warnings: none
Inko sees Izuku off at the dojo. Isozaki and Kazue are taking both Izuku and Mashirao, so he and his mom say their good-byes there, transferring Izuku's bags from Inko and Izuku's shoulders (the dojo is only a half hour's walk from their apartment, the only reason to drive would be to sleep in, and Izuku feels like it's better to just… not, considering he'll probably not be getting the chance to sleep in at all in the next week!) to the hatch of Isozaki and Kazue's car. Both boys are wearing their uniforms, although Izuku's gotten permission to forgo the tie for now. Within five minutes, Izuku and Mashirao are sitting in the back seat together, Kazue driving and Isozaki in the passenger seat as they head to U.A.
"I can't wait to see everyone's faces when they realize you're coming," the tip of Mashirao's tail is flicking back and forth, the boy actually holding the rest of it to keep it still.
"I know," Izuku signs back, grinning. "You'll be recording, right? Shinsou asked for video evidence."
"Of course," Mashirao agrees. "This week is going to be so awesome."
"It might actually kill us," Izuku agrees. "My sources say that Mr. Aizawa's planning hell for us." He smirks, something he seems to be picking up from Kayama, mostly. "Well, hell for you."
Mashirao laughs. "Shinsou's rubbing off on you."
"Not just him," Izuku replies. "Definitely Ms. Kayama, too. And Jirou."
The parents can't actually drive all the way to where the class is gathering to get on the bus, so Kazue drops them off on a side road to let them walk the rest of the way up. Mashirao hugs his moms, Isozaki yells at them to behave for their teachers, and the two of them walk the rest of the way.
They meet Sero on the way up. His face splits into a wide grin when he catches sight of them and he jogs over.
"Hey! Midoriya! You're coming!"
Izuku nods and grins back.
He can tell the exact moment Sero notices his scars. There's a falter in his smile, a bit of a wince, but thankfully nothing beyond that.
"That's super exciting," he continues. "How long have you known? You didn't say anything in the group chat!"
"Since Friday," Izuku signs. Mashirao translates. "One of my friends suggested surprising everyone and I took his advice."
"Hey, I think they had a pretty good idea," Sero says. "Start this trip off with a positive, huh?"
Mashirao nods, agreeing.
The three of them come around the corner together. The busses are there, Aizawa leaning against one in its shade with his arms crossed and head bowed. Maybe napping in place? There's commotion around the side, where the students are gathering, and Satou and Kirishima are putting people's bags under the bus. Class 1-B is gathering around the other bus.
"Hey! It's Ojiro and Sero!" That's Kaminari.
"And Midoriya!" And there's Ashido, practically screaming as she runs over. "You're coming on the trip!"
Izuku grins and nods. Ashido's actually signing hello, it's good to see you to him as she comes to a stop in front of them.
"Hello, it's good to see you too!" he replies, making sure his signs are clear and precise. He's rewarded with a bright grin from her. The rest of the class waits for them to come over, but once they're there, Izuku's hardly left alone. Satou and Kirishima take their bags, Kirishima giving him a friendly punch on the shoulder.
Bakugou ignores him.
Tokoyami is the last student to arrive, running up to them at the last moment.
"I apologize," he says, handing his luggage to Satou. "My family was extra affectionate today and I could not escape."
With everything stowed, the students are finally allowed on the bus. Kaminari's gesturing to Mashirao, so Izuku pushes him in the other boy's direction and pairs himself off with Kouda. As one of the only other students (not counting Bakugou) who's fluent in sign, he's the natural option. They find themselves sitting towards the front, with Shouji, Tokoyami, Yaoyorozu, Jirou, Todoroki, and Shiozaki sitting nearest to them, creating a bubble of quiet around Aizawa and the bus driver.
The back of the bus is the loudest, as is the natural order of things. Bakugou, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Uraraka, and Sero are all sitting back there. Those six (excepting Izuku) are the most naturally high-energy students in their class.
Nothing's on fire, though, and no one's stabbed, hit, or otherwise injured another person, so Aizawa's ignoring it.
Their bus pulls over off the highway about an hour into their trip. There's another car there at the pullout and Aizawa instructs everyone to get off the bus. They do so, the more energetic students running a few meters away.
"Midoriya," Aizawa says as Izuku walks past him. Izuku pauses, waving Kouda on. "Stick next to me."
