A Light in the Darkness: Hotaru's quirk didn't always come easy to her, controlling energy can be overwhelming, but she is determined to be the best hero she can possibly be despite all the circumstances she has against her. OCx?

Author's Note: Here is chapter 3! This is out earlier than I expected but I am just so into writing this! It has been a LONG time since I was this inspired to write. And, my parents let me use their laptop to do some work so I was able to work on this while I am visiting. Please let me know. We get to see Hotaru's quirk in action and learn a little bit more about it.

Rating: Rated M for language and future themes and scenes.

Word Count: 2,730

Chapter 3: Robots and Rescues

"And time." Hotaru let out a breath as she set her pencil down, feeling relieved that the end of the written portion of UA's entrance exam was over. She struggled with the mathematics portion, but she felt that she did well on the other subjects that she at least passed this part of the entrance exam.

Now it's just the physical portion, I wonder what they are going to have us do to show off our quirks? Hotaru wondered as she handed her written exam to the teacher on her way out of the classroom. It has to be some way for us to prove that our quirks could be useful as heroes, maybe mock rescues?

"Hotaru-chan!" Hotaru waited for her green haired friend to catch up with her, pausing in the hallway as the other hopeful teenagers were pointed towards another area of the school. "How do you think you did?" The boy asked her.

"I hate math," Hotaru offered, shrugging at the smile her friend gave her in return, "But okay I think, good enough to get in I hope at least." She gave her friend a concerned look. "I hope the next part of this will make it easy to show off my quirk to prove I have what it takes to be a hero...no matter my math skills. Are you ready Izuku? Do you think you'll be able to use your quirk?"

Midoriya's grin turned uneasy, a hand rubbing at the back of his hand in nervousness "Don't worry about me Hotaru-chan. Let's both do our best to pass this exam!"

Hotaru let him deflect as they were let in another room by the test practitioners, blinking in surprise at the large auditorium that was revealed to hold hundreds of students that were already taking their seats. "Please make your way to your assigned seat." Hotaru and Midoryia nodded, both looking down at their papers, they appeared to be on opposite ends of the auditorium.

"Well, I'll see you after this. Good luck Izuku," Hotaru offered, smiling at the boy who grinned at her in reply. "Try not to break anything."

"G-Good luck Hotaru-chan!" Hotaru gave him a careless wave and made her way left, moving up into the higher levels of seats, looking for H22.

"H22...H22" Hotaru mumbled, moving up until she spotted the H row, looking for her seat, moving to sit between two students who had already found their place before her. A girl with green hair that was so long the end was tied into a large bow at the end with large, almost emotionless eyes and a wide mouth that was set in a natural grin sat on her left while a boy with wild, purple hair and eyes of the same color that had large bags under them sat on her right. He had a frown on his tired, deadpan face. "Excuse me," Hotaru muttered taking her seat between the two, folding her long, muscled legs under her chair and sitting straight, determined to ignore the boy's eyes who had watched her quietly as she walked down the row.

"GOOD MORNING LISTENERS!" Hotaru, along with the two beside her, and it seemed like every other person in the room, jumped at the sudden loud noise that came from the stage in the middle of the room.

"Is that?" Hotaru questioned the adult that had appeared on stage.

"Present Mic" The purple haired boy next to her answered, just as surprised to see the pro-hero as she was. The man who had just greeted them had long, bright blond hair styled straight up, almost like a cockatiel, with orange tinted sunglasses, headphones, a leather jacket with a directional support item, a directional amplifier, around his neck. The loud hero was known for his decimal defying power that came from his voice as well as the radio show he ran over the weekend. Hotaru and her sister, Ichika, often listened together on Saturday nights when the older sibling had a night off.

"I'M HERE TO PRESENT YOUR GUIDELINES FOR YOUR PRACTICAL! ARE YOU READY?!" The hero continued, however the teenagers in the audience remained silent, unsure if they were actually expected to answer. Hotaru sat up straighter in her seat, a nervous ball forming in her stomach as the pro-hero continued as if he wasn't bothered by the silence he had gotten in response. "YOU'LL BE FIGHTING TO ESCAPE AN OVERRUN CITY ESCAPE IN TEN MINUTES!"

Hotaru noticed the purple haired boy sigh loudly, slumping slightly in his seat but she decided to ignore him as Present Mic continued with their instructions, "IT WON'T BE EASY THOUGH! EACH ASSIGNED SITE, THAT YOU WILL GO TO AFTER THIS, WILL HAVE THREE TYPES OF FAUX VILLAINS. YOU'LL BE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIVES AND POINTS!" Hotaru grinned, this was perfect for her quirk and powers. This was the part where she'll be able to fully show off her abilities. "EACH TYPE OF FAUX VILLAIN WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT POINT VALUE, DEPENDING ON ITS LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY-"

"Excuse me!" Hotaru raised an eyebrow as a boy with dark, neat styled hair and glasses stood up, interrupting the voice hero. "There are four types of villains showing on the board behind you! Such a blatant error is unbecoming of UA!"

