Hey Chapter 28 is up! We'll see how the other heroes are doing and what exactly they're going to do after their bitter loss at Frieza's hands. Here ya go, without further ado!

"Like a pig." With a final energy attack, the three S-class heroes and the only remaining heroes that stood even a remote chance of fending this monster off were killed, leaving no one left to stop this monster's calamitous conquering of Planet Earth.

"Well, it appears that's all taken care of. Now, let me get back to business..." Frieza flew up and traveled back to the site where Zarbon and the rest of his foot soldiers were standing. The soldiers loosened up when they saw the smile on Frieza's face and the relaxed way his arms were at his sides. This meant they didn't have to worry about being test targets for his anger or amusement.

"I'm assuming those three are dead?" asked Zarbon.

"Do you really have to ask?" said Frieza.

"My apologies, I just thought one of them might have been smart enough to submit to your will."

"I did too."

Karmath's curiosity peaked, and he spoke out. "What would you like us to do, Lord Frieza?"

"Let's see..." Frieza put his fingers under his chin and thought of the best course of action. After pondering for a few moments, he managed to lay out his future plans and pointed to Karmath and Orlen. "I've decided: since I'm in a good mood, and I mean a REALLY good mood, I'll give the two of you promotions and your very own planet. After all, if it wasn't for you, this opportunity for immortality would have never come across."

The two footsoldiers felt like they'd been transported to cloud nine. Just barely managing to contain their happiness and jump into the sky, their bodies momentarily shook and they instantly made a 90 degree bow to their master. "THANK YOU SO MUCH, LORD FRIEZA!" squealed Karmath.

Frieza softly chuckled. "It is just the kind of gentleman I am. Now that the biggest threats have been practically dealt with, we can begin colonizing this planet. Zarbon, call in a construction ship and tell them to bring equipment for a Class 10 commanding base." Zarbon's eyebrows raised up: the way that construction worked depended on the type of planet they were colonizing. If the planet was just a small dustball with only local resources and very few indigenous people, then a class 1 base would be produced, meaning there'd only a very small base with maybe 5-10 soldiers and perhaps a healing pod if they were lucky. But a Class 10 base was the highest-ranking class in the construction line, and it meant that not only would there be several hundred soldiers, but there would also be dozens of high-end regeneration tanks, a communications station, advanced research facility, factories for products such as blasters, scouters and armor, and even a training campus. Oftentimes, Class 10 bases would house the highest-ranking members of the Galactic Frieza Army, implying that Frieza intended to stay here for quite a while.

"Yes, my lord."

"Now before I return to the ship," Frieza turned around to the bulk of the soldiers, "Is there any other information that might be useful? Like did you find out about any more powerful warriors or other organizations that would either join us or be a threat to the Galactic Frieza Army?"

"Well..." Some of the soldiers were having a tough time speaking up, as being on the spotlight wasn't something they were used to. One soldier with yellow skin and a bulky frame spoke up. "When we were scouting the cities, we noticed that in almost all of the cities, there was at least one individual with a power level of over 10,000." Frieza curiously hummed: that was certainly noteworthy. Another soldier with red skin and large fangs in the crowd followed up. "And at the farthest city, our scouters detected several power levels. Most of them were only a couple hundred, but there were a few energy levels that ranged in the thousands. Two of them even had a power level of 30,000. It was so powerful, my scouter momentarily malfunctioned."

Frieza nodded his head, clearly impressed with the high energy levels. "Nice, very nice. Those kind of power levels could definitely be useful. Alright then, it's decided: I'm going to return to the ship for some quality me-time, and after a good night's rest, I'm going to go down to the location of this horde of power levels to "negotiate". Meanwhile, the rest of you who aren't grievously injured span out to the remaining cities and begin spreading the word of their new ruler. The soldiers who're injured, return to the ship and wait for your turn in the regeneration machines. For cities that have warriors too powerful for you to handle, just leave them for me to handle tomorrow. Is that understood?"

