TWO YEARS LATER
-x-Shoto -x-
A kick ball was bounced against Shoto's head, knocking him forward a bit. He stumbled and tripped, landing on his stomach. Laughter rang out around him. He stood up and sighed, walked to the lunch table to where Izuku was. Shoto had a cut on his cheek, and turned his fingers to water to sooth it.
"Izuku, I got the book last night," Shoto stated. Izuku gasped. He nodded. "It's thick. Touya read it already. He wanted to proofread it for me." Shoto was a bit exasperated with his protectiveness when it came to him. "Do you want to come over tonight and we can try to read it?"
"Yeah!" Envy was there, looking and sounding furious. How dare they do that?! If I wasn't gonna get in trouble for biting I would have bitten.
I know. It's okay, really. It didn't hurt too badly.
Shoto hated people knowing about his power. He didn't like the attention it brought. Arceus never told him it was wrong to not bring attention to it, not yet. Not for many more years. So, because of Shoto's aversion to attention, his power had evolved into a better version, where he could speak telepathically with them. This left him only seeming kind of slow in processing things. But it kept people from crowding him.
"Envy is pissed," Shoto said. Of course I am!
That was mean, I didn't like it, Mitty said.
It's really okay. It'll heal, I'm fine.
You should fight back!
I'm not using my power on people. They'd had this conversation more times than truly necessary. "I don't think you should fight people for being mean, but telling them not to, you should at least do that."
"If they cared about my opinion, they wouldn't be bullying me. I'm just glad you're okay," Shoto said quietly. Shoto didn't regret pretending he was quirkless so Izuku wasn't alone. Besides, there was nothing his power could do to help anyone but himself right now. Besides, being bullied for "having no quirk" and protecting his friend was so much more preferred than having people respect him for his power and look down on his best friend.
Besides, it wasn't as if he wasn't quirkless. Touya had a friend come over awhile ago, who could use his hands to take x ray shots of things. It did indeed show that Shoto was born without the pinky toe joint. "I wish you wouldn't lower yourself for me."
Shoto gave the six year old a smile. "You're my best friend, I'd do anything to keep you not miserable." Izuku gave a small smile and nodded. Shoto fiddled with his stone necklace in his shirt. After recess was over, the pokemon and their humans headed back inside. All pokemon had to be trained to not react to bullying. The school couldn't have pokemon attacking students for being jerks or everyone would go home injured daily. So Envy and Mitty had to put up with it.
That was first recess, and they were having an announcement in the class. Shoto and Izuku were in the seats furthest from the front desk so nobody was behind them and could spit at them or something. Kids were jerks. Shoto was resigned to not be one of them. He was loyal to his friends and family.
They still spoke to Ochako. Not often, but at least once a week they talked about things. She was at an all girls' school right now, so they were the only guys her age she ever spoke to. But being long distance, her friendship with them had not blossomed in the way it had for Shoto and Izuku. They went through shared hardships at school, which was a big reason they were so close. Not just because Izuku knew all about the pokemon secret.
Both of the were surprised, and a bit worried, when a new student came in. "Introduce yourself."
"Bakugo Katsuki!" Bakugo barked. He gave a nasty glare to everyone before locking eyes with his old friend and his old friend's friend. He was gestured to take the seat in the back. His houndour trotted over, recognizing him. It's you!
Hi, Sulfur. How are you?
I'm excited, there's so many new people to meet! Shoto nodded, and class began. Shoto and Izuku were distracted with looking forward to reading the book on pokemon written by god. So when recess came, they were staying in the classroom to talk about it, trying to avoid the fact that Bakugo was there, who knew Shoto did have a quirk. And that he was lying.
"What kind of paper is it?"
"It's old and thick. And a leather book. It'll be really cool," Shoto said. His voice didn't convey excitement, but he was. "We should listen to spooky music."
"No, we should listen to music played in the backgrounds at church services!" Izuku said back. Shoto snickered. They heard out the open window, some drama happening outside below. They were on the second story, the elementary school a nice size. Big enough for everyone and their pokemon. Though there was a size limit. The largest was an audino. But since most pokemon were unevolved and kids usually had small ones, it wasn't usually an issue.
They saw Bakugo being bullied. "You wanna fucking mess with me?" he asked with a sneer. He made an explosion in his hand in threat. The big bullies, the ones that were sixth graders and picked on the younger kids, those with fancy quirks, scoffed at him. He was much smaller than they were. He was grabbed by the face and shoved so he fell on his ass.
