"Thank you all for agreeing to meet up today." The ever-smiling Nezu said to the group of men sitting before him.
At the moment, Naomosa Tsukauchi, Toshinori Yagi, Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye and Miro Togata were all gathered in the office of the white furred mammal. It had been a couple of weeks since their last meeting, and no doubt there was much to discuss. Especially since most of them received word of this rendezvous on such short notice.
"I suggest that we start off with any new information concerning the League of Villains." Nezu motioned to both the detective and the 'jet' quirk user.
"There have been no major moves from them as of late." Tsukauchi began. "In fact, they've been very quiet since the USJ incident. The only leads that I've been able to track down is that they are allegedly in the market for some new members. A couple of low level thugs that've been taken into custody recently can testify to that."
"Considering how much of their forces that they lost in their last attack, it doesn't really surprise me." Yagi added.
"I haven't been able to dig up any reliable leads either." Gran Torino said.
The fact that there was practically nothing to go on concerning this group was less than ideal. With the capture and analysis of the creature called "Nomu", the police were able to at least confirm the identity of the man. But that was pretty much it. And with the fact that the thing had used multiple quirks during its battle with All Might at the USJ, it was obvious that it was a product related to some type of experiment connected to a certain individual.
"Well, it seems like there's nothing can be done about it now." Said Nezu as he took a sip of his tea. "We'll just have to keep our ears to the ground and stay vigilant."
"Agreed." Nighteye nodded before deciding to change topics. "Have we made any progress with that other issue?"
Everyone in the room was able to pick up on what the 'foresight' user was implying. And without missing a beat, Gran Torino was the first one to speak up.
"I've been tailing the boy almost everyday since our last meeting." He began a bit reluctantly. The sheer thought of him having to follow around a sixteen year old didn't really sit right with the elderly hero. "Aside from a few interesting details, nothing he has done could be considered particularly strange."
"What do you mean?" Togata inquired.
"Well for starters...the kid apparently spends a lot of his free time cleaning up that old junkyard, Dagoba Beach. From what I've seen, he goes there to train his quirk. And he's actually doing a really good job at keeping the place clean if you ask me."
"Really?" A couple of the others raised their eyebrows.
"Anything else?" Nighteye asked the man. Other than a flimsy case of public quirk use, there was nothing of value to that information.
"The next thing I learned was that he actually volunteers at an orphanage for quirkless kids over in Saitama Prefecture. Him and another student of yours have gone there a few times in the last couple of weeks. And from what I've been able to gather, he goes to that place frequently. The last time he was there, I saw him cleaning and taking out the trash."
"Who was the other student?"
"A girl with green hair, I think I remember seeing her in the Sports Festival."
"You must mean Tokage." Togata interjected. "Hadou did say that the two of them are dating. And from what I've heard they spend a lot of time together."
In the back of his mind, the blonde haired student had a weird feeling about all of this. Based on everything that he knew about the green haired first year, Midoriya was nothing short of an upstanding student. He was a bit shy, generally well-liked, easy to get along with and apparently spent most of his time doing community service.
How someone like that could even be considered a possible villain was beyond him. But with everything that was going on, he understood that it could've been nothing more than an act. The 'permeation' quirk user had been ordered to not get too close to the boy for safety reasons. But something in his gut was leaning more towards Midoriya not being a threat. In fact, he actually wanted to have a real conversation with him sometime soon.
"So the boy is good at covering up his tracks. That still doesn't take away from the very real possibility that he's connected with All for One. For all we know, he could be keeping communications to a minimum and is laying low for the moment." Nighteye added on. "We could be making great lengths in this investigation if you all would allow me to use my quirk on him."
Although most of the people in the room agreed with the 'foresight' quirk user, it was still too risky to approach the boy without any hard evidence against him. And like previously mentioned, coming into contact with a known associate of All Might might tip the boy off.
"I'm going to be honest here, I'm having a real hard time imagining that Midoriya is even working with the League." Togata finally voiced his opinion. "I mean, the guy doesn't exactly strike me as villainous in any sort of way."
"Although I'm inclined to agree, the possibility is still on the table." Tsukauchi chimed in. "I looked over the boy's files and he was indeed quirkless up until last year. It was even confirmed on his medical records. As it stands, there's no way that he could have developed such a powerful quirk without coming into contact with All for One at some point. And I'm assuming that it was during the time period when he was missing."
"But do you really think he would get involved with someone like that?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Gran Torino asked. "I would imagine that a powerless teenager would jump at the chance to receive a quirk. Especially one as strong as his." The elderly man then gave a quick glance over to Yagi.
"Yes, I can agree with that." The emaciated blonde nodded. In truth, he couldn't really fault the boy if that was his reasoning for getting involved with that man. He himself practically leapt at the opportunity to receive 'One for All' from his master.
"In any case, we should continue to monitor the boy from a distance." Nezu finally spoke up. "Nothing he has done warrants any type of drastic action on our part. So there's no need to rush into this."
"Ridiculous…." Nighteye scoffed while folding his arms.
The rest of this impromptu meeting went on as one would expect. Aside from a few updates on how Togata was progressing with 'One for All' and some news about the rise of new villain group in Tokyo, nothing of any real note was put out. Eventually, Gran Torino, Nighteye and Togata took their leave to go handle some other business. Leaving the other three men to go over some last minute details from Tsukauchi's investigation.
"So, how is that file of yours coming along, Tsukauchi-kun?" The unidentified mammal looked to the detective.
"I've pretty much completed it." The black haired man responded as he packed up his suitcase. "Like I mentioned earlier, things are pretty cut and dry. Although there was one detail that I did find interesting."
"And what is that?"
"The day that Midoriya went missing. It was also the same day of that "Sludge Villain" incident last year."
