To The Viking Stranger, considering all the changes I had in mind for Kamino Ward, there wasn't really any reason for her to go with them. Having her stay behind to make a "Micro-Antidote" for the "Micro-Toxin" that Sasori made was just me leaning into the pairing, giving her something to do since, in the Canon, she didn't actually have a role in the actual extraction of Bakugou; apart from the sexual objectification of being squeezed into an enclosed space after wanting to go shopping…
As for Mina, she just seems the sort to speak her mind, though I do admit to being inspired by a fan comic I saw on Pinterest. Unlike Izuku & Ochako who "friend zoned" one another, I don't imagine Mina would do that sort of thing to herself if she found someone she genuinely liked; even if it was built on the foundation of a "Black Widow" throw. As for Ares, no, he was a one-woman man; unlike Genki who is "a 10", Ares still looked like Homo Erectus when he and Megumi started dating, so their courting was based on an emotional understanding more than physical.
As for his aunts, Genki has a lot of godmothers and a few godfathers besides.
To Loamy Coffee, always good to hear from you. And yeah, unlike the Canon where everyone is either on the mend or "sleeping it off", Genki was actually in legit danger of dying because Recovery Girl couldn't just kiss that booboo away. As an assassin specialized in poison, Sasori's methods would naturally be difficult to combat even if her victim hadn't been tortured to death and their death cries captured for resale on the Darkweb.
And Momo's Quirk has always been a big favorite of mine because it's basically [Alchemy] with a Philosopher's Stone from Fullmetal Alchemist, just cranked up to 11 because she can make "anything" out of her Lipids as long as she knows the "recipe". When supply lines are cut off, a Quirk like hers is invaluable because apart from massively stockpiling goods, as long as you have Momo on your side, you can just stockpile on calorie-rich foods and have any supplies at your fingertips, instead of having a surplus of stuff you don't need. Not to mention the conversion rate easily exceeds a 1:1 ratio.
Logistics can make or break a war, after all, and it's why in So I'm All for One, So What?, I pointed out how she'd be a primo target for… unscrupulous people.
To Fic Writer From Texas, always glad to hear that the Harem Route is being regarded so well. It's a Slow Burn in most cases, but I think that's what helps it be received well by the readers, because unlike an Isekai Fantasy where harems are the norm and crammed down your throat in the first "Volume", in this modern-day Japan, there's going to be plenty of nuance to it. And anyone whose read my works knows I don't make stuff entirely straightforward; so as to avoid writing myself into a corner at least.
To Reptil, I tried to have the scene with Genki flatlining feel real, and I feel like part of that came down to the detail I put into describing the equipment keeping him alive and what he was going through.
To djinn, I plan to have Genki and Shoto talk things out about the traitor. And yeah, I always felt like Momo could make medicine, especially of the molecular variety. That she could make a Tranquilizer to use on Gigantomachia, but needed permission, has me thinking that any sort of Quirk that can make Pharmaseuticals, is something that'd need its own special License to use practically, due to the risk of ODing. You "cut" your medicine with the wrong molecule, and you're bound to kill someone.
To Harleking31, Sasori is a professional assassin.
To TM11, always happy to hear someone binge-reads my work.
As for what Site I read my manga on… Honestly, it's just whatever site doesn't set off my computer's "Suspicious Site" warnings. Internet's a big place, after all.
Try "manga 4 life dot com".
*MHA*
"I'm sorry, dearie, but you'll need to try again," Recovery Girl said with a shake of her head as the 'Micro-Antidote' Momo had made with her Quirk once again failed preliminary screening.
The testing apparatus, something one of Power Loader's third-years had concocted based on instructions from I-Island, used Genki's own blood as a litmus to determine the effectiveness of Momo's cure. The cure, as it were, was also made with micro-particles meant to bind themselves to the particles of Sasori's "Micro-Toxin" and make it more-susceptible to filtering; the very thing that made it resistant to external tampering in the first place.
It had already crossed the blood/brain barrier hours and hours ago, hence why time was so-critical on whether or not Genki would be able to make a full recovery. To that end, Momo had been working tirelessly, and all of her efforts to Reinforce her Quirk in the days prior had definitively borne fruit in the fact that, repeatedly making ultra-fine particles suspended in a liquid solution, would've previously been far more taxing. Making something on the micro-scale was still incredibly new for her, but the data that I-Island sent over was incredibly comprehensive since people less-intelligent would have to make sense of the instructions provided from on high, and she had been studying molecular composition her entire life.
