Chapter 49: The Beasts Come

“Text” – Normal speech

‘Text’ – Thought

“Text” – Quirk Spirit speaking in the human world

“Text” - Attack

“Text” – Radio/Communication lines

“Text” – None Japanese speech

(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word

Chapter 49: The Beasts Come

Kirishima's rear attack caught them off guard, if only for the moment, as Bakugo quickly launched himself towards him. "Die!" he yelled as he swung his hand towards Kirishima's chest, setting off an explosion that sent Kirishima skidding back, but he still stood.

"Haha! Is that all you got, Bakugo? Come on, I'm a brick wall with legs; you gotta hit me harder than that!" Kirishima laughed, as his top had already been burned away by Midoriya, leaving his chiseled, literal rock-hard chest out for all to see.

Bakugo just ticked his teeth, as he would love nothing more than to shut Shitty's hair down and turn to handle Deku. However, with how cold he was in the place, it was hard to sweat, slowing him down as he had to rely more on physical exertion to get a good sweat in.

"I'll back you up, Bakugo." Iida rushed past him, zooming past Kirishima before turning on his heel and using the engines in his calves to propel his kick even harder into Kirishima's back, knocking him forward but doing little damage. Kirishima swung his arm out, trying to catch him, but Iida proved too fast for him. Bakugo got in on the action as well, sending a blast right into Kirishima's face, surprising him as he was blinded by the attack, allowing Iida to come around and kick out his leg, knocking Kirishima onto his back.

In front, things weren't going too bad for them as well. Despite Midoriya dropping the temperature of the space below freezing, Aoyama acted as a human sun, offering much-needed sun to his team as he fended off the worst of Midoriya's attacks. That was till Midoriya abandoned the ranged battle and rushed in with a quick jab Aoyama barely avoided, only to get tagged. Still, the follow-up gut punch, Midoriya's fist coated in ice, only made the hit hurt more.

"You were always the better swordsman," Midoriya pulled back, leaning to the side as Aoyama's attack sailed past his face, the glowing blade melting some of the frost forming along Midoriya's pale cheek, cutting only for launch a counter, jabbing at Aoyama’s other side, robbing him of breath. “But I’m better at unarmed combat!”

“What about me?” Uraraka nearly managed to graze Midoriya’s arm, the boy pulling it back, leaving him open for Uraraka to kick him in the gut. "I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting." She smiled as Midoriya distanced them.

“Aoyama, you good?” Uraraka whispered to Aoyama, who rubbed at his side.

“Yeah, his ice knuckles are no joke. But if you can float him…” Aoyama suggested, which Uraraka was already thinking. Still, the issue was that everyone knew what she could do and wouldn't let her get close. She could force the situation, but they didn't have time for this. Tokage was already working her butt off to protect their cart from Tsunotori's attempts to rob them, but with how cold it was, it wouldn't be long till her many pieces just grew numb.

"It'll be best if we pull back," Uraraka suggested as Aoyama quickly created another light barrier to defend against a torrent of ice and frost from Midoriya.

"You can't hold on much longer, Aoyama! You'll run dry before I do down here with no light." Midoriya called out as he kept up the attack, limiting the appearance of solid ice and sticking to frost as he continued to lower the temperature. Bakugo was primarily his target for this, but if he could make it cold enough, Aoyama wouldn't be able to fend it off, and his team would be forced back.

“Smash!" What he hadn't seen was Uraraka flicking a finger, not at the crumbling light barrier or even towards Kirishima was struggling against his opponents, but towards the ground, smashing through it to the lower floor, shaking the entire wall as Midoriya ceased his attack, spotting how cracks were spreading across the already damaged structure.

Their cart, still weightless, safely floated instead of crashing through the newly made exit. Uraraka grabbed it and, along with Tokage, pulled it through the hole.  “Get moving, people, we’re going lower!” Uraraka yelled as Iida turned, saw the situation, and followed, rushing through the hole.

