Hello once again, and welcome to chapter 2!

I must say, I am surprised, no, SHOCKED by the amount of favorites, follows and reviews I've gotten on the first chapter! I mean, 13 Reviews, 22 Follows and 14 Favorites? That's crazy! The MOST I was expecting was, like... 4 Reviews, 3 Follows and maybe 3 Favorites. AT MOST.

I had no idea this many people would find it enjoyable. It's great news, for sure!

Well, I hope the second chapter is as good as the first!

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

-Memories-

Sound Effects

POV ANNOTATIONS

Chapter 2: The fan

Tptptptptptptp shhk tptptp

A bald man in his pajamas is running through the center of a desolate street, his feet scrape harshly against the pavement as he takes a sharp turn.

Further down the street, loud clangs and clashes can be heard between metal and hard chitin, with a jet of fire spewing out into the sky occasionally.

He looks up to see a dark cloud starting to form in the sky towards his destination, a cloud of mosquitoes. 'Crap, I need to hurry! I can't let him blow himself up!'

He takes another turn, running down the street until he can see them in the distance.

"Perfect, just a straight shot from here! 188, 68, 54..." He reminds himself repeatedly as his running picks up pace, gaining more and more speed so he can make it on ti-

CRRCKtk tktkt tk tk

He blinks a few times and looks around to see that he is in some sort of library or book store of sorts, and the lower half of him is missing.

Wait..

Just outside, a man of mostly metal looks over at the lower half of what appears to be a man in pajamas sticking out of a book store's brick wall, after hearing a loud crash from behind him. 'Who's this guy?!'

"Hey, are you okay?! If you are, you need to leave! It's dangerous if you stay!" The cyborg shouts at the presumed persons rear end, with said person on the other side wigging out.

"Ohmygosh, it's actually him! Eiii! Okay, okay calm down, calm down. Gotta get out of here and help." The man says to himself in an overly excited voice, before pulling himself out of the hole in the wall with a bizarre amount of ease.

He doesn't think he'll ever get used to that.

He looks over at the cyborg staring at him, and just stares back.

He has no words for how amazing the real life version of Genos looks, he could almost cry.

Though his missing left arm is worrying.

"Did you hear me? You need to leave, it's not safe! That swarm of mosquitoes is sentient! Once it realizes you're here, it'll attack!" The cyborg yells out once more, snapping the baldy out of his stupor.

"O-oh! R-right! Yes! I'll, uh.. Oh my.." He looks up at the swarm of mosquitoes with widening eyes as it descends towards them. 'This is the embodiment of horror..'

The swarm crashes into the ground, spreading through the streets and into windows like a river of oil.

A few sparks and electrical tendrils emit from the palm of Genos' mechanical hand, who then points it towards the ground in front of him.

The bald man saw this, and realizing what happens next in the show, he had only one thing he needed to do..

"Incinerate!" Genos shouts, a massive jet of fire spews forth from his palm, igniting the flying insects until the entire place is set ablaze.

A few moments past, the surface area now glowing red hot from the exposure to such intense heat, Genos' expression serious and focused until a thought hit him. 'Wait, that guy might of-'

He turns towards the strange man from before, his worried expression turning to one of utter confusion from the sight. '..What?'

The bald man from before is bellybutton deep in the pavement, his legs buried beneath the burning asphalt.

The man's eyes, having been shut tight this entire time, slowly open up to look back at the cyborg staring at him dumbly. 'Who is this man?'

"Uh-uhm, hello I'm, uh, S-Saitama, hi.. Eheheh.." Saitama waves sheepishly, before pulling himself out of the hole he shoved himself in.

His pajama pants intact. 'Like hell I'm gonna be nude! I ain't that casual!'

"Ehihihihi! Idiot! I no longer need the tiny ones. I mean," The mosquito girl slashes at a building to her right, obliterating the top half in an instant.

Genos stares in shock by this display of power, while Saitama just stares in awe for a moment. 'Woah, she is literally naked... Too bad she's a monstrous abomination..'

"Look... how strong I've become! Ehihii!" She turns to face them with a crazed expression, delighted in the new power she got.

