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Chapter 44: Test of Courage
🕑 Added 2025-01-15 15:45:10 +0000 UTCChapter 44: Test of Courage
The summer had barely started, and it was already getting hot, as while it was still early morning, the entire class A had gathered outside without their jackets to try and keep from sweating under the damned sun.
Bakugo stood to the side, Kirishima and now Ashido at his side as Aizawa addressed the quiet class. "Now that you've finished up your first semester at U.A, don't think you'll be allowed the summer to rest and goof off; as I've explained in the past, you'll all be attending summer training off campus, where we'll push you beyond your limits so that you can become the best pros we can make you."
The underground hero looked over his class, seeing nothing positive among them, though a few had an air of determination. That was to be expected when one of their numbers was still absent and the somewhat chaotic first semester they had. "Of course, it's up to you if you want to go plus ultra, so don't hold back on me."
"Yes, sir." The students confirmed that most didn't have their heart in it, but Aizawa didn't call them out and stepped aside to wait for Vlad and class B. Bakugo felt the mood as well but only ground his teeth as he waited for the word for them to get onto the damned bus and head over to…wherever.
His typical sour mood was made all the worse because there were still a few press members hanging about, not nearly as many as when All Might was announced as a teacher or when news of...Iida spread. Any press was too much as far as he was concerned, as the threat of being physically thrown down the mountain and legal action kept them from asking the students questions, but they kept taking pictures of them.
For once, Shitty Hair wasn't trying to be all positive either, as even he was feeling down. How could he not? Class A has had what should be the shittiest first semester in U.A. history. First, they get jumped by the stupid League of Villains during rescue training, and several of them, including Bakugo, need medical treatment after being embarrassed by those villains. Then came the Hosu incident, where again, those League assholes rampaged through the city, not only getting away but leaving Four-Eyes roasted, an event that ended up caught on camera and played God knew how many times.
Bakugo didn't like Four-Eyes; the guy had a stick so far up his ass he could probably taste it, but…Fuck, he didn't deserve that, especially his family; how fucked up is it that people saved a video of a man being cooked alive and kept uploading it? He even heard that some assholes were sending that shit to the Ingenium hero agency as if taunting them with the fate of their youngest son.
When one of their own had been put through that, was it any wonder that half of them failed their finals? Bakugo was demanding, a self-admitted perfectionist, but he wasn't an idiot. He could see how people not like him couldn't just 'not think about shit that didn't matter' and focus on what needed to be done. Even if that thing was being forced to team up with Round Cheeks to fight All Might, a match they barely won.
Which, to him, might as well have been a failure.
I-island was meant to be a break from that, a chance to just relax before they went back to the grind.
'A lot of good that did.' Bakugo thought, crossing his arms as his scowl grew worse. Details even now weren't complete; they announced the attack, and some villains managed to escape with prototypes, but Shield’s involvement? That was covered up at first, but the Americans then announced the arrest in what his old man thought was a means to weaken the credibility of the villains. 'They didn't sneak in; they were let in, and we have the man who helped them.'
'Oh, he worked, but those morons forget about the other thing.' Bakugo stewed as, yeah, people didn't think that the pyromaniac and his gang of rejects were all that; now they were panicking about how someone like Shield could turn to villainy. But he'll take that over Auntie, hearing more of how much her son was a failure.
That mood didn't just stay with those who fought, as plenty of their classmates had also been on the island and seen some of the shit that went down, and once they met up. Ashido let it slip they were involved…well, the entire class found out about it before evening, despite the authorities telling them not to talk about it. There were even details that not even they knew about till after the fact, namely Ingenium's encounter with Pyro and the brat that torched his kid brother, doing the same to him but healing him instead.
Now, the entire class was down in the dumps, or hyper-paranoid as he didn’t pretend he didn’t see how Ears were constantly looking around, each camera snap turning her head back to those press asses, or how Animal Boy seemed jumpier than usual. Even Racoon Eyes and Shitty Hair were much more attentive than usual, constantly on the lookout for anything, and he meant anything that could be a sign of something off.
