Bomber Queen
Summary: I died saving others, and a R.O.B. gave me a chance. A chance to have my soul placed inside a baby who otherwise would have been still born. I wound up in a world full of 'Heroes', and my childhood friend wants to be one as well. I'll help them of course, that's what friends do after all, but there's one thing I'd REALLY like to know first. Why the hell am I a GIRL now?! (Fem Bakugo and Fem Izuku) Warning, REALLY good chance of a Yuri pairing or two down the line, though romance will NOT be the focus of this story.
1. The Early Days
Story Start: Four Years Old, Playground
Driving down the road in my truck during a storm.
A tree falling just ahead of a semi-truck that I had begun to pass.
One of the tires snapped clean off, slamming into the passenger side of my little Ranger.
Several vehicles slamming into me and the Semi Truck
Helping others escape from their crashed vehicles, spotting one of them beginning to catch fire.
Heat and Flame as the gas tank blew, knocking me into the air in an uncontrollable flip, landing on top of the mangled frame of one of the wrecked vehicles, the jagged metal cutting through my spinal cord and the back of my head.
'Coming to' in a white void and meeting a being who for some reason bore the appearance of a Wookie even as he spoke English.
Accepting a deal to have my soul placed in the body of a stillborn which would have a quirk rather than being sent to a MHA world in my original body as quirk less.
Finding out that I was reborn as a girl, and the female version of Katsuki Bakugo at that and having a roughly one week long blue screen of death moment.
Meeting the young Midoriya, who was ALSO a female in this world and promising myself that she would have me in her corner from start to finish, no matter what.
Speaking of...
"Kat!" Izumi called out and I opened my eyes, drawn from my reminiscing. I was currently sitting cross legged on the tallest section of a set of logs that were all resting on their cut sides, cut at various sizes, and tied together with thick rope. Izumi was quickly making her way up to me while behind her I saw her mother sitting down next to mine. But I only gave the elder Midoriya a passing glance before focusing on Izumi who looked quite upset, her eyes shimmering with the start of tears.
"Zuzu, what's wrong?" I asked even as I put my hand in the lower pocket of my cargo shorts. Experience with BOTH Midoriyas had taught me to ALWAYS have tissues on me whenever there was a chance I would be around the pair. The two had an unfortunate lack of control on their tear ducts when they got emotional.
"IwenttotheQuirkdoctoryesterdaytoseeiftheycouldfigureoutwhyitwastakingsolongtopopupandhetoldmeIwasQuriklessallbecauseIhaveanextrajointinmytoesoIcouldn'tbeaHeroandwhenIwenthomeIwaswatchingthevideoofAllMight'sdebutandaskedmomifIcouldbeaherolikehimandallshedidwashugmewhilecryingandkeptrepeatingshewassorryandyouthinkIcanbeaHerorightKat?!" Izumi said, tears beginning to fall down her face and snot running down her nose by the end of it.
I took a moment to mentally work out what Izumi had said (Knowing the storyline helped GREATLY). I then turned my gaze from Izumi's face to over her shoulder and GLARED at Inko, and I mean 'I will murder you in your sleep and not lose any myself when I go to bed' levels of glaring. Inko looked away in shame even as Mitsuki did a double take at the look of pure anger suddenly on my face. (Guess Inko hadn't told her yet.)
Huffing in satisfaction at Inko's response, I put a lid on my anger with visible will. Just because I had known what happened in the show didn't make the absolute fury I was feeling from the kind of emotional damage Inko had caused any better. Closing my eyes for a moment, I took in a deep breath then opened them as I pulled out my pack of tissues and first cleaned Izumi's face of tears with one, putting it in a zip lock bag then putting a double layered second one to Izumi's nose and said "Blow Zuzu."
Once Izumi had did as told and the zip lock bag was sealed, I gave Izumi a serious stare and said "Alright Zuzu, I am going to speak, and you are going to listen to me until I am finished. The first part will be upsetting, but just allow me to explain my thoughts, all right?"
"A-all right Kat." Izumi said, looking a bit unsure.
"Good. First off, the thing about being a Hero like All Might. As you are, that is NOT possible." I said. When Izumi immediately started to tear up, I held my hand up and said "Zuzu, he is a BRAWLER. It comes from being able to end fights with a single punch. All power, no technique. If ANYONE without a strength boosting Quirk tried that they would be dead within a week of their debut, and even some of the lower and middle tiers of that classification would be in serious trouble."
"That said, Izumi." I said, actually USING her name for the first time since I gave her her nickname, and the girl straightened in surprise as I continued "It is possible for you to be a Hero, but it is going to be EXTREMELY hard. From the start, you will be going at it with a severe handicap since you will not have a quirk to augment your effectiveness in the field. You will have to be able to avoid anything villains will throw at you, be able to quickly identify weaknesses to take them out as soon as possible, outlast them when there isn't any said weaknesses you can exploit, and believe me there WILL be times when that is the case, and then be ready to do it all over again, sometimes without even a full minute of rest in between incidents because you have to run down ten city blocks to reach the next Villain attack."
Holding up a fist, I began raising fingers as I counted off "You're going to need training in hand to hand combat, parkour training to allow you to move efficiently through cityscapes and other terrains, strength training for not only giving your hits the needed oomph to stay in or win a fight but also for when you have to carry wounded out of a danger zone, you'll need to come up with support gear to help (I strongly suggest a grappling hook at the very least as well as a really good communications setup), and finally you need a hero costume that will not only keep you protected but also make you look good while wearing it. It is a sad fact of this world indeed that the world of Pro Heroes has become a Popularity Contest. It's completely asinine in my opinion but the higher ranked you are the more money you'll rake in for better gear and the more often you'll be called in when things get hairy. Somehow make the top twenty of the Hero Charts and you'll be called in all the time in order to provide support to the police when they go after the heavy hitters of the criminal world. Stay down low in the rankings though and you'll mostly be rescuing cats out of trees and stopping street level robberies day in and day out."
I heaved a sigh and said "Don't get me wrong, there's certainly nothing wrong with being 'merely' a street level Hero, but it sets a rather bad precedence for those who might want to follow your lead."
"What do you mean Kat?" Izumi asked with a small frown though thankfully the tears had pulled a vanishing act by this point.
My gaze which had been locked on her own eyes this whole time gained a level in intensiveness as I said "Zuzu, if you manage to graduate from a Hero Academy and become a Pro Hero then you will most likely be the first Quirk less Hero in all of Japan, probably Asia, and maybe even the entire world. You will be telling other quirk less people the world over, 'Look, I am here and you too can become a Hero even without a quirk.' However, what good is that if you're just considered a D-lister or even a sidekick? Yes, you're a Hero now but are you really showing that quirk less people can make it in that profession?"
