"I wanted to thank you, Midoriya." Todoroki spoke as the two exited the infirmary, having just concluded their match. "You reminded me of something I had forgotten."
"It was n-nothing really. I guess I have... experience talking to people about their problems." Izuku thought back to how the various Phantom Thieves awakened to their Personas, Todoroki wasn't too different from them in that sense.
"I don't think you give yourself enou-" Todoroki stopped as a quiet noise reached his ears. It was a steady noise, growing gradually louder with every sound. The two teens turned towards the direction it came from, watching with caution.
From around the corner, barrelled a shadow. It was humanoid, with two horns curving down from its forehead. It lacked any arms and was dressed in a Gi, with ropes wrapped around its torso.
"Shiki-Ouji!" A psychic pulse sent the approaching Take-Minakata crashing into the ground, where it was quickly incinerated by Todoroki.
Outside, the crowds of people rushed over each other to reach the exits, fleeing from the hordes of shadows that had appeared within the arena. A few corridors down, a familiar group of teenagers had gathered during the chaos.
"Holy shit! Zuku really understated what these league guys have up their sleeves."
"We need to get out of here, there's hundreds of them." Makoto spoke, already scanning the map attached to the wall.
"Or..." The group looked towards Ryujji. "I'm just saying, we've taken worse."
"In the Metaverse. We have no idea how much weaker we are here, plus there's a real chance we'll get caught. On top of that Midoriya had all our weapons."
"Maybe I could help out with that." The group had nearly forgotten about Iwai, who dropped his duffel bag to the floor. Opening it, he revealed a plethora of equipment.
"Why did you bring all that?"
"Trouble seems to follow you kids everywhere you go. And I still owe Midoriya." The group all looked between each other, then finally towards Makoto.
"Why am I always the one everyone disagrees with?"
Todoroki had only grown more impressed by Midoriya as they sprinted through the stadium, his companion taking down countless monsters as he ran, almost as if he new exactly what his foe's actions would be.
Turning a corner, they ran across a particularly large group. Todoroki prepared to freeze them but stopped as an explosion engulfed the group, not caused by either of the present teens. Smoke prevented Todoroki from seeing the following actions of the newcomer, however based on the screams of the shadows and the unceasing sound of gunfire, he imagined it was not a difficult battle.
The smoke cleared just as an axe was embedded into the final shadows head, causing it to vanish as the previous had. The figure before him slightly terrified Todoroki. The first thing to catch his eye was the sadistic smile that covered their face, one that was familiar, though he couldn't say were he'd seen it before.
Upon their head was a black cavalier hat, with a feather plume rising from the top. Todoroki would have analysed the rest of her outfit, if it wasn't for the giant battle axe that distracted him. The girl held it with ease, clearly experienced with the weapons use. Even more concerning however, was the grenade launcher strapped to her back.
As if the world was trying to confuse Todoroki even more, the girl and Izuku then attempted to rugby tackle each other. They hugged as they crashed into each other, before beginning to excitedly talk at light speed. After a few minutes of feeling like the third, fourth and fifth wheel, Todoroki cleared his throat, causing the other two to remember his existence.
"Oh sorry. Todoroki this is-" Izuku paused for a second. "Noir. She's a... good friend of mine."
Todoroki began to reply, but stopped as the sounds of pounding feet filled the corridor. "We should move. There's likely a lot more of them near the stands."
Izuku nodded in agreement, then fished around in his pocket. He retrieved a small sphere and placed it into his ear, then held a finger to one end of it. "Oracle, are you there?" A reply came through the earphone, however it was far too quiet for Todoroki to hear. "Their main concentration is in the stands, the teachers, excluding All Might, are preventing the shadows from getting out."
"I feel like I'm missing something here."
"Oh yeah, sorry. I'll explain later. Come on!"
"Hell yeah! I forgot how fun this is!" Ryujji shouted as his shotgun blew apart a shadow, several lightning bolts following the attack. "William, God's Hand!" Several more shadows were crushed under the weight of the pirate persona, giving the teens some breathing room.
They had positioned themselves near the main gate, far enough from the heroes within the stadium, but still close enough to fend off the attack. "SMASH!" Landing within a group of shadows, the group's leader bounced between the enemies, delivering numerous slashes with his blade as he did. Finally, he landed atop an Orobas' shoulders, using it as a springboard to launch himself towards his allies.
"Ah Joker! How have you been?" Yusuke was the first to speak up.
"Is now really the ti-" Izuku's usual concern over his friend's, well, unusual behaviour was cut off as Futaba spoke through their ear pieces.
"Everyone! There's a big one incoming!" Indeed, floating out of one of the entrances came a Jackal-headed figure, sitting within a cross legged position. The Anubis tilted its head, as if looking down at the group, before releasing a large blast of light.
The Thieves rolled out of the way, already beginning their counter attack. A barrage of fire from Ann drew the shadow's attention, allowing Yusuke to slip behind it and incase it in ice. Sumire finished the creature as she leaped above it, a series of sword swings shattering the ice.
Anubis fell to the ground and was instantly surrounded by the group. Todoroki watched on from the side lines, his curiosity about the group growing by the second. Suddenly, they all rushed forwards, overwhelming the monster as they pummelled it. The combo ended as Izuku dashed forwards, seemingly moving through the creature.
Nothing happened for a moment, before the creature burst open, as if receiving all of the assault's damage at once. With that, the area fell silent, all traces of the shadows destroyed. For Midoriya however, his worries weren't over yet, as the thing he really didn't want to deal with appeared from the stadium.
"Midoriya. Care to explain exactly what I'm looking at." Aizawa spoke calmly, his steel gaze fixed on the Phantom Thieves before him.