The bus ride to the camp was… uneventful. Kaminari, Sero and Kirishima were teasing Bakugou for the entire trip, as they blasted three different songs out of their phones at the same time. Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Asui and Jiro were talking about something or another.
Midoriya was sitting between Shinsou. They were originally talking about support items that they might end up using, and Midoriya had started babbling about circuits and tasers until the bus ran over a speed bump. Midoriya accidentally bashed his head into the window, and he was sheepishly rubbing his head as everyone wondered where the loud sound came from.
Then he ended up falling asleep. The rest of the bus ride was smooth, but Midoriya's head kept bumping into the window, so Shinsou pulled the smaller boy towards himself to lean on his shoulder. Midoriya ended up latching onto Shinsou's arm, snorting lightly, but Shinsou didn't really care. He knew that Midoriya had spent the past few days before the training camp pushing himself as he tried to make himself stronger, and barely slept. He was glad that Midoriya was finally resting, even if it wasn't very helpful.
Ashido was teasing them, though. A lot. And she took a lot of pictures. She was sitting right up front with Hagakure, and they both were giggling as they reached back to ruffle Shinsou's hair, and found it very, very amusing when the purple haired boy tried to swat their hands away without moving too much.
They eventually made a stop at some cliff.
Mineta was screeching about using the bathroom, as everyone was stretching from being cooped up in the bus for so long. Midoriya rubbed his eyes as he yawned, and Bakugou's eye twitched when he heard his joints popping as he stretched.
Jeez, just how stiff was Deku?!
"Ne, Aizawa-sensei, where's 1-B?" Midoriya asked, looking around.
"There's no point in stopping without reason." Aizawa grumbled.
The doors of black car that was parked next to their bus popped, open. "Long time no see, Eraser Head!"
"The Wild Wild Pussycats!?" Midoriya yelped, his eyes shining, though they weren't as bright as they were before. Aizawa swallowed. He knew those eyes will never be as bright as they were when Nezu offered him a place in UA. They will never be as bright as the time when he saw Shinsou on his first day, or when he realised his entire class was perfectly fine and supportive of him even though he was quirkiness.
Midoriya was scared of being pushed away again. He was scared that the heroes that he admired and looked up too would push him away like the general public.
"Oh! It's Midoriya Izuku, right!" Sosaki grinned. "You were Uzuki, right? Nice to finally meet you in person."
"You know me!?" Midoriya shrieked.
"Of course we do!" Tsuchikawa smiled, "We were enlisted to help find Vlad King and Midnight that time, you know. And then when you disappeared as well, I swear, Eraser and Present mic were close to panicking!"
"You did!?" Midoriya turned to Aizawa, his eyes sparking much brighter than before. Not only because the Pussycats seems perfectly okay with him. Aizawa could feel a bough of teasing coming up. "I didn't know you cared so much, Shou-chan!"
"Shou-chan! Oh my god, that's a better nickname than we came up with in high school!" Sosaki laughed.
"Stop calling me that." Aizawa groaned.
"Okay. I'll call you Dadzawa then." Midoriya grinned.
Aizawa sighed, "These are the heroes that will be working with us over the course of this training camp."
"They're a four-person agency hero team that set up a joint agency! They're a veteran team that specialises in mountain rescues!" Midoriya blurted out.
"We own this stretch of land," Sosaki pointed, "You'll be staying at the foot of that mountain!"
"Eh! Why did we stop here then?" Uraraka asked.
Midoriya blinked. Why did they stop here? It was completely illogical of Aizawa….. and Tsuchikawa's quirk allowed her to manipulate earth however she pleased…
"It's nine thirty in the morning. If you're fast, maybe around noon?" Sosaki's claws glinted, and Kirishima yelped, "Not good! Let's get back!"
"Back to the bus!" Ashido screamed.
"Kittens who don't make it back by twelve thirty don't get lunch!" She grinned.
All the students raced to the bus, all save for Midoriya. Shinsou just stood back beside Aizawa, completely confused. If Midoriya wasn't panicking, then it wouldn't be that bad.
