"Alright Genos. Listen, I'm not a monster even though I look… inhuman. I'm on your side." Water Hazard assured him as much as he can. The last thing he needed was someone like Genos mistaking him for a monster. Observing the scarlet creature with great care, Genos was a little reluctant to accept help from the being. But he would rather not fight against two enemies at once.
"...Betray my trust, and I will burn you, creature. If we are fighting together, let me tell you about her. The woman acts as a hive queen, so if we eliminate her, the mosquito swarm will disperse." The cyborg informed from his observation of the swarm over the past days.
"Sounds good to me. I'll see if I can knock out the woman's bug wings." Water Hazard then fired a stream of water at Mosquito girl, but the bug lady easily dodged around the blast and chuckled.
"Eliminate me? Go on and try!" She shrieked with a crazed expression as Genos fired an incineration blast at Mosquito girl only for her to dodge around it with mocking grace.
"She's too fast. I'm gonna need a flyer." Water Hazard hit the Omnitrix dial and flashed in green.
"Stinkfly!" The Lepidopteran shouted. The green extraterrestrial flying insect took flight and chased after the mosquito girl, while unaware of Genos gasping at the sight of Ben changing forms. The bug lady uncovered one of her claws ready for combat, her eyes focused on the unknown foe, gleaming with curiosity.
"Shouldn't you be on my side?" She chuckled. "From one bug to another."
"I'm no monster even if I look weird, bug lady. Plus, I'm here to kick your butt."
Hearing his bold declaration, Mosquito girl chuckled once more.
"So be it!" Her face contorted from condescending to bloodthirsty followed by a battle shriek. Stinkfly fired globs of mucus at Mosquito Girl as the green blobs of goo stuck to multiple places on her body.
"Genos, use your fire beam or whatever! My goo is flammable!" Stinkfly said.
"Incinerate!" Genos reacted to the new information as he unleashed bursts of flames from his palms. But Mosquito girl easily spiraled around the hailing flames with primal grace, followed by an offensive dive towards Genos from the air. Before she could attack Genos, she was T-boned in the side by Stinkfly. The two bugs crashed into a wall. Taking advantage of the monster's confusion, Stinkfly repeated punched her, driving her body more in-depth into the concrete. He then followed up with a thick stream of goo. Mosquito Girl gritted her teeth in frustration and broke out of the wall. She was attempting to flee.
"Good. If you coat her in that goop, we can end this quickly." Genos looked up to see Mosquito girl attempting to flee with a swarm of mosquitoes.
"You cannot escape me," Genos said as he fired an incineration blast. The fireball vaporized the swarm surrounding her while Stinkfly started to pursue her with increasing speed.
"Who are those guys? They're gonna get me If I don't do something." She looked around, most of her skin coated in a thick green mucus.
"The townspeople may all be hiding, but there are plenty of animals around. Come little ones, empty your stored juices into me." She chuckled as mosquitos from the countryside swarmed around her, enveloping her in a big dark cloud. Seeing the dark swarm, Genos leaped up onto a building beside Stinkfly.
"So many. If she's been collecting all of that blood from the whole town and beyond, then it may not simply be a food source for her."
"I got a bad feeling about this," Stinkfly said as Genos charged up an incineration blast. Ben knew from experience that the bug lady was powering up. He couldn't fly in there, and Genos' incineration beams took time to charge up.
"Crap," Stinkfly muttered.
"We should end this as quickly as possible," Genos said. But before he could do anything, their attention was drawn to a very familiar bald man. Saitama was carrying a can of anti-mosquito spray and was chasing a lone mosquito.
"Get back here, dammit. You and I ain't done yet!" Saitama yelled. Genos looked at Saitama as if he were a crazy bald man as he continued chasing the mosquito until he started coughing something out. Stinkfly's four eyes widened in surprise.
"S-Saitama what are you doing here?" Stinkfly asked, only to be blatantly ignored by the bald man, as he considers the fly more crucial than an alien fly.
"Pft Pft, it's in my mouth. God damn mos- Pft Pft you little-" Saitama's rant came to an abrupt end as he noticed the vast swarm of mosquitos.
"What's that squirming over there?" He asked.
"Am I getting this right? You chased a mosquito all the way over here or something?" Stinkfly asked again, only for Saitama to notice him. Albeit barely.
"Hm? A big one?" Saitama mumbled as he sees… him as another fly to swat. He raised his right hand, eyeing Stinkfly with passive eyes. Stinkfly felt his life in great danger upon seeing those eyes, the eyes of the man ending a monster's life without a care.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Take it easy! It's me, Ben!" Stinkfly babbled rapidly, trying to avoid being swatted by the murderous hands of the baldy.
"Oh? You are a giant bug. Huh." Saitama deadpanned, lowering the hand of death. After a moment he turned his head to the cloud again.
"Soo, what is that?"
"A giant mass of mosquitos," Stinkfly answered.
Saitama's face then contorted to that of horror.
"That swarm must be conscious or something." Stinkfly inferred. The massive sphere of mosquitos was getting bigger by the second. For a split second, he had a flashback to one of his adventures when he was ten.
'I wonder if this chick is related at all to Clancy.' Stinkfly wondered. Genos carefully eyed the swarm, planning his next move. He could detect more movement within that indicated the horde was preparing to spread.
"If the swarm senses you, it will attack," Genos said.
"Seriously?" Saitama moaned not wanting to deal with more mosquitoes. "This is bad, I gotta-" Saitama was interrupted by a bout of crazed laughter. The massive ball of mosquitos descended to the ground, flattening and spreading across several city blocks. The mosquitos attached themselves to Stinkfly, with the intent of draining him dry.
"Ahhhhhhh!" He screamed in pain as many pests drained him of his fluids. However, the Omnitrix, upon sensing its wearer's life in danger, changed Ben's alien form automatically.