All of the soldiers saluted their master and shouted out in unison, "Yes Lord Frieza!"

"Excellent. Take this Dr. Genus and the regenerator back to the ship." 4 soldiers who weren't brutally injured picked up Dr. Genus and Zombieman and began their flight back to the main ship. Likewise, Frieza and Zarbon flied together in the air and soared on ahead of the soldiers carrying the bodies.

"I'm glad to see that you're so content, Lord Frieza," exclaimed Zarbon, "You've really amazed me with your new form."

"It is glorious, isn't it?" gloated Frieza.

"With that caped baldy out of the way, nobody on this mudball can fend off the Frieza Force. Planet Earth if finally yours."

While traveling City A and returning to the headquarters, the Hero Hunter Garou was trailing behind the heroes by a few dozen meters. At the moment, Garou had no idea what to do. The level of power displayed by Saitama and Frieza was astounding: they kept on pushing their limits and achieving new levels of strength like it was nothing. Garou had no doubt in his mind that Frieza could annihilate him with only a light touch; the only way for him to put an end to that beast was to become even stronger. But how?! How could that be done?! The gap between them was just too big to be filled, and he had absolutely no idea how to lessen the gap.

Garou's vision of absolute fairness through absolute evil, and from what he saw of this Frieza character, he was just a bully who subjugated everyone under him. He wasn't fair: he wasn't what absolute evil was supposed to be. In order to change the balance of the world order and become the strongest monster on the planet, he had to surpass and defeat Frieza, as well as that Saitama character. The only way he could do that was by becoming even stronger.

Garou was gonna try to find more heroes and defeat them. If he was lucky, maybe one of the S-class heroes would be roaming around and he'd have the chance to take care of them. Yes, that would be the best way to go about it. Garou's malicious smile spread across his face. "I'll secure my place as this planet's strongest monster no matter what it takes!"

The Saiyan General Nappa soared through the sky and within seconds, the building Nappa had broken out of came into view, and with his enormous speeds, it only took seconds for Nappa to arrive at the site. Once he arrived, he noticed Sonic controlling a very large and bright ball of ki in his hand. Nappa couldn't help but smirk; looked like the speedy prick was advancing rather far in his training.

Sonic's head moved up when he heard a whooshing come closer to him, and it was Nappa. The bright orb of ki vanished when Sonic's concentration broke. Nappa looked pretty banged up, and he had a scowl on his face. He'd felt several very large vibrations, which presumably originated from some sort of battle he was in, but for some reason, the vibrations became larger and larger as time passed, with the last one being enough to knock him off his feet and knock some of the wall structure loose. "You're back." Nappa landed in the hole and walked up to Sonic. "What the hell happened to you?" asked Sonic.

Nappa slapped his hand over his eyes. "It's a long story. I had a monumental fight with my former boss, Frieza." Nappa grit his teeth once he finished the sentence, as if what he was about to say was extremely difficult. Sure enough, Sonic's assumption was correct. "He beat me, despite my best efforts. Another fighter came in, was defeated, and then Saitama-"

"Wait, what?" Sonic interrupted when he heard Saitama's name come up. "What about Saitama?"

"He came in and fought Frieza in a one-on-one battle. Saitama held the upper hand for the majority of the battle. Unfortunately, Frieza underwent a massive transformation and defeated Sai-"

"WHAT?!" Sonic's mouth hung wide open, and he stepped back, for the shock was too great to bear. Saitama, defeated? No! That couldn't be! The only one who would have the honor of defeating Saitama was Sonic! Who the hell did this Frieza character think he was? But more importantly, the idea that there was someone powerful enough to defeat Saitama was extremely unsettling. This Frieza must be a truly mighty foe indeed. Nappa could sense the shock and amazement Sonic was experiencing after hearing this news, and he completely understood where he was coming from. "As shocking as it sounds, Frieza defeated Saitama, despite his best efforts. He, alongside some of his hero friends, managed to escape with their lives. All of them should be in this building."

