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Chapter 1: Dreams Left Behind
All around him was fire. His lungs were filling with ash, inflaming them so he couldn’t breathe. He tried to look around the burned testing grounds for the U.A. practical exam he took, but all he could see were burning buildings. As he looked in front of him, he could see the destroyed body of the Zero Pointer. Just looking at it made his arm burn remembering the punch he threw towards it to protect the nice brown-haired girl, yet he couldn’t help but painfully smile at the fact he actually saved someone.Though, he couldn’t help but wonder, why did this have to happen.It was a life changing day for Midoriya Izuku. He woke up at 3:00 A.M. and immediately got ready and ran to Takoba Beach to clean up the last remaining bit of trash. When he got there, he saw just how much progress he had made during his training with All Might and got to work moving the last bits of trash left on the beach into a pile.The workload was probably the most he has had during these 10 months, with the stray cars and entire pick-up truck that was left, but he was determined to move it all! After thirty minutes of light stretches and exercises, he moved to start working. After another hour he had all of the home appliances in one pile and was working on the bits of metal scrap left. Another 2 hours later, and he had the metal scrap in a dumpster left specifically for it and any regular waste in a recycling dumpster. During this time, Izuku started to sweat a lot so he took off the sweater he put on to compensate for the cold morning air, which left his in a black compression shirt and some cargo shorts he had on.Realizing that it was getting later in the morning, he immediately picked up his pace.Thanks to his increased pace just 30 minutes later Izuku had the rest of the trash on the beach cleaned up, making the sand sparkle at how pristine it was. The boy decided to spend the next fifteen minutes making sure the trash was sorted and in the correct area for pickup. “Ah! Man, that was a lot of work! I’m glad I could finish it though, because that means people will be able to come back here soon.” As he mumbled this to himself, he didn’t notice the slight sparkle of golden light that appeared next to his head.Izuku jogged back to his stuff, and decided to polish up his notes on some heroes he started earlier in the week. While writing his notes in his note book, listening to the waves of the ocean crash against the beach shore and birds chirp overhead, he thought back to the actions that led to him being able to do this.The fateful day where he first met All Might and got his offer for training. The local Dojo owned by the Kendo family, where they were nice enough to teach and train him in some martial arts, and even made aa new friend in the daughter of the Dojo’s owners Kendo Itsuka. The last thing he thought about, was all of the support from his mother and All Might for this new training regimen and his dream of becoming a hero.After a bit more note taking, Izuku decided to pack his stuff up and go back home to get ready for the upcoming U.A. entrance exams. Just as the green haired boy was standing up however, he heard a familiar booming voice echo from the entrance to the beach where the trash was. “Holy freaking SUPER CRAP!” The powerful voice of All Might bellowed as he transformed into his buff form mid-sentence.“All Might!” The freckled boy shouted in surprise. “What are you doing here?” He inquired from his mentor of the past 10 months. “Ahem! Well Young Midoriya, I was actually planning to come here to check up on you and your progress since it’s been a while… But I didn’t expect you to clean even outside of the parameters I set for you! I mean, look at this! Every single speck of sand looks as if you shrunk down and got all of the trash off of them!” All Might exclaimed with genuine awe in his voice.Even though his words were encouraging, the naturally shy Izuku’s face lit up with embarrassment as he mumbled something unintelligible under his breath. “T-thanks All Might, I really mean that!” He eventually responded with a massive bright smile on his face while some stray tears rolled down his cheeks, which he wiped.“Don’t thank me Young Midoriya! This was all your hard work that accomplished this, I mean just look at you!” As All Might brushed off the undeserved complement, he received from his protégé he pulled his phone out from his coat, and opened a photo of the boy from 10 months ago when his training first began. Izuku looked at the photo of himself. The version of him in the picture was significantly more scrawny and less muscular than himself now. Looking at it gave him a great sense of how far he had come since then.“But, that’s not the only reason I’m here right now.” All Might started, which got Izuku to snap out of his rumination on how far he has come with his training and made him look to the Number 1 Hero. “Now Young Midoriya, I want you to know that these last few weeks I was gone from watching your training was for a reason.” The giant man started which got the boy’s eyes to widen slightly. “The reason for my absence, was of course due to other matters that pertain to hero life, but also because I wanted to test your resolve and resilience.” While he was talking, he motioned for the boy to follow him as he walked on the beach, with the boy walking with him while letting him finish.“Just due to the fact this entire beach was cleaned so meticulously I can tell you really want to become a hero. You have made it a fact that you would do anything to be a hero, as long as you get to save as many people as possible. That is why I have a very important question… Are you sure you want One for All? Now, before you say anything know this isn’t me trying to deny you the power you have worked so hard to earn, this is just me wondering if you feel you really need it to be a hero, because in my eyes you could easily become a top ranking by the time you graduate from U.A.!” When All Might finished talking, cutting off Izuku’s fears before they could even manifest, the boy found himself standing there in deep thought while Yagi Toshinori stood still waiting for his answer.Despite Yagi-sensei straight up confirming that the fears he was developing were invalid before he could even voice them, Izuku still found him self doubting if he even deserved a power as great as One for All, or if he should just give it up to some one who deserved it more. Toshinori must’ve sensed his discomfort with his thoughts, because he slowly de-transformed and laid his now bony hand on his shoulder. “Young Midoriya… I can tell you are questioning if you deserve to have One for All, a power you rightfully earned through your hard work, because I went through the same thing when my master first passed this quirk down to me. But, just know this… Whether you choose to accept it or not know this wasn’t a mistake and you fully deserve this power you have put the effort in to earning.”These were the last words Izuku needed to hear before the damn broke. As if a switch was flipped, the green haired boy’s eyes started to leak tears at a rapid rate, while he tried to wipe them to no avail. This was all Toshinori needed to see, before he pulled his protégé into a tight hug. “It’s all right my boy… Just let your tears flow, and cry.” He gingerly spoke, making the boy cry even more.After a few minutes of crying and cleaning himself up, Izuku looked up at his now transformed mentor with all the determination he could muster in his still slightly teary eyes. “Yagi-sensei, I would be honored if you allowed me to have One for All, to help make me the best hero I can be!” He yelled after bowing deeply to the older man. “Woah now Young Midoriya!” Toshinori started getting the boy to look up at him once more. “None of that now! As I told you earlier, you earned this there is no reason to do this! Now, before we begin this transfer, I need to make one thing clear about the usage of this quirk!” He declared, making Izuku stand up straight and look at him with a serious expression.“Know that you will not be able to use the full 100% of One for All right of the bat like I was, so I would recommend using a smaller percentage of it to start with. And the last thing! This power can have a dangerous backlash when concentrating it into a singular part of your body, so try to spread it out evenly throughout!” While All Might said this, Izuku brought out the notebook he made specifically for the quirk and wrote what he spoke of down.“And now, I will transfer this power on to you.” The giant of a man spoke grandiosely, making the protégé close his eyes in preparation and take a deep breath. “Now! Eat This!” Izuku sputtered mid exhale and slightly coughed, making him open his eyes. When his eyes were open though, he saw a small blonde strand of hair between All Might’s massive fingers. “Y-you don’t mean…? Eat your hair… right?” The young Midoriya meekly asked, making Toshinori turn his head slightly to the left while coughing in his other hand.“Well… yes. The quirk has to be transferred through DNA and this id the least gross way to do so.” He answered, his earlier exuberance gone. Still looking at the hair with apprehension, Izuku took the water bottle that was in his back pocket out and uncapped it. “Well… Down the hatch I guess.” He said before downing the strand of hair with water. He coughed a bit at the texture of it, but ultimately got it down.“Ahem, well now that that’s over do you feel any different?” Toshinori asked a few minutes later when they got back to Izuku’s stuff and got in the man’s truck to take said boy to his home to get ready. “No, not right now… But maybe I will by the time the entrance exams start!” Izuku replied optimistically.After they got back to the boy’s apartment, Izuku went to get ready while Toshinori talked with his protégé’s mom Midoriya Inko. Around 20 minutes later Izuku was ready to go to U.A. and headed off after hugging his mom and saying goodbye.Facility off the Shore of JapanIn a facility in the Pacific Ocean, a private owned team of scientists and military experts were hustling through the hallways exchanging information with each other like a well-oiled machine. Inside one of the more packed rooms in the facility, many high-ranking officials were grouped together to perform an operation that would suerly change the scope of hero society as the world knew it.“Sergeant Donaldson, how are the operations against U.A. going?” A man with a grizzly voice spoke to a younger looking man who immediately turned around and saluted. “Chief Stark sir! All operations against U.A. High are primed and ready to launch sir!” Robert Donaldson replied back as clear as he could, getting a grunt of affirmation in response.“Alright people!” Jerimiah Stark exclaimed getting the attention of everyone in the room, except for a few scientists who were doing last minute checks on the hardware used during the operations to come. “In two hours, the target Headquarters ordered us to eliminate will be in the open area of U.A testing ground Gamma! As you all know by now, the big boss told us to fire all of the long-range weapons we could at the site to make sure the target is dead due to the power he possesses.” At this statement he got a ‘Yes Chief!’ in return which made him smile in satisfaction,"If you all understand that, then get to your stations and track the target at all times over the next 2 hours. If I catch you away from your station without a suitable replacement, then have fun with your dead flesh and bones being fish bait!” He said harshly, getting another affirmative from everyone in the room again. “Now Go!”Izuku was now in the boy’s locker room at U.A. Throughout the written exam he kept feeling a sharp stabbing sensation in his head but he just shook it off, now in the empty locker room though, he thought he could feel a faint thrum of electricity under his skin.This sensation made him text Yagi-sensei, and from that he learned that it was probably One for All. Thanks to this new revelation he decided to attempt get as familiar with it as possible. Which led to the predicament he was in now. Somehow after managing to activate One for All and seeing the green electricity that was coming from his body, he started to hear other voices in his head. When he tried to respond to them, they all went quiet, before his body erupted into action.The first thing that happened, was feeling the stabbing sensation again, after that he started to float to the ceiling while smoke poured out from his body. Next, he felt his body heat up with every movement, and felt his body speed up and slow down repeatedly. Lastly, he saw small black tentacles with an outline of green energy.After a few seconds of every feeling in his body going into overdrive, he passed out.???When Izuku awoke, he wasn’t in the boy’s locker room anymore, nor was he in any room at all. As he looked around, he saw nothing but a dark void. Just as he was about to close his eyes due to tiredness however, in the corner of his eye he saw 8 pillars of light shoot up into the void.In an instant, the viridian eyed boy was in front of the source of the lights. He adjusted his body to allow him to float while straight up, and saw a crescent shaped table with eight seats and figures sitting in them. “Welcome young Midoriya.” He heard the central figure say, and when he focused it turned into a man with long shaggy white hair and green eyes. The man’s face made him look sickly and his scrawny body didn’t help that.Without saying another word, the sickly-looking man waved his hand and made the fog covering the other 7 figures fade away in an instant. The other eight figures starting from the right was a yellow ghostly person that looked exactly like Yagi-sensei emaciated form with wisps of the same yellow coloring floating off of his form that waved at him when Izuku looked towards him.To the left of the yellow wisp, was a young-looking man with black hair wearing a red jacket that covered the entirety of the lower portion of his face and black baggy pants that were tucked into his brown high-top boots. The man gave a small nod once he looked at him. Next to him, was another man with white hair, that had purple eyes and two scars on the left side of his face. This man was wearing a green puffy jacket with the right shoulder to elbow torn off. Under the jacket he was wearing a long sleeve white shirt, and white pants with a large belt holding them up. Surprisingly, he wasn’t wearing any shoes, and his pants looked as if the ankles had been ripped off.Next to the man with the scar, was a man with a hair style similar to his childhood bull- friend Kacchan the only difference was that his hair was a peach color. Moving onto the mans face he had a massive scar on the left side of it, and his red eyes were glaring at him as if in judgement. The man was wearing a military vest and pants, under the vest was a black long sleeve compression shirt with a long collar. On his wrists, the peach haired man wore two massive gauntlets made of some type of metal.The man to the left of the sickly man was another man in a military vest and pants, the only difference was that this man wore a short sleeve black compression shirt. The man had light gray hair tied up in a spiky ponytail wearing a bandanna on top of his head as well. The man’s forearms had bandages wrapped around them, with his eyes also evaluating Izuku.The next person, was a bald man dressed like an old school biker. He had yellow tinted goggles on his head, and had storm grey eyes that held mischief in them while he had a joyful smile on his face. The man, while not wearing a shirt under his black leather jacket, did have a slug belt under it. Other than his baggy black pants, there wasn’t much else so Izuku looked to the last person.When the boy turned his head to look at the last person, he saw a woman who reminded him of his mother when she was younger. The woman, who had raven black hair that had a small ponytail in the back that didn’t stop her hair from framing her face and settling just slightly under her shoulder blades. The woman’s face was practically flawless, with only a small mole under the left side of her mouth that just added to her beauty. Her eyes held a motherly charm that settled him down, and her small warm smile helped that even further. Over her shoulders the woman had a spotless white cape that Izuku saw almost hit the ground behind her chair. The woman otherwise, was wearing a formfitting no sleeved black body suit, with yellow gloves covering her hands, while she had a small red cape hanging on her waist that ended just at her shins that had a gold buckle. She also wore white boots on her feet, the entire getup made her look like a hero.When Izuku finished looking the other occupants over, he heard the sickly-looking man clear his throat to get his attention. “Well, seeing as you have been visually introduced to us, allow me to do so vocally, To start, I am the First or Shigaraki Yoichi the original holder of One for All.” This admission made Izuku recoil in shock. “W-wait! You guys are the past holders of One for All!?” He stuttered in surprise making most of the people slightly chuckle at his outburst.“Yes, that is correct.” The woman started bringing his attention to her. “My name is Shimura Nana, the Seventh holder of One for All and Toshinori’s sensei.” As she said that she pointed towards the yellow wisp, that was waving at him. “So… That’s Yagi-sensei?” Izuku asked getting a chorus of yes’ from the past users. Over the next few minutes, he learned the names of all the rest of the past users and learned what their quirks are.When it was Yoichi’s turn to answer the question, he raised his hand to stop Izuku from saying anything. I’m actually glad you brought up quirks, because that makes it easier to transition into the next subject.” He said making the rest of them quiet up and become serious as well. “Midoriya, you as the Ninth wielder of One for All have awakened all of our quirks and are able to use them all when ever you want. Us vestiges expected this to happen a few months from now, but seeing as it happened now this is probably for the best.”The serious nature of the conversation made the green haired boy tense up the tiniest bit more. “You will have to be the last wielder of One for All, because otherwise the next user will die as soon as the transfer begins.” That made the boy’s eyes widen in alarm. “You mean I have to die with the quirk?” He asked in a quiet voice, his eyes now pinpricks.Seeing as Yoichi was too anti-social to understand how to break news to a kid Nana took the reins on the conversation. “Midoriya, if One for All weren’t passed onto you, a quirkless kid, then the power of it would tear apart the body of whoever it was passed onto next. So really you taking something you earned, helped save the life of another person.” She quickly said, as Izuku started to take deep breaths to calm down.