Justice Across Space and Time

Chapter 52

Now the Ryukyu and Mirko agencies will be dealing with their own sets of enemies. Dealing with the smugglers and what else could be involved in these items that were being brought to the outskirts region of Hiroshima. Also this raid is happening roughly the same time as the one in Hokaido is wrapping up. So on with the show.

(No POV)

"Alright. Let's go over some of the details of the operation." Ryukyu says while starting a projector. The image shows a map area that was listed in the recovered materials. A hidden cove area with high hills and a few cliffs around.

"It would be a perfect place for a hidden base and a secret shipping area." Hanabi notes Ryukyu nods, and she notes that they were not sure on what the usage of the metals could be or who the items were being shipped for. "But that is all the more reason to catch these criminals."

"Yeah that's all well and good, but you don't even have a specific location to work with." Mirko says while tapping her foot on the ground impatiently. She looks ready to rush off to chase or fight the smugglers all across the mountain. But that is stopped by Gomtai stretching his arms out and wrapping them around the rabbit.

Ryukyu clears her throat before noting that they couldn't just rush in. "They'll likely be ready for you and have escape paths for when their operation is broken up. Though I don't disagree that we need to do this soon. In fact, I suggest we strike tomorrow afternoon."

This surprises most everyone in attendance as they assumed she would be more inclined to wait and plan things out. "The fact that we are here would be well known within the day. So these criminals will most likely be ready to move out, as they might assume that we are here to capture them."

"And again; why are you not just letting me run off to beat the snot out of everyone of them?" Mirko says while struggling in Gomtai's rubber limbs. The Dragoon hero notes that they will move into position during the night. "We'll have a few positioned at these places."

Ryukyu shifts the image to a map around the smugglers' drop off point. She points to a few sections where they can position their members while the named heroes would stay in the city for a time. "It's true your true meta members have made an impact, but that doesn't quite compare to a pair of top 10 heroes."

Mirko's eyes widen and she gains an excited smirk. "I get it. We don't make a move until these guys confirm and start to engage the punks around the area. Then we come in guns, or rather quirks, blazing to mop up or scatter them. Right into a few other members of our raid squad!"

The dragon hero is a bit surprised at her hot headed colleague's insight, but she agrees and suggests that Saphentite, Markus, and Jotaro be the ones to move their members into position. "Given you're flight, floating and other powers, you can get into position faster and with less flash. Especially compared to Nejire."

"Hey!? What's that supposed to mean?! Are you saying I'll just alert those goons just by being there?! What does – mumph!" Nejire starts but she quickly forgets that Saphentite still had her cursed. And she suddenly has a ball gag in her mouth.

This gets a few eyebrows raised while Nejire is struggling with the item in question. "Uh am I missing something?" Jotaro asks while noticing everyone is moving around kind of sheepish like. "Do you not see- Oh sorry man." Markus started before remembering Jotaro's blindness.

Ryukyu answers Nejires questions all at once and notes that her power is very noticeable and the magic Saphentite could use would be more discrete. She sets up the plans of where to send each of the students and then where to send the older heroes/true metas.

With the plans worked out, each of the members pair up for the locations to head to. With Jotaro teleporting over to the high hills area with Tsuyu and Setsuna. Saphentite magically poofs over with Nejire and Hanabi. And Markus gravity lifts Itsuka, Ochaco, and Gomtai across the water to get them to their locations during the night.

Each of the students and other members are uneasy for a few different reasons. Jotaro and Saphentite were the most at ease, while the others were nervous about this big operation. 'This isn't just chasing after thieves or stopping a rampage. Are we really ready for this?' Markus questions while resting at his point. But after thinking for a bit, he concludes that since Jotaro was there, they would be fine.

Others like Tsuyu and Ochaco were pacing or trying to ease themselves into the idea of jumping into the operation. Hanabi was much the same and had to keep going to a happy place to calm her herbalkinesis. Gomtai meanwhile was uneasy about whoever they could be up against.

Setsuna meanwhile decided to get a head start on surveying the situation. She sent out one of her eyes to check around the smuggler's port and the surrounding area. Saphentite was in a similar situation and used some magic orbs to get a look at the underground areas that could be possible escape routes.

"Was this a good idea?" Mirko turns back to her fellow hero after working out until the evening. Ryukyu was currently staring out the window toward the smuggler's port. She'd been working out too, but she wasn't into it and was worried about her new members.