"Really?" Yagi said in a surprised tone. He remembered that particular incident quite well, even though most of the day was one giant blur.
Katsuki Bakugou, the boy who would later on become one of his students, ended up getting captured by the villain and was moments away from death before he stepped in and saved him. The heroes that were on the scene had irresponsibly decided to wait until someone else showed up with a "better" quirk for the situation and were about to let the boy take his last breath. With the last bit of his energy, the blonde haired man swooped in to save the boy. And aside from being rushed over the hospital to get his stomach pumped, Bakugou somehow made it out without any major injuries.
The funny thing was that Yagi could recall capturing that same villain barely thirty minutes before that entire event took place. In fact, he was about to turn him over to the police before running into-
"...so no, I honestly don't think that you can become a hero without a quirk."
"It's not bad to have a dream, young man. Just...make sure your dreams are attainable...and realistic, understand?"
A wave of foggy memories hit the blonde haired man like a freight train as images flashed across his mind. He didn't know what suddenly brought those on. But Yagi definitely remembered running into a scrawny boy in a black uniform and a plain face before coming up on that incident. But for the life of him, he couldn't remember what the child actually looked like.
"Is something wrong, Toshinori?" The detective asked, cutting off the man's train of thought.
"No…. I just remembered something about that incident. Nasty bit of business that was." The blonde haired man waved off with a grin.
"Oh, I see." The man shrugged.
'Who was that boy?' The "Symbol of Peace" thought to himself.
"In any case, you two should be on your way. Especially you Toshinori-kun, you should really be enjoying your days off when you can. Since the students are going to their summer training camp this week, you'll have more than enough time to unwind and focus on training Togata-kun." Nezu said with a smile on his face.
"Yes sir, you're right about that." Yagi laughed.
A few minutes later, both Tsukauchi and Yagi had left the office. Leaving Nezu to go over this latest bit of information himself. When it came to the curious case of Izuku Midoriya, the white furred mammal had a couple of details that piqued his interest. He didn't feel the need to bring these up to the group since any speculation would only bolster Nighteye's behavior even further. But after watching the boy's match against Katsuragi, his intuition was leading his mind in a certain direction.
Deciding to get the ball rolling on his own little side project, the unidentified mammal walked over to his phone and began typing into the keypad.
"Nezu, you do realize that it's my day off, right? Don't tell me that Togata went and blew out his arm again." The voice of Recovery Girl said on the other side of the line.
"Why not at all!" He answered happily. "I simply have a question that someone with your expertise might be able to answer."
"What is it?"
The early morning drudge over to U.A. was not very enjoyable for Reiko Yanagi. The extended weekend, along with a lot of late night television, had completely thrown her off her sleeping schedule. The girl usually tried to be more responsible when it comes to stuff like that. But she had found an old era American cartoon that she really enjoyed and ended up bingeing it for nearly the entire weekend. The girl had spent well over twenty-three hours these last few days in front of her computer screen.
Although the closet otaku would never admit it out loud, something like this was the exact reason for her general appearance. Most people assumed that it was something related to her 'poltergeist' quirk. But in reality, the dark bags under her eyes, her constant slouch and the way her hands hung over her body was the product of years of sitting in front of her computer screen and surfing the internet for hours on end. That coupled with her naturally pale complexion and it was no wonder why people would constantly compare her to a ghost.
After getting off the train, it didn't take long for the grey haired girl to arrive at the school. By sheer coincidence she ended up getting there at the exact same time as the other telekinetic students in her class.
"Hello, Yanagi-san." Midoriya greeted the girl.
"Hey…" She groggily droned out.
"Are you okay?" The boy immediately asked in a concerned tone. Although it was difficult to really gauge the girl's emotions due to her stoic nature. Recently, Midoriya had been able to pick up on subtle cues that his classmate gave off that usually let him know how she was doing.
"Yeah, just tired is all. I...had a bit of a late night." She answered in her usually stoic manner. "What about you? Has your body recovered yet from the exam?"
"Yeah." He nodded. "I was able to use my quirk yesterday without any issues. But I didn't try anything too crazy."
"That's good." She gave a quick nod before the two made their way through the gate and over to the parking lot where they were all told to meet up. Yanagi herself didn't know what to expect for this training camp. The only thing that Kan had told them was that they were going to be focusing on training their quirks.
"So...what do you think we'll be doing for this camp?" The green haired boy asked.
"Knowing Kan-sensei, we're probably just going to be practicing with our quirks for most of the time. I imagine that we're going to be doing a lot of tasks related to our individual powers."
"Yeah, I can see that." The boy gave out a slight laugh. "We'll probably be partnered up together again if that happens."
It would be hard for Yanagi to disagree with that. Ever since coming to U.A. the two of them had pretty much been considered a package deal when it came to training. Even Honenuki made a few jokes about how they're 1-B's "Dynamic Duo". It did make sense though, they had the same quirk and they compliment each other's weaknesses pretty well. It wouldn't surprise her if the two spent most of the time training together as opposed to everyone else. Logically, it would make the most sense.
'I wonder if he'll show me how to do that "Hellstorm" move that Blizzard taught him.' The gray haired teen wondered as they continued on their journey to the other side of campus.
"Alright! Now that everyone's here, we need to start loading our bags onto the bus. The quicker that we get this done, the sooner we can leave. So let's make it snappy!" Kendou announced to her classmates.
Surprisingly, all of the 1-B students complied with the order and began loading their luggage onto the shelves. Even Midoriya and Yanagi had volunteered to use their quirks to make the process go by a lot faster.
"I must say Kendou-san, I'm actually surprised at how well you and your classmates work together." Yaoyorozu told the girl as class 1-A also began loading their bags onto the bus. Albeit, in a slightly less organized fashion than the other class.