“Seeing as we’ve got a lot of time, why don’t we just tell him everything?” Hikage suggested, the other vestiges quickly agreeing.After the vestiges explained all of what was going on, Izuku manifested a notebook out of nowhere and started to take notes so fast that sparks were being created. “So… Does anyone know where he got the notebook?” En asked baffled. Instead of an answer however, he just saw the other vestiges staring at him. “… What? Did I say something wrong?” He asked which made them all groan and lean back in their chairs, defeated. “Don’t you remember what happened to Eighth when he asked that?” Banjo wondered exasperatedly, and oh yes En remembered the 6-hour infodump Ninth told Toshinori about technology that can make pocket dimensions not existing while the boy pulled notebook after notebook out of said non-existent pocket dimension.Shifting himself to an empty corner of the room they were in, En successfully made 36 different swear words in the span of thirty seconds.A few minutes later, Izuku finished writing his notes and the vestiges bid him farewell and sent his consciousness back to the real world.Izuku took a sharp inhale and sat up, finding himself in the locker room at U.A. in his athletic clothes. When he looked around the room, he could see that nothing was out of place from when he first tried to use One for All. Now that he was armed with the knowledge of what his new quirk could do, he spent the next few minutes practicing with it and the other quirks before leaving with a determined smile on his face.After he left out into the loading bay for the buses, he went to the bus for his assigned test site and got on. He was wondering what the subtle thrum of Danger Sense he could feel was, but brushed it off as someone having a bad day. Little did he know, that he was completely wrong.“Chief! It seems the target has just boarded his assigned bus! Shall I continue tracking it to make sure of its location?” One person asked over the radio, as their stations were soundproof. “No Private Daniels, I want you to take a break you’ve been working for twenty-four hours straight! I’ll find you a substitute so get some rest, that’s an order!” Chief Stark answered back through his personal radio sighing after he finished the transmission.“Every day, that boy just loves to work… Hines! Take Private Daniels station!” He once again ordered over the radio. “Alright you green haired kid, it’s time to make me my money.” He said with a grin while looking at a printed photo of Aldera Junior High Student Midoriya Izuku.“WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR!? THERE’S NO COUNTDOWN IN A REAL BATTLE!” Izuku heard Present Mic yell from the announcer’s booth which kicked him and the other participants into high gear.The green haired boy with One for All active throughout his whole body at a low percentage, ran down a side alley a bit after he ran into the fake city gates. When he turned the corner, he came face to face with a one-point robot. While still keeping One for All active, but focusing more of it into his feet, he pivoted on his right foot and unleashed a deadly roundhouse kick that sent its head flying.“I can really do this, that was easy!” He yelled in his mind, hyping him up even more. After letting his minor victory simmer in his head a bit more, he rushed off to the next robot, not noticing the bright light that kept following him.After about five minutes, Izuku had defeated a fair bit of robots. Even though he took most of those out because they were about to injure other applicants doesn’t matter, because he had to help them!He was running through the streets of the fake city checking for more robots when he felt the ground tremble, hard which caused Danger Sense to hit him equally as hard due to the panic the other applicants had. He started to run again with OFA at a higher percentage than before, making his legs ache the slightest bit.By the time he reached the source of the panic he looked down a road filled with broken robots and applicants, the other thing there was a massive 10 story tall metal behemoth that looked ready to crush all the students in its way. As the metal beast lifted its head signifying it was on, everyone kicked into action. All of the contestants on the road started to run towards the opposite direction of it, while one boy with engines on his legs accidentally knocked the frozen Izuku down to his butt. The bespectacled boy pondered snapping him out of it, but ultimately decided not to.In Izuku’s mind he could hear the vestiges speaking to him, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying. His mind was clouded in a haze of fear until one sound broke him out of it. “Help! I need help, my leg is stuck!” Izuku heard the voice of the kind girl with brown hair that stopped his fall when he first arrived at U.A., Uraraka he believes, yell.Immediately he snapped into action like a rubber band. He activated what he dubbed One for All: Full Cowling and ran towards the girl with 15 percent of OFA making his whole-body ache even more. When he reached the girl, as if on auto pilot he lifted the massive piece of rebar that trapped her leg, picked her up, and put her down somewhere far away from the Zero Pointer.After he put the girl down he darted back to the metal monster, jumped in the air, and focused all that he could handle of OFA into his right arm, cocked it back, and punched the giant robot in the ‘chest’ completely obliterating that area and landing back on the ground with his arm raw and red almost sizzling.All of the applicants including Uraraka watched in awe, as the Zero Pointer fell backwards while the green haired boy that destroyed it raised a thumbs up with his left hand. As some of the students started to applaud and cheer for him, they were cut off when an alarm blared through the loud speakers and multiple giant red dots appeared on the area Izuku was at.Said boy noticed the red dots now where he was, and the massive surge of hostility he felt up in the sky with Danger Sense and looked up. When he did so, he saw a massive barrage of missiles aimed directly where he was, and immediately grabbed any rubble he could, including the Zero Pointer, and used 25% of OFA well above his current limit and threw it at the barrage of weapons.The air pressure he released with the throws had the added affect of pushing the other applicants away from him, and throwing him and his two bruised arms down to the ground sticking him in place. The downside to this all or nothing though, was that none of the rubble actually reached the missile barrage and just came barreling straight down around him.All Izuku could do was stare at the missiles as they barreled towards his prone form, now internalizing that he would die. In a last-ditch effort to survive, he wrapped himself in a cocoon of Black Whip hoping it might save him.When Izuku woke up, after he somehow passed out, it was to the ruin of the area he was in. Ash from the raging flames was filling his lungs, slowly but surely making it harder to breath. Izuku heard the vestiges say many things but just shut them out for now.As he searched the decimated area he was in, he noticed that his wounds weren’t as bad as before, but ultimately all his search led to was the ruined corpse of the Zero Pointer where he sat on a relatively cool piece of upturned concrete.The boy ultimately gave up, knowing that his death by inflammation was going to happen soon even if he got medical aid. So, he just sat there, waiting for the end to come, or he would have if a bright light didn’t appear in front of his face momentarily blinding him. When he was able to see again, he found himself in a void not to dissimilar to the void of OFA. After floating there aimlessly as he didn’t have the strength to move anymore, he heard an ethereal voice speak to him in his mind that the vestiges could hear too.“Midoriya Izuku… Do you wish to live again?” He heard the voice ask, to which he and the Past Users knew the answer. “Yes.” He rasped through the ash in his throat.“Would you still say yes even if it meant losing the powers you just gained?” The being asked amused by the answer they knew was to come. “Yes, but at least let me keep my new friends.” He rasped pleadingly making the ethereal being hum in acknowledgement.“I can grant your wishes, but it would mean abandoning this world and those that loved you and starting over in a new one. Do you still accept these terms?” The being inquired steadily humming as the boy thought his answer over. “I will accept, as long as it means they will stay safe.” Even though he was still very weak, the being could feel the conviction in his voice.“Why of course. I would have done so even without you asking. Now, Midoriya Izuku open your eyes to your new life as the sole champion of mine.” The being said some other stuff, but all Izuku could do was close his eyes as he was consumed by the divine light.
To Be Continued
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Chapter 2: Of the New Paths We Cross
“Froakie!” “Ah-! Wait up Froakie! We need to catch up with Serena and the other…” Izuku groaned as he heard the voice trail off. He thought heard someone speak in his head but couldn’t make out any of what they said.The boy tried to open his eyes, but found he couldn’t, and slowly drifted back into a dreamless slumber. He wouldn’t realize it yet, but his new life in this mysterious world would begin with this moment.Calem was travelling through Santalune Forest after splitting up with his friends in Aquacorde City. The grey-haired boy had just moved into his home in Vaniville Town less than a week ago, so he was glad he could make all of these new friends so quickly.After meeting his new friends and neighbors, Tierno, Trevor, Serena, and Shauna in Aquacorde, they decided to hangout for a bit before Trevor and Tierno surprised the remaining three with something. Apparently, the local Pokémon Professor Sycamore, wanted to give him, Serena, and Shauna each one of the regions starter Pokémon so they could help him complete the Pokédex and follow their dreams.Since it was Calem’s first time meeting Tierno and Trevor, they had a bit of back and forth to introduce each other. After that however, it was time for them to pick which Pokémon they wanted as a starter, and the two girls allowed him to pick first as he was new to the region.“Ah- okay I guess…” He said nervously as they pushed him in front of the table with the Pokéballs. When he looked back to them after getting a last confirmation, he instantly felt a connection with the one on the right, as if it was calling his name. He didn’t notice it, but he slowly moved his hand to touch the Pokéball the more he stared at it.After he took a deep breath, he picked up the ball, and instantly noticed it felt cool to the touch. The red metal his hand was touching, though sturdy, felt like he could reach through it and grab the Pokémon inside. He was going to sit there until sundown if it wasn’t for the nudge to his side Serena gave him, snapping him out of his impromptu daydream. Once he got the signal, he pressed the button to enlarge the device before he lightly tossed it into the air. In midair, the technical marvel opened up and released a bright red light that flowed smoothly like a stream towards the ground. As the rest of the light fully left the Pokéball, it started to coalesce into a creature known as a Pokémon.The Pokémon that formed out of the red light, was a blue frog like creature with a soap bubble like scarf around its neck. While Calem and the blue frog stared at each other, Tierno brought out his own Pokédex that looked like a tablet with two red pull-out sections, and a screen that looked as if it was a hologram and scanned the frog like creature.“Froakie, the Bubble frog Pokémon a Water-type! It secretes flexible bubbles from its chest and back. The bubbles reduce the damage it would otherwise take when attacked!” The device informed the group. After it finished talking, the now named Froakie cried out in joy and jumped up to Calem’s shoulder, making the boy chuckle at the feeling of its bubbles.“What a cute Pokémon!” Serena exclaimed in joy, before she walked up to the table and grabbed the Pokéball in the middle. When she released the Pokémon inside, it was revealed to be a fox with orange fur, red tufts in its ears and on the tip of its tail, and white fur on its mouth area.When the fox Pokémon uncurled itself from its sleeping position and yawned, Tierno scanned it whistling once it finished. “Fennekin, the Fox Pokémon a Fire-type! Eating a twig gives it energy, and its ears give vent to air hotter than 390 degrees Fahrenheit.” The Pokédex announced to the group, making the fox give a cry and walk between Serena’s legs.The last one to get a starter, Shauna, strutted up to the table and took the last Pokéball in her hand. “And it’s the best for last!” She declared before releasing the Pokémon held within. When the red light dissipated once again, a green and brown Pokémon with quills on its head was lying there asleep.Where Shauna was expecting another cheerful and energetic Pokémon, she got one that loved to laze about and take naps whenever it could. While everyone was laughing at Shauna’s crestfallen expression, Tierno took the chance to scan this last starter before putting his Pokédex away.“Chespin, the Spiky Nut Pokémon a Grass-type! The quills on its head are usually soft, but when it flexes them, the points become so hard and sharp that they can pierce rock.” The Pokédex told the group, making Calem whistle at how impressive it sounded.“That’s pretty cool! Maybe it will get even cooler when it evolves!” He exclaimed to Shauna genuinely making the girl turn her nose up. “Of course, Chespin’s cool, it’s my new partner after all!” She said playfully getting the group chuckle at her.All the noise must have woken the aforementioned Pokémon up however, because it sat straight up with a cry of its name posing just like Shauna was before, making the group and their Pokémon laugh even harder while it looked on in confusion.After a while of chatting, and Trevor giving the three new trainers their own Pokédexes, Serena challenged Calem to a friendly battle which he happily agreed to. Trevor stepped up to be the ref for the battle while Tierno and Shauna watched on the sidelines.As Fennekin trotted up to its place, Froakie hopped off of Calem’s shoulder to its place. “The battle will end when either Trainer’s Pokémon is unable to battle. If both sides are ready, then let the battle begin!” When Trevor lifted his hand to start the match, Calem’s Froakie had to immediately dodge an Ember from the opposing Fennekin. “Froakie! Jump above it and use double team!” Calem called out, to which Froakie happily obliged. It ran towards Fennekin before jumping above it, and using double team making two clones of itself. What the pair didn’t expect however, was for Serena to call out something that threw them off guard.“Fennekin, meet them in the air and use Sand Attack!” As she said this, Calem was in the middle of telling Froakie to his Fennekin with a Pound to hopefully stun it long enough to get a decisive hit, but by the time he called it out he had already fallen into the opposing girls trap as Froakie’s clones were dissipated thanks to the wave of dirt that fell over them. When Froakie used Pound after this, it completely whiffed leaving it open for a nasty Ember straight to the face, that was further damaged when Fennekin smacked it down to the ground with its tail.“Fro!” It cried in pain, while the opposing Pokémon landed gracefully on its paws, taking no damage. “Froakie, are you alright!?” Calem asked his Pokémon in worry, ready to concede the fight but ultimately couldn’t because the Frog Pokémon slowly got up and cried determinately making the boy’s eyes widen in disbelief.“Froakie… Are you sure you want to continue this fight? We can end it at any point.” He asked in concern getting a nod back from his partner in response, making him smile. “Alright Froakie! Let’s hit her with everything we’ve got, use Bubble Beam and follow it up with a Pound!” Calem commanded quickly as Serena Did the same, ordering Fennekin to dodge the attacks before retaliating with another Ember to finish Froakie off.After the orders were called out, the two Pokémon did exactly as they were told. Froakie ran towards Fennekin while firing off a constant beam of bubbles, meanwhile Fennekin maneuvered around the bubbles while kicking up a cloud of dirt to hide itself from view.When Froakie got to the dust cloud, it once again fired off a Bubble Beam to destroy it, but the Fox Pokémon was nowhere to be seen. “Froakie, behind you!” Said Pokémon heard its trainer callout, and when it faced him, it was met with a blast of fire that pushed it back making it fall onto its back unable to battle.