"97… 98… 99… 100!"
Speed-o'-Sound collapsed to the ground, heaving deep breaths as he lay spread-eagled on the white-tiled floor.
"Well done, Sonic. You have now surpassed your record by 80 one-armed handstand pushups. A truly impressive feat," a white-coated man said.
The ninja gave no response, but a hint of satisfaction appeared on his damp, sweaty face.
After a few seconds of typing into a handheld tablet, his hand moving in a blur, the assistant announced, "Your strength and fitness tests are now complete."
Sonic sprang to his feet, now completely recovered from his ordeals. He wiped his sweat away with a black sleeve as he walked over to the lab assistant. "So? What are the results?"
The man in the lab coat scrutinized the tablet he held in his hand. "From what I can see, the Deep Sea King's DNA has improved your strength five fold. Your endurance has also improved 10 fold. We believe this is the result of your muscle cells regenerating as you-"
"I'm not interested in the details," The ninja cut in coldly. "Tell me what's important. Can I beat him yet?"
Sonic said 'him' as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.
The assistant smiled coolly. "Current predictions indicate a close but decisive defeat. Holocho can still overwhelm your regenerative abilities despite their significant increase in potency. Chances are that he will finish you like how he finished the Deep Sea King - a brutal decapitation. And, unlike the monster, you will be unable to survive with just a head."
Sonic had been getting progressively irritated at the scientist's words.
"Why am I still inferior?" the ninja said with controlled anger. He crossed his muscular arms. "Weeks of experimenting, training and waiting and I'm still so weak. And you promised that I would be far stronger within mere days."
The assistant calmly looked up to the eyes of the taller ninja. "We promised to make you stronger than the Holocho that defeated you. You have now surpassed him by a large margin, but recent evidence has shown that the boy had been significantly holding back on you when you were defeated."
The ninja nodded slowly.
"Also, the potential of the monster's genes have not been fully unlocked. You are utilising around 50% of the Deep Sea King's regenerative abilities. With another week of experimentation, we should be able to fully exploit and possibly improve the Deep Sea King's genes and implement them into your body. If not for the heavy burns the head had received, we would have done so already."
The ninja nodded firmly. "Good."
He walked past the assistant out of the testing chamber.
As he progressed down the long hallways of the underground complex, he heard a shout from the assistant from inside the testing chamber. "I would suggest you get some real-life training to familiarise yourself with your new abilities!"
Sonic smiled crookedly. He had been planning to do precisely so, and he had a perfect training dummy in mind.
Genos sped through the vast airspace between A and Z City, cruising at a comfortable altitude which made sure his body was cooled just by the frigid high-altitude air. His back and shoulder boosters giving out 80% maximum thrust - his journey wasn't all that urgent, but he preferred to get to places quickly. Also, the box he was carrying in both hands was slowing him down - the box being horribly un-aerodynamic and all.
He was returning from Dr Kuseno's lab. He had been extensively damaged during the last fight against the Deep Sea King and required many repairs. He had also received a few upgrades and modifications - his internal computer was now running 7% faster, a new, more aggressive fighting style was now implemented to make the most advantage of his glass cannon-type design and his rocket boosters were now slightly more energy efficient, meaning that the cyborg could fly for longer and further.
And, most importantly, Genos could now safely play Pong while flying on autopilot.
In fact, Genos was doing just that. For the better part of his 10 minute journey, he had been battling the enemy pong paddle handler (himself) at an ever-increasing speed and the cyborg seemed to have no problem returning every shot. He found the challenge of high-speed Pong to be an effective way of honing his reaction speed and having something interesting to do.
So much of his attention was being diverted to trying to control both sides of the game that he didn't notice the ludicrously slow shower of shurikens he was flying into until he was right in front of them. Exiting out of the game immediately, Genos forced open several flaps on his arms and legs and fired all his arm and foot incineration cannons at the metal shards of death. His velocity slowed dramatically, but it wasn't enough to prevent him from being attacked by multiple shurikens. The blades in front of him had been disintegrated but surrounding shurikens seemed to be moving towards him, as if attracted to him. Dr Kuseno had assured the cyborg that he was built entirely out of non-magnetic alloys, but apparently that didn't stop the flying shurikens from gravitating towards him as if he was a piece of bread to pigeons. Genos threw himself into a steep dive, sending him rocketing into the forest canopy, just before the first spinning shuriken reached his metal body. It appeared that he had dodged a fatal bullet there, as the shuriken exploded with a fury as soon as it came close to the cyborg's body, the force of the explosion detonating the surrounding shurikens with a large-scale chain reaction.
