Chapter 72: Even in Victory, We Lose.

With how dark it was, with the moon absent from the sky, it made it hard to see anything. Still, it was as much a curse as a blessing, as Shoji and Yanagi could keep hidden from Dark Shadow as it slowly tore apart its surroundings, trying to find them. The two silently watched as the red-eyed Dark Shadow seemed to push against trees, hardly using effort. Yet, those same thick and healthy trees were, if not torn out of the ground at their roots, instead ripped apart, leaving twisted and bent half-trunks sticking out of the earth.

Their situation, besides that, was far from ideal. With the threat of a raging forest fire at one side, villains who could pop up from anywhere at any time, a fellow student who had been grievously wounded, the fact she wasn't equipped, and what seemed like gunshots ringing out in the distance, things felt like they were ripped out of a horror movie, but if it was, it was truly a demented thriller, one where even their fellow victims could be threats.

Victim; that was what she believed best described Tokoyami. Hearing him begging his quirk to calm, his voice strained with effort and desperation for this madness to end, reminded her this wasn't some movie or internet creepypasta. This was it, this was reality, and right now, in front of her, was an innocent man being made to suffer as he was turned into a threat against his will.

She wanted to help, and she was sure Shoji wanted to as well; otherwise, he would have run when he had the chance.

But how?

“Dark Shadow…calm down…please!” Yanagi’s face twisted as she heard Tokoyami begging, sounding less like the sure and calm operator she had thought him to be, and more like a lost child crying for their mother in a busy mall.

“I had no idea he was holding back this much darkness…” Yanagi whispered, partly in awe, but also in sorrow.

“It’s probably fuelled by his righteous indignation and regret,” Shoji whispered, only to step on a twig, snapping it. Dark Shadow heard that and one of its massive arms came hurtling towards them, nearly crushing both of them if not for Shoji grabbing Yanagi and jumping into another part of the brush, their landing muffled by the sound of several trees being pulverised by the rampaging Dark Shadow.

Breathing heavily, they watched the shadowy arm retreat. Dark Shadow looked at it in palpable anger over not crushing them, but it knew they were still around, and so it didn't leave; it merely kept up the search.

“He’s been lashing out at any sound or movement, a beast lashing out discriminately without hesitation," Shoji concluded, though why Dark Shadow was so bent on violence he couldn't say, particularly as Tokoyami only lost control before he was angry for Shoji, not at him.

“Forget about me! Get…to our classmates-! Help them instead!” Tokoyami cried out, not knowing where his classmates were, but near crying for them to listen. Yanagi and Shoji could only imagine the terror that came from not knowing when your next act could do something you couldn't take back, something you couldn't amend.

But for all her fear over this, Yanagi couldn’t just leave-no, she refused to leave someone in need. “Does he truly believe you’re the type who would leave a suffering classmate in need?” She asked Shoji.

"He probably doesn't see himself as a priority right now," Shoji responded, as this was just how Tokoyami was. To be fair, Shoji was sure most of his classmates would make that same judgment, including himself.

‘I beg to differ,’ Yanagi thought something similar about people in her class, but there was something they could use in this. “His reacting to sound, right?” She asked.

“It seems even stepping on a twig could set him off.” Shoji nodded, Yanagi thinking about it momentarily, before something came to mind.

"Then we can use that to our advantage. My quirk might not be able to hurt or calm him, but we can distract and lead him. But before that, can you tell me just how far down the path Bakugo and Tokoyami are?" She demonstrated that by looking to the side, where a fallen branch lay.

Using her poltergeist on it, she slowly and quietly lifted it up before smacking it into a tree far from them. A moment later, Dark Shadow turned the tree into firewood and splinters.

“What are you planning?” Shoji whispered, to which Yanagi frowned.

She gave an honest response. “Something incredibly risky.”

Line Break

With Bakugo and Todoroki, they found themselves back in a corner, as the villain they had come across wasn't so easily bested. More than that, their quirks didn't make for ideal weapons in a flammable forest, where their opponent's quirk seemed to centre around his teeth.

