Aftermath

I'm finally back! I've been working on a whole lot of things recently, but I've finally gotten this chapter done. Just to let ya'll know, Izuocha week is coming up, as well as the last chapter of my your name fic and a seperate one shot. As soon as I can, I'll get to this, since I have lots of plans, but I don't know when I'll officially be back on this Pokemon grind.

P.S. you may have noticed something in the relationship tag on this fic :DD

The authorities arrived on scene only a few minutes after the pro heroes did. The villains were rounded up in mass, and all of the students were evacuated successfully. In general, no students were harmed and their pokemon had minimal damage.

Everyone was outside of the USJ now, giving reports and statements to the police. All of the students' pokemon were having basic checkups to make sure everything was okay at the same time. The only severe injuries were Thirteen, Aizawa, and then to a slightly lesser extent, Izuku, Riolu, and All Might.

Aizawa and Thirteen had been frantically rushed off-scene by an ambulance, their pokemon put into pokeballs to preserve their safety. Izuku dearly hoped that his teachers would turn out okay in the end.

As for himself, he was with All Might and Recovery Girl, secluded from the rest of their class. Not only was All Might well past his limit and stuck in his powered-down form, but Izuku also had repercussions of One For All on his body that he couldn't afford for his class to know about.

Then, there was the things he needed to talk to All Might about. So much had happened in those last few minutes, Izuku was having trouble keeping track of it all in his head. There was the new development with how he and Riolu had used One for All, there aws Izuku's concern for his mentor, but then there was Mew.

Izuku hadn't told anyone about Mew yet. Not All Might, not his mother, nobody. Yet, he'd been forced to reveal his little friend when they were trapped on the boat, and Tsu and Mineta had been there to lay witness. Not to mention the fact that Uraraka and Todoroki had both gotten a clear, close up view of One for All in action. Pokemon moving unnaturally fast and arcing green lightning wasn't something you saw every day.

Izuku was sure that those four people would have questions for him, save for maybe Mineta. The boy didn't seem to care about much other than boobs and girls, so Izuku was probably safe on that regard. The other three, however, would almost certainly ask questions. Uraraka at least was guaranteed to ask him questions.

Mew had disappeared after its little appearance by the boat. At some point between leaving the lake disaster area and arriving to the main battle, it had left, almost like it was okay with fighting regular villains, but for some reason it was scared of the main villains.

"I'll take Riolu to go get healed up." Recovery Girl said, tearing Izuku from his thoughts.

"Hmm? Oh!" Izuku grabbed his partner's pokeball from his belt and handed it to the old woman. She was a miracle worker, but she wasn't perfect, she'd need all of her equipment in order to heal Riolu up. Recovery girl nodded to him before turning to All Might.

"You two are probably good to go. Just be more careful next time," she turned to Izuku, "I put your arm in a splint, but it's probably going to take a couple of weeks to fully heal. In that time, be extra careful." Izuku nodded in response. While Riolu's injury would be much easier to heal, Izuku's was going to have to heal just like every other human on the planet.

Recovery girl walked off, heading back towards wherever she had her little place set up. All Might didn't speak immediately, instead, he sat on a metal bench nearby, patting the spot next to him. Izuku obeyed, sitting down.

"The buses aren't going to be leaving for at least a few minutes, so we have some time to talk." All Might looked over to his pupil, "I can tell you have some things on your mind." Izuku scratched the back of his neck nervously. Was he really that easy to read?

"Yeah, I guess you can say that." Izuku took a deep breath, fidgeting with the sling his arm was in currently, "I guess I'll start from the beginning."

"First of all, I think that a few people may have seen One for All in action. Specifically Tsuyu, Mineta, Uraraka, and Todoroki. When we were fighting the villain, it was about to attack me, and nobody was going to make it in time to stop the attack. I had to use One for All." Izuku stopped, slowing down to catch his breath. He looked to All Might, expecting some sort of disappointed expression, but instead, he was met with indifference.