Sulfur was furious, but Bakugo managed to stop him from attacking, grabbing and restraining him, looking utterly humiliated. His scare tactic hadn't worked. With both Izuku and Shoto coming across as quirkless, they weren't targeted by that specific guy. They pulled back into the class, away from his sight, when he started to cry.
Shoto felt sorry for him. First day of school and that happened already. Izuku looked bothered about it, but neither of them made any show they'd seen it when Bakugo came inside while the rest were at recess. He walked to his desk, and put his face down on it. Sulfur, you can't attack someone here. You will be banned from coming back.
But they were hurting him!
A lot of the kids here get bullied and their pokemon don't attack. It's not nice. Envy and Mitty have to put up with it, also.
Why are they allowed to do that?! Shoto shrugged. When class started again, Shoto was doodling in his pokemon book. He loved trying to draw Arceus, even if he was bad at it. There were no true images of him. And those that were just assumed from his possible existence were so off the mark it was insane.
They were anthropomorphized to be on two legs, and looking oddly human despite pokemon never looking like humans. But Shoto didn't really have any way to properly introduce Arceus' existence unless he wanted to be seen as insane or stupid. So, he was okay with him and his close ones knowing. Well, Touya, Izuku and Ochako. They were the only other known humans who knew what he looked like, and Shoto the only one to see him in person. Well, in dream. The Star Room.
When lessons started, Shoto was able to follow along while also doing his art, as detailed and accurate as was possible. "Todoroki-kun, can you answer the question?"
"Twenty six," he said, tilting his paper to the side of draw the smooth curve of the neck.
"Right." And the teacher continued her lesson. Shoto knew she was waiting for him to slip up some day, since he was able to multitask his mind and often did this. Nobody was amazed or surprised anymore, Shoto thought the teacher just wanted to see if she could catch him off guard.
After the bell rang at the end of the day, Shoto got his backpack, and made the long walk outside, all the pokemon wishing him to have a good day. He couldn't reply outwardly, and just echoed the same sentiment to them in his mind. He could think to himself, of course, without them listening. It was like a third way of communicating, through his mind to other pokemon minds. It let him blend in well, which was preferred.
Shoto wanted to be a hero, but he had zero interest in being a household face. He didn't need to be the number two. Nobody but his family and friends knew he even wanted to be a hero. He wasn't open or vocal about it, and Endeavor was best not knowing and trying to interfere when he had no reliance to Shoto's desire to be a hero.
Honestly, there were plenty of heroes for humans. He wanted to be one for pokemon. It was silly, and he hadn't told anyone about that dream.
So, he called goodbyes to the dozens of pokemon around him. At the beginning of the school year, he'd told all of them that he would like his power to go unnoticed. There was never an issue with them not following his wishes.
Shoto waited with Izuku until his mom came to pick him up. He waved goodbye while he was in his booster seat while Shoto waved goodbye. A passing emolga landed on his shoulder while he waited for his mom to come. He scratched its cheek with a soft smile. How are you today?
I lost all my nuts. Someone took them!
Oh, I'm sorry. Do you know who did it?
Yes! But he only did it to feed his babies, but they were still my nuts. Shoto listened to the emolga rant about losing his walnuts he'd stored up, but how he didn't want to be a bad neighbor and steal it away. It was nice small talk until his van came into view. Envy jumped in, and Shoto clipped himself into his booster seat to go home.
-x- Izuku -x-
His hands were shaking in excitement to read the book Arceus had gifted Shoto. They were sitting on the floor against Shoto's bed, and opened it slowly. The pages were thick. Touya had organized it for Shoto but putting bookmark stickers on the pages that he thought were most relevant to Shoto. He was 16 now, but still dedicated and loving to his brother and his friend.
"I thought Arceus was the pokemon god? Then why are these called the creation trio?" Izuku asked, looking at the images of three other pokemon that were clearly not Arceus as Shoto saw him. "Dialga, Palkia, Giratina…"
"Let's just read it through and then we'll talk," Shoto said. Izuku nodded, and they read each page. It wasn't a thick book, probably because Shoto wasn't great at reading, so a long book would be too much. The font size was also big. It looked like an expensive and well made children's storybook with the visuals.
