Chapter 5

They were battered, bloodied and wounded. Yet neither one was about to give up. It was almost ridiculous with the way the fight was going. Neither once could get the advantage over him, no matter what they tried! Garou stood before them, his arms crossed. He wasn't sweating, he wasn't breathless, this fight… this was nothing to him. "That can't be all." He said teasingly. "Come on boys! I thought you were A Class heroes!"

Snek spat out the small bit of blood from his mouth. His lip was bleeding, his body covered in scratches, luckily though, he wasn't bleeding from said scratches. His scales have become thicker to the point that no claw could pierce him, at least, he hoped that was the case. Lightning Max was battered as well. The plated flesh on his body had been knocked off but was quick to regrow, Garou has found his weaknesses and exploited them. Max has to keep moving to build his energy, also, Max won't launch an attack if Garou is too close to Snek.

"Garou, go easy on them! Remember, practice bout!" called Melee who was holding the twins.

"Snake! Snake! Snake!" the twins chanted.

Garou only smiled. "How else will they learn? I got to be hard on them or they won't learn a damn thing. Besides, we got to be ready for the S Class rookie crushing. So boys, what do you say, another round?" Garou took his stance and waited. Max took his yet Snek waved it off.

"I'm done!" he announced.

"Come on Snek! I felt you get stronger! Don't give up so easily," Garou protested. "How about one on one?"

"I can't compete with you!" Snek snapped back. "I'm done!" he slithered off to the side and decided to coil up next to Melee, yet the moment he did, the twins climbed right onto him and got comfortable. "Damn it!" he growled.

Garou smirked as he turned to Max. "Not going to give up so easily are you? Good. Let's make this interesting…" Breaking his stance, Garou began to focus, his hands started to spark! Lightning began to surge between his fingers, his body lit up in an electric charge! Max was startled, but refused to back down.

Then, he vanished!

Max knew he had to move fast to keep out of Garou's sights but it was too late. He felt a strike across his face! Max went flying into the air, but turned himself and landed on his feet, from there he started to run and gather his energy. "I have to see him, there has to be a way to see him!" he muttered to himself.

"See me? Why would you need to see me?" Another blow came to his stomach. Max had the air knocked out of him! He folded over and hit the ground hard! He coughed up a little bit of blood, but still he tried to get up again. "You are trying to see the wrong thing, Max. You should have sensed me coming a mile away. I was using electrical attacks for a reason!" scolded Garou.

"What… what do you mean?"

"You are energy based, aren't you? Your main source of power is electricity. You shouldn't be trying to see me, but feel the power I was emitting!"

Slowly Max got back to his feet, he cleared the blood from his lip as Garou demonstrated once more. "Don't try and look for me, sense the energy I am putting out!" With that Garou vanished again. Max tried and focused this time around, he wasn't looking for Garou… but the power he was expelling. Max felt the tiny fibers on the plates of his skin move, to the left, and he stepped back just as Garou went for a strike! "YEAH!" Garou cheered. "You felt it! You felt that power coming off me!"

Max froze. "I… I did… didn't I?"

"Now, let's see you do it again!" Once more Garou vanished at lightning speed. Max began to anticipate, yet there was something troubling. He was moving too fast! The hairs on his skin kept moving to the left, then the right then… straight up! Max barely had time to moved back when Garou came out of the sky! Max fell back as he saw the crater made by the impact of Garou's strike! Satisfied with the lesson. Garou stood up and offered a hand to Max. "Much better." He said.

Max smiled as he was helped to his feet. Garou turned to Snek and shook his head. "I will get to you yet! In the mean time, you can enjoy being the twin's babysitter!"

Snek wasn't having it, despite the fact the twins fell asleep on him once more. "Look I got limited mobility as it is! I can't compete with Lightning Max!"

"You ain't competing with him. You are supposed to show me what you can do. How many times do I have to keep telling you, Snek? You are capable of more than this!"

"He's trying to help you," said Melee. "We know you can do a lot more, and we are trying to bring that power out. There will come a time where you can't choke out a monster!"

He sneered. "Then I will stick with the ones that I can!"

"Okay someone's hangry again." Garou muttered. "Let's go get you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry!" he protested.

"Yeah, you are!" Garou stormed over, he took the twins off and enveloped them into his sides. "Up you get, let's go."

Snek hissed. "What makes you think I am hungry? Huh? What makes you believe that food is going to solve my issue!"

Garou paused. "You're still upset with the fact the more you eat the bigger you get, aren't you?"

There wasn't an answer, Snek settled himself but tried to ignore Garou's question. "Snek," said Melee, but he refused to speak of it any farther.

"You two want to go on ahead," said Lightning Max, "I'll stick around with him until he's feeling up to leaving."

Melee nodded as Garou was reluctant to leave, but the moment they did, Max turned to Snek. "What's this about?" he demanded.

Snek glared at him, but sighed. "I was in town a while ago… and the people… loved me" he explained.

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Max, the people loved me… more like this than when I was human!" he paused. "They prefer the serpent Snek… over the original Snek. I… I don't know what to make of it. I'm confused, I'm grateful, I'm lost…" he stopped but then signed. "I am wondering if it is worth turning back? But GOD, I miss my legs! I mean look at me damn it!"

Max smirked. "You're a lot more powerful than you realize too. But I get where you're coming from on not going back." Max said. "I've been thinking that too."

Snek was surprised. "Really?"

"Oh yeah!" Max took a seat next to him. "I'm not really seen as a monster anymore, those are few and far between. Stinger told me a while back too the reason why the other heroes are so hard on us is because they are jealous of what we have accomplished!" That was news to Snek! "They were envious of our teamwork, and how fast we took down a demon level monster. Before it took the three of us, now, were all capable of doing it solo when needed!"

Snek nodded. "Yeah… so what do we do? I miss being human, I prefer being human. I mean… it who I am… I'm Biting Snake Fist Snek! Now… I'm Snake Snek. But … I feel like I am getting comfortable like this. I shouldn't be getting comfortable! It isn't right! I'm a human being goddamn it!" but he stopped himself. Cradling his head in his hands, he tried to make sense of it all. "I'm not feeling ostracized like I once was. I am use to eating now, but I am not so sure about my growth spurts I get…"

"You're a snake, snakes grow when they eat and get stronger. Before Garou could cut into you, now he merely leaves scratches!"

"He was going easy on us."

"Still… I think we may need to consider our options, the pros and cons of all this."

Snek sighed to it all. "I want to be normal again Max, it's all I ever wanted. But what would be the point if people see me more as a hero like this than before? I don't know if it is worth changing back for me… despite the fact I want to."

Max nodded. This was the source of Snek's anger and resentment. But there was nothing more Max could say or offer. All he could do is listen, Snek needed to figure things out for himself.

Max didn't know if he would be able to…