.
"Huh?! Some of the prestigious class A failed?! That's absolutely crazy, isn't it? Right?!"
"Like nails on a chalkboard, jeeze," Hana groaned and rubbed at her temple.
The annoying blonde from class B with a similar copy quirk was ranting as usual whenever he was around class A. At Hana's comment, though, he wheeled around, mouth opening wide to say something only for the orange-haired girl to hit his neck just right, dropping him instantly. She sheepishly apologized before dragging him onto the bus their class was climbing onto, and other members of their class apologized as well, being much kinder than their classmate.
"I don't like that guy," Hana grumbled while glaring at the unconscious boy before he was pulled onto the bus.
"I don't like Mineta," Yukime on the other hand was glaring holes into the smallest member of their class as he literally drooled while looking at the other class' girls.
"Dude, you really need to stop. That's not manly at all ."
Hana immediately seemed to brighten up at the sound of Eijiro's voice which made her friend snicker beside her.
"Just take a picture, Hana, it'll last you longer," the crimson-haired girl muttered with a little laugh then waved at Eijiro.
"Class A, our bus is this way!" Ida's loud voice cut off any small talk that the students were having beforehand, and the class filled the bus quickly, excited to see what awaited them.
Hana glanced around, trying to find an empty seat only to be yanked down the aisle then basically tossed into a seat before she knew what was going on. She caught sight of Yukime and Mina laughing and shrugging at her before they turned back around in their seats. They weren't about to rescue her from her captor. Her attention went to Eijiro next only to see him talking very animatedly with Kaminari.
"You're the only one that wouldn't irritate the shit out of me the whole trip, so suck it up, Copy Cat, and stop looking for someone to fucking save you."
She jumped, turning to Katsuki who was glaring out the window. "You just… caught me off guard, Katsuki, that's all." A grunt was her only reply. The two sat silently in the noisy bus for a few minutes before Hana decided that her soulmate really wasn't going to speak, so she pulled out her phone to read the text Hitoshi had sent her as a half-awake ' good morning ' and ' good luck ' message. Just as she started typing, she paused and looked over to the blonde beside her. Sneakily turning her phone to the right angle to catch Katsuki's frustrated glare as well as her own tired thumbs up, she snapped the shot then sent it to the purple-haired boy with a small grin.
.
Me: look at my seat buddy.
He's so happy to have me.
.
Troll: God, what's he so pissed about?
.
Me: lol pretty sure that's his default expression.
That and his gremlin smirk c drh
.
"I am not a gremlin, Copy Cat,'' was growled from Hana's right, making her jump and smash a few letters on her phone's keyboard before accidentally sending the mess. "And you can tell the stupid zombie I said to fuck off."
Hana huffed at the accidental text but chuckled at Katsuki's attitude.
.
Me: He didn't appreciate my gremlin comment, and he said 'tell that zombie to fuck off' after scaring the life out of me so there's that
.
TrollDoll: -_- he's so obnoxious
Gunna go back to sleep cause I can
Don't miss me too much, Attack Cat.
.
Me: you're both annoying lol
Rest for us both, cause dad's gunna work us to death
Will text later (and you'll be the one missing me I'm sure)
.
TrollDoll: always
.
Hana rolled her eyes but still smiled at the phone before sliding it back into her bag. Settling into the seat with a sigh, she was prepared to just zone out the rest of the ride only to be brought back to reality a moment later.
"How is it?"
She looked over at Katsuki, who was still looking out of the window, only his expression seemed a little softer now.
"How's what?"
He huffed through his nose, eyes turning in her direction for a moment. "Your back, dumbass, how is it?"
"Oh," her voice was quiet, but instinct had her rubbing at one of her shoulders. "It's not bad. Still pretty weird feeling, but doesn't hurt anymore."
He hummed but didn't say anything else so she spoke up this time. "Can I just… I wanna say I'm not mad about it, again. It doesn't really bother me, and I may as well get used to awesome scars if I want to keep up with being a hero myself. I can say this one came from my badass best friend!" She grinned at him as she nudged his shoulder with her own.
He suddenly bristled, growling "We're not friends!" But the light flush of pink along his ears told her differently than his glare and gruff words did.
Laughing happily, Hana then leaned her head onto his shoulder and gave him a very good impression of Eijiro's puppy eyes, which just led to him snarling, "Ya wanna die, idiot?!" before shoving her off of him. Eijiro happened to hear her laughter over the noise and looked back only to smile at the both of them.
"Maybe she can get him to be less grouchy while we're here," Kaminari muttered to the redhead as he peered over the back of his seat at the two as well.
"She probably can, but I don't think he's that hard to deal with," Eijiro chuckled and turned back around. Kaminari snorted as he flopped back into his own seat.
"Nah, that dude has a major stick up his ass, and acts like someone took a poo in his cereal if they even talk to him!"
"Language, Kaminari!" Ida chided the blonde from behind them. This made Eijiro laugh loudly, though he shook his head at his friend. He couldn't exactly place it, but despite Katsuki's explosive bad attitude, he figured the blonde wasn't as bad as he seemed. He might just chalk it up to the soulmate bond thing, but even Yukime seemed to see past his attitude… or maybe she just didn't care about it? He snorted quietly at the thought, then was suddenly brought back into a conversation with Kaminari about something on his phone.
