Chapter Text
It started with a villain fight. The man wore an orange hoodie, mask placed firmly to hide his identity. He was the infamous ‘Shifter’, someone who’d alluded to capture for the past 3 years. His quirk was a powerful tool; anyone he touched was immediately thrown into an alternate dimension, completely different from their own. They had to do something specific in that world to return back here, where only a few hours would pass at most.
They’ve had countless witnesses and victims. The quirk didn’t exactly excel at capture or injury (for the most part). Some people came out of it either for the better or worse. Mostly, the villain indulged in robberies and petty sort of crimes. No one has been able to catch him because, well, he can send whoever it is away in the blink of an eye.
Second year Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou, and Shoto Todoroki were tasked with capturing him. It isn’t very hard to assume what happened from there. In short; A flash of light, a pop as their universe tore, and a mostly empty street.
With millions of dimensions to chose from, it was difficult to predict where exactly you could end up. It usually happened to be whatever reality had the strongest need in the specific, instant moment. There really wasn’t any way to prepare.
—-
Opening his eyes, Izuku takes quick stock of his surroundings. The walls stretch up, much taller than at all necessary. The lights are shut off, dust clinging to the air. For a moment, he believes himself to be kidnapped, but when he shifts it’s atop of a comfortable, red, cat bed.
Stumbling to his feet- paws? He walks on four paws that shake as he gets used to the odd balance. His center of gravity has completely shifted! He breathes in deep, gagging at the sudden influx of far, far too many smells. He hated the feeling of the collar around his neck digging into his fur.
Which is an incredible dark color with Misty, gray swirls colliding with flecks of pure jet black.
Stumbling out of the cat bed, he tries to locate any of his friends. He wonders if he can talk, or if all that will come out in meows and hisses.
“K-cch-n?” The words are awkward and a little slurred, but his lips move to form complex words that should be entirely impossible. His ears flick- and wow, ok, that is a super weird feeling. Alright moving on.
No sound greets him, forcing him to suppress an annoyed groan. He really, really doesn’t want to be alone right now. Moving on, he pads noisily towards where the front door would be- a smaller, dog door fitted at pet-height. God, he’s a pet. He winces, an uncomfortable burn clinging to his fur.
Pushing the flap open, he carefully set his paws outside of the house, peering around to try and take in his surroundings. Nothing of much note comes, a regular street with houses lined in a straight path- trees towering over the grass, littering their colorful, fall leaves. There- thankfully- aren’t any dogs around. Izuku’s not sure if he’d be able to ever get out of there.
But, unfortunately, there isn’t a single sign of his friends’ lifes. Had they been turned into cats too? Or was he the only one to have succumbed to this odd dimension’s rules? Pulling himself further out of the house, he trots down the sidewalk, getting used to how his new legs function.
Keeping his head low, he traverses this strange new realm. It seems, for all intents and purposes, really no different than his own. There isn’t mysterious force blocking the sky or large, thundering dragons. Really the only difference is that he’s a cat…
His ears flick, fur puffing up (now that is a strange feeling) as a person walks out from a door of a nearby house. Instantly, ferocious yowls cut through the air. Another person follows quickly after. In the former’s hands, presumably the one causing all the racket, is a blond and white, short furred cat with its lips drawn back in a crazed hiss. The latter is a sleek, white and red split perfectly down the middle feline.
Izuku feels recognition spark immediately, even if he’s never seen his friends in this shape and form before.
“Let me down, you piece of shit!” Katsuki screeches, swiping with outstretched claws at the woman grasping him by the collar. With a yelp, she drops him. If you’ve ever heard of “cats always land on their feet” go ahead and get rid of that opinion. The landing was neither on his feet nor cat-like. His side hit the pavement with a sharp thud, bouncing slightly from the force.
Izuku tore himself out from his startled shock, bolting down the street and across the road- he’s lucky there were no cars oncoming, otherwise he surely would’ve been hit. With a hiss, he charges at the man holding his other friend captive just as Katsuki regains his bearings, shooting him nothing but a look of recognition.
Shoto, seemingly catching on, flails in the human’s grasp, reaching with outstretched claws and raking the stranger straight down the arm. Izuku can’t help but wince at the sight of blood pooling- a gag trying to force its way out at the heavy smell of iron, amplified by their cat-like senses.
“Let’s go!” He meows, spinning around and darting away. Katsuki seems begrudging to retreat from the fight, but seeing as Shoto is going, he knows that trying to fight these two, much larger threats, would do more harm than it ever could good.
With his friends at his tail, he thunders down the side walk, ignoring the furious screams lighting up behind him. Katsuki is quick to pass him, not leaving a single moment for Izuku to surpass them. It’s familiar, and almost makes the cat snort.
