Izuku sat on a bench trying to focus on his book, hoping to quiet the tempest in his head.

In the thirteen years since his first rampage through Toky-

"Forget their crappy quirks! You're totally quirkless!"

Godzilla never strayed far from the Japanese home islands. He-

"Don't even think of going to UA Deku!"

Then he suddenly made a turn for-

"Hey if you want to be a Hero so bad, I've got an idea. Just pray for a powerful quirk in your next life and take-"

Izuku snapped his book shut.

What was with the past few days? First All Might shows up and now Kacchan?! Did the universe have a grudge against him or something? What was it with figures from his past popping up all around him to make him to relive old baggage? Who was next, is drill sergean-

You know what? Never mind.

Izuku sighed. Why couldn't things be simple, like when giant monsters were trying to brutally kill him? He thought he'd moved on from his Middle School days, that all that stuff was behind him.

Now though, he was starting to think that maybe he just never had to face them.

"Young Midoriya?"

Izuku was yanked out of his thoughts. All Might. Izuku groaned. Great. Just what he needed. More baggage he never moved on from...

"May I sit here?"

"Sure All Might," Izuku said. "Go right ahead."

As All Might sat down, Izuku wondered what this was about. Another attempt to reconcile? No probably not. He understood Izuku's lingering resentment, so he'd probably know to give Izuku some time to think. Then what was it?

"I saw you with the tank operators yesterday," All Might said. "I asked another member of the AMF about you. She told me a little about your job and your…reputation."

Oh. That.

"Evidently you managed to take my advice in the opposite way from what I'd intended on a scale my students can only dream of," he said with a forced chuckle. "I'm impressed."

Izuku chuckled back. "Thanks."

"I guess it serves me right," All Might said. "I crush your dreams and tell you to find a realistic career, and you find this one..."

"To be fair, it is realistic. Just insanely dangerous," Izuku said.

"Danger you seem to have embraced if your reputation is anything to go by Emerald Madman," All Might said.

"That's exaggerated!" Izuku said.

All Might gave him an unimpressed stare.

"Slightly," Izuku said looking away. He leaned back and stared at the leaves above him. "Look, just don't beat yourself up about it. I would have found an incredibly reckless job to help people no matter what you said. If not this, then probably something else."

"I suppose so," Toshinori said. "But why this one?"

Izuku shrugged. "I hoped to become a police officer, but was worried I wouldn't get in. So, I searched for careers where someone like me would be welcome, stumbled on the AMF and thought they looked promising."

"And it became your new dream?"

Izuku shook his head. "No. that was later. I went to a store and got this." He lifted his book. "It's a journal written by the AMF's first and finest soldier, Ota Murakami." Izuku smiled as he said his hero's name. "He fought Godzilla for nearly fifty years, starting with Godzilla's first attack in 1954. No quirk, no really exceptional traits, not even advanced weapons the first time around. Just wits, determination, and a whole lot of guts."

Izuku stared at the book's front cover, which was a drawing of a man staring up at an all too familiar silhouette. "Murakami did things that should have been impossible, taking on threats as powerful, or even more powerful, than any Villain. And he did it again and again. Reading about him…it gave me hope for the first time. Maybe I could matter. Maybe I could do something incredible too. I hadn't felt like that in a long time. After that I wanted to fight Godzilla like him."

All Might shook his head, and yet, he was smiling. "All these years and you're still a fanboy."

Izuku tried to think of a comeback that wouldn't be a complete lie.

"But there's something else I need to know," All Might said. "You want to fight these…kaiju to help people, right? You're not just trying to prove me wrong?"

"Our mission is to help people. That is always my first priority. Not proving myself," Izuku said. "And for the record, it wasn't just you." Izuku clenched his fist. "It was everyone. No one believed in me. Not family, not teachers, and certainly not friends."

"I…understand," said All Might. His face was still as stone, impossible to read. "You said you no longer believed me about the impossibility of a quirkless Hero. Are these kaiju why?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah. Don't get me wrong, our gear and tactics are different from Hero work. But at the same time, if me and my team can face something as tough as Godzilla with a maser tank, why couldn't someone quirkless fight a Villain with Support Gear?" Izuku said.

All Might clasped his hands below his chin, nodding in thought.

"Plenty of Heroes have weak quirks," Izuku continued. "The kind that could easily be substituted with tech." Mandalay came to mind. "Other Heroes have quirks that only work in specific situations and fight quirkless most of the time." Like Void when facing a Villain who wouldn't talk "I know it's be an uphill battle, but why does it have to be impossible?"

