Class 1B reported at the time Kendo specified, per her teachers order. With Kaibara's yawn finally breaking the silence following Kan's directions, Kendo held a hand on Komori's shoulder, preventing her from falling. "We're working on our Quirks?" She repeated.
"Class A's already training." He informed them, gesturing them to follow him into the forest. "You all need to catch up." As the class followed behind, their teacher trudged on with a mixture of disappointment and optimism. "Last semester was Class A's turn in the spotlight. Next semester will be Class B's turn. From now on, you're shooting for the top. Don't let me down!"
"I get you want everyone to improve their Quirks," Tokage mentioned, "but we have 20 unique powers in our class. What kind of training will help all of us get better?"
"Yeah, can you be more specific?" Kamakiri asked.
"Are we sparring nonstop!?" Pan asked with excitement as she floated along with the class.
"No. When your muscle fibers are overused, they break and grow back tougher. Thicker. Quirks are the same way. They improve the harder you push them." Kan explained as Pan rolled her eyes. "Stronger after every workout."
Yeah, that's how Quirks work, but I won't get any better without some old-fashioned training! Pan thought to herself in frustration, gritting her teeth.
"In other words, there's only one thing to do!" Kan continued to explain. "You'll have to break yourselves!" Emerging from the forests, the class came to a large clearing, where several students from Class A were visibly working out their Quirks.
In the massive clearing below, Bakugo, Todoroki, and Bulla were on opposite ends, creating large scale attacks in short intervals. While Bakugo continuously shot massive explosions into the air, Todoroki cycled between freezing and burning the area around him, and Bulla let off several explosions of energy around her. "Holy crap!" Pan said, looking over the clearing curiously.
"Oh man..." Rin said in surprise. "This is pretty intense!"
Pan's eyes became fixated on Bulla's position, gazing upon her in between her large-scale attacks. She's already gotten so far ahead. I have to keep training that technique in secret, otherwise I won't be fast enough to catch up to her! With her fist clenched, Pan took a deep breath, tuning back into the lesson.
"Operative types will be raising your limits, maxing out your power. And the rest, you'll mostly be focused on strengthening body parts related to your Quirks." Kan explained as Rin began to die inside. "Now normally, these changes would happen gradually as you grow-"
"But we don't have time for that." Class A's teacher, Shota Aizawa said, cutting off Kan as he stepped forward. "Your class has a lot of work to do."
"Once we team up with Class A, there'll be 40 Quirks here! That's a whole lot of Quirks for our homeroom teachers to manage on their own." Kendo told Yanagi beside her.
"Which is why I called them." Aizawa told them as a feminine voice spoke out.
"THAT'S CORRECT! Four kittens in one litter!" A female green-haired hero said, standing tall before them, allowing her team to break into poses.
"Your feline fantasies are here. Say 'meow'." A brunette hero began.
"Allow us to lend a helping paw!" The hero from before continued.
"We're champions at serving up justice, with our tails." A large muscular man, dressed the same as the women followed. The image of the grown man in a skirt gave Pan chills down her spine.
"Purrfectly cute and catlike heroes!" A blond heroine finished.
"We're the Wild, Wild Pussycats! Full version!" As the four posed in unison, another explosion erupted behind them.
"I'm Ragdoll, and my Quirk is Search!" The green-haired hero greeted. "I can look at up to a hundred people and know everything about them! Like their location and weakness!"
"I'm Pixie-Bob, and with my Earthflow, I can create the ideal training ground for every student!"
"I'm Mandalay, and my Quirk is called Telepath! I can give advice to multiple people at once!"
"The name's Tiger, and I'm here to beat you guys to a pulp." The grown man finally finished.
"I have questions about him!" Rin said, hiding behind his teacher.
"You and me both!" Pan told him in agreement.
"All of you kids with strength Quirks, it's time for Tiger's Boot Camp!" Tiger explained. "Class A's already sweating, so catch up quick!" Looking over, the entire class watched as Tiger joined his victim, Izuku Midoriya. "Come on, show me what you can do!"
