Chapter 54: The Meeting
"Morning, Midoriya! You heading to your internship too?" Eijiro spotted Izuku heading out of the dorms in his student uniform. "It's been a minute since I've had to go but they called me in today. They said I didn't have to wear my Hero costume, though." Eijiro too was only wearing his student uniform. Must have been a strange coincidence… at least, that's what they would have thought had Ochako and Tsuyu not joined them. "Woah! You guys are heading out too?"
They all walked together and found themselves heading to the same area. It was… odd. The strange thing was that there were a lot of Heroes heading in the same direction too. Izuku was still heading to the same area, but he also found out that the other three were told to meet up at a different location than usual.
Eventually, they all found themselves at Nighteye's office where… the Big Three were waiting for them outside?! What was happening? They all made their way inside where Bubble Girl escorted them to a room. Inside, they found a room where a lot of Heroes were waiting. Not just any Heroes, though. These were big names. Gran Torino, Eraser Head, Ryukyu, Fat Gum… there had to be over 20 Heroes here… this couldn't be a good sign.
"Ryukyu, you said there was gonna be a meeting, but what's this all about?!" Nejire asked. The Dragon Hero smiled and shook her head. "I'm not too sure myself, but we'll find out soon enough."
"Mr. Aizawa? Why are you here?" Ochako and Tsuyu approached their Homeroom teacher. "I was just called here out of nowhere, but all I knew was that it was urgent, so I came here as fast as I could. I don't know any of the specifics, but I have a good guess." Tsuyu placed her hand over her chin and looked down. "Urgent? So why are we here?"
"Didn't I tell you two?" Ryukyu walked up to them and placed her hand on her hip. "I told you that you'd do well in a certain case. Well, here we are."
Nighteye entered the room and cleared his throat before heading onto a small podium. "Everyone, our meeting will begin soon. Thank you again for taking time to come here. Before I escort you all to the meeting room though, I wanted to give you a little insight as to what this is about."
He took out a few papers and looked through them briefly before continuing. "Firstly, thanks to the intel you all have provided, we've made huge progress in our investigation. We're getting closer to the true intentions of the Shie Hassaikai. The point of this meeting is to gather everyone involved with the investigation and go over all the information we have so far."
Eijiro turned to Fat Gum, understandably confused. "The… Shie… Hassaikai? What is that? What's going on?"
"The Shie Hassaikai is a criminal organization. Nighteye's agency is the one that requested the team-up to help investigate. They want us to help develop some kind of countermeasure."
"Okay… but what does that have to do with us?" Eijiro asked. Fat Gum squinted his eyes and turned to Tamaki. "Trust me, after what we've found out, we'll need all the help we can get."
Bubble Girl and Centipeder, another one of Nighteye's sidekicks, escorted the Heroes to a meeting room. There, they found a long table with chairs surrounding it. There was also a large screen at the back of the room. They all took their seats, each sitting beside the other members of their agency. Once everyone was seated, Bubble Girl took a clipboard and stood up.
"Okay, I'll begin with an introduction and a recap. We, the members of the Nighteye Agency, have been conducting a series of independent investigations on the Villain group, the Shie Hassaikai. You might be wondering why we are going through so much effort to investigate a single group. Well, two weeks ago, there was an accident with a criminal group called the Reservoir Stoutlands. There was a massive incident involving a strange unrecorded Pokemon, and while the police couldn't prove the Shie Hassaikai were responsible, we have reason to believe they were involved in some way."
Centipeder stepped forward and Bubble Girl handed him the clipboard. "We at the Nighteye agency were contacted by the police and began our investigation immediately. I myself have done some scouting throughout various locations in the country to try and find out what was going on. Based on my investigation, I've found that the Shie Hassaikai has expanded its reach. They've gotten in contact with criminal groups and other Underworld organizations only within the year. As for why, we aren't too sure. It could be to build relations but it could also be for funding."
Centipeder pressed a button on his remote, causing the screen to turn on. There, it showed a picture of Overhaul speaking with Twice from the League of Villains. The two seemed to be ready to get into some kind of car. "We have reason to believe that they've also gotten into contact with the League of Villains. As many of you know, the League is currently regarded as one of the most dangerous Villain groups. That being said, we were able to determine that some kind of dispute or skirmish between the two."
Gran Torino then stood up to get the attention of the others. "So since the League is involved, they contacted me and Detective Tsukauchi for help. We were in charge of investigating to what extent the League's involvement was with the Shie Hassaikai."
