Shinko's journey through life

by Old Style

Apart from his white hair, Shinko was just a normal human boy...who had broken his limiter and gained power beyond comprehension. Now, on the run from a robotic foe and with friends of both races, Shinko will become a hero and rise through the ranks.

32. The planning before the storm

Good morning, my readers! After a long time the chapter is finally out and as you read it you'll understand why it took so long (university aside).

Before starting, I also want to thank you for the continued support. I promise to keep up with the good work!

With that done, let's finally get to the chapter!!!

---

At first Kiru was optimistic about answering the heroes' emails. 'Sure, there are a lot of heroes in the association and I know the emails are going to be flowing for a while, but it won't be THAT bad' was what he thought yesterday as he went to sleep in his apartment within the HQ.

Kiru woke up at 8 AM like he always used to and went to his computer, ready for a casual stroll on the association's official website before having a calm breakfast and suiting up for work.

But the sheer amount of emails containing all sorts of complaints that the Hero Association received from the heroes instantly kicked him right out of his usual trance when waking up and completely threw out of the window any possible plans for a peaceful morning.

An hour later he was on his desk, steaming coffee precariously placed on its left corner and a half-eaten croissant to the laptop's right. Kiru's face was a mixture of frustration and concern.

The first emotion was aimed at Nagasaki. Apparently the man put up a few announcements on the website's front page last evening without telling him about it.

The first announcement was that the heroes could now contact the staff (himself and a few other people, basically) about their gripes with the association's system, while the others were just guidelines regarding some new rules that the heroes had to follow.

While Kiru was more than acquainted with the first announcement, the others left him perplexed but he decided not to bother since he had other, more urgent things to do.

'I guess I'll look them up in the afternoon, though it seems nobody is complaining about them' Kiru thought as he read all of the emails to make sure he fully understood their contents and took action accordingly.

Surprisingly, after the initial shock for the number of emails he received, he found that not many heroes referred to the Hero Association in a disrespectful manner and those who did had a good reason.

Between the requests of being transferred to another city and the usual gripes with the advertisement (which went from wanting to be advertised to outright refusing it), it seemed most of the heroes cared about their names. Some were just so awful that Kiru was flabbergasted at the thought of a human mind actually conceiving them and assigning them to another human being, while other heroes just wanted to change them because they had better names in mind.

Kiru saw the mountain of emails and decided what he thought was the best course of action: the emails voicing issues of transferring and advertisements would be forwarded to the logistics team and Natasha respectively while he would personally handle the name-related issues, giving more priority to the heroes with worse names.

Now Kiru had just finished writing a response to a hero that that went by the name 'Doctor Grumpy Pervert'. This guy's email was quite abrasive, but Kiru decided to excuse that.

Kiru really didn't know how did this hero managed to get such a name, but at this point it was a simple recurring question that he really couldn't answer.

Kiru decided to keep the response short, typing that he was open to suggestions for a new name and that he would overwrite his old one on the Hero Registry.

'Luckily Nagasaki gave me the authorization to manage that registry, or this process would be much longer...' Kiru thought as he moved the mouse and clicked the send button. Then he averted his eyes from the screen to take a sip of warm coffee and a finish his croissant.

'Aaah, these beverage-warming cups are the best thing ever!' the man thought as he put the cup back down and looked at the screen once again. He was surprised to see a new email from the same guy and opened it without wasting time. Inside it there was the new hero name this person wanted to have.

Quad Employee.

'How lame...' Kiru thought as his face went blank, but he just shrugged his shoulders and simply browsed the Hero Association's site. Once he found the Hero Registry, Kiru searched for that hero's profile and, once he found it, edited the name.

With that done, he went write a response to the newly-renamed Quad Employee, but that hero beat him to the punch as he sent another email where he thanked him a lot for his job and how 'he could finally feel like an actual hero'

That response really made Kiru's morning much better and he was beginning to type a response, but then he stopped.

'There are still many heroes who have horrible names...I can't stop just to chat with him...' Kiru thought as he deleted the email and went to answer to the next email.

He looked at it and the hero who apparently wrote it was called "Caped Baldy"

Kiru facepalmed and began writing a response, explaining the procedure and asking if he had a new hero name in mind.

As he waited for a response Kiru thought 'This is why I didn't want to become a hero. It's a thankless job where people can still ridicule you and it can even get you killed if the deaths of two days are anything to go by...'

Kiru just shook his head and decided to banish these thoughts and returned to his task with a more hopeful thought 'If these heroes have it that bad and still refuse to throw the towel, then we here in the Hero Association have to make it up tenfold!'

X X X

Meanwhile, in the wilderness of D City, Mizuki woke up with an energetic jump, eager to move out and finally get to E City. Everyone else woke up quickly, like Monoculor, Belphomet and Malware, but there were also those who took some time, mainly Gelgo, Hulkaber, Nark, Lamia and Ariol.

All for wildly different reasons.

Mizuki began stretching while the others began talking amongst each other. Monoculor began discussing the path to take with Malware while Belphomet silently watched from the side and Beetle-Roach tried to pitch in the conversation. Ariol was with Sandscale Dragon, the former putting up a lame attempt at ignoring him while the latter just stayed near him. 'Maybe he's making sure Ariol is alright?' Mizuki thought as she began doing some more complicated exercises, also ignoring the grass shifting near her.

Meanwhile Gelgo and Hulkaber talked about their life experiences with Gobold and Beeline, who were then joined by Lamia and Nark.

"You know, morning training is important and all, but I never thought that staying in a group this big was so fun!" Sharp Stripe exclaimed from beside her. Mizuki just gave her a simple nod and a small smile made her way to her face.

After the spar with Ariol, she and Sharp Stripe spent some time together, training and overall talking about their experiences (though nothing too personal). After that, the heroine could tell that she was on good terms with Sharp Stripe. Definitely better than with Sandscale Dragon.

The next mid-hour went normally. Sharp Stripe and Mizuki trained together some more, Ariol went to hunt, Monoculor took out a map to see where they would be going and the others milled around the place either talking with each other, gathering wood or helping Sandscale Dragon on guard duty.

After a while, Ariol returned with some skinned animals (boars, by the looks of it) and Hulkaber, along with Beetle-Roach and Gobold, made a campfire. The group huddled around and roasted the captured animals while Beeline, Lamia and Nark brought the rest of the remaining rations (water and the last three sandwiches).

Despite the fact that the meat was overcooked, the group ate it with gusto anyway and soon group-wide conversation began.

"Ah! I know we're on the run from bloodthirsty enemies, but I missed the camping experience!" Beetle-Roach said as he chomped on the roasted meat, eating most of the stick it was skewed with in the process, but then his tone got sadder "This meat is fantastic, but it's a shame that we don't have any beer to accompany it..."

"That's because of your drinking problem. Last time I left you alone with some pack of beers Gobold found you more drunk than a group of depressed homeless people. The things you did later..." Monoculor said to Beetle-Roach in a half-angry tone and shuddered at the last part.

Mizuki raised an eyebrow and looked at Gobold for an explanation. The latter happily gave it to her "It happened when it was just three of us, a few months before we found Gelgo and got Nark to join us. Basically we robbed a store at night to get food and bandages since the last skirmish between a rival group of monsters didn't go too well for us. We got what we were looking for, though we still lacked the food and water to go by for the month, but Beetle-Roach also stole, like, seven packs of beer or something like that. At the time none of us knew what the hell 'beer' was and that was when everything began going downhill. Me and Monoculor went to plan a series of heists to get food supplies that would last for months and left Beetle-Roach alone to guard the supplies we had. When the two of us got back to tell him the plan, Beetle-Roach drunk all of the cans of beer and was acting really strange, but we didn't think anything was too wrong. Just him being his usual glutton self and playing a prank on us in the process. How wrong we were"

Gobold then looked at his two companions, Monoculor looking terrified and Beetle-Roach giggling. The others had their own reactions: Gelgo and Lamia looked uncomfortable, Nark was about to explode in laughter, Beeline and Malware were indifferent (so was Ariol), Sandscale and Sharp Stripe were listening intently, only the former aware of how the story continued, and Hulkaber stood there as if he had been submerged in an apocalyptic blizzard.

Mizuki knew that she wouldn't like what came next.

Gobold finished looking at his audience and continued "That day we only planned three felonies, two of which would happen respectively in a backyard and in a storage room, and we planned all the escape routes by studying the routines of supply trucks and the shifts of the workers. We never thought just how badly a drunk teammate could (and would) obliterate a plan. Long story short, 'we' ended up causing twelve felonies and got dragged into fifteen fights with six different heroes and the same four monsters. Between us running around to frantically find an escape route while chased by everyone (heroes, monsters, police, vigilantes...the whole city, basically) Beetle-Roach causing five traffic jams in the span of a mid-hour, half of C City was in chaos and our group got pretty close to be classified as a Demon-level threat. But we survived!"

As Gobold finished his story, a part of the group exploded in laughter and Mizuki shook her head as she held it.

"That was the worst day of my life and we barely survived..." Monoculor muttered as he roughly closed his eye at the memories of that day while Beetle-Roach laughed some more and said "Come on, that was EPIC! Besides, you didn't tell her the whole story. Remember that day that we saved a citizen from a monster, or how I pretty much saved a kid from a car accident, or how me and Monoculor stopped a robbery?"

Monoculor seemed to sink in the ground while Gobold laughed along and said "Kind of true, but you left out some key points. You did stop a monster from attacking a citizen, but that was pretty much because you thought that lizard 'stole your wallet' then you proceeded to attack the citizen as well because you thought 'they are partners in crime and staged the whole fight to get away with it'. You actually saved a kid from a car accident and you had no ulterior motive, but you celebrated by throwing a tin can at the road, which cracked the wind of a passing car which then careened into a shop, which THEN caused another larger car to sharply turn and jump on the sidewalk and into a building (luckily no one was hurt). And lastly, you and Monoculor DID stop a burglar, but we already had all of the needed supplies and you simply barged in that shop by sheer coincidence because 'you wanted a candy cane to look like those classy humans' and Monoculor ran after you from causing ANOTHER encounter with a hero. Which then happened anyway"

For a minute, Mizuki though that he was chastising Beetle-Roach, but his cheerful tone immediately told her otherwise.

Nark was practically laughing on the ground, then seemingly recovered and said "You never told me about THOSE things. If you were more open with your stories, we'd have a surplus of members!" to which Gelgo angrily replied with "Hell NO! The first thing I wanted to do after hearing the story was leaving!" to which Nark responded with "Oh come on, really? We love to have you here! The soft straight man is always a good addition to any team!"

