Shouta didn't pass any of his students as he raced through the forest towards Kota's hideout, so he could only hope that they were following Mandalay's instruction to return to the base. He didn't know if the villains would be able to find the kid, but he didn't trust the cliffs to be enough to protect him, not if the flame user was any indication of these enemies' strength, which meant that he needed to get there as quickly as possible.

"Show me your blood!"

Toga: Muscular!

It was only years of combat training that kept him from freezing when he finally pulled himself up onto the cliff. Muscular, the same villain that had killed the kid's parents had Kota backed against the wall, completely at his mercy as his muscles swelled larger and larger to the point where his shadow completely covered the kid. Without thinking, Shouta activated his quirk and Muscular immediately began to deflate.

Midoriya: Okay sensei might have an easier time defeating him than I did...

"What?!" Muscular turned slowly, smiling at Shouta, who stood his ground. "Oh, it looks like Eraserhead's joined our little playdate, how fun. So what now? Dusty said you can only go so long without blinking, right? I'm fast enough that the blink of an eye is more than enough time to get a kill in, no problem! It's a pity I won't be able to savor it, but that's life, I guess. The only question is who should I kill first, you or the kid?"

"You won't get the chance to do either." Shouta snarled. "Kid, run."

"But..." Kota looked between them. "But, Mr. Eraserhead. He'll kill you!"

Aizawa: Just run!

"I'll be fine." Shouta said seriously. "Remember, it's my job to be in danger. Now go."

The kid hesitated for one more stupid moment, then started running, tears streaming down his face. Shouta could only hope that he had enough sense to go straight back to camp, but he was a smart kid, so he should be able to figure it out. Shouta couldn't afford to be distracted by that at the moment, not with a dangerous villain in front of him ready to smash his head in.

The only reason Muscular hadn't gone after Kota immediately was because with his quirk erased, he was too slow to outrun his opponent. So instead, he kept Shouta in his sights, clenching and unclenching his hands as he waited for the moment Shouta had to blink. Shouta wasn't stupid, he knew that if Muscular had even half a chance to grow his muscles and attack, there was no way he would survive, so there was no other option. He had to end this quickly.

Mic: Logical ruse!

He shot a quick gaze toward the direction the kid had run, then visibly panicked "Kid! I thought I told you to run away?! Get out of here!"

Momo: Wow sensei's actually good at acting.

Muscular grinned, "Ha! You shoulda listened to the hero, kid. I'm so excited to see your... what? Where'd he go?!"

He was knocked to the floor by a kick to the head and Shouta smirked as his opponent went down, "Logical ruse."

(1A cheered)

He didn't give Muscular a chance to get his footing as he wrapped him in his capture weapon, "That's the thing about strength quirks. You're all so used to punching your way through your problems, you never think to look out for being tricked."

Shouta could feel his eyes starting to burn, so he put his entire weight into it as he whipped his capture weapon around until Muscular hit the cliff wall with a heavy thud. He sighed in relief as he felt him go limp, but was still wary until he stepped closer and made sure the villain was unconscious, "One down... who knows how many to go. Wonderful."

Twice: Well without Muscular that means Moonfish, Toga- wait not Toga since she's a hero-

Shigaraki: Twice stop counting!

Ochaco rolled again and hissed as one of the knives sliced her cheek open. How were there even this many?! And how was the guy even able to see them when that stupid straightjacket was covering his eyes?! How was that thing even functional?!

Spinner: I have no idea...

"Ochaco, you okay?" Tsu panted. She was somewhere, trying to hide among the leaves, but Ochaco was too busy running to figure out where.

"I'm fine." Ochaco spat, wiping the blood away with the back of her hand. "We need to get out of here."

Toga: Well this brings back memories.

Tsu: Ribbit...

"He'll follow us and we don't have permission to fight back." Tsu pointed out. "Do you think we can lead him to Aizawa before he... you know?"

Chills ran down her spine as the villain started muttering again, "Flesh... blood... so good... hungry... need flesh."

