The dimly lit corridor seemed to extend endlessly into the darkness ahead. The oppressive atmosphere and the eerie silence all seemed to indicate that a great danger lay ahead. Thus, Skathi and Genos remained on their guard as the ragtag team of heroes made their way through the bowels of the House of Evolution. The young cyborg walked vigilantly at the head of the party, while the giant huntress trailed behind with equal readiness. By contrast, Mayari was practically bouncing with excitement. Everything about this place only served to raise her expectations higher and higher. Her ever-increasing enthusiasm was even starting to rub off on Saitama.
"Man, this place is pretty crazy," Saitama said with a scarcely noticeable pep in his step. "I'm getting a little fired up."
"I know, right? What do you think they got down here?" Wondered Mayari gleefully. "Maybe a three-headed dragon or something. Or even a giant moth!"
The one-eyed deity turned to her giant friend, who wasn't quite sharing in the excitement. "What do you think is down here, Tita Skathi?"
"Probably another freak of nature," Skathi answered, not paying attention. The jötunn was too focused on the path ahead.
In truth, Skathi was beginning to get apprehensive at the whole idea of charging head-first into the den of an enemy. Not that she wasn't against it in the first place. But looking at it now— walking through a dark corridor with no clear exits— her instincts were all but yelling at her to grab everyone now and make for the exit.
All those feelings were compounded when Skathi picked up an… alarming scent—literally. She stopped in her tracks and began sniffing the air, steely focus and fear fully displayed on her face. Saitama and Mayari stopped themselves and looked at the giantess with mild confusion and concern, respectively. Genos also stopped, though his gaze was focused on the corridor ahead and the subtle rumbling sound that emanated from it.
"Something is coming this way!" Genos exclaimed, and all his weapons went hot.
"Something big!" Added Skathi as she summoned an icy spear and shield for herself.
From the darkness ahead, the rumbling grew louder and louder. More sounds accompanied it: the shattering of glass and concrete cracking and a rhythmic thumping, almost like the footfalls of someone in a full sprint. The tunnel shook hard, as though the earth itself trembled in fear of what was coming toward them.
At last, from out of the darkness, a hulking figure came charging out. It was, as Skathi predicted, a monstrous cross between a huge man and a rhinoceros beetle. His toothy smile on his eerily humanlike face was manic, and his eyes were wide with bloodlust. In his hand dangled the battered form of a bespectacled man.
"LET'S DO THIS!" The creature bellowed. "Which one did ya want, again!?"
"T-the bald one…" wheezed the man. He was barely audible over the monster's stomping.
"In that case…" the monster all but tossed the man to the ground as he readied his fists. "Ya won't need any'a the other ones!"
The monster suddenly tripled in speed. Faster than almost anyone could react, a great chitinous fist slammed into Genos and smashed the poor cyborg into the wall. Another attack was launched, this time aimed at Mayari. At the last moment, Skathi grabbed her smaller friend and yanked her back. The monster lunged at Mayari in pursuit and struck once more, only for his punch to meet the solid defense of Saitama. The monster chuckled, his voice shaking the air around them.
"Heh, you ain't half bad," scoffed the creature. "Name's Carnage Kabuto. We got a combat room down the hall. Let's duke it out there."
"I don't know what you're supposed to be," replied Saitama with a steely look in his eye, "But you've got a lot of nerve turning my disciple into modern art. Let's do this."
Smirking, Carnage Kabuto nodded his head back down the hall, signifying to Saitama to follow him, and he did so. Skathi could only exchange a look with Mayari, who surprisingly (and somewhat alarmingly) looked less than bothered about the whole situation. The younger deity bounded after her bald friend, while Skathi lingered at the side of Genos' corpse.
The poor young cyborg dangled lifelessly from his head. True to Saitama's description, Genos' head was embedded in such a way that the rest of his body hung at a peculiar angle, much like a modern art piece that Skathi had seen once. She hung her head in respectful silence for her fallen partner. Mostly, she regretted that she could not save him. But, on the other hand, a small part of her couldn't help but think that this was inevitable. As morbid a thought as that was, Genos seemed to be on a crash course toward his end with his quest for vengeance. Skathi had hoped that she could help him, or at least prevent him from dying an early death. But it wasn't to be. Somberly, Skathi gently grabbed Genos' body by his torso and pulled him free…
…
And she pulled him free…
…
And she pulled…
…
Genos was stuck.
"Damn it. Come on…" the jötunn muttered to herself.
She continued to work on gently freeing Genos from the wall. But Genos was so deeply lodged in the concrete that any attempt to pull him free seemed futile. It also didn't help that, with his body lodged in this way, any movement caused his neck to creak and groan alarmingly.
"You okay?" Mayari asked. She had backtracked after noticing that Skathi had not followed the group.
