Violent explosions painted the sky above the ship, it was like a firework show on display for the world.
Rebirth and Boros exchanged blow after blow and the impact of each other's clashing left more shockwaves on the ground in the wake of their battle.
Tatsumaki attempted to follow the two in their constant clashing but something was delaying her.
The sheer force and speed of the battle was beyond her comprehension.
'I can't even keep up with their movements...' she thought to herself as she watched in astonishment at the two. With the immense power she possessed, it wasn't hard for her to pummel any enemy to a mere atom, but she can't control what she couldn't touch or see.
'What the hell is this...?! I came up here to save this A class newbie and I can't even match up to his speed?!' she was in utter disbelief as she blocked off the explosions of power that waved her way.
Through the ground breaking battle, both combatants wore a smile as they spilled blood and reshaped the entire ship with their very punches.
The electricity Rebirth gave off would cause their own violent barrages on the ship's mainframe as the entire structure could not withstand it anymore and very slowly began losing altitude.
"Yeeess.....YEEESSSS!" Boros screamed as he slammed his fists on the ground to send a wave of molten metal beneath his feet, at his opponent. "My muscles have never been in more pain! Give me more, Rebirth!"
'Does he have to make this sound weird?' Rebirth though as he clapped his hands together and shot through the molten wave.
"And even now, you're not using your full potential!" Boros saw through Rebirth's moves and got up close when he saw the opportunity.
He slammed his knee into his stomach and sent him flying up above. He then jumped off the ground with the impact of a rocket and went after him.
"Show me what a true fighter is!!" Boros lunged for his neck but Rebirth spun sideways mid air and slammed a shocking kick to his neck.
Tatsumaki was now let staring upwards in a daze, either couldn't or refused to process what she's seeing. It was as if a thunderstorm had come without the clouds.
"Fine then..." Rebirth whisper as he delivered a knee to Boros' stomach as payback then flew higher.
"ThunderClap!!" He screamed as the bright glow around him grew from yellow to red. He then looked down at the Alien and began vibrating in place. Several clones appeared beside him.
"After images...?!"
But all those wavering clones disappeared as Rebirth balled his hand into a fist. The afterimages seemingly sucked into his hand alone.
"RAGE OF THE SKY GOD!!"
Rebirth soon brought down his fist at light speed as his entire body morphed into a giant ball of energy itself.
All heros on the ground and floating in the air bore witness to this blinding lightshow as he fell back down onto the ship
The large ball of flame and energy grew bigger when it hit the ship as the impact alone made the whole thing jerk down. A delayed out explosion rang the ears of anyone near by.
Tatsumaki looked on with nothing to say as her hands hung limp at the sight of such display.
When the smoke cleared, her eyes widened at something else.
The ship was now so low that it touching the last remaining tall buildings.
She flew down at the crash sight. A large crater the size of a stadium was what greeted the girl as she went past small clouds of smoke and occasional sparks.
Rebirth stood there near the edge of it with his sleeves burnt to a crisp and gone while his arms where slightly blackened by his own burst. He coughed and turned around.
"Hey, Miss Tornado...fancy seeing you here." He said with a bruised smile on his face.
"Who even are you?" She bluntly asked.
It was an ironic sight. Tatsumaki showed no damage sustained and was floating inches above the man who was completely tattered and a tired mess.
He simply stood there with an amused look in his eye as he finally breathed in and stood straight.
"...My name is Saro and I'm a-"
Tatsumaki suddenly waved her hand infront of him. A violent blast shone right behind Rebirth as he turned around to see a shield over him. Protecting him from an attack.
"That was perfect..." Boros' voice rumbled as he emerged from the deepest end of the crater.
He revealed himself, missing both his arms and a chunk of his stomach.
"The few reasons why my enemies refused to fight me was the fact that even if they managed to put a scratch on me..." His arms suddenly pop out from his shoulders and his stomach reattached it's tissues until it was whole again. "My body regenerates if I put my focus into it. In other words, I could go on forever....can you?"
He gave the two a teethy smile as he krinkled his neck and warmed up with some squats.
Rebirth sighed and was about to get ready for round two but Tatsumaki floated up infront of him.
"I'll show you a-"
"Don't." Rebirth placed a hand on her shoulder.
Tatsumaki's face went dark at the hand touching her. She would rip every single cell in his body with the killing intent that was brewing inside her.
"I'll take him on. I need you to do something else."
Tatsumaki flipped around and smacked his hand away, her emerald eyes blaring with a new enraged glow.
