Hey everybody! Guess what? I didn't give up on this story! I know it took me longer than usual to update, and I know a lot of you might be pissed about it, but lately, I've been doing a lot of other stuff, like playing SSB Ultimate with my brothers, playing Red Dead Redemption 2, studying for exams, sending college applications, all that stuff. Anyway, here's Chapter 29, where we'll see just how Saitama and the other heroes are dealing with this problem!


The Saiyan General walked up to Genos, who stepped back upon sensing Nappa's close proximity to him. "Saitama's not looking good," said Nappa, stating the obvious.

"My master is simply feeling the sadness accompanied with his loss to Frieza," said Genos. The young cyborg couldn't help but bear some of the weight of Saitama's loss; after all, he's failed to kill Frieza just like Saitama. If he'd been quicker, Frieza wouldn't have reached his final form.

"We need to talk to him. You and me. He needs to see your familiar face, and I think I can manage to get a few words out of him. We have to get him out of this funk; for all our sakes."

The teenage cyborg momentarily clenched his fists, but conceded to Nappa's words. Because he failed to kill Frieza, Genos knew he shared the blame for Saitama's defeat. It was his responsibility to help his master. With the world coming to an end, it needed a man like Saitama. It couldn't survive without him.

"Very well," muttered Genos, "Let us go."


Saitama was not the only hero who was wallowing in grief and shame. In fact, nearly all of the heroes were reciprocating these despondent emotions. Although it was to a less extreme level, they'd all failed in their own ways, and it was taking its toll on them.

The three disciples of the most powerful swordsman on the planet were huddled around their master, who was crouched on the floor with his knees opened with his head hanging in between them. He had his katana on top of his knees and was slowly rubbing his fingers over the edge of the blade repeatedly, the motion giving him some form of comfort. The three disciples felt worry gnaw at them, and they gave one another wary looks of unease. They'd never seen their master like this before. The bright atomic glow of his blade was now a dull gray. The calm, collected, and supremely confident master they were familiar with had utterly vanished.

"Master, what is the matter?" asked Iaian.

"I lost," muttered Atomic Samurai under his breath, causing a wave of shock to run through the hearts of his disciples. To them, it was more than just the loss; granted, hearing about the S-class heroes being defeated presumably meant that their master had been defeated as well, but to hear it from Kamikaze himself only made it more shocking, especially knowing that it could have dealt this big a blow to his pride.

"What?" said Okamaitachi, "How could that have happened?"

"That monster, he was unlike anything I'd ever seen before." Atomic Samurai's voice was dispatched and morose, as if verbally recounting this was causing him pain. "He was able to suppress his power in multiple stages, and even in his most suppressed state, he was able to expertly dodge my Atomic Slash with only minor difficulty."

"You mean he was able to react to 100 slashes in a single second?" exclaimed Bushidrill. Atomic Samurai slowly nodded. The swordsman continued. "And that was just the tip of the iceberg. The gap between that monster and I... it's too big. Even if I train for three lifetimes, I don't think I'll be able to close that gap."

"No!" shouted Iaian, "It's impossible! There can't be a monster that strong!"

Atomic Samurai shook his head. "After what I've seen today, nothing is impossible. Today, I was shown that in the end, I..." Kamikaze's stomach churned and revolted at what he was about to say because the truth hurt. "I am a weakling..."

"Master, NO!" Iaian frantically shook his head. "You're not-"

"The evidence is before me," interrupted Kamikaze, who lowered his head back to look at the ground. "In the end, I'm one of the weak."


The strongest esper on Planet Earth was standing in pain in the main lounge area. Her green, curly hair was dischiveled and partly burnt off from the repeated battles against Frieza. A stream of blood ran down the right side of her forehead; her black dress had several holes and tears with blood spots and bruises, and her right sleeve had been completely torn off. "Hey sis." Walking toward her sister with a bottle of water in her right hand and several bandages and wipes in her left hand was her younger sister. "Here you go sis." Fubuki handed her sister the bottle of water, and she immediately grabbed the bottle to gulp down the water.

