Chapter 2
"Hungry! Papa! HUNGRY!" he wept.
Snek rolled his eyes as Pythan laid it on thick today. For the past few days he has been attempting to wean the kids, their fangs are fully grown and they are large enough to take down small prey. However, Pythan wasn't having any of it. He whined and was shoving Snek in the side, trying to tip him over to feed. "Kiddo, the bar is closed on that, besides, you're a big boy now. Don't you want to hunt like papa?" he asked.
Pythan settled a little. "We… hunt like papa? Papa teach?" he asked.
"Yes! Papa is going to take you now, and please call me dad. Papa makes me sound old!" he begged.
Pythan cleared his tears away and nodded. However, Snek caught the snickering of Garou from the kitchen. "He played you good."
"What the hell are you talking about?" demanded Snek.
Garou peered out from the paper as he pointed to Pythan. "Your kid was testing you! He wanted to make sure he was still going to be fed, but also that you would help him get fed…"
"Huh?"
"You know the monster rule, when they are old enough to hunt, they are left to fend for themselves. Pythan wanted to be sure that if he wasn't old enough to hunt, you would still provide for him. Yet when you told him he was told enough he ensured you were still going to help him and his siblings, he acted out alone so the others wouldn't get caught up if there was trouble. Older siblings tend to take the greater risks for the younger ones if they give a damn about them."
'Damn, why does he know these things?' Snek thought, but he had to focus. "Okay Pythan, get your siblings, we're going hunting!" He gently placed his son down to the floor once more.
Pythan smiled and was quick to slither off, he returned a short while with his siblings in tow, they were quick to climb up Snek and gather around under his chest. "Hunting! Hunting! Papa taking is hunting!" they cheered.
'At least it's not baby snake'
Snek slithered out with the kids, he called upon the drone and made a phone call. "Hey, do you guys have any pests that need to be taken care of?"
#
Garou snickered as Snek left with his kids. "Man, he thinks he has it bad now, when till they get their growth spurt." He muttered.
The house was quiet for the most part, Alley was called to the Association on an interesting matter, but didn't quite know what it was. The boys have been either out hunting or training the heroes or simply doing patrols, well, all but one. Pac rarely comes out of his room anymore, he's still upset over what happened with the latest attempt from the house of evolution. That, and he isn't thrilled on his changes. He knew he had to talk to him, yet how to go about doing it was the challenging part. As he decided then and there to take action, Garou rose, just as the front door burst open.
"BABY BRO!"
He sneered. "Brawlers…" he muttered.
Street and Knuckle came in without being invited. "Hey, hey baby bro! Where's little sis?" asked Knuckle.
"She WAS sleeping, still… I doubt that's happening anymore…" no sooner did Garou speak those words did she emurge from the room.
"Seriously? What the hell!" she demanded of them.
Her brothers smirked, just as their 'stomach' rumbled. "Mind if we join you for breakfast?"
"Why didn't you stay at the association for Breakfast?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, that cafeteria…" muttered Street. "Well, we wanted to be with you sis! So what's for breakfast?"
"Make it yourselves." She muttered and took a seat at the kitchen table. Garou smirked as she was still clearly tried. However, her brothers had misconstrued her comment. When she announced for them to make their own mean, they appeared to take it as 'help yourselves to whatever you want'.
Garou rolled his eyes as they took out all the leftovers and ate them in one swoop. They cleared out both fridges to say the least and were satisfied when they were done. "Mmmmm, leftovers. Those hit the spot!" announced Knuckle.
"They probably taste better when heated." Muttered Garou.
He then sensed him. Garou stood and saw Pac slowly make his way towards the kitchen.
He has changed.
Most of his upper body altered into a solid form. He not longer had coiled serpents around his arms, and his chest appeared to be thick and broader than before. It reminded him of his 'awakened Garou' stage. However he still had his coiled serpents around his waist, there were more of them than before as Pac grew a little taller. His body grew thicker scales, his tail was much like his own, but the strangest part is he has what appear to be claw like scales on the sides of his face. They stretched across most of his cheeks and yet Garou himself doesn't have that trait. Melee perked up a little the moment she saw Pac. "Morning sweetheart, sorry about your uncles, they have no inside voices."
He merely nodded as he took a seat in the living room and avoided the kitchen all together.
Street and Knuckle froze as they turned and pointed to Pac, Melee was quick to make a slashing motion, hoping her brothers wouldn't attempt to try and cheer him up. Pac has to do this on his own terms.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" Street asked.
"Well, we get you registered at the Association. The sooner you start pulling your weight there, the sooner you can get paid… and stop mooching off of us."
"Whoa, easy there baby bro!" said Knuckle. "We're still getting use to this little phase we're going through. Besides, you were the one that offered to let us live here!"
'Shit' Garou thought. He then realized if they had taken him up on the offer, they could easily eat them out of house and home.
"We also got some testing to do ourselves. We are slowly understanding our capabilities. Believe it or not, when we fall asleep at night, we can read these manuals on our robotic bodies. I've gone through quite a few of them already." Said Street.
Knuckle appeared to be pouting a little. "I'm getting there. I just may take a nap later to catch up on some reading…"
Melee smirked. "Be that as it may, you also need to find a place to live too. The offer is still open here."
"Thanks sis, but I think you got a full house as it is, don't you?" asked Street. "Besides, we never had a place of our own, it's about damn time we do, don't you think?"
She nodded in agreement. "You never got the chance to move out huh?" said Garou offhandedly.
"Times were tough in our family. I'm surprised Melee made it when we were gone… how did you manage sis?" asked Knuckle.
"I got by, even if it meant sleeping in a rental car for a few weeks… months even."
"At least it's shelter." Said Garou. "When I was rampaging, I took anything that had a roof…"
He paused as the brothers stared at him oddly. "What?" he demanded.
"We never asked you about your past." Said Street. "We know OF it, but not the full history."
"Meh, not much to talk about to say the least." Garou stood and stretched himself out. "I'm going to head out," however he paused and turned to Pac. "You wanna come out with your old man?"
Pac turned and had this empty stare on his face, but he gave a solemn nod and stood up off the couch. "We'll be back later. Let's go kid."
Garou could feel it, there was something wrong with his son. He believes now, Pac has wanted to tell him this for a while…
