"Damn it..." Katsuki grumbled holding his forearms in pain as they finally escaped from the Beast's forest and made their way to the camp site. All of Class 1-A limped forward from the exhaustion of using their Quirks for eight hours straight.
"And that was supposed to take three hours?" Hitoshi grumbled as he and Koji held their throats in pain from having screamed to use their abilities for so long.
"Sorry, kitties! That's the time it would've taken us." Pixie Bob said looking at the exhausted students.
"Now you're just saying you're better than us." Kyoka noted as she was helping Mina stand up straight.
"I'm so hungry...I'm gonna die..." Eijiro groaned making Pixie Bob giggle.
"I honestly thought you were going to take longer. You guys didn't have as hard a time beating my earth beasts as I thought you would. All of you are great!" Pixie Bob said before turning to the small group of Tenya, Izuku, Hayato, Katsuki, and Shoto. "Especially you five! You were the ones going through my beasts with less trouble than the rest!"
"The fuck is this bitch going on about...?" Katsuki grumbled crossing his arms. 'I was only trying to kill those things to get out of there as fast as possible, these other losers were just doing what they usually do.' The five tensed up as they saw her lick her lips.
"I'm looking forward to where you'll be in three years! I call dibs!" Pixe Bob yelled running up to them making the class watch in confusion while Ochaco and Momo scowled from jealousy.
"Mandalay...was she always like that?" Aizawa asked pointing to the older woman trying to flirt with his students.
"She's a little desperate, she's at the age to take a mate." Mandalay explained trying to hide her embarrassment from what her teammate was doing.
"Speaking of age-" Izuku was cut off by Pixie Bob covering his face with her hands, her claws now ready to dig into the boy's head, while Hayato covered his face and groaned in disappointment.
"What about it?"
"I-I've been wondering..." He raised his arm and pointed forward to the boy that had arrived with the two heroes. "Whose kid is that?"
"Oh, he's not of ours. He's my cousin's kid and I'm his guardian." Mandalay explained as she motioned to the boy. "Come on, Kota, say hi. You'll be with them for the next week." Pixie Bob let go of Izuku and he walked over to the little boy, smiling as he got ready to introduce himself.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya from U.A.'s hero course. Nice to meet you." He bent down and extended his hand for Kota to shake it. But when the boy raised his hand, he balled it into a fist and drove it into Izuku's crotch, shocking both Ochaco and Hayato as he fell over from the pain.
"Midoriya! How dare you do that?!" Tenya yelled as he ran up to his friend and caught him before he could hit the ground. "Why would you hit poor Midoriya in his scrotum?!"
"I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to become heroes!" Kota growled as he turned to glare at Tenya.
"Intend? Just how old are you, kid?!"
"Kid's got spunk." Katsuki chuckled at the sight in front of him while Shoto just looked at him.
"Isn't he your mini-me?"
"Who the fuck asked you?!" Katsuki yelled turning to him.
"Well if I wanted nephews, that's gone now." Hayato chuckled before turning his attention to Kota. 'Something feels familiar about this kid...'
"Hey, Kota. Can I talk to you?" Hayato asked as they had just finished their dinner and the rest of his classmates were going to get ready to go to the bath. But he had seen the little boy walking and decided to talk to him.
"I don't intend to-"
"Yeah, I heard you before. But I'm not here to be your friend, I just wanna tell you something."
"Is it a threat for me hitting your BOYFRIEND before?"
"How about I just say it now before I lose my patience." Hayato reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver necklace with a silver ring on it. "This is my grandpa's necklace that he gave to me a long time ago, he was the guy who raised me because I didn't have parents growing up and now that he's gone: I keep it on me when I feel alone and like I have no one talk to." He explained as he knelt down and opened Kota's hand to place the necklace inside of it. "I'm gonna lend it to you for the week so that you know that if you ever need to get something off your chest or just ask for some help, I'll be right here to help you out."
"What makes you think I want to talk to someone like you?" Kota spat out as he closed his hand to try to crush the necklace in it.
"I don't think that, I just want to let you know that you're not alone." Hayato said placing a hand on the boy's head before standing up to walk away. Once he did to go change, Kota looked at what he had given him and considered throwing it away in the trash can next to him. But instead he put it in his pocket and decided to go to his room.
"So you actually gave him Kazuma's necklace?" Izuku asked as they all met up with Aizawa at the crack of dawn the next day. Hayato nodded and made a shushing motion as their teacher begin to talk.
