Chapter One Hundred

I hadn't lied to Aizawa, as it was hard to get to sleep, but I managed it, meditating, clearing my mind to avoid the 'don't think of pink elephants' issue, which, itself, was something I didn't know how I knew to do, which was the pink elephant, so I cleared my mind of that too, and eventually drifted off, waking the next morning, still a good hour before anyone else.

Everyone was a little sore, but they were clearly getting used to this kind of constant high-end exertion, be it through power use or the mental strain of combat, as opposed to the standard classes we took at UA, with a single combat exercise a week, and maybe a bit of personal training after school. Spirits were relatively high, people still chatting about yesterday's exercise over breakfast, Kendo, Class 1-B's president, coming over to our table.

"Kaminari? I'd like to apologize for Monoma. He's, well, he's normally the worst, but, like, class-worst, not that," she told me. "He thought you were tougher, and ran when you were hurt, and that's not okay."

"It's cool," I told her. "I can shift my toughness, and there's no visible indicator of it, but it's really the backstabbing that was the issue."

"And I've had a talk about that with him too," the martial artist stated, shaking her head. "That boy…"

I reassured her, "As long as he doesn't do it again. We're students, and he can learn. Honestly, it's more Vlad's fault than anything else."

"It, wasn't just Vlad-sensei who told him that his Quirk was, well, something holding him back," the orange-haired girl argued.

"Well, those people weren't instructors at UA, so them being wrong isn't as big of a deal," I countered.

Kendo thought about that, grimaced, then nodded. "Yeah… but, are you sure you're not mad? Because I would be."

Before I could tell her that I wasn't lying, Mina spoke up, informing the other girl, "Nah, Itsuka, Sparky's really not holding it against the twerp. He's forgiving like that."

"I mean, he does it again I'm gonna stomp his fucking shit in," I offered, sparking a little. "But everyone deserves a second chance."

"Yeah, see! We're cool!" my girlfriend added, slipping an arm around my waist and giving me a hug.

"I, uh, yeah," Kendo, a little confused, nodded. "Good." And then she left.

Momo glanced my way, "Denki, are you okay?"

"Yeah," I nodded, giving her a smile. "Kind of looking forward to heading home, to be honest, but I think the camp's been a good thing. Definitely have more things I'd like to work on now!"

"Oh, well that's good!" the dark-haired creationist smiled back. "I don't think I've ever used my Quirk so much!"

"God, same!" Mina sighed, holding out a hand and examining it. "I was worried it'd wreck my nails, and my complexion, but even my pinkies are fine!"

"Isn't that just all of you?" I questioned, giving her a once over, "Though, agreed, you are fine."

My girlfriend giggled, "Thanks, Sparky!" leaning over to kiss me on the cheek.

Soon enough, we were back on the training field, doing what we'd been doing before, though this time they'd advised us not to completely tire ourselves out, as they didn't want us dead on our feet for tonight's activity, one they refused to give us any details about.

With that… suspicious warning, I had to say my mind was only half on my training, but just stressing my two obviously electrical Quirks didn't take that much concentration, especially as I wasn't walking the line between maximum performance and complete failure. That also left me free to watch the others working on their Quirks, focusing on each, in turn, and trying to get a sense of which data-stream came from each source, which was a bit like trying to pick out a single voice from an auditorium full of them, fifty-odd different 'conversations' happening at once, of differing volumes and complexity, almost all of them in foreign languages, each one unique.

Mina's Quirk was the easiest to pick out, as I was 'fluent' in it, able to use it myself, subtly creating a bit of acid on my chest, blending it in with the sweat already there, the active use of it strumming that particular metaphysical stream, tracing it back down to the song of caustic power she was emitting. Momo's was harder, though I'd fucked around with it enough to get a feeling for it, but Factoria's current use of it was so incredibly basic that I only thought I'd been able to pin it down, mostly from how it stopped and started, whenever she took a break, like in an entire concert one violin was just playing the same three notes over and over. Otherwise, it was a background constant hum, a bit like an automated factory floor.

It wasn't really that useful a stream, as I had a feeling I'd feel more when she cut loose and got fancy, but every bit helped.

Toru's info stream was much harder to grab, and using the Quirk to shade my eyes a little let me harmonize with it, but, even then, it was still too faint for me to really pin down, either because she lacked in skill with her own power, which, considering she'd been using it passively for the last several years made sense, or maybe because of some other reason, either way I couldn't be sure, as this shit didn't come with a manual.

If Hagakure's power was hard to pin down, Pixie-Bob's was a solid pillar that I could lean against, the woman using her Quirk to manage things all around us, and her incredible skill with it in stark contrast to my classmate's. I had no idea how she compared to All Might, or my father, as I'd only just started getting a sense of how this thing worked, inundated with a symphony of data-streams like I'd been these last few days, so many that it was like I was hearing the wind after a lifetime of dismissing it as 'just the way things were'.