Midoriya was busy looking out for Tsuchikawa. She had disappeared… and he was wondering where she was….
There.
Tsuchikawa jumped down between the bus and the students, "Training has already begun!"
Before she could activate her quirk, Midoriya had already rammed into her, knocking the rescue hero off her feet. He quickly pinned her to the ground, hands behind her back, preventing her hands from making any contact with the ground.
"Get off me!" She screeched.
Midoriya faced Aizawa and whined, "Shou-chan! Knocking us off a cliff is not training! It's murder!"
"It's training." Aizawa shrugged. He walked up, and picked Midoriya up by the collar.
"I'm not a cat! Shou-chan, put me down!"
"No. Problem Child."
"Oh! I love this kid!" Tsuchikawa grinned, as she rubbed her sore arms. "Nice job seeing that ruse we pulled. But seriously though, you guys need training."
She activated her quirk, and blasted everyone save for Aizawa, Shinsou and Midoriya off the cliff. Shinsou had jumped back in time and Aizawa literally had to restrain Midoriya in his capture weapon to prevent him from running after Tsuchikawa again.
"Hey! Since it's private land, you can use your quirks as you wish!" Sosaki grinned, yelling down the cliff, "You have three hours! Come to camp on your own two feet! After getting through the Beast's Forest!"
"BEASTS!? YOU GUYS ARE EVIL!" Midoriya screeched, when Aizawa finally let him out.
"Well, the two smart ones don't have to go through it I guess?" Tsuchikawa scratched her head, "Ne, Eraser, what should we do with em?"
"Toshi!"
"Gotcha." Shinsou grinned, as they both leapt down the cliff to join the others.
"Nothing, apparently." Sosaki laughed, before she turned serious, "I have to say, I wasn't expecting him to be so bubbly and happy. With all the media and shit, I was expecting him to be uh…"
"Broody and grumpy?" Aizawa asked.
The two cat heroes nodded.
He sighed, "Honestly, he thinks the world is justified to think he's a monster. He's trying to make himself appear kind and friendly to show everyone that he's not scary, but that's just how he is naturally. He can't hate anyone. The fact that you acknowledged him probably made him really happy as well."
Kota just stared at the vigilante who had jumped down. He knew the rumours surrounding the teen.
"Monster."
"Freak."
"Put a leash on him."
"What if he goes rogue?"
Kota didn't understand.
His parents were gone. The villains killed them. The world killed them. They abandoned him. They chose their jobs over him. Kota hated heroes and villains for using their flashy powers, but here was a person who didn't have powers, yet making as much of a bang, or even more, than regular heroes. Midoriya's father hated him. Tried to kill him directly, on live television. The world hated him, for being quirkless. For not having a power that was flashy and loud and utterly destructive.
Why did he still want to help and save people that hated him?
"Guys! These monsters are made with Pixie-Bob's quirk! We need to break em!" Midoriya yelled, as he grabbed Mineta and yanked him out of the way as Koda tried to use his quirk on the earthen beasts. Todoroki blasted the monsters with ice, restraining them, as Bakugou and Iida blasted them apart with brute force.
"Jeez! You guys were safe up there! Why did you come down?" Jiro yelled, as she barely dodged a beast and plugged her earphone jacks into the ground, creating a small shockwave that barely slowed the beast down.
"To help you guys!" Midoriya yelled, "Yaoyorozu-san, can you make Jiro-san a speaker?"
"On it! And call me Momo! It's easier!" She yelled, as a speaker slowly emerged from her arm.
Midoriya whipped out his retractable staff from his pocket and smashed a monster's arm off. Jiro blasted the monster to bits with her new speaker.
"Wait, you brought that thing? Where the heck did you keep it - never mind. Next thing we know, you brought an entire set of knives here." Sero sighed as his tape wrapped around the wing of another earthen husk, bringing it down.
"How did you know that?" Midoriya asked, as he smashed another apart.
"Wait, you actually brought a set of knives here?" Kaminari yelped as he ran from another beast that Shoji and Sato ended up blasting apart.
