Chapter 13
Snek woke the next morning, once more feeling two strange things resting on his back. He turned and saw them again! The twins, sound asleep on him. "Damn it," he muttered lowly.
Yet he turned to the doorway and saw Garou leaning against it. He smiled to his sons who remained sound asleep. "Can you do anything about this?" Snek demanded. "Ever since they came out of you, they come into my room and sleep on me!"
Garou merely stared on but shrugged his shoulders. "Boys will be boys. They must really like you to be doing this."
"I would appreciate some privacy! Come on Garou!"
Garou showed no sympathy to Snek, instead he leaned down to look him in the eyes. "Let me make this clear, when these two are asleep it's best they stay asleep. If not, not even the wrath of God will save you from them if they do not get their nap in. So. If my sons see you as a nice, comfy pillow, you are going to be the best goddamn pillow, understood!"
Snek was taken aback by his words. "Seriously? Their comfort comes before mine!?"
"Again, you have never been pregnant. You have no idea what sacrifices one makes for the comfort of others. Besides, they will wake soon, they have been asleep on you all night."
Snek sighed. "Besides, it's not like you were going anywhere today. You ate yesterday, normally you just get a coffee and go back to your room to digest your meal."
There was a reluctance to speak in Snek's eyes, but Garou picked up on it instantly. "You aren't satisfied are you?"
"Damn it."
"Why didn't you say anything last night?"
"I thought I was good, but now… I am not feeling the same satisfaction I had before. I find I want to eat bigger things."
"Ah," said Garou. "Alright, when the twins wake up, you and I will go back out and hunt. I'm sure we can find something of interest for you."
The twins woke an hour later. With a stretch of their arms and legs, they flopped on their backs as their eyes opened to a new day. The one closest to Snek smiled.
"Snake!" he said.
"Snek… Snek!" over and over again he tried to get the kid to say his name right, but he kept saying snake.
With a roll of his eyes, Snek figured it was no use trying to convince a toddler how to say his name. "Snake!" the other chimed.
"See, they like you. Come on boys, let's get you some breakfast!" Garou tried to pick up his sons, but they clung on to Snek!
"Snake! Snake!" they said over and over again.
Garou was confused. "You want Snek to take you to get breakfast?"
They lay down on him contently. "Snnnnaaaaake!" and smiled.
"Alright, fatherly duties are apparently part of the job description now!"
"What!"
"If I try to pull them off of your, they are going to take a good chunk of you with them. It's the lesser of two evils!"
With a roll of his eyes, Snek slithered out of the room with the twins latched on to him. They giggled all the way as they appeared to enjoy the way he glides from side to side. When he entered the kitchen, Melee turned and saw the twins climbing him. "Your little rugrats think I am a bed," he muttered.
"Snake, snake, snake!" they said over and over again.
Melee rolled her eyes. "Come on you two, let's get you fed." She tried to reach for them, but they shied away from her! No one could get them off of Snek, however. Snek was able to. He sat them at the table as Melee gave them their breakfast. They were ravenous eaters.
"So, what are their names?" Snek asked.
Melee and Garou kept looking to each other. Neither one had thought of it yet. "We don't really know… I mean, we thought we had a little more time to decide, but I guess we don't." Melee thought it over. As the two boys ate, she tried to think of names.
"Goliath," said Garou.
"Really?" questioned Snek. "Why Goliath?"
He shrugged. "Like the name, not to mention when they get older it would be the perfect name to go by, wouldn't you think?"
Melee thought it over. "Or Goli for short."
The one on the right perked up to the name. "Goliath! Goliath!" he said.
"Well he dibs it!" snickered Garou.
"Now the one on the left… Hmmm." Melee thought. "Draven,"
"Oooo, I like that," said Garou. "Have about you little man, Draven!" he said.
His son didn't quite react to it, but he finished his meal and said his name. "Draven! Draven!"
"Oh sure, he can say that but not Snek?"
"You are hangry. Go hunt something!" scolded Melee.
"I'll go with you," said Garou.
"Not this time," muttered Snek. "I'm more than capable of hunting, I think I just want to get some air first."
Snek scoffed as he slithered out of the house. "Bye Snake!" the twins called.
#
He slithered into town. Not really looking for something to eat just yet, Snek needed a change of scenery. He needed to clear his head on everything going on in his life now. He was coming to the conclusion that Biting Snake Fist Snek was no more. After all, that was the name of the A Class hero the people looked up to. Not some sort of snake man monster. He continued to try and figure out his next move, where to go from here, how to do it… if he can do it.
He was moving along when something began to feel strange to him. The stares he once got weren't as powerful as before. They weren't nervous, startled or even fearful. Instead, he began to see how people use to look at him before. The ones who knew he was an A Class hero, the admiration and aw of his presence, he felt those again!
Snek continued along and he found people were still whispering about him, but not in terror. "That is him!"
"It's him! Really him! Biting Snake Fist Snek!"
"I heard he took down a level demon yesterday, on his own!"
"He did, and ate it!"
"Saves our tax dollars from cleaning up the monster bodies."
He began to feel a little more relaxed to the notion. A sense of pride began to return to him, he slithered a little taller and confidently. Deeper into the city, he found much of the same. But then, something unusual happened. There were a small group of boys who saw him. Their eyes widened in shock. "No way! IT'S SNEK!" they rushed towards him, in their hands were newspaper articles written about him. Then there were the photos of him in his monster form. "Can we get your autograph?"
"Uh… sure…" the boys presented him with a pen as he signed off on these newspaper articles. They kids were thrilled to say the least. "I can't believe it. I got an M Class Dragon autograph!"
"Now we need to get the others, the hardest one to get is Garou's. He doesn't sign anything!"
"Wait… you kids like the M Class Dragons?" Snek asked.
The kids stared at him as if he had a hole in his head. "Of course! M Class are just like the S Class but way cooler! They are quick to respond to trouble, and they don't hesitate to help either." Said one boy.
"All kids love the M Class Dragons…"
SMASH!
Suddenly something shattered. People were starting to run for their lives. Snek stood at the ready and found there was a monster that just came into the city! It was a centaur like beast! It had few human features in its face, but appeared more like a bull than anything else. Even its main body frame was more like a bull than a horse! "I guess lunch found me today. Excuse me, kids!"
Snek went into hunting mode. He slinked pass the people running for their lives as he got in closer. The monster was charging and attempting to trample people to death, until Snek came from behind. He didn't realize how much he had grown, before he would have to force the monster's arms back into a full nelson before coiling around their chest to bring them down.
He's large enough now, he could ensnare a monster into his body from there, and he could choke the life out of it before consuming the beast. People would stop and stare as the monster would try and break free from his coils. Snek never appeared to be struggling with the task, merely he waited out his victim. The only visible part of the monster centaur was an arm and it's lower body that continued to thrash and move about, until it slowly lost its power. People would stop and witness the monster slowly weakening. It no longer thrashed about until suddenly it's back legs went still, the exposed arm was limp. He uncoiled from the monster that lay dead in the streets.
"It was effortless, he didn't even try!" one person whispered.
Snek resisted from eating since there were so many people around, but the hunger got the better of him. He was quick to devour and swallow it down. When he was done, he appeared rather embarrassed. The people kept staring at him. "Excuse me…" he turned to leave, and yet, the people were cheering for him. Their looks weren't of disgust, but amazement.
"That monster just appeared, and was taken down before anyone got hurt!"
"Remarkable power!"
"No wonder he's in M Class!"
"Biting Snake Fist! Biting Snake Fist!"
It's been a while since people cheered for him like that, Snek's chest puffed out a little more proudly. He dusted himself off and even dared to strike a pose!