Chapter 4

Technically, Izuku had the reflexes and training to dodge.

Technically, Izuku was strong enough to absorb the attack.

Such a lovely word, 'technically'.

In reality, Izuku_EXE suffered a memory leak and system fault, and needed to restart.

In reality, Izuku just stood there, as the girl tackled him to the sand.

You see, Midoriya Izuku had a digital crush on ForeverPink. Their theories on the Ranger generally matched up well. He liked her sense of humor. Beyond the Rangers, they also enjoyed talking about Heroes. Especially All Might. They spent hours analyzing Quirks, discussing their weaknesses and how the Heroes or Villains could use their powers more effectively. While her appreciation of support items leaned more to the technical, Izuku found her enthusiasm cute and infectious.

Izuku was also resolved that his feelings would remain unrequited. The chance he would ever meet her was low. Sure, her Japanese was better than his English (at least until the Coin implanted that language in his brain). But he couldn't be sure the American girl would ever come to Japan. On the off chance she did travel to his small island nation, his self-esteem told him there was no way she would seek him out. And even if they did meet, he wasn't the type of boy that girls threw themselves at.

Or so he thought.

So when All Might announced that this was ForeverPink, this incredibly attractive girl that he was crushing on almost immediately was also the object of his online affections, Izuku's brain slipped a gear. Then, when her bag went crazy and she shouted his secret out loud, a mental tire exploded, and he skidded out of control.

Had he possessed mental capacity to dodge in the moment, he wouldn't have, since it would sent her sprawling to the ground. He would have braced himself and caught her. Except he didn't think of that in the moment. Or think much of anything as she hurtled towards him.

She was pleasantly soft, when she hit his chest. And thankfully, the sand behind Izuku had been cleared of garbage. So he hit the ground more or less painlessly.

"A real Ranger," ForeverPink cooed, "I need a blood sample. A urine sample. A... The Morpher. Where is it? The belt? The watch? Duh, Melissa, of course it's the watch."

She grabbed his wrist and pulled it up to her face and phone even as Izuku finally finished rebooting.

"This doesn't match any existing designs, unless it changes when morphing. But the motifs on the face. Tiger... Dragon... Is that a brachiosaur? Is this the Master Morpher? No that was a belt bucket based on the original MMPR Morphers. An adaptation? An homage?"

Izuku looked past the blonde, to All Might. All Might shook his head no. Then he walked over, grabbed the handle on the top of the girl's backpack, and easily lifted her off of Izuku. He set her on her feet, and then helped Izuku up. The girl seemed to come to her senses, at least partially. She blushed in embarrassment.

'She's like me,' Izuku thought, placing why the mumbling seemed familiar.

"Let's go back to my place," All Might said, "We can talk in the car."

"Okay," Izuku agreed. The girl nodded silently.

All Might led the teens up to the shore. Izuku hadn't noticed black car parked by the beach. It was a 2203 Lexus Olympus. Izuku could tell the older car was heavily modified. All Might opened the trunk, and ForeverPink reluctantly put her bag inside.

"You can ride shotgun, Melissa," Toshinori told her, thinking that way it would be harder to her to examine Izuku. Or even just stare at the poor discombobulated boy. They all strapped in, and the electric motor hummed to life. Then the Hero hit a button, and the outside noise vanished completely.

"Let's try this again," All Might started again once they were on the road, this time in English, "Melissa, I would like you to meet my young friend and training partner, Izuku Midoriya. Also known to you as KonoMidoriRanger."

"Wait, you're KMR?" she demanded, trying to turn around in her seat, "Have you just been mocking me the whole time?"

"Settle down Melissa," All Might said sternly, "And before you start throwing stones, Izuku, this is ForeverPink as I was saying. Or in the real world, she is better known as Melissa Kimberly Shield, in western order."

"Shield?" Izuku did the mental math, "You said she was the daughter of a friend of yours To... All Might. So you are the daughter of David Shield? The famous scientist and support item maker? And all those times we talked about the things he made for All Might, you never told me?"

"Ah," Melissa looked down.

"And for the record," All Might interjected, "He has only been a Ranger for a few months..."

"Ranger in training," Izuku insisted softly.

