Okay, so I completely forgot that I was supposed to publish this yesterday, but, oh well. Here it is now
A New Problem
Alec's POV
I spent the rest of the morning getting in some training with my team, and helped Arco figure out the limits of Aura Assault. Finding out about a possible recharge time when using the move was good to know. Now I knew to use it primarily as a finisher to avoid that recharge period. Right now though, lunch was starting so I figured I should get something. I had enough supplies on me to keep my team fed and healthy for several months, but with my more limited supplies I got help from the school to grow them, such as the berries I had.
I was initially worried about introducing new plants to the ecosystem, but for the most part the berries were growing well. This way I could replenish my medical supplies since berries from my world reached maturity when the plant was still young., I could restock my potion supplies, which combined with similar supplies that were found on Earth, could at least supplement them.
As I was making my way towards the lunch room, I happened to pass by the infirmary to see Chiyo starting to exit the room. As she closed the door, she saw me approaching. "Ah, Alec. I was hoping to see you," she greeted.
"What's up, Chiyo?" I asked.
"Oh, not much. Except for the fact that I noticed Aizawa this morning moving around without his bandages, and when I questioned him about it, he told me that one of your Pokémon was able to heal him. Is that right?" she asked with an amused smile as we walked to the lunch room, and I slowed my pace so she could stay beside me.
"Yeah. Sarah has a move called Heal Pulse and her species is used as nurses in Unova. Primarily in Pokémon Centers, but some can be trained to help humans. Sarah actually was one, helping this elderly woman who was having heart problems. I helped her out after Sarah was kidnaped by a few of Team Plasma's more radical members and I managed to rescue her. After the old woman passed, I found out she had gifted Sarah to me in her will," I explained.
"So she has experience in helping humans. If you don't mind, I would like it if she could help out around the infirmary. I'm not as young as I used to be and since my Quirk heals based on a person's stamina, I wouldn't mind the help of someone who doesn't have that requirement," she asked me.
"I don't see a problem with that. Sarah's always eager to help people so I would be surprised if she said no if I asked her," I answered.
"Thanks, deary. Considering that just this week alone I've had more injuries than normal I imagine this is going to be one of my worst years," Chiyo admitted. I felt a little guilty about that because of my own injury. The elderly healer must have noticed. "Oh, don't trouble yourself over it. It happens and I just like to complain about it."
"I will take your word on it then," I said with slight excasturbation.
We entered the kitchen itself to get our food, since I wanted to avoid a scene as much as possible which I knew would happen if I entered the cafeteria with the students. The school chef, a man who I only knew as Lunch Rush, was serving food to a few students. When we entered, Lunch Rush turned to face us as the student's froze at the sight of me.
"Ah, Recovery Girl, Alec. Here for some lunch?" the chef asked kindly.
"Yes. We'll take it to go please," Recovery Girl said, while I started to feel a little uncomfortable with all the looks I was getting from the students as they realized I was here. Thankfully, Lunch Rush was aware of this and worked on getting me and Recovery Girl's food as soon as possible.
As soon as I got my food, I quickly headed off to the teacher lounge where I knew the other teachers would be, since I figured it would be easier to avoid the student body as much as possible for now. Entering, I saw a few teachers there, though All Might was notably absent. I wonder if he and Midoriya were talking about something.
Regardless, this was likely the third best place for me to eat without being hounded by students, the first and second being my dorm and my Training Grounds respectively, so I was going to use it. At least until the shock of my presence calms down a bit.
"Not wishing to deal with the crowd?" Aizawa asked rhetorically.
"The staring more than anything," I replied as I took a seat near him, Mic, and Midnight.
"Popularity a bit too much for you?" Mic asked jokingly.
"I can handle being popular, but I don't like being stared at in a way that makes everything awkward," I replied.
As I started eating, my mind went back to the conversation I had with Nezu this morning about the Sport's Festival, and my curiosity spiked. "So, if I may ask, Nezu mentioned something called the Sport's Festival to me. What is it?" I asked.
I swear you could hear a pin drop at my question as the teachers looked at me like I grew another head, though Aizawa was unsurprisingly the first to recover. "Right, you wouldn't know. It's an event UA holds to showcase our future heroes. All the classes participate in random events to show both the public and active heroes what the next generation has. For Hero Course students, it's a way to get noticed by proes who may take some under their wing," he explained.