"Heatblast!" The Pyronite bellowed, burning the mosquitos coating him with flickering flames
Genos, however, was perfectly calm in the storm, and raised his arm, firing an incineration blast so powerful it vaporized the entire storm. His attack scorched not only the mosquitos but also the surrounding city in a destructive inferno. If someone were to look at it from a plane, it would almost seem like lava was flowing through the street. When the firestorm faded, Heatblast remained unaffected by the flames, but the roads and all the surrounding buildings were scorched right down to the frame.
"Since you can speak, I would've thought you'd at least have Human level intelligence." Genos referred to Mosquito girl, believing she was dead.
"But she was just a bug." Heatblast joked although the cyborg paid him no mind.
"You brought all those mosquitos together for me to burn them," Genos said. "When I spotted you, I confirmed that there were no living beings within 500 meters. So I should have been free to fire away." He continued, but then realized he forgot about the bald man that came here. Genos felt panicked for a moment. "Wait that guy might have-"
"Man you saved me. You're amazing." Saitama said, his person revealed unharmed, though he was naked in his full glory. Seeing Saitama's birthday suit, Heatblast turned away not wanting to lose his eyes from the mere sight while Genos merely stood in shock seeing the man also unaffected by his flames.
"What was that just now? You totally made them bug out." Saitama complemented, although the only reaction he received was a face of shock from the cyborg.
"Oh, I was just trying to make a joke about the mosquitos being bugs and-"
"Ohhohohohohohohohoho!"
Saitama was interrupted by the Mosquito girl's laughter. When Genos and the others turned to the voice, Genos and co saw her Mosquito girl flying in the air, utterly unharmed by Genos' incinerators. Mosquito is also different, her skin now red and her aura even more menacing.
"Just great… a power-up…" Heatblast mumbled. His prior experience with tough monsters screamed power-up.
"Idiots." She rebuked mockingly. "I no longer need the tiny ones. I mean…"
With one slash from one of her claws, she destroyed an entire building, shocking Genos with her power.
"...Look how strong I've become!" Mosquito girl boasted as she vanished from sight, appearing right behind Genos and slashed him right at the midsection. After that she just stood there, flying behind Genos mockingly to play with her food. Genos turned around and tried to punch her, but she smacked him into the air with her massive claws to mock Genos even further. While she is toying with Genos, not possessing the speed to be of use, Heatblast can only watch the cyborg helplessly tormented to shreds.
"No!" Heatblast said. He flared up immensely, trying to up his power as much as possible.
Heatblast jumped into the air, using his firepower to propel him and with great timing, and delivered a sucker punch right for her blood sac while she was focused heavily on her cyborg. But the crimson insect woman vanished before his flaming fist connected.
"Huh?" His fist scraped thin air, however.
"Hihihihi, do you think you sneak up on me with such body heat?!" She shrieked behind Heatblast as she followed with a mighty swipe across the alien's back, knocking him back down with two gashing scars on his back. Heatblast hissed with pain, as he tumbled across the ruined concrete streets, unable to stop the crazy woman from buzzing back to Genos claws at the ready. She then tore him to shreds, darting back and forth through Genos with a swipe every time, and tore pieces and pieces of Genos until she grew bored of her broken toy.
'I see… the more blood she consumes, the more powerful she becomes…' His last thoughts raced through Genos' mind, believing that this is his end.
"Hmmmm…." Meanwhile, Mosquito Girl rested her left leg over her right midair, marveling at her twin-pronged claw while Genos slowly descended back to the earth, in her eyes at least.
"I think I'll take your head next!" She shrieked as she zoomed in onto Genos.
'I let my guard down, and now I'm paying the price for it. My ally can't come to rescue me. I've no chance of winning. All I can do is self-destruct…'
Genos fell helplessly down the air, musing to his final thoughts after losing his lower torso and his left arm. He quickly charged all the power to his power core in his exposed chest, his mechanical heart radiating sky blue and almost ready to explode. Time slowed for Heatblast. He was too shocked to think of anything besides Genos who was about to die. During his time as a hero, nobody died or was about to die under his direct watch, and there was nothing he could do about it. Was it luck? Or simply fate he never found himself in such a predicament?
'Forgive me…doctor…' Genos thought as his eyes affixed onto Mosquito Girl about to claw his head off. He could hear her vicious laugh filled with lustful glee, but before she could even reach him, what happened next went beyond his wildest explanations. Right at that moment, Mosquito Girl's last thought was a powerful slap reverberating through her cheek before her world went black. What Genos saw, however, was the same naked bald man he met earlier slapping the bug woman's left cheek with god-like force, followed by an explosive shockwave while Mosquito Girl zipped past the skyscraper next to them splattering crimson liquid all over the charcoal covered building as she careered into the clouds. Genos gasped in shock upon seeing such might in action, performed so effortlessly by the naked baldy.
"Mosquitos… suck." Saitama joked his one-liner, not caring for Heatblast's life dilemma or Genos' near-death experience while Genos landed on the ground in an anticlimactic thud. Heatblast on the other hand also gazed in shock as well… the third time he saw Saitama in action, and he still could not get used to it. Not only that, but he also noticed that the shock wave from his slap parted a line of clouds, slicing the gray sky open to reveal a line of blue. Sunlight leaked through the silver lining between the clouds and basked Saitama with golden rays, giving him the appearance and setting of a savior. Genos's crippled form clattered to the street. Heatblast was a block away, and getting to his feet. Seeing the scene, Heatblast wondered if Saitama was indeed a saint… but seeing his blank, clueless eyes, he doubted that. Saitama then turned around, ready to return home, but then someone called to him from behind.
"Hold on." Genos pleaded. "Please tell me your name." Saitama turned back around to see the cyborg's remains.
"Oh. It's Saitama." Saitama answered, seeing Genos as another bystander.
"I'd like to be your disciple!" Genos requested from the bald man oblivious to his words.
"Oh, okay." Saitama stoically answered without thought before turning away for home. But once he realized what he just said, he turned back to face Genos.
"Eh?"
