The next morning they ate breakfast and then immediately went outside to practice. This training felt a bit dangerous, but when Ace asked if it was safe, the other teacher told him breaking muscles made them grow back stronger. He didn't protest again and went to train. His new training was now making the ears, which was the only major improvement.

That day's training was mostly him on his phone gathering information. "Ace, what are you doing on your phone?" Katakuri asked when he saw him on the porch on his phone.

"I want to find out what animals can do what certain things. How long can one animal hold its breath? How long can one go without food and water? How high in altitude can one go? Can one survive in below freezing waters? I'm not just on my phone or anything. You can check my browser history if you want."

"No, it's fine. But maybe look like you're doing something with what you find. You can tell your training is a lot less intensive than the others'." Ace looked around, but saw some were wandering around and some were just eating.

"Oh, okay. I'll go in the back so nobody sees me anymore." Katakuri nodded. He was a nice guy. Ace went to the back of the house and then into the closet, turning into a kitten to not make noise or take attention, pawing through the pages and using tiny toe beans to type. He was shocked that a tardigrade could apparently survive in all places.

Of course he wasn't going to try and become something so microscopic, and he didn't know if he'd even have a human consciousness if he got that small.

After two days of training, Ace having spent the least time doing physical training, running laps as the heaviest two legged form he could, all of them needed a break. "Let's go on a hike!" Ashido shouted at breakfast. "It's so pretty here and we haven't seen anything."

"Yeah!" the others agreed. Nobody wanted to train again that day. They were too tired. And there was no reprieve but food and sleep, making everyone look forward to just going home and ending the summer training camp. Ace did feel like he'd learned a lot, but he also could have done it at home with the same ideas.

All Might offered to take them up the safer trail, and a handful agreed. The others were too tired to go on a hike, and them going on that hike was a break for everyone else, too. Ace was the only one of his friends to want to go, along with three from class 1-B and Kirishima, Bakugo and Ashido. The others all went back to bed when they were miraculously allowed to do so.

Ace walked behind everyone, to observe everything more closely. Not needing to worry about getting in somebodies way. He picked up bugs and watched deer and birds, saw two elk hitting horns. It was awesome. There were huge birds flying over them, very loud. Everything was amazing, and Ashido pointed out a huge bear across the dip from them.

They were on their way back down the trail when it started to drizzle. They hurried back, slipping and sliding obnoxiously and ungracefully. Ace could have flown them back, but they were fine. They could get muddy, and he wasn't their free transportation. And it was kind of funny seeing Bakugo all wet and muddy and pissy.

But Ace was pretty messy now, too. "Go outside and hose yourselves off," Aizawa said, making their class snicker at their expense. It started to rain harder, but they went and hosed themselves off, washing their shoes and trying to not bring a mess inside. Ace told them to go inside first and rolled up the hose and turned the water off he capped the hose and hooked it to the side of the cabin.

Looking up at the sky, he saw all of the birds rise and flee. He just started to shout in warning when the mountain behind him started to shift. But he slipped in the mud and fell as the ground moved and wiped out half of the mountain, him just barley missing the safe spot that the cabin was on.

He turned into a turtle with a super hard shell to protect himself as he was buried and thrown about in the landslide, not able to hear anything but the banging noises as rock hit him. The whooshing sounds of him sliding along groves of water. He wasn't coming out until he slowed to a stop, as rocks continued to crash on him.

He poked his head out when he found himself in a vertical drop in the pitch black, and finally hit the stone floor somewhere damp. He came out of his shell but as a small animal, having cat ears, to try and find out where he was. He was scared for everybody. His heart was beating quickly, and the darkness didn't calm his anxiety.

But as a non-human, the emotion didn't trigger a sleep attack. He had to just keep using his quirk and he'd be fine. Ace didn't call out for any help, able to tell with the advanced hearing that there were no humans down there. And if there were any animals, he didn't want to risk scaring or upsetting them.

He couldn't hear anything that sounded like outside, and he couldn't see anything. He felt he was in a black void. It just smelled of dirt and mud. The wall he walked to was damp with water, so he was for sure underground. But where? Were there cave systems in this mountain? He hadn't been told about any. But he had come inside as a small turtle. Smaller than a human. Maybe he got into caves that were too small for humans?

Slowly, he grew himself until he could tell a human wouldn't fit here. Fuck. He was nowhere someone would look to rescue. He was a cat again, and paced for only a minute before he knew he needed to find a way out. At least somewhere he could crawl through as a bug or something.