The Rabbit hero meanwhile just let out a frustrated sigh while drying off. She then put her sweaty towel on top of Ryukyu head and shook her a bit. "You can't keep worrying about this. You believed they could handle it, right? So trust them and believe they can handle this situation."

Ryukyu grumbles a bit before partially turning into a dragon and picking up the rabbit woman. Even in this larger state, Mirko was glaring at the dragon. "Thank you. But next time, don't use your sweaty towel." Ryukyu says before dropping Mirko to the ground.

Who easily recovers and lands with a quick bounce of her feet. She then suggests that they both get some rest for the likely fight to come. "Though I have to wonder if Jotaro and Saphentite will have the whole thing wrapped up by the time we get there." Mirko comments before heading to the shower.

The next day, Mirko and Ryukyu keep some of the attention on themselves by patrolling together and even posing for some pictures. This puts the smugglers, porters, and support engineers at the hidden base at ease. "Guess it's nothing to worry about after all. They're just looking to get some extra publicity." The shark quirked head smuggler says while looking over one of his goon's shoulder.

He gives out his next orders to start moving the items and materials inland. "We need to get this stuff shipped out now! No telling if there will be other heroes who happen upon what we're doing here."

"Oh we already know what you're doing. And we can put a stop to it!" Setsuna's mouth says while floating above with one of her eyes. Suddenly, a set of magic fields erupts around a few of the thugs and smugglers. Courtesy of a set of paper seals Saphentite gave to Setsuna to trap the criminals.

It does the job well enough to knock out and defeat most of the criminals involved. But a few started using their own quirks to break out or attack the floating body parts. With the shark boss biting down and snapping the bars of a stone cage made by the magic.

This is when Jotaro and Markus leap in. Jotaro taking his chance to punch the shark in the face and up into the air. While Markus came in next and double singularity hammer fist slams on the head of the villain. And keeps a gravity field around the large villain.

While this had been happening, others who had tried to escape found themselves trapped or attacked by the other hero study students. With Nejire quickly making herself known and scaring others to her kouhai. Where Ochaco removes their gravity or pins them with her martial arts, Tsuyu wraps them up or kicks them to knock them out, Hanabi catches them in some of the vines around, and Itsuka uses her marital arts or gadgets to knock out the criminals.

Those who think they can get away to the sea, quickly find that route is sealed too. As Ryukyu and Mirko fly in and engage the villains on the ships and boats. "Well that was quick and easy. Wonder if there was anyone who would have been a real challenge?" Mirko cockily says while stretching her back.

Jotaro and Gomtai meet up after a majority of the criminals had been knocked out or captured. With some even trying to get out of Saphentite's magic bindings. Only for them to get shocked by the arcane energies.

"Does this feel off to you?" Gomtai questioned while dragging two villains in his rubbery arms. Jotaro hummed and narrowed his eyes before focusing on his senses. "No you're right. Something's off. Even if we caught them off guard, this was way too easy."

Suddenly an explosion is heard in the hills and cliffs above the smuggler's cove. And a landslide starts down toward the villains and hero students. Hanabi stops capturing the villains near her to head toward the landslide and save everyone. "Okay! I can do this! I can do THIS!" Hanabi says while focusing on all of the rocks and dirt that was heading to the cove.

This lapse lets a few of the villains go free and distracts the hero students around the cove. Saphentite sees a few starting to escape and starts magically restraining the villains that are trying to run. "Saphee!" the genie girl hears and sees Itsuka leaping at her before throwing some stun disks. And impacting on a pair of villains trying to sneak away.

"What the Hell happened?!" Saphentite asks while looking around the forested area. Itsuka gives her a sarcastic eyebrow raise before saying, "what do you think? Some nut blew up the side of the mountain and tried to drop it all on us. Though I don't get why-"

Right as Itsuka was questioning the reasoning, a new explosion went off near her and Saphentite. Knocking both back and dazing them. As the ringing was easing out of Ituska's ears, it started again due to a strong hit to the sides of her head. She takes more hits from an assailant, culminating with the smashing of her face due to a knee.

"OH HELL NO!" Saphentite shouts after shaking out of her own daze and seeing Itsuka being hurt. She doesn't hold back and blasts the man (she surmises due to the body shape) with a quick set of magic. Only to be surprised by the man turning into a puddle of liquid.

