A/N: This was something stuck in my head. To explain it better, I have another story that essentially retells Naruto but with the magic system replaced by that of ttrpg's. At some point, I joked to myself about using the four ttrpg books I had in my computer folder for them that I didn't use for that (Shadowrun, Ironclaw, Pokerole, Dishonored) to retell My Hero Academia in the same way. Then I started thinking about it. Then it refused to leave my head, and now here we are.
Just like 'Village System,' this will be mostly canon retreading with different power sets. If you don't like stories that retell a lot if scenes from canon, then I do not recommend reading further.
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It was said that everything changed when that child found a monster in its pocket.
That was, of course, after the first batch of children were born with pointy ears, but before a tenth of the population turned into goblins and another fifth grew fur everywhere.
However, as the pocket monster trainers grew to dominate society through sheer numbers, it was by their reckoning that the shift in the world was measured. His parents had been terrified, reportedly, by the creature their son had found, but it was friendly to him and dangerous to his enemies, so they warmed up to it. Unfortunately, it was very dangerous to his enemies, as in capable of lethal force with little effort, and more and more of these monsters started appearing in more and more children's pockets, and that was on top of the sudden mutations making people wonder if everyone around them was really still human.
Even when the mutated humans started displaying abilities, those with pointy ears, stubby bodies accompanied by inexplicable beards, and the 'goblins' of both sorts simultaneously showing themselves able to interact with and build machines that were impossible for anyone else and altering the laws of the universe through 'understanding' the spirits and arcane forces of the world, and the animal-folks achieving physical prowess not even explained by their animal features, becoming outright superhuman, or manifesting the ability to alter reality in similar ways to the other mutants, the 'pocket-monster trainers' dominated the news cycle.
Everyone eventually bothered to learn the terms that came up (The 'elves, dwarves, orks, and trolls,' as they came to be informally called, were collectively referred to as 'meta humans,' while the people turned to walking animals were called 'atavists' formally and 'furries' colloquially), but what people really wanted to know was how their children would deal with these friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) creatures that were appearing in the pockets of everyone who didn't mutate after a generation or two.
Pocket monsters had the power to summon fire and lightning, create vines that could crush steel and punch with strength on par with weapons of war, at least if trained properly. And almost everyone had one. It wasn't long before criminals and radicals saw the uses.
Fortunately, in a world where comic book logic had inculcated the popular imagination for years before everything changed, it also wasn't long before well-meaning people with a desire to help found ways to stop these evil-doers. Being amateurs, they dealt just as much damage as they prevented, and eventually the governments of the world stepped in.
By the time we start our story, pocket monsters, meta humans, and atavists had become somewhat normalized. For the majority of the population, which monster you got or what powers you might be inclined to were a minor curiosity; one had to go through rigorous training and plan to get into a job where harnessing one's powers were theoretically required to use most of the unnatural talents people or their companions could possess, and a pretty small portion of the population actually managed.
So, the bizarre technologies and magic (in spite of the scientific community's best efforts, no other word had supplanted the public's chosen for the meta and furry ability to alter reality in strange ways) of the meta-humans, the incredible physical feats and technically different but equally bizarre magic of the atavists, and the 'moves' of the pocket monsters were something most people only heard about others doing on TV.
Mostly, by the professional 'Heroes,' who used their powers to stop criminals who illegally brought their own powers to the point that police couldn't take them down through normal efforts. It said something about human nature, the structure of society, or both, that there were so many of these super-criminals to justify the Hero profession and its hundreds of members, but few thought of that. They just thought about how cool it looked when All-Might's Milotic smashed a villain through the roof of the bank he was trying to rob.
Heroes and their mastery of the unnatural had become celebrities in society, and Izuku was one of their more prolific worshippers. He had dreamed of being one all of his life, prepared since the day he was old enough to understand the concept, desperately waiting every day after his fourth birthday to see if some monster would appear, wondering what it could be, how powerful it would become in his hands…it was an otherwise completely nondescript day when Izuku was smacked in the face by a fish.