“I need to crush these losers!” Bakugo flexed his hands, feeling, at last, an increase in sweat as he stared down the downed Kirishima, who, despite the beating he went through, was still as hard as a rock.

“We can do that by getting more points than them, so come on!” Aoyama reminded them, as this wasn't a battle-but a search and recovery mission. Bakugo hated that but ultimately followed as he jumped through the hole. Aoyama followed, but not before he sent a blast of light to the ceiling, causing it to cave in.

Midoriya and Tsunotori were outside the effect area, but Kirishima wasn't. “Kirishima!” They called out as they rushed to the debris to dig their teammate out.

“I’m good!” Kirishima smashed his way out, much to the relief of the two, as he seemed no worse for wear despite it. "Sorry about that, I guess it's not that easy taking on Bakugo and Iida like that." Kirishima apologized, as their plan hadn't quite gone according to plan, did it?

Tsunotori slapped his shoulder, only to wince when her cold palm hit his hardened body. "No sweat. It's not like I was able to steal anything from their cart. Tokage was too good at defense."

“Should we follow?” Kirishima asked.

Midoriya thought about it but ultimately shook his head. "…No, we should head back to Furasu and Awase. It was a risk leaving them with the cart as is." They would need to keep moving. Uraraka had the right idea: It was pointless to keep fighting when they were on a time limit.

Running off to regroup with the two they left, dropping his form to return to normal, he couldn't help but smile. This was turning out to be fun, and he wanted to keep going—to test himself against them.

Line Break

Like the rest of the audience, the teachers watched as events continued below. However, unlike the spectators, they had additional information relating to the stability of the underground, which the Power Loader kept an eye on. Should things get dicey, they'll cancel things as for all their talent, these were first years, would-be heroes with too little training or equipment to handle things if they went wrong.

"Not a bad idea, retreating, I mean." Snipe mused at Uraraka’s choice to cut the fight short, particularly as they only had around 11 minutes left.

“The point of the event is getting points. Sure, they can steal them from others, but that's a risk." Ectoplasm added.

"Still, I'm not all that comfortable with how blasé they seem about causing so much damage. The structure is designed in a similar way to the real deal, and it can't handle such extreme temperature fluctuations." Lumiose frowned, hoping that the students didn't go too far as they wanted to in training. Thirteen agreed with this sentiment.

"I'm more worried about Uraraka and Iida smashing up the place; it could spell trouble for them down the line." All Might frowned, though he was pleased with his chosen successor and her efforts thus far. She might not have been the one who crossed that finish line first in the last round, but it was through her efforts that they could claim first.

"Well, let's hope they're prepared for that," Vlad noted, though Eraser would have preferred if they could have put more faith in that, as first years were perhaps the most reckless students, and it wouldn't be good for U.A. or their students' careers.

His thoughts about possible ways to instill caution and better observational skills in his students were interrupted when his phone went off, a rare occurrence as the people who would call him, aside from his parents, were all present.

“Something wrong?” Saffron asked.

“Not sure…” Eraser reached for it, only for Saffron's phone to go off as well, followed by Vlad and Serenity. Soon, all their phones were ringing, including All Might's. One being called in for work was odd but expected. Two was rare and could imply something big. Three would be enough to warrant concern, considering anyone calling would know they were busy with the festival.

But for all of them to get calls, as Eraser saw from the hero commission's Musutafu's office, that couldn't be good.

Line Break

Within the mall, the students carried on without issue, ignorant of whatever possible incident was pulling their teacher's attention away. “What was that?” Kuroiro asked as they felt the entire place shifting, getting dust to fall on them.

Shoji, who had a couple of ears to the wall, answered, "Uraraka just launched an attack. I'm not sure why."

“Down here? I would have thought she would be more careful.” Kendo remarked as she would have expected something like that from Bakugo and his short, very explosive fuse.

"Well, it seems that the inter-team fighting has stopped. It sounds like Todoroki's team has moved and is fighting another horde," Shoji replied, helping to keep them up to date on the positions of the others they had been lucky to avoid, at least for now.

