The chapter was originally called "Training Camp" but I was listening to the OST for It's Okay To Not Be Okay and I just thought it suited the vibe of this chapter~
Chapter 21: Got You
Soon Aizawa-sensei began giving different things for each of her classmates to do. When it was her turn he looked at her for a few seconds before looking down at his paper, "Hideyoshi, you will try to increase the rate at which you can create those blades of yours. Recovery Girl has been helping you turn them into projectiles, right?"
She nods, "Yes Sensei." She had developed the attack a bit after the sports festival. It was meant to be an easier way of injecting her opponents with her energy, but it was too tiring to use. Her energy was like a constant flow of water, which was why her blades were always connected to her body. If she wanted to turn her blades into projectiles it would be like cutting the river off.
"You will be using your energy to create projectiles with your energy. Continue to do this over and over until you get better at it."
'Ah, so he was right..this is gonna be hell.'
For the next 2 hours, she spent shooting out the knife-shaped blades out of her palm. Even as she was coughing up blood from energy over-exhaustion she was forced to keep going. Spitting out another mouth full of blood she raised her palm and focused her energy into shaping the blade.
At the beginning of her training, it had taken her 2 minutes to even form the blade. Now, she was able to do it in 50 seconds. But, the distance that her projectiles went wasn't very far due to the push factor of her energy being quite low, not even reaching 2 meters.
Around 3 hours in she had a sudden thought, 'What if I make and instead of pushing it out of my palm I throw it?'
Creating a blade instead of spitting it out immediately she held onto it and threw it. Though it went completely off target, it was a lot stronger and went further than before.
'This could work!' She thinks as she is filled with new excitement.
For the next 7 hours, she began practicing her knife-throwing skills with the occasional tip from Aizawa-sensei.
At around 4 pm it was time for dinner, but instead of the Pussycats cooking it was time for the students to cook.
'Ah I feel more comfortable with this,' She thinks as she heads towards the prep table without hesitation and picks up a knife and begins to chop the vegetables at amazing speed.
"Wah...look at her go!" Ragdoll says, a bit amazed.
"I've always known that Sera-chan was a god in the kitchen but I've never seen her so concentrated," Toru said as she watched the vegetables turn even slices in seconds. "She's like a professional!" The girls watching on the side nodded their heads in agreement. Watching Sera had given them a newfound determination.
Soon everyone began to help prepare dinner, with Sera feeling right at home chopping vegetables and adding it to the curry pot.
The cheer and laughter of her classmates warmed her heart enough that she forgot about her fears for a short while, letting herself enjoy the moment instead. Her classmates seemed to have noticed that she was a bit off since they purposely tried to include her in conversations.
Realizing it made her feel a little guilty that she had been worrying them, and she tried her best to put a smile on her face. Pushing the wriggling sense of dread in the far back of her mind.
That night Sera had a strange dream filled with blue fire and blood, and she woke up with a start. Breathing heavily she could feel her heart beating rapidly in her chest. Looking around she noticed that it was still early in the morning, the rest of the girls were still peacefully asleep.
Seeing as she could no longer fall back to sleep she got up and changed before heading downstairs to begin her daily jog.
The day went by like yesterday, with continued training in throwing her energy blades at targets. But instead of throwing them this time she flicked her wrists and sent them flying out. It was much faster to throw using this technique, and she was able to hit her targets more accurately as well.
"Always conscious of who you are," Aizawa-sensei says, as he watches them train, "That's the key to improvement. That's why you're out here sweating. Why I'm working you so hard. Keep it in mind, always."
'Who am I..?' She thinks as she continues her training. Was she a hero? Or was she a healer? The words of Recovery Girl echoed in her mind once more, "One day, whether it is tomorrow or a few years from now you will be forced to run away as your friends fight. You may not want to, but you must."
'But what's the point of being a hero or a healer if I cannot save my friends..?' She wonders.
As a hero, she should save her everyone, because that's what heroes do. Like what she did during the USJ attack when she held back the Nomu. It had been during that moment that she had realized her ambition. She didn't want to ever be so helpless ever again. So that's why she trained and trained. So she could stand on equal ground as her classmates.
But as a healer...as a healer she could not die, or in more accurate terms she wasn't allowed to die. She can't fight alongside her fellow heroes. It was too dangerous for her. If she died then the heroes would lose a very important supporting pillar, that they couldn't afford to lose. The words not when All Might was about to retire echoes in the back of her mind, a reminder of a future she didn't want to imagine.