But he wasn't safe yet. From out of nowhere, several kunai raced towards him, forcing him to swerve and roll sharply. Just as he thought he was in the clear, tiny little thrusters on the kunai burst into life, guiding the deadly little missiles towards the cyborg.
"It appears I'm under attack by a persistent foe," Genos thought as he raced through the forest canopy. "I must release my package in order to increase my maneuverability."
The cyborg let the box of canned drinks fall into the deep forest with a slight twinge of regret. He marked the location on his map to return to after the fight.
Now that his arms and hands were free to move, his maneuverability increased sharply. He quickly pulled himself into a hairpin-like turn, losing the kunai almost immediately as they slammed into a thick oak tree, the blast from the ensuing explosion severing the tree in half.
Genos landed on a tree branch, scanning his surroundings, but found no trace of the attacker. But he couldn't simply assume that the attacker had moved away. He had to remain vigilant to avoid being caught off-guard. He didn't want to end up like a piece of modern art again.
However, he didn't need to be vigilant to know that the enemy was nearby. Instead, a distorted voice floated through the dark forest canopy.
"I seem to have found myself a metal monkey…" the voice taunted.
Genos recognised the voice immediately. "Speed-o'-Sound Sonic. Stop bothering me. I have no time for a fight."
He knew that the ninja wouldn't be swayed by his words, but Genos hadn't spoken in vain. For some reason, Sonic's voice seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. Hopefully, by getting him to talk more, Genos could figure out how he was managing such a feat. Otherwise he would be in for a difficult fight. Also, Sonic's voice had a strange hollow quality to it.
"Oh. That's a shame," came the reply. The forest was silent once again.
Genos frowned. The ninja couldn't have possibly left, could he?
Suddenly, he felt movement in the air behind him. He quickly leaped into the air, attempting to dodge Sonic's katana blade. Unluckily for him, part of his foot was caught by the blade. Somehow, although his body was made of a seriously strong metal alloy, the ninja's blade dug into the heel of his foot just as the rockets there fired into action, tearing a chunk of his heel as well as part of the rocket nozzle away. The lack of a focusing nozzle caused Genos to spurt randomly in the air, colliding with numerous branches and finally into the floor before Genos could shut the rocket down.
He was given no time to gather himself, the ninja darting down at Genos, his sleek body pointed like a dart with a katana for the tip. The cyborg was barely able to avoid him, but he was forced on the defensive as the ninja came at him with a flurry of swings with his kunai, the katana stuck deep in the damp soil after the initial attack. Genos moved in a blur, twisting and turning in an effort to dodge the ninja's attacks. Thanks to his improved reaction speed, he was able to avoid most attacks, only suffering from a few minor cuts. But what worried him was that he had to focus entirely on defence. Sonic's speed had somehow grown by a major amount over the weeks, making Genos estimate him to be at least as fast as him, if not slightly faster.
With a final thrust which Genos narrowly dodged by jumping backwards, the ninja stopped his assault and stored his kunai up his sleeve. He regarded Genos with a cold stare.
"I must admit, your speed is admirable. I had thought that I could defeat you swiftly, but you're proving a worthy opponent."
The cyborg processed the compliment.
"You are also a strong foe. Your growth in ability shows that you have a large amount of potential for improvement. If not for your evil ways, you could be a strong force for good."
Sonic sneered.
"Are you telling me I could be a hero? And join the Hero Association?"
He huffed. "Why would I associate myself with that rabble?"
Genos shook his head. His eyes glinted dangerously.
"It is a shame that I will have to eliminate you."
With that, their little chat came to an end. Genos lunged forward, shoulder and back thrusters roaring with a crimson fury. A rocket-boosted punch crashed into the surprised ninja's face, sending him soaring into and through an oak tree as thick as he was tall behind him. Genos didn't let him rest - he relentlessly pursued the stunned ninja, grabbing his face and slamming him through several tree after tree, the ninja losing more and more consciousness until they reached a small rock formation, which Genos smashed the ninja into.
Behind him, a line of trees toppled over like dominoes.
Genos coughed smoke. That little attack had needed him to push his core all the way to 400% in the first few split seconds in order to catch Sonic unawares. It had worked, but not without a cost - his power core had reached extremely high temperatures and now needed at least an hour to cool down to its normal temperature. He wouldn't be able to do much fighting.
