Shenanigans In 1-B: Episode 43: Ghouls and Jesters

Now on Wattpad. Literally the whole story so far is up there, I just got out of habit of ing here.

TW: Mild bad language, violence

Word Count: 6900 (excluding Author’ Note ect.)

Time taken: 7 days

Summary: The beginning of the second Work Studies Arc

Author’s Note:

Before things start... I am an omnipotent body that can change the flow of the story if you so much as Go-Gos in my direction, so keep that to yourself. The original characters and base story beats were made by Horikoshi, I’m just relaying things in 1-B and making some changes to spruce things up.

Any correlation between the OCs and something else is a coincidence.

Hopefully you understand this before I piss you off in any way. Let me repeat that. This is my story; I am bored so I wanted to make something for fun, so fuck off if you get annoyed at me because I miss-measured the size of Dabi’s fleshy burns.

And before I forget, I’m writing this for my friends first so expect a few inside jokes that you won’t get.

So without further ado... I present the forty-third episode of Shenanigans In 1-B! WOO!

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A bit of extra little info:

Words within ** is a note made by the individual recounting this story. It’s a fourth wall break.

Words in ^^ are thoughts.

Words in “^^” are in a different language, and so far, it has only been English. They’re in Japan, so they speak Japanese.

A /-/ represents a scene change. The scenes can have a range of lengths.

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A wiki page will be made for most OCs, some are one time or just irrelevant and therefore will not get one.

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Setsuna was patrolling the streets with a grin plastered on her face. She, Yaoyorozu and Juutomo were doing their Work Study under Majestic, a magician styled Hero. It had been a busy few days as a bank robbery put the three of them to the test as Majestic stood back and allowed them to try and sort the issues. Once that had been sorted, a mugging down the street happen and it really made her wonder why there was so much crime; despite thousands of Heroes in Japan. The images of Kinzoku's brother being tortured lingered slightly in her mind, but that was what The Lurkers were working on, and by extension, Kinzoku himself. Juutomo stretched a small bit before patting his cheeks a couple of times.

"Late night?" Yaoyorozu asked politely.

"Nope! Just loosing my body up a small bit." He responded, now playing with purple energy in his hands.

"Strange thing to do when you're not the one fighting." Setsuna thought aloud. "Or is there a correlation to your health and your summons' health?"

"I'm curious about that myself." Majestic spoke up, giving a wave to a erby.

"Well... not really. As long as I'm awake, I can summon my animals at full health. But it's a constant effort to have them up, so falling asleep would return them." Juutomo explained. The sound of a crackling television sounded all around and the large screens all across the high street turned to a symbol. It was a playing card apparently. It crackled for a second before a woman was sat behind a desk.

"Hello, and welcome to Villain News. I am your host, Lady Ghoul, and today we have some delightful news." The woman had short black hair and an eyepatch over her right eye.

"Great." Majestic hissed under his breath. "Where's Crust? He's in post med here too."

"What is it?" Setsuna asked wearily.

"It's a broadcasting network for Villains, it's exactly what it says on the tin." Came the response from their senior.

"-Today, we here want to play another game. Three civilians on the Tokyo High Street have been compromised by a Quirk Hijack injection." Lady Ghoul winked at the camera and brought a hand to the side of her mouth, as if she were about to tell them a secret. "When I say, all three of them will burst into havoc and then innocent people will be hurt. Ten minutes to find the pink eyed people, Heroes!" The screens all returned back to their normal ments as the public began to panic.

"Not another game." The Pro Hero gritted his teeth.

"This isn't the first one?" Juutomo asked, very concerned about the impending havoc, the students set off after the Pro.

"No. Villain News has been appearing all over the country recently, ever since we got word of that notorious American psychopath, Jester, was here in Japan. So these are almost certainly connected. That woman, Lady Ghoul, is the one who hosts them." They got to an intersection and saw people panicking. "First of all, we need to find those three people. Ghoul said there was three and the previous games have always been what has been said. Ten minutes to gather them and get them away."

"So we split up then." Yaoyorozu suggested seriously.

"Yes. Reconnaissance is needed. Now go!" Majestic hopped onto a flying disc and flew off down one street.

"See you in ten minutes!" Setsuna headed down another to let Juutomo and Yaoyorozu decide between the pair of them which of the last two routes they'd take. Splitting herself apart, Setsuna began to scan every single nook and cranny of the street she was down and spotted someone of interest. It was a fat man who was yelling at everyone to stay back, clearly scared because his eyes were pink. ^Ohhh, so they kinda look high. Okay.^ With that she took a hand and snatched the man into the air. "Sorry about this, can't have anyone blowing up."

