It was roughly a dozen minutes after the battle against the ninja, Speed-O-Sound Sonic had ended. Saitama and his disciples had allowed the Blizzard Of Hell into his home, with the four of them having all taken seats on the floor of the TV room.
Without a need for words, Blizzard saw that the three men around her were ready to start listening intently to what she had to say.
Not wanting to keep them waiting, she took a deep breath and began explaining what was on her mind, "In intelligence, physical strength, practical smarts... and psychic powers... I would have stood at the top if it weren't for her. My older sister, Tornado Of Terror, is the strongest esper. Because of her, I've never been number one at anything, so I decided to-." Before Blizzard could continue, she stopped when she heard Shunshi snickering.
Annoyed, Blizzard asked the younger man, "What's so funny?!"
Seeing Shunshi react to someone in such an uncharacteristically disrespectful manner was enough to warrant a puzzled glance from Genos. All the while, Saitama had lost interest and had begun reading some of his manga.
Sighing in amusement, Shunshi answered the question of the psychic witch of B-Class in a somewhat condescending tone, "I'm sorry... It's just... When you said you'd be the best at strength and smarts, I couldn't help but think how stupid that sounded. I completely outmuscled you, and I'm a total weakling. Not to mention, you apparently run a gang that goes around crippling any B-Class Hero who shows potential and who doesn't want to join up with you. Meanwhile, the Hero Association, the company that we all work for, probably wants to have as many Heroes around as possible. So, everything you do is a detriment to our association... Not a very practical thinker, I'd say."
Furious but unable to think of a way to defend her actions, Blizzard muttered out hesitantly, "Okay... but-."
Shunshi cut Blizzard off once more by slamming his hand on the ground and declaring, "Also! I warned you that Saitama-Sensei is the greatest and most powerful Hero in the world, and yet you still tried to pick a fight with him! I'm sorry, but you don't exactly seem like a brain-trust to me, little miss Chilly Wind!"
At this display of unusual outward hostility coming from his junior, Genos' eyes widened in surprise. Blizzard, meanwhile, was left completely jaw-dropped at these blatant insults.
Flipping a page in his book, Saitama, without even bothering to look at the people arguing, chimed in, "That's enough, Shunshi. Let's get back on topic. Listen... Cold Girl...? I let you in because I thought that you'd tell us what you did to Shunshi's powers. What's this stuff about your life story? We don't care. Just tell us what you did to Shunshi."
As Blizzard was confused and taken aback by these Heroes' frustrations, Genos and Shunshi exchanged a rare yet knowing glance with each other.
In perfect unison, the two exclaimed, "Sensei is a busy man. Shorten it to twenty words or less!"
Shocked by this limitation they were placing on her, Blizzard began to sweat as she struggled to think of how to shorten what she had to say.
After spending a few minutes thinking of what words to use, the top B-Class spoke, "Okay, I need to break this into two parts! First, I want to assemble an army of Heroes to beat my sister, and I want Saitama to join my faction... Second, I don't really know what happened to Monster Mask. My powers shorted out too when I tried to grab him."
With looks of frustration and bewilderment on the faces of the disciples of Saitama, Monster Mask stammered out, "You... You completely-."
Cutting Shunshi off mid-criticism, the Demon Cyborg stood up and shouted furiously at the Blizzard Of Hell, "YOU COMPLETELY FAILED AT YOUR WORD RESTRICTION!"
Shrinking back in fear of the young cyborg's ferocious intent, Blizzard raised her hands to call on her psychic powers but only manifested enough energy to launch a loose piece of paper that was lying on the floor into Genos' face. Annoyed, Genos slowly pulled the paper off his face and quickly burnt it up with a spark from his incinerators. Once the paper was gone, the Blizzard Gang leader saw that the S-Class Hero's flame-yellow eyes were burning with even more intense anger than any fire she'd ever seen before.
Before things could escalate further, Saitama set his book down and snapped at Genos and Shunshi, "Would you two calm down!? She doesn't know what's going on with Shunshi, so just let her say her peace, so she'll leave already."
At this order, the two students of the Capped Baldy gained expressions of shame and settled down to listen. Although, Shunshi still looked visibly upset.
Seeing that she could now speak freely, Blizzard let out a sigh of relief and began to talk once more, "So... Because I can't compete with my sister, I'm trying to assemble a team of the best Heroes in B-Class who can collectively surpass what she's capable of. Both in terms of power and as a Hero."
Shunshi scowled even harder at Blizzard when she mentioned her goal of heroism, even letting out an audible growl for a second.
While sighing in frustration, Shunshi asked Blizzard what seemed like an obvious question to him, "If your goal is to build a team of... Heroes who can surpass what an S-Class can do, then you should move up to A-Class. If you can't even beat me, then you won't make it to the top, but you'd still make it decently high up there. And just by having a few A-Class Heroes in your gang, you could reach your goal much faster without having to resort to that rookie crushing shit... Which you shouldn't be doing in the first place, mind you!"
Monster Mask's words were tearing apart Blizzard's self-esteem more and more, but she internalized these feelings and spoke out defensively, "I... No. My plan will only work if I'm at the top of the Class I'm in. And there's no way I'd make it to the top of A-Class. Even Atomic Samurai's disciples... and you, Monster Mask, can't make it to the top of A-Class, let alone S-Class... Because no one can surpass Sweet Mask. He's a monster that defies logic. Saitama, you're a monster, but not on the same level as Sweet Mask or my sister. And, then, there are monsters among monsters like King, the world's-," Blizzard stopped herself mid-sentence when Shunshi raised his hand.
Frustrated at the constant interruptions and insults she was on the receiving end of, Blizzard vehemently asked, "What is it now?!"