“Flesh…pieces of meat…” The madman kept on loudly mumbling to himself as he sent out another wave of attacks, several of his teeth extending and shooting out towards the 3 students, Todoroki creating an ice wall to defend against it, while carrying one of class B's students on his back.

Bakugo cursed as he jumped out of the way right as one of these tooth-like tendrils pierced through Icy Hot's ice and nearly stabbed him. “Dammit, does this loser ever shut up?” Bakugo yelled, as he was getting sick and tired of not being able to fight back against this ass, who just could be a damn cannibal on top of everything else.

"Those aren't normal teeth, they're almost as sharp as Stain's sword was," Todoroki called out, reinforcing the barrier even as the villain continued to try and slaughter them, his blades piercing now and again, but all missing their marks.

“Then we should blast this freak back to whatever hole he crawled out of!” Bakugo yelled, but Todoroki cut him off.

“You can’t, you know that.” Todoroki snapped back, as they had already had this discussion, and a few minutes wouldn't make the cons vanish.

“If the trees burn, just cover them with ice, stupid!” Bakugo ducked under another lance of metallic teeth, his anger rising at humiliation.

"I could, but a big explosion would leave us both blinded. I may not be able to see the fire, and we still don't know if there are people in the woods right now who could be burned." Todoroki yelled, as they had stumbled upon Tsuburaba by chance, knocked out by the gas. Whose to say that the others weren't scattered around them right now?

Not Bakugo, as for all his fiery language and violent disposition, he wasn't an idiot and couldn't bring himself to lie and say the area was clear for them to just set fire to it. Todoroki wasn't sure a front assault was their best bet. "Besides, how are you supposed to get close to him? Even if you're fast, he can strike from multiple angles and is insane; you'll be skewered before you make it halfway."

Bakugo was about to snap back when they heard something in the distance, a rumbling, as they saw what looked to be grown trees being tossed into the air like sticks. It wasn't just the one-time thing either, as even with how poor visibility was, they could make out something happening, and that it was getting closer. “The hell?”

“I see ice! It has to be Todoroki!” They heard someone yell, but it didn't sound like someone in their class. Even Moonfish turned away from his current prey to this disturbance. All three of them spotted a giant monster ripping its way through the forest, lacking any distinguishable feathers other than being darker than the night around it and having large, malevolent, growing red eyes.

It was only after they saw the monster that they saw why it was approaching them and that it was chasing two people. One of them was Shoji, who ran like his life depended on it, his arms spread out far, knocking into anything in their way.

The second was someone from class B. Yanagi was her name, if Todoroki was recalling it right. She rode on a section of log like it was a hoverboard. Around her were pieces of debris, stones, and branches, which she would smack, hit, and send flying into her environment, which seemed to only maintain the beast's ire.

“Bakugo, Todoroki! One of you, give us some light!” Shoji yelled, his scared eyes spotting them in the distance. Ice was around them, which could mean they were fighting, but it was too late to turn back now.

“It’s Tokoyami! He’s lost control, hit him with something bright, fast!” Yanagi screamed, only for her heart to freeze as she heard another scream.

One that wasn't Shoji or Tokoyami.

‘What?’ Time seemed to slow for her as her eyes darted to and fro, looking for the source of that scream. If someone was close by, it meant they were in danger and would have no means to defend themselves or know what was happening.

She quickly found the source, Komori, who had an unconscious Tokage and Shishida at her feet. Yanagi had no clue why they were down; maybe it was the smoke, but it hadn't reached this far. No, she focused on the fact they weren't moving and how Komori's terrified scream had drawn Dark Shadow's attention. ‘Our classmate-‘

Komori was smart, but she wasn't the strongest. She could try to outsmart Dark Shadow with her mushrooms, but how fast would that be? No way would it be fast enough to protect herself and the two downed classmates. Seeing Dark Shadow's eyes shift off her and Shoji, she didn't think but acted.

A large branch smacked into Dark Shadow's eyes, drawing a roar of fury from the quirk, which turned its full attention onto her. “Right over here!” Yanagi yelled as she took off, putting as much distance as she could between them and Komori she could.

