The Strongest Hero

"Wh-what!?"Cerci squealed. She poked at her nose, and looked down at the ground in shame even though she had not had such surgery. The girl fiddled with her fingers. "Aw man is that what other people have been thinking? Now that I think about it some of those kids in the city were laughing and pointing at me."

"Hey you mumbling to yourself over there?" asked the caped baldy.

"N-no." She shouted, raising her hands defensively. Rover yelped at his owner for pulling on his collar to hard. "I'm sorry Rover!" Cerci took a deep breath trying her best to compose herself. She searched her mind for a few questions, his voice matched with the one she had heard all yesterday but that didn't necessarily prove anything, a lot of people have similar sounding voices. Maybe it was the suit, she shook the thought it'd be better to just ask him and show the pictures. "Hey you- uh?" He was gone.

He was making his way back up the stairs. "So he's my neighbor? Wait, please wait!" She trotted up the stairs after the man, who she assumed, was a hero. "I have a few questions for-" The door slammed on her face, she slid slower than molasses trying to make contact with a pancake. "Ow, ow my nose again. Excuse me?" She reached for the handle.

"Yes?" The man threw the door open sending the girl flying back into the wall of the apartment building. "What the heck?" Rover gnawed at the hero's boots, growls escaping his muzzle as he bit down harder. "What is a rat doing here? I thought I got rid of all these things. Well," He picked the dog up by its tail, preparing to launch it to only god knows where, but was stopped immediately before he could. "Huh?"

"Please don't throw him! He's really sorry!"

"Huh? You own this rat? That's weird."

"He's not a rat." He said jumping up to her feet and taking her dog from the strange man's hands. "He's a dog, his name's Rover." She stated, putting her dog back into the arms of the man. Rover jumped out of the man's arms moments later and ran back behind Cerci, growling very softly.

"Hm." The bald man tilted his head. "That's probably the ugliest dog I've ever seen." Said dog barked but still kept his distance, something in his instincts was telling him to stay far way from the baldy. "Shut up will ya!" The man barked back.

Cerci sighed and walked over to her apartment and put Rover inside. The second she closed the door a clawing sound came. "It'll only take a minute boy." It stopped. "Ok here we go." She scrolled through her camera wheel. "I wanted to ask you if you were the person responsible- oh wait sorry." She coughed twice. " I forgot my manners my name's Cerci." She stuck out her hand.

The man took it and shook back, trying his best to not accidentally shatter every bone in it. "Saitama, I'm a hero for fun."

"Saitama? Ok. Is that your hero name or real name?" She questioned.

"Real name."

"Hm, so you don't have a hero name yet? Are you a newbie?"

"No, I've been a hero for at least three years."

"What really!?" She gasped taken aback by his words. "But why would someone like him be living in an area like this? He should at least have an apartment as big as Fubuki's if he's been working for the association that long."

"You're mumbling to yourself again."

"Could you come with me for a second?" She asked politely.

Saitama scratched the back of his head in confusion, what could this weird girl possibly want from him? "I don't know one of my favorite shows is coming on right now."

"Please!" She begged. "I really just want to research a few things about you I promise it won't take long!"

"Hm...alright." She bowed then ran into her apartment, dashing out with a laptop and several memory cards. She sat down at Saitama's table pulling up the Hero association's website. The first thing she put into the search bar was 'Saitama'. Nothing popped up. Next she tried 'hero for fun', only to be met with a blank page. Finally she tried 'caped baldy' the same results occurred.

"I have special permission but I can't even find him here, even going through the admin page isn't showing anything." She sighed. "If you mind me asking what rank are you? That might make this easier."

Saitama eyebrows twitched in annoyance. "Don't you know common courtesy? You don't barge into other people's houses like that."

"Gah!" He head snapped downwards. "My brother spent so many years trying to teach me to be a good person and I'm still failing to this day. I'm sorry Amai." She said then turned to Saitama, her head still hung in shame. "I'm sorry, please forgive me." She tried making her way past him and back outside but Saitama pulled her back in and sat her down.

