My Sudden Monster Convergence

Stepping out of the car my body shivered for a moment as if someone dropped a few ice cubes down my back. The wind up here was a bit more chilly than I realized, making me regret wearing only my t-shirt like it was summer.

“Ugh…” I arched my back and even flapped my wings, almost hitting the car and making my mother cover her face from the dust I kicked up.

“Oliver! Pay attention to what you’re doing.” My mother warned me.

I slowly folded my wings like I was putting down a gun. “Sorry. The cold breeze surprised me.” I even covered my shoulders with my wings making a cloak. Cole just eyed me from the safety of the car. “I’ll be more careful.” I said as I looked at him, his eyes narrowed before he turned to gather his things.

My mother gave a smile before she went to the trunk to pull out our luggage. I followed suit as she opened the trunk and began to empty it. She struggled to pull out a pink box and her own suitcase as she fought with the angle they were at so I grabbed one and lightly tugged, easily pulling the items out.

“Thanks Sweetie!” She hugged my arm tightly like it was a super cute puppy. “Now remember, grandpa is a little grumpy after what happened last year. So you gotta be patient with him when he com-”

“What are ya talking about there?” Asked a rather tall man in a purple bathrobe. He had a peppered mustache that hid his upper lip, messy hair like he slept after taking a shower and red running shoes. Even with a loose fitting bathrobe I could easily tell he was built with his wide chest and shoulders. His eyes twinkled with a bright look of concern as he raised a thick eyebrow at my mother.

“Uh- compliments you~. Hehe….” My mother laughed nervously as she looked at the man. I mentally chuckled and gave a curious smirk at her bashfulness.

The tall man narrowed his eyes before he side eyed me. He took a step back and stared. I just looked at mom who looked up at me like a deer in the headlights. “Well? Are you going to give me a hug or not?” He tilted his head almost impatiently.

“Sorry dad.” Mom quickly rushed up and gave him a hug, burying her face into his chest. She then squeezed, making my grandfather chuckle.

“Oh, you’re getting better, mountain lily.” He wrapped his arms around her like he was holding a large dog demanding pats. “But you’re still a ways off.” He smirked before picking her up, leaving her legs hanging in the air as he swayed side to side with her.

“I’m getting stronger! You can’t ignore that!” Mom whined before squeezing tighter and making him groan as soft popping sound came from his back. He laughed before kissing her forehead and putting her down. Mom looked up at him with a grumpy pout as if to say she wasn’t finished showing off.

Grandpa…..

He looked at me, he didn’t look me up and down, just looked at my eyes. “So, what will it be? Fist bump or some wave?” He asked calmly. I smiled at him. I stepped closer and hugged him with both my arms and wings, making him look like an overstuffed burrito. “Whoa. Didn’t think you’d snap that easily Oliver.” He nervously chuckled.

Grandpa! You’ve been hiding up here with grandma?! You don’t look a day over thirty! Are you feeling alright? I wanted to ask all this and more but all that escaped my throat was soft happy grumble that felt really nice in my chest.

“Dad! You promised!” Mom annoyingly grumbled. She looked at me and gave a mischievous smirk. “Oly. Make sure he feels your love.”

A part of me still couldn’t believe he was really here, it’s been years since I saw his cocky smirk. It may as well have been eons since I last held him like this! He smelled exactly like fresh pine wood! I could even feel his muscles, he’s sure not the string bean I remember! I held him close, trying to ingrain every new thing to memory and refresh my older ones as I laid my chin on top of his head. My eyes started to blur but I found mom’s idea a great way to hold back! I leaned into him and pulled him into an ever tightening hug. Also since I had a size advantage of two feet and a body that grows with that height, well………… My arms easily reached over to his sides. Not having enough of the hug, I then stood to my full height, carrying my grandpa like a large pillow.

He began to squirm and tapped my side. “Ok! I give! You guys made your point!” He said with a defeated shout. But I didn’t want to let go, instead I locked his body in by grabbing my arm. Was I being irrational? A million times yes. But here’s one thing most people would overlook. I don’t care!

