I know Disney's Big Hero 6 is based on the Marvel Comics version of the same name but I wanted to make my own version of GoGo's backstory. After all, fan fiction is about fan service, right? I love how she's unapologetically smart & sassy. She will tell it like it is in a minute & she's girly enough without being the textbook defined girly girl. Basically you can be pretty AND smart. I saw a lot of myself in her character (we even have the same star sign!) & I think that's why GoGo's my favorite. I hope I did her justice.
I started this in July 2015 & just got around to finishing it. Partly due to an on the job injury which diverted my focus from writing but I'm glad I got around to getting this done!
ゴーゴー(GoGo)
Self-evolution:
Self`-ev`o`lu´tion
n.
of one's self; development by inherent quality or power.
People aren't born with thick skins, you grow them.
Ethel Leiko Tomago wasn't always the sharp tongued science wiz. Well…she was but she didn't always show it. Leiko, the name she preferred to be called, being the youngest of 3 & the only girl wasn't groomed to be the college kid. Even in the future times they lived in, the family was still very traditional.
It did really arise until Leiko was 12 & her parents were called into the principal's office. At first they were angry because they were missing work at their store. Not being a disobedient child, being called in was a shock. The teacher quickly settled that fear by showing them her transcript.
"The reason you're here is quite the opposite, Mr. & Mrs. Tomago. Leiko scored off the charts on her standardized tests. She's consistently good in class but this test gauges your overall intelligence. Leiko is only 12 but she's on college level reading, math & science. Her social studies rating is at high school senior & her foreign language test scores came back at intermediate, which is exceptional considering that she started taking Spanish classes seven months ago." Mr. Baker, Leiko's guidance counselor told them while sitting next to Principal Yang in the San Fransokyo Middle School principal's office.
"Well, if she's not in trouble, why are we here? All you are reporting are good things", Mr. Tomago said, sounding slightly annoyed, tossing the paper back on the table.
"We would like Leiko to join STEM", Principal Yang piped in from the other side of the desk.
"What is that, a special school?", Mrs. Tomago asked, her tone coming out soft & polite, the complete opposite of her husband.
"It's a program we have in house. It stands for Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics. Leiko is very interested in the "T" though, especially since there aren't many girls in that sector.", explained Mr. Baker. "It gives students an edge into those career fields."
"How much is the program? We don't have extra money to spend on this", Mr. Tomago laid out, business as usual.
Leiko slowly blew a bubble with her gum to hide her eye roll. Her parents aren't poor in the slightest. They actually own one of the most successful electronic stores in San Fransokyo. But when it came to Leiko, her father was notoriously cheap, almost to the point of avariciousness. He would say what she wanted or needed outside of school & bare necessity wasn't necessary since her main focus in life was school & helping at the store. She wasn't paid for helping out of course, it was family obligation but it did give her time to tinker with the machines & gadgets that fueled her love of science & tech.
"The program is free, Mr. Tomago. It's partially funded by the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, commonly called SFIT. About 80% of the students go on to having careers in the fields of their choosing & some go to try out for SFIT.", the principal told them, handing the permission slips to Mr. Tomago.
"How many get accepted?", Leiko asked, trying to hold in her excitement. She knew all about Robert Callaghan, having read countless scientific publications & seeing the robotics documentaries on the streaming news stations.
"Only a select few are handpicked by Robert every year but I think that's the least of your worries. I have the utmost confidence you will invent something wonderful", Mr. Baker said with a smile.
"Great, more mess & noise in the house but it'll keep her from getting into trouble as she gets older. Go ahead & enroll her", Mr. Tomago said as he quickly signed the paperwork without really looking at it before handing the stack to his wife.
Mrs. Tomago didn't say anything else during the meeting but she did smile at Leiko as she signed the papers, feeling pride in her daughter. She was a small, quiet woman that was outwardly traditional but very supportive of her children, especially Leiko. While she didn't vocally disagree with her husband often, she didn't let him completely step over their daughter.
