Chapter Text5:40 PM, Thursday(First Reset)
"Because I am here!" All Might's voice boomed with the taste of ash, his heroic grin pushed onto his face through the pain in his side.
He gripped Muscular's fist, pulling him in for a powerful punch to the chest. The villain went skidding back against the street, tearing up concrete and asphalt. The rescued civilian below Toshinori stared up at him with starry eyes for a stunned moment before he finally remembered to run.
If he was being honest, Toshinori Yagi hadn't fully believed in Naomasa's tip. Many people had claimed to have foresight before, yet only one case had ever been real-his former partner Mirai.
But Toshinori couldn't take the chance that it was fake, not with a villain like Muscular. And he trusted Naomasa and his gut instincts.
The problem was that the timing was terrible. By the time Naomasa called him, Toshinori had already used up most of his time on patrol-at most, he had thirty minutes left in his hero form. Something that would only decrease the more Toshinori used the power of One for All.
Muscular's body was unharmed from the opening blow, but the smirk was now gone. He was almost as tall as Toshinori, a wall of pure, terrifying muscle that reminded him of a very old American comic about a rage monster.
"All Might." Muscular's face twisted into a scowl. "Here to lock me up again, are you?"
"I'm here to put you back where you belong, villain." Toshinori replied, firm. He didn't even bother asking Muscular to surrender.
He'd captured Muscular with Endeavor's help a few years back, easily. But that was before he killed All For One, before that crushing blow tore through his stomach like paper and he smashed his enemy through the ground in return.
Muscular was powerful and bloodthirsty, killing everyone he came across to prove his own strength and power. Fighting the man weakened and alone wasn't exactly ideal.
"You want to put me back in there? Do you know how long I've been waiting for this-sitting in that fucking cell with my awesome quirk suppressed. I finally get to rip you apart." Muscular said, his arms bulging with power. The malice rolled off him in heavy waves.
"You've killed countless innocents out of pure evil." Toshinori's eyes narrowed. "And you think you don't deserve prison?"
"Ha, you don't get it. It's simple. I'm just doing what I want. I killed 'em because it was fun. No one gives a shit about evil. What you want is the complete opposite-stopping me." Muscular grinned, wild, his legs tensing up. "So, all that's left is to see who wants more."
Muscular rushed at him, launched forward like a spring. Toshinori crossed his arms, tanking a blow heavy enough to push him back before ducking under a red hook and countering, punching that monstrous chest with no small amount of force.
Muscular stumbled back, seemingly stunned, but when he met Toshinori's eyes his grin was even wider. "Those punches...they're way fucking lighter than when we fought!" Toshinori hid a grimace.
"You're getting weaker, All Might!" Muscular lunged again, full of crazed laughter, and their fists met in a powerful shockwave. The wind blowed around them like a hurricane.
Muscular's muscles grew to their peak, dwarfing Toshinori in size as they continued to clash. The villain was overwhelming, reminding him of All for One for a brief moment-a muted ping in his injured side.
Soon Toshinori was losing, being pushed back by the huge force in front of him.
Further and further, the road ripping up under them from the stress, the panic rising in the citizens around them like a tangible force as their hero lost more and more ground against the villain. Muscular's quirk had been unleashed to the point that he was an incredibly enhanced force of nature, overpowering Toshinori in their test of strength.
That just wouldn't do. Toshinori grit his teeth tight, diving deeper into his unlimited ocean of power.
The familiar burn of One for All ran through his entire body like a circuit, the centuries of stockpiled strength exhilarating as always even decades later, and his free hand curled into a fist as power flooded into it.
His grin lifted from a comforting front into something truly fearless and the terror around them faded, his aura covering the street like a warm but heavy blanket.
That wasn't part of his quirk, despite what some conspiracy theorists would believe. The ability to calm the people around him by just being here was something he'd worked toward, built up over decades.
The two came to a halt as their strength cancelled out, Muscular's huge arm still pressed against his own, the hero's legs now planted unwavering into the street.
Ten minutes left.
The Symbol of Peace laughed, and Muscular unconsciously flinched back.
Going all out, though, he'd only need one.
"Is that all you got, villain?"
Muscular swung his other arm for his face-
All Might's fist struck first, a powerful uppercut that snapped Muscular's head up. He followed up with a Detroit Smash that slammed into the villain's face, sending him flying.
"Carolina Smash!"
His fastest move brought him into range again, dual chops sweeping away the bulky arms in a cross-shaped burst of wind.
