All Might: Last time, on "Building Up A Hero!", Young Midoriya and I had finally disclosed the truth about One for All to Team Build!

Pony Tsunotori: That was a really big surprise to find out!

Setsuna Tokage: Yea, and I thought finding out about Faust and the Kamen Rider was the craziest thing to learn.

Mina Ashido: To think, that Midoriya has All Might's Quirk now! That's so incredible!

Ochako Uraraka: That's so cool, Deku!

Eijiro Kirishima: It's the manliest thing, to be so willing to give up your own for someone else!

Izuku Midoriya: T-Thanks, you guys.

Misora Isurugi: Are we forgetting that some sort of villain disintegrated the UA Barrier? I feel like THAT'S the most pressing thing here. Though admittedly that was one hell of a bombshell that you dropped, Uncle Toshi.

Itsuka Kendo: Yea, that's right! What do you think this means, guys?

Sento Kiryu: It means that we have to find out why, in this chapter of "Building Up A-" wait a minute, I didn't get to say anything this time around!

Ryuga Banjo: Does that matter?

SKir: It does!

A Few Days Later

"So we'll be going to the USJ that Thirteen's made for rescue training as the next big exercise," Aizawa said to Vlad King, Goldminer, Sento, and Thirteen. "They've learned about their current limits with their Quirks from the Quirk Apprehension Test, they've learned about combat and its technical aspects from All Might and Mr. Kiryu, and now they need to learn about to use their Quirks for rescue training."

"It's going to be tough, since a lot of them have some destructive Quirks," Goldminer said.

"Especially Bakugo's," Sento said, crossing his arms. "He'll need to be really careful with his Explosions."

"His combat ability is quite impressive for sure," Vlad King replied. "But the fact that his practical score was entirely Villain Points while his Rescue Points was zero does make it concerning..."

"This training exercise will be a valuable lesson for him, then!" All Might said, sensing Sento's tenseness about Bakugo. "After all, heroes come in all flavors! And it's up to us teachers to guide them all!"

"Yea, too bad I can't make it," Goldminer added, as the other teachers stared at him. "Sorry, I got a call from my family earlier. They need help moving some new used furniture my sister got for her family, and I'm gonna need to be there to help out 'cuz her husband broke his ankle and they don't want to hire any movers."

"For someone who wears gold, your family's a bunch of pennypinchers," Thirteen laughed.

"Hey, this is gold plated! You think I can afford solid gold armor on a teacher's salary and as a pro who's not even ranked!?" Goldminer said, defending himself. "UA's well-paying, but it sure isn't 'I can afford solid gold armor' well-paying!"

As Thirteen and Vlad King laughed at Goldminer, Aizawa sighed and looked at Sento and All Might.

"So since we're going to be down a teacher, you two are going to need to make sure that you make it," he said. "Otherwise, we'll have a lot of difficulty monitoring and judging how well each student does, since we'll have to have them be spread out all over the USJ."

"Of course!" All Might said, as he assumed his muscle form and laughed for a second. "Those sprouts will be under my unending sight, Eraserhead!"

"And I'm not going to skip out for anything," Sento said, nodding.

Morning, the Day of the USJ Exercise

"Hey Sento, you got a tip," Misora said, sitting at the workbench's computer while checking her website's messages.

"Can't it wait? I have to go to UA," Sento said, pulling his trench coat on.

"I... think it might be really important," Misora said, turning the monitor around to show him. "Someone noticed an old Namba Industries building that's been empty for a while now that's suddenly having Guardian patrols, and they sent a picture they took this morning. I don't think they noticed him, but..."

Sento took a look at the monitor, and saw that close to the entrance of the building was a blurry figure walking in. A blurry figure that was wearing an unmistakable gray suit with black armor.

"Meta Bolt," Sento hissed, recognizing him, even as blurry and distant as it was. "Does... does this mean that they're hiding the Pandora Box there!?"

"They also sent the address," Misora said, showing him where the building was located.

"... Gah, I can't go. That's an hour away from the USJ, even if I book it," Sento said, stomping away. "I promised Mr. Aizawa that I'd make it to the USJ exercise! Ergh... Send Banjo, he can-"

"He went out today, earlier than you," Misora told him.

"What!? Why!?"

"Dad got him a bunch of new disguises, and he wanted to take a walk since Faust hasn't made a move yet, so he wanted some fresh air," Misora explained. "He's got his Build Driver, the Cross-Z Dragon, and his Dragon Fullbottle on him. He forgot his Cross-Z Phone, though. Saw it on the bathroom sink when I went in. So no contacting him."

Sento paced around, grabbing at his hair in frustration. "... Gah! Fine! I'll send a message to Mr. Aizawa! Hopefully he'll understand."

At UA

Aizawa sighed as he put his phone away. He just got a text from Sento, saying that something serious came up and that he'll need to skip out on today's exercise, in spite of promising him that he'd make it.

"Anything wrong, Eraserhead?" Principal Nezu asked, walking up to the frustrated man.

"I thought that Mr. Kiryu would be one of the more rational teachers thanks to his previous position as a scientist at the Institute, as well as being the heroics science teacher and actually managing to keep All Might in check," Aizawa stated. "Turns out that wasn't rational to assume. He said that something came up, and won't elaborate any more on it."

"I see! I got a message like that as well from Mr. Kiryu!" Principal Nezu said. In truth, he got the explanation way through his personal phone that Sento made for him so that there's no chance of their messages being intercepted or bugged. The fact that they might have a lead on where the Pandora Box is was something he needed to take, especially since a building that Meta Bolt was entering was incredibly suspicious to begin with. "He's got my full permission to miss the Hero Course's USJ training today, so don't worry about it!"

"... Fine," Aizawa muttered. "Just as long as All Might isn't doing anything irrational..."

All Might's Morning Commute

Aizawa would call this the height of irrationality. All Might, in spite of his decreasing time, kept stopping crime after crime he happened to come across, no matter how small it was.

"I can still make it to UA in time," All Might thought to himself, as he managed to stop a hit-and-run. "My time might be growing shorter, but that just means that I just have to help out as much as I can!"

The Combined Hero Class Classroom

"Today we'll be doing some special training at a special facility away from the main campus," Aizawa said to the class of 60 kids, with Vlad King standing next to him at the front. "Myself, Vlad King, All Might, and a fourth teacher will be supervising it. Goldminer had to take leave to help with his family, while Mr. Kiryu had something come up for him at the last minute and needed to attend to it. Vlad King and I will be driving the 1A and 1B buses respectively, while a normal bus driver will be dropping 1C off. All Might will be there early with the other teacher."

The Team Build teens who were sitting together gave each other quick glances, having gotten the message from Sento about the possible lead of the Pandora Box's location. As well as a tirade about Ryuga being an idiot for leaving for a walk while still being a wanted felon and leaving his phone behind by accident, and that they better not do the same thing.

"What's this special training?" Ichiyo asked, raising her hand.

"Rescue training," Aizawa stated. "You're be all allowed to choose whether or not to bring or wear parts of your costumes, as they might be ill-suited for rescue before you're capable of using them effectively."

"Keep that in mind, since you all need to change before getting onto the buses. Any decisions you make will be final, and we won't be coming back to get something if you change your mind," Vlad King added. "Now get to the lockers and get changed!"

At the Buses

"So what's up with the gym uniform?" Itsuka said, as the Hero Course students gathered around at the buses. She was looking at Izuku, who was wearing his protective gear, but instead of the jumpsuit, it was the UA gym uniform. His respirator mask hung around his neck rather than over his mouth, while his goggles were over his eyes.

"The Support Course kids are still working on my jumpsuit. It's still has a bunch of burn holes from the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, and I asked if they could strengthen it," Izuku explained. "Luckily the gear I had made was fine and withstood all that damage, so all I really need was to just put it over my gym uniform."

As he looked around, he noticed that a lot of his classmates indeed had left some pieces of their costumes behind. It seemed like it was mostly headgear that was omitted, though the most notable was Katsuki, who was only wearing one of his grenade gauntlets.

"Alright everyone, get into your assigned buses!" Vlad King called out. The students obeyed, and at the 1A bus, Tenya was at the front, giving directions to his classmates.

"Get into a single file line based on seating number, everyone!" Tenya shouted, as everyone snickered, though the 1C students stopped immediately when Inasa began copying Tenya but with far more energy. "Let's be quick to get on-"

The 1A Bus

"- this bus ruined my seating plan," Tenya bemoaned. Instead of the normal type of bus like he had expected, the bus had two rows that were against the walls facing each other, while the back of the bus had the more expected columns of seats. Aizawa was at the front, driving.

"D-Don't feel too bad! Who knew that UA would use these types of buses instead?" Izuku said, trying to reassure his friend.

"Still, to think that I hadn't prepared a contingency seating plan in case the first fell through-!"

"Hey, Midoriya," Tsuyu asked, turning to face the boy to her right suddenly while the bespectacled teen lamented his 'failure'. "Now that we've got a chance to really talk, I wanted to ask you something."

"Y-Yea, Asui?"

"Call me Tsu," Tsuyu said. "As for the thing I wanted to ask you about... Your costume's like the Kamen Rider, huh?"

Izuku froze while the other Team Build teens present got stunned as well.

"Yea, that's right!" Denki said, snapping his fingers. "I mean, it's all beetle-y and stuff, but it does kinda make me think about that Build dude!"

"Does that mean you designed your armor to look like a vigilante's!?" Tenya said, aghast that his new friend would do something like that.

"S-Sorta!?" Izuku said, sweating a bit. "I mean, I-I thought it would look cool with my All Might-inspired jumpsuit-"

"Oooooh, so that's why you had those big bunny ears," Minoru said, remembering the ruined jumpsuit.

"Honestly, is Kamen Rider Build even all that bad?" Rikido asked, earning his classmates' shock (primarily Tenya's). "Like, sure, he's breaking the law and all, but he has been the one who's saving all those people from being Smashes."

"If that's the case, then why doesn't he share that technology with the government!?" Tenya said.

"Have you not seen what he can do?" Kyoka said, raising an eyebrow. "There's no way that all of those weird powers are Quirks. He's probably withholding that tech 'cuz it could be bad if it got into the wrong hands."

"Indeed, plus it doesn't seem like it'd be easily replicable without understanding the intricacies and materials used to make it," Momo added, though she put a thoughtful hand on his chin. "Though I would like to try..."

"I have to thank Build for helping me," Mezo said through one of his mouths. "Those Faust villains kidnapped me months ago, and turned me into a Smash that attacked Midoriya while he was training on Dagobah Beach, and he extracted whatever it was that turned me into a Smash."

"No way, you too!?" Mina said, as everyone looked at her. "I mean, me and Kirishima here got turned into Smashes a few months ago too!"

"Seriously?" Denki said.

"Yea, it was nuts," Eijiro sighed. "We totally lost our memories of what happened before that and the Kamen Rider removed that Smash stuff out of us..."

"Tsunotori was there, too. In fact, her being there was pretty much why we ended up becoming friends," Mina said.

"After I took the entrance exam, that Meta Bolt guy appeared in front of me and turned me into a Smash," Ochako said, shifting her foot around.

"I as well," Fumikage, the raven-headed teen, said, to everyone's surprise. "They had kidnapped me as I walked home unexpectedly, and when I awoke, I was in an alleyway hours later."

"A-And I was experimented on by Faust," Izuku said, his gaze at the ground. "In fact, their experimentations actually activated my Quirk. Since I was a kid, my parents and I thought that I... that I was Quirkless."

"Oh man, that sounds rough," Kyoka said, looking at Izuku. "Sounds like bullies would've picked you as an easy target."

"Yea, it was," Izuku admitted. Katsuki narrowed his eyes as he glared at the green-haired teen. "But really, in a way I should thank them and the Kamen Rider! If it weren't for him helping me out, I wouldn't even be here, I think!"

"Wait a minute..." Toru said, examining Izuku and then Katsuki. "... Were you those kids at the Sludge Villain Incident!?"

"And now that I think about it, there was that green-haired kid that was taken for a wild joyride by that Meta Bolt guy!" Rikido said. "Was that you, too?"

"T-That's right," Izuku said. "I-It was thanks to the Kamen Rider saving me the first time and All Might saving me that time that I combined their looks together. As, you know, a tribute?"

Aizawa sighed. Something was telling him that this wasn't the entire story, but he'll press the kid some other time.

"I see... Still, it seems quite inappropriate to wear something a vigilante uses as your own, whether they saved you or not!" Tenya said, crossing his arms.

"So what about the beetle theme?" Tsuyu asked. "I don't think that's one of those weird form things that Build has."

"I-I just thought it would help distracting people from noticing the similarity my costume has with Build," Izuku half-admitted. "G-Guess it wasn't enough."

"So wait, if you, Ashido, Kirishima, Shoji, Tokoyami, and Tsunotori were experimented on-" Hanta said, his visor lifted up so he could scratch his cheek in thought, "- does that mean that Faust's been targeting UA students?"

