Chapter 44: Camp Fight Club
"Okay you little terrors. I hope you filled up on energy, cause you're going to need it for this fight training."
Shoto leaned to the side to whisper to Izuku who decided to stand with the class rather than by Eraser. "Is he always like that?"
"Yep."
"Even at home?"
"Uh huh."
"Yeah, he's the worst." Hitoshi added in as he kept his attention on his teacher.
Izuku looked around Shoto at his friend with furrowed brows, "Oh don't act like you don't have posters of him in your room."
"IZUKU-"
"Is there something you'd like to share with the class boys?" Eraser's voice brought their attention back as he glared at his two menaces.
"Sorry Eraser."
"Sorry Eraser."
"Izuku, please come stand next to me."
The boy let out a groan as he began to drag his feet to the hero, "You suck," He bit at his friend who smirked back at him.
"Believe it or not, this idiot is actually a very good fighter and will be your opponent this afternoon."
"What?!" The class chorused as Izuku whipped around with his own, "What?"
"First we'll do short one on one battles and then at the end you will all try to attack him at once. Sound good?"
"Wha-no! That absolutely does not sound good!"
Eraser raised an eyebrow at Izuku and let a smirk slither onto his face, "What? You think they'll beat you or something?"
Izuku scoffed and let the conversation go with a grumble. If they continued on, he would end up being outed as Serpentine and there were already too many students in this class that knew.
"That's what I thought. Now, Shinso, you're up against him first."
"Aww, come on!" Hitoshi groaned as the two met in the middle of the circle of students.
Izuku smirked at his friend who was looking worriedly at Eraser. "Come on Toshi, you should be an expert on losing to me by now."
"Shut up." The boy charged but was quickly wrapped up in Eraser's capture weapon.
"I didn't say start. There are rules and you two need to listen extra carefully unless you want to be extra grounded."
"But I'm not even grounded!" Eraser sent a glare at Hitoshi and the boy stiffened immediately.
Eraser explained the basic rules. Fights would last no longer than three minutes, no face or private hits unless absolutely necessary, no weapons, and no quirks. They were simple enough, but also vague enough to be able to have some fun.
The two boys got into their fighting positions and Eraser called out the start of the fight.
Hitoshi charged first, knowing that if he didn't get the first hit in, he was done for. He ran at Izuku and meant to grab him around the waist and tackle him to the ground, but that plan went out the window when Izuku ducked down, grabbed Hitoshi by his waist and flung him to the side.
"Hitoshi is down. Next, Ojiro."
The fights went on. Izuku won them all, as was expected. He had been an active vigilante for months now and had been personally trained by both Eraser and Stain. The students were putting up a fight, but they weren't used to not using their quirks, so it almost felt like child's play to the boy.
Of course, there were a few exceptions. Ojiro, even without the advantage of his tail, was still a skilled martial artist and almost gave Izuku a run for his money, but the boy did end up beating him. Go Oba was also a bit of a difficult win. Mina Ashido was a surprise; the girl was extremely flexible and agile, but she was also a beginner and so he easily won against her. Ochako Uraraka was also a nice surprise, although Izuku did notice that a few of her moves seemed a bit too familiar to be her own. This was confirmed when he went up against Katsuki.
Katsuki and Shoto were the two most difficult wins out of the class. Both were exceptional students who trained their bodies as well as their minds and quirks. Both had fight training and were fairly strong. Izuku beat Katsuki when the boy hesitated to hit him at the beginning of their match and Izuku threw the boy to the ground. The two did not exchange any words, just accepted what happened and moved on.
Izuku beat Shoto by fighting dirty. Having been trained by the number two hero, he was a very good fighter, but he was also very clean and precise, just what you'd expect from the dick. Izuku however, learned how to fight on the streets and was not as nice as Shoto was. He ended up punching the boy in the throat and tripping him as he stumbled back earning a glare from his friend before he helped him up and complimented his technique.
It was just as Eraser had expected and it helped to give him some perspective on each of his student's progress so far.
Izuku had done a good job, but now it was time for the fun part.
