Rule #5a: Natural talent only gets you so far…Strength comes from growth.
Toru woke early the next morning to a stiff breeze and a growling stomach as she landed with a small thump on the patio of the girls' cabin. Hissing at the bright light of her phone, Toru blinked rapidly a few times before she was able to discern the time. "Ish 4am?" She murmured, her voice still rough and slurred with sleep. "Wha woke me up?" Sitting up in her bed roll, glowing golden eyes glanced around the dark and empty campgrounds that were lined with forestry on every side. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary; trees rustled in to the breeze, the hoot of owl was replaced with the tweets of the early morning birds and the scent of the river was carried on the wind, like petrichor.
Grrr! Gurgled her stomach, reminding her of its emptiness. "Alright, alright, I'm up!" She muttered to herself, slipping from the blankets and rolled them up before carefully cracking open the cabin door. Thankful that she had chosen a spot closest to the door, Toru tucked her bed roll away before digging through her bag for her toiletries, tracksuit and sweater before she retreated out the door, doing her best not to wake the others from their slumber.
Golden eyes glowed in the dark, lighting the way for the invisible girl to shuffle through the buildings to the bathroom. Like a cat in the night, she prowled through the darkness of the early morning as she made her way over to the building with items clutched in her hands. After a quick shower beneath the cool water to wake herself up, Toru shook out the water from her hair and pulled on her underwear, school tracksuit and the yellow cable knit sweater overtop. Brushing her teeth in the dark was a new experience, one that she couldn't quite get her head around the novelty of, but it was soon done with.
The trip back to the cabin to drop off her pyjamas and toiletry bag was much the same, and soon enough she found herself rifling through the kitchen looking for something to eat. Mmm. What to eat, what to eat…Toru mused looking over the supply of cereals and dinner items, though nothing really jumped out at her. Ooh! I think I remember seeing a river on the way in! And where there's a river, there's fish! I could have fish…something for breakfast! Rising to her feet, Toru picked up a wide and shallow bucket that she inspected for any holes. Yeah, this'll work! I'll probably be back before everyone else is up…but I'll leave a note just in case…
Tiptoeing over to one of the noticeboards that held a variety of posters and papers, Toru ripped off the corner of a sign-up sheet and the short pencil on a string that hung next to it. Scribbling down a quick message, she shuffled over to the cafeteria door and—after a bit of finicking—wedged the note under the plaque nailed to the door. "Yeah, that works" Toru shrugged as the note flapped in its constraints, before she tottered off to the forest with bucket in hand.
With her phone tucked into her bra and hips swaying to the beat gently playing through her earphones, she didn't hear the soft footsteps that crept up behind her until the person announced themselves. "What'cha doing?" Kota demanded, suddenly there with torch fixed on the invisible girl.
"Wha—geez!" Toru jumped in surprise at his sudden appearance. Beyond the glare of the torch, Toru was able to see that the young boy was dressed in a large Water Horse t-shirt and flannel pyjama pants that were tucked into his boots. His bed hair was stuffed into the horned hat she saw him in yesterday, and Toru wondered if he'd slept with in on.
"What'cha doing out here?" He reiterated. Instead of replying with some sassy remark, Toru simply pointed towards the forest as if it was obvious.
"Food. Uh…breakfast?"
"It's 4am in the morning"
"Yeah, I know…are—are you all right?"
"What?" Kota appeared puzzled at the sudden question.
"From when you fell off the wall yesterday?" Toru tilted her head.
"…I'm fine!" He scowled, head turned away and cheeks slightly pink.
"Uh…" Toru rocked on her feet in awkwardness and cocked her head towards the forest even if he couldn't see it. "You—you wanna come? With me? To find breakfast, I mean"
"We've got stuff in the pantry…" Kota hedged, not quite trusting her. Which was understandable considering his introduction yesterday.
"Yeah, but fresh is always better, and 'sides, I haven't done this kinda thing in a while" Toru shrugged.
"Training?"
"Camping"
"Well," Kota's narrowed eyes watched her continuously rock on her heels. She couldn't smother the quirking of her lips at the sound of his stomach gurgling at the mention of food, "Since you can't be trusted—" Ouch "—to find your way back, I guess I'll have to"
"Great! Uh, hang on!" Toru chirped before skipping over to the note she had wedged into the door and quickly added a P.S. to the bottom of it. "Well, let's go then!" She turned back to the small boy and the pair headed off into the dark woods together.
