Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 167 THE WHEELS ON THE BUS

The bus was filled with the students from class 1-A. Our gear stowed below the bus, people were jabbering the whole way. We had been on the road since 630. Leaving the school grounds with the dawn, excited to go to summer camp. 

“How was your date?” Mina asked Momo. 

“It was great,” Momo admitted. “He was a perfect gentleman.” 

“I don’t believe it” “Did you try to kiss her” “Lame” People exclaimed. 

“Guys, it's a date. Meant for fun. Despite how much she begged, I didn’t let her kiss me,” I said. 

“I did not beg!” She said. 

“Oh right. She asked nicely,” I amended. 

“I did no such thing,” Momo said quickly, still blushing. 

I laughed loudly, enjoying her reaction. “It's a date. You guys put way too much emphasis on it.”

“You were the one making a big deal about it,” Mina said, frowning as she studied me. 

“Well yeah, how else was I supposed to make the other guys in class jealous?” I asked. “They’re all so envious.”

“You’re way too obsessed with girls,” Shoto said. “We have hero training to worry about.” 

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” I replied. “Still jealous. Even if Momo was very handsy, she was a perfect lady.”

“I wasn’t,” she said quickly. 

“You weren’t a lady?” I teased. 

“That’s it, that's the last date you get from me,” Momo said. “If you’re just going to tease me. I’ll end up as pissed off at you as Toru.” 

“Are you pissed off at me?” I asked my invisible girlfriend. 

“So pissed off,” she said with a huff. Invisible, her legs laid on me as we sat next to one another on the bus. “It’s your face. I swear you’ve become more…” I knew she wanted to say handsome. I had been using my Epitome chakra for a while. I was well over my normal 6 foot height. “Anger inspiring.” 

“It’s fine if you mean beautiful,” I said, moving my longer hair behind my ear. “I’m very pretty. A perfect specimen of the perfect man.” 

“Yes, there it is. That charm that I can’t help but hate,” Toru said. I pinched her thigh. She squeaked, snaking her invisible hand under her legs to grab my crotch. I laughed as she pretended to be focused somewhere else. Expertly. I wasn’t sure what Toru and Momo had discussed. But it was peculiar. Momo had no interest in sitting with me. It was as if the girls knew Toru had claimed me, but they still flirted and let me flirt. I left her to it. The voyeur had lots of plans of her own in the works. 

In the end Momo and I hadn’t kissed or fooled around on our date. She was far less adventurous than Toru. I walked her home, said we should do it again. And it wasn’t long until my invisible girlfriend was all over me. Having followed us for I don’t know how long she snuck into my room at school and we spent the last couple of days just hanging around. Having sex and watching TV. It was peculiar, but I was enjoying it. 

“Time for a break,” Aizawa announced from the front of the bus. 

“Finally a bathroom,” Mineta mumbled as he rushed through the aisle. As we came out of the bus we noticed that there was no rest stop around us. We were at one of the many offshoots from the main road. Areas to stop and look out to the mountains and forests all around us. Straight ahead were a range of mountains covered in trees. 

“Aizawa-sensei,” Mineta said quickly as the last of us stepped out. “Where is the bathroom?”

“You’re looking at it,” he said, pointing to the forested area. 

“Been a while, Eraserhead!” A woman yelled as she walked around the bus. She had blonde hair, a cute light blue skirt with a nice top, and wore a weird visor on her head. Oh and she had a cat tail coming out from her rear and furry cat paws on her hands. I didn’t think she was part cat, the feline gear simply part of her hero costume. She was flanked by a black haired girl in the same attire but her dress was red and white instead of blue and white. The black haired woman had a cat tail as well. 

“We are the Wild Wild Pussycats,” the 2 women said as a short boy about 9 years old walked up from behind them. The girls took poses as if they were in a photoshoot. 

“Perfect,” Aizawa said, not reacting to their weird introduction. “These are 2 members of the Pussycats. They are a hero team that specialize in mountain rescue. And also some of your camp counselors.” 

“That’s right,” The black haired one said. Moving to the gated edge of the lookout point she pointed out to the mountains. “This entire area is our domain, more or less. The place you’ll be staying at is on the base of that mountain.” It looked a good 10 miles away. Not too far of a distance. 

“Aizawa, the packets you gave us stated we would be going further away,” Ida said. 

“Yes,” Aizawa admitted. “Due to a recent warning about villain activity we decided to change the locations last minute.” I guessed that All Might took my warning to heart. But I was pretty sure we were supposed to go with these pussy cat girls anyway. Which was fine with me. They were very…appealing.

“So we go there?” I asked, looking out to the mountain. “What is that? 10 miles?” 

“Good eye,” blondie said, walking closer. She sniffed me as I stood there deciding what to do. “Good smell too.” 

“You’re not half bad yourself,” I said. Giving her a wink I stepped up to the railing on the overlook. “I’ll race you guys there.” Looking back to the crowd they appeared surprised. But I knew where this was going.  

“What?! Like hell I’m going to ride a bus for a race!” Bakugo yelled, moving up to us. 

