The sun hung high in the sky as its rays greeted the students exiting the bus. Serenity's blue eyes strained as she scanned the wooded horizon, wondering what awaited her between the towering trees.
As the last foot plopped onto the scented earth, four brightly colored figures forced their way into Serenity's field of vision. The Wild, Wild Pussycats were an unforgettable set of heroes. From their costumes to their odd catchphrases, they were heroes who left quite an impression. Hearing their numerous accomplishments from the mumblings of Deku, Serenity was astonished at the amount of coordination that these quirk-holders had.
After introductions finished, the U.A. students held their breaths to await what their objectives were for the day. Aizawa-sensei held a compact round device with a one inch thickness. He pressed a button on the side and the previously dark screen came alive. The colors on the screen flashed between red and blue before settling on one.
"This device will serve as a tracker and team determinator. Red team vs. blue team. You have two objectives. The first is to battle an opposing color and capture the tracker. The second is to find the safe house somewhere in the forest. You must capture another person's tracker in order for your arrival to the goal to count. The deadline is sundown. Any questions?" The black-clad teacher said in a tone that communicated he would much rather have slept in.
Kirishima's voiced perked up. "What do we win if we get to the finish line first?"
"Honor," said Aizawa-sensei with a straight face.
Serenity almost choked on air. She could practically feel the air sizzling from memories of another world—of a scarred boy with a top knot screaming toward the red skies. She shook herself from her daze of memories. The blonde space-time traveler had fought so hard with her crystal to allow her to stay in this world. She should better enjoy it while it lasted.
"In all seriousness, the first half of the class who make it will be exempt from chores at the lodging. Along with bragging rights if they so choose to execute them," said the catty leader of the mountain rescue group.
"You can go alone or form groups. If your tracker gets taken, then you have a chance to steal it back. Don't sabotage the trackers! It'll make our jobs harder in case we have to find you!" A coy smile stretch across the lady's face, "Be careful, there's a lot of wicked challenges that await you in the forest!"
The students faced the circle of trees so dense that only darkness looked back. A shot rang in the air and the heroes in training shot into the woods, their trackers beeps trailing along the way.
Serenity stole a look at her tracker. Blue team. The GPS tracker wouldn't turn on until an hour into the field training, so she wouldn't be able to tell if an opponent was approaching. So along with finding the location of the safe house, she had to either battle or swipe a red member's tracker away to successfully complete the challenge.
It had been awhile since an opportunity arrived to test her powers without an audience. For the first time, she felt fire in her veins, igniting her desire to push forward and rise to the top. Being around so many students with mad drives did that to a person. Just as she was far enough into the woods where she no longer felt anyone's presence, the blonde girl spotted movement from the trees. A mechanical arm shot out of the foliage, grabbing her mercilessly by the waist. Serenity grit her teeth. She shouldn't have underestimated the top school in the country.
With a quick prayer to the Goddess of Earth, she slammed her hands together. Two walls of earth erupted forth and crushed the mechanical monster like a bug. Now freed, she continued on her path, heart racing like a thunderstorm.
Finally, after running for what felt forever in the darkness of trees, she found herself drawing towards the only light in the dark greenery. Before she could stop herself, her feet went from the firm earth of the forest to breaking through the surface of water. Within the blink of an eye, her face greeted the water with a resounding smack.
Serenity thrashed around like she was drowning for a hot second until her knees hit the shallow depth. Her head rose out of the water and she squirted a mouthful of water out like a cherub in a fountain. Thankfully, no one was there to witness one of the most embarrassing moment of her life. The U.A. student stood up and scanned the clearing around her. It was a relatively large lake bordered by the forest around them. A sandy shore blanketed the side of the lake.
The surface of the water was so calm, it mirrored the sky, creating an illusion of floating in heaven. This lake was peaceful enough for her to pause. The girl had been running for almost an hour now, either dodging or taking hits from more mechanical monstrosities or nightmarish earthform creatures. Her limbs were burning, begging to rest. The cool water lapping at her knees wasn't helping either. Even a marathoner would need to take break around now, right? But what about that one childhood story: "The Rabbit and the Tortoise." She should probably learn from her fellow bunny and not take the lesson for granted. Time to keep moving.
The beeping of her tracker drew her out of her reverie. An hour had passed, meaning that the tracker would now show the location of both blue and red members. She yanked the tracker from her pocket and saw a blue dot and a blinking red dot fast approaching. Judging by the rounding trajectory of the red dot, it was on the other side of the lake, running along the perimeter of the trees. Wait! Had that meant the anonymous student had already spotted her?! And there she was mesmerized by the water like a sitting duck.
Serenity beckoned several liquid orbs, thankful that she was surrounded by her favorite element. Stretching her arm outward in the direction of her mysterious challenger, she fired the water projectiles, freezing them along the way. They were the worst kind of snowballs. Several made impact with the trees, splitting the bark as they did so. It didn't seem like any had hit her pursuer. Should she take this fight to him? Or let herself fall into this cat-and-mouse game?
A frozen projectile shot from between the darkness of the trees and immediately she knew who her challenger was.