Oh. Oh, something's happening.
The occupants of the car get out, and Izuku recognizes them immediately. Those outfits? Suddenly, things are starting to make sense. There's the electric thrum of excitement building under his skin, and he can't help it as he starts to bounce on the balls of his feet.
It's Pixie-Bob and Mandalay, along with a small, angry-looking child. The two pros introduce themselves to the class, bright smiles on their faces.
"Hey, kittens!" Mandalay says. "There's a mountain over there." She gestures at a point behind her, and, sure enough, there's a mountain over there. "You will be staying at a camp at the base of it! You have three hours to get there, using your quirks as you please!"
"You better get there before 12:30, though," Pixie-Bob adds, her lips curling into a smirk. "Or you won't get lunch!"
There's some muttering among the group until Kirishima makes a break for the bus. Pixie-Bob laughs, and wow, Izuku won't be forgetting that sound anytime soon, and suddenly, Izuku's classmates are sliding down the slope into the forest below.
"Have fun in the Forest of Beasts!" Pixie-Bob calls, waving down at the eighteen students.
"Forest of-!?" That's Kaminari, cutting himself off with a scream.
"They'll have fun dodging my quirk," Pixie-Bob says, turning towards Aizawa and Izuku and winking. Izuku can't help it; he snorts, covering his mouth with his hand. Aizawa's looking at him, an appraising look on his face, and then nods to Pixie-Bob.
"If you strain yourself today, then you won't be participating in any of the other additional activities, such as the test of courage, later this week, understand?" Aizawa addresses Izuku, who nods.
"I understand," he signs.
"Be careful," Aizawa adds. "Watch your neck."
"I know," Izuku replies, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.
"Alright, Pixie, send him down. Gently." The last word is pointed, sharp, and Pixie-Bob laughs.
"Sure thing, Eraserhead!"
Izuku's descent is much less sudden than his classmates', and once his feet touch the forest floor, he's off, jogging to catch up with them, following the trail of destruction and chaos through the trees. It doesn't take long to find them, based on the noises.
Pixie-Bob was not kidding about the Forest of Beasts thing. There are three separate, large earth creatures facing the students, each towering several meters above the class. Bakugou is already blasting towards one of them, Kirishima hot on his heels, while Ojiro and Satou are running towards another. Shiozaki makes quick work of the third, and just as it gets destroyed by her vines, another rises up, directly between Izuku and his classmates.
Thank you, Pixie-Bob, he thinks. Now he has the opportunity to make an entrance.
Which he does. The monster is bearing down on some of the less combative of his classmates—Jirou and Kouda are there, guiding an already burnt out Kaminari along while Tsuyu, Shouji, Hagakure, and Tokoyami follow up as their makeshift rear-guard of sorts. The rest of their classmates are spread out, facing down various sizes and forms of earthbeasts.
Izuku darts forward, sprinting the last couple meters between him and the beast and touching its leg with all five fingers of his right hand. His quirk activates, sending the creature flowing back into the earth it came from.
"Midori," Tsuyu says. "They sent you down separately."
"Yes," Izuku confirms. "I've been ordered not to strain or overwork myself, though. I'll stick with you!"
Kouda translates for him, his voice soft and hard to hear over the chaos of the class.
Kouda calls down birds and asks them to guide them to the lodge. Yaoyorozu pulls back, eventually, calling for them all to regroup, as they're getting spread apart, chasing earthbeasts and leaving the core group. Shiozaki's the only one who hears and listens the first time, but she screams out an order in a surprisingly loud voice, drawing back Satou, Ojiro, Uraraka, and Aoyama as well.
Either none of the others heard Shiozaki's message, or they're ignoring it.
Between Shouji and Jirou's senses and Kouda's birds, the core group of the class manages to maintain a fairly direct path towards the camp. Maybe they'll make it in time?
As they go, Shouji keeps an ear out for their classmates, as well. Bakugou's group, consisting of him, Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero, keeps getting farther and farther away from them, while Todoroki lurks around them, using his ice to help protect their flank he's on.
"I think he heard Shiozaki earlier," Izuku signs to Kouda after hearing Shouji's most recent report on the locations of their classmates. "But with his ice, maybe he's decided that it'll work better for him to be a bit further away from us? I wish he'd communicated that, though."