The occasional hoot of an owl or croak of a toad accompanied their footfalls against the forest floor—Toru, of course, was used to walking much quieter, but for the sake of her young charge chose to walk a little heavier. Kota wasn't a very talkative boy, Toru was beginning to find, no, he preferred to stare at the world around him through a dark scowl and judgemental eyes that did not belong on such a young child. She really wanted to pry, but even she could tell that that was not a wise decision. He really didn't need another reason to hate heroes.
Shifting through the undergrowth, Toru interwove long twisting vines and bendy branches into varying traps and pitfalls as she went, setting up a sort-of perimeter around the camp under the watchful eye of the distrustful boy. "What's that for?" Kota's torchlight glared across her back as she worked, tying a collection of vines together to form a netting.
"Just in case" Toru replied absentmindedly, hands moving with precision and practise.
"But why?"
"Old habits, I s'pose" She shrugged, brushing off the question much to his irritation. So, instead, he switched up his questions and turned the interrogation in a new direction as Toru tugged on the vines, checking her knots.
"What are you doing up this early anyway?" His torchlight stayed trained on her, more in an intimidation attempt than help. Not that it worked.
"I could ask you the same thing"
"I asked you first"
"Well, I asked you second" Toru smiled teasingly over her shoulder at the scowling boy, "I, uh, float—uh, photosynthesise when I sleep—or as close as you can get—'cause of the whole heliokinetic thing. Anyway, it's too bright for the others, so y'know, I just ended up out on the patio…" Standing up, she laid out the trap before moving on towards the rushing river.
"You float in your sleep?" Kota trotted after her.
"Like a giant night light—or so I'm told"
"So you're told?"
"Well, I'm asleep ain't I? 'Course I'm not gonna remember!"
"Hn"
Toru couldn't keep the fond smile from her face at the interaction with the boy, as grumbly as he may be, it reminded her of times that she would fool around with her older brother when she was younger. Her brother, Kenta, had always been a rather withdrawn kid, only ever really coming to life around certain people. She was just lucky enough to be one of them…and then came the problem of shutting him up. He could talk for hours on end about nothing at all and everything all at once. I miss him.
"Oh" Toru spoke softly when her socks met the river's edge, as she was brought from her musings "We're here, Kota. Kota? Kota!" The lack of light suddenly became apparent to the teen and she swivelled around to try to spot the boy, hoping against hope that he hadn't wandered off. Oh God! They're gonna kill me! I lost him already! And the day hasn't even started! AHHHH! Her internal panicked monologue was soon cut off however, by the sudden appearance of a new arrival.
"So this is one of his alleged brats?" A hysterically feminine voice sounded from the bushes to her right. Snapping around, Toru was met with gleaming blue eyes and the scent of decay hidden amongst the foliage. "I gotta say, I was expecting…more" The person didn't emerge from the bushes, instead choosing to remain hidden and Toru now hoped that Kota stayed away.
"Who're you?" Toru hedged, turning her body almost side-on to the unknown, and bent a little at the knees allowing her to move at any given moment.
"Blunt little thing, aren't you?" She hummed, strings of blonde hair fluttering passed her wicked eyes. "You'll be a nice addition to our collection—after I indulge in your bloody secrets of course"
"Wha—?"
"It's a pity I can't take you now" The girl—for she clearly saw it was by the shiny lipgloss glittering amongst the bushes—tittered. "But don't worry, you can be rest assured, we'll have soo much fun when the time comes!"
Toru went to reply, an odd cocktail of emotions whirling around inside her as the unknown girl announced some rather sinister implications for what she planned to do with the invisible girl. And the 'we' that's odd—who's 'we'? Before she was able to dither on it further, another rustling of leaves brought her attention over to her young scolding charge emerging from the bushes mere seconds behind the blonde who disappeared with a hysterical cackle. "Kota…?" Toru mumbled at the sudden reappearance of the boy.
"Where's it?" He demanded, scowl still firmly in place.
"Where were you?" Toru questioned, brow furrowing.
"Where's the fish?" He fired back, resolutely ignoring her question and looked down at the empty yellow bucket at her feet.
"Uh, I—I, er, I couldn't get any" Toru stumbled, trying to sort through her thoughts at the same time. Just who was that girl? What did she want? Who's this 'we?'
"So what was the point of this, then?"
"Uh, we can—we can just grab some fruit or something on the way back" Toru replied distractedly as she bent to retrieve the bucket at her feet.
By the time the pair had returned with a bucket full of wild berries and flesh fruits, the sun had begun to peek over the horizon and there was scarce movement in the camp. She had been met with a pair of frantic feline heroines and an equally berating Aizawa whose scowl could give Kota's a run for his money. Throughly scolded, Toru silently headed towards the hose with head bowed, where she washed the fruit before prepping it for breakfast. Should I have mentioned the girl in the woods? Toru bit her lower lip in thought, Was she even real? Or did I imagine her? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Anxiety pricked at her bones as the cold water running over her hands, brought her out of her thoughts.