He was distraught at first, angry at who or whatever had thrown it at him, until it glowed and vanished into his pocket. When he, after some shock and wrangling, managed to pull it back out again, he knew it. This strange orange fish, looking a lot like a large carp other than its barbels and human-esque eyes, was his pocket monster. His very own companion to become a Hero with. He had no idea back then how quickly his excitement would fade.
"Ah, a Magikarp," the Unnatural Registration Official noted when they came to show it to the government. "At least we know that you're not going to get into any trouble."
Completely missing her tone, Izuku answered earnestly, "of course I'm not, because I'm going to be a Hero, just like All-Might!"
The official barely hid a grimace. "Sure, kid, but do you have a backup plan? Because, I mean, well, Heroes have to rely on their pocket monster's power, and Magikarp…".
The official had been polite about it, but others had been less so. In particular, the kids at school had already known of 'Magikarp' as a slang word for useless, even if they hadn't known why, and wasted no time in mocking his companion's name. As they got older, and everyone, including Izuku, learned the frustrating truths about Magikarp's combat potential, or rather lack thereof, the teasing got worse.
One incident would always stand out to him later. Bakugo, a sort-of friend to Izuku, was mocking another child, someone with no pocket monster that was confirmed by medical examination to be destined to atavism. Bakugo's two friends were laughing about him being their pet and wondering how he could possibly grow fur when he had so little hair as a human, one asking if the kid wanted a dog treat, while Bakugo himself merely bragged about how much better he was than the monster-less child, showing off the 'Voltorb,' as the specialists named it, he himself had acquired at the proper age.
The victim, getting angry, shouted about how he was going to turn into a wolf and eat them, which Bakugo responded to by laughing and telling Voltorb to let off a little spark, just enough to hurt him, not injure him (even at that age, he had figured out how to avoid scrutiny from teachers, who were usually just impressed by how quickly he took to training his pocket monster).
Izuku jumped in his way, ordering Bakugo to stop. When they asked him what he was going to do to stop them, he imitated his favorite Heroes and summoned his Magikarp from his pocket to fight alongside him…which promptly fell to the ground and flopped like a dying fish. Laughing, Bakugo and his two companions charged forward and grabbed both of them, the humans beating up Izuku and their pocket monsters, a Voltorb, a Zubat, and a Rattata, blasting Magikarp with everything they had (which wasn't much at their young age, but more than enough to put the poor thing in a sorry state).
The child whom he had saved ran for it rather than offer a helping hand to his savior. Izuku recalled that as the day he learned that not all men were created equal.
Things did not better as he got older. The mockery continued, often devolving into outright bullying, and even when the atavists and goblins started developing their features and the hierarchy that most of human society had somehow developed enforced itself within his school, he found himself treated as even lower than the Trolls and the Rat Atavists, simply because his pocket monster was worthless.
The fact that the majority of his peers would never use their pocket monsters was meaningless. He couldn't even if he wanted to, and they felt the need to belittle him for it. One reason was the simple fact that he did want to, more than most of them. Oh, practically all of the children in his school envisioned themselves as Heroes, saving the day and attracting the adoration of the crowds like All-Might or Endeavor, but most accepted that that was probably a pipe-dream, with the exceptions of those who genuinely worked for it, like Bakugo, and the one who shouldn't even consider a pipe-dream as realistic odds, one Izuku Midoriya himself.
Obsessively studying the works of currently active Heroes and the records of the more successful ones of the past, he observed their techniques, their plans, their skills, and whatever he could imitate to become a great Hero like them. Just as soon as he learned how to make a Magikarp fight.
The other reason was Bakugo. Perhaps because of their one-time friendship, he had it out for Izuku in particular. While his pocket monster wasn't inherently the strongest, he showed the most talent in using it out of all in their grade, impressing teacher and peer alike. He, unlike most of them, actually planned to become a Hero and put serious effort into it, something that earned him the respect and fear of everyone else.
