After Ochako's talk with Izuku, things came back somewhat normal for him. He did have a slight emotional detachment compared to what he normally did, but this was only a minor effect of the Curse Series activation that he's already dealt with and is used to. What he wasn't used to however was Mocha's...unusual growth. In a matter of 24 hours, the small filolial went from a chick, to a monstrous bird almost twice Izuku's size. Not only this, but her appetite was the size of Izuku's, L'arc's and Sadeena's combined to worry him. Walking to a hidden location right now, Izuku, Kizuna, their group and Ochako who was asked to come, stood in front of a hero agency in hopes to have a meeting with all group heads of Seayetto's agency.
"This is the place?" Izuku asked for Theresa to see the address on the note she was given.
"It seems so."
"Awesome. Let's go in." L'arc was about to open the door for a small girl with blond hair and wings to open it. "Well. It's been a while, little missy."
"Hey, Scythe guy!" Filo spoke up with joy for her to look at Izuku, Ochako and Mocha. "You're the Fist guy and the bubble faced girl, aren't you?"
"...Yes." Both answered with a pause for a second with the door opening wider to show Naofumi.
"Alright. You're all here. Let's get this meeting on the road." The group walked into the agency and followed Naofumi and Filo. "I'm not sure if you remember me or not, kid. But my name's Naofumi Iwatani. I'm basically the head of the group. At least, that's what everyone says."
Theresa tapped Izuku's shoulder to have him turn to her. "When it came down to who we needed as a leader, almost all of us suggested Naofumi right off the bat. Some suggested L'arc primarily due to his royal status, but he immediately denied this since he thought Naofumi was far better for the role than him."
"Yeah. Something about running this show didn't exactly feel satisfying to me, so I let the Shield kiddo handle it."
"And such a generous offer you gave, young master." Naofumi said the nickname for L'arc in a joking term for it to irritate him a bit.
"I told you to please stop calling me that!"
"Drop the kiddo and I will."
"Those are two different things!" Everyone laughed at this with them entering a room to see everyone sitting down. Among them were Itsuki, Ren and Motoyasu's groups as well as Naofumi's. What surprised Izuku however was the number 3 pro hero in Japan Hawks and the number 9 Ryukyu sitting in the room.
Everyone took a seat with Izuku being shown a specific seat and Ochako sitting beside him with Mocha on the other side. Naofumi took his seat and began speaking. "Alright. It's been a while since we've all been together, so let me just say that it's good to see nobody died."
'Subtle much?' Izuku thought this before the Shield Hero continued.
"Anyway. I wanted this meeting to be one where we can all come together and at least help Midoriya with understanding where we went wrong in our past and make sure he avoids it as well as have names to faces. You've already met me. To my right is Raphtalia and Filo. To my left is Atla Fayon, Fohl Fayon and Keel. We're the group that's been handling the American branch of the Seayetto agency. We handle the Waves in North, South, Central America and Canada."
Itsuki spoke up next and gave a smile. "My name is Itsuki Kawasumi. To my side is my companion Rishia Ivyred. We handle the Waves that come from Africa and Australia with everything between for ocean being ours as well."
"I-it's nice to meet you." Rishia began stuttering while bowing with Itsuki doing the same.
"I hope we work well together."
"I guess it's my turn then." Motoyasu spoke up with some happiness. "You already know my name's Motoyasu Kitamura. I handle Europe and Russia. Anything between those two major countries that aren't considered Asian territory is my protection. I'd tell you all the names of my family, but it would take too long. Just know I have several hundred family members of the Filolial race."
Ren cleared his throat before starting. "My name is Ren Amaki and this is my companion Eclair Seayetto. We handle the countries that consist of Asia's geological group. If you need anything, please let me know." Ren seemed to be more forthcoming than his demeanor put him out to be.
"You may know me as the number 9 ranked hero Ryukyu but I've been a part of the waves of Calamity as the Band Vassal Weapon holder since their appearance during my rookie years. I've assisted many waves that could have ended disastrous for our world." The next person to introduce themselves was Hawks who seemed somewhat bored.
