Midoriya yells. "Don't fight against it! Give up control for now and just let it take over; trust me!"

"What now then?!" I ask Midoriya, hoping he and Shoji weren't specifically looking for me when I can't do much here.

"We keep going! If we're lucky, we'll run into Todoroki and Kachan!"

Who? Oh, that must be a nickname for Bakugo. "They were one of the first teams to go in, specifically the seconds group," I point out. "So they should be pretty far in."

"There!" Midoriya interrupts, pointing ahead of him. "I see ice! They're fighting!" I follow his indicated direction to confirm his sights. Right in the path is a barricade of ice, surely belonging to Todoroki. Right above it though, a wrapped figure dangles from some sort of supports jabbed into the ground, most likely who those two are fighting.

"BAKUGO!" Shoji screams, sprinting with all his might. "TODOROKI! ONE OF YOU, GIVE US SOME LIGHT!!"

The figure above screams something I can't make out and launches one of those appendages at us, however Shoji leaps past the attack from the villain, lands and keeps running. Meanwhile, still in a rampage, dark shadow smashes right into the figure, running him down with one of its claws. Despite the new catch, it still chases us with its other arm.

"Some time today, guys!" I urge, waiting for them to follow Shoji's plea.

"We need some light now!" Shoji yells again. "He's out of control!"

I can see Todoroki start to get up, but Bakugo holds him back, smiling something grim. What is he doing?!

As I panic, I start to hear the villain moan some more stuff. I look behind us to see it start to rise on those supports... coming from its mouth?? I can't understand a thing it's saying, but for whatever reason, it targets and attacks dark shadow!

To our fortune and somewhat relief, dark shadow stops pursuing us and turns to face its new prey. From what I can see, the beast snatches the supports, strains, then breaks them to bits with one twist!

Of course! Bakugo used dark shadow's rage to his advantage to take out their own problem! Could've spared us a warning, but it worked.

I watch behind us as Tokoyami's beast proceeds to swing an arm into the villain and send it spiraling into the trees. Finally, with one problem out of the way, Bakugo and Todoroki light up the area with their quirks, forcing dark shadow to retreat. It quickly grows smaller and cowers behind Tokoyami, who is now back on the ground, once again in control. He falls to his knees in exhaustion, trying to catch his breath.

"Once again, I'm a terrible matchup for you, bird boy," Bakugo grumbles, closing fist around the fire in his palm.

Tokoyami bows his head. "Thanks. You saved me."

Relieved, I hop down from Shoji's back and stare at the defeated villain, unconscious at the base of the tree it was thrown into. I cautiously walk to it, my flames ready for whatever. Once close enough, I examine what I can see of its face. Not dead, just unconscious. I guess we can just leave him here.

"We could barely defend against that guy, but you beat him instantly," Todoroki compliments.

"My friend," Shoji says to Tokoyami. "Are you okay? You did what we needed you to."

Our classmate hangs his head in shame. "Shoji, I apologize. You both, too, Midoriya and Seshin. I'm still far too immature." He stares at his trembling hands as he remembers to the events that transpired. "Anger consumed me, and I let my quirk take over. The influence of the darkness combined with my fury spurred dark shadow into a frenzy... until it got so strong I couldn't contain it, and I ended up hurting Shoji."

There's a few seconds of silence until Shoji slightly shrugs. "I'll deal with it later." Surprised, Tokoyami looks back up as Shoji continues. "That's what you'd say if our rolls were reversed."

"Yeah, get up, man," I add walking back over and offering a hand up. "We're all young and here to learn, whether it be from a textbook or from mistakes. No one blames ya."

Touched, Tokoyami only nods in agreement and takes my hand to get back up to his feet.

"Okay," Midoriya says, grabbing our attention again. "I don't know if any of you heard Mandalay, but I found out that villains are after Kachan."

Somewhat shocked, I look over at said boy, who looks equally as surprised. Well, that's news to me. I heard we were given permission, but I don't think I recall hearing about the villains' objective. I might've already been caught up in the fight between Samae and that monster.

"Bakugo?" Tokoyami asks. "Are they trying to kill him? Why?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we should get to camp; it's the safest place now, so long as Vlad King and Mr. Aizawa have regrouped there."

