Class 1-A was up bright and early at 5:30 AM. Ben loudly yawned, not even bothering to cover his mouth while Hilda rubbed her belly, wishing she could at least be given breakfast first.
"Good morning everyone," Aizawa greeted, turning around to finally greet them. "Today, we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest. The goal of this training camp is to increase everyone's strength, and with that, to allow everyone to obtain their Provisional Licenses. It is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming real by the minute."
Aizawa took out a softball and tossed it over to Katsuki, who immediately recognized it from the Quirk Apprehension Test.
"Additionally, during this week, you are being allowed emergency usage of Quirks should any incidents happen. Bakugou, your previous record, from right when you started UA, was 705.2 meters. Let's see how much you improved since that day."
"So just throw it like before, huh? Got it." Katsuki said before throwing the ball, releasing an explosion at the apex of the throw. "DIE!"
Much to Class 1-A's surprise, Katsuki only seemed to get 709.4 meters.
"Huh? It's less than I thought..." Sero commented.
"It's been three months since you all started high school. Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been on a mental and technical level, with some increase in stamina. But the Quirks themselves have not improved that much," Aizawa lectured as understanding began to dawn upon the students.
"So this isn't about improving our physical strength, but about increasing the power of our Quirks." Penny deduced.
Aizawa nodded. "We'll be pushing you so hard you'll feel like you're dying. But by the end of it... You'll feel as strong as a real Pro Hero."
"This is gonna suck..." Ben muttered.
"Well...let's do this, people!" Izuku said, determination clear in his eyes.
"Looking sharp there, darling." Garie purred as she and the other Autoscorers plus Saiko approached Tomura, who was trying out some new threads.
Tomura was wearing a new long black overcoat placed over a fresh black t-shirt. Red straps could be seen on the back, crimson, scraggly, and sinister. He was only wearing four of his severed hands now. One for each shoulder, one for his face, and one for the back of his head.
"I still haven't found out what sort of villain identity I want, but for now I'm starting to feel renewed," Tomura noted, turning his Gun Arm briefly into a shotgun and his Blade Arm into a machete before changing them both back into hands. "Did the supplies arrive as intended?"
"Yup, everything is all set up!" Nnoitra chuckled before frowning. "Still, I hate all this waiting. Why can't we attack now?"
"Come on, Nnoitra, the boss said waiting often leads to the best opportunity, so let's just wait." Thrax chuckled. "Could just save your life one day, you know."
"Indeed, I'm amazed you haven't gotten yourself killed with your bloodlust yet." Rudbornn sighed.
"Don't go at each other's throats, you imbeciles." Tommyrod scoffed. "It is pathetic of you as esteemed Villains."
"How about you keep your opinions out of matters that don't involve you, Tommyrod." Thrax snorted.
"Come on, let's not start a fight, you guys," Tomura said, trying to placate his new teammates. "Besides, we all know who would win in the end."
"Yeah, I want to wait for the blood to start coming in. That way, Senpai will be pleased~!" Saiko giggled impishly as she clung to Tomura's side, who merely grinned.
"Time to send a warning shot to the world. This time the League of Villains is serious."
Class 1-B was a bit surprised when they heard what was in store for them at the training camp.
"We're focusing on our Quirks?" Itsuka asked.
Vlad King nodded. "Class 1-A is already training, which means you need to catch up."
"Damn, what sort of hazing did they go through this time?" Hitoshi asked.
"The Eraserhead Brand Special, that's what." Rebecca sarcastically answered.
"Speaking of hazing, Shinso, your training partner is already at the camp." Vlad King said. "I hope you're ready because you'll need to focus on your Quirk to be able to keep up with her."
"So we're supposed to have individual training?" Setsuna asked.
"Sort of. Quirks are like muscle fibers. When overused, they break and become thicker and stronger." Vlad King explained. "We'll be pushing you all to your limits, and we'll break through it! Do your best to live through this hell."
"If it's to get stronger and all the better to help my friends, I shall do so!" Mipha said with determination in her gentle eyes.
"Ay, that's the spirit!" Nia laughed, patting the Zora Girl on the back.
"Ugh, this doesn't involve jogging, does it?" Nimona groaned.
As they reached the camp, Hitoshi suddenly got tackled by a young girl maybe a year older than him. She had ash-blonde hair tied up in two stringy buns with amber cat-like eyes and fangs.
"Hey there, cutie!"
