I want to be a hero!

by batty1377

This is the story of a new hero joining Saitama and Genos on their adventures. This story focuses on his experience of climbing his way through the ranks of the Hero Association alongside these two powerful heroes. Please feel free to criticize.(Due to school, as well as working on other projects, release dates for future chapters will receive a delay)

10. Chapter 10: The Rebound

After being dropped off by Genos a few hours ago, Shunshi was laying down on a medical bed as various different, automated machines were running scans on his body. The young man was looking at his surroundings, the workshop of Dr. Stench, with a mixture of fascination for the mechanical wonders of science that were all around him, as well as concern for what effects these devices might have on his well-being. As one of the scanners was going over Shunshi's chest, it produced detailed scans of each layer of his body's flesh and skeleton.

While Dr. Stench looked over these scans, specifically, the scans of his muscle tissue, the kind old man explained what he understood about this situation to his patient "Alright... Shunshi, was it? Based on what I'm looking at here, and what Genos has told me about your abilities, it would seem that your advanced healing powers have stopped working; at least for the moment. You'd normally heal at an accelerated rate, correct?"

None of what he had just been told made Shunshi feel any less afraid of his current condition, but he was never one to ignore a question when it was asked of him, so, as he looked at the metal ceiling and felt the burning pain of his broken ribs, he answered "That's right. When I first got my kie... uh, that's what I call my powers, it would only take me about a week, at the longest, to recover from these injuries. But, I think I should mention that, ever since I began my training with Saitama-Sensei; I've noticed that, not only have I grown stronger in the sense of being able to punch things harder, but all of my... kie-related powers have grown as well. I can't say for certain, but, at the level that my powers were at earlier, I think I could've healed from something like this in just a day... I'm sorry, but do you know if my powers are gone for good?!"

Taking in the information that Shunshi had given him, while continuing to examine the scans of Shunshi's muscles, Dr. Stench took a moment before answering "Hmmm... Well, in all honesty, you're the closest thing that we have to an expert on how your superhuman anatomy functions. However, what I can tell you for certain is this: based on what I'm observing of your musculature, your muscles seem to be slowly expanding in size, a size, which I'm hoping, was what they were like before you wound up in this condition. Once they do, you should regain control of your powers again. Now, I don't really have much in the way of evidence to support this idea of mine, but I suppose there's always hope."

Shunshi's eyebrows raised in excitement at this idea, thinking to himself ecstatically "HE'S RIGHT! I could feel my body slowly regaining strength after a few hours. I thought it was just my imagination, but I guess I really don't look as much like a skeleton as I did before." Turning his head to try and get a better look at the good doctor, Shunshi happily exclaimed "I think it'll work!... You're idea, I mean."

A cautious expression spread onto the doctor's face as he explained to Shunshi "Like I said, it's only a theory, and an unfounded one at that. You yourself have the best understanding of how your powers work, but you told me that they've never done anything like this before now, so we just need to wait and see what happens. It's important to have hope, but it's equally important not to let your hopes get too high, just in case of failure."

Loosing a healthy amount of the optimism on his face, Shunshi looked up and stared intensely at the ceiling, before respectfully replying "Yes, sir. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Chuckling slightly at his patient's attitude, Dr. Stench told Shunshi in a kind tone "You don't need to be so formal with me, young man. Feel free to just call me Dr. Stench if you like."

Loosing the serious expression on his face, Shunshi responded "Oh, uh... Yes, si- I mean, uh... Sure thing, Dr. Stench."

After forcing himself to hold back some more laughter, Dr. Stench held up his wrist and pushed a button on what looked like a wrist watch. All of a sudden, a chair formed out from the ground amidst what seemed to be a cluster of pixels. The Doctor took a seat in his newly formed chair, cleared his throat, and spoke to Shunshi in a pleasant tone "So, Genos has told me a couple of things about you."

Perking up at this, Shunshi turned to face the old man's direction as he asked excitedly "Really, he has?!... Has he said anything good about me?"

Adjusting his posture in his chair, Dr. Stench looked to the corner of the room awkwardly, before explaining to Shunshi "Well, when he talks about you, he sometimes tells me that he's trying his best to get along with you, but, usually he just complains about how annoying he thinks you are and that he thinks you're getting in the way of his training..." Hearing this, Shunshi averted his gaze in his shame, before the doctor continued to speak "Also, while he says that he's certain he'll remain stronger than you for a while; he's somewhat worried that you're growing stronger at a faster rate than he is... I think that might be his way of saying that he respects you, at least partially."

Unsure of how he should feel about this, the young hero turned his attention up to the ceiling in deep thought, while telling Dr. Stench "Thank's for being honest, Doctor. Until a little bit ago, I thought we were getting along great, but now I feel like I can't do anything right by him. (Sigh) I just wanna be friends with the guy, ya now?... I think I'd like to rest now, if you don't mind."

Realizing right away that his patient needed some time alone to think, the Doctor got up from his chair and pushed another button on his wrist watch, causing a television to materialize next to Shunshi.

As the young man laying on the bed before him was surprised and confused by this, Dr. Stench asked him "Are there any shows that you'd like to watch while you rest here? A documentary perhaps?"

Taking a moment to think over his response, Shunshi eventually gave an answer, albeit with a bit of nervous hesitation in his voice "Well, uh... There's this one, well... anime that I've gotten into recently that's called... um... The Bizarre Adventures Of Jonathan Joestar... Do you have that here?"

For a moment, Dr. Stench almost looked like he was disappointed, but he simply explained to Shunshi in a calm tone "Not at the moment, but I should be able to purchase it virtually in just a moment. Just wait here a while and I'll have playing on the television in just a bit." He, then, pulled a remote out of a compartment from the television and set it down next to Shunshi's hand while telling him "I'll be in my study. Use this if you get bored of your show and want to watch something else."

Giving off an earnest smile, Shunshi told Stench "Thank you, Doctor. I really appreciate all you're doing for me."

Smiling back to his patient as he walked away, Dr. Stench thought to himself "I was hoping he'd have more mature tastes in his entertainment; maybe a nature documentary or something, but it seems as if he still has a childish nature to him. Well, at least he seems to be a kind and well-mannered person... I hope that Genos gets along with him more in the future. My boy could use more friends closer to his own age."

The following morning, Shunshi had fallen asleep on the medical bed, after watching a several episodes of The Bizarre Adventures Of Jonathan Joestar, and as a result, the television was started playing another episode of the show.

A door appeared on one of the room's walls, letting in Dr. Stench, who was accompanied by two small, floating robots. One of them carrying a plate with a grill-cheese sandwich and a glass of milk, while the other one was carrying a fresh set of clothes for Shunshi.

The Doctor approached the sleeping hero, began removing the vitals' monitor that was on top of him, and spoke to him as he slowly woke up "Shunshi, it's eleven A.M. You need to wake up to eat, also so that I can check on how your recovery is progressing." As soon as the monitor finished lifting up, Dr. Stench was a surprised by the muscular appearance of Shunshi's restored physique.