"Yeah, it's not something that they can afford to miss, since we only do it once a year," Mic added.
"I'm surprised you're doing now considering what just happened," I noted between bites.
"Actually, that's why Nezu wanted to do it. Normally it is this time of year, but some were talking about canceling or postponing it. Nezu suggested it was a good way to show that the school is still capable of producing good heroes despite what just happened," Midnight stated.
"And with an added bonus, you get the chance to show that Pokémon aren't as much of a threat as the politicians would like to think," Aizawa added as an afterthought.
"Yeah, Nezu told me it wouldn't be a bad idea to let them out and about. Still not sure what to do though," I said.
"I'm sure you'll find a way to put on a show," Mic said confidently.
"Oh, there's an idea. There's an intermission between the second and third event, you could show off your Pokémon then," Midnight suggested.
"What, like a performance?" I asked, getting a nod from her. "If my sister was here, I definitely would say yes. She's better versed in that than I am," I countered.
"You can come with battle strategies on the fly yet planning a performance is something you can't do?" Mic asked with a hint of surprise.
"Yeah, battle strategy. I've always been more of a wing-it kind of planner. I can come up with a general plan, but I tend to leave things flexible in case something happens. My sister on the other hand, can plan things out for months without breaking a sweat, but isn't that flexible when things don't go according to plan," I stated.
"Sounds like you are opposites as siblings," Midnight said.
"Oh, definitely. I started my Pokémon journey when I was ten, but my sister didn't start hers until she was almost sixteen, and she only did it when she saw me and a friend of mine jump off of my world's equivalent of the Eiffel Tower," I stated, getting looks of surprise from the three proes.
"Okay, I worded that wrong. My friend's Pokémon fell off the tower as we tried to calm down a rampaging Pokémon, he jumped after him, and I jumped down while letting out Flame to catch him," I clarified. That calmed them down a bit.
"Well, I've seen heroes doing crazier stunts," Aizawa noted.
The rest of lunch was spent talking about the Sport's Festival and what I could expect and throwing ideas around of what I could do during it, and soon the bell signaling the end of lunch went off and I soon went back to my Training Grounds to continue where I left off.
Izuku's POV
After classes ended, and with the announcement of the Sport's Festival, there was a lot of excitement in class, and despite a brief altercation between several students that were planning on using the Sport's Festival to get spots in the hero course, soon, everyone but Bakugo was heading towards Alec's Training Grounds.
"So, what kind of other Pokémon do you think Alec has now?" Kaminari asked. "I mean, we saw he had some new ones at that meeting."
"I admit I am curious, but I do not approve of him unleashing them against our government officials," Yaoyorozu .
"He didn't unleash them, he just let them out," Ashido pointed out as we reached the building. It appeared to be larger than the school's gyms, and as I stepped up to open the doors, I heard the sounds of fighting.
"What's going on in there?" Sato asked.
"I believe he is training," Mezo replied, one of his arms forming an extra ear.
I then opened the door and discovered that Mezo was right, though I'll admit, I wasn't expecting Alec to do the kind of training he was doing. Alec was fighting his Pokémon on his own, dodging an attack from a dragonic Pokémon that was just over six feet, with a red underbelly from the lower jaw to the middle of the abdomen, including the undersides of its arms, and a patch of gold starting at the end of the red and ending at the legs. A golden star shape adorns the tip of its snout, with two horn appengages resembling a jet or plane's engines, giving it an appearance similar to a hammerhead shark. Its large mouth was open, showing a row of razor-sharp teeth. The feet had three white talons, and each arm had a single large, white claw for a hand, with curved fins sprouting from the arms, looking something like a wing, but it didn't seem large enough to allow it to fly. It also had a large dorsal fin with a notch on it, and another on its tail that resembles a shark tailfin. Pairs of small, white spikes protrude from its upper arms and legs, and there are gill-like slits on the sides of the neck. Its eyes were an intense gold, with black sclera, similar to Ashido's eyes. It also had a collar around his neck, which contained a dark gray, almost black, stone, with red and gold in a swirl at the center.
It was then I remembered that it was at the meeting, intimidating the security guards.
