Chương 27: On to Camp
Divine intervention is the direct and obvious intervention by god in the affairs of its creations or simply coincidence. Sakura didn't know which she believed in less, but this was certainly some kind of intervention. One that her foolish conscience refused to deflate.
Almost everyone from her class decided to go shopping in preparation for the training camp, but that had been a sinking ship as the League of villains made a return appearance. That's what Keigo had told Sakura when he called in a rush, and she had to fight him for nearly half an hour not to show back up at the house to check-in.
She hadn't gone with them, but only Izuku and Ochaco had a close encounter with one of the members, which was Tomura according to Keigo.
"I thought the league was only after All Might and other heroes, why are they coming after students?" From what she understood, all Tomura spoke about was taking down the number one hero and his hatred for the profession and those within, but students in training for becoming heroes seemed low priority in her opinion.
It didn't look like students would go sticking their necks out to peer into heroes' and villains' business from beyond their screens and textbooks because technically without a license, they were no different from civillians and disallowed to actively interact in this circle. So why were the villains going out of their way to enter a public space quietly to threaten the students of the U.A.?
"I don't know, maybe they want to send a message? Apparently only one of your classmates was in danger,"
"Izuku,"
"Yes, but he was in the mall alone at the time, but from what I understand the guy just ranted and didn't give any useful information,"
"So like a fanatic?"
"That's what we think. Unfortunately, this little stunt is causing an uproar and a big mess to clean,"
"All because they showed up without being noticed,"
It was ridiculous to think about how effective this had been, there were no outbreaks of battle or Nomu or an army of villains pouring out from nowhere and yet the authorities and heroes were pulled into a frenzy with the media closing in on them with a stink eye.
"The student's safety is now being called into question because there's speculation that the league is after you guys too,"
That was a complication because it wasn't just speculation. The league targeting the students at U.A. only pressed further into the idea that there might be a traitor amongst them, and now that it was clear the students were also targeted there would be a closer zoom in on the school and all of its members.
'Giran did try to call me in to the League,' Perhaps they were planning something, and it might have to do with the school again. Those villains may have been reckless, but they made an impact and by now they surely learned that All Might wasn't a force they could easily beat.
So what could they think to counter that?
'Assume they are looking for recruits again, does that mean they're going to try and attack the school?'
"Why do you think they're targeting us, Hawks?"
"I can't say, but I know they wanted to kill All Might, and that plan had been a bust, assume after the USJ you and your classmates got onto their bad side, villains can hold a grudge. Maybe they're waiting for the right time to sate it?"
"When exactly would that be?"
"When they're more prepared and when you guys are less secured,"
Like the training camp, it was supposed to be far off in the wilderness, there were no heroes there which meant less chance to call for assistance if something went wrong and in the woods, there was a lot of fo space to bury bodies. Sakura knew that firsthand and it seemed like her classmates were the ones having their gravestones carved.
Tomura might have left them intact for now, but one misstep and they could be ash.
"Okay, bye,"
"Hey-
Sakura turned off her phone completely and tossed the device onto her bed where her bag lay now. She stared at the sack, her face turning red and a vein tensing under her neck.
"CHA DAMMIT!"
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..
..
She had been so hopeful. After this attack from the League of Villains, Sakura knew there was a possibility that the training camp would just be canceled, everyone would go their separate ways for summer vacation and she could leave.
But the school had decided that this training camp with necessary, and the precautions taken included the destination changed and keeping quiet until they arrived. So no student or their parent would know where they were going.
Sakura tried to find out if Keigo knew where they were going, but he had swiftly ended that conversation. So she was in the dark just like the rest of her classmates.
"Why so glum Sakura?" Eijiro asked, coming up to the pink-haired girl.
"It's nothing," Her face must've fallen in relation to her thoughts. She looked over at class B students already climbing onto their bus. More students meant more bodies to keep count of if the league decided to try and attack.
She hoped this measure of keeping the new location of the camp secret would work out and that this was just over-caution on her part.
'After this, I'm out of here,'
..
..
'It's just for now,' Sakura stared out of the bus window, the mountainside giving a clear view of the city that had become smaller than an anthill to the distance. It was so noisy even Shouta couldn't talk through to his class that's what happened when you put twenty teenagers on a bus for over an hour.
"Sakura?" She looked over at Shouto, who had been calling out to her three times before.
"Sorry?"
"Is something the matter?" She wasn't doing a good job at hiding her face right now and that was a problem for her. Fortunately, she was with one of the students that happened to be both smart and also dense. With Shouto's tendency to keep a distance from people, he wasn't particularly skilled at detecting turmoil.
So she stretched her lips, closed her eyes, and said, "I'm fine,"
Shouto may have stared longer than needed, but he hadn't pressed further on the issue. "Are you looking forward to the training camp?"