All of a sudden, he powered up and threw his fist. "5% Detroit Smash!" Fluidly, Tiger bent over backwards, dodging his attack before throwing a massive fist forward.
Midoriya flew back and slammed against the nearby tree, crumbling to the ground. "If you don't push yourselves, you won't shred your muscle fibers! And then you won't get stronger!" As Midoriya picked himself up off the ground, he struggled to respond. "I can't hear you!"
"Yes Sir!"
"You want to be Plus Ultra, don't you? Then show me what that means!"
"YES SIR!" Midoriya said once again.
While Kaibara and Shishida dreaded their fate, Pan noticed Ragdoll staring at her with curious eyes. "There's a lot going on at UA, so it's hard for us to spare much staff for the hero course first-years." Kan explained to his students.
"Based on their experience and range of powers, these four were the most logical choice to help you enhance your Quirks in such a short amount of time." Aizawa picked up, gesturing the remaining three Pussycats.
"Don't fall behind Class A. Do me proud!"
"Yes, Sir!" Everyone said together.
While everyone began to disperse to work on their Quirks, Ragdoll called out to Pan. "Hey, Son! I need you over here, little kitten!" Confused, Pan followed along, separating her from the rest of her class. "So, a little birdie told me that you're a special case!"
After a moment of silence, Pan's eyes widened with worry. Crap, her Quirk! "Huh?! I don't know what you mean by that, Ragdoll!" She responded quickly, attempting to pull her shattered nerves together. "I think I'd be able to explain if you just-!"
"No need, silly! Vlad King told me that even though your Quirk is Flight, you're a regular brawler! So we'll have you train with Tiger during parts of your training!" She said with a mischievous smile, winking at the scared kitten.
"O-Oh! Right, right, I was just about to get to that! Hehe..."
"Good, so we're clear! You're going to fly back to the drop-off station that you started at," Ragdoll began explaining, pointing towards the road on the opposite side of the large forest, "and zip back here as fast as you can!"
"Yeah... Yeah, I can do that..." She agreed, a wave of relief washing over her.
"Purr-fect! I'm paw-satire that you'll grow a lot from this!" Ragdoll told her with glee as she left her to her laps.
With a groan, Pan slowly rose into the air, still calming herself after she nearly slipped up and spilled her shared secret. In an attempt to clear her head, she complied with her training regiment, blasting off towards where Class B had been dropped off the day prior. As she flew over Class A, she caught one more glimpse of Bulla before smiling. With her fists clenched, Pan took off at full speed towards the drop-point.
Pan dashed over the forest until the edge of sunset, allowing herself to push herself harder the more fired up she got. Although this helped her push her limits, she was left beyond exhausted, and could barely make it back for her final trip. With the combined mob of Class A and B, the exhausted first-year hero course remained before Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob beneath the golden sky. "Now. Remember what I said!?" Pixie-Bob announced. "We're not serving your food anymore!"
"If you guys wanna eat, you'll have to make your own meals!" Ragdoll followed. "Starting with curry!"
"Yes, Ma'am..." The hero course agreed lazily.
Their tired response earned an uproar of laughter from the yellow-clad heroine. "Oh man, do you guys look tired! But that doesn't mean you can coast making sloppy cat food!"
"She's enjoying this way too much..." Pan said to her Class Rep.
"Tell me about it," Kendo responded, "I'm so tired I couldn't even stop Monoma's last rant." The two turned to the crumbled boy, drifting in and out of consciousness on the ground.
"What happened to him?" Pan asked, hobbling over to their tables.
"He used the last bit of energy he had talking about how much better we are than Class A, then he collapsed." Kaibara explained.
"That's Monoma for you." Kamakiri said, joining Pan and Kendo at the tables.
Taking a breather, Pan allowed herself to regain some energy before smacking her cheeks, doing her best to pick up her attitude. "Alright! Time to put Iwase's skills to the test!" She said to herself. "Kamakiri, could you give me a hand cutting vegetables?"
"Yeah, no problem." He told her, standing by her side.
