All Might entered the building, explaining how he got there as he walked in.
Despite knowing things weren't over yet, Present Mic gave Yagi a small grin. "Oh yeah, I'm sure it must have been VERY difficult to cut off your time with the principle."
Aizawa snorted.
Toshinori made a helpless gesture. "It really was." And it was true, it had been hard, if for no other reason than how hard it was to get a word in edgewise once the principle started going.
"Just a 'rough idea'?" Uraraka questioned, looking at Iida. "I figured you'd have given him the summary version of a play by play."
"At the time I decided it would be better to get the most important information across quickly, so my explanation lacked in finer details." Iida didn't mention to how he'd been starting to get out of breath by that point. He'd vowed to improve his stamina even more in the coming days.
All Might's thoughts revealed how angry he was over the situation, and then he gave his signature catch phrase.
The kids cheered, just like Mineta was doing on screen. Seeing someone like All Might have such righteous indignation, on their own behalf no less, was almost as overwhelming as it was amazing. It cemented their admiration for the hero even further. That included Bakugo, despite his scoff of how he hadn't been scared at all.
Aizawa snorted when he saw the tie in pieces. All Might always made room for dramatics, it seemed. The removal itself was a practical move, no need to give enemies additional handholds, but the manner he did it in was very...All Might.
Everyone looked at All Might in awe, the villains included. The exception was Shigaraki, who casually insulted him. The minor villains tried to rally, but were taken out by All Might in an instant, and All Might secured Aizawa.
"Stupid thug extras." Bakugo growled. "Went all that way and started quivering the moment the actual target showed up. Where the hell did Hands for Brains and Stupid Warp villain even find these idiots?"
"Maybe they just went outside the bar they were shown at earlier and hired whoever stopped at the street corner," Kirishima suggested with a grin.
"Ha! I'd believe it."
Aizawa, at this point, was grateful that his past self had passed out. He'd been disappointed at the time, for not being able to see this whole thing through to the end, but now it was saving him from having to feel his pain all over again. Even with how gently All Might was trying to be, he doubted his broken bones would have taken well to all that movement.
All Might apologized to the unconscious Aizawa.
Aizawa grunted. "You didn't have to do that."
"But it was my fault for not being there right away-"
Aizawa cut Toshinori off with a sigh. He couldn't believe he was giving this speech to the Number 1 hero. "Shigaraki and the Noumu hurt me, not you. It would have been nice if you were there on time, but there's no guarantee that I wouldn't have gotten hurt as badly if you had. Don't focus on what could have been when you can focus on the future."
Toshinori nodded. "Sage advice, which I have heard before, in different ways. I'll try to take it to heart this time."
Another second, and All Might had grabbed the three shipwreck students as well. A hand fell off Shigaraki's face.
Kaminari laughed upon seeing the dumbfounded faces of the three students. "Little disoriented after that huh?"
"No duh, it happened so fast I didn't even realized we'd been moved till it was done." Mineta admitted.
"It almost felt like being teleported again." Tsuyu agreed.
"All Might's power really is incredible. I'm not sure I'll ever stop being amazed by it." Izuku said with a smile.
"Even when it becomes fully yours?" Shoji asked, a smile in his voice. Izuku chuckled.
"No probably not even then."
All Might told the students to take care of Aizawa. The camera switched over to Shigaraki, who seemed very distressed. He apologized to 'Father' as he put the hand that had covered his face back on. Once it was there, he visibly relaxed.
The screen was given various looks of confusion and disgust.
"Did...did he just call the hand his father?" Sero asked incredulously.
"That's what it sounded like." Jirou said, scrunching her face up. Ashido was making a similar expression.
"I didn't think it was possible for Shigaraki to get any creepier, but I guess that proves me wrong."
"Yeah." Hagakure said faintly. "You don't...think that hand was actually from his dad, do you?"
"It would make sense that the hands are a kind of trophy, as macabre as that would be." Tokoyami said. Koda looked like he was about to be sick.
