Arrival to Camp

Estelle stood outside with her class whilst they waited for their bus to arrive. Today was the day that they would go to training camp to begin their journey. Estelle was tired from working with Shinsou the day before to help with his fighting technique. He had moaned about the fact he wouldn't see her for a while and begged her to do so until she finally relented. Nevertheless, the boy continues to improve each day.

Ochako, Ashido and Kaminari were currently making a ruckus in their attempt to cheer for camp. It had failed miserably since nobody else joined in.

"I heard some of Class 1A are taking extra courses. Does that mean they actually failed their final exams? That must be so embarrassing. Especially since you're supposed to be so much better than my class. All of you must be wallowing in shame!" A stranger shouted from another class; luckily, a ginger girl stopped him by hitting the back of his neck.

"Don't mind him", The girl assured whilst Class 1A sweatdropped from the sight.

"Who is he again?" Estelle asked with pursed lips. She was sure she had seen him somewhere before.

"It's nice to see you outside the sports festival. I guess now we aren't technically rivalling," The pretty ginger-haired girl spoke.

"Who are they again?" Estelle queried since her previous question was ignored.

'Oh, Estelle, ' The class sighed with closed eyes.

"Time to get onto the bus! The seating plan is in order!" Iida bellowed.

Estelle ignored him and got on the bus.

"Here's the deal. We'll be on this bus for about an hour before our first stop. Be sure to stay focused." Aizawa stated while facing his class seated behind him. Estelle was stuck next to him as per the seating arrangement. She just sighed and leaned back against her seat.

"Why aren't we blasting music?" Kaminari asked rhetorically.

"Because I'll stab you if you do", Estelle snarked back.

Kaminari shrunk in his seat with a nervous laugh. "Oh, okay. I kinda prefer it when you don't say anything."

"Then I'll keep talking."

" ." Kaminari laughed back robotically.

Aizawa sighed at the ruckus the class was making before muttering, "Why do I bother? Well, I guess this is the only time they'll have to fool around."

Estelle snorted, catching her teacher's attention. Turning to face the girl next to him, he asked, "What?!"

"Let me guess, quirk training?"

"You're correct. I'm not surprised you figured it out. You seem to be a good teacher from what I gathered with Shinsou.'

"Thanks? How is his training going anyway?"

"It's going as good as can be. Like you saw last week, Shinsou's been working on his capture weapon and is making decent progress."

"Hmm, it was a good choice for him. I'm impressed."

"I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"In your final exam with Endeavour. You held yourself back; I am aware that you do this extremely often. Why is that?"

Estelle held in her surprise at the fact Aizawa never questioned her actions within the exam since it was apparent something was wrong. She wasn't going to remind him, though, so she answered his query.

"In UA, or rather in society in general. Quirks are looked at like some form of hierarchy. The more power you show, the more highly regarded you are. Not to toot my own horn, but I am skilled in my fundamental aspects. My quirk doesn't always need to be there for me to win, so why would I use it?"

"Hmm. It's a hot take, but I understand where you're coming from. But still, you need to push yourself even harder. What if one day, you're up against someone you can't beat? I expect you to push yourself in this camp. When we reach our first stop, I want you to go your own separate way when the time comes. I want to see you push your limits. Plus ultra."

"As you wish. Do you want to see my cat videos?"

"Sure."

The class made their way off the bus and stood in a muddy clearing to stretch their legs.

"This isn't much of a rest area", Kirishima commented naively.

"You don't really think we stopped here just so you could stretch your legs, do you?" Aizawa tested.

The class looked at their teacher in confusion, causing Estelle to snort at them in humour. The look on their faces was hilarious to her.

"Hey, Eraser", An unfamiliar voice of a woman rang out as the car door opened from the other side of the area.

"Long time no see", Aizawa replied with a bow.

Estelle deadpanned whilst the two heroes introduced themselves. They were so pepper that the rainbows could've choked her.

"We are! The Wild, Wild pussycats!"

Estelle noted the little boy with them, who was not impressed. Estelle felt the sentiment until she saw his face. He looked like someone she once knew. Estelle's heart dropped as the pit in her stomach tightened. Her gaze moved to her bracelet, her eyes soft.

