Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Midoriya Izuku, like every other kid, dreams to be a hero. What’s different about Izuku? Oh, he’s quirkless. He doesn’t have a power like everyone else, but he still reaches for the sun. Now you might be thinking, ‘well, why let that stop him?’ You’d be right, he wouldn’t let that stop him. It’s just one little thing…

He doesn’t have a pokémon either.

When everyone went to get a pokémon all the other kids went up and demanded the pokémon join them on their journey. Bakugou even got a Cindaquil, a shiny one. Izuku hadn’t demanded, he’d asked. He’d shown interest but waited for the pokémon to approach him. It seemed he was loved by pokémon, just none of them wanted to be his partner.

Well, Izuku was tired of being the only one without, It was about one year to the U.A. entrance exam. That is if he could pass or even be admitted without a pokémon. The other children were all showing off and battling, and he was left on the sidelines… that is until Bakugou decided he needed something less responding than an opposing pokémon to vent his anger on. Surprisingly, the Cindaquil, who had evolved into a Quilava, wouldn’t attack Izuku directly, only sit by and watch, sorrowful.

He wanted to be a hero! He wanted to be a trainer and bring his pokémon with him, to fight side-by-side. But he can’t do that because he couldn’t befriend one.

He was hiding in the bushes outside as all the other kids played during their break when suddenly a blur crashed through the bushes and into his side. It was a bloody mess, but from what he could see it was small, baby blue, and cat-like. He took one look at the slashes down its side and almost panicked before he remembered the medical supplies he began carrying in his bag since Kacchan got his quirk.

He digs them out quickly, just a meagre bundle: a water bottle, a dishrag, a roll of gauze, bandage padding, and a few potions, for this sort of event. It’s uncannily common to find Izuku treating the pokémon of Kacchan’s targets, but now this pokémon needs him. So he picks himself up off the ground where he fell and begins to clean the pokémon’s wounds. After a few minutes, once he’s cleaned, wrapped, and double-checked all the wounds, he sat back and spoke absently to the pokémon, which he thought was unconscious.

“Who would have done this? Who am I kidding, I’ve never even heard of a pokémon like you before. You must be at least a rare pokémon, and there are too many bad trainers out there that would catch you simply for the fame of it. Some pretty bad heroes too, like Endeavor. They must be truly evil to have injured you so and then chased after you… that is if you were being chased.”

“I was… being chased, I mean.”

Izuku looked up, eyes haunted, “thought so. You talk differently.”

“It’s telepathy. I’m projecting my words to your mind. Why weren’t you surprised? Usually, a human would freak out if I talked to them.”

“Well, I’ve spent so much time with so many different pokémon—not that any of them wanted to join my team—that I’ve just learnt to understand. I can understand pokémon when they talk now. I didn’t realize it was all one language, just one that was understood on a more spiritual and emotional level. By connecting with them, and preferring their company over that of other humans, I guess that switch in my soul was released.

“I’m surprised,” the pokémon spoke normally now. “Usually no human can understand us, it really is a bummer to see my brethren unable to communicate with their partners. Perhaps you just haven’t found the right pokémon yet?”

“I’ve seen just about every pokémon that lives in this country, aside from legendaries or mythicals of course.” The pokémon was beginning to look angry but Izuku didn’t notice. “But they wouldn’t let themselves get caught, and for good reason. There are too many who would use their power to do great evil. They are the protectors of all pokémon, and some people too, they can’t really do that stuck in the pokéball of some irrational, fame-hungry, hero upstart, can they? I guess no one is worthy of them, and I can see why.” The pokémon’s anger had dissipated, and it was back to staring curiously.

“Do you have a pokéball, child?” Izuku looked up.

“Of course I do. I always have it around my neck in case I find the one. By the way, I never asked. What kind of pokémon are you? Or what’s your name?”

“I-I…” The cat-like creature took a chance, all or nothing. “I am Mew, a mythical pokémon to you humans, and a shiny at that.”

Izuku looked up in shock, eyes wide and mouth gaping. His jaw snapped shut unceremoniously and he said to Mew, “well, you might not wanna hang out with me. I can’t protect you when you’re hurt. You should go home, you could come back if the wounds get any worse… I-I... I don’t wanna be the reason a Mythical Pokémon loses its freedom.”

Mew looked at the boy in wonder. He wasn’t going to try catching him? ‘Well then, and quirkless at that. He wants to be a hero, that much is obvious from his mind, and he has a heart of gold and steel. Ever determined, constantly put down, but always helpful. Now, this is a trainer I can join that won’t take my freedom.’

“And what if I wanted to join you,” asked Mew, “what if I wanted to be your first pokemon?”

The boy’s eyes lit up with hope for a moment, then dulled again. “But then everyone would know what you were, and they would take you away from me. They would steal you, hurt you again, I don’t want that.”

“I can play the part of a different pokémon if you want, I can transform.”

“Won’t that aggravate your wounds?”

“No, the bandages should change with me.”

“What will you be? And are you truly sure about this?”

“Yes I’m sure, and we can decide that after I’m let out of the pokéball around your neck.” Izuku looked down into his shirt, staring at the pokéballs there. A luxury ball, a limited edition All-Might pokéball, and a personally decorated Eraserhead one. That particular hero was one of Izuku’s inspirations because of how he fought.  He reached down and grabbed the Eraserhead pokéball and offered it to Mew, and the pokémon tapped one of its small forepaws against the button to disappear to within.

Izuku watched as the pokéball rocked in his hand, and as soon as it laid still, he pushed the button to release Mew. The cat looked surprised for a moment and then turned to the boy, joy in its eyes. “Now I can pretend to be anything, what would you want me to be?”