"Well, everyone in our class is pretty easy to work with. So it makes things way less difficult. Even Kamakiri-kun knows when to tone it down." The orange haired teen joked.
"Hey, I heard that!" The 'razor sharp' user shouted from the other end of the pile.
"Well, our's is the superior class. Of course you'd be astonished by our stellar teamwork!" Monoma interjected in slightly smug tone as he casually avoided doing any of the actual work.
"Less talk, more moving Monoma-san!" Kendou scowled at the 'copy' quirk user.
Another ten minutes or so passed by before the two hero course classes were done loading up the buses. Everyone simply stood around and chatted amongst themselves for a bit before Kan and Aizawa finally made their appearance. However, the two teachers were not alone. With them was a familiar looking student with wild purple haired who looked as though he desperately needed a nap.
"Good, you all managed to get ready before we showed up." Aizawa lazily groaned out before pointing to the student. "As many of you probably remember, this is Hitoshi Shinsou. He'll be joining us for the week. For him, this training camp will be used to determine whether or not he'll be able to join the hero course."
"Oh...so he's Iida's replacement?" Tetsutetsu asked out loud.
"Dude, shut the hell up!" Tokage was quick to elbow the silver haired teen in arm for his outburst. Even though it was plainly obvious that it was true, there was no point in saying it out loud. The green haired girl then looked over to a few of the 1-A students who had some strange looks on their faces. More specifically, Uraraka who seemed to tense up at the mention of Iida's name.
"Go ahead and introduce yourself." The nocturnal hero continued.
"Let me be clear." The purple haired student started. "I'm not here to make friends with you people. My only goal is to prove my worth and make it into the hero course. Since there's an open spot for the taking, this is my chance to get in. If any of you have a problem with that, then get over it."
"I see he hasn't lost that smug attitude of his." Tokage whispered to everyone around her. "It's a good thing that we all finally know what his quirk is."
"Indeed." Tsunotori nodded.
"For now he'll be working with 1-A, but expect him to bounce around between classes while the camp is going on. You can all talk about it later, hurry up and start getting onto the buses so that we can leave."
"Yes sir!" The students said in unison.
Tokage shared a quick look with Midoriya before grabbing him by the arm and pulling him towards the bus. "I hope you weren't expecting to sit with anyone else." She smirked.
"No, n-not at all." The boy smiled back.
"Good, because I don't know how long this bus ride will be and you're going to be my pillow just in case I fall asleep."
"Setsuna, please try to refrain from doing any unholy acts. We are going to be in a confined space after all." Shiozaki added on from a few steps behind them.
"Seriously..." A few other students deadpanned.
"Tch, you people are no fun!" The 'lizard tail splitter' user scoffed at the vine haired girl. "Besides, what's wrong with committing a little sin here and there?"
All Shiozaki could do was gasp at the girl's words. Earning a not-so-subtle laugh from Tokage and a lot of not-so-subtle blushing from Midoriya.
"How can you say such perverse things with no shame?" Shiozaki then asked.
"Oh man, I can already tell that this week is going to be a blast! Don't worry Ibara, you've got seven straight days of pure and unadulterated Tokage to look forward to. And I promise to not pull my punches." Tokage began patting the girl on the shoulder while laughing.
All the vine haired girl could do was say a silent prayer before boarding the bus along with Tsunotori. With her first bit of fun for the day finally out of the way, Tokage went right back to her previously scheduled flirting and once again grabbed Midoriya by the arm.
"Oh yeah, this is going to be one fun week!"
"Are we there yet!?" Awase groaned from his spot next to Tetsutetsu.
At the moment, the 1-B bus was a flurry of activity. Everyone was either talking, sleeping or occupying their time with their phones. For the most part, the students were just happy to have the opportunity to even go on the field trip. Especially the four that ended up failing their exams, Tsuburaba, Kuroiro, Komori and Bondo. Needless to say, they were a bit less cheery than the others. But aside from that, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.
"Quiet, dumbass. I'm trying to enjoy this song!" Kamakiri responded from his seat towards the back.
"Dude, we've been stuck on this damn thing for the last three hours...I'm dying over here." The headband wearing teen shot back.
"Well, complaining about it won't help." Said Shoda a few seats ahead.
"Dude, I don't even see the 1-A bus anymore."
"Alright, settle down everyone!" Kan ordered the slightly unruly class of teenagers as he turned around in his seat. "We'll be there in less than five minutes, so get ready. Like I said last week, we're hitting the ground running as soon as we show up."
With that confirmation, Midoriya decided to go ahead and wake up the green haired girl that was currently sleeping on his shoulder. True to her word, Tokage didn't even make it a full hour into the bus ride before passing out. Midoriya didn't mind, especially since the ride over was way more quiet than he expected. And it helped that he was able to get an hour of sleep in himself along the way.
"Setsuna, it's time to get up. We're almost at the camp." The boy said softly while giving her a light shake.
"Ten more minutes…." The girl groaned out while digging into his shoulder a bit more.
'So cute….' Midoriya said to himself. "We'll be there in less than five. Kan-sensei said that we need to get ready."
"Ugh...fine." She replied before sitting up and stretching her arms out. The girl couldn't help but let out a loud yawn as she felt her joints pop. "Y'know Izuku...if this whole hero thing doesn't work out, you've got some real potential as one of those professional cuddlers for women who can't get a boyfriend."
"T-thanks." The boy blushed as the weird compliment.
"Wow, you haven't even been awake for a full minute and you're already flirting." Kendou joked.
"Wait, that's actually a thing?" Tsunotori asked. The American girl had heard about that being an actual line of work in Japan. But she assumed that it was just a joke.
