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“You mean to tell me you’ve never played Pokemon?” Kaminari stared at his boyfriend in absolute shock.
“Never. Is that bad?” Todoroki tilted his head to the side slightly.
“Pokemon was my thing when I was a little kid! Come on, I’m introducing you to Professor Juniper.” Kaminari grabbed Todoroki’s hand and dragged him to his dorm room. Todoroki sat on Kaminari’s bed while the latter dug around for his 3DS. He finally found it and tossed it on the bed next to Todoroki, then continued digging for a game cartridge. “Found it! I knew I had a blank copy of White around here somewhere.” Kaminari sat down next to Todoroki and fidgeted with the console for a moment. “Alright. Have you ever played with a DS before?”
“The only video game I’ve played is Mario Kart with you, Sero, and Mina.”
“Alright, so, this is a DS.” Kaminari set the device in Todoroki’s hands. “Go ahead and open it. Yeah, just like that. Now, press that button in the bottom right to turn it on.” Todoroki did as Kaminari asked, staring at the screen as it turned on. “It’s already selected White, so go ahead and hit the A button on the right.” The two watched the cutscene that played, smiles growing on both of their faces.
“This looks like fun.”
“It sure is! Here, go ahead and start a new game. I’ll help you through the first part.” Todoroki pressed the button again, watching as a female in a lab coat appeared on the screen. “That’s Professor Juniper and her Pokemon, Minccino!” Todoroki scrolled through the rest of the text, until the screen prompted him to choose his character.
“Is there anything you want me to pick here?” Todoroki asked, glancing up at Kaminari’s face.
“Nope! This is your file, go ahead and pick whatever you want.” Kaminari watched as he selected the male character and named it Shoto. A few more screens passed, introducing the main character’s friends, Cheren and Bianca. “So, these guys will kind of follow you throughout the game. They’ll teach you new things and have battles with you and stuff. There’s also some special things you can do with them, but that’s more endgame stuff,” Kaminari explained. Shoto continued reading the text until the word “Spring” appeared on the screen.
“Spring? Are there different seasons in this game?” Todoroki asked.
“Oh yeah! It changes every month. There’s a few Pokemon that change forms during different seasons, and a few things about the landscape change too. It’s pretty fun!” Todoroki nodded in acknowledgement as the first cutscene began playing. After it ended, more text appeared, belonging to Cheren and Bianca. The friends had a conversation about the world of Pokemon until a new menu appeared.
“What do I do now?” Todoroki asked.
“You pick your Pokemon! Go ahead and scroll using this,” he gestured to the correct buttons, “to look through them. Pick whatever one you like the best!” Todoroki flipped through the Pokemon for a few minutes, watching them bounce across the screen of the 3DS.
“I think I like this one.” Todoroki hovered his selection over Oshawott and selected that as his starting Pokemon.
“That’s my favorite of those three!” Kaminari moved his arm around Todoroki, leaning further into his space. Todoroki was reading the next conversation as Bianca and Cheren picked their Pokemon, then challenged him to a battle. As soon as the battle started, he looked to Kaminari for help. “Here, use the stylus to tap ‘fight’ and then select tackle. This is early in the game, so you don’t need to do anything else until Bianca’s Tepig faints.” Todoroki did as instructed, watching the Tepig’s health deplete until it fell into the ground. He smiled to himself as his rewards appeared on the screen. He quickly did the same to Cheren’s Snivy.
“I think I’m getting the hang of this,” Todoroki muttered to himself. He ran around town for a few minutes, finally making his way to the professor’s lab. He was quickly prompted to give a name to his Pokemon. “Do you have any ideas?”
“Ooh, I both love and hate nicknaming Pokemon. Let’s see, is there any words it reminds you of? I like naming them things in different languages. So, like, I had a Lilipup, and I thought it was fluffy, so I named it Tou, because that’s how you say fluffy in Catalan!”
“I did not expect that from you.” Kaminari glared light-heartedly at Todoroki. “Well, she’s holding a shell,” he muttered. Kaminari took his phone out and began tapping. After a moment, he showed it to Todoroki.
“See anything you like?” Todoroki took the phone and began scrolling. He stopped at one of the words and picked up the 3DS, tapping the letters on the screen. Kaminari took a glance once he was done. “Lupina, eh? I like it!”
The two continued playing for hours, beating the first two gyms and filling up Todoroki’s team, until they looked at the clock.
“It’s already 11? We gotta get to bed!” Kaminari exclaimed, panicked. Todoroki saved the game and set the 3DS on the side table.
“Can I stay over tonight?”
“Yeah, sure! Just come brush your teeth and get in bed!” Kaminari bounced off to the bathroom. Todoroki smiled to himself. Kaminari was right, Pokemon was a wonderful game.