Then, in an instant, she seemingly disappears from view, at least to Genos.

She reappears behind Genos, raising her arm to strike at her slower pray.

Clng-CKck

The mosquito girl's eyes widen, looking at her chipped claws that seemed to have broken considerably against this strange man in pajama pants?

"H-hey, put some pants on." Saitama says with a slight stutter, blocking the attack with his arm. 'Okay, I can do this, she isn't that bad! Not scary at all, more like.. Like someone in a silly costume! Yeah, this should be easy then... right?'

She seems taken aback, either by the comment or the fact he could block her attack, or maybe both.

Genos turns around sharply with a gasp and jumps back, watching with his mouth agape at the spectacle before him, this seemingly normal looking man stopping this monster's attack with ease.

Mosquito girl's expression turns frustrated, she scoffs and jumps back a few meters from this bald stranger.

"And who are you, huh? Another robot freak sent to exterminate me? Huh?!" She shouts at this new foe, who instead of getting riled up, just laughs instead.

Both Genos and Mosquito girl stare with confusion written all over their faces as his laughter dies down.

"Okay, okay. For one, Neither of us are robots! Hahahah! He's clearly a cyborg! And me? I'm just a normal human, just like all those that you've been sucking dry until now. Albeit, I am a very, very strong human, but that isn't the point." Saitama says with a cocky smirk, though his face is covered in nervous sweat and there is a slight shaking to his knees. 'Just talk and laugh until you can move again, come on man, just.. just calm down, you're way stronger than this ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING monstrosity'

"Oh, okay. Then what is the point?!" She yells, frustrated by this mere human's attitude.

Though she is starting to think he isn't any 'mere' human at all, so she decides to take a more defensive stance.

"W-well, you see, um... the point is," In an instant he is standing in front of her with a finger poised to flick, with neither of the other two seeing him move. 'He's fast!'

"Bugs... uh, suck." He flicks his finger, making sure to put as little power in it as possible, but still enough to kill, hopefully.

She evaporates upon impact, with the next 10 buildings on either side down the road shaking and crumbling slightly from the blast.

Saitama stares with wide eyes, before looking down at his hands. 'I had no idea it'd be that powerful..'

"Gkah-agkhh!" He hears a strangled noise behind him and turns around to see Genos with a hilariously shocked expression, staring off to where the Mosquito girl was.

"O-oh, uh.. Ba dum tsh! Heheh, get it? Bugs, uh.. suck because they're, uh.. Mosquitoes and stuff.. Koff.. Anyways, you alright there?" Saitama approaches Genos until he is about 2 meters away, periodically looking down to make sure his pants haven't fallen.

"...Ah! Do not worry about me, this injury is nothing! My name is Genos, please may I be your disciple, Mr. Saitama?!" Genos bows greatly, startling Saitama in the process.

He doesn't know what to do with this, this weird attention is making him feel uneasy and nervous.

Like he's been asked to show his report to the rest of class, when he wasn't even the one that written it.

And maybe he shouldn't have told him his name so early, he's not sure how he feels about the Mr. honorific, it almost seems sarcastic until you realize it's Genos that's saying it.

"U-uhm.. Well.. Oh, to heck with it. Sure, why not? I'll try my best to teach you everything I know!" He says with a toothy grin and thumbs up, though to anyone who isn't awed, they would clearly see that it's forced.

"R-really?!" Genos looked relieved to hear this, though he quickly switches back to his stoic front.

"Y-yeah! Oh, uh, I live in the apartment complex on the corner of 54th and 68th street. My, uh, apartment number is 188. Whenever you want, you can come over and I can start teaching you, or something. Sound good?" Saitama says with a smile, slowly starting to get used to the situation.

The initial hype to talking to a fictional character is slowly ebbing away, though it is still really awesome.

"Yes, that should be fine. Thank you for accepting me as your disciple, Sensei!" Genos says with another bow, causing Saitama to smirk a bit in response. 'Already calling me Sensei? That's interesting..'

