Their Hero Academia – Chapter 76: Return to Normalcy, Hero Boot Camp!

"U.A. Hero students… think you're pretty high and mighty, don't you? We'll show you all how weak you really are."

Koharu tensed as the challenge was issued, even as she realized that the challenger was a teenager, like them, as were the other four she was with. The challenger was tall for a girl, with reddish-blonde hair, and powerful muscles that matched Kirishima-Bakugo's build. Her stance projected utter confidence and maybe a little contempt. She relaxed slightly. There wasn't a guarantee they weren't a threat, but given that the Rookies weren't reacting with alarm, she guessed that this wasn't a sneak attack or anything serious.

Behind the tall girl were four more, two girls, two boys. There was a slim, dark haired girl with an extra set of eyes above her normal set, and another set below, near her nose, all of them solid red. It looked like she had some kind of black projections coming out of her back, just barely visible, like seeing the Iida twins and their Jetpack pipes from the front. There was something about her that set off a deep, primal panic that Koharu couldn't place or understand. She looked, if anything, kind of embarrassed at the other girl's threat.

The other girl had long, dark hair with a streak of white, which mostly fell on the left side of her face. Koharu couldn't be positive, but she looked foreign. She had her arms crossed and her eyes swept back forth over the U.A. students and their teachers. Her expression suggested she was judging them. It also suggested that whatever criteria she was using, they weren't measuring up.

The first of the boys was athletic, with a mane of purple hair, and cat-like features. She wasn't the world's greatest judge of what counted for attractive in guys (except for the near-universal agreement that Daisuke Shoji was incredibly attractive), but she'd use the word "pretty" to describe him instead. He looked bored, as though he was expecting what was happening, but didn't particularly care about the outcome one way or the other.

And last of them was a practical giant, though not as tall as the actual giant in Class 1-B, with muscles clearly visible against the tight fabric of the t-shirt he was wearing. If not for a bit of youthfulness to his facial features, she would have guessed he was an adult. He had dark hair, slightly long. Of all of them, he looked the most upset by the goings on, as though he wanted to object, but had been silenced.

There was a long, tense moment of silence before the dam broke.

"Shinji!" Shinso called out, happiness radiating from every syllable.

"Babe!" Mineta yelled. She sounded… genuinely affectionate? Was that a thing she did? She'd been more flirty than anything in the time Koharu had known her, but she also vaguely recalled some mentions of a "giant boyfriend." Was this him?

"Good to see you Shinji, though I confess, this is a surprise," Todoroki said, as calm as ever.

"Sonnuva… What're you doing here, Windbag?" Kirhsima-Bakugo growled, taking a step forward. "You know this wannabe?"

The tall boy just looked confused and uncomfortable with the bombardment of questions, though he did also look happy to see Mineta. Definitely the "giant boyfriend" then.

"You!" Aoyama snapped. The French (Was he actually French? Or did he just speak it? Koharu was pretty sure she remembered hearing, ages ago, that Can't Stop Twinkling had adopted.) He pointed at the cat-like boy. "Quoi? How are you here!?"

"Miss me, glowstick?" the cat-boy asked, teasingly. "Told you I'd be seeing you again." There was definitely a story here she was missing.

"And some other people!" Kaminari shouted.

There was a brief pause as everyone turned to look at her.

"What?" Kaminari asked, shrugging, the motion copied by her Cords. "I didn't want to be left out."

"And this is who you're into, Monoma?" the 1-B girl with the crab-shaped pigtails asked.

Aizawa sighed in annoyance. "These are students from Shiketsu High," he began. "As part of an inter-school cooperation program spearheaded by the Hero Public Safety Commission, we've been asked to incorporate students from outside our school into the training camp." His irritation practically dripped from his voice.

Shiketsu? It was the second most prominent Hero school in Japan, though some would contest that. It had produced Heroes like Gale Force, Glamour, and Hairbag, among many others. It was renowned for its stricter standard of discipline, as well as its eternal rivalry with U.A. Koharu had even thought about applying there, but being on the other side of the country, it just hadn't been a feasible option, even with its own dorm system.

