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Chapter 26: The Worried Strategist
🕑 Added 2025-09-26 05:07:37 +0000 UTCThe metal platform, now an island of victory, dripped with saltwater. Around it, the aquatic villains floated unconscious or were trapped in nets and wooden cages created in the heat of battle. Steam rose from Momo's body, a mist of spent power that mingled with the cold air. She stood tall, confusion and euphoria warring across her face. But the energy from Izuku's "Enhancer" still vibrated under her skin, a warm hum that kept her standing, alert, powerful.
Her first action wasn't to celebrate, but to cover herself. Instinctively, she brought a hand to the deep V-neck of her suit, a deep blush spreading across her cheeks as she remembered the catalyst for her newfound power.
"Midoriya," she said, her voice trembling but firm, without looking at him. "What just happened…"
"I know," Izuku interrupted her gently. "It was… a desperate measure."
"It was a violation of my person," she replied, her gray eyes finally meeting his. There was shame in them, but also a strange, undeniable gratitude. "And it was also the reason we're alive."
She took a deep breath, her analytical mind overriding the humiliation. "I need you to promise me something. That this… the kiss, the… contact… will be our secret. An absolute emergency measure, never to be used again unless the alternative is certain death. Do you understand?"
Izuku stepped closer, his own eyes filled with an overwhelming sincerity. He took her hands gently; hers were still shaking slightly. "Yaoyorozu, I swear on my life and on my dream of being a hero. Your secret is safe with me. I would never, ever do something like that again without your explicit consent and an apocalyptic-level threat. I'm sorry I put you in that situation. I'm sorry my Quirk is… so invasive."
The way he said it, the honesty in his voice, disarmed her. She nodded, looking away. "I accept your apology."
Her gaze then fell on his arm, on the deep, bleeding gash the shark villain had inflicted. Her pragmatism instantly pushed past her shame. "Your arm. You're hurt."
"It's nothing. It'll heal."
"Not right now," she said, her tone becoming professional, almost clinical.
She let go of Izuku's hands and, thanks to the enhanced state still coursing through her veins, her Quirk responded instantly. The skin on her forearm glowed, and from it, she created not a simple bandage, but a high-tech dermal applicator, a small device that hummed with a blue light.
"Stay still," she ordered.
With a surgeon's precision, she passed the applicator over Izuku's cut. A cold, transparent gel covered the wound, instantly sealing it and numbing the pain. Her hands, though precise, trembled slightly, betraying the storm of emotions still swirling inside her.
"Thank you, Yaoyorozu," Izuku said, amazed by the device's complexity.
Once he was healed, the urgency of their situation fell upon them again. Izuku looked around, toward the distant shores of the Shipwreck Zone and beyond, toward the central plaza. "We have to get out of here," he said, his voice tense. "We have to find Uraraka. The others."
Momo nodded, her determination now crystal clear, her shame tucked away for another time. "I agree." She looked at the platform they were on. "But we can't stay here. And swimming is too slow."
She placed both hands on the metal surface. The platform rippled and reconfigured. In a matter of seconds, it had transformed into a small motorized raft, with a simple rudder and a propeller at the back.
"Get on," she said. "Our mission is to find our friend."
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the USJ, the situation was hell. Aizawa-sensei, who had seemed like a god of war moments before, was being brutally subdued by a monstrous, exposed-brain creature—a being All Might would later call a "Nomu." Every blow the hero landed was useless, and every counterattack from the monster was devastating.
"We have to do something!" Sato shouted, his face pale with horror.
"Our duty is to run for help!" Iida insisted, his voice tight with panic but clinging to the rules. "Those were Aizawa-sensei's orders! Trusting him and completing the mission is the best help we can offer!"
But Ochako wasn't listening. Her gaze was fixed on the swirling portal of mist that was slowly dissipating. She had seen Izuku and Momo get swallowed by it.
"No!" she exclaimed, her voice so sharp and hard it made Iida fall silent. "Look at Aizawa-sensei! That thing is going to kill him! And I don't know where Deku and Yaomomo are! They were absorbed by that portal! I'm not abandoning them in a place like this!"
She turned to the small group of students who hadn't been scattered. Her face, normally sweet and cheerful, was now a mask of concentration and a cold fury born of worry.
"We can't beat that monster over there," she said, pointing to the Nomu. "But we're not useless. There are dozens of minor villains scattered all over the place. We can neutralize them. We can look for our friends. It's what Deku would do! He wouldn't choose between option A or B; he'd find a third option!"
Her confidence, the same that Izuku had instilled in her, was now contagious.
"Listen to me!" she commanded. "Iida, Sato, you're our defense. You're the strongest physically. Protect us from any direct attacks. Tsuyu, you're our scout. Use your agility to stay on the flanks and warn us of any danger. Ojiro, Sero, you're our crowd control. The rest of you, stay behind us and be alert! We're going to find our classmates!"