She is then struck in the side of the head by a new opponent, but she shakes it off easily and blasts the new attacker. Who again turns into black fluid. She gets attacked again and keeps attacking back. With the enemies attacks barely doing anything to her due to her genie physiology.

But after one punches her in the stomach, she actually feels her breath leave her. And on her blue exposed stomach is the starting of bruising. "Well now. It seems you aren't as invulnerable as your classmate. And now we have a way to really hurt you bitch!" she hears one say before taking a punch to the side of her head.

While this had been happening, Hanabi was struggling to hold all of the falling mountain. As well as losing her footing while trying to hold it up. Only for Jotaro, Mirko, Markus, and Ryukyu to rush in and blast away or remove portions of the rockslide and ease the strain on the telekinetic. "Thanks… oh man! This was giving me as much of a headache as moving that flashflood." Hanabi says while catching her breath.

"At least you held out. And its less noise to drive me….. crazy." Jotaro started before turning back to the forest and picking up on a new set of sounds. And a smell that made him scared and angry. The smell of genie blood.

He rushes quickly to where he could smell the blood. There he found a few beings atop of who he assumed was Saphentite, while a few others were attacking Itsuka. With said girl fighting back as best she could with a broken arm and a few cracked ribs. She'd already dropped six herself before Jotaro arrived.

And even without being able to see, Jotaro was infuriated by the situation before him. And quickly reduces all of the surrounding beings to mud. "Itsuka! Hey! Hold on!" Jotaro says while catching the martial artist girl.

She coughs a bit while spitting out some blood before saying, "don't worry about me! I'm more worried about Saphee!" Jotaro hurries over to Saphentite after making sure Itsuka was okay. Only to be infuriated at the state Saphentite was in.

The villains had restrained her with a mix of brass and copper wire and had been attacking her with more than likely real brass knuckles. Leaving the girl with a bloody and heavily bruised body and face. Barely recognizable from her normal state.

Jotaro was terrified and held Saphentite close before channeling what magic energy he had to try and heal her. Tearing up while muttering, "please be ok! Please be ok! Saphee! Sahirah!"

"Joohn? Ist that yous?" Saphentite groans a bit before looking up at him with a slightly bloody and teary eye. Jotaro starts crying in earnest. With Itsuka limping over while letting out some tears at seeing the state Saphentite was in.

Ryukyu and Mirko arrive a few bit later and see the state both girls are in and are a bit horrified. And furious. But their anger pales compared to the fury they can feel coming off of Jotaro as he stands. He is still crying but they can feel the energy surging around him as he tells them to watch over the girls. "Whoa wait! What are you going to do?" Mirko questioned while feeling intimidated by Jotaro's presence.

"I'm gonna punch some holes in a few skulls." Jotaro says menacingly. Before either hero can tell him to be calm, he rushes off to track the scent of the beings that attacked both of the girls. He quickly comes upon a few and quickly decapitates a few with a punch. Each turning into that black sludge again.

A few of the others see this and he can smell them pissing in their pants. "Okay… we might have gone a bit to far." One mutters out while trying to run. Only to dissipate into sludge a second later due to a fist being shoved through his back and out of his chest.

This continues for a few minutes, with Jotaro finding groups of thugs before destroying them with a punch, kick, or sometimes ripping them in half. And while not physically exhausting, Jotaro started feeling a bit drained.

Suddenly, an item shoots out from the trees and Jotaro blocks with his arm. But that was what the villains had been counting on. The item wraps around his arm, and it has a cable attached to it. Another shoots out and wraps around Jotaro's other arm and then a few stab into or wrap around his back and legs.

With him starting to feel drained by the items. And not just a mental or stamina drain. More akin to the draining of….. "You played me! You were trying to get me out here and drain my energy!" Jotaro says while feeling his nuclear and gamma energies being pulled out.

"We did indeed. We didn't expect this, but we can certainly use it to our advantage. If it costs a few fool villains their lives or being captured. Well it's no skin off our nose." The top hat wearing Compress says while appearing alongside Twice and Ryan. Who was one of the ones draining him.

Along with a dozen or more clones of Ryan who were all draining Jotaro. Created courtesy of Twice and his more relaxed state of mind and a deeper understanding of the true meta's powers. And said true meta could comprehend the energies he was pulling from this time. Absorbing energies through the cables and channeling it into backpack energy cells.

