Pokémon Trainer Hero

Chapter 88: Hero Killer Arc, part. 10; Aftermath

Izuku woke up. His eyes were heavy with sleep and his body felt like lead. He nearly shut his eyes back again when he saw a white all around him, but he managed to stir enough and composed himself to open his eyes and assess his situation. When he finally woke up and look around, he heard a familiar voice call out his name in an anxious voice.

"Midoriya! You're finally awake! Are you okay?", asked the voice as Izuku looked to the side and saw Iida sitting in a hospital bed beside him.

"I'm….okay. But my head is still swimming.", Izuku told him as he slowly began to sit up, only to immediately jump up while exclaiming, "Wait! The Nomu, Stain, and-!"

But he didn't get to finish as he was hit back with the full force of his lethargic state and started to see stars!

"Calm down Midoriya, it's all okay now. We're safe.", the voice of Shoto tried to assure him.

"That's a relief.", Izuku replied, rubbing his head as he sat up and waited for vertigo to pass.

"And even more of a relief to see you finally up. Woof.", a new voice told him as the hospital room door was opened to reveal a man with a dog head and another man in a plain-looking outfit with a fish fin on top.

"Your Chief Tsuragamae, and Manuel.", Izuku recognized the two men, who had somber, yet serious looks on their faces.

"Iida-kun.", Manual said to the boy.

"Sir.", Iida said back in a somber tone.

"I'm disappointed in you, Iida-kun. So very disappointed in you.", Manual scolded him in the most neutral way possible, but his voice carried all the scolding it needed.

"I apologize.", Iida replied while looking down in shame.

"I assume you know why we're here? Woof.", Tsuragamae asked the teens.

"I just got up, so not really?", Izuku admitted while rubbing his head.

"It has something to do with the Hero Killer, doesn't it?", Shoto infrared.

"Right, you are. You see.", the chief started, gaining the full attention of the teens, making them sit in suspense, until he casually told them, "All three of you are under arrest. Woof."

"What!?", the three teens shouted in unison.

"What for!?", Izuku exclaimed.

"Performing hero work without a license. Woof. You're now considered vigilantes and will be treated as such.", Tsuragamae told them.

"It was self-defense!", Izuku fought back.

"Our lives were in danger!", Iida defended.

"We were fighting the freaking Hero Killer.", Shoto added, not looking pleased with his words.

"That's right! We took down the Hero Killer! Doesn't that account for anything?", Izuku asked, trying not to sound desperate.

"If you were licensed Heroes, then yes. Woof. But you're not.", Tsuragamae once again told them with a straight casual tone.

"But-!", Iida tried to interject.

"This is non-negotiable. Woof.", Tsuragamae cut him off, making the teen fearful of their predicament.

"You bitch.", Shoto growled at him.

Before anything else could be said or done at that moment, the door was violently flung open and Gar barged in while partially yelling like a referee, "Alright, alright! Let's break up this sewing circle ladies!"

The two men were shocked by the young man's sudden arrival, but the teen almost looked ecstatic to see him.

"Gar! You're okay!", Izuku proclaimed with joy.

"More or less.", Gar replied while shaking his hand, a bandage on his forehead.

"How are you here? You were the worst of all of us?", Iida inquired.

"I recover quickly.", Gar shrugged at the question.

"Garfield.", Tsuragamae greeted him.

"Chief, Manuel.", Gar nodded to the two men before getting serious and asking, "Now, what's all this I hear about arresting these kids?", before either of them could speak, Gar jumped right in and announced to the chief, "I understand you're overworked and have several plates piled up, but this is a little concerning, especially for you, Chief."

"I can assure you I'm in perfect mental health. Woof.", Tsuragamae defended himself, a slight tack mark on his head.

"Tell that to a psychologist.", gar huffed while rolling his eyes.

"They broke the law so it has to be upheld. Woof.", Tsuragamae proclaimed boldly and finally.

"Chief.", Gar said while putting his hands together and taking a breath while resting his chin on his thumbs, "Be realistic here, just for a moment. After the police, several heroes, and the damn government couldn't track down and take down the psycho that was committing homicide on every hero left and right, finally gets detained by three individuals, your first reaction is to arrest them? Seriously?"

"Seriously.", Tsuragamae confirmed.

Gar huffed out an irritated breath before placing a hand on the dog man's shoulder and asking him, "Okay okay, Chief. You and I both know that in the eyes of the public, the police force is seen as little more than a joke, yeah? Your "only" job, according to the masses, is to clean up and detain the criminals that the heroes take down. The side kicks to side kicks. Correct?"

"What's your point? Woof.", Tsuragamae asked back, sounding annoyed.