"Ah, yeah. Well, uh... I'll see you later then. Oh, and, uh... Ah, nevermind. It's fine. See ya later, Genos! I've gotta go change, and.. do stuff.. Khm.. uh, bye." He says before awkwardly and briskly walking back to his apartment.

"Very well. I shall meet with you again soon, Sensei!" Genos says with yet another bow, before jumping onto a roof and jumping away. 'What a powerful man.. I have to learn of his secrets..'

And with that, the two go separate ways, for now..

After losing track of where he was a few times, Saitama finally managed to find his apartment complex, entering his apartment shortly thereafter.

He walks up to the desk where his computer is, before slumping into the chair like a corpse.

He just stares blankly at the ceiling for a few seconds, until he can no longer contain his excitement.

"Hiiiih!" An almost painful looking smile breaks across his face. his hands tightly squeezing into fists a few inches away from his chest. 'That was the most awesome thing ever! And this is what my life is now?!'

After a minute, the feeling passes, leaving him staring at his dark computer screen with a smile that'd seem very off putting if seen on Saitama.

"I can't believe this.. I can't.. AhhhhHHH! This is just- freakin', too much! This is crazy! What the hell?! What ancient gods did I appease to deserve this?!" He shouts to no one in particular, though maybe his neighbors heard him, if he had any that is.

"Okay, calm down, this is fine. Great actually! I can-.. I can basically do whatever I want! I mean, who could stop me?! Hhh... No, no.. I'd feel like garbage later if I abused this power.. Or hurt someone undeserving.. but MAN just knowing, knowing that.. that I can, uh.. Crap.." He leans on his desk, looking over the keyboard keys absentmindedly. 'What do I do now? Genos will be stalking me for the next few days if it plays out like the show, so what do I do while that's happening?'

He sits up from the chair, walking over to the closet and opening it.

His hero suit, the combo of yellow, white and red in the familiar pattern he knows all too well.

He always wondered how the suit never got destroyed in any of his fights, or how it seemingly magically repaired itself whenever he used it next episode when it did get damaged.

Maybe it was explained in lore he missed, like in one of the specials.

Though he was sure he watched them all, so maybe he just forgot.

He stares at the hero suit a little longer, gently rubbing his finger across the glove when an idea hit him.

"That's it!" He snaps his fingers, turning around and getting back into his computer chair.

With a button press, the computer roars to life, the screen lighting up to a user sign in interface with Saitama already logged on.

Definitely saved him there, as he doesn't know the password.

He clicks the browser icon, before typing into the search bar and pressing enter.

His smile widens as he reads through the results. 'Oh, this is perfect! One is scheduled later today, a few hours from now. But should I wait? ... No, screw the storyline, I'm not going to be lazy like Saitama was!'

Once he gets the information he wants, he closes the browser and turns off the computer.

He walks back over to the closet, before taking his hero suit down. 'Time to get out of these torn pajama pants'

With a few buttons snapped together, zippers zipped and everything else neatly tucked in, he's almost ready.

He looks around the room a bit for a map, to make things easier.

And surprisingly there is one, in the corner of the top shelf of his manga collection. 'Perfect, now I am ready!'

He opens the front door to his apartment, turning off the light before heading out.

He wonders what rank he'll get on the hero test as he makes his way to D-City.

"Okay, so.. I'm here, and the, uh.. There, that's the Hero recruitment place... So, where the heck is it?" He surveys the area from atop a tall office building, scratching his head before looking back at the map with a frustrated and confused expression. 'Maybe I'm not where I think I am.. Dang it, never had to use a map before, and now I wish I did'

He stands up, looking further out towards the surrounding city, then down at his map once more, and back to the city. 'Maybe the city is just much bigger than I think it is, and I'm not scaling it correctly in my head'

He looks down at the park with a statue of a man riding a horse, which he has been using as a landmark to know where he is on the map. 'This doesn't make sense, am I just stupid or am I doing this wrong?'

He points to another landmark in the distance, a massive boulder split in two, that was perhaps used in a fight and is now there to immortalize the battle, and the park with his other hand.

