Self Discovery

Bakugo and his friends were bullying Izuku again. Then Bakugo said something that set Tora off and she told him off which made him angry. But right as he was about to strike her, she transformed into a Bengal tiger and finally put him in his place like she promised nearly a decade ago. After Bakugo scrambled out of the classroom, Izuku just stood there with his mouth hanging open. He congratulated Tora on finally getting her quirk and thanking her for sticking up for him yet again. He approached her and hugged her, burying himself in her soft fur. Being a tiger was cool and all, but there was a problem that came with it.

"Umm Izuku?" She said as he continued to hold onto her, rubbing his face against her warm fur.

"Mmm so soft... Huh? What? Oh, sorry. Yeah Tora?" Izuku said as he awkwardly let go of her.

"I'm not quite sure how to turn back into a human again." Tora said as she sat back upon her haunches.

"We're gonna have to think about that later. We have to leave before the school closes or we'll get locked in. Let's walk home together. We can try to solve the problem on the way there." Izuku said as he grabbed his and Tora's backpacks and lead the way out of the classroom with her following right behind him towards the nearest exit. Right as they passed in front of the main school entrance, a poster on the double glass doors caught Izuku's attention. He suddenly stopped to take a look at it, causing Tora to bump into him and almost knock him over because she was much bigger than him as a tiger. In her human form she was smaller than Izuku. He was 166 cm (5'5") tall and weighed about 56 kg (123 lbs). As a human, Tora was 158 cm (5'2") tall and weighed 54 kg (119 lbs). But in her Bengal tiger form, she stood 100 cm (3'3") tall at the shoulder but weighed 181 kg (400 lbs). If she were to stand on her hind legs, she would be 244 cm (8'0") tall.

"Sorry Izuku." Tora apologized to the fluffy green haired male who was intensely studying the poster on the school entrance doors. He turned to face her and smiled.

"It's fine, don't worry about it Tora. It's not like it was your fault anyways. I did stop out of the blue without a warning after all." Izuku said before going back to reading the poster. Tora was starting to get curious about the poster that caught her best friend's attention so suddenly like that. So she took a peek at it too. It was was an ad announcing the Aldera Junior High Third Year Dance that was taking place tonight. Every year, Aldera Junior High held a school dance on the last Thursday of the first month of the school year for third year students. Since Tora and Izuku were both in their last year of middle school, they could attend. After both of them were done reading the details on the poster, they continued their walk home. About a minute of silence went by until Izuku spoke up.

"Can I ask something of you Tora?" Izuku asked his best friend who was still in her tiger form. Tora tilted her head to the side and gave him a puzzled look.

"Yeah...? What is it Izuku?" She responded, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. She was hoping for him to ask her out to the dance.

"Can I ride on your back?" Izuku asked with childish enthusiasm, his eyes sparkling with anticipation of her answer. She looked at him funny then sighed in slight disappointment.

"Fine, I suppose you can." She gave Izuku permission while rolling her eyes nonchalantly. He wasted no time and climbed onto her back. He was so light, it amazed her. But then again, She was a big strong tiger. As Tora walked home with Izuku happily perched upon her back, they both talked and laughed about how scared Bakugo and his buddies were when she turned into a tiger. People gave the two of them weird looks as they passed by, but they didn't care.

"So Tora, how did you turn into a tiger in the first place?" Izuku asked as they arrived around the corner from their apartment building. Tora thought for a minute to recall the instance then told him exactly what happened when she first activated her quirk.

"Well I don't know exactly. I just closed my eyes and imagined myself as a Bengal tiger. And the next thing I knew, you, Katsu, and his lackeys were all acting strange. Then I realized I had turned into a tiger." Tora said as Izuku thought for a moment. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers like he got an idea. He slid off from Tora's back and walked around in front of her and stopped, facing her. She had to stop in her tracks to avoid bumping into him again.

"That's it! You turned into a tiger because you imagined yourself as a tiger. So, to turn back into a human again, try imagining yourself as a human." Izuku suggested as Tora's eyes lit up.

