OF MONSTERS AND MEN
-X-
By the end of September, life in Darkwing City seemed to have largely returned to normal. After the whole Steelfinger fiasco ended, the city seemed almost peaceful for the next four weeks.
To Blue, it seemed like a blessing. Her friends were all safe, the school had long since quieted down regarding Crystal, and she finally had time to herself without worrying what might happen at any moment.
Looking at her calendar though, she knew that peace wouldn't last much longer, at least for a select few.
It was a pleasant Sunday afternoon, and Blue had spent the morning cleaning. With her parents out of town, someone needed to keep the place spotless, after all. She had just finished sweeping the kitchen floor and laid down to rest for a moment when her phone rang. Even from the kitchen at the other end of the house she could pick out the distinct melody of her ringtone, recorded from a performance by Jiggly soon after she purchased the latest Pokégear.
With a sigh, Blue stood and paced over into her bedroom to grab the device from its place on her desk. She flipped it open to reveal the face of Green.
"Hey," The boy greeted with a wave. "Do you mind coming over to the clinic in a bit? I wanted to talk to you."
Blue shrugged. "Sure thing, I just finished everything I needed to do for today. I can be there in twenty minutes."
"Great," He friend grinned. "See you there." There was a click and the image vanished.
Blue sighed. So much for taking a nap. But she had a pretty good idea why Green was calling her over, and that was more important than a few extra hours of sleep. She made her way to the bathroom in an attempt to brush the snags out of her hair. Somehow between that morning when she had first brushed it and the present, it had managed to tangle itself again.
Once her caramel locks were in decent shape, she slipped out of her pajamas and into a simple black dress which she liked to wear on Sundays. She wasn't religious, but she felt it was a good idea to wear something nicer today regardless. She completed the outfit with a pair of black boots and her favorite gloves, justifying the use of the latter because it was Autumn and the weather was bound to be getting colder. In all honestly, she really just thought they looked nice with the dress.
Running a little late, she headed out of her house toward the clinic in a hurry, barely making it by the time she had promised.
The clinic was the closest thing this part of the city had to a doctor's office and was run by Green's sister, Daisy Oak. It was small, but Daisy was the best doctor in the area. Some people preferred coming here over the hospital even when Daisy didn't have all the resources to treat more serious injuries.
She entered to find Green sitting at the front counter, head resting on folded arms.
"Sleeping on the job? Shame on you," She grinned.
The boy jolted awake and looked up at her. "You're late."
"Am not, I'm right on time."
He shrugged. "If you say so. C'mon, let's talk in the back," He stood and headed toward the back room where the supplies were kept, followed shortly by Blue.
Even after coming in here many times, Blue was always caught off-guard by the place. Boxes of medical supplies were stacked in cryptic order which only Daisy seemed able to understand. The room was large, a short set of steps leading down to a lower level where two chairs and a worn table sat. Blue had never asked why the chair closest too the wall had several feet of thick chains bolted to the wall behind it. She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
Blue stood in place for a moment as Green sat down on the table and stayed there quietly. "It's almost time again, isn't it?"
A single nod. He was nervous.
"Are you going to leave early?"
A sigh. "Daisy has a check-up to do with one of her patients, so we won't leave until Tuesday after school."
"At least you won't miss much if you're only gone for two days, huh?" Blue smiled.
There was no answer. Green continued to stare at the floor.
"Look," Blue began, feeling that she needed to break the silence. "You've done this before, and you come back fine every time. So don't worry."
The boy finally drew his gaze away from his feet. "And what if this is the time I don't? The time when everything goes wrong? After two years it's supposed to be getting easier, but it hasn't."
Blue tried to think of what she could say to console him. "Do you want me to come with you? Maybe I can help."
"I can't ask you to do that; you might get hurt," Green replied quickly.
"I'm tougher than most people think, you know," Blue smiled conspiratorially. "But if you're sure, that's fine. I'll be sure to pick up the work you miss from school."
"Thanks," He finally smiled. "I'm glad I can count on you."
Blue was about to reply when Daisy called down, informing Green that he had work to do. "I should get going then. See you tomorrow?"
"Right," He nodded, standing to go. "Tomorrow."
Even in those two words she could hear the pain in his voice.
-X-
"Can anyone name the third major event commonly tied to the origin of Darkwing City and the Equality Movement?" Bertha asked the class the next morning to be greeted only by yawns. "Nobody?"
"The Kalosian Crusades?" A boy guessed.
"Not quite," The elderly teacher shook her head. She looked around the room for someone else. "Red, what about you?"
Blue giggled quietly as she watched her friend snap to attention from a sketch he had been doodling. "It's...er...the Nacrene Witch Trials, right?"