After dodging the attack, Alec was then attacked by a wolf-like Pokémon with light brown fur, white underbelly that extended up around its muzzle and eyes in a mask-like marking. It had pointed ears with dark brown tips and pink insides, big blue eyes, and a triangular, dark brown nose. There are four sharp fangs in its mouth: two in the upper jaw and two in the lower. Large tufts of brown fur extend from the sides of its head; three tufts on each side, and a bushy, white mane covering its neck and fluffy white tail. Four dark brown rocks poke out of its mane, creating a shape similar to a stylized sun and appearing to be rather sharp. Its legs were white, and each foot had three dark brown claws.
Alec's response to the attack was to slip to the side, grab the wolf by its mane, and throw it towards the shark dragon.
"Geez, didn't think Alec actually fought his Pokémon," Sato commented.
"Man, why does he have to be such a badass," Kaminari added.
It was then that Alec noticed them and raised his hand, which seemed to signal his team to stop. "Hey guys, sorry, I lost track of time," Alec greeted.
"I-It's fine, I guess. We didn't exactly announce we were coming," I replied.
"Well, don't just stand around, come on in," Alec invited, and I soon realized we were all standing in the door looking like fools.
It didn't take long for all of us to walk in and Alec's Pokémon had their full attention on us. "So, are these all the Pokémon you've brought over?" Jiro asked.
"Yeah, though you can expect more to show up as I bring them over. The attack on the USJ made it pretty clear that I need to expand my firepower," Alec answered.
It was then that the massive white dragon made her presence known, looking at us with a cold, yet burning blue gaze. "Uh…" I started, but Alec thankfully didn't need me to finish.
"Easy, Royal. No need to go off on them," Alec said, looking the dragon in the eyes. Royal let off a soft roar mixed in with a slight screech before laying back where she was, but kept on eye on us at all times. "You can ignore her for the most part, she's just not in a good mood today," Alec told us.
"So, do all these Pokémon have names?" Kota asked, much to everyone's surprise, as he really didn't talk that much, if at all.
"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know that yet. Well, quick lightning round of introductions," Alec started, and began introducing the members we saw at the USJ and the newer ones that appeared after it. Besides the Pokémon at the USJ, I learned the dragonic shark was a Garchomp conveniently named Shark, and the wolf-like Pokémon was a Midday Lycanroc by the name of Duke.
Then there was the other Pokémon that Alec brought over before the meeting. Alec told us one named Sarah, who apparently was going to be helping out Recovery Girl, so she wasn't here right now, but he did introduce us to the other two that we haven't met.
The first was one I remembered from the meeting, whose five and a half foot body resembled that of a golden sword with white edges and somewhat serrated near the tip. Where the blade meets the hilt was a single, purple eye with a white slit pupil surrounded by black space, and the handle was a thick, striated spike with two cloth-like arms emerging from the sides of the hilt. Each arm was primarily black and transitioned to a pale purple with a slight swirl pattern at the ends, which split into four tassels. The sword body, though, was sheathed in its gold shield which had three brown rings surrounded by black in the middle. It also has a brown rim with three lines radiating toward the center.
Alec introduced him as Vanguard, an Aegislash.
The second one wasn't at the meeting. He was a three foot tall avian with dark blue feathers, red breast and face, and a crest of feathers swept back from the top of his head. A blue stripe separated the red markings between his head and chest, and had a white underside. His eyes were small and narrow, with a pointed, yellow beak, and red feet with black talons. Each foot has three forward-facing toes and one pointed backward and two long, pointed feathers with red tips formed his tail, introduced as Missile the Swellow.
"Geez, every time we've reached the peak of oddity from Pokémon, something else comes along and changes that," Kaminari commented after Vanguard was introduced.
"Well, it is a whole other world," Tokoyami pointed out.
"Regardless, I'm guessing you have a whole lot of questions. Me and Zip should be able to answer them for the most part," Alec told us.
"I actually have one for you right now," Kirishima started. "Sorry if I come off as a little blunt, but I'm wondering how you can understand Pokémon."
"Wait, what?!" Kaminari questioned in surprise, and everyone else shared similar expressions. I guess neither me or Kirishima told anyone about it.
"I guess you guys need an explanation," Alec said before explaining to us what a Speaker was and how they came about.
"Sounds a lot like a Quirk," Uraraka noted.
