Justice Across Space and Time

Chapter 59

I'll get more into the changes that will happen in this story compared to the canon. Namely how certain characters will be dealt with and what will happen to others thanks to the machinations of others. So on with the show.

(No POV)

Toshinori hummed as he followed the villains toward what he assumed to be their lair. "Just what are you up to next?" he thinks aloud while keeping his face hidden. The two eventually duck into an old building before Gentle peeks out to check. Toshinori thinks fast and sits down in an alley. Pretending to be homeless.

Gentle's eyes rest on him for just a moment before shaking his head and going back inside. "Something wrong?" La Brava asks him when he returns. "No. Checked around and saw someone. Just a vagabond from the looks of him."

With their guards dropped, Toshinori makes his way over to the building to listen in on their conversations. How they were looking to make a big scene to increase their followers. "I'll become someone remembered. Just like I hoped to be when I attended UA." Gentle says after discussing the plans with his partner.

The hero is wide eyed and thinks on the matter a bit. 'This could be a bit more trouble than we think. But I wonder what could have happened to him.' While he was thinking this, clouds quickly gathered, and rain started to fall. As he was thinking of dashing off, he overheard something Gentle said.

"I'm just going to give a little something to that poor person out there. Especially if this rain is going to keep coming down." Toshinori silently curses before light dashing and prays that nothing caught that. He sits back down and tucks his hands in his sweatshirt while curling up a bit.

He barely registers that Gentle had come over but acts like he just woke up. "Sir. Sir! Are you alright?" Gentle says while looking down at Toshinori. The hero gulps a bit before shaking his head and making it seem like he was just waking up.

And he sees the criminal looking down at him with a smile while holding an umbrella. Gentle crouches down and extends an extra one to Toshinori. "Its' not much, but it might help keep the rain off." Toshinori is shocked but accepts it gratefully. Gentle then shared a quick cup of warm tea with the disguised hero.

"Be careful sir. It's getting rougher on these streets." Gentle says before taking his leave. Toshinori nods and grunts out a thank you to the man. He looks down before thinking, 'he isn't a bad person. And if what I heard is right, then his whole focus is….. I think I need to talk with Nezu and John about this.'

Toshinori waits a bit longer before picking up the umbrella and slipping away to get back to UA. Where all of the students and teachers were getting ready for the Festival and the various kinds of fun to be had. With Pedro taking the children around and aiding where he could.

"Thanks Padre!" a few third years say after the Brazilian man had help with some heavy lifting. And while he was doing that, the Big 3 were playing with the trio of Eri, Carmen, and Ernesto. Eri was laughing while flying in the air with Nejire. Carmen was playing hide and seek with Mirio. And Ernesto was poking Tamaki's sides to get him to break out of his shell more.

Pedro laughs a bit while looking at the children all having fun and playing with the senior students. "Obrigado Mirio. Carmen just gets more and more nimble as days go by," the father says as the little girl dodges and evades Mirio's grasp. "Yeah! She's a quick little miss! Bet she could do plenty with some chances."

Mirio has his usual big smile as he's saying this, but this is off put by his pants dropping around his ankles. The blonde looks down in shock and says, "wait! I didn't permeate! So how did I?" Pedro looks to the side and sees the reason.

"I think someone decided to have some different fun with you." Mirio follows Pedro's gaze and sees that Carmen had stolen his belt. Without him even realizing she did it. While the little girl laughs at her prank, the father is less impressed.

He gives her a look which make Carmen shrink a little while handing Mirio back his belt. He then tells her to go back to her room. "We'll talk about this later." Pedro says with a firm look. Mirio tries to bring some levity back and tells Carmen he'll bring her something later.

He then talks to Pedro that he didn't mind that much about the swiping of his belt. "It was just a harmless prank. She didn't mean anything bad by it." Pedro looks to the young man before saying he'd see how that could be a slippery or dangerous slope if one wasn't careful.

"So many from the favella started stealing small things. But not for a better reason like hunger or something like that. Just because it was fun, or they felt a rush from it. It led many of them down a treacherous path." Mirio was slightly wide eyed, but he put a hand on the padre's shoulder before saying they'd help to keep her on the good path. "Who knows? Maybe she could use those talents to steal from villains."

Pedro smiles again before commenting on how Mirio was always looking on the bright side. Tamaki though asks that Mirio switch with him since Ernesto kept teasing him and asking for the pointy eared boy to turn into something. His friend laughed at him a bit before playing tag with the little boy.

