Manifest Monsters

Part 5~The Back Story

Bakugo stopped, his eyes narrowing in the darkness. With only the torch it was hard to work out what was going on. Their footsteps fell around them, echoing and bouncing back off the walls.

"You should have run while you could." The voice bounced around them, shaking them to the core and making it hard for them to stand talk.

"I would never run from you. I will never run from you! Show yourself Deku!" Bakugo let off small sparks, his palms heating up and glowing.

"Sorry, Kacchan, Izu isn't here right now." In a second, Charlie burst through the roof and charged down on the duo, her knife primed. Tiny jumped down, stopping Iida's escape as she grabbed his foot and turned it to stuffing.

Iida let out a panicked scream as he grabbed Tiny and dropped kicked her through the wooden boarding and glass window.

"You'll regret that," she screamed as she fell down and onto the road. "Well, that was rude."

Bakugo aimed out in front of him, but it was not working. His explosion would not affect the poltergeist. Charlie swung her knife at Bakugo who barely dodged and found some of his hair being sliced away.

"Charlie, stop it this instant! You are not allowed to kill another student," All Might ordered over the coms.

"Yeah yeah. Heard you the first eight times. Come now All Mighty, you're spoiling the fun!" Charlie ran forward and jumped up, fully intent on stabbing Bakugo threw the skull.

Bakugo looked around frantically, spotting the only possible way out. He aimed the blast above him and brought down the ceiling. It wouldn't stop Charlie for long- she was a ghost- but it would give them enough time to get out.

Grabbing Iida, Bakugo dragged him away. Once they were a safe distance, he took a look at Iida's leg. "Say 'I'm sorry,'" Bakugo ordered, falling down beside Iida to catch his breath.

"Why would I do that?"

"It will return your foot to normal. I little trick I picked up along the way." Bakugo picked the wooden torches back up as Iida whispered the words and his foot returned to normal.

Iida watched as Bakugo tried to transfer the flame over to a different piece of wood, hoping to keep the basic form of light for longer. "You really were telling the truth, weren't you. It's hard to think of Midoriya as a bully. He may like horror stories but he doesn't seem the kind to focus on others at all."

"He is." Bakugo handed the torch back to Iida. "We shouldn't wait for too long. Charlie is new and I don't know how to deal with her."

Iida nodded but he couldn't help but let his eyes wander to Bakugo's wrist. He was rubbing it again.

"Where did you get the scar?"

Bakugo froze, pulling the fabric down to cover more of the skin.

"You don't have to tell me."

"It was from one of Deku's old alleys. Back then, things were different. This was after the first time Deku used his Quirk on us but before he let them do it. Back then, Deku would often scold the pets to keep them in line."

"Why didn't he just return them? You know, as he does with Charlie?"

"Charlie is different from the others. Every second a monster is out, it becomes harder for Deku to return them to ink. When he was younger, he had little control over his Quirk. The characters you see with Deku are the ones who stayed out too long and now he can't return them. There was another one. A long time ago. We called him, the Ring Master."

Bakugo paused, taking in a deep breath before continuing with the tale. "The Ring Master was the most powerful monster Deku has ever created and I doubt any monster he creates now will come anywhere close to matching him."

"What was he like?"

"Terrifying. At first glance, no one feared him. The class made fun of him because his body was made from candy floss. We didn't make fun of him after he ate Kakashi's hand."

Iida gulped, seeming to bring his hands closer to his chest.

"The Ring Master is fast, he can cover a mile in a minute. He can stretch out his tentacle-like fingers to grab anyone who flees. He can bite through a diamond with his teeth. He grabbed onto me. Pulled me across the classroom." Bakugo pulled up his glove to show the old scars the twisted and turned around his wrist like vines up a tree. "I'm pretty sure he would have eaten me if it hadn't been for Chisaki. He used his quirk to turn his hand into an axe and cut me free. The next thing I remember is Deku grabbing The Ring Master before Chisaki could kill him and running."

"I never saw The Ring Master again. The police got involved but for some reason, they wouldn't tie any crime to Deku. We believe he used one of those pets to influence the detective's mind." Bakugo pulled down his glove, sighing as he rubbed his eyes. "Listen, we should go before we run out of time. Or Charlie catches us."

"It's better to burn than to fade away. It's better to leave than to be replaced." The soft vocals bounced around in its usual creepy way.

"Speak of the devil, run!" Bakugo and Iida charged down the corridor, Bakugo reached out to the door but found it locked. Banging on the door, Bakugo started to blast at the metalwork. "Let us in go damn it!"

Bakugo let out a startled yelp as the door gave way.

"Oh, you've got to be joking."

Hanging above them was the weapon, suspended by a series of black 'vines'.

I was waiting for them, Emiko hiding behind me, her hair hooked up to the ceiling. I knew Bakugo wouldn't come near the vines. He feared any vines, had for a long time. Ever since that day, Bakugo had refused to go near anything that could be considered a vine.

"That's low Deku. Get down here so I can kill you!" Bakugo let off little explosions but it did nothing to change my plan. I wasn't going to move. He couldn't win while I was up here.

"I'm losing to you, baby, I'm no match. I'm going numb, I've been hijacked." Charlie charged after the duo, pulling out her knife.

Bakugo spun to attack Charlie had found himself unable to move. "Don't bother struggling, I have full control," Oshken whispered into Bakugo's mind.

"It's a fucking drag!" Charlie jumped into the air, a crazily look in her eyes.

"The villains win!" All Might was thankful that Charlie stopped her charge when the buzzer went off. She lowered her knife as Emiko lowered us to the ground. Oshken left Bakugo's body as he slumped to the ground.

I offered out my hand for Bakugo to grab but he slapped me away. "Don't pretend to care. You haven't changed one bit."