Sure enough, less than five minutes passed before the bus came to a halt in front of a decent sized lake in the middle of a heavily wooded area. The only visible structure that they could see was a small shack on the shoreline. As the students departed they couldn't help but notice that the 1-A bus was nowhere to be found. They had all left together, but at some point they must've either gotten separated or lost.
"Sensei, what became of 1-A?" Shishida asked what most of the others seemed to be thinking.
"Me and Aizawa decided that we'd do things a bit differently on the first day." The blood themed hero explained. "While he's putting his class through whatever he's got planned. We're going to be doing a bit of a team building exercise." He continued. In reality, he wasn't really a fan of Aizawa's idea to have all of the students run through the "Forest of Beasts" for damn near the entire day. So the two agreed to split up and handle their classes differently.
"So what are we gonna be doing?" Asked Tetsutetsu.
"That's an awesome question!" A very peppy voice said from behind them.
The group of students all turned their heads and were met with the sight of a large man with black paint over his eyes and a woman with emerald green hair. They were both dressed in what looked like cheerleading uniforms, except in one was wearing brown and the other was wearing yellow.
"Who are you guys?"
"They're the Wild Pussycats!" Midoriya suddenly blurted out. "They're a hero team that specializes in mountain rescues. This is Ragdoll and Tiger!"
"Oh yeah, I've heard of these guys before." Tokage piggybacked off the boy's explanation.
"That's right!" The green haired cat themed hero said happily.
"The Wild Pussycats own the land that we'll be using for the training camp." Kan began explaining. "They'll also be helping us supervise and train you all for the entire week."
"Cool."
"While you're with us, we'll be sure to beat you maggots to a pulp and push you to surpass your limits!" The man now identified as Tiger slammed a fist into his open palm.
"Did he just say that he's going to beat us to a pulp?" Kaibara nervously asked the students standing around him. It was bad enough that the guy was already pretty big. But the ominous aura surrounding his body just made him that much more intimidating.
Hoping to get everyone back on track before things got too out of hand, Kan decided to get the party started. "Like I said, they'll be helping us supervise your training. Which includes today. As I'm sure all of you have noticed, the only thing here is this giant lake. And there's a reason for that."
"And what is that, sensei?" Kendou asked.
"That's because the lodge that you kittens will be staying at is actually twenty kilometers...that way!" Ragdoll pointed a paw over to the mountain in the far distance.
"What!"
"That's right. You students have to traverse the terrain to make it to the lodge."
"It's gonna take us hours to get there!" Tsuburaba whined.
"But wait, there's more!"
"Of course there is…." Yanagi deadpanned.
"Along the way, there are five separate obstacles that you students need to overcome as a class. Each obstacle is focused around rescuing a mannequin from a specific type of danger." Tiger announced.
"That sounds easy enoug-"
"The kicker is that after you rescue them, you lot have to carry all of the mannequins with you for the rest of the journey!"
"Fuck!" Awase threw his head back in defeat.
Although it was definitely going to be annoying, carrying the mannequins wasn't going to be too difficult. There were several students in their class that could carry a significant amount of weight for longer periods of time. Midoriya, Yanagi, Shiozaki, Kendou and Shishida being the prime candidates for this. But the students had a feeling that the exercise was going to be far more complicated than that.
"We'll be throwing a few curveballs at you during these exercises, so stay on your toes. For now, go ahead and get changed into your gym uniforms and get back out here. Try to remember, this is your time. The longer you take to finish the less free time you'll have at the end of today's training." Kan said.
"Yes, sir!"
After getting changed into their gym uniforms, the students all gathered around their instructors and waited for their training to begin. They had no clue what to expect aside from that it was going to be rescue oriented. But knowing Vlad King, he probably had something interesting in mind.
"Alright, here's your first trial for the day!" The blood themed hero announced. "This one is going to be pretty easy, but they'll get progressively harder as the day goes on."
"What are we gonna do?" Tokage asked.
"Aquatic rescue!" Ragdoll interjected. "In the middle of the lake, there is a mannequin that will simulate a person stranded in the water. Your job is to go out and bring him back to safety."
The group looked behind the woman to see her partner standing in a small boat in the middle of the lake. The man was waving the mannequin in the air above his head and mildly flexing.
'This will be a piece of cake. We'll pretty much only need Izuku for this one.' Tokage thought. Unfortunately for her, Kan was already a few steps ahead of her.
"However...flying is not allowed. If I see anyone floating in the air, you guys will receive a penalty that the entire class will have to suffer through."
'It makes sense that he would say something like that. These aren't supposed to be easy exercises.' Midoriya said to himself. In truth, he thought that he would be able to handle this one task in less than a couple of minutes.
"You guys can sort out your plan...if you think you'll have the time."
"What do you mean by that?" Awase asked.
"She means that the exercise has already started." Kan added.
"What do you me-"
"Yawara-chan, do it!" Ragdoll cupped her gloved hand over her mouth and shouted towards her partner. Without missing a beat, the muscular threw the mannequin up into the air with an impressive amount of distance. The 1-B students all watched in awe for a moment before the training tool landed in the water.
*Splash!*
"I suggest you all hurry up and go save that injured person. A landing like that probably knocked them out cold." Kan said with a satisfied smirk on his face.
"What?! We don't even get time to prepare?" Said Tsuburaba.
"That's a part of being a hero. Situations like this come at you at the drop of a hat." The man replied.
"That's some bull-"
"Worry about it later." Kendou cut him off. "Quick, who's the best swimmer out here?"
Without so much as a thought, Midoriya wasted no time in jumping into action. The boy didn't even consult his classmates before running towards the water and jumping into the lake. Although it was only an exercise, Midoriya knew that he should take stuff like this seriously. He wanted to be a rescue specialist after all. So he needed to make sure that he acted quickly in times of an emergency.
'I guess now is as good a time as any to test out that theory of mine.' The boy thought before activating his quirk on himself.