He looks down at the map, seeing how the two relate to each other, before zeroing in on where the Hero recruitment center should be, direction-wise.

He stands on the railing on his tip-toes, looking off in the direction it should be, trying to scan as far as he can for the dome indicating the center.

... "There it is! Right there! Right freaking there, with the freakin' skyscrapers blocking most of it, I swear for the love of- Oouuaah... So much wasted time, damn it." He vents a bit before picking up his map and preparing for a controlled leap, which he has to admit is the funnest way to travel ever, period.

Bmff . . . ThmbShk

He leaps onto the roof of a building 3 blocks down, bending his knees greatly when he lands to prevent himself from creating more craters like he did before.

Which is actually easy to do, since timing it isn't a problem with how fast he can choose to be.

Which is also something that he doesn't understand, how he can experience time normally like everyone else.

But at the same time, when he wants to, he can just focus and decide to move with insane speed and accuracy.

Though to him it's more like everything else has slowed down to a near halt, like when he blocked Mosquito girl's attack from before.

He wonders a bit how far he can push his senses if he focused on them.

Like a superman 'listening to the world' kind of scenario, though he doesn't think he wants to try that as it might drive him insane.

With a few more leaps and "gentle" landings, he is close enough to jump down to the road and walk the rest of the way.

He's honestly surprised how quickly he got control over his jumping, though it was probably because he focused on speed, not strength.

After all, a fist with infinite strength hitting a wall at 1 mph would simply pass through it, leaving a hole in it's wake.

But a fist with infinite strength hitting a wall at 1000 mph would obliterate the wall to pieces, as well as the surrounding building as well, probably.

Now that he thinks about it, that's probably why his flick was so powerful.

It's kinda hard to do a flick slowly, especially when you're on edge.

He shakes his head to pull himself out of his pondering, and focuses back on the massive dome in front of him.

There's already a line of potential heroes waiting to be let in, with some having already been let in.

He jogs up and stands at the start of the line, looking at all the outfits of the other possible recruits.

Some of them actually have really awesome outfits, with a few that look to be warming themselves up with quick jabs at the air, or handstand push ups.

How exciting, this might be the coolest line he has ever waited in.

He taps the shoulder of the person directly next in line, who seems to be dressed up as a fire hydrant with a water tank on his back.

"Hello! I gotta say, I really like your outfit." Saitama says with just a general happiness look on his face, the fire hydrant man turning his head to look back with a side glance.

"Oh, uh.. Thanks, I guess." He replies, not really sure how to respond to this strange bald hero wannabe.

"Yeah, it looks like it'll be really useful as well. Lots of fires can start in a monster fight, after all. Nice that you thought that through." Saitama at this point is just making idle conversation while he waits, though he does find the topic interesting.

The Fire Hydrant man turns more towards him, a slight glint in his eyes as he smirks.

"Right? That was my original idea. Some of these other guys say I look silly, but I bet they didn't expect I could do this as well!" He says, before crouching down and bringing his arms in.

And, much to Saitama's surprise, he actually looks like a fire hydrant.

If not a little bigger than normal.

"Woah! Camouflage as well! You can definitely catch some baddies off guard if you stand like that on the sidewalk or something. That's neat!" Saitama says, gently tapping the top of the 'hydrant' that returns a metallic sound. 'Woah, it's actually made of metal. That's useful.'

"Heh, yep. Ahh, my name is Mizuta, by the way." Mizuta says as he stands back up, holding out a hand for a handshake.

"I'm Saitama, nice to meet ya." Saitama says with a smile, returning the handshake.

The two let go, Saitama fixing his cape a bit while Mizuta looks off towards the dome.

"We'll be going up, soon. By the way, I have to ask. What's your focus? I mean, are you just strong or fast or something?" Mizuta says, gesturing to his outfit seeing how it doesn't have a theme like his.

"Oh, oh yeah. Stupidly so, it's kinda hard to explain really.." Saitama rubs the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh yeah? Try me, I'm curious now." Mizuta crosses his arms, a smirk on his face as he waits for an explanation.

