12:50 PM, the next day. With the class rep decided, Mr. Aizawa was ready to begin our hero studies.

"For the foundational heroics skills we'll study today, it was decided you'll be supervised by a three man team, consisting of me, All Might, and one other teacher."

Mr. Aizawa raised up a small card labeled 'RESCUE'. "Rescue training. To be the hero everyone needs, whether for a flood or any other disaster.

"Rescue training, sounds right up my alley!" said Kaminari.

"Totally!' gushed Ashido, fist-pumping.

"This is what a hero's whole job is!" said Kirishima, getting all pumped. "I'm chomping at the bit!"

"If it's a flood, then that environment's my speciality, kero-kero," added Asui.

"Don't get ahead of yourselves," said Mr. Aizawa, totally killing the mood. "As I was saying, this time it's entirely up to each of you whether or not you wear your costume. Some of your costumes probably aren't adapted to the task at hand, after all. The training area is fairly far away, so we'll get there by bus. That's all. Go get prepared."

Rescue training, huh. That was certainly an aspect of heroism that my damn old man had never really bothered telling me about. Everyone got changed and headed out to the bus (except Midoriya, whose costume was still in repairs, since he'd destroyed it during combat training) with Iida giving us orders as our new rep. "In order to get everyone seated smoothly on the bus, file into two lines according to your numbers!" he yelled, blowing a whistle and swaying his hand back and forth.

Unfortunately for Iida…

"The bus's open layout ruined by boarding strategy," he moaned, sitting in the open part of the bus. I'd sat down in the very back of the bus, and within a few minutes, I'd fallen asleep, not really looking to interact with anyone.

I was awoken by the bus stopping at the gates of a big circular building with reflective panels all over. Inside, we found…

A huge theme set of mock areas, like a theme park attraction.

"A ship wreck, a landslide, a fire, etc.," said a mic-fide voice I remembered hearing dozens of times on TV. "This is a practical training area I created to simulate all kinds of accidents and disasters, and it's name is The Unforeseen Simulation joint!" said the tall Pro Hero in a spacesuit standing in front of us, who we all knew as -

"The space hero 13!" said Midoriya. "The chilvarous pro who does phenomenal work helping with disaster relief!"

"Wow, I've always liked 13!" cheered Uraraka.

Mr. Aizawa mumbled something to 13, as we all gathered around and got ready for the day ahead. "OK, well, shall we?" he said, apparently satisfied with 13's reply.

"Before we begin," said 13, holding up fingers as they spoke, "Just one thing, or two…or three…or four…"

We get it.

"I'm certain you're all already quite aware, but my quirk is called 'Black Hole'. No matter what material gets sucked into its vortex, it will turn to dust."

"That's a quirk that's perfect for removing wreckage, and saving people injured by disasters!" cheered Midoriya.

"Yes," said 13, and a sinister note suddenly came into their voice. "However, it is a power that could also easily be used to kill people. And in that way, it's no different from the quirks of everyone here. Naturally, in this society of superhumans, quirks are strictly regulated, and the requirements for their lawful use enforced. We can tell at a glance that that is the makeup of this world. That being said, please don't forget that each of you possesses a quirk that can go awry. One wrong step is all it takes to kill someone else by accident. During Mr. Aizawa's strength test, you learned your power's true potential, and during All Might's battle training, I think you took away a true sense of the danger of brandishing those powers against each other. This lesson will serve as a fresh start! Let's get to studying about how to wield our quirks for the sake of human life. Your quirks do not exist to hurt others. Please leave this exercise having fully understood that your quirks exist to help people. That is all. You have my gratitude for listening so intently and patiently!" 13 concluded with a bow.

"All right, first things first," said Mr. Aizawa - but before he could finish what he was saying, something seemed to catch his eye. Far away, by the fountain near USJ's play, some kinda of black, swirling mist had appeared out of nowhere, growing larger and larger. Suddenly, a hand came through the mist, as if it were a portal, and a face appeared within…or not a face…a guy with scraggly hair and a severed hand, covering most of his face and exposing a single, scarlet, bloodshot eye.