Now she quirked an eyebrow, Shouto was trying to make small talk. Something they haven't had since that dinner together.
"I don't know, I'm not sure what to expect,"
"I want to get strong enough to beat you,"
Well, that was certainly brazen, but she'd give him points for honesty. A little indulgence wasn't bad to take the time away. When it came to traveling, her usual methods were on foot running for hours on end until she reached the next mark, this world with its transportation was a luxury she wasn't used to.
"You're gonna need more than a week pal," She snickered, while he kept his usual expression.
"That reminds me, that attack you used with the water for the practical. What was that?"
Someone was bound to ask that question, it was usually Izuku or one of her more chatty classmates. Although she wasn't someone to reveal all of her abilities in one go to show off as so many of her classmates were taught, it didn't mean deliberately hiding her powers. It was a matter of when to use it.
"That's just something else I can also do, I don't have multiple quirks all of my abilities stem from one source," That explanation was proving to be the one to put things to rest. She wished she had said it sooner, although it wasn't keeping the scrutiny off.
"Why haven't you used it until now?"
She leaned a little over to him, "I haven't needed to until now,"
Shouto and Sakura talked most of the way until the bus came to a halt, near a cliff overlooking a forest and mountains in the distance. The city was now completely out of sight.
..
..
Something was off about this, the sight was breathtaking and would be a typical stop for tourists, or a school field trip but this wasn't the case. Shouta wasn't the kind of person to waste time on such luxuries. There was no sign of a class B bus either.
"Why are we stopped out here?"
There wasn't anything aside from the view, no restroom either which didn't bode well for some, like Minoru who was buzzing around futile searching. Others assumed this was just to stretch their legs before getting back on the road and didn't think much else.
They weren't the only ones there for long, as a car pulled up at the same area they stopped. Three figures, three quite odd in Sakura's opinion got out. Certainly wasn't any attire suitable for the mountains, with tank tops and lace frilled skirts, matching and gaudy so she knew those were costumes. Hero costumes.
Still, when one of them greeted Shouta, he bowed respectfully. "Long time no see,"
The two women, gave the strangest greetings through a performance of striking poses and ending in one that looked well-rehearsed. And next to them was a young boy, at least eight, with dark hair hidden under his cap, but what stood out was his expression, a constant frown. He didn't look like he wanted to be here either.
Izuku immediately went to info-vomiting on the heroes, the Wild Wild Pussycats, as they called themselves. Despite their attire, they were heroes that specialized in mountain rescues. And they were also a team of four but only two had come to meet them for now.
The hero alias of the two was Mandalay and Pixie-Bob, also Shino Sosaki and Ryuko Tsuchikawa.
"Nice to meet you," THe class greeted following Shouta's instructions to be polite.
Shino pointed out to the wilderness, "We own this entire stretch of land, you'll be staying at the base of that mountain,"
That mountain was at least a few kilometers away, and it didn't look like there was an obvious road leading out to it.
Ochaco finally asked the question that everyone else was thinking, "Why did we stop here then?"
Unfortunately, a lot of them had already figured out the answer to that, and it was not a pleasant one. At first, they slowly started backing away towards the bus again when it finally dawned on them that this was as far as they would be able to go on heels because their teacher was going to toss them into the woods.
Shino grinned widely, the tail of her costume seemed to flick with mischief. "It's currently 9:30 am if you're fast you can make it by noon?"
"Everyone back on the bus!" Eijiro exclaimed being one of the first to try and rush back.
There wasn't a guarantee that the driver would even take them if they made it back on but logic wasn't ruling these actions.
"Kitties who don't make it by 12:30 won't get any lunch!"
No one made it back to the bus, because the second member of the hero team, Ryuko was in front of it, kneeling on the ground when her paw glove touched it became loose like sand and turned into a wave that swept up all of the students of class A, tossing them down the mountainside near the edge of the forest.
Sakura landed like a cat, but even if others hadn't the ground was made softer than feathers, so it was safe to assume this was the blonde heroes doing.
'She can control earth,'
Peering over the railing, Shino called to them, "We own this stretch of land so you're free to use your quirks as much as you want. You have three hours to come to the facility, on your own two feet. After getting through the beast's forest."
Three hours to make it that distance, wasn't an issue for someone who could travel to another part of the country within a day of running, but Sakura's classmates didn't share her endurance.
"I guess the training starts now," Sakura said, dusting off her skirt.
"This is like something out of Dragon Quest," said Denki, looking out into the darkening forest. It was thickly covered by a canopy. It didn't look like many people wandered into it and with a name like Beast forest..who would want to willingly?
"Be on the lookout," Sakura told them, but Minoru was already rushing out into the woods to relieve himself.
"AAAAAHHH," And a moment later he was screaming.
