19

Shouta was not a young man. He wasn't as old as many of the teachers at UA, but he was no spring chicken. Over his long and eventful career as a pro hero, he learned many things, such as the how insufferable the media is, how to deal with a thug tweaking out on Trigger, or the best way to get blood out of his capture weapon.

But above all else, Shouta Aizawa had learned that he hated surprises.

Today wasn't a day he was expecting to be surprised, either. He was normally a fairly wary man, even occasionally bordering on paranoid. He knew that, and he was okay with it; paranoia kept you alive. Over the years, he had seen a lot of surprising things, but a platoon of criminals breaking into UA's campus with the most dangerous and potent warp quirk he had ever seen was certainly a new one. So was what happened to Midoriya.

Midoriya had a transformation type quirk, that much was abundantly clear to anyone who saw him in action. Aizawa had been briefed that his quirk affected his mental state sometimes, which wasn't that rare, all things considered. He was trained and able to deal with that. Or so he thought.

His student's reaction to his quirk had him seriously worried. The boy had reacted extremely poorly to his Erasure; one of the worst he had ever seen. Those sorts of reactions were normally reserved for people with major mental quirks, but that wasn't what Midoriya had, at least as far as he was aware. The fact that he had collapsed and experienced acute amnesia implied that the mental effects of his quirk were much deeper than he knew.

But now wasn't the time to think about those implications. Now was the time to focus on the immediate threat in front of him, and none were more immediate than the villain made of purple mist.

Warp quirks were rare, and he thanked the powers that be for that, as even the most limited of them could completely alter a fight in unforeseeable ways. As he flew down the stairs of the USJ, capture weapon unfurling behind him, he took in all the information he could about his situation. The warp quirk user was standing in the back of the group, next to the younger man covered in hands, both watching calmly as the horde of thugs walked closer. Those two were likely the leaders and the most dangerous. It was imperative that he keep them locked down if he was to give his students the best chance for them to get out alive.

Shouta didn't like to act rashly, but since his communicator was being jammed, he knew he didn't have much of a choice. He had to hold them off so his students could escape, and if he died while doing it, then so be it. It was a hero's duty to give of themselves what was needed to keep innocents safe.

He put those thoughts out of his mind for now; it was time to get to work.

His best friend in a fight was the element of surprise, especially against a group this large. That was part of the reason that he was an underground hero, besides just his hatred of the media: if villains knew what he could do, they could strategize around it. In a fight, he was essentially quirkless; his best and only tools were whatever advantages he could scrounge up. All his quirk could do was level the playing field; it was up to him to tip it the other way.

A couple of idiots stepped forward from the rest of the group, preparing to use what he assumed to be ranged quirks to attack him. He waited until the second before they acted to erase their quirks and quickly wrap them in his capture weapon, knocking them out as he used their weights to break his fall from the top of the stairs.

"Idiots!" one of the thugs yelled. "That's Eraserhead, he can erase your quirks just by looking at you!"

Shouta twitched. He hadn't expected to be outed nearly this quickly. This was going to complicate things. 'Damned media…'

"Erase? Ha, bet that doesn't work on mutation types like me!" A six-armed man came running at Shouta, ready to attack.

"You're right," Shouta said calmly, "it doesn't." He ducked under the telegraphed attack and smashed the villain in the face with a full-bodied right hook, feeling his facial bones crack and crunch under his fist. "I can't believe I've never encountered a mutation type before." The man flew back from him but Shouta wrapped his leg up as he ducked under the punch of another assailant.

He twisted as he ducked, kicking the new villain backward into a group of thugs as he swung the first criminal over his head and down into the pile, putting all of them out of commission. "If only I could have planned for this." He pulled his weapon back around his neck as he slowly looked around at the hesitating crowd. "Now, which one of you punks is next?"

