I'm back! I apologize for taking so long to update: I've just been rather busy with college, and I got into a momentary writing slump. But rest assured, I will not abandon this story! So enjoy!
After the two reconciled, things returned back to normal: no, they were better than ever. That moment had been an opportunity for them to express their inner doubts, frustrations and all the hidden negative feelings that had built up for the year that they'd been together. But now that they'd addressed these problems and gotten past them, it only further cemented their bond of friendship, confirming that not only were they each other's best friends, but were like brothers, and that was a bond both of them cherished.
Once they went back to the lunch tables to rejoin the rest of their classmates, they assisted with making the lunch for today, but it went by rather quickly, and before they knew it, they were all going back to their training.
In his isolated training area, the young esper was continuing to rigorously hone his ability to wield two powers simultaneously. With every dirt monster he defeated, the control he exerted over both of his powers improved, the images in his mind becoming clearer. He was also doing his best to improve his skill with his whips, trying to apply everything Mr. Aizawa had told him with the dirt monsters, and for the most part, it was going rather smoothly. However, now one of the next problems he was having was how to use his energy blasts. When it came to using his powers creatively in combat, Kageyama didn't have the keen, exploratory mind to find new ways to fight with his powers, always choosing to use his basic abilities in combat.
Kageyama had started using basic energy blasts, which were easy enough to make, but the blasts of energy he made were extremely large, uncontrolled, and were easy to predict. So how could he spice things up? What kind of different moves could he perform with his powers? He just didn't know...
Unable to come up with any cool moves, the esper decided to focus on the basics he'd been working on so far, and made it rather far with that training. Time had passed by too quickly for Shigeo before he was called for dinner again by Mr. Aizawa. When the teenager walked back to the lunch tables, he was greeted by his best friend.
"Hey Shige," said Midoriya, "How'd your training go? Have you gotten a better control of your whips?"
"Yea, things are going ok," he replied, "And what about you, Izuku? Was your training with Tiger any better than yesterday?"
The green-haired teenager let out a soft, awkward chuckle, "Well, Tiger's a pretty intense training instructor, so my body's pretty much exhausted all of it's energy."
"I'm sure relaxing in the hot springs will help you relax."
"I hope so too, Shige." The two teenagers warmly smiled at one another: though neither of them had made a point to address it, the two of them had now begun to refer to each other by their first names, and actually, Izuku was using the shortened version of Shigeo's name that only Ritsu ever used before. It'd started at lunch earlier today, when Izuku first referred to his friend by that name, and Shigeo had decided to go along with it. This was an indicator of their strengthened bond, proof that they were truly best friends.
When the two of them got to the lunch tables, they joined the other thirty eight classmates in making dinner for tonight. Both Izuku and Shigeo were assigned to their separate stations to prepare the ingredients for their dinner, all of the students hard at work.
"Hey can somebody pass me the salt?" said Ashido.
"I've got it." The esper summoned his telekinetic whip, carefully wrapping it around the container of salt and passing it to the pink-haired girl. She, along with several of the other classmates, felt their mouthes gape open slightly and their eyebrows lightly raised up.
"Since when could you do that?" Ashido asked.
"I've started using them since we got to the training camp by channeling my psychic energy to form it in the shape of whips, and I've been working on using them effectively for my training," he replied.
Among the students, Sero threw hit hands op and let out a moan of frustration. "Come on, that looks the same as my Quirk! God dang it!"
Mob awkwardly tapped his fingers on the table while a few of the other students lightly chuckled at Sero's reaction. Compared to what they'd seen from Kageyama earlier, this wasn't as big of a deal, but still, he was showing them all he had yet again.
After having finished making dinner, the students voraciously chowed down on their meal, desperate to get any bite they could after all the energy they'd expended during the day's training. But standing isolated among the crowd, staring at them with the same misanthropic stare, Kota scorned the students, having no interest in interacting with any of them.
