MHA: GAMER PATH

Chapter 157: UA's Underground Dungeon (4)

~Third POV~

[UA Highschool – Underground Dungeon, Japan]

*Fwp*

*Screee*

The countless bats swallowed them up as the stupefied boys began to panic. Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice amid all the flapping, "Oi! I said to find them, not to charge at them!"

The boy's eyes widened as they saw Shinso, but Tokoyami muttered, his eyes practically sparking with adulation, "Batboy!"

As Tokoyami's spirit was calmed, Shinso sighed with relief, thanked the bats, and released them from his control. The other four ran to him asking a variety of questions.

"Shinso, you're alive!!"

"We've been searching for you!"

"Where on earth were you?"

"Well, you see …"

Shinso explained that after getting separated from the group, he'd fallen through a trapdoor and gotten lost. However, he used his Quirk [Brainwashing] on the bats in the area after they responded, using their echolocation, which had helped lead him to this spot.

Ren blinked, genuinely surprised, as he smirked, asking the obvious, "Oh? Seems like your Quirks is getting powerful if you need a response from animals."

Shinso smiled sheepishly and couldn't help but blush at the praise, rubbing his head, "I don't know what to say but train hard. My [Brainwashing] Quirk is certainly improving, overcoming some of its weaknesses, but what about you guys?"

The celebration was cut short by the appearance of a giant hose near the tunnel entrance. Water began gushing out, and within seconds, the boys were underwater. Fortunately, the dead-end wall rumbled, shook, and shifted open.

"Wahhh!"

The torrent of water, desperate to find an outlet, rushed through the opening, dragging the five boys with it. They flipped, flopped, spun, and plummeted down the impromptu waterslide.

*Splash*

*Whip*

Not wanting to lose anyone again, Ren reached out toward all his classmates using [Blackwhip], grabbing each of them and pulling them over his back from the chaotic currents as he yelled out loud, "Grab ahold!"

The four boys replied, "Thanks, Ren!"

His [Blackwhip] gave them some degree of protection and reminded each of them of a parental figure's back that had made them feel at ease when they were children. At last, the instant river deposited them into the most enormous tunnel yet.

They slowly regained feeling in their sopping, chilled bodies and started to tremble. The cold couldn't stop them now, though. They marched onward and began to warm up as Kirishima pointed out, "Anyone else suddenly feeling toastier?"

Feeling the increased heat, Ida chimed in, noticing the slight difference, "Yes, though I couldn't tell you why."

While the gang wondered about the temperature change, Tokoyami noticed puffs of steam coming from the other side of the area. Rushing to the source, they discovered a large underground hot spring.

Kirishima tested the water with one hand stating the obvious, "Yep, that's steamy…"

Is a hot spring conveniently available for their frozen bodies? It was hardly an offer they could refuse.

They poked around a bit more and found a changing area that, for some reason, was furnished with five tracksuits and five towels. It seemed increasingly unlikely that villains would have provided all this, including a tracksuit that looked like it would perfectly fit their bodies, as Ida said, "It's hard to imagine that any villain would be quite so hospitable."

Kirishima agreed, "Right…?"

It was suspicious, but the boys decided to take advantage of the hot spring, making sure that someone was always keeping watch. As they slipped into the water and relaxed, they realized how utterly exhausted they were.

And though it weighed on their consciences a bit, they decided to use the towels and tracksuits after all. Ida and Shinso were the last to emerge from the hot spring, and a flustered Ren returned from scouting just as they were changing into their new outfits he spoke to the boys, "This way, guys! Quickly!"

The other four followed Ren to a passageway lined with impressive metal doors that looked out of place in an earthen tunnel. They approached one of the doors, and Ren whispered, "I hear people in there."

Kirishima loudly blurted out before clapping his hands over his mouth, "Huh?"

At Ren's signal, they all moved toward the door gingerly and placed their ears against it as came a voice, "So when's this operation going down?"

Then another voice said, catching the boy's immediate attention, "Ain't it obvious? Right freakin' now! We're gonna do some real damage, I tell ya!"

