Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Izumi POV – November 3rd.
"So, we just have to push our auras into your body?" Visha asked curiously, I just nodded.
"Yes, that's all. As you know, I need outside help to unlock my shikigami. You just have to push your aura inside me, and I'll do the rest." I said easily.
"Wouldn't it be dangerous to get two new shikigami with only... a little over a week until Jeju?" Tanya asked, frowning. I wrinkled my nose slightly.
"No... not really. There are only three shikigami left, the fourth... it's complicated. But the three that are missing, I don't think they're useful enough to use in a fight, but if necessary, I could sacrifice them for a boost, so it's better than not having them." I said honestly. Both Visha and Tanya's expressions hardened slightly.
"Yes, we can do this to help you, count me in." Visha said determinedly, Tanya just nodded.
"Both at the same time, or one at a time?" Tanya asked directly. I smiled shamelessly at her.
"Both, darling, you know I can handle both at the same time." I winked at Tanya, she just snorted dryly, although she blushed slightly while Visha laughed to the side.
Even so, neither of them argued; they both came up behind me and placed their hands on my back while I was sitting on the floor of one of UA's gyms.
I took a deep breath as I looked at my shikigami. I only nodded slightly before feeling them both begin to push their auras into me. I grasped them with an ease that came from training my soul resonance with Mai. I was able to direct their auras much more easily than when I unlocked my first shikigami.
But just like before, the shikigami that were unlocked were completely random. There certainly wasn't much to choose from, though. Only Toad, Max Elephant, and Tiger Funeral were missing. Besides that last one, who was still hiding behind everything, though at this point, I was pretty sure it was Mahoraga, even though I couldn't see him. But putting that last one aside, I only knew the abilities of Toad and Max Elephant.
And maybe it was good luck that they were both chosen. Or maybe bad luck. I was really curious to know about the Tiger Funeral's capabilities. Maybe it would have given me something useful I could use on Jeju, but I certainly wouldn't complain.
Toad and Max Elephant each had their advantages. Or rather, Max Elephant had the advantage over Toad. Even so, Toad was still useful, certainly not for a high-level, open fight, but he'd be a great help in certain situations. Hmm, maybe I could ask Tsuyu for help, since Toad's use of his tongue was almost the same as Tsuyu's, and she had more experience with it.
Thoughts for after Jeju.
"Enough," I said gently to both of them. They both stopped instantly and took a step back.
"And?" Visha asked eagerly. I just smiled before moving my hands and forming the corresponding shapes one after the other. My shadows bubbled before Toad and Max Elephant formed in front of me.
Maybe… summoning Max Elephant had been a bad idea. The pink elephant was three times taller than me and many times wider and deeper, but luckily, the gym was big and tall enough that it didn't matter.
"Max Elephant and Toad, I guess." Tanya said, looking impressed as she approached. "It looks like a mammoth," she said, looking at the elephant. I chuckled.
"Yes, he does." I said playfully.
"That one summoned water, right? " Visha asked curiously. I nodded. "And Toad had his tongue," she added, glancing at the toad beside her. It was a huge toad. For a toad. It wasn't taller than me, but I could definitely see how a person could be trapped inside its body.
"Yes, Max Elephant is capable of generating a huge amount of water from his trunk at enormous pressure and volume, and I could do the same from my hands—really useful. I'll have to see if I can use it with my swords, but I should be able to, to some extent. It's a big improvement. It's a real shame I don't have time to train him." I sighed as I looked at Max Elephant. I patted his leg lightly before dissolving him into shadows. "And Toad…"
"Well... it exists." I shrugged. "I wouldn't say it's useless. It's good for grabbing targets, but it's definitely not strong enough to go toe-to-toe with enemies strong enough to ignore it." I sighed. "Although I suppose it'll be useful for carrying things?" I said uncertainly. I grimaced at Toad.
I mean, if I wanted to transport something, I could just stuff it all into my shadows, so I didn't know how useful transport with Toad would be. I hummed softly before taking out some rubble I had in my shadows and tossing it into the air. Toad grabbed it with his tongue, wrapping it around the rubble before pulling it in. Which was impressive; that rubble weighed the same as a person, and being able to pull that much weight in with his tongue without even seeming to break a sweat showed the amount of strength his tongue possessed.
Toad opened his mouth and swallowed the rubble. I was about to ask him to move to see if he could handle that much weight when I felt my shadows stir without me doing anything; it seemed to be coming from inside Toad.
I blinked as I looked at Toad in the distance, opening my mouth before closing it.
"Did something happen?" Tanya asked from the side. I just kept blinking while ignoring her. I pulled the same piece of rubble out of my shadows again and looked at it curiously. I threw it into the air again and ordered Toad to catch it.
Just like before, his tongue extended, coiled around the rubble, and drew it to himself, then opened his mouth and took it inside. With a thought, I could feel that rubble once more within my shadows.
