Justice Across Space and Time

Chapter 56

It's getting close to the time for the culture festival arc. So, I'll eventually get to that one. But first things first; I'm not going to go over the whole of the remedial course arc given it wouldn't change that much. Besides gotta set up a few other lines and show a complication or problem with the power Itsuka is learning. So on with the show.

(Aizawa POV)

If I'm going to have any hope of protecting my students in the future….. then I need to start looking at things a different way. One of those being accepting that I can't stop true metas. But maybe I can close the gap a bit.

"Hey Shota. You okay man?" Mic asks me as we were getting ready for the next day of classes. I sigh before telling him, "Sort of. It's just a bit intimidating. Having students like Midoriya and Jotaro. I can't really stop them, and their actions have in turn saved or helped far more people than most with a quirk."

My old classmate nods before noting how everything had changed this year. From All Might being injured and becoming a teacher here, to the reveal of the true metas and their capabilities. "And now we have a handful of truly quirkless heroes. Between Miss Shield and Kendo-kun, they could very well change the very nature of heroics."

I look down while thinking on that as well. I'd always looked at the quirks alone. I rarely questioned what a person with serious drive could do. And when I did question that, it was mostly in regard to improving their quirks and their creativity with them.

"Sure, we all put in some work to give ourselves some combat capabilities. We train the students to push past their limits of their powers. But at the end of it all, it's still just an obsession with quirks in general. We choose to never look at the beyond of just physical power and will."

As I'm thinking this though, my alarm goes off to tell me that it was time for classes. I thought I won't just be dealing with my own class. Today was also the start for Todoroki's provisional license remedial courses. I hope he's ready for it.

(No POV)

When Aizawa arrived at his classroom, a few students were talking but they quickly quieted down. Which the insomniac complimented them on for getting better. "Alright, today will be a bit different for you students. Normally we'd be having you do new battle or similar hero trials. Instead, we want each of work with a few of the teachers. But we'll be the ones picking."

The students were a bit confused, and a few questioned the reasoning to this. "I believe it goes back to something from our first exercise. Remember when we chose our partners based on lots? There could be times that some professionals request us specifically for our skills." Ida notes with a chop of his hands.

Izuku agrees and notes that it was something like with aftermath of the Sports Festival. "I wonder who wants to train with each of us specifically?" Momo asks. And her question was answered by Aizawa bringing up a holoscreen and the names of students were under specific teachers.

Midnight had chosen Momo, Izuku, Ibarra, and Juzo. Wanting to work on their variations of restraining abilities and skills. Vlad King had picked Bondo, Mineta, Kinoko, and Manga to try and improve their emitted or created attacks.

Present Mic went with Jiro, Koda, Tsubara, and Reiko to work on their control with their powers. Jurota and Tokoyami were picked by Hound Dog to deal with their issues with their rampaging quirks. As well as Kamakiri to work on his attitude.

Snipe wanted to train Aoyama, Rin, Pony, Kuroiro and Toru. The first three were because of the general specialization in long range. The last two were picked because of the potential for synergy with Aoyama as well as scouting and noting targets for the ranged students to attack.

Kirishima, Sato, Tetsutetsu, Ojiro, and Sen were picked by Cementoss to improve their close quarters potential and the struggles they came against with their more limited powers. Power Loader was working with Denki, and Shoda to make better use of their equipment and quirks. With Melissa aiding and training as well with her armor.

Ochaco, Mina, Kodai, Awase, and Shoji chosen by Thirteen to improve their rescue skills as well as stabilization of a structure in a dangerous situation. Nezu meanwhile had chosen a few to improve their tactical and instruction giving skills for a larger plan. Those being Ida, Setsuna, and Tsuyu.

And Aizawa had chosen Itsuka, Jotaro, and Saphentite. Partially because he wanted to get a better idea on their abilities. As well as helping Itsuka improve her skills in martial arts, gadget use, and ki. Even helping her learn the basics of his capture cloth alongside Shinso.

But the bigger factor was something important he wanted to ask Jotaro and Saphentite. After training for a while, Aizawa asked to work with Jotaro specifically. "Sure Aizawa. I'll work with Itsuka a bit to help her get a better understanding of ki. But I'll also make sure to have her practice with her gadgets."

Saphentite says this and the two head to a different area. "So, are you going to ask the main or rather real question for why you wanted to train us?" Jotaro says with a smirk toward his teacher. Aizawa freezes up and jerkily turns toward the large teen.

He lets out a sigh before saying, "it was somewhat obvious huh? Alright. I'll just rip the bandage off. I was….. hoping you could maybe teach me how to use ki. I don't intend to use it often, but it would be useful to have just in case."

