Chapter Text
"Ahhahaha! Look at you! You're useless! No quirk, no Pokémon… It's almost as if you're destined as a loser!"
Izuku froze. Heart drumming in his chest like a cacophony of marching footsteps. He clenched his fist as tears welled in his eyes. 'No, don't cry. It's not worth crying over.' he repeated to himself with gritted teeth.
Slowly, he raised, wary to avoid putting too much pressure on what could be a broken bone. He wasn't sure, but with how many explosions Kacchan and his Cyndaquil threw around, he wouldn't be surprised. Aching all over, he felt the mild burns gnawing on his raw skin, the fabric of his torn clothes brushing his grazes which didn't help the pain.
"You're really getting back up? You really can't just stay down in the dirt where you belong?" the blonde boy leered with his entourage of goons, explosions rippling in the air like firecrackers.
"I can't say I won if I don't keep getting back up." Izuku grumbled under his breath, clutching his dislocated shoulder which hung limply in the open breeze of the courtyard.
Apparently Katsuki heard him, however, as not seconds later he received a kick to the nose, and while sprawled on the ground, another to his gut.
"What was that you twerp? You say something? I couldn't hear over you being a useless, loser wannabe that leeches off other people's potential like a slug."
"Ca-ack-" he gasped as his vision blurred, swimming in his head like he was spiralling in space. He tried so desperately to sit up. To stand up. To do something...
He woke up to an empty courtyard, with the setting sun overhead.
Picking himself up from the gravelly floor, he winced as small shards of loose pebbles and rocks clung to his open wounds. He'd have to clean them when he got home, otherwise he could easily get an infection. Blinking the drowsiness from his eyes, he held perfectly still as he was overcome by a sudden, disorientating blood rush to his head. Once that had passed and he didn't fall over, he picked up his slightly worn yellow backpack and slung in over his not dislocated shoulder -which was still painful as it had its own many burns.
He was halfway home when he was passing the local forest reserve for Pokémon. His gaze swivelled as he caught sight of some Diglets playing with a Butterfree. He watched as they enjoyed their lives, however the moment one spotted him watching, they both hastily disappeared into the surrounding shrubbery.
He sighed in defeated exasperation. No Pokémon wanted him, and it had been that way since he was young. See, the way it worked was that in your entire life, only one Pokémon would bond with you. You couldn't choose which, nor when, where or how. Nor could you change it if you didn't like it -but that was almost impossible. That's because Pokémon choose the most compatible owner. Pokémon choose who they want to bond with, and there's no other way. It's also fact that there is only one Pokémon destined per person.
Through fate or forces unknown, as unlikely as it sounds to meet your one pre-planned companion through the billions of living creatures in the world, in reality it was actually practically unheard of someone not meeting their partners before the age of six.
Izuku had already visited many local centres. Many times, too… But it just seemed that no matter what, none of the Pokémon he had ever seen had warmed up to him.
It certainly didn't help that he was quirkless. So not only did he not have a little companion for life yet at the age of fourteen (which was so uncannily late its near unprecedented), but he was also part of the minority of the world without any form of superpower.
Through all of this, though, he still wanted to be a hero.
Unlocking the door to his apartment, he strolled into the kitchen downcast. He didn't like showing his own mother how he was treated. It just wasn't fair on her to watch her own child suffer what he did, but he needed her help.
"Hi, mom…"
A porcelain mug shattered on the floor as she gasped in horror. "Oh my god baby what happened!?" she cried, rushing over to him and delicately examining all of his injuries.
"Life." was all he could muster as she flailed. "Look, can you please help me pop this back in? I can then take care of cleaning myself up you don't have to worry."
"A-are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?" she wavered with uncertainty.
"Just a few burns, scratches and this. I'll be fine once it's fixed." he stated as he ushered to his dislocated shoulder. Gently, him mom raised it, and they both shuffled over to a nearby wall, to which he pushed on it before a distinguished *pop* sounded. He swung his tense joint in circles to loosen it a bit, before hugging Inko tightly. "I love you mom, but don't worry about me, please. I'll be fine after a long bath."
