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Ochaco:

I was going to keep an eye on that creep, especially if he was messing with my Hotes!

I'm not sure when I decided Hotes was basically my little sister, but she reminds me of several of my cousins when they were five or six. Sure, I know it's not healthy for a twelve-year-old to act like a five-year-old, but that doesn't mean shock therapy is necessary- like putting her with that freak Bakugo!

I follow the pair at a distance. Bakugo and Hotaru see me, but while Hotaru looks back at me as if she wants me to run in and rescue her, Bakugo just keeps walking like he doesn't care if I'm around.

Finally, I follow them into the massive UA indoor gym and Bakugo sends Hotaru to go change into gym clothes.

Bakugo turns around and smirks at me. "Thanks for following- else I might have had just to let her go and try again tomorrow."

"What?" I snap as I enter the gym behind them.

"I said I had to be supervised. I'm still fifteen; mentorship isn't parenthood." Katsuki says as he looks around the gym. I growl in frustration, realizing he just played me a little.

He nods to a teacher sitting in the stands. The teacher is Ectoplasm, a man whose jaws are so oversized they look fixed in a giant unnatural grin.

Ecto is rarely seen out of costume, which he's wearing right now. His costume is a vast beige overcoat that covers his body from neck to foot. He then has gear that covers his head and makes him look like a giant black robot wearing a coat. You can still see his teeth through all that, and his eyes are visible through small yellow slits... a creepy get-up, all told. Ecto often has a harsher approach than even Aizawa, but that's during class. However, after hours, he's just a person.

I wave at him, too. I remember the first time Hotaru saw him; she almost screamed as she hid behind Tenya, the tallest boy in class. Ecto looked resigned when she did that as if she wasn't the first to do so. I've seen his regular human form, and I can only imagine the poor guy having a rough time meeting people in general.

"Hey, I'm gonna try helping the pipsqueak train a bit here; just keep an eye out for me screwing anything up, all right?" Bakugo asks Ecto. The teacher nods as he continues looking at some math papers.

"If I have to get up and come down there, you won't like it," Ecto warns. "Behave."

"Fair enough," Bakugo says, unenthused. He then turns to Hotaru as she returns in a t-shirt and shorts. She actually looks more vulnerable like that, and now she's bracing herself, her hands together under her chin. She looks so cute in how she often holds herself- I know I should be worried that she's not acting her age, but it's adorable! "Now... how to not waste your time and mine?" Bakugo twists his lips. "I wanna lay down the law- always give me your all, kid, got it? I won't settle for anything less. You're going to be one of the best heroes around- in fact, you'll be second to none... well, none except me... the point is I want you to be the best hero around, else I'll look bad, you getting me?"

Hotaru just shrugs. I don't like the sounds of this, so I fold my arms. I understand having high expectations of someone, but Hotes never said she wanted to be a hero in the first place. "What if she wants to be a doctor or something?" I ask. But Bakugo just waves me off.

"Let's start with a lite spar to see your hand-to-hand skills," Bakugo says as he enters an equipment closet and comes out with a big pair of boxing gloves, a small helmet, and a pair of knuckle guards. He forces the boxing helmet over Hotaru's head and then just hands her the knuckle guards as he puts on the boxing gloves. "I'll go half-speed so I don't take your head off, punk." He takes her by the hand and walks her to a set of mats on the floor. "That being said, we all know whose daughter you are. Don't disappoint me."

I'm nervous, but he's at least ensuring she's safe and protected equipment-wise.

Hotaru looks confused. "What are you talking abou-" Bakugo suddenly takes a swing at Hotaru. It happens before I can react to protect her. I'm mid-step to run and help when I realize- she deflected it. The little preteen used her left hand to redirect Bakugo's attack inches from her face perfectly. She did that on instinct!

Bakugo grins. "I knew it! Of course, the old man trained you in something."

Hotaru backs away from him. "I... I... I don't wanna hurt you..." she says.

Bakugo laughs at her. "As if- hold nothing back, kid!" He goes at her again, swinging what looks like a full-on haymaker with his left. Hotaru steps back and redirects it with her right hand, then snaps her hand back into Bakugo's face, smacking him straight in the nose.

Bakugo steps back and touches his nose a few times- but it's okay. No way could she have hurt him with a half-hearted attack like that. Still, Bakugo is a decent fighter, so even if he is pulling his punches, landing a hit was impressive.

