The party spent the night at that inn, and in the morning, they mutually agreed to just spend the rest of their break there. Momo wanted to explore the village (to shop) and Shoto offered to go with her. He wished to avoid Shota and Emi's presence. Camie said it was significant that Shoto preferred shopping with Momo to enduring that. "Mark my words," she told the other girls "Something is going on there." "Camie, don't be crass," Kyoka said. "That's disrespectful." "No it's not, you're not sworn in yet." Camie argued. "It's still disrespectful!" Kyoka raised her knife. "What does she mean, not sworn in?" Ochako asked innocently. Kyoka sighed "It's just a technicality." Came gestured nonchalantly. "The Southern Tribe makes you swear an oath to be their full member, but you have to be finished with your trial time." "How long is that?" Ochako asked.                                                                                                                                                                                                  "It depends...what was it for you... three years, right?" Camie said. "Say, your time is almost up, Kyoka, you really put off going to see the world until there was a major crisis, sheesh. I'd never take that oath." "Camie, you're a hopeless flirt, no one would ever take your oath seriously," Kyoka said dryly. Camie didn't seem offended by this jab. "So, I like to have fun, and I don't hate boys, so what? The rule is stupid." "Why do you have to swear off boys?" Ochako asked. "It's to keep us focused on serving the goddess and the tribe," Kyoka explained. "Otherwise we have to leave." "They excommunicate you?" Ochako said. "I mean, we can still talk to them, but we can't be a part of their official events and maneuvers" Kyoka said. "It makes sense, if someone wants to go off and have a family, why should we make them risk their lives in battle all the time? It's not fair to the children is it?" "I guess not," Ochako admitted. "But we do call on them if we need reserves," Kyoka added. "So, I've met a few, they aren't so bad... but they aren't like the rest of us."                                                                                                                                                             "Because they have a sense of humor," Camie said. "They aren't focused on fighting anymore," Kyoka corrected saltily. "They just want to talk about their families and villages, I never feel like a real part of the conversation." "Oh, but that's just normal stuff," Ochako said. Kyoka frowned. "Is it?" Ochako wasn't sure what to say to that. Mina looked up at them. "It sounds a little strange to me... So what do you do to decide? Just go out and look at other people and think 'do I see myself with them'?" "It's different for everyone, some people only need a month to figure it out." Kyoka said. "They make all of us go on quests at least once to decide, but it doesn't have to be long. I'll probably not bother going on another one after this. I think I know what I want." "I see," Ochako said. "Well, it's good to know what you want... but even though we're adults and all, I think I still don't know everything I want in life. A decision like that seems so final." "What will you do if your precious princess ends up deciding she likes the real world?" Camie said, Kyoka stiffened.                                                                                                                              "You must have noticed how much she's enjoying this," Camie said casually, tugging her hair. "It's not like she's subtle about it. She doesn't mind boys either, you know. Everyone's just a person to Princess Momo, she's weird like that... She might stick around. Maybe she'll join a different tribe. What then?" "You don't know anything, Camie," Kyoka crossed her arms. "Momo knows her duties." "What duties? It's not a requirement for her to take that stupid oath to do her duties," Camie said. "But you just said--" began Ochako. "She neglected to tell you that Paladins are different," Camie said. "Some Paladins are men, you know, the goddess doesn't care. You can be a part of the regular world and be a Paladin, though it's harder, that's why they live in the tribe, for protection, but if you wanted to risk it... and maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The tribe couldn't just say a Paladin couldn't do their job, so there has to be exceptions. Kyoka knows that, she's just in denial because she doesn't want her best friend to ditch her. 'Course, you could just leave the tribe too--"                                                                                                                                              Kyoka kicked Camie off the rock she was sitting on, then stormed away. "Wow..." Mina was shocked. "Are you okay?" Ochaco helped Camie up. "That wench!" Camie rubbed her side. "She's just mad that I'm right." "Camie, maybe you shouldn't push it so much, she's kind of sensitive." Ochaco said. Camie just shrugged. "Well, thanks for explaining," Mina said, "I was dying to ask about their tribe for days now, and I couldn't work up the nerve because she's so defensive about it. But why doesn't your tribe have that rule, Camie?" "Oh, my parents outlawed it," Camie said casually. "After they got together, my mom decided it was silly, and we made it a test of strength to join us. Our motto is, if you've got the grit, we don't care whether you're a boy or a girl. And what's wrong with getting married then? Makes matching up partners way less of a hassle." "You warriors are so weird," Mina said. "But why is your tribe a bandit tribe?" Ochaco asked. "Oh, we don't steal that much," Camie said. "Mostly that's just to prank people... we steal from the Dark Forces and from other jerks like that. They just spread the rumor that we settle from everyone so no one would trust us. But, we don't really care, since it makes us more intimidating." She shrugged again. "But...that's not nice, if everyone thinks you're really bad people." Ochaco said. "Can't worry about what everyone thinks," Camie said.

