Chapter Text
Midoriya buried his face in his hands. Yaoyorozu’s collapse marked the latest mysterious incident in the chain of unexplainable “summonings”, as the voice called them. The man behind the disembodied voice had called them once again a couple hours ago and taken the studious girl with him, depriving what remained of Class 1-A of the one student most likely to take control of the situation.
He stood and began to pace around Recovery Girl’s office, then pushed aside the curtain and stepped through, his eyes flicking over his classmates for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. Deep in their forcefully-induced slumber, the fallen students of 1-A lay in the infirmary upon parallel cots lining the wall, arranged in the order they collapsed.
First, Tokoyami. Next, Todoroki. Third, Bakugou and Ashido, both summoned at the same time. After that, Iida. And most recently, Yaoyorozu.
Hearing the squeak of the office door opening, Midoriya turned to see Uraraka step through. She cast her eyes over her comatose classmates and sighed.
“Tried anything new, Midoriya?” Uraraka asked, her usual energy seeming to have been depleted by Class 1-A’s realization that there was nothing they could do to inhibit the summonings.
“No,” Midoriya admitted, expression downcast. “I was just hoping that something… anything… would’ve changed.”
Uraraka shook her head. “We all hoped, Midoriya.”
“I know ,” he replied vehemently, “but we’re all so helpless—We don’t even know who this guy is, never mind how he’s summoning us. We’re just standing around, hoping they’ll wake up, but they won’t, and there’s nothing we can do about it—!” His voice broke and he trailed off.
“If there was anybody who could have figured out this mystery, it would have been one of them… Iida or Yaoyorozu, maybe. But they’re both gone.”
Midoriya grimaced. “Sometimes, I wish that strange man would just summon us all. At least then, we wouldn’t be separated like this.” He strode absentmindedly over to Todoroki’s cot, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of his body. “Wherever they are… I wonder how they’re doing…”
Todoroki flexed his fingers, feeling the intense Light of the sky above radiate against his skin. Carefully, he extended his right hand and pushed a moderately-sized icicle through his palm.
Good. He still retained his Quirk despite traveling to this strange new world, then.
Todoroki started down the path, weaving through patches of lilac-purple forest and keeping his eyes peeled for monsters. Despite the Exarch’s protestations, he had insisted on seeing some of these “sin eaters” for himself—after all, was the best way to test how well he held up in Norvrandt not to fight one himself?
Thus, Todoroki was now wandering the hills outside the Crystarium, searching for one of these foes to pit himself against.
A hissing sound emanated from the shrubbery to Todoroki’s right, and he scowled as a creature emerged from the bushes, radiating hostility. Todoroki leapt out of the way as it suddenly pounced, landing where he had just been a split-second later.
He glanced at the monster, surveying its form to craft a plan of attack. Its skin was pure white, as though crafted from marble, and it almost seemed to glow like a queerly-shaped lightbulb. No doubt this was one of those sin eaters, then.
As for its shape, Todoroki immediately observed that its tail was of a scorpion’s, with a bulbous stinger adorning its tip. About a dozen glowing eyes twitched from the front of what Todoroki assumed was the beast’s head as stubby, clawed legs wiggled from its sides, digging into the soil with points like a crab’s.
The sin eater leapt at Todoroki again, but this time, Todoroki had had time to collect himself and once more rolled fluidly out of the way. While it gathered its senses from the missed attack, Todoroki shot out a stream of ice, knocking the sin eater into the trees behind it. Before it could recover, Todoroki followed up his blast of ice with a wave of fire that he channeled close to the ground, singeing the grass as it traveled towards the beast. The flames shot up like magma from an active volcano when they reached the creature’s shadow, sending the scorpion-like sin eater tumbling upwards through the windless air.
Todoroki unleashed another huge flurry of ice from his right hand, swiftly trapping the sin eater and any surrounding branches in a miniature glacier. Its claws were encased in ice, but its tail thrashed wildly. Todoroki prepared to engulf it with flame, but suddenly the beast managed to wriggle free of its icy bindings, landing back onto the forest floor alongside the shattered fragments of ice.
Todoroki blasted it with orange fire yet again, but the sin eater only hissed in annoyance and weathered Todoroki’s onslaught. When the flames died off, it pounced on Todoroki once more, and he was only able to escape its attack by a hair’s breadth despite all of Aizawa-sensei’s training.
He rolled to the side, gasping as he felt his energy begin to wane. His ice could keep the sin eater at bay, but his flames were yet too weak; without a decisive attack the beast may well win the battle of attrition.
The sin eater was quickly becoming accustomed to Todoroki’s moves. Though he unleashed yet another glacier to buy himself more time to think of a way to slay the foe, it leapt through the air above the ice, claws outstretched and aimed at Todoroki’s head, and he had no time to react—
The sound of flames rushed in Todoroki’s ears. Tendrils of fire manifested around the sin eater’s marble-like torso, growing in size exponentially with each passing millisecond, swirling about the enemy’s flesh until the fire wholly consumed it in a hovering spherical mass of conflagration.
The first thought to pass through Todoroki’s mind was Touya —no one else could create such searing flames.
But Touya was dead, wasn’t he?
An inhuman screech filled the air as the sin eater immolated, trapped within the bubble of inferno that sent waves of nearly intolerable heat engulfing Todoroki’s body. After several moments, the flames finally ceased, and a significantly charred sin eater crumpled to the ground on its back.
Todoroki stared for a moment longer, watching as the sin eater twitched before disintegrating into formless particles of Light that quickly scattered despite the still air.
