F.B.100 - ...wow. That's a lot of text, and some very interesting guesswork. Unfortunately, your guess isn't the correct one :P Reality warping is a bit of a too powerful thing, really. And I LOVE to keep everything balanced, even in the fic that's slightly crackish. I even nerfed All for One-the quirk in Cure to Evil to make things more balanced! :P Keep reading to find out the truth.
TheGreatBubbaJ - Yes, the presence of the three Demon Children will change... A LOT.
AngelFallenDemon - :D
Detrametal - She had to be a bit forward, I really don't fathom either All Might or All for One being very smooth with things like that ngl.
(***)
In Midoriya's opinion, starting the day at 5AM is a bit excessive. They could as well sleep a bit longer and have more energy for training. Were the teachers trying to reestablish their control over the camp after the students denied them their little victory on the arrival day?
At least the kids got to sleep longer. Eri, Asa and Aiko deserved a good night's sleep.
"Today we begin a rigorous round of training." Eraserhead announces. "This trip's mission statement is to strengthen your quirks, thereby helping you in gaining your provisional licenses. Which will happen during your FIRST year."
Oh, that was a shocking revelation. First year instead of the second one. That was a twist.
"This is a preparation to stand against and up to actual enemies." Eraserhead continues. "With that said, let's have a repetition of the ball throw test from the first day."
Midoriya knows what this is about. Thus far the school was more focused on teaching normal school subjects and some combat training, but that wasn't a focus. Nedzu was actually rather open about what the first year normally focuses on during their personal lessons.
The improvement in sheer quirk strength was probably minimal. Or… it would be.
They throw the ball with their quirk. Absolutely everyone gets at least a 10% increase from the results during their first quirk apprehension test. Some of those who had quirks more useful in the act of ball throw got up to 50% better.
Eraserhead looks at the display in silence. He looks like he was just betrayed by someone he loved.
"Midoriya." He asks calmly. "Explain this to me. I won't be angry." Midoriya felt like he was walking into a trap, but he decided to cooperate.
"We've been having quirk training sessions ever since the summer break started." Midoriya admits. Ever since Mina gave everyone that idea. That was more than twenty-five days now.
"Rather extreme quirk training sessions." Uraraka decides to comment. Some of the people in the crowd shiver slightly. Bad memories. Very bad. Although the results were totally worth it.
"Whose idea was that?" Eraserhead asks. Once again, he is silent and calm. Utterly silent and calm.
After five seconds of awkward silence, Mina raises her hand.
"Who planned those training sessions?"
This time it's Midoriya that raises his hand, although honestly, this was rather obvious. Nevertheless, with how crazy things occasionally are with that class, Eraserhead wanted to make sure.
"Anyone else contributed significantly to the organization or execution of those extracurricular classes?" Eraserhead asks. Momo raises her hand.
"They occured on my family land, in order to make sure that we weren't violating any law on quirk usage." She says. "My family has also provided the snacks."
Eraserhead looks at the small group of Villain Rehab Course students questioningly.
"We were getting homework from them." Shinsou comments scarcely. Tenko nods. Bakugou shrugs in a distinctly confrontative way. Somehow he managed to do that. Eraserhead is almost impressed.
Aizawa is internally torn between wanting to scream at the students in front of him and wanting to up their grades for it. Eventually he settles for the middle ground, and sighs painfully.
"Well, then congratulations." He says. "You're getting more of it. And you're going to spend most of the day on that. This is going to be hell."
They want to work hard, they will work hard. He has to at the very least outdo whatever training Midoriya had for them, or his pride as a teacher will be irreversibly shattered. And it already feels like it's cracking.
(***)
Class 1-B (together with Vlad King and Ectoplasm, added to the trip for security reasons at the last moment) arrived at the training field an hour later. Right in time to see hell, composed of their fated rivals from class 1-A being slowly tortured to death.
Someone asked how are the teachers going to deal on their own with forty personal quirk training.
"That's why we are here!" A voice comes.
"That's right! Four minds, one body!"
"With sparkling eyes, we rock on!"
"We've come to lend a helping paw!"
"Wherever, whenever, we'll arrive…"
"Cute, cat and stinger!"
"The Wild, Wild Pussycats!" The intro concludes, the four heroes assemble The Pose in front of the surprised class 1-B. Although, in all honesty, the students attention is drawn to something else.
"M…meow?" Izuku Midoriya, wearing his standard hero uniform but with added large, cat paw-gloves, is kneeling in front of the hero team. Clearly under extreme duress.
Monoma almost drops dead in laughter. Setsuna, in the meantime, manages to swipe a photo in time. Despite Midoriya's pleas, she immediately sends it to everyone in both 1-A and 1-B.