"Bakugo, any idea what we're doing on the camp?" Ashido asked, and while he preferred to remain silent, Racoon eyes would have just kept pestering him.
“No clue, Shitty Hair. We don’t even know where we’re going.” He replied. Unlike with the USJ, they had no clue what they would do or where. Only that they would be gone for the week.
“Still, you good, Bakubro? You and Tsu still…” Kirishima pointed out that Asui hadn't looked at him since they arrived at campus. It's been like this since the USJ attack, and it's still going strong.
Bakugo grunted as that wasn't a reminder he needed. "I'm fine. She wants to ignore me, but that's fine. I can ignore her as well.”
Ashido and Kirishima shared a look before moving back to talk about it in private. "What's the deal between them? Weren't they super close in the beginning?" Ashido asked as she was ready to ship the two together, but whatever romance they shared seemed on ice.
"They had a fight, though I have no clue why she's upset, and I was there for it," Kirishima told her before explaining the fight and how Asui started asking about his dynamic with that Pyre villain before leaving.
Ashido was just as lost as he was on why Asui was upset, but she had a good guess: "She sounds like she wants him to apologize for making her worry." It was really dumb that Bakugo charged into that fight, as even when they had numbers on that guy, he still held them off long enough to make a clean getaway. Sure, they were still students, but they weren't that weak.
"I mean, maybe, but…well," Kirishima looked back at Bakugo, Ashido doing the same, where they saw Bakugo giving Tsu a longing look but breaking it with an angry grunt before the frog girl could notice. “I don’t see him doing that anytime.”
“Some guys can be way too stubborn.” Ashido sighed.
Line Break
Toga continued to fidget with her support items, which made for her quirk and fighting style. However, you would assume she was forced into a cone on a dog because of how much she was fighting it. "Hmmm! I don't like this; I do not like this at all! None of this is cute in the slightest." She complained, as the gear did clash with her general appearance and choice of clothing, the mask part even having teeth painted on it
“They were engineered for the black market.” She wasn't the only young member present; she wore a middle school girl's uniform, while another, who was around the same size as she, wore a middle school boy's. What he looked like couldn't be discerned now with his helmet and gas mask on. “I would be more worried about if they work, not if they look good.”
Toga didn't care about that. They checked the stuff before they got it, and they got it from Giran. While anyone who met him could tell you he was a slimy bastard, he prided himself on his work. He would sooner rat himself out than supply sub-standard equipment.
Because of that, she could better focus on the gear’s gaudy appearance, especially when compared to the pretty and sleek gear that Slice was cleaning off to the side. "How come she gets better stuff then? They could have painted this, but nooo, they went with the mouth design like I'm a shark."
Slice smirked as the girl continued to clean her blades; it wouldn't do if rust damaged them. "Get a few successful jobs under your belt, and you'll be able to afford costume stuff."
"Hi, darlings. " Magne's attention shifted to her, the woman carrying her support item while she and Chimera escorted a man in restraints. Sorry to keep you waiting. We ensured this one didn't decide to start the party early."
The restraints seemed excessive and counterproductive to their goals as they stood on a ridge overlooking the U.A. students and their teachers resting for the night. Still, when the man started talking about consuming flesh, no one questioned why even villains would want him easily restrained.
Chimera grunted as he pointed his thumb at the madman. "When the party starts, I won't be the one to keep an eye on him."
“We wouldn’t need to wait if we attacked now.” Another growled. Their bodies were covered by a clock, while their faces were covered by a mask, though their size made them the second-largest person there, behind only Chimera.
Dabi turned a bored glance toward the cloaked villain. “Shut your mouth, you muscle bond bastard. It's only the 8 of us. We'll wait for the rest." Compress and Spinner were bringing along their last member, someone Giran recommended. "If we're doing this, we're doing it right. This won't be like the USJ or Hosu; the League will bring the fun, but it will be through a special group of elites with clear goals, other than wrecking house.”