Clearing his throat and leaning forward while avoiding making direct eye contact with the top B-Class, Shunshi politely explained, "First off; I'm sorry for interrupting her, Master, but there's something I need to correct. Blizzard, Master is no monster. He's a shining example of what all Heroes should strive to be. Almost as much as License-Less Rider is." Having finished what he needed to say, the young man leaned back into the sitting position he was in before.
Baffled at this, the Blizzard Of Hell couldn't help but think, That's what he needed to stop me to say?! Tch! Whatever.
Before she could continue any further, though, she was stopped mid-thought by Saitama's doorbell being rung. Without waiting for the door to be answered, the man behind the door opened it, revealing King.
As opposed to a greeting, King opened up by asking, "Hey, Saitama! Did you take my video game?"
At this point, King had stopped by Saitama's house enough times that Genos had no real reaction to his arrival. Shunshi did respond, as he had begun considering King to be an acquaintance, so he gave off a relived smile and a wave upon seeing him. Blizzard, however, had a face filled with absolute awe and horror at the sight of the world's strongest man. As King walked up to Saitama, Blizzard scuffled backward across the floor from him in fear.
Knowing he'd been caught, Saitama weakly confessed, "Y-yeah... Sorry."
Speaking to Saitama completely casually, King told him, "I knew it. Give it back."
Looking around awkwardly, Saitama apologized further, "I really am sorry..."
Shrugging, King reassured the world's strongest Hero, "It's fine. Just give it back."
With a defeated look on his face, the bald Hero confessed quietly, "I erased your save data."
Surprised and frustrated when informed of this, King asked somewhat angrily, "Huh? You what?!"
Her eyes darting around at all the Heroes that had gathered in this small apartment just to be around a low-ranking Hero, Blizzard panicked internally, Why are so many powerful Heroes hanging out with this B-Class...? Maybe... I could join them?
Seeing Blizzard's look of confusion and fear, Genos pieced together what she must be thinking and began thinking, It doesn't matter who they are. Be them strong or weak. Good or evil. People find themselves pulled towards Sensei. This is because... He is the strongest.
As this group of Heroes continued with their meeting, trouble was brewing elsewhere in another city.
Meanwhile, in an alleyway in D-City, a battle was coming to its bitter end. The Rank 9 A-Class Hero, Tanktop Vegetarian, was struck in the chest and knocked into a pile of crates. Standing above the beaten Hero was none other than a disappointed-looking Garou.
Getting onto his hands and knees, Vegetarian wiped the blood from his mouth and angrily asked him, "Why'd you attack me? I'm an A-Class Hero!"
Gritting his teeth in disappointment, Garou spat at the tanktopper and exclaimed, "I just came across you by accident, but after my fight with that Monster Mask guy, I assumed you A-Class assholes would be comparable quality to him. I guess he must've just been a stand-out guy."
Tanktop Vegetarian was about to say something in protest to this mad man's dismissal of him, but when one of his broken ribs shifted around in his chest, he passed out from the sheer pain.
Sighing in disappointment, Garou turned and walked away while excitedly thinking, Oh well. Hope I get to find some more Monster-Class Heroes like that Mr. Mask guy.
Later that day, King, Monster Mask, and Blizzard Of Hell had left Saitama's residence, each of them heading out to take care of their own business.
Due to his powers not functioning properly, Shunshi decided to call Lin Lin to meet him early. The location they agreed on being the same valley that he and Genos had sparred with Saitama at previously. The young Hero had made the place into a training ground of sorts for himself and his female companion.
While on his way there, Shunshi was thinking over possibilities as to what happened to himself and Blizzard, "So... If Chilly's psychic powers were canceled out the same way my Kie was, then maybe... Maybe there's some connection there...? Maybe my Kie is some kinda opposite to Psychic powers? So, when she tried to grab me psychically, our two powers just canceled each other out... If that is the case, then perhaps what I call Kie is actually the muscles' equivalent to the brain's psychic powers... I don't actually know if that makes any sense... Arrgh! I wish I were as smart as Genos-Senpai. If he were in this situation, he'd have figured this out by now."
About a half-hour later, Shunshi arrived at the valley, with Lin Lin arriving an hour after him. When she showed up, she came across Shunshi, in his civilian garb, performing squats as a warm-up for their training.
By this point in their friendship, Shunshi had clarified to Lin Lin that he was the Hero Monster Mask. This fact was initially surprising to female martial artist, due to her assumption that Hero martial artists were weaklings. However, Shunshi's superhuman abilities had forced Lin Lin to reevaluate her bias on the matter.
Upon seeing Monster Mask, Lin Lin couldn't help but get slightly flustered. Not at the sight of him exercising, but because of a tidbit of information, she'd read about him online.
The day before this one, Lin Lin, seeking something to do to pass the time once she had finished her daily training, decided to see if the Hero Association had any interesting or useful information on her new training partner. After only a few minutes of searching, she came across an article posted by Monster Mask's fan club which talked about how he told one of them that he had a secret girlfriend.
Back in the present time, in the valley, Lin Lin was looking at Shunshi exercise with an upset and embarrassed expression on her face.
As she watched her companion, the martial artist internally complained, What's wrong with him? I can't believe he's telling people that we're dating before he even actually asked me out... If he wants to keep that up, he'd better take me out somewhere nice soon.
Letting her frustration go, Lin Lin made her presence known by walking forward, waving at Shunshi, and yelling to him, "Hey, partner! I'm here!"
Seeing Lin Lin approaching him, Shunshi smiled brightly, waved back, and exclaimed, "Lin Lin! Glad you could make it. There's something important that I need to talk about with you."
