"What's the plan?" Bright Bolt asked.
"We leave…a trail…" Stable Rock said. "My stones…will lead…into…the trap…see…?"
"Ah! Okay," Saitama grinned. Fire Flight lit up the braziers and sconces in the entryway to provide enough light to show them all what to do. Wind Crane was still in her crane form and she moved to stand with the statues. Fire Flight snickered and moved to settle behind another large statue on the other side of the offering altar. Then Fire Flight had a wicked idea.
"Little sister, Wind Crane! Stand behind the main altar. As the fumes of incense rise up, you can emerge from them as though summoned. I shall inform Imai of this idea to ensure she gets here before the intruder does," Fire Flight snickered. Wind Crane clacked her beak with agreement and quickly set the stage.
"I was curious about something," Mitsumi said. She rose up to stand and rest in Saitama's arms. "I think…Mami Ito told me about an exclusive training room. That there was something I had to do in it if I ever found it. She taught me what I had to do in order to prepare myself. The tricky part was to find someone else to set the room for me. Saitama, you can help me. I think this is the training room she spoke of. So you'll need to help me set it up."
"Oh?! What do I have to do?" he asked.
"I'll need to move through the room alone, but you need to go to the lever and move it to the very center. Then push in until it locks into place. It resets the room for advanced and expert assassins. There's a secret that I need to uncover that can help the clan. I was trying to remember something before about this place," she smiled. "I don't know what the item is, but I know it's important. If this is the room, then tiles will show up for me to press in a pattern."
"Hmm. Will you be okay without me?" he asked.
"You stand at the lever. I make my way to you. You will see how a fully-fledged Wind Crane Clan assassin moves in a complete training environment. It's timed for exactly five minutes before the room shuts down to show I wasn't fast enough, so I know we'll be in the ten minute window. My wedding dress will be perfectly fine, too, as it's made to resemble Wind Crane Clan garments," she chuckled. "I need to do this, too. I have to keep my skills up."
"Okay," he nodded and pulled her close to press a long, loving kiss on her mouth. "So, pull the lever up to the middle and push in?"
"Yes. I'll tell you when I'm ready for you to activate it," she said with a small nod. He walked to the lever on the other side of the room and noticed the room didn't do anything. The novice training is done. The room needs to be reset. Bright Bolt looked at Mitsumi and nuzzled her hand. "I need to do this alone. You can stand with Saitama, though."
"Okay," Bright Bolt nodded and trotted over to him quickly. Blue Ripple, Overgrown Rover, Stable Rock and Tangled Vine were next to head to his side. Cold Snap frowned and looked at Mitsumi.
"You are with us now. Go stand with Saitama," Mitsumi said. Now he looked at her and hugged her. He only stood up to her hips in his child form, but he was trembling with emotions. He knew he had to ask her something.
"Thank you," he sighed in his ice-over-water tone.
"For what?" she asked and hugged him back.
"I never had…a place…to call…well…" he grimaced.
"You never had a home?" she asked and knelt down to him.
"Yeah. It feels nice," he nodded.
"Garou was the same way. You should talk to him after this is done," she suggested and got hugged by him again.
"I think…I have a favor to ask," he said softly.
"What's that?" she smiled.
"As I'm in this form of a young boy…I want you to be…um…" Cold Snap faltered on it. "I mean…it's embarrassing…but…I always wanted…parents…"
"You want me to be your mother with Saitama as your father?" she asked with a raised brow at his hopeful look of delight. "If that's the case, we'll talk after I see to the room."
"Okay!" Cold Snap nodded and ran over to Saitama. Blue Ripple told him what was wanted, and Saitama just stared at Cold Snap with a neutral sense of disbelief. Cold Snap looked up at him and grinned with a sense of hope.
"Yeah. We'll talk after this," Saitama said. He found himself lightly mussing up the icicle hair on the top of Cold Snap's head like he would with Fumio. That got himself pausing with surprise and he sighed with a shake of his head. Cold Snap grinned again and leaned into his leg to get a pat on his back with reassurance. Damn it! I already see Cold Snap as my son?! What the hell?!
