"You know the drill," Lucas said as he faced Elise getting out of the car. "Checklist it?"
"I have my toothbrush, toothpaste, backup charger, extra socks, water bottle, and backup bandages," Elise recited. She patted the backpack thrown over her shoulder. "All in here."
Mentor passed Elise her suitcase from where he went to retrieve it from the trunk. "You're all grown up now dear." Her uncle smiled, saying, "I'm so proud of you."
Lucas looked at her for a long moment, taking in her backpack and school uniform, even though it was summer break. "It seems like you're leaving so often now..." he muttered.
"I'll come back, and I'll stay safe," Elise promised. It was obvious that he still worried about an incident like the shopping mall or her internship happening again. She gave both her uncle and brother a reassuring smile. "Pinkie promise." Extending the pinkie of her left hand to Lucas, she shook it with a grin.
Lucas shook his head bemusedly and linked his finger with her, shaking it once before dropping it.
"Stay safe, dear."
"Be careful out there, kid. Come back to us soon."
"I will!" Elise called back as she turned to leave, pulling her suitcase behind her. She turned back to wave. "I'll come back, I promise!"
***
Aizawa stared the class down as they gathered in front of the busses, the cicadas once again droning overhead. "U.A. High has finished its first semester and started summer vacation." He droned. "However...Those of you trying to be heroes will not receive days of rest. At this summer training camp, we'll be aiming for even greater heights—for 'Plus Ultra'!"
"Yes sir!"
Talk over, the class broke into excited chatter. Mina, Kaminari, and Uraraka were clapping in tandem as they chanted 'class trip' over and over.
"Eh?!? There are people in Class A taking extra classes?!" A smarmy voice exclaimed. From Class B was Monoma, strayed from his own bus to mock the students of Class 1-A. "Does that mean there are students who failed the final? What? Isn't that weird? Isn't that weird? Even though they're supposed to be better than Class B?? How can that be?????"
Even though she was nowhere near him, Elise found herself taking a step away from the rambler.
Crazier than a hyper Spoink.
Monoma's madness was cut off as Kendo, the orange-haired girl often seen taking lead within the class, karate chopped him in the back of the head. She waited until he slumped and faceplanted into the bricks below before bending down to haul him up by his collar. "Sorry!"
The rest of Class B watched him be dragged away before turning to Class A.
A girl with shoulder-length, muted green hair was the one to speak. "We kind of met during the sports festival, but nice to meet you, Class A."
It was the only statement that could be exchanged between them as the call to board the buses was announced.
"Class 1-A this way!" Iida announced, arm robotically making lines in the air. "Line up in seat order!"
***
Though Iida tried, seat order was inevitably always useless with Class 1-A, everyone shuffling around until an equilibrium was reached. Elise ended up slotted next to Mina, in front of Bakugou and Kirishima. Mezo was conversing with Ojiro on the other side of the bus, one small conversation in the din of chatter that filtered over Elise as she dozed through most of the journey.
She didn't know how long it was until Mina poked her in the side, giggling when the brown-haired girl yipped and moved away. "Hey Wing-chan, come and take a picture with us!" 'Us' meaning her, along with Tsuyu and Hagakure who were leaning back from their seats in front.
"Sure thing, Mina!" Elise smiled and obliged, beaming at the phone held up by Hagakure's hand. Candid photos like these were so much more commonplace now, snapshots of her daily life at school slowly filling up space after space as compared to before when her camera roll only saw the most minutes of changes.
"There is a rest stop we'll be stopping at just ahead. Get ready," Aizawa announced.
In just a few minutes, the bus pulled into a modest, dirt-packed area overlooking the green forests below. Students began to file out as they stretched their sore limbs after hours of sitting. Seeing the lushness of the area below, Elise was quick to walk up to the railing as she took in the sight before her.
"Wow..." Elise murmured. "Mewtwo... Blaziken... do you see this?"
Sure do.
It's quite beautiful.