"I do, too," Yaoyorozu is panting as she speaks. She pauses, redoing her ponytail, catching all the flyaways.
"I think someone needs to go help Todoroki," Shouji speaks up. "He sounds like he's struggling."
As he says that, there's a blast of cold air from Todoroki's direction.
"That's struggling?" Uraraka exclaims.
"Quirk overuse, probably," Yaoyorozu says. Izuku taps her shoulder, and she turns to face him.
"I'll go," he signs. "He's stubborn, right? So am I. Also, I can prevent him from using his quirk, full-stop."
Yaoyorozu nods. "Alright. Come right back with him."
Izuku gives her a snappy mock salute and jogs off in the direction Todoroki's been hanging around in. It doesn't take long to find his trail of ice and follow it.
And oh, boy. Oh boy is Todoroki suffering from quirk overuse. Izuku can see the sheen of frost on him from here, and if he's given himself hypothermia or frostbite or something in August, then Aizawa might just actually throw him into the remedial course, honestly.
Izuku doesn't bother with pleasantries, he just knows that he needs to stop this. There's two earthbeasts facing Todoroki, who's standing there, panting, his breath fogging the air. Izuku runs in, brushing past the first earthbeast which is just turning to face him as he tags it.
"Mido—" Todoroki is cut off by Izuku's hand slapping his upper arm. Not his most graceful negation ever, but it does the job. He doesn't pause to see Todoroki's reaction, instead turning and negating the second earthbeast.
Izuku tries sign first, turning towards Todoroki. "Come on, let's get back to the group."
"I—don't know sign," Todoroki says, eyes wide as he stares at Izuku. "Why did you negate my quirk? You didn't even ask."
Izuku sighs. He can hear another earthbeast forming nearby. He takes a couple steps closer to Todoroki, leaning in so he doesn't have to try straining his voice.
"I'm sorry," he says. His voice is rough, still a little breathy, but louder than it was a couple weeks ago. "You're suffering from massive quirk exhaustion and I can't let you keep hurting yourself. Let's get back to the rest of the group."
Todoroki eyes him for a few moments. That earthbeast is coming closer, and Izuku tenses, preparing to deal with it (or run with Todoroki) when Todoroki nods.
He doesn't think, just grabs Todoroki's hand and takes off. The two of them run towards where they can hear the rest of the class fighting their way through. They run in just in time to see Uraraka release her quirk, dropping one earthbeast on two others and taking all three out.
Izuku releases Todoroki's hand, retaking his spot near Shouji and Yaoyorozu. Todoroki follows him, and ends up grouped with Kaminari, who's currently being wrangled by Hagakure.
"Just stick me with the poor idiots with quirk overuse, huh? Is that my permanent job now?" Hagakure asks.
"It's very important and I appreciate you with all my heart," Yaoyorozu replies. "Thank you for watching out for Kaminari and Todoroki."
"Okay, I guess I'm okay with it," Hagakure concedes. "But only if I'm paid in a kiss!" There's a teasing lilt in her voice, and Yaoyorozu turns red.
"O-okay," she says. "Deal."
"Wait, what?" Hagakure says. "I'm not saying I don't want it but I didn't think you'd agree to it! I was just teasing!"
"No, I'll kiss you," Yaoyorozu replies, dead serious, the blush fading.
Izuku can't see her, but he's sure that Hagakure's the one blushing now. "O-okay! That's a deal, then!"
The class continues forward, moving forward from that conversation with all the grace of a two-year-old horse on their first trail. That is, to say, none at all.
"If we are being paid in kisses," Tokoyami says, Dark Shadow blasting apart another earthbeast, "then I wish to receive mine from sweet Lord Death."
"Wow, that's dark," Uraraka says, using her quirk on a log just as Satou guzzles a sugar packet and picks it up. "If Yaoyorozu's offering kisses, then obviously I want one from her. Who wouldn't?" She releases her quirk as Satou swings the log at an earthbeast, sending the full weight of the former tree into the thing, breaking apart the log. It's a strong enough hit to damage the beast, and Ojiro finishes up with a solid hit from his tail.
"Well, I, personally, do not wish to receive a kiss from any girl at all," Tokoyami replies. "I happen to be of… other persuasions."
"Oh, okay, that's cool," Uraraka replies.
