It was shortly after school had ended for the day and Izuku was finishing up the updates to his Hero Analysis for the Future notebook. Hideki had already left with the pair, promising to meet up later at Izuku's house. Izuku was snapped out of his work as he entered an alleyway and heard a gurgling sound. It was the sludge villain that Avalanche had been chasing.
"Hey there, kid," he said, "I need to borrow your body for a moment."
He tried to force his way down Izuku's throat, but got a shock when Izuku started forcing him out of his body with his Ki.
"Hey, what gives!? Why can't I enter your body!?" The confused villain demanded.
Thanks to his instincts and training, Izuku was able to focus his Ki on repelling the invader, preventing him from taking over his body. Just as the sludge villain was about to try something else, he heard the sound of a nearby manhole cover fly off.
"Have no fear, young man," came a deep, booming voice, equal parts friendly and angry, "You are safe... For I am here!"
Izuku's eyes got stars in them. Even without the costume, he recognized the blonde muscleman.
"Oh my God! It's All Might! Wait, why is he holding a convenience store grocery bag?"
"I was making a lunch run when I spotted this villain running past," All Might explained.
"I kinda lost Avalanche on the way, though. Slippery bastard managed to evade her at the last minute. But no evil can get away once I catch a whiff of it!"
"Goddamnit!" the Sludge Villain complained.
He tried to attack All Might with his nebulous body, but the Number 1 Pro Hero was as fast as he was strong. He launched a powerful shockwave with his right arm.
"Texas Smash!" All Might yelled.
The sludge villain found himself blown apart by All Might's attack.
"Curse you All Might!" He shouted out before falling unconscious.
Izuku also felt himself blown back, right into the concrete wall.
"Oh, shit!," All Might said.
He quickly ran over to Izuku's unconscious form and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness. He doesn't seem injured."
He started patting Izuku's cheek.
"Hey, are you alright, young man?"
This woke Izuku up and he then proceeded to freak out.
"I am alive?! Did I just get blown away by one of All Might's signature smashes!?"
"Ah, yes, sorry about that," All Might said, "I didn't realize you were right behind him. It's good to see you're unhurt and able to move around. Anyway, good work keeping that villain at bay. I was able to capture him as a result."
He showed the sludge villain, now sealed in an empty soda bottle. Izuku was practically speechless. By the time he realized he had to get an autograph, scrambling to find something to write with, he found that All Might had already signed his notebook.
"Thank you so much for this!," Izuku said, bowing in gratitude.
All Might gave a thumbs up in response.
"Well, I should get this evil-doer over to the proper authorities. You stay out of trouble now."
He leapt off, but was a bit shocked when Izuku wound up grabbing onto his leg for some reason.
"Good Jove! If you wanted a day to hang out, you could have just asked!"
"There's something important I need to ask you first!," Izuku explained.
All Might could sense the boy was serious, and decided to land on a nearby rooftop. Once he did, he shocked Izuku by shrinking back into the stick man he had been before.
"Sorry about that," he said, his voice now a much more normal tone, "So what did you want to ask me?"
Hideki was walking through the Tatooin Shopping District, which had quieted down after the giant villain the other day. He had already sent in his and Izuku's applications for UA High School, which was the number one ranked hero school in Japan and one of the top 10 hero schools in the World.
"Excuse me!"
Hideki heard a young woman's voice calling out to him.
He turned around to see Avalanche running over.
"What's with the sudden rush?," Hdeki asked.
"Did you happen to see a villain with a sludge Quirk run through this area?" Avalanche asked in response.
"I was chasing him down, and I think All Might was running after us as well, but I lost both of them when the villain hit the sewer system."
Neither of them noticed the bottle with said villain had fallen into a nearby alley, a sinister hand coming out of the wall through an ominous black portal. The sludge villain's eyes widened when he saw it.
"It's you!"
The hand grabbed the bottle and unscrewed it, letting the villain free as he cackled.
"You're free now, do as you wish!" A malicious voice said,
Meanwhile, Izuku was freaking out, again, at the sight of All Might suddenly becoming frail.
"What in the world!? How did you...? What the...? I have so many questions!" Izuku rattled.
"I should start with the obvious," All Might said, not at all surprised by Izuku's reaction.
"What you just saw was the time limit on my Quirk. I can hold it for about seven hours at a time. It would have been three hours per day, but luckily a friend of mine was able to heal a few injuries I got battling a dangerous villain."
"I-I don't know what to say…" Izuku admitted,
"And this is probably the first time I've seen you without a smile on your face."
"I put on the smile for the sake of the people," All Might explained, "There's a lot more fear behind it than you might think. And please, don't spread this info around. Only the upper echelons of the Government, the Hero Public Safety Commission and a select few Pro Heroes know how about my injury, and I'd rather keep it that way. Oh yeah, and while I'm like this, call me Yagi. Toshinori Yagi."
"Okay, All-I mean Mr. Yagi," Izuku replied.
"But what did you mean earlier?" He continued.
Toshinori lifted up his shirt, showing an ugly and swollen concentric scar on his abdomen.