(***)
Pussycats leave them with a mountain of ingredients and tell them to make curry for themselves. Iida correctly figured out that it's a part of training (sometimes the heroes have to provide food for survivors after some disaster, something Lunch Rush excels in).
Midoriya springs into action immediately. He knows what has to be done. And he is ready to do it, screw the consequences.
"Alright, people, I have a plan!" He shouts, immediately shivering when everyone's attention centers upon him. "Phase one…" He takes a deep breath. "ASAA!"
Asa appears out of nowhere right next to Bakugou, who slumps to the ground, unconscious. He gives his beloved older brother a thumbs-up gesture and starts dragging Bakugou out of the room.
"Wait, what the hell?!" Kirishima, who was right next to Bakugou, reacts the most vocally.
"I'm not having half of you keep watch so that he doesn't throw a bucket of extra spicy things to the curry." Midoriya deadpans. It was years, many years, but he still has traumatic flashbacks to that one family dinner. "And if he managed to do that, most of you would have landed in the ICU. Now that he's out of the picture, let's figure out a battle plan."
He knows which ones among his classmates know something about cooking. He knows a lot about them. The curry will be perfect.
(***)
"Onichan." Aiko appears out of nowhere next to him. Well, he is familiar with her enough for 'out of nowhere' to truly be 'out of nowhere' only for Uraraka (who was slightly spooked by it). Izuku himself noticed her approach.
"Yes, Aiko?" He asks. He is busy eating his own share of the curry. It came out good. Very good. Not perfect, but close enough. And they are very tired after the intensive training, so it's understandable.
"Can I take some of the curry for Kouta?" She asks.
Huh. He expected Eri to try to befriend the Pussycats' nephew, but due to some unspoken (or spoken, but when they weren't there to hear it) agreement she left that to Aiko. How odd. Instead Eri is busy being pampered by a handful of 1-A girls (especially Mina and Hagakure), while Aiko is.. doing Aiko things.
"Sure." He replies.
"Uhm, do you know where he is?" Uraraka asks. Aiko looks unfazed by it.
"Don't worry." She replies. "He can't hide from me."
Uh-oh.
(***)
Kouta is having some peace and quiet in his personal little hideout, when suddenly he can see one of those girls making her way towards him.
"You must be hungry." She says when she gets close. "I brought you curry."
"You… How did you…" He tries to yell at her, but she doesn't give him the time to do that.
"Why are you hiding in here?" She asks. Her face is unreadable. Kouta feels vaguely weirded out. How does he exactly make her leave? Oh, her brother is among those 'heroes', right?
"Because it's better than having to watch those idiots." He says with a venom on his tongue. "Pushing their stupid quirks, pushing themselves. Just to what, brag about their powers? Pathetic."
Will insulting her brother make her go away?
"Your parents were the Water Hose." She announces and he goes berserk.
"Mandalay opened her big mouth, huh?!" He yells at her. "She just can't…"
"Only that your parents were heroes." She replies. "I learned the rest from oniichan."
He knew that it was a shame that his punch didn't connect.
"Screw you." Kouta says. His fury is calm right now. "And screw them. They all have a screw loose. Calling yourself villains and heroes and killing each other over this. Bragging about your quirks and training them, only for someone to come around and kill you. Idiots. They are all idiots."
She is silent. She is staring at him, and he isn't sure what she is thinking about. That makes it weird.
"Cat got your tongue, huh?" He decides to finish it. "Now get the hell o…"
"I agree with you." She interrupts him, and this time it's Kouta that's staring.
"What?"
"I agree with you." She repeats. "If there is a single person in this forest that can understand your point of view, that's me. My father was a villain. My mother then married the hero that killed him. And she is a villain as well, even if retired. So I understand you."
"You… you do?" It made sense, if what she said about her family was true. But…
"Heroes, vigilantes and villains are the same thing." She says. "People with quirks, doing what they want with them. They fight, and then people like us end up with their family members not coming home."
She truly did understand him. It was… why was she with them, when she…
"But…" She pauses for a second. "There are good and bad heroes. Good and bad villains. Good and bad people. Isn't that what really matters?"
"Are you going to be like them?" He speaks with as much venom as he could, venom born from betrayal of a dawning hope. "Telling me that my parents were such great, awesome people? Because they died for someone else and left me alone?"
"Hmmm…" She makes a thoughtful face. "Are you sure that they died for someone else? Because I heard about Muscular going after the family of the hero that almost stopped him earlier."
There is a silence on the ledge. She puts down the curry.
"Food for thought, eh?" She says, turns back and walks away.
(***)
Test of courage. Pussycats' idea for an entertainment section of the Training Camp was a goddamn test of courage.