"Now let me just..." Fubuki took one of the wipes and began to wipe off the blood stains. Tatsumaki swatted her sister's hands off of her. "God, I'm not a baby!" said Tatsumaki.

"I know, but look at you! At least let me-" Fubuki wiped the blood off of her face and quickly withdrew her hands. Once she finished the water bottle, she crushed it with her psychic powers and threw it to the corner of the room. Fubuki placed the bandages to her side and moved herself to the right of her older sister. They didn't really know what to say to one another, since they'd never been good with chit-chat, and Tatsumaki was in less of a mood for conversation than usual. After a few moments of silence, Fubuki decided to break the ice and came out with a straight-forward comment. "I've never seen you take such a beating in my life." Tatsumaki let out a harsh breath and blew out of his cheeks. "Because it's never happened before! That lizard's lucky!" Tatsumaki jerked her head toward her little sister and held up a finger. "If I'd have been at full strength, I would've beaten that little punk in 5 seconds flat!"

Fubuki slapped her hand over her eye, causing Tatsumaki to shoot her sister a confused look. "What's that supposed to mean?" said Tatsumaki.

"You should know very well what it means." Fubuki hunched her shoulders and put her hands to her sides. "Look at where we are! Look at what happened! I sensed the entire planet shaking from the battle between Saitama and this Devil of Frost! You're really telling me that you can stand up to a being whose power has the ability to destroy the entire planet?!"

Tatsumaki opened her mouth to retort, but all that came out were a series of stutters and mumbles which only served to prove her younger sister's point. Fubuki understood why her sister couldn't come to terms with this: ever since she was a kid, everybody revered her. She was the popular girl, the celebrity everybody adored. In her eyes, the entire world revolved around her. Well, truth-be-told, the only reason people idolized her was because they were afraid of her powers, but Fubuki would never tell her sister that. To make this problem even worse, her enormous psychic powers made it so even the strongest mysterious beings that showed up could never pose a serious threat to her. But today, for the first time ever, she knew what it felt like to lose. She knew what it felt like to be inferior. In a way, Tatsumaki could perhaps get a glimpse of how Fubuki felt. Alas, Fubuki's feelings about this were irrelevant. What was relevant was snapping her sister out of her prideful state and getting her to work together with the others. This was the only way they'd be able to defeat Frieza.


Standing at the edge of the room with his back against the wall was Speed-o-Sound Sonic. His eyes were at the ground, refusing to even look at any of the heroes when he didn't need to. Hopefully, none of them would get any funny ideas. He had no interest in getting to know any of these heroes. Most of all, he refused to even be in the same presence as-

"Kuto." Sonic's teeth clench together when he heard that voice. Slowly pacing up to Sonic was Flashy Flash, whose lips were formed into a scowl and his eyebrows were perched downward. When Sonic looked up, his eyes nominally widened. He actually looked... sad. Yet he quickly masked his surprise and gave Flash a cold stare. "Is there something I can do you, just to make sure I don't do it?" mocked Sonic.

Flashy Flash didn't scowl at Sonic's rudeness towards him. He didn't have the pride or confidence to fight back. "Kazuki, I just..." Flashy Flash felt the words stick in his throat. It was never like him to feel such sorrow and weakness, but like several of the other heroes, he'd never been so utterly dominated. Ever since he underwent his intense training, he thought everything would change. He thought that he'd trained himself to the maximum level possible, the highest level of power that only a select few in the world could ever hope to achieve, but in an instant, his beliefs were proven wrong. Like the rest of the heroes, not only was he knocked out by that Burter character in a stalemate, but he was absolutely pulverized by Frieza, who was using only a fraction of his full power, and was defeated with only a single blow. He'd never felt so helpless, so... afraid. The only other time he'd experienced this kind of fear was when...

