APPLICATION -- STATION 72.

[incinerates]

PLAYER INFO
Name: Pax
Contact: forzare @ plurk
Are you over 18?: YEA.

CHARACTER INFO
Character Name: Katsuki Bakugo
Canon: My Hero Academia ( Boku no Hero Academia )
Canon Point: Post!chapter 114, roughly a week after the results of the hero licensing exam. At this time, Bakugo has failed the licensing exam and will be taking on supplementary lessons. It occurs soon after his kidnapping by the Villain League and All Might's retirement as a professional hero.

Appearance: School Uniform, Hero Costume
Age: 16 years old ( 20 April )

Setting:

The events of MHA are set in a modern day, alternate version of Earth, where people ( and in some rare cases, animals ) with special powers have become commonplace and undergo education and training to become professional Heroes, tasked with fighting villains and rescuing those in need.

History: Story Arcs, Character History

Personality:

Needless to say: I'll be a hero that surpasses even you.

Equipped with an ego that has been fed praise since childhood, Bakugo is a young man on the cusp of developing into something genuinely heroic. Fed praise since his youth, he grew from a confident and talented child, to a bona-fide bully given no reason to curb his treatment of his childhood companion and current rival ( Midoriya Izuku ), to a deeply insecure and angry young man.

In his youth, Bakugo was -- as stated by his own mother -- a child who “ended up able to do most anything without trying, and [he] got blessed with talent too”. A natural-born genius, he was routinely lauded and supported for even the most miniscule talent by his peers and the adults who oversaw his growth ( ie. teachers ). As a boy, he was able to read before his classmates were, able to perform physical acts of strength and dexterity with ease, and displayed a natural abundance of magnetism that attracted a particular type of youth: the kind that kissed his ass, and assisted him in his bullying of childhood companion, Midoriya. Much of his recent development as a young adult stems from Midoriya’s own development, which will be touched upon later, as the relationship is far too essential to his personality to overlook.

Oversaturated with the adult’s praise and idolized by the other children, it was no wonder that Bakugo developed an ego that was both immense, and fragile. When his Quirk developed, it solidified his view of the world and those who lived in it: naturally, he was the best, and everyone else wasn’t. That was that, and without a doubt, he had absolutely no reason to believe otherwise.

Throughout his youth, this is his absolute truth, and these beliefs ( that he is the best, the most gifted and the one most worthy of becoming the number one Hero ) remain unchallenged until his admittance into U.A. High School - the top academy for young, aspiring heroes, and he meets new classmates. Classmates who are as talented, if not more talented than he is, and who do not know who he is or have any reason to kiss up to him, the way others had before. Among new peers ( and his foil, Midoriya, on a more meta level ), he begins to hit new limits within himself, and he hits them hard. Bakugo is a young man who has been inundated with his own innate superiority, and winds up internally struggling under the weight of his ego -- in fact, his superiority is physically ( and violently ) stripped from him, almost as if the narrative is seeking ways to punish and humble him.

Rather than be humbled, he fights back. He fights back more, and harder, because he is fixated more on the state of victory than how he presents himself; there’s little room for self-reflection in him, as he’s filled with the heroic ideal of victory, of winning, and of being number one due to his true talent, his true strength and his true successes. Not something shallow, draped upon him by sycophants, but something earned under his own might. And this presents a challenge to him, as he suffers under the weight of his own ego. With a distinct inferiority complex, he violently and vehemently rejects the compassion and aid of most people, viewing their good intentions as insult -- that they are treating his moments of vulnerability as weakness, and he cannot tolerate or accept that about himself. Bakugo’s world is built around being a winner, or being nothing.

Despite his rejection of most personal ties, and a surprisingly asocial personality, he is not incapable of recognizing his peers’s right to exist and strive towards the ultimate goal: becoming the number one hero. Among the nest, it would result in the same sort of thing -- recognizing their right to challenge and strive, resulting in his single-minded drive to become stronger, and stronger, without being held back by the interconnectivity. And oh, he would definitely view the symbiotic connection as a hindrance, a burden, as the nest holding him back from reaching his true potential. He’s not a compassionate person, nor is he a very empathetic young man -- as seen during the practical examination to earn a provisional hero license, one of the most recent events in his history. He exists as a creature driven by physical and mental challenges, in a state of perpetual momentum, rather than self-reflection and consideration for others.