While the slime monster was debating on the veridicity of the the pale snake's claim, Mizuki decided to speak up and voice her question "Wait, does Shinko know any of this?"

Oddly enough, it was Ariol who answered it "Yes, Beetle-Roach told him the story a day after our raid of the antlion nest. He remained slaw-jacked on the spot for about a mid-hour, then the next day it was normal again"

A part of Mizuki was stunned that Shinko was willing to let this one story go, but another part understood the bond between him and the Wastelanders. 'I just want to see him again...' she thought in a bit of sadness.

Meanwhile Belphomet and Monoculor, who had calmed down by now, were looking at the entire scene.

"Isn't it nice to see everyone loosen up a little? These have been hard days on them..." Belphomet mused both to himself and his brother, to which he replied with silence but his mind was buzzing with thought 'Yeah, the destruction of our hideout, the near-death experiences in Z City, the kidnapping of Gaia, whatever triggered Nark's darkest memories...I thought these events would be what finally broke the group, but to see them still trying to be upbeat...'

Monoculor smiled and Belphomet, as if he could read his mind, smiled too as he said "Despite the dark times we've had, it seems things are starting to look up. After Gaia is saved and a new home found, we'll be finally able to move on!"

"Speaking of moving on..." Monoculor said and stood up, shouting to get everyone's attention "We're moving out ten minutes from now! Gather up all your belongings, we'll arrive to E City in at least three hours if we don't stop again!"

The plan was met with a general cheer from the whole group and, in less than two minutes, everyone had now resumed their march towards civilization.

The walk was long and this time the terrain was far less forgiving for they had to traverse rough rivers and precarious ravines to get to their destination. The wild monsters only made things worse: these ones weren't the solitary and dumb predators they encountered before, but intelligent beasts that would use group tactics and even ambushes against them (half of the group still reeled from that one ambush, which happened while they were crossing a particularly large and dangerous ravine, which had lakes of lava at its bottom).

After various dangerous trials, the group finally manage to arrive at a safe-looking part of the woods.

"So, are we there yet?" Belphomet asked for the third time in fifteen minutes and Monoculor answered "Almost there, brother. We should be near one of the defense camps of the Monster Lords" then he turned to Malware and the robotic monster, immediately understanding what his leader wanted him to do, began scanning the surroundings.

"There seem to be no hostile presences around the area-" Malware was saying, but Beetle-Roach interrupted him as he said "Get it right this time. These monsters are tricky when it comes to outclassing tech. Remember how they got the jump on us because they avoided detection by covering themselves in cold mud?"

"YES, I remember..." he said to Beetle-Roach, his annoyance clearly showing in his otherwise monotone voice "...As I was saying, while there are no HOSTILE presences around the area, my sensors are picking up many different heat signatures"

"Proceed with caution, everyone. Chances are, they may be a expedition party from the Monster Lords"

As he said that, many monsters came out of their covers. Most were bipedal and came out of bushes or behind trees, some were worm-like and came out of the ground, others were insect-like and flew out from the distance.

"Stop right there! You are about to enter the HQ of E City's Monster Community. You will be identified shortly, so do not resist or we'll have to resort to more drastic measures!" bellowed Crabtaur he stepped forward, towering over all the Wastelanders.

While most of the team was pretty calm, namely Malware, Monoculor and Sandscale Dragon, Mizuki and Ariol were on edge. The former went into a fighting stance, following her instinct while the latter just didn't have the patience for such a procedure.

The situation was getting rather tense, with those two not calming down and Crabtaur losing his patience, and Monoculor was about to speak in an effort to defuse it. But someone else beat him to the punch.

"Wait, they are already safe!" a voice desperately called out from the woods behind Crabtaur and Showerhead burst out, panting as if he ran all the way from the HQ.

"What!? What are you doing here and who do you think you are to get in the way of an examination?!" the aquatic minotaur shouted at the smaller monster, who then replied with "But sir, they are the Wastelanders! Not only they are seeking asylum in a community they have helped before, but they are also allied with the Fighter of the Outskirts!"

While the two monster argued, with Psykript adding her own opinion when she thought it was needed, Mizuki whispered to Ariol "Wait, did you guys really helped them before?" to which he answered with "It was just a small favor, Markedus needed a small gang of monsters to die since they were causing trouble in the south side of E City. They were all busy with other things and Shinko was 'still recovering from the encounter with Watauga'. In the end it was a pretty easy job...wonder why Shinko skipped this job, those injuries couldn't have been THAT bad"

Mizuki wondered what day it was, because she had a hunch it was somehow connected with his younger sister, but her train of thoughts was interrupted by Crabtaur's shouts.

"Alright, you're clear enough for me! Go to the Monster Lords if you have anything remotely important to say!" He shouted again and motioned them to follow him.

The Wastelanders, accompanied by the giant escort, traversed the woods in little time and reached a clearing. Mizuki couldn't believe her eyes at the sight that followed.

'I thought the monsters all lived in a huge building, but an entire village?' she thought in stunned surprise.

Indeed, there were dozens of large homes all around the mansion and they could probably house up to twelve monsters each, but those didn't just have a single function. Some were also pubs, others were connected to what she thought were hospitals and some seemed to be training grounds too.

Mizuki then looked down and saw various holes in the ground, which at first ignored since she thought those were just the aftermath of the invasion by the Monster Association (if what their guide was talking about was anything to go by), but she still had her doubts.

'Maybe these holes connect to an underground part of the village?' Mizuki mentally theorized, seeing that the holes were too precise and there seemed to be some kind of pattern concerning their placement.

With that said, her wonder was short-lived. One single glance told her that this place was a dump: the buildings looked damaged and the repairs done didn't make them any better, and that didn't even cover the materials they were made of. A mix of metal and stone at best, wood or even trash at worst.

As they walked in the badly-kept village, the group noticed they attracted quite the attention. Whispers and looks followed each and every one of their steps.

The Wastelanders with a more keen hearing, Lamia, Ariol and Sandscale Dragon, heard the nearby monsters whisper things like "It's really them! Think I can get a photograph or something?" "I have a bad feeling about this, trouble always follows them..." "To think that these nomads would return here after all...but the real question is what do they want now..."

Mizuki on the other hand didn't really care as her nose was assaulted by the odor of some of the buildings and that of some residents, which then made the heroine aware of her own smell. 'Gosh, I'll definitely have to get a shower before meeting Shinko!' she thought in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance.

The whispers were far more hushed, but still came rolling "A hero here!? Why did she even get in?!" "Another human associated with the Wastelanders? Now this is interesting..." "Hey, did you know that there's a rumor that she's the girlfriend of the Fighter of the Outskirts?" "What? He's already taken!? Ooooh..."

They eventually arrived at the mansion and, after opening the large metal door, they entered a wide room which, despite being dusty and generally unkept, was still quite classy with the ornate chandelier on the ceiling and the large dark-red carpet sporting a pattern of white rhombuses.

But the Wastelanders and Mizuki didn't care about that, because their attention was completely captivated by something else.

"Hello Wastelanders...and whoever you are...What brings you here to our community?" an elegant yet masculine voice greeted them "We have caught wind of your arrival and decided to welcome you accordingly. Since we have gone out of our way to make this welcome, I'd appreciate some reactions aside from the staring"

Monoculor had to do a double take (like most of the Wastelanders), Mizuki was mildly surprised and rather confused, Sandscale waved at them and Ariol gave them a simple glance.

In front of the group there were none other than the Monster Lords. Markedus extended a hand to Monoculor, who hastily shook it, Butin briefly looked at them before settling his singular eye on both demons, Leila looked at them with the concern of a healer and Mocus looked at the group with a mixture of apprehension and elation.

"H-hello Markedus, it's an honor to be in your presence once again" Monoculor said with uncharacteristic timidity and mentally cursed himself for stuttering. "Yes, yes" Markedus said, tired of pleasantries "Now, may we go to somewhere more private? I have a feeling that we have to discuss about the reason you are here"

To the small cyclop, that wasn't an invitation. It was a statement, and Monoculor decided to follow it to his darn best. 'He already doesn't want us here, I didn't think refusing his offer would make him this mad!' Monoculor thought as he followed the monster upstairs followed by Belphomet, who didn't want to leave his brother with Markedus.

Meanwhile Mizuki was a bit let down. She thought the Monster Lords were these powerful demon-level monsters that ruled with an iron fist and that Shinko had to tame through ferocious battles, but instead they didn't seem to be all that threatening (with the exception of the large cyclop and this 'Markedus' creep). Leila even gave off the same feeling she had when she first met Gaia.

But now she had her chance.

'If they know about the goings-on of E City, then they definitely know where Shinko is!' Mizuki thought and turned to the slime as she asked the question burning in her chest "Say, do you know where Shinko is?"

Mocus, Butin and Leila stopped in their tracks for a while, the question catching them off-guard.

Eventually Mocus answered the question to the best of his ability "...Shinko isn't in E City at the moment. He said he went to Z City to train before the Hero Association's raid on the monsters of Z City"

Mizuki's shoulders slumped in disappointment. After days of trudging through the wilderness and wild monsters, she wanted him to hug her and never let go, but despite her current mood, Mizuki decided to be strong about it.

'I know I miss him, but he went to train for the final battle, so I have to give it my all as well!' Mizuki thought with a determined look and silently decided to go to her original house, near the outskirts.

With the amazonian heroine out of the mansion, Leila decided to change the subject as she asked the remaining Wastelanders "So, you have traveled for some time, have you? Would you like to have a medical check-up and even a warm shower?"

They, even Ariol, nodded enthusiastically at the offer, eager to relax before the shitstorm that would be tomorrow.

X X X

Shinko was jumping from building to building in D City, not making a single sound and appearing as little more than a blur, while his shirt was raised by the strong winds, revealing part of his abdominal muscles.

His eyes were unusually focused, as if he was preparing himself for a particularly tough battle, but they also betrayed his anxiousness to reach the dojo of the S Class hero Sliverfang.

But why was he going to Bang and what did Shinko exactly have in mind?

These answers can all be found by looking at his morning.

Shinko woke up with an energetic jump, knowing that tomorrow would be the day of the raid. So he had breakfast and did his doubled training regimen, just like he decided last night, and did some guard rounds around the city (and the outskirts, for some good measure) to make sure there were no Monster Association goons waiting to or already causing trouble.

After that Shinko returned home to pass some time with his family, until he heard a knock on the door.