Meanwhile
Tatsumaki was heading to the Hero Association's central office, Sitch calling her up for a 'special mission.' Her search for the creature with the hourglass symbol bore no fruit, but one thing she knew for sure is that they're all connected. From the footage she saw, the monsters that bore the symbol were fighting monsters and protecting civilians. She floated into Sitch's office with her arms crossed.
"This better be worth my attention." She grumbled at the big-nosed man in his sixties.
"I assure you it is, Miss Tatsumaki." Sitch turned a screen towards her. The screen turned on, and there was a slideshow of all known footage on what the association dubbed 'The hourglass monsters.'
"Hmph, I was already trying to look for those things. What could you tell me that I don't already know?" She demanded, her patience running thin, though Sitch was used to her bratty attitude.
"Well uh, there has been an unusually high number of sightings of those monsters in City Z. That city is the perfect place to look." Sitch said as Tatsumaki raised an eyebrow. That was her critical link. If most of the sightings were in city Z, then surely that must be where the monsters live. Tatsumaki suspected that it might be an entirely separate faction of monsters fighting other monsters for the humans. She made a subtle, satisfied nod.
"Hmph. I'll head there then." Tatsumaki stated before floating out of the room, but before she could float off too far, Sitch spoke up one last request.
"Miss Tatsumaki. If the monsters are friendly, could you try recruiting them?"
"That remains to be seen. But sure, I guess." She replied and then exited Sitch's office and headed off to city Z.
A week later…
After the incident, Ben returned to his apartment in deep thought. Never had he witnessed someone nearly dying before in his life, even though Saitama rescued him in the end. Ben mulled over his mind in his bed, trying to think what went wrong that time, only to come up with nothing. He decided to put it aside for later.
Now, Ben and Saitama were playing video games in Saitama's apartment to distract himself. Although Ben turned into Brainstorm to counter the handicaps Saitama had given himself. Brainstorm was levitating the controller, and pressing buttons via electrokinesis. Much to Saitama's irritation.
"By perfectly timing every move, I can deny you the chance to retaliate as a result of this program's mechanics." Brainstorm gloated with a hint of cockiness, as he was winning against the overpowered baldy. Saitama, on the other hand, was fuming, his face twisting from rage. He furiously pressed the buttons in an attempt to defeat the Cerebrocrustacean, but in the end, he Saitama lost the round by a landslide.
"Damn you, crab legs!" Saitama bellowed, restraining himself from pulverizing his controller.
"It seems that my superior intellect has upset you, hohoho," Brainstorm surmised gloatingly, antagonizing Saitama to higher levels which evident via bulging veins protruding from his bald head.
"So far, I find that guy the most annoying," Saitama said, referring to Brainstorm. Then they coincidentally heard a knock on their door the next second. In a split second, Brainstorm calculated all of the possible guests to Saitama's apartment. The list wasn't big, hell, the number of guests could be counted on one hand… no, it was less than two fingers. Genos the cyborg from a week back was at the top of it… or the only one on the list.
"...Believe it is him?" Brainstorm asked teasing the bald man for carelessly taking in an apprentice.
"...No…"
"Sensei!" Then they heard Genos' voice behind the door. Saitama dropped his controller and stood up quickly, still quite irritated.
Saitama answered the door with an irritated expression. The baldy didn't remember the cyborg's name, but he somehow recognized his face. It's a face that can't be quickly forgotten though. How could anyone forget a face like Genos? Not even he was that stupid.
"You really showed up," Saitama said. He didn't expect him actually to show up. And he was already feeling annoyed.
Awkward silence.
"Its Genos, Saitama-sensei." The cyborg said.
"Don't call me sensei," Saitama requested.
"Master!"
"No, not master either." Saitama deadpanned with a bulging vein on his bald head. Genos stepped inside the apartment, and nearly activated his incineration cannons upon seeing the crab-like monster. He was about to fire, and he would if it were not for the familiar symbol on the creature's chest. Genos depowered his cannons as the orange glow in his arms returning to a dull gray.
"Oh, you're that shape-shifting monster that fought with me," Genos said. He was not aware of Ben's true nature. o
"Actually…" Brainstorm tapped the Omnitrix dial and returned to his Human form in a green flash, making Genos gasped in shock upon seeing the shapeshifter is human, a regular human teenager.
"W-what? Impossible." Genos said, unable to believe what he was seeing.
"Yeah, I'm a shapeshifter. But my base form is human." Ben extended his hand, in hopes of neutralizing all potential hostilities.
"Ben Tennyson. Nice to meet you, Genos."
Hearing his introduction, Genos then reluctantly shook Ben's hand. After that, Genos and Saitama sat down at the table to discuss the matter regarding the 'apprenticeship.' Saitama, however, was apparently against the issue. Ben was completely neutral in all of it.
"Go on home after you drink," Saitama said his ultimatum. "I'm not looking for disciples." The Baldy was hoping that the cyborg would leave him alone without a fuss.
"I just realized that you're back in one piece," Ben commented seeing Genos all fixed up. Genos turned to face Ben.
"Yes, my body is mostly mechanical, as long as there are parts repairs are quick." Genos explained. Ben was mildly surprised. He had never seen any true cyborgs in his time. In his universe, a prosthetic arm or eye was as far as it went for cyborgization.
"Oh, you're an odd one," Saitama commented. He'd never seen someone like Genos before.
"What kind of parts do you use master?" Genos asked. Ben almost laughed when he asked that. Genos was confident that Saitama was a cyborg or a robot due to his inhuman might and durability, believing that no biological being could've withstood a dozen city blocks going up in flames. Or punch the air with enough force to part clouds.
"Don't use any," Saitama replied. The baldy thought it was an absurd question.
"Then what about the skin colored armor on your head?"
"That's called skin….." Saitama said. Ben felt like laughing his heart out.
"But that would mean that you're bald. Despite being so young." Genos was not taking any hints.
Ben doubled over, silently killing himself with laughter upon hearing Genos senselessly touching Saitama's sensitive subject as a vein popped in Saitama's head.
