I'd used my quirk more than I ever had before. Even though it scared me, I'd promised Shinso I wouldn't give up. I pushed myself too hard the second day of training and ended up getting a severe nosebleed and fainting. Mr. Aizawa told me to take it easy on the third day. On the first night, when I finally found a place where I got phone reception, I realized I had over a hundred missed calls and texts from Dad. Mr. Aizawa was worried Dad might do something drastic and set aside time for me to call him every night for which I was grateful.

Class 1B joined us for our training and I recognized the boy who Shinso rescued me from the night we first met. I learned his name was Neito Monoma and his quirk allowed him the ability to borrow other people's quirks for a short time if he touched them. I gathered that was why he'd tried to touch me the night we first met. I was glad he didn't, my quirk was too unstable for me to deal with and I'd been living with it for years, I could hardly imagine what it would do to anyone else.

As I was helping everyone prepare lunch, I sensed someone approaching me from behind and spun around. My heart sank as I recognized the familiar blond with the smug look on his face, Neito Monoma. He outstretched his hand toward me like he had the first time we'd met. My body tensed and I took a step back. Quick as lightning not one, but two, hands shot toward him from either side stopping him in his tracks. I felt my heart begin to race in my chest as I spotted Bakugo and Todoroki shooting menacing scowls in Monoma's direction.

"What do you think you're doing?" Todoroki asked in his calm quiet voice, though I could detect a hint of irritation.

"Leave the crybaby alone if you know what's good for you." Bakugo growled.

"The princess sure does have a lot of annoying knights." Monoma noted and pulled away from them. He tried to fake them out and reach toward me again. I felt my stomach twist into unpleasant knots and heard a faint voice in the back of my head telling me not to let him touch me. My quirk would hurt him.

"NO!" I cried. My quirk acted reflexively shoving Monoma away from me. He slid halfway across camp, startling everyone. "S-sorry." My voice shook, "...it's not safe..."

"Monoma, leave her alone!" The class rep from Class 1B, Itsuka Kendo, a pretty girl with long ginger hair, snapped at him. She acted more like a big sister to everyone and was constantly trying to keep Monoma in line.

Summoned by raised voices, Mr. Aizawa and the teacher of Class 1B, Mr. Kan decided to intervene. Mr. Aizawa noticed the marks in the ground where Monoma had been flung away from me by my quirk and deduced what had happened quickly. "I guess training hasn't been hard enough if you have the time and energy to still be trying to play around with your quirks during lunch." Mr. Aizawa said with a sinister edge to his voice, "we'll gladly make it tougher for you all."

There was a collective groan from everyone else at this.

"Great going, princess." Monoma rolled his eyes.

"It's your fault, idiot!" The majority of the students from both our classes snapped at him in unison.

"Were you trying to borrow Amelia's quirk?" Mr. Kan asked Monoma curiously.

"I was curious. She's afraid of it, is it really that powerful or is she just a weakling?" Monoma shot a cool look in my direction. All the girls from Class 1A glowered at him.

Mr. Aizawa looked thoughtful for a moment. He frowned and turned his gaze to me before activating his quirk. I felt as if a colossal weight had been lifted from me and was able to breathe easier and relax. For a split second, I felt free. His frown deepened and he dropped his hold on me causing my quirk to return and the great weight with it. It nearly knocked me off my feet. "I'd advise against it, it's too unstable." He threw a warning look at Monoma before giving me a pat on the head. "Finish your lunch and we'll get back to hell...I mean training..."

Everyone groaned.

"Aw, come on guys, don't give up, after training we get to have some fun with the test of courage." Kirishima tried to cheer everyone up.

I looked to him curiously, "what's a test of courage?"

"Oh no." Sero paled.

"We have to protect Amy!" Mina nearly tackled me with a hug.

"Is it dangerous?" I squeaked as I struggled to keep me and Mina both upright as she knocked me off balance.

"Probably more scary than dangerous since it'll be in the dark." Asui noted.

"S-scary? D-dark?" I felt the color drain from my face.

"Aw!" All the girls squealed and I soon found myself being tackled by all the girls in my class.

