Izuku carried Kota on his shoulders.
"Mandalay is here too, right?" Oro asked.
"Yes," said Izuku.
"I'll reach her then," said Oro. "See knows me, and she'll surely be happy to see me."
"So, we split?"
"Yes, Midoriya. We split. Or rather, we split for now. Once I'm done with helping Mandalay, I'll help you."
"How will you find me?"
"Like I did earlier."
"When you reach Mandalay, can you tell her to use her telepathic Quirk to tell everyone the villains are after Kacchan?"
"Okay, I will."
Oro jumped high. "Don't get into trouble anymore, Midoriya!"
__________
Elsewhere, Mandalay and Tiger were fighting Spinner and Magne. Suddenly, Mandalay heard something in the woods.
"Oh no, don't tell me there's another villain..." she said.
"Yooo!" Oro dashed forward and revealed himself. "Hello, Shino! Do you need help?"
"Hikaru!" Mandalay exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to visit a friend of mine, but he's not here, so I decided to help!"
"Thanks, your help is very needed..."
"Don't worry, Shino," said Oro. "I'm going to beat the shit out of these villains!"
"Huh? Another hero?" Spinner rolled his eyes.
"That's right," said Oro. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to kick your ass!"
"I'll enjoy seeing you try!" Spinner swung his weapons towards Oro, but he blocked with a light shield.
(Light? He has the opposite Quirk as Mato... speaking of Mato, where the hell is he right now?)
"Take this!" Oro punched Spinner in the guts. The villain stumbled back and spat blood.
"I felt pain for him..." Mandalay commented.
"Are Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob safe?" Oro asked.
"I won't be so sure," said Mandalay. "Pixie-Bob is lying there, while we don't even know where Ragdoll is..."
"Oh, anyway, could you use your Quirk to communicate with everybody that League of Villains' after the students, particularly after someone named Kacchan?"
"Okay," said Mandalay.
"To everyone: Oro, the third National Hero, is here with me now. He said the League of Villains is after the students, particularly, after someone named Kacchan."
"Stop calling me with that dumbass nickname!" Bakugo snorted. He and Todoroki were far away from where Oro and Mandalay were. They were facing Moonfish.
Suddenly, someone else arrived. "Stop that, Moonfish. Your Quirk won't work on them."
Moonfish, with his Quirk activated, turned and saw Satoru.
"Mato!" he said. "I'm glad you arrived!"
"You won't harm a baby with that impulsivity of yours," Satoru said. "Let me fight them."
"You... you're the one from the attack at USJ!" said Shoto.
"Yeah, it's me," said Satoru. "You can call me Mato."
(Forgive me, Shoto... I have no choice but to fight you...)
"Mato, huh?" Bakugo grinned. "Fine, Mato, we're going to beat the shit out of you!"
Todoroki created ice from his foot, but Satoru jumped high and dodged.
(Shoto... I know your fighting style, you can't hope to win against me...)
Satoru landed in front of Bakugo and punched him on the jaw.
"Gah!" Bakugo spat blood. "You're stronger than I thought!"
Bakugo created an explosion, but Satoru ducked and dodged.
"Too slow," Satoru elbowed Bakugo in the gut.
Suddenly, though, Satoru heard something. "What the..."
He saw Izuku, Shoji, and Dark Shadow charging them.
(Shit! I have to hide!)
Satoru jumped aside and hid in the woods. He watched Dark Shadow defeating Moonfish.
(Damn, I feel sorry for you, Moonfish... but I don't want to end up the same way...)
Bakugo and Todoroki created light with their explosions and fire and tamed Dark Shadow.
"Thank you, you saved me," said Tokoyami.
"Where's Mato?" Bakugo asked.
"He probably ran away when he saw Dark Shadow," said Shoji.
(Me? Running away? Not even in a lifetime!)
"Anyway, we know the villains' main goal is Bakugo," said Shoto. "So we'll escort him to the base."