I was about ninety percent sure that Izumi would inherit One for All down the line, but not only was that NOT a certainty, it didn't change the fact that Izumi was still quirk less NOW. I let Izumi muse over everything I had told her, the young girl looking down and playing with the hem of her shirt for a few moments while her mouth moved in silent muttering. (Yes, she had already started the habit that Izuku had in the show. Thankfully though I had managed to instill a need to keep the muttering SILENT as she worked through her thoughts.)
A few minutes later, Izumi looked back up at me with determination in her eyes as she said "I don't care if it's hard, I WILL be a Hero! And I'll make at LEAST the Top Twenty to prove to everyone that quirk less people CAN become Heroes that others look up to!"
I smirked and reached over to clap Izumi on the shoulder and said "That's the spirit Zuzu!" Picking up the bag with her tissues then standing, I said "Come on, let's throw these away then we'll get started with a game of tag to work on our speed and evasion. We can see if we can get our parents to enroll us in a martial arts class when we need a break."
"Okay!" Izumi said with a grin and quickly made her way down the logs then to the nearby field on the side of the playground. I followed at only a slightly slower pace due to putting on the special gloves Mitsuki had gotten me when my Quirk had first shown up that were laced with a special chemical to prevent my sweat from combusting. Wouldn't want to accidentally hurt Izumi in the excitement of the game now would I?
Time Skip: One Week After Katsumi's Ninth Birthday
Dear All Might,
For starters, thanks for everything you've done both in this country and in the United States. Me and a friend of mine have done as thorough a history search as two nine year olds with internet connection can and it is clear to us that without you, some REALLY bad people would still be around and our world would be far worse off than it currently is.
That said however, don't be afraid to allow others to help you. A building is not made with just one support pillar after all. You are a strong pillar All Might, but even you are not invincible or immortal. Look to those around you for help when the world becomes too heavy upon your shoulders and do your best to ensure that when you have to pass the torch that those younger than you will be able to handle the responsibility. What was that saying from the French Musketeers all those centuries ago? One For All, and All For One. While you may be willing to stand alone against the darkness, don't forget that the rest of us are here as well.
Sincerely,
Bakugo Katsumi AKA Bomber Queen
PS. Always look Underneath the Underneath.
Yagi Toshinari, aka All Might, reread the letter in his hands with a sharp frown. That Musketeer quote couldn't be a coincidence. But the kid was nine, he had confirmed it by looking up the young girl in the Quirk Registry just now. And then there was the contents of the box the letter had come in.
Looking down he once more took in the home made plush doll sitting on cotton padding. A plush doll that looked unerringly like Nana Shimura, his mentor and the former holder of One For All. It had felt like he had had a sledgehammer slamming into his heart when he had laid eyes on the doll and he felt a rush of emotions again when he saw it again. But he forced them down with a swallow as he carefully took the doll out and set it down on the table before removing the cotton padding in the box. As he had suspected from the post script, there was something under the padding in the bottom of the box: a manila envelope, with the words scrawled on it "For Yagi's Eyes Only".
Picking up the envelope, he undid the latch pulled out the thirty odd sheets inside. On the front page was another letter.
Toshi, for starters, No, I do NOT have a precog Quirk like Sir Nighteye. Instead, my information comes via a combination of the multiverse and reincarnation. Things are a bit different than what I had seen though, mainly that me and my best friend are girls when we were males in the source material. That said, while I cannot be one hundred percent certain about my information, I still believe that I have a responsibility to pass on what I 'know'. As such, contained in this packet is a bio on every named Villain that I remember from the source material. I trust you'll be able to put the information to good use.
However, passing on these bios is not the only reason why I sent this packet. As you may have guessed from my other letter, I know about One For All. I also know who the most likely person to be the ninth holder is. In the source material, you met them roughly five years from now. They asked you if they could be a Hero even though they were quirk less. You told them no because it would be too dangerous. (You had obtained a VERY bad injury by that point of your career) However, you changed your mind when the kid rushed a slime villain that was killing their friend while the on-site Heroes weren't 'able' to do anything. (They totally could have gotten the kid out with a bit of outside the box thinking) You were present but had run out of time for the day. However, their actions gave you the resolve to act and later on you offered to pass One For All to them.
There was just one problem, if they tried to use One For All as they were then the sheer amount of power would have popped their arms off like a doll that was squeezed too hard. So you trained them for the ten months you two had before the UA entrance exam, mostly by having them clean up Dagobah Beach. They STILL managed to break the bones in their limbs whenever they used OFA for the first few months and were nowhere NEAR ready to use it at full power for even longer.
That is why I am sending you this information now. While I have already taken steps to ensure that they are preparing properly to be a Hero (Parkour, Mixed Martial Arts Lessons, ETC.), I thought that if you could begin training them years ahead of when you did in the source material that they would have a much better time of it. (Might also want to get Gran Torino in on the action as well since he helped them during their first year internship.)
I strongly believe that my friend Midoriya Izumi would be just as good if not better a choice as a successor as Midoriya Izuku was in the source material. But don't just take my word for it, get to know the kid before you make your decision, though I REALLY recommend talking to them in your true form at first. (I assume you're smaller in it and thus unrecognizable to your fans while in it. Certainly will be in five years.)
Tac.
There was an address scrawled at the very bottom of the letter. An address which matched Midoriya Izumi's when Toshi did another quick search in the Quirk registry for Midoriya. (And got confirmation of the girl's Quirk less status.) Toshi put the letter down and tapped his fingers on the table as he thought with a heavy frown for a few moments before he shook his head and firmly put his thoughts in the 'Important Stuff To Think About Later' file in his mind. He had to otherwise he would never look at the rest of the information this apparently reincarnated citizen had sent them, and wasn't THAT a weird source of Intel?
Time Skip: Three Weeks Later, Saturday, Bakugo Household
"KAT! I WON THE CONTEST!" Izumi shouted as she came bolting into my room excitedly waving a letter around in her hand.
"What contest?" I asked as I turned around in my swivel seat from my sketchpad with a cocked head and a fake confused look on my face, doing my best to keep my lips from twitching into a grin.
Izumi scowled at me and punched my shoulder with the hand not holding the letter. I gave a small "Ow." that was only half faked. Five years of MMA and weight training had given the pair of us a bit more strength than most nine year old girls could boast.
Izumi's irritation with me evaporated like a drop of water on a hot plate as she said "The contest All Might started two weeks ago to see which kid could spend half a day with him, I was one of the seven winners!"
"That's great Zuzu!" I said with a grin even as I thought again that this contest had been a BRILLIANT way for All Might to arrange a first meeting with Izumi.