"I'm… trying to get… Genos out of this…" Skathi replied in between careful tugs on Genos' limp body.
"Can't you just…" Mayari then mimed a rough pulling motion. "Yank him out?"
"Well, maybe, but I don't want to break him even more."
"Why? He's already messed up."
"Mayari, come on!"
Eventually, with Mayari's help, the two goddesses were able to free Genos' body and catch up with Saitama and the monster. The two found him in a massive white room. Though almost entirely featureless, save for the grid-like creases in the tiles of the walls and floor, the sheer size of the space was awe-inspiring. An entire colosseum hidden beneath a mountain.
"Welcome to the slaughter zone!" Carnage Kabuto bellowed with a toothy grin. "This is where they have us duke it out to test our fighting abilities."
Ever stoic, Saitama stood like a statue as he and the monster stood at a distance like duelists. Mayari and Skathi were standing off to the side; Genos was draped lifelessly over Skathi's shoulder. Of course, Mayari was watching the interaction with a prominent smirk on her face. Skathi, however, wasn't quite sharing in the shorter goddess's confidence borne of experience. The huntress crouched down to Mayari's height, being mindful as not to let Genos slide off and onto the floor. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She whispers to her.
"Yeah, don't worry about it," Mayari answers with her hands behind her head. "Saitama can kill this guy, easy."
"While I don't doubt that your friend is strong…" Skathi replied, not noticing the growing heat on her shoulder. "There's something about this creature that concerns me. It's almost like he's hiding something."
"Well, of course, he's holding back!" Mayari scoffed, gesturing to the showboating Carnage Kabuto. "Look at him. He's practically swimming in his own confidence."
"That's almost what I was talking about. It's more than just that he's holding back," said Skathi. Meanwhile, Genos' body grew hotter. "I meant that he seems like he's concealing a part of himself. There's more to this monster than meets the eye. I can smell it…"
Suddenly, Genos' eyes lit up, and he sprang to life from Skathi's shoulder and onto his feet, much to everyone's surprise. The instant he made contact with the floor, he charged at the monster with his palms burning bright. Circling the creature, he launched blast after blast of fire at it until it was totally engulfed in flames. Genos closed the distance then, ready to pummel the Carnage Kabuto to paste.
"Machine Gun Blows!"
A hailstorm of rocket-powered punches rained down on the monster, who did not move under their immense force. The attack continued until a mighty chitinous fist was lunged through the hail of blows and struck the cyborg in the chest, knocking him away. Genos recovered and lunged again, only to be launched backwards by another, much more forceful punch from Carnage Kabuto. Genos tumbled away before thankfully being caught by Saitama and Skathi.
"Genos, how are you alive!?" Skathi exclaims. Her shock was warranted. Genos looked as though he was teetering on the edge; his left eye had been rendered nonfunctional, and his face had been cracked like glass. And that was all, excluding the damage he had just sustained, like the loud whirring of his damaged joints and the unsettling electricity crackling from his body's circuitry.
"Sheesh dude, your eye's gone," remarked Saitama in a much more casual tone.
"He… got me," Genos said, the mechanics in his body whirring and sparking something fierce. "I… must…"
With a shakily rising hand, he charged up his palm with immense fiery energy. The energy reached its apex, and Genos released it in a massive beam of pure heat and flames at Carnage Kabuto. With the attack's greater power, the cyborg sought to incinerate the monster instantaneously. Yet to his horror, just before the beam hit its target, Carnage Kabuto took one massive breath and blew it right back towards the group of heroes in its entirety.
"That's impossible!" Genos yelled in disbelief. Everyone (besides Saitama) braced themselves for the incoming inferno. But in the second before the flames collided with them, Skathi manifested a shield and lunged in front of everyone, protecting them from the flames.
Unfortunately, due to the angle she was holding the shield, all of the flames were diverted upwards… and directly into her face.
"Woah, Tita Skathi!" Mayari rushed to her friend's side in great worry. "You ok?!"
Skathi said nothing, only hoarsely coughing up some black smoke in response. Her face and antlers were scorched black, and most of her hair was practically obliterated. Carnage Kabuto could see the scene, and he couldn't help but let out a hearty laugh.
Mayari seethed at the monster. She couldn't just let an insult like that go unanswered!
"Asshole…" the goddess of war growled. She drew her blade and turned to her bald friend. "Let's f#! him up!"
Surprisingly enough, Saitama looked as serious as her as he stood up.
"Alright. Heh, I'm actually getting my hopes up."
There were many things in her long life that Skathi would say she regretted, and even fewer things that she could be grateful for. And right now, one of those things would be the fact that she inherited her mother's abilities as opposed to her father's. Nothing against him, of course; quite the opposite. But it's just that, in this situation (and many in the past like it), she found more appreciation in a frost giant's connection to the cold than a normal jötunn's ability to transmogrify.