He looked up and saw Mitsumi walk into the room and gesture for the lever to be set. She looked at her hovering fans and gestured for them all to float around her near the ceiling. They understood they could not assist in this to show this was a physical test of skill. He nodded the moment she was ready and pulled the lever up to the center to show the room was ready for training.
Once he pushed the lever in to lock it in place, he saw the doors had closed behind her. The side door to the hidden chamber also sealed shut. Then he heard the sounds of traps being shifted and replaced. Old mechanisms whirred and clicked around to show advanced training was needed. He heard pressure tiles pop up from the floor, too, much to his surprise. Now he knew this was the training room that Mitsumi spoke of earlier. As much as the room was now completely darkened, he realized that assassins had to completely use their senses other than sight. Or so he thought.
"I thought there were lights. At least enough to see. I need to be able to see where to step properly. I think the torch lighting may have gone faulty, or the torches were simply taken out for safety. Bright Bolt, please help with this?" Mitsumi asked. Bright Bolt nodded and focused to let the electrical lights appear to illuminate just enough. "Thank you. I need Saitama to see how this works, too. The moment I move off of the tile I'm on, the training timer will start. It's a pressure plate, and I felt it shift with the lever push."
"Yep!" Bright Bolt nickered with agreement. Blue Ripple enhanced the glowing electric lights with his own form of watery light drops for reflection. Even Cold Snap made his own form of illuminated circular spheres of ice to increase the radius by letting the spheres settle in all the corners of the room. Once enough light was set up and ready, Mitsumi took in a look of the floor layout. She nodded to herself to show she remembered what she had to do. She took a step forward and began a dance to twirl around a bolt that flew out at her with an unmatched dancer's grace.
Now Saitama's eyes widened at the true training skill she had. And he fell in love with her all over again. She danced, dodged and arched around each trap that sprung. She did a perfect jump split with her legs when two bolts tried and failed to touch her. She even let a bolt narrowly miss her cheek when she arched away. She took out her controlling fans and used them to help balance her movements while dancing through the room with intense grace and finesse.
On studying her footwork, he noticed she was stepping on specific tiles in a tricky pattern of dancing, jumping and leaping. He saw how the tiles had to be pressed down in a perfectly timed sequence. Then he blinked with realization. The traps not only helped with her skills, but they were firing in such a way to guide where she had to land and step! That's brilliant! We need a training room for her to keep this up! And the room is secure in such a way that I can be here for her if she needs me!
:Mr. Saitama, I am watching through your eyes. I am informing Metal Knight of this so we can replicate this training room to be under the dojo being built. This is a perfect setup for training!: Inichi said with intense excitement.
:We'll need to see how the basic setup was before it triggered before. If the room resets, I may need Mitsumi to see how it works after we get that guy taken care of. We'll also need to see if traps need to be refilled and where.: Saitama mentally thought out. Inichi readily agreed, and he continued to watch Mitsumi dance through the room effortlessly. None of the floor traps hit her. Bolts narrowly missed her and didn't even snag her beautiful gown. She was fully trained and prepared on how to handle the training room. A loud mechanical clack was heard when she landed heavily, yet delicately, on the final tile in front of Saitama.
"Done!" Mitsumi said with a small pant and stood up tall. "It's been a very long time since I trained so hard. I actually missed it! It felt so good! We'll need to adjust for when I get heavy with child, but this will definitely help me. I should start doing this once or twice a week to really keep myself in check."
"We'll make a duplicate of this room back at home. It's important. Now that I see what you need to do to train, this will be a must. And I can be in the room with you for emergency stuff," Saitama nodded and hugged her tight before resting his hand over her belly. She sighed with relief and leaned into him.
"I love you," she murmured.
"I love you, too. What happens now?" he asked and kissed her forehead.
