Chapter 6
Garou kept himself in a meditative state of sorts. It was to keep the children calm as they recovered from their ordeal. Every so often they would leave him to get something to eat, but they always asked to come back and be taken in once more. He never refused. He would take them in any time they asked for it, since then, he did his best to try and comfort them. With his power, he could connect to all three of them at once. His time with his children was not wasted, he figured it was the opportunity to explain things to them. Why the heroes and people don't take kindly to them was one thing. He confessed it all to them, how he was the hero hunter, seeking to become a monster. How he succeeded and how he was defeated. The triplets were stunned to the events to say the least, but now they knew the truth about their father's past.
He would keep them comfortable as he could, his mind would allow the children to believe they were out in the real world once more. Most of the time, he envisioned them in the house where they felt safe. They would sit at the kitchen table and want to talk about things. Yet this day, Pac came out and asked of him. "Dad… how did you become this?"
Alley and Hunter wanted to know too. How did their father become who and what he is now?
Garou sighed. "I guess it's time you knew the truth. You all know how I turned into a monster the first time, this is connected to that."
Garou found the room changed, his thoughts brought the kids into his own mind, as he revealed his past. There was a particular moment, when he confronted one Gyoro Gyoro about his transformation. "Dad… is that you?" whispered Hunter.
The kids saw everything at a slight distance, but they saw him when he was relatively human. "Yes, that's me, in my pre monster form." He explained. Hunter and Pac stared between that version of their father, and then each other. They were the spitting image of him! "There was something called the Monster Association, they wanted me to join their cause. I kept refusing. The monster with the one eye that you see is called Gyoro Gyoro. And don't worry, I ate her… that's where my esper power comes from. Anyways. To her, I was nothing more than an experiment. She wanted to perfect the way of turning humans into monsters at the same time, making monsters stronger."
"So… you were tested too…" said Pac.
"More or less, I was." He paused. "I was arrogant, cocky and full of myself… still am, but I thought I could prove to Gyoro Gyoro that I didn't need her help. I didn't want it. I would be a monster on my own without her assistance. But she insisted and said I lost the right to refuse her. So, I challenged her to a fight. Her esper powers were no match for me since I adjusted to the weight she casted on me with her mind. So, she did the only other thing she could think of…"
The kids jumped as the floor gave way when these massive horns came up through the ground. Garou's mind brought him and the children down to the depths where he face Lord Orochi for the first time. Pac couldn't believe his eyes. "That… YOU FOUGHT THAT!" he demanded.
"Fought and lost. But even in this fight, he pushed me to my limit. It made me stronger, faster and tougher. I survived barely. But it is this moment… that plays into what I am today…"
The kid cringed when they watched Orochi impale their father with one of his horns. It went right though his lower left side. Yet, they were amazed that he didn't die from it… and he fought despite that occurring! "That's… what triggered this. Orochi's horn splintered and left a fragment in me."
The world shifted again, to some time after. After the war with the monster association, after he was broken of his monster form and became human. He spent months wandering, wondering what to do next. Eventually he made his way back to the dojo where Bang taught him all he knew. "I was surprised he took me back in, then again, I had nowhere else to go. It was a short time after this when I began to feel something painful in me." Garou them thought of and recalled the day he found the scab on his body and how it pulsed every so often. "Ew!" said Alley.
"Yeah, ew." Muttered Garou. "The fragment ended up triggering another transformation in me. It broke down in my body, then made this organ… We never really know what happened, but I assumed this thing was latched on to my stomach. Shortly after, the scab vanished, but I got hungry… really hungry…"
There were flashes of him eating monsters, the pig one, the hippo monster and then the dragon like one. "The more I ate, the more I turned, and I began to retain the best features and strengths of the monsters I ate from. First, I developed scales. Heavy as hell, but made phenomenal armor, nothing could break my skin. Then, I absorbed the strength of weaker monsters, they possessed no characteristics that added to my form. Just mere strength. Then… there was the chimera, I ate the tail since there were too many heroes around. I got a tail the next day from it. Not to mention the son of the deep sea king that gave me gills. No one at the time knew I was doing this… no one but one…"
She appeared. "Mom?" questioned Alley.