Heads turned to find the reason for the commotion, and the ground shook in response, as a large figure came out of the shadows, a creature with blackness for eyes, jagged rocks for teeth, and its body clumped brown like clay.
"What is that beast!?"
The creature crept towards them, but Izuku, Tenya, Shouto, and Katsuki were already on it before the light was. It crumbled under the force of their attacks.
"This is Pixie-Bob's quirk!" Izuku alerted them.
"Seems they understand the task," Sakura sighed, looking up to where another mud creature was flying above. They were made to resemble mutated creatures, with sharper claws and teeth to insight fear, and it worked for the most part.
As if it wouldn't be hard enough for them to make it through the forest, but they were expected to do it while fighting and on a deadline. Sakura thought to go on ahead of the class, as more creatures appeared from the ground.
These were going to keep them busy and with their speed, there would be no way to make it in three hours.
'But if the League is planning to attack,' She looked at her classmates who were running around, taking out the monsters together. Everyone taking on the best roles their quirks suited, most of the boys falling into a direct physical attack.
"These guys are everywhere!" Ochaco exclaimed, watching as one of the monsters she sent into the air landed with a thud, breaking apart but already another was taking its place. It didn't last long however as Sakura jumped into the air and landed a kick to its head, crushing the skull of dirt.
Landing on a tree branch, Sakura cracked her knuckles overlooking her classmates, "You wanna make it before lunch, then step up class A!"
"YEAH"
Katsuki scoffed, and Sakura taunted, "Try to keep up,"
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..
The clearing was a heavy orange and the heat at its peak signaled the start of sunset. Between the dirt monsters, the distance, and the way everyone had to stretch not only their legs but also their quirks, well over eight hours passed before they managed to get out of the forest.
Shouta, Shino, and Ryuko were waiting to greet them, standing in front of a large building in the clearing.
Hungry, limping with strained muscles, and covered in sweat and dirt that stained their uniforms, the entire class stepped out into the sun. All but Sakura, who had managed to keep the dirt to a minimum on her uniform, her hair still in place, and not a bead of sweat on her forehead.
"That took longer than expected," stated Shino.
"No one counted for the endless hordes of monsters," Sakura counted.
"And yet you're without so much as a scratch," The leader of the Wild-Wild Pussy Cats observed, she whispered to Shouta. "That the 'most troublesome' one you talked about?'
"That's her,"
Ryuko had been able to monitor the student's movements through the forest, which was why she knew where to plant her little beasts, but she was able to keep track of what every student was doing and relay the fight and progress back to Shouta as instructed.
"I'm telling you, there's one student that's staying ahead and taking down some of my monsters before I can even get them out of the ground!"
"That sound like Haruno," Shouta said, with a hint of disdain. "Keep an eye out for that one,"
"Problem Eraser?" asked Shino as she overlooked the mountainside.
"Not sure, you can't know with her but Haruno has a history of causing trouble."
Ryuko was panting as the time passed, she was constantly creating beasts to keep the students at bay but Sakura was taking them down well within a few seconds and in one attack. "I'm gonna get the drop on you just you wait!"
"Don't go too crazy, they're only students,"
"No," Shouta said, overlaying Shino's order. "I want you to put them through all the stops. This training is meant to improve their quirks and get them ready for the provisional licensing exam. With Haruno here, the dynamics have been a little harder to handle, but make sure that every student is put through the hoops. They need to be able to tear their quirk apart to make it stronger,"
"YOU GOT IT" A sadistic glint entered Ryuko's smile as her claws twitched. "I'm gonna enjoy this,"
Though she did, unfortunately, it looked like her efforts had little impact on the young girl as Sakura stood in better shape than any of her fellow students. Though Shouta complained about her more than any of the other students they analyzed, he had said she was the strongest and most well-rounded. Already coming from him, gave more than merit.
"Man you guys look exhausted!" Laughed Ryuko, "But honestly I thought it would've taken you longer!"
Sakura pulled off her gloves, barely listening, but Ryuko had set her eyes on her, "Aren't you the star pupil? Wasn't my dirt monster's enough for ya?"
"They were distracting enough," Sakura answered.
Licking her lips, Ryuko's paws hit the dirt and the ground softened and shifted, molding together like clay and growing taller. The beast had hind legs thick like a muscle, horns protruding similarly to a triceratops, with a long tail spiked to the very tip, its body appearing heavy.
Some of her classmates were crying out, in terror as the beast took shape and in horror at the prospect of needing to fight another one of these creatures when they were already at their destination and half battered from their prolonged battle in the forest.
"Are you kidding me!?" exclaimed Denki.
"I thought we were done with this!" Tohru whined. This was by far one of the biggest earth monsters they have faced by far, and in their condition, no one had the energy to keep fighting.
"This training camp is intense," panted Eijirou, getting ready to move.