(everyone froze)

Inko(whispering): He's crazy.

Ochaco gulped, "I sure hope so."

She took a deep breath and started running. Blades crashed down around her and she scrambled desperately away, trying to maintain some sort of true course while not being speared through by some freaky guy's knife teeth. She let out a crazed giggle as she realized this situation had the same ridiculous energy as running away from a killer clown in a dream, except that she was pretty sure that she wasn't sleeping right now.

Tsu: No you're not!

She heard Tsu let out a yelp behind her and before she could think better of it, she had stopped and whirled around, "Tsu!"

1A: Tsu!

Tsu was pinned to a tree by her hair, eyes wide as more knives whistled through the air toward her. Ochaco ran towards the villain, knowing she wouldn't be able to reach him before his blades reached Tsu, not that floating him would probably do much good anyway. She was going to watch her friend die and there was nothing she could do about it.

The first knife to hit the tree, however, wasn't one of Moonfish's. The blade hit the tree sideways and dug into the wood above Tsu's head, cutting through just enough of her hair that she was able to pull away and roll to the ground a split second before the tree turned into a pincushion.

Tsu: Okay Toga rescued me... that sounds weird ribbit...

Ochaco whirled around to face the direction the knife had been thrown from to see Toga coming toward them with an angry pout on her face as she twirled another knife in her hands, "Sorry about the haircut Tsu-chan, but no hair is way cuter than with no head. And I think you'll look super-duper cute with short hair anyway."

"Thanks." Tsu nodded. "I appreciate the save."

Toga: Yeah, you're cuter with long hair.

"No! My sweet flesh! Robbed!" Moonfish was getting agitated and they all ran for cover as his blades started going crazy. "Blood! Flesh! Hungry! Now!"

"I know they say use your words, but I'd think I'd prefer if you shut up." Toga blocked one of his blades with her knife. "And you're stealing my knife thing! Totally not cute!"

Toga(pouting): Yeah knives are my weapon!

"Toga! Watch out!" Ochaco shouted. "On your left!"

Toga dodged just in time, and Ochaco swore as she realized they couldn't let Toga fight this guy on her own, "Hey knife face! Get some dental work!"

Dabi: Toga you need to work on your insults.

She ran out from the tree she was hiding behind and flung a weightless branch at him, returning the gravity right as it hit him in the face. It wasn't nearly enough to hurt him, but it did throw him off for long enough for Toga to grab one of her blood vials and drink a few drops from one. When Moonfish recovered, it was to the sight of two Ochacos staring him down. He hesitated, probably wondering if the branch had hit him harder than he thought. It wasn't much, but it was more than they'd gotten so far, so Ochaco wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Actually, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be looking anything in the mouth after this fight.

Midoriya: The thought of working with Toga feels kinda weird...

Uraraka: I know but she's a hero in that world so I'll take it!

Tsu came up behind them, "If we can confuse him enough, we might actually stand a chance."

"Perfect." Toga gave a grin that looked really creepy on Ochaco's face. "Scatter!"

(everyone grimaced. That was so unsettling)

They all ran in different directions. Ochaco grabbed whatever she could get her hands on and pelted Moonfish with as many weightless rocks as she could while Tsu tried to trip him with her tongue and spat mucus at the knives on the offchange he would be able to feel it. Toga covered both of them by perrying his attacks while changing as often as she was able. Even with all of their efforts, though, they were still losing. Badly.

Aizawa: Problem children run!

"Any chance we can just run again?" Ochaco panted, wincing as one of Moonfish's knives grazed her arm. "Would he even let us?"

"No dice." Toga was currently halfway morphed between Bakugo and Shiozaki, which was a really trippy nightmare image. "He's boxing us in."

Shiozaki: Uh that is rather disturbing.

"I was hoping I was just imagining the fighting area getting smaller." Tsu croaked, her hair flying everywhere as she tried to dodge another hit, only to hiss as she ended up with a deep cut on her thigh. "What are we gonna do?"