While Shunshi began to get up from the table, Stench cleared his throat while readjusting his posture, before announcing to his patient in a pleasant tone "Well; congratulations, Shunshi! It looks like my hypothesis was correct; you seem to have made a full recovery." Having fully sat up at this point, the hero's face lit up like a neon Broadway sign at this news.

Realizing that the pain from his broken bones was gone, he started looking down at himself in order to examine his body and, then, let out a small laugh of pure relief as he exclaimed joyfully "Heh heh! It's true! I'm back to normal! Ha!"

As Shunshi began feeling his face in order to enjoy the flesh that had returned to it, Dr. Stench continued to speak in a pleasant tone while telling the ecstatic young man "I'm glad to see you're in a better mood than before. I had some of my assistants here bring you breakfast and some fresh clothes. So how about you eat up and get dressed so that you can tell-" Before Stench could finish his sentence, he became stunned by what he saw. Shunshi had shifted in place to try and get a better look at himself, which gave Dr. Stench a clear look at the massive, crimson red burn mark that took up almost half of the young man's back, as well as the base of his neck.

Out of concern, Dr. Stench instinctively reached out and placed his hand on the massive burn, both surprising and causing Shunshi to yelp in pain "OUCH! What the Hell are you doing?!... Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to yell at you like that, but what did you just do? That really stung."

With an expression of genuine concern, Stench explained to Shunshi "While you were... admiring yourself, I saw that there's still a gigantic burn on your back. I'm afraid I don't have any mirrors large enough here for you to get a good look at it, but trust me when I say that it's there. You should take a look at it in the bathroom when you get home."

Having become a little frightened by this news, Shunshi blurted out "Are you serious?!" Reaching behind himself to feel his back, the young man quickly pulled back his hand when he felt the same stinging pain that he'd felt a second earlier when Dr. Stench had touched his back.

A little angry, due to this revelation ruining his good mood, Shunshi angrily asked no one "What the heck is going on!? Why didn't this heal too?"

Placing his hand to his chin, Stench hypothesized "Well, if I'm correctly remembering the details of what you and Genos told me; the injuries that put you into your powerless state were on your back... If I had to hazard a guess, this large burn mark is the after affect of your powers having to heal you from such a dire state. Hopefully, it'll heal with time, but, based on how severe those burns look, it'll definitely leave some really bad scars behind."

Visibly angry now, Shunshi growled in frustration "What the heck!?... (Groan) Fine, maybe it'll be healed by tomorrow. If you don't mind though, I've got somewhere that I need to be. Thank you for everything, Dr. Stench."

Just as Shunshi was about to start leaving, Stench yelled to him "HOLD ON! Shunshi; you... uh... forgot some stuff." The Doctor then pointed at the robots who were carrying his guest's clothes and breakfast. Looking down at himself, the young hero realized that he was still wearing nothing but his boxers, causing him to face-palm in embarrassment and lightly slam his head against a wall.

About half an hour later, Shunshi had gotten changed into the new clothes that were given to him; a dark-blue shirt with silver highlights, and a pair of black shorts. And he had also eaten his breakfast.

After guzzling down the last of his milk, Shunshi wiped his mouth and thankfully asked "Man, Doc, how'd you know I like dairy so much?"

Stench shrugged at this and answered "Um, I didn't. I just figured that you could use a bit of protein after having to grow back all of the muscles in your body."

As he stood up to stretch, Shunshi responded to this by saying "Oh, that makes sense... Hey, I just thought of something and... Well, I know you've already done so much to help me and I don't want you to think that I'm selfish, but... Well..."

Looking at the young man in front of him, Stench curiously asked him "I'm sure it's nothing too serious. What's your request?"

Letting out a nervous sigh, Shunshi explained "Well, you know that suit of armor I wear? I made it myself, it's fairly tough and it's kept me alive so far, but... It's just not enough to really keep me in fights for very long against the enemies that Saitama-Sensei and Genos-Senpai go up against. So, I was wondering, could you remake my armor for me with the same type of materials you use to make Genos-Senpai's body?... If it's not too much trouble that is!"

Smiling at this in amusement, Stench chuckled and answered "Is that all? That's no issue in the slightest. Something like that is child's play to man of my intellect. I should be able to finish that up in a couple of hours or more. Swing by later in the afternoon and I'll have it all ready to go for you."

Flabbergasted by this answer, Shunshi smiled in disbelief while asking "Seriously?! Thank you so much! This really means a lot to me... Uh, but I really have to go now. Like I said a while ago, there's somewhere I gotta be."

Having grown curious, Dr. Stench asked "Are you off to let Saitama know that you're okay?"

As he headed for the exit, Shunshi turned to look behind himself and replied "Oh yeah. I should probably do that too. But, no, I'm off to visit Silver Fang-Sensei to work out an exact schedule with him for when I should come in for my martial arts lessons."

Confused by this, Stench stayed quite and simply pondered to himself, as Shunshi headed out "Silver Fang? Hmm; that name sounds familiar..."

Meanwhile, walking through the streets of M-City. Saitama and Genos were carrying their groceries, as they were making their way back home from a shopping trip.

As they casually strolled along, Saitama looked up at the sky in contemplation for a moment, before lazily asking Genos "Hey, I now it's only been a day since we dropped him off at your Professor guy's lab, but, doesn't Shunshi heal really fast or something? Do you think he's okay?"

In an unconcerned tone, Genos answered his Sensei "The condition that he was in was unusual, so it may take him slightly longer to heal; but I am sure he will make a full recovery very soon, Sensei."

Satisfied with this, Saitama, with his usual emotionless face, shrugged and responded "Yeah, you're probably right."

After walking for a bit longer, they turned the corner of a large building and saw an intimidating looking man in a hoodie and a baseball hat walk out of a video game store with a big smile on his face. Genos' facial scanners quickly identified this person as the S-Class hero King.

Feeling that Saitama may be interested in learning more about this man, Genos calmly pointed out who was walking in front of them "Sensei, that person in front of us appears to be King"

Being the ever knowledgeable fellow that he is, Saitama had no idea what Genos was talking about and simply asked "Who?"

Explaining further, Genos told his teacher "He is a hero that we met during the S-Class meeting. He has earned the title of the strongest man in the world. Although, that is likely due to you not being more well known to the public. I wonder what he is doing in a place like this..."

Before any more questions could be asked or explanations given, the ground shook for a moment, and then various different screams of terrified people were heard all around, all of them yelling that a monster had shown up.

Looking in the direction that the screams were coming from, Genos saw a fourteen foot tall robot standing in the center of a freshly created crater. The robot's frame was outfitted with shiny and ornate plating and decorations, including, but not limited to, a head piece that looked like a crown, a large spiked wheel that appeared to be welded to its shoulders, and even a massive furred cape was billowing off of its back.

Looking at this robot with a slightly puzzled, but mostly blank gaze, Genos asked no one in particular "Some kind of monster? Sensei could most likely wipe it out... No, wait. This might be a good opportunity to observe King's strength in person. Let us wait and see how he handles this enemy."

As it approached him, King looked up and glared at this metal behemoth, as it began to speak to him with a deep electronic voice "My Name Is G4. I Am A Machine God Created By The Organization. You're The Strongest Hero, King. I Have Come To Eliminate You!"