"I see... So how much more powerful is this Frieza character compared to Saitama."

Nappa's head lowered downward. "The margin is significantly wide, and compared to me, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm just an ant, and he's a dinosaur."

"That's a pretty large margin..." For a moment, both of them were silent, as they were too focused on what their next moves would be. For Nappa, he'd have to go through some massive training and somehow find a way to control and enhance the power of a Super Saiyan, and if he was lucky, he might reach a level beyond a Super Saiyan. But how would he do that? What kind of training would he have to do? Who would know the right training?

Then it hit him: Saitama. He overheard Saitama talking with Frieza about some sort of training he did, and seeing the regular level of the indigenous people, he had to have gone through some sort of rigorous, unrelenting, torturous training to become as powerful as he was. Maybe if he picked up a few pointers from Saitama, he could become strong enough to challenge Frieza. But how would his associates handle his presence? He was an outlaw, a monster to the heroes in this society. If he tried to approach Saitama, they might attack him. Then again, they did witness Nappa fighting Frieza, the threat they'd been preparing to fight for quite some time, so that might buy some points for him. Besides, he could use his knowledge of ki and teach all of them how to utilize their ki to fly and fire energy blasts. Sure, it might be annoying to teach so many individuals at once, but if he could handle the speedy prick, he could handle anyone.

"Alright, I think I've got an idea! What we'll do is make a bargain and learn how Saitama became so powerful by training with him and-"

Sonic blatantly interrupted Nappa once again. "TRAIN WITH HIM?! I'M NOT TRAINING WITH MY SWORN NEMESIS!" shouted Sonic, "I've spent all this time to BEAT Saitama, not WORK with him!"

"Sonic, you have to understand, I don't know how he became so strong. We could spend the rest of our lives training with only the knowledge we have now, and not come even close to the level of power Saitama has now. And keep this in mind, there are others besides Saitama who're more powerful than you. For instance, your criminal friend is more powerful than you, and one of the other heroes has become even stronger than me through some sort of sudden modification. You don't have to talk to Saitama or anyone else, I'm not asking that of you. I'm just asking you to tolerate their presence. Once you think you've become strong enough, I URGE you to challenge Saitama." Nappa held his finger up and pointed it at Sonic. "Besides, remember Rule #1!"

Sonic's first response was a low growl, but he quickly stopped and sank down to the floor. Such a choice was something he despised making, but when it was the only choice, it appeared he'd have to give in. Sonic ran his hands through his hair and heaved a great sigh. "Fine, let's go and find Saitama and his little pals." Sonic picked himself up from the ground. "Do you know where they are?"

"I can sense his energy in the building," replied Nappa, "Follow me." Nappa walked to the wall, craned his hand back, and punched the wall, shattering it and creating another large hole. "Saitama's waiting for us."

"ALL HEROES, RETURN TO THE HERO ASSOCIATION! I REPEAT, ALL HEROES RETURN TO THE HERO ASSOCIATION!" At the Hero Association headquarters, things were nothing short of an absolute mess. Many of the staff members were receiving dozens, no hundreds of calls from distressed citizens, asking them where the S-class heroes had gone and why they weren't sending in more heroes. The staff members were doing the best they could to calm them down, but they themselves felt like bawling and hiding under their desks. At the same time, they were attempting to rein in as many heroes as they could back to the association, but so far, only about a dozen came back, one of those being Blizzard of Hell, as well as Iaian, Bushidrill, and Okamaitachi.

The staff members thought at the S-class heroes could handle the supposed God-level threat that arrived a few miles ahead of City A, but when they saw the heroes arrive with wounds all over their bodies, blood trailing over their clothes, they knew they'd failed. A quarter of the staff members actually fled the building and ran for their lives in every direction. Sitch himself felt like he was about to lose it. He just couldn't help it: everything had gone to absolute, monumental, all-encompassing shit. Frieza defeated Saitama, humanity's last line of defense, and also left all of the S-class heroes battered and broken beyond fighting capability. In the laboratory, Sitch was there with Bofoi, Dr. Kuseno, and Child Emperor, who were attempting to do damage control on this situation, but there wasn't much they could do.