"Your already here just keep doing what you were trying to show me. I've already missed at least five minutes, I'll just check it out on the internet later."

After a few more minutes of searching the search results of everything she could relate to Saitama were used. No results of this man could be found. "This doesn't make any sense I can't find a single thing on you. Oh I know." She closed the site and opened the folders of her pictures. all the photos she had taken yesterday filled the screen. "Are you the person who did this?"

Saitama leaned in closer to the screen. "That car monster and Medicine Man, yeah I did that."

"Yes I was right about something!" She smiled internally. "That goes into the 'I did something right category.'" It was a very, very, very small list, but every victory she got she would take it. "W-well how did you do it?" She asked with stars in her eyes. "The only people I know with strength of this magnitude are Dark Alloy, King, Silverfang, Garou, well at least somewhat, and my brother! Come on you've gotta tell me!"

She was getting way too close for Saitama's comfort, he had to push her away a bit for breathing room. "I trained, for the past three years while I've been a hero."

"Well that eliminates the possibility of everything I've been thinking of." Loss list. "well who did you train with? Did you train under Bang, or did you take Dark Alloy's route of training with the heaviest equipment that you could find? Or maybe you're like Metal Bat and get stronger every time you get hit, but if its true that you did fight Serum Man if I remember anything its that the fight didn't last too long. Hm...how many hits did it take for you to kill that car?"

Saitama's eyes darkened, reliving that boring fight was another brand new hell that this weirdo in his house had brought him. "One punch." He lamented.

"One punch? One punch. One punch. One punch!" She repeated. "H-h-how! Only King's supposed to be that strong. Th-that's insane!" She yelled. Saitama jammed his fingers into her ear, to dull the ringing caused by his guest. "My bad." She sat back down trying to contain her excitement. The words one punch looping in her mind like a song. "Saitama, the One Punch Man...hm. Maybe that can be his mind if or when he decides to join the association." She thought to herself.

A hero with monstrous strength, who does it all for fun. Everyone has their own reason for joining the association but for fun, that really was a new one. Most joined for fame and acclaim but everyone S-Class, and Cerci's friends, had their own other reasons. For fun? For fun? The premise just sounds silly, coupled with his attitude this man could be a running joke by looks alone, Saitama, the man who's a hero for fun, so strong that he defeats enemies with only one punch.

"Its a strangely pure reason." She admitted. "Maybe he can-" She gulped. "Wait!" She bit down on her tongue keeping herself from talking, if she was going to ask her question she would at least need a little bit more information, one final question to solidify what she wanted to know. "Saitama...what did you do to train? I don't know too much but that level of strength just seems so beyond normal human capabilities, what did you do bench press planets?"

"No nothing like that, it was simpler."

"C-could you tell me?"

"Hm...sure, I don't see why not." Cerci tuned her ears to listen, what had Saitama done that was so supposedly simple? "You're a girl so you might be opposed to the idea I just want to let you know that if after you decided to train like me too." Her eyes widened at the tone of his voice. She clutched her track pants in worry that maybe she wouldn't be able to get stronger because of her gender. "But if you truly aspire you can be strong as well. Here it is," Saitama coughed twice. "One hundred pushups! One hundred sit ups! One hundred squats! Then a ten kilometer run, all in that order, with no breaks, every single day for three years! No AC in the winter or summer is allowed. Make sure you get three square meals a day, a banana at breakfast is ok, by the looks of it you're on a budget too sense you're living here. Maybe you shouldn't have spent so much money on a nose job."

Cerci crawled into the corner. "Don't say lies about other people that's mean. I haven't gotten a nose job before to make myself look better. If someone likes you they should like you for you right, you shouldn't need surgery for that."

"Oh. my bad."