In normal schools of this time, a clear racial hierarchy had formed, going more-or-less in the following order: Pocket Monster Trainer with a unique or known-to-be strong monster, Elf, Dwarf, 'Attractive' (rabbit, cat, tiger, monkey, etc.) Atavist, Trainer with a known-to-be-weak monster, 'Vermin Atavist (rat, skunk, coyote, etc.), Ork, Troll. Because of Bakugo singling out Izuku, and valuing strength and natural ability above things like appearance and technical category, the poor boy managed to drop four places down on the scale, right to the very bottom. Once again, he was certain that all of that would change when he learned how to get Magikarp to fight.
On his final day of Middle-School, when he was running out of time before he had to apply to a High School that offered proper training, he still didn't have the slightest clue. As he was walking through the streets, stopped by a crowd that was obsessively watching a shark with a missing back-half and a torso that barely resembled a torpedo charge with a woman's purse in its mouth and a laughing trainer riding on its back, he tried to watch, hoping to gain insights.
The crowd was horrified that someone with a moderately impressive looking pocket monster was using it for such petty reasons, someone calling for a Hero to come save them. While said person was merely crying into the ether, a Hero did come.
"Shiftry, Razor Leaf!" The relatively young Hero Kamui Woods shouted, attracting the attention of the crowd, particularly the women, as he stood on a nearby rooftop and sent his pocket monster to leap down toward the purse-snatcher, its leaf-life fingers detaching from its branch-like arms to strike forth at the shark thing, causing it to scream in pain.
"Sharpedo, crunch!" The man shouted, and the pained shark-creature tried to bite at the humanoid tree, its sharp teeth seeming to sharpen even further with an inexplicable dark aura, but Kamui merely responded with the order "Sucker Punch!"
Running incredibly fast on the blocks beneath its feet, Shiftry conjured the same dark aura as Sharpedo on its fists and managed to punch the shark-creature right in its stomach at the exact moment that it otherwise would have bitten him.
While Sharpedo was reeling, the Hero continued with "Let's finish this! Leaf Storm!" while Sharpedo was still trying to recover, his trainer shouting at him in desperation, Shiftry crossed its arms across its chest and summoned several leaves, looking like the sharpened projectiles seen earlier but this time spinning in place, forming a veritable tornado of leaves that sliced and ripped into Sharpedo. Its criminal trainer cried out at his companion's suffering, but had no plan to stop it.
"Yield, villain," Kamui ordered.
Said villain instead tried to look for an escape route, but saw nothing, especially not with the distraction from his brutalized companion.
Pocket monsters were borderline unkillable while their trainer was alive, but not indestructible in the classic sense. Their bond to their trainers merely kept them from the brink of death no matter how exhausted, broken, or injured they were. In the wrong hands, it could be worse than mortality. As it was, there was no real risk of Sharpedo dying here.
There was serious risk of Sharpedo being unable to escape unscathed and the villain stuck in a life of crime by himself, which was not a sustainable lifestyle in their current world of unnatural talents.
Eventually, he relented. The people cheered. Kamui and Shifttry posed for some photographs before taking the villain to the police. Izuku wrote down everything he saw in his notebook with an obsession that others might have called disturbing.
Partially because of the real danger that unnatural criminal attacks could cause, but mostly because everyone had given up on the fight to draw people's, especially the young, attentions away from Hero battles, being present at the sight of such an attack was considered reasonable cause for absence, and so Izuku was not in trouble for being late to school that day. Also, the fact that it was close to the last day and they weren't actually learning anything helped keep the teachers lax.
Their homeroom teacher barely bothered to read through their career aptitude results before asking who wanted to try for anything but Hero as a first option. Noting that of course no one did, he reminded them of the importance of back-up plans.
