-Chapter 22: Ground Zero-

The events at the Training Camp were considered to be one of the most stressful nights ever for the Class of 1B. However, for a part of 1A, it was a Tuesday that was stressful for a different reason.

Their classmate, Son Goku, had lost his tail in the assault. Though while Izuku, Ochako, and a visiting Tenya knew about the fact his tail can grow back through deductive reasoning, to the rest, it was mortifying knowing that a major part of their Saiyan friend is gone seemingly forever.

However, to the outside observer, despite the overwhelming odds, while there were Hero Commission deaths, the fact that only one kid of the League's official attack list was injured, with the rest of them coming out virtually unharmed? It did wonders for the reputation of Heroes even with the absence of All Might from the area. Though as some would argue, even that one injured means that the Heroes had failed to adequately protect their group, and it didn't help that the Aoyama Clan had mysteriously disappeared. The three were held in perpetual detention at the Hero Commission Headquarters, with a few doctors checking their Quirk Factors to find any additional Quirks granted by All For One.

In a hospital not too far from the Beast's Forest, rested Son Goku. The truth of his matter was that the tail severing had caused him to fall into an unconscious state for over the course of the day and the night after. Despite the worries about him eventually falling into a comatose form, the tailless Saiyan was able to respond to stimuli in the form of hand holding and sleep talking. However, around nine in the morning, the Saiyan finally awakened. Due to the injuries from the assault healing up thanks to Recovery Girl coming in, he appeared perfectly healthy. It was here that he finally saw who was in his room. To his left was Son Mikai and Mitsuki Bakugo. To his right was Momo Yaoyorozu and Izuku Midoriya.
"Oh, my baby!" Mikai cried as she got her boy in a death hug. "I heard about what happened... Are you okay...?"
"I'm feeling pretty good, Mom!" he said as he tried to squirm out of his mom's grip. "Well, aside from my tail..."
"O-Oh..." Mikai looked a little sour. "I mean, maybe it can grow back...?"
"Hmm? My apologies, Son-san, but did you say that Goku-kun's tail could grow back?" Momo asked.
"Eh? His tail can grow back?" Mitsuki was surprised, though she was happy her nephew was alive and well.
"Well, it did about eight years ago, Auntie Mitsi," Goku responded to her question. "It just popped back out after a little bit."
"Still... I can't believe that you were involved in yet another Villain attack! It feels like it's so convoluted to just ruin you and your classmates' first year!"
"Sad to say that you aren't entirely incorrect, Son-san," Izuku spoke up.
"At the very least, Hero School is helping us navigate through these kinds of situations."
"Still, it's unfair you three and all your classmates had to go through three different incidents, let alone one! To be frank... I don't know how I could handle it if my baby was killed."
"Cousin Mikai..." Mitsuki lightly patted her cousin's shoulder. "That's exactly why Goku should continue going to school at UA."
"Eh?! Cousin Mitsi, surely you jest?!" Mikai looked downright offended at this remark. "And let him get harmed by their blunders?!"
"Trust me, it sounds counterintuitive, but your kid's made of really tough shit! If he really wants to be a Hero, he's not going to really care how he does it! Since he was Kid Kong, since Cousin Gohan taught him about the dangers and protocols of Hero duty, Goku really pulled through time after time. And if you move him out to a different Hero School, or God forbid, forbid him from becoming a Hero? He might hate you for the rest of your life for depriving him of the friends he made along the way. He might become a Vigilante to an extent that'd make the whole 'Kid Kong' phase seem like child's play! That's why I'm gonna allow Katsuki to go all-in on Hero school, and why I'll support him staying in Hero school after all of this."

The silence that fell into the hospital room was deafening. Neither Goku nor Mikai could reasonably disprove Mitsuki's points. And looking at Izuku and Momo's eyes, the orange-scented chef could tell that she would be doing them harm if she pulled Goku out. With a sigh of resignation, she looked at her boy.
"Is this truly the path you want to take in life, Son Goku? I know that you were adamant as a kid, but now that you could see what you could lose, are you still willing to continue down this path?" she asked him with an earnest tone. However, the response her son gave to her was shocking in how fast, and how resolute he spoke out.
"Yes. Even with everything that happened, I want to continue being a Hero, Mom. I just hate seeing those I care getting about hurt because they wanted to come after me, because it's unfair to them." Mikai can only chuckle softly, and despite the worry in her eyes, she hugged her boy again.
"You really are your father's son, Goku... I love you so much, and I am super proud that you've done so well at UA! Even with all the hiccups over there."