"So what if I'm bald!? What's your problem!?" The baldy snapped. His head bulged with veins. Ben, however…
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Ben finally bursts like a balloon. It hasn't even been fifteen minutes, and Genos already insulted Saitama's shining head. Saitama creaked his bald head right towards Ben, his deadpan eyes seeing Ben rolling over the floor with laughter.
"It's not funny…" Saitama said. He believed that Ben was laughing at his bald head. Genos ignored Ben's outburst of laughter as he continued his questions.
"Hm. You said you'd listen to my problems?" Genos asked with raised hopes. Saitama returned his focus to the cyborg, his eyes even more deadpan.
"No thanks, I'm good," Saitama said, not wanting to endure a troublesome subject, but Genos started his story anyways. Much to Saitama's ire.
"Four years ago, when I was 15 I was still a real human being." Genos began regardless. Saitama looked more irritated than ever, especially at Genos audacity to do what Saitama had asked him not to do. Ben stopped laughing as when Genos started his story, his amusement replaced with curiosity the moment he heard Genos was human when young.
"Did you not hear what I just said?" He snapped, his tone crisp with bulging irritation. Genos blatantly ignored his 'Master's' request and continued orally narrating his life story. While Ben did not mind the narration, Saitama's patience gradually lessened more and more with each word coming from Genos' mouth. His brow even started to twitch in frustration, his thigh started thumping the floorboards, and time slowed around Saitama in response to his waning patience. As Genos continued to monologue, Saitama started fidgeting very quickly. Ten seconds later, veins were popping on Saitama's head, and now his whole head was twitching red with ire.
'...how long will he go on?' Ben thought, sweat-dropping at Genos' poor storytelling about his life, how he desired vengeance against the mad cyborg responsible for the death of his family, etc. until Saitama finally had enough and explosively expressed his thoughts the best way he could.
"ENOUGH, YOU IDIOT! SHORTEN IT TO 20 WORDS OR LESS!"
Genos paused from the sudden outburst, silencing his mouth much to Saitama's relief.
"...Hah, another crazy day it is, then." Ben muttered as he sighed in defeat, foreseeing another day of baldy-flavored insanity.
Meanwhile…
Deep within the mountains, lies a skyscraper like building deep within the forest upon uneven terrain. Foliage and random fauna encroached the building's exterior, dulling the once white walls to dull decayed brown and giving it the appearance of a remarkable building undeservedly abandoned to time. However, appearances can be quite deceiving. Within the walls, lies a dark room the only light there being computer monitors, and a young spectacled man sat on a chair gazing into the glowing screen.
"Mosquito girl was defeated?" Dr. Genus asked the person, who shares a strikingly similar appearance and nodded in return, revealing to be an identical clone born from mortal science alone.
"Well, it does not matter. Without any blood to feed on, she is nothing more than an insect with wings. She was merely a prototype after all." He sighed as he looked at a picture of Mosquito Girl on the computer screen.
"No, sir. You don't understand. She was defeated after consuming a substantial amount of blood. In one punch." The clone elaborated, piquing Genus' interest with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh?" Dr. Genus then typed the keyboard, downloading the footage recorded via spy drones from Mosquito Girl's encounter with the strange bald man…without any clothes on him whatsoever.
"Why is he naked?" Dr. Genus asked impassively.
"Unknown." One of his clones replied neutrally.
"...Hmm, regardless, he'll make an excellent specimen. We shall study his physiology by force if needed." The mad scientist plotted.
"Send a messenger to invite him here. To our House of Evolution." Dr. Genus ordered as he looked at some more footage. He saw three different monstrous creatures engage Mosquito Girl in combat alongside the bald man and the cyborg. One was a mollusk-like creature with a hard carapace. Another was a giant dark green bug. Then finally there was a humanoid bipedal creature seemingly comprised of red rocks with brightly glowing cracks in between. But what got his attention is that they all had the same symbol on their bodies. A circular emblem bearing an hourglass symbol, two parts green and black.
"Fascinating…" He commented upon seeing the monster shapeshift with every flash of emerald.
Meanwhile…
"Master, here's the short version. Please teach me the way to become strong like you." Genos succinctly summarized his purpose here. Upon hearing his more straightforward request, Saitama's face changed, from his poker face to a slightly stern look. A first for Ben as he never actually saw Saitama being serious in his life.
"Genos…"
"Yes!"
"How old are you?" Saitama asked. The bald hero was going to give Genos what he wanted. As it was abundantly clear, he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"19," Genos answered clearly.
"So young… I'm sure you'll surpass me in no time."
"Do you mean that?" Genos asked with a hopeful spirit.
'Yeah, right.' Ben thought with skepticism. There was no way Genos could get as strong as the baldy… now that he thought about it, how strong is the Baldy, anyways? He blinked, now realizing that he could not stop referring Saitama as Baldy, even though it was quite rude to nitpick his absence of hairs on the shiniest head he had ever seen. But… still, the caped hero is just so damn bald…
"I'm 25 now. I was 22 when I started training in the summer."
Genos gasped from the revelation. Ben, on the other hand, listened closely in hopes of the baldy revealing the secret of his power, a power no human in his world could achieve. Ben imagined himself as Way Big One Punching a mountain-sized alien into smithereens. The boy inwardly smiled at the thought.
"Yes, I can teach you. But it won't be easy." The ambiance shimmered as Saitama's face turned dangerous for the first time Ben can see.
"Whoa…" The boy can feel the power radiating from his body for the first time in his life, slightly overwhelming for a few seconds. He quickly corrected himself. Could he achieve this power? Now that Ben thought about it when was the last time he actually trained?
"Can you handle it?" Saitama asked with equal intensity.
"Yes, sir!" Genos answered with equal seriousness. But then, Genos turned his head and then leaped towards the door, landing crouched on one knee with both cybernetic hands rested upon the floor. Lines of text and images flashed across the cyborg's golden irises, detecting numerous alarms nearby Saitama's apartment. On his way to Saitama's residence, he had planted multiple motions sensors to detect possible interruptions. He frowned slightly upon discovering signs of unknown life forms approaching the apartment.
