Chapter 25: Training Camp from Hell
Name: Luna
Quirk: Bast – She can assume the abilities of any cat, from regular housecats and lions to hybrids such as ligers and tigons. Her quirk is named after Bast, the Egyptian goddess of cats.
Appearance: Though usually taking on appearances of the cats' abilities, her usual look has been compared as eerily similar to a character of the anime RWBY known as Blake, however she has a tail, and they are complete opposites in terms of personality and choice of dress. She's 14.
Warning: Language and Adult Themes
Specific Warnings: Language, Gore
"I expect nothing less from Master. Finding so easily the destination of those guys that I couldn't find no matter how hard I looked." Shigaraki carefully placed the last cards of his card house. He lifted his hands expectantly, only to sigh when it all collapsed.
"It was worth having them on standby, wasn't it, Tomura Shigaraki?" Kurogiri asked.
"I guess." Shigaraki started the process of rebuilding his card house, carefully laying the cards so that they held, not fall down like last time. "Nadeau, when are the support items going to be ready for our party?"
Nadeau gave him a baleful glare, though it was missing its usual malice, which was quite evident based on the haggard appearance of his face. He didn't have anyone within his close circle arrested since starting up the whole Caravan Serai. Noting that and the extra responsibilities he had to juggle, there was little time for sleep.
"I thought I told you to not call be by my real name." Nadeau grumbled, swirling his Scotch slowly. The ice klinked quietly against the sides of his glass, his gaze now focused on the amber liquid that he possessed before he took a long drink. Egypt-Chan sat nearby, looking remarkably like a statue, the only signs of life were her occasionally blinking eyes.
"Right, Sandstorm."
"Red Sun." Nadeau hissed.
"Why are you so attached to it? Don't you hate heroes?"
Nadeau closed his eyes, his breaths deep and controlled. Egypt-Chan rolled her eyes, leaving the room and shutting the door in her usual, quiet manner. Kurogiri watched her leave with slightly narrowed eyes. Throughout her tenure at the bar, she never ate, never drank. Rarely did she talk unless she had some sort of jab or sharp word to deliver, her plans mysterious, her moods stoic. The few times she helped the League, there was nary a soul left behind. All dead, by mass suicide, but the media kept it under wraps. Smart, but it would inevitably blow up in their faces. And yet, he never could quite shake the feeling as if she didn't particularly care for the entire thing. So, what was she after?
"There are some … things I need from my old life. Support items that were confiscated, memories I need to remember." Nadeau explained, making the whole ordeal more confusing. The truth was that his brain was niggling at him, warning him that he was forgetting something. Even Set had appeared to be slightly more wary of the situation than normal, but he too couldn't pinpoint why he was so hesitant.
"I don't care. Just get me the items."
Nadeau stood up, handing the now empty glass to Kurogiri, who took it wordlessly. "You'll get your silly toys soon, boy." And with that, he too left, leaving Kurogiri and Shigaraki the only ones inside.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"U.A. has finished it's first semester and started summer vacation. However, those of you trying to be heroes will not receive days of rest. At this summer training camp, we'll have you aiming for even greater heights – for 'Plus Ultra'!" Aizawa declared.
"Yes sir!" everyone chanted, and Luna sighed in pleasure. She couldn't hear a word thanks to her new noise cancelling headphones, so while she could avoid the chanting of her classmates, she also didn't hear what her homeroom teacher was saying. Thankfully, Aizawa had already told Luna the gist of his speech beforehand.
As everyone gathered into their respective classes, Luna took off her headphones, standing quietly with Todoroki, shoulders pressed together in quiet comfort.
"How have your lessons been going?" Shoto asked.
"Takahashi-senpai's teaching is brutal and hard." Luna said bluntly. "But I appreciate it."
As soon as she was out of the hospital (with Recover Girl scolding her quite severely), Luna went and stayed two weeks in Hosu, where she asked (read, practically begged) Takahashi to train her in some sort of martial arts. She was practically helpless without her Quirk, and she knew it. Thankfully, Takahashi agreed with some helpful prodding from Ryukyu, and so her lessons began. Based on the fact that Luna, as well as Bast and even Apophis, favored quick and hard strikes, Takahashi decided that Luna would need to follow the steps of the Northern Shaolin System. For two long weeks, Luna conditioned and was introduced to several versions of open palm strikes and fists. It was aggressive and fast, perfect for Luna and even Bast to try out. Though it was certainly foreign to the deity, she decided that she too could use the experience.
