It's been a while, hasn't it?

This took longer than expected (mostly from procrastination as well as my life getting very busy). That said, I've finally started writing it, and so without further ado, here is the first chapter of this. Here's hoping it works!

Eijiro Kirishima, the Strongest Hero Red Riot, lifted another large slab of concrete. Inside the ruined building, a weak voice called out, "P-please...help me..."

"We've got a live one over here!" he said. Other Heroes rushed past him to lift the survivors out of the wreckage. While working, the Heroes recited the same words of comfort they had said a dozen times already, hoping they wouldn't be mere comforting lies.

As the injured passed, Eijiro smiled at them, "You're going to be ok."

"Red riot, a woman in her fifties said, "You're finally here…"

Eijiro's smile wavered. Once the woman was out of sight, it fell. Another reminder of his failure. The HPSC assured him everything would be fine. His friends assured him everything would be fine. That's why he'd accepted that stupid incommunicado mission int the first place. Turns out, none of them understood what was coming. So he wasted several days in the woods retrieving stolen intelligence, then came out to find…

"Red Riot, Red Riot!" said the reporters, "What is your opinion on what's happening in Tokyo?"

Eijiro gave them a practiced smile, "I haven't been in contact for the last few days, but I have faith in my fellow Heroes and friends to handle whatever situation comes up."

The reporters quietly looked amongst themselves, paling. "You mean…you don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

One of them showed him a live feed. The city burning. A shadow advancing, blasting everything to pieces.

Moments later Eijiro was in the air, putting all his power into getting to Tokyo as fast as possible. He would not make it in time.

Once the civilians and Heroes were clear, Eijiro dropped the slab, leaped to the top of another building, and surveyed the devastation. Even in their wildest nightmares, no one predicted this. Several wards burned, countless buildings smashed, and many many dead. Worst of all, much of the ruins were poisoned with radiation. Fortunately the Heroes either had costumes prepared for it, or could borrow spare hazmat suits from the AMF. Or, in Eijiro's case, a specially made radiations suit from Momo, who expected he'd stay out longer than the rest.

Of course he would. What else could he do?! With this much destruction…

This was worse than Kamino. There they'd had All Might. Here…

He should have been here. If he had he could have stopped it. Sure that thing was powerful, but he had all the power of All Might, of the entire legacy of One for All. That had to be enough, right?

Eijiro fought back the memory of his nightmares, where a voice similar to Nana Shimura's mournful tone said there was no hope of fighting that monster.

Didn't matter now. The fact was, he wasn't here and so many innocents paid the price. Ejiro shook his head. He shouldn't think like this, not when people still needed his help.

Eijrio's comm crackled. People in need. He leaped down and sprinted in the direction of the call. He passed a group of Heroes dragging more victims out of the wreckage. Unfortunately, it seemed they were too late. Eijiro reached the call and carried a bus full of stranded victims to an evac point, then ran back into the fray. There were more people to help. He had to keep going.

"Red Riot, help us!"

"Red Riot, where were you?"

"Hachi's whole body has a headache…"

Eijiro spent the rest of the day, probably longer than he should, helping civilians out of the wreckage. He only stopped when Momo practically ordered him to. Even his radiation suit had a limit.

So Eijiro reluctantly returned, got himself decontaminated in the AMF's strange steambath, and returned to camp. As he arrived, Momo mentioned a meeting with several AMF, city officials, Heroes, and government officials to discuss the attack. He informed her he was on his way.

On the walk over, he met the stares of many civilians, some looking at him with admiration and desperate hope, others with betrayal. He was meant to be the one who always faced such threats like this head on. And he wasn't there.

He was so caught up in his thoughts, he collided with a young woman with a short brown ponytail wearing a heavy long coat. "Oh, sorry!" she said, before looking mortified at who she bumped into.

"It's fine, I just wasn't paying attention," he said. "It's…it's been a day."

The young woman shook herself out of her starstruck state. "Draining, isn't it? Spending all day trying to clean up?" she said. "I've cleaned disasters before, but nothing like this…"

"Yeah…" As he got a closer look at the woman, he noticed the bright pink Hero costume poking out from under her collar, along with the bright pink boots peeking out of the bottom of her coat. "You're a Hero."

The woman nodded, "I'm Ochako Uraraka-"

"Pro Hero Uravity," he said. "Tsu and Mina told me about you. They spoke highly of you even before the battle. After…all anyone says is how well you did."

Uraraka flushed at the compliment. "Really? They told you about me? I'll have to thank them…"

"Of course. They like talking about their friends." The closest thing to a criticism was her weird taste in merch, like that odd hoodie line.

Nearby, some AMF soldiers were walking by. Like most of their ranks, they gave Red Riot dismissive glances. However, upon noticing Uraraka, they looked like dumbstruck fanboys.

Noticing them, Uraraka said, "It's kind of embarrassing having so many treating me like…well like Nejire and Tsu."

"I'm surprised the AMF likes you. The people I know who've met them say they hate Heroes."