"And I didn't tell her anything about you, Izuku," All Might continued, "In fact, I thought she was coming here for a quiet vacation. If I had known she was bringing all her Coin hunting gear, I would have made her put her backpack in the trunk from the beginning."

"But Dagobah is a treasure trove of tech trash," Melissa countered, "There might be leftover Grid tech or even Coin fragments there. Or might have been, I suppose you two probably already swept it clean."

All Might met Izuku's eyes in the rear-view mirror, and they both chuckled weakly. In the month and change they had spent cleaning the beach, they had never even considered that.

"Melissa told me she wanted to visit Japan," All Might continued in a slightly accusatory tone, "And asked if she could stay with me for a few weeks this summer. She didn't mention anything about Ranger hunting."

"I didn't?" Melissa said softly, thinking back, "I thought I told you about the spike in Grid energy in Japan. No, wait dad told me not to, in case it was a false positive. But still, Japan had two Ranger teams, it should have gone without saying I'd want to check around at least a little more..."

"Wait," Izuku suddenly protested, "Melissa Kimberly Shield? Are you the one who is the descendant of Kimberly Ann Hart, the Pink Ranger?"

"You told him that?" Melissa glared at her surrogate uncle.

"I told him I knew Miss Hart's descendants," All Might said, "as a trust exercise with Tommy. I did not tell them who those descendants were."

"Trust exercise with 'Tommy'?" Melissa prompted, confused yet hopeful. All Might flinched, realizing he had given away something.

"An AI version of Dr Tommy Oliver exists in my Morpher," Izuku admitted.

"Really?" the young woman grew excited, "And you can talk to him? How does that work?"

"We interact in my dreams, almost like VR," he explained, "And he texts us."

Melissa pursed her lips, and the car fell into silence. They drove for a few minutes like that, until All Might spoke again.

"Melissa, there is something else I need to l tell you," he said, "Especially given you are going to be staying with me for an extended period."

He relaxed, and shrunk slightly.

"My real name is Toshinori Yagi," he said, "And my Quirk is partially transformative. This is what I look like when it isn't active. Sorry for hiding this from you, all these years."

Melissa tried to look shocked. For a moment. Then she snorted, and burst out laughing.

"Uncle Might, I figured out that you must have a secret identity when I was eleven," she said between giggles, "And I know you haven't told me because you wanted to keep me safe, and because I made it hard to trust me after I let the whole Kimberly thing slip. So I'm not mad and you don't need to feel bad about it."

"Ah, well, that's good," Toshinori said, off balance from being spared the expected teenage explosion,, "Anyway, once we get to my agency, you should call me Toshinori-ojiisan or Yagi-san or something along those lines."

Toshinori hit a button, and four robot arms folded out of the ceiling. Two ended in combs, and two in pincers. They pulled his hair back, so it was flat and slick on top, with a small tail trailing behind. Then he pulled out a pair of sunglasses and slipped them on.

Melissa and Izuku exchanged incredulous side glances.

Toshinori turned into the small parking lot next to a very nice, if seemingly normal, two-story building. He parked in the reserved spot, which, unusually, was furthest from the door.

They got out, and Melissa retrieved her pack from the trunk. Izuku wordlessly offered to carry it, but she shook her head with a grateful refusal. Yagi led them inside. It was a normal, yet well appointed waiting room. There were a grey-haired lady behind the desk.

"I'm back, Jo-san," Toshinori announced, "Any calls?"

"No, Yagi-san," she answered simply, "And these are?"

"This is Melissa," he answered, "The daughter of my friend who is using me to escape her father for part of the summer. And this is Midoriya Izuku."

"Ah, you are the young man who convinced this lazy bones to get back into shape," the receptionist said smartly, "Good on you."

"Well, I'm going to take them back," Toshinori said quickly. He ushered them through the left door, into a large conference room with a hardwood table and a dozen office chairs. The adjustable kind with rollers. He walked straight to the back of the room, where there was another door. He put his hand over the biometric panel to the right of the door. A quick scan later, and the door opened.

The next room was a cluttered and messy office. And once the door closed behind all of them, Toshinori sighed in relief.

"What is this place Toshinori-san?" Izuku asked, glancing around while trying not to stare.

