AN: Enjoy!

Chapter 8 - Florida Smash

All 18 students of 1A class from UA's Hero Course were riding a bus, on their way to an off-campus training facility. For the first time since starting high school, the aspiring heroes would be taught how to rescue people from natural or man-made disasters. Filled with energy and oozing with pride about their quirks, they were in very high spirits.

"No one can beat me in the water!" Tsuyu said and let out a frog croak at the end.

"My Zero Gravity is perfect for rescuing people trapped inside collapsed buildings!" Ochaco also said confidently and clenched her fists in expectation.

One by one, they started bragging about the advantages that their Quirks would give them in a rescue operation. But not all of them had advantageous Quirks for rescue operations.

"Man, it must be nice having such useful Quirks for rescue. This is the real duty of a hero, to rescue people!" Kirishima said wistfully.

"But your Quirk isn't that bad either," Mina tried to cheer him up.

"My Hardening is better for fighting against others rather than rescuing. And even then, it's not that flashy. You have to think about your popularity as a hero too, y'know? If we're talking about both strong and flashy, it's gotta be Todoroki and Bakugo."

"Uzumaki's Quirk is simple but he looks like he's going to be super popular as a Pro Hero too," Mina Ashido said and looked at a blond boy that was sleeping in the back of the bus.

"Bakugo's always mad, so he doesn't look like he'll be popular, though," Tsuyu said and the blond in question took less than a second to start screaming himself hoarse and threaten to kill everyone.

The commotion caused by his bickering classmates also woke Naruto up. Maybe because of his ever-growing feeling of tiredness over the past week or maybe because he was bored at the prospect of training for rescue operations, the fox boy had fallen asleep on the bus. Rubbing his eyes and letting out a yawn, he asked the classmate next to him:

"We there yet?"

The one in question, a plain-looking boy with short blond hair and a strong-looking tail at his back answered:

"You woke up just in time. Sensei said we should arrive shortly."

Naruto let out a yawn and raised his hands above his head to stretch. But, as his entire body tensed, he suddenly became aware of the fact that his tail was trapped in place, unable to move.

Looking to his right, an invisible girl was hugging his fluffy fox tail with both arms and rubbing her face against it while letting out quiet "mofu-mofu" coos.

"W-What the heck are you doing?!" Naruto yelped and suddenly jumped up all the way to the front of the bus, defying the laws of gravity with his inhuman movement.

Hagakure's face could not be seen but everyone could tell how distraught she was from the tragic cry she let out:

"Nooo! My mofu-mofu!"

The hair on his forearms standing on ends and his fox tail looking like a chainsaw spoke volumes of what he was feeling at that moment. But that only endeared him even more with the girls: Mina Ashido and Ochaco Uraraka, in particular, had hearts in their eyes. His panicked expression and his porcupine-like fox tail made him look adorable beyond belief. The combination of his father's handsome genes, his fox ears, his fox tail, and his reasonably fit body had created the heartthrob of most teenage girls.

Luckily, their homeroom teacher, Aizawa, came to his rescue before he could be assaulted by the cuteness-overload-affected girls. They had arrived at their destination.

⁂

"A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, and so on. It is a training ground that I made with different types of accidents and disasters that heroes are likely to encounter in their line of work. It's called the "Unforeseen Simulation Joint" or "USJ" for short."

As the astronaut-costumed hero excitedly presented the immense indoor training facility, Naruto involuntarily yawned. It was not that he disrespected the hero Thirteen or those that aspired to become like her. It was only that it was not related to what he was going to specialize in once he graduated and became a pro Hero.

The current position of heroes in today's society was as such: whether they were just 1 person or 100 of them, every single hero had to belong to a Hero Agency, no exceptions - it could even be a one-man agency. All Hero agencies were subordinated to the Hero Public Safety Commission (HPSC) which worked in a close relationship with the Police Force in order to coordinate their combined strength and fight against crime.

Basically, "Pro Heroes" was just another name for "mercenaries". Heroes were paid by the HPSC based on the jobs that they took and their degree of involvement in accomplishing the task. Therefore, it was entirely up to Pro Heroes what kind of jobs/contracts they took from the HPSC, depending on what they specialized in. For example, someone like Bakugo would rarely take rescue jobs. Those like him would favour arrests, raids, escort missions etc. Naturally, pro Heroes could also earn money by doing other activities on the side: and that is where Heroes' popularity came into play. The more popular a hero was, the more sought after would they be by companies to shoot commercials and promote various goods for them. But that was not the only thing: pro Heroes could also sell merchandise with their names on them, figurines moulded after themselves, posters and so on. Some particularly good-looking and popular heroes were even given offers to become actors or fashion models. A successful pro-Hero was the perfect combination between a Showbiz celebrity and a Special Forces agent.