.
.
Hana was instantly suspicious when they stopped an hour later, eyes scanning the large forest past the cliff edge in front of them.
"Where the heck are we?" Sato asked.
"Right? I mean," Kaminari stretched his arms above his head. "it's nice to be able to stretch a little, but this is a kinda bogus rest stop."
"Where is the other class?" Eijiro asked, looking around curiously, then he spotted a car sitting nearby. "And who's that?"
Hana's eyes darted around from the car, the forest, her dad, then back to the forest. "This doesn't feel right…" She muttered to herself.
"Heya Eraser!" The class looked over to the new voice to see two women dressed in hero outfits that looked particularly feline. "It sure has been a while! Almost didn't recognize you."
Aizawa sighed tiredly, "These are the pros that will be helping with the summer camp - The Pussycats."
Yukime snorted, then shifted over to be beside Hana, "Good thing you didn't go with a cat outfit, they might have recruited you."
Hana wanted to laugh, but she still felt on edge. Knowing her dad, this was all leading up to something, and they should all be preparing for the worst. She looked over her shoulder at the bus again, wondering if getting back into it would even help, or if they would still be thrown into whatever plan Aizawa had. She ruled the bus out quickly and decided that prepping would be their best bet.
"This whole forest is under our watch," the brunette Pussycat announced, then pointed off into the distance towards a mountain. "You will be staying in a lodge at the foot of that mountain."
Hana huffed, suddenly moving to stretch her legs out, gaining herself some strange looks. Yukime quirked a brow at her friend, then took in the situation as well. "Oh shit," she muttered under her breath as others started connecting dots too.
The Pussycat that had shown them where the lodge was grinning at them though her eyes narrowed. "It is now 8:30 am, you have until 12:30 pm."
"Aw, no way!" Eijiro along with a few others immediately wheeled around and started running back as he shouted, "Let's get back to the bus!"
Katsuki, however, was glaring at the two women but was also mentally preparing for what they were about to be told to do.
"Kitties that don't make it by the deadline don't get lunch~!" The blonde Pussycat cheered before slamming her hands into the ground.
The students running stumbled as a strange shift seemed to pulse through the dirt. Yukime was caught off guard by the motion and was moved into Hana's side, making the second girl stumble a little herself. Her eyes met her dad's, then rolled to the sky for a second at his dry smirk.
"Sorry kids, but the training," the ground suddenly lifted under them then moved like a giant wave to force them over the edge of the cliff, "Starts now ."
.
.
Hana POV
Screams and shouts could be heard from all around me as we fell, but even over the noise, I could still hear the brunette woman announce that we should feel free to use our quirks, and good luck getting through the Beast's Forest, whatever that was.
Through everyone's complaints about the dirt in weird places, I suddenly announced, "We should move. If this is something my dad thought of, we shouldn't be relaxing."
Mineta groaned, "Yeah, yeah, whatever, you guys do that, but I've gotta pee!" Then he ran off randomly into the forest, only to come speeding back screaming.
The rest of us looked behind him when we heard shifting and thudding noises, and saw a gigantic creature.
"I...was not expecting that," I mumbled, my eyes wide and mouth still hanging open slightly. 'How the hell are we supposed to fight that thing?!'
"Tch, this is annoying, I'm gunna kill this thing with one blast!"
"Come on, Bakugo, save some of the baddie for the rest of us!"
Katsuki and Yukime rushed past me, followed almost instantly by Midoriya, Todoroki, and Ida, all of them combining their attacks - semi-unintentionally in Katsuki's case - to demolish the creature in one move.
Watching it crumble to the forest floor, I swallowed the spit in my mouth. "It's dirt," I muttered, only to see another two creatures crowding us even though we had only cleared a few steps. They were around the same size as the other, and now I really understood what was going on, this camp wasn't going to be relaxing at all.
Humming in thought, I looked around at my classmates, then rushed over to Momo. "Can I get a hand Momo?" I asked with an outstretched arm, hand opened wide. She looked away from the creature, then nodded at me, reaching out then gripping my hand for a moment. I felt the familiar drain of my quirk, then grinned at her before we separated.
"I may need to research more things if I use this more often, but for now," holding my other hand out to my side, I felt a strange tugging sensation make its way from my stomach, up through my body then into my shoulder, and down my arm. When it reached my hand, it really felt weird, my skin felt like it was stretching and pulling out away from my palm as I watched it glow and the beginning of a steel rod extending from it. Once it left my palm, there was only a pinching feeling before I caught the pole, smirking at the creature. "This is all I need."
I took off with the others in the class and proceeded to use the pole to help myself jump around on the creature, lodging it into cracks to swing myself up farther and pulling it up with me as I went. When I cleared the last spot I could use to launch myself up, I aimed for its head before swinging the post down like a hammer, smashing the front half of its head off completely which made it stumble. Its stumble made me fall from my spot only to be caught by Tsu's tongue, then dropped lightly into an ice slide that circled the second creature.