"We need to get the item from a chest that has to appear. I want to use that chest as part of the trap, but we can't close the lid. Stable Rock? Can we use a gem to sort of wedge it between the lid and the base to keep it from closing? If we close the chest, it hides away again. We need to make it look like it's closed, but we have to keep it open," Mitsumi said. Stable Rock snickered and let a large garnet fall off his shell. "Perfect!"
"Where's the chest?" Saitama asked and blinked when tiles in the floor shifted away and let a massive, ornately designed chest rise up on a platform. It was gilded with gold, encrusted with small gems and clearly held something of intense importance. On a closer inspection, the decorations resembled cranes in various poses of play. It was a masterfully designed chest that had utmost care in its creation to show it clearly hid a vast, priceless treasure.
Mitsumi had him walk with her to the front of it, and he was able to gently lift the lid easily for her. He was expecting to find it locked, but the training room panels were the lock. Inside the massive chest was a solid gold scepter with a piece of Wind Crane's egg crystal at the top of it. It had a spiral of gold wrapped around it carefully to keep it in place. The crystal was carefully carved into a sphere, too, and Mitsumi was quick to remove the scepter for later examination. She placed the foot long scepter in her belt loop for now to keep it close.
"This is what we need. Wind Crane Clan Mother can tell us what it is when she's able to do so. Now, let's fill up this chest. Shall we?" Mitsumi grinned a bit wickedly at Stable Rock.
"Blue Ripple…you…can move…much?" Stable Rock asked.
"I can move quite a bit. I have been practicing more. Of course, Tatsumaki can move my entire lake! But I can do enough. What do you have in mind?" the strong water monster asked. Stable Rock watched the doors open to see Wind Crane and Fire Flight peering in curiously. Stable Rock snickered and moved in front of the chest. He judged the width of the chest from the outside of it and looked at Saitama.
"I need…to see…inside…" Stable Rock grunted at him. Saitama nodded and bent down to lift him up. On seeing there was a soft cushion that held the rod protectively, he seemed to nod and got set back down. He focused for a dazzling blue diamond a half foot around to form and fall out of his shell. Then he made other diamonds of spectacular colors ranging from the size of a man's fist to a woman's pinky fingernail to fall from his shell.
"I get the idea," Blue Ripple chuckled and lifted the massive diamond up first in a blue glow. This was set in gently before the other diamonds were lifted and set around it to fill up the chest.
"Good…" Stable Rock said. Then he looked at Saitama's gaping jaw of shock. "Oh! You…want…this…?"
"Yes. Yes I do. How many chests can we make like this?!" Saitama said with a form of childish delight. "Each treasure room should have a chest spilling with treasure! It would be so awesome!"
"Oh, dear. Here we go again…" Mitsumi rolled her eyes.
"Okay, you know this spoils me. Horribly. I will never decline this," he grinned and pulled her close to kiss her. "You know how I am on this."
"I know," she chuckled and rested against him. Then she looked down at Cold Snap when he lightly tugged on her dress. "Yes? Is something wrong?"
"Um…can I…well…" he seemed to look away sheepishly.
"Once again, I have no idea what I'm getting myself into. We'll need to set some ground rules, but I found myself treating you like Fumio back there. Oddly enough. Can you make yourself look older? Like in your teens? Right now you look about eight years old. Roughly. You remind me of Child Emperor. If you can't look older, then it's fine, but I'd like to know if you can," Saitama said and looked down at him. When Cold Snap looked up at him, he realized that he wasn't looked down on with shame. It's with acceptance! Yes!
"Daaad!" Cold Snap said and jumped into his arms to snuggle into him with Mitsumi. He was squeezing his glowing ice blue eyes shut with intense relief that he was finally accepted this way. "I…I don't know…but…I'll try…!"
"It's okay, son," Saitama chuckled and lightly pat his back to calm him down. "Rather odd how you're much, much older than me. And you want to be my kid? I mean…why?"
"It's…something I always wanted…" Cold Snap admitted and stayed pressed into them. "A home. And a family."
"I thought you'd be freezing to the touch," Mitsumi mused aloud.