In another life, she could've become a renowned scientist, won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
"Genki, please, just hang on a little longer," Momo pleaded over her shoulder.
"Now don't you worry, dearie. The quality of your cure is a marked improvement over your first attempt," Chiyo said with a wave of her hand. "Why, that boy might be up and about by the time Bakugou comes back to class."
" . . . Do you really think my signal-tracker helped?" she asked, her stomach tying itself in knots as she remembered how her friends had all gone off on some grand adventure while she'd been left behind.
"Every little bit is important," Sansa nodded. "In fact, some of the best Heroes have as many as ten support staff bolstering their efforts at any given time. It's why the connections you make now will be incredibly important in the future. It isn't uncommon for Hero Academy graduates in supporting roles to congregate around aspiring Heroes."
"Well, knowing Genki, he might already have some friends from the General Course lined up for his agency; because I can't imagine him playing 'Sidekick' to anyone else. Especially not now," Momo nodded before she looked around. "By the way, Megumi-san?"
"Hai?"
"Your husband… Where is he?" she asked noticing the conspicuous man's absence.
"Oh, he had to step out for some… personal business~"
While she was smiling as she said that, the sheer menace rolling off the woman sent a chill up Momo's spine, prompting her to redouble her efforts.
She could rest once Genki was well again.
*MHA*
Elsewhile, the trip to Kamino Ward was largely uneventful for the quartet of Todoroki Shoto, Kirishima Eijirou, Midoriya Izuku, and Iida Tenya.
That being said, the four of them did take preemptive measures to prevent themselves from being recognized in transit, given all the recent censuring of Yuuei. Honestly, it seemed to be all that anyone was talking about. Unlike after the Sports Festival where the attention they received was wholly positive, at the moment, they couldn't afford to be singled out. If their presence became broadcast, it would spell the end of their mission right then and there once the League of Villains were tipped off.
Upon actually arriving, Izuku's idea of "covert" wasn't really up to snuff given what they were attempting to do, so Todoroki suggested they cash in Momo's gold bars at a pawn broker before purchasing more-intensive disguises.
Iida in turn chastised him for attempting to pawn the gold bars himself, since as the son of the No.2 Hero with such distinctive facial features, it would be too easy for civilians, let alone any of the League of Villains' potential lookouts, to recognize them. To that end, Iida converted the strips of bullion into cash himself before Kirishima pointed them to the local branch of the retail store chain, Don Quijote.
Whether they realized it or not, their disguises wound up taking visual cues from those they knew; Izuku wound up resembling Present Mic, Shoto wound up resembling a genderbent Midnight, Kirishima wound up with a silhouette like Mt. Lady's, and Iida… He wound up with a passable resemblance to the dapper wannabe internet celebrity, Gentle Criminal, though they would only realize this in retrospect once the dust of Kamino Ward had settled.
The hardest part of their mission however, wasn't the actual navigation of an unfamiliar locale, but having to stomach their Hero Academy and Bakugou both being lambasted on national TV as the faculty gave an "apology press conference" before the nation. Yuuei in no uncertain terms was being called "incompetent" for "allowing" so-many Villain attacks to befall their students, while for Bakugou… Well, being strapped to a concrete slab with Villain-grade shackles, a muzzle, and a chains like some kind of homicidal lunatic, on global television, had definitely come back to bite both him and the institution in the ass.
Sure, it wasn't a live broadcast, but that this segment had apparently been playing on loop since earlier that evening left a foul taste in their mouths.
"We can worry about the fallout later," Shoto muttered. "For now, we need to keep moving."
"Right," Izuku nodded.
Even if they weren't allowed to fight-fight, they could still do their part to rescue Bakugou.
*MHA*
The good news, they were able to follow Momo's transceiver to the tracker's location.
The bad news, Bakugou wasn't there. If anything, all they found was where the Noumu were being stored, meaning their classmate was somewhere else entirely.
"So… What now?" Izuku asked.
