An Undead Academic Experience 9

Chapter 9: Detonation

<<<All Might>>>

When young Sato was abducted due to his foolishness, it felt like a stab to his missing guts. It was, however, just another failure to add to the pile, and while his successes overshadowed his failures by miles. Those failures weighed him down, like an albatross around his neck. And it was only now did he realize the ultimate failure.

While he ushered in an Age of Peace, which he would never regret having grown up during the ‘Bad Old Days’ he failed to consider how civilians would react to his efforts. They propped him onto a pedestal and considered him to be the Ultimate Hero. Completely forgetting that he was a human.

And humans made mistakes, they got sick, they got old, and eventually… they died.

It pained him to admit it but Japan currently… wouldn’t handle it well when he inevitably retired or died. And it was coming, even faster since passing the torch to young Midoriya. He just hoped he could prepare the students for when they graduated, as Japan would need true heroes more than ever…

Really, that was the entire point of choosing his successor.

Still, he really hoped this fight wouldn’t be his last, that Nezu was wrong about the creature. But, if Nezu wasn’t wrong, that’s why he was waiting in the wings and Endeavor was taking the lead on the rescue.

But as young Cathleen would say, ‘If you wish in one hand, and shit in the other guess which one fills up faster?’ or something along those lines. It’d been years since he heard the saying after all.

“Masamune is with Sato and is now attempting to extract,” Another Underground hero said… and as much as it shamed him he couldn’t recall his name, “We move in five, and All Might will back us up if they have any more of those Nomu creatures.”

“Or worse,” He thought to himself with a grimace. “This is All Might, be careful. Nezu expects high amounts of villain resistance.”

Even at his peak, this would have been the plan adopted. No matter how fast he was, he couldn’t be everywhere at once.

And well, when he is in the thick of it sometimes he got too enthusiastic. A habit he’d mostly curbed, but old habits died hard when emotions ran high. And the possibility of Him… well, it went without saying he was understandably tense.

“Resistance light so far,” One of the heroes said. What was his name? Blasterman? “Hold on, I see movem-” The building exploded and a familiar, if broken, figure rose from the dust and ashes. “Holy fuck!” The hero shouted, “That… that killed Waterspout! She wasn’t…”

The woman was a rescue hero, she was wetting nearby buildings to prevent the fires from spreading…

All Might felt a weight drop in his gut.

“All heroes retreat,” He said into his radio, “I’ll handle him.” Then he transformed and exploded forward, fists rocketing towards the monster’s face only to be caught and stopped, a dual shockwave blowing away all of the dust.

“Ah, All Might,” The beast started before throwing him into the very same building he’d killed Waterspout near and cratering its concrete structure with his bulk. “I was wondering if you’d show up. When you didn’t fight the Nomu and let some children do it for you, well, I was concerned…”

All Might’s eyes tightened, but he had learned from his last mistake fighting him. He played into his mindgames and paid for it with his guts and a lung, and while All Might may seem like a meathead stereotype set in his ways. He wasn’t stupid, just too stubborn for his own good really. Though despite his thoughts his normally comforting smile turned into a snarl for a split second before smoothing out.

“All for One… I’m here for my student…” He said, refusing to acknowledge the beast's attempts at mindgames, “You’re in my way…”

“Am I?” He asked, eyebrow raised, “And here I thought that the only living next of kin taking in an orphan was the heroic thing to do…”

“Even if you did, it hardly makes up for all you’ve done,” All Might said, recalling everything the students shared of the ‘League of Villains’ leader.

A puppet on a string, as Nezu put it.

All for One simply chuckled, “Perhaps, perhaps… or maybe I felt like changing things up in my old age?” He retorted, “But I think we’re beyond words, aren’t we?”

The man didn’t even finish speaking before blasting the ground and cratering it, the shockwave throwing him and all of the heroes gathered away. It probably killed some of them, but he couldn’t focus on that.

Instead, he flipped to land upright and launched himself forward again. For a moment he thought that he’d made a mistake before Endeavor’s flames swallowed All For One, obscuring his approach and ensuring that the beast in man’s flesh missed his attack. It destroyed another building, but that one was abandoned. He hoped.

