Chương 1173: 64
Izuku could hardly have been more excited as he sat on the bus with his class, heading toward a 'summer camp', as Aizawa put it, for a week of training. He wondered what kind of special training Aizawa had in mind, and who their guest instructors would be, and what kind of 'fun activities' Vlad King was talking about… he had a lot of questions, but Aizawa wasn't willing to answer any of them. His consistent 'answer' had been that silent stare they were all used to by now.
He was sitting next to Katsuki, but the whole bus was having one big conversation. They were discussing theories about what they would be doing there, about how Aizawa would surely trick them, and what punishment awaited those who had failed. Looking up at the front of the bus next to Aizawa, Nejire clearly knew things, and was dying to say them, but she kept quiet, despite Mina's prodding. Before Momo could scold Hagakure for scaring her classmates by suggesting that 'Aizawa is going to make the fails clean his sleeping bags', the bus came to an abrupt and peculiar stop.
The students stopped their conversation long enough to look around: they had pulled off at an overlook, gazing out across a veritable sea of trees in the valley below.
"Hey, did the bus break down?" Sero asked Aizawa, who was standing up. "This doesn't look like a camp."
Unsurprisingly, he didn't answer. "Get out. Leave your luggage."
The students had learned well enough over the semester to not question or protest, and obeyed, albeit cautiously.
"I didn't have money on Aizawa tricking us this early," Mina muttered to Izuku as they filed out of the bus.
He narrowed his eyes. "Mhm. I wonder what he's up to…"
Izuku took a moment to sniff the air, pushing his quirk to his nose to enhance his sense of smell. He furrowed his brow, and looked around.
"What's up?" Katsuki asked.
"I smell two people," he muttered as the class stood together on the dirt. Nejire was nearly bouncing with excitement as she stood next to Aizawa. "My guess is both women. Don't see them, though."
About as soon as he finished speaking, the secret revealed itself. Or rather, themselves.
A rush of dirt came over the side of the overlook, bringing with it two women. The students were shocked as they appeared, but Izuku was already deep inside his own mind.
They were wearing matching uniforms, at least in design, if not color. Headpieces like stylized cat ears, oversized cat paw gloves, a tail he didn't really want to know where it was attached? It was none other than the Wild Wild Pussycats, or at least two of the four.
The brunette with the red uniform was Mandalay, the sort of leader of the famous rescue team, while the blonde in the blue uniform was undoubtedly Pixie Bob. He quizzed himself on their quirks: Mandalay was a true telepath, able to speak into the minds of people near and quite far from her, if he was remembering correctly, but she couldn't read minds or hear messages back from people. Pixie Bob, as she had just demonstrated, was able to manipulate the earth around her to impressive effect.
The question was, however, why were they here? Were they going to be training them? The Pussycats were rescue heroes primarily, so perhaps-
"Deku!" hissed Ochako from his side, snapping him out of it.
He realized he had been muttering again, and quietly thanked Ochako with a nod as he turned his full attention to the pro heroes, who seemed to have just finished posing.
"Welcome to your summer camp!" Mandalay declared.
Pixie Bob smirked. "That's right, you haven't made it quite there yet, but it's not too far. If you squint, you can see it waaaaay over there."
The students turned to look over the railing, seeing nothing but trees as far as the valley stretched. Izuku saw where this was going, and he was getting excited.
"So uh," Kaminari began, "why did we get out? Let's get back on the bus and get there, yeah?"
Pixie Bob's smirk turned more sinister. "Oh, you've gone as far as you will on that bus. If you want to get to camp, you're going to have to get there on foot! And if you want dinner, you're going to have to get there on foot quickly. "
Izuku didn't need to hear anything else. He had already started running toward the edge of the overlook, ripping his school uniform off his chest as wings sprouted from his back. Any excuse to walk—or fly—in a forest was good enough for him.
He jumped into the air, catching the wind in his wings as he tipped over and dove downward, while he heard Mandalay laughing behind him.
