Test of Courage

20

Bakugou's POV
Midoriya, Todoroki, Mina, and Kaminari weren't gone for long. Immediately the three from Chester were attacking us and trying to get past. Even though it was four against three we were out matched. Dabi and Shigaraki both had destructive magic which was hard to counter with only swords. Toga didn't show any proof she had magic but she was skilled with her never ending supply of knives.

Shigaraki lounged at me with his hand out stretched. I dodged, he already demonstrated his magic on a boulder I hid behind earlier. I swung my sword at him and he countered it with his own. I attacked again and he blocked it.

I badly wanted to check on Kirishima, to make sure he was okay but I knew if I took my eyes off Shigaraki i'd be a pile of dust. I could hear the others fighting but I couldn't tell if it was going well or not. My worry grew the longer I fought. I tried to find a way to catch him off guard, seeing it was my best bet.

I noticed a boulder in the corner of my eye and I moved in that direction, while blocking and dodging Shigaraki's attacks. Once I was a foot or two from the boulder I ducked behind it. My hunch was right and there was rocks and stones, broken for the bigger one. I grabbed one the size of my hand as the boulder crumbled into a pile of dust. I threw the rock as hard I could and hit Shigaraki square in the chest.

He was caught by surprise and fell with an angry yell. I moved quickly and grabbed his sword. I pointed the two swords in my hands to his neck.

"Don't move," I growled. He grudgingly listened and I smirked. Sadly, it was short-lived.

"Surrender or this one is ash," I heard Dabi demand. When I looked up my heart seemed to stop. A gasp was caught in my throat. He held Kirishima with one arm across his torso, pinning both of Kirishima's arms. In the palm of his free hand, danced a flame. It cast a blue glow on Kirishima's scared face. I noticed his injures, one of his arms were burnt and he had a cut on his cheek.

I felt a pull on the swords in my hands and when I looked down Shigaraki had a grip on the blades, which soon turned to ash in my hands. I backed away from him as he stood up with a vicious smirk. My mind raced for a way out of this. Where I could save Kirishima and stop Shigaraki, Toga, and Dabi.

"We surrender," Iida responded, dropping his sword. Sero did the same and the two held up their hands in defeat. I followed their lead. Dabi held onto Kirishima as Shigaraki and Toga used rope from Sero's backpack to tie us up. They bound our hands behind our backs and our ankles together. Finally Dabi let Kirishima go, extinguishing the flame in his hand. Kirishima was tied up like they rest of us and he was pushed to the ground next to me, his back hitting the boulder behind us.

Then Shigaraki, Dabi, and Toga went to find the entrance to Provorago. I struggled to break off the rope around my wrists while muttering curses under my breath. I could feel the others struggling next to me. I couldn't believe they got the best of us. They were out numbered, four to three. My anger made my tugs at the rope more aggressive, making the skin on my wrists burn. Kirishima huffed in frustration.

"I'm sorry, guys," he sighed and sat still. His apology made me pause. The other two stopped too.

"Why the hell are you sorry?" I asked in disbelief.

"I let my guard down and Dabi beat me," He said letting his head hang in shame. Then my anger grew. He shouldn't have to feel like this was his fault. It was Dabi's fault for fighting unfairly with his obvious advantage.

"There was nothing you could have done. They were strong. Even through they got away, we gave Deku and the others a head start," I told him.

"Thanks, Bakugou," He smiled softly. I looked into his crimson eyes and couldn't stop myself from returning the smile.

"Hate to ruin the touching moment but does any one have anything sharp?" Sero interrupted, making me break eye contact.

"I have a knife but it's in my backpack," I scowled. Our backpacks were in a pile over ten feet away. If our feet weren't bound it would be easy. Iida began scooting around as if he had bugs in his pants. He got to the other side of the boulder and smiled like he achieved something.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I got a rock, it should be sharp enough to cut through the rope but it might take sometime," He said. He scooted over to Sero again. "Turn around so I can cut your ropes." Sero managed to turn himself around and Iida began to saw at his restraints. It took a while but I finally heard the rope snap. Sero rubbed his wrists before untying his feet. He went to each of us and untied our hands too. I was secretly grateful, the skin on my wrists were raw from tugging on the ropes.

"Now what?" Kirishima asked.

"We need to help Midoriya and the others," Iida said, "We'll probably arrive after Shigaraki and the other two but we can still help."

"With what? They took our swords," Sero pointed out. I began looking through my bag.

"You didn't bring a back up?" I asked pulling out my own.

"I didn't think I needed to fight so much," He huffed, crossing his arms. Iida pulled a sword out of his own bag.

"I didn't bring one either," Kirishima chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head. His face was red with embarrassment. Iida pulled two pans from his bag. He hand one to Sero and then to Kirishima.

"We have to fight with this?" Sero asked skeptically. He flipped the pan in his hand.

"You can fight bare handed if you prefer," I growled.

"Nope, this is fine," He said quickly.

"That's what I thought," I grumbled.

Kaminari's POV
Midoriya pulled me back by the collar of my shirt as an arrow whizzed by my face. I could feel the air move from it's momentum.

"Thanks," I said with a sigh. Midoriya nodded and we continued forward, looking out for traps. Eventually we came up to another wooden door. It was tall, looming above us and it was decorated too. It looked normal but I knew better. Todoroki pulled it open with a grunt and I pressed against the wall with Mina. Todoroki was quick to join Midoriya across from us. More arrows flew past us.

The four of us waited a moment in case there were more but nothing happened. Carefully, we stepped away from the wall. Nothing happened once again and we stepped through the doorway. The room was round with plain smooth walls. In the middle of the room sat a giant statue of a lion with a human face and to giant feathered wings.

"A sphinx," Midoriya noted. Across the room, behind the statue, was another wooden door.

"Careful, this seems too easy," Todoroki warned. He was right, after all we had so much trouble in the corridor and the door had the arrows. We wearily made our way around the Sphinx but before we could get past the statue, it's human face creaked to life. It's eyes moved and trained on us and the rest of its body began to move. It stood on it's four stone legs and stretched it's wings, blocking our path.

"One of you, answer my three riddles and you may pass," The Sphinx' voice boomed and bounced off the walls of the round room.