Chapter Text
The forest was quiet, serene in the way only deep woods could be–thick with the scent of damp earth and pine, the air cool under the shade of towering trees. Leaves rustled softly as the wind slipped between the branches, and somewhere high above, a bird called once before going silent again.
Boots crunched lightly over the leaf-covered ground as UA students and teachers walked through the foliage.
“All right, listeners!” boomed the voice of Yamada over the comms, energetic even through static. The man walked a good distance behind the group of students with Aizawa, but the students could faintly hear him still. “Welcome to today’s thrilling installment of Forest Rescue Training! Try not to get lost, eaten by wildlife, or yelled at by Eraserhead–though that last one is basically guaranteed in my experience!”
A long-suffering sigh. “Mic,” Aizawa’s said flatly, “keep the chatter down.”
“Yes, sir, buzzkill sir.”
Midoriya tried–and failed–not to smile as he pushed a branch aside. He couldn’t see his teachers following their group from somewhere behind them, but he could imagine the look Aizawa had sent the man. His boots sank slightly into the damp soil, and he adjusted the strap of his gear bag automatically.
The forest stretched in every direction, dense and green and unfamiliar. Perfect training terrain.
“You’ll need to find and rescue two missing hikers,” Toshinori continued explaining from his position at base. He was in charge of watching the monitors, guiding the teachers to the students, and providing some… interesting situations for the students to run into while they searched.
While cameras were limited in the forest, Toshinori was able to detect the student’s positions and movement through detectors in the ground and trackers on their persons.
“Search grid should extend about two kilometers,” Midoriya murmured to himself. “If the simulated civilian was placed centrally, then splitting into smaller sweep paths increases efficiency–”
“You’re doing the muttering thing again,” said Shinso from a few paces ahead.
Midoriya blinked, flushing. “Ah–sorry!”
Shinso glanced back over his shoulder, purple hair ruffled by the breeze. “Wasn’t complaining. Just means you’re thinking. Let us know if you come up with some way to make this easier.”
To their right, Todoroki paused near a thick tree trunk. Frost spread briefly beneath his hand, forming a thin patch of ice on the bark.
“Marker,” Todoroki said simply, sensing their gazes on him.
Midoriya brightened immediately. “That’s perfect! If we need to backtrack, it’ll give us a great visual path!”
“Exactly.”
____________
A ways behind them, Yamada jumped over a fallen branch, landing and turning back to watch Aizawa step over it less enthusiastically before switching the comms to teachers-only. “Hey, Toshinori. How’re the little listeners doing?”
A moment later, static crackles as they get a reply. “They’re doing well, from what I can tell. Making good progress and searching thoroughly. They’ve started moving faster, so you might want to pick up your pace, they’re further ahead of you than before.”
Aizawa grunted in response, but he and Yamada began stepping faster than before, not wanting to be left too far behind.
____________
Midoriya crouched briefly to examine a patch of ground that looked trampled. Leaves shifted under his gloved fingers. “If the civilians moved after placement…” he murmured. “Look for more displaced foliage. Broken branches. Maybe–”
A sudden burst of laughter echoed through the comms, the trio jumping. “Make sure you’re being careful out there, Listeners!” Mic chimed. “I’d hate to have to explain to the principal how our students got defeated by nature!”
“Mic,” Aizawa said again, voice flat as ever.
“Right, right. Quiet mode. You’re on your own, kids!”
The forest settled again. For a few minutes, the group moved in comfortable silence.
Midoriya walked a little ahead of the others now, eyes scanning constantly. He noted the way the terrain sloped gently downward, the denser clusters of brush that might hide someone injured–or someone hiding. None of them expected this to be as easy as a simple search and rescue for hikers–their teachers were up to something.
Training or not, though, Midoriya treated each exercise like the real thing, as did most of the class. That was the point of training. People’s lives were going to be in their hands, and this training might be all they get before they end up faced with the real thing.
Behind him, Todoroki stepped carefully over a fallen branch while Shinso slipped ahead of the other two between some trees, quiet as a shadow.
Then, Shinso stopped, Midoriya nearly walking into him.
“What is it?” Midoriya asked.
Shinso frowned slightly, head tilted to the side. “...You hear that?”
Midoriya held still.
At first, there was nothing. Just wind. Leaves. Birds–wait, no. The birds had completely silenced at this point.
A faint tremor passed through the ground. Midoriya felt it through the soles of his boots. He stiffened. Another vibration followed, slightly stronger this time.
Midoriya frowned. “You think this is some kind of test–”
Aizawa’s voice cut through the comms. “Everyone stop moving.”
Everyone stilled. The forest seemed to hold its breath with them.
Another tremor rippled through the earth–stuble, but unmistakable. Not natural.
