Mr. Compress's cheerful, horrifying shout was still ringing in my ears as he leaped down. He moved with the grace of an acrobat, landing silently among us. Aizawa-sensei was the first to react, his capture weapon shooting forward like a venomous snake.
"EVERYONE, FORM A DEFENSIVE FORMATION AROUND BAKUGO! DON'T LET HIM GET CLOSE!" Aizawa roared.
We all moved in unison. I, Todoroki, and Midoriya instinctively formed a triangle around a furious and confused-looking Bakugo. "I don't need your damn protection!" he growled, but he didn't move from his spot.
But fighting Mr. Compress wasn't a battle of strength. It was a show of illusion. He never attacked directly. He threw several small smoke bombs to the ground, creating a confusing smokescreen. He danced between Todoroki's ice attacks and Bakugo's small explosions. His movements were pure misdirection, always drawing our attention to where he wasn't.
"He's too slippery!" Midoriya exclaimed, trying to track his movements with Full Cowling.
In the midst of the chaos, I saw it. A brilliant feint. He threw a pebble he had compressed in one direction, creating a sound that drew all our attention for a split second. In that instant, he shot off in the opposite direction. He didn't aim for Bakugo directly. He touched Tokoyami, who was still weak and disoriented after Dark Shadow's rampage, and then, with the same speed, touched the shoulder of a distracted Bakugo.
Pop. Pop.
Two small, barely audible sounds. I saw it. I saw my friends vanish, turning into two small, glittering blue marbles that were now in Mr. Compress's gloved hand.
At the League of Villains' hideout, Shigaraki let out a small laugh, scratching his neck frantically as he watched it all through a small camera carried by one of the villains. 'Good work, Compress. You are useful. Now, bring home the prize.'
"The show is over, little heroes!" Mr. Compress exclaimed theatrically. He gave a respectful bow, then leaped high onto a tree branch and began to flee, disappearing into the darkness of the forest.
"BASTARD!" Bakugo roared—oh wait, Bakugo had just been captured. I was the one roaring internally.
"He took Bakugo and Tokoyami!" Shoji yelled.
Aizawa, his face pale with anger and exhaustion, looked at us—the students who could still fight. "Tatsumi, Todoroki, Midoriya, Shoji! Get them back!" he commanded, his authority absolute despite his injuries. "You are the pursuit team! The rest of you, get back to the cabin and protect the injured! Go!"
We didn't need to be told twice. The four of us immediately shot into the forest, chasing after Mr. Compress's shadow. It was a race against time.
Our pursuit was a symphony of coordinated chaos. I immediately took tactical command. "Shoji, you're our eyes and ears! Don't lose track of him! Track him by sound and vibration!" I yelled.
"Understood! He's ahead, moving northwest!" Shoji replied, one of his arms having already formed a giant ear.
"Todoroki, don't attack him directly! Use your ice to change the environment! Create a path for us, and obstacles for him! Slow him down!"
"Already on it," Todoroki replied curtly, and instantly, a giant ice slide formed in front of us, allowing us to glide at high speed through the trees.
"Midoriya, you're the most agile among us! Follow him closely, don't let him out of your sight! Keep pressing him!"
"Right!" Midoriya replied, the green flashes of Full Cowling igniting around him as he leaped from branch to branch.
I myself used a partial manifestation of my leg guards, running along Todoroki's ice path, acting as the anchor and command center of our makeshift pursuit unit. My dragon's heartbeat pounded, not with fear, but with the adrenaline of the hunt.
At the designated meeting point, several kilometers away, Dabi and Twice were waiting. "He's taking his sweet time," Twice complained. "He must have succeeded! He's the best!"
"Patience, Twice," Dabi said, his eyes on the dark forest. A small blue flame danced lazily in his palm. "A good magician always knows how to keep his audience waiting. Kurogiri will open the gate soon." He smiled coldly. "Those little heroes don't stand a chance."
Our pursuit was fierce. Mr. Compress was incredibly slippery. He used every tree, every rock, every shadow to hide himself. He deliberately dropped a few compressed marbles containing rocks or tree branches to create false sounds and confuse Shoji. He was truly an escape artist.
"I... I'm about to lose him!" Shoji exclaimed, frustrated. "He's moving around too much!"
We were almost desperate. He was going to get away.
Suddenly, from the bushes to our left, a blinding blue laser beam shot into the sky, hitting a tree branch right in front of Mr. Compress. The beam was so bright and unexpected that it made him stumble and lose his balance.
"What was that?!" Midoriya exclaimed.
I turned and saw Aoyama, his face pale and tears of fear in his eyes, clutching his stomach in pain from using his Quirk. He had been hiding alone the whole time, but at the most critical moment, he had found the courage to act.
Aoyama's distraction was all we needed. The four of us charged forward simultaneously. I slammed into Mr. Compress from the side, Todoroki trapped his legs with ice, and Midoriya and Shoji caught him in a tackle. We all tumbled down a small slope, landing hard in a dimly lit clearing.
As we got up, panting, I realized where we were. This was the villains' meeting point. Standing there, waiting, were Dabi and Twice.
The fight wasn't over. It had just begun.
"It seems the show has gotten a bit more crowded than expected," Dabi said in a bored tone.
As we landed, the two small blue marbles fell from Mr. Compress's pocket and rolled on the ground. "The marbles!" Shoji yelled. "Bakugo and Tokoyami!"
Midoriya and Shoji immediately moved to grab them. But Mr. Compress, even while pinned, was still a trickster. "Oh, don't touch my stage props!" he exclaimed.
Across from us, Dabi unleashed a devastating wave of blue fire, forcing us to retreat. The heat was far more intense than Todoroki's fire. I could feel my armor absorbing most of the heat, protecting me, but the others were forced to take cover behind Todoroki's emergency ice wall.
In the midst of the chaos, Shoji managed to grab one of the marbles, while Midoriya grabbed the other. We had succeeded!
But then, Mr. Compress, with a smile behind his mask, snapped his fingers. "My apologies, little heroes," he said cheerfully. "But a magician never reveals all his tricks."
Instantly, the marble in Shoji's hand vanished. And reappeared in Mr. Compress's hand. He must have coated that marble with something, a sleight of hand trick. The marble Midoriya held, thankfully, remained. That must be Tokoyami.
Right at that moment, a swirling vortex of blackish-purple mist opened up behind the villains. Kurogiri's warp gate.
"Time to go home," Dabi said.
He unleashed one final, massive wall of blue fire, much larger than before, to cover their escape. It was an unavoidable wall of hellfire, hurtling toward us, exhausted and injured.
"Damn it!" Todoroki cursed, trying to create another ice wall, but he knew it wouldn't be enough.
I stood at the front, staring at the approaching wall of fire. There was no time to dodge. No time for strategy. There was only one option. I focused all my remaining strength. I felt the dragon within me roar in agreement. This was the final gamble.
As the fire was just a few feet away, threatening to engulf us all, I screamed at my friends behind me. "GET BEHIND ME!"
I planted my feet into the ground, and with one final, throat-tearing roar, I let it all out. The entire Incursio armor exploded out of my body, the menacing draconic helmet being the last piece to form. I raised both my thickly armored arms, crossing them in front of my body, and prepared to take the full brunt of that hellfire directly.
In the final moments before the fire hit me, I saw the villains step back into the portal. I saw Mr. Compress tip his hat in a mocking farewell, the blue marble containing Bakugo held securely in his hand. We had failed.
Then, the world became a sea of blue fire.