"This has to be a dream."

"Kid?"

"Or, maybe I died and I'm in some kind of twisted hell?"

"Kiiiid?"

"Or-Or you're a clone! Or, an imposter!"

"Kid!"

"No, that's impossible. No one could recreate a Texas Smash that powerful, but the clone theory might be plausible."

Bonk

"Ow!" Izuku shouted after getting bopped on top of the head. He rubbed the area, and stared up at the skeletal man.

After latching onto All Might and flying into the air, the hero had landed on top of a building to let Izuku off. Within seconds of doing so, the hero's body started smoking, and All Might poofed into...well, not All Might.

"Sorry young man, but I wasn't able to get a word in edgewise with all your muttering," he apologized. "Before you start muttering and throwing out theories again, rest assured when I say that I am All Might."

"But All Might is 7'3 with giant muscles. And you're…well…" Izuku trailed off, gesturing to the man's body. The man chuckled, before sitting on the ground across from him.

"That is my muscled form. You're currently looking at the real me, Toshinori Yagi. And, the reason why I look like this is simple," he said with a frown, before lifting up his shirt to reveal a large and nasty scar, one that made Izuku cringe. "Pretty gross, right? I got this in a fight five years ago; my respiratory system was basically destroyed, and I lost my whole stomach. It can't be fixed, and it's a miracle I'm still alive," he explained.

"Right now, I can only do hero work for about three hours a day, and this is what I look like the rest of the time."

"Five years ago? If I remember correctly your biggest fight that year was against Toxic Chainsaw. But judging by that injury…it couldn't have been him. So it was someone else, a villain that I don't even know about."

"You know your stuff, and you're rather observant, aren't you?" All Might chuckled. "You're correct, it was done by a different villain, one the world hasn't heard of thanks to me. I've tried my best to keep their existence under wraps."

All Might went on to explain, even when scared, why he would always wear a smile when in battle. He was the symbol of peace, a beacon of light in this crazy and scary world. He needed the people to know that he was strong, and they were safe with him around.

It was a difficult job, but what wasn't difficult about being a pro? The stress and fear knowing that everyday might be your last, of knowing that with one small slip up the lives of many could be lost. People attacking and criticizing you for damages caused to the city, and to stores, homes, and livelihoods being destroyed by you. It didn't matter how many people you saved or how many villains were put behind bars because of you, to some you would always be an uncontrollable force, a mere villain. It was no wonder why you'd always hear in the news how a hero died via suicide.

This gave Izuku a lot to think about, and in a way, it made him better prepared on what he would eventually have to deal with. He knew being a pro was tough, but hearing just how tough it was coming from the number one hero himself put a lot of things into perspective.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way. This sludge villain won't take himself to jail," All Might said as he stood up.

"Wait, before I go there's something I need to ask," Izuku readied himself, finding himself reconsidering his question at All Might's confused stare. "It's just, can I be a hero, just like you? I mean my friends and mother have always said I could ever since I received my quirk, but you're my personal hero, ya know? It would mean a lot coming from you," Izuku explained, cheeks reddening from embarrassment.

"If I had a nickel," All Might chuckled under his breath. "Ok young Midoriya, show me what you've got! What's your quirk?"

"I call it 'Magnetism'. I can control metal and make myself into a magnet, if need be," Izuku explained, before looking around the roof for items to show off his power. He lucked out, as there were several paint cans and metal pipes up there with them.

Fingertips glowing green, the pipes and cans rattled until they began floating towards Izuku. They spun around him in a circle numerous times, before he forced the pipes into the roof and sat the cans on top. The pipes were implanted just enough to make them stay up, and just enough to where anyone could easily pull them out.

"At the moment I can lift one ton, and can only control ferrous metals. I'm also close to being able to crush and rip apart metal, and I'm on working on increasing how much I can lift. Unfortunately, I can't control nonferrous metals at the moment, but I've been working on it!" He exclaimed, causing the pro to nod as he followed along.

"Controlling metal does have some major advantages, especially in a city such as a construction area. And, of course if the villain you're facing is made of metal you're almost guaranteed to win the fight," All Might muttered to himself in thought. "Of course, your quirk wouldn't be the best for those moments of hand to hand in an environment where there is no metal. How do you plan to compensate?"