Izumi proceeded to talk my ear off about everything she was hoping she could do with the Number One Hero, including showing off all fifteen of her Quirk analysis journals, and of course get him to sign the journal who's first half was dedicated to her idol. (The second half was the rest of the current Top Five). She only stopped when I reached forward and began carding my hand through her hair, the greenete closing her eyes in content as I ran my hand through her curly locks and kneaded her scalp for a minute then brought my hand down through the rest of her waist length hair rubbing her back as I did so. (The pair of us had agreed when we were five that female Heroes with longer hair tended on average to be more popular, so we had both decided to grow our hair out long. Even if it was a pain to shampoo and condition all of the darn stuff)
When I pulled my hand away, Izumi opened her eyes and pouted at me as she said "That is so unfair Kat, you know I can't keep my train of thought properly when you do that, so why do you keep doing it?!"
I smirked at her and said "Because if I didn't do that then your motor mouth would run right off your face and we'd never find it again."
Izumi's pout grew but I heard a bark of laughter from my mom and when Izumi and I looked at the doorway we saw her leaning against it with a smirk and said "The brat's got you there little Zuzu, we could probably run a car for a hundred miles if we got you going properly."
"Auntie Mitsuki, that's mean." Izumi said, now pouting at her.
Mitsuki's smirk grew and she said "The truth hurts sometimes kid, now come on, it's time for lunch."
"Right." I said, turning around to flip my sketch book closed, hiding the rough sketch for a pair of gauntlets and the possible mechanics in them that I had been working on before I put the sketch pad in its proper place next to the OTHER sketch pads I kept. (I had found that drawing made for a good hobby to have whenever I wasn't training or studying)
When we followed Mitsuki into the kitchen, Inko gave me a slightly unsure smile. The poor woman had never really gotten over the tongue lashing I had given her for doubting her daughter could be a Hero so long as she got proper training in her formative years. It really didn't help her case when I brought up Hawkeye, Black Widow, Iron Man, Green Arrow, Vigilante, Batman and other non-powered superheroes from the twentieth and twenty first century media who often worked with Powered Heroes or even solo in the field.
Course, Mitsuki had been quite proud in telling Masaru the 'Extremely Rousing Speech Our Firecracker Gave' later that night. Poor dad had been both impressed with my 'research into pre quirk media' and upset that I had been so 'disrespectful of Inko's wishes'. My response had been to ask that weren't Izumi's wishes more important given that it was HER life and dreams we were talking about. He didn't really have a good answer for that one.
Said single male in the household was frowning down at his own sketch book for a moment when we came in. (Clearly he was where I got my drawing talent from in this life because I sure as heck didn't have it the last time around) When Mitsuki tapped his shoulder as she passed him, he easily flipped it closed and put it in the bag hanging from his chair. As Mom and Inko (His two top models for his designer business, and yes Mom had managed to keep Inko from stress eating before it got too bad) began dishing out the meal for me and Izumi, Masaru smiled at Izumi and said "So kid, I take it you're excited to see All Might in person."
Izumi nodded her head like a bobble head on steroids and off she went babbling again.
I gave a theatrical sigh and said "And there she goes again. Thanks dad."
Masaru gave me an amused smile but didn't say anything, instead listening attentively to Izumi (Who somehow was able to keep speaking in paragraphs before needing a breath, if she needed any in the first place, it was sometimes hard to tell)
All in all, it was a pretty typical meal shared between our two families.
Incidentally, Izumi's already busy schedule each week only got busier after that meeting.
Time Skip: Ten Years Old
The room shook a bit as I cut loose with a series of explosions on a hardened pressure plate six feet away, even with the long row of windows along the left wall open to allow the pressure waves of my explosions a path of least resistance. Twice a month, (First Thursday and Third Tuesday) I would come to this installation to practice with my Quirk, this place being the only 'safe' place I could go to really cut loose without putting anyone in danger. Well, without putting CIVILLAINS in danger. The roster of Pro Heroes who volunteered their services to help Hero Hopefuls work out the best way to use their Quirks in combat situations were fair game. (The fact that most of them always wore a SECOND layer of protective padding whenever I fought them always made me want to cackle.)
When I finished my test and the echoes of the explosions finally died down, I took out my earplugs for a moment to massage my ears for a bit before putting them back in. Yes, mine, not the facility's. They were a present from Mitsuki and Masaru last birthday. Special noise canceling earbuds that could allow me to hear everything normally until they detected a loud decibel sound such as, oh I don't know, an explosion that was roughly three sticks of dynamite going off right in front of me. At that point, they canceled out the sound protecting my hearing from being overly affected by my own Quirk. No more having to wear the bulky ear protection the facility provided.
Walking away from the plate and through the doorway to the room, I took an immediate left into the connected room and a technician gave me a thumbs up from her work station and said "Great Job, Bakugo! Not only was your max output thirty PSI higher than last time's, but you managed to keep the rest of your explosions within 5 PSI of each other during your control test."
I nodded and rummaged through the cooler next to her table for a water bottle as I asked "Is the minimal explosion still at three PSI?"
The technician waggled her hand in a so-so manner and said "Eh, 3.4 PSI, but as I've told you before, when working with such small numbers that's pretty much the same thing."
I nodded at that and cracked open the seal on the water bottle. I chugged it like a pro then recapped the bottle and said "Alright, thanks for your help Miss Kaiyrn."
"Anytime kid." The technician said with a smile and I left the room, leaving the empty bottle in the recycling bin by the door. I knew that as I left she was immediately saving the results of the test to the facility's archives as well as sending an electrical copy to both the Quirk Registry and Mom and Dad's email accounts.
Reaching the part of the facility where combat practice was being held, I received a surprise. All Might in his deflated form was sitting next to an excited Izumi on the bleachers set along one wall of the large room. I should clarify, ALL MIGHT being here was the surprise. Izumi loved watching me and anyone else that was in the facility at the time taking on the Pro Hero that was volunteering for the day. She'd ALWAYS come on the first session of the month and would do her best to make it for the second session. But this was the first time that All Might was here rather than Inko.
Mom was currently chatting up the currently emaciated looking man, making expressive hand gestures as she did so. Walking over to the trio, I cocked my head at Yagi and asked Izumi "Zuzu, why is he here and not Auntie Inko?"
Izumi gave me a sheepish smile and said "Mom couldn't make it today so Mr. Yagi offered to play chaperone. Mom didn't want to inconvenience him but he said that he was interested in how you fought when you could actually USE your quirk rather than when you sparred with me WITHOUT it."
"Un huh." I said, looking at Yagi who merely smiled at me easily, though there was an intense gleam in those shocking blue eyes of his for a moment.
Izumi didn't actually know that I knew who Yagi actually was. As far as she knew, to me he was just a member of All Might's support staff who had decided to take her under his wing for training when she had met him during that day of meeting All Might. The man had never made mention of the letter I had sent him the few times he had observed me and Izumi sparring, and I was perfectly content not to bring it up. As far as I was concerned, I had done my civic duty in passing on the possible intel of the big bads and any attempt to 'stay in the loop' on how it was used was being egotistic of the highest order since I wasn't even a student in a hero course yet, never mind an actual Pro. If All Might wanted to talk to me, he could be the one to initiate a conversation. Otherwise, I'd keep it as business as usual and just focus on making it so that I had the best shot at getting into UA. (Being the primary driving force for Izumi getting in was now HIS responsibility, I could now drop from being Drill Instructor to encouraging friendly rival.)