And then there was Midoriya's.

They really did share a power, and my Psychic Talent agreed, further pushing my own use of OfA, which I'd copied from the Symbol of Peace, forward as I watched him work, sparring with Tiger, the large man rarely using his Quirk, and thus giving me practically nothing related to his 'Pilabody' power, though my Martial Talent was still taking notes.

Deku was working his ass off, and, with a few early leads, had already clearly outpaced his canon self, and me.

On one hand, yeah, even with my advantages there was just no keeping up with that Shonen Protagonist Energy™, but on the other… on the other I was kind of okay with that?

I was in the top five, absolutely, but I didn't care if I was number one, only that I'd made things better.

Chuckling, I noted that, in a way, I was quite like my internship mentor in that respect. Hawks hadn't really been part of the show, at least the bits I'd seen, but while he pushed himself, he was clear on the fact that he gave zero shits about his ranking, instead just wanting to make the world a safer place, one where Heroes could afford to take a few days off now and then, which, well, it resonated with me.

"Kaminari," A gruff voice called, and I turned, seeing Vlad making his way towards me.

Lovely.

Absorbing the power from the battery I was using, I popped out of the iron pole stuck into the ground, turning to face the tall, jacked albino. "Vlad."

"We need to have a chat," he informed me. "I don't know what Eraserhead has been teaching you, but what you did to Monoma crossed the line."

Oh, starting off strong, ignoring the log in your own eye to point out my splinter. "You're right," I replied, and he looked surprised, starting to say something, probably 'good', before I continued, "I should've done like your student did to me, Vlad, and broke his arm, shoulder and ribs. Made sure the bones of his humorous were visibly sticking out of his uniform like mine were, if I wanted to really match him."

"What Monoma did was wrong too," the teacher admitted, grudgingly, like that was somehow a concession to me instead of basic fact, "but this isn't about him, this about you."

I stared at the man, waiting.

"Well?" he questioned, annoyed, the feeling mutual.

"Oh, I was waiting for you to actually tell me what I did wrong," I replied.

I didn't know why, but something about this man was putting my teeth on edge. Probably another buried memory, and one that came with it a sense of pain, loss, and rage, that I struggled to keep a lid on as it surged unexpectedly, a Defense pinging, which seemed to help.

The albino frowned, "You attacked a fellow student."

"You mean in the exercise where we were explicitly allowed to do that?" I replied sarcastically. "Gee wilikers, Batman, I wonder why I might've done that? Truly, it is a riddle for the ages."

"The exercise was over," the Pro declared.

I looked at the man with faux surprise. "Oh, I thought the Pussycats were in charge here, but it was really you all along? Why didn't you say so to start with, Vlad?"

"What? No, they are, but-" he started to argue, as I cut him off.

"Then no, it fucking wasn't over, and I'd know, as I checked," I sneered. "And you were standing right there when I did it. But given how you lied to Monoma about how 'weak' his Quirk was, you blatantly lying to my face about what happened yesterday shouldn't surprise me."

"And then there's that attitude of yours," the white haired man stated, as if that was a counter.

I looked at him, lifting a hand, "So, you're just gonna ignore the fact that you just lied to my face?"

"I didn't lie, the exercise was over!" he insisted, like his insistence, after being proven wrong, after admitting it, somehow changed reality. "It was still going on for the others, but you'd completed it, even with what Monoma did. You're good, Kaminari, but that doesn't excuse how you acted!"

"Have you heard of Endeavor? It kinda does," I shot back. "And you don't get to add extra rules after the fact to make me wrong, Vlad. We had a time limit, after which we were done. Time was still clocking down, ergo, not done." I stared at the man, who was glaring at me, but something didn't add up.

What I did was a bit iffy, I was aware, but other than some light bruising and needed psychological percussive maintenance, Monoma was fine. In fact, what I'd done was specifically in response to a very particular and grievously bad sort of fuckup, so Vlad sure as fuck wasn't worried about me doing it again.

"You need to have more respect for your teachers, boy," the man informed me, talking down to me, as if informing me of the sin I had committed and needed to repent for.

Confused, I checked the inner model of Denki who was… practically having a breakdown over the situation, his response to be a stuttering mess and… to apologize?

What the actual fuck?

And then it clicked.

And I laughed.

