Chapter 18

Their spunk couldn't be contained.

Ever since their 'socializing', the six have been asking to go to the association constantly. "I wanna see Mr. Pig God!" Yuki said. "He's very big but very nice to me."

"I wanna watch the Tank Tops work out." Said Yuuma.

"I wanna find Uncle Street to see if he is working on my sewing machine. I want to make daddy outfits." Said Athena.

Need after need, want after want the kids had desires to do something more. It wasn't a bad thing, however trying to balance six kids at once was! Not to mention, they have been getting a little sneaky as of late.

Pac came out of his room a few day ago asking aloud. "Has anyone seen my mangas? My whole collection is gone from under my bed."

"I didn't take them," said Hunter. "Goliath, Draven?"

They shook their heads to it. Akira nor his sisters touched them either. "You don't like us taking your stuff without asking…" Luna said offhandedly. "besides, according to daddy, I don't have a good poker face?" she said and was confused by the term.

"Play poker and I'll explain." Garou said with a smirk. But then he remembered something. "Have you asked your littler siblings?"

Pac was confused. "Why would they have my mangas, they don't read… do they?"

"I've been teaching them how with comic books and such," Goliath explained. "Then again, last time I check on them reading they did have quite the piles to choose from…"

Pac sighed as he went to the six's room. They came slithering out quickly, however braced the mangas close to themselves, refusing to let them go! "I'm not done reading yet!" protested Yuuma. "Dad! Momma! Tell him we're still reading them!"

Melee stepped in. "Did you ask Pac if you could have those? They are his, you do know that right?" she asked.

The six shied away very suddenly. The books fell from their arms as they reluctantly picked them off the floor and handed them back to Pac. He however sighed aloud, the pages have been tattered and torn from their claws, most of them wouldn't be salvageable. "You know, you can keep them." He said gently. "But next time, you need to ask to borrow something if it's not yours. Understood?" his tone got a little more serious, but they six smiled and nodded as they recovered their books and slithered off to their rooms once more.

"I'll replace them," Melee vowed. "Sorry Pac."

"They aren't my collector edition ones, I kept those under lock and key for a reason."

"Get a stronger lock." Garou warned.

Yet since then, Garou has noticed the six acting strangely. Their vocabulary was improving greatly, they started acting more mature and then the eating spree began.

He was concerned.

In the days that followed, he found the six's appetite increase far more than usual and attempted to go beyond their means! They were stuffing themselves stupid until they couldn't move, Alley has been keeping track of their shedding and found it strange. "They are molting, however, they aren't growing…" she concluded. "Which means one of two things, they are either going to have an explosive growth spurt, or 106 has found a way to keep them young"

"Growth spurt." The table announced.

It was a typical dinner conversation to say the least. Garou had spent all afternoon with the six hunting with and for them, as they demanded more food despite appearing full. Still, it wasn't sitting well with him that their growth was so soon and so sudden. Snek's kids took their time to get to their current state, well over a year if he remembers correctly. Right now, they have caught up to Drax in age in a sense. Their minds and bodies have matured quite well too. "If anything, we ought to be prepared for teenage serpents…" Garou muttered as the family ate.

"Damn, no one in this family ever ages properly" Melee muttered. "Granted, I am not complaining about you or me right now!"

"Yeah, that's a good point, you two haven't appeared to have aged since the transformation!" said Max. "Well, neither of Snek, Suiryu or I either."

"Not complaining about that…" muttered Snek.

"Still, it's best we keep an eye out on the six, if they are going to be growing soon, they maybe getting stronger and will need help as to how to handle it." Melee suggested.

The table nodded in agreement.

Alley cleared her throat very suddenly when she said. "Pythan spoke to me a few days ago… he and his siblings wanting to try on the braces Boros sent me… Snek… can I have your permission to let them try it?" she asked.

Snek was stunned to the request, he thought it over and sighed aloud to it. "I guess they would want to give it a shot, just to see what it's like…" Snek contemplated the notion until he nodded. "If the kids want to try them, go ahead. They are old enough to make their own choices, I don't want to them to think I don't wish for them to know what it's like to be human…" he said.

Alley nodded. "I'll see if I can tweak it slightly so they will have their strength as serpents transferred to them as human. It would give them a bit more of an edge if confronted by a monster." She said.

As dinner finished and everyone did their own thing, bedtime was soon to call everyone to sleep. Garou and Melee went to their room, Melee snuggled up to him rather oddly. "Hey, what's this?" he asked with a sly grin.

"Wanna snuggle, what's wrong?" she asked.

He only smirked. "Nothing, nothing at all…"

#

Early next morning.

Garou felt about the bed, but found Melee was nowhere near by. "Huh?" he moaned. Slowly, he sat himself up. Melee was never out of bed before him… very rarely does that ever happens. Yet he took in the scent of the room and sighed. "Titan…" he muttered. The kid's scent was all over the place, he must have come in here to sneak Melee out or tricked her out of the room claiming he was sick or scared. The kid has been getting a little brash as of late, with that, Garou got up and went to retrieve her.

Yet, he froze the moment he came out of the bedroom.

In the living room was a massive, blue serpent coiled oddly and yet lying within the middle, nestled in was Melee! "What the blue hell…" he muttered. She was comfortable, tucked in and sound asleep, however the serpent holding her was massive, bigger than Amai is when he is turned… hell, this one was bigger than Snek! Yet as Garou took a moment to try and figure this thing out, he picked up the scent.

"Titan!?" he whispered in shock.

"Dad… keep it down, mom and I are trying to sleep."

He froze, the voice sounded like Amai too! "Titan… what are you doing?"