"We're here to show you all that Shiketsu is second to no one," the girl who'd issued the challenge said, clearly growing impatient with all the banter. Her aggressive posture hadn't changed one bit. She moved towards Kirishima-Bakugo. For a moment, Koharu could swear she saw her skin shifting slightly. "You want to take those 'wannabe' words back?"

Kirishima-Bakugo tensed, one foot sliding back and her arms coming up in a fighting stance. She really was built like a small tank, Koharu realized. She was fit, she knew, but the explosive girl looked like she could break her in half and wouldn't even need her Quirk to do it.

"Katsumi…" Midoriya began. He started to take a step forward, starting to reach out.

"Tatsuma…" the Shiketsu giant, the one the others had called "Shinji" said. "We're guests! Don't dishonor Shiketsu with squabbling like this!"

"Best to let her get it out of her system now," the purple-haired cat-boy said, covering a bored yawn.

"Stay out of it, Toshi," Kirishima-Bakugo growled. "This is between her and me."

"This is a matter of honor, Yoarashi," Tatsuma said. "I'm proving their reputation is undeserved."

There was a long, tense moment again. It was the feeling you got when two cats were staring each other down before one or the other started smacking the other.

"Nope," Ground Zero said. His eyes were narrowing sharply. "Not happening. Either of you. My first act as teacher isn't going to be breaking up a fight. Especially with my own damn kid."

"He's right," Ravenous, one of the Rookies, said. He'd manifested a few of his Bing Bing Balls, which were now floating around him. "This is a training camp, for you all to get better. Not to take out your petty grudges with each other."

"So no unsanctioned fighting," Lady Luminous added.

"You'll have plenty of opportunities to get that aggression out," Boost Rush, one of the other Rookies added. He looked over at Ground Zero. "Though I'm not surprised one of yours started it."

Vanish Veil, also known as Mahoro Shimano, shot Ground Zero a look. "She gets that from you, Blasty."

Ground Zero gave her a look, then looked heavenward in frustration. "Trust me, I know."

"If we're all done?" Aizawa said. His eyes flashed red and his hair started to stand up. Koharu didn't feel anything as his gaze swept the crowd, since her Quirk as a Mutant-type, but many of the rest let out small squawks of surprise. Kirishima-Bakugo and Tatsuma stared each other down for a moment longer, but let their aggressive postures drop.

"This isn't over," Tatsuma said.

"You're damn right it isn't," Kirishima-Bakugo shot back.

Vanish Veil gave Aizawa a small nod of thanks before proceeding. She pointed to one of the buildings. "Boys' barracks are there, girls' barracks to the right. We'll give you twenty minutes to get your stuff stashed, use the toilet, and get settled in." She looked over the students. "Most of you will get to pick your own bed, but we have special spots marked for Aoyama, Fukui, and Bondo. Kocho, Koumori, and Tsuchikawa, you'll also be happy to know we're prepared to accommodate your dietary needs."

Koharu looked over and gave Koumori, the bat-like member of 1-B, a wave. Outside of her new classmates, he was the only other Hero Course student she knew. Being that his Quirk made him like a fruit bat, she and he often got the same food from the same section of the cafeteria. Judging by how Vanish Veil had said it when she'd looked at him, she assumed Tsuchikawa was the cat-boy. Maybe he was an obligate carnivore, like a real cat?

Aoyama, she understood, needed darkness when he slept. Fukui was the giant, and Bondo the slime girl. Not surprising they'd need special beds. The Rookies really had thought of everything.

"Right, back in twenty, everybody!" Super-Ball said, clapping his hands. They made a rubbery, boing sound. "And then your training camp experience begins!"

There was another one of the Rookies waiting for them inside the barracks. He was of average height and built, with light brown hair, and wearing a costume in green, white, and black. It looked a good bit like some of Deku's older costumes, Isamu realized. He knew Deku was an inspiration to an entire country and even some other parts of the world, but this seemed more than a little blatant.

"Uncle Katsuma!" Midoriya called out, beaming at the Hero.

The Rookie smiled. "Good to see you too, Toshi." He turned to the crowd of students at large. "For those who don't know me, I'm the Metabolic Hero: Bioshock. I'd also like to apologize for anything my sister said or did out there. Mahoro is a bit… of an acquired taste."