When the due date of the summer camp arose, Takahashi gave Aizawa instructions for her training to continue and not stall. Aizawa promised he'd make sure Luna stuck to it, which made Luna wary by the gleam held in his eyes. Regardless, Luna was looking forward to it. No longer would she need to rely on her Quirk alone.
"And you're going to continue it at the camp?"
"Yes. Takahashi-sensei gave Aizawa-sensei instructions."
"What? There are people in Class A taking extra classes? Does that mean you have people who failed the finals? What? Isn't that weird? Even though they're supposed to be way better than Class B? How can that be?" Monoma taunted, only for Kendo to land a chop at the back of his neck, knocking him out instantly.
"Shiozaki-chan." Luna gave the girl a small bow as she passed by her.
"Luna-chan." Shiozaki gave a bow back before boarding her bus, which was prompted by Kendo.
Mineta began drooling at the sight of so many girls in school skirts. Todoroki flicked a small piece of ice at him idly, causing him to let out a small yelp of pain, much to the delight of many of his classmates.
"Class A's bus is this way! Line up in seat order!" Iida announced, and the entirety of Luna's class filed into the bus. Thankfully this one allowed for Iida's boarding strategy, unlike the one which took them to USJ so frequently.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The drive was quiet, boring even. Luna and Todoroki ended up sleeping most of the way there, her tail curled around his right arm in her sleep, as if not wanting to let go even while she was out like a light. Both wore the noise cancelling headphones. Most of the bus was whispering about it, and even Aizawa took a look back, only to turn away with a disinterested shrug. He heard the whispers, sure. Why didn't he break them apart? Surely he's not playing favorites? Iida in particular seemed disgruntled, muttering something about indecency.
The truth was that Aizawa just didn't give a damn. Considering how low risk of a situation they were all in, with nobody except a select few knowing where they were going, it was severely unlikely that it would be a handicap. Sure, they could be attacked at any moment, tailed from the school to the camp, but it's not like the two would've been able to do something about it if they were asleep and separated. The only logical thing solution would be to not sleep, but nobody except for a select few with niche Quirks could avoid sleep forever.
"Everyone, the bus will stop once in about an hour. After that -" Aizawa began.
"Let's play some music!" Kaminari cried out.
Everyone else began to shout excitedly about their own conversations, causing Aizawa to roll his eyes and turn back to the front.
Oh well. This is the only time they'll be able to play around.
0-0-0-0-0-0
As the bus stopped, Luna stepped outside and stretched, yawning. The entire trip was very peaceful, thanks to the new headphones that her homeroom teacher recommended. Tokoyami seemed downright envious, his glances not gone unnoticed.
"I'll get you a pair later, Tokoyami-kun." Luna said, not even turning to know he was looking at her. The smell of his envy, like sour apples, was pervading from him. A scent of some type of tea soon wafted from his general direction after her reassurance. She whispered to Shoto, "Is he looking relieved?"
"Yeah. What's it smell like?" he whispered back.
"Tea, but I don't know what type exactly."
"That's cool."
"There's no point in stopping without a reason." Aizawa sighed.
Suddenly, a car swerved dangerously into the rest stop, skidding to a stop and the back doors flung open.
"Hey, Eraser!" A feminine voice shouted.
"Long time no see." He gave a formal bow, causing Luna to quirk an eyebrow. He didn't so much as nod at All Might, so it was interesting to know who he respected so much. Instantly, three individuals sprang forth from the car. Two of them wore cat ears and had a tail.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!" began a woman, her combat skirt and clothing, as well as her hair a dark red, while her eyes were a dark fuchsia color.
"Strikingly cute and catlike!" a blond continued, her hair a bright gold while her dress was a baby blue.
"Wild Wild Pusscats!" they both chorused excitedly.
"There are pro heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats." Aizawa explained to his bewildered students.
"They're a four-person hero team who set up a joint agency! They're a veteran team who specializes in mountain rescues! This year will be their twelfth worki-" Midoriya began to babble, only for the blond to slap a massive paw over his mouth.
"I'm 18 at heart!" she shouted.
"Y-You're 18!"
Luna observed the annoyed looking kid who was standing away from the two, his red hat having two small horns poking through.
Were they a part of the hat or are they his?
"Greet them, everybody." Aizawa commanded.
"Nice to meet you!" everyone chorused, some more excitedly than others.
As soon as the blond locked eyes with Luna, she already knew what was going to happen. She let out an annoyed sigh but let the blond rush over and begin circling around her.
