Second Punch (ch.3)

Chapter 3

Boros had been following Tanktop Master's phone for a few hours now and finally he had reached City-Z, and looking at the map, Saitama lived at the opposite end of the city. There is the possibility that someone might be waiting in ambush there for him after he beat that hero at the tower, so it's only common sense that he should stay under the radar and go the long way around the city. But alas, common sense is only for common people.

Boros could simply sprint straight to his goal, but he wanted to take it slow and see the civilization he wanted to destroy earlier, first.

Boros didn't even bother hiding himself from the humans and so he simply marched down the main road towards the person who is his salvation and at the same time his demise. Even at the border, there were people and all sorts of vehicles everywhere, and the noise they were all making was a little bit more than annoying to him, especially since his superior hearing only multiplies thenoise. At least most people got quiet and vent out of the way when they saw him walking by, but others only stopped and started taking pictures, which was equally annoying as the sound.

It was extremely tempting to just let loose and silence all of them, but he needed every ounce of his strength if he wanted to have even the slightest chance of an actual fight.

Boros glanced at the skyscrapers for a moment and then resumed his walk. The giant glass buildings weren't really all that impressive to Boros. After all, he had seen a lot more advanced architecture when conquering all those other planets. But even if the buildings were actually impressive, he still wouldn't have stopped and admired them. No, he wouldn't be side tracked from his goal by some mere distractions.

Boros continued walking through the crowded streets, and even if most people were shying away from him, his progress was still very slow. But soon, the crowd started to thin out and he was able to resume his swift pace.

After a dozen minutes of walking, there were no more people on the street and he was walking through an empty street, so empty that only distant chatter could be heard "Too empty" he noted.

After a bit more walking, the phone finally showed that he was at his destination. The map had zoomed in and was clearly showing that Saitama was in the beat-up building in front of him.

The apartment as well as the area around it was worn by obvious marks of battle. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see Saitama living there.

"If they lied to me, I'll just start blasting until he comes to me" he thought while looking at the phone "But since I'm already here, might as well check" he thought as he took a deep breath.

~{^_^}~

(A bit earlier in the day)

It was a normal day in the Saitama residence. The cyborg named Genos was writing something in his notebook with a tense air around him, and the man himself was laying in front of a widescreen TV, watching some sort of comedy show.

These past few days were strangely peaceful, with only a few level-Tiger monsters popping up here and there. Usually, there would be at least one monster showcased on the disaster channel, but after watching it for the whole morning and seeing nothing, Saitama gave up and started switching channels until anything caught his attention, and thankfully, this comedy show did just that. Even when his phone rang, after fishing in his pocket for a bit and answering, he didn't pay any attention to the speaker and continued watching the show, only making a few "uh um" sounds now and then. He hung up when, he thinks, the caller had finished speaking.

"Who was that, master?" asked Genos, taking a little break from his notes.

Genos was Saitama's only student and one of the very few friends he had, so, not wanting to look too lazy or anything like that, he tried his best to answer the question.

"It was..." he took a quick glance at his still awake phone "the HQ!" Saitama was actually quite proud of himself for answering without lying.

"What did they want?" casually asked the student.

"Damit, Genos, why are you so curious" he thought, but said "They wanted..." Saitama's eyes darted around the room, not really knowing what they were looking for, and when he found nothing, he just rolled with it "to congratulate me..." Genos stayed silent, obviously waiting for his master to continue "for..." Saitama's brain was working on overdrive at this point "beating that monster, that one time..." he finally said, hoping that Genos wouldn't ask any further questions.

"Oh, you mean the Elder scorpion?" Genos asked and Saitama sighed as he knew that his lame attempt at creating a story worked "Well it was level Demon, maybe you'll get promoted!" Genos said with quite a bit of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, maybe" Saitama answered as he rolled back in front of the TV, happy that the subject dropped.

After a while, Genos had finished writing and joined his master in watching more comedy shows. This peaceful morning continued on until a loud shout broke the air of lazynes that mostly came from the bald hero.

"SAITAMA!" was the name being shouted "I CAME FOR A REMATCH!".

The shout was so loud, that everyone in half a mile radius would have probably come to them with complaints for disturbing peace. That is, if there was anyone in half a mile radius.

Genos quickly jumped to his feet "Don't worry, master, I'll take care of it" he said that and started walking towards the door.

"Wait, I'll go" said Saitama while standing up.

Genos froze. He turned to look at his master and saw an expression that he couldn't quite describe. Master Saitama, a person who singlehandedly stopped a level-dragon disaster and acted like it was nothing afterwards, was showing interest in something other than sales or food?

Saitama walked past his student, opened the door and walked through, Genos quickly rushed after him.

The bald hero walked to the railing and stared at the one who had shouted his name earlier. The look he had was the same mix of many emotions as before, but this time, disbelief was the strongest one. This, of course, didn't go unnoticed by the cyborg "Who is this man, that can make master actually care?" Genos thought while looking closely at the stranger.

