Chapter 16

Earlier

Akira was in the cafeteria, wondering about. His siblings were all busy. Goliath was with the Fubuki group. Luna and Eclipsa were help training his mother, Alley was busy repairing Genos and everyone was doing something productive. Akira however couldn't figure out what to do with himself. Yet, as he walked about, he paused and noticed a strange sight. Pig God was seated, a table full of food and yet he wasn't eating any of it! But, there was a strange look of bliss on his face. "What on earth…" he muttered.

Then he saw a lump moving about under Pig God's shirt and then scratching sounds soon followed.

"A little more to the right please…" he heard the large hero say, the lump moved and he heard scratching sounds once more. "Oh that's the spot!"

"I got it?" came a small voice.

"Yuki?!" Akira asked aloud.

The lump perked up under the shirt and jacket from Pig God's back, he couldn't quite see his little brother hiding under there, but knew it was him. "Hi Akira! I'm helping!" he said proudly.

"So I see… do you have permission?"

"Ya huh!" the little serpent boy said. "Mr. Pig God was saying he had an itch he couldn't reach so I offered to help. I don't scratch him very hard so I don't hurt him"

"I don't think you need to worry about that…" Akira muttered. "Just be sure to get out of his shirt if he has to go and do something."

"I know!" Yuki replied rather cheerfully.

Akira sighed as he turned to Pig God. "If he did this on his own, I apologize…"

"Actually, I did have an itch I couldn't reach. None of the others here wanted to scratch my back but the little one here did without hesitation." He then smiled. "He's been a good helper to me. I appreciate his kindness,"

Akira nodded as he was about to go on his way, the system went off.

"Warning, warning. Multiple monster attacks are occurring in various cities. Immediate action is required!"

Akira checked his phone, the city in the most danger was City F. "Better get going then…" He was off like a shot, using the speed he gained from Boros, Akira managed to get to the city in mere seconds. When he arrived, there were other heroes on the scene already. "AKIRA!"

He turned and saw Glasses. "I'm coming!" Teaming up with Glasses and other heroes, they were quick to quell the monster threats within a few minutes. The heroes were breathless after the fight, Akira however wondered why these attacks occurred. "This isn't natural…" he muttered.

"It happens more often than you think." Explained Glasses.

"Indeed, sometimes we get attacks like this." Explained Forte.

However he thought differently. "I have battled many monsters before, but this felt different. I can usually feel their emotions in battle. This wasn't out of rage or anger. This was fear… Something scared them into the cities…"

"Something… scared them?" asked Gun-Gun. "What the hell could scare these things besides your family?"

He smirked to the comment, however it was true, something has startled these monsters into attacking the city. His phone then went off. "Hello?"

"Akira? Pig God… I have a situation, I need your assistance."

He was rather stunned to be getting a call from him, normally Pig God could handle any situation on his own. "I'll be right there, what city are you in?"

"City H."

"I'm on my way."

#

It took no time to find him.

Pig God stood before a wrecked building and was a little nervous by the looks of it. As Akira arrived, Pig God turned and said. "I am so sorry to call you on this, I had no idea…"

"Whoa, hold it, what's wrong?"

"Yuki was still in my shirt when I went out to answer the emergency call. When the fighting ended, he said he felt someone was in danger, he came to this place and said there were people inside… he went in before I could stop him…"

His heart froze. "The building fell on him?"

"No! Goodness no. It was already down, but little Yuki said there were people within the wreck, he tried to go and help them. I haven't heard or seen him since…"

Akira paused as he stared at the building, his brother Goliath no doubt could levitate this whole thing with ease, Akira hasn't quite mastered his esper abilities just yet. He tried to get a hold of his older brother but found his call went unanswered. "Okay… I got to do this then…"

"Do what?" Pig God asked.

"Focus… think of the debris, see it in my mind, each piece, each scrap is visualized…" this was the lesson he got from Goliath when he first started manifesting his esper abilities, he hadn't used them since he was more focused on mastering Boros's abilities. But now, he is regretting he didn't train harder with this one.

His eyes opened as he found the wreckage glowing a light blue, his mind was connected to all of it. {Yuki? Can you hear me?} he called telepathically to his brother.

{Akira? You can talk with your mind too?}

{Yes, Yuki, how deep are you in this wreckage? How many people are with you?}

There was a pause. {One boy and a fuzzy thing with floppy ears}

Akira smiled, Yuki hasn't really seen a dog before. {I need you to listen carefully to me. Stay close to the little boy and his pet. I am going to try and esper lift this wreckage off of you}

{Then what?} Yuki asked.