Muscular twisted in mid-air, landing on his feet in time to block another blow...then another, and another. All Might refused to let up, to give the villian room to breathe. The wall of muscle held strong under All Might's barrage, the shockwaves wrecking the street around them.
He might even be more durable than All Might himself, with all those enhanced muscle fibers coiled around him like armor.
Muscular growled, huge hands closing around All Might's throat and squeezing . But the hero didn't falter, swinging his head forward to crash against the villain's with an ear-splitting crack.
Muscular's grip loosened from the impact, blood dripping down the villain's forehead, and All Might reared his fist back.
"How's this for 'weaker', villain?" All Might asked.
"What the fu-"
"Texas Smash!"
The Smash hit Muscular's gut with the force of a train, the villain barely managing to keep his footing. Then the muscles around his stomach suddenly grew, trapping his fist within Muscular's mass of red like something out of a horror film. All Might instinctively yanked, but he couldn't get free.
Shit.
All Might swung his other fist forward, only for it to get similarly caught on Muscular's shoulder.
A rookie mistake. He'd assumed that this was a pure brawl, enhancer vs enhancer, but this application of Muscular's quirk had him completely trapped, stuck.
"I wasn't expecting that headbutt of yours, damn." Muscular chuckled with a hurt cough, throwing punch after punch at All Might's unguarded chest. "You're full of surprises. But now that you can't punch me, what're you gonna do?" One struck his injured side, hard, and All Might held back the blood in this throat.
The thing was, All Might didn't become the Number One Hero just by punching things.
"How about this?" All Might made to headbutt again, and Muscular flinched at the feint, raising both arms above his head-
And All Might instead stomped down on the ruined street, collapsing the ground beneath them in a single blow.
Muscular looked utterly confused as they fell down together, too slow to react. He didn't have the decades of hero experience All Might did, adapting to cases and situations and fights. So as the terrible smell of the sewers hit their noses and All Might planted both legs on the villain's massive chest in midair, Muscular could do nothing until it was way too late.
All Might leapt , kicking off his chest and ripping himself free of muscle fibers to rise up through the hole(he was causing lots of property damage today, wasn't he?), flying higher and higher above his enemy. He paused at the apex of his jump, floating for a single second in open air, almost as if he had his master's quirk.
Then gravity told hold, and he was curling into a tight ball, somersaulting through the air in a blur of red, blue, and yellow as he fell back down like a mighty meteor.
"California..."
He sprung out of the roll as he passed through the ruined street, his fist streaking out on a collision course.
Muscular's eyes went wide.
"SMASH!"
5:44 PM, Thursday(First Reset)
"SMASH!" All Might yelled, his powerful voice easily booming out through the television.
Izuku couldn't directly see the Symbol of Peace's finishing blow strike Muscular through the news camera. All the same, the whirlwind rising out like a tornado was awe-inspiring enough, washing away the clouds above.
All Might hopped out of the sewers seconds later, a shrunken, unconscious Muscular slung over his shoulders, his reassuring grin still in place.
"Amazing." Izuku breathed. "I've never even seen him use this much power before."
Despite his decades of heroism, there were rarely ever villains strong enough to challenge All Might. Izuku had complete memories of all his public fights-he could count the number of times the hero had gone all-out on a single hand.
"That was so fast." Uraraka said. "He beat that Muscular so easily..."
That detective had ended up calling in the actual Symbol of Peace, and the terrifying threat they saw was dealt with in no time at all.
This day was the ultimate proof of Reset's ability. They'd completely overwritten a tragedy, saving everyone involved with just a well-timed call. All that destruction caused by Muscular stopped in minutes .
Incredible.
"Well, he is the Number One hero, after all." Inko glanced at them. "I'm surprised you kids know about Muscular, anyway. His rampage was years ago, and it's not exactly something people talk about."
"You shouldn't be. Your son's almost addicted to researching heroes and villains, Midoriya-san, even the forgotten ones." Uraraka laughed, just as happy as he was. "He could teach a class on them at this point!"
It sounded kinda concerning when she put it like that...
Inko smiled warmly. "My Izuku has always been so smart. I sometimes wonder why he loves his heroes so much, but when I watch All Might..." She gestured at the screen, where All Might was waving at a cheering crowd. "...I think I truly understand. He's my favorite hero as well."
All Might soared off into the sky soon after, likely to save more people. Izuku couldn't help but wonder when he'd get to see the Symbol of Peace again. His appearances had been lowering the past few yea-
Uraraka's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "I still think Thirteen's cooler, though."
One of Izuku's eyes twitched. "There's no way -"
Inko just shook her head fondly as they dove into the argument.