Lo-and-behold, I happened to be following closely behind Yukime, who was shooting ice spears into the thing as she passed by, so I decided to use her path to my advantage. I knew her ice was strong enough to withstand a blow from the steel, but the dirt had been weakened by her ice, so I swung at each spear that I could reach, causing each to act like a lever and dig large chunks loose from the creature with each one.
At the first one, Yukime jumped slightly, glancing over her shoulder only to grin at me then keep going. Our plan hit a hitch when the creature broke the slide, and I was flung across the forest then into a body, unconsciously pulling the quirk as I did so.
"Damn it, Copy Cat, stop falling, and demolish this thing!"
"Ah! Katsuki! Sweet," I pat his cheek quickly, then flung myself from his arms as he launched toward a new creature. I was happy I still had the steel rod, but feeling that familiar fire surge through my arms was exhilarating. I let a blast loose from my left hand to move towards the almost demolished, second creature. Once I was well above it, I threw the post like a javelin directly down toward the dirt creature, then aimed my palm at the post before sending an explosion at it, shooting it toward my target like a really long bullet.
Watching it fall, I grinned, then I looked over at the next ones. "One down, I guess," I muttered, then moved on to the next target.
.
.
"There!" Ida called back to us as we all ran, some stumbling with every other step. Our poor class president had dark smoke trails pouring out of his engines in his legs, and just glancing at it sent a burning ache through my own calves, remembering my use of his quirk multiple times during our time in the forest. "There's a clearing up ahead, surely that's the lodge!"
"I sure hope it is," Jiro huffed from beside me, before shifting her grip on my arm.
"I...I c'n run…on m'own," my words were quickly slurring together from overuse of my quirk, my head feeling like it was being trampled by an elephant while also feeling like I was absolutely plastered drunk. "Don'...I c'n…Jiro, don' worry 'bou' me."
Her eyes flickered over to me for a second, before she grinned tiredly, "You can stop the tough act, Hana, you did more of the physical fighting than I did, the least I could do is help you walk. Plus, your legs are still bleeding. You used Ida's quirk way too much."
She wasn't wrong, I knew that, but she had to be exhausted as well. Everyone was looking rough. Todoroki and Yukime were sporting large frost spots, though Todoroki's were thawing as he ran. Kaminari was stumbling alongside Sero, who held the blonde's arm over his shoulder, and the poor guy's face was spaced out completely from short-circuiting. The majority of the class had cuts, scrapes, bruises, and dirt covering them. Tsu's tongue was hanging from her mouth slightly as she panted and hopped from branch to branch in the trees. We had been caught off guard by some smaller dirt creatures in the trees about...what...an hour ago? Who knows. I couldn't see Eijiro anywhere in front of us, but the glimpse I got of Katsuki had my gut clenching. He was almost cradling his left arm with his right, but both were trembling violently, and surely ached if the throb in my own arms was any kind of indication.
Ida was right, though, and moments later our class all stumbled out of the trees, some of us collapsing against each other to ease the ache in our limbs. Tiredly, I searched for dark eyes out of instinct, then gave my dad a weak glare.
"Looks like they didn't make it in time for lunch," the blonde Pussycat giggled while she just watched us drag ourselves over to them.
"Four hours," Sero panted, leaning over and placing his hands on his knees after he all but dropped Kami to the dirt, "what a joke ."
"'m so hungry~!" Ah, there's Eijiro. I huffed a pitiful attempt at a laugh, only to sound almost like Kami did as he randomly chuckled and said "Whee~"
"Guess we forgot you were just students." Now the brunette cat lady was gloating. "That's how long we would have taken, you know."
"I thought you kitties would take way longer!" Blondie giggled again, and I wanted nothing more than to punch her right in her stupid mouth. I hadn't realized I had actually lunged forward out of Jiro's arms until Shoji held one of his arms up to stop me and another to catch me before I fell. Blondie locked eyes with me and smirked, making me growl in frustration. "Ooh, so feisty! You all dealt with my earth beasts pretty easily, not bad. I'm pretty impressed, especially by you four. You didn't even hesitate! Ooh~ I wanna keep them!" She launched herself at Ida, Midoriya, Katsuki, and Todoroki only to slam into an ice wall.
"Oops," Yukime's dry voice was void of remorse, "didn't think you would want their gross man sweat on you, pretty princess."
I wanted to laugh, but I was too frustrated and tired, not to mention that I was suddenly noticing how hungry I was after using Momo's quirk multiple times.
"Oh, um," Everyone's eyes went to Midoriya who was looking at a small boy standing near the brunette lady, "Whose child is he?"
"He's my nephew," she informed us, waving the boy forward, though he didn't move. He looked very much like Katsuki while he was in his angry gremlin mode. "Kota, come say hi to these guys. You'll all be spending the week together, anyway."
Just as Midoriya went to offer his hand for the kid to shake, the boy's fist shot out to smash directly into Midoriya's crotch. A resounding groan was heard from my male classmates, though I heard a small snicker from Katsuki, which honestly, didn't surprise me. Dragging my eyes to look at him, I was gifted with seeing a soft grin on his lips, I chose to ignore the fact that it was at Midoriya's expense and filed that image away in my memory. I was glad I looked over when I had because a second later he was shouting at Todoroki after he said Kota was like him.
