Chapter 4

October 23, 2161

0947 Hours

Hitoshi is… conflicted. He's finally gotten what he wanted. More than what he wanted actually. Not only are there people who fully support his dream of becoming a hero, they're giving him the opportunity to become one of the greatest heroes ever. If the Doctor was to be believed, he and those around him would change the world forever. It was incredible. The only problem was what he had to give up in order to accomplish that. None of the instructors said it, but from the way Doctor Halsey spoke it was clear that he wouldn't be seeing his parents for a long time.

Maybe never.

Whenever the thought returned to his mind, he'd feel a tightness in his throat and cold tendrils of utter sorrow gripped his heart. How were they doing? No, that was a stupid question. He was missing with probably no clues of where he'd gone. They'd be in complete pandemonium right now. When he wasn't depressed about the thought of his parents crying themselves into a mess due to his disappearance, he was busy thinking about-

"Two minutes."

That. Oh yeah, that. Apparently "Initiation" consisted of everyone throwing themselves out of a plane that was a bajillion meters in the air. The instructors had explained that it was completely safe. Totally safe. They'd received fancy parachutes that would automatically deploy at an altitude high enough that would keep them from hitting the ground too fast, but low enough to ensure they'd drop within the Camp's general area. Just in case, Mendez-sensei decided to teach them the Parachute Landing Fall. That was reassuring.

In the "unlikely" chance that their parachute malfunctioned they had someone there to save them. Apparently there was some older candidate with a flight quirk accompanying them for his own training. He'd given everyone red feathers and explained that it would allow him to catch them immediately if something went wrong. Odd, but Hitoshi decided he would never judge another person's Quirk.

Besides, he had more important things to worry about.

"On your feet!" Mendez-sensei's voice blared out over the speakers. Hitoshi and the others didn't waste a second. The senior instructor had made it abundantly clear that everyone was making the jump. They were all standing and waiting for an instructor to come make one final check before the rear ramp would open. Hitoshi took that time to examine the situation in an effort to calm himself. The plane itself was massive, easily able to fit all one hundred children and the dozens of other Commission personnel inside. Every candidate was garbed in a bright orange jumpsuit to make them stand out, and a pair of goggles to protect their eyes. Black leather boots were issued to them all along with a signal flare that they could light if they somehow did get hurt.

An instructor finally made their way over to Hitoshi. As he made his inspection the man simply said, "Remember your orders."

His orders. How could he forget? Hitoshi has committed Mendez-sensei's instructions to memory with ease due to how simple he'd made them. Land, find other candidates, sit tight, wait for someone to come get them. There was more context behind it, but the senior instructor stressed those four steps the most so that no one would misunderstand.

"Ten seconds."

Hitoshi could feel his stomach clench when the lights overhead snapped to an ominous red. He looked towards some sort of stop sign contraption lit up on the right side of the bay. Its simple red illumination seemed far more menacing than it should've been. Then it shifted to yellow. Then finally green. As the back ramp started to open up the deafening sound of rushing air encompassed the cabin. Hitoshi shrunk back, as did almost everyone else. This was it, he had to. He had to. He… this was crazy. There was so much that could go wrong. Everything could go wrong! What if the parachute failed and no one was there to save him? What if he hit the ground too hard and broke his legs? What if there were wolves or bears waiting for him to land? What if-

An orange and green blur whips past Hitoshi and the others. Before the ramp is even fully opened he's practically thrown himself out the back. No hesitation whatsoever.

"What the hell?!" A candidate squeaks.

What the hell, indeed. What the hell was Hitoshi doing? This was it. This was his opportunity, his moment, his first step to becoming a hero. All he had to do was jump.

And so Hitoshi sprinted right after the green haired kid without looking back. He finds out later that every single one of the candidates follows his example. Every one of them makes the jump of their volition.

XXXXX

Izuku didn't waste even a moment. This was far more than everything he ever wanted. The support of an entire organization who were ready to not only help him become a hero, but become the next generation of heroes built to fight even the most overwhelming of opponents all in the name of instilling hope across the world? Oh yeah.

Though he too longed for when he would be able to see his mother again, he knew that this was his only chance of fulfilling his greatest dream. It was also the best choice for everyone. He'd find her again once this was all over, once he had the first chance. But he knew what he had to do. It was slowly starting to come back to him: the day he was kidnapped. The screams of all those people as that lady carried him out from under the collapsing building still haunted him. He - and all of his new family members - would make sure that never happened again. Of course, he still had to take things one step at a time.