"Huddle together and don't move!" said Mr. Aizawa. "13! Protect the students!"

"What is that?" said Kirishima, as he looked down as a cascade of strangers swept in through the mist. "Is this like that training pattern at the entrance exam?"

"Don't move!" said Mr. Aizawa. His tone was dead serious. "This are villains!"

There they were, right in the midst of our rescue training. The villains who pros did battle with. The giant mist guy who'd brought them inside was saying "Eraserhead and #13…according to the teacher's curriculum we proceed yesterday, All Might was supposed to be here, and yet…"

"I knew it. That was you yesterday," said Mr. Aizawa.

"Where is he…we went through all this trouble, and rustled up so many of us to bring along…you can't tell me All Might, the symbol of peace, isn't here…" the hand guy was hissing. "I wonder if he'll show up, if we kill some of these here kids?"

What we faced that day was an evil we could never have suspected.

"Villains? No way! What kinda numbskull could think honest-to-goodness villains would be able to just waltz into the hero home base?"

"Sensei," said Yaoyorozu, "What about the intruder alarm sensors?"

"Of course we have some set up," said 13, "but…"

"Is this the only campus they've infiltrated, or are they attacking all the others too?" I murmured. "At any rate, if the sensors aren't responding, that just means they must have one amongst their number who has a quirk that can do that. An isolated space away from the school building, at a time when there's a class scheduled…it may seem out of the question but they must have some solid objective. This isn't an ambush without some carefully planned scheme behind it."

"#13," said Mr. Aizawa, "Do the evacuation procedure and try calling the school. These villains know how to get around the sensors. There's a chance there's an electrowave type who'll try interfering. Kaminari, you too. Try contacting UA with your quirk."

"Sensei!" cried Midoriya, "Are you gonna fight them alone? Even if you surprise all of their quirks, there's so many of them. The battle style of Eraserhead is to capture villains after erasing their quirks. Meaning, the main battle starts now!"

Mr. Aizawa turned back to him, his goggles now on. "A hero always has more than one trick up their sleeves. 13, I'm counting on you." With that, he kept down the dias and went straight to the villains. Within seconds, he'd taken out at least five, like a real, well, pro.

Meanwhile, 13 was evacuating our class, as we followed them to the front door. Just as we were headed to evacuate though…the black mist guy sprung up in front of us, like a barrier to the doorway.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," he hissed in a deep, dark, scary voice. "Greetings. We are the League of Villains. I apologize for the presumption, but we took it upon ourselves to enter UA, this school of heroes, in order to engage with All Might, the symbol of peace. We were hoping to get the opportunity to extinguish him, you see. Wasn't All Might meant to be in attendance right now? Has something been altered? Well, setting that aside, this is my role," he said, and suddenly the black mist was moving, surrounding us all.

Kirishima and Bakugou went flying straight at the mist guy to punch him. In the process, they actually landed a hit on him.

"Bet you didn't think we'd be able to do you in before you go the chance!" said Kirishima.

"That was close," murmured the mist guy. "To be expected, to you may be mere students, you are also the hero world's golden eggs."

"It's no use, just run!" shouted 13. "Run, you two!"

The mist surrounded us again, and the voice echoed, "You will be scattered and tortured to death." The noise resounded all around us.

I fell down into the landslide zone, and found myself surrounded by a large stash of villains without a sign of any other classmates.

The villains were coming towards me, prepared to attack. With a single attack of ice, I'd succeeded in freezing them all in place.

"Aren't you embarrassed to lose to a child? I asked. "For gods sake, you're adults."

They'd dumped me in the landslide zone, an open disaster prep arena not too far from the central plaza. I surveyed the lot of frozen villains in front of me, all of them gawking in shock at how easily I'd iced them. "Scatter us and kill us, huh?" I asked. "Sorry to say it, but to me it looks like you're just a load of mooks who don't know their quirks from their asses."