"We've come so far..."
The vastness of the location—and her situation—almost overwhelmed her and Elise pulled back to refocus on the matter at hand as a new car drove up to the class. The doors to them opened and with metaphorical sparkles, two feline-like heroes, one in red and one in blue, exited the car along with a young child.
"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!" The red one began.
"Stingingly cute and catlike!" The other hero continued.
"Wild, Wild... Pussycats!" Both finished, striking a pose together.
Their exuberant entrance left the class quiet as Aizawa said, "These are the pro heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats."
Elise leaned away as Midoriya exclaimed, "They're a four-person team who set up a joint agency!" He looked back at his classmates with his full fanboy fervor on show. "They're a veteran team that specializes in mountain rescues! This year will be their twelfth wor—"
Quicker than any of them could react, a paw was slammed into his face. "I'm still 18 at heart!" The blue, blonde cat hero exclaimed loudly.
"Please greet them," Aizawa asked calmly as if he wasn't watching the events unfold in front of him.
"Nice to meet you!" The entire class chorused. Seeing the boy who accompanied the heroes gazing at everyone, Elise even shot a smile his way and waved. Only for him is scowl and turn away.
"We own this entire stretch of land here," the brown-haired, red hero said as she extended a gloved paw towards the forest Elise was looking at earlier. "You all will be staying at the foot of this mountain.
"Huh? Then why did we stop all the way here?" Uraraka asked.
From the back of her mind, a prickling of unease began to take over.
Be prepared Elise.
"E-Everyone get ready!" Elise called.
While most of her class began to inch their way back to the bus, she readied her stance, hands poised to summon Pokéballs as options flashed through her mind.
Pidgeot, Scyther, Garchomp. It's a long way down.
Break a leg! Or actually don't.
Please do not.
"Kitties who don't make it by 12:30 won't get any lunch!" The lady in pink taunted. Her tailed waved merrily behind her.
Students stampeded back to the bus past Elise as she formed two Pokéballs in her hands and then a third as she tucked one in the crook of her elbow. The loss of these Pokéballs and the severing of the bonds would be inevitable if she was going to try to save her classmates.
"Guys! Gather round!"
"Sorry ladies and gentlemen," Aizawa drawled, not sounding sorry at all. "Training Camp..."
Elise pressed down on the button holding it as she waited for the other shoe to drop.
"...has already begun."
The earth began to shift underneath their feet.
"Pidgeot, Garchomp, Scyther!"
Red flashes and the Pokéballs being left behind were what Elise saw before a torrent of dirt burst forth and threw her and her entire class over the railing. Elise screamed, some of the rudest insults she ever dared to aim at her teacher going through her head.
FFFFUCK YOU SENSEIIIIIIIII!!!!
The torrent of dirt didn't allow Elise to transform as she was battered back and forth. Feeling claws catch the back of her shirt, she was abruptly yanked out of the fray. It was Garchomp who got to her first and she thanked it profusely. "Help the others, please!"
The navy blue dragon-type nodded and let go of Elise when she began shifting into a Garchomp herself. Koda was yanked out of the air, Momo clinging to her back, then Jiro joining. Students fell, but there were also those who were reigning in control. Elise saw Katsuki using his explosions to control his descent and Aoyama using his navel laser in a similar fashion, though much more sporadically.
"On your left!" Momo yelled and Elise dove in that direction to catch a falling Kaminari. Sufficiently overburdened, she spiraled down to drop them off before landing and transforming. "E-Everyone alright?"
"Yeah," Jiro muttered. "That was almost a nasty fall."
The other students who haven't landed on the ground yet began touching down. Some through her Pokémons, some using their quirks, others by gravity. Once they all reached the ground, there was a call from overhead. "Since it's private land, you can use your quirks as you wish!" one of the Pussycats called down. "You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet. After getting through the Beast's Forests."