Izuku had so many logistics questions. How did Arceus know how to write? How did he know to make the font size bigger? Did he just will it to be readable, and it did this automatically, or did he need to make it explicitly and did research on human children's books? He knew, if he were in Shoto's shoes, he'd probably annoy Arceus by the many questions. Even just reading it he was muttering to himself, Shoto tuning it out easily.
Izuku had not known just how many legendary and mythical pokemon there were, and how they interacted. He'd never heard of most of the groups of them. And he'd never known how they traveled around the world. Nobody did as he'd never seen it online on pokemon websites or documentaries on the legendary ones. There was some sort of time portal they went through to get to various places in the world. After all, it wasn't like humans would let them walk around from place to place without attention or trying to illegally capture them. If they were stupid.
Not all legendary pokemon were sweet like Celebi. Entei had quite the body count when it came to people seeking him out, or even those who accidentally came across him on a bad day. The other two were less aggressive and antagonistic. Then there were the three birds, which also two of them were quite hostile, too. Articuno was the only one of the three that didn't make people run and duck for cover if they were seen.
Izuku had only known about those six and Mew. Not all these other, unknown, unheard of pokemon that he wasn't aware ever existed, in the past or present. While he was reacting in shock and awe, Shoto was mostly silent. "What do you think?"
"I just wonder if they dislike modern society. It says they're all very old, and have been around a long time. So, did they always need the portals, or is it just now that they'd have trouble getting around. Do they hate humans? And Arceus, or maybe Palkia, created a time jump place so they didn't have to see people?" Izuku wondered.
"One time Arceus told me that he was busy making other worlds. Do you think he'd ever take our pokemon away? I mean, the planet isn't getting any better with us being here. Pokemon usually don't do major damage. I still don't know if Arceus is not the creator of humans. So, who was made first? Who does the planet really belong to?" he mused, tracing a finger along the spine of the book.
Izuku thought for a moment. "Humans have put more work into bettering the planet's development. At least, societies development. So humans maybe have more right to it. They put more time and money into it." Shoto hummed. "Who do you think it belongs to?"
"It belongs more to Arceus than any of us humans. I just don't know if a human god can take ownership, too. I don't know if there is a person god."
"Is Arceus to you what All Might is to me?" Izuku asked curiously. Shoto nodded. "Well, Arceus has definitely done more than All Might."
Shoto gave him a look. "This book said Arceus was from before the universe was made. He's done way more than All Might." Izuku giggled. "I hope he remembers me after I'm dead and gone. Or if there are others like me and I'm just one more. I'm not going to ask, I don't really want to know. If I am the only one, I'll just feel more pressure. If I'm not the only one, I'll feel less important."
Izuku was surprised by this. "I'm not that good with other people, but I understand myself," Shoto stated. "I want to meet the other legendaries. But I don't want to bother them, either. I don't want to run them out of their homes and be annoying. Or possibly die. I don't know why Arceus gave me the directions to their portals unless he wants me to, though."
"What? Where'd you read that?" Shoto flipped the page and pointed to an image of a volcano. "That looks like an picture of a volcano."
"What? No, it says where the legendaries usually live. You don't see that?"
"Mm-mm," Izuku shook his head. Shoto stood up and went to Touya's room. When he got confirmation that only Shoto could see it, he sat back on the floor of his room, looking thoughtful.
"I guess he only really trusts me. Tell me what else you can't see and I can." They read through the book together again. There was a lot that Izuku and Touya could not see. Shoto was loyal and so he refused to explain what he saw that they didn't. It pissed off Touya a bit. But with age for him, he was still patient, and Shoto was only seven.
Izuku was fine with not being told what appeared to be very sensitive information. But it was so interesting! And he didn't know what exactly Shoto would say on his updates with the god pokemon, which were sporadic and never planned ahead of time, so he had no idea if Arceus knew about Izuku from Shoto's own words or the stone, or just watching from wherever he was.
But the altering of what the book showed to certain people made Izuku even more sure there was some otherworldly being in Shoto's life alone. It seemed to bring him happiness, and make him feel valued.
Shoto took photo copies of the book's pages, but only of the images. None of the text. He printed the pokemon images and put them on his wall. Since pokemon couldn't read, they didn't know if Envy or the others could see what Izuku and Touya could not.
"You're so cool, Shoto," Izuku stated while he and the other were outside, playing boardgames. He looked up in surprise.
"It's just a card… you could get it the next turn."
"No! I mean as a person, not at the game."