"I'll go get it" Shinko said as he got up from the sofa and stopped his mother. He opened the door and was mildly surprised to see Phoenix Man, who said "Hello Shinko, I have some news regarding the Mon-" but was interrupted by a flying Caroline screaming "Bird Brain!"

The bird-like creature caught the little girl and carefully set her down as he said "We'll play later, but now I have important things to tell to Shinko"

Caroline was a little sad, but she still pointed her finger at him and said "Fine, but we're going to park later!"

Phoenix Man chuckled as he nodded and the two went to the kitchen.

"So, does the Monster Association have any aces up their sleeves?" Shinko asked as he sat down on the chair, already knowing the topic of discussion.

"It's about the Hero Hunter" Phoenix Man said with a tone of finality "Gyoro Gyoro plans to use him as a trump card against the Hero Association, given the fact that he has great fighting prowess if the rumors are to be believed. Not only that, but Petrolic Wraith seems to have some ties with the human and has given him a serum that will not only make him stronger, but facilitate his rise into monsterhood"

Shinko was now in deep thought as he stood as still as a statue, his eyes empty, but Phoenix Man could see some worry beginning to build up within the fluffy-haired hero.

Shinko got up the chair and got out of the house fast as lightning, without even warning Gloria.

Back to the present, Shinko thought, as he got closer to his destination 'Garou...he can keep up and beat very powerful heroes even while injured...getting stronger after every fight and being backed up by a very skilled scientist is a really bad combination, so I can't afford to fight him unprepared...I can't repeat the same mistakes as last time, especially if the power boost Garou will receive with monsterification ends up as bad as I fear...'

Steeling his determination and picking up even more speed, Shinko reached Bang's dojo in little time. Despite the monster attacks, it looked in pretty good condition aside from the scattered monster corpses and the broken patches of road and stairs.

The fluffy hero didn't waste time and immediately jumped all the way to the dojo entrance and was going to knock on the door, but he didn't need to do that because Bang opened it as soon as Shinko got close.

"Ah, master-" Shinko was going to say, but the old hero interrupted him and said "You're pretty loud with your arrivals and I can already tell why you're here"

Shinko nodded and spoke to clarify something "Master, it is true that I've come here to train my skills, but I was wondering if you had a technique that could allow me to draw my strength"

Bang raised an eyebrow, prompting Shinko to explain himself better, but in doing so he also added the information he got from Phoenix Man about Garou.

Bang now understood exactly what kind of technique Shinko wanted to know, but his mood drastically changed. His jovial and calm mood had completely disappeared and thought 'Garou, if you have really chosen this path...then I hope I'll be the one to slay you, but now I can't put that desire of mine above reality. I had my chance before and now Garou has become more powerful than ever, so it falls to the strongest heroes to find him and deal the final blow'

Master and disciple went inside the dojo, but Shinko was surprised when Bang went to the far right corner of the room and opened a secret trap door.

The two entered the trap door, which Bang then closed with lightning-fast movements, went down a set of stairs and arrived at a large room with walls made out of solid concrete, many sturdy safes connected to said walls and only lighted by a meager oil lamp.

"Shinko," Bang said with a heavy tone as he turned to face his student "this is the place where I keep the scrolls detailing the techniques that I have used ever since I was a youngster..."

He then looked back at a particular safe, the one at the centre of the wall in front of them, and averted his gaze. Shinko was puzzled by that movement, but decided to not point it out lest he appeared disrespectful.

"What you are searching for is a breathing technique, specifically one that puts your heart into overdrive and thus brings out your true strength" Bang said and Shinko nodded enthusiastically, prompting the S class hero to continue "It is called the Inner Storm and requires great focus of one's breath, which has to be sharp and highly repetitive"

Shinko nodded again and confidently said "Yes, that would seriously help me! I should be able to learn it pretty quickly given the fact that I already have great control over my breath"

Bang laughed lightly but returned serious as he said "You are right, but do not underestimate this technique. It is harder than it seems" and went to one of the safes in the walls. Putting the seven-digit password, Bang retrieved a bright-red scroll and went to the stairs as he told his disciple "Come on, your training begins now!" which prompted Shinko to get to the stairs post-haste.

Once the two resurfaced from the dojo's basement,however, Bang became hunched and said "...but before that, I must tell you something of great importance. If you encounter Garou in the Monster Association's base, it is possible that he has a dangerous technique..."

He then went to the center of the room, Shinko intently watching, and went into a fierce stance as he said "Explosion Release Fist, an offensive technique that brings out the strength of the user, not to mention its brutal execution. Before I banished Garou from this dojo, he found the trapdoor and broke the safe, taking a read at the scroll containing that devilish technique...I don't know if he can execute the Explosion Release Fist, but if he assumes this stance...you have to be ready for a hard battle"

Upon hearing this, Shinko was still as a statue, now more worried about his upcoming battle with Garou. But a part of him was...

Excited.

Despite the fact fighting never truly clicked for Shinko, he always loved to look forward for upcoming foes and their skills. And an opponent such as Garou, a supposed martial artist genius who supposedly kept his own against the world's most powerful martial artist? Past all of his worries for collateral damage (primarily lives), he felt an almost primal excitement at the prospect of such an opponent.

'Garou...I'm getting ready for our battle!' Shinko thought as Bang said "We will begin with the Inner Storm, then...I'll teach you how to counter the Explosion Release Fist"

X X X

Child Emperor was in his base at J City and had just finished reading the email from Nagasaki himself, in which he required all S class heroes to show up at the HQ of the Hero Association for a meeting at 11AM.

'Nagasaki...the deaths of the cadres were very convenient for you, in fact it was the only real way for you to enact such an outstanding power grab. I wonder if you had a hand in it...' Child Emperor thought as he scrutinized the name of the new CEO of the Hero Association '...but I don't have time for that now. There are more important problems to solve. I hope that he's more welcoming of different points of view than the previous cadres'

With only a mid-hour left until the start of the meeting, Child Emperor got off his chair and went to prepare both his jetpack for the trip and the information he had on the Monster Association. As he went from one futuristic room to another he did these tasks mechanically because right now he had only two major thoughts on his mind.

The first one was Garou's possible ascension into monsterhood, which could have catastrophic consequences: in his human form the Hero Hunter proved himself capable to defeat (or at least keep up with) A and S class heroes alike, even when injured. 'If he ever became a monster, his surge in power would be very hard to deal with, but luckily Phoenix Man has gone to warn Shinko, so that issue should at least be under control...' Child Emperor thought as he downloaded the files regarding the Monster Association on an USB drive and went to take his jetpack.

Thinking about Phoenix Man made him remember on the other "issue" his mind was occupied with.

It all happened about an hour ago.

Child Emperor had just finished the various check-ups for security breaches and data leaks. He was going to call it a day and focus on what new emails from the Hero Association he had received when he heard the warning bell.

Child Emperor was surprised for a particular reason: his base had two different alarm systems, one for humans, which had non-lethal weaponry and the other for monsters.

The young hero went to look at the cameras and found out that the former had been triggered, but what confused Child Emperor was that the breach in security had apparently happened on the upper part of the base, where Phoenix Man would usually enter.

So Child Emperor looked at the camera footages and saw that all of the traps had been triggered, yet avoided. 'This is weird, no simple human would be able to get past my security system...only a handful of S class heroes can-' Child Emperor was thinking but his train of thoughts was derailed as the door behind him burst open and Phoenix Man frantically came in.

"Ah, here you are" he immediately said, leaving no room for the young hero to talk "I have urgent news on Garou's whereabouts and on the plans of the Monster Association"

Child Emperor now had more to think about, but he wasn't going to have any of it. It was early in the morning and he wanted to proceed calmly.

"Before you tell me about the monsters' plans for Garou, can you step over that plate?" Child Emperor asked and Phoenix Man obliged, not knowing that he was stepping in a scanner's range. The young hero immediately went to the nearby console and began running scans on Phoenix Man's biological structure to see why the system didn't register him as a monster.

The results of the first scan made his eyes almost bulge out in surprise as he thought 'No way...there must have been an error somewhere...'

So Child Emperor ran a second scan, then a third scan to really make sure there weren't any errors and then a fourth one because of the magnitude of his discovery. He was about to run a fifth one, but Phoenix Man was losing his patience as he said "Is this really necessary? These news are urgent and I need to warn Shinko immediately!"

At that moment Child Emperor silently decided that these scans could suffice and listened to Phoenix Man's report "Yesterday's afternoon Petrolic Wraith formerly met Garou and drugged him with a peculiar black serum, which seems to have the following effects: rendering his muscles and bones heavier, dulling his senses and making him more aggressive. Furthermore, it also seems that the more Garou is accustomed with the serum's effects, the stronger he will be able to become...but I'm not sure about the veridicity of this particular piece of information"

Upon hearing this, the importance of the groundbreaking information provided by the scans was outclassed by this new turn of events.

"Go warn Shinko immediately then! Even if the serum doesn't increase his overall strength, the full monsterization of the Hero Hunter will still be a great threat to all of humanity!" Child Emperor shouted and Phoenix Man bolted out of the large room.

Back to the present, Child Emperor had finished preparing his backpack, but his mind was still stuck with those scans. 'So monsterized humans ARE theoretically able to reclaim their humanity...in that case, maybe the secret monster reformation program can be restored!-' Child Emperor was snapped out of his thoughts by hand on his shoulder.

"Is something on your mind, Child Emperor? Usually you aren't this deep in your thoughts" Zombieman said with a raised eyebrow.

Child Emperor turned to face him and said "Oh, I was just thinking about the new CEO and eventual plans for the upcoming raid" but then he decided to change the subject as he continued "By the way, how did it go with this 'Saitama' character?"

Zombieman grunted and looked to the side. After all, yesterday they left each other with tasks to complete.

Child Emperor had to hide the DNA strand in a remote location, away from civilization and especially any kind of technology while Zombieman had to track down the hero Caped Baldy and verify the claims of both Shinko and Genus.

"I...was unable to. On my way to Z City's ghost town I had to stop at D City to root out an infestation of slime monsters, then I resumed my search but, upon finding the apartment, I found out he was nowhere to be found. I broke in, searched for any possible clues on where he might have been and...spent the rest of the afternoon looking at every single grocery store in Z City that happened to have sales at the moment or was about to" Zombieman explained, looking rather annoyed at the last part.

