THEN

LAST SUMMER

Neito dully poked at the fire before him with a stick.

"You're supposed to put a marshmallow at the end of that," said his aunt as she exited the RV and sat on the fallen tree log across from him. "And hold it above the fire, not inside it."

Fighting the boredom, Neito flicked his stick into the fire. He caught the replacement stick and the bag of marshmallows his aunt tossed to him. Before long, they were both roasting the sugary snacks over the fire.

There was no sound other than the flickering flames. There was no breeze, so the towering trees didn't rustle with the wind like during Neito's last trip to America. There was also a lack of animals out and about this evening to chirp or wail or whatever other noises wild forest animals made, so tonight's outing was mostly silent.

"Neito," his aunt began in a sympathetic tone, "I know you must be bummed that things didn't work out with the tutor. It can't be helped if he decided to flake on us because he was given a better offer."

You could have vetted him thoroughly, made sure he was reliable enough to keep his word, were Neito's initial thoughts, though they went unsaid. He could tell that his aunt genuinely felt bad that the expert Quirk tutor she had asked to help train him had reneged on his promises. If only Neito's parents had allowed him to take a part-time job. They weren't struggling financially, but paying for the services of a decent Quirk tutor who would have the proper insight on how to effectively train a Quirk like Copy would cost more than what was affordable for them. Perhaps any extra work Neito might have put in wouldn't have accrued enough money to sway his aunt's associate from other offers, but it would have at least provided Neito some tangible work experience to put on his resume.

Yes, Neito Monoma wanted to be a hero, as he often liked to remind his classmates and rivals back home, but with setback after setback, it was looking more and more unlikely for Neito's destiny to unfold as he desired. Exploring other career paths… was looking more and more like a necessity.

"But we can still figure something out," Neito's aunt continued, optimistic. "Your Quirk is dependent on how adaptable you are in a given situation, right? I have a… well, a dog that's a little like your Quirk."

Neito raised an eyebrow. He has never tried copying a Quirk from an animal before. "What kind of power does your dog have?"

"He doesn't copy Quirks, but he's able to replicate pieces of technology that he comes into contact with. He can turn into cars, trucks, satellites, tanks – and all fully functioning."

"Why didn't I see your dog at your house?"

Neito's aunt smiled sheepishly. "He doesn't actually get along with your parents. He can get a little too playful for his own good. A friend is looking after him right now, but I can pick him up tomorrow." She straightened her back and held her head high, a sign that a new idea had popped in her head. "Oh, there's a Sumo Slammers shop in town, not far from Mr. Smoothy. I see kids around your age go there all the time, always messing around with their Quirks."

"Isn't… that vigilantism?"

"Bellwood's small enough that most people around here don't report illegal Quirk usage unless there's reason to suspect a more serious crime is involved. Anyway, since you'll be staying here for the summer, you could try talking with them. Your English is perfect, and I'm sure being from the same country as All Might will catch their interest. Maybe you can convince some of them to help you train your Quirk."

It sounded like more off-the-cuff improvisation to Neito. He had actually wanted to follow through on a well thought-out plan for once by securing a tutor, but fate seemingly saw it fit for Neito's general life to have to deal with improvisation under extenuating and inconvenient circumstances, just like what his Quirk always faced.

"Uh, Neito, did you copy a fire-resistant Quirk from someone while I wasn't looking? Is that why you're alright with eating a burnt marshmallow instead of just roasted?"

Upon realizing that, yes, Neito's marshmallow was itself on fire, he let the stick fall into the pile of flames. He wasn't very hungry anyway. Neito stood up. "I think I'll go for a walk."

"Are you sure?"

The concern from his aunt was appreciated, but Neito wanted to be alone. "I'll do my best not to set anything on fire out there," he said, putting on a lighthearted front for his aunt's benefit. As he set off down a dirt path deeper into the woods, he only just barely caught a hand-held radio thrown at him.

"In case of emergency," his aunt said. She made herself a small chocolate sandwich with her mushy marshmallow and began munching on it. "And don't be long, or get lost. I'll cook up something bigger for dinner."