"Yagi Agency," the Hero answered, "Officially, I am an insurance investigator and adjuster, employed by the Hero Association and Japanese government. Which most of the time just means I am submitting my mission reports as All Might. But some times they have me check on other Heroes' cases. It also gives my civilian identity a reason to return to the locations of All Might's cases and battles."

"And don't worry too much," he added, "Both of my associates are aware that I am All Might. They are sworn to secrecy, and a police friend of mine with a lie detector Quirk interviews them twice a year, or as needed. Come on, I'll show you the rest."

Both teens frowned, wondered why he had led them into the dead-end room. Toshinori walked to the back wall, and ran his finger down a section of it. A hologram shimmered, revealing an optical scanner. He removed his glasses and put his left eye up to the scanner. Then he whispered something. Melissa couldn't hear him, but Izuku's enhanced hearing did.

"Samurai Storm, Ranger Form."

A completely unremarkable section of the wall slid to the side, revealing a stairwell. With steps going both up and down.

"Don't let the unassuming appearance fool you," Toshinori told them, "It would take me four or five good Smashes to break through the walls here, and Endeavor would struggle to burn this building down. It has EM shielding, triplicate hardlines for phone and data, and bleeding edge wifi. For that matter, Tommy and Melissa, let me get you the associate password."

He told them a string of sixty four characters in all three Japanese writing systems, plus English letters, numbers, and special characters.

"Upstairs is my apartment, you'll be staying in one of the guest rooms, Melissa-chan. So we'll have to get you added to the security system later. But what I want both of you to see is downstairs..."

He led them down. Through a third door, this one with a numeric keypad. Except both of his guests recognized the 'keys' were also fingerprint scanners.

"This used to be my storage room and occasional training area," he told them as he shifted back into All Might form, "But I spent the last few months, a lot of money, and more than a few favors, and..."

They stepped into the black room, squinting with what little light came through the entrance. Izuku's Morpher boosted vision could make out a few vague shapes. Melissa couldn't see anything.

"I was going to save this for your birthday, Izuku. But what with Melissa coming and bringing all her gear, it probably wouldn't stay secret that long. So welcome..."

He closed the door, plunging them into complete darkness. Then he flipped the large breaker next to the door. And Melissa's backpack lit up and and began ringing again.

"To the Echo Command Center."

Light flooded the room. It was a room of silver and white metal, and black carbon-fiber. The most obvious feature was the floor to ceiling glass tube against the back wall. There were two arced tables extending out of it, so the tube was like the head of a larger, three-quarters circle table. One of the sub tables had three chairs, the other had four. There was a tablet built into the table for each chair. The right wall, from the door, was floor to ceiling reinforced shelves. They were about half full, and Izuku recognized most of what was on the shelves, it was the majority of the Ranger tech Zedd had given them. Some of it was missing, though Izuku suspected he knew where most of it went. And there were other artifacts the younger man had not seen before.

The left wall had three doors.

"That leads to the reactor room," All Might pointed to the far door, "There are seven micro-fusion reactors, to power both the regular technology, and the Ranger tech that was adapted to run off electricity instead of the Grid."

Melissa's blue eyes widened, for multiple reasons.

"The middle room is the locker room; lockers, toilets, and showers. And that room is the training room. Though we are still working on that. When it's done, it will be somewhere between the Danger Room and a Holodeck."

"Izuku, would you come over here, please?"

All Might led him between the tables, to the tube. As he passed, Izuku saw two of the spots at the table were marked. The one furthest from the tube, on the longer table, had All Might's logo on it. And the spot closest to the tube, on the shorter table, had three logos; green dragon, white tiger, and black brachiosaurus.

"There might only be you, now. But I couldn't help but design it for six Rangers," All Might said in Toshinori's more quiet cadence, "I know I'm not an actual Ranger, and if Zedd and Tommy are right about Quirks, can never become one. But I was hoping I could still have a spot at the table. Be your Alpha, or Haley."

"Of course," Izuku said, tearing up.

"Thank you," Toshinori said. Then shifted back to All Might voice, "All right then, young Midoriya, please place the Echo Morpher here. You don't have to take it off, just rest the watch face on this panel."

Melissa rushed over, her eyes shining. Izuku did as instructed, touching the Echo Morpher to the base of the pedestal that held the glass tube. The Morpher lit up. Displays on the pedestal lit up. And then the tube started to glow. And a figure appeared in it.