Flashy Flash's brows furrowed downward: there was only one person in this world who'd ever seen him so vulnerable, the only person who'd been there when The Village had been annihilated by that monster, the only person who also experienced that feeling of helplessness, knowing that even with all of his powers, he could do nothing but watch as innocent people were being slaughtered. That person was standing right next to him, but unfortunately, that person loathed him with every fiber of his being, and Flashy Flash didn't know how to change that. Kazuki was just too stubborn; it was something they shared.

"I..." The weight of his loss and all of the emotions swirling inside finally caught with him, and the control on his legs weakened. The ninja hero slowly slid his back against the wall while letting his arms droop to the sides. It took a moment for him to come back to his senses, he looked Sonic in the eyes and muttered, "I'm sorry."

Upon hearing those words, Sonic's eyes softened, and his arms became uncrossed. Flashy Flash continued. "I never meant for our village to be destroyed. I just wanted to prove myself: I wanted to prove to the rest of our village that I was a true hero, a warrior who could handle even the toughest opponents by myself. I thought I'd learned my lesson. I thought my intense, bone-breaking training would be enough to handle the mightiest monsters. I thought I would never face another experience like the one at the Village. And yet..."

"You were powerless." Sonic blatantly interrupted Flashy Flash. Sonic scowled, his rougher demeanor surfacing again. "You were powerless to do anything against a truly powerful opponent. As I told you before, heroes can never protect anyone or defend anything. And now, it's not just the people of our village who've suffered this time: every soul on the planet has to pay the price for your weakness and the rest of your pals." Sonic spit out the last word with venom, causing the ninja hero's fists to clench up and his eyebrows to furrow. How could Kazuki say such terrible things while seeing him so weak? He expected him to at least stay silent and respect his openness, but he was just throwing this right back at his face. Well, if that was how he wanted it, two could play that game "Of course that's your response," replied Flashy Flash with a low, aggravated voice. "What more did I expect from an assassin such as yourself?"

Sonic glared daggers at Flashy Flash. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"All you care about is money. You don't care who you kill or what they've done: as long as you're paid, it's irrelevant. Your greed has consumed you, robbing you of any morals you once had." Flashy Flash straightened his back, and coldly said, "With enough money, I'm sure you would've even killed our master." Sonic felt every muscle in his body tense. For a moment, he stared at Flashy Flash. The ninja hero's stern gaze softened, and he was taken aback by the whirlwind of emotions flashing in Sonic's eyes. The first thing he could see was... hurt. Flashy Flash took it too far. "Kazuki, I didn't-"

Sonic was able to take Flashy Flash by surprise and immediately pinned Flashy Flash against the wall, lifting him a few inches off the floor. His elbow pressed against Kuto's neck, and his other hand was holding a small knife against his throat. Sonic's nostrils were flaring, and his body was trembling with rage. Flashy Flash couldn't help but be shocked by this unbridled rage. Flashy Flash expected Sonic to explode, but instead, Sonic spoke in a very low, soft voice, but there was no mistaking that he was beyond furious. "You have no idea what I feel," said Sonic, pressing the knife even deeper into his neck, drawing a pinprick of blood. "And if you ever say anything like that again, I'll make sure that this knife goes all the way through your throat." The two stayed silent for a moment, waiting for the other to make a move, seeing whether they'd fight back and trying to see how each of them were feeling. Then, after this long standstill, Sonic released his grip on Flashy Flash. The ninja assassin gave his former friend one last look before shoving his fists into his pockets and walking off to search for another place of solitude.


Like all the other heroes, the highest ranking hero in A-class was having some rather troubling thoughts of his own. He was the very first combatant to demonstrate his abilities, and he was instantly rendered immobile by Zarbon's ugliness. He hadn't even taken any serious damage from the fighter, he was just unable to fight back. The A-class hero slapped his hand against his forehead. What an embarrassment! And then, when all of the heroes combined their might against Frieza, he was powerless in the face of that ugly lizard's overwhelming power. Despite his grotesque appearances, each of his transformations granted him an explosive growth in power. It was unbelievable!