“What a coincidence,” blonde pussy cat said as more people walked up. “You won’t be taking the bus.” 

“Oh shit” “that’s not good” “Here we go” People said as the earth under her paws began to move. I didn’t hesitate. Laughing, I jumped down to the trees below. Bakugo, Todoroki, Midoriya, and Ida soon behind me. 

“Feel free to use your quirks!” Aizawa yelled as the blonde cat made the ground form into a landslide throwing everyone else off the point. Straight down to the trees below. 

“You have 3 hours to make it through the forest of magic beasts!” The black haired cat yelled at us. I landed on the trees easily. Jumping down from branch to branch as gravel and rock rained down from above. The others were thrown with the landslide, yelling and cursing as they landed in the forest. I had to admit. The kids were tough. No one was seriously injured from the fall. 

“You alright?” I asked Toru and Tsuyu as I helped them up. 

“Yeah,” Tsuyu said. “I should not have worn the weights.” 

“What are you talking about? This is the perfect time,” I said with a smile. “Come on. Let’s get going.” 

“What do you think she meant by forest of Magic Beasts?” Midoriya asked. Just then the dirt I thought had been a boulder moved. Revealing it was a 4-legged beast. It growled at us, but before anyone could move I jumped to it. 

“Hold it, I’m going to tame it,” I said.

“You can’t tame that. It’s a magic beast!” Momo said. 

“What the hell does that even mean?” I asked. “There is no such thing as magic.” In this world at least. I walked up to the 10 foot tall sabertooth tiger-like beast. It growled at me. Pulling my arm back I smacked it in the head. It crumbled too easily though. The dirt clumps breaking the beast dropped to the ground dead. “No! I killed it!” I wailed.

“It is someone’s quirk, you idiot,” Momo noted. 

“Look there are more,” Todoroki said. And he was right, there were many more. 

“Well shit,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “Let’s see who can kill the most then.” 

“I’m in,” Bakugo growled. 

“Same,” Shoto said. 

“Guys we should get there tog-” Midoriya said but dozens of the beasts ran out from the forest directly at us. 

“They’re mine!” I yelled as I ran at them. Kicking hard it was like hitting a rock. Not that it was hard. More like I was kicking a rock in my way. As my hands and feet moved through them easily I yelled out, “3.” 

“4!” Ida said, running by killing more. 

“6,” Shoto said as he froze some.

“7!” Bakugo yelled as an explosion left his hands, knocking a bunch down at once. 

“That’s fucking cheating!” I yelled running after them. 

—

It took a good 5 hours to go the 10 miles. There were hundreds of the damn dirt summons. We stumbled out. Tired but in good spirits. “634,” I said as I stumbled to my knees.

“651,” Bakugo growled as he laid on his back. He and I had run ahead, but the others weren’t too far behind. 

“You and your damn explosions,” I grumbled. “Cheat ass power.” 

“Shut up,” he rasped. Others began stumbling into the clearing. They were dirty. Most having fought the earth elemental monsters. 

“Finally,” the blonde cat woman said. “Honestly I thought it would be dark before you all got here. You made better time than most 2nd years. You made short work of my Awakened Earth Beasts.” 

“Those monsters were you?” I asked, sitting up. “How the hell did you make so many?” 

“Oh I didn’t,” she admitted with a smile. “I only made about 50. When one of you would break one, they would form out of sight and attack again. You should have left them up and ran. There would have been far less.” 

“Dammit, Weston! I said that!” Momo yelled at me. 

“You did. But come on. It was funner whack-a-moling them,” I said standing up. 

“You 5 especially did well,” blonde cat said walking up to Shoto, Midoriya, Ida, Bakugo, and I. She eyed me up and down. “I’m interested to see what happens in the future with you guys.” 

“Stick around and find out,” I said, not shy about my interest in her. She blushed. Her black haired friend walked up. A spray bottle filled with water  in hand she sprayed blondie. “Ah,” she said, backing up. 

“Don’t mind her. She’s getting older. Looking for a mate,” black haired said like she was a cat or something.

“Well don’t spray her too much,” I said. “I’m open to it.” Blondie turned to me, her eyes wide and a smile on her face. But the black haired girl sprayed her with water again. 

“Enough,” Aizawa cut in. “You guys did well. Tomorrow the real deal starts. Your bags were unloaded from the bus over there. Boy’s bunkhouse is over there. Girl’s is over there. Grab a bunk. Food in a couple of hours. Then communal baths out back for everyone. Kick back and unwind. The real training starts tomorrow.”

We were soon digging through our bags from the bus. The bunk houses were large communal areas with bunkbeds. Exactly as they sounded. I really did feel like I was at summer camp. Mosquitos, awkward rooms shared with a bunch of guys, and no idea where anything was. The only real difference was I hoped I did wake up to find one of the camp counselors in my bed. 

I found a large firepit between the boys and girls rooms. After stowing my clothes at a bunk near a window I could sneak out of without others noticing too much I grabbed some firewood and made a fire. It wasn’t long until all the boys joined me, just sitting around it as we stared into the flames. 

