It was early in the morning on Saturday, August 3 and class 1-A was barely awake, yawning and stretching as the sun just started peaking over the horizon. They had to get up early to start training. Her classmates were assigned to do different things to train in order to push their quirks to their limits and improve them. Ruka was tasked with manifesting the dragon spirit and keeping it out as she maintained her enhanced physical abilities and alternated between her partial and full dragon transformations while she and the dragon spirit fought the dirt monsters from Pixie-Bob's quirk since none of her classmates could really spar with her dragon spirit or full body dragon form. Before the training began, Ruka approached Mr. Aizawa.
"How am I going to switch between my full body dragon form and my partial transformation without ruining my gym clothes?" Ruka asked Mr. Aizawa.
"We made your gym uniform out of a special material that stretches to extreme lengths, just like your hero costume. So you don't need to worry about that." Mr. Aizawa revealed to Ruka.
"Oh okay. I'll get to training then." Ruka said as she met up with Pixie-Bob who put her paws on the ground and created massive dirt monsters for her and her dragon spirit to fight. Ruka started called forth the dragon spirit from her body and used its power to enhance her physical abilities and transformed her arms and legs into dragon limbs while sprouting her dragon wings and tail.
"Let's do this." Ruka said as she took off into the air with her dragon wings and dive bombed one of the monsters while doing rapid somersaults, spinning like a power saw as she sliced right through the neck of the monster. Then she switched to her full body dragon form to tackle the next monster. Her dragon spirit took down a monster as well. She switched forms every other monster defeated while keeping out the dragon spirit and maintaining her physical enhancements. It was exhausting. Ruka briefly looked over at Izuku who was doing endurance exercises. Looks like he was getting exhausted too.
~Time Skip~
It was dinner time and the Wild Wild Pussycats had all the ingredients laid out on the table for curry. Everyone was absolutely exhausted but Iida managed to give everyone a little encouragement to make their own meals. So Todoroki lit some of the fires under the grills and Yaoyorozu made a grill lighter to light her grill up. Bakugo ended exploding his grill. Ruka transformed only her head into a dragon head and used her fire breath to light the grill. And with that everyone got cooking. When dinner was ready Kota was nowhere to be found. Izuku and Ruka had noticed him go off somewhere. After they were done eating, Izuku loaded an extra plate of curry and started following the footprints Kota had left behind. Ruka caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder, making Izuku stop in his tracks.
"Where are you going?" Ruka asked Izuku.
"I'm going to follow Kota's tracks to go bring him some food. He wasn't here when dinner was ready." Izuku said as Ruka smiled softly. He was so caring and thoughtful.
"I'll go with you." Ruka said as she and Izuku went together. They followed Kota's little footsteps up the mountain to a cliffside overlooking the woods on the mountainside. They could hear Kota's stomach growling.
"I heard that. You must be hungry. Here, we brought you some curry." Izuku said which started Kota who was not pleased to see him or Ruka.
"No way! How'd you guys find this place?" Kota said angrily.
"Sorry. We followed your footsteps. We thought you might want some dinner before it gets cold." Izuku apologized then offered Kota some curry that was still warm.
"Whatever, I'm just fine. Get lost! I don't want to hang out with you guys. So forget about my secret hideout." Kota said as he looked away and pouted.
"Hm? This is a secret hideout?" Izuku said, looking around.
"Hmph! Spending your entire life trying to improve your quirk... it's dumb! All you wanna do is show off. Get lost!" Kota said, telling Izuku and Ruka to go away again. Izuku then asked if Kota's parents were the Water Hose Heroes. Kota then asked if Mandalay told him that. Izuku apologized and explained that he heard a little about what happened to them and based on that information, he had figured out who they were, remembering reading about the horrible incident in which they died. Ruka remembered hearing about that too. She was actually assigned to kill the guy responsible because he was just a dangerous guy in general, causing both the heroes and the Japanese Underworld problems. He was known by the name Muscular. He was the first of her targets that had gotten away. Though at the time, he hadn't killed the Water Hose Heroes yet when she was assigned to assassinate the guy. Ruka felt incredibly guilty. Kota's parents would still be alive if she had succeeded in killing Muscular back then. She didn't tell Kota that though. The last thing she wanted to do was increase Kota's hatred even more. She decided she would tell Izuku later though and maybe Kota later on when he was more mature if she ever saw him again after this training camp was over. Kota then went on a rant about how everyone labels one another as heroes or villains and kill each other because of it and always focusing on their quirks. He went on to say that if his parents hadn't been "showing off" they'd still be alive. Izuku realized that Kota hated quirks and the whole superhuman society, not just heroes.