Jotaro had thrown a few around until he started to get drained more and more. Eventually being brought down from his usual superhuman state. Kneeling while trying to catch his breath and break free from the bindings and restraint.

Each of the villains look between one another before Ryan speaks up. "I think we're done. I can't pull his lifeforce or anything, but he's definitely drained of all of the power that made him a terrifying monster."

The bindings release and pull back to the villain and his clones. While Compress and Twice stalk toward the teen. Assured that he would be closer to their level of strength and speed.

"Poor foolish hero. You have as much power as All Might, but it could be drained away. All because you got mad about your girlfriend being hurt. That cost you and benefited us greatly. So, thank you for that." Compress taunts while Jotaro is catching his breath.

Twice does a mix of bringing Jotaro up and mocking him before drawing one of his measuring tapes. "Let's make sure this now weakling can't get stronger again!" Twice says before going to cut Jotaro's throat.

Only to meet the heel of Jotaro's palm with his chin. And then take six more hits to the chest, knees, and face before being sent flying by a double palm strike to the chest. The blow sends Twice flying into a tree and he slumps over unconscious.

Jotaro is breathing a bit heavy but he still stands and faces off with the villains. "Never mistake vulnerability for weakness." Jotaro says before taking a stance. Compress is shocked and unsettled but he turns his cane and pulls out one of his marbles to use against Jotaro.

Compress moves forward before tossing the marble up into the air above Jotaro and then stabbing at Jotaro with his cane. The marble unleashes a boulder and he is sure he can stab the boy in the shoulder to regain the advantage. Only to be shocked and have the wind knocked out of him as Jotaro easily slid out of the way of the cane strike. And then impacted right into his stomach.

While most of the clones had left to get away with the drained energy, a few stayed to help their allies. They each worked to drain Jotaro again, but he was able to evade strikes as well as sensing the energy pulling field that Ryan was using. Throwing some of the clones into that before knocking out and turning the clones into goo.

When a few pile on to try and take him down, Jotaro still throws them around and takes them out. Only to be surprised by a stab to his back and then a few more to his front. "Man you still pack a punch. But at least now you can be hurt!" a Twice clone comments before taking a hit that would break bone from Jotaro.

He keeps fighting off the villainous clones, while the main ones escape with their prizes. "We may not have been able to eliminate him, but we've at least depowered him enough to make him less of a threat." Compress claims while wincing at the broken ribs he now had.

"Are we even sure he's human? He's still fighting from what I can tell. Even though I know Jin's clones stabbed him." Ryan says while lugging his drained nuclear energy. Twice comments that he's not sure, but hopefully they'll be able to take him down.

Jotaro fights for ten more minutes even though his energy is drained and his stamina is fading. Not to mention being stabbed in six more points. From his legs and his back and shoulders. He has trouble catching his breath and falls to a knee. Coughing up a bit of blood from all the wounds and injuries.

Right as a few about to jump him again, Jotaro feels the pull of something he hasn't used for quite a while. He crosses his arms, breathes as deep as he can, before pulling on an energy around and inside him. He then sweeps his arms out quickly unleashing a burst of power that knocks the doubles back and out.

"Cough! Hack! Well now. Haven't had to tap into that for a while. This might be something new to teach Its…. Ka." Jotaro says before falling to his side from the blood loss and exhaustion. Barely registering Mirko and everyone else arriving.

While Jotaro had been facing off with the recently arrived League of Villains and Forgotten, the two pros had called in police and medical personnel to help with the clean-up. With Hanabi and Markus letting up on the various villains they had captured.

With that matter done and the injured students getting treatment, they speed off to catch the angry Justice. When they arrive though, both are shocked to see the person they believed capable of All Might level feats lying on the ground bleeding.

Ryukyu snapped out of it first and hurriedly applied triage where she could. "Mirko! Mirko! Usagiyama snap out of it! Your pupil needs help now!" Ryukyu shouts and then roars while tearing her costume to bandage up the areas where Jotaro had been stabbed.

The roar was enough to snap the rabbit hero out of her shock and she also works to bandage up the injured Jotaro. While also taking note of the welts and bruises that were evident on his body as well. "Hang in there! C'mon! Don't give up on us!" Mirko says as she feels his heartbeat. And how weak it is.