He slowly opened his eyes, he had perched himself a little higher than Melee to keep a watchful eye over her, yet the moment his gaze fell upon Garou, they shot open! "Whoa… dad… how did I get up so high!?" then he froze. "My voice!"

"Titan… you grew, but what did we say about this? You were getting to be a big boy and you go and do this when your mother is sleeping in bed!"

A look of shame came over him, just as Melee stirred. "Huh?" she muttered, her eyes slowly opened. She first looked to Garou but then peered behind her. A surprise gasp escaped out as she nearly stumbled out of Titan's coil! Titan was quick to catch her yet he wrapped her up a little tighter.

"Mom! Be careful! You shouldn't move so suddenly," he protested.

She was confused, almost fearful as her eyes turned to Garou who merely smirked. "Called it, growth spurt."

"Wait, if he's like this… the others…"

"Oh right…"

"Titan, sweetheart, you need to let me out. I have to check on Athena." She insisted.

He was reluctant to let her go. "But… mom… You're still tired!" he protested.

"Yes, but your sister just became a young woman and needs to cover herself up before her brothers wake. Now, let me go please." She said in a gentle yet stern tone.

Titan sighed as he released her from his coils. Melee was quick to rush to the kid's room with a large blanket. Garou turned to Titan who was trying not to look at him. "You need to understand something, just because you want to cuddle something or someone, doesn't mean your force yourself upon other to do it!" he scolded.

"But… mom always cuddles me!" he protested.

"Yes, because she wanted to, and you wanted to. When one wants something and the other may not, that is forcing yourself on to others!" Garou stated sternly. "Respect people's boundaries and you ask first, got it!"

He stopped scolding him when Melee emerged from the kid's room, she wrapped Athena in a blanket, she was still half asleep. "Mom… what are you doing?" she asked in a sleepy tone.

"Sorry sweetheart I had to wake you, I am taking you to my room for now to rest okay, don't come out until I find you something to cover yourself with."

"Cover myself?" she didn't quite understand, being half asleep and all, but she blindly slithered were she was guided to. Melee got her to her room and tucked Athena into bed, When she came out, her eyes turned to Titan who was now embarrassed.

"Young man, I heard your father reprimand you earlier and he's right about everything he said!" Melee stated to back up Garou.

'Wow, I'm right on all aspects! Nice!' he thought.

"But mom…"

"Titan… listen and listen good to me." Melee approached him, her hands gently came on to the sides of his face as she had him look into her eyes. "Your father said you need to respect the boundaries of others, he's right. What you consider affection, others may not and will think you are being very creepy in forcing yourself upon others like this. You have to ask first and understand some people may not take your affection kindly either. When someone says no, don't force them to change their mind. Okay?"

He gave a nod. "Yes mom…" he said meekly.

"Good boy, now, you can cuddle." She said. His eyes lit up, he adjusted himself once more. Garou realized Titan made himself into a bed! Using the center of his body as the mattress, he tucked thick, warm blankets about and made himself rather inviting. Melee eased herself up and laid down, Garou smirked as he was eying the couch to sleep on until…

"Dad… you can stay too…"

"Uh…" Garou muttered with great uncertainty.

"Come on Garou, it's not like you fit on the couch!" Melee teased.

He sighed and gave in. easing himself up, he got himself situated and braced Melee to him. From there, Titan was able to use the rest of his body to ensure they didn't fall off of him and kept everyone rather warm. For a cold-blooded serpent, he was rather cozy!

#

He must have slept, for when Garou woke the next day to the voice of Snek shouting. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS!?"

He jumped!

Looking about he nearly forgot where he was, as did Melee, yet Titan hissed at Snek. "Mom and dad are still sleeping!" he warned, yet when he peered down he sighed. "You woke them!" and pouted.

He unraveled as they got out of his coils. Snek however was still stunned. "Garou… what the hell!" he demanded and pointed at Titan.

In the morning light, he got a better look at him. Titan was nearly the spitting image of Amai, yet he had wildly long blue hair and a broader face, his body was defiantly that of a Brawler to say the least, for he has a massive upper body. Melee was even stunned. "Damn, he really did get best of both worlds didn't he?" she whispered.

It wasn't long until the others woke up too. Yuki was the second one up, however as he looked at the world with fresh eyes, he peered down at his hands. "Whoa…" he whispered. "My hands got really big… I got really big!" and marveled as to how long he was.

"Oh, I better check on Athena…" Melee excused herself as Garou waited for the others to wake.

Yuuma was next, yet when he caught his reflection. A sneer came over him. "Damn it!" he hissed. "I look just like him!"

"Easy there kiddo, looks aren't everything." Garou insisted.

Rimuru was the next to wake he was impressed to how big he got, if anything, it appeared Yuki, Yuuma and Rimuru were identical triplets!

The last to wake was Tempest, Garou was quite curious to him however he found he wasn't leaving the room. "Tempest?" he called gently.

"… I think I am stuck."

Snek and Garou turned to each other in great confusion. "Stuck?" they both asked.

Venturing to the children's room, he peered in and was stunned. Tempest wasn't lying, he was massive, took up the whole room and appeared too big to fit through the doorway! "I knew Alley should have made that double wide…" Garou muttered.

"Try sideways kid, that usually works for me." Snek suggested. Tempest nodded as he turned himself sideways, he began to make his way through but got stuck again. It took Garou and Snek to gently cox him out through the doorway so he could join his siblings.

When they all stood in the room, he nodded his approval. "Everyone has grown up quite well…" he said yet still marveled at Tempest. He thought Titan was big. Tempest was double his size!

Melee emerged shortly with Athena who was now covered up. She was stunned to see the kids all grown up. "Wow…" she whispered.

"Yeah… two of them are bigger than me!" Snek stated, but there was a hint of jealousy in his tone.