Frozen Wings

Chapter 53

Yaoyorozu's POV

I opened the door to UA's recovery room. Todoroki was lying on a bed, hooked up to a few machines. But he looked better than when Storms had taken him the other day. He weakly lifted his head, his heterochromatic eyes widening as he saw me. I walked over to the edge of the bed, giving him a smile.

"I-I-I'm s-so sorry... I-I didn't m-mean to d-do that... I-I only... meant to cut a l-little..." He apologized. I forced myself not to cry.

"Hey, it's okay. It was an accident. You were hurting and needed a way to get rid of the grief. That's alright, but you need to find a safer way to go about doing that." I said, gently taking his hand in mine. Storms stood in the doorway, arms crossed as she leaned against the wall.

"Kiddo, we're all here for you. No one's going to make fun of you or judge you for needing help." She said.

Todoroki began to cry a little. "T-Thank you... both..." He said.

"Of course. You're one of my closest friends, after all. I'd do anything for you." I smiled. He looked up at me, and I saw an emotion he had been devoid of for as long as I knew him. I saw peace.

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"Alright y'all. You've completed your team exercises, now it's time for individual training. The mission is to be the last man standing. You are allowed to team up, but the watches you're wearing will start beeping after ten minutes of being teamed up, because the goal is to learn to rely on yourselves. I'll be hunting and scoring you, so keep an eye out for that too. To take down a classmate tag them with the orange ribbon. If you're tagged, sit down and wait. I'll call you all when there's a winner. Use your Quirks and your knowledge to your advantage. Good luck!" Storms changed into her winged snow leopard form, waiting for us to go. We all darted into the forest, separating. Todoroki had been cleared so he was in this along with 1-B. I stopped, realizing I had to think of a plan.

Okay. So my Quirk won't be useful for fending off Storms unless I create a torch or something that gives off enough heat to disable her. But that would put me at a disadvantage because then I'd be too weak to fight. My classmates with the flashier Quirks will just use brute force on her and each other. My best bet has to be to hide my trail and sneak up on people when they're alone. But how to throw Storms off track... aha!

I remembered there had been a lot of rain recently, so I went further into the woods, finding a specific patch of earth where it got extremely muddy, especially with larger amounts of rain.

Without a second thought I flopped into the mud, completely covering myself in it.

There! Now all I have to do is stay in the shadows.

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Storms' POV

They're smart. Covering their tracks the best they can. I'm glad they're taking my lessons to heart. This'll help them with different types of jobs in the future.

I smirked, silently hopping from tree branch to tree branch in the form of a margay, since my usual winged snow leopard form was too big and would give me away. Of course the students with the flashier Quirks were using them to take down as many opponents as possible as quickly as they could. Unfortunately that gave a few of them away. I silently dropped to the ground, changing into a melanistic leopard, more commonly known as a black panther. Bakugo had been a little too obvious. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt and ignore him but he was so loud and obnoxious I couldn't stop looking back at his explosions. So far he had taken down Mineta, Sero and a few of the 1-B students. I sighed, silently stalking from the edges of the shadows. Bakugo was sneaking up on Mina. I stopped, waiting for a moment. I wanted to see what he did. The angry teen launched forwards, barely missing Mina. She had dodged by using the 360 turn I taught her earlier this year. She slid back into place, shooting acid at Bakugo. It melted one of his gauntlets, hissing and crackling. He shouted, trying again. But Mina had improved and was much swifter than she used to be, making it hard for her opponent to land blows, since his size and costume was making him bulkier than he would be without it. Unfortunately, he had had time to charge up one blast. Mina saw it coming just in time, leaping out of the way of the heat. She raced away, knowing she needed a moment to retreat.

Bakugo, thinking he had won, let his guard down. I didn't show any mercy. With a single launch, I had flung my body out of the shadows, crashing into him. He continuously tried to break free of my grasp, unable to, instead just blowing up the ground because of the way I had his wrists pinned. I leaned own, closing my jaws around his neck just enough so my teeth barely touched his skin.

"Game over." I growled, letting go, using my ice to tie the orange ribbon around him.

"If you were up against me for real you wouldn't have a head attached to your body anymore," I said as he angrily plopped onto the ground.

"You need to understand that not all missions are a display of strength. Sometimes you've got to be patient and wait for the right moment, then give it everything you've got. And you have to know when to give up, too. Next time I recommend using your Quirk as little as possible and rely on knocking your opponent unconscious with those gauntlets. Just be careful or you could crack their skull." I instructed. Bakugo huffed, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, well, if you weren't so good at blending into the environment and being dead silent I would've seen you coming." He said.

"I wasn't always that good. It took a long time for me to learn how to step on dead leaves and brittle sticks without cracking them. The trick is balance." I said.

Bakugo looked at me, nodding.

"I'll try it out."

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I roared, signaling the end of the training. The last one standing had been Kirishima, followed in second by Shinso, and third by Yaoyorozu. I was proud. They all did so well. Eventually, all the students returned.

"Congratulations to Kirishima! You're the last one standing. All of you, you're doing a wonderful job. I saw the ways you implemented your skill, stealth, tactics and knowledge. I couldn't be prouder." I said. They all cheered excitedly, able to see how well they'd done.

"You'll be allowed to have Thursday and Friday off, so make sure to get plenty of rest. Take care, and you know where to find me if you need me." I said. They nodded, going back to their dorms.

"Todoroki!" I called. He paused, turning around. I walked over.

"How are you doing?" I asked. He was quiet for a moment.

"Better. It... still hurts, but it's alright. Yaomomo has been very kind to me. She's been on it when I start to feel down." He said. I changed into my human form.

"Good. I'm glad to hear it. I'm so sorry that it still hurts. I want to do more but-"

"N-No, Storms it's okay. You've done so much for me, and I'll forever be grateful. I didn't mean to cut my wrist that deep, and because you two caught it in time I'm okay. Storms, you... you're like a mother to me. I love you, you're part of my family too." His eyes shone with happiness and trust. I smiled, allowing him to hug me. I wrapped my arms around the kid.

"I'll always be here for you."