Katsuki raced above the trees after that stupid yellow coat. His wrists were starting to feel the strain, especially after the intensive training they'd been doing these past few days, but he ignored that and pushed forward, "Get back here you ugly-ass @#$(*! Give her back!"

"Apologies gentlemen, but finder's keepers!" The villain replied, making part of a tree disappear out of his path by shrinking it down into a little ball.

Bondo: Doesn't apply to kidnappings!

"Somehow, I don't think that applies to kidnappings." Todoroki said dryly.

"Boys!" A high voice almost made Katsuki lose his rhythm and he glanced down to see Pixiebob running toward them. "You're not supposed to be engaging with the villains!"

Bakugo: But he took Ragdoll!

Katsuki bristled, "But that @#$(&*..."

"He took Ragdoll!" Todoroki cut in. "He shrunk her down into one of the marbles in his pocket!"

The villain cheered. "Good eye! But are you sure you saw what you saw?" He did some weird sleight of hand thing, pulling marbles out of numerous hidden pockets and making them disappear again, "She could be in this pocket, or this one, or this one, or perhaps in my shoe, or maybe even in my..."

Dabi: Compress you idiot just run.

He was cut off as the ground rose up beneath him and buried him up to his chin.

Compress: Ah.

"It doesn't matter much where you hid her." Pixiebob huffed. "We've got you and that means we've got her too. Good work cuties, just as I expected from such strapping young kittens!"

Mt. Lady: Uh, she did all the work.

"You did all the work." Todoroki grumbled.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "And I still have a boyfriend."

(several people chuckled)

Pixiebob pouted and made a few miniature dirt monsters, "Then I guess I better keep looking. Let's find the others."

Mandalay squeaked as she was pulled roughly into the undergrowth and she would have attacked if she hadn't recognized the student that grabbed her, "Shoji? What are you...?"

Dark Shadow(guiltily): It's me, isn't it?

"Shhh...." Shoji clapped a hand over her mouth. "He's tracking sound and movement."

(Dark Shadow whimpered guiltily and Tokoyami quietly started whispering comforting words)

"What?" Mandalay whispered. "Who?"

There was a loud crash a few feet away and Mandalay gasped softly at the sheer size of the shadow currently hunting them.

(everyone gasped. Dark Shadow was enormous.)

Compress: If only I had managed to kidnap him... Dabi would've helped control the creature...

Shigaraki(awed): Now that is a powerful quirk. Huh I wonder if I can decay it-

Tokoyami: Don't you dare try!

"Dark Shadow," Shoji muttered. "is difficult to control in the dark."

Kendo(faintly): You don't say.

Tiger ran into the forest, leaving the lizard-looking villain tied to a tree as he searched for more students. Ragdoll should be cleaning the far end of the forest, so Tiger headed in that direction so he could meet up with her. He wasn't running long before he heard something moving and he headed in that direction, eyes widening when he saw a tired-looking Awase pulling a bleeding Yaoyorozu through the trees.

Jirou: Yaomomo!

Tsuburaba: Awase!

When he caught sight of him, Awase looked up gratefully, "Tiger, thank goodness! It's coming!"

"What's coming?" Tiger asked. "What are you...?"

Awase: The nomu!

He took a sharp breath when he saw a nomu charging through the trees behind them. Its arms were like swiss army knives and trees crashed to the ground left and right as the nomu cut through them with a chainsaw on one side and a nasty-looking ax on the other.

(everyone flinched. This one looked worse than the one at the USJ)

"You monster." Tiger lowed himself into a fighting stance. "Attacking children? Have you no shame?"

Kurogiri: It's braindead.

The nomu didn't respond, not that Tiger expected it to, but it gave an unholy screech as it charged him.

"Get behind me children!" Tiger shouted. "I'll restrain this fiend!"

He contorted his body to avoid the worst of the blades but there were so many to dodge that he couldn't get a good grip on the thing.

Momo: Come on, other me, make something!

"Yaoyorozu! Be careful!" Awase said. "You already made all those gas masks, you're gonna pass out!"

"I can..." Yaoyorozu panted. "I just need to make one more thing!"

"Don't strain yourself, young Yaoyorozu." Tiger insisted. "I've got this."

Momo: No you don't!

At least, he hoped he did. Nomus were notoriously hard to beat and this one in particular was tricky, but as long as he could save the students, that would have to be enough.

After a few moments, Awase threw something to him, "Tiger! Catch!"

He spun on his heel and caught what looked like an extra-large blanket.

Dabi: A blanket?

"It's kevlar!" Yaoyorozu shouted weakly. "Wrap his arms and Awase can bind the fabric to trap it!"

Spinner: Huh. That might work.

Aizawa(worriedly): Yaoyorozu... (she didn't look very good.)

Tiger nodded. It was a huge piece of fabric, much larger than Yaoyorozu really had the resources to safely make at the moment, which meant that he only had one chance to get this right.