"Holy shit! This isn't about Monoma, this is about you!" I scornfully crowed, the clear tightening of his scowl practically shouting to me through his body language that I was correct. "What, did I hurt your fuckin' feelings when I pointed out how you failed that kid? I guess that thin skin of yours pairs well with your Quirk, doesn't it? Oh, but you can verbally beat me around the head and shoulders, and I just better take it like a 'good little kid', Right? Oh, and fuck right off with that 'argument from authority' bullshit, you aren't my fuckin' teacher, Vlad. From what I've seen you aren't a teacher at all."

"That's uncalled for," the man rebuked threateningly, like I gave a shit. "I don't know why you think you can talk to me that way, young man, but you can't, and you need to learn that."

"I don't know why you think you can talk down to me and lie to my face, but you're still doing it, so I guess we're both in the dark," I rebuked in return. "And uncalled for? I mean, I did come to you and accuse you of wrongdoing, wrongdoing which I haven't been able to name, after the matter had been settled-oh, wait, that was you."

By now we were starting to get attention.

"You will treat me with the respect I deserve!" the albino informed me.

I paused, thought about it, then sighed. "I mean, if you insist. Ahem. Go fuck yourself, you sanctimonious excuse for an educator, as you get high off your own ego, and drag down the standards of UA with your very presence!" He started to respond, cutting me off, but I just talked over him, "Homeroom teachers are supposed to help their students, be their mentors, their counselors, and instead, talking with the others in class 1-B, you've left them to spin when it came to their Quirks, treating this like it was a high school and not the goddamned Battle Academy it is! Yeah, Aizawa isn't holding our fuckin' hands, but he doesn't need to, and he's certainly not telling any of us 'Oh, you poor thing, maybe with hard work you can make your fucking power copying Quirk into something useful! Oh, give you suggestions as to how? Nah. My Quirk is so incredibly easy to fucking use that I've never had to think that hard about it, so no one else should have to either!'" I spat.

The look the big man sent me was venomous, but I had All For One sniffing around me, and, in comparison, the self-blood bender was fucking cute. "You think you could do a better job?" he accused.

I stared at him.

"Well?" he demanded.

"Oh, wow, you might've not been lying after all, I'm sorry," I apologized, earnestly, confusing the man, "I didn't realize you were deaf. Here, let me help you," I said, speaking slowly, and loudly. "I. Already. Am."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Aizawa approaching, an 'Are you fucking kidding me?' look on his face, and one I heartily empathized with.

I wasn't the only one who noticed him, as Vlad turned, angrily ordering, "Eraserhead! Get your student under control!"

The power nullifier didn't say a word as he reached us, turning to me and asking, "Kaminari?"

"Dude opened with, and I quote, 'I don't know what Eraserhead is teaching you, but what you did to Monoma crossed the line,'" I informed him, mimicking the asshole's voice. "Also, apparently, it was Vlad that was in charge of everything, not the Pussycats, so when I checked that the exercise was still ongoing before shocking some sense into his failure of a student, I was 'attacking him after it was over'. Oh, and some bullshit about not respecting him just because he's another class' homeroom teacher, when, if I couldn't heal, his kid would've hospitalized me. Really, he just seems butthurt that I called him out instead of sucking his metaphorical dick like he's trained his class to do, instead of teaching them how to fight." I looked at the albino, "That about right?"

"That's not what I said," the 'Pro' lied, offended, clearly angered, and I kept OfA going in case I needed it. He had super-strength, toughness, and could make blood constructs. Against my capabilities, if he fought me, he'd lose. "You crossed the line, Kaminari, and you can't run roughshod over others, acting like a Villain. That's not how Heroes act, and you need to learn that, fast."

I waited, and when that's all he said I told my actual teacher, "See, he agrees with me. Just with more sanctimonious ass-covering, insinuated accusations, and blatant lying. Because that's apparently how Heroes act. Someone should probably inform All Might that he's been doing it wrong all these years."

"Boy," the bloody idiot growled warningly, trying to intimidate me, because it worked so great the last half a dozen times.

"Bully," I cheerfully addressed in turn, twisting the knife of how powerless he was to verbally beat me down.

Aizawa sighed, deeply. "Kaminari, I asked you to try and be nice."

I frowned, but it didn't sound like Eraserhead was instantly taking his colleague's side, so I slowly responded, "You asked me to try and be respectful. And I was. Until he demanded that I treat him with the respect he deserved. And he is claiming to be my teacher, with the respect and deference that entails, but oddly not the responsibility, so I did as he, well, he never asked, just ordered and insinuated I was wrong for not doing so already."

The tired man stared at me for a long moment, then nodded. "That'd do it." Turning to the hemokinetic, Aizawa exhaustedly inquired, "Kan, what did I tell you?"

"Just because you don't care about disrespect, Eraser, doesn't make it alright," the taller man declared.

I opened my mouth to respond, as that was not okay, but my teacher glanced my way and shook his head slightly, so I stopped and waited.