Everyone in the bus froze upon the realization. Even Aizawa, who had voiced his suspicions about this to Principal Nezu and the others, was still troubled over the thought.

"But that stuff's before the start of this semester!" Kyoka pointed out. "How could they know-"

"I mean, Acting Prime Minister Himuro's aide was Night Rogue, so they might've gotten a hold of copies of applications..." Tsuyu said, scratching her chin.

"Are you suggesting that government officials are- are involved with criminal activity!?" Tenya sputtered.

"Won't be the first time there's something like that happening, I think..." Mashirao said, his tail drooping at the thought.

"Do you think that any of us could be next!?" Toru said, fearfully.

"That's enough," Aizawa said, getting everyone to stop panicking. "Faust's activities just means that everyone needs to be on high alert. Heroes have to respond to unpredictable events, and Faust will be no different."

"But sir-"

"That's enough, Iida," Aizawa stated firmly. "There's no point in worrying yourselves over something like this when you're all still students."

Class 1B Bus

"So you guys really got experimented on, too!?" Manga said, as everyone stared at him, Itsuka, Pony, and Setsuna. He had mentioned to them that he got turned into a Smash a while ago by Faust, and Pony let slip that her, Itsuka, and Setsuna were, too.

"Y-Yea, don't remember anything during it. Not much from before, either," Itsuka said, rubbing the back of her head.

"I mean, at the very least it improved our Quirks' power, right?" Setsuna said, shrugging.

"I was not aware that more of my classmates were turned into those brutish monstrosities like myself," Ibara said, her hands clasped together in her lap. "To think, that so many of us have faced that horrible experience..."

"And 1A has some students that've gone through it too, right?" Yosetsu said, arms crossed. "The ones that are your friends?"

"Yep," Itsuka said, sighing. "Honestly we ended up coming across each other when we met Mr. Kiryu reached out to some victims to do some asking."

"So that's why you guys were surprised when he came to class," Kinoko said, nodding.

"Mr. Kiryu is super smart, so it makes sense that he got hired by UA to be a teacher," Pony said.

"But he's already skipping out on our second big hero training class," Sen said, shaking his head.

"Can't be helped if it was an emergency he had to deal with," Juzo said, shrugging.

"Still, the fact that we have so many classmates that were turned into Smashes seems... strange," Sen muttered. "If I was a pachinko man like my brother, I'd say that there's a spy in UA..."

"Mr. Himuro's aide was Night Rogue, so maybe it's someone in the government instead," Yosetsu replied. "I don't think we should go accusing anyone in UA yet."

"Indeed," Vlad King said, his eyes moving to the rearview mirror to look at his students. "I can tell you right now that Principal Nezu has been looking into it himself, and he's doing his best to make sure that everyone's in the clear. So let's not worry ourselves over this for now, alright everyone?"

"Yes sir!" his students replied, as he smiled to himself. What a bunch of good kids. Hopefully nothing bad will happen to them while they're in UA now.

At the 'abandoned' Namba Industries building

"Seems like the tip was right, that building does look like it's been abandoned a long time ago," Sento said, looking at the dirty and somewhat derelict building... that swarming with Guardian troop patrols. Ones that were unmistakably Faust-controlled now that he could see them more clearly. "Man, I wish I had NinninComic right now for some stealth... Guess I'll just go for speed, then."

Sento put on his Build Driver and pulled out the Train and Pirate Fullbottles. "I'll go in fast, grab the Pandora Box, and get on out of there. And then I'll make it as fast as I can to the USJ and hope that Aizawa isn't too pissed at me. The guy seems real easy to annoy..."

"Pirate! Train! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Transform!"

"The Punctual Rebel! PirateTrain! Yeahhh!"

As soon as the lime green and azure armor formed around him and the Pirate Hassyar in hand, Build leaped around from the building he was hiding behind and rushed through the Guardians, breaking each one he ran as he made it to the entrance. He shot the locked door, breaking it open, and ran inside. He ran through hallway after hallway, shooting any Guardians he saw coming his way as he searched for the room that the Pandora Box was in. He ducked, he rolled, he attacked his way through until finally, he came across a surprisingly heavy duty locked door.

"I bet that's where the Pandora Box is," Build muttered. "If not, I'm going to admit to Banjo that he's smarter than me..."

He looked at the keypad next to the locked door, and began using his helmet's scanners to see what buttons had been recently pressed. After some guesswork, he managed to open the door, and saw the Pandora Box sitting in the center of the room on a pedestal. With Meta Bolt laying on a tacky couch, waiting for him with his Steam Rifle in hand.

"Took you long enough. Had a feeling that you'd eventually find out about this place," Meta Bolt said, getting up and popping his neck. "I swear I thought I was going to fall asleep with how late you were."

"Meta Bolt," Build growled, immediately on guard. "Hand over the Pandora Box."

"Wow, bossy. Get a few new Best Matches, a few new Riders, and you feel like making some demands," Meta Bolt laughed, as he pointed his Steam Rifle at Build. "But we all know that's not going to happen."

Meta Bolt fired several gas bullets at Build, who dodged and rolled out of the way before pulling back on the Pirate Hassyar's train.

"All Station Train! Departing!"

Two blue balls of water-like energy fired from the Pirate Hassyar, flying towards the Faust executive. Meta Bolt shot one of them and rolled out of the way of the other, spinning the valve of the Steam Rifle. "Ice Steam!"

The two kept trading shots, until they got close enough to each other and started slashing at each other with the blades of their weapons. Sparks flew, and while their blades were locked, Meta Bolt kicked Build's leg, knocking him off balance and letting the spanner man strike him with several slashes before finishing off with a shot from the Steam Rifle's barrel. Build rolled on the ground, but in the process, swapped the Pirate and Train Fullbottles for the Tiger and UFO Fullbottles.

"Tiger! UFO! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"A Best Match!? Now!? Yes!" Build cried out. He stood back up immediately, and began to crank the Build Driver's handle. Meta Bolt fired more shots at Build, but a marigold runner formed in front of him, blocking the bullets, while a pink runner formed behind him. "Build Up!"

The runners slammed onto Build, forming new armor. His right arm, left leg, and left side of his head were marigold, with a tiger head-shaped shoulder pad and a tail-like bar on the left side of his chest, and black claw-like fingertips on his marigold hand. His left arm, right leg, and right side of his head were pink, with a UFO-shaped shoulder pad with a see-through pink cape. His right eye was shaped like a UFO, while his left eye was shaped like a tiger's head.

"The Unidentified Jungle Hunter! TigrUFO!"

"I've found the winning formula!"

"So you found a Best Match, so what?" Meta Bolt said, his Steam Rifle still pointed at the Kamen Rider. "That doesn't change a thing!"

As he began to pull the trigger, Build slammed his left hand onto the ground. A pink aura dome spread out from where he was standing, and everything unbolted began to float up, including Meta Bolt. The Pandora Box remained on its pedestal, held down by special clamps.

"What the hell!?" Meta Bolt shouted, struggling to regain his footing as he floated towards the ceiling.

"I got to thank Uraraka for this," Build said, a smile forming under his helmet. "The ability to control gravity, amazing! Now, let's try this!"

A pink energy UFO formed underneath his feet. "Good, seems like I can access this ability that Ashido showed off while testing the UFO Fullbottle."

At his command, the UFO projection flew towards the floating Meta Bolt. Rearing back his right hand, the claw-like fingertips extended, and he slashed the spanner man across his chest, sparks flying. Meta Bolt pointed his Steam Rifle at Build, but when he fired, instead of the gas bullet flying at the Kamen Rider, the Faust executive was send flying back by the recoil. He slammed against the ground, grunting from the impact when he looked up and saw Build cranking his Build Driver's handle.

"Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

"Astigeroid!" Build cried, as multiple UFO projections formed around him. They all flew into the off guard Meta Bolt, imploding before the one he was on zoomed towards him, as a tiger energy projection formed over his right hand. With a yell, he slashed Meta Bolt, making the Faust executive exploded, though it wasn't enough to knock him out of his suit. The gravity field disappeared, and Build ran towards the Pandora Box, grabbing it and pulling it out of the pedestal when Meta Bolt laughed.

"Man, you really are full of surprises, aren't you?" he said, getting up before stumbling a bit, clutching his side. "Aw, dammit, I think you really bruised my side. But you know what? Go for it, take the Box."

"... What?" Build said, flatly. "You... you go through the trouble of getting the Pandora Box, only to just hand it over to me?"

"Hm, doesn't matter where it is for me, really," Meta Bolt said, shrugging. "We'll be getting that back eventually in any case. It's only a matter of time. Those kids of yours are probably super dead, though. Like, deader than a doornail."

"... What!?"

"Yea, Night Rogue might be obsessed with keeping that Box around, but not me. What I am obsessed with is messing with you and those kids. So me and Blood Stalk decided to... do a joint operation with a different group. Got some sort of vendetta against All Might. They're probably finishing up at the USJ as we speak."

"Why are you telling me this!?"

"Didn't I just tell you that I'm doing this to mess with you and the kids? You got yourself caught in the same damn trap like before, you know. It's why I was so easy to find. Have to distract you from protecting your precious little ones, right?"

"... DAMMIT!" Build shouted, flying out of the building with the Pandora Box in hand, smashing through the roof. Meta Bolt looked at the hole he made, and just laughed.

"Man, what an idiot. He's going to be pissed when he finds out that's a fake Box," Meta Bolt chuckled, walking over to a wall and hitting it, opening up a secret panel, revealing the real Pandora Box. "Gonna have to get this guy a new hiding place, though. Bet Stalk's got some ideas."

Above the sky, Build activated his helmet's communication system. He needed Ryuga to get there. They couldn't let Izuku fight there, not without exposing their secret. All Might would be more than enough to handle Blood Stalk, but he managed to turn some of the students there into Smashes-

"Banjo! There's an issue! One of UA's facilities is under attack! I need you to-"

"Hey, I'm not at the phone. Call me later," Ryuga's voice mail said.

"DAMMIT THAT'S RIGHT! Well, at least I got the Pandora Box-" he began to say to himself, when the Pandora Box began to crack. "W-What the hell!? Why is it cracking!? It withstood tons of hardness tests, why is it-"

He pressed his hands together slightly tighter. It crumbled, revealing it to be Styrofoam. "... DAMMIT!"

As Build forced himself to think of a plan, a thought occurred to him. He could send a message to Principal Nezu! He could do something!

He pressed on his helmet, and hoped that he would answer.

"Oh, Mr. Kiryu, how is retrieving the-"

"It was a fake! Faust and another group's invading the USJ! This was all a plan to distract me!"

"Oh my, is that true?"

"Meta Bolt taunted me with it, and the guy loves to mess with people! Get as many teachers to help All Might, Aizawa, Vlad King, and Thirteen there-"

"Do not worry, All Might is heading over there now. We hadn't gotten any alarms, so they must've used something to blocked signals."

"Now!? He wasn't there already!?"

"He used up his time a bit too early today, so I had him resting here. The second he heard you shouting about the USJ, he bolted out the door. But I'll gather all the teachers I can as soon as possible. Do not fret. We won't let them get away."

Principal Nezu hung up, and Build stared at his phone as he flew on the energy UFO. A thought came to his head, and though he didn't like it, he knew that it was something that could turn the tides. He opened the app he made for Izuku to summon the Battler Beetle and his Build Driver in emergencies, and plugged in the USJ coordinates. "Thank god I thought of this feature, too... Hopefully it'll get there in time."

Earlier, at the USJ

"Wow, look at this place!" Taiju said, as he and the rest of the Hero Course students surveyed the facility they were taken to.

"Yea, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that this place looked like Universal Studios Japan!" Setsuna said, with a wide grin.

"Floods! Collapsing buildings! Fires! Landslides! And much more!" a voice, catching all of their attention. The students turned their heads, and saw a figure dressed like an astronaut walking towards them. "I've personally designed everything here to emulate all kinds of disasters as accurately as possible! I call it the Unforeseen Stimulation Joint!"

"... So it is just USJ, isn't it?" Genta said, crossing his arms.

"Wow, it's Space Hero Thirteen!" Ochako said, bouncing up and down at the sight of the hero. "She's one of my favorite heroes of all time!"

"Me too!" Mina said, grinning. "Space is so awesome!"

"Really? I would've thought people would hate space after what the Pandora Box did..." Chiaki said, before getting elbowed by Machiko and Seiya.

"That has nothing to do with anything!" Machiko hissed, though everyone heard Thirteen sigh a little.

"No, he does bring up a good point," she said, sadly. "Ever since the Skywall Incident, there've been some people who dislike a lot of heroes who themed themselves after space such as myself. A couple acquaintances of mine even retired because of the pressure they felt from them. But still, we stick around because we know that there are only some things that we can do. I'm sure you all know about my Quirk, Black Hole, right?"

"Yea, it lets you suck up debris and you use it to save people from all sorts of disasters!" Ochako said, as Mina nodded furiously with her.