"You know, that just might work. Thanks Izuku!" She said as she playfully tackled Izuku to the ground and rubbed her large furry head against his face. She got off of him and stepped back, closed her eyes and imagined herself as a human. When she opened her eyes, she saw Izuku looking off to the side towards the ground with an obvious blush on his face.

"So did it work?" Tora asked Izuku as he stood up, not breaking eye contact with the ground. He completely avoided looking in her direction. Although, he was very tempted to stare at her nude body. He was a straight teenage male after all. But he didn't want to intrude on his best friend's privacy.

"Yeah it did, but you're um... completely naked." He said, gesturing towards her. She looked down and screamed, diving into the bushes nearby that lined the perimeter of someone's yard. Only her head stuck out as she blushed profusely from embarrassment.

"How much did you see?" Tora frantically asked Izuku who finally looked at her, knowing that she was covered. He approached her, taking off his uniform blazer and held it out to her.

"I-I only saw you for a split second. I looked away quickly, so I didn't really see anything. I promise I wasn't able to commit anything to memory. Here you can wear this. We're almost home. You'll be able to change when you get inside your apartment. You can return my blazer once you're done changing." Izuku said, offering Tora his blazer.

'Aww he's such a gentleman. So cute!' Tora thought to herself. She sighed with relief and thanked him, taking it from his hands. He turned around to give her privacy as she put it on. It was a little big on her, reaching just below her ass, thankfully. Izuku handed Tora her backpack and she carried it from that point on. After they said goodbye and parted ways to their apartments next door to one another, Tora ran to her bedroom where she put down her backpack and took off Izuku's blazer. But before she got dressed, she decided to experiment with her newly acquired quirk a bit so she didn't ruin anymore clothes. She stood in front of her full length mirror and closed her eyes, imagining herself as bald eagle. She opened her eyes and in the mirror stood her reflection as a bald eagle. Flapping her wings, she took off and flew around her room. She also noticed her eyesight drastically improved.

"This is awesome!" Tora said as she landed and tried turning into a black cat next. Sure enough, she became a cat as dark as night. Next, she tried turning into an orange tabby cat. Her black fur was replaced with orange stripe-patterned fur. Then she tried partially transforming into an animal. She imagined she was human but had the ears, tail and paws of a golden retriever. She watched as her ears morphed into larger furry blonde dog ears, her hands and feet transformed into dog paw-like versions of them covered in golden blonde fur. And a tail with silky blonde fur sprouted from right above her ass. Tora then got a new idea. She tried turning herself into a wolf/human hybrid. Gray fur grew all over her body and her face morphed and elongated into a wolf snout, her teeth taking on the tooth structure of a wolf. Her golden retriever ears morphed into wolf ears and oriented themselves more towards the top of her head, the shape of her pawed hands and feet shifted closer to wolf-like proportions but still remained similar to a human. And her golden retriever tail transformed into a bushy gray wolf tail. Her posture and overall proportions were still human-like, but she was clearly a wolf.

"It seems that I can control how animal-like my appearance is." Tora noted out loud as she tried taking on the three forms as a couple different animal species from each major group that she hadn't tested out yet such as reptiles, amphibians, marine and freshwater aquatic animals, and the six major categories of invertebrates. Some animal forms required her to be in either the bathtub or her 757 liter (200 gallon) saltwater aquarium. When shifting into aquatic animals that breathed using gills, she could breathe perfectly fine both in and out of water in her demi-human and anthropomorphic forms. But when she was in her full body form, she had to remain submerged underwater in order to breathe. She also tried altering the sizes of the animal species for the three different forms since she knew that adult animals varied size within a defined range as well as wanting to figure out what her size limitations were. She also tried transforming into different life stages of animals that go through metamorphosis. There were a few things she noticed from these experiments. In her demi-human and anthropomorphic forms, her proportions remained about the same as her base human form. But in her full body form, her size could range from the record smallest to record largest for that species. From her life cycle experiments, she discovered she couldn't transform into dormant pupal stages regardless of species. She also couldn't take any form of life stage preceding hatching/birth which made complete sense.