He never really had a reason to try this up until now, but Midoriya had always wondered if he could use his quirk underwater in the same way that he could while in the air. A few weeks back, he saw a few clips from some old era American movie about a man from an underwater city. While watching it, he realized that the way they zipped through the water was the same as flying. And wondered if the same principles would apply to him.
With no more time to waste, the 'telekinesis' user focused his power and began zooming through the water in the direction that he saw the mannequin land. What he didn't plan on however, was the fact that in his hasty attempt to get to the "person" in need, he didn't take a big enough breath before jumping in.
Seeing as he didn't have a lot of time, the boy quickly "swam" up to surface before poking his head above the water and taking a deep breath and going back down.
"Wait, how did he get over there so fast?" Honenuki wondered.
'I guess he can use his quirk underwater too.' Tokage smirked. She forgets sometimes just how versatile a quirk like telekinesis is.
Not even a few seconds later, Midoriya finally located his target. Thankfully the water was clear enough for him to see the mannequin that was slowly sinking below the surface with each passing second. The boy quickly used his quirk to grab hold of the thing and brought it to him. However, the second that the faux-person was in his arms, he couldn't help but notice how heavy the thing was.
'This thing must weigh at least a hundred kilograms.'
With the mannequin now secured, Midoriya shot back up to the surface to once again catch his breath. In the distance, the other 1-B students let out a collective sigh of relief at the sight of their green haired classmate's face.
It didn't take long for the boy to make it back to the shoreline and the moment he was back on dry land, Midoriya was met with cheers from his classmates.
"Midoriya, that was awesome!" Awase complimented the boy.
"I didn't know you can use your quirk underwater like that." Kendou asked.
"Y-yeah, me neither. I...didn't really think that all the way through." The boy bashfully admitted.
"Damn, this thing is heavy." Said Tetsutetsu as he inspected the mannequin.
To his left, Midoriya hadn't noticed the borderline predatory look that Tokage was giving him. The image of him standing there in a soaking wet uniform that provided just the right amount of eye-candy was already good enough for the girl. But the way his sopping wet, curly hair was draped over his face was a little too much for her to handle at the moment.
'He ain't the only one getting wet right now. Damn, if only he took his top off before jumping in the water.' Tokage smirked, reminding herself to find an excuse to get him out of his shirt as soon as possible.
"Yes, yes, that was a fine job Midoriya." Kan interrupted the students with a few sarcastic claps of his hands. "However...as I mentioned before, these are supposed to be team exercises. And since you guys failed to work as a team, you have to face the consequences."
"Huh?" A few students said with confused looks.
"Since Midoriya was the only one to save the mannequin, that means that he has to sit out for the next two exercises. Oh, and one of you will have to carry the mannequin not him." The blood themed hero explained with a slight smirk.
"What?!"
"Oh come on, sensei! Most of us were useless in that situation. On top of that, none of us have aquatic quirks!" Kamakiri immediately began complaining.
"That doesn't excuse the rest of you standing around and doing nothing while your classmate did all the work. At the very least, you could've tried to provide some assistance for his return!" Ragdoll cheerily interjected while pointing a finger and laughing at their expressions.
None of the students had a good enough response to the critique. In truth, all of them were pretty certain that Midoriya could handle the situation by himself. But the fact that none of them were as fast as him when it came to both reacting and getting to mannequin made them pause. But now that they were short one of their most powerful students, it would only make the exercise that much harder.
'I was planning on taking Midoriya out of the equation at some point depending on how he did. But this just makes it easier. These guys need to learn how to work around their own shortcomings a lot more. Especially the ones with combat oriented quirks.' Kan thought
Hoping to bring the now deflated morale of the group back up, Kendou addressed her class. "C'mon guys, we got this. Even if Midoriya-kun is out of play for a while, we're still more than capable of handling things. With our combination of quirks, this will be a piece of cake."
"Itsuka's right, there's nineteen of us. We got this in the bag!" Tokage piggyback with a confident thumbs-up.
"Oh yeah, Monoma's also not allowed to use Midoriya's quirk for the duration of the exercise." Kan added on while giving a sharp gaze over to the blonde haired student who was casually making his way over to Midoriya.
'Well, there goes my plan out the window…' The 'copy' quirk user sighed. On top of never getting the chance to actually copy the green's haired boy's quirk. Monoma knew that his power was way too useful for stuff like this. Luckily their teacher hadn't said anything about Yanagi's power being off limits as well.
"Alright! Now that we have the first exercise out of the way, let's move onto the next one!" Ragdoll cheered before marching into the treeline.
"What's next?" Tokage asked the pro heroine.
"You'll have to wait and see! But it's going to be something particularly entertaining...for us."
'I have a feeling that we're not going to like this at all.' The students collectively groaned as they walked towards their fate.
~Five Hours Later~
The moment the students stepped into the giant clearing in front of the lodge, they were absolutely exhausted. When Kan the Pussycats told them that they were going to be increasing the intensity with each exercise, they were expecting a gradual incline. Not leaps and bounds above the previous one.
"Someone get this damn thing off of me, please." Tetsutetsu pleaded as he dropped the ground with a 150kg mannequin still on his back. He had been carrying the thing for the last forty-five minutes and his legs were about to give out.
"I would totally help you out there Metalhead, but I'm a bit short handed at the moment." Tokage weakly chuckled while waving around two nubs where her hands were supposed to be. The girl lost them about two hours ago after a slight mishap when her and Yanagi attempted to hold up some boulders together.
"I'm sorry Tokage-chan, I thought that those rocks were within my weight limit. But they were more dense than I imagined." The grey haired teen apologized in her usual montine voice while propping herself up on Kendou's shoulder. Her head was throbbing and she had been using her quirk nonstop for the last few hours.