"Well, how is it Tommy?" All Might boomed.

"Not bad, Toshinori," the AI Ranger nodded. As they had been told, he looked solid, real, and life-sized.

"We'll have to make some more adjustments before I can move here full time," Dr. O continued, "But with another couple quantum processors and a few more TB of memory, this should work as my replacement home."

"Dr. O?" Izuku looked up at his mentor, sad and betrayed.

"Sorry, Izuku," Tommy said regretfully, "But like I said when Zedd first hooked me to the projector, I'm a drain on the Morpher. Honestly, once your training was done, I was going to go back to sleep. But Toshinori and Zedd proposed this as an alternative. And while mixing Grid tech with custom conventional computers was tricky, we've come up with something that seems to be working. So if I can continue to help like this, while letting you have the full energy and computing power of the Morpher, it's the best choice."

"Melissa may be able to help us with that," All Might pointed out, "She is a genius, and has been studying Grid tech and Power Coins since she was in elementary school."

"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Melissa hissed like a boiling teapot in rapturous excitement.

"Settle down," All Might chuckled, "You haven't even looked at all of the Ranger gear we have over there."

She was gone. Izuku guessed she had a super speed or teleportation Quirk, given how she vanished from between the tables and reappeared in front of the shelves. Then she turned and pointed at Tommy.

"I'll be back for you later."

"You can remove your wrist now," All Might said, "Though you will need to connect again so Tommy can return to the Morpher before you go."

"Don't look like that," Tommy said kindly. Then he grinned slightly, "Heck, I'm just about to kick your training up to the next gear. Mental and physical. In a few months you'll probably be begging to dump me in here permanently."

"Uncle Might."

Melissa had stopped pawing over the damaged and deactivated tech. Instead she turned back towards the three men with a dangerous expression.

"Is this what I think it is?" she said with haunting rage. She was holding a framed photograph. It was a picture of All Might, Zack, and Rita. Only the two reformed villains were holding their old staves. And they had signed the picture. Rita had signed her name normally, while Zack had written his four names as a vertical list, to emphasize the anagram.

"Did you meet the real Rita Repulsa..."

"Don't call her that," all three men said in unison, with varying degrees of nervousness.

"and Lord Zedd? Did you get a picture with them? Did you get their autographs?"

Even though he loved her as if she were his flesh and blood family; even though he knew she had no Quirk and no more than basic self-defense training; even though he was the world's number one Hero and the Symbol of Peace; a shard of icy-cold death shot down All Might's spine.

"It is," he said, "And I have one for you, too. I was just trying figure out when it would be safe to give it to you. It's hidden up in the apartment."

"Really?"

The odd, dark shadow in the room vanished, as did the feeling of impending doom.

"We got it personalized for you and everything," Izuku insisted, trying to help, "Well, personalized for ForeverPink, anyway."

Melissa darted back over, and pulled them both into a hug.

"I love you, Uncle Might. You are the best uncle, ever. And this totally makes up for keeping your secret, Midoriya-kun. More than makes up for it."

"You can just call me Izuku," he mumbled, blushing furiously, "Or even KMR, if you want."

"Okay, Izuku."

"Then what about your secret, Melissa?" All Might prompted.

"Yeah," she said slowly, "I guess there is no reason to keep it quiet. What Uncle Might said earlier, about not being able to be a Ranger because of his Quirk... Well, I'm Quirkless."

"Oh," Izuku said, It hit him like lightning. All their talks online. That quiet despair, the subtle connection. Given the numbers, he had never even considered it.

"I'm Quirkless, too," he told her. They smiled gently at each other. Izuku felt his chest grow warmer.

"That wasn't actually what I meant," All Might coughed, "I was talking about what I assume you are carrying in your backpack."

"Huh? Oh? Oh!" she exclaimed wordlessly. Then she set her backpack on the longer table. Opened it. Dug around inside for a moment. Then took out a black plastic case. She presented it to Izuku and Tommy, holding it tightly but with the glass face towards them.

"Power coins," Izuku mumbled, "Or parts of them."