"U-uhh.. Well.. Ah, here! This'll be a safe way to show you." He bends down and picks up a large nail that was laying between the crack separating the sidewalk and front ground to the hero recruitment facility, probably broke off a light post or something.

Mizuta stares confused and curious, wondering what he is doing.

"Okay, here. Watch this." Saitama takes off his glove, and places the large nail longways between his thumb and index finger.

He squeezes until his finger and thumb touch, Mizuta looking on with widening eyes.

"Here, see? I'm pretty strong, huh?" He lifts his finger, showing the once nail, now a flat disk on his thumb.

"W-woah.. Yeah, you're something else alright.. Is-is that what it takes to be a hero?" Mizuta looks up at Saitama, a worried look in his eyes.

"O-oh, no no! Don't get discouraged or anything, I'm probably going to get S-Class or something. I just hadn't signed up because, uh... Khm.. Anyways, I'm sure you'll be fine. Lots of less interesting people became heroes, so why not yourself, right?" Saitama tries encouraging him, not exactly wanting to scare away all the other participants like what happened in the show.

More heroes, the better, especially if a few of these guys could become B or A class.

"Okay, hold on a second here." Mizuta takes the now flat disc, and tries to bend it or deform it in any way, to check its authenticity.

He can't, with which his response is grabbing Saitama's hand and observing it.

"... What the heck, man? Not even a mark, or dent. Are you a cyborg or something?" He has to ask, prodding his index finger, which was pressed against the sharp end of the nail.

"Eh, nope. Just your average Joe. Heheh.." Saitama says, pulling his hand back and putting his glove back on.

Mizuta scoffs in disbelief.

"Average, riiiight. sigh... You know what? Good luck to you, I hope you get into S-Class. You seem like someone who could put in some real work, and I can admire that. I mean, if you don't get into S-class, then I don't even think I'll be able to reach C-class! Hahaha!" He says half jokingly, patting Saitama's shoulder.

"Who knows, really! Hahah.. Um, have you ever tried becoming a hero before, Mizuta? You know, in these exams?" Saitama asks, Mizuta's smile faltering a bit as he looks off to the side.

"Yeah, twice... The first time was about two years ago. I was.. unprepared and didn't have any of the equipment I do now. I mean, heh, I just had basically a garden hose as my 'weapon'.. Yeah, I was royally rejected." He explains, shaking his head at his past self.

"The, uh, second time was a month ago. I had my equipment and stuff, but uh.. It malfunctioned during testing. I scored better, but still couldn't even reach C-class. But hey, third times the charm, right? And I tweaked my high-pressure water cannon so it wouldn't break like it did last time, and even perform much better than it did before. So I got that going for me." He shows off the 'water cannon' attached to his arm, which looks like the kind of nozzle used to cut steel using high-pressured water streams, though smaller.

"I see, well I hope that works out for ya! Good luck in the exams, Mizuta!" Saitama says with a pat on the back, seeing how they're approaching the entrance now that the line has gotten shorter.

"Ah, same goes for you, Saitama. Perhaps we'll cross paths again, but fighting monsters as heroes." Mizuta says with a wink, before walking up to the registration station. 'Man, he was nice... And to think, all those nameless heroes and fodder people in the show, are now real... They're real people, with lives and problems of their own.. This world is massive..'

Next up follows Saitama, who begins filling out the registration papers with all the knowledge he has gained about Saitama throughout the years. 'Name Saitama, Age 25, Height 5'9", Weight 154 lbs, Home Address... Apartment number 188, Z-54th St, Z-City..'

Then, with a confident yet social anxiety filled smile, he makes his way to the exam area with hopes of reaching S-Class.

And there ya have it!

Mizuta probably isn't going to be a thing, and if he ever did return, it'll be more of a cameo than anything further down the story. He was basically my attempt at fleshing out the world, haha.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! There was a lot of things changed throughout me writing it. Some small, meaningless things. Others being entire chunks of the story, much like how I did the first chapter. I'm always so indecisive...

Anyways, please review and tell me what you think! As always, feedback is welcomed and much appreciated as it helps me grow as an author.

Until next time!