"Gather your things from the bus then drop them off in your rooms before heading to the Mess Hall for dinner," Mr. Aizawa announced, looking as bored as usual, "When you're done eating, you'll bathe, then go to bed. The real training starts tomorrow."
Multiple groans were heard, but we all moved over to the bus to do as we were told. I was glad that Shoji was the one that decided to be my crutch of sorts because he kindly offered to carry my things for me...after I finally gave up on my slurred arguments. I did manage to tell him that I could at least get my bags into the girl's room by myself before thanking him. My grip was a little strange, though, since the muscles in my hands and arms didn't want to cooperate much, so I finally just hooked my forearms through the handles of the bags and stumbled into the room to toss them beside a random bed. Food was the primary thing on my mind now, and I didn't pay attention to where I was going, running right into Momo as she was coming into the room to put her own things up.
"Oh, I'm sorry Hana! Are you alright?"
I hummed and gave her a smile, "Peachy, jus' hungry. Your quirk drains...a lot." I was grateful that my speech was evening out, despite my still spinning head and wobbly legs.
"Yes, it really does. Was that the first time that you used my quirk?" She asked, setting her bags gently on the bed she claimed, then turned back to me. She offered an arm when she noticed my subtle swaying, and begrudgingly, I accepted it.
"Yeah, it was. Kinda regret the variety of quirks I used, though, I feel awful. I feel weak having to have everyone help me freaking walk ."
Her expression quickly turned to one similar to a mother scolding a child. "Hana, you are not weak. You were fighting diligently alongside our fellow classmates, so what if your quirk gave you backlash effects? All of us are facing quirk backlash right now, so you are not alone."
My forced smile smoothed into a small, genuine one as I thanked her and we moved on toward the amazing aroma of food. Once we sat down, everything seemed like a blur, and about midway through, the floor seemed to tip and spin. Just as I swayed in my seat, a hand planted itself directly in the middle of my scar, sending a shiver through my spine.
"Don't fucking collapse at the table, idiot."
I looked to my right and smirked at Katsuki - the two to three that my vision suddenly made, that is. Exhaustion and swirling brain fueled my next words, "Why, Katsuki? Maybe I wasn't collapsing as much as I was falling for you."
My mind caught up to itself as soon as the words left my lips, and my hands clapped over my mouth at the same time that nearly everyone at our table choked on their food and Mina burst into loud laughter. My soulmate basically ripped his hand away from me, his expression turning into one of uncomfortable confusion, though his ears were burning red and his cheeks were quickly following suit. He grumbled and used his hand to block me and my now cackling friend out of his view. I was mortified, and not even Momo's gentle hand on my left shoulder nor Mina's giggled apologies for laughing helped me feel less embarrassed of myself.
.
.
"That was absolutely the best thing I have ever heard!" Mina giggled yet again and I shook my head.
"I feel gross...my mom's personality just slipped through there, yuck," I grumbled.
The other girls laughed lightly as we all walked through the door to the hot springs after cleaning off the dirt, sweat, and blood. I pulled the towel around me tighter as I eyed the water. The thought of relaxing in the blissfully steamy water was so exciting that I had gotten distracted. The problems I was currently facing: showing myself completely naked in front of the others, as well as hoping I didn't pass out from the heat due to my head still not being fully back to normal.
"God, I wish I had sat by you guys, that sounded fantastic to witness," Yukime chuckled and shot me a grin, "Who knew the mini-Aizawa had it in her to flirt!"
"I don't!" I groaned, then looked over at Momo and Jiro, the responsible ones in the group. "If I start to look like I'm going to pass out, just drag me to bed, ok?"
"Sure you don't want Blasty Boy to do that?" The crimson-haired girl asked teasingly before cackling like the evil mastermind she was.
I groaned again, but louder before it turned into a more frustrated grumble as I glared at the water like it had been the one to offend me.
Hearing Yukime suddenly hum beside me, I couldn't help but feel curious. As soon as I turned to her, I noticed she was eyeing the large wooden wall that could only be the dividing line between the girls' and boys' springs. "How much do you want to bet that Mineta's scumbag-self is gunna try to scale the wall?"
"Ew!" Mina complained and fake-gagged.
Tsu shrugged with a quiet ribbit, "I really wouldn't put it past him."
"Let's just get in the water before he does, then," said Ochako, slipping her towel off then stepping into the water.
Mina, Momo, Tsu, and Jiro followed shortly after, and I glanced back over at Yukime.
"After you, Hana," she then motioned with her arm towards the water, but I felt my eyes lock onto her own scars, realizing I wasn't alone. "No one's going to say anything, and you know it."
Heaving a sigh, I let the towel drop and quickly stepped into the water followed almost immediately by the other girl.
"Woah, woah!" Mina's sudden voice got my attention just as I started to move to the deeper section of the water, "are we not going to say anything about this body that has been hidden by baggy shorts and a vest?! Hana ! Like...I know we've changed in front of each other before, but she always changes so fast. Just look at her!"
"Mina!" Ochako laughed, though her face was bright red along with the other, more reserved girls.