"But that sounds like it could be really dangerous if someone gets sucked in-" Chiaki pointed out, once again getting elbowed by Machiko and Seiya.

"No, Mr. Chikara is correct," Thirteen said, lifting her hand up to stare at it. "In this world of superpowers and, well, potentially extraterrestrial life, a Quirk can be a very dangerous weapon. It's why our society has so many laws and regulations on how Quirks can be used. It may appear stable right now, but as the Skywall has taught us all, it's that it takes one significant change to shake up our lives and society. And it can only take one wrong move with a Quirk to throw everything into further disarray. Heroes have to do their best to protect as many people and the fragility of our world."

"You've learned about your current limitations with your Quirk Assessment Tests from your homeroom teachers, and you've learned about how to operate in combative situations with All Might and Mr. Kiryu, so now you'll learn with me on how to operate in rescue situations! Being a hero is a responsibility that few can handle, and every teacher at UA will help guide you onto that path. That is all!"

As the students clapped and began chattering amongst themselves, the Team Build teens overheard Aizawa and Vlad King talking to Thirteen.

"Where's All Might?" Aizawa said, looking at Thirteen. "I told him that he had to be here."

"Let me guess, he forgot that he had scheduled an interview or something," Vlad King joked.

"Actually, he wore himself out a bit on his way to work," Thirteen said, holding up three fingers discreetly. The Team Build teens glanced at one another, realizing what the heroine meant. "So he's taking some time at the break room."

"How irrational," Aizawa grumbled. "Well, I suppose just the three of us will have to do for now-"

Aizawa stopped when he saw something forming in the fountain plaza down the stairs. A misty purple portal formed, and a man covered in hands began climbing out. Soon, more and more portals formed, each one with people clamoring out of them, with a lumbering black-skinned one with a beak-like mouth and an exposed brain following the hand-covered man directly. He, Vlad King, and Thirteen instantly went on high alert.

"Huh?" Eijiro said, looking down the stairs. "What's going on? I thought the exercise was about rescue-"

"Stand back everyone!" Aizawa said, pulling his goggles over his face and his scarf. "These are real villains!"

"No way!" Machiko said, as the hero students stared at the plaza.

"H-How did they get into a UA facility!?" Kinoko whimpered, grabbing onto Shihai, who was the closest to her, in fear.

"Shouldn't the alarms be going off!?" Machiko pointed out.

"They're probably blocking all signals here. I don't know how, but you kids stay back!" Vlad King barked. Izuku took his phone out and checked. It was true, there was no signal. But that didn't mean that he couldn't try using the special app to call for the Battler Beetle to come and bring his Build Driver to him. "Thirteen! Get all of the kids and get out of here! Me and Eraserhead will hold them off!"

"But there's so many of them! At least let us-" Izuku began to implore.

"No! You all need to get out of here and get help! Kaminari! Try using your Quirk to contact the school!" Aizawa said, as he and Vlad King leaped down towards the villains. Izuku stood there, staring at all of the villains.

This was just like before. Just like when Ryuga's girlfriend suffered in front of his eyes. He couldn't let this happen again-

"Come on, Midoriya! We got to go!" Itsuka said, shaking the teen out of his stupor. "If we get help, we can-"

"Oh, I don't think that will be happening."

The Hero Course students looked towards the entrance, and saw another misty portal forming in front of it. Two glowing yellow eyes appeared from it.

"A warping Quirk-!" Thirteen said, as she prepared to uncap her glove's fingertips.

"Hello, we're the League of Villains, and we're here to kill All Might. Though it seems like he isn't here. Strange, our contact said otherwise. Oh well, I suppose snuffing out these seeds before they grow will do-" the warp Quirk user said, when Katsuki, Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, and Seiya all charged at him, Quirks activated to hit him.

"Die!" Katsuki yelled.

"Not so tough, are you!?" Seiya shouted.

"No you four, stay back!" Thirteen commanded, as the warp Quirk user reappeared above them, unharmed.

"Oh my, how unheroic. I suppose my guilty conscience is satisfied with getting rid of you all," the warp Quirk user said. "Now, scatter."

Wet. Everything was wet. Izuku had fallen out of the sky and landed in the flood zone's water. While thankful for the relative safe landing, he was less thankful for all of the water villains around.

"Sorry kid, no hard feelings!" a shark-like villain said, swimming towards him. Izuku panicked, trying to swim as fast as he could, though it was hopeless, until Tsuyu slammed her foot against the villain.

"Hey Midoriya!" she said, slinging her tongue out to grab him, while she held Setsuna by the collars of her costume. She quickly swam away from all of the villains, and tossed the three students she had saved onto the boat before jumping on herself. After they coughed out some water, they realized that Machiko were there with them.

"You guys! You're all alright!" Machiko said, taking a deep breath of relief.

"Yea, especially since we're all surrounded," Tsuyu said, peering over the boat's railing.

"This is bad..." Setsuna muttered, as she looked out at the water. "Villains breaking into a UA facility, wanting to kill All Might... this isn't good."

"Y-You don't think they really can do that, right?" Machiko said, swear dripping off her face. "He's the Number One Hero! He's tough enough to deal with anything!"

Setsuna and Izuku looked away, knowing the truth about All Might's state.

"I'm... not so sure," Izuku said. "If they're confident enough to come here to kill him, they must've prepared something to do that..."

"Yea, there'd be no point for them to come here and-" Setsuna began to say, when they heard a commotion in the water.

"What the fuck are you doing you idiot!?" one of the villains said. "Get the fuck off me!"

The students on the boat peered over, and they saw a man dressed in a black letterman jacket with blue accents, baggy pants, a red shirt, fin-like ears, and silver hair. The hair was quickly revealed to be a wig, and the ears fell off, however, revealing the man to be-

"Banjo!?" Setsuna and Izuku whispered, their eyes wide.

"I'm not about to let you assholes hurt these kids!" Ryuga shouted, slamming his fist into the villain's face while struggling to stay above water.

"We have to help him!" Izuku said, ready to jump into the water.

"No, let me," Tsuyu said, stopping him. She slung her tongue out, grabbing the man by the wrist and pulled him up. All of the villains floated up to the top, staring at the boat.

"Hey, asshole! Get back down here and fight!" one of them shouted.

"Holy shit it's that escaped murderer!" Machiko said, pointing at Ryuga. She backed up, ready to fight.

"Izuku, Setsuna, are you alright!?" Ryuga asked, looking at the two.

"Wait, you guys know him?" Tsuyu said, raising an eyebrow.

"Why do you know a criminal!?" Machiko said.

"Way to go, Banjo!" Setsuna scolded, slapping the back of his head. "Now they know that we know you!"

Ryuga was about to rebuke that, when he looked at the other teens with them.

"... Oh shit, I thought that they were the others!" Ryuga said, sweating a bit. "Gaaaah, Sento's not going to let me live this down..."

"Wait, Sento? Like, Mr. Kiryu!?" Machiko said, eyes wide.

"Stop talking! You're just burying yourself and us even deeper!" Setsuna hissed. She turned to the teens with them. "... Okay, so we have a very good explanation about all of this... A very long one, but an explanation nevertheless..."

"I think that should come later, after we're all safe," Tsuyu said, pointing to the villains out at the water.

"Alright, so I think I have some ideas-" Ryuga started to say.

"I don't think I want to trust a guy who's wanted for murder-" Machiko said.

"I didn't murder that guy! I was framed!" Ryuga said.

"It's true, there's a lot of evidence that he is," Izuku said, as the others stared at him. "And he's... he's the best link we have to figuring out more about Faust."

"I suppose that right now we don't really have a lot of choices," Tsuyu said. "We need all the help we can get."

"By the way, how did you get here?" Setsuna said, crossing her arms.

"Well..."

In an alleyway

"Man, it's nice to just kinda walk around for once," Ryuga said to himself, popping his neck. After getting some new costumes and the fact that Faust hasn't been doing anything as of late, he decided that it would be a good idea to just take a stroll. Not in the main streets, of course, just in the alleyways. Can't be too safe after all. "Gotta thank the owner for the new costumes, I'll-"

He reached into his pocket, and realized that he had forgotten his Cross-Z Phone. "Uh oh... Well, I'm sure that nothing's gonna happen today."

Ryuga looked around, noticing that he had gone a long distance away from the café, and that he was now-

"Oh man, I think I'm lost... Can't exactly ask for directions back... I should-"

He stopped talking to himself when he noticed a group of people loitering around in a nearby alleyway. A bunch of them had support gear on, but they didn't look like any heroes or sidekicks he was familiar with.

"Hey, you!" one of them shouted, noticing Ryuga. "You just made it. Guessing Giran got you in on this pretty late."

"Y-Yea," Ryuga lied. "He didn't tell me much, just that I should get here."

"Really? That seems out of character for him," another one said.

"What can I say? He contacted me really late."

"Nah, I get you. Not a lot of time to tell you when it's the day of the USJ raid," the first thug said.

"USJ raid?" Sento had said something about that a while ago. He knew it was UA related, but why-

"Yea, we're gonna go and fuck up those stupid UA students," one of the others said, chuckling as others joined him. "Gonna scare those little shits away from being heroes."

"Not to mention killing off All Might! The guys that Giran got us for said that they've got something meant to kill him!"

"What!?"

"It's about time we got rid of the guy. He makes it so hard to get away with anything!"

As the thugs vented their grievances about UA, All Might, and heroes in general, Ryuga knew that he had to stop them. Though he was curious as to how they were going to get into a UA facility... at least until a misty purple portal appeared.

"Next thing I knew, I was here with you kids, and I began punching the closest guy I could grab onto," Ryuga said. He stood up, and pulled out his Build Driver and put it on his waist. "Now, stand back, you all!"

"Wait wait wait, are you-" Machiko started to say, when the Cross-Z Dragon landed in Ryuga's hand, and he inserted his Dragon Fullbottle into it.

"Wake up!"

"Didn't think that I'd see this today," Tsuyu said.

"Cross-Z Dragon! Are you ready?" Ryuga furiously cranked the handle, as the runners formed. "Transform!"

"Wake up burning! Get Cross-Z Dragon! Yeah!"

The runners slammed together, forming Cross-Z's armor. "Alright kids, stay put, I got this."

"Oh man, we are getting a full detailed explanation about this from you guys after we get out of here," Machiko said, crossing her arms.

Cross-Z pulled out his Beat Closer, and inserted the Refrigerator Fullbottle into the slot, and pulled the starter three times. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! HIPPARE! MEGA SLASH!"

"Let's see, um... Flash Freeze!" Cross-Z shouted, pointing the tip at the water. A blast of freezing air blew from it, freezing the nearby water and trapping the villains in it.

"GAAAAH!" they shouted, as they felt their bodies becoming immobile in the ice. "T-That's fucking cold!"

"That should hold them for a bit while we escape. I'll melt them out when we're out of here," Cross-Z said, jumping down from the boat. He pulled out the Refrigerator Fullbottle out and replacing it with the Lock Fullbottle. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! MILLION SLASH!"

"Just to make sure that they don't get out! Lockdown Lariat!" Cross-Z swung the Beat Closer, and a wave of energy flew out, turning into chains that wrapped around the villains and pinning their arms to their sides.

"W-What the hell is this!?" one of them stuttered, struggling to get out of their bindings.

"Come on, everyone!" Cross-Z said, motioning them all to get down.

"Alright, let's go!" Izuku said, when he noticed that Tsuyu was looking sleepy. "Are you alright, Asui?"

"C-Call me Tsu," she said, rubbing her eyes. "The cold just makes me a little sleepy..."

"Got you," Setsuna said, picking Tsuyu up by her left arm while Izuku got her right. "We'll take you to where it's warmer."

"I hope everyone else is safe..." Machiko said, as they leaped down from the boat and started their way out of the flood zone.

Tenya zipped around the storm zone, kicking and knocking out villains. As much as he didn't like using his Quirk without permission, they were still on UA property, and this was purely self-defense. The villains collapsed onto the ground, as he made it back to Tokiteru, Itsuka, Fumikage, Kokoro, Shihai, Taira, Asuka, Takekage, and Kinoko, who were surrounded by a group of unconscious villains.

"They were no match for my mushrooms!" Kinoko said. "This rain was more then enough to make them all grow!"

"And the dark was more than enough to provide power for me," Fumikage stated, as Shihai nodded in agreement.

"It's good we took these guys out, but I'm worried about the others," Itsuka said.

"I know. Do you really think that these guys have something to beat All Might?" Rikido asked.

"Who knows..." Tokiteru said, rubbing his chin in thought. "We just have to get out of here and regroup with the others."

"I've ran around this zone, there are no more conscious villains around! I also found Koda, Ojiro, Kaibara, Shoda, Kodai, and Izumo, and they're heading towards the exit now! So let's go!" Tenya said, as they all headed towards the exit.

"DIE!" Katsuki shouted, as he finished off another villain that was in the room with him. He, Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, Seiya, Neito, and Niko took a break to breathe.