"This is so cool! I wonder if I can turn into a male animal. Some animals differ greatly in appearance and abilities between males and females." Tora noted out loud as she attempted to transform into a male lion. And sure enough, she was a maned lion. She checked her nether regions to see if she had actually swapped genders. Nope, she was female. But she had the appearance of a male animal. Once more, she tested this theory and transformed into a white tail buck with impressive antlers and checked herself again. Yep, she was still female.

"Hmm, looks like I can only take on the appearance of a male animal but not the anatomical reproductive structures of one. Ooh! It'd be pretty cool to morph into mythical creatures." Tora said to herself with a new idea. She tried to transform into a pegasus, a fire breathing dragon, and a kitsune fox spirit in all three forms. However, all her attempts failed.

"Damn, this limitation is a bit of a let down. But this quirk is still awesome!" Tora said as she started reviewing what she had gone over with her quirk experiments.

"Let's see here. So far I've tested out the different forms I can take, figured out that no animals are off limits except for fictional ones, found out what the size limitations for each form are, discovered the ability to appear in different color variations of said species, experimented with gender related appearances for species with sexual dimorphism, and learned what my limitations are with transforming into different life stages of animals including ones with metamorphic life cycles. I've only tested these things by shifting into animals that are still around today or not real at all. I wonder if I can transform into animals that are extinct." Tora thought out loud. She tried to change into a velociraptor in each form, but nothing happened just like when she tested the waters with her quirk to shift into mythical creatures. She knew that velociraptors went extinct approximately 70 million years ago.

"Well that didn't work. But they have been gone long before humans even walked the earth. I wonder if I can shift into animals that have gone extinct more recently." Tora said as she tried to transform into a North Island snipe in her three forms, but was unsuccessful in turning into the bird. She knew its last sighting was back in 1870, but it hadn't been officially declared extinct by the IUCN yet. Tora was a super zoology nerd. She seemed to know just about everything when it came to animals whether they were extinct or still in existence. Being a walking animal encyclopedia would really come in handy with her quirk.

"It seems that I can't turn into animals that are extinct either. That's a bummer. I'm kind of disappointed that I won't be able to transform into something like a saber toothed cat. But maybe I can shift into animal species that's extinct in the wild, but is still alive in captivity." Tora said as she tried to morph into a scimitar-horned oryx. That attempt was successful and she was able to take on all three forms. From the previous nine transformation attempts for those three species, she concluded that she couldn't take any form of any animal species that were completely extinct. After that, she was done experimenting for now. She wanted to surprise Izuku with her new found abilities and ask him out to the school dance. She put on a heather dark brown t-shirt with yellow Japanese characters on the right side and matching heather dark brown work out shorts bordered with same yellow color as the Japanese characters on her shirt. Then she went to go find her father since it was his day off today. Her mother was still at work. She was a busy woman. Being the corporate manager at a hero costume support company exclusively hired by U.A. High wasn't for the fainthearted. Tora found her father sitting on the couch in the living room watching the news channel on TV.

"Hey Dad? Where's that genuine preserved rose boutonnière you wore at yours and Mom's wedding? I need to borrow it." Tora asked her father who paused the TV and turned to her, giving her a puzzled look.

"What do you need it for, Tora?" He asked his daughter as he raised one of his eyebrows slightly.

"I want to go ask Izuku out to the school dance tonight." Tora said excitedly as she bounced up and down like an excited hyper little kid. Her dad paused to think about it for a brief moment before giving her an answer.

"I see. Sure, go ahead. It's inside a glass display case in the top drawer of our dresser. Please be careful with it." He said as he unpaused the TV and went back to watching the news program.

"Don't worry, I will." Tora said as she went to her parents' bedroom to fetch the boutonnière. Then she went back to her bedroom where she left Izuku's uniform blazer. She stuffed the boutonnière into one of the button holes. Then she turned into a border collie and grabbed the blazer with her mouth, the boutonnière tucked tightly in one of its button holes, and rushed past the living room to the front door. Out of the corner of his eye, Tora's dad saw a black and white dog wearing Tora's clothes get up on its hind legs, open the door and dash out the doorway. Her father had to do a double take.