Hitoshi blinked in confusion as the rest of Class 1-B turned to Vlad King for some kind of explanation.
"This is my adopted daughter, The one I told you about. Her name is Himiko Toga, and her Quirk is called [Transform]. It lets her change her appearance through the ingestion of someone's blood. I should warn you right now, Shinso, she's already collected samples from all of Class 1-A. Class 1-B, each of you will be providing a sample as well."
"Ah great, I hate needles!" Nimona whined childishly.
"Suck it up, ya big baby," Awase said dryly.
Meanwhile, Class 1-A was going through their training regiments. Katsuki was swearing up a storm as he kept plunging his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands, launching a powerful explosion between immersions.
Shoto was panting heavily as he unleashed alternating ice and fire to regulate the temperature of the drum bath he was bathing in. This was to adapt his body to freezing and also to better manipulate the temperature of his fire.
Sero was howling in pain as he kept producing more tape than normal and at a continuous rate in order to increase his tape's capacity, strength, and shooting speed.
Oujiro kept slapping his tail against Eijirou's hardened body to increase the strength and durability of both their Quirks.
Kouji was doing vocal exercises to build up his vocal cords and improve his confidence.
Yuuga kept firing off his laser over and over to increase the range and make his stomach adapt to the pain more easily.
Fumikage was screaming bloody murder as he was kept in total darkness in order to improve his control over Dark Shadow.
Ochako was working on getting her inner ear used to zero gravity by bouncing around in a large hamster ball in order to increase the amount of weight she can nullify and become less nauseous when doing so.
Tenya was doing hardcore long-distance running with his engines constantly active in order to increase his leg strength, stamina, and engine speed.
Tsuyu was doing a full-body workout to improve all of her muscles, including her tongue by using it as a rope to scale the side of a nearby mountain.
Rikidou was doing weight training while also scarfing down all the sweets he could eat in order to increase his sugar-buff capacity. Momo was sitting with him, doing calorie training in order to improve the amount of objects she could produce in a single sitting as well as shorten the time needed to create them.
Kyouka was using her jacks to pierce through solid rock to strengthen them and improve her audio control. Mina was doing the same with her acid by constantly producing it, in order to improve both how caustic the acid could be as well as control said caustic level and also increase her acid immunity.
Minoru was just laughing through the pain as he kept pulling off more of his hairballs in order to increase the strength of his scalp so he wouldn't bleed.
Tooru and Shouji trained together by having the former stay invisible for increased periods of time while the latter tried to track her down.
Denki was pumping out more electricity through a high-capacity battery in order to increase his wattage limit. The poor guy's normally ditzy-sounding wheys when he went over his limit sounded pretty uncomfortable mixed with his screams of pain.
Ben and Izuku were just clashing against each other, throwing every single one of their powers they could think of in order to increase their strengths and improve on their on-the-fly thinking.
Kirby was changing between different Copy Abilities and using them on a large training dummy, coming up with new moves and also improving her strength and fighting capabilities.
Penny, who had already copied everybody in her class' Quirks with her Buster Arsenal, was simply taking turns joining each one in their training, hoping to improve her various weapons' capabilities.
Finally, Hilda was put through the most severe injuries her body could sustain, increasing [Optimal Condition]'s regeneration speed while also using the strength increase to improve his control of OFA.
Rin was understandably freaking out. "If this is what they have to go through... Then what are we in for?"
"The idea is to maximize your power and focus on the parts of your body needed to manifest your Quirks." Vlad King explained.
"Think Aizawa-Sensei will loan me some eye drops?" Hitoshi asked, knowing that his eyes were definitely gonna be strained to their limit. After all, his Quirk required not only his voice but also eye contact.
"This sort of training is normally done gradually, but right now we don't have time for that. Not with the knowledge that the League of Villains is starting to pick up steam." Aizawa said as he came over. "And you guys need to catch up to Class 1-A if you hope to be effective teammates when the time comes."
"Well, that's not fair since Rebecca, Mipha, and Nimona got to help them out during the I-Island Incident!" Juuzo pointed out. "The rest of us were left out of the action!"
"Hey, don't start thinking like that fat-headed prick Monoma, Honenuki!" Nia chided, making the skeleton-faced boy wince apologetically.
"There's still a total of 48 unique Quirks to think about." Yui calmly pointed out. "How are the teachers going to keep track of them all?"
"That's why they're here."
"That's right! The four of us are one!" Exclaimed a voice from behind them.