“What would you want to be,” the boy shot back, “I think that’s more important.”

“Canid, no one would suspect me if I messed up.”

“Canid? So, Lucario, maybe?”

And indeed, before Midoriya’s eyes, the Mew became a Lucario.

A yellow Lucario. 

Izuku was star-struck. He smiled dumbly and looked to the bandages wrapped around the pokémon’s torso, it had a small limp as it walked to the boy’s side. Izuku got up and moved to take the disguised pokémon inside with him, helping it walk when it needed to lean on him.

They made it to class just before the bell rang to see everyone in the class staring as he helped the shiny Lucario to the back of the classroom, giving it his chair to sit in and turning to lean against the back wall as the teacher entered.

The first thing the teacher locked eyes on was the Lucario in the back and Midoriya’s standing body. “You need to sit down, Midoriya.”

“Sorry sensei, Cache here needs my seat, he’s injured.” He nodded towards the Lucario and gestured to the bandages. The teacher stared for a moment, then nodded and began the lesson as the class took notes, it was bound to be a long day. Thankfully, Cache could read minds and project his thoughts.

“Cache?” The pokémon asked sceptically.

“Hidden,” was Izuku’s reply.

After all, classes were over, and Cache and Izuku had pretty much figured out the whole train for U.A. thing, they started back home. Thankfully avoiding Bakugou and going into town, Izuku was shopping when the Sludge villain blew in the storefront with the Explosion quirk. He had some minor glass cuts, as did Cache, but they looked outside to see it happening. Izuku wanted to help, but Cache was sceptical.

“Isn’t that the one that always bullies you? The one you told me about in class?”

“Yeah, but I can’t just leave him to die!”

“Alright then, but after this, I’m going to teach you to sense and utilize your aura to fight, you’ll need it, being quirkless, and being able to speak to us, it won’t look suspicious if you say your Lucario taught you.”

“Alright, but we have to do this now, he doesn’t have much time.” They were getting weird looks from the other shoppers who weren’t unconscious, they could only hear Izuku’s side. Then they ran forward as one. Izuku grabbed a bat sized stick of wood that was on fire and leapt, plunging it into the sludge villains eye as Cache ran to throw Katsuki out of the villain and onto the ground, growling and barking until the boy backed away from the scene.

The pokémon turned to see Izuku about to be hit by one of the sludge villain’s flailing arms and shot an aura sphere at it, knocking it away. At that moment, a blaziken surged forwards, followed quickly behind by his trainer and Izuku’s idol, All Might.

Now, before he had heard about Eraserhead, and his Gengar and Liepard, Izuku might have tripped over himself to talk to All Might, and ask him all kinds of questions. But now? Now, Izuku had more pressing concerns. The bandages on Cache’s side had begun to bleed through. The heroes came up and began scolding him for recklessness and putting himself in unnecessary danger. Cache growled at them and then to Izuku he said, “how dare they! They did nothing! They would have let the boy die!”

Izuku rushed forwards, putting a hand on Cache’s arm and telling him, “I know, but they’re not worth it. Frauds will be frauds. Go sit on the sidewalk, I need to look at that side again.” The Lucario just nodded and went to the closest part of the concrete that was devoid of fire. Izuku walked to his side and began adding bandages, not taking the old ones off for fear of making it worse.

All Might hadn’t stayed a moment later than he had to, but his blaziken, Delaware, remained to stare at the boy. “I know you’re not a Lucario,” he addressed Cache, “what is so special about the boy, what is his name? Why do you follow him so, great mother?”

“My name is Midoriya Izuku, Delaware. I think you’ll find that there’s more to me than my quirklessness.” The Blaziken looked shocked at that.

“Quirkless?”

“Yeah, I’m quirkless. Problem?”

“No, not at all. I’m assuming you want to be a hero?”

“Yes, he does.” Cache interrupted before they could begin to go back and forth and cause even more confusion for the crowd who was already trying to jostle past the hero barrier to get a closer look at Izuku. “I am going to teach him to manipulate his aura. He has the strongest one I’ve ever seen in a human. I’m going to look for more pokémon to join him, but he must first learn control.”

“Of course,” replied Delaware. “He wouldn’t make a very good hero if he couldn’t attack or defend, now would he?”

“I suppose not,” Izuku sighed as he finished Cache’s bandages. “But I’m not going to let quirklessness stop me. If controlling my aura to fight is what I must do to save, then I will do it.” He stared down Delaware determinedly, and the brazen Blaziken stared at him searching his soul until it dipped its head in acknowledgement to the boy’s will.

“If you ever need aid, and I am nearby. Do ‘The Call.’ ”

“‘The call.’” Izuku deadpanned. “Really.”

“Yes, really. ‘The Call.’”

“Alright then.” So they go back home.

But not before the heroes chew him out again and subsequently take a Lucario-punch to the gut before Izuku can stop it.

At least, that’s what he’ll say.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His mother had panicked for a time, then calmed, and eventually fell asleep on the couch after making dinner for the pokémon in the house. See, they had made a pokémon cafe of sorts, with the way Izuku collected pokémon.

They flocked to him in droves, even the rare ones, and filled their house so much that they had to make the cafe to feed all of them and themselves. They got help from the pokémon who literally went out on the streets and asked for donations with a little sign. It was super effective.

They had started up a cafe with minimal issue, with the amount of pokémon on the streets asking zealously for funding. They sold admission for thirty-minute increments and literally any kind of coffee, pastry, or light meal they could get the recipe for. The cafe was called Green Mountain poké-cafe, and Midoriya Inko ran the place but Midoriya Izuku was really the owner. After all, the pokémon collected the money when he asked, and brought it to him afterwards. They were actually quite popular.