Hearing what this robot monster just said, a good portion of the people who had been running away stopped to turn around and look at the impending fight, with one person asking "Did that thing say its fighting King? I guess we don't need to run away. King'll take care of this without a problem!"

As the drumming of his King Engine began to roar, King asked G4 a question, with blatant annoyance in his tone "Huh, 'The Organization'? What are you talking about? You should just run off. I'm the strongest man on Earth. I'm ranked as the number 7 hero in S-Class, King. Did you even know that before you came here?!" In the exact instant that King finished his threat, G4 pulled out a sword proportionate to its own size, held the blade only a few inches from King's face, the wind force of which knocked his hat off.

The King Engine began booming even louder when this happened, as G4 exclaimed "I Said I Have Come To Kill You! This Is A Performance Test For My Battle A.I.! I cannot Collect Any Data If I Kill You By Surprise! Fight Me With All You Got!"

Just as his hat finished falling to the ground, King sighed in frustration, put his hands in his hoodie's pockets and, just as his King Engine blasting at its loudest, he explained to the machine standing in front of him in a passive aggressive tone "Fine. But let me use the bathroom first. I can't bring out even half of my strength if I have to hold it in. It won't give you satisfying data if you can't fight me at full strength, right?"

G4's processors took a moment to go over this logic, before sheathing its sword and telling King "I Will Wait Here For Ten Minutes. For Every Minute After That, I Will Kill Ten People. If You Try To Escape, Then This Town Will Be History." Sharpening his glare, King nodded at the robot and quickly walked off. Seeing that King had left for the moment, a few of the people who had gathered to watch the fight ran off in fear of the killer robot going crazy in the absence of the world's strongest hero.

Having watched these events unfold from behind a power-line pole, Saitama, with a dull sense of hope in his voice, asked Genos "How tough do you think that monster is? It looks a little strong."

The blonde cyborg's eyes flashed yellow for a moment, before answering his teacher "There are very high energy readings coming from that creature, Master. I believe it is a robot. This robot has amazing power readings. He might even outperform me, who was built by the genius Doctor Stench. He must be a Demon Level Threat at the least. I wonder; how will King will fight that thing when he returns?"

While the seconds were ticking by in M-City, Shunshi was busy elsewhere with his own business in Z-City. Instead of heading towards Saitama's apartment like he usually would, the young hero was instead jogging through the streets that lead him in the direction of the mountain that Silver Fang's dojo resided on.

As he made his way through the city, Shunshi was making sure to keep his wits about him. For unknown reasons, and despite the fact that Saitama's place of residence was located here, large amounts of monsters had taken to gathering together in Z-City for many years, even before the Hero Association had officially formed.

Due to the frequent trips he'd made to his Master's home, Shunshi had been ambushed by groups of weaker monsters that stayed hidden in the shadows of this town, hopping that a lone young man would make for easy pray, only resulting in said young man getting a good workout in as he slaughtered his would be-attackers.

Shunshi kept both his eyes and ears alert for any potential threats, and just as he was reaching the edge of town, he heard a large series of clangs and crashes that were just within earshot. Initially, he chose to ignore this, but when he heard, what sounded like a woman scream out in pain, he turned around and immediately ran in the direction that he thought the noises were coming from.

After running through nearly a dozen alleyways, Shunshi turned one final corner and found a horrifying sight. A group of five lizard-like humanoids with spikes running down their backs, cornering a young woman, who looked to be in her late teens to early twenties, while two more of the lizard creatures were laying dead on the ground, looking as if they had been beaten to death.

The young woman seemed like she stood at roughly 5'2" or 5'3", with a lean figure. She was wearing an outfit that seemed to be a cross between a traditional Chinese dress and a martial artists' outfit. She kept her black hair tied in braided loops, and accessorized with a scarf as well as two large bell hair-ties, bell earrings and bell anklets. However, the thing that drew Shunshi's attention most was the large amount of blood coming from her forehead and obscuring her piercing blue eyes.

The most muscular of the lizard monsters, who seemed to be leading the group, grabbed at a nasty looking wound on its face and shouted viciously at the young woman through its jagged teeth "We're gonna turn that soft flesh of yours' into mince-meat! We'll eat you up and spit you out for-!" Before the monster could finish spewing out the vile filth from its mouth, a sizable chunk of concrete was flung at its skull, took off the top half of its head, and became embedded in the wall in front of the lizard, freaking out the remaining monsters, as well as the young woman.

The remaining monsters turned around to see what had taken out their leader and saw Shunshi grinning a furious grin, while tossing a piece of cement the size of his head up and down, as if it were as light as a baseball.

Barely keeping his seething fury contained, Shunshi continued to toss the cement in the air while he explained what he was doing to the confused monsters "Ya know, I got picked on a lot back in high school, so there's not a lot of things out there that piss me off more than seeing a bunch of jackasses ganging up on one person to make themselves feel tough. Sorry, but I'm gonna have to put a stop to your fun-" The fake smile that he'd been wearing for this monologue disappeared in an instant, as the hero's pleasant tone shifted into a furious growl "Permanently!"

Taking up an offensive stance, the young hero rushed at the confused and startled monsters, using the cement chunk to punch one of them in its chest hard enough to collapse it. The bravest of the three remaining monsters roared and tried to jump at Shunshi to bite him while he still had his back turned to the rest of them, but, without even having to turn to look at it, Shunshi spin-kicked the monster's head and shoulder's off of its body. In a last ditch effort to kill this insanely strong Human, one of the last two remaining lizard-monsters curled into a ball on the ground and began rolling forward using the spikes on its back as traction. The speed at which the lizard was moving in its ball form would require the reflexes of a particularly athletic Human to dodge, fortunately for Shunshi, his body had long-since become that of a superhuman's. As soon as the lizard ball got near him, Shunshi side-stepped it and kicked it in its side, so as to avoid the spikes. The force from this light kick left the monster embedded in a nearby wall, with a foot sized whole in its torso, of which it would soon bleed out from.

The last monster tried to run away while its attacker was distracted by looking at its recently killed ally, but before the creature could get very far, it was blocked by the young woman, who had moved behind the group during all of the confusion of Shunshi's assault. It tried to claw at her in order to get away, but she elegantly redirected its attack away from herself and counter-attacked with a series of open-palm strikes. Surprised by this girl's sudden retaliation, Shunshi decided to give her some space for a second and see if she could handle the last monster on her own.

After delivering a strong, open-palm uppercut to its jaw, stunning it for a moment, the woman took up a stance to ready a formulated strike. Just as the monster began to recollect its senses, the woman's body began to vibrate slightly as she struck both of her palms into its gut. At first, the attack seemed to have no effect, but, eventually, the monster's body began to violently shake, as blood started pouring out from its mouth, before falling dead onto the ground.