As she feels it start to fade, she also notices that he isn't breathing anymore. "Oh Hell NO! YOU ARE NOT DYING TODAY!" Mirko shouts before rolling Jotaro over and starts applying CPR. She and Ryukyu switch back and forth to make sure he stays alive. Long enough for the emergency personnel to get there and take over.

Recovery Girl is called in at the hospital as they were struggling to keep Jotaro stable and believed that her quirk might make it possible for him to recover. She quickly doused those ideas by stating that he was in no state to let her use her quirk on him.

"He's lost too much blood and quite a few of his organs have been injured. And he's too exhausted. We have to get his body able to recover on it's own. Get me as much type O blood as possible!" Recovery Girl says before telling the rest to help her with the operation.

She has to cut a bit more of Jotaro's skin, but she gets to the organs that had been damaged and works to get them stable. 'It's almost ironic, terrifying, and a little too déjà vu like. While it isn't a massive gaping hole, this feels just like when I had to fix up Toshinori. Hold on boy.'

Jotaro starts to stabilize after two hours, and his body begins healing itself a bit. Recovery Girl and the doctors keep him on an IV drip and a bit more blood to replace what was lost.

As the UA nurse leaves the operating room, she is set upon by the students that were still healthy and the pros. "How is he?! He's going to make it right?! How did this happen?! Did the villains that did this get away?!" Recovery Girl stops them all with a quick smack to the top of each of their heads.

"Let an old woman and a group of exhausted doctors rest! As for Jotaro… he's at least out of the woods and starting to recover. But….. I don't know how this happened. Only he does." Recovery Girl says before excusing herself to get some coffee.

With Itsuka and Saphentite though they were able to move around after resting at the hospital. Even the injuries to Saphentite's face had healed thanks to Jotaro pouring a decent amount of the magic he had absorbed into her.

"Ah… damn. Wasn't expecting them to have actual brass knuckles. Oh that's gonna hurt for a while." Saphentite groans while nursing a few other injured areas as she sat up. Itsuka grumbled a bit before saying, "I'm with you there. Ah…. I wonder what happened to those guys that Jotaro went after?"

As she was steadying herself on the edge of her bed, Ochaco and Setsuna burst in. Upon seeing both girls awake and feeling better, they both burst into tears and glomped onto them. And while they were a bit unintelligible, both girls could tell that their friends were happy they were okay. With Tsuyu and Nejire actually stating the same thought.

"Ow. OW! Setsuna easy! I've still got some bruises and other injuries. Hey wait a second. Where's Jotaro?" Itsuka asked after peeling the lizard girl off of her. Saphentite agrees but then notes that all of them seem down or afraid.

Nejire gulps before saying, "Saphee. Itsuka. Jotaro….. He's…. he's in a pretty bad state. Recovery Girl and the doctors saved him, but he's still…." When she trails off, Itsuka can't believe what she was hearing. With the genie girl worried about what could have happened to her partner. She tries to stand, and Itsuka also tries to get out of her bed.

Both are still a bit injured so the girls help them up and out to Jotaro's room. When they get there, they can see the guy they all though was invincible hooked up to machines. With some stiches in some of the areas he'd been stabbed.

Itsuka wants to go in, but a quick word from the recently returned Recovery Girl stops her. "He needs to rest. I have no idea how it happened, but he's basically back to being a normal human. I tested it before, with his permission, but a knife, laser….. no surgical tool could penetrate his skin. But now they can."

"Is he…. Well like All Might now? Is he just going to be a normal person?" Ochaco asks nervously. Saphentite shakes her head before saying, "no. He'll recover and be strong again. He has to."

This makes a few of the girls curious about that statement, but they are quickly told to return Itsuka and Saphentite to their room. Once there, both settle in and relax while their fellow hero students tell them to feel better.

"Has this…. Happened before?" Itsuka questions between checking her phone. Saphentite had a book while trying to take her mind off of matters. "Kind of. He did something crazy to try and get rid of all of the energy swirling in his body. But it only lasted for a period of time. But he wasn't injured when this happened."

Itsuka looks down before asking if Saphentite knew healing magic or anything to help him recover. The genie girl blushes before admitting she didn't know that type of magic. "So you have phenomenal cosmic power and use that with combat magic. But you never took the time to learn healing magic?" Itsuka says with a flat look.

"I know, I know! It would have made sense, but I didn't worry about it when I was learning magic. I was more interested in the kind of science side of things. Including learning how to do alchemy and the like." Saphentite later admits she never really thought she'd need it given Jotaro's invulnerability. Which just makes Itsuka more frustrated.