The one closest to me had started struggling and swearing. "That bastard! The second I can move again, I'll - is he really just a kid? ow!" I paid very little mind to his nonsense; he wasn't getting out of there without my help. I thought back to what the face-handed villain had said before. "Even though we went through the trouble of rustling up so many playmates"

At first blush, I thought they could overwhelm even elites with sheer numbers, and they thought they could just pop open the lid and use us as pawns. What a motley of goons. From the looks of them, the number of actual threats here caps at 4 people, maybe 5. That'd be my estimation.

Kill the symbol of peace…what made them think they could pull that off? I could see the villain near me starting to freeze, and made a decision.

"At this rate, you will gradually succumb to death by necrosis. But since I'm aiming to be a hero, I want to avoid killing as much as I can." So, the thing to do now would be…"What's the basis of your plan to kill All Might?" I asked the villain, holding my hand to his face so that he would understand I meant business.

When I arrived at the central plaza, All Might was being held upside down by the creature with the exposed brain known as Nomu. I learned from the others later on that he'd had a feeling of foreboding about us, and started down to the USJ on his own. Iida had been able to escape and was headed off to get the teachers, and had explained the situation to All Might on the way. Thus, All might had arrived in time to save many lives, and had taken on Nomu directly.

Nomu, the bioengineered anti-symbol of peace. That is what Shigaraki's minions had called him. A giant thoughtless creature, less a man than a monster with multiple unstoppable powers. A highly effective punching bag that hit back. A combination of Nomu's strength and the mist man's warp gates had secured in pinning even All Might down, hoping to squeeze the gate shut to cut him in half. And when I got there, he wasn't alone.

Moments before I arrived, Midoriya had run directly into the fray to try and stop the mist villain, saved only from being swallowed himself by the timely intervention of Bakugou slamming the creature into the ground. Not to be outdone, I controlled my ice enough to freeze the Nomu in place, stopping the ice before it could reach All Might, and All Might was able to get free.

"I heard about your plan. Each of your roles in the scheme to kill All Might," I said, waiting patiently as Midoriya, Bakugou, and now Kirishima joined me.

"No funny business out of you," barked Bakugou at the mist man, "You shadow-ass mobling!"

"The symbol of peace won't go down as easy as you clowns," I told the villains.

From nearby, I heard Midoriya cry out "Kacchan! Everyone!" with near tears in his eyes. All of us - the four of us students and All Might - turned to face down with Tomura Shigaraki. He was looking at Bakugou.

"You pinned down our revolving door. Well now, this is quite the pinch." He didn't sound too worried, and that made me nervous.

"Just as I thought," said Bakugou, grinning. "This prick was never all that sharp. If your body was just mist and physical attacks couldn't hurt it, you'd never have said 'that was close'. It was easy to guess that's why you're wearing that neck armor. Don't move. The second you so much as twitch, I'll loud you with a nice little explosion, right here and now!"

I always thought he was smarter than he looks…

"Not a very heroic line there, buddy," said Kirishima, as Bakugou loomed over the mist gate with a grin.

Tomura Shigaraki, still eerily calm, said "We've been cornered, and what's more, you're all nearly unscathed. I have to hand it to kids these days. At this rate, the League of villains will be a laughing stock. Nobu, go ahead and finish explosion boy over there. Gotta get our warp gate back."

Nomu? I've pinned him - I thought, only to turn and see the creature pulling itself through the warp gate, losing an arm and a leg.

"Wait, how is he moving?" cried Midoriya. "Didn't half of his body snap?"

"Stand back, all of you!" said All Might. Then, to Shigaraki, "I thought his power was shock absorption!"

"I never said that was his only quirk," said Shigaraki. The broken limbs regenerated in seconds from where they'd snapped. "As you can see, he's also got super regeneration. Nomu is a human sandbank artificially crafted to the height of physical fitness to withstand your 100%."