Recovery Girl had never explicitly said it, she had insinuated it enough for Sera to understand. Heroes were expendable. Healers like her were not. She hated that fact..more than she thought she would.
The idea that she would have to abandon her comrades just for the sake of herself was more selfish and disgusting then she could imagine. If it was her from before then maybe she wouldn't have cared...but now..? These people, every single person in class 1-A were her friends...and she didn't know if when the day came when she had to abandon them...would she do it?
'Stop these thoughts.' She thinks, 'I shouldn't think this when I'm already so stressed about this training camp.'
For now, she would try her best to forget about her teacher's words, and instead, enjoy whatever happiness she could find at this training camp. She could deal with it later.
.
.
"Listen everyone!" Pixie Bob called out, Sera paused and looked over at her, "Tonight, both classes are going head to head in a test of courage! Your rewards for training is some intense fun! It's the carrot and stick approach!"
She held back a shiver as she thought of that scary dark forest. 'I need to find an excuse to not go!' She thought, clenching her hands. She was terrible at dealing with scary stuff. She couldn't even watch horror movies without flinching at every little thing.
That night, as they were preparing dinner, Sera continued to chop vegetables like her life depended on it. Trying to hold onto whatever sense of normalcy was left in her life.
She didn't notice Bakugou next to her chopping just as fiercely until Ochako commented on it, "Bakugou, I'm really surprised! You're like a pro with a kitchen knife! You and Sera-chan are both masters in the kitchen!"
"Who can be bad with a knife?!" Bakugou shouts, before chopping with even greater aggressiveness.
After they finished dinner it was time for the test of courage. Mina was so excited but she was dragged to remedial classes with Aizawa-sensei. She had almost begged to go with them because she didn't want to touch that forest at night with a 20-foot pole.
Unfortunately, she was not allowed to skip out and was to be put in a three-man team.
"You'll be part of Team 2, Sera-chan!" Ragdoll said with a sweet smile. Sera nodded and turned to see who her teammates were. When she saw them though, Ragdoll's sweet smile suddenly turned into a death sentence.
"Todoroki...Bakugou...it looks like we're a team," She said, forcing out each word. Of all teams why did she have to be paired with this crazy duo.
"Hey, Tail! Switch with me!" Bakugou said, pointing at Todoroki and her.
'YES! PLEASE SWITCH OJIRO-SAN!' She mentally cheered. Sadly though, much to her disappointment they were not allowed to switch teams.
Unfortunately for Midoriya, he was left without a partner which she found quite weird. She was about to ask to join his team when she saw him shiver.
'Ah..he's scared of the forest too.' She realized, 'If I team up with him wouldn't we both be scared out of our minds then. If I stay with Todoroki and Bakugou though, they probably aren't scared of anything so I'll be able to be much calmer.'
She decided to not team up with Midoriya, 'Sorry Midoriya! You can do this on your own! Plus Ultra!'
Since they were Team 2 all three of them were set to enter the forest pretty early on. Since Bakugou and Todoroki refused to talk with one another she was forced to be the barrier in between them, making her tenser than ever.
'God it's so fucking quiet! Can't these guys speak?!' She thinks as she walks through the forest.
She hopes that Class 1-B goes easy on them, but judging by their competitiveness they probably won't. This forest was pretty scary though, and it looked like the opening scenes of a horror movie. With the dark shadowy leaves the complete silence, and even the severed head of a girl!
'Wait…'
Severed head?
She froze mid-step, staring at the severed head of the girl in front of her.
Her two teammates freeze behind her, "Oh."
"KYAAAAAAA!"
Her scream shocked the frozen Todoroki and Bakugou so bad that they jumped a bit. With Bakugou letting out an explosion and Todoroki freezing the ground below him.
"WHY'D YOU START SCREAMING YOU BITCH!" Bakugou yelled, glaring at her.
"THAT WAS SCARY AS FUCK YOU BASTARD!" She yelled back with equal intensity.
"THAT WASN'T SCARY YOU WIMP!"
"THEN WHY'D YOU JUMP WHEN I SCREAMED BAKAGOU?!"
"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME?! DO YOU WANNA DIE?!"
"Please stop fighting..."
"SHUT UP HALF N HALF!"
"BE QUIET TODOROKI!"
The two continued to bicker as they continued their walk through the forest. With Sera being so high strung lately that she let her temper get the better of her, and Bakugou was being Bakugou.
