One Punch Man: My Inspiration

Chapter 24: A Hero Returns

As fast as my feet could carry me I bolted across the city. The ruined buildings being a dead giveaway to where monsters would be. I rounded a corner, a road that had been obstructed by debris lay before me, a few monsters conversing next to wounded heroes that they had yet to kill.

I was perplexed by this and got closer, getting a good look at the monsters and heroes. The monsters included a lankey individual with their bones showing through their skin, the only other defining thing about it being its long claws and clothes that draped over their body. The other was a mushroom looking monster with spores periodically spewing out from it. The final one looking to be the strongest of the three. This one stood at a solid 8 feet, with muscles bulging out, partially ripping whatever clothing it had been wearing. I found this much oddly perplexing as monsters often didn't wear clothing, at least not ill fitting ones like this.

The heroes on the other hand looked even worse than I thought. Multiple fungi, slashes, and bruises covered their bodies. I tried to decipher who they were but due to how they looked I couldn't pinpoint any of their identities. If i had to guess they were most likely some high C-class or low B-class heroes.

After all this analyzation I realized something. "Why was I being so deductive?" I knew the answer. My quivering fists were saying more than words ever could. I was afraid, afraid of losing control. These were no longer the hands of a hero, they were ones of a monster. Once I took care of these monsters I would face the reality that I could potentially lose myself and attack the heroes.

However, I couldn't think like that right now. They were in trouble and needed saving. It was time to do something a monster wouldn't do.

I dashed towards the monsters, my fist cocked back and ready to attack. With one punch I struck the muscular monster in front of me. He had turned his body at the last second allowing me to get a punch on his face. His body flew through the air before tumbling across the ground. His neck had been completely snapped along with part of his face being blown on.

The two monsters looked shocked to say the least. "S- Shit, it's Meateor Masher!" The lankey monster yelled out. "Run for it!" The other said. The two began to make a break for it in opposite directions.

I could chase after them, but, my legs wouldn't let me. I felt an aversion for killing these monsters. Something was off. I looked to the monster I had just killed, taking another look at the clothes it was wearing. "A tank top?" I asked. I looked to the two unconscious heroes. They as well were wearing tank tops. "There's no way..." I looked in the direction of the lankey monster running away. Sure enough, they were also wearing a tank top.

"Are they a part of that Tank top subsection of the hero association?" I asked myself, kneeling down to the other tank top wearing heroes. I tried to rouse them from the current state that they were in, with mild success.

One of them opened their eyes. "Ah, get away from m-" He stopped. "S- sorry, I thought you were the one attacking us." I offered him a hand. "Can you stand?" I asked. He took my hand and barely managed to get up. "Thank you for the save, if not for you we would have been plowed to bits back there."

I frowned. "That does raise the question. How did you end up getting attacked?" I asked. He paled a bit but laughed. "Oh you know, we heroes sometimes get ambushed am I right?" His poor attempt at lying was not lost to me.

I sighed. "Look, I know that isn't the case. I want to know why two of the monsters I saw were wearing tank top." He began to sweat slightly. "What do you mean? They weren't wearing tank tops." I gave my thumb a point to the monster behind me.

He looked down, giving a sad look. "I don't see how that has anything to do with anything. Tank tops are typical attire for this time of year."

It was winter.

I had begun to grow tired of this beating around the bush. "I need to know if you were attacked by your fellow heroes or not." I said bluntly. He didn't say anything for some time. When he finally spoke up he looked up at me and a look of terror came over his face.

At that moment I noticed a shadow encompass us. "B- Behind you!" He pointed past me. I whipped my head around to see the muscular monster from before ready to smash me into the ground. His teeth bared at me.

I felt anger well up inside me. This monster survived my attack and has the audacity to attack me. It was coming, with each passing second I felt the changes starting.

Just as I felt every bit of reason begin to slip away I was interrupted by a large arm gliding over me and performing a lariat on the monster. The lariat quickly turned into a choke hold. The sudden action causing me to snap out of my anger induced stupor.

I looked ahead and saw none other than the rank 16th S-class hero, Tank Top Master. "Thank you for saving my students, but I will take it from here. This is a tank top dispute. The monster in his grip squirmed, flailing around, trying to get any attack in that it could.

"Good grief, even now you are trying to attack. Perhaps you are a lost cause." He turned his head back to us. "I appreciate you trying to keep the tank top name safe, however it's important that we own up to our mistakes as those who wear the tank top for justice." He turns back to the monster. "That being said, anyone who would wear the tank top while committing crime is not worthy to wear it." With a quick snap the monsters neck was completely crushed.

"Any hero that would become a monster and attack their fellow heroes are no heroes at all, that much is sure." He turns back to us. "That does make this more complicated though, if heroes are becoming monsters then we need to rally up those who can fight. Take care of the larger threats and work our way down as quickly as possible." His words had fallen on deaf ears. All I could think about is what he said.

He wasn't wrong. Even if we take out the fact that I'm a monster I couldn't call myself a hero. I'm just some kid pretending to be one. I would have loved to think that I had finally changed after those few years I spent training. But, I'm still just the same immature person I was back then. The only difference being that I have the ability to play hero. I should have known that it wouldn't be that easy to change.

"Hey, Meteor Masher, are you listening?" I was broken away from my train of thought by a booming voice. I looked up at the man. "Sorry, I was lost in thought."

He let out a gruff sigh. "I was saying that there have been multiple reports of large monsters appearing all throughout the major cities. I was asking if you would care to join me in a monster hunt." He said his eyes boring into me. "Maybe if I follow a fellow hero around I can really instill the will of a hero in myself." I thought to myself.

I nodded to him. "Let's hunt us some monsters." I said with a serious tone. He returned my answer with a smirk. "I'll take Tank Top Strongarm to the nearby infirmary. You two go on without me, I already checked the radar and there have been no other sightings of monsters in this city."

Tank Top Master pounded his fist. "Excellent, now lets get to work." His voice full of energy. I copied his motion, poorly I might add. He laughed at my attempt. "For the number 2 hero you sure seem more subdued than I imagined. Whatever, allow me to show you how a veteran hero operates." He began to move down the street, smashing through the debris blocking the path. I followed close behind him, on the lookout for any monsters that we could find.

A/N And there we have it, the first chapter for my return. Thought I would start off with something short and sweet to ease myself back into this story. So I think from here on out I'm going to be using my own timeline since we have deviated far from the original. Plus it will allow me to have more freedom with the last bit of this story. Anyways, thanks for reading!