Chapter 3

Amai Mask didn't sleep.

The night became a strange one to endure. He felt as if his skin was crawling, his legs were restless and everything just felt strange to him. Despite the fact he wasn't scheduled to do anything, he maintained his alarm. It went off just as he planned, and yet as he reached for it, he felt the world was a blur. His head ached, his body was sore and yet he found himself oddly cold. He resisted the urge to get up for the moment, he couldn't bring himself too until the chill got too much to ignore. He felt his body wasn't even covered by the blanket he placed over himself. "What is with this blanket?" he muttered.

He threw off the covers, when he saw it. Amai's heart raced in his chest. There were no legs under the blanket. Only a serpent tail!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Amai shot up off the bed oddly, bracing the wall as he kept staring down at the snake tail! His body was covered in light blue scales with a black diamond like pattern on them; his underbelly a light cream color, he shook his head to the whole thing. "No, no, no, no, no!" He fell out of bed, and yet couldn't bring himself to move. He didn't know how to move in this new body! He needed help! Yes, someone could help him! A doctor… exorsist… anyone! He crawled around until he reached the table where his jacket rested on the chair, he sifted through the pockets desperately until he found his phone. He opened it to call a doctor of sorts, but then froze. "I would have to leave the apartment… the world would see me like this… I can't do that!" he tried to think. He continued to drag himself over the floor, and yet growled, despite how far he has crawled his body was so long that he dragged behind him nothing more than dead weight. "This… is not good…" he muttered.

Yet as he crawled across the floor, he heard an odd tapping sound. He was on the top floor of his condo complex, who the hell could be….

He froze at the thought, slowly, he turned and saw Hunter standing out his window. He smirked evilly before waving at Amai Mask. "I see you got your wakeup call!"

"YOU! YOU'RE FAMILY DID THIS TO ME DIDN'T THEY?" Mask roared.

Hunter thought it over and gave a nod. "Yeah, probably." With his esper power he unlocked the door and invited himself in. Hunter was still smiling from ear to ear. "So, this is but a start of what is going to be happening. For you see, you are going to give Snek a vacation!" Hunter explained.

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"It's his birthday today, we've been planning this ever since we stopped you, but we have yet to punish you, as well as make certain Snek gets his justice. So, what better way for you two to switch. Snek will be human for the next four months. You… will be that!"

Amai froze. "Four… four months?" he asked in disbelief.

Hunter nodded. "When two days of 31 have passed. October and December are the only two months with 31 days. So…. Today is September 1… that's 4 months you are going to give Snek a much needed break!"

Amai shook his head. "No, you can't do this! You cannot do this to me, anything but this!" he begged.

"The deed is done, beyond my control anyways. So, I suggest if you want to take a few things from home, pack them now."

Amai slowly picked himself up off the ground, even trying to appear standing was odd to him. Uncertain to his posture, he braced himself close to the table near by. "What do you mean pack? I am not leaving his room!" he said defiantly.

"Oh, no, you are" Hunter explained. "You are moving in with us for the next four months, just so we can keep a close eye on you and you don't do anything stupid."

Amai glared at him. "This was it, wasn't it? The punishment your father had in store for me?" he questioned.

"Partly." Hunter said, but smiled. "Mainly, this was for Snek's Birthday and Christmas present."

Amai hissed yet instantly covered his mouth when he heard the snake sound escape from him. "Now, as I said before, pack some things for comfort, I am taking you back home with me now."

Amai didn't move, he couldn't move, he didn't know how! Hunter had to explain to him how to slither, he even used one of his own serpents on his arms to demonstrate. It took a moment for Mask to get the hang of it, eventually he learned and was able to move about. Once he figured out how to move, he paused and turned to Hunter with a sneer on his face. "I am still not leaving this spot! I don't care what you say, I refuse to move!" he announced and crossed his arms defiantly. "Besides, why would I go and live in the squalor that is your home? Huh? I have standards."

Hunter gave a half smirk. He merely stared at Amai as he suddenly began to glow green. Sweet Mask followed and began to flow as well! When he began to feel his body lift up off the ground, he instantly changed his tune. "Okay! I'll gather a few things!" he said begrudgingly. Hunter put him back down as he packed. He reached under his bed for a suitcase, as he packed he kept turning and glaring at Hunter. He took some shirts, sweaters, blankets, cellphone, pillows, various products for his skin and notebooks with him, from there he signed and nodded.

Hunter lifted him up once more with his things and flew him back home. "You got some set of pipes, we heard your scream all the way up the mountain!"

"Shut up." Amai muttered.

They were at the mountain in no time, Hunter was the first to walk in the door but held it open for Amai Mask. He reluctantly slithered in, yet cringed at the first person he saw.

Snek… and he was grinning from ear to ear.

"Why is he still here if he's human again!" Amai demanded.

"You think I was going to miss this moment?" Snek demanded. "Like hell I would! I hope you enjoy your little… vacation… Sweet Mask. I'm going to enjoy mine!" Snek turned to Garou and Melee and gave an appreciative nod. "Thank you… for this and for everything." He said gratefully.

"You'll be coming by to visit, also we are requesting you hold back on the heroics, take this time for you Snek. You've earned it. Besides, we got your stunt double here to pick up the slack!" Garou said with a sinister grin.

Amai was fuming. "You… think this is all amusing, don't you?!" he demanded.

"Absolutely!" said Suiryu. Amai jumped to the voice, not realizing the others sitting around and witnessing all this.

"I cannot wait and see how long it takes you to crack!" said Max.

Sweet Mask hissed once more before he slithered off, he found Snek's room and decided to hide in there for a while. He sneered at it all. "I bet they didn't even replace the mattress…" he muttered.

As he slithered deeper into the room, he cringed. A part of him was thinking it was all a bad dream, or a really bad joke on Garou's part. What lesson was this supposes to teach him? What purpose was this punishment? It made no sense to him. Amai dropped his things about the room. He didn't bother to place anything in order, he had no intention of staying.

No, for now, he will bide his time. There was no other choice.