She laughed at the end there, as the area seemed pretty fun, far from the city…far from help, and with so much woodland, it would be fun to see it all covered in blue. More so when she reconsidered the faces of shock, horror, and fear on those little hero students.
"They went through the trouble of choosing this remote place for their little camp to throw us off their scent. So, we'll let them think that, and right when they have your guard down, that's when we strike." She reminded them.
"That reminds me, Slice. You've faced off against these students before, right?" If Dabi recalled correctly, their second teenager member, Mustard, asked Slice, who turned towards the boy.
"Around half of them at best," Slice replied.
“Any pointers?” Mustard asked, to which Slice thought about it for a moment.
"Nothing other than don't get cocky. Even at the USJ, when I defeated Endeavour's brat, the others still kept fighting." Dabi turned a little more to listen; she didn't know that.
"Oh yeah, you were the one who beat Shoto." She knew that students were injured—everyone did—but who was never made public. Now that she thought about it, she should have asked Pyre about it earlier. Her fellow pyromaniac would have been happy to share.
Slice didn’t care much for that fight, as even then, she knew he was holding out on her. “Brat was holding back, only used his ice during our fight, but Hosu shows that he’s not so moronic to never use it.” That said, she wouldn’t mind exploiting that again. “I’m not sure if I should be insulted that I wasn’t enough of a threat.”
"Oh, he's the cute one, right? I remember seeing that clip. I rewatched it a bunch of times; how bloody and bruised he got." Toga added.
"We have our orders, but if you want to snatch up a boy toy, as long as it doesn't affect the mission, you can snatch up a boy toy." Chimera reminded her, as he didn't care for her oddities; he dealt with that from the rest of the Thunder, and he was sure they would say the same about him.
“Sweet, thanks, Chimera.” Toga blew him a kiss, or at least tried to with that mask of hers.
Dabi took issue with Toga targeting Shoto, as he was her mark, but she didn’t feel like explaining that to any of them…not yet. "I already have a feeling that'll blow up in your face, but maybe a few burns will be good for you." Turning to one of their 2 hired muscle, she asked a question.
“Chimera, you think you can bug our eyes and ears?”
Chimera narrowed his eyes, unsure if that was a slight because of his appearance, a genuine observation, or both. Knowing Dabi, it was probably that last one. “If I can get close to them while they train, sure. But won’t they have someone watching?”
The burn scar-covered woman snorted. "They'll be damn fools if they didn't, but I've been here the longest and haven't been spotted yet. The best guess is that they focus on the students and watch for signs of trouble. Don't cause any, and they probably won't see you." She didn’t know how their boss got the intel, but she left yesterday afternoon much faster than she imagined. Why she was picked to be the first was probably because while she loved pissing off Shigaraki, he could trust her over the rest of the crazies to not fuck things up and keep a handle on things.
"Probably, she says." Chimera snorted but agreed. "If we need to pop off early because we got spotted, I blame you."
“Do whatever, just get ready to keep an eye on them come morning.” She replied.
Line Break
'They really are working these brats to the bone.' Chimera noted as he watched the training from a safe distance. He had been bright and early, courtesy of Dabi, who mentioned the brats were woken for training around 7am.
It was approaching mid-day, and it seemed like they were all being put through their paces with some insane training, though he could figure out the purpose around…most of it; that one kid screaming in the distance might as well be practicing for singing, not battle. The one in the cave, on the other hand… didn't know, but he was getting a bad feeling from there. His instincts had never failed him before, so whatever he did in the dark was something to avoid.
Along with the brats, he counted just 5 adults, 2 teachers if their intel on U.A.’s staff were to be believed, and 3 pros-all dressed similarly though he couldn’t tell who they were. 'The kid would probably be able to figure that out, but then I would need to hold him back from rushing for an autograph.' He snorted, already seeing Midoriya dispute the claim he would be such a fanboy and on the job.
