Mirio had insisted that they celebrate Izuku's victory over his upperclassmen. Izuku had asked if they'd like to come over for dinner. His three friends had readily agreed, while Inko was ecstatic her baby finally had friends over. She didn't even tease him over the fact that one of them was a girl (this time anyway), instead being content to ask about how Izuku was doing in school and embarrassing him in other ways, like getting out the baby album.

  Mirio had joked that his dad would do exactly the same if they were at his apartment. Tamaki had just smiled quietly at the pictures, occasionally speaking up to ask how Izuku had gotten into that predicament, questions that Inko was all too happy to answer.

  Nejire had been by far the worst. She and Inko immediately hit it off and spent most of their time teasing Izuku over his baby pictures or chatting animatedly about how well he was doing in school, which Mirio took great enjoyment out of, the traitor.

  Izuku had never been happier.

_____

  Izuku nodded to Aizawa as he walked over to the bus bay, his suitcase in hand. The summer training camp started today. Well, more accurately, the second years + Izuku's training camp started today. Since Izuku was on his own, there was little point in holding an entire training camp for just him. So that he could have the experience, Izuku was going with the second years, who were quite eager to meet him.

  Aizawa's expression was grim, which set Izuku on edge. Something was very wrong.

  "I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to distract you from your exam preparations, but now I think it's a good time to motivate you." He said.

  His words were light, but his tone and expression remained stone cold.

  "The same purple portal has been appearing with different brain creatures and abducting people. There have been four kidnappings since your work study. One of which was Mr Sakamoto, the man you saved the first time we came across the brain creature and portal combination. I've been able to link several kidnappings in the past to the most recent ones. Bystanders remember seeing a purple mist around the area of the kidnappings. It's consistent enough to link the cases together."

  Izuku frowned.

  "Why kidnap so many people? What do they gain?" He asked.

  "It gets worse." Aizawa reassured. "A blood sample was found at a scene about six months ago now. It didn't match the victim, and the sample was so contaminated it was impossible to find the real culprit."

  "Contaminated how?" Izuku asked.

  "There were DNA samples of three different people, all of which had gone missing 8, 9 and 13 months prior to that incident. They were almost unidentifiable, but it was specifically the quirk factors of those people. Minor Regeneration, Minor Shock Displacement and Reflex. The victim, by the way, had a rather powerful strength enhancer." Aizawa said grimly.

  "The brain creatures. They're tailored to beat the victims. The one attacking Mr Sakamoto had a strong strength enhancer, I'd be willing to bet it came from the kidnapping you just mentioned." Izuku said, his horror mounting.

  "Someone's collecting and exchanging quirks between people like loose change, creating living weapons that can be tailored to an individual you want killed. Or just make a standing army, who's to say?"

  Izuku thought for a moment.

  "What were the quirks of the most recent victims?" He asked.

  "Mr Sakamoto had Shock Absorption. A very powerful one. The next had Super Regeneration, the one after had a rather impressive speed enhancer called Burst. The next was a pain dampener, and the one just before Sakamoto had a pretty similar quirk called Impact Recoil." He listed off angrily.

  "They've made specialist creatures for kidnapping victims. Now they're making a living sandbag that can fight back." Izuku murmured. "Their next target will be stronger than a civilian. Much stronger."

  "I thought the same thing." Aizawa confirmed.

  "They're going to start going after heroes. Where better to acquire strong quirks than the people who use them to walk to the top?" Izuku asked rhetorically.

  "Izuku! Mr Aizawa!" Nejire called.

  Izuku's expression immediately brightened as he turned to his friends.

  "Hey guys." He said.

  "You excited for your first training camp?" Mirio asked, arms swinging energetically as he strode forwards.

  "Of course!" Izuku replied.

  "Are you alright Izuku?" Nejire asked, picking up on his earlier mood.

  "I'm fine. Something happened with the case that came up during my work study, and it's.. worrying. I'll be okay though." He reassured her.