"That's the spirit!" she exclaimed. "Come on the rest of you, after him!"
"Let me give you a hand!" Pixie Bob 'offered'. Izuku heard the rush of dirt and the scream of his surprised classmates tipping over the edge. He streaked toward the trees, wings folded behind him with a grin on his face. He unfurled his wings as he neared the ground, catching the wind and turning himself so he was soaring above the trees.
Izuku's quirk was running hot like it always did in forests, and he was sure his eyes were glowing brightly as he flew happily around the taller trees. He banked around and looked down at his classmates picking themselves up and dusting themselves off at the bottom of the cliff, waving down at the ones looking up at him.
"I'm even more jealous than usual that he can fly," Mina muttered.
"Envious, not jealous," Momo corrected.
"Nerd," Mina retorted.
Jirou froze. "Wait. I hear something coming!"
Izuku's frolicking ended as he focused on Jirou, his eyes transforming as more of his quirk swelled within him.
She plugged her jacks into the ground and paused. "No, some things. They sound big, too."
Eiko and Katsuki had moved forward immediately, looking through the dense forest. The canopy was so thick, Izuku couldn't see anything, but as he focused on his ears, he heard distant noises.
His first thought was, 'Jirou is incredible.'
His second thought was more focused. He raced toward the sound, hearing what could only be footsteps getting louder and louder. Spotting a break in the canopy, Izuku darted down and landed on a sturdy branch to observe.
A veritable army was marching toward them, each soldier a monster of dirt and clay twenty, thirty, even forty feet tall. They were of all different shapes and sizes, from humanoid to hulking monster to animalistic, moving eerily quietly beyond the noise of their footfalls.
Izuku spotted one a little ways away from the main horde and decided to test it. He transformed more, growing scales all over his body and bulking himself up as he jumped down from his vantage point and darted toward his target. He slammed into it with great force, smashing through it with ease, and breaking through to the other side.
Defiant wasn't expecting to meet so little resistance and nearly crashed into the ground on the far side, but managed to beat his wings hard and pull up in time. He turned back to see the dirt monster crumbling, collapsing back to the ground, but even as he grew a smile, another began to rise in its place.
"This has to be Pixie Bob ," Defiant noted aloud. " I didn't know she could do this, but she is a pro after all."
He rushed back to his classmates with his findings, landing on another tree above them as he released most of his quirk.
"Listen up!" Izuku called, getting the attention of the other 19. "We're facing dirt monsters. They're huge, but hollow and easy to bring down. Problem is, they're endless. Take one down, Pixie Bob makes another."
"So it's a test of endurance," Shouto inferred.
Izuku nodded. "Not just that. Remember what they said: we need to get through this forest quickly. This isn't just testing how long we can fight, but pushing us to keep moving while we do so."
"What's the plan?" Tsuyu asked up at him.
Izuku grinned, showing his fangs. "Our best tool is our teamwork and coordination. Eiko, you're spearheading our defense. Satou, Kaminari, Ochako, Hagakure, Shouji, you're with her; deal with any that get too close. Iida, Tsuyu, Katsuki, use your mobility to protect the flanks. Jirou, keep giving us information so we know where they're coming from. The rest of you, deal some damage. Remember, our primary goal is to keep moving . Any questions? Suggestions?"
"What are you doing?" Momo asked.
He smirked as his quirk flowed back into his body. "Air support."
Defiant jumped back into the sky, circling around his classmates once as they took their places and began to move to meet their assailants before flying back above the treeline.
"Come and get me, you muddy bastards!" Eiko's defiant shout echoed through the trees, causing Defiant to laugh. Katsuki had definitely rubbed off on her, which wasn't a bad thing.
A cacophony of noise erupted from the forest below. The sound of lasers, electricity, explosions, and what Defiant was pretty sure was a grenade launcher. He swooped down through a gap in the trees and decapitated a particularly tall dirt monster with his claws, glancing down to look at his class.