"What do we do then? We planned to try and get the jump on Midoriya and Uraraka's teams, but now.." Tetsutetsu held the charge, one of the explosives that Yaomomo had given him to set with Shoji’s help.

Yaoyorozu wasn’t happy with this, but she couldn’t let herself remain idle, not when it was a team effort. “We improvise. According to the map, a movie theatre should be below us by two floors." She recalled seeing a detailed floor plan layout and had taken the initiative to memorize it. “We’ll blast our way down and continue the search from there. We’ll also rig some traps to slow down the rest.”

"Is that wise? The structure isn't the most stable," Kendo asked. She was all for getting deeper and avoiding conflict, but it wouldn't do much if they caused a cave-in and trapped themselves.

Truth be told, Momo wasn’t happy about it either. It was a risky play, but one they would need to make. “We can’t afford to fall behind. We have no clue how many points the rest up, no doubt to keep us all fighting at our best till the end. But with the traps, I’ll refrain from anything that can damage the area, just hinder our opponents.”

Line Break

"Give it back; you don't deserve it-!" Shinso smashed the feral in the head with a bat he had picked up at a sports supply store. It had taken him several hits, which had him wondering if the bats were just well-made or if he was in really bad shape.

Knowing his luck, it was both.

“I’m getting real sick of these stupid things.” He huffed as he took out the least of them. At the same time, the rest of his team handled more than quadruple what he had, leaving them surrounded by metal corpses, some letting loose sparks occasionally.

“They’re persistent, and it seems the deeper we go, the more of them they are.” Yanagi mused though she wasn't happy about that either, as they could now need to fear a horde that was just too big. Maybe she was pessimistic about it, as drones must cost a lot. Still, considering U.A.'s entrance exam, she wouldn't be surprised if the school.

"Still, we've managed to gain another 80 points so far, which puts us well over the 400 mark." Shishida reminded them, as in their cart, they had managed to find figurines for Ectoplasm, Saffron, and Supercharge.

"We keep searching until we don't have any more time," Todoroki stated, or more accurately, ordered, as he gave his defeated group of ferals one last look.

“I wasn’t suggesting that we slack off, sir Todoroki. Merely making an observation.” Shishida corrected his statement.

“I know.” Todoroki's response didn't inspire much confidence in them. Still, at this point, it was just another sign to them of how poorly he seemed to function in a unit.

"Real charmer this one is," Shinso whispered to Yanagi, as the guy was getting sick of how uncompromising, stubborn, and downright rude Todoroki was with them. What? Did he think his quirk and being Endeavour's son put him above them?

“It could be worse; we could have been teamed up with Mineta or Bakugo.” Yanagi sighed, knowing that such were low bars. Even as a pervert, Mineta would have been a better team player—certainly not someone who treated them as lackeys.

“Do I want to know?” Shinso asked, but the hidden speakers came on once more with a quick ring before Yanagi could respond.

“Attention, students! This is your favorite hero and teacher, Present Mic!” Around the mall, the students paused what they were doing, or at least gave special focus as they fought their way through the groups of ferals they stumbled across.

“Has time run out already?” Aoyama asked, standing at the center of his group to act as a walking heater for them.

“It can’t be.” Tokage frowned. They might not be able to see the time down there, and the clocks she had seen had all been comically inaccurate, but she was sure the full twenty minutes hadn't gone by.

“I got some bad news; we're gonna have to postpone the events, so will all students return to the surface? Please and thank you!” Furasu looked towards the source of the announcement, a speaker hidden in some debris in disbelief, and she wasn't the only one. People wondered about this both within the mall and in the viewing audience. U.A. postponing an event mid-way through was unheard of; what could possibly be the reason? What was there? Was something faulty they just discovered? Was the mall's structure more dangerous than they had thought?

“What?” Bakugo yelled.

“Postpone?! Why?” Tsunotori stomped her foot.

“Was the place taken that much damage or something?” Midoriya asked, as they had been closely listening for anything concerning but hadn’t picked up any signs. Was it in another part of the mall?