"I was just telling him about that time you fought Flashfire." Mitsuki said with a grin.
"Yeah, that had been an interesting fight." I mused. As the Pro's name suggested, the female Hero's Quirk had been the ability to rapidly ignite a flame that could immediately reach from her to any point within thirty feet of her, and the flame didn't have to appear in a straight line either (Nor did it have to be on the GROUND either). There was maybe a second and a half before Quirk activation and the flames appearing where she wanted them to be. Given my Quirk had my sweat glands produce Nitroglycerin, it had been extremely hard doing anything more than simply dodging her attacks. I did manage to score a 'hit' on her, but it was the kind of glancing blow from long range that even without the extra padding Heroes wore here Flashfire could have easily shrugged it off if she had been in a villain fight.
Of course, given that I had told her before the fight began to not take it as easily on me as she normally would the result of that match was totally my fault. Worth it though given I would have Todoroki to contend with once I reached UA.
Today's volunteering Pro would be a whole different challenge though. Fourth Kind was standing in the ring. (Yes, the same dude that Kirishima and Testutestu would be interning under) I had fought him once before at the facility and every time I failed to stay out of his reach he had used his four arms to either put me in extremely effective body locks where my limbs were angled AWAY from him so I couldn't affect him with my explosions or simply rung my bell while knocking me around the mat.
Fourth Kind was currently slamming his fists into a male teenager who apparently could turn his body into diamond like Jozu from One Piece, and he apparently wasn't holding his punches back as much as usual as he did so either. Cracks were forming on the poor teen's arms and chest as he was constantly pushed towards the edge of the fifty foot wide mat from the force of Fourth Kind's blows. The kid tried to use his quirk to fire crystal shards at Fourth Kind but for a dude with such a large stature Fourth Kind was rather agile and easily got out of the way of the shards before going right back to pummeling the kid. A few minutes after I entered the room Fourth Kind slammed one last punch home and the kid stumbled off of the mat.
As the kid dropped to his knees and returned his body to normal flesh and bone, Fourth Kind shook out his four fists (that weren't padded but had his rings on for obvious reasons) and said "You've definitely managed to improve the density of your Quirk Mr Taneru, but it's still a bit brittle when hit from straight on with enough force. You need to remember to turn when blocking to prevent that, you stopped halfway through my assault."
"Yes sir." The teen said with a bow of his head before he stood up and quickly made his way to where his things were sitting on the bleachers. A quick drink from his water bottle and he was leaving.
Fourth Kind though was already looking in my direction as he left and the Pro said "Alright Miss Bakugo, let us see how you have improved since we fought four months ago."
"Right." I said, quickly striding across the mat to take my starting place, Fourth Kind taking long strides to do the same. When he was in position, he bent over and picked up the MMA padded gloves he had left there so that way he could PROPERLY test Taneru's diamond quirk. Once he had all four on, he took his starting stance and said "You may begin whenever you are ready."
Soon as the word ready was out of the Pro's lips, I was doing a rapid back flip, pushing my shoes loose as I started the flip and using small explosions to knock them at Fourth Kind. (And boy had THAT been a tricky trick to work out.) The Pro easily caught the projectiles with his lower hands but that still meant that THOSE hands were occupied when I landed on the mat and blasted a small explosion from my feet to aid my jump into the air where I flipped, this time forward, into a falling axe kick.
Fourth Kind did the SMART thing and rather than block my attack leapt back as my foot came down. Good thing too considering the much larger explosion I let off from my kicking foot as I came down. The edges of the explosion actually touched the double layered padded armor on Fourth Kind's arms. Fourth Kind decided to return my shoes to me at that point but I quickly dashed to the right to avoid them, entering a circle around Fourth Kind with more minor explosions under my feet to increase my speed. I made about three and three fifths circles around the pro before I came in at an angle on the right side of his back.
Fourth Kind had NOT been turning to try and keep up with me during this. In fact, he had barely turned his head except to twitch it at the start of my circling, his eyes instead following me when in sight and trusting in his ears when I wasn't. As I came in, he immediately swung around with his top right arm outstretched to hit me before I hit him. However, I had planned for him to swing at least one arm out and had almost immediately entered a baseball slide when I saw him turning.
That slide turned into a kick and I let loose with another explosion that was forceful enough to push him back a step and roll ME over my back and onto my feet again where I used another pair of explosions to launch myself closer with right fist chambered. I could see the disapproval on Fourth Kind's face even as he positioned his upper right hand to catch my fist. Then the back of my ELBOW exploded and my fist shot past his open palm before it was in position to impact his chest padding, my fist snapping open into a palm thrust and letting loose with an explosion from my palm sending him staggering back another couple of steps.
Fourth Kind actually grinned and said "Very Good Miss Bakugo! I see you took my advice about using ALL of the parts of your limbs with your quirk to heart. Now, let's see if your dodging has improved as much." The next moment, he rushed me and I began rapidly dodging away from his fists, augmenting my movements with explosions whenever I was just a bit too slow to get out of the way otherwise.
It didn't take long to see that Fourth Kind was leading me to the edge of the mat opposite the bleachers. Halfway to said edge I decided that I didn't WANT a ring out and leapt up again, using a chain of explosions from both feet and hands to take me up to the rafters where I grabbed the nearest beam, flexed my legs so that way I spun around it twice to build up some momentum then let go to flip up to the underside of the roof where I immediately pushed off with a very MINOR explosion that barely scuffed the paneling. As I shot down at Fourth Kind, I threw my arms in front of me and three quarters of the way down let loose with a combined blast from my palms that not only knocked Fourth Kind onto his back but slowed my descent to manageable levels so that when I landed feet first on his chest my legs only stung rather smartly rather than being broken, even as I allowed myself to drop onto my knees and threw my fist at Fourth Kind's head.
Course, being the Pro he was, Fourth Kind easily caught my fist with his top left arm just before it could reach said head. The next moment, I was thrown away and I had to flip backwards in order to land on my feet, skidding back even as I used one hand on the mat and the other held behind me firing explosions in order to rapidly decelerate.
Fourth Kind easily got back up to his feet as he said "Not bad Miss Bakugo, very few non flyer Quirk fighters remember that fights are three dimensional." Idly brushing the soot off of his padding, Fourth Kind set himself then charged towards me like the proverbial freight train going after the beetle stuck on the tracks. I tried to leap up in the air and use his right shoulder as a spring board but he easily managed to grab my right ankle with his left top hand as I made the attempt and he yanked me down so that way he could grab my left ankle with his right top hand and spun in three and a half circles before throwing me across the length of the mat. I did another half flip and fired a rapid series of explosions to stop before I reached the end of the mat then dropped down, shaking my head a bit in an attempt to stop the room from spinning.