Realizing I was having difficulty breathing whilst being squeezed by my classmates, Mr. Aizawa threw his scarf after me and fished me out of the mountain of hugs. He pulled me safely from the hug pile and released me once I was at his side. "You'll be sitting it out, there's something else I want you to do. And though it pains me to say this," he began though there was a slightly sadistic smile on his lips which made me think it didn't pain him to say whatever he was going to say at all, "the remedial class will be having lessons with me tonight, instead."

.....

I bid the majority of my classmates' farewell and wished them luck on the test of courage once night fell. Mr. Aizawa stopped by the cafeteria, where I was using my quirk to clean up to try and help out, on his way to the remedial lessons.

Curiosity got the better of me and I turned to him, "Mr. Aizawa, was there really something else you wanted me to do?"

"Not really, I just didn't want to send you back to your father traumatized." He sighed, "though it might be a good idea for you to check in with him. He's called me five times already."

I held back a smile, though I hadn't wanted special treatment at UA, I was grateful this time. I didn't like scary things and knew I'd have held the rest of my class back if I participated. "Thanks."

"Don't wander too far from camp." He cautioned me before heading off to instruct those in the remedial class.

I finished up in the cafeteria and went outside to find a place where I got good enough reception to call Dad. My phone buzzed in my hand as I finally found a spot with a blip of connection. I had a few more texts from Dad. I tried to call him but didn't have enough reception. I climbed up a nearby steep hill and let out a small victory cheer once I found a spot on the side of the hill with enough reception. It was pretty steep and I tried to anchor myself to a rock so I wouldn't topple over while I called him. Once I felt secure enough atop the rock and thought I had a good enough signal, I called Dad. The line rang and the call dropped as soon as he picked up. I looked down at the screen of my phone and let out a sigh as I realized I'd already lost signal.

I scrambled to climb the rest of the way up the steep hill. A rock tripped me as I was about to reach the top and I let out a soft squeak as I lost my balance and toppled forward. My phone slipped from my fingers and I scraped my knees on some rocks and grimaced at the sudden pain. I reached for my phone as it lit up with an incoming call from Dad. A gasp escaped me as a hand reached in front of me and plucked it up off the ground.

"Ah...thank you." I looked to the person who picked up my phone and felt my heart sink as he ignored the call and placed it in his pocket. The young man who'd pocketed my phone appeared to be in his early twenties. He had unruly dark hair, and patches of mottled scarred flesh beneath his sharp turquoise eyes and covering the lower half of his face disappearing down his neck into his jacket. "Could I please have my phone back?" I asked in as calm a voice as I could muster as I shakily got to my feet.

"That might be a little problematic for us, Princess." He smirked.

"H-Huh?" I took a step away from him as I spotted a terrifying monster that looked similar to the monster that had been fighting with Dad during that attack on the USJ. My gaze flicked to his other companions and I mentally kicked myself for not noticing them before. There was another man wearing a black and white bodysuit that had his face entirely concealed and a third man wearing a feathered top hat, a yellow jacket and a black and white mask that covered his face.

"Aw, she's so sweet, we should just let her go." The man in the black and white bodysuit said before his voice shifted slightly, "grab her, now!" It seemed like he was at war with himself.

The monstrous creature lumbered toward me. A squeak of terror escaped me and my quirk activated reflexively sending the creature flying backward. "S-sorry." I flinched as I heard Bakugo's voice in the back of my mind yelling at me for apologizing to monsters.

"Who else did we need to capture again?" The man in the top hat asked curiously as he moved toward me.

"That kid with the explosion quirk." The man with my phone shrugged.

Bakugo!

"No!" I yelled before I could stop myself and my quirk went berserk hurling them all away from me.

I turned and sprinted away. I had to find one of the heroes and let them know we had intruders and they were after Bakugo! I tripped on my way down the hill and tumbled part of the way down skinning my elbow pretty badly, but I didn't let it slow me down and used the momentum from my fall to roll back to my feet and keep running. I'd been so lost in my phone trying to find a signal to call Dad, I had no idea how far from base camp I'd managed to wander.