"Put me down! I'm not one of them!" The man tried to wriggle free.

"You get loose, you fall ten meters. Want to die?" She looked into his eyes, causing terror to flow into him.

"No! Please don't drop me!" The man tried to cling to her arms.

"And mind where you put your hands." A large purple eagle flew her way.

"Toesaregay-chan. You have found one, please get him back to the intersection, where Master placed another." It spoke, she nodded seriously and flew them to the intersection. Juutomo was holding his hands out to stop people from coming near, and in the previous panic, cars had been abandoned. Otherwise standing in the middle of the road was a very bad idea.

"Yo, Spirit Tamer, I got one." She handed off the man to him. "So we need to find one more pink eyed person."

"Yeah, I sent Nigel and Ralph out to search, but they haven't come back yet. Yeowchyachtrosewhom is still searching and Mr Mangy is too."

"You really need to work on your names." Setsuna pointed out, landing on the floor and put her hands to her hips, looking up at the boy who laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, Ralph isn't too great of a name is it?" He chuckled.

"The fuck kind of name is Ralph? We live in Japan! Ralph took our jobs! Damned American!" One of the pink eyed people complained.

"Oh, they tagged a racist." Lizardy said dully, flying off before she could hear anymore racism. She saw Yaoyorozu trying to calm down a group of people, but they were having none of it. Seemed like a busty high school girl wasn't going to be able to solve this situation. Floating her mouth down, Setsuna showed a smirk to her. "You okay, Creati?"

"Not so much." The girl itted as the public scattered at seeing someone with pink eyes. "But now I'm a bit better."

"That's always good to hear." Setsuna let Yaoyorozu lead the person back to where they had gathered the previous two pink eyed people. Majestic had returned to them. Upon doing that, the screens were hijacked again.

"Aw man, seems like you found them." Ghoul stated sourly, "Well, every game has a prize, right? Shall I send yours your way?"

"This can't be good." Majestic folded his arms, with a risen eyebrow. Something crackled and he looked to the side, someone stood there with a smirk. Before he could react properly, a spike shot out from the floor and impaled a floating disc he'd managed to create in time. It wasn't enough to stop the force and Majestic was pushed up and away by the spike and into a nearby building. The three students were immediately ready to fight as Lady Ghoul had appeared out of nowhere.

"I'm your reward!" She declared happily, a red aura emanated from her body. The floor seemed to shift around and crack slightly in her presence. The civilians began to scramble to get away. A pack of purple wolves attacked her immediately at Juutomo acted with haste; Ghoul put her hand out and the red aura extended out into the dogs. They all seemed to turn to sand and blow away. "Summoning, huh? Been a while since I took on a Summoner. But they're all pansies up close." Juutomo blocked a fast flying strike from the Villainess and countered by forming a bear paw on his hand and clubbing her away. "See? Weak." Ghoul got back up easily, her clothing loosened around her as if it had tensed to take the hit.

Yaoyorozu made a ballista from herself while Setsuna split herself apart and rushed from all angles towards her, aiming to hold the woman long enough for her ally to fire.

"Someone who's attacking from every angle? Brings me back, three years I think. Fought a guy that could hit me from behind but he in front of me. He crumbled when I took away his items!" Ghoul announced with glee as the ballista fired an explosive bolt through the air and detonated into her. "C'mon now, aren't you meant to be training to be Heroes? Why are you so damned weak then?" The smoke cleared and the blast was motionless in front of them.

"What?!" Juutomo exclaimed, forming energy into multiple minotaurs; Setsuna came back together just above them and floated, missing a finger. Yaoyorozu was reloading.

"Where did that Hero get off to, huh? I hit him once and he's gone." The woman put a finger to her chin as she thought, before snapping her fingers with an idea. "I'll just have to drag him back!" The explosion was condensed into a ball and was sent flying back and towards a building. Immediately, Majestic was there to block it with a large disc, while stood on another.

"Majestic!" Setsuna yelled up at him.

"Keep the civilians away from here!" He yelled back, apparently not noticing the barren street.

"Got it!" Juutomo used his minotaurs to stand guard at the street edges. "Thirty-Fourth Commandment!" Ten tentacles shot off from his fingers and attacked, combined with another ballista bolt and Setsuna kicking down Ghoul's outstretched hand. The bolt went off, then she was thrown up by Juutomo.

"Did you mean to throw her that high?" Yaoyorozu asked as she shielded her eyes from the sun to look at her.