His fist landed clean, rocking All For One back before his followup strike threw him into the crater wall.

Before he could capitalize on it, he was struck again; flying through the air for a second before being caught by Hawks and tossed back. Endeavor, Edgeshot, Ryukyu, and Mirko (of all heroes) were harassing him. Endeavor constantly obscuring his vision with white hot flames, Edgeshot sneaking and snaking to knock him off balance, and Ryukyu with Mirko riding on her back hammering him with powerful blows.

Maybe if he brought allies with him back then, he wouldn’t have been facing this horror again… but, shaking those thoughts off, All Might charged back into the fray.

They, smartly, backed off as he arrived once more; his fist slamming into All For One and driving him deep into the earth. For a moment, he was hopeful that it had knocked him out.

Then his world turned to dust and ash, exploding with a massive shockwave that surely sent rubble out into-no, he couldn’t afford to think of that. He was running out of energy from the repeated hits… and All For One had been holding back until that moment, if his newly improved form was anything to go by.

“I was hoping that Nana’s grandson was going to be the one to kill you,” All For One admitted, “Or my grandniece.”

“Don’t react,” Mandalay told him through Telepathy, “No matter how much it hurts, finish the fight then focus on finding the truth. We don’t need you distracted!”

“But I suppose it falls to me to kill the Symbol of Peace and end this ridiculous era you’ve made,” His voice was… pure malice, pure evil.

“You can do this, Toshi!” Was that… Nana? But she…

“Focus, Toshi!” He momentarily shook his head as he got ready for the biggest fight of his career… one he wasn’t sure if he’d be walking away from.

Only a fool hopes to get lucky more than once, his old teacher told him… before kicking him in the face back in America. And in Japan, now that he thought of it.

Endeavour and Ryukyu slowly pulled themselves free from the rubble, the second having shielded Mirko with her wings and spared the feisty woman more than her fair share of hurt. He didn’t know where Edgeshot had gone, but the hero was phenomenally hard to hurt with shockwaves in his altered form; so he just had to hope his friend was ok.

He had to focus, dodging a strike before-he had to block. Not for his sake, but for Mirko’s. “Gnn,” He grunted, taking the blast and deflecting it away. “Get out of here!” He called out, “He’s too strong for you!”

“Like hell he is!” Mirko snarled, jumping around him and trying to get a kick in.

All For One’s strike was almost faster than he could see as it shattered her legs and sent her flying; unconscious from the shock and pain. Vaguely, he saw Tiger catching her. She’d live if the wounds weren’t too bad.

“Some heroes are so reckless, aren’t they All Might?” All For One asked, “You didn’t teach them very well, did you? First your students and then your peers who look up to you so much?”

All Might hated the fact he couldn’t really disagree, though he felt the urge to correct him on something.

“I just started teaching this year.” He could’ve went on but refused, this monster was either going to Tartarus or the grave.

“No, you didn’t,” The man refuted, eyeless face watching him, “You just weren’t paying attention. And now that you’re going to die, the world will see that your lessons were all lies.”

He had to intercept another strong blast, one aimed at the retreating Ryukyu, “Gah!” He called out.

“Always so selfless.” There was almost admiration in his voice, but it didn’t stop the next several blasts, the last throwing him away and slamming him into the crater wall. “Always so weak.”

“Your fight is with me!” All Might shouted, knowing he was wasting his breath on the ancient psychopath.

“Is it?” He asked, head tilting in lue of raising his eyebrows, “With how much they’ve interfered, well, were they just offering their quirks up to me instead?”

All Might grit his teeth and had to hope that they decided to listen to him after Mirko was so casually dispatched.

He was almost out of time and strength, he needed to end it in one solid punch or more people would die.

All Might just dug deep, and for a split second he felt the approval of Nana and several others, and he charged in. All for One simply smirked before returning the favor, his right arm twisting and bulking up to hideous proportions making All Might remember their last clash.

But unlike then, he wasn’t blinded by his grief or anger!

And right before their fists could meet he juked, dodging and came in with a right uppercut.