"I see," All Might said. It wasn't an agreement, more an understanding. "How many other giant monsters have you fought?"

"Plenty." Izuku said. "Killed a lot of Kamacuras over the years, taken out Gargantuas on rotation in the mainland. I've even fought Anguirus and Manda! Oh! I've even-you have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"

All Might shook his head. "Not a clue."

"I thought not," Izuku said. "Suffice to say, I've seen a lot. America and Australia may have more monsters, but Japan definitely has the biggest."

"Interesting," All Might said. He stood up. "This has been a very…enlightening conversation. I need time to think. Good luck with Godzilla, Young Midoriya. I hope they find him before he strikes again."

Izuku narrowed his eyes. "Hold on…you don't know?"

All Might tilted his head. "Don't know what?"


Katsuki trudged through the camp, through looking for Izuku.

This was a dumb idea. He knew it was a dumb idea. Maybe he should just drop it, let sleeping dogs lie and-

"You should apologize. I think he'd really appreciate it."

Damn it Round Face! You'd better be right about this or I'll kill you!

On the one hand, Izuku clearly held a grudge. On the other, Katsuki owed it to him to at least try to apologize. Mama Bakugo, old hag that she was, didn't raise a coward after all. Besides, the old wounds were already opened, so might as well try to heal them. If that didn't work, Izuku could tell him to piss off and Katsuki could walk away and never bother him again.

The only issue was finding Izuku.

"Kacchan!"

Well that was easier than I thought.

Katsuki turned around as Izuku stormed up to him. Katsuki wondered if this was about their past or if he'd somehow already offended the AMF. On accident! Either way, Katsuki rolled his shoulders back and braced himself.

Izuku walked up, pointing at Katsuki, and said, "Have they started evacuating Tokyo?"

Katsuki rapidly blinked. Wait what?

"Answer me!" Izuku said.

"How the hell would I know what they're doing in Tokyo?!" Katsuki said.

"You Heroes have a special app, Hero Net, don't you?! It allows you to send messages and coordinate with your fellow Heroes?"

Izuku's eyes…they weren't angry. They were sharp, like someone preparing for a battle. This was something serious.

"Yeah, but I'm not checking it 24/7," Katsuki said getting out his phone. "What part of Tokyo would they be evacuating?"

"All of it."

Katsuki stopped. He looked up. "Come again?"

"I'm asking if they've begun an evacuation of either all of Tokyo, or a portion so big that it would require a herculean effort the scale of which has not been seen since well before All Might's debut," Izuku said. "You couldn't miss it if you tried. So has it happened? Is it about to happen?"

"No? I haven't heard anything like that. Should I ha- hey come back!"

Izuku was already walking away. "No time. I need to find All Might. Thank you for your cooperation."

"Izuku wait!" Katsuki said hurrying after him. "We need to talk! I'M TRYING TO APOLOGIZE GODDAMIT!"

Izuku froze. He turned around and, for a long moment, stared at Katsuki. Then he turned away. "We can talk later. Right now, I need to see All Might."

Izuku hurried off, leaving Katsuki behind.

Dammit!

It seemed sorting things out would have to wait.


Young Midoriya left very suddenly. I wonder why?

Toshinori hoped he hadn't accidentally offended the boy. However, that sinking feeling where most of his stomach used to be didn't give him much comfort.

Toshinori took a deep breath. In and out. Such worrying was pointless. He had no idea what Young Midoriya was thinking. Besides, while sitting here, Toshinori had time to think. For instance, could Young Midoriya have been right? Could it be possible to become a quirkless Hero?

Young Midoriya clearly thought it was, despite admitting he himself couldn't have been that. Not that Toshinori blamed him, he would have failed too. However, if Young Midoriya was so confident that one could be a Hero with no quirk, why didn't he consider doing it now?

He was clearly brave, intelligent and very capable. If someone could do it, it'd probably be someone like him. Perhaps because he was happy here? After all, just because you feel someone like you could succeed in a certain career didn't mean you wanted to do it yourself. Maybe Young Midoriya had simply moved on.

Toshinori should examine Heroes with weaker quirks, see if there really were ones a quirkless person could stand on par with. Nighteye and David would be a good start.

But wait, David didn't do Hero work for long and he'd mostly acted as support for Toshinori. Did he count? Few quirkless people had the chance to work with a One for All holder after all. What about Sir Nighteye? His quirk was a massive boon, but he had to use it sparingly. He'd gone into combat several times after his limit was exhausted and still come out victorious.