Looking at all of his defeated enemies, Shunshi scoffed and thought to himself in a disgusted tone "These guys were nothing but a pack of starving Wolves... Heh. Look at me; talking about Wolf Level Threats like they're not worth my time. Before I figured out how to use kie, I would've been happy to be able to beat any Disaster, regardless of its Threat Level. But now... I've been fighting against Demon Level Threats so much, even if I don't normally win, that I still feel like I should be dealing with more dangerous monsters than things like these... Wait! What am I thinking?! I'm a hero, and heroes help people, regardless of if they think its worth the effort. Think selflessly, Shunshi." Glancing over at the woman, he saw that she must have used the last of her strength to kill that monster, because she'd fallen onto her rear end and placed her less bruised hand over her head wound in an attempt to lessen the pain.

Feeling like an ass for not having already attended to her, Shunshi thought to himself "Speaking of 'selfless'... Good god, I suck."

Walking over to her and taking a knee, Shunshi introduced himself while smiling softly "Hello there. My names' Shunshi. Do you mind if I take a look at that wound one your head? It looks like it might need treatment and I know basic first-aid. Also, mind if I ask you what your name is?"

Looking at Shunshi doubtfully for a second, the young woman eventually softened her expression a bit, took her hand away from her face, and introduced herself while looking him in his eyes "... My name is Lin Lin."

As these two continued to introduce themselves to each other; Saitama and Genos were still in M-City, patiently keeping an eye on G4, just in case King didn't come back in time to take care of the robot.

Saitama was considering going over and asking the robot if it would leave, and taking care of the problem should G4 not be willing to cooperate, but just as he started moving his leg to take a step forward, ten minutes must have passed by, because The Machine God's shoulder opened up and shot a small missile at a one of the surrounding groups of people. During the few split-seconds that the missile was flying towards the civilians, Saitama tried to think up a way he could stop it, but with what little time he had, he couldn't think of a way to stop the missile without the people getting caught in the explosion. Fortunately, Genos, having set down his groceries, quickly shot an incineration blast at the missile, hitting it with just enough force not to destroy it, but to redirect it into a telephone pole, causing a massive explosion.

Turning to face the direction that Genos and Saitama were standing in, G4 began pulling its massive sword back out, having recognized the blonde cyborg as threat to collecting its desired combat data. As soon as it finished drawing its weapon, G4 swung its blade at Genos, however, the cyborg for justice side-stepped the attack and shattered the sword with a punch before it could even make contact with the ground.

Not missing a beat, Genos took the moment that G4 was disoriented over the destruction of its sword and quickly charged power up in his fist for an attack. Throwing a punch that was nowhere near close enough to hit the Machine God, one would assume that Genos had a malfunction, but, in an instant, his wrists opened up, revealing four small jets that started spewing flames which propelled Genos' fist through the air, while staying connected to his arm with a thick metal cord. Once the fist made contact with G4's face, the small rockets began blasting out flames like something you'd see from a rocket ship, giving Genos' punch that much more power. Overwhelmed by this attack's kinetic force, G4 got launched so far into the air that his massive metal body had been flung above the buildings, but it soon hit the ground with a powerful crash that shattered the street beneath it.

As soon as the cord holding onto Genos's fist finished winding itself back into his metal arm, Saitama, in a mixture of confusion and the smallest hint of wonder, asked his top pupil "What was that? A rocket punch?"

Before Genos could give any answer, his scanners began going off, alerting him just a second too late that his foe was still functioning; as the jet pack on G4's back lifted him off of his back and into the air. The blonde cyborg didn't have enough time to get out of the way of G4 as it dropped out of the air and slammed its foot down on top of him, giving him barely enough of a chance to raise his arms up, drop to one knee, and stop the foot from crushing him.

Seeing Genos struggling underneath the foot of this giant robot, Saitama casually asked him "Need a hand, Genos?"

Instantly, Genos, who's artificial face had begun to start forming cracks, started to spark with electricity and shouted in response "NO! In order to reach the goal Sensei has set for me, 'Reach the top 10 of S-Class'...-" All of the electricity that the blond cyborg had been building up suddenly exploded out of him, propelling him through G4's foot, as he continued to proclaim "An opponent like this-" He, then, unleashed a flurry of punches all over G4's body, knocking it off of its balance, before finally finishing his declaration "MUST BE DEFEATED BY ME!"

Having no visible reaction to this, even as Genos' attacks caused himself and the ground to shake, Saitama emotionlessly replied to his student's proclamation "Okay then. Just make sure that you don't lose, you hear?" Picking up the groceries that Genos had dropped, Saitama turned around and walked away to go and find directions; somewhat confident that Genos could handle the robot.

While Genos continued to tear up the streets with G4; Shunshi was finishing the treatment of Lin Lin's wounds. In order to give her injury some temporary cover, the young hero had actually ripped off a strip of cloth from his shirt, unintentionally and unknowingly revealing his abs to her.

Once he finished tying the cloth bandage around her forehead, Shunshi explained to his 'patient' "Alright, the wound doesn't look bad, shouldn't even leave a scar of any kind. You should definitely clean it as soon as you can though; keep it from getting infected and all that. I'm no professional though, so you should see a doctor just to make sure you didn't get a concussion or anything."

Due to being distracted by the sight of her savior's abdominal muscles, Lin Lin only caught the general idea of what Shunshi had told her, causing her to reply with a half hearted "Uh-huh, yeah. I don't think I need a doctor; they just scratched me. I'll just clean it once I get once I get back to my dojo."

Not paying attention to what part of his body she was staring at, Shunshi expression brightened a bit when he heard what Lin Lin said, and exclaiming in response "Oh, you study at a dojo? Well that answers one of the questions I had for you. I was wondering if you were a martial artist, what with those crazy moves I saw you pull off... Hey, so... Mind if I ask what you're doing in Z-City? This place is crawling with monsters, and I don't recognize you as a hero from the Hero Association's listings."

Still transfixed on his midriff, Lin Lin only answered with a "Uhhh... I'm sorry, what was that?"

Cocking his eyebrow, Shunshi explained with a slight twinge of concern "I was just asking what you're doing in Z-City, cause of how dangerous this place is... Are you sure those lizard freaks didn't wack you too hard in the head? You seem a little out of it."

Having listened to enough of what Shunshi had just said to understand what he'd asked, Lin Lin blushed slightly when she fully realized that she'd been ogling him, before quickly stammering out "Oh, uh... Yeah, I'm sure I'm fine... I was just here to, uh, finish practicing my Ringing Strike. Since it's a lethal technique, I was hoping I could find a really weak monster that I could test it out on... But I ran into an entire pack of monsters, and you saw how well that turned out."

While playfully gesturing to one of the dead monsters, Shunshi smirked and playfully asked the martial artist sitting in front of him "If you're Ringing Bell Thing is that attack you did that made that monster puke its own guts up, I'd say you succeeded. And didn't you kill those other two that were dead before I showed up. The vast majority of people couldn't do that unless they were carrying some heavy firepower with them."

Looking a bit unsure of herself, Lin Lin pointed out "Maybe... But you were able to handle those guys like they were made of paper... By the way; what's a guy like you doing in Z-City?"

Having gained a bit more of a casual expression once he'd been asked that question, Shunshi answered "Oh, well, I come here for my training all the time, and I'm currently on my way to train with my new master."