"I hate to say it, but you 1A and 1C students were helpful this time around," Neito said, as he finished using his copy of Katsuki's Explosion Quirk.

"Gee, thanks," Seiya said, crossing his arms. "Now let's get back to the others, we-"

"You extras can do whatever you want, I'm going to take down that portal guy," Katsuki said, stomping away.

"Are you serious? Don't you remember what happened? Our attacks didn't work on him!" Tetsutetsu said.

"Yea, the others-"

"That portal guy's their only way in or out of here!" Katsuki said. "If they had more warping Quirks, we'd have seen them in action, but they don't, and besides-"

A chameleon-like villain popped out from behind him, knife in hand, but Katsuki barely reacted as he fired off a powerful Explosion in that villain's face. "If all the villains are just wimps like these, chances are that we only need to worry about that hand guy, the portal guy, and that beak guy. If we take him out, we can keep them here when the pros get here."

"That's... a sound idea," Neito said, his hand on his chin in thought. "If we stop him, we stop any more from entering or anyone leaving."

"Yea, if we can stop him, we can make sure we're all safe," Niko said, crossing their arms. "Glad we're all in agreement here."

"I'm not agreeing with him!" Neito and Katsuki snapped.

"AAAAAAAH!" Denki screamed, as he ducked to avoid a villain's fist.

"Stop screaming and do something useful!" Kyoka said, as she and Momo stood back to back, a sword in her hand and a staff in Momo's. Hiryu fired several Scales from his arms, Chiaki dual-wielded two of his crystal hairs, and Genta was controlling two villains to fight the others.

"What the fuck are you two dumbasses doing!?"

"T-This kid's Quirk's messing with us!" one of them said, as they punched and kicked their allies.

"Man, I'm shocked at how weak you guys are..." Genta said. "Overpowered by a teen. How sad."

"Why aren't you using your Quirk to zap people, Kaminari!?" Chiaki demanded.

"Don't you remember from our exercise together!? I can't control electricity! Absorbing and releasing is all good, but if I just let loose, you guys are going to get shocked!" Denki reminded as he got close to Kyoka and Momo. "It's all up to you guys to do fight them!"

"Well then, I think I have an idea," Kyoka said. She kicked Denki towards a villain, and unwittingly released some of his electricity, shocking the villain.

"Oh, I get it! Just leave this to me!" Denki said, flashing a thumbs up.

"Thirteen! Thirteen please get up!" Mina cried, shaking the unconscious teacher. The back of her costume had been torn to shreds, thanks to the warping villain using his Quirk to open a portal behind the heroine when she tried to use Black Hole on him. Ochako, Pony, and Taiju stood by her side as well, while Jurota, Rikido, Akito, Ichiyo, Mikoto, Mezo, Hanta, and Juzo stood in front of them all, with the portal villain blocking their way. They had managed to remain at the entrance thanks to Jurota, Rikido, and Mezo using their physical strength to hold down the smaller students near them, while Akito made his gravity heavier, Juzo used his Softening Quirk to sink his feet into the ground and resolidifying it to keep himself down, and Hanta used his Tape to hold down Ichiyo and Mikoto.

"If only Iida were here..." Ochako whispered, hoping that her super speed friend was alright.

"Shishida, Daionkyou, I think that you two are our next best bet. One of you two has to escape this place," Juzo said, as they kept an eye on the portal villain.

"Planning while I'm here in front of you? How quaint," he said, as he moved towards them. In the mist, Ochako noticed something shining in it. "But fruitless. All of you shall disappear-"

Mezo leaped toward and managed to wrap all of his arms around the villain, opening the two to escape. "Go!"

As the two ran, the portal villain slipped through Mezo's arms and resumed his chase. "Valiant efforts, but it's time-"

Ochako dashed towards the villain, and touched the shining object that she had noticed.

"Uraraka, what are you-" Toru shouted.

"He's wearing something metal in here! If there's something like that in the mist-" she tossed the villain into the air, as he helplessly floated, "- then he's got to have a body in there, right!?"

"D-Dammit! They figured that out!?" he thought, as he tried to reorient himself, only for something to stick to his neck brace.

"Got you!" Hanta cried, as he began to swing him away. "Go for it, you two!"

The two made it to the door, and with Jurota's strength and Akito's gravity-enhanced punch, they broke through, and made a mad dash towards the main campus.

"Tch... if they get some pros, it's mission failure here..." the portal villain muttered, as he disappeared from sight.

"Tch, there's no end to these guys!" Genta growled, as more villains came.

"That's what you think," Momo said, as she lowered herself to the ground. "This took a while, but it's ready."

The back of her leotard began to bulge up, and a giant sheet came out of her back, covering her, Kyoka, Genta, Chiaki, and Hiryu.

"Aw, do the little babies need a blanket before we shred them!?" a villain taunted.

"It's no ordinary blanket, it's a 100 millimeter thick insulated blanket," Momo said from underneath it. "Now, Kaminari!"

"Oh, so that's what you're up to," Denki grinned. "Now that they're protected, I can go all out! Take this, bastards! My Indiscriminate Shock! 1.3 Million Volts!"

Denki's hands were coated in electricity as he threw them down, releasing all of the electricity he had stored up in his body. All around him, the villains were shocked senselessly until they passed out.

"And that takes care of that," Momo said, smiling as she peeked from underneath the sheet.

"Yaoyoruzu, your leotard-!" Kyoka said, pointing.

"It's alright, I can just make a new one-"

Momo's eyes followed Kyoka's finger, and she blushed heavily upon seeing Genta, Hiryu, and Chiaki, who had turned their heads and covered their eyes.

"... Noooooo!"

"I swear, neither of us saw a thing!" Genta stated.

"Nope, not at all!" Hiryu confirmed.

"What boobs!?" Chiaki shouted. "I mean I SAW NOTHING!"

"Kaminari, you better cover your-" Kyoka said, when she saw Denki moving. To their surprise, Denki had an even stupider look on his face than normal, sticking thumbs up, and going "Wheeeeeey..."

"... PFFFT!" Kyoka struggled to keep her laughter in, but that quickly failed as she busted a gut. "Oh man, I'm never going to let him leave that down."

"Yea yea, just lend Yaoyoruzu your jacket until she uses her Quirk to fix her costume," Genta said, still facing away from her.

Unbeknownst to them, something in the dirt shifted.

Shoto coldly walked over to the villains he had frozen, with Minoru, Seiji, Kosei, Togaru, Makino, Manga, Sun'Ichi, Yosetsu, and Kojiro standing away from him, shivering.

"So, this is all you villains are, huh?" Shoto said, coldly. "A bunch of thugs that couldn't beat one student."

"N-Not fair! Why couldn't you let me slice and dice them up!?" Togaru bemoaned.

"A-Are you serious!?" Minoru muttered.

"Hey, we're alive, that's what matters," Sun'Ichi said. "Now we should-"

"Hold on, I have some things to ask," Shoto said, as he walked over to one of the villains, his right palm outstretched. "Now then, that villain with the portal Quirk, he mentioned something about killing All Might. I want to know how exactly you plan for that."

"Y-You're not getting an answer from-" the villain began to say, when frost started to form around his cheeks. "Ow ow ow OWOWOW!"

"If you're not going to tell me, you're about to become an ice cube," Shoto threatened. "And I really don't want to do something scary like that. Might hurt my chances as a hero."

"F-Fucking brutal, dude," Kosei said.

"A-Alright! Alright! You got me!" the villain cried. "The guys that hired us, they got this giant black bird dude that they said could kill All Might!"

"I do remember seeing someone like that down at the fountain," Makino said. "H-He was really scary."

"Good answer. Ball girl, glue guy, and paper guy," Shoto said, pointing to the two. "I'm going to thaw out these guys, and I need you all to use your Quirks on them."

"A-Alright," Kojiro answered, as they began to apprehend the villains with their Quirks as Shoto went around thawing them out.

Yuga, Reiko, Toru, Ibara, and Gumi ran through the forested area, having managed to evade all of the villains.

"This isn't good," Gumi said, as they hid in the bushes. "We're definitely outmatched and outnumbered..."

"If only we had someone that could beat the tar out of these guys in a flash..." Toru mumbled.

"Look! It's one of those UA kids!" a villain shouted, making the five freeze.

"That's right! And I'm about to blow you all away!" a familiar voice shouted. All of a sudden, the wind kicked up, and Ibara used her Quirk to secure them in a ball of protective Vines. "So thanks for the fight! And goodbye!"

The villains screamed as they soared away from them all, and once Ibara moved her Vines, they saw Inasa,

"Oh hey, I didn't notice you guys were here!" Inasa said, cheerfully. "It was a good thing you used those Vines to keep yourselves to the ground, huh?"

"Yea, I really wouldn't want to get caught up in that," Gumi said, sighing a breath of relief. "I hope everyone's alright."

Aizawa was getting tired as he beat up villain after villain. There was a reason why he preferred fighting in the dark. It's what happens when you don't get a Quirk that's boosts your physical strength. You have to be sneaky. And this was anything but sneaky. At the very least Vlad King was there to help whittle the number down.

"Dammit, these guys were garbage pulls. We should've rolled higher..." the hand-covered man complained, scratching at his neck with only his thumbs not touching his neck. "But at the very least they got us some useful info..."

The hand-covered man charged towards Aizawa after he took down another villain. He turned his gaze onto him, and went in to elbow him.

"So you're the boss here, huh?" Aizawa said, when he felt his elbow disintegrating. The hand-covered man had blocked him, and had laid all five fingers onto his arm. He kicked the man away, wincing as the air grazed his injured elbow. "Shit-! Vlad King, keep away from him! He's got a disintegration Quirk!"

"Hm, now that I look at him, he matches the description of that guy the reporter noticed," Vlad King said, taking a look at the villain. "Just this time with more hands..."

"Feh, the kid's no boss if you ask me."

Aizawa and Vlad King turned their heads towards the voice, and saw an armored man in a red leather suit and a cobra-shaped visor laying on a nearby bench. "Kid's practically a kitten in the grand scheme of things."

"You-! You must be one of those Faust executives!" Vlad King growled.

"Yep, you got me. Name's Blood Stalk if you want an introduction," the Faust leader said, sitting up. "And he's Tomura Shigaraki, if he's not gonna introduce himself"

"Tch, who are you to reveal my name? And I might not be the boss-" the hand-covered man said, when the giant beaked man approached the two pros from behind, "- but he is."

"Holy shit..." Machiko whispered. The giant beaked man had swung his fist into Vlad King, sending the 1B homeroom teacher flying into a wall, knocking him out, while pinning Aizawa onto the ground, breaking both of his arms.

"What do we do..." Setsuna said, trembling. "That thing's on a whole other level!"

"You kids stay here. I'll handle this," Cross-Z said, putting his hand up to block them. "There's no way I'm letting that thing get to you all!"

"But Mr. Banjo-" Izuku started to say, when the portal villain appeared next to Tomura, forcing the teens to lower themselves in the water.

"Oh hey Kurogiri, you're back early," Blood Stalk greeted, giving him a two finger salute.

"Why the hell are you here and not at the entrance?" Tomura growled. "You're supposed to keep them all-"

"I'm sorry, but two of them got past me," the portal villain, Kurogiri, said.

"You... let them get away?" Tomura seethed, as he began scratching at his neck. "You know that this means it's game over, right? This was our one shot, and you blew it! If it weren't for the fact that you were our getaway, I'd disintegrate you in an instant!"

"Oh well, that's how the dice rolls," Blood Stalk said, shrugging his shoulders.

"And you! You did nothing! What's the point of aligning with you fuckers if you don't do anything!?"

"Hey, I'm going to do something soon! Just waiting for the right moment..." Blood Stalk said, as he tapped his Steam Rifle.

"Well, if we have to get out of here-" Tomura said, suddenly appearing in front of the teens, his hands outstretched for Tsuyu, "- let's leave a few dead kids-"

"You get the fuck away from them!" Cross-Z shouted, uppercutting Tomura's chin with his left hand before the man could touch anyone. Tomura grunted as he staggered back, caught off guard by the attack.

"What the- What's one of you fucking Kamen Riders doing here!?" Tomura growled.

"And that's the moment!" Blood Stalk said, spinning the Steam Rifle's valve. "Was hoping one of you guys were here!"

"Devil Steam!" Blood Stalk pointed his Steam Rifle into the air, and pulled the trigger. A gas bullet flew into the air before splitting into several smaller ones, each one flying all over the USJ. Two of them flew around near the fountain, striking Tsuyu and Aizawa in the back.

"Tsuyu!" Machiko shouted, as the frog girl got enveloped with gas.

"Ribbit-!" Tsuyu cried, trying to hold her breath.

"Mr. Aizawa!" Izuku said, watching the injured teacher disappear into the gas. As soon as the gas around the two dissipated, two Smashes had taken their place.