'All right, I was already on the lookout for Bakugo, Shiozaki, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Uraraka, and Todoroki.' Chimera recalled what he and Midoriya discussed when it came to the ones to keep an eye on, though they knew next to nothing about class B and relayed mainly on their sports festival performance, where, as a class…they were out-classed by their sister class and had hardly any showings.
Chimera smiled as he recalled how frustrated Midoriya got when he watched through it 4 times and still couldn’t find anything half as good as what class A pulled off.
‘Though after watching this training, I can definitely see that others are also shaping up to be threats…’ Chimera mused as he watched several students with his eagle eyes, at times it paid to be born a fusion of the animal kingdom, even if he could never suppress all of it.
Those eyes tracked the girl with horns, a blonde who seemed capable of copying quirks-that one was probably one of the most dangerous brats there, a boy that could seemingly turn whatever he wished into sludge-it would be hard to fight when the literal ground couldn't be relied on to be solid, Ashido and the two wonder twins Midoriya, Kirishima, and Tetsutetsu.
‘Some more along than others.’ Those last two posed little threat to him, as while they could turn sturdy, he was sure he could easily crush them, but a good defense with even a bit of sense could still spell trouble.
'Maybe we should strike right when they finish training; they'll be exhausted, and we get this done without fuss if it's just 5 pros to worry about.’ That seemed like a good play till he shook his head, his gaze shifting towards the man in black as he was in a conversation with one of the targets. 'No, that's too hasty. Eraser's in play and one look and's de-fanged except that bastard, Muscular, and me. It would be better to strike when he's away from the others.'
If only he could let Dabi get punched in the face without compromising the job; maybe that'll teach her not to be so damn annoying…No, he didn't know her long, but he had a feeling that she would just smirk through it and continue being a total bitch.
"Tonight's gonna be fun!" He shifted his head so his bat ears could better hear. The blonde pro seemed to be talking about some sort of reward for the students, and the more he heard, the wider his smile became.
“A test of courage?” He repeated before chuckling to himself. “Oh, that’s just too perfect.” Chimera got up and turned to leave, leaving no trace he had ever been in his tree observation post. He could stay longer, but it would be time better spent making sure that there was one real test of courage for those students.
Line Break
The day went on without issues before training was called off so the students could drag themselves back to the main buildings and start preparing dinner. This process became more manageable than the previous day. While tired, they could divide the work better and know who could do what best. Uraraka found it odd that Bakugo was so good with a knife.
Kirishima let it slip that he tends to help his mom cook for him, even if they both just scream at one another the entire time. That out of the bag led to Monoma and Kaminari teasing him as a momma's boy and Kirishima needing to hold Bakugo back as he looked like he wanted to use his knife for something else.
Their bellies filled, they set off to the grounds where they would have their test of courage, which Pixie-bob and Tiger explained as a class vs. class deal, with class B taking the first shot at scaring them any way they wished as long as they didn't use their quirks directly on them, or cause physical harm. It wouldn't be as a group either, as they would need to walk through the forest in a circle; Ragdoll posted at the mid-way point where they would need to collect something from her to prove they didn't leave the path.
Once that was done, they drew lots, which was easy as Aizawa had dragged off half of them because he wasn't satisfied with their performance during the day.
Uraraka sometimes felt like the man was just against the concept of fun, as not even Ashido's pleading to let them have one night of fun worked; Asui went quietly but wished her good luck with it.
“It seems that we’re together for this one, Uraraka.” Todoroki approached her, holding a slip of paper with the number 2, the same as hers.
“Yeah, I’ll try not to scream too much when they scare us. Monoma has been eyeing us up the entire day.” Uraraka replied, looking for class B's most…eccentric student.