He was brought out of his musings when the automatic functions of the parachute activated and the orange nylon sheet billowed out from behind him. The immediate g-force of the action whipped his body for a brief second but he was ultimately fine. As he slowly makes his descent toward the low-level tree line, he takes the time to absorb his environment. He'd been told that Camp Kashyyyk was an island, but from where he was, he could only see the sprawling green go on for kilometers. Forests, open fields, several small lakes, and a few man made structures can be seen. It's absolutely gorgeous.

He tilts his head to look behind him and is pleased to see other orange parachutes deploying in the sky, with similar small bodies hanging below them. They all start to drift in random directions, but Izuku isn't too concerned. After all, some of them are so close that he can practically see the smiles on their faces! Or maybe they're expressions of absolute mind-numbing terror? Nah, it's definitely smiles!

Eventually, the ground comes close enough that he needs to focus on his landing. He's still coming in a little fast so readies his legs and prepares to make the Parachute Landing Fall. As his feet make contact, he buckles his legs and falls to his left. It's a controlled fall, however, so he makes sure to get as much of his body on the ground to have more surface area to absorb the impact. He lays there for a second and breathes. It seems he didn't execute it quite right if the dull pain in his ankle is an indication. Oh well. He wasn't actually falling that fast, he just wanted to be safe.

He gets up and unclips the harness like he was shown to. His first order has been completed: land. Now onto the second one: rendezvous. He cups his hands over his mouth and shouts at the top of his lungs, "Hello! Is anyone around?"

He waits for a moment, listening intently. He notices then that the area he's landed in is open with full visibility. But just a dozen meters to his side is a forest with trees that stand at three times his height. Perhaps they're lost? After a few seconds he tries again. "Hello, hello! If you can hear me, follow my voice!"

"AHHHHHH!" A voice shouts from above.

Izuku's head snaps upwards. A kid with wild purple hair descends rapidly towards the forest. As he disappears behind the trees the sounds of branches snapping and fabric ripping emanates from the foliage. Izuku blinked owlishly. Eventually, a monotone voice with far too much sass calls out.

"Don't worry, I'll just wait here. Stuck in this tree. By myself. Alone."

A genial smile forms on Izuku's face as he makes his way into the woods.

XXXXX

Today was easily one of the top ten days of Will's life. It wasn't the best day on account of finding out he'd been kidnapped and wouldn't see his family in the foreseeable future. But it was certainly better than the past few years since his classmates all but abandoned him after they'd discovered he was Quirkless. The reason?

"-and what do you think our bedtime will be here? I know that we're gonna be busy and what not with all of the training, but I need time to test out some new ideas I got for more of my babies. OH! What kind of lab do you think they'll have here? They'll probably have all kinds of supplies in their inventory like fabricators, TIG welders, plasma cutters, maybe even some-"

Will can't resist. He has to ask one more time, just to confirm that he's not dreaming. "Hatsume?"

She stops immediately to look back at him. "Yeah? What's up, my new lab assistant?"

"You're sure… you're sure you don't mind me being Quirkless?" He asks hesitantly. He needs to hear it again. He has to make sure, as if asking her once more will somehow reveal that she's just been pulling his chain this whole time and that in reality she wants nothing to do with him. His lack of a Quirk was the first thing he'd told her as soon as they came across one another.

He was in high spirits after the speech from Doctor Halsey the previous day. Her declaration of exceptional teamwork and unshakable camaraderie had caused him no end of excitement. Despite his jubilation, there were still shadows of doubt that plagued his mind. Would the other kids really be accepting of him? His previous classmates surely wanted nothing to do with him, so what were the chances that his new teammates would be the same? Will received his answer in no time.

"Ugh! Are you still on about that? Alright, listen here. If anyone - and I do mean anyone - gives you trouble because you can't shoot laser beams from your nostrils or something like that, you let me know," a wicked grin spreads across her face, "and I'll deal with them myself. You're my assistant now. That means you take crap from nobody! Alright?"

Will's smile threatens to split his face in two. "Alright… hey, where are we going anyway?"

Hatsume's face scrunches up in deep thought. "Um, I'm not really sure. Mendez-sensei told us to find other kids and then wait to get picked up. So, I kinda just thought that we'd walk around until we found someone or someone found us."

"Huh, I guess that makes sense. Hey, you said your Quirk allows you to see really far, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, if we get to a clearing then you'll be able to see for kilometers around. We can find and meet up with everyone in the fields," He explained.

"Well, sounds like a plan to me! I think it's this way to the nearest opening."