"Five years ago, this had my guts spilling out of it. I was in a fight with the villain to end all villains. I still won, but it nearly cost me my life. Luckily the Shaman Hero: Witch Doctor was able to fix most of my wounds. With his powerful healing abilities he repaired my mutilated organs. Without him I'd be running on fumes by now."
"Wait, five years ago? Wasn't that the fight with Toxic Chainsaw?" Izuku asked.
Toshinori blinked in surprise.
"Huh, you really know your stuff, kid. But no, it wasn't Toxic Chainsaw was no pushover, he was actually defeated without much incident."
"Sure, he got some hits in, but I've faced far tougher. This was actually a fight most of the world never even heard of. A villain known only to me, and a select few individuals."
Izuku nodded.
"I guess even the Symbol of Peace can feel fear, huh?"
"That's the mark of being a hero," Toshinori said, "Smiling even through the tough times. This job isn't easy, and I have seen heroes fall, either dying to a lucky villain, or even becoming villains themselves when the pressure got too much.
It's the lucky ones, or the ones that keep a balance, who make it to retirement with their careers, lives, and reputations intact. It's a job where you always put your life on the line."
"From the way you say it," Izuku said, "It sounds like Quirkless people couldn't even become heroes."
"Heroes can come from anywhere." Toshinori clarified.
"It's not just about fighting villains. But fighting villains does require either a Quirk or magic or Ki Manipulation since villains tend to have their own powers. So while a Quirkless person could become a hero without any of those powers, they would mostly be limited to rescue and evacuation."
"When Thomas Jefferson penned that all men are created equal, what he meant was that all men, and women, are equally entitled to the same rights. They aren't necessarily born equally capable." He concluded.
"What about me?" Izuku asked.
"I am Quirkless but I am a Ki User."
"That certainly does sound like you're capable enough to be a hero." Toshinori noted.
"But you'll still need training. After all, ability and competence are two very different things. Speaking of which, I should get this guy back to the..."
He realized the bottle with the sludge villain was gone.
"That's not good..." Toshinori winced.
He quickly checked his pockets, and Izuku got a bad feeling.
"Oh no! I think I may have caused him to drop out of your pocket!" He said in a panic.
They both heard a sudden explosion going off from the other side of the district.
"This is not a good sign." Toshinori said.
He quickly entered his Muscle form..
"Don't worry, Young Midoriya. I don't blame you for this. Accidents happen all the time, and the only course of action we have is to clean it up."
He quickly leapt off. Izuku clenched his fist and decided to follow his idol.
Avalanche was currently maneuvering around, trying to hold off the now released Sludge Villain. Mostly she was trying to keep him off his hostage who happened to be Katsuki Bakugo.
"There's no way you could have gotten out on your own." She muttered. "Who freed you!"
The Sludge Villain laughed.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
Other heroes got to the scene, including Death Arms, Kamui Woods, Raiden and Mt. Lady.
"We need to do something." Raiden said.
He was watching Bakugo as the teen struggled in the grasp of the Sludge Villain
"We should intervene now because Avalanche can't hold the villain off forever."
"You sure?" Death Arms asked, "The villain was only marked as a robber. I wasn't under the impression that this was a hostage situation."
"Are you blind? The boy is slowly being suffocated!" Raiden snapped, annoyed by his fellow hero's ignorance.
Death Arms grimaced and considered his options.
"I can try getting him out of there. With my Quirk I should be able to grab the kid from the villain's clutches."
"But the kid is panicking and releasing explosions all over the place so I might get injured." Death Arms pondered.
Backdraft was already on sight to combat the flames.
Izuku had shown up, already checking out the situation. He knew enough about Avalanche to know she only had minutes before the heat and pressure made her too tired to keep the villain at bay. And when she gave out, Bakugo might die. His mind went into overdrive as he quickly started analyzing the situation.
"His eyes!" He realized.
The eyes were big and obvious, and always remained solid no matter what form the villain took. Izuku quickly improvised a slingshot and started running into the flames. Death Arms noticed this.
"Kid, that's too dangerous!"
He leapt at the surprised villain, slingshot ready.
"Let him go!" Izuku demanded.
He fired off the slingshot with perfect accuracy, nailing the sludge villain and managing to grab Bakugo.
"What the hell are you doing Deku!" Bakugo said.
"Saving you!" Izuku replied.
The sludge villain started to get up.
"Damn brat! I'll teach you to-"
But he got cut off by a recently arrived All Might.
"Your villainous ways end now!"
"Detroit Smash!"
With a massive punch, he created a shockwave tornado that reduced the sludge villain to pieces of himself. Avalanche collected the pieces of the Sludge Villain using a bottle.
A sudden rainfall occurred, created by the tornado when it caused the clouds to move.
"Whoa," Hideki muttered, "I had no idea All Might was strong enough to change the weather."
Izuku's mind was racing. Not even improving one's muscle mass and physical strength could account for what All Might had just done. There was another force at work here. Still, with a smile on his face and his fist raised to the heavens, All Might was able to reassure the people that the danger had passed, as the onlookers cheered.