"Is that what Monoma had? Respect?" the nullifier questioned, tone drier than the Sahara. "You said you were going to talk with Kaminari about what happened. I thought that meant you were going to apologize for what your student did, Vlad."

The albino frowned, and waved a dismissive hand. "Kendo already did that."

Oh, so you take responsibility for what your students do, but only when it benefits you, I remarked internally, but trusted the nullifier enough to keep silent.

"I thought you would as well, not go after my student." Aizawa remarked, expression turning thoughtful, "Perhaps I should go have a talk with your students as well. What Kuroiro did was pretty underhanded, after all. It was a rational strategy, but could lead to him getting into trouble with others."

"Kuroiro is my student," Vlad countered. "I'll handle him."

"Kaminari is mine," Eraserhead matched the other man with. "You decided to 'handle' him too."

The white-haired assclown frowned, "So you're saying he did nothing wrong?"

"No. But the same could be said about you," Aizawa noted. "If you want to continue to do this publicly, I'm willing to."

Vlad shot Eraserhead a sour look, then informed me, "Fix your attitude," and stormed off.

We both watched him leave, my homeroom teacher glancing around at the other students who'd paused their training, all of them getting back on task.

"Well, I see why he's not a subject teacher," I commented when he was done.

"Kaminari," Aizawa replied, with only a token bit of rebuke in his turn. "Vlad's good at… encouraging students."

I gave him a flat look.

"Monoma is an outlier. And one that would've been caught, and fixed, in the next two years," the UA staffer stated.

Which, if this wasn't a Shonen Anime, would've been fine. "And if it had been his class at the USJ, Vlad wouldn't've lost a student to a transfer, he would've attended their funerals. But I'm sure they would've felt encouraged, attending the opening ceremony and everything like they did."

"You think if I taught them, they would survived?" Eraserhead questioned, seemingly amused.

"Not against Nomu, that thing was nuts and they don't have hard counters, but, otherwise? Yes," I nodded. "Well, if you and All Might taught them," I added. "Is All Might doing exercises for their class too?"

"He is," the teacher noted.

I considered that, "But All Might's lessons are… basic, and are always reliant on us to push ourselves, and our classmates. With Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki, Ida, and Momo, that works, but with just Kendo, and the double-hit kid…" I trailed off. "They're not ready."

"They're still training," Eraserhead remarked. "And your experience here hasn't exactly been what one would consider normal."

I closed my eyes, pinched the bridge of my nose, and sighed, at the unspoken message, that my view of things was skewed, when, had I not done whatever it was I'd done that'd short-circuited canon, everyone would already be home, as the camp would've been assaulted by Villains on night two.

"That would've been an excuse after the USJ. Or even after the internships with the bullshit with Stain and the second Nomu attack. But after I-Island…" I sparked a little, "Shit, Aizawa, I've got Quirk Satan wanting to make me his Apprentice, and, as I've been told, he doesn't take no for an answer. He sent someone to my house, and, and that dickbag is pretending that nothing's wrong. Like it's an if, not a when that something else happens, and like I'm stupid for wanting the damn kids to not be Villain-bait."

"That's not your job," the Pro noted, conversationally.

I snorted, "If I just wanted a job, I'd drop out of UA and be a cop. Or an electrical engineer, like my father, not that there's anything wrong with that." An odd memory surfaced, and I quoted All Might, "Meddling When You Don't Need To, Is The Essence Of Being A Hero, after all."

"Kid, that's…" Aizawa started to say, trailing off. "You're not in this alone."

"I know," I nodded. "If I thought I was, I wouldn't give a shit about Vlad's pedagogical incompetence. I'm sure that he's good at fighting, and is probably a good team leader, but that's a different skill set from being a trainer, especially of heroes. Just look at Chiron."

The nullifier looked around us, sighing, admitting, "You're not wrong. I know you, Ashido, and Yaoyorozu have been training after school. Would you mind opening that up?"

I blinked, surprised, "Uh, sure? You mean, like, a 'battle club' or something?"

"Something like that," Aizawa agreed.

"Sure," I repeated, still caught off guard. "Though if you could get Midoriya and Monoma to both at least attend a few sessions, I'd appreciate it. Izuku's better at Quirk use than I am, and, well, Neito needs the help."

That got a chuckle from the older man, who nodded. "I'll see they do. Get back to training, Kaminari. I'd say don't overdo it, but you seem incapable of that."

Cheekily giving the man a salute, I jumped back into the iron bar, waiting for him to amble away before I started cycling electricity back into the battery, wondering what Quirk I'd get next.