"No. To others I will be. Not to either of you. I kinda…made you immune to me. Only family will have this gift," Cold Snap said and sighed heavily. "Only family and close friends."
"Good to know," Saitama nodded.
"You should become your animal self later," Tangled Vine said.
"I will. They need to know what I can be. I actually have two forms for that. I'm sure I'll be a pet to them in those forms, too. But like this…I want this," Cold Snap nodded and sighed again with contentment.
"You could be my baby brother, you know," Mitsumi chuckled. Cold Snap leaned up to look at them and shook his head before moving to press into them again with a light snuggle of comfort.
"No. It's complicated. I need this. Right here. This is what I want. Mom. Dad. Thank you. I won't disappoint either of you. I promise," Cold Snap nodded.
"I see Mitsumi as a baby sister in my human form. It would feel weird to me to want to be her kid. But, if it works for you, then good!" Bright Bolt chuckled and flicked his tufted tail.
"You watched many human families around you?" Blue Ripple asked with a bit of surprise. "You saw how they acted in a family based unit?"
"I did. But…it's hard to explain how I feel and why. So…later…I'll try to tell you why I want this. Okay?" Cold Snap smiled and kept himself snuggled between his new parents. Mitsumi could only blush softly and sigh with a bit of her own contentment. At Wind Crane's small squawk for attention, they realized the trap needed to be finished and set. The chest was inspected before setting the large garnet just inside the crease where the lid would close. It worked perfectly to keep it open so it wouldn't move back under the floor.
"Where do we hide?" Saitama asked. Mitsumi noticed the other hidden chamber was closed off, and she moved him to where the lever was. All of the lights were dimmed down and extinguished. Her fans finally moved to further shield them away with the darker sides of her crane fans hiding them completely. The doors were still open to reveal the firelight from the entrance chamber sconces to show everything was ready.
While they waited, Cold Snap sat on the ground to keep watch with the other monster pets. Overgrown Rover sat down next to Cold Snap and let him pet it like Fumio would. Saitama was still in disbelief over the whole thing, but Mitsumi found it completely endearing.
"Things will be fine," she soothed and found herself pulled close to get kissed heavily. When the kiss broke, she softly whispered, "Husband…?"
"After this…wife…" he mumbled and kissed her again.
"You're starting to glow red…" she murmured and caressed his glowing cheek. He continued to kiss her and enthrall himself in her warmth.
"Because I want you so damned badly! It's starting to drive me crazy!" he growled and shivered with control. Even as his power started to expose itself, the others with him felt no threat at all from their position as pets and family. Cold Snap found himself giggling, but a fan set was quick to set up a separate barrier just in case things got even more intense.
"Likely because of the wedding night?" she giggled and gasped when his mouth began to explore her neck.
"Watching you train like that, too. Absolute turn on!" he grinned and began to nibble her jawline. "Even if I have you now…it won't be enough…"
"All-nighter tonight?" she blushed and got pulled closer against him. She gave a small squeak when he pulled up her leg to wrap around his waist. He ground into her and got a soft, rewarding moan at the feel of it.
"If you don't get any sleep…I'm sorry…" he mumbled and kissed her again in a rather branding way. "Maybe we can…quickly…to take the edge off…"
"Dad! That one's here!" Cold Snap frowned and pointed at the entrance. The fans were letting them see just enough through them, and Saitama grunted with irritation at the interruption.
"He is our son now. Remember?" Mitsumi smiled.
"I know. I'm not mad at him. I'm mad at the jerk that walked in on us," Saitama growled and blinked his fiery pupils. "I think I'll just kill him."
"Actually, let's see if that flea of his was GOD touched. If not, we can still use him as a little experiment…" she mused. Now he blinked at this and thought to Inichi to confirm a good capture. "He stole fans that belonged to the clan. Even artifacts of intense importance. His life is forfeit to me. He'll work to see if a GOD flea can turn his flesh into an egg on death."