It was her that paid for the science & tech magazines behind the scenes to keep Leiko occupied. Her husband thought they were free publications that were sent out. She noticed the spark in Leiko at a young age. In fact, she's told her daughter on many occasions that she wished she was like her but felt it was more important to care for her family than to indulge in her own wants at this stage in her life. It was then Leiko vowed to do what she loved not only for herself but for her mother. Technology may not have been her mother's dream but her drive crossed over into Leiko & she was taking it to the max.
ゴーゴー(GoGo)
For the next 5 years, Leiko destroyed in her program, acing every test & passing every technology competition with her skillful projects, earning a spot in the National Junior Honor Society. After graduating SFMS, she went to West San Fransokyo High because they had the closest STEM chapter, which was a 45 minutes commute to & from home every day.
High School wasn't easy but Leiko didn't let minor social setbacks bother her. She wasn't unsociable but she did prefer to work solo because she wanted her projects perfect. When she did try to socialize, she grew disenchanted with most of her classmates. Most of them just wanted an easy ride & would copy answers to Google rather than study. Leiko wasn't about to give her work away. She commuted an hour & a half total every day, did four to five hours of homework at night to keep on top of her grades & advance herself & functioned on less than five hours of sleep on school nights. She wasn't given anything, she earned her #1 spot in her class every year.
While some girls in her school obsessed about looks & makeup, she focused on SFIT, especially since she passed the campus on her ride to school everyday. Sure being the top student was lonely at times but Leiko was more of a long term thinker more than a here & now type. Early sacrifices lead to better & brighter futures. Not that Leiko didn't do normal teenage things or got rebellious. She had an affinity for darker clothes & rock music after an encounter with a street musician during a train delay after school. After listening to a few suggestions online, she was hooked. She never listened to it at home because her older brothers were more into pop music & her father played classical violin.
Mr. Tomago was never happy with what he called an "adolescent phase", especially when she cut her hair into a razored short cut & put purple streaks in herself one night but Leiko said it was more like becoming a new version of herself than turning into someone else. Seeing the "crazy hair & weird clothes" felt normal to her & she felt at peace when she saw herself in the mirror. It was a refreshing feeling after spending 13 years in a beige & white uniform blending in like a mindless robot.
She was tall for her age & while far from fat, she had curvy hips, so she embraced skirts & leggings. It wasn't super girly but feminine enough for her. Leiko felt she could be a girl, a smart girl at that, without frilly pink crap. It was bad enough dealing with smart girls playing dumb to get boyfriends but immature boys annoying her to get a rise out of her made her not want to date. One particular day when a boy called her a frigid bitch because she refused his advances, she told him she would only date him when he "womaned up". Confused, he asked what she meant & Leiko told him until he figured at that out, he was too immure for him.
By her own admission, Leiko uses sarcasm as both a buffer and a test to see who really gets her. If you got mad, you didn't get it & if you got it, you were on the same level. She didn't have time to waste on people that didn't better her both personally & professionally. She felt the term "basic" was snobby but it fit the genre of people that tried to give her crap, although she would never say it out loud. The few friends she did have were at a comfortable distance because they weren't in STEM but at least she had some innocent, fun conversations to ease her tension at lunch & on the way home from school.
ゴーゴー(GoGo)
In her senior year, Leiko spent most of her spare time trying to get her tech perfect for the student showcase. Having developed an interest in Magnetic Levitation (aka: Maglev), she saved what spare money she had after school expenses to afford the supplies for her showcase project. It took her seven out of ten months of school to save up the $3,000 she needed but she managed to get the project working within week. It only took a solid week of no sleep, hundreds of feet of micro wiring & lots of expresso from the Lucky Cat Cafe. When she found out they had limited delivery, she had her expresso delivered to the store where she was working on the project in an empty storage room. This was how she first met Tadashi Hamada. On her third delivery, she noticed the SFIT hat he was wearing right away & found out he was a first year student.