"Good morning. Today, we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest. The goal of this training camp is to increase everyone's strength and with that, for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses. It is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming more real by the minute. So Bakugo, try throwing that." Aizawa said giving his introduction to his students before taking out the softball from their first day and throwing it to Katsuki.
"This is from the fitness test..."
"Your previous record, from right after the school year started, was 705.2 meters. Let's see how well you do." Aizawa said making the boy walk forward and get ready to throw the ball.
"Oh, we're checking our progress?" Mina asked excitedly.
"Since a lot's happened in these past three months, we should be a lot stronger!" Hanta yelled exciting the rest of the class.
"Go, Bakugo!" Eijiro yelled cheering on his friend.
"All right then...GO TO HELL!" Katsuki reeled back and threw the ball with an explosion behind it, creating a hard bust of wind that surprised everyone except for the two he grew up with. He smirked victoriously as the ball went flying off into the distance before Aizawa cleared his throat.
"709.6 meters." Katsuki's eyes widened as their teacher took out his phone to show the distance the ball went shocking the entire class.
"It's less than I thought..."
"It's been about three months since you started school. Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with a slight increase in your stamina. But as you can see, your Quirks haven't improved much themselves. That's why we'll start working on improving them today." Aizawa said as his menacing smile grew on his face, making his class tense up from fear at what he had planned. "It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die."
'Damn it...' Hayato stopped running to take a deep breath as Tenya ran past him. It was already late into the morning and Class 1-B had already joined their class in their training and he already felt weak from running for so long. He looked around to see a giant explosion firing into the air while spikes of ice kept forming and being melted by a wall of fire almost immediately after. He sat down to catch his breath before hearing footsteps behind him.
"Exhausted?" He turned around to see Mandalay walking up to him and he shook his head. 'It's fine you know, Eraser already told us all about your abilities.'
"You're talking in my head?" Hayato asked as he heard her voice but she kept her mouth closed as she looked on at the training below them.
'I don't see why not, but it's mainly because I want to ask you about something and I know it's something I shouldn't ask Eraser.'
"What is it?"
'I heard your little talk with Kota last night...can I ask why you did that?'
"You said that you're his guardian so I guessed that he didn't have parents. I grew up the same way and I could tell that he was angry about it, so I wanted to let him know that he wasn't alone if he felt like it." Hayato explained standing up and crossing his arms as he remembered his childhood. "I gave him the last thing my grandpa left me so he understood that much at least, at least he didn't hit me in the balls for trying to be his friend."
'It's not just that...Kota's parents were heroes, and they died in the line of duty.' His eyes widened as Mandalay looked towards their building with sadness in her eyes. 'They died protecting civilians from a villain attack, and for a hero it would be honorable to give your life to protect others...but for a kid his age, with no sense of the world around him, he never saw it that way. He felt as if parents abandoned him and because of that, the outlook of heroes changed in his mind forever. That's why he attacked Midoriya and has seemed rude to you all, even to us it seems like he doesn't like us.'
"Wow...I had no idea..."
'I already talked to Midoriya about this to apologize to him for what happened yesterday. And I'd like to apologize for the way he talked to you too.' Mandalay looked down at the ground as she could feel Kota's cold stare for trying to scold him the day before.
"It's fine, Mandalay. A kid like him...if he didn't hate the world for what happened, I would be more worried than I already am." Hayato explained cracking his neck. "I don't think he hates you either." The hero looked up to look at the boy as he smiled at her. "You've fed him, clothed him, given him a roof to sleep under...he might not say it, but Kota probably cares a lot about you. Let's just hope that the week we're here, I can try getting through to him the way my friends did to me when I was mourning my grandpa."
"Thanks for the food!" All forty students after spending a grueling day training looked at the plates filled with curry and rice in front of them and began to dig into their plates after spending their afternoons having to make it themselves, after a typical pep talk from Tenya of course.
"If I got this at a restaurant, I wouldn't be very happy, but in this situation: it's delicious!" Eijiro yelled as he tore through his dinner.
"Don't say that! It's rude!" Hanta yelled as he was eating just as fast as his friend.
"Yaomomo, you eat a lot, huh?" Mina asked turning around to look at her friend who was quickly eating her food as well.
"Of course. My Quirk turns lipids into various atoms to create things, so the more I eat: the more I can make." Momo explained before continuing to eat.