Bakugo, leaning back in his chair, laughed about the idea of him needing a back-up. "I'm not one of these extras. I'm going all the way to the top. The practice exams were clear; I have what it takes to get into UA!"
The other kids were wide-eyed at the prospect of one of their own going to the legendary top school in the country, even if they weren't surprised at Bakugo of all people being the one to do it.
"Yes," their teacher noted, "you're one of two who applied there."
Bakugo's face could have killed a man by itself. "Which one of you damn losers is trying to show me up!" He shouted.
Not wanting to earn his wrath, especially since it was undeserved in most of their cases, no one met his eye or showed the slightest hint of suspicious behavior. At least, not until Izuku started muttering to himself under his breath about whether it would be better to tell the truth or hide his application from Bakugo and thus avoid attention…he was completely unaware of the fact that he was saying this out loud.
"The Magikarp!?" This got everyone else in the class to burst out laughing. Bakugo stood up and marched to the most worthless loser of them all.
"Izuku, I have a plan," Bakugo informed him as Voltorb jumped from his pocket and landed on Izuku's desk, showing a bit of the glow it normally showed before using its feared 'Explosion' move.
"Bakugo," the teacher tried to say, but the boy ignored him.
"I'm going to be the only one from this podunk school to get into UA. I'm going to become the most famous and well-renowned Hero of them all, surpassing even All-Might. Now, an incredible Hero needs an incredible backstory, and what better backstory would there be then being the only one from my neighborhood to make it? How inspiring! And you know what, maybe others tried, and the fact that I succeeded where others couldn't, even more so. Now how the hell am I supposed to inspire people if my competition for getting into UA was a Magikarp, huh? Beating you's not inspiring at all!"
Izuku, for some reason, felt the compulsion to apologize for ruining Bakugo's plans, but he instead tried to defend himself. "I did good enough on the written parts of the practical exam.."
"I don't care! There's no way you can get past the practical portions, and I'm offended that you're even trying. It's a disgrace to us real Heroes!"
"Bakugo, please sit down," the teacher called out half-heartedly, not really expecting it to lead anywhere and honestly done with the whole situation.
Izuku didn't hear this effortless effort on his behalf, as Voltorb's glowing was freaking him out more and more as it got brighter. There was no way that the bully would actually set off an explosion in the classroom, was there? In his panic, he summoned Magikarp from his own pocket, who proceeded to flop as threateningly as he could toward this dangerous interloper.
Scoffing, Bakugo muttered, "Voltorb, Spark."
Magikarp screamed in pain as the electricity flowed from the angry-looking red and white ball to the fish, and then did so again as Bakugo shouted for Voltorb to repeat.
"Stop, please," Izuku pleaded to deaf ears.
"If he can't deal with a simple attack at his type weakness, how can you help make you a Hero?" Bakugo asked mockingly between commands to keep using Spark.
The teacher, now concerned about the potential lawsuits that could happen if the kids started a full-on pocket monster battle in the classroom, stepped forward and grabbed Bakugo by the arm, threatening detention and a black mark on his record if he continued. Just as concerned about his record as the teacher was about lawsuits, he reluctantly recalled Voltorb.
When class was dismissed, he did find Izuku again just to let him know what was on his mind.
"You know, there's an old legend that if you kill your own pocket monster, and it deserved it, the gods will grant you a new one." Neither thought that was anything but nonsense, and there was of course no sincerity behind Bakugo's words when he continued. "It's probably bullcrap, but if you really want to be a Hero, kill the thing. Stab it. Fry it, and maybe it will finally do someone some good. Hey, it's a carp, isn't it? Throw it off a waterfall, and maybe it'll turn into a dragon. If it doesn't, well, then it's no longer your problem."
He laughed as he left. Izuku, horrified by the thought of someone doing that to their own companion, walked away in a daze.
