Chapter 42: Separation
Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I don't really have much to say about this chapter, but the next couple of ones are largely gonna be original stories I've come up with for the exam so I hope you look forward to that. Sorry this chapter took a while to make, I just wanted to make sure I had a few more things planned out before moving on. Enjoy!
Class 1-A stood together in a group and had their Pokemon form a wall to cover them from all sides. They just needed to find an opening, but the other test takers weren't going to make it that easy.
"Looks like UA won't go down to something like this," Shindo said as his Golurk lifted him up to its shoulder. Another student, Makabe, stepped forward and let out a sigh. "Okay, I see it now. We're leaving it to you, Toteki!" He passed some of his balls over to the black-haired boy.
"I might pass before all you guys, but I hope taking UA out can give you the advantage." He turned to his Marowak and nodded. "Use Focus Energy." He said. The Bone Keeper Pokemon closed its eyes and focused before nodding, signifying it was ready.
Toteki threw the balls in the air and smiled. "Bone Club!" With immense power, Marowak launched the balls right for the UA students, giving them little time to react. Luckily, Kyoka's Obstagoon was able to react in time and jump in front of the group.
"Obstruct!" She shouted as Obstagoon expertly blocked the balls, letting out a yell before swinging his arms outward, sending the balls flying away.
The class worked together to keep the balls away from each other, from Minoru's Sudowoodo using Wood Hammer to swat them back to Koji's Diggersby using Mud Shot to intercept them.
"They've gotten way stronger…" Shindo said as he pet Golurk on the head. "Okay, everyone. Get away!" The Automaton Pokemon jumped in the air and entered its cannon form. It aimed right for the ground before charging up.
Shindo placed his hand on his Pokemon and smiled. "You're not the only ones who have ultimate moves! Maximum power! Earth… Blast!" Golurk shot out a huge beam of energy into the ground, causing the land around them to shatter and created an explosion that separated everybody.
From a distance, everyone could see the mountains begin to collapse from the attack. Those who had gathered in the city area got a full view of the attack, watching as some of the 1-A students were sent flying into the air.
"What the hell was that…"
"What kinda Pokemon- ack!"
Suddenly, a huge gust of air hit all of them in the city. The gust of air picked up their balls and lifted them up into the air. Standing on top of one of the buildings was none other than Inasa. His Staraptor was flying above all of them, flapping its wings to create a gigantic whirlwind.
Inasa laughed as Staraptor continued to create an even stronger whirlwind. "Yes! You've all got so much passion! I love it!" He yelled.
"From Shiketsu?! Alone?!" One student yelled out.
"Shit! I can't do anything!"
Inasa bowed enthusiastically. "Please let me join the fight! I'm looking forward to this!" Suddenly, Staraptor, with one huge blast of air, dispersed all of the balls around him, causing them to rain on the students.
Over with Mera, his monitor finally lit up, indicating a student had finally passed. "Oh man, finally. Looks like… HUH?!" He pressed a button and began speaking through the speakers. "120 students have just been eliminated by one person!"
Inasa stood back up straight and pat Staraptor on the head. "Nice work, buddy! We won!"
Meanwhile, while Izuku ended up getting separated from the rest of his class, Blaziken managed to keep his footing during the explosion and managed to follow his trainer. With the help of his Pokemon, the boy got back up.
"You okay, Blaziken?" The trainer asked. The Fire Pokemon nodded and smiled, indicating that it was still good to go despite the powerful attack from Golurk. They looked around for any signs of their classmates, but unfortunately, they couldn't find anyone. On the bright side, nobody else seemed to be around meaning they could take this opportunity to rest.
As Izuku and Blaziken walked around the mountainous area, the trainer began talking about how strong the other trainers there were. "I've never seen an attack that powerful from a student before," Izuku said, referring to Golurk's cannon blast. He knew going into the exam that their opponents were going to be tough, but he couldn't imagine just how much an extra year's worth of training put Shindo and the others on a whole other level.