Bioshock gestured around to the beds. "Go ahead and find yourself a spot." He gestured to a spot in the middle, to a bed that was more than twice the size of the others. "Fukui, that one's yours." He then gestured to what looked like a capsule. "Aoyama, that one's yours. I'll show you how to open it. Once it's sealed, it'll be completely light proof."

"Merci," Aoyama said. Isamua knew he lived under certain limitations because of his Quirk constantly absorbing light and needing to either avoid it or discharge it regularly in order to function at least somewhat normally. He rarely seemed to let it get him down, which was, frankly, astonishing.

"Oh! Oh! Take the one next to me, Shinji!" Shinso insisted to Yoarashi.

The larger Shiketsu boy just laughed at that. He had to be at least as tall as Shoji and nearly as powerfully built too. He seemed vaguely familiar too. Hadn't he seen Yoarashi congratulating Mineta after the Sports Festival? And he was pretty sure he'd heard the horned girl mention "Shinji" more than once. "How could I resist such a request?!"

With that, the members of 1-A, 1-B, and the two Shiketsu kids got to work getting settled at their beds, stashing their suitcases and supplies underneath. Unsurprisingly, the 1-A kids and 1-B kids were mostly grouping together. Isamu ended up with Midoriya on one side and Shinso on the other, with Yoarashi on Shinso's other side.

"So how do you know Bioshock?" Isamu asked Midoriya. "Not that I'm surprised. Kind of seems like you know pretty much everybody in the Hero community."

Midoriya smiled. "Maybe not all of them, but Uncle Katsuma and his sister are kids Dad rescued when he was still in school. Kind of like Aunt Eri and Uncle Kota, actually."

Isamu gave him an incredulous look. "Exactly how many children did your dad rescue while he was still a student?"

Midoriya looked a little flustered at that. "Ah… hang on, I'm going to need to count…"

"Forget I asked."

Before Midoriya could say anything else, the green-haired boy tensed suddenly. Isamu followed his gaze across the room, to where Sero, Sato, Iida, and Aoyama's beds were. The Shiketsu cat-boy, Tsuchikawa, had claimed another bed near them and Aoyama was shooting him dirty looks.

"Tsuchikawa…" Midoriya said, "I wonder if he's related to Pixie-Bob?"

"He is!" Yoarashi volunteered. "She adopted him at a young age!"

"Should we be worried about him and Aoyama?" Isamu asked. "It kind of sounds like they've got history?"

Yoarashi shook his head. "I don't think so? I know Kaz ran into him shortly before we went to U.A., but I don't know what happened beyond that."

"Hmm," Midoriya said, watching the interaction carefully.

Isamu turned to watch too. It was Sero who spoke first. The pink-skinned boy was grinning smugly.

"So," Sero said, "how'd you get Aoyama so riled up? Usually you have to be super-annoying for that to happen. I mean, I'm super-annoying and I'm usually only second place in that competition. Mineta's got me way beat in that category. But I don't even know you and I think you're even beating her."

"You're about to take first if you don't shut up," Aoyama snapped. His glow strobed as he grew more agitated. "And don't encourage him. He's infuriating enough without your help."

"We should be welcoming to our fellow campers," Iida said. "It is only proper!"

"Bro, don't start a fight already…" Sato started, a palm over his face.

"I do appreciate that, handsome," Tsuchikawa said with a wink to Iida. "My name's Kazuchika Tsuchikawa, and to answer your question, Pinky," he said the nickname with what sounded like flirty endearment, "I merely expressed my belief that I have a superior sense of style to Glowstick here."

Sero sucked in a sharp breath. "You questioned his fashion sense? That takes guts, man. Real guts."

"As if you have any," Aoyama said to Sero. "You dress on purpose as though you got dressed in the dark."

"Thank you," Sero said, mock-bowing. He turned his attention back to Tsuchikawa. "Go back to the part where you said 'Pinky' like that."

"Ahem," Iida cleared his throat.

Sero let out a yelp. "Right, sorry, don't do that. I'm taken. Happily taken. By Tensei. Who's standing right here. My boyfriend. Who you have already noticed is very handsome."