All this time he'd been handling being one armed fine. But now he was in pitch black, not knowing how to get out or anything. He formed an extra left arm on his left side to feel along the wall as he tentatively made his way through the small space. He did enter a small groove into a much larger cave. It was more like a tomb. "Whoa…" Ace sighed, able to tell how big it was by the way the sound carried. This place might be discovered. But he wasn't going to wait, it was just more likely he'd be found here than in a tiny space like before.

Still, it was potch black darkness. He changed into human form, glad to be already bundled up in warm clothing, when he stepped on something. He really was blind, and didn't know how to get enhanced eye sight. He crouched down and touched it, finding a human skull, which was warm. Like there had been a living human here just before.

The teen almost gagged before he heard an unsettling noise. He froze in his place, didn't move a muscle. It didn't sound like an animal or person. It honestly sounded like a monster from a scary movie. He backed away from the dead human body, but made noise and he heard the thing come rushing as if through a long hallway. He turned into a butterfly and hurried to the higher wall.

Something quiet. A butterfly was very quiet. He heard the Thing crash into the wall ace had been at, below him. The roof was quite high. The Thing made grunting noises, snuffing. It couldn't see him down there, there was no light source to help it. In this darkness, it had to rely on sound. Scent would be useless in a place that smelled like mud the whole way through.

He waited for it to leave, but stayed pressed to the wall. This was not a good situation. Not only did he not know a way out, had no food or water, and had no idea where he was, there was some creepy monster down there with him. He felt useless when just flying in one direction, it felt like he was in a void, and was surrounded by nothing but darkness. He had to know if he'd found someplace new.

So Ace landed next to the wall, on his left side. He didn't know if he was confident fighting something off while he was blind and it was not affected by that fact. And had killed another human before now. Unless somehow an human-like ape of some sort got to Japan and down here, it was a person. Which meant there was a way in - a way out.

Just find the way out and leave. He made himself into a single fluff. A made of creature the size of a cotton ball. Blind as well, since there was nothing to see and no use for eyes. He rolled along the cold ground, making sure to press against both the floor and the wall of the cavern. He rolled along the same wall, and did so for many hours straight before he landed back at the place he came from, able to feel the wetter part, and finding the human remains in front of him. Shit. This cave was pretty small, and he was sharing it with that Thing. It had gone away for now, but Ace didn't now if there were other exits, chutes off of the main room he had rolled around.

With no idea where it went or where he should go, he tried a different method. He turned into a gecko and made his way along the wall. He was heard in this form easily. This thing's hearing was really good. Crap. He wished and didn't wish he knew what it looked like. Maybe it was pretty small and weak, but all he had to go by was the gutteral noises and the fact that there was a dead human down there.

When it ran to his area, he froze immediately. He didn't know what he should turn into next. It might hear the flap of wings, but when it came to him, it just stood there. He was absolutely still and silent. He had his useless eyes squeezed shut before it left. He heard it go back to where it first made noise. In another chute with the way the moment sounded, a lighter echo.

He held in any tears or any show that it was absolutely terrifying. Being helpless like that with death right upon you. If he was in human form, he'd be a mess, but staying compact and with something so small, he couldn't make loud, frantic breathing noises. He composed himself and made the hands of the gecko body furry. He was using both arms right now. He could tell by the way he moved that both were in function. He couldn't let that injury affect him right now.

Ace could also not allow himself to fall asleep here. He'd be dead if he let out a snore. He had nothing to eat, either. He had to get out of here soon. Making the hands furry and with only the very toe tips sticking to the wall, he made his way slowly across the surface. He'd find his way out and then see if he could save anyone else. If there was an earth quake and not a landslide only, they Ace would be help in rescue.

He tried not to worry about his classmates. When the landslide hit, he saw it only affect one side of the mountain, and it cut off right where Ace was. Man, if he had a family, this place would probably face a hugh lawsuit over it not being totally safe. That was something angry families did. Right?

Well, he only had himself he could focus on. For the next day, he mapped out the wall of the place, making many loops around the area until he found the way the monster had come from.

He drank water slowly off of the cave walls, needing water at least. He could be any creature, but he was still human inside. He needed at least water, and was glad there was at least a small source. Terrified, he put survival first and ignored any human worries about friends and family, about him being hungry, and put it away.

Fear was a good thing to keep hold of, though. And determination. When he finally made his way to the exit, he made himself into a gnat, something he knew was too quiet to be found that easily. But when he entered, there was a toxic smell that burned when he flew in, he flew back the other way.