Nejire landed and let Eri rest after flying around for a while. She starts chattering about her excitement for the festival and what they could expect from each of the courses. As well as mentioning how excited she was for the beauty pageant.

Other students had similar emotions running high as they continued to work on their exhibits and productions. Though for a set of trios, they were having their own difficulties. 'So, Setsuna signed you up for the beauty pageant?" Saphentite says with a wry smirk towards Itsuka. She blushed and told her friend to 'shut it!' while looking to the side.

Jotaro commented that Saphentite shouldn't be teasing so much. "After all, you got signed up for the pageant as well." Hearing this makes the genie girl face fault and ask if he was joking. "Wait. Did you sign me up?!" she asks in a panic. "No. But I did overhear Mineta and Kaminari talking like the wanted to see you in a sexy get up."

"And you didn't stop them?!" Saphentite exclaims. Jotaro just shrugs before saying, "I was kind of interested to see what both of you would do. And I'm not just talking about putting something fancy or similar on. Before I lose my sight again, I'd kind of like to see what each of your beauty is."

After saying that, both Saphentite and Itsuka's blushes go nuclear, and they look to the side in a bit of embarrassment. Itsuka grumbles and says, "did you do that just so we'd have more incentive to compete?" Jotaro just smiles and shrugs before saying he had to practice with the band group.

For Melissa though, she was chosen to be a part of the pageant as well. And she wasn't very happy about it. She asked around the development studio who signed her up and the answer was a surprise. It was the two-time winner of the pageant; Kenranzaki Bibimi.

"Why do you want me to compete?! I'm not even technically a student here!" Melissa exclaimed rather gaudy blonde. Who let out a haughty laugh before saying she wanted more true competition.

"You truly understand beauty. You showed it every day and when you were in the field with the heroes. And frankly speaking you'll bring in some more publicity and interest for the support course."

Melissa was dumbstruck by this and vented her annoyance to Ochaco and Izuku. They both let out slightly confused chuckles at hearing the reason she was competing. But Ochaco brings her up a bit by saying she could totally win. "That girl might have won a few times, but you are way cuter than her!"

Izuku hummed while thinking over the matter. Muttering to himself on what the pageant really was about. 'At least for the others who compete in it. I wonder….' Ochaco finally snaps Izuku out of it to try and get him to support Melissa in the competition.

"Uh yeah….. listen I'll be back later. There's something I need to look into." Izuku says before hurrying off to his room. Ochaco gives him a puffed cheek glare as he hurries off. And Melissa just laughs and says, "I know you're probably trying to look angry and all. But you just look cute like that."

Izuku decided to look into the previous pageants to see what the showy student of the Support course had done to win. He saw how she used items and other pieces to accentuate her beauty and appeals during the shows.

He smiles to himself before thinking, "that's what she meant. Melissa shows her beauty by building and using her gear. She doesn't show just physical beauty, which she definitely has. She shows other aspects of herself with what she makes."

"That's a pretty way to say it. But maybe you should tell Melissa yourself." Izuku hears this from his door and sees Saphentite there smiling at him. He doesn't blush explosively, but Izuku's cheeks do turn pink. He clears his throat and does agree with the genie. "I think I will do that."

He quickly leaves to suggest or talk about that with Melissa. While Saphentite thinks about what Izuku said and how it could relate to her own appeals. And she shares the information with Itsuka. "Why would you tell me this? Are we….. well competing?" Itsuka questions with a confuse look to the genie girl.

Saphentite smiles and says, "yes. In more than one way. But frankly, I'd prefer to compete fairly. Especially because you deserve it." Itsuka blushes a bit and thanks Saphentite and starts thinking about what to do for her set of appeals.

When Toshinori made it back to UA, he went to Nezu to talk about what happened. Though he had to pretend to be Hibiki Ten again. And use that as a segue to ask about a possible former student that he suspected Gentle to be. But once he was done with that he wanted to talk to Jotaro.

"Hey! You all working hard?" he asked when he arrived at the 1-A dorms. Jiro was finishing pieces to her song for the performance, but what she had done was sounding good and so were her bandmates. Each of the students gave All Might a cheery hello as he walked up. "I need to talk with Jotaro about something. Can you spare him?"

Jiro smiles and says they'll manage. "But hurry back. I need my back up," she says with a smirk directed the large teen's way. Who just rolls his eyes and asks Toshinori what he wanted to talk about. "Uh not here. Can we speak somewhere, private?"

