Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia or Fate/Stay Night
...
The scene that 1-B encountered when they arrived at the training grounds was unlike anything they had been prepared for. In front of their eyes, their peers in 1-A suffered through individually crafted tasks that were designed to strengthen their individual quirks through almost torturous methods. As they scanned through the pained faces and agonizing cries, there was one person who was absent whom many of the class were desperate to see.
After all, how did you improve a quirk like that?
The student in question was far off from the campsite, currently sitting in a clearing with his only movements being the rising and falling of his chest with long, deep breaths. Shirou had spent the previous night scouring his mind for what it was that he could improve. He had spent decades honing his craft and since having returned to this younger body he was able to fight like he had when he was in his prime.
So, physically there was little more he could do outside of muscle growth but given his level of reinforcement he really didn't need to increase his strength. This of course had led him to think of his reinforcement and more importantly, his defence.
His demonstration against the heroes who had witnessed him a while back hadn't been much to think about. Rho Aias had been able to defend him against every attack that had been launched at him; however, would Rho Aias have been able to stand the ridiculous strength that All Might possessed? While it very well could have survived a single punch, the shield wasn't invincible. The speed at which All Might was capable of launching those powerful strikes would wither away at the greatest shield in his possession. He didn't know how many blows it would take, but it was inevitable that it would break at some point.
That left his reinforcement; which, as recently proven, wasn't as strong as it could be. While he had been able to maintain it for a good deal of the battle, it did rely on the same power supply as his tracing. While it was vast in depth, it was not an infinite resource.
Thus here he was, sitting in a clearing focusing on his reinforcement. Every muscle fibre, every inch of bone, every skin cell, every bit of his being was currently being strengthened by his reinforcement. At this current moment, only the strongest of attacks could harm him. The concentration needed for this however was straining and the sheer thought of this becoming second nature was maddening. To reach this level during the heat of battle was theoretically impossible.
Which was why he found this challenge worthwhile. This was a state that he had never accomplished before and to so much as to try and take a step like this would be incredibly difficult. Diverting some manner of mana to tracing a weapon would be maddening on his concentration. To bring forth the strength of a Noble Phantasm would be ludicrous.
Thus, he had his goal for the end of the training camp.
...
"You've got your eyes on him, don't you," said Aizawa, looking at one of the members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats.
"Aww, are you worried about your kitten," said Ragdoll playfully before righting herself. "You don't have to worry, the only time when I won't see them is when they go to the bathroom."
Aizawa stared at Ragdoll for several moments before rubbing at his eyes. It made sense that she wouldn't watch teenagers engage in moments of personal hygiene or when they were relieving themselves. He honestly didn't have any retort to that. There was no imminent danger nearby so there was no reason to track them down through every second of the day.
"So where is he?" asked Aizawa.
Ragdoll pointed off deep into the forest. "He's about fifteen miles that way," she said, tilting her body to the side as she did so.
"Fifteen miles," mused Aizawa. Considering the dangerous nature of his power, it was understandable that Shirou had run off at the stupid speed he was capable of and isolated himself from where he may accidentally injure another one of the students.
It did mean however that they would have to wait for him to return as opposed to sending a message out to get him. Given the incident the previous day, he sincerely doubted that Mandalay would try to reach for him telepathically again. Alternatively he could send Iida out into the woods but for the speedster to correctly judge how far fifteen miles was while navigating their way through the dense forest was dangerous in it's own way. Last thing he needed was for him to injure his ankle on an exposed tree root, leaving him stranded. He knew that was a worse case scenario but at the end of the day, if there was anybody on this training camp who was fully capable of looking after themselves it was definitely him.
He silently wondered what kind of dangerous acts Shirou was engaging in order to better himself.
...
Shirou sat in silence, one with the world as creatures of all shapes and sizes surrounded him, some curious as to what this human was doing. Others merely ate at the grass.
...
Midoriya skidded lightly from the blow that Tiger had landed on him. The damage he had taken had been minimal however, having leapt backwards when he had seen the blow coming, mitigating a good amount of the damage.
"Your instincts are good," growled Tiger in his menacing tone that in no way suited the genre of the rest of his teammates.