Class 1-B turned around as one to follow the source of the voice.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!" Mandalay began, winking at her audience.
"We've come to lend a paw and help!" A new woman in yellow with green hair said.
"Coming out of nowhere..." declared the only male member of the Pussycats with a deep voice, Tiger.
"Surprisingly cute and catlike!" grinned Pixie-Bob
"Wild, Wild...Pussycats!" Called out the four-hero team, finishing their catchphrase with complete poses.
"My Quirk is [Search]! I can know all the info about up to a hundred people by just looking at them! I can find their location and weaknesses, too!" Ragdoll, the girl in yellow, explained.
"You all know my [Earth Flow] Quirk," Pixie-Bob said. "With it, I'll be able to make the perfect training ground for the entire class!"
"My Quirk is called [Telepath]. I can use it to give advice to multiple people at once!"
"I'm here to beat you guys to a pulp while acting as the perfect punching bag with my [Pliabody] Quirk, with which I can stretch and flatten my body!" Tiger finished. "Each of you with strength-based Quirks, go and join Yasakani for boot camp!"
"Speaking of which, Shinso, your training will involve a special scavenger hunt using GPS-tracked marbles," Aizawa said as he turned to his private pupil. "Toga will be tracking you while you do this, and the only way to stop her is going to be using your Quirk. You'll have to focus on being able to brainwash her without her needing to answer you. Failing that, you'll have to work on your vocal cords and sight."
And so, Class 1-B joined Class 1-A in the hellish training regiment. Nia began going through a cat-themed obstacle course that Pixie-Bob conjured for her while Mipha went into the middle of a large nearby lake and began meditating in the center, controlling the water as she did so to protect herself from some Mud Beasts that Pixie-Bob summoned to attack her.
Nimona began switching between various different animals at will in order to decrease the time it took to transform and change forms as well. As for Rebecca, Pixie-Bob created a targeting range for her to unleash all her bio-cybernetic arsenal on.
Ibara was reciting various rites from The Bible to keep her mind off the strenuous task of manipulating her vines to do multiple tasks, all while periodically cutting her vines off and regrowing them. She had a water bottle next to her to rehydrate herself, as separating her hair from her scalp and regrowing it dehydrated her.
Sen, Togaru, and Itsuka had joined Eijirou and Oujiro's sparring match with Togaru clashing his blades against Eijirou's hardened body, both to increase their sharpness and for Eijirou to improve his defense against bladed weapons. As for Itsuka, she wailed at Eijirou with her big fists in order to increase their endurance and hitting power as well, Sen doing the same with the piercing capabilities of his spinning body parts.
Tetsutetsu put himself in close vicinity to Shoto's training area in order to increase his steel's resistance to the elements while also sparring with Jurota, who grew into his full beastly size in order to learn how to control his wild instincts better.
Kuroiro had been thrown into the same dark den Fumikage was in and the screams of terror doubled as Kuroiro did his best to try and help his classmate contain his sentient Quirk.
Juuzo worked on extending the reach he could soften things by keeping his hands pressed down on the ground and quickly softening and re-softening them, sweating a bit as he did so. He also worked to make traps while Pixie-Bob aided him by manipulating the terrain to help him get used to changing areas.
Awase went to where Rikidou and Momo were training, using the objects Momo created to increase the amount of items he could weld together; how quickly he could un-weld them; and learn which materials were compatible or not with others when welding.
Pony continuously fired off her horns while learning how to try and control them after she fired them. Shouda switched between focusing his attention on Pony, doubling the impacts her horns made, and sparring with Tetsutetsu, punching and doubling the impacts on him in order to increase the force of the second impact.
Kinoko was given a private clearing to let her spores run wild so she could learn how to control when she could grow her mushrooms and what kinds she wanted to grow. Considering she was very knowledgable in all the different species of fungi, she was putting her brain power on maximum in order to keep focused.
Manga joined Kouji, training his vocal cords to release bigger onomatopoeia and also strengthen his throat so it didn't hurt as much from overuse.
Bondo joined Sero, continuously spraying glue off the side of the cliff to increase its capacity, strength, and shooting speed.
Yui and Reiko were paired together, Yui continuously changing the size of various objects while Reiko levitated them around and tried to keep a firm telekinetic hold on them.
Setsuna was working on splitting her body into more pieces in order to extend her range as well as better control every individual part. Izuku offered to help her with training by using the power of the [Chop-Chop Fruit].
