I'm back! Just one think to take note, I tweaked the names of Siren's attack because I feel its better in the long run. Other than that, it's now midway into the Training Camp Arc!

Before we start the chapter, on to reviews!

Guest: I'm not planning to cancel this story, so don't worry yet.

Harry Marcelo: Welcome to the story and thanks for the kind words. Hope you continue watching Shepherd's journey.

CREED6: Shepherd is calmer now thanks to his past self being suppressed. You can say that over time, the personality known as 'Shepherd' is getting more control.

Zasshu Fahahahahaha: Thanks for the review, and to answer that, Shepherd is just a lost boy who is trying his best to survive. He's not an op villain, nor is he smart with a goal to overthrow hero society. His actions and actions are just a way to escape his 'weak' past. His fights may seem repetitive but his trauma plays a huge part in this story.

J Nation14: Thanks for the comment! Hope I used Twice's quirk correctly.

ocomhdhain1: I got inspiration from that scene as well. Shepherd's fighting style is kind of a mix between Gaara and Akutagawa from Bungou Stray Dogs.

Now onwards!

Chapter 14: The Reasons We Fight

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=[Flashback]=

"Bakugo?" Hakazuka's voice echoed behind him.

Bakugo turned to see Hakazuka behind him. The weird thing was…he was wearing his Aldera School uniform, a few years younger than Katsuki's current age. The young boy had a cheery but nervous smile, a concerned look on his face. He remembered him now…

He was always with Deku. He was someone who always needed protecting, someone who always needed help and looking after. He was so quiet that Katsuki never knew what he was thinking, much less his problems with bullying. He always hated that part of that guy…always putting on a smile in spite of his pain…never fighting back. It has always been this way…and it creeped him out. He was disgusted by Hakazuka's attitude, always taking the hits but never hitting back. Forget about not having a quirk, Bakugo knew the boy wouldn't last long with his submissive attitude.

"Bakugo?" the rust-colored teen repeated with a smile. "What's wrong?"

Smacking his hand away, Bakugo heard himself shout. "Get lost! That pathetic attitude of yours pisses me off…you useless crybaby!"

The scenery melted away and suddenly he was in their previous school's classroom. Hakazuka was standing in front of him, bruised and battered from all his years of being preyed upon. He'd heard himself speak again, "Even Deku got his smarts, while you are just plain pathetic! You guys want to be heroes so bad? I got a time-saving idea for both of you, better hope to be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan-dive off the roof!"

That's not what I meant, he thought in horror, I didn't mean it. You were supposed to fight back goddammit! But for some reason, he couldn't speak. Hakazuka looked up at him, a dead look now in his eyes , ones filled with hopelessness and despair.

"You're right Bakugo," he muttered. "I should just die right now. I'm just a weakling through and through…always relying on others…useless."

There was a loud scream and a crash. Bakugo found himself standing outside, heavy rain cascading upon him. Hakazuka's bloody, mangled body laid motionless on the wet ground, crimson liquid blossoming into red flower-patterns. Bakugo's own feet were drenched in blood. Bakugo's hands shook, his heart hammered against his chest, before reason returned to his mind and he shouted.

"Fuck! Fuck! You weren't supposed to do that you idiot! Who in the right mind will be this desperate?!" Katsuki attempted to wake Hakazuka up, but all he felt was cold death. "Even if you're quirkless…!"

"Oh but he won't," a deep voice caused Bakugo's head to jolt upwards, seeing a towering man looming over Hakazuka. "By the time I'm done with him, he will be far from quirkless." A twisted smile caused Bakugo to back off by pure instinct, the mysterious man looking at him like a snake coiling around its prey. "Young man…thank you."

A scream erupted from Bakugo before he finally woke up.

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=[Training Camp Forest, with Bakugo and Todoroki]=

Two purple eyes stared intently towards Bakugo's.

The face was much older than the one he had in his memories of Aldera Junior High but there was no mistaking him. He was dressed similarly than the last time they'd crossed paths in the USJ, the new iron mask he was wearing now resembling a demonic beast's jaw. His white hair gleaming under the moonlight, an unreadable expression on his face as he surveyed the two class A students.

