His body felt numb as he walked towards his destination, his eyes staring straight down at the concrete below him, the only sound he could hear was the thumping of his broken heart. Izuku felt lost, broken, his hopes and dreams crushed by the one he looked up to most. Who knew that by meeting his hero, it meant his dreams would be sacrificed?

"It's an impressive quirk, that much is true. But! It's also a situational quirk. What would happen if you come across someone stuck under something that wasn't metal, such as rocks or trees? What if you were fighting a villain who didn't use metal to fight and there was no metal in your quirks reach? What if you fought a purely liquid villain such as the slime villain again? No offense, but you would be completely useless in these very real situations. It's not bad having dreams kid, but sometimes you need to be realistic."

After their talk an explosion had gone off downtown. All Might rushed to check it out, while Izuku took his time.

Izuku swallowed the bile that was building up at remembering what All Might had said. Situational? Realistic? Had he really wasted all of these years of training his mind, body, and quirk for nothing? Should he even attempt to get into UA? All Might, the greatest hero to ever exist and his personal hero, had just told him there was no point to try and be a pro. The man was number one for a reason and knew what he was talking about, so what was the point?

What would he tell his mom? What would he tell Kacchan? What would he tell Mei if they would ever meet again?

Two police cats drove past him, giving Izuku the distraction from his sudden bleak and sad reality he so desperately needed. A bunch of people, heroes included, were gathering at the end of the street. The cop cars pulled up and some officers flew out to join the crowd. Curious, Izuku walked over and pushed his way through the crowd to see what was going on.

He felt his breath catch in his throat as he saw the slime villain once again, surrounded by flames and broken structures. Multiple heroes were on the scene, some were putting out the fires or rescuing civilians, while others were attempting to fight said villain. People were murmuring all around him, talking about how scary this was or how bad they felt for the hostage.

Wait, hostage?

A scream came from the slime villains' body, as did multiple explosions, which only caused more fires to form.

"Let me go!" The hostage screamed, which made Izuku feel sick to his stomach. He knew that voice, he knew that blond hair that was sticking out of the green slime, and he knew that quirk.

It was Kacchan. He was the hostage, and he was going to die unless someone was going to do something.

Before Izuku knew what was happening, civilians and heroes alike were screaming for him to get back as he rushed through the flames towards the slime villain. His stomach dropped and he swallowed thickly, a wave of nausea and fear building up as he met the villain's eyes, but he continued running forward, determined to save his 'brother'.

He began looking around, to see if there was anything that could help him out. His eyes landed on a still standing stand with a sign that read 'LN2 Ice Cream', and on said stand was a metal container. Green energy surged at his fingertips as he pointed at the container, which too had green energy forming around it. With a wave of his hand the container was sent flying towards the villain, and ended up hitting the slime that had Bakugo trapped. The villain screamed in pain as the area where the container hit started to turn into ice.

Energy surrounded a manhole cover, and like the container Izuku sent it flying towards the villain. It made contact with the ice and broke the area, allowing the greenette to reach forward and grab onto Bakugo. Pulling with all of his might, he was able to pull Bakugo free, but sent the two falling to the ground from how much he was pulling.

"What are you doing you fucking idiot?! I'm so telling Auntie!" Bakugo screamed at his friend as they got up.

"You thank me later!" Izuku yelled as they started to run away.

They ran for about five feet before something latched onto Izuku's ankle, making him fall back down to the ground. Rolling onto his back, his eyes widened in fear when he saw it was slime that was around his ankle. His eyes met the villains once again, and he looked pissed.

"You stupid sack of meat! This time you're going to suffer!" It growled, before beginning to drag Izuku back.

The greenette tried clawing and kicking away the slime, but like earlier nothing worked. He felt someone grab under his arms and begin to pull, so he turned to see who it was.

"Get out of here you idiot! I freed you so you could getaway!" Izuku ordered as Bakugo tried pulling him back.

"I didn't ask for your help! And shut up! As soon as we get out of this, I'm making sure your fucking grounded!"

"If we get out of here!"

"Shut up and come here!" The villain screamed, sending more arms of slime flying towards them

Before any more arguing could continue, something fell from the sky in-between the kids and the villain, which kicked dust up into the air. The two shielded their eyes from the dust, and looked to see who or what had appeared.

"I really am pathetic." Their eyes widened when they saw that it was All Might who stood between them and the villain, the slime arms before were stuck across various parts of his body. "I'm sorry young Midoriya, I told you the traits to become a great champion, but I see I wasn't living up to my own idea!" He shouted, tearing the slime off of his body and grinding the slime that was attached to Izuku under his foot, cutting it.