"Kendo, could you divvy up the rest of the tasks?" She asked as she started slicing carrots.
"Of course!" Kendo spent her time directing her class, and before long, Class A and B were finished preparing their food. Although it wasn't top quality, they prepared it themselves, and everyone was so hungry that nobody even had the strength to complain.
As she was eating, Pan looked over to her best friend and smiled. Bulla returned her own smile, and continued her conversation with her class. Whatever Hanta Sero had said, it upset Momo Yaoyorozu, and Bulla rushed to her side to comfort her while Kyoka Jiro clocked Sero. Laughing to herself quietly, Pan continued to scarf down her curry before catching a glimpse of a moving shadow at the edge of the hanging lights. Quickly and quietly, she floated over and tapped the figure on the shoulder. "Going somewhere, Midoriya?"
"Wah!" His shock was so sudden, Pan couldn't help but laugh. "Son! That's not funny, I almost dropped the curry!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. If you're worried about dropping it, why don't you take it back to the table?" She asked him, turning around to lie back in mid air.
"It's for Kota." He simply said.
"Ah, that's right! That little punk that I heard punched you in the beans!" She told him, sitting up and crossing her legs and arms. "If he's so hungry, shouldn't he be worried about getting something to eat himself?"
"It's not like that!" He defended. "Kota's... He's at a complicated stage, right now. It's not my place to explain."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll leave you to it. But first-" Pan turned around, leaning over in the air and pressing her fist lightly against Midoriya's chest. "You're a good guy. Keep helping out my best friend, because if anything happens to her, I'll make you wish you broke yourself with your Quirk." She warned with a smile.
"Right." As he turned away, stepping into the darkness and leaving Pan alone, she called out to him one last time.
"And I'm going to be training with you tomorrow! Ragdoll told me part of Tiger's Boot Camp will be sparring, so bring your A-game!" With a wave, she returned to her class and finished her bowl of crap curry.
The following morning, Pan spent her time sparring with Izuku Midoriya of Class A. As he jumped back, his big eyes watching Pan's every move, his opponent dashed forward, swinging a heavy kick. Midoriya quickly found himself pressed against a tree, leaping out of the way as Pan's attack ripped through where Midoriya just was. Turning to face her opponent, who remained perched on a sturdy branch, Pan smiled confidently. "You're pretty fast, Midoriya."
What's with her? Midoriya asked himself as Pan began to crack her knuckles. Is she really this strong on her own? Scraping his brain for solutions, he chose to bide his time and watch Pan as closely as possible for now. As her white aura exploded, Midoriya prepared himself, and Pan flew forward, her arms held at her side. As she swept her leg sideways once again, Midoriya hopped from his current tree to a lower level, sacrificing control to try and widen the distance.
"You can't dodge forever!" Pan called out to him as she somersaulted, ripping through the tree Midoriya landed on, forcing him to retreat further. As he jumped off, Pan pressed herself against the falling log before dashing at full speed, quickly closing the distance between the two of them. As she neared, Midoriya reeled his arm back, and the moment she was within range, he swung his fist forward.
"SMASH!" As his fist flew, Pan lowered herself, dodging the attack before flying forward and slamming her knee into Midoriya's gut. He flew back and slammed into a thick branch, causing it to crack and fall. He groaned in pain, and Pan descended to catch him.
"Midoriya, I told you. You're pretty fast, but dodging will only take you so far against an opponent who's faster than you, Quirk or not. Choosing a chaotic situation like that was a good time for a counterattack, but a bad choice against someone who can maneuver freely in the air." She told him as she lied him on the ground.
"Your movements remind me a lot of Gran Torino. I'm glad I got the chance to fight against someone like you." He praised her, looking towards the sky.
"I don't know why you're lying around!" Tiger yelled as Shishida and Kaibara continued sparring behind him. "You're not Plus Ultra yet! If you're done sparring than you should be sweating!"
"Yes, Sir!" Pan told him as she began Tiger's ridiculous signature workout move.