Something thundered through the forest behind me and I chanced a glance over my shoulder. The monstrous Nomu creature was hot on my heels. I screamed in terror and pushed myself to run faster. Brambles and branches extended toward me trying to claw at me and trip me on my way. I had to find someone! I spotted some fallen branches as I ran and tried to focus on them and make them fly at the creature chasing after me in hope of slowing it down. It let out a roar behind me as I hit my mark. The sound of wood splintering was not reassuring, it hadn't slowed it down at all!

I chanced a glance behind me to see if it was gaining on me. A tree branch scraped the side of my cheek as I turned my head. I spotted a fallen tree just off the path I was running blindly down. Using my quirk, I managed to lift it and tried to block the Nomu's path as I kept running. It gave me a small head start but it wasn't going to be enough. The Nomu was faster than I was.

I saw my path open up onto another path and ran as fast as I could, that one surely led to camp or at least one of the heroes! An upturned root caught my ankle just as I was about to reach the path and I fell flat on my face with a shriek.

A moment later, strong hands were gripping me by the arms and I was being pulled to my feet. I felt my heart stutter in my chest as I spotted a very confused Bakugo and Todoroki. My eyes locked on Bakugo, "you have to run! They're after you!"

Bakugo and Todoroki exchanged curious looks and glanced behind me before shooting me worried looks. I turned and felt the color drain from my face, the Nomu was nowhere in sight. I hurriedly scanned the dark forest all around us. Was it lying in wait somewhere or had it been summoned for some other task?

My legs turned to jelly from my mad dash through the dark forest and my trek up and tumble down the hill. Bakugo reflexively caught me and swept me off my feet.

"You weren't even participating and you went and freaked yourself out and got hurt." He grumbled though I couldn't detect any annoyance in his voice, like usual.

Before I could protest and explain the danger, we were all in, I felt a shiver run down my spine as Mandalay's quirk projected her voice into our minds. Two villains attacked us. It's possible there are more coming. Everyone, return to camp immediately! We're regrouping. Do not engage any enemies.

There were even more villains!

Thick plumes of black smoke rose up from the trees in the direction I had come from. Did one of those men have some kind of fire quirk? My gaze flicked in the opposite direction and I saw what looked like a cloud of some kind of dark purple gaseous substance.

"Over there." I pointed to the thick fog of poisonous looking gas as I spotted a boy from class 1B running toward us trying to escape the fog. He took in a big gulp of air and I saw the light fade from his eyes. "No!" I reached for the boy and managed to catch him with my quirk before he could fall. His unconscious form floated toward us.

"Don't breathe, idiot!" Bakugo growled at me.

"I'll take him, Amy." Todoroki offered as the unconscious boy got within reach.

"O-okay."

We all held our breath and tried to move away from the poisonous gas. "There must be some sort of gas villain out here." Todoroki commented, "I'm worried about the others who're still in the forest, but I don't see that there's much we can do now. Hopefully Ragdoll can take care of everyone else."

I felt a slight vibration in Bakugo as he let out a growl, "Don't tell me what to do icy-." He cut off and his eyes went wide as he looked up the path ahead. I turned my head to see what had made them both pause. "Don't look." Bakugo hissed at me under his breath before looking to Todoroki, "which group was in front of us again?"

"Tokoyami, I think, and Shoji." Todoroki responded quietly.

"So pretty." I heard an eerie voice sound from up the path. A shiver rolled down my spine and I couldn't help but turn my head to look. I felt my blood run cold as I saw what appeared to be a severed hand laying on the path ahead in a pool of blood. A man in a black leather body suit was kneeling next to it, admiring it. My stomach churned and I was overcome with panic and worry. Who's hand was it? How badly hurt were they?!

"I told you not to look, dumbass." Bakugo hissed at me as I trembled in his arms, horrified by the sight.

"No, have to work. Can't." The eerie man spoke again. "But it's so delicious, beautiful flesh."

I felt like I was going to be sick.

He continued raving to himself, "don't tempt me. I have a job to do." He turned in our direction and I was overcome with terror. I clung to Bakugo. He was trembling but I knew he wasn't scared. His grip around me tightened. My quirk was starting to spiral out of control. The trees around us groaned in protest as they were being pulled free from the ground by my quirk.

"No fighting, is that the rule?" Bakugo asked Todoroki, I could picture a wicked smile on his lips and knew he was just itching for a fight. That's why he was trembling!