Tsuyu had turned into a Smash that seemed to resemble an old-fashion diver, with a large bulbous helmet-like head with a periscope-like horn on the top of her head, a baggy 'bodysuit' with metal plating around the arms, legs, and torso, squarish hands and feet, and two scuba tank-like attachments on her back. Aizawa on the other hand became a very squarish Smash, with square eraser-like gauntlets in place of hands and feet. His head and limbs appeared similar to mechanical pencils, with his head being the eraser end without any visible eyes.

"You bastard! What are you doing!?" Cross-Z shouted, as the teens backed away from the Tsuyu Smash, who lumbered away to join the Aizawa Smash. The Aizawa Smash shoved the giant beaked man off, punching it with its eraser-like fist.

"Well, with all you kids and teachers around, I was thinking that it'd be the best time to get a ton of interesting Smashes!" Blood Stalk laughed, as the teens present stared at the gas bullets flying all over the USJ, horrified. "Cuts down having to chase you all down, right? Thank god the Devil Steam function makes them all homing bullets, otherwise that would've been pointless."

"Tch, you're doing something finally," Tomura said, resuming his attack. "Now let's-"

A wave of energy radiated from the Aizawa Smash, hitting everyone within its radius. Tomura had managed to touch Setsuna's arm, but nothing happened. "What the hell!?"

Izuku punched Tomura away from Setsuna, but to his shock, One for All didn't activate. Tomura stumbled nevertheless, allowing the teens the chance to escape him. "What's going on!?"

"Did that energy wave erase our Quirks?" Machiko said, realizing she couldn't activate her Quirk either.

"Dang, that's a big upgrade from just having to stare at someone!" Setsuna said. The two Smashes began to assault the giant beaked man, who swung back at them. The Aizawa Smash was knocked away, but it got up and started punching it.

"Ha, I knew that would be a fun Smash!" Blood Stalk laughed, hand over his stomach. "I suppose in that case, he's the Nullify Smash, and that frog girl's the Diver Smash."

"Why are they attacking Nomu!?" Tomura said. "What's the meaning of this, you snakefaced bastard!?"

"Eh, I don't know," Blood Stalk said, shrugging. "Maybe they think that he's the biggest threat? He did injure that eraser guy. I certainly didn't tell them to do anything yet."

The Diver Smash's fingertips opened up, and torpedo-like missiles flew out of them, hitting Nomu all over. One landed in its brain and exploded, taking out half of its brain. Nomu screeched before falling over, and once it stopped moving, the two Smashes focused their attention onto Cross-Z, and charged at him, forcing him to go on the defensive immediately.

"What the- Why isn't Nomu regener-" Tomura said, stupefied, before realizing that Nomu was at ground zero of that Quirk erasing wave. No Quirk meant no regeneration. No regeneration meant no surviving a missile to the brain. "No... No no no no! You fucking asshole! You just hacked our plans! He was supposed to kill All Might!"

"It's even worse than that..." Kurogiri said, having hopped through his portal, revealing himself to be a sharply dressed man whose head and hands appeared to be made of mist. "My Quirk's been erased as well. If I hadn't jumped through at the last second, I may have been crushed into two."

"... EeeeeeeEEAAARGH!" Tomura screamed, scratching at his neck nonstop. He glared at Blood Stalk. "You FUCKER! Why did you use that Nebula Gas shit on them instead of Nomu or me!? You've made this go completely off the rails!"

"I'm not stupid enough to risk making a Smash that can disintegrate things in an instant, are you crazy? And we doused Nomu in our Nebula Gas formula, but it didn't properly Smashify, remember? Probably has something to do with the good Doctor's own modifications getting in the way," Blood Stalk said, cracking his joints. He tapped on the smokestack on his helmet, and a flare shot out, exploding in the air.

"Hands in the air, nobody move," a villain said, electricity sparking off his hand as he held Denki in his other hand. "Or else this kid's brain is going to get really fried! And I'd hate to do that to another electric guy, too."

"Shit, I can't believe there was a villain that wasn't stunned!" Genta grumbled, as he and the others reluctantly obeyed.

"He's got an electric Quirk, so he was probably unfazed by the attack while underground," Hiryu noted.

"He got us with our pants down! We should've been more observant!" Kyoka muttered.

"Please don't say that," Momo whispered, having to at least manage to put on Kyoka's jacket.

"So what's your game here? Why do a bunch of punks like you want to kill All Might?" Chiaki said, gritting his teeth.

"I don't personally care about that, honestly. The guys were paying well, so I took the job," the villain stated.

"Really? So out of all possibilities you could've gone with, you went with being a villain, huh?" Kyoka said, as she stealthily stretched her earlobes to plug them into her leg speakers. "Electric Quirks are in demand, you know. You have so many job opportunities, yet you pick the one job that's gonna get you jailed-"

"Nice try, girly," the villain said, pointing his hand at Denki, who was slowly regaining awareness, at least enough to understand that he was in danger. "You think I wouldn't-"

All of a sudden, two gas bullets soared in the air towards them all.

"Holy shit-!" the villain said, pushing Denki away from him as a shield to take the gas bullet, while the second one instead struck Momo.

"Yaoyoruzu! Kaminari!" Kyoka shouted.

"Shit, is that the gas that-" Genta said, when Momo and Denki came stumbling out of their gas clouds, transformed into Smashes.

Momo had turned into something that resembled a humanoid mechanical spider, with four 'legs' coming out of her back, pointed fingers, a mannequin-like head eight lens-like eyes, clamp-like mandibles, wire-like 'hair', and a hourglass figure with a waist so thin that it was a miracle that it didn't snap right off. Denki, on the other hand, resembled a walking bulky lamp, with his body becoming completely robot-like with fingertips that looked like cable plugs, and a giant lightbulb-like head.

"Oh fuck," Chiaki said, as the unaffected teens stepped away from the two Smashes. However, they focused their attention onto the villain, who began to sweat at the sight of them.

"S-Stay back!" he screamed, unleashing a bolt of electricity at the Denki Smash. He absorbed the electricity, however, and the Momo Smash took this opportunity to shoot out webbing and trap the villain, preventing him from protecting himself when the Denki Smash shocked him and started pummeling him on the ground with his fists. After the man lost consciousness, the two looked at their untransformed classmates.

"O-Okay, I know we haven't really talked to each other before, but I don't think you want to hurt us, right?" Genta said, trying to plead with the Smashes. "Like, you wouldn't attack us right-"

The two dodged as the Momo Smash fired webbing at them, and the Denki Smash tried to fire electricity at them.

"I guess not! Everyone make a break for it!" Genta shouted, as they began to run from the two Smashes. The two Smashes gave chase, until a flare exploded in the sky, catching their attention. They stopped following their classmates, and started to head towards where the flare came from.

"W-What was that?" Chiaki said, as the light died down.

"I... we should find a safe place to hide," Hiryu said, shaking his head. "I want to follow those two to make sure they're alright, but I feel like we'll be out of our element. For now we need to focus on getting to the front entrance safely hidden..."

"But what can we do to help them!?" Genta said. "We can't leave them like that!"

"Are you nuts? None of us can undo that Smashification shit. Only the Kamen Rider can," Kyoka rightfully pointed out.

"That's right. And if those Faust guys are here, too, I'm sure that the Kamen Rider isn't too fair behind," Chiaki said. "So we should let him handle this, and get to the front entrance."

"I... alright," Genta sighed. "I just hope to god that no one else got hit with that gas..."

"Are you seriously going to go and try to fight something made to kill All Might!?" Sun'Ichi said, as they followed Shoto back towards the entrance.

"Hmph, what of it?" Shoto said, not bothering to look back at them.

"Well, for starters, we're still students!" Minoru cried. "Don't you think that's a little out of our league right now!?"

"And your point? We're students that are training to be heroes, we-" Shoto began to say, when they saw a gas bullet flying in the sky towards them.

"Everyone get down!" Yosetsu said. Shoto jumped in front and erected an ice wall in front of them, but before he could make more, the gas bullet curved around and struck him in the back.

"Todoroki!" Makino cried, as Seiji and Sun'Ichi got in front of the others while Shoto became surrounded in gas. When it disappeared, a Smash whose left half was covered in red metal plating and whose right half was covered in white metal plating stood in his place, while its forearms were the opposite. Hose-like tentacles came out of the right side of its back, while its left arm resembled a firetruck ladder. A large siren replaced his head.

"Everyone get back!" Sun'Ichi said while Seiji drew his wooden sword, and activated his Quirk, covering it with light. The group kept backing up as the Shoto Smash walked towards them, raising its hands above its head, ready to throw them down, when a flare shot up into the sky, catching its attention. It turned away, and began moving towards the fountain plaza where it originated.

"... What the fuck just happened?" Kosei asked.

"I don't know, but we should make sure that he doesn't get lost or hurt, right!?" Makino said, jogging past them. "Come on, we're supposed to be heading back to the entrance anyways!"

"No!" Sun'Ichi said, grabbing her wrist. "We should stay put now!"

"But-"

"We're still students, there's a lot of things we're out of our depth with here," he said, gently. "I know you're worried, I am, too, but there's no way we could handle those Smash things. If pro heroes can't, then we definitely can't."

Makino bit her lip, as Seiji stored his sword away. "He is right. We are but students right now. All we can hope for is the best."

"As long as we don't get caught up in anything, I'm good with whatever," Minoru said.

"And I bet my ass that the Kamen Rider is here," Yosetsu said. "He never seems to be far off when those Smashes are around."

"... Alright, let's go find a hiding place, then," Makino said, as they

"Woohoo, this is the best ride ever!" Toru shouted, as she and the others rode the air currents that Inasa was using to carry them. "You're the best, Yoarashi!"

"Hahaha, thanks for the compliment!" Inasa said as he flew, when they saw a gas bullet flying towards them.

"It's one of those Smashifying bullets!" Gumi cried. Inasa held his hand out and blasted gusts of air at it, but was shocked to find that the bullet went through them instead of dissipating. In the split second he had, he tossed the group as safely as he could out of the gas bullet's way, getting hit square in the chest.

"Yoarashi!" Toru cried, watching the teen become enveloped by the gas, when two more came by and hit her and Reiko. "Oh no oh no oh no!"

"You guys!" Gumi cried, as Ibara erected a barrier of Vines around herself, Gumi, and Yuga.

"I had prayed that I never see someone else suffer like I did by those Faust villains," Ibara muttered, peeking through a gap between her Vines. "Clearly they had other plans."

"This is certainly not magnifique!" Yuga whispered. They stared at their now Smashified classmates. Inasa had turned into something that resembled a robot with fan-like turbines for hands and feet, with a large one in his chest. Reiko's top half was blue while her legs were red, looking like a walking magnet with her square head and U-shaped pinchers, as well as a 'skirt' made of circle magnets. And to their surprise, Toru had become visible, though she resembled a metal ghost, blinking in and out of sight where she stood. The three Smashes lingered around before a flare shot up into the air, catching their attention and they made their way to it.

"I suppose we should stay put now," Gumi sighed, watching her classmates vanish from view. "Does this mean that Faust is behind this attack?"

"It seems like it," Ibara said, as Yuga trembled.

"I really hope Shishida and Daionkyou managed to get help," Mikoto muttered, as they tended to Thirteen's injuries.

"Oh man, do you think that she's going to make it?" Rikido said.

"I don't know. Man, if only the lesson wasn't interrupted! We'd probably learn something about first aid!" Hanta said, gritting his teeth.

Suddenly, the group of students heard a gunshot, and to their shock, three gas bullets came their way.

"Look out!" Taiju said, jumping in the way of one of them to protect Ochako, Pony, Mina, and Thirteen, while the other two struck Rikido and Hanta.

"Oki! Sato! Sero!" Ochako cried out, as they retreated away from the three gas clouds covering their classmates, trying their best not to drag Thirteen.

"Oh, god! What is this smell!?" Hanta said, waving his hand around to disperse the gas.

"Agh, I don't know!" Rikido said. "Wait... isn't this suppose to be that stuff that turns people into Smashes!?"

"What!? We're Smashes now!?" Taiju said. "B-But I feel and look like I'm still human!"

"Is this how it's like, to be a Smash!? Trapped in our transformed bodies, unable to control ourselves from attacking others!?" Hanta said, grabbing his head and freaking out.

"Y-You guys!" Juzo said, completely baffled. "You didn't into Smashes at all!"

"Huh?" the three boys said.

"You mean we're normal?" Rikido said, checking his hands. "But I thought that stuff was supposed turn us into monsters!"

"I don't know why it didn't work, but I'm not complaining," Hanta said, sighing a breath of relief. "Though I wonder if we'll still get Quirk boosts or something... How would my Tape be boosted, though..."

Ochako, Pony, and Mina glanced at each other, realizing what this could mean. Whether or not that was a good thing, they didn't know. Maybe Sento will be excited to hear what this could potentially mean. Or mad, it was all up in the air.

"What was that?" Cross-Z demanded, pointing his Beat Closer at Blood Stalk.