Having been made curious by this explanation, Lin Lin asked "Oh. Well, I guess that explains how you handled those monsters so easily; you must be used to fighting those things. But, anyway, who's this master you're talking about?"

Looking more than just a little excited at getting asked this question, the young man clenched his fists and happily exclaimed "I managed to convince Silver Fang-Sensei to train me!"

Taking a moment to think over what Shunshi had just said, Lin Lin eventually asked "Silver Fang... Wait, do you mean Bang?! That guy is a legend in the martial artist community!"

Shunshi's eyes lit up at this and he excitedly replied "I know, right? And he's gonna help me perfect my martial arts skills! The guy's my hero! It's a dream come true for me!... Uh, wait a second."

Looking up at the sky, Shunshi realized that he was running much later than he'd intended to, so he explained to Lin Lin in a regretful tone "Sorry about this, but I'm running late for my lesson. I need to get going, but I'd love to talk some more about martial arts with you. Do you wanna swap phone numbers?"

Looking a little surprised, but pleased, Lin Lin took out her phone and responded in a friendly tone "Oh, sure... Tch! One second, those freaks cracked my screen and now my phone's acting slowly."

After spending a minute of trying to get Lin Lin's phone working, the two martial artists successfully exchanged phone numbers, said goodbye, and went their separate ways.

As Shunshi raced towards Silver Fang's mountain dojo, he thought to himself with a smile "Well, she was nice. Maybe I can figure out the basics of her martial arts style from her, and incorporate some of it into my own style. Heh heh, should be fun!"

While Lin Lin jogged out of Z-City to search for the nearest hospital, she calmly thought to herself "Man, I sure am lucky that guy came around. I was worried that that would've been the end of me for a second there. Maybe I can figure out how he trains, and then I'll be able to take on monsters as easily as he-... Wait a second! Did I really just give some random guy my phone number!? Gah! He probably won't stop calling me now, will he? He's probably gonna start stalking me and..." As she was thinking over all the different ways that this may have been a mistake, the image of Shunshi's smiling face and rock hard abs ran through her mind very quickly, before she continued to think to herself in a more calm tone "Well, he did save my life after all... And he's honestly really handsome. I think it could be fun to hang out with him some more... Wait a second; he said his name is Shunshi. That name sounds familiar... Is he that new hero?... Nah, couldn't be; everybody knows that anyone who isn't S-Class in the Hero Association is a complete wimp."

Meanwhile, back in M-City. Saitama, after asking for directions from a few of the people living in this city, had found the twenty two story tall apartment building that King was rumored to live in. After taking a second to examine the structure, Saitama saw an open window at the top floor. Without even crouching in preparation, the bald hero effortlessly jumped all twenty two stories, shattering the pavement he had been standing on as a result.

Once he reached the window, he glided through it and gently landed on the room's floor without making any noise. Quickly examining his surroundings, Saitama realized that he was in a very high-end apartment, at least in comparison to where he lived. After looking around for a second, Saitama saw King sitting in front of a large television in his living room and playing video games, so he approached him silently.

King had just finished getting through his video game's opening and began speaking to himself as he was given the option to name his in-game character "Now the name entry screen... Using my real name's too embarrassing, I'm 29 after all. Tough choice..."

At this point, Saitama was just standing just a few feet behind the Hero Association's strongest and most feared warrior, so he casually suggested to him "Why don't you go with King?"

Smirking in embarrassment at this suggestion, King replied "Nah, using my Hero name is a bit awkward... If anyone saw the game character calling me 'King Onii-Chan' I'd probably kill myself out of embarrassment." It suddenly hit the fearsome man that there was somebody else in his apartment with him, so he turned his head and saw a bald man, who was wearing a shirt designed with poorly drawn breasts that read Oppai on it, smiling at him.

Stunned with fear and confusion, King thought to himself as he starred into this odd stranger's simple expression "Huh? Wha... What?! Who's this guy?! What's he doing here?!"

Gesturing with his thumb, Saitama pointed to the window that he came through and explained to King in a slightly pleasant tone "Sorry to barge in, but the window was open."

Sweating profusely at this point, King pointed out in a deadpan tone of voice "Dude, this is the 22nd floor... This-" After standing up in order to back away from this bald home invader, King began to shake and sweat violently before continuing to speak, this time in a threatening tone "This is quite bothersome. You can't just walk into someone else's home! Don't you know that I'm an S-Class Hero?"

Unfazed by this, Saitama, with his typical emotionless voice replied "I know. You're King, right?"

Shocked that this man knew who he was, but seemed unconcerned with it, King was once again stunned with fear as he thought to himself "HUH?!... Wait! It's... It's that guy! The B-Class Hero who was at the S-Class meeting!"

While King was trying to figure out what was going on, Saitama had grown a semi-serious look on his face as he looked at King's television and stated "Hmm... I gotta say... I didn't think you'd be a guy whose into this kind of game."

On the TV screen, an anime girl with outlandishly huge hair, who looked to be in middle school, appeared in front of the naming screen and spoke in an unbelievably high-pitched voice "Onii-Chan, tell me your name!"

Realizing the horror of what his uninvited guest was seeing, King screamed at the top of his lungs "STOOOOOOOOOP!"

Either not noticing or not caring about the emotional panic attack he was causing King to experience, Saitama picked up and began examining a video game case that had a robot on it, prompting him to ask "Hm? What kinda game is this? Is it any fun?"

Devising a quick plan, King shouted at his bald intruder with fake excitement in his voice, while sweating nervously "Ah, that one's an action game!"

Raising his eyebrows with slight interest, Saitama asked "Do you pilot a giant robot in this?"

Nodding his head vigorously, King answered "YES, YES!" Grabbing the game case for the game he was playing, he threw it onto the ground in an over the top fashion while continuing to shout "Yeah, I'm really into that kind of action game! I thought this would be the one, but it turned out to be a dating sim! I bought the wrong game!"

Looking at the game that King had just slammed on the ground, Saitama commented emotionlessly "But it says Doki Doki sisters right on the cover."

Continuing to act in an over the top fashion, King shouted "For real?! And here I thought it read Angry Angry Shooting Star! They lied to me! I'm gonna throw this stupid dating sim out!" Seeing that the girl on the screen was about to say something else, King quickly unplugged the television while giving the excuse "Whoops! Gotta turn off the power now. They charge a lot for power you know! How embarrassing is this!? A twenty nine year old buying a dating sim by mistake! AHAHAHA!"

Handing King the game with a robot on it, Saitama emotionlessly told him "Then, show me this one instead."

Grabbing the game case, King enthusiastically responded "Yeah, you're right. That's how it should be... Wait... Uummm... You wanna try this one?"

Looking minimally puzzled with King's question, Saitama asked him "Is that a no? I thought you were bored."

Unsure of how to respond, the strongest S-Class hero simply answered "No... Uh...", Before thinking to himself "What's wrong with this B-Class? He's showing me no respect, even though I'm clearly older than him, the jerk!... Why is he here anyway?"

As the two men continued on with their odd back and fourth; a few miles away, Genos and G4 were bursting up and down the streets of M-City, exchanging blows continuously, in their attempts to destroy one another.

