Chapter 50: The Big Three

Author's Note: Here it is! Chapter 50 and the official start of the Overhaul arc. This was a pretty fun chapter to write so I hope you enjoy it! The end of this chapter has a bit of a tease towards what the Shie Hassaikai might be doing. Can you guess what that mysterious Pokeball is all about?

Thank you so much to those of you who have read this far. 50 Chapters is a nice milestone and I hope you can continue enjoying this story. It isn't perfect, but it really fun to write and its something I'm proud of. Enjoy!


After a lot of impatience, training, and just… waiting around, three days eventually passed. Izuku's suspension and house arrest ended, though Katsuki still had one more considering he was the instigator.

Izuku turned in his five-page long written apology, and he was finally able to return to school. The consequences of his fight didn't go over his head and he was fully aware of the trouble he had caused. Once he got to the classroom, he made sure to make up for it.

"I'm so sorry for everything!" He said before turning to Tenya. "I'm sorry for disappointing you, Iida." He shouted.

"O-Oh, right. Y-Yeah, what's important is that you took time to reflect. W-Why are you shouting, though?" He asked, taken aback by the sudden burst of energy from his usually meek and quiet classmate.

Izuku clenched his fist and looked to the sky stoically. "I'll make up for everything I've missed these past three days! I promise to work three, no, ten times as hard as before!" Let's just say that the Pokemon in their Pokeballs were quite nervous at this point.

Eventually, Aizawa arrived and everyone returned to their seats. He organized some of his papers and cleared his throat before beginning today's session. "Okay, now that Midoriya's back we can discuss hero internships in a bit more detail. Regarding the differences between this and the regular internships, I'll have someone with first-hand experience explain. Come in."

The door opened and three students stepped inside. One was a taller girl with long blue hair. She practically skipped with every step and seemed very energetic. Meanwhile, the guy behind her had spiky black hair and… an incredibly menacing aura to say the least.

However, it was the guy at the front that caught Izuku's attention. It was none other than the man that he ran into three days ago behind his dorm.

"These three are the third-years who stand at the top of all of UA's students. They're known as 'The Big Three." Aizawa said. Everyone gasped and began murmuring as the three students entered the room.

"The best of the best among the students," Tenya whispered. "These students are the closest we have to real Pros," Momo said.

Now knowing his status, Izuku recognized the man from the garbage can. He watched him at the sports festival last year, and the reason he remembered him was because he did… really bad. In fact, he remembered the other two as well. None of them ranked too well in the sports festival. Either they were in big trouble, or these three had improved immensely.

"Alright, if you could kindly introduce yourselves, starting with Amajiki."

The boy with black hair stepped forward and looked up at the students, but his gaze was incredibly powerful. It was as if every student there had been hit with an attack. His gaze was so intense that everyone felt immense fear just by looking at him. Some of the students even began shaking, but little did they know, Amajiki was feeling something very different.

He suddenly began shaking and looked back down. "I… I can't do it. Mirio… Hado… Even if I try to imagine them as Rattatas, their bodies stay the same. I don't do well with people… My… mind's blank… I can't." He continued shaking rather violently before turning and facing the wall in fear. "I want to go back home!"

Class A was completely taken aback by what had just happened. One second, they were filled with immense fear from the boy, but the next… he was? "You're one of the top students of the Hero Course… right?"

The girl, Hado, simply laughed. "Well, looks like we won't be getting him to budge." She said. "Mr. Scaredy Torchic over there is Tamaki Amajiki. I'm Nejire Hado. It's nice to meet you! Today, we were asked to tell you all about internships… but…"

Nejire quickly walked up to Mezo and smiled. "Your Barbaracle, can it really see everything with all of its eyes at once?"

"W-Well actually-"

"And you, Todoroki! How did you get that Ninetales of yours?!"

"That's not-"

"And Ashido! Can your Nidoqueen really beat any Nidoking like the rumors say?"

"I… I… uh-"

Nejire continued asking all of these questions, without giving time for the others to answer, mind you, much to Aizawa's annoyance. "This is getting out of hand." He said, grasping onto his Pokeball.

The blonde boy saw this and held up his hand. "A-Ah, Eraser Head sir! Don't worry, I'm the main event, right?" He said nervously. The boy smiled and opened his arms and shouted. "Alright, guys! I am Mirio Togata! Say it with me! The future is gonna be…?"