"Hey Kota! It's time for dinner!" From inside the building, Mandalay called out to the young child, but Kota took no heed, walking off into the forest by himself. Noticing the child going off on his own, Izuku watched on in concern. The night before, he'd brought Kota to Mandalay and Pixie Bob after he'd been knocked unconscious, and he learned a little about the boy's tragic past, the reason why he was so resentful towards heroes.
Not wanting to leave the child going hungry, Izuku grabbed a plate of food and prepared to go find the child. But before he could go, Shigeo appeared behind him and tugged lightly on his shirt.
"Are you going to find that little boy?"
"Uh-huh?"
"Would you mind if I came along?"
"Sure thing."
Not having had much of an opportunity to see the child, the esper couldn't help but want to find him, get to know him a bit better. He felt it was rather odd for a boy so young to be so hostile towards others, but he couldn't place his finger on why.
"Here, we can follow his footsteps." Izuku pointed at the trail and followed it closely. As the two of them walked through the forest, Mob decided to bring up his curiosity.
"That boy seemed like he's really mad at us," the esper said, "But I'm not sure why."
"I know..." Izuku's gaze went toward the ground. "When I took Kota to Mandalay after his fall, they told me about his past. Two years ago, both of his parents were murdered." The esper let out a soft gasp. "They were both heroes like the Pussy Cats, but they lost their lives when fighting a villain. To everyone else, they died honorably doing their jobs, but to Kota, he thinks they abandoned him to be heroes, so that's why he hates heroes or heroes-in-training like us."
"How terrible..." Somberness quickly surrounded the two teenagers.
"Shige, you think you could help me with Kota?" Shigeo stared at his friend with a quizzical expression. "I wanna try to talk to him, make him see that heroes aren't as bad as he thinks they are. Since you're so amazing with words and managed to change so many of our classmates, not to mention what you did in the alley... you think you could give me a hand? I really want to try and help Kota."
"I'll... do what I can."
They came to a clearing of the forest, leading to a cliffside with a wide view of the forest, and standing on the edge of the cliff, gazing at the stars was Kota. As they approached him, they were close enough to hear the young boy's stomach growl.
"I heard that," said Izuku, alerting the child to their presence, "You must be hungry."
Kota immediately stood up, clenching his fists while glaring menacingly at both of them. "Here, I brought you some curry, and my friend came with me too."
"Hi there. I didn't get to introduce myself before, but my name's Shigeo Kageyama."
But Kota coldly ignored the esper's words. "How'd you two find this place?"
"We followed your footsteps," Shigeo said, "You should have some dinner before it gets cold."
"Whatever, I'm just fine. Now get lost! I don't wanna hang out with two wannabe heroes, especially you!" The child pointed at the esper: unlike everyone else who was in awe of the esper's power, Kota only viewed it as annoying. He saw Mob as proof of someone so strong who was committed to becoming the most powerful. "Spending all your time training your quirks to be stronger, it's dumb! All you wanna do is show off, just like you've been showing off ever since you got here! So get lost!"
Both teenagers were momentarily stricken with silence, awkwardly staring at the ground. "Hey, I was wondering..." muttered Izuku, "Your parents, were they the Water Hose heroes, with the water Quirks?"
Kota's eyes widened, and his voice only grew louder. "Did Mandalay tell you?" he shouted.
"No! It's... well... sorry." Izuku's eyes remained glued to the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. "I heard a little about what happened, and based on that information, I pieced it together. I remember hearing about that horrible incident a few years ago."
"I'm really sorry for your loss, Kota." the esper remarked.
The young boy scoffed and turned away from the teenagers. "Go away. Everyone here's so crazy, calling each other stupid names like "hero" or "villain", then killing each other because of it? Focusing on their Quirks? If they hadn't wasted their time showing off, they'd still be here. Idiots!"
Izuku and Shigeo felt their lips curve downward, saddened to hear the bitterness and frustration in his voice. They could see that it wasn't just heroes he hated: it was the whole concept of Quirks and the society that was based on them.
