Chapter Text
Four-year-old Izuku Midoriya looked in awe at the New York City Pokemon Professor’s Lab. The workplace of not only his father but world-renowned Pokemon Professor Sequoia, commonly known as Redwood. His father was training under her to become a Pokemon professor himself, the professor of Musutafu City, where the Midoriya family lived. But the reason he was excited was not that he’d see his father, he had been visiting him for the past week. No, the reason was that he would be getting his first Pokemon, and his father had promised it’d be unique compared to other usual starters. Redwood tended to go against the grain when giving Pokemon to new trainers.
Inko smiled at her son as the two walked into the lab. They let an aide know that they were here to see Hisashi Midoriya, and the aide took them to his part of the lab. They got there and saw Hisashi talking to the Professor. Izuku rushed over and hugged his dad before bowing to Redwood.
“Hello, Professor!” He said excitedly. The dark-skinned woman smiled and ruffled his hair.
“You were right, Hisashi, he is energetic! Hello, Izuku. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Izuku smiled widely. “So, Izuku, What kind of Pokemon were you thinking of getting?”
“One that can work alongside a hero! My dream is to be a great hero, and heroes need Pokemon’s help to save people. But I wouldn’t want one that I can’t get along with. I want to be friends with them as well.” Professor Sequoia smiled.
“Well, I believe that any Pokemon can work alongside a hero, but if you want a Pokemon who’s friendly, I have a few options.” She led the family to a room which, when Izuku saw it, he stood in awe of it. It had hundreds, if not thousands of Pokeballs on walls and hallways of shelves.
“Whoa!” He said.
“That sure is a lot of Pokemon!” Inko exclaimed.
“Yeah, this never gets old,” Hisashi remarked.
“This is where the Pokemon who aren’t currently stretching their legs in the pastures upstate rest. We constantly cycle them out, well, except for the ones we know could go to a new trainer like you, Izuku.” Redwood went over to the nearest shelf and picked up five Pokeballs, putting them on a cart and taking them to the Midoriyas. “Alright, kid, we have a selection of five Pokemon I think you might want to be your first.” She picked up a Pokeball and sent out the first Pokemon. It was a small, cute, canine-like Pokemon with blue and white fur and a yellow, star-like shape at the end of its tail. “This first one is Shinx.”
“Oh! I’ve learned about Shinx! They can glow if they’re threatened and shake if they’re filled with electricity!” The Professor smiled.
“That’s true. However, more important is the personality of the Pokemon. This one we’ve classified with an Impish Nature. All that means is that we’ve noticed he’s a bit of a trickster and has fun when pranking people or stealing things. He’s usually pretty well behaved, but he can play a few pranks on us when we’re not looking.” Izuku soaked up this information, even going so far as to pull out one of his notebooks and begin writing the information in it.
The professor then went on to introduce three more Pokemon. The one after Shinx was called Tepig. After that came Squirtle and Lillipup. Each had information that Izuku wrote down about them.
“Alright, before you make your final decision, here’s our last one!” Redwood sent out the last Pokemon. The Pokemon came out and Izuku was instantly intrigued. This was a small tyrannosaurus-like Pokemon. Its name was Tyrunt and was generally known for its temper. However, the Pokemon took one look at Izuku and seemed to smile.
“Professor, doesn’t this Pokemon usually have anger issues?” Inko asked.
“Yes, however, this Tyrunt needs to become incredibly hateful of something to become angry. Also, for some reason, one of our tech guys sets him off, but we can’t tell why.” Redwood chuckled. Izuku was staring at the friendly Tyrunt and seemingly had made his decision.
“I choose Tyrunt! Izuku proclaimed. The adults smiled as Redwood returned the other slightly dejected Pokemon to their Pokeballs. Izuku walked up to an elated Tyrunt, who rubbed its head lightly on Izuku’s. Izuku pet the Pokemon and decided to name it. “I think I’ll call you Ryuji!” The Tyrunt roared happily and the three adults could sense that a great friendship had begun.
After a few days of bonding with both his father and Ryuji, it was time for Izuku, as well as his mother, to go home.
“I’m gonna miss you guys so much!” Hisashi said, hugging his son. “Now, Tyrunt, take care of my son, I know he can be a handful.” Inko giggled.