"You flinched, you totally did!" She insisted, waving her arms in exasperation.
"I DID NOT, YOU'RE THE ONE WHO SCREAMED THE FOREST DOWN!" Bakugou retorted.
"YOU WERE SCARED, ADMIT IT!"
"I WAS NOT!"
"Guys!" Todoroki suddenly interrupted.
"WHAT?!" Both of them said at the same time.
"Look over there.." Todoroki said, pointing to an area of the forest in front of them. Looking at where he was pointing she saw a student that seemed to be from class B unconscious on the ground. Suddenly she felt a pit in her stomach.
'It's happening!' She met Bakugou's narrowed gaze and she realized that he still remembered their conversation from before.
Suddenly she noticed some irregularities in her energy, it seemed to be centering towards her nose and lungs. "There's something in the air!" She exclaimed, "Cover your nose and mouth!" Immediately Bakugou and Todoroki held a hand up to cover their faces.
"I'll use my quirk to filter the air out for you, we need to get outta here as soon as possible." Neither of them said anything and allowed her to use her healing energy to block the poisonous gas from entering their systems.
Suddenly a voice appeared in their heads that Sera recognized as Mandalay, "Everyone! We're under attack by two villains! And there might be more out there! All those who can should get to camp at once! If you encounter an enemy don't engage, just retreat!"
'God...I knew it!'
The three of them looked at each other for a second before nodding. Todoroki carried the boy from 1-B on his back and they continued their way down the path, on high alert in case they came across anything. Sera fingered the titanium staff strapped to her thigh, ready to grab it and swing at a moment's notice.
"We'll go around the goal and head straight to camp. Ragdoll was at the midpoint so she could handle this area." Todoroki said.
"Are you ordering me around?!" Bakugou said, before Todoroki could reply though Bakugou held up a hand for them to stop, "Hey...who's up ahead of us..?"
She stared through the blackness of the forest, noticing a dark figure in the middle of the road. "Pretty so pretty. No. This is work. So alluring. But, no...I can't"
The figure suddenly turns around and all three of them see the villain's entire head to be covered except for the opening where its mouth was.
'Is it a cannibal?' She thinks as she stares at the hand that it was planning on eating.
"Don't engage huh..?" Bakugou says as he stares at the villain a grin beginning to form.
Before he is able to do anything though Mandalay's voice interrupts them, "We have been able to identify one of their targets. It's the student known as Kacchan! Kacchan needs to avoid battle! And don't make any moves alone!
'Oh no..we need to leave.'
Suddenly she sees something come at them, "TODOROKI!" She yells and immediately a wall of ice appears in front of Bakugou and her blocking the blades flying at them
"I gotta endure...I gotta do the job.." The figure says as it was lifted by the blades coming out of its mouth.
"Don't charge in recklessly!" Todoroki says, struggling to hold onto the 1-B student, "Didn't you just hear that?! They're after you!"
Bakugou didn't seem to care very much about his warning though, "Yap yap yap, inside your damn heads. What'd that little freak Deku go and do now. First, it's fight, then it's don't fight. C'mon!" He then raises a hand, preparing to attack the villain, "I think I'll just do what I want."
Just as he's about to attack one of the blades it splits and barely misses him. Todoroki makes another ice wall, this time much bigger giving them more cover.
"He's making great use of both the terrain and his quirk," Todoroki says calmly.
Bakugou looked pretty mad that he had underestimated his opponent, "Even though that jerk looks like a real weakling!"
"Show me...flesh!" The villain muttered. It seems like his blades were just simply his teeth growing at immense speeds.
'I can stop it then!' She thinks. Her blades could cut through the teeth but they would keep growing back, her quirk though could stop it completely.
Looking over at Todoroki and Bakugou she explained her plan, "We're in a forest right now, if you guys attack him you might start a fire, which might attract more villains. Distract him and I'll stop him from using his quirk, then we'll knock him unconscious."
"Okay." Todoroki agreed immediately and Bakugou reluctantly nodded.
'Okay let's do this now!'
Focusing her energy she formed a familiar blade in her hands before she sent it flying towards the villain. The blade was too fast for the villain to block and hit his stomach. The blade then dissolved the energy going into the villains' body.
'Now, let's stop your regenerating teeth.' After a few moments, she turned to Bakugou and Todoroki. "I'm done, you guys can go at him now."
Bakugou and Todoroki nod and turn back towards the villain ready to attack. Just as they were beginning to move, someone emerged from between the trees ahead of them being chased by something.