Neito waved a hand in acknowledgement, pocketed the radio, and went on his way.

He paid little mind to the path directly in front of him, letting his vision go out of focus just enough to not stray off the trail. Now he took in the silence and basked in it. No more rigorous planning to be horribly disrupted, no more endless reassurances that things will be fine. No more derision or mockery from his classmates either, being so far away from home. For a little while, Neito simply enjoyed the cool air and the fresh scent of the forest.

Looking up, he focused on a shooting star. A mark in the sky burning red and leaving a trail behind it.

It was a beautiful sight.

The shooting star suddenly turned mid-flight.

It was coming right for Neito!

He turned and ran. He heard the shooting star hit the earth. The impact caused a shockwave that thrust Neito forward. He landed flat on his face. He curled into himself, clutching his head as pieces of rock from the crash hit him. Nothing so fierce that made any long-lasting injuries, at least, but he held himself tightly in case something bigger came his way.

Once the ground stopped shaking, Neito peeked at the crash site. A spherical depression had been created by the fallen asteroid or whatever that thing was.

Cautious, Neito stood up and tiptoed toward the hole's edge. He peered down inside the crater.

At the center was a smoking metal ball. The shape of it almost reminded Neito of the shell of an armadillo, with layers of repeating stripes. Intrigued, and seeing no immediate danger, he slid with his feet into the crater and stepped toward the ball. The smoke was fading almost instantaneously.

Neito tentatively raised a hand toward the ball. He could feel no heat radiating from it. How peculiar.

The object suddenly opened up. From a misty green glow, a strange device leapt out and latched itself onto Neito's wrist.

Dumbfounded, Neito stared at the alien black and white mechanism.

Before he could pull out his radio and contact his aunt, something extended out of the device. Neito yelped in surprise, falling backwards. During his tumble, he dropped his radio and accidentally pressed his hand against the device.

And then Neito's entire body was on fire.

But there was no burning feeling? No pain? What?

But he was on fire.

He started screaming.

NOW

As Cannonbolt, Neito shredded his spinning armored shell against Muscular's fist. Although Neito had damaged the villain's mechanical eye, it appeared Muscular's alien upgrades in the rest of his body were sufficient enough to carry on operating without it. Muscular used his other arm to deliver a punch against Neito's side. Neito let himself hit the dirt, still spinning so that the pile of rocks and debris he had landed on would start soaring in a mini-tornado, keeping the other lesser villains at bay.

For a brief moment, Neito exited his ball form to take in the environment with his own eyes. He winced, still feeling some of the burns from Bakugo when he had set off an explosion in front of his face, but Cannonbolt's hide was decently tough if not as durable as his shell. Neito can power through this.

Muscular in the distance was once more caressing his injured face, giving Neito a hostile glare with his natural eye. Farther away was All For One going toe-to-toe with All Might. The villain protégé, Tomura, was in front of Neito and kept himself back from the torrent of debris. All For One's heir was accompanied by Magne and Twice. Mr. Compress, who had been knocked unconscious, was being weakly dragged by Mustard toward the pulsating black vortex that flickered over Kurogiri's otherwise unmoving body. Spinner was helping him.

So that meant it was Himiko Toga who was rushing at Neito from behind him. He could hear her panting and brandishing her knife. Neito shifted into his ball form, breaking her tiny blade. Aware that a single touch from Tomura would likely be able to actually do damage on his body, Neito buried himself underground and moved through the layers of earth beneath the surface.

Neito had to be smart about this. HIdden from the villains, he stopped purely reacting and started thinking critically.

Bakugo can and will protect Kendo with no problem. He had to, because for all of his distasteful and abrasive qualities, he was still a student accepted at UA who had to know well enough not to carelessly abandon an injured comrade… at least Neito hoped so. If not, there had to be other pros closing in considering the heavy damage struck to the surrounding area. Neito's experience as a vigilante both in American and here in Japan had taught him that there were plenty of exploitable gaps in many hero patrols, but not when a large team-up was working a case, like against the League of Villain.

Like against All For One.

Neito couldn't help it. By just thinking the name, his thoughts wandered. Wandered to the things All For One had told him when Neito had been confined in the underground floor of the warehouse.