“Yanagi? What are you doing? That’s not part of the plan!” Shoji yelled at her, having probably missed Komori's scream and her presence, given how chaotic things were. Yanagi didn't have time to tell him, nor could she risk Dark Shadow deciding Komori was the better target.

Taking a breath, she turned once more and taunted the sentient quirk. “What’s the matter, shadow monster? Can’t kill a single apparition?” She yelled at it, but she had slowed down to speak, and even though it was just for a few moments, it was enough time, as she had only blinked and seen a giant claw coming towards her like a speeding car.

She didn't have time to dodge, speed up, or even scream as she was hit. Yanagi felt bones breaking on impact as she was lifted off her impromptu hoverboard. “Shut up!” Dark Shadow followed through with the hit, the force kicking up a gust of wind as she was sent flying, smacking into a tree. Yanagi blacked out before she even hit the second tree, sliding to the ground in a pile.

“N-no!” Shoji yelled, having seen the entire thing, but he couldn't stop. They were so close, so he kept up the act, kept on running away from someone indeed, all while wondering:

‘Dammit, Yanagi? Why?!’ Shoji bit his tongue, recalling how they had planned things moments prior.

"Here's the plan. Dark Shadow is reacting to sound, so we race towards where Todoroki and Bakugo are. We can cover each other by making noise and drawing Dark Shadow's attention. We can then use our quirks to make noises at our flanks, away from ourselves. That way, we face as little real danger." Yanagi had softly explained as they hid, keeping an eye on the prowling threat.

"The real issue would be speed. Dark Shadow seems incredibly fast, so even with us splitting its focus, it could easily keep up with us. We'll be covering each other as well as we can." Yanagi reminded them, as they had both seemed, that despite its size, Dark Shadow was incredibly fast.

Shoji was slow to respond, considering their options before he did. “You’re right, that’s incredibly risky.”

“It could be our best bet here. We aren’t geared towards a containment or open battle. Best we can do is bait him along like minions to the real spiritual presence.” Yanagi relied, before offering Shoji a rare smile, assuring him that she had faith that they would handle this, and he believed her.

In the present, Shoji could only hope he hadn't been wrong to believe as Dark Shadow. He finally made it to the others, Moonfish trying to attack these interlopers, but Dark Shadow easily shattered his teeth, toppling the villain before the quirk slammed into Todoroki's ice wall. Enraged at this, the quirk then proceeded to attack the ice, quickly making its way through it, ignoring the three boys.

Todoroki looked on in horror, just like Bakugo, as they saw the second person, someone who had to be from class B. They had seen her get hit and sent flying into the woods. And now, they could see how at the centre of the darkness that was Dark Shadow, Tokoyami was crying messy, hot tears.

Todoroki's gaze hardened as he put Tsuburaba down. He was about to get Dark Shadow under control with a burst of flames, only for Bakugo to stop him. “What are you doing?”

“Wait a sec.” Bakugo kept it short as Moonfish started to get up.

“Flesh…slabs of meat… It's mine, all mine." As more blades grew from his mouth, picking the restrained villain up, he grew more insane. “Don’t steal from me!”

That didn't matter to Dark Shadow as it slammed a fist into the villain, many of his teeth blades piercing through the quirk. With no blood or organs to speak of, all this did was sink them into darkness given form. "You don't matter; you're just a bug!"

“Sick one monster on the other monster.” Bakugo watched, his face lacking any amusement or relief, as Dark Shadow flexed, destroying all the blades as it grabbed the villain, slamming him into the ground a couple of times, before with a throw that demolished at least four trees in the swing and sent the villain flying. The cannibal was slammed into a fifth tree so hard that Bakugo was impressed it didn't bend on impact.

Dark Shadow glared at the defeated villain, who lacked teeth and, no doubt, suffered from several broken bones, with contempt before letting out a roar that seemed to shake the trees that still stood.