Cerci returned to the table wiping her eyes. "So it was simple, that on it's own sounds harsh but...I doubt someone like me could become so strong, but, but- dang it Cerci for once in your life advocate for yourself! You want to get stronger don't you!? For Amai, for Tatsumaki, mom, dad, right? Do you want to just be a failure for ever!? No! I don't!" She but down on her lip and turned to Saitama.

"Huh?"

She grabbed his hands making sure to bow her head and not to look in his eyes. "P-please I-I'm begging you, I-I-I-I want you to train me! Please! I-I want to get stronger! I'll do whatever it takes, no matter what you ask, please! Please! Please, train me to be a hero, I want to unlock my strength and have power, I want to show that I can do things too! You're a normal person right? And you've become so extraordinary, then-then maybe you can help someone as worthless as me become even an iota stronger!" She finished.

"I don't know." She shook and released his hands, her tears were collecting on the floor. "She really does want to become strong, what are your reasons though? Well..it must be pretty important if you're going to cry over it." Saitama nodded. "She's a lot like me. A total loser, destitute, no job I'm assuming, not to mention she's also really weird." Saitama picked her head up, she was still crying. "But...that doesn't mean I'll throw the idea out the window. Give me a few days, I'll think about it."

"Thank you!" She bowed, gathering her things.

"Stop bowing so much will you its weird." She nodded while heading out the door.

"By the way..." She began. "Why did you tell me that it might be hard for a girl to do those exercises, from the sounds of it the workout will be hard but anyone can do it."

"Oh, it's because the workout made me go bald." He said closing the door.

~Kamen Sweet Mask's House~

Tatsumaki knocked on the door, seconds later she used her cell phone to call one of the house's residences, but still no answer. The S-Rank hero gritted her teeth, why was she taking so long to answer the door! "Cerci why aren't you picking up your phone, I thought I told you that I'd be coming by today, I know you're in there hurry up and open the door!" She snapped her cell closed and waited a few more seconds. "That's it I'm coming in!" The green haired heroine charged her power and readied to blast open the.

"Whoa." The door opened. The mask threw the towel around his neck. "Who's knocking at this time in the morning. Oh, Tornado, how are you doing this fine morning?" He said putting on his best smile for the second strongest hero.

"Spare me." She said gliding past him and up the stairs to the highest point of the house. "Cerci?" Tatsumaki opened the hatch, but there was no one there. No bed, no laptop, nothing just an empty attic. She descended back towards the ground and glared at Amai, who was only a few feet behind her. "Where's Cerci at?"

"Hm? The leech you mean? I kicked her out a few days ago, she was taking up a little bit too much of the electricity bill."

"What do you mean kicked out? Did you send her somewhere to 'train' again?" She said her words laced with spite. "Cause if so I swear I'll kill you."

"No Tornado I haven't done anything like that this time. I just kicked her out of my home. She was a burden that I couldn't stand to carry any longer. Just like you with Fubuki."

The house started shaking, Tornado's hair split from in front of her face, the intense glare in her eyes became even more apparent. "Don't assume you know anything about my relationship with my own sister." She reached out for the hero, picking him up with her powers alone.

"Hey now." He began. "You wouldn't want to hurt me, how would Cerci feel if her best friend hurt the only family she had left."

Tatsumaki clenched her teeth and released the hero, the entire time he managed to keep that smile on his face. The number two hero flew back downstairs, not bothering to look back. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a manipulative bastard?" All he did was smile his sickening, toothy smile. The heroine reached out snatching one. "How could she love someone like you?"

"Well when one has nothing, they cling to the little that they have." He said while his tongue was played with the gap in his back row. "By that way could I have that back? This mask of mine is pretty fragile when it comes to things that revolve around my beauty. I can only contain myself so much." Tatsumaki threw the tooth back, the Mask reached out to catch it only to grasp at thing air. The fragments of his tooth floated to the ground. "Hahaha, you're funny."

"Hmp."

"IF you want to know where she scurried off to I think it was somewhere in City Z."