Iida, however, powered through all of it with incredible self-control. Either he hadn't noticed he was being flirted with, or he didn't care. "I am Tensei Iida," he said. "You have apparently already met Aoyama."

"Kenta Sato," Sato volunteered. "Nice to meet you."

"And I'm Takuma Sero," Sero added. "Webshow star? With Kenta and Kimiko? I assume you've heard of me."

"You're together? Well that's mildly depressing," Tsuchikawa said with a sigh and a shrug. He looked at Aoyama. "Random happenstance. I knew of him, but couldn't help playing coy that we'd be meeting again here." He thought for a moment, then frowned a bit at Sero's question. "Sorry, Pin-er, Sero, but I have not. What do you do on it?"

"Well, my buddy Kenta here eats stuff, that's his Quirk, so we've got him eating all kinds of weird stuff, and Kimiko has this whole gossip show, and I mostly do stunts like swinging off of stuff, or narrating other stuff that I film. I'm good off camera commentary, which is a shame, because this face, this face was meant to be seen."

"You are very aesthetically pleasing," Iida agreed. It sounded like there may have been just a hint of possessiveness in his voice.

Aoyama shook his head. "That's it, I'm ignoring all of you."

"Fine by me," Sero said. "We've reached our quota of gay or bi pretty boys here already and Kenta's our token straight. Somebody's got to leave and I'd vote for you or Monoma anyway."

Tsuchikawa's ears seemed to twitch a bit. "Gossip? Hmm, I may have to make it a point to start watching." He gave a slight smile at Sero, but nothing more, seeming to respecting Iida's discomfort. "Oh Glowboy, you and I both know you won't be able to stay out of matters for long." He gave Aoyama a wink before looking back to Sero. "I consider myself more pansexual than anything else. The human race is so fascinating. There's so many kinds of beauty to be found."

Sero laughed at that. "You sound like Mineta. She's always saying she doesn't want to limit her options."

"Mineta?" Tsuchikawa asked. "Oooh, you must mean Shinji's sweetheart. The stunning girl with the horns? Oh he's all a flutter over her. I've never seen him so smitten. Even when we were dating. I'm a tad envious." His tone sounded nostalgic, though there was no bitterness when he confesses his envy.

Fortunately, any agitation between them seemed to break up, as Aoyama made good on his promise to ignore them, instead calling Bioshock over to him to show him how the sleeping pod worked. Midoriya let out a sigh. "Crisis averted," he said.

"Think it's any crazier on the girl's side?" Isamu asked.

Midoriya shook his head. "I sure hope not, but knowing Katsumi…"

As they were putting their things away under the supervision of another princess-themed Hero, this one with flowers growing from her hair and who had introduced herself as Petal Princess, Koharu heard Ojiro and Kaminari talking.

"So, Kaminari, about you and Monoma," Ojiro began.

"Shut up," Kaminari snapped.

"Are you two dating?"

"I said shut up!"

"Are you sweethearts? Is this a secret love? Because you're going to have to be way more discreet than that…"

"Ooooh!" Anime Fukidashi, the girl who looked like something out of an old cartoon, joined in the conversation. "This is just like My Boyfriend is My Rival!"

Kaminari was just getting madder. "I can't believe you don't shut up!"

"Hey! Leave Chi alone," Mineta called out. "Let her boink Shiro on her own time!"

"Mika," Kaminari said, growing increasingly red. "You. Are. Not. Helping!"

Koharu looked over at Tokoyami. "Are they always like this?"

The bird-headed girl pressed a finger to the side of her beak. "The Monoma angle is new, but otherwise, yes."

Kana Tetsutetsu, the red-haired and shark-toothed Class Representative of 1-B, nodded her agreement. There was something about her that reminded Koharu of Kirhsima-Bakugo, though other than both being muscular young women, the two didn't really look anything alike. "Fukidashi has a… questionable relationship with the separation of fiction and reality, but she's basically harmless."

