Chapter 2: Toshinori Yagi
Review answers:
Gamelover41592: Well the reason I reset it in the first place was because I felt like there was more, a lot more, I could've done with the beginning years of Izuku's training. There was also other aspects that I thought to be too rushed, and I made the Earth aware of the Republic because I have ideas with their allegiances in the future.
LEGOBRICK13: Thanks, I'm glad you think that! Part of the reason why this is unique is because I'm not really basing it off of any specific story it's just a random idea I had that I've expanded into a full story.
Katsuki had no idea what happened to Deku. The paradoxically idiotic nerd got saved by that Jedi and he was gone the next day. Katsuki had heard tales of the Jedi searching for recruits, but Deku in no way could possibly meet the requirements, whatever those were. A weakling like him had no redeeming qualities, he couldn't even have a Quirk, so what did a Jedi see in him?
It was that question that he was repeating to himself as he got home from school. It was the only thing on his mind the entire day, yet he couldn't figure out the answer. His mom ended up catching what he was muttering under his breath. "Inko's kid's disappeared?" Mitsuki repeated, to which Katsuki begrudgingly nodded.
In a flash, Mitsuki was on the phone just as his dad, Masaru walked into the room, the smile on his face vanishing the second he saw the look on Mitsuki's face. Shooting an accusatory eyebrow at Katsuki, he quickly came to his own defense. "I didn't do crap!" Mitsuki promptly smacked him on the back of his head as the phone continued to ring.
"Katsuki said Izuku wasn't at school today, is he alright? It isn't like him to miss school," Mitsuki asked, sounding rather worried. Too worried for Katsuki's liking. Why did she even care about that Quirkless loser? What could he contribute to society? Maybe she saw the same thing in him that the Jedi had saw in him as well?
Katsuki could manage to hear what Inko was saying on the other side of the line. She sounded like she was crying. "My baby boy went with the kind man... the Jedi!" Inko sobbed, making Katsuki feel awful inside. This was a grieving woman, but still, a small voice in his head was confused as to why she cared so much about a worthless loser like Deku. It probably wasn't the best time to ask about that.
"Jedi!?" Mitsuki repeated, stunned. "Inko, are you sure he wasn't just some guy trying to kidnap your son?"
Inko sniffled on the other side of the line. "Yes, I saw his lightsaber, only Jedi have those." She blew her nose, succumbing to her emotions even more. "He said my Izuku could be a great Jedi, and of course he said he wanted to go. He always did want to be a great hero, even after he was diagnosed."
Izuku could smell how fresh the air was in the Temple in spite of the polluted planet that Coruscant was. Even as he woke up it was clear that either air was pumped in from another source or there was a garden somewhere within the many rooms of the Jedi Temple. He hadn't really explored beyond what he had been shown by Master Plo because he was utterly exhausted after such a long day.
Even though he was a completely untrained in the ways of the Force, Izuku felt different being here compared to any other place on Earth. There was a collective presence here that made him feel comfortable, almost as if he were still at home, making Izuku believe that this wouldn't be too bad. He could succeed here.
Before he worried about that, he needed to meet his classmates. Classmates might be an odd word for them, but considering this was really just a grandiose school of sorts, it was an apt term for his new acquaintances. Perhaps they would grow close, close enough to be considered family, but that remained to be seen. Regardless, he strode towards the cluster of children with as much confidence as he could muster in spite of his nerves chewing away at the already lacking swagger he possessed.
In total, there was about five members of his class, including himself. Izuku didn't know how large the usual class of Jedi Younglings was, but this one seemed small. One of them was a Zabrak with skin green like the stereotypical camouflage of a soldier in the US military, his eyes a dull grey. Horns sprouted from either side of his head, though it looked like more were slowly coming in.
Another was a Twi'lek, her skin a sky blue and her eyes much the same. Her two lekku dangled behind her, swaying with her every movement as she talked loudly of her homeworld, seemingly very proud of wherever she had come from. Izuku wasn't paying much attention to what she was saying, truth to be told.
The third of the group was a humanoid, much like Izuku. His pale, pasty skin seemed to glow in the light of the rising sun through the windows of the bunkroom. His slicked back, black hair seemed a little greasy. He was sitting back in a chair, listening to the Twi'lek talk, seemingly very interested though Izuku noticed his eyes darting from one person to the next, as if he were sizing them all up.
