Here you go, some important character moments to set up the main battle! Hope you enjoy!


Kenji sat completely still, yet his mind was on the move. Following him. He saw the same sights, heard the same sounds, even smelled the same smells.

Godzilla advanced, plowing through every meager defense the AMF put in its way in a desperate attempt to slow it down. He barely even needed to hit back. Fortunately, even if he did, the AMF ships were smart enough to keep out of his visibility range.

Godzilla's gaze swept through the waters, surveying the foaming waves for any enemy lurking around.

Kenji made his move.

Over there!

Godzilla looked in the direction Kenji had directed him, but saw nothing. Kenji smirked. He did it!

Turn. Chase them!

Godzilla did not comply.

Turn around and leav-

Awareness. Godzilla noticed him. Moments later Kenji was back in his room screaming.

Damn it!

Between the AMF's inability to redirect and Ogashira's inability to find what was drawing him to Tokyo, Kenji's psychic abilities were their last chance. And he'd come so close! He got Godzilla to listen for an instant! But it wasn't enough. Godzilla detected and expelled him. Again.

What am I missing?


Izuku marched into the workout room, feeling a desperate need to hit something.

Of all the half-baked, shortsighted power jockeying idiocy he'd seen or read, this took the cake! They were less than a day from Godzilla's arrival, and they wanted to send regular Pro Heroes against the King of the Monsters?! Half the AMF personnel there were barely qualified for this! Let alone untrained, inexperienced Heroes!

Izuku had told All Might that a powerful foe could be beaten with the right combination of skills, tools, and strategy, and he believed it too, but the Heroes didn't have that combination! They didn't even have its component parts! They had no idea how to fight Godzilla, they didn't have the power to defeat him, and they didn't have the tools to compensate for that. And the Commission was going to send them out anyway!

Izuku never felt this kind of fury. Not at All Might. Not even at Kacchan. After he learned of the HPSC's stupidity, Izuku grabbed his phone to check on Ochako and found over a dozen messages from her. Fortunately, Ochako made it clear she was not joining this fight, but even being on the same battlefield as Godzilla was dangerous.

Izuku hoped the transports would soon be ready to fly the masers and infantry out soon.

"So, why'd your parents give you your name?"

Izuku perked up at the sound of voices ahead.

"I was born in the spring and they wanted to give me name filled with hope."

"That's sweet!"

Izuku entered the workout room and saw Tani holding Sakaki's feet for sit ups. Upon seeing Izuku, both of their faces went bright red.

"Um, hi?" Izuku said.

"Hi," said Tani. She smiled at Sakaki. "I'll talk with you later Haruo."

"Ok Yuko."

She got up and hurried out, with Sakaki watching after her. Once she was gone, he stood and went over to the punching bags and began punching.

Deciding that was a good idea, Izuku walked over and hit the one next to it. He let his mind go empty as he threw every bit of strength he could into his blows, venting every bit of accumulated rage over the last few days in a ferocious barrage.

"You seem more pissed than normal."

Izuku panted as he stopped to glare at Sakaki. "It's been a week. First." He punched the bag. "I meet the man who crushed my dreams to fine powder. Second!" He punched it again. "I meet the guy who made my life hell. And third!" He punched it several more times. "The HPSC kicks us out so it can feed its own Heroes, along with everyone else, to the wolves!" Izuku punched several more times for emphasis.

"Dumbasses," Sakaki said, nodding. "They're serving every Hero, soldier, and civilian in that city up to that bastard on a silver platter!"

"For once I agree with you," Izuku said. "Godzilla has a hell of a temper, and when they provoke it." He shuddered. "A lot of people will die."

"Then we'll be the ones fighting him. Again."

"First urban battle," Izuku said. "Wonder if I'll survive it."

Sakaki shrugged. "It's always been a suicide mission. I don't get how you…admire things that want to kill us so bad."

Izuku shrugged. "Storm chasers admire extreme weather conditions that can kill them," he said. "I guess I'm the same way. And there is no storm quite like Godzilla. " Izuku chuckled. "I guess I've always admired powerful things. I admired Kacchan even when he bullied me…"

Sakaki looked incredulous. "You admired him when he was bullying you? You sure you're not just a masochist?"