Sweet Mask rested his back against the wall. He craned his head up and stared blankly at the ceiling. "It's more than that..." whispered Sweet Mask. For him, perhaps the most shocking of all was Saitama's power. When Sweet Mask first saw his hero application, his very first thought was of his bald head and unappealing appearance. He'd completely disregarded his perfect score on the physical exams and has allowed him to be placed in the lowest rank of the lowest class, and every time he saw his name in the news and the way he assisted in defeating Demon and Dragon-level mysterious beings by landing the final blow, he was certain Saitama was merely lucky, and that the S-class heroes had done all of the major damage. Sweet Mask let out a sardonic chuckle. "How wrong was I?" Even though Saitama had lost, and even though he's been recklessly irresponsible, he was able to outmaneuver and overpower Frieza in his final form with minimal effort. He far surpassed the power he or any other S-class hero possessed, and however much he hated to admit it, he was most likely the best chance the heroes had at defeating Frieza. Sweet Mask sighed. He now wished he could go back in time and shoot Saitama all the way to S-class Rank 1. It was only now that he realized that Saitama did indeed have beauty, a beauty that far eclipsed his own: Saitama had the beauty of overwhelming power!

"I have to obtain it..." Sweet Mask clenched his fists and intensely whispered, "I have to obtain that overwhelming beauty somehow!"


Genos and Nappa walked over to calm Saitama down, but they weren't exactly sure what to say. It was obvious that Saitama was feeling like absolute garbage, and if they were being honest, everybody would agree with that statement. The most they could do was try to ease his mind, but it wouldn't be easy. When they entered the room, they found that Saitama wasn't in any of the beds. They peered over the rows of beds, trying to see where he could be hiding. After gazing over the 10th row of beds, Genos saw his master sitting in the corner, his face buried in his hands and his back curved downward like a sleeping infant as he curled up in shame. The guilt tormented him endlessly, gnawing at his insides and making him sick to his stomach.

Genos softly walked up to Saitama and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Master?"

The bald hero didn't bother meeting his disciple's gaze. "Go away, Genos."

"Master, we need your assistance." Genos put his hand on Saitama's left shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. "If humanity is to survive, all of us need your guidance, your unimaginable power. It's the only thing that can stand up to Frieza."

"I said go away Genos!" Saitama's face finally left his palms and he shot an angry look at Genos and Nappa, who was standing right behind the cyborg. When he saw Nappa though, his eyebrow furrowed up. He hadn't noticed Nappa before when he'd first woken up, so this was new to him. Nappa was freed? How did that happen? Did that mean he was on their side? "What're you doing here with Genos and the rest of the heroes?"

"I'm here to offer up my services and to help defeat our common enemy," replied Nappa, "And in order to do that, we're gonna need your support! We're gonna need your power!"

"My power meant jack-shit in the end," yelled Saitama, "You both saw it. And I let it happen! Everyone told me to take him out when I could, but I didn't listen! I thought that his power-up would only be enough to break a sweat, but it turns out, his power-up was enough to break me!"

"I understand that completely master, but no one could have anticipated such a large change. It's not as if you knew his power-up would be that large." Genos attempted to underscore the severity of Saitama's mistake as a means to put him at ease, but he could see it wasn't working, as he appeared just as despondent, if not more. "But this was just one mistake!"

In a sudden twist, Saitama shot up from his seated position and shot daggers at his disciple, causing him to back away in fear. "NO IT ISN'T! CAN'T YOU SEE? THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN MY BATTLE WITH FRIEZA!"

"Huh?" uttered the cyborg. Genos didn't understand where Saitama was coming from. "What do you mean?"