"74 percent of Might Morphin' Pink's Pterodactyl Coin," Tommy scanned and listed, "
10 percent of Turbo Pink's Wind Chaser Coin,
18 percent of Lightspeed Pink's Med Rescue Coin,
9 percent of Mystic Force Pink's Sprite Coin,
41 percent of Operation Overdrive Pink's Sub Driver Coin,
79 percent of Lightning Pink's Lightning Gyro Coin, and
22 percent of Samurai Pink's Turtle Coin."

"That's pretty close," Melissa said flatly.

"I rounded to the nearest percentile for simplicity," Tommy shrugged. Then he shifted his gaze to Melissa.

"You are hoping to reassemble them?" he said uncertainly.

"I'd like to," she confirmed, "But so far I haven't been able to find a way to merge the fragments back together."

"And you've only found Pink Coins?" Izuku frowned at the collection.

"No, we've found other fragments," she countered, "me, Dad, and Uncle Might. A few other people we know. But I only kept the Pink ones. The other ones we returned to the original organization, like the Wind Ninja Academy and the Pai Zhua Temple. Or to one of the Ranger museums, if there was no-one left with a claim on them."

"The Dino Thunder, Ninja Storm, and Jungle Fury teams didn't have a Pink Ranger," Dr. O noted, "And of course you couldn't find any trace of the Zeo Ranger coins. But you haven't found any fragments of the Squadron or Megaforce Coins?"

"We haven't found any of the Squadron Ranger Coins, no," she confirmed, "But to be fair, I have only been to Japan once before this, and never went to Kyoto. And we have found other Megaforce Coin pieces, just none for the Pink Ranger."

Melissa's eyes narrowed and she gave All Might a sideways look as she mentioned the old capital. While her attention was on her uncle, Izuku studied the broken Coins and his expression became pensive. The other two Humans did not notice, but Tommy did.

"Izuku, we better get going," Tommy said, "Your mom will be expecting you, and you should study for your history exam."

"You're still in school?" Melissa frowned, "I thought schools in Japan took off July and August?"

"They do," Izuku nodded, "But my school was damaged in a Villain attack over Golden Week. So we had to do a week and a half of online lessons while they repaired it. Our principal decided the remote learning wasn't good enough, and pushed out summer break by one week to make up for it. Tomorrow is my last day of class before break. At least they didn't make us do the half-day Saturday."

"Can't Dr Oliver stay?" Melissa pouted at Izuku. He struggled not to agree, but Tommy shook his digital head.

"I need to keep up his dream training, especially now that he is reviewing the attacks and forms during the day."

Shrugging at her, the younger man walked back to the tube's console. He touched his Morpher to the panel again. And the projection of Tommy vanished.

"Do you need a ride, Izuku?" All Might asked.

"Thanks, Toshinori, but I'll run," Izuku said, "It will help make up for missing this afternoon's cleaning."

"What about tomorrow?" Melissa asked quickly. Then she pulled back and asked softly, "Will you come back tomorrow?"

Izuku glanced at All Might, and said, "Well, I had thought we would be doing our normal training tomorrow. If you wanted to come with Toshinori, we could talk while he and I work. And if I tell Mom I'm going to hang out with him later, she shouldn't mind since I'll be on break at that point."

"Definitely," Melissa said, "And maybe I'll help too. Or given your reactions, maybe I'll scan the beach for anything useful."

Izuku nodded, and All Might led him out.

A Cog's backhand sent Izuku sprawling. Before he could recover, another of the mechanical mooks charged in and kicked him in the ribs. The rest swarmed him. And then vanished into ether. Tommy extended his hand, and pulled Izuku back to his feet.

"You are distracted," Tommy said, but not aggressively.

"Yeah, well, it was a distracting afternoon," Izuku confirmed.

"Let me rephrase that," Tommy rolled his eyes, "You are struggling to decided if you want to give the Pink Ranger relics Rita gave you to Melissa."

"No," Izuku shook his head, "I've already decided to give them to her..."

He said it with little confidence, and trailed off at the end.

"But?" Tommy prompted.

"Butt..." Izuku's dream eyes glazed over.

Tommy couldn't read Izuku's mind, beyond the thoughts the young man presented as talking. But sometimes the VR dream became a little less lucid. Like now, he was seeing the memory of Melissa sitting on Izuku's stomach. As Izuku remembered the soft yet firm feel of the girl's bottom. Then Izuku's male gaze as Melissa stood in front of the artifact shelf, her back to the Ranger in training.

