One by one, Tomura and Kurogiri's companions arrived at The Tavern.

First, there was the man Suichi, cursed with the shape of a lizard. He always carried blades.

Then there was Jin, self cursed by practicing duplication magic. He was always a little mad in his speech.

Then Himiko.... Tomura was pretty sure she was just a vampire, but she could shapeshift--also said to be a cursed power because, instead of being an illusion, she actually shifted.

Then Atsuhiro...who wasn't really cursed...at least not in any way they could tell--but claimed he was still valid. He always had a deck of cards in his breast pocket and a long cape on.

Last, as usual, was Dabi. He never gave any history on himself. He had scars on his face, like something had shot up and burned him when he stood too close.

They all met in a room in the back.

Tomura filled them all in on the death of the 8th, though Jin and Himiko already knew.

"And now we have to find that new, little shoot before he grows into a big problem," Tomura concluded. "He won't know how to use the SOL well yet. Now is our only chance."

"If that's so, why did you let him go?" Dabi usually asked the most annoying question he could think of.

"We didn't have much choice, and then we were wanted back at the Capital, but for now, it looks as though that ship has sailed," Tomura said. "Soon the king won't matter."

Dabi scowled. "And his brat son?"

"He's nothing, would have been short work for us."

Dabi frowned. "So, you think the shadow man is ready to move soon?"

"The end of the war is in sight," Kurogiri said, in his monochromatic tone.

"Yay!" Himiko was the only one excited.

"All he needs is the 9th holder dead and the SOL in his possession," Tomura said. "Now, we will have to spread out and find the little brat. Any one of us ought to be able to kill him. But just in case, you should go in pairs. I don't care who goes with who."

"You want us to work together?" Dabi looked like he'd suggested waterboarding.

"If you'd prefer not to, feel free to sit this one out," Tomura said coldly.

Dabi frowned. "All right...but I want one thing. If we pull this off, and the Capital goes down, and we win...I want to be the one to off the old miser king."

"He'll hardly be worth it," Tomura said. "But that's a matter for Master to decide."

"So pass it along--Smokey here can do it, can't he?"

"Perhaps," Kurogiri said. "If you yield results..."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Dabi stood up. "I'll go West. Double-Trouble, you want to tag along?"

"Uh...sure," Jin said. "No... Maybe..."

"Can I go with Atsuhiro?" Himiko asked. "Or maybe Suichi..."

Suichi cringed away from her.

"Actually, you'll draw less attention alone," Tomura said.

"What? No fair, I want to go with someone," Himiko said.

"You just want to kill us in our sleep," Dabi said.

"What? I like you," she said, crazily.

"I see your point," Astuhiro said. "Himiko will blend in best on her own...and the victims will be, ahem, no one we know."

She pouted.

"If you do have difficulty, use your talismans to call Kurogiri's aid, and we will join you," Tomura finished. "I will be looking in the North. Perhaps the new holder will be looking for problems to solve."

"Oh, I'll go East," Himiko said. "There are a lot of of handsome men in the empire's lands."

Dabi made a disgusted face.

"I suppose the old lizard boy and I will go South, then," Atushiro said. "It's lovely this time of year, I hear."

"At least it's warm." Suichi was cold blooded...or so he claimed.

"So why did we all have to be here for this?" Dabi asked.

"I didn't want to waste time tracking you all down," Tomura said. "And messenger birds are so unreliable these days, with all the griffins and dragons and monsters flying around."

"I think you're just too lazy," Dabi said.

"And I think you'd better keep your mouth shut if you want to get through the Western territories unnoticed," Tomura said.

"We'd go to jail behind his mouth," Atsuhiro said, "if his mouth was not always behind his brain and all of us in front of it."

Dabi almost punched him.

"I will send you all on your way, with a head start," Kurogiri said. "You should send us word if you hear anything. Risk the messenger system for that, right, Tomura?"

"Of course, just don't be too obvious," Tomura said. "And make sure you keep enough money on hand. Inflation is bad now."

"Oh, we'll steal it off some sucker if we need to," Dabi said.

"Indeed, like candy from a baby," Atsuhiro said.