Of course he wasn't even considering that, but it was just wrong. Magikarp was his only friend, the one who stayed by him through thick and thin. Even acknowledging that he had to, the pocket monster had done nothing to wrong him, except…exist. Was he actually thinking over Bakugo's words, considering that his life might be better without the thing…no, Izuku physically slapped himself for even going over the thought.
"It's okay, Magikarp," Izuku patted the pocket where the creature usually slept while waiting to be summoned, "I know that together we'll prove them wrong. We'll be Heroes."
He wasn't really processing his own words. They sounded empty. Even merely in his head. As he walked by a TV displaying the latest news, he found himself drawn into a talk-show debate between two Orks about whether Lord of the Rings promoted anti-goblin hatred solely to avoid thinking about anything related to Heroes, Heroism, or his own future in any capacity. Of course, the news being the news in this era, it quickly broke away from the debate to report that a criminal trainer with something called a 'Muk' had barely managed to escape All-Might's grip, and assured the general public that he and Milotic were on the case and not to be alarmed.
With All-Might's name reminding him of his own failures and insecurities, he was drawn into another slump before a mass of purple sludge engulfed him.
"Sorry kid, All-Might's after me! I need a hostage in case things go south!" A crude-looking man in a biker's outfit accosted him before shouting, "okay, Muk, keep him just barely alive! No crushing or toxic fumes until we're in the clear, at which case I guess you can just kill him or something, I don't really care at that point."
Izuku was having the worst day of his life before it was seriously threatened, and really did not want to die in this state of mind. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.
"Twister!" A vaguely familiar voiced boomed out, unfortunately something that Izuku was unable to recognize with his rapidly fading consciousness…the living sludge surrounding him being tossed up and swirled around like a slushy did the opposite of helping his confused state. His last conscious thought before passing out was the strange sensation of a fish-like tail grabbing him and stopping him from hitting the ground.
Izuku woke to the unpleasant sensation of a muscular hand slapping his face over and over again.
"Are you alright, kid?" Blinking, it took a second before he could answer the man, especially since because in his semi-conscious state he thought that he saw All-Might standing before him in his signature red and blue outfit that emphasized his musculature and blonde, lengthy hair. Once he finally came to enough to figure out the features of who actually saved him, he was forced to keep himself from fainting again when he realized that it actually was All-Might in front of him.
Looking the side, he saw the man commanding the Muk that tried to take him hostage wrapped tightly in Milotic's tail. She was just as beautiful up close as they portrayed on TV, her iridescent scales making a wonderful pattern over her serpentine, almost mermaid-like body.
"I'll ask once again. Are you alright?"
"Can I get your autograph!" Izuku shouted instead of answering.
"Already taken care of," All-Might pointed to where Izuku's notebook had fallen. Sure enough, a cute and pithy message from the world's greatest Hero was inscribed on the open page. While Izuku was staring in awe at the fact he had managed to snag All-Might's autograph without even trying, Milotic let out an animalistic screech that sounded like some kind of warning, which apparently prompted All-Might to shout, "well, if you're okay then we'll just get going."
Taking the criminal from Milotic's tail and throwing him over his shoulders, he leapt onto his companion's back and they started to slither away in a manner that still somehow managed to be bewitchingly pretty just as Izuku got out of his stupor and realized that he had a question to ask.
"Wait! All-Might!" He shouted as he jumped onto Milotic's tail fins just as the monster turned a corner.
"Kid, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I really have business to take care of, so please, understand that I have to be elsewhere," All-Might shouted in a polite but clearly exasperated tone.
"Can I be a Hero like you?"
"Uh, I don't know you well enough, but with the right heart, a clever mind, and a loving connection with your pocket monster, practically anyone can be a Hero! Now please, let go!"
"Even if I have a Magikarp?"
