Chapter 19: Silver Fur
Author's Note: Another original chapter! As I said before, it's hard to fit these types of chapters into the main story, so in between arcs is honestly the best way I can think of. This one does have some effects on the main story though, so you can look forward to that. Anyway, enjoy and please leave a review if you can!
The class had been given a break for three days after the Sports Festival. This was pretty much just because each year level needed a day for their tournament, with the third day being a break day for everybody.
Izuku was just glad that he'd get a chance to rest. He was getting ready to go home when two people called his attention. "Yo, Midoriya!" He turned his head and saw Denki and Kyoka calling his name out. "Can you come here for a bit? We wanna ask you something."
The boy walked over to them nervously. "Go ahead." He said. "Midoriya, do you know anything about Eevees?" Kyoka asked. Izuku nodded his head instantly and his eyes lit up. "Yeah! They're super cool! They've got an unstable genetic make up that let's it evolve into a bunch of Pokemon depending on the environment! Some places even have different..."
Izuku went on rambling, but he was eventually cut off by Kyoka clearing her throat. "O-Oh, sorry about that." She shook her head. "It's fine, at least you know about it. So you're saying they're strong, right?"
The boy nodded his head. Denki pumped his fist excitedly. "Yes!" He said out loud. Izuku looked at him with confusion. "But… why are you guys asking me about this?"
"You're like, a Pokemon fanatic, dude. We just needed to get a bit more on Eevee for something." Denki replied. "I'm sure you heard it in the news or something. There's a bunch of special Eevees running around and we wanted to try to catch it."
"Yup. We want to impress the Heroes at our internship and there's no better way to do that than catching a strong, rare Pokemon." Kyoka said.
Denki looked at Izuku for a moment, then an idea came to his head. "You aren't doing anything tomorrow, are you?" He asked. "Jiro and I were gonna look for these Eevees, but we aren't sure where to even start."
Izuku placed his hand on his chin in thought. He was pretty, no, he was extremely nervous about the idea of accompanying two classmates he barely knew on a Pokemon Hunt. Still, he was interested in these "Special Eevees." Plus, he didn't wanna say no. These people were asking for his help.
"S-Sure..." He reluctantly said, getting a small cheer from Denki. Kyoka held up her hand, shutting up the boy in an instant. "Hold up, are you sure about this, Midoriya? Don't you wanna take tomorrow off to rest or something? You looked pretty beat up after your fight with Todoroki and Ninetails." Izuku shook his head and smiled at them. "I'm fine, really. After the surgery, Chansey's Heal Pulse fixed me up fine."
"Awesome! What time are we meeting up? Denki asked. "Let's meet up outside the school around… how's 3 pm?" Kyoka proposed. The two boys agreed and after exchanging numbers, they all went their own ways.
That night, Izuku spent the night researching the Eevees Denki and Kyoka were talking about. He found it fascinating how these Pokemon managed to evade the media so much. From what he found, these special Pokemon came in different colors. He found Orange, Pink, Light Blue, and even Green.
Whatever these Pokemon were, they sure weren't normal Eevees. Capturing one would likely impress even a Pro Hero. If they found a few, maybe Izuku would consider catching one. They still needed to find it though, and that wouldn't be an easy task. He had an idea, but he wasn't sure if it would work...
The next day, Izuku met Kyoka at the front of UA. "Sorry, am I late?!" He asked. The girl shook her head and smiled at him. "No, you're good. Kaminari isn't here yet, so we're just waiting on him."
Kyoka was a much different girl than Ochako. She was pretty unenthusiastic for the most part and she definitely could come across as cold. Still, she was very defensive of her friends and was willing to put herself on the line at the USJ to help them out.
"Sorry for dragging you into this, by the way." Kyoka apologized. "It's fine, really! I'm excited to try and look for these Eevees. Plus, if we find a bunch maybe I'll try to catch one for myself. I read about it online and it looks really interesting..." Izuku assured her that he didn't mind tagging along. "I'll show you what I have planned when Kaminari gets here."
As if on cue, Denki showed up, his Pikachu sitting on his shoulder. "Hey! What's up, guys!" Kyoka scoffed and crossed her arms. "You're late." She said bluntly. The boy raised his hands and smiled. "I'm here now! So let's get going!"
Denki was a pretty interesting guy too. He was easily one of the most outgoing members of the class. He may not be the smartest trainer, but he was strong. His matchup against Ibara and Serperior wasn't their best, but most of the other competitors would have struggled with Denki had he gotten just a little bit further.