In the commentator's booth, the trio of teachers kept up appearances, both in posture and tone of voice. Still, they were all on edge after receiving an urgent call from the Hero Commission and confirming with the dean that it wasn't just them. In fact, the dean already suspected that many of the heroes in the stands had also received the call. No, not a call, but an emergency call to arms, which needed as much help as they could muster.

Present Mic knew all that but kept up his jovial persona so as not to risk panicking the spectators, as there was no way they'd be able to manage the tens of thousands if that were to happen. “There seem to be some issues that we heroes need to take care of, so for your safety and the safety of the people here, we'll shift around a bit, but please, stay in your seats, keep calm, and everything will be A-okay! We got All Might on the scene, and I know I spotted Endeavour not too long ago!”

"Has there been another break-in?" Shouda asked, the boy seated with the rest of the hero course, who had been escorted to their seats much like the rest. His question was fair, and for the rest of the hero course, they didn't like to think about it. The last thing anyone wanted was a repeat of the USJ.

Sato certainly hoped so, but he also couldn’t see the villains having that success again. “It couldn’t be, not with the extra measures. Besides, who would attack somewhere with this many heroes?”

"Oh, then we have nothing to worry about." Mineta sighed in relief, as unlike then, All Might wouldn't take a while to show up; he was already here.

"I don't know, man. I mean…if this was something minor, couldn't All Might handle it without anyone even noticing?" Kaibara thought that they were missing something. Yes…it wasn't here that was under threat; otherwise, wouldn't the teachers have tried to get the people out? But if not the stadium, then where?

"He's right. They wouldn't need to make that announcement unless this was more serious than it seems. They want people to remain calm; otherwise, we have another incident like the press breaking in." Ojiro guessed, but even if people got in without buying a ticket or going through the proper screenings, postponing the entire festival for it was a stretch.

“Holy crap, you guys!” They turned to Kaminari, who had been scrolling through his phone when he found something, a live news feed. "Check the news; something is going down in town!" He showed the screen to those close while the others pulled out their own and went to the news sight. True to his words, an incident was happening right out in town, one which seemed like hell had broken loose with information scarce as the authorities tried to contain things but were struggling.

Line Break

“Great, now what’s happening?” Shinso rubbed at his head, as this was meant to be his chance to show he had what it took to transfer to the hero course. He couldn’t do that if the event was postponed.

"I haven't the foggiest idea on that, Sir Shinso. But following the instructions and getting out of here would be prudent." Shishida said it wasn't ideal, but they had little choice.

"It would be best as if the event had been postponed; it wouldn't serve us if we tried to keep going." Shiozaki agreed with him as they reluctantly turned to leave.

Line Break

Minutes prior, all had been well. People had been glued to the action with the festival in full swing. Traffic hummed through the streets leisurely; a single delivery van glided down through the town's center. Cyclists passed through, some ringing their bells or waving at people in the streets. In the stores, clerks and employees busied themselves with their tasks while serving customers.

 Older residents took the day one step at a time, and an old woman opened her apartment window to water the plants she had been hanging out of. On her TV, as was on every screen, was a live feed of the U.A. Sports Festival, the biggest media event of the year, and a pride for their once small town to host it. For bars, restaurants, and clubs, the massive uptick in foot traffic meant customers, and this year was no different.

Many of those establishments were packed, their staff working their tails off. However, with so much attention on the festival's proceedings, few customers cared enough to complain when orders or service came late. Not when they often stood or sat with the staff and watched as the students looked through the dark, damaged underground for figurines of heroes, all while battling against robotic crazy fans, which got more than a few laughs.

Some even hoped that U.A. would actually release such figurines, as many fans of the heroes in question couldn't recall if they had seen such models. For blatant reasons, it was the Midnight stans who wished for said figurines the most.

It was a peace that didn't last, as strange things started to happen without warning or reason. From alleyways and sidewalks to the middle of the roads, atop people's cars, and inside many of those packed buildings, people noticed things forming. For most, it started simple and subtle, even as it seemed like light and air were gathering around a central point. It raised some alarm bells, but many assumed it was just someone using their quirk in the excitement.

