Chapter 5

Making New Friends

(Part 2)

"G-Gargoyles…h-how, what?" asked Uraraka who was dumbfounded by this. Izuku felt the same; he was curious about this revelation.

"Your questions shall be answered, but it would be best if you meet the others first," Goliath told the two, then led the way back into the castle with the three humans following him.

Minutes later, they arrived at a large library with three levels. Each one was filled with various types of books, most of which were first editions hardcovers. The teens had never seen so many books in one place before.

"Wow…and I thought the one at school was big!" Uraraka said in awe as she looked around.

"Are these books yours?" Izuku asked Goliath, who shook his head at this.

"No, these books belong to the building's owner," Elisa answered.

This irked Goliath a bit. Izuku and Uraraka wondered why but said nothing as they took a seat at a large circular table in the center of the room.

Things then became quiet for a bit, until the four heard some new voices nearby.

"You sure it's a good idea for him to bring that to the library?" someone asked concernedly.

"It's…(munch)… only a sandwich, Brooklyn," said another voice, while chewing with its mouth open.

"Yes, but you added six kinds of meat and BBQ sauce on it-" said the first voice.

"But he did put it on a plate, instead of carrying it like his other meals," replied a third voice.

Before long, five new beings entered the room. They were the other Gargoyles. Izuku and Uraraka recognized two of them from the other night but were unfamiliar with the other three.

The first was tall with red skin, a dragon-like face, and a mane of long white hair. Next to him was a big one with teal skin, and three horns on his head. The third was the smallest of the group. He had olive-colored skin and was unlike the other gargoyles. His wings were attached to his arms and legs and connected by a rib extension. Each one wore a loincloth that was a different size and color.

"So, these are the others you wanted us to meet?" guessed Izuku to which Goliath nodded yes to him.

"They are, and now's time we introduce ourselves. I'm called Hudson and this one is Bronx," the oldest Gargoyle said first as he came over to the table.

"It's nice to meet you, sir. I'm Ochako Uraraka," she replied with a smile, then bent down to pet Bronx's head who smiled happily at this.

"Bronx has taken a liking to you lass."

"I can tell he's very friendly," added Uraraka as she liked animals of all kinds.

"And what would your name be lad?" asked Hudson as he looked at the young man.

"Oh, I'm Izuku Midoriya," he answered, then went over to greet Bronx, who turned to sniff the young man. And accepted him as he allowed Izuku to pet his head.

After this, the trio of younger Gargoyles introduced themselves next as they came over.

"I'm Brooklyn," the red one said.

"Name's Broadway, Want a bite?" the big teal one asked, but both declined his offer.

"I'm Lexington, good to meet you both."

"Thanks, it's not every day that we meet living Gargoyles," Uraraka said to Lexington, then asked another question. "Speaking of which, how are you all, well, alive if you don't me asking,"

"That's quite alright, we thought you might ask us about this," Goliath answered as he got their attention and began his explanation. "We are members of a race that live a nocturnal life cycle, who sleep during the day by turning to stone, and then come alive at night, until the sun rises again."

The teens thought back to when they saw Goliath awaken earlier. 'So that explains it!' they thought at the same time.

"Hmm, that's interesting. But how did you meet them, and where did they come from?" Izuku wondered as he looked at Elisa.

"Well, I met these guys while investigating the castle after a disturbance occurred," Elisa answered first, then told them she would explain more about this disturbance later.

"And as for how we came here, I shall tell you. It all began long ago in Scotland," Goliath said next as he took over.

"Our clan originally lived on cliffs that overlooked the ocean. We hunted the fish from the sea and the animals from the forest nearby. Then one day, humans came and built this castle atop the cliffs. When they learned of us, we allied to protect the King and his family that ruled there for many years. By the time the King's daughter: Princess Katherine ruled the castle things changed for us. One day groups of Vikings attacked the castle. But they did so right as we awakened, which led us to repel them and send the cowards running away."

Imaging these events in their minds, Izuku and Uraraka thought of how this battle reminded them of the one from the second Lord of the Rings film. But didn't say anything about this as they continued to listen.

"But their leader had sworn to return, so Hudson and I went after them while the others stayed behind to protect the castle."

"Did you find them?" Izuku asked.

"We thought we did, but they were decoys leading us away from the castle. By the time we realized this, the sun had risen, and we turned to stone," Goliath answered grimly.

Picking up on this, the teens knew that the next part was going to be dark.

"When we awakened and returned to the castle, it was in flames. The Vikings had attacked it during the day and... killed the other members of the clan by smashing them to pieces."