Once I could see straight again, I saw Fourth Kind purposefully striding towards me and I grit my teeth as I said "Right then, no more theatrics." Standing up, I put my hands in front of me, right hand cupping my left with the back facing my fist and the left hand making a funnel cone out of my fingers, thumb held parallel to the floor and touching the tip of my pointer finger.
"Blast Cone!" I shouted and let off an explosion that rapidly expanded in a massive cone in front of me. The edge of the explosion ended twenty feet away, just a mere foot from touching Fourth Kind. But the SHOCKWAVE of the blast threw him ass over teakettle, even WITH the double layered padding, which was what I was actually going for. It also had made the room shudder even as the excess pressure escaped out of the row of small windows lining the top of the walls. And when Fourth Kind hit the mat, he skidded another five feet then fell off onto the floor at the end of the mat.
"YEAH!" Izumi shouted a bit louder than normal as she leapt to her feet with right fist thrust into the sky.
"Way to go Brat!" Mitsuki shouted as she imitated Izumi's actions.
Fourth Kind pushed himself up to his feet, looking remarkably un phased for a guy who just got thrown across the room by an explosion. Brushing his arms off, he said "Well now, that's one way to end a fight. I hope that I don't have to tell you NOT to do that in an enclosed space that doesn't have open windows to vent the pressure wave."
"Don't worry sir, I've seen more than enough Mythbusters episodes to know that's a BAD idea." I said with a grin.
Fourth Kind hmmphed and said "Now THAT is an extremely aged classic series. I'm honestly surprised you've heard about it." He then let out a smirk and said "Although I shouldn't be too surprised you had. After all, there are quite the number of explosions made for a show meant to prove or disprove myths."
"Indeed." I said with a matching smirk before I quickly moved to grab my shoes then got off the mat so that the next person could try their luck at fighting Fourth Kind. The poor dude passed me bemoaning how she was going to have to follow up with my literally explosive showing.
As I approached the stands, Mitsuki came down and ruffled my hair with a smirk as she said "Well done Katsumi, though that part where you went up to the ceiling was a bit showy don't you think?"
I shrugged and said "Eh, a bit, but I figured since I was already moving upwards then I should just go all the way up and attack from there rather than somewhere where he could easily follow me."
"And it was a good idea. As Fourth Kind stated, many people in fights forget that you can come from above people, and sometimes below as well if the circumstances are right." Yagi said as he came down the bleachers, Izumi dutifully following a step behind.
Mitsuki pulled her phone out and seeing the time said "Well, I think this win of yours deserves a reward, and it's not too late that getting ice cream would ruin your appetite for dinner. That sound good guys?"
"Yeah!" Izumi said excitedly and I let out an amused snort at her enthusiasm before I nodded and said "Won't hear me complaining."
Time Skip: Thirteen Years Old, Monday, Aldera Middle School, Homeroom Period
"Hey Kat!" Izumi called as she entered the room, waving her left arm.
I immediately sprung to my feet and powerwalked over as I pointed at the cast on her right arm and asked "What happened?!"
Izumi chuckled nervously and made to rub the back of her head with her right hand only to wince and instead do it with her left and said "Eh he, well you see, it's a funny story. I found out yesterday that I DO have a Quirk, the doctor just told me I didn't because I probably would have ripped my arms off if I tried to use it when I was younger."
All of the students that were in the classroom early went silent but I didn't pay them any mind as I narrowed my eyes at Izumi and asked "And this Quirk of yours STILL broke your arm even with all of the training you've done since we were four?"
Izumi nodded and said "Yeah, it's apparently a mutation of Mom's Quirk allowing me to telekinetically boost the speed and strength of my limbs." She then chuckled again and added "My body's just not actually used to said boosting so I'll have to work on not going full throttle until it can actually handle it." She then perked up and turned the cast a bit and said "But look at this! All Might heard about what happened from Mr. Yagi and he came to sign it!"
That had everyone in the room come over to look, and I rolled my eyes that THAT was what they were more focused on than the fact that Izumi apparently knew she now had a quirk that was so strong she was told she didn't when she was younger in order to protect her. There certainly weren't any apologies for how they had treated her either. (No physical violence, not after Izumi kicked the ass of the first and only idiot to try and bully her, but snide comments or otherwise hurtful words had been another story)
That afternoon after classes had let out, I pulled Izumi into the girls' bathroom and leaned against the door with crossed arms as I said "Alright Izumi, spill."
Izumi flinched at me using her given name and not her nickname, this time being only the SECOND time I had done so in our friendship after giving her her nickname and she said "I don't know what you're talking about Kat."
"Oh yeah? You told me all those years ago that you had a second toe joint in your pinkie toe and I've FELT said joint before when mom was showing us how to paint nails. Now you come to school claiming to have a Quirk that broke your arm yesterday. Do you see my problem Zuzu?" I asked with narrowed eyes.
Izumi looked down and played with the hem of her uniform shirt and after a few moments of her not saying anything, I said "Right, I'm going to go kill All Might now, excuse me."
"Wait, WHAT?!" Izumi asked, jerking her head up as I spun around and yanked open the door before I powerwalked down the hallway, Izumi quickly running after me trying to get me to stop without actually saying out loud that I couldn't kill the Symbol of Peace. (The others in the hallway might take exception to that.)
Soon as I was out of the school building I took off in a ground eating pace that soon transitioned into running along the roofs after I used the window ledges of the first building to quickly reach its roof. Izumi was right behind me still trying to get me to calm down. (If she wasn't anywhere near as kind a person as she was she might have just tackled me while we were up there)
Twenty minutes later, I made my way down between two buildings, bouncing between their walls to handle the descent better before I crossed the street to the recently cleaned Dagobah beach.
All Might was standing there in his deflated form and he raised an eyebrow as I came striding over. Holding up a hand in greeting, he said "Hey there kid, wasn't expecting you to be joining us today." He then frowned and asked "Is something wrong?"
His head whipped to the side as I slapped him and growled out "The hell were you thinking giving it to her so soon?!"
"KAT!" Izumi shouted in stunned horror.
Yagi turned his head back forward, rubbing his stinging cheek as he said to himself "I may have deserved that."
"You think?!" I asked hotly before I grabbed his shirt and yanked him closer as I growled out "You're already on a time limit and you think it's a good idea to start making it even shorter by giving it to her TWO YEARS EARLY?! Never mind the fact that it broke her arm, did you forget that it starts going away once the torch is passed on?!"