That caused All-Might to blanche for some reason, and even catch him in some sort of reminiscence before shaking his head. "If your pocket monster can't fight, then you have to rely on your own strength, and to be frank, that'll never catch up to the atavists and cybered up meta-humans, nonetheless the enemy pocket monsters attacking you directly. You can still be valuable, though, as a detective or support staff. They might not get the glory, but they're just as important to saving the day as any Hero."
Izuku was crushed. In spite of how he couched his words, certainly intending to be well-meaning and logically sound, they still only reminded him of the constant years of mockery. No one thought he could do it. Not even All-Might, the symbol of peace and master of inspiration himself, thought that he could do it. What was the point, then?
Milotic let out a screech, still sounding like a warning but this time more frantic, and All-Might was now shouting "I know!" before turning back to the kid on his pocket monster's tail and saying "I really need you to let go so Milotic and I can get on our way…"
just as he said this, Milotic started to glow, much like how "evolution" (as someone had dubbed the transformations pocket monsters went grew as they got stronger at some point) looked, except it shrank rather than grew. All-Might and Izuku both fell to the ground unceremoniously as the beautiful and fantastical Milotic was replaced with…a bass, a big brown bass with the same human-esque eyes as Magikarp, and flopping around just like it too. It didn't even have barbels.
"Wha…I don't…how…what…where is…?" Izuku's brain was not functioning properly at the moment.
All-Might sighed. "Can I please request that you keep this a secret?"
"I don't know what this even is!" Izuku answered.
"This is…Feebass. About as useful in battle as Magikarp, and uglier too. If they were more common, they'd probably get more mockery than Magikarp trainers. Before you ask what happened to Milotic, well, this is Milotic. There is a highly secret and incredibly dangerous unnatural power out there that can…alter pocket monsters. If your relationship is strong and true, then you get power. It creates new forms in some, fully evolves others, and makes others simply get stronger, for a limited time. If your relationship is sour or broken, well, the pocket monster will get stronger, but you'll lose complete control over it. It would probably kill you, and several civilians afterward, and yes it could live without you for a while under this power. Naturally, we can't go around giving it to everyone, or even letting people know about it, what with how dangerous it can be."
"Do you mean to say that you became Number One by cheating?" Already indignant with that fact, he stared down at the Feebass, truly looking just as pathetic as Magikarp at his worst, he thought on what All-Might just told him and had to shout. "You can be a Hero using a Magikarp with this power!"
"If your Magikarp doesn't kill you," All-Might answered. "Who knows what will happen if you try to strengthen it this way. While I can't imagine Magikarp taking on a particularly powerful second form, I also couldn't have imagined Feebass becoming a thing of beauty, and I would never consider risking it on a complete stranger."
"But, but…"
"Kid, I have no doubt that you want to be a Hero. I have no doubt that you're genuine. But be realistic. Find other ways to help. Seriously, detectives don't get the respect they deserve."
"Why didn't you settle for that, before you learned of this 'unnatural power?'"
"I get it, I really do, but…". Sighing, All-Might pulled a zipper and exposed a portion of his real stomach to the boy in front of him. The sight of that shredded, scabbed-over mess made Izuku want to vomit.
"This happened to me because of a villain that the public doesn't know about, and I want to keep it that way. I can see that you're sick to your stomach already, well, I wish I still had a stomach to get sick to. This happened to me while I could still use Milotic. What are you going to do to stop this with your Magikarp? Can you fight a pocket monster with your fists? If you snuck around to take out its trainer, then what would distract their monster while you did so? Would you just leave your Magikarp to get beaten and battered?"
Izuku wasn't inclined to listen to the fiftieth lecture on how he didn't have anything he could do as a Hero, even from All-Might, but the point about how his pocket monster companion would be hurt over and over without being able to fight back…looking back on all the times Bakugo had brutalized Magikarp, it did occur to Izuku that that brutalization was his fault on some level. Maybe he should give up on his dreams, not because they were impractical, but because he had to look out for Magikarp's well-being.