"So you finally got your quirk, my little Tora. As I thought, you weren't quirkless. You were just a late bloomer." Her dad chuckled to himself, relieved knowing that his daughter's goal to become a pro hero was now within reach. Tora got to Izuku's place and stood up on her hind legs to push the doorbell button with her paw. Izuku's mother answered the door and saw her in her border collie dog form wearing a t-shirt and workout shorts with her son's blazer in her mouth.

"Why hello there puppy! How did you end up with this?" Izuku's mom said as she knelt down and pet Tora on the head, not realizing it was her. Tora set Izuku's uniform blazer down and spoke.

"Inko-san, it's me Tora. I just got my quirk today!" Tora announced as she transformed back into her human form which surprised Izuku's mother.

"Oh my, congratulations Tora-chan! Sorry I didn't recognize you." She said excitedly as she hugged Tora.

"It's okay. Other than my heterochromia, there aren't any other visibly notable characteristics to distinguish me from other animals in my full body form. Anyways, is Izuku home right now?" Tora said to her as she shook her head no.

"He said he was going back to the school to go look for his notebook. Is there something you needed from him?" Izuku's mother asked Tora who sighed.

"Actually, I wanted to ask him if he would like to go to the Aldera Junior High Third Year Dance with me. It's tonight." Tora said, her voice laced with disappointment as she lowered her head.

"Unfortunately you just missed him, I'm sorry. He should be back soon though. I'll let him know you stopped by and tell him to go see you when he gets back. I'll keep you updated, okay?" Izuku's mom said as Tora nodded. She picked up Izuku's blazer and removed her dad's boutonnière from it. Then Tora gave her Izuku's blazer back. She headed back home next door to return the boutonnière back to its original place until Izuku got back.

~Time Skip~

It had been about an hour and a half since Tora stopped by Izuku's place when suddenly her cellphone rang. She checked the screen to see who it was. The name of Izuku's mother showed up as the caller ID. Tora tapped the answer icon and held the phone up to her ear. She spoke immediately before Tora even had a chance to say anything.

"Tora, it's been quite a while since Izuku left. He's still not home and I'm really worried about him. He's not answering any of my texts or calls. I think he might be in trouble!" Izuku's mother said frantically, her voice laced with worry. A sense of dread filled Tora deep within. But it wasn't triggered by the bad news she was urgently informed of alone. The fact that Izuku's mom didn't call her Tora-chan is what officially raised the red flag. She always used honorifics when referring to her. There were only a couple exceptions. Those things being important announcements/news or if there was something very wrong going on.

"I'll go looking for him right now!" Tora told Izuku's mother who thanked her. She hung up and stuffed her cellphone into her pocket as she dashed out the door. She shifted into her full body eagle form, shrinking in size. Her clothes fell off around her

"Crap! I don't want a repeat of what happened before." Tora said as she briefly recalled the embarrassing moment from earlier today with Izuku when she turned back into a human from a tiger. She quickly shifted into an anthropomorphic bald eagle. With her clothes fitting again, she took off to the sky to search the city for Izuku. Her vision wasn't as good in this form (approximately 20/10) as it was in her full bodied eagle form (roughly 20/5), but it was still much better than it was in her human form (exactly 20/20). So she concluded that her abilities as an animal species was better/stronger the more animal-like the form she took on was. This form allowed for her to wear her clothes while still giving her exceptional vision and allowed her to get a bird's eye view of the city so she could scan a much larger area all at once. Suddenly, she heard a loud explosion and a large pillar of smoke formed in the distance.

'Looks like there's another villain-related event going on over there. Knowing Izuku, he'd want to go check it out to gather more hero data.' Tora thought to herself as she flew in the direction of the smoke to investigate it. But with her enhanced vision, she didn't need to get that much closer to see exactly what was going on. She could see a group of pro heroes trying their best to deal with the situation involving a murky green slime monster at the center of the flaming shopping district. It managed to captured someone and it was smothering them as they struggled and made explosions. Aaand that was the dead give away, along with the spiky blonde hair and deep red irises. Bakugo was the hostage. Not gonna lie, Tora did feel a bit bad for the dude. He'd already gotten his long overdue dose of defeat which was administered by her earlier. And now he was being overpowered again for the second time today, but this time as an actual victim. Suddenly, the person she was looking for caught her attention.

