Chapter 21: Training Camp

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I nodded as Pixiebob was preoccupied with fighting other students with her quirk. Mandalay walked over and said, "You surprised me, how about we get some food in that stomach of yours."

I followed her and happily ate the sandwiches that they had prepared for us. I walked out and sat on the ground next to Aizawa, looking out into the forest waiting patiently for the rest of my classmates to arrive.

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'I didn't think that it would take them this long,' I thought to myself as they finally arrived as the sun began to set. "Tanaka... you traitor!" Kaminari called out.

"Tanaka speeding ahead was her taking advantage of her strengths to complete the task at hand. It would be irrational for her to hold back to help you all when you are perfectly capable of fighting for yourselves," Aizawa stated.

"I was actually expecting you to take longer. You all surprised me, especially... you five!" Pixiebob exclaimed, pointing at Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo with one hand and me with the other.

She started swarming the boys while my gaze turned to see that little boy I had seen that morning. Midoriya also seemed to notice him and asked who he was. "Oh, he's my cousin's kid. Kota, say hi to the people you're going to be spending time with for the next week," Mandalay said.

Kota just scowled as Midoriya walked up and tried to be nice, only to get hit where the sun don't shine. I swear I could hear every single boy in the class wince as Kota said, "Why would I wanna spend time with you wannabe heroes!"

"A punch to the scrotum is unforgiveable!" Iida exclaimed as Bakugo smirked. 

"Brat's got spunk," he remarked.

"He's like a mini version of you," Todoroki noted.

I snorted a laugh as they guided us inside to eat dinner. I wasn't nearly as hungry as my classmates seeing as I got lunch, but I was still pretty hungry. "They are surprisingly good cooks," I remarked.

The class agreed, and when we finally finished eating, we went off to enjoy the hot springs. I was a little self conscious being completely naked around the girls, so I was left sitting by the edge with my legs in the water, my arms hugging my body. "Aw come on Tanaka! It feels really good in here!" Mina whined.

"I bet it does... but I don't like the feeling of my wings being wet. It's uncomfortable and it makes them feel so heavy," I explained with a shudder, remembering the last time they were soaking wet.

Jirou then told us to quiet down, so we did and we could hear a familiarly annoying voice from the other side of the wall, talking about how walls are meant to be climbed. I could also make out a lot of shouts of protest coming from the other guys, which made me realize what was happening. I flinched and tried to cover myself more, only to fall into the pool. I surface from the water, coughing, to see Kota accidentally looking at us and falling off the wall. "Is he ok?!" I called out.

"Yeah! We caught him!" Midoriya called back. 

I sighed and sank into the water, slightly bummed that my wings were now wet. "Well, might as well stay in here now that my wings are already wet..." I said as my body began to relax due to the soothing heat of the hot spring.

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The next morning, Aizawa had us wake up just as dawn was breaking. We were all groggy and tired, but Aizawa insisted that we began training. He handed Bakugo the ball from our first day of school and told him to throw it as hard as he could to see how much he has improved. "709.6 meters," Aizawa announced to our disappointment. 

"Throughout the first semester, you have definitely improved, but only on a technical level with some increase in stamina along the way. Your quirks haven't improved that much. Today, we are going to be pushing your limits. You're going to wish you'd die, but try to not actually die," Aizawa stated before assigning us our stations. 

After assigning my other classmates, he turned to me and said, "Tanaka, you are going to be flying circles around the camp counterclockwise while maintaining your flames the entire time. On top of that, you must manipulate and control at least twenty of your small feathers to travel clockwise. That is your assignment today. Tomorrow, we will be adding another element."

I nodded and took off, taking twenty of my small, flaming feathers and flew them clockwise and took off, maintaining my flames the entire time.

And he was right, I wanted to die.

When we were finally done for the day, My wings were basically numb, my brain was dead from the amount of multitasking it took to manipulate twenty different feathers to fly the opposite way I was flying. I could hardly focus on cooking, our next task of the night. While we were eating, I didn't even notice when Midoriya followed Kota into the woods.

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"Today, I want you to attempt to recreate that move that you performed during your final exam with Hawks," Aizawa stated, "Think about what triggered it. What were you doing? What was on your mind? Recreate it, then come find me and I'll tell you your next step. Oh, and put these on. I don't want your clothes burning up," as he handed me a pair of clothes.

I nodded and I thought about it as I put on the clothes that I could only assume were fireproof. 'I was on fire. My entire body was flaming... and I was determined. My mind was only focused on escape, on getting around him.' I grit my teeth and lit my wings aflame, thinking about only one thing, making it around this tree I was standing in front of. After about 15 minutes of waiting, thinking about this one thing, I started getting frustrated and wanted nothing more than to get around this damn tree. Suddenly, a familiar feeling bubbled in my gut as my body started being engulfed in flames. Everything went black for a moment before I materialized again. I looked around and saw that I was on the opposite side of the tree.

"I did it!" I exclaimed, running over to Aizawa. 

"Good, now I want you to do the same thing as yesterday, only every time I blow my whistle, you need to teleport as far along your path as physically possible," he instructed.

I nodded and took off, sending out my feathers to do what I had done yesterday. After a minute or two of flying, I heard a sharp whistle and I let the fiery desire to improve overcome my body, teleporting about ten meters in front of me. Once the day was over, I was infinitely more tired. My body was smoking, my wings were numb, and my brain was exhausted. Because of that, my classmates let me sit out on dinner tonight, seeing my utter exhaustion. 

After we ate, the Pussycats came toward us and announced, "Alright kitties! Now it's time for a test of courage!"

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