Tommy sympathized. He had been a teenage boy once. One who had worked with a number of attractive women of a similar age. Women whom he fought next to, in metaphysical force fields that wrapped their athletic bodies like spandex.

Tommy raised his hand up and snapped his fingers in front of Izuku's face. The boy flinched, and recovered.

"It's not if," Izuku said, "It's when and how. Like should I bring it tomorrow? Or wait until after Melissa and Toshinori take their trip to Kyoto? It might be a good pick-me-up, if she doesn't find anything."

"I'm guessing she plans to drag you along on that trip," Tommy chuckled lightly, "Unless your mom stops her."

"Oh," Izuku seemed surprised but also happy. Then he sobered, "And I was also thinking maybe I should wait until we did some more experiments, and knew if it would work. If it fails, I'd hate to destroy Miss Rita's treasures."

Then he paused and looked at Tommy.

"Unless I'm getting ahead of myself," Izuku asked the projection, "We are going to try to use Melissa's Coin fragments, to make a second Echo Coin for her. Right? I mean, she has about two and a half Coins worth of material now."

"Maybe," Tommy said slowly. Izuku opened his mouth, but the ghost AI held up his hand.

"I told you that after we stopped Demonus, all the Rangers lost their powers," Tommy said, "and I said that the Master Morpher stopped working. Both of those were understatements. The spell, or its backlash, or a combination thereof, destroyed most of the Power Coins. That's why they are tarnished fragments. My three Coins were mostly intact, the Master Morpher protected them, at the cost of it being damaged beyond repair. The Black Brachio Coin was unharmed. But there was a large crack most of the way through the Green Dragon Coin. All of the material was there, but if I had tried to use it, it would have snapped. Not that we had the Grid energy... And there was a chip out of White Tiger Coin. Still it was about 97% there, more than any of Melissa's coins. Fusing them together repaired and replaced the damage. But that, along with making up for the limited Grid Energy, is the reason each of your Ranger Modes has strong accents of the other two."

Izuku nodded.

"The less intact a Coin is, the harder it will be to integrate it," Dr O explained, "Let's say she had four of the Pink Ranger Coins, and each one was exactly 80 percent of the coin with no other damage. She would have the equivalent of three point two Coins, so we should be able to make a Coin like yours, one with three full modes and the various powers supporting each other. Or that's what most people would expect. But actually, you couldn't get a single Coin with two modes. The impact of merging and rebalancing them would greatly decrease the overall power. Also, because the Green, White, and Black Coins were linked to me, and had be resonating within the Master Morpher, it was easier to combine them."

Then Tommy sighed.

"And most importantly, we just don't have the same resources I did when I started the Echo Ranger project. Rita left Earth, and Udonna is gone. Melissa is smart, probably even as smart as Cam or Haley. She may be smarter. But she doesn't have working Grid tech or the training in it. And she's only one person. I have copious notes, but I don't fully understand what they mean. So if we were to try to create a second Echo Coin, we wouldn't be starting from scratch, but we would definitely not have the same resources I did."

Izuku bobbed his head again, this time more glumly.

"I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't try," Tommy told him kindly, "Honestly, I think we should. I just want to set expectations. And point out that your idea of withholding the Windchaser Coin fragment you have has arguments on both sides."

Izuku pondered it. Then he tilted his head and looked up at his mentor.

"Dr O, would it help if we had more Coin pieces?" Izuku asked.

"Definitely," Tommy agreed, "But without knowing more about where and how Melissa searched, it's hard to be confident that we'll find many more Pink Coin fragments."

"Actually," Izuku said, "I wasn't thinking of the Pink Coins. I was thinking that my Coin is white, black, and green. Maybe we could make up the difference in other Coins. Give the second Echo Coin multiple color modes like mine."

"That... that idea has merit," Tommy mused, "In fact, once we are done here, I'll go online. See if there are any other old favors I can call in... But for now, lets get back to work."

"Yes, sir!"

Friday, Izuku did leave the Pink Coin piece and broken Morpher behind, at Tommy's request. He met Toshinori and Melissa at the beach after his second day of finals. While he and Toshinori did their heavy lifting, Melissa prowled around. She had her backpack again, though much lighter today with non-technical items removed. The genius had a hand scanner hooked up to the devices inside the pack.