Toga fully shifted into Bakugo and her face was full of determination as she stared down the villain, "What we have to. Get back to camp, cutie-pies, I got this."

Uraraka: Toga? What are you doing?!

"Wait!" Ochaco reached out to her, but Toga charged before she could do everything. Knives flashed faster than she could even process, but Moonfish still had the upper hand... or mouth, considering that he had more teeth than Toga had hands. Even while he was busy fending off her attacks, he was still able to send potentially lethal attacks toward her and Tsu and they were starting to slow down from pain, exhaustion and blood loss. Ochaco felt bile rise up in her throat as she realized they weren't going to last much longer.

Twice: Toga no! Don't die!

Spinner(worriedly): Oh boy...

Suddenly, there was a loud explosion and Moonfish's knives faltered. Ochaco looked around for the real Bakugo, but all she could see was Toga disguised as him drenched in her own blood as she stared down at Bakugo's hands in shock, Moonfish smoking on the ground in front of her.

Toga: Oh come on she can use other people's quirks too?! Why can't I get a quirk awakening?!

"Did you...?" Tsu gulped. "Did you just use Bakugo's quirk?"

Toga nodded numbly, "Uh-huh..."

Ochaco didn't know what to say, "Oh... has that ever happened before?"

Toga: Nope...

Toga couldn't look away from her hands, "Nope."

"Oh." Ochaco repeated. "Cool."

Vlad: Run already!

"Uh, guys?" Tsu interrupted. "He's getting up."

"Alright, then, time for this fight to really begin." Toga shifted into a fighting stance and gave her most Bakugo-like grin, small pops echoing from her palms. "You're right, Ochaco-chan! This is pretty cool!"

Bakugo: Great now she's stealing my explosions!

Izuku nervously checked his gun again as he waited for any of the villains to arrive. Vlad King had already sent a handful of class 1B students their way, so they had a good team and were working to get everything secure before the villains arrived. Tsubasa had created an invisible wall of air around the entire entrance and only he knew where the hole was so newly arriving students could get inside. Monoma had copied Sero's quirk and they were currently taping shut most of the doors and windows while Koda sent out teams of squirrels and birds to warn them when the villains got too close, not that they'd be able to make it through Shiozaki's forest of vines without alerting them. He had no way of knowing if it would be enough, but the more students Vlad King and the Pussycats sent their way, the more their defenses would increase, so it would have to be enough.

Suddenly, Shiozaki screamed and collapsed. Koda came running in from the roof, birds frantically flapping their wings on either shoulder as an army of squirrels and raccoons racing after him, "Fire. There's fire everywhere..."

Reiko: Shiozaki!

Dabi: Me. Or my clone.

"Figured." Izuku gulped. "Any idea if this is the real fire villain or if it's another clone?"

"Probably another clone." Kirishima said, knocking his fists together. "Do you want me to go out and handle him?"

Izuku shook his head, "Fire can counter Shiozaki's vines, but not Tsubasa's air wall. Give it a few minutes."

Tsubasa: I hope we make it...

"I can always brainwash him if he gets too close." Shinso said. "But I'm not sure if that'll actually work on a clone."

Shinso: It should...

Izuku nodded, "Koda, see if you can get us the location of the cloner. If we can bait them closer and get them under Shinso's control, that'll take away their reinforcements and put us on more even footing."

Koda nodded and started whispering frantically to his gathered animals as Izuku went to a window. Flames were licking all the way to the invisible wall and he saw the patchwork-looking villain banging his fist against the wall. The fire raged brightly behind him and a gust of wind blew some of the flames toward him. Instead of standing strong like Izuku had expected though, he flinched back. The flames covered him completely for a moment and when they were gone the villain winced before he started dissolving into the same grey goop as before.

Dabi: Well that's annoying.

"Guys, change of plans." Izuku said. "The flame user is weak to fire."

Endeavor: Ironic but true.

Dabi(having a funny feeling like dread about what Midoriya would cook up to defeat him or his clones): I'm in trouble aren't I?