"Don't underestimate me, loser. I'm going to speed this along. How did you manage to get like this against that thing? Weaklings don't belong in the association."
Seemingly unfazed by her words, rebirth takes his stance once again and struggles to regain his 'ThunderClap' form.
"I'm not underestimating your power Miss Tornado...that's why you're the only one who can do this." He said.
Tatsumaki was already floating away into battle as he spoke.
"The ship is going to crash into the city... it's going to kill the entire population if it's not stopped... You're the only one powerful enough to keep it up or better yet, destroy it in the air."
She suddenly stopped a short distance away. Rebirth continued talking.
"Heh, please. Leave the trash to the rest of us, you're a real hero, you should be focusing on more important things. Like, save the city and not waste time on an alien."
Tatsumaki was again in a strange new state of emotion as a hint of warmth grew on her cheeks. She immediately shook her head and flew past Rebirth.
"Don't think I'm listening to you. I just remembered that my sister is in this city somewhere too, I can't let anything hurt her." She said as she flew off the top of the ship.
"Heh right. This guy destroyed my apartment...I'll be the one to take him down. If you'd have gotten in the way, I would have fought you too."
Tatsumaki's eyes go wide as she turns around to see Rebirth go rushing into the battle again. His words delivered to her permanently.
She turned and continued on, her teeth grinding against each other as she went on.
"The nerve of this guy..."
As she descended, she discovered that Rebirth wasn't lying. The ship was nearing the ground but as slowly as possible.
Using her psychic powers, she lifted the ship back up again to a more stable position as Genos suddenly showed up.
"What are you doing? Is master okay?"
"ZIP IT!!"
Genos said nothing and just watched in silence.
"Alright Boros...as much as I enjoy the idea of a longer fight, I don't think either of us want to go on forever." Rebirth said as his powers charge back up.
"Hm~ Then a victor will decide an end to this. I may let you live to see another day but for you to stop me...you're going to have to kill me." Boros taunted as the two clashed again.
"It's never easy with you invaders is it..?" Rebirth said with a smile as the two battle crazed men stared at each other and continued their fight.
Boros seemed to be hitting harder now, or maybe Rebirth was finally tiring out. He could actually feel his attacks strain his bones.
After guarding against an onslaught of fists to his face, Rebirth jumped into the air and slammed his heel down on the alien's head, causing the two to crash back into the interior of the ship.
The entire structure wobbled again as Tatsumaki suddenly grunted from the pressure.
"Agh...!! You get me to do this stupid job and then decide to make it harder?! I'll have your eye balls for this snow white!" She could only recall that messy white hair...that flowed small strands infront of that bright sweet sm- 'Wait what the hell?!'
She shook her head and brought her focus back to stabilizing the ship.
"F-forget it! I'm throwing this thing back where it came from! Find your way back yourself!" She referred to Rebirth as she raised her arms and forced the ship to lift higher into the sky.
"What is she doing...?" Child Emperor asked as two medics tend to Flashy Flash next to him.
"She's pushing the ship out of orbit..." Zombieman said, standing shirtless next to the child.
Boros and Rebirth traded more bloody blows this time, leaving more permanent damage on each other. Boros' self regeneration was useless in this matter because Rebirth wouldn't give him time to concentrate and regrow or repair what he lost.
Rebirth would sustain equal damage with one of his arms now useless due to a fractured shoulder blade but he was too stubborn to let it rest.
Back outside, a vein popped out on Tatsumaki's head as she struggled to get the ship into orbit.
'I can't believe I'm struggling with this...and it's all because of the force of their fight...just- what- are they?!' the girl thought as she grunted.
'I can feel the air getting thinner... we're probably past the ozone layer by now- I gotta finish this-!'
Rebirth's thoughts are halted by Boros headbutting the man with such force that they end up back outside but this time at the underside of the ship.
"Let me get you back into shape!!" Boros screamed as he turned his back to Rebirth then suddenly let out an energy blast through his hands, it acted as a rocket thruster as he slammed his back onto Rebirth and shoved him into the ship.
The power of the blast caused the ship to speed up upwards and lessen the load on Tatsumaki as she sighed and looked up.
The ship was actually leaving the atmosphere and by this point it wasn't her controlling it.
For a moment, everything went silent as the heros and surviving humans looked upon the ship getting smaller and smaller from their sights. Soon, they all started celebrating and cheering for victory.
The heros that remained on the roof were also sighing in relief with a faint smile on their face as they slump down.
The rest of the S class heros reached the roof as well, including Puri Puri Prisoner. Minus the few who were already absent during the meeting.