*THOOOOOOOM!*
"Wh-What just happened?" Iida asked as he and the others recovered from the small earthquake that went off in their laps.
"They've got Mt. Lady, Gang Orca, even the No.4 Hero, Best Jeanist!" Kirishima gasped as he looked over the fence.
"It seems Tiger is down there as well," Shoto hummed once more from atop Izuku's shoulders, watching as the Pros captured the seemingly-intert Noumus after Mt. Lady stomped open a superfluous new entryway (read: asshole) through the side of a building while using a pickup truck as a work boot.
"See? The Pro Heroes were able to take the necessary action faster than we could!" Iida chastised. "We should leave now. There's nothing left for us to do here."
"They mentioned 'All Might's team'… That must be where Kacchan is…" Izuku muttered.
Of course, before the lot of them could even leave, whatever happened on the other side of that concrete barrier was over in an instant. And the perpetrator? His mere presence alone was enough to fill them with an utter fear of death.
As the four of them cowered, drenched in sweat and threatening to upend the contents of their stomachs, visions of their own gruesome deaths filled their heads, Izuku could only realize, much to his horror, just whom had turned the next block over into a vacant lot.
The SS-Class Villain that All Might had thought slain until only very recently: All for One.
*MHA*
The arrival of All Might to confront the ultimate evil in their midst should've filled them with hope, bolstered their courage.
Instead, that the thing which filled them with so much dread could match All Might, give him pause, and even beat him back only reinforced how-futile it would be for them to step out of their hiding place. That the wall they'd been hiding behind had been intact-enough to protect them from a blast powerful-enough to level a city block was a miracle in of itself.
For a moment, All Might and who Izuku knew as All for One bantered, but then the fighting intensified, the Symbol of Peace blasted through multiple buildings before making his way back to where Bakugou and the rest of the League of Villains had been relocated to. From there, the fighting continued to intensify, each climactic exchange further assuring them that if they left their hiding place, they all would die.
And yet, they couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Because of All for One, All Might couldn't rescue Bakugou on his own, and compounding issues was that their peer was all alone against the rest of the League, all of which were determined to abscond with him to parts unknown. Making matters doubly-worse was that until Bakugou was out of the way, All Might couldn't fight with his full power. The only solace to be found was that All for One couldn't be too careless either, lest he turn his protégé and his entourage into a smear on the concrete.
Tokoyami had been rescued by a miracle laser from out of nowhere, but no such luck was heading their way now. And while hypothetically Genki could've zipped in, thrown Bakugou over his shoulder, and then run like hell at 200 mph, he was dying in a hospital bed, so that what-if was a moot point.
"Iida, everyone!" Izuku gasped as the pieces finally fell into place.
"Don't even think about it, Midoriya…!" Iida hissed angrily.
"No, there is a way!" he insisted. "We won't actually be fighting, and not only will we be making our escape, but we'll be able to take Kacchan with us as well."
From there, Izuku laid out his plan.
First, he would use his Full Cowling and Iida's Reciproburst to smash Kirishima through the wall with his [Hardening] . The second they broke through, Todoroki would use his ice to construct a ramp, tall-enough that they could fly up, up, and away; because they'd concealed themselves thus-far, the League wouldn't know they were there, giving them the much-needed element of surprise to pull the rescue off. After they crossed over the battlefield, at the height of their arc where the League couldn't reach them, Kirishima would reach out to Bakugou; if anyone else tried, Kacchan would rebuke them on principle alone if not out of spite, and the whole of the plan would fall apart.
"Midoriya, we can't do this."
"But-!"
"No, I mean I really can't," Iida hissed as he pulled up his pant leg. "My mufflers haven't grown back in yet."
"Grown back?! What-!? Why'd you take them out in the first place?!" Kirishima hissed back.
Before Iida could contemplate an explanation that wouldn't compromise his family's quote/unquote "secret technique" to bolster his Quirk as Oguro had put it-
"Turtle Style: Shooty-Go-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam-Blam!"
"Crawler-sensei?!" Izuku gawped as he peered through a crack in the fence to see the ex-Vigilante breakdancing in the League's midst, repulsor blasts fired in every direction and sending them flying back like they'd been hit by mopeds.
"Bakugou, time to go!"
"I don't need your help, Faker! FUCK OFF!"
