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The earliest memory Izuku can recall is watching a recording of All Might’s battle to defeat the former Champion, taking her position as the strongest trainer in Kalos. Izuku had been entranced. All Might had been magnificent, ordering his pokemon about who obeyed instantly, no matter how outlandish the order had seemed at first. And so, Izuku decided at the young age of 4 that he wanted to be just like him, Fighting Specialization and all.Except…“Brick Break,” he called out desperately, the low level mankey he was borrowing for the class doing its best to obey.Still, it wasn’t enough; the growlithe easily leapt over the monkey pokemon and fired off a point blank ember in its back. The final attack proved to be too much and the mankey collapsed, the teacher recalling it and calling the battle immediately afterwards. Izuku sighed, his shoulders slumping. He cast his eyes away from the irritated teacher whose mankey he had been using, and scurried to the wall, pressing his back into the corner, trying to avoid catching anyone’s attention.Especially Kacchan’s. Especially after he had just lost to his once friend, again.Especially since it had been three years since they took the Provisional Exam and both passed with flying colors, Kacchan immediately getting a growlithe as a belated tenth birthday present. Meanwhile, three years later, Izuku was still trying to connect to his favorite type, and failing miserably. Izuku’s eyes closed and he slid to the ground, absently grabbing a journal from his bag. He knew there was something he was missing, some reason that he couldn’t connect with any of the Fighting types he had tried to battle with, more than the pokemon just belonging to other trainers. Other students in the class had borrowed pokemon from the teachers to explore the different typings in a safe environment, and they rarely had any issues with commanding them. But, Izuku just couldn’t.And, he couldn’t figure out why. It was driving him insane.He had less than a year to prepare for the entrance exams, and he was still as set on going to UA, the premier League-sanctioned high school in Kalos, as he had ever been, despite still not having a single pokemon. He just had to figure out what the disconnect was between him and the pokemon. Still, he mused as his pen stuttered to a stop amidst another chart detailing a combination move he was theoretically experimenting with, there had to be something he was missing, something intrinsic to pokemon that he just couldn’t see, even after three years of battling near constantly, even if only with borrowed pokemon.Deep in thought, Izuku was startled by the bell signalling the end of classes. He scrambled to collect his things and stuff them away, barely managing to scurry from the room before anyone could approach him to taunt him about his most recent loss in a long string of them. In fact, he actually managed to make it most of the way home, dodging bullies as he hurried to his lone sanctuary. Still, he wasn’t quite fast enough.He yelped, spinning away and putting his back to the brick wall along the sidewalk at the heavy hand that landed on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. The rough touch, and small, warm body that pressed against his leg, made him immediately aware of the other’s identity.“K-Kacchan?” he stammered, fearful green eyes staring up into the blond’s angry red ones. “Can I h-help you?”“Tch, you can’t even help yourself, shitty Deku. What makes you think you can do anything for me?” Katsuki sneered arrogantly.Izuku curled into himself, as best he could with the other still gripping his shoulder. His growlithe, Blast, huffed quietly, his wet nose nudging Izuku’s opposite hand. Izuku managed to hide the quick flash of amusement at the puppy pokemon’s begging, but easily moved to scrat it behind its ears, even as its trainer continued to try to intimidate him into submission.“Right,” Izuku said quietly, eyes darting away from the other. “Then,” Izuku swallowed, a flash of courage hitting him. “What do you want, Kacchan? If I can’t help you with anything, why would you stop me?” he demanded, straightening and meeting Katsuki’s eyes firmly. At least, he did until he registered the deep frown and narrowed eyes and promptly deflated, looking away again.Katsuki was silent a moment longer, before letting out a deep sigh. He darted a look to his growlithe, the pokemon panting happily at the continued pets, even as it turned a deeply unimpressed look to its trainer. He closed his eyes briefly, not really able to believe what he was about to do, before he let a shorter sigh and gentled his grip, twisting his fingers firmly into cloth instead of skin.“C’mon, Deku,” he said gruffly, turning and hauling the other boy behind him. “We gotta talk.”“K-Kacchan?” was all Izuku could say, tone warbling with uncertainty, as he unwillingly followed.“Shut up, Deku.”Izuku obeyed, his mouth snapping shut, and sped up a bit so that he wasn’t stumbling along behind Katsuki. A questioning glance at the pokemon trotting along happily helped soothe Izuku. Blast had never agreed with what Katsuki would do to Izuku, and the puppy’s absolute refusal to hurt Izuku had meant that Katsuki had never actually followed through with any of his physical threats after the first few times when his growlithe had actually gotten in between them. Instead, the bullying, which could have been so much worse, had mostly kept to harsh words and irregular property damage and a few shoves. In another life, Izuku was sure that there wouldn’t have been a force that continuously stayed between the two boys, allowing Katsuki free reign.Still, knowing Blast wasn’t too worried could only calm Izuku so much, so he followed and tried to not annoy the volatile blond too much as he was led to an abandoned dump that had once been a beach years ago, before trash started to wash up on the sand and the locals started leaving their own trash there instead of cleaning it up. Izuku continued to silently follow the blond as he led him through the maze of old appliances and refuse until they were out of sight from the road and close enough to the beach that their voices would be covered unless they got particularly loud. Katsuki dropped his grip, taking a long look at Izuku, before taking a few steps away and...pacing. Izuku blinked, perplexed, but stayed put, the growlithe sitting next to his feet and panting, his tail wagging as he watched his favorite humans not fighting for once. Finally, nearly ten minutes later, Katsuki seemed to come to a decision, nodding sharply before pivoting to stare at Izuku.“Look, Deku. I’m only going to say this once, and if you ever tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll kill you. Got it?” he growled, and Izuku nodded frantically, incredibly confused.They really hadn’t talked at all for the past two years, once it became obvious that Izuku’s abilities with Fighting pokemon were nonexistent. As Izuku’s practical grades started plummeting, and any attempt he made to bond with a Fighting type failed miserably, Katsuki pulled away, quickly coming to bully his once friend. The first few months after he got Blast, when Izuku could still keep up despite his lack of pokemon was the last time they had really talked, let alone spent any time together. So, this nearly nice Katsuki was freaking him out more than anything else at this point and, honestly, the threat made Izuku relax in spite of himself, with the familiar ground.“Good,” Katsuki grunted, wiping his hands on his pants in an unconscious gesture of uncertainty. “So, why the fuck are you still trying to make Fighting types work for you, you idiot?” he asked abruptly.The question made Izuku bristle, his mouth opening, ready to say something sharp, when Katsuki shook his head and made a cutting gesture with his hand.“That’s not-that’s not what I meant, Deku. It’s been three years, ok? If Fighting types won’t let you command them, then it’s too early for you to try.” Katsuki ran a hand over his head, reflexively scowling at having to have this conversation at all. “As much as I hate to say it, and I will kill you if you ever repeat this,” he added quickly, reiterating what he had said only minutes before, making Izuku roll his eyes. “You’re smart. Not as good as me, obviously. But, you’ve got that whole strategy and analysis thing going for you, and if you used a different type, you’d probably be almost as good as I am with battling. But, you’re clinging so tightly to All Might and his Fighting types that you’re handicapping yourself and destroying the only competition I actually have in this hell hole.”Katsuki chanced a glance at the nerd, and almost flinched at the watery eyes staring at him and the trembling lips and the white knuckled grip he had on his shirt tail.“Deku,” he cut himself off, before continuing while consciously moderating his tone. “You know what it means, that you have so much trouble with Fighting types, but you refuse to see it, because you’re so wrapped up in wanting to be exactly like All Might, and no one else care enough to pull your head out of your-”Katsuki was cut off again, this time by Blast yipping sharply as the growlithe leaned more heavily against Izuku’s leg.Katsuki heaved a heavy sigh. “You know what it means, you just need to admit it to yourself and deal with it.”He stepped closer to Izuku, reaching out and gently hitting him on the top of his head with a fist. Katsuki leaned down so they were eye to eye, not realizing that his hand had relaxed to lay flat against Izuku’s hair, absently tangling lightly in the green locks.“Kacchan,” Izuku murmured, sniffling as he tried to keep from crying.“You’re smart, idiot,” Katsuki said quietly. “I know you don’t want to see the truth here, but you need to try working with other types of pokemon if you want to get strong enough to get into a good battle school next year. With how badly you deal with Fighting, you have options, but you need to get over yourself before it’s too late.”Izuku laughed quietly, smiling up at the blond through the remains of his tears. “Thank you, Kacchan.”Katsuki scoffed, his eyes widening as he realized just how close they had gotten and he jerked away, tilting his head to hide the faint flush on his cheeks.“Whatever, shitty nerd. Figure your shit out before it’s too late. Not that you’ll ever be able to get into UA, no matter how much you try,” he blustered, snapping his fingers at his growlithe. “Let’s go, Blast. Remember, Deku,” he said, already striding away. “Not a word.”Blast huffed, before jumping up to lick Izuku’s face affectionately and running after his trainer, leaving Izuku to stare after them.“Well,” Izuku finally said long after their silhouettes had disappeared amongst the towers of trash. “I guess it’s not a horrible option to at least think about, is it?”He hadn’t really been paying attention to the time, and between Katsuki’s ambush and his own thoughts holding him hostage, Izuku ended getting home much later than normal. When he stumbled through the door, a good three hours late, his mom practically tackled him.“Are you ok?” she nearly shrieked directly into his ear, her fingers tangling in his shirt as she hugged him.Izuku yelped, nearly toppling over when she slammed into him, having been halfway through taking off his shoes.“Wha-? Mom? Is everything alright? Did something happen?” Izuku asked frantically, automatically returning the hug even as his mind started racing frantically, trying to figure out what had upset her so much.Inko froze. “Izuku. You were over three hours late. I was about to send Pythia out to find you.”He blinked in surprise, looking over her shoulder to see both Pythia, her gardevoir, and Clair, her chimecho, waiting patiently in the hallway. Despite having two full teams from her days as a wandering trainer, those two were the only ones that truly preferred to stay at the house with them over the ranch that Inko had been using since she first left on her journey all those years ago.“I’m sorry, mom. I was,” he paused, seeing the worry in his mother’s eyes. “I got distracted and completely lost track of time. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”Inko stared at him a moment longer, then nodded and smiled softly. “As long as you’re alright. Now,” she continued, stepping back and heading back into the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready, so you go wash up and change.”“Yes, mom,” he called back. “I’m sorry, you two,” he said quietly to Pythia and Clair as he passed. Pythia just nodded, patting his hand before following Inko to help with the final dinner preparations. Clair, on the other hand, let out a soft chime and levitated up to perch on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek for a moment, before twirling away down the hall to his mom’s room with a final happy cry of her name.Izuku just shook his head, smiling at their antics, and headed to his room. Fifteen minutes later, in sweats and a t-shirt and fresh from the fastest shower he could manage, Izuku joined his mom and her pokemon in the dining room, helping her carry the last couple of bowls to the table. It was quiet, the four of them carefully eating the meal Inko had prepared. Izuku kept his eyes fixed on his plate, eyebrows furrowed as he tried to work through what Katsuki had dumped on him earlier.Against his will, now that it had been unceremoniously shoved in his face, he had to admit that there may be some weight to Katsuki’s rant. He hadn’t been able to adequately command a single Fighting type in three years. That was fact, and there was no denying it, no matter how much he wanted to. And wasn’t that exactly what he had been thinking earlier that day after losing to Katsuki yet again? He knew that he had been missing something, and, now, he was finally able to consider that it was just him that was off, for Fighting types at least. He just didn’t mesh with them, at all really. And there’s nothing he can really do about it, not until he’s more accomplished with a strong team at his back. So, he may have to wait years, but eventually he could revisit the idea of having a Fighting type team, just like All Might. But, that brought up the next issue. With his extreme difficulties, he most likely had a aura complement in a type very weak to Fighting, which gave him five possibilities for his strongest complement.Normal. Rock. Steel. Ice. Dark.Normal would be the best option, actually. It had a wide variety of pokemon to choose from and, though overall tending to be slightly weak when used by other types, Normal types using Normal type moves could be very powerful if tried right. Rock, Steel, and Ice were all about mid-line, though Izuku had a particular fondness for Steel, due to his mom’s massive Metagross. Dark, though, could pose a problem. Like Ghost, Dark types, and therefore their trainers, had a particularly bad reputation due to their rampant use by various evil organizations over the last few decades. It was a vicious cycle, really, where Dark and Ghost type trainers were shunned and vilified even when they hadn’t really done anything to deserve it, and pushed to the evil teams, giving Dark and Ghost type trainers even more of a bad rep. Over and over again, and it seemed like there wasn’t much hope for it to end anytime soon. In fact, out of all seven regions, and their accompanying Elite 4 and Champion, there was a single Ghost type trainer in the Kanto Elite 4, and it looked like she would be retiring soon either way. In the end, Dark type would be the worst possible outcome, but it was also the most unlikely. After all, Izuku had never really felt like he was brutal or vicious or ruthless. He had even, to his shame, absently considered more than once that, if Katsuki wasn’t so obviously Fire, he could have been Dark.There was one sure fire way to find out, though. And, with entrance exams closing in quickly, and Izuku finally ready to figure it out, there was no reason to delay and put him even more behind.“Mom?” he said suddenly, shattering the nervous silence that had held them for the last thirty minutes.Inko jumped a bit, barely managing to avoid upsetting her water. “Yes?”He licked his lips, eyes darting between her and his food, not sure if he wanted to see her face with his next words. “I think.” A deep breath. “I think it’s time I go to the Reader.”Inko’s breath hitched. He had refused, refused for years to go the Aura Readers, partnered pokemon and trainers who trained specifically to give out and read the results of tests that measured the trainer’s compatibility to the different type complements. It was normally given as a child, around five, as a starting point for parents to start teaching pokemon basics, and then again around the same time that the Provisional Exam was taken for the first time, around ten. After all, trainers didn’t have to start with pokemon of their strongest complement, but it really helped to have at least two or three on their overall line up; it especially helped for young trainers to know which types to avoid capturing and getting in too far over their heads by accident. But, Izuku had always refused to go, proclaiming that he would be a Fighting type Champion, just like All Might, and that he didn’t need to take the test, ‘cause he was going to do it, no matter what the test said. And Inko hadn’t insisted, too afraid to misstep on such an important issue, and constantly worried that she had messed up anyway.“Are you sure?” she asked, hesitant to push too hard and make him back out, but so hopeful. She had been worried for so long.Izuku paused, swallowing a mouthful of pork that suddenly tasted like ash. He nodded once, decisively.“I’ll call to make an appointment tomorrow, then.”Izuku nodded again. The meal was finished in silence. This time, though, it didn’t feel so heavy.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Hello and welcome to Eeveelutions, the solution to your eevee breeding needs! How can I help you this afternoon?” the perky sales girl asked as Inko hesitantly made her way into the specialist breeder shop.

“I, um, actually. I’m looking for an eevee,” Inko took a moment to be completely exasperated with herself. Obviously she was looking for an eevee. “My son, he was just tested and eevees can evolve into his type complement. I was hoping, um, well, that is…” she trailed off nervously.

The girl smiled brightly. “You want to talk to some of our eevees? See if any have a desire to evolve into his best type?”

Inko nodded, relaxing at the easy way of the girl.

“No prob! The bright orange door in the back leads to the room where all the adoptable eevees can roam. It’s bigger than it looks, and the eevees tend to be a bit shy when someone first heads in, so don’t worry if you don’t see any of them right away. Just take a stroll, maybe rest for a bit on the benches a bit further from the door, and they’ll eventually walk right up to you. When you start seeing them, you can let them know why exactly you’re here. Like I said, it might take a little while, so don’t fret! If you do find one that will suit, just pick ‘em up and bring ‘em to me so I can log their adoption while you browse to get some stuff from the store.”

Inko blinked at the flood of words, but nodded. “Orange door?” she made sure she remembered correctly.

“Yep! You can’t miss it,” the girl grinned, heading back to the counter when Inko nodded again and wandered back through the aisles.

“You really can’t miss it,” Inko murmured to herself when she saw the garish door to the left. “Well, here I go.”

She took a deep breath and opened the door, quickly walking through and making sure it latched behind her, just in case any of the eevees decided to try to escape. The room really was massive, the breeders obviously doing well enough to afford the technology developed for pokeballs to be repurposed and altered to expand the space and make it ideal for a few dozen pokemon to happily live in. There was a single stone pathway that stretched from the door and almost immediately disappeared into the trees that reached to the ceiling and shadowed the room. Inko paused, taking in the sweet smell of the flowering fruit trees scattered throughout the space, probably planted for the eevees to snack on between meals.

And so she walked, strolling along the twisting path. It took maybe ten minutes before she actually saw any hint of the pokemon, and even then only small flashes of cream colored tails. Twenty minutes later, and quite glad that she had left a note for Izuku saying that she might be late, Inko was sitting quietly on a bench that overlooked a pretty little pond fashioned into the floor and surrounded by oran trees heavy with fruit.

Sitting there, Inko pulled a small notebook out of her purse, intending to go back over the notes she had started making the week before after Izuku’s appointment with the Reader. A small sandwich and a thermos of tea followed, placed on the bench next to her as she worked. True, she had nearly four years to make sure he was ready for his journey, trainers only allowed to get their Standard Licenses no earlier than their seventeenth birthday. However, she only had ten months to ensure that he was able to pass the entrance exams to any of the schools he was looking into.

He truly had his heart set on UA, and she believed in him completely, but it would be so very hard for him to pass the practical portion with a pokemon he had had for so short a time. The entrance tests were built around the idea that the aspiring trainers had had their pokemon for at least three years already, and that they had at least two pokemon on top of that. Young trainers who planned to be professional trainers would apply to the best schools, but it was unofficially acknowledged that these trainers hadn’t gotten their pokemon any later than eleven. And here Izuku was at a couple of months from fourteen, and still without any pokemon at all. So, Inko was worried, always worried, but determined to make sure that Izuku had every opportunity that he wished, and so she would help him, tutor him in pokemon. Even if Dark types had never really been her thing, what with her Psychic complement being so strong.

Still, this was the first step on a long list made from her own experiences of what was actually helpful and what was unnecessary. And so, she sat. And waited as the shy creatures turned slowly more curious. Fluffy tails flickering for a moment behind bushes, and little black noses poking out a moment before retreating again. Gradually, they approached, getting closer and closer before flitting back to safety. Until one brave eevee, bigger than the others, seemed to finally have enough. The next time it wandered close, it hopped up onto the bench right next to her and promptly stuck its nose over her arm, trying to see what she was scribbling down.

Inko laughed lightly, not having expected it at all.

“Hello, there,” she said softly, trying to avoid startling it, or any of the others that were coming closer with much less caution now that one of them had shattered the barrier.

Soon, a dozen or so eevee were around her, jumping and leaping about, occasionally rubbing against her and allowing her to card her fingers through their fur for a moment. Once they calmed a bit, Inko cleared her throat, trying to get their attention.

“I never introduced myself.” She gave a shallow bow from her seat. “My name is Inko Midoriya. I am actually here for my son, Izuku.” She paused here, pulling out an old oversized hoodie that Izuku had had for years, and so it was heavily saturated in his scent, and laid it out on the ground for them to test. “He wishes to be a Champion, a professional battle trainer. However, since he was small he idolized a Fighting type trainer, trying to be just like him. Except Izuku’s type complement is extremely weak to it, so he hasn’t had much luck so far. I want to get him an eevee to grow with, as you can evolve into his best complement.

“It will honestly be hard. He only has ten months to make sure both you and he will be trained for the entrance exams. Also, though, he is already heartbroken that he has so little ability with Fighting types that any other pokemon is going to be a bit of a disappointment to him until he gets over it and remembers that he loves all pokemon so much that it truly doesn’t matter. But, what is worse, though, is that his main type has a very bad reputation amongst humans. Even without any of the other factors that are uniquely Izuku, everything would be hard for both of you because of human prejudice and preconceptions, and there is nothing I or Izuku can do to counteract that, except to be better.

“So, I’m here to ask if any of you would come with me for him. If any of you are interested, knowing the trials that you will face, knowing that you will be going to someone who had not only the dream but the drive to become a top level battle trainer, meaning that you will be expected to fight. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if there are any of you who wants to evolve into umbreon over any other options. If so, I will adopt you today and you will meet Izuku as soon as we get home this evening.”

There was a beat of silence, a stillness that no one seemed to want to break, and Inko’s heart dropped. Until, finally, a nose poked out of the underbrush beside her. A tiny eevee, easily half the size of any regular eevee, slowly approached. Its ears were angled back, tail brushing the ground, and obviously nervous. But, still, it came closer. It watched her warily, watched the other eevee with the same eyes, skirting everyone until it could reach the hoodie. Fur bristled in warning, its eyes stayed raised to make sure no one tried anything as it lowered its nose to the fabric, an automatically vulnerable position.

Inko held her breath. Obviously this eevee wanted to become an umbreon, it wouldn’t have come forward after everything if it didn’t. But, scent was the deciding factor. It had been extensively researched, and well documented, that wild pokemon wouldn’t even be seen by trainers that didn’t have pleasing scents, and that pokemon would avoid or outright run away from trainers’ scents that they didn’t find compatible. So, if this eevee, the only one that seemed to want to become a Dark type, didn’t like Izuku’s scent, she would be out of luck. She would have to track down a different eevee breeder, an extremely difficult thing due to their rarity and the high standards that breeders had to adhere to. It could take months Izuku didn’t have to find a different breeder she could easily travel to, and that’s assuming that she found an eevee at the next breeder.

So, when the tiny eevee took a deep breath, then seemed to melt into the hoodie, its eyelids lowering in satisfaction at the scent, nuzzling its cheek into the fabric, Inko slapped her hands across her mouth to muffle the happy sob that wanted to burst free. She slid off the bench, kneeling in front of the eevee now happily rolling itself into her son’s hoodie, as the rest of the eevees darted away.

“Thank you,” she whispered, watery eyes staring down at the pokemon. “I know you’ll love him, and he’ll love you. He really does love all pokemon, it just might take a little while for him to get over his disappointment. But, please, don’t lose hope, and don’t think too badly of him until it finally clicks.”

The eevee barked quietly at her, its fluffy tail barely peeking out of the tangle and wagging. Inko reached out hesitantly, hand hovering.

“Can I touch you? I know you have a pokeball up front, but I need to register you with the agency and grab a few things before we can go home to Izuku.”

The eevee blinked up her, considering. Then, it nudged itself forward, pushing its head up into Inko’s hand.

“Thank you,” was all she could say again.

She slid the strap of her bag over her shoulder again, then reached down to gently scoop the pokemon into her arms, the eevee obviously not wanting to remove itself from the hoodie anytime soon. She quickly made her way out of the back room and to the counter up front.

“Hello again!” the blonde from before said. “I see you found someone for your son,” she smiled widely as Inko nodded, gently placing the eevee burrito onto the counter. “Now, then, let’s get you transferred so you can,” her voice trailed off, smile slipping a moment. “Oh. Um,” her eyes darted between Inko and the eevee nervously.

“Is there a problem?” Inko asked.

The girl jumped, sales smile slapping back across her face. “No, of course not! I can assure you that our eevees are strictly monitored from egg to adoption to ensure that there are no issues. I was just...surprised.” And she truly seemed a bit embarrassed by her reaction, allowing Inko to relax a bit. “This eevee is just very well known for not liking anyone. She’s very particular, and even for us she would rather take a bite out than allow us to pet her.” The blonde took a moment to gaze at the very happy pokemon still immersed in fabric. “I’m happy that she seems to like you well enough to give it a chance.”

Inko nodded. “I think it’s more that my son seems to be agreeable, so she’s putting up with me for now.”

The girl laughed, smile more natural. “You can leave her here with me, if you want to get anything specific for her. We have some really nice collars with everstones, and a good selection of pokeballs we can transfer her to, if you’d like.”

Inko raised an eyebrow, surprised, but hummed in agreement a moment later. “That sounds good, actually. I’ll be back in a minute, then,” she directed her last words to the blissed out eevee napping lightly.

Ten minutes later, Inko was back at the counter, spreading out the items for the eevee to inspect. A dark red everstone collar, a black and red luxury ball, a soft and fluffy bed, matching food and water bowls, and a few random toys were meticulously inspected. Finally, she nodded, nudging the hoodie that was obviously hers now onto the bed to start getting her trainer’s scent to cover the store smell.

“And, once Izuku has helped you pick a name, we can get a tag for your collar, if you’d like.”

The eevee tilted her head, curious as to why that would be necessary.

“We can put his poketch number on it, just in case you two get seperated, so you can get someone to call him instead of the two of you running around and missing each other.”

The eevee contemplated it, before nodding and yipping in agreement, sitting primly on her new bed, reluctantly allowing the sales girl to scan her new things. After the girl scanned the collar, Inko picked it up, snapping off the tag, and secured it around the eevee’s throat, smoothing the ruffled fur to lay correctly again.

“Perfect.”

Inko smiled when the eevee preened.

“Now,” the girl chirped. “All we have to do is transfer her to the new pokeball. It’ll only take a mo,” she said, putting the old pokeball and the new luxury ball into a clunky machine beside the register. “And,” she slid a folder across the counter as the machine beeped and lit up. “This is a current copy of all of her records, including her genealogy. We will always keep the originals in the archives, so this is for your files. When you take her to a pokemon doctor, just give us a call, and we’ll transfer over a copy for their records, too. Same with whatever ranch your son chooses when the time comes.” She nodded, carefully putting everything into some bags, obviously making sure she had covered everything. “Here’s the bill,” she slid the invoice over. “And, your eevee’s pokeball,” she handed the luxury ball over after the machine let out a final beep, tossing the old pokeball into the bin underneath the counter. “Thank you for your business,” she finished, scanning Inko’s pokedex for payment. “If there’s anything else you need, please come back soon!”

Inko smiled back at her, “and thank you. Now,” she turned to the eevee. Do you want to go home in your ball, or do you want to,” the eevee cut her off, hopping up onto her shoulder. “Alright, then,” Inko giggled, spotting the sales girl stifling her own laughter at the regal attitude of the pokemon. Inko slid the hoodie and bed into one of the bags and headed to the door.

“Let’s go home, then. I think you’ll be quite pleased.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As he had been doing for the past week, after finding out his results from the Reader, Izuku hurried home immediately after school got out for the day. He refused to be distracted, dodging reluctantly curious red eyes and slipping from warm hands that tried to grasp at shirtsleeves. He would escape through the gates and sprint home, turning down alleyways and under bridges that he knew were unfamiliar to others, but that he had mapped years ago when he realized he needed to able to escape bullies that Kacchan, when they had been inseparable, couldn’t defeat. He used that knowledge now, his natural speed only aiding him, so that he could get home and shut himself away. He would call out a subdued greeting, then go curl in the nest he had made of his bed.

For the first time, he winced guiltily when he got home, not hearing any movement inside. Sulking. He had been sulking for a week, and his mom and Pythia and Clair had had to put up with his sullen silence. Wandering into the kitchen, he saw the note laid out.

Izuku,

I have some errands to run this afternoon that might take longer than expected, so I might not be home for a bit. There’s a snack in the fridge for you. Please eat it before you start on your homework; I know that you haven’t been eating well the last few days.

He grimaced. He had hoped that she hadn’t noticed that he had been picking at his food, but it had been a fool’s wish really.

Don’t worry about me, though. I have Pythia and Clair with me, and my poketch is charged.

Another passive aggressive shot at him. He had been leaving his poketch at home, and dead, so that no one could reach him. Probably why she had left the note instead of just texting him.

Anyway, I shouldn’t be too late.

Love,

Mom

He sighed. He really had been acting childishly, turning a blind eye to everyone else in an attempt to ignore what the Reader had said, like shutting out the world would change his reality. Folding the note, he wandered into his room and slipped it into a drawer, then plugged in his poketch to charge. A quick shower, and he headed back to the kitchen, grabbing the wrapped plate of rice balls and a bottle of water from the fridge. He did spend about fifteen minutes first in his closet, trying to find his favorite hoodie; he was ready to leave the comfort of his cocoon to stop worrying his mom, but he would still have liked to have that familiarity of his old All M hoodie to compensate. He had given up in a huff, finally deciding that it had to be in the wash, and pulled on a different one instead. He spread his books out on the coffee table in the living room, getting comfortable on the floor, and dove into his homework, munching on the snack.

And that was how he passed the next couple of hours, losing track of time as he worked, easily transitioning into his extra research when done with what his teachers had assigned. His mom had gone out the day after the Reader’s appointment when he had been at school and bought half a dozen different books on the Dark type, the pokemon in it, their move sets, nutrition, tips for raising and training them. A handful of books that covered a wide variety of general information that he had left in the living room and been studiously ignoring for a week, because it wasn’t what he had wanted for his future. He did blink in surprise at one of the books, though. A comprehensive guide on eevees and their evolutions, the only book in the stack on a specific pokemon evolutionary line, instead of being a general overview.

That was what Inko walked into, as the sun set outside, a bit later than she had wanted to get back home. He could hear her unlock the door and carelessly drop her keys into the dish by the door. She didn’t bother to call out to him, not expecting his to be able to hear her shut away in his room. He smiled slightly as he heard her footsteps and the rustling of bags as she moved out of the entry. To his surprise, though, she didn’t head to the kitchen, as she would getting groceries, or to her room, if she had been shopping for herself. Instead, she came through into the living room, eyes on the bulging bags in her hands, not seeing him until he cleared his throat. Inko jumped, nearly dropping everything in her hands.

“Oh! Izuku, you scared me,” she said. Then, “you’re out here. You’re looking at the books.” Her tone went from surprised to happy in an instant.

She carefully placed the bags on the floor next to him, then snagged a cushion from the couch to join him on the ground. She opened her mouth, but Izuku cut in before she could say anything else.

“I’m sorry,” the words were rushed, nearly stumbling into each other. “I didn’t-I couldn’t deal with...anything, really. And took it out on you. I should’ve just-just dealt with it, but I couldn’t, and-”

Inko had started shaking her head as soon as he started, finally reaching out and tugging him into her arms, muffling his words. She held him firmly until he stopped trying to explain, and returned the embrace, sinking into her.

“I do understand, I promise. My position wasn’t the same, and the way people react to Psychics isn’t as bad as how they do against Dark types, but I do get having a strong complement to a type you never expected.”

He shifting, peeking up at her curiously.

“You might remember me talking about your grandparents? They both had strong Grass complements, and then here I come with Psychic? No one knew what to do with me. Typings don’t always follow in families, obviously, but they are usually connected to each other some way. Once we were sure I wasn’t going to be Grass, then everyone expected I would be Poison, because of the close correlation. But, I was the exact opposite. Then, falling in love with your father, who was so strongly Fire that he couldn’t even be in the same room as a Water type without it trying to soak him? I assure you, you are not the first in our little family to be strange to everyone else,” she finished, making him laugh, and pull away to smile at her.

“There you are,” she said, pushing his wildly curling bangs out of his eyes.

“Sorry,” he said again, quietly but sincere.

Inko just shook her head. “Just don’t do it again, and all is forgiven.”

Izuku nodded immediately.

“Well, after that, I think these might just the thing to cheer us up,” she nudged the bags to him.

“For me?” he asked, looking between Inko and the bags.

She just nodded, nudging the bags again.

He starting pulling everything out, mentally cataloguing it and placing it aside, trying to figure out what she was up to. At least, until he pulled out his hoodie, darting a pout at her. Her amused look in return made him huff and toss it on the couch, before shaking it off and pulling the bed, the last thing, out.

“Can I assume we’re getting a new pokemon for the house?”

“Actually,” she said, retrieving the folder from her purse and the luxury ball and placing them in front of him. “You are.”

“Mom?” he asked hesitantly, hand hovering over the ball.

“Go on, then. It’ll be alright.”

Izuku licked his lips, grabbing the ball and staring at it for a long minute. He had imagined getting his first pokemon for nearly a decade at this point, always picturing something like a machop or mankey bursting out of the white light. And now, he had no idea what it would be, except that it was definitely nothing like what he had been expecting. A steadying breath, and he tossed the ball into the air. It split open in a flash of light, the pokemon materializing in front of them.

“Eevee!” it cried happily as it landed primly and sat, tail tip wagging where it was curled about its feet.

Izuku’s breath caught. “An eevee? Mom, you got me an eevee?”

Inko laughed quietly, watching them staring into each other’s eyes, pokemon and trainer taking stock of each other for the first time. His shock, though, was expected. Eevees were practically nonexistent in the wild any more due to poaching, so qualified breeders were really the only way to actually get one, and they were definitely few and far between.

He leaned forward onto his knees, holding a hand out to the eevee. “Hi, there..”

“Eevee is a girl,” Inko whispered when he trailed off, not wanting to offend.

Izuku smiled. “I’m Izuku, it’s nice to meet you, girl.”

The eevee gazed at him for a long moment, seeming to weigh him, his intentions. Slowly, she leaned forward, cold nose gently touching the tip of his finger. The tableau paused, held in stillness at the moment of pokemon and trainer meeting for the first time. Then, the eevee chirped and surged forward into his lap. Izuku fell back, laughing as he swept his arms around her, and she buried her nose in his neck as she wiggled excitedly. When they finally calmed, Izuku absently realized his mom had left, probably to start dinner, but he was still enthralled, most of his attention firmly on the pokemon on his lap.

“I guess that best place to start is a name, huh? I mean, if you want one. I know some pokemon prefer to be called by their species, instead of a trainer nicknaming them. Mom’s Metagross is like that. But,” he snapped his mouth shut when his eevee chuffed and pawed at him. “Sorry, I tend to ramble. And mumble. And when i get into an info dump, it’s probably better to just ignore me. Pretty much everyone does.”

Eevee blinked up at him, surprised by his confession and the sad, resigned tone. And she realized that he was evidently different too, just like she had been amongst the other eevees at the breeder. Too small, too determined, too untrusting, too focused on becoming a type no one wanted. She hadn’t had the others telling her to shut up, or ignoring her words, but they had constantly told her to be more realistic, that being an umbreon would be impossible with her size, too small to tank a hit like umbreons were built for. Maybe, she thought, reluctant hope unfurling, he would be more than just a way to become a strong umbreon. Maybe they could be more.

She nuzzled him, cheek rubbing against cheek, calming him from his spiral.

“Right,” he sighed, hands clenching at her fur, but immediately releasing and smoothing the kinks from the tight grip of sweaty hands. “Names.” He pulled back, looking at her searchingly. “I’m really bad at naming things, and you have plenty of intelligence to object quite firmly to anything I suggest, so…” he shrugged. “But,” he started, quietly. “I’m guessing you want to evolve into an umbreon, right? I mean, after last week, I don’t think mom would bring home any pokemon specifically for me that didn’t want to, so…” he trailed off again as she nodded firmly.

“Well, you’re a girl, so feminine names, but, i’m thinking nothing too girly, right?” he asked, looking at her searchingly and she nodded again.

“Um, well. Something a bit unique, I think. Nothing like Amy, that’s way too common. Maybe something historical?” They spent the next few minutes trying to find something they both liked until finally, just when Izuku thought he might have to start looking up ideas, he seemed to hit one. “Hadria? It actually means dark. It’s-” he cut himself off when the eevee starting nodding, practically jumping up and down on his legs. “Really? You like it?” She yipped loudly, jumping off his lap to turn in circles, only to jump on his again. “Hadria it is then,” he beamed and she licked his cheek making him giggle and scramble to his feet when she tore off through the house to follow.

He skidded into the kitchen to see Hadria prancing around Inko’s feet as she stirred a pot of soup.

“We figured it out,” he beamed.

“Oh?” Inko said, softly nudging Hadria away from underfoot before she accidentally tripped over her while carrying a platter to the table, that Izuku promptly stole and moved himself.

“She decided that Hadria would work.”

“A lovely name, you two. I think it fits her well.” She ran her fingers through his hair as he passed her. “I’ll get a tag made up for her tomorrow with her name and your poketch number on it, just in case.”

“That’s a good idea. Thanks, mom.”

As they sat down to eat, Pythia and Clair and now Hadria all with their own specialty food in front of them, Inko asked the next relevant question in her mind.

“Will Hadria be going with you to school now?”

Izuku paused. “It would make the most sense, huh? We’ll be able to use battle class to get her used to actually fighting. It’d also let me see where she is, and get a good measure of how she’s progresing.”

“Plus,” Inko added, tone deliberately even and without judgement. “It would mean that you two are together, and getting to know and trust each other.”

Izuku blinked, seeing the look on Hadria’s face from the corner of his eye. “I actually thought that was understood.” He shrugged sheepishly. “Didn’t think it needed to be said.”

Both Inko and Hadria relaxed a bit, going back to their meals.

“As long as Hadria wants to, it’d be best for her to come, I think. The positives outweigh any negatives for now. Luckily, we have the weekend to get more used to each other and for me to get ahold of where she is.”

“And we can start coming up with a trainer schedule for the two of you.”

Izuku nodded. “Exactly.”

The next morning, Inko left immediately after breakfast to run a few errands she hadn’t had time to get done the day before thanks to getting Hadria. He had stolen a brush from Inko’s room and spent nearly twenty minutes grooming the eevee until she was a puddle. So, now that she was napping, Izuku was lounging on the couch, Hadria curled on his lap, and reading through her file. Finally, getting to the end, which had her latest update, he tensed, catching her attention and pulling her from her happy doze.

“You know Fake Tears,” he said quietly. “That’s an egg move for eevees, so I’d bet one of your parents was an umbreon, huh?” He couldn’t quite look at her, but Hadria nodded anyway. “Is that why? You want to be like them?”

Hadria immediately shook her head, before realizing that he still wasn’t looking at her. She hopped up, getting into his face, and forcing him to see her when she shook her head again.

“No? Then why would you want to be Dark? No one wants to deal with evil pokemon,” he couldn’t quite keep the sneer off his face, his thoughts spiraling.

Hadria growled lightly; she would have bitten him, and damn the consequences, if his venom had been directed at her, but, by the emotion in his eyes, it was definitely turned inwards and not towards her. Still, she decided a little nip wouldn’t be amiss, and promptly sunk her teeth into his arm...gently, of course. She barely drew any blood, she noted, pleased, as he yelped and flailed his injured arm. He turned a dark look her way as he rubbed a few drops of blood from his skin and she held her head proudly, giving him a smug look. He glowered at her a moment longer, before his shoulders slumped and he sighed.

“I know, I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry, Hadria.”

She held out a second, then leaned forward to nudge her nose against his, making him smile weakly.

“Why do you want to be an umbreon, Hadria? Seriously,” he said, soft and pained and so confused, as he ran his hands over her sides. “I don’t understand how you could want that. I mean, everything I’ve ever heard about Dark types, about their trainers. It’s awful. People say that the Dark energy taints them...us. That the Dark makes the pokemon more violent, more aggressive. Mean and vicious. And that, when trainers with strong Dark complements surround themselves with Dark types, that they give in, too. That they become just as bad as their pokemon.” He choked back an unwilling sob, obviously articulating his fears for the first time since he had found out.