"Oh. Thanks," he said in a small and bashful voice. "It's someone else, though. It's just Arceus making me seem cool."
"Not just because of that stuff. You've known both me and Touya longer and more than Arceus, but you respect what he wants and keep things from us. Not only because he's a god and going against him might possibly not be good."
Shoto nodded. "I like him, so I don't want to betray him and what he says. I'm sure it's not everything. Cause I'm only seven. There's gotta be a lot he isn't telling me. But it's okay. Yeah, it's okay." He drew the next card. Izuku was happy to have such a loyal friend. Not only to him, but others, too.
It was kind of grounding that Shoto would keep things from him and Touya. They knew everything. They had, at least. Now, nobody but him knew about some of the things in the book, and therefore Izuku had no idea how much he might be hiding from their meetings. But honestly, he was just excited to be part of it all. His dream was seeing the god pokemon with his own eyes.
-x- Shoto -x-
Shoto was shoved into the wall, and he sighed, and rubbed his nose. "What is it, Bakugo?" he asked in annoyance.
"Why the fuck does everyone say both of you are quirkless?" he demanded. Bakugo was continuing to get bullied because his quirk was strong, and no doubt noticed he was getting it worse than Shoto and Izuku. But at least both of them had one another. Nobody was on Bakugo's side.
Shoto pushed him away. "Because we are," he said.
"You're not! You can talk to them! I know that already!" Shoto wasn't sure how to react, so he stayed silent. "Deku is quirkless, then?"
"Deku?"
"Midoriya! He's quirkless, huh? Are you pretending to be so he's not alone?" Shoto sighed, annoyed a bit.
"What do you want? Are you just gonna harass me about this?" the boy asked. He was walking home, Rei being at a work conference with her patients. So he was walking to Touya's school to go home with him. Bakugo was following. Sulfur was chasing with Envy, playing while their humans walked in a much more tense and hostile way.
"Why are you saying you're quirkless, Todoroki. Shouldn't you be proud of it or some shit?"
"How's that working out for you?" Shoto asked. "Are you treated better because your quirk seems strong?" Bakugo had no response. "People knowing now would do nothing other than get me bullied more."
"So, you just ignore them, now? Asshole."
"It doesn't concern you. Let's go, Ivy. Touya's waiting." He wished Sulfur a good day in the special channel, but Bakugo caught on with the pokemon's tail whipping side to side when Shoto made eye contact.
"So, you can talk with them not out loud now." Shoto didn't reply. He was right, but there was no reason to argue further. It was certainly not all Shoto could do. He could lightly use the pokemon attacks. He'd only been doing favorable with electricity and fire, thanks to the willingness of Hono and Envy. He didn't want to work on Hero, Era or Bowtie. Bowtie was the unfortunately-named adopted sylveon that Rei had now. Apparently he had been named by a child, and he did indeed have a bow where it should be. The name made sense, but they just went by Bow with him.
The only one of those that didn't want to help in any way was Hero, who had a bad attitude like Natsuo.
When they got home with Touya and Hono, the big brother took him aside. "Sho, what are you not telling me and Midoriya."
"It's only the locations of things. And timeline. It's not anything for you to worry about, I promise."
"When was the last time you guys talked?"
"Two weeks ago. Touya, why don't you like him? It's not like he's done anything in the last two years for you to really hate. Is it because you haven't seen him?" Touya ran his hand through his full white hair. "You got to see the book. Just not the big parts. You know the cool history and all. I just wish you didn't not like him."
"I hate that he targeted you as a four year old. I hate that."
"If he came to me for the first time now, and did the same thing, I would still agree. I love pokemon, and I want to do what I can to help them," Shoto said. Touya sighed. "I'm sorry it makes you upset."
"No, it's not and has never been your fault," Touya said firmly. "I'm sorry if I've made it feel that way."
"I think he knows where you're coming from." Touya looked confused. "I told him about how you felt once."
"What did he say?"
"'That's unfortunate'. But he sounded disappointed, kind of. I was the one who didn't wanna talk about it anymore after that." Touya nodded, but didn't say anything in response. "Thanks for always being there for me. Even when I was little and annoying and Fuyumi and Natsuo didn't like me."
Touya smiled. "You were never annoying, Sho. Always chill and peaceful. The best little brother any sibling could ask for." Shoto's eyes were wide at the sincere compliment. "Not including all the interesting things that happen with you. I may not like it, but I think you'll do good for pokemon and humans."