After the happy reunion and affirmation between mother and son, Momo was the next one giving her boyfriend a hug.
"It's because of your Quirk that things have gone a lot better than they could have gone, Goku-kun. Not just that, but your unwavering want to do good to those around you. I don't know or even really care how scandalous it sounds, but that's why I love you, Son Goku-kun."
"You know, it's pretty funny how things worked! A couple days taking bojutsu classes, then we meet at UA after a couple more years, then the times we battled during the Sports Festival and the spars we had! I know I'm kinda bad at expressing love, but I love you, too, Momo Yaoyorozu."
The declaration of love caught everyone's attention with Goku reciprocating her hug. Izuku, while seeing firsthand how close Goku and Momo were, wouldn't have thought they would solidify their bond, especially when there's so much to still experience. Son Mikai can only cry tears of joy, seeing the two affirm their love for one another.
"So, uh... should we leave the two lovebirds to their privacy?" Mitsuki jokingly suggested, to which the Creation girl felt herself blush in embarrassment as she let Goku go, and he let her go.
"My apologies, everyone! I don't know what came over me!" Her voice was tinged in a nervous energy.
"No, no... it's completely fine, Momo-chan," Mikai sniffed, wiping her already reddened eyes. "I just thought it would take longer to have fully established your relationship."
"I will admit, it does feel early, but I cannot deny this feeling of love, Son-san. It'll be a while longer, though may I have your blessing to take Goku-kun out on a date?"
"Eh? You sure your parents are gonna be alright with this, Yaoyorozu-san? No offense, but I'd think your folks would want you marrying into money."
"None taken, Bakugo-san. And while that would be the case, Son-kun's deeds are reaching even my father, who is coming back to Japan in a few days. And my mother had expressed numerous a time that I may marry him when the time comes if I want. That being said, it will be after we graduate from UA, maybe even a few years after that."
"Of course, you two are still kids, after all! You gotta enjoy yourselves before you make such a choice!" Mikai said, to which Momo can't help but chuckle.
"That is something you won't have to worry about, Son-san," the Creation girl bowed to Mikai.
"If there's any consolation about all of this, Midoriya-san told me how worried my Katsuki was about you, Goku!" Mitsuki spoke with a smirk. "Getting all soft-spoken, using actual names instead of those nicknames, I would have thought he 'killed' that side of him, yet here you are bringing it back!"

As Goku got back to normal, he witnessed many changes. The first of which was the destruction of the Villain Base in Kamino.

With the Saiyan Tail obtained, All For One deemed the base to be a liability. As such, the League Members stationed at Kamino, composing of Tomura, Himiko, Twice, Dabi, and Kurogiri, were transported to the Jaku Base and the Nomu there were abandoned. With a few planted explosives, the Nomu were destroyed and the buildings were demolished. With conclusive evidence that the base had harbored Villains and of All For One's involvement, the mission was deemed successful, though the Hero Commission were weary of what will happen next.

Another change that had happened during his hospital stay was All Might's retirement.

Due to his increasingly shortened timespan as a Hero, All Might's form ran out during a routine day. Without anyone from Class 1A kidnapped and thus a much smaller media circus simply revolving around the one injured child and few HPSC Guardsmen killed, the full might of All Might's "death" struck hard when it happened. All the news stories of that day and the next few days hammered in the fact that the Symbol of Peace "died" and all that was left was Toshinori Yagi, a spindly old man who has only the legacy of the Symbol of Peace over him. As a result of this death with a whimper, some towns descended into an anarchic chaos that could be best described as being similar to the Wild West of the United States, though as a whole, the nation held firm, if shaky over its fundamental shakeup.

