Self Reflection
After calling Miss Martian, Gar broke the phone apart making sure it wasn't sending or receiving anything further. Then he started his trip going in the direction he told her to meet up with him.
The moon was almost full so Gar could see well enough in the dark. He decided to go in the form of a lion. [Great, even in my own head I sound like one of the Wonder Twins, or Inspector Gadget.]
Knowing that not many things would want the attention of a lion, Gar figured he would be safe.
After running for 15 minutes, Gar would switch back and rest, then change again and run more, it was slow going.
After a few hours of moving like this, Gar felt an itch in his skin like he did just before he turned to see Mammoth trying to hit him. Gar panicked and started to look all around for a threat, but he didn't see anything.
Looking around, Gar found a sheltered spot to investigate the itch and moved to it.
Returning to his normal shape, Gar looked at his shoulder, only to find it swollen in one specific spot.
[What the hell is this?] Gar ran his hand over it to see if there was any pain. When he didn't feel anything, he pushed at it to see if was tender.
Surprisingly, he felt as though his finger was pushed back. Starting to wonder if this was something the scientists put there, Gar noticed a liquid oozing out of his poor's.
Before he panicked (too much), he noticed by the light of the moon that it was the same color as the sap Monkey gave to him that he absorbed through his skin.
[Why is it coming out, I thought I absorbed it to put this body at its best for when I escaped.]
{Wow you really are a dumb shit, aren't you! You have been acting like an 8-year-old kid who thinks he is a whole lot smarter than he really is.}
Instinctively Gar knew the voice came from the sap bloob on his shoulder. Gar looked closely and saw a pair of eyes in the puddle, but no mouth. It looked irritated and Gar felt the voice inside his head, and weirdly the voice sounded like his.
{That idiot Monkey really did a number on you, didn't he? Get somewhere safe and then we need to talk internally.} After that the voice just went quiet.
A little insulted, Gar quickly changed into his Lion form and started to look for a cave or something that would provide better shelter than the hollow he was currently in.
After finding a good spot, Gar returned to his natural form and entered his mindscape once again.
Entering the construct of a defended Japanese house, Gar moved to the front room and saw himself sitting there like he was waiting.
"Are you the 'Treasure Planet' Morph rip-off that was on my shoulder?" Gar asked.
"Oh ho, that's a good vision you just put in my head there Junior. I'm going to have some fun with that one. But that's for later, we need to go to the library." Getting up he moved in that direction like he was the owner of the house.
Gar followed him and wondered why, if this guy had the same green teenage body as him, [Why does he seem so much older than me?]
As they walked into the library, the Gar that was waiting in his mind waved his hand, then a couple of chairs appeared, and he sat in one then pointed to the other, so Gar sat.
Gesturing at the 2 bookshelves the older Gar asked. "Why two? I loved the idea for the false bottom but what made you create two separate bookshelves?"
"It just seemed natural, Monkey made one life look like a long movie and the other felt more real I guess, so I made two bookshelves." Gar defended.
"There is the problem. Monkey lead you to believe there were two people in one body but there aren't. There was a clone with no consciousness, basically brain-dead and there was you. That is until Monkey awakened the blood memories that should have just meshed with our original memories"
"Even I am still you, Monkey just prioritized his ward as the main memories because he is this universe's Garfield Logan's guide. That is the reason you have been running around like a scatterbrained 8-year-old with some experience from another life."
"Then what is Morph?" Gar asked.
He replied "Morph is also us. When we aren't actively thinking about him, he is an impulse like a background memory. But he will gain sentience and emotions through that channel. Eventually, he will return to The Parliament of Limbs, but until then he is our baby. He also serves as a direct line to The Red to watch and see if I am worthy of being an avatar."
"Why do you have all this knowledge, you act as though Morph told you all of this. Why didn't it come to me as well?" Gar asked in frustration.
"That is the other issue with what Monkey did with the blood memory. By making it the dominant set he made it so you can't learn anything new. Every thought you have had is from the past, you have done no forward thinking. Why contact Miss Martian and turn yourself in? Why go to them for help after we have escaped already?"
"I should be looking for a place to settle down and learn about this world, about this body, but you instead, put us in line with the base of the lightning rod."
"I will leave the other few things to when we finally fully mesh. Now grab that bookshelf."
Grabbing the bookshelf named Garfield Logan (8), Gar placed it next to the one labeled Garfield Logan (36) both moving to the same side, and he yelled "Now push!"
Once both bookshelves occupied the same space, Gar felt a click and then noticed the "other me" was gone and his mind felt full and well rather frustrated with himself as he left his inner world.
Gar opened his eyes and decided to stay in the cave and work his way through a few things.
[Why do I keep changing back to the base form before going to the next? Just shift in the form I'm in!]
[Really, 15 minutes is I can hold my mind free from an animal with no self-awareness, just instinct? I am a fucking solder, for Christ's sake. My will is stronger than that.]
Realizing how childish all his thoughts had been since leaving The Red and even before that, he was more than a little frustrated with himself. But wallowing in it wasn't his style, [I'm far from the smartest person but I have a wealth of lessons from the hard knocks school of life.]
Knowing he could judge distance better by foot than air, Gar took the Lion form again but this time he just stood next to The Red in his mind and envisioned the form in his mind I didn't try to force The Red, he just let it flow through him then he begin his trip.
In his mind's eye, Gar saw his Lion shape standing next to the red wall in his mind, and just to experiment, he envisioned a Timberwolf standing there. Suddenly he shifted to that form and a range of new smells and sounds hit him, ones that the Lion didn't catch.
After about a half hour of running, Gar turned out of a small canyon only to have the wind shift from in front of him to behind him and he smelled something. Its smell had a faint tint of blood to it, so he knew it was a carnivore.
Running the smell through his memory, he comes up with a Hyena.
Not wanting to carry this danger behind him, Gar waited until they came into sight, picking out the leader of the pack of 12, Gar sent a mental message, {I'm dangerous, so leave while I let you!}
All he got back was {We are hungry, and you are big enough to feed us all!}
He couldn't say as he was going to complain or try too hard to get them to leave, he needed to train anyway.
Backing himself to the canyon wall, Gar ensured that the pack couldn't get to his back legs, and this made the pack nervous, so they started darting in and out trying to get him to jump at them and then get tired enough to make a mistake.
Most Heyena packs are led by females but this one wasn't, it was not very coordinated either. [Must be a new lead change.]
One of them lunged just a bit too far and Gar managed to catch it by the scruff of the neck and shake it a little, so it stayed still. Gar kept his eye on the leader who had stayed back so far. {LEAVE NOW} Gar mentally sent to him.
With him not replying, Gar threw the Hyena he had in his mouth at him. When he jumped to the side, Gar bolted towards him and shoulder-blocked him while he was still mid-dodge of his pack mate. In a flash, Gar chased him down as he rolled and stood over him with his right paw shoving the lead Hyena's head into the ground. Gar placed his growling mouth just over his neck.
Feeling the panic of the pack leader, and his acceptance of Gar no longer being prey, Gar lifted his leg in contempt and peed all over the Hyena, marking him as his territory. Once Gar let him go, he just ran, and his pack took off after him.
Deciding that it wasn't much of a battle for this body, Gar just snorted and continued his journey.
Though it entered Gar's mind to just ignore the rendezvous message that had been sent earlier, it didn't sit well knowing that they would be entering a dangerous area in search of him. Gar wouldn't take the chance of them getting hurt on a wild goose chase he had sent them on, so he intended on keeping it.