"The last three wore fake garbage as Tacki pointed out, but they didn't give that vibe for me to talk to them. Maybe this last one will…" Inichi thought aloud.
"I hope so!" Saitama said with an eager grin. He noticed that Mitsumi was deep in thought and he nudged her. "Hey. You okay?"
"Just…thinking about something," she shrugged.
"Tell me," he smiled.
"I'm worried about the other training rooms we need to find. I don't know if they're the same routine as the first one. I was trained on how to handle the first one, as Mami Ito knew that room by heart. With the others, I'll be going in blind. I would have to have all of my senses out. Much like how I had to defend myself earlier. I hate to admit this, but what that guy did…I would be in the same situation," she frowned. "We would need to ensure the rooms work, too. Also, I think we need to fix up the basic training part in the first training room we got the scepter from. So I would need to go through each room twice. One for the basic, then again for the advanced."
"Oh? Why's that?" he asked and kissed her forehead. Overgrown Rover grunted and mouthed at his hand to press against her belly. He chuckled and looked at Mitsumi to continue.
"I remember recalling something more," she said softly. "From Mami Ito. The advanced training room was important, of course. But the basic training part also held a secret. You see, there was something with the traps triggering. You destroyed a few traps and deflected them with Bright Bolt. The traps had to land where they needed to in order for the secret to be revealed. They are actually the keys to unlocking what's needed."
"What's this?" Inichi blinked and looked at her to study her thoughts. "So, that's also why the darts weren't on the ground! They locked back into place to signal when the next tile had to go up! You stop one dart, then the key sequence is destroyed. Hmm. We'll need to see if we need to replace the darts and traps that were removed and destroyed by Mr. Saitama…"
"I have robots in there right now to assess the damage. Siren is also assisting with testing the traps to ensure they lock into place. She is not stepping on the tiles, though. The traps do trigger, but if the tiles are not hit properly then nothing happens," Metal Knight assured them from his robot. "Inichi let me see how the basic training room was activated before by your thoughts. I'll have to get the bear traps replaced."
"I didn't know!" Saitama said quickly to get Mitsumi laughing.
"It's okay. I didn't even think about it until now, anyways. You did give Tacki one of the darts, so I'm sure we can replace it and see about fixing up the damaged floor traps. As Metal Knight said, he's working on repairing the room now. I'm sure the room will be ready for us later. But I think each basic training part of each room might hold a location hint of where one of the artifacts we need is. I think. So, we'll have to go back to the first training room and check," Mitsumi nodded. "Of course, we have the scepter. I'm sure the hints are still valuable as Wind Crane Clan secret keepsakes."
"I shall be with you, my daughter," Wind Crane agreed. "I plan to check on the nest tonight. I need to."
"Yeah, we need to check the kids," Zenchu nodded.
"Good. We'll plan to head that training room first thing in the morning. We can meet you there. Hmm?" Saitama looked over and saw the last reporter being led in. He appeared to be well-dressed with a classic bowler hat, stylish jacket and pants suit with burnished brown leather shoes. Even his black tie was neatly in place at the moment. Mitsumi instantly stiffened with recognition. The bearded man with black hair even paused on seeing her. When he saw who was in the room, all of the color drained from his face.
"Please. Blame me for my father's death again. I insist!" Mitsumi growled out with complete hatred. Now Saitama gave over his usual blank stare.
"Wait. What did he say to you?!" Kiyoshi asked with disbelief.
"Mother killed father. Not her," Daiki grimaced.
"So wrong…" Himiko whispered and got hugged by Zombieman.
"I just said what I was paid to say! I mean…" the man faltered.
"Can I zap him? I really, really want to," Bright Bolt growled.
"I'll take this one," Inichi said with a wide, wicked grin. "Seat him down. Now. Before anyone else gets any other ideas."
"Yes!" Saitama grinned and squeezed Mitsumi to make her giggle hard.
"What?" the reporter blinked. Overgrown Rover gave out a seething growl and had to get calmed by Saitama.