Thinking that her hope of being asked out was about to come true, Lin Lin blushed, smiled, and excitedly asked, "Really?! What is it?"
Growing a grievous and utterly serious expression on his face, Shunshi hesitated for a moment before explaining, "I'll cut straight to the chase. A couple days ago, I got into a fight with a villain named Garou. He's calling himself a... Hero Hunter. I underestimated him and got my ass kicked. In fact, if I didn't heal as fast as I do, I'm certain that I'd be dead by now. He's incredibly strong and fast. Not to mention being an expert martial artist. He even pierced my armor and put a hole in my chest with just his fingers... I want to be able to beat him, but I'll need your help to get that strong."
A look of concern, disbelief, and fear formed on Lin Lin's face when she heard that there was a villain who was able to defeat someone like Shunshi in battle.
After looking at her training partner with concerned contemplation for a moment, Lin Lin asked him the question that was puzzling her the most, "He put a hole in your chest? Are you alright?! How are you even walking around right now?!"
Baffled by this question for a moment, Shunshi wasn't sure why Lin Lin was confused. Eventually, the communication gap clicked with Shunshi, though. Without any explanation, he suddenly pulled off his shirt, far sooner than he normally would during their training sessions. This sudden sight of Shunshi's athletic body caused Lin Lin to fluster slightly once more.
Pointing at a spot on his right pectoral, the young martial artist explained, "So, the hole was right around here. That Kie stuff I've been trying to show you also helps me heal faster. I can't grow back a limb or anything like that, but I can eventually recover from most serious stuff, so long as I'm in one piece... relatively speaking. Oh! Also, I can make exploding balls of light that I can throw."
Surprised by this new information, the female martial artist needed clarification from her companion, "Wait... So you can set yourself on fire and all this other stuff too...? Okay, you're gonna have to answer some questions for me later... For now, what exactly do you need my help with?"
Smiling softly, Monster Mask held up the palm of his hand, began vibrating it for emphasis, and answered, "When I was fighting Garou, I was almost able to beat em' when I improvised this technique based on what you've been showing me. So, my plan is to start developing my own unique style of martial arts, based on what I've studied on my own and the superhuman styles that I've been learning from you and Silver Fang-Sensei. If I do that, I'm sure I could overcome Garou! Not to mention, I'm sure you'd become way stronger too."
As Shunshi finished pitching his idea, it was as if a glow of excitement had been ignited across his whole body. However, this excitement died down a bit when he saw the reluctant reaction on Lin Lin's face.
His expression growing more somber, Shunshi, understanding what his friend was saying through body language, continued attempting to persuade her, "I get that something like this sounds... ambitious. But it's something I need to do... I've lost to monsters plenty of times. I've even come close to death once or twice. It's never gotten to me. But this time... I've never lost to a villain before. Another Human being who's evil... I can't stomach it! I have to beat him! And I need to do it on my own... For the first time since I started training to become a Hero and a martial artist, I actually feel like my pride's been damaged. So... I have to be the one to stop him."
Blinking in surprise at this long-winded speech, Lin Lin found herself genuinely considering this undertaking when she saw the impassioned flames burning behind Shunshi's eyes.
Smiling sweetly and confidently, Lin Lin saw this as an opportunity and gave her answer to her friend's speech, "All right, then. I think this could be worth a shot. I'll help you out as best I can, but you have to do something for me in return."
His expression perking up, Shunshi raised his fists excitedly and asked, "Of course! What do you need?"
Smirking with a slight blush on her face, the female martial artist struck a sparring pose and answered gleefully, "If you want my help, you'll have to take me out to dinner after Super Fight... You are participating, right?"
Taking up his own combative stance, Shunshi responded proudly, "Yeah, I got an invitation to it in the mail. I can't believe I've become famous enough to get invited to something... like... Wait... What was that first part?"
As Monster Mask looked at Lin Lin with surprise and confusion, she began to blush even harder, despite her own expression not changing. Before Shunshi could ask any more questions, the red-faced martial artist rushed the Hero and began their sparring session.
Several hours later, Lin Lin was exhausted from training with such a stronger opponent and had fallen to the ground, gasping for breath. Shunshi, on the other hand, while sweating a bit, looked completely good to keep going.
Watching his hand as he clenched and unclenched his fist, Shunshi commented in an optimistic yet analytical tone, "All right. This'll make for a good starting point. I think we're really onto something here."
Noticing his exhausted partner panting on the ground, Shunshi face palmed in shame from having not noticed Lin Lin's condition right away. Not wasting another second talking to himself, Shunshi walked over to help her up.
Taking her crush's hand, Lin Lin smiled and struggled up to her feet while softly speaking, "Thanks(huff)... So, uh(Huff)... About what I asked...?"
Without a moment's hesitation, Shunshi nonchalantly spoke up, "If you'd really like to go out after Super Fight, then I'd be happy to take you somewhere nice. I make plenty of money as an A-Class Hero, so it'll be fun. On top of that, you really are beautiful."
An ecstatic look spread across Lin Lin's face when she heard Shunshi speak these words.
Making sure she'd heard him correctly, she asked excitedly, "Really?! You really want to?!"
Smiling back at her, Shunshi answered, "Of course. We're already friends, and we've got similar hobbies, so I'm sure it'll turn out great... Gotta admit, though. I never gave much thought to trying to get a girlfriend. Especially someone as beautiful as you... I'm not exactly a prize myself."
Hearing this, Lin Lin was at first flustered at Shunshi's praise for her, but this was quickly followed up by confusion at the belittlement he threw at himself. Giving the shirtless Hero a quick once-over, Lin Lin saw a young man with a face that, while not a supermodel like Sweet Mask or Genos, was still undeniably handsome. This handsome man had a tall frame as well as an extremely well-toned and athletic build. All this was combined together by the personality of an amiable and well-mannered gentleman.