"Object approaching at high speed. It's here!" He shouted, confusing Ben and Saitama with his words.
""Huh?"" Ben and Saitama said simultaneously before a loud crash erupted as a mantis creature with a transparent glass skull revealing his brain smashed through the ceiling and landed before the three. Saitama's head bulged veins as his head slowly creaked to the intruder.
"Kyakyakyakyakyakya! My name is… huh-BOLGPH!" Before the monster could say anything else, the last image he saw was scarlet red before his world faded to black. In Ben's point of view, Saitama punched the mantis' transparent glass head to the end of splattering it like a watermelon, dying the wall behind the mantis wall with gore.
"Pay for my ceiling," Saitama grumbled for his home.
Ben though nearly puked his weak stomach from the gruesome sight. The boy was never comfortable with taking lives, monsters or not, especially since the monsters reminded him of the mistreated aliens back on Earth. Thus, conflicting Ben's heart and mind on his future actions from now on.
"Oh, my… gggod." Ben croaked as he vomited in his mouth a little. Saitama then eerily turned his head to Ben with mechanical fluidity, his eyes scarily asking if he will defile his home as well. Ben quickly swallowed his puke, afraid he'll end up as wall painting should he follow up.
"There are two more outside. Master leave them to me." Genos volunteered enthusiastically, leaping out of Saitama's apartment through the punctured hole in the ceiling.
"Yeah… I'll walk." Ben does not want to transform right now with a queasy stomach. He groggily exited the front door, taking the stairs down. When he rounded the corner to the other side of the building, he saw a snail person and a frogman embedded halfway into the ground.
"Don't bust people's ceilings…" Saitama scolded the two mutants half buried in the concrete.
"When did he get there…" Ben never saw the caped baldy exit the building. He looked back to the apartment baffled, before turning back to him. Speed accompanied his massive power as well it seemed.
"Can't you guys just come through the door?" He grumbled. But from the ground, two hands erupted from the concrete and grabbed Saitama's ankles, and then dragged Saitama into the concrete, deeply buried with only his head above the street. Seeing this, Ben was utterly unfazed since he knew Saitama would be alright from what he knew of the bald Superman so far. Genos was a different story.
"M-master!" Genos walked over to help his master.
"No, I'm fine Genos." He rejected, his mind wandering still while underground. "I kinda feel like a bamboo shoot." Saitama mused, his poker face and uncaring attitude never faltering even in this dilemma. Genos's head darted up upon his motion sensors detecting more activity.
"Elevated energy levels detected," Genos said. Right on cue, an explosion of rubble and electricity occurred which was followed by the emergence of a what Ben thought was a cyborg gorilla due to its steel colored metal armor covering its body from head to toe. That and its posture that resembled that of an oversized ape. Ben activated the Omnitrix and dialed up his desired alien.
"Upgrade!" He slammed the dial down and flashed emerald.
"Buzzshock!" The little battery like alien looked down at himself and sighed.
"Whyyy…." He said, his voice now possessing a vibrating tone to it. Deciding to make do with what he had, Buzzshock zipped around the cyborg, zigzagging around the cyborg linearly while firing multiple electrical blasts from his stubby fingers. Each jolt of electricity sparked harmlessly against the cyborg's armor. The 'Armored Gorilla' as Buzzshock mentally labeled turned to face the little alien.
"You're not the target." The gorilla cyborg swung its massive metal arm, effortlessly swatting the small black sparkster away, up into a power line. Upon contact, the black rubber wires sparked brightly as the conductive metal underneath made contact with the Nosedeenian.
"Ooohhhhh hehehehehehehe!" He rapidly giggled in an exciting high as the energy flowed into him. To Nosedeenians, extreme currents of electricity were the equivalent of a day at the spa for a Human, and Ben was enjoying every second of it.
Seeing that Ben was temporarily out of the picture, Genos sprinted forward towards his adversary with incinerators ready, albeit unaware of the actual situation.
"What's going on? I can't see." Saitama complained as the street dust obscured his vision, while the two cyborgs ignited their seemingly fated duel to the finish. The metal gorilla appraised Genos' smaller figure with a glance, before immediately dismissing him as a nuisance not worth his time.
"You're in the way!" The Cyborg roared, rearing its fist back and lunged. Genos easily dodged the attack and delivered a kick to the Cyborg's helmet and dented it, slightly staggering the enemy cyborg. Following up, Genos used the energy from his kick to propel himself back onto his feet.
"I have some questions for you," Genos said to the cyborg. It did not respond and cupped its fists together before swinging them down at Genos. His massive hands crashed down on the diminutive cyborg, but the synthetic nerves wired in his metal hands felt only concrete under them. During that moment, Genos darted left aside, dodging his foe's massive hands, and countered, signaling the start of the battle between two cyborgs.
Meanwhile…
Buzzshock was still absorbing more and more power from the power lines, enveloped by an aura of electric energy as the power line melted from electrical overload. Once reaching the critical level, the Nosedeenian promptly discharged it in an explosive outburst, descending towards the ground more energized than ever. Not only that, the influx of power cured his stomach problem, cleansing his queasiness and fatigue to his delight. Now wholly powered up, he turned his attention back towards the cyborg gorilla, albeit with a personality goofier than before, a side-effect of energy overload.
"Hey ugly, remember me? You look like you could use some voltage maintenance." The little alien taunted, happy to be rid of his stomach ache, before firing a mighty stream of electricity at the cyborg. Upon contact, it courses throughout his body before disrupting his nervous system, throwing his body out of control. After enduring the shock treatment, Armored Gorilla recovered and launched himself at the alien, swiping his foe with his mighty hands as Buzzshock split into two even halves.
"No!" Genos shouted with concern upon seeing Ben bisected in two. However, contrary to his shock, the two halves regenerated into two separate Buzzshocks.
"You… What are you?" Armored Gorilla asked. The two Nosedeenians cackled in consonance, singing a juvenile tune.