It was Todoroki. It was always Todoroki. This time though she smiled at the joke the gods so often played on her.
The ball of ice didn't have the luxury of hitting Serenity's form as it halted a centimeter in front of her nose and returned to its aqueous state. Water would never betray her as such.
"That was a pretty nice fall you had there," came the cool voice of Todoroki. The half-and-half hero finally revealed himself, stepping out of the trees. The blonde rubbed her neck in embarrassment.
"So you saw that."
Todoroki hadn't interacted much with Serenity ever since he stopped by since her cold. Neither Serenity nor Todoroki spoke of the intimate moment that had occurred between them. The teenage boy didn't know whether she was outrightly ignoring it like he was or she had simply forgotten due to her fever-induced haze. Whatever the case, Todoroki refused to acknowledge the incident-especially not the out-of-this-world flash of moonlight from the blonde's forehead.
His breath had caught in his throat when he had finally seen her again, standing there in the peaceful lake, lost in the tranquility of it all. It never seemed like this blonde girl was part of this world. Nor was she ever in his reach.
"Well, let's not waste any time now. Those chores aren't going to do themselves, Todoroki-kun!"
Serenity made no haste with the first strike. Lifting her palms up, she commanded a tidal wave aimed at Todoroki to send him flying backwards. An ordinary student would have immediately cowered at the force of such a wave, but Todoroki was no such student. He slashed the wave in half with an axe of fire and summoned a wave of his own ice underneath to travel across the lake.
Serenity pursed her lips in frustration. This was not going to be easy, but it would so be worth the win. The "Elemental Hero" lived up to her name and sent a shocking ball of lightning towards the ice beneath Todoroki's feet. Lightning was fast, but Todoroki was faster. The half-and-half hero skillfully swerved and dodged the electric ball with ease.
Whoops. That wasn't good. The moment the lightning attack hit the surface of the water, it turned the entire lake into a cesspool of electricity. The sparks were too fast for Serenity to avoid as most of her body was still submerged in water. An electric shock ripped through her body and her knees hit the bottom of the lake.
Todoroki faltered at the sight of Serenity in pain and almost called off the battle.
Serenity smirked, even while fighting through the pain of her fried nerves. How nostalgic. This wasn't the first time she was accidentally hit by one of Jupiter's attack via her own clumsiness. As the pain ebbed away, she shot up and summoned a tidal wave to carry her to Todoroki. Taking advantage of Todoroki's momentary hesitation, she crafted a harpoon of ice out of the water spray and catapulted the icy weapon her red-and-white challenger.
Todoroki should have given Serenity more credit. Todoroki didn't waste time in marveling at how quickly the blonde had bounced back. Instead, his left side erupted into a flamethrower and melted that freezing harpoon into a puddle.
Serenity tsked in frustration. Remembering how adept he had been in his fight against Deku and Bakugo, she concluded that Todoroki was the worst kind of opponent because he was simply the best. He had both the abundance of power and the endurance to follow through with his monstrous attacks. Not only that, his keen sense could predict the moves of average fighters before they even attacked. Serenity knew that the only reason why Todoroki hadn't called forth a fire or ice attack the size of a mountain yet was because he had want to see what she was made of.
'Well, you'll regret what your asking for.' Serenity theorized that there must be a reason to why Todoroki always pushed people away with his attacks. She was betting on the chance that the half-and-half hero was actually not as adept of controlling his power at close range. Which was perfect for the blonde, because that was her specialty. While it was difficult for her to control her elemental attacks at further range, she was particularly skilled at manipulating the elements when they were right at her fingertips.
The two of them did the quirk attack tango, blasting different elemental attacks left and right. Serenity studied Todoroki's power as they did so. It was amazing, the level of dexterity and skill he had over his power. He had total domination over his powers. And his range was truly incredible. Serenity's range was that of a tennis court. But Todoroki's range was like five soccer fields combined. If he had wanted to, he could have frozen the whole lake to completely immobilize her in the blink of an eye.
Todoroki, on his part, studied Serenity with the same intensity. He hadn't seen her true display of power since her impromptu battle with Bakugo in the schoolyard. But even then, he knew that she barely scratched the surface of her potential. Shuddering at the thought of how adroit her hand-to-hand combat was, he kept sending a flurry of fire and ice attacks to keep the blonde at bay.
Serenity muscles screamed for reprieve. Her control on her last attack wavered, and the tidal wave broke before it even made contact with Todoroki's cannon ball of fire. If this became a war of attrition, there was no doubt he would win. She wasn't yet in her tip-top shape. Her body was still healing from the temper tantrum her crystal gave when she had begged it for more time in this world. That plus her hour-long trek in the woods, fighting off those forsaken machines, meant that this battle needed to end soon.
But she could tell that Todoroki was starting to tire as well. Even though his control and power seemed impeccable, a blip of a ceasefire existed between Todoroki's attack. Todoroki couldn't shoot off his fire and ice attacks at the exact same time. And the time he needed to recharge was increasing millisecond by millisecond. If the Elemental Hero could time it just right, she could take Todoroki's tracker in that split of a second.