"At the time, she was known as Shuriken Star. Hero Class A rank 38." He said. "Despite everything that happened to me, she stayed at my side… she treated me the same since the day we met… which was ironically the day I found out that damn scab was really a monster organ growing in my body. She bought me dinner… and never did so again after."
"Wait, dad. If mom knew you were turning, did she do anything to help you try and change back?" questioned Hunter.
Garou fell silent for a moment. "No, she couldn't… because, unlike the last time. I wasn't making a monster shell around my body, I was turning from the inside out." He said. "It didn't matter what I did, or tried to curb my hunger for monster meat… I couldn't change my new habit… I continued to eat. But then… I learned the hard way Gyoro Gyoro was still out there, and she wanted me to become the new monster king…"
The world shifted again, it showed Garou in the depths of the monster association where Gyoro Gyoro held the child Tareo hostage. "No… she took little uncle!" whispered Pac.
"Yeah, she did…" Garou paused as he remembered the ordeal. He was thrown into the wall hard. So much so he nearly broke his ribs. It wounded him so much he had to eat. So, there were monsters pulling away from the fallen monster king Orochi. He devoured three of them to recover and was about to charge his way towards Gyoro Gyoro once more. But then, the pain he felt. It was excruciating.
"Dad…" said Hunter.
"I didn't know it at the time, but the parts of the monster king… they were stronger than any level dragon monster I had faced… or consumed before." His body began to swell after the three creatures he devoured, then, the serpents began to grow out of his sides. More of the monsters would break off the fallen king, many inflected him with pain so he would have to eat. Others were bold enough to jump down his throat and be eaten as he tried to fight off the others. His children were at a loss for words a he was forced to feed and continue to grow. He became a massive giant, but he still tried to find and save Tareo.
"Dad… I had no idea." Said Pac. "All this time, you never sought this, you never wanted to become this…"
"Had I been foolish and this happened a few years ago… I won't lie, I would have been the happiest idiot in the world!" he said. "But, now… I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be human."
The children stared at his monstrous form. "How did you…"
Before the question could be asked, they saw Saitama, Genos and their mother. Without hesitation, she ran to him, trying to talk him into turning back again. He nearly struck her down, since he couldn't control himself. But Melee refused to see him give up like that. "Your mother… never gave up on me. She insisted that I was stronger than this. I could overcome it all… I did…"
They watched as he fought his own body, he took control of the serpents that become part of him, then, he began to shrink himself down from a giant to his normal height. He took what was left of his strength to pull back the monster features of his face, the one place where he was able to keep some of his human appearance. Since then, it was his appearance. It was how he looked and would always be.
"I had trouble controlling this power within me. There were times where I would erupt. I would grow suddenly into this leviathan and couldn't control my actions. Which is why I started to spar with Saitama. I would unleash this power I kept bottled up. He was able to take whatever I dished out without even batting an eye. Then, he would snap me out of it with a good slap across the face. It worked for a while, but then, it became difficult once more."
"Why dad?" asked Alley.
"I was fighting my own demons in my head, my past to be exact. The ones that sought to be a monster, to become the ultimate god level threat to the world. They were rattling around in me, trying to take control once more…" He showed the children the very battle he fought. Pac covered his mouth at the sight of 'awoken Garou' and the monster it became. "They wanted to take over, they were the monster urges I was fighting; the rage, destructions and carelessness for others. They all wanted control of my body, but… they forgot that I had been each and every one of them. And you know what happens when we have seen something once before right?" The children smiled as he destroyed his past demons, he took control of his body and was able to use everything to his advantage. "I have had no problem since. I can fully change at will, come and go between sizes. But, I can never get to the point of being human again…"
With that, he ended the story. "Dad… I'm sorry about the stuff I said…" muttered Pac.
"Don't," said Garou. "Because I'm scared of it too."
Garou then felt it. Three stomach rumbling. "Hmm, I think you kids need something to eat!"