But the thought… it was exciting! It was enough to make Izuku smile. Just like at the Sports Festival, this was their time to show what they could do. "Let's give it everything we got, Blaziken!" Izuku said, turning to his Pokemon, but what he saw wasn't an expression of agreement, but one of fear.
Suddenly, a girl in a Shiketsu uniform dashed forward and tagged one of Izuku's targets before Blaziken could get in, narrowly dodging a Thunder Punch before jumping back. She was joined by a Galarian Rapidash behind her as she stood up straight.
"Uh oh… it's not good to be spacing out like that, y'know?" She said as she adjusted her hat. "You're out here smiling too, even after taking a big hit from that Golurk."
Blaziken stepped forward and began charging up his flames, ready to strike. Galarian Rapidash also stepped forward and pointed her horn right at the Blaze Pokemon. The girl smiled excitedly as she got ready to attack once more. "You're so cool! I'm Camie! Nice to meet ya'!" She said in an unsettlingly happy tone.
"Blaziken, we have to be careful," Izuku said as he took a step back. The Pokemon stayed in his spot, but he raised his hand and got into a more defensive position. They were facing off against a Pokemon with a type advantage and a trainer who could avoid Blaziken's attacks. This wasn't going to be easy.
"People usually target the ones we have a lotta info on, so I came after you!" Camie said. "It's the perfect chance to talk to you!"
"You sure talk a lot, don't you?" Izuku said, remaining vigilant. For all he knew, this could be some kind of trap, distracting him and allowing her classmates to get the jump on him. He knew better than to let himself let his guard down.
Suddenly, Rapidash swung her head, shooting out a Psycho Cut, forcing Izuku and Blaziken to move out of the way and allowing Camie to catch them off-guard. She threw a ball right at the trainer, but Blaziken managed to intercept it with an Aerial Ace.
"Thanks! Let's focus on defense!" For now, they couldn't focus their attention on eliminating targets. They just needed to get to a safe spot. Izuku looked back at Camie, but to his surprise, she and Rapidash had disappeared.
Blaziken then jumped up, avoiding Camie's ball from behind and allowing Izuku to turn around and try to take out one of her targets. To their surprise once again though, she was gone. How could she and Rapidash just… disappear?
"Blaziken! On your guard!" The two stood back to back and watched each other, but even that wasn't enough. "Heh, I got you." They heard Camie's voice, but before they could do anything, Rapidash pushed Blaziken out of the way with a Megahorn and pinning him against a nearby cliff, allowing the girl to come in and tackle Izuku to the ground.
"H-How…" Izuku said as Camie held him down. "Oh, just a technique we learned in school. Masking your presence and hiding yourself from your opponent's senses." She said as she pushed harder, causing Izuku to wince in pain. "You just wanna know so much about me, don't you? Well, it's my turn next." She pulled out another ball and slowly reached for a target, but before she could do anything, the boy yelled.
"Now!"
Blaziken looked at his trainer and nodded, kicking up against Rapidash and releasing a huge blast of steam from the device around his legs, pushing back both Rapidash and Camie and allowing Blaziken to jump in and rescue his trainer. "Thanks, buddy." Izuku pat his Pokemon on the back as the two got ready to strike.
Suddenly, a bone came flying at them, but Blaziken managed to kick it away with a Blaze Kick. All four of them looked to where the bone came from and found Toteki and his Marowak. "Shiketsu's here too? What a pain." The black-haired boy said as more students joined him.
Izuku looked in fear as the Ketsubutsu students surrounded them. They were in the worst possible scenario, the one that they had been trying to avoid this whole time. "Dodge the attacks!" Blaziken picked up Izuku and ran away. Unfortunately, the Ketsubutsu students weren't going to give up so easily.
They managed to dodge Magnet Bombs, Stone Edges, Razor Leaves, hell, even a Guillotine. There had to be dozens going after just them! Blaziken was fast, but he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer.
But then, in the corner of his eye, Izuku spotted something. It was Ochako! She stood on top of one of the cliffs and motioned for him to come over. She must have found a good hiding spot… but it wasn't good enough.