Shoto smiled bashfully and nodded. He went to his room to do the small amount of homework and opened his window wide in case any pokemon wanted to visit. Envy was downstairs on the pokemon beds sprinkled around the house.
No pokemon came, but it was also a stormy day, it would rain soon, so they were probably in their various shelters. They lived near a park, so they often saw wild pokemon from the windows doing various things on the field and some playing on the jungle gym when no people were around.
When Rei came home, she was tired, and making tea. Shoto went to tell her about his incident with Bakugo, as he always told her about his day besides everything having to do with his mission, his power, and the god that spoke with him in the Star Room. Shoto snuck up behind her with his drawing and she jumped dropping the tea kettle.
Shoto screamed in agony at the splash of boiling water that landed smack dab over his left eye. "Shoto!" Rei screamed in horror. She tried to ice his eye while shouting for one of the children to call an ambulance. But the cold just made it worse. He kept screaming and crying. It was so painful, he'd never been in more pain.
Rei was crying while Shoto was, too. Soon an ambulance was outside, and Rei picked him up and ran him out, the other siblings freaking out as they got into the vehicle. Shoto was laid on his back, ice crusted to the scald. It burned badly, like fire and frostbite at the same time. How he thought that would feel.
When they got to the hospital, Shoto went into the ER immediately. Pokemon weren't allowed in the ER for sanitary reasons. He wished he had Envy. It had happened too fast - he didn't even get to see her, though he was overcome with pain.
After a few hours of treatment to salvage his eye, he was passed to be safe, have his sight still intact. He had to wear a bandage over that side of his face for a few weeks. He was off balance, and high on pain meds, so Rei carried him out. She was so ashamed and looked like she hated herself, even if it was a complete accident and Shoto didn't blame her.
When he got home, she tucked him into bed. His siblings were worried, same with the pokemon, but she told them to leave him to sleep. He was in the Star Room when he easily fell asleep, still numb from pain meds. It would hurt for a long time, and the scar would be there forever probably.
When he opened his eyes in the Star Room, he had the bandage on. Like he really went there and it wasn't just his mind or dream self. Arceus said, "I'm sorry about your injury." Shoto nodded, looking down. "It was not your fault, or your mother's."
"Mom wouldn't ever hurt me on purpose. I'm glad I can still see outta it," he sighed. "It hurts."
"I wish I could do something to heal it. But I can't." Shoto nodded, not really expecting him to be able to heal him. He usually tried to stay away from the human and pokemon world. Not interfere, even in small ways. Shoto would be fine anyways. Best not to get his hopes up. Izuku would be so worried, and his mother felt so, so awful. He hoped she didn't feel bad every time she saw his face. But it wasn't her fault, and Shoto wouldn't sneak up on people ever again.
"I appreciate you not telling your loved humans about the secrets I share."
"Touya doesn't like it much. He doesn't like you. It makes me sad." He poked at his shorts fabric, worrying the cotton between his finger and thumb.
"I understand his feelings." Shoto nodded. "I would like you to start thinking about what kinds of pokemon powers you'd like to develop the most. There are many, and I imagine it is overwhelming to think about." Shoto nodded. It was true, there were just so many, and he felt he had to learn all of them to be strong enough for whatever he was being prepared for. "Do you have any idea yet?"
Arceus' mouth did not open when he spoke. The voice didn't sound like an echo, but his mouth did not open at all.
"I still want to work on electricity. I'd also like to use psychic types. No fire, though. I don't like fire. But a lot of the powers I wish I could use are from pokemon I'll never find. I want Celebi's healing power. And Latias and Latios levitate."
"I did give you the book with directions."
"I don't want to bother them. Humans already mess up their territories. I don't want to make it worse," Shoto said, still messing with his shorts. "I don't want them to attack me, either. I wouldn't want to go near Entei or Zapdos or Moltres. Or Raikou."
"I doubt they'd be angry with you. I know they wouldn't." He sounded patient with Shoto. He just shrugged. "Well, you don't need those yet. Practice with the ones you want. You already have a psychic and electric pokemon with you."
"Hero wouldn't want to help me."
"Then ask a passing one if you see them. They'd be happy to help you." Shoto nodded. "You should get some rest. We will speak again soon."
"Okay. See you later."