"This is bullshit…," Katsuki said, his voice breaking the silence, "It can't be you. You can't possibly be him...!"

"...I have no idea what you're talking about." Shepherd spoke out, his voice shockingly familiar to Bakugo's ears. "Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of dealing with your nonsense right now."

"Bakugo…" Todoroki said, his ice at the ready, "I know what you're thinking…but this isn't the time to fight."

For once, Bakugo didn't have the heart to snap back with his usual explosive remarks for retreating…that just showed how shocked he was just looking at him. If it was any other villain he would have charged straight in, but the words of Deku just echoed within him. The villain's voice was exactly the same as the quirkless boy who used to cry over the smallest things and was too weak to defend himself…but it had gotten so much colder. This boy who died because of his words…because of the actions of those two goons who followed him around…he died…and was nothing more than a lingering memory.

Or at least that was how it was supposed to be.

"...You can come with me willingly or delay the inevitable by sacrificing more of your friends," Shepherd thundered as he stalked towards Bakugo and Todoroki. "I don't really care which."

"Eat shit," Katsuki snarled, bristling in a mixture of rage and utter fear. Unlike their encounter during the USJ, this villain appeared to be much calmer than before. One thing that perplexed Bakugo as well was way Shepherd was addressing him; like it was their first time meeting each other but Bakugo knew it wasn't the time for ask why.

"Don't fight recklessly!" Todoroki called out after Bakugo. "If what he said was true, then the villain's true objective tonight is just you! The most important thing now is to regroup and join up with the teachers!"

Todoroki glanced at Shepherd warily. He didn't know if he could convince someone as prideful as Bakugo to retreat, but the reality of the situation didn't give him much of a choice. If Bakugo wanted to fight, he would have to stay and protect him.

"...Stay back." Shepherd warned, his purple eyes darkening. "...Or I'll kill you."

His sludge morphed into sharpened tendrils and Bakugo realized he was about to do, "Todoroki! Dodge!" Bakugo yelled, and both boys leapt to the side as a barrage of sludge tendrils lashed forward; the former landing on a tree with an explosion-propelled jump. Todoroki on the other hand, stomped his foot and intercepted Shepherd's secondary toxic barrage with a giant wall of ice, and much to Shepherd's surprise, the sludge formed cracks in his defense but the wall of ice remained resilient.

"...That's good, fight to the very end." Shepherd said while smiling a little at Todoroki's tenacity. "It makes me agreeing to be part of this mission all the more worthwhile."

As Shepherd took another step, his feet were suddenly encased in ice thanks to Todoroki rapidly freezing the ground. "Get him now!"

Bakugo didn't need any further encouragement. As Todoroki switched his arm to blast off a helix of flames, the [Explosion] quirk user leapt off the tree, shooting himself in a spinning vortex of explosions, almost point-blank with Shepherd. The white-haired boy cursed as he created a shield to prevent the fire from engulfing him completely. Todoroki extinguished the flames, and Shepherd looked up as Bakugo plunged his arms through the toxic sludge guard and pointed both palms at Shepherd's masked face, grinning devilishly.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!" Bakugo let loose with everything he had, and Shepherd's entire figure disappeared in a ball of smoke and fire. Not planning to do a half-assed job, Bakugo blasted away again and again, careful not to cause damage to the nearby surroundings while his explosions resounded like thunder. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" He however sensed sudden motion, and leapt back using his explosion to propel himself back to where Todoroki was standing.

The smoke cleared to reveal Shepherd stepping forward, half of his mask shattered and a horrible burns on his face and partially melted skin, but they were soon patched up with new skin and steamed as his wounds healed. He glared pointedly at the two boys. "…if you want to kill me, I suggest you do it seriously."

"Just like those monsters in Hosu and the USJ…," Todoroki clicked his tongue. "Regeneration…!"

"Like hell that's going to stop us!" Bakugo snarled, using his explosions to lift himself into the air. "All-Might managed to beat one, and we can do the same!"