"No, and I meant to pull her in." He shook his head. A puddle of red in the sky appeared where Ghoul had been thrown up to and it expanded quickly, forming a sort of sheet between the tall buildings; casting a red hue onto everything below. The four of them were the only ones with it above.

"We need to get out of here!" Majestic called to them, sending out discs to pick them up. Looking closely at the red film, Setsuna spotted something reflecting the sun, then a lot more of the something.

"You bored me." Came the echoed voice of the assailant.

"Get to me!" Majestic recalled his team and layered multiple discs onto one another in hopes of blocking the attack. As if to demonstrate how fucked they were, one of the objects fell straight into the layered discs and shattered most; the ones still floating began to angle towards them. The projectile itself seemed to shatter too, just like glass. "The defences won't hold!" Setsuna began to split herself apart to carry them away quickly, but found herself out of time as the so-called glass all fell towards them with speed.

Something blocked their view moments beforehand and expanded to completely encase them, preventing Setsuna from allowing them to escape, but also stopped all of the projectiles. The sound of thunks and shattering happened in rapid succession before it stopped.

"Someone saved us." Juutomo stated the obvious, his eyes glowing a murky purple as he looked through a summon. "No way." He said aloud to them, not relaying anything else. The cover retracted away the walls and let them view their saviour. A man with styled back, black hair was stood with his arm outstretched, the cover was connected via hexagons to him. A streak of grey hair ran down the middle of his 'do. A green cape fluttered around him as he looked to Ghoul.

"The Shield Hero: Crust!" The woman exclaimed joyously, the red film seemed to fizzle back into her. She was still floating in the air by some unbeknownst reason, but she was coming down slowly.

"Stand down, Villainess." Crust demanded, "your games have caused misery for long enough!"

"Misery? Okay?" She tilted her head and the red film appeared in front of her open hand, shooting off a glass spike, Crust blocked it with impeccable reflexes.

"You and your accomplices will be brought to Justice." He continued, forming a shield in his hand and threw it with force. It spun through the air like a frisbee and curved towards Ghoul, making her float out of the way.

"You like my Quirk? It's called Reality Warp. I can manipulate the laws of reality to my will on inanimate objects." She did the most consistent thing amongst Villains, as she faced down Crust.

"Then I thank you for your explanation. It will help immensely for taking you in. Majestic," he turned his head to the other Pro Hero.

"Yes?"

"Take your interns and leave, I'll hold down the fort in that time." Was the instruction from the Number Six.

"Got it, I'll be back!" Majestic called to him, as Setsuna just picked them up and carried them past one of Juutomo's summons.

"I could have just transported us through my Spirit Realm and out of danger, you know?" Juutomo told them curtly, Setsuna gave him a face.

"Why didn't you then?"

"Because we were already being rescued, and Crusty is super cool." He reasoned openly.

"Still with the trash names?"

"Yes."

"Maybe we should get to helping the civilians." Yaoyorozu suggested, already about to go.

"Okay, but cover up that cleavage." Setsuna smirked as she floated around her.

"I shall not in case I need to use my Quirk." She said proudly.

"Wait up!" Juutomo hurried up to them.

"Kids, I swear." Majestic deadpanned before rushing back to the fight between Crust and Lady Ghoul.

The two opponents were locked in a struggle, Crust pushing a very strong defensive, while Ghoul pushed her own powerful offensive. The area they were fighting in had warped into a rounded arena from exposure to the reality bending powers of the Villain. The offensive seemed to come from almost any angle that the red energy coming from her touched, spikes, rouge rubble and blades seemed to be her liked form of attacking; all of which were able to be blocked by the Pro. Her Quirk didn't seem to work on his shields, however, which saved him consistently.

Using another hexagonal shield to block an attack, Crust saw an opening against the woman and formulated an entire wall of shields, then made more shields build off away from it and attack the woman. The shield chains could make a shield off any point on itself and allowed for a very high paced attack that had Ghoul on the apparent backpedal. The floor around her turned red and she smiled widely.

"This is really fun! So I'll ramp things up. Red Room: Swamp of Lamentation!" The red crawled along the ground with frightening speed and covered the entire arena. Crust went back onto his extreme guard with the wall still up and grew shields under himself as well. The ground seemed to melt somewhat and turn into a form of oozing liquid. The wall began to sink into it and Crust had to form new shields on his feet to keep from being dragged under, as he ran out from behind the cover.