"There he is!" Tora said as she spotted Izuku rushing past the crowd, sprinting towards the slime monster to save Bakugo. When he reached him, he desperately clawed at the living mass of gunk and tried to help him, but it was futile. Then something else caught her eye that took her by surprise. A very skinny man with messy yellow hair, wearing baggy clothing bulked up into the unmistakable form of the number one hero, All Might, and charged into action. With one punch, he defeated the viscous villain and created a vortex that lasted for a few seconds. The vortex drew in clouds from the surrounding area, condensing them together. It started to rain once it dissipated. Tora swooped down and landed just inside the crime scene borderline and walked towards Izuku who was receiving an earful from Death Arms and Kamui Woods for his reckless behavior. Bakugo on the other hand was a couple meters away, getting praised by Slugger and another hero Tora didn't recognize from the scene. They complimented him on how tough he was to be able to hold his own for as long as he did. The unknown hero even invited him to become his sidekick for when he started training to become a pro.

'Great, just what Katsu needs: a confidence boost. The dude already has an ego big enough to compensate for everyone in Japan! Maybe even the entire world!' Tora thought to herself sarcastically, only half joking about the ego part. She stayed in her anthro eagle form as she walked up to Izuku and the pro heroes that were lecturing him.

"You know, you should at least recognize him for his bravery which was extraordinary. Especially considering the fact that he doesn't even possess a quirk. Izuku may be quirkless, but he definitely has the heart, instincts, and values of a true hero." Tora interrupted as she approached the two pro heroes who were in the middle of reprimanding Izuku. The group paused and looked in her direction to see who had just interrupted them. Tora stopped before them in her anthro eagle form. She placed her hands on her hips as she frowned at the pros disapprovingly.

"Excuse me, you know this young man?" Kamui Woods asked Tora, gesturing towards Izuku who stared at her in confusion. He didn't know that she could turn into any nonfictional non-extinct animal of her choice. Nor did he know that she could take on three different forms. But he had a feeling this eagle woman was his best friend. Tora sighed at Kamui Woods' question.

"Were you not listening or something? Because I just referred to him by his first name. So yeah, I do know him and he knows me. That's to be expected when frequently hanging out together for a little over twelve years. I'm Hinode Tora, Midoriya Izuku's best friend and next door neighbor since early childhood." Tora introduced herself to the group of pro heroes. She then shifted from her anthro eagle form to her base human form. Izuku's face lit up the moment Tora revealed her name, confirming his suspicion. The two pro heroes that had gathered around Bakugo shifted their attentions to Tora. Quirk usage in public was illegal with a few exceptions, this not being one of them. But they were too fascinated by her quirk to scold her for using it.

"You said your name was Hinode Tora, right? You're Kitora's daughter aren't you? That's quite an impressive quirk you have there. Your father must be very proud of you." Death Arms commented.

"Actually, I haven't told him about my quirk yet. Wait, how do you know my dad?" Tora asked him. She knew her father was a pro hero, but she didn't think he was that well-known or anything. Everyone knows that the higher the rank, the higher the income. Her family lived in a simple apartment in a normal neighborhood so she assumed he wasn't highly ranked. He never talked about his rank and would always dodge the question whenever she asked him about it by saying his "famous" line: My rank is not important. What truly matters is that I help others in trouble and properly provide for my family. Izuku stumbled upon her dad's profile in a special edition of The Hero Encyclopedia - Japan published one year ago. He found out that Tora's dad, otherwise known by his hero name AniMaster, was listed as rank #145. Obviously, he had to tell his best friend about it. When he told Tora what her father's rank was, she was shocked. His rank was much higher than she thought it was.

"The real question is how has anyone not heard of Hinode Kitora, or should I say the Wildlife Hero: AniMaster. He's among the fastest rank climbers we've had since All Might! Man, when that guy moves up the ladder, he moves!" Death Arms responded as Tora flashed him a confused look.

"Judging by your expression, he hasn't told you." Death Arms said to Tora, making an assumption. And it was 100% accurate.