"It's fine." The 'lizard tail splitter' user waved off.
A few seconds later, Midoriya walked out from the tree line looking a lot more tired than usual. Not only was the boy carrying two of the mannequins by himself. But he was also transporting Kuroiro and Shoda. The latter was too exhausted to move thanks to overusing his quirk during the last exercise.
"Seriously... who's idea was it to have a simulated rock slide as our last obstacle?" Kamakiri droned out.
The only person who looked somewhat okay was Bondo. But since no one could really tell what the gentle giant of the class was thinking due to him not having an actual face, it was hard to say. On top of that, his skin was drier than usual after using his quirk to help rebuild a destroyed bridge.
"My feet are killing me!" Tsunotori groaned in her native English.
"Where are Komori-chan and Fukidashi-kun?" Kendou looked around the group of tired teenagers.
"We're...over...here…" The short brunette girl huffed out as her and Fukidashi finally crossed the tree line. The two of them working together to transport another mannequin.
"It's messed up how you made the two smallest people in your class carry the heaviest mannequin!" Ragdoll laughed while waving a paw at Kan.
'Honestly, I did that just to be funny.' The blood themed hero silently chuckled.
Once everyone was finally accounted for, the students were given a quick five minute break to catch their breath and rest their feet. Once that was over, everyone gathered around their homeroom teacher and two new instructors.
"I must say, you maggots got here sooner than I expected. I was pretty sure that we wouldn't get here until sundown." Tiger complimented the class. Sundown was still a good two and a half hours away, so there was a lot of time left in the day.
"Indeed." Kan interjected. "The purpose of us dragging you through this hell was to get a feel for what this camp is going to be like. But mainly because I wanted you all to focus on how you use your quirks. Like I said at the start of the year, you have to learn how to think outside of the box and be able to adapt to any situation that comes."
"I thought it was just to watch us suffer…." Kaibara groaned from his spot on the ground while clutching his still sore fingers.
"In any case, you all did well. Which means that you have the rest of the afternoon to rest and relax." Everyone's spirits were lifted ever so slightly at that announcement.
"Your classmate's still aren't here yet, so you'll have to wait until they show up to have dinner. But that means that you kittens don't have to share the showers or the hotsprings with them!" Ragdoll then explained with a smile on her face.
'Hot Springs?' Tokage's ears perked up at the mention of the word before darting her eyes over to Midoriya. Needless to say, the girl was having some less than appropriate thoughts at the prospect of finally seeing the boy without a shirt on.
"Ragdoll-san, the hot springs are separated by gender, correct?" Shiozaki immediately raised her hand.
"Of course!"
"Fuck…" The green haired girl cursed under her breath.
"For now, all of you go grab your bags from the front of the lodge and get cleaned up. We'll call you when it's time to eat."
With no hesitation, the students of class 1-B stood up on their shaky legs and made the drudge over to retrieve their belongings. Deciding to have a little bit of fun with this situation, Tokage walked over to Midoriya and jumped on the boy's back.
"S-Setsuna, w-w-what are you doing?" The blushing teen asked.
"Too tired to walk, need a piggyback ride." The girl replied with a slight smirk. "Also...I'm going to need some help carrying my stuff since I kinda don't have hands right now."
"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Are you going to be okay?"
"Yeah, I just need to get some calories in me to help speed up the regeneration. I'm running on empty right now but I should be good by the morning."
"That's good."
"In the meantime...that also means that I'm going to have some trouble when it comes to showering. You wanna give me a hand with that?"
Midoriya's face suddenly heated up at the implication of her words. They may have been officially dating now, but he was certain that he would never get used to how easily the girl could say stuff like that out loud. Just when the boy was about to fumble through his response, Shiozaki came to his rescue.
"There will be no indecency while we're here at this camp!" The blushing vine haired girl stated.
"What do you mean, Ibara? I was just going to ask Izuku to join me in the show-" Tokage's mouth was suddenly covered by one of the girl's vines.
"I'm too tired to deal with this." Yanagi droned out while using her quirk to pick up both her bags and Tokage's. "You and the boy's go on ahead. I'll make sure that Tokage-chan doesn't try to peek at you guys."
"You people are no fun!" The green haired teen huffed out in annoyance before acquiescing to her classmates and joining the rest of the girl to make the journey over to their assigned room. Leaving the boys to do the same.
After a much needed shower and soak in the hot springs, the girls of 1-B were all chilling out in their room. The sun was beginning to set and a few of them were starting to get more than a bit hungry, Tokage in particular. Because of the lack of sufficient calories, the process for her regeneration was going at a snail's pace. Thankfully the girl had the foresight to pack some granola bars in her bags before leaving just in case something like this happened. But even that wasn't enough to help her out.
Right as the girls were in the middle of a conversation about what they were going to be doing for the duration of the camp, the door slid open to reveal the girls of class 1-A. And judging by their looks, they must've just gotten back from whatever particular brand of hell that Aizawa had put them through.
"Wow...you guys look like shit." Tokage said in a joking fashion.
"Wait, are we going to be sharing this room?" Yaoyorozu asked, her voice sounded dry and Tokage could swear that the girl was thinner than usual.
"Yeah." Kendou answered. "Since there's only thirteen of us, we'll all be rooming together. And the boys have their own room. But Ragdoll did say that this was the biggest one."
"Oh, I see."
"What took you so long? We've been waiting hours for you to show up?"
"We just spent the last eight hours fighting giant dirt monsters." Ashido replied while holding her wrists.
"That sucks."
"What about you guys?"
"Kan-sensei put us through a bunch of rescue exercises that were way too difficult for us to handle properly. But we did manage to make it back a few hours ago."
"Lucky…" Jiro mumbled out.