Child Emperor put a hand under his chin and said "Don't worry, you've done well, but have you canceled any traces of your presence?" to which Zombieman replied "I'm slightly offended that you're asking that"

Child Emperor laughed, saying it was just to make sure, and Zombieman said "Anyway, get on my car now. At this rate we might be late to the meeting"

With that, the two heroes exited the laboratory and got inside Zombieman's car, which started with a loud roar.

As the vehicle sped in the nearly empty asphalt roads, Child Emperor decided to talk to Zombieman about Nagasaki as he asked "So...what do you think about the new CEO?"

"I don't have the highest opinion of him. Nagasaki crushes corruption only if it doesn't suit him, so I don't see him cracking down on the monster trafficking or other illegal activities perpetrated within the ranks of the Hero Association" Zombieman's reply was swift.

"That's kind of what I thought..." Child Emperor replied and went silent once again, then asked him "what do you think about the drone strikes of the last two days?"

Zombieman was quick on his reply "Nagasaki was behind them since he just started manufacturing pro-HA propaganda and isn't willing to let anyone richer than a millionaire from under his thumb"

"Yes, Nagasaki is certainly a threat and I wanted to discuss with you ways on how to eventually take him out of the equation, especially if he enacts even more outstanding power grabs" Child Emperor said to Zombieman in a decisive way, to which he replied "We still need to be careful. As it stands now Nagasaki is the only person capable of leading both the nation and the Hero Association, which would both fall into disarray should he ever get out of the picture"

Child Emperor, despite disagreeing, nodded anyway and went silent.

The trip continued on, but after a few minutes, it was Zombieman who started the conversation as he asked "So...do you know what Metal Knight has been up to? Is he still harassing you with those ringtones of his?"

Child Emperor grimaced at the questions, especially at the second one and one of the few people he considered close putting it in such a joking tone felt like a particularly painful sting (which also made him remember that one time a wasp-like monster managed to sneak up on him).

Child Emperor looked at the side as he said, with noticeable frustration "...No, luckily he seemed to have stopped after the first attack of the Monster Association. As for the next one...I don't know what to do with him anymore"

Zombieman raised an eyebrow at the last part and this prompted Child Emperor to explain himself "Last night I had a talk with Metal Knight, discussing with him about the Monster Association and how to approach this new threat"

Then he paused, a sign Zombieman knew too well...a bad one, and suddenly Child Emperor continued his speech, but his voice was angry "Metal Knight said he won't participate in the raid, even though one of his mechs has been taken by those monsters. He said this battle was irrelevant, that would waste too many of his resources, and that it would distract him from more dangerous enemies behind the scenes..."

Zombieman was frowning as he thought 'That makes sense. After all, it would be plausible to say that he hasn't found those responsible for the hacking yet...' and Child Emperor was now ranting as he nearly shouted "And when I asked him about details of this unknown enemy he flat out refused to talk! And then he has the gall to keep pestering me about reporting any of my findings! Honestly, I knew that becoming his assistant was a bad idea, but I didn't have any other way to move up in the world! I knew I should have stuck with myself, that old geezer isn't just incompetent, but perhaps even malicious!"

The young hero's rant continued for ten minutes and Zombieman did the only thing he could.

Be his listener.

X X X

It was early afternoon now, and the HQ of the Monster Association, despite being a giant underground graveyard infested with vile and dangerous creatures, was quite lively.

A public meeting had ended, in which everyone had been given their respective roles, and the hype of the monsters had now reached its peak: the wolf and tiger level monsters kept hyping each other up with newspapers, tales of scandals of random heroes and mock battles that usually ended with the death or one of the fighters; the demon levels were unusually quiet (for a monster of that power, anyway) and kept themselves locked in their respective rooms, giving the last finishing touches to their tricks.

The dragon level monsters (or at least most of them) were having a private meeting instead.

Though, not all monsters were getting ready for the decisive fight against the heroes, as this was the case within an unsuspecting room.

"Alright, this is going to be your first meeting with the rest of the group and I know of your...attitude problems...so please try to act less...aggressively?" Flake Mage said in the calmest and nicest tone he could manage.

That unfortunately served to make Raptora even angrier.

"I will act less aggressively when you'll finally stop pestering me with these lectures!" the reptilian monster, sitting on the stolen (and now quite smelly) couch, shouted through her gritted teeth.

Then she took a deep breath and said "I'm not going to act buddy-buddy with your silly little group, but I'm not going to act like an asshole just to spite you. We got similar goals and it'll be easier for me to reach them if I work together with you"

Hearing that, Flake Mage straightened up and said, in a calmer and happier voice "Oh, ok then! We're going to meet up with them pretty soon, so-"

"Yes, yes. I'll be ready in a minute" Raptora cut him off with an annoyed tone and a wave of her hand, prompting the diminutive mage to hurriedly exit the room.

When she thought she was alone, Raptora released a heavy sigh.

'Jeez, in order to please me that half-pint somehow manages to become twice as annoying...but I must resist. The rest of his group is going to be on their toes when they find out a demon level monster is going to join their suicidal plan, and they're going to be even more annoying than normal. But at least...to get back Sharp Stripe's friendship, I'll have to get along with Flake Mage, who I can actually stand, and not cause trouble for the rest of the team'

Raptora got off the foul-smelling couch and stretched her body, showing off its powerful-yet-flexible muscles, with a sharp smirk.

'This is going to be easy!' she thought as she exited Flake Mage's room. Raptora then followed the diminutive mage, who took a different route that what he used to.

This particular route was a less-known location of the subterranean city and, prior to the monsters' invasion, it used to be the main hub for the drug dealers and the assassins of the earthlings.

After a good ten minutes of walking through natural tunnels and stairs, the two arrived at the meeting place. But Flake Mage was surprised to see Manako beside Maiko and Catfish.

"So...I suppose someone else joined our little operation?" Maiko asked as her voice was drenched in hesitation while her fiancée looked like he was about to fire some lightning bolts at the newcomer. Raptora, on her part, was trying to appear indifferent but she was doing a terrible job.

"Don't worry guys, I can assure you that Raptora's safe!" Flake Mage quickly dismissed the lovers' silent worries with a cheerful tone, which didn't nothing but increase said worries, and turned to Manako, who was frozen at Raptora's sudden arrival.

"So, did Maiko and Catfish brief you on our plan?" Flake Mage asked still with a cheerful tone, to with the pink monster nodded rather stiffly as the awkward atmosphere of the situation overwhelmed her.

Despite Manako's response, Flake Mage explained the plan anyway, his cheerful tone becoming faster and the pitch of his voice getting higher "Well then, this place is the less guarded part of the underground fortress and when the big showdown between the two corporate giants begins, we're going to sneak away right into this tunnel!" and then pointed at the pitch-black tunnel he was standing next to.

The diminutive mage then laughed a mad laugh and said "Then we'll be free from the clutches of certain death and slavery! Then you'll go on that honey moon you always desired to have! And then I'll finally meet Sharp Stripe safe and sound!...Oh Sharp Stripe..."

He then collapsed on the ground as he moaned and lamented the name of the one he loved the most, right under the eyes of the rest of the group.

After a moment Manako whispered "Is he okay?" and before anyone had the chance to respond, Flake Mage bounced right back with his happy facade, as if nothing had happened.

"Anyway, let me show you the tunnel we'll use to escape!" the diminutive mage almost shouted as he went in the large tunnel in front of him.

And then something terribly fast burst through the tunnel's wall and broke through the opposite one. Fortunately the "thing" missed Flake Mage by an inch, but the shock of the event proved to be too much for Flake Mage to handle.

He collapsed on the debris-littered floor as the rest of the group was frozen in place. Except for Raptora, who moved in and picked up Flake Mage like a small plushie, feeling his pulse in the process.

Maiko and Catfish then snapped out of it and moved near the two, but before they were able to voice their question, the reptile-like monster answered it "He's not dead, but he will soon be if he doesn't get any rest"

As Raptora gently put Flake Mage down for Maiko to give her own opinion on his health (and deducting that Flake Mage was about to catch a fever), Manako stood there with only one thought in her mind.

'What clusterfuck of a plan did I insert myself into?'

X X X

While the Monster Association was experiencing was could be best described as "planned technical difficulties" (in the form of a rampaging soon-to-be monster), in the HQ of the Hero Association Nagasaki was frustrated as he read the news of the previous two days while he had a small television screen tuned in on a news channel.

'Those damn idiots...What do they think they're doing, going against my orders like that!?' the president shouted in his head, but calmed down as the news channel he was on reported a drone strike on one building in particular.

'Oh well, I hope this little 'accident' will teach the rest of them to not step out of line, but it's quite weird this misstep happened in the first place...I wonder who could be behind that...' Nagasaki then thought as he leaned back into his seat and put a hand to his chin.

"Alright Mr. president, I finished my morning workout! Though, shouldn't we be moving right about now? It's almost time for that meeting" Darkshine said as he got up, his massive body casting a shadow over the smaller man.

Nagasaki hummed as he took his bodyguard's words into account and casually looked at his blackberry to see the time. Once he did, Nagasaki swallowed hard and his eyes were wide as he saw that the meeting was going to start in five minutes.

Not wanting to be one of the last people to enter in the meeting room, he stood up and exited his private room as Darkshine followed him, already knowing where his charge intended to go.

With only a minute to spare, the two entered into the meeting room, which was smaller and had a futuristic rectangular table with some seats around it.

Nagasaki, to his dismay, saw that they were far from the only people in the room: seated and waiting for the meeting to begin were some of the S class heroes, namely Tornado of Terror, Flashy Flash, Puri Puri Prisoner, Tank Top Master (who had recovered from his injuries just yesterday, or so Nagasaki was told), Pig God, Atomic Samurai, Child Emperor, Zombieman, Demon Cyborg and Drive Knight.

At the sound of the door opening, the heroes turned their heads to see who had entered, some with interest and some with boredom.

Nagasaki had mixed feelings for the people in the room: he looked at Drive Knight and Demon Cyborg with suspect, due to not having any or not much information on either of them, but he was content with his performance; he had a lot of admiration for Child Emperor ('Such a young and bright mind!') and wanted to treat him with the respect he deserved, whether or not the previous cadres had done so or not; Zombieman was a different story, since Nagasaki thought he would stick his hands where they didn't belong and get some strange ideas about him; as for Atomic Samurai, Pig God and Tank Top Master, Nagasaki didn't have any strong opinions on them, stopping at 'they're heroes who do their job well and that's what counts'; Nagasaki wasn't repulsed by Puri Puri Prisoner's presence, since he worked with even worse people than him without much of a fuss and, if anything, he wanted to commend the hero for being able to restrain his urges so well; Nagasaki almost had to stop himself from laughing at Flashy Flash's presence ('Who knew you would be under my employment once again, huh? Really brings me back to the early days of my career...I still have to properly thank you for your earlier work though...'); finally there was Tornado of Terror, who terrified Nagasaki with her psychic might as well as the story behind her ('Ah, you...from the moment I saw your name on the Hero Registry, I had to take a double take...looks like you were able to put your powers to good use, in the end...').