He woke up what felt like a few seconds later. He looked at his ceiling with the glow in the dark stars. Arecus told him that the legendaries wouldn't hate him, but seeking them out only to use them for their abilities just sounded like a bad thing. He didn't want them to dislike him. He also didn't want to be attacked. But he didn't think he was stupid. Though he longed to meet more rare ones. Those nobody had interacted with safely before. Well, besides trainers who captured them long, long ago.
One thing he wanted the most was Celebi's healing, not the time travel. He didn't know how he'd use it. If he'd be impulsive and mess everything up. He should ask Arceus how time travel worked, anyways. Other than human theories. Maybe, if he met Celebi again, he could ask her about it. Maybe she'd be willing to tell him.
Sitting up, he took the book out from under his mattress, and opened it to the pages that showed the location of the moving portals. There were multiple in Japan, but nowhere close. Mostly in parks or forests where he could not reach. At the top of mountains or hidden behind waterfalls. Only he knew where they were right now.
Shoto noticed that one of the locations in the book had changed. Arceus pretty much encouraged him seeking out legendaries. Shoto didn't think he'd send him to his death, and the Celebi had been very friendly. But she was known to be gentle and all. He couldn't really count on that with the carnivore pokemon who preyed on smaller pokemon and sometimes humans.
He got out of bed, and went to his mother's room for help redoing the bandage on his face. He woke her up, and she teared up when taking the dirty and pusy gauze away. It hurt, and she carefully rubbed cream on it, very careful of the blisters. The scald was painful, but the pain medicine dulled it quite a bit.
"I'm so sorry, Shoto," she whispered, gently putting a new bandage on and wrapped it around his head to keep it in place.
"It's okay. I forgive you. I don't want you to feel sad when you see it, though," Shoto replied sincerely. She hugged him. "I won't sneak up on you again."
She hugged him, and he changed clothes for school. He didn't want to go and have everyone ask. He'd blame himself, say he dropped something on his face. He wouldn't ever say it was his mom that did it. When she drove him to school, the teacher already knew about it, and Shoto was to take pain pills during lunch, so she gave the pill bottle to the nurse's office to use at school.
He hadn't told Izuku because he didn't want to worry him. His family hated it, had heard the screaming in pain, only made worse by Rei's immediate action to try and ice it. When he walked into class, Izuku gasped at seeing it. He ran over, and asked what happened. "Boiling water fell onto my face."
"Oh my god, can you still see?!"
"Shh. Yeah, I can still see." Izuku asked where Envy was. "She was stressed about it. I didn't bring her today because I wanted her to cool down at home. She felt bad for not being able to help and couldn't come to the ER, too."
He took his supplies out and onto his desk. "I had another meeting in the Star Room. I'll tell you about it later." It was a good distraction from the scald on his face that would leave a very prominent scar. He was only glad it wasn't from something traumatizing, just an unfortunate and painful accident.
Shoto was surprised when he was mocked over it. It wasn't like the huge bandage was easy to hide. When one of his bullies poked it, it hurt and Shoto suddenly had a burst of electricity that severely burnt his hand. Everyone froze in shock as the jerk cried over it. So, he could access them when it came to pain, or fear, or sensing danger?
Izuku was already scribbling away in his notebook full of information about Shoto. Though it was in code so nobody knew about it. He was good at it, and only he and Shoto could decipher it. Shoto was called into the office for it, but when he expressed he both hadn't meant to and that the bully poked his very sensitive burn first, he was let off the hook.
The class was silent at finding out Shoto did have some kind of quirk. Bakugo looked baffled and suspicious, as that was not the quirk he'd shown when they were in preschool. Despite being able to access it finally, he was in a bad mood all day. Where he was poked throbbed for hours, and he couldn't wait to just go home.
He was glad when Izuku was coming over, to both do homework and then talk about the Star Room meeting. After they finished their math, Shoto brought out the book. "Arceus encouraged me to try and see legendary pokemon, but later. He said that I should focus on a few powers only. I said I wanted electricity and psychic. I think he does want me to get powers from the legendaries."
"Wow!"
"The book gives me directions, and one of them changed. The portal changed places. But I don't really want to meet them."
"Why?" Izuku asked in surprise and confusion.
"I just don't want to bother them. I have this power, but I'm still a human."
"You never bother pokemon, though. I doubt they'd hate you."
"Arceus said that, too. He said to not do it anytime soon, so I don't gotta worry about it for awhile. But… it kind of does sound fun. But I'd probably have to do it on my own, so I'll definitely do it when I'm older if I have to."