At the moment, the S-class heroes were quickly pacing through the hallway, going to Sitch to strategize and see what else could even be done. Then, running from across the hall in her high heels, the Blizzard of Hell and Atomic Samurai's three disciples ran across the hall, dirty and apparently weakened, although it was nothing in comparison to the damage the S-class heroes had suffered. Tatsumaki felt a small hint of relief in this dark hour, knowing that her sister managed to make it to safety, with the same applying to Atomic Samurai toward his disciples. "Tatsumaki!" Fubuki ran up to her older sister and slightly bent her knees, while Atomic Samurai's three disciples crowded around their master. "Are you alright? What happened to you?"

"Are you injured?" asked Iaian, worrying over the significant blood spots and dirt all over him. None of his disciples had ever seen their master so beaten down. Fubuki looked up at the rest of the heroes. "What happened to all of you?" None of them even had the will nor the bravery to look her in the eye. "Sis, nobody wants to talk about it." Her eyes gazed to Saitama, and she felt her heart drop to the floor. "Saitama was defeated?" Genos looked down to the ground, and with great sadness, gave a slow, singular nod of his head. Fubuki's hands covered her mouth. "Oh my god..."

"Come on, we have to go to see Sitch," demanded Sweet Mask, for he knew this wasn't the time to stand idle, and he sprinted across the hall, with the other heroes joining him a few seconds later.

At Bofoi's laboratory, the front door opened up, revealing Sitch, Dr. Kuseno, Child Emperor, and Bofoi working on the computers and surveying over each other. As soon as Sitch saw them, he went sprinting up, angrily searching for the one to blame for all of this: Saitama. "Where is he?" shouted Sitch, "Where's the bastard that allowed the Devil of Frost to power up to 100%! I'll finish that monster's job and kill him myself!"

"Minister Sitch!" A voice came up on one of the monitors of Bofoi's lab, and Sitch paced back to the monitors. "Yes? What is it?"

"We managed to find the location of Pig God, Drive Knight, Watchdog Man and Zombieman, and..." The voice petered out, as he was having a hard time actually finishing the sentence. Sitch repeatedly banged the countertop and shouted, "WHAT? WHAT IS IT?!"

"Pig God, Drive Knight and Watchdog Man have all been killed." Everyone in the room felt their blood run cold and their bodies freeze up. Was that correct? Three S-class heroes were killed. "We found the vaporized remains of Watchdog Man and Drive Knight, and Pig God's head had a large hole that went straight through his body. As for Zombieman, we saw a few of the alien soldiers carrying up in the sky. We're not sure what they intend to do with him."

"This can't be real..." Sitch felt his legs turn to jelly, and he slowly sunk down to the floor. As if things couldn't be any worse, then he had to hear this abysmal news. "Three S-class heroes, undoubtedly killed by Frieza, and the fourth one captured for god-knows-what reason." Sitch slowly bent his back down and covered his eyes with his hands. "This is a complete nightmare."

Despite the momentary mourning of the three S-class heroes, Genos knew that now was not the time for that, however harsh it may have sounded, for there were more immediate problems to address. Genos walked to the front of the crowd, with his master in his arms. "We need to evacuate." Sitch's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"

"They have several scouters that can track our energy levels, and with high energies such as ours, they will locate us in no time-flat." The other S-class heroes recoiled when this fact hit them. They were in barely any condition to do more running. "But where will we go?" said Atomic Samurai, "With that kind of technology, they could track us anywhere across the planet."

"That's right," said Superalloy Darkshine, "All Frieza needs is our location, and he'll kill us all!"

"What the fuck are we gonna do?" said Metal Bat, "We're so dead!"

"STOP!" Everybody's voices felt flat when Dr. Kuseno yelled out. The good doctor, having gotten everyone's attention, walked to the center of the room and placed his hands on the countertop. "There's another solution."