"Nah, just an idiot who wouldn't let go of a long dead friendship," Izuku said. "Or maybe I just wished I was as powerful and driven as he was…"

"You are driven," Sakaki said. "More than anyone I know. You've kept gunning for Godzilla even when everyone else quit. I respect that about you."

"I wasn't always that way," Izuku said. "For all my talk, I didn't do much in Middle School to Become a Hero. Besides, Ota Murakami spent nearly fifty years chasing Godzilla. Six is the least I can do." Izuku stared at the punching bag. "I guess that's the other reason I can't dislike Godzilla. He may be our enemy…but fighting him gave me purpose."

"What? You wanted a challenge?"

"I want to save people, and to do the impossible while doing it. Godzilla gave me a chance to do that. I always wanted to save people like All Might." Izuku punched the bag with his full strength. "But they all said I couldn't. That I was weak!" He punched again. "Useless!" He punched a third time.

"Fighting monsters doesn't just let me see what I can do. It shows me I can do something incredible. I can save people from Godzilla and other kaiju! Every time I go to battle, I prove them wrong."

Sakaki chuckled. "And they always said I'm the one with the grudge. You're the same way, aren't you? That's why you're so territorial? This is like your revenge."

Izuku raised an eyebrow, but did not contradict him.

"Accepting the Heroes' help implies you can't do the job yourself, and giving them a greater role in kaiju fighting would shrink ours. You don't want that, do you?"

Izuku was silent. He wanted to say that wasn't true, but that would be a lie. Yes, Heroes weren't prepared to fighting kaiju. Yes, the AMF was capable on its own. Yes, saving people was Izuku's main priority.

But.

Izuku would be lying if he said he didn't want the Heroes to stay out. Or if he said that it never occurred to him that if they never fought kaiju, they couldn't drive him from this dream to. (Yet they still tried)

"I do like proving people wrong," Izuku said. "I was in a dark place before I set my sights on…this. I never want to feel like that again…"

Sakaki raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"Useless." Izuku said. "Just a quirkless weakling who'll never amount to anything. A statistic drifting through the records before vanishing into a forgotten grave. Here, I do something important. I've saved people." Izuku turned to him. "You're quirkless too Sakaki. Did they ever treat you like something…lesser for it?"

Sakaki shook his head. "Not really, at worst I was seen as weaker than some of the other kids. Your school sounds like a shithole. That said…I understand what you mean. About not wanting to feel a certain way again."

"What do you not want to feel?"

Sakaki was silent for a few moments. "Helpless."

Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Godzilla killed my parents when I was eight years old. I saw the whole thing. All I could do was watch. Afterward, the older people all said imagining a world without him was pointless. That he'd be around forever. Fighting was futile."

Sakaki bared his teeth. "That…learned helplessness pissed me off! I remembered the AMF, who fought him tooth and nail even when victory was impossible. I swore I'd join them and fight. At least if I died there, it'd be fighting instead of cowering like a damn child!" He slammed the bag one last time.

It wasn't funny, not really. But Izuku couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "We are the same, aren't we?" Izuku said. "Sick of being be weaklings on the sidelines. Wanting to do what couldn't be done?"

Sakaki chuckled too. "And we can both hold a long grudge. Guess nobody notices because you're the nice little nerd while I'm a raging asshole. (Yuko's been scolding me about that)."

"Not wrong.

"You don't have to agree that easily!"

Izuku laughed. Sakaki laughed to. Then Izuku's smile faded. "Sakaki-"

"Haruo."

Izuku blinked. "What?"

"My friends call me Haruo. We'll probably both be dead tomorrow, so you might as well too."

"Fine. Haruo, our grudges got us this far, but do you ever wonder if they might be holding us back? That it might be better if we had…other motives?"

Haruo quirked his brow. "Like?"

"For me, it'd be saving people and pushing myself to the limit. Those are the motives I like to admit. Instead of…"

"-Wanting to spite assholes who don't care about us and probably never will? Human or otherwise?"

"Yeah. That"

"Probably right. For me, it'd be protecting my team and making a world where people don't live in terror of things like him."

Izuku nodded. "That's pretty good."

"Thanks." Haruo looked up and said, "You know, there was a time I really wanted that bastard lizard to notice me," Haruo said. "Just like Murakami did."

"You read his notes?" Izuku said.

"Of course. He was our best."