"Fine. Consider yourself expelled."
"You wouldn't…!"
"I don't need you awake to get you out of here. I'm simply offering you the courtesy. You're coming with me either way, but only one of those results in you still being a student at Yuuei once the dust settles."
"Rrrrrgh…! FINE! So how're we getting out of here, Faker?!" Bakugou raged as the League members stated to get up, albeit rather shakily.
The next moment Koichi threw the blond over his shoulder like a sack of rice, using his [Slide and Glide] to stick them together before the forcefields under his feet changed shape.
"TOMURA! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!" All for One shouted as he moved in, only for All Might to step in and rebuff him with a powerful- "SMASH!"
"Maximum OOOOOOMPH!" Koichi howled as the repulsors at his feet went off with a deafening *THOOOOOOM!*, the blast of pressurized air sending everyone ass over end.
"The Crawler, he's…"
"Flying…!" Kirishima and Izuku gasped as the glint off Koichi's Quirk shone like the afterburner of an ICBM in the night sky, way higher than they ever could've flown even if they'd executed Izuku's plan to perfection.
"There, Bakugou's gone. Can we go now?!" Iida asked irately.
"Yes, we probably should leave while the getting's still good," Shoto hummed as they began to squat walk away. "And like with Stain, we don't speak of this to anyone."
"Why? What happened with Stain?" Kirishima asked curiously.
Off to the side, Izuku and Iida felt like slapping their foreheads at the ice/fire-user's obtuseness.
*MHA*
With Katsuki Bakugou successfully exfiltrated by the least-likely of Heroes, there was little left for All for One to do than to ensure the escape of his successor. With a combination of [Forced Quirk Activation] , [Warp Gate] , and [Magnetism] , despite the best attempts of Gran Torino and All Might both, Tomura and the Vanguard Action Squad all escaped unhindered.
From there, it was just a matter of whittling down the stamina of the one he detested the most, deposing him from his gilded throne before the eyes of the entire world.
And the years in of themselves had been far from kind, as All Might was wholly incapable of fighting at the full power he'd displayed when they last clashed at Jeda-shi.
Not that he himself was much different, unfortunately.
Still, though they had both wasted away these last six years, All Might had wasted away far more than he, not even able to exert one-sixtieth of his former might.
Tonight, the Symbol of Peace would crumble away, and the world would be made anew.
*MHA*
As block after block of Kamino Ward was reduced to rubble, the members of the former "Bakugou Rescue Squad" (emphasis on the "former") too evacuated. As they mingled with the fleeing crowd who actually had the brainpower necessary to realize that going toward the explosions for some selfies would only get them killed, news choppers swooped in to catch the story of the century from what the brave and/or suicidal news crews thought was a "minimum safe distance".
As All Might and All for One duked it out in earnest on live television, an unstoppable force against an immovable object, the whole of Japan, confronted with what was going on in visceral detail, began to lose faith in their Heroes little by little. Though the League of Villains' attack on the USJ had ended in a dismal failure, as did their attack on Hosu, time after time, the Heroes were found wanting in their duties regardless of the final results.
And then, the unthinkable happened.
All Might, the Symbol of Peace, was revealed to all the world as a shadow of his former self. Reduced to little but skin and bones, his iconic costume hanging off a skeletal frame like a coverall on a coat hanger, with hollow cheeks and sunken eyes, the sole pillar that held up their peaceful society began to crumble and give way.
But as sure as the sun would rise again, there were yet other Heroes to step forth.
*MHA*
Cue My Hero Academia OST – You Say Run
*SHNK*
"AGH!" All for One cried out as the side of his rebreather was punctured by a long-range shot exceeding the range of his sensory Quirks, his upper lip sheared clean off mere moments after he'd broken the spirit of his nemesis.
"ALL MIGHT! I'M HERE!"
"Koichi?!" All Might gasped.
"CRAWLER!" All for One raged at the infuriating sight of that nauseating hoodie as his lip slowly regenerated.
Or rather, not at the hoodie itself, nor the "silhouette" that his combination of sensory Quirks were able to perceive in lieu of his scarred-over eyes, but what the one wearing that hoodie represented.