"LET US FIGHT, SAITAMA" shouted Boros while wearing one of his widest grins on his face.

"So you're alive!" loudly asked Saitama.

"Wait, does this mean that this man fought master, and lived nonetheless!?" Genos thought, shocked.

Genos had studied all the heroes, all the villains and any strong people in general that had available, sometimes not, information about them, but he never saw even a glimpse of anyone like him.

"Master, do you know him?" Genos urgently asked.

"Yeah, he..." but he didn't get to finish because he was interrupted by the man in question jumping at them when he heard them starting to talk about him.

"I am Boros, leader of Black Mater" he started "I came..."

"He's the boss of those guys that came last week and bombed A-city" whispered Saitama to Genos, effectively stopping the long introduction that was about to take place.

Boros' shocked expression was quickly replaced by a toothy grin "Straight to the point, huh?" he asked "Well then, I came for a rematch!" he exclaimed proudly.

"Master said that this manwas the strongest enemy he has ever faced!" Genos thought and glared at the alien man "Master, please let me take care of him!".

"You have a student?" Boros asked Saitama, pleasantly surprised. But he couldn't feel any strength coming from Saitama's student, so he's either very weak, or a machine "You must be a cyborg" he guessed.

Ignoring the question and not waiting for his master's reply, Genos trew a quick but strong punch at the intruder, trying to catch him off guard. Boros managed to step back to avoid it, but Genos kept on attacking. With each strike he was starting to build up speed, but Boros kept easily avoiding each one, that is, until he reached the end of the corridor and accidentally crashed through.

As Boros was falling, he saw the cyborg charging up energy in his hands. When Genos fired, Boros used a bit of his energy to propel himself out of the huge laser's path. But when Boros landed on the ground and looked up, the cyborg was gone.

•~•

After Genos had fired, he immediately jumped down to get a head start on his attack. When he landed, he clasped his hands together and pointed them to the spot where Boros will land in a few moments and began charging up energy. When Boros had landed, Genos released a concentrated laser blast straight at him.

Boros felt a strong energy coming from behind him, and when he turned around he was greeted with a laser being shot at him. He had side stepped to the left, but he wasn't quite fast enough and got his right hand blown off byhe elbow.

Genos was about to sprint toward Boros with a follow up, seeing that he had managed to damage it, but abruptly stopped when he saw the expression on his face "I have blown off his hand but he is... smiling? No, he said he fought master and survived, does he have regeneration?" and sure enough, Boros quickly regrew his arm as if nothing had happened.

Genos started sprinting towards the man once more, but Boros surprised the cyborg with an attack of his own. Boros moved with lightning speed and threw a punch at the cyborg's face.

While Genos dodged, he wasn't quite fast enough and got his right cheek blown off. This kind of injury would have a game breaker to most people, but Genos ignored it and counter attacked with a heavy left to Boros' face.

He caught the punch inches away from his face with his right hand, he crushed the hand and threw the cyborg towards a nearby building on his right. The cyborg crashed into the first floor and after a few moments of no movement, Boros assumed that he won.

Boros turned back to the floor from which he had fallen and saw a carefree Saitama leaning against the railing. Boros was about to challenge him once more, but he then felt the already familiar sensation of energy gathering on his left and had to step forward to avoid the concentrated laser which was aimed at his head. Both Boros and Saitama turned their heads to the source of the attack.

In the middle of a huge hole in a building, on top of a huge rubble pile stood Genos, and even though he was breathing heavily and his left hand was crushed, he still charged at Boros with the same determination as before. He was about to give a heavy punch to Boros' face, but Boros interrupted the attack with a quick punch to Genos' head with his left hand. Genos didn't bother getting back on his feet as he fell, instead using the momentum of the fall as an opportunity to attack him again. Genos kicked with his right leg and used all of his strength and boosters he had, aiming for the head.

Boros wasn't expecting this but still managed to somehow block it with his arm. As the attack landed, a loud 'crunch' was heard. Genos wasn't sure if it was his leg or Boros' hand, but before he could think any further, he was grabbed by the neck and held up to Boros' eye level.

"That's enough" Boros said calmly.

Genos quickly weighted his options "On one hand- even if I am a bit hurt..." he consciously ignored all the damage reports that were popping up in his vision "...I could keep going. But on the other- this guy isn't even breaking a sweat even after all of that"

"You are not my opponent" Boros squeezed his neck a little and held him closer to his eye "So don't get in my way" he said before tossing Genos aside like some sort of a bag.

Genos had to admit "This man is strong" he got up and glanced up at his master "But is he strong enough?"

Boros once again faced Saitama "It was a nice warm up!" he almost shouted and then grinned the same smile as earlier "But I came here to fight!"