Chapter 22: Test of Courage
Midoriya sank into the hot springs, but he was unable to fully relax. They had been told by the Wild Wild Pussycats that after bath time was going to be a, "Test of Courage." While Midoriya was a cautious lad growing up, he did not consider himself a coward by any means. Still, the other boys were talking, curiosity overflowing the tubs as they speculated on what the test could possibly be.
"Maybe we'll have to sit at the Waterfall of Truth and confront our inner -" Sero began, but Bakugou smacked him on the back of the head.
"KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE NARUTO REFERENCES, DAMN IT!" He snarled, "I'M TRYING TO RELAX!"
"No one can relax if you're yelling," Sato yawned.
"I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE, YOU EXTRA!"
From the other side of the pool, the boys of class 1-B just rolled their eyes. They were pretty glad they didn't have to deal with Bakugou.
Midoriya sank into the water some more, chucking a bit. "What do you think the test will be, Todoroki?"
The dual-Quirked boy shrugged, keeping his eyes closed as he soaked. "Hard to say. I'd rather not agonize over it."
Behind them, Mineta was staring at the wall separating the boys and girls from their baths. He was trembling, which was pretty off-putting for the boys who were not disgusting perverts (or the boys who were just mildly perverted like Kaminari and Sero).
"How can you lamos be worried about that when there's BOOBS on the other side of the wall?!" He said.
"Because it's not like we're going to see them," Kaminari replied, dryly. "Not worth losing your mind over..."
"Maybe for you losers," Mineta replied. Quickly, he popped some balls of his head. "BUT SEEING BOOBS FILLS ME WITH DETERMINATION!"
He began using his Quirk to climb the side of the hot springs wall. "SOON! SOON I WILL SEE THE BOOBS!!"
The other boys stood up, abruptly. "Mineta, come on, you're going to get us in trouble!" Sero yelled, angrily. He shot a strand of tape at the smaller boy to stop him, but Mineta dodged to the right.
"YOU WON'T STOP ME!"
"Come on man, peeping isn't manly!" Kirishima scowled.
Mineta didn't bother to respond, only making gross, gibberish sounding noises. But as he approached the side of the wall, he found himself face to face with Kota, who was patrolling the top with a big stick.
They locked eyes for awhile, and Kota gave the smallest of class 1-A an intense glare. "You're disgusting."
He whacked Mineta in the face with the stick, and Mineta fell off the side of the wall towards the pool.
"OH SHIT! CLEAR OUT!" Tetsutetsu yelled. The rest of the boys took heed, and cleared the baths as Mineta crashed into them, sending water flying everywhere.
Midoriya could hear the girls cheering for Kota on the other side of the hot springs, but perhaps that was more than Kota could handle; the boy toppled over the side himself. Quickly, Midoriya ran over to catch him, snatching him out of air.
"Damn, nice catch man," Kirishima said, running over.
"You okay, Kota?"
A bit disoriented from the fall, Kota immediately pushed himself off of Midoriya. The green-haired god of Thunder backed off a bit, allowing the boy to storm off, clearly embarrassed.
"Jeez, that kid's grumpier than you, Baku-bro." Kirishima chuckled.
"I woulda let the precocious brat go splat," Bakugou grumbled.
"That's only because he headbutt you right in the gonads," Mineta said as he climbed out of the hot springs. At that, Bakugou picked him up and threw him right back in the hot water.
The relaxing atmosphere all but ruined, the boys left to get ready for whatever the, "Test of Courage," could be.
--
As Ragdoll explained the Test of Courage, Midoriya had to admit, it sounded pretty cool; class 1-B would use their Quirks to try and scare class 1-A as they walked a path in the forest. He was a bit disappointed he wasn't paired with Asui, but he figured Aoyama wasn't too bad of a partner. He could be stuck with Mineta, like Todoroki was, or even by himself, like Bakugou.
Still, Izuku was not used to being the emotional pillar for someone else. Yuga was increasingly jittery as the moonlight became hidden from the trees, jumping and grabbing Deku's arm with each rustling of the leaves. He was so hysterical he didn't actually notice when one of the class 1-B boys, Honenuki, popped his head out of the ground and said, "boo."
It was pretty humiliating for him.
--
Overlooking the training camp were many rocky hillsides. On the tallest, a group of ten people were gathered, in hoods, watching the training camp.
Dabi pulled his hood down and surveyed the area. "Good. They're all separated. This will be our best chance for it."