  The quadrio + Aizawa were joined soon after by the rest of class 2A. A girl with close cropped pink hair approached him and shook his hand.

  "You must be Midoriya! I'm Misa, the class president of class 2A! If you need anything, don't hesitate to come to me! You might be an unofficial member, but that's more than enough in our eyes!" She said.

  Izuku shook several student's hands, most of which congratulated him on thoroughly thrashing them during the exam. Class 2A's homeroom teacher ushered them all onto the bus. The four friends sat near the front of the coach, Mirio and Tamaki in front of where Izuku and Nejire were sitting.

  Mirio had brought a handheld console with multiple wireless controllers, which Izuku suspended in the air by embedding it in a small shield and floating it up slightly. The four of them played Super Hero Fighterz, a game that they'd held mini tournaments with in their spare time after school or during lunch and break times.

  Izuku was banned from using All Might, who was by far the most OP character in the game.

  Nejire mained Ryukyu, Tamaki normally played Fatgum, Mirio switched between Edgeshot and Best Jeanist, and Izuku mained Gang Orca, who had a somewhat similar moveset to All Might with his sonic waves instead of air blasts and muscular build.

  They played for a few hours, Tamaki once again completely dominating them with Fatgum's insane defence. Izuku was able to win a few matches with Gang Orca's high attack, and Nejire won some with Ryukyu's all-roundedness. Edgeshot's manuverability gave Mirio a single victory before he swapped to Best Jeanist and got hammered.

  Once they put the game away Izuku scrolled through some hero forums on his phone, mainly focusing on the 18 villains All Might had captured trying to rob a bank that morning in Tokyo.

  A weight settled onto Izuku's shoulder an hour later, pulling his attention away from the old All Might video he was once again watching on repeat. Nejire had fallen asleep, and was slumped into him. There was a quiet click, and Izuku's face turned bright red.

  "Delete that." He hissed at Mirio, who was peeking over the back of his chair, phone in hand.

  "But you look so comfy snuggled up together like that..." Mirio teased.

  "I will Darth Vader your windpipe, Tintin." Izuku threatened.

  "Ha! Tintin! That's a new one broccoli boi!" Mirio chortled quietly.

  Izuku spent the rest of the trip on edge as Nejire snuggled closer to him gradually and Mirio turned every so often and snickered.

  At long last, the bus stopped on a rocky clifftop overlooking a forest, a mountain rising out of the ground in the distance.

  Mirio wiggled his eyebrows at Izuku and hopped off the bus, Tamaki following behind. Traitors.

  Izuku tapped the top of Nejire's head where she was nuzzled into his shoulder, her arms wrapped around his.

  "Nejire, w-we're here.."

  The girl grumbled, lifting her head and staring right into his eyes sleepily.

  "Where are we?" She asked.

  "Rest stop." He said.

  Nejire untangled herself from Izuku and stretched her arms above her head, groaning quietly.

  "Let's go then!" She said, her usual bouncy energy back as she shot out of her chair and got off the bus.

  Izuku followed after her, rejoining the other two boys who were standing near the cliff edge. Mirio grinned at him, and received a fist to his side for his troubles.

  "Did something happen after I fell asleep?" Nejire asked.

  "No." Izuku replied quickly.

  "Yes!" Mirio said.

  Nejire tilted her head in confusion at Izuku's red face and Mirio's grin.

  "Alright everyone, you know the drill." Class 2A's homeroom teacher said. "The pussycats are at the lodge, Pixie Bob is already in position. Get going!"

  Izuku watched in shock as the class threw themselves off the cliff.

  "Come on Izuku!" Mirio yelled, diving off the edge. "We've got to get to the base of the mountain by lunch!"

  Tamaki followed after Mirio, while Nejire hopped off the edge and floated down a moment later.

  Trusting his friends, Izuku dove off the edge, a cigarette already between his teeth, the lighter protected from the wind by his cupped hands.

  A series of  Smoke Bombs redirected his momentum, letting Izuku drop to the ground safely. The class were already charging into the trees.