"News Report! There have been reports of a massive cloud of mosquitoes all gathering near Z City. There have been reports of a few clusters in the neighboring plains near the city but nothing substantial. All residents have been asked to take shelter and stay indoors. Any available heroes have been sent to the location as of this time. The threat level is demon!"

"Oh." The mask laughed. "Looks like she'll be dead fairly soon. What will you do Tornado? Do you think you can make it in time to save my degenerate of a sister." Tatsumaki rocketed off. "Hm..." Amai spit at the ground, feeling in the place where his molar had been taken. At the very least she had been kind enough to only take one from the back row. "Don't worry Tornado I'll pay you back soon."

~Z City Ghost Town~

Cerci fell to the ground. "I only got through twenty five push ups. Dang it!" She ran into the bathroom changing her clothes the seconds she got out. She put her hair into two long pig tails ten thew on a cap to keep her hair in place. "I'll be late to work at this rate. At least this'll give me a chance to attempt that ten kilometer run."

The girl ran outside bumping into the only other residence of their sector of the city. "Hey."

"Ouch, what are you made out of adamantium?"

"Adamantium?" He ask, helping her up.

"You know...Wolverine...d-do you read comic books or is that just weird."

"That's just weird." She sighed and ran down the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"To work, you're still thinking about making me your apprentice right?"

"Well I did say I would. Just keep doing what you're doing for now ok?" She gave a thumbs up before sprinting down the street and out of sight. Saitama went back into his apartment with all the groceries he had went out to buy and put them in the fridge. Reports of something happening in the city showed on the screen. The bald hero put on his sandals and went out to water his cactus. A stupid mosquito flew onto his hand and tried sucking up his blood.

Saitama swatted the bug excepting it to be a small stain on his hand, but all it did was fly away. He swatted again, the buzzing still filled the air. Again. Again. Again. And again! he dropped his elephant water pale. "Damn mosquitoes." The air around the apartment whipped and whooshed from him trying to nail the flying insect but no matter what he did it would get away.

~Z City Ranch~

"Hello?" She entered the establishment looking for any life. "I know I'm an hour late but I really need this job so if you have to doc my pay that's fine too." She searched for any signs of anyone but the silence continued. "Is it lunch time?" She asked. She pulled out her cellphone and tried dialing her employer but the answering machine only played, she tried again but continued her search. She opened the door to the slaughter house, she braced herself to see the remains of cows strewn here and there but an even harsher sight was displayed before her.

The smell was already unbearable, but with the thousands of little black insects all crawling and sucking at the remains of the cows was too much. "Oh lookie what we have here. Another live one." The mosquito girl buzzed. She flew towards Cerci smacking her lips. She sniffed. "I can just smell the blood in you, how delectable, but," She turned her sights to the city. "I won't be giving you any special attention the little one will take care of you." She smashed through the roof and flew off in search of more juices.

"Cerci? Cerci? Her phone sounded. "Cerci it's Tatsmaki, whatever you're doing right now I need you to listen, get out of Z City now. There's a demon level threat there, get out as fast as you can or hole up in the safest place you can think of, I'll be there soon." The call ended. The mosquitoes all turned their sights to the next course for their master.

"Haha, if only you had called a little bit sooner." She charged through the door to the ranch and ran to a nearby shed looking for anything that could help her. "A Cattle prod and a fire extinguisher!" She grabbed it and pointed it towards the door, the sound of furious buzzing on the other end. She gulped, the door snapped open, she sprayed the extinguisher, bot stopping til all its contents were gone next she threw it reaching for the prod. "Leave me alone, I hate bugs!"

"Girl please stop." The person took the prod from her and snapped it in half. He wiped the goop of the extinguisher off of himself. "You're safe now."

"Huh?" She opened her eyes. "Um, who are you?"

The gears in his arms all shined a bright orange. He clicked the remaining bits of extinguisher off of his boots and turned to leave. His mission needed to be completed but as he had been told by his parents it was only common courtesy to tell someone your name when they ask. "My name is Genos."