"Okay, so here's what I found." Izuku pulled out his phone and showed the two a map with different colored points scattered across a small area. "The red points are where there's picture evidence of the Eevee. The blue ones are where reported sightings were, so those were a bit unreliable."
"So if we wanna find the Eevee, we have to look here?" Kyoka asked, pointing to the yellow box encapsulating most of the red points. "Yeah. The problem is, we don't even really know how to find Eevee even if we look in that area. That's why I came up with a plan..."
Izuku sent out his Riolu who began glowing with blue energy. "Riolus and Lucarios can tap into this kind of spiritual energy called Aura. It's basically the essence of all living creatures. It can let Riolu do things like reading minds, but it can also let him sense other Pokemon." Riolu looked up and smiled at the two trainers.
"So Riolu's gonna be able to find an Eevee?" Denki asked. "Well, I hope so. We aren't very good at it yet and even an experienced Lucario can't use Aura like a tracking device. But, I'm pretty sure the reason these Eevees can evade people so easily is because they're good at hiding. If Riolu and I do this right, we should be able to see them at least."
Denki placed his hand over Izuku's back and smiled widely. "Nice one, Midoriya! We'll find an Eevee in no time!" He said. The three headed to the train station to start their search. Izuku had pinned it down to a small area in a rather unpopulated part of the city. There were still many people, but it was quieter.
Looking at the different pictures, Izuku was able to conclude that the Eevees usually appeared in alleyways. That must have been how they managed to avoid human contact for so long. It'd take them over a day to cover all that ground though, and there was a good chance they'd just straight-up miss the Eevees if they weren't careful.
"I can use Noivern to help us look too," Kyoka suggested. "He's got super-sensitive hearing, so he might be able to tell us if we're near. It's not guaranteed, but it might help in some way."
Denki had an idea as well. "I don't have any Pokemon with crazy abilities like you guys, but Pikachu's fast. He can cover a lot of ground quickly. We can split into two groups: Us with Noivern, and Riolu and Pikachu. That way, we don't have to spend as much time running around."
Izuku and Kyoka's eyes widened in surprise. That was actually a pretty decent idea. Not groundbreaking, but one that neither of them had thought of. Hearing that from Denki was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one.
When they arrived at the station, they charted their path on the map. They split up the area into several smaller sectors. That way, they wouldn't need to stress about missing something right away. They decided to also split themselves into two teams as Denki had suggested, with the addition of Kyoka's Galarian Linoone.
Once they had everything settled, they decided to review the plan. "So here's what we're gonna do. The Pokemon team can get around a lot faster than the rest of us, so they'll take this part." Izuku pointed to the slightly larger area. "Noivern will come with us and look in this smaller area. We can meet back up here once we finish."
With that, the two teams set off. The team of Pokemon had to take it a little slower than they had expected. Riolu was still struggling to tap into his aura and thus needed to move a little slower to focus as well as take short breaks. The Aura was a bit overwhelming for Riolu. He couldn't read minds quite like a seasoned Lucario, but being able to sense everyone and everything around him was a lot to handle. Pikachu and Linoone somewhat made up for it though with their speed and by thoroughly searching through the area.
They were approaching the end of their search with nothing found. They all felt a little disheartened, considering that it was pretty straining for Riolu to keep going. If they found nothing, Riolu would have exhausted himself for no reason.
Right when they were heading back to the meeting spot, Riolu then felt something. The Aura of this… thing… it was strange. This Pokemon had a much stronger and noticeable Aura than the people and Pokemon around him. Riolu looked around and found the Pokemon staring at them from within an alleyway. It was one of the Eevees!
Riolu barked and got the other two's attention. The three ran into the alleyway and gave chase. The Eevee quickly noticed them and began running away. It was surprisingly fast, but Riolu wasn't letting his eyes off of it. Linoone and Pikachu were fast, and they eventually saw the Eevee as well.
However, just as they were getting close, the Eevee quickly turned around and some kind of… Ice attack?! It caught the Pokemon completely off-guard and allowed the Eevee to get away. By the time Riolu got back on his feet, the Eevee was gone.
