The long-awaited training camp arc has arrived! Also, an additional reminder, due to the heavy themes talked about later in the novel when chapter 24 is posted it will change to an M rating.

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Chapter 20: Summer Camp

The night before they are supposed to leave for summer camp, Sera couldn't sleep. Which was strange, since she could usually fall asleep 5-10 minutes after her head hits the pillow.

Laying on her bed she twists and turns trying to find a comfortable position. But every time she moves, she seems to become more uncomfortable than she already was. After another 5 minutes of complete silence, she could no longer stand it.

Tossing her blanket off of her she got off the bed and turned on the light. Since she couldn't sleep she might as well practice her quirk.

Sitting down on her rug crisscrossed she focused on the energy inside of her. Through her months of observation and training, she had come to the conclusion that a part of her quirk stemmed from energy manipulation. Her quirk gave her the ability to turn calories into what she deemed healing energy. But, a more appropriate term would be life energy instead.

It was why she could heal people, the life energy that she was able to produce had an active healing factor in it that could seal cuts and mend bones. But, healing energy or not, the energy that she produced was moldable. Which was why she was able to create blades and weapons with it. Though making the energy-dense enough so that it was solid, required much more energy than just simple healing.

She had attempted to create a multitude of things, but nothing other than simple blades were currently stable enough to use. It was much too hard and taxing to create complicated weapons like guns or whips. Even a simple shield required more energy than she could handle at the moment. It wouldn't be feasible for her to rely on molding her energy into complicated things since it required more concentration and energy than it was worth.

If she had tried making her sword when she had first entered UA she would have collapsed from exhaustion seconds after making it. Before entering UA her energy reserves were far lower than they are now. After she began training with Recovery Girl, she had made sure to expand her reserves as much as she could, by completely draining her dry and forcing her to go beyond her limits. She could now proudly say that her reserves were close to quadruple the size it was before.

Concentrating on her meditation, she closes her eyes and pulls at the familiar energy coursing through her veins.

'Focus on your energy.' She hears a voice that sounded an awful lot like Recovery Girl reverberating through her mind. 'Let it flow through you, familiarize with it.'

She feels the energy running through her body, seeping into every pore, every vein, and every cell. The feeling was relaxing in the same way a glass of ice-cold water was after a day of jogging under the burning sun.

The power of her quirk was flowing right beneath her skin in a circulative pattern. With each new cycle, she could feel the control over her quirk grow.

She didn't know how long she sat there for, but the complete silence that surrounded her was calming. It allowed her to focus her mind on her quirk, with nothing to distract her. She felt herself enter a state where she was half asleep and half awake, the molding exercises she had been constantly doing had become much easier.

It was only when she felt the warmth of sunlight on her skin did she realize that she had probably been practicing throughout the entire night. After a few more exercises with her quirk, she finally opened her eyes. Blinking a few times to adjust her eyes to the sudden brightness of her bedroom.

Checking her clock, it looked like she had been practicing her quirk for over 6 hours since it was 5 am right now. She was supposed to leave the house by 7 in order to make it to UA on time at 8. Quickly changing out of her pajamas she had a quick shower, feeling grateful that she had short hair now, so it would dry quicker.

Quickly changing into her uniform, Sera hesitates a few seconds before grabbing a familiar titanium staff and strapping it to her thigh. The incident at I-Island made her realize just how far, following your gut instinct could go. After all, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Grabbing her hairbrush she brushed her damp hair a few more times before giving herself another once over. Seeing that she looked presentable enough, Sera grabbed her backpack and checked if she had everything.

'Clothes, phone, phone charger, headphones…'

Seeing that she had everything, Sera grabbed a jacket hanging on the back of her door before preparing to leave her room.

Just as she was about to close the door behind her she paused, thinking for a few moments before going back in.

'Just in case…'

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When she finally arrives at the gates of UA she sees all of her classmates present and ready to go. Walking over to where they were she took her place in line. Trying her best to ignore the uncomfortable feeling settling in her stomach.

"Sera-chan are you okay?" Toru asks her worriedly. How she knows something was wrong Sera doesn't know, maybe it was just best friend instincts.

She tries to give her a reassuring smile, "Yeah, I'm just a little tired these days."

Toru doesn't look convinced but she doesn't press anymore.

When it was time for them to enter the bus, instead of sitting in the front she chose a window seat in the back hoping for some peace and quiet. She can see some of the girls giving her a worried look but realized that she wanted some alone time. Sera knows that her inactivity and lack of response for the past few days was a pretty large red flag, but she couldn't find it in herself to explain herself.