All Might sighed, "Midoriya, my boy, that's what you were worried about?" He let out a hearty laugh, "While it will be a challenge to come up with an explanation, it's really not that big of a deal. You did what you had to in the situation you were presented with, and I can't blame you for that. I'm sure we can come up with a solution for how we can explain it to your classmates."

"Really? So you're not mad that I may have exposed One for All to four other people?"

All Might shook his head, "Not at all. I'm just happy you are all safe." Izuku let out the breath he'd been holding, a weight lifted from his chest.

"Okay, well that's good to hear." Izuku sighed, before moving onto the next topic of conversation, "Something was different this time. I think it was the way that Riolu and I used One for All. It felt like I slipped into One for All rather than using it, if that makes any sense? The point is, It felt a lot more like what you and Lucario have. Riolu moved faster and hit harder, and we didn't injure ourselves by attacking."

All Might nodded, "One for All isn't like using a move. That must be how you were thinking of it, as a move, just like as if you were using something like force palm. It's a possibility that when you were in a time of panic, you just let the ability take its course, that is, you let it work like it was supposed to." All Might ruffled Izuku's hair, "You're making progress, my boy, I'm proud of you."

Izuku's eyes lit up like christmas trees. All Might? Proud of him? This day has turned from the worst day ever to the best day ever.

"Okay there's one more thing." All Might looked him in the eyes, expectant, "All Might, have you ever heard of a pink pokemon that kinda looks like a mouse, but also not, that has a long tail and floats? Whenever it says something, all that it says is 'Mew'?"

All Might put his finger to his chin, thinking. A few moments passed before he shook his head.

"That doesn't ring a bell. Why do you ask, my boy?"
So he doesn't know. What is mew then?

"Ah...umm, it's nothing. Nevermind." All Might looked at Izuku with a look of slight concern for a moment. Izuku knew that All Might could tell that he was lying. Luckily, his mentor decided to drop it.

"Okay then." All Might looked down at his watch, "Oh, the buses are about to leave. You had better get going!" He gave Izuku a little nudge. Izuku followed the push and stood up from the bench, starting to make his way to where the buses were.

"Midoriya?" All Might said. Izuku turned back over his shoulder to see All Might smiling, "You did well today, don't forget that. It's not any day that you survive a run-in with dangerous villains."

Izuku smiled back at his mentor. If this is what it took to become a hero, then he'd fight villains like those every day.

All of the students had a teacher escort them directly home as to avoid some sort of attack on anyone. Ochako had gotten Midnight, and oh boy was she and interesting character. She was still in her hero costume as she drove, and Ochako couldn't help but look over and wonder, That suit can't be comfortable. The way it molds to her… she stopped thinking there. It wasn't her business anyways.

"Are all of your pokemon okay? It seems like they're all with you." Midnight gestured to Ochako's belt.

Ochako nodded, "Nobody was hurt luckily. I don't think very many pokemon had to stay overnight." Ochako's hand instinctively rested on Eevee's ball. Eevee had been the only one almost injured out of her team. Ochako had been so scared in that moment. The Nomu had almost gotten to Eevee, but then...Riolu had been there. And Riolu had been injured because of it.

"It seems like Deku is always saving me…" Ochako mumbled subconsciously.

"Deku?" Ochako looked up, only then realizing she had said that out loud.

"Oh, I mean Midoriya. He was the one that saved Togekiss during the exam, and now he saved Eevee." She sighed, "It's kinda ironic how I'm at the school trainin' to become a hero, yet Deku is always comin' in to save the day when I mess up." She could feel herself slipping into her accent, which meant she was tired. Frankly, she didn't really care right now.

"How does that make you feel?" Midnight asked. Ochako turned to look at the older hero. Is this like a counseling session?

"Well...I don't know. Deku is just so amazing. He's always runnin' in to help people, even if he's hurt. He gets down on himself all the time and it's over the littlest things, it sucks to see him like that, but when he needs to smile he does. I don't know if I'll ever be like that…"

Midnight snorted, "You're training to be a hero, aren't you?"