I stared incredulously at Toad.
What the hell.
I pulled the rubble out of my shadows again, this time summoning Orochi immediately, large enough to devour the rubble in one bite. I wrinkled my nose when the rubble remained inside Orochi's stomach, so I forced it back into my shadows.
I could feel Orochi within my shadows, still with the rubble inside. I simply sighed and dissolved Orochi. That proved what I knew about my shikigami.
My shikigami could carry things to and from my shadows, as long as they could hold them. I had been sending food to Eri with my wolves, but only they could take the food basket out if they carried it in their jaws, and likewise, they could only put it back in while they were holding it.
But… Toad seemed different. It seemed that anything inside his stomach could be sent into my shadows as easily as I could, and I didn't need to unsummon or return Toad to my shadows; it just… happened naturally.
That… that was weird, I didn't even know it was possible, I didn't even know if it was a rare manifestation or interaction of my power, because I was sure that the original Ten Shadows couldn't achieve that… or at least nothing that had been shown, and certainly not much of the Ten Shadows had been shown.
There were more questions than answers surrounding Ten Shadows.
And really, I had gone through what the original Ten Shadows could do a long time ago, so... I figured I'd better look on the bright side of this.
I approached Toad and began to consider the implications. If Toad functioned as an input, he should function as an output. I gave Toad a command with a thought. To my surprise, Toad seemed to regurgitate with a muffled noise and then launched the projectile across the gym.
My eyes opened wide and a huge smile began to form on my face.
Oh… this had so much potential.
"What did you discover?" Tanya asked from beside me.
"Something extremely useful," I told Tanya with a broad smile. "It turns out my dear Toad isn't as useless as I thought," I said playfully. "It seems he can be used as an entry and exit point for my shadows, without me having to do it myself."
"And... is that a good thing?" asked Visha, confused.
"It's great." I said with a wide smile.
"I can send Toad anywhere or to anyone, and he'll have access to my shadows without any restrictions. Even if I'm far away, Toad will be able to take things out of my shadows; anything I have in there can be taken out by Toad and used by other people," I said honestly.
"That... is incredible," Tanya murmured. "Maybe it won't be of any use in a fight, at least not for you, but for someone else, the implication is... incredible." Tanya said, thinking quickly. I nodded.
"I was thinking about Taylor. Even now, I have her monster insects in my shadow. If I let her take Toad with her, she could practically get her insects out without me being there," I said playfully. "Or I could send resources or supplies anywhere, or I could send Toad out to search and loot things. Anything Toad brings in, I could get it out from my side." Tanya could only shake her head, almost incredulously.
"That... would just change a lot of things." Tanya said, surprised. I just smiled wider at her.
"And that's not all." I told Tanya. She raised an eyebrow, but instead of replying, I waved my hands.
"Fusion Beast: Minitoad! " I smiled as my shadows bubbled and my new creation emerged. It wasn't a Totality or Merged, it was simply a normal fusion, so there was no boost to the summoning, but it wasn't necessary.
What emerged was a small, plump toad. Like, it was literally a completely spherical toad, like a ball, with a wide mouth, bulging eyes, and a long tongue sticking out. Its legs were really short and somewhat stubby, and oddly enough, it had two antennae between its eyes—antennae that looked like rabbit ears, but they weren't; they were just… long, green antennae.
The little toad was barely the size of a head, but it was more than enough, at least for what he wanted to test.
"Come here," I commanded the minitoad. The little toad, contrary to what I expected from its small, stubby legs, easily jumped into the air and landed nimbly on my shoulder, clinging to it.
I smiled slightly as I thought about something. Toji Fushiguro. He had an Inventory Curse. A worm-like curse that lived inside his own body, which then grew and allowed Toji to access an inventory where he could freely store and retrieve his weapons from the curse's mouth.
My minitoad was on my left shoulder, so I reached into its open mouth with my right hand. My hand entered its stomach, and I quickly felt my shadows even without summoning them. I smiled slightly before grasping the hilt of Wado Ichimonji within my shadows and pulling it out of the minitoad's mouth.
Oh… this is fantastic.
"I... I don't understand," Visha said, confused. I just smiled, ordered the minitoad to jump towards Visha, who was surprised and immediately grabbed it with both hands.
"Try putting your hand inside its mouth and getting something out. Ask the Minitoad for it." I told Visha easily. Visha blinked and then looked at the Minitoad. Visha just wrinkled her nose, but she did as I asked. Her hand moved and slowly went inside the Minitoad, who opened its mouth without bothering her. Visha's hand practically sank into my shadows.
I could feel his hand enter my shadows without me making any effort.