Then those orbs of energy took on shape, turning into grotesque abominations that seemed to be the living depictions of a child's drawings of all manner of animals, some chimera in appearance with limbs and protrusions added without care or thought to the anatomical structure of the final creation. The sight of such creatures caused an immediate stir as people backed off, whipped out their phones to record them, or called the police and heroes to what seemed to be a serious case of quirk misuse.

Then, without warning, all of these newly spawned creations exploded.

Detonations rang out across the city. Many didn't even have the chance to realize they were ever in danger, if any, could make sense of it, from the locations to even the size of the blasts; some seemed as small as firecrackers, only traumatizing people with how loud and bright the blasts were

Others blew apart walls and sent people rag-dolling through the air only to smash, crash, and impact others and objects around them. Vehicles were either reduced to scarp, their occupant's charred corpses or were sent crashing into others or the guard rails when drivers were caught by surprise and panicked or pieces of their vehicles were damaged.

For those who hadn’t been caught in the blasts, it took only seconds for panic to settle in as people ran, fear flowing like blood as the blasts continued and many of those same packed establishments.

The screaming came next, and people rushed away from the area, away from the unseen villains, as they yelled and called out for heroes; those who were in the area were just as dumbfounded as the civilians, as they couldn't see a villain or a suspected cause for the explosions that seemed to rock the area.

Reaching for their coms, they made the call. "This is District 4. We need a major situation here! An unknown villain or villain is causing explosions across the area! We already have injuries!" One of the local heroes requested, using his quirk to jump atop a truck to get a view of things.

“District 4, this is dispatch. Your request for an aide has been delayed. You are not the only one in trouble. We've already gotten reports of similar incidents in districts 3, 6, and 9. Can you contain it?” The man near ripped his earpiece out to look at it as he would his phone on Facetime. What did they mean this wasn't isolated?! How was this even possible? Who in their right mind would even try something like this, and why?

He wouldn't notice it; few would in the confusion and roar of explosions that seemed to continue onwards, but in other sports, black and yellow electrical current seemed to be gathering into single points, arcing of invisible bodies, lining out their similar misshapen, horrific forms.

"We don't even know what we're containing; we have no idea who is causing this or where. We need a hero who-!" Across the city, dozens of these near-invisible beasts shrieked as they let loose, blanketing the area with multiple overlapping zones of electrical blasts, which killed anything that ran on electricity, including coms, as the pro just got static. “Dispatch? Dispatch!”

Another yelled at him, "No good. Something just fried out communications and just about every electrical device in the area!" She pointed towards the street lights and storefronts, where lights, screens, and even people's phones had all been knocked out.

“Help me!” Someone screamed as the two raced toward the voice, seeing that its source was a woman whose quirk was going out of control. Landing in the clearing space, they found a middled aged woman on her knees in terror, her one arm growing out disgusting, cancerous-looking tentacles that lashed and lazed about. "It's not me, it's not me! Someone, please!"

“Mam, I need you to calm down, your quirk-”

She was hysterical as she shook her head, hitting at her limb to try and stop it, but nothing worked. "It's not mine; I can't do this; someone stops it!" That didn't make any sense! Not her quir? Of course, it was; who else could…wait, was this another villain? How many were they?!

“Stay back, he’s having a seizure!” Down the road, another hero was tending to someone who seemed to freeze up, only to nearly teleport out of his hands and into people and even the guard rail, tripping over it and getting up with what felt like a literal snap of his fingers.

Now, the man was on the ground, frothing at the mouth as he spasmed out.

“But why?! He’s always been healthy; my husband just had his physical last week!” His wife tearfully screamed, held back by her teenage son, both horrified at the same of the family man who, moments earlier, had been his regular self.

“What the hell is happening?!” A police officer asked, only for the man and the 3 others he was standing with to feel the earth shake, as if something landed between them, followed by an explosion that tore through them.

