Chapter 24

₊˚⊹✷ 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘
⤷ Dark Shadow reacts to sound

ON THE WAY BACK toward camp, they spotted their teacher sprinting through the trees, capture scarf trailing behind him as he moved with sharp, efficient speed. Oda called out without slowing, his voice cutting through the noise of the forest as he and Midoriya stumbled into view. “Aizawa!”

Aizawa skidded to a stop in front of them, eyes sharp and immediately cataloging damage. 

“Thank goodness.” Midoriya let out, breathless and shaking, as Aizawa gave them a once-over, his gaze lingering on Midoriya’s mangled arms and then snapping to Oda’s face, where blood still streaked down from his nose. “We need to catch you up on what we’ve learned about the villains but we don’t have much time—”

“Hey—” Aizawa started, his voice firm but controlled as he watched Oda carefully lower Kota to the ground. The kid clung for a second before letting go, eyes darting between the adult and the injured students, clearly overwhelmed.

“—Plus I need to find Mandalay. There’s something I need to tell her—” Midoriya rushed to speak, words tumbling over each other as adrenaline kept him upright when his body clearly should not have been cooperating anymore.

“—Hold on—!” Aizawa cut in sharply, stepping forward to block him when Midoriya tried to move again.

“—Please take care of Kota while I—” Midoriya was running on fumes and pure instinct, pain dulled by urgency and fear rather than gone. He shifted his weight, already turning as if he could simply will his broken body to keep going.

“—Wait. Midoriya!” Aizawa snapped, more stern now, the authority in his voice finally breaking through the fog. “Those injuries… you went too far again. Have you forgotten about Hosu?”

“Uh…” Midoriya hesitated, face tightening as if the memory finally caught up to him all at once. Still, he answered honestly, voice quieter but steady. “No. I haven’t.”

Aizawa stared at him for a long moment, jaw set, weighing risk against necessity in a fraction of a second. 

“Go.” Aizawa said at last, the word heavy with responsibility rather than permission. Then his gaze shifted to Oda.. “And you, go with him. Make sure neither of you die. I need you two to tell Mandalay something for me too. Have her tell everyone in Class A and Class B that Eraser Head has granted them permission to engage in combat with the villains.”

The weight of that statement hit both boys at once. They gawked at him for a heartbeat, stunned by the gravity of it, by the trust implied in those words.

Then they nodded in unison.

“Yessir.”

Oda adjusted his stance, and with one last glance back at Kota and Aizawa, they turned and ran, disappearing back into the forest as fast as their battered bodies would allow.

They burst back into the clearing at the front of the path just as chaos crested again. The ground was torn up, dirt and debris scattered where the Pussycats had been fighting moments earlier, and Mandalay was mid-movement, bracing herself as Spinner charged her with reckless abandon. His massive blade—made of smaller blades welded and bolted together—whistled through the air in wild arcs.

Oda didn’t slow down.

His quirk flared hot and immediate, red light crawling up his arms and across his shoulders as gravity twisted sharply around him. He launched forward feet first, body angled like a missile, and slammed straight through Spinner’s weapon. The impact rang out. The sword of swords shattered on contact, pieces snapping and flying outward as if they’d hit a wall of force rather than a human body.

Spinner staggered back in shock, staring at the ruined hilt in his hands.

“Mandalay! Kota. He’s safe!” Midoriya shouted, voice hoarse as he ran along the edge of the clearing, keeping distance from the villains still present.

“You found him?” Mandalay turned sharply, relief flashing across her face even as she kept herself squared toward the remaining threats.

“And we’ve got a message from Mr. Aizawa,” Oda added as he landed hard, boots skidding slightly before gravity re-anchored him to the ground. Blood dripped from his nose again, dark against the dirt, but he didn’t wipe it away. “We need you to use Telepath. Tell everyone in Class A and Class B that Eraser Head has granted them permission to engage in combat with the villains.”

Mandalay didn’t hesitate. Her eyes widened slightly, then hardened with resolve as her quirk activated.