She didn't find what she was hoping for. She did find some salvageable supercomputer parts and a few plates of military grade titanium armor. They loaded her treasures into Toshinori's car.

They had dinner at All Might's apartment. Then spent the evening grilling Tommy on the Rangers. The AI told them what he could, without betraying confidences. They were all surprised to learn the MMPR Blue Ranger left Earth, married an alien, and might still be alive. And Melissa finally remembered Tommy's comment about the missing Pink Zeo Ranger Coin, so he told them more about that facet of the Shadow War.

Saturday morning, they met at Dagobah again. Expect today, Izuku was practicing his martial arts first. Toshinori and Melissa both started to mimic him. After a text from Tommy, Izuku started teaching them.

"Dr O says teaching is a good way to remember," he told them.

They returned to the Command Center, just before lunch. Toshinori had Melissa let them in, to test her building access.

"We will get you access, too," All Might assured Izuku. The boy nodded, and he downloaded Tommy again.

"Can you two go and get lunch on your own?" Toshinori asked, "There are a few things I need to discuss with Tommy in private."

Melissa frowned in confusion, but Izuku just nodded, saying, "Sure."

Once they were outside, Melissa looked at him, and prompted, "Aren't you curious what that was about?"

"I am," Izuku agreed, "But they already text, so this just makes it faster."

"What's up?" Tommy asked, once the teens were gone.

"Three things," Toshinori said, "The first is about upgrades to the Command Center, I don't want either of them, especially Izuku, hearing about the cost."

The projection nodded.

"Second is about Izuku's birthday. And third, or maybe first, since I want to make sure we talk about it before they get back, is about Melissa's Coins."

Tommy didn't say anything.

"Izuku needs a lot of work on his poker face," All Might told the AI flatly, "He keeps looking at the Coins' case, but avoiding the subject. As Melissa's temporary guardian, I think I should know what you are planning. Though I can probably make a guess."

"Tada," Izuku waved his hand up at the sign.

"Ice cream?" Melissa asked.

"The best ice cream in the prefecture," Izuku insisted, "It's a hot day, and I have to treat myself occasionally. Doctor's orders."

"You do remember he's a doctor of paleontology, right?" she giggled.

"Doesn't matter, if it means I get to have a double scoop cone every other week."

She pretended to ponder that for a moment.

"Your logic is sound," she agreed. They both chuckled. He opened the door for her.

"Deku."

Izuku's face fell as he heard the familiar growl from inside the shop. He hadn't expected to run into the other boy here, but he also should have remembered that Bakugou Katsuki had also been a fan of this place, when they were still friends.

"Bakugou-kun," Izuku said flatly. Tommy had insisted Izuku not call the bully by a friendly name, as it only empowered him.

"What are you doing here, nerd?" the explosive teen demanded.

"It's hot, we just ate lunch, we wanted ice cream," Izuku said simply, keeping his voice even. 'Don't rile him up, don't show him you are afraid. Disengage as quickly as possible, and avoid him.' Those had been Tommy's instructions. They hadn't completely worked, but between that and his newly improved physicality, the bully hadn't been able to do much more the shout angrily at Izuku's back for more than a month.

That wouldn't be the case here, unless Izuku gave up and left. And he wasn't about to do that in front of Melissa.

"Who are you calling a nerd?" Melissa demanded.

"What's it to you, four eyes?" Katsuki shot back. Then his eyes narrowed, as he recalled Izuku had used the plural, "What are you two losers together?"

Izuku stepped in between Melissa and Katsuki, for multiple reasons. And he glared down at the seated bully.

"You can say what you want to me, Bakugou," he deliberately omitted the honorific, "But you leave her alone."

"Oh," Katsuki smirked darkly, "What's this? Worthless little Deku got himself a girlfriend? Probably not. How much did you pay for her?"

Izuku seethed. He wanted nothing more than to drive his fist into Katsuki's nose. Or even better, to Morph first, and knock out his tormentor's teeth.

A hand touched his shoulder. It was Melissa. She didn't look upset or insulted. She just looked concerned. For Izuku.

"All it would have been was words... hot air from a buffoon," the green-haired teen quoted in English, "Instead, you let him rile you, rile you into playin' his game, his way, by his rules."

