Ryukyu stood there, calm, as she smiled at me. She was standing with her hand on her hip, and feigned yawning.
"I'm not getting any younger, Alex-kun! Are you going to attack me or make a run for it?"
Damn it, what do I do? If I went to attack her she'd transform and wipe the floor with me. If I ran... She'd transform and wipe the floor with me.
No wonder the teachers wanted to keep this a secret, if I knew who I was against, I'd have time to formulate a plan. They were really working me to the bone here, I had to figure out a plan on how to beat her within half an hour.
While I still had time, I turned one eighty on my heels and ran into the city.
"You're no fun! Oh well, guess I'll wait here, all by my lonesome."
She had an almost patronising, albeit alluring tone to her voice. She wanted me to come to her because she knew I couldn't win. Even if I transformed I'd have a hard time taking her down.
She also would know that if she moved, I'd win just by blinking around her and running for the gate. I had to bring the fight to her, no way around it. Unless...
I stopped in the middle of the road and looked around for some trees. There were several along the main road, some oak trees, some cherry blossoms, some ash, et cetera.
Looking at the trees, I saw one of them had a Y shape in its base branches. Perfect. Standing perfectly still, I closed my eyes and breathed in and out.
About five minutes later, I felt my arms starting to grow. Even better! I was starting to get the hang of my transformation! Five minutes was way too slow still but was a massive improvement!
Trying not to focus on my arms and scaring them back to normality, I jumped up and pulled the huge branch off. I used my claws to cut off everything I didn't want, leaving me with a slightly crooked Y shape.
I teleported back a bit to one of the buildings, and punched the wall, obliterating it into several chunks. I looked at my hands, they were completely fine. Having fulfilled their purpose, I turned them back to normal.
I brought the piece of wood over, and looked at the stones. I scratched my chin for a moment and, after looking around for cameras and failing to notice one, I promptly took off my costume.
Dropping the suit to my ankles, I also pulled down my boxers. A little disappointed at what I was about to do, I groaned a bit, and started ripping off the elastic band around the waist.
My boxers came from a store that was well known for selling extremely elastic materials. Perhaps their supplier had an elastication quirk? Anyway, it's weird to write about my boxers...
I learnt about this later, but meanwhile in the observation room...
"What is he doing?" Kirishima asked. "It looks like he's vandalising trees! That's not very manly!"
Todoroki, thinking along my wavelength, said, "Look at the shape of what he broke off. It looks like a Y shape."
"Does that mean he's trying to make a slingshot?" Midoriya thought out loud.
Tsu, also thinking out loud, asked, "Where is he going to get the rubber from, kero? There's no way there'll be a rubber band big enough for that in the city."
Then everyone got the answer when I undressed myself. I was so embarrassed after hearing about my body being on display for the whole class.
I refused to even shower together with the rest of the boys, I was very private and reserved about nudity, I still am, really.
Most of them had the decency to look away, however, Ashido was blatantly staring, which she was reprimanded for by Iida, making her turn away.
However, a little surprisingly, Tsu was sneakily watching out of the corner of her eyes, trying to be a little more secretive about it. I guess girls are curious, too?
Either way, back on my end, I pulled my suit back on and stretched out the fabric, tying it to the two branches, making a plus sized slingshot!
It was about half the size of myself, and the elastic was already wrapped tightly around the branches, meaning I should have some strong shots.
Almost halfway through my time, I hastily blinked with the slingshot and gathered a bunch of the larger stones. I then blinked back to where I was within range of Ryukyu, and I planted the slingshot into the ground as best as I could.
She eyed me suspiciously, and figured out pretty quickly what I was doing. Launching rocks that big at her in human form would take her out easily, so she'd have to transform and come over to me.
"You sly little -" she didn't finish whatever she was muttering to herself as a rock came her way.
She just barely dodged it, and looked at me a little worried. "Hey, Ryukyu-san! I've gotten a little faster since we met! Check this out!"
I loaded a smaller rock onto the slingshot, and released it. I immediately teleported another rock into place and launched that, launching about seven in a single second.
There was no chance she could avoid all of them, a few of them hitting her. One scraped her right arm, another got her right in the stomach. The last one got her left thigh.
She grit her teeth, "You wanna play rough?" She grinned at me as she transformed into her dragon form. Yes!
Coming towards me, I tried to act scared, when really, all I wanted was for her to come after me. A game of cat and mouse was exactly what I wanted, and she was playing right into my hand.
Before she got to me, I teleported a little backwards, and launched some bigger rocks at her. She blocked them, but kept coming after me. I teleported backwards again.
Time for more acting! "Damn it... I should've explored more..." I tried to bait her into believing I couldn't go any further.