"Oh, just a special signal flare made from Nebula Gas. It attracts Smashes when it blows up," Blood Stalk explained. "Get ready, you're gonna fight like, 8 Smashes on your own."

"E-Eight Smashes!?" Izuku whispered, as his hand reached for his Beetle Fullbottle. Even if he was a Kamen Rider, Cross-Z was going to have a hard time fighting against 8 Smashes at once. The Battler Beetle and his Build Driver better get here soon.

"Don't worry, kids! I got this!" Cross-Z said, as he kicked the Diver Smash away and rolled away from the Nullify Smash.

"But you're at a major disadvantage, especially without your Quirk!" Izuku shouted.

"It's alright! His Quirk didn't affect me, anyway! I'm immune to it!" Cross-Z said, giving them a thumbs up to their confusion.

Ryuga Banjo! Quirk, Immunity! Not only does he never get sick, any Quirk that would affect him, like Aizawa's, has zero effect on him! Meaning that he can just blow through villains without worrying too much about their Quirks!

"Gerk!" Cross-Z grunted, as the Diver Smash kicked him in the stomach while the Nullify Smash punched him in the face while he still giving them a thumbs up.

However it's completely useless against Quirks that only affect the user like certain transformation Quirks or physical and mental boosters, Quirks that create or control objects like metal or ice, and especially mutant-type Quirks! And it even stops him from getting healed by healing Quirks! Not to mention that it doesn't seem to have any physical boosts to speak of, besides Ryuga's strangely quick healing cycles! It's also functionally pointless against a Quirk eraser like Aizawa as he's basically a normal person to begin with!

"What's the point of Immunity in a fight like this!?" Setsuna shouted, as Cross-Z regained his bearings and slashed at the Smashes.

"Maybe not right now, but it's useful in others!" Cross-Z said, inserting the Lock Fullbottle into the Beat Closer. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! HIPPARE! MEGA SLASH!"

"Lockdown Lariat!" Cross-Z shouted, swinging the Beat Closer and wrapping the two Smashes in energy chains. Before he could slash them, though, another Smash with turbine-like hands and feet came flying in, hitting Cross-Z with a blast of air that knocked him off his feet. Before he got up, a sudden frost came from the ground and trapped him, forcing him to pull against the ice to free himself. "Oh shit."

Cross-Z stared down as 7 more Smashes approached him. The Diver and Nullify Smashes broke free from the energy chains, and joined the other Smashes.

"I guess this is the only good thing to come out of this bullshit," Tomura growled, as he watched the Smashes surround Cross-Z. "We get to watch a Kamen Rider die in front of us. They're just as bad as actual pro heroes if you ask me..."

A spider-like Smash fired webbing at Cross-Z, who tried to block it with his Beat Closer, but that only succeeded in it getting covered in sticky webbing, and it pulled it away from him, disarming the Kamen Rider. The turbine Smash fired blasts of wind at Cross-Z, who struggled to keep his feet planted until he realized his feet were frozen to the ground by a dual-colored Smash. When the wind stopped blowing, a magnet-like Smash pointed its hands at him and moved them, breaking Cross-Z out of the ice and slamming him against the wall where the spider-like Smash and dual-colored Smash pinned him with a combination of webbing and ice.

"S-Shit!" Cross-Z growled, as he tried to break free, but each time he freed a limb, more webbing and ice would replace what he broke. The other Smashes took this as a chance to attack, with a lamp-like Smash shocking Cross-Z, and the rest of them just beating on him.

"Oh wow, seems like even a Kamen Rider has a limit," Blood Stalk chuckled. "I'm sure that you-"

"Leave him alone!" Izuku shouted, springing out of the water. He pulled out the Beetle Fullbottle, shaking it and twisting the cap open, and punched the magnet-like Smash, energy spinning around his fist as it dug into the Smash's torso and launching it from the force.

"What the- When can he do that!?" Machiko said, when their eyes went to his hand, and saw the Beetle Fullbottle. "Wait, is that-"

Everyone looked up when they heard a small distance crash above them. A beetle-like robot was flying down towards Izuku, a bulky black belt in its grasp before dropping it into Izuku's hands.

"... What a fucking day this has been," Machiko said.

"Midoriya, wait! Are you-" Setsuna began to say.

"Don't do it, Izuku! I can handle this on- GERK!" Cross-Z shouted, as he got punched across the face again.

"I... I have to!" Izuku said, slapping the Build Driver onto his waist. The Smashes turned their attention to him, as Kurogiri and Tomura stared, shocked that this boy had the same belt as Cross-Z. "There's no one else here to help you! A-And I'm not going to stand by!"

He shook the Beetle Fullbottle, and inserted it into the Battler Beetle. He inserted the Battler Beetle into the Build Driver, and began cranking its handle. "Get Up! Battler Beetle! Are you ready?"

"Because... Because I'm a Kamen Rider!" Izuku cried, as the runners formed around him. "Transform!" "Get up shocking! Battler Beetle in! Yeah!"

They slammed together, and Battler charged towards the Smashes as the drone on his right arm flew off. He pulled out the Thrust Horner, and slashed the spiderlike Smash while the beetle drone attacked the dual-colored Smash, finally giving Cross-Z the chance to break free from his entrapment. The dragon Kamen Rider's fists ignited in a blue flame, and he punched the Smashes surrounding him away, allowing him to roll onto the ground and grab his Beat Closer. Together, Battler and Cross-Z fought the Smashes. Battler tucked and weaved, dodging the Nullify Smash's fists and the spiderlike Smash's sharp fingers. Cross-Z slashed away at the lamp-like and Diver Smashes, all the while dodging the dual-colored Smash's frost attacks.

"Damn, even with backup, this is tough," Cross-Z said, as he and Battler were forced back to back. He looked up at the stairs, and noticed that some of the villains were regaining consciousness. "We're really going to need some more-"

All of a sudden, the entrance door's exploded off their hinges, and a familiar giant figure came into the USJ.

"I should've known that something was wrong at the USJ," a booming voice said, as the students at the entrance cried tears of relief. "I headed there as soon as I could from the principal's office when I ran into Young Shishida and Young Daionkyou. Fear not, sprouts-"

All Might's teeth were gritted, his signature smile replaced with rage that his students were targeted. "I AM HERE!"

"It's All Might! Kill him!" a villain shouted. In one fell swoop, All Might sped down the stairs, knocking each villain out once more. He landed at the fountain, and stared at all of the Smashes, the Kamen Riders, the students that he could see, two of the villains, and the most loathsome of all-

"What's up, All Might? Guess you're fashionably late to the party-"

"BLOOD STAAAAALK!" All Might shouted, swinging his fist at the Faust executive. The cobra man ducked and rolled away, the force of the wind making him somersault away.

"Well, I can see that you're in a particularly bad mood," Blood Stalk said.

"How dare you target children!" All Might said, as the Smashes turned their attention towards him.

"You know it's in our modus operandi at this point. And not all of them are kids. That one's Eraserhead," Blood Stalk said, pointing to the squarish Smash.

"What!?"

"It's true, that guy shot his gas bullets and they went all over the place!" Mahciko exclaimed. "How are we going to get them back to normal!?"

They looked up once again when they heard a loud crash above them, and saw Build flying in on an UFO energy projection.

"With help from some Kamen Riders!" Build shouted, pulling out his Drill Crusher in its gun mode and firing it at all of the Smashes down below, scattering them away from Battler and Cross-Z. "Sorry I'm late! I came here as fast as I could once I got the news!"

"Gaaaaah, more Kamen Riders!" Tomura said, as Build flew over and shot the Smashes while Battler, Cross-Z, and All Might handled fighting them on the ground. "This shit's really gone sideways!"

"Yea, I guess it did," Blood Stalk laughed. He pulled his Steam Rifle apart into his Steam Blade and Transteam Gun. "Well, I guess I'm done here. Time to go-"

"Hey! Don't you fucking split when our escape route's out of commission!" Tomura said, running towards Blood Stalk as he swiped his Transteam Gun, gas streaming out of the barrel.

"Sorry, too late! Good luck you two! Ciao!" Blood Stalk's voice echoed, as the gas cloud dissipated and Blood Stalk was nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" Tomura said, as he and Kurogiri backed away in different directions to avoid the fights. "At least those Smashes could potentially kill All Might..."

"So what's the situation!?" Build said, as the turbine Smash flew up to him and tackled him off his pink UFO projection.

"Stalk Smashified 8 of our classmates and Eraserhead!" Battler answered, as he dodged an attack from the Diver Smash.

"Even Eraserhead!?" Build muttered, when he looked down at the ground and saw Cross-Z blocking an attack from the Nullify Smash with his Beat Closer. "That seems dangerous... Let's make this quick!"

Build slashed at the Smash holding him with his right hand, though it was ineffective. "Ow! That's hard! Any harder and I might've broken a nail! Guess TigrUFO's specialty doesn't involve strength," he mumbled, managing to turn around in the Smash's grasp to access his Build Driver. "Guess we'll call you the Turbine Smash!"

The Turbine Smash growled as Build pulled out the Tiger and UFO Fullbottles and replaced them with the Whale and Jet Fullbottles. "Whale! Jet! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Another Best Match!? I'm on a roll today!" Build said to himself, as he cranked the Build Driver's handle. A navy runner formed in front of him while a cyan runner formed behind him, pushing the Turbine Smash away from him. "Build Up!"

The runners slammed onto Build. The marigold of Tiger was replaced with dark navy blue, the shoulder pad now a whale's head and a waterspout decoration on the top left of his chest, and the pink of UFO was replaced with cyan, with jet wings on his back, and the left side of his chest underneath the waterspout decoration have a jet with a wind trail behind it. His left eye had become a navy whale, and his right eye had become a cyan jet. "The Soaring Big Wave! WhaleJet! Yeahhh!"

"I've found the winning formula!" Build said, doing his signature finger flick before flying at high speeds towards the Turbine Smash, shoulder checking it with his right arm. "Jet's flight speed is incredible, which compliments Whale's strength!"

He pointed his right hand at the flying Smash, and blasted it with a powerful waterspout. "And Whale has the ability to shoot water from the right hand, intriguing!"

Meanwhile, Battler and All Might were fighting the spiderlike Smash, the ghostlike Smash, and the Diver Smash, while Cross-Z had his hands busy with the rest of the Smashes.

"Hey! Could use a little help here!" Cross-Z shouted, looking at Build.

"Right right, I'll finish this soon!" Build replied, pulling out the Drill Crusher and inserting the Pirate Fullbottle into it.

"Ready, go! Vortex Break!" Build pointed the Drill Crusher at the Turbine Smash, and fired a series of wind- and water-like energy bullets, striking it in the chest and on its joints before following up with another powerful waterspout. It slammed against the ceiling, struggling to free itself from the pressure of the water.

"Now then!" Build said, cranking the Build Driver's handle. "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

"Water Jet!" Build announced, as he spun around in the air. All of a sudden, an energy projection of a whale came out of the flood zone's water, blasting Build with a waterspout and sending him flying towards the Turbine Smash, landing a powerful kick against its gut. The Turbine Smash whirred as an explosion covered it. Build caught it before it could fall onto the ground hard, and he placed it gently. He pulled out an Empty Bottle and extracted the Smash essence, returning Inasa back to normal.

"What is even happening..." Machiko muttered. "Why did a whale come out of the water like that-"

"You learn to roll with it," Setsuna said, shaking her head.

"Argh... what happened?" Inasa muttered, rubbing his head before falling back onto the ground, snoring.

"Alright, that's one down, 7 more to go!" Build said, as he began to run towards the other Smashes, only to find that he wasn't going very fast. "Agh, so that's the drawback of WhaleJet. Amazing flight speed, horrible land speed."

Build pulled out the Whale and Jet Fullbottles, and replaced them with the Pirate and Train Fullbottles. "Pirate! Train! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Build Up!"

"The Punctual Rebel! PirateTrain! Yeahhh!"

The dark navy and cyan of WhaleJet was replaced with the azure and lime green of PirateTrain, and he rushed towards the Smashes by creating an energy railroad to ride on, and pulled out his Pirate Hassyar. He pulled back the Pirate Hassyar's green train and released it, firing off two balls of blue energy into the Nullify Smash. "All Station Train! Departing!"

The Nullify Smash staggered backwards, which left it opened to Build slashing it across the chest with the Pirate Hassyar's blade, sparks flying from the attack. It flew backwards from the impact, knocking it into the lamp-like Smash, knocking them both off their feet. "Alright, I'll call you the-"

"Blood Stalk named Eraserhead's the Nullify Smash!" Battler called out, as his beetle drone struck the Diver Smash. "He named her's the Diver Smash!"

"What!? Dammit, I wanted to name them!" Build complained, before refocusing himself. "Whatever, I'll name the rest! The walking lamp! You're the Bulb Smash thanks to that head of yours!"

"And I guess the spider one is the Arachnid Smash and the ghost one the Specter Smash," Battler said, noting the other two Smashes he and All Might were fighting.