"And I'm the number 3 hero Hawks. I've actually been the Visor Vassal Weapon holder for a while. I'm actually the successor of one that was formerly working with the Hero Board that became no longer compatible with mine."
"Wait, I don't get it. Aren't the Vassal Weapons like the Cardinal Weapons where they need to be quirks in the world?" Izuku asked not exactly understanding how they could be holders since neither of their quirks even work that way.
"Actually, Vassal Weapons and Cardinal Weapons of this world work differently. Since the ritual to summon Cardinal Heroes is no longer present, the Cardinal Weapons have found a way to bring souls of others into this world that they deem worthy before the holder is even born. We don't know the complete details yet, but this could be the souls of the Cardinal Weapons themselves trying to keep the peace in what way they could. However, Vassal Weapons aren't like this. You don't need an exterior being from this world to become the holder of one. As such, the heroes who are tend to use their Vassal Weapons as support gear. Such as my hair bands or Hawks' goggles." Ryukyu had explained by turning her hair bands in the front of her face around and revealed a gemstone core with Hawks doing the same by pulling off his goggles and showing the side.
"I...didn't know that Vassal Weapon holders were that easy to find."
"They can be as long as someone in the world fits the criteria. But there are situations such as Sadeena, Raphtalia, Itsuki and myself when a being from another world fits the mold more." Naofumi explained while pulling a mirror from behind his shield and Itsuki pulling a violin from his side.
"I should also keep in your mindset that Vassal Weapon holders are only capable of like a third of the growth of a Cardinal and that we still need the Cardinal Weapons even if we'd have all the Vassal Weapons partaking in the Waves."
"I knew that one from L'arc and everyone already." Izuku pointed this out for Hawks to put his feet up on the table. "There is one thing I'm not getting. Why don't we have more Vassal Weapon holders than just the two of you? If the Waves are that dangerous, wouldn't it make sense to have as many capable fighters as possible?"
"Because we only know where three of the weapons are." Ryukyu answered this to confuse Izuku more. "I don't know the exact details of this since it happened long before myself and even my predecessor of the Band Vassal weapon, but there was a fight that consisted between three of the four Cardinal Heroes and most of the Vassal Weapon holders. Unfortunately, most of them died and four of the Vassal Weapons were never recovered. We don't know where exactly they are in the world with only the Visor, Band and Hook Vassal Weapons being recovered safely."
"Ok, but where's the Hook Vassal Weapon holder?"
"We never found one. If someone doesn't exist in the world to wield the weapon, the Vassal Weapon will go into a stasis until a person worthy of their power exists. However, the Hook is safe and protected by Japan's number 1 as it's always been." Hearing Hawks talk about All Might left a sour note in Izuku's mouth. Though he for the most part has gotten over it, he still can't forgive All Might for what he's said.
"Ok, so seven of the eight were known before a fight with three of the Cardinal Weapons not in it. Am I to assume the one Cardinal Weapon that stayed out was mine?"
"You catch on quick, kid. Yeah. We don't know why, but the Fist Cardinal Weapon from what we found out didn't manifest in the world. We believed it was given to an infant that died at the time since it didn't show up until recently. Since Cardinal Weapons need to wait until all four of the current round's heroes die for all of them to respawn, this added to the strain we were in to the point the Hero Boards around the world took any RPG quirks they found into protective custody to raise them in hopes one would be a Cardinal Weapon holder under the not as misleading guise that the could become dangerous villains." Hawks began explaining where the holes in the bigger picture now made sense.
"None of us agreed to this, but you need to understand that the world needs the Cardinal Heroes. They're important to our job of saving this world. If we fail, the world fails. The only reason the world's Four Great Beasts haven't awakened yet is because of our work." Ryukyu tried to make Izuku understand that the harshness the world's done for RPG quirks was without a doubt for a greater good for him to sigh and lean back.
"So what now? Are you gonna kill me to get more Cardinal Weapons back?"