After the Naruhata Lockdown, All for One had dug into his history, and nothing remarkable in the slightest had come up about Haimawari Koichi; born to ordinary parents, raised from a humdrum upbringing. Hard as it was to believe, his powerful Quirk and abnormal battle prowess only reflected the potential capitalized upon by "an utterly average civilian".
Circumstance, experience, and sheer force of will can turn a man into "superman". That hard truth invalidated the methodology behind Project Anonymous, where a Noumu indiscernible from a Human had been able to infiltrate into the beating heart of Hero society. He was more than willing to pay exorbitant costs to keep the ultimate power, [One for All], at arm's length, but how could he hope to respond when civilians on the street started taking heroic action and growing in strength comparable to a Top 10 Hero?
Extraordinary potential, suddenly available to one and all. Surely that was a path to unbridled chaos. But it also introduced an element of uncertainty into his own machinations. One he could not umbrage at such a delicate stage of his plans.
It was why, when faced with a society where Heroes could spring up from every nook and cranny, from any social strata, that he decided to create entities which could face even the mightiest Hero head-on and force them to their knees through their own individual might.
It was why the Noumu were created as they existed now; crude cudgels compared to the surgical scalpel that Number 6 had been.
But at this very moment, Haimawari Koichi's intrusion into this battle, this place, was an absolute mockery of what he hoped to create. The stage he intended to set both for the downfall of all All Might had built and all that Tomura would create in his stead.
And worst of all, Koichi had only grown stronger since he'd fought Number 6, an entity capable of using [Overclock] nigh-indefinitely. He'd slipped out of Japan, beyond his grasp as All Might had, and gained experience out in the wilds where people used their Quirks for whatever they pleased, well away from All Might's smothering influence.
What separated him from All Might however, was how they used their time overseas. While police and Heroes usually didn't allow their opponents to make the first move, The Crawler had always found himself on the defensive, perhaps owning to his lackadaisical nature.
To put it plainly, while All Might had gained an abundance of experience throwing the first hit and ending a fight before it could really begin, Koichi had learned how to take that first hit. He had become a monstrous warrior whose reflexes were trained to counterattack in a way All Might had never learned how.
In a way, he had become the exact opposite of the man he so flagrantly idolized.
"Don't worry, All Might! The cavalry is on the way!"
"Koichi, don't-"
The former Vigilante shooting across the flattened expanse of Kamino Ward toward All for One, the Symbol of Evil threw out his hands, combining [Rivet Stab] with [Branching] to create a rapidly-expanding forest of death that blackened the ash-colored ground of Kamino Crater. An impenetrable wall that all would dash themselves against.
The Crawler, however, let the Intuition he'd gained guide him, the *Zipzipzip!* of his body sounding through the ruinous air as he zig-zagged through All for One's myriad attack. Even when he used [Branching] to send attacks backwards, even when he converged [Rivet Stab] on his target from all sides, The Crawler dodged it all as he flipped, spun, and twirled through the air like a dance; almost as though he could sense the danger approaching him.
Almost as though he had another Quirk. Some sort of… "danger sense"-
"Shooty-Go-Kablam!"
The piercing attack threading the needle through his mid-range Quirk combination, the next moment he felt his arm go slack as his left clavicle was broken in half, the repulsor shot compressed into a corkscrew and tearing through his flesh like a sniper round through toilet paper.
"URGH!"
"ALL MIGHT! WHATEVER HE SAID TO YOU, SHAKE IT OFF! WE STILL NEED YOU!" the sleepy-eyed man shouted after twirling out of the 'forest of death'. "WE STILL NEED OUR SYMBOL OF PEACE"
"Koichi…?"
"Oh… shuuut… UUUUP!" All for One raged as he fired his [Air Cannon] into the ground, sending a pressure wave in all directions and sending The Crawler rolling across the ground, his full-body repulsor field protecting him from the dust and debris. "WAKE UP TO REALITY! IT'S… OVER!"
The right half of his upper body horribly mutating as he used a [Hypertrophy] Quirk to grow his arm to monstrous proportions, followed by a [Multiplier], he then piled [Springlike Limbs] , [Rivets] , and [Spearlike Bones] on top of that, before further compounding the Quirk Combo with four [Kinetic Booster]s and three [Strength Enhancer]s. The end-result was like something from a horror movie, countless limbs, coils, bone spikes, and mineral-like growths gilding the limb like an infectious disease.