Alarm went through Elise as she turned to face the looming trees. Her Pokémons moving by her side. True to her deduction, their Pokéballs were gone, crushed beneath the dirt.
Do you think... do they have dangerous Pokémons in there?
While I do not doubt that there are dangerous ones living in there. I believe that they would not purposefully place any in to have you all deal with it.
Besides, they have you! You can deal with anything no problem.
In contrast to Blaziken's cheery town, Elise internally winced as she remembered the cracked rib received from a Lopunny one time.
Lopunnies are the devils.
"U.A. does stuff like this way too much," Jiro groused, addressing the school's 'on-the-fly' teaching method.
"No use complaining now," Kirishima stated as he dusted off his uniform. "We just have to go."
"Let's stick together as a class..." Midoriya murmured. "It'll probably be safer that way."
Bakugou scoffed, about to make a remark. But then he paused upon seeing Mezo gazing at him. Inhaling, he let out an angry huff and quieted.
Nobody paid attention to that interaction as the floor rumbled beneath them, one gargantuan footstep making the tree tremble. From in the tree line, Mineta screamed, a shrill note that made Elise's Pokémons shift uneasily.
"Get ready," Iida yelled as he backed up.
Seeing her Pidgeot getting flighty, Elise formed a Pokéball and pressed it to the Pokémon. It flashed back in and Elise rubbed the area over her sternum where she felt the bond snap into place. She did the same to the Scyther and recalled it but left the Garchomp out.
The ground trembled again and from the shadows, a hulking massive creature stepped out. Eyeless, it hunched among the trees on four legs. Gnarled roots jutted from its bottom jaw as it lifted a hand up over Mineta.
Koda rushed forward, using his animal voice to try to talk to the beast. When it didn't work, Elise was there, her Garchomp by her side as she hurled a Pokéball at it. It pinged off the creature uselessly, a clod of dirt dislodging and falling down with the sphere.
Elise's eyes widened. Not a Pokémon. Backup plan. "GARCHOMP USE DRAGON CLAW!"
Her companion shot off the ground towards the creature while one of her classmates flashed forward to Mineta. As Garchomp scored deep gashes into the earthen beast's head, Midoriya carried Mineta away from danger. Elise looked at the creature and confirmed her prediction. There was no blood in the gouges left behind by Garchomp's attack, only crumbling dirt.
"It's made of dirt!" Elise yelled. "One more time, Garchomp! Iron Tail, then come back to me, please!"
The Garchomp's tail glowed brightly before the appendage slammed down on one of the creature's arms reaching it. The attack broke through the arm and the Pokémon flashed back to Elise's side who wasted no time in recalling it.
The other students in her class didn't waste time making a move. Todoroki did his job of freezing the legs while it was still recovering from the previous attack. Iida took his turn smashing it with a boosted kick, Bakugou following up by blasting the top half and Midoriya finalized it by punching through the remainders.
"You guys defeated the beast in an instant!" Sato praised as he walked up to Todoroki.
"Yeah, that was amazing, Bakugou!" Kirishima agreed.
Bakugou, focused on something in the distance, barked out, "Not yet!"
Now that the entire class was in the thicket of the forest, sounds of other beasts moving filled the area.
"How many of them are there?" Kaminari said.
"What should we do? Run away?" Mina asked.
"This is no joke," Sato said. "If we don't make it there in time, we don't get any lunch."
"Then we have no choice but to get through there and take the shortest route," Momo declared.
There were various confirmations from the groups of students as resolved filled everyone. Elise formed a Pokéball in her hand as her Garchomp settled next to her, ready to go.
"Alright," Iida stated. "Let's go, Class A!"
They forged deeper, Momo and Iida helping take the reigns.
"Kaminari!" Elise passed a Pokéball to the boy. "Take this. This is Pichu. Who'll help you with your electricity."
Though there would have been better options like Manetric or Zebstrika, Elise knew she'd be stretched thin if she had too many large Pokémons out. With Pidgeot overhead as their eye in the sky, Garchomp as fighting support, and then the Pichu, Elise had just barely enough tolerance for another Pokémon on top of using her quirk to transform.