"We're done here. Go back to camp with the other losers!" Kota raised his voice. Izuku then went on to tell the story of his "quirkless friend" who wanted to be a hero. Ruka recognized he was actually talking about himself. Kota had had enough of Izuku trying to talk to him. He yelled at him and Ruka to go away and leave him alone. Izuku apologized and set the curry plate down and then he and Ruka left the mountainside. On the way back, Ruka stayed quiet with her head down. Izuku noticed something was off about her.
"Hey Ruka? Is something on your mind? You're awfully quiet." Izuku said as Ruka stopped in her tracks.
"Kota's parents are dead because of me." Ruka said as Izuku's eyes widened.
"Wait, I thought the suspect was a large man. Don't tell me..." Izuku trailed off.
"No it's not quite like that. I was assigned to kill the man responsible a long time ago. That was before he had ever even crossed paths with Kota's parents though. Obviously I failed... because if I hadn't... his mother and father would still be alive and he would have had a normal life and not ended up hating quirks and heroes. It's my fault. I had to abandon my mission because his muscle augmentation quirk was too strong for the weapons I had brought with. I sent my dragon spirit out in my place to distract him while I shrank back to my base human form from my full body dragon form and escaped. He had cracked my ribs with one punch. I learned my lesson that day. I was still harshly punished even though parts of my rib cage was broken. He was my first failed assassination. The second was Tomura Shigaraki. So many of these bad things could've been avoided if I had just succeeded in killing ALL of my targets. Even though heroes fell onto my target list, Shigaraki wouldn't be the leader of the League of Villains, and Kota would've had a normal life and maybe even idolized heroes like you do. Maybe I am just a villain. All these terrible things are happening because of my failures." Ruka explained. Izuku wrapped his arms around Ruka and rubbed her back in a comforting manner.
"Just because terrible events happened because of something you failed to do in the past doesn't make you a villain. I mean stuff happens and life doesn't always play out the way we planned it. You didn't know these things would happen. It's not like you could see the future and decided to let those people live to cause pain, death, and suffering for others on purpose. So it's really not your fault." Izuku said, trying to make Ruka feel better. He felt Ruka's body relax a little in his arms at his words.
"I guess you're right. But that doesn't change what happened to Kota and anyone else affected by Muscular... or Shigaraki for that matter." Ruka said, hanging her head low again. Izuku let go of Ruka and lifted her chin up, looking into her crimson eyes with his emerald ones.
"That may be, but I don't blame you for that." Izuku said, leaning in to give Ruka a tender kiss on the lips. He pulled away and gave her a soft smile, holding out his hand to her.
"Come on. Let's go back to camp." Izuku said as Ruka nodded and took his hand. They walked back to camp hand-in-hand together.
~Time Skip~
It was early in the morning on August 4 and everyone was still groggy, especially the group that had failed the practical exams. Apparently after training, their extra lessons lasted until 2:00 AM. Mr. Aizawa then told Uraraka and Aoyama to step it up too. He explained that while they didn't fail their practical, they were very close to failing.
"Don't lose focus. Each of you can move faster. And no matter what you're doing, just remember where you started from. Don't forget who you were before U.A. Always keep in mind why you're sweating, why your limits keep getting tested. That's what it means to improve." Mr. Aizawa said to the whole class. Izuku then asked him if All Might or any other U.A. teachers would be joining them.
"Like I said before we came out here: to keep the camp a secret from the villains, hardly anyone knows where we are." Mr. Aizawa said.
"That's why you get to work out with us four Pussycats!" Ragdoll, a member of the Wild Wild Pussycats yelled from a distance.
"And think about it. We believe All Might is one of the League's targets. So we can't have him here. It's for your own safety. For better or for worse, that's what he gets for standing out so much." Mr. Aizawa said as he started walking away.
"Meow meow meow meow. More importantly, tonight's gonna be fun! We're pitting classes against each other in a test of courage. I know you've been training hard today and later you'll get to play hard. How's that for a reward?" Pixie-Bob said as some of the students said that just sounded like more training.
"Don't slack now! Make sure you keep pushing yourself as you work!" Pixie-Bob said loudly.
"Yes Ma'am!" The students of Class 1-A and 1-B all said simultaneously as they continued training.
~Time Skip~
It was dinner time and Ruka had gathered firewood and brought it to Izuku who started putting it under the grill. Todoroki approached him, asking him if he needed All Might for something since he asked Mr. Aizawa about him earlier. Izuku said he did because of Kota. Todoroki asked who that was and Izuku told him he was Mandalay's cousin's son, looking over to where Kota was just a minute ago, but he wasn't there anymore. Then Izuku continued placing the firewood Ruka brought him under the grill. While did that, he went on to explain that Kota doesn't like heroes and the whole concept of super humans, quirks, and everything. He told Todoroki he tried to talk to Kota, but thinks he might have made things worse and that he had been wondering what All Might would've done to help him if he were here. Then Izuku asked him what he would have said. Todoroki thought for a moment, then gave him his answer.