"In a way I guess it is, but unlike in this world, these kinds of abilities are quite rare, and that's just the ones I know about," Alec added. Arco then let out a series of barks similar to that of a dog, which caused Alec to smile. "Yes, you guys can interact with them. Just remember that they can't understand you," he told them, getting nods from the Pokémon.
I honestly lost track of time as we started interacting with Alec's Pokémon, and asking the trainer questions whenever he had some. I made sure to note everything down in my new notebook I set up for Pokémon, since I knew one day Zip wouldn't be here as a floating wikipedia on Pokémon.
It was as we started to leave, when out of curiosity I looked at my phone and saw something that surprised me. "Hey, Alec, are you sure these are all of your Pokémon?" I asked him.
Alec looked at me with confusion. "Yeah. Like I said, the only one not here is Sarah, since she's helping Recovery Girl. Why, what did you see?" he asked.
I showed him my phone, where it showed a live broadcast in Kyushu, and I saw Alec stiffen in surprise. There were multiple three and a half foot tall Pokémon with pale, gray bodies that resembled a mixture of a cat and a weasel. They had a bright red crown and collar made of wide feathers and a single, thinner feather on each ear, with varying lengths between them. Two tail feathers and three claws on each paw, and a yellow, oval marking in the center of the forehead. With red eyes with three eyelashes, and four fangs protrude from its upper jaw.
"Alec, what are those?" I asked, wondering what got him so worried.
"Weavile, and a lot of them. How they got here I don't know but one thing is for sure is they are going to need my help dealing with this," he answered as I saw him grab several Poké balls from a nearby shelf and return Arco, Flare, Vanguard, and Smasher to their balls. "Where is this taking place?" he asked.
"Kyushu, in southern Japan," I answered.
"Zip?" Alec asked the phone, who seemed to be loading a map on his screen.
"It's a bit of a ways away, I can guide us there," he told him.
"Good," Alec said as he pulled out Royal's ball and returned her. He then quickly ran outside with the rest of us following him.
"Wait, what are you planning on doing?" Kirirshima asked.
"I can't just sit around and let wild Pokémon rampage in a city," Alec responded as he let Royal back out, and she let him and Ethan climb onto her back.
"Alec, you don't have a hero license, you could get in trouble if you go!" Iida pointed out.
"For the record, I do have a temporary one from Nezu, and even if I didn't I wouldn't let that stop me. I won't let Pokémon hurt innocent people, especially wild ones," Alec answered and I could hear the determination in his voice. "Tell the staff where I'm going if they ask. Royal, let's go!" Alec shouted.
Before anyone could stop him, Royal flapped her massive wings and took off into the air, which was soon followed by her jet-like tail shooting out a torrent of flames and she flew off at high speeds.
"Man, that was an exit," Kaminari commented.
"Better than any one you could pull off," Jiro added.
"Hey!"
It was then that we noticed several teachers approaching us. "Was that Alec that just took off?" Mr. Aizawa asked, with Principal Nezu on his shoulder.
"Yes sir. We tried to stop him, but he insisted on going," Yaoyorozu answered.
"It seems we were a bit too late. We just have to hope that he knows what he's doing," Principal Nezu said, looking in the direction Royal went. "Regardless, I suggest you all go home, you'll no doubt hear about this in the morning, so I suggest you get some rest," he then told us.
"Yes sir, understood," Iida replied, and we moved to leave campus. As we did so, I looked at my phone again as the live report went off, seeing a few heroes trying to fight off the Weavile, but were either hit by beams that freezes everything they touched, or slashed by dark energy blades.
"Think Alec can handle this, Deku?" Uraraka asked.
"I get the feeling he can, but there's something about this that doesn't sit right with me," I answered.
"What do you mean, Midoriya? Ribbit?" Asui asked.
"It's more of a gut feeling, but I think there's more to this than what we're seeing," I replied.
"Oh come on, Alec will be fine. He took on that Nomu creature back at the USJ, remember?" Ashido stated.
"Yeah. Alec's got this. Even then, he'll have more pros helping him out in no time if something goes wrong," Kirishima agreed.
While my classmates shared their agreement, I still couldn't help but worry. The timing of this seemed too convenient. I just hoped that Alec would be okay.
Not going to lie, this chapter was a bit of a drag for me to write, so if it feels like there's a dip in quality, that's why. I wanted this chapter, but I just had a hard time writing it out. Hopefully the next one is easier to do.
Until next time: An Enemy Returned