Chapter Text
Bakugou's hair was wet against his forehead when he started to wake up. He kept his eyes shut as he assessed his surroundings via his other senses to know where he was and what was happening. He was damp, still in his hero costume but his gauntlets had been taken off. It smelt like chemicals, cleaning...no not cleaning, medicine. He must have gone down during the battle. It was quiet, a slight murmur of machines and people talking in another room. He was inside. In Recovery Girl's office. A groan beside him. He wasn't alone. Bakugou groaned himself as he reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. His body was stiff after the fight and the memories of what had happened began to flood through him.
~~~
Rain was pouring over them, luckily those in the stands were protected by the covers of the stadium. His hair fell over the tops of his eyes slightly and he struggled to see more than ten feet in front of him. He'd figured out three facts about them so far.
- They were female with a standard athletic build. Clearly active with flexibility and fast reflexes. He'd figured that out after several attempts at a full frontal attack where they were easily able to counteract his attacks.
- That was another thing he'd learned. By being that close he was able to take a close look at their hero costume. They weren't in his class, and he didn't recognise them from 3-B. So he had no intel on who they were or what their quirk was. But from their costume alone it told him they weren't mutated, they didn't have a creation quirk like Ponytail or a hardening quirk like Shitty Hair. They wore a a similar helmet to Tape Face without the tape cutter thing, do they have a name? Off topic. It was gold and had wings on the ear pieces on either side with a black face. He couldn't see their face. The rest of their costume was simple, a white long sleeve shirt that stopped at their waist, its a crop top with a back brace, that's where they kept the STUPID FUCKING METAL RODS THAT THEY'RE ALLOWED FOR SOME FUCKING REASON THAT HAS TO BE CHEATING. Gold decorative arm braces and bracelets on their wrists to match the helmet, gross. Black cargo pants with gold winged black combat boots to match the rest of the get up. But their quirk clearly had nothing to do with flight.
- Their quirk? Well he hadn't actually learnt that yet. His theories though? Two options, first, they were stupid and quirkless and this was a joke punishment for something he did from Aizawa. Second option was that it had something to do with the lightning, they were able to conjure it and aim it where they wanted but they hadn't hit him yet thankfully. But that was stupid it was probably the first option, so why the fuck won't they quit if this is a joke.
"You ready to give up!" He yelled through the storm, thunder was heard from behind them as they walked closer to him, the rods held tightly in their hands as Bakugou readied his stance.
"Babe I'm just getting started," said the female voice. Blue lightning wound around the rods from their arms and down to the ground. "Why? You need a break?" There was a smirk in her tone even though he couldn't see it and he couldn't help but feel some sort of familiarity to the figure in front of him.
"Not even close," he said before launching towards them.
They jumped towards each other, Bakugou's gauntlets lit up with his explosions as lightning rippled from his oppositions rods and arms.
"WOAH LIGHTNING!" Midoriya yelled as he continued to write everything he saw of the new hero in training in front of him. He'd never witnessed a lightning quirk before, not anything like this. None of them had. This was new, a stranger who came in and looked to match Bakugou in fight and energy.
"Shinso how could you keep them from us! Their skills are on par with Bakugou look at those reflexes they must train constantly! That's so manly!" Kirishima yelled, the rest of the classes on their feet cheering on both fighters with 'woo's and 'ahh's.
Shinso stayed quiet in his seat as he watched his friend fight. They knew each other closely, had fought against and trained beside one another for a year now with their own teachers outside of the normal UA training. He worried what this meant, he knew the end goal, he knew the backstory but never thought they would try to get into the hero course this late into their time here at UA. Was there even enough time? Sure they had the skills in one on one battles but being a hero was so much more than that. Shinso learnt that before he'd even gotten into the course, he remembered back to his own qualifying that Aizawa had put him through. The team battles against Vlad's class and how much he had realised he didn't know in that one day. He was so far behind and had worked so hard to catch up but he was still scraping through in some parts even now. How did they expect to make it?
Lightning struck beside Bakugou as he leaped back from his opponent, somehow they always knew where he was, where he was coming from. He couldn't escape it, it's like they had eyes on the back of their head! He could feel his body losing energy, his breathing heavy as threw fist after fist and a kick towards them. They were matched, he'd realised that early, but there was no way their stamina matched. By the heavy breathing of his opponent worse than his he knew they didn't have much longer. One massive explosion at full force would easily do it.
He had to be wary of their defences, one rod had flown away earlier but they still had one left, so a fake was the best way to do it. Distract their attention with one explosion and then come from the side for the stronger blow to hit them out of the ring and end this. Simple, to the point and there was no way it could fail.
It didn't fail. But it wasn't completely successful either. It seems both fighters had come to the same conclusion. Both had reflexes that were similarly matched. Their counter attacks were also something to be wary off. Bakugou was able to multitask in fights but through his blast his visibility was limited, add the torrential rain on top and it was even worse. The next time he came at them with an explosion was their opportunity for their own attack.
Bakugou's right hand came down at them with an explosion, their rod lifted to block it as they hit one another. His left hand came from underneath where his opponent had left their body exposed and he hit them in the side with an explosion bigger than his first. At the same time though as they had gone flying into the pillar at the edge of the arena lightning had struck by his landing spot and the shot had thrown him the opposite way hitting his own concrete pillar on the edge.
