It was almost strange to be taking an active role again after all these years. Yet here Toshinori was, helping to coordinate the Heroes and the AMF in their disaster relief efforts. Fortunately, his many years as the Number One Hero made him a fountain of wisdom for managing a disaster, and the AMF respected that. Even the ones who hated Heroes listened to him, the valuable experience he carried outweighing any misgivings they had of his former profession.

Morning had come and gone, but search and rescue teams still combed the disaster area, with the help of several of his former students.

Fortunately, the AMF are more accepting of the Heroes help then they'd been before or during the attack. Maybe the attack had shaken them out of their resentment, or maybe they were now working in the roles the AMF were used to Heroes in, and thus no longer perceived as butting into the AMF's business.

It might have helped that the Heroes were too overwhelmed by everything that happened to argue with the AMF today.

That creature had been…enormous. Toshinori had rarely, if ever, seen anything that big before. As for the damage it left behind…Toshinori had seen worse. They all had. However, such destruction was usually from a natural disaster, or a ferocious battle. The monster caused it with his size alone.

Toshinori remembered the previous generation mentioning the name Godzilla when he was young, but he hadn't paid much attention to it. He was too focused on becoming a Symbol of Peace. Now he wished he'd listened closer.

The creature evoked an aura of helplessness in many of those who'd watched. Where All for One once radiated malice, Godzilla radiated indifference. The town beneath its feet, the Heroes struggling to save it, the people it killed, they were all beneath notice to it. It cared as much about devastating a town as a person would about stepping on an anthill.

Toshinori wiped his eyes and suppressed a yawn.

Now that most of the setting up was accomplished, the AMF and Young Kendo "suggested" Toshinori go get some sleep. He resisted, but they were rather insistent. The AMF offered to escort him to an available tent, but Toshinori convinced them to let him go himself. After receiving directions, Toshinori set off through the camp.

On his way through, civilians would greet him, thanking him for his work as All Might. Even the AMF soldiers would give him a respectful nod as he passed, if not fanboy over him like the civilians. Toshinori passed a row of tents and spotted Young Ashido carrying a heavy sack.

"Young Ashido!"

She looked up and smiled. "All Might! How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well," Toshinori said. "I must admit, stressful as it is, it feels refreshing to be working again."

Young Ashido gave him a tired smile. "Wish it could've been in better circumstances, but take what you get. By the way, did you hear Bakugo's finally coming here? With how much he dragged his feet, I'm wondering if he waited for a disaster to hit on purpose!"

Toshinori chuckled. "Young Bakugo is capable of many things. Clairvoyance is not one of them." If it was, he might have avoided that one-sided beat down Toshinori gave him in the First-Term Final Exams…

Young Ashido giggled. "Yeah good point! He'd probably have tried to come here and fight that thing if he knew!" Young Ashido's smile faded. She sighed. "You know, I heard they deal with dangerous wildlife further out in the Pacific, but I didn't expect something like that. That Godzilla was freaking huge!"

Toshinori nodded. "It makes me wish I'd visited the more islands more often. I was always too busy to get around to it."

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Young Ashido said. "Even you can't be everywhere."

"I suppose that's true."

"Yeah. You may have been the Symbol of Peace, but even you have…ugh," She lifted the bag off of her shoulder and placed it on a pile of similar ones. "Limits."

She turned to a nearby soldier taking inventory. "Yo! Anything else I can help with?"

He glanced at her. "Some guys need help passing out food over there." He pointed toward some people with food, then walked off.

"Not exactly welcoming," Young Ashido said. "But better than before! I guess they're too distracted by the job to properly hate us now, huh?"

Toshinori nodded. "Hopefully. It's shameful you had to deal with that earlier. Even with the looming threat of Godzilla they should have remembered to include-"

Young Ashido waved her hand. "Re-lax, they've been including us a lot better since the Godzilla attack. Who knows, maybe this will help improve cross-t teamwork in the future." She stretched her arms over her head and said. "I'd better go. Take care!"