"Sure. I know what you mean." Jotaro says with a slow nod and directed him to his room. Once there, they used his portal to go to his and Saphentite's shared pocket space. Toshinori shakes his head while looking around the strange space and takes his seat in the reception/relaxation area.

Once there, Toshinori relays what he discovered about the villain who was looking to sneak into the School Festival. And what his motivations were for doing this.

"I want to take him down. But at the same time, I understand where he's coming from. He had a dream to be a great or notable hero. And was told/forced out and to become something completely different."

Jotaro had started with a neutral look, but it quickly turned to an annoyed and angry one as the story went on. "I'd say he's a victim and culpable in a few ways here. First is that he's a victim of the systems and institutions of what it means to be a hero. But in the same way he's culpable for his own state because his actions hurt others."

The hero notes that it was another problem with too many powers, heroes, and meddling from the government. And he does relate this back again to that quirks were too widespread and gives people the wrong ideas in many ways.

"There was a reason so many of us from my world kept their identities a secret. It's not about avoiding responsibility. It's about making sure others in our family aren't held responsible for our choices. Look at what happened to his family. How they were forced to shoulder the debts and their home was attacked because of it. That isn't right."

Toshinori thinks about it and agrees. "I never had to worry about it since….. well, most of my family were gone. And those who were alive by the time I came back saw it as a good thing. Given I was popular and made a big rise through the ranks." He then notes that he himself was a bit culpable as well, given he made such a splash that it made so many others want to become heroes as famous as he was.

"So. What do you want to do?" Jotaro asks with a raised eyebrow to the retired pro hero. The man thinks it over a few times. How his influence had messed with or changed some of the perception of heroes. For better and worse. And how he could relate to the dream the young man had and how much it likely hurt to have that dream destroyed.

Toshinori said he still didn't have an answer. "But I'm working towards it. I've asked Nezu to leave this to me for the time being. I need to make a bit more of a name for myself as Hibiki, but more importantly I think I can maybe get him to stand down." Jotaro nods and tells his friend good luck before returning to normal space.

Once he did return, he saw Mina and the rest of the dance team trying to build a routine to go with Jiro's song. They were getting somewhere but some are having trouble getting in proper sync. "C'mon guys! Jiro is putting everything into writing this awesome song! We have to match up with her work!" Mina exclaims as she tries to get each member of the dance team.

Izuku is somewhat getting there, given his training in Capoeira with Jotaro and Saphentite. So, he could get into the rhythm and step a bit to it. But he was having trouble with coming up with new steps with it.

Ida was….. sticking with the robot. While Toru and the rest work out their own ways of dancing. Jotaro has a bit of a laugh at their efforts before getting back to the music and drumming out the rhythm for the performance.

Mineta notices and questions if he thought he could do better. "I'm not one for just dancing by myself." Jotaro says with a smile. This gets Mina curious though and asks what he meant by that with a smile. "Care to show us how you'd dance~?"

"Not doing it." Jotaro immediately says. But Mina doesn't give up and starts leaning on him. Literally. Jotaro keeps his cool for the most part, but he can feel the girl pushing her breasts against his back. 'C'mon man! You shouldn't be affected by this. You know what she looks like with nothing on! And then there's Sahiraah and Itsuka!' Jotaro shouts in his mind.

The former of the girls mentioned though, decides to have a bit of fun with his misery. "Oh, why not Jotaro? You learned how to dance from when you were really young. And we'd practice plenty of times~. So why not show her?" Saphentite says with a shit eating grin.

Jotaro keeps denying, but he's slowly breaking down thanks to Saphee and Mina giving him something he's no longer immune to. The puppy dog eyes and pouting. His eye twitches a bit and he grumbles out, "this is one of the problems to being able to see" before agreeing. So long as Mina was with him and Saphentite provided the music.

The latter was more than happy to oblige while the former was nervous and excited at the same time. 'Damn. Thought she'd be opposed.' Jotaro thinks before telling Mina he'd be doing something a bit slower than she might be thinking.

"Oooh~. What did you have in mind?" the pink girl asks while trying to keep the allusion that she wasn't nervous. As the music starts, Jotaro gently takes Mina's hands pulls her in slowly. Then flows her out a bit to a spin.

Mina loses herself in the music as Jotaro catches her hand and turns her once closer to his body. Her back against his chest as she reaches up and puts her hand on his cheek. He leads her into a turn again and then into a gentle movement of steps. And the looks the two give each other, make those watching blush. And Ochaco notices that Izuku seemed to be moving similar.