Saitama let out a pain-riddled sigh, rubbing his hands through his face and head. After he'd regained his consciousness, a swirling, volatile vortex of unstable emotions were overflowing in Saitama's heart, threatening to burst it open into millions of pieces. The first obvious sensation he felt was guilt and shame of his ridiculous stupidity in allowing Frieza to reach 100%. He acted recklessly and selfishly, only caring about getting the rush of excitement from a real fight, and everyone on the planet was paying the price for it. But the guilt made him come to a realization about something else, something that he never considered or thought about until now that was racking his brain. "This battle and my major fuck-up made me realize how terrible of a hero I've really been."

Genos cut his hand through the air. "That's nonsense!" said Genos, "You're the most powerful hero on this planet!"

"Yea, and how have I used that power?" The bald hero's arms drooped to his sides. "How many times have I been late to the fight after other heroes have been sadistically toyed with? Every single time! How many lives were lost in the time it took me to get there, even though I could have made it to the destination in no time flat? I've treated it all like it was nothing, going at whatever time I pleased and never considering working out a strategy or finding a way to minimize damage. Take that giant monster who attacked D-city! I ended it with a single punch, but his body crushed dozens of buildings filled with god-knows-how-many people that died? I could have punched him back with enough force to move his body out of the city and avoid any fatalities, but no! I didn't give a freaking thought to it! And now, my stupidity's put every person on the planet at risk!" I don't deserve your admiration, Genos. I don't deserve my S-class ranking, I don't even deserve to be called a hero!" Saitama slammed his fist on the bed, splitting it in to and creating a crevice in the ground from the force of his blow. The bald hero's momentary raged fleeted after releasing his anger with his punch, and despondency took over once more, rendering all of his muscles useless and causing him to slump down onto the broken bed. "I'm nothing."

Genos somberly lowered his head down. The despondency and guilt appeared to have taken his master over completely, clouding his vision and judgement with only negative thoughts. It was like Saitama was a completely different person; he didn't even recognize him anymore. What could Genos say? How could he fix this?

"No, you're not." Saitama and Genos turned their heads up when they realized it was Nappa who spoke up. "That's a lie." Nappa rotated his body around and took a seat in the bed. Nappa wouldn't allow Saitama to talk about himself this way. He was one of the most honorable and strong-willed fighters he'd ever come across in his lifetime, and Saitama needed to know that. "Look, I'm not gonna bullshit you: what you said sounds pretty bad, and you may very well be right about the citizens that were inadvertently killed by you.." Saitama's head lowered, and Genos aggravatingly shoved Nappa's shoulder. "What are you saying?!" snarled Genos. Nappa held his hand up to the cyborg's face. "I wasn't done yet," replied Nappa, "And I'm a straight-forward guy. Now Saitama." Saitama didn't meet Nappa's eyes. "LOOK AT ME!" Not willing to have any of this self-pitying bullcrap, Nappa grabbed Saitama's head and forced him to stare him straight in the eyes. After silently gazing for a moment, Nappa let go of his grip on Saitama and quietly asked him a question. "Let me ask you somethin': while you're thinking of all the people that might've been inadvertently hurt or even killed by your actions, try and think about all of the lives you've saved through your heroic acts.

"How many people would've been killed if you never showed up to fight any of those monsters? How many cities would've been reduced to rubble? How many children are still getting to live their lives because they weren't killed by the monsters attacking their homes? For god's sake, it weren't for you, this planet would be a floating pile of space rocks destroyed by Boros long ago."

As Genos was listening to Nappa speak, his face began to light up. Nappa's words of inspiration were actually... inspiring! Saitama's dampened expression was starting to nominally lighten up. Nappa's lips pursed, and his eyebrows narrowed. "You may not believe in your strength, but I believe in it. And so does your disciple."