"Oh, oh! You're the kitten we were told about! You look so cute! Are they real? Are they?"
"You tug at my ears or tail and I'm throwing you off of the cliff." Luna warned, the gloved hand that was going for her ears halting. It was one thing when a child did it, but to have an adult try was just asking for trouble.
"Oh! Just like my cat!"
The ginger coughed into her hand, which was evidently a sign as the blond rushed back to the front of the class. "We own this whole stretch of land here. You will all be staying at the foot of that mountain.
"So far!" the class chorused.
"Huh? Then why did we stop here?" Uraraka asked.
Luna got a sneaking suspicion that it wasn't an accident that they stopped here, and by giving her homeroom teacher narrowed eyes, his mouth twitched into his creepy, unhinged smile. With a sigh, Luna went back into the bus and collected her belongings, with Shoto following behind, a confused look on his face.
"They're either going to throw us or drop us into the forest. I want my things." Luna explained.
"Oh." Todoroki too collected a small back to take with him, though he, like Luna, only took some light supplies: a few snacks, water, and even a first aid kit.
When they exited, the entire class made the connection.
"Why don't we get back on the bus, huh?" Sero laughed nervously.
"Yeah, let's go that!" Kaminari agreed.
The ginger woman tensed slightly, and Luna stood on the ledge, waiting for the moment that they'd drop. Todoroki too prepared himself, his hand raised slightly.
"It's 9:30 am right now. If you're fast … Maybe around noon?" A malicious smile crawled its way onto the ginger's face.
"No way … guys …" Kirishima weakly protested.
"Let's get back!" Mina turned.
"Back to the bus!"
"Kitties who won't make it by 12:30 won't get lunch!" the ginger crowed.
"Sorry ladies and gentlemen. Training camp … has already begun." Aizawa grinned.
The blond jumped in front of the fleeing students, causing them to falter before she struck, throwing most of the students off of the cliff. Only a few prepared students, which included Bakugo, surprisingly, managed to get down without a hitch. Luna snagged Shoto with one hand while her dominant left slammed into a tree, lowering them using gravity while Todoroki created a slide for some of the students in range, lowering them much more gracefully than the others.
"Hey! Since it's private land, you can use your Quirks as you wish! You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet! After getting through … the Beast's Forest!" the ginger cried dramatically from the top.
As mostly everyone got up and dusted themselves off, Mineta pointed an accusing finger at Luna.
"Luna what the heck, aren't animals supposed to know when natural disasters happen?!"
She gave him a deadpan. "Right, just because I have two extra ears and a tail, that makes me an animal."
A whooshing sound passed her and slammed Mineta into the tree. Taking a second to process what had happened, she frowned, for Shoto had Mineta pinned to the tree.
"Apologize. Immediately." His tone was ice-cold, his mismatched eyes narrowed in displeasure.
"Todoroki-kun, there is no need -" Iida tried to interrupt, but he was silenced by a growl from Bakugo this time.
"Prick called her an animal. He needs to fucking apologize." Bakugo too was now glaring at Mineta, who looked about ready to soil himself.
"I-I'm sorry, okay?" the midget cried.
With a grumble, he released the boy, only to flinch when a mud monster charged out of the bushes, lunging at the two. Four separate people blew it up, only for the distant roars to make everyone groan. This was going to take a long time.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Dragons, dinosaurs, monsters from mythology, and everything in between was thrown at Class 1-A, so by the time they arrived, everyone was exhausted, and most had some sort of injury. Todoroki was currently being carried by Bast, having already used up Apophis's time halfway through the forest. As soon as she set him down, Luna collapsed transformed back, taking deep breaths in order to calm her racing heart.
"Oh, you're finally here, meow!" the blond cheered.
"That took quite some time." The ginger mused.
"What do you mean, three hours?!" Sero cried indignantly.
"That's the time it would've taken us. Sorry."
"Were you trying to boast about how much better you are? That's mean." Sato pouted.
"I'm hungry … and going to die." Kirishima moaned.
"But honestly, I thought it would take longer. You guys didn't have as hard a time beating my earth beats as I thought you would. You guys are great … especially … you four!" the blond purred. She pointed at Bakugo, Iida, Shoto, and Midoriya, though she was merely staring at the three who stood together. "Were you able to act without hesitation because of experience?"
She licked her lips, and Luna got a sinking feeling in her gut, pulling Shoto away from her path before she leapt at the other three. "I'm looking forward to where you'll be in three years! I call dibs!"