"Names come later! We must help them now!" All Might stated, as he grabbed the Specter Smash and held it by the arms so that Battler could hit her before the Arachnid Smash shot a web around Battler's wrist and pulled him away.

"But giving them names helps identify which Smash we're talking about!" Build insisted, as he dodged an electric bolt from the Bulb Smash.

"At least you're handling some of them now, this is going to be a lot easier..." Cross-Z muttered, cracking his neck as he faced off against the dual-colored Smash and the magnet Smash. Cross-Z punched the Polar Smash across the face as it swung its arms at him. The dual-colored Smash slammed its right fist onto the ground, creating ice pillars, making Cross-Z jump away, only for it to point its left hand at him, and fire a stream of flames at him. "AGH GEEZ! Ice and fire!? Why would- wait... Shoto!? Shoto is that you!?"

"You know one of them!?" Build said, incredulously.

"Yea, I do! Shoto's-"

"Never mind that! Just take care of the Temperature Smash and Polar Smash and extract their essences!" Build said.

"Okay, Temperature Smash makes sense, but Polar Smash? The only one that can make ice is Shoto's! The other one is like a magnet!"

"That's exactly it! It's 'Polar' like magnetic poles!"

"But magnets aren't just shaped like poles!"

"Do you not know what the magnetic poles are!?"

"Focus you guys!" Setsuna shouted, as the Nullify Smash punched Build in the gut and the Polar Smash managed to point its hands and use its magnetic powers on Cross-Z and swung him into a wall.

"Ow! Fine, Polar Smash it is!" Cross-Z grumbled, as the Polar Smash raised its hands and pointed them at him. He inserted the Lock Fullbottle into the Beat Closer, and pulled the starter three times. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! HIPPARE! MEGA SLASH!"

Cross-Z rolled out of the Polar Smash's way, and swung his Beat Closer. "Lockdown Lariat!"

The energy chains wrapped around the Polar Smash, pinning its arms to its sides, unable to move them. "It took a couple hits from you, but you can only use your magnetic powers if you're pointing your hands at something, right!?"

With a mighty grunt, he swung the Polar Smash into the Temperature Smash, before letting go of the Beat Closer and cranking his Build Driver. "Ready, go! Draconic Finish!"

"Take this! My... My... wait I never named this finishing move!" Cross-Z realized. "Uh... Dragon Drop!"

With a yell, a blue energy dragon formed beyond him and launched him forward with its fire breath. The Temperature Smash raised an ice wall, separating and protecting itself while the bound Polar Smash was left to take the attack. Cross-Z kicked the Polar Smash, causing it to land against the ice wall behind it. The ice cracked before completely shattering, making the two Smashes collide with each other before being enveloped in an explosion. The two Smashes laid on the ground, and Cross-Z took two Empty Bottles and extracted the essences, leaving an unconscious Reiko and unconscious Shoto on the ground. "Damn, it really was Shoto... I-I'm sure that Kasumi would forgive me for beating up to save him..."

At the same time, Battler was fighting the Arachnid, Diver, and Specter Smashes easily, thanks to All Might constantly occupying one of them while he'd attack the other. The Arachnid Smash attempted to bind All Might with its webbing, but All Might proved to be much stronger, breaking it off and grappling the Smash. Meanwhile, Battler was fighting the Specter Smash, running at it to slash it with his Thrust Horner, when it vanished. He kept his guard up, looking around when the Specter Smash reappeared, striking Battler on his back. He turned around and swung his weapon at it, only for it to vanish again.

"I guess that one's Hagakure..." Battler noted to himself. He switched the Thrust Horner into its gun mode before taking out the Camera Fullbottle and inserting it into it. "Barrel Down!" "Ignition Start!"

"I wonder..." Battler kept up his guard, before immediately turning around and pulling the Thrust Horner's trigger. The barrel flashed a bright light, stunning the Specter Smash for a moment, just enough for Battler to crank the Build Driver's handle. "Ready, go! Beetlelic Finish!"

"Pincher SMASH!" Battler shouted, as electricity coated his free hand. He punched the Specter Smash while the beetle drone soared towards its back, its drill spinning. The Specter Smash, caught in the middle, imploded and collapsed onto the ground, allowing Battler to extract its essence to reveal the still-invisible Toru on the ground (the only thing indicating her presence being her gloves and shoes).

"So I guess her Quirk's a mutant-type that keeps her invisible..." Battler muttered, before shaking his head and running towards the Arachnid Smash. "I'll think about that later! All Might, tag in!"

"Alright, young man!" All Might said. The moment the Arachnid Smash was off his hands, he picked up all of the teens in the area, and sped up the stairs.

"All Might, wait!" Machiko said, surprised at how the Number One Hero was able to carry all of them at once.

"The Kamen Riders can handle this, it's their specialty! Once I've dropped you off, I'm going to go back and grab the others when they're back to normal!"

"But Midoriya's still down there! He's the beetle one!"

"Wait, when did you find out?"

"When did we find out- did you already know!?"

"Yea, uh... there's a lot we're going to need to talk about," Setsuna said, as All Might placed them down at the top of the stairs.

"We'll talk about it later. Stay here, and don't come back down," All Might ordered, the teens nodding as he jumped into the air and back at the fountain.

Battler was dodging each shot of the Arachnid Smash's webbing, shooting at it before coming in close and pulling the Thrust Horner's barrel up, extending its blade. "Barrel Up!"

He slashed the Arachnid Smash's gut, making sparks fly as it groaned from the attack. The beetle drone soon followed up with its own strike, hitting it across the back before spinning into the Diver Smash and striking it in the stomach. Energy spun around Battler's left hand, and he punched the Arachnid Smash in the chin. It staggered backwards, and Battler cranked his Build Driver's handle quickly.

"Ready, go! Beetlelic Finish!" The beetle drone flew in front of Battler, its drill spinning as green electricity covered his right fist and he punched the drone forward towards the Arachnid Smash. "Kabuto SMASH!"

The beetle drone struck the Arachnid Smash, sending it flying backwards and crashing into the Diver Smash. They laid on the ground, allowing Battler to extract their essences and returning Momo and Tsuyu back to normal.

"Alright, that's two more down," Battler said, as he looked to see how Build was doing.

Meanwhile, Build rode on the energy railroad as it weaved around in the air, circling the Nullify and Bulb Smashes as he fired his Pirate Hassyar at them. The Nullify Smash rolled out of the way of some of them, and smashed its fist against the energy railroad, making it disappear.

"Ack!" Build shouted, as he suddenly fell onto the ground. "So he can erase energy constructs like that? That's annoying..."

Build pulled out the Pirate and Train Fullbottles, and inserted the Rose and Helicopter Fullbottles. "Rose! Helicopter! Best Match! Are you ready?"

"Been wanting to try out this one for a while!" Build said, cranking the Build Driver's handle. A vermillion runner formed in front of Build while a turquoise runner formed behind him. "Build Up!"

The runners slammed onto Build, forming his new armor. His right arm and left leg were covered in vermillion armor, with black vine-like protrusions wrapping around his right arm and chest, with a decorative rose on the left side of his armor's collar. His left arm and right leg were covered in turquoise armor, with his left shoulder pad resembling the cockpit of a helicopter, the left part of his chest resembling its tail, and a helicopter blade on his back. His left eye was a vermillion rose attached to its stem, while his right eye was a turquoise helicopter. "The Fan of Passion! RoseCopter! Yeahhh!"

"I've found the winning formula! Again!" Build announced. He pointed his right hand at the Nullify Smash, and a vine shot out and wrapped itself around it. Build yanked his arm, swinging the Nullify Smash into the Bulb Smash. "Vine creation and control, that's useful!"

The Nullify Smash tore its way out of the vine, and charged at Build, who pointed his hand at it again, only this time firing a flurry of thorns that struck it. "And thorn firing, nice!"

As the Nullify Smash staggered backwards, Build grabbed the helicopter blade off his shoulder, and detached it. He swung it against the Nullify Smash, making sparks fly with each strike. "And this helicopter blade can be removed for melee attacks! That's great!"

He threw the helicopter blade and watched it spin through the air and strike the Smashes before it returned to his hands. "Makes a good throwing weapon as well!"

He threw it once again, only this time the Nullify Smash caught it in its hands. Before it could use it against him, Build shot out a vine from his right hand, which wrapped around the helicopter blade and freed it from the Smash's hand. He swung the vine around, making the helicopter blade hit both Smashes with each swing. "And if it gets caught, I just use Rose's vines to take it back!"

As he retracted the vine back to himself, Build cranked his Build Driver's handle. The helicopter blade became wrapped in thorny vines, as rose red energy began to spin with it. "Ready, go! Vortex Finish!"

"Petal Prayer!" Build said. The helicopter blade spun faster and faster, firing a volley of thorns and energy petals that struck both the Nullify and Bulb Smashes. Before they could recover, Build released his hold on the helicopter blade, letting it spin into the two Smashes and causing an explosion. They flew backwards onto the ground, allowing Build to extract their essences, both of them completely unconscious.

"Holy shit, Eraserhead! Are you alright!?" Build said, seeing the man's broken arms and bleeding head. "Oh who am I kidding, of course you're not! God, I don't know what Nebula Gas exposure would to do someone that injured!"

"Cross-Z, come here and help me take him up there!" Build said, when All Might landed next to him.

"I'll do it," All Might said, picking Aizawa and Denki up. "It seems like things here are over..."

"Dammit dammit dammit!" Tomura growled, scratching at his neck, now drawing blood on his fingernails. "If only that Stalk didn't screw everything up! We have no escape rope, no Quirks, and no No-"

Tomura stopped, when he noticed Nomu's hand twitch. "Never mind... looks like we just got a continue."

Everyone turned their head when they heard the ground shake, and Nomu roared, slamming its hands onto the ground. It rushed towards Build, raising its fist to punch the Kamen Rider only for it to be grabbed by All Might, who had handed Aizawa to Cross-Z and Denki to Battler.

"Mind if I take this guy on!?" All Might said, uppercutting Nomu in the face. "I need the exercise after all!"

"Be my guest!" Build said, as he went and grabbed Aizawa's legs to help carry him. "Come on, let's go, you guys!"

"But All Might! That thing was made to kill you!" Battler said.

"Hmph, it's going to take a lot more than this guy to get rid of me!" All Might said, as he caught Nomu's other hand when it tried to punch him with it. "Now go!"

"We got to go! We have two unconscious people with us!" Build said, grabbing Aizawa's legs to help him out. "And you're going to have to get out of your transformation! I might've send the Battler Beetle and your Build Driver to help you, but it was for an emergency, and we need to keep it a secret-"

"Yea, about that, we kinda transformed in front of some of the kids," Cross-Z said. "And we owe them an explanation."

"Hmmmm you big idiot! You're a wanted- wait, how did you get here!?" Build said, just realizing now that Cross-Z was there at all.

"Long story short, I came across a bunch of thugs that were about to be warped here and I hitched a ride when I heard why they were going," Cross-Z said, as Izuku untransformed and had the Battler Beetle fly away discreetly with his Build Driver. "They also might know that you have something to do with me 'cuz I mentioned your name..."

"God, what's the point of our talks about secrecy if you guys are just going to reveal everything at a drop of a hat!?" Build said before they finally reached the top of the stairs.

"What happened to Mr. Aizawa!?" Mina said, seeing their teacher's broken arms. Their unconscious classmates that were already up there began to stir and rub their heads.

"I think the more pressing question is why the Kamen Riders are here!" Hanta said, pointing at the two armored vigilantes.

"Well, we were in the neighborhood..." Build said, rubbing the back of his head. "Listen, we're not here to hurt you all-"

"I'm going down to help All Might, take care of the rest, Se- BUILD!" Cross-Z said, catching himself before he gave away Build's identity.

"I am, too! All of you kids, stay here and stay safe!" Build said, pointing at them before turning around. "Especially you, greenie! You seem like the type of guy to jump in too recklessly, so don't!"

"I... Yes sir," Izuku said, biting his lip. He watched as Build and Cross-Z ran back down the stairs, and clenched his fist tight, still wanting to help. Setsuna put her hand on his shoulder, and shook her head.

"We did all that we could, Midoriya," she reassured him. "Right now, we need to stay safe, especially when so many of us are temporarily Quirkless right now."

"Dammit, so it is true..." Shoto grumbled, as he tried to make ice with his right hand. The others tried to activate their Quirks, only to find out that they really couldn't use them.

"But why am I still invisible then?" Toru said, pointing herself out. "Not that I'm complaining, since I'm just wearing gloves and shoes right now..."

"Since I didn't lose my arms after being turned into a Smash, I think that it doesn't affect mutant-type Quirks to a degree," Mezo said, recalling what happened to him. "I was unable to produce or change my arms, but I still retained my appearance."

"I guess that makes sense..." Toru muttered.

"I just hope that the Kamen Riders can beat that thing up with All Might!" Pony said, biting her lower lip.