The trainers weren't very successful either. It turned out that without knowing what the Eevees sounded like, Noivern wasn't very helpful. There was a bunch of small Pokemon that may have sounded like an Eevee that the Dragon kept leading them to. Noivern seemed especially disappointed. Kyoka smiled and rubbed the Pokemon's head. "It's fine, Noivern. The Eevees probably aren't here anyway."
The two teams met up and were disappointed to find that neither had managed to catch a single Eevee. The trainers were impressed though when the Pokemon reported that they had found one, though it got away.
"Wait..." Denki crouched down and ran his hand through Pikachu's fur. "It's cold… is this… snow?" He asked. Izuku and Kyoka turned to their Pokemon and found the same thing on their fur.
"Can Eevees learn Ice-type attacks?" Kyoka asked. "Not until they evolve into Glaceon," Izuku answered. "What did you guys find?" He asked the Pokemon.
"Are you guys sure that was even an Eevee?" Denki asked them. All the Pokemon nodded. They were confident they had found what they were looking for. "An Eevee that knows an Ice-type move..." Izuku said to himself. Just what were they dealing with here?
Then, in the corner of his eye, he spotted a shadow watching them from a distance. Riolu seemed to notice it too. Izuku stood up and turned to the shadow. Surprisingly, it stepped forward, revealing itself to be…
"That's a Shiny Eevee!" Izuku shouted, surprising both Kyoka and Denki. "Is that what you saw, Riolu?" Riolu looked at the silver Eevee for a moment and nodded. It definitely felt the same, at least. The Eevee stepped forward and slowly approached Izuku and Riolu. "Hey-"
"Now's our chance! Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Denki shouted. Pikachu ran in and narrowly missed his attack as Eevee dodged to the side. "Wait, stop!"
The Eevee quickly began running away. "Nice work, idiot!" Kyoka hit Denki right in the back of his head. "I'm going after him. Let's go, Noivern!"
"No, wait! We can't-"
"Pikachu, let's go too!" Both Denki and Kyoka began running after the Eevee through the streets. Izuku was pretty frustrated at how neither of his classmates listened to him just there, but the only thing he and Riolu could do was try to stop them.
"This one's mine!" Kyoka shouted. Denki looked at her with a shocked face. "I thought you said I could catch it if we found one!" He said. The girl shook her head and scoffed. "I said you could catch one if we found a bunch of them! We only found one, so I'm gonna catch it!" Denki clenched his fist and pointed right at Noivern.
"No you're not! Iron Tail!" Pikachu hopped up and quickly hit Noivern with his tail, knocking the Dragon to the ground. "Hey! You can't do that!" Kyoka shouted as she helped her Pokemon back up. Denki smiled and shrugged. "Anything goes!"
"You mother- come back here!" She shouted. The boy quickly pulled out a Pokeball and tried throwing it at Eevee, but the shiny quickly avoided the attack. This Eevee was significantly faster than most of his species for sure.
Linoone quickly ran forward and hit Pikachu with a Night Slash before continuing to chase Eevee. "Pikachu!" Denki called out and picked his Pokemon up. He seemed fine. He was just caught off guard by the attack.
Kyoka quickly passed him on her Noivern and stuck her tongue out. "Anything goes!" She mocked him. "Okay then..." Denki pulled out two more Pokeballs and sent out Luxray and Electivire. The girl quickly sent out her Chimecho and had her use Extrasensory on the three Pokemon to push them back a little.
This was a pretty unpopular location in town, so there weren't many people. Still, there were people so they couldn't use moves that could cause potential damage. Pikachu's Iron Tail and Chimecho's Extrasensory may have already crossed that point, but they didn't want anyone to actually get hurt.
Eventually, the Eevee did a quick turnaround and released another Ice attack. It released a haze from its mouth which surrounded Kyoka and her Pokemon. Suddenly, a single ice crystal shot up, covering them with ice and snow.
Izuku saw this attack and his eyes widened with shock. Before he could say anything though, Denki ran forward to try and catch the Eevee, but by the time he got past Kyoka, it was gone. "Damn!" The boy shouted.
"This is your fault!" Kyoka said, returning Noivern and Linoone to their Pokeballs. "If you hadn't tried to attack it so fast, one of us could've caught it!"
"Yeah, well you're the one who ended up chasing it! It's not my fault you got stuck in the ice there." Denki said back.
"The hell?! Of course I'm gonna go after it! That's the whole reason why we're here!"
"Maybe if you didn't trick me into coming-"
"Trick?! We never agreed to anything! I said I'd be the one to catch it and that's exactly what I tried to do!"