The blond pro laughed in response "NICE CATCH LISTENER 7111! THOSE VILLAINS HOLD NO POINT VALUES HOWEVER, THEY ARE JUST THERE TO BECOME OBSTACLES! EACH SITE WILL HAVE ONE, BUT YOU'D BE BETTER OFF JUST AVOIDING THEM ENTIRELY! HAHAHA!" The pro pointed at the teenagers, "ARE YOU READY?! I'LL LEAVE YOU ALL WITH OUR SCHOOL MOTTO AS YOU ALL PREPARE AND MAKE YOUR WAY TO YOUR PRACTICAL TEST SITES; GO BEYOND PLUS ULTRA!" Hotaru shivered as the hero offered them all a smirking grin, anticipation was creeping up her spin, "BREAK A LEG EVERYONE!"

"What a drag," Hotaru raised an eyebrow at the purple haired boy who had signed loudly when the blond hero dismissed them, having stayed in his seat despite the numerous students who were all starting to stand up to make their way towards the buses that awaited them outside to take them to their practical course areas. "Unfair...I thought it would end up like this." Hotaru continued to look at the boy as she stood up, the girl on her left standing up as well, her small height a stark contrast to the white haired girl's.

"You alright?" Hotaru couldn't resist asking, she was used to having to break her other friend from his thoughts and figured she should offer something to the strange boy that was briefly her desk partner as well. "We should go." She raised an eyebrow as the boy turned his head towards her, frowning at her slightly as he let out another sigh and stood up quietly, hands going to his pockets. Hotaru blinked, her face turning blank as the boy turned and walked away, not offering her another look. What a weirdo. I wonder what he meant by unfair though?

Hotaru followed after the rest of the teenagers from their section to a large bus, squeezing in. I don't need to worry about him though. I need to focus, pull in my energy. Hotaru closed her eyes, breathing in deeply as she forced her energy, which had spiked at the nervousness and excitement of the upcoming battle, to settle. She could feel all the energies of everyone on the bus along with hers, most of them were spiking. Whether that was just from being nervous like she was or their quirk, she wouldn't be able to tell without focusing on them one at a time, but that wasn't what she was doing. Instead, Hotaru began to breathe deeply, in and out as she forced her focus on the energy outside, the sunlight shining down and began to draw it in. She already had her body's natural energy as well as the energy she pulled in as "reserves" from what she consumed, but she had a feeling she would need more for the upcoming exam and considering they only had 10 minutes to prove themselves, she wouldn't be able to pause and draw more in. She could do so while fighting, but she didn't want to risk getting distracted as it was dangerous if she didn't focus on where she got her energy from as well as where it was going. She had learned from experience that just indiscriminately drawing in energy could be dangerous not only to her but those around her as well.

"Tch! Move you damn fairy!" Hotaru opened her yellow eyes, feeling the bus come to a stop at their location and the others on the bus began to disembark. She hadn't even noticed that the blond was on the same bus as her, and therefore in the same area as her.

"How rude, an "excuse you" would suffice" Hotaru huffed, moving to step off of the bus before him, she could feel the anger of his eyes glaring into her back as she joined the large group of students that were assigned to her area. "Geez, this won't be easy. I wonder how many points we'll need," Hoatru huffed, beginning to shed her light yellow jacket despite the chill in the air, she knew that it would just get in the way and she didn't want to destroy it with her quirk accidentally. She tied it around her waist, the firm muscles in her arms flexing lightly, as she heard a loud, familiar huff behind her.

"Doesn't matter Fairy, just stay the hell out of my way!" Bakugo spat, stopping several feet from her, stretching his arms with a scowl on his face. Hotaru let a smirk come to her face, the bad attitude he brought out of her coming to the surface in the absence of her green-haired friend to keep both of them in check. "I'm the best there is, so all these robots are mine!"

"Is that a challenge? It's kind of chilly out, how is your quirk going to hold up mister sweats-a-lot?" Hotaru touted. This caused the blond to turn towards her, scowl deeping as he almost growled at her, reminding her of a rabid dog. However anything he might have said was cut off by the voice of the blond pro-hero from the auditorium.

"AND START!" The voice bellowed, "WELL, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? VILLAINS DON'T WAIT FOR A TIMER! GET A MOVE ON IT, SHOW US WHAT YOU GOT!"