"A support item, sir. When I was growing up I was really into a movie franchise, and one of the heroes in it had a shield, so I was hoping to have one like his. It's uh, kind of embarrassing, isn't it?"

"Not at all my boy! Many people base an aspect of their hero costume, equipment, or name off of someone they look up to, no matter if they're real or made up. Personally I think a sword would be better, or perhaps having a sword and shield, but I can see having a shield would work wonders for someone with a quirk such as yours!" All Might gave his blinding smile with a thumbs up. "Keep on working on that quirk of yours, and I'm sure you'll make for a fantastic hero one day!"

Izuku felt a massive weight lift off of his shoulders, as he found himself finally able to breath after so long. He couldn't help but smile.

"T-Thank you All Might! You don't know how much that means!"

"Anytime young Midoriya. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take this guy to the local station. Would you mind waiting here for a few minutes after I leave? It'd be quite odd for us to leave at the same time," All Might said, causing Izuku to nod.

All Might left after that, and after about 10 minutes Izuku did as well. With his head held high, he knew nothing could ruin his day.

(15 minutes later)

As Izuku walked down the street, two police cars drove past him. 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 sludge 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 around the scene.

"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.

'Death Arms, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, and Backdraft are on the scene. Death Arms fists won't do a thing, Mt. Lady can't fit, Backdraft is taking care of the fires, and Kamui Wood is busy rescuing civilians,' Izuku thought to himself, hands clenching at his side. None of the heroes here could really do anything, and by the time a hero who could actually do something got here, Kacchan would be…would be…

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 rumbling fire hydrant that had been damaged in the fight, ready to burst. Green energy surged around his fingertips as he controlled the hydrant, bending, twisting, and eventually aiming it at the villain. He ripped the top off, causing a torrent of high powered water shooting at the villain. As Bakugo was drenched with water, it washed away some of the slime. Izuku ran ahead until he got to his friend and grabbed onto him. Pulling with all of his might, he was able to pull Bakugo free, sending the two falling to the ground.

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

"You can thank me later!" Izuku yelled, fingertips glowing green once again as a nearby dumpster glowed. Swiping his hands to the left, the dumpster rolled and slammed into the villain, cutting the upper half and causing it to fall into the dumpster.

Using the villain's entrapment to their opportunity, the two teens run away and into the heroes. Death Arms, surprised and relieved, grabbed onto them before forcing them behind his body.

The villain roared in anger as he slithered his way out of the dumpster, his two halves meshing and combining together once more. Rage filled his eyes upon seeing the green haired kid from before, and he screamed while forming several hands of sludge. He shot them towards the crowd, murder being his one and only intent.

Death Arms readied himself, intending to protect the civilians, and his 'son' no matter the cost. He felt a rush of air pass him, and all were shocked as All Might stood before them, having taken every sludge hand.

"Detroit Smash!" He shouted, fist connecting with the villains' body. The sludge 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 heroes formed a 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 Death Arms."

"You don't come and visit me in weeks 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.

(One Hour 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. Izuku jumped at the voice and turned, surprised to see the skeletal form of All Might walking up to him.

"Uh, t-thank you. My body just sort of...moved on its own," Izuku said while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"There are stories about every hero, 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. You proved that saying today, young man. I wanted to commend you personally for doing such a heroic act," All Might said, and while Izuku couldn't help but let an aching grin form, he knew this wasn't all that All Might wanted to say.

"But that's not all there is, isn't it? I doubt you tracked me down and followed me all the way here just to praise something any decent person would do."

"Observant as ever, young Midoriya. I like that." All Might said. "And, you're correct. Remember our earlier discussion, about your hand to hand problem? How you'll be at a disadvantage until you receive a solution that'll help you turn that problem into a thing of the past?"

"Of course."

"Well, what would you say if I possessed that solution, and could give it to you?" All Might asked with a smile, his mind already made up.

This would be his successor: the next Symbol of Peace!

Another chapter down, and another change y'all may have not noticed! In the OG chapter, Izuku uses frozen nitrogen to freeze the villain and save Bakugo. Buuuut I gave it some thought and decided that was a little too convenient, so I went with a fire hydrant instead. Hope y'all enjoyed!

Also I'm taking donations via kofi and is anyone is interested! just DM me and i'll tell you my email or kofi name :)

Join me next time for chapter 9!