MHA

The day came to an end rather uneventfully, everyone a little tired, but otherwise fine, as we gathered to eat dinner, the sun starting to set. Surprisingly, the Pussycats prepared dinner for us, steamed buns of all sorts, though Aizawa called me over before I could grab any. The man seemed a little tense, which put me on edge, but I trusted him, so followed him around the corner of the building, out of sight of the others.

"Kaminari, I need to talk to you about tonight's exercise," he stated without preamble. "I need you to keep calm."

"I mean, I was until you said that," I replied, looking around, seeing Vlad had moved behind my back, putting himself between me and the rest of the class, the man squaring up on me from a couple dozen feet away. "And having this dickwaffle try and be all 'sneaky-like' isn't fucking helping, Aizawa."

Looking past me, Eraserhead ordered, annoyed, "Stand down, Vlad." The man looked at me distrustfully, and walked away, turning the corner, but, from the sound of his steps, he stopped as soon as he was out of sight.

Definitely a frontline combatant type, and with the subtlety to match.

"Volt-aire," my teacher said, and I looked back at him. "Just like before, I've been overruled. While I know it looks bad, there's no danger."

I frowned, "What are you-"

"SPARKY!"

I was moving even before I realized what I was doing, hearing Mina's panicked voice, OfA at full as I blasted off. A cold part of me noted Vlad's position, and jumped, throwing out a clawed hand to dig into the side of the building, my other grabbing a coin, priming my charges in two different ways.

Sure enough, Vlad had thrown out some blood, a dark red web that was meant to catch me, but it was too low. He tried to force it upwards, but a rail-shot straight down into the ground blasted it away, as I let loose with a million volts, eliciting a pained yell from the asshole as he spasmed, muscles locking up. Claws dug into the masonry, as I zeroed in on Mina, shoving off to get to her, taking in the area, as my lover stood, hands to her chest, panicked, everyone else at every other table slumped over, or backwards on the ground.

For a moment, I thought they were dead, but Manga literally had a cartoon 'I'm sleeping' style bubble full of Z's extending from his head, which, weirdly, helped.

Landing beside her, my girlfriend moved to hold onto me, as I closed my clawed hand, holding it against her, Creating another coin in it, the distinctive glow hidden against her body. Prepping the shot, I looked around, searching for… what was I looking for?

"Pinky?" I whispered, looking at the half-eaten buns scattered everywhere. "Did dinner set off your Defenses?"

"I… uh, yeah," she replied, calming down. "That…" she trailed off, fear transitioning to anger, as she let go of me, turning to face the worried looking Pussycats, demanding, "What the hell! You poisoned our food? Who fucking does that!?"

"'Pro Heroes', apparently," I ground out, glaring at them. "Then again, they did start this camp by throwing us off a goddamned cliff."

Ragdoll stared at us with her too-wide eyes, announcing, "Uh, Oopsie?"

Resisting the urge to shoot the bitch, I turned to look as Aizawa turned the corner, the man sighing, and informing the others, "Told you this was a bad idea. Kaminari, the Pussycats have decided it'd be a great plan to train everyone's survival skills by knocking them out, dropping them in the forest, and seeing how long it takes for them to get back."

"That's retarded," I stated flatly.

"It's what they started the camp with," he replied, which didn't exactly prove me wrong. "This time there'll even be less monsters. Right Pixie-Bob? Maybe you should explain things? Like I suggested?"

Mina and I looked to the blonde, though I was still keeping track of the others, Vlad glaring at me like I killed his dog, the 'teacher' seeming to have forgotten that my super-strength wasn't my main Quirk.

"Oh, uh, so, like Eraser said, it's a wilderness survival test!" she tried to smile, as I sparked with OfA, waiting. "We'll split ya up into teams of four, half from each class, and drop you off twenty kilomeowters from camp," she said, mangling the pun, clearly not as confident with this as she'd been before. "You'll, uh have a flashlight, a compass, and instructions on the tree leading in the claw-rect direction! But, if you're too noisy, you'll get jumped, so you'll have to walk with cat-like tread!"

"And the part of that required you poison our food is…?" I questioned.

"Well, we didn't want ya just coming back the way you came," she replied, a little defensively.

I stared at her for a moment, asking, "How were you going to get us there?"

At the edge of the clearing, dirt-spiders with four seats built into their backs rose up, which I could actually feel with my copy of the woman's power.

"Blindfold us, slap on earphones, and take a circuitous route," I stated. "There, you did it without poisoning the people who trusted you, you know, Villain behavior."

"That's not a term you should be throwing around," Mandalay argued.

"Oh, is that not something a Pro would do?" I questioned, and she nodded firmly. "Well, maybe you should tell Vlad that, as he was using it earlier to describe me."

