Author: Landon Soto | Banner: Matt Ng

“Dear Yu Takeyama and Shinji Nishiya, as you are well aware by now, at least twenty civilians have mysteriously vanished around Mount Fuji, with very few personal belongings found. We have also discovered a strange glue-like substance along trails that the civilians walked on, and on trails that were not on the mountain previously.

“Reports of unusual tremors have also surfaced, accompanied with locals claiming to have seen an enormous serpent moving about during the night. We are assigning the both of you to find out whether these rumors are true, we may be dealing with a new villain, or a real giant monster, we do not know.

“We are also assigning two students from UA to accompany you, Kyoka Jiro, hero name, ‘Earphone Jack,’ and Izuku Midoriya, hero name, ‘Deku.’ We will close off the mountain from civilians to avoid loss of life, and allow you to work undistracted. You are to leave in the afternoon tomorrow.

“We wish you both the best of luck, sincerely, the Hero Public Safety Commission.”

A beautiful, pale-blonde woman read aloud as she held a piece of paper up, her purple eyes skimming over the words, as to make sure she didn’t leave anything of importance out. Yu Takeyama wore an indigo mask with large bull-like horns of the same color on the sides of her head, and a skin-tight bodysuit of indigo and pale tan, accented with orange stripes. Her gloves were the same indigo color with orange accents on the cuffs, her boots sporting a similar design.

“Okay, did you both catch that? Do I need to go over anything again?” She asked the two younger heroes in front of her. 

“No ma’am!” The two exclaimed in unison. The young heroes were students of UA Highschool, belonging to class 1-A. They had been sent by their teacher to gain experience and be an example for other students and the general public.

Izuku Midoriya, a somewhat short boy for his age, with messy, dark green and black hair, with dark green eyes to match. His hero outfit was a teal jumpsuit with black lines running down his arms and legs, a red utility belt and combat boots completing the costume. He also sported black elbow pads and knee pads that extended downwards, covering his legs entirely. His costume also came with a metal respirator that covered his neck, although it rarely saw any use.

“We’re ready to head out whenever you are, Mt. Lady!” Midoriya cheerfully exclaimed as he fixed his beige gloves that were decorated with blue stripes.

“Let’s bag us a snake.” Jiro said in an almost monotone voice, giving a thumbs up in approval.

Kyoka Jiro, a fair-skinned girl with a slender build, and short, dark violet hair in an asymmetrical fringe haircut. Her triangular, onyx colored eyes lazily stared back at her superior as she gave a grin. Her most prominent features were the flexible, plug-like earphone jacks hanging from each of her earlobes at the end of two thin, fleshy cords, which could also act as extra limbs if need be.

Her hero costume consisted of a black leather jacket, a long salmon-colored shirt with several rips at the collar and hem underneath, black pants, and boots with stereos built into their shafts. She also had two small, small red triangular marks painted just below her eyes, a plain black choker, and white fingerless gloves to match the aesthetic of a punk rocker. On her arms were two amplifiers that could enhance her quirk in combat if need be.

The young heroes were intrigued by the mission, it wouldn’t be quite like anything they had tackled before. They were trained to fight other quirk-users, humans no matter how different from the standard mold they were, but this seemed different entirely. 

Mount Lady nodded as she went to grab a few backpacks from the counter, which held food, water, and the other basic necessities. 

“Okay then, let’s wait for Kamui Woods to show and we’ll be ready to go!” The older woman exclaimed as she sat in a comfy recliner.

As soon as she sat down, a man seemingly made out of wood walked into the building. “No need to wait, I’m here, we should get going now.” The hero known as Kamui Woods stated. Kamui Woods, a young man in a dark blue bodysuit that included a wooden belt, wooden knee pads, and wooden shoes, along with a small bundle of roses that hung from the left side of his belt.

Mount Lady groaned as she was just getting comfortable, forcing herself out of the recliner. “Fine, off we go kids.” She said as she grabbed the backpacks and handed one to each person. The group then began to leave the visitor center and head towards the mountain.