"You too Young Ashido."

She swung around and walked off with a light spring in her step. After a few meters, it faded for a slower trudge. She may be good at hiding it, but Toshinori could tell that Young Ashido was as worn out as the rest of them.

Toshinori was about to continue on his way when something caught his eye.

The young man, the one with the green hair. The one Toshinori learned drove a tank against that monster last night.

He was helping to lift some boxes off a truck with several of his peers. While Toshinori couldn't hear what they were saying, he could tell they were bantering. One of them said a joke and the young man smiled and laughed with the rest of them.

Toshinori hadn't seen him smile before

A pair of soldiers near Toshinori spoke in low voices, pointing at the young man's group. Toshinori overheard the word "green", and something about someone being crazy.

Curious, Toshinori approached them but due to his slow gait (damn you old age) they were gone before he could reach them. He looked around and noticed a woman with short brown hair walking by.

"Excuse me miss! Do you have a moment?"

The woman raised an eyebrow. "All Might? Of course! What do you need?"

Toshinori pointed. "That young man there. Do you know who he is?"

"Him? That's Izuku Midoriya. Known by some as the Emerald Madman." She had a fond smile as she said the last part. Toshinori felt a sinking in his nonexistent stomach.

"Emerald Madman?"

"Yeah. He has a reputation for taking massive risks for the sake of the mission, especially when protecting civilians or squad mates. It's exaggerated, but he has pulled some maneuvers that absolutely should have killed him." There was a hint of irritation in her tone on the last part.

"More importantly," she continued, "he's notorious for having stayed in G-Force for six years."

"G-Force?"

"Oh sorry, that's what we like to call ourselves. Our portion of the AMF is technically called Task Force 54. We guard the portion of the Pacific where Godzilla spends most of his time and are the ones usually tasked with fighting him."

Toshinori slowly nodded. "So…that young man has been facing Godzilla six years. That's strange?"

She nodded. "Yup. Pay stops increasing at three, so most people stop then. After all, not many want to keep fighting Godzilla for long."

"Yes," Toshinori said, a coldness spreading over him. "That creature was quite the menace last night…"

The woman gave him a look. "Last night a good night," she said. "You don't want to know what a bad night is. There's a reason the AMF offers high pay and very generous life insurance to be here. As good as Midoriya is, he's lucky to have gone as long as he has without more teammates dying."

"So, despite everyone else leaving after three years, he just…stayed?" Toshinori said.

She nodded. "Even when his partner left after four years, he never even considered leaving."

"And he shows no sign of leaving now?"

She shook her head. "No. I don't even know if he can leave."

Toshinori raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

She shrugged. "Godzilla gives him purpose. He's obsessed with the thing, studying its powers, its history, personality. His personal hero, regarded as our greatest soldier, chased Godzilla for fifty years. Nothing fires Midoriya up like Godzilla, not even other kaiju. I don't know what he'd do without it…"

"I see." Toshinori said. "Thank you for telling me. Sorry for taking your time miss...?"

"Akane. Nice to meet you All Might." She turned to walk away, then stopped, "By the way, I have a friend who has a daughter and-"

Toshinori passed her a pre-signed card.

"Thanks." She smiled then began walking toward Young Midoriya's group.

Toshinori took one last look at Young Midoriya before turning away, watching the boy smiling with his friends.

How ironic. His insensitive words had been intended to keep the boy safe, because he believed then, and continued to believe yesterday, that Villains would be too powerful for him to face as a Hero.

And yet, those words ultimately resulted in him coming here, fighting monsters like Godzilla, who'd leveled a decent portion of the town in mere minutes. To say Toshinori's words had backfired would be an understatement.

But Young Midoriya was happy. He was fulfilled.

Toshinori wondered whether it was divine punishment for him or recompense to Young Midoriya that he find his purpose here, in the exact opposite sort of life Toshinori advised him to join. Maybe both. Either way, Toshinori had much to consider.