“I don’t want to be a bad person, Hadria,” he said it like it was some great secret, some revelation that had the power to destroy everything, and Hadria could do nothing but nuzzle against him and let him cling to her. “I’ve always, always wanted to be the Champion, to be able to help people. I want to be strong so that I have the power to save people with a smile, like All Might. But, who would want a Champion that uses Dark pokemon? Who would ever trust me to protect them when I’m corrupted by the one type that everyone agrees is nothing but bad news?”

Hadria whined, pressing herself closer, trying to comfort him, to bring him out of his despair. Once she felt he was ready to listen, she hopped off his lap and to the table, knocking one of the books onto the floor.

“Wha? Hadria, what are you doing?” he cried, scrambling off of the couch to shoo her away.

Except that she huffed back at him, and got between his hands and the book, the one on eevee he noted. He paused, surprised, only for his jaw to drop as her tiny paws patted at the pages, turning them, her eyes scanning quickly, obviously looking for something.

“Hadria?” he asked, almost inaudible.

Finally, she deliberately placed her paw down and looked over her shoulder at him. Izuku leaned forward, reading the passage.

It is often said that eevees have no true preference for their eventual evolution, that, once they find a trainer they are devoted to, they choose the evolution that matched with their trainer best. In my studies, and especially in using Psychic type pokemon to speak directly to eevees, I can easily say that this is mostly false. True, there are some eevees that have no great desire one way or another. But, by far the greater percentage choose trainers because of their prime typing, not in spite of it. These eevees, nearly 90% of those involved in the study, all indicated that they knew from a very young age which evolution they preferred.

Further, it appears that eevees who choose a rarer type make up the large majority of non-evolved eevee, since it is much more difficult for them to find appropriate trainers...

“Do you mean...it just feels right? That there’s no great reason, you just like it more?”

Hadria paused, nodding, then shaking her head, then seemed to shrug.

“Oh. But, couldn’t you choose a different evolution, then? If you wanted, I mean. One that’s-”

Hadria cut him off, violently shaking her head.

“It feels wrong, if they evolve into something that doesn’t mesh correctly with their energy, even as a Normal type.”

Izuku jumped violently, whipping around, seeing Hadria do the same from the corner of his eye. Inko had apparently gotten home during their discussion and decided to pay him back for surprising her the night before.

“Obviously,” Inko continued, coming in and sitting on the couch, scooping Hadria up into her lap and pulling out a pretty heart shaped tag from her pocket. “I’ve never had a espeon, despite my Psychic leanings. Eevees were even more expensive when I was an active trainer, and by the time I had enough money to really justify spending that much, it was past my days of competing, and there was no real reason to get such a strong pokemon and force it to languish around the house with me doing nothing. But, I have talked to enough evolved pokemon, even eevees, to know something about them.

“I’ve even been able to talk to some eevees that were forcefully evolved by their trainers into something they didn’t want. Every single one of them said the same thing: that the moment the evolved, they felt wrong. That, even years later, the energy they used, the attacks, their very self, felt wrong in an undefinable way and that if they could devolve and start over they would immediately, without a second thought.”

She paused, watching as Izuku curled a hand over Hadria’s spine, face pained as the eevee whined a little at the thought of her trainer betraying her like that.

“A few even said that they would prefer to die than be forced to stay as something they weren’t, and all because their trainer ignored their wishes.”

Izuku winced.

“I asked, I made sure to find you an eevee that wanted to become an umbreon, because you need to figure it out, Izuku. You will never hurt her like that, I know it. But you need to remember that you are responsible for Hadria now.

“Trainers aren’t just trainers. Trainers are friends and family. You will be brother, father, everything to your pokemon when you do it right. And, you will allow nothing less than that for your family.”

Izuku listened to his mother’s words, wrapped around his first pokemon, and felt something unfurl within him. It was still too soon, being so attuned to the Dark was still too much. But, the promise he could feel, the whisper of things to come, and pokemon to fold into their small family. Of pokemon and people that would be brought under his wing, that he would protect and guide in exchange for their loyalty and love. He felt the beginning of that future, just beyond his grasp. And he wanted it, desperately. He craved it, he realized, and he would get it.

No matter what.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Monday morning dawned clear and surprisingly warm. Izuku was determined to take that as a poor sign, no matter what Inko said. He and Hadria had spent the weekend getting a baseline for her physical fitness and her mastery over her moves, what few there were. All day Saturday had been drills, some he thought up himself, most those that had worked out best for Inko years ago, once she had figured out what she was doing. She had also surprised him with something he hadn’t been expecting at all.

TMs.

She gave him a handful of Chips, the small disks that held the moves, a new Base, which appeared to be a thin palm sized box with an indent on the top where the pokeball was placed and a slit where the Chip was inserted, and a Case, a highly sturdy box with a hinged lid that had a slightly expanded interior meant to hold all of the delicate Chips a trainer might end up with. All things a trainer with even a single Chip required. The small disks, depending on the move, could be anywhere from pricey to exorbitantly expensive, and finding them was always chancey. Stores didn’t always have them in stock, due to their price, and those that were easy enough to find tended to be...garbage. The only sure fire way to actually get TMs was to beat the Gym Leaders. All Gym Leaders were required to keep a supply of TMs in stock, appropriate to their Gym type, for those who beat their challenge to choose from.

That is, challengers could choose between a Chip and a cash prize. One or the other, not both. And so, because of the money issues all new trainers had, most didn’t start getting a supply of TMs until they had gone through a complete circuit of Gyms at least once and then either moved onto a new region, or rechallenged the Gym Leaders with one of their higher level teams. Unless the new trainer had an older sibling or parent that had gotten some TMs and were feeling generous enough to pass them on. Like Inko was doing for Izuku.

Sleep Talk. Rest. Double Team. Substitute. Attract. Toxic. Psychic.

The only move eevees couldn’t learn was psychic, but, once Hadria evolved, umbreons could for some extra type coverage. All low level moves, all deceptively useless. All moves that nearly every pokemon could learn, and employ in battle with deceptively devastating results, as long as the trainer was cunning enough to make it work.

So, Sunday morning, Hadria was returned to her pokeball for the first time since they met, and she received six new moves, to accompany the three she had already known. A new notebook, labelled
Hadria pt.1
, had a full page set aside at the front for the moves Hadria knew, and the next page right after had a complete list of all the moves she could learn, first as an eevee then as an umbreon. Then, Izuku had started to put together a tentative exercise schedule, with Inko’s help.

It would be difficult during the week. Unlike high schools, where students could choose a school based around the intent to become serious trainers, middle schools were far more diverse. After all, the number of people who wanted to go pro after high school, let alone had the drive and talent to actually manage it, were so low that it didn’t make sense for training to be a large portion of the basic standardized curriculum. So, the most students could expect before a specialized high school would be an hour or so everyday of mock battles or lectures on different pokemon types, to get children used to pokemon. So, Izuku would be in regular classes for most of the day, and have to make sure to get his homework done while staying at the top of the class, if he had any hope of getting into a good specialty school. Like UA.

At least, now that he had a pokemon that would actually listen to him, that he could train himself, he should be rising from the bottom of his battle class. Still, they would only have a couple of hours each evening to really train hard, though all of the weekend would be free and dedicated.

“It might be a good idea to start getting up early to do some basic exercises,” Izuku murmured, just loud enough for Hadria to hear from her seat on his shoulder as he ambled down the street towards school, nose in her designated notebook. “We’ll lose a bit of sleep, but getting into shape as soon as possible seems more important in the short term. But, I think the first thing we need to do is to ask Pythia if she’d mind helping you learn heal bell. I don’t want you to even try to use toxic until you’ve got a handle on a move that can cure poisoning, alright?”

Hadria huffed, but made a small noise, agreeing. It made sense for her to know how to get rid of something as potentially harmful as toxic, especially since poisoning moves could be a bit unwieldy and widespread, when there was the possibility of accidentally poisoning her trainer, or herself, if she lost control of it.

“The only damaging moves you have right now are tackle and toxic, and one of those is benched. But, you have reliable recovery with rest, and thanks to sleep talk, you can battle while healing up a bit. Once you have heal bell down, you’ll be able to get rid of status conditions, too. The rest of your moves are good for evasion and tricking your opponent. So, for now, we’ll have to capitalize on outsmarting everyone else.” He thought for a moment, Hadria waiting patiently. “It might be a good idea to start using attract as soon as a battle starts, as long as it’s applicable. A double team immediately after, then evaluate. It’ll also give you the opportunity to practice with them; after all, just because we used TMs doesn’t mean you have them perfect yet.” He looked at her, his pen scribbling to mark down his ideas, so used to multitasking by now that he could be writing something completely different than the current conversation. “Do you think you can remember that?”

Hadria nodded. It wouldn’t be a good idea to get too comfortable with a certain opening move set. For now, though, when she didn’t have many moves, and certainly very few offensive ones, it wouldn’t hurt too much to start out the same way. Especially because there wasn’t much another pokemon could do against a set attract/double team combo, except to try to dodge the first move and outspeed the second. Luckily, her trainer seemed to be of the same mind. It’ll work for now, but it’s not a long term plan.

“Umbreons are defensive. Their attack and special attack are usually about half of their defense and special defense. Their speed is also pretty bad. So, we need to work a lot with speed and strength to try to even you out a bit when you evolve. We’ll need to do stamina training too; if you can’t keep going after tanking a hit, then there’s no point. But, once we start working on a full team line up, and you’re evolved, you’ll probably be called out as a stall. Your job will be to take hits, to wear out our opponent, so that they can’t keep going. Maybe to even get some status conditions on them to start wearing them down, like with toxic.”

Izuku could feel her tail wagging, lightly hitting the back of his head, as she listened to the bare bones of their future plans.

“It’ll be hard, and it’ll probably be a while before you can evolve.” He swallowed, feeling her still and her gaze pinned to the side of his face. “It’s not just because of my...hang ups, I promise. I would’ve put restrictions on any pokemon I got. Most early evolutions are far more capable of making those huge leaps through training, because their bodies are meant to continuously change to prepare for their evolutions. Final formed pokemon can’t really improve their stats much past what they had already managed. It’s even harder for them to learn new moves. They can, obviously, and their power is so much greater that it might not be immediately apparent, but the greatest failing of new trainers is pushing their pokemon to evolve as soon as they can. It’s much better to keep them in their first, or second forms if they have them, for a while to get their abilities as high as possible, and to only let them evolve once they’ve plateaued.

“That’s part of why mom got you an everstone collar, instead of a regular one. She agrees with the research, and claims that it’s one of her biggest regrets, that she accidentally handicapped so many of her early pokemon. We, neither of us, want my pokemon to face that. Especially since I want to go so high in the pro circuit. And, outside of how horrible it would be to deliberately harm my pokemon that way, it would be the death knell on my career, for my pokemon to be so far behind from the start.”

He blinked and came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk. “I’ve been rambling, again. I told you that you can just interrupt me when I go on too long.”

He was surprised when Hadria just rolled her eyes and leaned forward, careful not to tumble off her perch, to boop his nose with hers. She easily repositioned, letting herself drape over his shoulder on her stomach, only to watch him expectantly. When he just stared at her, uncomprehending, she sighed and waved a paw, as if to say ‘get on with it’.

“Umm, you-you don’t,” he stuttered as he started walking again, aware that they were starting to cut it close, timewise. “You don’t mind me talking?”

Hadria huffed, actually reaching out at poking his cheek with her paw.

Izuku laughed a little. “Alright, though you’ll probably come to regret giving my mouth free rein.”

Still, Izuku didn’t return to their earlier conversation as they hurried to school. Training programs and his ever present issues with his typing and battle combinations were all far too private to talk about where more people could overhear and use against them later. The first half of the walk was usually pretty deserted in the mornings, so he hadn’t concerned himself during the ramblings, but foot traffic picked up about ten minutes out, so he made sure that his mumbled were geared towards the classroom rules for pokemon, to make sure Hadria knew what absolutely wasn’t allowed. They didn’t want to get in trouble, after all, especially not so soon after they found each other. If the pokemon were too disruptive, the students could be ordered to leave them in their balls, or even at home, banning them from the school all together, if there were too many issues. Neither wanted that.

“The main thing,” Izuku said quietly, as they passed through the gates. “We’ll have to watch for, is Kacchan. Blast, his growlithe, is really sweet; he won’t do anything to you, no matter how much Kacchan barks. But, he’s really strong, so if we get paired up in battle class, like normal, we’ll probably lose.

“Don’t give me that look, Hadria. We’ve been training for two days, they’ve been together for almost four years. Just because he hasn’t evolved him into an arcanine yet means nothing. Shock factor, and the evasive moves you know, will give us an edge against anyone else, but Kacchan really is incredible. He’s a natural at battling, and it shows.

“Still,” he sighed, his shoulders drooping, nearly dislodging the pokemon. “Kacchan will probably say something mean, or violent, or whatever as soon as he sees us. I don’t want you to take it too seriously, or try to attack him or anything. Kacchan’s just like that. I’ve known him for years and he’s always been loud and explosive, a pretty typical stereotype of a Fire trainer. But, he’s really not bad.”

Her deadpan expression made him chuckle. Obviously just describing the other boy made him sound awful, but…

“Kacchan was the one who confronted me about my type issues. He’s the one that convinced me to go to the Reader. I wouldn’t have without that push, no matter how miserably I was doing with Fighting types. So, he talks big, and brash, but deep down, he’s actually pretty sweet and caring, at least about the people he’s close to. He just doesn’t want to be seen as weak or soft, and so he overcompensates, and comes off as an asshole.”

Finally, Hadria nodded, seeing the easy belief in Izuku’s eyes, and deciding to simply wait and see how this Kacchan acted before condemning him.

“Thanks, Hadria,” Izuku said, brushing his fingers over her head, once he saw her give in. “I know you’ll be able to see it, too, if you just give it some time.”

Hadria pushed up into the soft touch before hopping down onto the desk he stopped at to sit primly as she watched him toss his bag down and slide into the chair.

“Vee?”

“We’ll be here all day until battle class at the end of the day, which is in the gym. We can go outside for lunch, too,” he told her, seeing her looking around, evaluating everything and everyone.

“What’s this?” a sneering voice called out from behind him.

“Looks like useless Deku got himself a rat,” another boy called back, swaggering to Izuku’s desk.

Hadria jumped slightly when Izuku suddenly swept her off of his desk and onto his lap, his arms curled around her, just in time for the first boy to slam his fist down, right where her tail would have been. Izuku glared up at the them, two of Katsuki’s lackeys.

“Watch it, Tsubasa,” he couldn’t help but say.

“What was that, Deku?” the boy leaned forward, towering over him.

“Hadria hasn’t done anything to you, either of you,” Izuku amended, glancing at the other boy. “So leave her alone.”

“Well,” Tsubasa said, menacingly. “Why don’t you and your little rat make me then?” He grinned, and reached out, obviously aiming to snag her by the scruff.

Izuku tensed, readying himself to lash out. Except, suddenly there was a heavy hand on Tsubasa’s shoulder, and a rolling growl sounded by their feet.

“The fuck’re you doing, you extra?” came the harsh voice of Izuku’s unlikely savior.

Everyone froze, completely shocked.

“I-I’m just making sure Deku remembers his place, Bakugou. He got a pokemon, one that’s probably just as useless as him, but he’s going to start thinking he’s actually worth something, so I was making sure he remembered his place,” Tsubasa stammered, stumbling back a bit to get away from Katsuki’s tight grip, and the unhappy chorus by their knees.

“Tch, mind your own place, you fuckin extra,” Katsuki scoffed, deliberately turning his back on the bullies to glare down at Izuku. “And you, shitty Deku. Stop making threats you’re too weak to follow through with; you’ve been doing it for years, and it’s still just as annoying as it’s always been.”

His eyes darted down to Hadria, and Izuku was the only one who could see, or at least interpret, the small crease between his eyebrows as he tried to figure out the new piece in the puzzle he had started nearly two weeks ago. Izuku could practically see the thought process, lightning quick behind his eyes. Katsuki knew Inko, not as well as he used to, but Inko and Izuku were very similar in a lot of ways, especially when it came to family. Inko would never have given Izuku a pokemon who grew out of his ideal type, so Normal could be immediately discarded. She also would never have gotten him something that didn’t grow into his type, but eevees couldn’t become Steel or Rock, so they were both out too.

Except, at first glance Izuku didn’t fit Ice or Dark. And so, Katsuki was stuck. He considered that Izuku’s issues weren’t exactly as he had thought, that his extreme difficulties with Fighting would be, in the end, second to another, even stronger weakness. Fighting with himself, Katsuki reluctantly decided that that was probably the most accurate conclusion. After that, Izuku was most probably Ice, but he really wasn’t going to make a definitive ruling until he saw some proof either way, and that was definitely not going to happen in the middle of a crowded classroom when he had just averted a couple of his lackeys away from Izuku.

It took seconds for Katsuki to come to his own conclusions, and for Izuku to read him as easily as ever, to Katsuki’s eternal disgust. Then, like nothing had happened, Katsuki sneered, kicked Izuku’s desk, and sauntered to his own, to stretch out like a big cat in his seat and ignore everyone around him.

It really would have been more effective, Izuku mused, if there had been anything on his desk to upset, and if Blast hadn’t immediately abandoned his trainer to jump up onto Izuku’s leg to lick his hand in greeting then sniff curiously at the new pokemon. It was Hadria’s expression at the sudden presence of the puppy that made him raise a hand to cover the smile that threatened to break out, though.

“Hadria, this is Blast, Kacchan’s growlithe. Blast, my new eevee, Hadria. You two play nice, now,” he finished with a slight warning to his tone, seeing Hadria starting to bristle slightly at the invasion.

She paused, darting a look up at him, obviously catching it, before deflating a bit. Another moment, where she just stared at the happily panting pokemon, then she leaned forward, letting their noses touch lightly in greeting, pulling in each other’s scents. Except, Blast decided that that meant she was perfectly alright with being friends and tackled her, jumping clean over Izuku’s lap to take her to the ground to nuzzle happily. Izuku bit his lip, determined not to laugh, as she made high pitched whines at him as Blast basically smothered her, laying on top of the much smaller eevee to properly combine their scents, declaring them pseudo pack. Much to her displeasure, and her trainer’s amusement.

Finally, Izuku took pity on her, gently shooing Blast up and off, and collecting her from the floor. He scratched behind Blast’s ears for a moment, Hadria once again up on his desk, but this time straightening her fur, before gently pushing the growlithe away when the teacher came in. Blast nosed at him once more, before bounding across the room to curl underneath Katsuki’s chair, yipping in greeting to make sure his trainer knew he was there and didn’t accidentally step on him.

After that, the day moved quickly, Izuku and Hadria escaping to the roof during lunch without anyone noticing and slipping back to their seats just in time for the next class to begin. The afternoon followed the same way, Izuku keeping his entire attention focused on the teacher, and not allowing himself to be sidetracked by any of the other students and their whispers and harsh looks. Finally, the bell rang for the last class, and Izuku, like all of the other students, quickly shoved his things away and headed to the gym.

“Vee?” Hadria cooed quietly into his ear as they followed the horde into the large space, which was divided into separate dueling rings, much smaller than official battle arenas but still large enough for first or second evolutions to fight.

“We’ll be here for about an hour,” he told her under his breath, sitting in the bleachers. “And, we’ll fight twice. There are only six rinks, so twelve students will have matches at the same time. There’s a ten minute time limit to all battles, and four rounds with five minutes between each to give us time to heal our pokemon or to clean up the rinks, or whatever. If all the battles in a group finish quicker, and there’s time at the end, there might be another round of volunteers, but that never really happens.”

Hadria nodded in understanding and turned her attention with Izuku to the teacher who was clearing their throat before them.

“For the first round today,” the teacher started.

And Izuku’s focus immediately turned to the notebook he had pulled from his bag when they sat, making sure to keep his ears open for his name. If there were any changes in rules, or announcements, it was always said before splitting them across the gym, so Izuku felt no issue ignoring him for the most part.

“...Midoriya and Bakugou on Rink E…”

Izuku stilled, but stumbled up and to the “blue” side of the rectangular area at Katsuki’s impatient glare. He regularly battled Katsuki, the teachers apparently just as eager to cut him down as the other students. So, he wasn’t really surprised that they were put together. Still, he had kind of hoped that he wouldn’t be paired with him today, since it was obvious that he and Hadria were new to working together, and Katsuki was by far the best battler in the entire school, and had held that title for years at this point.

A sudden realization had him straightening his shoulders and looking Katsuki in the eyes from across the rink.

He didn’t expect to win, but they would give it their best. To do any less would be an insult, not only to him and Hadria, but to Katsuki and Blast, too.

The blond’s expression faltered a moment at his change, before a bloodthirsty grin stretched across his face, eyes shining brighter. Even Blast seemed to pick up on it, fur bristling to make him appear larger, his head lowering into a ready position, as he crouched and dug his claws into the dirt.

Izuku took a deep breath. They had prepared as best they could without actually battling over the weekend, including how well she could hear. They had tested it, made sure that even with the noise of battle and the clamor of people, Hadria would be able to hear him. They had made sure that her ears were good enough that he didn’t have to shout his directions, though he was sure he would slip occasionally when his blood got up, so that his opponent had no clue what he was commanding her to do. The only thing that would have been better, that would have gotten even more under his opponent’s skin would be if he had a Psychic complement, like Inko, and wouldn’t have had to speak at all. That doubt, that intimidation, would have been marvelous. But, he would have to be satisfied with speaking softly, as long as he remembered.

“Ready, girl?”

Hadria yipped, and hopped from his shoulder to land lightly in front of him just inside of the rink’s barrier, which automatically came up as soon as two pokemon were inside of it.

The teacher, from the middle of the gym, called out the countdown, from five. As it he hit one, both pokemon were crouched, ready, for the blare of the alarm.

Ding!

Katsuki immediately called, “ember!”

Izuku, though, stayed quiet. They had just talked about it this morning, and he was sure Hadria would remember. And, indeed, immediately after the sound, she started to vibrate in place, and five more identical eevees appeared in the ring, each winking at Blast in unison, six pink hearts speeding towards the growlithe.

“Dodge, flame wheel for extra speed,” Katsuki called out.

Blast obeyed, managing to avoid all of the hearts, and spun through two of the copies, bursting them into smoke, before he lost his rotation.

“Attract, again,” Izuku said. “And keep moving, Hadria.”

Four hearts this time, all missing again when Blast used flame wheel another time, to take out two more copies, leaving only Hadria and one other eevee.

“Try a growl, Hadria.”

The two eevees paused, close to each other as they both caught Blast’s eye and started a low growl.

“Take ‘em out, Blast,” Katsuki yelled. “Wild charge through ‘em both!”

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Cancel and substitute, Hadria!”

She stuttered, her lone copy dissipating before she realized what was happening. Just in time, a small plushie eevee popped into existence, taking the full force of the lightning attack and disappearing from the damage as she popped back, once again visible and now behind the growlithe.

“Tackle,” Izuku called out quickly.

Hadria obeyed, ignoring her disorientation as best she could at her trainer’s order, and shot forward into Blast’s back, while he tried to recover from the self damaging move. He yelped, the force pushing him down to hit the ground, before he spun back trying to bite Hadria. Hadria let out a high pitched yip as the dark type move managed to snag her leg before she could jump back. She pawed at him frantically with her free paw, but couldn’t do much damage as the growlithe held on tightly.

“Hadria!” Izuku yelled, trying to get her attention.

His voice grew more urgent when he heard Katsuki call, “fire fang.”

“Attract!”

Simultaneously, small wisps of fire begane to coat Blast’s fangs, not quite enough to do more than singe her fur yet, and Hadria stilled, trying to concentrate through the pain. She managed to make eye contact with the growlithe, giving a flirty wink. Just in time, the bright pink heart appeared, slamming into Blast’s face, equally pink sparkles bursting at the contact, his eyes turning the same shade as he was infected, the flames trickling away, and his jaws loosening allowing her to slip away.

“Get some room, Hadria, then tackle,” Izuku said, calming again now that she wasn’t in immediate danger.

She managed to take a few limping steps backwards, keeping in Blast’s eyesight to keep the attract strong as Katsuki screamed on the other side of the field. She crouched a bit, Blast still staring at her blankly with those pink eyes, and felt the energy build. A bit slower than she would have liked, due to the damage to her leg, she leapt forward, slamming into the growlithe, and darting away as the pain flushed the attract from his system.

“Substitute,” Izuku barked. “Rest,” he continued with a grin as Katsuki’s screams increased upon hearing the order. Finally, “Sleep talk.”

“Take out that damn substitute,” he bellowed, completely fed up with Izuku’s stalling.

The slowly healing Hadria was able to get two tackles in, dissolving in and out of the shadows of the substitute as Blast attacked it, before it was too damaged to stay solid. Unfortunately, just as she appeared again to do a third tackle, the substitute failed, leaving her right in the path of the iron tail now aimed at her head.

Izuku opened his mouth, to call out to her, but was too late, and she took the full force of the attack.

One hit and she was out. It was over.

The barrier dissolved, and Izuku quickly returned her, the suspended animation in the pokeball safer for her injuries than trying to carry her himself. Too worried for Hadria, Izuku didn’t notice the look on Katsuki’s face as he hurried to the back of the gym, where the miniature pokecenter was located. He also didn’t notice Blast laughing at his trainer as the blond watched him go, the growlithe limping a bit as he followed him back. Hadria was far less experienced, and much weaker, but she had gotten in a few good hits, enough that the puppy definitely wanted a quick heal before fighting again.

Izuku quickly handed Hadria’s ball over to the nurse, and slumped into a nearby chair to wait, only to blink in surprise when Blast promptly collapsed dramatically over his lap with a huff. Izuku worried for a brief moment, concerned that the growlithe was more injured than he had thought, until Blast wiggled onto his back to give Izuku the most pathetic look he could muster and gently bat a paw at him. Izuku laughed, dropping a hand to rub at the puppy’s stomach, turning him into a happy puddle by the time Katsuki had caught up to them.

“Good fight, Kacchan,” Izuku said softly, only darting a quick look up when he came through the door before turning back to Blast.

The blond scoffed, “obviously.” He paused, jaw working as he looked away from them. “You did good,” he muttered quietly, one hand ruffling the back of his head and a slight pink coming to his cheeks. “I mean,” he blustered. “You’re not as horrible as you used to be, despite having such a fuckin tiny eevee. Where the fuck did you get that thing, anyway? It can barely be called a pokemon.”

Izuku just smiled, making sure to tilt his head down so Katsuki couldn’t see his happiness. “Thanks, Kacchan. Hadria and I have been training hard, despite only being together for a couple of days. And, we’ll keep getting better and better.” He risked a look, managing to catch the other’s red eyes, and became unable to break away. “Soon, we’ll be a real challenge for you,” he continued, voice deceptively soft as his eyes turned steely. “You should watch out, Kacchan. You may want to reach the top, but so do I. So do we. And I don’t have any reason to stop anymore.”

Katsuki could feel his own eyes widen as he stared into Izuku’s determined eyes, a tingle going down his spine as his shoulders straightened, like he was squaring up for a fight.

“So, don’t expect me to handicap myself. Never again.”

They held together for a breathless moment, eyes locked and fire spitting between them. Until the call from the nurse’s desk shattered the tableau. Izuku glanced away, gently nudging Blast off his lap, and skirting past Katsuki, who let out a soft, “tch,” but nothing else. By the time Katsuki had healed his growlithe up, Izuku was already back on the bleachers and immersed in his notebook, Hadria once again perched on his shoulder, appearing to read whatever notes were being written.

Katsuki watched him for a second, hidden in the shadows and Blast safely in his ball to keep from drawing attention to them. And, as he watched, he realized, if Hadria was any stronger, if she had known a distance move like swift, if he and Blast were any less than they were...they could have easily lost. Nearly four years of training could have been completely disregarded by a pokemon with two days of training and a trainer far too smart for his own good.

His hand clenched around Blast’s ball.

Unacceptable. Izuku may be good, may be intelligent - Katsuki had reluctantly admitted that weeks ago when he tried to get Izuku out of his obsessive headspace - but Katsuki was still the best here, and would continue to be the best. And, he would be damned before he let the shitty nerd overcome him, or anyone else for that matter. Izuku could be number two, could be the strongest of his,

Katsuki’s

, Elite 4, but Katsuki would be Champion, and fuck anyone who got in his way. Even Izuku.

Especially Izuku.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Omake 1: What We All Wanted To Happen In The First Chapter

“C’mon, Deku,” he said gruffly, turning and hauling the other boy behind him. “We gotta talk.”

“K-Kacchan?” was all Izuku could say, tone warbling with uncertainty, as he unwillingly followed.

“Shut up, Deku.”

Izuku obeyed, his mouth snapping shut, and sped up a bit so that he wasn’t stumbling along behind Katsuki. He followed and tried to not annoy the volatile blond too much as he was led to an abandoned dump that had once been a beach years ago, before trash started to wash up on the sand and the locals started leaving their own trash there instead of cleaning it up. Izuku continued to silently follow the blond as he led him through the maze of old appliances and refuse until they were out of sight from the road and close enough to the beach that their voices would be covered unless they got particularly loud. Katsuki dropped his grip, taking a long look at Izuku, before taking a few steps away and...pacing. Izuku blinked, perplexed, but stayed put, the growlithe sitting next to his feet and panting, his tail wagging as he watched his favorite humans not fighting for once. Finally, nearly ten minutes later, Katsuki seemed to come to a decision, nodding sharply before pivoting to stare at Izuku.

“Look, Deku. I’m only going to say this once, and if you ever tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll kill you. Got it?” he growled, and Izuku nodded frantically, incredibly confused.

“Good,” Katsuki grunted, wiping his hands on his pants in an unconscious gesture of uncertainty.

“Go out with me,” he demanded.

Izuku’s mouth dropped open, and he stared at Katsuki, uncomprehending. Unseen, by his feet, Blast dropped his head in embarrassment. His trainer was so useless with these things.

“Well?” Katsuki snarled, taking a step towards him. “Say something already!”

“I-I, um?” Izuku stammered, eyes darting around, trying to tell if it was a prank. “I don’t? Um…”

“You don’t what?” Katsuki’s eyes started to dim. He had been so sure. “You don’t like me? Is that it?”

“N-no!” Izuku nearly yelled, taking a stumbling step forward, one hand reaching out to grasp at Katsuki’s sleeve when the blond turned, ready to storm off to cover his humiliation. “That’s not,” his breath caught when his wild movement accidentally snagged Katsuki’s hand, instead of fabric, but held on anyway. “I do,” he said quietly, barely able to look into red eyes. “I do like you, Kacchan.” A tremulous smile as the blond turned fully back to him. “I always have.”

Katsuki watched him a moment, gaze hard, trying to decide if he was lying. Finally, quietly, “Really?”

Izuku nodded, tugging him a little closer, feeling the warmth in his cheeks and the fluttering in his stomach and being surprisingly alright with it.

Unnoticed, Blast wagged his tail and turned his back, giving them a bit of privacy as best he could. Finally, his humans were starting to be a little less stupid.

Katsuki’s cheeks pinked in return, red eyes glinting as he stared down at Izuku.

“Go out with me?” Less of a demand this time, bravado mostly gone and the hope remaining, easily seen this time.

Izuku’s smile was blinding.

“Of course.”
 
Omake 2: In Which Izuku Is Darknip

Idea suggested by

anony

. I thought it could be a funny outtake sort of thing, even if it doesn’t really come to play much in the main story. If I have to do another chapter of omakes, this might pop back up :-)

14-

It started like a regular training session. Izuku and Hadria had gone a bit farther out than normal, but weren’t too worried. The Santalune Forest really wasn’t that dangerous. Except that, halfway through their warm up, the bushes behind Izuku started to rustle.

Ominously.

In unison, Izuku and Hadria froze and slowly turned their heads to see the quivering leaves out of the corner of their eyes. The bushes stilled for a moment, Izuku and Hadria holding their position. Then, from beneath the leaves, a shadow burst out, darting towards Izuku, too quickly to avoid. A hard hit to his stomach, and Izuku was thrown to the ground on his back. He could hear Hadria’s angered cries as he fought to recover his breath. A soft coo from right above his head and hot breath wafting across his face made him freeze, his eyes still too blurry to see properly. Except, there was no rending of flesh or even the feel of a pissed of pokemon, excluding Hadria who was actually calming down.

Izuku blinked, surprised, when there was suddenly the feel of soft fur brushing across his cheek, first his left then his right and back again. Another soft sound, like a purr, came from the pokemon on top of him, and Izuku’s eyes finally cleared enough to see short white fur.

“An absol?” he murmured to himself, managing to prop himself up, the pokemon sliding down to lay across his lap. “What are you doing on this side of Kalos?” Hesitantly, he slid his hands across the absol’s sides, gently rubbing as the pokemon leaned into the gentle caresses. “Absols normally stick to the paths near Ambrette Town, but here you are.” He paused, suddenly concerned. “Is something coming?” After all, absols only came down from their mountains to try to warn humans about disasters.

The sudden panic in his voice seemed to finally catch the absol’s attention. It pulled back a bit, looked him in the eye, and firmly shook its head, before darting back towards him and licking a strip up his face. Then, while he sat there spluttering in shock, and Hadria cackled at his side, the absol gave one last bark and bounded off, fading into the shadows of the forest, despite its brilliantly white coat.

16-

Izuku was still filling out his roster. It was only his second year at UA, but most of the others in his class had already managed to find a full team of six and he was starting to feel the pressure. Which was the entire reason they had borrowed Inko’s gardevoir Psyche to teleport to the Reflection Cave between Geosenge and Shalour. He was trying to find a sableye, but not really expecting to actually locate one of the rare Ghost/Dark types. Still, a full afternoon alone with just his pokemon was becoming harder and harder to obtain as the class as a whole became closer, so, even if he didn’t find a new member, it would still be a good time.

When they appeared at the opening of the cave, Psyche put herself back in her pokeball, content to wait until he was ready to return, while he released the others in his team. They spent hours in the cave, marveling at the mirrored walls, and battling trainers and wild pokemon alike. Still, four hours in, and no sign of a sableye, and Izuku was both disappointed and resigned. He really hadn’t expected to find one, but he had still wanted to.

Still, he decided, another half hour or so and they would go. They were about halfway through the cave, resting in an out of the way nook, and having a quick snack. Besides, any later and Iida, at the very least, was sure to go to Aizawa-sensei and tell him that Izuku wasn’t back yet. And that would be a headache and a half.

But, as things seemed to go with Izuku, it was as they were relaxing, and didn’t realize that they had let down their guard, that the mob struck. Suddenly, they were overwhelmed by little bodies, appearing from the shadows and clambering over each other to get to him. Izuku yelped, falling back as he was covered. The rest of his pokemon leapt to their feet and preparing to attack, only to freeze, eyes wide and jaws dropped, as they realized…

Izuku was giggling.

A half dozen sableyes had tackled him, and were currently nuzzling against him. Each of them were obviously taking great care to keep their teeth and claws, and even the rough edges of their jewels, away from his skin, making sure that they didn’t damage him. Izuku’s pokemon watched in dumbfounded silence as the handful of tiny purple pokemon fell over themselves to bask in their trainer’s scent and aura. Hadria ended up rolling her eyes, slumping back down onto the cool stone to take a nap. This had happened enough that she knew it could take a while for everything to calm down. Slowly, the rest of Izuku’s team followed suit, still a bit tense but willing to trust.

Still, it took a while, nearly the entire time that Izuku had set aside before they had to leave, for the sableyes to get enough. They slowly quieted, noses buried in his shirt and taking in his scent, as Izuku likewise calmed, no longer being tickled from their movements. Finally, as one, the sableyes nuzzled him once more, and popped up. They leaned forward, patting his arms with their tiny arms. One of them, the biggest one, and probably the leader, considered him for a beat, then seemed to nod to itself and dropped a piece of amber onto his lap. And, again together, they all scampered back into the twists and turns of the cave, leaving Izuku to blink in surprise at the fossil he now had.

Moments later, Izuku jerked up with a curse. “I forgot to ask if one of them wanted to come with me!”

He was answered with silence before all of his pokemon broke into loud laughter as he pouted at them.

27-

Years after leaving UA, years after the dangerous and exhilarating journey he took with his husband, years after they took the world by storm, Izuku was ready to do something exciting again. He wasn’t always bored, not really. But he and Katsuki were only rarely needed for challengers, and threats that came to Kalos that were actually worth their time were few and far between. And, really, training with his pokemon and sparring with Katsuki and their friends could only take up so much time in the day. So, Izuku was sneaking out of his own house to take a quick fly down to the Pokemon Village off Route 20.

Just to make sure everything was quiet, of course.

He had managed to get most of the way out when Blast found them. Seeing the arcanine, opening his jaw, ready to bark, Izuku frantically hushed the great dop pokemon. Blast blinked at him, tilting his head in confusion, making Izuku sigh.

“Shh, Blast,” he whispered, eyes darting about the hallway. “I’m just going on a walk, but I don’t want anyone to get distracted, so, please, just don’t make any noise.”

Blast stared at him a moment, before doing a very obvious once over, the riding outfit he was wearing obviously made for flying, then looked back at him, a perfect deadpan.

“Alright, fine,” Izuku groaned. “I’m just going on a little trip, just to get out. I’ll be back this afternoon, before anyone even notices I’m gone. Really!”

Blast just huffed, and rolled his eyes, but gamely turned and trotted away without any more issue, leaving Izuku to give a victorious fist pump, and head back towards the door.

An hour later, he was touching down in the Village. The air was crisp and the tall grass swayed in a gentle breeze, and, for the first time in months, Izuku felt like he could breathe again. He had missed this, just being out in nature, with the cries of happy pokemon surrounding him and nothing that required his immediate attention. He basked in the warmth of the sun, spreading himself out by the river that ran along the side of the Village and settled in for a nap, his pokemon following his example and sprawling around him.

Dozing, not even paying attention and feeling completely secure surrounded by his pokemon, Izuku didn’t notice the rustling grass. He didn’t even realize anything was different, until, scrunching his nose at the tickling sensation, he absently swiped above his face and hit warm fur. His eyes snapped open, and he saw black and red before, suddenly, the pokemon had nearly smacked their faces together in its eagerness. Izuku groaned lightly, slumping back on the ground, aware that he would need to just put up with it until the pokemon was bored. And his team would certainly be no help unless blood was spilled.

And so, Izuku suffered through it, only letting out a grunt when there was a sudden weight on his stomach, and the feel of a third pokemon laying across his legs. In fact, the warmth of bodies, slowly multiplying around him, lulled him back into his doze. None of, what he eventually realized were zoruas and zoroarks, were rough at all. They were all being exceedingly careful, and the familiar feeling of resting surrounded by friendly pokemon let his guard drop completely. And, it was a good hour or two later when he was bothered again, all of the illusion pokemon having collapsed around him, nearly covering him completely, to join him in a nap.

The first hint was the beating of wings, that only roused Izuku due to their difference in the atmosphere. The hard stomps of boots crunching over grass, followed by the irritated huff, only made him relax again. He easily recognized that distinctive noise of annoyance. There was a beat, where he wasn’t exactly sure what the other would do, until the two zoroarks on his left side were gently shooed away and a familiar body stretched out on the grass against his side.