Her voice hit them all at once, echoing directly inside their minds, clear and commanding.
“Everyone in Class A and Class B! In the name of the pro hero Eraser Head, you are granted permission to engage in combat.” There was no panic in her tone now, only authority. “I repeat. Use your training. You may fight these villains.”

Mandalay turned back to Midoriya, her gaze dropping instantly to his arms, her expression tightening. “Get back to camp right now!” she ordered. “Those injuries aren’t normal.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t,” Midoriya replied, voice shaking but stubbornly firm. “You need to send one more thing! The villains, we know one reason they’re here. They’re after Edogawa and Kacchan. You have to let the others know.”

“Kacchan? Who’s that?” Mandalay asked, already preparing to relay the information.

“Bakugo,” Oda corrected automatically, already moving as Midoriya bolted back into the trees without waiting for an answer.

“—Midoriya!” Mandalay called after him, but it was too late.

Oda swore under his breath and followed, boots pounding against the forest floor as branches whipped past his shoulders. “Dude, slow down,” he called, even though he knew it was pointless. 

Midoriya couldn’t slow down, not now. The moment he did, the pain would crash in and fold him in half.

“Kacchan and Todoroki went second in the test of courage,” Midoriya said between ragged breaths. “If they didn’t go back to camp yet then they might still be around here.”

The forest closed in around them, dark and uneven, shadows stretching strangely between the trees. Then something massive moved.

Without warning, a shape lunged out of the darkness.

Oda’s quirk activated on pure instinct, gravity snapping outward in a defensive surge, but whatever it was still caught him. Fingers like living shadow wrapped around his torso and yanked hard. It took him half a second to realize what it was—Dark Shadow’s hand—before he was flung bodily through the air.

He slammed into the ground with crushing force. The gravity field around him prevented bones from shattering, but the impact still knocked the breath clean out of his lungs. The world went white for a second, and blood surged up his throat as he choked.

“Edogawa!” Midoriya shouted, horror cutting through his voice.

Oda barely had time to look up before he saw Midoriya himself get snatched away— Shoji had intercepted, several arms wrapping around Midoriya at once and hauling him back before Dark Shadow could land a blow.

Forcing his lungs to work, Oda dragged in air that burned all the way down. He twisted gravity around himself again, pushing off the ground and accelerating forward, weaving out of the path of another shadowy strike before sliding in beside them behind a thick tree trunk.

Shoji crouched low, multiple arms braced protectively around Midoriya, who was slumped against his back, breathing hard and pale.

“Shoji,” Midoriya gawked, stunned, eyes wide with relief and confusion all at once.

Oda leaned heavily against the tree, wiping blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, eyes already scanning the darkness  His eyes snapped to Shoji’s bleeding arm, blood running and dripping into the dirt. 

“What happened?” Oda asked quietly, his voice tight as he took in the damage and then flicked his gaze back toward the shadows where Dark Shadow rampaged.

“With those injuries,” Shoji said, glancing back at Midoriya over his shoulder, his tone calm in a way that almost hurt to hear, “you should be laid up in bed recoverin’. But you wanna save your friend. No matter the cost.”

Midoriya swallowed, shoulders tensing as he looked at Shoji’s bleeding arm and then back at the dark mass tearing through the forest. “You’re injured too,” he replied, guilt threading through his voice.

“Yes.” Shoji nodded once. “We were ambushed by a villain. And I covered us.” His eyes flicked briefly toward the chaos ahead. “But the attack triggered Tokoyami’s quirk even though he was desperately trying to hold it back.”

Midoriya’s face drained of color, the realization hitting him all at once. “No… don’t tell me…”

“Yeah.” Shoji exhaled slowly. “If we wanna get through here, we’ll have to face Dark Shadow first.” He turned his head slightly toward Oda. “And he’s a bad match up for you, Edogawa.”

“I got that when he threw me,” Oda replied dryly, though his jaw was clenched and his chest still burned from the impact.