"It's like-" Hanta froze up halfway through his comment as he felt bloodlust begin to grow from the white haired boy sitting in front of them.
"Like what, Sero?" Hayato asked calmly making Hanta gulp. He raised an eyebrow and began to drum his fingers on the table, now scaring their other friends sitting with them.
"Like t-totally cool!" Hanta yelled giving a terrified thumbs up while the boy nodded.
"Kota, it's time for dinner! Kota!" Mandalay's call for the boy made both Izuku and Hayato sit up and look around before seeing the boy disappear into the forest.
'...if you ever need to get something off your chest or just ask for some help, I'll be right here to help you out...' Kota sat on a cliff and looked at the stars above as his conversation with Hayato the night before was on replay in his mind. He placed a hand on his stomach feeling it growl before hearing footsteps behind him.
"You're hungry, aren't you?" He turned his head and began to growl as Izuku walked up to him with a plate of the curry they made in his hands. "You can eat this."
"You...! How'd you find this place?!" Kota yelled jumping to his feet and got ready to attack the boy in front of him.
"Oh, sorry. I followed your footsteps..." Izuku apologized as he continued walking up to the boy. "I thought maybe you'd want something to eat..."
"I'm fine. I don't need any. I told you, didn't I? I don't intend to hang out with you." Kota growled as he relaxed slightly from the older boy's kindness. "Get away from my secret hideout."
"Your secret hideout?"
"Getting all into trying to improve your Quirk. It's gross. You want to show off your power that badly?" Kota asked making Izuku look down at his feet.
"Your parents..."
"...they were Water Hose, weren't they?" The two looked to see Hayato walking up behind Izuku with two water bottles in his hands. Kota gritted his teeth and ran behind Izuku to redirect his anger to him.
"Did Mandalay tell you?!" Kota yelled stopping Hayato in his tracks. He sighed and shrugged while keeping his attention on the younger boy.
"I wound up hearing about it, and based off what she said, I figured it out." Hayato explained before looking up to Izuku. "And the same happened with you, didn't it?" Hayato asked earning a nod from his best friend.
"It was an unfortunate incident. I remember hearing about it."
"Shut up...both of you. Calling each other stupid names like heroes and villains, killing each other for no reason...showing off their Quirks like a circus...it's because of that...it's because of that that everything is like this..."
'It's not just heroes...' Hayato looked at the boy in surprise before remembering his childhood with Izuku.
'Kota hates Quirks...and the superhuman society itself...' Izuku looked back at why Stain and Blitz became villains before turning to Hayato.
"What is it? If there's nothing else, then go away!" Kota yelled grabbing a rock and throwing it at Hayato. The rock hit him in the head and scraped him, but Hayato simply chuckled and sat down. "I said, go away!"
"Kota...I'll leave but I wanna talk to you first. Izuku, if you wanna stay and help me out: you can. If not: go back to camp." Hayato said surprising both boys before Izuku nodded and sat down as well.
'I hope you know what you were doing with what you said last night, Hayato...' Izuku looked up as Tenya and Hayato dashed past the training area for the two classes with the conversation he had with Kota the night before still fresh in his mind. It was already nearing the middle of the day and he could feel his muscles screaming in pain. With his training being watched over by Tiger, the only male and combat-oriented member of the Pussycats, he was being forced to do the same aerobic exercises to try to train his muscles even further.
"Hey, everyone!" All forty students turned hearing Pixie Bob call out to them. "Tonight, we'll have a test of courage with the classes pitted against each other! After training hard, you can play hard! So, do your best right now!"
"Alright so we've washed our dishes and filled our bellies! Next..." Pixie Bob began as nightfall quickly came following their dinner that night.
"It's time for the test of courage!" Mina cheered before Aizawa walked up to her and Denki.
"Before that, it pains me to say this, but the two of you are going to have your extra lessons with me now." Aizawa said as his cloth wrapped itself around both students to stop them from escaping.
"You're kidding me!"
"Your training during the day wasn't good enough, so I have to use this time." Aizawa explained before dragging the two back to the building. The Wild Wild Pussycats cleared their throats to get the students' attention gain.
"Okay, so Class B will be the first to be the scarers. Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names written on them in the middle of the route, so bring those back with you." Pixie Bob explained as she and her other three teammates stood in front of the students. "Those being the scarers aren't allowed to make direct contact. Show us how scary you can be using your Quirks."
