Chapter 9

He remembered his father stating he had an important assignment to do for the association, and he was going to eat. Drax had to come along since he was getting hungry himself. He began to think over in his mind what they were going to hunt. Perhaps it will be something menacing, something powerful to say the least. He has seen his father take down massive monsters in a single strike, yet what would there be for him? Deeper and farther they ventured from the cities, into the country of all places. Drax kept trying to peer through the woods in attempt to see where his father has taken him.

When they reached the clearing, he was confused. It was farmland as far as the eye could see. "Dad?" Drax said with great uncertainty in his voice. He peered about and didn't see a single monster in sight. Nothing destroying the land or a sense of urgency from his father to react and hunt.

"This is the job I was telling you about, special request from the folks here. So, I came, and now… you get to help me!" His father was grinning, knowing something that Drax didn't. But, what was so funny?

His father approached a small group of men, local farmers who were waiting for him. "Damn, they really do send you guys out upon request don't they?" one man laughed.

"Yeah, yeah I'm here, what do we got today?"

The pointed over by a barn, Drax began to hear strange sounds like something attempting to gnaw through metal. His father began to slither him over, yet when they arrived, the sight wasn't the least bit appetizing to say the least. The things were everywhere. Contained, yet everywhere! "Rats?" Drax asked with a slight disgust in his voice.

"Yep, rats… monster rats… they are about 2 feet tall, a hundred pounds each… so all in all not a bad snack for me. But a good meal for you."

Drax cringed. These monster rats were held in thick wire nets, the rest were kept in a deep hole with metal walls. "Ah, I see Alley has been at work here."

The farmers rejoined them, but it was then they took notice of Drax coiled around his father. "Whose this little fella?" one asked.

Snek smiled proudly. "My intern for the summer time. I doubt he thought this was involved but meh, I tried to warn him."

As confusing as the sight was, the farmers weren't about to complain about having two snake helpers! "Well eat up you two, this here is the last wave to come through."

Drax eased himself down and off of his father's back, he was feeling nauseous to it all. "Uh, isn't there something else I could eat as my first meal?"

Yet his father was already at work, the deep hole the rats were in was impossible to climb, they couldn't get out. His presence caused a panic among the little monster, there was nowhere for them to run or hide. Their fangs and claws did no harm to him. Drax watched in aw and slight disgust as his father's body contorted with each gulp, he fearlessly devoured the creatures. He only emerged up out of the hole when he called for the farmers to drop the ones in net down. Cautiously, Drax slithered up and peered down, witnessing his father grab these monsters, strangle them with his bare hands before swallowing them whole. He caught and killed four and tossed them up onto the ground. "Eat up!" he called.

Drax stared at the dead monsters. They were disgusting to look at, but he felt an urge grow inside of him. His stomach rumbled as his mouth salivated. He couldn't fight it anymore. He lunged forward and began to eat what was in front of him…

#

Eight.

His limit was eight.

Drax laid on the ground, too full to move, too sick to think about what he did and how many he consumed. All he knew was he couldn't move an inch or take another bite. His father lingered over him smiling a big grin. "So?" he asked. "How was it?"

Drax moaned as he rubbed his full belly. "I know how Amai felt…"

His father laughed as he went back to work. It took a mere hour for him to devour the creatures, even when he was done, he appeared as if he ate nothing at all. "Rats are done!" he announced.

The farmers were grateful and shook his hand. They kept uttering their gratitude for his efforts. "These things came out of nowhere, we would have lost everything if it weren't for you and the S Class Metal Knight. Those traps worked perfectly."

"We're glad to help…" Drax turned far enough to see his father lingering over him, but he was smiling from ear to ear. "Come on, I got you." He picked him up with great ease and carried him off. All the while as he tried to fight the sleepy sensation he was getting, he heard his dad chuckle. "I tried to warn you, it's not all glamorous!"

"Urp! I know… but seriously, rats had to be my first meal?"

His father began to laugh a little harder. "Hey, you can eat rats, everything else will be nothing! You think I enjoy eating them? God no, they creep the hell out of me!"

"Then… why did you eat them? Couldn't they have just found another way to kill them, right?"

His father sighed. "Yeah, but that's a lot of poison they would have to use, ship out here, poison the rat monsters, then burn the bodies, that poison then goes in the soil, the air and their crops… we're more of an environmental approach of eradication."

"So… you do stuff you, yourself, don't want to do…"

"Every day like this kid." Drax sighed to the news. "You aren't having regrets already are you?"

"No… it's just that… no one sees this dad… no one appreciates what you put yourself through to be the hero you are… I don't think it's fair."

"Life ain't fair, you and I both know that. But, sometimes we just got to make the best of it, huh?" he felt his father give him a few pat on the back, and burped aloud but felt more comfortable. "There we go! I knew you had a burp in you."

Drax giggled. "So… what now?"

"I get you back home to sleep, I get something more filling. Sounds good?"

"Yeah… sounds… good…" Drax's eyes already went heavy, he passed out in his father's arms shortly after…

#

Garou waited for the father son duo to get home. In the fact the whole family was. Curious no less as to how Drax did for his first meal, but also how his son reacted and managed. Snek arrived home a few hours later. Carrying his son passed out on his shoulders and very full to say the least. "Pay up!" announced Garou as the family rolled their eyes and pulled out their money. There was a small bet going on as to what would happen. Many assumed Drax would come into the house, under his own power excited to say the least to his next adventure with Snek.

Garou however figured Drax would get his fill, pass out and had to be carried home, also disappointed in the choices of his first meal. When the money was counted, Garou smirked. "Pleasure doing business with you all."

"Damn, why did we bet against him?" Suiryu muttered.

