"Mom, why are we here?"
The little green-haired boy looks up at his mother from beside the chair, tears still in the corners of his eyes. He rubs his nose with his forearm, spreading dirt and mucus across his freckled cheeks as he approaches the rolling chair in front of the desk.
"I thought you might enjoy watching this." His mother replies, wiping his face gently with a cloth.
He lets her, enjoying the reassuring contact from his mom. "Watch?" He asks once the cloth is away enough to speak.
She nods, carefully pulling out the rolling desk chair. "I saw it earlier and bookmarked it for you."
He tilts his head, wide green eyes staring up at her. "What is it?" He asks, curiosity getting the better of him.
She turns the desktop on for him, the machine humming to life. "It's All Might."
"All Might!" He cheers, scrambling to try and get into the chair, only to stop and rush away to grab his favorite action figure and come back with it. Thankfully he takes long enough for Inko to pull up the browser and navigate to the correct link on the website. It doesn't take him much time to get into the chair, practically vibrating with excitement and kicking his red-shoed feet.
His mother can't help but smile as she starts the video.
His eyes widen at first as he sees the destruction on screen, the bystanders talking about someone saving so many people. He leans forward as it zooms in, seeing the beginning of two tufts of blonde hair sticking up out from behind a fallen vehicle. As his personal hero stands up carrying even more citizens, he boldly proclaims his catchphrase.
"Fear not, citizens! Why? Because I am here!"
The toddler is blown away by his unrelenting courage. Grinning, he raises up his toy. "One day I'll be just like him!" He uses his thumb to raise his actions figure's arm triumphantly. "With a smile on my face and a laugh to cheer others up!"
She can't help but believe in him as he declares this, smiling proudly at this dream.
He throws his head back to try and imitate All Might's laugh, though it sounds much higher due to him being younger. "Wa ha hruff ruff!"
The figure clatters to the desk as his thumb disappears. Bright green eyes lower to his hands, now brown paws attached to his blue body. "...ruff?"
His mother blinks repeatedly as she sees this. "Izuku?"
He looks up at her, ears perked up but his expression confused. "Ruff?" In the blink of an eye, he's back to normal, slightly disoriented.
She leans down and checks him over. "Oh Izuku... you were so cute! You found your quirk!"
"I did?" At first, her words don't register in his young mind. Then his eyes widen and he beams at her. "I did? Really? What did I look like? Was it amazing?" His gaze turns to his hands. "Can I become a hero like All Might with it?"
She hums as she thinks. "You looked a bit like a creature from a game series I used to enjoy... and they could grow quite powerful if they worked hard."
He seems very much like a puppy now, turning to face her with his knees on the seat. "Really? Then I can help others by working hard?"
"Of course!" She hugs him.
He hugs her back, silently promising to make his mother proud of him, and to save everyone that he can.
"A shapeshifting quirk... I knew you were going to be special."
He grins, then starts to look curious, his hands gripping the back of the chair. "You said I looked like something, mom?"
She nods. "I think I have an old guide somewhere... I'll dig it out after dinner to show you."
At the mention of dinner, his eyes light up once more. "Katsudon?" He asks hopefully.
"Yes, it's a special night now." She beams.
He cheers, throwing his little arms in the air.
Dinner passes, with Izuku pausing after every few bites to try and transform once more. However, he just can't seem to figure it out, and is simply his normal self the whole meal.
His mother doesn't seem too worried, as this is better than a quirk being destructive from going off too much. As promised, she digs deep into some boxes in the back of her closet to find the book, a player's guide. She flips through it and shows him a picture of what he looked like.
He tilts his head as he tries to read the name. "Rock... ruff? He's like a puppy..."
She nods. "Yep, you were a cute puppy for a bit."
He smiles, looking through the pages with a smile on his lips. "They all look so cool!" He pauses, staring at what looks to be an ice cream cone. "...most of them look cool."
"Yeah... it was a little hit or miss." She laughs as she remembers back.
He smiles up at her, flipping through the pages a bit more, finding himself enjoying these creatures called Pokémon. They could do so many things, and he can become one at any time? That sounds perfect for him, even if he is only a puppy. He flips back to Rockruff to see what it can turn into, and is startled to find three different forms staring back at him. "...why are there so many?"