That's what they'd hinted, but I hadn't believed it until now. And now this creature had moved, so fast that they eye could barely see it, towards Bakugou. A blast of force knocked us all backwards, and I could hear Midoriya crying out "Kacchan!" and felt my heart skip a beat in fear. Was Bakugou -

"Kacchan?" from Midoriya, and following his gaze I realized that Bakugou was sitting with us, where we'd all fallen, blasted back by the force of the Nomu's punch.

"Y-you dodged him?" asked Midoriya. "Wow!"

"No, you idiot," said Bakugou. And it dawned on me what had happened, as we all turned to see All Might, standing in between where the Nomu would have destroyed Bakugou, had he been standing there.

"Do you know no mercy?" All Might asked Shigaraki.

"WE had no choice," said Shigaraki. "We had to save our ally, didn't we? And not long ago, one of your kids over there…ah, the plain looking one," he said, indicating Midoriya. "He tired to beat me up with all his strength. And for who do you think he mustered such touching acts of violence? Hm, hero? Listen here, All Might, that makes me angry. We're all categorized as either heroes or villains, but at the end of the day violence is violence. And who gets to decide right and wrong? Society does! The symbol of peace? Give me a break! You're nothing more than a bludgeon of oppression yourself. Violence only breeds more violence. And once we kill you, that'll be made known to the world."

Idiotic, I thought. Criminals like to talk a big game, but this was just nonsense.

"You're mad," said All Might. "Criminals like you, you always try to make your actions sound noble, but admit it, you're only doing this because you like it."

"Saw right through me," said Shigaraki, and though we couldn't see it, he was probably grinning.

It was time to think this through. They may be cocky, but…"It's 3 on 5," I said, doing a headcount.

"And Kacchan exposed the Shadow Guy's weak point!" said Midoriya.

"These guys are outrageous, but if we give all Might some support, we'll send em packing, no problem!" agreed Kirishima.

"No!" said All Might, sticking his hand out. "Please escape!"

What exactly was he playing at? "If I hadn't come to support you earlier, you'd have been in real trouble."

"All Might," said Midoriya, sounding really concerned, "You're bleeding, and shouldn't you already be out of ti - " he stopped himself, leaving me wondering what he heck he'd been about to say.

"Right you are, young Todoroki!" said All Might, distracting me. "And thank you! But it'll be OK now. All you need to do is watch a pro show you how it's done."

"Nomu, Kurogiri," said Shigaraki. "Kill him. I'll deal with the children. Let's clear the game and end this level!"

He was running straight at us. "He's coming," said Kirishima, "Brace yourselves!"

But before we could fight, All Might had jumped into the fray at Nomu, and was meeting him punch for punch, with a force that again began to blast us backwards with its sheer strength.

"I told you before!" said Shigaraki, turning back to All Might, "He has Shock absorption!"

"Yeah, what about it?" replied All Might. And he kept on going, hitting that creature with so much force that we could feel it in our very bones. "A hero is someone who smashes through every obstacle life puts his way!"

I could hardly believe what I was seeing, and neither it seemed could Bakugou, who hadn't spoken a word since All Might saved him, but was looking on in awe and perhaps concern.

"You may have heard these words before, but I'll show you what they really mean!" said All Might. "Go beyond, PLUS ULTRA!" And with that, he blasted the Nomu with a final blow that threw it through the glass ceiling and of into the sky.

"What is this, a comic?" cried Kirishima. "It's like he pounded the shock absorption right out of him!"

"He must have been punching him so fast he couldn't regenerate," murmured Bakugou.

So this is the top…I thought to myself.

Through the smoke, we heard our sensei coughing. "I really have gotten weaker. In my heyday, 5 hits would have knocked that guy out. But today it took more than 300 mighty blows." He turned to face Shigaraki. "Now then, villain, let's end this."

Shigaraki was looking quite furious. "You cheated."