"Precisely," The teacher gave him an approving nod. "And as a bonus point for anyone, can you tell me the difference between a witch and a sorceress?"
Nobody spoke for several seconds. Many of them had probably assumed that there was no difference between the two. Finally, Blue raised her hand with a sigh.
"Yes Blue?" Bertha pointed to her. "You know?"
"A sorceress...is a human who learns magic from books and such, right?" The girl responded. "And witches are able to use it from birth. That's why they're classified as monsters but sorceresses aren't. It's the same with warlocks and sorcerers for boys, right?"
"Precisely," Bertha nodded, jotting something down in her notes. "You've just earned yourself some extra credit points."
The rest of the class groaned. Many of them probably needed the extra credit more than Blue, they just hadn't known that the question was actually worth something.
Blue sat back with a sigh. Hopefully nobody would think to question how it was exactly that she knew that answer.
-X-
"Did anyone notice that Green seemed pretty tired today?" Yellow asked conversationally as she was packing up after the bell. "He barely talked at all during lunch; I wonder if he's been getting enough sleep..."
Blue flinched slightly, knowing exactly why Green had been so quiet lately.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he's just a little stressed. He's had a lot on his plate in the last little while," Red explained. "You'll see, he'll bounce back soon enough."
If only you knew...Blue thought. She sighed as she split off from the two and headed toward the bus which would take her home. She climbed on to find Green already there.
"Is this seat taken?" She asked, moving to stand beside him.
"Feel free," he gestured, scooting over to make room.
"You're all ready to leave tomorrow?" She asked, which received a mute nod. "You know, the others are getting worried about you."
"Well there's nothing they can do; no need to burden them," Green replied in attempted nonchalance.
"That's how you see this?" Blue inquired. "A burden?"
"I wouldn't exactly call it a gift," He sighed. "Look Blue, I know you're trying to help, but the things that happen to me? You can't stop them; nobody can."
"I can help though," The girl protested quietly. "And so could the others if you would trust them."
"I know," Green replied. "But I'd prefer not to tell the others about what I am right now. I don't want them to think of me as some kind of monster."
"Kinda comes with the territory for us, no?" Blue joked, to which Green finally smiled.
The bus stopped on the street housing the Oak family clinic and Blue stood to give Green room to step out into the aisle.
"Last chance to let me come with you," The girl noted with a smile. "You sure you want to go this alone?"
Green gave what was probably meant to be a reassuring nod. "Don't worry, my family is the best in the business at this kind of stuff. I'll see you in three days."
With that he waved his goodbyes and stepped off the school bus. Blue watched him go sadly before sighing.
"He'll be fine," She tried to reassure herself. "So why do I still feel so uneasy?"
-X-
"I'll bet you 500 Pokén there isn't a speck of actual meat in this thing," Gold frowned, prodding at the cube of meatloaf on his tray. "Or if there is it's something weird like Stantler meat."
"Not sure I want to take you up on that," Red replied. "I'm not a fan of losing money."
His amber-eyed companion chuckled. "I gotta say, as good as the stuff they serve here is at times, it can be just as nasty on other days," He took a moment to glance around. "Where's Crystal, by the way?"
"That's an odd subject change," Yellow noted. "Missing your girlfriend?"
Gold's face went bright red. "Grow up Yellow, I just wanted to go over some math problems with my tutor is all. I may have a quiz today and I'd rather not flunk another one."
"You seem strangely on top of your work now that she's your tutor though," The blonde noted. Before Gold could protest again she continued, "But to answer your question, I think she went to the library."
"Wonder if Blue went with her," Red orated as he continued to eat. "Do you have any idea where she is, Green?"
The spiky-haired boy shrugged, not looking up from his own tray. "Didn't say."
Red sighed inwardly. What was with Green lately? He was normally rather chipper with a touch of sarcasm, but every now and then he seemed to hang a personal raincloud over his head wherever he went. Red usually put it up to stress, but it almost seemed like more.
Maybe he was just reading too far into it. Everyone had bad days, right?
"Well we don't need them here to have a good conversation, right?" Yellow declared. "So Red, what have you thought of your first few months in Darkwing?"
The boy was jostled once more from his thoughts to think about the question. "It's different for sure. People seem a bit more open here."
"You used to live in Pallet Town, right?" Gold asked. "In Kanto? What was it like there?"
Red considered the question. "It's different, for sure. Not as many people around, and I can't say I talked to the neighbors much."
"Green's grandfather used to live in Pallet Town too," Yellow remembered. "He used to work there before he became-"
"That's enough," Green put a hand up. "Yeah, he used to work there, but I haven't been there in a long time. I don't remember seeing you there if that's what you were about to ask, sorry."