Another roar split the night, deeper and angrier than before. Dark Shadow loomed through the trees like a living nightmare, its massive form blotting out what little moonlight filtered through the canopy. Tokoyami was somewhere at its center, surrounded completely, his movements restricted as the quirk lashed out on its own. Trees cracked like matchsticks, dirt and splinters flying as Dark Shadow slammed into anything that so much as shifted.

“But… how did he get this way?” Midoriya asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Keep it down,” Shoji warned immediately, his head tilting as Dark Shadow’s attention shifted at the sound. After a tense second, when the beast didn’t charge, he continued. “After Mandalay told us what was happening and that we shouldn’t engage, we were on high alert. Still, one of the villains got the drop on us. I hid in the bushes and tried to cover Tokoyami even though one of my arms was cut off.”

“You gonna be okay?” Oda asked, eyes narrowing with concern despite everything else pressing in around them.

“It looks bad but it’s not like it’s lost forever,” Shoji replied evenly. “My dupli-arms are capable of making duplicates upon duplicates. One of those was cut off.” His gaze darkened. “Thing is, he couldn’t stand seeing me injured like that. The quirk he’d been suppressing began to rage and take over.”

As if on cue, Dark Shadow roared again, the sound vibrating through the ground beneath their feet.

“The darker it is, the less control Tokoyami has,” Midoriya said, piecing it together aloud. “I had no idea his quirk could explode like this.”

“It’s probably fueled by his righteous indignation and regret,” Shoji said. “He’s tried to hold it back, but then it went wild. It started launching at any sound or movement, a beast lashing out with indiscriminate attacks.”

From somewhere deep within the writhing mass of shadow, Tokoyami’s voice broke through, strained and desperate. “Forget about me! Go! Find our classmates!” Branches snapped as Dark Shadow surged again. “Help them instead! Stop this. Calm down, Dark Shadow!”

They pressed themselves against the rough bark of another tree, the trunk wide enough to shield them for the moment as splinters and chunks of dirt rained down nearby from Dark Shadow’s last blind strike. Oda wiped at his nose again with the back of his hand, but the blood kept coming, warm and slick, smearing across his knuckles no matter how many times he tried to hide it.

“His quirk has a weakness to light,” Shoji said in a low, steady voice as he peeked around the tree, his many eyes tracking the massive shadow tearing through the forest ahead. “If we can lead him to a fire or back to camp, we can contain it.” 

He drew back, shoulders tense but resolute. “I know these are strange circumstances but I can’t just leave a suffering friend behind. You’re both in bad shape.” Shoji motioned subtly toward Oda’s face, where the nosebleed refused to stop. “You forced yourselves to get you here because you’re worried about Bakugo. If you still wanna save him, I’ll distract Dark Shadow for you. You can both make a run for it.”

“Hold on. The fire and camp are pretty far away,” Midoriya started, panic sharpening his voice as he imagined Shoji standing alone against that thing. “You’ll be in danger if he—”

A deafening crash cut him off as Dark Shadow reacted to the sound, a massive limb of pure darkness slamming into the tree they’d just been using for cover. The trunk split with a sickening crack. All three of them bolted instinctively, ducking behind another tree just in time as the remains of the first collapsed behind them.

“I know that,” Shoji said firmly once the immediate danger passed, his tone unwavering despite the chaos. “But to save people you have to take risks. That’s what makes a hero, a hero.” He turned fully toward them now. “Will you two stay here and help me save Tokoyami or will you go after Bakugo? You gotta make a choice. Right now.”

“Wait. Just wait. I have a plan.” Midoriya cut in quickly, breath hitching as his mind raced. “It’s not perfect but it might work.”

“What?” Shoji asked, even as another distant roar shook the ground beneath their feet.

“If Dark Shadow reacts to sound,” Midoriya continued, words tumbling out faster as the idea took shape, “then make duplicate arms to bait him so he’ll follow us without attacking our actual bodies. We can lead Dark Shadow to Kacchan.”

“And Bakugo can weaken him with an explosion,” Oda finished quietly.