"Apparently they have a soft spot for me because I was one. Plus I did just drive a maser against Godzilla, so…"

"You were AMF? Mina always said your old job was some big mystery."

"I wouldn't say mystery, I just didn't really talk about it," Uraraka said.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry you had to do the heavy lifting. Since I-"

"Don't," Uraraka said. "Just don't. You didn't know what was coming, none of the Heroes did. And even if you had, you couldn't have changed it. Mina thinks you're a Hero of the highest caliber. Midori thinks you're great too."

Eijiro scratched his cheek. "I'll have to thank her- wait Midori?"

"An old friend from the AMF. Speaking of him, I should get going. Several AMF officials-"

"Are meeting with top Heroes, government, and others. I'm on my way there too."

"Oh good. Come on then."

The two walked side by side to the command tent. When they arrived, Uraraka took off her coat, revealing the Hero costume underneath. The two then entered the tent. Several military, AMF, and politicians gathered around a table.

Upon noticing them, a man in a suit, AMF director Yaguchi, said, "Red Riot, Uravity."

Ochako stiffened to attention, then remembered herself and bowed. "Director Yaguchi."

"Nice to meet you Director," Eijiro said, bowing.

"The feeling is mutual," he said, reciprocating.

Eijiro took a spot at the table and glanced at the familiar faces. Momo was here, with bags worse than Mina's during Finals at UA. So was Kendo, who looked almost just as bad. The AMF soldiers looked only slightly better. One of the AMF officials looked around and said, "Let's start."

Momo said, "The damage to Tokyo is catastrophic. It'll take a few weeks to clear the rubble, even with our most advanced techniques. Meanwhile hospitals are overcrowded. So are the morgues."

"If it weren't for preliminary evacuations and the use extra shelters, it would have been even worse," Kendo said.

"There's also the issue of Godzilla," Momo said, "He's still out there."

One of the AMF soldiers, a young man with green hair with the name Midoriya on his uniform said, "Even when we do find him, we won't be able to get him contained outside of the beacons again for a long time."

"Why would you want to contain that thing? Destroy it!" one civil official said.

The AMF people all threw exasperated glares. "We have no way of doing that," Midoriya said, sounding like Bakugo when he was pretending to be polite. "The best we could do was luring him into the Pacific and distracting him from populated areas. But that's currently impossible."

Kirishima said, "Why?"

Several of the people around the table, including Momo and Kendo, exchanged looks. "This is highly classified," Momo said, "But during the attack, we found out that Godzilla came because of some sort of monster attractor." She glanced at one of the others. "Saegusa?"

A young, kind of scrawny-looking man in his early to mid-twenties with glasses stood, "They used something called a psionic transmitter. They were developed almost two hundred years ago by rogue scientist turned terrorist Dr. Deverich. But the technology was lost in the chaos surrounding the Dawn of Quirks and Ghidorah War. Nobody knew how to make one in over a century."

Eijiro's fists clenched. So this was deliberate. Every injury, every corpse, because someone did it on purpose. "So who figured it out?"

Saegusa's shoulders slumped. "No idea. We're looking into it."

Momo said, "No terrorist groups have issued demands, no villain groups have claimed responsibility, and the villains guarding the device have no idea who hired them. They were a minor group of ecoterrorists who wanted to collapse Japan's government as revenge for "Mother Earth". They weren't capable of an attack like this on their own."

"Any affiliation with S.C.A.L.E.?" one AMF soldier said.

Saegusa said, "We checked that. Dead end."

"They really gave us nothing?" Eijiro said.

"Their boss kept to himself," Momo said. "The only possible lead is that their benefactor might be a man of average height and build in his mid twenties to early thirties with black hair.

"Which is literally millions."

"Precisely."

"That means they could build more," Midoriya said. "Deverich's first transmitters woke up over a half dozen kaiju. This one alone attracted nearly all of Japan's kaiju. Later transmitters could affect foreign monsters too.

Another AMF member sighed. "Meaning that for the time being, none of our kaiju are contained."

Kirishima's grip on the table tightened. It seemed there would be no easy ways out of this one. The meeting continued a while longer, talking logistics and other things. By the end of it he just felt tired. He stood outside the tent, staring at the damaged skyline. He felt lost. He'd faced hardships before, but even then the way forward was always so clear.

Here? He had no idea what to do. Even if he did want to fight Godzilla, he couldn't find it. He was just…stuck. Hearing footsteps, Eijiro saw Midoriya walk up next to him.

"We haven't seen an attack like this in our lifetime," Midoriya said.

"But it has happened before?"

He nodded. "Several times. I read stories about his old attacks. But seeing it in person…None of the battles I've seen were anything like this. And trust me, I've seen a lot."

"How many times have you fought him?"

"More than anyone else wants to. It's gotten me a bit of a reputation." He pulled out a notebook and cleared his throat. "Speaking of reputation, I don't suppose-"

"Alright," Eijiro picked up the notebook and signed his name in the page indicated. "I thought you AMF guys hated Heroes? Barring Uravity."

"Not all of us. I love Heroes, not just Ochako. I always have." He turned wistful. "I guess I just couldn't stop."