"The people have been distraught with worry and fear since Stain started his slaughter fest. He's finally been taken down, people are ecstatic! And you want to punish the ones who were responsible for it?", Gar recapped for him before explaining, "Do you even know what that will do to your reputation alongside the rest of the force? There will be an uproar! The police will be seen as the villains. And then you'll have to deal with all of them! Is that really what you want?"

Tsuragamae grunted in annoyance and declared, "I'm fine with that if it means we're known for our backbone! If we let this go, then they'll keep wanting to make exceptions to the rule. And the law must be upheld to the fullest! Woof."

"I agree; these kids-.", Manual tried to speak his piece.

"Shut it D-class!", Gar yelled while pointing a finger at him, all before turning his irritated glare away from the insulted-looking hero, and telling the police chief, "Listen, I don't wanna tell you how to do your job, but sometimes the rules are meant to be bent for the greater good. The lesser of two evils so to speak."

"The police force is supposed to represent the most unfiltered form of justice. Woof.", Tsuragamae asserted.

"Justice is blind, not stupid, Chief.", Gar asserted back. Leading the two men into a stare-off, glaring daggers at one another as everyone else stared on, feeling the tension grow thicker in the room.

Eventually, Gar appeared to concede defeat and closed his eyes while dropping his shoulders and breathing out in defeat. The teen grew anxious, thinking as though Gar had agreed with him. Only for the fear to be quickly put to rest.

"You know what? I don't have time for this.", Gar groaned as he pulled off a Pokeball and freed a new Pokemon.

What stood before them was a brown extraterrestrial Pokémon with an oblong head that features depressions on both sides. It has black, symmetrical lines going down the front of its head. Under the rim of its head, there lay two green eyes with small black pupils. It has a lighter brown "collar" and four dots on its chest of the same color. The arms have three finger-like digits: one red, one green, and one yellow. It has a rim underneath its main body, under which are two small legs.

"Wha-!? What is that?!", Manual stammered out in fear of the alien-looking Pokemon.

"This is Beheeyem.", Gar told them its name, to which he nodded at the creature.

Without a warning, Beheeyem lifted one of its arms and the tri-colored lights began to flash rapidly into the two men's eyes.

"What's it doing? Woof. I feel….strange.", Tsuragamae said as his tense voice grew relaxed.

"I can't…look away.", Manual said with the same relaxing tone.

"Don't fight it you two. This won't hurt a bit, it'll all be over in no time.", Gar assured them as their eyes locked firmly on the creature's lights.

After a few seconds, the Pokemon stopped the light show and Gar returned the Pokemon to its Pokeball. He then snaps his fingers in front of the two dazed, wide-eyed, and drooling men. To which they snapped out of their trances and shook their heads.

"What happened?", Tsuragamae asked while the world spun around him.

"You two were just saying how what they did was stupid, irrational, dangerous, and illegal. You were saying how you should arrest them. But decided in the end that a stern warning and a call to UA about this is all that's needed.", Gar told them.

The three teens began to cold sweat at his bold-faced lie, knowing that they would be in more trouble than before! But things didn't go as they thought.

"Um, yes, that's right.", Tsuragamae agreed with him while rubbing his head and saying, "I must've blacked out for a moment. Woof."

"You're probably just overworked. Why don't you have some of your subordinates take on your extra work? Clock out early, get a nice hot meal, and some cold beer. You deserve it. You too Manuel.", Gar suggested to them men while lightly pushing them out of the room.

"Yeah….I should. Woof.", Tsuragamae agreed again with him as Manual mindlessly nodded his head.

Once they were out of the room, Gar quickly closed the door behind them, and leaning his back against it he sighed with relief. For a bit, the teens felt nothing but relief at having their permanent records kept clean and avoiding the law. Starry-eyed and smiling faces they didn't notice how darkness covered Gar's face as he stood up erect and walked over to the three, a menacing aura starting to spill out.

"Gar, thank you so much for.", Izuku tried to say, only to be harshly cut off by a smack across the face, soon being followed by one for Iida and Shoto.

The teens grabbed their faces, their expressions in disbelief at what happened, wondering if it had happened. Instead of the normal plucky Gar was a red-faced angry man with veins building out of his face as he glared dangerously at them, and looked barely able to hold himself together! The three teens had looked death in the face when fighting Stain, but they never felt such fear when looking at their friend now!

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF ARCEUS IS WRONG WITH YOU THREE!", he screamed at the three boys as they jumped in their beds. Gar was particularly foaming at the mouth as he continued to yell at them, "Are all of you out of your Bibarel Damn minds! Were you trying to get killed? If so, there are a series of tall buildings that can help you with that much easier than fighting some looney with a sword!"