Akira froze. {What do you mean}

{Big brother, how are you going to get us out if you are busy lifting this? I do not mean to be rude, but I know you don't use this power often. You need someone to help you, someone fast to rush in and grab us before you lose strength and drop this… you cannot do this alone!}

'Damn, the kid is thinking this through a lot better than me!' Akira thought.

Suddenly a rush of air came from behind me. I turned and saw Suiryu standing there! "What luck!" Akira said aloud.

"Actually, I called him…" Pig God confessed. "Your telepathic powers are strong, but you have yet to isolate your thoughts from those around you, I heard everything."

"Damn it!"

"So what's the trouble?" Suiryu asked as he smiled and was his usual upbeat self.

"There's a boy and his dog trapped under the wreck… Yuki went in there to try and help them but now, he's trapped with them too…" Akira explained.

"Ah, can you lift this? If you can I will grab them no problem."

"That's the plan." Akira said. "I don't know how long I can hold this though, okay?"

Suiryu got closer to the wreck; he smiled and gave a nod that he was ready to go. Akira took a deep breath as he envisioned the debris lifting up off the ground. His eyes closed as he focused hard on the task at hand.

He heard the stress of metal, wood and bricks as he could feel the weight of it all. Surprisingly though, it wasn't that heavy!

"Uh… Akira…"

His eyes opened. Suiryu was standing in front of him with Yuki, a little boy and a dog. "I got them… you can put that stuff down… or you are going to send it to space…"

Looking up, Akira saw that the debris he removed was indeed floating higher and higher into the air! "Oopes…" he muttered. With care he tried to bring it all back down, but used too much power to do it!

THUD!

It shook the earth a little, the dust kicked up and settled once more… the wreck... was dust.

"Uh, I think we need to have you learn more control over that…" Suiryu said offhandedly. "Damn, you are about as strong as Goliath with that!"

"I agree," said Pig God.

"No argument here…" Akira muttered.

#

The room sizzled with power.

It was nearly too much to be contained in one room, and yet, it was able to withstand it all. Standing against the wall was Garou, watching with great interest… while wearing sunglasses to the spectacle of it all. "Dad…" Eclipsa asked nervously. "Isn't this a little too much?"

"No, I got to protect my eyes…"

"I mean to the spar session! Luna and Mom have been doing with for a good hour. They are only surging!" she protested.

"Your mother hasn't quite used this aspect of her abilities before, the best one can do is control how much power they release before attacking, but she also needs to see how much she can summon Right now, she and Luna are at par. Both are capable of the full spectrum of Boros's abilities by the looks of it. Your sister however has far more control."

"Okay mom, now, let's settle down… slowly ease your power back and calm it." Luna stated.

The surge from Luna instantly decreased. Melee however took some time. She was sweating, the stressful look on her face only intensified as she tried to calm the surge she summoned. It wasn't easy to say the least, yet within twenty minutes, she was able to pull back the power and regain herself once more.

"Shit…" she cursed as she regained her breath. "Luna… how on earth…"

"Bory taught me what to do. What I am teaching you now is the same method he used on me. In fact, dad, you taught him this too didn't you?" she asked.

Garou nodded. "With the way he described how he used meteoric burst it was rarely used, which is why it stressed his body so much to the point that it would take years off his life. So, I suggested little by little each day he summons his full power, hold it for ten minutes then power down, increase it over time until it's less stressful."

Melee was silent as her hands went on her hips. "I better start training this then, this… it's amazing power to say the least… scary at the same time too."

"It gets better mom, don't worry." Insisted Luna. "I adjusted fine to it. Eclipsa and Akira did too, but they only reach stage two."

"Let's call it a day for now then, we better find your younger siblings too, it's nearly dinner time for them." Garou announced.

They walked out of the spar room, Garou turned and noticed the buckling of the metal in the walls. 'Perhaps we ought to take the sessions outside now…' he thought to himself.

As they wondered the halls, the heroes who had the six began to return. Yuuma was with the Tank Tops as he got a lift thanks to Tank Top Black Hole. "You did good kid!" they announced.

He slithered down and on to the floor, a respectful bow followed. "Thank you for having me today." And he came to Garou's side.