The rest of the students sat there quietly waiting for some kind of response. "The future… is… gonna be…?"

Mirio simply laughed. "It's gonna be full of chaos! HAHA! Anyway, just joking with you all! Looks like my call-and-response opener was a massive fail!" He continued laughing, creating much more concern in the class. All three of them were… just really weird. They… pretty much lacked all charisma it seemed.

"I can see the confused looks on all of your faces. Can't really say I blame you. We're not exactly the best when it comes to this kind of stuff." Mirio said. He placed his hand on his chin and began thinking out loud. "You all just got your licenses, huh? First-years really are different nowadays. Let's see… since my joke didn't really work earlier…"

Both Hado and Tamaki looked at Mirio in shock. "Wait, Togata," Nejire said, standing up in front of the boy. "Mirio, think about this carefully." Tamaki continued.

Mirio smiled and ignored their warnings. "Why don't you all battle me at the same time?" Everyone remained silent for a second before processing what he just said. Everyone shouted in confusion, completely shocked by what he had just proposed. Seriously? All of them at the same time. Even not taking into account Katsuki who wasn't there, the class was filled with insanely strong trainers.

"Show, don't tell, right? It'd be easier for them to experience what hero internships can do first hand, right Mr. Eraser Head?" Mirio asked. Aizawa simply shrugged and turned back to his papers. "I don't really care. Do whatever you want."

The next thing they knew, all the students were in their gym uniforms. They stood on one side of the gym while Mirio stood on the other. Nejire stood at the center, acting as the referee of the battle.

"I'll explain the rules of this battle. It will be a one on eighteen, with Mirio Togata versus Class 1-A. Each trainer is only allowed one Pokemon each, so choose wisely."

"You can't be serious about this, right?" Hanta asked. Mirio did a few stretches before pulling out his Pokeball and responding. "Of course I'm serious."

"Mirio, you shouldn't do this," Tamaki said, still facing a wall. "You really have just said something like 'the hero internships were a good learning experience' or something like that. Not every one of those kids has the same ambition as you. We can't have kids whose Pokemon can't recover from this."

That last part really caught them off-guard. Can't recover? But… it's one Pokemon… fighting against eighteen. Speaking of which, the two who didn't participate in the battle were Katsuki who was still on house arrest, and Shoto who opted out since he didn't have his license yet.

Nejire smiled and nodded. "A long time ago, there was a student who failed to train his Pokemon time and time again. He nearly gave up being a Hero. It's pretty rough, isn't it, Togata. It's tough if you don't think it through. Really, truly tough indeed."

"Hold on," Fumikage said. "I know you're one of 'The Big Three' and we're just first-years, but also remember that we've already fought alongside Pros." Eijiro nodded and smiled. "Don't forget that we've thrown down with some real Villains too. Don't you think you're underestimating us a bit?"

"Maybe, I don't really know," Mirio said, still smiling. "Anyway, send out all of your Pokemon."

The class sent out their Pokemon of choice one by one. Izuku ended up picking Golisopod for the battle. He hadn't really gotten the opportunity to practice One for All with the Pokemon too much, so this would be a good opportunity.

Once they had all sent out their Pokemon, Mirio smiled and sent out his. It was… much smaller than they had anticipated. It was no taller than just a little over two feet. It didn't look particularly menacing either. It had a black body with a foggy helmet that seemed to be made of the same material the rest of it was. The only part that wasn't black were its eyes which were distinctly orange and yellow.

"This here is Marshadow. We'll be having a lot of fun today. So, who's first?"

"I'll do it," Izuku said. Golisopod roared and stepped to the front. Aizawa saw this and gave them one final message. "This is a good learning experience, everyone! Pay close attention."

Mirio smiled as he saw Golisopod and Izuku step up. "Awesome! You're the problem child! You got a lotta energy, huh?"

Going up against UA's top student. Izuku wondered how big the gap between them would be. He and Golisopod charged up One for All in their bodies before the latter prepared four water swords with Liquidation.

Several of the other students' Pokemon ran up to the front as well, including Tenya's Lyanroc Midday, Eijiro's Chesnaught, and Mashirao's Ambipom. The close combat team got ready to charge in while those who focused on more special attacks stood at the back waiting for their chance to strike.

"Battle, begin!" Nejire shouted. The moment she raised her hand, Golisopod dashed forward. He tried to strike Marshadow with his Liquidation, but the Pokemon simply jumped up and avoided the attack.