"I really don't like to be compared to those disgusting abominations," Shepherd growled, morphing his sludge into a whip and sent Bakugo crashing to the trees before he could react. "But enough of that; one thing's for sure," he turned his attention to Shoto. "...I have to get rid of you first."

Shoto snapped his neck towards where Shepherd's sludge was snaking towards him, their hardened edges gleaming maliciously in the moonlight. Immediately, Shoto fired up his left arm and aimed it towards the black ooze, shielding himself from the black ooze. However, just as he did so, even more sludge tendrils locked on to him from another direction.

Realizing he was better off sticking with the ice-aspect of his [Half-cold, Half-hot] quirk, Shoto instinctively extinguished the flames on his arm and activated his ice, freezing the attacking sludge solid and shattering them. Not wasting a single second, he shifted his right foot to send a glacial of ice in an attempt to encase Shepherd in ice – but Shepherd gave a rare smirk as he tensed his arm and swung his hand upwards. A wave of sludge tore through the ground like a crescent scythe and destroyed the giant block of surging ice from the underside, splitting it into two clean halves. "Schwarzer Halbmond! (Black fanged crescent)"

"What the hell?" whispered Shoto.

Suddenly, the [Toxic Sludge] villain was upon him; dashing in through his ice while Todoroki was momentarily distracted. For the next few seconds, Shoto tried to fend off the white-haired boy using whatever martial arts knowledge he'd picked up from Bakugo and Midoriya's sparring sessions, but his over-reliance on his quirk led to his eventual downfall. Eventually, Shepherd dished out a sludge-enhanced fist and slammed Shoto to the ground.

"…Not bad, you almost got me there. But your close-combat sucks," Shepherd scoffed, before Todoroki passed out with poisonous wounds.

"Icy-hot!" Bakugo yelled out. Among the remains of the ice construct, laid an unmoving Todoroki covered in bruises and Shepherd's toxins. Bakugo could hear him grunting in pain, which meant that he was still alive.

"…I'm going to ask for the final time. Come with me quietly."

"Fat chance," Bakugo responded, fury building in his chest. "I'm going to take you down, so that a little shit like you won't bother anyone else again!"

Propelling himself towards the air above Shepherd, he positioned himself for his attack with the villain as his sole target. His quirk specializes in both offense and defense, and he has that annoying regeneration, he knew, but it doesn't matter. If he turned out like this because of me, then I have the responsibility of taking him down here and now. As he reached the peak of what his [Explosion] could take him into the skies, he could see parts of the training camp forest burning, as well as a strange music permeating through the air from a different direction, small skirmishes occurring everywhere. Screw not engaging combat, if we don't take the initiative, more of us are going to die.

"I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU MYSELF YOU HEAR ME?!"

Why do you want to be a hero?

Everyone has asked him that, ever since he wanted to become one. To win…to win like All-Might, he told them. Because heroes always win. He'd never forgotten how others have belittled him for that, saying that something like that will never be attained. He'd show them, he will be the best, no one will dare look down on him. He had the power to do so.

"The one who's going to get killed, is YOU ASSHOLE!" Katsuki charged at him with his palm peppering with explosions, "Don't underestimate heroes!"

"...I have enough." A long tendril of sludge snaked past Bakugo, grabbing Todoroki's body from the ground and swung it towards the [Explosion] user, causing Bakugo to be surprised and shut off his quirk by reflex. "...you students aren't heroes-in-training for nothing. How predictable..." The body crashed into Bakugo's, and both boys were smashed to the ground. Bakugo wheezed as Shepherd stood before his battered figure.

Move! Bakugo commanded himself desperately. Don't be a burden to everyone! His body groaned and obeyed his will despite the pain, and a palm blistering with sparks blasted into Shepherd's torso. He hit hard, splattering blood and smoke everywhere. He felt dirty, like he'd just killed the boy twice, but he panted as he waited for the villain to fall.

A sludge tendril lashed out, flinging Bakugo to the rough ground. His bones cracked against the earth, and a black spear pierced his shoulder, and Bakugo knew he'd heard a 'pop'. He screamed in pain as he hung limply by Shepherd's flexible, toxic quirk. Shepherd remained unfazed despite the burning wound in his chest and the blood dribbling from his lips.

