Writer's block and college are a bitch.

Chapter 2: Starting Over

Saitama pinched his nose as he strolled through (what he presumed was) F-city. He had bailed on the genderbent Sonic, much to her chagrin. He couldn't be bothered with her if she had that same obsessive drive to prove herself that his Sonic did. She chased him, of course, but there wasn't a person alive or dead Saitama couldn't lose if he truly wanted to. Now, after losing her, he needed to find out just what was going on.

"Wait, I know!" A lightbulb dinged (and shined over) his head. He reached in his pocket, fumbling around for his phone. He'd just call Genos and see what he thought. Genos was a smart kid; he'd be able to figure out what the hell was going on. He fumbled around and around in his pocket, but his phone wasn't anywhere. Why was it missing?

Then it hit him.

"… Oh yeah. I turned invisible and dropped my bag. I couldn't punch that she-beast either." His phone, to his disdain, more than likely simply fell through his pocket and may have even cracked itself on the ground. He was wearing casual clothes and going to the supermarket, so he needed his ID and debit card. Basically all of his articles of identification were on him at the time, making what that monster did all the worse once he realized it.

Now he couldn't identify himself if asked. Just his luck, he guessed. He'd need to either borrow someone's phone (which was hard to do, considering he didn't know anyone well enough to ask for a favor like that; he'd just come off as a creeper), or get to a payphone and use that (which was even harder to do, considering he had no money).

Today was not his day.

Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't register the sounds of screams and crumbling buildings behind him as he walked. He turned around to the sight of mass panic and numerous civilians running from something. Past the civilians, he saw what looked to be some grey blob monster coating buildings in its body and eating them. It had no discernible features other than a gaping maw.

Perfect. He'd be able to let off some steam by punching this thing. He made to race towards it, but another sound caught his attention. It sounded like an engine, almost. He turned his head towards the sound and saw a man flying towards the creature at breakneck speeds. The man was big, had three scars on his face, and a stoic look. His attire was basically what you'd see on the classic superhero- red cape, blue bodysuit, red tights- the only difference was that there was a big "K" embroidered on the diamond-shaped center of the suit.

Saitama's eye almost twitched.

"King!? What's gotten into you dude!?" he shouted at the flying man. King (or the King lookalike) turned his head, acknowledging that he was spoken to, but went right back to laser-focusing on the blob monster… literally. Red beams shot out from his eyes, hitting the monster and causing it to roar in pain. It lashed out with its body, but only hit an afterimage as King had already flown out of harm's way. He cocked his fist and then sent it forward as he crashed into the monster, blowing chunks of its body off.

"… Ok. I didn't want to believe it, but I might be in a different world. This is so weird." He didn't want to believe it, but this display was too far-fetched for even a dream of his (King would most likely be fighting him if it was his dream, anyway). King was a pro-gamer and a NEET. The man was scared witless by that bird that crashed through his apartment and had even wet himself out of fear. There was the possibility that he was hiding his true power, but why would he do that in the solitude of his own home?

As he pondered the situation, he felt the temperature drop rapidly. He looked back to the fight to see what was going on. King was breathing out frost, freezing parts of the monster solid. The parts that weren't frozen, however, lashed out, smashing into buildings. Some straggling civilians were in the path of the falling debris, so Saitama took matters into his own hands. King had the monster handled, it seemed, so all he needed to do was rescue the civies. He moved at speeds unable to be seen by mortal eyes, snatching up every last one of the innocents and placing them out of harm's way (none of them knew what had happened, so they just assumed King did it).

Once he had rescued the last civilian, he turned back to see that King was finishing up as well. The monster was now completely frozen, unable to move or defend itself. King hovered just above the frozen mass of muck and flicked it with a finger. The monster broke into pieces which were then melted entirely by his heat vision. Saitama idly remembered another superhero with this same moveset. What was his name? Soupman? Mark Fent?

Eh, it doesn't matter.

"You there, bald civilian." Saitama seethed at still being addressed that way. He was in an alternate universe, and people were still going on about that!?

