AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone!

"...now arriving at Imamiya Station. We're now arriving at Imamiya Station."

Melissa felt relief as she heard the announcement. Closing her laptop, she shoved it into her bag and waited for the train to pull into the station before she stood up and grabbed her bags. After being stuck on trains for about four hours, she was ready for the walk to Celica's agency.

Stepping onto the platform, she stretched, holding her hundred-kilogram case over her head as if it was nothing. Smiling up at the clear sky, she pulled out her phone and pulled up a map before she began navigating the city streets.

Twenty minutes later, she was standing in front of a squat brown building, its entrance stylized to resemble a traditional dojo. Pocketing her phone, she approached the sliding door and opened it.

As she stepped inside, she saw a single occupant in the dojo. A tall, muscular woman with a flowing mane of blonde hair in the middle of the dojo, wearing a brown gi with a bright yellow belt. And just like the pictures showed, her right hand was missing, replaced with a yellow prosthetic arm that ran up the sleeve of her uniform. But if Melissa didn't know better, she could have easily mistaken the prosthetic for a glove or piece of armor with how natural the hero's movement was.

The woman was currently deep in concentration as she performed a series of katas, her body twisting and flowing as she brought up her arms to block phantom strikes and her fists shot out in retaliation. Not wanting to disturb her, Melissa quietly placed her case on the ground and watched, focusing on the hero's motions in an attempt to learn everything she could about the woman's form and stance.

She was content to stand there and watch the hero, but Celica had other ideas as she paused her routine. Her stance relaxed as she placed her hands on her hips and glared at the young hero-in-training.

"So how long were you planning on standing there?"

"Sorry!" Melissa felt her face heating up. "I didn't want to disturb your training!"

"You're wasting time," Celia's expression softened into something more playful as she gestured toward a door. "Locker room's on the left; go change into training clothes."

Melissa picked up her suitcase and began to reach for her costume case when Celica stopped her. "Nope, no fancy armor for now."

"But what about my quirk?"

"Last I checked, you don't need a quirk to throw a punch!" Celica demonstrated with a couple of quick jabs. "Besides, I watched you on TV! I know you're not helpless."

Melissa paused to consider the hero's words, before nodding. "Okay, I'll be right back!"

A few minutes later Melissa returned, dressed in her gym uniform to see Celica had moved her costume case to a bench and opened it. She was holding her armored gauntlet in her right hand, gently running the fingers of her left over the lines and curves of the metal.

"This's good stuff, where'd you get it?"

"My dad - he's been working on experimental materials to help me control my quirk," Melissa explained.

"I see. How bad is it?"

"Bad," Melissa frowned. "I'll shatter bones using even half of my quirk's power."

Celica whistled. "I'll keep that in mind," Placing the gauntlet down she spun around to face her intern. "Mind calling your dad for me sometime this week? I could use a hand in upgrading this." She held her prosthetic up and gently shook it.

"I–" Melissa blinked, surprised at the hero's forwardness. "-sure?"

"Great! Now then, let's see what you can do."

Melissa followed the woman to the center of the mat, stopping on one of the marks on the floor while the hero continued to the next one before she turned to face her intern. "I want you to try and hit me."

"You want me to hit you?"

The woman laughed, a playful smile on her face. "Well, I said try!" She slipped into a combat stance, the same one she used earlier. "I saw a little bit of what you could do at the Sports Festival, but that's only part of the picture. I want to know what I'm working with."

Taking a deep breath, Melissa tried to mimic the hero's stance before bringing up One For All: Overcharge. Running three percent of her quirk's power through her entire body she dashed forward, aiming a punch toward the hero's chest.

With practiced ease Celica knocked her arm aside and countered with an elbow to Melissa's chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her staggering back.

"Good first attempt, trying to catch me off guard with your speed. Too bad I've seen faster." A fond smile played on Celica's lips.

Melissa got her coughing under control before she examined the hero again, trying to plan her next move. Nodding to herself, she charged again, this time trying to mix things up with one of Rika's signature high kicks. The hero brought up her arm to stop the kick, and with a triumphant look on her face, Melissa used her momentum to evade the counter, twisting to avoid running into another elbow.

Melissa tried to follow through, raising her fist to take a wild swing at the hero's face. Celica's eyes went wide as she realized what was happening, causing her to step back and grab the girl's wrist mid-swing.

"Woah now, do you want to break your arm?"

"Sorry," Melissa felt her face heating up. "I've kind of gotten used to my arms being reinforced."