"Walk in the middle of the group, Kacchan," said Izuku.
"Don't tell me what to do!" said Bakugo. "And I don't need to be escorted!"
Satoru generated a few ropes made of darkness. (With these... I'm gonna capture Bakugo without getting noticed...)
Being careful to stay hidden in the trees, Satoru searched for the best moment to tie his ropes on Bakugo.
(Not yet... not yet...)
"Hey, is that Uraraka?" said Izuku.
(Now!)
Satoru threw his ropes at Bakugo, first stuffing his mouth and preventing him from speaking, and then tying his arms and legs.
"You're coming with me now," Satoru said. Bakugo's eyes widened.
Satoru dragged Bakugo into the woods. "I did it, I captured you... Now AFO will surely give me his quirk..."
Suddenly, someone approached Satoru.
"Oh, so you've captured our main goal, Mato?"
"Yeah, I did, Mr. Compress," said Satoru. "Now compress him into a sphere and give the signal to everyone. I'm regrouping with Dabi."
"You did a really great job, Mato," said Mr. Compress, compressing Bakugo into a sphere. "To every villain: the mission has been completed, we're retreating. You know the place."
"One last thing, Compress," said Satoru. "Can you draw their attention until I regroup with everyone?"
"Yeah, I can do that," said Mr. Compress.
"Splendid," said Satoru. "See you in the basement."
Satoru ran towards the meeting point. When he arrived, he saw Dabi, Twice, and Toga.
"Oh, you're here, Mato!" said Twice. "It took you too long to get here."
"Yeah, I know..." said Satoru.
"You seem happy, Toga," said Dabi. "Did something depressing happen?"
"Well, I made two new friends today!" Toga exclaimed. "And I met a guy I like a lot!"
Satoru's eyes widened.
(Oh no, he's going to explode...) predicted Dabi.
"Someone you like a lot?" Satoru repeated. "You mean... in a romantic sense?"
"Yeah, in a romantic sense!" said Toga. "I think his name was... Izuku, or something like that..."
(W-what? Izuku? That goddammed traitor...) Satoru clenched his fists. (Wait... I have a girlfriend, so why am I supposed to care about who Himiko-chan likes? Maybe because... I'm hella jealous, even if I shouldn't be.)
"Who's this someone, Toga-chan?" asked Twice. "Is it me? I like you too!"
"Shut up, please," said Dabi. "You're being too nois-"
SBAM!
Someone smashed on the floor.
"Give Kacchan and Tokoyami back!" Izuku exclaimed.
"Compress, shrink!" Dabi ordered.
"Yessir!" Mr. Compress did.
Dabi used his flames and forced Shoto, Izuku, and Shoji to jump back.
"It's him!" said Toga. Before she could run towards Izuku, though, Satoru grabbed her arm.
"Don't get close to him," he said. "He's an enemy."
Kurogiri's portals suddenly opened.
"Finally..." Satoru sighed. "Compress, do you have the two students?"
"You mean these?" said Shoji, holding two spheres.
"How the hell did he steal the spheres?" said Satoru.
"No problem," said Mr. Compress. "As an illusionist, I always try to mask something with something else."
Mr. Compress removed his mask and showed two spheres in his mouth.
"We're retreating," said Dabi.
"See you, Izuku-kun~" purred Toga, entering the portal.
Suddenly, though, Aoyama's Navel Laser hit Mr. Compress on the face, and the two spheres with Bakugo and Tokoyami fell.
Shoji managed to grab Tokoyami, but before Shoto could grab Bakugo, Satoru grabbed him before Shoto.
"I'm very sorry, guys," Dabi said. "Compress, release them to confirm."
Mr. Compress did. Tokoyami and Bakugo appeared.
"KACCHAN!" Izuku screamed.
"Bye-bye, heroes," said Satoru, disappearing into the portal.
The heroes were left with guilt, disappointment, and defeat. For the first time, the villains had won.
Chapter 30 - End