I have to reserve energy to last longer.
And based on the ways things were going, she would need to last a while.
In the first hour, ten creatures simultaneously attacked the class, Shoji's and Jiro's warning after using their quirk to listen allowing the class some semblance of preparation. Elise aimed herself at one of the flying beasts while Sero took on the other. While he brought it down with his tape, she used a similar method to how she took down the Hosu Nomu as she shifted to an Arcanine while clinging to the head. The weight was heaving enough to send it crashing down on top of Sero's beast. Kirishima and Sato were on top of them, pummeling away with the aid of Garchomp.
Hearing a warning screech from overhead, Elise shifted into a Pidgeot and joined the other one in the sky. She saw yet another beast heading towards the fray where all her friends were still dealing with the others. Nobody had noticed yet. Folding her wings, Elise dove at it. She landed upon its back and transformed, gripping a ledge on the craggy surface with one hand and summoning Blaziken's Pokéball in the other. Her friend was out in a flash and she looked at him in determination.
Blaziken's beak moved into a grin. "Light it up?"
She nodded.
He let Elise transform into a twin copy of him before planting both hands onto the earthen creature beneath them. "FIRE BLAST."
Red-hot flames burst out from under Elise's claws, charring everything underneath it as it joined up with Blaziken's moves. The sparse foliage on the forest beast caught quickly and began to engulf it. Up close, the heat should've been searing but she felt only warmth in this form. When the beast began to creak and groan, Elise and Blaziken leaped off of it. Both landed safely out of reach as the beast crashed down with a thunderous shake.
"Thank you, Blaziken." Elise sighed as she recalled him to his Pokéball. The fire-type saluted as he disappeared in a flash of red. Elise didn't wait and jogged back to her class, pushing back her nausea and headache.
It was far from over.
In the second hour, she had to recall Pidgeot after throwing up in a bush when she tried to call forth a new one while it was still out. Mineta was bleeding from his head as an overuse of his Pop Off quirk. Kaminari had short-circuited, the Pichu staying with him valiantly trying to channel electricity to him. The class had made it halfway.
The third hour found them not much further. At this point, even Bakugou had to take intermittent breaks as his arms seized up. Todoroki's fingers on his ice side were pale and tinted blue. Pichu had evolved into Pikachu and was swapped out by Elise with Scyther.
By the time they limped out of the forest, the sun low in the sky, blood had dried a tacky line down her nose and in dark blotches on her shirt uniform. Scyther itself had also evolved, though all her Pokémons were long recalled in favor of resting her headache and using her transformation factor. Nausea, headaches, and muscle cramps wracked her body. Judging by the looks on her friends' faces as they dragged themselves forward, they too felt the deep exhaustion and pain of the day. Everyone had started strong, valiantly defeating any obstacles in their path. But each passing moment had ramped up and up, wearing them down and down.
When the class reached Aizawa and the two Pussycat heroes, everyone let out a collective sigh and some collapsed to the ground.
"What do you mean it'd only take three hours?!" Sato yelled.
Mandalay, the one in pink as Elise had learned, waved an apologetic hand. "That's the time it would have taken us. Sorry!"
"You were trying to boast how much better you are?"
"I'm so hungry... I'm gonna die..."
At Kirishima's statements about hunger, Elise felt the yawning pit in her stomach clench and winced. Ah right. Food.
Pixie-Bob, the blonde woman in blue chuckled. "But honestly I thought it would take much longer. You guys didn't have as hard a time defeating my earth beasts like I thought you would. You guys are great... Especially..."
A claw-tipped finger singled out Bakugou, Todoroki, and Midoriya. After a second, it sought Elise out too, who blinked owlishly. "Huh?"
"You five! Were you able to act without hesitation because of your experience?" Pixie-Bob licked her lips and surged at the boys, jumping around them in her excitement.