"Well, duh." Midoriya replied, "I had no idea where the heck we were going. Why wouldn't I bring a set of knives?"
"You're too paranoid..." Kirishima sighed, "It's a training camp. We're probably safe. Actually, scratch that, we're going to die." He yelled as he punched the leg of a monster.
"But paranoia is good. And he was a vigilante. Paranoia is probably what kept him alive this entire time, kero." Asui said, as she flung another earthen beast away.
"This camp just feels bad!" Midoriya whined. "Kacchan, gimmie a boost!"
Bakugou snorted, but he swerved to the side when Midoriya leapt in his direction, placing his palms at Midoriya's feet as pushed him in the direction of another earth monster, adding an explosion and propelling the green haired boy forward. Midoriya crashed staff first into the beast, smashing it to bits.
"Where's the camp?" Shinsou asked as he leapt of the way of another monster and hacked it's arm off with the metal staff that Yaoyorozu had made for him.
"Over there!" Jiro and Shoji pointed in some direction, "I hear someone called Tiger or something."
"Yep! That's another member of the Wild Wild Pussycats!" Midoriya confirmed. "Sho-kun, Kacchan, take the front and blast em! Shoji-kun, can you grab Mineta-kun and keep a lookout? Mineta-kun, stick the beasts together and limit their movement. Jiro-san, can you make sure we're going in the right direction?"
He got a chorus of "Got it!"s from his classmates, as he continued giving out orders and dragging Kaminari away from shocking the monsters. "Momo-san! Help me with Denki-kun!"
The female was by his side in and instant as they charged forward as a group. "Can you make metal knives or something and throw them at the monsters. They should be able to redirect Denki-kun's electricity and prevent him from shocking us! Tsu-san, get Uraraka-san in close for her to use her quirk on the monsters! Keep going Sero-kun!"
Needless to say, the Wild Wild Pussycats were impressed to see the entire 1-A group back at the camp early at two in the afternoon.
"What do you mean, three hours?" Sato groaned.
"Sorry, it would have taken us three hours!" Tsuchikawa grinned.
"So you're just trying to gloat?" Shinsou grumbled.
"Honestly, we thought you'd get back at night or something," Sosaki smiled, "You guys didn't have much of a problem beating the earth beasts, and you worked together very well."
"Izuku is the one that assigned everyone partners and told us how to get through the forest!" Iida raised his hand.
"It's not just me! You guys were awesome as well! Against these earth monsters I was practically useless!" Midoriya tried to hide behind Shinsou in embarrassment, only for everyone else in the class to laugh.
Tsuchikawa began swarming Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki, Shinsou and Iida, when Midoriya pointed out Kota, "Who's kid is that?"
"Oh. That's our cousin's kid. Kota, come greet everyone! You'll be with them for the next week."
Midoriya looked at the smaller child. He saw eyes that were filled with anger and hatred.
He softened, and walked towards him, "Hi. My name's Midoriya Izuku. From UA's hero course. Nice to meet you."
Kota growled, and aimed a punch at Midoriya, but before he could make any contact, Midoriya gently caught his hand, "Hey, that's not really nice, you know?" Kota pulled his arm away, "I don't intend to hang out with people who want to be heroes!"
"Heh! I like that brat!" Bakugou grinned.
"Isn't he kind of like you?" Todoroki asked.
"What! Not at all!"
"Enough. Grab your stuff off the bus. Then we'll have something to eat at the cafeteria. After that, take a shower and take a break for the rest of today." Aizawa muttered, just as another bus pulled up.
Kan exited the bus, rubbing his head, "Jeez. The bus ride was a headache."
"Nice to see you got here in one piece." Aizawa grunted.
"Tch." Kan grumbled, as the 1-B students filed out of the bus, and eyed the tired 1-A students, "You made em go through the forest?"
"Yep!" Tsuchikawa waved, "We even set my earth beasts after them!"
"Just hurry up. I think the students are starving." Aizawa grumbled.
Kaminari, Tetsutetsu and Kirishima were gobbling down food like there was no tomorrow.
"Why are you guys even eating so much! You took the bus!" Ashido groaned.
