CHAPTER SIX

The Crew Assembles and Powers Are Questioned

Deku walked back and forth in front of the blackboard, trying to come up with some conclusion to the strange happenings today.

Saitama sat sideways in one of the seats at the front of the classroom, his feet propped up on another student's desk. He was chewing on a piece of gum he had snagged from Recovery Girl's office and was chewing on it while staring up at the ceiling with a dazed expression on his face.

Deku muttered out loud, "So, no one responds to our messages, a huge portal appears with Mr. Saitama and... that thing... emerging from it... Where is everyone else? Our classmates. Other heroes. The Villain League too. Could there be more portals that appear? It's probably not out of the question. If so, can we predict where the next one could appear? But what if--"

"Hey kid," butted in Saitama, still gazing at the ceiling, "You mind thinking in your head? Your tongue is gonna dry out at the speed you're muttering." He then blew a huge bubble, popping across his mouth.

"Huh?... Oh sorry!" replied Deku, feeling flustered, "I tend to do that a lot. It's my thought process. I'm still working on it."

He returned to pacing back and forth once more, but then paused, a thought appearing that he wanted an answer to.

"Um, Mr. Saitama? Can I ask you a question?..."

"Sure, kid. Shoot." He pulled a napkin out to clean the gum from his face, then tossed it towards the wastebasket by the door. He missed.

"What's your quirk called?" Deku asked with enthusiasm, whipping out his notepad from God knows where.

Saitama turned his gaze towards Deku, lifting his head up. "Huh?"

"You know, your quirk. What's it called?" Deku clicked his pen to action, ready to jot anything down at a moment's notice.

"What's a quirk?" asked Saitama.

Deku's eyes widened at the question. "You don't know what a quirk is? Don't you have them where you come from? You do have superheroes and villains where you're from by the sound of it."

"We have heroes and then we have monsters. As for what a quirk is, I don't have the slightest idea," said Saitama, returning his gaze towards the ceiling.

"Well, a quirk is essentially a manifested superhuman ability that's generally unique to the user," said Deku, going into supergeek mode, "They generally take several years to manifest in a person, and about 80% of the current world population has some sort of uncanny ability or gift. They're generally classified as an Emitter quirk, a Transformation quirk, or a Mutant quirk."

"So, basically, it's like a superpower you're born with..."

"In a way, yeah. But it can range from something simple like a mild form of levitation, to something much more drastic, like controlling the weather. Does that make sense?"

Saitama scratched at his forehead and said, "Yeah, I think I get it."

"Cool! So, what's your quirk called?" Deku once again propped up his notebook, ready to jot something down.

"Oh... yeah... I don't have a quirk..."

Deku stood in silence, his pupils slowly shrinking. "Wh... what?..."

"I don't have a quirk..." said Saitama, who had now taken to clearing his left ear, flicking the gunk off from his gloved hand.

Deku stood in silence still. Then he shrieked, "WHAAAATTTT!?!? THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!! YOU MUST HAVE ONE!!!"

"Nope..." muttered Saitama, now putting his hands behind his head, still gazing at the dull ceiling lights above.

"BUT... BUT... HOW DID YOU PUNCH THAT MONSTER SO HARD!?!?!? ARE YOU SAYING YOU DID THAT WITH YOUR OWN BODILY STRENGTH!?!?!?"

"Pretty sure you just said that for me..."

Deku stood with shocked disbelief, his arms sagging to his sides, one hand clutching his notebook, his other still clutching his pen.

Saitama then stood up and walked over towards Deku, putting an arm on him. Deku looked up to see the rather stern face of Saitama. "Do you really want to know the true secret to my power?..."

Deku looked into his eyes and said, "Yes!"

Saitama then sat down in Mr. Aizawa's chair, putting his gloved fingers together. "You may not believe everything I say. Most people think I'm lying when I speak of the true source of my strength, but I can testify that everything I'm about to tell you is the complete truth. Are you ready?..."

"Yes," said Deku, his pen hovering over the surface of the notebook in his hand.