While Genos was shooting through the air at knee height in comparison to the Machine God, the large robot tried to take advantage of this moment to punch its young opponent into the ground. However, the blonde cyborg activated the rocket boosters in his thighs, launching him behind G4, causing its fist to get planted into the ground instead.

Once he back-flipped behind the robot, Genos fired off a couple of smaller rockets on his shoulders and slammed down into his enemy's shoulders, and digging his hands into G4's neck in the process. Desperate to try and get the viscous cyborg off of its body, G4 quickly tried to reach behind its neck to grab Genos, unfortunately for the robot, its mechanical limbs weren't flexible enough to reach that spot of its body. In the next instant, the cyborg for justice fired his incinerator blasts at full power inside of the rampaging robot's body, causing flames to erupt from every possible opening that G4 had.

The surrounding citizens who had been watching in awe of the S-Class hero, all had to shut their eyes for a moment as G4: The Machine God's body violently exploded with enough force to nearly knock over people who were standing hundreds of feet away.

As he backflipped away from the explosion, Genos found himself thinking back to the time that he and Shunshi fought off the Shaving Lord; despite his artificial face being cracked up on its left side, he smiled for a split second out of pride for how well he handled this Disaster in comparison.

Noticing the panicked people that had gathered behind him, Genos recomposed his expression as he stood in front of the crowed, looked at the melted remains of his enemy, and calmly explained to them all "I have melted him from the inside. He should not be able to move again. His gigantic body was his own downfall." The crowed began to calm down once they heard that, but the movement of something inside of the melted slag caught Genos' attention.

Pushing aside a giant slab of melted metal that was resting on it, a three foot tall robot stood up as melted metal oozed off of it. This robot was made from a black metal, had two glowing white eyes, completely rounded features, and a simple looking power core in its torso.

Despite its unassuming appearance, the small robot was effortlessly and menacingly walking through the melted debris; surprising Genos and causing him to ponder "Is that the pilot?!... No... It's the robot's true form!" All of a sudden, the true G4's head, shoulders, and kneecaps opened up, revealing a series of gun.

Realizing the danger of what was about to happen, Genos turned to the crowed and shouted with clear urgency and concern in his voice "EVERYBODY BACK OFF!" Unfortunately, as soon as Genos yelled this, a barrage of missiles and other projectiles erupted from G4, and they were all homed in on Genos' current location.

As Genos' fight against the Machine God raged on; elsewhere in Z-City, Shunshi had arrived at Silver Fang's dojo a few minutes earlier. By this point, Shunshi was on his knees, bowing to his new martial arts instructor and awaiting directions from him, while Charanko sat behind Silver Fang, looking at his master's new student very anxiously.

Looking at Shunshi a bit awkwardly, Bang coughed and explained to him "Shunshi; while I appreciate the sign of respect, it'll make it much easier for me to start your first lesson if you stand up and look at me."

Quickly shooting to his feet, Shunshi did his best to hide his embarrassed expression, while asking "... So... How shall we begin my first lesson, Bang-Sensei?"

Switching his expression to a much more serious one, Bang answered his new student's question by saying "First, tell me about everything that you're capable of. Martial art techniques, physical strength and speed, and any other miscellaneous combat abilities that you may have. And, if your miscellaneous skills require explanations for how they function, then be as detailed as possible."

Gathering his thoughts on what exactly he was capable of as fast as he possibly could, Shunshi, in an almost militaristic tone, explained his abilities to the best of his own understanding "Yes, sir! I have spent eight years studying several forms of martial arts and, as a result, I have mastered Judo, Krav Maga, Shotokan, and Kickboxing; I'm also fluent in Jujutsu and Taekwondo. In regards to my physicality, the last time I tested myself and recorded what I can do, I found that I could outrun a typical street car, could lift over seven tons, and take a sledgehammer to my head without getting injured; however, according to Genos-Senpai, I've grown a few times stronger since then. The biggest thing of note, is my ability that I call 'Kie'. It grants me a few powers that've saved my life more times than I can count. First off, by thinking about how I want to protect people, I can produce a layer of white flames around my body and clothing that, obviously, burns most others things to the touch, excluding myself of course. It also multiplies my body's durability, although I'm unclear on the exact amount... If I had to guess, I'd estimate it to be by a factor of two and a half. The next power I have is an accelerated healing factor; because of it, I can recover from what would be serious wounds to others, within just a single night's rest. The last power that I have is... well... this-" In order to properly explain his power, Shunshi made a very small version of one of his light balls in the palm of his hand, startling Charanko, before continuing to explain "I call these light balls; not the most creative name, I know. I'm able to make them when I think of how much I hate evil monsters, and when I throw them, they explode once they make contact with something solid. It used to take me a few seconds to charge up one that could explode with enough force to do any real damage against monsters, but ever since I started training with Saitama-Sensei, the force of these explosions have grown exponentially, and the amount of time that I need to give the explosions more power has been considerably shortened. Nowadays, I'm not even really sure myself of what kind of explosive yield I could make if I really tried... Uh, also, in recent moments of desperation and passion, I've found a more creative way to use the light balls; by putting a bunch a really small ones on my knuckles or fingertips, I improve my striking force considerably."

Despite having asked for a detailed explanation of his new student's abilities, Bang hadn't expected him to go on for so long and in that much detail, so the old man was looking at him with a shocked and confused expression.

Clearing his throat and recomposing his expression before Shunshi could notice how bewildered he was, Bang calmly asked him "I see; very interesting. But, just to be clear, you haven't studied any of the superhuman martial art styles?"

Feeling like he'd done something wrong, Shunshi answered Silver Fang's question in a very embarrassed tone "Uh... No, sir. I've always assumed that I'm not good enough to practice any of those martial arts... I'm sorry in advance if all this turns out to be a big waste of your time, Silver Fang-Sensei."

Smiling with confident eagerness, Bang reassured Shunshi by telling him "You should have more confidence in yourself. If you were able to master and study six different types of martial arts, than you'll make excellent progress in your studies here. In fact, if what you tell me is true of your talent with the martial arts, then I wish you'd have come to study here sooner. Now, let's begin your first-"

Realizing he'd forgotten something important, Shunshi shouted frantically "Wait! Hold on!"

Looking understandably surprised, Bang responded to his new student's interruption with a somewhat nervous "Huh?!"

Bowing to desperately apologize to his new master, Shunshi nervously explained himself "I'm sorry! I forgot to mention a new aspect of my powers that I just discovered today! I'm so sorry!"

Looking around awkwardly, due to Shunshi's over reaction, Bang coughed and hesitantly said "Uuummm... That's alright. Just go ahead and explain what it is to me."

After bowing once more, the young man began his explanation in a very respectful tone "Yes, sir, Silver Fang-Sensei. I'm sure you remember my odd appearance after I'd been injured at the battle against the aliens. Well, the reason I looked like that was, because... Well, I nearly died, but when I started thinking of all the people who the aliens had killed, and how powerless I was to save them. It caused a huge amount of fire to shoot out of me, even melting my armor off in the process; but, somehow, the flames healed up my back at the cost of taking all the muscle out of my body. I got it all back after I rested for a day, but, as you saw yesterday when Genos scanned me, it left a giant burn mark in place of where my back used to be."