"Well you should just shut-"
"Enough!" Izuku stepped forward and stopped their argument. "Look, I get you two are frustrated, but you need to calm down." Kyoka and Denki quieted down, but they were both still obviously upset. "You were both being selfish here. You can't be mad at each other for what just happened."
Kyoka crossed her arms and turned away. "I'll look for this damn Eevee on my own then. I don't need your help." She said. Denki clenched his fist and turned the other direction. "I'll find it first."
Izuku tried to stop both of them, but neither listened. He let out a sigh and turned to Riolu. "What are we gonna do?" He asked.
After letting Noivern rest for a little bit, she rode him around the city, looking around for the Eevee. She felt a little guilty, but to be fair, it was her idea in the first place. Without her, he wouldn't have even known that these Pokemon existed. If he hadn't attacked Eevee like an idiot, they'd still have another chance to catch it. She had the right to be mad! He even attacked her own Pokemon!
Though to be fair, she fought back… and Izuku was somewhat right, she was being selfish. She knew there was a good possibility they would only find one Eevee and didn't bring that up to Denki. Plus, she knew how much he wanted to impress the Heroes at his internship. He was really embarrassed about his performance at the sports festival even though he didn't want to admit it.
Denki meanwhile was pretty upset as well. This was just the opportunity he had been waiting for, and he knew that Kyoka knew that. He had told her exactly why he wanted to catch this Eevee, and she still tried to take it.
Still, he did know how much she wanted it too. She talked about how she wanted to be able to catch this Pokemon and prove to the class that she was a strong trainer too. While his performance in the final round was a bit sad, at least he made it to the finals at all. Kyoka felt like her performance overall was unremarkable, having only made it as far as she did purely because she was part of the Hero course.
After a few hours of searching, the sun began to set. Denki began heading back to the train station where he ran into Izuku and Kyoka waiting for him. The boy smiled at him while Kyoka seemed to be embarrassed over something.
"Jiro, he's here," Izuku said, surprising Kyoka. She stood up and walked over to Denki. "Listen, Kaminari… I'm… I'm sorry." She said hesitantly. "I know how much you wanted-"
"It's fine, Jiro." He cut her off. "You don't have to apologize. It was a heat of the moment and we both made stupid mistakes. I'm sorry for being stupid back there."
She looked up at him. "Yeah, but I know how much you wanted to catch that Eevee. Midoriya was right, I was being selfish."
"Maybe, but you wanted to catch it too, right? Maybe we were both being selfish, but I don't wanna let this ruin our friendship. It's just a dumb Eevee." Denki smiled and gave a thumbs up. Kyoka smiled at him and nodded. "Right. I… Thank you, Kaminari."
Izuku smiled once again as he looked at them. Denki was surprisingly mature when it came to situations like this. He recognized the situation pretty fast and knew that neither of them wanted this to happen. He swallowed his pride and reassured Kyoka that everything was okay.
"Anyway, Midoriya! Sorry for dragging you into this." Denki said. "Thanks for coming, though. It seriously means a lot dude!" He continued. Izuku shook his head. "It's fine, honestly. We didn't catch an Eevee, but I had fun!"
"Why don't we get something for dinner? I'm pretty hungry." Kyoka suggested. The two boys nodded excitedly as they all headed into the station.
Izuku still couldn't help but think about that Eevee, though. "That was a Partner Eevee..." He whispered to himself, not noticing the Pokemon watching the three students from a distance.
Izuku returned home that day pretty late. "I'm back, mom!" He shouted. His mother quickly rushed to the door looking distressed. "Izuku, look at this!" She brought him to their television where he was horrified by the news headline.
"Pro Hero Ingenium forced to retire after life-threatening encounter with Hero Killer."
Meanwhile, Stain had found himself leaning against the wall of the League of Villains hideout. It seemed like a bar, but obviously old and in horrible condition. He looked at Tomura and clenched his teeth. "We are not the same, Villain. You wish to destroy Hero Society while I wish to cleanse it." He said.
Tomura smiled and nodded his head. "Oh, I know. But that doesn't mean that we can't work together. Think about it, we can give you everything you need!"
Stain took a moment to think before he smirked. "Under normal circumstances, I would never work with people like you. Plus, I've got unfinished business in Hosu. However, you are very interesting, Tomura Shigaraki. I'd like to see how you turn out before I kill you."