"You can't hide!" One boy shouted, instructing his Floatzel to go for Water Pulse right for her. Ochako managed to avoid it, but the attack hit the cliff and caused it to collapse. Ochako lost her footing and began falling, but Izuku wasn't about to let her get hurt.
"Blaziken! Throw me!" The Pokemon nodded and Blaziken jumped in the air, flinging Izuku by the arm in Ochako's direction allowing him to just barely catch her. He managed to land back on his feet and turned back to his Pokemon. "Fire Spin!" He yelled out. Blaziken spit out a stream of flames, creating a large wall between the two UA students and their opponents. While some managed to find themselves on the same side of the fire wall, Blaziken was able to hold them off while Izuku and Ochako retreated to somewhere safe.
Izuku smiled as he and the others managed to escape the chaos. This was the power that he was looking for. The power he and Blaziken had trained for, combined with One for All: Full Cowling.
Eventually, the three found themselves back at where Golurk's cannon blast hit and hid behind some of the rubble. "I think we're safe here. Did you get separated from Meowstic, Uraraka?" Izuku asked as he and Blaziken peered around the rubble to look out for more enemies.
Strangely, Ochako didn't respond. All that he heard was her breathing heavily from behind him. She must have been out of breath, so Izuku didn't want to push her. "We'll have to move carefully from here. Stick with us for now." He said.
Ochako nodded, but she was focused on something else. Izuku and Blaziken both had targets on their sides. Right now, she was behind them, meaning she could catch them off-guard right here and now! This was her chance!
She pulled out two balls and slowly reached out, but just before she could tag the targets, Izuku turned back and swat them out of her hands. "You're not Uraraka." He said. "I don't know what kind of Pokemon you have, but you aren't Uraraka. She's been practicing her strategies and she wouldn't put herself in danger without a plan like that."
"Ochako" stood there silently with a face of complete shock. Izuku took a step back behind Blaziken. "Well? Who are you! Talk!"
"Hm, so you figured us out?" A voice came from behind them, but when Izuku turned back, nobody was there. Suddenly, the fake Ochako melted into pink slime and reformed as a Ditto. "But if you knew she wasn't real, why'd you save her?" Camie appeared behind Ditto and smiled.
"I… I didn't think that far ahead… but even if you weren't Uraraka, you still could've gotten hurt bad back there." Blaziken charged up flames around his legs and got ready to strike.
"Ah, so that's how it is," Camie said as she picked up the Ditto and let it wrap around her arm. The Galarian Rapidash back then must have been another transformation from Ditto. Maybe from a classmate or something?
She lifted her arm and let Ditto jump up in the air and transform into Blaziken, albeit without the gadgets around his body. "So you'd save anyone, even your enemies? You're an interesting boy, y'know that?"
Suddenly, the two Blazikens ran forward and collided with a double Blaze Kick. Camie ran forward and clawed at Izuku, though the boy was able to avoid them thanks to One for All. Though it didn't give him extra strength, All Might was right about it improving his reaction time and speed.
Still, this woman was absolutely insane. She was trying to SCRATCH him of all things? Not only that, but she was able to keep up with him despite him having One for All. Her movements were almost inhuman. To make matters worse, Ditto was holding Blaziken back, meaning Izuku had to deal with her on his own.
He managed to avoid her attacks, but she was insanely fast and unrelenting. She didn't let up with a single attack, not giving Izuku a single moment to catch his breath. Eventually, he ended up tripping and falling on his back, but just before she could scratch him, a yellow web shot in between them, creating a little distance.
"Are you kidding me? Again?!" Camie shouted.
They all looked to where the attack came from and found Hanta and his Galvantula standing there. "Looks like you need some help, Midoriya! Uraraka, go!"
Ochako ran up from behind them and stretched out her hand. "Energy Ball!" Meowstic jumped up and shot a green ball of energy right at Camie, but Ditto managed to intercept it with a Fire Spin before grabbing its trainer and jumping above the rubble.