"Pros are always risking their lives, that's the true test of a hero!"

"Damn you All Might!" The villain screamed, sending out more of his slime attacks in hopes of killing the number one hero. All Might's eyes flashed blue in anger as he sent a punch towards the villain.

"Detroit Smash!" He shouted, fist connecting with the villains' body. The slime villains' body was split apart by the force and the wind that followed. The force behind the punch formed a tornado that penetrated the sky, causing the clouds to spin. The other hero's formed shield in front of civilians to protect them.

As rain began to fall from the sky, All Might stood tall, the villain no more. Izuku and Bakugo stared up at their hero in awe, before feeling themselves hoisted up by the collar of their jackets.

"Why am I not surprised that it was you of all people to go running in like that!" A voice shouted, which made Izuku freeze in fear. Turning his head, he gave a weak chuckle and wave.

"H-Hi Mr. Death Arms."

Death Arms had been one of the trainers Inko had looked into as Izuku was growing up. She had heard he was a bit more extreme compared to others, so Inko had waited until Izuku was 12 to have the pro hero help her son. Izuku had spent two years training with him until his training was complete.

"You don't come and visit me in months and this is the greeting I get?! You nearly getting yourself killed?!" Death Arms shouted, shaking Izuku violently by his collar.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I've been really busy with s-school!"

"Oh, you're too busy to visit but not too busy to get yourself killed?!"

"I didn't-"

"I'm so having a word for your mother about this!"

Throughout this interaction Bakugo was snickering to himself, until he too was getting shook by the hero. Thus started the endless cycle of each laughing at one another as the other got shook violently.

(Hours later)

Izuku rubbed the bruise on his shoulder as he walked him, dreading to go since he knew what was waiting for him; a disappointed filled lecture and crying. Death Arms had let Bakugo go but kept Izuku around to yell at him for another 10 minutes and to call his mother. Before letting him go, Death Arms had punched Izuku, as was tradition for the two ever since their training days. Izuku got punched whenever he had annoyed or angered the pro.

"You were impressive out there; it was very heroic of you to run out there like you did to rescue your friend." A voice praised from behind. Sighing, Izuku turned to stare at the skeletal form of his hero.

Yet another reason why this was the worst day of his life; finding out what had happened to All Might. He still looked up to the man, he just felt sorry for him.

"I got lucky that liquid nitrogen tank was there. If it wasn't…god knows what truly would've happened." Izuku replied nonchalantly. On the inside he was extremely happy his hero was showing him praise, but he'd be crying tears of joy if their earlier discussion hadn't occurred.

Ice cream made with liquid nitrogen has been popular in Japan for the past five years. After the CEO of one of japans ice creams companies went traveling around the world, they brought the idea back to japan and began selling it.

"Regardless, you showed us heroes what being a hero truly means; sacrificing yourself to save someone. I watched a boy, who I told previously that he couldn't be a hero due to his quirk, rush into the fray and use said quirk to save a life. If I hadn't seen that and saw your courage, I would've been just another worthless bystander watching on the sidelines. I wanted to thank you for opening my eyes."

"I-It's nothing All Might." Izuku blushed from the praise, before it dyed down at remembering he had caused the villain to escape. "Besides, it was my fault the villain was released anyway. I should've just let you jump away and have him locked up, instead I wasted your time and energy."

"I'm not finished." All Might informed. "I-I wanted to apologize for what I had said earlier. I was wrong."

Izuku's eyes widened at that, his heart beat suddenly increased and thumped against his chest. He was admitting to being wrong? What exactly did he mean by that? What was he implying?

"Don't say that, don't lie to me like this. I-I already had my dreams crushed by you once today, I can't handle another."

"There are stories about every hero-" He continued. "- about how they became great. Almost every single one of them have one thing in common; their bodies moved before they had a chance to think."

That's exactly what had happened to Izuku. His mind had blanked after realizing it was Bakugo who had been taken hostage. He didn't think of a plan of action before charging in, he just moved, just like All Might had said.

Izuku swallowed thickly, anxious to hear what else the pro had to say. His chest felt tight, like a snake was coiling around and squeezing the life out of him. He couldn't breath as tears welled up in the corner of his eyes.

Was he going to say what Izuku thought he was going to say?

"And today, that's what happened to you. You leaped without thinking to save your friend, not to play hero or try to convince everyone you were one." All Might gave a small smile. "Young man, you too can become a hero."

(Next chapter: UA Entrance Exam)