"Bakugou! Todoroki!" Shoji yelled loudly, an injured Midoriya on his back, "One of you! Give us some light!"
The villain that they were preparing to attack muttered something under his breath ready to charge at them. But before he could, a giant bird-like beast appeared and crushed him.
'That's Tokoyami's Dark Shadow!'
Bakugou and Todoroki stared in shock at the beast that was chasing after them, gritting her teeth Sera tried to get their attention.
"Bakugou! Todoroki! Dark Shadow gets weaker with light!"
Bakugou and Todoroki broke out of their daze, but just as Todoroki was about to light a fire Bakugou stopped him.
"Wait." Bakugou stated, holding a hand in front of Todoroki, who paused. The villain that had been crushed by Dark Shadow earlier had stood up once again.
"No good! Need flesh...flesh!" The villain groaned glaring at Dark Shadow, "No good, no good. Can't forgive you! I'll be the one to get those bastards' innards! Don't snatch my prizes!"
The villain activated his quirk once again, but Dark Shadow was too strong for it to do any damage. "Don't test me! You VERMIN!" Dark Shadow growled, turning its attention back to the villain.
"Just watch." Bakugou stated on the side, a wide smirk playing on his face.
With a smack of its wing, Dark Shadow sent the villain crashing down the road, knocking over trees with the sheer strength of the wind his wing produced alone.
"AHHHHH Still not ENOUGH need to RAGE!" Dark Shadow screamed preparing to attack them
"NOW!" Sera yelled motioning at Todoroki and Bakugou.
Immediately, Bakugou ran towards Dark Shadow Todoroki right behind him. With Bakugou letting out explosion after explosion and Todoroki's fire Dark Shadow gr. The light from these explosions slowly caused Dark Shadow to grow smaller and smaller until Tokoyami was revealed.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya yelled, from his place on Shoji's back.
Bakugou glared at him grunting in response before turning to Tokoyami, "I'm your worst possible matchup, see?"
Tokoyami looked ashamed at having lost control of his quirk, "Thank you. I'm saved." He gritted out, his jaw clenched, he turned to Shoki and Midoriya. "Shoji...I am sorry..you too Midoriya. My spirit is lacking. The moment your spare arm went flying...I gave into the rage and unleashed Dark Shadow. It was the deep darkness of the night..along with my own anger. They combined to spur him into a frenzy. But, he grew out of my control and ended up injuring you, Shoji."
"Save that for later. I know that's what you would say." Shoji said.
"Right..! We know that one of the villains' main targets is Kacchan!" Midoriya stated.
"Bakugou? They're after him?" Tokoyami asked, confusion plain on his face, "But why?"
"Not sure..at any rate, Vlad King and Aizawa-sensei are both back at camp. Having two pro heroes there probably makes it the safest spot around." Shoji answered.
"I see so our mission is to safely deliver Bakugou to camp!" Tokoyami concluded.
Bakugou looked back and forth between the two as if trying to compute the fact that they were talking about him.
"Midoriya, Shoji-san, do you want me to heal you?" Sera asked, frowning at the extent of MIdoriya's injury.
'This is much worse than all the other times he has broken his arm.'
Midoriya hesitated for a few seconds before shaking his head, "We may need you to use your quirk later Sera-chan. You must still be tired from the training earlier, we can't afford to waste your energy now. You can heal Shoji and I when we get back to camp." He then turned back towards the group, "The last time I saw, the Pussycats were fighting villains by the clearing. We're sure to get spotted by villains and lose the path, so let's cut through."
"But we are not sure how many there are. A villain could pop up anywhere." Todoroki stated, a deep frown marring his face.
"That's where Shoji's sensing abilities come in!" Midoriya exclaimed a wide smile on his face, "We've also got your ice Todoroki, Hideyoshi-san's augmentation, and if it's alright Tokoyami, we've got your invincible Dark Shadow, which we have the means to control now. A line up like this might even scare All Might!"
'I mean...I wouldn't say it like that...but a motivational speech doesn't have to be accurate.'
"What the HELL is all this about!" Bakugou yelled he had been twitching the entire time that they were making their plans. Now that they were done he finally exploded.
"You stay in the middle of the group." Todoroki told him, unfazed at his angry state.
"NO ONE'S PROTECTING ME YOU DWEEBS!"
"Bakugou...this really isn't the time. They are after you. End of story. We need to move now!" Sera said, growing annoyed at his temper tantrum.