Aizawa looks a bit sheepish to be asking this, but Jotaro can guess a few of the reasons. 'It's not just me and other true metas. He's worried about other incidents popping up and people he may have to fight that he can't stop because they don't have quirks.' Jotaro thinks while also considering that it was in a sense making Aizawa feel as though he was quirkless.

"Alright. But we do this a bit differently from what you might be thinking. First and foremost….. take off the capture scarf. I need to fight you hand to hand to get an idea on where to go next." Jotaro says with a firm look toward his teacher.

Aizawa sees it and can understand what he had in mind. "It's so you can get a general idea of my fighting style. Even if it is based around the scarf, I still use general hand to hand combat forms," the insomniac teacher says while taking the cloth off. Jotaro nods and notes that it was the best way to see gaps or weaknesses in form or style.

Once the scarf was off, Jotaro put on some fingerless gloves and tossed another pair to Aizawa. The teacher rolled his eyes a bit but followed along before taking his general fighting stance. Jotaro mirrored this and the two started circling each other. Keeping a close eye on their opponent.

The two came together at roughly the same time and exchange their first blows. Jotaro going for a kick and Aizawa a punch. Jotaro's greater height gave him an advantage and Aizawa was forced to give ground. After the kick stopped, the black-haired teacher tried to go in for a kick of his own.

But Jotaro easily side stepped this and went for a strong blow to his opponent's face. Aizawa saw it coming and moved to evade as well as push it to the side. His student turned teacher easily flowed out of Aizawa's attempted counter. And then caught Aizawa in the chin with a flip kick.

The older of the two sparring shook his head before falling back a bit for what he assumed would be the next attack. But Jotaro had barely moved. He kept his eyes on Aizawa and seemed to be thinking about something.

The teacher thought he could capitalize on what he assumed to be his student being distracted. Rushing in with a combo of blows to try and knock out or down Jotaro. But the younger teen easily parried, blocked, and evaded each of the strikes. His eyes narrowing as Aizawa kept coming at him.

The two kept it up for about an hour. But Aizawa was never able to get a solid hit on his student. And while both were breathing a bit heavy, Aizawa was more out of breath. He then asked if he could use his binding cloth for the fight to see if that would change anything.

"It wouldn't. In fact, it would probably be worse for you. You can use it once and you'll see what would happen." Jotaro says before tossing the item to Aizawa. The teacher puts on a serious face before grabbing the ends of the scarf and striking at Jotaro again.

But the teen can still block and counter most of the attacks thrown his way. And even when Aizawa wraps up Jotaro's arm, the younger man shows a few of the problems to doing so.

The first of which is even depowered Jotaro was still stronger than Aizawa. So, he couldn't try to pull him off balance. And it could be used to pull the teacher towards him for some stronger blows.

The next problem came from the fact that Aizawa was connected to his target. And his target could send a pulse of ki through the scarf and attack him. The last two problems though, were ones Aizawa hadn't fully considered.

One of which was the straightforwardness of his style. Meaning he would miss booby traps that could be laid around. Shown when Aizawa accidentally stepped on a piece of paper laid on the ground. "Think of it as a mine. You didn't even know it was there because you were looking at me alone."

The second problem was something Jotaro noted was his bigger problem. "You're still using your quirk even though you know it doesn't work on me." Aizawa grunted before asking if he was correct. "I know I can't turn off your power and you don't even have it right now."

"Yeah. But you still keep trying to use it. I noticed it early on that it was almost involuntary that you would activate your quirk when I would come in for a strong blow. That might work on some with strength or similar types of quirks. But it doesn't work against me. Your instincts are working against you. Especially if you want to use any kind of ki."

Aizawa looks down in frustration before taking off his scarf again. He also removes his knife and other tools before gingerly taking off his goggles. "So where do we go from here?" Aizawa says with a firm tone and a determined look.

Jotaro has a small smile before saying they should check in on the girls first. While they had been sparring, Itsuka was learning a bit about projecting ki from Saphentite. Though only after the martial artist had practically begged Saphentite to teach her the basics.

"It's similar to how I use magic. Gathering it is the part you know but projecting it from yourself is where you need to go next. Don't think too hard about it. Just try to gather it and create even a small wave."

Itsuka nodded before trying some chops or blade waves on the ground like she'd seen Jotaro do. Only for it to not work. 'I've come this far in a couple of weeks. Surely, I can unleash something right?' Itsuka thought as she tried again and again. Even copying Jotaro's punches to use Gaia Wave.

"That's not how it works. It's true you could channel it in similar ways, but you can only do that when you know how to use ki at range yourself." Saphentite says before the two male members returned. The younger asked what they were working on and Itsuka explained what she was trying to do.