"I can see that," Celica frowned as she let go of her intern's hand. "You don't want to rely on your quirk and support gear all the time. If you grow too reliant on it then next thing you know…"

Melissa couldn't help but look at the hero's prosthetic. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right!" Celica crossed her arms and examined her student before nodding. "Don't worry though! We'll get your form fixed up in no time! Now then, let's test your defenses. I want to see how you do when you're on the other side of things."

"Alright," Melissa walked back to her starting position and once again mimicked the hero's posture. She felt more confident in her ability to defend thanks to Rika and was hoping the hero would see it.

"Here I come!" Celica yelled before dashing across the room.

Melissa was shocked by the hero's speed - she was almost as fast as Rika! She barely had time to bring up Overcharge before she felt the hero's fist connect with her forearm, the blow reverberating through her entire body.

"You're doing great kid, most people can't keep up with my blazing speed. They'd be flat on their backs by now."

Melissa smiled back. "I've had a good training partner."

"Good!" Celica smiled before she twisted around, replicating the maneuver Melissa tried earlier.

With a yelp, Melissa tried to bring her hand up and block. She managed to swat away the hero's attack but found herself off balance, and once again felt Celica's elbow connect with her abdomen, sending her down to the mat.

"Ow," Melissa propped herself up to a sitting position and began rubbing her arm. Even with One For All reinforcing her body, she wasn't prepared for the power behind the woman's blows.

"I think I've seen enough," Celica offered Melissa a hand.

Melissa grabbed it and pulled herself up to a standing position. "I thought I was doing good, too!"

"Oh, you did great kid! You're shown the most potential out of anyone who's walked through those doors in a long time. And you'd better keep that training partner of yours!"

Melissa laughed. "I'll be sure to tell her that."

Not like there's any way Rika would let me go, either. Melissa thought fondly.

"Now then, let's begin your real training. Starting with your form. I noticed you were trying to mimic me…"

Over the next several hours' Melissa found herself training under the hero. Both individually and, once her students arrived for their regular lessons, as part of a group. It turned out to be difficult, but nowhere near as hard as she had feared.

Then again, there wasn't much that could compare to what she went through to prepare herself to use One For All.

"Here, catch."

Melissa looked up just in time to see a bottle of water sailing toward her head. She wasn't quite fast enough and watched helplessly as the bottle bounced off her hand to land on the ground with a dull thud.

"Sorry!" Melissa felt her cheeks heating up as she bent over to retrieve the bottle of water. Unscrewing the top, she began chugging the contents.

"Sorry won't cut it when you're fighting a villain, you know," Celica said as she collapsed on the bench next to Melissa.

Melissa lowered the water bottle and looked at the hero. "I know. That's why I'm here."

Celica laughed and patted her student on the back. "I like you already! Most kids come in here thinking they're hot shit, but you're the first one to realize you're still a fawn."

Melissa looked at the hero in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Plenty of kids think that just because they're in hero school, that means they're ready to take on the meanest Japan has to offer. Sure, they may be able to take down some lowlifes, but put them against a real villain? They won't last five minutes."

"Yeah," Melissa said softly. "I know the feeling."

"Hey now, don't give me that attitude!" Celica lightly punched her intern in the shoulder. "You're still a first-year! It'll be a different story by the time you graduate."

Melissa seemed to brighten at the hero's words. "I know. It's just easy to feel behind, given how late my quirk came in. I've only been able to use it for a few months, and seeing what some of my classmates can do…"

Much to her surprise, the hero laughed. "Well, you could've fooled me. You've already got better control than a lot of these kids do!"

"Really?" Melissa asked with a hopeful note in her voice.

"Mhm! It doesn't help that most kids don't get a whole lot of practice with their quirks before high school. So in that sense, it doesn't really matter that your quirk's been locked away."

Melissa looked down at the ground. "Yeah… locked away."

Not given to me by my future self.

"But it's free now!" The hero continued, preventing Melissa's thoughts from spiraling. "Your own roaring flame! Or well, electricity in your case."

"I think I get it!" Mimicking Celica's actions, Melissa punched the air for emphasis. "I guess I'm just used to I-Island, where kids can freely practice with her quirk."

"That'd be a concern - if you were still on I-Island! But you're not!"

"Yeah…" Melissa bobbed her head. "You're right!"

Celica laughed before grabbing Melissa's costume case. "Catch!"

