The Battle Trial Part 1

Hey Everyone, I'm back. Sorry this chapter took so long. I took about a week break from writing so I could recouperate and reassert myself, as I felt that if I had continued writing in the state I was in, then it would not have been good writing. Anyways, I'm back. Hopefully the next chapter's wait shouldn't be too long!

"So what do you think we'll be doing today?" Uraraka asked Iida as they waited for class to start. Iida put his hand on his chin, thinking.

While the whole class was certainly excited to see what All Might's class would be like, none of their enthusiasm compared to Izuku's. Not only was it going to be the first 'Hero Studies' class, but it was taught by All Might. The one, the only, number one trainer, All Might. One would think that being with All Might on a daily basis for nearly a year would curb his enthusiasm for the hero, but nothing of the sort happened.

Izuku could barely sit still in his seat as he waited for the class to start.

"Hmm...I suspect it will be something grandiose, considering that it is All Might teaching it." Uraraka wiggled a little bit in excitement

"That's just what I was thinking!"

"I suppose we can only wai-"

"I am coming through the door like a normal person!" A loud, deep voice boomed. All heads were drawn to the front of the room, where All Might had come into the room, leaving a small trail of dust in his wake.

"Car!" Lucario followed his trainer inside the room, walking completely normally.

"Woah!" The class stared in awe at All Might's very not-normal entrance.

"Is that the silver age costume?"

"That's so cool! His Lucario is here too!"

"Would you all shut your damn mouths so he can talk?" Bakugo interrupted, drawing a few dirty gazes, but the class quieted down nonetheless.

"Ahem." All Might cleared his throat, tugging at his collar. Despite his intimidating appearance, he looked nervous.

"Today, we will be doing some battle training!" He called out.

All excitement Izuku had inside of him dissipated as his stomach dropped. Battle training, just the thing he had been hoping not to have to do.

Riolu and I aren't ready! Izuku started to panic internally, but tried as hard as possible to not let it show on the surface. Luckily, the rest of the class was too focused on the front of the room to even pay mind to him.

"Yes! We will be conducting mock scenarios that you will encounter as a hero." All Might said, raising a fist confidently.

"Like Pokemon battles?"

"Are we going to be graded on this?"

"Will we be fighting robots like in the entrance exam?"

All Might raised his palm, quieting the students. "All of your questions will be answered in due time. For now, draw your attention to this!" All Might clicked a button on the remote in his hand, and the wall started to part. Emerging from the wall were a few panels, each having an assortment of boxes with numbers on them.

"When you enrolled here, you put in a costume request. Here are those costumes. For now, I would like you to meet me at city center B. It is one of the areas where the entrance exam took place." All Might instructed, "Get changed into your costume and meet me there!"

With another blur of dust, All Might was gone, and Lucario lazily followed, not caring to run with the enthusiasm that his trainer had.

Looks like Riolu gets it from somewhere...Izuku thought, recalling his partner's laziness. Maybe it's a trait of the evolution line…

"Deku!" Uraraka's voice tore him from his thoughts. "Let's go get changed!" Izuku realised that the rest of the class was scrambling to find their respective costume boxes, while he was still sitting at his desk.

"Oh!" He jumped up with a start, "Yeah let's go!"

A few weeks ago…

Izuku was sitting on the couch, exercising his grip strength when his mom walked into the room.

"Izuku honey, I got you a present!" His mom practically yelled when she came through the door.

"I'm right here…" Izuku groaned, turning to face his mother. She had something in a bag tucked under her arm, and Izuku could just see the top of it. It looked like...green cloth?

"Okay, there's something for Riolu too, where is he?" Izuku looked around, and when Riolu was nowhere to be seen, he assumed he was being lazy at the computer again.

"Riolu! Come here!" Izuku called.

There was a moment of silence then a defiant, "Rio!"

Izuku groaned. "No, get in here! Mom has something for you!"

There was some rattling around and shuffling from Izuku's room before the door pulled open and Riolu stepped out. Izuku's mom smiled and pulled out the bag from under her arm.

"I felt really bad for that horrible thing I said so long ago…" She already looked like she was going to cry. She rubbed her eyes with her sleeve before continuing.

"I decided that since you've gotten into Yuuei, that I'm going to support you all the way, no matter what!" She whipped the contents out of the bag. There was a green tracksuit accompanied by white gloves. It was slightly lighter of shade than Izuku's trademark green hair.