Kyoka stalked around the Inn, mentally thinking things she shouldn't say about Camie. But she was secretly worried, what if the blonde annoyance was right? Momo was just too friendly for her own good. She scowled at the sky. Then, she noticed some newcomers at the Inn. Some people with a bunch of animals. Must be looking for a place with a stable, well, this one did have them. They looked like those alpaca things like Denki's dumb pet. She could hear the owners arguing with the Innkeeper. "These are very valuable animals, you can make soft garments from their coats, I don't want them too close to the horses." "Sir, we don't have enough room to give preferential treatment," the Innkeeper said in a barely civil voice. Kyoka rolled her eyes, more stupidity. "I guess I will just take my business elsewhere then" the man said. "Go right ahead," the Innkeeper muttered.

The man and his servants grabbed the alpaca's reins and started dragging them away...one of them didn't want to budge. "Cursed beast is still stubborn as a mule!" One servant said, hitting it with a rod. The alpaca bleated and started moving. Kyoka hadn't thought much of it, but she turned suddenly. Now, that sound... she'd recognize any sound after hearing it so often. "Tibult?" She said in disbelief. The alpaca glanced toward her, then bleated again and started trying to come her way. It recognized her! It was Tibult! But how? She raced up and headed the men off. "Excuse me, but...where did you find that little one there?" she pointed. They frowned. "What business is it of yours? Get out of our way, girlie."

Kyoka tilted her head. "It doesn't seem like it knows you very well, and it's funny, it looks just like one that belongs to someone I know, it went missing last week... so I was just wondering, if you found this one..." Tibult wasn't in very good shape, he was filthy. But he strained to come to her anyway. The servants held him back. "I don't know what you're talking about, wench," the Owner said, "We're no thieves. These are all mine." "I can tell you're lying." Kyoka put a hand to her ear. "Your voice changed." "Look, I make it a point not to get rough with ladies usually, but you are certainly making me wish to make an exception," The Owner said, his servants fingered their staffs menacingly. "Why don't you run along and mind your own business. Before there's trouble." Kyoka smiled. "Trouble huh?" She pulled out her knife. "I can do trouble."

A very short time later, the Innkeeper came running to get Denki, Deku, and Ei. "Young masters, I require your assistance! That companion of yours is causing a ruckus in font of my inn, and it's disturbing my guests! Please restrain her." "Why didn't yo?" Bakugo asked. "She's armed!" The Innkeeper aid. 'Coward," Bakugo muttered. "I wonder what's got her riled up now?" Denki said. "Who wants to go?" "You go, man, you can use your bard powers to break it up." Ei said. Deku nodded. "Yeah, we'd just make her madder if we try to do it by force. I can try to find Momo." "Yeah, you do that, I'll just go get killed," Denki griped, going. "Princess went to town," Bakugo said. "Remember jackass?" "Oh... crud, I forgot!" Deku cried. "He's dead," Ei said. Shota appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "I'll handle this." He stalked away. "I repeat, he's dead, or both of them," Ei said.