“Dad!” Izuku whined. Hisashi got up and kissed Inko.
“I expect a call once you get home. I should be back in Japan by the end of the year, and hopefully, you’ll be looking at Mustafa's new Pokemon Professor!” The two got on the plane, and Hisashi smiled.
Years passed, and Hisashi had been granted the title of Pokemon Professor of Mustafa. Finally, Izuku and his father could bond. Meanwhile, Katsuki Bakugo, a friend of Izuku’s, had become mean and egotistical because at the age of five he already had three Pokemon. After being given an Axew, he found two sibling Cyndaquils who immediately took to his competitive nature. Although one was more relaxed than the other. He couldn’t catch them yet, legally, but they still followed him around.
With his two Pokemon who encouraged his violent tendencies and one that didn't do anything to rein him in, he was a terror, and everyone did anything they could to stay on his good side. Everyone but Izuku. He would often protect kids and their Pokemon from Katsuki and his partners who thought they were "looking down on him."
Izuku lost over and over to him, but he and Tyrunt usually managed to take Katsuki‘s hits long enough for their victims to get away. The other main development was that Izuku hadn't developed a quirk. It wasn't all that uncommon with 30% of people being quirkless, however, it still stung Izuku, who wanted to be a hero.
It always angered Bakugo when Izuku still swore he would be a hero. The name Deku, meaning worthless, was created by Katsuki and it stuck throughout the school.
"Midoriya, you wanted to go to UA, too, right?" The teacher asked. The class was silent before they began to laugh loudly. Bakugo, who had been bragging about his own greatness earlier, sent out his Cyndaquils before exploding Izuku's desk.
"DEKU! Do you think you can hang with the best of the best?! You don't even have a quirk, you're worse than these rejects!"
"Kacchan! I don't wanna compete with you! They got rid of the quirkless rule over a decade ago!" Izuku shouted in fear but tried to be assertive.
"You only have one Pokemon!” Izuku didn’t have time to correct him. “You have to have at least three to get in! You're just a pathetic Deku!"
"Alright, enough roughhousing, Bakugo, put your Pokemon away, and Midoriya, stop antagonizing Bakugo," The teacher said. Izuku got a little angry after he said that but he didn't say anything.
Izuku rushed out of the school that day for fear of having to deal with Bakugo. He walked toward an underpass. As he walked under it, he heard a metal clanging and he looked back to see a giant sludge villain along with two Muks. Izuku tried to defend himself and sent out Ryuji, only to realize what a bad idea that was. Ryuji was being attacked by the Muks and Izuku was pounced on by the villain. Izuku began to drown in the sludge body of the villain, and Ryuji was nearly defeated by the Muks until a familiar laugh could be heard close by.
"Don't worry, young man!" Said the familiar voice. "Because I am here!" It said, accompanied by a roar that sounded like the word 'Machamp.'
'It couldn't be!'
"Oklahoma Smash!"
"Machamp!" Both the villain and the Muks were blown into pieces, still alive, but defeated. The last things Izuku and Ryuji saw were All Might and his Machamp.
Izuku woke up feeling a light slapping on his face. He was groggy, but that went away when Ryuji bit his arm lightly, waking Izuku fully.
“Ryuji, I've told you not to wake me up like that." Izuku then looked in front of him. "All Might!"
"Good to see you up! Thought we had lost you, there." Izuku looked around.
"Wait, where are the villain and his Pokemon?" He asked.
"The villain is right here!" All Might said, holding up two soda bottles filled with halves of the sludge villain. "And I've confiscated his Pokemon until the authorities can take them all. I also used a max potion on your Tyrunt, here. A loyal one, that one."
"Yeah, he is." Izuku smiled. "Can I have your autograph?" All Might turned away.
"Check your hero analysis notebook. Thank you for your continued support!" All Might said before jumping off to incarcerate the villain.
"Awesome," Izuku said in awe. "Alright, let's get home, Ryuji." He said, returning his Pokemon to its Pokeball. Izuku began to walk. Fairly soon, however, he heard an explosion. He heard them get louder and more frequent and he ran to the villain fight. It took a bit to find it, but once he did, he was horrified. Not only was the sludge villain back, without his Muks this time, but he had taken Bakugo captive, and he was unable to use his Pokemon to help him. Izuku felt a few heartbeats pass before his Tyrunt came out of its Pokeball and the two began to run toward the villain.