In her other hand was a small green scarf of a darker color. It matched the color of Izuku's hair, striped with green that matched Izuku's tracksuit.

"I was cleaning your room when I saw the open page of your notebook. It had a sketch of a hero costume." His mom said a bit sheepishly. Sure enough, the track suit looked almost identical to what he had planned out in his notebook. Izuku was in shock, and Riolu was the first to move.

He walked over and tied the scarf around his neck.

"Looking spiffy!" Izuku joked, and Riolu gave a light punch on the leg before retreating back into the room.

Izuku looked his mom in the eyes, seeing she was still close to tears. He walked over, embracing her in a hug.

"Thank you."

The tunnel was dark, and walking towards the bright sunlight made Izuku feel like he was in one of those cinematic shots from a movie. Just the way the entire class was grouped up in a mass, approaching the opening at the same pace.

They emerged from the tunnel to be met with the very same city that was used for the entrance exam. All of the buildings had been properly repaired, and there was no trace of the carnage from all of the students fighting faux villains.

Standing out in the middle of the street was All Might and his Lucario, the former in his red, yellow, white and blue hero costume. He had the signature smile on his face, with the two strands of hair sticking straight up, just like the ears on Izuku's costume. Izuku patted his hip to be doubly sure that Riolu's pokeball was present, and it was.

"Welcome to your first class of Hero Studies!" All Might boomed, "The first step is to let all of your partners loose! This is an exercise for both pokemon and trainer!"

There was the echoing sound of pokeballs opening as everyone's pokemon were released to join the rest of the world. Riolu formed out of the white-blue light already wearing his green scarf. Izuku looked around and saw that many of the costumes of his classmate's pokemon were more extravagant, while others were simple.

For example, Iida's combusken was wearing essentially a full armor suit, matching his trainer, while Uraraka's pokemon wore no costume at all.

"I can imagine that you are all ready to hear what we are doing out here!" All Might said, drawing back in the attention of the class. He pointed to a tall building that they were all standing next to.

"While many excursions happen indoors, studies have shown that the vast majority of crimes happen indoors. Be it a hostage situation, or a simple robbery, there will be situations that you must diffuse that take place indoors. Thus, we will be practicing those types of situations!"
"Will this be graded?"

"What is the objective?"

"Is it just pokemon battles?"

All Might looked flustered at the sudden influx of questions. "I will answer all of your questions in time!" He clicked a button on the small remote in his hand, bringing up a holographic image.

"The situation will be as follows. There will be two teams of two, a hero team and a villain team. The villain team will have a bomb made of paper mache that they must protect for the time limit. The hero team's goal is to 'capture' said bomb by touching it." All Might started as an animation explaining the situation popped up on the holographic screen.

"You can eliminate your opponents from the competition by wrapping the capture tape I will give you around either them or their pokemon partners." All Might continued.

A hand from the crowd shot up. "I have one question to ask. You say that the pokemon or their trainers can be captured. What do you mean by that?" It was a girl with a skimpy red costume and a long black ponytail. There was a couple people in the crowd muttering in response to her talking out.

"She's the one that got first place in the fitness test. Momo Yaoyorozu…" Kaminari said.

"She's one of the four people that got into the hero program by recommendations…" Kirishima added.

"I was getting to that. "All Might interrupted the conversation, "In the world of heroism, battles against villains are not limited to pokemon battles. In fact, the main part of being a hero is fighting alongside your pokemon partners. Villains will not hesitate to have their pokemon attack you directly, and you must be prepared for those situations. Therefore, from here onward, unless otherwise stated, you may order your pokemon to directly attack each other in battle simulations. You may also go directly for your opponent or their pokemon with your bare hands, though it is not recommended."

Izuku felt his breath stop. What All Might was insinuating...pokemon directly attacking him. He already had a problem with even touching them in the first place. Who knows what the hell he would do if one started attacking him…

Izuku's heart started to beat a little faster and though he was breathing again, it was quick and labored.

Not the time for a panic attack...not now… Izuku forced himself to calm down. He took deep breaths and steadied his mind. In doing so, however, he missed the entire rest of All Might's speech.