"But Gar-.", Izuku tried to speak up.

"AH AH AH! I don't wanna hear it! I'll get to you soon!", Gar forcefully waved his finger in front of him before turning to Iida and scolding him harshly, "First off: are you proud of yourself, Iida?! Cause not only did you not listen to my advice, but you also doubled down on it! Then you disobey your superior, during a crisis, on your internship, and use him due to his relative location to Stain's hunting grounds. Have you no shame!? He was probably ecstatic to have someone like you interning with him, and you stabbed him in the back. On top of putting yourself into mortal danger and fighting a crazy man with little experience and no license with the intent to kill! You are so lucky you didn't follow through with it and that you're still a minor. Otherwise, that would've been a stain on your life!"

Iida said nothing in return. He fully understood the provocation of his admittedly poorly judged actions and looked down feeling nothing but shame at himself and for the Iida family name.

"You're not even a licensed hero.", Shoto shot back at him

"Don't you even start with me, candy cane! I'm getting to you soon!", Gar yelled at the teen's snide remark, snapping his head so hard in his direction that he flinched from the suddenness. He then turned to Izuku and scolded, "Then there's you! Not only did you disobey my orders to not get involved in any fights, but you also ended up getting hurt alongside your friends, several of my Pokémon, and me!", Gar yelled while lifting his shirt and showing his new scar where the knife used to be, making Izuku look away in shame. "You ran straight into danger without thinking and thought you could just power your way through that psycho!", Gar continued his rant.

"But Iida was in danger! I didn't have a choice!", Izuku feverishly tried to defend his actions.

But Gar knocked him down once again and told him, "You do have a choice! You always have a choice! I understand it is life or death, but after keeping Stain away you could've used Hariyama to hold him off while you grabbed Iida and Native and booked it. Or you could have got him talking while Hariyama grabbed and took them away, and not fought him where he had the advantage!"

"But Hariyama-!", Izuku tried to argue.

"Would've been fine! We've established that Pokemon are way tougher than you or I! And Hariyama wasn't his target!", Gar interjected before taking a slightly more calm tone and telling him before going back into his rant, "Now I will admit that sending that location signal to everyone was a good call, and I commend you for doing that in such a desperate time. But you could have gone about everything else SO much differently! You have very little control over your quirk and less knowledge of how to fight it! You are also unlicensed and A CHILD going up against an adult!"

He then turned his gaze to the irritated Shoto and yelled, "And then there's you! I understand you're just finding out about friends and loyalty and the like, but running blindly is never a good option, especially if you don't tell anyone about it! You could've told your dad about it for Dilaga's sake!", Shotot averted his gaze and glared at the floor, making Gar get angry and forcefully grab his head to make him look at him while yelling, "HEY! Don't you give me that attitude when I mention your Dad! I get it, you don't like him. Newsflash! Neither do I! But you know what he is?"

Shotto didn't have time to make a snarky remark before Gar told him, "A HERO! And the number two on top of that! He didn't get that title from flashing his fire and acting like a self-entitled edge lord! If you had brought your dad to that fight, he could've eaten that maniac for breakfast!"

"But-!", Shoto tried to intervene.

"But did you do that? NOOOOOOOOOOO! Instead, you decided to be all like 'I don't need you dad. I'll do it on my own and show you up. OH! Look at how rebellious I am.' Get real!", Gar blew off whatever he was going to say about his estranged father. Gar then calmed down a bit before telling him straight up, "I'm also gonna be taking your Pokemon back."

"What, why?!", Shoto asked back, getting caught off guard.

"You have clearly shown to me that you don't have the capabilities to act rationally at a moment's notice. If you can't do that, then you can't battle with Pokemon. And if you can't do that, you have no right to own them until you can!", Gar told him in a manner that left no room for disagreement.

Gar then slapped his face and pulled it down while telling them as his tone and anger boiled over, "You three are so-SO lucky to be alive right now! If that had gone ANY other way, we wouldn't be here having his talk! I don't even know what to feel about you three and the stunt you pulled! Angry?! Disappointed?! ANGERPOINTED!? ARCEUS!"

The three teens said nothing for a long while as the stewing Gar stood there and slowly started to calm down a bit after giving them all a tongue-lashing. Eventually, they all said in unison, "We're sorry."

Gar took a very long and very deep breath. Five of them before he spoke in a much calmer tone, "Having said that. Congratulations are still in order. Despite your idiotic decisions yesterday, you still took down a dangerous criminal and probably ended up saving many many lives. You should feel proud of that much.", before the teens could feel as though they had been forgiven, Gar followed up by exclaiming, "HOWEVER! I want you three to take this as a learning opportunity on what not to do in a situation like that. I don't want to be having this conversation with you three, ever again! Do you understand?"

