Chapter 6

5 days passed.

Snek became board.

So board of living alone, board of being back home, the city he calls home and everything that he once longed for. Was it all really worth it? Despite having everything again, he still felt as if something were missing. Even when he was a snake monster, he didn't feel anything lacking in his lift but legs. "Am I that damn comfortable now, that this is nothing to me?" he asked himself. "I missed this, all of this. Yet… why does it feel like it's all meaningless?"

He had to break out of his rut. Putting on the outfit Alley made for him. Snek decided to go on patrol once more, he has to do something damn it! He covered his head with the hood, he placed on a pair of sunglasses to cover his eyes and wore a pair of sneakers he had lying around. From there he went about the city, looking for trouble.

It's been rather quite, he knows if there were a monster attack, he was of little to no use. But he would still do everything he could to help the people. Yet, with no monsters, he continued on. Venturing to the seedier side of the city where the criminals and low lives like to gather. Normally, he wouldn't bother. After all, he was a Class A hero. Why would he waste his time with scum like this when he could be doing something that meant something! Yet, this time around, something told him to go there. Despite being human again, he couldn't help but feel there was still some of his monster ability dwelling inside of him.

The hunch paid off.

"Stop! Please, I don't have anything left! Just leave us alone!" It was a woman's voice and she was in distress. Snek was quick to find her, she was cornered at a dead-end. She braced something close to her, when he could see, he found her holding on to a child.

"Oh, there's something more you can give us doll face!" one man said.

Snek saw four large men who cornered this woman. "Better still a trade. Give us something good, and you get…" he reached in and wrenched the child out of her embrace. "Your kid back in one piece!"

"NO! Please! He's all I have left in this world, leave him alone!"

Snek was about to step in, until the kid began to fight back. He managed to slip out of the grasp of the brute, not before landing several strikes against him! His hands were fast, his strikes though lacked power. "Leave us alone!" the kid announced defiantly.

"Little man thinks he can take on the big boys huh? Let's see…" before the brute could finish, Snek kicked a garbage can over on purpose to draw their attention. He stood at the end of the alleyway before walking in a little closer. "Hey! Back off buddy, this don't concern you!"

Snek didn't. Instead he kept walking closer. The calmness startled the four men, until one decided to take action. He came running with his fists ready to fly. Snek easily avoided, dodged and weaved each attempt. Until he landed a single snake thrust strike, it sent the brute flying! He then struck his stance, his hand at the ready.

The three snickered. "Who the hell are you suppose to be? No one does the Biting Snake Fist technique but Snek!" laughed one.

"Yeah, and he's a monster now, so why would you be doing it."

"Shut up and dance" Snek growled.

The three smirked, they began to pull out small knives and made their way to him. He wasn't anticipating weapons, but he knows he can manage just fine. The three surrounded him as best they could. With a nod, they made their move. Snek was able to avoid most of their attacks, but he did feel the blades strike across his back, arms and once managed to slice at his chest! Yet, his clothing didn't damage. Neither did he! He didn't dwell on it, instead, Snek struck back hard and fast! He knocked the three men out hard and stood to be certain they weren't getting up. Satisfied, he turned to the woman and her child. The woman stared at him, bewildered. "Snek?" she whispered.

The woman refused to break her focus on him, and he at her. He knows that face! "Angela?" he asked.

Slowly she stood up. "Snek? Is that really you?"

He lowered his hood and took off the sunglasses. Snek smiled to her. "My God, what the hell are you doing in a place like this?"

He was about to step closer, but the kid cut him off. "Don't come any closer!" he warned. "I will fight you!"

"Slim…"

"THAT'S NOT MY NAME!" he protested. "Bob called me that because he didn't want to remember my name. You called me that so he wouldn't beat you!"

Snek froze to the news. "Beat her?"

The kid sneered. "Not like you would care."

"That's rude! He just helped us, you apologize!"

The kid's arms crossed, he glared at Snek before turning his head away in disgust. "I've been taking care of you just fine on my own, he didn't have to step in and help us!"

Snek gave a half smirk. "You're right. I stepped on your toes. Sorry kid, it won't happen again." He paused. "How about I make it up to you both. Want to go get something to eat. I'm buying."

"We don't want your pity."

"I don't give, nor do I throw pity parties. You want to eat or not?" Snek could hear the kid's stomach roar from where he stood. If the kid was that hunger, he could only wonder how hungry Angela was.

"We'll take you up on that." She said.

"Good, follow me, I got a great place line up. I use to go there all the time." With that, he led them out of the alleyway and into the better side of town. Snek got a good look at Angela and her son. The two wore matted and tattered clothing. The kid tried to make it look like a rugged Goth style but couldn't quite pull it off. His hair was short and spiked out. Angela had dirty blonde hair and blue eyes, her clothing was far more damaged than that of the kid's. First thing first though, food, then something new to wear.

#

People stopped and stared as the three sat down at a local diner. Snek kept his hood and sunglasses off. He went over the menu and decided on what he wanted to eat. "Get whatever you want, I don't care if it's the most expensive thing." He announced.

The waitress came over. The kid smirked. "This part of the menu, I want all of it!" he said and smirked towards Snek.

"That's rude!" his mother scolded.

The kid pointed to the menu with all the red meats listed, he nodded his approval of it. "Make it two." He said.

The waitress was stunned, so was the kid. "You're going to let me order that!" he demanded.