"Trophies like that would imply he killed each of the hands' owners." Momo pointed out. "So if that is true then he likely killed his father as well. But if that is the case, then why would he seek comfort from it? There's also the matter of the hands themselves."
"What about them?" Sato asked.
"They're too similar." Todoroki said, causing many to look at him in surprise.
"I see what you mean." Izuku agreed. "When you get a closer look like this, each hand looks almost exactly the same. You'd think if they came from different people, they'd look different."
"Indeed, even if they were all hands from adult males, there should be more variety to them." Momo agreed. "Which leads me to wonder if they might be copies of one hand, quite possibly copies of the one on his face, given his reverence for it."
As Momo talked, Izuku wrote in his notebook, his hand flying across the page as they cataloged possibilities and theories. He only stopped when the show resumed.
Shigaraki muttered to himself, thinking through what he'd just observed of All Might. He came to the conclusion that All Might really was getting weaker.
Several students cringed when they got their first look at Shigaraki's face.
"Well, that's one theory confirmed I suppose." Momo said heavily. "Somehow, the leaders really did know something about All Might's weakness."
Izuku felt his stomach drop. Partially because the muttering once again sounded too much like him, but mostly because of what this meant for his mentor.
"He didn't really specify though, so it's hard to say what all they truly know." Iida pointed out. Momo agreed and Izuku nodded woodenly. He was beginning to wonder about that himself, considering what the Noumu did later.
On the other side of the room, Nedzu gave Yagi a knowing look. Hi mouth was set in a grim line, but otherwise he didn't acknowledge the look.
"At least we can give a better facial description once we get out of here." Mic pointed out, eyeing the young man's demented smile.
"Assuming we'll still need it at the end of this." Aizawa said, he still did his best to commit the features to memory though.
Izuku was seen with Aizawa slung over his back. The boy tried to stop All Might from going into the fight, but after a word of reassurance, he reluctantly started carrying Aizawa away with the others.
"You were thinking about how much time All Might had, right?" Uraraka guessed. Izuku nodded.
"Yeah, I'd seen the three fingers that 13 held up earlier, and guessed he didn't have a lot of time left. Plus, I didn't think he really understood what he was up against."
"At the time, none of us did." Iida agreed.
All Might heard the conversation and felt a bit conflicted. It warmed his heart to be reminded of how much Midoriya cared for him, but it felt wrong for the boy he was training to be so worried about his mentor's safety. He should be the one worrying about Midoriya, not the other way around.
All Might ran forward to attack Shigaraki, but the Noumu got in the way. He soon came to understand why Midoriya was trying to warn him seconds ago.
All Might's worried expression was mirrored on the faces of the students, along with Present Mic and Recovery Girl. Despite knowing that he eventually won, the fact that the Number 1 hero got such worried that quickly was definitely cause for concern.
'This is why I always smile.' All Might thought to himself when he saw their expressions.
"What the heck is that thing made out of?" Kirishima wondered in awe.
"I'm more interested in how such a thing came to be, and what madness possessed the one who created it." Tokoyami said.
As All Might and Noumu fought, Shigaraki talked about the Noumu's capabilities. All Might took in the info, and suplexed the Noumu into the ground.
Recovery Girl sighed. "Some things never change it seems."
Present Mic nodded sagely. "Giving away vital information via the villain monologue. It's a tale as old as time."
"Such boasting can be used as a decent intimidation tactic, but only if nothing important is truly revealed. Given the outcome of the fight, I'd say the young man failed in that aspect." Nedzu said.
The kids at the entrance and the shipwreck trio were shown to be emboldened by the strong move. Izuku's thoughts were heard, revealing that he was worried about All Might's safety but knew that sticking around and risking getting caught would just make things worse.
"Good, he's learning." Aizawa muttered.
"Wow, Tsu, way to slay All Might with that teaching comment." Kaminari teased.
"And after he came to your rescue and everything." Sero joined in.
"It wasn't meant to be mean; it was just an observation, kero."