Were all Hero students a little bit weird? Koharu was starting to wonder. Haimawari and Midoriya seemed pretty harmless, though they were both fanboys. And even though Sato was more normal than Sero and Ojiro, he still let himself get swept up into their antics. But she was a little weird herself, she supposed. You had to be, to want to throw yourself into danger, when other people would run away.

On the plus side, at least Kirishima-Bakuago and the Shiketsu girl, Tatsuma, weren't trying to start another fight. They'd very deliberately chosen beds that were as far from each other as possible, though they were occasionally shooting each other looks which suggested things were far from over. But right now the message seemed to be, "I don't feel like fighting you now. But if we did fight, I'd win."

Koharu wasn't particularly sure who she'd put money on in that fight. Especially since she didn't know the Shiketsu girl's Quirk.

Nor did she know the Quirk of the girl with the extra-eyes and the black spikes on her back. But something about her definitely set Koharu's instincts on edge. She spotted her across the room and watched as the spikes extended into long, spider-like limbs that she stretched out for a moment, before retracting them back into her body and joining the foreign Shiketsu girl to head outside.

Oh.

That explained that then. The primal reaction of one animal-based Quirk to another, the moth and the spider. That happened sometimes and was usually a little embarrassing for all parties involved. She didn't have a reaction like that to Tokoyami, of course, even with the other girl's bird head, but Tokoyami was so kind and thoughtful, it was practically disarming. And Tokoyami's Quirk wasn't actually anything bird-like. Maybe she could try and befriend the spider-girl, or at least talk to her to dispel some of the awkwardness. None of the other Shiketsu kids seemed as stand-offish as the one who had picked the fight with Kirishima-Bakugo.

"What do you think about the Shiketsu students?" Tokoyami asked Tetsutetsu.

"I think we're going to have to break up at least one fight," Tetsutetsu said. "And also probably keep Monoma from doing something stupid and antagonizing someone from your class. He actually seems a little less high strung lately, but competition brings out the worst in him."

Tokoyami nodded. "I fear you are right. But I believe Toshi and Awase shall do what they can do keep the boys in line."

"And we'll do the same for the girls," Tetsutetsu agreed. She looked around the room. It looked like most of the girls had gotten settled. "Okay, ladies! Five more minutes, then everybody outside!"

"You've got it, Mom!" Kitiara Kaniyashiki, the girl with the crab-shaped pigtails, called out, saluting smartly.

"Stop calling me that!"

Koharu's wings beat heavily, speeding her through the air. Just a little behind her, if the senses she was getting through her antennae were correct, was Hizashi Koumori, the white-furred, bat-like member of 1-B. Unlike her, his wings were on his arms, making use of entirely different muscle groups to fly.

"You're going to have to do better than that, Koumori!" she called out, as she sped through one of the floating rings. He actually had the speed advantage on her, with more muscle power to devote to flight. But she was a lot more maneuverable, something that had helped her keep the lead. He was at a disadvantage too; he couldn't use his sonar without stunning her.

"You're, like, being a total bummer, Kocho!" Koumori shot back. "We don't all have pretty little wings!"

"Oh, you think I'm pretty?" she laughed. She pinned her wings against her body, going into a steep dive to make it through the next ring, before flaring them out to stop herself and pull up.

Again and again, she flew through ring after ring, darting this way and that, climbing and diving. Finally, as she came upon the last of them, a white-blur zipped past her. Koumori, in a last burst of speed, pulled ahead of her.

With his speed, though, came a lack of control, and he smacked into the ground. He lay there for a moment, before he brought a hand up in a thumb's up. "I'm okay!"

With a flutter of her wings, Koharu landed beside him and helped him to his feet. He was heavier than he looked. "You've really got to work on your brakes," she said.

He gave her a fang-filled smile. "Yeah, I guess. It's just, like, so totally hard, you know. Flying's the easy part."

"Good work, both of you," Boost Rush said, the blue and red of his uniform standing out brightly in the sun. He made an adjustment to the device in his hands and the floating rings adjusted to a new path. "Still a lot of work to do on maneuverability and speed, but we're getting there."

Koharu nodded. She'd practiced flying drills at home and at some of the flying parks and gyms where she could, but she knew there were plenty of Heroes and Hero students out there who surpassed her. Still, she felt pretty good that she'd been able to keep pace with Koumori, even with his no sonar handicap. He didn't seem like the type to have gone easy on her.