"I never understood that phrase. Babies shouldn't have candy," Suichi said.

"Oh, quit your grumbling. It's just an expression. The problem with you Bestial Accursed is that you take everything so literally."

"Don't call me a beast!"

"I didn't. Bestial is an adjective, you uncultured chameleon."

"I'm a gecko--"

Tomura blocked out the sound of their arguing until Kurogiri sent them all away.

"If they don't kill each other before they kill the 9th, I expect results in a few weeks," he said. "And we should be on our way."

"I'm a little tired after so many people, sir," Kurogiri said. "Perhaps we should walk out of town first."

"You don't sleep and yet you're tired," Tomura said.

"A different sort of tired, sir. Magical energy must replenish itself, as you know..."

Tomura ignored his explanation of that. They left The Tavern and started on their way out of town.

He had a vague feeling he'd forgotten something but didn't remember what it was till the same rabbit woman as before bounded into the road ahead of them.

She then leaned on a dead stump and eyed them expectantly.

"Are you gonna run?" she asked.

"Kurogiri, how do you feel now?" Tomura ignored her and they kept walking.

She stared after them, and her ears went back.

"I think a few more minutes ought to do it, sir," he said.

"Hey!" the woman called. "Jackass? Over here, remember? I'm capturing you?"

"A few minutes is too long to put up with gnats buzzing in our ears," Tomura said, still to Kurogiri.

"Gnats?" she said, angrily.

Tomura didn't think much of it until something heavy hit him so hard he fell on his face.

"Master Tomura!" Kurogiri sounded almost alarmed. "Are you hurt?"

No, I'm perfectly fine, Tomura wanted to say, sarcastically. I just ate dirt here for the flavor!

But he couldn't talk because he had dirt in his mouth.

"How'd that feel for a gnat?" The rabbit was pinning him down. "All that black magic ain't gonna do you much good if you're too slow, you big slug. And Chimney here can't catch me either, so now what? You gonna fight, or you just gonna get to know the dirt real well?"

Tomura spit it out. "You'll pay for that, you wretch."

"Oh, now he notices I'm here." She turned. "I guess his head was too far up his tail end before."

"That's vulgar." Tomura tried to get up, and she pushed him back down.

All right, she wanted a fight? Fine.

He used his magic, and the ground dissolved under them, knocking her off, and he got up.

She looked up, now sitting in loose earth.

"Well...that was stupid," she said, kicking it at him.

"Shall I get rid of her?" Kurogiri said.

But this was grating on Tomura now.

"I'll do it myself!" he snapped.

"Or will you?" She'd hopped back on top of the stump. "Because from where I stand, little man, you're outclassed."

"Perception is not one of your talents, is it?" Tomura asked, brushing himself off. "You have a little speed and agility and you think you can best someone who has black magic running through their veins?"

She cocked one ear very mockingly. "Does that line work on other girls? Or did I just catch you on worst-taunts-ever day?"

"Taunting is not how you win a battle," Tomura said. 

"Can't kill what you can't hit, dark-magic-vein man," she said. "Just try, I dare you."

He snapped.

He shot some magical energy at her.

She jumped out of the way much faster than she should have been able to.

She jumped around and stuck out her tongue at him.

Angrier, he shot more.

"Sir, shall I?" Kurogiri asked.

"I'll kill her," Tomura said. "She's angered me now."

"I didn't think people with magic in their veins could get angry." She leaned on a rock. "I thought you had to have red blood for that."

She kicked a rock at him and grazed his face, to his great shock.

"Oh...look at that, I guess you do have red blood," she said. "Go figure."

"I'll kill you!" he said.

"Or die trying," she said, jumping again.

Tomura was so ticked off now he didn't even notice that she jumped right in front of Kurogiri when he blasted at her again.

She nimbly bolted out of the way, and instead Kurogiri was hit with the blast.

Tomura forgot his anger in his immediate shock.

"Kurogiri?" he said.

"It's all right, Master Tomura..." Kurogiri said, not sounding pained at all, though half of him was disintegrating. "I am designed to be immune to your magic for the most part... The smoke will simply fill in more of my body...but I'm afraid I may have to return to the fortress briefly to accomplish this. Will you manage?"