Before All for One could truly capitalize on the fact that All Might no longer possessed [One for All] , an oily shadow zipped through the ruins of Kamino Ward, rapidly devouring the vacant lot the area had become before descending on the massive limb, massive fists drawn back, armed with equally massive brass knuckles.
"Devil Bug Rush."
The sound that followed was like an air raid from World War II, monstrous blows powerful-enough to bust the bunker under the bunker raining down on All for One's right side with the speed of a minigun. Each blow delivered with the intent to kill, to punch through, All for One's amalgamation of limbs were shattered in short order like kindling with a gut-churning *CRUNCH-SPLAT-CRUNCH-SPLAT-CRUNCH!*, the combination of Quirks utterly mangled and mutilated like the banana peeling of a gun barrel. The limb utterly useless, in the same instant two powerful meat hunks of hands came down on the shoulder with the force of an industrial vise, before two powerful legs capable of lifting buildings from their foundations came down upon the Symbol of Evils' face and side, the limb tearing away in earnest with a horrible *SQUELCH!* like fruit being ripped apart.
"C… Cockroach King…?" All Might blinked as the massive brown form like Homo Erectus fell to the ground and cast the savaged limb aside, his white business suit now replaced with a black elbow and knee-length body glove with armored scales resembling the carapace of the Australian Cockroach.
And while normally, Ares' face was stoic, rarely expressive, now, there was only unbridled murder in his eyes. A murderous rage exceeding his own when he'd avenged Nana's death by far because of an indelible fact.
All for One had both directly and indirectly, laid hands upon his child. Six years ago at Naruhata, and again near the Catnip Inn mere days ago.
Because if there was one surefire way to get a Hero to go all-out, it was to involve family.
"GRAAGH! IT'D HAVE BEEN BETTER IF YOU GAVE UP!" All for One howled as he slowly regenerated the missing limb, shooting the former No.2 the most hate-filled glare he could with scarred over eyes and a half-regenerated upper lip.
Cockroach King in turn merely chuffed at him before raising blood-spattered brass knuckles into a fighting stance, the words DEVIL and BUG embossed in big bold letters.
"I'LL SQUASH YOU LIKE A BUG!" All for One howled as he dove at the Cockroach King, left arm beginning to mutate before The Crawler shot at him like a rocket, closing the distance between them in an instant.
*Kachin~*
'A pistol…?' All for One (metaphorically) blinked as, instead of shooting him point-blank in the face with another ridiculously-named attack, The Crawler whipped out what 'looked like' a high-tech sidearm.
*Pewpewpewpewpewpewpew!*
Numerous nail-like projectiles sticking into his body, each doing little more damage than bug bites, the next moment The Crawler zipped away, giving up all the ground he'd gained.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
The next instant, a powerful discharge of electricity homed in on him, completely bypassing all elemental resistance-type Quirks in his arsenal. Turning his "eyes" to the source even as his muscles painfully contracted and his heart threatened to fail inside of his chest, it didn't take him long to pierce the haze of agony to discern the identity of this newest intruder.
The up-and-coming electric Pro Hero who worked out of an Idol Agency.
The Azure Striker: Gunvolt.
"GAGH!" All for One cried as the barrage ceased, ragged breaths tearing through him, Koichi's earlier attack on his mask doing more damage than he'd realized.
"PILE IT ON! GIVE ALL MIGHT ENOUGH TIME TO GET HIS SECOND WIND!" Koichi shouted as he braced his palm and fired needle-like repulsor blasts. All for One shielding himself from the barrage of attacks as his left arm sprouted [Scalemail], from behind, Gunvolt blasted him with another electric barrage, his concentration faltering long-enough for Cockroach King to leap up at him and deliver another flurry of alloy-augmented blows to his compromised right side after striking him in the head with a piece of debris and further compromising his mask.
"HRRRRRRGH! AIR CANNON!"
All for One's legs mutating into monstrous exhaust vents that ballooned to almost cartoonish proportions, Cockroach King broke away and shielded Gunvolt with his body, The Crawler doing the same to what was left of All Might right as his [Air Cannon] with countless multipliers fired straight down, deepening the crater farther and scattering massive chunks of concrete in all directions. The massive debris cloud threatening to ground the nearby news choppers, it took several long moments for the mushroom cloud of dust and debris to clear, but by the time it did, All for One had regained some measure of composure while those caught inside the blast radius looked like they'd been down the business end of a food processor.