"I understand," Tokoyami nods. "So our mission is to get Bakugo back to safety by serving as his protectors."

"It's possible the Pussycats are still fighting in the clearing. Going that way would draw the attention of the villains, plus it's longer. We should cut straight across the forest."

"Though, we don't know how many there are," I correct. "We may accidentally run into some as we go."

"We can use Shoji's search ability. Then with Todoroki's freezing power, Seshin's spirits, and, if Tokoyami's okay with it, we can always use dark shadow now that we can control him. Honestly, with a group like this, we can probably go up against All Might."

Convinced, I look over our band of students. An escort mission with all of us sounds pretty easy.

"I'd be fine by myself," Bakugo barks, stubborn as ever.

"We'll surround you as we walk," Todoroki calls back to him, ignoring his preferences and picking up another kid who was unconscious at the side. I don't recognize, him, so he's probably from 1-B.

"I don't need any of your protection, dang it!!"

"Seshin, could you take the front?" Midoriya asks me. "We can use your flames to light the way."

"Sure." I summon a spirit and guide it in front of us. Now confident in our path, I begin our train back to the campsite followed by Shoji with Midoriya on his back and Todoroki then Bakugo and Tokoyami. "Let's go."

"Don't ignore me!" Bakugo yells, prompting a groan from Todoroki.

"Just make sure you keep up."

"Don't tell me what to do! Agh!"

As we go, I glance behind my shoulder at Shoji. "You got us if anything's out of the ordinary, right?"

"Yes. I have eyes behind and around us as well as ears for around."

"Good." I smirk at a thought. "Y'know, we could just all sing a little song just to track each other's presence."

"I don't think that would be very wise. Not only would we draw attention, I couldn't quite hear past everyone."

"Eh. Half-joking."

We tread on for a good five minutes, cautiously checking our pathing for anything suspicious. It's almost strange though. Considering how relatively short the trail around the forest is, I feel as though we should've happened upon any classmates by now.

I'm about to ask about our destination when Shoji stops short with a quiet, "Wait."

We freeze where we are, scanning the area around for any threats our classmate might've heard. I see some of his tentacles morph into ears to more easily pick up what is our midst. Curious, I listen closely as well, thinking about what we may be dealing with. I can't hear anything, but Shoji focuses his attention to our left.

"I hear some of our classmates. It sounds like they're struggling with something."

"Let's go!" Midoriya orders, urging us in direction of the sounds to investigate. As we get closer the sounds become clear to me. I bring my flames closer to me to be ready for a fight.

Finally, we find the other side of the trail where, indeed, our classmates are in trouble. Asui is a pinned up against a tree by her braided hair under a long tube or something, and just up the path, Uraraka is on top of someone, but that someone seems to be holding another strange tube against her thigh as she keeps her down.

"Uraraka!" Shoji yells, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Quickly, guys!" Asui calls from her tree. "Help her!"

Being the closest, I leap at Uraraka and the villain underneath her, my flames at the ready. Before I can close enough though, the stranger throws Ochaco off of her, and sprints off into the forest, those weird tubes retracting back to her from our friends. I stop at the side as I watch her leave. I can't follow her. Chances are she's meeting up with her little friends where I would have a clear disadvantage.

However, she does stop, and look back at all of us, so I get a good look at her face. She has a weird gadget around her neck, explaining all the tubes with her over a large coat and skirt. Finally, her blonde hair is pulled up in two wild buns, and her narrow eyes look almost crazed in a sense. For some reason, they twinkle as she scans us before she hurries off into the night. Whatever that was.

"Get her!" Uraraka calls to me, getting back to her feet and frustrated of losing her catch, but Asui holds her back.

"It's too dangerous! We have no idea what kind of quirk she has."

"Who was that girl just now?" Shoji asks, running up with the rest of our group.

"One of the villains. She was crazy!"

"Uraraka, you're hurt," Midoriya gasps, gazing at the cut on our friend's arm, for sure from that psycho just now.

She clutches her wound. "It's not bad; I can still walk okay." She looks back up at him on Shoji's back. "You're the one that looks terrible."