Eiko was using her transformed arms to cut the legs out from under a beast, while Satou punched one clean in half. He spied Ochako jumping off a tree and through a monster's chest, Kaminari frying one, and Hagakure tripping one of them into Shouji who met it with a three-armed punch. Around the edges, Katsuki was exploding them to bits with ease, using the blasts from destroying one to launch himself at the next, while Tsuyu was doing something similar, only using her equally-explosive thighs.
The main part of the group was doing its job, with Mina melting beasts into smoking piles, Mineta and Sero sticking them in place, and Shouto unleashing his incredible power to both burn and freeze the lumbering monsters. Jirou was doing her job perfectly, calling out monsters before they appeared, giving the defenders time to intercept them and even taking out a few herself with her heartbeat blasted through her jacks. Like he suspected, he saw Momo holding a grenade launcher with a trail of spent shells trailing behind her as she created new rounds from her hands as she loaded them. Aoyama was firing lasers as fast as he dared, Pony was turning them into pincushions, and Dark Shadow was tearing them apart. Defiant spotted a dirt monster beginning to form behind the group, flanking the ranged, but before he could do anything, Iida was there, using an engine-powered kick to blow it apart before it had even finished standing up.
As he swooped up back over the trees, he heard Ochako call out to him.
"Deku!" she called. Defiant looked down, spotting her tossing a weightless beast up to him. With a deft mid-air spin, he brought his tail down on the monster, cracking it in half and sending the dust exploding outward.
He paused. Where was Kouda? He hadn't seen him. He dove down again, using his wings to take out two new beasts, when he heard Jirou call out in panic. "There's a bunch of them heading at us from over there!"
Izuku banked to meet the new threat, but was instead met by a truly incredible sight. A stampede of nearly every forest animal, from deer to fox to boar, with Kouda himself at the front, riding on a bear like he was heading to war.
The entire class stopped, dumbfounded as the flood of animals crashed through the battalion of Pixie Bob's monsters, washing over it like a flood. Hawks and owls pecked and clawed at the heads of the beasts, boars and bears knocked them over and trampled them underfoot, while smaller creatures like badgers and foxes overwhelmed the dirt titans with sheer numbers.
The animals cleared out every single monster, then continued on their way, leaving as quickly as they came, save for Kouda's bear. Then, for a moment, there was silence. The class stared at Kouda, who was looking sheepish, before they erupted into cheers.
"Holy shit, dude!" Kaminari exclaimed, jumping up and down.
"That's my guy!" Sero yelled, running over and clapping Kouda on the back, who was wearing one of his rare smiles as the rest of the class began to crowd him.
As much as Kouda deserved the praise, Defiant knew that one, the reprieve wouldn't last long, and two, the attention would overwhelm Kouda soon. "Come on, we have to keep moving! Congratulate Kouda once we make it to camp!"
The other students snapped out of their celebration and quickly began to move, jogging in the direction of the camp. Kouda looked up at Defiant, who gave him a thumbs up, which Kouda returned with a thankful smile.
Defiant grinned as he launched himself back into the air. His hoard was mighty indeed.
Nejire was pretty bored, all things considered. She had arrived with Aizawa and the others at the camp proper several hours ago, helped to unpack the luggage, and got the food ready to be prepared. Obviously the 'go-fast-or-you-don't-get-dinner' ruse was just that, a ruse. Not feeding the students would be counterproductive to training them, but it was a good motivator.
With all that done, all she had to do now was wait. And wait a lot. The other two Pussycats were out making 1-B's life more difficult, but Mandalay and Pixie Bob had arrived about a half hour ago, as the students had finally gotten outside the effective range of her quirk. Mandalay had a kid with her, who she introduced as Kouta. He was pretty cute, but seemed surly and bitter. Maybe he didn't want to be dragged out to the forest camp and would rather be home playing games or something. Nejire could sympathize; sometimes she liked to just snuggle with her significant other at home and not do anything else.
