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16. Crumbling Foundations

I don't need a successor, only willing hands to accept the torch for a new generation.

-Billy Graham

The next two days continued in much the same way, though Kan varied Izuku and Shinso's training slightly. One day, they practiced how to take a fall. Another day, they practiced how to read an opponent's body language to avoid or soften a blow. Shinso started arriving just as early as Izuku to complete the training regime. It was obvious he found it incredibly punishing, and Izuku encouraged him.

"It was really hard when I started too," He told Shinso as the other boy lay on the ground, his jump rope in a tangled pile beside him. He was gasping for breath, clearly at his limit. "But it gets easier. Not...not for a long time. But it does."

"Good to hear," Shinso gasped. "I think...I think my mistake there was trying to keep up with you. Did you know you're a monster? Seriously, you look like you've got some sort of muscle quirk. It's ridiculous."

Izuku blushed. "Um, well, I mean, anyone can get to this point. It just takes hard work."

"And my dear boys, I'm so glad to hear that you're willing to put forth the effort!" a cheery voice boomed.

Izuku jumped to attention and Shinso staggered upright. "All Might!"

"Yes, it's me!" All Might laughed, his grin sparkling under the bright lights in the gym as he strode in, cape swirling behind him. "But I also brought a friend! Kan's busy today, Aizawa's not recovered yet, and as for me, well, I'm afraid that teaching has made me so busy I barely have time to work as a hero!"

All Might threw his head back and laughed. Then he planted his fists on his hips leaning forward. "But you won't be without an instructor today! Togata! Come on out!"

"They do seem like they're working hard!"

Izuku and Shinso glanced around for the source of the voice, but saw nothing.

"Down here!"

Both of them blinked, then looked down. A smiling face was peaking out of the gym floor. Izuku let out a startled squawk and jumped back, while Shinso frowned. "What are you doing down there? And who are you?"

A naked boy a few years older than then suddenly popped up out of the ground. "I'm Mirio Togata! Third year student and-whoops! Be right back!"

Without warning, the boy fell through the floor. Izuku could only stare after him, wide eyed. "I didn't know he could do that…"

"Ha ha! Togata can do a lot of things!" All Might chuckled. "But, well, he does sometimes forget how to control that quirk of his when he gets excited."

The door to the gym opened to reveal Togata, now pulling on a shirt as he hopped into his shoes. "Sorry about that! I was just so excited to meet you both, I fell right out of my clothes! I guess you could say, we 'barely' got to know one another!"

Izuku looked back and forth between All Might and Togata, who were laughing together, his mouth opened slightly in confusion. Shinso, however, was groaning and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "It's too early for puns…"

"Well you know what they say," All Might chuckled, slapping Togata on the back. "There's nothing like a good pun!"

"And that one was nothin' like one!" Togata guffawed. He and All Might shared another laugh, and Izuku managed a nervous giggle. Shinso just looked bored.

"Right, well, I'm off then!" All Might declared. "You two are in capable hands! Togata, well, he's sort of my sidekick, you know."

"He's your sidekick?!" Izuku and Shinso asked together, shocked.

"But All Might, you never take sidekicks!" Izuku said, feeling totally bamboozled. "Not since Sir Nighteye!"

"What makes him so special?" Shinso asked, now seriously studying Togata. "Is his quirk super powerful?"

"Nope!" Togata said cheerily. He winked at All Might. "Well, it wasn't, until Mr. All Might showed me just how to up my game! Let me tell you, it was a 'hair raising' experience!"

All Might laughed again, this time wiping a tear from his eye. "That's what I love about you, Togata! You always bring a smile to my face!" Then, the great hero turned suddenly serious. "Listen, boys. Midoriya...well, you already know. Shinso. Prepare yourself."

"For what?" Shinso asked. Suddenly, All Might transformed, into the gangly, almost skeletal and sunken eyed man Izuku had seen once before. Shinso let out a cry of horror and shock, taking half a step back. "W-w-who are you? W-what did you do to All Might?"

All Might, or at least the shadow of All Might, spread his hands, his voice now rough and somber. "This is me, kid. I wanted to show you two something before I left. Izuku's already seen it, but I think he needs a reminder."