"Not worth the effort and we would still be waiting." Motoyasu points this out before turning to Filo and smiling at her to make the small girl hide behind Raphtalia to avoid direct eye contact. "Nobody has a clue what happened to the Cardinal Weapons. At the moment, they could still be in this world tied to a Vanguard of the Waves and then we have more problems if you die, cause then we'd be Cardinal Weaponless."
"So there's some here that we have to worry about?"
"Maybe. I don't know exactly if they are, but these two can." Naofumi said this for two people to walk in. One was a young adult by the way he looked with white hair and red eyes with a cloak over him. The other was a young girl with angel wings dressed in very fancy clothing almost like she was the stereotype for royalty in older times. The more notable thing with her was her silver hair with three cowlicks and her completely calm demeanor. "This is Ethnobalt and Fitoria."
"It is nice to meet you, Fist Hero."
"Agreed." Fitoria glanced to the side and saw Mocha who spoke up as a way to say hello for her to smile.
"Ok, this is gonna sound like an odd question, but they're not human, are they?"
Everyone looked at Izuku in shock that he deduced this so quickly. "Amazing. Just what gave it away?" Ethnobalt asked.
"It's hard to say, but you two are giving off the same vibe I'm getting from Mocha and the girl Filo over there. I didn't want to say anything when I sensed you before, but I figured I'd ask to clear the elephant in the room." Both smiled as Ethnobalt transformed into a very large rabbit the size of his human form on two.
"You are correct. I am what's called a Library Rabbit. We help protect the world we are from by keeping knowledge of the world on stock to help in ways we can. We aren't exactly a combat race, so our assistance in battle is limited."
"And I am the filolial queen. I govern every filolial in existence. If I were to transform, I would become far too large for this room to hold me."
"Oh, so you're like the queen of queens or something for the filolials, right?" Ochako asked for Fitoria to look at her and nod.
"That's correct."
"Ethnobalt. Where's the Book Vassal Weapon?" Kizuna asked seeing her friend on a small floating pedestal.
"It was taken from me. A group of creatures that looked horrid in nature attacked with a man who held a visor over his head and almost killed me. Fortunately for me when he stole the Book, the Boat was able to still connect with me to use that as a means to get away." The large rabbit looked a little depressed, causing this as something to bother Izuku.
"These creatures. Did they look like humans but with weird features and their brains on display to see?"
"Yes actually." Izuku held his head back knowing who stole the Vassal Weapon. "You know who took it?"
"Personally, no. I do know the group that took it. They called themselves the League of Villains and that those monsters were Nomu. I don't know a lot about them, but they seem to be genetically modified humans since Kizuna can't harm them."
"This just made things more complicated." Ren held his head in irritation for Naofumi to continue.
"Let's find out what we can, but for now, get yourselves ready for the Wave that's going to hit this country in the next few hours. For the time, it should hit somewhere around 11 at night here."
Everyone nodded and began getting up. When they began leaving, Motoyasu ran over and hugged Mocha with joy. "You're so beautiful! I know you'll become an adorable angel by tomorrow!"
"Wait, MOCHA'S GONNA DIE!? HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT ABOUT HER!?" Ochako shouted for Motoyasu to smile.
"I mean she'll be able to turn into her human form with wings."
The fact he responded exactly to her comment threw Ochako entirely off. "Why can you understand me now?"
"Because Filo and you are friends. If you have a friendship with her, then you obviously aren't a pig."
Izuku and Ochako turned to see Filo scarfing down a large sandwich half her size for them to accept this somewhat. 'Figures.'
"We don't have a lot of time before the Wave." Naofumi walked over to Izuku before glancing at Kizuna. "Can your group go to UA and get the students helping ready? They'll be part of Midoriya's group during this."
"Right."
"Midoriya. I'm gonna start explaining some methods to help you out as well as offer some materials to help get you stronger. Come with me." Izuku followed with Ren and Itsuki following with. As they walked away, Ochako looked at Mocha who began brushing up against her.
"I guess this'll be our first Wave. You nervous at all?"
"Guah."
"I'll take that as a maybe."
And that finishes this chapter. See what happens when the next wave happens. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.