"And where is the detective?" One of the Heroes asked. "He's currently investigating the whereabouts of the League. There have been some reported sightings, so that's where he is right now." The old man then looked at Izuku and let out a sigh. "Kid, I can't believe we dragged you into this mess."
The boy shook his head and gave the man a look of confidence. "Please, don't apologize. We're more than happy to take part in the investigation."
"No, Gran Torino's got a point, though." One other Hero said. This man was Lock Rock. He had darker skin and curly hair, but he otherwise looked like an average Hero. "We're getting kids involved but we've barely made any progress. I get that they're from UA and all, but they've really got nothing to do with the case."
"That's not true at all!" Fat Gum stood up and pointed towards Eijiro and Tamaki. "These two are more involved with the case than most people in this room!" The man took a second to calm down before sitting back down, though his statement did raise a lot of confusion.
"Anyway…" Nighteye cleared his throat and got the attention of everyone once more. "The Shie Hassaikai are suspected of selling strange unrecorded Pokemon and using it as a source of income for their organization. That's why I invited Heroes who were more familiar with situations like this."
Fat Gum nodded and turned to the rest of the group. "During Red Riot's debut battle a few days ago, a Villain shot Tamaki's Decidueye with a drug I had never seen before. It's a drug that can completely prevent a Pokemon from using its moves."
"T-Tamaki! Is Decidueye okay?" Mirio asked, only to get a small nod from his friend. "He's fine. He was able to use moves again after resting at the hospital."
"So there's nothing to worry about, right? It's not permanent or anything." Lock Rock said, but Nighteye just shook his head and pushed his glasses up. "Not quite. Eraser, could you please explain."
"Right. It seems the drug works differently from how my Pokemon use Disable because we're not attacking the energy that allows Pokemon to use moves. See, this energy is more well-known as Infinity Energy." He said. Izuku recognized the name. While he knew about Infinity Energy, he mostly remembered it from his time at I-Island where David Shield's invention boosted and increased a Pokemon's infinity energy. It was why that Duraludon was able to stay Gigantamaxed for so long.
"Most people know it as a kind of elemental energy, but it's much more than that. Infinity Energy also serves as the foundation for Mega Energy, Z-Energy, and Dynamax Energy. Aside from basic biology, Infinity Energy serves as the main differentiating factor between various species of Pokemon. Disable blocks the Pokemon from releasing that energy, but it doesn't actually attack a Pokemon's 'Infinity Factor' as we like to call it."
Fat nodded and pointed towards Tamaki. "After we brought Decidueye to the hospital, we found that his Infinity Factor was damaged. The drug directly attacked the Pokemon's ability to produce Infinity Energy. Thankfully, it was able to restore itself naturally. Luckily for us though, Red Riot was there on the scene." The man held up a broken dart with the contents spilled out. "His Druddigon ran in and took a shot, and thanks to its tough skin, we managed to get a sample of the drug."
Eijiro pointed to himself in shock. "M-Me?! How'd I get involved?!" Fat Gum didn't reply, only continuing from what he was saying before. "It actually contains DNA from Pokemon that aren't from this world. Their cellular structure is so different from the Pokemon of our world that even the scientists examining the stuff couldn't recognize it even belonged to a Pokemon at all at first. Through experimentation, the DNA of the foreign Pokemon attacks the Infinity Factor of a Pokemon, damaging it."
"So these Pokemon aren't from our world?" Ryukyu asked. "That seems to be the case. We have reason to believe that these come from the same strange Pokemon we've been seeing." Nighteye replied.
"Hold up. You really expect us to believe that… er… Pokemon are invading from other universes?" One of the Heroes there said. Nighteye pushed his glasses up and shook his head. "No, they aren't invading. However, this wouldn't be the first time in history that Pokemon from other universes came to ours."
He flipped through his clipboard before stopping on a certain page. "There was a time several decades ago when a mad scientist found herself obsessed with these strange Pokemon. She dedicated her life's work to learning more about them and their beauty. She ended up succeeding in traveling to an Ultra Beast's homeworld."
"So how have we never heard about this? I think it's pretty farfetched for us to believe a story like that." Another Hero asked. "After an old Hero traveled to the Ultra Beast's homeworld and brought her back to her senses, the scientist wiped all information regarding Ultra Beasts and inter-dimensional travel. I understand that this story is hard to believe, but in truth, we can't find any explanation to what these creatures are."