"I'm pretty sure the kiss payment is a Hagakure exclusive!" Hagakure herself snaps, shoving Kaminari forward and out of the way as an earthbeast starts forming where they were just standing. Izuku darts forward and negates it as soon as it finishes forming.
"It is," Yaoyorozu agrees. "Apologies to anyone who was feeling hopeful."
"I'm available for kiss payments," Aoyama says, posing as he fires off his navel laser into an earthbeast's head. The effect is undercut as he doubles over, arms wrapping around his stomach, a moment later.
"Oh, that's a mood," Uraraka says, looking a little queasy herself.
Kouda summons a bird down and then relays a message to Yaoyorozu, who nods.
"We're coming into the last stretch before the lodge!" she shouts. "Be ready—I'm sure Pixie-Bob is going to be throwing everything she's got at us!"
"So, you're saying we're not out of the woods yet?" Izuku asks, and Yaoyorozu snorts. Like, actually snorts. Kouda laughs, too.
"Hey, what's funny? What'd he say?" Hagakure asks.
"He said: so, you're saying we're not out of the woods yet?" Yaoyorozu replies.
Jirou groans and rolls her eyes. "That's terrible."
"I love it," Uraraka finishes, flashing a grin over her shoulder at him.
Yaoyorozu's prediction proves correct. A few tens of meters away, they're met with a veritable wall of earthbeasts. They're spread through the trees, but there's so many of them that they maybe outnumber the trees.
(Well. Okay. That's impossible. But there's just a lot of them, and Izuku doesn't exactly have time to count them.)
"Everyone, get ready!" Yaoyorozu orders.
"Can I have my quirk back?" Todoroki asks, dropping back towards Izuku, who shakes his head.
"You can have it back when you stop shivering," Izuku says. "It's been half an hour and you're still cold."
"I can fix that with my quirk," Todoroki replies, frowning.
"Then why weren't you?" Izuku asks, and they're out of time to talk as the class meets the beasts head-on.
Most of their strong fighters—Shiozaki, Satou, Ojiro, Aoyama, Uraraka—take the front line. Shiozaki could, honestly, hold that line on her own, but she's starting to slow down, sweat pouring down her forehead, vines responding just a little later than they should be. Aoyama and Uraraka both look like they're five seconds away from throwing up, and Satou and Ojiro aren't in any better shape.
The earthbeasts flank them. Tsuyu, Tokoyami and Dark Shadow take the ones coming in on their right while Shouji, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu turn to the ones on their left. That leaves Izuku hanging back with Hagakure, Todoroki, Kaminari, and Kouda.
They're all tired and exhausted, sweaty, with scratches on their faces and arms, dirt on their uniforms, and… that is a whole branch stuck in Tsuyu's hair, okay.
All of them, that is, except Izuku.
Now, yes, he's a little tired from running through a forest for hours, but he's not on the edge of quirk overuse like half his friends are. He was ordered to take it easy, yes…
But he can still take it.
He whirls and turns to Todoroki. "You're the back line. Okay?" he says. He punctuates his statement by poking the taller boy's shoulder before snapping his fingers, Todoroki's quirk releasing in a blaze of red lightning. That done, Izuku runs forward, joining the front line. He's used his quirk on four earthbeasts and Todoroki today: he has a lot of gas left in the tank.
The earthbeasts are big and slow and Izuku is small and fast. Alongside Shiozaki, Satou, and Ojiro, he tears his way through them, the four of them forming the point of their spear.
And then, he's negating the last one, and they're breaking away from the tree line. All four of the Wild, Wild Pussycats are there, along with Aizawa, who's camped in the shade of a pavilion, seemingly unconscious on a table.
All four of the Pussycats are wide-eyed and ecstatic as they watch the group come to a stop, panting. Aoyama flops to the ground with a dramatic gasp and Izuku reaches down, grabs his arm, and pulls him to his feet.
"This is only part of your class," Ragdoll says, stepping towards them and leaning forward so she's eye-to-eye with Izuku. He fights the reflex to lean away, and after a moment, she moves on to Ojiro. "The rest of them are pretty far away, huh."
"We did lose track of them a while ago," Yaoyorozu agrees. "I tried to tell everyone to stick together, but either they were too far away or they deliberately ignored me."
