Dash tore through the forest like a yellow lightning bolt.
Trees rushed past him in dark blurs, branches swayed from the displacement of air, and leaves were ripped from the canopy by the pressure of his sprint alone. The sound of his own footsteps blended with the wind, creating a constant hum in his ears.
He didn't know exactly where he was going.
That was the problem.
"Takeda!" he shouted, narrowly avoiding a tree. "Takeda, where are you?!"
No response.
Dash gritted his teeth and accelerated even more.
He had seen Ryo pass through the clearing with a look that promised trouble. And that alone was already bad. Ryo didn't leave looking like that without a reason.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Dash leaped over a thick root, turned left, then right, then left again.
He stopped for half a second.
Looking around, he saw nothing but trees.
Trees.
Trees.
More trees.
"...Ah, crap."
He spun in place.
"Have I been here before?"
A fallen rock looked familiar.
Or maybe it was just a rock.
Dash pointed at it, narrowing his eyes.
"I've definitely seen you before."
The forest answered with nothing but the rustling of leaves.
Dash took a deep breath, annoyed with himself.
"Okay. No panic. I just need to find Takeda, warn everyone, and stop getting lost."
He looked at three nearly identical paths between the trees.
"...That doesn't help."
But then he heard low, distant voices.
Dash immediately turned his head.
Shadows moved ahead between the trunks. Two figures. One taller, with a crooked posture and a dark hood. The other more elegant, wearing a top hat and a mask.
For a moment, Dash thought they might be someone from Class B.
And then he got a better look and realized they weren't students or teachers.
His body tensed.
"Villains...? How did they get here?"
Dash narrowed his eyes.
Fear came first.
But then determination ran right over it.
If they were villains, he couldn't let them get anywhere near the others.
And if Takeda had been running like that, maybe these guys were part of the reason why.
Dash lowered his body.
His fingers touched the ground for a brief moment.
The air around him began to tremble.
"Hey!"
Shigaraki turned his head slightly.
He didn't have time to do anything else.
Dash launched forward.
The distance between them vanished in the blink of an eye.
His small fist shot toward Shigaraki's face with enough speed to tear through the air.
BOOM!
The impact sounded like a sonic explosion.
A violent gust erupted in every direction, tearing leaves from branches, bending bushes, and raising a thick curtain of dust around the area. The ground beneath Dash's feet cracked, and the sound of the strike echoed through the forest like a dry thunderclap.
For a second, Dash thought he had done it.
Then the dust began to settle.
And he saw a massive hand holding his fist.
Dash's eyes widened.
The huge hand enveloped not only his hand but part of his forearm as well, locking him in place with absurd strength. He tried to pull away.
Nothing.
The hand tightened.
Dash let out a pained grunt.
Behind that hand, Shigaraki stood completely unharmed.
The hood concealed part of his face, but the smile was visible in the darkness.
Dash felt his blood run cold.
"Ah..."
Another enormous hand came toward him.
The last thing Dash saw was the palm descending onto his face before everything went dark.
----------------------------------------
Ryo's eyes trembled as he stared at Dash suspended by the head in the Nomu's hands.
The creature held him up as if he weighed nothing.
Dash's body swayed weakly, his limbs tense, his face contorted in pain. Blood ran from his scalp, and even trapped like that, he still tried to move, as if instinct compelled him to keep fighting even without any advantage.
Ryo tried to move again.
Nothing.
His body remained completely frozen inside the white field of the zero-point beam. He had already pulled his arms, tensed his muscles, forced his legs, tried to throw himself forward, but the world around him seemed to force him to stay that way.
Shigaraki noticed his gaze and smiled even wider.
"Ah... You're nervous. That's great."
He tilted his head, like someone appreciating a well-constructed piece of art.
"Ready for the show?"
Ryo couldn't respond.
Shigaraki opened his right hand theatrically, keeping his mechanical left arm extended to sustain the white beam that held Ryo in place.
The contrast between the two sides of his body was grotesque. One side human, the other completely robotic. One side pointing at him like an accusing finger, the other attached to his own need to keep Ryo from breathing.
"And luckily, we have a very special guest." The villain raised his chin toward the Nomu. "Someone you know very well, don't you?"
The creature advanced in silence to Shigaraki's side, still carrying Dash by the head in its right hand.
Toga was a few steps behind, watching everything with a restless expression.
She alternated her gaze between Ryo and Dash as if trying to understand the tension in the air. Her brow furrowed for a moment, but before she could say anything, Shigaraki spoke again, more amused than he should have been.