Nejire pursed her lips into a small pout. Not that she had a boyfriend or girlfriend right now. She had chased another one off a few months before. That was what, the fifteenth one since she started at UA? Maybe she was doomed to be single. That wouldn't be the worst thing, she had lots of friends, and there was an appeal in solitude. Maybe she'd get another cat and just become a crazy cat lady. Oh, she could change her hero name to that! It would totally throw off any villains who heard it. 'Crazy cat lady? She must throw cats or somethi- oh no, spiral lasers?! I was not expecting that!'
She sighed and let her chin fall into her hands, puffing a strand of hair that had fallen into her face. This week was going to be exciting, for sure, but right now, it was just boring. She didn't even bring her phone, at Nezu's request. All she had was a high-powered walkie-talkie if she needed to get ahold of Aizawa or UA, and she couldn't shitpost on a walkie-talkie, or at least, she couldn't without getting into huge trouble. How was she supposed to send possum memes to Tamaki now?
"You look bored!"
Nejire looked over to see Mirio walking over, a big grin on his face. She jumped up and flew over to him, tackling him into a big hug. "Finally!"
He hugged her back, swinging her around a little. "Sorry we're late! One of the students forgot to leave her phone at home, so we had to turn around. Vlad King wanted to just break it, but he didn't want to sour the camp experience with something like that."
"Wow, they're taking this seriously," Nejire muttered as she dropped back down to the ground. "They must be worried after the USJ attack."
"Between that and Hosu, I think it's reasonable to be worried," Mirio agreed. "But let's not focus on that."
Nejire nodded. She understood; being a hero was stressful, and it was important to not spend more emotional energy than you had to or you'd burn yourself out. "I hope Tamaki isn't too lonely with you gone."
"He said he'd miss you more than me," Mirio said with a laugh.
Nejire laughed too. "I rank above boyfriend now?"
"Apparently!" Mirio pretended to be hurt. "I think it's just because you let him snuggle with President Whiskers."
"In President's defense, he is very soft."
Mirio laughed and began to say something else, but at that moment, they heard noises coming from the forest. The two turned to look and saw several filthy, exhausted students emerge from the treelines, followed by many more.
Nejire immediately took to the air, flying toward them, until she saw something else in the air. She darted higher, coming face-to-face with Greenhorn, who she greeted with a big smile.
"You did it!" Nejire cheered.
Greenhorn grinned, looking far less exhausted than the rest of his classmates. "I had no doubt in my mind. My classmates are incredible."
Nejire winked at him and dropped back down to the ground, greeting the rest of the class. "Welcome to camp! I'm so proud of you all!"
A weak cheer came from the students, several of which were leaning on others for support.
"Congratulations!" came Mandalay's voice from behind. Nejire turned around to see that Mandalay, Pixie Bob and Kouta had emerged from the main camp building.
Another weak cheer was interrupted by Pixie Bob's rather sinister laugh. "Don't get too comfortable! We said you'd get food if you were fast enough, which you were, but we never said we'd make it for you!"
An exhausted, despondent groan that could have shifted tectonic plates arose from the students.
Nejire watched as Greenhorn landed next to Uraraka, who gave him a weak one-armed hug as he rubbed her back with one of his hands. Ashido limped up behind them and inserted herself between the two, causing them both to smile. At that moment, Uraraka spotted Kouta, and said something to her friends Nejire couldn't hear.
The three walked over to Kouta and introduced themselves with a smile.
"Hey there, I'm Izuku Midoriya," Greenhorn said politely, but Nejire noticed his eyes narrow slightly. At that moment, Kouta clenched his fist and threw it forward, right at Greenhorn's crotch, but it seemed that he was ready for it, and blocked the child's punch with ease.
Mandalay sprung into action, pulling Kouta away and making apologies while Ashido just laughed. Uraraka looked at the resentful kid with deep concern, asking Greenhorn something softly.