"Hell yeah!" Bakugo cheers as he barrels at Hotaru. He fires a left, then a right, then a left, then a right again. Hotaru keeps up her deflections with excellent timing until Bakugo does a faint, not following through on a right hook, instead hitting her in the face with a left jab.

The girl jumps back, holding her nose as she steps back several times. She looks scared until she pauses, pulls her hands down, and looks at them. Her nose is red, sure, but she's not bleeding.

Bakugo shakes his head. "What? Did you think I was just being a bull in a China shop? I know how to control my hits. That said- stop holding back already, brat!" he comes at her faster this time.

The story is different this time. Hotaru moves even faster, using her deflections to create space between her hands and his face in rapid succession. Half his redirected punches turn into backhanded punches right back to him. Still, Katsuki barely seems to care about her retaliations until Hotaru finally grabs his right fist, moves into him, pulls him over her shoulder, and throws him to the mat on his back.

I figure that'll stop things, but it doesn't. Bakugo springs back up, bull rushes Hotaru, and suddenly drives her down onto the mat. Again, I get up, but as Bakugo gets up, he steps back from Hotaru, who gets up and looks confused; looking at her body, I relax. She has a few red marks here and there, but nothing like an actual scrape or bruise. She looks up at Bakugo.

"Catching on yet?" Bakugo asks. "I can't guarantee you'll never get bruises or scrapes when we go at it, but I can and do control myself. Folks look at my demeanor and assume I'm just a lunatic. But I'm not a berserker. My pride doesn't come from nowhere." He looked at me and smiled. "I had another reason for doing what I did: turn around and look at your security blanket from a friend.

Hotaru turns around and looks back at me. "Ochaco... what's wrong?" she asks.

I force my mouth shut and blink a few times. I should have known she had skills of her own. She's the daughter of the most skilled teacher in the school regarding martial arts. Did I think he would leave her defenseless?

"Tah," Bakugo clicks his teeth at me. "Her look says it all, doesn't it, Hotaru? You keep acting like a scared animal. But the fact is, you're a beast. Daughter of a pro hero, an enhanced quirk, and I'll bet it all you won the lottery with whatever that quirk is. No one bothers to enhance a sparkler. You're a freaking bomb, I bet. You hide like a rabbit- tah! You disgust me. You're a lion pretending to be a house cat."

The girl looks from me, then back to Bakugo and back to me.

"So enough of this," Bakugo says. He stomps on the ground. "Stand up straight, shoulders back, nor more of these cute looks..." I almost glare at him, and he gives a huff. "Fine, you can look cute sometimes- but because you want to, not cause you're afraid."

It's not like Bakugo has perfect posture himself... actually, now that I look at him, he does hold himself with a kind of discipline. I guess I always stood him next to Ida in my mind, a boy who is the picture of near military discipline. I think back on the juice box he threw away. Sure, he didn't need to do that, but it was a statement that, looking at him, I know he could back up. He's cut and muscular... unlike myself. Maybe I should be watching what I eat more...

Bakugo touches his finger to his head. "We need to figure out that quirk of yours. Describe what you know about it."

"I, um, I control electricity, and I, um, have a range of about seventy-six meters." She stumbles over her words as she tries to keep her new posture. I have to stifle a laugh at how cute she is as she puts so much effort into bettering herself... I hate to admit it, but I think she's getting something out of this.

"That's quite the range," Bakugo says. He then turns around and snaps his fingers at an overhead climbing rope. "Start at the top, generate an electric pulse for me. Form it up there, not by your own body. I wanna see this of myself." He folds his arms and looks up at the rope. "And put some freaking power into it."

Hotaru raises her right hand. Everyone, including Ectoplasm, looks up at the top of the climbing rope. Electric sparks slowly emerge around the hook that anchors the rope to the ceiling thirty feet above the ground. The sparks danced around the rope, moving faster and faster, getting bigger and bigger. Then suddenly, eight streams of electric power fire into the rope and shoot up and down it, forcing the rope to uncoil from a bar it was on, and it swung down to the ground, electric energy leaving scorch marks along the gym floor.

Hotaru grins as I cheer for her. "That was amazing!" I say, jumping a few times, Hotaru's grin growing wider as she picks up on my excitement.