For the Hero Commission, All Might's retirement after Toshinori permanently lost the form caused a lot of internal strife. While the agents knew of Son Goku and of his deeds, few knew of how deeply he bonded with his group, and those in the loud minority declared they should kidnap the Saiyan, falsify his death to cover their tracks, and create him to become the next Symbol of Peace. Surely, if it worked well enough with the Number 3 Hero, it'll work with a simple Hero student! However, this idea was immediately shot down.
"You'd think that would be a good idea, but I saw Son out there, and the last thing you'd want to do is to take him away from his life," Hawks commented.
"These idiots couldn't think of a dumber idea if they were an American bureaucrat..." the Madam President rubbed her nose bridge in frustration. Most of this came from the most ardent supporters of the former President, the very same one that met his end at the assassin he oversaw when she was trained, who had a similar case to Hawks and Goku. Part of it was a genuine want to protect the boy from the exploitation her colleagues would put over him. Part of it is in fear of her life due to the Saiyan's ever growing power. But all of it is a truth that Goku is not to become a part of the Hero Commission unless he genuinely wants that. "I am going to personally sanction the idea, because it's needlessly risky."
"Aw... I was hoping there would be more agents on the field," Yokumiru, the President's assistant, bemoaned. "But it's your call, Madam President."

The third, and most ambitious change that he will come to learn was a familiar face moving to UA.

While Nezu was awaiting for Goku to wake up from what may seem to be a coma so that he may know the truth of his heritage, he heard a knocking.
"Oh, come on in!" He was curious who would come through the door, and when he saw who it was, he was floored. Sure, cameras were installed all around UA, though he was admittedly busy with Goku's files, he barely caught a glance. "Oh, Ms. Shield! What brings you over to UA?"
"I've heard through Uncle Might that this would be a welcoming place, after I-Island placed me under exile for what my papa did," Melissa said with a morose tone, to which Nezu looked into her eyes.
"Hmm, I had heard much about what happened over there. Not just what the official channels had said, but what he told me. You were a great assistant to my favorite band of guinea pigs, and from what young Midoriya had told me, you made a gauntlet that granted him the ability to temporarily use the full might of his Quirk! Truth be told, I wouldn't mind doing a little poaching of I-Island personnel! Though if you do elect to study with us and potentially even work with us, what is it you would like to do most?"
"I wish to help those like Goku, Deku, Momo, and all the other 1-A students for all they did while they were on the island, and to eventually help others even if I can't be there with them!" And this gave Nezu a genuine smile, as he offered a paw to Melissa.
"A great answer, Ms. Shield! I will be more than glad to get all the paperwork finalized! Though if you do plan to work with Son Goku, I would like for you to meet with us whenever he's awake. Unfortunately, he was injured during a Villain attack at the training camp hosted by the Wild Wild Pussycats, but because of his Quirk, he was able to uproot the Villain's attack and prevent it from truly harming anyone else!"
"Oh, that's awful! I hope Goku can recover soon enough..."
"If that monkey-tailed fellow was able to bounce back from a Nomu meant to kill All Might, I have no problem to suggest he will recover soon!"

A week after the cut-short Summer Training Camp, there was a phone call, while Mikai was doing the dishes and Goku was practicing in his room, making sure his sense of balance is fully back by the second term.

"Sorry, dear, could you get the phone? My hands are full." Mikai called to Gohan.
"No problem, honey!" Gohan replied as he got the phone, picking it off the receiver. "Hello?"
"Hello, Son Gohan!" Nezu replied with a chipper voice. "I was hoping you, Son Mikai, and Son Goku can meet in my office for a meeting in about an hour!"
"Oh! That shouldn't be a problem... unless he got in trouble for anything?"
"That's a preposterous assumption, Son Gohan! No, it's just a meeting so we can be on even ground about things that had happened over the last few months."
"Just had to clarify, because my Goku can be a bit of a troublemaker, sometimes."
"Haha, touche! I'll be seeing you, then!" Then, a distinct click as the phone was hung up.
"What was the call about?" Mikai asked her husband.
"Principal Nezu wants to see all three of us. I figured it's a progress report of some kind."
"Oh, that makes sense." She finished her dishes, then called upstairs, with a "Goku! We're gonna be going to your school soon, so dress appropriately!"
"Okay, Mom!" Goku yelled back. "Just when I thought I had a break from my uniform...!" He thought to himself, as it would probably be for the best he dressed in his UA Uniform.