He held Bakugo there with his [Toxic Sludge], waiting for the boy's angry cries to diminish into hissed gurgles. "Listen here," he said in a low voice as a strand of sludge wound around the shoulder, curling and tightening around Bakugo's inflicted wound to form a makeshift bandage. "If you make this annoying for me, I'll take your arm away. I rather have you in one piece so that the man-child wouldn't hound me later on." Shepherd willed the toxins circulating in Bakugo's body to be absorbed back to its original owner, saving him the agonizing pain. "This night will end sooner if you'll just come along quietly, understand?" Bakugo didn't answer, his teeth too tightly clenched. Shepherd just sighed and hovered his body behind him as he made his way deeper into the forest.

Bakugo swallowed his pain as he was helplessly dragged further from everyone. The area near his shoulder was pierced, and he could hardly move his right arm. His heart was pounding painfully against his ribs as he struggled against his binds. 'I will be a hero…I will not let myself be captured in such a pathetic way…' Bakugo thought, putting all his energy into his remaining good arm. 'His regeneration is annoying…I have to knock him out in one blow…but my strength…!' Bakugo knew Shepherd wouldn't hesitate to cut a limb, and Bakugo couldn't risk losing his arms. They were essential to his future as a hero. The risks were too great.

A defiant roar tore at his throat, but a dark tendril of sludge covered his mouth, effectively silencing him. "…I did warn you," the [Toxic Sludge] user said. Bakugo's eyes widened with horror as Shepherd's bladed tendrils edged towards his arm, but the latter must have changed his mind about amputating a limb. He morphed a giant sludge fist and rammed it in Bakugo's solar plexus.

For the second time that day, the air got knocked out of Bakugo's lungs and caused black spots to appear in his vision. "D-Damn it…!" He'd heard something crack, and finally lost consciousness. He felt himself falling to the ground before tendrils of sludge gently wrapped around his form and held his unconscious form above Shepherd like a bind.

"Attention all Vanguard Action Squad members, the priority target has been secured. Playtime is over, we're going home." Shepherd talked through the ear transmitter and it was the last thing Bakugo remembered before passing out.

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=[Training Camp Forest. With Kendo & Tetsutetsu]=

"You villain!" Kendo shouted. "What've you done to Shiozaki and Honenuki?!" While she stared down at Siren and her new 'companions', Tetsutetsu had gotten back up unsteadily while clutching his head in pain.

Walking over to her, Siren remained let a small smile grace her lips, knowing that Kendo and her classmate wanted to attack her, but was unable to do so thanks to her bodyguards. "What's the matter? Can't bear to attack your fellow friends?"

Tetsutetsu had enough. He moved with a renewed rage few had seen within his class and charged at the entranced Honenuki. "I don't know what the hell you did to them but I'll knock them out of your control!" he shouted as he readied a steel fist promising hurt, but Honenuki moved with surprising speed to intercept Tetsutetsu's attack while Siren continued to resound her melody, his own fist crashing against Tetsutetsu's jaw in a cross-counter. "How can Honenuki punch like that?" Kendo questioned. "He's below Tetsutetsu in terms of raw power!"

"My quirk allows me to produce sound waves that affect the human brain through their auditory nerves…allowing me to manipulate and distort their five senses and emotions. I can give someone something as small as a simple headache…to a realistic hallucination." Siren intoned. "See just how hard they're fighting? They truly think they are fighting villains, isn't that just touching?" she asked, gesturing to the way Shiozaki and Honezuki were standing protectively by her side. "As long as my music is active, they will fight to their last breath."

"So the only way to stop you is that flute of yours." Kendo boldly declared. "Thanks for giving up that information so easily."

"Stop me? I suggest you worry about saving yourselves first." Shizune mocked as she looked at the orange-head. "Once I destroy those ear defenders of yours, I will have you join us as puppets."

Kendo frowned as she saw the flute hovering just below Siren's lips. "You think we're going to give you a chance to play that accursed music of yours?"

"Why not? If you hate listening to my music so much, we can jump straight into action." Siren told the orange-head. "You two, let's show them just how powerful you heroes really are, shall we?" The students flinched when their two entranced classmates glared a dangerous look in their direction. "Go!"