“Really?” he murmured. “You couldn’t’ve let me know you were playin hooky today, shitty husband? I woulda gone with you.”

Izuku smiled, tangling their fingers together.

“Maybe,” he whispered back, felling the calm extend back over the clearing. “But you know I’ve always liked it when you chased me, Kacchan.”

The blond growled, angry bluster belied by the gentle squeeze of Izuku’s hand, and the fact that Katsuki just relaxed against him. And, they stayed there together until dark, surrounded and covered by pokemon.

Just...together.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

It was three months later, and he and Hadria were only seven months away from the most important day of their lives, thus far. Their time had been fruitful, but they both knew that they were nowhere near ready to take on the entrance exams for UA. Intelligence and basic skills could get them into a lesser school, but they would never be able to forgive themselves for squandering the opportunity if they didn’t give it their all. And so, every afternoon for the past three months, they had made their way to the forests nearby, where droves of weaker pokemon could be found who were willing to fight. And they fought, for two hours every night they made sure to challenge as many pokemon as they could easily find, the battles slowly taking less energy, less time, enabling them to fight more and more.

Mornings before school were taken up with speed and stamina training for them both, leaving the house when it was still dark to alternately jog then sprint around the block for as long as they could before heading back home to grab a quick shower and breakfast before running off to school. Then, after battle class, while Izuku did his homework, Hadria would work on her moves, doing them over and over again to build stamina for them, to master them, to make it easier and faster for her to call them up. Again and again for an hour, or two, or three, for however long it took for him to finish, as she started standing still, getting a feel for her energy, then graduated to slowly dodging and weaving around imaginary foes as she worked. Doing this, making sure that her moves were mastered as close to effortless as possible, meant that she ended up only learning heal bell with Pythia’s aid and quick attack, though she was well on her way to learning bite.

Weekends were both easier and harder at the same time. They didn’t have to schedule around classes and homework. Instead, they had the whole two days free, which meant there were no interruptions, no reason not to work all day long, and they both had to stay vigilant to ensure they didn’t overwork themselves.

It was one of those days, a Sunday where they could go out into the forests all day as long as they were home by dark, to keep from worrying Inko too much. The sun was bright, not a cloud to be seen, and the shade of the trees was a welcome reprieve. But, the peace of the moment was soon shattered. As they walked, taking a free morning to just be together for a bit, they started to hear the low thuds of impacts and accompanying sounds of a pokemon crying out after each one. As one, they turned to look at each other, immediately knowing that they were about to run towards the obvious signs of danger instead of away like they should.

“Ideas?” he asked quietly.

Hadria shook her head, darting in front of him as they ran to keep between him and any angered pokemon. Better that she take a hit they don’t anticipate than Izuku. As they ran, the noises got louder, and the cries became more pained and desperate and they picked up the pace. Finally, breaking through the trees into a small clearing, they saw the source of the commotion. A circle of purple feline pokemon, some obviously the first form and the rest the much larger evolved form, all snarling and taking turns to dart in and attack a hidden form in the center. A keening cry echoed about the clearing, and Izuku snapped.

“Hadria,” Izuku growled, eyes narrowed. “Double team, quick attack to get in close. When you’re in the middle,” he paused, and another wail made him decide he just didn’t care. “Toxic.”

Hadria cut him a glance. Despite having had the move for three months, and learning heal bell to cure any accidents, he had never had her use it against another pokemon. Still, without any hesitation, she obeyed. Ten copies of her small form shivered into existence and together they streaked towards their new enemies. Darting into the center of the mob as the copies distracted the other pokemon, the real Hadria saw the bloody, shivering body, the younger form like some of the others but a dark blue instead of the more common bright purple.

Hadria understood immediately.

This one, the one the rest of the pard was abusing, was different. And so, they were expelling it from their group, the violence an attempt to ensure the unwanted pokemon wouldn’t follow after them. Or couldn’t, perhaps.

Yes, she understood perfectly, she realized with a snarl.

Purple poison exploded from her, arching high and falling in a circle around her as she crouched over the injured pokemon.

She understood that this pokemon was even more of an outcast than she was. This pokemon was what her trainer could have become if Blast wasn’t so good. This pokemon did nothing but be unique. And it pissed her off that that was enough to cause its family to nearly kill it so they could be rid of the blight.

Her trainer’s voice pierced the haze that started to take over her as the surrounding pokemon showed the vibrant purple aura of a successful poisoning, though the rage he was clearly trying to control certainly didn’t help her manage her own.

“Quick attack again Hadria. Hit em hard and retreat back to the injured.”

She took a moment to build up the energy, and shot off. A dozen or so enemies, most in their final evolution, was definitely too much for a single pokemon of her low level, as much as she may hate to admit to it. But, the surprise of the attack and the increasingly detrimental effects of toxic worked wonders in her favor. Besides, if there was one thing Izuku made sure she had was stamina. Keeping the quick attack active, even as she darted between pokemon, regularly sweeping back to the hurt one to make sure it stayed stable, was no issue. Glancing blows to their enemy, and trying to keep ahead just enough that she didn’t get hit in return was actually far more difficult, and she was quickly cursing her lack of strength. The issue really was only compounded by the extremely low number of offensive moves she could do, competently at least.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as it appeared that the severe poisoning combined with her speed meant that the other pokemon couldn’t really catch her to do any damage. In fact, it seemed that the majority of the pard were deciding that it was more effort than it was worth, as one by one they began to slink back into the trees, probably towards their den. He relaxed a bit, keeping an eye on Hadria, but slowly made his way towards the injured pokemon.

Still, it was too soon. One of the larger pokemon had seen his movement and, when he got close enough, whirled around, aiming what was obviously a move at him, its paw crackling with black energy. Izuku yelped, the sound catching Hadria’s attention, and she tried to swing around, but was too late. Izuku cringed, throwing an arm up to take the hit, better to mangle an arm than his torso. Except, the crumbled form stirred, unseen. The sound of a soft yawn, and a haze of energy slammed into the pokemon’s back, causing it to wheel around just before it would have hit him and go for the hurt pokemon. But, two steps, and it swayed and collapsed, quiet snores echoing up as it fell asleep. Izuku and Hadria both blinked dumbly at the incapacitated foe, before turning to look at the small blue form. The pokemon gazed up with blurry eyes, before also collapsing, the energy expended too much for it. A beat, and Izuku scrambled forward, Hadria whining in worry as she followed, to scoop up the pokemon and turn to sprint through the trees.

He hadn’t recognized the pokemon, and had no idea what they were or even what type. The errant thought floated across his mind as he ran, pokemon carefully cradled in his arms and Hadria keeping pace even with her exhaustion, that he really needed to study a bit more. He had drowned himself so firmly in Fighting types, that his broader knowledge of pokemon in general had suffered. So, another thing to add to the list for the next few months.

“Mom,” he called, desperately as he burst through the door. “I need you!”

“Izuku?” Inko yelled, hurrying from the back of the house. “What is it? What’s-” she cut herself off when she saw the bloody pokemon in his arms. “Oh! Bring it in here, hurry,” she rushed into the kitchen, snagging a towel and laying it across the table as she went.

Moments later, she was back with the pokemon first-aid kit. Slamming it onto the table, she flipped it open and basically poured it out, grasping for the potions and salves that she thought she’d need.

“Run and get some warm water and a few towels.”

Izuku nodded and ran into the kitchen.

“You can start cleaning it up a bit, Izu-kun,” she muttered. “I need to see that wounds to heal it properly.”

Again, he obeyed. He had no idea how long they worked, only that he had to change the water four times before Inko was satisfied. Finally, Inko told Pythia to watch over the pokemon while she and Izuku got cleaned up quickly and twenty minutes later, and far less bloody, they were bustling into the nearest pokecenter and dropping it off with Nurse Joy to make sure they hadn’t missed anything in their first aid.

“It looks like you got most of it,” she told them. “We had to put her into a temporary medical ball so she could go through the refresh machine to get the last of it; there was a bit of internal damage that you couldn’t get with the topical potions you used. But, as soon as she’s out, which should be another thirty minutes or so, she’ll be free to go.” The nurse paused, looking at them for a moment, obviously debating something. “We can release her into your care, allowing one of you to catch her. Or we can send her to a League rehab park, or to another League employee.”

Inko and Izuku traded wide-eyed looks. They hadn’t expected to be offered the pokemon, especially with the potential of trauma stemming from the violence from its former family.

“I don’t mean to rush your decision, but I’ll need to know as soon as possible. If you’re going to take her, then you’ll need to fill out some paperwork and be ready to meet her as soon as she’s out of the machine. If not, then you’ll need to be gone from the building before she wakes up, in case she comes to associate your smell with her rescue and refuses another trainer.”

“I-” Izuku started before he cut himself off. Not even he was sure what he was about to say.

Hadria nuzzled against his chest, feeling his disquiet. Inko watched them, contemplating.

“I’m afraid I’m unfamiliar with the pokemon we brought in, and we were a bit too concerned with getting her here to look up any information about her species or typing,” Inko trailed off suggestively, looking at the nurse, but watching her son from the corner of her eye.

“Ah,” Joy said, pulling out the pokemon’s chart. “She a puurloin, which evolves into a liepard. As I’m sure you noticed, she is in fact a shiny color variant, fairly rare, but it will not affect her development either way. The purrloin line are actually native to Unova, but with travel getting easier and easier for licensed trainers between the regions, we’re starting to see a greater influx of non-native species across all the regions,” she muttered to herself as she flipped through the information, trying to see if anything jumped out at her. “There it is,” she smiled. “I do wish these things were ordered more efficiently, but what can you do? The purrloin line is a pure Dark type.”

At the sudden frown tugging at her lips, Inko’s eyes narrowed and she straightened.

“Is her typing a problem?” her voice was surprisingly harsh, even to her own ears. She had found over the past few months, since they discovered Izuku’s type compliment, that she had begun to get more protective and aggressive when someone else disparaged the Dark type, usually without even meaning to.

In return, the nurse startled, blinking up at her. “No?” her words lilting, apparently not sure what the problem was, or if that was the correct answer, and unwilling to anger the suddenly intimidating woman in front of her. “It just makes it a bit harder to find somewhere to send her. Most rehab ranches have blanket refusals for certain pokemon known for being ‘difficult,’” she practically sneered out the word. “And that includes pretty much every Dark or Ghost type, without even an evaluation to see if they really would be a problem. That she’d a Dark means that the possibilities go from dozens to a couple, plus any trainers at a high enough level, with an appropriate affinity for Dark types...which, in reality, is even lower.”

“I’m a Dark type trainer.”

The words were quiet, coming from Izuku who hadn’t said a thing since the discussion started, easily fading into the background. But the hesitancy, the worry that normally accompanied talk of his typing, was gone. For the first time, he actually said it, claimed it in front of someone other than his mother or his pokemon.

“I mean, technically I will be once I get into high school and get my Transitory License. But, my aura reads very Dark aligned.” He licked his lips, finally looking up from Hadria, making eye contact with the nurse. “I only have Hadria right now, and I’m obviously very green in regards to training, and I’m not saying that I’m the best option, or even an option at all if purrloin doesn’t take to me, but...if she likes me, could I take her?” he finally asked, voice stuttering back to uncertain as he went on, unsure but still willing.

By the end of him rambling, he had turned his eyes back down to see Hadria’s encouraging expression, and so he missed the proud look on his mom’s as well as the reluctantly impressed one on Joy’s.

“Well.” Izuku could feel his shoulders hunch at the nurse’s voice. “I have certainly heard worse arguments.” Izuku’s eyes darted back to her, hope growing at the smile on her face. “As long as purrloin agrees, I think we can come to an arrangement.”

He grinned back at her, elated, as Hadria hopped at his feet with a happy yip.

“Give a few minutes and I’ll show you to the recovery room purrloin’s going to go to.”

“Thank you,” he cried at her back, a few moments late as he was caught in his swirl of emotions.

Inko just laughed a little, herding her bouncing son and his equally bouncing pokemon to the seats along the wall. However, after rambling, nearly incoherently, for a bit, Izuku suddenly froze, drawing concerned looks from Inko and Hadria.

“I don’t know anything about purrloins,” he whispered, and turned to his mom frantically. “I know we don’t have any information on them either, not outside of the small paragraph in that Dark compendium you got me, and that barely said anything at all, and-”

Inko cut him off by shoving her pokedex in his face.

“Look it up, Izu-kun. Just until we can get to the store and buy a book on their evolutionary line, you can use mine. But,” she finished sternly. “This is only until we get actual materials for you. If anyone saw, we could get in a lot of trouble.”

Izuku nodded, glancing around the empty waiting room. It was actually illegal for someone with only a Provo License, or no license at all, to use a pokedex. Obviously, in a private residence, children tended to be allowed to explore their older siblings’ or parents’ pokedex, but Inko had never really been comfortable with it, even at home. The most she had allowed was a basic overview, so he knew how most of the functions worked. So, once Izuku was sure there was no one around to put up a fuss, he eagerly dove in, searching for information on purrloin. He didn’t even notice Hadria jumping up to perch on his shoulder to read along with him. So absorbed in his research, he didn’t even notice the nurse returning, until Inko swiped the pokedex from him and tucked it away quickly.

Before he could say anything, Joy said, “alright. We’ve got her set up, if you’ll follow me, please.”

Izuku’s mouth snapped shut and he immediately stood up, swallowing heavily at the sudden nerves that twisted his stomach. Following her down the short hallway, Izuku’s fingers tangled together, shoulders hunching as his anxiety skyrocketed with every step. Hadria, still on his shoulder, nuzzled against his cheek, her cold nose poking him before her warm fur soothed it away. He smiled a bit, raising his hand to stroke one of her long ears as his tension lessened a bit.

“Now,” Joy said as they stopped in front of a door. “She’s going to be a bit groggy until the anesthesia wears off. So, she might be more, or less, aggressive than she normally would be. Basically, be really careful as she comes out of it.”

Inko and Izuku, and even Hadria, all nodded seriously, before Joy opened the door and they entered quietly. Like all hospital rooms, it was stark white and brightly lit, with a surprisingly large window, light blue curtains pulled open wide despite the lateness of the hour. The purrloin was laid out on a small bed in the center of the room, the bandages covering the now clean fur and the hazy eyes the only sign that something wasn’t quite right. As they approached the bed, Izuku smiled hesitantly, making sure to keep his teeth covered.

“Hello, I’m Izuku,” he said quietly, sitting on one of the chairs beside her.

Inko followed suit, sitting next to Izuku, but farther away from the purrloin, in order to not interfere. Hadria slid from his shoulder into his lap, ears perked forward in clear interest.

“This is Hadria, my partner, and my mom. I don’t know if you remember,” he continued, unsure. “But, we’re the ones that found you in the forest. You helped us against those liepards when one almost got me.”

She watched them a moment, before giving a sharp nod.

“Well, um,” he stuttered, glancing down at Hadria, who nudged him encouragingly. Taking strength from her calm, he threaded his fingers in her ruff and turned back to the hurt pokemon. “Because of the way we found you, Nurse Joy won’t release you back into the forest. So, she’s either going to send you to a reserve or to a Dark type trainer. And, well, do you understand?”

She gave another short nod, eyes narrowed on them.

“She, the nurse, she said that, if you want to try, you can come home with me.”

When the purrloin stiffened, obviously becoming more defensive, her eyes clearing with the shot of adrenaline, Izuku sputtered, hands waving nervously.

“It’s up to you, I promise! I’m working to become a battle trainer, but it’s just me and Hadria right now. Though, we do live with mom and her two house pokemon, but I’m not even in high school yet, so it’ll be awhile until we get another partner. So, we work hard, but Hadria’s never said that it’s too much,” he laughed a little, scratching at the base of her ear the way he knew she liked, making her coo and wag her tail. “She’d probably say that we don’t train enough, really. Truth be told, we’ve only been together for a few months,” he continued, subdued. “I had some...trouble with my best type. I wanted to be just like All Might, and he only uses Fighting types, he’s always used Fighting types. So, it’s taken me awhile to deal with having such a strong Dark leaning, and I’m still learning to deal with it.” He paused, a soft expression stealing across his face when he looked at his eevee. “Hadria’s helped with that, so much. I’m not there yet, no where close really. But, I’m learning, just like she is, and we work together to get there.”

The purrloin watched them, slowly relaxing as she saw the genuine care in the human for his pokemon, and the love his eevee returned. The moment was interrupted when Inko cleared her throat. Izuku startled, looking at his mother, before seeing that she motioned to the time.

“Ah, it’s getting pretty late, isn’t it?” he murmured to himself. “Unfortunately,” he said, turning back to the purrloin. “You need to figure out what you’d prefer pretty quickly. You’re all healed now, as best as Nurse Joy can manage at least. So, as soon as you’re clear headed to make your choice, you can leave.” He swallowed, biting his lip, then continued. “If you choose to come with me, we’ll leave tonight, as soon as you’re cleared. But, if you choose the reserve or another trainer, Nurse Joy will send you on once she finds someone willing to take you. It really is up to you, and what feels best to you. I’d be happy for you to come with us, but only if it feels right.”

The purrloin watched him, her green eyes sharpening quickly as time passed. She watched the way his pokemon, the one he called his partner, reacted to him. She watched as the long silence, with little input from her, made him nervous. He fidgeted and babbled, his fingers never ceasing their movement in his eevee’s ruff. But there was no anger, no aggression. Not even making him wait, barely reacting to him, made him seem ready to turn on her, or his pokemon, the one he already had that he could treat however he wished. Slowly, meeting green eyes of a different shade, the purrloin’s head bowed once, a decisive nod.

Izuku’s breath caught, and Hadria cooed again when his fingers stilled. “Really?” he asked quietly.

The purrloin seemed to smile, body relaxing back into the bed, but never broke eye contact as a brilliant grin overtook Izuku’s face.

“So,” Inko said after an awkward silence. “Should we go out and pick up another everstone collar tomorrow then?”

The next day, Izuku skipped school.

He would have felt worse about it, if Inko hadn’t been the one to sneak into his room, shut off his alarm, and call the school with a fabricated illness while he, Hadria, and Ailith slept on in the blanket nest his bed had become. They had stayed up late, or perhaps early, not getting to sleep until the sun had started to rise, getting everything settled with Nurse Joy. She had managed to find a spare pokeball for them to make it official, and Izuku had assured Ailith that they would buy her a more comfortable luxury ball, like Hadria’s as soon as they could make it to the store. It had also taken some time once they got home to figure out a name the purrloin liked, but Izuku was determined to find one for her before they slept; he felt like it would help her feel more like part of his growing family.

And so, Inko made sure to not wake them before she had to, allowing the three to sleep until nearly noon. It was only as lunch was bubbling away, and the appointment she had managed to make with their pokemon doctor quickly approached that she finally made to rouse them. Despite Izuku’s worry, and Ailith’s as well, the appointment was more to make sure she was recovering well, and to get a baseline and file set up with their regular doctor. After the surprisingly short appointment, they were off to the local pokemart.

Luckily, Aquacorde was actually large enough to necessitate a full super market, unlike some of the smaller towns off the main pathways, so they had a full selection to choose from. Like with Hadria, Izuku made sure to pick out the basics for his new purrloin, including a new luxury ball to transfer her to, the promised black everstone collar, and her own pillow and bowls. He also spent a good hour scanning over the book selection in the store. It wasn’t as good as going to a specialty shop, but he managed to find a book on the purrloin line, like the one his mom had found on the eevee line, and a new book on Dark type moves that she hadn’t found last time.

And so, with dark quickly approaching, they filed back through their door tiredly, Izuku dropping the bags on the floor beside him as he slumped onto the couch. Hadria immediately hopped up to curl on his lap. Ailith, though, took a moment to watch them, measuring her welcome, before hesitantly following the eevee when Izuku smiled at her and held out a hand. Slowly, they relaxed, each of Izuku’s hands coming to rest against them, one curling easily into Hadria’s ruff, the other lightly stroking alone Ailith’s back. Izuku’s eyes softened, watching his pokemons’ eyes close in contentment, listing to his mother bustling around in the kitchen with her own companions.

The calm, however, was abruptly shattered with a fist banging heavily on the front door.

“Deku!”

Izuku froze, half risen from when he had jerked forward at the loud yell.

“Fuckin’ Deku,” Katsuki shouted again, still banging on the door. “Open the damn door!”

Izuku gently nudged Hadria up to his shoulder, sweeping Ailith into her arms and started to the door. He waved Inko back, when she emerged from the kitchen, obviously worried. Seeing him so completely unconcerned made her relax and leave it to him.

“Can I help you, Kacchan?” he asked, voice mild as he swung the door open to reveal the blond scowling heavily, visibly fuming.

“The hell, Deku? You fuckin disappear all weekend, and call out of fucking school, and you-” Katsuki sputtered, gesturing wildly, anger causing his face to steadily flush.

Izuku blinked at him, his jaw dropping at the tirade. He absently felt Hadria shift on his shoulder, her tail wagging and brushing against the back of his neck as she judged to distance, then jumped to fall directly on Blast’s head, making the puppy yelp and topple over at their feet. All the while Katsuki worked himself up.

“You,” Izuku breathed out, barely audible but cutting the blond off immediately. “You were worried about me,” he realized.

Katsuki’s teeth clacked together, his eyes widening briefly in alarm, and he shook his head. “Don’t be ridiculous, shitty Deku. Why would I-”

Izuku cut him off with a fond laugh, letting Ailith drop to the ground on top of the happy pile, and boldly stepping up into him. He wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s waist, tucking his nose into the blond’s neck as he hid his smile against soft skin. He could hear the outraged noises coming from above his head, but gentle hands hesitantly slid against his back and shoulders, so he didn’t move, just waited Katsuki out as he gradually fell into the embrace.

“I’m sorry I worried you, Kacchan,” he whispered, feeling Katsuki shiver as he lips dragged against his throat. “I found an injured pokemon yesterday in the forest,” he continued, finally pulling back a bit, but making sure to not completely disengage. He was definitely enjoying being so close to his old friend, for the first time in so long. “We spent the night at the pokecenter, making sure she was alright, so mom called me out today to sleep and get her taken care of.”

“You’re alright, though?” Katsuki asked, eyes darting across Izuku’s face, not seeming to realize how much he was showing. “You and the rat?” he tried to cover.

Izuku snorted, rolling his eyes. “Hadria and I are both fine. Ailith, too.”

“Ai-you fuckin named it?”

“Her, Kacchan. And, of course I named her. She agreed to be part of my team and wanted a name, like Hadria.”

“But she can’t be part of your team,” Katsuki said dumbly, eyes darting down to the blue purrloin.

“And why not?” Izuku snapped, pulling further back from him.

“Because she’s a Dark type,” he said, completely matter of fact.

Izuku waited, but Katsuki didn’t elaborate. “I know, that’s kind of the point.”

“But, you’re not.”

“Not what?”

“Dark,” Katsuki said, finally looking back at Izuku, finally realizing their position and taking a step back, hands falling away from the other.

“Oh.” Izuku paused, swallowing heavily. “I thought you had figured it out already. I am, actually. Dark, that is. That’s why Fighting types worked so badly with me.”

Katsuki blinked. “That’s, but...I figured you were Ice, or maybe your aura fucked up and you were actually Psychic or somethin, like Auntie, and pokemon were just reactin weird.”

Izuku slowly shook his head. “That a problem?” he asked, hesitant, truly scared of Katsuki for the first time in months.

Katsuki paused, seeming to see the sudden fear in his green eyes and changed what he had been about to say. “This does explain some shit, you know.” Katsuki smirked, seeing an indignant pout forming on Izuku’s face. “You’ve always been a manipulative little shit, it shouldn’t be so surprising that your type is known for being so fuckin underhanded. Hell, most of your damn moveset is planned to piss your opponent off and drive ‘em insane.”

Izuku made another affronted noise, flailing slightly, before smacking a hand across Katsuki’s arm, a reluctant smile spreading across twitching lips. Katsuki grinned in return, bright and carefree, forgetting himself for a moment in the teasing.

“You’re awful and I hate you,” Izuku said, trying to sound upset and completely failing.

“Nah,” Katsuki returned, unconsciously leaning towards Izuku, who automatically followed suit. “If the last couple of years didn’t do it, nothing would.”

“So you don’t care?” Izuku asked after a moment, voice hushed and hopeful, head tilted back to keep eye contact.

“Course not, shit nerd. Just cause you’re Dark, it don’t mean shit.”

Izuku felt tears welling up. His mom had said the same, in different words, and he had had Hadria for months, long enough to know she wasn’t bad. But, still, hearing it from Katsuki, who could be an ass, but never lied, not to him, meant so much more than he had expected.

“Oh, c’mon, Deku,” Katsuki groaned, but reached up to wipe away a tear that had fallen, thumb caressing his cheek and hand cupping his jaw. “Don’t fuckin cry. I didn’t say anything to make this shit happen, I swear to-”

Izuku just laughed a little, at himself more than anything, and scrubbed at his eyes. He tilted his head a bit, absently nuzzling into the other’s hand, and turned a watery smile up at the blond.

“Thank you, Kacchan. You always seem to say what I need to hear recently.”

Finally realizing their position, Katsuki let him hand drop, taking a big step back, his cheeks flushing a bright red as he looked away.

“Whatever, shitty Deku,” he muttered, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, trying to disguise his embarrassment. “Obviously, you get even more stupid sometimes, so I just call you out on your shit. It doesn’t mean-”

Izuku cut him off. “It means something to me, Kacchan. It always does.”

“Right,” Katsuki cleared his throat. “Well, here’s your work, or whatever,” he said, shoving a folder at Izuku that he hadn’t noticed before. “I’d better see your ass in school tomorrow. You can’t stand to lose any more points if you wanna stand a chance at being almost as good as me an’ Blast.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kacchan. Thanks for checking up on me.”

Katsuki just spluttered, whipping around to glare at Izuku, who could only watch him turn on his heel and storm away with an affectionate look. Sometimes, Izuku felt, every step forward they made only put them back again. Katsuki was so set on being the best, on making sure that no one knew he had feelings, that when they did appear, he blustered his way through them until people forgot that it had happened through sheer irritation. But, he decided, ushuring Ailith and Hadria back inside, letting Inko know that Katsuki was just dropping off his work for the next day, Izuku had never been able to put it aside like everyone else. That was why they had been friends for nearly a decade, after all. And now, that Katsuki was finally letting him back in. Well, Izuku had no reason to run scared anymore.

Katsuki’s walls had never held up against him for very long, anyway.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Omake 3: What If Trainers Could Capture Legendaries?

Izuku swallowed heavily, fingers twitching around the pokeball grasped in his sweaty hand.

Today was the day.

He was finally going to unveil his trump card in the final battle of their third and final Sports Festival, and against Katsuki. A one-on-one battle that he would make sure the blond never forgot. It had been years, and he had managed to keep this one secret from everyone but his mother. Not even Kacchan knew, and Izuku was always surprised when he managed to keep something from him, especially after they finally started going out. This, though, was basically the pinnacle of all of it. And he was going to unveil this on live television in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, if not more.

It was terrifying.

It was exhilarating.

It was time.

A deep breath as he heard Present Mic announce Katsuki first, then Izuku. Tilting his chin up, embracing that thin veneer of calm that came with the reminder of a portion of his family strapped to his waist, he strode out of the holding area across from his boyfriend with stilted steps. Izuku was determined, and he knew that, despite the surprise, Katsuki would still give him the fight of his life.

Savage grins from across the battleground, crimson meeting emerald both alight with fire and life and barely banked love.

“Remember, this is a one-on-one. The first pokemon released is the only pokemon released, so choose wisely. We’re going until knock-out, recall, or ref’s call. Do your best, trainers, and get ready to release you pokemon in...

“3...

“2...

“1.”

The bell sounded as Midnight jumped back onto her ref’s stand, her last reminders spoken clearly for the two over the introduction from Present Mic still droning in the background over the speakers.

Izuku smiled when Katsuki’s ball burst open to reveal his massive arcanine. Unlike Hadria, who was still tiny, even after evolving, Blast had only gotten bigger as he aged, now nearly double the size of a standard arcanine, and not seeming ready to stop any time soon.

Still, it was his pokemon that Izuku was waiting for. His first trick of the match.

Eyes fastened on Katsuki, he saw the moment the blond realized just what had been released against his puppy, the shock followed by excitement then sudden comprehension as his wide eyes darted back to Izuku.

After all, what use was the so called legendary pokemon against a true Legendary?

And there were few pokemon more terrifying than Dark types. And a Legendary Dark type?

Well, there’s a reason yveltal was called the destruction pokemon.

As the black and red bird appeared from its ball, shrieking and rising into the air above them with a single beat of its massive wings in front a silent stadium, Izuku grinned.

Your move, Kacchan

.

“Oblivion Wing, ‘Vel.”
 
Omake 4: You Remember That Whole Mistaken Zapdos Thing?

AN: I know I’m not the first to make this a fic, not even the first in the BNHA fandom. But, hopefully, this is different enough to still be entertaining! Also, 3 and 4 aren’t really set together, despite the similar basis.

Izuku was lost.

Watery green eyes darted around frantically, and small arms curled around his waist, and tiny legs shuffled along the corridor. Routinely ducking away when he heard footsteps was probably counterintuitive, but Izuku had no idea where he was or who these people were. Plus, he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to be here, but he still had no idea where he was.

His mom had taken them to Lumiose for the weekend, a small vacation for just the two of them trying to cheer them up after his dad left again to go back to work again in Kanto. Except, as they went out to have dinner, Izuku managed to get separated from his mom and couldn’t find her again. Now, he was wandering and ducking away from any strangers and getting progressively more alarmed as time passed.

Finally, he darted through a partially closed door at the sound of even more footsteps behind him. He clung to the walls of the large room he had found, barely noticing anything except that it was devoid of people and strangely massive. A soft sound cut through the low hum of machinery caught his attention, and Izuku spun, trying to figure out where it was coming from, only to come face to face with a red and black pokemon that towered over him, even chained down and covered by wires keeping it earthbound.

Izuku squeaked at the sudden appearance of a pokemon, but calmed quickly when all it did was blink down at him and coo again. Slowly, he reached a small hand up, rising onto his toes to gently stroke his fingertips against the fine feathers around the pokemon’s beak. Its large black eyes closed in pleasure at the touch. Izuku bit his lip, eyes darting back to the door. Then, pulling away from the pokemon, causing it to look back down at him questioningly, he placed his hands on the platform it was chained to and, straining, managed to hoist himself up next to the pokemon’s head. He dithered a moment, reaching out again to gently stroke along the pokemon’s neck, before darting to examine the restraints and wires attached to it. He swallowed heavily, glancing at the door again, before getting to work.

It took a while, far longer than he would have liked, but he finally managed to get the majority of the restraints undone.

“I, I think that’s all I can get on my own,” Izuku panted, slumping down next to the pokemon’s head.

The pokemon twisted, gently nuzzling its sharp beak against his body. Izuku started carding his fingers through the soft feathers again, unconsciously leaning against it neck.

“I’m sorry I can’t do anymore.”

He paused when the pokemon nudged him pointedly before settling down again.

“Sorry,” he whispered again, but let it go. A moment later, though, he kept talking, unable to stand the silence. “I don’t think I know what you are, and I keep calling you the pokemon, and everyone should be known by more than just their species. It’d be like Kacchan calling me human instead of Zu,” he rambled, not even pausing to take a breath as he chattered at it.

Luckily, the pokemon seemed to be amused, and a bit indulgent, like his mom when he started to go on and on about All Might.

“The only red and black bird pokemon I’ve ever heard of is called oricorio. They’ve from Alola. I saw ‘em in a book last week and they seem really cool, ‘cause they have four forms, depending on what they ate last. The red one, like you is a Fire type.” He paused, looking up at the pokemon, considering. “I don’t think you’re Fire. You’re nothing like auntie’s charizard, or any of uncle’s pokemon, and they’re all Fire types. But,” he said, eyes abruptly starting to fill with tears, feeling horrible that “I don’ know what you are.” He pushed his face into his new friend’s neck, trying to muffle the wail.

He was more comfortable now that he’d found a strong looking friend, but he was still aware that he was lost in a place he wasn’t supposed to be, and it was getting to be too much.

The pokemon eventually managed to get him to pull back, looking the boy in the eye. Once it was sure he was paying attention, the pokemon nodded once, decisively. Izuku blinked, the last of his tears falling and following the tear tracks to his chin.

“You,” Izuku started when the pokemon just kept staring calmly, he started to brighten. “I can call you Oricorio? At least until I figure out what you are?”

The pokemon nodded, leaning forward to preen at his curly hair, before pulling back. Izuku giggled, then watched, curious, as the newly named Oricorio stretched and twisted as best it could to see the remaining restraints that Izuku was too little and too weak to reach. Finally, Oricorio nudged Izuku away, towards the edge of the platform. Izuku realized what Oricorio was planning just before the screech of metal, giving him just enough time to scramble off the dais and slam the door shut, muffling the noise. He watched, back pressed against the door, mouth dropped wide, as Oricorio managed to force the remaining chains away from the base of the platform he was attached to, before shaking them off so they slid from his back and wings to puddle on the dais.

Huge wings spread wide, Oricorio standing and stretching for the first time since it had been found amd trapped. It saw the boy, the one that had helped him and hadn’t even thought of asking anything in return. Instead, all the boy seemed to want was a moment of comfort, just happy to help. The pokemon tilted its head, listening to make sure the commotion hadn’t drawn any attention. When it was sure there wasn’t anyone rushing to its prison, but keeping an ear out just in case, it took its first good look around the space that had kept it contained. Another glance at the smiling boy, before its eye caught a familiar red and white ball. It slid from the platform and waddled awkwardly to the table, body not really made for walking. Carefully, it reached down, scooping the ball up with its beak. Once sure it wouldn’t break it, it made its way to the boy who smelt of Dark and sweet happiness and youthful innocence. Again, looking deliberately into those big green eyes, it dropped the ball into tiny hands.

Izuku stared up at Oricorio, barely able to believe, “You want to come with me?”

The bird gave an unmistakable nod, and leaned down to tap the small button, relaxing into the feeling of being pulled into the orb. Before, when he had been battled and worn down and injured into forcing the feeling, it had felt like the beginning to the end. The start of a life of force and pain.

This time, though. It was its choice. As it settled into the ball, it realized that that was the fundamental difference, It was choosing this boy, and, in its heart, it truly felt that it wasn’t going to regret it.

“I’m sorry, sensei. But, Oricorio doesn’t like to be out of his pokeball around people.”

Aizawa’s eyebrow rose.

“You have an oricorio?”

Izuku nodded happily, running soft fingers over the warm ball attached to his belt.

“I found him when I was little. I got lost and he helped me, then decided to stay.”

“But,” Uraraka said, confused. “Aren’t oricorio a Flying primary from Alola? And, don’t have a Dark form?”

Izuku shrugged, turning a bit so he could see the rest of his class behind him.

“Oricorio’s in his red form-”

“Fire,” came Katsuki’s exasperated voice from the back of the crowd, obviously having told the other boy that too many times before.

“But, I think he felt bad for me, cause I was so young and upset when we met, that he decided he needed to protect me, even though I’m not exactly what he’d work best with.”

“Well,” Aizawa said, back to deadpan like nothing had surprised him. “Since your oricorio isn’t your registered type, you can’t use him in trials, anyway. So, don’t worry about it, Midoriya. Just tell me beforehand next time. And,” he finished, raising his voice. “That goes for the rest of you brats, too.”

“Okay, sensei,” came the chorus from in front of the tired teacher, the innocence practically exuding off of the teenagers in front of him just exhausting him even more.

An hour ago, they had all been so excited. Filing onto the bus, laughing and joking as they made their way off campus for their first ever field trip at UA. It was set to be one of the best days of their, admittedly short, career thus far.

Except, everything went wrong.

Barely 15 minute after they arrived, as Thirteen was giving them an brief intro, the wavy distortion of a teleport started to pop up, followed swiftly by groups of people, who let out various pokemon, mostly Dark and Poison to Izuku and Ashido’s dismay. It didn’t take long for everyone to get seperated amongst the facility, mixed with the villains who wasted no time in attacking.

So, there they were, some time later, Izuku couldn’t even tell since things went so quickly and were so chaotic, watching Aizawa and his pokemon losing. At first, when he and a couple of his classmates had washed back up to the entrance where Aizawa was fighting, things had been going well, so they stayed low and quiet to keep from distracting their teacher. Now, the three of them were trying to stay out of sight so they weren’t next. If these people could take out their teacher, then the first years had no hope, and that burned something deep within Izuku, Hadria growling lowly, still perched on his shoulder, despite her injuries.

Both felt the same sense of hopelessness and rage, but didn’t interfere. Not when his last pokemon went down. Not when the ringleader started taunting their teacher. Not until the monstrosity that had been teleported in started taking thundering steps towards their already injured teacher, clearly intent on finishing him off too. That was when Izuku’s will broke, and he slowly stood.

The frantic whispers of his classmates simply made him wave them off, with a curt “wait here” as he walked around the protrusion they had been crouched behind.

“What’s this?” came the taunting cries of the ringleader in front of them. “A baby trainer, stepping up, trying to be a hero?”

Aizawa snapped his head around, eyes widening in alarm.

“Midoriya,” he yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Sorry, sensei,” Izuku answered, hand already wrapped around the pokeball no one, not even Katsuki, had ever seen leave his belt. “I know you said to let you take care of it, but your team is out of commision and Oricorio is still completely fresh.” He unclipped the ball and held it, feeling it warm, nearly burning, against his palm. “He won’t mind helping out this time.”

“An oricorio?” the villain cackled. “What use is a puny bird going to be against my Nomu?”

Izuku ignored the taunts, the frightened cries behind him, the worried eyes of his teacher, and tossed the pokeball into the air, never taking his eyes of the grotesque amalgamation in front of Aizawa. A bright flash of light followed by the sound of huge wings beating to lift the massive pokemon into the air above them, and a shriek of fury.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa finally said faintly, as he backed up to stand next to his student.

Izuku hummed in reply, barely sparing him a glance before turning back to watch Oricorio decimate not only the Nomu, but all of the intruders’ remaining pokemon, and then the intruders themselves.

“That is not an oricorio.”

Aizawa sounded so completely done with him, that Izuku couldn’t help but smile.

“Of course he is,” he returned, all false innocence, just to see the man’s eye twitch.

Aizawa growled his name in warning, but Izuku didn’t say another word, just smiled as he watched Oricorio destroy those who had threatened them. By the time the rest of the class had arrived back in the middle, and the reinforcements were blasting into the building, Oricorio was finishing up. He landed a final hit on the fake pokemon just as All Might arrived. The man got halfway through a pissed off version of his regular introduction before he stumbled to a stop, eyes taking in the destruction around them.

Izuku spun, eyes sparkling at the sight of his hero, not registering All Might’s gawping, or the way the rest of the teachers slammed on breaks behind him, or even the way the rest of his classmates were looking between him and the massive pokemon that had just finished curb stomping the entire invasion party.