Cocking an eyebrow at Monster Mask, Lin Lin asked him in earnest disbelief, "Are you serious? Have you looked in the mirror? You're... Well, you're hot!"
Surprised by this appraisal of his appearance, Shunshi asked her, "Uh... You really think so? I... wasn't exactly popular with girls growing up."
To reaffirm her point, Lin Lin couldn't help but blush again and smile excitedly as she placed her palm against Shunshi's abs and reassured him, "Trust me. Most girls would love to be with a guy who has... well, these."
At this compliment, Shunshi now found himself to be the one who was blushing. After a minute, however, Shunshi noticed that Lin Lin was still gleefully feeling up his abs. Once another minute had passed, Shunshi lightly coughed to get his partner's attention.
Realizing what she'd been doing, Lin Lin pulled her hand back and nervously stammered, "I, uh, duh... I um... Sorry. I've been... In all honesty, I've been wanting to feel your abs since you ripped off your shirt when we first met..."
Scratching the back of his head, Shunshi awkwardly laughed and replied, "Well, uh. We are technically dating now... So, it's not like it's a big deal or anything. It's just that I actually have to go on patrol, and I promised some acquaintances of mine that they could come with me... You don't mind, right?"
Looking as if she felt dejected for a moment, Lin Lin folded her arms and looked at the ground in indignation.
After a moment, she let out a sigh and groaned out, "Alright, fine. It's your job, so go. But you've got to take me somewhere really nice for our date now."
Smiling and raising his fist in excitement, Shunshi responded in a voice that was clearly attempting, but failing, to be suave, "Well, of course, my dear. You have my word."
Happy with his eager response, Lin Lin gleefully gave her new boyfriend an excited hug before letting him go and heading out on her own.
At this loving goodbye, Shunshi began running faster than the speed of sound towards O-City to meet up with his acquaintances, Lightning Genji and Stinger. On his way to the city, Shunshi had put his civilian clothes away and had changed back into his Hero Armor.
While jumping across rooftops, the young Hero thought to himself in frustration, Well, Stinger and Genji probably won't like that Chilly put my powers on the fritz, but I've still got my super strength, speed, and endurance, as well as my martial arts. That should be enough. My powers'll be back by tomorrow anyway. I can feel the flames in me slowly building back up.
Meanwhile, in front of a cafe titled 'Sweet Treat Eats,' Stinger and Lightning Genji had just waved off a group of fans who had been taking pictures with them. Once the fans were out of sight, Stinger rested his spear on his shoulders and leaned against the side of the building, while Lightning squatted on the ground.
Looking at the time on his phone, Genji asked the spear-wielding Hero, "It's a half-hour past the time Monster Mask was supposed to show up. You sure he's gonna actually be here? He's one of the top 5 in A-Class, and we really slowed him down when we went on patrol with him the other day. Maybe he's blowing us off to work on his own now."
Smirking while waving this off, Stinger replied, "He promised me that he'd love to team up again. He looks like he'd be all business, but he's actually a real chummy guy. Real humble too. I'm sure he's just running late. You should've exchanged phone numbers with him last time like I did. He texted me that he's on his way... And besides, I'm number 10 in A-Class, so that's gotta earn me some respect from the guy."
Annoyed by that last statement, Genji grumbled in frustration, "And what? Am I chop-liver just cause I got bumped down to 18 in A-Class when he showed up?"
Feeling guilty at Genji's reaction, Stinger pleaded to him, "Ah, come on. Don't be that way. You know I wasn't trying to insult you... Besides, just trying to keep up with Monster Mask on his patrol was a Hell of a workout on its own. And we took out way more baddies than usual with him around. If we keep this up, I'm sure we'll both become even stronger and rise up in the rank in no time ourselves."
Chuckling at this, the motor-powered Hero asked a question of Stinger in a belittling manner, "Heh, you sound like you wanna form a team with the guy. You sure you'd be okay playing second fiddle to someone else, Mister Popular?"
Looking playfully dejected, Stinger retorted, "Nah, he's too polite to try and cop an attitude like that. But what's wrong with the idea of teaming up with him in the future? The three of us worked together pretty well to take down that Cat monster, and that thing had to have been a Dragon-Level Disaster. If we keep beating monsters like that with him, we might even make S-Class one day. Once we're stronger, let's ask him if he feels up to the idea."
At this, Genji couldn't help but feel a little shocked at how casual someone like Stinger, who was always eager to boast and hog the spotlight, was now behaving at the idea of sharing it with someone else.
Before the two could continue this conversation, though, they both stopped when they saw a shadow appear above them. Looking upwards, they saw the darkly-clad visage of the Hero, Monster Mask leaping down from a building towards them.
Landing gracefully, Shunshi stood up dramatically. His name-sake helmet, black cloak, and dark-grey spiky armor gave off their usual air of menace. If these two men hadn't grown used to his intimidating aura, this would have frightened the both of them.
His personality breaking through his appearance as it always did, Shunshi waved at his fellow Heroes and cheerfully addressed them, "Hey, guys! Sorry, I'm late. You two wouldn't believe the day I've had."
While Lightning Genji was still somewhat off-put by the dramatic difference between how Monster Mask dressed and how he behaved, Stinger had grown used to it by now and just got a chuckle out of it.
Stepping forward, the spear wielder suggested, "Why don't you tell us about it while we're patrolling to make up for keeping us waiting?"
At this idea, Lightning Genji hoped, Maybe if he's talking while patrolling, we'll actually be able to keep up with him...