“Hurry up!” Katsuki calls behind, already a foot ahead. He skids around a corner and into an alley. Muck and grime layer their tongue in heavy smells, but they shake it off. Their pursuers don’t follow them past this point.
But just because they’re no longer being followed does it mean that they stop; no, push onward, paws slamming down to push them forwards forwards forwards.
There’s a forest in view- and it feels much, much safer than here, out in the open.
Coming to a stop, they gasp desperately for air, Izuku coughing slightly from the force of their run. Working both your arms and legs to run together was more exhausting than he thought it would be!
“Is everyone alright?” Asks Shoto, already recovering. Katsuki shoots him a barely concealed glare. “Midoriya, you aren’t hurt, are you?”
“I’m fine!” Izuku replies between pants. “Kacchan? You hit the ground really hard. I-I’m not saying that you need help or anything! But, are you ok?”
“I can take care of myself, nerd.” Katsuki huffs, exhaustion clinging to his brow. There’s a hint of pain- “Nothing broken. Jus’ a bruise.”
“That’s good.” Shoto nods, offering a ghost of a smile. He flicks his tail- and then looks down at his tail, as though realizing it just now exists. “We seem to have been turned into cats.”
“Not shit sherlock.”
“Kacchan…” Izuku scolds. Rolling his eyes, Katsuki manages to his paws. He’s wearing a collar too- a lime green that clashes with his eyes. Snarling, he peers down at it. Sitting in a large ring on his shoulders, far too big for his small neck, holding a pendant that has the name ‘cheddar’ written alongside a phone number. “We should focus on getting these off- it’ll be hard if we start growing- they won’t exactly go with us.”
Shoto nods- and that starts the fun process of trying to unhook a buckle with nothing but claws and teeth. Teeth end up being far more effective, stronger with a sturdier hold. Katsuki’s is easy- all he needs is for one of them to grab ahold of the ugly thing and he’s able to wriggle right on out. Shoto’s comes next- Izuku biting down on the buckle a few times before it finally unclips, falling unceremoniously to the dirt.
Izuku’s ends up being the only one that they can’t seem to figure out, ending with him rubbing at his neck where the fabric had bit too roughly into his skin as Katsuki pulled tightly back.
“It’s alright!” Izuku tried to comfort, “I’m sure we’ll get out of here before it becomes an issue!” The two look completely unconvinced, but ultimately decide that it's no use arguing. Turning back to their own situation, and surveying the plot of land. It isn’t a great spot- thorns jut out of bushes and there isn't a single place of cover that could protect them from potential dangers. Izuku’s not too sure what that exactly entails besides lumbering canines, and he’s not sure he really wants to find out.
Katsuki growls lowly as his stomach rumbles, ears flattening sharply against his head. He doesn’t let it show, but the fur bristling along his spine is a very telling sign. Shoto looks over, blinking stoically.
“Are you hungry, Bakugou?” Shoto asks, even as the pale feline freezes, rage slowly ticking up as he spins around, hackles fully risen.
“I AIN’T WEAK!” He yowls.
Izuku frowns at the response. Katsuki’s been a lot better lately about his temper, and his quick, biting responses were few. But now, thrown into an entirely new environment, Izuku can’t help but feel sympathy for his friend. They’re all on edge, getting used to a whole new body and having to figure out why they’re even here.
Katsuki seems to realize his over-reaction, tail lashing and head dipping into some semblance of shame. A heavy beat of silence passes, no one quite sure what to say. Eventually, it's him who breaks, “Whatever. We don’t know where the hell we are and food should be our first fuckin’ priority anyway. Then we’ll move onto some shitty place to sleep.”
“Hey, Todoroki, why don’t you go work on shelter?” Izuku suggests, turning to the half-and-half tom. With a casual blink, Shoto agrees easily, turning away without a word and padding into the forest undergrowth.
“‘Ya comin, nerd?” Katsuki calls over his shoulder, already starting to move away. Izuku races to catch up, almost stumbling over his paws in the process.
Katsuki’s a tall, pale tom with short fur. He towers over Izuku, who unfortunately lands at the shorter end of the stick. He’s thinner than both Izuku and Shoto- ribs peeking out from underneath his coat. Izuku wonders if that’s something to be concerned about, or if it’s just because he can’t see it on himself or Shoto due to their longer fur.
“So…” Izuku coughs, wide eyes darting around. “What exactly are we looking to eat?” Please don’t let it be rodents! Izuku pleads desperately in his mind. Look, he’s hungry, but he’s not that hungry, alright!? Because that would mean ending innocent little creature lives and he would feel really really bad.
“Anything catchable.” Katsuki replies gruffly, ears swiveling around. He, so far, had an excellent grasp on his cat-form, every calculated step a graceful, smooth glide. Izuku deflates at his answer, tail drooping and picking up twigs and leaves as it drags. “Do you still have One For All?”