"Ummm... There's this friend I know really well." Izuku's voice was soft and gentle as he spoke to the young boy, "He didn't inherit any abilities from his parents. It's a hereditary thing, and these days, it's really uncommon. He admired heroes so much, and wanted to be one. Thing is, you can't be a hero unless you't got some kind of Quirk. Still, my friend refused to accept that, and kept hoping for a miracle. He tried to use telekinesis, breath fire, but it was no good."
"Izuku..." The young esper's heart went out to his friend, for he knew fully well Izuku was talking about himself.
"There're a lot of different ways to think about how Quirks work, and we don't seem to be on the same page when it comes to them, but still, I'm not sure that completely abandoning them's the right option either. What do you think, Shige?"
The esper felt the previous somberness from before returning, and decided to share his own thoughts and feelings just as his friend did. "My story and view on Quirks are pretty different from a lot of people. Even though you think my powers are strong for hero work, the truth is, I never really cared about strengthening my Quirk or becoming a hero."
Though Kota had been ready to bark again, he flinched in surprise with Mob's statement. "Growing up, I didn't really use my powers for anything, and I didn't really want to use them either. For so long, I thought they were pointless, but then... there were times when I needed them to stand up, to protect the people I care about from harm, and without them, they might not have survived. I guess what I'm trying to say is... there're times when you need power in life."
Though the two of them did their best, the young boy was ultimately not swayed by their words. "Will you two just leave me alone already? Go away!"
The two teenagers exchanged frowns with one another, coming to the understanding that any further words to the young boy would be pointless. "I'm sorry. Here, I'll leave the food here."
"Again, I'm sorry for your loss, that you've been left alone. It's a really terrible feeling." The esper gave his final condolences before the two friends decided to walk away in silence. The air of sadness grew thick around them, for their attempts at connecting with the boy had gone awry.
"Looks like neither of us were able to get through to him," Izuku muttered, "What're we missing?"
The esper let out a small sigh. "I'm not sure. I think that... some lessons aren't easy enough to be taught through words. I mean, the two of us have faced danger first-hand, so we know why we need power, so maybe Kota needs to see what we're saying first-hand." The two of them continued in silence for a few more seconds, the air still too dense and sad, but the esper felt his thoughts linger toward what his friend had said to Kota.
"That "friend" you were talking about, you meant yourself, didn't you?" Mob simply wanted to confirm his assumptions, and they were proven right when Izuku shook his head. "You know, my little brother, Ritsu, he wasn't born with any powers either."
"Huh?" This came as a shock to the teenager: Mob never really talked about his family much, so while he was aware that he had a brother, he knew practically nothing about him. "Really?"
"Yea. Even though my little brother was skilled in practically everything I wasn't, he still wanted psychic powers. I remember he'd always be grabbing spoons to try to bend them, hoping to awaken some psychic powers, but no matter how hard he tried, he could never do it."
Shigeo lowered his head in shame. "Just like I was completely oblivious to the frustration you felt over not being strong enough, I could never really see how much getting psychic powers meant to him."
"Shige..."
The esper stopped in his tracks, his shoulders now hunching forward. "Ritsu, mom, dad, everyone... it's been so long." The teenager's dormant feelings were rising up inside him again, spurred by everything he'd heard from Kota and Izuku.
"It's been more than a year since I saw them. Kota said he felt like his parents abandoned him. What if... they all feel the same way? I mean, I know that they're all still alive, but for all they know, I'm dead. Do... do they hate me in the same way that Kota hates his parents for leaving him?"
"Hey!" Izuku immediately wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder and held him at his side. "Come on, don't think like that! I'm positive that none of them hate you!
"But what Kota said, maybe-"
"Kota doesn't hate his parents: he's just frustrated and sad that they died when he was so young, and like you said, it's hard for him to change that mindset with words. He misses them, just like I know your family misses you, probably more than they can bear. And remember, they all would've died if it weren't for you stopping the explosion. You're their hero."