The boys gasped and turned to each other. Not only were their suspicions confirmed villains really had built this place but the villains in question were about to launch a full-scale attack on U.A.

There would be dire consequences if they couldn't escape and tell the teachers, but that was easier said than done, considering the scope of this subterranean labyrinth. That left them with one other option: confronting the villains on their own.

Without speaking a word, each knew what the others were thinking, and all five nodded in unison. Even [Dark Shadow] emerged to pitch in as Tokoyami whispered, "Dark Shadow, bring the door down!"

[Dark Shadow] grinned as he saluted, "Aye, aye!"

*SMASH*

The metal door looked as sturdy as anything, but powerful blows from Kirishima, Ren, and [Dark Shadow] smashed it inward without trouble, and all five boys leaped into the room, prepared for battle. But they found nobody to fight leaving them confused, "Huh?"

"My poor Suprah… We're gonna hit 'em back ten times as hard for keying my baby!"

"For sure. Let's send their precious Fairlady X to the boneyard!"

"Don'tcha mean the scrapyard, ya numbskull?"

The confused boys found themselves staring at a projection screen that showed a car covered in scratch marks and surrounded by a gang of supremely ticked-off-looking hoodlums. The scene happened to be from Ridge Racers: Righteous Car Crusade, a C-tier cult movie that nobody outside of the niche fandom had ever heard of, least of all these high school boys.

Ida wondered aloud as he and the others glanced around, "Is this… a small movie theater…?"

It certainly seemed to be. The impressive screening room had about thirty seats and was equipped with a state-of-the-art speaker system to create the perfect ambiance. Tokoyami finally spoke up and voiced the question in all their minds, "Why would villains build a movie theater…?"

Movie theaters were made for entertainment, and this simple fact only enhanced their confusion. Ren quickly apologized, "Sorry… seems like I jumped the gun here…"

Ren quickly apologized for mistaking the movie characters for villains Ida replied, gazing at the scene, "An understandable error. Though it would seem there are no villains in our immediate environs after all."

Observing the room, Kirishima then asked, seeing the doors curiously, "Should we check out some of the other doors?"

They agreed and approached another door. This one wasn't locked, so they opened it gingerly using the actual doorknob as Ida said, "This one appears to be someone's room guys…"

Ida's succinct assessment and the others nodded. There was a leather sofa and a desk with a half-drunken mug of coffee and an instant ramen container.

Posters of cars were plastered up on the walls, offering a glimpse at the inhabitant's interests. It was indeed someone's personal quarters, plainly and surely as Kirishima with a tilt of his head asked confused, "Y'think someone's living down here?"

They tried the next door, which was also unlocked, allowing them to slip right in. They were shocked to discover that this chamber contained an entire full-size racetrack and several classic cars.

Ida suddenly realized the common factor between the contents of the chambers as he exclaimed out loud, "This villain seems to be a car lover! A gearhead, if you will!"

This wasn't a particularly useful nugget of information, so they made a mental note and proceeded to the next room, which was a workshop crammed full of machines, half-built robots, weapon-like objects, and devices whose purposes evaded conjecture altogether.

The boys crept around and inspected each baffling machine with suspicious scowls on their faces as Ren said in a suspicious tone, "They seem to be producing weapons in here. But I swear I've seen this before…"

This made the four boys pause as Shinso asked in a confused tone, "Wait… you mean you recognize these machines?"

Ren using [Observe] on the machines, his expression changed to surprise as he gazed at the unsteady pile of inventions and said happily, "Oh! Now I know why this looks familiar these seem to be the work of– "

*Thud*

Before Ren could finish, the unsteady pile of inventions collapsed, and one malfunctioning machine popped out of the heap, moving erratically. Somehow, it managed to activate some of the other devices before aiming at the boys with plumes of weaponized fire as they exclaimed, alarmed, "Holy cow!"

*PEW*

*BRRR*

They dodged the flames, but the chain reaction wasn't slowing down. Some of the machines leaped around the room with deadly momentum, some fired laser beams, some emitted blinding flashes of light, and still, others launched bevies of mini-missiles, all contributing to the utter chaos.

