phoenix ✦ k.takami (hawks)

Twenty Two

There is so much beauty in letting go of pain, watching scars turn into butterflies before they fly away.
~ Christy Ann Martine

Track 23: Little Bird by Imogen Heap

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Your brain was too fuzzy the next morning to fully comprehend the words seemingly falling out of Aizawa's mouth. He was explaining something about reinforcement training and that this camp was essential for them to obtain their temporary licenses. In your regards it was for your provisional license since you just needed a refresher before you could get fully back into the game. After having that for a few months and going through some hardcore missions you'd be able to be a fully certified hero.

You were rubbing one of your eyes and thinking about the Maine Coon waiting at home for your pets when Aizawa had Bakugo throw another softball to reference his throw from their apprehension test. His peers were shocked at the lack of improval but dropped the interest when their teacher explained the growth had been minimal and only emotional and technical in that case. Training camp was a time to focus on physical growth which is what he wanted them—and you—to prioritize today. After he sent each of his students off to their own things or teaming them up together to improve themselves he approached you.

"Go off on your own and focus on your larger moves. Make sure you're a good distance away from the camp before beginning in order to prevent any misfires from harming my class. Call me if you need any assistance. Mandalay will be keeping an eye on you." You nodded at his directions and opened your wings, letting yourself rise above the trees when the faint figures of Class 1-B entered the courtyard of the cabin.

You spent quite a bit of time perusing above the expanse of forest, stopping short at the other side of the valley before letting yourself reach the floor. You had to let yourself warm up in order to start stockpiling your abilities. You wouldn't be able to do your ultimate moves without giving yourself some downtime in between each one. You knew that you'd be out here in the training camp for a few days so perhaps it would be a decent idea to spend a day on each one. You could wait a bit for disengage and mass disengage since those didn't take as much of your stockpile ability up so you would more than likely be able to do those two in the same day.

Your mind wandered back to your years at U.A. when you were first learning your ultimate moves. You remembered it taking quite a bit longer for you to handle them properly compared to your classmates. You prayed to whatever god existed that it wouldn't take you that long this time around. You had been able to perform New Moon based off of a repressed memory, so it shouldn't be too hard, right?

It took about an hour for you to stockpile enough mana to produce Full Moon which was the basic one you wanted to get ahold of. You could focus on New Moon after you'd conquered the first one since that made it easier as it was. Letting yourself glide up into the sky above the trees once again, you focused your breathing as you looked down towards the forest floor. As you decided where to land, you searched for a place where there was wildlife so you could make sure it truly stopped time like it was supposed to. Making sure that you were still the same distance away from the cabin where the students were, you exhaled deeply before inhaling once and collapsing your wings.

You let yourself plummet to the ground, making sure to lift your arms above your head to increase your speed. Just a few more seconds before you'd make contact. You let your eyes flutter shut and your upper torso relaxed to absorb the rest of the impact that the steel soles of your boots couldn't tolerate.

"Full Moon!"

The second your heels hit the ground you could hear the air around you warble as the molecules came to a standstill. A good three hundred meter circle around you was frozen in time, defined by a shallow ring of blue fire that left the forestry around it unscarred. You rose from your crouched position and took in the scene around you. There was a stag and a few does across the creek to your left. Their heads were halfway upright since they heard your descent towards them though they didn't have a chance to flee before they were forced to become as still as stone.