For Aizawa, leaving his bed in the morning and coming to school was enough of a test of courage. He had to pass it almost daily. And on several occasions, Emi had to put him in a chokehold and gently inform him that it's his job. And he'll either go to school on his own legs, or she'll carry him there.
Ugh.
Were his hopes for this turning out somehow normal too much to ask for? Surely, Midoriya can't blow this out of proportion, yes?
(***)
Midoriya entered the forest together with Tenko Shimura. Class 1-B was ready to spook them out properly, although considering the fact that it was Tenko 'Grim Reaper' Shimura, Eraserhead could only hope that they weren't spooked more than the pair.
He felt vaguely afraid over letting Midoriya out of his eyesight. Especially with Monoma going over the top to make his class 'win' the test of courage. That kid had no concept of moderation when it came to this.
Seven minutes later, Aizawa - present on the center field of the Training Camp, together with the remaining students - gets to see a pillar of blue fire at the horizon. Judging from its position, it's where their quarters were located.
Well, shit.
"You know, you should be glad that it's me." They all hear a loud female voice. The figures start emerging from the forest. Thankfully not in the direction of the area used for the test of courage.
Robed figures. Behind them, a woman wearing some exaggerated nun outfit, that carried no actual connection to any widely-accepted religious community in the world.
Purity. Creature Rejection Clan leader. Double S-Rank villain. Woman with a quirk that allows her to amplify the strength of people she identifies with. Here, she had almost two dozen foot soldiers to do so to.
"The Paranormal Liberation Front originally wanted to send Beast. For intimidation factor." She says, clearly enjoying the shock and dawning horror on the faces in front of her. "I don't rape people, I only kill them."
"Purity." Eraserhead glares at her. Not with his quirk on, at least yet. "Why are you here?"
"You know why, Eraserhead.." She replies. "Anyone among the kids wishes to change sides? I can be veeery rewarding, you know?" She licks her lips. It reminds the children of Midnight. Not in an even remotely good way.
Five seconds later Purity proves herself to be (somehow) resistant to Eraserhead's quirk. This battle is going to be an ugly one.
(***)
"This is Mandalay speaking!" They all hear the voice in their head. "Villains are attacking the camp. You have Eraserhead's permissions to engage in combat, but avoid that if possible. Retreat towards the main training area. Kouta, wherever you are, hide! I'll come find you once this ends!"
Izuku Midoriya is absolutely furious. And immediately starts weaving plans. He has to make sure that his classmates (and he considers 1-B to be his class too, in a way) will make it out alive from this mess.
Tenko Shimura stares at him in silence, his emotions unreadable.
(***)
Creature Rejection Clan forces formed the backbone of the attacking forces this time. Purity wanted her son back (and, preferably, some leads on where her other son was). And was ready to kill for that.
CRC forces were reinforced with some choice members of other member groups of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Mainly the heavy-hitters.
USJ was three heavy-hitters and a bunch of cannonfodder versus three teachers and twenty-four students. Training Camp was going to be eight heroes, forty-eight students… and twenty heavy-hitters, plus a bunch of cannonfodder.
Things began to flow out of the window almost immediately. The gas attack (not even quirk-based, just gas) that was supposed to decimate the scattered students in the forest was almost immediately repelled when Amaya Uyemura simply gathered all the released gas and sent it upward.
Few students were lightly poisoned, but no one was knocked out of operations.
The CRC encountered fierce resistance, which only grew stronger when Monoma, Yaoyorozu and Midoriya began to coordinate the movements of their groups.
(***)
Magne had so many issues with the plan. Not like she had problems with beating up children, the real problem was that someone had a brilliant idea of pairing her up with Moonfish.
Moonfish was an insane cannibal with very little self-control on a good day. Now, with a bunch of 'fresh, tender meat' running around, he was borderline psychotic. Magne expected to get randomly skewered and murdered whenever she looked away from that freak.
It was a matter of time, really.
She had no idea that the kids in front of her were going to be an objectively worse issue.
She realizes that soon after she receives an order to pursue a retreating group of students led by Yaoyorozu heiress.
They obediently go after them. They don't even get to see them when suddenly a TV (why is there a TV in the middle of the forest?!) lights up in front of them.
Some alien-looking creature with two wide-set eyes (and a vacuum of space as the background) speaks.
"It's a trap!"
Everything explodes.
(***)
"I was looking for a place with a scenic view." The towering figure in black robe and a facemask announces. "And what do you know? A face not listed among our kidnapping targets."
Kouta takes a step back in horror. Something… something in this voice is familiar.
"But nevermind that!" The figure says. "You have one stylish hat, kid, wanna trade it for that lame-ass mask of mine?"
He takes his mask off. And in a single second, Kouta recognizes him.
Muscular. The villain that murdered his parents. He is still bearing the horrific scar that they gave him.
NONONONONONONONONO!