"Maybe we should give a little taste of what's to come first."
He snapped the fingers of his right hand.
The Nomu responded immediately.
The massive hand squeezed Dash's head hard.
The blond reacted with a start, screaming at the same instant. His hands shot up reflexively, grabbing the creature's fingers while his body writhed from the brutal pressure.
"Dash!"
The scream came out in his head, trapped and useless.
Shigaraki laughed softly.
"Easy there, big guy, his head's going to end up exploding like a tomato if you squeeze too hard."
The Nomu loosened the pressure.
Dash let out a hoarse groan, his breath caught, his eyes full of tears. His face was pale and wet, half from blood, half from pain and shock.
He tried to break free again, but every time he did, his head hurt.
"Let go..." he murmured, his voice broken. "Let go... *Sniff* Let go, please..."
No one answered him.
Shigaraki began to walk slowly toward Ryo, as if strolling through a park.
"Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?" he asked, looking at Ryo as if the question were the most natural thing in the world. "To have you in front of me. Trapped. Unable to do anything."
Ryo stared at him, his jaw clenched.
Shigaraki turned his face to the left side, better exposing the part that was burned and deformed.
"This here?" He touched the scar with two fingers. "That was you."
Then he pointed to the mechanical arm that still maintained the active field.
"And that was you too."
He raised his right hand and struck his own chest hard.
"And also." The word came out with pure hatred. "You gave me cancer."
He let out a dry laugh, devoid of any humor, and continued walking sideways.
"You got in my way the whole time these months. In the last two plans. In every move I made outside. In every moment I tried to get something right, you showed up and ruined everything."
Ryo's eyes remained fixed on him, but inside everything was boiling.
Shigaraki stopped, tilting his head again.
"But now..." He opened his arms slightly, as if showing off the scene. "Now you're in my hands. Like a bird trapped in a cage. No way out. No tricks. No hope..."
Dash let out another sound of pain and Ryo wanted to move again, but the white beam kept his body absolutely immobile.
Shigaraki smiled.
"You're lucky. My master asked me to bring you in alive."
Shigaraki's smile grew worse.
"Fortunately, I have other ways to make you regret what you did to me."
He snapped his fingers again.
Ryo's heart raced.
Dash's did too.
Both of their eyes widened at the same time.
The Nomu began to bring its free hand toward Dash, the other continuing to hold him by the head while the creature lowered its new massive hand toward the blond's exposed arm.
Dash began to thrash his arm in desperation, trying to keep the Nomu from grabbing him.
"No— no, no, NO!"
The creature managed to grab his arm before closing its hand with brutality.
The sound of bone breaking echoed dryly across the field.
Dash let out a scream so loud it seemed to tear through the forest.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Ryo's eyes widened, his entire body trying to react uselessly. The image of his best friend's arm being crushed before him made his stomach drop.
Dash writhed in spasms of pain, his voice breaking into screams and sobs, while the Nomu still held him suspended as if he were irrelevant.
In the distance, in the middle of the woods, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida heard the sound at the same time.
They all stopped.
Iida turned first, rigid with concern.
"That voice..."
Midoriya went pale.
"DASH!"
Without thinking, he shot off in the direction of the sound at high speed.
Todoroki and Iida reacted right behind him.
The Nomu repositioned its hand on Dash's other arm, and then closed its fingers again with force.
Dash let out another scream, this time hoarser, more broken. His entire body convulsed as the creature held him suspended by the remainder of his good arm, its gigantic hand squeezing without mercy, without haste, without any concern for human limits.
Ryo heard the sound and grew even more desperate.
Inside, it no longer felt like anger.
It felt like raw desperation, compressed against his own body because he couldn't release it.
"Move... Move! Get out of there! GET OUT! GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS!!!"
The thought came in violent waves, one after another, as he forced his body in vain against the zero-point field. His muscles trembled now, and still nothing responded.
Shigaraki smiled as he watched Dash writhe.
"Yes. That's music to my ears."
He turned his face toward Ryo, expecting to see some greater reaction, some expression of panic or fury finally breaking through.
But the field wouldn't even let him make a single expression.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue.
"What a pain. I wanted to see your face properly, you stupid field."
Then he turned his body toward Toga, who was standing near the tree, her expression somewhat uncertain, somewhat lost between Ryo's reaction and Dash's state.
"You." Shigaraki called, dryly. "Be useful and come here."