While the hero fawned over the quartet, Elise shrunk in on herself at the mention of experience, looking down at her hands with drawn eyebrows. While it was true that she would not be as strong as she was without the large events she went through, she wondered if it was worth as much as it seemed. The phantom feelings of Shigaraki's fingers lingered around her neck and at night she still woke up from nightmares about Aizawa getting hurt at USJ. Elise's detached quietness made her miss the way her two pairs of eyes were zoned in on her, one from her teacher and the other from the boy who stood apart from everyone.
Midoriya, ever the observative student, pointed him out. "It's been bothering me a while. Who's child is that?"
"Oh, not one of ours," Mandalay said as she extended one large paw-glove to the child. "He's my cousin's kid. Come on Kota, greet everyone. You'll be with them for the next week."
Midoriya approached Kota. "Oh, um, I'm Midoriya from U.A. High School's hero course." He bent down to extend a hand out to shake. "Nice to meet you."
Elise winced as Kota landed a solid punch in Midoriya's groin and walked away.. For all the hero training they were put through, none of them quite trained for circumstances similar to that.
Ouch.
Felt that.
"You brute of a nephew!" Iida yelled at Kota as he held Midoriya. "How could you do this to Midoriya's scrotum?!"
Kota stopped walking. The look he gave them was venomous, absolutely unfit to be on the face of someone so young. "I don't intend to hang out with those who want to become heroes!" He seethed. His words were scathing, full of vitriolic fervor.
"'Intend'? Just how old are you?!"
Elise frowned, taking a closer look at Kota. The way he held himself, the curl of his shoulders, and the hollowness in his eyes.
"Enough with this charade. Get your stuff off the bus," Aizawa ordered. "Once you've put your bags in your rooms, we'll have dinner in the cafeteria. And Wing, get a tissue for your nose."
Oh fuck. Elise ducked and covered the lower half of her face. Momo passed her a handkerchief and a water bottle. Aizawa quietly pointed to the side where she could step out in order to clean her face. Vigorous scrubbing left her skin clean but raw and pink, but her uniform shirt was unsalvageable. She sent a helpless look to Aizawa, who sighed. "New uniforms will not be a problem for U.A. Now hurry up and join your classmates."
"Yes sir..." she groaned, dreading the work.
***
Elise huffed as she set down a plate of tonkatsu, body screaming at the work. Mandalay patted her on the back as she passed by with another plate of food meant to feed Class A. Though the heroes had told them it was fine, she felt bad to see that they were hard at work trying to feed everyone.
"Excuse me, Wing!" Iida requested as he laid down a tower of tempura shrimps. Around her, a few of the more proactive students were also helping and Elise sat down on the bench.
Mina was automatically next to her, draping herself over Elise. "I'm so tiredddddddd," she wailed softly.
A heaping bowlful of rice was put in front of them and everyone began to dig in, ravenous after a long day. Bakugou sat opposite of her and Mezo sat on the same side, a few seats down. Aside from Mina on her right, Tokoyami was on her left, dealing Dark Shadows as it kept on swiping food off his plate. On the other end of the table, she could hear Kirishima and Kaminari—but mostly Kirishima—yelling in exuberance as they shoveled food into their maw. Snippets of conversation from Mina and Sero about seeing the girls' and boys' rooms reached Elise's ears.
Her bowl of rice was unceremoniously swiped from her grip. "Stop drooling into your rice," Bakugou groused as he shoveled some meaty pieces of gyudon-style beef onto her bowl. He moved both his and her bowl out of reach when she tried reaching for them in retaliation. "Sit your stupid ass down! You haven't even eaten anything substantial yet and you know how your quirk affects your body when you don't get enough protein in your diet! You're gonna eat shit when I kick your ass."
Midoriya perked up from where he was eating, a thoughtful look on his face. "How does your diet matter with your quirk, Wing?"