"What? But--"

But apparently it was really a requirement, because Kurogiri did vanish.

The rabbit woman wiped dirt off her face. "Well, how about that."

"You...you--" Tomura called her some words he wouldn't normally use.

She didn't care. "Now that he's out of the way, want to quit playing our game? Either you put on more of an effort, or I can just tie you up now."

"I most certainly will not--" Tomura began.

The rabbit pulled a cord out of her belt and tossed it at him.

He tried to destroy it...but it didn't crumble...and his magic didn't appear.

The cord lashed all around him without warning, like a spring, and pinned his arms to his side.

"They always fall for that," the rabbit girl said, yanking him forward so he fell on his face. "Now, if you don't remember, the name's Rumi, and I want to have a little chat about what you know about the 9th holder."

"What...9th holder? There's only 8...you imbecile," Tomura gasped.

"Uh uh." She tilted one ear again. "I heard everything. You're pretty dumb, you know that? Didn't even try to get me to leave the Tavern."

She yanked his face up to look him in the eye.

"I was just going to haul you into the Capital for the Royal Annoyance's bounty, which is probably for a false reason anyway--half of them are--but when I heard you have some tracks on a new holder, I knew I'd get way more out of that little side quest."

"And why should I tell you anything?" Tomura never had learned how to resist interrogation traps... He'd never actually been interrogated before.

"Well," she said, with a devious grin, "either you can tell me, or I can haul your tail down to the shoreline and toss you into the sea. Maybe your friend can bail you out again, maybe not."

"You lose you bounty either way, then," he said.

She looked stunned.

"Didn't think I'd figure that out?" he said contemptuously. "Only a fool would do that--granted, you look like a fool to me, but it's impressive that you forgot that in less than two minutes."

She frowned. "You want to test your wits with me?"

"One of us ought to provide some."

She let him fall on his face again.

But after a moment, she said, "Fine. You want to do this the hard way? Torture interrogation."

"I really couldn't care less if you try that," Tomura said. "But it will give me ample time for Kurogiri to find me, so by all means, torture away."

The fact that he said that neither with a creepy kind of anticipation, nor with an ounce of fear, seemed to gall her.

"Are you crazy?" she said.

"Perhaps," he said flatly. "Most people around these parts are mad in one way or another, but if I were mad as a march hare, I'd still be more intelligent than you."

"You always talk so big to people who have you tied up?"

"What difference should that make?"

"Erg, stop it." She got mad. "You're infuriatingly calm."

"No one has ever said that to you, no doubt, if you're this easily ruffled. I wonder that you've lived this long."

"I'm not that easy to take down, mister." She glared. "And if you aren't scared of torture, then I have a better idea. One that I'm pretty sure will scare you."

Tomura couldn't think of one. "What, poison?"

"Oh, no." She yanked the line. "Even better than that. We just need to take a little trip."

"Kurogiri is going to find me before you ever accomplish anything," he said placidly.

"See, you say that," she said, "but I think you've forgotten one little thing."

"And that is?" Disdainfully.

"My little rope there? It suppresses dark magic," she said. "And--and think hard about this, Enlightened One--how does that walking, talking, cursed concoction track you down?"

Tomura hadn't thought of that... Suddenly, he almost began to feel uneasy. 

"So, that's settled. Let's start walking," she said, yanking him up. "Behave yourself, and I might consider letting you go when this is over, if I don't kill you first. Don't tempt me."

Tomura was sullenly silent.

* * *

https://youtu.be/EDdV_x513dc

"Cold is the night without you here, just your absence ringing in my ears. Hard is the heart that feels no fear. Without the bad, the good disappears.

Long is the road that leads me home and longer still when I walk alone. Bitter is the thought of all that time spent searching for something I'll never find.

Take this burden away from me and bury it before it buries me.

Many are the days I've wanted to cease, lay myself down and find some relief. Heavy is the head that gets no sleep. We carry our lives around in our memories.

 Take away this apathy and bury it before it buries me.

Steady is the hand that's come to terms with the lessons it has had to learn. I've seen the things that I must do, but, Lord, this road is meant for two. So I am waiting here for you.