The berries were plopped into a small bowl filled with muesli and was quickly gobbled up by Kota
who continued to scowl and refused to meet anyone's gaze. In turn, Toru halved the flesh fruits and sprinkled them with salt before skewering them and grilling them on one of the barbecues.
Flesh fruits—much like melnuts—were the product of scientific curiosity/boredom; in an effort to circumvent the meat vs vegetable debate, some long-forgotten scientist had created a mango-like fruit that tasted like meat, but held none of the fake-meat qualities that were popular at the time. It had caused quite the controversy at the time, but they weren't as popular now—most were still found in rural towns and along mountaintops, nowadays. Toru wasn't sure why, she found them to be quite tasty. When the fruit was deemed perfectly grilled, she slipped them from the skewers and into her waiting bowl to cool.
At 5.30am on the dot, every student—both asleep and awake—were gathered out in the fields, dressed in their tracksuits as they waited before a far-too-awake Aizawa. It seemed the mountain air worked better than any grandly sized black coffee."Good morning class! Today we begin the training camp that will increase your strength! Our goal is to increase your skills exponentially so that each of you earns a provisional license. This will allow you to face the dangers that continue to fester in the darkness and proceed carefully" His gaze swept over each and every student, before he tossed a familiar electronic ball towards the fiery blonde at her right. "Look alive, Bakugou! Try throwing that for me"
"Yeah, sure, like in the fitness test" Bakugou shrugged.
"That's right, when you first started school your record was 705.2m, let's see if you've improved"
"Oh! I get it!" Mina cried as Bakugou strode off to the side to throw the ball. "We're checking our process!"
"A lot's happened in the last three months!" Sero agreed watching on as Bakugou wound up his throwing up, "Maybe he'll throw it a whole mile now!"
"C'ME ON! GET IT BAKUGOU!" Kirishima cheered through cupped hands.
"I've got this! No one blink" Bakugou smirked before launching the ball into the air with a battle cry and an explosion "GO TO HEEEELL!"
Go to hell? What is up with his obsession with death? Toru puzzled, I mean, I'm technically an assassin and even I'm not that bad!
"That was 709.6m" Aizawa intoned, throughly enjoying the look of shock on the blonde's face.
"That's it?" Kirishima asked, "It's kinda disappointing"
"You've had a single semester at UA and due to your various experiences, you've all defiantly improved, but those have mostly been limited to mental prowess and technical skill. With a slight increase in stamina along the way. As you can see your Quirks themselves have not improved much on a fundamental level; that's why we're now gonna focus on improving your powers" Aizawa grinned wickedly, "Welcome to the training camp from hell! Let's hope you all survive!"
And with that lovely introduction, they got to work—and it was hell! Bakugou spent the day plunging his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands and then shot them into the air, creating chain explosions to increase the size and destruction of the attacks. Todoroki was submerged in a petrol drum of water which he used his Quirk to alternate between frozen and boiling in order to adapt his body temperature at will and better control on his flames. Sero's screams echoed out over the ridge as he produced a seemingly endless amount of tape in order to increase shooting speed, strength and capacity for the tape.
Kirishima and Ojiro sparred together, both using their Quirks against each other in order to toughen them up. Kaminari was wired into a high-volt capacity battery where he spent most of the day sending electricity through the thing so he could handle larger volts of electricity. He mostly just permeated the smell of burnt flesh. Koda's not-so-loud screams were barely heard from the mountaintops, though his were more for increasing his vocal range and confidence levels.
Aoyama's constant lasers of light burst up into the air with a thrust of his hips, and nearby stood a port-a-loo with his name practically engraved on it as he tried to increase his range and overcome the tummy issues. Tokoyami's war cries of "DARK SHADOW!" that echoed out of the cave to the right were the only indicators of what was going on in there. However, he supposedly was trying to increase his control over his Quirk even when it went wild.
Ochako had been zipped into a zorb ball and was pushed down the mountain in an attempt to increase her tolerance of zero-gravity and the constant use of her Quirk. Iida ran back and forth across the mountainside at top speed, to improve his calf strength and stamina, alternating between tiptoes & flat feet. Asui had picked a nearby cliff to scale using all of her limbs—including her tongue, in order to increase her muscular strength. Sato and Momo probably had it easiest, as they were sat at a table scarfing down food in tandem with their individual trainings—Sato lifted weights and Momo produced an endless stream of nesting dolls. Next would've been Mineta who was practically drowning in his own balls by this point, each of the little purple sticky balls pile high as he continued to pluck them off in an attempt to increase his durability.