The students waited for their teacher’s instructions, or an explanation of the new challenge they were supposed to face.
“I’m picking up something weird on the scanners,” Toshinori’s voice crackled over the comms, obviously puzzled. “Looks similar to a controlled earthquake…”
“This isn’t part of the exercise,” Aizawa snapped.
Todoroki’s gaze sharpened.
Shinso muttered under his breath, “Of course it isn’t.”
“Start heading back towards Mic and I,” Aizawa said, a bit breathless. “We’re headed towards you now.”
From somewhere deeper in the trees, branches cracked. Heavy footsteps followed, slow and deliberate.
Midoriya’s pulse quickened. It was too late to run. The others realized this too, settling into fighting stances.
“Turning our backs won’t be possible at this point,” Shinso said, voice sharp.
A shadow shifted between the trunks ahead of them, a figure stepping into view. The man looked rough–tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a dark coat scuffed with dirt. His boots struck the ground with heavy steps that seemed to echo faintly through the soil. He grinned when he spotted the students. “Well, well,” he said. “What do we have here?”
The voice echoed faintly into the comms. Shinso must have left them open for the teachers to hear, Midoriya thought, feeling lucky to have such smart friends to fight alongside.
“We’ll be there soo–” Aizawa’s voice cut out, static bursting through the channel. The trio winced from the loud sound before silence reigned.
The villain laughed. “Yeah. Those toys of yours won’t be working for a while.” The ground trembled as the villain took another step forward. “You heroes sure make a lot of noise. Makes you easy to find.”
“Stay alert! He has some kind of seismic quirk,” Midoriya said. The knowledge he had of the man’s quirk was limited, but he quickly gleaned what he could. “He must be able to locate us from movements and sounds, and he can likely create at least miniature seismic events.”
The man sneered and slammed his foot down. The ground shuddered. A shockwave tore through the forest floor. Midoriya staggered–okay, maybe more than miniature seismic events–barely keeping his balance as dirt and loose leaves jumped into the air.
“Todoroki!” Midoriya shouted.
Ice erupted instantly, jagged barriers rising between the villain and students.
The villain snorted. “You think that’ll stop me?”
He stepped forward again. Another tremor blasted through the ground, cracking the ice barrier apart like brittle glass.
Shinso darted sideways, trying to flank the man. “The hell’s got you so worked up, ugly?”
The man glared towards him, but didn’t reply.
Midoriya frowned. Did the man know their quirks and not respond to Shinso? His mind raced. Ground vibrations… each step triggering the next attack…
“Everyone spread out!” Midoriya called. “Then he’ll either have to focus on one of us with a controlled blast or lose some force for a larger hit!”
The trio split up while the villain sent out blast after blast. Some were strong, directed towards a single student who leapt aside. Others were weaker, but shook the whole ground, causing them to stumble. Each time one of them tried to get closer, the man would easily send a shockwave through the air towards them, forcing them to retreat and dodge.
Silently agreeing to keep the man busy until Aizawa arrived and could put a stop to it, they focused on dodging in and out, shifting his focus from one to another so they could all get a breather.
The villain slammed his heel down again. The earth convulsed. Shinso lost his footing with a startled curse as the man thrust a hand out towards him, a new shockwave shooting in the air to him.
Midoriya saw it coming. No time to think. “Shinso!” he shouted, lunging forward. His shoulder slammed into Shinso’s as he shoved him out of the way just as the shockwave hit.
The force caught Midoriya squarely. For one split second, the world tilted violently. Then, he was airborne. The trees spun past in a blur of green and brown.
Midoriya hit the ground hard, momentum carrying him backward–his head struck something solid. A sharp, sickening crack echoed through the clearing. Pain flashed white across his vision as the sky flickered in and out of focus above him between the branches. Everything sounded far away.
He tried to move, but his body wouldn’t cooperate, his mind feeling further and further from his body.
The world dimmed at the edges. The last thing he saw were the panicked multicolored eyes looking in his direction and a purple-haired boy shouting as he ran over.
_________
“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!” Shinso cursed, dashing over to Midoriya and crashing to his knees beside him just as the boy’s dazed eyes slid closed. Midoriya lay half-sprawled against a clump of roots. His body had gone unnaturally still. Blood smeared his head. “Midoriya! Open your eyes again, damnit!”
A wild cackling had Shinso whipping his head up as the villain sent another shockwave his way. Shinso leaned over Midoriya automatically, hoping to save him any more damage.
A wall of ice thundered between the two students and the shockwave, immediately shattering into pieces before more ice erupted from the ground toward the villain.
Shinso pressed shaky fingers against Midoriya’s neck, holding his breath until he felt the thready thump-thump pressing back against him. He sighed, sending a mental apology to the boy before standing–he needed to focus on the battle to actually save his friend.