"Well, yeah, of course! I'm in the hero-"

"Being in the hero course doesn't automatically mean you're training to be a hero." Midnight interrupted. Ochako tilted her head, so she continued, "You said that Midoriya is always being the hero, right? Next time, don't give him the chance to come save you. Start training outside of class to get better, so that next time, you can be the one saving him. The school's motto isn't 'Go beyond, Plus Ultra!' for nothing, you know."

Ochako glanced down at her feet. Next time, don't give him the chance to come save you. The words echoed in her mind. It wasn't a bad idea. In fact, she'd been planning on training outside of school anyways, so this was just an extra reason to start.

"So, you really admire that Midoriya kid, huh?"

Ochako hummed, "I'm not sure if admire is the right word for it. He's really my best friend."

"He's your best friend after only a few weeks in school?" Ochako shook her head.

"We actually met at the entrance exam. I saved him from tripping, and we became friends from there. We've been in touch pretty closely since then." Ochako's cheeks flushed slightly for a moment. It probably wasn't that noticeable, since she normally had a soft blush plastered onto her face.

Midnight hummed, "Well, what do you like about him?" Her tone of voice said she was up to something.

"Well," Ochako started cautiously, "I-umm, well, you see…"

"There's too much to say?" Midnight said with a smug smile on her face.

"W-well, I guess?" Ochako answered, "He's just so...great? He tries his best at everything, especially when it comes to being a hero. I mean, back there, whatever that monster was, it was horrifying. When it attacked, I froze up. Everyone froze up. Except Deku. He was the only one that fought back. And it kills me when he bottles everything up to try to not make you worry, but you know he's struggling anyways. I just wish I could help him more, ya know?" The words just kinda flowed from Ochako's mouth, and Midnight didn't interrupt her.

"Then, there's the other small things. Like how he asks how my day was, or when he nerds out about either heroes or pokemon, it's honestly really cute. Sometimes when I'm around him, I just feel a little happier." she continued.

Ochako didn't even realize that they'd arrived at her apartment until she felt the car pulling to a halt, "Oh, I must've started rambling, huh? She moved to unbuckle her seatbelt and get out of the car.

"Hey, Uraraka?" Midnight said from inside after Ochako had left the car. Ochako turned back to see her teacher with an incredibly smug smile on her face.

"Yes?" Ochako asked.

Midnight winked, "Love doesn't last forever, act on it while you still can." With that, she slammed on the gas and was gone before Ochako even had time to process what she said.

Then, the words sunk in.

"L-Love!?" Ochako's face flashed to a bright pink.

Izuku's mother shed at least two bucket's worth of tears when he got home. She wailed about how happy she was that he was okay, and that she didn't know what she would do if something had happened to him. The only reason he got her to separate from him was to tell her that his right arm was broken and she couldn't strain it too much.

It was only seven in the evening, but he was already feeling exhausted, and rightfully so. A lot had happened over the course of the last few hours. Izuku ate dinner in a hurry, wanting nothing more than to crash on his bed and fall asleep. He opened his door and-

Of course. He didn't get to go to bed yet. There, in the middle of the room, floating, was Mew.

You always either show up at the most convenient or most inconvenient times Izuku thought, shutting the door behind him. He set his things down on the desk, walking around Mew. He crashed onto his bed nonchalantly.

Mew floated over and took up a spot next to Izuku, floating to the ground and curling up on the ground. Izuku scrolled through his phone for a few moments.

"You're back again." He finally said. He just saw Mew's ears twitch a little. Eventually, it nodded its head. It looked tired, like it was going to sleep right on the floor. With a sigh, Izuku heaved himself off of his bed, going to his closed.

As he opened the closet, Mew shuffled, opening its eyes and lifting its head curiously. Izuku grabbed a couple of his spare pillows and closed the closet, turning around. He motioned for his hand for Mew to move, and luckily it obliged. Izuku set down the pillows on the ground and climbed back onto his bed. Mew looked at him curiously.