"What the fuck was that?" Katsuki demanded, not fully understanding the other language, but knowing he was being dismissed.

"I like that movie," Melissa said affectionately.

"Dr. O made me watch the series," Izuku said, "It's good advice. Should we go? Suddenly I'm thinking a cheap, fast food shake sounds better."

"Yup," she smiled and nodded.

"Don't ignore me!" Katsuki roared, garnering annoyed and fearful looks from the other patrons. He grabbed the long metal spoon out of this sundae. He threw it at Izuku.

Hearing the gasps and the whistling, Izuku turned back. The utensil tumbled slowly and wildly through the air, no skill or control in the 'attack'.

Izuku's hand shot up. He caught the spoon by the handle, a few centimeters away from his chest. Katsuki's eyes bulged. Izuku looked at the spoon. Then he frowned at his classmate.

"I think you dropped this," he said. Then, with precision more suited for a kunai or senbon, he threw it. It streaked straight and true, right back into the dish from whence it came. It buried deep in the ice cream, and spattered whip cream over Katsuki's face and shirt.

They walked out of the shop, to a smattering of applause and another enraged "DEKU!"

"That was pretty cool," Melissa told Izuku fondly.

"It was no wagon of manure, but we work with what we have," Izuku shrugged, trying not to appear too happy.

Melissa laughed brightly and openly. After a moment, he joined her. Once they settled down, she sobered slightly.

"I hope it's not an issue," she said, "but can I ask what it was he was calling you?"

"Deku," Izuku said, "An alternate pronunciation of the kanji in my name."

"I'm guessing its a gap in my Japanese," she frowned, "but is it supposed to mean something?"

"A 'deku' is a small, unpainted wooden doll," Izuku explained, "According to him, since I'm Quirkless, I'm just like one, plain and worthless."

"If only he knew," she told Izuku, "But even without..."

She waved at the watch on his wrist.

"I think you are still worth ten of him. Though with it, it's more like thirty of him."

"Thank you, Melissa," he said sincerely.

"No need to thank me, it's totally true," she said. The she scowled, and added, "But if he calls me a prostitute again, I'm going to kick him in the nuts."

"Then I'll have to teach you how to avoid his Quirk," Izuku said seriously.

"I'll hold you to that."

"Izuku," Inko called out to her son as soon as he got home. Her voice was perturbed.

"What is it, Mom?"

"Honey, why are you getting registered next day courier packages from America?" she asked sternly. Izuku blinked, and looked at the EM shielded boxes. On was from Reefside, California, and the other Blue Bay Harbor, California.

"They are for Melissa," Izuku said, "But they were sent here, so she wouldn't see them early. Sorry, I should have told you sooner, but I didn't know they'd ship them like this, or this fast."

Though he hadn't told her too much, Inko knew her son had been training with an adult named Toshinori Yagi, whom he trusted, and that Yagi was currently hosting the daughter of an American friend. Izuku hadn't mentioned that he had a crush on the girl. Inko figured that out on her own.

"Well, I guess it isn't a problem," Inko sighed, "It did surprise me. Do you know what they are?"

"Old coins," Izuku said, "She collects them."

Inko frowned slightly at that, wondering why it sounded familiar.

Sunday morning, Izuku rang the bell at the Yagi Agency. The company was closed, so he had to wait outside for Toshinori to come get him. They walked silently down to the Command Center, where Melissa was already waiting. She was sitting at the table, a hover unit disassembled in front of her.

"Good morning, Izuku," she said, in English like usual.

"Good morning, Melissa," he replied.

"What's in the bag?" she asked, waving towards the reusable cloth bag he was carrying.

"Lunch," he said, "and a surprise. Let me upload Dr. O real quick."

With now practiced ease, he walked over to the interface chamber, and scanned the Echo Morpher. Tommy appeared, already wearing a look of anticipation. The Izuku marched back over to Melissa.

"These are for you," he said, taking one medium sized wooden box, one smaller wooden box, and one small metal box out of the bag.

Melissa opened the boxes. And her jaw dropped.

Author's Note: Originally, I had Izuku suggest Melissa aim for the stomach, since the other was too small of a target and hard to hit. But it doesn't fit his character, so consigned to the void and a note.