—

The group of four cautiously walked along a dirt road, scanning the area for any abnormalities. Jiro crouched as she plugged her earphone jacks into the ground, listening for large vibrations underground, but found nothing. The four continued to walk up the trail, before taking notice of a strange goop littered across the path up ahead.

Midoriya crouched down and picked up a stick. The young hero poked at the glob, taking note of the adhesiveness, mentally comparing it to glue. “Was this from the snake? Or from a person using their quirk in self-defense?” The boy muttered to himself.

“Any idea on what this stuff is?” Kamui Woods asked the UA student.

“Well it appears to be some kind of glue. There are a few personal belongings in it, so if I had to guess I would say it’s from the snake.” Midoriya stated, digging out a pair of headphones from the goo.

Jiro, who was farther ahead of the group, called out to her teammates, the urgency in her voice was quite apparent. “Guys, you might want to take a look at this!” She called out, standing in front of a large path that seemed to be carved into the earth.

The rest of the group made it to the unfamiliar clearing, staring in amazement of the sight. Jiro plugged her earphone jacks into the ground and listened closely, the sound of multiple faint heartbeats creeping up the length of the cords and into her ears. “They’re people, their heartbeats are faint, but they’re alive. They must be the ones that were attacked by the rumored snake.” Jiro stated as she rose up, pointing in the general direction of the sound.

Kamui Woods stepped forward. “Earphone Jack and I will survey the area, keeping watch, you and Deku go get those civilians. If you encounter a villain or the monster, you both should have enough strength to stop it. We’ll be your backup if need be.”

Mount Lady and Deku nodded in agreement, the two beginning to tread up the path, remaining cautious as they kept their ears open for any unusual sounds. Kamui Woods scaled a large tree and perched himself on the highest branch, blending in almost seamlessly. Earphone Jack stayed near the base of the tree, hiding behind it as she continued scouring the area.

The blonde pro-hero and the aspiring student continued deeper down the dirt road, looking in the distance and spotting what appeared to be a large cave at the end of the road. “Look Ma’am, over there, that’s most likely where the faint heartbeats came from.” Deku said as he pointed towards the cave.

Yu’s eye twitched somewhat at “ma’am,” thinking it made her sound old, but she brushed it aside quickly. “Good eye kid, let’s move quickly, the faster we get those people out of here, the better.” Mount Lady exclaimed as she began to jog. 

“Okay!” Replied the messy-haired teen.

The duo jogged towards the cave. Mount Lady quickly stopped, however, causing Deku to stop as well. Mount Lady moved her hair aside, revealing an earpiece in her right ear, speaking softly as she was conversing with someone. “Okay, I understand, thanks Woods. I’ll tell Deku, bye.” Mount Lady said as she turned to her temporary sidekick. “Alright, your friend Earphone Jack said she was detecting a far larger heartbeat in the distance, this might be our snake, so get ready kid.” Mount Lady exclaimed as she looked to the distance.

Suddenly, the ground began to rumble, as the seconds passed, the rumbling grew more and more intense. The two knew what was coming, both felt a drop of sweat run down their faces. Deku breathed in and out as his body began to glow with green energy that crackled around his frame. Mount Lady stepped forward and began to grow at a rapid pace, her quirk, Gigantification, allowed her to grow to an impressive size of ninety-two meters.

The two stood their ground, Mount Lady, with her field of view expanded, could see the ground in the distance bulge up, something big was burrowing underneath, and heading towards them rapidly. Soon, just a couple hundred meters away from the horned giantess, the ground erupted, trees and rocks went flying as a loud hissing noise echoed throughout the mountain.

A massive snake stretched up into the sky as it shook dirt off of its royal blue hide and beige underbelly, its maroon face snarling at the giant woman before it. A barbed tongue flickered as the giant serpent licked the air. 