The Pussycats, well, three-fourths of them, offendedly looked towards the albino, who didn't say a word, just glared at me, while Ragdoll chuckled.

"Soooo," Pixie-Bob said, "Uh, we'll need you to get on the transports. Kaminari, You get on that one, and, Ashido, you-"

"Mina's coming with me," I stated. "Or we're not going at all."

"That's not your call to make, student," the hemokinetic growled.

I lifted an eyebrow. "Or what, Vlad, you'll try and ambush me again?" I sneered. "Because that went so well for you the first time, 'Hero'."

"Vlad! Enough!" Aizawa snapped, turning to me. "Mina goes with you, you don't pick the 1-B students, and you let them handle the navigation. That work for you, Volt-aire?"

Honestly, I'd rather have Momo on my team as well, but… "It does. Need help loading up the people you drugged?"

"Uh, if you want to lend a paw?" Pixie-Bob agreed, a little nervously, looking between Aizawa, myself, and Vlad.

Turning to Mina, I shot her a questioning look, and she nodded. We broke apart, as I gently lifted Yaoyorozu, Mina used a bit of Acid to heft Sero, and we looked to the Pussycats, who, except for Ragdoll, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and started directing us.

MHA

Night had fallen by the time our dirt-spider-carriage dropped us off at the appropriate tree, Mina and I partnered with Komori, the shroom girl, and Yanagi, the telekinetic. It'd left, the two of us waiting for the pair to wake up, as they were supposed to in about half an hour.

"You okay, Sparky?" Mina asked, as I sat, leaning against a tree, and she plopped down in my lap, leaning back against me.

"I… yeah?" I replied, confused. "Why wouldn't I be."

"Well, ya did shock the shit outta Vlad," she remarked, teasingly, but still with a note of concern in her voice.

"Dude shouldn't've tried to blindside me," I replied, unrepentant. "He reminds me a bit of one of those Gym Teachers, you know, the ones that take themselves way too seriously. The ones that are always corrupt, favoring their favorites, treating others like shit, and can't handle anyone they look down on 'disrespectin' their authoritay'." I sighed, "God, this entire camp has been a fuckin' shitshow, hasn't it?"

"Well, I had fun," she offered. "Though I can't wait to get home so we can have some fun, too."

My lover leaned to the side, turning towards me, and I moved as well, leaning down to kiss her for a moment, holding her tight, which… helped. We separated after a moment, and I went back to resting my head against the tree, the two girls still out cold on the grass nearby.

"I guess I did too," I admitted, going back to hugging my girlfriend, holding her close, as she relaxed against me, her own arms covering mine. "Just, there's a difference between watching this shit, and experiencing it that I guess I didn't appreciate before. In both directions, really. Oh, also, got a new power."

"Really?" she asked, eyes lighting up as she glance back at me. "Whose?"

Pulling one hand up, she didn't bother letting go of it, which was fine, as I reached out mentally, designating 'Myself; that bit over there; stand, bow, and disappear'. My copied Quirk clicked into place, as the dirt pulled itself up into a tiny soil replica of me, that stood straight, put one arm over its chest, the other behind his back, and gave a dancer's bow one leg crossed behind the other, after which it came apart, falling to the earth to make a little pile of dirt.

"Oh em gee, Sparky, you got her Quirk? That's amazing!" the horned girl in my lap smiled. "That's gotta be, like, super useful!"

"It will be when I figure out how to work the damn thing," I agreed, tempering her excitement. "Pixie-Bob might have some serious 'Couger robbing the cradle' vibes, but the woman is very good with her power, and it's like Factoria's, something that's really distinct. Like hers, though, it's something I'm going to need to train up. That said…"

I trailed off, as a now familiar feeling, like an overfull balloon in my soul, could now be sensed, and going with the urge that came with it, I held both arms out, directing Mina to, "Let go of me for a sec."

"Sparky?" she replied, doing so, curious.

Prodding that feeling it… popped, and something settled into place. It was a two-fold sensation, a hyper-awareness of both sides of my body, like I was cut in half, from head to crotch, though not in a bad way, just, they were now two very different aspects to it.

Going with my right side, I focused on my right palm, tapping into the feeling, gathering the energy which thrummed throughout that half of me, concentrating, until, with an almost refreshing feeling, an ice crystal formed in my right hand.

"Wait, is, that's… EEEEH!" she squealed, as I did the same for my left hand, feeling a comforting warmth as a candle's worth of flame sprang up in that palm. "It is!" my lover gasped, though, trying to keep the flame going, the crystal in my right hand drooped, starting to melt, and trying to re-form it made the fire in my left sputter and die.