"Judging by the fact that Tokage-san doesn't have any hands, I don't think that "lucky" would be the right word to use, gero." The frog themed girl with the scar on her face bluntly told the purple haired rocker.
The girls stood around and talked for a few minutes before Pixie-Bob, another member of the Wild Pussycats, told them that dinner was ready. With a wide grin and an almost empty stomach, Tokage nearly charged out of the room and made a beeline straight for the dining hall for some much needed grub.
"Yo Midoriya-kun, it's nice of you to finally join us!" Honenuki waved to the green haired teen who just walked into the room.
"What's that desired to mean?" Tsunotori asked the lipless teen.
"Midoriya didn't join the rest of us in the hot springs. He just went straight to the showers and took a nap." Awase clarified.
"Sorry, I was just really tired." The boy lied. Although it was true that he did take a nap after his midday shower. The reason why he didn't join the rest of the boys in the hot springs was because he didn't want to run the risk of any of them seeing his scars. The only person who was able to pick up on this was Yanagi.
"It's cool."
"Izuku, get over here! I need you to feed me!" Tokage blurted out loud enough for a few 1-A students to turn their heads in curiosity.
"What?!"
"I don't have hands right now, dude. I need your help." The girl waved her nubs in the air above her head.
In all fairness, Tokage did have a point. Without her hands, the girl wouldn't be able to eat. And it was a hero's duty to help someone in need. Especially if that someone was your girlfriend(?). Now that he thought about it, the two of them never did get around to defining exactly what the nature of their relationship was. Maybe they should handle that sometime soon.
After letting out an embarrassed sigh, Midoriya made his way over to the table. Aside from Tokage herself. Kendou, Tetsutetsu and Yanagi were all sitting with her. Generally speaking, the two classes had decided to stick together instead of intermingling that much. The only really oddballs were Todoroki and Shinso. Both of them sitting in rather secluded areas of the dining hall away from everyone else.
Once he sat down, Tokage wasted no time in sliding a bowl of fried rice in front of him while giving the boy a devious look. Obviously the girl was enjoying his embarrassment over the matter, but Midoriya couldn't quite bring himself to turn her down.
The green haired teen looked around for a moment before spotting a spoon in the tray of utensils at the center of the table. Without so much as thought, the boy used his quirk to lift the spoon, scoop up some rice and levitate it over to the girl's mouth. What Midoriya wasn't expecting, however, was for Tokage to give him an annoyed look and pout at him.
"You're a dork." She shook her head and huffed.
"What?"
"I didn't mean for you to use your quirk to do it." She explained as if it was the obvious thing in the world.
"Oh…" The now blushing teen realized what the girl meant.
"You're lucky that you're cute." Tokage began laughing before the unmistakable sound of her stomach grumbling drew in everyone's attention. "We'll worry about it later. For now, bring on the grub!"
Near the front of the room, Aizawa, Kan and the rest of the pro heroes were sitting at their own table and enjoying their meal. They had already worked out the schedule for the next few days, so there was really nothing else to talk about besides regular everyday stuff.
"Aren't you going to do anything about those two?" Aizawa lazily looked to Kan.
"No." The man casually replied while taking a sip of his tea.
"Why not?"
"I don't really see a point." The grey haired man shrugged. "It's not against the rules for teenagers to date. On top of that, they are two of my better and more well behaved students. So I don't really see a problem with it."
"I see." The back haired man simply replied. He himself thought it was irrational to allow students to openly engage in relationships like that. But then again, Kan did have a point. To his knowledge, Tokage and Midoriya were two of the top students in 1-B. In any case, it wasn't his class and by extension it wasn't his problem. So the nocturnal hero decided to drop it.
Later that night after everyone finally managed to eat and take part in the hot springs, the girls of 1-A and 1-B were all packed inside their assigned room. Like previously mentioned, they were all going to be living together during the training camp. Which gave the students plenty of time to mingle with each other.
"Man...talk about one hell of a day." Tokage stretched out her arms. Now that she had a sufficient amount of calories in her system, her regeneration was moving faster than it was earlier. The bottom portion of her palms were already starting to form.
"I'll say. My hands still haven't fully recovered from earlier." Kendou agreed.
"I still can't believe you guys had to spend the entire day fighting those dirt monsters. That must've been rough." Said Komori, the shorter girl with brown hair styled into a bob-cut that covered both of her eyes
"It was." Uraraka nodded.
"Well, at least we now get a chance to unwind before tomorrow."
"Certainly." Shiozaki agreed.
"I wonder what they're going to have us do?"
"Whatever it is, it's probably going to be brutal."
"You can count on that. In the meantime, why don't we take our minds off of that and have a little girl talk?" Ashido gave the girls a wide grin.
"I don't like the way you said that…" Jiro scowled at the pink skinned girl.
"C'mon, this is the first time that all of us are together like this outside of class. It'll be fun!"
"So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Boys, obviously!" The ''acid' quirk user proclaimed as she stood up from her futon.
"Here we go…." Kendou deadpanned.
"Now we're talking!" Tokage also stood up on top of her futon. More than happy to have this particular kind of conversation. "So, which guys do you think are the hottest?"
"Do we really have to answer that?"
"This is ridiculous." Yanagi stoically said while scrolling through her phone.
"C'mon Ghosty, what's the harm?" Tokage smiled at the girl and threw her arm over her shoulder. "You're a hormonally challenged girl just like the rest of us, right? Which guy do you think is the most attractive? I'm dying to know the answer to this."
"In order of general attractiveness, I would have to say Kaibara-kun, Awase-kun, Midoriya-kun, Monoma-kun and Honenuki-kun are the five most attractive boys in our class."
…
…
…
Silence fell among the students as everyone gawked at the grey haired teen. In response, Yanagi simply looked around the room and waited for a reply.