Was it such a crime to be bald at 25!? Why was that always his single most defining trait to people!?

"You did a good job rescuing those civilians." His voice was deep and intimidating as he spoke, drowning out the cheers from the recently saved crowd of people.

"Oh, you saw that?" Saitama was surprised. There weren't very many people that could see him move at the speeds he did to save those people.

"Indeed, I did. I've never seen you around, though, so are you perhaps a new resident?" This was a nice feeling, Saitama thought. Not being mistaken for a criminal or a weirdo for once gave him some small semblance of relief.

Speaking of identification, he needed to come up with a basic backstory if this really was an alternate world. He doesn't exist as he is in this world, if that's the case, so it'd be easier to get people to believe he was some upstart instead of the vaunted number 1 hero with wealth… and fame… and wives…

He shook his head; now was no time to be jealous of himself (what a weird thing to think, he thought).

"It seems as though you are blessed with not only the gift of speed, but a good heart, young man. If I may, if you want to be an officially recognized hero, you will need to sign up with the Hero's Association. We could always use more upstanding citizens like yourself. You certainly have the aptitude, with how you saved those people. Don't worry about names, they'll help you pick one out if you can't decide", King interjected.

Saitama mulled it over for a brief period of time. The Association was the entity that saddled him with that troublesome hero name back home, so should he really leave it up to them? The one thing that he was on the fence about was the way King had worded it. They'd help him, not decide for him. If he himself got to choose the parameters for his name, it might not be all bad.

Well, it's not like he had that much of a choice anyway. The Association (at least the one back home) has vast reach and vast connections. Any number of geniuses and wealthy businessmen lurk its halls. If there's anybody who could figure out how to send him back home, that's where they'd be located.

That's what he's banking on, at least.

"Sounds good. Do they hold, like, exams or something?" Saitama needed to find out how things worked here. Just walking through the front doors uninvited could get him branded a criminal. He needed to be entirely smart about this, or else he could be stuck here forever. There isn't much back home for him, but at least he knows people there.

"Yes, they do. Good guess, young hero. There's a physical exam designed to test your physical fitness, and then a written exam. Should you score high enough on the physical exam, however, you'll be able to bypass the written exam entirely and go straight into getting your starting rank decided. The written exam is more of a second chance at getting in, than anything. Once you pass one or the other, simulations of various events will be held to further test your knowledge, decision-making, and ability to adapt."

Wow. This place's bar for entry blew his out of the water.

"I'll personally put in a good recommendation for you, young man. It's not every day the S class rank 6 puts their full weight behind someone, after all. I have confidence you'll pass with flying colors. Now, if I may, what is your civilian name?"

Here it is, the moment of truth. The start of building his background in this world. A name. A name. He wanted it to sound cool, but also not overly long or complicated. 'King' actually suited his criteria quite well, but that name was obviously taken. Come on, think think THINK! What was a name he could use? He went through every single lane and crevice of his mind, wracking his brain in that one solitary moment, all for a name.

He had found it.

"Name's Greg", he said with a whimper. The most powerful man on the planet could beat everything… everything except his unimaginative mind.

-1 week later, H.A. Testing Site-

"A-class, rank 15", the mysterious figures coated in shadows bellowed out to him. He had been informed by King that the next round of exams was scheduled a week out from when they had met, and so, he waited. He got by sleeping and eating in homeless shelters, as he had neither money nor identification to secure living arrangements. Living conditions weren't any worse than his small apartment in his opinion, and most importantly, it was free, so he didn't complain. Now, he stood before the congregation of H.A. officials, having recently aced the physical exam.

"Your scores, across the board, are identical to the S-class rank 1 hero", one voice bellowed out. "However, the way you carry yourself is a far cry from him." Getting your head stuck in the ceiling on the jumping vertical test was apparently such a big offense to these cronies, he thought. People stared back home but they didn't chew him out for it. Bunch of stuck-up oldies. The voice continued.