She didn't respond, only hugging tighter.
It was the end of another day of school, and Izuku was in a melancholy disposition. He was planning to go to the nearest Pokémon centre today, but recently the idea of visiting that place and being so thoroughly rejected didn't exactly appease him.
Picking up his notebook, he was about to stuff it into his bag until it was snatched from his grasp. Turning round angrily, he came face to face with red eyes and spiky blonde hair.
"Well well well. Look at that. Even after proving just how useless you'd be as a hero. you're still carrying these things?" he sneered, clasping the fourteenth edition of the regional Pokémon index. It had trillions of scribbles, notes and details ornamenting every page intricately. Without warning, Bakugou smirked and smothered it with a sandwich of explosions, before tossing the thing out the window ruthlessly.
'You'd think an upcoming 'hero' such as yourself would find better things to do than to make the boy who has nothing going for him in life have an even harder day (EVERY day).' Izuku growled subconsciously, but held himself back when the boy glowered his way threateningly.
"Got something to say, Deku?" the blonde sneered.
He held their staring battle, before zipping up his bag and putting it on. Ignoring the comments he received on a daily basis, he headed down to where the journal would have landed. Ironically, divine intervention decided to have a fish pod positioned there. Blinking in a neutral expression, he concedingly picked up the soggy, soot-covered journal, shaking the Magikarp nibbling its corner.
"My dreams have become fish food… How ironic." he muttered as he started on his journey towards the centre as planned. He honestly didn't expect to have any luck, but if he didn't keep trying, he'd never find his partner, and if he knew he couldn't be a hero without a quirk, there was no doubt in his mind that he certainly couldn't without a Pokémon partner to overcome his own weakness.
Passing a tunnel, he froze in cold sweat when he heard the echoing clatter emanating from the manhole cover leading to the sewers. Immediately swivelling around, his heart stopped beating altogether when his eyes landed on an enormous thing of sludge slithering his way like an approaching tidal wave.
Without a second to react, he felt the slick, smily, slippery substance slide down his throat forcefully, and the feeling of it wriggling in him was beyond imaginably vile. He could feel the tendril whip and lash at his internal organs, violently caressing his innards, trying to find a gap or a grip to pull them out of his body.
He can't let that happen.
His hands attempted to clench around his mouth to block it off, however it still seeped through cracks and crevices. Through his nose and between his fingers. Still, he fought, resisting to the best of his abilities for half a minute before the sludge filled his ribcage, therefore depriving him of his last remains of oxygen. He was already feeling extremely disorientated, barely able to focus his eyes nor differentiate which way was up. His lungs burned as though he was breathing solid flames and his vision was close to black. Slowly but surely, he could feel less and less sensitively the sludge as it coiled inside of him, like a slimy snake. Unknowingly at some point, his hearing dulled as well, muffling the screams of the girl unable to do anything into silent buzzing that deafened him further.
Cold.
So very, very cold.
And dark…
So impossibly, suffocatingly dark.
His thoughts crawled as the last of his bloodstream's oxygen was spent no longer in flailing his muscles, but instinctually reminiscing in memories during his final moments. All of his senses shut off completely by now.
The silence was deafening, as never had he noticed how lonely true silence was.
There wasn't even dark, as all sense of vision was erased.
Just Izuku, the emptiness and his fading memories.
...
*Slap-slap-slap-slap-slap-slap-* the sound and feeling of rapid slapping on his cheek gradually processed within his mind as the hazy fog of sleep slowly lifted.
"Ah! Good, you're awake! I thought I lost you there…" the thunderous sound of someone all too familiar worked like a remedy, curing all his dazed confusion as one thought entered the boy's mind.
"ALL MIGHT!" he yelped in awe and stupor as the grinning hero loomed above him. "W-why are you here!?"