"Yes sir.", the three of them spoke in unison.

"I'll also be asking Nezu to punish you three the highest he can without expelling you. So be prepared for that.", he informed them, narrowing his eyes, daring any of them to fight against that.

"We understand.", they all agreed in tune, once again.

Just before he opened the door to leave, he stopped, placing one hand on the door and the other over his face as he sighed in exasperation. After pulling his hand away from his face, he looked back at the teens and asked, "Oh Arceus, why do I get the feeling that one day you three will stand before me and I ask, 'Why is it that when something happens, it's always you three?' Why? Just, why Arceus?"

Gar then opened the door, leaving the sight of the three teens looking shameful of themselves, before closing it and letting out a stressed sigh. He didn't even turn his head when he saw someone standing there in total silence and nearly jumped out of his skin!

"AH! Shota!", Gar shouted in shock as he nearly bounced away. Aizawa said nothing back, standing silently with Persian as the young man looked around and asked, "How long have you been standing here?"

"Long enough.", he said back in a neutral tone.

"And how much did you-?"

"I saw all of it."

Gar sighs, feeling he knew what was going to happen, and asks, "And I'm guessing this is the part where you scold me for misusing my Pokemon against others, right?"

"No.", Aizawa denyes.

"No?", Gar questions.

Aizawa sighs and tells him. "I agree with you. As unforchant as it is, the Police are seen as a joke. If they arrested those three after taking down The Hero Killer, their acceptance rate would go right down the drain.", he then put on a thrasher glance as he told him, "Having said that, I don't agree with your methods. Even if it was a lesser evil."

GAr gave a small silent sigh of relief to not have his lecture, and told Aizawa with confidence, "In any situation like that, I would always choose the lesser evil."

"Speaking of which, I have something to tell you about….you know what.", Aizawa softly said the last part.

Gar nods and tells him, "Let's go somewhere where the walls don't have ears.", he then turns to the door and yells through it, "I KNOW YOU THREE ARE EAVESDROPPING!", all while hearing three sets of feet scamper away.

Aizawa then led Gar with Persian into another part of the hospital. One of the patient waiting rooms sat down beside him while Persian took position to lay his large body on both of their laps. His head is on Aizawa's lap while his butt is on Gar's lap. Once seated away from anyone, Gar holds out his hand to Aizawa.

Aizawa raises his eyebrow and asks, "What?"

"Ahha, come on, I know you're holding out on me.", Gar tells him with a knowing look.

Aizawa smirks, knowing what he was referring to, and reaches into his pocket to pull out a hip flask. He hands it to him and Gar takes a swig from it while sighing with relief. A few nurses look like they want to tell them the obvious no-drinking rule but decide against it for the fact of their heroes and they have a house cat the size of a tiger on their laps.

Gar hands the flask to Aizawa who takes a drink while he asks, "So what's the news on Stain?"

"He's gone.", Aizawa says fayre he hands the flask back to Gar while he's taking his sip.

Gar chokes on the liquid right there and chokes out his response. "What?! That's impossible! I may not remember much from what happened at the end of it all. But I remembered zapping him with Zapdos! There's no way he could still be fighting after that. No way! Let alone pull off an escape.", he questions the sanity of the answer.

"That's because he didn't. Someone else broke him out.", Aizawa explained further.

"What? Who?"

"The most likely suspects are his supporters."

Gar immediately waved off that notion and replied, "That's impossible. Sure he has supporters and followers, but they're not anywhere near a coalition. They're more like angry children with all the ambition and none of the drive.", Aizawa gives an agreeing shrug and Gat continues saying, "Besides that, he was just arrested. There was no way a bunch of angry people could find out, form a plan, and break him out on such short notice. It was an armored police vehicle with heroes aboard, the hope of getting him out was nil."

"That's what I'm getting at. I don't think it was his followers at all. This was all planned.", Aizawa explains while taking the flask back and taking a sip.

Gar pounders this for a bit before concluding, "You're right. Someone knew this was going to happen."

"And anticipated it.", Aizawa continues as the two of them pass the flask between sentences.

"Stain must've been followed.", Gar theorizes.

"And when he was taken.", Aizawa continued.

"They struck while the iron was hot.", Gar asserted while slamming his fist on the armrest.

"The only question remaining is.", Aizawa thought aloud.

"Who?", Gar questions.

Iida: Midoryia, Todoroki.

Midoryia and Todoroki: ?

Iida: Let's agree that if any of us try something that will led Gar to becoming that angry again. Well punch each other to stop ourselves.

Midoryia and Todoroki: Agreed.