Finally, Rin was covering his body in scales and then using them against various different solid air shapes Tsuburaba blew out, the boys training together to both increase the strength and durability of Rin's scales as well as the speed of how fast he could shoot them out, and increase Tsuburaba's lung capacity while also helping him come up with new shapes for his solid air besides just barriers.
By the time dinner came around, the entire class, both 1-A and 1-B, were completely exhausted. They had stopped only for 30 minutes to get lunch in before continuing their training. As they made their way to the open cafeteria area, they saw raw ingredients stacked up on a table.
"Now, remember what I said yesterday? 'Today's the only day we'll be doing stuff for you,'!" grinned Pixie Bob as she presented the raw ingredients.
"At least make your own food!" smirked Ragdoll, waving her left paw up and down. "We've chosen something rather easy to make. Curry!"
The crowd of almost-dead students grunted in reply, causing Ragdoll to laugh.
"You all look exhausted! But that doesn't mean you can make any old sloppy cat food!"
Tenya perked up, realizing that this was another form of training pro heroes, before eagerly trying to lead the other students in making curry. Mipha and Penny slowly joined in his enthusiasm.
As students slowly began to assign themselves roles, Izuku had been ready to head towards the chopping crew where Momo and the others were when Katsuki got to him first, pushing him towards the cooking area.
"If we're making food, I want it to eat something fucking edible," Katsuki barked. "You're taking the lead as the head chef. I'll lead the prep work and cutting."
"Oh boy!" Kirby cheered as she joined Katsuki, now dressed as a chef. "Cook Kirby is here, people!"
"Alright Gordon Ramsey, surprise us," Nimona said playfully.
Katsuki didn't reply with words, but rather with action. Grabbing a carrot and a knife, he diced the carrot into perfect portions in just a few seconds before going on to the next one, Kirby joining in to aid in the prep work.
"You were pretty apt about the Gordon Ramsey bit..." Denki noted as Nimona gawked in shock.
"Jeez! I was just JOKING!"
"Kaachan, focus on onions first! I want to use it to help tenderize the meat," Izuku ordered as he requested Shoto to help light the fires. "Julienne the onions!"
"You heard the nerd, get to cutting the fucking onions first!" Katsuki barked as he grabbed an onion and started to julienne them, "Cut it like I'm doing it."
"You got it, darling!" Kirby said, clanging a pot and pan together. "Come on people, chop, chop!"
Under both Izuku and Katsuki's instructions, a large batch of curry was quickly made. The students quickly sat down, giving a word of thanks, (or in Ibara's case, a prayer), before taking the first bite. A small pause of silence passed through them all before...
"This is delicious!" Hilda cried, prompting everyone to start scarfing down the food.
Pixie-Bob and Ragdoll, taking in the cat nature of curiosity, decided to try a plate themselves. They examined its contents first. Potatoes that had been cut into perfect sizes despite having been cooked, caused the potatoes to shrink. Carrots in bite-size pieces, meat not massacred by the students. Taking all that in, the two took a bite and found themselves in a world of flavors.
"They can cook," grinned Pixie Bob, looking over to Izuku and Katsuki. "I call dibs!"
"Try it and I'll explode your face, you cradle-robbing bitch!" Katsuki snarled. "I thought you got it through your thick skull that I'm spoken for!"
As Izuku was quickly eating with the others, he was using one hand to scoop food into his mouth while the other holding his hero notebook, reviewing the new notes he had written.
"Izuku, please put down the book and eat properly," Mipha gently chastised as she pushed Izuku's notebook down.
"S-Sorry, Mipha..."
As everyone was eating, Ben suddenly perked up and turned to see Kota heading into the forest all by himself. Thinking only for a second, Ben inhaled the remaining food on his dish, grabbed a new plate filled with curry, and went to follow Kota.
"Ben, where are you going?" Penny asked.
"I'm just getting some fresh air. I'll be right back."
Kota took a deep breath as he looked up to the stars. Behind him was his secret hideout with a cave and a clear view of the forest and the sky. As he looked up, his stomach growled at him, yearning for sustenance, but he ignored it as he sat down.
"Thought you might be hungry," Ben said as he suddenly appeared, shocking Kota.
"How'd you find this place? It's supposed to be my secret hangout."
"I followed your footsteps," Ben explained, "Your aunt was calling you for dinner, but it looked like you didn't want to join us. So I thought I'd leave something with you instead."
"Thanks, I guess..." Kota scowled as he accepted the plate.