"If you don't want them, I can put them back." Izuku said nervously, scratching the back of his head, "I just thought that you'd want something a little more comfy to sleep on."

Mew its head curiously, "Mew!" it thanked him, retaking its position on the ground, except this time it was curled up on top of the pillows.

As Izuku started to fall asleep, he couldn't help but think about Mew and what was actually going on. It was starting to spend more and more time with him, even sleeping in his room now. It obviously was friendly towards him, and Izuku didn't mind. In fact, he liked to think that Mew was his friend in general.

Then there was its demonstration of power today at the USJ. It had taken out all of the villains in one fell swoop, and it didn't even seem phased afterwards. How did Mew have that much power?

Izuku didn't bother trying to keep himself up thinking about these types of things. Everything would most likely become apparent eventually, and he was exhausted. He succumbed to the lures of sleep within minutes.

Ochako woke up reluctantly to the sound of her alarm at five in the morning. She slapped the alarm off and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Then, she remembered what she had planned for today and shot up, full of energy. She hopped out of bed, getting dressed in workout clothes.

She knew all of her pokemon were still asleep. They were just like her, usually waiting until the last possible minute to get up and not be late. Today was different, however. After Midnight dropped her off at her apartment the previous night, Ochako had stayed up thinking about what the hero had said. Or at least, the first part. She didn't even want to think about the second part, it was all too confusing and hurt her head.

She'd made a decision that night, though. She was going to start getting up early and start training before class. Training not only her pokemon, but herself as well.

She went into the little mini-kitchen portion of her apartment and grabbed out a frying pan and a metal ladle. She walked into the center of the room and started banging them together, making as much noise as possible.

"Up and at 'em, it's morning!" She yelled. She heard three separate groans from the bedroom and she smiled. She hit the cooking equipment together a few more times, and a couple moments later, her three pokemon walked out of her bedroom, looking tired. Eevee even looked slightly annoyed.

The entire living room was already cleared, the furniture moved to the edges of the room in order to give enough space for what she had planned.

"Welcome to Ochako's Pokemon Training Regimen!" She said in her best imitation of a drill sergeant, "Today marks the first day of my rigorous training regimen! Battle training! Stamina training! Strength Training! All of it!"

Looking over the expressions of her pokemon, Ochako noticed a divide in the levels of enthusiasm. Eevee looked annoyed that she had to be up so early, but that was probably due to the fact that she acted like a spoiled brat half of the time. On the complete other side of the spectrum, Togekiss looked ecstatic. The gleam in her eyes was so visible that it was almost comical.

"Alright, team! This is our first mission! We are going to go on a morning run together! Let's go!" She said, turning towards the door. Luckily, all of her pokemon followed, even if it was reluctantly from Eevee.

Izuku woke up naturally instead of to his alarm. Groaning and sitting up, he saw that it was just about to be five, when he normally woke up anyways. He was feeling extra full of energy, which made sense considering that he'd gotten a solid ten hours of sleep.

Even still, getting up wasn't always the easiest, and Izuku fell backwards, letting his arm drape down off the edge of the bed. As he let his right arm relax, he scrolled through hero news with the other.

That is, he did until he noticed something odd. His right hand was touching something oddly soft and...warm? Looking down, Izuku saw Mew, still curled up and asleep, but his hand resting right on top of it.

"Ah!" Izuku yelled, pulling his arm back like he'd been bitten. Mew must have heard his sudden panicked cry, because it twitched in its sleep, before slowly opening its eyes and looking up towards Izuku.

I was touching it and...I'm okay? His heart was pounding like crazy, but that was probably due to his nerves. Mew floated up from its little bed on the floor and took up a spot in the air in front of Izuku, tilting its head curiously.

He was fine with touching Mew. Maybe something had changed? What if everything had changed?

Tentatively, Izuku reached out a hand towards the pink pokemon. He closed his eyes in fear of what might happen, but then...nothing. His hand came into contact with the pink pokemon and he felt...nothing?