Take my hand and set me free. Take my burdens and bury them deep. Take this burden away from me and bury it before, bury it before, bury it before it buries me."

Somewhere in the midst of all these other events, Deku, Ochaco, Fumikage, and Tsuyu, with Dark Shadow, were still traveling the countryside in search of ways to "gain experience."

So far, all they'd found were some people with a broken down wagon wheel that they had managed to fix, only because Ochaco knew a spell for it. All Deku had been able to do was help hold the wagon up. The only really notable thing was that the family mentioned they were fleeing the blight and moving to join some relatives in the city.

Tsuyu commented that the blight might really be the biggest problem for the land.

"Isn't The Holder supposed to have the power to defeat the Dark Lord?" she said pragmatically. "Shouldn't you be able to lift the blight?"

Deku had thought this for days, among many other ideas he'd been turning over in his mind, and it was making him frustrated.

"I don't know, okay?!" he snapped.

"Deku!" Ochaco said reproachfully.

"I'm sorry...I just...I don't know. I don't know why I can't. I don't know why I'm having a hard time harnessing the SOL's power. No one told me there would be so many steps or rules beforehand. I always thought you just got the power and you were instantly able to wield it and solve everyone's problems."

"If there were that little effort involved," Fumikage spoke, "then what cause would there be for the 8th Holder to retire at all, without amending all our problems first? The fact that many still stand indicates that there must be limits and steps to it, does it not?"

That was such sound logic, Deku wondered how he had not thought of it before.

"I guess we have all elevated the SOL so much, in our stories and our hopes," Ochaco said. "We always thought it was the answer to everything...but even if it were, there are still things we have to learn."

"One thing I already know," Tsuyu said, "is that the blight is getting worse all the time. Business has been slower and slower at the Inn.... I'm not even sure I'm missing that much by being gone so long. I could hardly get 5 people to stay there in a week. No one has money for it, except the wealthy people in the Capital and the cities around it. All the business is going that way. If you want to find trouble, just about anywhere is a good place to start. When will we reach the next town?"

"By overmorrow, if we walk," Fumikage said, after a brief moment of questioning Dark Shadow. "If we fly, we could in hours--but risk being spotted."

"Maybe it's worth it. My feet hurt," Ochaco said. "I'm going to need new shoes soon. Mine weren't meant for all this walking."

"You ought to get ones with a more expensive make," Tsuyu said.

"But you know I have to scrimp," Ochaco said. "My parents can't afford..." She trailed off.

"How...uh, do you think your parents are getting on?" Deku asked.

"Oh...I'm sure they're fine." Ochaco didn't sound so sure.

Deku felt bad. Ochaco wanted to take care of her parents so badly, and thanks to the quest getting so altered, she'd only gotten some of the money she was promised for helping. King Bakugo hadn't bothered to pay her before storming off.

Luckily, Princess Momo had already put her share into Ochaco's satchel before they had even found the 8th, not wanting to waste time. But Ochaco had sewed it all into her clothes to keep it from being stolen while they were at the 8th's cottage, so it was not as if she could just use it.

"We could...head to Grave Village," he said slowly.

"Deku, that's weeks away," Ochaco said. "I'm all right with it, really. We can work our way there. I'm sure they'll be okay for a bit. I mean, they have one less mouth to feed without me, right? There're plenty of people to help before that. Monsters and so on."

"I do believe Dark Shadow may be the reason we've seen very few," Fumikage said. "He is large enough to frighten most of them, except for a dragon perhaps. They will assume he has marked out us for his prey and stay away. We would be in far more danger from witches, warlocks, specters, evil Fae, trolls, and the like. Anything more intelligent."

"Thank you," Tsuyu said dryly. "That was very helpful. What do we do about it?"

"I...well, short of sending him away, I do not know," Fumikage said. "I told you I would be a hindrance to your party."

"Fumikage, you're the only reason we made it this far." Ochaco patted his shoulder. "Sure, you're scaring them away...but we just have to find some that are already attacking people. That shouldn't be too hard."

"Am I the only one who thinks there's something wrong with how that sounds?" Tsuyu said. "As if we want monsters to attack people to benefit us."