94%
Mob lightly trembled, struggling to keep his emotions in-check, but his friend's words were doing an effective job at calming him. The teenager affectionately looked at his friend, and suddenly, a warm feeling of appreciation spread through his heart, happy to know that he still had a new family in this world.
"Thank, Izuku."
The fanboy closed his eyes and gave him one of his signature smiles. "It's the least I can do. Let's get back to camp."
The two best friends returned to their dinner, which was already close to wrapping up. Afterwards, the classmates went to the hot springs to bathe and relax their bodies in the warm water, loosening the knots in their muscles. Once that was out of the way, the students began to slowly leave the bathes one-by-one.
As the esper returned to the sleeping area for the boys of Class 1-A, he saw Izuku sitting on the floor, taking rigorous notes in his Hero Analysis Journal. Seeing his friend show such rigor and determination when it came to being a hero, observing every detail of all their classmates, it was something that set him apart from everyone else. In fact, it made the esper realize that there was something his friend could help him with.
"Hey Izuku, what're you writing there?"
"Just writing about some improvements in my Quirk, and a few extra notes about the Quirks of our classmates, and even your psychic powers."
"You've been taking notes on me?"
"Yep!" The young teenager flipped to the page he had on Shigeo and showed him the different sections detailing the extent of his abilities and what he'd seen from the esper so far. He saw that the newest page was being filled with notes about the Air Whips he'd been practicing with.
"Izuku, you think you could actually help me with something?"
"Anything!" Izuku replied, more than eager to help pay back his friend in any way possible.
"It's just that I've been having a bit of trouble coming up with new moves and different ways to use my psychic energy, so you think you could help me come up with some ideas?"
Izuku felt his inner fanboy begin to flare up, and he squirmed with excitement. "Of course! Come on, let's go outside! We've still got some time!"
The verdant-eyed teenager led the way with a skip in his steps, carrying his notebook with him. The two friends made their way to an isolated corner outside of the building, close to the border of the forest.
"You've already seen me use my energy blasts at the Sports Festival against Tokoyami and Todoroki, but I haven't thought of any other moves using my energy blasts."
"I think one of the first points would be trying to make smaller blasts of energy. Maybe like spheres! Can you try that?" Mob cupped his hand and channeled his energy into his palm. A sphere of energy was quickly formed, and it floated calmly in the air. Izuku's eyes glowed with his fanboy passion. "How cool! Try making some more!"
The esper did as was asked and created nine more spheres of energy from his hands, all of which floated around while Izuku only grew more dazzled. He then began to flip through his notes in the section about pro heroes, trying to draw inspiration from someone that Mob was already acquainted with.
"I've gotten some pretty detailed notes on Hawks, and since you worked beside him, you should've seen him using his Quirk first-hand. One of the main things I wrote down was that he had total control over all of his feathers, being able to guide multiple feathers at once. You saw that, right?"
"Yea..." Mob had indeed seen the hero's remarkable finesse and skill when he was patrolling with Hawks: he'd always been able to hit the target on the mark, firing feathers from multiple different angles to surround his opponent. "I get what you're saying: I should try and think of my energy in the same way, control it in the same manner."
The esper lifted his hand up and waved them around, putting all of his focus into moving the balls of energy. "There you go!"
After moving the balls around for a few seconds, the esper decided to gather all of them up into a single ball between his hands, then clapped his hands together, dissipating the energy and causing a minor boom.
"You could also maybe try to create bigger energy attacks, charge them up, or maybe morph them into different shapes? I don't know, but you've got so many different ways to use your energy, it's crazy! Here, let's look over some of the special attacks I've got listed out! Maybe they'll give us some inspiration for us to help make your own special moves."