"Why the hell not?" Snek asked.

Angela held off on ordering since the two were getting more than enough food. As they sat and waited, Snek kept turning to her. He wanted to speak about what happened between them all those years ago, but didn't think it was the time or the place.

But he then caught a snide look from the kid. He appeared unimpressed with him. "I thought you were suppose to be some sort of monster!" the kid said offhandedly. "You don't look like one."

"I'm on vacation," Snek replied. "For about four months, then, I go back. It's not a permanent thing."

"What being a monster?"

"No, being human again."

"So it was all true. You really did…" Angela whispered.

He nodded. "Yeah, no going back after that. It wasn't easy to adjust to either. Took me two years to really understand and accept what I became. I got to admit though. I've been human for five days now and am already board of it!"

"Wait, Bob said you became a giant worm!"

"Snake. I became a rather large constrictor type. Did this Bob guy tell you I also ate monsters?"

The kid blew off the notion. "You? Yeah, right!" he said. "You don't look like you were a thing that ate monsters! You would be a ton!"

"That's enough!" Angela scolded.

"Actually I do weigh a ton… in that form. But, he has a point," said Snek. "I should look like Pig God after all the beasts I've eaten in my human state. Perhaps I am just lucky."

The food suddenly hit the table.

Snek was rubbing his hands with anticipation. The kid was already shoveling everything he could into his mouth! "Thank you for the meal." Angela said and began to help herself to the overflow of food. Snek began to eat as well. A nice steak was something he hadn't had in a little while. The greens and grilled veggies were also savory and crisp. The potatoes perfectly mashed and blended. Yet, as Snek ate, he couldn't help but stare at the kid that cleared five plates on his own. Angela already took 3 to herself and emptied them.

They hadn't eaten in a long while.

"So… why were you two on that side of town?" he asked.

"None of your business!" the kid snapped.

"We… lived there." Angela said begrudgingly. "We had no other place to go, not after…"

She paused, Snek looked to her rather confused. "After what?"

"After Bob went nuts!" the kid said. "My stepfather, went crazy. He used to be a butcher. Then he would come home complain about his day, how people didn't like the way he did his cuts of meat and how awful his food was. Next thing we knew. BOOM he became a monster."

"The people we use to live around, thought it was our fault. We pushed him and caused the monsterfication. We were chased out of our home because they thought we would cause others to turn too." Confessed Angela.

"That's the dumbest reason I have ever heard about people turning into monsters," said Snek.

"Bob was an asshole!" the kid announced. "He would beat mom for the dumbest reasons! He beat me a few times, but I started to learn how to fight back. It still wasn't enough… I hope someone took him out, mom's worried he's still wondering about and looking for us."

"He called himself the Pig Butcher after he turned…"

Snek began to choke on his food.

'Are you kidding me? That thing I ate a while back… that was him?' he thought to himself.

"Are you okay?" Angela asked.

He settled himself, a firm slap to the chest loosened the wad, he nodded. "Yeah, wrong pipe." He explained. "He called himself the Pig Butcher? Huh, I know for a fact that monster is dead." He said.

The kid's eyes lit him. "Really?" he asked.

Snek nodded. "Without a doubt."

"Do you know what happened to him?"

"I got an idea, but we're also eating. Let's not talk about it right now." He paused. "If you don't have a place to stay, you can come live with me. I got tons of room." He said.

Angela froze. "This isn't like you," she said. "Snek, what changed?"

He paused to the question as he began to go over everything in his mind. Angela was his girlfriend back in the day. She was there when he first decided to train and become a hero. When he worked up through the ranks, she was always there for him. Encouraging him to achieve greatness. Everything changed though when he got into A Class. For him, he had high hopes of reaching the S Class, the top of the hero food chain as it were, and at the time, he was naive enough to believe he could. Everything went to his head, and then he became obsessed with his rank title. It was shortly after his promotion when he and Angela went out to dinner. They had a terrible argument, he couldn't remember what it was about. But, after that night, she broke up with him and he never saw her again.

"I've been through some shit," he said. "I had to endure and become a lot of things I never expected out of myself. I thought I knew what I wanted, but now… I don't even know anymore."

Angela froze. "You think we haven't!" the kid demanded.

"I don't argue the fact that you and your mother have gone through hell but have come back stronger than ever." Said Snek. "I have gone through a different hell, one that toyed with me, challenged and beat me to the point where I wished I was dead. I thought I knew what I needed, what I wanted for myself, only to be proven otherwise. Kid, the world ain't a fair place, I get it, I know. I use to live with a bunch of others who knew it too. What matters is what the hell are you going to do about to make the world better for yourself and those you care about."

The kid froze to his words, for once there was a profound look of shock and then, a moment where the kid began to think before he spoke. Snek turned back to Angela. "I have an apartment here, I'll be living in it for the next 4 months, after that I won't be able to. But it's all paid for. You two are more than welcomed to it. Even now, I will get beds and new clothing for the both of you. You're moving in with me!"

There was no please, there was no if you want to think about it. Snek was determined that Angela and her son get off the streets that day. "As a bonus…" he turned to the kid. "You want to know how to fight, I'll teach you and I'll introduce you to friends of mine who are far more skilled than me. Deal?" he asked and placed out his hand.

The kid stared at it, reluctant for a moment, but then, he shook it. "Deal."

"Good. Now, let's pack the rest of this to go, we got to get you two settled in!" Snek announced.