Nagasaki sat on the chair in front of him, Darkshine sitting beside him. The president then addressed the rest of the room and, in an effort to break the silence, said "Good early afternoon to you all, as you know-" but was then interrupted by a groan, coming from Tornado of Terror herself.

"Ugh, we already know why we are here and what needs to be said, so get on with it" the petite woman said with annoyance clear in her voice.

Nagasaki nodded, masterfully hiding his own terror (to all but Flashy Flash, Drive Knight, Demon Cyborg and Puri Puri Prisoner) behind a facade of courtesy, and said "Surely. Our satellites have reported that the HQ of the Monster Association is under the Ghost Town section of Z City, but any information other than that is unknown to us" Nagasaki said and turned to Child Emperor as he asked Child Emperor and Zombieman "Do you have, by any chance, any information regarding the Monster Association? Even a map of their base is enough"

Zombieman shook his head, but Child Emperor said, with quite the amount of pride "Certainly, though I have far more than a simple map"

The young hero took out an USB drive from his backpack and inserted it into a tiny socket of the desk. Immediately, the central part of the table brightly lit up as it displayed a 3D map of what looked to be a relatively thin underground complex which started just below Z City's sewer system and seemed to end near the planet's mantel. Said complex looked like a needle, but in some parts it seemed to sport ramifications, which seemed to connect it to other parts of the underground.

Nagasaki looked at the hologram with awe, as he was marveled not by the S class hero's feat (which he expected), but by the complexity of the HQ of his enemies. There were also some small dots around the hologram which, upon being touched, showed photos of the complex's insides.

Nagasaki squinted his eyes in furious analysis as he thought 'This base looks more like an ancient temple than a modern structure, despite some renovations made to it. To have built this...either these monsters are much more intelligent than we thought, or this underground complex was made by someone else...but who? Another civilization of monsters, working under the Monster Association, or even an ancient human civilization that chose to live underground?...The second one is more likely, since I have read from books written by trustworthy historians that there used to be a civilization of humans, long before the making of this giant continent, that chose to live underground to 'be closer with the avatar of God'...now what was his name?...Sage Centipede is the only name I can remember at the moment...'

Nagasaki was so focused on the hologram that he couldn't hear Child Emperor calling him. Eventually the president snapped out of his trance, looking bashful.

Tornado of Terror sighed angrily as she was losing her patience, Puri Puri Prisoner was busy ogling Flashy Flash, Darkshine was asking a staff member for another protein bucket and the others were waiting for the president to answer.

"Ah, yes! I was just busy studying this hologram, sorry for the distraction!" Nagasaki excused himself and continued, unknowingly cutting Child Emperor off "This structure closely resembles an ancient city whose existence was debated for decades by historians. It was said that those who lived in there worshipped a creature, whose existence is also debated, named 'Sage Centipede', but carry on, Child Emperor"

The young hero was annoyed at being interrupted, but he was also interested in the information the president provided. 'A God-like creature? Based on my experience and the logs of the Hero Association, most rumored monsters end up really existing, and with the existence of Elder Centipede, perhaps a larger and more powerful being could exist...but the timeline of this civilization's lifespan must be taken into consideration, since monsters didn't seem to exist before the creation of this continent...' Child Emperor thought in the span of a few seconds and said "As I was saying, I also have a complete list of the dragon level monsters in that base and even relatively detailed records of the tiger and demon level monsters"

The moment he said that, the attention of every single member was rekindled.

Some heroes like Darkshine and Demon Cyborg were interested in the information, hoping they could find a monster that would challenge their limits, but others weren't as interested.

"Who cares what abilities and tricks these vermin have on their sleeves, I'm capable of defeating all of them without breaking a sweat" Tornado of Terror stated with a bored tone, to which Nagasaki responded with "Now now, don't be hasty in your judgement. This information is worth looking into and we may find some monster that might even catch you off-guard"

The look the small heroine gave him was enough to drain all the color from the president's face and make his sweat go upwards. He immediately broke eye-contact and became silent.

As this was happening, Child Emperor uploaded the logs with the monsters' information for all to see and read.

Nagasaki recovered quickly from the earlier shock as he read the data displayed and thought 'This is amazing, even more than what we actually needed!...though I see some monsters lacking in information, including Petrolic Wraith...'.

Nagasaki observed the information displayed for a while more, then turned to Child Emperor and said "This is a precious wealth of information, but if I may ask, how did you amass it?"

Child Emperor foresaw this and had a believable lie at the ready, but before he could utter it Drive Knight broke his ever-present silence and said "Child Emperor and I have worked together for this operation. After dealing with their underlings during their first attack, I secretly entered the Monster Association HQ and gathered whatever information I could while also communicating it back to Child Emperor during night-time"

The young hero, as well as everyone else in the room, was stunned at the android's revelation. Child Emperor was confused by this, but decided to go along Drive Knight's story as he said "Yes, Drive Knight has been a huge help to me, but I was also surprised by his request since he often does these kinds of things on his own"

Nagasaki's face beamed as he spoke "Ah, that is good news! I was worried you would have trouble working together to take down stronger foes, but it seems I have underestimated you"

That remark earned him a few glares, mainly from Tornado of Terror and Flashy Flash.

The president froze for a few seconds to their icy looks, but recovered surprisingly quickly as he now exposed his battle plan to the S class heroes. He tapped a few buttons on the table and the hologram of the Monster Association's HQ was replaced by another one, which displayed a map of Z City's Ghost Town.

"The battle plan is the following: you will be divided into four groups and attack the monsters within the Ghost Town from different directions. They will be left in disarray and will facilitate the role of the group of heroes that I have picked myself, which is to escort Waganma once you bring him out of the Monster Association's HQ. You and the group made by me will be given special communication devices, but you must not leave your assigned group for any reason, unless it is crucial for the mission's success"

After waiting for the president to finish, Child Emperor raised his hand and asked "So, are there any papers that further explain how the teams have been made?"

"Certainly! These papers detail how the teams are composed and why such composition was decided. Speaking of which, they should arrive in a moment now" Nagasaki said and, as if on cue, the automatic doors beside the table opened to reveal a small robot.

The upper part of its body was a vertical, metal cylinder with a visor in the upper part and two thin arms in its sides. The lower parts was a wide metal rectangle with treads on either side.

The small robot circled around the table as it distributed papers to the S class heroes, its treads emitting a small whirring noise. It then left with faster speed than it entered the room.

With the robot gone, the heroes read the papers which detailed what group they were in and their objectives.

"HUH!?" Tatsumaki said as she almost ripped the paper to pieces with her bare hands "Why am I in the same group as Flashy Flash!? And who thought it was a good idea to put Darkshine in there as well!? These guys would be much more useful somewhere else! Who came up with this decision!?"

"W-well, you see, despite the might of your psychic powers, it has been observed that when you use them you tend to favor offense over defense and vice-versa, so if a monster were to take advantage of that, Darkshine would be able to shield you from further harm while Flashy Flash would finish that enemy off. Besides the objective of your team is to neutralize the Monster Association Cadres, Orochi and Garou, who according to Child Emperor, is kept captive by the monsters in the deeper parts of their base" Nagasaki answered as he tried to quell the short hero's rage. He wasn't able to, but thankfully no one got hurt.

Meanwhile the other heroes were reading the papers detailing their own teams.

"Looks like we're together, Tank Top Master. I've seen how your followers work together and I hope my honnies can learn too. They're pretty rough around the edges, but my undying love will transform them into a force of good!" Puri Puri Prisoner said to Tank Top Master who, despite a bit worried for the prisoners under the hero's care, answered with "Sure, I look forward to work together with you and Pig God.". The mention of his name made Pig God stop eating burgers and look at his teammates as he said "Our objective is to simply eliminate the most amount of monsters in the base...quite easy, but at the end of the day food is food..."

"...So, we're going to be in the same team, huh?" Atomic Samurai said to the silent Drive Knight, who in return said "...Yes, our objective seems to be the same as Tornado of Terror's team, though Silverfang hasn't shown up yet...".

Child Emperor looked at the paper detailing the team he was in and the objective he had to follow. He looked at Zombieman, who in turn looked at him, and said in what could be described as a sulking tone "So we have to save Waganma...sounds alright, given that we are the ones with very flexible combat styles". Zombieman ignored that remark and said "Still, seems like it's going to be just the two of us, along with Demon Cyborg. Look at our third teammate" to which Child Emperor, groaning at the reminder, answered with "I already did. That old geezer won't send even one of his drones over, will he?"

As he said that, Child Emperor thought darkly 'Metal Knight, so you won't join the raid just because one of your drones got destroyed?...If Shinko hadn't told me what actually happened in E City, I' d start to think you staged the incident'

His thoughts were broken by none other than Genos, who said "We are the only team that features four members, I wonder if the president expected this kind of behavior from Metal Knight..." which locked Child Emperor in place as he thought 'If that's so...does that mean that Metal Knight has the president as an ally!?'

Child Emperor turned to look at Nagasaki who, as if he read his mind, calmly answered "It's true that Metal Knight and I are good friends, and if he's reluctant to participate then I think he has a good reason for it. Still, all S Class heroes are required to participate in this operation, therefore I'll have him send at least one of his best robots for this occasion"

After that, leaving a satisfied Demon Cyborg and a stunned Child Emperor, Nagasaki turned to look at one particular paper with furrowed brows. Not only was the 3rd most powerful S Class hero absent with no warning whatsoever, but one of their most powerful teams was in shambles!

Metal Bat, the hero who could endure titanic amounts of damage and dish out tenfold, was absent because of his younger sister's concert, but at least he would go to the battlefield as soon as it was over.

Blast, supposedly the strongest hero who has ever existed, was absent as well and every way of trying to establish some form of contact with him failed. Nagasaki never felt so insulted before, and never so angry too!

But the heaviest and most unacceptable absence of all had to be...

...King's, the strongest man on Earth, who had slain countless monsters (and even a God level threat if Nagasaki wasn't mistaken) without asking for any kind of retribution!