Izuku perks up at that, as though just remembering that he was supposed to have a quirk. He tries to summon the ancient power- but not much greats him, just a steady, shallow pool of energy. If he manifests a picture, he can almost see the puddle, more of the delicious power dripping from the ceiling to slowly fill it in.
“Ah- it’s there? But it feels like it hasn’t… transferred over here. Yet.” Izuku tries to explain, wincing at the weak report.
Katsuki, however, seems to understand well enough. “It's the same for me and that Icyhot bastard.” He rumbles, a hiss leaking into his mew. “ Dumbass villains, dropping us in this weird ass dimension and fucking off. They better have not gotten caught yet- I swear I’m gonna tear them a new one when I get back…”
Izuku can’t help but smile at the familiar threats, the violent words a thing he has gotten far long used to. He almost missed them for a while, when after the war the explosive teen seemed to become quieter, more to himself.
They do their best to catch anything, but for the most part its an incredibly futile attempt. Mice seem to always know that they’re coming, squirrels are too quick to clamber up trees, and rabbits hear them from miles away! Their only form of luck comes from a flowing river housing fish. Izuku’s attempts are met only with soaked paws, but Katsuki manages to hook one of the smaller fish (the bigger ones were too strong to skillfully wrangle in, and once they did manage it close to shore, it flopped right back in!) and kill it with a swift bat of his paw.
It wasn’t much, and it certainly wouldn’t fill their empty bellies, but it was a whole lot more welcome than the current starvation they were suffering through. Katsuki carries it- the stench overwhelming for Izuku’s sensitive nose. suffocating, even.
They get back as the sun is starting to lower in the sky, the sunset taking full effect in dying the sky various hues of orange and pinks, when Shoto returns. He takes a seat with them around the fish, because, well, they’re not quite too sure whether or not it's safe to eat.
“Fucking hell…” Katsuki curses, claws digging sharply into dirt. “How the hell are we supposed to get a fire going? Our quirks are as good as gone, right now!”
Shoto dips his muzzle to the poor creature, sniffling softly before gently reeling back, the smell having the same effect on him as it had Izuku. Everything just… had such a strong scent to it, and even as humans you tended to know fish was around before seeing it! “Perhaps… we’ll be ok. We’re animals, and I believe they manage to stomach raw foods better than humans can…”
They all appear apprehensive about that fact, staring down at their meal as though it would jump out and bite them. “You seem pretty good at this stuff, Bakuogu. Do you have any better idea?”
Sneering in response, Katsuki flattens his ears tightly against his head, looking away with a mutter; “I know this shit cus’ I go hiking every summer. This isn’t the first damn time I’ve gotten stranded in a stupid ass forest. But usually, I’ve got enough supplies to get a shelter and fire going.” He swipes the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt. “Not just this dumb shit. Fuck… Even being a damn human out here without all our shit would be a whole lot fuckin’ better.”
Both Shoto and Izuku deflate at the response. Fire was a source of warmth- it would protect them from frigid breezes and any illnesses that might befall them. Not to mention; ward off predators from trying at an easy meal.
Puffing out his chest, Izuku raises his head, steeling his expression. “Well… it’s all we’ve got right now. If we… want to survive, then we’ll have to take whatever we can get.” Raising a paw and carefully unsheathing his claws, he cuts the meager fish into three uneven pieces. Face scrunching, he bends down, biting into the meat and scales.
It… tastes better than he would have expected.
Bones poke at his tongue, but it isn’t the regular fish bones he’s used to back in his world. They’re thicker, and easier to pick out so as to not choke on them. Swallowing the meat, he can’t keep the shocked expression off his face.
“Wow.” He says, utterly surprised. “That tasted better than I thought it would.”
“That’s because you’ll eat anything given to you.” Katsuki mutters, practically on instinct. With a heavy set of hesitation, he leans down, testing his own third of the meal. He sits up, chewing lightly and occasionally picking out bones, before swallowing, eyes narrowed in weighted judgment. “This damn world’s fuckers must be genetically different.” He sniffs, tacking on under his breath, “ needs some spices.”
When Izuku turns to see Shoto’s reaction, he finds nothing but a pile of bones. It seems the tom has already enjoyed his share, a greatful, though rather unpleasant, expression on his face. It certainly wasn’t the best meal in the world, but it was far from the worst.
They follow Shoto back to where he’d found suitable shelter. Again, it wasn’t the best but it would do for now. A large bush that blocked the chilling wind, a center mostly free from tangled branches. It’s a tight fit, and Izuku can feel twigs digging into his pelt, but it’s better than what they had before.
Tired from their first full day of learning to be a cat, they let their eyes shut smoothly closed, wondering just what awaited them on their journey.