As soon as he was out from behind the wall and in the line of sight of the Villain, she waved her hand upwards in his direction and a barrage of spikes grew from the 'Swamp of Lamentation' and bore down at him. All of his hope seemed lost when a spike grew out from behind and threatened to skewer him through the spine.

But karma was a blessing and Majestic managed to fly in on a disc and get Crust out of the floor and away from the spike in time.

"Thank you!" Was the immediate response from the saved Pro.

"Don't mention it, we need to work together to win it seems." Came the reply. Lady Ghoul was floating a tiny bit above the floor and her arms slumped at seeing Majestic again.

"Seriously? You again? Fine." Before she could loose anymore attacks though, her face contorted into realisation at something and she gave Crust a happy smile. "But I'm afraid I'm out of time. Hope to fight you again, My Little Crust." She blew a kiss to him and what she blew shot straight at them, which they dodged, but it hit the tall building behind them. The red stuff crawled along the floor it had landed on and spread around it, turning to the same oozing liquid as before. Space seemed to dip into itself, and a crackling white hole appeared behind her. "Buh-bye, honey~" floating back through the hole, allowing for space and reality to righten themselves again and acting as if nothing had happened.

Except, something did happen. The attacked building had its now shifted material returned to normal and the structural integrity failed, causing it to begin to lean over and fall. Crust reacted fast enough to layer protection above and around them with shields and they all held as they were buried under the rubble.

After seeing the building fall and hearing the resultant giant crash, Setsuna, Yaoyorozu and Juutomo hurried to where it had happened, seeing the mess of it.

"Sunny!" Juutomo called out, throwing one of the spherical items at his belt into the air, it enlarged before opening down the middle. A swirl of purple energy formed together into a large centipede.

"He really is a Pokemon Trainer." Setsuna smirked somewhat as she split herself apart to find the two Pros, Yoayorozu created some thermal goggles and handed them out. The sounds of emergency sirens were going off as the services began to approach. Crumbling came from the top of the rubble and Crust emerged out with what looked to be an excavation tool made out of shields. Majestic was being dragged with his other hand and Crust was bawling his eyes out and yelling at the top of his lungs.

"DAMMIT!!!" He screamed in frustration and clear anger.

"Majestic!" Setsuna hurried herself to them, fearing the worst. Breathing a big sigh of relief when she got to him and the Pro was looking up at the screaming man in concern.

"I'm fine." He responded quickly. "But Lady Ghoul got away." Crawling out of the escape hole and watched the man yell into the Sun as the services arrived.

/-/

*Later that evening...*

Setsuna walked into 1-B's dorm with a sigh, it had been a long day and just wanted to relax a small bit. Ibara, Kinzoku, Mineta and Sero were sat at the kitchen counter and Kaikiban was behind it doing them drinks.

"Evening." He looked to her as he poured water into a mug. "Long day?"

"Almost died." She slumped into the spare stool next to Ibara.

"Welcome to the club." Mineta spoke up, taking a drink of the grape juice he'd been given.

"What...?"

"Basically everyone here has almost died at some point." He carried on. "Broke over thirty bones slamming into a wall at high speeds," putting a hand on his chest. "Electrocuted from the head down," pointed to Ibara, "cut up by a raging murderer," patted Kinzoku on the arm, "and almost got cut in half more than once." Pointed to Kai.

"So, Sero-kun, you're the only one here who hasn't almost died?" Setsuna looked across the counter to him.

"I'm sure that will arrive sooner or later." He chuckled awkwardly, inwardly hoping that it wouldn't be too soon.

"Well don't hope that. Almost dying hurts, man." Mineta scoffed to them. "Breaking one bone hurts in that area badly, I had my entire body in a cast and it all hurt. I couldn't even scratch my nose because my arms were immovable."

"Don't oversell it too much, you were unconscious for most of it." Ibara put a hand on his shoulder, getting a grunt.

"Does it hurt? I've never broken one." Setsuna surprised them all with that. "Just had my pieces destroyed."

"Okay so," Kaikiban grew a third arm, allowing them to see all of the tissues and muscles grow into it. "This is a real arm. And this," He snapped it into an odd angle with his other arms. There were visible reactions from the rest. "Is what a broken one looks like."

"WHAT THE FUCK?! Why would you do that!?" Sero exclaimed loudly, slamming his hands onto the table. Ibara covered Mineta's eyes as if he were a child, Kinzoku was just shaking his head and Setsuna was just smirking.

"Classic Kai." She took the water he made her and drank it in one.

"How can you be so calm?! He's your boyfriend, right?" Sero went on.