"Um... can you give me a weapon?" Visha asked, confused. Her eyes widened, and I saw her hand tremble slightly before she grabbed something and then pulled her hand away from the minitoad. In her hands was a small dagger. Visha blinked slightly. "So it's the same as the big toad?" Visha asked innocently.
"It's more than that. Izumi called it Fusion Beast: Minitoad. Only one of its summons is small enough. You fused it with the Rabbit Escape, didn't you?" Tanya said seriously. I smiled broadly. With a command, the Minitoad multiplied dozens of times. One landed on Tanya's shoulder.
"Somehow, Toad is able to put things in or take them out of my shadows without me making a conscious effort. None of my shadows can do that, especially if they're far away from me; they can only take things out that they're carrying."
"But if Toad is able to choose what to take out or put in so easily, and now the mini-toad is able to multiply, then-" I said with a wide smile.
"Then you have multiple access points to your shadows. We're no longer talking about simple support like with just one Toad; this... is practically a transportation and logistics network. Depending on the range of your Minitoads to operate autonomously, if multiple people are able to carry a Minitoad, then they could all have access to the inside of your shadows."
"All the resources you have inside will be like a shared warehouse. All the resources, objects, weapons, food, medicine, ammunition, and basically anything you decide to put there would be available to everyone. Or they would be able to store things and send them to another point so easily, and all of that could be accessible to hundreds of people at the same time," Tanya said in shock and looked at me incredulously. I burst out laughing.
"I know! It's incredibly ridiculous! " I said with a manic laugh. "And think further, Tanya! People! People are no exception to what I can store in my shadows! They 'd be able to travel from one Minitoad to another!" I said frantically. Tanya stopped and stared at me incredulously. Then she looked at the Minitoad on her shoulder.
She carefully picked it up before putting her hand in the minitoad's mouth. To my surprise, the minitoad with Visha opened its mouth and Tanya's hand popped out. Visha suddenly screamed, dropping the toad. I just blinked as I watched Tanya's hand emerge from one of the toads.
"This... do you know how ridiculous this is?" Tanya asked incredulously, staring at the other Minitoad from which her hand emerged. "It doesn't grant you extra power yourself, but it's... it's a truly devastating power multiplier for any group you're in," Tanya said in shock. I just burst out laughing.
"I know!" I said incredulously, shaking my head. "It's simply incredible. I didn't even expect that the shikigami, one of the weakest, would be capable of something like this. It's just... incredible," he said in shock, looking at the minitoads. "There's so much to prove, mainly its range."
"I was able to send my summons all the way to Eri, who is in the hospital in Musutafu. It's not really far, but it's enough to tell me that they can operate within the same city without any problems."
"The only cost is that the further my invocations go, the more effort it takes them to maintain their forms."
"I mean, I need to supply aura for the summoning, but they sustain themselves; there's no such thing as 'maintenance cost'—they simply exist once summoned without any effort."
"But moving away from me makes them... unstable. They're made of my shadows, and my shadow seems to have a limit. If they go far enough away, I suppose they'd dissolve and return to me."
"The only other cost is using his abilities and getting things from Toad. It seemed to have very low, almost marginal, resource consumption, but perhaps that increases with distance. There are... many tests to be done."
"I might leave one of them behind when I go to Korea. I really doubt I'll be able to keep one of them when I leave the country, but if I somehow manage it... well, that would just open so many more doors." I said quickly, overcome with excitement.
Then I grabbed one of the toads and looked at it curiously before putting my hand inside. Then I thought about pulling out some rubble, but when I tried, it resisted and I grimaced. I tried a little harder, but the mini-toad turned into a puddle of shadows in my hands.
"I can't get anything bigger than its mouth out, even though the minitoads could be used for multiple doors, they'd only be useful for getting small objects out. Although... I'd just need to fuse it with another shikigami." I said quickly while looking at the others.
"Should I find my hoverboard and start flying as far as I can?" Tanya asked immediately. I stopped and hummed softly.
"I could go the other way," Visha said, keeping time. "I mean, to see if I can send things to Tanya. This feels more like a portal than a storage space." Visha said as she crouched down and grabbed the minitoad, still holding half of Tanya's arm sticking out of its mouth.
"That's a good idea, but I'll have to let Principal Nezu and Aizawa know before we start experimenting," I said with a sigh. They both nodded without hesitation. "Thanks for this, girls," I said with a smile, which they returned. "Now, I'll go find Nezu and send you a message!" I said quickly before running off in the principal's direction.
Author's Notes: Okay, about the chapter. While reading about Toad's abilities on the wiki just to refresh my memory, I remembered the part where Toad carried Nobara inside his stomach. And while he does keep her in his stomach literally, I just thought, why couldn't he access Megumi's shadows if Toad is made of shadows? That led me to Toji's Inventory Curse, and this is what came out. Plus, I didn't want to leave Toad practically useless. This will certainly have limitations, at least initially.