I never realized how eerie it would be to find yourself in a place of infinite nothingness. After we jumped straight to the void, Garou and I fell for exactly four hours before we decided to call it quits and then open a portal.
I still remember what we were doing before being stuck in some alternate reality that Garou talked a lot like an eager school kid.
Garou was crying, seeing Tareo's dead body and also Silverfang. It was the consequence of his childish dream to become the ultimate evil. Not to mention the death of the Earth and everyone in it.
Garou mumbled about going back in time or something. A way to reset all this, and apparently, only I can stop his past version. Then the ground trembled and glowed green. We both fell straight to the ground and then found ourselves in some old barren office.
That annoying buzz of the fluorescent lights from above reminded me of my old dead-end job. Garou was confused, too. We were confused, staying silent for a few minutes as we tried to process what had just happened.
We then walked around for a few days, talking or arguing about anything and everything. Mostly arguing. I wanted to see what kind of person he was. I concluded that he was just a lonely kid who didn't like being told no and always wanted to prove himself.
Anyway, enough recalling. We returned to the yellow rooms via those portals of his while we were falling. We rested for a little while before I noticed some kind of displacement. I sensed a ripple in the air, a shift. It was there from the start; I just never bothered to look at it closely.
I decided to punch it. Garou asked what I was doing.
Then, with a single punch, I was suddenly transported to an idyllic landscape of rolling green hills, crowned with quaint, modest-sized houses. They were all empty, lifeless. The whole place was a huge stretch of flat land and modest houses built on hills.
The sky was in a perpetual warm-morning mood, and the air and the short grass were oddly fresh. It felt like I leaped into a painting. That Garou kid was gone, too. Maybe I shouldn't have punched that ripple.
Anyway, it was very creepy, like using one of Genos' virtual reality kind of tech. The houses were full of supplies that a usual home would have. The water and electricity were functioning, the food was fresh, and there were plenty of clean clothes.
I put on some fresh, clean clothes after a quick shower. I grabbed a couple of bananas from the kitchen and placed them on the dining table. I also took out a steak from the refrigerator, which was oddly well-stocked, and then defrosted it.
I've already seasoned the premium ribs, and they were now slowly deep-fried. I was practically salivating. This was a nice respite, away from all the stress.
Well, that was before that Garou arrived after a few hours and ruined everything. That stupid punk was still emitting some harmful radiation that turned everything into shit. The water turned bad, the food turned to shit, and the lively wallpapers in the houses started to peel.
It felt like I was living in a haunted house, and the ghost was an annoying kid emitting radiation, and instead of scaring me, he was annoying me.
He sensed which house I was in and opened the door without knocking. The banana I was peeling started to smell and look bad. Genos' core was still with me, carefully wrapped with a white handkerchief and put inside a satchel.
"Clean your feet!" I shouted.
"You're a squatter. It's not your house and I am also hungry." Garou shrugged, looking around. He heard the deep frying of the premium ribs and approached the pan.
"Oh, yeah. The radiation poisoning ruins everything." He said with casual candor, shrugging his shoulders.
"Anyways, you need to copy my technique, and maybe then we can get out of here."
I stood up and grabbed his hair or horn, pressing it with my strength. He was no longer the pathetic kind of evil he was espousing; he was now just an annoying brat with no manners.
"You damned brat, I've had enough of you! You turned everything into crap when you arrived here with that emission of yours. Get the hell out and do something with it!" I shouted.
He then squirmed and scratched my head as he attempted to do the same.
"It's not fair! You have no hair!"
"This fucking guy."
"Nuclear Fission Fists"
My face soured, letting him go and slapping his face, but not without striking me eight times. He struck me eight times with the explosive force of a powerful nuclear blast. The house and the hill were gone, along with everything as far as my eyes can see, replaced with a massive sunken crater.
He appeared above me, using that weird portal thing, and punched my head, but his fist slipped on my head, creating a squeaky clean sound. He quickly recovered, leaping backwards for some space.
"How are you doing that? I can practically see my reflection on that head of yours; it's like glass at this point. Is your bald head a source of your powerful strength?
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
I punched that stupid brat, sending him flying to wherever. I don't care about him for now; he's caused enough problems already.
"ONLY COME BACK TO ME WHEN YOU ARE NO LONGER RADIATING THAT HARMFUL ENERGY! YOU DEAL WITH THAT FIRST!"
I care about the fresh bananas and the premium ribs that were now ash. I was even defrosting a piece of steak. My stomach grumbled; I was hungry, and I needed to eat something, or else I would tear this whole place apart.
I faced west, the opposite direction of where that brat had been sent flying, then ran at incredible speed. I think I destroyed the opposite direction from the sheer explosive force, but whatever. I am very hungry, and this place seemed like paradise.
Eventually, I will deal with the kid, and then that time travel thing. That stupid brat was also talking about an alternative way to get out of here when we were falling in that void, something about manipulating the portals to their full cosmic weight.
Whatever that means. But first, I need to cook something up.
...
...
...
I finally found another place. The house was pristine, still perched atop a hill, and looked absolutely the same as the rest, and the food inside was fresh. I put on a new, fresh pair of clothes, then headed to the kitchen.
The premium ribs were seasoned again and deep-fried. I grabbed a soda bottle from the refrigerator and enjoyed some bananas. Anything to take off my mind from my failure as a hero was a welcome respite.
"This one is for you, Genos," I said, finishing the soda bottle. There was also a knock at the door. I opened it, and there was Garou, standing straight and no longer emitting any harmful energy but he still looked like that featureless cosmic void.
"May I come in?"
"Clean your feet and wash your hands."