Looks of shock and horror fell upon the faces of the two teens as they heard this. "T-That's horrible," Uraraka stated sadly.

"If they were away when this happened, then how did you four survive?" Izuku asked.

"We were down in the rookery. A place beneath the castle where the Gargoyle eggs were kept. The four of us got sent there after causing trouble the night before," Broadway answered as he recalled what happened.

"After we found them, we went to save the humans taken by the Vikings and to exact revenge on them," Goliath said next which surprised Izuku and Uraraka by hearing this dark response. That kind of talk sounded like something a villain would say. But for Izuku, it reminded him of what his friend Iida tried to do in Hosu when he went after the Hero Killer: Stain for what happened to his older brother.

"Upon finding the Vikings' camp, we five fought and scared off the soldiers. But their leader escaped, so Goliath went after him," said Lexington.

"And…what did you do when you found him?" Izuku wondered as he was both curious and scared to learn the outcome.

"I discovered that the Princess was his hostage. And also, that the Captain of the Guard, the only human my clan and I trusted back then, had betrayed us!" he responded angrily. This made Izuku and Uraraka flinch a bit in fear.

Seeing this, Goliath calmed himself. He apologized then continued. "Before I could do anything, a fight between the Captain and the Viking leader occurred over who was at fault. This led to them falling off a cliff. The same thing would have befallen the Princess, but I saved her in time. Sadly, things then took a turn for the worse when I learned what happened to the others."

Seeing the look of sadness from Goliath, both teens knew it must have been something bad.

"I learned that the Magus, a sorcerer who served the Princess had turned the others to stone. He believed her to be dead and did this out of revenge," Goliath said.

"I take it he regretted this after learning she was alive," replied Uraraka.

"He was, and sadly the counter spell to reverse it was destroyed, and because of this I had the Magus cast the spell on me," Goliath stated.

"You voluntarily turned yourself to stone as well?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Yes. I could not abandon the others. So, I joined them in what seemed like a forever sleep," Goliath told the young man.

"And what happened to the Princess?" Uraraka wondered.

"She left for the kingdom of her uncle the King. But as for what happened to her after this, I do not know," Goliath explained as he recalled asking her the same question.

"Since that night, we remained asleep for a thousand years. Til not long ago when this castle was brought here by a man called Xanatos. He learned of us and found a way to break the spell, by having the castle raised above the clouds," Hudson said next.

"Since then, we've spent our time becoming accustomed to this new world and time, and that's about it," Brooklyn added.

Inside their minds, both teens were shocked and surprised by all this information as they processed it.

'In a world where superpowers exist, it never occurred to me to think that things like supernatural creatures and magic would be real as well?" Izuku thought first, before continuing. "Hmm, now that Goliath and his friends have told me about themselves. I will need to talk with Nana Shimura about how she knows about Gargoyles,"

As for Uraraka, her thoughts were different. 'Everything that we heard sounds like something from a fantasy book or movie. And yet I'm here with six living Gargoyles from another time. There's no way that anyone from back home would believe us."

Thinking about that last part made her think of her parents, and she wondered how they were doing. 'I wonder if they know I'm gone now?'

"Uraraka, are you okay?" Izuku asked as she went quiet for a bit.

"Hmm, oh I'm alright. I just got lost in my thoughts," she told him first, then watched as Izuku turned to the others.

"We thank you for telling us this. And we promise to keep what he heard a secret," Izuku said as he and Uraraka offered a bow of respect.

Seeing this surprised the Gargoyles at first until Elisa told them that it was a custom where Izuku and Uraraka were from. Accepting this, the others bowed back as they saw Izuku speak.

"Since you've told us about yourselves. We would like to tell you about ourselves," Izuku was saying but stopped when his stomach growled loudly.

"Eh…sorry about that. I'm getting hungry as we haven't had dinner yet," the teenage boy said with an embarrassed look.

"Why don't we go to the kitchen and prepare something? We can talk more once we're done eating," Broadway suggested as he too was getting hungry again.

Everyone agreed to this as they left the library and headed for the kitchen.

(Author's Note)

Izuku and Uraraka finally meet the other Gargoyles, learning about them and their backstories. Along with Goliath and the others they start to learn about the world the two teens come from.

There were some moments I left out such as Xanatos using the Gargoyles when they awakened. And Demona's involvement. These will be brought up later after the Izuku and Uraraka get to know their new friends, along with Goliath and the clan learning about the world of Pro Heroes and their powers.

Til then, stay tuned.