Tetsutetsu braced himself as Honenuki trudged forward. "Oi Honenuki!" he shouted as the [Softening] quirk user charged at him. "You can't do this! You're fighting your friends you know that?!"

"Grrr…graghh!"

Tetsutetsu was forced to dodge his classmate's wild blows and swings as he assaulted him, the latter softening the ground into quicksand to try retraining the [Steel] quirk, but he managed to jump back safety. However as Tetsutetsu turned around, he was horrified to see a massive bramble of green branches rammed him in the gut, making him cough as he was sent tumbling down. "S-Shiozaki…!"

"Your friends have retained their thoughts…their anger…their desire to save their friends. The only thing is now, what they are seeing in their eyes are a little twisted…thanks to my [Psychosis]. Their quirks and battle prowess, are now mine to command." Siren took a long inhale before she played another verse. "As expected of the students from the prestigious course of UA; you all make such wonderful puppets. Go on Shiozaki," she called out. "The faster you take out the enemy, the faster you can save your 'friends'." She said with a commanding tone.

"Must…must…eradicate!" went Shiozaki with absolute anger in her eyes, glowing purple as her plant-like hair extensions hovered in the air. "Via Dolorosa!"

Kendo stared at the girl's complete change in attitude from her usual humbleness with shock, as Shiozaki's vines covered the forest ground in all directions. Kendo knew this move; it was Shiozaki's attack for ensnaring her opponents in all directions with a wide range. She jumped over the vines and smacked her enlarged palm at Shiozaki's belly. She wanted to give a blow powerful enough to knock her out but instead she turned back and lashed out her vines in all directions, sending Kendo flying to the ground. "What? But how could-?" Then she heard it through her ear defenders: music.

Standing a considerable distance away, Siren played another melody from her flute. "You'll have to do more than that of you wish to stop her."

Kendo stood up and wiped the dirt off her cheek, before taking a martial arts stance. "If you think your song is enough to defeat us, you are solely mistaken. We know our classmates' quirks inside out, me and Tetsutetsu are more than enough to take them down."

"Is that so? Then how about a change in tune?" Siren's fingers danced across her flute, sending another deadly melody towards Shiozaki and Honenuki.

"Psycho Flute: Warsong Performance."

Both of the students screamed in fury simultaneously and the purple glow in their eyes intensified further. Then, they charged towards Kendo and Tetsutetsu, fighting back with explosive strength.

Both of them stumble backwards as their entranced classmates were pushing them back with a crazed intensity. "What's happening?!" Kendo gasped as she struggled to remain on her feet.

Shizune eye's danced with a malevolent light as she played her song of empowerment. "My flute allows my quirk to be utilized in a variety of effects. While I can bring pain to others, I can also heighten one's battle lust like a drug. I can even manipulate one sense of reason and turn him into a berserker." She leered down at Kendo's wounded form. "How does it feel to be attacked by someone you know so well? Does it hurt? The feeling of helplessness? Savor it well, it may be the last thing you remember before I bring you under my control." She asked as Shiozaki and Honenuki readied for another attack.

Kendo cursed internally as Shiozaki and Honenuki charged at her again, her legs feeling heavy at the thought of hurting her classmates. She got into a martial arts stance and was about to activate her quirk when she felt a silver blur rush past her. "Sorry about this! Shiozaki! Honenuki!" Tetsutetsu shouted before slamming the two entranced puppets with a devastating iron lariat with all his might, sending a stunned Honenuki flying into a tree trunk with a loud crash. Shiozaki on the other hand, tumbled on the dirt with the whites of her eyes showing, knocked out cold.

"I'm so sorry...Shiozaki."

"Wow, you aren't hero students for nothing." Kendo and Tetsutetsu's heads whipped around to see Siren walking towards them. "Such powerful and helpful quirks...you must have been beloved and doted as hero students."

Kendo and Tetsutetsu grew silent as Siren gazed at them with ire.