“Not enough, it’s not enough!” Bakugo and Todoroki both acted, jumping at Dark Shadow. They didn't attack it, but instead, they both used their quirks to create a bright flash with explosions and a large fire. Both had immediate effects, as Dark Shadow was weakened by the light, allowing Tokoyami to pull his quirk back in and slam the proverbial door.

"At least this one was easy to deal with," Bakugo remarked, his hand releasing weak but bright explosions just to be on the same level.

Tokoyami needed a moment to catch his breath, as he had been worried that it would be much longer before he could be released. “Thanks…you saved m-Yanagi!” He bolted to his feet and raced off the way he came, Bakugo and Todoroki hot on his heels. The former slowed as he picked up Tsuburaba again, Shoji having already left during the confusion.

Tokoyami clung to the hope he'd imagined—that Yanagi had landed rough but unharmed.

That hope died the moment they reached her.

Shoji knelt beside her, tending to her the best he could, while another girl wept openly as she tried to wake Yanagi. No one could blame her as Yanagi lay pale and trembling, her breath shallow. The shadows beneath her eyes, always present, seemed larger and heavier than normal. Angry bruises spread across her arms and chest, with more likely hidden along her back. Her right arm was twisted unnaturally, clearly broken in two places. Blood welled from a deep gash along it, another cut tearing across her cheek, and a head wound stained her white hair a vivid, terrible red.

“Reiko, this isn’t funny, wake up, you gotta wake up!” Komori cried as she rushed over as fast as she could, but her friend wasn't up, and there was blood, so much blood, and she didn't know what to do, and

“What happened?” Todoroki asked, spotting how Tokoyami had seemed to go into shock and wasn’t responding.

Komori turned to him, desperate, angry, and pleading as she cried. "It's…it's all my fault. I heard the fighting, and then I was scared. I couldn't move, and I screamed, and I but but." She wasn’t making sense, but Shoji could pick up enough to put it together.

"She saw you could get hurt, and drew attention to her," Shoji whispered, as he realised what had made Yanagi do something so reckless, and how he could see himself doing the same no matter how much he hated it.

Komori was tearing at her top, uncaring of how it exposed her red and white polka dot bra, Shoji was already shirtless from using his shirt to make bandages to try and stem the bleeding, and Komori wanted to help. “It’s because of me, I-I never wanted.”

Shoji accepted her shirt and tore it into strips he could use, silencing the girl before she could fall deeper into that hole. "We need to tend to her wounds and get back to camp." He advised

.

"That sounds good. Quick, find some branches we can use for splints and for a stretcher.” Todoroki agreed. Setting Tsuburaba down, he went about trying to find pieces of fallen trees they could fashion into a makeshift stretcher and something to keep Yanagi's neck and arm straight.

Bakugo turned to leave to help as well, but Tokoyami didn't make a single move; he just looked on at the wounded, unconscious Yanagi, his wrecked eyes tracing how her chest slowly rose and fell, each breath bringing the girl pain, because of-

“Tokoyami, this isn’t on you.” Shoji didn’t turn away from tending to Yanagi, but he could guess what was going through Tokoyami’s head.

He was right on that front, but he was wrong if he believed that Tokoyami could just believe that. He… couldn't unsee it; it seemed seared into his eyes. His hands might not have done it, but he swore he could feel in his palm her body as her bones broke, as she was sent like a ragdoll far away. “It is…if I just had greater control, if I wasn’t so powerless.”

“Worry about the pity party later,” Bakugo shoulder checked him, meeting Tokoyami’s glare with his own, red on red as he set down some wood he found and got to work burning and blasting it into something useful. “We need to get these 2 back to camp before something else happens, and fast.”

"We can use the route Yanagi used; she didn't mention any dangers outside of smoke," Shoji recommended this, particularly because Komori told them how she had left 2 of her classmates when she had rushed over to help, which would bring the number of people who needed to be carried to 4.

Todoroki, who had returned with some stuff he found, frowned at the confirmation that the smoke they had seen wasn’t some accident. “I was hoping that Midoriya just was battling someone up ahead.”