Well, actually, it wasn't baiting, because I was really at my limit. I was at the tree where I got my slingshot from.
She smirked and swiped at me, aiming for the weapon, and breaking it. At first I looked shocked at where it had been smashed too, before grinning at Ryukyu devilishly.
"Catch me if you can, Ryukyu-san."
I blinked forward three times, as close to the gate as I could get. Running at about five meters a second it would take me another twenty seconds to reach the gate.
Ryukyu ran as fast as she could towards me, picking up speed fast. She must've been running at around fifteen meters a second. Four hundred meters to go, I should be safe from her.
But she started going faster and faster, closing the distance between us. Crap. Better run faster myself then! I gave it my all, running like a madman, like my life depended on it.
Wait, if she slipped somehow, my life really did depend on it! Come on, the gate is just a little further... A few more seconds!
The thudding from her footsteps shook my whole body and suddenly stopped. I glanced back and my eyes widened. She freaking jumped at me! Ten tons of muscle careering towards me with no way to slow down!
I leapt forwards, and I heard the gate buzz. I made it! I passed! I... Was going to be crushed to death in a moment! Ryukyu suddenly turned back to her human form and landed on me, pushing us both to the ground.
Putting my hands up to defend myself, and soften her fall, I landed on my back and closed my eyes. Something about her felt really soft...
Opening my eyes, they nearly popped out of my head on stalks, I was inadvertently touching her chest! I gasped, as she coughed and hadn't really noticed.
I quickly moved my hands up to her shoulders and pushed her up a bit, helping her regain her balance as she got up. There was dust everywhere, so that also may have helped cloud her vision and anyone else's.
"Well done, Alex-kun..." She said, breathing heavily, "You never fail to surprise me... A slingshot to lure me away from the gate? Honestly, I'm really impressed. I thought I had you..."
"It was an honour to fight against you. Maybe when I get a better hold of my transformation, we can have a proper battle."
After making it back to the observation room, Tokoyami told me that what happened was on camera, and I flushed red with embarrassment.
"I... Hope no one saw..." I muttered.
"Ashido watched." He plainly stated, to which she tried to defend herself.
"No! I wasn't watching! I was just... Amazed at how resourceful you are! I wasn't staring at anything else..."
No one was convinced, so to push the embarrassment off myself and onto someone else, I smirked and said, "Hey, you can look, but you can't touch."
Mineta ran over to me, a stream of red flowing from both his nostrils. "Did you touch Ryukyu's boobs?!"
And there's the embarrassment again...
"W-what? No. It was dusty, your vision was clouded. I wouldn't do that to her, I respect women, and her!"
"Don't try to hide it! I know exactly how big they are and where they are! There's no mistaking it, you were touching her b-"
Tsu slapped him in the face with her tongue swiftly, to which I thanked her.
"Thank you, Tsu-chan. So we're all done now, right? We can get out of here?"
Recovery Girl confirmed that the test was finally over, and announced that Kirishima, Sato, Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero were the only ones to fail.
When we got back to class, Ashido and Kaminari were feeling dejected at the fact that since they failed the physical test, they wouldn't be able to go to the forest lodge for training.
However, when Mr Aizawa came in, he told us the exact opposite. "Since you failed, you need the training all the more. You'll be given no mercy as we train you to the bone."
As expected of Mr Aizawa, always throwing in some twist at the end of things to reveal his ulterior motives. Made sense though, it would be stupid not to let them train, if they failed. It wasn't a summer camp after all!
He handed us all a guide for the boot camp, most of us not having more than half the items on the guide, so Hagakure suggested we all go shopping together for what we needed.
"That sounds like fun! An opportunity for us all to spend more time with each other and grow our friendships!" Midoriya stated.
"I'll pass." Todoroki said.
"What, don't wanna spend time with us? That's a bit... Cold." I winked at him.
He sighed and replied, "No, I just have everything I need at home already. It would be more efficient for me to train and warm up for camp."
I shrugged, "Fair enough."
Bakugo also didn't want to go, but that was for personal reasons, and he went to buy his own things alone.
The next day, the rest of us arrived at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall at the time we'd all agreed on, and gathered around in a group. Each with our own list of things we needed to get, we started splitting off in smaller groups.
"What do you need, Alex?" Kirishima asked me, alongside Ashido and Jirou.
"I actually don't need anything, I just came to browse and spend time with someone. My dad's at home today and I don't want to be in the house with him when I can help it."
I merged myself into their trio and walked with them as they walked along the path in the upper floor.
"Not a fan of your old man, huh?" Jirou asked.
Shaking my head, I started to explain, "He... Wasn't very nice to me growing up, putting it lightly. Just to give you an example of common behaviour, when I was younger, I dreamt of becoming a hero.