"I recognize you for your article on the City C commercial news broadcast. You covered how fast the economy was flourishing a couple years ago. Didn't you?" Inichi asked and now moved to calmly walk around the chair the reporter was seated in to silently evaluate him. "If I recall, you also covered a bank robbery that happened four months ago. Am I correct?"
"Ah…yes…" the reporter said. Fubuki pursed her lips together and blushed when Inichi winked at her.
"You were also one of the many reporters that tried to cover the Takashi family murder. And I say 'tried' due to how you were paid with bribery money. As you even admitted to doing just a moment ago. It was also all too apparent on your demeanor in a courtroom," Inichi said and placed his hands behind his back. He was continuously walking around the chair while deep in thought on everything. "Practically every news station was covering the event."
"Well…" the man started before Inichi rose up his blue-skinned hand.
"Genos, you are able to broadcast to a television in here?" Inichi asked.
"I can," Genos nodded.
"Look up this date…this time…and this news station recording…" Inichi said while thinking out the details. "If it's classified, we can see if Metal Knight can snag that footage for us."
"I am attempting now," Genos nodded and let his yellow eyes flash. "I have it. I am broadcasting the footage to the television on the back wall."
They all turned to watch the five minute video clip of questions. When Saitama saw Mitsumi in the witness chair to give her testimony of what she saw, he clearly heard the same reporter seated before them shout out that she was lying and helped stage the murder. At her recorded outraged burst of anger, the reporter was quickly removed from the courtroom. When the clip ended, everyone in the room glared at the man.
"Ah…I didn't…" the man started and went quiet at Blue Ripple's savage snarl. Then he purred at the loving snuggle Mitsumi gave him.
"It's okay. I'll be okay," Mitsumi whispered and smiled with understanding. "We know he was paid to do it. To interrupt the event. I had a lot of blame and hurt thrown at me because of how close Father was with me. Some even slandered that he was using me for his own needs! He shot that down fast and sued whoever made such disgusting assumptions."
"That is outrageous!" Sweet Mask said with complete disgust.
"What?!" Saitama blinked at her with shock. "Please tell me that this guy said that. If he did, I am totally punching him off this building. Hell, I'll throw him through an opened window!"
"Just by him saying she killed her father should turn him into a practice target," Zenchu said with a small growl of his own.
"No need. His looks alone are enough to turn anyone's stomach," Inichi grinned to get the room starting to laugh.
"There's nothing wrong with my looks!" my man argued.
"Nothing wrong? I'm afraid even mirrors lie to you with false reflections just to have you walk away from them. I'm surprised they don't reflect you hanging yourself with that tie around your neck," Inichi muttered out. "That bowler hat you're wearing won't hide that bald patch forever, you know. And you really should shave off the beard. I can already see what you had for lunch by the crumbs that hide all through it. You don't use a napkin?"
"Ah…well…" the man started to fluster. Sweet Mask was dying with laughter, and Tajima couldn't even help him from how hard she was laughing.
"That's gross," Saitama said and kept supporting Mitsumi's laughing form against him. "And, eh…is he wearing a t-shirt under his jacket?"
"Yes. A heavily stained one…" Inichi said with distaste.
"I didn't have time to hit the cleaners!" the man snapped out.
"And it has a tear in the back of it. From your thoughts…you were chased out by dogs and they snagged you. Interesting. Mr. Kiyoshi, since when did you hire slobs for your reporters?" Inichi asked to get the man stammering.
"You would think he'd have more class for the money he's being paid," Kiyoshi frowned in thought. That got snickers all around the room.
"Yeah. Considering his jacket was made by a second-hand tailor," Tacki grinned wickedly. That got Kamikaze laughing hard at the man's look of stunned shock. "I can already see where the threading is coming loose from the sleeves! And you wonder why you always have to take it in for repair?"
"Ah…how…?!" the man gaped.
"I'm constantly fixing his haori," Tacki stuck her thumb at Kamikaze. Now he went quiet and glared at her. "Honey, think about it. Has the haori I made you fallen apart yet?"
"Okay. Point made…" Kamikaze said and chewed on the stick lightly.
"Same with your pants! Now I'm not sure about your underwear…" she mused in thought. That got Bane dying with laughter at Kamikaze's lightly smoldering glare. "Don't worry, honey. I'll make you a couple new sets of those, too. I'll get on that later."
