Chapter 18
Snek still couldn't believe his eyes.
Pythan, Bo, Angie and Conna were all showing off their human forms. Not to mention the clothing they got from their first trip to the mall just a few weeks ago. Pythan was nearly the spitting image of Drax just with blond hair. Bo was bulkier than his brother, Angie was much like her mother. Conna was a good mixture of the two, but was a little bigger than her sister. Perhaps it's because Bo and Conna are the constrictors. Snek slithered closer to his children as they smiled towards him. They have hidden their human form from him until now, he didn't know why they held back on showing them off. But seeing them, standing on two feet, he couldn't help but feel proud.
They appeared like fourteen year olds, yet smiled to him. "Look papa… we're human too!" Pythan said with great amazement. "I can't explain how this feels right now, but… it's weird and amazing all at once."
"You get use to it." Yuuma said as he reentered the house with Luna, Eclipsa, Akira, Drax and Yuki, they were done with the Association and practice for the day. "The most important part is to learn to not hit your toes on ANYTHING!" Yuuma said with a cringe to his voice.
However, there was something Snek had to know. "Why didn't you tell me you wanted to try this before?" he asked. "I would have switched some how with Amai and taught you the ropes."
They shook their heads to it. "Papa, sometimes we want to try things on our own too. I know being like this at the same time as you would be amazing, but, we want to prefect this, so when you do change, time isn't wasted on training us how to walk. We can go out and do it!" Pythan said defiantly.
He was stunned to the logic, but it made perfect sense in his mind.
The kids could walk fine, however they all got tingling in their legs after sitting on them funny. They endured what happens when their leg falls asleep! It was still a startling sensation for the four, but once it passed, they began to think towards the future. "So… what do you do as humans?" asked Bo. "Can we fight monsters?"
"NO!" Snek said defiantly. "I am a lot weaker in my human state than I am like this, I fear you will be too…"
"Actually…" Yuki said with a grin. "I managed to change that. They have the same strength as they would if they were serpent, mainly in their arms. They can take a stronger hit, but not as strong in this form due to the lack of scales. I know those things are like intense body armor to say the least. But they will be able to hold their own, I promise you."
Pythan suddenly began to move about, he started practicing Biting Snake Fist combat in the living room! "Whoa, wait, where did you learn that?!" Snek demanded.
He didn't hesitate to answer. "You and Drax! Mr. Knuckle showed us video of you fighting. We've been watching Drax train outside by himself and have been mimicking what he can do, mainly with our arms, but now… we can do the whole thing!"
Even Drax was impressed. "Hey, little bro, if we are going to be doing this, we go outside, not in the house, got it?"
His eyes widened. "You will show me?"
"I'll show you," he laughed. "You coming dad?"
He smirked, as much as he wanted to watch, he felt himself getting tried from his latest hunt. "You go head, I got to sleep off my dinner. I promise though, I will watch you train," he vowed.
Pythan was the first to rush out of the house, Bo followed suit along with Drax. Angie and Conna however remained uncertain to this new sensation. Snek slinked off to his room, but before he could rest, a gentle knock came on the door. "Papa…"
He smirked, he's gotten use to being called Papa, but the tone they used usually only happens when they are concerned about something or uncertain of a situation. The girls peered into the room. "May we come in?" asked Conna.
"Sure girls, come have a seat."
They slipped into the room, but they stood rather oddly. Worried looks came over their faces as Conna began to rub her arm nervously. "Papa… what if Pythan and Bo don't want to change back?" asked Conna.
Curiosity got the better of him now. "What do you mean?"
"Pythan appears to like being human, he just turned and liked it. We don't. It's too weird for us and I don't like the fact that I have soft skin that can't protect me from attacks… I don't like feeling vulnerable!" Angie said. "But if Bo and Pythan like being human, they may never turn back again... If they don't turn back, we lose our brothers!"
"Oh sweetheart…" the two began to weep as they rushed towards him.
Snek picked himself off the ground as he held his daughters tightly. "Papa, we don't want to be separated!" cried Conna. "We don't want to lose our brothers!"
It was adorable and heartbreaking all at the same time. He held them a little tighter and tried to comfort them. "Listen, there will come a time where you will venture off on your own, without me, without your brothers and even without each other… BUT, you will never stop being siblings." He explained.
"Venture off? No we will never venture off, not after what happened the last time!" protested Angie.
'Oh right, they remembered when they tried to run away from home and me…' Snek thought.