It was painfully obvious that these villains were low-level street criminals with no real experience dealing with a pro hero. The fact that they were all here under a seemingly-united cause had some incredibly dangerous implications that he didn't have the time to think of at the time. What was important was that his attempts at intimidation were much more likely to be successful if these thugs were all small-time.

He let his eyes rest for a moment as the criminals hesitated. If they weren't going to come to him, then he had to make a move, which was fine by him. He quickly threw out his weapon again, wrapping two flat-footed thugs up while he swung his heel into the jaw of a criminal whose quirk he shut off. He hurled the two trapped criminals at their compatriots, clearing more space for him to move around in.

Sweat began to slowly drip down his forehead as he kicked the feet out of another thug taking a wide swing at him. The villain hit the ground hard and Shouta drove his heel into his sternum, cracking it before he could react and putting him out of commission. Against these odds, Shouta had no room for mercy and restraint; every motion he made had to be made with perilous intent.

Three more villains fell in quick succession, causing those still standing to hesitate again. Shouta took the brief moment to look at the man covered in hands. His manic, red eyes were staring back at him, clearly analyzing and observing. This settled it for Shouta: that man was the leader, which meant that-

'Crap.' He couldn't hold his eyes open any longer and was forced to blink. When he reopened his eyes, the warp villain had vanished. He cursed under his breath and returned his focus to the nigh-insurmountable task at hand. There was nothing he could do about it now.

'Thirteen, I'm counting on you.'

This certainly wasn't how Momo saw her day going. Rescue training should have been the perfect opportunity to prove what she could do, especially to herself, but in an instant, everything changed. She had been prepared to put all of her rescue practice and intense studying into action, but she didn't foresee that the ones needing rescuing would be her and her classmates.

"Come on!" Thirteen yelled. "Stick together and follow behind me; we're getting out of here!" The hero started to jog towards the entrance, leaving the villains and their teacher behind. Momo looked back over her shoulder as she followed, listening to the sound of Aizawa fighting for all of their lives.

'Even if he is a pro, the chances of him surviving all of those vill-' Momo shook her head. 'No, now isn't the time for pointless theorizing.' She turned back and fixed her gaze on the massive metal gate in front of her. They towered well over thirty feet tall, looming like the door on a bank vault. 'They're supposed to keep us safe, but instead it just feels like those doors are the gates of our tomb.' She shivered as she jogged. 'Don't think like that!.'

Momo would've sworn that the doors weren't getting any closer as they ran towards them, but she knew what fear and panic could do to the human mind. She might not be able to calm herself down, but she could rationali-

The group ground to a halt as a great purple vortex appeared on the ground in front of them, swirling black with sinister intent. A form rose from the vortex, towering high above them as two glowing yellow eyes appeared at the top of the mist. "There is no escape for you."

Momo felt her heart drop out of her chest and into the growing pit in her stomach. The villain spoke with a refined, but malicious tone. "It is a pleasure to meet you, students of UA University. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. "

The students trembled in fear as the purple mist monologued in front of them, the sadistic intent palpable in his voice. A commotion to her left caught her attention as she broke her terrified gaze from the villain and onto…

'Midoriya?'

The man was crouched slightly, legs wide as if he was bracing himself. He was holding his head with his left hand, allowing Momo to see his burning green eyes and lengthening horns. She could barely make out Ochako, who was bending down slightly and rubbing his back, whispering to him.

"Come on, Deku. Keep calm, now isn't the time. We gotta stay focused."

Momo felt sick. She shouldn't have eavesdropped the other night, but after Mina's outburst woke her up, her curiosity got the better of her. She couldn't make out everything they were saying, but she did hear quite a bit. 'Is this him fighting against those 'instincts' they mentioned? What are they? They seemed to be talking like Midoriya was supposed to be a villain or something. Is… he resisting that ? Is it his 'instinct' to be a villain?'