All these positive acts of joy weren't reflected on two individuals. Tatsumaki and Genos looked up anxiously.
The ship suddenly exploded. It was too far away to cause any damage to the planet but the light was bright enough to look like a second sun.
"Rebirth!!" Genos yelled. His call made all the other heros lose their smiles and stare up in silence.
Tatsumaki's crossed arms go limp but her fists stay clenched. Why would she be feeling anxious? What is she waiting for? Why is she actually hopping?
Rebirth opened his eyes to see white rocks floating over his face. Shaking his head, he tried getting up but he couldn't feel his body weight, everything around him was black.
When he finally came to, he realized that he's crushed in the body of the moon. The first instinct of his was to block his nose.
He snapped his gaze around in a panic to see Boros just a few feet away, he was on his feet but he looked fairly different.
He turned to face Rebirth, his body barely being stable in this lack of gravity but he looked ready for more rounds to go.
"If you must know, this is my finest and final form....Cosmic Burst." He walked towards Rebirth. "My power goes beyond it's previous limits, but I rarely use this due to the fact that it shortens my life span..."
Rebirth was shaking in place, he exhausted his powers too much at this point but he's got more back ups lately. He just needs the will to use it.
"But I've come to realize that I shouldn't care about such things anymore. The height of your skill has shown me the will to fight to the very end...So in a way, I ask you-" Boros clenches his fist as the surface beneath him cracks. "Do your best to kill me..."
Rebirth pointed at his mouth, his cheeks puffed up with what little air he has left in him.
"I see. You cannot breathe outside your planet's atmosphere." Boros suddenly squatted and tightened his chest. "Then I guess we'll have to end this soon!!"
His body began pulsating from head to toe, absolute power and energy radiated off of him as he seemingly readied his final blow.
Rebirth couldn't hold his breath for long, he actually agreed with Boros' remark.
'My body will be able to handle another Rage of the Sun but I don't know if I'll last after that .' Rebirth chuckled. 'How stupid is this...' He screamed his lungs out as he charged himself up, no voice came out though since they were in space. 'I never got a chance to shake hands with King....am I gonna die here? On the goddamn moon?'
He readied his afterimages and recoiled his fist while Boros conjured up an energy ball in his mouth.
'Heh, that actually sounds kind of epic...'
"Collapsing Star: Roaring Canon!!!"
"Rage of the Sky God! Calamity Crash!!"
On the surface of City - A, heroes and people alike were off salvaging what they could and evacuating the city. Even the S ranks were heading back to assess and help in the situation or just leave. Genos showed a bit of reluctance but soon left with his thoughts completely off.
A lone green glow stayed suspended up in the air the entire time. Arms crossed and staring up at the sky with a now sore neck.
Finally, she looked down, defeated in some way as she mumbled to herself.
"...Should have known..." She turned. "I can't believe I let him do as he pleased..."
As she was about to leave, the sky around her got brighter. Sharp rays of light were warm on her back as she suddenly turned back around.
What she saw up in the sky left her baffled.
Other roaming heros and Genos took notice as well as they stop and gaze upon the commotion.
The moon lost a small chunk of itself as a blinding ball of destruction emitted over it. Even during the day, the sight was visible from Earth.
After the sky dimmed again, a small object was seen pummeling back down into Earth's orbit, like a meteor.
Rebirth fell from the sky, blood poured out of every pore in his body as he barely kept his one eye open. Blurry, but still visible, he could make out the burnt crisp of what remained of Boros' body, it was nothing but his head.
"Thank you...Rebirth, you actually defeated me...." The lone head struggled a smile. "You truly are...the prime meaning of 'strong.'"
"Y-yeah...." Flames enveloped him as he entered Earth's atmosphere. "That was fun...You were impressive..."
A moment of silence fell as the two descended, Boros' head was slowly disintegrating from the heat and velocity.
"You wear a smile but you're never happy..." Rebirth's eye goes dead for a moment as Boros spoke his final words. "I wonder...what motivated you to become such a fighter..."
And with that, what was left of Boros was gone.
Rebirth looked up which was technically down since he was falling head first into the atmosphere. He stared at the surface growing ever closer and closer, he closed his eyes to finally embrace his long deserved rest.
But it didn't come the way he expected. His body jerked at a sudden force stopping him, a green glow had painted his body as a tuff of green hair entered his vision.
Tatsumaki kept the man lifted in the air with just her finger as she simply turned and floated down to the base of the Hero's Association HQ.
Stepping down infront of the main entrance of the building, she gently placed the barely alive man on the ground.