"We kinda skipped lunch." Kendo said, "The bus driver got lost and the road got blocked by a villain fight on the way here."
"Izuku!" Tokage grinned, as she pushed Midoriya's head down and ruffled his hair.
"Hey! No! Stop!" Midoriya yelped, but didn't make any move to make her stop.
Monoma and Shinsou seemed to get along pretty well, talking about their quirks and how other people used to perceive them before they met Midoriya. "You know... no one really told me my quirk was useful before." Monoma gave a small smile, "I was always the copy cat. Always the person who was useless until I copied someone else. The first time I used my quirk, the other kid panicked when I used her quirk that she forgot how to use her own. She thought I stole her quirk."
Shinsou sighed, "That's better than being called a villain all the time."
"True."
Kodai, Shiozaki, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Jiro had huddled into a group, and Shoji, Tokoyami and Sato had ended up in a conversation with Shishida and Bondo.
"So, earth monsters?" Yanaji asked.
"Yeah! Pixie-Bob's quirk allows her to control the earth! She threw all of us off the rest stop and set earth monsters after us!" Midoriya pipped up, though his usually enthusiasm was somewhat subdued around the unfamiliar 1-B students, "I wonder how she made them fly though. Earth is rather heavy."
"You tackled her the first time though," Kaminari pointed out, "Aizawa-sensei had to restrain you before she blasted us off."
"Yeah. And you and Shinsou were still up there, before you decided to jump down and join us!" Uraraka grinned.
Shinsou pointed his finger at Midoriya, "He made me."
"Toshi! You didn't put up much of a fight when I told you to!" Midoriya whined, lightly shoving the taller boy away. Shinsou just pushed him back, and both of them ended up in a weird pushing contest to shove the other off their chair.
Everyone sweat dropped at the childish display.
"What are you, seven?" Aizawa groaned.
"Hey! I had like, no friends until two years ago! Let me be a seven year old!" Midoriya yelled.
Kan gulped. Didn't Hisashi try to kill him when he was seven?
"Toshi. Help me." Midoriya whispered from inside a cubicle. "I have scars!"
Shinsou blinked. They were all going to be in the common shower, and while most of the boys had towels around their waists, none of them had scars on their upper chest. Midoriya had a ton. And that was before he had gotten nabbed, and his father tried to kill him.
"Here." Shinsou tossed him a large towel, over the door of the cubicle. The door swung open, revealing Midoriya with the towel drapped over his small frame.
"What if they start asking questions?"
"Just say you're cold or something."
The duo walked out of
"Food and stuff isn't that important. That's not what I want." Everyone turned to look at Mineta, who was starting at the wall that separated the female and the male baths. Midoriya wasn't listening. He was literally melting under the warmth of the water.
"What are you talking about?" Kirishima asked, as Kaminari splashed water at Ojiro.
"Mineta, no!" Iida yelled, bursting out of the water, but it was too late. Mineta was already climbing up the wall.
"Honestly, I'm impressed he hasn't been so perverted since the sports festival. I guess he finally lost it." Sero muttered, watching Mineta pull orb after orb off his head to climb up the wooden partition.
To their surprise, Kota popped out of nowhere and pushed Mineta off the wall. Mineta crashed into Iida and he fell over, startling Midoriya out of the warm haze of his mind. "What happened?" Midoriya asked, looking around, trying to find the source of the sound.
"Mineta climbed up the wall. Kota pushed him off. He crashed into Iida." Shinsou said.
"Thanks Kota!" Came a voice from the other side.
Kota turned around, before he yelped and toppled off the wall.
"Kota!" Midoriya yelped. He was out of the water in an instant, grabbing the child midair as he fell. He tucked into a ball, bracing himself as he landed against the ground. He rolled over, before he planted his feet against the ground and stopped himself, before he stood up, carrying Kota, who had passed out.
"Oi... Izuku... are you okay?" Kirishima's voice was heard. He sounded sick. Very sick.
Midoriya turned around to look at Kirishima in confusion, before he spotted the large towel floating in the water beside Shinsou.
Everyone could see his scars.
