The next few days were absolute hell.
It was hell for everyone, but the five of us had it by far the worst. We were stuck in Mr Aizawa's remedial lessons until 2AM, and after a few hours of desperate sleep, we were hauled out of bed again at 7 for more lessons. At 9, we were brought out to the training ground with the rest of our classmates to begin a hell that was somehow even worse than the lessons: Training itself.
Mr. Aizawa wasn't lying when he said it'd be difficult.
In order to make my acid stronger, Sensei made me continually burn through the cliffside of a mountain. Over and over again. I was expected to make good progress on getting through the solid stone, but by the end of the day, despite working super hard, I'd barely made a dent in it.
Eiji had to let Ojiro hit him again and again with his tail while keeping hard. Kaminari had to run his energy through a battery, fizzling out his brain over and over again. Everyone, in fact,had to participate in some kind of hellish boot camp quirk training.
The four Pussycats, Sensei and Class B's teacher Vlad King were supervising our progress all the time. Aside from the first two Pussycats we'd met, there was also a big burly dude called Tiger and a cutesy one called Ragdoll. Pixie Bob, the blond worried about getting married, had earth moving powers. Mandalay the brunette could project thoughts into people's minds. Rag doll could look at people and see their weaknesses and locations. And Tiger could flex his body around, with a quirk called pliabody.
The whole time all our teachers were yelling at us to "push to our limits". Like that'd make us go faster or do better.
At 4pm, the Pussycats led us t the mess hall. No wonderful food was prepared for us this time.
"Now, I told you yesterday, 'Today's the last day we help you out!' said Pixie Bob on the first day.
Rag doll added "If you want to eat, get off your asses and make it yourself! Starting with Curry!"
"Yes ma'am" we all barely stumbled out.
"Hahaha! Everybody's looking pretty raw!" gloated Ragdoll. "That doesn't give you an excuse to do a sloppy job though!"
"You're right!" cried Iida. In the case of an emergency, feeding the hungry and providing sustenance to mind and body is an essential part of providing Aid! These pros are correct! Let's make the world's best curry!" he yelled at us, which got some of us hyped.
Of course, the first problem was fire.
"Todoroki!" I called to him. "We need some fire over here!"
"Everyone!" snapped Yaomomo. "If you keep relying on others' help, you won't learn anything about making your own." She produced a lighter as she spoke. No fair Momoyao! Not all of us can make anything!
"Nah, it's cool," Todoroki assured her. Is it just me or have those two been getting along much better since the Final Exams?
Ochako and me jumped up and down as Todoroki lit our fires for us.
"Burn, burn!" I cheered as he lent over the pit.
After what seemed like forever, we had food.
I heard Eiji say "If I had this at a restaurant, I'd send it back, but given this situation, this is great!"
Two seats from him, I noticed Yaomomo was packing it in almost as much as the boys.
"Yaomomo, you're relentless!" I teased her.
"My quirk allows me to convert fat at an atomic level to create many different things. The more I consume, the more I can create."
"Kinda like poop!" said Sero, unfeelingly. Momoyao went to her corner to pout, and Jirou punched Sero out for her.
At the end of the day, by 2am, I was so tired I did a cartwheel in my sleep.
On day three, we were so run down we could barely keep our heads up.
"Oi, remedials!" snapped Sensei. "I don't see your muscles moving."
He grabbed Eiji's head with his scarf and pulled it back to make him pay attention.
"I'm sorry," I gasped out. "It's just….sleep…deprivation."
"Yesterday's 'remedial lessons,'" groaned Kaminari, "were…" There was really no word.
"Told ya, didn't I? This was gonna be rough," Sensei reminded us. "Sato and Kaminari, your capacities, the amount of quirk-related power you have stored up, are directly linked to whether or not your survive any particular fight. Raising those capaciteis requires endless repetitive use of your quirks. Sero, in addition to increasing your capacity, yo also have to work on increasing the strength of your tape as well as the speed at which you can fire it. Ashido," turning on me, "extended use of your acid eventually causes your skin to reach a limit. You need to lengthen the amount of time it takes to reach your limit. And Kirishima, if you work both on your muscular strength and increasing your quirk's rigidity, you'll achieve synergistic benefits. Above all else," he glowered. "Every last one of you here were exposed during final exams. While you train I want you guys to think long and hard about why it is exactly that you're so much more tired than everyone else."
He turned once again to snap at Uraraka and Aoyama this time. "You guys are in the same boat! You didn't fail per se, but you were pretty damn close. 30 points was the cutoff and you two only squeezed by with a 35. Don't lose focus. Everyone keep at it! No matter what you do, never forget your fundamental drive. That's how you improve and progress. Why am I working this hard? Why am I putting up with being chewed out like this? To what end? Always keep the answer to that question in mind."
What I want. Why I'm here. I'm here at training camp so I can do the test of courage thing. Keep your eyes on that. That's my goal. Just put up with this a little longer and you'll have the time of your life.
"Meow meow meow, allow me to change the topic! Let's talk about tonight's plans!" cried Pixie Bob. "We're doing an inter-class test of courage! After training hard, you get to play hard! See! Carrot and stick!"
TONIGHT! TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT! AT LONG LAST!
We were exhausted beyond belief as we made the stew that night, Iida yelling "I don't see your hands moving! We have to make the world's finest stew!", but at last we were out in the woods.
Pixie bob smiled. "Our stomachs are full and the dishes are clean! Next up!"
"The Test of courage!" I fist pumped. FINALLY!
"Before that," said Sensei, and we froze. "Though it pains me to say it, the remedial bunch are going to have a review lesson with me starting right now."
"NO WAY!" I screamed in absolute horror. What the heck was I working towards all this time, huh?
But there was nothing I could do. sensei bound the five of us and dragged us off to the stupid building.
"WAH, PLEAE FORGIVE ME! AT LEAST LET ME PLAY ONCE!" I cried. But no dice. Sensei wasn't about to give in.