"Don't let Iida hear you cheer on a vigilante, he won't approve," Ochako said.

"You're a tough customer, aren't you!?" All Might said, as he and Nomu traded punches.

"Of course he is. He's made to kill you, after all," Tomura taunted. "His Shock Absorption Quirk won't let you easily beat him."

"Then let's make sure he can't move!" All Might shouted, grabbing Nomu by the waist and going in for a suplex. However, a portal opened underneath him, preventing Nomu from colliding into the ground, and a second one formed underneath All Might, allowing the black beaked man to grab a hold of the Number One Hero in a suplex loop. All Might winced as he felt Nomu dig its fingers into his old wound.

"Seems like my Quirk has returned as well," Kurogiri said, as the mist engulfed his body again. "Now then, let's-"

Before he could do anything else, Katsuki flew in from the side, knocking Kurogiri to the ground and pinning him. "Got you, you fucking bastard! Thought you were slick by hiding your body in that mist you make, huh!?"

Eijiro, Tetsutetsu, and Seiya attempted to punch Tomura, who leaped out of their way. Realizing that his Quirk could also be back, Tomura began to reach out for the three, when Build inserted the Whale Fullbottle into the Drill Crusher. "Ready, go! Vortex Break!"

He pulled the trigger, and fired a blast of water energy into Tomura, sending him flying into the flood zone's water. "You kids alright!?"

"Yea, thanks Build!" Eijiro said, flashing the Kamen Rider a thumbs up when Tetsutetsu attempted to punch Build. "Whoa, chill out, man! He just helped us!"

"He's a vigilante!" Tetsutetsu said, baring his sharp teeth. "Like I'm gonna trust a guy like that!"

"Calm down kid, he's right!" Build said, backing up from Tetsutetsu's attacks, as Seiya and Niko joined in. "Seriously you all, stop trying to fight me and join your classmates!"

Meanwhile Cross-Z inserted the Lock Fullbottle into the Beat Closer, and pulled its starter three times. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! HIPPARE! MEGA SLASH!"

"Lockdown Lariat!" Cross-Z shouted, as energy chains came out of the tip of the Beat Closer and wrapped themselves around Nomu's arms. He pulled, making it release its grip on All Might, who managed to jump away in the split second it lost it. Nomu screeched as it broke the energy chains, and pulled itself out of the portal to face everyone. "You're not escaping me!"

"Nomu!" Tomura shouted, pulling himself out of the water. "Free Kurogiri from that brat's grasp!"

In an instant, Nomu had moved in front of Katsuki, rearing its fist back, when Build threw his helicopter blade at it and sliced it clean off from the elbow. It screeched as blood spurted out of its stump, allowing the Kamen Rider the chance to grab the teen with Rose's vine and pull him away.

"What the fuck-!?" Katsuki shouted, as Build tossed him up to the top of the stairs. "You're that Half and Half bastard from before!"

"Go to your classmates! This isn't your fight!" Build said, as Nomu's arm began to grow back. Before it could attack anyone else, All Might tackled it and began punching Nomu relentlessly while it returned its own flurry of punches. Build took this opportunity to grab the other teens that had arrived there with his vines and repeated his action with Katsuki.

"We might've had a minor setback from earlier, but now that Nomu has both its Quirks, there's no beating it!" Tomura taunted. "You can't beat his Shock Absorption!"

"If it's only Shock Absorption, that means he can't nullify it, right!? So there's a limit to how much he can absorb!" All Might said, throwing more and more punches at Nomu, quickly overwhelming it. "All I have to do then is to overcome that limit! It's been a while since I've had a good wallop!"

The wind from the punches blew throughout the entire area, growing stronger and stronger until it was almost like a hurricane where Nomu and All Might were fighting.

"K-Kurogiri!" Tomura shouted, struggling against the wind.

"I-It's too strong! I can't warp near them!" Kurogiri said.

"Holy shit what a strong wind!" Build shouted, as the helicopter blade on his back spun rapidly to counter against the wind. Cross-Z on the other hand, dug his Beat Closer into the ground.

"S-So this is the Number One Hero's power, huh!?" Cross-Z said. "Why hasn't he used this against Blood Stalk and the other two!? Or any of the Smashes!?"

"The Build System is the only thing that can safely extract their Nebula Gas, remember!? He'd just kill them with this strength!"

All Might punched Nomu across the plaza before soaring after it, slamming his fist into its gut. It bounced against the ground, screeching.

"There's a little phrase that all of us heroes learn here at UA!" he said, as he punched Nomu's gut. "A phrase that reminds us to give it our all! Go Beyond! PLUS ULTRAAAAAAAAA!"

With a mighty yell, All Might launched Nomu into the air with that single punch. It collided against the ceiling of the USJ, creating a crater against the roof before it burst through it, soaring into the sky until it was out of sight.

"No! No no no!" Tomura shouted. "Our Continue! Wasted!"

"Without exact coordinates, I can't retrieve Nomu..." Kurogiri muttered.

"Hmph, I must be getting weaker," All Might said, as the dust began to settle, his body's steam mixing in with it. "In my glory days, that would've taken 5 punches. Today, it was over 300 mighty blows!"

"What a guy..." Cross-Z said, getting himself up while Build lunged forward for a bit before regaining his balance since his helicopter blade was still spinning until then.

"So that's what the Number One Hero can do..." Build said. "Man, we have a long way to go before the Build System can do something like that..."

"Is that all you got?" All Might said, standing in place. "You want to clear the game? Then come here and try!"

"You cheated! You, those Rider assholes, and that Blood Stalk bastard hacked our game!" Tomura growled. "You-!"

"Calm down," Kurogiri said, glancing over to the pro hero. "It's clear that the brawl between him and Nomu weakened him significantly... our Quirks are back, so with just the two of us, we should be able to finish All Might off-"

"That's what you think!" Cross-Z shouted, closing in on them. Tomura raised his hand to touch Cross-Z, but before he could lay a finger on the Kamen Rider, a bullet flew through the air and shot off his right middle finger.

"GAAAAAAAH! MY FUCKING FINGER!" Tomura shouted. But before he could mourn the loss of his middle finger, another bullet soared through the air and shot off his left pinky finger, before a third one hit him right in the left calf. "FUCKING SHIT!"

"W-We're back!" Jurota announced as he and Akito came back in, followed by a troop of teachers, much to the relief of the students up there. Snipe's barrel was smoking, and he fired off another round of bullets, hitting a few villains that had began to awaken in the leg.

"Sorry we're late!" Principal Nezu said, sitting on top of the shoulder of Hound Dog, the school's counselor. "We came as soon as we could after someone sent in an anonymous tip, and Mr. Shishida and Mr. Daionkyou gladly confirmed what was happening when we found them!"

"Tch, seems like we must retreat for now," Kurogiri said, as he began to disappear with the injured Tomura.

"This isn't the last that you've seen of us, you shitty heroes and shitty Kamen Riders!" Tomura threatened. "We'll be back, and when we are-" he glared at All Might, "- I'll make sure that you're dead, All Might."

As soon as they disappeared, All Might sighed. "Good, they're gone."

"Yea, good-" Cross-Z began to say, when a bullet hit the back of his head. "Ow! What?"

"Alright, I don't know how you vigilantes got in here, but I'm not complaining," Snipe said, popping his neck as he pointed his gun at them. The other teachers were behind him. "You two are gonna come with us."

"Wait, those two helped us!" Setsuna said, jumping to the defense of the Kamen Riders.

"Yea, without them some of our classmates would've been stuck as Smashes!" Machiko added.

"We would've been doomed if the Kamen Riders weren't here!" Izuku said.

"Sorry kids, but they're breaking the law," one of the teachers said. "So we have to take them in."

"Ooooh, as much as I like the sound of that, I got to get going," Build said, as the helicopter blade on his back began to spin rapidly. Before anyone could grab him, he lifted off, going through one of the several holes in the ceiling. Snipe reloaded his revolver, and fired at Build and Cross-Z, though the bullets didn't hurt them.

"Wait up for me, you jackass!" Cross-Z shouted. He inserted the Hawk Fullbottle into the Beat Closer, and pulled the starter three times. "Special Tune!" "Hippare! Hippare! HIPPARE!"

Energy hawk wings formed around the tip of the Beat Closer, and Cross-Z soared into the air, though he was slightly off course. "Shit shit shit-"

Cross-Z slammed against the ceiling, breaking through it and making a new hole "Ow! Sorry about that!"

"Quick, someone get Wingman and-" Present Mic began to say, but Principal Nezu stopped him.

"No, let them go for now," Principal Nezu said. "We must focus on apprehending all of the true villains that are here."

"Y-Yea, of course," Present Mic said, as they all ran to search the USJ. All Might sighed, and coughed a bit as he started to release his form unwillingly.

"Wait, we should go and check out All Might-" Tetsutetsu began to protest, but Eijiro held him back as Cementoss put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"You students have gone through enough. We should go and make sure that you all are alright. Let us teachers handle the rest," the blocky man said. Tetsutetsu gritted his teeth before reluctantly following orders, as he and his classmates that were present there were led out of the USJ. Izuku and the Team Build teens that were there took one last look back at the Number One Hero, watching All Might from a distance. The man gave them a thumbs up, and they returned it.

Today was a massive battle, but they've won it. The threat of Faust and this 'League of Villains' loomed over them all, however, and Team Build knew that it was only a matter of time when they will strike again.

ORIGINAL AO3 NOTES:

- Boy, it's taken me quite a while on this. I started writing this around, what? June? July? And it'll be some time until the next chapter, too. I might just do some quick edits and stuff in the meantime. Not to mention the pilot chapters I have planned.
- I think from this point on, I'm going to write all my BUAH! chapters really, really long to compensate for the fact that I don't update it nearly as often as UHA. Which means that the bulk of the USJ arc is one chapter with an aftermath chapter (as opposed to UHA's two chapters and an aftermath). A bit worried that this makes the chapter a little bloated, making it feel a little weak to me, but what's done is done.
- So I just realized that this entire time I've been calling this fanfic "Building Up A Hero!" when I actually started with the title "Building A Hero!". No 'Up'. I think it's because the catchphrase is "Build Up!" that I ended up subconsciously changing the title to fit it as such.
- A while ago, Wickerstein raised his concern to me in PMs on FFnet about the fact that there were so many characters from other series in Class 1C, like Sakura, etc., and I decided that I needed to address them publicly here. It's been a while since we talked about it, but it's given me enough time to think about it, and I've started to regret not making more OCs and/or using more of Isamu 1A. I only chose to put existing characters in because Taiju was always planned to be one of them, and I guess I sort of felt 'beholden' to add in others. So I'm going to go back and change a few of the non-OC/non-MHA characters in 1C into OCs. I'm leaving this chapter with the chapters kept in as they are for now, so that it'd be a little consistent until I finish the edits making them into OCs. For the most part I'm going to be keep the Quirks the same as how I wrote them to avoid having to rewrite entire scenes, but now they'll be 'referential' characters instead of just being them outright. Only one I can confirm will stay the same is Taiju, because again, I've always planned on including him, Senku, and Yuzuriha in BUAH!. This decision is partially why I've taken a while to write this chapter 'cuz I was reeeally split on if I should do it or not.
- God I really hope that I mentioned all of the students in their scenes, I kept reading it over and over and checking a list to make sure that none of them were missing or were at least addressed. That's what I get for adding 20 more students.
- So according to the KR wiki, apparently TigrUFO (or ToraUFO if you prefer) has the ability to shrink enemies and teleport them away by abducting them with the UFO powers? As fun and ridiculous as that is, I think it's got a bit too big of an advantage with that, so TigerUFO has basic gravity manipulation instead. As for the name, I chose to do it that way so it'd be pronounced as "tie-gruh-fo", 'cuz that personally sounds better to me than just 'tiger-U-F-O'. Saying a word and then an acronym like that doesn't sound right to me. It feels unnatural for me personally.
- If you want to know why Taiju, Rikido, and Hanta didn't turn into Smashes, it's because in BUAH!, Nebula Gas resistance is a little more common than what we see in Build canon. However, that doesn't mean that their Hazard Levels will rise exponentially like Ryuga's or Izuku's, nor will they know that they can even do that right now.
- That's right, we finally have Ryuga's Quirk! I've purposefully held off on it SPECIFICALLY for that joke. I thought it would be funny to intercut Ryuga getting socked in the face between explaining how his Quirk works. The others don't know/never looked into what Ryuga's Quirk was, and he forgot to tell them all. He's kinda dumb that way.
- Is it a bit ridiculous to have so many unique Smashes like this at once? Possibly, but this is something that's been planned for a while for the USJ. I mean, let's be real, this is probably one of the best opportunities for Faust to make a lot of Smashes, check for potential Rider candidates, and get more Fullbottles.
- (3/17/22 EDIT): I've gone and changed the names of the referential characters, as well as swapped Taira's and Machiko's places in the narrative.