“M-my boy?” All Might stuttered, hesitating before cautiously walking towards Izuku.

“Yes, All Might?” Izuku asked, tilting his head.

“Um, well,” he said, coming to a stop a bit away from him, everyone else following his lead. “Why-how?”

“What the fuck, Deku?” Katsuki howled as he stormed towards him, skirting the debris kicked up the fight, before he could answer All Might.

“What do you mean, Kacchan?” Izuku asked, turning towards the fuming blond.

The warmth at his back and the soft coo coming from above his head made Izuku smile and lean back into Oricorio’s soft feathers even as Katsuki’s outraged approach abruptly stopped. Oricorio’s sharp black beak came to rest over his shoulder, the one opposite of Hadria, body and wings curling around his body, as his eyes seemed to glare at the others approaching, warning.

Katsuki paused, reconsidered.

“Deku,” he continued, modulating his tone, and cautiously approaching again. “I thought you told me you had an oricorio.”

Izuku glanced from his friend across the others, too afraid to speak but clearly curious, to his pokemon. Oricorio seemed to shrug, Hadria clearly not caring as she looked dismissively around them. Finally, Izuku sighed, shoulders slumping.

“I didn’t know what he was when we met,” he said, looking into red eyes, the only one he cared to make sure knew he wasn’t lying again. “But, I hated just calling him ‘pokemon,’ so he said it was ok to call him Oricorio until I figured it out. Except,” Izuku licked his lips. “Except when I did some more research, I found out what he was. And, even as a kid, I knew it was a really bad idea to call a pokemon no one ever saw by the name of a Legendary no one had seen in years.”

Katsuki nodded. They would have to talk later, talk more. That Izuku hadn’t told him, before their falling out, then after they started rebuilding their relationship was something to address, delicately, later when it was just them. Still, despite the low level of intimidation coming from behind Izuku, Katsuki tilted his chin up and approached.

“C’mon then, nerd,” he said, stopping right in front of them. “What’s its name?”

“Kacchan,” Izuku said, smiling wide and happy. “I’d like you to meet my first pokemon. Yveltal.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Izuku smiled weakly at Inko as she fussed over him, straightening his collar, brushing out imaginary wrinkles. Hadria wobbled on his shoulder with a huff when he shifted, uncomfortable at her picking. He swiped a hand across his belt, absently checking that both pokeballs were secure. He couldn’t help the small smile when Ailith’s warmed at his touch for a brief moment, acknowledging her trainer’s attention. Even seven months later, she still had problems with being amongst a large number of people, preferring to be in her ball when she wasn’t battling or when it was more than just them.

Honestly, Izuku didn’t have much problem with it, only wishing that she felt more secure. In some ways it would actually help him when it came to challenging other trainers who didn’t know anything of him or his pokemon, not that he could do that very much, only having his Provo License. Since Hadria didn’t like being in her ball, constantly riding his shoulder, she was very visible, but an eevee was hardly a good indication of type choice. And, he still didn’t seem like the type to be a Dark specialist. Despite having realized how much he was neglecting his body shortly after Ailith chose to stay, and subsequently working out and realizing how much he enjoyed it, he was still fairly shy and nerdy, and wore clothing that was a bit baggy, still unfamiliar with his rapidly improving body. Not exactly the poster child for the aggressive and brutal Dark pokemon trainers. Heck, sometimes when he and Katsuki had hung out in their down time and all three pokemon were out, people had thought Blast was Izuku’s and that he was planning to give Hadria a fire stone, assuming the more belligerent blond owned the sole Dark type.

“You sure you have everything?” Inko asked anxiously, smoothing his collar again.

Izuku reached up, taking her hands and gently pulling them down in between them.

“I’m good, mom. Besides, today’s just the written, and, let’s be honest, that’s going to be the easiest portion.”

Inko’s answering laugh was shaky, but real, and she finally started to calm back down. He squeezed her hands, leaning in to drop a kiss on her cheek.

“I need to go so I’m not late. The tests get out at 3, and I’ll come home as soon as it’s done.”

“Be safe,” she said, quiet. “I’ll see you by 4:30.”

“I’ll call if it’s later.”

Izuku hesitated a moment longer, but finally straightened his shoulders, dropped her hands, and stepped back onto the porch. Turning, striding away quickly, he barely heard her whispered, “good luck,” as he disappeared past the brick fencing around their house.

Luckily, it was only a 5 minute walk to the bus stop, but he knew that it would be an almost 30 minute ride, followed by another 15 or 20 minutes to walk to UA. By the time the bus arrived, though, Izuku’s nerves had returned full force. He clambered onto the bus, slumping onto an empty bench, and tugged Hadria into his lap, absently petting her to try to calm himself. Just before the doors closed, the last passenger jumped on board, stomping down the aisle, collapsing on the empty seat next to Izuku just as the bus jerked forward. Izuku startled, eyes darting up from where he had been staring blankly at his fingers carding through Hadria’s cream colored ruff to meet vibrant red already staring at him.

“K-Kacchan?” Izuku stuttered, surprise and his already present anxiety making him stumble over his words in front of the blond for the first time in months.

“Don’t you dare puke on me, nerd,” was all he said, before deliberately turning to slouch.

Izuku’s lips twitched, wanting to smile but not quite able to get past his nerves. Katsuki’s tone had been harsh, but there was a small crease between his brows, and, while he got comfortable, his knee had fallen far enough to nudge against Izuku’s and hadn’t moved. Without saying anything, very aware that Katsuki would take acknowledging it badly in public, along with the very distinct possibility that he would vomit if pushed, Izuku subtly leaned over during a turn, falling gently against Katsuki’s shoulder. The blond stiffened for a moment. Even after all these months of them slowly, carefully repairing and rebuilding, they still were very careful and deliberate with their contact. Still, as the bus continued, and Izuku didn’t move or say anything to draw attention to it, Katsuki slowly relaxed again. By the time they arrived, the only difference was that Hadria had repositioned herself to drape across both of their laps, with minimal grumbling from the blond that they all knew was mostly for show.

Katsuki nudged them off of him and stomped off the bus. But, Izuku noticed, carefully hiding his expression as he shifted Hadria back up to his shoulder, Katsuki stood off to the side, taking longer than necessary to release Blast and secure the growlithe’s pokeball now that they weren’t on the congested vehicle. Izuku settled easily at Katsuki’s side, absently catching Hadria when she went to land Blast’s head, the tackle now a standard greeting between the two pokemon, and patting the puppy’s head when he ducked under his hand.

“Ready Kacchan?”

Izuku easily ignored the bad tempered grunt that came from the blond, since Katsuki had fallen in step with him as they made their way down the road.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been to Santalune, I always forget how much I actually like it here, you know?” Izuku said lightly. “I know I won’t have time today, what with the exam taking so long, but I hope that when I come back for the first interview, I can take a little time and go to the gardens along Route 4 for a while.”

Izuku paused, waiting for something from Katsuki, but the other boy just kept walking, keeping an eye on Blast who was darting forward playfully then waiting for them to catch up only to run off again. Still, Katsuki didn’t pull away or explode at him, so Izuku decided to just go for it.

“If,” he started nervously. “If our interviews are close together, would you like to go with me? Maybe, get lunch or something together?”

Izuku had ducked his head away, studiously not looking at Katsuki as he asked, fingers tangled together, so he didn’t see the blond stumble and jerk to stare at him. Hadria did though, and glared at him from her perch as if to warn him about hurting her human.

Or maybe urging him to take Izuku up on it, Katsuki considered. He still couldn’t read the rat’s expressions like he could his own mutt’s, but he knew how much Hadria didn’t really care for him, even nearly a year later.

Still, “I guess it wouldn’t be horrible,” he said gruffly.

Izuku’s head snapped to him, eyes fascening on his profile and the ever present scowl that seemed a touch more embarrassed than irritated.

“Gr-great!” he stammered, honestly surprised. “I know we won’t get the emails about our time slots until late tonight, but do you-do you want to text me when you get yours? And then we can compare?” he asked, so hopeful.

They kept walking for a long moment, before Katsuki gave a short nod, still not looking at him.

“Do you mind if I ask,” Izuku said hesitantly a few minutes later.

He didn’t continue until Katsuki looked at him from the corner of his eye, obviously getting fed up with the waiting, but luckily not the attempt at conversation.

“Well, you seem so sure that I’ll make it to the interviews, too.”

He trailed off when Katsuki turned to actually look at him, one hand coming up to fiddle with Hadria’s ruff again.

“That’s not a fuckin question, nerd.”

“Oh! U-um, sorry?”

Katsuki let out an annoyed

tsk

, and waved it away.

“Wasn’t what I meant, idiot.” After a pause where Izuku thought he wouldn’t answer, he said, “‘Sides, you’re not really much of a fuckin deku anymore, are you? And I told you, you’re the only one in that shitty school that could almost be as good as me an’ Blast when you actually try, you damn nerd. You’ll pass, ‘cause if you don’t I’ll kill you myself, after all this shit.”

Izuku stumbled to a stop, turning to gape up at the other boy, who just kept walking. Except, Izuku could see the edges of Katsuki’s ears turning a delicate pink, his shoulders raising up defensively, like he was trying to shield himself. A cold nose poking at his cheek pulled Izuku from his surprise and he jerked forward, hurrying to catch up with the blond. As he came even with Katsuki, he deliberately bumped his shoulder gently against the other’s arm, making their twin blushes reemerge, and they walked in silence for the rest of the way.

Just before they came to the massive gates of UA, though, as they slotted into the giant mass of prospective students, he couldn’t help the soft whispered “thanks” that escaped him.

Katsuki grunted lightly, as he expected, but then, surprising Izuku once again, linked their pinkies together for a brief moment. It barely lasted a handful of seconds before he disconnected, more a ghost of touch than anything else, and then they were filing through the doors into the auditorium where the testing was set to begin in less than ten minutes. Flushed a deep red, Izuku pulled Hadria from his shoulder and cradled her higher than normal in order to hide his face as he scurried behind Katsuki, grabbing the desk next to him. Looking back, Izuku later decided that spending the countdown to the beginning of the exam freaking out over Katsuki was actually better than having a nervous breakdown over the upcoming seven hour test, but at the time, he definitely wondered if it was possible to die from embarrassment.

He was rudely jerked from his internal screaming by a loud screech from the front of the room. “HEY LISTENERS! ARE YOU READY FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE MOST IMPORTANT TEST OF YOUR LIFE?”

Dead silence.

Present Mic cleared his throat nervously. “WELL, I’M GLAD THAT YOU’RE ALL SUPER PUMPED FOR THE FIRST DAY OF THE UA ENTRANCE EXAMS! AS I’M SURE YOU ALL KNOW,” he continued, evidently deciding to just go with it as the rest of the faculty came in.

Half of them were carrying large stacks of test packets and came to stand at the front of the room, the remainder lining up at the seats around the perimeter of the room to check for cheating.

“TODAY IS THE WRITTEN PORTION OF YOUR EXAM, WHICH WILL LAST UNTIL 3 THIS AFTERNOON. YOU WILL EACH HAVE A TOTAL OF ONE HOUR OF BREAK TIME WHERE YOU CAN LEAVE THE ROOM WITH AN ESCORT AT YOUR LEISURE. ANY TIME THAT YOU GO OVER YOUR INDIVIDUAL LIMIT WILL DECREASE YOUR FINAL SCORE. MEANING THAT EVERY EXTRA MINUTE YOU ARE OUT OF THIS ROOM, YOU WILL LOSE A POINT OFF YOUR TOTAL GRADE FOR THIS SECTION.”

As the faces in the audience suddenly turned even more concerned, some of the teachers smiled, a bit sadistically. After all, a test from 8 am to 3 pm was already torturous. Only having a total of an hour free during it, with no built in breaks was brutal.

“AND REMEMBER, LISTENERS,” Present Mic added as the teachers starter to pass out the packets, making sure there were no banned items in the students’ possessions. “ANYONE FOUND CHEATING WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DISQUALIFIED. ANY COMMUNICATION, EITHER WITH ANOTHER STUDENT OR TO SOMEONE OUTSIDE THE FACILITY, WILL BE COUNTED AS CHEATING. SO, UNLESS THERE IS AN EMERGENCY THAT YOU INFORM YOUR PROCTOR ABOUT BEFORE HAND, DON’T EVEN TRY TO MAKE ANY CALLS IN YOUR FREE TIME.

“AFTER ALL THE PACKETS HAVE BEEN DISTRIBUTED, THERE WILL BE ANOTHER ALARM; NO PACKETS SHOULD BE OPENED UNTIL THAT POINT. FINALLY, ANY POKEMON CURRENTLY OUT OF THEIR BALLS SHOULD BE RETURNED BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR PACKETS.”

Izuku grimaced apologetically at Hadria, returning her in a flash of light, absently seeing Blast disappearing at the same time from the corner of his eye, and then tucked his poketch into his bag, just in case.

“GOOD LUCK, LISTENERS.”

As the last packet was handed out, and Present Mic’s speech concluded, a loud gong echoed in the room. Izuku swallowed, taking a deep breath to calm his shaking hands as the large clock at the front hit 8. He opened the packet and let the 6 empty folders fall across his desk, their labels facing up: History, Maths, Sciences, Languages, Social Sciences, Pokemon Basics. Another deep breath and he carefully stuffed 5 of them back into the packet and slid it under his chair, leaving only the folder labelled History and his pencil. Nodding to himself, figuring out his game plan (

do the one you’re most worried about first, and the one you’re looking forward to last. So, Pokemon Basics last and History first. Work straight through, and take 5 minutes in the hall after each packet. That should give you an hour for each packet, with a 30 minute window at the very end of the exam period to flip back through and make sure you didn’t forget a question

), he turned to the first page and began.

And so the day went. He managed to stay on track, even though he was tempted to go overboard occasionally, and only managed to reign himself in after a hard look at the clock. He also found himself strangely grateful that their breaks and pacing were dictated by their own desires, because it meant that there was only one break where both he and Katsuki were out of the auditorium at the same time. It had only been a passing moment, but even so he found himself straining to not go and speak to him or brush up against him, just for the reassurance of his touch, both things which would have gotten them thrown out of the test. That was certainly the last thing he wanted for himself, and neither of them would have ever forgiven Izuku for getting Katsuki expelled from the exam. So, it really was for the best that his temptation was so far removed.

Still, as the final fifteen minutes counted down, and Izuku busied his tired brain with scanning all 6 folders to make sure he hadn’t missed a question, he found himself thinking back on that morning instead of concentrating properly. He had managed to stay on task during the stress of getting everything down, but now that he was basically done and doing busy work, he found his mind wandering.

Except for some big moments, like when Katsuki had been so worried about him the day he found Ailith, or a moment a few months ago when Izuku misjudged an attack and nearly took a high-jump kick to the face and Katsuki freaked out, the blond had been so very careful. The bullying had never gotten physical, not really, but now that they were repairing things, Katsuki seemed to be leery of triggering some sort of trauma that Izuku definitely didn’t have. It could have been different, Izuku had considered before, had Blast not been there, but, in the end, the things Katsuki seemed to be worried about had never actually happened.

But maybe, Izuku realized as the gong rang again, and he stuffed his folders away with everyone else. Maybe Katsuki was so cautious because he knew what he could have done to Izuku if he hadn’t had that influence keeping him from it.

Wide green eyes turned to the other boy who was waiting impatiently by his desk, hand already fiddling with the pokeball on his hip, ready to release Blast again once they got to a less crowded area.

Maybe Katsuki was trying to atone for something

he never actually did

.

Finally registering the red eyes glaring at him, and the quickly emptying room, Izuku scrambled up, digging out his poketch and strapping it back on his wrist as he scurried over.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku muttered as they drew even and started to walk.

“Tch, nerd.”

Concentrating on releasing Hadria and balancing her up onto his shoulder, Izuku didn’t notice the other’s eyes scanning him, making sure everything was alright, especially after his anxiety earlier.

“You weren’t still freakin out about the damn test were you?”

“H-huh?” Izuku looked back up at him, surprised, before realizing that Katsuki was concerned in his own caustic way and smiled. “No, I’m good now. Kacchan helped a lot earlier. And, now I have something to look forward to when we have our interviews.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at him, absently nudging Izuku out of the way of another student who had nearly run into him when he sprinting down the road without looking.

“Kacchan promised to go to the gardens with me if our interviews are close together, after all.”

Taken off guard, Katsuki spluttered, flushing again before he could control his reactions. Still, it just made Izuku’s happy grin turn into a soft smirk as Katsuki turned away, trying desperately to disguise his warm face.

Taking pity on him a minute later, Izuku nudged Katsuki’s arm and said, “I’m sure Blast would like to hang out with us. We’re pretty much out of the congestion after all.”

Katsuki didn’t answer, letting Blast out silently. Still, despite the embarrassment, Katsuki kept along with Izuku. A surprisingly comfortable silence fell between them as they watched Blast and Hadria, now allowed down since time wasn’t a real issue like before, playing tag and tumbling over each other. Izuku absently hummed happily as they ambled towards the bus stop in Santalune, their arms brushing occasionally. A quick glance at Katsuki showed the blond’s eyes hazed over, obviously deep in thought. But, Izuku noted, his face was relaxed, his ever present scowl considerably lighter than normal, so it must not have been bad thoughts that had captured him.

Still, that thought led Izuku back to where his mind had gone earlier at the end of the exam. Katsuki was being so careful, even now he was letting Izuku take the lead most of the time. The only time he seemed to move first was when he was worried and forgot. Even when he was showing Izuku a better position to lift from, when he had first started going to the gym to train himself for the massive practical portion of the exam, Izuku had had to make it completely apparent that he was fine with being touched. In a lot of ways, he had just realized, Katsuki was the only one other than his mom that ever touched him.

Or at least, Katsuki had been the only one to do so before their confrontation at the beach all those months ago. When Katsuki had been bullying him, it had been small things here and there, mostly just shoves and knocking shoulders, but that was far more than anyone else. After the first time someone else had tried to hurt Izuku, and Katsuki and Blast had destroyed them, all of the other students had clearly gotten the message that Izuku was Katsuki’s to torment, which meant that they barely spoke to him, let alone touch him in any way. It was an awful thing to realize but, in some ways, Izuku missed how freely Katsuki touched him, now that he was so careful.

He needed to talk to Katsuki, but.

Later would work, he decided, taking another glance at the distracted blond beside him. After their trip to the gardens would be soon enough. No need to spoil their trip, after all.

*

Dear Mr. Midoriya,

We at UA would like to congratulate you for passing the written portion of your entrance exam. You have been scheduled to speak with a panel of six UA instructors tomorrow, the 12th of February, at 10:45 in Room 3 of the D Wing. Attached below are the forms that we require; please ensure they are completed before you arrive. Thank you and good luck.

Plus Ultra!

*

Kaachan

--9:30

--You?

10:45!--

They’re pretty close, right?--

Do you mind waiting for me after?--

We can get lunch like we talked about.--

I mean, it’ll be an hour for you, so you don’t have to.--

Obviously.--

--Enough, nerd

Sorry, Kacchan.--

--Whatever

--It’s fine

So…--

Yes?--

--Sure

--I’ll wait for you

*

“You have your paperwork? Your notebook and an extra pen? Your wallet and poketch? Do you think you need a water bottle, just incase?”

It was like an echo from the day before, as Inko fussed over Izuku while he tried to leave the house to catch the bus. He was actually running late. He had planned to leave nearly an hour ago, to catch Katsuki and ride in with him, but Inko’s fussing and his own nerves had him hesitating a bit too long, and now he would be cutting it a bit too close for comfort. Behind him, Ailith whined quietly and scratched at the door, earning an admonishing look from Hadria.

“I’m good,” he tried to soothe her, taking her hands and removing their grip from his shoulders. “I double checked everything last night, and again this morning.” He gave her a tremulous smile. “The interview’s only 15 minutes, so I can’t imagine there’s much time to really talk too much, luckily,” he said, gaining a giggle. “But, remember that I’m planning to stay out for a while after.”

Inko nodded, taking a deep breath to try to calm down so her anxiety didn’t trigger his.

“Try to keep me updated.”

Izuku stepped back, opening the door to let his girls dart out onto the street, keeping his eyes connected to the identical watery ones watching him leave.

“Good luck, Izuku.”

*

As they made their way to the bus stop, Izuku called out to his girls, wrangling them back from where they had darted ahead, spilling over one another in an impromptu game of tag. As always, Hadria jumped up into his arms first, so she could scurry up onto his shoulder. Ailith followed immediately after, only giving the eevee enough time to not topple off as the purrloin made herself comfortable in his arms.

“I wanted to talk to you two for a moment before we get to UA, and I’m not sure how crowded the pathway will be once we leave Santalune,” he explained quickly when two pairs of eyes fixated on him. “Today I’m going to have a short interview with a few teachers. I don’t know what they’re going to ask, but if all goes well, it’ll mean that we’re going to participate in a large practical exam starting the day after tomorrow.”

He paused a moment, making sure they were still following.

“First, that means that tomorrow morning we’re going to run to the pokecenter and get you both a full work up to make sure you’re ready. Plus, neither of you are to exert yourselves at all for the rest of today and tomorrow, so anything you haven’t mastered is put to the back burner until after the exam, alright?”

He was pleased when, despite some grumbling, especially from Ailith who was still working on her night slash, neither pokemon appeared to intend to be rebellious.

“Today, though. Since I have no idea what they’ll be asking, or if they’ll need to see you, or not see you, Hadria you need to be prepared to be in your pokeball like yesterday if necessary. It should only be for 15 minutes or so,” he added at her huff.

“And, Ailith.” He paused, running his fingers down her spine, making a low purr vibrate through her. “I may need to have you out, at least for a short time, while we’re around the panel, alright? Part of the paperwork that I’ll be giving them includes what pokemon will accompany me into the practical if I pass, so they might want to see you both. But, you’ve been doing really well recently,” he said, leaning down a bit to nuzzle against her cheek, a calming gesture he had picked up over the last few months. “Especially when we’re in battle class. And, you’re even alright being out around mom and Kacchan, now. I’m so proud of you, and how far you’ve come,” he finished softly.

Ailith stared up at him, obviously nervous about maybe being forced to come out around strangers. Still, after a moment, she visibly steeled herself and nodded. It was true, to an extent, that she was far more comfortable around others now. But, it was still Izuku that she fed off of; it was his reactions that she used to determine whether to stay out of her ball outside of actual battle times. So the people he was more comfortable around, the ones he trusted most, were the ones that she was more ok with being near during down times. But, he needed her to do this for him. Needed her to be able to deal with strangers - people who would be trainers too, ones with so much more experience and power than them - for at least a short while. So she would. For him.

Izuku smiled at her brightly, cuddling her back into his chest again, at her brave confirmation. Hadria cooed, tilting down dangerously to press her nose against Ailith’s before squirming back up to sit comfortably again.

“Thank you,” he murmured, sighing when he saw the crowded bus stop up ahead. “Time to go, huh?” he asked Ailith, who had started to get antsy, even curled up in his arms, and returned her in a flash of light. “If only we could borrow Psyche, huh?” he said wryly to Hadria as they joined the long shuffling up onto the bus, preparing to settle in for the long ride and tedious walk.

*

An hour later, Izuku was bouncing on his heels, trying to work out his nerves. The sleeve of his hoodie was caught between his teeth as he tried to stifle the instinctive muttering that came with his brain overworking and his anxiety wrenched up to 11. Hadria had given up a few minutes before and was lounging on his bag, pretending that she was guarding it. In reality, she had gotten tired of his pacing and the abrupt switching between that and the bouncing was making her nauseous enough that she abandoned ship.

Finally, when it looked like some of the others waiting were about to lose their patience and punch Izuku, the door opened once more and his name was called making him squeak and freeze for a long moment. Hadria sighed and rolled her eyes, headbutting his shin to get him moving. Mechanically, Izuku reached down, scooping her up and snagging his backpack, shuffling through the door which slammed closed behind him.

“This way, please,” the secretary said curtly, eyes locked on her clipboard and already walking briskly down the hall of doors.

Izuku scurried quickly after her, doing his best to not listen too closely as they passed the doors, soft murmurs of voices slipping through the cracks as other applicants had their interviews.

“You time starts when you are asked the first question. You will answer to the best of your ability and perform as asked. Good luck,” she finished just as they arrived at a random door.

She knocked on it softly, to alert the panel to their presence, he assumed, and almost immediately opened it, waving him through. He stuttered a thanks as he brushed past her, and she followed him inside, shutting the door and taking seat in the chair left by the door, obviously for her.

Izuku kept his eyes trained on the floor as he walked to the middle of the room, in front of the panel’s table. He knew that every teacher at UA, and most of the administrative staff as well, were pros of some sort. Most were pro battle trainers, but there were also a number of pro performers, pokemon doctors, and scientists, all with different specialties, and all at least well known. Honestly, half of his nerves for this interview were from knowing that he was about to be face to face with six people he had probably obsessed over at one point, and he knew that he needed to keep his fanboying to a minimum if he wanted to pass. A tall order, to be sure, he thought ruefully and turned his attention to the six pairs of eyes surveying him.

Green eyes darted across vaguely familiar faces, picking out subtle cues that identified them outside of their stage costumes, which had been adopted years ago with the rise of popularity and danger that came from going pro. Five of the six were pretty obvious, honestly, especially for someone who had spent way too much time analyzing the various pros that caught his attention.

Present Mic. Cementoss. Thirteen. Recovery Girl. Snipe.

But the last had him stumped. Unconsciously, his eyebrows furrowed as he scanned the man again. Lanky black hair, impressive bags under his bloodshot eyes, rumpled clothes like he had just woken up. And, finally, no visible pokeballs. They were probably hidden in the folds of his clothes, but even professionals tended to have at least one visible pokeball in easy reach, just in case.

A soft hum pulled Izuku away from his inspection of the unknown pro, and he felt a faint flush rise as he realized they were all watching him with various levels of amusement. Hadria's huff from his arms, exasperation and affection twined together, just made it worse. He cleared his throat, trying desperately to regain some hint of composure as Present Mic opened his mouth, obviously trying to be nice and distract from his embarrassment.

"Well, listener," the blond started, gaining a couple of eyerolls, but smiling at Izuku, reassuringly. "If you have your paperwork," he held out his hand as Izuku fumbled for the packet and quickly handed it over.

He glanced over it quickly, obviously just making sure it was filled out completely, before he handed it down to the end of the row for them to actually read through.

"Now, just to confirm," Recovery Girl said, having gotten his paperwork first and reading through it, one eye on him the whole time. "Your name, middle school, best type complement, preferred type, and current team. You should have them with you, so please release them as well."

Izuku blinked, but quickly asked, "preferred type, as in?"

She smiled, glad he had asked for clarification on a slightly ambiguous question. "Mostly, we need to know if your team, and intended specialty, is different than your best type compliment. It will alter your grading scale on the practical, and if you get into UA, it will necessitate a slightly different curriculum to make sure it doesn't negatively impact you or your pokemon."

He nodded. It made sense, after all type complements dealt with what fit your personality and style best best, which was why it was definitely better to have type specialized teams and to start with your best match, despite the difficulty that comes from having a mono-team. Still, that difficulty was what drew people to the higher tiers of the pro-circuit, to see how experience and training could overcome even super effective matchups.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya, graduating from Aldera Junior High."

He swallowed, glancing at them nervously. They were all professionals, and definitely had encountered enough high tier trainers to know that the Dark/Poison/Ghost bigotry was mostly unfounded, but there was always that one person who just couldn't get over it. Still, taking too long would cut him time for whatever it was they wanted him to do, so he took a deep breath and sucked it up.

"I'm a main Dark complement, and intending to specialize in it." He hurried on before anyone could do more than raise an eyebrow in surprise. "Hadria, my eevee," he motioned to her, and she perked her ears up and cooed cutely. She was trying to make him more appealing, he realized, hiding a smile. "Was my first pokemon. And, Ailith, my purrloin," he continued, letting Hadria jump onto his shoulder, and releasing Ailith, immediately taking her into his arms. "Was my second. We rescued her a few months ago and she decided to stay with us."

"These are your only pokemon?" Thirteen asked, and Izuku nodded as he stroked down Ailith's back, trying to keep her calm despite his own nervousness.

"Will that eevee be evolving into an umbreon, or are you going to have her as the first in a different specialization?" the unknown pro asked, voice lazy, but an undercurrent, like he was expecting Izuku to only have Ailith to fulfill the necessary requirements, but pick a different team to actually use.

He knew that it wasn't that uncommon, that most trainers who had a Dark main especially tended to choose their second best complement to avoid the issues that came with it. Heck, Izuku had avoided the type test for years because he was afraid to get confirmation that he wouldn't be able to have a full Fighting team for years, maybe never even, considering how strong he was with his Dark. Still, since he had found out, since he had wrapped his head around his type, since he had gotten Hadria, then Ailith and made his promises to them, he had never even considered throwing them away like that. And the insinuation that he would force Hadria to evolve into something more to his taste, something that was one of her biggest fears? It pissed him off more than he realized it would. His eyes snapped to the man, narrowing dangerously and chin tilting up, as his shoulders tightened and drew back without him realizing that he was unconsciously squaring off. Hadria's low growl and Ailith's sudden vicious hiss were what made him realize what he had done, and Izuku immediately dropped his eyes and took a small step back.

"Hadria chose me because I'm so strongly Dark," he started quietly. "Evolving her into something else would be forcing her into a body that isn't meant for her. I may train my pokemon, and in the process that may get hurt so they get stronger, but I have never, and never plan to torture them or cause them unnecessary pain."

When he dared to look back up, after managing to get his girls to calm back down, he was surprised to see the small smiles on their faces. Even the one who had asked him that, that he had nearly gone off on, had a grudgingly approving expression on his face.

"Can," he asked, hesitant to essentially ask a favor after already wasting so much time and nearly attacking a hopefully future teacher. "Can I return Ailith? I've only had her a few months, and she's still very nervous outside of battles when she's around unfamiliar people and pokemon."

The teachers exchanged glances, obviously taking in how she wasn't calming down as well as Hadria had, and how her anxiety was slowly climbing in response.

"Go ahead," Thirteen said, a sympathetic expression stretched across their face.

"Thank you," he breathed, running his hand down her back one last time before holding her pokeball out so she could decide. As soon as she saw it, she immediately leaned forward, so incredibly done with being around anyone that wasn't pard.

"Well, now that all of that is out of the way," Snipe said, completely deadpan, making Recovery Girl and the man, that Izuku still had no idea who he was, snort.

"Let's start with the oral quiz, shall we?" Cementoss asked.

Izuku absently noted that his information had passed by all of the teachers, ending with the (still!) unknown man, who glanced over it and put it to the side, resting his head on his fist like he was ready for a nap.

"I've got this one, I think," Recovery Girl said, pen poised over a pad to mark his answers. "First, what does an aspear berry do?"

"It cures being frozen," Izuku answered automatically.

"Maranga?"

"It helps special defense after being hit with a special attack."

"Salac?"

"Speed increase."

"Persim?"

"Cures confusion." Suddenly, Izuku was very glad that he and Katsuki had taken to quizzing each other on random facts to prepare for the test yesterday.

"Key Stone?"

"The trainer's portion that allows for a pokemon to mega evolve if they have the appropriate stone as well."

"Everstone?"

"It prevents any pokemon in contact with one from evolving."

Finally, looking to stump him, she shot out "Griseous Orb?"

"An item only seen in the presence of Giratina. Not much is known about it, due to the extreme difficulty in that particular Legendary agreeing to be studied, but scientists have postulated that it either increases its Ghost attacks, Dragon attacks, or both."

There was a beat of silence, when surprisingly the secretary, who had been so cold and business like early, let out a muffled snicker at the faces across from him. Izuku ducked his head to cover the answering smile that he couldn't contain. They really hadn't been expecting him to know something so obscure and basically worthless, considering a griseous orb hadn't been seen outside of Giratina's possession in centuries.

"Well, then," Thirteen said, sounding a bit strangled. "Next, if you look behind you, you will see everything you could possibly need to survive anything in the wild."

Izuku obeyed the order cloaked in a comment, and turned to see two massive tables stretching from wall to wall, covered with every possible survival apparatus for every terrain imaginable, all neatly laid out and shuffled so that not one thing was near something else of a similar type, so something that would help in the dessert was never near something else that would help in the same situation. By the time he had turned back to them, the secretary had set up a smaller table in between them and was already sitting back in her chair.

"You have three minutes to collect everything you think you would need to fit a certain trip and place it on the table in front of you. Anything not on the table at the end of time will not count. You may choose as much or as little as you think applicable, but you will not have the opportunity to defend your choices, so choose carefully. Ready?"

Izuku sucked in a deep breath as Cementoss held up a stopwatch. "Pack for a trip through Reflection Cave. And, go!"

Izuku dropped his backpack, Hadria, and her and Ailith's pokeballs on the table before turning and sprinting to the table. First thing he grabbed, which he had managed to see during his short scan, was a large backpack, one that looked graded for wear and tear, and was probably waterproof. Quickly opening it, he hooked a strap over his arm so he could stuff it with stuff instead of running between tables as his arms got full. First thing he grabbed was a lantern, dropping it into the bag, and grabbing extra batteries followed by a flint he managed to spy as he hurried on his way. A pair of standard hiking boots, a large sheathed knife, and an insulated wind jacket joined them. He snagged as complete an outfit as he could find: a couple of pairs of socks, a pair of jeans, and two shirts were stuffed into the bag. Quickly turning to the second table, he scooped a couple boxes of water purifying tablets into the bag, followed by a spoon, a couple packs of repels, and as many canteens as he managed to easily see (it turned out to be 3). Finally, very aware that time was ticking down and he still needed to get it all on the table, he grabbed a few boxes of the standard dehydrated poke food packages, getting some human dehydrated meals too as he hurried to grab the medium sized pot he had just barely seen. Two small bowls and a few packages of potions, and a grooming brush were all he could justify grabbing as he hurried back to the table. To his glee, he managed to plunk the bulging, and horribly packed bag, down on the table and step back seconds before the stopwatch sounded, panting slightly.

It hadn’t really been that strenuous, especially after Katsui helped him get his body a bit more fit once he realized that he really needed some physical prep for the practical. Still, the near sprint around the room, combined with the nerves pumping his blood pressure sky high as he dashed about, had his breath shorter than it should be and his muscles tensed and twitching from stress.

“Finally,” Snipe said. “You have the remaining time of your original fifteen minutes, which is…” he trailed off.

“Three minutes and twenty seconds,” the secretary interjected.

“Just about three minutes, to set up a campsite as completely as possible from scratch. Your materials are behind us, as is the space. Start at your leisure,” he finished languidly.

Izuku stared at him for a second, one that he really couldn’t afford, before yelping and dashing around their table, nearly clipping the man who really looked like he needed a good coma over being in what was essentially an all day meeting. He slid to a stop in front of the new table and, eyes darting across it, quickly grabbed the tarp. He snapped it out, laying it on one side of the empty space, and grabbed four random stones piled beside the table to secure the edges. A sleeping bag was quickly unrolled and spread a bit haphazardly on the tarp, a camp pillow landing basically near the opening. Another collection of stones were hurriedly placed in an approximation of a circle a few feet from the tarp, some kindling and fragile twigs messily stacked inside. A short pile of logs were practically tossed next to the makeshift pit, ready to add but not close enough to catch sparks, and a flint and knife tossed next to them. He dithered a moment, glancing across the offered items to see if there was anything else, before grabbing a pot and spoon, like the ones he had grabbed before, setting them and a canteen next to the logs. Finally, blushing faintly when he thought of it just before he had declared himself done, he grabbed a bucket and small shovel, setting them far enough from everything that the imaginary smell wouldn’t contaminate the campsite, but close enough that it was still “safe”.

Once again, just as his alarm went off, he stepped back. Given time, he would definitely think of things he had missed, things that would have worked better, but at this moment, panting and flushed with adrenaline, he actually felt good about it. For once he wasn’t immediately second guessing himself. He couldn’t help the small smile that slid across his face as he circled the panel’s table to reach his girls. By rote, he clipped his pokeballs back on his belt, pulled his bag back onto his shoulders, then held out an arm for Hadria to use to hop up onto her usual perch. A quick brush of his hands, one against the two balls, Ailith’s warming briefly as always, the other against Hadria, who nuzzled him as he passed, to ensure they were there and alright, and he turned to the six teachers.

“Is there anything else you would like from me?” he couldn’t help but ask, knowing his time was done, but not wanting to leave without making sure they didn’t need anything else from him.

“Thank you, dear,” Recovery Girl said, a smile emphasizing her wrinkles, but looking so at home on her face that he couldn’t help the answering grin. “That will be all. You’ll receive an email from us tomorrow evening. Sarah will show you out,” she finished, motioning to the secretary.

“Thank you for your time,” he said, one last pleasantry, and bowed his head briefly, Hadria following suit, and they followed Sarah from the room.

Following her down the hallway, he breathed deliberately deep, absently smiling and thanking her when she led him to a door the led out into a secluded little area lined with trees and benches and a single pathway that led out around the building. During the school year it was probably used as a secluded lunch spot, maybe for the teachers to get away or for a couple to meet up with the little time they could manage. Today, though, it was set aside for those who had already finished their interviews, for them to leave the building and make their way off campus with as little interaction with those coming into their interviews as possible.

Izuku didn’t really take it in, though, having already begun to type out a message to Katsuki on his poketch. He knew the blond was going to wait for him somewhere, but he had figured he would make his way to Santalune and hang out there until he arrived. So, Izuku was halfway through messaging him to find out where he had decided to wait and to let him know he was on him way, when suddenly his shoulder was eevee-less as Hadria cannonballed from him to slam into a small orange missile that had been streaking towards them, sending the tow pokemon tumbling over each other, and Izuku free of puppy slobber.

Izuku stared dumbly for a moment before a shocked giggle escaped him, absently cancelling out the message and turning to the bored blond that was lounging in the shade.

“Fuckin finally, nerd,” Katsuki greeted him, absolutely no malice in his tone, red eyes surprisingly warm as he stared up at Izuku.

Izuku just beamed back at him, walking up to the other, not realizing that, thanks to the way Katsuki had been sitting, he was standing between his widely spread thighs, practically in the cradle of his hips. The blond’s arms were spread across the back of the bench and he was slouched down, head tilted back insolently, stretching his throat out. Completely oblivious, to both of their suggestive poses and the way Katsuki swallowed hard and fought down the urge to squirm when he realized what they would look like to anyone who passed by them, Izuku just kept smiling, leaning forward over Katsuki so he could see his face more easily.

“Good morning, Kacchan!” he chirped. “Are you ready for food, or do you want to do something else first?”

Katsuki shrugged, an easy roll of the shoulders that he used to straighten up and get a bit more distance between them. “By the time we get to Santalune, I could probably be ready. You?”

“Sounds good,” he agreed, stepping back so that Katsuki could get up, and turned to try to corral their still tussling pokemon.