He felt a little ridiculous spreading the blanket out in front of him. It was like he was trying to catch a troublesome toddler instead of a deadly monster. He flinched slightly as he gripped the nomu in a giant bear hug, wrapping it up like a burrito and gripping tighter as its arms tried to tear through the favrib, "Awase, now!"

Awase gulped, but ran to help, bonding the kevlar both to the monster's skin and to itself as the nomu roared. Once he was sure everything was secure, Tiger slowly loosened his grip, "Perhaps we should bond it to that cliff over there, just to be safe."

Awase(breathing heavily): Yeah, that's a good idea.

All Might: But now we can't track the villains...

Recovery Girl: If they don't kidnap anyone we don't have to...

Awase nodded and picked up Yaoyorozu as Tiger carried the nomu over to the ciff face and held it in place. When it was firmly stuck there, Tiger held out his arms for Yaoyorozu and Awase handed her over gratefully. Tiger's heart sank when he felt how light she was. She was barely conscious and she must have used almost every available ounce of fat in her body because her knees and elbows dug into him as he shifted her onto his back.

Hagakure(worriedly): Oh Momo...

"Come on," he said, "Let's let you kids home."

"Take a deep breath, Tokoyami." Mandalay projected. "The heroes are here. We'll protect you, you're safe."

Tokoyami: You should be addressing Dark Shadow.

"No!" Dark Shadow screamed. "Kill villains! Protect friends!"

Shoji: They'll protect us, okay? Come on, Dark Shadow...

"I'll protect them, I promise." Mandalay kept her thoughts as calm as possible. "But to do that, I need you to calm down,okay They're going to be so sad and scared to see you like this. Just take a deep breath in and a deep breath out. That's it. You're okay. We're okay. We're gonna be fine."

Dark Shadow didn't let go of Tokoyami or shink down to his normal size, but when he stopped muttering about blood and murder, Mandalay figured it was safe to come out.

"Thank you." Tokoyami nodded gratefully. "I apologize for losing control like that."

Tsu: It's not your fault, ribbit.

"It's alright." Mandalay smiled. "I'm just glad we were able to get you back. Come on, let's get you to camp where it's safe."

"Hold strong!" Izuku yelled as he reloaded. "Keep fighting!"

He recognized Muscular form the reports of Water hoses's death and knew that even one of him would be almost impossible to beat, but they were having to fight two of the guys at a time. Dabi and the cloning villain stood at the edge of the forest, but they couldn't even get to them because every time they destroyed one clone, the villains just made another.

(everyone froze)

Inko: Izuku!

The air wall was long gone, destroyed within seconds of the onslaught and even though they'd all retreated inside, the building had held up about as well as the air wall had. They had destroyed something like 10 or 15 clones at this point, Izuku had lost count, but they just kept coming with no end and even as fragile as they were, Muscular was legitimately trying to kill them and he was more than strong enough to deal significant damage before they could destroy one. A few of the students already had broken bones and Izuku watched in horror as one of the clones grabbed Kirishima tightly enough that the rock literally cracked under his grip and threw him through a wall. If this kept going, someone was going to die.

Bakugo: Kirishima!

Kaminari: No!

Izuku took a deep breath and ran toward Dabi, "Fine! I'll do it! I'll go with you! Just stop!"

Everyone: Midoriya no!

Midoriya: I have to or else you'll die!

Dabi grinned, running forward to torch the Muscular that had attacked Kirishima as the clone that the other villain had been making dissolved back into the goop, "Good choice."

"Midoriya! No!" Shinso yelled. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Shinso: Answer please!

Izuku smiled sadly, "I'm keeping everyone sa..."

His mind went blank as Shinso took control, "Get back here you idiot and let us protect you."

Dabi: I'm not going to let him am I?

Izuku's feet moved against his will and he didn't know whether he was angry or relieved as he moved back toward the safety of his classmates.

Suddenly, a searing hand on the back of his neck broke Shinso's hold and Dabi snarled, "Not so fast, Deku, you're ours, or would you prefer we kill you and then murder all your precious little classmates one by one?"

Izuku deflated, "No. I-I'll go with you."

Inko: Izuku no!

Aizawa: Problem child!

"That's more like it." Dabi smirked. "Oh, and just to make sure we don't have any problems..."

He grabbed the gun from Izuku's hand and he had to flinch away from the heat as Dabi literally melted the gun in the palm of his hand. He then shoved Izuku forward, turning to the cloning villain, "Come one, Twice, let's get going. And make a few clones of Mustard, just to make sure none of those brats can follow us."

Shigaraki: You know why we didn't we do that?

Twice: Well we can do that now. What a terrible idea.

Ochaco watched in awe as Toga and Moonfish fought. He may have been a little crazier, but even if Toga had never used his quirk before, she knew her away around knives. Where Moonfish was stabbing randomly, every single one of Toga's strikes was pinpointed for maximum blood loss and he couldn't even stab her because parts of her were constantly shifting into people who were able to counter him. It was amazing!

Toga: Oh yeah I am amazing!

Ochaco knew they were running out of time, though. The vials on Toga's belt were all empty and they all knew that blood wouldn't last forever. How much had she even drank? Maybe like an ounce or two from each person, if that? How long would that allow her to hold the transformations?