“Froakie is unable to battle, which means Serena and Fennekin win this battle!” Trevor called out, while Shauna and Tierno were clapping and cheering behind him. “That was an awesome battle you two!” Shauna yelled encouragingly. “Yeah, you looked like pros there!” Tierno also said.Calem walked over to the unconscious form of Froakie and tapped its Pokéball on its head. “You did amazing out there Froakie…” He whispered to the ball it slightly wiggling in response making him smile. “Hey, Calem!” Serena yelled to him, making him face her. “You and Froakie were really in sync that battle, it almost felt like you two were just one person!” She said giving him a dazzling smile that made his face heat up for some reason.After taking him on a tour through Aquacorde City, and giving him all the essentials, he needed to be a trainer the rest of the group went ahead through Santalune Forest to make it to the next city, while he went back home to say goodbye to his mom. One heartfelt goodbye later and he was on his way past the bridge to the forest. He had a battle with a trainer that was waiting for his friends to get there so they could go into the forest, and entered in himself. And now he’s caught up to how he got into this predicament. He was about to battle and hopefully catch a Fletchling in the forest, when his new partner suddenly bounded off in a seemingly random direction getting him to leave the Fletchling behind and run after it.When he caught up with his starter, he had given up on catching a new Pokémon and was ready to get out of the maze of a forest. “Froakie!” He heard it call out making him face the direction he heard it from. “Ah-! Wait up Froakie! We need to catch up with Serena and the others…” He slowly trailed off when he saw his partner Pokémon sitting worriedly next to a groaning green haired boy that slowly slipped back into unconsciousness when he approached.As the grey-haired boy knelt next to the other, he noticed that said boy was covered in ash as if he had been in the middle of a burning building, and his arms were red and felt raw to the touch as if they were bruised really bad. “What happened to him… He looks like he was on the wrong end of a fight between a Rhydon and a Talonflame.” Calem muttered to himself, wondering how he would get the boy help.About 15 minutes later, the new Pokémon Trainer did all that he could to dress the boy’s wounds with the supplies he had on hand, but due to how far in the forest he was all he could hope for was being able to make it to the next town.Calem was absolutely tired by the time he got to the Santalune City Pokémon Center. He had carried the green-haired boy, who was surprisingly still passed out, all the way through the forest, and got some directions from some other Trainers that were there to the city, he was lucky none of the local Pokémon were too keen to battle seeing as he couldn’t just put the sleeping boy down on the ground.When he walked through the automatic doors, he almost fainted in relief at seeing the Nurse Joy working there. Almost immediately said nurse ordered the two Chanseys to take the boy off of his back, and bring him to another room meanwhile she stayed behind and asked him about what happened.“I don’t know what happened. I was walking through Santalune Forest to catch up with my friends, when Froakie here ran off and led me to the green haired kid lying down on the ground looking as if he just had a huge fight with a Pokémon.” He explained, while the Nurse Joy wrote all of it down on a notepad. When they reached the operation room that the Chanseys brought the boy to.As Calem looked at the condition the boy was in, he noticed that he looked leagues better than when he first found him. For starters, he was out of those soot covered clothes and had bandages over his raw arms. Another thing he noticed, was that Froakie kept staring at the empty space around the boy’s head as if some thing was there.After the Nurse Joy did a full check-up on the other boy, she had offered to let Calem stay at an extra room they had open for Trainers, to which he happily obliged and settled his stuff down. The grey-haired boy had heard there was a Pokémon Gym in town, and assumed that if his friends weren’t still in town then the had already beat it and gone to meet with Professor Sycamore.He was walking around and taking in the sights of the town when he spotted the building he was looking for, the Gym. From what Calem knew about the Gym, he heard that the Gym Leaser was named Viola, and she used Bug-type Pokémon. He also heard a bit about the layout of the Gym challenge from some locals and other Trainers, but he didn’t pay much attention as he wasn’t even going to participate in it until tomorrow. The main reason Calem was here, was to check if Serena and the others were here but he quickly learned that they had already gone ahead to Lumiose City.Learning that his friends had went ahead of him did sting, but he was fine with it as that meant more time to train! The first thing the grey-haired Pokémon Trainer did was head back to the Pokémon Center, and grab his stuff out of his temporary room, before heading back into Santalune Forest.It was just getting to the evening when Calem walked back into the Pokémon Center. While in the forest though, he battled some other Trainers to gain experience in battle with Froakie, and also caught the Fletchling he was battling against before this entire fiasco. When he walked back to his temporary room in the Pokémon Center, he got ready for bed when he heard a light knocking on the door,As Calem opened the door, he saw the green haired boy he had brought here just a few hours earlier staring at him with curiosity while he tilted his head. “U-um… Can I help you…?” He trailed off mid-sentence as he realized he didn’t know the boy’s name. “My name is Izuku Midoriya.” He introduced himself, but before Calem could say anything the boy spilled a rapid stroke of questions that he didn’t catch at all.After about 2 minutes, Izuku must have realized that the other boy couldn’t keep up with what he was saying and stopped before taking a deep breath. “Do you know where I am, and why do you have a mutant frog on your shoulder?” He asked much clearer, making Froakie chirp in recognition.“Well, first off my names Calem and this here is my Partner Pokémon Froakie!” He started making the viridian haired boy furrow his brow in confusion. Calem didn’t notice this however, and continued on. “And I’m surprised you don’t know already, but we are in Santalune Town in the Kalos Region.” The Trainer said easily, not even resting on the topic of how the other boy didn’t know he was in Kalos.What Izuku asked next however, completely took Calem for a loop. “Um, sorry… but what’s a Pokémon?”“Wait is that…?” A woman from a group of bystanders trailed off, as she and the others there saw someone, they all recognized. The person in question turned around seemingly lost in thought as her creamy blonde hair swayed in the light breeze, next to a ruin depicting three legendary Pokémon. At that moment, the now revealed Cynthia walked away from the mural pondering what it could mean. She then paused as she felt her prototype Holo-Caster buzz in her pocket. When the blonde-haired woman lifted it up to her face, she saw someone very familiar to her in the hologram.“Ah, Professor Sycamore. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" She said while continuing her walk. “Well, as you know I’ve been checking for any massive spikes of energy throughout the region-“ “So you want me to check out this massive spike of energy you detected a few hours ago in Santalune.” Cynthia finished making the Pokémon Professor playfully roll his eyes.“I should have known you would have already detected it, but yes. If it ends up being something truly dangerous, please contact me immediately, even if you can hold up to the likes of other champions like Leon of Galar, this is the largest spike of energy to date almost comparable to the Ultimate Weapon.” This admission made the woman’s eyes widen to the slightest degree, before she gained a pondering look on her features.Before she answered the Professor, she looked at the two Pokéballs on her left hip and faced Sycamore once more. “I understand, after I prepare, I will make my way to Santalune Town with upmost haste.” She responded with a serious expression before cutting the call and making her way to the Coumarine City Pokémon Center. She needed to prepare.It was currently morning in this mysterious town he found himself in, and Izuku for some reason wished he had a notebook to write stuff down in. Though he figured he could wait until his new friend Calem finished with this ‘Gym Challenge’ as he called it. “Izuku, if you want a notebook then why not ask for one?” He heard the voice of Nana ask in his head.Ever since the boy had gotten approved of leaving the weird hospital, he started to hear the voice of his friends in his head. The only real problem he had was that he could tell they were hiding something from him, because he couldn’t remember anything aside from his name and the names of his head friends.Izuku tried his hardest to remember how he had gotten to this Kalos Region he was supposedly in, but the main thing he couldn’t wrap his head around was what the mysterious creatures he saw everyone in town walking around with. Calem had called them ‘Pokémon’, but until they reached the gym and he got his badge, whatever that meant, then he wouldn’t be able to ask anymore questions.So here he was, sitting in the bleachers of the gym watching as his new friend walked around a massive spider web, and battled other people who were called Pokémon Trainers for the Gym Challenge. Him and his head-friends had questioned how ethical it was for ‘Pokémon Trainers’ to use seemingly sentient animals and get them to battle each other, but the ‘Pokémon’ seemed fine with it and it was heavily regulated so he decided not to question it.Seeing all the creatures battle in sync with their Trainers made a small spark light deep within the boy, but he didn’t notice it because he was still trying to remember something, just anything would be fine but it was like his memories were locked behind an impenetrable steel wall with no end to its height. As he was getting more frustrated with not being able to remember anything, he heard the kind voice of Yoichi comfort him. “Young Midoriya… I know you really want to know what happened to your past, but be patient and keep your heroic heart and all will be revealed.” His words succeeded at calming him, but one word in particular, made it feel like the barrier between him and his memories softened the slightest bit.“Hero…” He whispered to himself, and at that moment a loud buzzer went off signifying the end of the Gym Challenge and the start of the fight against the Gym Leader. “The challenger, Calem will now face the leader of the Bug-type Gym, Viola!” One of the announcers spoke into the intercom, bringing everyone’s attention to the battle that was about to take place.Down on the field, said challenger and his two Pokémon were hyped up on adrenaline. “I hope you’re ready to get a taste of my bug types Calem! I hope you don’t mind me taking pictures throughout the battle though.” Viola spoke light heartedly to the boy with an easy going smile on her face. “Of course, I don’t mind, just get ready to face the power of my friends!” The boy declared with a challenging grin. The referee for the match made the signal to set up the psychic barrier to protect the audience before nodding. “If both Trainers are ready, then let the match between challenger Calem and Gym Leader Viola begin!” The ref announced, before flying up on his Aegislash.The second after they threw out their Pokémon, they immediately started to call out commands for their partners. “Surskit, use Sticky Web!” Viola called out to her Pokémon. “Fletchling, use Aerial Ace and destroy the webs, then use Agility!” Calem told his newest partner making Viola’s eyes widen in surprise. Almost immediately, all of the webs Surskit released were turned to tiny strings by the opposing Fletchling that was now speeding around the arena building up momentum for the next attack. “Alright now, use Peck!” Calem once again ordered, but as it got close to the opposing Pokémon it was interrupted by a bright flash of light and crashed into the ground hard.“It seems that Viola’s strategy to bait the challengers Fletchling with a use of Flash worked perfectly!” The announcer’s words echoed throughout the arena making Izuku grimace in sympathy for the bird.“Fletchling, are you still good to battle!” Calem yelled to the bird that was getting up from the ground. “Ling!” It chirped in affirmation, making the boy smile before once again staring at his opponent with analyzing eyes. “Use Aqua-Jet to get up close to it, then use Toxic!” The challenger didn’t have any chance to react to his opponent’s callouts, because the move happened so fast. As if it teleported, Surskit appeared in front of Fletchling before spewing a purple toxin straight into its face. “Fletchling!” Calem yelled worriedly, but didn’t get the chance to do anything as Viola called out the use of another move to her Surskit. “Alright Surskit! Let’s finish it, use Ice Beam!” One second, the field was quiet, before the next it was filled with the sound of rushing ice. When the mist created by the attack cleared, Fletchling was seen on the ground unable to continue.“Fletchling return.” Calem said somberly as a beam of red light brought the creature back into it’s Pokéball. “Fletchling is unable to battle! The score is now 1-0 in favor of Leader Viola!”Izuku was sitting on the edge of his seat. After witnessing the power of these creatures called Pokémon, he was thoroughly surprised by their capabilities. Unknowingly, he was muttering to himself about the possibilities that could happen with them, when he was interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to apologize after he realized what he was doing, but the words died in his throat when he saw the person who tapped him.The person he turned to face was a woman, who he could tell was roughly taller than him, standing at 5’10”. The woman was wearing a black coat that reached to the middle of her shins, and under that a black shirt with a low-cut collar, her cleavage covered by the black coat. She was also wearing black jeans that covered her ankles and black heels.Perhaps the most recognizable thing about her was her hair. Her head was adorned in black fur ruff and teardrop-shaped hair clips with yellow stripes. The woman’s hair itself was a creamy blonde that reached down to just below her knees, she also had a bang covering half of her face and two other thick bangs that framed her face.The lady had an easy-going smile on her lips, and her storm-grey eyes had a hint of interest in them. “Sorry if this is abrupt, but I have some questions to ask you about an investigation I’m apart of. If you wouldn’t mind, could you follow me outside of the Gym for a second?” She asked with a warm smile, that made Izuku trust her for some odd reason.Just before he could he answer her, Kudo cut in knocking him out of the feeling of trust he had for the woman. “Wait… I would suggest following her, but don’t trust her. She’s strong, stronger than anyone I’ve seen before.” And that admission made Izuku pause. His friends told him that they were really strong before they ended up in his head, or at least Banjo said that, but he believed them. If one of them said a person was strong, he had every reason to believe them.Armed with this knowledge, Izuku answered the woman with confusion in his tone. “Uhm, sure I guess?” He slightly stuttered making the woman lightly chuckle, which in turn made his face heat up a bit.As the two walked to the entrance to the gym, Izuku could hear the many people they passed whispering about them. They mainly seemed to say things of admiration about the woman, but some also wondered who he was making him even more nervous about what was happening.The duo of Izuku and the mysterious lady walked around town for a bit, until they found a secluded place with no listening ears. “Sorry for the long walk young man, but this information is very important, and it has something to do with you.” She said seriously, making the green-haired boy gulp nervously.The woman turned around to face him, and in her hand held up to him was a card that looked a lot like an I.D. with a picture of her on it. “My name is Cynthia; I am officially registered in the Pokémon League database as the Ex-Champion of the Sinnoh Region.” She said making the boy blink in confusion. He knew that title probably meant something important, but he just couldn’t remember it at all.“Seeing as you don’t have any recollection of anything I just said means my theory is correct. You, young man, must either have major amnesia, or you are not from this world.” Cynthia deduced, making Izuku’s eyes widen. Before he could say anything though, she brought up a device that she tapped on, before a hologram of a man in a lab coat appeared.“Alright Sycamore, I have the target of the investigation here, but just need to check something first.” The now named Sycamore seemed to type on a keyboard, before answering. “Yeah, what is it and why is there a boy there with you? Don’t tell me that he was the source of the energy.” The man asked while still tapping away at his keyboard. “That’s correct.” She revealed, making the man spit out the sip of coffee he had just took. “I need you to search through the league database, and look for a boy by the name of…?” She trailed off expectantly which made Izuku look around for whatever it was she paused for, before realizing she was looking at him. ‘Oh! M-my name’s Izuku Midoriya!” He nearly shouted in embarrassment.“Don’t tell me you looked for the kid, but didn’t even ask for his name?” Sycamore asked exasperatedly. “I had to, if I asked at Viola’s Gym then I would have seemed even more suspicious.” The blonde woman reasoned, making the Professor hum in acceptance. But before anyone else could say anything, a sound came from Sycamore’s computer. “It seems… That there is nothing in the league database for someone by the name of Izuku Midoriya.” He announced, making said boy’s eyes widen even more.“Then that means my theory is correct.” When Cynthia said that, both Sycamore and the boy turned to face her. “What theory?” The Professor asked. “That Izuku here is from another world.” This made Sycamore’s glasses drop of his face, as he put his face fully in front of his Holo-Caster. “You mean like the Ultra-Space Phenomena in Alola!?” He yelled questioningly, and the ex-champion nodded her head in acknowledgement. “Then that means… This is serious, I’ll need to contact Professor Kukui about what’s happening, since he has more knowledge about the Wormholes.” He said already setting up something on his computer. “Right, now, Cynthia, I need you to bring Izuku to my lab so I can get more data on where he came from, so we can send him back where he originated from. Him being here for this long has probably caused some damage to his psyche.” He concluded, making Cynthia hum in acknowledgement.“I see. We will be there by tomorrow for-“ She couldn’t finish her sentence, because the viridian haired boy interrupted her. “Can someone please tell me what’s going on!” This outburst made Cynthia and Professor Sycamore stop talking and look at him.