Mandalay nods. "We'll have to work on that later this week, then. Now, how did all of you make your way here so directly?"
As one, the class parts to gesture to Shouji, Jirou, and Kouda. Kouda and Jirou both blush and duck their head, while Shouji stands there, unaffected.
"Kouda asked birds to guide us," Yaoyorozu explains, "and Shouji and Jirou both have very good hearing."
"Good planning!" Mandalay glances over the members of the class who are there. "Ragdoll mentioned that at one point, one of you was very dangerously close to frostbite and hypothermia—"
"Todoroki," Izuku gasps, and then signs the rest of his statement. "That was Todoroki. He was overusing his quirk."
"No, he was underusing it," Aizawa says, dragging himself upright and walking over. "Todoroki's quirk is Fire and Ice."
Izuku gasps, his eyes widening. That explains so much! Around him, his classmates are also murmuring and gasping about Todoroki's quirk to each other.
"You will not be allowed to continue ignoring the use of your fire," Aizawa continues, walking forward until he's standing directly in front of Todoroki. "This camp is designed to push you to your limits. All of your limits. You have potential, Todoroki, but if you continue to neglect half your quirk, I will be required to take action."
The threat hangs.
Most of the class is probably jumping to expulsion, considering Aizawa's reputation, but as the moments pass, Izuku considers that other actions would probably be taken first: being moved into General Studies, for one.
Todoroki, however, looks absolutely shaken as Aizawa turns and walks away. Several members of the class look like they want to approach him. One of them is Uraraka, and Izuku reaches over and catches her arm (and her attention). As she looks at him, he shakes his head.
Ragdoll takes over. "So! We weren't honestly expecting you to make it here so quick. And within the three hours Pixie-Bob gave you, too! You chewed right through her earthbeasts! Talk to me about your strategy. Please remember to raise your hands and speak one-at-a-time—I'm also keeping an eye on your other classmates who are still making their way here, so I can't be super distracted!"
"You, first," Ragdoll points at Yaoyorozu. "You're Class Representative Yaoyorozu, correct? Oh, and please introduce yourself the first time you speak!"
"Yes, I am," Yaoyorozu says. "And, uh, well, we were a little surprised when we were thrown off a cliff. I think we recovered well. We split up off the bat, but once Midoriya showed up, I realized we should probably stick close together through the forest so no one got separated, but, well, obviously that didn't quite work…" she trailed off at the end, looking down and twirling a lock of hair around her finger.
"Hey, that's okay!" Ragdoll grins. "You got most of your class here without any major injuries! You did a good job! Okay, so, once Midoriya showed up… Midoriya?" She glances around, and Izuku raises his hand. She brightens up. "You next!"
"JSL?" he asks, signing, and Ragdoll nods.
"We're all fluent in both JSL and ASL!" she replies.
Oh, that'll make things so much easier.
"I was held back a little at the start," Izuku signs, "so that Mr. Aizawa could give me some… additional instructions, and so that I could be sent down a little more gently, considering," he gestures at his neck.
"Additional instructions?" Ragdoll asks.
Izuku nods. "I was told if I strained myself today, I couldn't participate in any of the other extra activities planned this week."
Ragdoll nods. "Alright! So, you show up, and Class Rep Yaoyorozu calls the class to stick together!"
"Actually," Yaoyorozu interrupts, and then ducks her head, blushing. "Shiozaki managed to get most of them. Her voice is much louder than mine."
"Shiozaki…" Ragdoll scans the group, her attention snapping to the girl in question once she raises her hand. "So you called the rest of the group together?"
"Yes." Shiozaki nodded.
"You were also one of their strongest frontline fighters! Congratulations, your skill and control with your quirk is very impressive!" Ragdoll says. Shiozaki blushes and ducks her head.
"Thank you. I would not be where I am without my teacher's help, though."
"Mr. Aizawa?" Ragdoll asks. "Or do you get additional education?"
"Mr. Aizawa," Shiozaki confirms.
Ragdoll nods and moves on. "So. Midoriya joins, and Yaoyorozu and Shiozaki pull the class together. What next?"
By this point, Izuku's noticed that Tiger and Pixie-Bob have both left, leaving Ragdoll, Mandalay, and Aizawa with the students.
"We make our way through the forest," Yaoyorozu replies to Ragdoll. "Shouji and Jirou keep an ear out on Bakugou's group and Todoroki, and Kouda guides us."