Ten minutes later, after halfheartedly scolding the two dusty pokemon and trying to get them semi-presentable again without getting themselves filthy, the two were off. The walk back to Santalune was surprisingly peaceful. Izuku, torn between enjoying the atmosphere and trying to figure out how to talk to Katsuki about the thing that had been spinning across his mind since yesterday, stayed mostly quiet, his normal muttering or bubbly observations both noticeably silent in his nervousness.

Katsuki, on the other hand, was enjoying what felt like a comfortable silence. He had reluctantly admitted, if only to himself, that he actually like it when the other trailed off into his incomprehensible nerdy freakouts, but this quiet was pretty nice. The blond didn’t feel like he had to put on a front, didn’t feel like he needed to exude anger at every opportunity when it was just them. It had been getting more and more apparent over the last few months, since their reconciliation, that something had changed between them, gotten better. And Katsuki was still himself, there was no doubt about that, cursing and raging included, but Izuku had unknowingly, inadvertently soften something within him. And yet, Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to care all that much.

By the time they had gotten back into Santalune and grabbed something to eat, making their way to Parterre Way, Izuku’s nerves had eclipsed his simple enjoyment of spending time with Katsuki. He was so happy to spend time with Katsuki, doing nothing and not having his head bitten off about it, but he needed to talk to him. After they finished eating, tossing their trash away, Izuku grabbed Katsuki’s wrist, hesitant. When the blond didn’t say anything, just turned to him with a raised eyebrow, Izuku smiled tremulously, fingers shaking minutely, and gently tugged him into the maze. It wasn’t horribly busy, but Izuku still didn’t want an audience for any discussion that he tried to have with Katsuki that touched on feelings; the blond especially hated any mention of actually having them, after all.

Izuku absently noted Hadria and Blast following behind them curiously, play fighting whenever the growlithe managed to “accidentally” stumble into the eevee. Still, far too much of his attention was focused on the warmth of Katsuki’s wrist in his hand. They ended up wandering deeper into the hedges, further away from the soft sounds of hushed conversations, until Izuku stumbled to a stop at the slight tug from Katsuki. He froze, glancing over his shoulder and meeting red eyes, which normally blazed brightly in challenge or anger, now seemingly banked into a quiet kind of warmth.

Still turned away from him, Izuku couldn’t help the small smile, eyes widening in delight at the soft smirk returned. Except, Izuku tilted his head curiously, turning fully towards Katsuki, the blond held his arm steady as he stepped closer. Blinking up at the other, the blond a few good inches taller, Izuku slowly stepped back at Katsuki approached. It seemed to be what he had wanted because Katsuki’s smirk twisted, an edge of fire licking into his expression, which Izuku didn’t recognize and couldn't read. He just knew that it was directed at him, and Katsuki didn’t seem to be registering anyone else.

Izuku gasped quietly when his back hit the wall of hedges that reached high over their heads, not having realized how close they were, and swallowed when Katsuki eased his wrist out of Izuku’s grip. He tilted his head back, trying to keep eye contact with Katsuki as he leaned over him, bracing an arm beside Izuku’s head, a reverse of earlier. It seemed like Katsuki was leaning closer, face strangely open, he realized, not sure what was going on anymore. And so, as he felt himself fluster, losing track of what he had tried to plan, he fell back on his nervous instincts, feeling his mouth move on its own.

“Why don’t you touch me anymore?” Izuku blurted out before he could stop himself, and felt a fierce blush rise onto his cheeks.

A beat and then “what?” Katsuki said, sounding like he was being strangled, soft expression quickly forming into a glare as he glanced pointedly at their position and the arm he had braced right over Izuku’s shoulder.

“W-well,” he started. “Even now! You’re still not touching me. You let me touch you, sometimes. But, you don’t really, um…” he trailed off as Katsuki just stared at him like he was losing his mind. “I thought you might,” he continued, much quieter. “I thought you might be stopping yourself, cause of…”

Izuku shrugged, still not sure how to say it, even though it had been rolling around in his mind since the day before.

“Cause of when I was a shithead, you mean?”

Izuku winced at the tone, the fury not quite able to mask the hurt creeping up. They hadn’t really ever talked about those couple of years, when Katsuki had done everything to push Izuku away, reacting to the emotions he didn’t understand, both Izuku’s and his own, in the worst way possible. Maybe it was an oversight, something that should have been addressed months ago when they started patching things up, but Izuku had never wanted to talk about it, and Katsuki had never know how to do so. They didn’t know how to navigate their past, and so it had been left to fester. And, now it was coming back to bite them.

Still, “yes, Kacchan. I thought you might have been holding yourself back because of when you bullied me.”

Izuku saw the walls coming back up as soon as he started speaking, but he couldn’t help it. Even as he despaired, to see the blond’s face shut down, his brilliant eyes the only sign of his struggle, other than the tightly clenched hand digging into the shrubbery beside his head, Izuku couldn’t help the feeling of relief. He had ignored the issue for so long, years really, and to actually say something now, even if it destroyed the nice outing they were on, was worth it in his mind. And so, even as something wiggled uneasily in the pit of his stomach, even as he realized that he just ruined the day, no matter how well the interview went, he couldn’t help but keep talking.

“You hurt me.” Izuku couldn’t believe how even, how matter of fact, he sounded. “A lot, for years. But, at the same time, you were still there. You were always there, and the only one that touched me, or really talked to me, even if you were awful. But, it was still you, still Kacchan, so...it wasn’t ok, but I could handle it. And, now, it feels like we’ve come so far, but lost something in the middle of it all. And I don’t know why,” he ended abruptly, vaguely realizing that he had started to cry but too focused on trying to read Katsuki to pay it much mind.

“Maybe,” he started, lips twisting into an ugly sneer, making Izuku flinch back as it dawned on him that Katsuki was actually really angry, and he didn’t know what had set it off. “If you weren’t such a fuckin’ idiot all the time, you might start to get it.

“You see what you want to see, Deku, you always have. And anything that doesn’t fit right in your shitty plans and deductions gets ignored. I thought you were finally waking the fuck up, what with the two rats you tote along now, but you’re still as blind as you’ve always been, aren’t you?” He took a deep breath and stepped back. “If you’re still gonna act this shitty, I’m done.”

Temper still high, not wanting to say more vitriol than had already passed his lips, Katsuki turned on his heel and strode briskly towards the exit.

“Ka-Kacchan?” he cried out weakly to blond’s back.

Katsuki paused for a long moment, shoulders high and tense. Then, he just started walking again, Blast cautiously coming to trot at his side, only to be ignored. Izuku suppressed a sob as he watched him turn a corner of the maze and fade from view. Hadria jumped up into his arms, and Izuku pulled her closer, hiding his tearstained face in her fur, as he started to take shaky steps after Katsuki. He ended up following him from a distance as they made their way to the bus stop, not quite brave enough to try to talk to him again.

*

The ride home was spent in silence, the space between them was small, forced to the same bench due to the crowded bus as they were, but it felt like an insurmountable peak of misunderstandings and unspoken desires.

*

Dear Mr. Midoriya,

We at UA would like to congratulate you for your continued success at passing the first interview portion of your entrance exam. You are expected at UA tomorrow morning, no later than 7:30. Note that you will be boarding bus 4 on the east side of the main courtyard. Please arrive promptly and with only the pokemon previously indicated in your paperwork. There are no restrictions on what you may bring into the practical exam, but do ensure that you are prepared to survive ten days in unfamiliar and inhospitable circumstances. Thank you and good luck.

Plus Ultra!

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The day after the disastrous meeting with Katsuki was too busy for Izuku to even think of sneaking away to figure out what set him off so badly the day before. They had arrived at the pokemon center first thing in the morning after doing a lighter version of their morning workout followed by a quick breakfast and grooming session, for all three of them. He had then spent all morning there, not willing to leave Ailith there alone during her check up, but with the large number of prospective students having the same thought and Ailith’s history, the wait took until after lunch. The afternoon was then spent with his mom, organizing the things they already had, and running to the store to get the last few necessities, before packing, and repacking twice more to make sure everything fit and the important things were in easy reach. By the time everything was ready for him to roll out of bed and grab and run in the morning, it was already approaching 10.

So, not only did Izuku need to be in bed within the hour, but he knew Katsuki would already be asleep. After all, the blond had been going to bed by 9 for as long as Izuku could remember, and being a teenager had, despite what common sense would have said, only reinforced the idea that he had to get up at god awful times to get the most out of the day. So, no sleeping in for Katsuki, which meant a late night conversation was just not going to happen. So, Izuku swallowed back his disappointment, and deliberately didn’t look at his poketch and it’s complete lack of new messages, and went to bed, resigned to a rough night.

Any hope of talking to Katsuki the next morning was shot as well, when he actually ended up over sleeping after spending a few hours tossing and turning only to drop off way too late. He had even managed to keep Hadria and Ailith up. And so, despite not sleeping as much as he normally did, even they slept through his alarm the next morning. It was only luck that Inko actually had a pokemon that knew teleport, and her desire to see him succeed that had her allowing him to borrow Pythia for a quick trip. So, barely ten minutes before he was supposed to be at the meeting point, they popped in front of the massive gates to UA.

Hadria wobbled, unused to the feeling of teleport, and dug her claws into the strap of Izuku’s pack. Izuku, though, just turned and gave Pythia a quick hug, thanking her for the ride. He waited long enough for the gardevoir to pat him gently on the back then pop away, before he was sprinting through the gates and down the drive. Luckily, his bus was in the main courtyard, right in front of the school, so it didn’t take very long for him to find it.

His eyes caught on a shock of blond hair sulking at the edge of the crowd at the bus next to the one he was headed towards. He slammed on brakes, not paying enough attention and swerving midstep to try to head towards Katsuki. Except that he forgot to watch his step in his excitement at seeing the other teenager, and tripped. His toe caught on his heel, and Izuku yelped as he pitched forward, eyes widening and hands flailing out to try to catch Hadria as she tumbled off his shoulder. Luckily, being a pokemon, Hadria managed to correct herself in the air, landing lightly on her feet despite the abrupt fall. Izuku, though, suddenly found himself hovering an inch above the stones.

“Sorry for that,” a cheerful voice called as a pair of worn hiking boots stopped by his head. “It’d be bad luck to fall before the exam even started, huh?”

Izuku tilted his head to the side, absently pushing Hadria away as she nosed at his face in concern, to see a girl crouched down beside him.

“Um?”

She smiled brightly and held out a hand as he was gently lowered to the ground. He blinked at her and the spindly yellow pokemon standing beside her. Then, after a moment, he raised himself up onto his knees and took her hand and shook it. They sat there for a beat, surprisingly comfortable in what should have been an awkward position.

“You alright?” she finally asked.

Izuku blushed and scrambled to his feet, finally releasing her hand.

“Y-yes!” he stuttered. “Thank you for catching me, Kadabra,” he added, turning directly to the pokemon beside her.

Surprised, they both blinked at him, before the girl’s expression softened and the pokemon nodded to him once in acknowledgement.

“Ochako Uraraka,” she said suddenly, then gestured to the kadabra. “This is my partner, Saiki.”

“Um, I’m Izuku Midoriya, and this is Hadria,” he answered as the eevee jumped into his arms.

“Which bus are you assigned to?”

“4.”

“Me too,” she said, her face split in a large smile again, and Izuku felt his own lips twitch in answer.

He opened his mouth, about to tell her that he would meet her at the bus, that he just needed to talk to a friend, his eyes already sliding to where he had spotted Katsuki only moments before. Except that, when he turned, his eyes met furious red, staring straight at him, and the expression on the other’s face made him freeze. A soft voice at his side, asking if he was alright, snapped him out of it, but the vicious glare increased as Katsuki realized that Izuku’s attention had wandered. Izuku absently placated Uraraka, but watched, some combination of hurt and bewildered, as Katsuki deliberately turned his back and stalked to the other side of the crowd by his bus, as far away from izuku as he could get without leaving the area.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” she asked, hands fluttering, wanting to reach out and ground him but not familiar enough with him yet.

Izuku blinked, grip tightening around Hadria who cooed and licked his chin.

“Sorry,” he apologized reflexively. “I just. A friend and I had an argument a couple of days ago, and I was going to try to talk to him before the exam, cause, y’know, two weeks is a long time, but I guess he’s still mad.”

He shrugged sheepishly, and she shook her head.

“I get it. If I’d fought with someone and knew I wouldn’t get the chance to make up for a while, I’d be distracted too.”

He smiled at her, glad she hadn’t taken his distraction badly.

“Thanks, but we should probably,” he motioned towards the bus and she nodded immediately.

“Yeah, it’s getting real close isn’t it?”

As they started forward, joining in the antsy crowd around their own bus, Midnight, in full costume, leapt onto the top of their bus with the help of her venusaur’s vines. From the corner of his eye, Izuku could see other teachers doing the same, all in their pro attire.

It had always fascinated him, the pageantry that came with being a pro trainer. Whether in the battle circuit or as a coordinator, pro trainers would adopt a pseudonym fairly early in their careers, and decide a costume and theme to go along with it. It was generally agreed that doing so, and before a pro became known, had become necessary thanks to the great danger that could come simply by being so famous. At the inception of the idea of pro trainers, all those generations ago, they didn’t and the rate of pros and their families being targeted and taken out was astronomically high. Now, though, actual names were generally kept so far removed from the stage presence of the pros that it was extremely difficult for people to connect them and target the people in their lives that might not be as strong as they are, like spouses and any children. It made it more difficult and complicated for the pros, but so much safer that most pros gladly gave up the convenience in return.

“Alright, Bus 4 kids,” she yelled, immediately getting everyone’s attention. “Some basic info for you before we get started. You will be dropped off at your testing site. Your goal is to survive for 10 days while capturing as many pokemon in the arena as possible. Keep in mind, that you will not get to keep any of the pokemon used in this test. Every single one already belongs to a trainer and has volunteered to participate. Once they are captured, their balls will automatically disappear to HQ to be catalogued and graded.

“Next, anyone who enters with a pokemon that wasn’t identified on their paperwork and verified during their interview will be dismissed from the exam. Anyone who deliberately attacks another examinee will be dismissed from the exam. Anyone who deliberately injures any of the pokemon who have volunteered to help you more than necessary will be dismissed from the exam. You will be given a packet containing the special balls developed specifically for this exam, anyone who attempts to use a regular pokeball instead of these will be dismissed from the exam.

“Finally, you will be expected to arrive back at the drop off site, meaning the giant ass doors, by 8pm on the 23rd, got it?”

A smattering of nods and weak “yes”s followed her abrupt speech and she grinned, baring her teeth.

“Perfect. Now, if you will all get into a line, we’ll register your pokeball packet and let you on the bus. Do go as orderly as possible, won’t you? The longer this takes, the less time you have for your practical.”

There was the expected jostling as the students jockeyed for positions in line, despite them all knowing they were going on the same bus. Izuku and Uraraka exchanged a embarrassed glance, then linked arms. They may have just met, but they were the only ones that they knew out of this group and even the slightest hint of familiarity would be enough to help calm them during the trip. Because of this, they had made the silent decision to stick together until they couldn’t.

The line was as slow as expected, but they tried to distract themselves with small talk. About fifteen minutes later, and halfway through a game of twenty questions, they finally got to the front of the line. Uraraka first, then Izuku, showed Midnight their student ID from their respective jr highs, then verified the pokemon they had on hand. Izuku was happy that he wasn’t required to bring Ailith out, the cramped quarters would definitely have enough to freak her out. Then, Midnight gave them a small cloth bag, a tag attached to the zipper that had a small visible chip that she scanned after scanning his ID. Seeing his curious expression, Midnight actually gave him a brief explanation with a softer, more indulgent smile.

“The poke balls in this bag are all registered with the same number. By scanning your ID and connecting it with the master number on the tag, we’ll be able to give you the correct number of points for each capture, instead of having you keep all your captures on hand during the test and possibly damaging another trainer’s pokemon by accident.”

Izuku nodded in understanding, smiling back and thanking her for actually explaining. He quickly stepped up into the bus, before anyone behind him could grumble about him taking too long, and easily spotted Uraraka, who had managed to grab an empty bench and was waving him over to the seat beside her.

Slumping down beside her, and hurriedly shoving the pouch into his bag so he didn’t forget it, he turned to her and said, “Midnight was so much nicer than I was expecting.” Her raised eyebrow made him flush a little and explain. “It’s just, I’ve never actually met a pro before all of this, and everything that people say about her and how she presents herself seems so much more...threatening, maybe? Predatory? I’m not sure that’s the right word, but she saw I was curious and she actually explained a bit about how they connect the balls to the students.”

Uraraka’s face softened again, and she made a soft inquiring noise. Izuku happily explained what Midnight had said, adding in what Recovery Girl had mentioned about how typing impacted the grading scale during his interview.

“I suspect that that capturing a pokemon that is effective against your own will actually get you more points during the practical,” he finished.

She nodded. “Maybe capturing something you’re good against will count against you, too?”

Izuku blinked at her. “That would make sense,” he agreed, happy that his new friend didn’t seem to mind going along with his speculations.

“Your friend,” she said abruptly, after a few minutes where they had been quiet, enjoying a surprisingly comfortable silence.

“Hm?”

“Your friend, the one you said you wanted to talk to this morning,” she expanded.

“What about him?” Izuku asked, a bit nervous about why she was bringing it up.

“Tell me about him,” she encouraged. “We’re trying to get to know each other, right? So, because he’s important to you, you should tell me more.”

“A-alright, I guess. Um, well, I’ve known Kacchan for as long as I can remember. Our mom’s are old friends, and they used our playdates a excuses to spend time together.” Izuku swallowed, tugging Hadria into his lap to fiddle with her fur, as he always did when unsure now. “He’s amazing, really. Even if he seems rough at first. I mean, no one else has ever really taken the time to get to know him, so his temper and language tend to be all people really see of him. But he’s so incredible. He knows what he wants to do with his life, and knows exactly how to get there. He’s so driven and talented,” he said, not even realizing that he was basically gushing about his childhood friend.

He also didn’t notice the deeply amused expression on Uraraka’s face, or the knowing look she exchanged with Hadria.

“So, he’s your best friend?”

Izuku nodded. “My only friend, really. He doesn’t really get along with anyone, he tends to find them annoying, so when I didn’t leave him once we started school, no one wanted to hang out with me. Even when we had a rough patch for a couple years, I couldn’t stand to hang out with anyone that bad mouthed him, and everyone else was too busy sucking up to him by trying to bully me that neither of us managed to actually make any other friends.”

He jumped when her shoulder bumped him, and his head whipped around to look at her in surprise, only to catch the bright smile that seemed to be a staple for the girl.

“Well, we’re friends now, aren’t we? So, that’s two for you!”

Izuku stared at her, cheeks flushing. “R-really?”

“Uh-huh! I think we’re going to be great friends. And, I’ll make sure to give your Kacchan a chance and not take his attitude too seriously.”

He could feel his face stretching into a broad grin, and beamed at her happily, his apparent joy reflected right back at him. Still, “Katsuki,” it burst out without his permission. He wasn’t sure why, and didn’t feel like examining the feeling too closely, but someone else calling Katsuki that felt wrong somehow. “His name’s Katsuki Bakugou. B-but we should,” he stuttered, but managed to rally and get it out. “We should exchange numbers.” He held out his wrist, the one he kept his poketch on, to make it clear what he meant. “That way, after the exam we can keep in touch. And,” he continued, a little more hesitantly, even as Uraraka nodded and pulled out her much older model. “If something happens during the exam, we know that someone if close by to help.”

“That sounds perfect,” she said, enthused. “They didn’t actually say anything about helping other people, so if we get in a tough spot, it should be fine.”

Izuku nodded again, doing his best to contain himself as his new friend put her info into his poketch and texted herself to get his number. “That’s what I was thinking. It’d probably look bad to team up right at the beginning, but helping each other out if something happens should be fine.”

“Deal?” she asked, holding out her hand with a comically serious expression.

Izuku schooled his face, matching her, and shook her hand. “Deal.”

They barely managed to hold out for a minute before they both dissolved into giggles, Hadria joining in as she looked on happily. The bus abruptly stopping pulled them out of it, their nerves making a sudden reappearance after their brief bout of levity.

“Alright, kids,” Midnight yelled from outside the bus. “Everyone get out here and be quiet!”

Izuku swallowed heavily, but grabbed his bag, automatically checking his belt for his two pokeballs as Hadria jumped up to his shoulder, and filed off, Uraraka following close behind. They all came together into an approximate circle, and Izuku took in the arena that they would be trapped in for the next ten days. The gates stretched over their heads, even larger than UA’s entrance gates, and connected to a massive metal structure. He could barely see the way it curved as it came to the top, and he guessed that it probably was completely covered, in order to allow UA to create whatever environments they needed in a controlled area.Midnight’s voice called his attention, and his eyes snapped to her, not wanting to miss any last minute information.

“It is 8:13, February 13th. As soon as the gates open, you are free to enter. Good luck, and remember. We are always watching.”

Midnight smiled at them, crop slapping against her opposite hand as the massive gates slowly opened outward. The teenagers exchanged glances, until Midnight sighed and gestured with the crop behind her.

“Well, what are you waiting for?”

A beat, then the other twenty-odd teenagers took off, quickly disappearing into the shadowed entrance disguising the first environment.

Izuku and Uraraka turned to each other, exchanging one last smile, and said “good luck” in unison, before turning and taking their first steps into the large biodome.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

As soon as Izuku passed the gates, they slammed shut behind him, leaving him alone in an antechamber type room. Everyone else had already run ahead, even Uraraka, but Izuku decided to take him time. First, he released Ailith from her ball, laughing a bit when she jumped into his arms and started purring as he scratched under her chin. After a couple minutes, he nudged both of his girls to jump to the ground, letting them tumble over each other in greeting, like they had been separated for weeks instead of just days.

Next, he crouched against the wall, sliding his backpack off and pulling out the cloth bag he had gotten from Midnight. Opening it up, he rifled through it, noting that there seemed to be about a hundred of the custom balls, locked in their miniature form, and painted a bright, uniform neon yellow, likely to denote that they were the testing balls. He scooped four out, clipping them to his trainer’s belt behind Hadria and Ailith’s balls. Then he packed the bag back into his pack, tucking it away so it wasn’t blocking any of his emergency gear, and stood back up.

Finally, he took the antechamber in more carefully. It was essentially an empty corridor with two doors opposite each other at the far ends, perpendicular to the gate and the blank wall across from it. Izuku’s eyes narrowed, looking between them. Licking his lips, he strode to the right first, whistling to call his girls to him, just incase. They trotted up behind him, pressed against his legs as he carefully opened to door. Peeking outside, he grimaced at the blast of freezing air. He kept the door open long enough to register the snow and ice covered hills and the craggy look of the few places exposed by the strong winds. He slammed the door shut, already shivering, and turned on his heel. He had prepared as best he could, but he wasn’t sure he would actually be able to survive in the frozen landscape for very long with what he had and no fire pokemon.

He could hear Hadria and Ailith happily following as he made his way to the other end of the antechamber, neither any more eager to brave the cold than he was. Izuku paused before opening the other door. If this side was the same as the other, then they were going to be in a good amount of trouble. Neither of his pokemon could learn any fire moves, other than sunny day which is basically useless for the moves they could learn, so he hadn’t bothered to get the TM for it. His only hope was that there were other environments in the arena, and that they had given the teenagers an option, if they had enough restraint to take the time to look. Hadria bumped into his leg, and looked up at him patiently.

“Right,” he said quietly, and smiled when Ailith lifted up to press against his other knee. “Only one way to find out, huh?”

He steeled himself, hoping that it wouldn’t still be frozen, but preparing for it, mind already running through options. None of them were great, but he knew he could figure out a way for them to not die with some time. But, to his great relief, the worrying was all for nothing. When he opened the left hand door, they were hit with a blast of warm, humid air. A swath of green greeted him, the vibrant trees covered any view of the sky and tall leafy plants reached up to at least his knees.

His shoulders slumped in relief and he dropped his bag again, immediately pulling off the jacket and light sweater he had been wearing due to the February chill outside and stuffed them in his bag. His cargo pants and boots would be a bit warm, but would definitely offer better protection than changing into shorts. He also grabbed one of the full canteens he had packed, pulling his bag back on and looping the canteen over his shoulder. Another deep breath, and he darted a look down to Hadria and Ailith, both of whom looked much happier than before.

“Ready girls?”

Twin yips answered him and Hadria darted out, spinning around to wait, staring imperiously back as Izuku and Ailith didn’t move fast enough for her. Izuku couldn’t help the light laugh that escaped as he stepped out into the humid air, Ailith on his heels.

“I’ll take that as a ‘hurry up already’ shall I?” he asked her, amused.

The eevee just huffed at him, nodding once, mock arrogant, making Ailith snort. Izuku just laughed at them again, before turning back to mentally mark where the door, now closed and disguised by layers of kudzu, was. Then another few seconds to pin the coordinates on his poketch, hopefully he would be able to find it easier this way. He hummed, contemplative as he gazed at the wall stretching in front of him.

“Let’s go this way for a few minutes,” he murmured down to his girls.

He started off, a hand lightly touching the vine covered steel, not seeing the looks Hadria and Ailith exchanged before they seemed to shrug and followed. It took barely a minute, the area he was in abruptly turning from hot, humid, and verdant to white, frozen, and windy with no warning. He had simply stumbled through a break between two trees, and it was suddenly the winter wonderland that he had nearly stepped through from the other door. He slammed on breaks, his free hand coming up to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun on snow, then backpedaled. A few minutes in the increased warmth of the simulated jungle had only make the frozen area even worse, and Izuku had absolutely no desire to spend any more time than needed in that area.

“So, if we get lost,” he murmured to Hadria and Ailith, who were cuddled together back on the jungle side of the line and staring at him accusingly. “We just need to find the line between jungle and winter and hope that it doesn’t move or change while we’re in here.”

Hadria huffed and Ailith stared up at him with sad eyes, neither thrilled at being dragged back so close to the cold, or that he was probably going to do it again to make sure they returned to the gate on time. Izuku just smiled at them, amused at their irritation.

“C’mon, girls. We have plenty of time, but so does everyone else. Plus, we should really find a water source and a good place to camp first.” He started walking, in a mostly random direction but definitely away from the cold. “We have enough water for a day or two, but with this heat, we’ll run out of it fast. And, we don’t actually know if this place will follow the actual night/day cycle. We could end up with 3 hours of sunlight and 21 hours of night.”

Both pokemon actually perked up at that thought. Though Hadria wasn’t yet an umbreon, she was still connected enough to Dark energies that she preferred nighttime. Ailith, on the other hand, was a pure Dark type, and was definitely nocturnal whenever possible. That the normal world ran during the day and slept at night could really mess them up sometimes, and Izuku too, when they didn’t pay attention. So, really the thought of the test being mostly in a simulated night was a dream come true for them. Izuku saw their excitement and shook his head slightly.

“I know it sounds great, but I doubt they’ll actually do that. With how much effort they’ve had to go through to get the biomes so different without encroaching on each other, I doubt they spent much energy changing the day/night cycle, too. Sorry,” he added as they slumped.

They wandered for a bit longer in companionable silence, listening to the distant sounds of pokemon and incomprehensible shouting that would randomly sound.

“I know you’re listening out for any pokemon nearby,” Izuku said quietly, using the hem of his shirt to wipe away the sweat from his forehead. “But will you listen out for any running water, too?”

Soft yips answered, and he gave a low “thanks,” and they kept walking.

Ailith’s ears twitched and she paused, Hadria’s head tilting back at the same time, nose scrunching as she sniffed at the air. Izuku froze as well, keeping an eye them and trying to scan the vegetation around them for anything strange. Ailith seemed to figure it out first, darting a look at him, making sure he was paying attention, then darting forward and off the path. Izuku couldn’t help the muttered curse as he followed, clumsily stumbling through the thick plants.

Quicker than he expected, they came to a small clearing. In the middle, Izuku spotted a small pokemon, curled into itself and bloody. Izuku stumbled to a stop, blanking out for a moment, taken back to the night they found Ailith. It was different, he knew that, but his girl had been so small and hurt, and this pokemon reminded him so much of that. But, the small whimper that emerged from the shivering and the expectant eyes from his girls had him coming forward and dropping to his knees before he realized what he was doing.

He absently hushed the pokemon and he let his bag drop beside him, digging into it to find his heal kit. He pulled out a potion as Hadria and Ailith crouched down next to the pokemon, that he finally identified as a teddiursa now that he was closer, trying to calm it as he started gently spritzing the wounds.

“Careful, now,” he muttered. “This will probably sting a bit, but you’ll be fine.”

The pokemon whimpered but its shivering slowed and it uncurled to look at him. He recapped the potion and placed it back into his kit.

“There you go,” he smiled down at it, gently stroking the moon on its forehead. “Feeling better?”

The teddiursa watched him for a moment, then purred, nudging into his hand. Izuku laughed a little, settling onto the ground and petting it for a bit, wanting to make sure it was calm and healed. Ailith and Hadria had both been watching the pokemon carefully, knowing that it might lash out at any moment. But, by the time it had crawled into Izuku’s lap for cuddles, they had shifted their senses outward, making sure there wasn’t anyone, pokemon or trainer, trying to sneak up on them.

Finally, Izuku took a glance at the sky and sighed. It looked like the day-night cycle was normal, seeing as it was approaching midday and only getting brighter and hotter. He gently nudged the pokemon off of him and slid his kit back into his bag, standing.

“Alright. I’m sorry, but we need to go. Will you be ok on your own?” he asked it, patting it once more on its head.

The teddiursa seemed to pout, but nodded agreeably. It toddled off, pausing once just before it made it into the leaves to turn around and look at them. Izuku waved to it, grinning when it waved back before disappearing into the jungle.

“I should have captured it, shouldn’t I?” he finally said, completely deadpan, and still staring into the greenery.

Hadria’s exasperation simply deepened while Ailith snickered into her paw at the expressions on their faces.

That ended up setting the tone for the next few days.

***

They had been lucky, Izuku realized later. They had managed to find a river a few hours after helping the teddiursa, and after two more instances that played out nearly identically to when he had helped it. The river was flowing away from the entrance, seemingly towards the area they hadn’t yet encountered, but it was also the only source of water they had found in the eight days they had been in there. However, unlike a natural water source, this one seemed to be clean and clear and completely empty of any pokemon.

Hadria, basically bred and raised in a store, didn’t actually know how to differentiate between safe and unsafe the way she would have if she’d lived in the wild. Ailith, though, hadn’t even interacted with a human until Izuku had saved her. Despite how badly her pard had treated her, they had still taught her basic survival, since they’d had to depend on her pulling her weight, too. So, Ailith could tell that the stream actually was clean, though Izuku still made sure to purify all of the water he pulled from it.

Though they couldn’t hunt during the test, as all the pokemon belonged to trainers, they could scavenge for berries to supplement the food he had packed. Honestly, after finding the river, finding berry trees had been his next move. After all, pokemon need food and water as much as humans do, so finding somewhere that had plenty of both should mean that they wouldn’t have to hunt as hard for him to find points. A smallish clearing, near the water but not close enough to accidentally pollute it, with a ring of berry trees, heavy with fruit, was found early that first evening.

They ended up making it their base. And, starting the next morning, Izuku and one of his girls would go out to explore and search for an hour, leaving the other to watch over their camp. They would routinely return and regroup, stocking back up on any supplies he had used and letting everyone rest for a bit. Then he’d go off again, in a different direction with his other pokemon. Over and over again, this pattern stayed the same, though they made sure that if they ran into actual trouble they were within hearing distance of the camp. Whether it meant he needed to sprint back, or his pokemon on watch needed to find them.

Except, eight days in and he still hadn’t captured a single pokemon. He had had the opportunity. He’d had dozens of opportunities, honestly. But each pokemon they found was either injured or hungry or just seemed lonely, so he would heal them up or feed them or cuddle with them for a bit, and let them leave. Only to realize after they had disappeared into the foliage that he still needed points and he was running out of time.

“I’m really bad at this, aren’t I?” he murmured to Ailith, who was sticking close to him as they searched that morning.

She glanced up at him, not wanting to lose her concentration as she kept her senses focused, but purred and butted against his leg as they walked.

“I mean, I haven’t captured a single pokemon. I haven’t even tried.”

Izuku sighed and just sat down, shoulders hunched. Ailith made it a couple of steps before she realized that he wasn’t moving anymore and turned. Taking in his defeated posture, she immediately bounded back to him, scrambling into his lap. Then, she hesitated. Though she was fine with him touching her, she was still far worse at comforting him or bringing him out of his head than Hadria was, and they all knew it.

Generally, it wasn’t an issue. The three of them were basically inseparable. Even when she was in her ball, she was still with him. But, Hadria was also always with him. So, if something happened, Hadria was the first line of defense. Hadria was the one that was trained to stay back and guard their trainer while Ailith hit hard and fast. Hadra was the one that stayed out of her ball to calm him and keep him present if his anxiety acted up. Ailith was the one that took care of the problem and retreated back into her safe place, which was Izuku. But, now, she was the only one here and he needed her and she didn’t know how to help. All she could do, in the end, was nuzzle against him, purring and rubbing her cheeks against his until his self-deprecating mutters slowed and his frustrated tears dried and shifted into soft laughter. He curled his arms around her, leaning his face into her and clumsily returning the gestures.

“I know that it’s not as bad as I’m making it out to be. Even if I don’t get into UA, there are other schools. I’ve even applied to a few with trainer programs. And, if I don’t get into any of those, I can always take the licensing exams after I graduate. But, UA has been my dream for so long. And, there’s no way Kacchan isn’t going to get in.”

At her disgruntled look, he chuckled.

“I know you don’t like him, Ailith. But, even though we’re kind of fighting right now, he’s still so important. Plus, you know he’s the reason I’m even here right now, why I made it this far.”

She huffed, but gave in for now. She really didn’t like him, he was far too loud and violent, even if it was never actually turned towards her trainer. Hadria felt the same, she knew, but the eevee was also out around the other human far more than Ailith was, and had yet to actually try to chase him away. That was as close to acceptance as the overprotective pokemon could get, Ailith had figured out. Still, the purrloin wasn’t quite ready to accept the blond quite yet, even if she was slowly softening.

“Thank you,” he finally whispered, a hand curled around the back of her head, the other scratching gently on her back.

Anything else he had been about to say was interrupted by the light chiming of his poketch. He blinked, surprised at the picture of Uraraka flashing on its screen, before tapping it.

“Urara-”

“Midoriya!” her frantic call cut him off and the shaking view, like she was running or dodging, made him tense.

“What’s wrong?”

“Saiki’s down and there’s a horde of ghosts,” she panted, before letting out a yelp and dropping to avoid a purple glowing attack he could just see fly over her. “Ripley’s not going to be able to hold out much longer,” she finished, voice pained at the state of her pokemon.

Izuku had jerked up part way through her explanation and was sprinting towards his camp.

“Can you send your location?”

“Maybe?” she answered, ducking behind a tree and fiddling with her device.

An alert popped up on his screen just as he skidded into his clearing, and he tapped it as he called out to Hadria, who startled then raced to his side. He barely waited until a small red dot popped up on his map, luckily not very far from the blinking dot that indicated his location.

“Got it,” he said as turned and started running again, Ailith and Hadria on his heels.

“Hurry,” she cried desperately.

“Just hold on a little longer.”

“Ripley!”

He put on a burst of speed at the anguished shout.

“Double team, both of you, as soon as we get there” he ordered, eyes darting between the tiny map and the ground to make sure he wouldn’t trip.

The sound of impacts and explosions greeted them as they stumbled into a clearing.

“Uraraka?” he called out as he took in the six phantumps, and two trevenants.

“Here,” she called, poking her head around a tree across the clearing, relief clear on her dirtied face, a brilliant bruise already coming in on her cheek.

The ghosts turned towards him, towards the new threat. Ailith and Hadria both shuddered, each multiplying into six copies and darting around the clearing to encircle the enemy pokemon. For the first time since they entered the arena, he prepared to battle.

“Ailith, hone claws twice, then sand attack at the ghosts you can reach. Hadria, use quick attack to get in close, then shift into bite and retreat.”

They obeyed instantly, just like they had trained. Each of their copies reacted in concert, and his girls jumped sporadically around the clearing, switching places with their illusionary counterparts to try to keep confusing the ghosts.

“Enough, Ailith. Pursuit and run as you can. Hadria, keep going.”

There were eight ghosts, and two of them fully evolved. But, they were obviously not used to working together, probably belonging to different trainers and only came together because of the instinctual mistrust most pokemon had for Ghost types. Hadria and AIlith, though, were very well trained. He had even worked on them as doubles before, worried about future battles where they would have to cooperate with team members. They knew how to stay out of each other’s way, unlike the ghosts that, more than once, actually got hit by friendly fire or tripped into an attack. Izuku smiled when he saw his girls realize this, and start actively tricking them into hitting each other by pausing just long enough in front of one for another to lock on, then dodging the hit.

It was surprisingly effective.

It wasn’t long before the ghosts were fleeing, their wails echoing through the trees and sending shivers up the spine of anyone close enough to hear them. Izuku fell to his knees as Ailith dashed up to him, limping slightly from one of the hits that got through. He sighed, his hands shaking as he ran them over her gently, taking note of the tender areas, but a more thorough glance showed that they didn’t even need to be healed. Letting them go would probably be more helpful as long as she didn’t strain anything over the next day or so. Hadria was standing still in the middle of the clearing, obviously keeping watch, and slightly singed but uninjured.

“You ok, Uraraka?”

She stumbled out from behind the tree, clutching two plain pokeballs in each hand. She had obviously been through an overwhelming battle. Her clothing was ripped and covered in dirt and random leaves. Her hair was a mess, and small scratched bloodied her skin and clothes, bruises already showing through some of the tears.

“I’m alright, but…” she trailed off, nodding towards the balls.

He nodded, scooping Ailith into his arms and standing.

“Grab your bag and we can head back to my camp. Hopefully, we won’t be gone long enough for anyone to find and loot it.”

Uraraka’s eyes widened and she hurried to his side, pulling her bag on and still cradling her pokemon, like she was too worried to clip them to her belt.

“It’s this way,” he said, shifting Ailith onto his shoulder opposite Uraraka and started to walk. “Hadria,” he called, the eevee’s eyes snapping to him and he gestured to Uraraka’s far side. “Guard.”

Hadria immediately bounced over to them, her ears pricked tall and swiveling at every sound as they made their way. Ailith, though, was obviously uncomfortable. She was still attentive, knowing that they were at a disadvantage, but half of her attention was definitely on the unfamiliar human all the same.

Izuku suppressed a sigh. “Ailith,” he murmured, reaching up to scratch her ear. “I know it’s hard, but I need you to be out and guarding until we’re back at camp and mostly healed. You and Hadria did so well, I’m so proud of both of you, but Uraraka’s pokemon are injured and can’t protect her like they normally can. So, we have to be on point until they recover, alright?”

Ailith let out a sad meow, both upset that her trainer’s new friend was hurt and that it meant that she had to be out around someone she didn’t know with no option to leave when it got too much. Still, she pressed her cheek against his for a brief moment then shook herself out and turned her senses out again.

Izuku managed to catch the look the other trainer was shooting him, the curiosity and concern warring before she looked away, trying to disguise it.