“Fires, we have fires!”

“What is that thing?!”

The heroes, the police…none could understand what was happening. Explosions just kept on coming, ripping through buildings, cars, and people without mercy or rationale, in many cases, sending debris of stone, steel, and wood from pulverized trees out in all directions as shrapnel. Cries of horror, confusion, and terror filled the once peaceful, joyful city center as whatever was happening spread.

A little girl, running away with her father, tightly held onto the family dog, which whimpered and tried to cuddle closer to her, only to let out a pained whine as it too started to convulse, its spine arching till it nearly broke before it sprouting jagged, stony like spikes along its back, many impaling into the poor child, her father's horrified screams lost in the sea of noise and booms.

Overhead, the birds who had been fleeing the madness were no safer from it. One bird's wing snapped in two, only for a new, larger, and uneven one to grow out its back. This was followed by a leg that sent it tumbling into the frenzy below. Others found their feathers suddenly hardening, drastically increasing their weight as they found themselves diving into the mass of people, turning into living bombs.

A rat running through an alley squealed as its body seemed to double, then double, and then double again in size as growth manifested across its body, breaking, twisting, and reshaping it into a beast closer to what would appear in nightmares. When it came running out of the alley, its mind was reduced to the most basic of instincts. It was the size of a small child. When it bumped into the first person, it didn't hesitate to fight through the obstacle and started to bite and tear at them; its now supersized teeth and jaws ripping through flesh and bone.

An old man who had been using a cane moments prior tore down the streets, crashing through people at impossible speeds, his nose bleeding as his eyes rolled back, joints cracking with each stride as his flesh was ripped to pieces before he slammed into the side of a car and fell over, contorting before falling still.

In the confusion, people saw that whatever was happening spread to inanimate objects. Metal trash cans warping into crystalline formations, floating up and flying around, bashing into any and everything they could. The guard rails grew bumpy and prickly before they two exploded, sending pieces of steel flying, striking dozens who could do nothing as it seemed like the entire city was trying to devour itself.

Line Break

“It’s such a pretty sight, ain’t it?” The same dark-haired man from the café mused, standing on the rooftop and gazing at the city as sirens rang through the air. “It took a lot of work and some convincing and threats, but it’s amazing what creatures can do when they work together.” He smiled as he watched his handwork.

"It was meant to go off later, but I guess some got restless. I can't say I blame them." He turned to the person he was speaking to, the man looking on, wide-eyed, his expression frozen in complete surprise. Still, I really wanted to see Shoto get his time in the sun." He sighed, fondles passing through his lips as he looked back out towards the city.

"You get it, don't you? You were watching the festival, the same as everyone else. Who were you rooting for? Let me guess: Was it the Uraraka girl, or was it Yaoyorozu? You look like the type that'll be into them." He chuckled but received no response. Why would he? He glanced back and spotted how his guest had a fist-sized hole in his chest, his heart having been charred to nothing but ash?

The man snapped his fingers. "Oh right, man. I really shouldn't make a habit of doing that. People might guess that I'm crazy." He joked as he looked out over the cities, blue flames slowly forming off his hands before both hands were bathed in bright blue.

‘Well, they’ve done such a fine job setting things up, I might as well put the match to the bonfire.’ With that, he aimed for a building and, with a gleeful smile, sent a torrent of flames into it.

Line Break

Okay, it's Sunday afternoon, and I'm fully rested! I've got most of the day to work on this, which is great for me as it means I can ideally get most of this done today so that come Monday, it's just finishing up and editing. I'll need all the time I can get if I'm going to upload something every day of the week.

Like I said in a previous chapter note, I managed to watch more MHA Vigilantes as I just got too busy to keep up. I've got from episode 7 to 13 over the weekend. It's been a fun watch, and it gave me some ideas. That is all I'll say for this chapter.

Line Break

Well, things have really hit the fan, haven't they? They couldn't even wait for the festival to conclude before they launched their latest attack, one that targeted not just U.A.'s security but also its reputation.