Yagi stared down at it me for a few moments, his blue orbs remaining cool to my raging red. He then gently took my hands and made them release his shirt as he said "You're right Katsumi, this is much sooner than planned. But it decided to weigh in on the subject after I recently learned that there was a person who could use their Quirk to regenerate organs so long as they have a sample to work with. As soon as I learned that, I started getting the feeling from it that I should pass it on to Izumi NOW rather than wait another year. I talked to Recovery Girl and she believes that it might be possible that the diminishing time limit may be slowed down if my body's stronger. But I can't risk having my organs cloned if it can be passed on so that's why I did so."
I stared into All Might's eyes for another few moments before I closed my own and took in a deep breath and said "Yeah...yeah, okay, that would do it." I was silent for another few moments then opened my eyes and took a few steps back to give a small bow and said "Sorry for slapping you Sir."
Yagi wave his right arm in a dismissive gesture and said "Don't worry about it, I can totally understand where your anger came from."
"Wait, Kat, you know Mr Yagi's All Might? AND about his Quirk?!" Izumi asked in a squeak.
I looked over my shoulder at her. I was silent for a few moments then smirked. It was not a very nice smirk either, and I was amused to see Izumi take an immediate step backwards. Smirk growing, I turned around with a shrug and said "Well, I was going to tell you after we graduated from UA, but I guess the cat's out of the bag now."
An hour later, Izumi was sitting on the nearest bench having an existential crisis.
Still looking down at her clasped hands, she asked "So, all those years ago, when I asked you if you thought I could be a Hero like All Might, when you told me 'As you are', you knew that All Might would pick me?"
"I suspected. Given our genders were different than in the source material, there was a slim chance that he wouldn't. However, I've read fanfics where you still got into the UA Hero Course without a Quirk so I was confident you would get in even if you weren't picked. I just decided to ensure you would have an easier time of it either way. Izuku only had his brains before he started training, you've got a LOT more going for you."
"It's true Young Midoriya, if you had continued as you were before yesterday, I would have said that you had reasonably good odds of passing the UA Hero Course entrance exam, albeit with a minor amount of trouble until you discovered the kill switch installed in the robots they use so that way those without a more 'impressive' Quirk can still get in with a bit of effort." Yagi said, giving her a thumb's up when Izumi looked up from her hands at his words.
"And all of the bad guys Kat mentioned, have you managed to catch them yet?" Izumi asked, a slight hint of fear in her eyes. Not that I could blame her, the thought of facing All For One in a fight had made me literally wet my bed in my younger years when I had a nightmare about that exact scenario. And Himiko Toga was a close second on the 'scare me peeless' list. After all, she could be ANYONE on the street and you wouldn't know until she stabbed you with one of her knives. Still...
"Stain's been caught, I know that much." I said. He had only managed to take out two Pro Heroes before the rest of the Hero community had fallen on him like a sack of bricks. It would have been only one but the first Pro Hero had been killed outright while the second had been crippled and so able to tell who had attacked her. With knowledge of Stain's location, proper effort could be put in tracking him down and detaining him. At that time, he hadn't had the moniker of Stain yet but I had recognized the name on the news report.
I looked at All Might who sighed, which was NOT a good sign. Crossing his arms and tapping his left elbow with his right pointer finger, Yagi said "Moonfish and Muscular are both still in maximum security, and I've passed on the word to the people of Tartarus to be extra vigilant in making sure they KEEP them there. Twice, Spinner, Mustard, Magne, and Compress have all been apprehended at this point in time." He then grimaced and continued "Unfortunately, Gigantomachia, Dabi, Himiko Toga, Tomura Shigaraki, Kurogiri, Kyudai Garaki, and All For One remain at large, with no leads to their whereabouts. It is believed by those in the know that Kyudai is currently using an alias other than the one you provided us Tac."
"Tac?" Izumi asked, head cocked in confusion.
I gave a dismissive wave of my hand and said "Shortened form of my penname in my original life, I ended the letter I wrote to point All Might in your direction with it."
"Oh." Izumi said softly.
I took in a deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh as I said "Still, Having Twice and Compress caught is good, their abilities are real pains in the ass to deal with. We'll just have to hope the others are found before they cause too much trouble. And if all else fails, we can try and catch Shigaraki and Kurogiri during the USJ incident."
All Might gripped his elbows with his hands and gained a severe frown as he said "I'd rather NOT put the students in danger Tac, even you."
I raised an eyebrow and said "Really? Because if you ask me, if you have some of the other teachers or maybe even the Big 3 of that school year with you when we go there I think you could have all of the villains caught within minutes."
All Might and I entered a staring contest for a moment before he sighed and said "I am not having this discussion with you now. It will be Nezu's decision when the time comes anyway."
I shrugged and said "Fair enough."
There was silence for a few minutes between the three of us then Yagi coughed into his fist (thankfully without any blood appearing) and he said "Soooo, since you're here but we can't have a practice spar between you two given Young Midoriya's broken arm, do you want to see what my agency looks like? You've never actually seen it after all."
I nodded and said "Sure, should be interesting." I then paused and asked "What were you going to have her do here since she has a broken arm?"
Yagi pointed his thumb at his old truck where several tires were visible in the back and said "Tire runs along with leaping practice."
"Okay then." I said with a shrug and we began walking towards the truck.
"Why do you call ME Young but not Kat?" Izumi grumbled as she got off the bench and followed us.
I cackled and said "Because Zuzu, unlike you, I'm only five years younger than him."
Yagi held up a pointer finger and said "Technically five years younger. You're still too young to drive still. The streets are still safe from you yet."
"One Time! I went on a GTA 35 simulator rampage at the arcade one time and everyone still gives me grief over a fraking GAME!" I said with a snarl while holding up my right pointer finger.
Izumi developed a rather unfortunate case of the giggles at that point, the greenete having been the one to tell her mentor that story. When I glowered at her, she gave me an apologetic smile. For one second, then she was a giggling mess again.
Grumbling, I opened the passenger side door to Yagi's old truck and practically shoved Izumi in to sit in the middle then got in and closed the door. And anyone who says I slammed the door is a dirty liar who lies with their pants on fire.
Time Skip: Fourteen Years Old, April 25th
I waved goodbye to Izumi as she hopped into Yagi's truck. The pair were heading to an abandoned airfield to test just how fast she was with ten percent of OFA. Apparently they needed the space since Izumi hadn't quite managed to work out yet how to stop from a full out run without either a LOT of space to slow down or leave a trench in the ground.
As the truck drove away, my phone gave a ping informing me that one of my apps had just got a notice. Pulling out my phone, I saw that it was the local Heroes News app that had just been updated. Seeing the small article that said that a certain Sludge Villain had been apprehended in the act of robbing a convenience store a few hours ago thanks to an anonymous tip, I let out a smirk. Future knowledge was certainly helpful in cutting off trouble.