He looked at the Vangaurd Squad Tomura had selected, and made him de facto leader of. It didn't seem like much; most of them had their own agendas. Himself included. Still, this small group would be more than enough to capture their target.
"You all have your objectives," he stated, boredly. "Capture the target. Kill whoever else, if you want. I don't really care. Now go."
--
"Geez... They really know how to build a creepy atmosphere," Uraraka sighed.
"Yeah..." Tsuyu agreed. They were picked to travel the path after Midoriya and Aoyama, but they hadn't seen any students of class 1-B or any sight of the boys who had gone before them. "We have to be nearing the halfway point. I would have thought someone would have tried something by now, kero."
As the two walked further into the wooded area, a sound from kilometers away rang out. It sounded like rocks being crushed, and was certainly too far away to be aimed at them. All the same, it was alarming.
"What do you think that was, Tsuy-"
FWOOSH!
Uraraka had taken a half-step forward to investigate, but a syringe was thrown from the bushes nearby, just barely missing her. The needle plunged into the bark of a nearby tree.
A blonde girl emerged from the bushes, wearing what looked like a middle-school outfit... despite looking a little older than Asui and Uraraka herself. "Aw... what a bummer. I guess I missed."
Tsuyu and Uraraka stepped away, taking defensive stances. The blonde girl drew a knife as she stepped a bit closer. "Come on guys... it's no fun to play if you don't talk to me, too."
--
"AOYAMA, WAIT!" Midoriya cried as Aoyama charged into the bushes.
But it was too late. The jumpy boy had taken off running as the sound of rocks being crushed echoed around them. "Crap..." Midoriya sighed. He didn't exactly like being alone in the woods either. He looked at Mjolnir and wondered if he would get in trouble for flying low enough to the path to get out of there. It seemed like cheating, but he also hadn't seen any of the students from class 1-B in awhile.
His decision was hastened when he looked through a clearing in the trees ahead and saw smoke. Definitely NOT campfire smoke.
--
Bakugou was waiting his turn to conquer the Test of Courage alone. And he knew he'd conquer it, the same way he would topple any villain with ease. Or test. Or classmate, if they looked at him the wrong way.
BUT ESPECIALLY Deku, the next time they fought.
As much as he hated to admit it... Deku had gotten the best of him. He had backed off since their conversation about Thor, but the truth of the matter was, it weighed on his mind frequently.
I have to be the best. I am GOING to be the best, the number one Hero. Better than All Might. He thought, gritting his teeth.
The dream was alive and well. But things seemed to go sideways ever since the Sludge Villain attack.
He shook the memory of his head and dug his nails into his palm. The Sludge Guy was shitty and stupid, and he could have beaten that guy if Deku hadn't shown up with that stupid hammer.
His thoughts were interrupted as a sound of impact and stone shattering came from a hill behind the forest. Behind him, he heard Mandalay gasp.
"Kota..." she whispered, before it turned into a scream. "KOTA!"
"What, does he go headbutting rocks too?" Bakugou asked.
"No," Mandalay turned, looking conflicted. "He lost his parents to a supervillain attack. He's hated Heroes ever since... He's been going up there because this camp is hard for him. I need to go after him, are you going to be okay here on your own?"
Before Bakugou could answer, he shoved Mandalay aside and used an explosion to knock away a sword that bad been thrown at him. At the commotion, Tiger and Pixie-bob came running over.
The smoke cleared, revealing a Lizard-like boy armed to the teeth with swords, and a giant of a woman with a giant magnet glaring them down.
"This is a closed campsite!" Tiger hollered, "You need to leave!"
The Lizard and the big woman just laughed. "Oh, buddy," the woman chuckled. "We're not leaving until we get what we came for."
"This is bad," Mandalay whispered. "I need to get Kota to safety, but we need to get rid of these duys. Where's Ragdoll?"
"We haven't seen her in a few minutes," Pixie-bob said, uneasily. "I'm sure we can-"
They were interrupted as Bakugou began rocketing towards the hillside, impatient with the developments. "THIS IS STUPID! I'LL GET THE LITTLE BRAT, YOU GUYS JUST BEAT THESE BASTARDS!"
'WAIT!" Tiger yelled, but it was too late. Bakugou had already decided.
--
Eraserhead had clobbered another Dabi clone, and looked at the smoke rising in the woods. "If everyone is getting attacked..."
He turned back inside the door towards where his colleague was guarding the students (the five from his class and Monoma). "Vlad, I need to get to the Pussycats. Can you take care of these students?"