That said, with his Quirk, Naruto was not exactly suited for saving people from burning houses, shipwrecks, flooded cities and so on. His Quirk was more predisposed to combat, tracking down villains and capturing them. Today's practical training was not very useful or interesting for him.

"Thirteen, where is All Might? He was supposed to meet us here," Eraserhead asked, his visage as grumpy as always.

"Something urgent had intervened. He said he would not be able to attend the class any longer."

Aizawa felt the corner of his right eye start twitching. He would have liked to say that he was surprised but he couldn't - he had totally expected the All Might to ditch his teaching responsibilities on himself at one point or another.

"Oh well. Nothing we can do about it. Let's get things started," he said, trying to keep the annoyance in his voice to a minimum.

While Thirteen started to advise the students about the dangers of using their Quirks irresponsibly and their duty as heroes to protect the citizens, suddenly, the power in the entire dome-shaped building was cut.

Then, a vortex of dark purple light appeared.

⁂ One Hour Ago ⁂

Almost one month had passed since All Might had taken a teaching position at UA High and things were going relatively well for the Number 1 Hero. The key point being on "relatively". He was still in the process of getting used to teaching students but he did not dislike imparting his experience and knowledge to the next generation. Furthermore, it gave him a pretext, a way to hide the reason why he was unable to do as much hero work as before. In the present, due to his continuously deteriorating body and health, All Might could only do hero work for three hours a day.

The main thing not going well in his life at the moment was the problem of finding a successor.

'I can't believe young Togata turned down One For All!'

He was starting to become antsy because his power was only growing weaker with every passing day and he had yet to find anyone in the Hero Course that fit his criteria even after several weeks.

'Many of them have what it takes to become a successful Pro Hero. Strong Quirks and marketable personalities...' he thought absent-mindedly while his body moved on autopilot to stop a hit-and-run criminal from getting away with his stolen goods, '...but who among them has the selfless heart of a hero? The will to fight for the innocent and protect them even at the cost of their lives?'

But All Might also understood that he would probably need a long time to get to know personally all the students in the Hero Course at UA - there were nearly 100 of them he had only been a teacher for three weeks.

'I've got to be more patient,' All Might told himself.

Nonetheless, even as he thought that, he could feel anxiety welling up inside him.

'It's my fault, really. I have waited for too long to search for a successor. I shouldn't have let it get to this point.'

But then, his mind went back to the third-year student, Mirio Togata. Despite his broken relationship with Sir Nighteye, his former sidekick, he had never held any ill will towards him and he had also known about his efforts of grooming Mirio into becoming his successor. What neither All Might nor Sir Nighteye had predicted, however, was the degree of Mirio's selflessness and his desire to save people.

⁂

"I am honoured for you to offer me your Quirk, All Might. I have always admired and respected you and your efforts. You are my role model!" Mirio said, and smiled widely, a smile oh so similar to that of All Might himself. "But I'm afraid I can't accept your gift."

"W-Why?!" All Might asked, his disbelief making him stutter. Just what teenage boy in their right mind would turn down what was considered one of the if not the most powerful Quirk in the world?

If All Might was surprised by his earlier response, it was nothing compared to his feelings after hearing what Mirio said next:

"Many thought of my Quirk as useless at first. Even my father could not do anything with it. But I persevered... ...and I've become strong. Your Quirk is already strong - giving it to me will make me become even stronger than now, that is certain."

"Then why do you not want it?" All Might asked.

Mirio smiled in return as he said: "Instead of having one very powerful hero, would it not be better two have two of them? Instead of making me stronger, would it not be better for there to be one more person, just as strong as I am? With two heroes as powerful as you are, would it not be easier to save everyone?"

⁂

His conversation with Togata Mirio had been short but very impactful on All Might. The boy's resolve to help people and even his unshakeable confidence that he would one day become just as strong as the Number 1 hero were inspiring. It looked like Mirio's Hero Name - "Lemillion" - speaking of his wish to save one million people was not just empty talk. His desire to save people was so high that he even went as far as to turn down One For All, in hopes that that Quirk will be used by another person so more people would be saved.

'I can't deny his words. Young Mirio is already formidable and I have no doubt that, in time, he could become the number 1 hero even without One For All. If I could find another vessel, it would be much better, indeed...'

In his rush to save as many people as possible and stop as many villains as he could, All Might happened to see the large clock tower of a church.

'It's almost time, I should head to work now,' he thought.

With one powerful jump, he launched himself across an entire district, as if shot from the barrel of a cannon. But as he was flying over the city, a dangerous encounter caught his eye.

⁂

"Listen up, heroes! Don't come after me any longer! If you do, I'm going to kill this family here!" a pink-skinned hulking man, over 6 metres tall said. He was so huge and muscular that he could hold three people hostage with one arm, using only the other one to fight against the heroes.