Confident now that I didn't have that particular threat hanging over my head, I quickly fell into the routine of crossing the street then making my way up to rooftop level before turning north to make my way to the arcade. I had about an hour and a half before the MMA club me and Izumi frequented met so I figured I could work on getting enough tickets to buy the rather fancy (tech wise) camera drone I've had my eye on for the last five or so years. (I thought it would be awesome to get Hatsume Mei to somehow incorporate it with my Hero Gear so that way I could use it for reconnaissance.)
I only needed another thousand odd tickets, which was easy pickings if you we willing to spend a good chunk of your tokens on the Yahtzee game cabinets. Sure, it took ten coins to play all five rounds in one go but the points stacked and there was always a triple digit ticket bonus to look forward to if you managed to reach a certain point at the end of those five rounds. Many a time had the Yahtzee cabinet I had been playing on had to have its ticket reserve refilled in the middle of paying out my winnings, usually at least twice. One particularly good run, it had been SIX times that day. Ah, fun times...
Unfortunately for me, the drone was going to have to wait for a different day for me to claim. Just as I finished making my way down the ladder of a fire escape and let it lift itself back up into its usual position when not in use, I heard a voice say behind me "Ugh, I know I'm sludge, but I still HATE going through sewers with all that crap down there!"
Turning around with wide eyes even as I mentally shouted the question of how this guy was here, I saw the slime villain that had caused Izuku and Katsuki so much trouble coming up through the gaps in the manhole cover, actually making a dusting off motion with his right arm over his left as he looked down with a scowl.
Pointing at him, I asked "The hell are you doing free?! I just read a news article about you being caught not ten minutes ago!"
The Villain glanced up at me in surprise and I belatedly realized that I really should have ran while he didn't know I was here as he gained an evil smile and said "Well would you look at that, a meat puppet to help me hide from the heroes." Seeming to cock his head, he continued "Well kid, since you're about to die, I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you how I escaped. There was a series of potholes in the road the transport truck hit as I was being sent to Tartarus. They managed to put a hairline crack in my containment unit. A hairline crack that I was able to expand a bit and send a small fraction of my body through. I imagine the cops will be quite disappointed when they find the large pile of unresponsive sludge in their truck."
'Well, that definitely puts a check mark for this event being a destiny point. Too bad Zuzu and Yagi aren't here.' I thought before my expression firmed and I thought to myself 'No, I don't need their help, I am NOT Katsuki, I'm better than he was at this point.' With that thought, I snapped my hands in front of me, right palm with back facing me and left hand in a cone against the right and shouted "I ain't dead yet you bastard! Blast Cone!"
The explosive cone consumed the sludge villain but I didn't stick around to watch what happened to him. As soon as the technique had been fired, I spun on my heel and bolted for the exit of the alley, explosions going off on the backs of my calves like a poor man version of the Iida family's Quirk, and absolutely RUINING the stockings Mitsuki insisted I wear as part of my school uniform. I would have done it on my arms as well but there just wasn't enough space in the narrow alley to stretch my arms out for that.
This wasn't me running scared. I needed the open space of the street so that way I could keep my distance and with any luck there would also be a Pro nearby with a skillset that could help contain this guy.
Unfortunately, before I could reach the alley exit, the villain's body surged past me and blocked the alley exit, turning into a wall shape that rapidly expanded to be two stories tall. I skidded to a stop as he grew and took a couple of steps backwards, sparks flickering on my palms as I did so. Out in the street, I could hear more than one person screaming as someone shouted about a Villain attacking. Grinning down at me, the villain said "That's a rather nice quirk you've got there kid, I think I'm going to enjoy using it when I take over your body."
"Yeah, I don't think so!" I shouted as I leapt back and cut loose with both hands and feet to shoot up into the air at an obtuse angle. Before I could get high enough though the villain surged forward and its mass managed to wrap around my feet and he shouted "Gaccha Bitch!"
I had a split second to realize what was happening and suck in as much air as I could before I was abruptly yanked downwards into the villain's body. Instinctively thrashing around, I could somehow perfectly understand the villain as he cackled and said "Ha, your body's mine now kid!"
'THE HELL IT IS!' I thought to myself before I activated my Last Resort technique. Namely, I closed my eyes then detonated everything from the shoulders down.
You know those old videos where someone drops a watermelon from a great height and when it breaks on the ground its pieces just go EVERYWHERE? Yeah, same thing happened here. Sludge went down the alley, up a wall, up the other wall, and out into the street. Oh, and there was a little bit on the fire escape as well, couldn't forget that bit.
I took in a deep breath then hissed in pain from all of the burns covering my body, a consequence of the sludge monster surrounding me having forced the explosion to compress the instant before it was all thrown away. Needless to say, my school uniform didn't manage to survive the blast. Thank Primus and Unicron that my underwear was actually MADE to withstand my explosions.
"Heh, and mom said I was being paranoid to get custom underwear." I said weakly before my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I fell to the side, the last thing I heard the sound of feet rushing towards me.
Time Skip: A Couple Hours Later
I came to with the groggy feeling of one who's been sedated. Looking around revealed that I was in a hospital room and as I shifted into a seated position Masaru gently helped me up as he said "Easy there Firecracker, you've had a rough time of things."
Mitsuki snorted in the chair next to him and said "Not as rough as the asshole who attacked her." Flashing me a thumb's up, she smirked and said "Nice going kid, shame about your uniform though, if some of it had survived we could have held onto it then donated it to a museum when you became Number One so that way people could see how even as a middle schooler you were kicking villain butt."
I let out a surprised snort at that mental image while Masaru smiled a little weakly. His smile then grew the slightest bit mischievous as he said "That reminds me, don't you have something to say to our daughter Dear?"
Mitsuki put on a confused look that wasn't fooling either of us as she said "I don't know what you're talking about Dear."
"Oh I think you do, something about our Daughter's clothing choices and how she was being ridiculous about certain articles..." Masaru said, trailing off at the end with a raised eyebrow.
Mitsuki gave an extremely theatrical sigh and said "Oh fine." Turning her gaze solely onto me, her eyes actually softened and she said "I guess you were right about needing explosive proof underwear Katsumi, though I REALLY wish you hadn't needed to prove me wrong this way."
She gave a gesture at my body and I followed it to take in how both of my arms were wrapped in bandages (all the way down to the individual fingers from the base to the tips.) A glance down the hospital gown I was in showed that my torso was the same and I would put good money on my legs being the same under the blankets. Blinking at the IV attached to my right arm, I said "Huh, those must be some of the Really Good Stuff, I hadn't felt the bandages at all until you brought them to my attention, and I can barely feel them now."
"Good, that means the Tactusterminydrum is doing its job." The doctor said from the doorway. Walking in, he continued "The burn cream we applied to your body is fantastic at ensuring that there are no burn scars after recovery but I have it under very good authority that it itches to high heaven. To keep you from trying to scratch at it we've deadened your sense of touch until your bandages can be removed in a few hours and we can wash it off."