Momo's questions were firing like a machine gun in her head, giving her no time to think of answers before the next question burst into her mind. She barely even noticed as the villain continued his speech. "Wouldn't you say this is a fitting place for the Symbol of Peace to meet his demise? Truly Unforeseen…but I see no sign of him. He was supposed to be here today, but there must have been some change of plans…"

Midoriya's breathing sped up; the man seemed like he was on the verge of hyperventilating. Ochako had a worried look in her eyes as she grabbed one of his shoulders and shook him slightly, but he didn't seem to notice. The horns on his head grew longer still as he reached up with his right hand to clutch his head. Momo gasped as she saw the claws forming and fading along his fingers. 'Is... is his quirk trying to activate itself ?!'

"I suppose in the end, it doesn't matter." The villain almost sounded amused. "I still have a role to play. Prepare to meet your deaths."

Midoriya's rapid breathing stopped.

He stopped clutching his head.

His eyes burned with a light that Momo had never seen before; the green was so vibrant it was almost yellow, and it was so intense that it obscured the rest of his eye.

He slowly lowered his arms from his hair, scales swiftly and firmly appearing along their lengths. The claws formed again but did not fade as his arm bulged larger.

Midoriya's innocent face stretched out, scales rapidly appearing as his hair vanished and the ridge on the back of his neck grew up his head and down the length of his spine.

Scales formed across his bare back, while tan plates formed on his chest. His pants seemed to melt into his legs as they too grew longer and thicker. His bare feet grew black claws like his hands and dug into the concrete floor as he flexed his toes.

The man rose to his full height, but then kept going. Normally, Momo looked down on him ever so slightly, but as he straightened himself out, she had to turn her gaze up to follow his burning eyes. 'He… he must be over seven feet tall…' Momo took a hesitant step back from Midoriya, his predatory glare causing her to want nothing more than to turn and run, even though it wasn't directed at her.

'Is Midoriya… was Midoriya, who made me laugh when we were kids...'

It was all Momo could do to keep herself from falling down and screaming as the man took a towering step forward, shaking the ground and cracking the concrete as his claws dug in.

The rest of the class turned to Midoriya, his seismic stomp breaking their attention from the chilling gaze of the villain. A deep, threatening growl rose from his throat, causing all of them, even Thirteen, to instinctually recoil from him, clearing a path between him and the mist.

'...was Zu… my Zu…'

There was no hesitation in him. There was no struggle in his eyes. There was no resistance in his movements. His claws were bared, their razor-sharp black tips glinting in the light of the USJ. His mouth hung open slightly, showing the dozens of deadly fangs lining his jaw.

Momo's own instincts were yelling at her to shrink back away from him further, to make herself as small as possible to hopefully pass under the gaze of the apex predator in front of her. Nearly everyone else in the class was backing away slowly as well, eyes wide with fear.

'... a monster this whole time?'

" I won't let you touch them. " Midoriya's gaze was fixated on the villain, his eyes filled with undeniable death underneath his flared, ridged horns.

The villain's own glowing eyes raised in what amounted to an intrigued look for a moment. "You seem to be quite dangerous, but it matters not." Tendrils of black mist began to writhe in front of him ominously. "You cannot harm me."

Midoriya surged forward, leaving a crater behind him as he reared his arm back. The tendrils shot forward, forming a black and purple vortex inches in front of the leaping student. The pool seemed to swallow him whole as he vanished from view.

"Izuku!" Bakugou yelled, the only one with enough sense still in his head to form words. Explosions popped off from his fists as he began to run forward towards the villain, Eiko hot on his heels.

The villain's eyes narrowed. "Now then. Perish ." The tendrils swirled once more and rapidly extended towards the students, quickly enveloping them all in a black cloud. Momo heard movement and commotion around her, but she was still too petrified to move.

The swirling mist grew thicker and raged around them with more intensity until she felt the ground drop out from underneath her, a scream finally bursting from her lungs as she fell into the darkness.

As the mists faded, Tenya looked up, quickly checking on the two blondes he had tackled out of the way. "Are you two alright?"