"Of course!" Vlad bellowed. "Whatever it is, go quickly."
Aizawa nodded and took off sprinting away from the class cabin, towards where he knew the Pussycats were doing their test of Courage. He was thankful to find them there, but confused to find them fighting a lizard-man with a ridiculous sword (made of smaller swords tied together) and a giant woman with a big magnet. Whatever the magnet was, he figured it was Quirk related, because she was pulling Tiger towards her with it. He was able to use his sight to stop the attack, allowing Tiger to slug her across the jaw.
"MANDALAY!" He shouted, running over and kicking towards the lizard, making it jump back. "I need you to relay a message."
"Little busy," she grunted, dodging another sloppily-thrown blade, "better make it quick."
--
Midoriya stared up at the smoke, shocked. Was this part of the scare? He strained his memory, briefly, trying to remember if any of the Class 1-B students could make smoke as part of their Quirk.
He jumped as a voice rang out around him. No, not around me, he reasoned, it's like it's being whispered in my ear.
"This is Mandalay," the voice said, "Per Pro Hero Eraserhead, as teacher for Class 1-A and representative of UA, we are under attack from the League of Villains. Given the urgency of the situation, all students are given express permission to fight back!"
The voice was gone, and Deku's heart sank.
Under attack?!
He took off running, spun Mjolnir, and began flying over the path. He had learned from the Forest of Death Exercise that he didn't want to go straight up and make himself an easy target; electing to stay in the cover of trees would make things safer. But if he headed towards the smoke, he knew he could be of some help. "Maybe I can summon a storm or blow it in another direction," he murmured, "I have to be towards the-"
"HEY WAIT!"
"-end?" He said, throwing his legs out in front of him to stop and hover in the air. He looked around, but didn't see anyone who could have called out to him. "Uh... hello?"
"Down here."
He looked down and screamed involuntarily. On the path was the disembodied head of Class 1-B girl, Tokage Setsuna. "HOLY WHOA, ARE YOU OKAY?!"
"Huh?" Setsuna, or at least, her head, blinked at him, "Oh, yeah, no this is part of Quirk. It's Lizard Tail Cut. I can detach body parts and control them and recall them. Or grow them back. I don't like to do that though. Can you imagine how much energy that would take to regrow my whole body? I had to do that when I was seven. I slept for a week."
"O-oh." Midoriya replied, having to suppress his Quirk-obsession. "That uh... actually, that sounds really cool, and I would love to ask you more about that, but why are you down there?"
"Right!" She said, "Sorry, when it's just my head I get a bit loopy. I need your help!" Her expression changed to one of utmost urgency.
Midoriya landed and crouched down to eye level with her. "What's going on?"
"There's a villain deeper in the woods," Setsuna explained, nudging her head to the side. "He's using some sort of gas, and he knocked most of us in 1-B out. Some of your classmates got gassed too. When I hit the ground I was able to roll my head out of there, but I'm still pretty woozy." She frowned. "Usually I'd be able to levitate my head, but I want to conserve energy and wait for help."
Midoriya's eyes flashed. If they stay in that gas any longer... "Which way is it?"
"Take me with you, and I can show you!" Setsuna gave a toothy, jagged grin.
Midoriya turned red as he picked up Setsuna's head and cradled it under his left arm. Well this is definitely a story for Thor. "Lead the way, Setsuna."
--
Kota scrambled backwards on his hands on the dirt and gravel path, trembling in fear.
He'd been terrified of Muscular ever since he'd lost his parents, but he never in his wildest dreams have imagined the two would have come face to face. Even from behind his hood, Kota could tell it was his parents' murderer.
"Well, well, well," the giant slab of human stared down at the boy. "Never thought I'd run into a runt like you on this mission."
He stepped forward, and Kota tried to scramble away - and almost topped down the side of the hill.
"But... you're not on the list!" Muscular's grin turned wicked. "Which means I can get an easy first kill!"
Muscular lunged forwards, but before he could reach the boy, there was a scream of, "YOU BASTARD!" and an explosion that threw Muscular back.
Vaulting through the air, Bakugou tackled Kota out of the way and used a free arm to blast the two of them further out of the way. Rolling across the path, Bakugou sprang up and faced the villain.
Muscular stood up, and turned to Bakugou with a wicked glare. All the explosion had managed to do was burn the hood around his head, revealing a metallic covering over where he was missing an eye.
"One of the Hero Wannabes, huh?"
Bakugou clenched his fists together. He wasn't a wannabe. He'd prove it.