"Hmmm~. C'mon Izuku! Let's join them!" Ochaco says while taking Izuku's hand. The green teen sputters a bit but gulps before moving his hands where Jotaro and Saphentite had shown him. 'Can't believe they were right about this coming in handy later,' he thinks while remembering the lessons in the time bubble.

While the newest two are a bit clumsy but still having fun, the first pair start to enjoy themselves a bit more. Especially when Jotaro lifts Mina and then after a few more moves and spins, he flows it into a near bridal lift and spin. As Mina tucks her head into the crook of Jotaro's neck.

"Damnit. I thought he would have two left feet. Or whatever the expression is." Mineta says with a disgruntled look. A few of the others agree as Jotaro and Mina separate and dance a bit solo. Then start to move closer once more.

Rotating slightly as they come together and putting their hands into positions as they do. His right upon her hips and her right on his shoulder. Even if it's a bit harder to reach. The two then start some steps with Jotaro leading as they move around the floor again.

Jotaro swings her out gently before pulling her closely in with a spin embrace. Then around once more before dipping her as the song ended. And while she was able to focus on the dancing and enjoyment of dancing in the moment; now that the song was ending, she noticed the look he was giving her.

And it made her blush purple, and it wouldn't fade as he lifted her up. "Um…. Wow. That was different. And it felt really good too." Mina muttered out in some embarrassment. Which makes Kaminari and Mineta rage once more about how the powerhouse of their class was charming another girl. "And I don't even think he's trying!"

With the matter done he asked that they move on, and he gets back to practicing. Unfortunately for him, someone took a video and posted it. Which led to some from 1-B coming over to tell him off for flirting with another girl. "You haven't danced with Kendo, and you're dating her!" Kinoko says while weaking punching at Jotaro.

"Actually, he has. It was more private." Itsuka said with a smile directed at Jotaro. Who rubbed the back of his head and lets out an awkward laugh. And it was Monoma who showed the video some at the karaoke place had taken and posted. "Wait how did you know about it?" Itsuka asks with a narrowing of her eyes at the blonde.

While this was happening, Izuku and Ochaco went to visit Melissa. She'd been given a more private lab to develop tools and the like. Currently, she was working on a new suit of armor. This one had a darker color scheme and a smaller jetpack compared to her usual armor. And the face was fully covered compared to her usual suit that would work as a set of goggles and minor head protection.

"Working hard I see. And it's kind of pretty how your face glows while your doing that." Izuku says with a smile. His words get Melissa's attention and make her blush luminant. Ochaco snorts before saying, "did Jotaro teach you how to say things like that? Things that make girls go weak in the knees?"

Izuku blushed as he thought about what he said. He coughed before asking what Melissa was working on. "Oh uh. This is model 18. It's a stealth suit. I've been building with some focus on a variety of situations," the inventor says before finishing what she was adjusting.

She then types in some commands on the keyboard, and it makes the suite virtually invisible. "Whoa! That's so cool!" Ochaco says before going over to touch the machine. She then comments that she could be as stealthy as Hagakure with this. "And you've probably got way better options if it comes to a fight!"

"Well you're not wrong. But I don't have as many options as my normal suit. And I still need to calibrate this one for flight." Melissa exposits. Izuku was more interested in something different. "You called this one model 18. If the first one you built with Saphee's help was model one, and you usual suit is….. maybe model two. Doesn't that mean you have 16 more suits of armor?!"

Melissa stops before sighing and using her computer to turn on some of the other lights. It's there that Izuku and Ochaco witnessed her larger arsenal of armors. She had one that was more suited for underwater, a suit that seemed to be focused on longer range flight, one with a bigger arsenal compared to the rest etc.

"Whoa! These are all awesome! Are you trying to become a one woman army with this one?" Ochaco asks excitedly while looking over the heavy armament one. It had a variety of extra guns, missile and rocket pods, and other weaponry.

Melissa clears her throat before saying, "no. That was… well admittedly it was me having more fun with the….. American perspective. Trying to add a bunch of guns if it's needed." Izuku mentioned that she probably didn't need it if used the 13th armor he was looking at.

The machine was larger than the rest. It was taller than All Might in his buffed-up state and seemed to have enhanced defense and other gear to fight with. "What made you come up with this one?" Izuku asked while looking it over.

Melissa looked down before saying, "my imitator if you will. He likely got his last bit of inspiration from when we saved that cruise ship, and I showed off my armor. He wears a suit that is larger and stronger than mine. So, I wanted something that could compete. If necessary."