The searing pain quickly faded as she rubbed the soft snow from her palms onto her burns. Her seared scalp cooled and healed, and her hair began to grow back to nearly its original length. The frost giant finished off her recovery with a deep, icy breath, healing her burnt throat.
Skathi could see Saitama and Mayari standing back to back, raising a fist and a sword respectively at the monster standing a great distance away. That same monster seemed only to be amused at this display.
"I get it. I get it!" Says the monster with the smuggest smirk anyone could ever make. "You two're supposed to be strong, right?"
"You got that right, ya freak!" Mayari called back with equal confidence. "And you're this place's ultimate weapon, right? I mean, you're practically swimming in your own confidence."
"Clearly you're not like the guys from this morning," added Saitama. "Don't disappoint us now."
Another wicked grin from Carnage Kabuto was all the response he gave, and he disappeared once again. Only his massive and blurry silhouette could be seen blitzing across the arena. Skathi and Genos watched with bated breath as the monster appeared again, this time behind Saitama and Mayari, his fist raised to smash the duo to paste. Mayari whipped around in a defensive stance, but her bald partner simply stood there. What happened next, few would have guessed. Carnage Kabuto's wings unfurled, and in the next second, he flew across the room and slammed his back against the opposite wall.
Stunned silence permeated the room as everyone present stood as still as statues. Even Saitama hadn't moved from where he stood. Skathi's gaze wandered to the monster on the far wall. He looked like a field rat that had been cornered by a farmer's cat; his gaze was fully transfixed on Saitama.
Movement in the corner of Skathi's eye drew her attention towards the room's entrance. It was not another monster this time, but a man. Albeit a bloody and bespectacled man who looked to be on the verge of collapsing. Though it took her a moment, Skathi realized that this was the same man who had been (rather roughly) carried around earlier by Carnage Kabuto. How did he…?
"YOU FREAK BASTARD!" Carnage Kabuto suddenly shouted. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET THAT STRONG!?"
Everyone's gaze was focused back towards the fight, on pause. No one made a sound for a few long moments after the monster's frantic shout. Until, at last, Saitama broke the silence with a sigh.
"You guys want to know too? Alright, fine."
Genos is utterly dumbfounded and very concerned. How could his master share his secret with the enemy so easily?! Skathi shared his feelings, but admittedly, she was more curious than anything else. She did have her assumptions, of course. Mayari, on the other hand, was totally different. She looked at her bald friend in confusion, but her expression quickly shifted to one of realization, and finally to a mischievous grin. She turned to a still befuddled Skathi and Genos, her index finger pressed to her still-smirking lips.
Now, Saitama had the floor. With his face as serious as can be, he began explaining his greatest secret. The source of his immeasurable, irresistible power was… a training regimen. But it was not just any training regimen. It was a program so intense, so grueling, that it could have ended Saitama's life. A routine that was so terrifically brutal that it was the sole cause of Saitama's premature hair loss. It was only this training regimen that could have resulted in Saitama's divine strength.
It was a daily training routine consisting of…
100 PUSH-UPS!
100 SIT-UPS!
100… squats…!
And a… ten kilometer… run…
…
Everyone was speechless; Skathi and Genos most of all. Genos especially looked as though he'd just been told (and with concrete proof) that the world was a three-sided pyramid. Meanwhile, the man whom Skathi presumed dead looked just as confused as she was. But Carnage Kabuto's expression was harder to read. And what of Mayari? Well…
Mayari just bursts out laughing.
She utterly destroyed the silence with hearty, gut-busting laughter. She was cackling and guffawing so much that she had nearly collapsed to her knees. "Y-you… you g-guys," she struggled to breathe between fits of laughter, "You guys should see your faces! HAHA! Th-there-here… Th-that's…"
"THE BIGGEST LOAD OF CRAP I HAVE EVER HEARD!"
Once again, the room was plunged into silence by Genos' sudden outburst. Even Mayari had (at least mostly) stopped laughing. "That's only basic strength training! And it's not even that intense," he shouted, his fury clear in his tone. "I became your disciple to become stronger! Not to listen to stupid jokes!"
Having mostly caught her breath by this point, Mayari attempted to calm Genos down. "Woah, man, chill. It was just a joke."
"Actually, it wasn't."
Everyone looked at Saitama, stunned.
"You guys may not believe me," he began with his face now returned to its normal placid expression, "but that's really all I did."
A bewildered quiet filled the room once more… until Mayari replaced it with an even heartier laughter than before.
"HOLY CRAP YOU'RE SERIOUS!?" She yelled with tears in her eyes as she tumbled to the floor. "THAT'S THE FUNNIEST $#!% I'VE EVER HEARD."