"Alright class, now that each of you have gotten a good sense of Izuku's skill and fighting style, I want you all to work together to try and take him down. Same rules apply, no quirks, no weapons, and no unnecessary violence. Other than that, good luck."
Izuku looked at the twenty hero students who were looking at him like he was the last piece of meat on a deserted island and gulped. Oh, this was going to be fun. He allowed a small smirk to form on his lips before he launched himself backward and far enough away that the students would have to come after him if they wanted to take him down.
It was a lot. Not only was it a twenty to one ratio, but there were also a decent number of good fighters that, if they worked together, could give Izuku a run for his money.
Luckily for him, hero students typically thought about number one, and so it took them a while to actually work together. That gave Izuku time to take out as many students as he could. He had just tossed Momo Yaoyorozu to the side when something crashed into Izuku's side.
He looked up but saw nothing but a floating shirt and shorts in front of him. That's when he remembered the invisible girl and frantically began to wave his arms through the air, before he bumped into what he hoped was the girl's arm and he threw her off to the side.
At least she was taken care of…
She was dangerous. In a real-life scenario, her stealth could make or break a fight and so it's important that she learn how to properly hone and utilize her quirk and skills to their upmost potential. He'd have to mention something to Eraser about working with her on some more stealth techniques.
Izuku vaulted away as Shoto tried to bring his foot down on him and he took a moment to catch his breath. He had taken out most everyone except for the actual decent fighters.
Ojiro, Katsuki, Shoto, Mina, and Kirishima was there still as well. The rest of the class sat on the sidelines and watched intently as the five students surrounded Izuku.
It was fine. He could take them…probably.
All five rushed him at once, and Izuku had to maneuver around each of their attacks. It wasn't easy, but he ended up behind Kirishima and he easily took him out and jumped out of Katsuki's reach as he tried to grab him.
Ojiro appeared behind him and Izuku took advantage of the guy's tail by grabbing and using it to throw him over to the other students who were out. He was flung into a group of them and took them down like bowling pins and Izuku returned to the others when Eraser gave him the thumbs up that everyone was okay.
Now it was just the three of them. They had surrounded him again but weren't doing anything yet. Almost if they were waiting for something…but what could they-
Wait-
"Toshi!" Izuku whipped around just as the boy jumped at him. The two boys went down and began to roll before Izuku stopped them and used his legs to kick his friend off of him.
He sprang up and dodged Katsuki's fist that ended up accidentally hitting Shoto and causing the boy to stumble. Mina ran around the boys and tried to get the jump on Izuku, but he simply sidestepped and grabbed her out of the air by the back of her shirt and threw her over to the rest of the students who caught her carefully.
The three boys recovered and Toshi immediately went after Izuku again. He slid to his knees and tried to take out Izuku's legs but ended up going under them instead and as Izuku landed, he crouched under another one of Katsuki's punches and landed a punch of his own to the boy's no-no-square. He went down and Izuku could hear Eraser yelling from behind him.
"Izuku! I said no unnecessary violence!"
"Believe me, it was necessary."
He ran at Shoto who wasn't too far behind the downed Katsuki, and he tackled the boy. They rolled and Izuku used the same move he did to kick Hitoshi off of him to launch Shoto away in the hopes that he would go down, but unfortunately the boy was better than that.
Hitoshi jumped on Izuku's back and tried to get him into some sort of chokehold but went down when Izuku grabbed his arm and flipped him directly onto the ground knocking the air out of him.
Two to go…
Katsuki got up shakily and glared at Izuku. "Alright…" He bit out, "I deserved that."
"You deserve a lot worse Katsuki, be grateful that I'm feeling generous!" Izuku called out as he exchanged a few blows with Shoto before he swiped the boy's legs out from under him and kicked him so that the boy rolled away and into a few of the sitting students.
That just left Katsuki. Excellent.
He charged the blonde whose eyes widened, and he instinctually brought his hand up as if he was going to set off an explosion, but his hand faltered just enough that Izuku was able to grab it and use it to swing himself onto the boy's shoulders and use his momentum to take him to the ground where he pinned him down from the back.
