maneuvering through

The Grin of the Trees

"Deku! We're set!" Momo informed through the earpiece, sending a short nod at Uraraka, fingers ready to release the structured nets ahead of them. The green-haired hero was currently luring two of the guard villains away from the campsite. Their vanguard team infiltrated the center of the headquarters, while their team lured the ones outside.

"On my way."

"Deku, you've got another company." A voice sounded through his earpiece. "Coming from the east, four o'clock." The team heard a gun setting. "I'll take care of the two behind."

"Roger that!"

Momo observed from her binoculars as Deku rounded east to tackle the stalking villain. "Uravity, we're going to move closer." She ordered. Uraraka pulled down their trap and dragged it with her to hurl over the incoming villains.

The two that Deku had been luring already lay flat on their chest, blood seeping out from each of their legs. They were still conscious when they approached them, the gunshot restrained them in place.

"He's losing too much blood." Uraraka worriedly said checking their wounds. Momo produced enough bandages for the two, as they both wrapped their wounds.

Uraraka shot her head up, pulling Momo away by hand."Creati!"

The trees around moved and circled them, one of the thick roots purposefully almost slapped over the creation girl. The two wounded villains were carried off into one of the trees, secured in vines.

"Thank you, Uraraka-san." Momo breathed heavily at the fact that a stout root almost crashed into her.

Uraraka squeaked when a root snaked around her thighs and dragged her towards one of the moving trees. The gravity heroine scrambled on the forest floor clawing on anything substantial.

"Uravity!" She reached out at the girl being pulled away.

But another whip of wiry root stomped between them, nearly crushing her arm.

"Creati!" Uraraka cried out, employing her gravity manipulation on the serpentine root.

Perking her head up, she spied the gravity heroine, struggling to pull off the root while slowly lifting the uprooted tree with her. She skimmed her surroundings, her linear vision obstructed by the girth of trees. Its large roots snaking and whipping in the air to land another hit. Momo sprinted away towards the gravity heroine, her abdomen sparkled, pulling out a steel wire rope, wound it, and slinging it over her shoulder.

"Uravity!"

Momo hurled the other end of the rope to the floating girl, which the girl clumsily received.

"Climb down!" Momo yelled from the other end, switching glances from the approaching trees and hooking the other end around a branch of a stationary tree. Uraraka barely held her yelp when the creation heroine pulled out elongated scintillating steel, which she recognized as a katana, she clamped her eyes close as she climbed down. The tight grip around her thigh loosened its grip and she felt hands pull her down further.

"Release now, Uraraka-san," Momo whispered, and she opened her eyes to find the tree floating further away into the air. They shared a look of despair before Uravity released the tree, moving away from its crash site.

"They're slow, we can do the same for the rest of the trees." Momo deduced. "I'll cover you Uravity-san."

Nodding, Uravity ran before the creation heroine to the lump of trees. Momo cutting through and ducking the gravity girl's head from the swathe.

"I don't see anyone around Creati," Uraraka informed her, touching the bark of each tree as Momo followed evading the lashes. The trees started floating in the air. Reaching a height, Uraraka released. They fell with a depressing thrash, roots wriggling in desperation to be up again.

"Whoo, they're still moving..." The shorter girl gasped stepping back from the snaking roots.

"Uravity-san" Momo pushed her away, a sharp whip of vine slashes between them, wounding the stricken earth.

A woman of chestnut bob steps in, a vine whip on a hand. "That was an impressive gravity manipulation, Uravity-san, my brother was impressed." Her sharp, smiling eyes glowered as she struck the whip again, targeting the gravity girl. Momo charged towards the whip wielder, swinging the katana to cut through her vine. The said girl leaped back, heaving her whip with her.

"That's dangerous!" She mocked, flinging the whip to strike Momo this time. Momo rolled to the side and positioned again to deflect another swing while the villain threw back her whip. Momo tossed a stun grenade at the girl, closing her eyes at the flash. The chestnut-haired girl stalled for a while, and Momo took the chance and slashed through the vine.

"Creati, step aside!" Uraraka yelled above the disorientated villain throwing off the humongous net they discarded earlier, releasing her quirk as it enclosed the female villain. Quickly, the gravity girl closed in and smacked the villain in the face without a pause, knocking the villain unconscious. She cracked her knuckles glaring at the captured villain. "That's for the trees!"

The trees calmed down, lying listlessly on the forest ground.

"Wait, Creati-san," Uraraka says in a tone that something dawned on her. "She said she has a brother."

Uraraka stared at her wide-eyed. Before the girl could say anything, Momo felt a tight grip around her boots, and before she knew it, she was thrown high into the air. The vine entangled her, pulled her back again onto the ground with a slam knocking the wind out in her lungs. Then it dragged her on the solid ground, repeatedly clawed by pointed rock and punched in the face by rotten, stray wood, folding her joints in odd angles that made her wince at every rash shift.

Momo hardly lifted herself at the blunt force her body had taken. A fat tear immediately dribbled down her cheeks as she bit her lip at the extreme and unbearable sting that sparked from her femur. Momo stifled another cry of anguish when she spotted her visibly out-of-place and misshapen limb, she felt another intense pain from her lower extremities, like something sharp, stuck out from her flesh, and warm, viscous liquid began to accumulate beneath her legs.

'She's going to die at her first mission.'

She gnashed her teeth to stifle a cry when the vine that whipped her in the air dragged her further. Her face scrunched at the excruciating pain that shoots through every broken part of her, as it continued dragging her until her bare abdomen felt the warmth that drenched her legs, pulling her still until warm blood smothered the side of her face.

Momo breathed laboriously as the shooting pain leeches the remaining strength out of her. Her vision fuzzed, spotting a pair of legs approaching her direction. The vine untangled itself, and into the hands of its wielder.

The trees around her started to lift their roots out of the ground, one began to drag its way towards her. Momo closed her eyes, she's done it before, creating despite being close to call. She didn't bother for any containment, as her creation smoked out of the pores of her skin, sighing as she fell asleep, the greenery began to cloud in pink, sleeping gas. It briefly made the place look like heaven had made it to earth. Her attacker fell with a thud, as the air cleared again. And Momo was sent to an infinite dreamless state.