"Wow…" Tokage blinked in surprise. "I wasn't really expecting you to just come out and say it like that."
"What would be the point in lying about it?" A lazily blue eye glanced back at her.
"You are seriously one tough nut to crack." The green haired girl shook her head before moving on.
"Forget all that, I want the details and Tokage and Midoriya." Ashido cooed along with Hagakure. "Are you two offically a couple or what? Because him feeding you in the dining hall earlier was the cutest thing on earth."
"Something like that…." The girl smirked while pretending to be coy about the situation.
~Meanwhile, in the Class 1-B boy's room….~
"Alright Midoriya, what's your fucking secret?!" Awase asked the green haired boy.
"My what?" A very confused Midoriya looked to his classmate for an explanation.
"Don't try and act dumb! I'm onto you and your little game, you douche. How come you're always surrounded by attractive women?"
"What?!"
"Y'know...Awase does have a point." Tsuburaba joined in. "You are quite the ladies man, dude."
To say that Midoriya was perplexed would be putting mildly. He honestly had no clue where any of this was coming from. "Guys, what are you even talking about?"
"Don't give us that shit! You and Tokage are obviously together. You and Yanagi talk and hang out all the time. Plus that hot third year girl with the huge boobs apparently has taken an interest in you. And don't even get me started on Blizzard..." The headband wearing teen began listing off his "evidence".
"Dude, that may or may not be his older sister...gross!" A chuckling Honenuki chimed in from the other side of the room while very much enjoying this conversation.
"I'm telling you bro, it's the freckles. Chicks dig that shit." Kamakiri decided to put in his two cents.
Now that he was fully committed to this act, Awase walked across the room directly to Midoriya and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders. He even took a few seconds to stare into his eyes and pause for dramatic effect.
"Tell us you son of a bitch! How do you do it? Knowledge is meant to be shared, not hoarded!" The 'weld' quirk user began shaking him. "What are you, some kind of generic anime harem protagonist?"
'Ah, so this is what it's like to have sleepovers.' Midoriya thought as he tried to come up with a way out of his comically dreadful situation.
In a seedy bar in the middle of Kamino ward, a certain group of individuals were gathered around a table in the middle of the room. These men and women were carefully going over their plan for events yet to come.
"Twice's clone just checked in with us not too long ago and confirmed that the brats were hiding out in some lodge in the middle of Akita Prefecture." Tomura Shigaraki, a young man with sky blue hair and dry skin announced to the group. By a sheer stroke of luck, one of his newest party members just so happened to spot a bus containing their current quest objectives and sent one of his clones to tail them.
"So tell me again why we're going through the trouble of snatching up a couple of kids." A man with black hair and scars all over his body asked. Wondering what the point of all this was.
"Our goal is to deal a blow to hero society as a whole. And what better way to do that than to turn a couple of top hero prospects to our side?"
"And what if this doesn't pan out the way you want it to?" The scarred man rebutted.
"Then we'll just kill them. Either way, the public will lose its faith in the disgusting institution that it clings to so dearly."
"Fine." The man replied. "And after we prove ourselves on this little kidnapping job of yours, you'll introduce us to Stain, right?"
"Of course." Shigaraki lied under the dismembered hand that he was using to mask his face. Ever since that business in Hosu, his "League of Villains" had been attached to that lunatic bastard known as the 'Hero Killer'. In truth, the pale man wanted nothing more than to turn that asshole into dust. But using his name to gather more NPCs was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
"Oh, this sounds so much fun. I can't wait to start slicing people up!" The psychotic blonde girl with yellow eyes cheered with a sadistic smile on her face.
"So when do we start?"
"We're still waiting on that support gear from Giran to get finished. It will be done by tomorrow night. The attack itself will be the day after tomorrow. On top of that, we're waiting on a few more members to join our party."
"Fine." The scarred man nodded.
"Does all of this sound okay to you, Sensei?" Shigaraki then turned toward the television monitor in the back of the room.
"It sounds wonderful, Tomura." A cold and sinister voice replied in an amused tone. His apprentice may still have been a bit rough around the edges and needed proper guidance. But he was coming along quite well. His earlier defeat at the hands of All Might had really lit a fire in his soul. "However, might I make a small request?"
"What is it?"
"In addition to capturing Ragdoll of the Wild Pussycats, I would like some time with Izuku Midoriya once your plan succeeds. There's a certain matter concerning him that I wish to attend to."
"Alright." The 'decay' quirk user nodded. He learned a long time ago that his Sensei always had some kind of nefarious scheme in the works. And that it's better to not ask questions. As long as he got what he wanted, there was nothing to worry about.
"Excellent…" The man behind the screen smiled at this very fortunate turn of events.
Author's Notes: I'm back! Sorry about the "late" update, but work/life has been pretty hectic lately (Also, I've really gotten into "Black Clover" lately). On top of that, I've had some seriously bad writer's block when it comes to this story. Mainly because I didn't know what to have the 1-B students do for their first day of training. But this was what I decided on. I honestly just wanted the chance to introduce Midoriya using his quirk to "swim". Which may or may not come up again in a later part of the story.
1. I've decided to extend the training camp by one day. This will be used to build up a few things that will happen in the next few chapters and later on in the fic. I honestly want to hurry up and get this part of the story over with. But I don't want to rush it. Plus I have a pretty big moment coming that I hinted at in this chapter.
2. For all those wondering why the League hasn't been present in my story up until now...to be honest I have a hard time writing their characters, especially Shigaraki. I think that his character doesn't make sense in canon. As someone who's been under AfO's wing for the last 14+ years, he's way too childish and idiotic. I have to actively try and not give him an intelligence boost whenever he shows up in my fics. They won't have a huge role in the overall story. But it will obviously be a significant one.
Like always, thanks for reading and don't be afraid to leave a review/comment.