Processing this, Bang began rubbing his beard as an inquisitive look spread across his face, while he thought to himself "So, an even greater healing ability on top of his already accelerated passive healing powers when infuriated and in desperate situations, but at the cost of rendering him unable to fight for the rest of the day... Perhaps there's a way that we can make this ability viable in combat... and perhaps there's even more to it than what young Shunshi himself understands."

Meanwhile, Charanko was sweating a shaking in fear, while sitting behind Bang, and thinking to himself in a panic "Making explosions, shooting fire out of his body and growing his flesh back?! What kind of monster is this guy?!"

Once he finished processing all of this information, Silver Fang snapped both of his students to attention by yelling at them "AAALLLLL RIGHT! It's time to start your first training session with us, Shunshi!" The dark haired hero visibly flinched at this, especially due to the frightening and eager grin plastered on his new master's face.

Meanwhile, back at King's apartment complex in M-City. The building had a massive hole on one side of it, the center of which was placed in King's apartment. Lying dead on the ground next to the building was a know headless, giant crow that, due to its size alone, could've caused city-wide destruction and an untold number of deaths. Still inside of the strongest hero's apartment, Saitama was calmly sitting cross legged while King was sitting on his knees, looking at the rubble covered floor in dejection.

In a mildly curious tone of voice, Saitama looked at King and asked him "So, is this fun or something? Being a hero full of lies while being scared shitless?"

Very weakly, King responded to this "It's not fun..."

His expression remaining unchanged, Saitama continued to speak "Well, it's none of my business, and I don't like preaching."

Continuing to whimper, King explained "All of my accomplishments are probably your's, Saitama..."

Looking out the hole in the building and towards the setting sun, Saitama explained to King "Being a hero isn't about accomplishments, because, you're still the hero that everyone looks up to."

Having started to sweat, all King could say was "No, I..."

Continuing with what he was saying, Saitama explained "You are the one. The strongest hero. The one who'll win, no matter what. So, King, are you gonna keep this up? Or will you quit being a hero?"

Gripping his pants legs, the 'strongest hero' could only find the strength to explain "I don't have the guts to decide..."

Stretching out in order to stand up, Saitama emotionlessly told him "If that's the case, then just become strong and you'll be alright, don't you think? Anyways, I have to get going. See ya."

Moved by his simple yet powerful words, King found himself jumping to his feet, as Saitama slowly walked towards the ledge that was once the wall to his host's apartment.

Unable to understand Saitama's actions or reasoning, King asked him in desperate confusion "Wait? Hold on a sec! Aren't you mad at me? You've been trying your darnest to become a hero, but I-"

Before he could even finish that sentence, Saitama had grabbed his groceries and jumped out of the building while calmly yelling back to King "I might come over from time to time to play video games with you. Till then, dude."

Feeling like a weight had been lifted off of his chest, King blankly looked at the sun in the horizon and responded back to the world's greatest hero "Huh?!... Oh, uh... Okay..."

Miles and miles away, in the laboratory of the brilliant Dr. Stench. Genos, with his one remaining arm, was carrying the crumpled up body of the robot that he'd fought to the death with through the halls of the lab. Eventually coming to the door of the Doctor's workshop, the young cyborg walked in and saw Stench and his robots constructing a dark silver version of the typically grey armor that Shunshi wore whenever he was out doing hero work.

Looking at this armor with a small amount of concern in the half of his artificial face that hadn't been torn off, Genos asked Stench "Doctor Stench; is that a new design for the armor belonging to Shunshi?... And has he recovered from his condition yet?"

Taking off his face mask, and putting down the welding torch that he'd been working with, he answered Genos' second question in a happy tone "Oh, hello, Genos. Yes, he made a full recovery and left some time ago. I'm surprised he hasn't told you yet. Guess that Silver Fang fellow must be keeping- (Gasp)!" Due to having been turned around for that whole exchange, Stench only now noticed the horrid condition that Genos was in. In fact, he had been damaged so badly that even the young man's brain case had been exposed.

Despite his robots still working on the armor's construction, Dr. Stench was horrified to see his boy in a condition worse than any other he'd seen him in yet, and so he couldn't help but ask him "Genos! What happened to you!?"

Answering his caretaker very flatly, Genos explained "I fought a robot that refereed to itself as G4. It had extremely advanced technology that I hope you will be able to salvage in order to improve on my own design. I still wish to become stronger... I am sorry, but could you please answer my first question." Genos then dropped the remains of G4's body on the ground next to him with a very audible 'clang'.

Stench spent a moment looking anxiously at the remains of the robot who had put Genos in this awful condition, before asking him "First question? What do you mean?"

Calmly clarifying what he meant, Genos explained "The armor that you are making. Is it for Shunshi?"

Unsure of why this concerned him, Stench answered "Oh. Yes, I was making it for Shunshi. He asked me earlier today if I could make some better armor for him. Something about him wanting to be able to stay in fights longer. It was a simple request, and I'm almost done... Are you alright, Genos?"

Genos, once again looking at the armor with some concern on his face, explained a concern he had explained to the good doctor a few times before, except something in the young man's voice was noticeably different this time "I am afraid that he may one day become much stronger than me... Stronger than I can compete with... The difference in our strength right now is still perfectly acceptable and I am still significantly stronger than him, but... but the rate at which his strength is growing is faster than anything I have ever experienced in my time of fighting evil, and now he will be learning the teachings of two masters that can teach him two different, but compatible ways to obtaining power. And even you are making armor for him now. I believe it is possible that... No. I am afraid of the possibility that, no matter what ways I try to improve my mechanical body, he will surpass me by the end of this year, or even even within the time-frame of six months... I... I..."

All of a sudden, Genos began to lightly cry; and as the clear oil that his tears were made from rolled down both sides of his face, he sadly exclaimed "I don't want my quest for strength in the name of justice to have been for nothing! I don't want to see Sensei and Shunshi laughing at me for being so weak one day! I just-" Very quickly and without warning, Dr. Stench placed his hand on Genos' shoulder and lightly hugged him.

Since Genos was stunned silent by this, the Doctor took this opportunity to tell him "My boy, listen to me! You are not weak and you never will be! I think there's still boundless room for you to grow. And... If what you've told me about this Saitama man is true, then he's not the type of person who would ever judge you over something like this. And in regards to Shunshi... He and I conversed quite a bit while he was recovering here, and the only bad thing I can say about him is that he's a little immature... and also that he needs to pay attention to whether or not he's wearing a full set of clothes... The point is; I don't think you should be worried about competing with him, because that thought doesn't even seem to be in his head. What he does seem to be thinking about, in regards to you, is nothing but admiration and an earnest desire to be your friend."

Hearing all of this, Genos got lost deep in thought. While he was thinking, Dr. Stench had let go of him and called over a couple more of his robots to pick up the robot parts that he'd dropped on the ground, and ordered the robots to carry the parts to his lab.

As he walked towards his lab to work, Stench turned around, smiled, and told Genos "If becoming weak is something you're worried about, then don't worry; I'll make sure that never happens. I'll take a look at these parts, and get to work on incorporating martial art techniques into your next body's combat reflexes like you ask me to."