"Hey, kid, no! You'll get killed!" Death Arms shouted. Tyrunt had gotten ahead of Izuku and the villain noticed them.
"Back for more, eh? Well, I've got a new plaything so I don't need you anymore!" Tyrunt was punted to the side.
"Ryu!" The villain raised his sludgy arm above the distracted Izuku, but suddenly, All Might was there to block the strike that came from the villain.
“We meet again! It’s shameful to allow children to do my job for me!” All Might was about to punch the villain, but he was beaten to the punch. Izuku had run to Ryuji. Tyrunt shook off the hit before rushing toward the villain.
“Ryu! No!” Ryuji, however, rushed the villain and his tail had a purple glow around it. This was a move Izuku hadn’t seen before. Ryuji knocked a chunk of the sludge villain off with his tail, freeing Bakugo. All Might was shocked for a split second before smiling bigger.
“Good job, Tyrunt, I’ll take it from here!” Tyrunt nodded before backing off. All Might grabbed Katsuki and pushed him toward Death Arms, who caught him “Alright, villain! Get ready for…”
“Damn you, All Might!” The villain tried to slam his arm into All Might once more.
“Detroit Smash!” All Might shouted before punching the villain so hard that he burst into many sludge pieces. Tyrunt had gone back to Izuku and the two were amazed at the power demonstrated. Tyrunt then collapsed. Izuku quickly put him back in his Pokeball.
"You did great, Ryu," He said. All Might quickly appeared before Izuku.
"Come on, before the reporters swarm us." He held out a hand to Izuku. Izuku was quickly taken away. Bakugo saw the whole thing and narrowed his eyes.
All Might came to a stop several blocks away, near where they first met. Izuku was set down onto the ground, and he noticed steam coming off of All Might.
"Damn…" All Might said before he exploded into steam. The steam cleared and showed an emaciated man who looked vaguely like All Might.
“What just happened?!” Izuku screamed.
“I’d hoped I would get to explain more before I ran out of time…” The man said. “Before you ask, I am All Might. This is what I look like for a majority of the day.”
“How?” Izuku asked. “What happened?” All Might then lifted his shirt to reveal a grievous injury.
“A villain fight happened. Pretty gross, right? It took out a chunk of my respiratory system and my entire stomach. It was about five years ago.”
“Was that Toxic Chainsaw?” Izuku asked.
“Ah, you know your stuff. No, that punk got a few good hits in, and his Toxicroak was pretty strong, but he couldn’t do this kind of damage. No, this fight I kept under wraps, and for good reason. I’m supposed to be the natural-born symbol of peace, smiling under any circumstance no matter how difficult. But I smile to hide the fear. Sometimes it gets too much, but I’ve grown great at handling it.”
“I feel a need to help when I can. But, I almost didn’t help today.” Izuku’s eyes widened. “I can only hold my muscled form for about three hours a day, and I had used mine up. However,” he pointed to Izuku. “You and your Tyrunt inspired me to act. I saw this boy, possibly quirkless, running in to save someone from a villain he had just been attacked by. Lots of great heroes’ stories begin with a moment. A moment where they moved without thinking, sometimes their Pokemon, too. That’s what happened to you, isn’t it?” Izuku began to tear up. He couldn’t be saying what Izuku thought he was, right? “Young man, I believe you can be a great hero one day.” Izuku broke down, crying. “Whoa, kid, what’s with the waterworks?” All Might asked.
“Sorry, I just…I’ve never heard that before.” All Might frowned.
“Well, why?”
“I’m quirkless and even though my dad’s the Pokemon professor here, I can’t get a new Pokemon from him, legally.”
“Have you tried to catch some?”
“I have, but they don’t seem to like me. Tyrunt was the first one when I was four, but that was it. Even my other Pokemon seems…hesitant to trust me…”
“Kid, you’re the son of Professor Midoriya. He always talks about his son Izuku Midoriya, and that’s you, right?” Izuku nodded. “Well, Izuku Midoriya, I deem you worthy of my quirk, and the child of one of my Pokemon.” Izuku looked up at All Might.
“What?”