All at once, the teenagers around Hotaru started forward, a wide range of quirks being activated. "Get out of my way!" Bakugo shot forward with the help of his quirk that produced explosions from his hand with chemicals produced by his sweat glands. He quickly overtook all the other contestants in his test area, a wide, harsh grin overtaking his face as he was allowed to let go on his quirk for once in his life and prove himself.

"And there he goes…" Hotaru mumbled, allowing the small smirk on her face to widen as she pushed the energy in her body down her legs, a purple glow formed around them and she shot forward, allowing her quirk to supercharge her movements that made her 2x faster than she normally would be without her quirk. She wouldn't be able to do this move for long, not having much practice controlling her quirk like this, but she couldn't let Bakugo get all the points. "Have to get away from this crowd, too much competition…." Hotaru charged down a side alley of the fake city, moving away from the larger group of teenagers.

She was moving down a side street when the building in front of her exploded and two large metal figures emerged. I think those are the three pointers...Hotaru eyed the big, red number three painted on their arms. The robots were army green, had a wheel for a leg, many glowing red eyes, and were three times her size. It's showtime!

Hotaru stopped the energy from her legs, stopping in place and taking a wide stance with her legs shoulder length apart. She breathed deeply, pouring her energy towards her hands instead where her energy formed into small, purple colored, glowing dagger shapes. Hotaru let her grin widen, looking strangely like Bakugo's, before she darted forward, not moving as fast as before but still swift on her feet. She dogged the large metal arm of one of the robots and swung her arm across its shoulder, her energy weapon surprisingly sharp and effective as it severed the robot's mechanical arm in a ray of sparks in one swift movement. Hotaru didn't pause, pushing a small burst of energy through her legs to allow her the ability to jump high into the air. She landed on the robot now missing the arm, rose both hands above her head, combing her daggers into one and drove it down into the robot's head, jumping off and doing the same to the other in a blink of an eye. Both robots fell on top of each other as Hotaru pulled her energy back, her adrenaline spiking.

That's six points! Hotaru thought, beginning to move again, choosing instead to preserve her energy rather than push for a speed boost. She quickly took out a smaller one pointer that tried to jump out at her from behind when she heard a large explosion from a couple of streets over. Bakago's having fun. Can't let him win! It would serve that bastard right to lose in points.

Hotaru continued down several streets, taking out any of the faux villains she encountered, even managing to steal a few from her competitors and push a few of the other teens out of the way if they were in danger, letting the minutes tick by. The ten minutes that they had for this seemed to drag on but fly by at the same time. Forty-two, Hotaru panted, pausing to catch her breath as she looked around at several other teenagers doing the same, I wonder if that's enough to pass? She felt the ground shake slightly as another building ahead of her exploded, similar to the start of the test. However, this time there were several students who were in the way and unprepared as five faux villains, ranging in point values, appeared. Hotaru noticed a somewhat familiar purple haired boy, the one who had sat next to her, fall over from the shock wave in front of her.

"Watch out!" Hotaru called, letting her quirk push energy to her legs as she darted forward quickly, grabbing him with her above average strength and pulling him out of the way just in time for one of the robots to smash one of their feet down where he had been just seconds before. "Are you alright?" She asked, still trying to catch her breath. Her own energy reserves were running low, her stomach growling and she suddenly wished she had eaten more than poptarts for breakfast, and she was beginning to rely on the energy she had pulled in earlier. "That was a close one." She pushed him again, forming a smaller purple dagger than before and thrust her fist through a one-pointer that had tried to attack them again.

The purple haired boy pulled his arm from her grip, glaring at her slightly before beginning to walk away in the opposite direction, not even bothering to try and do something about the robots. Hotaru gave him a confused look before dodging another three pointer. The handful of other students that had been on the same street had begun to try and take the robots down as well. She pushed a blond haired boy with a stupid look on his face out of the way of danger and had just managed to take down another robot when the time was called by the loud pro-hero coming over the intercom one final time.

"IT'S ALL OVER!"

I hope I got enough points Hotaru thought, grinning and feeling exhausted and almost nauseous at the same time. She had never been allowed to fully let go with her quirk before this. There was another loud explosion from somewhere behind her and her grin widened. And that I got more points than that blond porcupine bastard!

Author's Note: Phew, that was a longer chapter than the others. So, what do we think of Hotaru's quirk so far? I am trying to give it some good qualities but I also want to add in a few things that might seem similar to what Sakura or Naruto can do from Naruto, as I did draw inspirations for her power from there. Let me know what you think! And...did you recognize some familiar characters, I wasn't exactly trying to hide them. Haha!

And in case no one tells you today, you are important and loved!