Midoriya nodded, determination burning through the pain etched across his face. “I don’t want to choose one or the other. I want to save them both.”

Shoji studied them for a brief, heavy moment, then nodded once. Without another word, he began creating duplicate arms, the extra limbs extending and shifting, deliberately snapping branches and scraping bark to draw attention. The forest immediately seemed to recoil as Dark Shadow reacted, its massive form twisting toward the noise.

They took off running through the woods, feet pounding against roots and uneven ground, the darkness closing in around them. Shoji carried Midoriya as they ran, his multiple arms working in perfect coordination to keep them moving fast despite Midoriya’s injuries. Oda pushed himself alongside them, forcing his body to keep up even as his vision blurred at the edges.

As they ran, Midoriya twisted as much as he could in Shoji’s grip, shouting back toward the writhing mass of shadow behind them. “Tokoyami! Don’t fight against it. Give up your control for now and just let it take over! Trust me!”

The ground shook violently as Dark Shadow gave chase, its roar echoing through the forest, trees bending and snapping in its wake as it followed the sounds, the three of them racing through the darkness with only seconds to spare and everything riding on whether this desperate plan would hold.

“There! I see ice! They’re fighting.” Midoriya called out, his voice strained but sharp with relief as the trees finally began to thin. Through the gaps in the forest, jagged spikes of ice glinted in the dim light.

They burst through a curtain of branches, Oda twisting mid-stride as a massive shadowed hand tore through the space where his head had just been. He felt the pull of it, and instinctively his quirk flared, a red glow snapping around his body as a failsafe. His boots skidded through dirt and pine needles, lungs burning as he forced himself to keep pace.

“Bakugo! Todoroki!” Shoji shouted, his voice carrying over the chaos as they finally cleared the path enough to see the battlefield ahead.

The ground was shredded. Trees were snapped in half or uprooted entirely, ice littered the earth in broken slabs, and Todoroki was blocking another villain while carrying a student from class 1-B while Bakugo looked like he wanted to fight something. 

“One of you give us some light!” Oda yelled, ducking hard as a tree trunk sailed past his head and exploded against the rocks behind him.

Ahead, Bakugo and Todoroki were locked in a brutal close-quarters struggle with something that barely looked human anymore.

“More flesh!” roared the villain attacking them, his voice wet and distorted. His mouth was a nightmare, metal teeth growing and regenerating over each other, grinding and snapping as he lunged. 

The villain surged forward, metal jaws opening impossibly wide as he launched himself toward Shoji, clearly aiming for the injured Midoriya on his back.

But Dark Shadow hit him like a freight train.

The massive shadow slammed down from the side, crushing the villain into the earth with a thunderous impact. The ground buckled under the force, dirt and stone erupting upward as Shoji barely managed to twist away.

“Kacchan!” Midoriya screamed, his voice cracking as he spotted Bakugo.

“We need some light now! He’s out of control!” Shoji called urgently, bracing himself as Dark Shadow loomed larger than ever behind them, its form rippling and unstable.

Todoroki was already moving, ice spreading instinctively under his feet, but Bakugo hesitated for a fraction of a second, eyes darting between the rampaging shadow and the villain struggling to rise again.

The metal-toothed villain dragged himself upright, teeth clicking and scraping as they reformed. “Flesh. Slabs of meat. No good. Can’t allow it. I’m the one who gets to slice them open! Don’t steal from me!” He hurled himself at Dark Shadow in a frenzy.

Dark Shadow responded with overwhelming force.

“You don’t matter,” the shadow boomed, its voice reverberating through the forest like a god speaking through thunder. “Insignificant bug!”

The shadow’s massive hand snapped shut, crushing the villain’s metal teeth with a sound like shattering steel. With a violent twist, Dark Shadow hurled him away, the villain’s body smashing through trees before slamming into a trunk hard enough to knock him unconscious instantly.

“Not enough! It’s not enough!” Dark Shadow roared, turning back toward the others, its form swelling again as it prepared to charge.