"So that's how yer gonna be, eh?" Carnage Kabuto announced darkly. He lowered his stance as his muscles tensed up, then explosively bulged to twice their original size. The rest of his body trembled and shook as he seemed to grow even taller. The tip of his horn sharpened to a point, along with his teeth, and his exoskeleton shifted hue from a dull brown to a deep purple as the veins on his shell and joints began to glow a vibrant neon green.
"Go ahead and keep yer secrets," he said as his eyes glazed over to a shade of bloody red. "I bet yer not even stronger'n me anyway!"
If that wasn't enough to convince Skathi to get the hel out of dodge, then the lights in the room turning from white to red did the trick. Instantly, she scooped Genos into her arms, ran and grabbed Mayari, and made a mad dash with the two of them towards the exit. But to her horror, the doors slammed shut, practically disappearing into the wall.
"CARNAGE MODE!" Yelled Carnage Kabuto, his transformation now complete. "When I get like this, I go on a rampage for a whole week! Even after I kill ya, I won't stop 'till next Saturday!"
At that moment, Skathi notices Saitama tense up. It was like something she'd seen many times before: a prey animal realizing it had no means of escaping it's fate. But to see it on the face of the strongest human she's seen… She manifested an especially strong ice spear and jammed it into where the door had once been.
Behind her, the sounds of a monstrous battle echoed throughout the chamber. The sonic booms of titanic blows and the manic cackling of Carnage Kabuto echoed throughout the chamber. The jötunn hastened her effort, but this damn door just won't open!
"Uh… Tita Skathi?"
"Not now, Maya-" was all Skathi could say before she barely reacted in time to block a piece of incoming debris with her shield. It was only now that she noticed the… the utter carnage. Craters and cracks littered the once pristine arena, and in the middle of it all was Saitama being pummeled into a crater by the monster; its arms were blurred by their sheer speed. Saitama didn't fight back, only holding up his arms in what looked like a desperate defense.
"W-why isn't he fighting back…?" Skathi asked, her voice shaky
Genos is worried too. "Master…?"
The duo could only stare in terror as Carnage Kabuto continued to wail on Saitama, not noticing Mayari's unimpressed expression. All three of them watched as the monster raised his fist and brought it down on the bald hero, aiming to reduce the poor human to past-
"BARGAIN DAY AT THE SUPERMARKET!"
BOOM!
A sudden shout, an explosion of blood, and the room lights returned to their previous sterile white tint. The fight was over in a single punch, with Carnage Kabuto reduced to blood and giblets. Everyone (except Mayari, who was smugly smirking) was frozen in shock while Saitama, for some reason, kept screaming in apparent despair.
"I SCREWED UP!" he cried out, holding his head.
"What is he screaming about…?" Skathi thought to herself. A movement caught her eye. It was Genos who seemed to be holding something. She leaned over him to get a better look, and it seemed to be a… pink piece of paper. Looking closer, Skathi saw that it was the flyer for a special sale. Right then, the goddess remembered Saitama mentioning something about a sale he'd rather not miss, and she was in disbelief.
Genos, rather than share in her sentiment, simply got up and walked up to his still-wailing teacher. "Master!" he says to him. "That supermarket is approximately five hours away from here. If we hurry now, we should be able to make it an hour before it closes."
"Wait, y-you're saying that there's still a chance?!" Saitama asks. Genos nods in earnest, and Saitama immediately breaks for the far wall. "C'mon, then! Let's go! See ya later, Mayari!"
With that hastily made farewell, Saitama dashed to the far wall and punched it, resulting in a massive hole leading straight to the outside. And Saitama and Genos promptly disappeared into the horizon.
All that was left in the ruined House of Evolution now was Mayari, Skathi, its stunned leader, and what remained of its strongest member.
"What… was he on about?" Dr. Genus asked. It was the first thing he'd said in a good minute.
"He mentioned a special sale before we got here," Skathi said slowly. Then she shifted her attention towards Mayari, who was totally relaxed.
"Is he… often like that…?" Skathi asked the younger deity.
"Yep," said Mayari, nonchalantly. "He's broke as hell."
| Here Lies M.I.G.H.T.O Mk II |
| N/A - May 7th, 2023. |
*Burst!*
*Dirt crumbles and stone cracks as a monstrous corpse claws its way out of the ground*
RRRRAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGHH-
Ahem... Er- Hey guys. Sorry for uh... being dead.
I did not like writing this chapter because I couldn't find a way to put my own spin on things.
I didn't want it to just be a 1:1 recreation of the original, you know?
But eventually I figured "Eh #&% it, I could just edit it later."
Also, the place I was working at went under last year, so some belts had to be tightened. ;_;
Anyway... hope to see you in the next chapter! Maybe it'll come out before Season 4 releases. :P