"These are the pro heroes you'll be working with at the summer training camp" Aizawa stepped in. He saw the look on Estelle's face change dramatically, but it wasn't the time to remark.

"They are a four-person hero team who specialise in mountain rescues!" Midoriya jumped in to provide further information with stars in his eyes. Estelle watched whilst Midoriya dug himself a hole by commenting on their age.

She snorted once again when one of the heroes grabbed his head with a darkened aura. "I'm eighteen at heart."

Estelle stepped up to the young boy as the heroes began talking about training camp. She didn't care for the information but did want to speak to the child who gave off waves of nostalgia. The small kid looked up towards Estelle with a scowl and voiced, "What do you want? Get lost."

"I want to be in my bed. But we can't have what we want," Estelle retorted back, mimicking his tone. His personality was different. Estelle had to remind herself that they were not the same person.

"Hmpt. I don't like heroes like you."

"Ah, I'm no hero", Estelle scoffed back. It was the truth; she wasn't one.

The kid looked up at the teen in surprise from her strange response and nodded. He silently stood by her as they both listened to her class panic about the real reason why they stopped here. Estelle only managed to get the last part of their conversation.

"If you're fast about it. Then you might make it for noon."

"There's no way! Save yourselves!" Kirishima yelled, causing her class to try to run for the bus. Estelle chuckled at them from the sidelines, the kid beside her smirking at their pain also.

"Idiots."

"They are!" The kid agreed with a mischievous smirk. He really was enjoying this.

"You're training camp has already begun", Aizawa announced as one female hero placed her hand onto the ground to create a wave of mud to pelt them off the cliff. Aizawa noticed that Estelle was still standing and nodded for her to follow.

Estelle shook her head at the sight of her falling classmates before turning to the boy.

"I won't belong. I'll see you on the other side, kid."

Before he could comment, he watched as Estelle shot fire out of her hands and feet like a jetpack and flew down the cliff to meet her classmates. He couldn't help but find her cool; she even said she wasn't a hero!

Estelle flew down whilst the hero Mandalay spoke. The class deadpanned at the female when she joined them and landed onto the ground with a neat thud. That was not fair.

"The beast's forest?" Midoriya repeated back in horror once she was done speaking.

"Why do we keep falling for Aizawa's little tricks?" Jiro asked, her butt still on the ground.

"I guess there's no use complaining, might as well get going", Kirishima declared back.

Estelle watched Mineta run into the woods in hopes of releasing his bowels when a hefty mud dinosaur creature met him. She felt Deja vu with her own past experiences and grimaced.

The usually reserved male named Koda ran up to the manufactured creature to relax it, but it did not work. It proved that this was just Pixie-Bob's quirk rather than an actual being. Midoriya rushed to save Mineta. Estelle gave a pout at that.

'Why couldn't they let the little bug be squished?'

Estelle stood by with boredom whilst Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki and Iida jumped into the fray to take down the beast. She was impressed at their progress so far; at least they were improving.

"You took down that beast in seconds!" Sato commented with his fist pumped up in awe and newfound determination.

"You showed that thing who's boss!" Kirishima added whilst he faced Bakugo.

"We're not done", Bakugo growled back. The class turned to see more creatures in the distance heading straight towards them.

Estelle took that as her cue from Aizawa.

"Well. You guys have fun with that. I'll see you on the flipside."

A bunch of her class sputtered in indignation as they watched Estelle soar to the skies and shoot off elsewhere.

"She just left!?" Kaminari yelled out in disbelief.

"Let's be honest. We would probably slow Estelle down," Sero countered.

"But still! She just left us here to die!" The lightning boy moaned back.

"Forget it. We just need to focus on us right now" Yaoyorozu jumped in, hiding her own annoyance.

"Right!"

'Aizawa isn't holding back, is he?' Estelle thought as she shot through multiple flying creatures. Shredding through their stomachs with fire surrounding her, they fell to the ground in pieces. The number of animals she faced multiplied by the hundreds, and Estelle began enjoying herself.

Permitting herself to let go. Estelle allowed herself to fall into her warrior psyche. Using her earth bending, she forced the creatures to ram into others, causing them to be crushed from the impact. Estelle used the fire surrounding her to manipulate her body like a bullet and ripped them apart with the momentum of her body. The wind was a huge help since she could direct it to push back the enemy and force them to fall onto the ground.