Every time she explained her worries and fears, she would get the same response. Despite knowing that her teachers were all just trying their best to comfort her, it still frustrated her. 'There will be heroes there, the teacher will die before they let anyone get to you.' Despite it being a good attempt at comfort, it just wasn't what she wanted to hear.

But then again, she didn't know what she wanted them to say. Words of comfort like that didn't make her feel very safe, not after what happened at USJ. Aizawa tried his best to protect them all, and despite trying his best it wasn't enough. Kurogiri was able to separate them away from each other, and they were stranded to fight for themselves.

So knowing that 4 other heroes were going to be on the trip didn't make her feel much better either. What if the heroes weren't strong enough, what if there were just more villains?! If the attack was anything like at USJ then 5 heroes aren't enough to deal with it. Worse of all, what if they brought a Nomu. She knew that few heroes that weren't All Might would be able to defeat a Nomu. Especially if it was one of those special Nomus with a regeneration quirk that almost matched hers.

The thought of facing that abomination caused a shiver to go down her spine. She tried to calm herself, knowing that if she continued to spiral down into a series of what-ifs and buts it would only fuel her neverending fear.

She quickly grabs her prepared headphones from her bag and plugs it into her ears. Turning on her phone she plays some piano music, hoping the soft sounds would calm her anxious heart. She tries her best to clear her mind, and in a similar fashion to last night, closes her eyes and focuses on circulating her energy.

As she was trying her best to not have another panic attack on the back of the bus, she felt the empty seat next to her move and opened her eyes to see Bakugou sitting down.

He gave her a look that said, What the fuck are you looking at?! Not wanting to deal with him she just looked away, he seemed ticked off by her dismissal but didn't bother her any longer.

Looking out the window she ignored the noisy chatter of her classmates and continued to think, not being able to stop herself from coming up with even more conspiracy theories. These past few weeks her heart had still not settled and it even seemed like it was getting worse. It seemed to make sense, her theory that something bad was going to happen.

After all, what were the chances the Shigaraki Tomura, the head of the League of Villains would find Midoriya on the day that they were going shopping for training camp things.

'How did Shigaraki even know they were going to be there?'

From Midoriya's testament though, it seemed like Shigaraki seeing him was a complete coincidence. Something she had a very hard time believing. Two arch nemeses, that she was pretty sure lived very far apart meeting at a mall exactly when Midoriya was alone.

If she didn't believe in some greater omniscient beings controlling things behind the scene before, she sure did now.

The dots connected in her mind as she realized the similarities of events when Shigaraki attacked them.

First, it was USJ, the first time that Class 1-A left the main campus to go to the secluded USJ.

Second was the mall, sure she hadn't been there, but nearly everyone else in 1-A was there. The one time when everyone once again left campus to go somewhere, they encountered Shigaraki.

She would also count Hosu, but the details of whatever happened weren't revealed. She was pretty sure that her three classmates didn't encounter Shigaraki though, but she wasn't too sure. Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki all kept their mouths tight on what happened when they encountered Stain. Using the police as an excuse they succeeded in evading the questions that most of their classmates threw at them. She knew one thing though, something happened at Hosu. She just wasn't sure what it was.

It just made sense to her that Shigaraki Tomura was going to attack them at the actual training camp. 'But how would he even know where we were headed?' Actually thinking about it, it wasn't that hard. A tracker could have followed their bus to the destination, or there was a tracker on one of them and they didn't even know it.

Or worse, what if there was a tracker on the bus!

The thought sent her anxiety to skyrocket. She didn't know if it was just pure paranoia, but she was sure to the bone that something was going to happen at the training camp. It might not even be villains or anything dangerous, but she was sure that something was going to happen. She just wasn't sure what.

Letting out a sigh she leaned her head on the window.

"Short Stack I swear to god if you sigh one more time I'm gonna throw you off the bus." Turning her head she meets Bakugou's glaring red eyes.

"Sorry about that Bakugou." She says holding back another sigh, "I just have a really bad feeling about this trip."

"Bad feeling?" Bakugou says his brows furrowed. Bakugou had been pretty quiet these days as well, even when Midoriya had encountered Shigaraki he had stayed pretty silent instead of blasting out explosions and screaming.