"All Might… How's that second wind… coming?" Koichi panted, his full-body repulsor field flickering as he and All Might shielded the young woman that the latter had stood his ground for.
"I'm fine. *pant* Just need a moment *pant* to catch my breath…"
Though that's what he said, Koichi saw doubt in his sunken eyes. Doubt he was trying to hide for the sake of the woman with a front-row seat to the biggest super-powered smackdown of the century.
"Well… I guess it's a good thing… Gunvolt brought his own party favors…"
"Party favors…?"
Cue Azure Striker Gunvolt OST – Reincarnation (by Lumen)
"Is that… J-Pop…?" All Might blinked as a high-tech beat began to pour into the cavernous bowl that had once been the heart of Kamino Ward.
"Hah…! Right on time… LUMEN!" Gunvolt grinned as hologram projectors hidden among the debris by members of the Ares Idol Agency suddenly activated, projecting into the night sky the high-resolution image of their flagship virtual idol, Lumen.
A beautiful young woman in the seventeen-year-old range with long blond hair tied up into a ponytail with two strands sticking up like a butterfly's antennae, the sentiment was further strengthened by the black and blue butterfly-shaped headphones which gave her her distinctive silhouette. Spilling out of her back and illuminating the night sky were large ethereal butterfly wings glimmering blue bordered with white. Her attire consisted of a white future-punk Miko dress with a short skirt and black sleeves with kimono-like cuffs featuring vivid prismatic butterfly-like detailing, her shapely legs clad in white thigh-high socks with matching detailing, her black heeled flats detailed with beautiful blue butterflies on the front.
'What… What is this song…? I feel like… I feel like the flames of [One for All] … are being fed… Like something… is stoking them back to life!' the Symbol of Peace gasped as he, Crawler, Gunvolt, and Cockroach King were suddenly enveloped in auras of prismatic fire, strength filling their exhausted and wounded bodies. He himself actually swelled back into his 'Muscle Form' and feeling, if only for an instant, that he had returned to his peak.
For All for One who couldn't see with his eyes, the experience was entirely different.
With the many Sensor-Class Quirks giving him a facsimile of sight, All for One detected a massive cluster of radio waves and psychokinetic energy looming overhead. The entity bordering on the supernatural, or at least as supernatural as "supernatural" could be in a world of scientifically-quantified meta-abilities, the sound waves coming from the cluster projected psycho-reactive particles on the soundwaves it was emitting. Ragdoll's [Search] still locked onto his myriad of foes, the "weak points" that defined them hadn't "vanished" as much as they had been obscured, but what infuriated him was that a rumored Quirk like [Anthem] was still out of reach, because who he assumed to be Lumen was only there as a projection; the person emitting the life-giving Quirk was in all likelihood miles and miles away from Kamino Ward, possessing either a great mastery over their own Quirk, or just having a Quirk powerful-enough to be projected from so far away with such ease.
"So the rumors were true…" All for One grit his teeth as the virtual idol's hit single echoed throughout the bowl he'd carved. "Her Quirk really does have the power to raise the dead…!"
"Not quite, though her fans certainly feel that way!" Gunvolt smirked as the discharges of electricity around him began to take the form of white feathers; a contributor to people mistaking him for an 'angel' as he swooped in on the rescue.
"It's over, All for One! What you did to O'Clock, and so many others, YOU'LL NEVER DO AGAIN!" The Crawler called out as the knuckles on both fists shone with repulsor fields of prismatic fire.
"Bolts of rebellion / A thunderous voice in his heart / Speaks of one true law! Voltaic Chains!" Gunvolt incanted, countless lengths of psychic energy manifesting from the very air itself and zig-zagging through the leveled district all around and even through All for One, binding him in a myriad of actualized psychic chains.
The Symbol of Evil once again violently electrocuted despite his resistance Quirks, Koichi leapt forward into the fray, both arms drawn back and constellations of light exploding off of him as he descended like a bird of prey. His forearms gilding themselves with repulsor rings, five on each arm and wreathed in prismatic fire…
"Knuckle Style: Ten Rings BAZOOKA!"