However, he'd eventually been killed in battle by a stronger opponent. But that happened to many Heroes, and none would say his death meant Nighteye was unfit for Hero work. Also, there was Nighteye's apprentice, Young Mirio, who'd managed to-

"All Might!"

Toshinori turned around to find Young Midoriya sprinting toward him. He stopped in front of Toshinori and pointed. He opened his mouth and…doubled over panting.

Toshinori tilted his head and patiently waited for Young Midoriya to catch his breath.

After several seconds, Young Midoriya straightened himself and said, "You need to go to Tokyo! Now!"

"I beg your pardon?" Toshinori said.

"Godzilla is heading for Tokyo."

He what?

"They haven't started evacuating yet," Young Midoriya said.

They what?!

"You need to go there and make them start! Take the high-speed plane Kacchan brought! You need to get everyone out of there!"

"I…I don't understand," Toshinori said. "What can I do? I don't have the authority to- "

"You're one of the most powerful men in all of Japan! If anyone can force this issue, it's you!"

"I…I'm one of the most powerful men in Japan? But my quirk no longer works and I'm retired?"

Young Midoriya looked at him like he was insane. "You're the Symbol of Peace! No one carries the amount of respect you do! Heck, you're possibly the only Hero besides Uravity and Godzillo that the majority of the AMF actually likes! If you go to the capital and demand they do something, they can't ignore you. Defy you maybe, but not ignore. With the AMF behind you, they'll have to listen!"

Toshinori hadn't thought of it like that. He'd tried to avoid politics in his Hero days, not wanting to get involved in something he did not understand or to abuse his status and credibility as a Symbol. He rarely gave much thought to forcing politicians to do what he wanted, preferring instead to go straight to the people when preaching his ideals.

Well, it looks like it's time to see what I can do in that field. No time like the present after all!

Toshinori looked to Young Midoriya. "You believe an evacuation of such a scale is necessary?"

Young Midoriya nodded. "Yes. Have you heard of Emergency Protocol 13-F?"

"That one?!" Toshinori said. "The one that calls for a mass mobilization of Heroes to evacuate a major city, with details for each one in Japan?"

"Yeah that one. It was specifically designed with Godzilla in mind." It was? "Even if the authorities start doing it without your help, the Heroes could use someone like you organizing them. Please."

Toshinori nodded. With much labor and ache, he pushed himself upright with his cane. Straightening his back, Toshinori said, "I shall do my best Young Midoriya. In the meantime, please try to be safe."

Young Midoriya looked him in the eyes and said. "I won't be stupid." Which was not the same thing.

Oh well. Toshinori would have to take what he could get from the kid they called "The Emerald Madman".

Toshinori gave the kid a smile. Young Midoriya returned it.

"Good luck Young Midoriya."

"You too All Might.

Toshinori walked away. He went to Young Kendo and told her what he was going to do before looking for Young Bakugo to borrow his plane.


"Are you sure?" said Minister Osugi.

Hanabata gave him the same greasy smile he'd given a dozen times today alone. Easy prey.

Osugi was yet another hapless bureaucrat in a useful position, Hanabata had dealt with plenty. For the last day Hanabata, General Mashira, and a representative from the Hero Commission had been quietly convincing men like him to join their proposal to finally overthrow the AMF.

They moved quietly so as to avoid drawing unwanted attention. Yaguchi may be a maverick, but he and his colleagues weren't dumb. Hanabata's strike had to come at the right moment.

"The Heroes have defended Japan decades," Hanabata said. "They've fought Villains, natural disasters, why they even subdued the Meta Liberation Army back in the day! Why shouldn't they be able to handle a single animal? Large as it may be, it doesn't even have a quirk!"

Osugi looked thoughtful.

Mashira stepped forward. "My military can be deployed to Tokyo as back up should the Heroes fail. I have every confidence we can destroy this animal."

The representative from the Hero Commission nodded. "The AMF are a relic from when we had too few Heroes to face the challenges of a quirked world. We don't need them anymore. This is the perfect time to demonstrate that."

"You raise a good point." Osugi said. "And if I support you-"

"The proposed updates to your hometown's power grid will be supported by any Hearts and Minds candidate who wins there," said Hanabata.

Osugi nodded. "Very well then. I accept."

Hanabata grinned. "Perfect." Another one down.


In the open ocean, marine life of all kind fled for their lives, scattering in all directions. All directions but one.

Soon after, from that one, three rows of spines cut across the surface.


Fun fact, that last bit in the ocean was literally added less than an hour before posting.

Enjoy!