Togata nodded, growing grim himself. "Being a Hero...it's a hard job. I know that. I've seen...well, I'm not as experienced as All Might or Sir Nighteye, but I've seen some things that remind me why the world needs heroes."

"The truth is, I'm not going to be All Might for much longer," All Might said quietly. "I'm going to end up just being Mr. Yagi. And, well, that time isn't too far off."

Izuku felt tears trickle down his face, and he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. He'd seen All Might like this before, and frankly, he'd tried to forget about it. Even when he'd resented All Might for what he said, he had still thought of him as an invincible hero. One who was a little tone deaf and cruel, but still, a great hero.

"That's impossible," Shinso whispered. "You're All Might. You...you have to be...you can't just..."

"I have to retire, Shinso. I've been in this game for a long time. And...there were consequences." Once more, All Might lifted up his shirt, revealing the massive scar. "I told Izuku once he couldn't be a hero. It wasn't because I thought he wasn't a good person, or even because I didn't like him. It's because...well, I didn't want him to end up like this, or worse. And I honestly thought that without a quirk, that's exactly how he'd end up."

"Why...why are you telling us this?" Shinso asked, looking as sick as Izuku felt.

"Because that's where you come in." All Might walked over, kneeling and putting a hand on both boy's shoulders. "I might not be the Number 1 Hero for much longer. But...I'm here at UA to find my replacements." He glanced at Togata and smiled. "Togata's my greatest hope for the man who will take my place."

Togata nodded, tears in his own eyes. "I'll do my best, sir. I swear. You won't regret what you've given me."

"I know." All Might turned back to the two other boys. "But there needs to be others. I tried to be society's pillar. But I'm just flesh and blood. That pillar can and is crumbling. So I need to find more to take its place. To help Togata, and the other pro heros. And I think you two are going to be a part of that legacy. I can feel it. So I'm rooting for you. Make it into the Hero Course. And I'll do everything in my power to help. You know where my office is. If you have questions, if you just want to talk...come by sometime. I'll pass on what wisdom I can. And when I can't, Togata will be there to help fill in the gaps. He might only be a couple years older than you, but you could learn a lot from him. And I think you have something to teach him in return. So, I'm leaving you three together. There will be others, I hope, other bright heroes. And I-"

"Izuku!" the door banged open, and a grinning Mei strode in. "Hey, All Might! Izuku, are you a hero yet? Did All Might give you the Number 1 spot? This is earlier than I planned, but I think with a few upgrades-"

"What?!" All Might gasped, spinning around. "How, how did you-How did you know?'

Mei frowned at All Might. "Know what?"

"That...that I was All Might," the frail man stammered.

"You're wearing the same clothes. And you have the same eyes. And the hair's the same." Mei cocked her head to one side. "Are you not All Might? Sometimes people's faces confuse me."

"No, I am, I just...look, you can't tell anyone about this. Not yet," All Might said.

"Tell people what? That you're training Izuku?" Mei asked, confused. "But you're a teacher here. Shouldn't you be helping Izuku? Don't you want me to tell people you're doing your job?"

"Um, no. Nevermind. You can tell people that. Just not that I look...like this," All Might said. He glanced at the boys. "The same goes for you."

"I never told anyone," Izuku swore. "And I'll keep it that way."

"No one would believe me anyway," Shinso said, sounding and looking shaken to the core. "And..and I'm not sure I believe it. Or want to believe it."

"Believe it. Because I expect you to be the ones to take my place." All Might coughed and grimaced. "I do have to go. Togata, take care of them."

"Yes sir!" Togata vowed. Then he glanced at Mei. "Um, do you want to be a hero too?"

"Nope!" Mei said, smiling and shaking her head as All Might left the room. "I'm here to collect data!"

"Data?" Togata looked unsure. "We're not going to be doing math or anything. I'm going to teach these guys how to spar."

"Yes, that data. The fighting. I need to know what sort of gear Izuku needs! And to do that, I have to observe him in the field!" Mei said, grinning widely. "He's not very good about being honest about how amazing he is. He needs to be more like me that way."