Before Dr. Stench could close the door to his lab, Genos, looking at the ground, called out to him "And please, make sure to do as well of a job with Shunshi's armor as you can, Dr. Stench."

Hearing this, the old timer silently chuckled and replied "Well, of course I will."

Standing with no one else around him aside from the robots constructing Shunshi's new suit, Genos looked more deeply at the armor and silently thought out loud "Perhaps..."

Back in the mountains located just outside of Z-City. Shunshi was having his first lesson with his martial arts idol, Silver Fang, consisting of a sparring match. Audible crashing sounds could be heard coming from inside of the dojo; entering inside you'd see Shunshi, covered in cuts and bruises, getting launched across the dojo before slamming down hard onto the ground.

Sitting up and grabbing his burn mark, Shunshi groaned in pain "Ouch ouch ouch! My back, my arms, my face, my... everything!"

Across the dojo, Bang, with a small scuff mark on his cheek, audibly laughed and said jovially "Not bad, not bad. But still, not quite there yet! You gotta work on those reflexes, accuracy and striking speed of your's. Gotta look out, cause next time I might not go so easy on you."

Charanko, who had been sitting off to the side in order to spectate, thought to himself in shock "Holy crap! I know that Bang-Sensei was just playing with him that whole match, but to think that he'd be able to brush Master's cheek with one of his strikes! It's really intimidating!"

While lightly brushing off the spot on his face that Shunshi had managed to make contact with, Silver Fang inquired "I noticed that during our match, half the time, you would switch from regular punches to swiping at me with your fingers like they were claws. Why was that?"

Holding his eye, which was quickly turning black, Shunshi answered as best as he could "Uh... I, uh... My armor has clawed fingers, and spikes on the knuckles, so I try to switch back and fourth to throw off my enemies... Why? Does it suck?"

Calmly shaking his head, Bang answered "No, not at all. It's quite interesting actually; though it definitely needs some work and polish to it. Keep working on it, and we'll see if we can incorporate that into what I'm going to teach you in the coming lessons. You've got about a half hour left here; spend it meditating with Charanko and explain to him what exactly you thought about when you activated your kie initially.-" He, then, turned and smirked at Charanko before continuing "We'll see if we can get that same kind of power flowing through you as well."

Shunshi bowed to his martial arts master, approached Charanko while smiling, while the orange haired youth also smiled back a nervous smile. The hero got into a meditative position and began trying his best to explain to Charanko what kinds of feelings he needed to channel in order to try and gain control over his kie.

While Silver Fang walked off to prepare something to eat, he rubbed the spot on his face that Shunshi swiped at one last time, before looking at his hand and think to himself stoically "He showed so much promise and potential for growth! I haven't felt this alive since... Before Garou chased everyone off. Is Shunshi's potential possibly the same as Garou's?... No, there's a world of difference between those two, Garou would surely annihilate him... Still. It's quite impressive that he was able to make contact with me at all. Not many can make the same claim. The future is looking just a bit brighter now."

Close to when the half hour had passed, Charanko was sitting cross legged across from Shunshi, whose injuries had somewhat healed up by this point.

Scratching his head in confusion, Charanko complained "I'm not getting it! Run it by me one more time."

Despite wearing a smile, Shunshi thought to himself in frustration upon hearing this "Are you kidding me!? This is like the tenth time!"

Letting a sigh out through his nose, Shunshi calmly explained "Close your eyes and concentrate on selfless thoughts or think about the people who are important to you. Think about them being threatened and put in danger. Then think about your desire to protect them as a literal flame burning inside of you. Let the flame grow, let it consume your body, before finally letting it explode out in an eruption of righteous power!"

Processing all of this, Charanko began thinking hard, so much so that he started to lightly sweat, before finally taking in a gasp of air and exclaiming "I... I think I at least got the picture of it in my head!"

Excitedly putting one of his fists into the air, Shunshi happily stated "Awesome! Now we just need to work on the tapping into the emotional part of this and we'll be ready to get sta-" The black haired hero stopped himself when he heard what sounded like miniature helicopter blades coming from outside.

Recognizing the sound from when Saitama and Genos received their fan-mail, Shunshi excitedly stood up and shouted across the dojo, surprising Charanko "Hey! Silver Fang-Sensei! It sounds like your mail's here!"

Walking around the corner with a bowl of noodles, Bang looked a little excited himself and asked "Oh, really?"

Once they had retrieved the box of mail, Shunshi, barely keeping his excitement contained, eagerly asked Silver Fang "If you don't mind me asking, master; what kind of fan mail do you usually get?"

Smiling back at him, while taking one of the letters out of the box, Bang replied "Oh, nothing too fancy. Just some letters of appreciation from admirers or up in coming martial artists aspiring to be like me. Though, on occasion, I get some really cute fan letters from little children asking me to be their grandpa. It's adorable! Ha ha ha!"

Too embarrassed to say this out loud, Shunshi thought to himself while smiling "Until recently, I was among those writing letters of appreciation for you, sensei."

Picking up one letter in particular that was marked with the Hero Association's sigil, Silver Fang commented with minor intrigued "Oh, Shunshi. This one's addressed to you. I guess they got my message."

Accepting the letter, but naturally confused, Shunshi asked "Uh, what message?"

Handing the letter to his new student, the elderly hero explained "I just contacted the Hero Association when you arrived, and told them not to bug me today, since this was your first day of training with me and all. And, I guess, since they knew you were here, they sent this letter for you with the rest of my mail."

Nodding in understanding, Shunshi swiftly opened the letter and began reading it's longer than normal contents "Let's see here... Oh, cool. I got promoted to number 5 in A-Class for my service in holding off the aliens."

Looking mildly surprised, but even more so happy, Bang proclaimed "Congratulations, Shunshi. You're well on your way to getting that handshake from Atomic."

Perking up a bit more, the young hero replied joyfully "Oh, yeah! I didn't think of it like that. Awesome!... Uh, after I read the rest of this, I gotta head over to Saitama-Sensei's for my muscle training, so let's see what this says here... 'Due to your frightening costume and vicious nature in a fight, that contradicts your friendly and helpful attitude to the general populace and other members of our association, you will be given the Hero Name of Monster Mask.'... Holy crap! I have my own hero name!"

Unsure of why he was so happy about something so trivial, Charanko put on a half hearted smile and told Shunshi "Uh, good job. I'm real happy for you."

Snapping his attention back to the letter, Shunshi, in an crazy sounding tone of voice, exclaimed "Wait! There's still more." Going silent as he read the last part of the letter, Shunshi seemed like he suddenly had a stroke and passed out on the floor.

Charanko panicked a bit while asking no one really "What the hell? What did that letter say?!"

Picking it up and looking it over inquisitively, Bang was also a little shocked when he read the last paragraph of the letter "Due to the rate at which you are climbing through the ranks, and the excellent work that you've been doing for the Hero Association, some of us here in the higher ups are considering you for promotion to S-Class. Start working even harder than you already are, and this consideration may very well become a reality. Good luck, hero!"