“I’m sure you remember Hadria,” he whispered, talking quietly to keep from distracting his girls. “Once we’re safe and healed, Hadria will relax again. Until then, try not to talk to her or touch her. She’s on guard and might attack before she recognizes you. And, this is Ailith. Once we can relax, she’ll probably go back into her ball. She was pretty heavily abused before I found her, and she doesn’t do well with strangers outside of battle yet.”

Uraraka nodded, even as her sympathy deepened the few lines on her face.

“Thank you,” she said. “For helping me,” she continued, seeing his confusion.

“Of course,” he answered easily. “You called. If it had been the other way, you would have done the same.”

She stared at him a moment, a bit taken aback at how simple he made it sounds, before laughing lightly. Because, of course. It was that simple. She needed help and he could help, so he did.

“How are your pokemon? Saiki and...Ripley, I think?”

She grimaced, tightening her grip, reminding herself that they were with her and would be fine.

“Not great. I recalled them before too much damage was done, but up against Ghost types, Psychics are just...out of luck unless they’re Poison, too.”

Izuku nodded. “My mom’s told me horror stories about that. She’s Psychic, too,” he explained. “Another Psychic friend of hers that went through Kanto said that it was much easier to start there, ‘cause all their native Ghosts are dual Poison, but she stayed in Kalos for her schooling and journey. And, well. She said the experience was great, but she would’ve been smarter to do Kalos after a year or two, and not immediately.”

Uraraka sighed. “That’s what I’ve heard, too. But,” she shrugged. “I’m going to have to start in Kalos. Any prize money I manage to get my first year will go to saving up for travel to another region, which means…” she trailed off, another grimace briefly crossing her face.

“Ah.” He paused, before continuing hesitantly. She had sounded kind of ashamed, but. “There’s nothing wrong with that, you know? Using your journey to make money? A lot of us who manage to get into UA are lucky, coming from families that are already well enough off that we could choose to go to another region right off. I mean, I’m honestly really lucky that my mom did so well in the Tournament circuit before she retired. But, I think it’s even more impressive if you’re not there, and instead work your way up to it. It means that you have drive, and a plan, and are strong enough to actually manage to do it on your own.” He paused again, taking in the sheen of tears and the surprisingly hopeful expression, like no one had bothered to actually tell her that before.

“Honestly, the only thing I would suggest is, when you’re making your team after graduation, make sure at least one of them is strong against Ghosts and you should be fine. I-if I’m not overstepping,” he stuttered, afraid he might be coming off a bit patronizing.

Then, before she could do anything but giggle, still charmed and so glad that they had met, Izuku perked up.

“We’re here,” he said, holding a frond out of her way. “Hadria, go make sure nothing’s out of place, please.”

The eevee darted ahead of them, sniffing around the perimeter, then through his things quickly. She turned to them and nodded once, before settling in to walk the perimeter as they healed up. Ailith darted a cautious glance at Uraraka, then followed suit, patrolling the opposite direction.

“Let’s start with you,” he said, when she moved to release her pokemon. When she started to protest, he shook his head. “They’re in suspended animation right now; they’re not getting any worse. But, if we don’t get you cleaned up, you could get an infection, or one of those bruises could be worse than we think. And that would be more detrimental than letting them wait ten more minutes.”

Uraraka scowled lightly, but sat on the log he had made into a bench his first night there. He grabbed his med kit and sat next to her.

“If, if you’re, um, comfortable with it,” he started, avoiding her eyes and flushing slightly. “Your shirt is kind of in the way, so, could you, um…” he trailed off, waving a hand weakly and still not looking at her.

She stared blankly for a moment, then erupted in an equally fierce blush. Still, she squared her shoulders and pulled the remains of her shirt over her head. It was barely hanging on anyway, and he was right. Most of the concerning bruises were on her torso. She gave a final regretful look at the shirt before tossing it to the side. It was one of her favorites, and with her money issues she really didn’t have many, but it was unsalvageable.

Izuku managed to control his reaction, except for the flush, as he pulled out his container of antiseptic wipes and a potion bottle and handed over a damp cloth for her to start getting as much dirt off as possible. Luckily, potions were actually graded for human use as well, though it would never work as well as on pokemon and using too much at once could do more harm than good. Still, a careful go over with the antiseptic to make sure each scrape was clean, then a light spritz of the potion, followed by a band-aid on the worse ones, was all that was really needed for them. It was simple, but time consuming to make sure he got all the grit out of each one. Finally, he used some balm and lightly rubbed it into her bruises, making sure that the deeper ones didn’t seem to go too deep, that they weren’t showing actual internal damage or anything.

By the time they had finished with her, it was nearing dark. Izuku glanced at the sky, then handed over his kit.

“I’ll start on dinner, alright? You use what you need to for your pokemon.”

He turned away before she could protest and built the fire circle back up and lit it after hauling a small stack of wood from the other side of camp a bit closer, though still outside of the spark zone. He could hear her soft reassurances as she released and healed her pokemon as he placed a pot on the flames and filled it with water and waited for it to boil so he could add a couple packets of dehydrated curry.

While their dinner warmed up, he pulled out the bowls he brought for Ailith and Hadria, deciding to use their water bowls for Uraraka’s pokemon’s food this time. They were close enough to the river that the four pokemon could easily run there and back with no problem. Especially since they didn’t need to purify it like the humans would. He poured out four servings, topped them with a couple berries each, and placed them near Uraraka.

“How’re they doing?” he asked, smiling at Saiki, who looked completely healed if tired.

“They’ll be fine,” she said, relief clear in her voice. “Ripley here got a little more banged up,” she continued, motioning towards the elgyem in her lap. “But, they’re also much younger than Saiki, so it makes sense.”

“I’m glad they’re both going to be alright,” Izuku replied, handing the kedabra one of the bowls. “You probably won’t care much for the taste, but it’s better than nothing for right now.”

The kadabra gazed at him for a long moment, then nodded in thanks, gently taking the bowl.

“Ailith,” he called, moving one of the bowls farther away from them. “Come eat. Hadria and I can stay on guard for a bit longer.” He turned back to Uraraka as Ailith scurried to her bowl, keeping her back to the trees instead of towards the unfamiliar trainer and her pokemon. “Go ahead and eat, your pokemon, too. We shouldn’t have any issues tonight, this actually seems to be a pretty safe place. But, those Ghost types may try to find us for revenge, so,” he trailed off as she nodded.

“One of us should be on guard, just in case,” she finished.

“I can take first watch, and wake you up around 2?”

“Sounds good.”

They smiled at each other, then both flushed, realizing she still hadn't pulled out another shirt. Izuku snapped back around, facing the trees and heard her scrambling in her bag under the sounds of three pokemon eating. He settled onto another log, his back to the fire so he didn’t compromise his sight in the dark too much. He was surprised when Uraraka abruptly sat next to him, holding a bowl of curry in both hands.

“Here,” she said quietly.

“Thanks,” he replied, taking it, then called, “Ailith, guard while Hadria eats, then you can sleep for a bit.”

He heard the thankful yip from the eevee as she tucked into her dinner, and the acknowledging chirrup from the purrloin, who darted to the other side of the clearing.

He darted a glance at Uraraka, noting that she was looking much better, if not still banged up.

“The river is about a minute that way,” he motioned. “As far as we can tell, the water’s actually safe, but I’ve been boiling and purifying it, just in case. That,” he pointed at the large pot on a stump by his sleeping bag. “Is where I keep the extra safe water, and all of the berries here are good. Um, don’t worry if you hear movement. A lot of pokemon will come here for the river and to get some berries. As long as they don’t attack us, we’ve been letting them, since this area has the most berry trees we’ve been able to find.”

“Sounds good.” She gently knocked her shoulder against his. “Thanks for all this.” When he opened his mouth, already shaking his head, she just gave him a look, hard especially for such a happy person. “You didn’t have to, and you just spent over three hours saving me, then cleaning me up, and sharing your food and now you’re letting us stay with you. Who knows how many points you missed because I wasn’t strong enough.”

“The points don’t matter. You were hurt and over run and needed help. And there’s nothing wrong with that. I would’ve been more upset if you needed me and I wasn’t there, over losing a half day of potential points that I might not have even gotten.”

“You’re a good person, Midoriya.” She stood, squeezing his shoulder gently. “I’m glad we’re friends.”

His eyes shined as he watched her double check her pokemon and set up her sleeping bag next to his. She disappeared in the direction of the river with a spare set of clothes and her pokemon to wash up. A few minutes later, after Izuku had finished cleaning up their dishes and making sure any biodegradable trash, like the wrappers for their dinner, was buried away from camp, she was back. A quick “night” from both of them, and she squirmed into her bed for the night, turning her back to the fire as he settled back on the other side of the clearing for first watch.

Izuku smiled softly, as she drifted off, her kadabra and elgyem both draped over her. Hadria was perched next to him, alert and ready, and Ailith was a warm comfort on his lap as she dozed. It would be a long night, especially after the long day they’d have. But, the extra stress was definitely worth it, if it meant that Uraraka and her pokemon were alright.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Izuku woke to something smelling surprisingly good and the sound of a bubbling pot. Uraraka’s happy voice threaded through the noise, accompanied by the chittering of pokemon. He groaned, twisting onto his back and bringing a hand up to shade his eyes from the bright sunlight. He had discovered the day before that Uraraka, even when woken up in the middle of the night for the second watch, was bubbly and bright as soon as she popped out of bed. Izuku, on the other hand, was cursing the sun and the chipper tones from around the fire.

Still, it was their last day in the practical and he still hadn’t managed to get a single point. Uraraka had been banged up enough that they took it easy the day before, and still she managed to capture three more pokemon while they were lightly patrolling the area around the clearing and he hadn’t captured one. He kept a smile on his face the whole time though, dodging Uraraka’s worried looks. He hadn’t told her about the lack of captures, but she had seen him healing or feeding at least five pokemon before sending them on their way without even pulling out a teleport ball.

“You’re up,” Uraraka chirped when he stumbled over to collapse on one of the logs by their fire circle.

Hadria barked a greeting, dashing towards him to rub against his legs, before heading back to beg treats from the other trainer. A quick glance around, and Izuku caught sight of Ailith stretched out on a branch high above them, easily close enough if anything happened, but far enough away that she didn’t feel uncomfortable around the three strangers staying with them. Uraraka’s Saiki was meditating on the far side of the clearing, separated enough that he wasn’t interrupted by the chatter. Finally, her Ripley was hovering next to her, their lights blinking in a happy pattern at the relaxed atmosphere.

Izuku mumbled out a barely understandable “morning,” and blinked blearily.

“Give me a few more minutes and breakfast will be ready. I already fed our pokemon, too, so no worries there!”

She smiled brightly as Izuku nodded with another mumbled “thanks.” He had told her the day before that he was completely useless in the mornings unless there was an emergency. It had only taken once for his zombie impression to convince her.

As she said, a few minutes later she was approaching him with two bowls of food, pasing one to him and sitting next to him on the log. It was as good as freeze dried rations could be, but it was warm and filling and definitely enough to perk him up. So, shortly after they tucked in, they were simultaneously scraping the bottom of their bowls.

“Thanks, Uraraka,” he said, turning to her, finally awake. “I’ll wash everything up.”

He held out his hand for her bowl and spoon. She handed them over, but cleared her throat before he could leave.

“Can we-can we talk first?” she asked, her voice wavering slightly as she tapped her fingertips together, not looking at him.

“Of course,” he answered, sitting back down and placing their dishes to the side. “Everything ok?” he asked, starting to get nervous too.

She nodded. “I was just hoping we could-I could ask you something. It’s, well, I just, don’t.” She huffed, frustrated at her bumbling. “What’s Ailith?” she finally blurted out.

Izuku blinked at her. “What?”

She blushed, eyes wide like she couldn’t believe she actually said that.

“Sorry,” she yelped, covering her face as the red flush creeped up to tint her ears.

“Sorry,” she repeated, more calmly, and minute later and let her hands drop back to her lap.

“Just, what do you mean?” he asked, trying not to panic in turn.

“I’ve never seen a pokemon like her before, and I was wondering what she was.” She paused, then continued, a bit bashfully. “And, I guess, I was wondering what type she was, too? Not that it matters! I think you’re great, and really want to be your friend, and it doesn’t really matter, I was just curious, and-” she cut herself off, and pointedly took a deep breath and shut her mouth.

“Ah,” he said weakly, bringing a hand up to scratch at his neck as his eyes slid away from her.

Ten months was both only a second and an eternity at the same time in so many ways. Izuku had come so far since he had first realized that his dream needed to be altered if he was to see it at all. Still, though. He only had Katsuki and his mother and their pokemon, and he had only recently gained, or regained, a great percentage of that small number. To make it even worse, while he had grown up with the anti-Dark rhetoric, he hadn’t actually had to deal with direct issues from his typing, just his former lack of pokemon. After all, Hadria was a very common split evolution that had eight possibilities, and Ailith was actually fairly rare and hard to find in Kalos. That, combined with her people issues, made it exceedingly rare that someone would recognize the mono-Dark type at first glance.

He had never doubted his mother, he knew she loved him too much. And her own typing had been just as surprising, so she was predisposed to supporting him in this way. As for Katsuki. The blond was volatile and aggressive. He wanted to be the best, and was out to prove it. But, he was also surprisingly loyal and devoted, once someone managed to get past those walls. The fact that his first pokemon was a growlithe, and one so incredibly attached, only emphasized that. Izuku had been anxious to tell him, but more because of the relative newness of their resurrected bond, not sure if it had quite been up to the strain. But, Katsuki had reacted even better than he could have hoped, and, until this last blow out, they had only progressed in leaps and bounds.

Uraraka, though, was a gamble. He wanted to be her friend. They had spent enough time together that he knew she was kind, a good person. He didn’t think she would react badly, but she was also Psychic, which would have a fairly visceral reaction to his type that was completely instinctual. Neither of them could help that, they could only work through it. Besides, no matter how nice someone was, they could have some sort of trauma or taught prejudice that completely overrides their normal sense, and there was no good indicator for that sort of thing. Still, he really did want to keep this fledgling friendship, and starting off on a lie about something he wasn’t ashamed of anymore, something so easily disproved, wasn’t the way to do it.

“Ailith’s a purrloin.”

Izuku’s eyes skittered back to her, only to meet her blank gaze. Sometimes the name of a pokemon was more recognizable than what it actually looked like, but it seemed purrloins were too uncommon even for that.

“She’ll evolve into a liepard, a pure Dark type.”

“Oh,” she said after a beat.

“If that’s a problem-” he started, dejected.

That response had not been favorable.

“N-no!” she cried, hands waving. “That’s not what I meant, I promise! It’s just that, well. I thought you might have been Psychic, too.” She started fiddling with her fingers, now the one not willing to make eye contact. “You just, well, you told me your mom is Psychic, and you sounded so close to her, that I guess I assumed. Which I obviously shouldn’t have. But, then, you were so good against those Ghost types, and I kind of figured I was wrong. But, I still couldn’t place it. And, you hear things, y’know? About Dark types and their trainers, and you didn’t seem like that at all. And, that’s pretty horrible of me, isn’t it? To just assume like that.”

“Thanks,” he said quietly.

She tilted her head. “What for?”

“I don’t,” he sighed slightly, frustrated. “I found out late, about being Dark. And, since then, I haven’t really tried to make any new friends. Everyone back home, they didn’t like me before, and confirmation, in their mind, that I’m somehow wrong, ‘cause of Ailith and Hadria, means that no one has been interested in, well.” He shrugged. “But, you know. And you’re still here. So. Thanks.”

“After,” she blurted out, making him jump. She lowered her voice when she continued, blushing again. “After the test, before we get into UA, we should try to hang out again. Or at least talk. Cause, you know, we exchanged numbers and we’re going to be great friends and-”

She cut herself off when he took her hand, nodding happily.

“Yes! Definitely.”

They sat there longer than they meant to, clutching hands and smiling stupidly at each other.

***

Hours later, when their watches said that it was past 3, after they had spent the morning lightly patrolling again and had lunch and packed up camp, they looked at each other, both so very aware of how little time was left in the exam.

“We should probably start heading towards the entrance,” Uraraka said.

Izuku nodded, recalling Ailith into her ball as Uraraka did the same for Saiki. Hadria and Ripley would be enough for the last stretch of time.

“We definitely want to be there by 7:30, just in case.”

Uraraka paused when they got to the river, shading her eyes as she looked up at the artificial sun.

“How long do you think it’ll take to get there?”

He shrugged, absently reaching up to adjust Hadria.

“Probably two hours? If we stay on the river, and don’t run into any trouble. We have about four hours though, so we should be good.”

She glanced at him as they started upstream.

“The river goes to the entrance?”

“The river comes from the wall,” he corrected. “But, its source is only about ten minutes from where we came in.” At her curious look, he explained, “I followed it one day, back towards the beginning. I managed to find that clearing on day one, and it was perfect. But, I had kind of gone in circles to get there, so I back tracked to make sure I knew the quickest way out for today.”

“Lucky for me, then.” She smiled sheepishly. “I really had no clue where I was when we were attacked.”

They laughed lightly, trailing off into comfortable silence as they walked. At least, until Izuku started thinking about their conversation earlier. They hadn’t talked about his Dark typing again after their first time. And, even though she seemed to be alright with it, Izuku was still cautious.

“Are you-are you really ok with,” he waved his hand towards Hadria, not sure how to really say it.

“You know, we’ve been around Dark types before. I mean, we’re Psychic, and we’re really weak to Bug and Ghost, too. But, Dark? Pretty much every Dark type is more powerful than anything Bug or Ghost to us. And, with both Saiki and Ripley being pure Psychic, we attract a lot of pokemon that are strong against us. But, they’ve never scared us, not really. I mean, we’re cautious, cause we don’t really have a good defense against them yet, or the experience to out maneuver them. And, yeah, they tend to be more aggressive when they battle.

“But, have you ever seen a charizard mid-battle against a tough opponent? Or a fearow against anyone? A flock of spearow are known as one of the worst things you can encounter on the road, and they’re part Normal type. How could I say anything against your pokemon, when I’m more likely to run into a fearow that tries to actually kill me?”

“Thanks,” he said again, feeling a bit like a broken record.

“You don’t have to keep thanking me, Midoriya. After all, you’re the one that ran to save a virtual stranger and lost at least a half a day.”

“Of course I helped,” he said, matter of fact. “You needed it and I could, so I did.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, turning a fond smile towards him.

“I feel like this is going to be a thing with you, isn’t it?” she murmured.

At his questioning look, she just shook her head and patted his shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it.”

He blinked, but nodded.

***

“I’m home,” he called as he opened the door and slumped against the wall, too tired to stay up as he toed his shoes off.

He managed a smile as his mother hurried out of the kitchen and towards him, her bright smile tempered by worry at his state even as she returned a “welcome home.”

He murmured a quiet “thanks” when she held out her arms for Hadria, who happily leapt over to her so that Izuku could drop his bag to take care of later and release Ailith.

“C’mon, Izuku. I know you’re tired, but you should clean up and eat before you sleep.”

He sighed, but nodded and headed back to the bathroom, leaning into the soft touch of Inko’s hand on his cheek as he passed.

“Dinner will be ready as soon as you’re done.”

Fifteen minutes later, and Izuku wandered from his room dressed in a pair of comfortable sweatpants and a t-shirt, a towel draped over his head to keep his wet curls from dripping too badly.

“I forgot to tell you,” he said as he dropped onto a chair at the table. “I made an appointment at the groomer for both Hadria and Ailith tomorrow morning.”

“Oh?” she said, placing down two plates, which he thanked her for, and sat across from him. “Will Ailith be alright?”

Izuku sighed. “I think so. Last time, she wasn’t happy, but dealt with it as long as I was back there with her. Luckily, they didn’t mind, even though I wasn’t really supposed to be there.”

“That’s good.”

Izuku hummed in agreement, but was focused on his food.

“How did the exam go?” she finally asked, once he had had a few minutes to eat.

He paused. “I’m sorry.”

He wouldn’t look at her.

“Sorry? For what?”

“You’ve helped me so much, given me so much. And, I think I blew it.”

“No, Izuku. I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that.”

“Mom,” he said, looking her in the eyes, making her stop trying to reassure him. “I didn’t catch any pokemon. The entire time, the whole ten days, I didn’t capture a single pokemon. Instead, I healed them or fed them or just sent them along. I didn’t even think of capturing any of them until after they were long gone. Every time.”

“Izuku,” she sighed.

“So, I’m sorry. But, I’m pretty sure that I screwed the test up as much as I possibly could have. But, I’m not giving up. Even though, UA isn’t-” his breath hitched, and he blinked back the gathering tears. “Isn’t going to happen, the exam for Shiketsu is in two weeks. And there’s a couple other schools having exams over the next month.”

“Oh, Izuku.”

She got up and walked around the table, hugging him tightly.

“If you don’t get into UA, then you’ll get into somewhere else. And if you don’t get into a trainer track, we’ll just keep up your studies and you can take the licensing exam on your own after you graduate. If they don’t see your heart and how much you care for pokemon and reject you because of it, it’s on them. I never want you to change, because you’re perfect just like this. As long as you keep letting others see your heart, they’ll love you, just as much as I do. I promise.”

Izuku turned into her, letting her shirt soak up the tears he couldn’t keep down, hugging her back just as tightly.

***

The next day was spent recuperating. With his house being an hour and half away from UA, he hadn’t actually gotten home until about 10 the night before, only to have an extremely emotional dinner with his mom. They had pretty much cried themselves into exhaustion then stumbled off to their beds without bothering to clean anything up. Luckily, Izuku had put an alarm in his poketch connected to the appointment at the groomers when he had made it two weeks before, because he nearly slept through it. He only woke up, and only twenty minutes before he needed to be there, due to the loud beeping in his ear. Then it was a frantic rush of getting ready and corralling his girls and sprinting across town so they weren’t late.

He had done his best during the exam to keep them clean and groomed. After all, eventually they would be out in the wilderness for weeks or even months at a time and, when they were in towns with a professional groomer, he might not have the funds for it. Especially once he had a full team of six to keep healthy. Still, it was a good idea to have it professionally done whenever he could, and the near two weeks out in the simulated wilderness was a good enough reason to pamper them again.

Once they were back home, the rest of the day was spent unpacking his bag, washing his clothes, and taking stock of what he had used up. At Inko’s urging, Izuku didn’t do much of anything, and took his time taking care of the few chores he needed to do. They didn’t practice, or run any drills. They didn’t work on a new move, or even go for a run. He didn’t even start reviewing for any of the tests he would need to take in the following weeks for other high schools. They just relaxed, and he tried to drown himself in their affection to keep from thinking about his dreams going up in smoke while waiting to see what the message from UA would contain.

***

Izuku Midoriya

We at UA would like to thank you for your participation thus far in the entrance exams for the upcoming year.

With the completion of the practical exam, you accumulated zero capture points. Normally, this would be enough to ensure that you are ineligible for the trainer track at our establishment, though your stellar performance on the first two sections would have gained you admittance into Class C, the general education track. However, we at UA find that there is more to being a trainer than the ability to capture pokemon. Your actions in aiding pokemon and other trainers, instead of capturing them at their weakest or passing them by, has granted you 461 aide points. Congratulations, you are ranked at number 13 overall coming out of this section of the exam.

And so, we are happy to invite you to return to UA tomorrow for your final interview. Please arrive no later than 3:30 to Room 15 in the A Wing.

Plus Ultra

***

“What?”

“What’s wrong, Izuku?”

“I’ve got an interview.”

“What?”

“I’ve got an interview!”

***

“Here we are again,” Izuku couldn’t help but mutter as he stared up at the gates into UA.

He had just over half an hour before his interview was scheduled, and Inko had allowed him to ask her Pythia for a teleport there again. So, he was standing there, still a bit shocked that he had managed to pass the practical. Uraraka had been happy for him, but her time wasn’t until the following day and then she was heading home immediately after. So, even though they had exchanged a few messages, and planned to keep doing so, they didn’t think they would be able to meet up again anytime soon, since she lived pretty far away in Cyllage.

Despite his recent success with her, though, he hadn’t had the courage to approach Katsuki. Izuku told himself that if the blond didn’t talk to him before they left Aldera in a month, then he would force the other boy to talk to him. But, he was honestly not looking forward to it, still not sure why their last meeting ended so poorly.

A soft bark from his shoulder brought him back. Izuku reached up, patting Hadria’s head, and finally walked through the gates. It was a bit easier to find the right area this time. The walk up the path to the school building was still incredibly impressive, but he had been there a couple times already, and he was less overwhelmed. Honestly, one of the most impressive things about UA was that they had enough strong Psychic types that the could hold a barrier from the front gates to around the school building, allowing all the visitors access to the areas they needed to be in while protecting the areas that they didn’t need to go to, like the dorms or the ranch.

Wing A was at the very front of the school building, which made it so much closer than his last interview. So, barely fifteen minutes later, Izuku was checking in and snagging a chair in the corner, away from the other hopefuls who were waiting for the same thing. He darted a quick glance at his poketch - 3:17, so at least ten minutes, and only if they’re on time - and sunk his fingers into Hadria’s ruff as she curled up in his lap. He focussed his attention on his eevee, only glancing up when the door would open, either for another young trainer to enter or for a secretary to call for the next to come back. He wasn’t sure if it was too soon or not soon enough when his name was called. He scrambled to his feet and followed the woman down the hallway. He clutched Hadria to his chest, breathing deeply, and even more nervous than he was at the first interview.

The woman opened the door with a quiet “good luck,” and waved him in ahead of her. Like before, she followed and closed the door, taking a seat inside. Walking to the chair in the middle of the room, he realized that the panel was the same as before. Present Mic, Cementoss, Recovery Girl, Thirteen, Snipe, and the man that he still couldn’t identify. They were all seated in a line at a long table in front of him. Unlike last time, though, the room was much smaller and didn’t seem set up for a physical test.

“Welcome back, Mr. Midoriya,” Recovery Girl said, motioning to the chair.

Izuku shakily smiled at her, sitting and murmuring back a quiet “thank you.”

“Now,” she starts, shuffling through a file in front of her.

“Why didn’t you fight during the test?” the last man cuts in, the one who Izuku had lost his temper with during his last interview.

Izuku jumped, and Recovery Girl gave him an irritated look, barely visible behind her mask, but didn’t interrupt, even as Present Mic hissed “Sho.”

“I did,” Izuku answered before he could help himself.

“Once,” the man agreed. “But only to help that girl.”

Izuku bristled a bit. “Uraraka needed help, so I helped her, and the best way to do that was to drive off the Ghost horde.”

“And, outside of that?” he pushed, leaning forward. “You didn’t fight any other pokemon.”

Izuku shrugged. “They didn’t attack me. Why should I attack them?”

The other pros traded looks, unseen by Izuku and the last man, even as the man’s eyes narrowed.

“That was the test, wasn’t it?” he said. “You were supposed to capture as many pokemon as possible within the time limit and survive.”

“Exactly,” Izuku answered, making him raise an eyebrow. “I was supposed to capture them. No one ever said that I had to fight them.”

“And yet, you didn’t manage to do that either.”

Izuku flinched, eyes darting to Hadria so he didn’t see the others on the panel give the man exasperated looks.

“No, I didn’t,” he muttered. “But, they needed help more than they needed to be transported away. And they didn’t want to go back yet. Why should I have forced them to something they didn’t want, just to get points?”

“Even if it kept you from getting into UA?” he pushed.

Finally, Izuku looked back at him, not able to stop the slight glare.

“Yes. There are other schools, other ways to become a trainer. So, why should I force them when I have options?”

“And if there were no other options? What would you do then?”

Izuku’s breath hitched. The way he said that, the tone of his voice. It felt more like a threat than a follow-up question about his morals.

“For years, all I’ve wanted was to become a trainer. I’ve dreamed of becoming a pro since before I understood what it meant, and once I did I just wanted it more. But, if I had to force a pokemon to do my bidding, if I had to capture and train a pokemon against its wishes, just to make my dream come true, then I wouldn’t be a good trainer, a good person. Doing that would make me no better than those people who steal pokemon or cage them.

“So,” he finished, staring directly into the man’s bloodshot eyes. “If that was the only way to become a trainer, if that was the only way to pursue my dream? I would do everything I could to find a different way. And if there wasn’t?” He shrugged, pain sharp in his chest at the thought of truly giving up. “I’d find something else to devote my life to.”

They stared at each other for a long moment, before a terrifying smile stretched across the man’s face. Izuku tightened his grip on Hadria, enough for her to squirm slightly in discomfort, but all the man did was lean back in his chair, everything about him doing a full turn around as he slumped, looking ready to drop off in a nap. The others on the panel exchanged another set of glances before rolling their eyes, practically in unison.

“Well, little listener,” Present Mic said after an uncomfortable pause. “You said that you want to become a pro.”

Izuku finally turned away from the other man and looked at Present Mic to nod at him.

“Well, what do you want to accomplish as a pro?”

He blinked at Snipe’s follow up question.

“I-” he paused. “Did you know that the Dark gym in Dendemille is the least frequented gym in Kalos? It’s in a fairly convenient place, being directly between Laverre and Anistar, but most trainers skip right past it. It’s also been nearly fifty years since it was one of the main gyms in the region. It’s been nearly that long since there was a Dark type trainer in the Elite 4, and even longer since there was a Champion.

“Honestly, I don’t really know what I want. I mean, I’m not even sixteen yet, so I have time. But, I think most of all I want to help people stop being afraid of Dark types.”

He shrugged a little helplessly. He really hadn’t thought much further than where he was, since he hadn’t really expected to even get this far.

“I’m not sure what the best way to do that would be, not yet. But…”

He shrugged again.

“That’s an admirable goal,” Thirteen said, sounding fonder than Izuku had expected.

“In your last interview,” Cementoss said, glancing at his notes. “You mentioned only getting your second pokemon a few months ago. Tell us about that.”

“Well,” he glanced down at Hadria, who just cuddled into him supportively. “I live in Aquacorde, which is close enough to the Santalune Forest that even younger kids tend to explore the outskirts during the weekends. One day, Hadria and I were out there, doing a bit of training, and heard a commotion. We probably shouldn’t have followed it, I mean we hadn’t been training together for very long at that point, but we did and found a group of liepards attacking a single pokemon. After we fought them off, we discovered that it was a shiny purrloin, probably attacked because of her unusual coloration, and we ran back into town and took her to the pokemon center.

“It was mostly luck that I was the one to find her and that I happened to be a Dark trainer, too. Especially since Nurse Joy told me how hard it was to find trainers willing to rehabilitate Dark type pokemon. But, I got the chance to ask Ailith if she wanted to come with me, and she agreed.”

“You managed to escape a group of liepards?” Recovery Girl asked, surprised.

“I think it was mostly luck and surprise. Plus, Ailith, even injured, managed to help once she saw them going after me.”

“That’s still fairly impressive,” she murmured, just loud enough for Izuku to hear. “If not reckless.”

The reprimand made him flush. Still, he didn’t protest, knowing it really had been a stupid thing to have done at their level with no backup.

A soft beep interrupted whatever Present Mic had been about to ask, making the man sigh but smile and say, “Well, that’s our time for today. Thank you, Mr. Midoriya. We will contact you with the results within the next two weeks.”

Izuku nodded and stood, carefully cradling Hadria. “Thank you all for your time.”

He followed the secretary out of the door on the opposite side of the room, walking quickly down the hall and out into the sunlight. He took a deep breath, letting Hadria crawl up onto his shoulder, and called Inko as he started towards the gates.

“Hey, mom? I’m done, do you think Pythia would mind picking me up again?”

***

Three weeks later, halfway through their last class of the day, the intercom rang, calling both Izuku and Katsuki to the front office. They exchanged looks, but both packed their things away and headed out the door and to the principal’s office. Then, they had to suffer through a half hour of the principal sucking up to them. Apparently, he had been informed that two of his students had been accepted into the best trainer school in the world, and he was definitely attempting to curry favor with two “such bright and promising pupils.”

It was enough to make Katsuki gag, even as Izuku continued to smile, though it was becoming more brittle the more the man droned on. Finally, moments before Katsuki exploded, the principal let them go, and they raced out of the man’s office before he could call them back for more fawning.

It had been nearly two months since they spoke.

As they walked down the empty hallways, the silence between them seemed insurmountable. Izuku ached to say something, anything, but every glance at Katsuki had him second guessing himself. Suddenly, a hot hand gripped him wrist. Izuku let out a yelp as he was suddenly tugged into an empty classroom, the door closing just as the final bell rang, dismissing everyone for the day, leaving them in a quiet bubble as the hallway filled with students escaping. For a long moment, they stood there, Katsuki’s hand wrapped around Izuku’s wrist, but the blond seemingly unable to actually look at the other boy.

Finally, Izuku managed to stutter out a weak “K-Kacchan,” only to go immediately silent when the blond said the one thing he had never expected.

“I’m sorry.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A month.

It had been nearly a full month since they had talked. Between the last portions of the UA entrance exam, which took almost two weeks themselves, plus the remainder of their last year of middle school wrapping up, and the final exams that came with it, Katsuki had been able to avoid Izuku surprisingly well.

He shouldn’t feel as smug about his ability to outrun a single nerd. And yet…

Still, he knew his grace period was coming to a close. After all, there was only two weeks of break left now before the new year started. And, he had heard from the hag, who had heard from auntie, that the shitty nerd had gotten into UA too. With his damned luck, he was sure that they would end up in the same class too. But, as much as he hated to admit any weakness, he really wasn’t ready to talk to him.

The beginning of their exam had started so promising. Not the test itself, even with the two interview sections where he had to make sure not to come off too abrasive, or curse too much, he was a shoe in. Honestly, with no hint of his admittedly strong sense of arrogance (which, again, he hated to admit to, but he knew himself well enough to know his flaws), he was everything UA generally looked for in an incoming freshman.

No, what had him hiding an embarrassing blush more than once was the way Deku had acted. He had accepted comfort, understated though it was, from Katsuki. And, even more, reciprocated in a subtle way so very unlike him.

Then, then the damned nerd had

asked him out

.

It wasn’t the way Katsuki would have done it; lunch and a stroll about the gardens, while beautiful in the spring, was a bit more understated than he had been building himself up to. No, Katsuki had been planning to go all out for their first date, since he knew De-Izuku (if he’s going to start dating the nerd, he should probably try to stop calling him that now, shouldn’t he? Then again, Deku might not be a deku anymore, but he was still Deku, so maybe he could just pull out his actual name for important events?) ate that romantic shit up. A nice dinner, maybe a picnic? That seemed like his kind of thing. Somewhere a bit more secluded than a public fucking garden in the middle of the day. Maybe that little park they used to go to as kids, before he fucked things up. It’d be nice call back that Izuku would find incredibly sweet, and put his score on a sharp rise after his potential-boyfriend-counter had taken such a horrible hit with his shitty behavior. Plus, it was pretty deserted come dinner time, but right near a forest that had a pretty little creek running through it. So, nostalgia and ambiance.

Still, Deku making the first move had been a welcome surprise, despite Katsuki hating to give up the control that came from being the asker instead of the askee. It was so much more than he had hoped. Honestly, Katsuki had been afraid that he would still have to approach the whole dating thing cautiously, easing the nerd into it, like he was as skittish as his newest acquisition, the one that still couldn’t handle being around people or pokemon for very long before freaking out. So, Izuku asking Katsuki out, on his own, with no prodding or less than subtle manipulation (because Katsuki was well aware that he was about as subtle as an explosion in the face, and Izuku, when he wanted to be sneaky, was a manipulative little shit. It’s why they got along so well as kids; Katsuki would get them into trouble and Izuku would manipulate them out of it) was so out of left field that Katsuki should have twigged that some shit was up. But, no. Like the enamoured idiot that he apparently was now, he had taken the invitation out in the way that he wanted and was fucking blindsided halfway through their goddamn romantic as fuck walk through the shitty gardens and proceeded to overreact like a goddamn idiot and go off on the one person he was actually trying to be better for.

Then, to make it even worse, his damn nerd had let that psychic bitch hang all over him. Every time he thought about it, Katsuki could feel his teeth grind and the urge to order Blast to blast something increased so damn much. And, the only fucking reason she was able to get so close, was that Katsuki was nursing his wounded fucking pride and was too sore to actually talk to Deku yet.

And now, he had spent the last month avoiding the oblivious fucking nerd that he had the bad taste to fall for.

Goddamnit, he was going to have to apologize again, wasn’t he?

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“I’m sorry.”

“Wh-what?” Izuku breathed out.

Katsuki cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry, De-Izuku.”

Izuku unconsciously cringed back when Katsuki used his actual name and not the nickname he had used for a decade.

“It wasn’t your fault, that I got so pissed, I mean. You-I misread something and freaked the fu-I freaked out, then couldn’t figure out how to fix it. So, I just...didn’t.”

“That’s all I needed,” Izuku said quietly after a moment. “An explanation would be nice, obviously. But, all I needed was for you to come back to me,” he finished, then blushed brightly, realizing what he had said.

“An explanation, huh?” Katsuki muttered, running a hand over his hair.

Izuku nodded and leaned back against the desk at the front of the room, crossing his arms. Katsuki stood a few steps away in front of him.

“You used to flinch.”

It was said so matter of fact that it took Izuku a moment to parse out the words.

“What?”

Katsuki swallowed hard, the only sign of his disquiet, other than the fact that he hadn’t dared to look at Izuku since the conversation had started.

“I know I didn’t really hurt you, Blast never would, and I don’t think I’d have actually gone through with it even if he would’ve. But, I fucked you up enough that you used to flinch when I got close. And, when we started, y’know,” he said, even now not able to actually say that they were some sort of friends. “If I moved too fast, or reached out when you weren’t expecting it, you would flinch back away from me. So, I stopped. Decided it was best to let you touch me, ‘til you were used to it again.”

“K-Kacchan,” he whispered. “You’re so stupid.”

“Hey!” Katsuki barked, head whipping towards Izuku in outrage, only to freeze when he saw the tears already streaming down his face. “O-oi! What the fuck are you crying for?”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me?” Izuku nearly wailed.

“Deku?”

“Of course I flinched, you idiot,” he said and surprised Katsuki by stumbling forward and crashing into the blond’s chest, hands fisting in the loose material of his shirt by his hips. “No one touches me,” Izuku murmured, face smushed in his neck.

Katsuki shuddered at the breath ghosting against his throat. He tentatively reached up and gently circled Izuku with his arms, realizing the other wasn’t going to let go any time soon.

“You-” Izuku cut himself off, to take a shuddering breath. “Right when I was getting used to you, to feeling you, you just stopped. You started pulling back and not touching me at all, unless you forgot. And, I just...

“It’s okay, Kacchan. I trust you.

“I want you to touch me.”

Katsuki choked, eyes wide and unseeing, before he buried his burning cheeks in the other’s green curls, arms reflexively tightening.

“I’m sorry,” Katsuki whispered, barely realizing he had spoken.

“I know,” Izuku murmured back.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, even quieter.

“Well, if you hadn’t been such an idiot…”

Izuku leaned back slightly, just enough that Katsuki could see his slight smirk and bright eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Katsuki scoffed, but felt an answering pull to his own lips.