"No, Yanagi was with him. He picked up the smoke before Mandalay's announcement and went to handle it. She, Shoji, needed to pause, as his patient started coughing up blood, so he had to turn her on her side and let her spit it out, clearing her airways. "She was running down the route to warn everyone.

“Something doesn’t add up,” Bakugo stated, Todoroki and Komori looking at him, confused about what he was talking about. "How did Deku know about the smoke, and Mandalay didn't?"

He continued, recalling the message they got earlier. "She mentioned villains, but she sure as hell didn't say anything about any fire in the forest. Pretty sure mountain rescue pros like her would call that the bigger threat,"

“But she didn’t mention it…” Todoroki could see what Bakugo was talking about, which was highly unusual. It wasn't like she worried villains would hear the broadcast, so she could afford to add details, even just a simple warning about the fire. Still, now that he thought about it, she didn't mention the gas either.

“I…” Komori spoke, trying to keep her cool even as hot tears continued to pour down her cheeks. “I haven’t seen any fire or smoke since…you know.”

"So, it stands to reason that it hasn't reached Mandalay yet. That's good. It means there are probably villains there. We can handle that and then make our way to camp." Shoji guessed that they needed to take the fastest route they could and pray that they didn't run into other problems.

Line Break

Muscular laughed as he charged through Pony's horn barrage, the man hardly feeling the impacts even as they tore away at his muscle fibers. They only got a few dozen at most, and he had hundreds of them to spare.

With his attention again off her, at least for the moment, Pony used 2 of her horns to stash Kota away behind a tree he had just left in view, when she saw movement in the corner of her eye. Muscular had gotten through her delaying action, his arms and chest ripped up, but it was just more of those stupid muscle fibers, his real body no doubt safe from arm.

She tried to send one to his eye, but he easily dodged it, kicking her in the stomach. She nearly blacked out as she threw up her dinner, her body sent like a football into a rock with a crack as she felt something give, Pony biting her lip as she slumped to the ground.

"That was a good one. It's been a while since I've met someone who didn't die after a couple of hits, but come on, is that all you got?" "You said you'll protect him, didn't you? You can't do that, kissing dirt, so get up!"

‘His strength is unreal, it’s like he’s as strong as Shishida, no-even stronger.’ Pony struggled to get up, down a arm and a leg, and now she could feel something in her back shift in ways it shouldn't after that last hit.

But she couldn't stop, not when Kota was still in danger. Thus, she went on the attack, launching another barrage, cutting it short and firing two horns from either side of it, one aimed for Muscular's knee, the other his neck.

The man saw both coming and didn't move, letting the attacks land, only deflecting his neck with his beefy arm. Both strikes shredded through dozens of layers of muscle fibers but did nothing more. Closing the gap, he punched her square in the face, knocking a couple of teeth out as her head snapped to the side. “Again, with the tricks, not bad, but being smart ain't gonna cut it against me." He followed it up with a casual back-hand that sent her spinning on her bad ankle, twisting it more as she collapsed like a house of cards.

Muscular laughed as he loomed over her. Pony was slow to rise and slow to do anything as he called on more of his power, his arms growing larger as more muscle fibers came out of his body, reinforcing him. "My quirk increases my speed and strength so much that my body can't contain my muscle fibers, which double as armour against attacks and damage."

By the time he was done, only his upper half was covered in muscle fibers, leaving him looking like he could pick up a bus and toss it like a toy. All while his opponent could barely struggle to her knees. "I know I'm bragging, but come on, I would think a U.A. brat would be tougher than that, but all I see is some American show pony."

Pony growled at him, but Muscular placed his foot on her back, hitting the part which was already sore and felt like something was broken and pressed, Pony letting out a grunt and cry and pain as she was forced to lay on her stomach, Muscular pressing harder into her, as if trying to see if she could fuse with the dirt.

"You think you can be a hero with your puny strength? Well, come on, show me? You said you'll protect him, didn't you? Live up to your words or else they don't mean anything!" As he taunted her, he kept his full attention on the wounded and tired student, so it came as a surprise when he was hit from behind.