Tsuyu wondered aloud if they'd gotten too worked up about the villain's plans to kill All Might, given how well he was doing. Izuku was internally fretting though, he had figured out All Might was likely at his limit. His worst fears were confirmed when the dust settled, and they saw what Kurogiri had done, and what it allowed the Noumu to do.
"Ack!" The skeletal All Might suddenly hunched over in pain. He put his hand over his mouth, but blood was already starting to seep from between his fingers.
"All Might!" Izuku cried. He immediately got up and ran to the bathroom. He came back out with an armful of towels and ran over to All Might's side. Recovery Girl was there a moment later.
"Th-thank you, my boy." All Might said, taking the cloth Izuku offered him.
"I thought injuries on screen wouldn't give us real injuries." Hagakure fretted.
"All Might's situation is unique, but my word is not broken." Truth said, startling everyone. They had stayed silent for a long time.
"True. He's not really injured." Recovery Girl reassured. "I'd guess that the sudden movement caused a bit of flare up in the old injury is all."
"Indeed. Everything is alright, I will be fine soon." All Might said, doing his best to replicate his signature smile. It didn't work quite as well, since there was still blood coloring his teeth. Still the combination of the adults saying it was fine did get most of the students to calm down.
Izuku was not one of them, so he stayed by All Might's side as the episode progressed.
The Noumu's fingers dug into the exact place that All Might's old injury was.
"You don't think that was on purpose, do you?" Uraraka asked worriedly. Surprisingly, Todoroki was the one to answer first.
"That thing doesn't seem smart enough to do that without being told."
"True." Momo agreed. "But there is some evidence that it might have some programmed actions that don't require orders. No one was shown telling it to protect Shigaraki from Midoriya's attack, but it did that anyway."
"That is true."
Izuku did his best to focus on supporting All Might and making sure he was comfortable as the man groaned in pain from what was being shown, but that didn't completely stop the worry that gnawed at his gut at what they were suggesting.
Shigaraki boasted about Noumu's strength again. All Might tried to struggle out of the Noumu's grasp, but he couldn't get free. It was here that the real plan for killing All Might was revealed.
Several students blanched at Kurogiri's description, and the silhouette being shown on screen, while the teachers looked grim.
"That's the least manly plan I've ever heard!" Kirishima yelled in outrage.
"Good thing we were there to make sure it didn't succeed then." Bakugo said with triumphant smirk. At least, that's the expression he was going for, but the disturbing image he'd seen of All Might being killed like that dampened it considerably. Not that he'd ever admit to being disturbed, of course.
"Ah, so that was the plan all along." Nedzu mused. "Simple, but it certainly had the potential to be quite effective."
Present Mic gave him a side-eyed look. "I have a hard time defining any plan the requires creating an entire bioengineered super creature just for holding someone still as 'simple'." Aizawa grunted in agreement, and Nudzu shrugged.
"Well, yes, the creation of such a thing could hardly be deemed simple, but the plan itself is quite straight forward when you get down to it."
Izuku asked Asui to carry Aizawa instead.
"Wow, you didn't even correct him on the name thing." Ashido said in surprise.
"With all that was going on, I didn't even realize he said it wrong, kero."
When she did, Izuku started to run back. He thought of All Might the whole way, about all the time they spent together and how there was still so much for him to learn.
"Guess you spoke too soon earlier, huh?" Present Mic said quietly. He was grinning, but it was a softer and more subdued than it normally would have been.
"Yeah..." Aizawa sighed. He was having a harder time being upset about Midoriya this time though. The boy was the only one to truly understand how much danger All Might was in, and the only one to have such a strong attachment to him. He would have liked Midoriya to stay out of it, but this reaction was only to be expected, given the circumstances. It still wasn't smart, but it was expected.
The villains noticed Midoriya as he got closer, and Kurogiri moved to intercept him.
Any students that hadn't seen the fight first hand were on the edge of their seats, desperate to see how All Might and Midoriya managed to get out of this. Bakugo and Kirishima were grinning though, knowing what was coming up.
Bakugo suddenly blasted into frame and pinned Kurogiri down. Todoroki and Kirishima arrived a moment later, and their actions drove the villains back a bit and allowed All Might to free himself.