Toga blinked.
Shigaraki pointed at Dash with his right hand.
"Play with him a little."
She looked at the bloodied blonde, trapped and groaning between the Nomu's fingers.
For a moment, her expression changed. The interest at seeing Dash's blood came first, then curiosity, then a kind of fascination she didn't seem able to hide.
She took a step.
Then stopped.
There was something pressing on her.
A gaze.
Toga looked up and met Ryo's eyes.
His contained hatred wasn't exaggerated. It was something deep, heavy, focused on her like a straight blade. The pressure of that look made her hesitate in that moment.
She felt confused.
"Why is he looking at me like that? Why now? And why am I reacting like this?"
Shigaraki noticed the hesitation, walking over to Toga without lowering his left arm.
"What is it?"
His right hand rose to grab her neck, his fingers touching lightly, with one finger purposely raised so as not to disintegrate her.
"Are you hesitating because of your little friend over there?"
Toga's eyes widened for a second.
Then she slapped his hand away and removed his fingers from her own neck, frowning.
"No."
Her voice came out dry.
"He's not my friend anymore and I have nothing more to do with him."
She pressed her lips together for a moment, and when she spoke again, the words came like a blow.
"He died a long time ago to me."
Her gaze went to him once more.
Full of contained hatred.
Full of something that seemed to have been buried and ripped out all at once.
But Toga didn't hold the seriousness for long.
Her face broke into a crooked, almost cheerful smile, and she bounced in place as if she had returned to some casual conversation.
"But... I confess I'm surprised to see that he has friends."
She turned her body toward Shigaraki, regaining her light, almost animated tone.
"I'm astonished!"
Shigaraki didn't seem satisfied.
Toga, however, was already walking toward Dash.
As she approached, she drew her knives with the same naturalness with which someone would take utensils from a drawer. The blades glowed faintly under the moonlight.
"Now I'm curious," she said, tilting her head. "I want to know more about his new friends."
Dash, still trapped and trembling with pain, looked up to see her approaching.
"Don't do this..."
His voice came out weak.
"You... might regret it."
Toga stopped in front of him and crouched down, resting her elbows on her knees with a feigned expression of surprise.
"Really?"
She smiled.
"Do you really think I'll regret it after having killed more than nineteen people so far?"
Dash went still for a second.
Toga clapped her hands, excited.
"If you want, you can be my twentieth!"
The blonde stared at her for a few seconds.
Her face wore a crooked, strange joy, too cheerful for someone saying something so wrong. That made Dash's stomach turn.
Then he closed his expression and said, with a weak and irritated voice:
"You're disgusting."
Toga's smile faltered.
"..."
Dash breathed shortly, feeling the pain in his arms, his scalp, and his entire body.
"That... cute act of yours doesn't match the murderous monster you are..."
Toga froze in place.
Her smile faded little by little.
The hand holding the knife trembled for a second.
Then she lunged forward with a start and plunged the blade into his abdomen.
Dash's eyes widened.
The blow wasn't deep enough for anything worse, but it was brutal enough to pull a choked sound from his throat. His body doubled over by reflex, and blood flowed in a warm, quick rhythm, staining his already torn clothes.
"Take that back." Toga said, her voice dangerously low.
Ryo felt his entire body shudder in response.
The green aura around him gave a small crackle, wanting to surge and explode, but the white field pressed hard again and suppressed it before it could become anything bigger.
Toga tilted her face, her breathing short.
"I'm the cutest girl in the world! You have no right to judge! You don't know anything about me to say th—"
The sentence died in the same instant.
Dash, even wounded, still had enough energy to land a dry headbutt on her face.
The impact made his body vibrate slightly, but it was enough to throw Toga backward.
Toga fell sitting on the ground, bringing her hand to her face with an irritated, shocked look.
Dash, for his part, also fell to one knee, gasping, his injured right arm still being held by the Nomu while blood flowed from the other onto the ground.
Shigaraki turned his face immediately, raising an eyebrow.
Toga stayed on the ground, staring at Dash with anger.
That's when she noticed something dripping from her nose.
She ran her finger underneath and saw the blood.
Her eyes narrowed.
Dash looked at that, breathing heavily, and gave a weak smile despite the pain.
"Take that... you lunatic..."
Before Toga could even react to the provocation.
The Nomu's enormous black hand came down with total brutality and crushed the blonde's body against the ground.
BOOOOM!!!