"You think? It was awesome, wasn't it? It was really, really cool!" she spins around unnecessarily and stops to yell up to Ectoplasm. "Wasn't that great?" The professor gives her a thumbs-up

"Yeah, it was great if you wanna be a magician someday. Course, I could have murdered a man two times your power three times over by the time you pulled that off." Katsuki folds his arms. "You have to go that slow? Do it again, faster this time!"

She reaches up her hand. The sparks emerge around the top of the rope again. They grow and form, not spinning this time. Eight just form, sparkle for a few seconds, then fire in the rope. The result is... not even half as powerful.

Bakugo looks back at her. "Are you trying? That took like- ten... twenty... about thirteen seconds, and it didn't even have any power." He looks back at the rope, then back at the girl. The girl's excitement starts to fade when she realizes he's not impressed. He walks over to the rope and taps it, sparks of electric energy coming off it. "Guess that's something to note- a residual charge... so this is real electric energy." He scratches his chin and looks up at the top of the rope. "Brat- do it again... don't worry about power, just hit the rope again- do it."

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"But I-"

"Just do it. Trust me... I'm trying to figure this out..." Bakugo says.

Hotaru shrugs and reaches out to the rope again. Sparks form again, then become more and more powerful until they finally fire into the rope again. "What are you doing, Katsuki?" I finally ask.

Bakugo just stares at the top of the rope. "She's not an emitter. Or rather, she's not a simple emitter. She's a control emitter. She's not making the energy- she's controlling it. That's why it takes so long, and she makes that big display." He turns back to Hotaru. "You're obeying me, right? You're doing things as fast as you can? You're not just showing off?"

"I don't understand what I'm doing well enough to show off," Hotaru answers honestly.

"Yeah... yeah, I gathered that," Bakugo says, sounding disappointed. "You're not the kind of person to show off, and you don't have the guts just to defy me- no, that's just how your quirk works." He points at the top of the rope. "I think what she does is gather energy from the air itself. There's always a small amount of electrical energy present in the air. She uses this energy to force electrons to rub against each other, creating more and more electricity through triboelectric charging. She then gathers these sparks together to form a powerful electrical discharge." He shakes his head. "If she has to focus on that process in a fight, she'll get brutalized by anyone." He sighs. "If she can control existing energy, maybe she would be effective if she pulled energy from a power grid, but otherwise, her ability would be useless in combat." He waves his right hand at Hotaru and turns away from her, putting both hands in his pockets. "Disappointing. Your quirk is pathetic."

He starts walking out of the gym.

I clench my teeth. All the work she did trying to obey him, all that effort and sweat when she fought him hand to hand- all that for him to throw it back in her face and call her abilities pathetic!? "Hey!" I shout at him.

"She tries to fight with that quirk; she'll get killed. I don't care if it hurts my grade; I won't help her learn to fight if she can't use it." Bakugo says.

I look back at Hotes, who looks shocked and on the verge of tears. I can't just let this be. I run after him and grab his shoulder. "She has to live with her quirk either way; someone has to train her," I say.

"I thought you wanted me to walk away from the start anyway, he says as he pauses. "She can't be the best, so why should I bother?"

"I... well, you started. It's not right to leave a job half-done." I clench my fists. Part of me wants to let him walk out. Still ... all the stuff he promised her, all the happiness she was experiencing discovering her power and being promised she could leave the school... if Bakugo is the one to get all that for her, fine, I would fight for him to work with her. But I needed something... something to make him think... "You were thrown down the hall and staggered by a quirk that takes half a minute just to fire?"

That makes him freeze. "You... you're right." He turns around. "The way she fought me in the hall and did things here- they're completely different." He scratches his chin. "There was this blue fog she was using..." He looks between the young girl and me. Then he smirks.

I'm suddenly grabbed and thrown to the ground. I shriek as suddenly I'm picked up and thrown, crashing into the mats.

"Mr. Katsuki!" Ectoplasm suddenly shouts as-

BOOM! The whole gym shakes as a bolt of energy passes before me. I see Hotaru stand between me and Bakugo, clenching her little fists. Sparks of energy are all around her, and the air is filling up with a blue fog coming off her body, spreading out and rising into the air as it goes.

I look up to see Bakugo holding up his hands in surrender but smiling anyway.