It was a few days later, on Saturday that Izuku was working in the cafe unusually late. Three in the morning, late. The few pokémon still awake were Cache, who only ever slept when Izuku did, Fleur, a Liepard, a pair of Zorua called Mischief and Mayhem, a shiny Midnight Lycanroc named Lycaon, a Litten named Spark, and its Torracat mother christened Blaire, and a shiny Dartrix named Kyanite, who was abandoned by its trainer, called ‘obsolete’ and ‘weak to the point of worthlessness.’

It was at this time that a Gengar phased through the wall followed through the door by a dead-tired looking man in a loose black outfit and a scarf. Izuku, however, had been organizing the items under the counter and simply said, “hello, good er.. morning, I suppose. How can I help you and how long would you like to stay?” It wasn’t usual that someone come in at this time of night, so Izuku had been cleaning. He came up from under the counter and the moment his eyes landed on the man he froze, wide-eyed.

It took the man until the boy shakily whispered, “Eraserhead?” to realize that the kid knew him.

The man raised his eyebrows, “not many people know me, you must really know your stuff, kid.”

“I try,” was the boy’s reply. “So, see anything you fancy?”

“Yes, I suppose, but how much is it to stay in here for, say, an hour?”

“Heroes hang out free,” the boy said. “You all do enough for the city, especially you. I know you work at U.A. on top of patrols and fights, that can’t be easy. Sometimes, I feel like you guys, underground heroes especially, don’t get enough respect for what you do.” The man stared for a moment, barely concealed surprise in his eyes and a small smile on his lips. “Go ahead and stay as long as you like, and please pick something off the menu. Can’t really have time to eat much if you lose enough time teaching and patrolling that you can’t sleep. Maybe the company of other pokémon might help. You can let your team out, by the way, if you trust them not to start a fight.”

The man, stunned, shook himself and released the rest of his team. An Umbreon, a Midnight Lycanroc, normal colours, the Gengar, of course, was out already, a Serperior, a male Meowstic, and a Zoruark. They immediately went over to the other pokémon and began socializing while Izuku got the man his black coffee and the best of their croissants. Once the man had sat down in the lounge, he called out to the pokémon, “any of you want anything?”

The pokémon grumbled amongst themselves on how they’d have to show the man what they wanted, and the boy just replied, “no, you won’t have to show me, you can just tell me.” To which all the pokémon froze and started before rushing forward and telling the child what they wanted.

Eraserhead was surprised at the boy, and tired, but had stayed there until he had to leave for a faculty meeting at U.A. and so he went, considerably less tired, having fallen asleep even after drinking his coffee, surrounded by purring pokémon.

The man’s presence became routine in Izuku’s days, though he started coming in in the evenings, instead of at three in the morning. Eventually, they started conversing about a variety of things, the life of a U.A. teacher, Izuku’s high school plans(U.A.), some of the most disturbing and vile things Aizawa had seen on patrols, and the most adorable things the pokémon had done within the cafe.

When he had told the man (Shota Aizawa, call me Shouta, I suppose.) that he planned to apply to U.A. but wasn’t confident that he’d make it in, the man asked why he felt that way, which led to a long and enlightening conversation on Izuku’s quirklessness and his aura training with Cache.

Shouta was surprised, but in light of the boy’s training, believed he could do it. He told Izuku that he was looking forward to seeing how he and his pokémon did in the entrance exam.

Over the course of the ten months before the entrance exams, Izuku’s team had grown to four. They were: Cache the secret, Sentry the Naganadel(thanks to Cache, If only an unknown pokémon from beyond wasn’t a headache Izuku wishes never to relive), An Aegislash that Izuku had saved and named King, and a Braixen named Brindle, which he had hatched from the egg of two Delphoxes that resided within the cafe, Torch and Candle.

He had trained constantly whenever he wasn’t working in the cafe, learning to control his aura and use it to make weapons and view others’ auras. He had begun ignoring Bakugou completely on Cache’s suggestion. He had to get stronger if he wanted to succeed.

Then the time came for the exam. Armed with his knowledge, his tips from Aizawa, and the knowhow on heroes and pokémon, he stepped through the gates of U.A.

Chapter Text

All before the practical had gone smoothly. You know, aside from almost breaking his nose and getting called out for muttering by what was quite obviously a relative of Ingenium. He now stood in front of the gates of ‘A literal small city, are they insane?!’

He was pretty sure he would be able to destroy the robots with his aura spheres. He was allowed two pokémon for the exam, so he had Cache out and Sentry, his Naganadel, in his pokéball. He saw the doors begin to open and turned to his resident enigma, Cache.

“This is a hero school, I can handle the robots, Cache. But no hero would ever leave an injured entity behind, exam or not. I want you to help other people, protect them, don’t let anyone you can save get hurt. I’ll be able to handle myself well enough, and if I can’t, then I’ll know I’m not ready.” The disguised Mythical nodded and they walked to the front of the crowd.

(Back in the observers’ booth, the teachers had heard the boy and were very impressed. Aizawa actually chuckled, and when asked, merely said that the boy gave him a free admission to his cafe, Green Mountain, now and then and free coffee to help with patrols. The others smiled and vowed to follow Aizawa to the cafe after the exam to deliver the letter in person if the boy passed, or just to get some coffee that even Aizawa didn’t complain about.)

“BEGIN!!!!!”

Izuku took off. “Go, Cache!”  The Lucario took off, running through the streets and helping others as the need arose. Izuku, on the other hand, was reading nearby auras for distress and slinging aura spheres at the heads of any robot in sight. 