But judging by the state the ninja was in, smashed deep into granite with most of his bones broken, he wouldn't be bothering Genos any more.
The cyborg took a moment to let his actions sink in. He'd just smashed someone through tens of trees. Even with his aggressive fighting style, what he did seemed unusually brutal.
That was for the best though - if he'd been any gentler, the ninja would have just regenerated his injuries as they fought, and Genos wasn't sure if he could have won a war of attrition.
However, as Genos expected, Sonic was healing at an alarming rate; some of the ninja's limbs that were previously twisted in painful and unnatural positions were already back in their normal orientations. Genos knew that, if he allowed enough time, the ninja would be back with a vengeance. But that would have to be the case, as Genos couldn't muster enough strength to even fire an incineration at full blast, much less kill an enemy that had regenerative abilities almost on par with the Deep Sea King. The flight back would be a long one.
Holocho sighed. He was jogging on the labyrinth-like streets of Z City, on his usual monster patrol. He had been going at it for the whole morning now, and not even a trace of a monster was to be found. It was a stark reminder that being a hero wasn't always about fighting - sometimes they had boring days as well. And just like the past week, this was turning out to be a boring day.
What did lift his mood however was the amount of people who recognised him as he ran past. Every so often as he passed a pedestrian they would wave and shout a greeting to him, often accompanied by words of encouragement. It was really a change from the days where people had no idea who he was or what he was doing.
A smile grew on his face as he remembered the fan mail he had received last week after the fight with the Deep Sea King. A drone had landed, delivering with it a box packed full of letters from various fans, all thankful of the heroes' actions that day. Genos, of course, had received the most by far - more than three quarters of the hundred or so letters were in his name, showering him with praise and admiration for saving the refugees of the shelter from certain death, and for finally finishing off the demonic monster. He'd received many letters as well, mostly praising his skill, but a small number of his letters were critical of him. Why did he toy with the monster? He had so much power at his disposal, why didn't he use all of it to kill the Deep Sea King immediately?
And, of course, there was a hater. Probably someone who was swayed by the weasel of a man at the shelter or him himself. Filled with spite, the letter had tried to attack and demoralise Holocho in every way, telling him that he didn't deserve to be a hero, nor did he deserve to carry on living. That hadn't worked on Holocho of course, he was out here patrolling and continuing to carry out his hero duties, but the letter had really bruised his ego as well as stir up a hatred for that man. After reading that letter, the boy had torn it into microscopic shreds in a flash of burning anger, shocking Genos and Saitama.
Holocho cleared his head of the thought. Already, his vision was clouding over in anger, and he wasn't here to be angry, he was here to patrol and keep the citizens safe. His mood suddenly turned to one of a mixture of arrogance and happiness. What would they do without him? There were literally no capable heroes in the area. He shuddered at the thought of what would happen if even a low demon-level monster appeared in the area.
As he rounded a corner, a suspicious-looking man with a long brown trench coat and hat drew his eye. The man was trying to be inconspicuous, sitting on a bench and reading a book, but he swore that he'd seen him before, a couple of hours ago, trailing behind him. The boy decided to head directly to him.
He jogged over and sat on the bench beside the stalker.
"Whew! All that jogging's making me tired!" he said, despite being able to run another couple of marathons if he wanted to. He leaned towards the man. "That's an interesting book you got over there, what are you reading?"
The man was becoming visibly sweaty. Holocho continued. He twisted to peer directly at the man's face.
"Actually, I have a better question, what are you doing following me…?"
His voice trailed off as he realised who he was looking at.
He recoiled.
"Silverfang?!"
The old man sighed and removed his hat. "Yes. I am Silverfang."
Holocho broke into a grin. "So you were my stalker all along! You, the S class rank 3 hero was stalking me! I must be really important for you to waste your time following me around!"
Silverfang appeared to be in great discomfort.
"Well, tell me! Why're you stalking me?"
The old man sighed once again. "Well, I'll get right to the point. I wish for-"
Holocho held up a hand, cutting the old hero's sentence in half. He cocked his head, listening carefully for what he thought he'd heard. The sound was unmistakable. Genos's thrusters! He'd returned from his repairs! The boy jumped up eagerly. Genos had been away for some time now, having to undergo extensive repairs and all, so he wanted to welcome him back. He also wanted to see if the cyborg had any new gadgets.