"The class that makes the most people piss their pants with creativity and imagination wins!" Tiger yelled amusing his teammates except for Mandalay.
"Now, you'll draw lots to determine your partners!" Pixie Bob reached into her pocket and pulled out a handful of paper strips with numbers on them. The 18 left of Class 1-A walked up and pulled from the strips in her hands, quickly finding their teammates.
Team 1: Mezo and Fumikage
Team 2: Katsuki and Shoto
Team 3: Toru and Kyoka
Team 4: Momo and Yuga
Team 5: Ochaco and Tsuyu
Team 6: Mashirao and Tenya
Team 7: Koji and Hanta
Team 8: Izuku and Eijiro
Team 9: Hitoshi and Hayato
"Hey, Tail! Switch with me!" Katsuki placed a hand on Mashirao's shoulder and pointed at Shoto who looked at him with a bored expression. "I said, switch with me!"
"What did you just call me...?" Mashirao asked himself quietly as he tried escaping from Katsuki's grasp.
"This is gonna be awesome, isn't it Midoriya?!" Eijiro asked wrapping an arm around Izuku's neck.
"Of all people..." Hitoshi grumbled looking at Hayato.
"Alright, fifth team! Asui-kitty and Uraraka-kitty, go!" Pixie Bob yelled as the faint screams of Toru and Kyoka could be heard from afar. The two girls walked into the forest while the remaining eight students looked on.
"Kiryuu, you seem to have no objections to us being on a team together." Hitoshi said walking up to Hayato.
"No offense, but as much as you get on my nerves whenever you open your damn mouth: I'm fine being a team with you if it's just for a little while." Hayato responded keeping his attention towards the sky.
"Wait...does anybody else smell that?" Eijiro asked taking a quick whiff of the air, feeling the faint smell of something burning. "It smells like...fire."
"You think Bakugo got pissed and lit something up?" Hanta asked as the group all began to feel the burning smell as well.
"We would've heard the explosion." Tenya noted before they saw blue embers in the distance. "A forest fire?!" Then suddenly Pixie Bob began to glow pink and flew away from them, making her teammates try to catch her. But then she was stopped in mid-air as a giant magnet bar was slammed down on her head, pushing it into the ground.
"These pet cats are in the way." The group took a step back as a lizard-man with pink hair dressed similarly to stain and what seemed like a muscular man holding the magnet bar and Pixie Bob in place walked up to them.
"Pixie Bob!" Izuku yelled as he tried to run to help the hero. But Tiger and Mandalay stopped him and took steps forward to face the villains.
"This is bad..." Mandalay whispered before a thought crossed her mind. "Kota...where is he?"
"Kota?" Izuku and Hayato looked at the woman in shock before remembering Kota walking off again during dinner. They looked at each other and nodded before taking in the appearance of the lizard man.
'Stain...'
"How are you this fine evening, U.A. High school? We are the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains!" The lizard man yelled taking a step closer to the group.
"Ragdoll...get the students to safety." Tiger said to their green haired teammate who nodded and looked at the remaining students.
"Let's go, kitties!"
"The League of Villains..." Hayato growled as he remembered when he had met Tomura the night they had fought Blitz. He then noticed the other man beginning to crush Pixie Bob's head with his weapon making him step forward angrily. "Let go of her!"
"Shall I crush this girl's head? What do you think?"
"Like hell, I'd let you do that!" Tiger yelled clenching his fists.
"Wait, Big Sis Mag! You too, Tiger! It all depends on whether having power over life and death follows Stain's tenets or not." The lizard man yelled jumping in front of his comrade.
"Stain?! What do you know about Stain?!" Izuku yelled as he remembered facing off against the villain over a month ago.
"I'm his biggest fan! And I know who you are, you guys are the ones he couldn't bring himself to finishing off!" The lizard man yelled before reaching bhind him, revealing a colossal sword made of several swords being held together. "Sorry for the late introduction: I'm Spinner, the one who'll finish what Stain started!"
"Finish what he started?" Hayato asked himself quietly before realizing Spinner was keeping his attention towards him and Izuku. "Shit."
"Protecting the students is our number one priority! And for damaging Pixie Bob's face...while she so desperately looks for a mate at her age...I will make you two pay!" Tiger yelled as his claws began to grow out of his gloves.
"Ragdoll, get them out NOW!" Mandalay yelled raising her fists.