The giant snake removed its tail from the tunnel of dirt it had crept out of, allowing the heroes to understand just how long the snake truly was. The colossus bared its fangs, the giant serpent opening its hood in a display of intimidation. Sharp, bone-like protrusions stretched outward, giving the snake an even more frightening appearance.

Deku stared upward in amazement, it was no doubt the biggest animal he had ever seen. Now was not the time to just gawk, however, he had to give Mount Lady aid, in order to save those civilians. 

“What is this, some kind of King Cobra?” The giant hero grumbled, less than thrilled to discover that the snake was far larger than anticipated. Now she’d actually have to fight a dirt-covered, scaly monster, as opposed to maybe just scaring it off or scooping it up with ease.

“Damn snake, I’ll make sure you’re locked away in a big cage!” Mount Lady roared as she sprinted towards King Cobra, the giantess leaping into the air as she shot her legs forward, hitting the giant cobra in the mouth. The reptile recoiled, hissing in anger.

King Cobra opened its jaws wide as a semi-clear substance shot forward from its fangs. The glue-like substance struck Mount Lady’s foot, who responded with a loud ‘bleh!’ The giant snake shot another glob at the other foot, the giant hero now immobilized as King Cobra circled around the colossal blonde. 

Mount Lady felt the glue-like substance adhere to the ground, sweat rolled down her cheek as she heard the King Cobra stalk her. The royal blue serpent was about to lunge at the hero, but suddenly found itself in the dirt, pain radiating throughout its face as it slowly recuperated. Deku landed on the ground a couple hundred meters away, a crackling glow surrounding his body. He watched as Mount Lady yanked her feet free from the adhesive one at a time, then turned to the younger hero and gave him a thumbs up. 

Deku nodded in response, happy to help. He watched as the King Cobra rose up and scanned the area, before laying its yellow eyes down upon him, which prompted the superhuman to leap further away from the snake. King Cobra was about to give chase but was reminded of another threat in the area. 

Monstrous yellow eyes met beautiful purple as King Cobra stared down an angry Mount Lady, the two circling around one another, waiting for the other to make a move. King Cobra opened its jaws wide as a loud hissing sound came from the maw, the goliath snake barreled towards the horned giantess, carving another new path into the mountain. Mount Lady plucked a large tree from the ground and charged at the snake, letting out a battle cry as she closed the gap.

Meanwhile, Jiro and Kamui Woods snuck around the, quite literally, massive fight that was taking place before them, moving towards the King Cobra’s lair. The pro-hero couldn’t help but notice the clearly agitated Earphone Jack, constantly looking back to check if her friend and superior were okay. Jiro bit her lip as she felt the ground violently shake before her, and nearly jumped when she felt something on her shoulder. Looking back, she saw Kamui Woods, his eyes appearing to be much softer than when they first started this mission.

“I understand that you are worried about them, but we need to put our faith in them, right now there are helpless people waiting for us to rescue them from that terrifying place. They need heroes. Do you understand?” The more experienced hero said as he made an attempt to comfort his teammate.

Jiro looked down, before nodding her head in agreement. “I understand. I will put my trust in them, and right now we need to hurry like you said, we got people waiting for us!” Glaring at the cave in the distance, before jogging onward once more. 

“Good kid, proud of you.” He said to himself as he went on to catch up with the soon to be pro hero.

Kamui Woods and Jiro stood at the entrance of the damp cave, the latter plugging her earphone jacks into the ground. She heard nothing but the sound of faint heartbeats, and the occasional loud thump from behind. The two didn’t have to walk far, already they could see barely conscious people plastered to the walls of the cave in what appeared to be the adhesive goo from before. 

Concurrently, Mount Lady swung her tree like a baseball bat in an attempt to strike the snake, however, the cobra reared back as it avoided the tree. Unknown to the King Cobra, Midoriya was scaling up the winding body of the serpent, his body crackling with energy as he sprinted up to the head.