The villainous mastermind had known about the Omnitrix.

He also had a few choice snippets of information to share beyond the Omnitrix. About himself, the Symbol of Evil.

And about Neito personally.

The things All For One had said...

… were things Neito can worry about later. That… That cruel, irredeemable stranger's words had no bearing on the current situation. Fighting and defeating the rest of his wicked entourage, keeping Kendo and others safe – that was all that mattered now.

Cannonbolt's hearing and motion detection were advanced enough for Neito to be able to navigate while in his spherical form, even through this environment. However, Neito suddenly hit what felt like a wall. He continued to roll against it, but the wall changed shape and scooped him up like a giant spoon. It brought him back above ground, where Neito felt objects resembling sharp prongs stabbing at the black gaps between his yellow armor plates. When Neito found himself wedged and unable to rotate any further with the odd angles the prongs were hitting him, he opened up his body to forcibly break free.

All For One redirected the black and red tendrils extending from his hands faster than Neito was able to react. The tendrils locked in place as they stretched and bent at different angles to keep Neito in place. He tried to revert back to his ball form but could barely resist this new grip All For One was keeping over him.

"All Might will finish evacuating the injured civilians in the area very soon," All For One said. Neito couldn't see them, but the mastermind was speaking to the members of the League. "The rest of you must leave immediately before he returns. I will remain here."

"But sensei, your body is too damaged–"

"I will survive this. You must leave now if you are to continue fighting in the future."

Neito was moved so that he was held high and presented toward the League. One of the tendrils twisted and extended to tap the Omnitrix symbol on Cannonbolt's forehead. It failed to reform him back to his human state, thankfully. Only a certain Lovecraft-esque villain crawling from the cosmos has been able to bypass the default lock and manipulate Neito's Omnitrix like that.

"Remember this symbol. Mustard can fill the gaps in your knowledge about this individual," All For One said, "but to use one of your metaphors, imagine this… hero as a potential boss battle for you and your followers." All For One increased the pressure exerted by his tendrils. Though they didn't penetrate Cannonbolt's shell or skin, the pressure still stung. "A rival character, and perhaps even a reluctant ally for when you both share a common enemy. Know that you are still my heir, Tomura, but also be well aware of the power this boy holds thanks to his gift and proven by his own feats… assuming that he reigns triumphant in his final trial for tonight."

Neito was as big a fan of live theater as the next aspiring hero keen on capitalizing on their brand and cultivating good public relations, but he was getting sick of the sinister speech. Seeing that he couldn't overpower his restraints on his own, he decided to use the Quirks he had copied from Kendo and Bakugo. Thus, he enlarged his fists, thereby enlarging his shells covered over the top of his hands, thus finally breaking the All For One's hold. Then he set off explosions from his giant palms to gain some distance between himself and the villains.

As Neito flew through the air and away from the expanse of smoke he had created, he noticed something coming after him. When he tried to clamp his enlarged hands around it, his pursuer blocked them with his arms.

Muscular's bloody face was grinning from ear to ear. "We're not finished yet."

Neito tried unleashing another explosion, but Muscular dazed him with a headbutt and slapped away his wrists before he could. Shutting his eyes, trying to ignore the painful crack he felt inside his forehead, Neito returned his hands to normal size and began spinning as a ball. He felt Muscular strike him, pitching him further away from the other villains.

His senses told Neito that he was going to hit another fast-moving object: All Might.

However, All Might instead caught Neito, with no harm inflicted to either of them. Neito stopped rolling and let All Might land and set him down.

"It's been a long time, Tennyson," All Might said, and Neito had to turn around to face him fully. What did he just say? When All Might had a better look at Neito, the great and honored Symbol of Peace frowned. "You look… younger."

"I'm not him," Neito said dumbly, still too stunned. Well, if All For One knew about the Omnitrix, then it made sense that All Might also did. Yet how much did he exactly know? "It's…"

If All Might knew the Tennyson name, and recognized Cannonbolt's form, then Neito might as well not act obtuse about this.