"Come on!" Ragdoll yelled as she began to lead the students away. But they stopped as they saw Hayato and Izuku stay behind ready to run.
"Kiryuu! Midoriya! What are you two doing?!" Tenya yelled as the two turned to Mandalay.
"Mandalay, we know where Kota is!" Izuku yelled catching the woman's attention.
"What?!"
"We'll go get him! All of you, get back to the others!" Hayato yelled before they ran off as fast as they could without using their Quirks. Eijiro and Hitoshi nodded at each other and followed them.
"What are the two of you doing?!" Hanta asked making them turn to look at them.
"They're our teammates!" Hitoshi yelled as he cleared his throat.
"We can't just ditch them during this test of courage! That would be unmanly!" Eijiro yelled as the four of them disappeared into the woods.
"Damn it...what are we going to do?" Hayato asked stopping Izuku as they knew they were only halfway to Kota's hideout. "Lizard boy called themselves the Vanguard Action SQUAD, there's obviously going to be more of them around here."
"I know...but we can't just abandon Kota!"
"I'm not saying we should leave him behind! But, we need to think about the others! Our friends, Ochaco, Momo, Class 1-B, they're all out there in danger from this fire and that purple smoke!" Hayato yelled as Hitoshi and Eijiro caught up to them.
"He's right. Bakugo and the others are tough but they're in serious trouble." Eijiro added making Izuku grit his teeth and look forward, knowing Kota's hiding spot was nearby.
"Midoriya, we need to think about this clearly. Is one boy worth leaving all of them behind?" Hitoshi asked crossing his arms. The two best friends looked at each other and nodded.
"He isn't, that's why the three of you will go help the others." Izuku said activating One for All. "I'm going to go get Kota and take him back to camp, I'll join up with you three once I've done that."
"Be careful, we're still just students against full fledged criminals." Hayato said placing a hand on his brother's shoulder. Izuku nodded and ran off towards the cliff before the white haired boy turned to his classmates. "Come on, we need to find the others."
"Kiryuu." Hitoshi spoke up stopping Hayato and Eijiro from turning back around towards the flame filled area. "Midoriya is just as useful as you are when it comes to this, we should wait for him."
"Shinso's kinda right...Midoriya has been coming out on top over you even if it's just a little bit." Eijiro said placing a hand on Hayato's shoulder. Hayato simply clenched his fist and activated his Quirk before facing the two.
"You guys wanna know the truth?" The two of them nodded hesitantly as Hayato's eyes were now brightly shining white. "I've been holding back, I've been trying to keep myself at Izuku's level so that the more his Quirk grows: the more he'll try improving himself naturally instead of feeling he has to compete with me and hurting himself. I'm a lot faster than I've been letting on, Izuku is nowhere near what I can do now after everything I've been through lately. I'm not the strongest person in class but if I need to let loose now to save our friends, then I'm going to say fuck it and show these bastards that they're missing with the wrong class." Hayato said taking a step forward with Eijiro and Hitoshi confidently following him. 'Sir, you taught me a lot more that week than I've been letting on, I'm not going to let you down after the work you did for me.'
"Hey, Chizome, can you believe this?" Blitz asked as he and Stain stood on a cliff looking at the purple cloud of gas and the raging blue inferno tearing through the forest beneath them.
"Of course I can, the brat's league likes making a stupid show like this." Stain growled crossing his arms. "We came here so you can keep an eye on the kid, and now we're looking at this mess."
"Reminds me of the day I became the Speed Hunter. How nostalgic." Blitz said with a chuckle before cracking his neck. "If we get involved, there's a chance we could be arrested too."
"But, does that mean we should let those innocent kids get hurt because another fucking brat is angry?" Stain asked turning to his new partner. "We were heroes once, except I was a vigilante and you were an actual pro."
"Once, but not anymore." Blitz replied before raising his claw to his face. "But you make a good argument. After all, that sadistic bastard is here too."
"Him? Muscular is here?" Stain asked earning a nod from the man next to him. "What we did...we had reasons behind it, but Muscular just kills like its a game to him. How do you know he's here?"
"I left a little bug in that bar, and I know each and every person that Shigaraki sent here." Blitz explained before the two of them got ready to jump. "Those kids really left a good impression on you to try to be a hero one more time."
"I just hate the League more than I hate whatever fake heroes are down there, so are we going?"
"Let's go." Blitz nodded and the two of them jumped down into the forest below.