He tries to run. Pointless. Muscular crosses the distance in a heartbeat. Kouta thinks he is dead when he sees the fist flying towards his face, but something around him shifts and suddenly he lands on the forest floor a few meters away from Muscular. Unharmed.
He recognizes the girl in front of him.
"You are an eyesore, Muscular." Aiko announces. Her voice carries almost no emotions. But something on her face is scary. "I've decided that he is going to be my friend. I can't let you harm him."
"What, another kid?" Muscular grins maniacally at them. "And not on the list, either! Well, guess that it's my lucky day."
"Close your eyes, Kouta." Aiko says, turning his head towards the boy and giving him a faint, but somehow reassuring smile. "It's going to be painful…"
"Hell yeah!" Muscular shouts, his muscles bulging beyond what's humanly possible.
"... to watch." Aiko concludes.
Kouta closes his eyes, and doesn't open them. Even when Muscular's taunting shouts turn into horrified shrieks and begs for mercy.
(***)
Purity is winning the battle. She has reserves. Someone is summoning the wounded clan-members away, while someone else is warping in reinforcements. Pixie-bob is already unconscious (but evacuated behind). Tiger is solidly beaten up but the monster of a man isn't letting that slow him up.
Purity is taunting them. Eraserhead is done with this shit. It's time for an Armageddon Option. And his definition of Armageddon Option in combat can be summed up to 'unleash Midoriya'.
Aiko and Izuku aren't here. But there is still a single Midoriya left.
"ASA!" He shouts. The kid is behind him, so he doesn't see his reaction. But it probably includes a lot of freaking out. "You are free to engage and use your quirk. I take responsibility."
"What?!" Tiger is clearly taken aback by it. Mandalay promptly looks at Eraserhead as if he lost his mind.
They still don't know the Midoriyas, don't they?
"R…rabbit is powerful!" Asa yells. Purity finally realizes who they are talking about and goes slackjawed as a result. She is yet to realize that Asa just used his quirk on himself. This particular state doesn't cause physical changes.
His quirk is, in a way, similar to Star and Stripe's. Except rather than issuing rules upon reality, he changes states of living organisms. Powerful is a state. And so are, among others, unconscious, quirkless, poisoned, healthy, imperceptible, charmed and so on.
It's an extremely powerful and versatile quirk when someone knows how to use it. Asa does. Even if he can only stack a single state on a person at once.
"Wait, are you insane?" Purity decides to call Eraserhead out on it. Fools, all of them. "Are you sending a kid after me, now? And why does he look so much like All for…"
Her voice dies on her when Asa - a short and thin child - promptly rips a ten meter tall tree from the ground (together with most of its roots) and then throws it at her. With a lot of strength behind it, getting hit would probably be lethal.
"WHAT THE F…" She manages to dodge it by leaping sideways. She is trying to stand up. Asa doesn't give her time for that - it was all a part of his plan, he needed her off-guard for a moment for his actual attack.
His next projectile is a very surprised Tiger. Purity is still dazed after the first attack, too much to react in time. Tiger promptly uses his quirk to restrain and then chokehold her into unconsciousness. Within a few seconds. Much too fast for her praetorians to react.
Unfortunately, the summoning quirk user pulls her out… but without her quirk, the remaining CRC soldiers are easy prey. The last one gets punched unconscious by Ms. Joke two minutes later.
(***)
"Well." Overhaul sighs as unconscious Purity emerges from the pile of black goo. The room is almost filled with beaten up villains. It's up to Overhaul to put them back together. "Are 'ya winning, Doc?"
Paraphrasing All for One is probably a really low blow, especially against Garaki. Then again, Overhaul really doesn't give a fuck at this point.
Magne and Moonfish look like one big walking bruises. Muscular is crying in the corner (and Overhaul is sure that his quirk can't repair emotional damage). Someone just knocked out Purity. Their list of heavy hitters still active is down to Dabi, Deathmonger, Spinner, and Nine's crew. They expected a short and victorious war but instead got a goddamn Vietnam.
'They' doesn't include Overhaul. He knew that the mission parameters were way too optimistic.
Garaki pretends that he didn't hear him and yells from the screen that it's time to unleash the noumus.
(***)
This chapter is 50% fluff, 50% Aiko doing Aiko things and 50% serious plot. Yes, it sums up to 150% but I'm not going to even try to tell Aiko to keep things normal. I'm having way too much fun with her shenanigans to try that XD
Also Aiko's guide to friendship - Ask some armor-piercing questions, then borderline torture their archenemy in front of them. That girl really is something else.
Also2: I do not like Magne, dunno if you noticed it. And also Momo watched Star Wars movies, I wonder with whom (or who told her that it's a very nice if half-forgotten pre-quirk classic).