"What do you mean, doctor? What solution?" asked Genos.

"You see, while I was studying the scouter technology, I did some research on exactly how it is that they detect the energy levels, and I discovered something. What I learned is that every being has internal energy, a fourth state of matter that flows throughout their body, and this energy flows out of us. When it does, it releases waves, electromagnetic waves, similar to radio signals and gamma rays, and depending on how powerful a person is, more of these waves will be released. Using what we know about the properties of electromagnetic waves and the electromagnetic spectrum, I realized some key things: one, like regular waves, it becomes increasingly difficult for the waves to be detected the further underground a source is. Two, if the waves are blocked by materials that are used to block electromagnetic waves, such as thick lead lining, or perhaps use an advanced scrambling system, then the scouter will be unable to track the energy waves." Dr. Kuseno turned to Sitch. "Does this headquarters have an underground bunker or lair?"

"We had a bunker built in the worst-case scenario of a monster invasion or God-level threat as such when the Hero Association was first formed. Not only is there food and supplies to last for several months, but there is also a large training area built in hopes of training heroes to become strong enough to defeat said monsters."

"Well isn't that convenient," muttered Tatsumaki.

"I haven't been able to create a device that masks or intercepts the energy waves just yet, but for now, the best course of action would be to hide underground." Dr. Kuseno heaved a great sigh of distress. "I'm sorry things have become forlorn. I'll try to help in anyway I can."

"Thank you," said Sitch, his voice barely above a whisper. "Come on everyone, I'll go show you the hatch to the bunker." Sitch softly nudged his way through the crowd of heroes, with his head down and his eyes blackened with darkness and despair. He went through the hall at a jogging pace, when his run came to a screeching halt. The other heroes stopped, and gave each other confused looks as to why he stopped so abruptly, when there answer came upon looking up: standing at the end of the hall was the same warrior who fought Frieza before Genos, along with a young companion standing besides him. "It's you!" shouted Genos. The rest of the heroes scrunched their faces and took fighting positions.

"Take it easy..." Nappa slowly placed his hands up. The Saiyan General repeatedly tapped Sonic's leg with his foot and gave him a sharp glance. Sonic grumbled, but lifted his hands up into the air as well. Nappa knew this probably wasn't gonna work, but he had to try anyway. "Look I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I know that I might've hurt a few of your guys," said Nappa, "But I have a proposition for you."

"Proposition," shouted Sitch, "Why would we listen to any proposition of yours?!"

"You attempted to eliminate both myself and Saitama," followed Genos, "You and your short associate!"

"Look, I only came here because my former boss ordered me to, and I'm not working for him anymore. You all saw that yourselves!"

"He's right." King took the initiative and walked up to front of the crowd of heroes. "When all of you were unconscious, Frieza revealed to me that he annihilated his home-planet in fear of the emergence of the legend of the "Super Saiyan". For 25 years, he deceived the saiyans by convincing them a giant meteor destroyed his home-planet. He only worked for Frieza because he had no choice."

"That's right," replied Nappa. "Besides, if I really wanted to eliminate all of you, I would have done it already with only a single energy blast. You've seen my power yourselves: you know I could. Look, we all have a common enemy. I want that repulsive reptile dead as much as you do. And I can offer you something extremely beneficial."

A benefit? This served to pique the interests of several of the heroes, and most of them relaxed their fighting stances. "And what would that be?" questioned Genos.

"I can teach you all how to fly and fire energy blasts just as I can." All of the heroes were taken aback by this, and each of them stared at each other quizzically. King was the first to speak up. "What do you mean?"

"Look, all of you have internal energy within you. You all have the power to fly and shoot energy blasts just like I can, and with your strength, the speed at which you fly and the intensity of your energy blasts will be extraordinary. Also, I can teach you how to better utilize your internal energy and improve your battle performance."