"However, as you were praised by Mr. King for your heroic conduct and part in the monster attack exactly one week ago, and your scores are impressive on their own, we found it appropriate to place you in a high rank. You will have to prove yourself more to receive the accommodations made for the top class, but as you are, you have already done a good deed and proven yourself physically and mentally capable of making decisions for the good of the people while under duress. Strive for justice, and we look forward to seeing you rise through the ranks, Mr. Greg." With that, Saitama left, filing out through the doors of the testing site with the rest of the heroes (and non-heroes who failed both parts of the test).

"I'm starting in A-class this time. Cool, no weekly quotas to fill." Saitama was relieved at that. Filling weekly quotas back home was a hassle and a half. It's not like he was against doing heroic deeds on a weekly basis, he just didn't like having to do it or risk losing his livelihood. He opened the envelope he had gotten after finishing his test, looking at the contents within as he walked down the steps outside the building. His class, rank, and official hero name were all printed on the paper inside.

"Almighty Atlas…" He was sure he had heard of that name somewhere in a book he read once upon a time.

"… Oh! That's right. The titan that holds up the heavens." He remembered reading a passage about the deity in a mythology book he had gotten to alleviate his boredom one day. Atlas was associated with endurance and strength, last he read. That's pretty cool on its own, but not having to be referred to as Caped Baldy anymore was a small boon as well. He stuffed the paper back into the envelope and walked idly down the steps. His next destination was to go and find a suitable living space now that he had a formal job and identification in this place.

The only problem was that he didn't know where those suitable living spaces were. King had given him the location of the tryouts for the association, and they were not in the same place as they were back home. He guesses he could just do a quick run around the city and scout for people who look like they manage apartments, but the chances of him mistaking someone and being labeled a creep were just as high.

As he walked down the streets of city F planning his next move, a set of objects came flying at him. He caught one between his fingers, dodged the other, and let the other one hit him since it wouldn't do any damage. He looked between his fingers, almost groaning at the weapon in his hands.

A kunai. One of the signature weapons of ninjas.

"You are indeed skilled", the familiarly annoying voice called out. "To evade me for an entire week. This will be a good test of my skills." Fem Sonic lashed out from her hiding space, intending on taking his head off with one clean swipe of her tanto. Normally, Saitama would just evade her strike and give her the slip again, but he couldn't in this situation.

"There are civilians around", he said. "It's too dangerous to engage her in a chase; she might start wrecking the place like my Sonic did." Having no other choice, he folded and tucked the envelope away into the pockets of his hero costume (he had gotten his costume from back home tailor-made here once he showed up for the HA tests), and caught the horizontal slash aimed at beheading him. He applied a firm grip to the object, intending on not letting lady Sonic go.

This, of course, infuriated her.

"Unhand me, you cretin!" She tugged with all her strength, but it was no use. Her tanto was her favorite weapon, so she was not willing to part with it. Anger blinded her, so she threw a punch at him. That turned out to be an even bigger mistake, as he caught her fist in just-as-tight a grip as he had her weapon. Now, they were deadlocked.

"Could you, well, not try to kill me? It's a bit of a pain, ya know?" Saitama tried bargaining the best he could. Unfortunately, bargaining to him meant just politely asking his aggressor to not do something, which almost never works. A crowd began to form around the two, no doubt curious as to why a man and a woman were fighting.

"Are they a recently divorced couple?" One onlooker bellowed out.

"Domestic violence isn't cool, man", another admonished Saitama, completely ignoring that the female in this equation had brandished a weapon.

Veins started to pop on Saitama's forehead. Great, just what he needed. The peanut gallery. He'd tell them that Sonic was of no relation to him, but if there's anything he knew, civies hardly ever saw the entirety of a situation. As he pondered how to get out of this situation without looking like a wife beater and torpedoing his reputation before it even gets started, Sonic finally released her grip on her tanto, having made up her mind to give it up to give herself an advantage. She'd just get it back after she killed him.