Jotaro frowns and hums before asking if she was sure she wanted to jump that far ahead so soon. "If I'm going to hope to fight back and protect you and others, then I need a stronger tool to fight back." Itsuka says while tightening her fist.

The other teens share a look as if to say they were worried about her. While Aizawa hummed and saw her impatience as a problem. 'Or it could get her hurt. That would explain the looks those two are sharing.' Aizawa thinks before suggesting she take a break from that to practice some of his grappling item techniques.

"Just to give you a few more options. Even if you have ki, it could be hard to channel large amounts of it in a fight. So, using my cloth or any of the other gadgets Shield-san has made for you would be beneficial." Itsuka thought about it for a second before agreeing with the teacher and the two practiced for a while.

Saphentite sat next to Jotaro before saying, "she's getting impatient and agitated. And as much as she may deny it, she wants to show off the same ways you, I, or a lot of others could with her ki." Jotaro agrees and thinks he may have to show her the consequences of too much ki power being used at once. "Let alone my other skills and powers."

After Itsuka had been practicing with Aizawa for a while, Jotaro stopped them and suggested that he and Aizawa get back to learning what he wanted to know. "Right. So how do we go about this?" Aizawa asks as they are walking back to their training area.

"It starts, with this." Jotaro says before handing Aizawa a blindfold. The teacher looks at Jotaro with confusion and asks if it was necessary. "Just put it on. You'll see how this could help you."

Aizawa grumbled a bit before putting it on and asking what this had to do with his training. Only to get punched in the stomach. "OWW! Ack! What the Hell?! Why did you do that?!" Aizawa says while coughing a bit.

Jotaro tells the hero teacher that he needs to forget about or ignore his quirk and focus on the moment. "Since your quirk relies on sight, you've gotten a habit of focusing on only what you see. And while you can fight you aren't as accustomed to fighting enemies who turn the terrain against you."

The younger hero also notes he has a habit of getting tunnel vision when fighting so this was a way to counter that. "I'll take it a bit slower now, but you need to learn to use more than your senses to fight. Take your stance." Jotaro says before taking his own stance.

Aizawa was uneasy but he takes his stance and waits for the blows he is sure are coming. Only for nothing to happen for a few minutes. So, he takes some initiative on where he believes Jotaro is. But he gets hit from behind instead.

He lashes behind himself at where he thought Jotaro would be, but he hits nothing but air. They aren't heavy hits, but it still hurts. Especially some of the kicks and throws Jotaro hits him with. "I don't understand! Why do you want to fight me like this?! What's the point!?"

"The point is to remove you from what you are dependent on. You are a skilled fighter, but you do that by taking advantage of the dependency most of your opponents have. You need to get a bit better at fighting for yourself. Not with your quirk."

Aizawa still can't see the point, but he grumbles and tries to follow along with what the teen was saying. As they were coming down to the end of the school day, Aizawa was starting to get a feel for what Jotaro was talking about.

After taking off the blindfold he said, "I think I get it now. During the last half hour or so, I felt as though I could feel your attacks. I could actually feel where they were coming from. I wasn't just waiting or looking out for it."

"That's good. It's a sign you're starting to get close to what I need to help you learn the basics. We'll work on it again tomorrow." Jotaro says before extending a hand to his teacher. The two meet up with Saphentite and Itsuka.

The latter of whom is still frustrated as she couldn't unleash a ranged ki attack. On the way back Jotaro suggests something to Aizawa to help him get a better idea on what to do.

"You need to let go of what you believe to be true. Something I had Itsuka do was meditate out in a clearing and pick apart everything she saw and believed about the world and even herself. That's what you'll need to do too." Aizawa thinks on the matter before agreeing with his student.

The next couple of days follow the same path and pattern for all of the students. Midnight helps each of her trainees in restraint techniques. With Ibarra and Izuku unfortunately learning how to basically bondage tie up a person with their powers.

Cementoss helps the close quarters groups learn what their physical limits could be and come up with ways to work around them. And so forth. Though with Aizawa's group, there had been middling progress.

Itsuka still couldn't unleash a ki blast of any kind and it was frustrating her to no end. That frustration did lead her to making one of her strongest attacks though. Akin to Jotaro's Prismatic Burst, she channeled large amounts of ki into her left hand for one big strike.

"Saigo no ken: Fuji no sakeme!" Itsuka shouted before creating a long teal and wisteria colored ki blade from her hand. It gives her a little extra reach and she could cleave trees and boulders with general ease. But she still couldn't form or launch a blast of any kind.

"Not bad. Could be a good finisher but you should ease up on the edge a bit." Jotaro compliments after seeing Itsuka's new technique. Itsuka grumbled a bit though at still not understanding how to unleash a blast of any kind. "How do you unleash an energy that is flowing through and around you?" she questioned while practicing a bit more.