"Right." The two friends sat down while Izuku began going down the list of heroes. As the passionate teenager went into detail about the special moves, Shigeo watched his joyous, energetic demeanor. He was being reminded just how much drive and determination he had to become a hero, and now he was using that drive for Shigeo's sake, to help him become a better hero himself. Hopefully, Shigeo could inherit at least some of his passion and could find a way to pay his friend back, find a way to make him stronger and make him into the strong hero he wanted to be.
The night had been well-spent for Izuku and Shigeo. Using the examples of other heroes and each of their tactics had allowed for the esper to see what kind of potential applications his energy had. Furthermore, thanks to Izuku's clever and inquisitive mind, they were even able to come up with a few special moves which Izuku jotted down in his notes. Mob decided to copy those moves down on his own piece of paper to have as a reference point.
The next morning, the esper decided to test out the new moves. From afar, Mr. Aizawa observed the esper to see how much progress he'd made with his whip control, as well as his ability to wield two powers simultaneously.
The dirt monsters charged toward the esper, who was protecting against them with his barrier. Now that he'd gotten more adept at using his powers, Mr. Aizawa decided to have Pixie Bob create more dirt monsters, so now there were more than a dozen of them all attacking and surrounding the teenager. But their strength in numbers meant nothing in the face of Mob's overwhelming power.
Shigeo unleashed three balls of energy from his hand, which shot through the head and stomach of one of the dirt monsters. The esper then maneuvered them with his hand, moving his fingers to guide them to attack the other creatures. Shigeo managed to succeed in killing four of the dirt monsters this way before he lost control of them and they exploded in the sky. Two of the dirt monsters combined their attacks and swiped their claws at Mob, and while it did no damage to his barrier, it managed to send him several meters back.
The esper pointed all five fingers outward, and from his fingers shot multiple small bullets of energy. He'd seen Toichiro use these type of small energy blasts in their fight, and he'd found it rather difficult to avoid them since they were fired at such a rapid pace. Sure enough, the two dirt beasts that were caught in the path were quickly blown apart by the onslaught of energy bullets. One of the dirt beasts attempted to retaliate, but before it could even move an inch, Mob already grabbed it with his air whip. He then proceeded to swing the beast around, gaining momentum until he was fast enough to swing it into the remaining dirt monsters, sending them all crashing into the mountain. For the finishing blow, Mob formed a much larger sphere of energy and fired it at the creatures, causing a large explosion and obliterating all of them with ease.
"Excellent work." The homeroom teacher jumped down from his observation point to give the esper his thoughts on his performance. "Your performance with your Air Whips has improved substantially, and now you've begun to utilize energy blasts and are even able to manually control them. What's more, your ability to do this all while maintaining a barrier is impressive. You still appear to lack perfect control over your energy blasts, and again, remember to ensure that there's minimal collateral damage, so try not to have your energy blasts be too explosive. Regarding your Air Whips, it'll take quite some time for you to fully master them, but regardless, your progress is still remarkable. Continue working hard, and remember to stay focused."
"Yes sir!" The esper replied, bowing his head toward his teacher.
"Good. I'll be teaching the students in the remedial course, so that'll keep my attention occupied, but I'm confident in what I've seen so far. I'll leave the rest to you." Shota left the esper alone, but as he left, he was being reminded of what incredible power Mob wielded: he'd seen that most of the students were already on the brink of collapse, but Shigeo was still going strong, showing no signs of significant fatigue in comparison. Yet even with that incredible power, he never once bragged about it, always focusing instead on self-improvement, something he'd seen the esper hammer with that club he formed, the Body Improvement Club. The teacher smiled to himself: he'd make a great hero someday.
The sun had set, and the third day of intensive training was nearing it's end. Almost all of the students were wiped out, and even Shigeo was starting to feel a sense of tiredness, though they couldn't say that they hadn't made progress. Each of them had managed to push their Quirks to the limit, strengthen their bodies and their powers in their own ways. For Shigeo, he'd managed to gain almost complete mastery of dual power-wielding, increasing his battle experience with his different powers. After having gotten a good enough handle on attacking while defending, he requested to Mr. Aizawa that he be allowed to utilize hand-to-hand combat to better combine it with his other powers, a request that the homeroom teacher accepted. Thus, the esper had gotten a pretty decent handle on using energy techniques in-tandem with his close-range combat.