"I wasn't hurting her, Hotaru- look back, she's fine. You know I can control myself. All of you know that by now." Bakugo looks up at Ectoplasm. "Sorry for the unorthodox method, but I had to know."

The fog continues to move out and rise as Hotaru refuses just to stand down. I slowly get up. I cautiously reach out to touch her. "I wouldn't," Bakugo warns. "Much as that kid loves you, hurting you herself would devastate her." I hear him and realize he's probably right. I keep my hands to myself.

He puts his hand down and in his pockets and continues. "Look at the ground. Under the fog, as it moves along, there's liquid. Tah... I never thought those goofy experiments I did on captured fireflies would amount to anything, but what do you know? I know what that is. It's Luciferin. The chemical a firefly makes ionizes the air and uses to create a blue glow. She releases it as fog, which ionizes the air and exponentially increases the speed of her ability by giving her a ton more ambient energy to deal with. She's making energy through chemiluminescence."

I back away from Hotaru, unsure how to handle this. "So... so how do we stop it?"

Bakugo shrugs his shoulders. "Near as I can tell, it's caused by emotional distress for now. She snapped because she thought you were in trouble; hmm... plot twist: you're not just a friendly person to her Ochaco. You're her friend for real."

"Yeah, well- she's my friend too, and I don't like how you're running things." I fold my arms as Hotaru holds her ground between me and our mutual foe. "We both mentor her. And I get to veto anything I don't like. Or else I'm done standing by and watching this."

"Why would I take that?" Bakugo asks.

"You threw your classmate unprovoked, young man," Ectoplasm says. He looks at Bakugo with disappointment. "I say she should be in charge too. This whole time, she's been acting in what she believes is the child's best interest. You... I'm not sure what you're going for. Hotaru is in middle school; why are you even talking about her combat potential? The goal of mentoring is to achieve whatever is best for the kid. For all you know, she will be a grade school teacher."

"If she wastes my time and all she does is..." but now both me and Ecto are glaring at him. He growls. "Fine." He turns and looks at Hotaru. "But if you become a grade school teacher, you still better be a good one, got it?"

Hotaru is still on guard but said guard is slowly dropping. She nods. I can tell that a part of her still wants to work with Bakugo. All the things he promised her still matter.

Bakugo buzzes his lips.

"But... daddy is a hero. I... I kinda wanna be a hero..." Hotaru says, her power fading more.

Bakugo turns and looks at her. "You wanna make your old man proud, right?" She nods. He grins.

Oh great.

"So... let's do some more tests. First, I want to know if you can make that stuff come out on purpose, Hotaru... if that's all right with you, of course, Mrs. Uraraka." He says, with a sarcastic emphasis on my name.

I sigh. "It's fine- I agree. We need to know."

He turns back to her. "Okay, Hotes, hmm... you like dinosaurs?" She nods, a confused look on her face.

"I call her Hotes..." I grumble.

"Focus, kid- make me a big scary t-rex with that fog, if you can."

He and I both fold our arms and watch. Hotaru raises her arms, her eyes focusing on the blue fog. The fog starts to pour out of her suddenly. She grins and then points both hands at the ground.

No way... I watch as feet start to form on either side of her. It's not like she's creating the most detailed body I've ever seen; in fact, since she's making a monster out of smoke, it's apparent that she can barely outline said T-Rex. She can't make claws or teeth, either. Still, in a few moments, there it is—a thirty-foot-tall T-Rex made of blue smoke.

Bakugo's grin grows. "Electrify it..." he says.

Hotaru's eyes are glowing with excitement. I can't blame her; this is amazing. Her control isn't heavily detailed, but it's impressive nonetheless, and as she yells into the air, the smoke creation lights up in electric energy. Energy erupts up and down the monstrous creation, sparks flying this way and that, but the basic design of a T-Rex holds, showing power, control, and speed.

"Awesome!!" Bakugo yells.

"I have to agree. It's impressive," Ecto says, watching more intently now.

"Take a picture! Take a picture!" Hotaru cheers.

I sigh and slowly take out my cell phone.

As I line up a shot, Bakugo starts to ramble. "If I had to guess, she has a lot of power and control, but she's not very fast or subtle. Quick fighters like me will dominate her if we don't focus on martial arts and taking cover... I can see on her arm where I grabbed her earlier that she has a few slight burns; that means she's not invincible to her attacks, so she's a ranged fighter..."