"It must be nice to experience happiness everyday," Shizune whispered softly, "I was just like you once...but I was forced to escape from the eyes of the public after my quirk went berserk. Sneaking in the dark day by day...I was cold...afraid...tired...I was too afraid to speak because I may accidentally trigger my quirk. I was labelled a killer...a monster...and was chased about like some disgusting abomination to be killed!"

"MOVE!" Kendo jumped back in time, just as an invisible blast of sound rippled across the field and destroyed the ear defenders she was wearing. She could feel warm blood trickling down her ears but Kendo ignored this and lunged forward with her fist swelled to the size of a boulder. "HAHHH!" Punching forward with all her might, Siren however managed to swerve to the side and evade it completely.

"Don't think mere hallucinations are the only things I can do," Bringing her flute to her lips, she blasted out another wave of undiluted sound towards her opponent.

Thinking fast, Kendo rolled on the ground and crouched low to let the blade of sound fly past her. But she still gave a silent scream, her ears pulsing painfully even without being directly hit by Siren's [Psychosis] sound attack. 'I have to get the injured out of here first!' She narrowed her eyes at Siren, before instructing Tetsutetsu over the loud music. "Tetsutetsu! Carry Shiozaki and Honenuki out of here and get back to camp, I'll handle her!"

Tetsutetsu stared at her in disbelief, "Wha-are you crazy Kendo?! I can still fight!"

"You are the only one strong enough to carry both of them back to the lodge! We don't have enough ear defenders so if they wake up now, they will fall back under the villain's control," she argued, hoping Tetsutetsu would tell the urgency of the situation, "We don't know just how many of us are attacking each other thanks to her flute! You have to get everyone out of her range and inform the teachers to find the rest of the villains, this girl is just a distraction!"

Tetsutetsu's eyes widen slightly, slightly flinching from how his class' big sister was acting. He realized this wasn't the time to argue or fight recklessly, "Got it! But don't you dare fall here Kendo!" Carrying Shiozaki under his arm and Honenuki over his shoulder, he soon made his way towards the camp.

On the other hand, Shizune made no attempt to stop them. "Are you that confident of dealing me by yourself? That arrogance will cut your life short."

"I don't know what you went through in the past," Kendo replied back, her words making Shizune narrow her eyes. "but it doesn't make it right to work with an organization that kills people for fun!" Dashing forward Kendo brought down a thunderous karate chop, but the villain sidestepped it gracefully causing the soil and dirt to dance in the air.

"It must be nice...to say those words so easily!" She declared with intensity, dishing out a powerful wave of sound with the intention of blowing Kendo away.

Kendo gritted her teeth as the blast of sound made her ears throb in pain. "Gargh-!" Once she'd regained her footing she charged once more to deliver a right hook at Siren's head.

But the villain played her instrument with more intensity and increased the volume of her flute.

"GAH!" Kendo gasped in pain, as the full force of Siren's music assaulted her eardrums. Crashing to the ground, she fell hard with blood running down her ears, "D-Dizzy…! C-Can't…concentrate…!"

"But...I was saved by him." The [Psychosis] villain simply said as she approached, "I was finally given a home. A place where the outcast of this quirk-driven society understands me. If the League falls...I will lose my home again. I will be locked away by you heroes like human filth." She played her flute, not intending to slow her tempo. "He and I will be alone...are you able to bear that pain?"

Kendo pulled herself up slowly and unsteadily, she could still stand but the world in her eyes felt like it was warping and twisting, the voice of Siren echoed eternally within her mind. "So your solution was to join a group of murderers!?" She grunted, trying to focus on the villain infront of her. Dashing forward, she attempted another powerful punch. Siren sidestepped her with gracefulness on par with a dancer's and delivering a vicious kick to Kendo's stomach, making her cough as she fell on her knees once more. "Aargh-!" Kendo cried in pain, clutching her ears as Shizune piled on the high-pitched music with her flute.

"Someone as lucky as you will never understand us," the [Psychosis] villain felt a small grin tug at her lips. "And now I shall inflict the pain I suffered upon you all." Her words caused Kendo's head to raise up despite the pain she was in, watching Siren gesturing to the entire forest they were in. "It's so unfair, isn't it? It's only right for you heroes to understand how we feel. My fear...my horrors...my pain...I'll drive every single one of those feelings into all of your friends."