"Ben Tennyson! The greatest hero of all time." Ben arrogantly declared. Armored Gorilla grunted in frustration, irritated by his arrogance. He ignored the fact that a monster referred to itself with a human name, but not the fact that it saw itself as a 'hero.'
"Heroism is relative." Armored Gorilla retorted. In his eyes, the heroes of this world only helped others for the sake of fame or attention. Not to mention that Dr. Genus himself theorized that their efforts were stimulating monster appearances around the world.
"So is evil, and I'm looking at it right now." The left Buzzshock responded.
The duo circled Armored Gorilla, both Buzzshocks pointing their arms forward and concurrently discharged currents of electricity into both of the cyborg's arms. The cyborg's arms jerked and spasmed erratically, the electric overload scrambling his internal software.
"Unhand me!" Armored Gorilla shouted in anger. The two Buzzshocks only laughed.
With the Cyborg temporarily neutralized, Genos leaped up and kicked the machine to the ground.
"I have a few questions for you," Genos said. The Cyborg did not answer. The Gorilla's arms rebooted from voltage overload and swung his right at Buzzshock. The swing smashed Buzzshock into three pieces, each now growing into a new Buzzshock. There were four Nosedeenians in total now. Armored Gorilla frowned underneath his helmet, annoyed by their atypical macro mitosis.
"You possess…. unexpected abilities. The House of Evolution could use you, strange mutant." Armored Gorilla offered Buzzshock, but before he could answer, Genos delivered an uppercut to Armored Gorilla's helmet, severely denting it from the face-up.
"Don't let him move!" Genos yelled, desiring to uncover the gorilla's origins.
Ben and his clones nodded and fired webs of sparks from their small arms as they conducted through the cyborg's body, hampering his movements.
"Save your breath. You will not live to ask." Armored Gorilla stammered as he pushed harder against Genos, powering through the disruptive shocks.
"It would be in your best interest to cooperate." Genos countered with a venomous tone. One of the Buzzshocks turned to face Genos.
"Hey dude, you need any more help here?" One of the Buzzshocks asked.
"Leave some of your clones to cut off his escape. I'll handle him." Genos then turned back to Armored Gorilla. He reached forward and ripped his helmet off, revealing a wounded face that had not only blood leaking from the nose but also a look of extreme anger.
"Now then… talk." Genos said as he powered up his incinerators. One of the Buzzshocks turned to see a hulking lion-like creature with red eyes towering over Saitama who was still buried up to his neck in the ground.
"Hey jerk off, what's with that look?" He shouted in Saitama's face.
While all the fight still went on, The Beast King was busy guarding the bald hero, and was about to take him away to Dr. Genus, but… the baldy just yawned. The way his face looked back at him was irritating. Was he looking down on him? The Number two of the House of Evolution? The baldy didn't even leak a single ounce of fear before his grand presence, thus the reason why the lion man looked down at the head of the baldy with such anger he looked like he was about to explode.
On the other, his angry face did not amuse the mentioned baldy.
"Eh? Being underground keeps you cool, but at the same time it's nice and warm" Saitama said, tuning out the monster's existence entirely like air. The lion man's snout furrowed. His teeth bared as his anger was getting the better of him.
"I'm sleepy, could you get lost?" Saitama casually yawned, unintentionally irritating the lion man in front of him. After feeling his psychotic urges about to break free, The Beast King suddenly calmed down and sighed.
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I see. I need to teach you your place. Listen Up! I'm gonna slice your eyes out with these." He threatened, showing his claw to Saitama's eye.
"Ok." Saitama deadpanned, still bored out of his mind.
Beast King was about to explode with rage until he saw two flying sparks of…
"Huh?" The Beast King looked at the two floating batteries hovering a few meters away from him over the baldy. From his mind, they looked like joke versions of battery monsters.
"Battery monsters?" The Beast King uttered as his eyes darted back and forth between the two.
"Why does… Alright then. Hello, I am Buzzshock, a natural born alien. Nice to meet you muscle cat." The two Buzzshocks said simultaneously, returning the Beast King's insult.
"My name is the Beast King! How dare you insult my regalness, you flying pest!" The Beast King roared with fury.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm the one who did not shot first and made assumptions like I'm a random battery monster." One of the Buzzshocks quipped with sarcasm to the Beast King snarling ire.
"Hmmm… And you're here attacking us for what? Why would a monster be working with humans?" The Beast King inquired with slight curiosity.
"What part of aliens do you not understand, muscle brain? There's a difference!" One of them scolded with an electric outburst.
"What kind of fool do you take me for? The House of Evolution disputes the existence of 'aliens.' Bah, call yourself what you like, but stay out of my way you pests!"
"...no idea what you just said, but it's hero time, meatbag!" Buzzshocks concurrently said as they zipped and darted around the Beast King like glowing flies.
The Beast King cracked his knuckles, eyeing the fireflies around him.
"So you wish to challenge the House of Evolution's second strongest? Ahahahahaha, know your place!" The Beast King declared.
"Then come and get us!" Buzzshock said. Both flying aliens were firing off bolts of electricity from all angles, each bolt stinging the lion man's skin, but didn't injure him. The Beast King swipe at the Nosedeenians with his claws, but the flying batteries kept eluding his attempts as they danced around his claws leaving trails of yellow.
"Hold still dammit!" He roared, now swiping wildly at the air without composure. He struck one by chance, splitting it into three, the sight making Beast King smile. But his smile inverted to a frown when the severed bodies regrew like worms… growing into three more.
"What?! What the hell are you?!" He shouted out of shock. The House of Evolution never witnessed such regeneration in all its years, the natural ability of worms thought impossible to utilize on such a scale. The three new Buzzshocks laughed in a mocking electric chorus.
"Thanks for the one up!" One of them said.
"Yes, keep doing it! I dare you!" Another mocked. They joined their brethren and continued circling the Beast King like a swarm of angry flies, zapping their target in a flock of jolting bolts. However, each Buzzshock could only do so much damage as each electric bolt could do no more than barely singeing his fur.