For tonight's events, the Pussycats decided to shake things up and have all of the students partake in a fun class activity. The five members of Class 1-A who'd failed the practical were all very ecstatic upon hearing the news, but Mr. Aizawa had informed them that they'd all be having extra lessons with him instead, for their performance had not been sufficient enough to meet his high standards. As the unkempt hero began dragging the five students with his binding cloth, Pixie Bob decided to get started by explaining the rules.
"Ok, so Class B is going to start off as our scarers. When they're in place, Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route."
As the students heard this explanation and started to feel unnerved, with Uraraka being the most frightened, the avian member of Class A was not frightened by this at all, eager to spend his night in the woods. "Revelry in the dark," he muttered, which only served to further shake Ochaco.
"Now, those who're scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact! Use your Quirks to terrify the others, got it?"
"The winners are the creative ones who're able to make the most people piss themselves!" Tiger interjected.
"I see!" the class president said, "They're encouraging us to stoke our imaginations to compete with each other all while showing us more use for our Quirks in the process! As expected of U.A.!"
"Alright, everyone draw to see who your partner will be!" Pixie Bob held paper tags with several matching numbers, and the classmates each got their partners. For some of the classmates, they were fortunate enough to be paired up with people who they were familiar with, Ochaco and Tsu being the prime example. However, there were also some other pairings that proved to be somewhat unexpected, and one of those pairings was Mineta and Yaoyorozu.
When the short teenager realized that he'd picked the same number as her, he felt his heart do a flip. He couldn't believe that he'd gotten lucky enough to be paired with perhaps the hottest girl in the class. Not only that, but the setting was pretty great: the two of them would be alone in the woods. Yaoyorozu would probably be scared, and she'd likely lean on him for support. The possible scenarios played out in Mineta's mind, and he couldn't help but feel excited.
On the other hand, Yaoyorozu didn't display the same eagerness with her partner choice. While it was indeed true that Mineta had declared he'd be better, and it was something that had undoubtedly impressed Momo, it was still somewhat hard for her to remove the image of the pervert from her mind. Unlike Mineta, she felt slightly uneasy at the prospect of being alone with him in the dark woods, believing in such a setting, there was the chance he'd try to make some sort of move on her, and that was something that she wasn't feeling ready for.
She looked over at Kageyama, who'd managed to get Ojiro as his partner. Truth be told, she'd been holding out for the chance to have Kageyama as a partner, mostly because she was familiar with him and had already been paired up with him multiple times before. While he was talking with his partner, the esper exchanged a small glance with his female friend, one that showed just the tiniest sense of regret that he couldn't be paired up with a close friend such as her.
Mineta saw the glance of disappointment Yaoyorozu was showing: he was able to tell that she wasn't particularly happy with the choice in partners, and even the small, fleeting expression from Kageyama was enough for Mineta to decipher it.
"Hey Kageyama, you wanna switch partners?" The esper looked to the voice who asked him this question, turning his gaze down to find that it was Mineta's voice. For Yaoyorozu, she felt like he'd just spoken crazy-talk. Did he really just say that?
"What?" the esper asked.
The ball-haired teenager's body lightly trembled, finding it hard to resist the possibility of spending time alone with such a hot girl, but deep down, he knew this was what was best. This was what he felt someone who respected women as people would do, and he needed to make sure to keep up this behavior. Besides, this was his self-imposed punishment for trying to sneak peeks at the girls naked before. "If you want, you can be partners with Yaoyorozu. I don't mind."
The esper gave a look of uncertainty towards Yaoyorozu, and then towards his partner. "Ok. Ummm... Ojiro, would that be ok with you?"