I will win. That's what heroes do.

Really, he’s a teenager.

A hormonal ( YIKES! ), prideful teenager who is re-learning his place in the world while simultaneously trying to maintain his status as the best and brightest. While staunchly dedicated to becoming a hero, his approach is distinctively centered around “winning”, rather than “helping” - and in this way, he is best characterized by his relationship with Midoriya. Which, I’ll talk about in brief, because there’s a lot to it and without an actual Midoriya in-game, much of the nuances fall through the cracks. It comes down to: Midoriya is focused on saving people, Bakugo is focused on being victorious, on winning and being the best, and that simply won’t change just because he’s now symbiotically connected to a hivemind. He feels that heroism is about never losing a fight, never stopping when it comes to battle and never giving up.

While he faces most fights head-on, relentlessly, he’s not incapable of tactical thinking or strategizing. In fact, one of his most overlooked traits ( canonically, not by fandom! ), is his intellect. He is quickly able to pinpoint weaknesses that can be exploited in his opponents, perhaps as testament to his own, more subtle, mental machinations -- an unconscious overview of himself, as he looks for gaps and holes in his own offenses and defenses -- both physical and psychological -- that need to be plugged and adjusted and mended, until he’s a fortress of might. He’s book-smart as well, having placed third out of the twenty students in his class.

Most importantly, at his current canon point, it’s arguable that he is at his lowest and most fragmented, emotionally and psychologically. Having just been rescued from the League of Villains by a combination of professional heroes and several of his classmates, he is reeling from his weakness, the inability to extract himself from the situation -- above all else, he hates being framed in a light that highlights what most people naturally need in their life: help. Furthermore, because of his kidnapping, his idol -- All Might -- was forced into retirement: a crippling blow to the balance of the world, and Bakugo canonically takes the full weight of that downfall onto his own shoulders. He is festering inside, plagued by guilt and confusion over a great many things -- his place in the world, and the question of whether the way in which he was pursuing his goals was right or wrong**.

Neither of which leave him in a very good state.

All Might, the former number one hero, is perhaps the most formative influence when it comes to shaping Bakugo’s character and mindset. He states before the amassed League of Villains, who kidnap and attempt to recruit him, that he would never so much as look their way, because he’s already enraptured with the way that All Might looks when he wins. For Bakugo, he’s built his image of what a hero is and should be on the back of All Might’s physical victories. The former number one hero is an undisputed champion who has never lost a battle, and for Bakugo, this is what it means to be number one and how someone like him becomes number one. The truth that he’s coming to learn, even now, is that the life of a hero is more than just defeating villains and reigning as an undefeated champion -- heroism is not a MMA match -- it’s about being an unyielding, undying symbol of security and hope, and he has yet to conceptualize that.

What he has conceptualized, is that something in him could be lacking.

Yet, it cannot be lacking, nothing about him is lacking, he simply has to do better, try harder. The constant struggle within him -- the push-pull of nearly becoming self-aware with his adamant denial of that self-awareness is a consistent trait of his. If he becomes self-aware of his wrongdoings and weakness, he will likely shatter. There are already cracks in his ego, ones that he has been gingerly avoiding until he cannot any further -- Bakugo undeniably has an inferiority complex, built up in his youth and coming to fruition in his current state. He is uncertain of himself, especially in comparison to others, and naturally, his mind compensates with an exaggerated sense of self, power and grandeur in the form of a superiority complex -- the perfect self defense.

** This revelation is revealed AFTER the canonpoint I'm taking him from, during his cathartic brawl with Midoriya. However, it's something that has been eating him up for a while, by that point, so it's reasonable to assume he's long since come to that conclusion. TL;DR I'm justifying my use of an image and editing this literally to add that. U love me!!!

Canon Abilities/Skills:

ACTIVE //

✦ QUIRK ( EXPLOSION ) ; Bakugo secretes nitroglycerin from his skin, which he is able to detonate at will - creating explosions. The more that he sweats, the stronger the explosion - as would be expected of higher volumes of nitroglycerin. He is exceptionally knowledgeable about unique applications and usage of his Quirk, utilizing it not only for raw offensive power, but for increased mobility, physical maneuvers ( ie. speed, aerial movement ) and few forms of defense. Prolonged use will wear away at his skin, and damage his muscles as he braces against the recoil.