The Heroes there remained silent for a moment, processing the information. "So… how does this connect to the Shie Hassaikai?" One Hero asked. Fat stood up and gestured to Centipeder. The sidekick clicked a button on his remote, showing a large graph with dots connected to one another.
"The circulation of illegal goods, especially Pokemon, is very complicated. As far as we know, the man Kirishima captured had no direct connections to the Shie Hassaikai at all. However, by looking at channels and sifting through every single organization, while there isn't solid evidence, we know that the Shie Hassaikai has gotten involved somehow."
"To add to that…" Nighteye said. "One of the organizations we know made contact with the one that Kirishima captured was one that Ryukyu battled recently. We've found out that they were an intermediary between the Shie Hassaikai and other Villain groups."
"It runs that deep, huh…" One other Hero said. "The sudden rise in fixed crime recently… you think that's all connected to the Shie Hassaikai?"
"I dunno… it feels shaky to still say that this is all the work of the Shie Hassaikai. You got any other evidence for us to work with?"
Nighteye motioned for Centipeder to press the remote once more, revealing a video of a rather plain-looking house. Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard… just for a brief moment. Just for a split second, a loud shriek erupted from the house. "This is a video that I personally took while surveying the area. I have reason to believe that they had soundproofed the house completely with advanced technology, but the loud shrieks of this Pokemon made it through for just a moment and they did resemble the sounds that people described at the sightings of these Pokemon. Chisaki is an accomplished scientist and a smart man who has many connections. If there were ever to be a man who could access the power of an inter-dimensional Pokemon… it'd be him. Not to mention…"
The screen changed again, showing a picture of Eri, much to Mirio and Izuku's dismay. "Chisaki has a daughter named Eri. Without a birth certificate or any records at all, we can't even prove that she is his daughter. However, when Mirio and Midoriya ran into her the other day, her legs and arms were covered in scratches and bandages. She reacted very strongly just from the sight of his Pokeball."
Everyone gasped in shock and the air in the room became way tenser. Ryukyu clenched her fist and scowled. "To think that people like that can exist… disgusting." Eijiro looked around and turned to Fat, confused. "F-Fat Gum… what's happening? What do they mean?"
Lock Rock scoffed and crossed his arms. "I'm tellin' ya'. These kids don't know anything." He looked at Eijiro. "That bastard Chisaki… he's usin' his daughter for something. If we had to make a guess, she'd be his key to inter-dimensional travel… otherwise, he woulda already killed her. She didn't get those bandages from tripping and falling."
The students' eyes all widened in shock. "N-No… how… how can someone do that… to a kid?!" Nighteye looked at all the Heroes and shook his head. "We don't know for sure if it's him who is selling the bullets, but if we assume that this was a trial run… if we assume that he did so to recruit more members, after some time, it's safe to assume that they'll be able to perfect the drug. That's when things turn from bad to worst."
Lock Rock scoffed once more and glanced at Izuku and Mirio. "So you're telling me this wouldn't have happened if the kids just took the daughter?" The words pierced through the kids through their hearts. Looking back, they knew it… they knew they should've just trusted their instincts…
"Do not blame them, please. I take full responsibility. Although at the time they had no knowledge of this, they did do their best to try and save the girl without causing an even bigger conflict. Midoriya took a stand and protected the girl despite knowing Chisaki's status and Mirio assessed the situation and did everything he could to keep her safe."
Izuku and Mirio couldn't even look up at the rest of the Heroes out of shame. This whole time they had been training to be Heroes… yet… they couldn't even save one girl. All this talk about saving people…
Nighteye saw the looks on their faces and frowned. "Please do not put any more blame on them. They were simply following my orders while doing their best to keep the girl safe. At the very least, they should be commended for making such a tough decision. Out of everyone here, they are the ones who feel the most regret."
Suddenly, the two boys stood up. "Sir, please… we promise to rescue Eri!" Izuku said. "Sir, there has to be another chance!" Mirio continued. Nighteye nodded and turned to the rest of the Heroes. "Correct, which is what brings me to why I brought you all here today."
Lock Rock shook his head and crossed his arms again. "Look, I like your fire, kiddo. If this speculation is true though, then Eri is the core of Chisaki's plan. There's no reason for him to keep a liability like that around if she didn't matter to him, and looking at those scars and wounds, I don't think she's important to him in the typical fatherly type way."
He placed his hand over his chin and looked down at the table. "But then that begs the question, why would he even let her out in the first place? Something must've happened. I mean, she even ran into a bunch of rookie Heroes. You really think they're gonna keep her in the same place? If I was him, I wouldn't. Even if we go after him, it'll all be for nothing if we can't get that girl."