The class reached a point in the forest that allowed them to look past the trees, usually blocking their sky view. Their eyes widened at the brief spectacle of Estelle way ahead of them and entirely surrounded by her own earth beasts. She was tearing them apart; it was like her own personal warzone. Their determination spiked at the display, and they pushed forward even harder than before.

'If she can do that, then this is nothing!'

Estelle reached the heroes with plenty of time to spare. She was looking a little muddy but not terrible and had a slight smile on her face. Walking up to Pixie-Bob, Estelle spoke up smoothly, "That was fun; we should do that again sometime."

Pixie-bob brightened up and cried, "Hell yeah! That was so fun! That was some power you have!"

Estelle shrugged and turned to Aizawa, who stood behind the female. "Was that plus ultra-enough for you?"

Aizawa nodded. "You did great. Come inside and get cleaned up. We'll prepare something for you to eat."

"Awesome."

Estelle did just that, cleaning up and having some lunch. She was met by the same little boy from earlier and gave a small smile. The boy responded with one of his own before sitting next to the girl and eyed her food.

"I'll give you some if you tell me your name?"

"Kota."

"Great, here you go. I'm Estelle."

"It's nice to meet you. Why did you say you're not a hero?" Kota immediately asked, the question burning in his brain.

"Because I'm not. I'm just somebody trying their best."

"Hmm. You're weird."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

"It's okay. I like weird."

"Cool."

"Come on, guys! The litter is almost here!" Mandalay screamed out to the pair sitting at the table. At that, they both joined the heroes stood at the front.

Estelle and Kota waited with the heroes for the rest of the class to arrive. They watched when the students slowly made their way out of the woods with slumped shoulders and tired eyes.

"You said it would only be three hours!" Sero bawled out once they reached the finish line.

"I guess we timed it on how long it would take us! Sorry!"

Estelle lips tilted at the rebuttal whilst Sato spoke up next, "Now you're rubbing in how much better you are! No fair! Estelle is here too!"

"Yeah, I got here an hour after we fell", Estelle butted in to push the knife in deeper.

"What!?"

"Meow, meow, meow! I thought it would take you guys longer! But you did much better with my dirt monsters than I thought you would! You guys were seriously great. Especially Estelle and the four of you! It seems you've had quite a bit of experience!" She finished with a slurp and jumped towards the males as she foamed at the mouth.

"I call dibs on these four! I'll groom them myself!" she shrieked whilst springing around the boys. Estelle looked on with wide eyes before the hero turned to her. "I'll take you too, Hunny!"

"No thanks. I'm not into cougars."

"Excuse me!"

"Speaking of ages..." Midoriya started, unaware that he had just saved Estelle, only to be stopped by Mandalay's hand on his face once again.

"You better choose your words carefully, boy."

"No! I was just wondering when we got here earlier, who is that kid? What's he doing here?" He asked with his hand pointing towards the little boy who stood slightly behind Estelle.

"Oh! This was my cousin's son. Say hi, Kota!"

Kota glared at the class behind Estelle before grabbing the girl's hand and glowering even harder. Estelle raised an eyebrow in surprise at his action but pointedly ignored the warmth she felt in her soul.

Midoriya walked up to Kota and introduced himself. "Hey there! I'm Midoriya. I'm from UA high hero course. It's nice to meet you!"

Kota let go of Estelle's hand in favour of smashing his tiny fist in Midoriya's nether regions. Estelle laughed at Midoriya's pain-filled expression.

"What a low blow! You fiend of a child! A punch to the scrotum is unforgivable!" Iida yelled out as he clutched onto a grey Midoriya on the verge of passing out.

Kota glared up at the two high school students and stated, "The last thing I want is to hang out with some wannabe heroes!"

"But you were with Estelle!? A wannabe hero!" Kirishima shouted out, confused.

"I don't have to explain myself to you guys," Kota responded whilst he walked back up to the teenage girl and held her hand once again.

Estelle smirked down at the boy. "Nice punch! Put your thumb out of your fist next time. It'll hurt even more."

'Don't tell him that!'

"The brat's got spunk," Bakugo commented with a half-smile.

"He's like a mini version of you", Todoroki commented.

"What are you talking about!? You need to shut your mouth before I blast you all the way to hell!"