"I'm Neito Monoma. Yes, I have the Omnitrix, and it will take far too long to explain things in their entirety right now. Did you evacuate my classmates?"

All Might's bemusement quickly faded. "Yes, they are safe. You must also leave the area, young Monoma. All For One is my responsibility."

Before Neito could object, insist that he could help, Muscular came at him again. Neito used Cannonbolt's shell to deflect a jab. All Might delivered his own punch that Muscular held his arm against. One of the cylinders on the arm – an all too familiar piece of alien technology Neito has seen before – inserted itself deeper into Muscular's body. As All Might delivered a second punch, Muscular activated his Quirk, muscle fibers expanding over his already augmented limb.

Muscular used his newly oversized arm like a shield, shoving All Might away. All For One appeared from behind Muscular and resumed his assault on the Symbol of Peace. With Neito and All Might separated, Muscular jumped and pounded his knuckles against Cannonbolt's armored shell.

Neito adopted an evasive strategy, letting Muscular chase him across the ruined neighborhood. Evidently, the League had departed through Kurogiri's portal since Neito found no more signs of their presence.

Muscular kept hopping from point to point, trying to smash Neito to the ground wherever he fled, but Neito always made sure to bounce in a random direction before Muscular would have hit him. Having used up his implants and with his artificial eye damaged, the monstrous freak must be on his last legs by now.

Neito set a trap, suddenly stopping and opening up, giving Muscular a prime target to tackle into. As Muscular took the bait, Neito activated All Might's Quirk.

Despite having All Might as one of his teachers at UA, this was actually the first true opportunity Neito had been given to copy and use All Might's Quirk. All Might had rejected Neito's initial request to copy it near the beginning of the term, and out of respect for the man, Neito had never tried to copy it in secret.

And perhaps Neito should have known better than to try and copy a Quirk that he knew little about the mechanics of, because as he waited for overwhelming power to flow through his body, Neito felt nothing.

All Might's Quirk was a blank.

Neito still tried to evade the attack, but it was for nought as Muscular buried his fist into Cannonbolt's face. If he had a visible noise on his alien form, Neito was sure it would be spewing blood from a contorted shape right now.

Desperate to counterattack, Neito used his claws. Instead of scratching, he impaled his talons around Muscular's eyes. In response, the villain shrieked and landed an uppercut that disconnected the two of them. Spinning in the air again, Neito closed in on himself and rolled once more, hitting the dirt and being dragged by his own momentum.

Although Cannonbolt was perfectly able to breathe in his ball form, Neito stopped moving and opened up to let him gulp in air directly. He wanted physically remind himself that was still alive. Neito kept his sights on Muscular, the madman still grinning despite his injuries. Part of his mechanical prosthetic was hanging loosely by a thick wire.

"Between you and the Midoriya kid," the psychopath said, "joining the League of Villains has to be the best decision I've ever made."

"You better prepare yourself for disappointment," Neito wheezed out, his mouth going off before he could consider refraining, "because villainy's ultimate destiny is always defeat."

"You call yourself the Protector of Earth, right?"

Neito gritted his teeth. "You can call me Cannonbolt."

What happened next made that declaration a complete misnomer.

The Omnitrix blinked red, and Cannonbolt transformed back into a very human Neito Monoma.

Neito wanted to strangle himself. He was usually better at keeping track of his time limit, including when under the stress of a hostile situation like this. He specifically trained himself to estimate accurate timings, only improving with his lessons learned at UA. If only All For One hadn't – no, that was no excuse. Neito should know better than to let the words of an opponent ruin his focus and concentration. It was a strategy he used all the time.

"I guess I'll just call you Monoma," Muscular said with a chortle. Quite the obnoxious sound to grace Neito's ears as he stood his ground. "Good luck protecting anything with an unreliable Quirk and watch like what you've got. You know, the Forever Knights told me about the state they found that Vilgax character after going through the wringer with you. It makes me wonder just how strong you or Vilgax really are."

He didn't know what he was talking about.

Vilgax had been a beast. A monster. A killer – not like Muscular who relished in the act of murder itself, but rather a hungry conqueror who fed off of wielding power in his hands and using it against others. Neito might not have scars on his body, but Vilgax would forever haunt his nightmares.

