Stranded

Chapter 1

The sun shone brightly, bringing life to a dense forest. The leaves on the trees shuffled slightly in the soft breeze. Two squirrels, coloured grey and red, poked their tiny heads out of one tree, chattering excitedly. The grey squirrel jumped out of the hole and ran across a skinny tree branch, while the red squirrel stared off into the distance, breathing rapidly. The grey squirrel stopped scurrying around for a moment and looked down to the forest floor.

Down below the trees, sprawled out on the ground was a skinny, blonde haired man. His eyes were closed and he was breathing softly. The grey squirrel's eyes shone for a moment, when it suddenly ran back into its tree hole. The red squirrel turned to see what his brother was doing. He watched as Grey picked up the biggest acorn he could find and carried it outside in his cheek.

"What are you doing with that, Grey?" Red asked cautiously to his elder brother.

"Having some fun," said Grey with a cheeky smile. He took the acorn out of his mouth and positioned himself so he was standing directly over the sleeping man. He snickered, then dropped the acorn. He and Red watched as it fell all the way down, knocking the skinny man right on the face.

"Huh?" The man jumped up, shocked at the sudden impact. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked up. He saw two squirrels squeaking and chattering on a branch high above him. "What the heck was that about?" He shifted his view to the forest around him. Where am I? He slowly stood up, his head throbbing in pain.

"Damn, my head is killing me." He rubbed his eyes tiredly. "What on Earth did I do last night? I don't remember anything." He blinked a few times as he looked into the sky, the sun beating down on him. "I might as well look around." He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his green khaki pants and started to walk forward when he realized his phone wasn't there.

"Where did my phone go?" He wondered out loud. I'm pretty sure it was with me, it almost always is. He looked around the area he was in, trying to spot his red cellphone on the brown twig-covered ground. "I could've used it to call Aizawa or Yamada, but looks like that's not an option." He grumbled, then began walking away from the large tree he was sleeping by.

Up above, the two squirrels were back in their tree hole, laughing about the incident.

"The way he jumped up was so funny!" Grey laughed. Red shook his head at his brother.

"You just love to mess with anybody that comes around here, huh?"

"Well duh!" Grey looked at Red with widened eyes.

"Oh yeah? Why didn't you do the same to the guys that brought him here?" Red questioned. Grey sat down.

"Because... they looked scary."

~~~

The skinny man pushed some large bushes out of his way and sighed. I wish I knew what time it is. He stepped forward and took in the sight before him. A lake spread out far and wide, with a beautiful view of some mountains in the distance. A few birds flew by, the man recognizing them as robins. He smiled softly. It's still a very charming place. I could imagine having a little cabin out here. His smile disappeared. But I still need to find my way back to Musutafu. I'm still a teacher, my students and colleagues are probably wondering where I am.

He stepped toward the lake and sat down in front of it, peering into the water to look at his reflection. His eyes were dark, with tiny cerulean orbs staring back at him. His face was very angular, his cheeks and eyes sunken in. Two blonde bangs hung down in front of his face, the rest of his hair was wild and unruly. He looked unhealthy.

"Dammit Toshinori, how did you manage to get yourself into this situation?" He grumbled to himself, putting his hands together and cupping up some water to wash his face. The water felt cool and refreshing. He splashed water on his face a couple more times before bringing some to his mouth. Wait, am I supposed to drink from still or running water? I can't remember... Toshinori shook his head. I don't care, I'm so thirsty.

He sipped the water, and then immediately spit it out. "EKH! PTOO!" He tried to get whatever was left out of his mouth. "Definitely not still water." He began to cough, his throat burning and stinging from the pressure. He looked at his hand and saw blood. Well, that's still happening I guess. Oh! Toshinori stood up.

"I'll use One for All to jump up and see where I am." He smiled. In just a quick second, he had taken the form of a gigantic beast of a man. His hair that had been hanging in his face now stood erect, similar to bunny ears, the rest of his hair now slicked back. His loose white shirt was now stretched very tightly across his massive torso. "That's more like it!" He grinned, his voice booming. He crouched down and began to stretch, preparing to use his power to launch himself into the air. Once he had finished stretching, he launched himself high above the trees, the wind breezing past his face. He looked around. What the...? He looked behind him.

"Where's the city?" His smile quickly became a frown. "There's nothing but forests and mountains! Where on Earth am I?" He descended back to the ground. "I should probably conserve my energy, I don't know when I'll need to use One for All." And with that, he shrunk back to his sickly form. He sighed, spurring on a coughing fit. He wiped away the blood with the bottom of his shirt and stuffed his hands back into his pockets. Guess I'll just walk this way until I reach civilization. He hung his head low and began to walk into the forest once again.