Elise swiped her bowl back from Katsuki in his moment of distraction, sitting primly back down. "Though it's not vital, my diet does affect the transformation part of my quirk a fair bit because my muscles are used so important and used so often."
"Interesting..." Midoriya mused.
"What happens if you don't eat enough?" Hagakure asked from across the table.
Elise winced, not wanting to talk about it due to the bad memories that came with it.
The clawing pain in her gut. The hollow ache that constantly followed her when transformed, how it seeped into her flesh, her bones, her joints.
"Shut the fuck up, extra," Bakugou snapped. "You're way too nosy right now to be having dinner."
Though the callous execution made her internally wince, she still shot him a grateful look. Dinner continued, each student winding down after a long day.
***
Elise hesitated at the edge of the hot spring gripping the towel wrapped around her hesitatingly. The other girls were already in the steaming water, letting the warmth wash away their aches. Though she's heard of hot spring baths before, she wasn't as familiar with the idea as everyone else was.
"Come on in, Wing!" Mina invited. "There's no need to be shy."
Hagakure splashed a bit of water at her direction. "It's really nice."
She knew there was nothing to worry about, that all of the girls had seen her scars and that none of them thought differently about her for it. Taking a deep breath, Elise unwrapped her towel, folding it up and putting it to the side before sinking down into the hot water. The tension eased out of her at the easy smiles the girls threw her and Elise leaned back into the stones with a happy sigh.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Jiro smirked.
Elise nodded, a dopey grin on her face as the heat sunk into the ache of her bones. "This is the first time I've been in one. It's warm..."
"Now that everyone is here..." Mina grinned evilly from where she sat upon a stone, clapping her hands and leaning forward. "Let's—"
The barrier separating the girls from the boys rattled behind them, a small commotion being kicked up. Hearing someone yelling something about boobs, all the girls knew exactly who was the culprit. As everyone turned to look at it, there were telltale explosions and Mineta screaming. On top of the barrier was Kota, leaning over the boys' side as he looked down. Bakugou's screaming was heard drifting over the side, expletives cursing out the purple-haired boy.
"Mineta really is the worst, huh?" Tsuyu complained.
"Thanks Kota!" Mina yelled, looking up. "I'm glad we had you looking out for us."
He began turning to face them, saying. "The blonde one did most of the w—" The boy's sentence cut off as he face the girls fully.
"Yay, yay!" Mina cheered for him.
There was a startled noise that turned into a yelp as he toppled backward.
"Kota!" Elise yelled, moving out of the water and rushing up the barrier. There was nothing anyone on this side could do and she hoped that the boys would be able to help him. "Someone catch him!"
Her anxiety quelled as she heard Midoriya call out, "I've got him!"
Crisis adverted, she went back to the water, settling down to pick up the conversations that were dropped.
"Good thing Midoriya was there huh," Ochaco fretted. "That would've been a nasty fall for poor Kota."
"What an eventful day," Momo sighed.
Elise breathed out of her nose. "Well, I'm glad that's all over."
There was a chorus of agreement sound her as the rest of the girls further relaxed, easing the aches and pains away for the moment. Tomorrow they would have to face the music and handle what Aizawa would throw at them, and the day after that, unknown things loomed. But for the moment, it was soft with chatter.
The day had ended.
All was right.
A/N: Here we go! I hope you guys enjoyed Class A kicking off summer, cause oh boy, some things are coming. This chapter is quite important to me for a few reasons.
I finished my second year of high school just a few days ago. Can't believe that this story has been with me for almost as long as I've been in high school. It feels like it's been forever yet a blink of an eye. I'm glad to have so many people supporting this fic as when I first started, I was quite literally barreling into it headfirst with no preparation nor outline except for the motivation to reach one *certain* arc. And, two and a half years later, here we are. The summer camp arc. This was where everything got kickstarted and bloomed out from there.
I know it's nothing quite momentous, but I'm grateful for all the support I've received from you all. Thank you.