The roads were eerily empty this far outside the city, with just the occasional farmer's truck to greet the Midoriya's as they sped past. Today officially marked the beginning of Izuku's training, which came with a week off school and a long journey from home.
"You shouldn't read in the car, honey. You'll get motion sickness." Inko took a hand off the steering wheel and tapped the book Izuku was holding, a dog-eared and battered copy of The Creature Compendium.
Izuku closed the book and put it on his lap, looking down at the cartoony image of a goblin on the cover. "I just can't believe that this is the most accurate source for supernatural creatures. It's a book for seven year olds!"
"And since when did you get too good for books for seven year olds?" His mom teased.
"Mother, please. I'm ten now. I'm basically an adult." Izuku replied in mock indignation, closing his eyes and turning his head away.
Inko chuckled at the theatrics, "Whatever you say, Mr. Midoriya. But you take care of that book, alright? It's your father's, and it means a lot to him."
"I promise," Izuku said, before going quiet for a few seconds as he looked out of the window and watched the field-laden horizon zip past. Eventually, he turned with a contemplative look in his eyes. "Hey, mom? If you and dad have been like, protecting people from monsters, does that mean you're heroes?"
Inko shrugged her shoulder slightly, "Sort of, I suppose. Not like the ones you see on TV, but we do help to keep a lot of people safe."
"That's cool." Izuku nodded. "I'm gonna be a hero too."
Inko bit her lip slightly, trying to think of the best way to ease into this aspect of the conversation. "Honey, that's great, but… You know we have to keep all of this a secret, right? We have to make sure as few people as possible know about supernatural creatures, because-"
Cutting her off, Izuku finished the thought. "The more people who know, the more power they have. I know mom, it's in the book." Izuku sighed, his small hands gripping the book a little tighter. "But it still feels weird. Like, we're supposed to be helping people, right? But we have to keep secrets from them too."
"I know it's difficult to understand right now, but we have reasons. Not only to weaken the things we're fighting against. If people knew what was out there, there'd be panic, fear, the world isn't ready." Inko explained as gently as she could.
Izuku looked at her with childlike sincerity, "People were afraid of quirks once too."
"Yeah, honey." She gave her son's hand a loving squeeze, "They were."
Silence fell over the journey once more, but for the gentle sound of wind rushing past the car. Izuku was deep in thought, occasionally thumbing through the compendium and stopping on random passages. He would read for a moment, then close the book and return to looking outside the window.
"Are you nervous?" Inko asked kindly, recognising the look on his face.
"No!" Izuku insisted, to little success. "I mean… maybe a bit. What if I'm no good? Has there ever been a quirkless hunter before?"
"Sweetie, quirks are essentially brand new. There are people in your ancestry who took down entire vampiric lineages with nothing but a pointy piece of wood. Trust me, you don't need a quirk to be strong." Inko said with certainty. "You've got a good heart, Izuku. And you're smarter than you think. You've been preparing for this for a long time, even if you didn't realise it."
Though he absorbed the words and smiled, the knot inside Izuku's stomach remained. Hopefully she was right.
"Izuku, we're here," Inko said as the tires drove across the gravel driveway of their destination, the moon now high in the sky and all sounds of the city a distant memory. The landscape had become more rugged, the fields giving way to a dense forest and rolling hills. It took a few seconds for her son to finally stir from his sleep, the creature compendium still tight in his hands and his head uncomfortably resting on the car door.
Groggily, he wiped his eyes, "We are?" he yawned, his voice thick with sleep. His mother confirmed with a nod, already unbuckling her seatbelt and stepping out into the cool night air.
In the small clearing ahead of them, a modest cabin stood at the edge of the forest. It was an unassuming building, the kind of place that could easily be overlooked by anyone passing by.
"Can you tell me what we're doing first?" Izuku asked, unable to keep the curiosity out of his voice.
Rustling his hair, Inko answered with a teasing smile. "You'll find out soon enough. A hunter needs to be ready for anything, right? And that includes not always knowing what's coming."
Izuku huffed at the answer, understanding she was right but still a little scared of the unknown.
"Besides," Inko said with some cheek in her voice, "There's someone else who'll want to explain everything to you…"
As they approached the cabin, the door creaked open, and a figure stepped out onto the porch. He was a tall man, his broad shoulders wrapped in a worn brown leather jacket that had clearly seen better days. His face was rugged, marked by a few days' worth of stubble, and a well-worn fedora shaded his sharp eyes. Despite his rough appearance, there was a warmth in his smile that softened his features.
"Dad!" Izuku's worries melted away as he recognised the familiar figure. He broke into a run, closing the distance between them in a heartbeat.
His father, Hisashi, grinned broadly, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he opened his arms wide. "There's my boy!" he laughed, barely catching his balance as Izuku barreled into him with all the force of his excitement.
"I didn't know you were going to be here I thought you were fighting choople cobras?!" Izuku rambled at high speed.
Hisashi chuckled, taking off his hat and placing it gently on Izuku's head, the brim almost covering his eyes. "Chupacabras, son," he corrected with a playful smile, making sure to pronounce the word clearly. "But never mind what your old man's been up to. I heard you took down a zombie! You never forget your first, kid."
"Mom helped!" Izuku beamed with pride.
His father threw back his head and laughed. "Hah! I'm sure she did! Couldn't have done it without her, right?" He turned as Inko approached, his eyes softening as they landed on her. "And there's my beautiful wife now," he said warmly, opening his arms wide to greet her.
Inko stepped into his embrace, wrapping her arms around him as she pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Welcome back, how was America?"
"Hot! Dangerous! Teeming with ugly creatures who wanted nothing more than to tear my face off! And the chupacabras were a nuisance too." He broke into a series of hearty laughs again.
