The day came in a hazy spell of half mumbled swear words, and the sun blasting down upon Izuku. He pushed himself into what little shadow was inside his shelter, whilst he also pulled himself from the last vestiges of sleep that remained. Shielding his eyes from the sun Izuku looked around and found that the leaf canopy he'd created had fallen at some point that night. His arms and legs had the beginnings of a sunburn, and his head was still swimming from the heat and sleep.
"What a way to start," Izuku mumbled to himself. Deciding that staying inside the broken shelter would do little good, Izuku forced himself up onto his feet. He tried to inspect his surroundings, but found his eyes still hadn't yet adjusted to the bright flares of sunlight. Staggering his way out of his little abode Izuku aimed himself for the water he could see glistening in the distance. He trudged himself through the sand until his feet met water, and with that collapsed into the ocean. He hoped the water would practically jumpstart his brain whilst he washed off the accumulated sweat and dirt that had covered him in his sleep. It wasn't until he'd already completely soaked himself that he remembered he was still wearing all his clothes.
He removed his waterlogged clothing, and placed them on a stone that was basking in the heat. Jumping back into the water he cleaned himself up as well as he could. Once he felt clean enough, Izuku stepped out of the water and walked barefoot over the sand. It burned his feet, but the pain mattered little to Izuku. It was merely a tingle he felt on his skin as he padded towards his clothes that had already dried with their time out in the sun. Putting them on in record time he decided the best thing to do was to get started on was his water supply.
The ocean was currently out of the question. The salt within would merely cause him to dehydrate faster. His choices then were to either find a safe drinkable pond or lake on the island, or invent a contraption that would allow Izuku to boil the water. Which would require a fire. Izuku sighed at the ever filling list of problems he would have to put up with. He hoped he had enough time to riddle out the damn words Aka had left him with.
His search lasted most of the day with no sources of freshwater found. The sun had already passed it's halfway mark by the he finally gave up on his search. The island had a few animals from what Izuku had seen, mostly birds and lizards and insects, but no traces of any drinkable water. Which meant Izuku had to figure out a way to make it.
Izuku sighed and started gathering the necessary materials. He'd first need to get a fire going so he could boil the water. He gathered as many dried sticks and leaves, and one rather large limb, and tossed them on the ground. Actually creating the fire suddenly became the biggest issue. Izuku knew some ways but in all his practice sessions, the two he actually did, he couldn't ever get the fire to start. Oh how he missed Alchemy already.
His available options seemed to limited to friction to start a fire, or flint if he was lucky enough to find some. Searching the island for flint would take up the rest of the day, and he still needed to fix his shelter. Creating the fire through friction though would take just as long or ever longer, but he wouldn't have to rely on luck, or at least a lesser amount of luck as the former required.
He carried himself back through the forest in his search for a way to get a fire going. It's trees and brush pressed in close on Izuku, severely limiting his sight. His knife flashed out in front of him cutting up a mass of thorns that blocked his path. His knife was snagged out of his hand by the thornbush, and when he pulled his hand away blood covered much of it. The smell of copper invaded Izuku's nose as the pain creeped up his arm. Clenching his teeth to ward off the pain he thrust his arm back into the bush to retrieve his knife.
The knife came out finally in a hail of pain and thorns all whilst Izuku let out a strangled yell. The pools of blood coating his arm became a river as his life flowed off his arm, and landed in splashes on the ground. The colours of red and green mixed in his vision before they started to fade away. Thrusting out his good arm to catch himself before he collapsed, Izuku fought to keep his mind from being enveloped within the mist that threatened to take over.
He let out a deep pained growl as he slowly pulled his shirt up over his head, making sure to keep it from catching on his bad arm. Once his top covering was off he tried to wrap it around his blood covered arm, but found that doing so one armed was nigh on impossible. The shirt was finally tied about his arm in a way that would make any formally trained medics cry.
The growling continued, but Izuku was sure he had stopped. Turning in a circle he found the noise coming from a slice of bushes towards his right. Two pinpricks of light shone out from the darkened bushes, and Izuku could feel his breath quicken, and his world stand on end. A black furred beast forced its way through the thicket and charged straight for Izuku.
Yelping Izuku dropped his knife and scrambled up the nearest tree. The blood that covered his hands nearly caused him to slip and fall, but he kept his footing. He hugged the tree as if it were his mother as he pulled himself up to a sturdy looking limb. Seating himself on the limb Izuku looked towards the forest floor, and saw the black shape prowling around the tree sniffing. It would occasionally look up towards Izuku's hiding spot, and make it's growling/snarling/snorting noise.
Getting a good look at it Izuku saw that it was a black furred boar that must have been either curious about his screams of pain, or drawn to them. Either way Izuku was stuck up the tree like a cat until the great beast moved on. His bloodied arm was still sending needles of pain shooting throughout his body, and bad enough he'd dropped his knife in panic. If Aka were here he'd piss himself laughing, and then throw the boar up into the tree with Izuku. Izuku at that moment was quite glad this was a solo test.