✦ COMBAT PROWESS ; He is noted for his sheer power, speed, technique and martial adaptability. In combat, he literally shines the brightest out of all of the Class 1-A students, as noted by his teachers. While not focused on defense or rescue, his sheer might and savagery is enough to keep would-be opponents at bay. Despite his behavior, he also displays exceptional calm and focus in dangerous situations, as seen during the Unforeseen Simulation invasion by villains, where he was able to pick out weaknesses in his opponents and act upon them quickly.

✦ PHYSICAL FITNESS ; An avid hiker. Experiences routine combat and Quirk training in school.

PASSIVE //

✦ INTELLECT ; Class rank 3/20 for his first year final. The kind of student that doesn't study and gets all A's. During the villain invasion at the Unforeseen Simulation training grounds, he was able to quickly discern which villains would cause the most trouble and dispatch them, as well as deduce Quirk weaknesses through his observations. Arguably, he's used to looking for weaknesses in everyone.

✦ TENACITY ; He's an animanga boy, you bet this is some sort of superpower. Canonically, people have failed to take his overwhelming, obsessive desire to be "the best-or-nothing-at-all" into account and either underestimate him, or write him off as a kid destined for a bad end in situations ranging from combat to technical education.

✦ EDUCATION ; Heroically-trained for a variety of situations and scenarios, including extreme weather and other unforeseen disasters ( blizzard, fire, earthquake ), creative application and use of individual Quirks, combat training ( with attention paid to the psychology of villains ), and various on-site internships with current professional heroes.

ON STATION 72
Symbiote Specialization: IOTA
Symbiote Ability: "Pocket Change" ( Dimension Manipulation )

The symbiote-granted ability to manipulate a measure of personal space as inter-spatial storage. The host is able to store a finite number of objects in this space, and can withdraw them at any given time, provided they have use of their hands. At higher levels, the host is able to store a living creature without causing it undue distress or straight-up killing it, maintain multiple spaces at specific ranges or bestow minor "pockets" of space on other hosts.

Side effects of using this power are determined by the size and mass of the objects being stored, and the number of storage spaces allotted at any given time. In order of least to most extreme: host's body mass will increase and reaction time will slow, too much storage used can result in muscle strain, sprains, crushing injuries both external and internal ( ie. broken bones, ruptured organs, etc. ), loss of consciousness and eventual coma, as the symbiote will not allow the host to perish.

If the host fails to consciously maintain the dimension's structure ( such as becoming fatigued, or falling unconscious ), objects that are not physically removed will "rupture" the dimension. This will first shred any physical barriers ( ie. cloth, flesh ) in their way, before being suddenly and violently "voided" into the surrounding areas. Surrounding hosts or bystanders may be damaged, with escalating levels of destruction depending on level of power, size, type and quantity of stored items.

( RANK I. ) -
+ Objects that would naturally fit inside of a pocket can be stored.
+ Small objects can be stored indefinitely, provided that the host consciously maintains the dimension's structure. Control is tenuous.
+ Host can handle combined mass of objects 10 - 30 times his body weight within the dimension before strain overtakes him.
+ The host must be the one who physically places each object inside of the dimension and must then consciously maintain it.

( RANK II. ) -
+ Objects that are no larger than a large dog can be stored.
+ Small objects are indefinitely and subconsciously maintained.
+ Large objects can be consciously stored for around three hours, before the host must remove them.
+ Host can handle combined mass of objects 31 - 60 times his body weight before strain overtakes him.
+ One other host within the nest can have a Rank I pocket dimension, maintained via mental link with him.

( RANK III. ) -
+ Objects that are no larger than a refrigerator can be stored.
+ A single living person could be stored safely.
+ Small and large objects can be stored indefinitely and are subconsciously maintained.
+ Massive objects can be stored for around two hours, before the host must remove them.
+ Host can handle combined mass of objects up to 90 times his body weight before strain overtakes him.
+ Up to two other hosts within the nest can each have a Rank I pocket dimension, maintained subconsciously.
+ OR one host within his immediate brood can match a Rank II, maintained via mental link with him.