~~~
That was the last thing he'd remembered. They'd both expended their quirks and the blow back caused them to pass out. But surely he won right? He hit first so like, he won the battle. Take that Aizawa your lil prank punishment didn't work, I'm still on top.
Bakugou opened his eyes to the room around him. He was right in his guessing earlier, he was in Recovery Girl's office on a bed where he'd obviously been taken straight form the arena. He sat up slowly, ready to leave this godforsaken place and head back to class to face his victory when he looked to the bed next to him.
Still asleep lay his opposition. He could see her face now, soft and calm as she still slept, her hair plaited but falling out as it fell against the pillow and Bakugou had to stop himself from reaching out to the scar on her face from jaw to forehead. It crossed just past her eye, a lightning strike similar to the ones he'd witnessed close up from her own hand. Maybe she was like Kiri, dumb enough to hit herself with her own quirk.
Kinda pretty though..."still a loser extra" he muttered under his breath. She shuffled in the bed, a hand coming up to rub at her eyes as she woke up and saw Bakugou staring down at her as he stood awkwardly between their beds.
A small yelp before she shot up out of the bed and down onto the ground on the other side out of his sight.
"What the fuck was that?" He said walking towards the door.
"WAIT!" She called out and he stopped in the doorway.
"What?!" Let me leave.
"Do you see my helmet?" She asked with her head down at the floor, her back to him. Bakugou looked around the room and couldn't see the golden helmet until he peered into the office and it sat on the desk by the nurses.
"It's out here, get it yourself." He answered walking out into the offices towards the door to the hallway.
"Please can you just chuck it at me like I do not care I just can't go out and get it if there are people out there."
As he walked past the desk he picked up the helmet from the desk. It was sturdy, barely even marked from their fight par from some dirt and threw it through the door onto the bed beside her. A small 'phew' came from the room but Bakugou was already out the door. "Dumb extra."
~~~
"That was AMAZING!" The class was in awe at the fight they had witnessed, just like all of them during the day it showed the true potential and talent of their fellow student. But unlike the others it introduced them to someone they had no idea about. Someone who gave Bakugou Katsuki a run for his money.
"Who were they though?" Mina asked.
"Who cares I want to know who won!" Kaminari exclaimed but the class was already being shushed for a debrief by their sensei.
"Everyone shut up." He deadpanned.
"Can we at least know who they were!"
"Are they joining us like Shinso did?!"
"Can I tell them now Shouta?!" Hizashi Yamada a.k.a Present Mic was practically bouncing next to Aizawa who merely pinched the bridge of his nose and sat down.
"Sure."
"SATSUKA YAMADA. QUIRK: THUNDERSTORM. SHE CAN CREATE THUNDERSTORMS AS LONG AS THERE IS MOISTURE IN THE AIR AND THE RAIN ALLOWS HER TO SEE MOVEMENT THROUGH THE STORM. WATCH OUT FOR THOSE LIGHTNING STRIKES BECAUSE IN HER STORMS THEY CAN DEFINITELY HIT TWICE!"
Present Mic, the announcer for UA with his own radio show used his best voice for the quirk announcement of the mystery student. He'd never admit he'd practiced it several times in his head beforehand but that's neither here nor there.
The class erupted in 'wow's and 'awe's excitement running through them at the introduction to new competition. They may be in their final year but the excitement of new quirks and people to train with was one that will always get these students heroes into overdrive.
"Alright now that that's out of the way, let's debrief the day."
"Aizawa sensei, I have a question?!" Todoroki piped up from next to Iida and Midoriya. "If I'm not mistaken, she has the same last name as Present Mic, is she a relation of yours?"
"Hey yea! You're right Todo!" Mina exclaimed, "IS SHE YOUR SECRET LOVE CHILD!"
"Phew, I wish!"
"Hizashi shut up."
"She's family, but not my daughter kids." The hero replied, hoping that would give the class enough of an answer to shut them up.
~~~
Satsuka quickly pulled the helmet back over her head and stumbled in a hurry out the door of Recovery Girl's office. Her arms ached from overusing her quirk. Bakugou had really made her work for it but she supposed that was the point. She was there to prove herself to Aizawa and the entirety of Class 3-A. She deserved to be there. No matter what. Even if it was late if she was able to learn even a little from this year that still gave her an advantage to become a hero. And that was the goal.
"You're a lot slower out of class." The deep voice spoke through the quiet of the hallway as she steadied herself, the door closing behind her. "Clumsy too."
Bakugou stepped off the wall opposite her and took lazy steps down the hallway, slight puddles following his foot prints from his soaking costume.
"Now who the fuck are you?" He stopped and looked over her shoulder. Her helmet was back on, he couldn't read any expression on her face and that irked him.
"Satsuka Yamada, I was a guest to training today as a part of my training with Present Mic." She stayed in her spot in the middle of the hall and he mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't make out.
"Yamada...?"
"I'm not his kid, we're family."
"Must be nice being favoured by a pro." He sneered and turned back towards the hall in front of him, his feet moving before he could even think about it.
Satsuka cringed at his comment. That was the one opinion she didn't want people to have about her. But Bakugou couldn't help but think it. No wonder she didn't sit right with him even in the fight. She hasn't worked nearly as hard as him to get where she is. She's just another favoured idiot. Like Deku or Half n half. They had pros in their corners before they even started. Like Shinso she thought that just because a pro thought she was special she could come into his class and think she's top shit. Not on his watch.
"That won't make you a hero." He called back to her before turning the corner and out of her sight.