Chapter 49: Vanguard Action Squad (2)

{3rd Person POV}

"Alright! Team four, it's your turn." Pixie Bob announced, and Momo along with Saiba entered the forest together as they are the team four.

Saiba speed walked with Momo, and she kept up with him and asked "Why are we going this fast?"

"I promised Eri that I'll be back as fast as possible." Saiba replied.

"Ah..... Can't we just enjoy this test of courage?" Momo asked.

"We can, by blitzing through it." Saiba replied with a smile.

"Party pooper." Momo said with a pout on her face.

Because of their speed, they almost reached the middle of the route. On their way here, they passed by Kendo, Kodai, Honensuki and Tetsutetsu, Awase, Ibara as they were the scarers in the first half. They did have some laughs as they passed by the scarers before they could scare them.

When they neared the place where their names were, some kind of gas started to spread around them. Seeing this, Momo asked "What's with the gas?"

"Momo, make three gas masks for us and Ragdoll in the middle." Saiba told her as he walked towards the stone platform.

"Okay." Agreeing to what he said, Momo made three gas masks and equipped one for herself and followed Saiba.

As they reached the stone platform, they heard rustling of leaves, and blood splattered on the name tags and the stone platform. Saiba took the two gas masks from Momo and told her "Make a walkie talkie. I'll look for Ragdoll, you have to inform our classmates and Class B as they might not know that we are under attack, and do what you think is right, I trust your judgment."

"Got it. Just be careful, okay." Momo made two walkie talkies and gave one to Saiba.

"Thanks." Thanking Momo for the equipment, Saiba was about to leave, but he stopped and said "Give me five more gas masks, Jiro and Hagakure were the ones before us."

"Right." Saying that, Momo made five more gas masks and gave them to Saiba.

With the equipment in hand, both of them separated from each other. Saiba followed in the direction where the blood was and Momo went back towards where Awase and other Class B students were positioned.

Saiba made his way through the dense forest following the trail left by whoever took Ragdoll. A minute later, he started to smell smoke. With confusion, Saiba climbed one of the trees and when he reached the top, he saw red flames spread here and there. Squinting his eyes, he muttered to himself "Somebody with a fire quirk is with them huh? Is the world trying to balance it out or is it just a coincidence?"

Shaking his head he continued "I can think of it later, right now I have to find Ragdoll and get her to safety."

Deciding on that, he jumped down from the tree straight to the ground. A couple of seconds later, he found Jiro and Hagakure covering their noses so that they wouldn't breathe the gas.

"Jiro, Hagakure! Take this!" Shouting at them, Saiba shoved two gas masks into their hands.

""Gasp"" As the two girls equipped the gas mask they took a deep breath as they were holding their breath for some time.

"Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat the process." Saiba instructed them and both of them did as he instructed them to do.

As they got back their bearings, Saiba asked "Are you two alright? Did you see anyone else?"

Jiro and Hagakure shook their heads in denial. Jiro stated to ask him "What---"

But she stopped midway and a look of horror appeared on both their faces. Saiba, who saw this thought 'Must be the message from Mandalay, I can't hear her thanks to my mental shield. I should take it down for now'

"Joichiro, villains are here." Hagakure said with a tremble in her voice.

Nodding at her, Saiba said "Yeah, we found blood at the position where Ragdoll is supposed to be. I'm trying to find her and Momo is trying to help our classmates and class B students as much as she can."

"What!!?? Ragdoll is injured?" Jiro asked while her face got ashen.

"And missing. I'm looking for her, you two can join me or go towards Momo to help her out. What do you wanna do?" Saiba asked both of them.

"I'll go and find Momo, no one will see me. This is a perfect job for me." Hagakure said with a confident and determined look on her face.

Saiba nodded at her and asked Jiro "What about you?"

"I'm coming with you. Ragdoll helped us in training, it's our duty to help her out. Besides, we are hero students, we save people, heroes and civilians alike." Jiro spoke her mind determined, showing that she will see through this.

"Good." Saying that, Saiba took out the walkie talkie and spoke by pressing a button "Momo, where are you now?"

[I just met up with Awase from Class B and two others.]

"Alright, Hagakure is coming towards you, I'm giving my walkie talkie to her. Me and Jiro will search for Ragdoll. After finding her we will be going straight to the camp." Saiba said.

[Roger.]

Giving the walkie talkie Hagakure, Saiba told her "You heard her. Her position is near the middle of the route."

"Got it! Good luck guys." Saying that Hagakure ran towards the place where, on the way she stripped off of her clothes as she was sure that she had some distance away from Saiba.

Jiro and Saiba moved forward looking for the traces left behind by the one who kidnapped Ragdoll. When Saiba and Jiro turned around a large tree, their eyes were met with a greenish nomu with its brain exposed. As soon as the nomu sensed them, it transformed its hands into a chainsaw and a sword and started to swing at them, fully intended on injuring them.

Saiba swiftly dodged the attack and went to the back of the nomu, and he saw a yellow cat tail coming out of it's back. "So you're the one who took out Ragdoll huh?"