" Well," She pauses unsure if she could confide in him, she stares at him for a few moments before relenting. "I...well...Shiguraki from what Midoriya said is planning something, and I think that something has to do with this training trip. USJ, the mall, I-Island, and now the training camp. Every time class 1-A goes out and does something we encounter villains. I just can't shake off the feeling that something similar is going to happen at the training camp." Sera explains, feeling better at finally telling someone about her fears.

"You think handsy is gonna attack us during the training trip?" He asks her with a small frown. When she nods his frown turns into a familiar grin except its sharper more feral, "Then we'll just have to beat them this time don't we, just you wait I'm gonna show them what a true hero looks like! I'll kick that handy guys' ass this time."

'Ah...look at him go,' She thinks, staring at Bakugou's wide smirk, his hands popping out small firecrackers like explosions.

She doesn't know what was to come of this training trip, but she could feel the bad feeling in her stomach dampen a bit.

'I can only hope that this will stay a bad feeling..'

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An hour later the bus comes to a stop in an empty open lot right above a large forest.

"Hold on...what kind of rest stop is this?" Kaminari asked, staring curiously at the empty area in front of them.

"Right, and where's class B?" Sero added. Looking around, Sera found that their observations were true. Other than the occasional passing car they were all alone.

"Of course we stopped here for a reason," Aizawa-sensei stated, and Sera notices the familiar gleam in his eyes.

"Heya Eraser!" A voice said, "Sorry I haven't seen you in a while."

Two women appeared in the lot, one with short mahogany hair the other with long blonde hair, "Rock on with these sparkling gazes!" One said.

"Stingingly cute and catlike!" The other one continued.

"We're the Wild Wild Pussycats!" They finished together.

'Ah...it's like a Team Rocket opening..'

"These are the pros who'll be helping us out this time, The Pussycats." Aizawa-sensei explained unfazed by the strange introduction.

Midoriya continues giving a long explanation of their team and background information, being the useful hero nerd that he is.

"This whole area is our territory!" One of them stated motioning towards the great expanse of the forest below them.

"Your lodging is at the foot of the mountain over there." She continued pointing to an area of the mountain right in the middle of the forest.

Sera can feel herself become paler than she already was, her fears suddenly seemed much more possible.

'We'll be in a forest in the middle of NOWHERE! With only six pros to guard 40 students...And no reinforcements nearby...' She thinks as her paranoia suddenly made its appearance once again.

"It's now 9:30 am. I'm thinking about noon at the earliest." Her classmates began to falter, realizing what she meant. Their faces go pale, and they start to run back towards the bus, "Kitties who don't make it there by 12:30 don't get any lunch."

As everyone began to run back Sera stood still unable to move. Even as the ground below her shook and threw her into the forest below.

"Make it through the Beast's Forest!" Was the final thing she heard before she began to fall. Mid-way down she awoke from her daze and shifted weight properly landing in a crouch on the forest floor. Before she can even catch her breath though, a large beast made of dirt and rocks jumps at her.

She lifts the edge of her skirt grabbing the titanium staff she had strapped to her thigh. With a flick of her wrist, a sharp blade shoots out from one end, glowing green in the shaded forest.

Jumping towards the earth beast, with a slash of her blade it was split in half. The beast crumbles to the ground as she lands in a crouch.

Deactivating her blade she turns back to her classmates she motions for them to move, "Let's go, we need to make it there by noon."

During the past week, she hadn't stopped her morning training. After 2 months of constant practice, her strength and speed had grown immensely. Her fighting style relied mostly on speed, and she had learned to use her healing energy as a sort of boost.

Jumping from branch to branch, a technique she had been practicing for a while now, she made her way through the forest for what seemed like hours. The earth monsters kept coming at them, from all directions. Even with warnings from Shoji and Jirou, they were still a pain to deal with.

In order to preserve her energy, Sera tried her best not to tire herself out. The forest seemed like it never ended, everywhere she looked it was still the same thing. She knew from her watch that they had long passed the three hour time limit they were given.

She vents her frustrations on the beasts that they encounter, attacking them with a ferocity that was reminiscent of what happened at the USJ.

'Faster, stronger, I have to improve.' She thinks as the forest blurs around her, 'So I can be prepared for what's to come.'

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When they finally arrived at the clearing where the Pussycats and Aizawa-sensei were waiting, she was completely out of breath.

"God, three hours!" Sero says, panting, "You said we could do it in three hours!"

"Lies!" Toru exclaims, and Sera can see the back of her shirt soaked with sweat. "All lies!"