"Okay, so, I see why Todoroki has such trouble with this," I muttered. Unlike him, I knew it was possible, so I didn't have those false assumptions forming mental blocks to stop my progress, but it wasn't just like juggling, it was like… writing two different essays, on two different subjects, at the same time, requiring not just two different movements, which I could manage, but two completely different ways of thinking, perhaps feeling, and was something that was also going to have to take a lot of work to make viable.

Unlike Pixie-Bob's though, I'd be able to bootstrap myself, just like I had been doing with my copy of Mina's Quirk, merely by watching the boy in action.

"Oh, oh!" Mina squirmed, which distracted me, if pleasantly. "Todoroki gets hot or cold when he uses his Quirk, right? So use the fire, so you get all toasty warm!"

Rolling my eyes, I did so, using my right hand to hold onto my girlfriend as I held the left out, playing with the Qurik as she watched, enraptured, walking the small flame back and forth over my palm, then across the back of my hand. Trying to fire it off like a projectile, like I'd seen Shoto do, it only jumped a couple inches away before it dissipated, but, reforming it, I could make it lift up a single inch and spin around, though it was oddly tiring to do so.

As I worked my newest Quirk, the comfortingly warm feeling slowly intensified until it was a little distressing, making me switch to ice for a moment to cool off back down to 'comfortably warm' and trying again, realizing that every time Todoroki pushed his Quirk, one way or another, he was going to have a bad time, but did so anyways, my respect for the emo boy growing.

Soon enough, though, Komori started to stir, and I shut the fire off, prodding my girlfriend, who'd started to doze, and we both got up.

"Ugh, what happened, shroom," the fungirl groaned, sitting up. "I feel like I ate some muscarine."

Yanagi also mumbled, turning over on the grass, slowly blinking. "What? We're alone in the woods?" she remarked, without much emotion. "Spooky."

Mina walked over to them, "Wake up sleepy heads! We've got a mission!"

"Wha?" the silver-haired telekinetic blearily questioned, getting up, along with her classmate.

"Pussycats drugged us," I informed the pair, Komori flinching away in surprise, not having seen me, while Yanagi just turned a tired look my way. "Now we've got to sneak through the forest to get to our 'target', that being our beds. Remember the lesson we got last night on wilderness navigation? Well, here's the test. You can get the details there," I told them, pointing to the paper on the nearby tree, which explained everything Pixie-Bob had told us about. A lit flashlight was clipped to it, illuminating the notice so no one missed it, and a compass was hanging right next to it.

Both B-ers walked over to the laminated note, reading it, Komori taking the compass, while Yanagi grabbed, the light, and, yep, shown it under her chin as she turned to us, stating, "A walk through woods, full of monsters, in the dead of night? Spooky!" From her tone, this was an appreciative 'spooky', as opposed to her concerned 'spooky' from earlier.

Oh no, we've got the Naruto-girls, I realized. Believe it.

"Drugging us still seems a bit much, shroom," Komori muttered.

"Hey they threw our class off a cliff on day one," Mina offered. "Ya just learn to roll with it."

The telekinetic frowned, "You mean Hagakure wasn't exaggerating?"

"Nope!" I said, waving away the compass when the fungirl tried to hand it me. "'Unfortunately', my regen no-sold the drugs, so they told me I couldn't do the navigating, as I can tell the way back is that way," I stated, pointing towards the paper. "If you need help using the compass, I can offer advice, but that's it."

"And the monsters?" Yanagi questioned, a little worriedly.

"Oh, we'll, like, totes help you guys kick their heinies!" Mina smiled. "We just can't tell ya where to go."

I waved around, "We haven't seen any yet, which means they're closer to home. So, Komori, you have our heading?"

"I… do, shroom," the brunette said, pointing at the paper. "It's two marks South of West."

"Alright," I smiled, "then let's go home. It's been a long day, and I'd like to get some sleep."

The others agreed, and we set off, working around trees, walking side by side for a good half an hour without any disturbances. Yanagi and I were center right and center left respectively, the girl using her Quirk to make the light-source float ahead of us, pointed down, so we weren't strafing the trees with it, while I cheated a little with Hagakure's Quirk to see, Mina holding onto my arm and using me both as guide and support whenever she tripped over something in the dark. While I did glow a little, keeping OfA at a base level, it provided very little illumination on its own, only visible because of the overcast night sky.

I was a little surprised the sailing was so smooth, actually, though I guessed, other than my own glow, and the light whose scatter was absorbed by the underbrush, we were actually being pretty stealthy, all things considered. Especially as none of us talked, both because we trusted Komori, who was walking on Yanagi's other side, and because I did kind of remember the way we'd come, so I could tell we were heading back fairly directly, though we were drifting a little. Not enough to make a huge difference, but I made sure to keep a half-step behind the fungirl in our formation, so she didn't just default to using me as the way home, instead of the tool she was supposed to be reading.