"Done," Saitama nodded. He did find himself focusing back on her just enough, though. He needed to take the edge off of his intense need, and a quick shift of her clothing with his was quickly done. "Quiet…"
"Ah…!" Mitsumi whimpered and clung to him. The fans made a sound-proof barrier for them as the others watched the scene unfold. Imai had actually made it to the chamber before the intruder did, and she was lighting sage and lavender incense as she always did to show homage to the clan.
"What are you doing here?!" Imai shrieked at the well-dressed, balding man that charged in as though he owned the whole place. Wind Crane wanted to peck at him, but she wisely chose to wait.
"You know why. And you can't stop me! You never could!" the false man grinned and shoved her aside effortlessly. "Oh! You managed to open the door?!"
"Don't go in there! It's a training room!" she hissed and shrieked when he slapped her away. Fire Flight focused hard to keep herself hidden. Wind Crane, however, waited until he approached the doors before stealthily getting ready to pounce out. When he saw the glint of the treasure chest on the platform with what it held inside, he rushed in to get a closer look. He opened the lid and saw the wealth that lay inside it.
"I knew it! I knew there was a massive treasure trove in here!" the false man said with greedy excitement. "Now…I just need to…"
"Leave it alone," Mitsumi said from where the fans revealed her in the back of the room by the lever. She had just managed to make herself presentable with Saitama when the vile man entered the room. Even his red glow had finally diminished when he was able to satisfy his current need for her. "That is Wind Crane Clan property. And I am the last true Wind Crane Clan assassin. I have come to claim it to use it for clan needs. You are a thief."
"What?!" the false man gaped. Bright Bolt let the room light up, and Cold Snap was able to help with the lighting. Tangled Vine tilted his hedgehog head and snorted with complete disgust.
"Yeah. We know you funded the Hero Association. Don't worry about that anymore. We'll take care of it and even triple what you were giving," Saitama said with a small nod. "We don't need thieves and Secret Skins running the place."
"Ah…what…?" the false man blinked.
"Job well done?" Blue Ripple snickered and let his form grow to the size of a small pony. Now he let his milk-white eyes glow in full to match the other sets of glowing eyes in the room. "I'll dull my eyes back down when this is done."
"Whatever you want to do! Such a good scaled kitty!" Mitsumi beamed and got snuggled with delight. Overgrown Rover snarled and took a step forward. When the false man took a step back, he paused at Saitama's neutral stare.
"Oh. Don't think of leaving. Wind Crane is right behind you," Saitama said and pointed at the angry crane monster when she leapt out through the incense smoke. She landed right behind the false man and did a full threat display with an intense hissing screech. "Yeah. She's pissed at you."
"You stole a set of my fans. You gave them to another that we killed off to rescue them. You're as good as dead!" Mitsumi growled out and let all of the fans she had display the blades and spikes.
"You…were all dead…gone…!" the false man cringed.
"Can I zap him?" Bright Bolt asked.
"If he runs, yeah," Saitama nodded.
"Capture…?" Stable Rock asked.
"Yes. We have some experiments to do," she nodded and scratched between his ears to get him swooning with delight. Before the false man could scream, a massive ball of clay earth rose up and surrounded him. There were small air holes riddled through it to let him breathe, but only just enough.
"Let me out! I'll be looked for! I won't come here again!" the false man panicked in the clay prison.
"That is a lie," Inichi said when he hovered in with Fubuki. "I shall take him home. Metal Knight has a chamber with sleeping gas ready. If you like, we can do the same to that reporter."
"Yeah. Let the others go. Unless we hold them until tomorrow to question them. Maybe we can do that," Saitama nodded.
"Can I roast him first?!" Fire Flight seethed when she finally stepped out of hiding. "He hit her! An innocent! I want to hit him back!"
"You can take the first hit when we see if he can create an egg," Mitsumi smiled. "Oh! Maybe you can gift him with touch and have another do the same to see if we can make a GOD monster egg with various combined elements?"
