Chapter Text
Mashirao was hiding behind a rock. Why was he hiding? Because there was a robot velociraptor that was trying to kill him.
Now, Mashirao didn’t normally find himself in these sorts of situations. This was the kind of thing that typically happened to Deku, Bakugou, or Todoroki. However, this time, it seemed that their bad luck had rubbed off on him.
There was a sound of rustling to the right, and Mashirao only had a moment to roll out of his hiding space to avoid the metallic claws of the leaping velociraptor as it screeched. The claws scratched against the stone and Mashirao only had a moment to grab a particularly sturdy looking stick from the ground before the velociraptor was on him again.
Its glowing red eyes dilated, as it screeched in his face. He only had a moment to realize what was about to happen, and he used that moment to hit the velociraptor with the stick on the side of its head as hard as he could. The liquid fire the velociraptor had tried to spew ended up going wide, missing Mashirao entirely, but his stick had cracked with the impact of striking a robot. Taking the precious few seconds he had, Mashirao turned and ran.
Unfortunately, there really weren’t any other sturdy looking sticks around, since he was in the middle of the desert. There was, however, another screech that definitely wasn’t from the velociraptor currently chasing him. He glanced behind him to see there were two following after him, but both were struggling to chase him in the sand. It seemed in this case the fact that they were large fire spitting robots worked against them, but they were still able to keep pace with him. If there was a tree nearby, he could have climbed it, or if he had a weapon he could fight them, but all he had was his tail and his fists, neither of which would do much good against a metal opponent.
Then there was a sudden whooshing sound and a screech from one of the velociraptors. A woman with short black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and the strangest armor Mashirao had ever seen, was standing in some tall reeds with a bow pointed at the velociraptors. She seemed to aim carefully for a moment, then let loose a second arrow. With a screech and a crash, one of the velociraptors was down. The second one saw their comrade go down and stopped chasing Mashirao, instead turning towards the woman who let loose an arrow directly into its eye. The velociraptor didn’t give her time to load a fourth arrow though, and leaped into the air with its claws frantically trying to grab her. The woman put the bow away and pulled out a reinforced spear, wooden but decorated with bits of metal and colorful ropes. She blocked the machine, both of its claws desperately scraping at the side of the spear. However, with its weight leaning on her, she was able to tilt it to be off balance and swiftly turned the spear to stab into the machine’s chest. It let out a warble, then the fire on its tail and back went out and it dropped to the ground. The woman let out a breath and pulled her spear out from under the machine then turned to Mashirao.
“You okay, kid?” It took Mashirao a moment to realize that she was speaking English, and so he responded in kind.
“Ah, yeah, I’m alright,” Mashirao replied.
“Good, good. Then what the hell are you doing out here?!” She yelled, pointing her spear at him, “And…do you have a tail?” she asked, confusion settling in when she finally noticed his fifth appendage.
“Um, I just kind of found myself here. Last thing I remember I was with my class and then a villain attacked, and then I found myself here in this desert,” he said. The woman looked at him for a moment, eyebrows narrow.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” the woman said. Mashirao shrugged.
“I’m Mashirao Ojiro, it’s nice to meet you, miss. Thank you for your help,” he said, reaching out his hand to shake hers.
“I’m Talanah, I’m just glad I was here to help you against those clawstriders. What tribe are you from?” She asked, eyes roaming over his outfit, “I’ve never seen clothes like yours before.”
“Uh, tribe?” He asked.
“Do…you not have a tribe?” She asked, eyebrows furrowed under the metal bird shaped headpiece she was wearing. Mashirao shook his head.
“Er, no, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m from Japan, do you know where that is?” he asked. She shook her head.
“No, but I know someone who might. My thrush is far more widely traveled than I am, I can introduce you to her,” she said.
“What’s a thrush?”
“It’s kind of like an apprentice, though I think she taught me more than I taught her. Anyway, come on back to camp with me tonight to get some food and rest, then tomorrow I’ll help you figure out where to go,” she said. Mashirao nodded and started following as she guided him across the desert.
“So, why do you have a tail?” Talanah eventually asked, glancing back at him.
“It’s my quirk,” Mashirao explained, looking over at her. His mind was wandering, because those robotic monsters were highly advanced, yet Talanah seemed more tribal in terms of civilization advancement. Surely no civilization capable of building such machines would be using bows and arrows? Or fighting against them?
“Quirk?” She asked.
“Yes, like a power. Most people have them,” Mashirao explained.
“Your tribe must be very strange, if everyone has tails,” she said.
“No, not necessarily tails, like, one of my friends is completely invisible, or another can make ice from his hands,” he explained, trying to think of examples that would probably make sense to her.
“How have I never heard of this tribe?” She asked.
“Well, we weren’t a tribe, we were just a small group, but quirks are worldwide.”
“I do not think they are as worldwide as you seem to think, perhaps these abilities are more common across the water?”
“No, they are worldwide, I just think they’re my worldwide,” Mashirao said, with dawning horror. Honestly, it was the only thing that made sense out of his entire situation. “I’m in a different word!”