The attack, if he would call it that, was little more than a pebble against his head. He barely felt it, and when he turned, he saw that it was the little kid who had thrown it. Pony saw it as well and mouthed for him to run, to get away from here, but Kota didn't listen.

“Remember Water Hose?” His attention was on the villain, on the monster who seemed to enjoy hurting people. “My mom…and my dad…did you torment the two of them too, before you killed them?”

Pony's eyes widened at that. Was…was that why he was here and not with them? Muscular, for his part, ceased his beating on Pony and turned fully to Kota.

"Wait, you're their kid? Well, I'll be damned, seems like fate's a funny one, isn't she? You know, those 2 are the reason I got an artificial eye right now. I recall that fight pretty well, and man, was it fun." Muscular pointed to his empty eye socket as he spoke before he let out a contented sigh, smiling as he recalled the day like it was yesterday.

“Fun? That's all you got to say? Was it fun? Killing my momma and pappa was fun?! Nothing in the world is right anymore, and it's because of crazy people like you!" Kota started to cry, the sight of which pulled at Pony's heartstrings, but more than that, it made her angry-incredibly angry. She could feel it pool in her stomach, but then flow through her body towards her head, where her horns sat.

“Kids, always saying the dumbest stuff,” Muscular countered, Kota ceasing his tears as Muscular gave him an amused, but calm look. "Kota was your name, wasn't it? Don't get the wrong idea, I don't hate them for the eye thing, and I didn't kill them for it. It was just a simple clash of wants. I wanted to kill people; they wanted to stop me. The result was just what happened when we all did our best. My best just proved to be better.”

Approaching the boy, he continued. “Now, I bet I know what you're mad about. They promised something like ice cream or a new game, whatever it was, and then, when the time came, they couldn't deliver. If you ask me, that's the real tragedy, making promises you can't keep. If they weren't frauds like this little girl, they wouldn't have died!"

As he pulled back his fist to send the boy to see his dearly missed parents, he heard movement behind him. Turning his head, he saw Pony had forced herself back to her, and she looked pissed. Her horns seemed to just fall off her head, only to regrow nearly as fast.

“You rat-assed bastard! You killed his parents, and all you can say is ‘tough shit’?” She only had enough to swear in English so Kota wouldn't understand and repeat it.

She followed it up by launching another attack, this one fired off in bursts, and yet she could feel her head start to bleed. Horns which were faster, harder than before, and yet, it still seemed like there was something else, something deep in her skull which was fighting to get out.

Muscular could admit that these horns did more damage, but could still shrug them easily. And just to mess with her, when one bounced off him, his arm shot out, grabbing it, and he charged the girl, ramming it point-first into her side, drawing out a gasp from her as he twisted the makeshift shiv.

Laughing as he felt her blood flow down her horns and into his hand, he mocked her. “I already told you, your horns ain’t enough to fight me, but if you want to die so badly, I can help with that!” He was about to do just that, his other hand raised and ready to smash into her skull-

"I ain't dying here, not to a monster like you." With that one statement, even with her head bowed, Pony acted as her horn shot out, looking no different from the rest. Still, on impact with Muscular's shoulder, it exploded. The force of the hit didn't hurt, but it did knock him back for the first time in the fight. It was then followed by another.

Muscular and Kota were surprised by that, as it was new. However, it was only a prelude to what came next, as Pony grew new horns. These looked different. They were crackling, seemingly to crackle with purple and red energy, and seemed much larger than her typical ones.

Raising her head, they could both see that she was still as determined as ever to win despite her injuries, exhaustion, and pain.

With just the one good arm, she raised it to her head in the stance she loved to take when she fought, aiming her nearly-formed horns at Muscular as the energy seemed to build up. "I promised Kota-boy, and come hell or high water, I ain’t letting you make a liar out of me!” she declared, Muscular charging her again. He didn't know what she thought, but it would take more than bigger norns, which just went boom like fireworks, to stop him.