"We can't stand here and talk," Shoji reminds us all. "Let's move."

"I'm just glad you didn't get injured too bad," Midoriya says, relief in his voice. "Now, come on; join our group. We're protecting Kachan and making our way back to camp. We can use your help."

Slightly confused, Tsu cocks her head and puts a finger to her chin. "If you're protecting Bakugo, then... shouldn't he be standing here with you guys?"

Shocked, I blink and do a once over of our band.

"Huh?" Midoriya asks. "What are you talking about? He's right over here behind u-..."

We all freeze in horror as we carefully scan all around us. She's right. We literally had one job, and the person who we were supposed to be guarding has just disappeared into thin air! I throw my eyes around each of us, praying that it's just a sick joke, but it's true: Bakugo is gone! I must've been too distracted with that girl just earlier.

Frustrating, I growl and glare daggers at our classmate. "Shoji! You said you had us!"

"I'm sorry! My attention was on the emergency with the girls!"

"Nice trick, ay?"

I look up from my argument toward a new voice in the trees.

"I took the lad you're talking about with my magic."

To all of our great surprise, resting up in the trees is a man in a trench coat, a tall top hat, and a fancy black and white mask. He leans on a cane from one hand and fiddles with a small glass marble in his other. He speaks very formally as if he were in front of an audience. He continues on as he shows off his ball.

"A talent like his would be squandered where he cast as a hero. We'll provide him with a grander stage where he can truly shine."

I may be confused as to what he's talking about, but Midoriya grits his teeth. "Give him back!"

"'Give him back?' What an odd thing to say," the stranger mocks, still resting on his tree. "Bakugo doesn't belong to anyone. He's his own person. Don't be so arrogant."

"We'll stop you!"

"Right now!" Todoroki quickly adds as runs a few steps and stomps his right foot on the ground, creating an onslaught of icebergs protruding up from the ground to the villain's hiding place.

Seeing this coming, the hatter leaps from his branch to perfectly dodge the icy attack. "Why the aggression?" he asks, soaring flawlessly over our path to the opposite trees. "We merely wish to show him that there are options besides the fanatical world of heroism he's drowning in. It's important to choose a path that aligns with your core values after all."

Geez, he doesn't shut up!

"It's not just Bakugo!" Shoji calls, scanning our clearing once more. "Tokoyami's gone!"

"What?!" That explains it. Tokoyami was behind Bakugo, making him the rear of our line. He wouldn't have been able to guard him he wasn't in danger himself!

"If you're monologuing because you think you've won, you're mistaken!" Todoroki calls, also sick of this guy's voice.

"A bad habit of mine," the villain apologizes, still fiddling with the marble between his fingers. "I was once an entertainer, you know. Taking Tokoyami was a bit of improve on my part." As he explains this, he clutches his hand into a fist then opens it to reveal two marbles in his possession. I get it now: those marbles are our friends! This guy's quirk must allow him to turn anyone or possibly even anything into one of those glass orbs!

"Moonfish, our dear blade tooth," he sighs. "He may not look it, but he's a dastardly death row devil who's last appeal was denied. When I saw the avian take him out so easily and violently, I decided he should join our troop."

"You can't take them!" Midoriya screams again, as Todoroki quickly passes his unconscious student to Uraraka "Here, take this guy for me!"

She relieves him as our cold classmate runs and stomps down, sending another barrage of ice pillars into the perpetrator's "stage." This one is so huge, I swear he just about froze the entire camp with that attack to the point where we lose the enemy behind the enormous iceberg. I shiver at the sudden cold as Todoroki lets out a breath and glares down the ice. Surely, that did it.

"Apologies!" the annoying voice calls. Dang it!! We spy him once again soaring over the attack, disappearing for a second behind the previous wave of frozen water then back out again. "But slide of hand and escapology are my specialties, not combat! I'm not foolish enough to fight hero candidates from UA."

He calls for his friends over what we can only assume is an ear piece as we look on in disbelief. I break our terrified silence with a scream and stomp the ground in frustration.

"They're going to take them. Our friends!" Todoroki calls.