He gathered up his things and picked up his tray. "I've got some stuff to work on, no need to wait for me."
"Jeez," Gold huffed after he left. "What's with him? Every now and then he turns into a total grouch for a few days."
"Probably best not to push him," Yellow noted. "That wasn't exactly polite, but this isn't the first time he's gotten like that. He probably has his reasons."
Gold looked down sheepishly. "Well I get that but he could at least try to be polite about it."
But Red wasn't satisfied with that at this point. Something was up with his friend, and now he felt responsible to figure out what.
-X-
"It's time to go," Daisy spoke up, sticking her head through the doorway to Green's room. "Hey, are you ready?" I'd like to get there before sundown if that's alright."
Green had just finished packing a bag to bring with him and nodded to her. He had changed out of his uniform into more casual apparel-a black shirt and purple jeans. "Yeah, I'm ready."
The two headed out onto the street and climbed into Daisy's car, the engine rumbling to life a moment later. Unseen to either of them, Blue watched from the driver's seat of her own car a block away.
"I'm not letting you sit through this on your own again, Green, she muttered as the car pulled away from the curb. She shifted her own into gear-she was borrowing her mother's car-and followed at a safe distance.
They drove like that for a good hour or so until the lights of the city were far behind them. Now there were only trees on either side as far as Blue could see. This was where Green came every month? It made sense, but it seemed a bit bland for her tastes.
She shook her head and focused on keeping her distance behind the car, hoping that she wouldn't be noticed as she continued her pursuit.
-X-
The phone rang in what felt like the middle of the night, jostling Red from his sleep. He looked around frantically to discover that the device was sitting on his night stand. Who had put it there? Didn't everyone know that he needed his sleep?
"Hello?" He slurred after picking it up. "Who is this?"
A sound which must have been going on in the background cut off for a panting voice to respond. "Red, is that you? I'm sorry, I know it's late but..." The voice trailed off for a moment. "I need your help. It's bad, I don't know what to do." The last word was followed with what sounded suspiciously like a sob.
Red finally recognized the voice through the frantic tone. "Is that you, Blue? What's wrong? Where are you?"
"I'm in the woods," The breathless girl explained. "I followed Green when he left, I thought I could help him but...when he saw me everything went wrong and now..." She sounded short of breath, "Now he's run off, and I had to hide in the woods. I didn't know who else to ask. I called Yellow and she said she'd try to get here but I'm not sure how long I can wait."
Red was confused. What did she mean, she followed Green? Had he gone somewhere in the middle of the night? Why was she in hiding? The questions were stacking up but he had no time to think. Instead he nodded, even if Blue couldn't see it through the phone. "Don't worry, I can help? You're in the forest to the south, I'm guessing? I'll be there in twenty minutes."
"But it takes an hour to get here by car," Blue noted with short breath.
Red simply smiled. "Just know that I'll be there soon. I'm going to get going now."
"Thank you," The girl whispered. There was a quiet beep, indicating that she had hung up.
With no time to lose, Red got dressed and ran downstairs. He left a note for his mother explaining that he was helping a friend with an emergency before bolting out the door. He met Yellow halfway down the walk.
"Blue told me she was going to ask you for help," She explained. "Do you have a car?"
Red shook his head. "A car isn't fast enough, she said it was an emergency."
"What's faster than a..." Yellow frowned and took a step back. "Oh no, don't even think about it."
"We don't have time to drive for an hour," Red explained. "Blue sounded like something was chasing her, if we drive it might be too late." He rubbed the back of his head and grinned, "Aaaand...we kind of don't own a car."
Yellow refused to let up. "So you're expecting to run there. And what am I supposed to do, put on a pair of skates and hold a rope?"
"Of course not," Red shook his head. He moved to stand beside her and bent down. "Hop on."
"If you dropped me on the way, I'd die," Yellow blanched.
"That's a distinct possibility," Red nodded. "But if we stay here too long, Green and Blue might die as well."
Yellow sighed in exasperation. He had her there. Reluctantly she looped her arms around his neck and allowed herself to be hoisted up on his back.
"Good thing you left your hat behind, otherwise it might not make this trip," Red noted with a grin back at her.
Then he ran.
The force of the wind against Yellow's face instantly became a sheer wall as the world around them blurred. Red was supporting her, and if it weren't for his supernatural strength she likely would have been blown away like a leaf. She could barely make out details as they streaked past, but focusing on anything made her eyes hurt, so she gave up. Eventually she simply held herself against Red with them closed, allowing the beating of his feet against the road to form a rhythmic pattern. With all the different sounds, it was actually quite beautiful.
And Red's pretty warm too, she admitted as she tried to stay out of the wind chill streaming past. Hadn't she read somewhere that vampires were supposed to be cold because their bodies were dead? Well bang went another myth.
