Heroes of Today

Part 22~Distress Signals

~A Few Minutes Earlier~

Uzu was bored. Terribly bored. Aizawa and Vlad’s monotone lectures had nothing interesting for him to focus on.

He couldn’t talk to the others with Aizawa glaring down on him. This whole thing was dead. 

Glancing out the one window in this building. Well, Uzu says window, really it was a whole caused by Naka’s explosion the previous day. 

“What the…?” Sitting up, Uzu watched the tops of the trees. A soft blue glow came from the back. Has the sun risen already? No, no, the clock says it's still night. Then what is that?

“Kamishiro, are you listening?” Aizawa scowled when Uzu showed no signs of refocusing. “Kamishiro!”

Uzu’s eyes widened as he jumped up and ran out of the building. Aizawa was speechless watching Uzu leave. That didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed, how dare Uzu leave!

Charging after his student, his scarf whipped above his head, launching forward to grab Uzu when the inconsiderate child jumped out of the way. 

Uzu threw open the door, staring at the devouring blaze that grew higher with every second. If this had been an orange flame, he wouldn’t have bothered worrying but this one was bright blue; that wasn’t natural.

He didn’t know what to do. What should he do?! The bravery test would have started, people were in that forest. 

‘Calm down. Take a deep breath. You can do this.’

Uzu’s mind cleared in a second. What would Akiko do?

‘First signal for help. Get our attention. Then get the message out. The more people who know the situation the better.’

Nodding to himself, Uzu readied into the soul of his shoe. Normal people might have found Akiko’s paranoia annoying but it did come in handy. Especially when a mini distress signal was stocked in all their shoes.

Growing out his arm, Uzu got ready. He flared up his match, lifting the tiny bomb and chucking it as high as he could. 

The explosion echoed around the whole forest, drawing all eyes to the purple smoke. 

Aizawa was ready to scream when something caught his eye. Pushing Uzu out the way, Aizawa covered his student as the blue flame danced around him. 

“Well, ain’t this easy. Hello Uzu.”

~~~

Akiko’s mouth ran dry as she looked at the explosion. 

“Oh dear, wonder what that is?” Aoyama couldn’t help but admire the purple smoke. It couldn’t be natural, that much was sure but Aoyama couldn’t quite figure out what it could be. 

Akiko didn’t wait to find out, she already knew. She charged forward, never taking her eyes off the smoke. 

“Akiko?! Where are you going?!”

Akiko ignored Aoyama, her mind only focused on the path ahead. Stumbling to a halt, Akiko’s mission was cut short. She covered her mouth, stepping away from the thick purple gas. 

Tutting, she stretched out her arms, the vines reaching into the forest. She could sense a number of people trapped inside.

Silently cursing, Akiko raised her vines high above her head. If her vines can absorb water, they can absorb oxygen. 

Taking her final deep breath, Akiko ran into the mist. She shifted her gaze, trying to find anyone who could help or needed help.

“Akiko!” Ibara waved over as Akiko turned to her. Tetsutetsu and Kendo were both by her side with Yui and Juzo collapsed on the floor. “Here.”

Ibara offered the gas mask as Akiko let out a relieved sigh. She dropped her vines before smiling. “Thanks. What’s going on?”

It seems none of them knew either. Tetsutetsu said they had gotten the masks from Yao-momo but she had left. 

Tapping her chin, Akiko looked around. “The smoke should be thicker at the source so it’ll be wise to go the other way. I need to get to Uzu, he’s in trouble.”

The trio seemed confused by that fact as Akiko narrowed her eyes. 

“You think this gas is flammable. Probably best not to find out huh?” Akiko grumbled a little. Here was a perfect opportunity to use her distress signal but she couldn’t without killing everyone. 

The trio backed away slightly as Akiko brought out a match. She rolled her eyes, encapturing Tetsutetsu in her vines. 

“Don’t drop these. When you still light it and throw it as high as you can. If you don’t we’ll all likely die. Oh and don’t take off your mask. I’ll give you twenty seconds before you have to come down. Remember, twenty seconds only.” Akiko forced the distress signal into Tetsutetsu's hand as he tried to comprehend what was happening. 

She closed her eyes and lifted Tetsutetsu as high as she could. He let out a scream holding on to the vines for dear life. “A warning would have been nice!” Tetsutetsu took a deep breath, taking in the view from above the poison. The last whispers of the purple cloud disappeared into the night sky as the blue blaze roared. 

“Hurry up Tetsutetsu or you’ll end up a pizza!” Akiko strained her arms, struggling to keep Tetsutetsu up so high.

Tetsutetsu snapped out of his daze as he lit the match and set fire to the mini bomb. He threw it as hard as he could, a loud explosion blasting him away. Akiko gave out, bringing Tetsutetsu to the ground.

Kendo’s eyes widened as she jumped forward and caught Tetsutetsu before he hit the ground.

Akiko shook her vines, standing up. “Thanks for that.” Akiko helped Tetsutetsu up, who scowled slightly.

“What was that?!”

“A distress signal. We all have one in our shoes. Uzu’s purple. I’m yellow and Naka is blue.” Akiko clicked her shoulder before looking in the mist.

Ibara glanced at Akiko, trying to work out what was going through Akiko’s mind. “What are you looking at?”

“Hopefully answers.” Akiko started to walk into the mist, much to the surprise of the Class B students. This was the first mistake. 

“I thought you said it would be better to go the other way,” Kendo claimed as Akiko scoffed. 

“Do as I say, not as I do.” Before could stop her, Akiko charged forward. Tetsutetsu silently cursed as he told Ibara to help get Yui and Juzo out of the smoke and ran after Akiko, Kendo following him.

As the mist got thicker it became harder to see. Akiko broke off a branch, swinging it behind her back to use later. 

The gas wasn’t dispersing, meaning a villain must be controlling it. Akiko glanced at Tetsutetsu and Kendo who were keeping pure before her eyes landed on the villain. Whoever it was wearing an industrial size gas mask that reminded her of the creepy WW1 kid from that British show Uzu and Naka was obsessed with. 

Just as she jumped up, planning to attack she felt a pain in her shoulder. She stumbled to a halt, pressing against the pain that was gently spreading out. 

The liquid poured over her fingers as Akiko returned her gaze to the villain. The smoke rose from the barrel, the gun still pointed at her.

“You shot me?”