She began to rapidly surround the three, spitting at them.
"Mandalay … was she always like that?" Aizawa asked tiredly.
"She's a little desperate, she's about suitable age for, you know …" Mandalay explained.
"Speaking of suitable age, whose child is that?" Midoriya pointed at the kid who was standing at a distance away from everyone. The same one from up above, who was still looking royally pissed.
"Oh, not one of ours. He's my cousin's kid." Mandalay explained. "Come on Kota, greet everyone. You'll be with them for the next week."
Midoriya approached the child. "Oh, um, I'm Midoriya from U.A.'s high school hero course. Nice to meet you." He bent down to shake Kota's hand, only to get punched right in the testicles. Luna saw Shoto wince in sympathy at that, as did most of the boys.
Iida rushed over to assist, yelling at Kota for brutalizing poor Midoriya. Honestly, it was kind of funny, though Luna made sure to not let out anything more than a smile.
"I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to be heroes!" Kota seethed.
"'Intend'? Just how old are you?" Iida exclaimed.
Bakugo offered a rare smile. "Precocious brat."
"Isn't he kind of like you?" Shoto asked.
"What? Not at all!"
"Bakugo-kun, you can't say you didn't act like that based on Mitsuki-sama's stories." Luna smirked.
"Enough of this charade. Get your stuff off the bus. Once you put your bags in your rooms, we'll have dinner in the cafeteria. After that, you'll bathe and go to sleep. We'll start for real tomorrow." Aizawa said before turning around and leaving. Luna offered to take Uraraka's bags, since the poor girl was stuck holding in her nausea.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Luna observed Kota move about in silent fury, her eyes slightly narrowed in concentration.
"Are you worried about him?" Shoto asked, quietly slurping on his cold soba, unlike most of the class, who forgot table manners existed. Well, she could excuse Sato and Yaoyorozu, since their Quirks required food, but really, Kirishima should stop his impersonation of a starving shark.
"I wonder why he hates us." Luna replied.
"Does it matter? He's just an ass." Bakugo replied, though he couldn't quite hold in his smirk.
"You're just saying that because he's like a Bakugo Jr." Kaminari cackled.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?! I'LL FU-" he paused when he realized he technically was in the presence of his homeroom teacher, who was giving him a raised eyebrow. "I'LL KILL YOU!"
"I assume it has to do with the fact that he's not staying with his parents." Shoto ignored Bakugo vigorously shaking Kaminari while Sero and Kirishima were recording, twin grins on their faces. "Honestly, it's not that much of a surprise he hates heroes. Plenty have bad experiences with them."
Luna sighed, acknowledging his point. "I suppose. It's kind of worrying that he's so young though."
Shoto tilted his head. "I suppose you're right, though I don't fancy being punched in the balls."
Midoriya sneezed across the room, getting a few 'Bless You's' from the surrounding students.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"C'mon Luna-chan, you'll like it!" Mina cried, pushing Luna.
"So stop struggling, you're not getting out of this!" Hagakure supported, pulling on her wrists while everyone else looked in amusement.
"I won't, to answer both your questions, so let me go already!" snapped Luna.
"Do you hate water that much, Luna-chan?" asked Tsu, already in the onsen. Most were, just a few who were either late or struggling to shove Luna in being the only exceptions.
"I despise it with a passion."
"Is this really necessary? If Luna-chan doesn't want to you two really should stop trying to force her. I think she's physically stronger than both of you anyways." Yaoyorozu sighed.
Luna yelped as something small struck her side, letting Mina and Hagakure shove her into the onsen, at which point Luna leaped out and hastily rewrapped her towel, glaring at Jiro, who was innocently whistling.
"I hate you now."
"I don't know what you're talking about." Jiro said breezily.
Luna hissed as she heard Mineta yelling something about walls being overcome on the other side.
"You try to get over that wall and the boys will literally kill you!"
"Luna-chan?" asked Uraraka, confused. "What's wrong?"
"Mineta, that's what."
Most of the girls stiffened, catching onto what Luna said and quickly exited, wrapping towels around themselves, and sitting on the edge, not wanting to fully leave the onsen. Only for Kota to appear at the top.
Before learning to be a hero, you need to learn about being a human." Kota said, knocking Mineta off the wall and down below.
"Mineta's really the worst, huh?" Tsu sighed.
"Thanks, Kota-kun!" Mina cried.
