Chapter 23

Bad stood in the middle of the sparring room, yet for a strange reason, he didn't feel like he needed his metal bat along with him, if anything he tucked it away in his shadow as Garou stood there confused. "Really? No bat?" he demanded.

"Yeah, got a strange feeling though… you ain't going to be able to lay a finger on me."

A smirk came over that of Garou. "Oh really? That confident Mr. Fat Bat!"

"HEY!"

Garou began to walk about, keeping a close eye on Bad and yet waiting for his moment to strike, but, something was off. As Garou walked, there came a swirl of black smoke around Bad. It grew thicker and more intense as Garou stalked him. "That's new…"

Bad peered to the ground and nodded. "Yeah… Wait I used this before to repel the vampires at one point… but this feel different."

"Different how?"

Bad shrugged. "I think this is a lot more aggressive, whatever man, as I said you aint going to lay a finger on me!"

Garou's smile grew, he did love a challenge to say the least. With that, he made his move, with speeds beyond that of the human eye, he began to dart around the room, Bad could barely see him move about as Garou appeared to have grown faster than before. Yet suddenly.

BASH!

Bad jumped as Garou was smashed into the wall! He was stuck there for a moment before slowly sliding down it and landing upon the floor. "Shit, Garou!"

"I'm okay…" he said and shook it off. He stretched himself out but was rather confused. "I didn't see what hit me."

"I didn't see it either!"

"One more time…" Garou said as he got ready once more, he moved faster this time, trying to stay ahead of whatever struck him. Bad on the other hand began to notice the smoke around his feet intensify in their swirl, it grew thicker, stronger and moved far faster than before when suddenly it manifested right before him. Garou just missed the strike by a hair but was forced back. "Shit!" he said. "That was you?"

Bad froze as he shook his head. "I ain't doing nottin'!" he protested. "This thing's got a mind of its own!"

The dark smoke began to grow thicker around Bad's feet, it rose up until it was at his knees to say the least. "What the hell is going on?!" Bad was panicked as it grew thicker and continued to rise. Then, the smoke suddenly poured into Bad!

He couldn't understand why, but this smoke pierced his body until the room was completely emptied of it. Bad trembled as he fell to his knees. Garou was quick to rush to his side. "Bad? BAD!"

"Hey… I'm okay… what the hell just happened?"

Garou didn't know. Yet as Bad peered up into his face, the human monster was stunned. "Bad… you look like you again!"

"Huh?"

"You don't look like your shadow King form… still fat, but you look like yourself!"

Bad peered down at his hands and saw his natural skin color returned. He took a deep breath and sighed with relief. "Thank God… now to get rid of this spare tire!" he said as he patted his stomach.

"I'm sure I can help you with that. Still, that's some power you possessed. You were right. I couldn't lay a hand on you!"

Bad smirked as the two called it a day. "Let's go pick up Zenko."

#

"I said NO!"

Zenko was confronted by a bunch of boys, they have been causing trouble as of late and refused to leave the girls alone. One of them has set his sights to her now, insisting if they want them to stop, her brother has to step in. "Go on, call big brother, get him to make us stop. We will only stop for an S Class hero!"

"This isn't funny!" she protested. "You've been beating up other kids for that! My Big brother has far more important things to do than to deal with you!"

"Oh really? So if we say… rough up his little sister…" The boys were two grades higher than she was, the teachers have no control over them and insisted that 'boys will be boys'. However, Zenko refused to believe such a mantra.

She was soon backed into a darkened corner, she felt her body quiver and shake. Igris was getting mad! "I am warning you now, stop what you are doing or my friend will get very upset!" she warned.

"Ooo little girl's imaginary friend is going to… beat… us…" they froze. Six boys couldn't help but see a pair of flaming blue eyes staring out from the shadow behind her, then the fangs that followed, the massive snout of a dragon appeared!

"AAAAHHHHHHHH!"

They couldn't run away fast enough, the boys utterly terrified to the monster that is Igris. She gave off a sigh of relief. She turned and thanked the dragon for his efforts. "I do appreciate that thank you" she said and gave a respectable bow.

The dragon gave one as well before vanishing into the shadow once more. Zenko wondered about until she saw Garou waving her over, but was even more stunned to see her brother at his side! "BAD!" she cheered.

Rushing into his arms, he smiled and swooped her up off the ground. "Hey little sis!"

She paused as she stared into his eyes. "Something is off about you…"

"What? You miss the freaky eyes?" he asked with a smirk.

She shook her head. "No, something else… I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Either or, I am not going to complain I am starting to look like myself again!"

She smiled to that, but the notion in her mind that something was off about her brother wasn't going away any time soon. "Say, don't you owe her a trip to some amusement parks and stuff?" Garou asked.

"Shit, I nearly forgot about that! Z it's the weekend, what do you say? We got to the amusement park?"

"YES!" she announced with excitement. "You can finally win me that prize you couldn't get last year!"

"Prize?" Garou asked with great intrigue. "Do tell…"

"Ain't nothin'"

"Bad spent all his money last time trying to get me a teddy bear, but it was a game of skill and he couldn't quite get all the rings on the bottles."

A cocky look came over Garou. "Well, in that case. I will win it for you!"

"Like hell you will! I promised her I would!"

The smile only grew on Garou. "I accept your challenge then, whoever gets Zenko's prize first, wins!"

"Fine… no powers!" Bad stated.

"Don't need em." Garou replied with a confident grin. "You on the other hand…"

"Shut the hell up!"