"STOP IT!" Kendo roared, unleashing her gigantic hands that made Siren stumble away from the big sister of class 1-B. Kendo rose to her feet once again, charging in with reckless abandon and tried to snatch or break away Siren's flute.

"In the beginning, your friends really thought they could beat one lone girl, but their faces gradually began to twist in agony…screaming with pain as I slowly toyed with their senses. Hah…" She answered the attack by gracefully evading Kendo's strikes like a butterfly before blasting Kendo full-force with another high-pitched note. She followed up by slamming the butt of her flute against Kendo's head, breaking the skin of her scalp and causing even more blood to flow out. "Seeing them fighting their own friends like their lives depends on it…I can't get enough of it." Siren's eyes flashed with a sadistic light as her cheeks flushed.

"You…You…bitch!" Kendo bit back a furious scream, ignoring her injuries as she continued her attack, desperately trying to swipe at Siren while the latter toyed with her. "This girl is dangerous! I have to beat her before anyone else comes here!" She told herself, starting to panic as the dizzying feeling in her mind seemed to intensify, her vision twisting out of whack.

Stepping through one of Kendo's attacks, Siren swung her flute and drove it into her back making the girl collapse forward, "The melodic cries of those who labelled me a killer…those who wished me dead…I can't be satisfied without hearing it. So I'll bring you down in the most agonizing way possible."

"I was a fool…I…I-I can't beat her…!" Kendo was beginning to realize, rolling over and tried to clamp the horrible sound in her ears. Dark thought began to pollute her mind as her body lost energy. "I'm so sorry Tetsutetsu…I'm so sorry everyone!" Tears of misery and pain welled up in her eyes and spilled forth.

"Aren't you going to stop me?" Siren continued, raising her flute as she drew closer and a malicious smile on her face. "Just how long are you going to stay conscious in that state?"

"Think Kendo! Think!" The class B president mentally forced her mind into overdrive, eyes clamped shut. "There has to be something! Something to overcome her quirk! A way to counter! To break free of her music! It's so painful-!" Her eyes widened in realization, "Pain! THAT'S IT!" She eyed a certain object on the ground, "STOP!"

Siren coughed a little before she placed her flute upon her lips, "Time to scream." Kendo desperately dived towards Shizune but the latter was faster, blasting out one final deadly verse of sound.

"Psycho Flute: Harrowing Performance!"

"HnnnghhhGARGH!" Kendo cried out in pain, an agonizing feeling like drills tearing her eardrums apart as her mind was forcibly shut down. It was indescribable pain, beyond anything she'd expected out of her hero journey and her screamed echoed throughout the forest. Seeing her unmoving, battered body, Siren lowered her instrument and gazed down victoriously.

But Kendo wasn't down for the count, and she had one last trick up her sleeve.

"Ggh-!" Shizune gasped, finding her right arm being gripped with insane strength! The young hero suddenly reached up and grabbed her other arm which held the flute, "Impossible! How did you-?!" Siren exclaimed fearfully, "That last verse should have shut her down completely! She's still moving?! What happened?!"

"Finally got you," Kendo hissed through clenched teeth as blood poured from her ears, "If your hallucinations are as deadly as you say…I'll just have to feel a pain greater than that." She explained while showing a shocked Siren at her bleeding leg, the former lodging a sharp rock into her flesh and blood dripped steadily to the ground. Not wasting a single second, she tightened her grip on Siren's arm, threatening to break bone and causing the lavender-haired villain to fall on her knees. "Your control over one's senses will not work if there is a greater pain to overcome them. With you so close in my range, it's truly over." Kendo forced herself up, refusing to let Siren's arms go as she stood on her two feet.

"Gragh-!" Siren cried in pain as her arms were held down by Kendo, "Nghh-! L-Let me go!" she demanded, trying to hit Kendo with her flute, "N-No-!" she choked as Kendo mercilessly caught her other arm, wrenching the transverse flute away from her grip and snapped it into halves. "How dare you...?!"