"Now, I will be drawing the teams that will be fighting each other for the first round!" All Might called out, spinning the wheel full of small wooden balls. Two spat out, and he picked them off the tray.

"The hero team for the first battle simulation will be…!" All Might paused for dramatic effect, "Tsuyu Asui and Tokoyami Fumikage!"

It was the girl with green hair tied in a ribbon and a boy with medium-long black hair that basically covered his entire face. The former was wearing a green jumpsuit with long feet and padded gloves, with a pair of goggles on her head. The ladder was simply wearing a cloak.

"And the villain team will be Kaminari Denki and Jirou Kyouka!"

Everyone knew Kaminari due to his loud and boisterous nature. Jirou, on the other hand, was quiet and nonchalant, just shrugging and muttering something under her breath.

"The rest of us will go to the observance room. You four will stay here and wait." All Might instructed.

Izuku spent the entire way back to the observance chamber deep in thought.

I'm probably overthinking this… Izuku scolded himself for getting so anxious. He didn't even know if his...problem would flare up in a battle situation. It had already been surpassed by Riolu, so it wasn't too farfetch'd (heh).

They got back to the room, where the entire class stood in a mass behind All Might and stared up at the various monitors that littered the room. On one was the villain team with the bomb. Kaminari's pikachu sat on his shoulder, but it looked on guard. Jirou's partner was a noibat, and it was hanging upside down from the ceiling, large ears open and listening for sound.

On the outside of the building, Tsuyu was standing, relaxed with her forgiadier, while Tokoyami was leaning up against the building, honchkrow perched on his arm.

"That ends the preparation time! The battle simulation has begun!" All Might called into the device in his hand, presumably being broadcasted to the contestants. There was the ring of a bell, signaling the start of the battle.

The battle started off with Tsuyu walking up to the wall with her frogadier and sticking her hands against it. She tugged at the surface a few times before climbing up the wall. A completely vertical wall.

"Woah, that's rad!" Kirishima exclaimed from next to Izuku as they watched the screen.

"It looks like that's part of her costume. She probably requested it as part of her costume, considering that her partner can climb walls in a similar fashion." Izuku muttered.

Heads turned to him, shooting odd glances at his sudden speed-talk. Izuku scratched the back of his neck nervously, "Sorry." he said.

"You are just correct, young Midoriya!" All Might interrupted, gesturing to the screen, "She requested to have suction cups installed on the palms of her cloves and feet so that she could maneuver like her pokemon partner!"

On the screen, Tsuyu and her frogadier were now on the third story, and Tsuyu opened one of the windows, slipping inside. A moment later, Frogadier's tongue shout out, wrapping around Tokoyami, bringing him up to the same level. His honchkrow followed suit, flying in the window.

The screen switched cameras to give a better view of the two teams. Tokoyami and Tsuyu were carefully creeping through the hallways, searching for their opponents. Jirou and Kaminari, on the other hand, were still standing in the room with the bomb. Kaminari was frozen in place, and Jirou was giving him a death glare, as if she were going to kill him if he moved.

Jirou's noibat was hanging upside down from the rafters, unmoving except for the occasional twitch of one of its ears. It stayed that way for a few more moments until it detached itself from the ceiling. It flew down in front of Jiro, frantically waving its wings in certain patterns. Jiro turned from her noibat to Kaminari and pointed up above her. Kaminari nodded and set off for the staircase.

"Nothing has happened yet, but it's already intense!" someone said from the back of the group.

Her noibat was scouting to see where the other team was… Izuku realised. His notes called back to him, and he remembered that Noibat, and its evolution, Noivern, had some of the best hearing out of any pokemon. The noibat had been hanging upside down, listening for any noise in order to locate their opponents. It had then relayed the information to Jirou, in some special code.

That's so strong...It may not look like much when it comes to battle, but that's invaluable in villain hostage situations! Izuku was able to keep his muttering inside his head this time, as to not embarrass himself again.

Nothing much happened for the next few minutes. Tsuyu and Tokoyami kept searching the floors, one by one, trying to find the bomb, while Kaminari and Jirou lurked the hallways, stopping every so often so that Noibat could re-assess and relocate their opponents.

Jirou and Kaminari were the first ones to make a move. They found their prey, and waited until the two turned their backs to make the strike. Tsuyu and Tokoyami opened one of the doors to check the room, as they had with every other door thus far. Kaminari took this opportunity to rush at them, guns blazing.