"Well, in the game, sometimes the circumstances they found themselves in determined what they'd turn into. This one was associated with day, this one night, and this one was a special one somewhere in between."
He tilts his head as he tries to wrap his young mind around this. "...will I turn into one of these?"
"I'm not sure... this isn't like my quirk or the other ones in the family." She admits.
He considers this, trying to ponder it until his ponderer is sore. His vision blurs for the briefest moment before his mind and sight suddenly clear. This, combined with a sudden change in size, causes him to let go of the book. Tiny white arms fumble to catch it, though the green bowl-like fringe over his eyes makes it hard to see, and it falls to the floor.
His mother picks it up as she looks at him. "Well now... that one's new..." She picks him up and brings him over to a mirror so he can see himself.
He has to move his fringe, but the first thing to catch his eyes is his rose-colored eyes. His gaze slowly trails up to the odd red shapes poking out the front and back of his head. All in all, he was tiny, and his first thoughts were, "Where's my nose?"
The woman giggles at this. "Their anatomy isn't exactly one to one with us."
His blinks, looking up at the shining beacon of positivity, filing that away since his mind is more preoccupied with the thought, "Moms really can read minds!"
"It's more that yours is very loud, Izuku." She corrects him.
He changes back right before intelligently responds, "Huh?"
"You were talking with your mind." she clarifies, tapping her head.
He frowns, tilting his head. "Pokémon can talk with their minds?"
"Some can. They come in quite the variety... like quirks."
"Really?" He looks at the book, fingers itching to search through their pages once more. "Which one do you like the most?"
"Hmm... well it's been a while... but one of the older forms of the shape you just took tended to be one I kept an eye out for." She floats a small picture of the two of them off her nightstand and back onto it. "It reminded me of me, but different."
Izuku just considers this for a bit, then nods to himself, saying that they must have been pretty to remind mom of herself.
"Oh, you little charmer." she hugs him and sniffs.
He hugs her back, slightly confused but always up for hugs.
"I guess we'll see what else your quirk can do as you get older. You've already got variety with even just two."
He perks up. "Wait, I might change into even more?" He reaches for the book to try and see what Pokémon he might want to gain.
"We don't know yet, but let's work with what you've already got. If you end up doing more, then it's like a bonus." Still, she can't help but beam at his enthusiasm.
He nods, even as he grips the book. "Let's look up the newest one, and why you looked shiny."
"I looked shiny?" She repeats curiously.
"Yeah, like something glowed off you." He smiles at her. "It felt nice."
"Hmm... it sounds like you're definitely getting abilities from these forms." She nods.
He blinks again, the green haired kid not quite understanding. "Aren't these forms my quirk?"
"That's definitely what it seems like, but it may not just be for appearance."
He tilts his head, hoping she can explain further.
"You see, Izuku, all these creatures have what could be explained as quirks of their own."
His emerald eyes light up in excitement. "They're like heroes?"
"Some act like it, yes." She nods.
He raises his hand in the air. "Then that means I'll be a great hero!" He laughs cheerfully, trying to mimic All Might once more.
"I'm sure you will." She rubs his head.
"Just remember, even All Might had to train to become a hero. It's not going to happen overnight."
He jolts a bit. "Oh, right! Thanks, mom!" He starts doing toe touches, then stops to regard his mother. "...how do I train if I'm not a Pokemon?"
"Hmm... we'll need to figure out how things connect, but we have time, you're still little right now." She pats his head.
Izuku blinks. "But I won't be little forever, right?"
"Of course not, you grow every day."
"So why is being little a bad thing?" He asks.
"I didn't say it was."
Now he just looks adorably confused.
"How about we just celebrate for tonight and look into how to train it after we practice a bit more?"
He smiles and nods, ready to celebrate. "We should tell Aunt Mi-zu-ki and Kacchan, right? They can cel-bate with us!"
"Mmm… it's a little late to invite someone over." She says tactfully.
He tilts his head. "Should we tell them tomorrow?"
"You can if you want to." She says, understanding how excited kids can be about quirks. He winds up to cheer, but yawns instead, swaying slightly. "Looks like it's getting time for someone to be in bed." She says, picking him up. Izuku murmurs and rests his head on her shoulder.
So this is a relatively new line of storytelling for myself and my friend. Please let me know if anything needs to be edited, and I'll do my best to fix it.