Denki got to the front just in time to see Kyoka kicking the last servant into a water trough and backhanding the Owner, who finally went down. She wiped her face. "This was fun," she said. "Not much of a challenge, but, still..." "I'm too late!" Denki cried. "The town police will be on us any minute! This is not good.' "Oh calm down," Kyoka said. She walked around the corner. "Hey! You can't just leave!" Denki followed. "You have to apologize--" he stopped. Kyoka was cutting the bonds off an alpaca-- "Tibult?" Denki said. "Yeah, your stupid llama got captured by these thieves," Kyoka said. "I bet they stole the other ones too. Guess they're valuable or something. They had that beating coming." She tossed Denki the reins. Tibult seemed happy. He started chewing on Denki's shirt.

"Buddy!" Denki cried. "It thought I'd never see you again! Don't ever run off on me ever!" Tibult snorted as if to agree. Kyoka started to walk away. "I can't believe you beat those guys up for this," Denki said. "I didn't even think you liked Tibult." "I don't, but he's yours..." Kyoka kicked the dirt. "So... don't act like I felt bad for you or something, it's just justice." Then she flinched because Denki hugged her. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Maybe you're not as mean as I thought." "Get off of me!" Kyoka pushed him, her face turned beet red. "You can't just do that!" "I was trying to express my gratitude," Denki said. Tibult bleated. "Yeah, him too." "I just said it wasn't that big of a thing," Kyoka cried. "Why are you so mad?" Denki was puzzled. "So," Shota's voice interrupted this...whatever it was. "You beat up thieves for stealing an alpaca." "They didn't steal it," Kyoka said. "But they wouldn't return it either. Or admit that they found it. So, I got suspicious." Shota raised an eyebrow. "Maybe they thought you were a thief... but" he held up a parchment. "There is a warrant out for alpaca thieves that might match heir description. If it checks out, you could claim a reward... if not, you're going to be fined. Think before you act next time." Severely. Then he walked away. "I feel like for him that was mild," Denki said. "But hey, if you got a reward that would be so cool! You're like a bounty hunter! You know with that hearing magic you have, you could be a great bounty hunter! If you ever wanted to change careers." "Why would I do that?" Kyoka snapped. "I'm not reconsidering anything, leave me alone!" she walked away. "I didn't say you were..." Denki muttered. "What's gotten into her?" Then he shrugged. "Oh well, Tibult, you need a bath." Tibult didn't object.

The other members of the party were almost as glad as Denki that his pet was returned to him at last. Though the usefulness of it was uncertain... until Denki purchased a small cart for him. Then he loaded a lot of their supplies into it. This lightened their load considerably. "I love that thing now," Camie said of it emphatically. The rest stop was drawing to a close now. They only had one more day, and they already felt better. Though Deku still wondered about his quest and if he was going to be able to succeed. Now didn't seem like the time to start second guessing, however.

That evening, they were eating supper in the Inn, and Mina seemed uneasy. "I feel like something is off." "Off like there's a Dark Mage here to kill us again?" Shoto asked, tensing. "No, nothing that strong." Mina said. "But off... I don't know, like a distant shadow, I guess. Maybe we should leave tomorrow morning instead of the day after like Kyoka wanted." Kyoka looked up hopefully. "But... we really don't need to," Momo said. "Surely, one more day won't hurt." "Those are famous last words," Denki said. "But, I don't want to go yet either. Tibult could use more recovery time, and we have guardians here, so it's probably safer than going back on the road. Whatever your shadow is, Mina, it's better to wait till it passes, isn't it?" Mina frowned. "What if it doesn't?" "I don't like that this area is stuck between two Dark Land Territories," Bakugo growled. "That's enough reason not to want to stay here any longer." "On the other hand, there's a reason it hasn't been claimed yet," Momo countered. "But, let's put it up to a vote, shall we? Who is in favor of our original plan?" She, Deku, Denki, and Ochako were. Shoto, Bakugo, and Mina weren't. Camie and Ei were neutral. "Barely outvoted," Shoto observed. "I guess it's settled." "The vote won't make one lick of difference if we're right," Bakugo pointed out. Which was a startlingly good point that made them shiver a little. "Let's see how it feels in the morning and reconsider then," Momo suggested. Since no one wanted to leave at night, this compromise was accepted.

