STAINED

Chapter 11 - Training with Bakugo

As I reached the river bank I looked around carefully, but Bakugo wasn't anywhere to be seen. Maybe he was still on his way? I thought. But that didn't make sense seeing as he left school before me.

Maybe he wasn't coming...

"Took you long enough." Bakugo was leaning against the trunk of a thick tree, his arms crossed over his chest.

"You came..." I was too surprised to hide the glee in my voice.

"Like I'd let you get extra training in without me." He scoffed. His brows were furrowed together as he wore the same agitated look he was well known for.

"What's the plan?" He asked.

"This way." I led the way out past shrub and bush until we came to what looked like an old mill.

"This? This is it?" He asked incredulously.

"Just wait till we get inside." I said rolling my eyes.

As we approached the wooden doors I felt around trying to find the groove. When my fingertips found what they were looking for I pushed it in. At once a small section of wood separated to reveal a silver key pad.

I typed the code into the keypad.
0079*

A loud beeping was heard before the wooden doors retracted, revealing a modern silver, steel door. With a crank and a groan the hidden steel door opened revealing a large, state of the art training facility. I smiled proud. It was still here.

"Let's go." Bakugo followed behind me, his eyes taking it all in. As we entered the doors shut quietly behind us.

"Cool." Bakugo muttered.

As we stepped further inside the lights would instantly light up, illuminating the room. It was huge, and most importantly it hadn't been used in over a decade.

"What is this place?" He asked in awe.

"An old training facility."

His attention fell back on me.

"And how do you know of this place?" He asked, brow raised.

"I used to train here when I was a kid." It felt like a lifetime ago and in many ways it was.

"You trained here when you were a KID?" He asked, eyes wide. I stayed silent, memories flooding back at once.

"No wonder you beat me. You've had a head start." He sounded irritated. Nothing new there.

"This wasn't a hero facility." I muttered as I watched my fingers trace the familiar buttons.

"Not a hero facility? Then who the hell trained here?"

"Yakuza." I muttered. He scoffed.

"Yeah sure. You're so full of it." He wasn't convinced. Not that it mattered. All that mattered was that we had a place to train. I pushed at one of the buttons behind the control desk and watched as a group of familiar combat robots unravelled.

"Oh hell yeah. Now that's what I'm talking about!" Bakugo grinned.

"Shall we?" I asked with a playful smile.

"It'd be rude not to." He replied with a smirk of his own.

It took a while for some of the robots to warm up and for us to understand the controls, but once we got our heads around the autopilot we were off. Bakugo's speed and reflexes were great but his ego caused him to rush in too hot. The robots here weren't as skilled as the ones the at U.A. but they were far more aggressive and did the job.

"Bakugo you're rushing in. You need to not be so impulsive it's reading you." I called from behind the control desk.

"You shut the hell up nerd! I know what I'm doing!" At that moment he shot an explosion at one of the robots, only for it to deflect his attack and shoot its own shot right at Bakugo.

"Watch out!" The shot landed, pushing Bakugo back against the far wall.

"Would you shut the hell up! You're throwing me off!" He scowled.

"Sorry, just trying to give you advice."

"Well I don't need it!" He snarled. I rushed over to him, arm extended to help him up. He slapped my hand away... I should have expected that.

"You think you know so much, why don't you have a try?" He growled.

"Fine."

As I went through the course I had some great successes, but the more robots and drones attacking at once, the weaker my hold on the air surrounding each one got. I got hit over and over again.

"Damnit!" I cursed, holding my side. "That hurt!"

"HA-HA!" Bakugo was enjoying this a little too much. My eyes turned to slits as I watched him laughing hysterically at my failure.

"You need to work on your control." He managed to choke out in between cackles.

"Oh what would you know!" I bit back.

"Not so fun when it's you is it?" He snickered. He had a point. It was annoying. But what he said was true. 

"You're right..." I sighed. "I need to work on my control." I was still holding my side in pain. We'd swapped the bullets for little Bebe pellets but the impact still hurt.

"Your balance needs work too. You lost your footing mid air a few times and almost got hit because of it." Oh apparently he's an expert now is he? My lips pursed into a straight line.

"I'll work on it." I mumbled. "It's getting late, let's call it a day."

Bakugo nodded in agreement and strode over to his school bag before slinging it over his back.

"Whatever. I'm out." He said as he made his way toward the door.

"Hey!" I called out. "Same time tomorrow?"

He didn't answer right away, just kept walking.

"Whatever." He eventually called back.

I smiled uncontrollably as I watched the irritable young man slip out.