It was time to end this. She took a page out of Bakugo's book and fired small explosions from her hands to give herself a boost across the water. With a breath, she sent a small gust of wind to propel her forward. Her eyes dried out at the rush of wind pushing against her. Todoroki shot a blast of fire to protect his front but she countered with wall of water to block his searing flames. The gust of wind swerved and she rocketed towards Todoroki from the side, her arms reaching out toward his tracker. But before she could understand what happened, the air in her lungs froze.
The extreme shock caused her to white-out for a second and she almost thought her powers had run amok and sent her into a blizzard. But no, just as she was approaching Todoroki's right side, he had shot a hand out and single-handedly sent Serenity into a one person Ice Age. Serenity's limbs were were completely paralyzed in ice, and everything but her chest and head became encased in a blood-freezing glacier. The blonde girl didn't even have to look to know that there was a mountainous glacier sprouting from her body. She could just feel it as an elemental bender.
But it was so odd. Todoroki's ice was so different. When she had studied waterbenders in the other world, she had seen them coax the water into obeying their command. And the really powerful waterbending masters would even be able to take away control from lesser ones. But Serenity knew that even if she could reach that level, she would never be able to do that to Todoroki. Something about being completely encased within Todoroki's element showed her why. It was as if the molecules of Todoroki's ice screamed his name.
"Y-y-you got me," Serenity said through clattering teeth. She was losing the feeling of her limbs fast. Todoroki's ice was even colder than normal ice and the air coming out of her breath crystallized into snow. "G-g-guess I would have lost to you in the sports festival." She couldn't help but remember the video of Sero's defeat at the hands of Todoroki.
"No," Todoroki replied matter-of-factly, "not if you had given it your all." Serenity's eyes grew wide with absolute wonder and astonishment. What was he talking about? But before she could question him further, she was cut off by Todoroki's encroaching figure.
As he reached his left hand out to Serenity's frozen figure, she couldn't help but ask in a much deserved confused tone, "umm… what are you doing?"
Todoroki wasn't facing her. The red color of his cheeks matched the scarlet shade of his hair. "I'm sorry. This is the fastest way to get you out," he paused, "unless you want frostbite."
The half-and-half boy place his hand on Serenity's chest, right atop her pounding heart. 'God, this had been a hundred times easier with Sero.' Todoroki had an inkling that his sister would never look at him the same way if he ever told her about this. Even though this moment had to be the most embarrassing moment in his entire life, Todoroki couldn't help but relish in the warmth of Serenity right beneath his fingertips. She was simply intoxicating in every sense of the word.
At this point, the blonde would have much rather been left to freeze within Todoroki's glacier. It might have been a bit melodramatic to say that she preferred dying of frostbite than living with the inescapable heat that came with Todoroki's mere touch.
Slowly but surely, the wash of warmth replaced Todoroki's freeze. The entire time, neither had the courage to look at each other, both wishing that the moment would last forever and end in the next second. But finally it was over, and Serenity felt herself quickly detaching from the icy prison. But her limbs were not working just yet. The combination of her limbs being frozen and her earlier battle with Todoroki pushed her body past the limit. She promptly fell onto the hard ice below her feet. Or she would have. Instead, Todoroki deftly caught her and she slid gently into the stronghold of his arms. Their bodies molded together and it was like two puzzle pieces finally connecting. That's how right it felt as Todoroki held Serenity within his arms. He could have held onto her forever if it wasn't for the godforsaken tracker alerting that they had little time left.
Todoroki sighed inwardly, knowing that this moment was over. He scooped up Serenity within his arms.
"Todoroki-kun! What are you doing?!" Serenity protested as her weak limbs tried and failed to push herself away from the boy.
"Carrying you," he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"I can walk just fine!"
"Really?" And without another word, he let go of his hold on her. "Eeek!" She unceremoniously shrieked as her feeble limbs desperately shot out to cling onto Todoroki. The half-and-half boy smirked.
The blonde blushed profusely at her current predicament. "Okay, maybe I can't walk or move any of my limbs."
"Come on." Todoroki said as he turned around and bent down, gesturing her to climb onto his shoulders. Serenity silently agreed to piggyback onto Todoroki and pushed through her embarrassment of having to accept his offer. Once in position, she sighed in relief, letting her body melt into Todoroki's firm, muscular form. She let her head fall on Todoroki's left side, unconsciously seeking his warmth.
He shivered as her warm breath caressed his scar. This was the first time that anyone had ever been so close to this part of him that only reminded him of his failures.
Not realizing that Serenity was drifting of, lulled to sleep by her exhaustion and Todoroki's warmth, he asked her something that had been bugging him since the battle had begun.
"Tsukino-san."
Serenity scoffed lightly at the "san". When was he going to stop being so formal?
"Yes, Todoroki-kun," she said, not hiding her exhaustion. Her soft words were so close to Todoroki's ears that it sent a shiver down his spine.
"How come you hadn't tried to manipulate my fire and ice like you do with your own elements?"
"Cause it's yours." Serenity said it like it was the most obvious truth in the world. "Your power is so inherently yours that I could never control them even if I become the greatest elemental hero in the world." And with that Serenity fell asleep without another word.
A smile graced Todoroki's face.
