Chapter 38: April Acid

The last Team. Team E, consisting of Iida, Kaminari, Mina and Sero. We're now in the fake city,

starting the last exercise.

None of them were in good spirits, however. Not even Mina.

Not because they would be facing another grossly overpowered child, but because of the conversation that had taken place not too long ago.

"So are we gonna...hit...the kids?" Sero asked.

"I mean...we might have to," Kaminari said sheepishly, seeming unsure of himself.

"Well, I don't want to!" Mina objected. "Overpowered or not, they're still kids! And all we have to do is show them some affection! We're no strangers to love so we should show them some too!"

"As much as I would like for that to be the case, I doubt Principal Nezu would allow for this to be so simple," Iida spoke up in a determined yet still somehow unsure voice. "You know the rules and so do I. The principal might have made this test knowing that and planned it out accordingly."

"So you think we might HAVE to hurt them?" Sero scratches his head. "That's messed up."

"MMmm! Don't think that I'll give up that easily! I'm never gonna give up! I'm gonna find that kid and hug the crap out of them!" Mina said with full determination.

And with that Mina ran off, to find the kid.

"Wait! You have to wait for us! You have no idea what's up ahead!" Iida ran after her, with the rest of the team following.

Back in the observation room.

The mood was still somewhat downtrodden, however, it seems most of the class had moved on, hoping that if they paid attention to the last exercise it would lift the mood up a bit.

I've neverseen Mina so down before. Kirishima thought as he remembered how upset she looked. Mina always had this attitude about her. Always this optimistic person, that would do her best to make sure she was never gonna let you down. But now she herself seemed down. He wished he could do something about it. He never wanted to see his friend like this but honestly, he didn't know what to do here.

"It seems Ms. Asido is quite determined. How fortunate for her that this mission will not require them to attack the child." Nezu saw his students take a sigh of relief. "Because they can't."

"Wait what?" Toru asked. "What do you mean they CAN'T attack them?"

"Oh, I think I know who it is. It's Sansan isn't it?" Asui realized the child's identity, remembering them from the amusement park.

Izuku nodded, confirming her suspicions.

Ochaco shuddered. "Oh no."

"Oh no?" Momo repeated in confusion. "Is this child somehow more dangerous than the ones we've seen before?"

"Sansan is considered the strongest of all the kids currently under my care," Izuku revealed, causing everyone to suddenly get nervous as they wondered what on earth could be that strong. "Her quirk is called Acid Body. Her body is entirely made up out of extremely corrosive acid, and she can manipulate it however she pleases."

"Basically she's completely immune to most attacks. Your quirk has to have some sort of special effect on her in order to take her down." Ochaco explained. "Like my gravity manipulation. But I don't think anyone on team E can do anything to her."

"Kaminari actually can do something. Electricity can cause Sansan to lose control over her body temporarily, turning her into a motionless pile of acid for about twenty seconds." Izuku remembered the day they found that out. Sansan got a bit too close to an electrical outlet, and it did not end well.

"Wait so she's just...a sentient blob of acid?" Momo knew she was just repeating what Izuku had said. But it sounded absurd! (like many other things she heard today). She would be able to beat most people in this class just because of her quirk alone!

"She's like Mina on trigger!" Mineta shouted.

"Or a better version of that sludge villain!" Toru pointed out.

Izuku flinched but didn't say anything.

"So what are they gonna do?" Sato asked.

"Well, it appears their current plan is to just run around and look for the child." Nezu pointed out. "But it appears they won't have to look for much longer."

Back with Team E.

Team E was still running, and both Sero and Kaminari were falling behind.

"Mina! You must slow down! It is imperative that you do not desert your allies!" Iida shouted at her.

Mina stopped for a minute and used this opportunity to catch her breath. "Sorry, you guys. I guess I got too ahead of myself. Oh wow...no wonder you guys couldn't keep up. I've never run that hard before."

"If you don't pace yourself you gonna tire us all out before we even find the kid!" Sero panted.

SISSSSSSSSSSS

Everyone suddenly froze, when they heard what sounded like acid, burning through something.

"Mina, did you make any acid?" Kaminari asked, looking around to see where that hissing was coming from.

"Noooo. You guys would have seen me do it. Mina pointed out, wondering where the sound was coming from herself.

HISSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The four of them looked at a nearby manhole and found that smoke was coming off of it.

And then, Sansan slowly oozed out of the hole, completely swallowing and destroying the manhole as she made her way onto the street, which also started smoking as she touched it.

"I-Is that the kid?" Kaminari asked, slightly confused by the sight of the moving pink puddle of acid.

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised," Sero said, resignation dripping from his word.

"Wahrahhah!" Sansan let out some strange noises which only confused the students more.

"Was that a cry? Are they crying?" Mina honestly wished she had more details.

"I've never heard a cry like that before," Sero muttered.