“I wouldn’t worry, I saw Vlad taking him off earlier. He probably failed the finals like Jiro and the rest of them.” Todoroki told her, getting a sigh of relief as she didn't hate him. He was annoying at times, but that was it. That said, this was the perfect chance for him to just give them all a heart attack…wait, if Vlad took him off, did that mean he failed their finals?
As she thought about that and wondered how else could their sister class also fail, Bakugo was having a terrible time with his partner. Bad enough that they both got the first slip; he wouldn't even be with someone he had learned to tolerate. “If you scream, I’ll murder you.”
Tokoyami spared him a glance, frowning but looked away, pissing off the blonde even more. "Believe me, I look forward to being partnered up with you as you do I."
“How come I’m the only one with a partner? This is unfair!” Hagakure complained as she held the last ticket of the group, Pixie-bob awkwardly laughing as she hadn’t drawn up an even number to begin with.
“We only have 9 people here.” Yaoyorozu reminded her.
“Then we should go in groups of 3!” She turned to her as this was totally unfair. When it was their time to scare class B, they would be half-strength!
"Look at it this way, you can take your clothes off and just walk right through. Class B won't even know you're there," Mineta suggested.
Hagakure turned on him. "Like I'll cheat like that on a test of courage; besides, you giving that suggestion makes it all the dirtier!"
“But I couldn’t see anything if I tried!”
"Not the point, " she yelled back, remembering his little stunt with the hot springs. If it was not for Kota, Mineta would have seen them all in nude.
Line Break
Uraraka and Todoroki walked down the forest path with nothing but the moon and stars to guide them, as they weren't even allowed their phones. The screams of those ahead of them did not help her feel any less nervous at whatever plots class B had for them. "I'm never a fan of haunted houses, and those screams aren't helping."
“Haunted…houses?” Todoroki asked, realizing that his father probably didn't let him do a lot of everyday stuff growing up, a pretty big reason why Todoroki could be insanely competent and aware of some things but wholly lost with what most saw as usual.
"It's an amusement park thing, kinda like this, but instead, you go through a house designed to scare you," Uraraka explained. However, she had only ever gone to one, and it was more her middle school's culture festival with just one class turned into a haunted house.
“Okay,” Todoroki nodded as they heard another set of screams. "If I'm not mistaken, those were Yaoyorozu and Aoyama's screams. His are higher pitched."
Uraraka's cheeks exploded as she struggled to hold back the giggle. She knew that Todoroki was not trying to insult Aoyama but speaking strict facts, which only made the situation funnier.
"Well, we didn't see any light flashes, so at least he didn't panic and fire off some lasers." She managed to get herself under control.
Todoroki nodded, treating the entire thing like it wasn't nearly as scary as she thought. "I doubt he would; this is just a fun activity. Besides, if we were allowed to use our quirks, Bakugo would have destroyed the area by now."
“I’m sure that Tokoyami would be able to stop him.” At least, she hoped he could, as she recalled what Tokoyami had told her and their team during the Sports Festival. Those two being paired together was pretty dangerous with how dark it was and Bakugo's general…well, Bakugo-ness.
Up ahead, Kodai stood in the middle of the path, with Honenuki and Kendo pocking out from their hiding spots behind a tree and a bush, the former laughing his ass off. “Nice one, Kodai! You managed to scare everyone, you big creeper!”
Kendo gave Kodai a thumbs-up. “You’re the star of the night.” Kodai didn't reply with words, merely humming, but they were long used to their classmate being someone of few words. They would have thought she was mute if not for her being called on in class.
“I still can’t get over how funny Bakugo and Tokoyami were!” Honenuki continued to laugh as a simple trick with his quirk placed Kodai underground. When they approached, her expressionless head would just pop out. The sight of that sent the two screaming, and he barely backed his laughter. "Mr. Angry and Mr. Brooding looked like they were about to piss their pants! Oh, I wish I had a camera. Monoma would pay good money for those shots."
“Hey, smell that?” Kendo asked, drawing their attention as she sniffed at the air. It could be how dark it was, but there was a feint of miscoloring in the air. "I think something is burning."