Then there was the Togruta girl with orange skin. White markings lined her face, which was rather round. She wasn't really listening to what the Twi'lek was saying, so Izuku thought it best to approach her first. At that this point, all preconceived notions of confidence was gone, so the Togruta was the one who broke the ice. "Hey, broccoli boy!" she greeted chipperly.
"B-Broccoli boy?" Izuku parroted, stunned by the immediate nickname.
"Well, yeah!" the Togruta nodded, a big grin plastered on her face. "Just look at your hair," she said, pointing towards his scalp, "You look just like broccoli!" All Izuku gathered from that was that, one, this girl was clearly the imaginative type, and two, broccoli existed even out on the faraway world of Coruscant.
"My name's Izuku," he decided he'd say, not wanting to have another situation like the 'Deku' fiasco on Earth. Still, the Togruta didn't seem to care what his real name was, and reiterated that he was a broccoli boy. Sighing, Izuku accepted his fate. "Okay... well, what's your name?" he asked, hoping to change the subject from his supposed broccoli nature.
"Ahsoka, Ahsoka Tano," she said, thankfully calming down after he nickname for him had been set in stone. "You're new around here, aren't you?" Ahsoka asked, to which Izuku nodded.
"Yes, I saw him come in last night while we were all asleep, or well, supposed to be asleep," said the greasy boy, his voice sounding as if he were suffering from a significant cold. He sniggered as if he had said something funny. "Must be really important to be brought in so late."
"Oh, shut it, Alzarad," Ahsoka said, her tone showing just how fed up she was with him.
He laughed once more. "Oh you'll love this, Ahsoka, Master Plo Koon himself brought him in."
"Really?" Ahsoka asked, in awe as she looked back to Izuku. Izuku could've sworn there was something different about her voice when she talked to him specifically, though he could've been imagining things.
"Yeah, he found me yesterday on my homeworld, Earth," Izuku explained, smiling now that there was a decent flow to their conversation. He didn't feel as awkward now, though he still definitely wasn't self assured. Maybe that would come with time.
"You're from Earth?" the Twi'lek asked, having finally given up on her rant about her home. She had to have been a pretty recent recruit to, to have remembered what her home was like. "Isn't that where the Quirkies are from?"
"Quirkies?"
The Twi'lek nodded. "Yeah, you know, those guys that can do so many different things, like this one that I heard can make flames come out of his body like it was his hair!" Izuku smiled, realizing she was talking about Japan's eternally number two hero, Endeavor, and his fiery facial hair. "Or the one that's so strong he can change the weather with a single punch!" That was pretty clearly All Might.
"If you're from that place, what kind of power do you have?" asked the Zabrak. With everyone in the room looking at him, Izuku suddenly felt very small and very overwhelmed. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about himself, and especially what kind of Quirk, or lackthereof, he had.
Still, if these were Jedi, even beginners, they could probably tell if he was lying. "I, uh, don't have one. At least, not one that I know of."
"That's possible?" the Twi'lek asked rather dumbly, which the ever patient Izuku merely nodded understandingly in response to. "Maybe you're just late to the party, some flowers don't really begin to bloom until later on into it's growing season!"
Izuku shook his head. "No, there's no chance of me getting a Quirk, there's something in my bone structure that means it's nearly impossible for me to ever manifest a Quirk." Silence fell upon the room and Izuku was beginning to feel as if nothing had changed. He would still be an outcast, and no one would like him.
Ahsoka shrugged. "That just makes you more like us, and not some superpowered hero, right?" Izuku hadn't expected that reaction out of her, but he was extremely happy that she didn't think less of him now. "Doesn't seem like that big of a deal."
"I don't know, it'd definitely help if you had a Quirk," said the nasally sounding one, Alzarad. He shrugged. "Oh well, not like it really matters. It just gives me a more even playing field."
The Zabrak shook his head. "Sorry, sometimes he's a bit of a jerk."
"It's nothing compared to what I'm used to," Izuku reassured, his tone completely serious.
"Well, I'm Vesuvus," said the Zabrak, extending a hand for Izuku to shake, which he did eagerly, still adjusting to the fact that people actually seemed to like him here. "It's a pleasure to meet you, I just hope you can become as good a Jedi as I'll be."