“What is it about boys and fire?” Urararka asked. 

“You mean men?” I asked, puffing my chest out. “It’s from our caveman days. We love fire. Why do you think I could sit and stare into Todoroki’s left eye all day? That’s his fire side.” 

“I knew you were gay,” Mineta said. 

“You’re just upset I don’t have a thing for grapes and prepubescent boys.”

“I’m not prepubescent. I’ll prove it,” he said as more girls came up to sit by the fire. 

“We will take your word for it,” Momo said as others laughed. “This is not how I expected training camp.” We sat on large logs that lined around the firepit. 

“What did you expect?” I asked. 

“I guess I have no idea,” she admitted. “Do you think we will have to come up with our own training?” 

“Maybe,” I said. “Let’s worry about that tomorrow. Let’s have fun tonight.” 

“How are we supposed to do that?” Toru asked. 

“We have dinner in an hour…” I looked around. Everyone was beat from our run there. But we were supposed to be training. “Hey blondie!” I yelled. She was leaning over from the side of a building staring in my direction. She jumped as I called her out. “Come here!” 

She shyly walked up as if she wasn’t the adult. “You can manipulate the Earth, right?” 

“It’s um Pixiebob,” she mumbled. “My name.”

“Pixiebob, right,” I said. “You can manipulate the soil, right?” She nodded. “Alright, do me a favor. Make a giant hill.”

“Why?” She asked. 

“A game and training,” I said. “You all ever played king of the hill?” 

It was a hard and bloody battle. Hours we spent fighting for the top spot. The hill Pixiebob made was a good 20 feet tall. Tiered up there was a path that went from base to peak twisting all around it. But most risked the hill. 

Running, jumping, pushing we raced to the top spot. Only to be pushed back by Todoroki's fire. I cooled it off with a wave of my hand but Bakugo brought out his own firepower. 

It became a trench warfare when Momo dug out an alcove for herself. Prompting others to do the same. It evolved into a battle of advance and retreat. The person on top always changing as someone pushed them back. 

By the time dinner was ready we were covered in sweat and dirt. Making us almost unrecognizable as we descended the hill. 

“I guess Uraraka wins…for now,” I said. She had a wide smile on her face. Her floating power had made her higher than the king of the hill. Forcing us to fire upon her. 

“That was fun,” Toru whispered. “But dang I’m tired. I’m done with these weights.” She pulled the 50 pound weights off her wrists. 

“Same,” Tsuyu said as she took the one off her waist. 

“Holy cow. How long have you had those on?” Red Riot asked. 

“All day,” Momo said as she did the same. “I don’t know why I let you talk me into them.”

“They’re good extra exercise. Extracise if you will,” I said. Rolling up my sleeves I decided to air mine out as well. Even I was tired. I made them disappear into my status screen. 

“Dang, I want some,” Midoriya said. 

“Momo can make them now,” I offered. 

“I have to eat a lot,” she admitted. “They’re very dense.”

“Worth it to me,” Midoriya said. She soon had orders for a few. We got to the mess hall and were wolfing food down. 

“Eat as much as you want,” the blonde and black haired cats said. “While you can.” Hinting that this was a rare treat. Momo was eating way more than all of us. She could absorb items into her skin, but it was slow and they were destroyed, so she preferred to eat when she could. Making some weights for people. None were over 50 pounds. But they were small and dense. Making them perfect for training. 

After the meal we went to the bath house. It was an open hot spring. The men and women separated by a large wood wall I was tempted to scale it. But when Mineta made a move for it I gave him a firm warning that I would be upset if anyone saw Toru naked. He was annoyed since she was invisible but I didn’t care. The little perv took the threat seriously when I broke a rock with my bare hand. 

So I spent the first night relaxing naked with a bunch of other naked dudes. Not the way I wanted to spend my time there. That was until I noticed a blonde head duck down under the wall. 

I ended my bath early. Dressing quickly I made my way to the outside of the bathhouse. There was a very heated cat girl waiting for me. 

“Peeping on the boys?” I asked. She jumped. The blonde woman turned to me, caught in the act. Long tail rigid, her metal cat ears perked up, she was rather cute. 

“I um, can’t help it,” she mumbled. “I’m getting older. And I think my quirk is affecting me. Making me um, more conscious of my age.”

“Ah, right. You did mention that. I mean, I’m not up for marrying or anything like that. But if you want to fool around…”

“Ha! With a 16 year old?” She asked, but there was no humor in her voice. So close to a male I could tell she was affected. She might have been under some kind of cat-person heat. I guess she pretended to be a cat for so long that it had changed her a little.

I stopped a few inches from her. The blonde looking up at me nervously. “You were the one peeking on boys,” I noted. My hand moved some hair out of her face. “Let me know if you would like to continue.” Moving past her I headed off to the boy’s bunkhouse. I was able to hear her sigh audibly. She really was affected by me. Toru might find that interesting. Either way I planned to rest and prepare for my training. I had to focus on my quirk. It might actually be good to get some guidance on where to go with it.