They couldn't hear what was being said over the speaker, but whatever it was, Kaminari and his pikachu looked pumped up. The electric mouse jumped off of his shoulder, and flashed with energy, presumably a standard thunderbolt. The lightning arced and stuck, leaving a blast of dust and concrete to erupt.

Izuku paled. He had been caught up in analyzing the battle, but even a moment of rest made Izuku nearly have a heart attack. Kaminari's attack hadn't been directed specifically at a pokemon. No, it had just been directed at the enemy team, trainers included. Izuku knew that whoever he was up against would do the same thing.

Izuku's breathing became labored, but he tried to suppress his anxiety by focusing on the match once more. The dust cleared, and Izuku was scared to see the damage. A fainted pokemon or two, possibly an injured student.

When the dust finally disappeared, however, everyone was still standing. Between where Tokoyami and Tsuyu had been standing and Pikachu, was Tokoyami's Honchkrow. Its wing was raised, almost like a shield.

"It blocked the attack?" Kirishima said the words that everyone was thinking.

Tokoyami didn't even give time for anyone, in the observance room, or out on the field, to react, as he made his move. He didn't even say anything audibly, just opting to nod to his partner. Honchcrow lowered its wing before dashing at its opponent. Kaminari's pikachu was hit by a devastating night slash, sending flying back a few feet. Luckily, it recovered, moving back into a ready stance.

Just then, shockwaves rolled across the battlefield, and everyone except for jirou's hands shot up to cover their ears.

That's boomburst… Izuku realized, remembering the description of the move. The intense sound waves were damaging to even the strongest of pokemon. Honchkrow backed off, shying away from the intense noise near it.

Just then, something shot out of the back lines, from behind Tokoyami. An ovular ball of water blasted forwards, striking noibat out of the air, interrupting its attack. It was Tsuyu's Frogadier who had launched the attack, and now it was running forwards at blinging speed. Noibat tried to steady itself, but Frogadier was too fast.

A jab, presumably night slash or aerial ace, hit Noibat out of the air, spiking it into the ground with enough force to knock it out instantly.

Kaminari's pikachu recovered just one second too late, hitting frogadier with a quick attack. It was no use, however, as Honchkrow was there the moment after the attack, putting pikachu out of commision as well.

Tokoyami casually strode over to Kaminari, who was laying on the ground, capture tape in hand. Honchkrow followed suit, coming up to Jirou, and putting a foot above her neck, holding her in place. Apparently, one talon on each side of your neck is enough to keep you still.

"Hero team, Wins!" All Might called through the speaker, signaling the end of the match. Tokoyami and Tsuyu helped Kaminari and Jirou to their feet in a good sportsman manner, and they headed back to the observance room together.

There was some cheering in celebration of the first completed match. Some people were getting themselves excited for their own matches, while others were strategizing. Izuku, on the other hand, was feeling overwhelmingly sick to his stomach.

All Might started asking questions to the class, asking for the things each team did well, and what each team did poorly, but Izuku wasn't listening. He was too enveloped in his own thoughts and anxiety. Izuku didn't wait for a gap in the conversation, he just stuck his hand in the air.

"I need to take a step outside, please." Izuku said quickly, trying to keep his voice as even as possible. All Might took a moment to process what Izuku had said, but he eventually nodded.

Izuku walked out the door, and as soon as he was out of sight, collapsed against the wall, sinking to the floor. He ran his hands through his hair, trying his best to calm down, yet he only became more worried.

You can't do what they did

They're so much more experienced

All you can do is run away from danger his mind told him, unbidden thoughts weighing him down. Izuku heard Riolu follow him out the door and stand against the wall next to Izuku silently. He put on a cool demeanor, but Izuku knew he was at least a little worried about the fight to come.

Riolu had the same lack of experience in real battle scenarios that Izuku had, which is something to get nervous about. The difference between Riolu and his trainer, however, was Izuku's notable anxiety and mental problems when it came to other pokemon.

Izuku felt Riolu's paw rest on his shoulder comfortingly. Izuku took deep breaths, controlling his breathing to slow down his heart rate. It took a while, but eventually Izuku was able to think straight.

There was the sound of the door opening, and Izuku's head shot up. Stepping through the doorway was Uraraka, a concerned look on her face, "Are you okay?" She asked innocently.