Koumori through both arms up in the air and Koharu had to dodge out of the way of his wing membranes. "Most excellent!" he shouted, before dropping his arms and squatting low, playing the air guitar.

Boost Rush passed them both water bottles from a near-by cooler. Koharu accepted it gratefully, inserting her proboscis and sucking up greedy gulps. She was already sweating heavily and she could tell she was going to be sore later. "Take a couple minutes to cool down and then we'll go again. That was just to get a baseline. We'll do Level Five this time."

All around, she could see the other students being put through their paces by the Rookies and their teachers. Most of those with Emitter type Quirks were either doing target practice or were otherwise working on strengthening their output. Those with more physical Quirks were working on agility, coordination, or physical output, with a few of them sparring. She watched for a moment as the girl from 1-B sliced a huge rock clean in half, just be getting her arms on either side of it, while Shinso did the same with a tightly focused beam of sound. They all had robust schedules, working with different trainers. Koharu herself had time booked for self-defense and for practice with her String-Shot and Scales as well as her flight training.

Looking up, she could see the Iida twins and Yoarashi racing through the air, the former with their Jetpacks and the later by manipulating the air with his Whirlwind Quirk. They were making tremendous noise, like thunder, even though it was a near-cloudless day. They all possessed a speed that she couldn't help but envy.

"Whoa," Koumori said. "Check out that speed! Sweeeeeet. Man, we'd have to flap, like, a million times to do that. My arms would be soooo tired."

Koharu smiled at that. "Then we better get practicing."

Kenta offered Monoma a hand up, but the other boy brushed him off. "I'm fine," he said.

"C'mon, man," Kenta said, still offering the hand. "No shame here. You have almost as good as you got."

"I said I'm fine!" Monoma snapped, before leaping to his feet.

Kenta shrugged. The two of them had been assigned sparring, since their particular Quirks were a bit unusual. Monoma could copy any physical action he'd seen, but had no physical augmentation to go with it, so he needed to be able to reliably think on his feet and switch between skillsets. Kenta, on the other hand, could bite through and eat just about anything. It was well suited for rescue work and it would be almost impossible to trap him anywhere. In training, it worked incredibly well against robots. He'd even used it to dig his way through the ground and brought down a streetlight on a faux-Villain during their Final Exam. But it was also not a Quirk well-suited for use directly against people. So he needed to work on his hand-to-hand as much as possible.

Monoma was a good fighter, objectively better in that regard than he was, no matter what attitude problems he had, though the line between skill and Quirk got a little blurry. And he was definitely fighting like he had something to prove. There was a kind of desperation to him, as though everything rested on whether or not he won the sparring match.

Kenta didn't get why Monoma constantly seemed to have to stir the pot, but he could respect the skills. He mixed in everything from Gunhead-style martial arts to moves Kenta was pretty sure he'd seen Aizawa use, to even Ground Zero's signature right hook. Kenta's own style was largely based in boxing and wrestling moves, from working out and practicing with his dad. So far, it'd left him mostly open to Monoma's flurry of kicks and punches, along with way more bouncing around than he'd have expected. But he'd gotten lucky and landed a blow that had knocked the blond down.

"Go again, guys," Super-Ball said. 1-B's homeroom teacher was splitting his attention between a few small groups of sparring, but kept enough focus to make sure no one was getting hurt. Kimmie was squaring off against Fukidashi, playing up something of a rematch of their fight from the Sports Festival, while he could see Shoji pitting his Extendo-Arms against the spider-legs of one of the Shiketsu girls in a limb-to-limb match. "Try and vary up your moves more, Sato," he added. "And don't forget your own skills, Monoma. Not everything's got to be something from your Quirk."

"Yes, Sensei!" Monoma barked, dropping back into a fighting stance. Kenta thought it was one he'd seen the Kung-Fu Hero: Slaying Mantis use.

He brought his own fists up, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Yes, Sensei!"