"Keep an ear on Todoroki?" Ragdoll asks.
"Todoroki did not come back to the group, however, he did keep pace with us on his own," Yaoyorozu replies. Ragdoll turns towards Todoroki.
"Would you please explain your reasoning?" she asks.
"My quirk works best when I don't have to worry about catching teammates in it," he replies. "I could follow the group, use my quirk to its fullest effect—" bullshit "—and help keep one flank clear of earthbeasts."
Izuku jumps in before Ragdoll can say anything, taking a step forward to draw her attention. "This was never communicated to Yaoyorozu," he signs. "We figured it out, after a while, but it would've been nice if he'd told her his plan from the start."
"That's correct!" Ragdoll nods and Izuku takes a step back. "Midoriya just explained to me that Todoroki never communicated his intentions to Yaoyorozu. They did realize what his plan was, but he should have told his field commander—in this case, Yaoyorozu—what he was planning! Open communication between teammates is vital, especially in cases when you're working with strangers or teams of five or more."
The group nods, taking this in.
"You're making your way through the forest," Ragdoll continues with instruction as Tiger emerges from the pavilion, carrying a cooler. "What's your general strategy? Is it something you happened to fall into, is it something explained, what is it?"
Jirou raises her hand, ducking her head as Ragdoll calls on her. She introduces herself first. "I think it's something we just… fell into," she says. "Yaoyorozu—and Midoriya, after he arrived—would give suggestions and instructions as needed, but I think most of us are aware enough of our strengths and weaknesses that we just… did what we're good at." Tiger begins passing out bottles of electrolyte drinks to the students as Jirou speaks.
"And what was that? Someone else," Ragdoll says.
Uraraka's next. "Well, I have a support quirk—" bullshit, again—"so I supported the frontline, mostly Ojiro and Satou."
"Ignoring the times we all watched her use her quirk on the earthbeasts and throw them around like they're nothing," Izuku signs. "Zero Gravity's not just a support quirk."
"A little out of turn, but excellent point, Midoriya!" Ragdoll says. "You may be tempted to sort your quirks into boxes, such as offense quirks, defense quirks, support quirks, and so on. Those are useful labels if applied carefully and thoughtfully. Make sure you're not reducing yourself to just one box, though! Almost every quirk in existence fits into many boxes! Let's take, for example, my quirk: Search! I can keep track of one hundred specific people within my area of influence, which is quite large! I can know their vital signs, figure out injuries, and know weaknesses! So. What boxes does my quirk fit into? Does someone who hasn't spoken want to take this one?" Tiger passes by Izuku, and he takes a bottle from the pro with a signed thanks.
Tokoyami raises a hand and introduces himself. "The most obvious boxes are intelligence, mental, and support."
"Yes! That's correct. My quirk is very straightforward. However, Uraraka, what's your quirk? Could you explain it to the class?"
"It's Zero Gravity," Uraraka replies. "I can reduce or remove the effects of gravity on anything I touch."
"Alright! You already pointed out the support aspect of your quirk, and Midoriya pointed out the offense aspect of your quirk. Any others?"
"Rescue," Yaoyorozu says.
"Mhm!" Ragdoll nods. "See? Quirks are versatile! Be careful you don't trap yourself in a thought rut! Back to the forest—Frontliners! Raise your hands!"
Uraraka, Ojiro, and Satou raise their hands alongside Shiozaki and Aoyama.
"Come stand over here, you five," Ragdoll gestures to her left. "Todoroki, join them!" The six students move to their designated spot. "Who was guarding the flanks? Please stand a few feet to your right of the frontline group. Technically, Todoroki, this also includes you, but I want you to stay where you are!"
Tokoyami and Tsuyu are the two who go to Ragdoll's designated flank defense spot, and she raises her eyebrows. "Only two of you?"
"Some of us had… multiple jobs," Yaoyorozu says, gesturing to the rest of the group. "Shouji was assisting on defense, but he was also listening for Todoroki and Bakugou. I was also defending, but I think you would consider leadership a different role. Midoriya was, well, supporting me, but he, along with Jirou, was the last line of defense before the Kaminari Escort."
"The Kaminari Escort?" Ragdoll's gaze lands on Kaminari himself, who's recovering from his burnt-out state and ducks his head.