“You guys have been saying all this stuff I don’t understand, and telling me I’m from another world!? I don’t know why, but whenever you mentioned sending me back it was like some force was pulling me down and anchoring me here! And that wormhole stuff. Even if I could remember anything, I know for a fact I didn’t show up thanks to some hole in space that brought me here! I don’t even know who I am apart from my name, and all this talk about Pokémon is making my head hurt! I just want to remember who I am!”Both adults listening to Izuku rant about his situation felt heart broken at how a kid like him was going through this, but as he kept going, he started to sound more hysterical, as if he was coming down from some sort of high. Sycamore started to get worried about the teenager and his mental state, but that’s when he noticed something off about him. At some point during his rant, he started to hold his head in pain, and while he was holding his head the bandages covering his arms slowly came undone.When Izuku’s bandages were loose enough, both Cynthia and Sycamore saw his arms glowing a toxic neon green color in the shape of some form of tattoo like mural of a Pokémon. Closer to the end of him expressing his woes, Izuku developed a small aura of teal lightning that lightly stung Cynthia when it touched her. At the end of his rant, the lightning aura around him grew in intensity making Cynthia’s Garchomp come out of its Pokéball to protect her, the area around the boy exploded in a green light that parted the clouds.When the light dissipated, Izuku was on the ground unconscious while his bandages dissipated in the wind that was created.“Cynthia… Bring him to my lab as fast as you can, and make sure you bring a boy named Calem with you as well, because this situation might get messy and we need as many strong trainers as we can get.” She heard the Professor say in a haunted tone before cutting off the call. “… It seems… That we will need to prepare even more, huh Garchomp.” The ex-champion asked rhetorically, before walking off in the direction of Viola’s Gym once more.“Garchomp!”“Let’s end it here Froakie! Use Smack Down!” “Vivillon use Energy Ball and win this thing!” As both challenger and challenged call out their final attacks, the attacks collide with both Pokémon covering them in smoke. Everyone in the audience were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the final verdict of this Gym Challenge. The smoke covering both Pokémon started to slowly clear and the announcer started to speak. “And taking home the match with a score of 2-1… IT’S CHALLENGER CALEM AND HIS PARTNER FROAKIE!!” The moment the announcer finished speaking, the entire Gym erupted into cheers as Calem’s Froakie jump up to him where he caught it in a hug.“What’s this!? Something is happening to Froakie!” Calem opened his eyes and looked at his partner as it glowed a bright white, momentarily blinding him. “It would seem that Challenger Calem’s Froakie has evolved into a Frogadier!” “Dier!” It cried when Calem opened his eyes once again, and chattered happily at him while he laughed. “We did it Frogadier! We beat Viola and got our first badge!” Calem said excitedly. When he looked at his Pokémon again though, he felt the need to do something, so he held up his fist and gave a fist bump to Frogadier.After holding the position for a few seconds, he heard the click of a camera and saw the flash of one, getting him to look at Viola in surprise. “Thank you, Viola, that battle was awesome, and I hope we get to have another one that’s as good if not even better!” “I should be thanking you!” She chuckled out while walking over to him. You gave me some great pictures today, and I couldn’t ask for anything better! And that’s why I’m honored to give you the Bug Badge and the TM for Bug Buzz.”When everything was over, Calem returned to the Pokémon Center to get his stuff so he could head off to Lumiose City to meet Professor Sycamore.As Calem got back to the Pokémon Center, he saw someone that basically everyone recognized, and along with her, was Izuku in her Garchomp’s arms.“Cynthia!?”
To Be Continued
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 3: The Origins of the Power
Harsh winds, raging lightning, and an empty void. Those were the things Izuku witnessed before he was abruptly awoken from his sleep. The moment the harsh sun hit his newly open eyes; the freckled teen sucked in air through his clenched teeth in pain.“Ugh… What was that…?” He asked with a groan, covering his eyes with his right arm. Just as his eyesight adjusted to the light of the sun, Izuku heard a faint shuffling of feet that sounded like it wasn’t in the room with him but he could hear it as if it was.The boy tried to sit up, but he noticed his body was unresponsive as if it was frozen in time. “Damn it… What’s going on?” The viridian-haired teen said frustratedly, but just as he was about to try to move again, he heard the familiar voice of Yoichi in his head. “Izuku, don’t try to move too much. Something was used on your body so that you wouldn’t injure yourself any more than you already did before you passed out.”“Injure myself?- But how did I get hurt? I don’t remember doing anything that would hurt me before…” He trailed off from his thoughts when he heard a door open and footsteps coming towards him. As his eyes were still open, it was inevitable that the person would notice he was awake. “Let me just-“ The person cut themselves off right as they put something down on a table next to him. “Oh! You’re awake Izuku! Thank goodness, let me get Professor Sycamore so he can undo the temporary paralysis on your body!” The voice of his new friend Calem exclaimed before running out of the room.It was only 5 minutes later that Calem returned. With the grey-haired boy, was an older man that Izuku recognized as Professor Sycamore, the person that was speaking with Cynthia. He was about to say something, when the man put his hand up, anticipating what he wanted to say, he walked over to a panel in the wall, tapping away.When he stopped pressing on the panel, Izuku could feel his body once again and slowly sat up. “It’s nice to meet you in person, Izuku, sorry for the whole set-up but after what happened when you first met Cynthia your body and the energy scans, I got were going haywire. This was just an unfortunate sacrifice I had to make to insure you wouldn’t injure yourself.” While the man was explaining what was going on, he grabbed the rolling chair from the desk in the room, before sitting next to the bed.“Yeah, while you were asleep your body was spazzing out like crazy, it was like you got struck by lightning.” Banjo added to the topic, though for whatever reason Izuku heard him get scolded by Nana for something. “Well do you know what the energy was? I don’t really remember anything other than meeting Cynthia and seeing her talk to you through some type of hologram.” He said while lightly holding his head, as if to remember more.Although he didn’t notice, Sycamore was staring at him intently before shaking his head. “So that’s all you remember… Either way, since you’re here I might as well explain to you the basics of our world as you have amnesia.”What followed after this was an hour-long summary of the Pokémon world, a world where humans and creatures called ‘Pokémon’ live in harmony. Some humans keep willing Pokémon as pets’, others work with them to help with tasks in daily life, and the most prestigious of them all… Pokémon Trainers.Pokémon Trainers capture the mysterious creatures using a device known as a ‘Pokéball’ before training them to be the best, in hopes that they might one day become what’s known in most regions as a Pokémon Champion. Pokémon Champion’s complete something called the Gym Challenge to earn badges to have a chance a battling and beating the Elite Four, a group of 4 powerful trainers set-up like a gauntlet to test who might become a champion.After Sycamore explained how the majority of society functioned, he started to tell the freckled boy about the history of the region he was currently in, the Kalos Region. The first thing he told him was about the different cities and landmarks. Since Calem had also just moved to the region, he was learning a lot about his new home. The two boys also learned a fair bit about the Gym Leaders of the region, lightly summarizing what types they use.“Other than that, there is only one more thing I should explain. This topic also has to do with the energy you used before you passed out in front of Cynthia, Izuku.” Both Calem and Izuku locked eyes with each other before facing the professor once more. Seeing this short interaction, Augustine Sycamore slightly smiled before schooling his expression and pressing a button on his watch making a large screen pop out of the wall opposite of the trio.The professor started to speak, and with that, images depicting what he was speaking of appeared on the screen. “3,000 years ago, a human king bringing with him incredible technology unified the land of Kalos, humans and Pokémon worked in harmony all around the region to make it more prosperous with the technology the new king had with him. The king, whose name was AZ used the technology from an era long after his existence to bring progress, and with that progress brought division.“Slowly, many people that came from lower classes grew envious of those who were in power, leading to those who were discontent to unite under someone who also wanted change. The person who also believed in that change happened to be the younger brother of the king himself. Although under the guise of wanting change for the people, the king’s younger brother ultimately sought the power to rule the region for himself. This want led to the brother gathering men from around Kalos to take up arms and fight for what they believed to be right, not knowing they were caught in a web of lies for the gain of their own leader. Thus began the Kalos War.“In the southern part of the region, the brother established a land, separate of the one his brother ruled and officially declared war. Initially, the king didn’t think of his brother as much of a threat, so he allowed him to create his own ‘country’ but that would soon turn into a bloody war. Due to the younger brother targeting the areas of the region with the least security, he was able to create cracks in the defense of it.“The king knew he couldn’t sit back and watch as his kingdom crumbled, so he sent an army comprised of both people and Pokémon to fight the onslaught of revolutionaries threatening the region. As more bloodshed and lands were ravaged, the man was forced to send his beloved Floette into battle. As the war raged on for several years, the king learned that his beloved Pokémon didn’t make it to the end. AZ drenched in his sorrow wished to do anything he could to bring his Floette back, and for this purpose he built the Ultimate Weapon.“To the king’s utter joy, he was successfully able to bring his lost friend back to life with the aid of the incredible machine, bestowing upon it the gift of eternal life. But even though his wish was completed, AZ took a path he believed was self-riotous, the path of revenge against those who dared to harm his beloved friend. He reasoned that they must be eradicated.“Using the machine capable of reversing the fate of death, the king used it to utterly decimate all life in the region, reducing it to dust. Due to him giving his friend eternal life, he ended up giving the same to himself, so he was left to wander in the rubble of his once prospering kingdom alone after his friend left him thanks to his madness.“Somehow, the younger brother survived this doomsday and put his malevolent ambitions aside to seal the ultimate weapon deep below the ground where Geosenge town is located. The man, with the few survivors of the war rebuilt their once glorious nation and the younger brother started a lineage to keep the location of the weapon a secret.” When he finished speaking, Sycamore tapped his watch and the screen recessed into the wall once more.(A lot of details for this were paraphrased from This Post please check it out for a more in depth look into the topic above.)Both Izuku and Calem were left with their jaws agape, while Sycamore stood up and grabbed a piece of paper from the desk. “I know you both are still processing that long exposition, but now that its out of the way I can get into what this has to do with the energy my assistants and I researched from your body while you were asleep Izuku.”This made the boys slowly shake their heads and look towards the professor once more. “The only origin we could find for it, would be the three Legendary Pokémon native to this region, Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde, but we only want to talk about the latter of the three.“While we don’t know much about Zygarde, we do know somethings such as how it is known as the protector of the ecosystem. It’s been noted many times throughout our world’s history that Zygarde splits itself into small microscopic cells and cores to monitor the ecosystem and calls some of its cells and cores back to defend against major threats.“The main thing to takeaway though, would be the fact that once every millennium it chooses one being on the planet to assist it in protecting the world against a major threat.”Izuku throughout the entire explanation had a look of inquiry on his features, and once the professor finished talking, he took his chance to ask his question. “I get that this ‘Zygarde’ is important to know the origin of my energy or whatever, but how does this have anything to do with-?” Before he could finish however, he was cut off by Sycamore.“I understand your haste in wanting to know, but I need you both to not repeat a word of what I’m about to tell you.” Augustine said seriously, getting the two boys he was speaking to straighten up. “Of course! I won’t tell a single person anything!” Both of them exclaimed at the same time making the professor nod his head in acceptance. “The real connector origin of your power is something that we don’t know and probably never will, but we do know who gave them to you.” He spoke while looking at the green-haired boy directly in his eyes.“You were given your powers by something that exist higher than any living being in this universe, the one thing that directly created us all… Arceus.”A few hours later in Professor Sycamore’s lab, Izuku was following the man somewhere while lost in thought. “That was… a lot. I mean, some being that is quite literally God itself took me from whatever home I had before, gave me mysterious powers and transported me here! …How am I supposed to feel about all of this?” The boy asked in his mind to the eight others in there.It was a few seconds before he got a response, but it wasn’t one he liked. “We… we can’t tell you right at this moment Izuku, but know that we will when you are ready to hear it.” Nana said reluctantly, but no matter how delicate she was with her words it didn’t stop the deep grimace that appeared on the boy’s features.The reason why he was walking alone with Sycamore, and Calem wasn’t there, was because after the man dumped all of this exposition on him, he said he wanted the boy to start his Pokémon journey along with Calem, so the other boy was out getting Izuku the necessary supplies to start.Izuku, meanwhile, was getting his first partner Pokémon so he would be able to access the different Routes of the region. So that was where they were now. Sycamore was leading the freckled teen to one of his research labs to give a Pokémon that was down on its luck thanks to a defect with its body. At first the professor was going to give him one of the regions starter Pokémon Froakie, but after the boy found out about this one, he felt compelled to help it, as if he felt a special connection to it.After a total of 10 minutes walking, the pair reached a room that was locked by a hand scanner, which Sycamore unlocked, and inside was a small blue bipedal canine like creature. The Pokémon has a black torso and legs, a blue tail, and a yellow collar. On the back of its forepaws were rounded steel bumps. The creature has a black ‘mask’ and red eyes.“Rio!” The Pokémon cried as the two walked in. The room itself had a few punching bags, and other workout equipment sized down to fit it. On the floor was a punching bag that looked as if it was hit with an explosion, as it was broken off of its chain and had a blackened spot on it. The Pokémon itself was happily running around and yipping happily towards the professor making him chuckle. “Hey there! Its nice to see you doing so well Riolu! I know you’re probably very happy, but for right now let me introduce you to someone.” He said while looking towards Izuku who was drawing a picture of the Pokémon in a journal he requested.When the Riolu looked towards the boy, a small unnoticeable bolt of teal lightning connected the two. A few seconds later, and Izuku was done drawing the creature and looked towards it, before looking to Sycamore with his head tilted. “This here, Izuku, is Riolu the Emanation Pokémon. The reason why its here and not out in the wild, is because in the middle of its right paw is a stone that we are researching, but we haven’t had any successful results.” The man spoke with a small frown. The Pokémon yipped at Izuku, making him look towards it, where he saw it happily showing off the stone.For some odd reason, the viridian-haired teen felt connected to the stone, and slowly moved his hand to touch it. Meanwhile the professor was explaining details about the creature to Izuku while grabbing the Pokémon’s Pokéball, when he grabbed it and turned to face the two, he saw the boy reaching towards the stone in its paw, but that wasn’t what hurried him into action. The closer Izuku’s hand got to the stone, more and more of the same green lightning that knocked him out before was forming.Seeing this. Augustine rushed forwards to stop him from touching the stone, but it felt like his body was moving in slow motion, unable to reach Izuku in time. When Izuku’s fingers touched the stone, at first nothing happened before a moment later the world around him was surrounded by green and teal energy. For some odd reason, he didn’t feel scared or nervous he just felt even more connected to the Pokémon in front of him. The energy slowly recessed back into his body, and in place of Riolu’s yips, was a higher pitched female voice in his head.“Hey there new friend! I hope we can get along!”