"Believe us, this is on the low end of his masochism." Setsuna looked at the broken arm that had been made. "Does it hurt?"

"No pain receptors, so no." Kai flopped it around, terrorising Sero further.

"Genyu-kun, please stop." Ibara requested politely, the arm proceeded to turn to steam and went away.

"How was your day today then guys?" Lizardy asked curiously. "Is the investigation going well?"

"Hardly. Nothing we learn about the Jester helps us currently." Kiznoku balled his fists as he spoke. "From America to Japan is what we've guessed. How? No clue. Why? 'S far as we know, to torment me. Where is he? Hell if we know. It's a dead-end no matter where we look. And the idea that looking where a regular jester is, is ridiculous."

"No dice then, huh? Shame." She ed her glass to Kaikiban as he went to refill.

"How did your day go, aside from almost dying?" Her boyfriend asked with a risen eyebrow, handing the glass back.

"Well, we fought a Villain. She could warp reality. We almost died through a rain of glass blades, but we were saved by Crust. A building collapsed and she got away, three civilians imploded after." Was the rundown she gave them.

"I'll look this up." Ibara told them, already typing it up. "'Crust and Majestic Fight New Villain at Tokyo High Street. Collateral Damage as a Result'. Is this it?"

"That's the one."

"There's a recording." Playing it and putting the phone on the table, they watched as Crust grew a shield wall and was saved by Majestic seconds later, followed by the building falling and the Villain escaping through a hole in space.

"Zoom in on her." Mineta asked.

"I can't do that here." Vine responded.

"I recognise her. There's that thing going on around the country, Villain News." He elaborated.

"Heard of that one." Kinzoku nodded. "But that's being left to others."

"Mm." Came the very short guy, as he scrolled through his phone. They all made the conscious effort to ignore the Mt Lady pin-up background he had. "The hostess is hot so I her," he brought up a picture of Lady Ghoul.

"For once your heresy is valuable." Ibara commended him.

"Heh heh, thanks." Mineta shook his head violently. "Wait no! Need to be serious! This is the same woman, right?" He looked to Setsuna, who nodded.

"She claimed her prize was her and almost impaled Majestic immediately, coming out of nowhere."

"Something has been bothering me for a while now, but this has made it a bit clearer. Let me just..." Grape Juice went through his 'actual work' pictures and brought up Jester next to Ghoul. "They look similar. Similar style."

"It could just be you grasping for straws." Sero pointed out.

"Perhaps. But it might be more. Look at the rooms they're in." There was a similar looking metallic plating behind both Jester and Ghoul.

"Probably a coincidence." Kinzoku brushed it off.

"Okay, how about this?" Mineta brought up the logo Villain News used. It was a mix of all four playing card suits connected on a card. "Seeing this again... the same symbol is in the hilt of the knife Jester uses to lacerate Array." He sped through the video to that point, having a copy of it through the rigorous process of getting it across devices. The logo was indeed on the knife hilt. "And one more thing to completely seal their relation, they colour their nails the same way."

"What. How did you figure that out?" Ibara questioned with wide eyes, looking at the evidence that had been compiled through retrospective analysis.

"I'm smart...? You forget that?"

"It's not your most dominant trait."

"Ouch."

"But this gives us a lead!" Sero realised. "That portal Ghoul escaped through could be how they're transported!"

"Then everything we know about Lady Ghoul and Villain News can encom Jester as well..." Kaikiban thought aloud. "Thank you, Mineta-kun. You should relay this to The Lurkers, since you found it and all."

"Well, congrats on figuring something out and you're welcome for almost dying to get it to happen. Going to the pool, want to me, Ibara?" Setsuna got up to go.

"I might as well, Awase-kun went through the effort of putting in a heater, we shouldn't waste it." With that, the two girls left the counter, heading over to the changing room to the other girls in their pool.

"I've got all of the evidence in my room too." Mineta went on with his idea. "You're free to stop by, just don't look too closely at anything."

"I have no intention of going in your room." Kinzoku stated.

"Hey, ladies!" Setsuna greeted her female classmates and dipped into the pool next to Reiko.

"Heeey." Kinoko greeted, she had her hair tied into pigtails, her cross-shaped irises on full display.

"I heard about Tokyo. Are you okay?" Reiko asked, concerned. Ibara got into the pool next to Itsuka. Setsuna went down to her head in the water.

"Not even a scratch, just trauma from almost dying."

"Mood." Yui was also a head level.

"It's unerring how many of us have almost died." Ibara shivered slightly.