"Wha- eek!" Melissa barely had time to respond, catching her costume case before it knocked her over.

"We're gonna get you settled in, then we're gonna go on patrol!"

Holding the case to her chest, Melissa gave the hero a shaky smile. "Sounds great!"

"Of course, we do this while Risa isn't here," Ochako complained as she stared at the car they had spent the last week unearthing. "Are you sure I can't use my quirk on it?"

"Absolutely!" Toshinori exclaimed.

"We can do it Uraraka!" Izuku said in an attempt to encourage the girl. "We just have to drag it up to the curb!"

"But the sand…" Ochako said, looking at the half-buried tires.

Turning to Izuku, both of their faces lit up as they started piecing together a plan.

"Wait a minute! If we dig out the tires…" Izuku started.

"...and use some scrap metal to give it stability, we can start moving it!" Ochako finished.

The two turned to Toshinori, who was grinning at them. "Of course, you two can do that! Sometimes brute force isn't the answer, after all!"

"Not even for All Might?" Ochako asked curiously.

"Mhm," Toshinori nodded. "Even All Might needs to be clever."

"Even though he gets a lot of attention on the news, there's still a lot of cases we don't see," Izuku said.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Ochako asked with a giggle.

"Y-yeah, I guess I would," Izuku rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look on his face.

"I guess I still have a lot to learn," Ochako admitted.

"We all do," Izuku said. "That's why we're gonna get into UA! So we can learn how to be great heroes!"

"Yeah!" Ochako smiled and pumped her fist in the air. Opening her eyes, her expression changed to one of determination. "Ok Midoriya, let's do this!"

Working together, the two teens managed to dig out the wheels, clearing the bulk of the sand away. After that, they searched the nearby piles of garbage for a pair of signs and some loose sheet metal, which they wedged underneath the four tires before they finally were ready to move the car.

"Are you two ready?" Toshinori asked from the driver's seat.

"Yeah!" They both called from behind the vehicle.

Smiling, Toshinori put the car in neutral and placed his hands on the wheel, ready to steer the car as they pushed it across the beach. "Ready whenever you are."

With a defiant cry, Izuku and Ochako began pushing the car. They felt the beach fighting them, their feet sinking in the sand, but after a few seconds, they felt the car move, their job becoming infinitely easier the moment the wheels rested on the metal.

"We did it!"

"Yeah!"

Encouraged, the two sped up, pushing the car up the beach. With Toshinori steering, the pair maneuvered the car around the mountains of garbage and through the parts of the beach that they had already cleared, until they finally managed to push it up onto the edge of the road.

"Amazing teamwork you two!" Toshinori congratulated them as he stepped out of the car.

"Yay!"

"We did it!"

Chuckling, Toshinori pulled out his phone. "I think that's enough for today. I'll handle the car, you two have to get to school!"

"Yeah," Ochako sighed. "I need to take a shower to clean all this sand off." As if to emphasize her point, she removed her glasses and held them up to the sunlight, so the others could see the hundreds of tiny grains that dotted her lenses.

"Me too," Izuku agreed. "Let's grab our stuff and start heading back?"

"Sounds good!"

Waving goodbye to their mentor, the two retrieved their bags and began their journey home.

"It still feels weird training without Risa," Ochako admitted as they walked down the street away from the beach.

"Mhm," Izuku agreed. "I started by myself, but it feels nice training with others."

"Yep!" Ochako put her finger to her lips thoughtfully for a moment, before she continued. "Do you think we'll ever have anyone else join us?"

"Probably not," Izuku said. "Melissa has her friends at school, but they train at UA."

Ochako bobbed her head. "And we're the only ones in our class who want to be heroes."

"Yeah…" Izuku trailed off as he got a distant look on his face.

"Something on your mind?"

"Just thinking about my old school," Izuku admitted. "How everyone wanted to be a hero."

"Doesn't everyone?" Ochako asked curiously. "At my old school, everyone thought about it at some point."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Izuku looked up at the sky. "I guess people grow out of it eventually?"

"Mhm," Ochako bobbed her head. "Now that we have to actually select high schools, people are forced to choose something more realistic." She let out a delighted giggle. "Not us though!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku smiled at the girl. "We're gonna become great heroes–"

"-Just like All Might!" Ochako punctuated her statement by punching the air. When she opened her eyes she saw Izuku standing there with his mouth half-open looking lost, and she couldn't help but burst out laughing. "S-sorry! I couldn't help it!"