"Yeah. Sure."

Ignoring Aizawa's words to the class. Estelle stood behind her teacher and casually raised her hand in a high five towards Kota. The little boy smiled slightly and jumped up to slam his hand against hers. Estelle faked pain, shaking her hand with a wince, causing Kota to grin wide and proud.

'That is so cute! But so out of character!'

Estelle stepped out into the hot springs in her towel. The girls smiled at the fact she had joined them. Walking to the side, Estelle dropped her towel and dipped into the pool with a relieved sigh.

"You have such a rocking bod!" Ashido hollered out to Estelle, allowing the boys to hear across the wall.

"Uh, thanks? I just train, is all."

"Yeah, but still! I'd kill to have curves like that! How did you get all those scars anyway?" Ashido continued.

The girls and boys instantly stiffened at the question, their eyes betraying their thoughts of 'What the hell were you thinking?' towards the pink female. Everyone had seen them at the sports festival when her shirt was burned off. Through Estelle looked as if she didn't care. It was clearly something that was classed as out of bounds - or so they thought.

"It was from training", Estelle responded blandly.

"That must have been some tough training!" Tsu jumped in.

"Yeah, it was. I guess it's a good thing. I'm skilled at what I do."

"That's true, plus you look badass!" Hagakure complimented.

"Thanks", Estelle blushed slightly, turning her head to the side. She wasn't used to compliments like that.

"No way! You're blushing. You look so cute!" Ashido noticed since she was the closest to the distant girl.

"Alright, alright! Enough mushy crap! I'll stab you all!" Estelle growled, hiding her embarrassment from being caught.

"Ha. Ha," The girls laughed nervously with a sweatdrop. Guess they pushed it too far.

The conversation was interrupted when Kota turned to Mineta, who was attempting to climb up the wall. The girls cheered Kota for putting the pest in his place. Unfortunately, his accidental peep at the girls made him slip and fall to the other side of the wall.

Estelle immediately shot up to the sky to chase after the falling boy. She hung her head over the edge of the wall in worry. "Is he okay?"

"He's alright! He just passed out from the fall, but I've caught him. I'm taking him inside."

"I'll meet you both once I'm dressed."

"Uh. Sure."

A few boys held their noses at the boob she accidentally flashed.

Estelle walked into the room and saw Midoriya in a towel. Her fingers twitched from the view, and she announced herself by closing the door. Interrupting the conversation, Estelle walked up to Kota with a concerned expression. Mandalay quickly put her worries to rest.

"He's alright. Just out cold."

Estelle sighed in relief and nodded.

"He doesn't like heroes very much, does he? I admit it's weird to me. Everyone I know wants to be a hero. It's my dream. So, it's just wild to think that a kid his age is against heroes. Hates them even."

Mandalay leaned back on her chair with her eyes closed. "How observant. He isn't alone, of course. Many in society don't approve of us. If he had a normal childhood, maybe he would have admired heroes like you did growing up."

Midoriya gasped back. "What happened?"

Pixie bob shuffled into the room holding a tray and jumped into the conversation with a sombre expression.

"It was Mandalay's cousins. Kota's parents were heroes too. But they were murdered; it was two years ago. They were killed while protecting citizens. Perhaps the most respectable way for any hero to die, but how do you explain that his parents died honourable deaths to a child? They were his entire world. To Kota, his parents left him behind. All the while being praised for their sacrifice. That's why he doesn't like them, after all. If his parents were not heroes, then they would still be here."

Estelle slumped against the wall from the chunk of information thrown at her. Understanding bloomed in her heart from the explanation, and she felt for the poor boy. Mandalay had then turned towards her with an empathetic smile. "It's why he clung to you so quickly because you said you weren't a hero."

Midoriya gasped at Mandalay's words and turned his head to Estelle. His eyes scanned her in hopes of understanding what he had just heard. Estelle looked down at the ground in thought. The two heroes also struggled to comprehend her words.

"You heard that, huh?" Estelle muttered, her hair over her eyes. The two female heroes nodded silently, but Estelle didn't explain. She just shifted and left the room noiselessly, the door closing behind her with a soft thud.

'You just keep popping up with more question marks, Estelle. When will you begin to open up?' Midoriya studied with a heavy heart as he gazed at the door.