Kota looked at the female side, only to see some of Luna's classmates reentering the onsen, which caused him to suck in a breath and fall. The students cried out in shock, only to collectively sigh in relief when they heard a 'I got him!' from style Midoriya.
"This is way too much excitement for me. I'm done." Luna said. "Goodnight."
'Night!" most of the girls cried. Luna paused next to Jiro, giving her a light shove into the onsen, smirking as she heard the girl splutter in anger. Yes, she could be petty when she wanted to.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Luna passed Midoriya on her way to the cabin, noting the somber way he looked.
"Are you okay, Midoriya-kun?" Luna asked, starling him.
"Huh? Me? Uh, yeah, I am." He replied.
Luna frowned. She smelled … ugh, this was one of the ones she was having trouble with … did pancakes mean guilt or worry? Maybe both?
"Is this about Kota-san?"
He started at her question.
"Um, yeah. Sorry I can't say anything, it's not my story to tell …"
She shook her head. "You don't need to. I have a feeling I know what he's going through, roughly. Just … don't force him to interact. He needs to do it on his own. Goodnight, Midoriya-kun."
And with that she left, hearing him say goodnight before panicking that he was just in a towel.
"I can't believe I did that! She must think I'm a degenerate! Todoroki-kun will kill me!" he shrieked.
Luna snorted.
0-0-0-0-0-0
The students were woken up at 5:30 in the morning, everyone yawning. Even Bakugo was a lot more sedated than usual.
"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Aizawa greeted them.
Nothing good about mornings. Apophis muttered bitterly.
I have to agree. Wake us up later, would you? yawned Bast.
Why do the two of you wake up with me anyways? Luna asked, rubbing her eyes.
Dunno. Just happens. It's not like we want to.
"Today, we'll begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest. The goal of this training camp is to increase everyone's strength, and with that, for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses. It is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming more real by the minute." Luna felt her homeroom teacher's gaze on her. "Proceed carefully. So, Luna, try throwing that. Use your tiger form."
Aizawa tossed her the same softball from the very first Quirk apprehension test from the beginning of the year.
"Your previous record, from right after you started school, was 467.3 meters. Let's see how much you've improved."
"Oh, we're checking our progress?" asked Mina.
"Since a lot has happened these past three months, huh?" continued Sero. "Maybe she can throw it like Bakugo did or something."
Luna shifted her hands into tiger paws, warming her body up with a few circling movements before throwing it with all her might. A few seconds passed before her homeroom teacher spoke. "478.3 meters."
Luna frowned at the result, hearing the shocked mutterings of her classmates. Her ears folded in shame. Surely, she should've done better than that? She used her Quirk every day for gods' sakes.
"It's been about three months since you started high school. Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with some increase in stamina. As you can see, your Quirks themselves have not been improved that much. That's why we will work on improving your Quirks starting today. It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying but try not to actually die …" Aizawa grinned. Luna shivered slightly at his gaze. Surely, he was bluffing a bit?
0-0-0-0-0-0
He wasn't lying. Not at all. Luna yelped as she was slammed into a tree, reverting back to her human form as her adversary rushed her.
"Serval!" called Pixie-Bob cheerfully, causing Luna to curse and transform. Her EVERYTHING hurt, from her legs to her arms to her head. For the entire morning and now leading up to the afternoon, she was forced to fight more of the earth beasts, but this time she had to exclusively remain in the feline form of Pixie-Bob's choice until she either couldn't hold it for any longer or she was hit out of it, like the oncilla just now. And she was sure that the woman was purposely choosing forms that Luna either had little or no experience using. Who the hell knew that the leopardus guttulus even existed?!
There were upsides, of course. In the cases where she couldn't use the deities or her go-to forms, she'd be able to swap without hesitation or doubt. She'd be able to use each and every one of them, or that was the hope. The problem with the cats Pixie-Bob was giving was that they were mostly on the small side, so taking down one of the beasts took forever, sometimes upwards of around twenty minutes. At least she didn't get hit often.
Dodging a blow from the beast, she leapt at its face, tearing a hole into it before entering and going as ham as she possible could. Thankfully it wasn't long before it disintegrated, her head poking out of the earth.
"Ooh, clever! I need to thicken the walls then, huh? Ok, let's see what's so special about your black cat! Nightstalker!"
As Luna morphed, several earth beasts formed. Luna bared her fangs at the challenge, her jewelry glinting under the sun. As they leapt at her, Luna targeted the smallest one which looked like a mixture of a rhino and spider. Grabbing it by the scruff, she flipped it over before sinking her fangs into the neck and decapitating it, gagging at the earth in her mouth. She leapt over another as it slammed into its deceased comrade, this one more like a giant serpent. She began attacking its back, only to be slammed by a weird bug thing, knocking her off and giving the last one, a dragon, the chance to plow her through several trees.