Eijiro decided not to pry. Instead he said, "Both our groups took a heavy thrashing didn't they? Even Bakugo got beaten up."

"Kacchan picked a fight with the King of the Monsters. Of course that happened." Midoriya smiled slightly. "Not that I have room to talk."

"Kacch-You wouldn't happen to be Deku would you?"

Midoriya paused. "He mentioned me?"

"Not often. He told me a few of the details though. He felt guilty about it. It was the only time I actually saw him quiet."

Midoriya snickered. "We talked about it. I think things are better between us."

"Yeah." Eijiro looked up at the city. "Even after fixing it, that radiation is going to be a nightmare to clean up. But I guess we have to if we want this place to be habitable in the next century."

"Don't worry," Midoriya said. "We have some very effective techniques for removing radiation. Besides, Godzilla's specific type only has a half life of thirty days. Even if we do nothing it'll be gone in a few years."

"Seriously?!"

"Yeah. Godzilla is certainly one of a kind." He had a strange smile, almost like he admired the creature. Eijiro ignored it. Instead he focused on the other statement.

"A few years?" Despite himself, Eijiro smiled. "Maybe Tokyo will be alright after all. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Ejiro made his way toward his tent was. However, soon someone started tapping his shoulder. He tried to wave them off, but they were persistent. He turned around, only to find himself face to face with Mina's cheeky grin.

"You are tired today. Usually you'd have tried to make me go away sooner."

"Hey Mina," he said with a weak smile. "It's been a long day."

"For us both. Come on, you need rest."

"I can't Mina. I have to-"

"No buts! This isn't going away any time soon, meaning it's a marathon, not a sprint. And you suck at pacing yourself."

Eijiro opened his mouth.

"Do I have to ask Bakugo for his opinion?"

Eijiro sighed. "Fine. Wanna go and sit down near that clearing? Some other Heroes were there."

"Now you're talking! Come on!" she ushered him onward. As she did, he felt a smile coming to him. It was a bad day, but spending time with those he cared about wasn't a bad way to end it.

Kenji Saegusa arrived back in the analyst tent, a new folder of papers in hand. He passed the notes to Ogashira, then glanced at his computer to see what they had on Godzilla's location. They had frighteningly little. An SGS had tried following him out of Tokyo Bay, but was destroyed when it got too close.

"Anything?" Ogashira said.

He shook his head. "You'd think the universe had it out for us from this week. Godzilla destroys Tokyo, we have no idea where he is or where he's going. And I had to go out into a city he was destroying while carried like a potato sack!" He shook his head. "Even being carried by my former crush couldn't make that less terrifying."

Ogashira threw him a very unimpressed look.

"What?" he said. "My crush was before she became a Hero." Specifically back when she and Midoriya were partners. She was cute and actually spoke to him, which was enough. Unfortunately, she clearly had no interest in him.

Ogashira still looked unimpressed. "I need you to look over these." She placed a folder on his desk. "Information on scientists who might know something about psionic transmitter technology. Your powers will be useful for this operation."

Kenji nodded. "I was planning to get more practice with them anyway." He had to learn how to better enter minds. Using it on humans would be decent practice, though nothing compared to his real goal. He was going to do what his ancestor had done. He was going to understand Godzilla.

That night

A rookie analyst saw a signal from one of their SGS'. His eyes widened. He made a hasty phone call.

Within minutes, the Tokai nuclear plant was thrown into panic. "Shut down all reactors immediately! This is not a drill!"

Akihiko worked as fast as possible. He was a nuclear technician, in charge of controlling the power of the atom. He mustn't panic. He was a trained professional and there was one reactor they still needed to-

The building trembled. Everyone stopped. It trembled again. And again. And again.

All work was forgotten.

The hall echoed with the panicked yells of every technician pushing and shoving their ways to the stairs, all to escape the growing tremors. Akihiko was almost down to last floor, to safety, when the building jerked, throwing him into the wall.

It was here.

The building wrenched and writhed as Akihiko crawled his way to the exit. Finally, he got to his feet and sprinted out the door. A rain of rubble crashed down ground next to him, sending dust into Akihiko's eyes. He fell.

Two of his friends picked him up. He opened his eyes and saw it. A foot. Bigger than a truck, planted just outside the building, at the bottom of a scaled pillar. Above them, an enormous claw slammed into the building like a wrecking ball, shattering its walls like balsa wood.

In the firelight, the technicians saw the pale yellow eyes glaring at the building, giving the screaming employees no more mind than they would a colony of ants.

Akihiko and the others ran for their lives. All their training and education was helpless before such primal might.

This plant was his now.

Part 1 of my prologue.

I felt it would be unfair if I didn't put this and the next chapter in as a bridge between the last one and the main plot of this one.

This story will still be Izuku and Ochako's, but I figured an outside perspective will be fun. Oh and by the way, I added a small portion to the last chapter of the last one detailing what happened to Rodan. I wrote it just after posting, but forgot to add it in until now.

Hope you Enjoyed, Comments and Kudos make me smile!