"Oh my god...you guys look. So. Freaking. Badass." Kaminari said in awe.
"Not gonna argue with that." Jiro agreed.
"Yeah! You guys totally just had a Big Damn Heroes moment!" Ashido cheered.
"Your entrance was simply magnifique!" Aoyama praised.
"That timing was pretty great." Ojiro said with a relieved smile.
"Thank you."
Izuku's quiet words caught everyone's attention.
"I- I don't remember if I ever said that to you guys before, but you guys rushed in there and helped even without knowing about everything that was going on behind the scenes and that...that made all the difference. So thank you." Tears were flowing down Izuku's face by the end, making his eyes shimmer with gratitude as he looked at the three that had intervened.
"Indeed." All Might added. He was able to focus a bit more now that his past self was out of the Noumu's grasp. "Thought I wish it had been unnecessary, I sincerely thank you for your intervention. It truly did make a difference."
Kirishima sniffled and wiped at his eyes. "Aw stop it guys, you're gonna get me going too."
"Those bastards had it coming. I only wish I'd gotten there sooner so I could beat em up more." Bakugo said with a proud smirk. Todoroki gave him a brief side-eyed glance before looking back at Midoriya and All Might.
"I'm glad I was able to help."
Tsuyu and Mineta were shown hurrying away with Aizawa, and were soon joined by the group by the entrance. Ashido stayed behind, so she was the one to hear 13 tell them to let the pros handle things.
"She was still conscious?!" Sero cried in disbelief. Sato sounded about the same.
"Seriously? She hadn't moved or said anything that whole time."
"I think she came to just long enough to say that. I tried to ask her if there was any way I could help, but she was out of it again almost right away." Ashido explained.
"I'm suddenly really glad that 13 wasn't transported here with us." Present Mic murmured. Aizawa nodded. Getting his bones broken had hurt enough, he couldn't imagine how it would feel to have a quirk like Black Hole used on you.
Shigaraki looked over the scene that lay before him, and lamented that Kurogiri had been pinned down. Bakugo talked at Kurogiri, explaining how his and Kirishima's attack had revealed Kurogiri's weakness.
"That's a good deduction, considering it was gained from one interaction and one phrase." Nedzu commented. "I'd recommend against monologuing at villains in the future though, it has the same problems for us as it does for them. It tends to give things away."
"Plus it's just in bad taste." Present Mic added.
Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Whatever."
"They make a good point, young Bakugo. Better to focus on your surroundings, and save talking for communicating and reassuring others."
Bakugo made a show of what his quirk could do to Kurogiri in that position, and threatened him if he tried anything. Kirishima even commented on how menacing it sounded.
"...although intimidation tactics do have their place in a fight, I suppose." All Might admitted. Bakugo grinned.
Shigaraki marveled quietly at the kids, and said they made the League look bad.
"Um, was that actually a compliment?" Hagakure asked.
"Don't think so. Sounded more like an observation." Shoji said.
"Yeah, he didn't have that creepy, excited tone when he said it." Mineta agreed. Hagakure hummed thoughtfully.
"To be honest, that makes me want to take it as a compliment."
"You certainly could. You all did perform admirably." Recovery Girl said. Present Mic grinned.
"Plus, that makes it count as petty spite!"
Izuku frowned in thought.
"What is it, young Midoriya?"
"I just realized, in all the groups we were shown, we've yet to see what Hagakure and Aoyama were doing. What happened to them?"
The question brought All Might up short. "That is an excellent question."
Shigaraki called the Noumu, and it struggled out of the ice, any injuries it had healing almost right away. Shigaraki said the Noumu was built to take on All Might at his best.
The students tensed or shifted in concern. The All Might they knew was clearly no longer at the top of his game. So how had he and the others managed to escape without even getting hurt? It dawned on them then that there was a chance not all of them had.
Another word, and suddenly the Noumu was moving to attack Bakugo. In the blink of an eye Kurogiri was free, the students were all off to the side, and All Might's body had created a hole in a wall.