With the three dressing up and getting in their car, the three Sons head off to UA. On the other side, Nezu was truthfully nervous. He has to fulfill his promise to himself, and yet it still feels so alien to remember that Goku came from a different planet, potentially even a different universe, if he can't find evidence of this "Planet Vegeta" existing. But... he has to cool his head, remember why he's doing it. With Melissa and Shota in, that's when he finally gets notification of the Sons arriving at his door.
"The doors are open, Sons!" Nezu said, as the three entered the office. "Thank you for making time out of your vacation to come here, and feel free to take some tea!" Goku was shocked to see Melissa there, who had a big smile and a wave to give to him.
"I suppose this is a progress report...?" Gohan asked.
"In a way, yes. However, the truth of the matter is that we had been looking into Son Goku's past." This caught their parents and Goku off-guard. "There were a lot of little details I had picked up on in the files that felt... off. A lot of it was thanks to the work of the Support Department."
"So... you know where he came from...?" Gohan asked in a apprehensive tone.
"The truth is, Son Goku... you came from a planet that I never even heard of, called 'Vegeta'. Does that name ring any bells?" Nezu poked. That caught everybody's attention, though Goku had given it some thought, and he shook his head.
"Sorry, Nezu, I don't remember the name..."
"Hmm... What about the names of 'Bardock' and 'Gine'?"
"Huh, were those his true parents' names?" Mikai interjected, to which Nezu nodded. As for Goku, he frowned.
"I feel like that's familiar, but I can't for the life of me remember what they looked like..."
"That's concerning..." Nezu mused. "What about the Saiyan Pod you came in, a bit over fifteen years ago?"
"With all due respect, Principal, that feels too farfetched to be true," Shota cut in. "I can believe he's strong beyond his years, I can believe that he can shoot energy out of hands and mouth, I can even believe seeing him turn into that giant ape form. But there's no way he came from outer space."
"Except what the Principal is saying is the truth," Gohan glared at the 1A Homeroom teacher. "He came in while Mikai and I were hiking six kilometers out of Musutafu for our honeymoon. It was in the afternoon, and we both saw a white streak in the sky. At the time, we thought it was just a shooting star, but it crashed a few hundred meters where she and I were at. And inside that pod was a baby, a baby that I would be proud to call my son. My Son Goku..." This brought their space boy a weird sense of sadness, as he looked at his adoptive mom.
"Is... is it true, Mom...?" Goku asked, pleading it's not the case, though Mikai started to cry as she hugged her son.
"Everything is true, Goku. We saw you crash down, and you were as light as a couple sacks of flour. You were so hungry, too, and I couldn't leave you out in the wilderness, so we brought you to our home. Made sure you were okay, and raised you to the best of our ability, hoping your parents would be able to make it..." Despite all the crying, Mikai looked into her adoptive son's eyes, and smiled with fondness. "However, you will always be my son, Goku. I had no regrets raising you into such a fine young man."

With those bits of truth revealed, Goku was admittedly absent as he had to digest what was told to him. The fact that this world was not where he was born on. The fact that he was sent here from God knows where. And the fact that this 'Vegeta', 'Bardock', 'Gine', and 'Saiyan' resonated in his memory, yet he can't exactly find out why. However, soon a voice came in that paused his train of thought.

"Well, alien or not, what matters with Goku is what's on the inside, right?" Melissa asked with a smile -even if it was slightly tinged with a nervous desposition-, to which Nezu smiled in kind.
"Precisely, Ms. Shield!" Nezu declared, as he offered a hand to Goku. "I'm sorry I held out this information from you for months, Son Goku and family. I wanted to double check, triple check, dot my I's and cross my T's on everything. I would sooner die eating rat poison than spout out blatant misinformation, or goodness forbid keep knowledge you are supposed to know away from you in perpetuity. I will admit, of humans, I cannot entirely trust them due to what they had done to me in my infancy. But, for an alien- No. For a Saiyan, I want to establish a new line of trust with you. I want you to learn everything about your past, so that you may be whole."

Despite the dropping of bombshell after bombshell, Goku reflected back on his best memories. Being fed the greatest foods of Japan, watching the rise of All Might, the experience of Kid Kong, reigning in the Great Ape, being enrolled into UA's Hero Course, meeting and training with Izuku Midoriya, remembering and inspiring Momo Yaoyorozu, learning about his own power from the Ryukyu Agency, becoming a sparring partner and eventually finding what he eventually realized was love with Momo Yaoyorozu. That caused him to smile, as he shook Nezu's hand.