"Woman tells the truth," Yukime chuckled while lowering herself in the water, "Man, this feels nice." I was thankful that she tried to change the subject as I hid in the water up to just under my nose.
"So~ we are ignoring it, cool, cool." The pink girl shook her head then started on the next line of conversation she could think of, "Alright, how about soulmates? We've already gone on about one of Hana's, what about everyone else?"
Tsu spoke up, surprising us, "I still haven't met mine, ribbit, but I really wouldn't mind just being able to decide my partner for myself, if I even want one at all."
Her confession was met with understanding smiles, and next Ochako spoke up. "I haven't met mine, either, but I keep feeling really nervous about something lately, so...maybe I'll meet him soon?"
"How do you know it'll be a guy?" Yukime asked curiously. "Could be anyone, right?"
"Well...I didn't really consider them being anything other than a guy until just now." She turned slightly, resting her back against the stones along the side of the spring, and her expression turning thoughtful. "I mean, I can totally stay open-minded, but I've only ever liked boys."
"Just know that your relationship with your soulmate doesn't have to be romantic. I'm sure it will work out either way, though." Momo offered a soft smile. "I have always thought the soul rings were interesting, but I haven't ever had one. I don't mind, because I see it the same way that Tsu does: I get to have a little more freedom to choose for myself."
Mina gaped, "You don't have one? That's really rare! I totally thought you and Ida or Todoroki would have been soulmates, cause you're all super smart."
"Nah, Shoto's soulmate is Deku," Yukime added nonchalantly.
All that could be heard for a good minute was the garbled sound of the water and the quiet sounds of conversation on the other side of the fence.
.
.
3rd person
"His soulmate is who?! Oh my god!" Was heard clear as day on both sides of the wall. Most of the boys jolted, looking over at the wall in confusion. Bakugo, however, simply scoffed, which earned him attention from Sero, Midoriya, Kaminari, and Kirishima.
"What's on your mind, Bakugo?" The dark-haired boy asked, leaning back on the stones and resting his long arms out to either side of his body.
"Bet he's just being huffy because he wants to talk soulmates with the ladies," Kaminari laughed. He then tucked a lock of his hair behind his ear and held his hand up near his chin with his thumb and index finger framing his chin. "I think the girls were heartbroken that I'm not their soulmate."
Sero burst out cackling while Kirishima only laughed and shook his head. Midoriya smiled awkwardly, eyes drawn to his own hand that still perplexed him. This was the first time seeing a band that was shaped the way it is, and the fact that it was a split bond was...odd.
"Woah, Midoriya, your band is really trippy." Kirishima leaned over to get a better look and noticed the variety of colors as well as the unique shape of it. "Why does it look the way it does?
"Oh my God, Kiri, you can't just ask people why their soul band looks weird!"
"I-I'm just asking a question! If Midoriya doesn't want to answer, he doesn't have to."
"Oh, it's really… it's fine, honest! As far as we can tell, my band is shaped the way it is because my soulmate was meant to be just one person, and was at first until they developed and became two. I mean...at least I think that's the reason I have a crossed band and they each only have half." He informed them in a slight ramble, eyes lighting up at the chance to share.
"Huh?" Kaminari's hand dropped slightly from his pose, as he tried to process what he just heard.
"Wait...one...into two?" Kirishima stared confused at Midoriya, his own brain working hard to figure out what was going on. Even Sero looked confused for a moment until Todoroki suddenly joined their conversation.
"Yes, Yukime and I only have half of a band." He held up his hand as proof, though he spoke like he was talking about the weather instead of announcing something big.
There was a resounding, shocked "Huh?!" that was almost as loud as the girl's outburst.
"So, hold on," Sero spoke up this time, waving an arm slightly as if to clear the air, "what you're saying is that...Midoriya and you twins are all three soulmates. That's...not weird." He didn't mean to sound insensitive, honestly, he just couldn't get his mind wrapped around the idea, because it kind of sounded like...the twins would be involved with each other, too.
"Actually," Midoriya laughed uneasily, understanding exactly what Sero, and likely the rest of the guys were thinking, "They're mine, but not each other's. They both only have half of one band, and groups of multiple soulmates have all had multiple bands. One for each person."
Kirishima held his own hand up, saying, "Can confirm!" proudly grinning while Bakugo rolled his eyes and scoffed, looking to the side.
"Don't brag, dude," laughed Sero, giving the redhead a shove.
"What is Mineta doing?" At Ida's sudden subject change, they all looked over to see the short purple-haired guy staring at the large wooden wall.
"I guess they figure this wall is enough to stop a guy from his destiny," he muttered, though it was loud enough that the rest of the boys looked over at him in confusion. "It could be... an accident. That's what it is, just a little accident. I mean, how would I know that the girls are there beforehand? Or maybe one of them needs a strong man to help them!"
Almost immediately, the majority of their faces burnt red as they finally connected the dots. The girls were on the other side and were soaking in the water just as they were.
Ida scowled before chopping an arm through the air to emphasize how serious he was, "Stop this right now, Mineta! That is completely disrespectful, and shameful! Appropriate behavior in this situation would be to behave like they are not-"
The small boy waved him off, rolling his eyes, "Totally no fun, must not like chicks," was said under his breath before he whirled around and rapidly started climbing the wall, using his quirk for hand and foot holds.