The grunt of pain from All Might had Midoriya fussing immediately, and Recovery Girl continued to hover nearby. The noise didn't draw as much attention from the student body, which was good since it meant things would continue to progress past this part.
"You really don't have to be that hard on yourself." Tsuyu said, seeing Bakugo's chagrin at not seeing the attack coming and having to be saved. "I'm pretty sure All Might was the only one who did."
"Y-yeah, and that's just because the Noumu was built to fight him." Izuku added.
"Don't talk to me." Bakugo growled.
Kirishima looked at Bakugo uncertainly. He thought how much Bakugo pushed himself to be better was super manly, but even something like that could be taken too far. Shooting for being like All Might was a great goal, but he shouldn't expect himself to be at that level right now. They were all only 15, you know?
Shigaraki started going on a rant about how All Might was just a repressive force, and the message that would be sent after All Might's death. All Might called him out immediately, saying Shigaraki just wanted free license to do whatever he wanted. Shigaraki smiled and commented on how fast he had been figured out.
"Such a base motivation? A pity." Aoyama sighed "I was actually looking forward to having a lively philosophical discussion about the villains' motives."
"Discussion implies other people talking to you about those things though. Where you gonna find someone willing to do that?" Sero asked with mock confusion. Aoyama simply pointed at Midoriya, then at Iida, and then at Momo. The teasing smile slid off of Sero's face. "Huh, I can actually see them doing that."
"Do you really think that was all Shigaraki wanted?" Izuku asked. All Might frowned, hand lingering over the side that was still hurting on screen, and one arm hanging limply. He had built up a pretty high pain tolerance over the years, but that didn't mean he didn't feel any of the on-screen pain.
"I am uncertain. That may be all he wants on the surface, but there could be deeper motivations at play that aren't as easily spotted. And even if that really is all there is to it for Shigaraki, then whoever he is working with surely has a larger goal in mind."
Izuku nodded slowly. It made sense that Shigaraki and Kurogiri would have to be working with others; he could hardly imagine them creating the Noumu on their own. But that left the question of just who was waiting in the wings, and why they sent these three instead of coming themselves.
The students present were ready and willing to help fight the villains with All Might, but he insisted that they flee. When they protested further All Might insisted again, even with Midoriya mentioning his 'time'. He reassured them before turning to face the villains.
"Please tell me you actually did it this time." Present Mic begged. Aizawa watched the four students expectantly. Izuku fidgeted nervously.
"W-well, we didn't interfere in the fight between him and Noumu. So, yes?"
"You sound awfully uncertain." Present Mic said with narrowed eyes. Aizawa sighed.
"Let me guess, you didn't interfere but you also didn't leave."
"We weren't gonna run away like some pansies!" Bakugo yelled.
"Could you really expect us to leave?" Kirishima demanded. "I know he said he'd handle it, but..." he struggled with how to word things for a few moments, and Todoroki took the opportunity to speak up.
"We all saw the kind of situation he was in when we first got there. We merely wished to be available to provide back up should such a situation arise again."
Kirishima nodded vigorously. "Yeah! What kind of heroes would we be if we just left someone behind before back up got there?"
Aizawa looked at each of them in turn, then sighed again.
"I'll admit, these were extremely extenuating circumstances. However, in the future I expect you to listen when your teacher tells you to do something."
Kirishima and Midoriya gave an immediate 'Yes sir!'. Todoroki just nodded, and Bakugo did the same after taking a moment to scoff. Aizawa wondered if he could actually believe any of them.
All Might once again felt guilty for making them worry so much about him. He tried to fuel his focus into preparing himself instead, since he remembered how much the upcoming fight would take out of him.
Shigaraki ordered the other two to handle All Might while he went after the kids.
"The supposed leader dealing with the less skilled opponents while his subordinates are sent after the main target? I should have expected such cowardice from a villain." Iida growled.
"Who are you calling less skilled?!" Bakugo yelled.
Momo didn't respond to Iida at first, expecting to hear Midoriya's voice instead, but then she realized that he was still over with All Might. So she spoke up instead.