They paused as Pixie-Bob lost sight of Luna, only to gasp as the farthest beast, the bug, was shoulder-checked into the ground, with it roaring as Luna quickly reduced it into tissue paper before the snake struck, only for Luna to drop onto her stomach before leaping up and crunching through the neck as well, showering her with dirt. The dragon had returned, enraged that it was so easily avoided, inhaling before expelling a vortex of earth at Luna, who was just slow enough to be hit by it. She snarled angrily, getting out and leaping at the dragon before their battle dissolved into a massive catfight, the flailing limbs the only thing visible before Luna clawed through its wings and leapt onto its back, shredding the creature in half before it dissolved.
Luna was barely standing on her legs, her pants shaky.
"Wowowow, you're really good at this! Take a ten-minute break before we continue! I'll just check on a few others first!" Pixie-Bob praised, running into the woods. She collapsed, grabbing her fifth water bottle and chugging it within ten seconds.
Unbeknownst to her, her guardian was watching over her, nodding quietly to himself as he was assured that she wasn't too badly injured. He was being serious when he told his class to not die. The buzzing of his phone caused him to pull back.
"Hello?" he asked wearily. This better not be a spam call claiming that his RainForest account had suspicious activity on it.
"Hello Eraserhead, this is Tsukauchi, from the police." The voice on the other end said. "I believe we have pieced together a few things from I-Island."
"Oh?"
"Mhm, we figured out who the mysterious voice belonged to. Tell me, have you heard of Egypt-Chan?"
Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "Luna likes to listen to her music, and her disappearance caught my eye, yes."
"Well, we believe it was her." Silence. "Now, we do not know if she willingly has joined arms with the League of Villains, or if she was coerced, whether through blackmail or the threat of death, but if you should catch even a whisper of her location, you need to take Luna away from there. There's no telling if she'll just put your ward in a trance and steal her away."
"Got it. Have you informed my wife?"
"Tamakawa-kun called a few minutes ago."
"Okay then, thank you very much."
"Take care, Eraserhead."
With that, the call ended, bringing some relief but also more worries onto his plate. Why did these things need to be so complicated? Now he knew what to look out for, and yet, it was also worrying because the woman could just sneak Luna away with a snap of her fingers. It was startling really, how powerful of a Quirk the woman had. She kept it hidden because many would accuse her of manipulating her audience. Which, she wasn't, but even among the heroes that knew, the accusation was still floating around. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Time to check on the rest of the students.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Luna now stood in front of Tiger, the lone male of Wild Wild Pussycats. He was by far the most intimidating of the four, though Luna was honestly more scared of Takahashi to be honest.
"Ah, been a while since I got to work with Takahashi-chan's pupils." He grinned. "What has she got you on?"
"You know Takahashi-senpai?" Luna asked, bewildered.
"Oh yeah, we're dated." Luna stood, flabbergasted, unsure of what to say or even think. To think that the two had … what a coincidence! "Anyways, you have a plan she got you on or?"
"Oh, I'll be right back!" Luna quickly sprinted into her teacher's room, entering with a knock and taking her plan before running out the door to arrive at the spot where Tiger was standing and shouting encouragement at Midoriya before smacking him away into a tree.
"Uh, am I interrupting or …?"
"No, you're good. Let me see." He quickly scanned the document, humming and squinting at the page before looking Luna over and grunting, sometimes approvingly, sometimes not. "Alright kitten, I'm going to explain what you're going to be doing. Looks like Puppy's got you on the accelerated course, so things are going to be much harder. So, to know how progressed you are, I need to fight you."
Luna yelped and dropped at the sudden fist, glaring at the man's shit-eating grin before taking one of the more defensive stances, though there really wasn't much defense to begin with, just a lot more flexibility. She waited until he gave her the go-ahead before she launched herself at the man, throwing sweeping kicks and swipes at the man, steadily growing more frustrated as he kept avoiding everything.
"Cmon, what's U.A. supposed to be preaching? 'Plus Ultra'? Seems they'll take anyone these days, you just suck. Get it together!" Tiger jeered at her, causing Luna to growl and speed up, only to be infuriated by the man's continuous taunts and jabs.