"Oui." Aoyama nodded as he stood up and dusted himself off. The normally aloof boy had a focused look on his face as he pursed his lips slightly.

"Yes, thank you, Tenya." Tsunotori was too overwhelmed at the moment to realize her mistake, and Tenya had more important things on his mind. He looked around, hoping to find other students that had avoided whatever the villain had done. To his dismay, he only saw four others.

Satou was tearing Sero's tape off of himself while Shouji was helping Thirteen stand. The villain hovered ominously before them, glaring at the seven people standing before him. "Disappointing, but not unexpected. I will simply have to deal with you myself ."

Tenya quietly revved his engines, making sure everything was flowing for the inevitable fight. His fellow students brought themselves down into combat stances, while Thirteen stood in front of them.

"What happen to others?" Tsunotori asked Tenya as they glared at the villain.

"He likely warped them somewhere else," Tenya postulated.

"Momo… Izuku… the others…" Tsunotori whispered under her breath sadly, barely loud enough for Tenya to hear her. Her eyes narrowed with anger as a horn popped off of her head, another quickly taking its place as she called the villain something very rude in English.

"They're probably still within the facility," Thirteen suggested. "These villains are somehow jamming our communications, transporting them outside would give more opportunity for the alarm to be raised." Tenya's eyes went wide; he hadn't noticed the alarms hadn't gone off.

Nobody knew they were in danger.

There was no help coming.

"Iida, you have to get past this villain and outside to warn the school! It's our only hope!" Desperation was creeping into Thirteen's voice.

The blue-haired man's eyes went wide. "And abandon you all?"

"Come on, Iida!" Satou shouted back over his shoulder. "You're the only one who can!"

Tenya looked over his classmates and back to the rest of the massive facility. There were 21 other lives riding on him, not to mention his own. The man turned back to Thirteen and nodded as he revved his engines again and planted his feet, ready to kick off towards the door.

Fumikage was too distracted by trying to keep Dark Shadow under control in the black mist to remember when he started falling, but that's certainly what he was doing now. Water smacked his face as he tumbled towards the ground, nothing but concrete to break his fall.

He braced himself, hoping to escape with only a few broken bones when his descent was suddenly arrested by a pair of large arms. He blinked and looked up at Kouda, who had jumped up to catch him before he hit the ground.

"Thank you, my friend," Fumikage said as the other student let him down to stand on his feet. He took a moment to look around at the dismal downpour they found themselves in. He mused that he would be at a distinct advantage due to the dim conditions but his partner… "Will you be able to use your quirk to help us?"

Kouda shook his head.

Fumikage closed his eyes in thought as he formulated a plan. After a few moments, he looked back to the taller student with his beady red eyes.

"Could I ask you to place your trust in me?"

Kyouka clutched her ears and squeezed her eyes shut as she fell, two other screams piercing through the darkness and into her skull. She felt air rushing past her face and reopened her eyelids as she crashed down onto something surprisingly soft.

She looked down and saw herself sitting right on Momo, causing her to panic and quickly scrambled to her feet, before turning to help the taller woman up. "Sorry, Yaomomo, are you alright?"

Momo seemed shaken, more so than herself, and took a moment to respond. "Y-yes, I am, thank you Kyouka."

A grumbling noise startled the two women, who jumped back as Kaminari dug his face out of the ground, spitting dirt out of his mouth. "Happy to be your landing pad," he said sarcastically.

Kyouka rolled her eyes as she helped the man to his feet. He dusted himself off, still grumbling under his breath when Kyouka heard movement behind her. She whipped around and saw a group of menacing and sneering thugs moving towards them.

"Heads up, we got company!" She turned back to Momo, who was staring into space, out of the mountain zone and into the distance, seemingly distracted by something and deep in worry. "Yaomomo, you with us?"

The woman jumped slightly and hastily looked around. "O-oh! Yes, of course." She shook her head and adopted a determined look as she quickly produced a metal pole from her arm. "I'm with you."