Izuku smiled. "I wanted that too. I once thought that when we got him to shoot at us, he was acknowledging us. Then I imagined how Kacchan would react to ants biting him and realized he'd blow them up too, even if they were ants. And really, what is Godzilla but a giant radioactive Kacchan?"

Haruo smirked. "That fits." His smirk faded. "What would either of us do without him? I can think of how to win this war for hours on end, but I can never think of what to do after."

"Me neither. I always figured it'd never end. Not in our lifetimes anyway."

"Same. I guess Yuko would help me figure something out. She might be leaving the maser corps anyway."

"That sucks. I'd probably either stay at the AMF or, I don't know, go work at Ochako's Hero agency or something. I'm sure I'd find something. But… a selfish part of me doesn't want it to end. To just chase him forever."

Haruo nodded. "Much as I want him dead...I can understand that. But that's a problem for another day."

"True." Izuku said. He held out a fist. "Tonight we rest. Tomorrow we drive him out of Tokyo."

Haruo bumped it. "Out of Tokyo. No matter the cost."


Nejire perched on top of a lonely building. A large dragon wearing a red dress circled overhead. It landed next to her, transforming into a woman with blond hair. "You did great out there today."

Nejire smiled at her mentor. "Thanks Ryukyu. You taught me well."

"Maybe, but even without me you would've became an amazing Hero. I'm just glad I got to be a part of your journey. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," Nejire said. Her smile faded.

"Are you still thinking about Uravity? Will you be following her advice?"

"I don't know," Nejire said. She thought back to that talk a few hours ago.


"If we're going to be fighting that thing, then it'll take all we have!"

"Agreed Nejire-chan," said Ryukyu. "That animal's size alone makes it a difficult opponent. We'll need everyone we can get."

"You can count on us!" Nejire said with a wink and a thumb's up. "Right Uravity?"

"No."

Nejire turned. "What?"

Ochako fixed Nejire with a cold stare. "I said no.

"W-what? But-

"I'm technically a Rescue Hero, so I'll help there. I'm not joining this fight. You shouldn't either. Any of you!"

"B-but Ochako…" Najire said, forgetting to use Ochako's Hero name. Despite being a Rescue Hero, Ochako never refused a combat mission when asked, no matter how dangerous.

Nejire thought back to that moment on the sea…

"The other Heroes need us!" said Agonizer. "This creature of darkness is approaching! We must stand ready, fight bravely, and perhaps sacrifice -"

"Do you have any idea what you're going up against?" Ochako said, giving him a death glare.

Agonizer froze. Ochako's glare intensified. "I do. We don't stand a chance against Godzilla! It's not brave, it's suicide!"

She grabbed Nejire's shoulders. Her eyes became desperate. "Nejire, please! Don't fight him! Don't let your sidekicks fight! Trust me on this! You can't win this."

Nejire stood in shock. Ochako Uraraka, possibly of the bravest woman Nejire had ever met, looked terrified. Terrified of the monster and terrified of Nejire or the others fighting. "I…"

"Nejire, you know me!" Ochako said. "I've risked my life to save others! I've risked my life to stop disasters! Before becoming a Hero I risked my life to stop Godzilla! I'd die for a worthy cause!" She took a deep breath. "But I won't die for nothing. This? This is less than nothing. This is dying for the Commission's stupidity. I won't do it. I'm sorry."

Ochako slumped her shoulders and walked away. Nejire didn't say a word.


Nejire stared at the city below, watching as the civilians bumped and shoved their way into the buses, which pulled out one by one.

"Ochako's not spooked easily. If she's this scared, we should listen. I ordered my sidekicks out of combat. As for me…I'm not sure. People depend on me."

Ryukyu frowned. "I ordered my sidekicks to evacuation and rescue too. But, I'm joining the fight. Maybe not the first wave, but I will play my part. I can't let my colleagues go into battle alone."

Nejire nodded. "I'll go too. Let's do our best Ryukyu. Plus Ultra?"

Ryukyu nodded. "Plus Ultra."


Hope you liked that. Haruo and Izuku are very much foils for each other. Both are very driven, borderline fanatical, both are very intelligent, and both are very protective of what they love. The difference is that while Izuku admires Godzilla and sees him as a way to overcome his pain, Haruo hates Godzilla for being the reason for his pain.

Also nice to show Ochako's reaction to the news and how her friends thought about it.

Hope you liked! Reviews bring joy!