"That's right!" interjected Genos. "You are strong! Undeniably strong!" Genos joined the two bald warriors and sat to the left of Saitama. "I do not care what anyone else says. You've saved this planet countless times, and millions of people are still alive because of you. I can give you countless examples of how your actions have saved lives." Genos held out his hand and began counting with his fingers. "When you defeated the Deep Sea King and saved that entire shelter of civilians, when you destroyed the meteorite and prevented not only Z-city, but several other cities as well from being obliterated, and just as Nappa said moments ago, when you prevented Boros from destroying the entire planet and saving every civilian on Earth." Genos jabbed his finger at his chest repeatedly. "I am alive because of you. You saved my life not once, but twice! You've allowed me to continue walking on this planet and work as a server of justice! You need to understand that!" Saitama's blackened heart was lit by the shining hope illuminating from the cyborg's faith in him. What they said was indeed true; he did do all those things and he did save all those people. Maybe it was wrong of him on only look at the bad things he'd done. Saitama reached his hand out and patted Genos on the back, compassionately smiling at him as well. "Thanks Genos. That means a lot to me."

Nappa took control of the conversation again. "Through your training and monstrously hot willpower, you managed to achieve a level of power far greater than me, a Super Saiyan, and anyone else on this planet. With only a punch, you could destroy an entire planet. So don't go telling me that you're nothing."

"Yea but-"

"Your decision to let Frieza power up may have been wrong, and as bad as it might be to admit it, the lives of civilians may be in jeopardy, that much is painfully obvious." Saitama's lips pursed downward. Nappa saw this and sliced his hand through the air. "But sitting here and sulking about it isn't going to help you or any of us. If anything, every moment you waste here is a moment the people of your planet are being subjugated by Frieza, enslaved to his new tyrannical system of government and forced to live under his icy-cold iron fist. Based on how I've seen him take over, he won't go out of his way to kill civilians; he'll force them under his new system of government and most likely show a sample of his power to demonstrate the futility of resistance.

"Hopefully, people will be smart enough to lay low for now, while we figure out how to kill Frieza. But every day we don't do anything is another day where your people will be forced to work under that slimy lizard. Now are you willing to let that happen? As you just said before, are you willing to let innocent civilians pay the price for your mistakes? Or are you going to get off of this bed and work yourself so hard, Frieza's new form will seem like a cute party trick?"

Something in Nappa's words managed to change something huge in Saitama. It was like a circuit in the bald hero's brain that'd been disconnected suddenly clicked back into place, restoring the system that was Saitama's will and soul to full working order and reinvigorating him with the fiery willpower that gave him his strength. Nappa was absolutely right: it was now his responsibility to become even stronger than he was, as well as help the other heroes to attain even greater strength in the hopes of standing up to that monster Frieza. He made the choice to let Frieza reach full power, and this was the price he'd have to pay, no ifs, ands or buts.

Saitama slapped his hands onto his thighs. "Well, I guess I can't be mopin around then..." Saitama slowly jumped off of the bed and heaved a sigh. "If I do that, then Frieza wins." Saitama's pulse slammed in his neck, "And I'd rather shove crap in hell while sucking the Devil off than see that slimy lizard win again!"

Nappa's face split into a wide smile, as well as Genos's face. "Exactly!" exclaimed Nappa. Taken up in the new dedication shown by Saitama, the Saiyan General clapped his hands, and proceeded to wrap his arm around Saitama's shoulder and fiercly shake him. "That's the Saitama we're all counting on!" Saitama nervously chuckled and slowly released himself from Nappa's grip.

Saitama's resolve was now clear. Nappa and Genos were right: Saitama couldn't afford to waste time. He owed it to everyone to make up for his mistake. The pain of his stupidity was still hurting him, it was still clawing at his heart and threatening to make it explode, but if there was one thing Saitama was exceptionally good at, it was suppressing pain, and everyone out there needed Saitama's expertise in training and pushing limits now more than ever.

"Time for a training montage!" shouted Saitama.