"So, I'm this 'Saiyan' thing, eh...?" Goku spoke out loud. Of all the things that were revealed, he took the whole "he's a Saiyan and not a Human" part pretty well. "Were they any good?"
"Unfortunately, most of what I had read were... bad things. Thugs, bandits, murderers, even a few select capable of committing planetary genocide of every sapient species." Nezu shook his head with a frown. "That, and they had a monstrously deep appetite that is similarly matched to the species' documented cruelties."
To the other humans, they were positively shocked, with Goku's parents being absolutely thankful that he was such a good-natured kid even to this day.
"Heh, since it looks like I'm the only Saiyan here, I guess it's my job to clean up that reputation!" the Saiyan can't help but smirk with his declaration. "Maybe it's too small, but I'll start by being the best Hero I can possibly be!"
"Atta boy, Son Goku!" the Principal was cheering on this alien, and with the declaration, Melissa felt much better, though Shota really wanted to drink something hard to forget about this day. "Well, since you and your parents are here, would you like to take a look at the Space Pod?"
"We got this far, so I can't see why not!"
"Alright, everyone, follow me down to the Support Department!"

After a short trip to the studio, Nezu and Power Loader looked over a vault door that required two keycards.
"On the count of three: one, two... three!" Nezu counted as he and Higari inserted their keycards. "Open Sesame!" and with the vocal password, the door slowly opened, showcasing a familiar white sphere. Gohan and Mikai couldn't help but gasp, as it was absolutely the same pod. Shota couldn't help but leave his jaw open, because he genuinely thought the Principal and Gohan were tugging at his Capture Weapon.
"Oh, wow...!" Melissa couldn't help but be amazed at the sleek design. True, there's still wires sticking out, but it's been pretty well kept.
For Goku, however, he reached out and lightly touched the wine-colored window. For some reason, he felt whole touching the window. As he looked in, he saw... himself? To his left, was a rocky landscape. To his right, it was his... mother...? His true mother... A gentle woman, born in a world full of mercenaries and killers and lords.
"...Please be safe and never forget about us, Kakarot!..." echoed in his mind. This must have been his true name all along.

"Kakarot..." Goku muttered to himself.
"Hmm? What or who's a 'Kakarot'?" Gohan asked his son.
"That was my birth name, or at least I think it was," Goku said in a soft tone as he stepped away from the pod. "I think it was that 'Gine' person Principal Nezu talked about. But, truthfully, I've been raised on Earth for far longer than I've ever been raised on that rocky world and I don't think I can remember what she looked like..."
"'Kakarot' does sound like a pretty uninventive name if you ask me," Shota shrugged. "It's just 'Carrot' with an extra 'Ka'. And 'Gine', flip the 'Gi' and 'Ne' and you got a spring onion, negi. Hell, even the planet known as 'Vegeta' is just one half of the word 'vegetable'."
"Plus, if you really want to find a connection, Saiyan, or rather, Saiya-jin, when the 'saiya' part is rearranged, spells out the word for 'Yasai', or 'vegetable'!" Nezu jumped in.
"I think I prefer the name 'Son Goku'. Not only because of the cool connotations it has with Sun Wukong, but because 'perceiving the air' is such a cool reading of it, instead of just some vegetable!" Goku spoke up. "But, if you want to call me 'Kakarot', I won't mind it."
"Then it's settled! Don't need to change anything on that end! Though the final thing you need to realize is that you are actually Quirkless!"

"Wait, what...?" Goku and his parents was confused.
"What?!" Shota got pale in the face. So his Erasure failure wasn't a fluke on the first day!
"The truth is, your Ki is actually not a Quirk! As a Saiyan, you are naturally more adaptable to any situation in which you fight, and it's reflective in not just your training, but how you use your Ki, consciously or subconsciously! Given enough time, I bet even someone here will be able to learn Ki!"
"Oh, man, this is weird... So am I technically going to not be a Hero because I'm Quirkless?" Goku asked.
"Oh, no, no, no! The Quirk name provided on your record will still reflect your physical Saiyan side quite well. It's quite fortunate your doctor didn't do a DNA scan for any Quirk-related particulates in your bloodstream."
"Man, this is gonna take a while to get used to... So I'm an alien from another world, I looked human enough I passed for one of you for nearly sixteen years, my natural biology was abnormal enough a doctor considered it a Quirk, and at the end of it, I'm not going to be ostracized for any of it...?"
"Absolutely not, Goku," Gohan spoke up. "You will always be a son to me, Saiyan or not."
"Gohan's correct," Mikai joined in. " I will never give you up as a son, and if we went back in time, fifteen years or so ago? I would do the same exact thing."
"You've got a heart of gold, Son Goku, and that's what matters the most to me," Melissa said with a smile. "It doesn't matter if you're Saiyan or Human, though I can't believe I'm actually meeting a real-life alien, it's weird because you're so... normal!"
With a final sigh, Shota gave a genuine smile to his Saiyan student.
"I will admit, Son Goku, the truth is going to be really hard for me to swallow. But I can't exactly expel you, not after the dedication you showcased over these last four months to get where you got. My Erasure can't work on your power, but I sure as Hell will make sure you can be the best damn Hero this world will ever see."