King Cobra spat the adhesive glue from its fangs at Mount Lady, the giant hero raised her arms up as the substance glued her arms together. The massive snake lunged forward and began to wrap its body around the giantess, Deku grunting as he gripped one of the many spikes running down the snake’s back.

Mount Lady forcefully pried apart her arms as she struggled to keep the serpent off her, but the King Cobra was already coiled. The serpent applied more and more pressure until the pro hero’s arms were promptly pinned to her sides, the snake’s body continually wrapped around her slender frame.

Mount Lady grit her teeth as she tried desperately to break free, but the more she moved, the more pressure King Cobra forced upon her. Deku, knowing the predicament his superior was in, ran up the snake’s neck, before standing atop the beast’s head.

The messy-haired teen took a deep breath and jumped up, the energy that surrounded him intensified as he brought his right foot down. He was using more power than usual of his quirk, “One For All,” not every drop of power in it lest he shatter his leg, but enough to still make a difference. The boy’s powered up kick collided with the King Cobra’s skull, sending a sharp pain that coursed through the serpent’s cranium, causing the giant snake to rear its head back and screech in pain.

Feeling the muscular, serpentine body loosen, Mount Lady shrunk down to human size, allowing the massive reptile to topple over. Deku sprung off the falling serpent, landing safely on a nearby hilltop. The pro-hero quickly caught her breath before growing to full height once more.

King Cobra twisted its body so its cream-colored underbelly struck the ground, the serpent reared back up as it shook its aching head. The serpent groaned as it still felt the pain linger, before turning and grunting in shock as it was face to face with a bruised Mount Lady. She quickly clutched the snake’s skull, throwing her head back before delivering a nasty headbutt to the serpent’s face.

A loud crack echoed throughout the forest as the King Cobra fell to the ground with a thud, blood trickling down the reptile’s snout as it groaned aloud. Mount Lady panted as she rubbed her head, staring down at the giant snake, ready to drag it down the mountain if she had to.

However, the eyes of the King Cobra shot open as it dragged its tail along the ground in a burst of speed. Mount Lady yelped as she hit the ground with a thud, rocks and dirt shot into the air as she lay flat on her back. The serpent dug a hole in the ground, its long body disappearing into a giant chasm, the ground trembling as the snake headed towards its home.

Kamui Woods and Jiro helped the lost civilians out of the damp cave, many expressed their gratitude, but some were too weak to talk. Suddenly, the tree-like man heard a voice in his head, belonging to Deku. “We have a problem, Mount Lady is down and the snake is headed your way, I’m coming to help.” The young man exclaimed. Sure enough, the ground was starting to shake violently, many civilians screamed in terror, knowing exactly what was coming.

Jiro saw the ground rise as something big was moving under it, she yelled at the people to get as far away as possible, all of them doing their best to move quickly. “I have an idea, get behind me please.” She told Kamui Woods, plugging her earphone jacks into the amplifiers on her arms, the wooden hero listening and standing back watching with anticipation.

The sound-type quirk user kneeled down and placed the amplifiers on her wrists to the ground, facing the direction of the incoming monster. A wave of sonic energy shot forward from the wrist amplifiers. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but suddenly, the ground in front of her broke apart, chunks of the ground shooting up as the sound wave washed over the King Cobra burrowing underground.

Large chunks of earth were launched as the form of the King Cobra rose up from the ground and screeched in pain as its inner ears were assaulted. The giant snake spat out globs of glue at the two heroes, Kamui Woods sidestepped and evaded the adhesive substance, but Jiro wasn’t so lucky.

Clear slime struck Jiro’s shoes as she tried to evade, forcing her to stick to the ground, she desperately tried to yank her foot out of the glue, but to no avail. The King Cobra lunged forward, jaws wide open as it prepared to swallow the young girl whole. Jiro winced as she grit her teeth, prepared for the worst. However, long tree branches seemed to appear out of nowhere, forcing themselves into the serpent’s maw, creaking and splintering under the immense pressure.

