What a Tragedy

Chapter 17: Fragile Hope

Izuku knew exactly what he was planning the moment they stopped at a cliff for a "break and breather". Nonetheless he got off the bus, but stood next to his guardian. It came to him as two of the Pussy Cats hero team came out of a bright red car and started acting suspicious with their cat themed hero costumes and overly catty ways. As much as he loved cats, neko people made him anxious.

Pixie-Bob.

Her Quirk was Earth Flow. A Quirk that helped her manipulate the ground and earth. They were on the Pussy Cat's territory, not too far from their lodge.

Damn.

He knew exactly what Aizawa was planning.

He looked up at Aizawa to see him smirking under his capture scarf. The sadist. "They don't suspect anything. It's almost sad," Izuku said.

Aizawa looked down at him with amusement twinkling in his eyes. "Should've known that you wouldn't fall for it."

Izuku tucked his hands in the pockets of his favorite black hoodie. He's been wearing it over his uniform lately because he likes the hood. Pulling out a hair tie, he tugged his shoulder length hair up and tied it into a half up half down style to keep it out of his eyes. A few stray curls fell from the tie and framed the side of his face. "Of course I wouldn't fall for it. I'm already used to your awful tricks."

"Awful? They're not that bad. Are they?" He asked in exasperated fake hurt.

"Yes. I'd suggest getting better or else the others might start to catch onto them too," He advised. Izuku watched Aizawa's smirk grow.

"Duly noted," He paused thoughtfully. "Go with them so they don't get themselves killed. She's about to collapse the cliff. Might wanna start now if you don't want to get covered in dirt."

Izuku hummed. "Good idea. Thanks," He said as he ran forward towards the railing without waiting for a reply. He saw his classmates' stunned and startled faces as they watched him leap forward onto the railing and throw himself off the edge towards the trees below.

It was just as his body was in the air that he heard the shaking of the ground his feet had left not only a second earlier. His classmates' cries were lost to the rushing air in his ears as Izuku, ever the quick thinker, pulled a hidden backup knife from his back pocket and used it to land in a tree. Aizawa had advised him that you could never be too prepared and Izuku agreed with that logic wholeheartedly without doubt. It was something that the others would have to learn quickly if they wanted to make it as Pro-heroes.

He twisted his body and shifted his weight as to not dislocate his shoulder as the knife stabbed a tree's trunk. He swung forward and planted his booted feet onto a solid branch. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to fall, he pulled the knife out of the bark and stuck it back in his pocket. Izuku looked down and huffed as he watched his groaning classmates stumble to stand up. They were covered in dirt and mud from the fall.

Some looked like they had a better fall than others, but he was still disappointed in their lack of quick reflexes. Yeah, he was trained to use knives and to be quick and light footed months before they had any real training, but it was the middle of the school year. They should at least have better reflexes than that.

Drawing a deep sigh, Izuku climbed as high as he could go and peeked out over the tall heads of the trees. He could see the lodge from his position and marked the distance and direction as he climbed down. On the way he heard Mandalay, one of the Pussy Cats, shout that they had until noon to get there or else they wouldn't get lunch.

It caused more of his classmates to groan.

Some of the students were arguing over which way to go and what to do by the time he descaled the whole trunk and he waited on the last branch for someone to notice he was there.

Maybe someone would ask "Where's that quiet kid?"

He was probably fooling himself, but no one had noticed him yet so that was a win. It meant that he Aizawa's stealth was rubbing off on him.

"I should've known Aizawa-sensei was going to pull something like this," Iida said. He looked over to the students that were arguing and scowled. "Mina-san, we will not be throwing someone into the air to see where to go. Kaminari-kun, we will not be dying here. Aizawa-sensei wouldn't leave us here for dead."

Kaminari didn't look completely placated, but nonetheless stopped shouting.

Seeing as no one would notice him anytime soon, he jumped to the ground and brushed off his pants. Iida looked over at him and looked like he was just reminded to scold someone because that's exactly what he was about to do. "Midoriya-kun! There you are! What you just did was dangerous and reckless. You shouldn't jump off cliffs. You could get seriously injured!"

Iida stopped in front of him, eyes sharp and looking for an answer. His uniform was disheveled and covered in dirt from the fall that he'd yet to brush himself off from.

"I didn't want to get dirty. I also know which way to go. The lodge is Northeast about five miles," He said.

"How do you know?" Iida looked baffled.

"Saw it from a tree. We should stick together so we don't get lost. There's no way we're going to make it there for lunch, but if we start heading off now we can get there in time for dinner," Izuku replied.

The class rep really needed to learn poker face, the look he was sporting made him look stupid.

He regained his composure and started to guide everyone into a formation. Izuku was up front as a navigator and held his knife once again in his hand as he led them into the forest.

Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad, Izuku thought hopefully.

Hope could be so fragile.