After releasing the hold on her weapon, she brandished a full 10-set of shuriken in her hands, seemingly from thin air. The surrounding crowd froze, not expecting her to make weapons basically appear from thin air and beginning to fear for their lives. Saitama almost scratched his head, not knowing how they could be afraid of this but basically have ignored the small sword that was in-between them just a few seconds ago.

Civies were a conundrum he could never quite solve.

"I'll be taking your life, now, scum, and I'll be getting a nice payday while I'm at it."

"She's… trying to kill him?" The onlookers' opinions started to shift.

"Is she a villain? Is he a hero?"

Sonic threw the shuriken, all of them taking obtuse angles towards Saitama. He noticed that some of them would shoot straight through the surroundings, endangering the civilians. He wanted to avoid putting innocents in danger, but it seems that the only way to do that would be to take her down immediately. His first priority was saving the bystanders.

He blurred out of sight, intercepting 9 of the shuriken in the blink of an eye. Sonic, seeing this, endeavored to land at least a single hit. That was all she needed; the pain he felt would be enough of a distraction to take her tanto back and run him through.

"Oh no you don't!" She grabbed one more of her ninja stars out of nowhere and launched it at the already airborne shuriken. It bounced off it, changing its trajectory. The new trajectory, Saitama noticed, was heading straight for a child in the crowd.

"Just as nuts as the guy back home. I can't ever catch a break." Saitama stopped his momentum from catching the last shuriken and redirected himself by coiling his arm around a nearby streetlight and launching himself. He appeared in front of the small child (a boy, as it would be), and caught the shuriken in his mouth. He broke all of the shuriken into pieces, including the one in his mouth, and leveled his enemy with a glare. She simply snarled at him.

"You went too far. Coming after me is one thing, but getting powerless people involved is another. You're gonna have to get punched." Saitama, despite his waning emotions and overwhelming strength, was still a hero at heart. Lady Sonic shot a vicious glare right back.

"Just try it, Baldy. I've even got my tanto back, and my guard is up, so this time you don't stand a-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence. Saitama blurred behind her and chopped her in the neck, sending her crumpling to the ground, unconscious. He stood over her, disappointment evident on his face.

"I tried to warn you." He turned to look at the crowd, who were still standing there, having recently just had their fears allayed. They looked as though they wanted to praise him, but something was holding them back. A brunette woman made her way to him, tears in her eyes. This was either a very good thing or a very bad thing, he thought. She stopped in front of him, rubbing the tears out of her eyes.

"You… you saved my son. You really are a hero. How can I ever repay you?" Her son? Who was her son? He didn't bother trying to remember all these people's faces, especially since they had initially popped up ridiculing him. A little boy popped out from behind her legs, and he understood right then. This was the same boy that was in the path of that shuriken.

"… Was no big deal", was his response.

"Oh, but it is", she responded. "Can I at least have your name so I can thank you properly?"

"Atlas!" the little boy shouted out. Saitama was perplexed as to how this boy knew his hero name. He had never said it out loud; hell, he had only just gotten it roughly 30 minutes ago. He looked down, and then he saw it. The boy had his HA envelope in his hand. It must have fell out when he was catching all those shuriken. Not surprising, with how fast he was moving. The mother took the envelope from the child and presented it back to Saitama, who took it and put it away again.

"Thank you, once again, Mr. Atlas. May the rest of your days be filled with joy." She and her son bowed, and headed backwards, disappearing into the crowd. The rest of the crowd started clapping and cheering, repeatedly chanting his name. He didn't quite know how to respond to this. There weren't very many people who genuinely appreciated him back home, and there weren't any other heroes around to dump the praise off on like with the Sea King.

Turning back around to the unconscious lady Sonic, he simply picked her up and slung her over his shoulder. He needed to turn her in and get his credit for it (assuming that's how it worked here). He had just had quite the experience, and he's surprised that he could honestly say it was an overall positive one.

He had no way of knowing that he had just defeated and captured one of the most wanted criminals in the world, and that he had just gotten one step closer to meeting his equal.