The revolting, lightless flesh cocoons…
The sight was so graphic that every website on the internet would have banned it in a second.
Every moment Morty looked at them tested the limits of what he could stomach.
But he didn’t retreat or go back to ask Rick for help.
Instead, he forced his body forward, suppressing his fear of the unknown and pressing on without hesitation.
He had already decided to use the intelligence boost from the Mega Fruit to upgrade the Meeseeks Box and eventually break free from Rick.
How could he back down now just because of a few disgusting sights?
Of course, Morty wasn’t reckless enough to charge in completely unprepared.
After he was cursed during their last trip to the Cthulhu Dimension, Rick had implanted an Omnidirectional Defense Device beneath his skin.
It did not protect him from Cthulhu.
The instant Morty encountered danger, Nanobots would surge from his body and form a protective wall in the air.
Then they would send Rick a distress signal.
With that in mind, Morty gathered his courage and stepped closer.
What he found was completely unexpected.
The flesh cocoon was empty.
No…
All five of them were empty.
Then where had the people who were supposed to be inside gone?
Morty didn’t believe their flesh-cocoon plan had failed.
On the contrary, the smooth inner walls showed that whatever had been gestating inside had successfully emerged.
Which meant…
[Maybe Cthulhu Rick and the others already left.
Or maybe they’re still somewhere in this world…]
[Or maybe they’ve been right in front of us this whole time.]
[The Cthulhu family of four?]
The possibility made Morty restless.
During the three days he had spent bedridden, he had gritted his teeth and studied the Cthulhu Mythos all over again.
Cthulhu was the most iconic figure in the Cthulhu Dimension.
With the female Great Old One Idh-Yaa alone, he had fathered three sons and one daughter.
He also had several other children with other Great Old Ones.
Cthulhu was practically the leading advocate of population growth in this world.
How could he possibly have only two children?
Could it be…
Morty only wanted to get away from Rick.
He had never intended to get him killed.
He immediately hurried out of the house and ran back the way he had come.
Rick was leaning against the shoreline with Cthulhu himself.
Each of them had a bottle of beer in hand as they gazed up at the bright moon.
Or rather, up at Azathoth.
The two looked so friendly that all they were missing was a barbecue.
Seeing that things seemed to be going well, Morty slowed down and tried not to look too anxious.
[This is the first time I’ve ever seen Rick make friends.
I never would’ve guessed that someone who makes enemies everywhere would be so good at getting along with his father-in-law…]
The thought that Cthulhu might actually become Rick’s father-in-law made Morty deeply uncomfortable.
Then he considered what it would mean if the pregnant one was Cthulhu Summer, or…
[What the fuck…]
[If I ever got another chance at life, I’d rather go to the Warhammer Universe and fight Greenskins bare-chested than end up in a world like Rick and Morty again…]
[This place is way too violent and horny!]
Morty shook those increasingly Rick-like thoughts out of his head and quickened his pace.
When he reached Rick, he gestured for them to step aside and talk privately.
Rick was clearly drunk.
He swept one hand through the air with drunken bravado.
“What could you possibly have to say that you can’t say in front of my bro Cthulhu?
Don’t treat the guy like an outsider!”
“But he is an outsider…” Morty muttered.
He looked up at the three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu beside Rick, who was holding a fifty-meter-tall barrel of alcohol.
His octopus face and curious stare made Morty decide that once this was over, he should burn his copy of the Cthulhu Mythos.
Even the author who wrote it probably never imagined a scene like this.
Rick and Cthulhu drinking together like old friends…
Since Rick was obviously too drunk to cooperate, Morty lowered his head, leaned close to his ear, and quickly whispered what he had discovered.
Rick’s eyes went wide the instant he heard it.
He looked like he had never even considered the possibility that this world might have its own Rick.
Rick normally wore the same blank, indifferent expression no matter what disaster he faced.
Seeing that expression suddenly change made Morty’s heart lurch.
Had he guessed correctly?
The next second, Rick set down his beer, made up an excuse, and scraped some skin from Cthulhu’s body.
He placed it inside the analyzer he carried with him to examine the creature’s true composition.
Morty could only give Rick a silent thumbs-up.
A three-hundred-meter-tall Cthulhu was standing right beside them, watching.
And Rick was analyzing his tissue right in front of him?
Morty glanced up, but Cthulhu didn’t appear particularly bothered.
The analyzer processed the sample almost instantly and confirmed that the creature before them really was Cthulhu himself.
Morty had barely begun to relax when Rick smacked him squarely on top of the head.
“Don’t scare me with shit like that again!
I almost dropped dead from high blood pressure!” Rick snapped.
“How is that my fault…?”
Morty immediately defended himself.
“The last time we came here, we were in the deep sea, cutting…
cutting…”
He felt Cthulhu’s eyes lock onto him and immediately abandoned that line of thought.
“The point is, we never saw that cabin last time.
I was just wandering around, found the place, then saw the family portrait.
How was I not supposed to freak out?”
More importantly, whatever had been inside those flesh cocoons might already have hatched.
“What?
You’re only telling me something that important now?”
Rick bolted toward the cabin.
Morty followed close behind, and Cthulhu came running with them.
As Morty ran, he glanced at the three-hundred-meter-tall giant and complained silently.
[Why the hell are you tagging along?]
He soon found out why Cthulhu had joined them after accidentally overhearing their conversation.
“This cabin!”
“Rick Sanchez!”
“It was him!
There’s no mistake!”
Cthulhu was clearly agitated.
Morty leaned toward Rick and whispered, “What the hell did you two talk about while I was gone?”
“What did we talk about?
Our alibis, obviously!”
“I’ve been through more women than you can count, never used protection, and I still only ended up with one daughter.
Morty, if you used even half your goddamn brain, you’d realize it’s already extremely difficult for me to have any more children!”
“And after talking to him, I found out that ‘I’ went to see Cthylla twice that day.”