"I wanted to talk to you more, but it looks like I won't be able to do that," Camie said sadly before looking at Ochako. "Ah, Uraraka. He trusts you a lot, y'know? I'll be keeping my eye out." She said before Ditto set her down and the two jumped off.
"Don't follow her!" Izuku said as Hanta and Ochako joined him. "That isn't a Blaziken. That's a Ditto. If we go after them it could end up transforming someone else and catching us off-guard." He said as his black-haired classmate helped him up.
Once they found another hiding spot, they took a moment to come up with some kind of plan. "Man, they really scouted us out, didn't they?" Hanta said as Galvantula carefully kept a lookout by climbing on the walls. "They even knew you and Uraraka were close."
"Maybe it's cause we were on the same cavalry team?" Izuku wondered. While it would be a seemingly random detail to take note of, being able to mislead and manipulate someone by using someone they're close to would be the perfect strategy for someone with a Ditto. Regardless, they had other matters to attend to.
"Anyway, how did you two get here?" He asked.
"When Golurk shot out that blast, Sero and Galvantula were near us so Meowstic managed to catch all of us with Psychic. After that, we didn't see anyone for a while until we saw the steam coming from Blaziken's gadget." Ochako said.
"30 people have passed the test! That leaves 70 more!" Mera's voice could be heard over the speaker, causing the three's hearts to sink.
"Shit. I know we should look for the others but we don't have much time left." Hanta placed his hand over his chin in thought. "Only 70 more. We don't know how the others are doing, but I don't think we'll be able to find all of them in time."
Izuku nodded in agreement. "It looks like we're on our own."
Meanwhile, Shoto walked slowly with Charizard through a city. It looked like the city where Inasa had taken out an entire school was empty, likely out of fear of being eliminated themselves. Because of that, Shoto thought it would be a good opportunity to take a moment and try to come up with a plan.
"We only have six balls, but it's not a good idea to just run into a crowd and try to finish a few people off." He said as he and Charizard walked into the main street.
"Oh, it looks like 52- no wait, 53 people have passed. Man, they keep on coming." Mera said over the speaker, getting a sigh out of the boy.
"We can't stick around here for too long either or just look for people out there alone. What a pain…"
Suddenly, as if on cue, they heard a loud roar coming from the sky. Charizard quickly picked Shoto up and flew forward, narrowly avoiding a Pokemon that came crashing down on them.
Once the smoke cleared, the Pokemon that attacked them was revealed to be a Dragonite. The attack was so strong that it had left a crater in the ground. The Dragonite looked at them with angry eyes as blue energy formed claws around its hands.
From another alleyway, a tall woman with orange hair stepped into the light and crossed her arms. She had a smug smile across her face as she approached them. "Well, look who we have here. If it isn't Shoto Todoroki himself."
Shoto recognized this girl. Charizard got ready to dash forward and strike, but Shoto held up his hand and stopped the Pokemon. "Don't. We don't wanna get into this now." He said, surprising the Fire-Type.
This girl was Amane Kaine, a second-year Hero-course student, also known by her Hero name: Kiryu. She was notorious for picking fights with students from other schools, though she never seemed to get to fight anyone from UA. She was known to be incredibly strong, utilizing brutal tactics with her Dragonite to overwhelm her opponents.
"Aw, you don't wanna fight? Where's your pride, little Endeavor?" The orange-haired girl teased. Her outfit was just a simple business suit, though it being slightly baggy created a slightly bigger and more menacing figure. "You're not gettin' out of this mess."
Shoto squinted his eyes and let out a sigh. She was right. Knowing her, he wouldn't be able to get out of this situation unscathed. Though maybe this was the opportunity he was looking for all along. "Fine." He said, lowering his hand and letting Charizard step forward. "Let's do this, Kiryu."
Kaine smiled and nodded. "Aw yeah! This is gonna be awesome!" Dragonite and Charizard both roared before looking at each other in the eye.
"I'm not gonna go easy on ya'!" Kaine shouted. Shoto nodded and pat Charizard on the back. "I don't expect you to."