"Thanks," Kamikaze grunted out.
"Whoa!" she blinked and grimaced. "Ah…cookie…?"
"Shit!" Kamikaze hissed out, but Cold Snap already had a cookie delivered over with a light coating of frost. Now with Tacki able to curb the sickness, he was able to sigh with intense relief. "Thanks, kid. You okay, Tacki?"
"I'll be okay. Just…give me a minute," she nodded while eating.
"No problem!" Cold Snap chuckled. Then he looked over at the man on the chair and frowned. "Inichi, you're too nice to this guy."
"Am I?" Inichi asked.
"Yeah. You are. He said nasty things about Mom! He should run through an obstacle course and suffer intense punishments all the way through," Cold Snap nodded. "I'll even chase him with Overgrown Rover in my wolf form."
"Okay. That would be awesome," Saitama grinned.
"Can we all chase him?" Bright Bolt asked.
"As long as you don't kill him. We cannot kill anyone," Mitsumi said.
"Suffering…?" Stable Rock asked.
"A little," Saitama nodded.
"I don't mind assisting with that," Tangled Vine snickered.
"Can we all do something?" Garou asked. Zenchu now looked over and gave an eager grin. Wind Crane glanced over with a small smile. She already heard Fire Flight's mental commotion that it had to happen.
"We can make another obstacle course with various challenges," Mitsumi smiled back at Wind Crane with a nod.
"I can get on that now," Metal Knight chuckled wickedly. "Ten minutes."
"Make it thirty minutes. We need to eat. Doggy, make him suffer. Then we'll go," Saitama nodded to Overgrown Rover. It huffed and jumped down from his lap to trot over. It went right under the chair the man was in and snapped out at his feet with its massively fanged mouth.
"Gah!" the man grimaced and pulled his feet up. Then he paused and shouted, "This is abuse! I will sue you! That stench!"
"My puppy has tummy troubles. And sue me? Hah! You couldn't afford the lawyers that I can get!" Mitsumi grinned in full knowing. "I would sue you first for covering up my father's murder!"
"Ah…oh…" the man cringed.
"Accepting bribe money! Lying to the courtroom and other press agents! Falsifying information! You think this is abuse?! My pets will show you exactly what abuse really is!" Mitsumi growled out with complete vengeance.
"I'm zapping him. Can I zap him? Just a little?" Bright Bolt begged.
"No, but you can do something really annoying that can last longer than a short zapping. Give him intense static cling for three hours," Mitsumi said with a wicked smile. Bright Bolt snickered with intense delight and focused for the man's clothing to tingle and stick to him all over.
"What?! No! What the hell?!" the man gaped and tried to frantically smooth away the clothing. It was now like plastic wrap that crinkled up and clung to him so that no amount of pulling away would fix it. Even worse was the small zapping sound heard if too much was done. He even let out a small hissing swear of irritation at each nasty zap he got from his fingers.
"Okay, that would be a complete pain in my ass," Kamikaze grinned.
"Yeah, I never did like that," Zombieman agreed.
"Don't let him around any of my gaming equipment," King snorted lightly.
"Good thing my robot has an anti-static film over it," Metal King mused.
"This is actually much more satisfying than a hard zap! Static cling! I love it!" Bright Bolt nickered with excitement. "It's like getting swarmed by flies! Pretty harmless, but annoying to a whole new level!"
"Can my dog's farts cling to people?" Saitama asked. Kamikaze looked over and burst out laughing. Daiki's face paled at the idea. Kiyoshi was actually highly amused at the possibility. Himiko and Zombieman looked at each other with a bit of shock.
"Do not come over here to test it!" Zenchu growled at the monster dog. Garou was in tears laughing with Lily at the whole thing. Overgrown Rover looked at Sweet Mask and got the hero stammering in response.
"Hmm…" Wind Crane mused and thought to it. Overgrown Rover huffed and trotted over to her. It sat upright for appeasement and blinked all six eyes at her. She chuckled, reached down and lightly scratched it on the head. "As what you do can be a form of air…I think I can grant you that gift. Feel free to try it."