Saitama took a deep breath and began, "If you wish to achieve true strength like me, you need to stick to this training regimen. You must do 100 pushups, 100 squats, 100 situps, and a 10km run everyday for three years. Also limit your use of AC and heaters. Leave your AC off when it's hot and your heater off when it's cold. This'll motivate you and increase your mental and psychological strength. Don't over eat or under eat. For instance, I highly recommend eating a banana everyday for breakfast. A simple sandwich will also suffice as well. Above all, no matter what, never stop and never give up. There will be points where your bones will make weird snapping sounds or you'll be sick and you think you can handle taking a break just for one day. But you'd be wrong. You must stick to this training for every day for three years. And then you'll be as strong as I am..." Saitama looked up at Deku, having said everything with utter seriousness.

Deku had stopped scrawling on his notepad about halfway through his speech, and stared at Saitama with mild annoyance. "Are... are you kidding me..."

"Nope," said Saitama, his face now returning to its normal, plain look, "In fact, I used to have hair before, but I lost it about a year and a half after I started due to the stress I put on my body."

Deku continued to stare at him, before slamming his notebook and pen on the desk. "That's just basic strength training! I've done way more than that and yet I'm not even a fraction as strong as you! I witnessed that today! Tell me, what is the true source of your power!?"

Saitama gave a confused stare and muttered, "Heh, deja vu..." He then said, "Like I said, it's crazy, but that's truly how I got to be this strong. It's all I know."

Deku looked into Saitama's eyes and saw the truthfulness in them. "I'm sorry. It's just... it sounds completely ridiculous..." But then an idea popped into his head. "Unless... what if logic and the functions of the human body are different in your world? Are there others as strong as you?"

Saitama scratched his chin and spoke matter-of-factly, "Well, there are some strong people and monsters where I come from, but they aren't nearly as strong as me. I tend to get really bored at the lack of challenges offered where I'm from. Looks like it'll be the same issue here..." He then headed back to his previous seat, propping his feet up on a desk and returning his gaze towards the ceiling.

Deku just stared at him in disbelief, when the door was suddenly flung open by Bakugo, Uravity directly behind him. "What did you do this time, Deku?!" he shouted.

Deku shrieked and leapt back in surprise, while Saitama flung his arms in the air, collapsing out of the desk seat onto the floor. He stood up and yelled back at Bakugo, "If you're gonna barge in on people, at least do it politely!"

Bakugo looked over towards the bald hero, indignation settling in his eyes. "Who's Cue Ball over here?" he spat.

"That's the guy who saved us from the monster, Mr. Saitama," said Uravity, "He said his hero name is 'The Caped Baldy', but he prefers Saitama."

"Heh, I wonder why..." said Bakugo. He then huffed, "So, you said he saved you two, huh? You must be pretty weak to have some bald stranger save your butts from a big, bad monster."

Saitama then said, "It wasn't too bad. I actually killed him before, so it was more of a do-over to be honest."

"Ho ho ho, you've got a lying bragger to save you!" retorted Bakugo, annoyed mainly with Saitama's boring face and pale expression, "Ok. I better put him in his place then, huh! Alright, buddy! You and me! Outside! Let's go!" Bakugo then strode out of the classroom, shoving Uravity out of the way.

"Um... okay..." said Saitama, following Bakugo outside. As he left, Kirishima suddenly appeared outside the door, adorned in his hero suit. "Hey guys. Bakugo looks pretty peeved, huh. Say, who was that other guy?"

"Mr. Saitama," said Deku, "C'mon. We better make sure Bakugo's antics don't get out of hand." He strode out, as Kirishima and Uravity followed him.

"Mr. Saitama? He's the guy that saved you two?"

"Yeah," said Uravity, "And something tells me that Bakugo is getting himself into something he won't be ready for."

Kirishima raised an eyebrow at that, but kept quiet as the trio stepped out onto the sports field, seeing Saitama and Bakugo each on opposite sides of the field.

"C'mon, Cue Ball!" mocked Bakugo, "Let's see if you're all high and mighty once I cream you! Come at me!"

Saitama simply began to walk slowly towards Bakugo, almost as if he was marching.