Pony wasn't in the right state of mind, but she knew whatever was happening was gonna be big, it had to be big, or she would be killed. "You said you want to see what an American can do? Then taste what one can do when they go Plus Ultra!" That building energy jumped between her two horns, creating a sphere of the stuff.

‘A beam?!’ Muscular thought, as now he had to pull back. Still, for once, he was the one caught unawares as Pony unleashed the attack, bathing the area in warm, heavy purple and red light as the ball of energy shot out, taking the shape of a giant version of her horns, pressed together into an arrow which hit its mark, that being Muscular's arms.

It didn’t burn, it didn’t melt, it didn’t freeze, it didn’t explode, but what it did was spread through Muscular’s body, electrocuting him as the man let out a scream, feeling pain like he had never felt it before as the horn blast, still keeping its shape, forced itself deeper into his flesh, sending out more power, power which seemed to start to effect his body, his muscle fibers started to fall weak, grow sick and die as if he had been hit with years of disease and rot all at once.

When it was all said and done, Muscular stood, but his eyes were vacant, and the muscle fibers that had been his sword either fell to the ground or hung to his body like the skin folds of a geriatric. A moment later, the man fell onto his back, alive but nowhere near fighting shape.

Pony, by contrast, remained on her feet, even if that meant leaning against a tree to support her weakening legs. “There…don’t you talk trash about us American horses…we….we’re a lot tougher than we look.”

“Lady!” Kota ran up to her, worried sick as he looked over Pony.

Tsunotori only let out an laugh, though it was cut short by a cough and wheeze. She felt drained, incredibly so. Maybe it was the horn still stuck in her side, but she had enough in the tank to check up on Kota. "I'm fine, Kota-boy. Are you okay? I tried my best, but I’m…not all that good at this hero stuff yet…”

Kota wondered if she was insane. How could she ask that when she had been through the ringer, she looked like she was about to drop dead! "But…you're hurt really bad?"

Pony hummed, but her exhausted, genuine smile never wavered as she shot off two of her horns. Looking at them weirdly, she wondered why they looked so…weird, was the word right? It was getting hard to think clearly.

Testing them, she found that just one could support her weight. Good…that was good. She could then use the second to help pick up Kota. Guiding the sweet, concerned little boy onto her back, she held onto him with her one good arm. The man from her wounds not feeling as bad enough; guess she was made from tough shit.

"Let's get you back to camp. Mandalay sure must be worried about you. You're such an adorable little kid. I bet you must make all the girls blush when you smile…” She didn't even notice how she switched to English as she moved. She was pretty sure this was camp. Wait... no, yeah, this was the route.

“Lady!” Kota's voice broke through her hazy thoughts. Blinking a couple of times, she found one eye swollen shut, but she still had the other, so she was good…totally good.

“I’m not lady, lady is old….call me Pony, cause…cause you’re friends, Kota. We’re friends, ain’t we?” She asked, Kota's concerns not breaching her head, leaving his worry to rise.

“Yes…yes, you’re my friend, Pony.” Kota started to sniffle, making her frown. She didn't like her friends crying; she'd need to do something about that. Oh, she knew, when they got back, he could join them on the test of courage. He was young, but she was sure they could make it work.

“Hehe, that's nice…because…I was really worried back there. I was scared I wouldn't be able to save you…But I did, and you're safe…safe to…" She paused her words, having lost her train of thought…oh well, probably wasn't important. Besides, she needed to get back to camp; that much she knew. She might have tripped several times, but her horns kept her from falling.

“Tsunotori!” At the second voice calling her, she needed to stop moving, the world had been shaking for a while…was it minutes or hours? But as it cleared, the black blob before her turned into a friendly blob.

“Eraser...wow, you...you look tall,” She giggled, missing how worried Eraser was to see the state of one of her students, her ankle broke, her arm limp, covered in bruises, one of her horns still stabbed into her side and continually leaking blood while her face looked like she had ran head first into Tetsutetsu once or several times.

Her smile only made her look worse, drawing attention to how her eye was swollen shut and revealing her bloody mouth and 3 missing teeth. "Are we close to camp? I promised...I promised Kota would get back safe, sorry he might be a little banged up, I tried my best, sir…”

"Tsunotori," Eraser repeated louder, but like Kota's pleas and words throughout their trek back to camp, she didn't hear a thing.