Todoroki looked to me, "we have to keep Amy calm."

Bakugo smirked, "let her go crazy and blast this jerk to space."

"Don't you think she'd be a little upset if she accidentally launched one of us or our classmates with him." Todoroki responded sensibly.

"Haven't you realized, neither of us are levitating?" Bakugo shot back.

A chill ran down my spine as another message came in from Mandalay's telepathy, everyone in Class A and Class B. In the name of the pro hero, Eraserhead, you are granted permission to engage in combat. I repeat. Use your training, you may fight these villains.

Before I could recover from the message another one penetrated my mind sending another shiver down my spine, listen, we've discovered two of the villains' targets. Two students named Kacchan and Amy. Kacchan and Amy, you two should try to avoid combat and stick to a group. I hope you can hear me!

Todoroki looked to Bakugo and I. His mismatched gaze swept over the various cuts, scrapes and bruises lining my arms and legs and his lips pulled into a frown. "We need to get you and Amy back to camp."

"Then take her." Bakugo growled before gently dumping me on the ground at Todoroki's feet. He turned and raced toward the eerie man in the leather suit. "I can take care of myself!"

"Bakugo!" I panicked as strange blades extended from the villain and snaked through the air toward him. Reflexively, I cast out my hands. The trees nearby groaned and several of them flew in front of Bakugo taking the impact of the eerie villain's strange quirk.

"Don't rush into this fight carelessly!" Todoroki snapped as he activated his quirk and created a wall of ice in front of Bakugo as the villain managed to cut through the trees.

The network of blade branches stopped moving. The creepy villain was hovering up in the air, suspended by the network of blades that appeared to be extending from his mouth. He began raving again, "have to keep going...have to work...do my job..." his voice was terrifying it had an eerie rasp to it that was definitely going to give me nightmares. He let out a strange warbled cry that caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end. He was dangerous!

"Weren't you listening to Mandalay?!" Todoroki snapped at Bakugo, "they're here because they're after you and Amy."

"Telling us not to engage, then changing their minds." Bakugo scoffed, "I don't know how, but I get the feeling this is Deku's fault." He growled to himself before leaping away from the protective barriers Todoroki and I had put in front of him, "well, I don't care what anyone says!"

The network of blades continued to grow and more leaped toward him once he revealed his position. In the back of my mind I saw him getting torn to shreds by the blades and screamed at the mental imagery. "NO!" I cast out my hands. "Don't hurt my friends!" Tears streaked down my cheeks as I desperately willed Bakugo to be safe.

The ground around me splintered as if massive talons had raked across it. There was a groan as the metal blades branching toward Bakugo met some invisible force and began to crunch inward. The creepy villain swung his body and managed to contract the network of blades back to him. They zipped back, like a tape measure. Todoroki put himself between me and the villain and activated his ice quirk again creating a protective wall of ice around all of us. The villain didn't seem the least bit hindered and used his quirk to make his blades hit the ground acting like a pole vault to propel him up and away. He disappeared in the trees.

"Damn it!" Todoroki swore, "he's good at moving through this terrain with his quirk."

"I told you not to save me anymore, crybaby!" Bakugo snapped at me before he shot a scowl in the direction the villain disappeared, "this freak looks like a scrawny little sidekick to me. C'mon ya bastard!" He roared trying to goad the scary villain into a fight.

I let out a yelp as the eerie villain rose above the trees being lifted up by his network of tape measure like blades. I was scared, more scared than I'd been at the bank robbery. I wished my Dad were here to save us.

"Stop yelling at her." Todoroki actually sounded angry.

"Show me." The villain wheezed in his horrifying raspy voice, "show me your exquisite flesh." Though his face was completely covered I felt a chill run down my spine as if he'd suddenly turned his focus on me.

Bakugo looked to me before preparing to blast the villain. Todoroki acted as the voice of reason and stopped him, "we can't start fires around here because the flames will spread. Everyone could die if we aren't careful. Do you understand me?"

"Yeah! I get it! I'm not stupid!" Bakugo bristled with rage and darted back toward me. "Get on my back, hurry the hell up!" He barked and I let out a panicked squeak.