“He’s alive, but he’s out,” Shinso called to Todoroki, who’s eyes glanced once more at his green-haired friend before steeling and turning to the man. Shinso took a breath before shouting, “Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing? Heroes are going to be here any second now!”
Shinso held his breath, waiting for the villain to reply so he could capture his mind and stop this madness. Todoroki stilled across from him, cocking his head to listen.
…Nothing.
Shinso cursed again. Twice now he’s ignored me–he has to know my quirk and not to respond to me.
“This is not great,” Todoroki said flatly, not taking his eyes from the ice barrier between them and the villain.
“No kidding.” Shinso glanced down at Midoriya lying at his feet. He had a concussion at the very least–he needed medical attention, the sooner the better. They didn’t have time to waste on this guy, much less the time it would take to get Midoriya the medical help he desperately required. “Where the hell are the teachers? Weren’t they supposed to be following close-by?”
“We started picking up our pace for the last twenty minutes or so. They may have gotten further behind.”
“Of course. I should have known.”
Another thunderous wave of energy smashed through the ice. In sync, both boys squatted lower, preparing to defend their fallen friend.
The villain panted slightly, glaring. “I’m going to enjoy destroying you punks.” He raised his hand toward Shinso and Midoriya.
Shinso and Todoroki tensed, already moving to pull their friend out of danger and defend, when they paused. Nothing happened.
The man glanced down at his hand, confusion spreading across his face while understanding dawned on the students.
A shrill screech sounded from the side, the villain flying back into the dark trees, flipping head over feet while the students covered their ears.
_________________
“Midoriya!” The name tore out of Aizawa before he even registered moving. He and Yamada had just entered the small clearing, working in tandem to cancel out the villain’s quirk and attack him to create distance between him and the students.
Aizawa had glanced between the students, stomach dropping when he only saw two standing. Midoriya lay several yards away, body limp and head bloody while Shinso hovered protectively in front of him.
Todoroki and Yamada skidded to a halt behind him as Aizawa pressed his fingers into the unconscious boy’s throat, a small sigh escaping when he felt a heartbeat.
“What happened?” Yamada asked.
“The man has some kind of seismic quirk,” Todoroki replied immediately.
Shinso nodded, almost numbly. “Midoriya said he could detect movement. He can send out pulses through the ground and air–large uncontrolled or smaller condensed blasts.”
“Are either of you injured?” Yamada finished glaring at the treeline and scanned the two still standing.
Todoroki paused. “No, Midoriya was the only one hit.”
Shinso gritted his teeth, clenching his fists. “He protected me. I was going to be hit, but the damn fool pushed me aside without thinking about himself.”
“It’s not your fault.” Todoroki placed an uncertain hand on the other boy’s shoulder, both of them staring at it a moment before pulling back.
Aizawa sighed. “He’s breathing irregularly. Pulse is unsteady. He’s not responding at all. We need to get him out of here now.”
The shadowy treeline seemed darker than ever, all of them uncertain since the villain hadn’t returned.
Static crackled over the comms, and Aizawa immediately barked, “Toshinori, status.”
Toshinori’s voice crackled faintly after a moment. “--trying to get the signal back, Aizawa, but something fried the transmitters!”
“Of course it did,” Shinso muttered under his breath.
A heavy step shook the ground again. From the shadows, a thunderous wave shook the ground, thick tree trunks rocking back and forth against the increasing waves.
Aizawa glared fruitlessly between the trees, eyes glowing red, but wave after wave came.
“We can’t stay here!” Yamada said, voice high. “We’re sitting ducks.”
“We can’t protect Midoriya like this, either,” Todoroki said, frost floating in the air around his hovering hand.
“Shinso,” Aizawa said, already sliding one arm carefully under Midoriya’s shoulders, “grab the packs.”
“What–you’re moving him?”
“We don’t have a choice.” Grim-faced, Aizawa continued. They all knew the risks in moving him.
The ground trembled again in response. Closer, more insistent.
Aizawa lifted Midoriya carefully, supporting his head as best he could. Midoriya didn’t stir. Didn’t groan. Didn’t react at all. That worried him more than anything else.
“Todoroki–”
“I know.”
Ice exploded outward again, thicker this time, sealing the villain off behind another frozen barrier. It wouldn’t hold forever, but it should hold long enough for them to get some distance.
Aizawa adjusted his grip on Midoriya. The kid felt heavy in his arms and yet so, so light. “Move,” he ordered, beginning their march.
Behind them, the ice cracked. The villain laughed somewhere beyond the trees.
The forest suddenly felt a lot bigger than it had when they began the exercise.