While most of the heroes seemed to take a liking to this idea, Sitch's face didn't soften. "I'm not buying it," said Sitch. "I think this is all some sort of ruse to root us out to your leader. It all just seems too convenient! And what about him?" Sitch pointed his finger to Sonic. "He's a wanted criminal! I bet that he'll attempt to slit our throats the minute he sees our guard is down! Why would I trust him? Or you?"

"Because you really don't have too much of a choice, and you don't have to worry about this speedy prick doing anything rash. I'll keep him in check." Sitch tried to retort, but found nothing to retort with. Granted, Demon Cyborg could probably take care of him, but he would take down several S-class heroes in the process, and they couldn't deal with such losses. "Sitch," King turned around and stared Sitch straight in the eyes. "We need him."

Sitch stared in awe at King for a few moments, and then sighed. "Alright." Sitch ran his hand through his hair and stretched his back out so that he was staring at the sky. "If the strongest man in the world says we should, then I'll take his word for it."

"Yes, the strongest man in the world..." Genos quietly spoke and gave King an icy glare. King felt an alarm go off in his brain: why was Genos staring at him like that? Before he had the time to ponder a reasonable answer, Sitch motioned for everyone to follow him, including Nappa and Sonic. With two extra members of this group, they all paced down about three flights of dimly-lit stairs until he reached the bottom of the staircase, where there was a room with several large boilers and pipes leading up to the rest of the building. He then went to the far right corner, where there was another large boiler. Sitch began to touch the boiler's edge, until he felt a small ridge with a small button. He pushed the button, and a square panel popped out of the boiler. He put his hand on the panel, and after it scanned his fingerprints, the boiler opened up, revealing a hole with a steel ladder. "Come on, everyone move!" One-by-one, they entered the small opening and slid down the ladder. While sliding down, Genos was careful with his master's body and kept him slung over his shoulders. Once the first heroes made it down to the bottom of the room, they were met with absolute darkness. They couldn't even tell how big the room was due to the blackness.

"Allow me."

Nappa paced a few steps in front of the other heroes and opened his palm. The Saiyan General formed a bright ball of energy in his palm, growing it to the size of a large boulder, and pushed it up to the center of the room. With the ball of energy serving as a light source, they could see that there were at least 4 different rooms. The room they were in was rather small, but the room in front of them was very expansive, filled with several punching dummies, targets, and in the center, a combat ring presumably designed for one-on-one sparing. In the other rooms, there were boxes willed with packaged food and drinks, and in the other, there were several beds.

Shortly afterwards, the last two individuals, King and Sitch, came down the ladders. "Allow me to activate the generators to turn the lights on." Sitch walked to the end of the room, where there was a panel none of the others had noticed before. He oened the panel, and flicked on all of the switches. In an instant, several of the lights hanging on the wall burst to life, illuminating the room even more than it already was, causing some of the heroes to close their eyes. "Guess we don't need that anymore," said Nappa, closing his fist and dissipating the energy sphere.

"We don't have any time to waste," said Sweet Mask, "We should start whatever training is necessary immediately and-"

"Hold on Sweet Mask." Genos interrupted the A-class hero, and gave another cold look at King. "There's something that I've been meaning to discuss." King shifted nervously in his place. There it was again, that distrusting look in the cyborg's eyes. He'd been giving those quite frequently ever since his upgrade. "What do you want to discuss Genos?" said King, keeping a cool tone of voice.

"Something is off about you King.

"Ever since I acquired my new body, I'm now able to read the precise energy readings of every living being, and according to my sensors, your energy level is only 2. From what I've seen, that's lower than the average C-class hero." Everyone felt this massive twist spin their heads around. Genos continued, "At first, I thought it was merely a glitch in the system, but after seeing that you never did battle against Frieza, it made more sense."

Some of the other heroes began to murmur to one another. Many of them also had growing doubts of King's decisions, his lack of action making less and less sense throughout the battle against Frieza. But could it really be true? King was the man! He had the highest ranking of the Hero Association, and his reputation was legendary! The idea that such an intimidating man who bordered on godliness, who killed several demon and dragon-level monsters singlehandedly, was mind-blowing, even with the world-shaking events that transpired today.