You know what he said to that? 'You're too weak and useless. They don't let idiots become heroes.'"
I looked down a bit and held my arm, as Ashido replied, confused, "That's strange, my parents were super happy I wanted to be a hero!"
"I think that's his point..." Jirou said.
"Hey." Kirishima started, getting me to look up at him. "I don't know what to say in these sort of situations because I've never had to deal with stuff like that before.
You know what I do know? I know that you're a super strong person who'll become an amazing hero! You're good at fighting, you're smart, you're fast, you're honestly better than I'll ever be!
So don't let you dad get you down. Even if your family is mean to you, your other family, our class, won't be!"
Jirou added onto that, smiling, "He's right. Every time we get thrown into dangerous situations or when we're being tested, you're always able to think your way out of things or just power through."
"Yeah! Remember that villain that hurt Ryukyu? You beat him on your own!" Ashido further added. "None of us have done that! If you're useless, then no one in the world is useful!"
I teared up a little and tried to hide it, wiping it away from the corner of my eye instantly. I smiled at them, "Thanks, you guys... Whenever I'm feeling down I'll remember that. You're all awesome friends."
We stuck together for the rest of our shopping trip, perusing jovially. I ended up buying a few weights, upgrades from my current ones as I started getting stronger.
I also got to learn a bit about Jirou, which I hadn't had an opportunity to until this point. I'd talked to Kirishima and Ashido a few times, but not her.
And now that I think about it, it was whilst I was receiving words of encouragement that Midoriya was being interrogated by the weird hand villain.
If only I'd known, I could've both saved Midoriya from danger and apprehended Shigaraki at the same time. That would've meant what was happening a few days later may not have happened.
I was really excited for the training camp, even if it would be really hard on me, because I'd only been camping once before and I didn't enjoy it because it wasn't with people I knew.
However, this time I would be with all my closest friends, and at the same time I'd get stronger. And although I didn't know it yet, I'd be introduced to some of the people who'd shape my career as a hero.
After we finished getting what we needed and going home, and carrying out my regular routine plus a bit of packing, I had a good night's sleep, without night terrors again.
Was I starting to gain confidence in myself and therefore eliminating the self-doubt and anxiety within?
It was the big day, I was so excited! Childishly excited, but again I didn't get to do these things much as a kid, so I was really looking forward to it.
I got to class and met up with everyone, from both 1-A and 1-B, and we boarded two separate busses. I decided to sit next to Tsu, and looked around on my seat, a little confused at first.
"Something wrong, Alex-chan?" She asked, looking up at me.
I shook my head, "Still waking up. I forgot there's no seat belts on busses." I put my bag down on my lap after sitting down.
Tsu's hand was resting on the space between our seats, and I slid my hand down off my bag to hold hers, smiling a little.
She squeezed softly and smiled back. "What do you think our training will involve, kero?"
"Probably quirk strengthening. Maybe some fighting, general fitness training, stuff like that. Almost positive there'll be some hiking involved."
We continued talking back and forth, the background noise of everyone else horsing around being drowned out as it felt like it was just the two of us.
An hour passed pretty fast, and the bus pulled over. I was ready to stretch my legs, getting out of the bus with Tsu, and watched as the other bus drove by.
"Wait... Why aren't they...?" I started, being interrupted by the sudden appearance of two women and a young boy.
The women were wearing cat costumes... I stood there feeling a little uncomfortable as all I could think of was pet play when I looked at them, and that wasn't something I wanted seared into my mind.
I looked slightly past them whilst listening. It would be a further three hours to the lodge we were staying in by bus.
The women in the cat costumes, half of the professional hero team The Pussycats, told us we were to trek the forest to the lodge.
"What?!" Kaminari and Mineta tried to run back to the bus, but Pixie-Bob caused a landslide, her quirk being a form of ground manipulation, and sent us all downhill.
"If you're not there by twelve thirty there's no lunch!" Mandalay shouted to us.
They left us to our own devices, Shoji saying, "It'll be difficult to get to the lodge by that time. We should hurry along."
We all agreed, some of us more begrudgingly than others, and went into the forest. A short while in, something moved in the shadows.
Yaoyorozu started, "What was th-"
A huge monster made of dirt ran straight at us. Seriously, Pixie-Bob? They weren't making this easy...
{A/N: A lot of you were hyped for this chapter, so here it is, a little early! I hope it doesn't seem too rushed, I didn't feel the need to type more details about the Shigaraki incident and stuff, so just had the Final Exam and the start of the trip to the forest lodge. Next chapter is gonna get real! We got some hardcore training and a new villain to add to the Vanguard Squad! See you Thursday!}