'Though, maybe I'm being too harsh on King...' Nagasaki thought as he clenched the paper 'Knowing him -said the man who absolutely knew nothing of him-, King is already in the Monster Association HQ and is currently making a plan to eliminate all of the Cadres in one fell swoop!'

Nagasaki felt happier with this thought, but the asked himself 'Monster Association...what are you planning?'

X X X

In the meeting room, Gyoro Gyoro was almost finished with exposing the battle plan to the other Cadres and Orochi, who was silently listening through many walls.

"And these will be the positions each of you will occupy during the raid and the heroes you'll have a better chance of defeating, any questions?" Gyoro Gyoro asked as it moved away from the board which showed a detailed map of their HQ, with arrows and dots highlighting the most important locations.

The monsters on the other side didn't move an inch, not exactly interested in the specifics of the plan.

All but one.

The monster was the smallest in the room and perhaps even in the whole HQ. It had a round body with eight tiny legs and a large reptilian eye on the front of its body. But the most striking characteristic was that the monster was completely black in color, except for the white reptilian pupil on the front.

This monster was in fact just a probe used by Petrolic Wraith either to investigate without attracting attention or when he couldn't attend meetings in person. Despite its appearance, though, it was able to easily kill tiger level monsters and even sustain damage that could severely hurt a demon level.

"This battle plan relies on an artifact of unknown origins. Can we trust the claims of its owner?" The probe spoke using its maker's voice, but before Gyoro Gyoro could answer, an imperious voice stopped it.

"How dare you call me a fraud! Not to mention how you diminished the potency of GOD's artifact!"

The speaker was humanoid in shape and spoke with a soft feminine voice, cracked by her anger; she was garbed in a long dark-blue robe and had a simplistic white bird-like mask covering her face.

"Oh I'm sorry" said Petrolic Wraith through his probe, whose tone alone implied he wasn't sorry at all "I'm simply not a believer in the arcane arts" which prompted the figure to answer with "How dare you, heathen! How would you then explain the abilities of the Necroanter?"

The probe was going to say something very insulting to both of them, but was stopped by a psychic pressure strong enough to crack the probe's legs and make Petrolic Wraith groan in pain. "No more complaining from you, who have yet to report your success with the restoration of the Antlion King and further data on Garou. I have seen the artifact working with my own eyes and so I trust the owner. You'll do as well, correct?" Gyoro Gyoro said with a tense tone.

"Yes ma'am" Petrolic Wraith groaned as his probe and psyche repaired themselves, then spoke again "All of the Antlion Brutes are completed and the Antlion King needs only the finishing touches, which will make him better in combat than he was initially. As for Garou, he easily broke through the containment chamber I prepared for him and a biological chip on his neck is unconsciously guiding him here as we speak"

"Estimated time and casualties?" Gyoro Gyoro inquired, to which Petrolic Wraith answered with "He'll arrive here in three minutes and so far has killed only three wolf level monsters"

The monster nodded and set its large eye on Black Sperm, who began frowning aggressively. "What about me?" he asked coolly and Gyoro Gyoro replied with "Not you in particular, but Necroanter hasn't come to this meeting, the very last one before the beginning of the final battle. What has he done up until now?" it then asked.

"Uuuuuuhhhhh..." Black Sperm began.

It was early morning and Black Sperm was walking towards the Necroanter's personal quarters, eager to see the progress he made so far with that magic of his. Just yesterday, after he found out that his magic was able to grow in power through storage inside amethysts, the Necroanter requested all amethysts to be brought to him, a request that Gyoro Gyoro strangely granted.

And so, for all of yesterday, the hallway leading to the Necroanter's personal quarters was filled by wagon after wagon of that precious gem, taken from every place imaginable. From the mining complex under the HQ, from the HQ's treasury (though the amethysts that supposedly came from there were much more than what actually stored in it) and from the bodies of lesser monsters (who were later brought to Petrolic Wraith for revival and enhancement).

Once Black Sperm arrived, he found all wagons empty and smiled, understanding this as a sign that he was really putting effort. At first Black Sperm didn't think too much about him, but starting from yesterday his opinion about the Necroanter was greatly improving.

As Black Sperm walked down the hallway, he began feeling a little light-headed but thought nothing of it. However, when he opened the thick metal door, nothing could prepare him for what he witnessed.

The gems were all gone and the room was a broken mess, its walls full of cracks and the floor littered with copious amounts of molten rubble and vomit, but the most pressing matter was the blinding light floating at its center, so strong even Black Sperm had to shield his eyes from it. The light was white and had a light purple hue to it.

But as he got closer, Black Sperm could barely see a shape floating in the light's epicenter, bug-like and in a fetal position.

At that point, he knew exactly what was going on as he thought '...If all of this amounts to a fancy light-show and weird psychic phenomena, I'm going to be so pissed'

So Black Sperm went up closer, now the light mildly annoying him, and grabbed the Necroanter to shook him awake. Unfortunately for the Dragon-level monster, as soon as he touched the bug a powerful shockwave hit his body full force and propelled him straight through the metal door and into the corridor.

As he grabbed the floor with a hand and steadied himself, Black Sperm was unharmed but still very surprised by this turn of events.

And as he walked back into a the room, rather annoyed, the sound of skittering let Black Sperm know that the Necroanter was awake at last. But as he saw his companion, he was very surprised by his new look: while the overall shape of his body was the same, his chitinous skin had been replaced by a crystalline, perfectly polished light purple skin; his eyeballs were also gone, instead bright white light brimming from the sockets being in their place and finally his body seemed to be traversed by a myriad of veins pulsing of light.

'What the hell happened to him!?' Black Sperm thought in a panic, but he didn't show it due to more pressing matters being at hand.

"Oh God, are you alright!?" the Necroanter frantically asked Black Sperm as they met halfway through the corridor, his many legs rasping the floor as they desperately kept the rest of the body from falling, who in turn motioned that he was unharmed but then told him in a very annoyed tone "What were you doing sleeping weirdly like that? You know today you have to apply the results of your research, right?"

Realization hit the Necroanter, but instead of an apology he began explaining the situation to Black Sperm "You see, it was just yesterday night that I reached an amazing breakthrough! As I was charging up gems and discovering ways to increase the power within them, I thought it was a good idea to put them into my body so it could become stronger! So I started doing just that and kept fusing gems to my body, except a weird magical reaction happened and they disappeared inside me! Then I kept fusing gems into myself and discovered that the more I did that the more my power increased, though while I was doing this I got lightheaded a lot and felt really bad the more I put gems inside of myself...but I kept going until there were no more gems and...well..."

The Necroanter trailed off, unsure on how to describe the situation he was in, but then a metaphorical light bulb appeared on his head, which Black Sperm could very well see.

"Oh, I got it! Just wait a minute so I get in the right mood" the Necroanter spoke as he 'closed' his eyes and began concentrating, evident from the slender sparks that were coming from his forehead.

"Look, the meeting isn't that far off so get it over it as soon as pos-" Black Sperm was saying but words stopped coming from his mouth the moment the Necroanter's figure exploded in a blinding radiance, which temporarily hurt his eyes and caused him a light headache.

"LisTeN, frIenD, fOr mY raNdoM AnD HonEstLy dUmb ExPerImeNts haVe CaUseD mE tO eNtEr a HigHer sTaTe Of BeiNg" the Necroanter said as he began floating, the walls around him cracking and melting slightly yet gradually, as if an eldritch force was clumsily changing the laws of physics with its mere presence.

Black Sperm was mostly alright, but he couldn't look at the Necroanter anymore much less understand him as his voice sounded slurred and coming from every way at once, sometimes sped up and other times slowed down.

"ThE PoWer ThAt I UsEd tO WiEld wAs bOunD tO A pHysIcAl oBjEcT fOr a ReAsoN, aS nO lIvIng bEinG Was EveR mEaNt tO Do sO...aT LeaSt bEfOrE HE cAmE aLonG. ThErE waS a tImE, iN fAcT, wHeRe nO lIviNg bEiNg WaS ConsTraInEd bY aNy SorT oF lImiTer, bUt tHaT WaS An eRa Of ChAos aNd sTrIfe WheRe tHe ExtEnT of TheIr oWn pHysIcAl aNd MenTaL pOweR WoUld dRiVe tHe lEsSeR bEiNgS uTteRlY iNsAnE"

The Necroanter paused to catch his breath and Black Sperm drew a slight sigh of relief for the cacophony assaulting his ears finally stopped, but after a few seconds it began anew.

"I hAvE UnKnoWiNglY cHanGeD mYseLf fOr The WoRsT aS I fOoliShLy iNsErTeD IntO mY oWn BoDy gEmS ChaRgeD wiTh aRcAne PoWer oLdeR tHaN AnYtHinG iN thE mAteRiaL uNiveRsE. NoW tHat sUcH A mAsSiVe qUantItY oF SuCh eNerGy hAs bEgUn tO cOaLesCe aNd GroW nIgH uNcOntRolLeD iNsiDe Of mE, SoOn I wIlL bEgIn tO lOsE mY sAnIty aS My fEeBle mInD Is coNsUmeD By tHeSe tUrbUlEnt fOrcEs UnKnoWn eVeN tO thE oLdEst SavAntS Of mY PlaCe oF oRigIn aNd My mEre pReseNce wIlL bEgIn tO SlOwlY kIlL oFf aNy lEsSeR cReAtuRe uNlUcKy eNouGh To cRosS mY pAth. ThE oNlY rEasOn I'M hOldInG So WelL Is BeCaUsE oF mY DrIve To mAkE yOu pRouD aNd iF I eVeR bEcoMe aN uNsTopPabLe EldrItCh MonStEr I wAnT tO lEt yoU knOw tHat yoU'rE ThE oNlY onE I cOnSidEr A trUe frIenD"

And then the light suddenly stopped and the Necroanter unceremoniously feel to the floor with a tud, something Black Sperm was grateful as he thought 'Sweet silence, finally...'

After a few minutes the Necroanter rose up, clutching his head with two of his limbs while frowning, and asked "Huuugh...Black Sperm, what happened? And why do I feel sad all of a sudden?"

Black Sperm simply shrugged and told him "I don't know, you lighted up like a Christmas tree, started floating and rambled about some stuff that I couldn't understand...shouldn't be too important, but now you should really get some rest"

"Oh, ok" the Necroanter said as he turned back to his chamber, but them Black Sperm called him, which caused the Necroanter to turn, and said "Oh, and another thing, I'm proud of you!"

The Necroanter didn't answer and turned around, but even Black Sperm could tell that he was much happier.