"Dude, just come clean." The voice was dispassionate and neutral; it belonged to only one person. Everyone turned their bodies, and sure enough, Saitama, the hero who completely and utterly screwed the S-class heroes and the entire planet, was standing up, staring at King with his hands drooping down lifelessly.

The next few seconds were absolute chaos, and all of the attention drawn towards King was completely forgotten. Most of the heroes began shouting derisively at the bald hero, and a few of them actually lunged at him and pinned him to the ground, specifically Sweet Mask and Sitch. Sitch stared down at Saitama with absolute fury. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" screamed Sitch, "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TAKE CARE OF THAT MONSTER! I TRUSTED YOU! I PROMOTED YOU TO S-CLASS UPON REALIZING MY GRAVE MISTAKE! I APOLOGIZED?! AND HOW DID YOU REPAY MY GENEROSITY? BY DOOMING NOT ONLY THE HERO ASSOCIATION, BUT MANKIND ITSELF!"

"That's right!" continued Sweet Mask, "Who knows what unspeakable atrocities Frieza will commit on the people of Earth? He'll most likely enslave them, subjugate them and force them under a new tyrannical system of government! And we're powerless to stop him! Because of your failures!" Instead of attempting to argue against them, pushing them off of him, telling them to calm down and get off of him, he just laid on the ground absolutely motionless. But there was another key difference: unlike his typical appearance of blank eyes and derpy face, his face was now changed into his more serious expression. The fiery passion in his eyes during his battle with Frieza was snuffed out; the way Frieza sadistically toyed with him and crushed the spirits of someone as strong-willed as Saitama was daunting. Saitama's lips were pulled down, his eyelids were drooped down, and all the muscles in his body were drained of energy. It was as if they were looking at his corpse.

"Release Saitama!" Genos grabbed their shoulders with both of his arms and pulled them back, and the teenage cyborg shot in front of his master, taking a defensive stance in the process. "I fully understand the mistakes my master has made, as well as the anger directed toward him, but now is not the time for fighting! We have enough issues to deal with, and further division is the last thing we need!" Genos waved his hands out to the others and momentarily took the mantle of leadership to reason the other heroes into . "We need to focus all of our effort on training. This is the only way we hope of standing up to Frieza. Luckily, with my master here and-" Genos momentarily paused his sentence and motioned his hand toward Nappa, rather uncomfortable motioning to him, and continued his sentence with an aggravated and more hostile tone. "And with his knowledge about energy, we could further accelerate the rate of our training. Master Saitama, if we can get started right away-"

"No." Saitama blatantly interrupted his disciple. All of the heroes had a hard time believing how rudely Saitama interrupted him and the instant rejection of this alternative plan. What the hell was wrong with him?

"Saitama? What the hell?" said Nappa, "What's the matter with you?"

"I-I- just-" Saitama didn't even finish his sentence before storming off to the room with all of the beds, pacing off to be alone and lament his horrendous failure.

"Master?" Genos felt his heart sink. He had never seen his master this saddened before; the gravity of this defeat must have sunken down to his very soul. While Genos and Nappa looked on with worried faces, Sitch walked up to the center of the horde of heroes. "Alright, all of you rest up for now. After getting some sleep and allowing your bodies to heal, we'll have a more in-depth discussion of our future plans. Until then, just sit tight and wait for further instructions." Seeing as how Sitch was right, all of the heroes reluctantly dispersed, also having completely forgotten and disregarded the cyborg's statements about King due to the other problems on-hand, slowly walking away to their own little corners to cope with their loss and grieve in their own way.

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.

"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. 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."

God, you can really see the pain and despondency flowing from Saitama and the rest of the heroes. It's a real bummer. For the energy, I'm using science in an attempt to logically explain how energy is tracked by scouters; to me, it makes the most sense. Anyway, until Chapter 29!