"Ah! Well, um, the more the merrier!" Togata said, smiling. "And feel free to join in! I saw your fight with Bakugo. You could use some tips on fighting yourself!"

"I already got the best one. Don't get in anymore fights, and if I do, call Izuku," Mei said seriously. "He's a lot better at them."

Togata threw his head back and laughed. "That's great! I think we'll get along fine! Hatsume, right? Well, alright. Time to get started, you two! Now, the basics of fighting. You've learned how to get hit, how to not get hit, and how to get back up. Well, now it's time to learn the most important part! How to hit the other guy before he hits you!"

As it turned out, Togata was just as brutal a trainer as Kan ever was, though he did it with a much more upbeat attitude. He was absolutely merciless when it came to striking at Izuku and Shinso whenever he thought they weren't hitting hard enough, and he was certainly not shy about demonstrating his power with his punches and kicks, either.

"Damn, you're nearly as bad as Midoriya," Shinso complained, rubbing a fresh bruise on his arm where he'd tried to block one of Togata's blows. "You both must have some sort of strength enhancing quirk!"

"I'm not even using it right now!" Togata laughed. "You just need to learn how to take a punch!"

"I thought you had a phasing quirk?" Izuku asked, feeling confused.

"Well, let's see if I can phase through your punch! Come on Midoriya, like you mean it! Pretend I just said Mei was ugly!"

That made Izuku angry enough that he really did put all the force he could into his punch, though Togata did just go intangible so that Izuku stumbled through him.

"Well, you meant that one! But don't tuck your thumb in! And don't swing your elbow so wildly! You waste the force of the blow!" Togata counseled. Then he looked down. "Whoops! Sorry, Hatsume!"

"I really should make you some underwear," Mei commented. "And don't worry, I know you were just pretending. I don't think I'm that pretty anway."

"But you are!" Izuku protested.

Mei grinned. "See, you really are my boyfriend! That's the sort of thing a boyfriend is supposed to say!"

"Am I seriously the only sane one here?" Shinso complained.

"Probably! Don't worry, we'll fix that before long. It's much more fun being insane!" Togata laughed, hurriedly putting his pants back on.

Just then the bell rang. "Whoops! Ran out of time. Well, Mr. Kan will be with you guys the rest of the week. I'll just be seeing you on Thursdays, or whenever else they need me to fill in. Better hurry to class! And work on those punches!" Togata hobbled off, still trying to get his pants on.

"Dammit, we don't even have time to shower!" Shinso groaned.

"Oh well, I guess we'll shower later," Mei said.

Shinso looked at her with a horrified expression. Mei frowned. "I remember to use the girls' showers. Usually."

"I remind her when she forgets," Izuku assured Shinso. "Usually she does remember though."

"Only sane man," Shinso sighed. "Oh well. Guess my classmates will have something new to complain about."

"Just ignore it," Mei said. "And find someone like Izuku in your class who likes you even when you do forget to shower!"

"I'll try," Shinso said dryly. "But I'm afraid I'm more into girls."

"Just find one with no nose! Then you'll be fine. Come on Izuku! I don't care if you smell. I kind of like it, it reminds me of when we're making our babies! Oh, let's hurry to class! I'll ask Mr. Maijima if we can spend homeroom working on the Power Suit. I've got a big list of upgrades I want to try!"

"I think he'll let us, he said he missed you," Izuku said, picking up his backpack and hurrying out the door with Mei.

"Really?"

"Yeah, he said it was too quiet. No one's exploded anything all week."

"Ha! That is funny, because I do explode things! Come on, maybe we can find a missile for you to explode too!"

Shinso watched the pair go, shaking his head in bafflement. "And people think I'm strange. Those two don't even have their quirks as an excuse."

Life soon settled into a steady rhythm once again. It was hard on Izuku, constantly training, but with Mei there most days to watch him, he tried his absolute hardest. Mr. Aizawa recovered, and began training Shinso in his capture weapon, while he taught Izuku how to identify and categorize quirks quickly.