The group, surprised by her sudden leadership but desperate for a plan, nodded. They moved as a unit, heading into the Ruins Zone.
It didn't take them long to find trouble. A group of five villains with earth- and rock-related Quirks ambushed them from behind a collapsed wall. "Well, well, look what we have here! Some lost little birds!"
Ochako didn't order a frontal assault. Her mind was working like Izuku's, analyzing the environment. She saw a large, unstable wall of a ruined building, right above the villains' position. "Iida, Sato, keep them busy! Don't let them advance!"
While the two strongest boys engaged the villains, Ochako ran to the base of the building. She placed her palm against the cracked concrete. "Now…" she whispered to herself.
She made the entire wall—tons of concrete and steel—weightless. "Sato, now!" she yelled. "Hit that pillar on the left! With all your strength!"
Sato, having eaten some of the sugar he always carried, roared and struck the support pillar. The concrete cracked and gave way. The weightless wall tilted precariously.
And then, Ochako pressed her fingertips together. "Release!"
Gravity returned with a vengeful fury. The wall came down with a thunderous crash, not on top of the villains, but right in front of them, trapping them in a dead-end of rubble.
Deku, please be okay, she thought, her heart pounding with adrenaline and fear. Momo, you too. I'm coming.
They pushed forward, their small rescue team fighting its way through the chaos. In the next area, the Mountain Zone, they faced a new problem: three villains with projectile Quirks—one shot bone darts, another spat acid—had entrenched themselves in a high position, raining down attacks.
"We can't reach them!" Sero shouted, dodging a jet of acid that sizzled on the ground.
Ochako looked around. There were no walls to bring down. But there were rocks. Hundreds of loose rocks on the mountainside. A grim smile touched her lips. The smile of someone who had practiced.
"Iida, I need a distraction! Run along the base of the hill! Get their attention!"
"Understood!" Iida shouted, and took off, his engines roaring, becoming a fast, noisy target that drew the villains' fire.
While the projectiles focused on Iida, Ochako ran along the slope, touching every loose rock she could find. Dozens of them began to float silently into the air, creating a suspended minefield.
"Now!" she whispered, and with the same command Izuku had taught her, she screamed, "RELEASE ALL!"
It wasn't a shower of rocks. It was an avalanche. Dozens of boulders of different sizes fell at once, dragging more dirt and stones with them, creating a torrent of destruction that swept over the villains' elevated position. Cries of panic were heard as they were swallowed by the landslide.
Thank you, Deku, she thought, feeling a deep wave of gratitude. You taught me my power isn't just for floating. It's for controlling.
While Ochako led her team with tactical brilliance, other battles raged across the USJ.
In the Collapse Zone, the combat was anything but subtle. Bakugo and Kirishima were a force of nature: a whirlwind of explosions and hardening, a loud and destructive chaos, but undeniably effective. Every villain who stood in their way was either crushed or blown away.
In the Landslide Zone, the battle was the opposite. Silent. Chilling. Shoto Todoroki walked calmly through the landscape, leaving a trail of ice statues in his wake. Villains frozen in postures of terror, panic still etched on their faces. There was no struggle. No effort. Just a display of power so overwhelming it was inhuman.
Ochako's team had managed to clear a path back toward the central plaza. They were exhausted, but they had neutralized over a dozen minor villains without a single scratch.
At the same time, Momo's small motorized raft reached the shore. Izuku leaped onto solid ground, then turned to help her down.
And then, through the chaos, the smoke, and the distant screams, their eyes met. Two groups, separated by the mist, now saw each other across the battlefield.
"OCHAKO!!" Izuku's shout was a roar of pure relief.
"DEKU!!" she answered, and the sound of her voice, unharmed, was the sweetest music Izuku had ever heard.
And the facade crumbled.
Ochako, the calm and tactical leader, the worried strategist, disappeared. In her place was just a terrified girl who had found her friends. She ran. She ran across the plaza, not caring about the remaining villains, not caring about the danger.
Her face, which had been a mask of concentration and resolve, finally broke. The tears she had been holding back with superhuman willpower burst forth, tracing clean paths down her dust-stained cheeks.
She didn't stop. She crashed into Izuku with the force of a comet, wrapping him in a desperate hug, sobbing from pure, overwhelming relief against his chest.
"I was so worried!" she sobbed, her voice muffled by tears. "I saw you disappear into that portal and I thought you were hurt, or worse! I thought I'd lost you!"
Before Momo, who was watching the scene with a mix of surprise and a strange pang of envy, could react, Ochako grabbed her arm and pulled her in, trapping the three of them in a tight, desperately emotional group hug.
The trio, the strange and dysfunctional training team, was reunited in an embrace of relief and friendship in the middle of a battlefield.
But their moment of peace was brutally interrupted. In the background, the crunch of bone and a choked cry of pain served as a grim reminder that the true crisis wasn't over yet: Aizawa's fight against the Nomu.