Tooru's fall was abruptly slowed by a large ice slide, but even the smoothest of ice was incredibly uncomfortable on her naked body. She whined all the way down, but her whine quickly turned into a scream as she realized who she was about to crash into.

Todoroki turned around at her shout, one of his eyebrows raising slightly as he evidently saw nothing but a pair of shoes and gloves sliding towards him. His eyes went wide with realization just a moment before he was toppled over by Tooru slamming into his side.

Both of them laid there for a moment, completely silent and still. "H-hey, Todoroki, t-thanks for breaking my fall!" Tooru tried to break the ice, but the man was seemingly too cold to react. Speaking of cold, Tooru realized she was lying with her chest on his, and judging from how cold she was, he certainly had to be aware of that.

She quickly scrambled off of him and covered herself up, protecting her invisible modesty while she calmed herself down. The man picked himself up slowly and turned to walk away from her without a word, nor even a look back. Tooru huffed and ran after him, not eager to be left alone in who-knows-where.

They walked in silence through the rocks and rubble of the Landslide Zone for a minute or two before Tooru couldn't stand it any longer; the quiet only made her worry more. "No hard feelings about the battle trial, right?"

Todoroki didn't turn to acknowledge her and was silent for a few moments before uttering a simple "no".

Tooru took the hint and didn't try to strike up any more conversation. She resigned herself to walking quietly on his left, enjoying the warmth radiating from him when he suddenly spoke up. "Make sure you stay behind me, I don't want to freeze you if we encounter any villains."

"Oh!" Tooru said, smiling softly to herself. "Right, thanks."

Ochako was falling, just like most of her classmates, but unlike most of her classmates, she could do something about it. She quickly took in her surroundings as she tumbled from the misty portal, finding herself surrounded by burning buildings and smokey streets. She clasped her hands together, pushing her mass out of herself and letting the hot air begin to catch her fall.

She pushed more weight out until air pressure completely stopped her and then pressed her fingers together, letting her weight snap back to her as she fell the remaining five feet to the ground.

"Hey, Ochako!"

A voice she recognized called out to her, causing her to look up and whip around. She searched for the voice for a few seconds but found nothing. "Mina? Where are you?"

"Up here!" Mina called back. Ochako lifted her gaze and found her pink friend about three stories above her, dug into a wall with her hands and feet, acid dripping from the pockmarks. "I grabbed the wall when I fell out of that stupid portal, can you catch me when I jump?"

"Sure!" Ochako yelled up. "But wait, can't you just climb down you- oh you jumped!" Mina let herself fall, arms wide as she pitched herself backward. Ochako held her hands out, quickly pulling Mina's weight and momentum away as she caught the woman in a bridal carry.

Mina wrapped her arms around Ochako's neck and smiled widely. "Oh, my hero!" Ochako blushed slightly and hastily let her down, returning Mina's weight after a moment.

The brunette looked around, taking in her surroundings again. "I think this is the Conflagration Zone that Thirteen mentioned…"

Mina nodded as she stretched. "Looks like it. I guess that means everyone else got scattered around too… I hope."

Ochako checked the bracers on her costume and let out a slight sigh. "You're worried about Deku, aren't you?"

"Are you not?!" Mina said, raising an eyebrow. "You saw how he was there, I've never seen him that worked up. Was that how he was at the battle trial on Tuesday?"

"No…" she shook her head, "this was… much worse. I think when that villain threatened all of us, he sort of… lost control." Ochako clenched her fist and looked her friend in her golden eyes. "But there's nothing we can do about it now. We gotta focus on getting out of here and helping the others."

Mina let some acid drip from her hand as she smirked at the brunette.. "Just like heroes are supposed to. Let's do this."

Bakugou shouted with frustration as he blew another thug away. "Dammit!"