Both of the hero course students could see the reasoning behind that and asked her a bit more about the other suits. While she was describing them, Ochaco noticed that she seemed to glow when she was talking about her gear and what it could do.

She smiled before saying, "I think I get what you meant Izuku. She does seem to glow a bit when she's talking about or working with her gadgets." Melissa blushes again at this praise and Izuku comes in to make it a bit worse.

Before she could pass out from the embarrassment though, Izuku surprised her in a different way by suggesting that she use her armors for her appeal during the pageant. Melissa stops blushing before wondering what Izuku was talking about.

"You can show your own kind of beauty just like Kenranzaki did." Both of the girls look at him funny and he uses his phone to show some of the appeals. She was a bit ostentatious in each, but in each of her appeals she would give a showy appeal with the devices she made.

Both of the girls were surprised and that is when Melissa starts to put it together in her mind. How she could use each of her armors for her appeal as well as an idea for a new armor. She quickly kisses Izuku and thanks him before rushing him and Ochaco out.

"I've got some work to do! Thanks!" Melissa says before calling Mei to ask if she was willing to help on a new project. And the girl arrives faster than Melissa believed possible.

With Izuku and Ochaco, after being shocked at Hatsume rushing past them, they were each considering more of what could happen for the Festival to come. "Hey Izuku. How about we practice dancing a bit more when we get back?" Ochaco asks as they are walking through the halls.

Izuku likes the idea and agrees. At least until they got back, and Mina told Izuku he was fired. "From the dance team anyway. You aren't bad but we need your help on a different project. We're going to use Aoyama like a disco ball. And Saphee is dancing as well as making magic fireworks."

"Oh. Okay that makes sense." Izuku says. Ochaco seems a bit sad about this but her spirits get brought up a bit when he tells Ochaco he could still dance with her to practice. Bringing his other girlfriend's spirits up again.

While they were all working on that, Jiro was currently working in a place that shocked her. "So, if I'm understanding this right; you and Jotaro made this place to relax. And it technically is outside of normal space time?!" Jiro said the first time she visited.

Saphentite shrugs and said, "more or less. It was a good way to avoid a lot of extra noise from the world or threats to the outside. Which helps Jotaro and keeps most safe from some of the things I've made." Jiro double takes at that and asks what she meant. "Don't worry about it~."

Jiro shook her head before focusing on the task and was impressed by the number of instruments Jotaro had. "Oh come on! He was impressed by my Les Paul, but he's got a few himself. And one strange looking….. what is this?" Jiro asked while looking at an odd guitar that seemed to have axe blades on either side of the body.

Saphentite looked at it with a mix of nostalgia and sadness. "It's….. something from a friend. Never mind about that. You've got some more work to do." Jiro nods and agrees before getting to work on the music for their performance.

"Is it ready? Almost. Just need a good way to hide these for the plan to go off without a hitch." The ones talking were Mandla, Compress, and Eblith. Mandla had finished making a compound for a special poison or sickness to be spread through UA. "Now comes the problem. These compounds can't really be sealed. At least not in something like a grenade."

Mandla explains that the mix needed to be consistently exposed to air over a period of time so they could go off. "That's where I come in. Right?" Compress says with a look through his mask. Mandla nods and fills up a few vials with the compound he made. Compress takes them in hand to shrink the objects into marbles.

With that done, they set the marbles inside of a few crates to be shipped to UA from one of Sosaku's shell companies. "I'm curious. Why didn't you make a concoction that would work as a grenade or anything?" Compress asks as they all change and pretend to be workers.

"The best some of those might do is cause an explosion or cause a short-term sickness. You want the maximum effect you have to 'breathe life' into it so to speak. Like letting plants absorb CO2, the strongest and deadliest potions need a life of their own." Mandla says while moving some of the boxes.

Compress shrugs and goes along with it since he was the actual mage among them. Eblith was intrigued about what could happen next. 'Whether it succeeds or not isn't really that important. This still could lead to all kinds of fun~!" they think as the crates with the potion marbles are set inside.

So, I really hope some of you guys will answer this question I'm about to pose: who do you want to win the pageant? Normally I'd be tempted to stick with Nejire, but I'm adding some new pieces to the pageant. For starters, Itsuka also has her ki powers which can make an interesting spectacle. Saphentite is a genie, so magic is at play there. Melissa has her armors. You get the idea. Please review to leave your opinion!