A smile formed on Izuku's freckled face. "I'll do my best."
"My turn!" the Twi'lek butted in, shoving herself right in Izuku's face. "I'm Marra!" she said, an innocent smile on her face.
"Okay, well I just want you guys to know that I'm gonna do my best to catch up to all of you!" Izuku said, his determination now overpowering any sense of fear he had. All Might wouldn't be afraid of something as minor as meeting new people, so he would be bold, just like he would be in this moment. "I'll make sure you all know that I am here to stay!"
Halfway across the galaxy, Toshinori Yagi was sitting across from Jedi Master Shaak Ti, a woman with a reputation much like his. From what he had heard of the space wizard, Shaak Ti was a kind and just woman who desired nothing more than to see the Republic, but more importantly, its citizens, flourish. In the seclusion of a chamber in the large Republic, he felt comfortable enough to lose his persona as All Might.
Because that's what All Might was. Underneath that smile he had was fear, fear of what his archenemy would do in his absence. Terror that came into his heart when he wondered what would happen if there was no Symbol of Peace looking out for the world. He could never show that fear, and so he replaced it with a smile that shone brighter than any fear the people felt.
"I suppose we'd best get down to business," Shaak Ti prompted, her red skin looking looking hot to the touch under the bright light of the sole light source of the room, which dangled between the two of them. The two sat across a small table no bigger than Toshinori was.
"And what would that business be?" Toshinori asked, an eyebrow perked. His muscular frame looked rather odd in his chair, which was comparatively tiny. It was clearly meant for a normal sized human, and not a 7 foot tall man who weighed over 400 pounds. The seat groaned as he leaned back a little.
"Well, a colleague of mine approached your world leaders, asking for the aid of you heroes if the Republic were ever to be thrown into the flames of war," Shaak Ti explained. "Of course, it is incredibly unlikely that the Republic will ever have to call upon you and your comrades, but with the recent incident at Naboo and the death of Qui-Gon Jinn, the Republic is in a panic."
Toshinori nodded. He knew exactly what she was saying. "And so you're coming to me, asking for me to spearhead a movement to accept that idea?" he assumed, to which he recieved a slight nod from Shaak Ti.
"Yes, it is the hope of both myself and the Jedi Council that you would somehow approve of the formation of this Hero Protection Act." Shaak Ti could apparently sense what he was thinking, because she said, "Of course, if you heroes were to ever be needed for a war, it wouldn't be all of you, mostly just the lower ranking heroes. The Republic would also place a small group of Jedi to protect the planet from any unforseen threat."
Toshinori hummed, tapping the table as he pondered the suggestion. "What I don't get is why you all are so worried about a war in the first place. From what I heard the incident at Naboo was handled by the militia of that planet and two Jedi, so the issue should be resolved, yes?"
Shaak Ti sighed, her shoulders slumping as she displayed a rare emotion in Jedi, grief. "How I wish that were the case. No, despite Qui-Gon's death at the hands of the now dead Darth Maul, the Trade Federation is still at large and mostly unpunished. They are rebuilding their forces and gathering allies, unfortunately. Until they make the first move, there isn't much that we can do except for preparing for an inevitable conflict."
The repeated tapping of the table stopped. The light swung gently. Toshinori's mind went back to All for One. "If these Jedi were to be posted here, how would they handle a villain with multiple Quirks?"
Shaak Ti smiled. "Jedi are wonderful at adapting, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you defeated the villain All for One, yes?"
Toshinori nodded. "I think so. There's just this feeling in my gut that says he's still out there."
Shaak Ti closed her eyes and stopped breathing for a moment. "You would've made a good Jedi," she commented. "There's a connection to the Force in you greater than usual for an Earthling."
Toshinori frowned, unsure of why that would be the case. "You're presence in the Force, it's almost as if there's more than one inside of you." Toshinori immediately knew what she was sensing.
Toshinori wasn't the first to have his Quirk, he was actually the eighth to possess it. One for All was the opposite of All for One in every way. All for One gained strength by taking, One for All got it by being passed along. One for All was nothing but a benefit to the person who recieved it, but if you were on the receiving end of All for One you were forever Quirkless.
It was likely the power of the previous users she was detecting. "Odd."