"You may be right, I'm perhaps someone who gets to live a happy life without doing anything. I don't know anything about you, and I'm sure you have your own circumstances to why you turned out like this. But even so…" Kendo declared, shifting her foot and tensed her arm muscles. She concentrated all her remaining power into her two fist after releasing Siren's broken ones, "It's not right to drag others into your own misery!"

Siren could feel Kendo's twin fist crashing into her midriff and rapidly enlarging in form, the latter's maximum power being driven into her body. Her mask cracked as Siren despaired, "S-Shepherd…I'm so sorry…!"

"DOUBLE JUMBO FIST!"

Two giant fists erupted against Siren, a shockwave coursing through as the girl was smashed through the trees. A few of them fell to the ground while Siren's broken body skidded to a halt, the broken remains of her flute lying by her side. "ah…agh…!"

As Kendo lifted her head tiredly, she could make out the fallen figure of Siren crying. She was saying something, but her ears were ringing too loudly for her to make out the words. Just as she was about to collapse herself, shouts became audible in the distance, and suddenly she found herself in the arms of her homeroom teacher Vlad King. Eraserhead was charging in to secure the villain while Tetsutetsu appeared by her side, and her classmate's worried shouts were the last thing she could remember before she drifted into unconsciousness.

.

=[Training Camp Forest, with Todoroki]=

"Attention all students! This is a message from Eraserhead! Everyone is permitted to combat, but try to group together and make your way back to the lodge! We have intel that the villains are looking for a student! Do not wander off on your own at any cost!"

By the time Mandalay's message rang through Todoroki's mind, the boy knew it was already too late. He was suppressed by Shepherd and Bakugo was missing, and Shoto couldn't help but imagine the worst case scenario. Now he was trying to catch his breath along with Midoriya, Shoji, and Tokoyami. He'd woken up from his wounds to find a horribly injured Midoriya and Shoji crashing through the woods, with a berserk Tokoyami chasing after them. Even though Todoroki was still groggy from the previous battle, he was still able to create fire and conjured light bright enough to place [Dark Shadow] back under Tokoyami's control. Once that was settled and Tokoyami regained composure, both side quickly compared notes.

Shoji approached his partner, "Tokoyami, are you alright?"

"Sorry Shoji…I was careless. I let my anger take over and released Dark Shadow…The influence of darkness and my emotions caused him to go berserk. In the end, I lost control and ended up hurting all of you."

"We can worry about that later, first off…" the [Dupli-arm] user replied. "What was that announcement all about?"

"They are after Bakugo," Todoroki said. "I suspect he was already taken by Shepherd."

"Wait – Kacchan?!" Midoriya exclaimed

"Bakugo? Why him?" Shoji wondered in shock. "and along the way I'd heard from Midoriya that he fought Shepherd earlier!"

"That's impossible. Bakugo and I have been fighting him for the past half-hour."

"I suspect that I was fighting a clone; the villains probably have someone with a quirk which allows them to create perfect replicas." Midoriya deduced as Shoji helped him down from his back, both of the OFA successor's arms riddled with bruises and poisonous wounds from his previous battle. "But there is still time, we can still find him and take him back if we find Shepherd."

"That will be dangerous," Shoji interjected. "We don't know how many other villains are out there and we don't know for sure if Bakugo has been taken away. Maybe it would be better for us to head back to the camp. Perhaps Bakugo managed to shake off his pursuers and regrouped with everyone else."

"If that's the case, we would have heard the announcement from Mandalay," Todoroki grimaced. "Bakugo's probably still in the forest, and in the worst case, he's probably taken down."

"What do we do now? Head back to the camp and inform everyone of the villain's objective? Or do we press on and search for Bakugo?" Tokoyami asked.

"It would be too late by the time we reach the camp with our injuries. We might have the advantage if we were to try finding him while the Pros are fighting the rest of the villains," Midoriya said. "And with our current numbers we might stand a better chance."

"But your injuries," Todoroki noted with concern.

"It doesn't matter, we have to find both Shepherd and Bakugo before it's too late!"

.

=[To be Continued]=

A/N: One has succeeded, while one has failed. Write a review on what you think and see you next time!