"Just as I thought. This Pokemon might be small, but it's fast." Izuku whispered to himself. Suddenly, several projectiles came coming at Marshadow, creating an explosion. Once the smoke cleared though, Marshadow had disappeared.

Suddenly, from behind the rest of the Pokemon, Marshadow emerged from the ground. "Alright, let's take care of the long-range attackers first!"

"Damn, it warped?!"

"How strong is this thing?"

"Honchkrow, use Dark Pulse!" Fumikage's Honchkrow flew up into the sky and launched a beam of concentrated Dark energy, but Marshadow easily avoided it and got up close. "Drain Punch!" The Pokemon landed a powerful attack, instantly knocking the Honchkrow out.

Tamaki watched as Marshadow ran past each Pokemon, knocking them out one by one with Drain Punches and Shadow Punches. He knew that Marshadow wasn't a Pokemon to be envied, despite what the students might think. Marshadow… was a beast in its own right. It was only after he was scouted did Mirio finally learn how to use Marshadow properly.

"One more time! Shadow Punch!" Marshadow covered its fist in ghostly energy before going around in a circle, knocking out five more Pokemon in an instant, taking care of all of the special attackers in the group. Everyone watching could only stand in shock. It all happened so fast and they couldn't do anything. Even Shoto was shocked by what he saw.

Aizawa crossed his arms and watched carefully. "Mirio Togata…" He said to Shoto. "As far as I know, this kid is the closest to the number one spot, including the Pro Heroes, naturally."

Once the smoke cleared, the remaining close combat fighters stood there nervously. "Okay, nine more to go!" Mirio shouted. Now, they could get a better look at Marshadow. It had changed forms slightly. Now, it had these green wisps on its hands, and that same green energy spread to its scarf-like structure around its neck and the smoky helmet it wore. Its eyes were also more fiery than before as if to showcase it was in Battle mode.

"This Pokemon is overpowered, dude!" Eijiro shouted as his Chesnaught put up a Spiky Shield out of fear. "No, there has to be some kind of opening here," Izuku said. "Every Pokemon has a weakness, and Marshadow shouldn't be any different. Watch his attacks carefully, then find an opening. It's all we can do."

Mirio smiled and nodded. "Okay then! Show us what you can do!" Marshadow reached out its hand before disappearing into the ground, much to the shock of the students. However, Izuku and Golisopod were prepared. They had spent a lot of time together during the house arrest getting more in sync with each other, and when Izuku said to find an opening, the two of them thought of the same thing.

Golisopod quickly created four more water swords and waited for Izuku's signal. "If he disappeared into the ground then he'll appear… now!" Before Marshadow even emerged from behind him, Golisopod quickly turned around and struck the Pokemon with his swords.

Mirio was quite impressed at what he saw. Based on Marshadow's speed, even with insane reaction time, there was no way Golisopod and Izuku could have been able to fight back. The two of them had to have predicted the attack. Considering he had been fighting them for just a little over a minute by now, the fact that they were able to learn Marshadow's power so fast was impressive. Still, no matter how well they could learn and predict Marshadow's movements, the power gap between them was still too big.

As Golisopod tried to strike Marshadow with Liquidation, the Pokemon easily grabbed onto the swords and broke them in half with no effort at all. Stunned by the counter, Marshadow quickly ran in and landed a powerful uppercut, knocking Golisopod out in an instant.

"Not bad, problem child!" Mirio called out. "But you're not the first one to do that." With blinding speed, before any of them could even react, Marshadow disappeared and reappeared before each Pokemon, knocking them out one by one. Some of the Pokemon tried to react to the attacks, but Marshadow was just too fast.

Eventually, within just two minutes of the fight starting, every single Pokemon on the field, save for Marshadow of course, had been knocked out. To make matters worse, despite there being literally eighteen of them, not a single one of Class A's Pokemon managed to land a single hit on their opponent.

Nejire held up her hand towards Mirio and smiled. "All of Class 1-A's Pokemon are no longer able to battle. The winner is Mirio Togata and Marshadow!"

After announcing the winner, Nejire walked up to Tamaki and smiled. "Mirio's gotten really strong, hasn't he?"

Tamaki, still facing the wall, let out a sigh. He didn't even need to see the results of the battle to know what exactly happened. "Mirio's been strong since he was a kid, but it'd be nice if he actually knew when to stop."