I turned to mom as he continued to struggle and fail to get anywhere. “You need any more help with our things?” I asked, pointing at her bags with my tail.

“Nope.” Mom just smiled. The biggest shit eating grin with extra helpings of smug and inflated pride that she could give. She looked my grandpa right in the eyes. “All that luggage and he still wants to carry more.” She proudly shook her head in mock concern, clicking her tongue as she eyed him. “What AM I going to do with him?” Grandpa just stopped struggling and tried to look away.

“Ok, I get it.” He sounded annoyed. “I'll lay off the sass. Oliver, could you please put me down.” He begged. I really didn't want to but I'd rather not have a grump. “Thank you, Oliver. “ he said curtly after I put him down, sadly I couldn’t keep him in my arms. I watched him as he chased after my brother.  “Good to see you Cole, doing well?” he said to my brother who was busy piling his things by the door.

Cole looked at him with a soft smile, walking up to him and giving grandpa a handshake. “It's good to see you again kid.” Grandpa warmly said.

“Good to see ya old man.” Cole said with a teasing smirk.

After that, he showed us inside his house, I listened to the windchimes softly ding in the gentle breeze. The wooden door wasn’t anything fancy but I recognized it the moment I saw the carving. It was a ring of daisies, one of the flowers had a petal that was shaped like a shovel and another had petals that looked more like claw marks. And the moment the door opened, I could smell watermelon.

And I remembered sitting near the door, staring off into the window and grandpa would sit there with me. We’d just sigh and shrug whenever a bird passed by. Or the time grandma tried baking and what she made, grandpa called crispy poo. She got back at him by switching the shampoo with pink hair dye. There was also that time Cole came flying in through the window next to the back door and right onto the table and launched a turkey through the drywall. How a six year old managed to slingshot himself through glass and walk away with only a few scratches, I’ll never know. But what I do know is that wall turkey makes for a great monster head mount.

But reality didn’t really line up with my past. Instead of entering into a living room, we were met with a rather narrow hallway. I had to lean forward and push my shoulders together to have enough room to adjust my wings. Though the wooden floor felt cool on my feet and made a nice clack sound every time I took a step with my clawed feet. The walls were painted a cream blue instead of a soft gray color, there was even a little alcove like the ones cartoon mice used. The mouse hole even had its own trimming?!

Luckily we entered a large room with a circle of couches facing a window and two bookshelves. It was a foot or two in the ground…….meaning I almost fell thinking the floor continued and in reality transitioned into stairs. My right foot missed the first step, my body tilted to the side as I continued to press my weight on that foot. Within seconds of feeling my fall, my left wing pulled open while I felt my tail press into the floor behind me, almost gripping the wooden floor. And before I could freakout, all my weight was off my right and now mostly on my tail and left leg. I just slowly blinked as I adjusted myself, it was like watching a football zoom past your face missing you by half an inch.

“Huh.” I felt really bubbly after that. I didn’t think my instincts would kick in like that, it didn’t the last time I almost fell over…HUH…I kinda want to jump around like some moron right now. I looked out the window at the larger pink trees, they look real climbable right now.

“Wow…How’d you do that so fast?” My mother asked as she looked at me. She looked excited as if her favorite sports team pulled off an impossible win. It felt similar to me. Almost like I felt right now………………………………………………………

“Hey mom?” I asked, ignoring the weird handshake Cole and my grandfather were doing.

“Yea?” She answered cutely.

“I don’t know why but I just really need to burn some energy.” I said, sounding like an excited puppy. Mom looked at everyone else. “Could you, uh…teach me some more magic stuff?” 

Her head snapped back to me like I just offered to take her on a cruise. But she quickly closed her eyes and shook her head before I say anything else. “Once we get our things into our rooms……” She half opened an eye, revealing an odd twinkling glow. “I’ll show you how to do this aaaaannd…” She swished her glowing wand and the bags she set down glowed green. “Maybe this.” The bags floated over to grandpa before it unzipped itself and poured out red sparks. It was like a thousand mini fireworks were pelting him in the back until the air around him literally lit a blaze. Grandpa jumped to his feet screaming like he was taking an entire life’s worth of shitting in that moment and was constipated. His veins bulged and his hair started flowing like the wind was blowing it. He screamed one more time before rushing down the hall and into one of the doors where the sound of scraping and sawing began to roar from.