“That definitely sounds like something out of my scope of expertise,” Talanah said dryly. However, as they crossed over another hill, she gestured her hand forward, “anyway, welcome to Camp Nowhere!”
There were multiple tents of varying sizes set up in a haphazard semi-circle, with a rusted metal billboard on the hill behind it looking like it was about to fall. A campfire was near the middle, and some people dressed in various shades of brown and tan were walking around the camp. Talanah led him into the camp, and introduced him to some of the people there. She ended up haggling with the merchant, and bought Mashirao a basic bow with a couple of fire arrows.
“I can’t take you there myself, unfortunately, I’m currently traveling in the opposite direction, but I can show you where the road is to get there. If you travel on foot and start early, it should only take you one day to reach a place called The Base. If you get lost, unfortunately, there’s not many people who know exactly where it is, so you’ll have to be careful. Avoid anyone with a lot of facepaint or arm paint, usually dressed in bright colors like red in these parts, they probably belong to the Tenakth tribe and will likely try to kill you on sight. If you see people with white dots painted on them, usually dressed using plant leaves rather than cloth or metal, they will probably be friendly. Be cautious when approaching anyone, and avoid machines at all costs. The arrows I gave you are not to fight since you’re not trained, but they can serve as a distraction. You can also throw rocks if necessary. Your path is mostly desert, so there won’t be many trees to hide in, but there are these red reeds that grow tall enough occasionally that can hide you from most machine eyes. You’ll be safe from most machines if you just run and hide, but there are some that absolutely can and will chase you down,” Talanah explained.
She spent that night teaching Mashirao the path he needed to take, that he would be heading mostly north on the same road until he reached the turnoff for Arrowhand.
“Arrowhand is a Tenakth city, and again, they will try to kill you if they see you. However, you won’t actually be approaching the city, just a sign for the turn. Be careful though, there will probably be scouts and machine hunters in the area.”
After reaching the turnoff for Arrowhand, he was to head East on the first road he saw.
“There will probably be Bristlebacks in the area, they tend to congregate at the base of the mountain, so be careful.”
Then, he had to continue up the road while keeping an eye out for yellow paint on a cliff to his right so he could find the large metal entrance to the Base. There would probably be a thin layer of snow, since it was in the mountains.
“I called through the focus I have to let Zo know you’re coming, she’ll try to meet you at the base of the mountain near the path for Arrowhand, but there’s no guarantee she’ll spot you since you’ll be trying to hide from the Tenakth.”
She also went over several of the most common machines, and the best ways for avoiding them.
“Clawstriders are what we were fighting before. They’re actually pretty slow, so you can usually outrun them if you have the stamina, and they’ll give up if they can’t see you. There’s tons of Brsitlebacks around this area, and they’ll try to charge you if they get going, but they’re pretty slow to activate. Some fighters are swift enough to be able to run through a pack of them without activating them. Activation is what we call when a machine begins behaving in response to a hunter. Their eyes will usually turn red or yellow, depending on whether or not they’re attacking you or just looking. There’s also been Bellowbacks spotted recently north of here along your path, they’re easy to recognize because they’ll be carrying a huge container of an elemental liquid.”
She covered a few of the other common machines, including burrowers, scrappers, watchers, and shell-walkers, but a lot of the details were limited since the best she could do was describe them verbally or sketch in the sand. He got the jist though, avoid and evade as much as possible until he was trained in how to take them down. She also went over the three main tribes he might encounter, the Tenakth (heavy face paint, spiky clothes, avoid at all costs), the Utaru (white dots, wears plants, usually friendly, but might be jumpy with strangers), and Oseram (plain, typically dressed in leathers, traveling merchants, very friendly).
“Oh, and there’s one Nora tribe member running around somewhere. You can recognize Nora by the braided hair with small beads and the like embedded in their hair. Usually, Nora dress in many beads and decorative ribbons and furs, but this particular one tends to wear clothing belonging to other tribes since she travels so far. You’ll recognize her by the braided red hair. If you see her, her name is Aloy, and you need to talk to her. I highly doubt you’ll randomly come across her, but just in case, I think she’ll be your best bet for getting home.”
“What tribe are you?” Mashirao asked, noticing that she didn’t really fit any of the descriptions given so far.
“I’m Carja. You probably won’t find any others, we’re not very welcome in this area. The Carja rarely wear face paint, and our clothes are often mixes of brightly colored woven cloth and silver metal parts. We tend to dress somewhat extravagantly, and have a fondness for reds and grays, though, as you can see by looking at me, we’re not strict on our coloration.”
By the time Mashirao crashed in a tent with a middle aged Oseram worker, he was exhausted. However, as he rolled over on the furs he was sleeping on to see the Oseram armor he had been gifted by Talanah for traveling (“You’re going to need something much warmer than that thin white cloth for the mountains up north, and something much sturdier in case you get in a fight”), he felt pretty good about his ability to get home.