Izuku pushed his hand that was pressing down on the top of Katsuki's back and tightened his grip on the boy's wrist he was holding behind his back.
"Alright, that's enough." Eraser called out as he walked towards the two boys. He knew that if he didn't break whatever was going on up soon then Izuku's seemingly uncaring attitude towards the boy was going to shatter and fifteen years of pain and anger would rain down on Katsuki Bakugou.
He yanked Izuku to his feet and brushed some dirt off of the boy's back as he sent a quick glare down at the boy who was still recovering from his take down.
"Good job Izuku, so tell me, what are your thoughts?"
Eraser was talking about his class and their potential to be heroes. Izuku thought about it for a minute. His immediate answer was that he thought they were great, but he knew that Eraser wanted an actual thought-out answer that would give him some ideas of things to work on with the kids.
"They need to practice working together. Most came at me individually and that's why I took them down so easily. While it's true that there is strength in numbers, if those numbers do not work together properly, they are meaningless. But other than that, good job guys, you all gave me quite the run for my money."
Shoto was crouched down catching his breath when he looked up at Izuku with a raised eyebrow. "Really?" He knew better. He knew just how skilled he was in fighting, and he knew that with the training with Stain that none of his classmates had even stood a chance against him.
Izuku shot him a very quick smirk confirming his suspicions and the boy decided to let it go.
"Umm," The air questioned lightly, and Hagakure's sleeve raised as if the girl had her hand raised like she was in class. "So, who are you exactly? You look about our age and you seem to know a few of our classmates pretty well and you're like scary good at fighting. Not to mention whatever is going on with you and Mr. Aizawa's father-son-relationship-"
"It's not like that!" Both Izuku and Eraser yelled out simultaneously and then glared at each other before looking back to the air above her shirt.
"Okay, okay…but seriously, who are you?"
Izuku shot a look at Eraser and took a deep breath.
"As I've said, he's tagging along so that he doesn't get into trouble while I'm here dealing with you lot. That's all you need to know."
"Okay but why are you so good at fighting? Some of your moves even match Eraser's, there has to be some type of relationship between you two."
Eraser groaned as he rubbed at the inner corners of his eyes. "Hagakure, I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that question and so are you. Understand?"
The girl let out a sigh, "Yes Sensei."
"Alright, go get cleaned up and ready to start making dinner."
The class complied and bid their teacher goodbye as the made their way back to their rooms.
Like the past few meals, the students worked hard to make dinner. It was exhausting and they were all so done that they would've rather done anything else, but not only does this build up their cooking and bonding skills, but it also helps teach them the importance of making something yourself. Not to mention the discipline. It was like one big teaching burrito and Shouta loved it.
He watched as his students worked, Izuku right alongside them. Shouta sighed, Izuku would do so great in his class if the boy only accepted the offer. Eraser wished that he had the heart to just force the kid, but he knew that he didn't have that kind of authority over him. He wasn't his father, and he didn't need to be.
The students finished and began digging in like wild hyenas when Eraser caught a curly mop of green sneak off out of the corner of his eye.
He immediately sent a glare at his number one problem child, and he must've felt some sort of disturbance in the universe or something, because his shoulders tensed before he turned around to meet a scowling Eraser.
The boy gave his best innocent smile and held up the two plates he had in his hands. When he did, it clicked in Shouta's head that Kota wasn't around and that the second plate was most likely for the child.
As much as he didn't want to let Izuku out of his sight, he knew that he was the only one that the kid barely tolerated and that he needed to go talk to him.
Eraser let out a deep sigh and gave the boy a small nod in permission as he slightly beamed at the pro before setting off to wherever the kid was hiding. As he turned his back, Shouta had to hide his face in his capture weapon.
Izuku didn't smile all that often and so whenever he did, especially those big smiles that reminded him too much of Hizashi or Emi, he couldn't help but smile back. It was like it was contagious or something.