Excited as ever to do his Hero work, Shunshi began jogging in place as he happily responded to Stinger, "Sure, but it'll take a bit to tell you guys the full story."
Later that day, an hour had passed since the three A-Class Heroes had begun their patrol. The three of them were standing at a crosswalk and had just finished painfully subduing a group of criminals who had somehow gotten their hands on military-grade firearms and body armor.
Lightly stomping his foot on the head of the last of the terrorists, Shunshi finished explaining his day to his coworkers, "And after that, I started making my way to O-City to meet up with you guys."
While catching his breath from the fight, Genji thought in exhausted frustration, So much for keeping up with him.
Taking in the last breath he needed, the electric Hero asked for clarification, "So, you and your buddies not only chased off the Blizzard Gang, but that notorious S-Class criminal Sonic got his butt kicked too? Not to mention, King supposedly came to hang out with that Saitama guy? Oh, and the cherry on top. You managed to snag the famous martial artist, Lin Lin, as your girlfriend. Okay, sure. You know you don't need to come up with such yarns to excuse your powers not working for a day."
Feeling hurt, Shunshi turned to face Lightning Genji and insisted, "It's the truth. Saitama-Sensei is friends with King. I told you guys that my Master is the greatest Hero in the world, so it only makes sense that someone as powerful as King would find a kindred spirit in him... Wait, Lin Lin's famous...? Huh... The stuff you miss out on when you're a superhero junkie."
Resting his bamboo shoot spear on the ground, Stinger, while sitting on top of an unconscious mad man, chimed in, "To be fair, Shunshi is pretty freaking strong, and he hangs out with the Demon Cyborg. I can believe the stuff about fighting off Blizzard's flunkies and an S-Class criminal... That other stuff's more than a little iffy, though, dude. You don't need to swell up your tales like that."
Growing more dejected, Shunshi insisted once more, "I'm serious! Master Saitama is a great man...! And... WAIT! why is it so hard to believe that I got a girlfriend?!"
Before the three Heroes could continue this discussion, another bullet came flying at them, tearing through Shunshi's hood and bouncing off his helmet while leaving a small dent.
After getting knocked off balance, Shunshi quickly spun around and took up a combative stance beside his two allies to get a look at their opponent. The three of them saw a middle-aged man, maybe in his fifties, decked out in even better body armor than the terrorists they just fought. To top it off, he was carrying even more powerful-looking weapons than the ones that had come before him. In his hand was a pistol that was pointed at Shunshi's head, having just freshly fired a bullet. Slung across his back was a futuristic-looking assault rifle. On the man's face was a wicked expression of madness and undeniable excitement.
Holstering the handgun, the mad old man snickered and exclaimed, "Glad I was able to get you brats' attention! The name's Sargent Uchiara! I'm a retired soldier who needs war to feel satisfied, as war is the only truth in this world. The grunts you took out are men who understood the same truth as me! We're gonna take over this city, make it into our own personal kingdom, and wage an endless, glorious war against the whole world! You Hero brats can't stop us!" At this declaration, the old soldier effortlessly pulled his rifle from his back and began firing it, each bullet exploding out with the force of a sniper rifle round. Somehow, the undeniable recoil of this weapon wasn't even phasing this madman as he just continued to fire away.
While the three Heroes were dodging the gunfire, Stinger yelled internally as he watched the bullets tear apart their surroundings, What the Hell?! That gun has almost as much kick to it as Death Gatling's arm! And Pops over there is barely flinching! How strong is that old-timer?!
As the fight continued, any time one of the three tried to get closer to the old man, he would concentrate his fire more squarely on that Hero.
Monster Mask was nearly able to close the gap when Uchiara had to reload, but he was able to replace the stock so quickly that he was able to hit Shunshi with a point-blank blast at the last second, sending him flying backward. The power of this futuristic weapon nearly pierced Shunshi's armor, leaving a series of dents where the bullets had hit.
Utilizing this as a distraction, Lightning Genji had circled around the mad soldier with his motor-powered skates and was nearly able to hit him with his electrified batons. Unfortunately, Uchiara saw him out of the corner of his eye at the last second. Moving faster than expected, the former Sargent managed to dodge the attack just enough so that the electric weapons were only able to graze him, with his advanced body armor protecting him from most of the electricity. Despite this, Genji quickly spun back around to take another pass at Uchiara, managing to land a clean hit on his chest this time.
Shockingly, the crazy soldier reacted to this attack quickly enough that he was able to strike at Lightning's face with the butt of his rifle at the same time he got hit by the batons. The force behind this attack was so strong that it broke Genji's mouthguard and knocked him headfirst into the ground, breaking the cement on impact.
The chest piece of Uchiara's body armor was left roasted and useless by the electricity, but the man behind the armor was merely bruised. Not letting this injury slow him down, Uchiara was about to turn around so that he could aim his gun at Stinger.
However, Stinger seemed to have the same thought Genji did when Shunshi got hit. As such, he was able to close in and swipe the butt of his spear across the lunatic's face just as he turned around. The blunt force of this attack took Uchiara completely by surprise and sent him flying backward.
While the criminal was still in mid-air, Stinger jumped at him while thrusting with his spear and shouting passionately, "Don't think you can win so easily when you're up against A-Class' best!"
As Stinger's bamboo shoot spear carried him closer, he noticed that Uchiara's gun was pointed at him, and the madman's finger was pulling the trigger. In those few split seconds, time felt as if it had slowed down to a one-armed crawl for the spear Hero. He tried to change trajectory or pull back but found himself only slowing his movements down by the smallest amount. Just as the despair of death was about to creep into Stinger's mind, a slightly bruised Shunshi launched himself in between his ally and his adversary.