Saitama was next to arrive carrying Tempest who appeared rather full. "We ran into something on the way here, this kid can eat!"

"Well, that's one less serpent to take hunting…" Garou muttered. Melee led Saitama to the resting room for the kids, just as Akira came in with Pig God and Yuki.

"Wait, I thought Yuki was with Alley?"

"I was, but she was busy with Genos so I went upstairs, Mr. Pig God needed help getting an itch so I got it for him, and accidentally followed him into a monster hunt." Yuki explained.

"Among other things…" muttered Akira.

"MOMMA!"

Titan returned but was instantly looking for Melee. "MOMMA! WHERE ARE YOU!"

"Whoa, hold your horses kid, she's just putting your brother Tempest down for a nap!" Garou stated.

Goliath followed close behind, dripping wet. "Well, we found out the monsters that attacked City J weren't seafolk related." He announced. "I even found the seafolk during my patrols… they are not looking to attack the surface any time soon…"

"You spoke with them?" Garou asked in confusion..

"More or less… I ate one of them so that made the discussions go a lot more easily. But according to them, there is something in the water that is hunting them. They don't know what but it's something big, they aren't aiming to look for it either. So I wonder what it is…"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Athena was then seen with Street and Knuckle Brawler. She carried around clothing in her arms that she made that day and was proud of herself. "You got busy" Garou said aloud.

"Dad, I want to make clothing!" she announced. "Uncle Street said he would make me a sewing machine, can I make clothing?" she asked.

He smiled and leaned down. "You do what makes you happy. I am sure there are plenty of people here who can help you and would wear what you make."

Her eyes lit up as she went through the small pile she carried and pulled out something. She offered it to him. "Here daddy!" Garou paused as he took the clothing from her, it was white pants and a black shirt… his old martial arts uniform. Yet the material was different. "I made this for you, Uncle Street said you wore this all the time. I thought you would want to wear it again… would you try it on?" she asked.

He was trapped now.

He smiled and nodded. Garou excused himself, the moment he turned his back, the smile vanished from his face 'dear God what have I created?' he thought.

He ventured into a side room and locked the door, with a sigh he tried on the pants… which remarkably fit! There was even a spot for his tail! It was a loose material, his legs didn't chaff which was a bonus, after all, he has those dragon like appendages down there too! They weren't bothered the least bit! The shirt he didn't quite know what to make of, however he promised to try it on.

"The thing I do for kids…" he said with a sigh. The shirt slipped on rather easily, yet there was something about the material. He found the creatures on his arms broke through the cloth rather easily, for a moment, he panicked until the retracted… and the shirt somehow 'healed'. "The fabric fixes itself?" he said aloud.

When he finished, he ventured back out of the room. Titan was clinging onto Melee as Rimuru returned and was mimicking what he saw that day. "They used swords! I mean BIG swords and they went 'whish!' and then 'slash!' and then…"

When Garou re-joined them, Athena's eyes widened. "It fits daddy!" she cheered.

Melee was impressed, for the first time in years. Garou was wearing clothing! Rather than a waist slash belt to keep him covered.

"Athena, great job!" Melee announced. "How does it feel Garou?"

He wasn't going to lie. "Honestly, it's light and airy, I feel like I am wearing nothing, but it's great! Thank you, Athena"

She smiled proudly, just as her stomach rumbled and that of her brothers. "Well, I guess we all know what time it is!" Melee snickered.

"DINNER!" the five cheered.

Titan was excited at first but then, realized something. "Can momma come too?" he asked and held on to her extra tight.

Melee sighed. "Momma isn't that good of a hunter, Daddy is better…"

Garou snorted. "Lire." He muttered.

Melee smirked. "Titan you need to start learning to do things on your own okay? Daddy will take you, but soon you will be hunting without him too. You are all getting to be big boys and girls."

Titan sniffled. "But… I don't want to be a big boy if I can't be with momma!"

"There's always one…" muttered Knuckle.

"Yeah, you!" said Street.

"Shut it"

Garou smirked as the Brawlers bickered. He took Titan when his guard was down from Melee, but he squirmed and tried to wrangle out of Garou's hands! "MOMMA! MOMMA!" he protested.

"Dinner first, cuddle with momma after, got it?" Garou demanded.

Titan wept but eventually nodded in agreement. With a roll of his eyes he sighed. "I'll be back in a short while, you better have everything you need to do done before I return!" he warned Melee.