"Honestly, it's not a bad strategy. Despite being fast and skilled, it's clear that Shigaraki is not on the same level as All Might. His quirk is also one that only works in close quarter combat, which would make it a bad idea for him to try and face All Might directly. So it makes sense for him to send the other two to focus on All Might while he prevented any interference."
"He did say it was always the plan to have Kurogiri and the Noumu be the ones to fight All Might. He's doing what he can to ensure that they can follow through." Todoroki added quietly.
Iida looked outraged for a moment longer before sighing. "I concede that you both have a point. It just feels like such a cheap shot, like him going after Tsuyu and Mineta earlier."
All Might's internal thoughts revealed that he only had about a minute left, but he planned to beat back the villains anyway.
A couple of students gasped in shock, while others let out worried or surprised exclamations. Others just stared at the screen with wide eyes. They had known All Might didn't have much time left, but the thought that he'd gone up against these villains with only that much time left was both astounding and terrifying.
Recovery Girl sighed softly. She knew he hardly had a choice this time around, which is why she didn't voice these thoughts, but it worried her greatly how Toshinori always ended up pushing himself past his limits. She knew the school motto and all, but there was a certain point where pushing your limits only resulted in hurting yourself.
Shigaraki started to run toward the students, but he and everyone else was blown back when All Might started going after the Noumu. The fury of blows and shockwaves the followed was a sight to behold; the fight going so far and fast that sometimes they could barely take it all in.
Students and teachers alike watched the fight in awe. Really, who could blame them? Even the villains that had been there had been too blown back and awestruck by the fight to do anything until it was over. Cheers soon began to ring out as All Might began to beat the monster back, their worry about how much time All Might had left temporarily forgotten. Those cheers reached a crescendo when the Noumu was finally disposed of.
The exceptions to this were Midoriya and Recovery Girl, who were determined the help All Might through every bit of relived pain, and Nedzu, who watched everything on screen with his calculating gaze.
The last blow of the fight was seen and felt throughout the building, leaving the students in awe.
Many students couldn't help but be struck by that same awe again as they watched this for a second time.
The four that had stayed near the fight marveled at the scene, seeing for the first time just how much difference there was between their own skills and those of a top tier hero.
Present Mic nudged Aizawa.
"See? They got it in the end. I'm sure if something like this ever happens again they'll be more mindful how much they still have to learn."
"I hope your right." Aizawa said quietly. "I hope even more that it won't come to that."
Present Mic nodded. They both doubted the future would be any kind of peaceful though, given where they were.
As All Might got up from his last pose, he commented on how many more hits it took him to do that now than it would have back in the day.
"What."
"Seriously?!"
"That many?!"
These and similar cries were heard around the room. If All Might's power was this intense now, they couldn't imagine what it must have been like to witness it back in his prime.
'Am I ever going to be able to wield that level of power?' Midoriya thought to himself. 'No, I should have access to more, according to All Might. It grows with each person...but I...I can't even wrap my head around having that level of power.'
As All Might started to talk to the villains, steam started to waft off his body.
This broke many students out of their awed stupor. Either by hearing All Might's thoughts or seeing the steam, the time limit was brought back to the forefront of everyone's minds.
"It was really that close?" Hagakure whispered.
"I guess so..." Ashido whispered back, still too stunned to have any thoughts beyond that.
The episode ended abruptly, with All Might staring down what was left of the villains.
With being so close to the end of the USJ incident, they decided to press on into the next episode right away. Nedzu did announce that there would be a longer break after this episode though. Long enough for everyone to get a chance to take in everything, as well as get some sleep and recover from any physical affects watching the show may have had.
A.N.
A note about the hands thing for Shigaraki, it's probably just for the sake easier drawing, but the fact that all the hands looked to be about the same size and such was always weird to me. I'm a little behind on the manga though, so maybe they we got more info on that recently and I just don't know about it.
Also, sorry for the lackluster description of the fight between All Might and the Noumu. That fight was just so epic that the words of a summary just can't do it justice, you know?