The heroes in question - Kamui Woods and Mount Lady - were standing powerlessly in front of the villain, not knowing what to do. Kamui was all battered and barely standing on his feet, the villain's physical strength being too high for him to contend with. As for Mount Lady, she could not use Gigantification out of fear that she would squash the innocent hostages to death too.

It was this scene that Izuku had stumbled upon on his way to school. He was not the only bystander that had crowded in that place, many other people were gawking at the confrontation between the heroes and the villain and many more were coming. They were all worrying their eyebrows and gnawing at their lips, stressed out for the family's safety... ...but none of them was thinking about trying to help.

For a moment, Izuku was rooted in shock at the sight of the huge villain and the three hostages in its arm, two parents and a young girl. But then, his body moving on autopilot, he started running towards the villain head-first, without thinking. He was just about to step out of the crowd and lunged at the villain into the open street when his best friend's words suddenly came to the front of his mind:

"You've gotten buff, gym has been doing good to you. You're much stronger now. But don't let it get to your head. No matter how strong you are and how much you train, you will never be stronger than someone born with a power-type Quirk. Don't forget your limits. If you want to save people, you have to stay alive first. You can't save anyone if you get yourself killed. Don't die, Izuku."

As he recalled those words, it was as if someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water on his head. He stopped in his tracks as if he had been petrified.

'What can I do against this guy? What can I do when someone as strong as Mount Lady and Kamui Woods can't deal with him?'

When he asked himself that question, it became clear to him why everyone was just watching from the sidelines powerlessly instead of trying to help the heroes in some way.

'Think, Izuku, think! Think, what can you do in this moment!' the boy spoke to himself, his palms starting to become sweaty from the stress and urgency of the situation.

While he was racking his brains for a solution, yet another memory from his long training sessions with Naruto sprung at the front of his mind:

"You'll probably meet many villains that are much stronger than you. But you can still turn the situation around sometimes if you play dirty. Don't hold back from anything, no matter how dirty or dishonest it looks. Throw pepper bombs at them, poke their eyes, kick them in the nuts-"

Back then, Izuku had laughed it off, not taking his words seriously. He had thought that the fox boy was joking around. But at this moment, an idea suddenly popped into his mind. Suddenly, the situation didn't seem as hopeless as before.

He stepped back from the first row of the bystanders and went into the back of the crowd. Then, he circled around the group of people until he got to the back of the huge villain.

Nobody was paying attention to him because they were all preoccupied with the fate of the three hostages in the villains' grasp. Nobody batted an eye when Izuku put down his school backpack and untied the telescopic metal rod that had been strapped to the side of the bag.

After he fully extended his metallic bo staff and made his way through the crowd spectating the incident, his arms, his legs - his entire body started to shake.

Was it fear? Was it nervousness? Was it excitement?

Izuku himself could not define his feelings at that moment.

'I can do it!' he told himself and his hands clenched harder on his staff.

For the sake of making sure Izuku did not get himself killed, Naruto had beaten into him the mentality of always being aware of the difference between his strength and that of the enemy. Izuku knew that he was weaker, that even 10 of him would not be enough to defeat that mountain of a man in a fair fight. But his purpose was not to win a fight. His purpose was to save the lives of those three hostages.

'I don't need to defeat the villain. I don't need to play fair. If I can distract the villain for even one moment, it will be enough. The heroes will definitely take advantage of that opening.'

'I will do it! I will save them!'

'I can be a hero too!'

As he took the first step out of the crowd of bystanders, a rush of adrenaline flooded his system. Thoughts of his safety disappeared from his mind. Thoughts of the difference between his and the villain's strength were snuffed out too as one simple desire burned brightly in his heart: to save the hostages' lives.

With a burst of speed abnormal for a regular human, Izuku launched himself forth. Holding his staff from one end like a very big baseball bat, the green-haired boy swung his weapon with every bit of strength he possessed.

"FLORIDA SMAAAAASH!" Izuku roared as he smashed his staff right into the huge villain's nuts.

In the next moment, all males present at the scene showed a terrible wince as the sound of eggs getting squashed had somehow been heard over all the background noises of the city.

For a second there, Izuku thought that the villain had muscles even in his balls because he had not reacted in the least to the hit. But the heroes and the bystanders in front of the villain could see what happened: the villain's eyes rolled in the back of his head and, a second later, that mountain of a man fell forward, unconscious.

Kamui Woods quickly used his quirk to wrestle the hostages free from the unconscious giant's arms lest they were crushed by the enormous weight of his body.

A cloud of dust rose in the air as the villain collapsed face-first into the street, stiff, unconscious and foaming at the mouth. Being hit in the balls by someone using their hysterical strength... the villain had never stood a chance.