"Or gotten involved in one of Atsuki's shenanigans." Reiko was floating the water around her into shapes absentmindedly.

"Like Ibby kissing Rin-kun?" Kinoko said teasingly, the girl in question paled.

"That was real...?" She said softly.

"You were pretty drunk. Guess you don't it." Itsuka made a note of that. "Do you Christmas, Yui?"

"Vaguely. I throwing up a lot." The quiet girl itted. "And Fukidashi-kun drinking with me." A small smile flashed on her face for a moment.

"That's for another conversation, but- Ibara?!" Kinoko looked to the holy girl, who was sticking her face under the water. Bubbles came from her, Itsuka brought her head up.

"Why must you interrupt my punishment?" She asked weakly, breathing heavily.

"Drowning yourself isn't a punishment! It's suicide!" The Class President scolded. "Especially for a mistake that you can't ."

"But... there are other... mistakes. Other sins." Their friend muttered to herself.

"Other... sins?" Pony cocked her head, confused.

"I don't like deceiving others and hiding things from them, but one such thing is tearing me up inside. It's splitting me in two!"

"Metaphorically or... Genyu style?" Kinoko asked.

"Metaphorically. My faith... it's wavering." The confessing girl had begun to cry. "I want to follow it because it's what I know, but what I feel... it's disregarding it entirely for selfish desires." Itsuka and Pony comforted her.

"Do you want to tell us what you feel?" Pony asked innocently, although it was pretty obvious if they followed the recent events.

"I'm in love with Rin Hiryu and it's tearing me apart."

^That was simple.^ Reiko thought with a straight face. Kinoko didn't have her usual reaction of bugging about it, she was worried about her friend.

"Why does it tear you apart?" She decided on, swimming over to give emotional .

"Because it makes me act out of line and has already condemned me to Hell. I thought about him sinfully, adulterated him in my heart. I managed to get over how I felt about Tsuburaba-kun, just to get these instead. I don't even know why I feel this way!" Ibara buried her her face in her hands in utter shame.

"Hmm... I'm no good with emotional shunting, ask Kai and Mei, they can help with that." Setsuna suggested, seeing it as an obvious solution.

"I think shunting made this happen." Yui looked to her with an unreadable face.

"I dunno then."

"Maybe you should just tell him how you feel? It might just solve the solution." Pony piped up with her idea. "Kiss him again?"

"No." Reiko and Itsuka immediately went, Pony shrank a bit into the water, getting a headpat from Yui.

"I... I will tell him how I feel. Then I can get over him and remain in line with my faith!" Ibara realised with profound excitement. "I can be rid of this curse!"

"Don't let him hear you call him a curse." Reiko stated blandly.

"Shush, when are you going to ask?" Setsuna asked.

"Now. I shall deal with it no longer." The girl got out of the pool and went back to the changing room.

"Best of luck." Itsuka called after her.

/-/

"So, Jester has transportation, and powerful allies. This makes things much more complicated. The transportation aspect makes it hard to find him, so he'll likely come to us first. And Ghoul's existence makes things dangerous, considering what we've seen in that video, she appeared literally out of nowhere in a red glow then disappeared through the portal; two different options for her. And then we need to know Jester's Quirk." Kaikiban was writing up a quick diagram of things. Sero and Mineta had gone home, leaving him and Kinzoku to figure things out. Hiryu was sat with them at the counter, as was Atsuki.

"I can see if the folks can pull some strings in Australia? Try and see if anything's happening there?" The half-Aussie suggested.

"I guess." Kinzoku shrugged. "I ed something as well, apparently my brother wasn't alone when he took on Jester, before he was captured. He had a partner for the mission." He began looking through his phone and tapped on a . "I can see if we can get some information from him in a bit."

"Alright then. Pace is being made. And it's clear in... this part of the video..." Kai showed them the part when Lady Ghoul was fighting Setsuna, Kishou and Yaoyorozu. "That Ghoul was saying something. I'll ask Lizzy when she's free."

"It might be difficult, but I can maybe eek something out of China?" Hiryu allowed himself the opportunity to speak. "I have family there?"

"If it's not censored." Kaikiban nodded. Shiozaki entered and got a wave from Atsuki, getting one back and heading over.

"Hey, we're making progress!" Came the disembodied voice of Kakumeiso from a mouth on Kaikiban's hand.

"That's excellent news, please fill me in momentarily." Shiozaki responded. "But I need to tell Rin-kun something first." The boy in question stood up to follow her, they didn't go anywhere. She immediately bowed low. "I cannot put into words how sorry I am for what I did to you when I was drunk. And I am sorry for not apologising sooner as I believed it was a dream."