While they had their discussion the criminal had managed to sneak off, and even recalled Muk to his pocket while doing so. It…was really embarrassing for all parties.
"Dammit, with my injuries, I can't get Feebass to change forms without hurting us both!" All-Might shouted. "Kid, I would swear to you to secrecy about this, but just know that no one would believe you anyway and you don't want to deal with the consequences of trying to hold this knowledge over me. I have to see if the other Heroes can handle this!"
All-Might ran off while Izuku found himself stuck thinking on everything.
As he passed down the street, stuck in a daze from finally deciding to give up on his dreams of being a Hero and find something more…practical, he couldn't even bring himself to get excited and try to take notes when he heard people screaming about a villain attack. Then a familiar scent washed over him, he recognized this villain as being the Muk trainer from earlier, and he blanched. This is my fault.
Summoning Magikarp, he looked into his lifelong companion's eyes and asked him, "what should we do?"
There were thousands of debates and oceans of ink on academic papers spilled over the question of pocket monster intelligence and how much they understood when their trainers talked to them. None of them would say that Magikarp would have an answer to Izuku's query, or even really understand it in the first place, but like many a trainer and even mundane pet owner, he asked anyway.
"He's got a hostage!" Someone screamed.
Still not getting an answer from Magikarp, Izuku ambled over to the watching crowds and saw that none of the Heroes were accomplishing anything. Backdraft and his Blastoise were focused on putting out a nearby fire, while Kamui and Shiftry were keeping the crowds back. An Ork with cybered-up arms and an Ox Atavist, large even by Ox Atavist standards, angrily glared at the Muk in the middle of the street, but neither was moving forward.
"I want safe passage to the coast, where you'll never have to see me again! Try to stop me from fleeing and the kid gets it!" The Muk's trainer held a knife, but it seemed to be pointless garnish as it was the pocket monster that had the teenage boy absorbed into its bulk, slowly strangling him.
"You'll never get away with this, fiend!" Death-Arms shouted for the crowd's benefit before turning to Mt. Lady and Kamui. "Do either of you have a plan?"
"It's a poison-type, and one with a lot of raw power, as far as I can tell. Shiftry's no good here," Kamui quietly admitted.
"I'm a physical fighter, and I've heard that these things poison you if you touch them," Mt. Lady pointed out.
Yeah," Death-Arms agreed, "so am I."
"Aren't your arms metal?" Kamui asked, "poison-types aren't the best at dealing with that."
"I haven't cybered up that much, chummer, I'm still mostly organic, and I don't want to see what it'll do to me. Backdraft is still focusing on the fire, right?"
"Yeah, we might just have to write the kid off as unsalvageable and keep the criminal here until others can arrive."
They weren't happy about it, but the situation didn't lend itself to an immediate solution and they had their safety and image to think about.
Izuku didn't hear any of that; he was just too focused on the face of the teenage boy being held by that Muk…it was Bakugo. His former friend, tormentor, and lifelong fixture, and he was clearly about to be killed by a rampaging criminal. A criminal that was free to commit his crimes because Izuku had distracted All-Might with worthless questions about an impossible future.
Magikarp didn't actually give a discernible answer to Izuku's earlier question, but somehow he felt it. Before conscious thought caught up, his legs were rushing forward, past the barricade, past the conversing Heroes, ignoring their cries, and he tossed Magikarp into the air, shouting out a command he couldn't even remember where he learned. "Magikarp, Flail! But on the eyes, target the eyes!"
Shock was the only reason Izuku and his companion weren't immediately creamed. Magikarp landed on a surprised Muk, shaking its body violently and rapidly, enough to cause pain. With Magikarp's strength, it would have been negligible damage anywhere else, but Izuku had been successful in getting his lifelong companion to hit the creature's vulnerable orbs, sending it reeling in pain.
Bakugo was loosened, enough that Izuku, still not thinking, ran forward and pulled with all his might, until the distracted creature managed to lose its gelatinous hold.