However, then Pixie Bob inserted herself into the situation, sauntering up and looking up at Greenhorn as she got close to him. "You handled yourself pretty well out there, kid."
"Thank you, Miss Pixie Bob," he replied politely.
Nejire saw a glint in Pixie Bob's eye. "Oh, and a gentleman, too. I love that in a man~"
Almost instantly, Uraraka inserted herself between the two. She glared sternly down at Pixie Bob and delivered a firm, "Taken."
"Yep, taken!" Ashido added.
Nejire glanced over to see both Asui and Yaoyorozu watching from one of the other tables, a look of amusement on both of their faces.
Pixie Bob's dejection made Nejire giggle a little, but then she heard Bakugou shouting at someone about a potato peeler, which made her laugh harder.
Oh, this camp was going to be fun!
Kurogiri appeared in the dark bunker, his portal closing behind him. Several pairs of eyes fell on him, almost glinting like cats in the night. He would feel intimidated if he hadn't just left the gaze of someone far, far scarier.
"Ugh, finally!" the biggest one grunted, standing up with an excited grin. "Let's get out of here!"
Kurogiri held a hand up. "Unfortunately, I must ask for your continued patience, Muscular. My master is still looking for the location."
"How long is that going to take?" the lizard man asked.
"I cannot say for certain, but I suspect only a few days at most. The hacker we have hired promises us that she can crack UA's security soon." Kurogiri replied professionally. "Please do not be overeager, we have time to wait for the perfect opportunity. Thanks to our new associate, the jailbreak went completely undetected."
The schizophrenic one waved his hand.
The girl cocked her head. "Wait, why'd you come here if it wasn't time?"
Kurogiri produced some papers from inside his tendrils and placed them on a table between the recruited villains. "We are discussing the plan, or at least part of it. We won't know all of the specifics until the hacker provides them, but we know some things. Both Eraserhead and Vlad King will be there, for example."
"What about All Might?" Muscular asked eagerly. "I want another shot at breaking his neck."
"Oh, I'd love to make All Might bleed~ Do you think knives can pierce his skin?"
Kurogiri shook his head at Muscular, ignoring Toga. "No, we don't believe so. He would not take a week off from heroics."
Muscular slumped dejectedly back into his chair, which creaked under his weight.
"The priority of the mission is the capture of several key students." He held up the dossier with their pictures. "A group of you will be assigned to each student, while others will serve as distractions for the pro heroes that will be there. After I warp you into the location, you will work to locate your targets, wherein you will contact Mr. Compress, who will make his way to you and secure the student. Once all the targets have been captured, you will return to the entry point, where I will warp you back out. If you are not there, you will be left behind. Do you understand?"
They all nodded.
"Good," Kurogiri continued. "Now, please look at the dossier and make yourself familiar with the targets."
Several of them grabbed a paper and began looking over it.
Twice scratched his head. "Several of these are stupid- make great sense ! But what's with the girl?"
Kurogiri nodded. "She is of interest to me, and my master agreed with me."
"The big elephant in the room is him," Spinner muttered, slapping the paper back on the table and pointing at the image of the green-haired boy. "We all saw what he did at the Sports Festival. He's no joke."
"Oh, let me at him!" Muscular snarled. "I'm aching for a good fight!"
"No."
All eyes turned to the blackest corner of the room. In the darkness, a pair of eyes glowed with a sickly yellow light. The man stepped forward into the light, letting Kurogiri get a good look at him for the first time.
The face surrounding those slitted eyes was gaunt and sunken, to the point that his face looked not too dissimilar from the skull beneath his skin. His hair was black as the void, and interrupted only by two bone-white horns that curved forward from above his ears. He opened up his sneering, fanged mouth, green ooze dripping from his pronounced fangs, and spoke in a deep, unsettling voice.
"You leave my cousin to me."
Notes:
Hey, y'all remember chapter 4, right?
Anyway, happy anniversary. Hard to believe it's been 3 years already! Thanks for being a fan.
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