Katherine Ride: Battlefield *BOOK TWO*

Season Four- The Last Stretch

Katherine stretched her arms and wings, her gaze turned toward the open sky.

Okay. I'm still not used to using One For All while I fly, so I have to be careful. One wrong move and I run into a tree.

You used to do that flying normally.

If your criticism isn't helpful, I don't want to hear it.

She activated One For All and took a deep breath, then began sprinting toward the edge of the clearing.

Take off in three, two, one, now!

She pushed off the ground and flew into the air, with more speed and force than she was used to. As she flapped to right herself, she shut her eyes, trying to keep herself from getting motion-sick. When she finally opened them, she realized she was hovering almost three hundred feet away from the ground—a stark difference from her initial fifty-foot height when she flies normally. From here, the trees looked like huge clumps of broccoli, and she could barely see her chaperone.

One For All's still running, which is progress compared to yesterday's total failure.

Where you ran into a tree.

And nearly demolished the home of a very bothered pair of squirrels.

I apologized to them!

Katherine inhaled as she continued to hover, then narrowed her eyes and began to circle the training grounds. Her newfound speed was beginning to grow on her, filling her with increased adrenaline whenever she flapped. The wind whipped at her hair, making her eyes slightly dry. She had to be going at least ninety miles per hour, possibly even faster. If her average dives could get to a hundred and forty miles per hour...

I wonder if that would bump me up to a hundred and eighty.

She banked to her left before going in for a dive near the clearing. Her jaw clenched as she spotted a workout dummy in the middle of it.

Here goes nothing.

She flipped around, facing her legs toward the dummy.

Incoming Spade, 2.0.!

Katherine felt her legs hit the dummy, but she couldn't backflip quick enough and sent herself hurtling headfirst toward the ground. Luckily, she put a shield up just in time, protecting herself from any injuries. She groaned as she finally rolled to a stop, pushing herself up and spitting out dirt.

"Well, that was certainly an improvement. The dummy's still intact."

She looked up and saw All Might holding out his hand. She grinned as she grabbed it and pulled herself up. "Thanks. I guess it's probably better if my legs don't go through the chest cavity of an actual villain," she joked.

"Yeah, probably," he responded, watching as she shook out her feathers. "Are you sure you don't mind these training arrangements? You and Young Midoriya could be training at the same time, you know."

It had been one week since Eri had come to visit U.A., and in that span of time, All Might had begun helping both Katherine and Midoriya with the advances they wished to make with their shared power. Midoriya trained with him early in the morning, working on using 20% of One For All at moments of impact, and Katherine had decided to reboot her flight training and trained with him in the afternoons. "I think it's easier this way," she mentioned, rolling her shoulder back. "This way you're not having to keep track of two kids at once, and we're not constantly asking each other questions about progress. Plus, my schedule can only handle short sessions right now, what with the festival."