Flaws [BNHA x Pokemon!Reader]

17: Arrival at I-Island

Occasionally, when looking back at the trajectory of your life, you found it genuinely shocking how much things had changed for you over the past year or so. Not only were you in training at the best hero school in Japan, with wonderful friends who chose to look past your quirk and accept both you and your Pokemon friends, but you were also now standing just inside the entrance to the famous I-Island–a resort-like literal island where public quirk usage was not only approved but encouraged.

"I never thought I'd be thankful to Endeavor in my life," you muttered aloud, trying to take everything in at once.

"Don't be," Todoroki said. "I was the one who invited you, not him."

You bit back a grin at your friend's genuine tone, as though he had really thought that you were grateful to his father for the opportunity to come to I-Island. You weren't stupid. You knew Endeavor had gotten the tickets and thrown them to his son because he had no desire to go and deal with the general public. It was the youngest Todoroki who had actively chosen to take you with him.

"I know that, silly," you said, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "And thank you, again."

One of the main reasons you were so incredibly excited to be at I-Island–other than the fact that it was simply an amazing place to be–was the strict security it offered. No villains were allowed on the island whatsoever, which would give you a nice respite from being approached by them randomly. Seriously, you had been starting to think you had some sort of curse hanging over you, from running into Dabi while on a date with Kaminari to being cornered by crusty Shigaraki at the mall. It had all started to wear you out a bit, and you were glad to be somewhere where absolutely nothing at all could go wrong. Nothing.

Absolutely not.

Todoroki began following directions from his phone to get to your hotel, leaving you to follow behind him in blissful amazement. The entire island was almost like a carnival. Crowds of people were walking down the street, laughing and eating treats that made the air smell like fried food. Some stopped in awe, watching as street performers showed off their quirks. One man breathed fire out of his mouth, forming it into creative shapes in the air; as you passed, it curled into the shape of a menacing dragon. Another girl rearranged her body parts like something out of a Picasso painting, astonishing onlookers as she contorted.

The hotel room, once you reached it, managed to exceed your already high expectations. It seemed Endeavor had spared no expense when he told Todoroki to go to I-Island with his ticket. Of course, what you didn't know was that his son had sneakily stolen his credit card right before he walked out the door and was planning on wasting as much money as he possibly could. In fact, that was how you found yourself carrying multiple bags of new clothes and a paper container of takoyaki within minutes of leaving your items in the room.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" You asked, your mouth full of delicious food. "I feel bad that you're buying me all this stuff."

Todoroki shook his head. "No, please. In fact, you should buy even more stuff. Everything, even."

You laughed, continuing to wander around the expo, not realizing that Todoroki was actually being incredibly serious.

That boy was just so hard to read sometimes.

Eventually the two of you made your way over to a section of the island that seemed to have been reserved for stands that were almost like carnival games. There were all the typical ones, of course, like the ring toss and whack-a-mole, but there were also others that specifically said all quirks were allowed to try to achieve the best score possible. Intrigued, you made your way over near a round arena that was built into the ground–not wholly unlike the fighting ring you'd stumbled onto the year before–and saw that the sign said it was some sort of ability test in which contestants could destroy robots to see who could get them all within the best time. You were about to ask Todoroki if he wanted to try it when you saw a flash of red moving between the active robots.