Eiko jabbed another villain in the gut, causing her to gasp in pain and exposing herself to a hardened chop from Eiko. "Worried about Midoriya? Don't be, Bakugou, if we got tossed here, I'm sure he's out there somewhere."

"That's what I'm worried about, idiot!" Bakugou deflected a wide, off-balance swing and kicked the legs out from under the villain, blasting them with an explosion as they hit the ground and knocking them out.

"What do you mean?" Eiko blocked a knife swing with her arms and knocked the villain down with a headbutt. "He's tough, he'll be fine."

Bakugou yelled again as he set off a huge explosion, blowing the wall in front of him down and taking out three thugs at once. "You don't get it!" The dust and debris settled as Bakugou took advantage in the lull in the action to stomp over to Eiko. "Back when we were 8, some older kids came to pick on Izuku when we were at school. Izuku didn't want to fight them, so I stepped in. They took a couple swings at me and eventually got a solid hit."

Eiko raised an eyebrow at him. "Sounds rough, but what does-"

"As soon as I got hit, Izuku flew past me and tackled the kid, who had at least a foot on him. He screamed in the kid's face, took a swing, and knocked him out with a single punch."

"That's pretty manly, Bakugou. What's the problem?"

Bakugou poked Eiko hard in the forehead. "You're still not getting it! He had hardly ever raised a finger against someone before that day outside of training, and then all of a sudden he puts a kid in the dirt and knocks him out in a rage. All because I took a cheap shot to the jaw that barely phased me."

The blonde moved his face very close to Eiko's, his growl nearly a whisper as he glared into her eyes. " So what do you think will happen when 19 of his friends are threatened with death ? "

Things could be going worse for Tsuyu, all things considered. Of all the places she could get warped to, she was lucky enough to teleported to the fully aquatic zone. She hit the water with practiced ease and dove deep, feeling the water pass through her suit to let her skin breathe. Looking around, she saw a few shapes swimming around the water with her. Since it was very unlikely that UA would be stocking this lake with any sort of fish, Tsuyu had a good idea what those shapes were.

She didn't have much time to get her bearings before a noise broke through the still waters.

"First catch of the day! Nothing personal, kid, but you gotta die!"

Tsuyu whipped around and saw a villain with a shark quirk tearing towards Mineta, who was flailing helplessly in the deep lake. With a kick from her powerful legs, she streaked towards her classmate, slipping through the water and crashing into the side of the assailant, knocking the breath out of him. She quickly reached her hand down and tore off the breathing apparatus he had on, before kicking off of him. She grabbed Mineta under her arm as the shark villain disappeared behind them, frantically swimming for the surface.

Mineta had a look of panic, fear, and gratitude on his face, but couldn't speak for obvious reasons. Tsuyu needed to get the boy out of the water if he was going to stay conscious.

She remembered the ship in the middle of the zone and scanned above her, quickly spotting the vessel about a hundred feet away from her. Tsuyu kicked hard and began to swim towards it, but before she could get halfway there, Mineta started flailing in her arms and slapping her frantically, pointing behind her.

She turned around and saw another villain shooting towards her with deadly intent. His blonde hair streaked behind him as he smirked, rearing a spear back, ready to attack. He was too close for Tsuyu to dodge, her only hope was to knock him off course; she shot her tongue at him, but he spun out of the way with ease.

He thrust his spear forward as he closed within a few feet of Tsuyu and Mineta, the latter squeezing his eyes shut as the villain attacked.

And then, the water went red.

Tsuyu kicked back, distancing herself from the bloody mist. She patted herself down to make sure hadn't been stabbed, just in case she was in shock. She found nothing, so she quickly looked over Mineta, but he was unscathed as well. The woman turned to stare as the red cloud dissipated, her eyes widening further and her mouth dropping open slightly as the scene came into view.

The villain was bug-eyed as a great green claw clutched his neck, his right arm ineffectual tugging at the scaled arm of Midoriya. The spear drifted slowly to the depths of the lake while a gruesome wound on the villain's left arm poured blood into the water as Midoriya firmly held his wrist.