“Mandalay said villains...and they are, like this really big one, really strong, stabbed me with my horn, real ass-hole…oh!” One horn pointed in the way she came from, at least, she was pretty sure that was the way, she couldn’t….wait, what was she talking about, oh right! Fire. “Midoriya smelled smoke…and I saw a weird gas over the forest, don’t know what it does though…”

“Tsunotori.” Eraser tried again, as it was clear she wasn’t in good shape and was delirious from her blood loss and wounds, wounds which needed to be treated immediately before she died.

“I need to get back to camp thou….promised that Kota-boy will be safe there, because you and Vlad-sensei will protect him, and then…Then I can go back and help my friends, yeah-they need some help…Villain I fought said something about looking for Midoriya, need to make sure snakey fire boi is doing all right.” She kept on talking, swaying on her feet, her horns started to wobble as she lost concentration.

“Pony!” Eraser yelled, this time piercing through her haze. Blinking in confusion, she didn't fight him as he took Kota from her, and then immediately picked her up, doing so in a way that had her wound facing away from him so as not to jostle it. He liked to remove it, but he feared doing so would only make things worse with how her horn was shaped and how deeply it had grown.

“We need to get you back to camp. You can tell me all about things as we go," Eraser told her as he started running back to camp, Kota secured to his back with his capture scarf.

Pony let out another giggle, but it came out weak and laboured, her single eye growing faint as she felt the pull of sleep. Sleep…yeah, she could go for a nap right after she got Kota to camp…yeah, that seemed nice. "Wow…you look skinny, but you're really strong. You and Vlad-sensei should arm wrestle sometime. Vlad-sensei would totally win, though…"

Kota couldn't help but worry for her, as Pony had been talking on and off for a while. But she had gone silent since they ran into the homeless-looking pro and he started carrying both of them. “Is she going to be all right? She’s not making sense.”

Eraser could be honest with the boy, but it would do no one any good, so he just tried to keep his spirits up. "She will be, Kota. These trainee heroes are made from some tough stuff."

He hoped Vlad was as good at first aid as he remembered from the last teacher’s retreat.

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At long last, I have started it, I can wait no longer…I've started watching the second season of Dress-Up Darling! I have no idea why it took me so long to get back into it. I really enjoyed the first season and just how adorable those 2 are. Hell, at one point, I wanted to write a story where Izuku takes his hero analysis into costume design because of it. That first episode was such a nice pick-up for me as I wrote this, because oh boy, did I not hold back, and I can already tell some of you will hate me for it.

Line Break

Well…that happened. They've managed to handle 2 of the 6 threats, and at the low-low cost of 2 students in dire need of medical attention. Pony's part in particular was a challenge. I had planned for her to have a quirk awakening as far back as the…well, 2 months ago, but I couldn't find any myths or ideas on Unicorns which could fit. But then I hit up Bicorns, the opposite of Unicorns.

As opposites, it means that instead of healing and restoration, similar to Eri's rewind, Pony's horns generate an energy that can sicken, weaken, and cause decay if applied long enough. Because of that awakening, her horns are larger now, and like Eri, the energy doesn't come anywhere; she nearly exhausted herself there. Frankly, I'm working on the idea that she's one of class B's secret tough ones, else she would have passed out sooner, but she made a promise and kept it…kinda of.

And then there was Yanagi, who took a hit to keep her friends safe, and now she is out of the fight. At the same time, Komori and Tokoyami have 2 different yet similar flavours of trauma relating to it, with Shoji having to step up to keep things working as they near falling apart in the moment.

I haven't even gotten to Kendo, as she can't rely on Tetsutetsu. He's back at base camp, and even if he rushed out, there's no way he'll find her, so she might need to handle Mustard on her own unless she finds someone to help. Lastly, Midoriya hasn't even met his opponent yet. That fight hasn't started yet, but it will in the next chapter.