'Gotta Catch 'Em All

Chapter 2

*Begin Flashback*

"Deku, hurry up! You're gonna get us all crushed!" The voice of Bakugo reverberated through the halls. Midoriya sucked in a big breath of air as he kept pumping his legs, racing to catch up with the two figures ahead of him. Smoke crept up around in heavy rivulets, burning his already overworked lungs.

"Bakugo, please, wait for me!" He cried in desperation.

"Bro, seriously", replied Shaggy, who was also ahead of him. "Like, I've seen Velma run faster, and she's shorter than you!" Bakugo just growled as he blasted through the set of double doors ahead, revealing a dark stairwell. Smoke poured out of the opening and into the hall, obscuring the pair from Midoriya's view. Still, he pushed ahead until he caught up.

"Jesus, I can't see shit anymore.", groaned (non-sexually) a frustrated Bakugo.

"Like, whatever man. Let's just get out of here. We're on the 37th floor as it is, and I'm hungry. I'm all for smoking, but like, not this kind. Can't get faded off this.", Shaggy said. "And all I wanted was a 9-5 job to afford my gas station Doritos."

"It's not our fault flaming trash decided to land on the building. Stupid shitty debris." Bakugo muttered under his breath. He punched the wall in anger before taking off down the stairs, Midoriya and Shaggy in quick pursuit.

As the trio descended, the concentration of CO2 in the stairwell rose to 99,999ppm. Things were, quite literally, dark. And not in a quirky way.

Midoriya had long since lost count of the number of floors they had passed. As he moved down each flight of stairs, his vision started to blur and his mind became almost as foggy as the air. The others weren't fairing much better.

"Like, I must be tripping dudes", Shaggy slurred. "Bakugo, what shit did you roll us this time?"

"Fuck off man, I donn,..mkn I don't smoke msdnfjsjbk." Bakugo fell against the wall at another set of doors. The floor beneath their feet was hardly even visible.

"Guys?", Midoriya spoke through the impenetrable fog. "How much farther do we have left, I feel like we've been going forever...":

"Ugh, sure," Bakugo begrudgingly agreed. "We can just go through the doors here. It looks clearer on the other side, maybe we can hop out a window or something. There's probably no smoefwrogubke." He had a minor aneurysm as he attempted to convey the plan, smoke infiltrating his airways. He grunted  as he stood up and pushed the doors open.

The air cleared to reveal the new floor. The three walked in. There was a beige-looking carpet, and ugly yellow wallpaper. But... this didn't look like an office.

"I can breathe," sighed Midoriya as he inhaled deeply. He turned to look for the floor number, but... the entrance was gone? In his state of barely-consciousness, he could hardly register why, but... maybe he missed it?

"Guys, let's hrnnrnjk find a window." Bakugo began stomping angrily forward.

Midoriya stumbled forward, vision swaying. Shaggy clung to the wall behind him, coughing loudly.

"Like, guys, I don't see any windows."

"Whaddya mean dumbass, there's a window right here," barked the blonde, punching through a wall.

"Bakugo...", winced Midoriya in his haze. "I don't- I think that's a wall."

Bakugo just slumped to the ground in response. As he hit the floor, he took a real look at the surrounding area. His eyes suddenly jolted wide open.