So, the only way out had some sort of gas in it. Great. And if that gas just rested there, did that mean that was an enclosed area? Or was the fact that it hadn't permeated the entire cavern mean that it wasn't totally enclosed and the gas had somewhere to go. God, he had no idea what to do!

He refused sleep, and licked the wall for water. He'd get no food here. He would make the perfect body for surviving this. He worked on it tirelessly, which was hard to do silently. But he found he could not be one thing he wanted to be because none of the traits possibly coexisted.

It was impossible to scale walls silently while also having a layer of fat he could somehow make his body burn off as food, since he didn't want to risk having his stomach rumble from hunger. He had to have large ears for hearing, but also wanted a small body. It didn't match, and he eventually had to understand his stomach would rumble.

But he'd be out soon enough, he didn't plan on being there long.

-x-

One… two… silence. He slammed the rock fist into the wall, fleeing and sticking to the side across the cavern. The creature roared and ran to the place the sound came from. Ace stayed silent as it made the same noises it always did when it was confused. He was convinced it was quite large by now. Ace didn't know how long it had been, as he didn't sleep, eat or see the daylight in there. But it had been awhile. He just didn't know how long. Well, once he got out, he'd find out.

The creature slunk away again, and he went back to his target area and punched. Then he flew away and waited. He'd explored the cavern and all options thoroughly by now. There was no way out, and the only place he found had any chance of an exit was the home of the monster and the gas, whether it was toxic or not remained to be seen.

So, he found the place that leaked water the most, and was going to burrow his way out, however long that took. What was good was that the wall was cracking. He would have done it on the roof had he not been afraid of actually being buried alive this time and not lucking out to be in a cave.

Once he felt safe, he returned to the hard work. He was tired, and did his best to not use his right arm much. Unable to see and feel was terrifying and he wished he could see it. He could touch it, but didn't have much chance to feel it when he was clinging to the wall. He spent hours and hours methodologically hitting the wall in the same spot. This cave didn't even have bats,

Ace didn't know how the human got inside other than it being dragged inside from somewhere, from the only entrance/exit. Well, this was very, very good training in his opinion. It really was life or death. He had to think fast and use his quirk properly. It was great if he weren't hungry and tried and scared. He wanted to go home.

It had to have been days later, water trickling out of the hole faster now, that he finally saw a crack of life outside. A small little root of some plant poked through the shattered dent in the wall. Broken rock were all over floor beneath it. The creature seemed to not want to linger there, and was only reactionary to the sound immediately after it was made.

He'd managed to not be touched by it or discovered enough to be in danger until he finally got a crack of sunlight. He started to shove his fists through it, glad it was day time outside even if it hurt his eyes. But the creature shrieked and ran at him, wrapped a slimy arm around his chest, making him scream at the burning sensation.

He grew spikes out of his skin and it was warded off before running close again. He shrunk into a mouse and threw himself out of the cave and into the outside world. He turned back into a humanoid creature and shoved more rocks into the hole, enclosing he monster once and for all. Standing in the sunlight, he found he was badly burnt across his chest and back, through the parka. He must have traveled far since he wasn't cold down here.

Well, another injury, but one of war! Another one of war, jeez. But he'd survived who knows how long in the same place as a monster, in the pitch black, no food and no sleep. He sighed. He was a damn badass.

He waved down a truck, not really knowing where he was. Someone saw his bad wounds and pulled over, a trucker looking concerned. Ace just asked that he call an ambulance for him, which he did. Ace lasted until the paramedics got there before he gave his name and affiliation and finally changed back into a human form to sleep after five days.

-x-

Ace was severely exhausted and starved, dehydrated and burnt. He had gone five days both without sleep and fighting off his narcolepsy unmedicated. It was still summer break, thank goodness, so he had time to get back to normal. At least a few weeks until the license exam. He felt the cave was training enough.

When he woke up, it was fifteen hours after he was found, escaped the cave with the unknown creature. He woke up and saw Sabo and Katakuri there. "Heh…" he said sleepily. Ace was glad his eyes didn't hurt in the light. He looked down and saw the burns were gone, thank goodness. He didn't need another reminder of him having any weakness.

He saw his arm looked normal. It hadn't been hurt and he just hadn't noticed it. Considering what he went through, he seemed to be in good shape. "Ace," Sabo said in relief, moving forward to hug him. Ace hugged him back. He asked if everyone else was okay. Worried about them now that he was safely able to. "You were the only one caught in the landslide. Where the hell were you?! What happened to you for five days?!" Sabo demanded, wiping his eyes.

