The Forest Thing

Chapter 1: The newest family member

Every year the Bakugo family went on at least one special vacation, it had been their family tradition for as long as Katsuki could remember.

This year, Katsuki, the energetic seven-year-old with the explosion quirk, had begged his parents to go camping for their family vacation, an activity the young boy had never done, but always wanted to do.

So instead of going on an overpriced holiday, the Bakugo family packed their bags, got in their car, and set off to the forest they had picked to camp in.

But the Bakugo's don't do anything half-assed. Oh, no no no.

They weren't going to some nice, peaceful campsite where other people would be camping. No. They planned to hike into the forest and make their own campsite.

The drive was long and by the time they finally got there, after the 6-hour car journey, Katsuki had jumped out of the car and was running around the dirt parking lot as soon as they had parked.

His parents took him to a nearby playground to blow off some energy while they got things ready for the hike into the forest.

He didn't complain. Being stuck in his car seat for so long made him desperate to run around, and the local kids already at the playground were quick to introduce themselves, since they were curious about the blond and wanted to know why they'd never seen him before.

"I'm going camping in the forest with my parents! Mom says that if I'm lucky, I can fight a bear!" Katsuki exclaimed, not realizing that his mom was joking when she had said it.

The other children looked at him with mild shock and horror as Katsuki shouted about camping in the forest.

"You gotta watch out for more than just bears in that forest," One of the slightly older kids replied.

Katsuki raised a skeptical eyebrow at the taller boy, "Why? I can make explosions, nothing can beat me!"

"The forest thing can..." A small girl whispered shyly as if she said it any louder, the 'forest thing' would pop out of nowhere at any moment.

"Yeah, if you get lost in the woods, it'll offer to help you, but if you accept you'll never be seen again!" The taller boy exclaimed, looking even more worried now.

"It'll grab you and drag you to its cave, then it'll eat you alive" The older kid shivered, he looked to be about 11.

"That's stupid. Forest monsters don't exist, those are just stories" Katsuki crossed his arms with a huff. Did they seriously believe in these stories? They were probably made up so kids wouldn't wander into the forest.

A girl with just as much anger issues and sass as Katsuki rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "It killed someone once! He was trying to protect a little girl and The Forest Thing killed him!"

"Yeah, Dude, it'll totally eat you whole" The older boy snickered.Katsuki was about to protest, but his mother called him, which meant it was time to head into the forest.