It yapped with excitement, twirled around several times and bolted for the seated reporter. At the gagging shout he gave, the monster dog huffed and trotted over to Saitama with a sensation of pleased contentment. Mitsumi was dying with laughter all over again. At how the man was now begging for some form of deodorant, it was easily seen that the attack worked and clung to the man.
"Now…imagine that…with my fans around him…to concentrate it…" Mitsumi managed to voice out weakly. That got intense waves of awe, disgust and outright laughter at the thought.
"Do it," Saitama said with his blank, neutral stare. Mitsumi watched all of her current fans move to make a tight dome around the man. Overgrown Rover huffed and trotted over to let out a gas bomb within it. After a minute, the fans dispersed to see the man in a fetal position of terror.
"A fitting punishment for now," Kiyoshi nodded.
"We'll escort him away," Sweet Mask said. When security came over, they all paused and coughed at the smell that assaulted them from the man. Mitsumi was in tears of laughter all over again.
"What…?!" one of the men asked.
"His dog can now make an aura of stink," the first board member said with a grim smile.
"Is it contagious?!" another security member asked.
"Maybe it should be," Saitama mused aloud.
"Please no!" Daiki begged to get Kamikaze and Bane in an uproar of laughter. Mitsumi just found herself sighing and shaking her head.
"I need to eat now. Let us know when the punishment track is ready. We could also use it as an advanced testing course for heroes that think they have what it takes. Especially if they think they have what it takes to challenge GOD monsters," Mitsumi grinned lightly. All of her pets looked at her and snuggled into her to make her squeal at it.
"I would totally watch that!" Saitama grinned and scooped up Mitsumi into his arms to rescue her. "Okay. Food time."
"Good," Tangled Vine said and leapt onto Mitsumi to curl up in her arms. Overgrown Rover huffed and trotted along with the others. "Oh. The plant here. Can we get it to where we are going? I want to ensure where all of my plants will be before we leave any behind."
"I have it," Inichi said and levitated it.
"Are you okay, Tatsi?" Rendor asked and carried her in his arms.
"I'm okay. I'm hungry, too," she smiled. "I have a temporary room here. We'll go there and eat."
"Ah. Okay," Rendor nodded.
"Temporary?" the second board member asked.
"Yes. I live with him now. It's quieter," she shrugged.
"I need to test the gaming system. We'll use Saitama's apartment until we can figure out where we'll go," King said.
"Let's just go home," Kianna smiled. King looked at her and then to Saitama. The bald hero shrugged to show he didn't care before walking into the elevator.
"After we test the game," King said. Kianna laughed softly and got pulled close to him. He glared at a bunch of lesser heroes gawking at them all to get them moving away.
"Always happens, huh?" Tacki grinned.
"Yep. The kids like to view the adults," Kamikaze seemed to shrug.
"Who are you calling a kid?!" one of the heroes growled out.
"You," Kamikaze smirked. "What are you gonna do about it?"
"What rank are you, ya punk?" the hero countered.
"S class. You?" Kamikaze grinned and chewed the stick he had lightly.
"Ah…never mind…" the man paled and quickly ran off.
"You need to stop doing that," Tacki smirked to get Kamikaze snickering. She laughed when he pulled her into his arms to carry her the rest of the way.
"I don't think the apartment has a lot of space," Mitsumi frowned. Then she yawned with a bit of exhaustion.
"Tired?" Saitama asked and carried her into the opened apartment door.
"A bit. I may nap after I eat," she admitted. He kissed her forehead and nodded. "A bit stressed after those stupid reporters."
"I know. I can wake you up before we go see that guy try and fail to put up with the pets," he grinned to get her giggling.
"I think he already failed from how bad he stinks," Zombieman grunted out from where he followed them with Himiko. Saitama was seen eating a rather extravagant dish of various sautéed meats and vegetables over a bed of steamed white rice. Mitsumi was eagerly eating with him, and Blue Ripple was replacing the water they drank down. Stable Rock was contentedly laying down on the floor at Saitama's feet, and he even found himself rumbling with delight when the bald hero began to lightly step on his shell.