Bakugo furrowed his brows at this and yelled, "You trying to make fun of me?! I'll show you what's what, old man!" His hands ignited, leaping into the air and jetting forward, zigzagging towards Saitama at full speed. The Caped Baldy simply continued to stroll slowly towards him. As Bakugo lunged towards him to blast him with his explosive quirk, Saitama seemed to vanish before him.

"I'm not old," came Saitama's voice from directly behind Bakugo. His eyes widened in shock and he shot an explosive blast at him, but it had no effect. Before he could get a full glimpse of the stranger behind him, Saitama delivered a swift chop to his neck, sending Bakugo's face plowing into the ground and knocking him unconscious. The trio stood with shock, mouths gaping wide at how fast he had incapacitated Bakugo.

"The narcissism of this kid," said Saitama, strolling away from the smoldering destruction of Bakugo's explosive attacks, "Now there's someone in need of serious character development." He walked up in front of the three young heroes, wiping the spot from his face. "Is he always like that?..." he said, pointing to the now unconscious Bakugo.

Kirishima sputtered, "Unconscious. Never. Narcissistic. You have noooo idea. H... How did you do that?..."

"Um... I moved. Then I... hit him in the neck... That's about it..."

Deku spoke up, "I can't believe how quickly you took him out! Is he ok?"

Saitama responded, "He'll be fine. I went easy on him. Can't say I will next time. Kid gets on my nerves and I don't even know him. He's a step below that butt-chin kid for sure."

Uravity gave a questioning look and then said, "Well, he should hopefully be up in a few. What we really need to do is figure out where everyone else is and why there are more portals appearing."

Deku looked over towards Uravity and asked, "Wait, you saw another portal?"

"Yeah," Kirishima chirped, "It spawned in my room. Uraraka said there was another one on Jung-Lo street, right?"

"Yeah," said Deku, who now put his hand to his chin, musing over this new information, "So if there are more of these portals opening up, we need to find out why and where they're appearing, and we need to figure out how to close them up."

"I might know how they're appearing," Saitama put in. The three other heroes looked to him as he said, "I forgot to mention, but I remember that before I got sucked in, I was trying some special Mexican food. I wouldn't recommend it, by the way. The man who served it said it was topped with a rare sauce called--"

"I HAVE RETURNED!!!" a shrill voice screeched from across the field. The group whipped around and Saitama said, "Ugh, this guy. Jack O' Lantern Panic. A real pain in the butt..."

"SPEED O' SOUND SONIC!!! WHY CAN'T YOU REMEMBER THAT?!?!?!" screamed the slender ninja, who brandished a giant katana in his hands, "SPEED... O' SOUND... SONIC!!!"

"OK!!! STOP YELLING!!!" Saitama yelled back, "I'M NOT DEAF, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! AND I CAN ASSURE YOU, THAT WELL PLACED PUN WAS NOT INTENDED!!!"

The three high schoolers just stared in confusion at the surreal encounter they were witnessing.

Speed O' Sound Sonic took a deep breath, calming himself. He them spoke, "Saitama, I am now ready to destroy you in combat. I have trained myself for 10 years since you vanished, and I am now stronger than you could ever be."

"10 years?" asked Saitama, "I think you need your head checked, pal. I just got here this morning. But whatever. Let's just get this over with." He put his body in a fighting stance, fists at the ready, as his cape billowed dramatically in the wind.

Sonic hoisted his ridiculously huge katana above himself and charged at hyper speed, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Oh boy," said the three young heroes in unison as Saitama ran with equal speed towards Sonic, ready to clash.


Hey there readers! It's me, the author. So, some of you probably noticed my lengthy absence from continuing this story. I sincerely apologize for that. As usual, life can get the best of us at times, and we tend to run out of time, which is exactly what I experienced these last few weeks.

But here we are! Aother day, another chapter, another quip, another insult, and another craving for the munchies. So now I'm back! I hope to get the next chapter up soon, hopefully by sometime next week. I've been mainly focusing on life, work, and I'm busy writing up my own story which I hope to publish within the next few months.

Once again, thanks for all the kind words, suggestions, and support. Feel free to speak your mind on what you'd like to see, what you think will happen next, or just any tips or critiques in general. Thanks again, and see you next time on One Punch Academia.