Hawks taps the toe of his shoe against the hard metal floor, eliciting a light pang with every smack. He's got his hand pressed into the grooves of his chin and cheekbones, the hero deep in thought. He hums with his rumination while his protege watches. Izuku stands across from his mentor, crossing his arms as he waits for the man to finish thinking. They both occupy the otherwise empty training room, sporting attire meant for exercise while otherwise simply standing around.
"Truth be told, kid, I was planning on teaching you how to get stronger anyways", Hawks shrugs as he breaks his concentration to fix Izuku with an expression that creases the space between his eyes, "I'm just not sure what it is that you're really asking me to do for you here."
Izuku nearly throws his hands up in the air, but they wind up flopping at his sides. He hangs his head, shoulders slumping too, as defeat brings his mood all the way down. "Even with the training and the experience that I've had so far, it just wasn't enough to stand a chance…" He doesn't have to dwell on his fight with the modified version of Stain to remember his lack of power, "I'm telling you that I'm no match for whatever I encountered down in those tunnels… It's… I'm out of my league."
Hawks raises his eyebrows, somehow only now surprised to hear such a reflection. Despite having heard once before about his protege being at death's door, it seems to finally be setting in. If someone with Izuku's capabilities was completely outmatched, it spells a recipe for disaster; even if the boy is no All Might level combatant, this is something to be concerned about. "And you didn't tell this to Makima?", he makes sure that it's a matter kept between only he and the kid.
"No way", Izuku fervently shakes his head. Hawks nods his, glad to hear that.
"It's important for us to keep a few things to ourselves", Hawks places his hands on his hips as he reevaluates everything that Izuku confided in him with, "Your secret is safe with me."
Izuku scratches a spot behind his ear, giving his mentor a pointed look. "Thanks but you still aren't telling me what I should do about it", he expectantly tilts his head as he waits for something useful.
"Right", Hawks holds back a laugh when he remembers this is a serious situation. His arms move from his hips to cross behind his head to make a pillow of sorts, "I've not exactly got an arch nemesis of my own quite yet but it might be a good idea to treat this thing like a rival", he goes with the first bit of advice that he can think of.
"I need to improve myself faster to beat it", Izuku nods along while considering his mentor's suggestion. It seems simple enough but oddly wise.
"Bingo", Hawks grins when he sees he happened to give solid advice. Hoping to capitalize on it, he beats his wings to lift off the ground and keeps going. "We'll work harder to master your chain control today rather than taking it slow!"
"T- Today?", Izuku whips his head up to look at Hawks.
The hero nods, "No time like the present, right?" When he gestures around the place, he rotates his body to do so fully. "I mean – We are already in the training room", this time he lets himself laugh a little.
Izuku laughs along, loosening up a bit both mentally and physically as he stretches a little. "Right.. Let's do it", his fingers reach for the ripcord on his chest so that they can begin training.
If the ground has a pulse, Kyoka can hear it as much as she can see it rise through the mountains. Fortunate enough to have gotten a window seat on the bus to U.A's summer retreat, she revels in the bold silhouette of greenery. Every peak of trees line in a formation that would read like a doctor's graph. She listens beyond the wheels on the backroad path and the commotion of her classmates, still hearing that thrumming from the earth. It's soothing enough to make her body reflexively relax against the cushioning of her seat.
Beside the girl, her friend reads a book of some kind. Momo licks her thumb before using it to turn a page. It seems the class prez has her own way of tuning out Mina and the others. It's astonishing their sensei hasn't blown a gasket yet since he's not got much to distract himself with by comparison; the teacher's eye twitches when a wadded ball of paper hits him upside the head. Kirishima and Bakugo receive cheers as they arm wrestle. Kaminari is chasing Ojiro's tail around, eliciting some shouts of his own. It's all chaos and no order while Tokoyami mutters something about finding 'revelry in the dark'. Yet, Momo reads her novel and Kyoka spaces out somehow.
That only lasts so long before the bus comes to an abrupt screeching stop. Between Mina's repetition of asking "Are we there yet?" and singing "Wheels On The Bus", everyone is shaken when she asks how they already reached their destination; then again, they have to admit that the trip was relatively short. While Class 1-A unloads from the transport vehicle, they start to also wonder why they're parked on the side of a hill with no campsite in sight. They nervously and curiously glance around, trying to figure out what's going on.
"Is this some sorta rest stop?", Sero's suggestion is met with mixed responses of approval or disbelief. He shrugs, not so sure of his own guess at an explanation.
"What kinda rest stop doesn't have a bathroom?", Uraraka's question only adds to the group's confusion. They wind up turning to look at their teacher for an answer.
The whole class shudders from a shiver despite the summer sun blaring down on them; Aizawa has a grin that exposes more teeth than All Might's signature smile. It's then that they realize the man is about to get his revenge for all the suffering he had to endure on the ride here. "G- Get back on the bus!", someone shouts to warn the others of what they already figured out. But it's too late. The ground beneath their feet crumbles and they begin falling from the mountain down into a valley of shrubbery.
"Your lodging is on the foot of the mountain beyond this peak", Aizawa's voice carries itself down the hill with his class as he speaks, "The training has already begun – consider this summer getaway more like a boot camp."
"Not cool!", Hagakure's cry falls on deaf ears as the landslide washes over her yell.
Aizawa steps up to the ledge of what remains from the cliff. Behind him, are the owners of the land, The Wild Wild Pussycats. They're the ones responsible for shifting the earth to make this bait and switch possible – but that's just another surprise waiting for his class once they make it to base camp.
Izuku flails with his arms, chains whipping uncontrollably. He's lost track of how many attempts he's made but the open space coupled with Hawks' evasion always results with the same conclusion. His chains whack the ground, loosening upon impact. Izuku reels them back in, arm bars treading with traction minimizing each time. "It's no use", he's not one to give up but he knows that this practice is proving futile if he's ever going to hope to beat Stain 2.0 in a fight.
"Don't say that", Hawks tries to gently assure him but Izuku shakes his head while scoffing. "It took me years to reach the level I'm at", the hero's efforts to help only make the boy more-so scorned since time is something they don't have the luxury of.
"I need to fight fire with fire", Izuku swings his bladed limbs up to look at them more closely, "If I face him with equal footing then maybe I can beat him at his own game."
Hawks sighs, slowing the flap of his wings so that he descends. "That'd be suicide", the hero steps forward to grab his protege by the shoulders and shake some sense into the kid, "He has years of experience as a swordsman that you won't be able to catch up to."
But Izuku remains adamant, his mind wandering elsewhere. The first fight he had with Stain nearly costed him his life too, if not for the techniques he learned from Kyoka. While those maneuvers might not work a second time, they're instilled in him as something he can improve upon. "So long as I have a good teacher, I can do it…" The boy's whisper is one he wishes Kyoka could hear.
Hawks hears it instead, staring at his protege with awe. After a while, the man smiles and nods. "Fine", he lets the boy go and backs away, "Let's forget the chain control then…"
Izuku blinks back to the present, looking up at his mentor. The hero plucks two feathers from each wing, the plumes extending into sharpened quills. Hawks dual wields a set of self made swords, crossing them in front of his chest.
"Let's have ourselves a good old fashioned duel", Hawks beckons the boy forth.
Izuku obliges, swinging his chainsaws the way that they were meant to be used.
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Sorry that this is another short one, but these are the vibes currently
