Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 10: Don't Die

How did Shouta get himself into these situations?

There had been a trigger-enhanced next-level villain attack earlier that day, so he was doing the rounds, shaking down any trigger dealers he knew to try to get some leads while the police tried to figure out the poor guy's identity. The first few had been just what he expected, but this last one had shot up as soon as Aizawa started asking questions and now he was trying to figure out how to lead this guy away from populated areas. And he was a mutant type, so there was that.

The dealer had a crab-type heteromorphic quirk, which hadn't been a big deal when his skin was just a bit more durable and there was an extra pair of arms, but now his skin had hardened into an armored shell, and his hands and turned into razor-sharp claws and Shouta couldn't erase it. So far, he'd just been dodging all of the villain's attacks and waiting for the trigger to wear off. This batch must have been more potent than most, however, because they'd been doing this dance for ten minutes now and the guy wasn't even out of breath.

Sneak attacks were really much more effective, not that he couldn't do drawn-out battles, but he didn't prefer them for various reasons. One of those reasons being that the longer he fought, the more likely it was for him to blink and miss something important, such as one of the claws reaching out and tangling itself in his capture weapon. Within seconds, the crab villain had managed to spin his claws in such a way that Shouta was tangled in his own weapon and his hands were pinned to his side. Dang, it. If he made it out of this alive, Tsukauchi would never let him live this down.

The villain was grinning down at him as he gradually tightened the weapon until Shouta couldn't breathe, then tightened it some more. Suddenly, Shouta felt something whiz by the top of his head and hit the villain right between his eyes, making him stagger back and loosen his hold on the capture weapon. Shouta gasped for air and tried to yank his capture weapon back, but the villain had already recovered. Swearing, he reached for his knife to cut the weapon right as his opponent moved to tighten the noose again.

Suddenly, the villain cried out in pain and clutched his eyes. Shouta didn't waste any time cutting the weapon free of the villain's claws and stepping back to catch his breath. Now that he wasn't about to die, he glanced to the side to see who had helped him, only to see Viridian trembling beside him with his slingshot still at the ready. The kid's expression was frozen halfway between determined and terrified, a fact that Shouta probably would have laughed at in any other situation.

"Get out of here, kid!" Shouta yelled. "This guy's on trigger, he's out of your league."

Izuku knew that he should listen to Eraserhead. This guy was...a lot bigger than most of the small fry he'd managed to take down alone. Even Eraser was having trouble with him! But that was exactly why Izuku knew that he couldn't leave! If he left, even if it was to go get another hero, then there was a chance that Eraserhead would be dead by the time he came back and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if that happened. Besides, it's not like he was taking a huge risk fighting this guy. Eraserhead would be able to save so many more people than Izuku could if he survived this fight, and he was a hero that would still be able to fight his way out even if the villain killed Izuku.

That was why Izuku didn't hesitate to run forward, ignoring Eraser's yells behind him as he switched his slingshot out for his pipes. If only one of them could survive this fight, Izuku had to make sure it was Eraserhead and not a useless Deku like him. Izuku just hoped he could distract the villain long enough for Eraserhead to beat him.

He'd been aiming for the villain's eyes to get him to let go of his victim earlier, but Izuku's aim wasn't very good yet and it had taken a few tries, which was why he'd decided to switch to close range. Besides, he didn't think his marbles would do much good against the villain's shell anyway. He didn't know if his pipes would do much better, but at least they were easier to aim.