That was when the light came.

Bakugo detonated the air with a brutal explosion, white-hot and blinding, while Todoroki answered with a wall of flame that flooded the clearing with heat and brilliance. The sudden brightness tore through the darkness.

Dark Shadow shrieked.

Its massive form collapsed inward, shrinking rapidly, the raging silhouette breaking apart until it retreated entirely, dropping Tokoyami unceremoniously onto the ground before curling back to his side, small and subdued.

Tokoyami hit his knees, gasping, hands pressed into the dirt as his shoulders shook.

“Once again, I’m a terrible match up for you, birdboy,” Bakugo said, breathing hard as a small explosion danced lazily in his palm before fading out, Todoroki’s flames extinguishing beside him.

“Thanks,” Tokoyami rasped, barely able to lift his head. “You saved me.”

Todoroki stared at the unconscious villain lying amid the wreckage, eyes narrowed in disbelief. “We could barely defend against that guy,” he said slowly, “but you beat him instantly.”

Shoji shifted his stance carefully, adjusting his grip so Midoriya was supported more securely against his back before turning his attention to Tokoyami. Even injured, even bleeding, Shoji’s posture was steady, grounded.

“My friend. Are you okay?” Shoji asked Tokoyami, his voice low and even. “You did what we needed you to.”

Tokoyami’s shoulders shook as he knelt there in the dirt, feathers ruffled and chest rising in uneven breaths. His head dipped, shadow pooling weakly at his feet where Dark Shadow lingered, smaller now, quiet, almost ashamed.

“Shoji. I apologize,” Tokoyami said, his voice hoarse and heavy with guilt. “You too, Midoriya, Edogawa. I’m still far too immature. Anger consumed me. And I let my quirk take over. The influence of the darkness combined with my fury, spurred Dark Shadow into a frenzy. Until… it got so strong… I couldn’t contain it, and I ended up hurting Shoji.”

Shoji didn’t flinch. He didn’t raise his voice or look away. He simply nodded once, as if Tokoyami had stated something obvious rather than unforgivable.

“We’ll deal with that later,” Shoji said calmly. “That’s what you’d say if our roles were reversed.”

Tokoyami froze at that, his head lifting slowly, eyes wide. For a moment he looked stunned, as if he hadn’t expected forgiveness to be so immediate, so uncomplicated. Then his posture softened, tension bleeding out of him as he bowed his head again, this time in gratitude.

Oda blinked a few times, the edges of his vision blurring in a way he’d learned to recognize far too well. The world tilted slightly, colors dulling, sounds growing distant. He tried to inhale steadily, to ground himself, but instead something warm surged up his throat.

He hated this part.

He doubled over suddenly, one hand shooting out to grab a tree for support as he wretched, dark blood splattering against the roots and leaves below. Oda’s shoulders shook as his lungs burned, throat tearing with the effort, pain lancing sharp and deep through his ribs.

“Edogawa—” Todoroki’s voice was sharp with alarm.

“Did I—” Tokoyami stared, horror creeping into his tone as he took an unsteady step forward.

Oda crouched instinctively as his vision swam, spots dancing in front of his eyes. He raised a hand, palm outward, a silent command to stop, even as his other hand pressed hard against his side.

“This is built up damage from training. I’m fine,” he said, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. It was a lie, and he knew it, and judging by the way his organs screamed in protest, his body knew it too.

Bakugo didn’t look convinced for a second.

“No you’re not,” Bakugo snapped, eyes narrowed as he stared Oda down. “You over did it.”

“I wasn’t expecting to be attacked by the League on a random summer night,” Oda shot back, irritation flaring hot enough to keep him upright. He straightened despite the dizziness that rolled through him, jaw tight as he fought it down. “Whatever. What’s our plan now?” His gaze shifted immediately to Midoriya.

Midoriya swallowed, clearly fighting the pain radiating from his broken arms as he spoke. “I don’t know if you guys heard Mandalay, but we found out the villains are after Kacchan and Edogawa.”