Hoping for an edge on the competition, she asked him to check out her project to see if she had a shot at getting in. She figured if he got in, he had the smarts to give good insight.
"Maglev, huh?", the tall college boy said, putting the coffee & donut bag on the work desk before kneeling down to check out the display on the floor. There was a thin magnetic mat laid out that looked to be about 8x8 feet & a few circular magnetic disks in various positions floating over it. "Electromagnetic suspension? I can honestly say no one's displayed it at school yet. What are the disks for?", he asks, plucking one of them towards another, making them scatter across the field like an air hockey set.
"Well…I was trying to make a bike with magnetic suspension wheels to create a fast bike without fuel. Zero resistance, faster bike…..but I didn't have enough money for the materials, so I thought about perhaps putting the magnets into shoes to create a mode of transportation that was clean & improved health. I was inspired by a retrofuturistic show called the Jetsons from 1962. They had moving side walks, so I thought about electromag shoes that would enable you to connect to a surface carrying the electric current. It would also be great for the tube travel system I saw in the show & even for climbing on perilous surfaces that normally aren't accessible. And since the magnetic field is produced by an electric current, the shoes can be worn anywhere & switched on as needed with a toe or heel tap that activates the switch. I spent most of my money on getting the ultraslim disks made so they wouldn't make the shoes too heavy or press into the feet through the soles of the shoe. The mat I configured myself with the micro wiring & solar batteries so I wouldn't have to worry about corrosion or the batteries interfering with the magnets", Leiko explained while Tadashi looked at the display & the sketches she had scattered over the room.
"What did you make the shoes out of?", Tadashi inquired as he inspected a discarded shoe concept sketch next to the field before looking at her feet.
Leiko scoffed & smirked taking the paper out of his hand. "I'm not fashionable enough to design shoes. I took a pair of Converse all stars, carved out some of the sole padding & superglued the magnets in. Watch this".
She walked over to the magnetic field, lifted her leg like she was going up a stair & her foot came down, stopping in mid air about 6 inches from the magnet as her foot met resistance. Bringing her other leg up, she walked across the air as if she was walking down the street. Taking another step up over one of the magnetic disks, she stepped up higher, now towering over the delivery boy, who was left in awe of her work.
"Wow, this is great! The fact that you self funded this is awesome. I'm certain professor Callaghan will enjoy it, if nothing else for your effort alone in getting it started! And the best thing is when you get into the science lab, your research is funded by the school, so you wont have to worry about materials & tools", Tadashi said looking up at her, genuinely impressed at her project. "I bet you'll even score a scholarship!"
Jumping down with a small grunt, she landed next to the student with ease. She turned off the field & the disks landed with a heavy thud on the floor. There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two of them before Leiko looked up at him, wearing a worried expression on her face.
"I worked for 6 years to get to this point. Part of me can't wait to go to the student showcase next week but at the same time…I'm scared to go too. If I fail, what happens then?", Leiko said in a rare moment of openness. This guy was a stranger to her, so what did it matter if she had a personal moment. It wasn't like they were friends & outside of business, she'd never see him again.
"Failure isn't a bad thing you know", Tadashi said with a smile.
Glaring up at him, Leiko raised an eye brow in confusion. "You're joking right?".
"No, not at all. My dad used to tell me that "fail" meant "First attempt in learning". Your idea is wonderful. If, and this is a big if, someone doesn't agree, that doesn't mean it's bad or wrong. SFIT is an awesome school but it's not the be all, end all. I know many people that were rejected but still did well in their career fields. And there are some that got in to SFIT but couldn't handle the work load & pressure. The number one thing you have to do is believe in yourself & never stop using that big brain of yours.", Tadashi told her in a confident tone, smiling down at her before moving a purple streak out of her face.