"Then they can come and get me!" He said, explosions alighting his palms like small firecrackers, "I'll send them to hell!"
She let out an exasperated sigh before turning over to the group, "I'll stay next to him. Let's go now."
Everyone nodded, and they continued on there way, with Bakugou and Sera in the back. Bakugou because he refused to be "protected" and Sera because she had to watch over him.
They walked through the forest silently, making their way to camp. Along the way, they encountered Uraraka and Asui, and another girl, who upon seeing them ran away.
"Who was that girl?" Midoriya asked curiously.
"A villain. She was nuts." Uraraka answered.
"Uraraka your hurt!"
"I'm fine. I can walk, anyways look at you Deku!"
"This is no time to stand around, let's get moving." Todoroki interrupted.
Midoriya nodded in agreement, "I'm just glad you guys are okay. Oh! I know, you should come with us. We're guarding Kacchan and heading for camp."
Both girls looked at the group in confusion, "Huh? Guarding Bakugou?" They paused, looking at each other for a second before turning back to the Midoriya and co, "Then where is he?"
"Whaddya mean?" Midoriya asked, turning behind him, "He's right behind u—,"
Midoriya and everyone froze, behind them where Bakugou was supposed to be was empty space.
"Looking for him?" A voice said. Everyone whipped their heads towards the branches where it came from, seeing a masked man wearing a long trench coat. "I've taken him. With my magic!"
The villains tossed three glass-like marbles up for them to see, "Imagine my surprise when I see that both of our targets were right next to each other, ready for the picking!" The villain cackled at that, laughing in excitement, "He's not a resource that belongs on the heroes' side. We're gonna put him on a stage where he can really shine."
"...Both your targets?" Midoriya asks, confused. He then looks around and his face pales as he realizes that Bakugou wasn't the only one missing.
Though the villains' face was completely covered, all of them could sense the smirk behind it. "Yes...our second target, the most important one." He picks up one of the marbles and raises it to them, "Hideyoshi Sera."
.
AN: Yes, finally it has happened! TLoV has finally captured Sera, like I'm sure most of you have figured out from the hints I've littered across the previous chapters. The next few chapters will be like the season finale of this part of the novel. Part 2 of the novel will be a lot more gritty, a lot more world-building, and more politics. Sera was like a frog in the well before, but after this arc, she will enter the bigger world.
I was watching the latest episodes of the k-drama "It's Okay To Not Be Okay" on Netflix and I've got to say it's the best k-drama I've watched. It probably even beats Crash Landing on You. I 100% recommend it if you guys have nothing to do right now~
Chapter Upload Dates:
Chapter 22: Monday (08/10)
Chapter 23: Thursday (08/13)
Chapter 24: Sunday (08/16)
Chapter 25: Wednesday (08/19)
.
Reviews:
.
You Are So Wonk: Thanks~ I'm glad you liked the plot bunny. I have chapter 1 written down, and I'll probably post it when I get a better idea of how I want it to go.
.
ZabuzasGirl: Glad you liked it~ Btw, your answers have finally been answered o! See you on Monday! I know you guys want the summer camp chapters out and I want to give it all to you guys too! But I'm still adding things in chapter 23 and my stockpile is running low. I'd rather you guys get to enjoy constant and steady updates of 1 chapter every 3-7 days, then waiting months for an update.
.
acosta perez jose ramiro: Thank you~ She really does have big reasons to feel paranoid, her parents aren't gonna let this go easily.
.
ILikeFoxes828: More is coming on Monday!
.
StandUpAndKeepMovingForward: ...yes..big no...
.
TheVulcanNara: You are this novels', official conspiracy theorist! Whenever I read your theories you give me ideas on how to develop Sera's powerset. Glad you saw the hints .o~ I based a part of her mental powerset on your theory, so thank you for all your input. As for the nail theory, Sera still needs to develop a more strategic mind, she needs to see the tinier details of things. I tried to make her seem more like a kid, since as smart as she may be she forgets just how versatile her quirk could be. As for Trigger...wait and see..? Look forward to Monday, it's the last T rated chapter we have, chapter 23 will be gritty and dark, but I think you'll have a lot of theories after it ends.
.
TheBeauty: Maybe I'm still stuck on whether or not it should happen~ But I'll continue to go with the flow and see where it takes me.
.
Thank you everyone who reviewed, followed, and favorited this story! I wouldn't have the courage to post or continue writing if it weren't for you guys!