Toga: Not very long...

As it turned out, not very long, but Ochaco needn't have worried, because Toga wasn't about to let that become an issue.

"I've never tried this before, but it's kinda like an inbetween point between transformations right?" Toga pouted. "I don't think it'll be very cute though."

Midoriya(realizing what she's about to do): Yeah that's not very cute.

She shifted again and suddenly, it was Shoji facing Moonfish... except for that when the mouths on the ends of his arms opened, dozens of knives shot out. Moonfish didn't stand a chance. In less than a minute, he was on the ground as the pain and blood loss finally got to be too much for him to stay upright.

(everyone grimaced and several looked away from the screen)

Shoji: Effective but... yes, not very cute.

"I was right." Toga shuddered as she melted back into herself. "That was totally not cute."

Toga: Yeah, not cute at all.

A cloud of poisonous gas stretched out behind them and unlike the villains, Izuku didn't have a gas mask, so he was starting to get light headed. He kept hoping to run into one of the teachers, but with the way Dabi was leading them away from the fighting, he wasn't liking his odds. He had no idea where their destination was, but they must be close, because the magnet villain he'd seen earlier came rushing out of the woods toward him, "The heroes are coming, we gotta go!"

Dabi scowled. "Great work Magne. Where's Spinner?"

"Captured." Magne said. "I just barely got away. Are you three alright?"

Spinner: Oh. They caught me.

"Two." Dabi corrected. "The fry sauce twins over there are just clones."

Dabi: They got a lot more people this time, I see.

All Might: But they have young Midoriya.

"It's Mustard." The clones snapped.

"Sure." Dabi rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"Well, I don't think we have time to wait for 'em." Magne said. "I saw Eraserhead on my way here. He was busy helping one of the kids and didn't see me, but it's only a matter of time before he heads this way."

Aizawa: Hurry up other me!

Dabi swore. "Ketchup! Make a smoke screen in that direction! Twice, make a clone of this brat! That'll keep him off our tail long enough to get away."

"Do you not know how long it takes to measure someone?" Twice complained. "Easy peasy!"

Izuku tensed. This was his only chance. He held still until Twice got close enough, then headbutted him away and grabbed his tape measure, wrapping it around Dabi's hands and booking it.

Bakugo: Deku run!

He could hear Dabi cursing behind him and smelled smoke, which pushed him to run a little faster. His stomach sank as he realized just how far they'd gotten from the main attack. Unless Eraser had been on Magne's tail, which didn't seem likely, he wouldn't be showing up before Izuku was recaptured. He wasn't getting out of this. What was he supposed to do? Just give up?

Izuku shook his head. No. He was a hero. Heroes didn't give up. He needed a plan. He couldn't avoid getting captured, so what was the next best option? Izuku's breath caught as he recognized his surroundings. The training targets! He hadn't left many of them, but there should be one near here and it would have a tracker inside. There was no guarantee Eraser would even think to look for the signal, but it was better than being kidnapped with no way to find him!

Midoriya: Yes, quickly, get one!

He had to enter Mustard's gas to reach the target, so he took as few breaths as he could, but the world was still starting to spin around him as he pushed forward until he found the tree the target should be hidden in. A small hole in one of the knots caught his eye and Izuku cried in relief as his hand closed around the blinking marble. He collapsed onto his knees and shoved it into his shoe right before Dabi and the other villains entered the clearing.

"You.. .quirkless... not worth..." Dabi's words blended together and Izuku wasn't sure if Twice had cloned him or if the gas was just making him see double. "Idiot... into the gas... stupid brat..."

Recovery Girl: Don't die!

Inko: Listen to the nurse!

He saw Dabi take out a phone and say something. Izuku was too far gone to understand what he said, but he must have been calling kurogiri, because it only took a few seconds for a portal to appear. Izuku scrambled weakly away, but the next thing he knew, there was a searing pain as Dabi grabbed his arm and shoved him roughly through the portal just before everything went black.

Kurogiri: I think he'll survive...

Uraraka(sickly): They got Deku...

Mitsuki: No...

Shouta reached camp just after the Pussycats, carrying two students who had passed out from the gas. He had run into Vlad, Tetsutetsu and Kendo on his way and they followed behind him carrying even more victims.

He'd been hoping to find the students huddled together in a corner of the building, terrified, but safe, but instead they were scattered across the yard and the building may as well have been wet cardboard with how well it withstood whatever had happened to them. The Pussycats were busy giving first aid and Shouta counted at least ten broken bones and three students unconscious from the gas and that was just at first glance. Even Kirishima had a broken arm, which Shouta honestly hadn't thought was possible without extreme quirk exhaustion.

(everyone flinched at the damage. This was so much worse than their camp. At least the only one with a broken bone was Midoriya)

"What do you mean, he's gone?!" Uraraka's shrill yell cut over the white noise in Shouta's head. "They kidnapped Deku?!"

No...

(Jana waited for everyone to sufficiently calm down before going to the next chapter)