He stopped once to shoot a robot from behind a purple-haired boy whose Shuppet looked to be gaining him a fair few points but didn't see the bot approaching his trainer. He stopped again to slice a piece of rubble in half with an aura blade before it hit a girl and smash another with an aura sphere.

He had gotten up to about 67 points by the time the ground shook beneath him, jarring stiff limbs and shocking Izuku straight out of his zone. He would have more if it weren’t for him stopping and protecting people by deflecting debris and attacks. The giant 0-Pointer gave him pause. ‘This is the obstacle? That’s a bit overkill, isn’t it?!”

He was watching as all the other examinees ran away as if they feared for their lives. He heard a shout from the dust and saw the girl that had caught him; she was trapped under the rubble. “Cache!” The Lucario came flying in from his left, and he threw Naganadel’s pokéball and let it out yelling, “Sentry, Iron Tail!” Everyone behind him was in an uproar, no one had ever seen a Neganadel before.

Cache ran forward and kicked the rubble off the girl and picked her up, carrying her back the other way as Izuku charged the biggest aura sphere he’d attempted yet. Sentry’s Attack slashed through the head of the robot, and it quickly moved out of the way as Izuku’s aura sphere slammed into the exposed inside, blowing the head to shards and causing the rest of the robot to blow backwards, finally crashing into the ground with a resounding slam as Present Mic called out the end of the exam.

Izuku looked at his arms to find only a minor aura burn and smiled. “Hey, Cache! I pulled it off! I did it right this time, with minimal damage to my arms!”

The Lucario practically howled, “You’ve done it, Izuku! But… you burnt yourself.” Izuku waved him off.

“I’ve had worse, and it was so worth it. A little stiff, but other than that, and the burns, I’m fine.”

After that, it was all a blur of euphoria. Izuku didn’t know whether he passed or not, but he had finally pulled off the attack he had been trying for weeks. Recovery Girl had healed him and he had put Sentry back into his ball. Cache walked at his side back to the cafe, where he promptly fell into a beanbag chair and was swarmed by pokémon as Cache explained what he’d done. Inko came out of the kitchen and asked him how it went and was surprised by the response.