Monster Mask's eyes quickly analyzed his surroundings in a fraction of a moment, as he thought, All the civilians have run off by this point. Okay, it should be safe to try this.
Time started moving normally for the Heroes once more, as the bullets from Uchiara's gun started flying towards Shunshi and Stinger.
Having landed on the ground and certain that he had finally killed the men standing in his way, the criminal was left aghast when he saw that his bullets weren't connecting and were instead being skillfully deflected by the hands of the armor-clad Hero as blue streams of energy flowed from his fingertips.
While Shunshi redirected more of the shots, Stinger crashed into his back. Fortunately, Monster Mask had braised himself for that and did not lose his footing in the slightest.
Uchiara was continuing to fire his gun in disbelief at what he was seeing, but his mind froze for a moment when he noticed that one of the bullets came colliding into the sidewalk by his feet. Then another one came by that grazed his leg. The other struck him in his left shoulder, causing him to stumble backward.
Unable to believe what was happening, the Sargent muttered out loud, "Wait, what?"
Finally, one last bullet pierced the hand he was using to hold his rifle, causing him to lose his middle and trigger finger, ending the fight as the crazy veteran fell backward in pain.
Seeing that his first real use of Bang's techniques had worked flawlessly, Shunshi began to breathe heavily, having held his breath during his entire counter-attack.
Using his spear to stand back up, Stinger saw that Monster Mask had stopped the old man. As such, he let out a short but satisfied laugh before slapping Shunshi's back and exclaiming, "Haha! Very nice! Man, when did Silver Fang teach you how to do that? Can he block bullets too?! And holy crap, it freaking hurt crashing into that armor of yours."
Giggling awkwardly, Shunshi answered Stinger's question somewhat hesitantly, "Heheheheh... Well, uh...I'm sure Silver Fang-Sensei could do that too, but... He never actually taught me anything about doing something like that... I just kinda... guessed it would work? Heheheheh..."
Realizing the huge risk that Shunshi had just confessed to taking, Stinger grabbed at his own hair in shock as he exclaimed, "Are you kidding me!? Don't do something like that again! You could've gotten us both killed!"
Scratching at his faceplate as if it were his actual face, Shunshi half awkwardly, half apologetically replied, "Uh, yes, sir...! But, uh... I didn't, though... I actually saved us."
Faced with the truth of this fact, Stinger was forced to let go of his frustration and responded weakly, "Yeah... I guess you did... We should probably go see if Lightning Genji is okay."
Nodding in agreement, Shunshi walked alongside Stinger as they approached the one amongst them who was left the most injured from this ordeal.
Hearing groans come from the unconscious A-Class, Stinger crouched down to get closer to Genji and began to lightly pat his bruised face while asking, "Hey, you still with us, man? Do we gotta getcha to a Hero hospital?"
Groaning further as he opened his eyes, Lightning Genji felt at his smashed face, winced in pain, and then asked, "Aaaggghh...! What'd I miss? How long was I out?"
Gesturing up towards Shunshi with his thumb, Stinger answered both questions in a nonchalant manner, "Our buddy, Monster Mask over here, apparently, just taught himself how to catch and throw bullets. So he took the crazed gramps' fingers off with one of his own shots. And you weren't out for too long, just a few seconds. And seriously, I think you should get looked at at a hospital, dude. Just to be safe."
Pulling out a piece of his broken mask that had pierced into his face, Genji responded slowly, "Yeah... You're probably right, I... Wait, I think might have hit my head harder than I thought. It sounded like you said Monster Mask caught bullets."
Seeing all the cuts and the big bruise on his fellow Hero's face and remembering how Stinger over-reacted to the fact that catching projectiles was an impromptu technique on his part, Shunshi felt the need to hurry and finish this conversation so that they could get Lightning medical attention.
Quickly clarifying the situation to Genji, Shunshi explained, "Yeah, I did. It's something I... learned from Master Silver Fang. Now come on. We gotta get your face looked at. With how it's swelling, it looks like you've got some hairline fractures."
Processing this information, Lightning eventually sat up and responded, "Oh. Okay, wow... You're crazy strong. Ya know that...? Guess it can't be helped when you're being taught by an S-Class, but still."
As the short Hero struggled to get to his feet, Stinger offered him a hand up, but he politely brushed it aside and stood up on his own power.
Once they began walking, Stinger listed off what they needed to get done, "So, we'll drop Genji off at a Hero Association hospital, then go and fill out a report at one of the local HQs. That sound good, guys?" In responce, Shunshi nodded without a word.
However, Genji, trying to shake off his concussion, half-jokingly replied, "Just don't think that you can write out my work just cause I won't be there."
Laughing wholeheartedly at this, Stinger retorted, "Ah, come on! Who do you think I am? Tanktop Vegetarian? Ha!"
Understanding what the spear-wielder was talking about, Shunshi couldn't help but let out a quick chuckle, followed up by a disappointed sigh.
Before the three could walk very far, though, they heard Uchiara's voice yell out, "Don't... Don't think this is over yet! I will have my endless war!"
Turning around, the three Heroes were shocked when they saw Uchiara back on his feet and slouched over as blood poured profusely from his wounds. Examining him with just a bit more scrutiny, Shunshi was shocked when he noticed that Uchiara's body was pulsating every couple of seconds.
Before any of the A-Class Heroes could properly react to this strange occurrence, the old soldier gained so much bulk to his muscles that he began ripping through his armor, as well as adding a few inches to his height. Instead of just ripping clean off, what remained of Uchiara's gray armor looked as if it was starting to merge with his skin. The rim of his helmet then sunk down past his brow, covering his eyes. As soon as Uchiara's eyes were covered, a pair of inhuman, red eyes with horizontal lids snapped open on the helmet itself, accompanied by an audible crunching noise.
