Chapter 13: Sludge Villain Incident

The day after Midoriya called me, we decided to meet at a cafe. I sip on a Dr. Pepper while I wait for him to show up. Behind me, my tail twitches in irritation.

Really. He was completely incoherent when he called, even more than when he goes into an analysis rant. All I could get from him was that he met All Might, then basically said ‘fuck you’ to him.

I shake my head at the thought. I wonder what happened to cause him to react like that? Did All Might slip up in his ‘ultimate hero’ act? On one hand, if he did, I probably won’t have to listen to Midoriya spout All Might propaganda at me. On the other, it could do alot of damage to his mental state given his fixation. As his friend, I need to be there for him so he doesn’t spiral into a negative spiral.

It’s then that I see him walk up to me, a bright smile on his face. “Hi Catia! How are you doing today?”

I give him a blank stare which he obliviously ignores, taking a seat across from me. He raises a hand to catch the attention of a passing waitress with flowers stuck in her hair. “Can I get a menu please? Oh, and to drink I’ll have-”

“He’ll have water.” Midoriya turns his head to look at me, surprised at my monotone voice. Seeing my glare, he lets out an eep and shies back a bit. Seeing his reaction, the waitress gives me a disapproving look and Midoriya a pitying one. She doesn’t say anything though, simply walking away to do her job.

Midoriya, meanwhile, is wondering what he did to make Catia mad. Why is there a dark aura coming off of her!? Did I do something to make her mad? I don’t think I did, but we’ve barely been friends for a year, so maybe it’s something I didn’t realize before…

Seeing Midoriya get lost in thought, I feel the urge to smack him. But since that would require me to stretch across the table I disregard it. Instead, I tell him why I’m irritated.

“You come up acting like you don’t have a care in the world. Meanwhile I was worried sick for you after you told me what happened.” Seeing him tilt his head in confusion, my tail’s movements become more violent, thrashing the air behind me.

“When you called me yesterday, you said that you met All Might, and then you told him to go to hell.”

Midoriya freezes. A few moments later he stiffly turns his head to the side, looking up at the sky to avoid my glare. “O-oh. Y-yeah, I remember that now. Hehe, it actually slipped my mind in all the excitement that happened afterwards.”

My gaze is cold, and my tail has gone still. “Oh really. And what was so exciting that you forgot about cursing your childhood hero and telling your friend about it?”

He looks at me, childlike wonder filling his eyes as a smile splits his face despite himself. “I helped a hero take down a villain!”

I blink. Then I blink again. I stick a finger in my ear to make sure it’s clear of earwax. “What was that?”

He beams. “I helped a hero take down the Sludge villain that attacked yesterday! Well, I didn’t help help, but I helped him think of a way to beat him! You see, the Sludge villain was less sludge and more like slime. But since his body was more semi-solid than semi-liquid…”

I zone out his mini-rant and instead take out my phone, searching for anything with ‘Sludge Villain’ in the title. When I do I see a ton of articles pop up. But at the very top of the page is a video link labeled ‘Death Arms and Kamui Woods melt Sludge Villain!!!’. I tap on that one, turning up the volume a bit so I can hear clearly.

The video starts, and I see a man doing tricks on his skateboard. After twenty seconds of this I move my finger to skip ahead. But just before my finger touches down on the slide, there’s an explosion down a sidestreet, throwing the guy off of his board. Luckily he wasn’t the stupid sort and wore pads and a helmet, so he got off fine other than being a bit dazed.

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The video swings wildly, the person holding it stumbling due to the shockwave. When it stabilizes, it turns and I see a typical side-street in a shopping district. What’s not typical is the large and gooey villain standing in the center, nor the fires surrounding it. Seeing something, I pause the video and zoom in on the villain.

I mutter, “Is that Baku-brat?”

Encased in the villain is Katsuki Bakugou. AKA Ka-chan to Midoriya. AKA Baku-brat to me. I resume the video, watching with keen interest. Across from me, Midoriya comes out of his fugue and realizes that I’m watching yesterday’s events. He decides to wait for me to finish the video before he talks to me again. Instead, as the waitress approaches with his menu and drink he decides to order a bite to eat.

In the video, Baku-brat’s usual arrogant expression is nowhere to be seen. Instead, his eyes are filled with fear as he lets his quirk go wild in an effort to throw the villain off. But it’s ineffective, the villain pointing his hands harmlessly away from its body.

This continues for a minute, the villain trying to do…something to Baku-brat while he ineffectively tries to blow up the villain. Then a hero comes. A couple, actually. Death Arms and Backdraft appear. Seeing the fire, Backdraft immediately starts shooting water to put out the fires. Death Arms decides to target the source, charging at Baku-brat and the villain, fist raised.

When he reaches the villain he sinks his fist deep into its body. He smirks, confident in his victory. But it disappears when the villain chuckles. The villain’s body constricted around the fist buried in his body, trying to trap him. Feeling the pressure, Death Arms pulls back, putting distance between himself and the villain. He glares and charges back in, trying to punch bits off of him. But they simply flow back into the villain.

He clicks his tongue and retreats, crossing his arms as he glares at the villain. Seeing this,  Baku-brat resumes trying to explode the villain, having stopped while the hero tried to save him. By this time other heroes have appeared, some helping Backdraft fight the fire, others rescuing civilians. But none of them try to take on the villain anymore.

A crowd gathers, talking about how the villain escaped All Might, and how the local heroes aren’t able to do anything. And then a boy appears. He rushes towards Death Arms, who tries to wave him off. But the green haired boy is insistent, gesticulating wildly. At some point Death Arms must have started listening to him, because he calls for Kamui Woods to join him. Together they listen to the boy, nodding along. Then they rush away from the conflict.

The camera fixes on them for a moment, watching as the three people run away. Then it turns back to the villain. It’s more of the same, and there’s no progress for a good two minutes. Then Death Arms re-enters the frame with a pile of wood dragging along behind him. 

The camera trails along the wood, revealing that it stretches far outside the alley. But then it refocuses on Death Arms, who’s pointing the front of the bundle at the villain. Then he braces himself.

A few moments later water begins to leak from the wood. Then it starts to flow. Then it shoots out like a garden hose. Then a fire hose. Death Arms adjusts his aim, making sure that the water is able to wash over the villain. The villain laughs at their attempt, confident in their plan. Then it starts to go wrong.

Pieces of him start to slough off, becoming too saturated to remain in their current state. They begin flowing off of him in little clumps at first. Then the pieces grow larger. Soon he’s unable to hold his shape and he falls apart, leaving a gasping Baku-brat clutching his neck as he takes deep breaths. Then the video cuts off.

I close the video, looking at Midoriya across from me. The waitress drops off both of our plates of food and leaves, leaving us alone again.

I meet his eyes. “Tell  me more.”

He smiles to hide the blush in his cheeks. “Well, it was like this…”

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