"...Research, he's at a good point" Black Sperm said with a tone of finality after a mid-hour made out of awkward silence and half-baked explanations that didn't make any kind of sense once put together, provided one could be successful in such a task.

"...really?" Gyoro Gyoro said with audible disappointment, a feeling mirrored by Petrolic Wraith; meanwhile Fuher Ugly was sleeping, Nyan literally left, Homeless Emperor was about to blast his way to the Necroanter, the hooded figure was audibly cursing in the background and Gums didn't even attend the meeting in the first place.

But something else was going to break this weird situation.

The wall behind Gyoro Gyoro in fact exploded in a shower of dust and debris, which settled immediately with a single gust created by the arm of the Hero Hunter himself.

As Fuher Ugly woke up to find out who interrupted his sleep, Garou stood in a half-crouched position, his eyes with no pupils and the bandages fusing to his skin through all of his sweat and blood. Even his hair showed signs of mutation, so rigid and attached to each other as if they were stone.

Of course, these characteristics were only noticed by the attentive eyes Gyoro Gyoro and Petrolic Wraith while the others only saw a rabid human.

Garou roared as he pounced at the strategist of the Monster Association, who focused its psychic might on him, which while halting his attacks didn't deter him in the slightest.

And only after a minute of being subjected to it Garou rose up once again, Gyoro Gyoro's powers now just a mere nuisance, although all the other monsters knew that the strategist was holding back. It was how much Gyoro Gyoro was holding back that was unknown to them.

Garou pounced once more, now sure of his victory over the psychic abomination.

But then the wall adjacent to Garou was shattered as an enormous arm, which seemed to have come out of hell itself based on its looks, grabbed the Hero Hunter just half a meter away from Gyoro Gyoro's "face" and exited the room from its made-up entrance.

As the hooded figure fawned over Orochi's little display of power, Gyoro Gyoro let out a satisfied hum and said "Well then, now that we've seen Garou's abilities I'd say the meeting is over"

As everyone else began exiting the room to get back at whatever their plans or hobbies were, Gyoro Gyoro encased itself in a psychic bubble and floated out of the hole left by Orochi as it said, brimming with anticipation "NOW the real test begins"

X X X

Meanwhile, back at the mansion of the Monster Lords, a tense conversation between Monoculor, Belphomet and Markedus was taking place yet it looked like things were going in the right direction.

"So NOW you want to take the offer I gave you all those months ago..." Markedus mused at him with a hand on his chin, then gleefully said "...well, let me just say I didn't expect this turn of events!"

While Markedus was laughing to himself, Belphomet took the opportunity to ask his brother what was exactly the story between the two, which Monoculor answered begrudgingly "See, it all started before we took residence in the Ghost Town of Z City. We were staying in a remote part of E City and it was clear that our presence wasn't tolerated that much, especially by Markedus. He wanted us to join his community so they would have better chances against the Hero Association (by that, it means not dying to them immediately), but we didn't really want to do that, thinking that we were better on our own. Anyway, if we wanted to stay and get some resources since we couldn't get them our usual way, we had to do him a favor by removing a rebel group stationed in their sewers. Since we had Ariol at the time it was a breeze, but then we found out that the rebel leader was the reason why the Monster Lords couldn't solve the problem themselves. Ariol was still able to defeat that monster, but that battle caused a lot of damage which attracted a group of heroes who in turn discovered the city near this mansion. By the time we were gone there were 13 confirmed deaths, of which only two were from the heroes' side, but now the real question is how Markedus got the Hero Association off of him"

Their private conversation was however intruded by the monster himself, who said "Corruption is quite common in the government of E City, besides the mayor and I signed up a little deal so that the city's dependence on the Hero Association would lessen...and by that I mean their citizens and elite would theoretically put more money into E City's own economy"

Markedus then leaned closer to them as he said "Truly a lucky find for us, because without this city would have been ravaged first by a conflict between us and the Hero Association, which would then put Shinko in a very bad place...and to think you planned to use him as a bargaining chip"

Belphomet looked away for he thought his brother wanted to do just that, but his response surprised him.

"No" Monoculor said in a decisive tone after taking a long breath "We came in E City because this place is where Shinko lives, but no one in our group had the idea of using him like that. I came here knowing that you wouldn't let us live in E City without something in return and so I want to make a deal with you"

Markedus was slightly surprised and completely unwilling to show it, so he answered "Noble, but you are in no position whatsoever to make deals. Instead I will be the one making it, you will be forever bound to our community and execute the tasks that any of the four Monster Lords will give you but in exchange you will be free to roam E City and use our facilities provided you don't cause trouble"

Monocular nodded slowly, a few beads of sweat rolling down his forehead, agreeing with the terms of the deal and got up his chair to go and tell the others about it. Belphomet trailed slowly behind, unsure about what his brother had gotten himself into.

Suddenly a loud booming sound startled the two brothers, who hurried to the window while Markedus walked calmly. From there they could see Ariol and Butin fighting right in front of the mansion, with quite a crowd gathered around them shouting encouragements to the large cyclop, but Sandscale Dragon and Sharp Stripe were also there as they cheered Ariol on.

"Ah, it looks like Butin is getting acquainted with your friend. Hopefully he doesn't make too much of a mess of the lawn, especially if Ariol decides to put his wind magic to use" the demon said nonchalantly as both Monoculor and Belphomet nodded stiffly.

Meanwhile the rest of the Wastelanders were around the 'town', exploring or not really doing much in particular. Right now they were reunited in a rather large pub that was lucky enough to not get to damaged during the siege two days ago, sitting around various tables which they connected together.

"So...I know we are going to discuss the specifics with Monoculor and the others, but what are we going to do exactly the day of the raid?" Hulkaber asked after finishing to drink a glass of blackberry juice.

"I'm not coming there!" Nark suddenly raised his head and shouted, prompting Lamia to put a paw on the left side of his head.

After a while, Nark finally calmed down and explained to the rest the reason for his refusal "That place brings me too many bad memories" which confused the rest of the members.

"Don't worry about it, Nark" Beetle-Roach said "If you were an ex Monster Association member we won't think any less of you. Hell, Sharp Stripe is just that and she's perfectly integrated into the team!"

"It's not because of that..." Nark replied in a frustrated tone and kept quiet as his head drooped downwards, which prompted Lamia to say "It's a traumatic topic for him, but rest assured that he wants Gaia to be saved just like everyone else"

The others nodded and pondered on other things to discuss now so the actual planning session would go much smoother.

"So...anyone else who doesn't want to participate in the rescue mission?" Hulkaber asked, and his question was met with absolute silence, to which he replied with "Well, I guess we're all set then"

X X X

Meanwhile, inside of an apartment in the Ghost Town of Z City, Saitama sat in his living room as he read a manga that he had put of for weeks due to all the hectic stuff happening. It was quiet actually, the only sound coming from the bald man's mouth as he munched on chips.

Then his phone rang and Saitama moved at the speed of sound to see if it was what he was thinking it was. His face beamed with happiness at the message in front of him.

It was from the Hero Association and the message told him that his new hero name was accepted without issue. Hand Cannon, it was!

The name came from Saitama's wish to have something cool but simple for a name...and because all of his enemies looked as if they were killed by a cannon shot.

Happy, with this news, Saitama returned to read his manga as he waited for Genos to come back from the meeting. 'Shinko's definitely going to take part in this, what with his apartment busted and his family probably endangered...my family should be fine, living in a secluded part of M City. Still, I should call them one of these days...' Saitama thought and then his thoughts trailed off.

'Eh, as soon as Genos gets back I'll ask him about the raid' Saitama thought and in that exact moment, as if summoned by his mind, the door of his apartment opened and Genos entered as he saluted his master.

"Ah, you're here Genos! How did it go?" Saitama asked his disciple, who in turn said "My team has been tasked with the mission to escort the prisoner Waganma out of the Monster Association's headquarters. My other team members are Child Emperor, Zombieman and and Metal Knight"

"Cool" Saitama said, then asked Genos "So where's the HQ of the Monster Association anyway? I wanted to participate in the raid but I haven't received any emails about me getting an invitation..."

This new information didn't make Genos happy in the slightest as a scowl promptly appeared on his face and said "Is that so? Then I will have to send an email to the CEO about this mishap"

Saitama quickly moved to calm his disciple and said "Don't worry about it Genos! We're all heroes here, I'll just have to show up to the place of the raid and those in charge will bring me up to speed about the situation"

Genos calmed down and said "If that is the case, then there is no problem. The raid on the Monster Association will happen right in the Ghost Town of Z City" them he bowed as he continued "It seems that their headquarters were right below the Ghost Town area. I'm sorry I wasn't able to detect them, master"

This new information completely stopped Saitama's mind as he could only utter a simple "Wait what"

Meanwhile he thought, as a deep dark frown formed on his face 'So first I miss the Monster Association's attack on all cities, then I find out they've been down this building since the very beginning!?'

"Master, are you alright?" Genos asked with some concern as he looked at the slumped figure of Saitama, who then slowly put himself upright and said "Say, Genos...Is it alright if we begin to attack the Monster Association now?"

Upon hearing that Genos stood upright as he quickly said "The raid is supposed to be a show of strength and reliability of the Hero Association, but if you say it I will prepare myself for the attack with my new upgrades from doctor Kuseno!"

But Saitama stopped him as he said "...In that case, we'll wait until tomorrow and join the raid..."

"Understood, I'll do as you say" Genos calmed down, then looked at the clock and said "Oh, it's almost dinner time, what should I prepare master?"

Saitama waved a hand, signaling to his disciple that the choice was up to him, then thought to himself "Well, tomorrow is the day I turn all of this around...and maybe I can get an actually good fight" he ended on a hopeful note.

X X X

During the afternoon, Mizuki went to her old house in order to train for the final battle. In it she had to rummage through the old furniture in order to find what could tremendously help her out.

In the large basement, accessed through a secret trapdoor under the large double bed in the master bedroom, there were the weights of her mother, one of the best athletes humanity had ever seen.

Mizuki in fact took her passions right from her mother and one of her greatest dreams was to be able to use her mother's weights, crafted by one of her many admirers...who would later become her husband...

'If only you could see me now...' Mizuki thought as tears silently fell down her cheeks, standing in the dusty basement as she loomed over the large metal crate, the large weights on her body not really bothering Mizuki.

It had a lock in which one would have to put seven numbers in order to open the crate, but Mizuki didn't have any time to search for (let alone brute force) the password. Besides, she that wasn't how her mother intended the crate to be opened.