The tailed teenager responded with a confident and pleasant smile. "Fine with me. I'm cool with partnering with Mineta."
Mob hesitantly walked over to Yaoyorozu's smile, while the girl beamed brightly at Mineta. "You're becoming quite the gentleman, Mineta," she said, "Thank you for your generosity."
The short teenager's eyes bulged open, a quick flare in his cheeks rising as he rubbed the back of his head. A few of the other students took note of this exchange of partners, impressed by Mineta's decision while also taking note of the new partners.
"Looks like those two'll be out in the woods together, alone," muttered Hagakure, "I'm so going to tell Ashido about this."
Shigeo couldn't help but feel this mild sense of embarrassment creeping up on him, realizing the setting the two of them would be in. What was he supposed to do in this situation, walking alone in the woods with a girl? He had no idea!
With the teams selected, the Pussycats sent the two-man squads out into the woods to face the students of Class 1-B and whatever traps they had set out in store for them. The teams were sent out after two-minute intervals, though most of the students found it hard to make casual conversation when they heard the faint sounds of screaming out in the distance. After three of the teams had been sent out, it was now time for Mob and Momo to head out into the woods. As the two of them set out, Momo felt the hairs on her neck begin to stand up; the screams from up ahead combined with the eeriness of their surroundings was simply daunting.
Mob, on the other hand, was practically indifferent to this environment. Having exorcised countless evil spirits and walking through dark, mysterious places like this had become normal for him. Instead, the only thing that was creating unease in his mind was not knowing what to do in this situation, the best thing to say.
As they continued walking, the young girl noticed how cool and collected her friend was being. "You don't seem scared at all."
Mob hesitantly shrug his shoulders. "I guess not. I'm used to places like these." Seeing him keep a level head managed to give her some reassurance, and her racing heart managed to return to a regular beat. Momo attempted to further calm her nerves by expressing her thoughts on what had happened minutes before.
"I have to be honest, I'm shocked that the two of us managed to be partners. I would've never thought that Mineta would've passed up an opportunity like this." The young girl's face split into a warm smile. "You're the one responsible for that, aren't you? For making Mineta into a better person."
Mob remained silent for a few moments. "I might've talked to him, but he made the choice to be better, not me."
"But you're still the one who inspired him. You're the one who showed him the path to improvement." Momo's smile widened across her face, and her onyx eyes lightly shone. "The same way you've shown me and so many others that path. I and the rest of our class owe you a great debt, Kageyama."
The darkness of the night managed to hide the light blush that crept up on the esper's face, his heart fluttering at the kind words being given to him. "...Thanks," was all that the young esper could give in response.
As the two went through the woods, Momo began to lightly tremble, for they were getting very close to one of the targets, and she'd distinctly remembered the screams of her classmates coming not too far ahead. "Get ready for whatever Class B has in store for us," said Momo.
The two teenagers would quickly find, however, that the students of Class B were the least of their worries. Slowly floating through the air, Mob and Momo noticed a pink gas that was enveloping the area. Neither of them were sure what this pink gas was, and they knew none of their classmates could produce any sort of gas like this.
"Is this one of the Quirks from Class B?" asked Mob.
The young teenager took a defensive stance: something about this didn't feel right. She didn't recall any of the students using a Quirk like this in the Sports Festival. What's more, there was another scent she was picking up on.
"Kageyama, do you smell that?" she said, "It sounds as though something's burning." Momo wasn't liking this: things were beginning to get more and more suspicious.
"Burning? What does that mean?"
"I'm not sure yet, but..." The young girl quickly used her Quirk to create two gas masks. "Let's not take any chances. Quickly, put this mask on."
Mob did as his friend asked and put the mask around his face. As he did, he too was beginning to feel a rising sense of unease, his stomach twisting with anxiety and anticipation. "Yaoyorozu, what's going on?"