For Aizawa, he still wasn't at the level where he could fully tap into the ki of the world. But he was making some headway in combating his dependence on his quirk and the style he built around it.

He was finally able to fight Jotaro at a relatively equal pace while blindfolded. Even able to get a solid hit in after a couple of days. Though his joy was slightly stunted when he took his blindfold off and saw that Jotaro had been facing him blindfolded as well. "I'm usually blind anyway. So doing this lets me keep that feeling and my skills with it."

After he'd finally picked apart some of his issues as well as dependence on his quirk, Aizawa was making something of a headway on his understanding of ki. He was currently meditating and trying to feel the energy around him. He could feel the wind as it moved and the slight trembling of the earth beneath him.

As it started to move together, he also felt how his own breath and movements were a part of all the energy of the world as well. 'We are not separate from the Earth. We are not truly above it. We are a part of all the energy around us.' Aizawa thinks as he can feel the power swirl around his hands and the rest of his body.

He breathes easy before practicing some tai chi movements Jotaro had suggested to get a better feel for the flow of the world. "I didn't have to show these to Itsuka because her family's martial arts had similar movements. But you built a style all your own, so we need to get you accustomed to flowing."

"I never really thought about it, but I did always use punches, kicks, and throws that worked in tandem with capture cloth style. So now I have to think beyond that." Aizawa says while feeling the movement of energy around him. As he moved, he could feel the draw and pull of power below him and how it could swirl around and be released.

Now he just had to truly harness it. 'I don't need to use it like Jotaro or Kendo do. I just need a way to enhance my own capabilities. As he thinks it over, he feels a bit more of the energy build around his legs. He hums for a second before letting the ki flow around his legs and enhance a few of his usual kicks.

What he usually called his Countermeasure Kick now had more impact. And he could feel it pulling him a bit further and that there was something else to it. Same with his punches as he struck out with them.

"Okay. Now I think we're getting somewhere. You ready?" Jotaro said before tossing the blindfold back to Aizawa. The older hero nodded before putting it back on. The two squared up, and now Aizawa could feel more of Jotaro's presence as they sparred.

At one-point Aizawa could finally feel the ki flowing through him and went for a strong punch after some kick set up. Jotaro blocked it but grunted out in pain as Aizawa's blow impacted on his arm. It wasn't just from the punch though. The ki Aizawa put in had stunned his arms for a moment. Making them seize up.

"Whoa! Did I do that?!" Aizawa said as he took off his blindfold. Jotaro was shaking his hands to get the tingling feeling out of them. "Yeah you did. Feels like a stunner or freezing interrupt type of hit. Not far reaching, but it could mess with those who try to block your attacks." Jotaro said as he used ki and his healing factor to get his arms back to normal.

He nodded before telling Aizawa to try the same with his kicks and the two started sparring again. This time Aizawa channeled the ki to his legs to see what else could happen. Jotaro noted that it was still some stun or paralysis type of hits, but it wasn't as pronounced as when Aizawa used his hands.

"Probably because I can't focus it the same. I'm using and channeling all along my leg rather than at just my fist." Aizawa surmised as he tried to think of some other way to use ki. He shook his head and instead chose to focus on simple strengthening rather than something special. But he now had a way to keep up with the dangers approaching.

A few days after Aizawa mastered this, Sosaku was looking out from her penthouse over Mustafa. While the students had been training for new possible threats, she and her group had been expanding their roster.

"I'm still not sure on if we should be trusting in forces we don't understand Sosaku-san. But I'll still follow you." Wu said before looking back at the man in question. He had a tan like complexion due to his mother being of European descent and father who was a Sangoma of the Zulu.

This man was Mandla Mandela. And while he also knew of the healing arts and magics his father had taught him; he had found other ways to use them against certain oppressors. Even incorporating magics and mysticism of other lands and continents to strike back at the world. And now he had allies to help him in his quest to go against the current world around him.

There will be a few others like Aizawa who are looking to improve their skills for a just in case situation. And if it seems like I'm underselling Aizawa's fighting style, I'm not. It's just that the style itself seems more dependent on the opponents he's facing. Most of the ones he'd face in the current age would all but announce themselves and how they fought. Meaning he's less accustomed to facing opponents who are deceptive or could lay traps. Like say Curious with her landmines. Or an engineer like Wu who would use items to blind or disable him.

As for the new mystic foe, it was a way to expand the roster of villains. And while Sangoma is not associated with violence, plenty could find ways to warp it so. And I'll get into what I have in mind for that in the next chapter.

But it this is only the start to the depowered chapters. Next will be getting into some new dangers from the villain side of things. Comment and review if you have an idea on the inspiration of the ki attacks. As well thoughts on the chapter