"RAORRRRR!"

Suddenly, in the distance, they saw two Grimm, this time looking like huge gorillas, charging right at them.

"We're gonna have to fight those things aren't we?" Kaminari asked nervously.

"It appears so." Iida got into a stance, ready to fight.

However, Sansan suddenly moved towards them and went right at Iida.

"Huh?" Iida quickly reacted, using his quirk to help him dodge Sansan's lunge.

"Scward. Hug." Sansan said, reading the lines she had been giving earlier.

"Oh. I get it. She wants a hug." Kaminari said, however, his eyes widened in fear when he saw Sansan coming to give HIM a hug. "Hey wait no wait a minute!"

Kaminari had to keep backing up as Sansan came closer and closer to him until eventually he just started running from the acid girl.

Eventually, Sansan stopped chasing him and started going after Mina.

"Uh…" Mina didn't quite know what to say, and just opened her arms up for a hug.

Sansan didn't waste any time, and jumped on Mina, wrapping herself around the older acid girl and restraining her whole body.

"H-hey! I like tight hugs but I can't move!" Mina's whole body was being constricted by the goo girl. It was a good thing she was acid-proof, unfortunately, it wouldn't hold out forever. Continuous exposure to acid would degrade her skin's resistance to it until she too would burn at Sansan's touch.

The three guys couldn't do anything but watch, as Mina tried to struggle out of Sansan's grip to no effect. It's not like they could pull her off, she was made of acid.

But they had other problems to worry about anyway, as the gorilla grim were getting close.

"Mina! Please try and calm them down! We will deal with these Grimm!" Iida told her. "Hopefully it will assist in calming them!"

"O-Ok!" Mina said she had stopped struggling at this point, seeing as it wasn't helping her in the slightest.

With that decided. Iida, Sero, and Kaminari looked towards the oncoming threats.

"Kaminari! You said your quirk causes you to fry your brain, correct?" Iida asked his classmate.

"Uh yeah. Kinda only a one-use thing for now." Kaminari admitted

"Then let me and Sero incapacitate these monsters." Iida strategized.

"Hey now wait a minute-" Sero wasn't quite on board with fighting two giant hulking beasts with one less teammate after already being one teammate down.

But he didn't have time to object as the Gorillas were in range, and Iida ran at them. "Aim for their feet Sero!"

Iida ran at them as fast as he could while in first gear and charged right at one of the Gorillas.

One of the Gorillas tried to pick Iida up but the armored student ducked under the swipe and went between its legs.

The two gorillas had their attention on Iida, so they didn't notice Sero shoot out his tape at the left one's legs, tying them together and causing it to fall to the ground.

The other one looked at Sero, giving it an enraged roar, however before it could move to attack, Iida came back and kicked it in the back of the head, causing it to face plant onto the ground.

"Now! Kaminari!" Iida ordered.

"Right! Sero give me a boost!" Kaminari told his ally.

Sero nodded and wrapped Kaminari's midsection in tape, before swinging him around and throwing him at the two Grimm.

"Indiscriminate shock! Say Goodbye!" Kaminari unleashed a massive electric attack at both of the apes, electrocuting them both.

"RAHHHHHHHHHH!" The two beasts screamed at the top of their lungs before they quickly died and their bodies turned into black smoke.

Kaminari's face planted onto the ground, and Iida came running up to check on him.

"Kaminari are you ok!?" Iida picked up Kaminari and turned him around, only to be met with derp face.

"Wheeyyy," Kaminari responded.

Meanwhile, Mina was still trying to talk Sansan into letting her go. "Kid look! The villains are gone! You can let go now!"

"Mowre" Sansan said.

It was at that moment, that the ground started to rumble.

"AWOOOOOOOO!"

Coming just into view, running down the streets, was a hoard of Beowulfs. About seventy. All running at them.

"Oh. Shit." Sero looked at the oncoming hoard with absolute fear shining in his eyes.

"Language!" Iida shouted at his ally.

"Really? Now!?" Sero was honestly shocked that Iida would still be concerned about such things.

"A hero should never let lose such profanities! Even in the face of danger!" Iida rationalized, before tucking Kaminari under his arm. "Heroes should also know when they are outmatched! Like just now! Grab Mina and run!"

And with that Iida took off in the opposite direction.

"Eh? How am I gonna do that? She's covered in acid!" Sero shouted at Iida, but he was already too far away. "Ahhh! Damn it!"

Knowing he couldn't just leave Mina there, Sero shot his tape out at her, covering her in tape before using his other arm to swing away through the air, beginning Mina with him.

However, Sansan quickly dissolved the tape, causing Mina to go hurtling to the ground before Sero's tape caught her again.

"Ah! Could you please! Stop! Dropping me!" Mina felt like she was gonna vomit, not only from being swung around on tape but from constantly falling and being lifted up again every time Sansan ate through his tape and he had to catch her again.