"What? Where are you going?" Silverfang asked, watching the boy spring to his feet.
"I'm going home! Genos's back!" Holocho exclaimed. Seeing the slightly disheartened expression on the old man's face, he said enthusiastically, "You can come with me if you wanna!"
"It tastes disgusting…" Saitama said, grimacing.
"What does?" Holocho chimed.
"Huh? What?"
"Master, Holocho is standing in the balcony. He'd landed there just now."
"Oh," Saitama said, looking at the smiling boy as he let himself in. "Hello. Why's Silverfang with you?"
"Aha!" he said, grinning, and before the old man could say anything, Holocho chirped, "I caught the guy stalking me today!"
A moment of awkward silence. Saitama put down the canned drink he was holding.
"Are you sure that the S class rank 3 hero was stalking you?" Genos asked, narrowing his eyes. Silverfang was known to be a man of honour and integrity.
"Yeah! And he wasn't doing it well!" Holocho said. "I was on my patrol and kept seeing him from the corner of my eye! And he wasn't even trying to hide at all! It's like he wanted to be caught!"
Silverfang grumbled internally. This was all highly embarrassing. If only he'd been more subtle, then he could've avoided this mess. But now that he was in it, he'd better sort it out. But if only they'd let him speak!
Saitama frowned at the elderly man. "You may be S class, but you shouldn't be stalking kids, even if the kid's a hero. That's just wrong."
He gestured at the old hero's trenchcoat and hat. "And what you're wearing makes you look really suspicious. You can't blend in at all wearing that."
Silverfang closed his eyes in annoyance. Great. Now he was getting a lecture.
Before Saitama could continue, Silverfang smoothly cut in. "Let me end this misunderstanding. I admit that I may have been closely following Holocho, but I promise it wasn't for any… unsavoury reasons."
Holocho regarded him skeptically. "I don't believe you."
"Neither do I," Saitama said. He leaned close to Holocho. "Seems like Silverfang isn't as heroic as he seems," he whispered, causing Holocho to smirk.
"Yeah, if you didn't want to kidnap me, why did you try to hide yourself like that? Surely you could have just walked up to me and asked!"
"It's more than that-"
"And what you dressed up in really makes you look like a kiddie fi-"
Growling in frustration, he broke into Saitama's sentence, exclaiming, "Why do you all jump to the conclusion that I'm trying to kidnap him? Does my reputation as an S class hero not show anything?"
He was greeted by two pairs of skeptical eyes.
The old hero grumbled under his breath. "Damn youngsters these days…"
Genos, who had performed an extensive search on Silverfang as they talked, defended the exasperated hero, much to his relief.
"Master, Holocho, I have reason to believe that Silverfang has no bad intentions. Information from a detailed search on Silverfang I have just conducted points overwhelmingly to the fact that he is an honest and pure man. We should listen to what he has to say."
Silverfang nodded gratefully at the cyborg. "Thank you, Genos."
Holocho huffed. "Okay…"
"The reason I disguised myself was to avoid being swarmed by well wishers and admirers. As we all know, it's quite annoying sometimes," the elderly hero reasoned.
Genos nodded. "That is true, especially last week, after I defeated the Deep Sea King."
"And the reason why I didn't approach you immediately was because I wanted to observe you. To attempt to gauge your abilities and battlefield awareness."
"So not because you were looking for a chance to kidnap me."
"No. Nothing like that. When you had finished your hero duties, I wanted to ask if you could come to my dojo. I wish to demonstrate my martial arts to you in hopes of convincing you to join."
Seeing Holocho's frown, Silverfang added, "I am currently looking for new students. And although you are a powerful hero, I still see untouched potential in you I could help unlock if you studied under me."
"Hmm…"
Silverfang played his trump card. "I have an assortment of exotic foods in my dojo I could have prepared for you all for free."
Holocho perked up. "Sure!"
He turned to his companions excitedly. "Let's go!"
Reviews:
rmarcarno321: Thanks for your persistent support! I agree, Holocho does share quite a few characteristics with Goku. But he's less dumb, I hope.
abubakartheking2.0: Thank you. This fanfic will definitely continue.
iHateFridays: Thanks! I'm glad you like how I wrote Holocho. I try and give him a childish and carefree attitude, but also make him more unique than your usual kid protagonist.
I did have a small laugh when I gave Saitama his nickname of 'Flying Baldy' as well.