Kamui Woods grunted as his arms were stretched outwards, divided into the many branches in front of him. The violet haired girl managed to yank her feet out of the natural glue, her boots coated in the sticky substance. She immediately plunged her natural earphone jacks into the ports in her boots, launching another sound wave towards the King Cobra. This attack was meant to disorient instead of the more direct assault of the arm amplifiers.

The giant serpent reared back as it spat out all the branches in its maw, howling as it felt an intense pounding sensation in its head. King Cobra then felt something grasp its long tail, before suddenly being flung into the air. 

The pro hero, Mount Lady, was back on her feet and with the cobra’s tail in hand. She flung the serpent overhead, slamming the snake down on the ground, away from the evacuating civilians, dirt and rock careening into the air once more.

The giant serpent growled, rising up to stare down the giantess, both human and monster had taken quite a beating from the fight. The feral beast roared as it charged once more, jaws opened wide. 

Instead of moving aside or retaliating, Mount Lady stood her ground, refusing to budge. From her pale blonde locks, Deku leaped forward, using the giant woman’s shoulder as a launchpad, the young boy reared his fist back as he shouted “Detroit Smash!”

Green energy crackled around his hand, the teenager striking the snout of the unsuspecting serpent. The dumbfounded snake roared as its head was flung backwards. Regaining its wits, the King Cobra was then struck to the side of its cranium by a large purple boot. The serpent’s vision went blurry as pain shot through its head for a brief moment, the last thing it saw was the giant blonde woman standing in front of it.

Hitting the ground with a thud, the King Cobra twitched as it slipped into unconsciousness. Mount Lady stood a couple of meters away, just in case. Deku was already making his way to Jiro and Kamui Woods to help aid the civilians.

The trio of heroes had safely escorted the people down the mountain, the King Cobra hadn’t budged one bit. Mount Lady sat down as she watched the snake’s body periodically expand and deflate, raspy breaths escaping its fanged maw.

About half an hour later, soldiers had arrived, injecting the colossal serpent with tranquilizer fluid. The giantess helped put the body onto large mats that allowed helicopters to lift the massive snake and carry it away.

Mount Lady went back to the visitor center, the light from the golden evening sky shining through the windows and illuminating the interior. There Kamui, Jiro, and Deku sat, all three standing up when the roughed-up blonde entered.

“Glad to see you back Takeyama, but I wish you would have let me stay with you.” Woods expressed. 

“Don’t sweat it, I’m a big girl. Besides, someone has to keep an eye on these brats.” She replied with a nonchalant tone, winking at her friend. 

Jiro rolled her eyes before asking a question. “What exactly are they planning to do with that King Cobra? They’re not going to put that in a zoo right?” 

Mount Lady chuckled softly. “No, the guys that came to pick that beast up said they were taking it to a deserted island for studying. If there are more of these creatures out there, then the government would want to contain them.”

“If there really are more monsters like that, then we need to take as many precautions as possible, if one appears in a populated area, it would be disastrous.” Kamui Woods expressed, crossing his arms.

Mount Lady sighed as she put a finger to her chin. “You’re absolutely right, we need to be more diligent than ever. Just another problem to add to our list. Anyways, I wanted to thank you, kids, for helping us out today, you both were pretty top-notch if I do say so myself.” Mount Lady said as she gave a thumbs up to her younger allies.

Soon Jiro and Deku stood up and thanked both Kamui and Lady for allowing them to be involved, both gained valuable experience today. Leaving to return to their dorms, the two pros were now alone. “We should get you to Recovery Girl, come on, I’m driving,” Woods said as he grabbed Takeyama’s and his belongings.

“Yeah I guess I do look like crap, I feel like it too. Alright let’s blow this joint, I just want to go home and shower, man.” Mount Lady joked as she and Woods left the visitor center, the sky almost navy blue with small hints of orange and pink lingering along the horizon. The job was done and the pro heroes were ready for a well-deserved rest.

Winner: Mt. Lady