The students returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs and got ready to return to their classrooms, but Mirio and the others wanted to give them one final message before they left. "So that's that," Mirio said, the members of 1-A still completely in shock from… whatever that battle was.

"So, did you think my Pokemon was strong?" Mirio asked, letting Marshadow climb up and sit on his shoulder.

"It wasn't even fair!" Hanta shouted. "We couldn't even get close!" Toru continued.

"I can explain!" Nejire shouted. "He was able to warp around the battlefield with a move called Spectral Thief!" She said. Tamaki pulled her aside quickly and reprimanded her. "Hado, let Mirio explain things."

"Right, Marshadow used a move called Spectral Thief to travel around the battlefield. Basically, it lets him hide in the shadows of his opponent, so that's why you weren't able to see him, but it's not quite as simple as that." Mirio said. "Marshadow can't just disappear and reappear in someone's shadow. He still has to take the time to really traverse through the ground to reach the shadow. Once Marshadow enters the Spectral Thief state, he can't reappear until he reaches someone's shadow, otherwise, he'll just end up where he started."

Izuku pulled out a notebook and began writing. "So this Spectral Thief move… can you tell me more?"

Mirio laughed and nodded. "Sure! Spectral Thief is a strong move with a lot of applications. You didn't get the chance to see it here, but if any Pokemon has boosted attributes thanks to moves like Swords Dance or Nasty Plot, Spectral Thief can steal those boosts. What you saw here though wasn't just Marshadow using Spectral Thief alone. Spectral Thief includes the strike, but he was able to use a combination of Shadow and Drain Punch as well to maximize damage output and speed."

"So Marshadow really is a strong Pokemon…" Tsuyu said.

"No. Marshadow wasn't always like this." Mirio clarified. "See, there's a bit of a story there. Marshadow used to be a pretty weak Pokemon." He said. Marshadow smacked him on the head, causing him to quickly apologize before continuing. "What I mean by that is that when I first met him, he was nowhere near the level he's at now. For one, Marshadow couldn't really hit too hard, even with the moves you saw now. But that's nothing a little training couldn't fix. The real problem came in Spectral Thief."

This naturally shocked all of them. Spectral Thief alone could have beaten their entire class, so the fact that it was a major problem for Marshadow and Mirio was surprising.

"See, when Marshadow uses Spectral Thief, he enters a special state. This is when he disappears into the ground, of course. In this state, Marshadow can only see things from a 2D plane since he essentially becomes a shadow himself. Because of that, Marshadow really can't see anything and has a lot of trouble navigating around."

Mirio picked up Marshadow and set him on the ground where he simply sat there. "It's a little complicated, but since Marshadow can't see anything well while using the move, the best way to get around it was just to… well… memorize the battlefield."

The students gasped in shock. Memorize the battlefield? In such a short amount of time? Marshadow had to expertly navigate through the fields to get to where it needed to be, so to be able to memorize a thing like that in such detail would be incredibly difficult.

"Crazy, right?" Mirio asked. "While on the field, he and I are completely in sync. I memorize the battlefield just as much as him, including obstacles, trainers, and Pokemon, of course. You can actually see him if you know where to look. Marshadow, can you show them?"

Marshadow quickly entered his Spectral Thief state, and if you looked closely, you could see a faint circle in the form of a shadow. It was barely visible, but it was still there. "If Marshadow loses his way, I can direct him on where to go, but he's barely visible so I need to remain sharp. As you can see, the process for every decision that goes into Marshadow's attacks is pretty complicated. It requires a lot of focus, not just from Marshadow but from me too."

"So… you just had to adopt a brutal strategy like that just to make things work?" Momo asked. "That's right. As you can imagine, having such a complicated Pokemon like that got us left behind. Combined with the fact that Marshadow was pretty disobedient, we fell to dead last in class. I was a pretty weak-willed trainer back then, but after seeing how little progress we had made, I swore to catch up and surpass everyone. We trained, and I pushed myself to the limit alongside Marshadow until we mastered Spectral Thief. In the process, I earned his respect too. However, with Spectral Thief, it's important to remember that not everything is an idle target."

Mirio pointed to his head and smiled. "Predictions! You gotta think faster than the rest of your opponents. It's tricky, but you need to consider everything that could be coming your way and predict your enemy's next move. What makes those predictions possible though is experience! Only with experience can you make the right decisions at the right times. It was a bit of a long-winded way to explain all of that, but that's why I wanted to fight all of you. I wanted to speak to all of you through the experience I gained from my internship."