"My point is this, you two are individuals, you have your own lives to live, soon, you will grow up bigger and stronger, and then have families of your own," he explained. "It's the way of life,"
"What if we don't want families of our own? What if we want the family we have right now?" asked Conna.
They may look old, but they have a long ways yet until they are full mature! It wasn't a bad thing in Snek's mind. But he had to set theirs at ease. "Well only time will tell on that, now listen… you got an opportunity here. You have family that can help you adjust to being human, and when you are done, you can change back into a serpent at any time. For now, explore this world with new eyes and a new adventure! You may find something you like to do that you couldn't before. Promise me, you'll try?" he asked.
They cleared away their tears but nodded. "Good, do you feel better?"
"A little…" whispered Angie.
"You know, there might be leftovers in the fridge, do you remember that nice smelling dish from last night… you can eat it now and it will be filling!"
They paused to the news. "That's right, we can eat food!" said Conna.
"Indeed, and it will be just as filling for you as if you ate a monster as a snake, but this… this has flavor!"
There was suddenly a look of excitement in their eyes as the girls pulled away and left the room. With that, Snek yawned aloud and decided to get some sleep while he could.
#
Athena returned home a short time later. However, she couldn't help but pause to the commotion coming from the side of the house. Curious, she peered around and saw Drax training Bo and Pythan in their human forms. Pythan was able to strike faster than Bo, Bo however possessed greater strength and endurance. The three came to a stop, Drax was out of breath as his siblings were still ready and raring to go! "I give for now… please, time out…" Drax said between breaths.
The two smiled. "This is fun!" said Bo. "I didn't think I could hold my own like this… legs are weird but fascinating!"
She peering out the kitchen window Angie and Conna as they watched their brothers spar.
However, Athena noticed Angie and Conna were not happy about their human forms. They were reluctant still, she was much like that herself. But then, an idea came to mind. She went into the house, approached the sisters and whispered. "What to try on some outfits I made?" she asked.
Curious looks came over them. "Outfits? You mean clothing?" Conna asked with excitement to her voice.
"The very same! Come on, I got stuff for you to try on!"
The girls appeared interested. Athena led them to her room and revealed a massive closest Alley designed for her. Within was a small walk in closet with materials and a sewing machine. "I've been making clothing since I started to learn about it. Right now you are wearing nano bots, handy to have it you are going to change back and forth often. But, if you know for certain you are going to be human, you can wear these! Pick something out and try it on" she insisted.
"It's just like the store we went to a while back… but we can try these on?" asked Angie.
"Indeed, see what you like and what fits!"
The girls tried on clothing for a good hour. Neither one had something unique to call their own like this before. Athena would make suggestions as to what outfit is good with which sister. Sometimes they agreed with her, other times they flat out refused. Angie loved the color green for some reason. Conna was in love with blues, the darker the better in her mind. When they each found an outfit to wear, they appeared a lot happier than before. "These are amazing, where did you find them?" asked Conna.
Athena smiled. "I made them." She announced.
The two froze. "You can MAKE clothing!?"
"Yep, and I can show you how too! You want to learn and make your own?"
"Can we do it as serpents?" asked Angie. She appeared nervous still to the idea of being in a human form for too long.
"You can try, I tried to myself and it's a lot more difficult since there's a peddle on the sewing machine you need to use, a foot is a lot easier than the tip of your tail, personal experience here. But if you practice enough, you maybe able to, but I prefer this way, I can make a lot more clothing faster than when I was a serpent."
Curiosity got the better of the sisters, they would watch and learn from Athena as she taught them the basics. When they understood and practiced themselves, they found sewing more difficult than they realized.
"HEY, WE'RE HOME!"
"Ooo dad's back!" Athena said with glee, she rushed out but froze at the sight. Tempest was home too, but… he was hurt and his robe was tattered and torn. "Tempest… my robe… I made that for you!"
He hung his head shamefully. "I am so sorry…" he said. "I got attacked by Amai Mask, and…"
"Wait… you got attacked?! You're not seriously hurt are you?"
He paused to the tone of concern in her voice. "No, just my arms got fractured, but dad thinks I will heal over by tomorrow… But I am so sorry about your robe, I didn't mean…"
"Forget the robe! You're arms got fractured!" she rushed to him, checking his wrappings and nodded her approval that they were keeping his wounds to a minimum. "You should have told us he went after you, we would have fight next to you!" she protested.