After a few seconds of tense shock, Todoroki hastily cast about for the source of the flames he was certain he did not conjure, and his eyes landed on a figure standing a short distance behind him, staff outstretched and bristling with energy that soon died down.
Todoroki narrowed his eyes, waiting for the new arrival to step forth from the shadows of the trees. Summarily, they approached him, though their posture was all but hostile.
“Hello,” Todoroki began, uncertain of what else to say.
“Greetings.” The newcomer strode into the light, allowing Todoroki to cast his eyes over her features.
She was somewhat short and sported foreign features, though her stature and facial features looked passably human (the ‘man’ at the Crystarium named Bragi had already claimed the title of being the strangest being Todoroki had encountered thus far). Her feline-esque head was framed by short cropped platinum hair, and cat-like ears poked from the top of her head. Bangs brushed her forehead, just above large, striking, pointed eyes reminiscent of pearls, which in turn were perched above four symmetrical triangular markings not unlike tattoos on her cheeks. A dark red marking resembling a dragon—this one likely a real tattoo—contrasted with the pale skin of her neck.
The cat-woman’s garb was relatively basic—certainly less outlandish than that of some of the heroes or villains Todoroki had encountered. She was dressed in a simple and loose plain white top with short sleeves that were slightly puffed. Above it, she had on a sleeveless leather vest that Todoroki was certain he had seen displayed somewhere in the Crystarium’s markets. Her entire forearms were covered by a pair of fingerless cloth gloves. A medium-length skirt fell past her knees, all the way down to her ankles, and swayed as she moved. She wore short dark grey boots, also made of leather and laced loosely, revealing vertical slivers of her feet.
“Hmmm.” The woman squinted innocently at Todoroki, who frowned. “Are you alright? Did the sin eater injure you?”
Todoroki shook his head. “I’m fine.”
The woman nodded. “Good. Although your aether remains…” She continued to squint at the hero, who resisted the urge to squirm, slightly unnerved by her unblinking judgmental gaze, which reminded him of Aizawa-sensei’s. “Unusual,” she finally concluded.
Aether… the Crystal Exarch had mentioned aether in passing. Although he never took the time to explain what aether was.
“I’m sorry?” Todoroki finally responded.
“Nevermind. Merely idle musings, I assure you. But pray forgive my lack of manners. I am Y’shtola. And you?”
Her words did nothing to rectify Todoroki’s puzzlement, but at least he now had a name.
“Todoroki Shoto.”
“A pleasure, Master Todoroki.”
“Just Shoto is fine, thanks,” he answered curtly.
“Very well. Shoto, then.” Y’shtola strode closer to Todoroki. “Say, I could not help but notice your martial aptitude when I chanced upon you engaged in battle with that sin eater.”
“Yeah?”
“Forgive me for observing, but I could not help but notice that you lack any manner of foci through which to channel your abilities. A staff, for example.” She reached behind her back and patted the staff she wielded earlier.
“...Why would I need one?” Todoroki asked in puzzlement. “Is my power not sufficient?”
As soon as he asked it, he recalled his struggle against the sin eater, and Y’shtola’s relative ease at defeating it.
Meanwhile, Y’shtola cocked her head, as though struggling to understand Todoroki’s qualms, before suddenly seeming to comprehend the situation. “... Ah.”
Todoroki cocked his head back at her questioningly.
“When did you arrive here?” Y’shtola asked.
“Here, as in…?” Todoroki gestured at the trees around them.
“Norvrandt.”
“Yesterday.”
“That would explain it.” Y’shtola cleared her throat. “I would wager you are another ‘hero’ among the victims of the Exarch’s summoning spell. From UA High School, am I correct?”
Todoroki narrowed his eyes. He didn’t see the harm in admitting the truth, and he was fairly sure Y’shtola would see through his lies even if he didn’t.
“Yes. What does it matter to you?”
Y’shtola beamed. “Then you will be familiar with your companion, also summoned hither. ‘Tokoyami’, I believe it was.”
Todoroki gaped at her. “Tokoyami is also here? Where is he!?”
Y’shtola shrugged sadly. “As I have been told, he set off on his own path as soon as he was dismissed from the Exarch’s briefing. Where is he now, I cannot say.”
Damn it. He probably doesn’t know I’m here. I need to find him, but I know next to nothing about this place…
“Do you have any plans for how you will pass the time here in Norvrandt?” Y’shtola asked, interrupting Todoroki’s thoughts.
Todoroki shook his head. “The Exarch said he will send for me when he’s ready, but I don’t know what he’s waiting for or how long I have. But I want to find Tokoyami, if I can.”
Y’shtola nodded sagely. “Then may I make you an offer, Todoroki?” When Todoroki cocked his head, wordlessly prompting her to elaborate, she gestured towards a road leading to the east. “I am currently in the midst of preparations to travel to the Rak’tika Greatwood and learn from its denizens. If you come with me, you may learn something to aid you on your quest to reunite with your friend.”
“And what do you want from me?”
“Your commandment of ice and fire fascinates me, if I may be blunt. I believe I could stand to learn a thing or two from you. Do you accept this deal?”
Todoroki closed his eyes for a moment, thinking. He didn’t have any better leads for where Tokoyami could have gone, and maybe he could grow stronger by learning from Y’shtola, too—He had already seen she was quite a force to be reckoned with. That, and considering the fact that she, too, was a victim of the Exarch’s summoning spell, Todoroki could do worse for a newfound traveling companion.
“...I’ll come with you.”