Ren didn't have a spare moment to mull over the question, so he shouted the only order he could, using [Radio Waves] to disrupt the machines, "Oh no, you don't!"

*Buzzz*

Using his [Radio Waves], Ren disrupted the machines, forcing them to stop. The boys sighed in relief. When the last rampaging device was destroyed, a small figure appeared behind them as he cheerfully said, "Hello, boys. Ren Yuki…"

The four boys said confused, "Principal?"

But Ren replied cheekily, "Super-Kami Nezu."

Yes, the adorable, diminutive mammal standing in the doorway was none other than Principal Nezu, the head honcho at U.A. High. The scar over his right eye ran counter to his otherwise charming appearance, giving him an air of someone with a darker past than he tended to let on.

In any case, the five boys instinctively rushed over to Nezu, whose presence was immediately reassuring. Ida went on to explain the tale from their accidental fall until that very moment, while the other four chimed in to support his story and insist that this was an emergency of the highest order.

Nezu nodded his head cheerfully, spread his hands wide, and said cheerfully, "Quite a day you've had, indeed. But rest assured, this is no villain hideout. This entire place is actually an old U.A. facility!"

The boys were stunned as they yelled, "H-huhh?"

Ren snapped his fingers, getting it right, "I knew it!"

Nezu laughed at their reactions but continued to explain in a cheerful tone while apologizing, "We planned to create a survival training facility underground, but in the end, we deemed it too dangerous and sealed it off. The ground above must have weathered over time, leading to your unorthodox entry into the maze. I'm so very sorry you were exposed to these dangers."

Ida may have been convinced, but Tokoyami still had questions as he asked, pointing at the furniture in a confused tone, "What about the room with the sofa, though? There was evidence that someone had been in there not long before we came by."

Noticing the furniture, Nezu realized what Tokoyami meant as he explained, clasping his paws together, "Ah, that, I've been down here recently, assessing whether the entire facility should be demolished, and that has been my break room, so to speak. So much assessing to be done, you see. Now then, let's put this place behind us on the double, and I'll have your clothes sent back to the dorm later."

Principal Nezu's familiar smile was enough to convince the boys, although he did make them promise not to speak a word of what had happened to anyone. They followed his precise directions down the tunnels and came upon an elevator, which brought them above ground and to another door.

But instead of trees and sunlight, a sort of staging room was waiting for them on the other side. More half-built machines. A wall calendar featuring cars. They couldn't help but wonder why the dungeon exited into such a place, but they pushed the question aside and stepped out into a hallway within the main school building.

Nezu had permitted them to visit the nurse's office, so after a quick trip to Recovery Girl for a checkup, they finally emerged outside, where their euphoric sense of liberation was enough to clear their minds of any small doubts or misgivings. It was already evening, and the sky was shifting from mellow shades of orange to deeper blues.

Feeling the cool breeze against their skin, the boys breathed deeply and stretched. Kirishima, smirking like a naughty schoolboy and looking to the gang for validation, said, "I gotta say, that was kinda fun, right?"

Tokoyami, Shinso, and Ren nodded, not nearly as grumpy as they had every right to be. Ida, however, spun his arms wildly and countered, "One wrong step and our misadventure could have ended in tragedy!"

Tokoyami, remembering Ida's injury, apologized in a disappointed tone, "I'm sorry. You were hurt on my account…"

Ida flustered and embarrassed, before finding the resolve to speak his mind, blurted, "Yes, but that is to say… I suppose I had a bit of fun as well. It was a grand adventure for the ages to be sure."

He and Tokoyami exchanged awkward smiles. The other three also smiled as they watched the exchange play out until Shinso's stomach began to grumble.

*GRUMBLE*

He gripped his midsection as if to suppress the noise while the others chuckled. Ren declared with a grin as wide as any declared, "You know what? Just for tonight, we shall feast on hamburgers! And I'm cooking the best ones we got!!"

All of them grinned as Ren would be the one cooking as they raised their fist, "Banzai!"