Bringing his fists down into All for One's midsection with the sound of an airburst bomb going off, as The Crawler tumbled away with the arms of his costume eviscerated and his limbs coated in bruises, All for One was wrenched from his prison of psychokinetic chains and sent careening toward Cockroach King who'd drawn his right arm back and ballooned it to monstrous proportions.
"COCKROACH KING CANNON!"
The former No.2 Hero firing a devastating jet-powered hook into All for One's back with all the force of a supersonic jet, the Symbol of Evil was folded completely in half with a devastating *SPLACK!* before being sent into the air. His body, beaten, battered, and bruised, sailed through the air towards All Might who, with renewed strength, was able to leap high into the air before firing himself on an intercept with his New Hampshire Smash, coiling himself around to confront his nemesis with more power than he'd felt in years.
'Farewell, [One for All] !' All Might thought to himself as he closed the gap on his weakened opponent, his Quirk letting out one final blaze of glory thanks to the power of Lumen's [Anthem] . "UNITEEEED… STAAAATES OF… SMAAAAAASH!"
Putting every ounce of his back into it, All for One was once again sent flying in a completely different direction, All Might's reinvigorated fist and the man besides riding his body back down into the crater that had once been Kamino Ward.
The crater deepening further as both bodies hit with the force of an asteroid the size of a city block making planetfall, the resultant cyclone of the ultimate four-person combo threatened to knock aircraft out of the sky, the entirety of Yokohama shaken to its bedrock, with aftershocks spreading out for miles and miles around and countless windows exploding from the shockwave.
*MHA*
When the dust had settled, All for One lay defeated with his potato-like head caved almost completely in, the last of the flames of both [One for All] and Lumen's [Anthem] extinguished.
And though he had next to nothing left, he could still fill the people's heart with hope one final time.
Raising his bloodied fist and swelling up with muscle, all across Japan, the people cheered. They cheered like they had never cheered before as All Might once again snatched victory from the leviathanic jaws of defeat.
And not only that, but the efforts of The Crawler, Gunvolt, and Cockroach King hadn't gone unrecognized. Even Lumen, a virtual idol whose siren song which could revitalize the weary was once only hearsay and speculation, exploded into further popularity.
"THE VILLAIN… IS OUT COLD! HE WON! ALL MIGHT WON! HE REALLY WON! HE'S STILL STANDING!" a news anchor in the nearby helicopter cried out, his words lighting a fire in the hearts of the Japanese people.
Of course, even as the nation celebrated, those of the more cynical sort could only ask themselves… just how-long would those flames of victory burn?
Because Japan… no longer had its Symbol of Peace, and the future…
The future which had once been bright, had become uncertain.
All as All for One had foreseen.
*MHA*
AN:
I'll admit it flat-out, a decent chunk of this chapter was just me fanboying over Koichi/The Crawler and breathing life into a missed opportunity.
I mean, come on, this is a guy that All for One gave a "Flee on Sight" order for, to a guy that can use the Speedster-like [Overclock] indefinitely. The sort of label that Minato Namikaze with his [Flying Thunder God] was given in Naruto. And Koichi for his part, practically has [Ultra Instinct] combined with a "Lame Devil Fruit Power" from One Piece he pushed to its utmost limits and made "OP" (for Over-Powered).
And in case it wasn't obvious, I especially had fun adapting Lumen's [Anthem] into My Hero Academia format from the Azure Striker Gunvolt series, since a song that can "raise people from the dead" isn't all too dissimilar to La Brava's [Love] Quirk. I did of course hint at the existence of an Idol named "Lumen" during Kaminari's internship, and it was treated as a throwaway line only to have a huge impact here. Or at least I hope it did.
Having her [Anthem] empower All Might for his United States of Smash was also more-satisfying than the man pulling it out of his ass at the last possible second (given he didn't even have fumes left). Especially since in my head, I view [One for All] as more of an "Energy Source" than flat-out "Magic"; hence why in my HeadCanon, even if he did use the QAD, it'd have just made him "burn out" all at once; essentially what he did in the Canon.
Anywho, tell me what you think in the Reviews section and I'll see you next time in Young Justice: The Hunter.