To Be Continued
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 4: Story of Storms
“Hey there new friend! I hope we can get along!” Izuku heard a female voice say in his head. At first, he thought he was going crazy, but then the Pokémon in front of him talked in his head once again. “Um… Are you alright? You’re staring into space like you just saw a Gastly!” The boy shook his head after a few seconds and looked to the Riolu, who was staring at him with worry in its eyes.He opened his mouth to speak back, but he was interrupted by Professor Sycamore almost sliding into view and grabbing his shoulders frantically. “Izuku! Are you alright!? I tried to stop you but something prevented me from getting close to you. Are you hurt anywhere?” The professor questioned while looking the green-haired boy over for injuries.“U-um, professor?” Izuku started, making the man stop looking for injuries on him and the Riolu and look him in the eyes. Once he did, the freckled teen pointed towards the Pokémon in front of him and began to speak again. When he did start speaking, his words made the professors eyes widen in shock.“Is it normal to be able to understand what a Pokémon says?”Rain. Thunder. Hunger. All the tiny knight could do was slowly walk down the muddy, beaten path it started on. A stomping thud it heard not to far away, but it walked on. A bright flash of light, it walked on. A stone wall in front of it, it walked-. The small knight looked up after that last thought.It looked onward towards the large stone structure in front of it, towering almost endlessly into the sky. A few seconds of wondering later, and as if magical in nature, the tall spiral building pierced through the raging thunderstorm and the clouds parted just enough for stray rays of sunlight to fall down on the knight’s-soaked features.The knight stayed there in front of the structure looking to the harsh rays of sun shining through the storm clouds as if divine in nature, before slowly lowering its head and giving a low persistent cry that only those with keen hearing would be able to hear.After what felt like hours, the tiny knight once again walked on but this time to a place distant from the harsh conditions of the outside.Sip. The last few drops of over caffeinated coffee slipped down Augustine’s throat. “Maybe I should get more…” The man wondered as he sat in his office looking over many different data sheets gathered just that day. He heard a soft snoring sound come from the couch in the corner of the room, and looked over to see his new ward, Izuku Midoriya, sound asleep with his new partner Pokémon in his arms.Deciding that it was already late enough (It’s 2 A.M.), he saved all of the documents on his computer and shut the system off. After stretching out the kinks in his joints, the Professor got dressed in his night clothes and laid down on the other couch in the office.Before the man could truly give himself to the woes of sleep however, he had a fleeting thought of the events that occurred just hours ago.“Wait, just- what do you mean you can understand her?” Augustine stuttered as he questioned the boy in front of him. “I can understand what she is currently saying at this moment.” Izuku stated as calmly as he could, before translating what the Riolu next to him was saying, the Pokémon nodding along with each translation.The professor couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the teen. On one hand, it wasn’t unheard of for some special humans to be able to pickup bodily queues to interpret what their partner Pokémon might be saying, but on the other hand, the way Izuku was describing how he heard Riolu’s voice in his head, and the fact he was from another world and has powers gifted to him from God.Still reeling from this new information, Augustine attempted to compose himself even slightly so he could gather some data from the pair in front of him, and he did. Around 30 minutes later, Izuku was walking out of the room behind Professor Sycamore with his unofficial partner next to him. After a short walk, the trio arrived at the front entrance of the lab, and went to the receptionist’s desk for something Sycamore had apparently prepared earlier for when he woke up and got his first Pokémon.“Hey, Janet!” He called out, getting the attention of the woman. “What do you want Augustine!? I’m working right now!” Janet yelled back to him in response. This resulted in a small back and forth argument between the two adults that Izuku and Riolu decided to smartly stay out of.Eventually, Sycamore (Or Augustine, as the man said to call him.) and Janet stopped arguing, and started to speak quietly to each other. Izuku took this brief bit of downtime, and decided to get to know his new partner.“Hey.” He called out quietly, facing the small canine like Pokémon. When Riolu faced him, he noticed a thin line of green energy that stretched from his right palm to her right paw, at the place the strange stone was located. When he moved his eyes to look directly at the line, it vanished as if it was never there. Shaking his head, he returned his eyes to Riolu’s where the Pokémon was looking at him with a tilted head.“I should really come up with a nickname for her. I wonder what it should be?” Izuku asked himself while looking over his partner’s features once more. From what he could remember from the images Augustine showed him on the ‘Pokédex’, the only things different with the Riolu in front of him was the obvious stone in her right paw palm, and the cross shape on the middle of her belly-Suddenly like a flash of lightning, everything except for his mind and thoughts slowed down, giving the illusion that all was frozen. Izuku tried to move his arm, and although he could feel it moving through the incalculable numbers of atoms in the seemingly empty space. Although his body was ‘still’, his mind raced for answers for what the phenomena occurring was.Everything was still slow, until a mass of movement that only he could witness flew at insane speeds through his field of vision. From the small glimpse his surprisingly trained eyes could see, the mysterious mass dancing around his head faster than he could track seemed to have wings that sprinkled a small amount of dust that was filling up his view as it too got caught in the field of slowed time.After what could have only been seconds, his vision was filled with the dust that began to glow bright pink. A flash, and Izuku was in front of a massive steel door that was wrapped with chains and locks. The longer he stared at the door, the more he began to wonder just how long the chain was. A clink on his right side, and he turned to see a golden key just as it finished opening one of the locks. Next to the key, holding it up with some unseen force, was the mass from before, clearer thanks to it being stationary.The, as he could now clearly see was a Pokémon, had a green body and head that was lighter in color with the very tip of its head transitioning back into the green featured on its body. Above its big round eyes, that had a thick black outlining surrounding its light blue irises, were two antennae. Although it was clearly a Pokémon, a word came running across his mind, perfectly encapsulating what this creature looked like, a ‘Fae’.As quickly as the thought appeared, it vanished inadvertently snapping the teen back to the scene happening in front of his eyes. When the lock came loose of the chain, Izuku expected it to hit the ground with a loud clanging thud, but instead it disappeared into motes of light that began to float up to him after a few seconds.Normally, the teen would be cautious of things getting absorbed into him, ‘Like Kacchan’s explosions’ but for whatever reason he felt as if he was in the process of regaining a missing portion of himself, that this was meant to be.Moments later, a strange event occurred that proved his inner thoughts right. When the last of the light absorbed into his chest, he closed his eyes.“I’m… sorry for your loss, Young Midoriya.” He heard All Might say to him as he stared at the grave stone of his aunt, Juujika Midoriya. It was about a week after the funeral his family hosted, but he couldn’t help but feel a small fire burn deep within his soul, begging for him to find his aunt’s murderer, for him to fan the flame and let it build into a roaring inferno ready to turn anything in its path to ash.Even though the boy was willing to add more fuel to the pyre, he couldn’t as his petty dreams were doused with a harsh storm known to all as reality. Even though the forecast was clear, Izuku swore he could hear the rumbling of thunder of in the distance.Two weeks after the sudden loss of his aunt, Izuku was laying on his bed after a long day of hauling trash and studying martial arts at the dojo owned by the Kendo family. He became good friends with the Kendo’s daughter Itsuka and exchanged contact info with her after she sparked a sudden spar that ended in a draw.Though he was showing progress from his training for the U.A. entrance exams, he could never truly stop the spark of flames he felt within. He had long since realized that more violence and harm would do no good even if he could find the perpetrator, but he could help but wonder what if. After a few long grueling minutes, he finally made up his mind.Heavy rain poured down on the empty street, small puddles splashed and rippled with every droplet that hit them. A figure in a dark green hoodie and black sweat pants was seen walking, highlighted by the street lights.For about an hour, the figure walked. Through the quiet urban streets, they walked on. Through a dirt path that led into a nearby forest, they walked on. Through the forest and into a large clearing fully lit up by the stars and moon, they walked-The person stopped when their foot hit a large stone in the clearing. As if they were waking from a trance, they looked around and idly noticed the rain had stopped somewhere along the way. The mystery figure took out their phone, and noticed that it was 7:45.After putting their phone away, the person looked up to the sky and slowly took their hood off, showing the face of 14-year-old Izuku Midoriya whose eyes were missing the usual spark of life usually present. The boy sat down on the surprisingly dry rock, and looked around the clearing he was in with more detail.The area directly around the rock he was sitting on in a circle, was surrounded by blue roses that held an ethereal glow that he brushed off as the moonlight playing tricks on his eyes. Around the blue roses, about a meter in width, was grass that had divot lines forming characters that looked more like runes. Directly around the circle of rune like characters, were regular red roses that swayed in an unknown breeze, giving the illusion of fire. After that, was a larger circle of runes and green rose like flowers that almost blended in with the grass.For five minutes, Izuku followed the ever-larger circle of multi colored roses and runes before arriving back to the rock in the center. He stayed there for 30 minutes longer, before leaving to head back home. On his way out of the forest, he noticed that the storm had cleared up, offering an even clearer view of the stars that hung overhead forevermore.When Izuku got back home, after he made sure to save the location of the clearing, he took a shower and changed into more comfortable clothes. As the boy lied down, he could feel himself slipping into sleep and the last thought he had before falling unconscious was of a storm of rouge oceanwaters eclipsing the world.It was about 2 weeks after Izuku discovered the clearing, and as he went there every other day, he made sure to use the money he got for being helping out here and there as a faux instructor at the Kendo’s dojo to buy gardening tools to maintain the clearing. It was during one of the sessions of him maintaining the clearing, that he noticed the runes surrounding the blue roses were turning blue and distorting as if they were in water. When he touched the runes with his hand to check if something was wrong, he felt the grass under his fingertips was damp, as if it had rained on that specific spot only.Out of curiosity, Izuku returned the next day during the night and saw that the blue roses were glowing even brighter than before, and were getting brighter by the second. The closer he got to the glowing flowers, the more the started to distort, until when he was finally at the rock and sat down, they began to form a ring of a substance that looked exactly like water.The green haired boy watched the event happen with wonder and a slight hint of fear, but he would be even more surprised when the ring of water suddenly extended in height forming a cylindrical curtain of water around his form. The teen extended his hand to touch the substance, and felt a cool breeze hit his hand instead of a liquid.For all the fears he should have had, the boy had none. Izuku, instead of scared, felt a small stream of tears fall down his cheeks. He felt all of his gears and doubts of himself fall away and crumble like the rust on a piece of metal that was weighing it down. Izuku was about to give in to the feelings he currently felt, but what happened next broke the dam early making the clearing fill with his loud heartfelt sobs.The boy felt a pair of warm arms wrap around his upper body and heard a familiar voice whisper in his ear. “It’s alright Izuku… Even though I might not physically be here, know that I am always with you.” He heard the voice of his aunt say, before he felt a surge of memories force themselves to the forefront of his mind showing all the moments he has had with his aunt, and feelings of gratitude fulfilment and others that made him feel whole again.For the rest of the time he was at the clearing, he cried and let all of the emotions he held back fall out of him like a ballad of feelings that the whole world heard, and nature sung with all of its might.Unknowingly, the runes surrounding the blue roses lit up and changed to say ‘Story of Storms’ before changing back.Izuku felt himself be pulled back into reality; stray tears fell from his eyes that quickly dried up. He noticed that he was back to the point when time suddenly froze, and he was still staring at the cross on the belly of the Riolu in front of him.“Juujika…”His partner tilted her head in confusion, before suddenly perking up and yipping happily. “I like that name! Thank you Izuku, please call me Juujika from now on!” The newly named Juujika said excitedly in his mind. Izuku smiled softly at his partner while a small tear made its way down his cheek.