Ace was so relieved he was the only one that had been affected by the sudden landslide. Wow, he'd gone five days without food and sleep. He was starting to talk before a sleep attack claimed him for another hour. When he woke up, the teacher and best friend were still there. "Sorry-"

"Don't apologize, you've gone five days without medication. Here," Katakuri said, handing him a small cup of water and his narcolepsy pill. "Please explain. You will need to again with the police later." Ace nodded. He took a deep breath and explained what he'd gone through till the end, when he managed to break out.

"You were awake and hungry for five days?" Sabo asked, looking sympathetic for him. Ace nodded.

"That thing... was really scary. I had no way out, so I just kept tricking it. I think I won't like the dark anymore for awhile. I was blind in there. Luckily I had just figured out how to make my hearing better," Ace said. He sighed, so glad to be safe again. "I guess I went through some intense training…"

Katakuri nodded. "I am proud of you for making it out of there. And you even got yourself to safely before finally letting your body rest. Admirable."

Ace smiled shyly and thanked him. "So… while I was missing, did anything irregular happen? With how I live and all."

"You are living under Roger at the moment with your insurance and bank account. But you are not living alone. The people they questioned were Hack and Sabo since they're who you're living with right now." Sabo quickly said Hack wasn't bothered, he cared and worried about Ace, too. "Nothing has changed. You'll still go home to Sabo. With you not living all alone anymore, with nobody claiming you, you're fine."

The teen let out a huge sigh of relief. Sabo smiled, and hugged him tightly. "I'm so happy you're okay. Roger sent out search parties himself. But it would have been so hard to find you if you were as an animal. Your body was nowhere to be found."

Ace asked why Roger was so worried. "He has a soft spot for you, clearly," Sabo replied simply. They were accepting the fact that there was a living monster inside the mountain.

There was a knock on the door, and some police officers came in. Time for another interrogation. One brought in a tray of food for him. He had an IV with nutrients in his arm. He was technically starved.

His teacher and best friend stayed in the background as Ace was asked questions about what had happened. He was glad they believed him about the monster when they saw the marks from it grabbing him. "If you do go after it, there's a hole in the wall where I escaped from," Ace said at the end. He wouldn't mind the Thing dying. It did kill a human and eat it.

He asked how long he'd stay in the hospital. The doctor said he'd be there for at least two more days to make sure he got the rest and recuperation he needed. And to hopefully get back on track with his medication. It wasn't his usual hospital, since he was taken to the nearest one. He was glad he had some sort of insurance, and directly paid the copayment when Sabo came to the hospital with some of his things.

The people who hadn't known about him before were surprised with his maturity when it came to the copayment and price for the ambulance ride. Though it was some of Roger's money, too. He should text him. After the police left, Ace kind of fell sad. "Lot of people were worried and missing you, Ace," Sabo said, understanding the look.

"I know," Ace replied simply, because he did. "I just wish there were people to kind of welcome me home is all. In a different way."

"We welcome you back," Katakuri said. "I will leave you two alone for a bit. Great job surviving Ace. I'm so sorry you were caught up in this. That campsite… we were there at the wrong time. It has never happened before."

Ace smiled and said he was just glad he was the only one hurt. The teacher nodded, agreed, and then left. The room was quiet until Ace started to cry about how scared he was the whole time. He only showed weakness like this in front of those he trusted most, which was usually Sabo.

Sabo sat next to him on the bed and rubbed his back. Ace was so tired and drained as he ate and cry. But it was a bad mix and he passed out for a few seconds before continuing eating the small amount of food that had been brought to him. After awhile of calming down and sleeping, Sabo texted everyone for Ace on his phone. Ace was succumbing to true exhaustion, too tired to really even move.

Ace is alive, everybody! It was a bad experience, and he's really tired, so he'll talk to everyone tomorrow. He's uninjured and unharmed, just tired and hungry. So, don't blow up his phone, he'll talk to you tomorrow.

There were no responses, just showing they'd all seen it. After all, just all of them responding one message would send a lot of messages all together. When Ace woke up again, Marco and Midoriya were there, not Sabo, who had gone home to sleep. Both of them looked at the waking Ace was tears in their eyes.