“Enough points, probably, to pass… I pulled off the Aura-Sphere attack, one that size has been giving me trouble.” She smiled at this and brought him and his pokémon a snack and left him to relax for a while. After eating, he passed out. And stayed that way until the night shift began. By which time most of the customers were gone.

~~~~~~~~~~

Back at U.A. in the teachers’ room just after the exam, the teachers were in shock. Aizawa was just silent, grinning in that creepy way of his that shows off all his teeth. Then he busts out laughing, a terrifying sight. “I knew that kid could do it!”

“But how? How did he do that? He's registered as quirkless.” Nezu spluttered, quite the rarity.

“You’ll have to ask him. I know, I’m just not telling. He is coming to my class though, no way is he not.”

“Well yeah, with his minimum of 67 points alone, there isn’t any other outcome.” Kan this time, eyes wide, jaw gaping.

“Well then,” continued Nezu, “Let’s begin going over the points and judging rescues. We start with Aoyama Yuuga.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

That was quite some time ago, and Izuku was working late once again when the doorbell rang.

“Hey, Izuku.”

“Hey, Shouta. Are you wanting your usual or something new.” Izuku turned around to face the hero, only to get a nice view of the entire U.A. staff standing in his cafe. Plus a skeleton, but… ‘Wait, who is that?’

The rest of the staff was thinking, ‘Izuku? Shouta? First names? Wow, they must know each other.”

“I want my usual, but add a croissant, chef’s choice. They, on the other hand, will all probably be ordering something different.” He smiled again, one only Izuku could see, a slight upturn of his lips.

“A-alright then, uhm… take a seat anywhere it doesn’t make a difference.” He stuttered, eyes wide. “Hey, Shouta? Why didn’t you warn me about this?” He whisper-yelled.

“Well, seeing as you want to be a hero, you have to be able to react to unexpected situations.” Shouta deadpanned, then smirked.

Izuku slapped his hand to his forehead and sighed, “Shouta, I have a huge fanboy/quirk analysis problem and you didn’t think it important to warn me that U.A.’s staff, near exclusively heroes and their pokémon were going to walk through my door?”

“Well, if anything, some of them would appreciate your input. I know that idea about Kayama’s costume and quirk applicability was Support Department worthy.”

“Really?” The aforementioned hero asked from a table in the corner, Fleur’s head on her lap. Her pokémon surrounding her as well, the rest of the heroes pokémon sitting about in the cafe. Midnight’s Musharna floated just above her shoulder, Blood King’s Zubat rested on his, Present Mic’s Loudred rested on the floor and his Chatot occupied his hair, which was down. Hound Dog’s Mightyena and Cementoss’ Day Form Lycanroc play wrestled on the floor, while Aizawa’s Gengar scared them. Thirteen’s Lunatone and Beheeyem floated in the corner, looking for all their near-constant expressions, disappointed.

A Scorbunny sat next to the emaciated blond, along with a Togekiss that rested on the beanbag next to the one occupied by the man. Ectoplasm’s Zoroark sat with Snipe’s Inteleon, and Recovery Girl’s Chimecho, Chansey, and Audino watched on. Back to Izuku, he blushed and turned away from Midnight’s question.

“It wasn’t-”

“Don’t you dare, Izuku.” Shouta cut him off. The boy looked down and went quiet, then began working on Aizawa’s drink. Aizawa just went and sat at his usual table which, thank God, was not taken up by his coworkers. The others were too engrossed in their menus to comment. Once Izuku had gotten Shouta’s drink, he took the orders of the rest and made them too. He then sat down with Shouta in the Beanbag areas and sighed, tea in hand.

A few minutes later, there was a huff beside him and Midnight, in all her sweater-clad glory asked, “So what's this of pro-worthy costumes and support gear?”

Izuku peeked sideways at the 18+ hero, and, judging her to be genuine he started talking. “Well, I figured that your costume gives no support to anything, so I- hang on.” He got up and walked through a door beside the counter and came back with several notebooks, one for each hero. Midnight's eyes widened as he opened the notebook to a very realistic and victorious-looking illustration of her in her hero gear, Whip in hand, slung behind her head.

“I figured since this costume gives no support,-” he flipped the page, this time to her in a different costume, one with a little more armour in certain places and support for the essential areas, still keeping the seductress feel. “-that you could wear something with a little more armour, and patches or zippers in the places it would be convenient to use your quirk from. I also wanted to ask you… can you make smoke bombs, with your quirk I mean? Like would they work long term, or would they go stagnant? Like, if you saw the hero killer, put him to sleep from a distance rather than getting up close and personal. I mean, I’m pretty sure he needs your blood to activate his quirk.”

Midnight started, and in the background, someone dropped their fork onto their plate(It was Nezu.) causing it to echo through the silent cafe. Izuku’s head swung around and stared into the eyes of all the heroes who were now silent… and staring… at him.

“And why do you think that?” Aizawa was the one to break the silence.

“I saw him… once. In an alley, and he was kinda… attackingaproheroandStainwaswaouttahispaygrade. So he kinda succeeded.” Izuku got out in a sort of mix between a blurt and a mumble. Then his voice got clearer, “He’s using blades, which in this day and age is a strange choice. And I saw him cut the hero and lick the blade before the hero collapsed. So, it’s a likely theory?” The heroes all got up and moved to the beanbags, stacking empty plates on the counter and Present Mic changed the sign on the door to ‘closed.’

“So little listener, what have you got?”

They spent the next two hours talking of costume upgrades and support gear that the heroes could use to increase performance and minimize strain. Ideas for different uses for their quirks. And a suggestion to Hound Dog; learning sign language, or at least basic signals. Present Mic? Learning natural frequencies. It went on and on.

When the actual closing time came around, the heroes walked out of the bar, but not before Nezu handed Izuku an envelope with the U.A. seal on it. Izuku was so shocked that it didn’t register until the heroes were long gone. He opened the envelope at a table and a disk fell out. The disk landed and shot out light and a hologram of Eraserhead appeared in the air.

“Hey, Problem Child. Well, this is your exam results, Izuku. You got a 98% on the written portion, which is a new record as well as setting a record in the practical. Now, in the practical portion, you used a pokémon we at U.A. have never seen before. So, if we forget to ask you when we come by, getting caught up in a conversation or what have you, remind me on the first day to have you explain that to, at least, me. You also did something extraordinary, you appeared to be using aura to attack robots. No known human, since the aura guardians of old, has ever been able to do this, so Nezu wants an explanation for that . ” he muttered about problem children and a pokémon playing at being a god. “Anyway, you got 67 villain points in the practical, and this would be enough to pass on its own, but you also got an additional 80 Rescue points for the people you saved along the way, as well as taking down that 0-pointer.”