4:21 PM, Tuesday
"Hello."
Izuku made sure Uraraka wasn't currently breaking quirk laws before carefully placing the toaster in his arms down in the sand and turning to face the newcomer.
He was tall but unnaturally skinny, with stick-like limbs and worn features, his shirt too large and colored with hints of red-
"Sir, are you okay?!" Izuku blurted.
"Thank you for your concern, young boy, but I can assure you that I'm quite fine." The man actually coughed up blood at the end of that sentence, wiping it off like it was nothing.
"I'm not a doctor, but you really don't seem to be 'fine' right now." Uraraka remarked, walking up behind Izuku. Izuku winced at her bluntness, but well, she wasn't wrong.
He only chuckled. "I do have a medical professional that's been looking after me since my injury. But I'm sure you don't want to hear about that. I heard about two students working together tirelessly to clean up this beach. That's you two, isn't it?"
Izuku hummed, cautious. "And what if it is? Are you going to tell us to quit?"
"The opposite, actually! It's been years since Dagobah Beach was clean, and I very much want to see that sight again. I'll help you."
"Really?"
The blonde man nodded. "I own a pretty large truck. I can park her nearby, and you can load the heavier stuff like kitchen appliances, so I can drop them off at an actual junkyard."
"That'd be super nice of you." Uraraka said. "But you do realize that we come out here every day, right? We don't want to take up too much of your..."
He waved it off. "I have a lot of free time these days, don't worry about that. I'll be here."
Izuku smiled, holding out his hand. "We'll be relying on you in the future, then. I'm Midoriya Izuku, and the girl next to me is Uraraka Ochako."
The man shook it with a grin, his blue eyes glinting. Despite his appearance, his grip was unwaveringly firm.
"Yagi Toshinori."
7:28 PM, Sunday
Izuku collected three more months of memories.
Yagi, true to his word, was almost always there to help when they arrived. His truck made their job way easier-Izuku guessed they'd finish cleaning the beach within a few more months.
He started training Uraraka in hand-to-hand combat. now that her stamina was decently well off. Knowing how to fight was necessary for any hero, even those with offensive quirks. Zero Gravity, a touch-activated quirk, only made the skill even more essential for her.
Her talent and determination were incredible, and she got the basics down easily. Uraraka favored grapples and throws, seeming to enjoy slamming Izuku into the sand.
Surprisingly, Yagi was quite experienced at combat. He sparred with the two of them sometimes, offering his own tips and tricks. Izuku had a hunch the man was an injured retired hero helping the next generation, yet he couldn't recognize the blonde at all. An underground hero, like Eraserhead?
Despite Yagi's weak build, his reflexes were fast and his eyes sharp. He moved like he was used to having much higher mass-likely because he'd lost weight from his injury-but it barely left any openings.
Both Izuku and Yagi were terrible teachers, though. Uraraka didn't hold it against them, and they did manage to give her a good foundation, but she would definitely need actual training...
Maybe he should take her to meet Sensei. They'd get along well, he bet.
6:10 PM, Wednesday
Now that Izuku actually had people to train with, he could practice the active part of Perfect Recall, something that could be invaluable to heroics and investigations.
He formed the idea of a library as a mental construct long ago to represent his memories within his mind. Izuku slowly worked on getting his library more tangible and organized.
At fourteen he had years and years of complete memories filling hundreds and hundreds of bookcases. There were multiple floors, all adorned in that same dark, polished wood. A massive spiral staircase stretched through the middle, stretching up higher and automatically building with the rest of the construct. There was no roof, just more space for floors meeting the blue sky above.
The term 'library' barely did the place justice, anymore.
The books themselves were color-coded and labelled by date. Most of the shelves held his green books- a separate one for every single day he had lived. His quirk was the ability to relive his past, meaning that he even had memories from before Perfect Recall awakened. In total, he had 5280 green books at the moment.
The other colors were each given their own small sections.
Izuku's very first memories of strange consciousness, drifting aimlessly and pure comfort, were in nine different brown books on the bottom floor.
He remembered his time asleep, as well as the dreams during it. While those dreams were usually recorded with the rest of a day in green books, he sometimes put down interesting dreams in his orange ones.
The red books were his worst or most painful memories. Thankfully, Izuku didn't have many of those, but there were still a few-such as the feel of burns from explosions and that terrible electricity crackling against his skin. Izuku hated even touching their narrow covers, but he couldn't help but wonder how useful the red books could be. A single touch, and a villain would be thrown a terrible memory. On the other hand, Izuku would literally have to go through the same pain...