Once claws began to form on the mad soldier's undamaged hand, a horrified expression formed behind Monster Mask's helmet, as he asked Stinger and Genji, "Guys, I've... I've never actually seen this happen before, but... But is he actually-?"
Before Shunshi could finish his sentence, Stinger flourished his spear and pointed it at Uchiara. All the while, Genji gritted his teeth and crossed his batons to channel lethal amounts of amperage through them.
Knowing what Shunshi was going to ask, Lightning quickly answered, "I've only seen it happen once myself, but yeah, he's turning into a monster! I have no idea how he's doing it, though!"
Just as the motorized Hero finished this explanation, Uchiara's damaged arm fused with his rifle in a flash of gray light. Once the flash faded, Uchiara's skin had turned sickeningly gray, with a fabric-like texture, and his teeth had turned razor-sharp.
Lifting up his gun arm, Uchiara, through his new beast-like teeth, growled out, "I am the War King! (Threat-Level Demon) I will enslave all the Humans in this city into my new army! All those who resist shall be slaughtered! NOW DIE, HEROES!"
As the newborn monster finished screaming out its monologue of conquest, War King began firing its gun once more. However, instead of bullets, the freshly made monster's gun arm was firing small bolts of purple energy. As the Heroes dodged out of the way of the shots, the three of them were frightened when they saw the energy bolts disintegrate a foot diameter of whatever they hit.
Realizing that he and his allies would not last long against a weapon like this, Shunshi shouted to Stinger and Lightning Genji, "Surround him, quick!"
As soon as he shouted this, Monster Mask began rushing headfirst at War King, dodging the shots by running ahead of wherever they'd be and jumping over and around the stream of energy blasts whenever they began to catch up to him. While Shunshi kept the monster busy, the other two Heroes followed his instructions and started flanking War King, readying their attacks.
The monster naturally noticed what the Heroes were doing but also realized that the one running straight at it was the strongest of the three, so it was forced to focus its attack on him.
As the other two finished closing in on War King, it seemed as if it was forced to resort to tensing up its body in preparation for their combined attacks.
While the War King continued to try to gun down Monster Mask, Stinger's spear came flying at its torso. However, it managed to partially sidestep the attack but still got grazed in the process, and lost a small chunk of its flesh.
The fact that he missed what he thought would be a surefire hit shocked the spear-wielder, causing his weapon to embed itself into the sidewalk with enough force to shatter the cement.
While War King was jumping aside from Stinger, it yelped in pain as it had leaped right into a strike from Lightning Genji's electric batons, cracking its ribs. Furious at having been struck by this Hero twice now, the monster formerly known as Uchiara twirled and elbowed Genji in his chest, breaking more of the Hero's armor and sending him smashing into a mailbox. During his exchange of blows with the lower-ranked Heroes, though, War King had made the mistake of taking its three eyes off of Shunshi.
Just as its feet touched the ground again, Monster Mask closed in on the actual monster and struck it across its face with a knife-hand strike. In the process, Shunshi's clawed gauntlets tore purple blood from what used to just be a helmet.
War King then tried to aim and fire its gun to hit Shunshi with a point-blank shot once more. However, Shunshi moved much faster than War King, swiftly grabbed the monster's gun-arm and slammed his knee into it. The spiked knee pad on Shunshi's armor pierced and shattered the gun-arm, causing even more purple blood to fly out. As the monster stumbled back in pain, Monster Mask started striking it with a flurry of Fist Of Flowing Water Crushing Rock, which he added some of his own clawed techniques and strikes into, ripping apart the surface of War King's torso.
All these wounds disoriented War King and caused it to fall back on the ground, landing on its rear end. If the monster hadn't been using its one good arm to prop itself up, it would have otherwise fallen onto its back.
As it continued to bleed profusely, the new monster glared at the masked Hero and weakly growled, "It's not... fair... I can... feel the power that this body... gives me... You aren't... supposed to... be able to win!"
Seeing the beast squirming in pain on the ground, Stinger yanked his spear out of the sidewalk and proclaimed, "All right, let's finish this guy off for good this time!" Twirling his spear as he moved towards the War King, Stinger readied his weapon to make the final blow.
Realizing that this was the end for itself, War King closed its inhuman eyes in undeniable fear of its inevitable execution.
Just as Stinger was about to slam the head of his spear through this monster's chest, he was shocked when Shunshi's armored hand grabbed at the spear's shaft, stopping it from making contact.
"Hold on a sec," Monster Mask told his spear-wielding ally.
Cocking an eyebrow at this, Stinger pulled his weapon back and warily criticized, "Geeze, man. I didn't take you for the kind of Hero who likes to make the monsters suffer..."
Solemnly shaking his helmeted head at this assessment, Monster Mask explained, "What!? No! It's just... He was just human a second ago. Shouldn't we try to change him back? Isn't there a way to do that?"
Having never even considered this act of mercy, Stinger looked over at the injured Genji with a mixture of concern and anger that was directed at the monster.
"I don't know. Why don't you try asking him to turn back?" The spear wielder rhetorically suggested while looking at the monster with disgust.
Not seeming to understand the insincerity of this suggestion, Shunshi nodded eagerly, leaned down to the snarling monster, and stared at it patiently.
Taking a moment in order to piece together how to phrase his words, Monster Mask eventually asked War King, "Uchiara was it...? Do you have any family? Anyone, who you're close to? Anyone who you wouldn't want to see you like this?"
At this inquiry, images began racing through War King's head. An image of its son, who would always dismiss its war stories and advice in general. Its daughter, who, despite its best efforts to be loving, had always found her father frightening. Its wife was long since dead. Lastly, there was its grandson. Ultimately, War King spent longer thinking about its grandson than anyone else.