"Grrr, annoying flies." The Beast King muttered. The scale of battle was against him, his options significantly limited. He could not harm them, but they could not honestly faze him, and for every second wasted in thought, a stinging pain echoed through his nerves followed by blackened fur.
"Come on, cut us kitty! Here, kitty kitty kitty!" One of them jeered, angering the Beast King even further.
"Insolent bug! Don't talk as if you can hurt me!" Beast King retorted as an idea popped into his mind. Their design derived from real life batteries, the plan that batteries could only hold so much energy to use. And his program was strengthened upon their the electric auras and their speed gradually dimmed more and more every second. Upon seeing one of them as dim as a useless battery, he roared as he swiped at the test target.
"Lion Slash!" Upon swinging his claws diagonally upwards, four blades of air pressure flew from his attack, splitting the Buzzshock and the house behind it into six pieces in his path. He watched at it carefully, his lips curving into a grin upon seeing corpse clatter around the concrete. The other Buzzshocks looked at their fallen clone in shock.
"Oh no." One Buzzshock said, also bisected into several pieces, caught in the crossfire as it died as well. His head still popped up from the ground, Saitama watched the battle addled with boredom, his face filled with disinterest and his mind focused on repair costs for his broken ceiling.
"Well, enough fooling around." Saitama murmured as he started climbing out of the concrete like he was getting out of a pool.
"EH?!" Earth Dragon watched with bulging eyes upon seeing how the earth parted in his wake like water.
"If you guys want to apologize for smashing my ceiling now's your chance," Saitama said as he walked to the half-buried Frog and Snail men grabbed each of their legs and pulled them out of the ground. Trails of dirt and dust dripped from their bodies as the baldy then dropped the two down like sacks of potatoes. The two mutants woke up from the head trauma, their prone form slowly picking themselves up as they looked at each other in confusion before their eyes turned to the bald incarnation of pain. Looking up at his shining head, they nervously chuckled as they cowered.
""Forgive us! Please spare us!"" The mutants, in a pathetic whine, got on their knees and begged, performing dogeza before him.
"Pay for my ceiling," Saitama demanded.
"Y-Yeah, we will fix it! Just let us go." Seeing this, Saitama nodded in satisfaction.
"Stay here. You will get to work later on." The two mutants froze, stood up on their feet, and saluted out of fear of death.
"SIR, YES SIR!" They babbled with as much respect as they could.
Satisfied, Saitama then turned to the Beast King swiping at the mini Bens. Only three of them remained. Watching their battle, Saitama walked up to the Beast King as he wondered what to eat for dinner… just to see the Beast King decimate another abandoned house like finely sliced sushi.
"Hah…" He then walked to the Beast King with a lazy drawl, his eyes devoid of emotion but his mind filled with concern for his humble abode.
"Hey, Ben. Stop for a moment. I need a second alone with this guy," Saitama asked as the two combatants stopped upon hearing his voice. The Beast King turned to Saitama.
"Hey, you. Stop fighting. I don't want to deal with a broken apartment." Saitama requested as Buzzshock stared at him dumbfounded. He did not come to help Ben, just to protect his house?
"Wait your turn baldy. You're next after them!" The Beast King snarled, wanting to finish the Buzzshocks off first.
"Ok…" Suddenly, Saitama impassively threw his right fist, uppercutting the Beast King's chest and blaster his upper torso to gory pieces as if he struck him with the world's strongest cannon. The Beast King then rained his body parts all around the area, with one of his eyes landing on a stupefied Buzzshock.
All three hovered with hung jaws, too shocked to even react appropriately as one even ignoring the eye on him. Ben wouldn't be used to Saitama's strength for a while.
"""Uhhmm…..""" They all mumbled. Saitama then turned to the three Buzzshocks, noticing the symbol on the top of their heads.
"...Oh. I thought you were one of them for a moment…" Saitama uttered as they backed off a little.
"Heh heh heh… yeah… please don't hit me."
"Hm?" Saitama then noticed three dials on each of them.
"What? There are three of you?" Saitama then raised his fist, wondering if any of them are fake.
The Buzzshocks all chuckled nervously.
"Yeah… this alien can duplicate. We can clone ourselves… You do know what a clone is right?" One of them asked.
"Oh yeah… Like a personal copy of yourself…" Saitama then lowered his fist, eliciting a sigh of relief from them.
"Yeah, like that," Buzzshock said, hitting the dial on the top of his head upon seeing that the battle was now over. A flash of green consumed all three of them, revealing Ben in their place.
"Man, that guy was tough. I should've gone with Four Arms." Ben said. He then looked at the bloody mess of the Beast King, from the lower torso to the exploded upper one. Ben couldn't take it anymore and lost the contents of his stomach, ejecting them onto the concrete. He coughed violently for a moment before regaining his composure.
"Oh man…. Will I ever get used to this?" Ben said out loud, his stomach weak again. Very rarely did anything like this happen in his world. Seeing a living, thinking organism splattered across multiple city blocks was too much for him to handle.
"…You'll get used to it." Saitama stated with no emotion in his voice.
"How do YOU get used to it?" Ben asked. Unable to believe that getting over blood and gore was possible for any sane individual.
Saitama shrugged. "I was more focused on defeating monsters to care when I started out. The exploding only happened about… a year ago maybe." Saitama replied.
"Oh…" Ben understood, still weak from losing the stomach contents. Ben's attention turned to Genos and Armored Gorilla. The latter on his butt backed to a building in a heap. But the Earth Dragon was still there. He tunneled out of the street, taking a good look. His eyes widened, and he gasped upon seeing the remains of the Beast King, and the incapacitated Armored Gorilla. In a panic, he dived back beneath the earth, in hopes of fleeing to safety.
"…Ben, just wait a moment. I have something to take care of." The Earth Dragon did not leave unnoticed. He still had to pay for ruining his neighborhood.