Izuku opened his eyes to see his hand resting softly on Mew's head, who also looked at him with confusion.

I'm doing it! Izuku couldn't help but squeal with joy. He was touching a pokemon that wasn't Riolu! Izuku ran his hand down Mew's back, and the pokemon responded by happily humming.

Izuku left for his run fifteen minutes late because he spent far too long petting Mew.

Ochako only got about three-quarters of the way through the run she had planned out. Not only because Clefairy looked like it was dying, the poor thing, but also because she was drenched in sweat. She ended the jog by taking a turn into the same park that she'd eaten lunch with Izuku at a few days ago.

Ochako crashed against one of the trees, taking out her water bottle and downing the entire thing in one go. She was exhausted. Why did running have to be so difficult?

"T-that's," Ochako took a breath mid-sentence, trying to catch up on air, "That's the first part done!" She said triumphantly, slumping against the tree. She probably hadn't spaced out the training right if she was already this tired. She had no idea what she was doing, after all.

Clefairy had barely made it through the run alive, from the looks of it. The little pink pokemon had much shorter legs, and thus, had to try a whole lot harder than everyone else just to keep up. Ochako was proud of her for making it though.

Ochako pulled out her phone and looked at what she had next up.

"Oh-kay!" She said, standing back up, "Next up is-"

"Uraraka?" Someone called, interrupting her. Looking around, she saw the origin of the voice. It was Izuku, who had just taken a pair of earbuds out of his ears from where he was standing on the sidewalk a few meters away.

"Deku! Hey!" She said, waving. He started walking over, smiling back.

"What are you doing here so early?" He asked.

"Oh, this?" she blushed a little, "I decided to start training on my own so I don't fall behind!" Izuku actually let out a little chuckle.

"Funny, that's why I'm out so early as well. Though, it is weird going on my run without Riolu here. He's usually the one that I go running with in the morning." Izuku started muttering before looking up, "Sorry, I didn't mean to start rambling…"

Ochako just gave him a big smile. Cute

…

Wait, what? Ochako felt her face go pink, and she dearly hoped that it wasn't visible with how dark it was out still.

"I-It's fine!" She stammered out. She tried to force herself to calm down, trying again. "I guess I kinda bit off more than I could chew today, though. Got a little ambitious and tried for ten kilometers."

Izuku blanched, "Ten Kilometers on your first day? I only started with three!" Uraraka scratched the back of her head nervously, laughing a little.

"I guess I'm pretty lost when it comes to this type of thing…" She mumbled.

"I could make a training plan for you, if you'd like,"

That shocked Ochako, "What?"

Izuku nodded sincerely, "I still have my copy of my training plan. I could adapt it for you in a couple hours, no problem! We could even train together a little bit!"

He's so thoughtful… Ochako thought.

Ochako waved her hand, "I-I couldn't trouble you with that." Izuku immediately shook his head.

"Please, I insist. I think it'll be fun, and plus, training together could be really helpful. Heroes have to work together a lot so it could be good that way, too." He said.

Ochako felt her heart jump. He was just so nice and thoughtful, not to mention nerdy. She smiled, nodding.

"If you insist, then sure! Let's start training!" She pumped her fist into the air triumphantly. He tentatively shot his fist into the air as well. Ochako couldn't help but look at him and smile.

Love doesn't last forever, act on it while you still can. Midnight's words echoed in Ochako's mind, and her heart jumped up to her throat. A feeling welled up inside her stomach that she couldn't quite describe, but in that moment, she knew something for certain.

...

I'm in love, aren't I? Even as she thought the words, she knew they were true. She felt her face warming up, getting hotter than it had been before.

Ochako feigned looking at her phone, "Whoops! I forgot I have something this morning and I'm gonna run late!" She said, spinning on her heel, "Let's go, everybody! Time to leave!" She said, starting to jog away, hoping and praying that her pokemon would follow.

As Ochako ran away without looking back, she knew one more thing for certain.

I'm in love, she thought,

But I can't let him know that.