  Nejire landed beside him, while Tamaki lowered himself from where he'd grabbed onto the cliff face. Mirio ejected himself from the ground in nothing but a pair of boxers. His uniform was in a crumpled pile a few meters away.

  "There's an army of earth beasts and other traps between us and the mountain." Mirio explained. "The challenge we were given in our first year was to get there by lunchtime. Of course, nobody managed it. This year though, we have the advantage."

  "You've perfected your quirk control, so you can just ping-pong yourself to the end. Nejire and Tamaki can fly, and I can propel myself in pseudo flight with Smoke Bombs." Izuku said.

  Mirio grinned.

  "Exactly! But then that would be no fun! So I say we fight whatever earth beasts we come across as we make our way to the end. The goal is still lunchtime though!"

  Izuku nodded, a small smile on his face.

  "Alright. May the best hero win."

  The four of them sprinted into the trees. Nejire propelled herself along with low power blasts, weaving through the trees with ease. Mirio ran through anything and everything that got in his way, including the giant earth monsters. Tamaki used cow hooves and chicken wings to half run half fly his way through the trees.

  Izuku struggled at first, Smoke Bomb not designed to maneuver in confined spaces like dense forests. He tried bouncing from tree to tree while using Smoke Bomb to propel himself, but without something holding him in the air he would just fall to the ground.

  But why couldn't he hold himself up? His newest Ultimate Move would be the perfect solution to this problem. It wasn't by any means complete, or stable if he tried to do the entire thing at once, but just to lift himself up? Dark Cloak could do that.

  Izuku gathered the smoke on his chest and abdomen, letting it shape itself around him and leaning forwards. He floated a meter or so off the ground, lying on his front atop the half finished Ultimate Move. Eventually it would be his strongest shield and sharpest spear, but for now it would serve well as a means of transportation.

  After that, Izuku darted through the forest faster than anyone else, creating pointed shields before his face and smashing right through Earth Beasts face first, lying on his stomach.

  Mirio caught up to him a few minutes later, Phantom Menace-ing between the trees like a demented pinball.

  "Is that-! the new-! move-! you've been-! working on-?" He asked, permeating in and out of the floor, trees and beasts.

  Izuku just gave a thumbs up, not bothering to try and communicate when his ears were fluctuating between deaf and working like that. Mirio grinned.

  "Sick-! Looks like-! Voldemort-! from the-! last film-!"

  Izuku looked down at himself. He actually did look kinda like an apparating Death Eater from those old Harry Potter films Mirio made them all watch a while ago.

  They smashed through another Earth Beast together, and were soon joined by Nejire and Tamaki.

  "Tamaki needed a minute to get the hang of running around a forest in this form!" Nejire said. "Whoa Izuku! You look so cool!"

  Izuku blushed, pulling the smoke up slightly to hide his face from the nose down and eyebrows up.

  "Thanks.." he mumbled.

  Soon enough, only Izuku's bright green eyes could be seen in the smoke, almost glowing in the dark fog tearing its way through Earth Beasts and maneuvering perfectly around trees.

  The group of four tore their way through the forest, not letting any Earth Beasts they came across live any longer than a few seconds.

  They made it to the lodge at quarter to one, somewhat dirty from all the earth flying everywhere, but only a little out of breath. Dark Cloak was difficult to maintain, but not as bad as creating shields used to be. Nejire had an insane amount of stamina, and had used very little power to zoom between the trees. Mirio's quirk wasn't tiring to use, he was only out of breath because he'd insisted on running the last few hundred meters. Tamaki was the most exhausted, but thanks to the training they'd all gone through he wasn't as exhausted as expected.

  Mandalay and Ragdoll of the Wild Wild Pussycats were waiting for them when they stepped out of the trees. Mr Aizawa was leaning against the wall of the main building, a smirk on his face.

  "Are we on time for lunch?" Mirio asked, putting on his uniform that Tamaki had carried for him.