The young boy always enjoyed visiting his grandfather, admiring how strong he was, and easily got enraptured by the old man's war stories. The child truly looked up to him, truly loved him. Thinking about his most beloved grandchild, Uchiara began to think about how the boy would react to him now. The looks of admiration replaced with expressions of fear and sadness, running from his grandfather in terror.
As Uchiara continued to ruminate on this horrible possibility, he couldn't control himself as he began to tear up and respond, "I... Yes. Yes, there is... I... I..." Unable to form proper words anymore, Uchiara forced himself onto his knees and grabbed at the rim of his new helmet-face with his remaining hand. Screaming in so much agony that both of the Heroes flinched in shock, Uchiara began trying to rip his helmeted face off.
As the monster continued whaling, Stinger readied a Giga Thrust for when it would inevitably attack. Before this action became necessary, though, white light began shining around Uchiara's head and gun-arm. While the light continued to shine, Uchiara's helmet began sliding off of his face, and the gun that had merged with his arm started to melt out of his flesh.
Eventually, the light died down, and Uchiara's form had changed once more. He still retained all of his wounds, his skin was still grey and fabric-like, and his teeth were still razor-sharp. However, the mad soldier's helmet and gun now lay on the ground beside him. His face had returned to a very Human shape, his arm was no longer merged with his gun, his muscles and height shrunk back down, and the claws that had formed on his hands and feet had vanished.
Looking at Monster Mask with sad, pleading eyes, Uchiara begged him, "Please... I surrender. I don't care about war anymore. Just help me change back... I can't let Junkosui see me like this...!"
Shunshi didn't know who Uchiara was talking about, but the genuine plea from the half-monster caused an expression of sympathy to form behind the Hero's helmet.
Utterly stunned, Stinger found himself unable to speak or even believe what he'd just seen.
Getting onto his knees and placing a hand on Uchiara's shoulder, Monster Mask told him, "Alright. I'll believe you. Come with me, and I'll take you to the Hero Association. They have scientists there, and I'm sure they'd be interested in a monster who wants to be turned back into a Human."
Standing up and turning to look at Stinger, the normally humble Shunshi gave him an order in a commanding yet still strangely polite tone, "Stinger, call the cops to take those other terrorists away, then take Genji to one of the Hero Hospitals like we were planning. After that, meet up with me at this city's Hero Association Headquarters. I'm gonna take this guy to the scientists there. Once that's taken care of, we can get the report filled out together."
Initially, the spear-wielder was surprised by his acquaintance's sudden mood shift from withdrawn to dishing out orders. However, the way that Shunshi spoke let him know that his words had no disrespect behind them and were intended to lead them down the best course of action.
After looking back and forth between his injured ally and the monster, Stinger let out a frustrated sigh before responding, "Alright, fine. I'll see you there, I guess. And, I'll let the cops know about them after I get Genji some treatment." He then walked over and threw the unconscious Lightning Genji over his shoulder, rushing off with him to the Hero Association's hospital.
Roughly an hour later, Shunshi had delivered Uchiara to some very surprised yet excited scientists at O-City's H.A. Headquarters.
About a half an hour after that, in the Headquarter's lobby, a mentally exhausted Stinger met up with Monster Mask, who had been waiting patiently for him by reading the free magazines that had been set out on the coffee tables.
The two Heroes sat across from each other at one of the tables, both of them figuring out what to put down on the official report. Each of them doing their best to write down exactly what happened.
As Stinger rested his chin in his hand, he commented, "So, it looks like you'll be getting the majority of the credit for this one, but Genji and I should still be getting plenty of points."
Shunshi, with his helmet removed, had a visible look of excitement as he retorted, "That's great! With everything we've done together, you guys should be up for promotions soon!"
Due to Shunshi's friendly attitude contradicting the stern persona he'd had while giving out orders earlier, Stinger couldn't help but chuckle out of surprised amusement.
Grabbing the report as he got to his feet, Stinger told Shunshi in an equally friendly manner, "Thanks for the vote of confidence. It's late, so I'll go turn this in. You go get that armor of yours fixed up or something."
Looking at where he'd been blasted in his chest by Uchiara's gun, Shunshi realized that he would, in fact, need to repair his suit.
Smiling at Stinger, Shunshi responded, "Alright, thanks. Do you want to meet up again after Super Fight? I got an invitation to participate, so I need to spend some time focusing on my martial arts training. And Genji should be all healed up by then."
Surprised yet excited at this news, Stinger asked, "You too? Lightning Max and Biting Fist Sneck also got invited. You guys show those martial artists what the A-Class Heroes are made of, and be careful not to tear each other apart."
Chuckling at this, Monster Mask put his monster mask back on, stood up, and waved goodbye to his friend.
As he walked out of the building and stretched out his arms, Shunshi felt his exhaustion take over and realized that he desperately needed to get some sleep. Getting in one last bit of exercise, the young Hero began to run at a superhuman pace in order to make his way back home.
Hello, everybody. I cannot thank everyone enough for reading this story, and I felt it might be fun to share a small tidbit of information with all you wonderful readers.
As I'm sure many of the great people who have taken the time to read my fanfiction know, the Hero Association in One Punch Man has a rating system that they use to evaluate their Heroes' stats. I felt like it may be entertaining to share what ratings the Hero Association gave Shunshi shortly after he joined them.
Ability Type: Physical.
Stamina: 8
Intelligence: 6
Justice: 9
Endurance: 7
Power: 7
Popularity: 7
Effectiveness: 7
Fighting Ability: 8
Total: 59