The impact explosion raised an enormous column of earth, debris, and dust, so high that it swallowed everything around in a second. Nearby trees bent, leaves were ripped from above, and the ground shook under the weight of that blow.
Ryo's mind went blank seeing that.
Everything in front of him disappeared into the cloud raised by the strike.
Shigaraki brushed the dust away with his hand, impatient, trying to see the result of that blow.
The cloud was still heavy, spread among the trees and over the clearing, but little by little the Nomu's silhouette began to appear again.
The creature was standing in the middle of the crater it had opened, its huge hand still planted in the ground. Chunks of earth fell from its torso and shoulders, and the monster's arm moved outward slowly as it shed the debris stuck to the strike.
Toga was just in front of the crater, with leaves, dirt, and small pieces of rock caught in her hair.
She stood still for a few seconds, still looking at the spot where Dash had disappeared under the blow.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue.
"There goes the toy."
Toga turned slowly to him.
"What...?"
Her voice came out low and confused.
Shigaraki let out a short sigh, as if her confusion were an irrelevant detail.
"Whatever. I still have plenty of time."
His eyes turned to the surrounding trees, the smile spreading again across his deformed face.
"And that bastard here isn't going anywhere anyway."
He made a vague gesture with his free hand, pointing to the dark forest around the clearing.
"We still have a bunch of other toys for me to use."
There was too much confidence in his voice.
And he had reason for it.
Beside him, the Nomu stood firm like a living tower of muscle, scars, and compressed violence. The creature was one of the current strongest creations from his master's arsenal. Far above the Nomu that had been used at the USJ. Ten times stronger, as he himself had heard from his Master. And on top of that, there was the bracer attached to Shigaraki's mechanical arm.
The so-called Zero-Point Energy Gauntlets.
A gift from the Master's "friend."
At first, Shigaraki had thought it was just another useless weapon.
Then he understood what he truly had in his hands.
The Zero-Point Energy Gauntlets doesn't paralyze its targets through a normal force field. Instead, it directly interferes with the geometry of space around the target, creating a localized dimensional distortion that temporarily reduces their spatial degrees of freedom.
When struck, the individual continues to exist in the three-dimensional space of the universe, but their presence is partially overlaid onto a one-dimensional structure, as if their existence were compressed and described by only a single spatial coordinate.
Since movement depends on the ability to change position between two points (2D), this reduction eliminates the directions necessary for any displacement by submitting them to a single point (1D), making it impossible even to fall under the influence of gravity.
To external observers, the target appears frozen in place.
But in reality, they are trapped in an intermediate state between a three-dimensional existence and a one-dimensional projection.
Sustained by a spatial deformation powered by zero-point energy.
State-of-the-art engineering at its highest peak.
And Shigaraki's perfect trump card.
Shigaraki smiled once more, satisfied with the idea.
But despite all of that... how...
"...aaa..."
A sound came from behind Shigaraki.
How...
The sound grew louder.
"...aaahh..."
"What was that?"
How...
Toga's eyes widened at what she saw behind Shigaraki.
How...
Shigaraki turned slowly, confused, and then heard the full sound take shape.
"aa...aaa...aaaa...aAAAAA..."
His smile began to fade.
How... is Ryo moving?
Behind Shigaraki, Ryo's body trembled violently inside the white field.
His arms had begun to move slowly, irregularly, as if trying to find space where none existed.
The green aura exploded from him in chaotic waves, tearing through the air around him like living flames. His body changed tone, growing darker, more negative, as if light were being sucked into his skin.
Cracks began to appear across his chest, his shoulders, his arms, and his face, all glowing from within with an intense green light.
Shigaraki froze.
Toga did too.
Ryo was forcing his own body against the zero-point field. His muscles trembled so much they seemed on the verge of tearing, but the green energy kept rising, more and more violent, fighting the spatial distortion to the point of beginning to distort it in turn.
The energy around him crackled. The ground beneath his deformed feet trembled. The entire aura seemed to scream against its own prison.
Shigaraki's eyes went wide when he saw Ryo's arms moving slowly toward him.
The arms coming from the sides, like a predator's claws trying to reach its prey.
His mouth and eyes were overtaken by an intense green light, so strong they looked like headlights lit in the forest's darkness.
The scream came from the depths of his throat, tearing through the air with a fury that no longer seemed human.
It sounded more like the scream of a...
...monster.
"AAAAA.....AAAAA.....AAAAAAAA...AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
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(A/N: Sorry...)