"N-no, it's fine, really. Nothing awful happened." Hiryu was pretty awkward at this.

^Why is she doing this here?^ Kinzoku thought.

"It's not fine. I let my feelings towards you enslave me and I acted out. For that, I can only offer my deepest apologies." Shiozaki continued.

"Feelings?!" Atsuki exclaimed aloud, being jabbed by Kaikiban.

"Well, I'm grateful that you've realised what happened and you apologised, but there's no reason to make this such a big deal. You only kissed me on the cheek and snuggled me, I was just confused honestly. But I don't hold any of it against you. You were drunk. So don't worry."

"But I am worried. I don't want to act out of line again, so if I seem cold towards you in the future; please do not take it personally, I don't want to mess up again. Thank you for understanding." She bowed again and turned to leave. Atsuki kicked Hiryu and gave him not so discreet silent gestures. It was just a hand pointing between him and Shiozaki. Clearly understanding and not being a dense moron, Hiryu knew what to do.

"Actually, Shiozaki-chan?"

"Yes?"

"Are you free tomorrow afternoon? We could get some tea if you are?" He asked sincerely. "I think we could try and make something of this if you like me." Her face grew slightly concerned.

"I... I must decline, for now. I need to figure things out first, but please don't take it personally." She requested back.

"You got it, the offer stands whenever though." Hiryu nodded, watching her leave.

"Tough, man." Kinzoku patted him on the shoulder.

"It was worth a shot at least." Atsuki nodded.

"Did you like her back?" Kaikiban cocked his head.

"Not like how she felt, no. But rejection still stings."

"I'll bet it does." Atsuki stretched, and Kinzoku stood to take his leave.

"And now, I have a call to make."

"Me too."

"And me." Hiryu and the other two all went their separate ways.

^Do we have a call to make?^ Mei asked.

^No. Just some cuddles with Setsuna.^

^Yay!^

/-/

*A few days later...*

The Lurker crew were still under their investigation, but with the new theories that Mineta had brought to the table, things were looking up. They were currently outside an airport in the Shizuoka Prefecture. Kinzoku had put a call in and an American Hero was on the way to meet them. Their plane was just coming in.

"That's a big plane." Jade noted.

"He needs to have his own transport because of his body size." Kinzoku explained.

"What? Did a titan just fly in?" Sero asked sarcastically, but rose an eyebrow at the lack of responses.

"So now we just wait, until he comes to us." Kakumeiso was taking a drink from a thermal flask.

"It shouldn't take too long if it was a private flight." Edgeshot told them.

"You say that like you've had experience doing it." Ibara stated.

"I have." The Pro turned to look at her.

"I want to just be able to fly anywhere." Mineta thought whimsically.

"I can take you for one if you want? My wings are strong enough." Mei asked nicely. "Only if you promise not to grope me."

"Hmm... flight... boobs..." ^What's the cooler option... flight.^ "Okay." Grape Juice reasoned with himself.

"The fact that wasn't an instant answer is depressing." Mt Lady spoke up without looking to him.

"Hey! I'm trying to be better!"

"Eh. I don't see why." Jade shrugged. "Who cares if you're lusting, at least you're putting yourself on the line to do it."

"At least someone sees my efforts." Mineta said thankfully.

"I guess when you can hear everyone's thoughts, it makes life a bit different." Kinzoku pondered. One of the side gates to the airport opened and a very tall creature stepped out. He(?) was wearing a floral shirt and hat, treating things like a vacation.

"Is that him?" Kakumeiso asked suspiciously. "It has to be right?"

"Yup." He nodded, waving over to the man, who waved back and proceeded to stomp towards them. "I introduce to you, the Monster Hero: Godzillo." Kinzoku made a gestured hand to him.

"Hey, bitches!" Godzillo surprised them all with his voice. "Thanks for calling me over, Burusu, my bro. Good to know you're all looking into Jester and Koukai's death. It was my fault that Koukai was kidnapped and I want to make that right. Ask me any question you see fit."

"Are you Godzilla?" Kakumeiso asked hopefully.

"The one and only! Mythical Pics gave me some time off for the next film, so I came home to Burusu's request. Anyone want an autograph?" The superstar offered out his hands and Kakumeiso opened the stomach compartment she'd made in herself. "Gnarly, sister. Who'm I writing this for?"

"Genyu Kakumeiso."

"Want a picture too?"