"You like that?" Mitsumi asked.
"Nice…" Stable Rock grunted and yawned. Then he tilted his head and looked over at the window with amusement. "Something…here…?"
"Oh?" Bright Bolt blinked and focused. "Yeah, there's something appearing. Hmm. I…think I know this one…"
"Do you?" Mitsumi asked.
"Yeah. I'll be right back. Because I need to chase him off," Bright Bolt growled. "I told him to stop bugging me!"
"Who is it?" Saitama asked.
"Eh…I won't bother you with it," Bright Bolt said.
"No. Tell me. You're my pet. What's going on?" Saitama asked again.
"Darling, if he says he can handle it, then let him," Mitsumi smiled.
"What's going on?" Kamikaze frowned.
"He's a lesser monster with lightning. He keeps thinking he can learn from me. I just want him to leave me alone," Bright Bolt grumbled.
"Oh…?" Stable Rock seemed to snicker. "Fire Flight…will play…"
"Oh! He hates her! Perfect!" Bright Bolt danced around with giddy excitement. Cold Snap moved to sit next to him and grinned.
"I know who it is, too. I can also help," the ice monster grinned.
"Okay. Who is it? Before I get up and slap whatever it is," Saitama said with a neutral stare at the monsters. Mitsumi sighed and looked at Tangled Vine when he pawed at them.
"This one is a rather strong, yet far lesser monster with rather intricate lightning abilities. We do get random, oh, fanfare. If you call it that. Much like how other humans admire and wish to join you just to linger in your presence. An annoyance, but not something we can all drive off together. Leave it to us," Tangled Vine explained and purred at the fond scratching he got now.
"Oh? Join us? For good?" Black Sperm asked from Fumio's lap.
"That would be an interesting concept!" Tangled Vine mused.
"No! Then he won't ever leave me alone!" Bright Bolt spat out.
"Hey," Mitsumi soothed and let him rest his head in her arms. "If that one becomes good, we may be able to keep him very busy with tasks."
"Ah…hmm…" Bright Bolt thought about the idea.
"We need as many allies as we can. Both human and monster. This is important. And, if this one is a rather strong lightning monster, it wouldn't hurt to utilize such skills to help us. Can you introduce us to him?" Mitsumi smiled.
"Well…" Bright Bolt sighed with contentment at the way her fingers gently stroked over his mane. "I guess…but only if he's trapped away for now."
"I told Fire Flight. A neutral form of truce is being accepted. We shall meet this one and see what can be done. Later, though," Blue Ripple nodded. "He is aware that a lot of powerful monsters are joining forces. If we choose he is not worthy, he will easily be dealt with."
"A sad way to put it, but I understand," Mitsumi frowned.
"Let's finish eating," Saitama said and looked over to see King testing out the game to play for later in the night. He glanced over at his wife to find her yawning, and he pressed his hand against her belly. "I know you're tired. If you want to nap, it's okay."
"But I want to watch that reporter go through more hell," she sighed.
"You can easily wait thirty minutes. I'm finalizing some tests," Metal Knight said from the stationary robot sentry. It was placed right over the main door to keep constant watch within the room.
"Okay," Saitama nodded.
"Thank you," Mitsumi nodded with respect. She yawned again and snuggled into Saitama's protective embrace. He glanced down at the fans on her belt to lightly tap on them for assistance.
"Nap time. Don't bug us," Saitama said when the fans came alive to form a protective dome around them.
"We could have gone to bed," she yawned a third time and started to feel drowsy. He just chuckled, pressed his hand to her belly again and kissed her gently to show that all was well.
"Not with so many here. Rest now. We'll have some fun soon," he said softly. She nodded and found herself drifting off to sleep against him. He closed his eyes to rest and could only wonder what sort of training ground was being done. I'll definitely need to test it! And another lightning monster, eh? Likely not as strong as Bright Bolt. But he finds that one annoying? I'm curious. We'll see what that's all about soon, too. I have to wonder how many other monsters will be drawn in. And I'll gladly slap any of them out of commission if Mitsumi comes under attack. No matter how strong the monsters with us are. I refuse to let her get in any harms' way.