"Yeah," he says. "I get a little loopy if I use my quirk at full blast so they kind of had to guard me through the forest! Especially since my quirk was useless on the earthbeasts, anyway."
"Oh." Ragdoll frowns and looks at Aizawa, who sighs.
"We're working on getting him support gear that prevents overload, but it's been slow going. The overload is what I'm hoping to address with him, this week."
"Mhm." She nods and turns back to the students. "Alright. So. The Kaminari Escort?"
Izuku, Jirou, Kouda, and Hagakure raise their hands.
"That reminds me—" Hagakure begins, cut off as Jirou elbows her.
"Not now," Jirou hisses, and Hagakure rubs her side and takes several steps away from the other girl. Ragdoll is appraising them, nodding slowly.
"This is a solid strategy!" she says. "Eraserhead's mentioned that you haven't worked much on large team-based exercises yet, so for not having the experience with them, you did great! Yaoyorozu, you mentioned that Midoriya was supporting you? Would you explain that statement?"
"Yes," Yaoyorozu nods. "I would consider Midoriya my… second-in-command, during that."
Ragdoll hums. "What exactly was he doing to earn that?"
"He helped make decisions, acted decisively, and has an understanding of the interactions our classmates' quirks are capable of that came in very helpful."
Izuku ducks his head. He didn't do that much, but other students are nodding along with her, so maybe he did more than he thinks he did.
"He also retrieved Todoroki," Shouji adds. "When I noticed he was slowing down."
"I did notice that!" Ragdoll nods. "Todoroki, Midoriya, would either of you explain what happened?"
Izuku briefly raises his hand before beginning to sign. "Shouji pointed out that Todoroki was slowing down and struggling. Yaoyorozu suggested quirk overuse, so I told her I would go and get him and bring him back to the group."
"Why you in particular?" Ragdoll asks, tilting her head. He has the feeling she already knows why.
"I had the feeling that Todoroki would refuse to stop using his quirk and come back to the group unless the ability to use his quirk was removed from him," he explains. "He's one of those lone wolf types."
"Th-that's an understatement," Kouda says. "That he's a… that he's a lone wolf…" Kouda's voice trails off into nothing as he shrinks under the gazes of their classmates.
"An understatement, huh?" Ragdoll says. "So Midoriya. You went to Todoroki, used your quirk on him, and brought him back to the group?" Izuku nods. "Todoroki, does this fit with your experience?"
"Yes," he says.
"Did he explain what he was doing?"
"After," Todoroki says. He pauses, and Ragdoll lets him take the time to think. "It's okay, though. I… asked him why he negated my quirk, and he apologized for not asking or saying anything first."
"Alright." Ragdoll nods. "So Midoriya and Todoroki return to the group."
"We finish making our way to the camp, using the same general strategy," Yaoyorozu replies.
"Although the Kaminari Escort became the Kaminari and Todoroki Escort," Jirou adds.
"What about when you reach the last line?" Ragdoll asks, raising her eyebrows, the corners of her mouth twitching.
"Honestly?" Yaoyorozu raises her eyebrows. "I am very glad Midoriya decided to join the frontline there. His addition to our offense made breaking through it much smoother. Other than that, we maintained our strategy and formation until we broke through."
Ragdoll dips her head. "Congratulations," she says. "You all did wonderfully. Now, I think we should give you a bit of a break! We weren't honestly expecting you all to make it back so quick. Go fetch your luggage from the bus and put it in your rooms and then come meet us back here!"
The class scrambles to follow her instruction.
After putting their luggage in their rooms, they're treated to lunch. It's just sandwiches, put together hastily by Tiger and Pixie-Bob (since they weren't expecting most of the class to make it back by lunchtime). And after lunch, the four Pussycats start teaching them basic team tactics. It's nearing evening when Mandalay asks if any volunteers would like to come help her cook dinner. Several students, including Izuku and Satou, join her.
It's well into evening by the time Bakugou's group arrives.
Izuku's very glad he misses the initial reaction to the realization that most of the class beat them back.
HEY HORIKOSHI I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS
why didn't Kouda get birds to guide them to camp huh. huh. huh. he can talk. to birds. why didn't he, huh?
anyways, i'm excited :) this is gonna be fun
expected update day: Sunday, 10 May, 2020