"Oh, no," Ochaco snorted. "It's just because we know it'll happen anyway, so we might as well use it to our advantage. It's part of good business, Tsuyu... I mean, would you be upset if another inn got shut down because of a fever and you had twice the customers?"

"I don't know." Tsuyu was thinking hard about it. "Being glad about that sounds wrong, but also not being glad for more business sounds wrong... There is no victory in this hypothesis."

"How about we just be neutral about it and go find one?" Deku suggested nervously.

They all shrugged and got on Dark Shadow, who flew them up and over some more dead blight fields.

They passed a bunch of crows.

"Look," Tsuyu said. "An attempted murder."

"Huh?" Ochaco said, looking down. "Wait, really?"

"I meant the crows," Tsuyu said. "A group of crows is called a murder..."

"Oh, I thought you saw a problem we could help," Ochaco said.

"I mean, I guess if they were eating someone's corn..." Deku said.

"I thought it was a conspiracy," Fumikage said.

"My father always called it an unkindness," Ochaco said. "But how can a group be an unkindness?"

[The joke here is all those are names for either a group of crows or ravens. I learned that from a RWBY song, of all things. And a commentor.]

"Speaking of unkindness," Fumikage said, "I do believe I see some goblins down there, attacking sheep."

Deku perked up at the word "sheep." He used to be a shepherd part of the time in Green Village.

"Oh, hey, he's right," Ochaco said. 

"Let's go!" Deku said.

"They're just sheep though," Tsuyu said. "Is that going to be enough reason for the SOL to appear?"

"Tsuyu, we've got try something!" Deku said. "And goblins are monsters, right?"

"I always thought of them more as pests," Tsuyu said.

"Just go down," Ochaco said.

"Going, madame," Fumikage said.

Dark Shadow shrunk down and landed.

The goblins had chased some sheep into a corner already and were smacking their lips.

There were at least a dozen of them. Goblins tend to travel in large packs.

"I could take care of them," Ochaco said.

Tsuyu shrugged. "Let Deku do it."

Deku looked nervously at the goblins. Even in the past, these had not been easy for him to fight.

Fumikage helpfully told Dark Shadow to fly the other way, so he wouldn't scare the goblins off.

They all waited.

Deku nervously walked towards the sheepfold.

The sheep saw humans coming and all started bleating piteously. Sheep are not too bright, but they do know to beg for their master's assistance.

[I could think of some people who are like that too.]

The goblins looked over at Deku.

Goblins are not very intelligent monsters--one step up from beasts, but not quite like trolls. They communicate mostly in grunts and gestures and don't really have the capacity to plan things. But, like all things that hunt in packs, they have a weird sort of primal strategy of their own.

Seeing only one human, they thought they might as well eat him as well as the sheep, so they gave sort of cry that meant to all gang up on him.

Deku almost squeaked.

The goblins started running at him, fangs out and claws extended. They ran sort of on all fours and on two legs by turns, like an ape and human combined.

Deku almost forgot what he was supposed to do.

"Pull out the sword, Deku!" Ochaco yelled at him.

Deku jumped, then held out his hand and thought of the SOL.

In the presence of so many monster, even if it was little ones, the sword popped into view quite easily, though it was not very bright.

Fumikage stepped back warily anyway.

Tsuyu stepped in front of him. "Relax," she said. "Let's see if Deku manages to actually use it this time."

"Tsuyu! You could be more supportive," Ochaco said.

"I thought I was being supportive," Tsuyu said, confused.

[That's me, honestly. Wry comments apparently aren't always taken as support.]

Deku didn't have much time to enjoy that he'd actually summoned it before the goblins jumped at him.

Funny, they must have seen the sword, but perhaps they were too stupid to understand, or perhaps they thought he couldn't use it.

Deku swung blindly at one without really thinking and felled it in one swoop.

That made the others stop.

Then they hissed like little rodents and backed up.

"Don't stop!" Tsuyu yelled. "Get them before they run way!"

Deku started swinging madly.

He nicked a few goblins more by accident than anything else, but one swipe from the SOL and they were dead. The sword's abilities apparently were strong, especially against goblins, even with only a small cut.