"Hmm…" Fire Flight blinked. "That would be…interesting…"
"We can plan for that. Lighting and fire would make a nasty combination!" Bright Bolt snickered. "As long as we rip it apart before it realizes anything."
"Yep. Let's prepare that," Saitama agreed. The false man was still shouting with horror while Inichi transported him away, and the other false reporter was in the same state when Stable Rock effortlessly caught him up in a similar trap.
"Are you okay?" Fubuki asked Imai and helped her stand.
"I think so," Imai sniffled a bit and got hugged. "I'm just glad this won't happen anymore. For so long that guy just walked in! Did whatever he wanted!"
"No more of it. Just think to Inichi if someone tries to break in again. We'll have cameras all over," Mitsumi nodded and watched Saitama remove the garnet to pocket it. The chest closed and sealed back into the floor. He moved with her to lower the lever again to open the side room for Stable Rock to lumber into it.
"Time…to finish…what I…started…" Stable Rock chuckled and ensured the special tomb was sealed up with the ancient dagger. He moved onto the raised platform and got larger to start filling the room up with gems of all kinds and sizes. More gold bricks were made, and he even made nuggets of gold to be sent to Tacki's blacksmith building. Once there was double the amount of gems among the golden bricks, he moved off the platform to focus on his shell. Another massive, fiery blue diamond emerged and fell heavily onto the platform.
"Ah…!" Saitama gaped.
"Done…" Stable Rock snorted and shrunk small again. He lumbered over to Saitama and sat in front of him. "Happy?"
"Ecstatic!" Saitama squeaked out and gave a generous scratching between Stable Rock's ears.
"I can make gems, too," Cold Snap said and opened his palm to show diamonds made of ice. Mitsumi gasped at how beautiful they were, and he gave them to her with a happy smile. "I can make them into various shapes, too, so you don't have to carve them up."
"Amazing! We can have Tacki make these into intricate jewelry pieces. If you only want me to have them, then that can be done," Mitsumi smiled.
"Yeah. Just family and friends," Cold Snap nodded. She found herself plucking him up with Tangled Vine, and Saitama scooped up Overgrown Rover. Bright Bolt and Blue Ripple remained at their sides to show they were ready for travel with the rest of them.
"We have a wedding night to finish, and that includes our dessert. I think they were hinting that we'd have to dance, too. So, we'll dance first to get that done. Then finish dessert while the others dance. We can't let my wife be with anyone else. Even for dancing. It's been proven. After that, we'll go to the new house and settle in to watch King play a horror game on a live stream. We might be able to just have a microphone hooked up, too. Think we can get all that done?" Saitama asked.
"I actually wanted to ask my 'grandparents' a few things. Before we settled down to do things," Mitsumi admitted.
"Tomorrow. We'll do it tomorrow. In fact, we can do that at the Hero Association. We plan to spend tomorrow night there in the new apartment. We can interrogate everyone we need there safely. Tonight needs to end right. Okay?" Saitama said calmly and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"Very well. But I need answers. I have to know if they really knew they had my organs to experiment with," she said with a soft frown.
"What?!" Cold Snap asked with a narrowed gaze of protection.
"You'll learn all about her past up to now when we get back there. Just remember. No getting mad until tomorrow. Happy stuff right now. We just accepted you as our son. You need to talk to Fumio. He's our adopted son, and he can help you understand how you need to be. Trust me," Saitama chuckled and looked at Wind Crane. "You can take us back."
"I…will do…that…" Stable Rock snorted.
"Other heroes were waiting, but Inichi just told them that everything is fine. Let's go," Fubuki smiled. "And you'll get your cheek looked at when we get there. You got struck pretty hard."
"I know I did," Imai sighed sadly.
"Ah! Kamiko can try to heal you! Yes! Let's go!" Mitsumi said with a sharp nod. Stable Rock grunted with agreement and took them all back to the front of the resort to meet with the others. Even he was curious of how the night was going to end, and he was keeping a very close eye on the pit of reporters. He already planned to see what questions would be asked and answered in the morning the moment it all went down.