I looked at my mother who was raising an eyebrow at Cole. He sheepishly looked away and tried to shrink into his jacket. “Remember to keep your promise Cole darling dear.” She said in a frost covered tone.

“Y-yes, MOM!” He instantly shouted. He quickly grabbed his things and sped walked into another room

Once he was gone I looked my mother hard in the eyes. “Mom? What did you do to grandpa exactly?”

“I gave him an aura buff.” She giggled as she picked up her still floating bags and closed them. “You might not be able to give humans mana buuut….” She smiled and walked off. “I’ll tell you if you help me get everything into the house.”

Still having that bubbly energy pulsing in my veins I quickly turned, compacted my body into that hallway. Ignoring that mark my tail made in the floor and rushed out the door and scooped up a larger luggage bag only to smack my fucking ti-weights from below. Damn fucking masses of fat and waste of my fucking chest space! Because of my size and the narrow hallway, I was forced to take larger bags one by one. And fuck if I knew, tomorrow I might be twice this size, maybe I’ll grow as big as that giant dragon in that photo! I tried to keep my grumbling to myself but Cole must’ve overheard because he smirked at me! Fuuuuuck! 

I looked at one of the larger trees. It looked really really really really punchable! I looked at the last bag I was carrying and the doorway. The bag was sent flying into the house and a heavy thump sound followed shortly after. But I didn’t really care as I ran at the fattest tree I could find with my arms in the air, claws ready to do some landscaping.

Pulling my arm back, I quickly slashed at the tree, sending chunks of wood into the air. I pulled back my other arm and cut easily into the tree like it was watery mud. As I dug like a mole into the trunk, the tree shook and made crunching, snapping sounds at every hit. With one more swipe, the tree whined before it began to lean forward, right at my grandparents’ house.

“RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!” I roared at the defiant tree. How dare you challenge me!

I slammed my right foot into the ground, turned my waist and pulled with all my might as my body twisted and my tail rocketed at the falling tree. As my tail raced at the timber like an orange blur, I couldn’t help but smile like an idiot. The moment my tail rammed into the tree, woodchips, branches and leaves exploded around me. The tree didn’t just snap in half, NO! The upper half flew in a spiral and crashed into another tree, bending that tree until it sorta just fell over.

“FUCK YEAH!” I cheered, flapping my wings and throwing my arms in the air. My blood was pulsing and my muscles felt like I just got a full body massage with a cup of chocolate mocha.

I turned to the lower half of the tree near me. It was mostly splintered and was bent with several deep cracks running down its body. I hooked my left hand’s claws into it and started running. I don’t really drag my tail but hualing that log sorta felt like I was, if my tail was made of thin bed sheets. I ran up to what remained of the other half, tensed the muscles in my arm and chucked that messy excuse for a log at it. Sadly I didn’t remove my claws from it and ended up throwing four thick stripes that bit chunks out of the surrounding trees. 

Instead of whining or complaining at my thoughtless motion, I just cheered again and felt lots of heat rush into my wings. “Cower below my might!” with that, heat began to pour out of my wings as launched into the air like a rocket. The wind blew past me, my hair whipping in the air. I was the blitzing sword people feared! I was like a demigod! I flew until I was a meter or maybe a foot above the tree line as my wings continued to blast out heat. The trees were but small children below my knees!

“AAAAAAAAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHA!” I cried as I felt even bigger up here in the air. I am the lord of the skies and no one can ever stop me-

“Oliver! Get your scaly butt down here this instant!” The moment my mother shouted I looked down and saw her eyeing me like a devil of rage.

“SHIT!'' The heat from my wings shut off leaving me to quickly fall out of the sky like a pillar of lead.

BOOM