Monoma made the first move, launching a sweeping kick towards Kenta's knees. Kenta dodged out of the way and struck out, a pair of quick punches he knew wouldn't connect, but forced Monoma to back up. Kenta pressed his attack, throwing body blows. He had a bit of muscle on Monoma, but not much. Physically, they were pretty good matches for each other.

Monoma dodged again, this time throwing rapid-fire palm strikes that left him wincing. It looked like the speed of the move was pushing his body pretty hard. Kenta was sympathetic, but he couldn't afford to give him a break. Especially since those blows had hurt. He'd parried some, but a few had gotten past his guard.

Kenta grunted, then faked left jab. Monoma pirouetted away from it with some kind of dance move, but Kenta was ready for him, bringing around a good right hook of his own. Or so he thought. Monoma slipped under his strike and grabbed his arm. The world shifted rapidly and Kenta found himself flat on his back.

"Oooffff." Kenta let out a grunt.

"Urvarity throw," Monoma said, grinning smugly. "Not as useful without Zero Gravity, but when you telegraph that much…"

Kenta wanted to get better. So he could protect people, so he could be a Hero. He wanted to get better so that he could make his dad proud and honor his mom's memory. He knew, especially after the exam, that he needed more than just his Quirk to do it.

But damn if right now he didn't want to get better just to wipe the grin off Monoma's face. He popped back up, ready to fight again. He didn't have the animosity for Monoma that, say, Kirishima-Bakugo did, but damn if he didn't want to hit him good, just once…

He felt a strong hand take his wrist and bring it up over his head. As he was turning to look, he saw the large figure of Boost Rush bringing his other hand to slap into his open palm. Up close, the family resemblance between the two was undeniable.

"Tag out kid. Go see Bioshock, he's got some questions about your Quirk and a few ideas for optimizing it in combat. Ball, fliers are on a break, so I'll handle Tiny for a bit."

Super Ball shrugged and sighed exaggeratedly. "Far be it for me to get in the way of family drama. Just leave him in one piece."

As Kenta jogged off towards his next instructor, he heard a soft 'Dammit' from Monoma.

"Gravity Times Five—METEOR SMASH!" Toshi lashed out, smashing a fist through the boulder in front of him. Fragments went flying in every direction, but he'd kept his gravity up to increase his own toughness, so none of them did him any harm.

"Yeah, no, that sucked."

Toshi gulped, then looked over to where Uncle Kacchan—no, Ground Zero while he was teaching—was watching him. "What?" he asked. "How? Should I have hit it harder? Or maybe come at it from a different direction? I was trying to get it in one shot…"

Ground Zero brushed a piece of rubble off his shoulder. "I've been watching you, kid," he said. His tone wasn't unkind, but there was definitely a little annoyance in his voice. "You've only got two sets of moves."

He went on, holding up a finger. "First style is like that crazy old man. You take a running leap—telegraphing like hell by the way—and bouncing around until you hit something. Works good when you've got the space to do it in. You might even get good at doing it in tight spaces if you work at it. But that also isn't going to do you any good when you're out in the open and there isn't anything to bounce off of but the bad guy. That happens, you get one shot to hit him, and if that fails, you're sunk." Another finger went up. "Which is where you fall back on trick number two, which is what you did fighting Kana at the Sports Festival. You tank up and try to land one big hit."

"Hey, I," Toshi protested, "sometimes I jump up and try to stomp on stuff too!" The words sounded hollow as soon as they left his mouth. He'd worked some on upping his mobility and figuring out where his opponent was going to be when he was working with Uncle Mirio, but he did still have some weaknesses in his fighting style. But to hear it put like that…

"I've seen you practicing in the backyard with your old man," Ground Zero went on. "And Deku isn't a shitty teacher. So I know you know how to do more fighting than just that. So why don't you?"

Toshi frowned. "The higher I turn the gravity up, the slower I can move. So I have to go for really strong single strikes and switch as quick as I can."

Ground Zero nodded. "I figured it was something like that. Kind of like when you dad's Full Cowl started hurting him if he turned it up too much." He got a wicked glint in his eye. "This isn't the only thing I've got in mind for you… but we're going to work the hell out of your endurance."