It was a miracle how he was still conscious but he looked up at the sky and noticed a crowd of heads surrounding him. Upon further examination, he discovered that he was the center of attention of the S class heros.
"This is him? He's younger than I expected." Bang commented.
"This is him alright, he looks like shit now." Zombieman smirked.
"His potential is amazing. His fight was so cool...!" Child Emperor crouched down next to him.
"Tsk, it's his first day and steals all the glory." Flashy Flash flipped his hair as he looked away.
"Rebirth! Can you hear us?" Genos placed his hand on Rebirth's chest as the man merely nodded, his smile still not wavering.
King said nothing as he stood there with a rather intimidating presence.
"You're quite all the rage now newbie. I'm going to have to spar with you to see how well you withstand my tank top power!"
"Could you not talk about it for at least a minute?"
Atomic Samurai and Tank top Master grunt at each other.
"...this is awesome..." Rebirth groaned.
"The city owes you a great deal, well...what's left of it. Rebirth, you really have the heart of a hero." Bang said again.
Tatsumaki was fairly quite for the most part, but when the other heros began talking amongst themselves and calling for medical support, she finally knelt down next to him.
"You never finished what you were going to say up on the ship, something about your name then- I assume why you're a hero." She said with a neutral tone but her face was unreadable.
"I was going to say....-" He suddenly coughed out a good amount of blood.
"Relax! Don't talk if you can't, you moron-" the woman yelled.
"I was saying that....I'm probably your biggest fan." Tatsumaki's eyes go wide for the 5th time today. "...and I was hoping to get an...auto....graph..."
Finally, after the harsh beating and destruction caused to him and his mind, Rebirth finally blacked out.
°
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The loud squeaking of a ceiling fan was quite annoying. It was the first thing the man saw when he opened his eyes. The white of the room was already blinding enough but the sunlight that rayed over his nose gave him a warm sense of relaxation that made him slump back down.
He closed his eye and began focusing on his body, taking low and deep breaths.
'I can't properly move my head...I seemed to have damaged my neck. Arms are functioning but under severe pain, legs seem to be fine for the most part. The eye patch is still secure... hopefully they didn't open my eyes.'
"Agh!"
'Yup, that's a shattered ribcage. I have no idea how long this will take to heal up. How long have I been here anyway?'
Saro looked around himself and noticed a keypad on the railing of his hospital bed. He tapped the most obvious button and waited, hoping the nurse would show up.
But what came through the door was more than what he expected.
A nurse came barging into the room, completely out of breath.
"You're awake!!" She yelled.
"It would seem so." Saro replied, his throat rather dry.
As the nurse stumbled over to check his heart monitor and tend to his body, the door opened again.
"You're a sorry sight for sore eyes."
"Zombieman...?"
The pale skinned man walked through the door with a duffle bag in hand and a blue cap on.
He stood on the right side of the bed while the nurse finishes up and heads out to alert the doctors probably.
"You pulled quite the stunts on your meeting day. I have to say, it was one hell of an introduction." He said as he pulled up a metal chair and sat down.
Saro kept his eye closed, the soft pillow provided much comfort to the amount of mental anguish and exhaustion he had experienced.
"How's the City?" He asked.
"There is no city, not anymore. The land is a complete waste land by now."
"Damn..." Saro sighed through his dry smile.
"Your files showed that you lived there. Sorry about your home."
"Has everyone read my 'file' by now?"
"Well it would be hard not to. You're the unknown hero that showed up, completely demolished and alien race of thieves and killed their leader like it was a morning jog."
"That's a bit exaggerated..."
Saro laughed, causing a sting to run up his body.
"I came here to give you this-" Zombieman raised the back and set it down on the table next to the bed. "Your belongings, or what was left of them at the Association HQ."
"Heh, guess that's really all that's left of my stuff."
"We can always get the Hero's Association to fix up a place for you, or just give you a place at Head quarters." Zombieman seemingly offered on their behalf.
"I'll think about it..."
"But onto what I actually came here for." The man fluffed his trenchcoat and leaned back in his chair. "Is it safe for me to assume, that your powers involve imitating the abilities of others?"
"Pretty much, my power is called 'mimic', I can even enhance the powers I copy but it puts quite the strain on my body depending on what the power is."
"Then...Whatever you may have discussed with Sitch and the committee must have involved those powers, hm?" Zombieman's words made Saro force his head to turn.
"The association has been a very paranoid band of people, they'll keep secrets from even their most trusted associates such as their own heros. For them to put their trust into you, you must really be something big."
"Huh, you're really in depth with what they do." Saro smirked and Zombieman reflected it.