/////

[Meanwhile, UA Highschool – Underground Dungeon, Japan]

As the boys ran back to their dorm sweet dorm, Principal Nezu was still underground, surveying one of the rooms with an air of exasperation. This was a room the unwitting intruders hadn't stumbled into, filled with even more mountains of machines than the other workshop.

Nezu sensed someone approaching from behind and spun around to talk to the figure, revealed to be Power Loader, in a calm tone, "Unbelievable… Did you have to make this place quite so labyrinthine, Power Loader?"

Power Loader looked sheepish as he said nervously, "Sorry, boss…"

The earnest apology came from Power Loader, the shirtless Support Course teacher who went around wearing a steam shovel helmet. In his hand, he clutched a device that alerted him to intruders in the maze.

Principal Nezu's explanation to the boys had been an outright lie. In truth, Power Loader had been at his wit's end about what to do with Mei Hatsume's inventions (or "babies," as she called them), which had started to overflow the Support Course workshop she'd made into her home away from home.

When he'd brought up the issue with Nezu, the principal had suggested carving out an underground storage chamber. Once the project had begun, however, Power Loader had started enjoying himself a little too much, eventually constructing a room of his own, a racetrack for the cars he loved so much, and a cozy home theater.

When he'd struck metaphorical gold and unearthed a natural hot spring, Power Loader had come up with the idea to expand the project into a subterranean survival dungeon for the students' benefit, which had led him to excavate just a bit too close to the surface. That was where Ida and the boys had fallen through the ground, of course.

Meanwhile, the beam-firing toy monkeys were an invention of Hatsume's—designed to train heroes to overcome fear—and the towels and such in the changing room had been sneakily placed by Power Loader himself, who didn't want the hapless boys catching cold in the dank underground space.

Nezu began to speak, suggesting to Power Loader, shaking his head in a seemingly disappointed tone, "The home theater, the racetrack, the hot spring… This wonderland is wasted on you alone… Oh, I know! Why not make these facilities available to all the staff, as a means of R&R?"

Hearing Nezu's words Power Loader stammered, at a loss for words, "Erm … I suppose, but…"

Nezu observed this reaction carefully before chuckling, "Hahahahaha! Just kidding, of course!"

Power Loader said confused, "Huh?"

Nezu began to explain to Power Loader, respecting his privacy in a calm tone, "I'm well aware that socializing is hardly your forte. I place a high value on camaraderie among my staff, but I would never force an introvert out of his comfort zone. We all need our personal space, don't we?"

It was all true as an eccentric genius type, Power Loader was something of a loner who found it difficult to be around others. He definitely kept his colleagues at arm's length, but it wasn't out of dislike.

Cementoss was an occasional conversation partner since the two men often worked on construction projects together, but for the most part, Power Loader regarded the other teachers as work friends, which was enough. He found much more meaning in time spent communing with machines, which maintained an irreplaceable position in his life.

Principal Nezu understood this well as he continued explaining to him calmly, "A mind like yours requires time and space to work on projects, yes? And this isolated space allows you to devote yourself to that work without interference."

As Nezu spoke, he toddled over to one of the piles of machines, which happened to be the accumulation of Power Loader's prototype support items, he said, forcing the words out, "Thank you, sir… But fooling the boys like that… It's kinda not in a human way."

Nezu merely chuckled at that comment as he replied to his little joke, "Heh… you think so? Just as well, since I'm not human at all."

Power Loader chuckled at his boss's little joke. Despite being an animal, Nezu's mind operated at a higher level than that of most people, so these two geniuses understood each other all too well as Nezu continued speaking, "I know what it's like to get caught up in the excitement and take matters too far, but you'll have to implement better safety protocols for this underground dungeon if you don't want me to rescind my permission. Everything in moderation!"

Power Loader, slumping his shoulders, said, "Yes, sir."

Nezu turned around to leave as he cheekily said with a spring in his step, "That said, expect me to visit your hot spring from time to time."

Only a select few individuals know of the underground dungeon beneath U.A. High. If ever a day comes when another ragtag group of students falls into the dungeon, the experience will be sure to fluster them, encourage growth, and deepen friendships. Until that day, however, the labyrinth slumbers, providing only an odd bit of relaxation for those in the know.