Kodai and Honenuki both sniffed at the air. They could tell that there was something off, though for Honenuki, lower to the ground, he didn't smell smoke as he smelled….mustard? "Now that you mention it, a weird scent is in the air. 5000 yen on Bakugo getting so terrified he…blew…some…the-"
He felt himself woozy before she fell over, out like a light.
“Honenuki!” Kendo cried as she quickly covered Kodai’s entire head with her enlarged hands. That miscoloring wasn't from smoke; it was some sort of gas! “Don’t bring in! That smoke…it’s some sort of sleeping gas, like Midnight’s quirk!” She yelled as she covered her mouth with her other hand and tried to remember where everyone else was, as this couldn't be an accident; one at the camp had a quirk that could do this, not unless Yaoyorozu just made a crap load, and let it spill.
Back at the clearing, Pixie-Bob picked up the scent in the air, one she was familiar with from years of rescue work.
Smoke.
“Is that smoke?” Hagakure pointed into the distance. Even though it was night, they could make out rising clouds of black in the distance.
“A forest fire? Now of all times?” Mineta asked, but Pixie-Bob, Tiger, and Mandalay immediately realized this wasn't a mere forest fire. They weren't in the right conditions for one or anything in the area like power lines to start one. There shouldn't be anyone in that direction, so it couldn't be a lost student who had an accident.
As Mandalay tried to contact Eraser, Vlad, and Ragdoll about the situation, Dabi stood by her lonesome in the forest. Around her, the area was burning in bright blue flames. Her scarred hand lay on a tree, which, from the point of contact, started to catch fire.
“Now,” Opening her eyes, she drank in the sight of flames, a familiar one she had seen her entire life, their warmth and destructive power something she was intimately close with. “Let’s get this party started. Take them down, those who believe they deserve the title ‘hero’.”
With the smoke acting as a signal, the rest of the League moved into action, coming in from the mountains, roaming through the forests, or making their way towards the main buildings. It wouldn’t be long before the fun started ."We, the League of Villain Vanguard Action Squad, will tear them off their pedestals."
Back at the clearing, Mandalay had just finished informing the other heroes of the situation when a pink force formed around Pixie-Bob. Before anyone could move, she was dragged into the brush with a scream.
A scream cut off when something heavy hit the back of her head, and she was out like a light, left to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The reason was Magne, who pressed her magnet into the side of Pixie's head. “First, let’s get rid of these feral cats!”
Mineta and Koda stepped back in terror, as they had just watched one of their hero protectors get defeated without much of a fight. To make it worse, the villain who did it wasn't alone; by her side was another, dressed like a Pyre cosplayer with a sword nearly as big as his body! "No way. I thought they made sure no one could find us."
“So why the heck are there villains attacking this place!?” Hagakure yelled as Tiger and Mandalay, despite their concern for their downed teammate, formed up between the students and their attackers.
Magne smiled at the sight and asked how they had found them. "Sorry, little man, but that's not something we'll so freely share. But if you survive the night, we might be open to talking."
Line Break
Well, I tried to start the year right and get rid of the 'announcement' stuff from my MHA works, as people didn't need to read such when they were from last year, but I think I fried the system. I removed them, and the system thought I posted stuff for ALL my MHA stuff on FF.net, which isn't true. Then, when I did post the new chapter for A World of Quirks, it refused to show despite my account saying that the chapter existed.
Hopefully, I can point to when I posted on Ao3 if people think I broke my schedule without reason and lay all the blame on FF.net for being shitty. I just hope that it's not another thing, as this won't get posted there for another week, and it will suck if the site refuses to show the latest chapters for anything.
Line Break
And done! I have to say, it was a bit of a challenge writing this, as I wanted to touch on what the students were doing and how the villains were plotting. And while it came out slightly shorter than expected, I'm happy with the finished product. The next chapter will have some nice action with fights you might not expect.