The chamber underneath the hero association was quiet and somber, the heroes still mourning their losses in their respective ways. Suddenly, the chamber slowly came back to life when the rapid footsteps of three individuals echoed through the room. Saitama, Genos, and Nappa made their way to the center of the room. Once they positioned themselves, Saitama took one step forward, raised his hands, and shouted, "EVERYONE! CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE!" All of the people in their room lifted their heads up to acknowledge the hero. Seeing that he'd gotten their attention, Saitama continued. "I know you guys are pissed off at me! I'm pissed off at me too! But if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like for you all to gather around me for a meeting! I think you all need to hear this!"

At first, some of the heroes simply gave him icy stares and looked back to the floor, while others only started getting up at a very slow pace. But then, Sitch paced up to the center, just a few feet in front of Saitama, and boomed, "You heard him! Stop moping on the floor and listen to what he has to say!" Even though Sitch was still upset at Saitama, he still knew Saitama was a key asset in reclaiming Earth, and if Saitama felt it necessary enough to gather everyone, then it had to be important. "That's an order!"

Seeing that their superior was very serious, the rest of the heroes got up and slowly walked up to Saitama, forming a semi-circle around him, while Sonic stayed a few feet back, away from the crowd.

"Thanks Sitch," said Saitama. However, Sitch gave Saitama a cold look and clappd his fingers together. "Zip it!" barked Sitch, "I'm still angry with you!"

The bald hero let out a heavy sigh. "I know. I know..."

Sitch didn't give Saitama an inch of pity. "Well then out with it!" Sitch didn't want any dillydallying from Saitama.

"Alright..." Saitama had the floor. The room was once again silent. All of these broken, morose, and hopeless souls were looking at him, some of them infuriated with him, some of them pitying him, yet all of them were still here to listen to him. He had to try and infuse them with some sort of hope, a kickstart to get them working again. It was his responsibility.

Saitama took a deep breath in, and calmly exhaled. "Well, here goes."

"First of all, I want all of you to know that I'm sorry for what happened." The crowd didn't waver. Saitama continued. "I know my apology probably doesn't mean much to any of you, but I still want everyone to understand that this was never my intention. I've been going through an existential crisis, and I thought letting Frieza power up was the best thing to do. I didn't think about the consequences: I didn't consider how many lives I was putting at risk through my actions. I didn't think about how all of you were counting on me to defeat Frieza. I was only thinking about myself. Today, my actions weren't the actions of a hero. They were the actions of a selfish man. It's only now, through my defeat, that I'm able to truly understand that." The faces of some of the spectators began to soften.

"I don't really know any of you. I don't know what kind of people you are on the insides, what you think of your others, or what you think of yourselves, but right now, you've gotta put that aside. From what I've seen, I'm quite sure most of you take too much pride in your abilities, you probably thought you could handle most monsters by yourself, and a lot of your peers weren't nearly as strong as you. I can understand that. You're in S-class for a reason, you all persevered in your own ways, and you're able to handle the threats that most other heroes can't. But, given how battered you are, I'd say you learned that your abilities paled in the face of Frieza's might. That applies to me more than anyone else here. I've realized that I still have a lot to learn, and that's where you all come in."

"As I said, all of you are prodigies. All of you possess strength, knowledge, and abilities that've helped you reach this far."

Nappa took a step forward and interrupted Saitama. "That's right. Just as I told you before, I can teach all of you how to use your internal energy to fly and unleash ki blasts, and Saitama can teach all of us how he obtained such an explosive growth in power."

"But the only way this'll work is if we cooperate." The heroes gave each other empty stares, since most of them, like Saitama, barely knew one another nor ever had any interest in interacting with each other. Saitama let out a small groan. They weren't making this easy. "Look, this is the first God-level threat our planet has faced. We need to put our pride aside. For once, we need to stop thinking of ourselves and protect as many people as we can, like what real heroes do. Please! We have to do this!"

The eyes of the heroes softened, and they tucked their heads down to the floor, pondering everything Saitama had just said. But then, one of the heroes walked up to the center of the crowd, and that hero was Metal Bat. "Hold up! I'm not doing anything until my sister and my cat are brought here safe and sound!"

