Trust in Him

Chapter 17

Was that you, Young Todoroki!? All Might questions as the Nomu is suddenly frozen.

"A freeze attack...!!"

Thank you, my boy! All Might grins as he slides out of the Nomu's grip. He has so much precision he was able to freeze him without catching me in it...!! Now his grip has slackened!!

"The Symbol of Peace won''t go down as easy as you clowns," Todoroki says cooly, no inflections in his voice.

All Might frowns, clutching his side.

"You pinned down our revolving door..." Shigaraki says to Katsuki, glaring at him. "Well now... this is quite the pinch..."

"Just as I thought, this prick was never all that sharp!" Katsuki grins, his hand resting on Kurogiri's neck thing. "That bit on your body you use to get all misty and warp-gatey just got sealed, mothertrucker! You gonna tell me you don't use that warp-gate to hide your true body!? Huh!? If the shadow-mist were your true form and you had no actual body, then why would you have called any attack 'dangerous'!!?" He looks down at Kurogiri cockily.

"Urrrgh..." Kurogiri groans.

"DOOON'T YOU MOVE!! The second you so much as twitch, I'll load you with a nice little explosion right here, right now!!" Katsuki grins, lowering his face toward Kurogiri's with a grin.

"Not a very heroic line there, buddy..." Kirishima glances at Katsuki nervously.

"We've been cornered, and what's more, you're all nearly unscathed. Man, I have to hand it to the kids these days..." Deku mutters, despite being obviously young himself.

"At this rate, the villain alliance will be a laughing-stock...!" Shigaraki trembles angrily. "Nomu, go ahead and finish explosion boy over there. We're rescuing our revolving door."

"!" Shoto watches as the Nomu breaks itself away from his ice, regenerating itself easily.

"Stand back, all of you!!" All Might instructs, throwing his hand out. "What the!? Wasn't his Quirk a 'shock absorption' Quirk?!"

Deku smirks, looking at All Might. "Never said that was the full extent of his abilities. As you can see, he's also got 'super regeneration.'" He grins, cockiness in his eyes.

"Nomu is a human sand-bag artificially crafted to the height of physical fitness in order to withstand your 100%," Shigaraki explains as the Nomu rushes at Katsuki.

"KATSUKI!!" Hina screams, fear in her voice as her eyes widen.

He's quick!!

All Might rushes toward Katsuki, carrying him over to Hina and the rest.

"Katsuki!! You dodged him?!" Shock shows in Hina's eyes as she sees Katsuki suddenly right next to her.

"No, you idiot," Katsuki puffs, a little shaken up.

"Ghah. Gehohh..." All Might stands back aways, in front of the Nomu, scratches on his arms. "...Do you know not mercy?..."

So he took one for HIM, huh? Deku thinks, an idea popping into his mind. He glances over at the students, calculating.

"We had no choice. We had to save our ally, didn't we? And not long ago, one of your kids over there... Ahhhh, which one..... The short one with black hair. She burned Deku here pretty bad." He gestures to the hand-shaped burns on Deku's neck. "And for whom do you think she mustered such touching acts of violence? Hmmm, 'hero'?"

"..." A mix of heroes and villains, honestly. Hina sighs as she listens in, walking up the stairs with Aizawa-Sensei carefully.

"Now listen here, All Might!" Deku starts in, taking a step forward. "I am VERY ticked off! We're all categorized as either heroes or villains, but at the end of the day, violence is violence!" Hina can hear the pain in his voice, but has no clue as to why it's there. "And who gets to decide right and wrong, strong and weak, useful and useless? SOCIETY DOES!!" Anger flashes in his eyes. "The 'Symbol of Peace'?" He laughs. "GIVE ME A DANG BREAK!! You're NOTHING more than a bludgeon of oppression yourself!! VIOLENCE ONLY BREEDS MORE VIOLENCE! And once we kill you? Ohohoh, once we kill you, that'll be made known to the world."

Is... Is he okay...? Hina looks back at the green-haired villain, concern filling her eyes. Deku glares at her as he catches her staring with pity.

"You're mad. You oughtta keep your antisocial viewpoints to yourself." All Might glares. "Besides, be straight with me. You just want to get in your kicks."

"You saw through us so quickly..." Shigaraki murmurs.

"It's 4 vs. 4." Shoto points out. "Not impossible chances."

"And Bakugou-kun exposed that shadow dude's weak point! You guys are outrageous, but if we give All Might some support, then we'll send you packing no problem!!" Kirishima hypes himself up, making double fists.

"NO!!! PLEASE ESCAPE!" All Might shouts, throwing his hand out again.

"But if I hadn't come to support you earlier, it'd have been bad," Shoto explains calmly, looking at his right hand.

"Right you are, Todoroki my boy!! Thanks a ton!! But now I'll be okay!! All you need to do is watch a pro show you how it's done!!" All Might makes a tight fist, his muscles bulging.

"Nomu, black-mist, do your thing. Deku and I'll deal with the kids." Shigaraki issues orders, calmness in his voice. "Let's clear the game and return victorious!" Shigaraki and Deku rush at Kirishima, Katsuki, and Todoroki, the three standing nearest them.

"They're coming! Brace yourselves!" Kirishima shouts, already in a fighting stance.

All Might steps toward the Nomu, exchanging punches blow-for-blow.

"We told you before... He has shock absorption." Shigaraki bounces backwards, avoiding hits from the kids as Deku leaps away from one of Katsuki's strikes.

"Deku...."

"I'm aware!" All Might replies, going at it faster than ever.

"!!"

A full frontal blow-for-blow?! Hina's eyes widen as she turns and watches yet again.

"It's shock absorption, not total nullification!! It must have a limit, no!? He was made to withstand my 100%!? In that case, I'll just give it more than 100%!!" All Might gives strong punch after strong punch, untiring.

All Might's spitting blood, and yet he's still fighting?!

"A HERO OR SOMEONE WHO SMASHES THROUGH EVERY OBSTACLE LIFE PUTS HIS WAY!" All Might shouts, blood coming out of his mouth.

"...!"

"DO YOU KNOW OF WHAT I SPEAK, VILLAIN!!?"

All Might punches the Nomu one last time, sending it flying out of the USJ dome and launching it through the sky, far away.

"What is this, a comic book? It's like he pounded the shock absorption out of him... The ultimate meathead," Kirishima states, awe and wonder in his voice.

"So that power was bull in the end... And he even beat him to a pulp so fast his regeneration couldn't activate in time..." Katsuki stands stock-still, shock in his eyes.

So this is the top... Shoto thinks.

This is the world of the pros...! Katsuki stares at All Might in amazement.

"I really have gotten weaker," All Might says, sounding disappointed in himself. "In my heyday, it'd have taken five good punches, tops." He sighs, holding his pose for a few seconds before straightening out. "Now I threw more than 300 of the suckers."

300?! In that time?! Hina's eyes widen, and she whips her head toward All Might. That couldn't have been more than 1 minute, most!!

"Now then, villain. We both want to put an end to this dance of ours quickly, don't we?"

"You used cheats...!" Shigaraki complains, scratching at his neck and sounding about to cry.