"The fuck is that reject doing?" Bakugo finally spoke up as he zoned back into the moment and paid attention to what was going on.
.
.
Hana's POV
At the sudden shouting from the boys' side of the wall, we all looked at each other in confusion.
"Do you think that Deku and Bakugo got into an argument again?" Asked Ochako while she looked over at the dividing wall.
Yukime scoffed, "Nah, there's no explosions yet, so it's definitely not Blasty and Deku." We all kind of agreed that she had a point, but that left us with no answer for the sounds.
"You don't think it's-" This time Jiro spoke up only to be interrupted by Mina calling out, "Oh my God, why is he up there?!"
All of us looked to where her hand pointed only to see what looked like Kota standing at the top of the large wall, his back facing us.
"You're disgusting," Was clearly heard since all of the other sounds from my classmates speaking had stopped. "How do you expect to be a hero, when you're such a disgusting person?" His body moved a little, almost like he had shoved someone off of the boys' wall.
"Mineta really never will learn, will he, ribbit?"
"Thank you, Kota!" Mina called up to him after Tsu spoke.
Of course, Mina didn't think through what calling out to the boy would do, but I jolted just as his head swiveled just barely in our direction. When the poor kid realized he had looked over at us, he shouted and jumped in shock, starting to wobble in his place on the wall.
My heart lurched, and instinct took over as I simply grabbed Ochako's hand pressing her fingertips to my opposite hand, then used the rock ledge along the water to launch my now totally weightless self up to catch the boy.
As soon as I was close enough, I reached out to grab the top edge of the wall, hoping I wouldn't float past, and reached out to try to catch the kid before he actually fell. I was seconds too late, though, my fingers barely snagging his shirt only to have it slip from my grip.
The loud slosh of water followed by green flashes of light caught my attention, though, and I just knew that Midoriya had jumped up to catch the boy. I let out a sigh of relief, then called down to them, "Is he ok?"
Midoriya's voice was the one to answer just as I felt gravity return to my body and guessed Ochako had ended her quirk. "Yeah, he looks fine! He did pass out, but probably from shock."
"Hey, Hanzawa, come join us!" I snorted at Kami, only to actually laugh when I heard another loud splash, followed by Ida chiding my classmates for roughhousing and inappropriate behavior. Katsuki was surely the one that shut Kami up, but I wasn't worried about that.
Looking over my shoulder, I grinned sheepishly, "Uh...who wants to help me back down?"
"Come on, I would totally catch you, Hana!" Was called out from behind me, again followed by a loud splash, then a garbled explosion sound and a shout of "Die!"
Yukime rolled her eyes and sloshed over toward the edge of the water, then pulled herself up and out. "I can make a slide down, but...your ass is gunna be cold as fuck."
My reply to her comment was a snort, and once she had formed the slide I gave it a moment to melt slightly from the heat. The thought of possibly sticking to it from the water that still clung to me...not pleasant. The warm water was never so welcome as it was after that slide down.
.
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The next morning started at the crack of dawn. 5:30 am was our expected time at the training space. I felt dead on my feet, to be honest. No coffee and a ridiculously early start were not a good thing. I literally slumped out of my bed, changed clothes, then left the room, glaring angrily down towards my feet as I shuffled out with the others. I did notice that I wasn't the only tired one, but I wanted to wipe the grin from Yukime's face. Awful morning people.
"First, I will address the fact that, yes we are in fact missing someone," Mr. Aizawa was starting the day off on a pleasant note, huh? "Mineta had been given a second chance, and he wasted it. We don't have the time, nor do I have the patience to keep ignoring that behavior. Moving on, today is when the training starts."
He paused, his weight shifting slightly from one leg to the other, and when he spoke next, his voice sounded completely serious. "As I'm sure that you all know, the villains are stirring up something, and this training is the beginning of us preparing you for facing whatever they have waiting. Now, first," he tossed a familiar ball over to Katsuki who eyed it curiously. "You're going to show me how much you have grown since you first threw this."
There were quiet murmurs before light cheering was heard from a few classmates. I, however, knew that this wouldn't show much difference. So far we had been focusing on the basics, though we did have to push a little more than normal first years because of the attacks. Our quirks, though, normally aren't heavily focused on until our second year.
After Katsuki launched the ball with an explosion and a shout, his results showed about the same as the test before. My groggy mind being as moody as it was, decided now was a great time to remind me that my actual result for this would be significantly less than my first without a copied quirk. Just as my traitorous thoughts started to spiral, Mr. Aizawa's words brought me back to reality.
"Your quirks all need work," he paused, and the shuffle of his steps drew my gaze up toward him, "This training will be like nothing you've ever done before. You will be pushed beyond your limit, to the point that you wish you were dead. Try not to actually die, though."
Everyone seemed to tense at his words, and then we all were moved to different sections of the training area that suddenly pulsed like the cliff had the day before.