Tempest smiled to her concern, but he assured her that he would be okay.
Her father however paused. "Huh. I don't think I have seen Snek's kids in their human forms yet… Angie and Conna, you look great," he said.
The two blushed and shied away.
"Yuki worked it out on the same device that renders us human. But he also found a way to bypass the code so they can use their strength as serpents in human form. Granted they won't take a hit as well, but their power is there to strike back!" Athena explained to her father.
"These kids keep getting smarter and smarter…" he muttered.
#
"Ooo dad's back!" the triplets announced.
Drax smiled as he waved the three off to go and greet Garou, he on the other hand had to catch his breath. Despite how good he is, his little brothers are stronger. Then again, they got their monster strength still. Drax has a little bit of it. After catching his breath, he turned to them, smiling a proud grin. "Damn, you two are good! Tomorrow I'll train you on dad's biting snake fist form of combat if you are interest?"
Pythan's eyes widened. "We can fight like dad!?"
"Oh yeah, big time, you two will be naturals at it to say the least." He explained everything as he brought his brothers back inside, yet when he entered the house once more, he found Amai's kids clamoring over Tempest, Luna and Eclipsa however were in full nurse mode as they examined his arms, they were bandaged up as they made slings for them with towels. "Whoa… what happened?!" he asked aloud.
"Amai Mask." Garou said with a hint of venom in his voice. "I heard him say that Tempest and the others were only alive because he allowed them to be. Tempest demanded he prove it, next thing I knew a fight broke out. However, Amai couldn't land a hit. Tempest blocked them all, yet his arms got fractured."
Drax soaked it all in. "They only got fractured? His arms should be shattered!"
"Yeah, I know."
There was an odd pause in Drax. "Uh… does Melee know about this? Where is she anyways?"
"Out with her brothers, I think… then again Street was at the Association… huh… I don't know where she went… Oh… if she was at the Association…" he paused but then, an evil grin came over his lips. "Amai may be going to the hospital…"
"Dad, please make sure mom doesn't do anything drastic! If anything this was perfect training for me. I know my strength!" Tempest protested. "Besides, as Genus said. He won't mess with me from here on. He knows my power and I am only going to get stronger!"
"You're that much more powerful?" asked Yuuma. "Can you train me too?"
He nodded in acceptance but explained it won't be easy to say the least. "Together, we will grow stronger!" he announced.
Garou appeared to be thinking to himself. But then realized there was one missing. "Wait, where the hell is Rimuru!?" he demanded.
No sooner did he ask, did Rimuru walk through the door. He froze as everyone stared at him oddly. "What?" he asked.
"You keep disappearing like a freaking magician!" Garou announced. "Where on earth are you going? You never say, and I have no idea!"
He blushed to the question but said. "It's a secret right now… I don't want to reveal it just yet."
Garou's arms crossed. "Oh really? Is it a big secret?" he asked, his voice going a little stern. Garou doesn't like it when the kids keep something hidden from him, especially if they could be involved in something dangerous.
"It's nothing serious dad, really. It's just… I want to make it a surprise," Rimuru said reluctantly.
There came a look of uncertainty on Garou, however he nodded. "Okay then, just as long you aren't doing anything too brash…" he warned. "Well it's getting late, might as well figure out dinner…" he muttered.
"Ooo, dad, can we do pizza?!" asked Tempest. "Snek's kids haven't had pizza before and it's our favorite in human form please!"
He smirked. Drax knew the look on his face too, after all, Garou doesn't like to cook unless he has enough time to make something. "You know, pizza sounds like an idea! Let me call the Association kitchen and see if the drones and whip some up for us."
"One of the best perks of being in this family. Take out is no problem and Alley's drones know how to cook!"
"Damn straight!" Garou announced.
He made the call outside, at the same time, Drax decided to call Melee and ask where she was. "Hey Drax, is everything okay?" she asked.
"We're okay… where are you by chance?" he questioned.
"Oh, helping Knuckle with something impossible" she said with a sigh. "Does Garou have dinner ready for you and the others?"
"We're getting pizza."
"Of course you are…" she sighed. "Look, I am going to be late, so keep an eye out for everyone for me please okay?"
"Sure thing… what are you helping Knuckle with anyways?"
There came silence on the other side, until he heard Knuckle speak. "Sis, there she is!" he said with excitement.
"Huh?"
"He wants to ask Tatsumaki out…"
