Flaws [BNHA x Pokemon!Reader]

28: The UA Crush

When Principal Nezu originally asked if you wanted to attend UA to be an advocate for Pokemon everywhere, you had agreed without knowing what that really meant. If he were to have actually asked you on that fateful day what you thought being an 'advocate' would entail, you likely would have said something along the lines of "show people they're not scary or whatever".

True, yes, but kinda lame.

To be completely honest, you weren't thinking very far ahead. After all, you were getting the opportunity to attend UA High–you probably would have agreed to nearly anything Nezu wanted. Then, when you got there, when you really got there, and started seeing all the barriers you were going to have to overcome, both external and internal, a small voice in the back of your mind began to tell you you couldn't do it. It would only chime in at the worst times–during the assessment test, the Sports Festival... And there was a chance you might have succumbed to that voice, might have listened to what it was saying and given up, accepting that your life was one to be lived solely in the shadows.

You were so glad you didn't.

If you had, you wouldn't have experienced all of these wonderful moments. You would have never seen Clefairy doing karaoke with Mina at a girl's night sleepover. Never would have seen Meowth helping Sato bake a cake. Never would have seen Kaminari carrying Pikachu around on his chest with one of those baby-carrier packs (or been able to take a picture of that to serve as your lock screen). And as silly as all those things might have seemed to an outsider, they alone were proof that you were the right choice for a Pokemon advocate, that the voice inside your head telling you otherwise was wrong. That you were capable.

That you were a hero.

Of course, to actually be a hero–professionally and legally, that is–you needed to take the provisional license exam. From what Aizawa told you, typically it was second and third years who ended up getting their provisional licenses, but with everything that your class had been through already in the first half of your first year, he was confident that you all were going to make it. He didn't say that exactly, but you could tell he believed in you all (it was fun to tease him about it while he vehemently denied caring about any of you).

It didn't stop you from being incredibly intimidated as you stepped off the bus when you arrived at the practical exam arena. It was a daunting building and crowds of students from various other hero schools were flocking toward it like moths to a flame. You were a bit overwhelmed at the sheer number of potential heroes there, although you suddenly understood why the passing rate was low; if every single hero student passed the exam and became a pro hero, there would be far too many heroes for the amount of work that needed to be done.

I knew I was entering a cutthroat career, but this is kinda crazy, you gulped.

From your side, Uraraka let out a nervous laugh. "This is way more intimidating than I thought..."

"Intimidation is only an obstacle we must overcome in order to achieve our goals," Tokoyami said, his head bowed.

Dark Shadow groaned. "Do you ever stop being so dramatic? I love ya, but we've gotta work on your worldview."

"The world is a dark and dismal place."

You stifled a laugh by fake coughing; you didn't want Tokoyami to think you were making fun of him. Luckily, the boy didn't even get the chance to hear you make a noise because an incredibly loud voice rang out through the air.

"Hey, UA! Plus Ultra, am I right?"

There was a boy waving at you, running over with incredible speed from a separate bus. You had no idea who he was, but you recognized that he was wearing the traditional Shiketsu blue hat, meaning he must be a student from one of the other hero schools.