"Man, I wanna see them, too!"
"They might not like you, cause you aren't special like me. I didn't mean to be rude, I'm sorry."
"I'm not offended, I know what you meant," Izuku giggled. "There's a new episode of Mighty Might, wanna go watch it?" Shoto nodded. On their way downstairs, Shoto found Envy, in her little pillow house in Rei's room. He went in, pulled her out against her will, and then held her on their way downstairs.
She made annoyed gruffing sounds, telling him to put her down. "Nope. We're cuddling." She resigned to this, and laid her head in his lap, feeling better now that she was with Shoto. While Izuku was setting up the TV to watch, Shoto told her about the electricity incident at school. She was irate that it happened, but happy he was able to use it.
When the mother got home, she'd been called during the day, but since she didn't see a reason why Shoto needed to come home about it, she'd not picked him up. Wasn't angry with him, but with the bully for hurting him. He was suspended, thankfully. But there was still going to be the drama regarding him actually not seeming quirkless. His facade was over, and Izuku was alone in his quirklessness.
-x-
Shoto looked in the mirror at his burn scar. He turned his face from side to side, glad his eyebrow grew back in. It was a red splotch that covered his eye, some of his cheek and forehead. It matched his hair. The red was a bit lighter and softer, but it looked more balanced than if it was on his right side.
Enji had not seen it, and Shoto didn't plan on him seeing it. He didn't need to worry since they'd never seen one another in person, only talked over letters sometimes. It was getting less and less frequent as Shoto grew older. He didn't worry so much about him being alone, and he didn't really feel that happy reading or writing letters to him.
He wasn't sure if Enji even wanted to talk to him as a person or just fish around about his power. Shoto knew he'd blame his mother for the burn, and if that happened, he'd cut all contact with him. It was bad enough already, she felt awful and he felt ugly to her now. Touya and Fuyumi told him it would fade once they got used to the burn scar, but he wished it would get better faster.
Today would be the first day others than the family saw it. Not blistered anymore, just red and a bit taut and tough. He was very lucky that his eyesight was undamaged. The doctors had been stunned he could still see. It was just because he'd closed his eyes at the right moment. But he was very thankful his sight was not impacted.
When he was dropped off, Envy was back, and firmly told she couldn't react to people bullying him. He walked to class, glad to be able to see out of both eyes finally after weeks of having it bandaged. It was nice, but also odd after getting so used to seeing out of one eye.
Honestly, he didn't really care about the mocking and bullying anymore. Izuku still did, his only real friend being Shoto and long distance Ochako, who had nearly cut all contact. It just wasn't the same being on the phone, and she was making new friends. They were only friends a year. Maybe that wasn't lone enough for her.
I wish he'd stop… one of the pokemon said, a treecko, about his human, who did the bullying.
It's not your fault. Just don't grow to be like him Shoto assured him. Treecko nodded slightly, but still seemed in a bad mood. Shoto hadn't really thought about how pokemon felt when their humans were being mean. If the pokemon weren't already brainwashed to be bad and do bad things. Villains often had heir own pokemon, after all. They were loyal, sometimes to a fault.
He was called Tomato Face, now. As if the red was from a tomato being thrown on his face. But Shoto didn't really care much. Izuku hated it, but Shoto assured him he wasn't upset.
"Why were you lying about your quirk? Pity for your friend?" they mocked. Shoto ignored them and ate his lunch Fuyumi made. Bakugo was in his own desk, eating alone, having no friends. At least Shoto had Izuku. When his lunch was about to be ripped away, Shoto didn't act before the boy's pokemon did, jumping on the desk and blocking the hand from grabbing Shoto's lunch box.
The boy faltered, confused by the action. The explosive boy was watching with narrowed eyes.
You really don't need to guard me. He didn't want the zigzagoon to get in trouble. But his action spurred other pokemon to jump to guard Shoto from their own humans, who were all deeply, deeply confused. Thanks, guys. It means a lot. And it did.
This was the start of the pokemon on campus liking him. They didn't listen to him about staying away anymore, all glad to have a human to talk to. Who could understand them. It confused everyone, and angered many. But they didn't want to go against their pokemon's wishes, and soon, Shoto and Izuku were left completely alone. People even avoided them so their pokemon wouldn't be so friendly with Shoto. It was a complete mystery to everyone. Everyone but Bakugo and Izuku.