The sass was new, but surprisingly welcome.

“C’mon, nerd,” Katsuki said, not quite able to get any scorn in his voice, as Izuku fully pulled away. “The hag’s cooked somethin’ up with your mom for tonight.”

“Is that why you finally talked to me, Kacchan?” Izuku interrupted, sliding his fingers through the blond’s as they left.

Katsuki paused, just long enough to let Hadria settle back on Izuku’s shoulder from where she and Blast, who automatically fell into line beside them, had been waiting outside the door. He shook his head, but wouldn’t look at Izuku again even as he gently squeezed his fingers. The question hadn’t been accusing, just curious. Like it didn’t matter either way, though Katsuki had the feeling Izuku was hiding a bit, not eager to either push Katsuki away again or to let himself feel vulnerable right after they fought.

“It was time,” was what he finally decided on as they left the school.

Luckily, their various breakdowns had taken long enough that it had pretty much cleared out, so they managed to not run into anyone.

“Past time, honestly. I just didn’t know how to-” Katsuki cut himself off, not able to verbalize it, reduced to lightly flailing his free hand.

“Apologize?” Izuku interjected wryly.

Katsuki huffed but gave a single jerky nod.

“It’s not okay, Kacchan. I can’t say it is, because it hurt. But, I understand. And,” Izuku continued after a slight hesitation. “I think I need to say sorry, too. I could’ve reached out, tried to talk to you about what happened, but I was afraid so I put it off.”

Katsuki just shrugged, ready to accept the full blame, but knowing that Izuku would keep going on about it if he did. They kept quiet, walking happily together, hands still linked until they got to the turn where they had to separate to get to their houses.

“Kacchan,” he said quietly, tugging the blond to a stop.

Katsuki paused and looked at Izuku, noting that he was staring at the ground, his other hand tangled in his shirt hem.

“I’m not gonna push, but I know you avoided telling me what exactly set you off. Eventually,” he said, finally looking up to lock eyes with him. “I’m going to need to know, I think. But, I can wait until you’re ready.”

Katsuki felt his shoulders pulling back, chin tilting up arrogantly, and sneer twisting his lips before the soft and earnest eyes registered, making him deflate.

“Damnit, Deku,” he muttered, but nodded shortly.

Izuku laughed suddenly, swaying towards Katsuki.

“As long as you keep calling me that, of course,” he said playfully.

As Katsuki was left to blink at him, surprised, Izuku gave him a bright smile and slipped from his grip.

“I’ll see you later, Kacchan!” he called, waving briefly then darting down the road to his house.

Katsuki stood there a moment longer, until Blast pointedly bumped against him, and he turned away to head towards his own house.

“Shitty nerd.”

He wouldn’t admit, admit to himself, that the insults were becoming far more fond than he had intended.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

A few weeks later, and Izuku was pleased to find that he and Katsuki’s relationship hadn’t suffered any setbacks from the long argument. He still wasn’t sure what exactly had triggered Katsuki’s temper - the blond still hadn’t said any more than that he had misread something Izuku did and reacted badly - but nothing else like that had happened again since. In fact, Izuku was starting to think that them having that argument, and being able to talk it out, had actually help bridge some gap that neither of them had realized was there.

For Izuku, at least, he had been happy to find that Katsuki was far less likely to hold back in reaching out for him, the blond starting to touch him even in public, a far cry from before. Izuku, though, found his mouth running away from him more frequently than before when they were together. It could have been that Katsuki wasn’t reacting poorly to his sass when he had small bursts of courage to actually say a comment he normally would have kept to himself - or perhaps it was because of his blossoming relationship with Uraraka who was generally quite nice, but definitely had a fire of her own - but Izuku had definitely started reacting before he thought about it, though luckily only with those two.

Since Izuku had gotten confirmation that Uraraka would be able to go - not only was she accepted, but she had been approved for the scholarship that meant her family could actually pay - he had been trying to get Katsuki to at least talk to her. The blond had continuously refused, though he was surprisingly nice about it. Izuku couldn’t figure out why, but had decided to not push. After all, Katsuki wasn’t saying anything about Izuku being friends with the girl, just that he had no interest in adding her to the small list of people he actually gave a damn about. In the end, Izuku had decided to talk to her when Katsuki wasn’t around, which was easy before UA actually started seeing as she was actively working for her parents up until the campus opened for the students to start moving in.

Still, with that day quickly approaching Inko and Katsuki’s father, Masaru, were trying not to panic as they rushed and double checked to make sure everything was ready. Izuku had managed to keep mostly calm with Katsuki’s help, the blond reminding him whenever his anxiety started rising that they were definitely close enough to get back home within a couple hours, and that they had weekends free and could go off campus. Mitsuki, much like the Dragons she tamed, rarely showed any weakness. Her worry often came out as an increasingly short temper, something Katsuki definitely inherited, and she was getting shorter and sharper as the time came for her son to leave. In fact, Katsuki seemed to be the only one that wasn’t at least a little worried.

In between bouts of frantic packing and trying not to panic, Izuku managed to find a few moments to curse his best friend and his non-reaction to this major upheaval.

Katsuki, when he noticed, would just smirk in return, red eyes gleaming as he watched Izuku try to actually be mad at him.

(It didn’t really work, and just made him want to do something embarrassing, like coo at the adorable pout.)

Complaining to Uraraka didn’t do much good either, as she just laughed at him. Every time.

In the end, everyone was incredibly relieved when the move-in week finally arrived. The Bakugous and Midoriyas deciding to go together was basically assumed from the beginning, though Inko hadn’t had the chance to ask before Mitsuki practically ambushed her about their plan the week before. Luckily, UA had included an address with their admission packets that the students were to use to send their things. So, Katsuki and Izuku each only had a bag each, just enough for the two boys to live out of for the last few days after sending the last of their things off, along with their pokemon’s supplies.

There had been a brief argument between the two women - as much of an argument as they could stand to have - about how they were getting there. Inko’s Psychic types were easily able to transport the five humans and their pokemon. While Mitsuki’s Dragon types and Masaru’s charizard were easily able to fly them to UA. Mitsuki also offered to “borrow” a van from their company; their fashion empire was based out of their small town, so they had to routinely head into and from Lumiose with yards of fabric or dozens of outfits, thus they always had a few vans at their disposal. In the end, the option for immediate travel overtook Mitsuki’s desire to make things easy for Inko, since it meant that they could get to UA’s campus early and help their kids set up their rooms and explore the campus.

*

“We’re here.”

Izuku’s voice was hushed, breathless, as he stared up at the massive gates. He had hoped to get in, but hadn’t really believed he could. Even when he got the letter, stating his admittance, he hadn’t truly believed. But, now, here he was, shoulder to shoulder with Katsuki, about to enter the campus for the first time as actual students.

“We actually did it.”

“Fuck yeah, we did.”

Katsuki’s grin was a vicious slash across his face, eyes gleaming like blood as they stared down at Izuku in satisfaction, not the gates. Izuku looked up at him, startling for a moment at having Katsuki’s full attention, before he smiled, unable to contain his elation, and leaned into him. Katsuki only hesitated for a brief moment, then slung his arm over Izuku’s shoulders, pulling him even closer. Izuku hummed happily, nuzzling into him, completely oblivious to the faint flush to the blond’s cheeks. Katsuki, though, was less oblivious and saw the suggestive looks his mom was throwing their way. But, not wanting to alert Izuku to the situation, he settled for glaring at her, however ineffectual it was. It seemed that she wasn’t going to push it this time, mostly for the sake of time, because she just smirked then clapped her hands, startling Izuku into jumping away from Katsuki.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” she yelled, wrapping a hand around Inko’s wrist and gently tugging her along as she started marching through the gates.

“Damnit, hag,” Katsuki yelled, stomping after them. “Can’t you be any quieter?”

“Watch your fuckin’ mouth, brat,” Mitsuki shrieked back at him, not slowing down at all.

Izuku happily fell back, walking comfortably with Masaru, and they both watched fondly, laughing quietly every now and then, as the two blonds squabbled over Inko’s head while she futilely tried to calm them.

“Ready?” Masaru asked quietly when Izuku paused before entering the gates, clasping a hand on his shoulder.

Izuku smiled up at him and nodded.

“Ready.”

*

“Here is your information packet,” the tired staff member told Izuku. “Included is your class schedule, a map, and your key card. Make sure you always have your key card on you; it grants you access to any portion of campus you are authorized for. If you ever lose it, make sure to notify one of the staff immediately.

“Finally,” he said, holding out a small, rectangular box. “Congratulations on achieving entrance into the Trainer Tract. This is your pokedex. As you are in Class A, you are eligible to receive your first pokedex for free from our program. Any upgrade or replacement is not covered by UA. Again, congradulations, and good luck.”

The obviously familiar spiel was concluded in a near monotone accompanied by an exhausted smile, but Izuku was too thrilled to really care. He carefully collected the thick folder and much smaller box, clutching them to his chest, and scurried back to Inko and the Bakugous who were waiting impatiently for him to finish his entrance registration.

“So, Izu-chan?” Mitsuki cooed. “What room are you in? The brat there is in 12.”

Izuku tucked his key card into his pocket, and handed his still boxed pokedex to Inko. Better to shuffle through the paperwork and answer Mitsuki, than take long enough to irritate her. She wouldn’t take it out on Izuku or Inko - she thought of them as vulnerable, woodland creatures, or something - but sparking her temper would set Katsuki off, which would turn into a massive mess.

“Looks like...I’m in 3.”

Izuku turned sad eyes to Katsuki, who was frowning.

“At least we’ll be on the same floor, though,” Izuku said, trying to remind the blond of the positives.

After all, the floors were key card locked, too. According to the map, each grade level (1 through 3) had a dorm building that was locked to anyone - other than the staff and faculty, of course - not in that grade level. Then, each class (A through H) had its own floor within that building that was locked to anyone not in that class. Finally, their specific key card would allow the student into their bedroom (1 through 20). The only entrances into each building were from either side, leading into the stairwell and elevators. From there, using the key card, a student could enter the hallways leading to their private rooms. Each floor was set up exactly the same - half of the rooms were on either side of a large communal area in the middle with laundry facilities, a kitchen, and a lounge area. Apparently, the rooms stayed with them until graduation, too, unless they were moved to a different class. So, students were actually urged to bring personal things with them and decorate their rooms as they wished, because it would essentially be their’s for three years.

“And, it looks like we’re back by the Ranch,” Izuku continued, trying to remain upbeat.

“Tch, that just means we’ll have to leave twenty minutes early every morning to get to class.”

Mitsuki slapped the back of Katsuki’s head as they started the long trek to the dorm building.

“Oi!”

“Such an ungrateful brat,” she huffed. “Complaining about not being in the first dorm building, yet forgetting that he’s not the one paying for this amazing education.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya,” Katsuki growled, dropping back next to Izuku and away from his mother.

“It would’ve been nice to be in one of the other two dorms, closer to the school building or the main gate,” Izuku said quietly, nudging Katsuki with his shoulder and smiling up at him. “Also, it would’ve been nice to be neighbors. But, at least we’re both here and in the same class, right?”

Katsuki glanced at him, but eventually nodded.

“Yeah,” Katsuki grunted, looking away from Izuku again.

Izuku wasn’t sure why his cheeks were a bit pink, but decided not to ask. It seemed safer, and Katsuki wasn’t acting sick or anything, so Izuku wasn’t really worried yet.

“Would’ve sucked having to track you down after all this shit.”

“It’s enough to know that you would have.”

Katsuki just scoffed, resolutely not looking at the other teenager.

“So, how upset was Blast when you told him he had to stay in his ball this morning?”

Katsuki smirked.

“Probably as pissed as that rat of yours.”

Izuku let out a startled laugh, smacking Katsuki’s arm.

“Kacchan! Be nice to Hadria. I think she’s finally starting to warm up to you.”

“Don’t know why it took so damn long,” he said, throwing his arm over Izuku’s shoulders.

Like before, Izuku curled into his side, leeching off of his warmth. It wasn’t cold, but Izuku found the spring breeze still able to easily chill him. Besides, Katsuki had always been a source of comfort for him, and the day was stressful.

“I’m a fuckin’ delight.”

“She’s just protective,” Izuku answered, smiling up at the blond. “But, she’s definitely thawing. And even Ailith’s able to be out around you and Blast for a bit now without freaking out too badly.”

Katsuki was interrupted before he could say anything by Mitsuki yelling at them from the doorway into the massive dorm building.

“C’mon, lovebirds,” she shouted. “We can’t get into the damn building without your key cards!”

Izuku paused, taking in their intimate pose and blushed brightly, pulling away. He didn’t see Katsuki’s impressive scowl at Mitsuki. But, he followed meekly, fumbling for his key card as Katsuki stormed towards their parents. Just before Katsuki could start screaming at his mother for embarrassing them, Izuku slid between them, not looking anyone in the eye. A quick wave of the card over the lock, and the door beeped, flashing green. Izuku shoved it open, reaching behind him and grabbing Katsuki’s wrist. His face still brilliantly red, he scurried inside, tugging the blond after him. Masaru barely managed to nudge the door back open before it closed and locked the parents out.

Izuku absently took in the area - stairs going up along one wall, and two elevators opposite - but concentrated on the second door. Like the one to the outside, it was thick and obviously meant to stop anyone trying to brute force their way in. A pane of frosted glass would let those inside see who was trying to enter, and Izuku suspected it was treated just like the doors. Another key reader waited by the handle, and Izuku waved his card over the lock, watching the light turn green again. Still holding Katsuki’s wrist, he quickly pushed the door open and headed into the hallway. Like the map had showed, the hallway was dotted by doors on either side. A quick glance showed that his room - 3 - was second on the left.

“Sorry,” he squeaked, finally realizing that he had been tugging Katsuki along and released him.

Katsuki just shrugged with a muttered, “Deku.”

“Looks like this one’s mine,” Izuku said, motioning to the door. “Want to find yours before we unpack?”

Katsuki stared at him for a long moment, obviously weighing something that Izuku couldn’t decipher. But, eventually, he nodded. Gently, Katsuki took Izuku’s wrist - the opposite of before - and led him down the hall. They walked through the common area, eyes quickly scanning to see a fairly nice kitchen and the large TV and couches, and to the opposite hallway.

“Yours is first,” Izuku said, motioning to the right. “That’s not too bad, and you’re right by the kitchen.”

“Tch, just means anyone getting up for a fuckin’ snack’s gonna wake me up.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Izuku replied quietly. Then, he started, remembering, “our bags! Oh,” she moaned, turning back, trying to catch a glimpse of their parents. “I hope your dad grabbed them after I was so rude and just pushed passed everyone.”

“Relax, nerd,” Katsuki said, suddenly relaxing.

Izuku’s nerves and embarrassment had been feeding Katsuki’s, but his sudden turn back to himself seemed to have jerked Katsuki out of his building sullen mood, too.

“The old man’ll have got ‘em. If only to keep the hag from screeching at ‘im.”

Izuku nodded.

“I guess you’re right. But, I think they stopped back at my room. We should go meet up with them, now that we know where you are.”

“C’mon, nerd,” he said, once again gently tugging at Izuku’s wrist. “Let’s go save your ma from mine.”

Izuku giggled and followed Katsuki. Only to stumble to a stop at the person waiting with their parents in front of his door.

“Uraraka?”

“Izuku!” she called, hurrying forward and pulling him into a tight hug, dislodging Katsuki. “How many times have I told you to call me Ochako?”

Izuku just laughed sheepishly and pulled back.

“You look great!” he said, taking her in.

“Well, last time you saw me a horde of Ghosts had worked me over. Hopefully I’m looking better.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he whined, but she winked at him. “Oh! Uraraka, this is Kacchan. Kacchan,” he turned towards the other boy, biting his lip and reaching out to touch Katsuki’s arm when he saw the dark look he was shooting at the girl. “This is Uraraka, the one I told you about.”

Katsuki just gave a dismissive scoff, reaching out and plucking Izuku’s key card from his pocket. He ignored them and shoved passed everyone to reach Izuku’s door and open it, slouching through the door. Again, Masaru barely managed to grab the door before it closed and locked with a very put upon expression.

“Sorry about that,” Izuku said, turning back to Uraraka. “Kacchan doesn’t do very well with crowds, or strangers. But, did you meet our parents?” he asked, motioning at them. “Mom, this is Ochako Uraraka. We met during the practical and kept in contact. Uraraka, my mom, Inko. And, Kacchan’s parents, Masaru and Mitsuki.”

“It’s great to meet you,” Uraraka chirped, smiling widely. “I’ve heard so much about all of you. When Izuku isn’t talking about pokemon or Katsuki-kun, he’s talking about one of you.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, dear,” Inko said, beaming back at her. “It’s been so long since Izuku’s had a friend other than Katsuki. But, are your parents here? I’d love to meet them.”

Uraraka shook her head, smile dimming a bit.

“No, they couldn’t afford to take the day. But, I’ve got my pokemon with me, and Izuku now!”

“Mom,” Izuku said suddenly. “I almost forgot; Uraraka’s a Psychic main, too. Why don’t you all talk for a bit while Kacchan and I start unpacking? After all, Aunt Mitsuki and Uncle Masaru travelled with you, so they know a lot about Psychics, too.”

“What a great idea, Izu-chan,” Mitsuki cooed, patting his cheek. “Masaru, get the brat to take those suitcases while we interi-talk to Izu-chan’s new friend.”

“Yes, dear,” Masaru said dryly, but obediently rolled them through the door. He clasped Izuku’s shoulder and said quietly, “don’t worry. I’ll make sure Mitsuki doesn’t scare her too badly.”

“Thanks, uncle,” Izuku replied. Then said with an impish smile, “I’ll try to calm Kacchan back down so nothing explodes before you leave.”

“Thanks.”

Izuku sighed, letting the door shut behind him. He paused taking in the surprisingly massive room. Walking into his room, on the left was a large desk and bookshelf beside it, with a comfortable looking chair. To the right was a large bed, where Katsuki was lounging, and bedside table. In front of him, passed all of that, were two doors. Apparently, each room had its own bathroom and closet, which he thought was nice, if not excessive. Stacked in the middle fo the room were his boxes that he had sent ahead. Luckily, there seemed to be enough room for each trainer to have a few medium sized pokemon in their rooms. Plus, UA offered services to make their rooms more pokemon-friendly if needed, like bringing in large tanks for water-bound pokemon, or offering specialty fabrics and materials. Izuku knew that Katsuki had requested his room be outfitted for fire protection, so all the flooring, walls, and furniture were specially made to withstand a great deal of heat.

Izuku sighed again, taking in Katsuki’s tense posture, and slumped onto the ned next to him with a grimace. There was no bedding on it yet, since students were encouraged to bring their own, and he hated the feel of the mattress by itself.

“You want to tell me what’s wrong?”

“Nothin’,” Katsuki grunted, turning his face away.

“Come on, Kacchan. Obviously something’s up. Please talk to me.”

When it didn’t look like Katsuki was going to say anything, Izuku shifted, forcing Katsuki to look at him.

“Please.”

Katsuki liked his lips, red eyes darting over Izuku’s face, taking in his pleading expression.

“Fine,” he huffed. “Look, you’ve been talkin’ about this girl for weeks, and now she’s here and you can just...go and talk to her now, ok? You don’t need to hang around if you wanna go skip in the fuckin’ flowers or somethin’, alright?”

“W-what?”

Izuku blinked dumbly at him, not sure where that came from.

“Kacchan…” he trailed off, reaching out and nudging his chin back towards him so he could catch the blond’s eyes. “Kacchan, you’re my best friend. Even when we weren’t talking, you were still my best friend. No matter that Uraraka is here, no matter that I’ll be able to hang out with her in person now, you’re still here, too. And, I’ll always pick you first, over anyone else. You should know this by now.”

Katsuki’s eyes widen, a light flush spreading across his nose to his cheeks as Izuku talked earnestly.

“Y-you-” Katsuki actually stuttered, then reached up, putting his palm over Izuku’s face and pushing him back. “Why the hell would you say sappy shit like that, Deku?” he snapped, but Izuku could hear the edge in his voice.

It made him smile.

“Because it’s the truth, Kacchan,” he said, words understandable, but stifled from the hand still over his face. “And, sometimes, you need to hear it. Just like I needed to hear it before.”

“Deku…” Katsuki said, warning clear.

Izuku reached up and took Katsuki’s hand, clasping it tight and bringing their joined hands to rest against his leg.

“Kacchan, Uraraka could never replace you. No one here could possibly come close, no matter how many friends I make. In this place, in UA, we’ll finally be around people who have the same dreams as we do, who have the same drive, and the same talent to become professional trainers. We’ll finally meet people who will understand what we want, and are all on the same path.

“But, no one could ever measure up to you.

“So, please, Kacchan,” Izuku said, leaning against him and turning to rest his cheek against Katsuki’s shoulder. “Stop worrying that I’ll be going somewhere. The only way that you’ll get rid of me is if you make me leave.”

He stifled a yawn, worn out from the emotional day, and, when Katsuki shifted slightly so he’d be more comfortable, slumped further against his chest.

“You mean too much to me.”

Just before he dozed off, Izuku could have sworn he heard Katsuki mumble something almost indecipherable.
 
It almost sounded like “you too.”

Or maybe, “I love you.”

If only Izuku could remember it when he was awake.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The first day of class dawn bright and way too early for most of the students at UA, including Izuku. He had trained himself to get up early by necessity, not preference, unlike Katsuki. So, when Izuku woke up at 5 am, nudging his girls off of him so he could pull on shorts and a tee-shirt, he stifled the newly instinctual urge to curse. Hadria and Ailith were no more impressed than he was by the early hour, but, as he reminded them as they stumbled out of the dorm building, if they were going to get in their morning run, they needed to go, or risk running late to homeroom. Luckily, he and Katsuki had actually moved in on the day campus opened, so they’d had a good week to get familiar with the campus. That meant that Izuku, and Hadria and Ailith as well, had had time to find a good path for their morning run that was just long enough for a good workout, but not too long that he wouldn’t have time for a shower.

So, as the clock ticked over to 6:30, Izuku was pouring out his girls’ breakfasts and he was jumping into the shower. By 7, Izuku was checking him bag and returning Ailith, Hadria hopping up on his shoulder. Almost out of the door, Izuku stumbled to a stop and darted back to his desk, muttering an apology when Hadria huffed at him. A small box, covered in shiny red paper, was shoved into his pocket, and Izuku was off. He and Katsuki had planned to meet in the cafeteria to eat breakfast together, just as they had been doing for the last week. They would have exercised together in the mornings, too, but Katsuki dedicated that time to weight lifting, which Izuku didn’t like to do it so early in the day.

“Morning Kacchan!” Izuku called out as he slid into the seat next to the blond after grabbing his breakfast.

Hadria completed their morning ritual by falling on top of Blast, the two tumbling together happily.

Katsuki grunted in reply, but Izuku could see the tension in his shoulders ease slightly now that he was there.

“Here,” Izuku mumbled, shoving the small package to Katsuki and tearing apart the muffin on his plate.

Katsuki paused, side-eyeing his friend.

“What’s this?” he asked, pushing away his plate to pick up and inspect the gift.

“It’s a congrats present, I guess.” Izuku shrugged, glancing away as his words quickened, not sure what to make of Katsuki’s expression. “I mean, we all knew you would get into UA, but it should still be celebrated, y’know?”

Katsuki looked back at the gift, peeling away the paper to reveal a plain white box as Izuku rambled along in the background. Katsuki opened the box, revealing a gleaming red stone.

“I...um. I know that you’re waiting to evolve Blast, like I’m doing with Hadria and Ailith. But, I thought that you’d like to have the option on hand. Y’know, for when you’re ready.”

Izuku finally trailed off when Katsuki didn’t say anything, squirming a bit in his seat.

Katsuki shook his head with a small huff of laughter, carefully setting the Fire Stone onto the table. Izuku flinched when Katsuki suddenly moved, but the blond just threw an arm over his shoulders, hauling him close.

“Thanks, nerd. Blast’ll be ready really fuckin’ soon, but I haven’t bothered to get ‘im a Stone yet.”

Izuku melted into Katsuki’s side, turning his face into the other’s shoulder to hide his wide smile.

“I’m glad you like it,” Izuku said, absently noting Katsuki’s shiver when his breath brushed Katsuki’s neck.

He wasn’t exactly sure why, but his own happiness at the blond’s response to his proximity was pushed to the back of his mind to study later. Much later.

“I was worried you’d find it...presumptuous, or something.”

“Nah,” Katsuki replied. “I should’a figured you’d do some shit like this, though. Guess I’ll have to make it up to you, you little shit. ‘Cause I didn’t get you anything.”

Izuku shook his head, pulling back to meet Katsuki’s eyes.

“No, Kacchan! You don’t need to get me something - that’s not why I got you a gift.”

“Tch, obviously. But I’m not gonna take something without getting you something too, Deku.”

Izuku stared at him, taking in his determined red eyes and set mouth, and let his shoulders slump.

“Fine, Kacchan. You’re going to do it, even if I ask you not to. So, thank you.”

Katsuki scoffed again, turning back to his breakfast.

“Whatever, nerd,” he muttered, but his tone lacked any bite and he stayed pressed to Izuku’s side.

Izuku just smiled, aware that he was probably the only one who knew Katsuki well enough to spot the slight flush to his cheeks and the softness in his eyes.

*

“Izuku!”

The call of his name was the only warning he got before a body slammed into him and would have sent him stumbling into the desks if Katsuki hadn’t caught him.

Still, Izuku wrapped his arms around her in return, giggling happily.

“Morning, Uraraka!”

“C’mon, nerd,” Katsuki interrupted gruffly before Uraraka could speak.

He had been more relaxed over the last few days about Izuku spending time with her. Apparently that talk Izuku remembered from move-in day had been enough to reassure hi, especially since they continued to spend most of time together. Still, Izuku had found that Katsuki would rather not deal with her - or the two of them together - if he could help it. Something about them being “too damn nice.”

“Sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku said, tilting his head back to look at the other upside down.

Izuku straightened, pushing away from Katsuki’s steadying hold, though he and Uraraka kept ahold of each other. Before they could keep talking, acting more like they hadn’t seen each other in years rather than hours, a familiar voice interrupted the idle chattering in the room.

“If you’re here to socialize, you’re in the wrong program.”

Izuku froze, turning wide eyes to the door. Standing there, cocooned in a lurid yellow sleeping bag and sipping from a juice pouch, was the eternally exhausted man from his interviews. The man that he had gone off on, the man he had unconsciously squared off against to throw down. Apparently, Hadria recognized him too, because Izuku could feel her press against his leg and the vibration of her near soundless growl. Izuku untangled himself from Uraraka and followed suit as the rest of the class scrambled to their desks, scooping up Hadria and holding her on his lap.

“30 seconds to settle down. Appalling.”

The man shuffled to the podium at the front of the room and glared at them with bloodshot eyes.

“My name is Aizawa. I’m your homeroom teacher. If you end up lasting in this class, at least.”

He took another slurp from his juice pouch, watching them, completely unimpressed.

“You have five minutes to get to the front of the school and onto the bus. If you’re not on it when it leaves, you’re expelled.”

Twenty students looked at him with near matching expressions of confusion and shock.

“Well? Get to it,” he yelled.

There was a mad scramble as they jerked up from their seats and took off. The first problem was the bottleneck at the door, as everyone tried to get through, yelling and pushing.

“Izuku.”

He turned at the call and soft touch to his arm.

“The windows,” Uraraka said quietly at his look.

Izuku paused, glancing between her and the windows. He took her hand, hauling her with him as they dodged flailing limbs. A quick glance confirmed what she meant. The school was actually only one level due to its immense size and the windows were nearly floor to ceiling. Luckily, they actually opened, he noted.

“Good idea,” he said, grinning at her. “Here, help me get a couple open.”

She nodded and, with some difficulty, they managed to force two open and hopped out. Before they took off though, he stuck his head through.

“Guys,” he yelled, making sure to get their attention. “The windows open! And we’ve already lost nearly a full minute arguing!”

The students in the classroom paused, a couple managing to eel their way through the door in the meantime.

“Good idea, Deku!” Katsuki said, immediately following, slipping through the window, Blast on his heels.

“It was Uraraka’s idea,” Izuku murmured, shaking his head and happily slipping his hand into Katsuki’s when the blond held his own out in offering.

“Well, either way.”

Katsuki started jogging, Izuku and Uraraka easily keeping up as more classmates spilled from the row of now open windows.

“Good job, I guess,” he reluctantly called to the girl.

A couple of minutes later they were filing into the idling bus, quickly filling the seats. Like the buses they had taken to the practical exam, they were in sets of two. So, Katsuki quickly pulled Izuku down next to him, while Uraraka grabbed the seat in front of them and turned to keep talking with Izuku. They had all returned their pokemon before actually getting on the bus, aware that there wouldn’t be very much room, but the presence of his two best friends was keeping Izuku calm enough that he was probably the happiest he had been in years - even with the threat of expulsion and the knowledge that he was going into the school year having already threatened his homeroom teacher.

“Well,” came the disappointed voice of Aizawa as the doors closed and the bus took off. “I guess everyone managed to get on board this year.

“No worries,” he continued with a creepy smile. “Plenty of time for me to cull the herd.”

Izuku shivered and pressed into Katsuki’s side when Aizawa seemed to look pointedly at him. He only relaxed when the man turned around and appeared to drop right off into a nap.

“I wonder where we’re going,” the girl who had snagged the seat next to Uraraka mused.

“No idea,” Uraraka chirped. “By the way - hey, Tsuyu.”

The girl, Tsuyu, smiled back. “Hey, Ochako.”

“Do you mind,” Izuku started hesitantly as he leaned towards the girl, pressing more firmly against Katsuki and anchoring himself with a hand on the boy’s thigh. “If I ask about your pokemon, Asui?”

Over the last week, they had met all of the students on their class, and a good number of those living on the upper floors as well. But, it had only been a week and with knowing Uraraka and Katsuki before, along with his social anxiety and shyness, Izuku hadn’t interacted with the others very much. So, he basically knew everyone’s names and faces, and had a good idea of their pokemon and typings, but it wasn’t really like they had all sat in a circle for a group share session or anything, so it was mostly conjecture at this point. Though even Katsuki would admit that Izuku’s guess was more reliable than the average person’s in depth research.

Tsuyu blinked, but smiled widely.

“Sure, kero. Call me Tsuyu, though. What would you like to know?”

“You’re a Water main, right?” He paused, waiting for her to nod in confirmation, then continued, “I saw that you have a politoed. Do you have any others?”

She nodded.

“Yep! I actually have a poliwhirl, too. He wants to evolve into a poliwrath, but hasn’t asked for a Stone yet, kero. My parents are both Water mains, too, as are all of my little sisters, and pretty much all of my family, actually. Willow, my politoed, and Trevor, my poliwhirl, hatched right before my ninth birthday from my parents’ pokemon.”

Izuku’s eyes were practically sparkling as he listened to her intently. She had paused a moment, not sure if that was really what he wanted to hear about, but he seemed so interested that she kept going.

“And your starter? Which one are you thinking of going for?”

“Mudkip. I thought about froakie, but with swampert’s ground typing is such an enormous advantage for a water team that I couldn’t resist, kero.”

Izuku nodded.

“Are you going to try to find a dual water type good against grass, like lapras or araquanid?”

Tsuyu nodded.

“I’m actually hoping to find a shellder or a wimpod.”

“Or both?” Uraraka interjected, nudging her with a surprising smirk.

Tsuyu laughed, “or both.” She paused, then tilted her head, and asked curiously, “I know Ochako’s going to look for a fennekin. But what about you, kero?”

“I’m, uh. Actually, I’m going for a froakie. I thought about a litten, but Kacchan’s going to bring enough fire around the dorms, that I figured it would be best to steer clear for a bit.”

Tsuyu blinked.

“I’m not as familiar with Fire types as I should be. What’s litten’s final evolution?”

“Inceneroar,” Katsuki said, eyeing Tsuyu and curling an arm around Izuku protectively. “It’s a Fire-Dark type.”

“Dark? Then you’re…”

She trailed off when Izuku nodded.

“I’m a Dark primary.”

“So your eevee’s going to evolve into an umbreon?” she asked.

Izuku couldn’t get a read on her. She didn’t seem to feel anything negative - she just came off as neutral.

“Hadria, and yes. My mom went to a breeder and apparently Hadria decided that she liked my scent enough to claim my favorite hoodie. I still haven’t been able to get it back from her,” he muttered, still a bit ticked off about it.

Tsuyu laughed lightly, the sound making Katsuki and Uraraka, who Izuku just realized had tensed as well, relax.

“I’m kind of jealous, honestly. Admittedly, vaporeon is my favorite eeveelution, but umbreon is a pretty close second, kero.”

“Are you thinking about getting an eevee then?” Izuku couldn’t help but ask.

But, Tsuyu just shook her head.

“Nah, not anytime soon, at least. Eevees are bit too…”

She trailed off, trying to figure out how to word it.

Katsuki snorted, nudging Izuku. “She means eevees are fuckin’ expensive as hell, nerd. The hag ‘bout blew a gasket when Auntie told ‘er about getting you that rat of yours.”

“Well,” Izuku huffed a bit, even as he flushed at the reminder that his mom really did spoil him a bit - even if it was less obviously than one might expect. “Aunt Mitsuki would be worried about Mom spending that much at once. She never believes us when we say we’re fine.”

“That’s cause Auntie won’t tell her what she actually does for a livin’ now. Especially with your dad gone.”

Izuku just rolled his eyes, deliberately ignoring the two girls avidly watching their byplay.

“You can say he’s dead, Kacchan. I barely remember the man.

“And we’ve both said it so many times: Mom works remotely for Wulfric to manage and maintain the sanctuary laws for the Pokemon Village. You know she’s a lawyer. So does Aunt Mitsuki, ‘cause she always bitches about when Mom decided to retire as a trainer to do something boring like law school.”

“Please,” Katsuki scoffed. “As if that doesn’t sound like a cover story.”

Izuku sighed. “Eventually, you’ll have to believe me, Kacchan.”

Luckily for Izuku’s blood pressure, the bus turned on to a nearly invisible street off of Route 22, catching everyone’s attention. They turned to the windows, not able to see much but trees hanging close to the sides of the bus with barely enough room for them to get through. Only a couple of minutes later, the trees opened up to reveal a large building. It had a sleek look at the front, but seemed to expand to the back, far past what they could see from the drive out front, into glass enclosures, like it had massive greenhouses.

“Great, we’re here,” Aizawa muttered. He raised his voice, “everyone out.”

They managed to contain themselves and file off of the bus, congregating together in front of their homeroom teacher who looked so very done with everything.

“Before we move on, we’re going to have a little test,” he said, walking off to the side of the facility and into the woods, the students scrambling to keep up and stay close enough to hear him.

He led them to a clearing. It was massive, obviously deliberately cleared. However, along the outer perimeter, there were stones and fallen logs set up as a “natural” obstacle course, with the center bare and large enough to use as a small battle arena. Izuku got a sinking feeling as he looked at the bloodthirsty grin stretching across Aizawa’s face.

“Now then, let’s see if you deserve to be here, shall we?” Aizawa said, walking to the center of the clearing. “Each of you, choose one pokemon. They will battle in a free for all while you lot run the obstacle course. If you give your pokemon a verbal command, you’re expelled. If you stop running, you’re expelled. If you score last, you’re expelled.”

He took a moment, obviously enjoying their horrified silence.

“Questions?”

No one dared to say a word.

“Then what are you waiting for? Release and start running!”

They jumped and obeyed. Twenty flashes lit up the clearing and their pokemon appeared in front of them.

Hadria froze, hunkering down and bracing herself as she took in the large number of unknown pokemon around her. Izuku could see her ears swiveling around, trying to keep track of all of them while listening for his command. He almost spoke, then abruptly shut his mouth, remembering what Aizawa had said: no verbal commands. So, he cleared his throat, letting her know that he was there, then deliberately took a step back when she glanced over her shoulder. He met her eyes and slowly nodded to her, taking another step back. Then, he jogged to the side, steadily beginning the course with the other students. He had taken an extra few seconds, trying to make her understand without speaking, while most of the others just took off. Hopefully, he mused, she actually got it. And hopefully Aizawa wouldn’t fail him for not starting immediately.

Izuku kept a steady pace once he started. Katsuki had gone hard for a few laps at the beginning, but eventually slowed and kept pace with Izuku, Uraraka just behind them with Asui. Neither of them spoke and only kept enough attention on where they were going to ensure that they didn’t run into anything or anyone, focused mainly on the brawl happening beside them. Still, it wasn’t long before Izuku was wincing. He had gotten in pretty good shape over the last year, but they hadn’t been given any warning for this, so everyone was still in their uniforms, including their very uncomfortable uniform shoes.

It had been a slow start, honestly. Their pokemon had been released and not given any instructions, so they had just stood there. Some had been obviously confused and relaxed, either sitting down or turning to watch their human run. Either way, they had taken their gazes off of the other pokemon around them. Others though, like Hadria and Blast, were ready, bodies tensed and prepared to move at a moment’s notice. It wasn’t until Aizawa seemed to get bored that things changed.

It started with a rustling from the trees. Izuku ducked into a roll, unable to help the brief yelp that escaped, when something shot from the shadows just over his head. Springing back to his feet, not even missing a step, he punched Katsuki’s shoulder when the blond snickered at his jumpiness. Their little group all watched, resisting the urge to call out to their pokemon when it turned out to be a large swoobat.

The Psychic/Flying type silently circled the unaware pokemon. All except for Hadria and Blast, who had backed up to each other; both pokemon had heard Izuku, and had seen the swoobat emerge from the forest and start scoping them out, and were covering the other’s blind spot. Uraraka’s Saiki was similarly alert, and Izuku realized that the kadabra and his trainer were close enough that they were probably able to communicate psychically, like Inko could with most of her pokemon.

The gloom was out first - a quick air cutter and it was too damaged to keep going. A dodrio was taken out the same way, before anyone really realized what was going on. The swoobat was fast, flying high enough that any move shot at it gave plenty of time for dodging - Izuku grimaced as he realized one major flaw in their training: the only distance move Hadria knew was toxic, which was far too risky for her to shoot up in the air when she was surrounded by tentative allies - until it took a pot shot at a slow moving drifblim, then abruptly dived between a pikachu and a hawlucha. Both attacks missed the swoobat, but a strong spark hit the hawlucha as the pikachu fired wildly, nearly taking out Tsuyu’s politoed who managed to duck behind a graveler.

The friendly fire seemed to change something in the dynamics. As the swoobat headed back up high, the students’ pokemon seemed to decide that they truce was only in effect when the swoobat was actively trying to take them out.