He quickly returned Marshadow to his Pokeball before turning back to the students and smiling. "Listen, in those internships, you aren't just learning and training as guests, you're proper sidekicks. You'll be treated like a genuine Pro. I know that sounds cool, but it's a terrifying thought. Pros experience and witness deaths all the time. However, as scary as it seems, those first-hand experiences will teach you things sitting in a classroom could never! I changed the experience I got from my internship into the strength you saw today and climbed to the top! That's why I know you should take these internships on too, even if you're scared."

The members of Class A began clapping. The speech was genuinely inspiring to hear. Hearing how Mirio and Marshadow went from the bottom to the literal top was incredibly uplifting. "It's true. They did treat us like guests at our internships back then." Denki commented.

Kyoka nodded in agreement. "They tried to make our experience as safe as possible."

Nejire smiled at the newfound confidence the students had. "You all came to UA to become Pros, right? Well, now that you've gotten your licenses, now's your chance to show the world what you're really made of! I saw the battle, and even if you lost, I could tell how strong your Pokemon were. What you really need is that experience, so keep pushing yourselves."

Izuku himself took out a lot from the experience. Their experience with Villains made their class stand out, but there was so much more to learn, more than he had ever realized. The prospect of these internships was incredibly exciting!

As the Big Three walked back to their classroom, Nejire could see Mirio was thinking about something. "Was there someone there that you took note of? I can see it in your face!" She said. Mirio smiled and nodded. "That problem child was able to analyze Marshadow's fighting style really quickly. He didn't figure out the details, but he and that Golisopod were able to predict where Marshadow would show up after only seeing him use Spectral Thief a few times. Sir would love him!"

Later that day, the students got to work searching for internships. Izuku himself knew the person to call right away.

"Hello?" Gran Torino answered his phone from the police station. "Huh?! Internships?! Who are you?!" He said jokingly.

"W-Well, I was wondering if you were willing to take in students, sir," Izuku replied. Gran Torino smiled as he set aside some of his paperwork. "You're a big shot now, huh, kid? Sorry, I really wish I could take you in but I'm working on something else right now. Come to think of it, you're a useless successor to One for All that didn't get any other offers at the festival, huh?"

Izuku flinched from embarrassment, but he quickly recollected himself. "It's because I'm useless that I called you. I want to do this internship so I can get stronger and get closer to the number one Hero."

"Don't act all cool like that. I know what you mean. If you're so adamant though, why don't you ask that Master of yours? He'd be more than willing to help considering he's shifted to a full-time teaching position."

"Well, Mr. Aizawa said we should use the connections we got from the Sports Festival."

"What he means by that is use them if you need to, and only if you have any, to begin with. All Might could introduce you to a lot of people. His former sidekick, for instance." Izuku's eyes lit up at the suggestion. Could he really be given such an opportunity?

Meanwhile, in a dark and dingy part of town, two men walked into an abandoned storage facility. Those two men were Twice of the League of Villains and another man. He wore a green winter jacket and a strange beak-like face mask. He also wore white gloves and black pants. His hair was black and cut short, and he seemed to be slightly taller than Twice.

"I really hate places like this. You're the famous 'League of Villains' so don't you have a nicer base?" The man asked. "You think I'd take you to our main headquarters right away? This is just for the interview."

"Give me a break. Looks pretty dusty. I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Don't worry! Those inside have been sick for a while now!"

Twice's Kangaskhan opened the two large doors, and the man stepped in with a grand entrance… at least that's what he thought. "I've returned and I've brought the man with me! Those Shie Hassaikai guys are pretty nice when you get to talk to them."

Inside were a few of the League of Villains members. Specifically, Toga, Magne, Mr. Compress, and, of course, Tomura Shigaraki. Tomura smiled as he observed the man standing in front of him. "Nice work, Twice. You've brought in a big fish this time."

The man stared at the League members cautiously, keeping his Pokeball in his hand. The Pokeball he held was no ordinary Pokeball. Instead, it was primarily blue, covered in what looks like some kind of web-shaped grid colored in a lighter blue. It had four yellow protrusions coming out of each quarter of the ball.

The man looked at the Villains in front of him and clenched his hand. "Let's talk."