"Hold it," ordered Ryuko, "This bad boy is prepped for one kitty in particular,"
Everyone turned to Sakura, gauging her reaction. They were prepping to step in as well, but the pink head girl just held up her hands.
"I assume you mean me?"
Ryuko giggled manically, "Since you didn't seem to find my other pretties very fun, I thought we'd go for a bonus round!"
Sakura sighed, kicking up dirt under her boots, she knew by now that they weren't going to stop until she did what was expected. Shouta was probably in on this too.
"You've got five minutes to take down this baby or no one eating!"
"We already missed lunch!" Whined Mina. Forget not being able to eat lunch, they had missed the entire deadline for that and were nearing supper, that couldn't mean…
"NO DINNER!?" The class exclaimed.
"That's right," Shino grinned, hands on her hips. "If your class president can't bring down this terror in five, no one eating tonight!"
"AAHH!"
"Take it down Sakura!" cheered Ochaco, waving her hands.
"Show that dirt clod who's boss!" Shouted Hanta.
"Don't lose our dinner!"
Sakura craned her neck just to meet the creature dead, clenching her fist. As its large claw came towards her and swiped, she ducked avoiding the wind force behind it. Jumping onto its arm and running up.
"Cha!" Her punch went through, meeting its forehead and crumbling the creature just as easily as the boulder she destroyed blocking the entrance to the Akatsuki's hideout.
She heard her class cheering and yelling loudly, 'let them eat. But when she landed, tremors ran through as the ground shook and shifted, creating more of the same behemoths of dirt.
Soon they were towering over their target, Sakura glanced at Ruyuko, "You only said destroy one,"
"Apparently not, you better hurry up, times ticking,"
"These are nothing more than little dirt puppets," Sakura said, folding her arms. Before a mischievous smirk filled her face. "There's only one real way to deal with puppets,"
"What's that?"
In an instant, the heroes and students lost sight of Sakura, vanishing with a speed they couldn't track before she rematerialized behind the teacher too late. Her hand swiftly smacked the back of Pixie-Bob's head, her eyes turned white as she fell getting a face full of dirt. While her creatures began to crumble into piles that looked like giant molehills.
"Just take down the puppeteer,"
Shino stared frazzled at her partner laying on the ground, she turned to Shouta, hoping he could give insight into what to do about this.
"I told you she was troublesome,"
Sakura shrugged, "I stopped them, no one said how,"
"Attacking a pro hero?"
"Don't set them on me then," Sakura countered, glaring at her homeroom teacher. She knew he had to be the conspirator behind this little display for whatever reason.
"This is a training camp Haruno, we're here to improve your quirks,"
In other words, he didn't want anyone to be able to go around without breaking a sweat and that included her, but he didn't know how far she needed to be pushed to get to that point.
'Not my problem,'
With a sweet smile, Sakura leaned to the side to look over at Shino, "We were promised dinner right?"
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..
"I can't believe you did that to Pixie-Bob," said Tsuyu, "She seems angry about it still,"
Sakura could see the women on the other end of the cafeteria, dishing out rice to the students. They were warned that this would be the only free meal they received during this trip and for the rest of the time, they would have to take care of things themselves.
The class was set together at two large tables and wooden benches, inhaling whatever was set in front of them. Trying to fit everything they could into their mouths, barely savoring the taste as they tried to just sate their appetites.
"You're going to choke," Sakura warned Eijirou as he and Denki practically took the bowls down their gullet.
"We've been running and fighting for hours, this is like nirvana after that!" Exclaimed Hanta, swallowing another mouthful of meat.
'Chouji would've enjoyed a feast like this,' It had been so long since she had dinner with her friends like this. They would go to a barbeque restaurant or Ichiraku's, stuff themselves, and then try to ditch to see who would get stuck with the bill. If they were with their sensei's, then they would all just bolt and leave it to the 'adults' to pay.
Even the child that was with the pussy cats, who was introduced as Kota, was helping to serve the class. Though the boy wasn't very hospitable, in fact when Izuku attempted to greet him kindly, he was met with a painful hit. Literally. He was walking with a limp into the cafeteria.
Sakura leaned over to whisper to Izuku, "How's that injury?"
Izuku choked on his rice, "F-Fine!"
"Because if you aren't careful, you can get lopsi-
"I'm fine!" He cried mortified, but Sakura started snickering which showed she had been teasing. "S-Sakura!"
"I'm sorry," She laughed, throwing a handful of fries in her mouth. "But as for Pixie-Bob, I completed the assignment she gave, she didn't say how I had to do it. It was the smartest way than smashing my way through, chances are she wasn't even intending to let me off until I ran up the five minutes,"
"That's far too devious Haruno, a pro hero would never-
Sakura gave Tenya a pointed look, and then shot her head to Shouta, and he went silent.
"Point taken,"
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