Blah blah blah, I focus on taking shots of my little friend. She is so happy- and really, she has every right to be. Sure, I can start ticking off possible weaknesses in the construction of her quirk, but once it gets going, it looks like it could be a juggernaut.

Yeah, I know, I know. Bakugo isn't the best source for it to come from, but that look on her face is priceless. I see something I've been waiting to see from her since I met her two weeks ago: confidence.

Bakugo:

The next day, I'm called in by the old man. Apparently, he wants a word or two about his little girl's performance. Heh- understandable. Course, as she didn't know about half of her abilities, and I figured them out in about twenty minutes or so, I expect some praise for making more progress in half an hour than he made in four years.

I stroll up to the desk, and the evaluation begins.

"Have a seat, young man," Mr. Aizawa says.

"Ya know, you're not acting strictly as a teacher; we could be less formal, old man," I say as I take a seat in front of his desk.

"Were I to act entirely as her father, I would tell you never to contact my daughter again, punch you in the face, pay a fine, and walk away- thank your lucky stars I'm a teacher and could be expelled for such actions."

I pause... this took a turn... "Hey- hey, look, if this is about me being a little rough with your princess, then-"

"Rough? I'm rough with all of you. Rough is bruises on your bodies and egos; rough isn't publicly belittling a student and walking out on them for arbitrary and personal reasons." I look off to the side, feeling a little... nervous... "Everything you did, up until that point, I could have overlooked, but according to reports from both Professor Ectoplasm and Ochaco, despite all of Hotaru's efforts being exemplary, once you determined that her potential as a hero had a cap below where you wanted, you attempted to walk out on her in front of both of them. Training a child to be a hero specifically isn't a listed goal of mentorship. There are other professions, you know. Essentially, you used a position of authority and respect to publicly humiliate a girl three years your junior for no reason- is that correct?"

"Ya know... part of me wants to fight you on this... but I'm guessing that's only gonna make things worse." I bite my lip.

"You crossed a line, Bakugo. Bullying children? You think a hero university tolerates behavior like that?"

"Bullying? I mean, I wasn't, like, attacking her, sir. I wasn't really TRYING to hurt her... per se..."

"You do not deny acting in an unprofessional manner, though?"

"In retrospect, that wasn't my finest moment." Normally, I might snap back here, but I'm talking about the professor's own daughter... now might not be a good time.

He sighs. "I had a word with Hotaru about this." Crap. "And a word with Ectoplasm about what he saw. According to Ectoplasm, he does not believe that expelling you would fall under nepotism because your actions were objectively shameful and could hurt the reputation of the school if they continue unaddressed."

I sigh and look at the floor... damn it... how did I think that was gonna go down? Walking out on a professor's child? How do I even attempt damage control here?

"Expelling you would not be nepotism... this is nepotism." He hands me a detention slip- for the next month. "You don't deserve another chance; you really don't. However, you made more progress with Hotaru in half an hour than I could in a year of attempts."

"Only a year? I thought-" But he interrupts.

"That I was so eager to train her quirk that I made it a priority over taking care of my daughter's trauma and academic needs? Something had to give for a while. I really should be surprised that you didn't think of that... I should be." He folds his hands and looks at me over them, giving me a pretty intense stare. "Hotaru says you promised her a chance to get out and not be afraid of the world, and she says that you were more than following through on that promise yesterday. She wants to continue with you- you should be grateful; she just saved your ass."

I gulp and nod. There are times when silence is golden.

He sighs. "One month detention... maybe two... I'll think about it... you'll continue to work with Hotaru. Ochaco will join you and have veto power over any actions you take, and if you embarrass the school like that again, there will be nothing I can or will WANT to do. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir- no more screw-ups, sir."

"Back to whatever your morning routine is- now- before I decide to smack you anyway for treating my child like an inconvenience."

I get up and speed walk out.

Look, I can hold my own in a fight, sure, but that guy can expel me "for any reason" according to the school guidelines, and even I've got enough etiquette training to know I crossed a line... damnit. I hate eating crow... damnit.

Kid... you saved my butt... I promise you... you're gonna be one of the best at whatever you wanna be if I have anything to say about it.