"What are you doing, you useless Magikarp?" Bakugo shouted.
"I don't know!" Izuku answered honestly.
Magikarp, its attack done, flopped to the ground.
"Muk, kill them!" The trainer shouted frantically. As the massive purple sludge recovered from Magikarp's attack, Izuku started to consciously grasp the situation as the Muk stretched out two 'arms' made of slime and started to slam them down on the two boys, neither of which had any way to defend themselves (he wouldn't learn this until later, but Voltorb had knocked itself out in a failed Explosion when the Muk first grabbed Bakugo).
Realizing that, for the second time today, he was about to die, he was once more spared at the last second by a shout of "Twister!" The swirling vortex of energy caught Muk up in its embrace, the creature's semi-liquid body making it particularly vulnerable to the spinning winds. Just as earlier, it was caught for long enough that All-Might and Milotic could charge in to the cheers of the crowd, the human of the pair managing to punch the Muk's trainer when he tried to lunge with his knife.
With Muk out of commission, the other Heroes quickly swarmed the trainer and ordered him to recall his pocket monster before they were authorized to use extreme methods. He complied. When said Heroes turned to comfort Bakugo and talk to him about his ordeal, and how they were certain to have found a way to rescue him, All-Might merely whispered to Izuku, "Milotic has seconds, meet me at the beach," before running off.
Izuku got a brief scolding about his recklessness, but he barely perceived it through the fog from coming down off of his adrenaline high. That had been what he wanted from Heroism; using Magikarp to defeat the bad guys, showing his ingenuity and determination. More importantly, saving people, making sure they were safe. He wanted to make the people know they could count on him to save the day.
The fact that it would never happen again was even more unbearable than having never experienced it in the first place, especially with whatever lecture All-Might was about to give him on the beach over it. He really shouldn't have even bothered coming here, but in his daze he found himself thoughtlessly following orders. A man, dressed completely differently from All-Might and with an altered hair-style, so different in so many subtle ways that Izuku wouldn't have recognized him if he weren't cradling Feebass in his arms, grinned as he saw Izuku nearing.
"I was wrong," were the Hero's first words to the boy.
"What?"
"Tell me, Izuku, when you charged forward back there, what were you thinking?"
"I…wasn't" he answered honestly.
"That's how true Heroes think," All-Might grinned. "They see danger, they see others who need help, and often, without even sparing a second of thought on the matter, they rush in. I said earlier that you couldn't be a Hero with a Magikarp. When I admitted to a power that could change that, I said that I couldn't trust you with it. I was wrong on both counts. I, like those Heroes back there, was about to do nothing, just because I was out of time, but I had time if I was willing to put in some risk. I was only able to do so because I saw what you accomplished. If you want to, I will share the power I've managed to find. I will see if it can help Magikarp in the same way it helped Feebass. Young man, you too can be a Hero!"
--
World Notes: as implied above, 'pocket monsters' appear and can be stored in any clothing device for storage (pockets, purses while they're worn, etc.). They are in an inexplicable 'hammer space,' the pocket in question can still be used.
Gyarados is unknown to the universe; no Magikarp trainer has ever managed to evolve one
99% of Pokemon will be from the first three generations, because of my personal preferences
Power levels of Pokemon will not necessarily be game-accurate; they'll be similar with some notable exceptions, but I'm not sticking to their stat-blocks, and will occasionally have them act in ways that 'seem' more logical to me personally
Legendary Pokemon are mostly non-existent, there are three characters that are 'allowed' to have one (All-For-One, Stars and Stripes, Eri), and I have not settled on any of them
Shadowrun technology is an ability that Meta-humans can learn with a lot of effort and giving up the opportunity to learn magic; it isn't reproducible by humans.
Atavists work according to Ironclaw's ruleset, all of them using Atavism (called physical focus here) or Magic, not that anyone reading this is likely to know anything about Ironclaw