Chuckling lightly, Inko expertly redirected the topic. "So, everything is ready inside?"
Hisashi's eyes sparkled with mischief as he replied, "Oh yes," he said, a sly grin spreading across his face. "It's ready."
Inside the cabin, they were greeted by a cosy interior bathed in the warm glow of an artificial fireplace. The room exuded a rustic charm, with sturdy wooden beams crisscrossing the ceiling and old maps adorning the walls. Shelves were lined with strange artefacts and curious trinkets, each one seemingly holding a story of its own. At the centre of the room was a large circular table, its edges indented, and intricate silver designs woven across its surface. A series of criss-crossing stars and geometric patterns adorned the table, their craftsmanship so exquisite that Izuku couldn't help but stare in awe.
"Woahhh!" he gasped, his mouth hanging open as he took in the sights around him
Hisashi chuckled, placing a reassuring hand on his son's shoulder. "You ain't seen nothing yet, kid," he said with a knowing smile.
"See that little star on the edge there?" Inko asked him, "Try sliding it to the left."
Izuku hesitated, his fingers hovering over the small star-shaped indentation on the table's edge. He took a deep breath, gathered his courage, and gently moved the star. Instantly, the mechanisms within the table clicked to life.
A low hum resonated from deep within the table, and the intricate patterns began to glow with a soft, silvery light. The light travelled along the metal lines like liquid, shifting and rotating as the designs rearranged themselves into recognisable constellations and symbols, all interconnected. Suddenly, with the heavy sound of stone scraping against stone, the table split in two, the halves gliding apart to reveal a hidden staircase leading down into the earth.
Hisashi took the first steps down into the darkness, before turning and offering a hand. "Well, are you coming?"
Izuku took a moment to shake his head, as if trying to clear his thoughts, still reeling from everything he had experienced. But as the reality of the moment sank in, a wide grin spread across his face. Nodding enthusiastically, he reached out and grasped his father's hand.
Beneath the cabin, hidden away in an enormous cavernous structure, Izuku was met with a sight that took his breath away. Rows upon rows of the most incredible weaponry he had ever laid eyes on filled the vast space. There were swords, bows, and knives of every shape and style, axes and hammers lined the walls, each piece was more exquisite than the last, and many were tipped with the unmistakable glint of silver.
Across the expansive hall, a series of wooden training dummies stood in a row at the far end of a floor patterned like a giant chessboard.
His excitement palpable, Izuku ran over and began to inspect everything he could get his hands on, marvelling at the craftsmanship of the weaponry, the shelves lined with dusty tomes, and the potion-making set tucked off to the side, which especially caught his eye with its array of mysterious ingredients and glass containers.
As Izuku immersed himself in exploring every inch of the hidden armoury, his parents took a moment to step back, allowing him the space to take it all in.
"Are you sure he's ready for all this?" Hisashi's face, previously alight with humour and warmth, now showed a flicker of concern.
Inko nodded, "I think he is. It'll take time, but there's a good heart in that boy. He gets that from you," she said softly, her voice filled with affection as she leaned her head against his shoulder.
Their quiet moment of reflection was abruptly interrupted as Izuku came bounding over, his face flushed with excitement. In his hands, he wielded a sword that was almost twice his size. "Mom! Check this out!" he exclaimed, before stumbling and dropping it to the floor with a loud clatter
Inko and Hisashi winced internally as they watched their son nearly chop his head off. "Maybe it'll take more time than I thought?" Inko said with a smile.
"The first thing to keep in mind with throwing knives is, well… They're sharp!" Hisashi laughed as he stood with Izuku in the centre of the checkerboard. "The movement is all in the wrist, here, I'll demonstrate for you, then you can see how it's done."
His movements precise and deliberate, Hisashi flicked his wrist and previously unseen knives flew out of his sleeve and cut through the air silently. Across from them, the blades embedded themselves in a perfectly vertical line in a dummy's chest.
Seeing his son's amazed reaction, Hisashi decided to up the stakes and nodded to Inko. With a contented smile, knowing what was to come, she casually pulled a long wooden lever.
Squares of the checkerboard began to slide open, new dummies appearing at random locations of the room, only three at a time but enough to pin Izuku and his father in the centre. Hisasahi spun and threw another knife directly at the centre of a dummy's face, then repeated the movement expertly another few times. Calmly, as though he had done nothing at all, he handed Izuku a set of blades. "Your turn."
Izuku beamed with excitement and took his position. The first throw went wide, missing the dummy entirely, the knife clattering harmlessly against the floor. Undeterred, he gave it another attempt, but his aim was still off. After several more attempts, he found it difficult to account for where the dummies were going to pop up. But to his credit, he always got back up after he fell.
"This is so hard!" He said, but he wasn't complaining.
Inko, watching with slight amusement, decided it was time to step in. "How about you let me take a shot at it?" she said with a reassuring smile.
"We uh, might wanna move out your mom's way, kiddo." Hisashi said, escorting his son to the side of the arena. "You ready honey?" He yelled over to his wife.
"Shut up, sweetie!" she waved back, bending low to the floor and holding one hand out to her front, and the other to her back. "Switch it on." she said calmly, as Hisashi shrugged and pushed the lever down even further.
Gracefully, Inko looked as though she were performing a well rehearsed dance as dozens of dummies entered and exited around her. Knives flew with expert precision one after the other, each one skimming through the air and embedding itself in the heart of a dummy or striking a bullseye. The dummies, in their unpredictable pops and movements, didn't phase her. She adjusted her aim effortlessly, her throws always landing true.
Izuku watched in awe, his eyes wide as his mother made it look as simple as breathing.
Hisashi breathed a heavy sigh, "God I'm glad I married her."
"Dad," Izuku said with a frown, "Gross."