Tsuyu's classmate had shrunk back down to his normal size, but he was still an intimidatingly large man. He had grown a long tail that was flitting back and forth, keeping him still in the churning waters. That, combined with his elongated, draconic head, made him look nearly crocodilian. But Tsuyu was pretty sure that crocodiles did not have burning green eyes.

The villain gurgled in pain as Midoriya slowly pulled the villain closer to his face until he was mere inches from his fanged maw. "You will not lay a hand on them. Do you understand?" Tsuyu's stomach felt uneasy as his deep, intimidating voice echoed through the water.

The villain nodded as much as he could while being choked by a claw. "Good. Tell your companions the same thing." Midoriya released his grip and delivered a powerful kick to his chest, sending the villain rushing away from them. Newton sent Midoriya floating in the opposite direction, but a few powerful strokes slowed him down so he stopped nearby to Tsuyu.

The green-haired woman had half a mind to drag Mineta up to the surface so he could breathe, but the other half of her mind was too stunned by the brutal display put on by her otherwise friendly and jovial classmate.

Suddenly, Midoriya's hand shot out towards her, causing her to flinch and squeeze her eyes shut.

Her eyes snapped open again as she felt him patting her head softly. "I'm sorry for scaring you, Tsu. Don't worry, I won't let them touch you." His eyes still burned brightly and angrily, glaring off in the direction he had kicked the villain as a small blush formed on her cheeks.

Tsuyu was thankful her skin breathed for her underwater because she was pretty sure she would've otherwise forgotten how. There was something oddly comforting about his powerful, clawed hand gently tussling her hair. She couldn't help but lean into the contact slightly, her eyes closing as her mouth turned up into a small smile.

Mineta's struggling reminded the both of them that he was still there, and still couldn't breathe. Midoriya's hand slowly retracted back as they both blinked a few times. He turned to look at her, an expression of genuine concern on his face, or at least as much concern as could be mustered on his reptilian snout. "Are you alright? Are y ou hurt?" Midoriya's voice rose slightly as the light in his eyes faded.

She brought herself out of her daze and looked back at Midoriya, shaking her head. "I'm fine, thank you. We should get out of here." As the two of them kicked towards the surface to let Mineta breathe, she finally took note of his chest, which was rising up and down slowly and rhythmically. "Midoriya, you can breathe underwater?" Tsuyu put a finger to her chin and tilted her head slightly. 'Just like his dad…'

"What? O-oh, yeah." The nervous stuttering nearly gave Tsuyu whiplash when compared to the stone cold persona he had displayed merely seconds earlier. The man tapped the side of his neck. "When I have my neck transformed, I can breathe underwater. I have to ask though, I've noticed you're not breathing normally, can you breathe through your skin like an actual frog?! Can you-"

"Midoriya, maybe not right now." Tsuyu would have laughed as they broke the surface if she wasn't still so uneasy.

Midoriya turned to his right. "Right, s-sorry, time for that later. Follow me, the shore is this way. We should hopefully be able to handle anyone we encounter on the way there, but you're right, we need to get out of here before they gang up on us." He kicked his feet and began to swim quickly, much faster than he had any right to.

Tsuyu took note of the webbing between Midoriya's fingers and toes. Those, combined with his powerful tail stroking from side to side behind him, made Tsuyu guess he would be comparable to her in the water. She smiled a little to herself. 'I was hoping to find someone who could keep up with me underwater, maybe I should ask Midoriya to train with me.'

The image of the blood-filled water and Midoriya's reddened claws flashed back into her mind, causing Tusyu to shudder as she followed behind him towards the shore. 'Well, maybe.'

Notes:

See you all next time!

In other news, someone has made fan music for me. Incredible.

Check it out here: https://soundcloud.com/jonathan-power-dear/sets/wiah-inspired-music