"Gotta say, you've got a pretty nice view up here," Ben said as he admired the view of the forest.
"Getting all into improving your Quirk. It's gross," Kota scoffed. "You want to show off your power that badly?"
"Is that how your parents were?" Ben asked.
He wasn't sure if that was the right question to ask or the wrong one, but it did cause Kota to start shoveling down his food.
"You know, I actually heard about what happened to the Water Hose Duo a long time ago. My adoptive mother is Midnight, she was good friends with them. She was devastated to hear about their deaths." Ben sighed. "To be honest, I think the people who told you about their deaths worded things wrong."
"Everyone's crazy. Calling each other stupid names like 'hero' or 'villain' and killing each other... Talking about Quirks and stuff... It's because they're all showing off that it ended up like that... Stupid..." Kota growled.
"So it's not just about the heroes and villains... but rather society itself," Ben hummed to himself before turning to Kota. "Tell me something, kid...Do you really hate heroes or the Quirks that led to this society of heroes?
"Wha-? Heroes, of course, you idiot!" Kota shouted. "Why won't' you freaking get out of here!?"
"Curiosity, I guess," Ben shrugged. "If that's true and you truly hate heroes... does that mean you hate your Aunt Mandalay? And your parents, too?"
Kota froze at that question. Did he hate his auntie and parents? His first reaction was to say yes, but as soon as that popped up, his heart lurched and twisted against him. Sure his parents were heroes, but they always made time for him.
Even Mandalay and her teammates, despite their busy schedule and no training with raising children whatsoever, always made time for him no matter what it was. Did that mean he hated Quirks? Despite what he claimed, he was always practicing his Quirk, [Water Gun], in private in his secret hideout against a wall that was just around the corner.
As his mind whirled around this question, his rage grew until he could no longer hold it in.
"BASTARD!"
Kota threw a punch at Ben with all his strength. The Elemental made no attempts to dodge and allowed the punch to hit his face...which turned into smoke as Kota's fist swept through it. Kota continued to wail and flail at Ben for a good three minutes before finally getting tired.
"Honestly kid, your logic is flawed. What kind of hero aims to kill a villain? And where does that leave people who aim to rescue people rather than just capture bad guys? You're letting the fact that your parents were heroes who died get to you and painting the wrong picture with it. And not a lot of heroes use their Quirks when acting as heroes. Some don't even have the kind of Quirks that would help in a fight, they get by on grit, spit, and a whole lot of blood and sweat."
Ben turned and walked off calmly, leaving Kota to catch his breath before getting up and watching the Elementalist leave but not before he said some final words to the boy.
"Your parents chose to fight the villain to not only protect the present but the future. One where nobody else would lose family to villains. If you reject this and close off from people who want to help you... you're only hurting yourself."
August was looking over the group that would be attacking the Training Camp which had been dubbed the Vanguard Action Squad. They included Parten, Airi, Saiko, Spinner, Mustard, Dabi, Mr. Compress, Nnoitra, Thrax, Vetto, Tommyrod, and a few other individuals who hadn't properly introduced themselves yet.
"It seems we have quite the party. The rest of us will stay behind and act as mission control as well as help rescue you in case things become overwhelming." The old disciple of Thanoseid noted.
A large masked man in a hooded cloak had his hand twitching impatiently. There was another, lanky man, his entire body covered in a black full-body straightjacket, the only visible part being his mouth, which was held by hooks.
"Can you assholes just let me loose already?! I'm too excited to sit around anymore!" The large masked man snapped.
"Can someone tranquilize this guy?" Parten asked, digging his pinky through his ear in a bored tone. "He's giving me a freakin' headache."
"Just grin and bear with it..." Airi said to her cousin.
Dabi chuckled. "The original League of Villains made a mistake using gutter trash to attack the USJ. Better to use a small group of elites."
"Don't act so cocky. Right now the students of UA are training for war. They're well aware that peace is soon to run out, so they're training even as we speak." Vetto warned. "We may face intense opposition from them. Personally, I look forward to seeing how strong they've become."
Thrax nodded. "We attack near the end of the week. Remember, we're supposed to take all the targets alive."
August closed his eyes, nodding his head as he knew that this would make or break the League of Villains' threat. No matter the outcome, things would not be the same...
The League of Villains is prepared to strike while our young heroes are training! What twists and turns will come out of this, knowing that the students of UA are preparing for war, just waiting for their enemies to pull the trigger? Tune in to the next chapter!