[One Punch Man] Warped

Chapter 1: Warped

1005 words, 4 minutes

City Z was nothing short of peaceful today. The sky was a brilliant blue with only a few clouds obstructing the view of such a pleasant, appeasing color. It was 9AM on a Tuesday, so most people in City Z were already at work, whether it was an office or retail store or some cool job that benefited from beautiful days like a construction site.

Saitama and Genos didn't have such jobs.

Genos was an S-Class hero in the Hero Association, rank 14. Saitama, despite possessing far more destructive power and physical strength than Genos, was stuck as a B-Class hero, rank 7.

Their work consisted of... well, doing what heroes do, which was saving the day and people in distress by defeating evil foes.

As of right now, however, there were no evil foes that needed defeating. This left Saitama and Genos lounging around at Saitama's apartment, waiting for something to happen. Since it was morning, Saitama got up and showered quickly.

When he was done, he brushed his teeth and headed over to the living room, where his bed, table and TV were. Ever since Genos came to basically live with him, his apartment suite had been tidied up and cleaned, so he wasn't stuck in a mess everyday. It was all thanks to Genos' perfectionist tendencies with regards to maintaining a clean home.

Saitama smelled something delicious, something like an omelette and herbs. He walked through the little hallway and saw Genos in his kitchen, apron on, perfectly frying 2 omelettes for both of them. He heard Saitama's footsteps and turned around to face him.

He smiled. "Good morning, Sensei," he greeted. Saitama waved tiredly, yawning once. "Morning," he answered, collapsing on his bed again.

"How did you sleep?"

"Alright, but I'm still tired."

"Well, I think you'll wake up no problem with something to eat."

Saitama sniffed the air again. Genos was right. The smell of scrambled eggs cooked perfectly with cheese, herbs and mild spices was stronger than caffeine. He rolled around in his bed, looking for a manga he'd been reading recently. He found it tossed to his right side and picked it up, reading where he left off. He didn't bother using a bookmark since he didn't have one yet.

Genos noticed Saitama reading but decided not to say anything yet since the omelettes were almost done cooking. Once they were cooked on both sides, he put them both on a plate each, placed a pair of chopsticks next to them, and brought both plates to the table. Saitama was still reading when Genos went back to the kitchen to fetch 2 glasses of water.

"Sensei, your breakfast is ready."

Saitama closed the manga and joined Genos. Starving, he dove straight into his food. Genos was taking more composed bites. Deciding to strike up a conversation, he asked, "What were you reading?"

Saitama's mouth was full, so he chewed quickly to swallow some of the omelette and answered. "A manga."

Genos was intrigued. Saitama owned a lot of manga copies, and most of them seemed to be some sort of action/adventure or comedy manga. However, the one he was currently reading seemed... darker, more mysterious. The cover made him think so, what with its depiction of a mountainous, jaggedly, black monster with frightening hands and even blacker eyes. "Which one?" he prodded, taking another bite.

"Black Plague," responded Saitama, mouth still full because he shoveled even more of the omelette into his mouth. He was already almost done whereas Genos didn't eat more than 2 bites. "It's a fantasy genre," he elaborated, mouth still full. How he was still able to sound comprehensible to Genos was incredible.

But needless to say, Genos was surprised by Saitama's choice of manga. He raised an eyebrow. "Fantasy?" He looked down at his food. "I never took you for someone interested in stories where the heads of characters are up in the clouds." Another bite. He was really proud of what he cooked.

Saitama chuckled somehow with all that food in his mouth, and finally swallowed it all before problems could ensue. "You need to read more books, Genos," he said. He downed the glass of water but spat it all out when Genos had a notebook and pencil ready. "Any recommendations?" he simply asked.

"GENOS, I DIDN'T MEAN NOW!" yelled Saitama. Since he was finished eating now, he got up to put his plate and glass in the sink. "When you're done eating, we're going out."

"Today? When there are barely any people around at this time?"

"Yeah, I'm bored. Maybe a villain's robbing a bank or something and we gotta go stop him. Or her."

At the mention of that, Genos pretty much slurped the rest of his omelette, not needing to chew that much since his digestive system was altered, and downed his water faster than Saitama did. With his dishes now in the sink, he turned, ready to go.

But he wasn't able to take another step.

As if his core energy died out, he gulped quietly and proceeded to collapse. "Sen-sei..." he called out brokenly, clutching his arms and bowing his head on the ceramic floor. Saitama, already dressed in his hero costume, looked back at Genos just as he was putting on his signature red gloves. This didn't look good. "Genos?!"

He slipped the 2nd glove on and rushed to Genos' side, holding his metallic torso and getting him to stand, but it was as if the gravity around Genos was being manipulated and holding him down. "Genos, you OK? Get up—"

Saitama didn't get to finish when he looked up and saw everything was black. They weren't in his apartment anymore, they were in a black void of space. Then speedy dashes of pink light started rushing around them, below them, beside them and soon through them. Saitama let go of Genos, too fascinated and confused by these straight lines of pink light.

The moment he blinked, he was in an entirely different place.

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A/N:

Well, this is what happens when you watch the first season of One Punch Man and nearly choke by the 12th episode because of the marvelous animation.

—Kaio