Jiro and Mina were increasing their Quirks durability by constantly attacking the cliffside—Jiro with her earjacks and Mina with her acid—whilst Midoriya had been set to work increasing his stamina and muscles in an attempt to reduce the constant breaking of his bones; through repetitive exercises.
And finally, Toru faced off against Shoji—she was working on stealth and he on his tracking. The thing was, whilst he had been blindfolded, she had been forced into possibly the most ridiculously garish outfit she had ever laid her eyes on. The pink tulle monstrosity—it could hardly be called a dress—that poofed out around her forearms and knees fell into the lolita category, if only just.
The lolita-style dress fell to her knees in so many layers of pink tulle that she felt like a cupcake with legs; the matching puffy sleeves that were cinched at the elbows with pink ribbon, certainly didn't help matters. On top of that, she wore an apron and a pair of neon elbow length gloves that had been laced with tinkling bells which rang no matter which way she moved and had.
Thankfully, she had been allowed to go barefoot—so small mercies, and all that. The idea was that even with the ridiculous outfit, she should be able to hide herself—of course, this was proving much harder than she first thought. Currently, she had been trying to bend and refract the light around herself, using the jingling bells as the connector points, like a mirror.
Across the way, Class 1-B had finally arrived with their form room teacher, Vlad King, and Ragdoll & Tiger (the second half of the Wild, Wild Pussycats) in tow. Following the brief pause that the arrival of the other class provided, the rest of the day was filled with sweat, tears and anguish as the students pushed themselves beyond their limits.
That evening following the day's intense training, all of the first year students crawled towards the outdoor barbecues where Ragdoll and Pixie Bob stood behind a variety of vegetables, meat and utensils for the students to use. "Now! Remember what I said: we're not serving your food anymore!" Pixie Bob happily declared.
"If you guys wanna eat, you guys'll have to make your own meals! Starting with cur~ry!" Sang Ragdoll.
"Yes ma'am" Even knowing in advance that they would have to cook their own meals from here on in, the tired students couldn't help but groan at the notion.
"Haha! Oh man! You guys look exhausted!" Ragdoll laughed, "But that doesn't mean you can coast by making sloppy cat food!"
"I see!" Iida was the first to awaken momentarily from his exhausted slump, "An important part of saving someone recovering from a disaster, is providing for their physical needs as well as spiritual"
"It's just good skills to have anyway, Iida" Toru sighed as her class representative motored on.
"Ah! This is a great opportunity!" Iida powered on, turning to his tired peers with unbound enthusiasm "Let's make the most delicious curry in the world, everyone!"
"Yeah, okay…" Chorused everyone else. Does he even know how to cook?
Emerging from the showers, Toru made her way over to the grills where Todoroki was systematically going around and lighting up the grills with his Quirk. Bakugou seemed to have exploded one and Yaoyorozu had produced a lighter to use. Moving over to one of the picnic tables laden with food, Shinsou simply handed her a knife and she set to work quickly chopping the onions.
In the end, the boxed curry was less than pretty and probably a little on the overcooked side, but they were all tired & hungry and so it was gobbled down with great gusto. "If I got this at a restaurant, I'd send this crap back. But after today, I'll eat every bite!" Kirishima gasped out between bites.
"Don't say that!" Sero commented from next to him.
"Whoa! You're scarfing Momo!" Mina noted.
"Yes" Yaoyorozu sighed as she continued to scarf it down with all the elegance of a lady. Across from the trio, Toru dipped her burnt bun into the curry sauce and quietly watched the scene play out. "My Quirk transforms lipids into brand new atoms to create inorganic materials. That means the more I eat, the more I can make"
"Like how poop works" Sero added, making Momo sulk at the analogy.
"APOLOGISE!" Jiro hit Sero up the back of the head as she walked passed with her empty bowl, having caught the tail-end of the conversation.
"What did I do?!" Sero whined petulantly, rubbing the back of his head.
"You basically said her Quirk was shit" Toru supplied with an invisible grin.
"Ah! Momo! I'm so sorry!" He snapped towards Yaoyorozu with teary eyes as he begged for forgiveness, "Please forgive me!" Yaoyorozu was pulled from her slump and frantically began to wave her hands in front of her as she tried to stop her classmate from causing a scene. With his mostly empty curry bowl long forgotten, Jiro managed to sneak a few extra bites from his plate as the boy pleaded for Yaoyorozu to forgive him. Toru smiled at the display and Kirishima rolled his eyes at friend's stupidity.