Marco was holding his numb arm, so he didn't feel it. "You're okay, right?" he asked, sounding very insecure and small. Ace nodded, saying he was uninjured and not too tired anymore. It was morning, so he took his medication. He would be happy to be on track again.

Midoriya was holding his other hand, very worried, too. "Can I ask what happened? Sabo didn't go into detail much."

Ace didn't want to retell the story over and over, so he made a video call with everyone in class that cared. So everyone minus Bakugo and Law. When they got on the call, Ace couldn't see most of them from only being on his phone. They were all so happy to see him alive and awake. He was in fine shape despite being missing from being caught in a landslide for five days.

He honestly explained everything that had happened to him after he got caught in the landslide. He sent them the photos of the bad burns on his skin from being caught at the end. They were all horrified. "It was really scary. I tried to push it all down the whole time, but now I'm really scared. And I'm probably gonna be afraid of the pitch black now."

Being honest about being scared after something like that didn't feel shameful to Ace. Besides, he knew none of these people would look down at him for that. "I'm sorry you went through that. If only the landslide had been a few seconds later you'd have been safe…" Uraraka said.

"Well, I'm just glad nobody else got hurt," Ace replied. He asked how things had been since the landslide. They'd been there the majority of how long they were supposed to be. It was just the last two days that were canceled. They'd been unharmed, so they mostly just worried over his safety. They honestly thought he was dead after it, not finding his body anywhere. "Well, I made it." He sighed and clasped his hands. "I hope I never have to go through something that scary again. So alone in the dark."

"Did you ever see what it looked like?" Kaminari asked.

"No. I avoided it until the end when it grabbed me with some arms that burnt my skin. I don't think it was anyone with a quirk, but I have no other explanation. I don't rally want to ever think about it again, to be honest. I managed to do everything with my arm like this without getting it hurt. So that was lucky. Since it was pitch black, it really felt like I had no arm when I couldn't see it. I'm just happy it wasn't a complete burden."

They agreed. The call was over when he had a long sleep attack. When he woke up, it was later. Midoriya was gone, but his things were still there. Marco was sleeping with his head on the bed next to Ace. He had bags under his eyes, maybe having trouble sleeping when Ace was missing.

Ace put his hand in Marco's hair, feeling bad for worrying everyone. Well, at least he was alive and safe. Marco woke up, and looked frantic before he saw Ace. "I'm here," he said sleepily. He couldn't help it, being narcoleptic along with going five days without sleep really messed him up. "Did you not sleep well when I was gone?"

"I searched for you for a long time by myself. I couldn't find you at all. I saw dead animals, and I thought, maybe it was you. You died as an animal and nobody would ever know…" Ace frowned sadly. He apologized for scaring everybody. "It's not like you meant for this to happen. I'm just so happy you're okay." Ace agreed.

He picked up his phone and got a call from Roger. It was weird that he talked with Ace directly. Well, he was worried no doubt. Ace went missing for a long time. Well, not too long, but five days wasn't a short period of time. Ace answered, trying to make his voice sound alert and awake.

"Hi. I'm sorry I didn't call sooner," he said immediately. "I'm fine, not injured at all."

"What on earth happened?!" Roger asked, but he had a smile in his voice, no doubt relieved. For the upteenth time, Ace explained everything that had happened. "Well, I'm not surprised you made it out alive! However, I'd like to know more about this monster." He moved on from the accident quickly. Ace said he didn't want to ever go near it again. "I understand. How are you feeling?"

"Still really tired. Still… a little bit scared," he admitted. "But my friends are keeping me company, so I'm not all alone."

"I am sorry you had to go through that and we weren't able to find you." Ace replied he didn't expect anyone to find him down there. He knew he had to get out on his own and couldn't wait for outside help when that thing was there and he had limited time.

"But guess what? I managed to advance my sense of hearing by forming good ears!" Ace said. Roger laughed, saying that could be very useful. Ace explained that he couldn't heighten his eye sight or sense of smell because that involved deeper changes into his brain and he wasn't going to try that. He talked with the pro-hero for awhile, and Ace felt it was similar to how All Might was clearly more attached to Midoriya than anyone else.

Though he was All Might's student. Ace was only with Roger for five days. He felt proud that he was likable enough to have someone want to stay in contact with him through that time. Marco caught the phone when Ace passed out.

"His narcolepsy is being really bad right now. He can talk later."

"Completely understandable! Take care of your friend." Marco promised he would.

Lol I just threw some random monster into the story that won't come up again. Haha. Just popped into my head, so why not?