The others all in unison decided it was time to run.

"After them!" the girls cried.

Deku ran after.

The goblins ran after the sheep, probably thinking to steal at least one before hiding in the woods again. Only 8 of them were left now.

The sheep, seeing the commotion, started baa-ing and running in a herd in a big circle.

[Something sheep commonly do, if there's a dog after them.]

Deku and the goblins chased the sheep.

Deku was having a hard time keeping up, but then the goblins made the mistake of not getting out of the sheep's path, and the sheep ended up running right around them and backing them up.

The sheep just kept going, being extremely excited, not actually clever.

But Deku had the goblins pretty much pinned now, and he dispatched 5 more.

The last three slipped through a hole in the wall.

Ochaco used a fire ball to shoot one down.

Fumikage merely pulled out his sword and cut one in half.

Tsuyu used her boot to kick the other into the wall, and then they killed it.

Deku was out of breath just from that effort. The magic felt warm in his hand, like fire...

"Are you well, Deku?" Ochaco asked.

"I...think so," Deku huffed. "Did...did we get 'em all?"

"I think so," Fumikage said. "And all the sheep are intact."

A ram came and butted Deku in the back.

"And they sure are grateful," Tsuyu commented.

The ram butted him again.

Deku scrambled up as fast as he could and got out of the sheep pen.

"Hey!" a voice cried. An angry looking shepherd was coming their way

"You young rapscallions trying to steal what little of a flock I got left?! A pox upon you all!"

"No, sir," Ochaco said. "We were just killing some goblins. You can see for yourself."

"Oh, sure," the shepherd said. "That's why you were in my pen. You get on, or I'll set my dogs on you."

"If you have such dogs, perhaps they had better be guarding your sheep," Fumikage suggested.

The shepherd turned red with anger.

"Why don't you just get a move on while I'm still feeling nice!"

"We're going," Deku said quickly. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize." Tsuyu hit him with her basket. "You just did him a favor. If he's too thick to realize it, at least show yourself some respect."

"Oh...thanks," Deku said.

"Don't thank me, Deku, just stand up for yourself," Tsuyu said. "You're supposed to be the 9th Holder. Act like it."

"The what?" the shepherd said.

"He's the new Holder," Ochaco said proudly, as they walked away. "Spread the word! The SOL is back in business!"

"Should we really talk about it that way?" Fumikage said.

"We need to spread the word, and it's a catchy phrase," Ochaco hissed. "What else can we do? You want to get run off every time we defeat monsters?"

"You know...that actually felt pretty good," Deku said. "I mean...not the killing part, but...actually helping some sheep."

The girls started laughing, while Fumikage remained perfectly stoic. "I could see how that would feel good," he said.

The girls laughed harder.

"No, I just mean...I did it," Deku said.

"We know, but...it's was just so funny the way you said it..." Ochaco said, laughing more. "I'm sorry...gasp.... I just need a moment."

"If we don't get any rewards for this," Tsuyu said, "we had better think of another way to get money. Our supplies are running low."

"Oh...we could pick up a small job for a mage," Ochaco said. "There's not that many out here. Don't worry so much, Tsuyu."

"I wasn't worried, I was merely reminding everyone not to get too caught up in the excitement of our big victory," Tsuyu said, still pragmatically.

Dark Shadow reappeared overhead, cawing.

"Dark Shadow seems of the opinion we should hurry on to the town," Fumikage said. "I do not know why."

"Can't he...talk?" Ochaco said.

"I find the longer he stays away from me, the less he talks," Fumikage said. "I wonder if it means when he is close we are more one."

That was unsettling.

"We'd better hurry." Tsuyu changed the subject.

"Right," Deku said. "Just...need a moment or recover..." He suddenly fell on his face.

"Deku!" Ochaco cried.

"It seems the SOL takes more of a toll than one would think," Fumikage said.

[Decided to keep some of the attributes of One For All, but not the ugly, gross, bones breaking part. That didn't really make sense for a magic sword.

Well...this is an interesting  start to Deku's quest to level up. Let's see how it goes.]