"No, he's never told me. And every time I ask him about it, he always tells me that his rank isn't important, and all that matters is that he helps people out and provides for his family. I only found out his rank thanks to Izuku here. He found my dad's profile in last year's special edition of The Hero Encyclopedia - Japan. He was rank #145." Tora revealed as she gestured towards Izuku when she mentioned his name. Death Arms laughed heartily.

"What a humble man! He has a good heart. Don't tell your father I told you this or that you even know. But between you and me, he's rank #37 as of now." He started off loudly, then lowered his voice down almost to a whisper as he leaned down and told Tora the secret. A look of shock washed over her face as well as Izuku's. He overheard what Death Arms said. Her dad was ranked among the top 50 pro heroes in Japan now.

"Say, do you want to become a pro hero like your dad?" Death Arms asked Tora whose face beamed brightly.

"Yes, of course! It's been my dream job ever since I was little. I've made it my ultimate lifetime goal to become a pro hero. Becoming a pro is Izuku's life goal too. Actually if it weren't for him, it would've probably remained just a pipe dream and never turned into an actual goal." Tora said as she wrapped her arm around Izuku's torso and quickly pulled him in up against her which made him blush slightly. Death Arms laughed amusingly.

"Seems like you guys are as close as two peas in a pod! Well Hinode, with an awesome quirk granting the ability to transform into an eagle/human hybrid, I'm sure you'll go far." He responded. Tora sighed and shook her head before she revealed what her quirk was really capable of.

"That's not exactly what my quirk does. That was only a fraction of my quirk's abilities. I can transform into any nonfictional non-extinct animal species I desire and I have three different forms. I can fully shift anatomically into an animal of my choosing. I can also morph into an animal/human hybrid like you saw earlier. And I can partially transform, giving myself animal body parts. I call this quirk Animalistic Shift. There are more details to my quirk that I'm not going to take the time to explain right now. Besides, I still have a lot yet to learn about my quirk. I just got it today." Tora explained as she demonstrated her quirk by shifting into a full body black wolf, to a black anthro wolf, then to a black wolf demi-human, then back to her normal human form. The two pros who were still gathered around Bakugo abandoned him and flocked around Tora the moment they overheard her explaining her quirk. They were all impressed and shocked by what she had to say. Izuku was awestruck and fascinated. Bakugo, who also overheard Tora describing her quirk and saw her brief demonstration, had conflicted feelings of awe, admiration, fear, and even some new found respect. He tried to deny himself, but he was also a bit jealous. Her quirk was OP as hell. Combining her quirk with her fighting and acrobatic skills and high intelligence would make her quite formidable.

"So you're telling me that there's even more to your quirk and it just manifested today? Wait, how old are you?" Kamui Woods asked Tora.

"I'm fifteen years old. Yeah, I know that people typically develop their quirks around four years of age. I was a late bloomer." Tora revealed to them.

"You may be a late bloomer, but that quirk of yours is really something! I think it was well worth the wait." Kamui Woods responded.

"I completely agree. Getting such an incredible quirk after waiting for so long must make it so much more satisfying! I'm kind of jealous." Slugger chimed in.

"Yeah, I can tell you have really great potential. You're welcome to join my agency as a sidekick while you train to become a pro hero. I'd be absolutely thrilled to have you on my team! Hell, you may even outshine me in my own agency!" The unknown pro who had given Bakugo that same offer just moments ago invited Tora. After hearing that, Bakugo hissed out of annoyance and left the scene unnoticed. Meanwhile, Tora's phone rang and she checked the caller ID and saw that it was Izuku's mother. She excused herself from the group, Izuku following right behind her.

"Hello Inko-san... Yes, I found Izuku... Yep he's okay... Okay, we'll be back shortly. See you soon!" Tora hung up after the brief phone conversation with Izuku's mother, confirming that she had found her son and he was fine.

"That was your mom. She and I were really worried about you after you had been gone for a considerable amount of time. You can tell me what happened on the flight home." Tora said to Izuku who looked at her with confusion.

"Flight home?" Izuku said in a puzzled tone as he tilted his head to the side. Tora shifted into the anthro eagle form she arrived in. She gently but firmly grabbed him by the waist in her talons, spread her large wings and took off to the sky.