Good luck Young Midoriya. I wish you well.


Izuku walked toward his team's tent, wiping the sweat from his brow. It had been a long night. Fortunately, he and his team were given permission to go and sleep for the rest of the day, something Izuku could not get fast enough. His mind felt like he was in a fog, disconnected from the world around him.

As Izuku neared his tent, he turned on his phone and was met with several messages.

Ochako: I heard there was an attack last night. What happened? Was it Godzilla? Are you ok?

Ochako: Midori? Please answer. Or at least mark it read!

Ochako: I am on the verge from calling your MOTHER to see if you're alright, so you'd better answer me!

In an instant the fog lifted, replaced by a devastating urgency. Izuku quickly typed in Ochako's number and dialed.

Riing. Riiing.

Come on, come on! Pick up! Izuku thought, desperate to escape his peril.

Finally, it picked up. "MIDORI! About time!"

Izuku pulled the phone from his ear, then slowly brought it back. "Hey Ochako?"

"What the heck Midori?! I wake up to hear about an attack on Scaris in the night, and when I call to see if my best friend is alright you don't even bother to pick up your phone?!"

"Sorry, sorry," Izuku said. "After the attack, I spent the whole night helping with the immediate disaster relief. This is the first time I've even checked it! You didn't tell Mom, did you?""

Ochako sighed. "Of course you did. No I did not call her. Now what happened? How is it over there?"

"Godzilla and it could be worse," Izuku said.

"It always could. What about casualties? Any losses?"

"Dozens injured, several dead among civilians. A few dead among the infantry." Izuku said. "As for your friends and my team, we're all ok."

"What about my baby? Is she ok too?"

Izuku rolled his eyes. "Your tank is ok too."

"Don't roll your eyes at me! Me and that tank have been through a lot together!"

"How did you even know I rolled my eyes?"

"It was in your voice Midori," she said with a hint of pride. "I can tell."

Izuku elected to ignore his friend's newfound telepathy and instead tell her the other important news.

"Ochako, after the attack Godzilla left Scaris. In the opposite direction from where we wanted. We don't know where he's heading, but it's probably toward the mainland."

There was a moment of silence. "Understood. Thank you for telling me Midori."

"Your welcome Ochako. Please take care."

"I will," she said. "I may be fearless, but I'm not stupid."

"Really? You always made it sound like there wasn't a difference…"

"Because there's a line between them and you took a flying leap over it Midori."

Izuku opened his mouth to object. He closed it.

To add insult to injury, Ochako apparently used that same sixth sense from before, because at that very moment she snorted. "Take care. I'll talk to you later."

"Goodbye Ochako. Good luck."

Izuku hung up. Talking with Ochako always made him feel a bit lighter. With that finished, Izuku crawled onto his cot and let himself finally drift to sleep.


"Sir! One of our SGS' detected him at point 05, heading northeast!"

Admiral Mori walked over to his subordinate and examined his screen. He walked over to a map where they'd drawn Godzilla's previous heading.

Mori narrowed his eyes.

His new location was a straight line from the heading he'd had when he left Scaris.

"Drop another SGS here." Mori pointed at a spot several kilometers further along said line. "If he keeps his present course, I want it waiting."

"Yes sir!"

Mori's eyes drifted down the map, following Godzilla's current heading. They landed on his destination should his course hold firm.

Please…not there. Anywhere but there…


Mifune and X booked the earliest train they could out of the city. They left the Villain group they'd hired inside the warehouse to guard their device, then hurried to the station. Once they were seated aboard the train, Mifune let out a sigh of relief.

They'd done it. Last time he'd left this city, it had been in disgrace. Now, he left in triumph, whether anyone knew it or not.

As the train started to move, Mifune looked out the window, taking one last look at the Tokyo Tower before it disappeared from view.


Hope you enjoyed! Hope you had a Merry Christmas and have a happy New Year!