Inventory:

✦ His complete Hero costume; Grenadier bracers, four (4) grenade-like containers.
✦ A pair of hearing aids*.
✦ A wallet containing a Student ID, dormitory key card, some yen.

* Due to prolonged use of a very LOUD Quirk, possibly without proper protective equipment, it's likely that Bakugo is at least partially deaf.

SAMPLES
Samples:

✦ S72 TDM ( TOPLEVEL )
- with AIZAWA
✦ S72 TDM ( JUNO STEEL )

✦ EXTRA ( ACTIONSPAM WITH PERCY )

Rescue Write-up:

If you stay, you’ll be their death.

The voice is urgent now, pitched as half a plea, half a statement of cold fact.

The training field was left behind him, and a swath was carved throughout the city -- a tattered and ragged beeline of assault and defense, with the overpowered asshole that’s calling his name, over and over and over and over like some sort of sick, gross hymn, getting to its feet from where it had been put down, deep. Into the pavement by some professional hero that he can't focus on, the adrenaline and the fear having welled up deep within him. Threatening to overcome him. In form, it’s the same as any other opponent he’s faced - some legs, some arms, a single head with no face, just a boundless black void, flecked with glittering, silver fragments. Like something shattered, long, long ago and now hovers in its wake. To his left, he can see one of his classmates -- laid out on their belly. There’s blood, and he can’t tell if they’re alive or dead. He really, really hopes they're not dead because they got between a predator and its prey.

It wants you, you must leave. It will be brought to you, it is only you who could do this.

Behind him, there’s -- something he’s less sure of. It keeps grabbing his hand, his shoulder. It touches his face, even after he’s bitten what passes as hands over and over ( “Get your hands the HELL off a’ me!” ). It tastes like lime jello, and has the same viscosity as it. It’s gross. He understands that it's not speaking with words, not even colors or images, but he understands exactly what it's saying, as if it has a mouth and a tongue and teeth to form its fricatives and tones. Bakugo has never heard of a hero who looks like this, never thought a villain like the one bearing down on them both - slow, methodical - could be more terrifying than That Guy.

Someone, a pro hero he doesn’t recognize, reaches for the thing bearing down on him -- humming and thrumming and calling his fucking name with some sort of malicious yearning -- and all six of her limbs are disintegrated upon point of contact. Just. Poof. It’s horrifying. One moment she’s got arms, the next moment she’s missing parts of her body that are -- they're just... listen: she needs those to live.

Come with me, and you will save them all. You can’t delay longer.

And he has delayed. He has delayed accepting this goo-things urgings with the tenacity of a boy who doesn’t understand that ‘retreat’ is an option; he has delayed, and people are dying because of it. The city is wrecked, one of his classmates is -- they're just hurt so bad, and none of this is what he wanted. He'd only wanted to lure it away. This star-dark think with a focus only for him, and everyone else, they'd been stupid. They'd just gotten in the way, like he couldn't handle it. Like he was about to snap in two, like he was scared or something. Just like All Might had come to his aid, everyone else came too. The fact that they felt the need to monitor him, to keep tabs on his comings and goings and doings... fuck, it's enough to cut him to his core.

To the far right, he can see the sparking, electric-hot green energy of That Idiot. That fucking idiot, Deku. His stupid friends -- the one with engines for legs and Uraraka, and they're all three of them braced and ready to dive headfirst into a situation that’s killed someone older, stronger and more experienced than them. Bakugo cusses. The noise is sharp and sudden, and the gooey hands wind around his wrist again and tug, trying to keep his attention away from them. Trying to spare them his ego, more like it.

He rises, ready to get in between the idiot Deku-squad and this villain, this thing that keeps calling his name in reverence, hungry and sickly sweet like it'll love him to death, and he's never felt so scared in his life. It's growing louder and louder, faster and faster as it begins to close the gap between them, rising in some victorious, needy crescendo. And that’s when he sees Kirishima move -- Kirishima's nothing but red and sharp angles, sharp teeth gritted and prepared for the worst ( -- prepared to die ), moving forward because that, right there, that’s what a hero does. Especially when all odds are against them. And it's because of him ( damn him, damn him, damn him ), that Bakugo decides.

“This?” He announces angrily, “this fucking sucks.”

And he takes the nasty, squishy appendage reaching for his, and that's when things just -- they just go.