Izuku closed his mouth and rubbed the back of his head as he felt his face heating up. "Do I really sound like that?"

"You do!" Ochako giggled. "It's ok though! It's just so- you!"

"Really?"

"Yeah," Ochako gave him a warm smile.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as they resumed their journey. The pair continued in companionable silence until they reached the intersection where their paths diverged. Stopping for a moment, Ochako turned to give Izuku a smile and a small wave. "Well, I'll see you in school, Midoriya!"

"Yeah, see you then!"

Izuku smiled back at his friend before they went their separate ways.

"So is this your routine every day?" Melissa asked as they walked down a peaceful residential street.

"Not every day," Celica stretched and folded her hands behind her head as they walked. "I'm only teaching at the dojo three days out of the week, and I spread out my patrols throughout the week. It's only Monday and Tuesday that I double up."

It was the second day of her internship, and after a busy morning of lessons at the dojo, the pair were patrolling the streets. Celica had swapped her yellow gi for her hero costume, consisting of a tan jumpsuit, thick brown boots, and a brown bomber jacket, while Melissa wore the armored suit that made up her costume.

"Still!" Melissa turned her head to look at the hero. "Most heroes simply focus on their career. You still spend time training your students weekly. Even when you returned to being an active hero. Once your sabbatical was over you simply reduced the number of students you would take on - you didn't give up a single one of your current students."

"You caught that eh?"

"Yeah, I wanted to be thorough before I chose you for my internship."

"Smart! You're gonna be a great hero someday!" Celica laughed. "Nobody'll believe me when I say I taught Sentinel how to throw a proper punch."

Melissa giggled. "I'll be sure to remind people."

"I'll appreciate it," Celica gave a wry smile to her intern before continuing. "Like I said yesterday. Teaching those kids helped me in ways that I can't ever repay. I'm not the type of person to turn around and say 'thanks for pulling me out of the gutter, time to close shop and focus on being a hero.'"

Melissa stared in awe at the hero. "That's… really cool!"

"Damned right it is! Everyone around here cared about me when I was at my lowest."

Melissa couldn't help but look at the clenched fist Celica was making with her prosthetic. "Was it that bad?"

The hero let out a strained sigh. "The surgery to add the implants went flawlessly. The biggest problem was up here." Celica pointed to her forehead. "I spent months fighting the damned thing at first, trying to do everything I could without it."

"Then what happened?"

"Then some bright-eyed kid showed up at my door," the hero laughed, "and asked me to train them so that they could be a hero for me." She let out a fond sigh. "Two years later and I'm back in business."

"That's really inspiring," Melissa looked down at her gauntlet.

"You're damned right it is! Those kids inspired me, and now I'm gonna repay them by being the best damned hero I can be, and the best damned sensei, too!"

Melisa was content to drop the topic and continue walking, thinking about her own path. She was impressed by the hero's commitment to running her dojo despite the demands of her hero career.

Then again, weren't her teachers at UA the same way? Many of them were still part-time heroes, despite the demands of being teachers as well - a position even more demanding.

While Melissa was content to try and slowly untangle the knot in her mind, Celica wasn't known for her patience.

"So what do you want to do? Besides being a hero, I mean."

"Support gear," Melissa responded.

"I should've guessed," the hero smiled, "considering that tin can you're walking around in."

"Hey!" Melissa protested. "This is a highly advanced piece of support gear!"

"I know," The hero nudged Melissa's shoulder with her elbow. "Isn't that complicated though?"

"It is! But I was originally planning on developing support equipment. Before well-"

"Then do it."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that," the hero confirmed. "If you're passionate about it, then it'd be a shame to give it up."

"Huh," Melissa pressed an armored index finger to her cheek. "That's such a simple answer."

"Well, I'm a simple girl," Celica laughed. "Look, I know how easy it is to get lost in your head- to think that there needs to be some complicated answer to your question. But sometimes the answer's staring you in the face." As if to prove her point, the hero grabbed Melissa's armored hand and shoved it in her face. "I'm not gonna claim it's the easiest answer, but it's the simplest."

Melissa smiled at the hero. "Thanks, I think I needed to hear that."

As the two let silence settle between them on the patrol route, Melissa began thinking about additional features she could add to her suit. Sure it would destroy her free time, but it would be worth it when she's finally done.

AN: Sorry for the delay in updating! My internship's going great, but it's *draining*! Hopefully next week everything'll be back to its regular schedule! ~SupportGrrl47