Here it is! The second to last chapter! I have an epilogue after this giving some additional closure and setting up future subplots.


Taneo Tokuda opened his eyes. What happe-

The monster stomping through the harbor. The Heroes running. Taneo running into a building for shelter. The building collapsing.

Taneo looked around. His legs were still buried. He could move them, so he wasn't paralyzed, but they were still trapped.

But his torso and hands weren't. He could still take pictures, the good that did him.

Taneo looked up. His eyes widened.

Good thing he could still work. Because he'd just found the most dramatic scene of his entire career.


Izuku steadied his gun.

It would do nothing, but Izuku didn't care. He was not going to just roll over and die.

He felt himself smiling as he began squeezing the trigger. The energy collected in Godzilla's mouth to-

BANG!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Godzilla and Izuku both turned. A familiar figure flew over the buildings, propelled by a series of explosions.

Kacchan?

Godzilla growled.


"Alright Frogger! This is where you get off!"

"Ok, just-WHOA!"

Katsuki threw Frogger at one of the buildings. She caught herself on the side of it. Katsuki could have sworn she then glared at him.


I really hate him sometimes, Tsu thought as she hopped toward the bay.


Katsuki flew right for Godzilla's ugly mug. You did your part Izuku, now let me do mine!

The inside of Godzilla's mouth glowed bright blue.

That must be the breath weapon everyone mentioned.

Katsuki dropped down and went around, trying to get close to Godzilla without giving him a clear shot.

He circled around Godzilla's head. The head snapped to the side with impressive speed, opening its glowing jaws. Katsuki pulled the pin on his gauntlets, blasting himself up and forward at the exact moment Godzilla fired.

There were two bursts of extreme heat. The first was Katsuki's. The second was not.

Katsuki shut his eyes, almost blinded by the light. His leg hit something, slamming Katsuki into the ground. Katsuki tumbled across the ground and growled. That hur-

Wait.

How was he on the ground?

Katsuki opened his eyes. He was lying something black and rough, but clearly not asphalt. He tried to get up on one knee, but a wave of pain stopped him. He looked down and-

One of his legs was gone.

His leg was gone.

Despite the grisly sight, Katsuki felt eerily calm. Intellectually he knew this was just shock, but whether that was bad didn't matter right now. It was…comforting.

Katsuki looked up, only to see two giant yellow eyes glaring at him. The comfort vanished, replaced by dread. Katsuki. Was on. Godzilla's. Face.

Well I'm dead.

Godzilla shook his snout, trying to knock Katsuki off. Katsuki held on for dear life, his mind going into survival mode. He couldn't think, or strategize. He just knew to hold on. Hold on and don't fall…

Wait, that's exactly what he had to do. But first.

Godzilla raised his claw to crush Katsuki

With a roar, Katsuki threw one of his smaller grenades, creating a small explosion on Godzilla's forehead. Godzilla growled, looking more fed up with Katsuki than Mom.

Katsuki blasted himself off Godzilla's head. Godzilla's jaws snapped at Katsuki, but he used two massive blasts to throw himself to the side just in time.

Katsuki dove down, aiming for the water. Just before impact, he fired two final explosions. They slowed him down and disturbed the water enough for Katsuki to not kill himself when he hit the surface. Katsuki swam to the surface and saw Godzilla staring down.

For the first time in years, Katsuki realized his life was completely in the hands of someone else. Whether he lived or died was completely up to Godzilla

He waited. Will it be the fire, or would Scrawny succeed? What would Godzilla do?

Katsuki raised his hand and motioned for Godzilla to come. "COME ON! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? COME AND KILL ME YOU BITCH!"

Katsuki waited, ready to meet his fate.

Then a maser shot Godzilla, causing him to turn his head.

NO!


Izuku turned around. Dammit! A maser tank had fired on Godzilla. Godzilla looked around for the culprit, away from the water

Izuku wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew bait when he saw it (especially after playing it himself so many time). He refused to let his soldiers screw this up! Not now!

"This is Lieutenant Midoriya!" he said into his comms. "All units hold fire! I repeat, hold fire!" Izuku quickly loaded his final rocket into the launcher and took aim. Please don't miss.

He fired. His shot soared upwards and hit Godzilla in the back of the ear.

Godzilla stiffened. Slowly, he turned around in manner that showed he was beyond furious.

Once his eyes fell on Izuku, Izuku dropped his launcher and ran. He sprinted for the docks, hoping he'd make it before Godzilla vaporized him for his stupidity. He reached the edge and dove into the water.

Izuku swam over to Kacchan.

"Well?! Light off an explosion so he notices us!"

Izuku turned, pulled out his pistol and fired a shot. Next to him Kacchan yelled, "STUN GRENADE!" There was a bright flash reflected in the water. A chunk of concrete hit Godzilla too.

Ochako plopped into the water next to them. "If this doesn't work, I'm killing you both. Should I get ready to float us?"

"No, Saegusa has a plan," Katsuki said.

Godzilla slowly stepped up to the water's edge, his gaze never leaving them.

"Good," Izuku said. "I'd be worried if the plan was yours."


Sweat poured down Kenji's face. Concentrate. You can do this.

Rage. Annoyance. A desire to finally kill these pests. Kenji was privy to all of it. Godzilla's exhaustion made it easier to infiltrate his mind, but his rage was so all-encompassing it was impossible to counter.

Fortunately, Kenji no longer sought to counter it. He sought to use it.

He couldn't make Godzilla hallucinate. He could only send thoughts or images and hope Godzilla thought they were his. Even his earlier trick with Bakugo only worked because it was meant to be an attack from the corner of Godzilla's eye, where he wasn't paying attention, while he was already stressed and ready for an attack.