"Sorry! If you can't tell this is really hard, and there's a hoard of demons after us!" Sero turned back to see the Beowulf's were gaining on them.

Mina looked at the oncoming hoard of red-eyed death and knew she needed to get the kid off of her.

"Hey, kid...what's your name," Mina asked as calmly as she could.

"Sansan." The goo girl said.

"Oh, that sounds like a great name for a...girl?" Mina was unsure of the gender of this living blob of acid, but the voice she used sounded femmineish. "You are a girl right?"

Sansan formed ahead near Mina's face and nodded.

"Ok, Sansan, do you like heroes?" Mina asked her.

Sansan nodded. "I wanna bwe a hewo."

"Well, then you need to let me go," Mina told her in a gentle tone before she looked at the hoard. "I know they're scary. But I can't just lie here and do nothing. A hero has to be brave, can you do that for me Sansan? Be a brave little hero?"

"Heowo." Sansan repeated. "I dwont want to hurt anywon. My quiwrk hwurts everything."

"I know." Mina smiled at her kindly. "Acid can really make a mess sometimes. My quirk makes acid too! But I use my acid to take down bad guys and save people! So acid can be used for good too! And I'll show you how if you let me go!"

There were a few moments of silence before Mina felt Sansan's acid started to move off of her, and the goo girl came off her and fell to the ground below, with the Beowulf's coming at her.

"Wait! I didn't mean like that!" Mina shouted.

The beowulfs quickly descended upon Sansan, with three of them lunging at her, with their claws extended out.

Only for them to be grabbed out of the air by Sansan's newly formed tentacles, and shoved into her acid body, where they struggled a bit before dissolving away.

Sansan expanded herself, getting bigger and bigger, until she was the size of a bus, and faced off against the army of beowulfs.

They never stood a chance.

Sero stopped swinging and brought the both of them to the ground, where they just sat and watched in shock as Sansan tore through the demon-like wolves. Swallowing them in her acid, slamming them around with dozens of her tentacles, forming weapons out of her body, and using them to crush and slice the beowulfs by the dozens.

"Oh wow...she's really killing those things." Sero could only watch in awe as the massacre unfolded in front of him.

Iida ran up to them with Kaminari still in his arms. "What is-what the!?"

The class president watched as Sansan beheaded six beowulfs with an acid ax, at the same time as she impaled twelve beowulf's with her acid tentacles, at the same time she dragged some beowulfs into her body, while also forming a massive acid mouth the swallow five more Beowulf.

By now Sansan just looked like a massive acid monster that was brutally killing everything in her path.

"...Should we...stop her? This would be vigilantism...wouldn't it?" Iida sounded more hesitant than he should have.

"Stop her? Dude, she's almost done." Sero informed him. "I think all we could do is just watch the slaughter."

Back in the observation room.

"You...were not wrong. She is quite terrifying." Momo admitted with wide, frightened eyes as she and the class witnessed Sansan's slimy slaughter.

"Did you really fight her Uraraka?" Asui couldn't imagine trying to fight Sansan. To think this is the same kid that was turned into soup at that teacup ride.

"Yeah...it wasn't fun." Uraraka gave a nervous laugh. Even with my new quirk upgrade, I couldn't beat her if she was in full acid mode.

"This is the reason we decided that fighting Sansan should not be part of the exercise." Nezu sipped his tea. "Of course I did not intend for this to happen either. Sansan is going off script."

"I apologize, Sansan must have not liked not liked the fact that she was the only one to not have any action. She's very fond of fighting you see and not very fond of...staying still." Izuku sighed. "Although I can't really blame her."

"Well, it looks like that was the last of the Grimm," Nezu commented. "The exercise is over so let's call them back."

A few minutes later.

After everyone was called back, Nezu spoke up. "That exercise...did not go as intended but I think you understood the point of it. Sometimes children will look to you for comfort, sometimes in a physical way, such as attempting to hug you. This however may impede your ability to perform your job as a hero, or it will just kill you."

"There are unfortunate cases of children attempting to hug people, only for their quirks to end up killing the person they were attempting to hug," Izuku remembered Eri's story and felt a pang of sadness run through him.

"So while you may want to comfort a child in distress, it would be best to employ caution if you can," Nezu told them.

Mina pouted, but stayed silent, out of fear of provoking Nezu.

"So using your words to calm a distressed child, is a valuable skill, one that may end up saving your life," Nezu told them. "Of course afterward the correct response would not be to let them take down the villain themselves, but given the swiftness in which she dispatched her foes, I will look the other way on that this once. And with that, congratulations! You have all passed! Very well done! These exercises were hard, however, the real-life situations will be so much harder. So keep your wits about you. Now, time for lunch!"

The bell rang, and the students were dismissed.