To Be Continued
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 5: New Trials
Izuku was sitting in the lobby of Augustine’s lab, as he went over some form of paperwork with Janet. Sitting down in his lap with a bright smile, was his newly named partner Juujika. The two were watching the other pair of adults while quietly talking to each other about themselves.Around 5 minutes later, Augustine gave something to Janet before walking over to Izuku and smiling as he saw him and Riolu talking to each other, oblivious to the outside world. The older man cleared his throat to get the attention of the two, smiling lightly while holding up a small stack of papers.Juujika yipped at the professor, Izuku translating for her, her words making the man’s smile widen. “Mr. Augustine! I have a new nickname from Izuku that I really like. It’s Juujika!” The canine like Pokémon excitedly exclaimed, her enthusiasm making the man pet her head while smiling down at her. “That’s a very nice name, Juujika.” He said to the Riolu, while giving a small questioning look to the boy who named her.Izuku lightly shrugged in response, with a slight twinge of reminiscence in his eyes that Augustine shook off after a moment. “Anyways, I was preparing this for someone else I was expecting, but I thought about it and this would fit your situation better.” He spoke while giving the viridian haired boy two papers that almost made his eyes bug out of his head.---------------Official Documents for the Registration of Izuku Midoriya as a recognized Trainer under the Pokémon League™.As Stated under the laws of the Kalosian Government, Trainer Izuku Midoriya will be authorized to access any government projects when he reaches the milestone of 6 Gym Badges.Trainer Izuku Midoriya, as stated under interregional law, is allowed to be sponsored in any form by a professor recognized by the Pokémon League™. In accordance to the local laws of Kalos, the aforementioned Trainer shall be provided the necessary supplies to start off his Gym Challenge.In addition to the unique circumstances provided to the Pokémon League™ by Champion Cynthia, Izuku Midoriya will be given a list of Pokémon that are deemed fit to be partners to up and coming Trainers that he will be able to pick out from a nearby League Tower at his leisure.---------------The first document went on to explain the basic nuances of being a Pokémon Trainer that he decided to read on his own later, but it was the second one that made him really surprised.---------------Official Documentation of the Kalosian Government stating that PT Izuku Midoriya is recognized as a ward to Professor Augustine Sycamore on 16 Mar, 20XX.---------------There was a lot more to the document, but Izuku couldn’t have been bothered to read it then. He dropped the paper and slowly looked up to the man in front of him with wide eyes. When his eyes reached the professor, who had a very wide smile, he was choking on his words in shock before he was able to mutter anything.“D-did why?” He questioned Augustine, who now had Janet walking up from behind him while shaking her head. “If you’ll stop messing with the kid,” She started, raising her hand above the man’s head. “Then you can explain to him why the League wants him to participate in the Kalos Gym Challenge to test his skills as a Trainer.” Janet then handed an over-the-shoulder pack that seemed to be filled with something.“That has a few things you might need to keep up during the Gym Challenge, just remember not to overdo it and rest as much as you can.” The woman said while patting him on his head, in the process noticing how fluffy his hair was, making the boy tear up because of how much the people in front of him have helped him.Augustine was looking at Izuku interact with Janet with a soft smile on his face, but it slowly transitioned into an uneasy frown. “What was that spike of energy my wrist scanner picked up on before I walked over to Izuku? I know I made sure to tweak it with the data we collected, but that was a significant jump in latent power from what we’ve been getting through the kid… The only real theory I have is- No. If that was it, then every living being in this entire city would immediately drop dead… So just what are you?” After a few minutes of chatting, Janet, Izuku, and Augustine decided to go shopping for some other supplies Izuku might need during his Gym Challenge, what they didn’t see however, was the small blue rose growing newt to another flower in a pot close to where the green haired teen was sitting.Calem was walking along Route 5 along with Frogadier and Fletchling, who were out of their Pokéballs. The boy ran into many Trainers’ looking to battle with him and his Pokémon, to which he happily obliged, gaining a lot of battle experience in the process. He was about to pick up the pace so he could make it to the next town, when he was stopped by a familiar face.“Yo! Calem, how are you man!” The voice of Tierno yelled at him. When the boy turned to the left, he saw the figure of the other running up to him while waving. “Hey, I’ve been good, how about you? Also, sorry for not meeting you all in Lumiose City, I got caught up with something in Santalune that kept me there for a while.” Calem explained with a slightly nervous face, thinking about all that happened when he first met Izuku.Tierno had a slightly inquisitive look on his face that made Calem even more nervous, before it was replaced by an easygoing smile. “Don’t worry about it man! We all went to Professor Sycamore’s Lab when we got here, but went our own ways a little later, whatever kept you must’ve been important.” The bigger boy eased Calem’s worries making him sigh in relief.“That’s good, I didn’t want to upset you all with being late so thanks. Maybe we can walk to Camphrier Town together?” He asked before starting to walk forward along the path. The grey-haired boy stopped a few steps later when he realized he didn’t hear Tierno’s footsteps, and turned to see him looking down at the ground.“Sorry, Calem… But I need to confirm something before you go.” He said semi-ominously, before looking up to fully face the boy. For a split second, the teen thought he could see a glitching mask over Tierno’s face before it disappeared after he blinked. “What was that? Maybe I was just imagining it… these last few days may have been a bit too crazy for me.” He reasoned with himself, tuning back into what his friend was about to say.“Can you please battle me? I… I’m just wondering something.” He slightly hesitated, making Calem raise his eyebrow before slowly nodding his head a moment later. “Uh, yeah I can battle you if that’s what you want?” The teen said confused but still willing. Tierno gave a strained smile in response and readied his only Pokémon. In reply, Calem brought out Frogadier’s Pokéball and the battle commenced.“Alright Shinx! Let’s do this!” Tierno yelled out as a catlike creature with blue and black fur coalesced from the blue energy released by the ball. “Let’s win this Frogadier!” Calem called out releasing his partner in a flash of energy that moved like waves. Both Pokémon stood ready, studying each other deeply. Shinx let out a fierce cry before sprinting towards Frogadier, readying a claw strike enhanced by electricity. Before the claw could meet its mark however, it was stopped by a small dagger made of water energy that exploded when it was struck creating a smokescreen that blocked the electric cats vision.Tierno was about to call out an order for his partner, before he suddenly froze in place and looked as if he saw the culmination of human fears. Thanks to his opponent’s inability to command his Pokémon, Calem was able to command his own to get a strike in. “Alright Frogadier, use Aerial Ace and hit that Shinx hard!” Which is exactly what happened. Due to the smokescreen that was covering its vision, Shinx had no idea where its opponent was leaving it open to a devastating attack that knocked it out.Frogadier ran out through the smoke and started to jump all around Calem making the boy laugh. When the smoke finally cleared, Calem saw his opponent Tierno looking down at his partners Pokéball with a small sad smile whispering something. The boy then turned and walked towards Lumiose leaving Calem dumbfounded and wondering what was up.Inside the tower whose peak broke through the horizon, the tiny knight was living its life. After so long in the storm it was glad to be clean once again. Among the knight’s new life, perhaps the most interesting thing were the humans that came to help it. Back when it first arrived it was discovered by a woman named Martha that brought it inside.When Martha took the knight up the tower stairs, it was wondering where she was taking it but the girl mumbled some words that the knight couldn’t quite understand in response. About a minute or two later, Martha brought the knight into a room that had a medium sized porcelain tub that the girl started to fill up with water once the knight was set down.Now that the girl stopped rushing and running, the knight could actually hear what she was saying. “-So crazy that I ran into another Pokémon outside of the door. I swear, one of these days the League will get tired of mom bringing lost Pokémon to the Cyllage City office.” The girl spoke faux annoyed, before continuing on with what she was doing.All the knight could do was watch Martha with a tilted head, before getting picked up by said girl and placed on a stool in front of her. “Alrighty little one, before I do anything I just want to know if you are okay with me cleaning all the dirt and mud off of you?” She asked with a warm smile on her face, to which the knight nodded and saluted with a cry of “Det!” Making the girl giggle.So, for the next hour or so Martha made sure the knight was clean and dirt free. After the process was over, and Martha finished drying the knight off, the girl moved something the knight didn’t recognize in front of it. When the knight looked at the object, it saw… itself. The knight saw itself moving which surprised it. Many of its ‘friends’ back home said that it was different from the others of their species, but it didn’t expect to see the green and white colors on its body instead of the red and black everyone else had.This reveal puzzled the tiny knight, as it had never seen itself before even in puddles or lakes. It knew the girl was talking to it, but it was dumbfounded. Over the next few hours, the knight saw four other humans enter the tower before introducing themselves. A while later, Martha gave the knight a bowl full of foods it had never seen before, and after that took the knight up to a room where other Pokémon were.As the knight was set down in the room, it nervously shuffled as the five other Pokémon in the room stared at it curiously. The knight walked over to a small corner of the room and set down to hopefully stop being the center of attention. This was how the knight’s day went for a long time, before one day the oldest woman in the tower came into the room with all the Pokémon.“Okay you guys, I’m sorry to say this but you guys will have to leave the tower today.” She explained somberly that, she and the rest of those in the tower couldn’t afford to keep all of them there forever, which obviously sadden them. A few minutes later, and all of them were in Pokéballs except the knight.It knew what the device was, but it just couldn’t imagine leaving the one place that offered it safety in so long. It was considering doing something rash, but before it could Martha walked in the room. “Hey there little one, I know you don’t want to leave, but don’t worry the next place you’ll be will be better than anything we could offer, not to mention all the nice people that will be there. So please, just get in the Pokéball, for me.” The girl said, before nudging the knight towards the device. Even through the kind words, the knight was still thinking against the process.It was only until it remembered something its parents said before it left that it walked towards the contraption and willingly was captured.The next day, Izuku was up and ready to start his journey with his new partner. The first part of his Gym Challenge would require him to make the short trip back to Santalune City to challenge the first Gym Leader, Viola. After Saying goodbye to all those at the lab, he walked through Lumiose to see the sights one last time.Before he left for Santalune, the teen decided to learn how the Holo-Caster he was given by Janet. He was in the process of getting help from En about how it might work, when he heard someone sit down next to him on the bench. As he looked over to see who it was, the air got caught in his throat.Sitting down next to him, seemingly in her own world, was a girl that looked about his age with her hair tied into two curly pigtails with a spiky tuft on her forehead. Her skin was a silky tan color that contrasted perfectly with her pink shirt and short jean shorts. Over her shoulder, she had a purse the same color as her shirt, and a black spiky bracelet on her right wrist.The girl was fumbling around with a Holo-Caster of her own, seemingly trying to call someone, but the call kept dropping. Izuku stared at her for a while before he was snapped out of it by the combined effort of Juujika and Nana who, along with the others in his head, were laughing once he did snap out of his daydream.it had only been a minute or so since he started staring at her, and she had seemingly fixed her issue. The green faired boy was about to say something to her, (Even though he had no idea what.) only to see the girl looking at him with a tilted head.“Did you need help figuring out how to use this as well?” She asked awkwardly while scratching her cheek. Izuku, caught off guard at how she was talking to him, floundered his words and utterly embarrassed himself in his own eyes.The now thoroughly embarrassed teen was attempting to hide from the laughs of his partner and all the others in his head by burying his face into his hands but it, obviously, didn’t work. He was playing with the idea of running to Santalune at this very moment, but was stopped by the quiet giggling of the girl next to him.When he looked back to her, she was snickering at him lightheartedly before composing herself and holding out her hand towards him. “My name’s Shauna, how about you?” The now named Shauna introduced herself with a bright smile that instantly enraptured the boy.Shyly, Izuku shook her hand and introduced himself. “Nice to meet you Shauna, my name is Izuku and sorry about me…” He trailed off into barely legible mumbles as he got even more red in the face. The girl, highly amused by how shy Izuku was, decided to end the boy’s self-made embarrassment. “While it is hilarious to see you stutter and stumble over your words,” She started playfully, making the leafy haired boy mumble out something else illegible. “You still haven’t answered my question, did you need help with your Holo-Caster?” Shauna finished off, which Izuku answered after cooling down from his fluster.“W-well… yeah. I just don’t understand any of it.” He semi ranted frustratedly, the brunette next to him humming in agreement. “Yeah, I understand how you feel. I just moved to Kalos about a week ago, so it’s been rough learning the ends and outs of everything. I‘ve been meaning to meet up with some of my friends since we were supposed to start the gym challenge together, but I just learned that all of them already started theirs so now I need to head back so Santalune City to fight Viola.” Shauna explained to the other teen who had wide eyes.“Wait! You also just started your Gym Challenge!?” Izuku exclaimed making the girl jump in surprise from his sudden outburst. “That’s so crazy, because I just started mine today! I was heading to Santalune from Professor Augustine’s lab after getting some supplies and looking around the city! Maybe we could head there together-!” He forcefully cut himself off, wondering why his filter suddenly disappeared.After being bombarded by a word storm, Shauna was slowly processing the green haired teen’s words. What felt like an eternity, both teens recovered from their respective stunned states and awkwardly looked at the ground for a while.Sometime later, Izuku cleared his throat to get the others attention. “So-uh as I was saying, maybe we could head to Santalune together since we both need to begin the Gym Challenge?” He shyly asked the girl, hoping she didn’t see him as too weird.“Sure.” The words felt foreign, too foreign for him to hear. Someone who witnessed him acting like a true nerd, still wanted to hang out with him? It was unheard of, physically impossible. He looked over to where Shauna was sitting next to him, only to find her standing up with her hand held out for him to grab.He looked to the girls face for any hint of deception, only to see nothing but a smile that could rival the sun in brightness. For some odd reason since his slightly self-deprecating thoughts began, he shed a single tear and held a thought so brief it basically vanished. In a daze, Izuku grabbed the girls hand and stood up. He couldn’t remember much else that happened before he was in Santalune City later in the day, but he knew he vividly heard the sound of a heavy chain wiggling
To Be Continued
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 6: Gym Challenge, Begin!