It wasn't hard finding the kid. Even if Izuku wasn't practically a pro at stealth and tracking thanks to Stain, Kota just was not trying to hide well enough, and it was child's play following his footprints up the mountain side.
The path opened up to a large cliffside that outlooked a lot of the forest. The sky was in full view above them and Izuku had to stop and just take everything in for a moment before he made his presence known.
"Hey, thought you might be hungry." Izuku walked over to the kid who was sitting on the edge of the cliff with his legs dangling over the edge.
As he did, Kota's head snapped up and he shot a glare at the boy who had taken the seat beside him and set one of the two plates of food he had on the ground. "How did you find me?"
Izuku took a bit of food and rose his eyebrow at the kid, "Call me a magician," He managed to get out through a mouth-full of food.
Kota rolled his eyes and glared at his plate that Izuku picked up and placed in his lap after a few moments.
"Eat."
"You're not my dad."
"I know, we've been over this. Eat."
The kid huffed out a breath before complying to Izuku's instructions. The two of them ate in silence for a bit. Izuku just taking in the views and how beautiful everything around him looked.
Kota ate beside him. The kid tried to seem like he didn't like the food all that much, but Izuku saw how hard he was fighting scarfing everything down. He looked back out and let out a sigh. He had dealt with so much, had gone through so much pain, but it was moments like this, being with the people that had been brought into his life, that he almost, almost, thought that maybe it was worth it.
Those thoughts didn't usually last long, but they were there. Yeah…they were there.
"You know," Izuku started, waiting for the boy's head to turn to him in a question, "You can talk to me. I won't think any less of you or treat you like glass. I've dealt with my own fair share of crap to know just how annoying that is."
Kota stopped chewing and simply looked at Izuku for a minute. The boy tried to not make eye contact as to give the kid some sort of respect, but he was starting to get nervous.
"Or not-you don't have to or any-"
"No, it's fine. You're cool or whatever I guess." Kota mumbled out as he took one last bite and set his plate off to the side. "But if you tell anyone I'll punch you in the balls again and I won't miss this time."
"Technically you didn't miss but continue."
The kid shot him a glare before taking a deep breath and keeping his attention on his hands in his lap. "The reason I live with Mandalay now if because of my parents. Do you um-do you know the Water Hose heroes?"
Realization shined itself in Izuku's mind and he couldn't help but look at Kota and start taking note of every similarity between him and the duo of pros he used to be obsessed with.
"My parents…they uh, they were killed. Murdered." Kota's fists balled in his lap and his expression turned angry, "All because of their stupid quirks and hero-if they hadn't-if they just loved me more then-"
Izuku placed a hand on the now trembling boy's shoulder. "Hey, you know that's not true. And you know that being a pro has its risks, we're constantly giving our lives for the sakes of others, it's just what we do."
"Yeah?! Well, if they hadn't been heroes then they'd still be here! And I wouldn't be so…so alone." Kota's shoulders slumped and Izuku pretended his didn't hear the quiet sniffling coming from the boy. "So stupid…left me…"
"I know you don't mean that. You know your parents loved you and that they would give anything to be with you again."
"If they hadn't left in the first place-"
"Then they wouldn't have been heroes."
"But they'd still be here."
Izuku couldn't say anything. What would he even say? Kota had lost the two most important people in his life to hero work, and he has convinced himself that heroes are why his parents died. While heroes weren't the reason, being heroes definitely played a part.
He was right in a sense; hero work is dangerous and all consuming. You must constantly put others before yourself, even giving your life for them in some cases. That's just a fact of life, but how does one try to explain that to a child? How are you supposed to look at a kid who just lost his parents and tell him that they were heroes and died an honorable death?
You don't.
And this conversation wasn't going anywhere else tonight, Izuku knew that. So, he simply sat in silence, made sure that Kota knew that he was here for him by just literally being there. After some time, the sniffling stopped and the two sat in comfortable silence, until Izuku deemed it time to go back and dragged the kid down the mountain side so that he could get to bed.
But he would keep trying with him. No kid deserves to feel alone like that.