From behind her gas mask, she grimaced. "It might be too early to say, but it's possible that-"
"Everyone!" The sound of Mandalay's voice resonated in the minds of both teenagers, and they could immediately sense the urgency woven in her voice. "Two villains attacked us! There're probably more coming! Everyone, get back to camp as soon as possible!"
The two students of Class 1-A felt their hearts constrict in fear. Did they really hear her right? "It's just as I feared..." Momo mumbled.
Throughout the forest, the students unlucky enough to not have Momo around to create masks for them had quickly fallen unconscious, succuming to the effects of this poisonous gas. While the gas spread throughout the forest, a huge plume of smoke and ash began to rise up, and from the distance, one could see the blue flames rapidly consuming the trees.
Back in the starting area for the trial, the heroes and the students who'd yet to go out into the woods were taken completely by surprise when Pixie Bob's body was suddenly flung across the air and into the woods by some unknown force. Coming out of hiding were two of the villains, one of whom carried a large magnet wrapped with a cloth, who looked as though they'd used that weapon to knock Pixie Bob unconscious.
Mineta's entire body trembled, and he stumbled back in terror. "What... No way. I thought they made sure nobody could find us. So why the heck're there villains attacking this place?
While the students of U.A. High had been enjoying themselves, these villains had been watching from the distance. For the past few days, they'd been hiding in the shadows, observing the students going about their training and waiting for the opportune moment to strike. And now, that moment had finally come. Each of the villains who'd come to the training camp tonight had all banded together under the League of Villains. Leading this group of villains known as the Vanguard Action Squad, the villain Dabi maliciously cackled as he set the trees on fire.
"Take them down, those who believe they deserve the title "hero". We, the Vanguard Action Squad of the League of Villains, will tear them off their pedestals."
All throughout the forest, the teenagers were beginning to realize the danger their lives were in: some of them were coming face-to-face with these deranged villains, all of them ready for a fight, ready to slaughter anyone who came across them. For all of the members of the Vanguard Action Squad had come to this camp to fulfill a mission, a very special mission given to them by their leader...
While the Vanguard Action Squad had begun to make their move, the leader of these band of villains was sitting at his bar, fiddling with playing cards. Though this was a very big operation, Tomura decided to sit this mission out and wait for his team to finish the mission. On the opposite side, Kurogiri was cleaning some of the drinking glasses, contemplating how the mission would go.
"You're sure they'll be alright on their own?" Kurogiri asked.
"I'm a non-playable character this level. I'm sure they'll make it work without me. Besides, this game has completely changed.
"I've been thinking of it as an RPG: we had some pretty good weapons, but we challenged the big boss when we were just level one. Honestly, this is like a simulation game: I'm the player, and I'll use all my little pawns to smash through the hero's ranks. But first, I need to make crack in the superhuman world. That's where the Vanguard Action Squad comes in: it doesn't even matter if they manage to complete the mission. Just attacking the camp is gonna make the heroes piss their pants."
"So they're sacrificial pawns?"
"Come on, do I really seem that heartless? I'd never go and underestimate their strength. They might have different goals than me, but they're still comrades." The villain picked up a photo laying on the counter. "In a society bound by ridiculous rules and watched over by these fake heroes, it isn't just villains who're being oppressed and forced to suffer."
In his hand, Tomura Shigaraki stared at the picture of the very teenager he'd met with twice already, the one he'd threatened to kill and the one who'd helped him understand his true conviction. The villain's smile widened: for this mission, the target was none other than Shigeo Kageyama, and Tomura intended to bring the kid here for a proper chat.
"Let's see if this kid'll be in a talking mood when he gets here."
Oh snap! Looks like the main target of the Vanguard Action Squad isn't Bakugo, but Mob! So how're things gonna progress now that Mob's thrown into the picture? What's gonna happen to the other students? How're the villains gonna handle Mob? You'll have to wait until Chapter 36 to find out!
Also, couple things: one, this story has finally hit the 2,000 favorites marker! Secondly, this story also got a page on TV Tropes!