Night creeped up on Izuku whilst he continued to hide up the tree. The boar still hadn't moved on, and actually seemed more intent on attacking Izuku. It would ram its head into the tree every now and then, causing the tree to give dangerous shakes. The tree limb Izuku was seated on almost gave out once, but it had thankfully remained sturdy enough for Izuku. He laughed to himself mirthlessly and wondered how his day could have gone so badly. Apparently just reading up on survival didn't translate well into practice. He would need to keep that in mind for the future.
The boar would hopefully give in soon, or get too tired, and Izuku didn't feel like sleeping in a tree all night. Lost in his thoughts he hadn't noticed that the boar had actually moved away, and was currently dissapearing into the deep thicket. Finally noticing Izuku waited another couple minutes just to make sure the boar wasn't trying to trick him, he thrust himself off of the tree and landed on the ground. The fall knocked the breath out of his, but otherwise he was fine. Seeing his chance Izuku grabbed his hunting knife off the ground, and sprinted back to the beach that was his safety.
Hands on his knees as his breath came in gasps, Izuku tried to calm his racing heart, and control the spasms of pain shooting through his bloodied arm. Izuku cracked a smile though. A boar meant fresh water. His key to survival had just forced him up a tree, but that would be the last time. Tomorrow would be the start of his fight back against this damned island.
The next day started off better than the last. His shelter he'd rebuilt the night before hadn't fallen. A cloudy haze was blocking the sun's light so he wasn't worried about heat today. His arm still felt horrid, but it had stopped bleeding. He removed the shirt from his arm to check the wounds, and what he saw wasn't a surprise, but nonetheless it was still a sorry sight. Scratches and deep cuts covered his arm like the pox, and it was a mean red. Izuku hoped it wouldn't get infected. He cut away the bottom half of the shirt, and tied it around his arm again. The leftovers he cut into strips so he would have something to tie things with. Him being shirtless didn't truly matter Izuku figured.
Now he had to find that boar again, but this time he couldn't allow the boar to find him. He needed to know where it's watering hole was. He grabbed his knife, and walked back into the forest.
He retraced his steps back to where he found the boar and got to searching. Any tracks he could find would be a blessing. He found some in a patch of mud that lead towards the center of the island. He followed them a while until he came upon a cave near the center of the island. It was well hidden behind a thicket of bushes and thorns, but Izuku could quite easily see the tracks going into it. The cave was maybe eight feet in height, and looked to be a tight fit. He cut away the bushes until he could squeeze his way into the cave. It wasn't too tight for his small frame, and he easily pushed himself until the cave opened up more.
It was then Izuku heard the faint noise he'd been desperately hoping for. It sounded as if someone had left a faucet running just barely. With the steady dripping sound growing louder with each step. He finally came upon the clear liquids as it dripped from a hole in the wall. It pooled in a hollow just underneath, and from there if flowed deep into the cave. Izuku gave a cry of happiness and fell to his knees just in front of the water. Heedlessly he thrust his head into the water, and started guzzling.
He drank far too much than what was healthy, but Izuku wasn't worried. He finally found water. He would live. He wouldn't fail the test Aka had set up for him. He wouldn't die on this damned island. Or at least not yet. He found water, but was lacking in food. His arm still could end up infected, and that would kill him just as easily. These worries though were far from Izuku's mind. The water had given back the strength Izuku hadn't noticed missing from the starvation and dehydration.
Izuku thought it would be divine karma if the boar were to stumble upon Izuku in here in his happiness. So Izuku took another drink of the water, and left the cave for now. He would come later with something to carry the water back to his shelter with. The campfire now was on his priority list. Izuku hadn't seen any flint in the cave which meant more than likely there would be none on the island. The last option was now his only option.
Back at his camp Izuku got to work on his fire. He found a good piece of wood that would act as the base. He found some dried kindling around his area as well. His search for a good sturdy stick was his biggest hurdle. His search took the rest of the afternoon, but he finally found a good looking one and got to work.
He cut a line down the wood that acted as his base. He then sat the kindling near the back, and grabbed his stick. He pushed the stick down the line in a back and forth motion hoping to catch a spark. Too many times Izuku created a spark but the kindling wouldn't burn, and many more that the spark wouldn't even form.
The sun was barely peeking over the horizon when Izuku's luck won out and a spark ignited the kindling. Holding barely controlled glee moved the burning kindling to the campfire he'd built and sat it within. He on blew the fire within, and watched as it caught the wood afire. Letting a whoop of a joy out Izuku did a little dance of celebration that would have looked odd if any had been a witness.
The fire roared the life with the orangish flames burning away the last of Izuku's trepidation that he would fail. Three days in and Izuku had the means to survive. Now he needed to find food to eat. And he knew just where to find it.
Authors Note: Ah finally got another chapter out. Bit slow on them but when you work a shit ton it kinda gets in the way of writing.
AND THANK YALL FOR THE 100 FOLLOWS, never thought it would hit that many, much less pass the 50 mark.
By the by have y'all figured out Aka's identity yet? Muahaha.