"I wanna die!" Kaminari exclaims, not having the strength to stand, "I've never ran so much in my life!"

"Stop chit-chatting!" Mandalay shouted in apprehension, "None of you guys made it on time for lunch."

Her classmates started groaning about their hunger, and some even fell to the ground in pain. "We actually expected you guys would take longer!" Pixie-Bob exclaimed, waving a paw.

She turned to Midoriya, Bakugou, Ilda, and Todoroki, "You four. I'm guessing your past experiences allowed you to act without hesitation."

All four boys stood a little straighter with that, and Pixie-Bob smiled before turning to Sera.

"You had a weapon strapped on you the entire time?" She asked, motioning to the staff peeking out from under Sera's skirt.

Sera takes a deep breath, trying to calm her heart before nodding slowly. "I had a feeling I was going to need it." She says, giving Pixie-Bob a small smile.

The hero returns her smile with a grin of her own, "I like you!"

"Go get your luggage from the bus, drop your things off in your rooms then come to dinner in the mess hall. After that, you'll bathe, then it's bedtime. The real training starts tomorrow. Now hurry up." Aizawa-sensei announces, and the entire class groans.

When it was time for dinner Sera ate quietly as her friends talked around her. She was a bit unused to eating someone else's cooking. She had always made her own food and even lunch was always handmade. But, the food that the Pussycats made was also delicious and she ate well.

When their dinner was done the girls headed over to the hot springs to take a bath.

"Ah, this really hits the spot!" Mina says as she leans against the side of the hot spring.

"Yeah...I haven't been to a hot spring in a while." Sera admits sinking down into the hot water.

She suddenly notices that the eyes of the girls are all looking at her weirdly, "What is it..?"

Ochako laughs a little awkwardly but Sera notices a hint of relief in voice, "It's just that, that was the first time you spoke to us normally since a week ago."

'Ah.' She thinks, remembering the troubled glances and worried looks, 'They were worried.'

She feels a little guilty at making them worry, "I'm sorry..I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

She feels a hand on her shoulder and turns over to see Yaoyorozu, "It's okay Sera-chan, whatever you're going through we're here to help you."

She pauses for a few seconds thinking of something. She opens her mouth to speak but hesitates for a moment before clenching her fist and meeting the eyes of her friends.

"Then…"

'Just in case.'

"...can I ask you guys for a favor?"

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That night Sera had slept at around 11 o'clock, meaning she woke up at around 4 am. Usually, she wouldn't have minded waking up early, since she was quite used to it. But having everyone else all sound asleep around her, made her want to go back to bed.

But as much as she tossed and turned she couldn't. Letting out a sigh, she realized she might as well wake up and get some light exercise before everyone else woke up. Carefully rising from her bed, she quickly folded her futon. Grabbing her PE uniform she tip-toed out of the girls room, being extra careful to not wake the other girls.

When she finished getting ready she exited the building she took in a breath of morning air. Seeing that the sun had yet to rise she started to do some basic stretches. After she was done with those she ran her healing energy through her legs, strengthening her muscles and began to sprint around the property.

She continued to do so without stopping until the first rays of daylight shone through the mountains.

"Ah, Sera-chan?!" She turns around to see her classmates and Aizawa-sensei staring at her.

"Ah, my quirk allows me to only need to sleep between 3-5 hours, so I woke up pretty early." She explained walking over to join the group.

"Wah! Three to five hours of sleep?! Does that mean you wake up at dawn every morning?" Kirishima asks her, surprised.

"Yes, my quirk allows me to go into hyper recovery mode every time I sleep so I always wake up refreshed."

Her classmates continued to chatter for a few seconds, some of them envious of the perk that her quirk gave her.

"Enough chit chat," Aizawa-sensei says interrupting them, "Today the real training begins. Ideally, you will all emerge stronger. Strong enough to acquire your provisional licenses. More specifically, there's a growing hostile force out there. Through this, you'll be prepared to face it so stay sharp and work hard."

"To start..here Bakugou," He then throws a ball towards Bakugou who catches it, "Try throwing this."

'That's from our quirk apprehension test…'

Bakugou smirks as he holds the ball getting in position to throw it, "GO TO HELL!"

'The ball is flying up though, so it should be...go to heaven..?'

"709.6 meters."

'That's not much of a difference." She thinks frowning, 'Are we supposed to improve quirk wise at this camp?'

