MHA Fantasy Quest for the SOL

Part 21: The North

The party just lay on the ground for a long time. Finally, Ochako said. "That was horrible," and they all groaned in agreement. "I couldn't even tell what was happening, I just lost control," Deku said. "One minute I knew where I was, the next, I thought it was home." No one else wanted to share what they'd seen. "Why didn't it affect all of us though?" Mina said. "I guess I get Denki, because he's a bard, and Bakugo has that rage thing, and Ochako has her spells, but Momo and I don't." "There's no point asking, since we have no way to know," Momo said. "I really think we should just get as far away from those sailors as possible, if you all are ready to go." Her tone was still one of controlled anger, and no one wanted to argue with her, so they all got up and started walking. Some of them were sore from being knocked around. "Sorry I had to take you down," Camie said to Deku. "No, I'm grateful, really, and to you Bakugo," Deku said. Bakugo just grunted as if to ward off ruther acknowledgement. "Yes... thanks..." Ei said. "Though next time man, don't hit me so hard. I have a lump." "I'll hit you as hard as I have to if you're being an idiot, jackass." Bakugo snapped. He seemed to feel better once he could yell at someone again. Shoto looked at his left hand, and then at Momo. Kyoka was rubbing her arms and glancing sideways at Denki. "Look...uh...thanks," she said finally. "You saved me...again...so..." "Who's counting?" Denki said. "I mean, you've saved me a couple times...it doesn't matter. That's what friends do." "I owe you an apology for before, though," Kyoka said humbly. "I just didn't want to say it... but I shouldn't have said what I did." "No, you shouldn't have," Denki agreed, a bit salty. "But I get you were upset, so I'll try to forget about it... Anyway I got to shock the dickens out of you and say it was helping, so that kind of made it better." "Yeah, did you have to shock me so hard!" Kyoka said in a much less strained tone, shoving his arm. "I felt my teeth rattle! I'm still numb in some parts!" "Well next time I'll try to dial it down." Denki said.

"Aw, they're so cute," Camie said, watching them. "Disgusting," Bakugo said. "More surprised you noticed at all," Camie said, leaning her chin on his shoulder. "Hey, I'm glad you didn't dive off the boat." Bakugo turned red. "Is this really the time for that?" "Well, I dunno, but I just thought you should know you better not try to do something like that again, I thought my heart was going to stop," Camie said. "I can't explain it, but it's like I got attached to you or something. I promised your mother I'd look after you, you know." Bakugo looked up. "You what?" "Oops, that was supposed to be a secret," Camie covered her mouth. "Ah, she didn't want you to know she was worried, I'm sorry, please forget I said that." "When did you talk to my mother!" Bakugo said. "When we had that skirmish over land... and we called it a draw, you remember?" Camie said. "We only did that because I told her I might reconsider your offer." " I knew it! I knew that hag didn't just change her mind because she thought we couldn't win!" Bakugo cried. "Yeah... I'm really sorry that we didn't get to talk it out more..." Camie said.

"Uh, what happened to his mom?" Ei asked. "You never talk about your family man, but I know Princess Momo mentioned your mother before, what about your father?" Bakugo scowled. Camie sighed. "Well, we don't like discussing it... but both of them got taken hostage by the Dark Lord's forces about a year ago." "What?" Ei said. "Why do you think Bakugo's been clearing out of his territory?" Camie said. "The Dark Lord's minions told us they'd kill them if we didn't move off. The bandits didn't really have to, but my parents said we should support our brethren. I don't know why they wanted that territory so badly. It's a secret though, if the other tribes found out the queen was missing, they'd attack us. Bakugo's king now anyway, but he had to go on this quest, so it's better no one knows about that." "Well, I can't exactly tell anyone," Ei said. "But I'm really sorry that happened to you, man. I had no idea." "Ha!" Bakugo scoffed. "I ain't worried about that old bat. She's probably terrorizing the minions who are holding them, she and my father will tear them apart from the inside, but I'm going to show them up by destroying them from the outside first, and finally prove I'm stronger than them!"