"You know who I am don't you? I may be an S class hero but I'm also a detective, but no one needs brains to at least know that you really are a powerful individual." Zombieman slowly got up from his chair. "You've proven yourself enough so I'm not going to pry much. I know not many of the others would like to say it but I'm looking forward to seeing you in S class."
Zombieman walked to the door but stopped after opening it, hiding a smirk.
"Let's hope you really are as great as you were that day, you've even made an impression on the Tornado of Terror of all people."
"Hm?"
He simply left the room.
Saro laid there in a daze as he finally took in all that has happened up until this point. 'How long have I even been out for?'
He looked around the room and noticed a calendar on the table next to the duffle bag.
"May 2nd?!" He screamed. "I've been unconscious for 5 days?!"
"S-sir! Please don't yell, you'll damage your chest again!"
The nurse rushed back in.
Hero's Association HQ (Metal Fortress)
"You put up quite the stupid show that day Fubuki." Tatsumaki said with an intimidating shift in her tone. "What were you even doing in the City at that time?
The two women shared aggressive glares at each other as they stood in a rather fancy looking waiting area.
"I was out... doing business with my group." Fubuki said weakly.
"You and that pathetic lot of clowns? You're lucky I didn't sense any harm done to you otherwise those fools would have been dead by now." Tatsumaki floated up and faced her sister.
"But that brings me to ask, how did you escape the city on time? Your powers aren't good enough to make a quick escape."
Fubuki did her best to hide the anger she felt after her sister's insulting claim.
She still recalled how at the time the missiles fell, she held up a shield to protect her and rebirth but it was ultimately shattered from the first strike.
Thinking it was the end, she stopped trying and looked to Rebirth for solace but he had managed to conjure up the same shield as hers but only that was more thicker and resilient than her's. He had saved her and managed to get her and her two followers to a safe distance before requesting them to help evacuate everyone.
"I saved myself...and I helped the people escape. I didn't run away from the city like you assumed." Fubuki lied partially as she averted her gaze.
"You shouldn't have stuck around at all. You have no business in such a threat level." Tatsumaki said immediately, almost completely disregarding what her sister has said.
Fubuki capped her rage in by keeping her composure and sighing it all out.
"And what about you?" She asked her tiny older sister.
"What about me?"
"I heard alot of talk in the association staff that you had been quite the different mood on the day of the invasion." Fubuki's words made Tatsumaki sweat a little as she did her best to keep a straight face. "They said that after the battle was over, you kept a close eye on a medical team and followed them around. Tell me...who were you after?"
"I-I wasn't after anyone, don't be delusional." Tatsumaki stomped as she drifted back down to the ground. "I was making sure none of them were slacking off in a critical time. Now go back home!" She pointed then suddenly walked away.
Fubuki was truly taken aback by this sort of outburst, she has never seen her sister so distraught. She knew she was obviously lying but what or who could have possibly made her like this?
As Tatsumaki moved out into the halls of the upper floors, she went past the newly installed windows.
She stopped and stared out of them, watching several of Metal Knight's drones salvaging whatever chunk of the alien ship fell onto the surface. The Heros Association HQ was now under new construction itself as the area around it was now nothing but a wasteland full of craters and scrap.
Tatsumaki was noticably irritated as she watched, her thoughts were elsewhere and that alone made her more angry.
'Nothing I did was special treatment...that fool is not worth such a thing.' she remembered his face. The bruised and barely conscious hero that kept on smiling through his painful transport. 'But even I know when someone deserves something after all the effort put forth...' she thought so but what she thought and felt about Saro was beyond her own understanding much to anyone else's. There was this unknown thought and feeling that had left her confused ever since she met him.
Was she worried that he might actually be stronger than her? No that'd be dumb, there's only one person who has the right to such a title.
'You better get back in shape quick, snow-white...I have a bone to pick with you.' Tatsumaki decided to not understand this feeling and simply cast it aside.
But did she really?
At the Hospital, City-H
Saro rummaged through his bag again and finally found what he had been praying for.
"Ah! Yes!"
He held his heroes guide book up in the air and soon sat up straight. He flipped through the pages.
He suddenly froze as he flipped to one page, his eye went soft and warm at the sight before him but his mouth was left agape in surprise.
On page 56, the Tornado of Terror, the picture of Tatsumaki had a signature on with a small smiley face at the bottom corner.
He didn't know if the face as a part of the autograph or if it was an added bonus from her, either way, he celebrated.
"WOOOO!- OW!"
"Rebirth! Please stop screaming!!"
END