"The Pussycats will be helping out occasionally, but they will be moving between the classes. Kaminari, you need to be on your own, seeing as your quirk covers a large area." Just as our teacher said this, Kami was sent up onto a pillar of dirt along with what looked like a generator. Mr. Aizawa then moved through the others, sending Ojiro over to a spot with Eijiro to have the former batter the latter with attacks, and Eijiro was to keep up his hardening the whole time. Todoroki was sent further away, tasked with sitting in a barrel full of water while using both of his quirks to retain a constant temperature of the water. Ice, flames, and a lot of steam bellowed from where he trained. Ochako was put into a bubble for reasons unknown to me because, just as the blonde Pussycat was explaining it to her, our teacher stood in front of me.
"Aizawa"
"Sir" our matching tired gazes met, though I could see a slight bit of nervousness lingering in his, how curious.
"You've been wanting to train your physical abilities, but you also need to train your limits with your quirk as well as how far you can push yourself while using someone else's quirk." He crossed his arms before continuing. "You will rotate through the training grounds, using the quirk in the same way as the others during your time at that section. I want you to start with Tiger, though, to work physically, then move through the others and push the quirks as hard as possible."
I only nodded, but it was enough acknowledgment for him.
"Mandalay will let you know when to switch, who to go to, and will give you any advice she deems necessary." He said then turned and walked off.
'Here we go.' Taking a deep breath, I moved over to where Midoriya was listening to an absolute giant of a man. He looked so odd in the Pussycats' outfit, muscles bulging along his limbs while he wore cat ears, bows, and a skirt. To each their own I guess.
This man was a morning person to the extreme. He was so amped up, and ready to go that I felt even more tired just watching him. When his eyes snapped over to me, he instantly set me to work sparring with him and Midoriya. Admittedly, while facing down Midoriya after experiencing his quirk was very intimidating, he himself was equally not. Grappling with him was surprisingly fun, and despite the many solid hits that he was able to land, I was pleased to note that I was able to land a good few on him as well. Facing off against Tiger, however, was nerve-wracking, though I didn't let it show. After a while, I was left a panting mess of bruises and aches that throbbed painfully with each movement I made.
"Aizawa, it's time for you to move to your quirk exercise. First, you will be with Yaoyorozu. Create whatever you can, as fast as you can while keeping contact with her. This will allow for both of you to grow to endure the backlash of your quirk."
Oh, I did not like someone being in my head but I did do what I was told with a small shake to rid myself of the weird feeling. At my touch, I noticed that Momo didn't seem surprised by my presence, so I could only assume that the Brunette Pussycat was responsible enough to inform her of the rapid drain she was about to have on her body. I quickly situated myself beside her, only to be surprised by a small open book being placed in front of me.
"Easier than a steel rod," she muttered quickly before taking another bite of food in the tin beside her, then pushing it between us as well.
I looked down at the page, taking in the details of the simple wooden blocks that were on the page. She wasn't wrong, this would be much easier and quicker to make. Snatching up a bite-sized cookie from the tin, I popped it in my mouth before adjusting my hand to grip her left forearm before activating my own quirk then hers shortly after I felt the telltale draining feeling. At first, it wasn't so bad, just a little lightheaded feeling, and Momo was doing just about the same as I was. About twenty wooden blocks in, I had to continue making the blocks while reaching with the same hand for a small sandwich in the top section of the tin, so I focused on shifting the area where the blocks were created from, a strange crawling sensation passing from my palm to the outside of my forearm.
"Ugh, that feels gross," I mumbled before taking a bite, hearing Momo chuckle through her own cookie that she had just popped into her mouth.
I completely lost count of blocks after a while, and that's when the drain of my quirk started to really rear its head. I noticed Momo slump suddenly, her right hand snapping out to catch herself on the table, but she kept pushing through. I was in almost the same boat since I was already worn out from the physical training, and my head started to make me feel like I was rocking back and forth when I definitely was not. Just as Momo's legs started to wobble and I actually had to lean against the table, I was told to move over to Sero. I offered a small squeeze to my friend's arm as an apology before I left, then rushed over to poor Sero, who was already on his knees and sweating.
"Hand" was all I said as I reached Sero, which he wordlessly offered by tilting his forearm in my direction. It was a little awkward considering our height difference, but he didn't seem to mind the angle he had to hold his arm at. As soon as my hand gripped his, I set my quirk loose only to immediately groan and grit my teeth at the ache of my arms rearranging to create tape from them. Once that was done, I struggled with trying to figure out how he managed to get the tape to expel itself.
"You feel it in the triceps after a while," he suddenly spoke up, drawing my wobbly attention to see his reassuring grin. "And getting it to shoot out like this, just imagine the spool spinning as fast as it can in your elbows. You got this, Hanzawa."
I may or may not have jumped at the feeling when the first foot or so left my arms, "Oh, no, I don't like this feeling, not at all. No offense, Sero, I'll just have to get used to it." Shuddering, I continued on while I heard him laugh beside me.
"I would think it'd take some getting used to, but so does this dizziness. You're super disorienting."
My left leg suddenly buckled for a moment, making me stumble almost into his side. "Very much so."
"Since you two are just chit-chatting," Mr. Aizawa's sudden voice made us both jump. "Aizawa, two at a time. Over to Uraraka and Kaminari. You won't be able to keep constant contact with them, but you can run from their placements then back to your own if needed."