“UNITED STATES OF SMASH!” He shouted as his left hook hit him, and from the backblast concrete dust and ash kicked up hiding the Symbol of Evil and the Symbol of Peace. The sound of the impact echoing and shattering what little glass that hadn’t already shattered.

Then the world faded into dust and debris, the shockwave tearing apart the earth below them and deepening the crater. He was so, so tired now, he just- All For One was unconscious, mercifully unable to keep fighting.

A part of him, the part still hurting from the loss of Nana, wanting nothing more than to pulp his head and reduce his body to gristle and flesh. But between the sound of a helicopter and knowing Nana wouldn’t want him to stain his legacy with a murder (no matter how his heart howled for it) he just grunted.

He couldn’t even bring up his usual smile, he was victorious but it tasted bitter sweet.

At least he knew his student was safe… hopefully…

[hr][/hr]

“Should’ve killed the old monster…” An short elderly hero said with a scoff.

All Might, or Toshi currently, just glanced at his old teacher in deep thought. Call it his recent brush with death or a reality check but he found himself thinking and remembering. He recalled his training in America with Grand Torino, it was harsh. Brutal, the hero before him was a brutal and demanding taskmaster… always critical of him. 

Never truly cruel or anything, but he wondered sometimes if Grand Torino pushed him so hard less to save Japan and possibly the world, and more to avenge Nana?

It didn’t matter, it worked. But he had to explain his reasoning, to his mentor at least.

“There’s a few reasons I didn’t,” He admitted, “The first is that we were on the news, if it was a more private fight then maybe it would be worth it but it wasn’t so the idea is moot. The other is that I wasn’t sure if Sato would pick up his quirks or not. I didn’t know how far away she’d gotten and I didn’t want to risk her going… insane from having him in her head.

The retired hero just grunted, “Fine… though she could just suck it up…” He grumbled and Toshi eyed his former teacher.

“I’m not going to let my student suffer, because you have a grudge to settle, Gran Torino,” The retired hero blinked at his use of his hero name and not his real one, “I’ve failed my students as a teacher once, and I will not fail them anymore…”

He just looked at Toshi before chuckling. “Maybe you’ll make a good teacher yet, brat,” He said with gruff fondness, “Now ask your fellow teachers to straighten your ass out, and this year's crop might even be impressive!”

“Ha!” His mentor continued with a laugh, “But I’m concerned about… Sato’s issues. She reminds me too much of him to be comfortable about it.”

Toshi had to give it to his old teacher, “Yes, but… with support and friends she’ll not turn out like him,” He said, “We won’t allow it.”

Just because one had sociopathic tendencies, didn’t mean they were going to become monsters. All Might had worked with a few heroes both here in Japan and in America that were sociopathic to one degree or another. And at the end of the day a Hero was a Hero, no matter if they’re altruistic or materialistic.

“Just watch her, alright?” He replied, “We don’t want to deal with a second All For One in a decade. I know you want to think the best of everyone, but if it looks like she’s going bad for even a second…”

“It won’t come to that, Young Sato has some good friends.” Toshi said with a smile, “They’ll probably do more than me and the teachers…”

“You’re too optimistic,” The retired pro hero grumped, “Just promise me that if it does come to that, you’ll do what’s necessary.”

“... I’ll do what I have to…” Toshi said simply.

“Good,” His mentor sighed, “She said she’s a hero because it’s easier than being a villain, I’m just wanting it to stay that way.”

“There are worse reasons.” Toshi said absentmindedly as he allowed himself to relax.

Hopefully… this was the last time…

[hr][/hr][hr][/hr]

To explain why the fight went better than canon: he didn’t have Ragdoll’s power so he had to rely on Thermal Vision, Danger Sense, and Sonar to see his attackers, all of which have major limitations. He was also fighting multiple top 10 heroes at once, which is never an easy prospect.

Nightmare723764: Also he wasn’t worn down as he was in canon! Yeah he was losing time, but he didn’t have as little as he did during the canon fight.

Vyor: He didn’t fight the Nomu and there weren’t a horde of them attacking Japan that he had to deal with beforehand, to add further clarification there.