I absorbed that as Masaru quickly sat back in his chair as the Doctor moved up to the bed and gently took my left wrist into his hand, looking at his watch even as he asked "Are you feeling any internal pain?"
I took a moment to consider for a moment and said "There's a little bit of aching in my chest but on a scale of one to ten I'd say it's BARELY a two."
The doctor nodded and said "As expected given the blowback from your contained explosion. We've already ran a test to ensure there was no damage to your organs but it always pays to check. General consensus is that your organs are more durable than usual in order to handle the shock that comes from creating explosions so close to your body. Still, we'll give you some minor pain killers to take tonight and tomorrow morning." Dropping my wrist, he pulled out a pen light and said "You're certainly cognizant enough for conversation, but just to be sure..."
I bore his quick light in the eyes test with patience even as I heard Jack O'Neill in my head grumbling about doctors and their torture devices making it rather hard not to snicker at the doctor who was only doing his job. When he had finished checking everything he could given my body was wrapped up like a mummy, he nodded and made a few notes in the clipboard hanging from the end of my bed and said "Alright, everything checks out. There's a police officer waiting outside for your statement if you believe you are up for talking with them."
I took a bare moment to consider then nodded as I said "Yeah, I don't mind."
"I'll let them know then." The doctor said before moving on to check on his next patient.
A few moments later, a female officer came in and gave me a smile that I think was supposed to be reassuring but came off a little bit more as dealing with me with kiddy gloves. Of course, that could have just been my cynical adult mentality that carried over from my last life.
Taking the third and final chair of the room and moving it to rest at the foot of my bed (Probably a tactic to make the questioned minor not feel pressured as well as put space between her and my parents, just in case) the officer said "Hello Bakugo family, my name is Captain Relein. Before we get started, let me just assure you all that Katsumi here is not in any legal trouble. From the splatter pattern she was in the middle of after fending off her attacker, she was clearly acting not only in self-defense against bodily harm but against her very life."
"Just tell me you guys managed to actually get him into a containment unit at Tartarus this time." I said, shifting a little before giving up and used the controls of my bed to lift the head part up so that way I could lean against it.
The Captain raised an eyebrow and said "We did, and I would like to know what you meant by 'this time' but I'm sure that will come up in your statement. Speaking of, do you mind if I record this?"
The Captain held up a digital recorder and I shook my head as I said "I'm fine being recorded."
"If Kat doesn't mind then we don't either." Masaru said with a shake of his head as well when the police officer looked towards them. (I was still considered a minor legally so she had to get their permission as well.)
"Very well then." Captain Relein said before she turned it on, clearly spoke the date, time, and the number for this case before she said "Alright Miss Bakugo, I'd like your story of the encounter with the Villain. Start with your arrival to the alleyway then go through until you lost consciousness. I'll save any questions I have until after you have finished."
"Right." I said, gathering my thoughts for a quick moment then said "I was on my way to the arcade from school, using my parkour skills to go across the rooftops. And yes, I have a license for rooftop level travel. Well, HAD a license, pretty sure it got destroyed in my last explosion, I'll have to get that replaced later." I shook my head from that musing and said "Anyways, the arcade is on a four lane street that I couldn't cross without using my quirk to make the distance so I came down in the alleyway using the fire escape..."
Thirty five minutes later, Captain Relein nodded and said "Alright, I believe that's everything, thank you for your cooperation Miss Bakugo." Turning off the recorder, she stood up and put the chair back into its place where my parents were sitting and offered a quick but polite farewell then strode out of the room.
Of course, not thirty seconds later, there was a blur of green and a soft but urgent call of "KAT!"
I blinked up at the sight of Izumi nervously fidgeting with her hands, biting her lip as she looked down at me, or more specifically my bandaged arms. She clearly wanted to hug me but was afraid to due to said bandages.
Huffing, I reached up and tugged her into a quick hug and said "Relax Zuzu, I'm not suddenly made out of glass, and they've got me on some kind of drug to dull my sense of touch so that the burn cream doesn't bother me so I won't be hurt by physical contact."
"Good thing too, I remember one time when I needed to apply some of that high grade burn cream at home. Stuff itched like I had my arm buried in a poison ivy bush for a few hours." Yagi said as he came in much calmer, though there was a look of worry and regret in his eyes.
My parents blinked and Masaru asked "Why would you need hospital grade burn cream Mr Yagi?"
Yagi winced and said "I was trying out a flambé recipe and one of my sleeves came unrolled without me noticing."
Mitsuki and Masaru both winced with sympathetic 'OOF's. Me, I wasn't sure if he was being truthful or merely saying that to cover up the fact that he got the burn dealing with a pyro kinetic villain.
"I should have been there to help! We ALWAYS hang out together before our MMA sessions, but today I went with Mr. Yagi instead of going with you." Izumi said, and the expression on her face immediately had me reach up and thread my bandaged hand through her hair.
As all of the tension in her body left against her will, I smiled at her and said "Zuzu, I'm FINE. Honestly, the thing I'm most upset about all of this is what happened to my hair." Bringing my other hand up to where it ended in a ragged cut halfway down my neck, I continued "It's going to take AGES to grow it back out!"
Izumi let out a startled chuckle at that, Masaru and Mitsuki adding their own chuckles as well.
Yagi though gave a dismissive wave of his hand and said "Nah, I know a hair stylist with a hair growth Quirk. I'll introduce you to her when she's got an opening in her schedule and you'll be good as new."
"Thanks. I know me and Izumi grew our hair out just to be "aesthetically pleasing" when we become Heroes but I've kind of gotten used to the weight. It just feels weird having short hair again." I said, making finger quotes with my fingers when I said aesthetically pleasing, and Yagi nodded his understanding.
A couple hours later I was ready to be discharged. A nurse helped me into the connected bathroom of my hospital room where she undid the bandages then helped me into the small shower. (My sense of touch was still just a little wonky) A quick but thorough washing later, I was dressed into a set of casual wear Mitsuki had grabbed from home and being rolled out in a wheelchair to Dad's car with firm orders to take the rest of the day easy until the last of the Tactusterminydrum had a chance to work itself through my system.
That night, Auntie Inko fussed over me as the Midoriyas and Yagi joined us for dinner but I put up with it with the patience that can only be given through practice.
Still, while running into the Sludge Villain after believing we had avoided that incident had been a hassle, at least I had managed to keep the property damage down. Now I just had to keep getting ready for the next major event, the UA Entrance Exam.
END
Author's Notes: I'm sorry, I know I should have been working on my stories already on the roster and not a SECOND Potential Story but this idea came to me at work and just wouldn't LEAVE ME ALONE until I wrote at least the pilot chapter out...