I sighed, cutting off the tape and releasing the quirk, which was just as jarring as gaining it, then ran off to the ones that needed more space for their quirks. The platform Kami was on as well as the strange ball thing that Ochako was floating in seemed to gravitate toward me, and just as I reached out to grip their offered arms, I heard the voice in my head again.
"Eraser said you've been moved to two quirks and that you are to be distanced from them, so I want you to see if you can draw large amounts at once to stretch the time limit while only needing a quick touch."
I took a deep breath then wrapped both of my hands around their arms and pulled the invisible energy from their body quickly with one strong pull. This was the first time I had done this in general, much less with two quirks, so the almost instant rush from both quirks felt like a wall slamming into my body, making me stumble while the other two wobbled heavily.
Once they were taken back to do their exercises again, I panted and tried to work through the jumbled mess that my mind suddenly felt like. Feeling dizzy or drunk, which I was used to, but this was weird. Maybe that came from Kami since his quirk does affect his mind once overused. Swallowing thickly, I readied myself before feeling the strange jumble in my head start to get a little worse as I released a strong burst of electricity around me.
With a quick jog around the rubble I had created, there were now pieces of rock floating along in the air around me only long enough for me to send another, slightly bigger burst of electricity out and feel my brain jumble up even more. This time, I may have whimpered as I let the electrical current last longer, testing the limits of this quirk as well. After cutting the current, I ran around touching the much larger amount of rubble from my first attack, making it all float then went about trying out smaller pulses of electricity in punches and kicks to the rocks.
Despite the mental backlash and wanting to hurl, I really enjoyed these two quirks. I did have a longer time with these two, but I also felt more backlash from using double quirks to their fullest ability that my body could handle. By the time I had moved through most of the class, I felt like a truck had run me over only to back up and do it again. My next targets were Ida and Yukime only to suddenly be told to add Jiro as well.
I stumbled into the freezing cold arms of Yukime, who stood me up properly so that I could act as a strange checkpoint for the other two. A quick touch and I suddenly felt even more being pulled in that brief touch than I had been taking from the others before.
"Shit, Hana," Yukime gasped and I felt her lean into me a little. "I know we're pushing it, but don't overdo it."
I nodded then did whatever the now-expected voice in my head told me to do. Honestly, I felt like going through the motions was the only thing keeping me from simply collapsing into a heap. It was pretty fun to speed along creating giant glacier-sized ice structures only to destroy them with soundwaves once pierced with the ear jacks. I did, however, collapse to my knees as the quirks suddenly vanished as I reached my normal five-minute limit, which was severely disappointing.
Panting, I wanted to cry as I felt the voice enter my head one last time. "Last three will be Kirishima, Bakugo, and Todoroki. Just a little longer Aizawa."
"Woah, Hana, are you ok?"
My head didn't want to cooperate at first, simply staring blankly ahead, then my delayed movement finally registered, and I slowly swiveled my head toward Eijiro. "'M f-...I'm fine. Gotta...go beyond an' all tha'."
"But…you look like you should give it a rest," his concern was mildly heartwarming, but like I had said, I needed to go beyond my abilities. Now, the real question was: could I control said abilities?
Suddenly a burning hot hand made contact with one of my own and yanked me up. "She knows what she's doing, Shitty Hair. This is the fucking point of this training, anyway."
"She also has used Bakugo's quirk a lot, as well as my sister's ice. We shouldn't have to worry about either getting out of control." Todoroki seemed to be the least winded of the three boys, but he still wasn't doing great.
Once I had managed to stay on my feet for a minute, I then held out my arms for them to each grip onto at once. Just like before, the pull was automatic once they had full skin contact, but then I felt worse than I ever had before. My vision flickered to black emptiness then back to the three boys a few times, and I knew I was shaking really badly at this point.
The next moment was honestly terrifying. All three quirks spontaneously triggered without my control, causing many decently sized explosions to burst forward from my now solidified hands, while my solid lower half was rapidly engulfed in both ice and flames that were also quickly growing out of control along each side. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a little voice noted that it was good that the flames and explosions were melting the ice, but I didn't care much. I legitimately could not stop the quirks. The boys each jumped back, their expressions a mix of shock, horror, and confusion.
"Too much…it's too much! I-I can't…"
Then suddenly, it all stopped. My body returned to normal, despite the fact that I was aching in every cell of it, then everything went numb causing me to collapse limply into waiting arms as I finally lost consciousness.
.
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3rd POV
Shota had of course been watching all of his students while they trained, but he had been watching his daughter like a hawk. He knew how much she wanted to improve, and knew that she definitely would grow both her physical abilities as well as her quirk. He also knew from experiences with her quirk when she was younger, that the more it's pushed, the less control she has over how much she draws as well as getting any quirks to stop.
Seeing how quickly things got out of control with the last section of her exercise, he reacted immediately, eyes glowing to erase her quirk before she hurt herself. Of course, he was the one to catch her as well because the three students around him were almost completely frozen with shock until Kirishima finally snapped out of it and worried over his soulmate. Aizawa sent Todoroki to inform the class that practice was over, and barely spared a glance at Bakugo who was still just staring at the girl that was now cradled in her father's arms.
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