Once upon a time, Midoriya likely would have started stammering at the praise and consequently lowered his guard and making himself vulnerable for a follow up attack. Now though he remained focused on the task ahead, weaving his way around the ultra flexible limb of Tiger. Lashing out with a kick, Midoriya struck nothing but air as Tiger bent his body out of the way. Sensing a counter coming, Midoriya pushed himself to the side and out of range.
"You're a clever little kitten aren't you," stated Tiger as he relaxed himself momentarily. "Your knack for combat is noticeable and you don't blindly charge in, instead opting to wait for and choose when to strike at openings. What this tactic lacks however is speed. The speed necessary to cleanly strike at the openings you are waiting for. So come at me faster now little kitten."
Midoriya simply nodded, focusing on the energy flowing through his body. It was time to see if he could bump his control of One for All up a percent or two.
...
Bakugo let out a vicious roar as he thrust his hands into the air, giant explosions bursting forth from each palm before he plunged them into the drum of boiling water once more. Groaning under the strain, the vicious student tossed a glance to the left where the half and half bastard was transforming the very landscape around him from an icy wasteland to a bloody inferno.
He didn't blame the gnats from the other class from backing as far away from the constantly changing conditions as possible, not wanting to get caught up in the destructive force that the half and half bastard was throwing out on a whim. Gritting his teeth together, Bakugo ripped his hands out of the water before shooting an explosion high into the air once more. However, instead of the widespread blasts he had been launching out over and over again, this one was different.
Bakugo's blast ascended far higher than anything else he had done thus far but the width was significantly smaller. It didn't mean that it was any less dangerous by any stretch of the imagination. This was an attack designed to destroy a single bastard as opposed to a mob of weaklings.
Plunging his hands back into the scalding water, Bakugo ground his teeth against one another as he prepared his next blast. There was no way that he was going to let anyone's strength grow more than he did. Absolutely no bloody way.
...
Stain leaned against the corner of the room as he watched Rin play with her now toy. If her intention was to infuriate the enemy then when they waltzed in he had little doubt that there would be an outrage at what they were likely to see. He couldn't wait for it.
Of course, they weren't going in just yet. They held the psychological advantage. The longer that the Meta Liberation Army went without news from the person who they knew as Curious, the better. It didn't matter whether or not they received good or bad news, so long as they received something. Hence they were ensuring that nothing was being given for as long as they could.
Make them sweat it out. Were they dead? Was their correspondent dead? Had the officials gotten involved? Was their secret out?
Any news would have been better than the fact that they hadn't had a peep from the person they foolishly had sent off to their lair. Still though, his swords craved blood and he hoped that Rin chose to act sooner rather than later.
...
Dabi rubbed at the back of his neck as he overlooked the forest, the people under his instruction standing close by. Along with the tasks that they had been given, it was clear that this was a test set by the League itself. The Nomu that had been brought along was as loyal as could be but it was effectively a dog on a leash with no capability of doing anything without instruction.
The rest of the people that he had been allocated command of were each a special breed of crazy. Himiko Toga had been there when he had been introduced to the league, while Twice, Mr Compress and Magne had come shortly after. Muscular, Moonfish and Mustard had been brought in at the last minute and frankly he had no real clue as to who they were or what they were like.
If they managed to get past the upcoming conflict he would possibly be bothered getting to know them better. Still not likely but a possibility nonetheless.
Then there was the swordswoman of the group.
Unlike the other newbies who seemingly wished just to create chaos, there was a more terrifying aura about this one. It wasn't clear why she had joined the group in the first place and she didn't even have a criminal record that he was aware of. That wasn't to say that she didn't look the part. Heck, he'd call her stereotypical almost except that he knew that it was best not to antagonize someone who could separate his head from his body.
What little skin he could see was pale, almost deathly so. It stood out in stark contrast to the black of her dress and the dark purple armour enclosed protectively over her vital areas. Her eyes were covered by a visor the same colour as her armour and how she was capable of seeing out of it was beyond his knowledge.
Then of course there was the sword. He wasn't someone who really cared about the craftsmanship of a weapon but he had to admit that it looked truly terrifying in nature. How a sword could be completely black to begin with was strange enough, let alone the blood red markings seemingly engraved across the length.
She, like the rest, had been given a specific target to track down tonight and he couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for this guy. He didn't know what this Shirou guy had done to piss off Shigaraki but to send this woman directly after them meant that there definitely was some kind of vendetta there.