In a small room, a person was putting on their challenge uniform and checking over their items and equipment. “Alright… I guess this is it.” They said while taking a deep breath. The challenger walked out of the room, and down the deceivingly long hallway.
They faintly heard the cheers of the crowd, making them nervous. The person froze at the end of the hallway, just before the light from the stadium could reach them. A small bit of their green hair caught the light, the person’s curls casting shadows over themselves.
The green haired person stood there for what felt like hours, before they were snapped out of it from a wiggle coming from the Pokéball on their belt. This action made the person smile softly before breathing in and out. After the small breathing exercise they did, the person opened their eyes revealing a viridian color that shone a toxic green when the light hit it right.
They stepped out into the light, ready for the challenge ahead.Shauna was sitting in the stands of the Bug-Type Gym with her Chespin next to her, waiting for her new friend Izuku to start his challenge. “Ches Chespin!” Her partner cried out into the air, its voice getting drowned out by the sounds of the rest of the crowd and the music being played in the gym.
“Yeah… I wonder how he’s going to do; this will be his first time in a League sanctioned battle.” She said worriedly, hoping her new friend would be fine. Just a few hours ago, Shauna herself had finished her Gym Challenge, being awarded the Bug Badge after winning against Viola.
Before Izuku had to start his challenge, they went out into Santalune Forest so the boy could get more experience in a Pokémon battle. It was almost an instant change from his usual demeanor when the fast-paced action began. Sometimes Shauna saw Izuku almost jump into the fight himself before he snapped him self out of it.
Oddly, during one of the last battles he and his Riolu had with wild Pokémon, Izuku and Juujika were in sync to the point where the Riolu was moving around the forest without any verbal commands from the teen. (Shauna also thought she saw some sort of green lightning around the two but it was gone the moment she blinked.)
But now watching his expression as he walked out onto the field, the boy’s eyes held a significant intensity to them that made the girl and her Chespin lean forward to focus on him. “I wonder how he’s gonna do…”In Another World
The Principal of U.A. was tired, so insanely tired. In the main meeting hall, all of the staff of the school and many major figures in the hero industry were gathered to talk about the incident that happened last week during the annual entrance exams where two students were killed in what seemed to be a targeted attack on the school.
“The fact that U.A can’t prevent an attack like this from happening shows how incompetent you all are getting!” Madame President roared harshly at the staff and Nedzu in particular. “How in the hell do you expect us to be able to stop a concentrated barrage of missiles in the middle of the exams!” Kayama Nemuri aka Midnight yelled back, making the principal grit his teeth in frustration.
“Well maybe if All Might actually did something it wouldn’t have gotten two children killed.” The Flame Hero: Endeavour said pointedly to the emaciated man sitting next to Nedzu, who lowered his head with a somber expression. This type of bickering back and forth between all the people in the room continued until Nedzu finally reached the point where he was beyond keeping his emotions in check.
“Would you all please Shut Up!” The rodent like principal yelled out into the room instantly quieting all except for Endeavour who looked away and scoffed, and Madame President who look at him coldly. Unphased by the dichotomy of the room, he continued on slightly calmer. “For the past 30 minutes all you have been doing is bickering with one another about the situation before we can even go over the events that occurred. So, if you would let me actually start this meeting, then maybe we can get a clearer depiction of what has happened that caused the death of two talented hero hopefuls?” He finished off hotly, everyone in the room staying quiet.
Thanks to the Musutafu government, they were able to access the street cameras that detailed the routes each of the victims took to the exam. “To start off, we have the first victim, Midoriya Izuku.” Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa stated, plugging in a USB stick that was wirelessly connected to the Police Database before pulling up the file of the boy.
“!4 years old, previously attended Aldera Junior Highschool, and was officially diagnosed as Quirkless at four years old. Lived with his mother Midoriya Inko, and has a father in the United States Midoriya Hisashi who is currently with his wife. The only other significant information we have on him is that he was close friends with First Year U.A. Student Bakugou Katsuki.” The detective spoke giving a synopsis of the boy. Aizawa Shouta aka Eraser Head commented immediately after. “Wait, you said quirkless? But during the exams he clearly had some sort of lighting surrounding him, and he showed clear feats of a strength enhancement quirk among others.” This got everyone in the room except for Yagi Toshinori, Nedzu and the Detective look towards the sleep deprived man in shock.
“Wait yeah! How did the little listener show of one let alone 8 different quirks if he is quirkless!?” Yamada Hizashi or Present Mic exclaimed, making those that didn’t witness the exams look shook even further. All was quiet until one person broke the silence by clearing their throat.
Everyone looked towards Yagi intently, wondering if he knew anything about the boy. “I… I believe it would be best if we looked over the footage for both of the victims before we get too speculatory.” He offered, making almost everyone back down from the questions to watch the footage, all except Endeavour who looked at the man keenly with suspicion.
When everyone was ready, Tsukauchi played the footage.
”The video showed the boy leaving his apartment and run down the street in cargo shorts and a hoodie at 3 in the morning. As he slowed down, the mostly clean Takoba Beach came into view.
The time was 3:30 AM when he started to stretch, and 30 minutes later he started to clean up the beach.
At 5 AM he put all of the home appliances into a pile and started to pick up bits of scrap metal.
7:00 he put the metal into a dumpster and threw away the recyclables.
30 minutes later he finished cleaning the beach in its entirety, and sat down on the steps to the beach after retrieving his notebook to take notes.
7:45 he packs his stuff away and All Might shows up at the beach.
8:00 the pair leave the beach after a conversation and get into the mans truck to head back to the boy’s apartment.
8:30 Midoriya leaves the apartment 20 minutes after All Might and walks towards U.A.
Leaves the main U.A. building along with other Hero Hopefuls, and arrives at assigned training ground 12:00
12:10 missile strike happens after he saves a few students and destroys Zero Pointer.”
Due to the footage being skipped through, they only watch a total of 1 hour of video. Even though many in the room had questions, they waited until the next victim was talked about.
“The second casualty was Kirishima Eijirou, who participated in the same testing site as Midoriya Izuku. Kirishima 15 years old, previously attended Mustafa Private Middle School alongside his close friend Ashido Mina. Kirishima’s quirk is known as Harden, it allows him to harden any part of his body to be as strong as a rugged boulder. He lives with his mother, Kirishima Aiba.” The detective concluded his synopsis by playing the footage of Kirishima the day of the exams.
Everyone was quiet for a few moments before Yagi cleared his throat, the same somber look he had on his face before the meeting started. “Since this is an important piece of information and context, I will begin by telling you all about my quirk One for All.” Thus began a long exposition about the man’s mysterious power (That I don’t feel like writing out, as you have heard it many times.), that left everyone except himself, Nedzu and Tsukauchi completely flabbergasted.
Throughout the entire speech the man gave, the temperature in the room slowly rose to the point all were sweating buckets. When Yagi finally stopped speaking, he lowered his head as Endeavour spoke at a low rumbling volume with his deep voice. “You mean to tell me… that not only am I in second place to a skeleton of a man, but said man is also a complete fraud!” He roared, his flames melting the tiles in the ceiling. When he stood up from his chair and started to walk towards All Might, his footsteps left molten imprints in the floor.
When the enraged flaming man got to the emaciated one, he picked him up by his baggy suit jacket the flames he was emitting singing Yagi’s hair slightly. His flames reached a peak where the began to turn slightly blue, when they completely turned off. As he turned around, Endeavour let go of the Toshinori, he saw the perpetrator, Aizawa’s eyes shining red.
Aizawa, with his hand on his capture scarf, stared intimidatingly at the hero in front of him. “No matter how mad you are, that gives you no reason to attack Yagi.” He spoke while moving his other hand towards his belt. This seemed to work, as the flame hero scoffed and went back to his seat.
The Ninja Hero: Edgeshot who had been quiet throughout everything, finally spoke up. “So what I’m getting from this All Might, is that you passed this One for All to Midoriya when you met him before the entrance exams, am I right?” He gleamed from the information that was revealed throughout the meeting.
Toshinori nodded his head after fixing up his oversized suit. “Yes, that is correct, for the past 10 months I was training him to be my successor as my master did for me.” He explained, the calmer of those in the room nodding along with his response. “Young Midoriya also texted me before the exams began that One for All awakened while he was inside the locker room. But, as you all know, that was the last I directly heard from him.” He added, making Detective Tsukauchi write it down on his note pad.
Nedzu then cleared his throat bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “Now since that is out of the way, we can focus on looking for clues within the footage. Anyone that noticed anything during our viewing of the camera footage please come forward and tell us.” The hybrid principal told the room.
After a few seconds, Snipe started to speak. “Could you rewind the footage of Midoriya back to around 7:30 Tsukauchi? I think if we look around that specific time, we’ll find something interesting.” And sure enough, it was interesting. Just as the green haired boy was jogging back to his stuff, the shine from a red laser could be seen for a single frame.
“So… This means that our perpetrators were tracking either one or both of them since the morning. This makes things much more interesting.” Ectoplasm said, his voice not conveying any emotion through his monotone tone. For the next hour or so, everyone participating in the investigation individually pointing out anything they thought was important.
“All this has confirmed, is that Kirishima Eijirou was a bystander in this entire thing and was not meant to be caught in the blast.” Madame President said impatiently gleaming through the videos. “Guys… I found something interesting at the end of the footage in the testing ground, right before the communication between it and the rest of the system was cut off.” Power Loader ominously said, pulling up his feed to the main screen.
“The video showed the destroyed testing ground flooded with smoke and flames. The camera drone recording the footage was down closer to the ground than it should have been.
During its flight it stopped at the unconscious form of Kirishima, the only confirmation of life being the slow rising and falling of the boy’s chest. After confirming his status, the drone flew on its path once more only to be stopped by a flash of light coming from its original position.
When the camera turned around, it saw an aura of light around Kirishima’s downed form that was slowly dissipating. As the light cleared, the body was gone without a trace.
The camera continued its path after failing to send a report back to the database, where it witnessed the awake form of Midoriya disappear in the same light.
After that the video turned to static.”
“Well this just leaves us with even more questions!” Present Mic threw his arms up in exhaustion, letting them fall down by his side after his outburst. “More questions, yes, but not enough time in the day to answer them.” Nedzu wisely pointed out, making the group of heroes and the President of the HPSC realize how late it was.
Not one to be denied though, said president looked the rodent in the eye. “Everyone here better clear their schedules over the next few weeks, because we will keep this going until we find out who is behind this.” She demanded, everyone giving some form of affirmative.
When everyone left the room, Nedzu stayed seated and pressed a button. This button caused a mechanism in the room to activate, revealing a staircase hidden in the wall of the room which he promptly headed down.
“It would seem my interactions with you shall never cease, will they… Arceus.”Santalune City Gym
“The first battle will be between Challenger Izuku Midoriya, and Gym Trainer Derick!” The announcer called out as both trainers walked to the field. “Hey man!” Derick called out to Izuku. “I know this is your first Gym Challenge, but don’t think I’m gonna take it easy on ya’!” The trainer playfully called out to him.
Izuku smiled back and gave the man a thumbs up. “I wouldn’t have it any other way, please do your best!” “This battle will be held in a single battle format, both trainers will be permitted to switch out there Pokémon once throughout the entire battle!” The referee started, Izuku nodding along and mentally filing it away.
“The match will end when one trainer’s Pokémon are all unable to battle! The match shall start in 5 minutes, both participants please use this time to prepare your teams!”
The green haired boy walked over to the bench, and started ruffling in his bag. “Since Items aren’t permitted, and I only have Juujika, I should come up with a strategy that we could use effectively…” Izuku thought to himself, mentally going over the attacks his partner knew and how they could better incorporate them.
The green haired teen spent the rest of the five minutes in his head, oblivious to the outside world.After the five minutes was up, both trainers registered their TC (Trainer Card) into the battle system and took their place on the field.
“Preparation time is now complete! Battlers please ready your Pokémon and wait for the signal to begin!” Once the announcer finished speaking, the large screens in the gym changed from the static image normally displayed, to information on the two trainers. The screen showed how many Pokémon each trainer had with them, and the rank the trainers themselves held.
“If the trainers are ready, the let the first battle commence!”
As soon as the call was made, Derick threw out his Pokémon Ledyba onto the field. Meanwhile, with eerie precision, Izuku threw Juujika’s Pokéball out with accuracy that shouldn’t befit a newbie trainer.
If one were to look close enough, they would see the boy’s eyes turning a sickening neon green the more he focused on the battle ahead.Shauna was watching the battle that was currently ongoing, surprised by how good Izuku was at battles. Chespin was cheering and clapping beside her, which put a small smile on her face, and it seemed like the battle was heating up.
“And Derick’s Ledyba connects a Comet Punch, knocking Izuku’s Riolu down to the ground!” The crowed cheered for the action, everyone excited for how talented both trainers were.
After Juujika hit a powerful Vacuum Wave a moment later, Shauna was cheering as well.
“Ninth is definitely talented with this ‘Pokémon Battle’ stuff, I don’t think I could do this.” A frail voice sounded out from next to her. “Well of course you couldn’t Yoichi! You can barely lift a five-pound dumbbell, let alone throw a ball that far!” Another, more gritty sounding voice responded to the first one.
“Will you two stop talking! I’m trying to enjoy Ninth’s first battle, but you knuckleheads keep talking!” A feminine voice yelled, before the sound of multiple impacts was heard. Slightly surprised, Shauna turned to see what was happening and saw 6 adults dressed in some kind of costumes as well as a frail man with white hair sitting behind her and bickering like they were in a comedy skit.
The brunette blinked owlishly at what was happening, before looking around to see what the others around her thought only to notice the stands were completely empty. “W-what the…” She trailed off in shock, her voice catching the attention of one of the oddly dressed adults.
The man, with dark hair wearing a jacket with a high collar, walked over to her unnoticed by the rest of the group. “So, this is the girl Ninth was talking to… I didn’t see her earlier so I’m glad I could now.” He spoke as if she couldn’t see him which was already strange. “I’m glad he could find someone this time around, because that last life wasn’t the best.”
The man said many things in that sentence that made absolutely no sense, but Shauna did understand the meaning of a ‘last life’. This combined with the fact she was actively confused about why the rest of the people in the stands just disappeared, made her scream out in surprise.