Izuku smiled, the deadpanning tone Shouta used would never get old.

“Welcome to 1-A, Izuku. I’ll see you in my class on the first day. Just remember, U.A. prides itself on freedom and this applies to the teachers. Apply that to what you know of me and guess what the first day will be like. Good luck, Izuku.”

Izuku thought for a moment, then figured he better be prepared for the threat of expulsion, from what Shouta had said. He smiled and went to sleep in preparation for the day to come. Anticipation for the first day burning brightly. ‘Soon,’ he thought.

Izuku walked into class, day one, expecting chaos, and that’s what he got. Stiff and judgemental, as well as Bakugou were both in his class. He also got swarmed by the class until Aizawa came to the door. Per his dramatic streak, he stated from behind the bubbly girl, “If you’re here to make friends, then get out. This is the hero course.”

He promptly got an aura punch to the chest. Light, of course. But hard enough to hurt.

“OW! What the hell, Izuku?”

“There’s your reminder. Also, that's payback for not telling me that all of your coworkers were coming to my cafe at ass-o-clock at night to give me my letter and interrogate me on my quirk analysis. Don’t do that shit again, Shouta.”

Someone from the back of the class said, “First names?”

Izuku turned around to the lightning bolt blonde and stated in a flat tone. “We’ve known each other for about a year, and decided that we weren’t going to even try to adjust the way we address each other. Either way, this man,” he jerked his thumb at Eraserhead, “is merciless on everyone, regardless of personal affiliation. That, and he knows I would kick his ass if he went easier on me and showed favouritism.”

He smiled at the roof, “And Nezu? The little aura technique was taught to me by my Lucario, Cache.”

The mammalian Principal popped out from a vent on the roof stating, “your pokémon taught you?”

“My partner taught me. He just happens to have crazy powers and a not-so-human body.

“You flatter me, Izuku.” Cache had come from his pokéball, flashing to life in the room.

“Anyway!” shouted Aizawa from the doorway, “Put on your gym uniforms and meet me in the training ground in five minutes. Everyone ran, Izuku finished changing twenty seconds after the others' arrival and walking out to see Shouto leaning against the wall.

“Shall we go, Shouta?”

The man just stared, dead-eyed and said, “Yeah.” He looked so tired that Izuku took pity on him and handed him a thermos of Coffee from his bag. They walked out onto the training grounds and waited. The quickest person to arrive was three minutes late.

“Today we’re having a quirk assessment test.”

This statement caused an expected level of chaos and denial as one voice rang out above the din. “Already? Damn, I expected it, but you really are no-nonsense.”

“Yeah sure, anyway. Izuku, you were first in the exam, beating even All Might’s score, you’re allowed to do anything within your physical power so long as you stay in the circle, launch the ball as far as you can.” The mentioned ball was then tossed to Izuku, who stepped up to the circle. He drew his arm back and gathered his aura into his hand behind the ball. He lurched back and swung and, letting the aura explode outwards from its compressed state, he proceeded to fling the ball into the sky.

1,609.34 km

“No way!”

“He did that with his aura?”

“No wonder he was top in the exam!”

Over the cacophony, Eraserhead spoke up. “Knowing your limits is the first step to improving. Welcome to UA High, Plus Ultra and all that jazz.”

Izuku snorted. “I’ve been a bad influence.”

Aizawa stared at Izuku and then deadpanned, “yes, yes you have.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They went through all of the basic middle school physical tests; the results of which were interesting and sometimes even downright astounding.

In the 50-Meter Dash, one of the students used a viscous fluid to skate across the ground. Once she finished, she informed the class that it was acid. The sparkly boy used a… laser from his bellybutton(?) to propel himself forward. One heterochrome used ice to propel himself forward, though Izuku was more concerned with the aura of pain that surrounded him.

Next came the standing long jump. Bakugou, of course, used explosions to propel himself, making it farther than most. Though what truly interested Izuku was a girl who seemed to float, the one he saved in the entrance exams. Now that is an interesting quirk.

Moving onto the repeated side steps, nothing truly stood out, though a few students had respectable endurance. the seated toe touch had a frog-like girl laid out with her torso flat on her legs. Grip strength was interesting as a boy with six arms wrapped three hands around the machine & gained a crazy high score for it.  And so the tests continued until the ball throw.

“Bakugou, you're up.” Aizawa's monotone voice called the blond boy and he threw him a ball. “Do anything so long as you stay in the circle.”  The explosive blond smirked and drew back his arm. Meanwhile, Izuku had moved to fit noise-cancelling headphones over the ears of the girl with audio jacks. Not a second too soon, either. The second the headphones sealed around her ears, a massive explosion went off, accompanied by a rather loudly snarled, “Die!”  The ball went flying, Aizawa's phone beeping after about a minute. He turned it to the class, it read ‘705.2m.’ It wasn't the highest score, but people were impressed all the same.

“So manly!” came a shout from a spiky redhead.

“Uraraka, you're up.” A step forward, a touch of all five fingers, and a toss towards the sky. Seven minutes later, Aizawa’s screen beeped. It was turned towards the class and jaws dropped as they read out the displayed  ‘infinity.’

Izuku’s mind raced with the possibilities. Everyone else made their way through the test, Izuku lost in his thoughts until the endurance run, gaining himself a high enough score but lower, of course, than the girl who created a motorized scooter. After the run, everyone was groaning but a few, namely Izuku, Bakugou, the dual-toned boy(T odoroki was his name?) , and of course, the creation girl( Yaoyorozu, recommendations student). Aizawa merely grinned a Cheshire cat grin.

“We’re not done,” he began, catching everyone’s attention. “Next, we have pokémon battles.” The students brightened up but wisely kept silent after the earlier expulsion threat. “Since the bracket is uneven, in an attempt to give you a fighting chance and an even bracket, four of my pokémon will be fighting in from the first set of matches and another will be fighting in the ‘semi-finals.’”