Saitama's eyes momentarily widened. "Where are they now?"

"Well, right now they should both be at our home waiting until this whole thing blows over. But now that I know this problem's gonna keep on going for weeks, maybe even months, there's no way I'm leaving them unprotected!"

Bofoi decided to interject. "Don't be foolish. With all of the foot soldiers swarming up there with their scouters, you'll be spotted in an instant. It's too dangerous, especially with that Frieza character roaming about."

Metal Bat bared his teeth at Bofoi with frightening malice, causing the aged scientist to jump back. "SHUT UP, OLD MAN!" yelled Metal Bat, "Until they're brought here safe and sound, I ain't working with anybody here! So if nobody has the decency to help me, I'll just go up there myself and hope for the best!"

"No, no..." Saitama grasped Metal Bat's shoulder and gazed at him intensely. "I can't have you going up there without any sort of plan. I can understand your concern, but if we're gonna rescue those two, it's gonna take a little bit of strategy. Does anyone have any ideas on how to go up there and find those two without being spotted?" The heroes tried to come up with a good plan for this, but nothing was coming to them. Then, it was Dr. Kuseno who received a light bulb. "I have an idea! I overheard how the female esper Tatsumaki only had a power level of 12 through the spy drone. If she could manage to travel cautiously and evade detection from any of Frieza's henchmen, she could retrieve his sister and pet without being detected by any of the scouters!" Everyone looked at Tatsumaki, who didn't seem so keen to the idea. "Does it really have to be me?" whined Tatsumaki, still not putting into perspective the gravity of Metal Bat's request.

"YEA!" shouted Metal Bat, "That's my family up there! I ain't letting anything happen to them! So stop being so whiny and get going!" Tatsumaki was almost ready to toss Metal Bat across the room, but stopped herself at the last second and sighed in exasperation. "Alright, fine. Just tell me the address and which city she's in."

"My house is in City F. We live on the 15th floor of the Paradise Suites, the largest apartment franchise in the city and the tallest building in the city too."

"Got it." Her typical green aura flickered around her, and she proceeded to float up to the top of the room. But before she could go, her sister grasped her by her wrist. "Make sure you don't do anything reckless out there," said Fubuki.

Tatsumaki gazed at her for a moment, and shockingly, instead of angrily retorting back at her younger sister, she gave her a small smile. "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself." Tatsumaki looked back at Metal Bat. "I'll try to get back here in about 3 hours. Don't wait up."

"Just go as fast as you can," replied Metal Bat. The female esper gave him a small nod before going up to the latch of the room, opening it, and exiting the shelter.

With that little skirmish out of the way, the attention was refocused on Saitama. The bald hero realized this and cleared his throat. "Alright you all. I'd like to start our training now, but I know that most of you are probably dog-tired, and I could also really use a nap right now. I know it sounds stupid, but you saw the toll the battle took on me."

"Saitama's right," interjected Sitch, "You all need to be fully rested for whatever sort of training you're going to be doing tomorrow. I don't want to see any foul remarks or uncooperative attitudes. Like Saitama said, all of humanity is counting on us." The heroes nodded.

"If that's all, then I think we're done here," finished Saitama. With that, the spectators dispersed, returning to their own activities while some of them made their way to the sleeping quarters. Saitama wiped his forehead; he was glad it managed to turn out alright. From behind him, Genos came up and stood right beside his master. "Do you believe the rest of these heroes will be able to help you become more powerful?" asked Genos.

"I wish I could say they will," replied Saitama, "But all we can do is hope, and I hope that by the end of all of this, I'll have paid for my mistakes, and everyone can rest easy again."


And that's it for Chapter 29! This one took me a while to make, and I honestly feel it could use a bit of tweaking, so feel free to leave any reviews saying what's lacking or missing. Anyway, be sure to stay tuned and see how the heroes are gonna start their training in Chapter 30 of the Space Emperor's Besiege!