"Your idea in the Sports Festival to have different systems to counter different quirks is a good one," he told Izuku and Mei. "But you won't always have the luxury of a dossier on your opponent's abilites. By all means, when you do have one, use it to the fullest. But know how to quickly identify what a quirk is, and what it does. There are subtle differences too. Just because someone's quirk shoots water doesn't mean you know what it does. Do they make the water? Do they collect moisture from the air? Use what's in their bodies? It's vital to know. Because that's how you can shut them down, and stop them."

"Right," Izuku said, nodding. "I've collected a lot of data on quirks over the years. I, um, well, I made notebooks, with pages on people's quirks and how they used them and stuff."

"That's an excellent habit," Mr. Aizawa told him. "Now, I'm going to show you some footage. Look at the person's quirk in the video, and tell me how you'd counter it, or stop them before they could use it. There isn't just one right answer, but some are better than others. Mei, you watch too. Think of devices that could better stop them."

"Got it! I'll find a super cute baby for each of them!" Mei vowed.

"Of course you will. Now, Shinso, for you, we'll work on the capture weapon again. Remember, different quirks call for different styles. I have a mutant quirk. What do you do?"

"Striking serpent style!" Shinso called, flicking out the capture weapon. He swore when it didn't quite land as he wanted.

Aizawa however, just nodded, then flicked his own capture weapon. "Good. But it's more like this."

And so it went. Izuku and Mei soon developed half a dozen new kinds of missiles. One delivered a net, made of various materials, to ensnare their foes. Another sprayed out a huge volume of foam that rapidly solidified, while others delivered an EMP charge to take out electronics, tear gas and pepper spray to debilitate opponents, and one that let out a piercing sonic shriek to deafen and confuse foes, especially those with quirks that enhanced their senses.

All that while the physical training continued. That was in addition to sessions on First Aid, rescue training, and quirk coaching. Interestingly, Izuku's "quirk" coaching came from Mr. Maijima, who helped him and Mei come up with practical improvements to the design of the Power Suit, as well as some of their other devices. Shinso on the other hand mostly worked with Mr. Aizawa, who's quirk was similar in that it had no direct combat capability, but could be used to tactically control the battlefield.

Somehow during all this, Izuku and Mei also found time to help their new friends as well with their gear. Ashido came by for help with her costume, as did several other members of the Hero Course. Mei was happy to make Ashido a tank that could store her acid, then put it in grenades for her to throw, or shoot it out in a powerful stream. Kaminari got his electrical capacitor, and other improvements were made for various students.

The most embarrassing thing they made though, was the underwear for Togata. It turned out that it had to incorporate fibers from his hair, which Izuku dutifully collected. Then he and Mei had to weave a special set of underwear, which Togata also requested be able to withstand high amounts of friction.

"I've torn my costume a few times and Mr. Maijima's been yelling at me that I'm too hard on it now," Togata explained, laughing as he rubbed the back of his head. "I think my new style's been putting too much strain on the fabric. Um, maybe if you made it able to take more rapid movement? You know, from rubbing together."

"High friction resistance? We did something like that for Sato and Iida in 1A," Izuku said. "Mei, do you think we can manage that with the hair fibers?"

"Of course! We'll need to weave it with a special synthetic I derived from nylon, but it will be super cute! Now, hold still so I can measure you," Mei said, advancing with outstretched hands and making Togata blush and cover himself.

"Um, maybe I should do this one Mei," Izuku said, blushing. "It, um, might bother Togata to have someone else's girlfriend touch him...there."

Through it all though, a niggling thought tickled in the back of Izuku's mind. All Might was retiring. His time as the Symbol of Peace, the pillar of Hero Society, was nearly at an end. Izuku did want to be a hero, he truly longed to save others as All Might did, to be someone that others could look to for inspiration. To say to the world: "You Too Can Be A Hero" whether they had a strong quirk or not.

But could Izuku live up to that legacy? There were new threats abroad in the world. The Hero Killer Stain stalked the streets, slaying seemingly at random. The League of Villains had attacked UA itself, and were still at large. To be a hero would be to defy that. Could Izuku and Mei do it? It was something they would have to find out, one way or another.