Still, Izuku was proud that Hadra and Blast had seemingly decided to work together. Hadria was taking the defensive stance he had drilled into her for doubles, setting up with double team and attracts for confusion, or getting off a few toxics for some residual damage. Blast managed to take a bit of status damage occasionally and Hadria’s Heal Bell got some good practice in. Blast’s embers worked well to keep other pokemon clear of the two, and any that managed to get in close got a vicious bite or a ruthless iron tail from the deceptively small eevee. Izuku was actually surprised that Blast was able to work so well with Hadria. Katsuki didn’t have another pokemon, after all, and the two of them didn’t train together. They were too aware that they were possible opponents despite being friends and didn’t want to give the other any more insight than they naturally got.

Still jogging, they watched as the pokemon were slowly picked off by their classmates’ partners. The graveler that Tsuyu’s Willow had hidden behind was taken out next with a surprise hit from a machoke, which managed to dodge a gust from a murkrow only to fall to an espeon’s psychic.

Izuku grimaced when he realized that the last fighting type had been knocked out before the snorlax he could see still sleeping in the middle of the clearing was actually removed from the free for all. Not even the sight of one of the rare evolutions of an already rare eevee could distract his mind from running over the options if the bulky normal type actually woke up. Fighting moves and the snorlax’s natural laziness were normally the only ways to actually overcome the pokemon, and if it woke a snorlax definitely had enough power to decimate a handful of pokemon. Even a half trained snorlax could still pack a devastating punch.

A tentacruel was next, taken out with a steenee’s razor leaf, but managing to poison the grass type in the process. Blast finished the steenee off easily once it tripped a little too close, though not before it took out Willow, too. By this point, Hadria and Blast had managed to cull most of the other pokemon - a kirlia, the pikachu from before, a clefable, a hypno, a murkrow, even an alolan vulpix. The swoobat, having backed off before appeared again with a sneak attack, hitting Saiki with an assurance and darting off again out of reach.

Izuku had relaxed, thinking that now that there were only five pokemon - Hadria, Blast, the espeon, the snorlax, and the swoobat - his and Katsuki’s pokemon had a good chance of getting through the weird test. Except, that came too early. Just when he thought that they might be in the clear, the swoobat deliberately provoked the once sleeping snorlax. It sent a dream eater at the normal type. The move, though not super effective against the bulky pokemon, was still incredibly effective and caused enough pain that it pulled the snorlax from its sleep. There were enough horror stories about rampaging snorlaxes that even Katsuki paled when he realized that it was pissed.

Hadria was the first to fall, to Izuku’s worry, as she took a brick break to the back. Blast was easily batted out of the air, flying across the clearing and just managing to land on his feet, when he tried to avenge his friend. The espeon was the next out though, as it fell to an angry crunch. Blast had barely managed to limp a bit closer when the snorlax let off a rock slide that knocked him out. Izuku felt Katsuki flinch next to him, the blond barely stopping himself from racing out to his fallen pokemon, like Izuku only moments earlier.

Izuku honestly wasn’t sure what happened next. One moment, the snorlax was on the verge of truly rampaging, the swoobat circling high. Then, there was a blur as the Psychic/Flying type dove and a flash of light and the snorlax was down. The swoobat circled the clearing once more, then landed lightly on Aizawa’s shoulder.

“You can stop now,” he said, tone still unimpressed.

All the students immediately stopped running, a few nearly collapsing where they stood. It had probably been about twenty minutes since the start, but most hadn’t paced themselves well and the additional stress of the free-for-all that they couldn’t help with made it even worse. After a brief moment though, those that could moved towards their downed pokemon. Izuku kneeled down, scooping Hadria into his arms and checking her over, absently noting Katsuki doing the same to the side. She wasn’t badly hurt and already starting to stir to his relief. A quick glance shared with Katsuki and he was reassured that Blast would be fine too. Even so, Izuku still took a spot next to Katsuki as the students grouped together in front of their teacher, reaching over to lightly stroke the puppy pokemon’s head and received a tired lick in return.

“Unfortunately, you all pass for now,” Aizawa said when he was sure everyone was paying attention. “Now that I can’t justify expelling each of you yet, that means that you need to get your starter.

“This facility is split into three distinct biomes: grass, water, fire. It’s 9:42; you have until noon to choose a single pokemon and return to the bus. The price of the pokemon is covered by the school, but the front area has a small store where you can purchase items if you wish.”

There was silence as they stared at him in shock. They knew they’d be getting a starter - it was law mandated after all. But, they’d just gone through the test from hell and hadn’t even gone to the opening ceremony or anything.

“Well?” he snapped. “What are you waiting for?”

Just like first thing that morning, twenty students were sent scrambling away from Aizawa. Still cradling Hadria, Izuku gently sprayed a potion he carefully dug out of his bag as he made his way to the doors. Katsuki nudged him, doing the same with Blast, when they got through the store. Aizawa had called it small, but honestly it was probably bigger than the pokemart back home. Still, Izuku nodded at his friend, smiling gently.

“See you in a bit?” he asked.

Katsuki paused, but nodded with a huff and let Blast drop back to the ground.

“Yeah, Deku. Make sure you find something that’ll give us a good fight, yeah?”

“Yeah, Kacchan,” Izuku replied, laughing lightly. “You and Blast won’t know what hit you.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

I am so sorry guys. With doing 4 Master's courses last semester (what was I thinking?) and preparing to literally move across the country I have had absolutely no time to write. But, I have officially moved now and I'm settling in. My classes don't start again for another week or so, though I am getting to work within the next couple of days. So, hopefully, I'll have a new chapter up shortly. When I do, I'll replace this note completely, so keep an eye out!Again, I'm so sorry. And thanks to everyone who's still waiting. See you soon.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Do you think sensei will expel us if we can’t find a new partner this morning?” Izuku murmured to his girls.

Hadria barked back at him, nudging her cold nose against his hand while Ailith just purred, curling more tightly around his neck. It had been over an hour and they’d had no luck. Of course, if they went to the littens, they’d probably have found one by now.

The Fire-Dark line was well known for taking the worst aspects of both types and combining them into a near insatiable battlelust. But, Izuku had decided months ago that he wanted a greninja. The Water-Dark type was incredibly fast, with a special attack ability that made them a perfect sweeper, especially if they were able to set up. Of course, that meant that they could be a glass cannon, but he had Hadria for a tank and Ailith was in a similar situation, though she was a bit more balanced with physical and special.

But, that wouldn’t matter much if they couldn’t find a froakie that leaned towards its future Dark typing enough to find him agreeable.

Ailith had stuck close to Izuku, reluctantly agreeing to stay out so that she could meet any froakie that approached them. Hadria meanwhile had bounded off as soon as they were in the section of the water biome that the froakies seemed to prefer. She had been making a bit of a nuisance of herself, imposing on every froakie she could see and apparently failing to find one that fit.

Over the past hour, he had seen a few students from his class that he suspected were Water primaries, and even a few that definitely weren’t. But, no one stopped for more than a moment in the area primarily made up of froakies, quickly continuing on to a different section. Even Tsuyu had only stopped for a minute, just to see if any caught her eye, before quickly moving on to the mudkips.

Izuku took another glance at his poketch and grimaced when he realized it was already after 11. Aizawa had told them to be back on the bus by noon, and Izuku was genuinely worried that if he couldn’t find a froakie by then that he would be expelled.

He stood up, preparing to call Hadria back from where she had shot off again, when a cool body torpedoed into the middle of his back. Izuku yelped, stumbling forward and nearly face-planted into the grass. Ailith hissed, jerking around and slashing at the pokemon, while Hadria, alerted by his cry, came rushing back, both of them ready to defend their trainer. Only for all three to stop and stare incredulously at the pokemon before them.

It was a froakie, but the pokemon had deliberately turned away from them, acting like it just happened to be there. It had even gone so far as to pull off one of its frubbles and toss it nonchalantly in the air.

Izuku ran a calming hand over Ailith as he crouched down.

“Hello?” he couldn’t help the questioning lilt to his voice as he spoke to the pokemon.

The froakie was still turned away from them, but it shifted slightly to watch him out of the corner of its eye.

“Fro.”

Izuku felt a smile tug at his lips at the completely uninterested tone, belayed only by the fact that the pokemon had not only approached him but hadn’t left.

“I’m Izuku,” he said before carefully motioning towards his girls, introducing them but making no move to touch the unfamiliar pokemon. “Is there something I can help you with?”

The froakie just watched him a moment. But when it moved, as miniscule as it may have been, it was to angle more towards him then away even as it shook its head negatively.

“Well, if you think of something, let me know. Alright? I mean, we’re going to be leaving in about forty minutes, but I’ll help however I can before then!” he finished with a bright smile.

The froakie seemed to freeze, eyes wide. Hadria let out a little yipping laugh, which jolted the Water pokemon, who blinked and glared at the eevee. Even Ailith made a low sound of amusement, leaving Izuku to wonder what they found so funny. Still, he decided to just shrug it off, giving the froakie a smaller, though no less genuine, smile.

“Do you want to go look again?” he asked Hadria.

He was surprised when she just licked his hand and settled down with a pointed look beside her. Izuku steadied Ailith and sat, petting the eevee gently as she shifted closer. He was very aware of the froakie just out of arm’s reach watching them intently, but Izuku knew not every pokemon wanted to deal with humans, so he concentrated on his girls.

“Are you sure no one felt like a good fit?” he asked Hadria quietly.

She just nuzzled against him then settled again, curling up with her tail over her nose and dropping off to nap. Izuku rolled his eyes and pulled Ailith into his lap.

“At least she doesn’t seem worried,” he muttered to the purrloin, who mrped at him and leaned into the scritches behind her ears.

Twenty minutes later, Izuku sighed and returned Ailith. He scooped Hadria up, gently jostling her awake, and stood.

“Guess it’s time to face the music,” he muttered and started towards the front of the building.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice the pokemon following him until he was almost at the front store. It was only when a frubble was tossed at his head by the exasperated pokemon that he realized the same froakie was just behind him. Izuku’s mouth dropped open as he stared at it with wide eyes.

“Umm?”

Hadria rolled her eyes and butted her head against Izuku’s.

“Are you - do you want to come with us?” he asked hesitantly.

The froakie looked him over, head to toe. Then it nodded once and hopped closer and looked at him expectantly.

Izuku blinked, not quite sure what it wanted. Then Hadria huffed and hopped down. She looked at him pointedly before jumping back into his arms and onto his shoulder.

“Oh!” Izuku said and held out an arm. “Would you like me to carry you?”

“Fro,” it said, deadpan, and hopped straight up forcing Izuku to scramble a bit to catch it and pull it to him.

“Well,” Izuku said, still a bit baffled but quickly brightening as he realized that he found a starter. “We just need to go to the front and register you to my ID. If we have some time, we can pick out a few things for you. Otherwise, we’ll go out after school this afternoon, alright?”

The froakie croaked at him again. Izuku was too thrilled to feel upset at the looks Hadria and the froakie exchanged as he chattered at them. Registering his new teammate took a few minutes, but they were already pushing it so closely that Izuku didn’t want to risk getting left behind, so they headed on out to the bus, his new froakie resting comfortably in the red and white pokeball at his hip. Most of the class was there already, including Katsuki. The blond was practically lounging on a bench with Blast sleeping on his feet. Izuku couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped as he saw the way Katsuki was doing his best to ignore the boy with bright red hair and a graveler rolling around him, even as he pushed down a surge of unfamiliar jealousy.

“Kacchan!” he called as he collapsed next to him, ignoring the other boy. If he sat a bit closer than he normally would in public, Izuku was determined to shove it to the back of his mind.

“Deku,” Katsuki drawled.

He sounded uninterested, and appeared as stoic and bored as when the other boy was trying to start a conversation. But, Izuku could see his red eyes brightening and the subtle shift of his body towards him. Honestly, though, the most telling thing was the way Blast immediately woke and jumped onto Izuku’s lap at the sound of his voice. Hadria huffed and slid higher to be out of the dog pokemon’s reach.

“Well?” Izuku said impatiently.

Katsuki raised an eyebrow. “Well, what?” he teased, a smirk curling his lips at Izuku’s pout.

Izuku huffed. “Which did you get?” he asked, smacking Katsuki’s arm.

Katsuki stiffened slightly, making Izuku tilt his head curiously. It was almost like Katsuki had forgotten that Izuku would want to meet his new teammate. Katsuki slowly pulled the pokeball from his belt, enlarging it and tossing it into the air with a twist of his wrist, wary eyes locked onto Izuku. Izuku, though, was focussed on the bright light, leaning forward in excitement. His eyes widened in delight as the torchic materialized in front of them.

“A torchic! Kacchan, he’s going to be a great addition! Adding a Fighting type to your team will help with your Rock weakness. Now you just need to figure something out for Ground and Water types.

“Hi there,” Izuku murmured, nudging Blast to the side and sliding off the bench to hold out a hand to the chick.

The torchic cocked his head, glancing at Katsuki then Blast. Katsuki was still tense, but made an effort to relax. Blast was happily panting on the bench behind Izuku, tail wagging. The torchic hopped forward gingerly, just close enough to allow Izuku to touch him. Izuku did, reaching out slowly to gently pet the soft feathers on the top of his head. It didn’t take long for the torchic to warm up to him, hopping closer and into his lap, so Izuku could pet him more easily.

“You don’t…” Katsuki started, then cut himself off, realizing that some of their classmates were nearby.

“Hm?” Izuku hummed, too distracted by the torchic on his lap.

Katsuki lowered his voice, a hand absently petting Blast, who had curled up to him when Izuku displaced him.

“You aren’t, y’know...angry or some shit?”

Izuku blinked up at him, confused. “Why would I be angry?”

“Cause I got a torchic?” Katsuki said, equally baffled. “It evolves into a Fighting type?”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah, like I said, it’ll help with your Rock weakness. It’s a logical starter for you. I mean, I could have seen you getting a charmander - for someone who didn’t know you well, they would think charizard for your starter, just based on temperament - but I knew you would get something that covered at least one weakness, like a secondary Fighting type. Chimchar was another option, but a blaziken fits you better, in my opinion.”

Katsuki just stared at Izuku for a moment, before huffing a disbelieving laugh and covering his face with a hand. Izuku opened his mouth, ready to ask Katsuki why he was acting so weird, when Aizawa seemed to pop out of nowhere, announcing that they had a minute to get back on the bus. Nearly twenty students, all scrambling to get on the bus and in a seat before Aizawa had them pulling out, was enough to distract the Dark trainer from pursuing the matter. And, even once they were on the way, the surprise of not sitting by Katsuki, but Uraraka, was enough to put it out of his mind.

Izuku would be ashamed later, once he realized that he had essentially ignored not only Uraraka, but Tsuyu and Iida as well. But, his attention was barely on them, only present enough to register which starters they had chosen, and to distractedly ramble a bit about each one’s capabilities. Later, he would hope that he hadn’t repeated himself too much, and that the other three hadn’t realized that he was barely conscious that they were there, let alone pay them enough attention to say anything that wasn’t rote. But, Katsuki was towards the front of the bus, having gotten stuck in the swarm of teenagers and unable to catch up. He was also sitting next to the red-haired boy from before, the one that had been trying to talk with him. Except, this time, Katsuki wasn’t ignoring him. This time, the blond was actually answering, even if it was obviously short answers. And the red-headed boy seemed to be completely delighted that he could even get a single worded answer out of the temperamental blond.

“-ku. Izuku!”

Izuku snapped to attention at the call of his name in his ear.

“O-Uraraka?” he stammered, wide eyes snapping to her.

“You’ve been spacing out,” she said with an exasperated if understanding smile that made him flush.

“S-sorry!” he yelped, sliding down in his seat as some of the other students turned to look at him.

“It’s understandable to be excited, Midoriya,” Iida began, making those strange chopping motions with his hands that he preferred. “But, that is no excuse to ignore your friends.”

Izuku whined a bit as more people turned to look at them at Iida’s loud voice, including Katsuki. Tsuyu and Uraraka both gave him sympathetic smiles, refraining from giggling at his bright red face.

“It’s ok, kero,” Tsuyu interjected. “We’re all a bit spacy right now.”

“Yeah,” Uraraka cut in, before Iida could keep going. “I wonder what we’ll be doing now? I mean, this morning was great - I wasn’t expecting to get a new pokemon on the first day!”

“Maybe something else like that?” Izuku said, forcing himself to not look back at the blond and red hair just a smidge too close in the front of the bus. “I mean, we might get to practice with our new partners or something?”

“Ah! A test,” Iida said. “My brother mentioned that his first week was full of the instructors measuring their level of competence, both with old partners and new!”

All three paused and blinked at Iida.

“Your brother?” Uraraka was the first to get out.

“Ah, yes,” Iida replied, looking a little sheepish. “My family have been in the pro-circuit for quite a while. I had not meant to bring it up so early in our friendship, but I’m afraid the topic excited me a bit. My brother is the pro Ingenium.”

“That's so cool!” Izuku exclaimed, echoed immediately by the two girls. “Ingenium’s Flying types are infamous; I watched his exhibition battle with Cementoss and Ingenium managed to cream his Rock types, even with the disadvantage.”

Sufficiently distracted, Izuku, Uraraka, and Tsuyu spent the remainder of the bus ride unanimously working to keep Iida’s face that exact shade of happily embarrassed red, and succeeded.

“Alright,” Aizawa said, stirring as the bus slowed to a stop back in front of the school. “You have 30 minutes to find food, or don’t. I don’t care. But, I expect everyone to be back in their chairs then and ready for class, or whatever.”

“Do we have enough time to get to the lunchroom and back?” Uraraka muttered to Izuku as they got off the bus, each patting their belt to ensure their pokemon were accounted for.

“Probably not,” Izuku shrugged. “Especially with the lines.”

“Well, shoot,” she muttered, making Izuku shoot her a weak grin.

“Yeah, I’m just going to head to the classroom. I have some snacks in my bag, if you wanna share?”

Uraraka nodded, and they started to walk off. Tsuyu and Iida had already left, waving goodbye as they ran to the lunchroom. But, Uraraka gave him a strange look when Izuku deliberately turned so he seemed to be fully invested in their conversation when passing Katsuki. Izuku just gave her a pleading look in return, pretending he didn’t hear Katsuki yelling a customary “oi!” at his back.

“Everything alright?” she whispered as they entered the building, leaning a bit closer.

“Yeah,” Izuku answered. “Just...need some space for a few minutes.”

Uraraka nodded, not looking convinced, but didn’t press. Izuku was so thankful that she was his friend, willing to help him avoid Katsuki even if just for a few minutes and not asking questions. Which was a bonus, because Izuku didn’t understand it himself. He was pretty sure that avoiding Katsuki wouldn't help him understand it any better, but he wanted to try it that way first, even if it was bound for failure.

It really was only a few minutes of peace, and not nearly enough time for Izuku to get his thoughts in line, when Katsuki came storming into the classroom, the other boy trailing along behind him, apparently trying to calm the angry blond. He slammed his hands on the desk in between Uraraka and Izuku, scowling.

“The fuck was that?” he growled into Izuku’s face.

Izuku jerked back. “What was what?” he asked, bewildered by Katsuki’s reaction.

“All of that shit! First, you don’t bother to sit with me on the damn car ride, leaving me listening to shitty hair for way too long, then you walk right past me, too distracted by round face to even bother with me?”

Izuku blinked, mouth opening and closing as he tried to parse this along with his own jealousy from earlier.

“Well, if you wanted to sit with us, you should have come back! You didn’t have to stay up front with” Izuku flailed a hand at the other boy, not knowing his name, and stood up to snark back at Katsuki. “Besides, you seemed happy enough to talk with him! I figured I’d give you some space to finally make a friend!”

Katsuki jerked back and Izuku paused, realizing what it sounded like.

“No, Kacchan. That’s not what I meant,” Izuku sighed, running a hand through his hair and forcing his mind to work passed the knee jerk emotions from before.

“Then what the fuck did you mean?”

Izuku flinched at the mean tone to his voice, covering the hurt.

“Kacchan, you don’t like my friends. And that’s fine! You don’t have to. But, you also need friends other than me.”

Izuku swallowed, stepping around the desk to get closer to the still fuming blond. He lowered his voice and carefully took Katsuki’s hand, relieved when he didn’t jerk away.

“I love hanging out with you. Nothing would make me happier than if I could always be with you, but you know that’s not healthy. And, Kacchan, no matter how much I don’t want to share you now that I have you again, I have to and I’d rather it be someone in our class.”

Katsuki sighed, knocking his free hand against Izuku’s head.

“Idiot. Where would I go?”

Izuku’s shoulders slumped in relief, and he smiled brightly up at the blond. Before they could speak, or be interrupted by any of the others in the room, the door opened and the rest of the class poured in. This was followed by their terrifying teacher popping up from behind his desk, where no one had even seen him, and giving them all a death glare. Izuku jumped, squeaking in embarrassment when those harsh eyes turned on him. He absently smacked Katsuki’s side when he noticed the returned glare, before sliding into his seat. He ignored the affronted look shot his way, and gave his full attention to their teacher.

“This morning, each of you were unfortunately able to not only keep up with the initial test, but you also found a starter and registered it to your trainer ID.”

Aizawa paused for a moment, waiting for the excited murmurs to quiet.

“So, since I can’t be bothered to do the paperwork to expel the lot of you today, this afternoon will be the next step in becoming a pro, no matter how few of you will actually manage it.

“Midnight’s going to take over, because I just don’t care.”

Aizawa finished with another exhausted glare, before sliding back under the teacher desk at the front of the room, just in time to miss Midnight throwing the door open and striding in. She was decked out in full costume and gave the class a sultry smile as she came to a stop at the front, a hand on her hip above her pokeballs and the other tapping her crop against her boot.

“Before any of you are allowed off campus for any further exercises or allowed to participate in televised activities, there’s an important step you have to take,” she began. “You have to decide on your persona! It’s my job today to help you pick a name and design the start of your costume, which you will always wear when doing any official activity.”

A storm of whispers flooded the room, the entire class practically vibrating in place. Midnight smacked the crop on the desk in front of her - Iida’s - making everyone jump and refocus.

“I have to approve your name and design by the end of class today, so it can be sent off for fabrication. The first year support division will cover your costumes and any prototypes they come up with, you get first pick to try out. Keep this in mind, because these students will be with you your entire journey! Alienate them now, and you might end up with shit gear.

“Now, I release you to brainstorm! Stay here, leave, I don’t care as long as you’re back here by 2 to show me your initial ideas.”

Izuku’s gaze immediately shot towards Katsuki, who was already turning towards him.

“Well, nerd?” the blond drawled.

“Of course, Kacchan,” Izuku replied, shuffling his things together and into his bag.

They stood and started towards the doors together, leaving the rest of the class blinking after them.

“Uh, Izuku?”

He paused at the bewildered call from Uraraka and turned back, tilting his head in question.

“Are you going back to the dorms?” she continued hesitantly.

“Probably not, why?” he asked.

Against his expectations, her look only turned more perplexed. But, before he could ask her what was wrong, Katsuki made an impatient noise in his throat, drawing Izuku’s attention back to him.

“Coming, Kacchan. I’ll see you guys later!”

With that, Izuku waved and turned, following the blond who had already started out of the door again.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

First, I am not abandoning my stories.2020 has been a horrible year, and the last few months even worse. You may know that I am taking a full load of graduate level classes and working full time. However, mid-October we found out my dad was really sick. Basically, we went from him being perfectly fine to him passing six weeks later, just before Thanksgiving. I was able to get home and see him, but I've been here trying to help my mom since then.In the midst of everything, I have lost my inspiration and motivation for all of my stories. I'm basically stuck halfway through the nest chapter on everything. I don't know when it will be, but I will get back to them.In the meantime, I'm going to try to start a new story to get those creative juices flowing and attempt to lure my muses back. I have a feeling it will take a lot of bribery and begging to get there, but we'll see.Again, thank you to everyone who has held on with me through this long break. I'm sorry. Please try to hold on a little longer for the next chapter. I'll try to get something out soon.Have a great holiday and let's have an amazing 2021.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Let’s hear it,” Katsuki said.

They were sitting across from each other on the ground, knees touching and tucked away in the trees from the more used paths. All five of their pokemon were out and curled around them. Ailith was in Izuku’s lap, happy to act as his table for the graphing pad he was resting on her back. Hadria had given up her normal spot to curl around his back. Blast was panting happily stretched out beside Katsuki’s leg. His newest member - Hanzo the torchic - was squished between Blast’s side and the blond’s leg, but seemed perfectly content. Izuku’s froakie - who had finally, reluctantly, accepted the name Daxon - was sitting off to the side, close enough to hear everything and keep an eye on his trainer, but was definitely keeping himself separate.

“Hear what?” Izuku asked, blinking at Katsuki.

“I know you have tons of ideas, nerd. So, let’s hear ‘em.”

Izuku blushed, eyes darting down. “I may have a few,” he muttered.

Katsuki just raised an eyebrow, waiting.

Izuku shifted in place, before looking back at Katsuki hesitantly. “You want my ideas for you or me first?”

Katsuki smirked. “Go ahead with mine. I know you’re dying to tell me.”

Izuku hesitated another moment before flipping through his pad. “I have a few different ideas for a name. Obviously, you probably have your own thoughts, so don’t worry if you don’t like them, but-”

“Enough with the disclaimers, nerd,” Katsuki interrupted, hiding a fond smile. “If I don’t like ‘em, I’ll let you know. Just fuckin’ tell me.”

“R-right! Well, there’s the obvious fire-based choices, like something with pyro or flame. But, I feel like those are too on the nose and cliche and you would hate them. There’s also some that more reference it, like Smoke or Ash for simple. Or Wildfire, or Smokescreen, or Smolder, or Inferno, or Conflagration.

“But, my favorite is...Ground Zero.”

Katsuki watched him for a long moment, letting the options Izuku had thrown at him roll over in his head. There had been a lot, along with a good amount of rambling, but one definitely stuck out.

“Ground Zero, huh?” Katsuki paused to tease the other, enjoying watching Izuku get flustered the longer it took the blond to say anything. “That’s a good name, nerd.”

Izuku perked up. “You like it?” he asked, a smile stretching his lips wide.

“Yeah,” Katsuki answered with his own vicious grin. “Like the idea, too. Only thing my ‘mons leave behind is nothing.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what else you got? I know you have some ideas for costumes ‘n shit, so let me see ‘em.”

“O-okay! U-um,” Izuku stuttered, turning the page in his notebook and holding it out for Katsuki to look at.

The blond snagged it from Izuku completely, making him yip and reach a hand out, before slumping back and deciding to just let Katsuki do as he wished. He flushed as Katsuki looked through his thoughts - everything from childish attempts to more recent ones had been noted and saved. It felt like hours before Katsuki paused at a certain page. His eyebrow slowly raised as he looked over the design, tilting the page as he read the scribbled notations. Izuku leaned forward, horribly curious as to which one Katsuki seemed so enthralled with.

The picture made him flush again. It was one of the more recent ones, started after they began repairing their relationship, but only just completed. It seemed straightforward at first glance - black cargo pants, steel-toed black combat boots, black tank. But it was the additions that made it a costume and not just nice traveling gear - two different black jackets with a thick, orange X across the chest, a lighter one for summer and a heavier with a higher collar one for winter; green bracers that looked like streamlined grenades to hold his pokeballs and healing items; a black mask, with deliberate kohl lining behind, that extended behind his ears simulating an explosion.

Katsuki nodded and, without warning, ripped the page from the pad. Izuku made a small noise of protest, upset at his work being taken, but quieted when Katsuki folded it carefully and tucked it into a pocket.

“Abyss.”

Izuku blinked at the abrupt - and extremely random - word Katsuki said.

He huffed. “Your name, it should be Abyss.”

“That seems...more like a villain name, don’t you think?” Izuku asked.

“Maybe,” Katsuki shrugged. “But, you’re Dark primary. You’ve started to own it, but you really need to be less terrified of telling people. You’re a fuckin’ nerd, and practically a newbie trainer, but you have potential, else I wouldn’t even bother with you. So, own your type and make everyone fear you while you’re at it.”

“I don’t want everyone to be scared of me!” Izuku yelped.

“Yeah, but they’re gonna be until they meet your crybaby ass, so beat ‘em to the punch and give ‘em a reason to be terrified. Then be the goody-goody we all know you are and make ‘em love you, ‘cause I know that’s what you’re goin’ for.”

Izuku rolled his eyes, but nodded. “I’ll think about it.”

“Well, think quickly. We only got so much time. Besides, I need to see what kind of ideas you came up with for your own design.”

Izuku huffed, but flipped to the start of his own pages. Katsuki started going through, getting to the very end - with some entertaining, if insulting, facial expressions - before he seemed satisfied.

“This’ll work for now, but you should give your Support extra some free reign to improve it.”

He tore out the page and handed it over. It was a simpler design, a one-off that Izuku hadn’t really preferred but drew out anyway. A jumpsuit design in dark green, bright red shoes, a red trainer belt, white gloves, and a simple green mask. The jumpsuit had a hood, but Katsuki knew as well as Izuku did that he would never use the cowl, so the mask was definitely necessary.

“This one?” Izuku asked, surprised.

Katsuki shrugged. “It’s still not great, but it’ll work for now. ‘Specially if the Support department gets a hold of the plans and improves on it.”

“They’re all that bad?” Izuku asked, hurt, even as he folded the page and tucked it away to turn in.

“Nah,” Katsuki said after a moment, handing back the pad and letting his fingers trail against Izuku’s, who didn’t even notice, too stuck in his head. “They’re ok, but they’re all...not you. You still don’t see yourself clearly, and your designs show it. This’ll be your first costume, but I bet you’ll change it before the year is out.”

Izuku blinked, tilting his head as he considered a blank page in his notepad. Daxon hopped a little closer with a croak, like he was wondering what his trainer was thinking.

“Abyss, huh?”

***

“Fuck!”

It was pure luck that Katsuki had seen the time when he stretched. With a shouted expletive, He was jumping to his feet, tugging Izuku up with him. Izuku sputtered as Katsuki started running, tugging him behind with a grip on his hand.

“It’s almost 2!”

Izuku gasped and sped up, looking wildly over his shoulder to ensure all the pokemon were keeping up.

“We lost track of time!” Izuku cried, relieved that at least the five ‘mons were following.

The sprinted the whole way back to their class, tumbling through the door breathlessly and scrambling to their seats with only moments left spare.

“S-sorry!” Izuku squeaked out to Midnight, sliding down in his seat and flushing at the looks they were receiving from the class.

Of course, Katsuki was sitting straight and ignoring everyone, red eyes locked on their teacher like he was wondering what was taking so long. Their pokemon had easily kept up, following them to slump in a pile between their desks. Even Daxon was resting near the other four, despite his more stand-offish nature. The quick dash wasn’t really enough to tire any of them out - especially Izuku, Katuski, and the pokemon they’d had for a while and trained - but the panic and the rush had been enough to get their blood pumping and leave them breathless.

“Well, now that everyone is here,” Midnight said with a judgmental look, making Izuku’s flush deepen further. “We can get started.

“Everyone gets a whiteboard and marker. You will write your proposed name and present it to the class. If it’s approved, I’ll mark it down. You are also expected to have a costume proposal ready for me to check over and turn into the Support department. Are we clear?”

There was a mixture of eager and apprehensive nods that met her instructions. Midnight just grinned at their expressions and passed out the small boards and a marker to each student.

“You have five minutes to make any final changes before I start calling you up.”

Izuku turned to Katsuki, a worried expression across his face.

“Are you sure these are good?”

Katsuki huffed and rolled his eyes. “You’re fine, nerd. The name rocks, and your costume is alright for now.”

Izuku rolled his eyes back at the blond, but settled. The brash words were enough to reassure him again and he quickly wrote out Abyss on his board. There were squeaks throughout the room, some solid and steady like Katsuki’s, others stuttering and hesitant but still present all the same.

The time ran out quickly, even for Izuku who was doing his best to not second guess his choice, no matter what Katsuki said about leaning into his typing.

“Alright!” Midnight shouted, cracking her crop against the podium. “Let’s get you newbs up here so I can turn down your horrible suggestions.”

It actually went pretty well, in Izuku’s opinion. Midnight wasn’t really saying anything about the costumes, barely glancing at them to ensure that there was something there to work with and then sliding them into a folder marked
1A
. It seemed she trusted the support department enough to leave them in their hands. Instead, she was concentrating on their names.

It actually made sense to Izuku after a moment’s thought, as names were much more difficult to alter once they were out. A costume was a costume - it could be slowly or immediately altered to give an entirely different look while still being

them

. Their name, though, once public was so much more difficult to change. A trainer was recognized by name before anything else, and trying to alter that calling card could fatally damage their popularity and support base. Some trainers that tried to change their entire persona after gaining some traction never recovered, no matter how impressive their skills actually were.

Some, like Tsuyu and her proposed “Froppy,” were approved immediately. Others, like Ashido who settled on “Pinky,” took a few tries. Eventually, Midnight even seemed to give up with a couple, like Aoyama who managed to condense his name to “Twinkling.” Even Todoroki, who seemed to be one of the more straightforward personalities had a difficult time deciding on a name, finally choosing “Verglas.” Izuku was especially happy when Katsuki went to the front, revealing “Ground Zero” and was immediately approved. The blond sent a satisfied smirk towards Izuku, who shoved down the strange fluttering in his stomach to beam widely back.

Izuku jumped and paled when Midnight snapped out “Midoriya” with a terrifying grin. Izuku swallowed heavily, scurrying to the front. He looked at Katsuki, who gave a sharp nod, but nothing else. Drawing strength from him, Izuku slowly turned to board towards the class.

Midnight raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Why that?”

“U-um,” Izuku stuttered. “I-um. Kacchan’s right,” he finally managed, fingertips white on the board as he turned towards the pro. “In some of this, at least,” he continued, ignoring the scoff from the blond. Katsuki was convinced he was always right about everything, after all. “People are terrified of my typing. And so they distrust it and hate it. I don’t want to disguise what I focus on with a pretty name. Instead, even my name should make people remember that I’m Dark, but eventually maybe they’ll realize it’s ok. When you look into the abyss, it looks back at you; falling into the abyss is the point of no return. I’ll be the darkness that saves people from the point of no return, before they fall too far. And I’ll do it by being stronger and Darker than the path they’re starting down.”

Midnight hummed, a small smirk on her red lips.

“Good, Midoriya. Being a primary Dark will be a hard road, especially as you seem to actually be following through with focusing on it.”

She shrugged and motioned him back to his seat, taking the design from him as he passed. He scurried back, barely hearing her mutter of “we’ll see how this goes.” The only thing that kept Izuku going was the smirk on Katsuki’s face accompanied by warm scarlet eyes.

***

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. By the time Midnight was done with them, having given a short lecture after they presented their names on a Pro-Trainer’s image, it was the end of their first day. Izuku hurried to shove his things in his bag.

Katsuki turned, raising an eyebrow at Izuku. “Oi, nerd. What’re you doing?”

Izuku jumped. “Oh, Kacchan! I’m sorry, I need to head to the store to get some things for Daxon. I didn’t have time at the breeder’s.”

Katsuki stood, shoving his notebook in his bag and whistling for Blast to wake up. “Let’s go, then.”

Izuku blinked, but smiled slowly. “Sorry, Kacchan. I didn’t think you’d want to run errands today, since you just got Hanzo.”

“Tch, shitty nerd. ‘Course I’m coming,” he scoffed, starting towards the door, all five pokemon on his heels. “You’d prob’ly get lost otherwise.”

“Of course,” Izuku hummed, absently waving goodbye to his friends as he followed. He didn’t even notice the look on their faces as they left, nor the look they exchanged between themselves and the redhead that was hanging on Katsuki earlier.

The walk down the long pathway to the gate was done in comfortable silence, the two teenagers watching their pokemon race and tumble over each other playfully. It was broken as they passed through the gates and Katsuki mumbled something unintelligible.

“Hm?” Izuku hummed. “What was that?”

“What was with you today?” Katsuki said, a bit louder, deliberately not looking at him.

Izuku blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Earlier, when you ignored me. Then you snapped at me. What was up with that?”

He said it all in a rush, like he didn’t want to ask, but needed to know the answer. He still wouldn’t look at Izuku.

Izuku flushed, for once glad that those eyes weren’t focused on him. “I already told you, you deserve to have friends.”

“Tch, nerd. You can’t lie to me. Somethin’ was up today, and I wanna know what’s goin’ on.”

“Kacchan, please,” Izuku said quietly, eyes trained on their pokemon. He could see Katsuki finally looking at him from the corner of his eye. “I do want you to have people to rely on other than me. But, outside of that...I don’t know what I was feeling, so I can’t tell you. I’m sorry I ignored you, then snapped at you. I don’t know why I did that.”

Katsuki sighed, slinging an arm over Izuku’s shoulders. Izuku immediately leaned into him, tucking his nose against the blond’s collar and wrapping an arm around his waist.

“Don’t take too long, nerd. I’ll give you some time to figure it out, but don’t let it happen again, k?”

“Okay, Kacchan. I’m sorry,” Izuku said, voice muffled.

Katsuki heard it all the same, and squeezed his shoulders briefly in acknowledgement. Izuku was surprised, and secretly pleased, that he didn’t pull away as soon as the conversation was over, and they ended up walking most of the way into town wrapped up in each other.

“What d’you need to get?” Katsuki asked, finally pulling away as they headed into Santalune.

Izuku covered his disappointed frown, not sure why he was so eager to be close to the blond today, and nodded towards a nearby store, one for general pokemon needs.

“Just the basics, really. I already have food for him, both some Dark-type and some Water-type for him to choose between. But I need to get a better ‘ball, a collar and tag, and probably a pool. I’ll let Daxon choose what he needs. D’you need anything for Hanzo or Blast?”

Katsuki shook his head. “Nah, I might pick up more Fire-chow while we’re here, but I don’t really need it. Maybe a nest, if he finds one he really wants.”

“Sounds good! We could grab some food after we’re done? If you’d like, but only if you don’t have any other plans,” Izuku stammered, missing the fond smile.

“Shut it, Deku. Food is fine. Didn’t get to eat lunch remember? With the trip and your dumb ass, there wasn’t time to eat.”

“Right,” Izuku mumbleded, flushing as he remembered his earlier behavior, still not sure what exactly he had been feeling, even though they seemed to be moving past it.

Katsuki just gave a gruff chuckle. “Relax, nerd. I’m not mad.”

Izuku shook himself out of his shame spiral and gave Katsuki a wane smile. “OK, Kacchan.”

Katsuki nudged him with his elbow, then steered him into the store, whistling again for Blast, who immediately followed. The rest of the pokemon hurried, too, with Ailith hopping up into Izukus arms now that they were near more people.

They had never done this before, shopping just the two of them and their pokemon. They shared a basket, half of their pokemon catching a ride, the other trotting along at their feet. They went down each aisle religiously, to ensure there wasn’t anything extra that was needed.

Izuku loved it. And that terrified him.

***

Katsuki would never tell another soul, but he was thrilled.

Izuku’s face was a study in concentration as they examined each aisle. When he found something he was interested, he would pause and compare at least two items, if not more, to decide which one was the best. There were even a couple of times when he pulled out his phone to google more information, just in case.

Katsuki found it adorable.

Watching Izuku decide between two different brands for a small pool, Katsuki was hit by a revelation.

He wanted this.

He wants this in twenty years.

He wants this forever.