Izuku rubbed his eyes, "I just needed a breath of fresh air," He lied. He tried to sound nonchalant about it, but his voice betrayed him. Uraraka's face softened, eyes wet with concern.

"You're worried about the battle, aren't you?" The way she said it wasn't a question, more of a statement of fact. Izuku just nodded in confirmation, keeping silent.

Uraraka sighed and came over to the wall Izuku was leaning against. She sat down next to him, resting a hand on his thigh.

"What if someone's pokemon attacks me?" Izuku blurted out the words before he could stop himself. The question was at the forefront of his mind, and for some reason, just being around Uraraka made his emotional defences loosen.

Uraraka was silent for a moment, just running a thumb along his leg. She finally spoke up after a few more moments, "Whatever happens, You have people to help you."

"What if I freeze up? What if I mess up and Riolu gets hurt? What if-"

"Deku." Uraraka interrupted, turning to him. Her eyes were friendly. "We're at a school for a reason."

"I'm not-"

"None of us are experienced!" Uraraka predicted his next words, "Look, you may have these problems and concerns. You might be terrified of messing up, but there's something you need to remember. We're at a school to become heroes. That means that we're heroes in training. You're expected to make mistakes. All of us will at first.

"What matters is how you move forward. So what if you freeze up today? What matters is going forwards and eventually getting over those roadblocks. There are people to help you do that. All Might, Aizawa, all the other teachers here, your classmates." Uraraka put her hand on his comfortingly.

Izuku rubbed away tears. Nobody had ever been like this to him. Just saying a few simple words had been enough to lessen the burden on his shoulders. "Uraraka?'

She hummed in response, so he continued, "Thank you."

"It's what friends do!" She said cheerfully, back to her peppy self and jumping off the spot on the ground, "C'mon! The others are waiting!"

With that, she was pulling open the door to the observance room once again. With renewed confidence and vigor, he followed.

The next battle was about to start when Izuku got back in. Apparently, All Might had rolled the teams while Izuku was out, and they were already preparing for their match. On the hero team, there was a boy named Shoji with a machamp, and the boy with two-colored hair, who had his alolan-ninetales out. The monitor named him as 'Shoto Todoroki'.

That names rings a bell… Izuku thought, recognizing the name from somewhere, though he had no idea where.

On the villain team, It was a boy in a standard martial arts outfit, named Ojiro and a girl named Toru Hagakure, who looked exceptionally average, almost like she could blend into a crowd and disappear.

The match started, and Toru's kecleon went invisible, presumably out to do some scouting. Ojiro's ambipom hung from the ceiling by its tails.

Shoto Todoroki put a hand on his teammate's chest, pushing him away from the building and muttering something. He threw out his arm, giving a command to his ninetales. Its tail flared up, and a maelstrom of ice was unleashed, enveloping the whole building.

When the wind cleared away, the entire building was covered head to toe in a layer of ice. The cameras on the inside showed Ambipom's tails glued to the ceiling, and Toru's kecleon left footprint marks wherever it walked, revealing its location.

Shoto just walked into the building casually, striding straight past his opponents, who were frozen to the ground by their feet. He casually put his arm on the bomb, breathing out a puff of foggy breath.

"Hero team wins!" All Might said after a moment. Even All Might was surprised by the pure display of power Todoroki had portrayed. There was a shocked silence from the entire group as everyone processed what had just happened.

"Thirty seven seconds…" Kirishima breathed, looking up at the time it took to complete the match.

"What power…"

"I heard he is the other student in 1-A that got in off of recommendations…"

"As expected of one such!" Iida added.

The two teams came back, where everyone quickly debriefed the match, though there wasn't much to discuss.

"And it's time to pick the next teams!" All Might boomed, pulling out 4 balls from the wheel. He held them up in front of him, two in each hand.

"The hero team is…!" He paused, "Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka!"

Izuku went through a rollercoaster of emotions in a split second. At first he panicked, but his mind resolved once he heard his partner was Uraraka. He looked across the room, and she met his eyes, giving a smile and a thumbs up. Izuku smiled in response.

"And the villain team!" All Might looked around, "Tenya Iida and…"

When the name came, Izuku's stomach dropped to the floor, "Katsuki Bakugo!"