Vilgax had made Neito afraid.

Neito couldn't and wouldn't let Muscular inflict the same fears in him as that inhumane monster had done.

Muscular made Neito annoyed.

Who was he to be granted this great power derived from that gross creature? Who was this murdering psycho with no significant merit to his name beyond the slayings of innocents and heroes?

Neito had been a nobody when he had attained the Omnitrix. No matter what All For One had told him, Neito had been a mere member of the supporting characters in the extensive cast of heroes encompassing the world's shining spotlights.

At least unlike the ignorant Muscular, Neito strived to contribute to the common good with his alien powers just as much as he did with his Quirk.

Muscular was squandering his gifts. With All Might busy handling the true mastermind behind the League of Villains, and with the other pros nowhere to be found, it was left to Neito to, put simply, clean up the trash.

A task he was more than happy to complete, with or without the Omnitrix.

Neito activated Muscular's Quirk on himself. His muscles directly moving over his skin felt weird and strange, but no more unnatural than Neito's first time using any Quirk or alien ability. When Muscular punched down at him, Neito used his body's new advanced agility to sidestep the maneuver. Anticipating Mucular's next move, Neito used Big Fist at the same time to fend off the next punch.

With his other hand, Neito set off an explosion that he used to jump upward. He quickly shrunk his bigger fist back to normal size. Muscular was imbalanced and fell forward, allowing Neito to knee his face.

Holding both hands in front of him, Neito gave a muscle-augmented kick that destroyed his shoe but also destroyed the last of Muscular's eye prosthetic. His entire body began to jerk and shake, his arms convulsing. Whoever had installed Vilgax's implants into Muscular's body was no Dr. Animo, that was for certain. In any case, in order to ensure Muscular didn't try to fight through the pain, Neito once again simultaneously used Big Fist and Explosion.

Blinking, Neito found himself with all of his copied Quirks deactivated. He was sailing high through the sky backwards. He even went through a layer of clouds as he soared further up.

Neito couldn't keep the smile off his face. He was confident he had defeated Muscular, that overcompensating fool probably too burnt and mangled to even move. That left All Might free to finish up All For One and… and then hopefully catch Neito before he became a splat on the pavement. Neito was going to start his descent from the sky eventually.

In time, Neito slowed down. He rubbed his hands together. It appeared that his copy of Bakugo's Quirk wore off. Perhaps if All Might's fight went longer than expected, Neito may have to use Muscular's Quirk to soften his landing.

Neito felt something gently catch him, halting his flight.

"I've got you. Don't worry."

He looked behind him. Was that a dragon?

No, wait. This was a pro hero who only looked like a dragon. Pony was an admirer of this particular pro. Her name was Ryukyu or Ryuko?

There was also… a ship? A spaceship, that is, not a seaworthy vessel. They were all well above the layer of clouds as the dragon hero carried Neito and flew into an opening in the ship.

Neito suddenly sucked in a breath. Had he been breathing before this moment? He couldn't recall, and he suddenly felt too exhausted to think about it. Oh, and that's right, he had a bloody nose. He covered his face upon realizing how wet and aching it was.

"Neito!"

A green and black mechanized suit comparatively as big as Muscular came into Neito's view. The armor receded and allowed a woman some years younger than Neito's mother to step out. She looked him over and then embraced him with open arms.

"Your timing is... untimely as ever, aunt Julie," Neito said, his eyelids growing ever so heavy. Her battle suit would have been a useful ally during the battle.

"I'm so sorry, Neito."

A wave of guilt hit him. "Please, don't… don't start that. I'll be… okay..."

Another voice spoke, and it greatly surprised Neito. "We'll take care of everything," it said. "For you, your friends, your girlfriend–"

Neito coughed out a half-hearted laugh. "Ever the comedian, Mister Tennyson. I didn't know All Might was… was personally... familiar with you..."

The man chuckled back. "Again, it's just Ben, now go to sleep you little tyke. Rest up, and I promise we'll have things straightened out in no time."

And so Neito slept.