"Though that leaves one problem... How do I tell my friends about it?" Goku asked, to which Nezu can't help but smirk.
"That'll have to a problem you'll have to tackle at your own time!"
"E-Eh?!" All that confidence blew up like an overblown balloon. "S-Surely there's an easier way to do it all?!"
"Nope! You're just gonna have to wing it! Though I will give you the liberty of taking the NDAs and invitational envelopes off your shoulders! ...Oh, wait, I know the perfect time!"
"Oh?" Gohan was curious.
"Well, we were thinking about transitioning UA into a boarding school, since we've got so many students from all across the country, I am willing to bet that their pocket books are crying for mercy! Though the truth of that matter is that it's to prevent any potential Villain attack. And before you ask, the majority of costs are covered by the national government due to all the grants and scholarships we received."
"Hmm... Are you sure you can keep them safe?" Mikai asked, to which Shota stepped up.
"We will do the best we can, Son-san. However, as they're training to be Heroes, there is never a guarantee they will be safe. However, I will do everything within my power to make sure none of my students have to experience anything like Son Goku having his tail removed. That was my mistake, and I should have apologized for it the earliest moment I could, Son Mikai."

That apology from Shota... Mikai hadn't realized just how much of a burden that lifted off her. It was downright liberating! Regardless, she looked up with a challenging grin.
"You better, or else you'll be messing with Son Mikai, Feeder of Son Goku, my Saiyan-Baby with the Bottomless Stomach!"
"That sounds like a plan! For extracurricular points, Son Goku, write a speech for your fellow 1A classmates that you will give about your origin. You don't need to mention anything about what the Saiyans did, but you are to mention that you are a Saiyan, and the fact that your Ki projection isn't a Quirk. But, you are allowed to skirt past any Quirk questions if you wish, or you can tell them that you're Quirkless. Whatever works best for you and your class, at the end of the day."
"Yes, Principal Nezu!" was what he heard, to which the Principal smiled.
"Excellent! You may go back home now. We hope you have a good rest of your summer break!"
"I hope I can work with you, Goku!" Melissa waved goodbye.
"Same here, Melissa!"

And with that, the Sons leave UA. Everyone gained a new perspective from this meeting. The Sons learned that their pride and joy was an alien, specifically a Saiyan. For Principal Nezu, it's the reality that Goku is truly unlike the typical Saiyan, where his pride is to make sure his friends and the innocent aren't hurt in whatever vendettas he will find himself in. In spite of having his world view twisted, Shota gained the resolve to continue being the best teacher he can be for the Saiyan. And for Melissa, she could find a way to become a Hero in her own right through technological advancements beyond what the world has seen before.

Soon, Class 1-A shall have the bombshells drop on them, of their monkey-tailed friend and of his origins. Though how will they react? Would it break their minds and their bonds? Will it be the whole truth or just the partial truth? Goku has a lot to think about, and he needs help from his closest confidants, but he can afford to relax for a while.

A/N: Yeah, I will be doing even less writing, mostly because at the point of this writing, I'm stuck at trying to write out the Provisional License Arc, since I felt that MHA kinda dashed past it in Manga Form. It was slightly expanded in the anime, but that's still following the primary MHA Story, instead of this Aoyamaless version with a non-epic end to All Might's legacy. However, since I prefer to have some space between versions I'm comfortable with posting and my current chapter. So for now, it'll be on a posting hiatus. Plus, I think you all are sick of me posting chapter after chapter over a period of just every few days.