Everyone’s eyes darted side to side, very obviously. They were sizing up the competition, or in a few’s cases, simply looking to see the character of the class under pressure. A projection flew forth from a device Aizawa had tossed on the ground. It read, ‘Match 1: Sero Hanta v.s. Uraraka Ochako.’

Chapter Text

“Match one, step into the field.” Aizawa’s voice rang out from the white circle on the ground where he would be overseeing the battle. Beneath their feet lay a white-lined, simple battlefield. The bubbly girl, Uraraka Ochako, walked forward taking one side of the field while a boy with what appeared to be tape dispensers on his elbows, Sero Hanta, took the other. Aizawa spoke again, “The rules are as follows: One pokémon per battle, you can swap pokémon between battles if you wish, the trainer whose pokémon faints or forfeits loses, no permanent harm, and no attacking the trainers. Other than that, everything goes. But use your morals, if it seems like you shouldn’t do something, you probably shouldn’t, common sense, really.”

A couple people snorted, only then realizing how much they could relate to the man, dealing with stupidity such as that every year. They thought of this as the other two shouted their entries and threw their pokémon into the arena. In a flash of light an Inkay stood by Uraraka and a Dhelmise by Sero.

Aizawa raised a countdown, and the battle began.

“Grapple, Anchor Shot !”

“Tricky, dodge and use Pluck !”

The Inkay twitched to the side, dodging the clunky anchor by a hair and lurched forward to the remaining helm-like piece so sink it’s beak into the wooden structure.

“ Rapid Spin ! Shadow Ball !” The Dhelmise complied, slamming its spinning body into the smaller pokémon and throwing a shadow ball, hitting the dazed Inkay head on.

“Tricky, Payback time. Then use Night Slash !” The Inkay rushed forward, slamming into the anchor pokémon for double the damage, the super effective move enough to knock it back and disorient it enough for the next move to hit straight on, a critical hit. The Dhelmise fell backwards to the ground, knocked out cold.

Aizawa called the match, and the pokémon returned to their trainers. Tricky joined Uraraka to float at her side and Sero returned Grapple to his pokeball. Then came the call. “Match 2: Hagakure Tooru against Jirou Kyoka.”

As they stepped up to their podiums Uraraka returned to the crowd of students to sit in the open space beside Izuku, Tricky still floating at her side. Izuku, after a moment of watching Hagakure’s Drakloak attempting to battle Jirou’s Toxitricity, spoke to the side. “Well done, you two.”

Uraraka jumped minutely, not expecting the boy to speak when he looked so focused on the battle in front of him. She shook herself from her shock when the boy beside her raised an eyebrow, eyes still firmly trained on the battle as the Drakloak took a hard hit from the Toxitricity’s electric guitar. “Thank you, we’ve never really been in any serious battle like that before, so I’m glad we were able to put our training into practice well enough.”

“For a team of two that hasn’t battled enough to learn each other's rhythms, you did very well. Though, the dodge was almost too slow. Was that intentional? Or merely a slip in the beginning of the dance?”

“A slip,” Tricky muttered frustratedly, “I still can’t seem to react fast enough.”

Uraraka went to answer, but Izuku replied to Tricky. “If you want to react faster, don’t look your opponent in the eyes, watch the area of their face and the movement of their torso. They give so much away in body language when they don’t pay attention. Only glance at the eyes to see where they’re looking, their body tells you more about where they’ll aim.”

Uraraka stared for a moment, and the part of the class around them were shamelessly listening. “Do you understand pokémon when they speak?” Uraraka looked interested, though her face showed wariness. Izuku nodded.

“I have for a while, I spent more time with them than I did with humans, honestly. Eventually, I began to understand. Their language is more one of emotion, thought, and tone, than it is of actual ‘words.’ They don’t change what they say, just how they say it, and it sends impressions. They’re vivid enough to get a language impression from though. Clear enough to understand as if a sentence was spoken.”

Izuku watched as Hagakure’s Drakloak went down, another hard hit from an electric guitar sent it tumbling, fainted. Uraraka watched too, seeing nothing wrong, Hagakure did all she could, the toxitricity was simply too strong. Izuku thought otherwise, stating matter-of-factly, “her Drakloak wasn’t in tune with her, they either haven’t battled or trained very much, or they don’t do it right. Though, I could tell the Drakloak cared for her, so perhaps they are a new partner, simply inexperienced.”

Uraraka found herself nodding along, not speaking aloud, considering what was said. Then came a call, “Match 3: Ojiro Mashirao against Meowstic.” The boy walked forward, tossing out an Infernape he called Mara. Aizawa released his Meowstic and the battle began. Aizawa allowed his Meowstic, named Riyu, to fight as it saw fit, but to lower its level from villain-fighter to ‘competitive spar’ for the duration of the battle.

The tailed teen started in an unusual manner, Izuku caught on immediately, but everyone else seemed slow to catch on. Riyu seemed hesitant to attack someone who seemed to be waiting for something so it began to use Work Up, keeping it’s eye on Mara warily. As soon as the Meowstic’s strength could pile no higher, he prepared to use Stored Power only to realize that the infernape had seemingly disappeared when he had last looked away. Ojiro’s voice rang in finality, “Mara, use Punishment.” Mara’s hands raised above her head, towering over the top of the Meowstic and were brought down hard. All the power that Riyu had built up turned against him, and he flew across the ring, knocked out.

Izuku sat back and smirked, everyone else boggled. No one saw that coming from the seemingly cowardly start. Ojiro stepped away, Mara walking by his side as he made his way to sit with the class. Then came the next announcement, “Match four: Midoriya Izuku Against Lycanroc.”

Chapter Text

Moving forward, strategies flew through Izuku’s head, but the most prominent one was centred around King. The Aegislash was probably the strongest on his team aside from Cache, and he wanted to save Cache as a finale of sorts. Stepping onto the podium, Izuku thought. ‘Aizawa has always—from what I’ve seen, however rare—been conservative in his battles until he can engineer an advantage. His pokémon seem to be the same if Riyu’s hesitance is used as a reference. Of course, this is until they’re forced into a corner.’

Reaching to the belt on his side, Izuku took the pokéball in his fingers, pressed the button and shouted, “Let’s go, King!” Aizawa released his Lycanroc, Kuzure, and the battle began with, “King, use Shadow Sneak !”