"I don't know, perhaps hoping for once he would be wrong?" said Max.

Alley however was looking at Max's shoulders oddly. "I see your spikes have decreased… You're revering back to your previous stage… good!" she said.

Suiryu however had no change in his body; he was stuck and couldn't turn back to his former form. He was getting use to it though; his wings and tail were still hard to control. He kept knocking things down or accidently bashing items on the ground with his new limbs.

Snek emerged from the room, but noticed the odd looks on everyone's faces. "What?" he demanded.

"Nothing!" protested Pac.

"Nothing at all" said Draven.

Garou however was smirking. "You didn't think he would pull off the grades, didn't you?"

"Why the hell did you do that anyways? Huh? Why did I have to be surprised with this?" Snek demanded.

"It gets dull around here, I got to liven the place up a little until these munchkins are born!" he said and patted his side. "Besides, he did hit the 90% mark in nearly all of his classes, some he even surpassed that grade point. The teachers couldn't believe his turn around. If he likes doing this, maybe we ought to make it a habit for the summer…"

"If he gets through this summer." Said Snek. "He had a hard enough time this morning."

"What did he eat?" asked Goliath.

"Monster rats."

The twins shuttered. "I don't blame him." Said Draven. "Those things disturbed me!"

"Wait, how would you know about the giant rats?"

The twins exchanged a look between each other. "When you were rendered small, it was the first monster you ate, it called itself the rat king. I have no doubt you just polished off some of its subjects this morning."

Snek paused and thought it over. "Huh, I guess that's why it didn't really bother me this time around…" He shrugged his shoulders. "I am heading off, I need something more filling. Keep an eye on him, please?" he asked.

"We will," vowed the twins.

As Snek left, Garou smirked. "I think he likes the idea he gets to spend the summer with Drax."

"He was against it earlier…" said Pac.

"Indeed, but now he sees his son gets to spend all his time with him. He'll warm up to it more eventually, I think Snek is hiding the fact that he is actually excited about this little venture."

"What makes you say that dad?" asked Draven.

Garou smirked. "A father knows…"

#

2am

Drax finally woke after his meal, but he felt himself get hungry again. Looking back over himself, he was as slim as he when he first woke up, but now the hunger was back and he needed to eat. To his right, he saw his father out cold but with a large lump in his belly. He was hesitant at first. Maybe the hunger wasn't that bad. Yet as the night wore on, the pain only grew worst. Drax became desperate, he had to eat again, it was time to try and wake him. He approached and began to shoving his father firmly in the arm. "Dad…" he whispered at first. "Dad… I'm hungry dad…" he said a little louder, but he was out.

With a sigh, he slithered out of the room and went to the kitchen. He knows his father doesn't eat normal food, but he was desperate to get something. Yet the fridges were relatively bare. No doubt picked clean over the course of the day.

His hunger pain got worst.

It got to the point that Drax was on the brink of tears, he has to get something. But he knows better than to go out alone at night to hunt. He was about to slither back to bed when another door opened. He paused and saw Goliath linger out of his bedroom door, but took notice of him. He appeared half asleep, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts he peered down at Drax before giving off a sigh. "Come on, let's go."

Drax froze. "Go?"

"You need something to eat, I know that look. Come on, and coil up. I'll walk you around until we find something."

He was thrilled, clearing the tears away, Drax slithered up Goliath and got a firm hold on him, he rested on his back as the two left the house. "Wait, don't you want pants or shoes on?"

"Meh," Goliath muttered.

They left the house and went into the city. There were fair size monsters to be had, yet smaller ones were difficult to come by. Drax was getting a little desperate where he would even suggest getting the creatures twice his size to feed himself! Goliath quickly refused. "Not a chance, we are sticking with what we know and you are not going to eat something bigger than yourself! You're just been a serpent for a day, don't over do it!" he warned.

Drax sighed and nodded. It would be deep within City Z where Drax found something of interest. "Huh, I thought this whole place got destroyed or something."

"It did." Goliath explained. "I remember Saitama saying his house was reduced to rubble after the monster association attack."

"Then… how did this get rebuilt? If no one lived here why did they build it again?"

"I don't know, perhaps they thought with the monster association gone, people would come back. Apparently they didn't, all I know is when reconstruction finished, Saitama moved back with Genos. Something about the association being crowded. I know Metal Knight had a hand in this. No doubt this happened before I or my siblings were born. He took the opportunity to rebuild City Z's abandon distract, perhaps to test his robots or something. Either way, when it was rebuilt, Saitama moved back. Alley has been using various parts that have yet to be rebuilt to test the new construction drones for when cities are attacked. She can nearly repair all damage done within a day or so!" Goliath paused as he heard movement. "I think I got something for you. Ready?"

Drax coiled a little tighter as Goliath began to follow the monster he sensed. It was fast to say the least, yet a little chunky. The creature was over three feet tall, with hideous features to say the least. Drax was just happy it wasn't a rat! As Goliath closed in, Drax made his move. He was quick to slither towards the ground, before he went for the strike.

SNAP

His body launched through the air, he grabbed hold of the creature before wrapping around it! Goliath kept a close watch as Drax held back its arms and focused on constriction around its chest and legs. The monster fought on quite valiantly, but Drax was too hungry to let it go. Tighter and tighter he squeezed, the bones began to break and then, the final breath was exhaled. The monster went limp, Drax was breathless to the whole thing, yet as soon as he uncoiled, he didn't hesitate to engulf the creature. Granted it didn't satisfy him as much as he wanted it too, but it was enough to tie him over until morning. "Better?" Goliath questioned.

"Much…" he said and patted himself.

"Good, let's get you back home to bed."