Oh boy. Toshi knew he still had a lot to work on. Even with all the training he'd done before U.A. and all the training he'd had since, he was still just a first year student. As angry as he came off in his public persona, it was easy to forget that Uncle Kacchan was really intelligent too. Intelligence that had just been turned on him. Toshi had pushed himself hard, but he suddenly felt as though that was nothing compared to what he was about to experience.

Was this how Dad had felt during school with Uncle Kacchan?!

Katsuki crossed his arms as he stood back and watched the students with Aizawa and Fujii (Super-Ball was a stupid name. He was not calling the other man that.). He'd done a lot of walking today and been on his feet a lot. Part of him ached to have a seat, but he wasn't going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing him have to do that. Especially not any of the damn Rookies. And especially not Mahoro. Damn brat would never let him live that down.

He probably did need to rest at some point. His doctors and physical therapists had been very insistent on the fact that he not push himself too far. And he'd probably have Katsuma clucking over him the second he showed even the slightest sign of weakness.

Dammit. He'd worked thirty-six hours or more straight before, without taking any kind of break. He wasn't some weakling. This wasn't who he was.

Maybe there was a way to talk to All Might about living with limitations without admitting he was talking about himself.

"So," Aizawa said, "you've studied the Sports Festival and exam footage and you've had a chance to observe today. What're your thoughts?"

Katsuki looked around, watching the Rookies put the students through their paces. Some of them looked like they were about ready to collapse, while others looked like they could go all day and all night if they had to. Yoarashi's kid was still zipping around like he'd had a liter of coffee injected directly into his veins. Katsuki did enjoy a small, petty smile when he saw the two Monomas arguing with each other.

"They've not bad," he grunted. "You can which ones have had prior training though." As much as he'd never admit it to them, his former classmates had done a decent job teaching their kids the basics, even Pikachu and the Grape. Though he could probably chalk those two up to the mothers. The Class-B kids were pretty good too, even Copycat Bastard's brat. "Gap's not too big for the ones that aren't second generation though, so you two and All Might must have been doing something right."

"Thanks," Fujii said. Then, hesitating, he added, "I think?"

"I heard a "but" in that sentence," Aizawa said, perceptive as ever. Age had not diminished the hobo-bastard's shrewdness. "Don't make me pry it out of you."

"Relax, old man," Katsuki replied. "When have you ever known me to keep my mouth shut?"

Aizawa didn't even bother to look at him when he responded. "When trying to process your own emotions, including your feelings of inadequacy."

"You're one to talk, Aizawa!" Fujii said. "We've worked together for years and you almost never talk about yourself!"

It was becoming obvious that Fujii trying to get a rise out of Aizawa was a common occurance. Aizawa didn't rise to the bait.

"See?" Fujii went on. "This is exactly what I'm talking about."

"Don't keep us waiting, Bakugo," Aizawa said instead.

"They're good," Katsuki said. "Some of them are even going to be great, if they don't screw up before graduation. But… There's no edge to them. By the end of our first camp, we'd already been attacked by Villains multiple times. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful Katsumi and the rest haven't had to experience that… I just worry that life's going to smack them hard."

His thoughts stalled for a moment when he thought about what Shota Shinso had endured. He was carrying the kind of trauma Katsuki remembered from after the League had kidnapped him and he'd watched All Might's last stand. The kid was doing all right now, or at least it seemed that way. But the rest of them…

"Some of the kids got mixed up in the Nomu fighting a couple months back, but most of them weren't going anything direct," he continued. "It's all been so damn safe. As a parent… I want to protect them. But as a teacher, I feel like they need a reminder of what it could really be like out there."

Aizawa nodded, while Fujii looked slightly horrified.

"You want to scare them?" Fujii asked, cautiously, as though testing just how crazy Katsuki was.

"A reality check wouldn't hurt," Aizawa agreed. "Even with some of their experiences, their world's been a fairly safe place." The old hobo frowned, and when he spoke again, he sounded a bit sad. "You and your friends built a safer world, for your children, and a lot of other people's children. They shouldn't be thrust into the kind of stuff you had to deal with. But you're not wrong either. Let's talk with the Rookies tonight and see what we can come up with."