Finally getting an idea, she faked a palm to his chest, grinning as he fell for it and shrunk himself (probably his Quirk, considering how insanely flexible he was) before backflipping and slamming her boot into his jaw, causing him to stumble.
"I didn't say you could break form." He grumbled, rubbing the sore spot.
"You also didn't say I couldn't." Luna pointed out.
"Heh, true. Anyways, I got the gist of where you're at. Pretty good, considering you've only been doing this for about two weeks. Anyways, I'm going to give you another kick to use and practice, since you have a good variety of palm strikes and punches. Watch closely, you're going to practice this until I say so." Luna nodded seriously. "This is good for when you've been knocked off your feet, a move to not only fight back but give you some breathing room."
He lowered himself to the ground before suddenly grunting, practically breakdancing before flinging himself back onto his feet only using his hands. Luan's eyes widened at the display.
"Wow."
"Yeah, it's definitely more advanced, but it's good to learn. You're going to do this in parts. First the sweeps, then the hands. First is sweeps because it's easier. Try it."
Luna lowered herself onto her back, trying to emulate Tiger's movements, but she barely managed to do the sweeps before falling awkwardly onto her side. She tried again, only to get the same result.
"You're forcing the sweeps too much, too focused on that part. You need to also pay attention to your hands, which will help you keep your balance. Plus, you have a tail. Use it."
Luna nodded, trying it again. She once again landed on her side, but this time it was slightly easier to remain balanced.
"There, you got the gist. You just need to figure out how to use your tail, plus you need to work on your hands. Once you got your tail down, we'll focus on the hands. Continue."
Luna continued the move for what felt like forever, getting more frustrated as the time went on before calming down and trying over and over. Takahashi would've snapped at her over and over, but at least Tiger was easier going, if not more infuriating. Finally after what felt like forever, she finally had done well enough to warrant Tiger's approval to move on.
Flinging herself onto her feet using her own hands turned out to be easier than she thought because she had been able to use the legs of a clouded leopard to give herself a bit more breathing room with the twisting of her arms. She just needed to get the perfect amount of force to not only get back up but not stumble, which turned out to be the more difficult action. She continued drilling until it was time for dinner, at which point Luna trudged over to Shoto, and together they went to the cafeteria, where Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob where waiting for them.
"Now, remember what I said yesterday? 'Today's the only day that we'll be doing stuff for you!'" Pixie -Bob said cheerfully.
"At least make your own food! Curry!" Ragdoll added. After everyone groaned out an agreement, Ragdoll began to laugh. "You all look exhausted! But that doesn't mean you can make any old sloppy cat food!"
As Iida got energized, Luna and Bakugo exchanged weary glances before shuffling forward, dealing out the responsibilities. Well, Luna was; Bakugo was yelling at everyone when they did the smallest thing wrong. Luna couldn't care less, she was exhausted. She made small remarks in passing, but she never raised her voice beyond what was necessary. Todoroki idly noticed that Luna had her own small station, tiredly making two bowls after everyone had finished, which looked positively unappetizing.
"Shoto, want to learn how to make your own curry?" Luna yawned.
"Sure."
And so began Shoto's very first cooking lesson from Luna. She showcased blending the spices together while avoiding the garlic and onions, adding the spices, as well as some tomatoes to the chicken broth that was already set to boil. After seasoning the stock with the spices, as well as some salt and pepper, she dumped some chicken into the pot (which Shoto had been asked to cut up). After that, it was a waiting game for a bit. She idly heard her classmates saying that even though it was kinda gross, they were willing to eat it regardless. After enough time had passed, she dumped a mixture of cornstarch and water, called cornstarch slurry, into the pot, letting it simmer about a minute or two before taking it out of the pot and into two bowls, which Todoroki took gratefully.
"Aw man, Luna-chan! That looks amazing! Can you make me some?" asked Kaminari hopefully.
"No." she replied, taking a bite. It wasn't as great as it normally would be, but it was still better than what everyone else was eating.
"How come Todoroki-kun gets special privileges?"
"Obviously because they're dating, stupid." Mina teased. She was obviously expecting some sort of reaction from the two, but they didn't react at all. "Uh, wait, are you guys actually dating?"
Luna and Shoto eyed each other. "Sure." Shoto replied.
"Sure?! SURE?! What do you mean?!"
"What's the big deal?" Luna asked. "It's not like we're getting married or something."
"You can't just be so causal about it!"
"Why not?" Now Shoto was confused.
"Because it's a big deal!" Mina's face was now a shade of purple. "C'mon, Toru-chan, back me up here!"