It was the middle of the night when Deku woke up to the sound of shrieking. He stumbled out of bed and to his window, bewildered. He couldn't see much, but he heard people yelling outside. "Dude, what is that?" Denki cried, sitting up. "I don't know, but we should find everyone else," Deku said. He shook Shoto. "Wake up!" Shoto groaned but blinking. What?----what is that noise?" "Finally, you noticed," Denki said sarcastically. "Seriously dude, how did you survive on your own the way you can sleep through anything?" They rushed into the hall, the girls were mostly already there, looking nervous. Kyoka had her hands over her ears. "It's unearthly!" She said. "What is it? Why are people screaming?" Shoto demanded. "Not all of those screams are people," Momo said, rushing to the front of the Inn, The Innkeeper was barring the door with heavy objects. "Get the kitchen!" he yelled at them. The last few members of the party came in right then, and they all dashed to the kitchen--but they peered out the door. The air seemed full of some kind of creature. Flying past or leaping past, it was hard to tell. Bakugo exploded at one before they could stop him, and it fell, a little dazed. They held up a lantern to look at it and almost threw up. It was like a grasshopper, but it was about a foot long, and it had big red eyes, and long sharp teeth, and claws on its hind legs that looked like they could cut your finger off. "What is that!?" Camie yelped. For once, no one knew. "Just going out on a limb, but I'm going to go with Demon Locust." Denki said, nervously, "everyone good with calling it that?" The creature straightened then it let out a piercing shriek from its hind legs chafing together that almost made them black out. Their ears were ringing. "Where did they come from" Momo cried, covering her ears. "Who cares, shut the door!" Kyoka slammed it. "We can't let them get in here!" "But the village..." Deku said. "You think we can fight a whole swarm of those things?" Denki cried. "This is literally what nightmares are made of." "But, what if they don't leave?" Deku said. "What if they are killing people? They must be Dark Lord minions, right? We have to go out there and help."

"And what are you going to do, weakling?" Bakugo growled. "You've got no magic"' Deku frowned. "Maybe not...but they're just big bugs, and bugs are all afraid of fire, so..." he picked up a torch from the corner. "Maybe there's a way to scare them." "That might work," Momo admitted. ""But if it doesn't..." Deku handed the map to Shoto. "If it doesn't, I guess... you guys have to finish the quest." "Deku!" Ochaco cried, in surprise. Deku felt a lot less brave than he was trying to sound--if anything, he felt he might be doing the stupidest thing of his life, but he opened the door and stepped outside, lighting the torch on fire. The others all stared after him as walked out. "I can't believe we're letting him go alone," Shoto said. "But if we all die, what was the point?" Denki said. "I don't know what to do... dang it, I'm just a bard! I'm not cut out for all this heroic stuff." "But we're supposed to be," Momo said. "Yet, the thought of going out into a swarm of giant locusts... I just..." This did it for Bakugo. "The h--- is wrong with all of you pansies!?" He shouted at them. "Standing there arguing about it, that's not how you freaking fight! You don't think about it! You just do it! I swear it's like someone replaced your spines with stringed cheese!" "They what--" Denki couldn't get over that visual. But Bakugo didn't wait for a comment, he just charged out the door. "Hey!" Camie cried. "Wait for me!" She dashed after him. "Have they lost it?" Mina said. "No," Shoto said. "I believe they found it, we are all acting like fools." He tapped his wrist guard on the left. "Hot." The fire dragon sprang out and began blasting a tongue of fire at the swarm. Sure enough, the locusts veered away from it. Some were incinerated on the spot. Momo didn't waste any more time, she formed a staff with fire at the end and ran out there after them. Ei was right benign her, sprouting scales, and Ochako with her staff. Kyoka, Mina, and Denki hesitated. But then Denki held up his lute. "I guess I can try to boost everyone's strength, since it probably won't work on the locust things." "I'll guard you," Kyoka swallowed bravely. Mina sighed. "Fine, let's all die together, I guess." She shrank. "Maybe I can punch them like this before they see me coming. Or use acid." They all ran out into the fray. 