"Hey, Tiger...?" Midoriya asked as he picked himself up.
"Huh? What do you want?" He asked aggressively.
"I was just wondering... Do you know if All Might will be joining us? He's our Foundational Hero Studies teacher, and it's already the third day of our training." He asked.
"I'm sorry, kid, but the camp is on our land. As you know, your class was targeted at the USJ, and despite that fact, we allowed you to train here, but as big of a target is on the Number 1 Hero's back, we couldn't afford the risk of having him tag along." Tiger explained, his tail somehow waving about behind him.
"Oh, is that so..." Midoriya's eyes looked down, and he suddenly began to lose himself in his thoughts.
"But hey, don't you worry!" He shouted, throwing his hands onto his hips. "I'm sure that he's enjoying the extra time in his schedule while you students are safe! So with that being said..." Threateningly, he suddenly exposed his claws with a devilish grin on his face. "You should be sweating with Class B!"
"Yes, Sir!" Midoriya said with a relieved smile, full of newfound vigor. As he strained himself to work harder, the disappointment, but regardless, he pushed himself harder.
"Midoriya, pace yourself!" Pan called out to him. "If you're not careful then you'll get a cramp!"
"That's right!" Pixie-Bob yelled from below the nearby cliffside. "You'd better have a little bit of energy left over, because tonight you kittens will have a paw-some time!"
"Hmph, that's right." Tiger confirmed with a nod. "Tonight, Class A and Class B will face each other in a test of courage. However, don't you dare start slacking."
"YES SIR!" With his aura intensifying, Pan, now joined by Midoriya, Shishida, and Kaibara, continued with Tiger's Boot Camp.
Night fell over the forest, and the moon peered down from beyond the mountains. Class A and B gathered in a clearing ahead of the campsite, with their teachers and the Pussycats. "Perfect!" Pixie-Bob began. "We've filled our bellies and cleaned the dishes. It's time for-"
"A totally awesome test of courage!" Ashido cheered, followed by her fellow remedial students. Unfortunately for them, they were barred from participating, and Aizawa dragged them back to the campsite for additional lessons.
"Yikes, that's rough." Pan said, putting a hand on Kendo's shoulder.
"Yeah, but at least we won't have to listen to Monoma all night..." Kendo told her, pointing over to Kan, dragging Monoma away by his leg as he psychotically cried out incessive cries of rivalry between the classes. "Geez..."
While Kendo slapped a palm against her face, she shook her head, but Pan laughed all the same. "For someone so tired, I'm surprised he can keep going like that!"
"Okay, then. So: Class B is going to start out as our 'scarers'. When they're in place, Class A will leave in pairs every three minutes." Pixie-Bob explained. "There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those. Now, those who are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your Quirks to terrify the others, got it?!"
"The winners are the creative students who make the most people piss their pants." Tiger continued as Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob continued with a needlessly excited energy, leaving Mandalay alone with an annoyed expression on her face.
"Judging by the look on Mandalay's face, it's probably safe to assume that the decision for this was based on a vote." Honenuki said with a smile.
"Hey, Honenuki, do you mind hanging out with me in the forest? I have an idea for your Quirk I can use!" Pan asked her classmate, a wide smile spread across her face to accompany her thumbs up/
"Oh, yeah, sure. I'm glad that you've already got a plan, Son."
"Kodai, I need your Quirk, too. I can up the 'wow' factor with Size."
"Right!" Kodai told her with a nod.
"And in fact, I think Big Fist will come in handy, too, Kendo! Would you like to join us?"
"Yeah, I think that'll be fun!" Kendo told her as Pixie-Bob interrupted the crowd.
"Alright! Everyone draw to see who your partner will be!" As directed, Class A drew lots, dividing them into eight teams. Looking over, Pan could see several of her rivaling classmates making attempts to trade partners.
With a devilish smile, Pan rose her fist and clenched it tight. "Alright, Kendo, Honenuki, Kodai. Let's go scare the crap out of Class A."
"Right!" The three said in unison as they faded into the darkness of the forest.