"Ah, yeah! You know if we were dating, we'd be so loud about it!" Hagakure nodded, probably. It was kind of hard to tell, which wasn't surprising at all.
"Luna-chan! Todoroki-kun! What is the meaning of this?! Not only is this unseemly for two classmates to be dating, but you two were the last ones I thought capable of this! I must say I disapprove!" Iida began to chop his hand robotically.
"If it was such a big deal Aizawa-sensei would've told us." Luna said, setting aside her now empty bowl. "And yet, he hasn't."
"W-Well, perhaps he hasn't got the opportunity to!"
Luna sighed, getting up and approaching her homeroom teacher. He looked down at her, a question in his raised eyebrow.
"Aizawa-sensei? Shoto and I are dating."
"I know that." He replied flatly.
"Iida-kun's worried that it's … unseemly."
"As long as you two aren't distracting each other during class or training, there's no problem."
Luna nodded and left, silently smiling at the 'Agh!' sound Iida made, clearly surprised that Aizawa was so lenient with it. As she sat back down, she received looks that ranged from congratulatory to surprise to upset (Iida), but she didn't really care what they thought. Yes, they were her friends, but who she dated was realistically none of their business, and neither was trying to regulate their relationship.
Luna blinked. Oh, when did this happen? Just a two or so months ago the idea of dating Shoto was something that caused unease and embarrassment, but now? Now she was actively confirming it without any hesitation, perhaps even annoyance that she had to defend the idea. She was going to ask Shoto later about it. Perhaps he knew. Whatever, the when might not be that important, the fact that they were now was.
0-0-0-0-0-0
"I mean … I don't like this. It's not cute." Huffed Toga, adjusting her mask.
"You designed it yourself, insisting that 'it's the cutest ever!' How do you not like it?" Nadeau said flatly.
"Well, it's not in fashion anymore!"
"Appearances don't matter as long as it makes sense." Mustard replied. Mustard was the one who Nadeau nominated to come. Using his Quirk called Gas, he'd be able to stay far away from most of the students if he needed to. He'd be safe. Hopefully. Nadeau warned him of the risks, but Mustard insisted. 'A personal grudge' he said.
"That's not what I'm talking about! I just don't want to wear this!" Toga stomped her foot in apparent anger, a pout forming on her face. It was kind of hard to tell, but the way her upper face crinkled was clear it was a pout.
"Hi! Sorry for the wait!" a new voice said. Nadeau didn't even turn to address her. Magne was one of the newer recruits. Giran found her about a month ago, and she's been in the bar every day since, displaying her superior combat abilities when tested against regular Phantom Cloak members. Trailing behind her was a lizard person and insane person. Spinner was a diehard Stain follower, believing himself to be the next Hero-Killer. He too was better than most, being on par with Magne, even once disarmed by her Quirk. The insane person Nadeau plainly distrusted, but if he helped, he helped. Everything on him was surrounded by a dark green cloth, with his mouth the only thing exposed was his mouth, held open my several hooks.
"That makes eight of us." Dabi said. He still wasn't looking at Nadeau, which the man fully expected. When he told Dabi he knew of his relation to the number two hero, he immediately got attacked, which promptly led to a scolding from Kurogiri about provoking the boy, though nobody except the two knew what it was about.
"I don't care, just let me at 'em." Muscular growled excitedly.
"Down, boy." Nadeau sighed. "We'll move when all twelve of us are here."
"Gathering a bunch of punks who are just as strong will increase the risk. It's better to have a small group of experienced elites. First, we make them realize that their peace is resting in our hands …" Dabi murmured.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Hello again! This chapter is coming out almost immediately after the previous one, an apology of sorts for the long period of radio silence. Also, I'm happy to announce that Luna and Todoroki are officially dating! It's been a long road to this moment, and I couldn't be prouder.
Also, if anyone was curious about Aizawa not caring that Luna and Todoroki are dating, just look at the man's philosophy. His whole thing is about logic and practicality; it wouldn't make sense to separate them, because there's always the chance they do so in a sneaky manner (highly doubtful, but, it's not logical to ignore it simply because it's not very probable), and as long as they don't impede each other or their classmates, there's really no real reason to not allow them to date. At least, I don't think so ...
Anyways, that's it for me! Stay safe out there! - Bananaman out!
Utatane Armstrong - No, no, you're all good! English wasn't my first language either, but I'm glad you're taking pleasure out of reading this fic! I hope you continue to enjoy it!