XXXXX

"You're the one who jumped first."

Izuku's a little caught off guard by that statement. In the time it took them to free Hitoshi from his entanglement they'd really only exchanged their names and a few pleasantries. They'd settled upon a comfortable silence for the past few minutes when he'd said that right out of the blue. "I was?"

Hitoshi cocks his head to the side. "You don't remember? You freaking threw yourself out. When that door opened I almost fainted, we all did. But you didn't waste a moment."

Izuku's stunned. He wasn't even thinking about anyone else in the plane, his body had all but moved on its own. He'd just known in his heart that this was what he had to do.

"How'd you do it? How can you just… be so brave? Does it have to do with your Quirk?"

And at that, Izuku falters. He'd been so bolstered by this new faith that the Commission had in him that he'd forgotten all about how others would view his condition. Well, there was no point in hiding in. His timid nature returns in force as his shoulders slump. "Actually, I'm- I'm, uh, I'm…"

Shinso leans forward in anticipation. Izuku sucks in a deep breath.

"I'm Quirkless."

And that's it. He finally said it. Now all that's left is to wait for the inevitable ridicule. The laughter. The scorn.

"Woah, really? That's pretty cool."

"What?" Izuku mindlessly blurted out.

"I said that's cool. I don't really think it matters whether you have a Quirk or not. That doctor lady was pretty clear that all of us are gonna become the best heroes ever or something like that. So if she chose you, I don't think she minds if you're Quirkless. And, well, I don't mind either. I mean, you didn't even stop to think that you were jumping out of a flying airplane. That's nuts."

He could hardly believe it. This was the second person in just the span of two days to tell him that he could actually achieve his dream of becoming a hero. But this time, it was directly to him. Hitoshi has just told Izuku - to his face - that he's okay with him becoming a hero. He has to wipe at his eyes a little bit as the all too familiar sensation of those Midoriya tears begin to well up. He's gonna have to figure that out soon.

"Thank you. I- thank you. I don't think you know how much that means," he almost sobs. It takes a while but he's able to calm himself down. "So, do you have a Quirk?"

This time it's Hitoshi who adopts a look of reluctance. "Yeah, I do. Um, it's kind of creepy. Are you sure you want to know?"

Creepy? Izuku has had classmates who could pull their eyeballs out of their sockets like a snail and turn their heads into some sort of oversized wooden anteater.

"I can… control people. With my mind."

"Like brainwashing?"

"Yeah," he said shyly. His features were saturated with apprehension, but there was a hint of hope in his eyes that Izuku picked up on. He recognized that kind of expression. After all, he was wearing it not a minute earlier.

"That's amazing!" He shouted. "Do you know how valuable something like that could be for a Pro Hero? You could single handedly stop villains before a fight ever broke out!"

Though the rest of his body doesn't make any noticeable changes a small smile slowly materializes. "Thanks."

Before he can start again, there's a rustle in the distance further into the woods that startles the both of them. Muffled voices could be heard. Then, a boy emerged from the greenery.

"Oh hey, there's someone right there! How's it going!" Will exclaimed. The girl that walked out from behind him seemed to be just a little more… enthusiastic.

"What's this?" Mei's eyes zoom in on the two new candidates. "More assistants to recruit into my lab? Will! You've just been promoted to Head Assistant!"

Izuku stayed silent, unsure of how to respond to that statement. Hitoshi leaned in close to him and simply whispered, "Should we run?"

Just then, the red feathers that they'd all forgotten about came to life. They hoisted each candidate into the air without any difficulty and flew them at a steady speed out of the forest. On the other side stood one of the instructors with a digital tablet in her left hand. Behind her was a large military type truck that had three sets of wheels. There was another instructor sitting in the driver seat and one more standing in the open back. Several other children were situated in the two rows of seats.

The lady in front of them looked from Izuku, to Hitoshi, then Mei, and Will before typing into her datapad. "Candidates 013, 037, 039, and 043 have been secured."

A high-pitched ping squeaked out of the device. The feathers gently placed the four onto the ground where they were addressed by the instructor. "Candidates. Congratulations. You've passed your Initiation. From this day forth you four are a team. One big happy family. You'll do everything together. Am I understood?"

The new teammates nodded fervently.

"Outstanding. Allow me to officially welcome you to Camp Kashyyyk, Fireteam Mythic."

Author's Note: Just as a heads up, there'll be quite a few time skips throughout the next several chapters. I'm planning to get through six years of training in less than ten chapters.