"Ooo, yes please!"

"Can we get onto topic?" Kamui Woods asked, as they watched Mei use bones to get on the kaiju's level and take a selfie with him.

"Of course, of course. What do you want to know?" Godzillo asked, taking a seat on the concrete.

"What really happened on the night you faced Jester?" Kinzoku asked sternly, wanting clear, immediate answers.

"That night, thought it was. This isn't the place."

They went to a nearby field to talk it out, hopefully not intruding on someone's property, for the recently arrived Hero to talk.

"That night... it was pretty clear that night. Not a cloud to see and it was prime fighting weather." Godzillo began. "You Kinzoku's are family friends of mine, so we're tight. And Koukai and I worked together often, and it was the same then. Jester had left traces that we picked up that led us to a warehouse district, where Array, Koukai, was the first to get to him. If you wanted to know Jester's Quirk, he's got hidden blades all on him. Real pain to try and restrain him, when he could just stab you up. But it didn't matter; Koukai took him out no problem, just hit him all across his body and Jester went down, completely out."

"But if my brother won, how was he kidnapped?!" Kinzoku demanded. "What happened after?"

"After that and the fight, he told us to go back and let him deal with Jester's restrainment. We trusted him to do it, so we turned to go. That was when we heard this shattering noise and the sound of coughing. We looked back at him and this woman was standing beside him, and there were these glass blades going into his arms and legs. A... like, hole in space was behind her and she grinned at us, before taking Jester and Koukai back through it."

"That sounds like Lady Ghoul." Edgeshot nodded. "So the two are connected, and a third likely in tow."

"Has that info helped?" Godzillo cocked his head, looking over his oversized sunglasses at them.

"Well, it solved one mystery." Kinzoku folded his arms and began to think. "Even if she got the jump on him, Koukai wouldn't have just been captured like that. I'm sure of it."

"You are talking about the same woman who gave Crust a hard time." Ibara pointed out, seeing it as something obvious.

"Even then, his Quirk gave him a guaranteed hit on something if it was within a radius of him, but he just... lost."

"Listen, Burusu. I get how you feel, but it's not something we can change. I messed up and let it happen, I got complacent thinking we'd won and then that happened. To think he was with them for three months before they disposed of him." G.Zillo lamented.

"Which us why we're working as hard as we can with what we've got to find them and right this." Kamui Woods told him, getting an appreciative nod.

"This is all good and all, but how does this actually help with finding them?" Mineta asked curiously.

"I found Jester once. I'll do it again." The movie-star said gravely. "I don't think he'll want to up on me either."

"So things are gonna start picking up, huh? Guess I'm due for some training!" Kakumeiso caught her fist in her hand and smiled. "Alloy."

"Hmm?" Kinzoku cocked his head.

"Think fast!" With that, Mei began attacking him.

"I worry about her sometimes." Ibara stared, getting nods form Mineta, Sero and Jade.

/-/

*Location unknown, because fuck you.*

A man was sitting in a cafe of sorts typing away at a holographic desktop with one hand, the other was holding a cup of tea. Taking a sip, he shifted through documents that had previously intrigued him. Stocks and the like were the first to be disposed of, either they'd ran their course or he payed out. An airspace list had recently caught his eye and as he read the details, he found something very interesting. Looking at a privately owned craft, he cross-referenced it to it's owner.

"^Jester, get over here.^" He yelled over the room. The jokester came over and held a blade to his throat.

"^It's not nice to yell at your friends, is it?^"

"^Put the knife down.^" The man pushed it away. "Look at what I've found."

"^Godzillo? He's back in Japan is he?^"

"Yes. And it lines up with what Ghoul's been up to. Messing around and making a name. Those clues must have paid off, and brought a previous contender back to us."

"So we can begin to have some of the fun too, not letting Ghoul have all the fun." Jester put an arm round his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Gates?"

"Mmm."

"Just finished another game, need you to get to hijacking." Ghoul entered with a camera. "C'mon Gates."

"Yeah yeah. Just give it here. Naboo, right?"

"Yup."

"I've thought of a new game." Jester realised. "Let me start planning."

"Don't take too long; I only have a hundred more." Ghoul winked at him.

"And I'll get to finding some things to assist you. Tartarus is going nowhere, but at least I've found it on here." Gates shoo'ed them away. "And it's time I check in on a certain escapee as well." He opened another window, it showed live footage of a security camera. "Play your part and bring in those Yakuza, boy. I didn't keep you alive to fail. Mido left me his tech, I better not have wasted it on a walking corpse."