"It depends." Todoroki started.
"Of course, sorry I asked." Izuku apologized.
"To have a complete stranger try to change your mindset sounds like a pretty irritating conversation. What matters are actions. You have to show him what you're trying to prove. Right? If you're going to rely on words alone, then they better be incredibly powerful. What you say doesn't matter near as much as what you actually do." Todoroki finished.
"You're right. I went about this the wrong way. How can I, a stranger, say anything to him?" Izuku said.
"I don't know what your goal is when it comes to this child. But it sounds to me like you shouldn't be sticking your nose into a delicate situation. You tend to cut to the heart of people's feelings. It can be annoying." Todoroki said, referring to what he said to him during their match at the U.A. Sports Festival.
"Right, sorry about that." Izuku said as a large sweat drop formed at the top side of his head. Ruka tilted her head curiously, wondering what had gone on between Izuku and Todoroki. Clearly something happened between them before she started attending U.A. High. But she said nothing as she didn't want to pry.
"You guys, your hands aren't moving! We'll never make the best stew if we stop now!" Iida yelled at the three of them. Ruka, Izuku, and Todoroki then continued to finish setting up the grill and start cooking.
~Time Skip~
After they had cleaned up the dishes from dinner, it was time for the game between classes that Pixie-Bob had mentioned earlier that day. Unfortunately for the five students in Class 1-A that failed the practical exam, they had to take lessons with Mr. Aizawa instead of join the game. After Mr. Aizawa dragged them away, Pixie-Bob started to explain the rules of the game.
"Okay! So Class 1-B is going to start out as our scarers. When they're in place, Class 1-A will leave in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those. Now those of you who are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your quirks to terrify the others. Got it?" Pixie-Bob explained.
"The winners are the creative students who make the most people piss their pants." Tiger another member of the Wild Wild Pussycats said enthusiastically.
"I see. They're encouraging us to stoke our imaginations as we compete with each other all while showing us more uses for our quirks in the process. As expected of U.A." Iida said.
"Alright! Everyone draw to see who your partner will be!" Pixie-Bob said loudly, holding slips of paper with numbers on them in her paw gloved hand. Izuku and Ruka both drew the same number so they were partners. Thank God Ruka was in his class. If she wasn't, someone wouldn't have had a partner because five of them were gone for lessons which would have left them with an odd number of students. But because she was in the class, there were 16 students instead of 15 students left.
~Time Skip~
The game had started and Uraraka and Asui were up next. They entered the path in the forest. Not long after they had disappeared in the darkness of the trees, there was a weird smell in the air and there was a blue glow accompanied by black smoke deeper in the forest like something was ablaze. Just then Pixie-Bob floated off the ground, ripped away from the group. As she flew, her head slammed into a pillar held by a guy with big lips and medium long straight brown hair wearing sunglasses. When she fell to the ground, the sunglasses man rested his pillar on her head. The man was accompanied by a lizard man. The lizard man greeted them and told them they were part of the vanguard action squad the of League of Villains. Ojiro wondered out loud what they were doing here since no one was supposed to know where they were.
"I could crush this kitty's head so easily. How about it dear? Should I?" The sunglasses man said.
"You get away from her!" Tiger yelled at the villains.
"Now, now hold on Big Sis Mac. You too Tiger, calm down. When deciding if someone should live or die, we must be careful that we are abiding by Stain's principles." The lizard man said as Iida started to get upset.
"So you're the ones he ended up inspiring." Iida said.
"At your service, that's us. And you, Four-eyes. I believe I recognize you. You're one of the self-righteous brats who attacked Stain in Hosu City. Let me introduce myself. Call me Spinner! I'm here to make Stain's dreams a reality." Spinner said, as he drew a giant mass swords as his weapon. Tiger stepped forward, saying he didn't care who they were and that they were just criminals. He told them a little bit about Pixie-Bob and then yelled at them, asking what gave them the right to cut her happy life short. He drew his claws out as he shouted. Spinner then lunged, drawing his sword back, saying it wasn't a hero's job to be happy. Mandalay explained her plan to everyone. All the students there except for Izuku and Ruka started to move out. Iida noticed Izuku and Ruka not following him and the others and stopped in his tracks.
"Midoriya!" Iida said, calling out to him.
"Go on ahead without us. Mandalay! Kota... We know where he is." Izuku said as Ruka nodded in confirmation. He suggested that he and Ruka would go find Kota to bring him back safely. Mandalay paused then nodded in approval and Izuku and Ruka ran off to where Kota's secret hideout was.