While the two had been discussing matters, another person was listening in as his boss spoke with the pros. The one listening in being Shigaraki. He and Sosaku had arrived to talk with Ryukyu and Mirko on details of the raid they had been a part of.

"You see, I had requested a large amount of metals for some projects for my recently acquired companies. Though I didn't expect that the managers involved had been using smugglers to get said materials." Sosaku in her Un persona explained to the two heroes.

She went on to say that she had paid for the materials in question not to mention other items. "Though I didn't realize that some of my people had been embezzling the money on the pretense of trying to find channels to acquire what I requested. Here."

While both of the heroes were suspicious about the matter, they documentation and the previous good reputation Un and her conglomerate had was enough for them to assume she had nothing to do with the smugglers. Let alone the attack by ones who hurt Itsuka, Jotaro, and Saphentite.

"We can at least get some of those metals to you and your people, Un-san. But we have to use some of it for the case against the smugglers. Would that be fine?" Ryukyu asked while eyeing up the woman. She lets out a frustrated sigh before agreeing to some of the terms. "But I do hope you put my dirty employees away for quite a while. I do not pay them for this! Let's go Thomas. Thomas?"

"Right here. Sorry ma'am. Needed to use the bathroom." Shigaraki says while nodding to the heroes. And with that, they leave with that matter. Once in the car, Natalie questioned what Tomura had found out.

"Well, the main target survived. And all they managed to do was possibly keep him in the hospital for a while. However…. I might have an idea on some others we might want to look for." The head of the League of Villains says with a smirk. One Sosaku returns before asking him to 'go on'.

The day after the raid and capture of the smugglers, Itsuka was fully healed thanks to Recovery Girl. Saphentite was also healed though thanks to her magic body recovering. "Can we please go see Jotaro now?" Itsuka pleads with Recovery Girl.

The old woman grumbles a bit before finally caving and telling them to take it easy when they go in. Saphentite hugs the woman before both girls head out to Jotaro's room. While he was slightly coming around, he still hadn't fully awakened.

Both girls ease toward him. Itsuka herself feeling scared and unsettled seeing him in this state. While Saphentite was worried about who it was that could have put him in such a state. Each of the girls walk to either side before taking his hands. "Stige greiba. Habibi." Saphentite says with a tear building up in her eye.

Both girls feel Jotaro's hands tighten as his face starts to smile. "La tuklaq. Lin edhab elly ei mccann." Jotaro mutters out slightly before trying to sit up slightly. Only for both Itsuka and Saphentite to push him back down.

"Take it easy! You barely made it before!" Itsuka says with some tears in her eyes as well. Jotaro coughs a bit before saying, "ah damn…. Feel like I've got pins or needles still sticking in me." Both girls chuckle a bit before Saphentite starts to make a new pair of sunglasses for Jotaro.

Jotaro shakes his head a bit before rubbing his eyes and grumbling out a few more swears. His head then catches up senses and he notices a few very important things. The first being that everything was quiet compared to what he was used to. Let alone that all he could smell was medicine and other things associated with the hospital.

But the most important thing was something that he wasn't sure he'd be able to know during his time in this world. "Orange hair and a teal or ocean like color to your eyes. Its pretty to see." Jotaro murmurs out while laying back and looking at Itsuka.

This statement though makes both stop and look back to their mutual crush. He still has a relaxed smile and usual look to his skin and hair. But now, both of them could see something rarely seen; the color of Jotaro's eyes. As he gives them both a warm look from his golden hazel with a touch of green around the edges eyes. "It's nice be able to see again."

While I was pissed about writing the bit with Saphentite, I felt I needed to do it to set more things in motion. Also it was a way of showing some of the weaknesses to being a genie. Especially against villains who have no qualms about using whatever to get what they want.

Also if it seems odd that Jotaro could fight off those clones when Itsuka and Saphentite were overwhelmed, there are two reasons why. First, the girls actually beat quite a few themselves and then Jotaro destroyed even more in his pursuit. Second, they had been distracted or caught off guard due to an explosive Compress had dropped and the villains capitalized on it.

This was also a way to set up for a new arc. What I'm just calling the De-Powered Arc of my story. It'll take a while for Jotaro to regain himself and get back to his full power. Or at least as full as it would be in the state he's currently in.