In that moment, Leiko felt shocked that someone took the time to make her feel valued without any expectations or compensation. Aside from Mr. Baker, Principal Yang & her mother, no one ever gave her confidence. She had to go against the grain but for once, she was given something. A precious moment of peace in the storm of her life to get to the top. In gratitude, she gave Tadashi something only her mother ever really got to see, a genuine smile.
Looking at her feet for a moment to calm the pink blush creeping up to her cheeks, she looked back up in his eyes, feeling a new surge of confidence flowing through her veins. "So….do I tip you extra for the critique or does it come with the coffee & donuts?", she asked with a serious tone.
The tall teenage boy let out a hearty laugh before giving her a pat on the shoulder & straightening his hat. "Nah, the critique is on the house. You know, I've seen you pass the coffee shop a lot over the years. How come you never came in until now?".
"I needed the fuel to finish my project & your place came highly recommended from the other school zombies", Leiko said as she picked up her now room temperature latte & took a long sip. "I wasn't much of a coffee person but I needed to find more hours in a day & I would get the coffee on my way in but as the project became more time consuming, I started calling for delivery.
"Well, it's my aunt's cafe but my little brother & I help out in there. I try to get him to come to school with me to be inspired but he would rather play with his robots", Tadashi said while shaking his head, thinking about his little brother. "He's so smart but just wastes his time! He's set to graduate high school in a year at age 13 but he acts like he's half his age!".
Waving a hand, Leiko brushed it off. "Give him time. I didn't get heavy into science & tech until I was 12. Some people tap into their potential later than others. I'm sure when he realizes what he's good at, he'll do something that'll blow us all away", she said, returning the favor of a comforting thought.
"Thanks Miss….Tomago", Tadashi said, checking the name on the cup.
"Oh, you can call me Eth….Leiko, if you want", she said, barely correcting herself in time .
"Eth-Leiko? Interesting name. Did your parent name you while sneezing?", Tadashi teased gently.
"Haha, funny. No, my first name is Ethel. My parents wanted me to have an English first name, so they picked the most old lady sounding one ever. But they call me by my middle name, Leiko. I prefer than actually", Leiko explained.
"Leiko it is then! But Ethel is kinda cute. It's a classic name", Tadashi said smiling at her for a few moments too long before clearing his throat. He was going to say something else before he saw the clock on the wall reading 11pm. Tadashi jumped slightly not realizing he stayed out so long. "Whoa, it's an hour past closing time! I better get back before Aunt Cass gets nuts & starts stress eating. She tends to worry easily. Hey listen, stop in anytime if you need help. Otherwise, I'll see you at the exhibition next week. Bye!".
Leiko waved him off as he walked out the side door to the alley where his motor bike was parked & waiting. After putting on his helmet, Tadashi returned the wave & drove off into the foggy evening back home. Looking back down at her project, Leiko didn't know if she would get in or not but she knew it was not for nothing. She made a genuine friend for the first time in forever & got a vote of confidence from someone that believed in her without wanting something for themselves. Not all guys her age were jerks, apparently.
"His little brother is one lucky guy", Leiko said as she sat down on the floor, looking up at her sketches with renewed sense of self worth.
ゴーゴー(GoGo)
I ended my fic here because I felt it made a good ending point & a good place to pick up if I got some inspiration. I love BH6 & I'm a huge fan of science but not this deep into it. So if I made a few mistakes explaining the electromag stuff, forgive me! This was actually one of the hardest things I ever written. I work in healthcare so this is foreign to me but I wanted to stay true to the spirit of the movie so I did some research & tried to come up with something that closely matched what GoGo was working on in the movie.
I heard online that Jamie Chung said GoGo's first name is Ethel, although it's not mentioned in the movie, so I played around with that near the end of the fic. I thought it was a great way to shift the conversation from all business to a friendly/flirty moment between teenagers. I ship Godashi & Gosabi, so I don't know where this story will lean but Tadashi seems like he would fit well with GoGo, so I dabbled in that here.
Let me know what you guys think!