"Yes. You have been through a lot these past 3 months. Undoubtedly you've all grown." Aizawa-sensei says, "But it's only your techniques and minds that have grown. Well and your bodies a bit. But as you've all seen, your quirk hasn't kept up with the pace." He pauses giving a familiar smile, "Starting today, you'll improve on your quirks. This'll be so harsh that you'll wish you were dead, so do your best to..stay alive."

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AN: Please hold down your pitchforks! I understand this may sorta seem like a filler, but I swear it isn't! Everything here hints at a larger plot at hand. I've put a ton of foreshadowing in it, so you guys will be prepared for the oncoming chapters. Since the Summer Camp arc is pre-written and I'm almost done editing I will update more often.

Below are the dates at which I'll be releasing the chapters.

Chapter 21: Friday (08/07)

Chapter 22: Monday (08/10)

Chapter 23: Thursday (08/13)

Chapter 24: Sunday (08/16)

Chapter 25: Wednesday (08/19)

There are chances of delays since I'm starting school soon, so please bear with me. Thank you for all your support and please continue to follow, favorite, and especially review. I love reading each and every one of your reviews and it motivates me to write!

Additionally: You guys remember Dreamer? That little plot bunny I had in mind? Well, I had just finished writing chapter 1 for it when I had another idea that I wanted to share. Here's the synopsis below:

[28-year-old Uraraka Ochako dies among smoke and rubble, the world burning all around her. 15-year-old Uraraka Ochako wakes up feeling a decade older with a mastery over her quirk and feelings she can't explain.]

Uraraka is the best girl and my favorite character right behind Bakugou, so I wanted to write a fanfic with her as the main character. In this fanfic, unlike normal time travel. Uraraka has little to no memories, only emotions, and instincts. There will be flashbacks that come in the form of dreams, and the story is still in its storyboard stage, but I have some basic plans for it. Let me know what you think!

Reviews:

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Quos: Thank you! Glad you liked it~

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ZabuzasGirl: Here's your update! The summer camp has officially begun~

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obliviousss: I literally cannot divulge any info without spoilers...so...maybe?

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ILikeFoxes828: ...all shall be revealed in due time..

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acosta perez jose ramiro: I didn't even think about it like that! Thank you for your review~

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Animie02fruit: Thanks! I had forgotten about the movie when I was pre-writing the chapters, so I had to go back and change it. Glad I did though since it gave Sera a chance to develop before the Summer Camp.

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TheBeauty: When I first started writing this book, I had the main pairing in mind. Which was Bakugou and Sera. But as I continue to write I feel like that idea is getting further and further away. Maybe it's because I just don't ship it anymore, but romance might not even happen at this point. Unless I can come up with someone that suits her, Romance will be a sub-plot that may or may not happen. B/C as much as I love Bakugou I just don't see him pursuing a romance with Sera.

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StandUpKeepMovingForward: ...it is plural...:)

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Additional Notes and Ramblings: So I was reading this book that had me in tears and I just wanted to share it with you guys. It was in my reading list for a long time, and I kept pushing off reading it because it had a tragedy tag.

So basically the story is about this really introverted girl who has a stutter because of her anxiety. One day, while she stays behind in school for the clean-up she witnesses the suicide of one of her classmates. The reason for her suicide is because of heavy bullying from a group of girls at their school. The main bully knew the MC was there so she threatened to kill her if she told anyone.

The MC keeps the secret because she doesn't want to involve herself. But later when she reveals it because she trusts that the police will do something about it, she is let down. The institution of law and justice is flawed, and despite her testimonies, they don't do much to help her situation. Despite her being a good person and doing a good thing, all she got in return was basically a living hell.

Because the bully knew that the MC ratted her out the MC became her target of bullying. She was bullied right in front of their eyes and yet no one did anything. The school, the adults, the police, the institution that she was taught to believe since she was a child, they all failed her. The story talks a lot about relationship dynamics between animals, like parasitism and symbiotic relationships. It also talks about the flaws in the judicial system, and how it's so lenient on children and how it fails the victims.

This is a romance novel, mainly mixed together with a lot of mystery and tragedy. The realism in this hurts a lot, and I enjoyed how realistic the female lead was being. It's mainly about the two main characters, both of whom the world failed. The female lead because they turned blind-eyed to her sufferings, and the male lead because they judge him without any chance of redemption.

The novel made me think a lot, and I got some inspiration from it. I might add in some themes of the novels in later arcs of this novel.

That's all for today! Leave long reviews for me~