"They can't!" Deku sobs.

"You're right! We'll stop them!"

With the implied orders given, we give chase to the villain in the trees. Shoji still carries Midoriya on his back while Uraraka uses her quirk to pull the other student along with us.

We keep running, all while keeping an eye on the captor above us. To our luck though, he's leaping from tree to tree directly above the path carved in the forest, so this most likely means he's breaking for the clearing where we started. We don't run into any of our classmates who supposedly came in after the girls we just saved, but that's not a priority right now.

The guy is tricky though! Whether it be from his "magic" or just the thick trees, we momentarily lose him before one of us finds him again, still soaring out of our reach.

Todoroki exhales a swear. "This guy's quick!"

"If only Iida were here!" Uraraka sighs.

"We can't give up! Not now!" Midoriya sobs from Shoji's back. "We have to catch him, and get our friends back!"

"But he's farther ahead with every second," Shoji argues. "What are we gonna do?"

He pauses for a second to think before looking up. "Uraraka, you have make us float."

"Huh?"

"And then Asui, you launch us as far as you can with your tongue. Shoji, you hold me, Todoroki, and Seshin close together, then you and Seshin use your quirks to correct our trajectory through the air. Measure the distance with your eyes, Uraraka. Then, when the timing looks right, release us."

"Wait," I argue. "You're suggesting we be literally thrown at this guy?"

"I see," Shoji nods. "Human bullets."

"Wait, Deku! You're still going to fight with those injuries?!" Uraraka calls in concern. She's got a point. Since I ran into him and Shoji, he's been piggybacking off of him. He can barely walk let alone fight!

"Midoriya," Todoroki calls. "You stay here. With that much pain, you'll-."

"Trust me," he interrupts. "I don't feel any pain right now. I can do this! Now hurry!"

Dang. The kid's either delirious or has a death wish. Or it could be something else altogether. Despite being covered in bruises and scratches as well as his arms being straight up broken, he's just not giving up.

We stop short, and the four of us "bullets" huddle up. Asui positions us just so in a spot where she can make an easy spin for her while Uraraka tears her jacket to speed-craft two splints around the battered boy's busted arms. I take a breath to prepare myself and summon my flames around us to be ready.

Finally, I shudder as Asui wraps her tongue around us and Uraraka uses her quirk on Shoji. With everything in place, the four of us tethered up begin to rise, our feet leaving the ground. One of Shoji's arm thing reach down and grabs me by the wrist for when we take off. We're ready.

"Make sure you got a good grip on them," Asui warns Shoji before taking a step and spinning on her toes to heave us over the trees and into the sky.

We scream as come closer to our target, and it takes me a second to recuperate and guide us with my flames to get closer. We fly so fast that wind throws my hood off, and from here I'm able to see him just looking back at us.

"Shoji, Todoroki! His arms!" Midoriya orders. "Seshin, you and me on his back!"

Acknowledging his commands, I reach out as we soar into the villain in midair. Now! I use my flames to quickly pick up and guide me and Midoriya into position around him and hold on tight. I duck past Shoji to take the guy's backside with Midoriya. As soon as I'm there, I put all of my weight into him! The final piece: I use flames holding Midoriya to slam him into the magician, created a downforce to shove us straight down to the ground! The villain screams as we plummet until he hits the ground. Very satisfyingly I might add. We have him! Now to grab our friends from him!

"Woah, woah! What's this?!"

I just about lose it when I hear a whole new voice a ways from us and look up at our surroundings. We're back in the clearing, and the very first thing to greet us are another group of people. They aren't anyone I recognize, but considering how they're dressed and how they showed up out of nowhere, I can assume they're more villains. Great.

My eyes widen in fear at the situation we've just fallen into, but they quickly glare at our new opposers. Around us, it looks like we have a colorless Deadpool, a patchwork version of Bakugo, and the psychopath chick that attacked the girls just a while ago.

"Oh, hey, wait, I know these kids!" the villain I identified as colorless Deadpool calls and supposedly smiles under his mask. His expression then frowns, and he points an accusing finger at us. His voice seems to deepen as he asks, "Who are they??"

Aw, snapples.