The Aegislash disappeared only to reappear behind the werewolf-like pokémon, slamming into its back with an unforgiving steel flat and sending it flying forward. The lycanroc turned and sent a rock flying at the phantom sword. “Block it King, use slash !” The Royal Sword pokemon shot forward, his sharpened body flashing in the daylight as it took a swipe at the lycanroc, which dodged at the last second, it’s ruff fluffing outward, curled lips baring gleaming fangs to the air as it snarled, lunging forward to sink its teeth into the Aegislash in a Bite. Kuzure held on, shaking the Aegislash with fury, before flinging King across the arena.

King recovered right before he flew out of the arena, having had many close calls with Cache in training matches, bringing it’s damaged form to float just before the out of bounds line. Izuku knew the lycanroc would know dark type moves, but he didn’t plan to let it get more than the one hit. “King, Sacred Sword!” The Aegislash shot forward, raising its blade and bringing it down on the lycanroc just before it could dodge out of the way, coming down hard on the wolf pokemon’s head slamming it into the ground and disorienting it.

As Kuzure tried to get up, Izuku shouted, “ Brick break, then charge Solar Blade!” The Aegislash executed it perfectly, the Brick Break slamming into the already disoriented pokemon and forcing it back once more. As soon as Kuzure had mostly recovered, King’s second move had finished charging. He rushed forward, the move, powerful in its own right, and super effective on the wolf pokemon, slammed it backwards, sending the fainted pokemon flying from the arena with the force of the strike.

Izuku’s face broke into a smile, King swinging around to slip his lavender ribbon about Izuku’s shoulders in a semblance of a hug. Looking to his pokemon, Izuku decided to leave him out of his Pokeball to float beside him as he moved back over to the waiting area, hearing behind him, “Match Five: Yaoyorozu Momo vs Iida Tenya.”

Izuku’s eyes slipped back to the fifth match as several students around him began talking about his battle. Yaoyorozu had released a Gardevoir, but Iida had released a Ninjask, a bad choice for an unknown battle, it had too many weaknesses, most of which could be exploited by the Gardevoir if it didn’t move fast enough. But speed was Ninjask’s selling point, so the battle could be turned in Iida’s favour. These trainers said their commands rather than shouting them so Izuku could only tell by action what was said, but eventually, the Gardevoir managed to land a Mystical Fire after a large and violent game of tag, the Ninjask’s low Special defence coming back to bite it in the face of the Gardevoir’s incredibly high Special attack. Needless to say, the Ninjask was sent flying and the next battle was announced.

“Match Six: Kirishima Ejirou vs Serperior.” Another lycanroc was released, a dusk form. ‘An interesting choice for a battle with a grass type. But is the deliberate bearing of weakness a tactic? It can’t simply be overlooked, It’s all too obvious the Rock type’s weakness against grass. Unless-’ Izuku’s eyes shot up to the battle, not even registering that his classmates’ eyes had flicked to him in surprise. His gaze hit the battle just as the Lycanroc’s jaw opened wide and its fangs became coated in flames. It shot forward, latching onto the Serperior underneath its jaw and allowing the flames to scorch into its body as it thrashed in an attempt to dislodge the attacking wolf. ‘Of course,’ thought Izuku, ‘Most trainers or pokemon don’t expect egg moves or moves gained through good breeding. Kirishima must have been lucky, it’s a good way to catch someone off guard, especially when you know your opponent.’

The Serperior eventually tore the wolf off with a vine whip, however, throwing it across the arena, and before it could recover sent a Giga Drain at the recovering pokemon, sending it to the ground, unable to continue battling as the Serperior was healed of a significant portion of the damage it had taken. A valiant effort on Kirishima’s part, but nothing else the Lycanroc had would have been able to counter Serperior’s superior range.

The battles continued with Todoroki’s Alolan Ninetails taking Ashido’s Pa’u Style Oricorio out with an Ice Beam , but not after taking a rather strong Steel Wing to the flank. Koda’s Gogoat didn’t stand a chance in front of the Icy Wind sent by Shoji’s Barbaracle. Shinsou’s Hypno barely beat out Tokoyami’s Banette before Asui’s Frogadier slammed Aoyama’s Furfrou into the ground. Aizawa’s Gengar trashed Kaminari’s Luxio, and Bakugou’s Primeape destroyed Satou’s Alcremie with Iron Tail.

Yaoyorozu went on to narrowly defeat Aizawa’s Serperior, and Todoroki used a Glaceon to beat Shoji’s Barbaracle quite easily. Shinsou’s Munna barely managed to beat Asui’s Frogadier, and Bakugou’s Typhlosion managed to defeat Aizawa’s Gengar through a combination of Throat Chop and Shadow Claw . Uraraka’s Lunatone defeated Jirou’s Toxtricity with some difficulty, and Izuku and Brindle made quick work of Ojiro’s Thwackey.

Izuku watched as the battles commenced, taking in the actions and demeanours of his classmates. Their battle styles were noted and would be written down as soon as Izuku had his hands on a notebook. But more importantly, he noted personality, and history tells. For instance, Ashido’s movements were incredibly fluid, which indicated practice and experience of some sort, perhaps dance or gymnastics. Shinsou had underlying anger that shone through in harsher battle tactics, likely having been bullied because of his quirk as he was one of the few not talking about it earlier in the classroom.

Yaoyorozu seemed uncertain in every decision, though she usually made good ones the first time with few slip-ups, it seemed she just lacked confidence. Aoyama was obviously trying to get attention with every sentence, and Izuku suspected it might have to do with parents. Todoroki, however, was a minefield of problems from the flat yet angry tone he used to bark out orders to his pokemon.

Eventually, though, the semi-finals came around and it was Izuku v.s Aizawa’s Umbreon and Todoroki v.s. Bakugou.

Chapter Text

Okay. So, first of all, I'm writing this on my phone so please forgive me any errors. I saw this done recently with the fic "All Might Protection Squad" and I realized I kinda felt the same way about some of my fics, so I have a question for anyone who's looking for updates on this fic.

Would you like to see it re-written? I know it's only like 9k words, but still.

I feel like the half of it that isn't battles is written in the style of an incoherent 7th grader with no sense of continuous plot, and this was first 'composed' in my Adderall-less ADHD high school Junior brain in the middle of COVID. I am now medicated (yay!) and as stable mentally as one can be in these times so I think I could do it more justice now, y'know?

Would any of y'all read that? I just kinda feel like I let several hundred people down in the worst way. I hate when a fic just ENDS with no updates until Christ comes for his second supper, and idk how many of y'all are still around anyway.

I'd love to hear from y'all, and I'm so sorry I disappeared for like, 3 years.

Chapter Text

Hi! For those of you subscribed here who were waiting, the first chapter of the rewrite has been posted and can be found Here!

This old version shall, obviously, not be updated again.