Mizuki struck the lock with a punch which greatly deformed under her fist, then tore it away and forced her fingers into the metal openings of the crate; finally she began tearing apart the metal crate, an action that more effort than she would've liked.

'Then again, whatever dad made hardly ever broke...' Mizuki thought again as her consciousness began to be clouded in sadness at the loss of her parents. At the mere age of six years old.

It was like a thick fog, corroding whatever it enveloped, forming inside her stomach and spreading all over Mizuki's body. But she stood on, turning her mind and body into an uncorruptible symbol of strength.

As the fog in her mind began dissipating, after a mentally-exhausting ten minutes, Mizuki opened her eyes and looked at the prize within the crate. A collection of old weights seemingly untouched by time.

Mizuki looked at those weights and then back at her own. She thought that merely taking them off wasn't the right thing to do, as the war awaiting her tomorrow was going to be the hardest event she would ever take part in.

This threw her back many months before, when Shinko was still secretly training and she training to become a hero. In that time she noticed how organized bands of monsters were forming and dissolving and the injuries on Shinko's body.

At the time he was just a stronger than average boy and if mere bands of monsters could give him those scars then her body vibrated at the thought of the Monster Association.

But now Shinko was possibly one of the strongest humans on the planet and Mizuki had to become exceptional as well if she wanted to stand beside him.

Besides...she also wanted to surpass her mother and revive her legacy.

So she put herself in position and flexed her muscles, making the weight on her body crack. This frustrated Mizuki, who then calmed down and started to rhythmically breathe. She did so for about 15 minutes before returning in position.

This time she put on much more conviction as her body hardened like never before. Her feet cracked the concrete beneath, her head snapped up as it let out a savage roar and her muscles expanded so hard they pushed the air around them away and shattered the weight confining them.

As the room shook and small chunks of metal flew into the surrounding walls, Mizuki calmed down resulting in her body relaxing.

She let out a sigh she didn't know she was holding and wiped much sweat from her forehead.

Mizuki first looked at her body with pride and then at the weight with determination.

"I'm ready!" she shouted and then grabbed the first weight, which she had some trouble holding with just one hand. Mizuki thought nothing of it and put it on her left leg, now noticing how heavy it was. Still not deterred, Mizuki went to put on all the other weights.

NOW she understood just how hard this session of training would be, yet she looked forward to what challenges this new hurdle would bring, but she still wanted to know how much this equipment weighted.

So she took the note lying at the bottom of the crate and had to do a double take as she read that the weights on her arms were 200kg and that on her waist was 170kg.

'This is insane!...But knowing mom, these were probably to give herself a warmup...though, if I manage to grow so strong that these weights might as well be feathers, then I would be much closer in reaching my goal!' Mizuki thought to herself as she pumped her fist up and marched out of the house, already feeling the metal contraptions bearing on her body.

From there she sprinted around the outskirts, did push-ups, sit-ups and other exercises that would help her in strengthening her entire body as well as her resolve. Mizuki trained until the sun began to set and then she made her way to her home, feeling as if her bones were shattered and her muscles shredded. But her muscles were getting accustomed to the weights, which was a good thing.

But Mizuki saw the roof of her house in the distance, she felt someone lightly slam into her as she was enveloped into a hug.

She immediately recognized who would do that and moved to return the hug.

X X X

Afternoon was well on the way of becoming evening when Shinko returned to E City. He had finished training with Bang and while he had gotten the hang of the Inner Storm, Shinko was ultimately unable to learn the counter to the Explosion Release Fist.

'Without it, the fight will be much harder, but I have grown stronger since my fight with Boros and I really wish to see someone who can really push my body to the limit!' Shinko thought as he ran to his house, but on the way he noticed a shape painstakingly making her way somewhere.

Immediately recognizing her, he sprinted up to Mizuki and enveloped her into a hug, which was returned in a split second.

For some time the two didn't speak as they simply relished in each other's presence, then Shinko broke the silence.

"Mizuki, you're alright...For a second I really thought you..." the boy said as a few tears fell from his eyes, which were promptly stopped by a punch to his head. Although he wasn't physically hurt in the slightest, Shinko was still stunned by her action.

"It was a dangerous situation...but you should have more faith in me! Still, I'll be training even harder from today, so you can expect me to not not lag behind!" Mizuki proclaimed with determination as she showed off her muscles to Shinko...but her body sagged after little time due to the fatigue.

Shinko laughed good-heartedly and said "I have no doubt that you will become one of the strongest heroes ever, but your body is falling apart! You should get some rest" to which Mizuki replied "Oh come on! I can continue just fine!-"

And then her body started to wobble, which prompted Mizuki to steady herself. She was successful but in a split second she felt herself falling and then held tightly.

Mizuki only took a couple of seconds to understand that she succeeded in staying upright, but then Shinko scooped her up without warning. Mizuki looked at him and realized that he was holding her like a bride, which promptly made her turn red.

Shinko was also smiling and lightly blushing, but his eyes were serious as he said "You were going to fall again given a few more seconds. I had the same problem during the worst days of my training, in which case I plopped to the ground to close my eyes and catch my breath, something I guess you weren't going to do...though I am really in love with this fierceness of yours" he then added in a softer tone, but then continued "Tomorrow there'll be the most important challenge for us yet and you need all the energy you can get to show everyone what you are capable of!"

Mizuki was stunned by his speech and then gave him a bright smile, which made Shinko's heart soar.

And so he started walking her home with Mizuki giving him directions when needed, during which he thought 'These weights seem really heavy...heh, you sure know how to go all out Mizuki'

After softly dropping her at her doorstep, Shinko and Mizuki exchanged goodbyes, promising each other to give it their all tomorrow.

Shinko then began making his way to his own house and when he opened the door a strange situation was unfolding.

In the kitchen Child Emperor sat on a chair with Caroline on his lap while Gloria was preparing dinner for everyone. The little girl was having a lot of fun but Child Emperor was visibly annoyed, even though he was trying his best to hide it.

As soon as Shinko entered the kitchen Caroline jumped from Child Emperor, who breathed a sigh of relief, and run up to her older brother. Gloria also turned to greet him but Child Emperor got to Shinko faster and quickly handed him a black disc-like object with a red button on top.

"You'll need this for tomorrow as I give you orders, got it?" Child Emperor said with an edge of annoyance, which confused Shinko.

He then asked him "So what were doing with my sister?" as he returned his mother's hug, to which Child Emperor responded in a tired tone "Your sister wanted to know about the martial arts you were doing, then she asked for the story of the most important martial arts, which took an entire hour to explain thanks to her relentless questions. Your sister is a very keen listener for her age if nothing else"

Shinko laughed at that, but in his mind there was some turmoil as he thought "So my sis picked up some preferences? I could have told her so many stories..."

"Well, since I've done what I needed to do, I'll be on my way-" Child Emperor was saying as he walked away, but was stopped by Caroline, who clung herself onto his arm, and Gloria who took his hand in a more gentle manner.

"Since it's almost dinner time, why don't you remain here for a little while longer?" she asked him with a smile on her face.

Child Emperor pondered about it for a few seconds. Due to his continuous studies and hero work, he had to turn down a lot of invitations, but now he really didn't have anything to do in particular so he obliged.

Caroline beamed at him at started dragging Child Emperor around the house (something that almost made the hero in question regret his decision) and Gloria returned to prepare dinner, expecting him to stay beforehand.

X X X

It was late evening when Bang closed his dojo for the day. He was sure Shinko was prepared to fight Garou, but he had a few doubts about him actually winning the fight. Primarily because Shinko tended to use brute force instead of refined techniques, even though he was able to use the Water Flowing Rock Smashing Fist.

'Well, I'll just have to show up to ensure everything runs smoothly' Bang thought in order to make sure that his former disciple will be brought to justice.

As he began walking down the staircase Bang decided to check his phone, since these days every single information came through them. And the first thing he saw was the notice of a meeting between the S Class heroes, called by none other than Nagasaki at 11 AM. Which he missed by a long shot.

Yet Bang didn't seem too troubled as he decided to simply go at the raid's place. Surely the other heroes, first of all Child Emperor, will fill him in on the plan as soon as they saw him.

X X X

In a small, dark room lit only by a dozen monitors a lone old man sat at a comfy chair typing away. Despite the seemingly mindless nature of the action, Bofoi's mind was sharper and more focused than ever despite the storm of thoughts raging in his mind.

The Monster Association was a mere annoyance to him, a problem the rest of the S Class heroes were best suited for as he wanted to keep his forces undamaged and his best weapons hidden and unknown to all others, although Nagasaki was in charge so abstaining wouldn't do him any good.

'Guess I'll send some specialized robots to the raid, nothing too powerful though' Bofoi thought as he didn't want to have any bad blood with Nagasaki, since he was one of the people dearest to him.

Anyway, now that he had fully studied the nature of the hack itself which happened in that base all those months ago, Bofoi now knew that the Organization was behind it. At first he thought that conglomerate of rogue AIs and crazy scientists wasn't worth his time, but unfortunately he was wrong. Of course, after this discovery Bofoi launched a search in all of the systems under his control for any signs of hacking, no matter how minuscule, and fortunately found nothing...

...except for those connected to the Hero Association. Luckily for Bofoi he had already purged whatever information was under "Metal Knight", but all the other S Class heroes had all of their information leaked, not to mention the dangerous and mysterious variables that are the heroes known as "Drive Knight" and "Demon Cyborg".

Thus the Organization was placed on the highest level of alert, one which made the Monster Organization look like a joke in comparison.

'Too bad I can't warn the other heroes about this threat since they may be compromised themselves, especially Child Emperor. I'm taking a risk even just contacting him, why can't he understand that- Oh right, I almost forgot' Bofoi thought to himself and then facepalmed.

He brought his hand to the side of his head in order to nurse another growing headache, this one caused by stress instead of sleep deprivation.

'Things are going to get more chaotic than ever, and while the Hero Association solves the monster situation I will clear up the human underworld and other organizations under my list...but about the Organization itself, looks like I'll have to speak with Nagasaki...assuming he isn't compromised as well. Shinko would be another good choice, given his naive and friendly nature...then there's Kuseno, but he's too much of a wild card, I can't afford to take such a risk...' Bofoi thought as he finished typing the orders for various squads of robots, then he walked to his private room in order to get some sleep.

---

As you can see, lots of development for the characters and some glimpses into the events before the start of the story.

The next chapters will cover the raid, but the chapters will unfortunately come out very slowly since I have to begin studying way earlier than I thought (but I'll find a way to get a sizeable amount of writing done regardless).

Until then!