Finally, Izuku's most beloved memories were colored a bright blue. He didn't think he'd ever get tired of flipping through those, feeling the same thoughts and emotions flow into him as they did in that moment. They were all beautiful.
Passively, Perfect Recall let Izuku remember all the text and information contained within his many books.
Actively, Izuku could enter his own mind, pick up the book he wanted and go through the memory itself. No time passed outside his mind while he re-lived it.
He opened his eyes to see Uraraka's face, his hand still holding hers.
"Do you see anything, Uraraka? I can't really tell if my quirk's working or not."
Uraraka shook her head. "Nope. My head kinda feels...fuzzy? Like it does when you're about to show me a memory. But then, nothing happens."
"I wanted to show you my mind itself, instead of just my memories. But that might've been too big of a leap."
He could bring people into his memories, but so far it seemed that he couldn't bring anyone into his mental construct itself. Or maybe that wasn't even possible, and he was just stretching the concept of his ability too far.
"I mean, you could just need more practice." Uraraka said thoughtfully. "You told me yourself that you almost never worked on this part of your quirk."
"True. Mental quirks are always a little harder to figure out."
"Hm. What if you like, chain memories together?"
"Huh?"
Uraraka tilted her head. "No time passes while you're in a memory, somehow, right? Midoriya-kun, if you could play memory after memory inside your mind, or even just loop the same one..."
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Alright then."
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you do realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Alright then."
Izuku focused on replaying back those few seconds before his hold on Uraraka's consciousness faded. It worked, surprisingly, and the scene rewinded fast before flowing normally once again.
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you do realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
"Man, seeing my face in maximum detail from your eyes is weird. And hearing your voice from your eyes is even weirder." Uraraka muttered.
"...Wait a minute, we can talk while inside my memories?"
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Alright then."
It was much easier to grab onto the timeframe he needed the third time, bringing them back into the same sequence.
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you do realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
"Now that's really useful." Izuku mused. "If I can keep this up, we can just...pause in the middle of hero work and have so much more time to think. That's incredible!"
"Midoriya-kun...how the hell am I listening to you talk and the memory at the same time without missing either? Your quirk's bullshit."
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Fair."
"Alright then."
Again.
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you do realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
Izuku hissed. "...Yeah, my brain is definitely hurting, now. Do you feel that too?"
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Yeah. It must be the quirk overuse. How many times did you uh...replay that, so far?"
"Four."
"Alright then."
"Maybe just one more, then."
Izuku hummed. "I see what you're getting at. But you do realize that this is probably going to cause some kind of quirk backlash, right?"
Uraraka nodded. "Yep."
"Alright then."
Izuku let go and they both blinked their eyes open, their hands flying up to cradle their aching skulls. Ouch.
Uraraka cursed. "Ow, ow. Really not a fan of the headaches."
"I mean, at least it's better than your nausea."
"...I guess. So, how long were we in there?"
"A minute, maybe? But almost zero time passed here."
Uraraka's eyes widened. "That's amazing, then. Just watch like, the longest memory you have-"
"Nah, it's not just how many memories I view at once. It's how long we spent there. But a minute is definitely plenty of time to think in a fight." Izuku smiled. "Thank you, Uraraka. I don't know how I didn't think of that..."
She waved it off. "You're always helping me with my quirks. Plus, helping you practice yours is fun. Perfect Recall is like, the coolest!"
"Again, Uraraka-you can rewind time ..." Izuku trailed off, watching her eyes narrow in thought. "What?"
"Why are you still calling me Uraraka?"
Izuku blinked, confused. "Because...that's your name?"
Uraraka tilted her head. "You stopped using an honorific on my surname months ago. And I'm pretty informal with you anyway. Why not just use Ochako? That's not weird, right?"
"T-There's no way I could-"
"Izuku-kun." Uraraka tried.
Izuku completely froze up, his cheeks surely burning red.
Uraraka nodded to herself, mind made up. "Hmm, yeah. That works!"
"...What? No, no, it doesn't!"
"So, Izuku-kun, I have a few more ideas..."
Notes:
All Might beating the shit out of Muscular. Why not?
I've expanded on Izuku's quirk, and how he's developed it over time. A whole mindscape of memories and being able to show people those memories, as well as the inherent time dilation involved, is honestly a big leap from simply remembering everything you've experienced. It's because I firmly believe that if Izuku truly did have a quirk at the usual age, he'd spend all of that time analyzing and evolving it as much as possible.
Please tell me if that last scene was confusing to read!