“Why them?” Todoroki asked, confusion creasing his brow.

“Are they trying to kill them?” Tokoyami added, his voice quieter now, wary.

“Capture, more like,” Oda answered, leaning back against the tree again, breathing shallowly as if that might lessen the damage.

“We should get back to camp. It’s the safest place now,” Midoriya said firmly. “So long as Vlad King and Mr. Aizawa have regrouped there.”

“I understand,” Tokoyami nodded, rising carefully to his feet. His posture straightened, resolve settling in as he spoke again. “So our mission is to get Bakugo and Edogawa back to safety by serving as their protectors.”

“That’s dramatic,” Oda muttered.

Midoriya forced himself to think past the adrenaline, past the pain screaming through his broken arms, and past the sheer terror of knowing the League of Villains was actively hunting two of the people standing next to him.

“It’s possible the Pussy Cats are still fighting in the clearing,” Midoriya said, voice tight but steady as he worked through it aloud. “Going that way would draw the attention of the villains. Plus, it’s longer. We should cut straight across.”

Tokoyami tilted his head slightly, eyes scanning the darkness between the trees, every shadow suddenly suspect. “We don’t know how many enemies there are,” he said. “We might come across some by chance.”

“We can use Shoji’s search ability. And Todoroki’s freezing power,” Midoriya replied quickly, already piecing it together in his head. “And, if Tokoyami’s okay with it we can always use Dark Shadow now that we can actually control him. Honestly, with a group like this, we could probably even go up against All Might.”

“I’d be fine by myself!” Bakugo shouted immediately, bristling at the implication that he needed backup.

“We’ll surround you as we walk,” Todoroki said evenly, already shifting his weight to better balance the unconscious Class 1-B student slung over his shoulders. The boy’s breathing was shallow but steady, his clothes still faintly smelling of the villain’s gas.

“I don’t need any of your protection, damnit!” Bakugo yelled, irritation sharp enough to cut through the tension.

Shoji didn’t comment. He simply adjusted his grip on Midoriya and started forward, long strides carrying them into the thick of the forest. “Let’s go.”

“Don’t ignore me!” Bakugo barked after him.

“Just make sure you keep up,” Todoroki replied without looking back, already following Shoji’s lead.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Bakugo snapped, but his feet moved anyway, boots crunching over roots and fallen leaves as he fell into line.

Tokoyami slowed slightly, offering his shoulder to Oda without a word. Oda leaned into it more than he would have liked, his balance unsteady, his body still humming faintly with the aftereffects of overuse.

“If you’re coughing blood, you must be in pretty bad shape,” Tokoyami said quietly, concern threading through his voice despite the composure he tried to maintain.

Bakugo glanced back only briefly, sharp eyes flicking over Oda’s posture before he looked away again.

“It’s been worse,” Oda replied, forcing the words out past the tightness in his chest. “These injuries won’t kill me.”

He hoped that was true.

They moved through the woods as one uneven unit, cutting through the densest parts of the forest to shorten the distance back to camp. Branches scraped at their clothes, roots threatened to trip them, and every sound felt amplified in the dark. Shoji’s extra eyes and ears scanned constantly, Todoroki’s breath fogged faintly in the cool air, and Dark Shadow stayed close to Tokoyami, subdued but alert.

Oda didn’t know how it happened.

One moment he was walking, focusing on keeping his feet moving, on not thinking about the way his organs felt like they were slowly tearing themselves apart.

The next, a hand touched the center of his back.

The world didn’t go black.

It didn’t go white.

It went blue.

Oda was suspended in the middle of a translucent, glowing blue bubble, the forest beyond it warped and distant, as if seen through water. Sound vanished. The ground vanished. Time itself seemed to stutter and stop.

A violent wave of dizziness crashed over him, stronger than anything he’d felt all day. His stomach lurched, throat burning as blood spilled from his mouth, floating weightlessly in the strange blue light.

He didn’t even have time to be afraid.

The last thing he registered was the sensation of falling without moving at all.

Then the world went black.