Ben only watched as Saitama… disappeared in a cloud of dust, replaced by a large hole in the ground.
"No…" Ben does not want to think about it. He continued staring at the hole before him and the gap left by the mole, putting two and two together. Ben could've used Clockwork to repair the damages to Saitama's home. But he decided to let the intruders face the music.
A moment of patient waiting later, Ben suddenly heard a loud eruption of dust, seeing Saitama appearing from the ground. The baldy was holding Earth Dragon by the head in his red gloves hand, almost as if he will pop the mole's head like a balloon.
"Ahhhhh! Forgive me, great Oni! Please don't eat my soul!" Earth Dragon pleaded.
Ben only stared as he heard 'Oni.'
"Oni?" Ben repeated. He had no idea what the creature was referring to, but the soul part gave him a good idea.
"You. Fix my street. Now." Saitama demanded with a low tone before dropping the mole back to the concrete. Upon landing, it started sobbing heavily, groveling before Saitama with his claws rubbing his leaking eyes. He was so close to death. The Earth Dragon nearly felt his heart exploding upon seeing the Baldy's head popped in the tunnel. The face would haunt him for the rest of his life.
"Y-yes, sir!" He said while sobbing a little. Ben almost felt sorry for the little guy… almost.
Now with the three surviving intruders sorted out, Ben and Saitama went over to Genos who was interrogating Armored Gorilla.
"I will ask again. Was the House of Evolution developing cyborgs before four years ago?" Genos demanded in a low tone.
"It is you who will be eliminated. I am the third most powerful fighter in the House of Evolution. At your power level, you will never beat the Beast King, the second most powerful fighter. You will be destroyed." The cyborg replied unfazed.
"Answer the question or be eliminated," Genos said as his arms powered up. Trying to use the glow of his incinerators to intimidate the cyborg. Ben walked over to Genos.
"Hey man, take it easy. He's no good to us if he's dead." Ben said, not wanting to see further bloodshed.
Saitama looked at Ben… and caught the sight of an eye dangling off of his right shoulder. He walked up to Ben and picked the eyeball off with his fingers.
"You mean this guy?" Saitama asked as Ben saw a trail of slime from his shoulder… attached to the eyeball.
"Wait… oh, my god…" Ben realized he had an eyeball on his shoulder as his stomach worked up again, but he had nothing more to vomit up, leaving only the taste of bile in his mouth as he cupped his hands over his face, retching whatever foodstuff remained within his bowels.
The Armored Gorilla watched as he saw the eyeball… and analyzed it… confirming it belonged to the Beast King. He then remained quiet, his face still stoic, leaving the area in silence minus the retching Ben behind Genos.
"Um, I am sorry. Please spare my life! I'll tell you anything you want!" Armored Gorilla pleaded, no longer possessing his robot tone.
"Eh? What happened to your high tech robot voice?" Saitama asked, caring only for that.
"Um, sorry about that, I was just trying to sound cool…"
Saitama was not amused.
"Then I will ask it again. Was the House of Evolution developing cyborgs before four years ago?"
"I-I do not know. I was created recently. And I'm the only cyborg there." Armored Gorilla answered. Genos' head drooped in disappointment. All this effort to get him to talk and nothing came of it. Ben recovered from his retching and wiped his mouth. The taste of bile would remain for a while.
"So.. What is the House of Evolution anyway?" Ben asked. Armored Gorilla looked at Ben in confusion.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"...I was the battery monster… oh god, it is coming back." Ben then walked to the side to resume his retching. Armored Gorilla then decided to tell what he knew about the House of Evolution. In hopes, it would appease the baldy and the cyborg.
"Long ago there existed a brilliant young scientist. By dint of his extraordinary genius, he was able to make many contributions to human science. Eventually, however, he became disillusioned with the world… Dr. Genus is his name." The Gorilla went on a long monologue about the origins of his creator and his motivations. But after already dealing with one obnoxiously long story today, Saitama put a stop to it.
"This is taking too long." He interrupted. "Tell it in twenty words or less!" Saitama demanded.
"My master is a busy man. Summarize it in 20 words or less." Genos followed.
Armored Gorilla gasped slightly, in fear of angering the baldy.
"Um… in other words my boss has become very curious about your body." Armored Gorilla said.
"...I don't swing that way." Saitama uttered, not amused in the slightest.
"I think you misunderstood master. He plans to use your body witch surpasses normal human limitations, for his research on evolution. If we don't do something, I'm sure he'll try again." Genos said. Saitama cupped his chin for a moment.
"Our next move should be to attack him," Genos added. Ben recovered from his retching and walked back over to his new friends.
"Ach each… aww, man…. What did I miss?" Ben asked. He was too busy vomiting his guts up to listen to the words around him.
"Are you still unwell?" Genos asked. His scans of Ben revealed unhealthy levels of internal stress from extreme vomiting. "Anyways… The people who sent Armored Gorilla want to use Saitama to advance themselves."
"Uh huh? Reminds me of someone back home…" Ben said, before burping a little. What Genos described sounded much like Dr. Animo.
"Oh? Now that you mention it, where do you come from, Ben?" Genos asked.
Ben froze when Genos asked that.
"..." he does not know how to reveal his origins without leaving his newfound companions in disbelief.
"Ummm, somewhere pretty far away," Ben replied.
"Oh? How far? City A?" Genos asked as Ben sweated profusely.
"...I'll tell you about it later." Ben evaded further questions with his trump card, 'putting it to later.' Despite Genos and Saitama being decent, he felt that he should confess himself on a later date when he was truly ready to spill the beans.
*Author's note*
Truthfully, this chapter was when Spaceengineer and I were still editing the document. It is long, I know. A bad habit on my part mostly. Anyways, I am serious on needing a good writer to help me write this series.
Spaceengineer and I wrote around 500,000 words of future scenes in our spare time. I am not kidding. That is how devoted we are to this series. If anyone wants to write alongside me, please let me know as soon as you can.
Also, it's my birthday. Thus, gift me with a writer of great skill interested to work with me! :D