“What do you mean Izuku had a ‘last life’?!”“Let’s finish it off with Metal Claw Juujika!” Izuku called out. “Rio!” Juujika ran to the opposing Kakuna with a fire in her eyes, and readied the move slashing the shell of the opposing Pokémon.
“And Challenger Izuku brings Gym Trainer Charlotte’s score down to one Pokémon remaining!”
The girl across from the Viridian haired boy gave him a challenging smirk, grabbing the other Pokéball on her belt after recalling her Kakuna. “It’s impressive that you’ve made it this far with just a single Pokémon, but don’t let that get to your head kid!” Charlotte yelled, throwing out her last Pokémon Combee.
Izuku and his partner stared down the Pokémon in front of them, trying to verify any potential weak points. They were caught off guard when Juujika was suddenly pushed back by strong arcs of wind.
“And Charlotte’s Combee delivers the first hit of this round with Gust, pushing the opposing Riolu away!” One of the commentators said, everyone on the edge of their seats to see the outcome of the battle.
The attack also had the side effect of whipping up the loose dirt and rocks around the field, some of them buffeting Juujika. Izuku grit his teeth and tried to think of something he could do to win the battle. “Damnit. Juujika doesn’t have many moves that would help in this situation. We did train to help her learn Thunder Punch using the TM we got, but it would be risky to use it here!”
The teen’s thoughts just made him grit his teeth harder, as his partner was assaulted by Bug Bites and Gusts. He decided that he needed to do something or this battle was as good as done and called out to Juujika. “Juujika! Use Vacuum Wave to counter the Gusts, then use Low Sweep on the arena!”
“Riolu!” Juujika ran around the arena dissipating the Gusts that got close to her, and swept her leg out, bringing up a wall of dirt from the ground. The dirt was effective at hiding her form, and since the rocks were still in the air it was great ammunition. “Now! Use Vacuum Wave to propel the rocks in the air!” He commanded, the rocks pelting the opposing Pokémon relentlessly.
“And using the arena to his advantage, Izuku Midoriya’s Riolu bombards Charlotte’s Combee with rocks from the arena!” The crowd cheered at the action, all that were watching hyped at the fact this battle was ramping up.
“Combee, use Bug Buzz!” Charlotte’s voice cut through the noise, silencing all sound. Izuku’s eyes widened as he witnessed a large buzz of energy impact Juujika, making her cry out in pain.
“And Charlotte’s Combee uses the powerful Bug Buzz to sneak attack Izuku’s Riolu! I wonder if this challenger will be able to come back from this!” Izuku grit his teeth harder than before, almost gnashing them together. “Juujika, are you alright?!” The boy called out in worry to his partner.
“R-rio!” Juujika cried, as she struggled to her feet. The Pokémon looked back to her trainer, and gave him a worn grin. When the teen made eye contact with his partner, he felt something shift in his mind. Juujika’s eyes were glowing a toxic neon green, and when Izuku saw that, his perspective changed and his eyeline shrunk from the 166cm it was before.
Izuku was looking through the eyes of Juujika. He saw his own body, eyes glowing the same toxic green as his partner’s, and the arena they were currently battling in. With reflexes he didn’t remember having, he dodged out of the way of a bite from the Combee.
The opposing Pokémon came back around for another Bug Bite, but with unmatched agility, Izuku jumped into the air, above it, and brought down his fist with a heavy power he didn’t have before.
Dirt flew up from the arena, covering the sight of the Combee, but Izuku simply swung his leg in a sweeping motion, an unseen breeze dissipating the air. Charlotte’s Combee was back in the air a moment later, ready to unleash a powerful move that would surely hurt. Despite the danger, Izuku leapt from the ground using rocks that were still in the air from the previous impact and felt the familiar sting of lightning building in his right fist.
Combee had just released the massive Bug Buzz that fully covered Izuku’s vision, but he pushed forward. He used all the strength in his legs to propel himself off the final rock, and get right into the face of the Combee.
His fist, channeled fully with lightning, impacted the Combee and created a flash of light that impaired his vision.Izuku opened his eyes again to the clapping and cheering of the crowd. He rubbed his eyes and looked around, seeing the massive crater in the center of the field. He suddenly snapped alert and roamed his eyes at a rapid pace, sighing in relief when he saw his partner crouching down on one knee and looking back to him with a huge grin.
Juujika ran to him, stumbling a few times along the way, and hugged his leg. “Izuku, we did it! We really won! That means that all we have left is the gym leader Viola, and we’ll-“ She stopped, as she noticed Izuku holding his face and muttering to himself lightly. Juujika sighed and pressed her head into Pokéball to rest after the battle, content with the win.“So let me get this straight. You seven are ghost inside of Izuku’s head, and apparently you guys along with Izuku are from another Dimension where Pokémon don’t exist and humans have these powers called ‘quirks?” Shauna asked skeptically, her face hidden in her hands. “And that’s not to mention the fact that before Izuku arrived at Professor Sycamore’s lab he died due to a missile strike that targeted him!?”
All seven of the previously mention ghosts were sitting down in front of the brunette like kids that were getting yelled at by their parents.
Yoichi then decided to speak up, being the more level headed one out of the group. “Yes, that mostly sums up what we have told you. But I must confess that we have only told you this information because it is pretty surface level, and the fact that you have been exceptionally nice to Ninth throughout your short time together. Just please refrain from telling any of your friends or loved ones, as if this gets out…” He trailed off, letting the implications settle in.
“Well, its not like I have to many friends anyway since I just moved here a week ago, but the ones I do have are taking part in the Gym Challenge as well. And another thing? Why do you all call Izuku ‘Ninth’? Does it have some sort of meaning in your previous world?” She was about to continue asking questions, when the man from earlier, En, came up to the group.
“The 3rd round is over guys, so we might want to hurry up with this talk.” He then went over to Yoichi and whispered something that made his eyes widen. Seeing as she had nothing else to do, she just waited for something to happen and was suddenly back in her seat.
“Wha- you know what? No. I’m done questioning this day anymore.” She said, before getting up from her seat and heading to Izuku’s waiting room.
To Be Continued
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Chapter 7: Brave Assault
”That was a really fun battle, right Chespin?” Shauna questioned her Pokémon while walking down the gym hallway. “Ches, Chespin!” He happily chirped in response, throwing mock punches to replicate the battle, making the girl laugh lightly. “Yeah, I get how you feel… that last part of the fight was so sick seeing Juujika pull of those insane maneuvers!” The duo chatted like this for a while, until they reached the room they were looking for.The brunette knocked on the door and waited for a moment, when they heard a familiar voice call out to them from the other side. “Oh! Uh- crap! Sorry, give me a moment!” Shauna giggled at how the person sounded so frightened. A moment later, and the door opened to reveal a sweaty Izuku covered in what seemed to be some type of sand.“Oh, hey Shauna, Chespin!” The boy greeted when he saw the two. “Hey Izuku!” “Chespin!” We came here to see how you were preparing for the fight against Viola, but it looks like we came at a bad time.” She said, gesturing to the state the green haired teen was in. Seeming to finally realize how dirty he was, the boy’s face lit up red like a lightbulb and he backed up from the duo.“Crap! Sorry guys, I was just clearing my mind and totally forgot how dirty I was! You guys just come inside and I’ll clean myself up, again sorry!” He hurriedly told the two, running to the bathroom in the waiting room right after. Everything happened so fast that Shauna didn’t have the chance to say anything to Izuku before he darted off.The brunette looked back to her partner Pokémon in confusion, said Pokémon also looking to her, before shrugging and walking into the room deciding to stop questioning the things that happen in regards to freckled boy. When they fully stepped into the room, their jaws dropped to the floor.The so called ‘clearing his mind’ Izuku was doing consisted of him using the equipment meant for Pokémon to train with, and utterly brutalizing it. The treadmill in the room had foot holes burned into it that made it seem like a Blaziken used its max firepower. The punching bag, meant to withstand the force of a Machamp’s punches was decimated with a massive hole that was still pouring highly dense sand grains. This was the overall state of everything in the room.Most of the floor had puddles of sweat from how hard the rooms temporary owner was training. “W-what the…” Shauna trailed off, taking in how utterly fucked up the room was. The girl wasn’t done in terms of surprises, because just a moment later a deep voice made her jump out of her skin. “Even without his memories Ninth is still diligent in his training, huh?” Bruce rhetorically inquired after appearing in the room.“Whoa! Don’t just pop up and scare people like that man!” She furiously yelled, her efforts in trying to harm the vestige futile. Shauna’s Chespin wasn’t any better, hiding behind the girl’s leg with a haunted look on his face.“Oh come on, I didn’t scare you that bad. Now, stop trying to punch me and sit down so we can begin with this… process.” The vestige ominously uttered, staring at the door to the bathroom. Shauna stopped the vicious crusade of her fist, and did as the ghastly man ordered. When she sat down on the only clean bench in the room and faced the bathroom as well, lightly huffing from annoyance.“Whatever… but, what did he mean by-“ Her line of thought was interrupted by Izuku walking out of the bathroom. She was stunned by a feeling she couldn’t recognize when her eyes met the outfit he was wearing.Izuku, who was drying his hair with a towel, walked out of the bathroom wearing a tight black undershirt that perfectly highlighted the muscles he didn’t remember gaining, and a second pair of grey shorts for his challenge uniform that let his toned calves glisten in the light.When the teen set the towel he was using to dry his hair down, he turned to face Shauna but was thoroughly surprised to see Bruce there as well. “Uh… Hey, Shauna, sorry for making you wait like that.” He nervously said, his eyes flicking over to the vestige with confusion present on his face.“You don’t have to hide the fact you can see me from her Izuku, she can as well to my utter shock.” The man spoke with a perfectly straight face with nary a hint of the shock he revealed to have. “Yeah, I didn’t know you had ghosts in your head. Just a question, is it intrusive any?” The girl asked.“Oh, no it isn-“ “That doesn’t matter right now, because I have something important I have to do before your match against the gym leader.” Bruce interjected bringing everyone’s attention back to him. “Ninth… Do you remember anything from your life before arriving in Kalos?”“Alright everybody! It’s now time for the moment you’ve all been waiting for!! Gym Leader Viola will be facing off against the green bolt that’s been running through these battles with the speed of a caffeinated Zebstrika, Izuku Midoriya!” The crowd roared in excitement, ready for the exhilarating match just waiting to happen.All of those in the stands, including Shauna, waited for the boy to come out of his side of the field, as Viola had already did so. The gym was dead silent. Not even the breathing of all those in attendance was heard. The local Fletchling soaring above the open sky made a peep.All was quiet.The Pokémon perked up, slightly startling their trainers and those next to them. Then they all heard it. Footsteps that sounded out akin to the boom of thunder heightened the audience’s senses.After what felt like an eternity, they saw Izuku walk out of the darkness of the hallway with a look of pure conviction flooding his now neon green eyes. Many thought it was just a trick of the light how his eyes shone so bright, but they wouldn’t get the chance to confirm whether they were right or not because the match was already set to begin.“Again, this battle will be in the knockout format and each battler will be permitted 1 switch out, do you understand?” The referee’s voice echoed from the stadium speakers.“Yes, I understand.” Viola replied without looking towards the ref, just focusing on her opponent. Meanwhile, Izuku didn’t even respond verbally only nodding his head once and holding his partners Pokéball.“In that case, let the battle between Gym leader Viola and Challenger Izuku Midoriya… BEGIN!”It was instant.Both trainers first Pokémon were fighting it out on the massive open field. Viola started out by having her Surskit use Double Team and Agility in tandem to quickly cover the distance between it and Juujika, then called out for it to use Sticky Web as much as possible to prevent the Riolu from moving around.The leader’s plan seemed to go off without a hitch, but when she was about to call out her Pokémon to use Ice Beam she noticed something was very wrong.Juujika wasn’t there, at all. Her eyes darted around the field in desperation, but she noticed too late. “Use Shadow Claw.” She heard the boy across from her say aloud, and only then did she understand that this match ended before it even began.In one word, she was fucked.Those in the stands couldn’t even comprehend what had just occurred.“Heh, that kid has some promise… If only I didn’t have to end this fun so quick.” Except for a few. “Don’t be an idiot Red… You know what the boss needs from this kid, so don’t try any funny business or I’ll separate your neck from your spine.”Another person harshly ordered the man going by ‘Red’. “Well damn Violet, I didn’t take you for such an ass. Maybe I should just use the new quirk boss gave me to end you now?” The man replied, an unknown heat emanating from his hands. “I don’t have time for your petty games brute, now hurry so we can kill the kid.” ‘Red’ stepped back just as the air in front of him was sliced open by a violet sheen.“Damnit… She’s such a bitch.”“Finish it Juujika, hit it with a Force Palm.” Izuku’s voice echoed across the torn battlefield before a heavy impact was heard, followed by a cry and thump. “I-… I can’t believe it. Izuku and his partner Riolu just wiped the floor with Viola’s team so easily.” The gym was once again completely silent as they processed the ‘battle’ that just ended. A sound echoed through the stands, then another and another, before the gym turned into a cacophony of thundering applause.The freckled teen was breathing heavily as he came down from his high of adrenaline. He was silent before he heard the sound of clapping approaching him, when he lifted his head he saw the Gym Leader he just defeated walking over to him with a competitive smile.“Ya know, I’ve never gotten beat that bad in a while. But when we next battle just know I won’t hold back.” The woman promised, holding her hand out for a handshake. After digesting her words, the boy took her hand and shook it.It was only 5 minutes later, after he received his badge and the reward TM that things started to collapse.“Now that the sappy shit is over with… Let’s get the after party started!” A deep voice sounded out, startling everyone still in the building. As they all looked around for who might have yelled that out, everyone witnessed a man with a hulking figure fall from the sky through the roof of the Gym and land with a flourish of fire.When the dust settled, Izuku saw that the man was wearing a white suit that was almost bursting from the sheer number of muscles he had. He also saw a woman sitting on his massive shoulder wearing a black form fitting dress.“Now then, Midoriya… Lets get your on your one-way trip to hell!” The man announced, bounding towards the boy in question with speed not befitting a man of his size.
To Be Continued