We could hear the occasional distant yell, or sound of combat, as another group ran into Pixie-Bob's creations, but they were very distant, the Pussycats having stranded us all in a giant semi-circle away from the camp. The only reason it hadn't been a full circle being that they wanted to avoid the road in, as that would, admittedly, make for a fairly easy path back.

When the bushes rustled, it was almost a relief, running across one of the 'villains' that were in the area, though, from how the dark shape almost stumbled out of the woods, shambling, like a zombie, I wondered if Pixie-Bob even knew we were here at al-

"Flesh."

I froze.

Constructs didn't talk.

"Glorious flesh!" the thing crooned, voice terribly familiar, as I spiked OfA, the shape turning, showing it to be clad in a black full body straight jacket, lined with crimson spikes, only its mouth uncovered, revealing shining metal teeth.

Then, faster than an arrow, almost like a gunshot, those teeth lashed out in long, branching metal blades, coming right for us.

My body moved on reflex, legs turning to electric coils, electric arms shooting out, grabbing Mina with my left, the other two with my right.

But Komori flinched.

And I missed her, by inches, only grabbing Yanagi instead, dragging only two girls back as I leapt away, metal blades spearing where we'd been, sinking into the ground.

Sinking into Komori.

The brown haired girl shuddered, impaled a dozen times over, bleeding heavily, as she turned wide eyes back towards us, my mind working furiously.

I knew the formula for a kind of medi-gel, Mei and I had looked into it when we were developing our capture foam. I could Create it, subtlety be damned, and maybe that would-

"Sh-Shroom?" Komori asked, confused, lost, terrified.

And then the blades didn't retract, they tore, ripping the girl to pieces, painting the trees with gore.

"KINOKO!" Yanagi cried out, as I stared, seeing, remembering.

Not anything definite, but… this wasn't the first time I'd seen someone die like that.

And it probably wouldn't be the last.

But… but I knew how to play this game.

And play it well.

Grabbing both girls, I tossed them backwards further, even as the Villain rose up into the air on its teeth blades, screaming, "DELICIOUS FLESH!" and pulled itself forward, coming for them.

"Here," I directed it, shifting gears, tearing through the limits that Denki had put on his power, as he hadn't wanted to hurt anyone.

But I did.

"HAHAHA!" the Villain cackled, sending out another volley of teeth-blades at me, but my hands were solid energy, and I reached out, grabbing the attack, letting the blades impale my insubstantial palms, and gripping.

Kaminari's power was a stream, high volts, low amps, perfect for acting as a living taser.

But his power wasn't 'taser' it was Electrification.

Even as the voice in the back of my head, the model of Denki, shouted at me to stop, that this was not how his Quirk was supposed to work!, I shut it up, as this wasn't his body any longer.

It was mine.

I gathered the energy, a tenth of my reserve, and didn't let it flow, but forced it out, in a single pulsing whip-crack of electricity that travelled up through the conductive metal, then hit the resistant, fleshy bits on the other side.

And, like an overloaded resistor, the Villain popped.

The sound was like a lightning strike, a single booming CRACK that split the air, and the Villain exploded, steaming viscera painting the treetops, the now unattached, smoking blades falling to the ground with a clatter.

Twitching, I turned to the other two, distantly noting Komori, whose largest part was her disembodied head, neck, and a single shoulder, her right one, and told them, voice hoarse.

"Villains attacking. It's happening. That was one of them. Mina, you know the way back. Don't hold back. Survive."

Yanagi was staring, trembling, at her classmate's corpse, but my lover stared at me. "And you?"

I could hear another distant scream, a girl's, maybe Pony's, and knew what I had to do.

"The others won't do what they need to. I will. I need to go."

Pinky hesitated, then skated over to me, flinching when I accidentally shocked her, something I'd never done before, as I wrestled my now wild Quirk back under control, but she just hugged me.

"Go. Save them. Be a Hero," she urged. "But, but you better come back to me, mister. Or I'll come to you, okay?"

I could tell she was terrified, tell she seemed just as lost as Komori had, right before, right… But Mina was strong, and I'd trained her to be even stronger, and, and I had to trust her. Was trusting her, as part of me wanted to go back with them, to guard her with my life, but, as I heard another scream, this one pained, I, I couldn't do that.

"I will. See you soon," I promised, leaning in to kiss her desperately for a moment, before pulling back, and stepping away from her. "You have Yanagi?"

My lover nodded.

"Good. Then I'll go Hunting."

Music – Sh-Shroom - grandson - Blood / Water

AN: Camp's Over. The Invasion Has Begun. The Next Four Chapters Can Be Found on and Subscribestar.