That kid was definitely going to die.
...
Kid in question currently had a deer nuzzling at his head and was oblivious to the fact that night had even fallen.
...
Re-Destro stared out at the evening sky, a small scowl across his face. The son of Destro had hoped that he would have heard something from Curious now, even if it was from a news source confirming her death. Skeptic currently had a vast number of cameras constantly targeted on her last known location but even over the days since she had entered, not a single person had stepped outside.
Normally, he would have believed that she had died a glorious death and had taken out Rin and her accomplice had she been unable to convince them to join her side. Explosions of the magnitude that Curious was able to create with however often caused a great deal of noise, enough to alert nearby civilians who instinctively summoned heroes and the police to investigate. Since nothing of the sort had occurred it made it difficult to judge what it was that was happening.
Worse case scenario was that they were torturing her relentlessly but even then, she would have done her best to cause her own body to detonate and once again, not a sound had been heard. Given the old state of the building there was little chance that it was soundproof and the odds that whatever accomplice Rin had at her side could manipulate sound waves was unlikely, but not an impossibility.
If she was dead, he couldn't help but blame himself. He had been the one to send her into the lion's den without knowing all the details. It just went to show that having a majority of the information at one's disposal did not mean that they were prepared for every possibility.
Allowing a sigh to escape his lips, he decided that it would be best to get Skeptic to organize a funeral for Curious, getting Trumpet to rally the people to unite at the loss of one of their own. It was unfortunate but he had to believe that the worst had occurred and act accordingly. Were she to make contact...
As if his thought process had triggered it, his phone began to ring despite the lateness of the hour. Pulling the device out of his pocket, he answered and placed the phone to his ear.
"Oh, that seemed fast, were you expecting a call at this hour," said the voice on the other side of the line in an almost sing-song tone.
"Only the most privileged of individuals..."
"Enough with the pompous attitude boy," said the voice on the other side, cutting Re-Destro off. He honestly didn't know what enraged him more, the fact that he had been so rudely interrupted or the sheer thought that he had been referred to merely as 'boy.' "Simple matter is we have your girl here with us."
"So, that must mean I'm talking with the one and only Rin Tohsaka," said Re-Destro, trying to garner some manner of control over the situation.
"Wow, what a wonderful display of ingenuity, would you like a certificate to put on the fridge to show everyone how smart you are?"
Yeah, this was definitely rage starting to swell inside him.
"Three days from now, my accomplice and I are going to return your girl here and I assure you that she hasn't suffered any physical harm while being under my care."
"And why, pray tell, should I trust that?" asked Re-Destro.
"Well if it puts your mind at ease I could put her down right here and now without so much as batting an eyelid but that would ruin the fun now wouldn't it. Hence I'm giving you ample time to prepare for our arrival to make it fair."
Re-Destro took those words onboard as he looked over the horizon, the stars glittering in the sky. He had no idea how self conceited one could be to believe that they were capable of being able to withstand the might of the Meta Liberation Army but they would suffer, he would make sure of that.
"Now, be a good boy and spread the word that we will be arriving by train at nine fifteen, provided there are no delays of course."
"Of course," repeated Re-Destro.
"When we arrive at your tower, we will deliver your girl back to you and politely tell you not to mess with us again. How many of your men you choose to have slaughtered before or after is completely up to you. Keep that in mind now. We'll be seeing you soon boy."
With that the line went dead, mere moments before Re-Destro shattered the phone in a vice like grip. This wench dared challenge him like this. She would suffer for her insolence. Death would be far too kind a punishment and only endless torture at the hands of the Meta Liberation Army would suit her. Not before he used her however to further their plans.
It mattered not the time, he needed to alert his most faithful companions of this development immediately.
There was work to be done.
...
Shirou opened his eyes as rays of sunlight danced across his skin through small gaps in the canopy. All across his body lay numerous leaves which had fallen from the branches above. What was more surprising was that a rabbit had made itself home in the gap between his legs and if he wasn't mistaken it felt as if some sort of bird had tried to make a nest in his hair.
Just how long had he been out here?
The rumbling from his stomach and the sudden drowsiness infecting his system informed him that it had been quite a while.
...
Hope you enjoyed.