Without giving a chance for Saiba to act, two more arms formed from the back of the nomu and those two transformed into a drill and a sledge hammer.

"What the fuck is this? Four arms?" Saiba shouted in surprise as he dodged it again.

Suddenly a crack formed on the ground took the balance away from the nomu. Without looking at the one who caused the crack on the ground, that gave him a window of opportunity to attack back, Saiba shouted "Thanks Jiro!"

Then, it was a combined attack by Jiro and Saiba. Saiba kept the nomu's attention on him and Jiro attacked it in a timely manner by making cracks on the ground making the nomu lose its balance.

As he was jumping around dodging all the attacks from the nomu and keeping it busy from going elsewhere, he took a small branch from the tree and channeled the energy he had absorbed from the taser made by Mei.

Making the branch into a sword using the energy, Saiba cut down the six limbs of the nomu and immobilized it. But the nomu started to regenerate, albeit it was slower than the one attacked at U.S.J.

"Well, that's not new." Shrugging, Saiba sliced open the nomu's back and he saw a knocked out Ragdoll stored inside of the nomu. "Thought so."

Taking Ragdoll out of the nomu, Saiba sliced the head and regenerated six limbs again in order to immobilize it again.

*Boom Baam*

Suddenly, a huge sound wave was heard, so Saiba guessed it 'So Midoriya finished his fight with Muscular and saved Kota. Then in any minute, Aizawa will give permission to attack with everything we got.'

Looking towards Jiro, Saiba said "We'll go to the campsite, hold on to me."

"Are you sure?" Jiro asked Saiba with a little bit of worry.

"I'm sure, just make sure to use your soundwaves on me constantly." Assuring Jiro, Saiba kneeled in front of her and said "Get on my back, I'll carry Ragdoll in front."

"Alright" Jiro said as she got on his back.

Saiba picked up Ragdoll in princess carry and stood straight. Then without wasting any more time, he took Ragdoll and Jiro with him and headed straight towards the camp site, cutting through the forest, instead of going back through the clearance. With the help of Jiro's soundwave that was constantly bombarded on him, Saiba was able to increase his speed.

When they reached the quarter way mark to the campsite, Saiba heard a voice in his head 'Everyone in Class A and Class B! In the name of the Pro Hero, Erasure Head, you are granted permission to engage in combat! I repeat! Everyone in Class A and Class B! You are granted permission to engage in combat!'

"You heard that right?" Saiba asked Jiro.

"Yeah, I heard that." Jiro replied as she nodded her head.

Just then, another message was heard: 'We have discovered two of the villains' targets. It's one of the students-- "Kacchan" and Saiba! Both of you should try to avoid combat and act independently. Understand, "Kacchan" and Saiba?!'

"What the hell?" Jiro shouted as she heard that one of the targets was Saiba.

Saiba on the other hand was thinking 'What the hell does the handy guy need me for? Or is it All For One?'

Shaking his head, he assured Jiro "It's alright. If that is the only nomu they send here then nothing will happen."

After a couple of minutes later, they reached the campsite and they saw a blue colored nomu stepping into the camp.

Seeing that, Jiro said "You just had to say that."

Sighing, Saiba said "They are in the fifth room. I'll take care of that guy, you take Ragdoll and go in. Vlad King is in there."

Giving Ragdoll to Jiro, Saiba jumped on to the back of the nomu and holding its legs, he threw it away from the campsite into the forest with everything he got.

As Saiba was about to chase after it, he halted as he suddenly felt an unusual energy from the room where the cluster of life force were present.

"What--?" Without even allowing Jiro to speak up, Saiba picked up both Jiro and Ragdoll then blitzed towards the room.

Within a second he reached the room with a burned door, and as he got inside he saw a man being incapacitated by Vlad King. Seeing that man, Saiba thought to himself 'What's Navy Admiral Akainu doing here?'

Shaking off that thought, he kicked Akainu right on the head with his full power, which obliterated his head. Then he felt the energy he felt before increasing, so he looked towards the source of the energy and found Eri in the epicenter with tearfilled eyes and the desk around her started to turn into dust.

Without a delay, Saiba released Jiro along with Ragdoll and jumped towards Eri. Hugging her tightly he softly told her "Let it all out! It's alright, don't cry."

As if the dam broke loose, the energy stored in Eri was fully released and Saiba absorbed the energy coming off of Eri with maximum efficiency.

Cracks started to appear on his body. 'I'll have to create a ring around my heart to harness the temporal energy coming from Eri or I'll die in her hands, and I don't want that! Come on work!'

Thinking along the lines, Saiba directed the energy he was absorbing from Eri towards his heart and started to create a ring around it. The first two tries failed, closing his eyes and praying to whatever god was out her for a success, Saiba tried again for the third time.

As the energy absorption started to decrease, and the energy he was holding and spinning around his heart increased, Saiba started to lose his consciousness, and the last thing he felt was the formation of the temporal ring around his heart.

Just as Saiba lost his consciousness, Aizawa entered the room along with Kota. Seeing Saiba and Eri laying on the ground hugging each other unconsciously, Aizawa asked "What happened here?"