Deku found his idea worked better than he expected. The demon locusts were apparently still susceptible to fire, and they scattered away from it, the shrieking noise only got worse up close, but he tried to block it out. As he got farther down the street, he saw why people were screaming. The locusts were scratching up everything, windows, doors, posts. Some were biting off the branches of trees... the whole village was going to be leveled in less than an hour at this rate. But if fire was working... Deku had an idea. Then he saw the others had followed him, and he ran up and yelled at them over the noise, but only Kyoka probably heard him. "He says if we make a big bonfire, we might keep the village safe," she said. "Or maybe several... where will we get fuel for that though?" "Well, if it would save the town, people might donate," Denki yelled back. Kyoka waved Deku over. Bakugo blasted away a lot of locusts, clearing the airwaves a little, then they repeated their plan. Momo said it would probably work. "I can start the fires." "And I," Shoto said. Camie was hiding front eh monsters in smoke and distracting them with it, she put up her hand. "I'll try to deter some of those freaky things from eating the real stuff. But, I can't keep that up for long, guys, I hope this works." "I'll try to protect you all!" Ochako said. "Let's go!"

The next ten minute were all dodging locusts, and knocking on doors, asking for hay, old furniture, anything to help. Some people wouldn't open, but once they heard the plan was to get rid of the monsters, they usually tossed stuff out the window. The team rushed it to the middle of the street. Momo had started one fire, and was keeping the bugs off of it, Shoto was using both his dragons to the same further away. The Locusts didn't attack them directly as long as they were holding fire, but Denki almost got eaten by some when Kyoka moved too far away from him for a second. Lesson learned, they stuck closer together after that. Mina kept the bugs off the others too, and helped by flying fuel to the fire. In this manner it was good sized before too long. It started to work, the locusts veered away from it, the bigger it got, the farther away they got, so that soon the middle streets were not being eaten anymore. However, the amount of time it took to do that made the party exhausted, and they hadn't even covered half the village. Things were not looking good.

Somewhere in all this chaos, they suddenly became aware they were not the only ones fighting. Shota and Emi were always running around, swatting at locusts, and shooting them down with crossbows, or a boomerang in Emi's case. They overtook the party finally. "What are you all doing here!" Shota yelled at them. "You should have fled the village already!" "What do you mean?" Deku asked over the din. "These things are here because of you, sweetheart," Emi answered, smacking one. "The Dark Forces are plaguing you because they sense you are getting closer to finding the 8th." "It's our fault?" Deku said. "Not our fault, but they are following you. If you don't escape they'll try to catch you. More monsters will follow this one. You have to get far away or the village will be destroyed!" Emi answered. "Don't worry about us, we can take care of things here. You've done enough to help." "Use your concealment magic and escape!" Shota yelled. "Running again." Shoto muttered. "When does it ever end?" "Not the time man," Ei called, punching a locust. "We better do as they say, they're the guardians, we should go."

The party regrouped and ran out of the town under the haze of Camie and Ochako combining their powers for concealment magic. They didn't forget to grab Tibult and Soba and the cart, then Ei turned into a full dragon and they sped away as fast as they could. Soon the village was just the faint light from the far off bonfires, and smoke on the horizon.