"To do my job, save lives, of course. Why else would I be here?" the man chuckled, the depth of his voice vibrating to Izuku's core. "To be honest, you took a nasty villain there, and a second later may have been your last! Good thing I was rushing."
"Y-yes s-sir! Thank you so much for saving me, you're my inspiration!"
<Graw.> A peaceful, friendly growl sounded from behind All Might, to which the boy sat up and looked past the bulky man. His eyes widened incredulously as he uttered incoherent slurs before shaking his head.
"T-t-that's a Torterra…" he stated in disbelief, staring at the magnificent, majestic Pokémon with awe. Turtwig and its line of evolutions were currently one of the rarest Pokemon in existence, borderline extinct even with how popular they used to be years ago. It was almost impossible to see one, and even with how often Izuku watched All Might fight, it was incredibly rare to see him fight with his Pokémon. It was a marvel around the world. "C-c-can I…" he trailed off as it looked at him with curiosity.
"Sure. Least you should get for experiencing such an situation at your age." the man smiled, before calling the large creature over.
It thumped the ground as it walked, and looking at it now it reminded Izuku entirely of All Might. A friendly persona, with a peaceful aura, yet demonstrating true raw power beneath. It was very similar to a ginormous tortoise, with brown legs and the same for its shell. Horns protruded horizontally from the sides of its head, and it had thick, armoured skin. Covering and decorating its shell, there was green moss and grass, as well as several rocks and a tree. Yes, an actual, literal tree adorned it, green and lively. All in all, it was probably about 310kg (683lbs), yet it had the friendliest smile on its face Izuku had ever received from a Pokémon.
"Haha seems like he likes you!" All Might seemingly read his thoughts.
It… "He's incredible…" he stated with a cocked head. It nudged his outstretched hand gently.
"Yes, truly. I couldn't ask for a better partner." the hero said. "So, I take it you're heavily into Pokémon it seems?"
"Ah, y-yes sir. I've always felt drawn particularly to grass type Pokémon, and in actual fact, Turtwig is my favourite, especially with how impressive he is when evolved. It's vey sad to know you have one of the last remains ones of his species out there…" he summarised, pulling himself to the ground and dusting himself off.
"And where's your companion then? Did you leave it in it's capsule at home? Not a smart idea with how many villains there are these days…"
"Uhm… n-no… I uhhh…. I don't actually... have a Pokémon…" he cringed as the man froze. They both stood in silence for the longest of time.
"And you've tried visi-"
"I've visited just about every local centre for the past ten years, yes. It just seems like none of them think I'm good enough. They all shy away the moment I approach usually."
"Hmm. Well, I only got mine about five years or so ago from a friend. I owed him a favour per-se, and he asked that I try and possibly find my partner at his shelter in the United States." he pointed back towards the towering nature reserve with legs. "See, I never thought I needed a Pokémon until I realised just how truly helpful a loyal friend like one can be. But It's fine to wait. That can often simply mean that you are destined to meet a match someday that's rarer than any Pokémon you've yet encountered. Something not common. I wouldn't worry about it too much, young man."
"Y-yeah… you're right. OH! Before I forget… Could you please sign my journal!? It'd r-really mean the world to me!" he exclaimed. Izuku also looked over towards the Torterra. "And... I-if you wouldn't mind, could I maybe get your paw-print?" Luckily, the Pokémon smiled and nodded.
The number one hero smiled, before gladly jotting down his signature along with a cool little doodle. "There ya go, kid. Anyway, I gotta head off now; hand in this villain to the police and such, but I wish you good luck in the future! You'll find the one that's right for you. Well, that or it'll find you but either way." he chuckled, returning Torterra to it's capsule before launching off into the distance.
"Yeah… Y-yeah I just need to wait and be patient. It'll come before the UA entrance exam. It has to." he finalised as he walked away, unaware of his secret audience from in the shadows…