That same stress made him less watchful of his own thoughts. Easier to fool into thinking an idea was his own.

Only yesterday, Kenji would've tried to use Godzilla's exhaustion to quell his rage. This time he was happy to use Godzilla's desire for a pound of flesh. He whispered, The fire is too good for them. Crush them.

Godzilla was indecisive at first. Kenji let a mental image of them looking up in terror appear in the beast's mind. He was almost found out, but at the last second, Godzilla considered it.

Vengeance was what he offered, and vengeance was what Godzilla wanted. Finally, Godzilla stepped forward, and began to fall.


Izuku watched as Godzilla, slowly at first, but then very quickly, plummeted toward them, ready to flatten them with his sheer mass.

Well, this is a unique way to-

"Hmph!" Ochako was dragged beneath the water. Moments later, tentacle wrapped around Izuku and dragged him down too. Thick gloves grasped his collar, dragging him through the bay at high speeds. There was a resounding boom behind him.

Izuku looked up, seeing the water rippling.

"Godzilla has entered the bay!"

"Launch torpedoes!"

Izuku surfaced, with Ochako, Kacchan, and-

"Your welcome, Ribbit."

"Thanks Tsu," Ochako said. "That was close."

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

There was a loud splash nearby. Izuku as water exploded in front of Godzilla's spines. The spines glowed. After several seconds, they sent a blue line through the bay.


"Atomic breath incoming!"

"Blow! Now!" the submarine captain said.

Moments later, the AMF submarine breached the surface like a whale. It had survived. More importantly, it had gotten the king's attention.


Godzilla's tails clapped down, creating a wave that nearly swamped Izuku and the others. He surfaced, looking back toward the city.

There were two ways he could go.


Kenji waited.

Godzilla looked out toward the land. You're tired.

He looked back toward the sea. Your enemies are dead.

He looked back toward the land. You explored there.

He looked to the sea. Rest. You won.

Finally, Godzilla chose the sea.


They stood on the docks, Izuku holding up Kacchan. Ochako would help, but her quirk was exhausted. Finally, Godzilla turned around and began swimming out to see.

They'd done it.

"YES!" Izuku said. Ochako breathed a sigh of relief, Kacchan said a quiet "Hell yeah", and Froppy let out a happy ribbit.

He was leaving! After so many hours Godzilla was finally leaving! Izuku let a hysterical laugh. Finally!


Taneo took his snapshot.

Hero and AMF, side by side after saving the city from the most destructive monster in the world. Not a bad picture to end on. Taneo thought. Not bad at all.


Togashi uncharacteristically pumped his fist. He quickly regained his composure when he noticed his gob smacked driver staring.


All Might shook hands with Saegusa, then signed his notebook. He turned and shook hands with Ogashira, a grin on the normally stoic woman's face.

Saegusa got on the comms. "Great job Izuku! You too Bakugo and Froppy! You crazy sons of bitches actually did it!"


Tachibana smiled at the small blip moving slowly toward the edge of the bay. "Finally."


Kuroki slumped in his chair. He felt the sudden need to go home and get a good two night's sleep.


He's gone. Momo slumped against a wall. She was asleep before she even hit the ground.

No one disturbed her, beyond Lemillion and Suneater placing their capes on her as a blanket and pillow.


A group of AMF medics loaded Mina onto the stretcher. She could barely move, and absolutely everything hurt. Hell, she could even feel her pinky toe had been dislocated! As they carried her, Mina noticed Emoto standing nearby.

"Emoto!" she said. "How was that asshole?" She gave her a tired smile.

He nodded. "Not bad rookie. Not bad."

Next to him, Ari nodded. "Get some rest Alien Queen."

Mina gave him a thumb's up, then winced since she'd broken multiple fingers.


Yuko watched the collective looks of relief at the news. Good job Midoriya.

"Yuko!"

Yuko looked and saw Belu-be approaching. She gave him a sad smile. "Hey Belu-Be."

"You alright?"

She shook her head. "I'll manage though. He'd want me to."


Yui sat next to Akatani, kicking her bandaged feet while her hands idly stroked his hair. "We're safe Akatani, you hear that? Just rest. I'll be here when you wake up. Promise."

She then heard a familiar voice behind her. "Yui!"

Yui turned around saw her mother's familiar blond hair and purple eyes. Her arm was in a cast, but overall she looked ok. She gave Yui a relieved smile.

Yui sprinted at her, ignoring her throbbing feet while the tears freely flowed. "MOMMY!"

Mother and daughter finally embraced. Then Yui went back to the bed and said, "Come here! Look at this! This is my friend Akatani!"


As Izuku and the others watched Godzilla swim away, Izuku couldn't help but wonder what came next.

The Safe Zones were breached and the kaiju loose. Now they had to-

Izuku was shaken from those thoughts when Kacchan held out his fist. Izuku's jaw dropped. He didn't really want-

Kacchan glared. He did.

Izuku smiled and bumped his fist.

He'd worry about that stuff tomorrow. For now, he'd savor this.

Godzilla turned back around and gave the city one last roar before submerging.

Finally, the Eighth Battle of Tokyo was over.


There it is! The battle's finally over! I was imagining that triumphant music from Final Wars as I wrote this.

Originally Bakugo alone was the target but I realized, that left Izuku little to do in his own story. Hence him shooting Godzilla and jumping in.

Fun fact: I seriously considered killing Mina. I decided that would be one heck of a gut punch and would fit. However, I decided I like writing her too much to kill her, so I rewrote her scene in the previous chapter to be less final and had her waking up here.

Taneo Tokuda seeing this was my plan from the beginning of the battle! Chekov's photographer! Yes, him photographing them together will have consequences.