*Ryukyu nodded. "I agree. Sir Nighteye, what do you think?"
"Yes, that is a problem I considered. In addition to that, we do not know how his daughter contributes to their efforts nor do we know the progress they have made. Because of that, if we make an attempt to strike, we need to wipe them out in a single go. That's why we've made a thorough list of all organizations and groups that have direct connections to the Shie Hassaikai."
Nighteye pressed a button on the remote, revealing a map of Japan with several locations marked down. "I brought you all here to investigate these different areas so that we may filter out the places where their main base of operations is."
"So that's why you recruited lower-ranked Heroes like us." One other man said. "We're the Heroes familiar with a lot of the locations you listed down."
"That's right." Nighteye said. "We need to carefully analyze and predict over and over again until we are sure. We can't take any risks. We need to know that when we strike, there is a near 100% chance that we are able to rescue her."
"He's right. We can't rush." Gran Torino agreed. "If we launch a grand operation and Chisaki manages to escape with his daughter, we'll only be making things worse. Think Stain and how things got out of hand, leading to crime rates rapidly growing."
"Um… excuse me." Aizawa raised his hand slowly. "I have a question. Everybody here knows that your Gardevoir can see into the future, right? I don't really know how it works so is there anything preventing you from just doing that? It seems unreasonable to continue like this knowing we have a power like that."
"I understand your concern but… Gardevoir cannot do that." He said, much to Aizawa's surprise. "Gardevoir's Future Sight works differently to how you might expect. For one, she can only use the future vision portion of the move once every 24 hours, otherwise she wouldn't be able to use it for up to a week. Future Sight is also a move that targets an opponent, meaning I can only look at one person's future once a day."
Nighteye stood up and turned to the rest of the Heroes. "I am truly sorry that my power cannot be of use to you, but I am relying on you all. Please, help me get this job done so we can take down the Shie Hassaikai."
As the meeting ended, the four members of Class 1-A along with the Big Three sat down at a table in another room. There, Izuku and Mirio explained the scenario to their peers. It was only then that the true guilt they had felt was understood by those around them. "If only… if only I tried a little bit harder… she would've…"
Eijiro looked down and let out a sigh. "S-So that's what happened…" He said. He scowled and slammed his fist on the table. "Damn…" Everyone there was overtaken with an overwhelming sense of sadness. That was… until someone entered the room.
"You kids look like you're at a funeral." Aizawa walked into the room and approached them. "A-Ah, Mr. Aizawa."
"Outside of school, please just call me Eraser Head." He said as he stood in front of them. "Anyway, today I was gonna propose the suspension of your internships at the meeting." His statement shocked all of them. "B-But why?!" Eijiro shouted.
"You heard Nighteye. This case was dangerous enough when we knew they were linked to the League of Villains. Now though, things are looking a lot worse." He then turned to Izuku and let out a sigh. "But… I don't think Midoriya, or any of you for that matter, will be satisfied with that. Even if I try to stop you, I know you kids will find a way to get involved anyway."
Aizawa then crouched down in front of Izuku and looked at him in the eyes. "I'll keep an eye on you. You've got a good heart and I know you've got unfinished business here, Midoriya." He placed his fist on the boy's chest and smiled. "You got that, problem child?" Izuku couldn't respond. All he could do was nod as tears formed in his eyes.
Meanwhile, Tamaki and Nejire were trying to cheer Mirio up. "Lift your head, Mirio." Tamaki said. Nejire smiled and pat him on the back. "Listen, I know all about it. Togata, even if you've got regrets, there's no use moping over it now. We've got an opportunity to make things right, but you have to look up to do it. Got it?" Mirio looked up at them and nodded.
Aizawa looked at the rest of the students and smiled. "Let me give you some two some encouragement. That person you weren't able to save… your encounter didn't mean despair to Eri. For all we know, you could've given her the hope she needed. Keep your head up."
He then reached into his pocket and pulled out three bracelets. "Anyway, if you're tagging along, I want you to be as prepared as possible. Leave the investigating to us. In the mean time, Uraraka, Asui, and Kirishima to practice with these." He handed one to each of them before giving them one Z-Crystal each: Dragonium Z for Eijiro, Fairium Z for Ochako, and a Waterium Z for Tsuyu.
"I'll be watching all of you, so make me proud." The students looked up at Aizawa and smiled before nodding. "Yes, sir!"