After several minutes which seemed to stretch into hours, Red finally slowed to a stop, taking a moment to catch his breath.
"Are you still hanging on back there?" He asked between pants.
"Barely," She replied, nestling closer with a shiver. Near the forest everything became colder naturally. She longed faintly for the warm jacket which sat draped across her chair. The long-sleeved black shirt she wore under her orange dress was doing nothing to keep out the temperatures.
"We'll have to go at a normal pace from here," Red explained, helping her down. "It'll be hard to navigate through these trees, plus it takes a lot out of me to run that fast for as long as I did."
"You're sure she's close?" Yellow confirmed.
Red returned her query with a nod. "She's nearby, I can smell her. Green as well, though it sort of feels like something else is covering his scent."
"You can tell who people are from so far away just by the way they smell?" Yellow asked, suddenly feeling very insecure. If his senses were that good, she wondered what she smelled like. Body odor and nerves, no doubt...
"It's a vampire gift," Red nodded as they started into the forest. "For example, you smell like vanilla and oranges."
Yellow sighed in relief, suddenly glad she had taken a shower that evening. "Well then, Mr. Bloodhound, which way are we going?"
Red changed direction as they walked, looking around at the trees. "It's hard to get a read on either of them, and there's another person I haven't met before close by as well. I'm not sure who we should head toward first, but if Blue is in the most trouble then we want to go south-east."
They kept moving, their rhythmic steps the only sound. Yellow actually found it a bit creepy; she had expected the forest to be alive with the sounds of Pokemon, but nothing of the sort seemed to be going on. Trying to get her minds off of everything, she instead lifted her gaze to the sky.
"The moon sure is bright tonight," She noted. "It's a good thing too, otherwise it would be hard to see anything."
"A full moon," Red observed. Suddenly, a thought popped into his head. "Yellow, how often does Green disappear from school?"
The girl considered the question. "Every month or so, I think."
It made sense. Red pressed on. "And when he leaves, how many days is he normally gone?"
"Err...three or four, I think. But what does that have to do with what's going on?"
Red didn't give a direct answer. "You mentioned yesterday that Green's grandfather is famous. By any chance is he a beast tamer?"
Yellow looked at him in surprise, nodding. Beast tamers were humans whose profession it was to contain monsters when they became a danger to those around them. They could communicate with Pokemon, and were trained to trap and contain a huge variety of monsters.
"Blue said that when Green saw her tonight, he freaked out. Then something bad happened. It might be that Green does the same work as his grandfather, and was trying to get some sort of monster under control. But he lost his focus and it escaped."
The forest air seemed to drop a few degrees in temperature suddenly, causing Yellow to shiver. "What kind of monster?"
Red didn't have to say a word. He simply pointed skyward just as a long howl echoed through the forest.
-X-
Blue heard the voices in the distance just as she was beginning to lose hope. There were two of them, unmistakably belonging to Red and Yellow.
"Thank goodness," She muttered, just as another howl filled the night. "Now I just have to explain things to them before it's too late." She slid down from the tree branch where she was sitting, rushing off in the direction of the duo.
Yellow saw her first, greeting her with a cry of "Blue!" And waving. The two moved to join her, clearly glad that she wasn't hurt.
"I told you we'd be here soon," Red grinned.
"There's no time for sarcasm," Blue shook her head. "There's something you need to know about. That sound you heard a minute ago? It was-"
With a ripple, Red stiffened in front of her. "Werewolf," He hissed quietly.
"Yeah," Blue nodded. "But how did you...?" She trailed off, realizing that the boy was looking over her shoulder at something behind her. She spun to see a massive figure barreling through the underbrush.
"Yellow, Blue, get behind me," Red said calmly. At Blue's incredulous look, he nodded. "Just trust me."
"Wait," Blue begged as Yellow pulled her out of the way. "You don't understand. It's-"
The beast struck, barreling into Red with the force of a car. Brown fur bristled as it threw the boy back to slam into a tree.
"Red!" Blue screamed, trying to surge forward, only to be held back by Yellow. She couldn't just stand here, she knew that she could help him.
Then, unexpectedly, Red simply stood and brushed himself off. He turned to the enormous wolf with a grin. "Is that all you've got?" He appeared to be completely unharmed.
What?
Red looked directly at her as though sensing her confusion. "I'm sorry about this, Blue. That you have to find out this way."
With that, he flicked his hand outward and a slash of red opened across his palm, seemingly on its own. Blue watched in disbelief as crimson liquid floated away from the wound and congealed around the boy's fingers until it resembled a row of crimson claws. The boy turned his attention to the werewolf, twin fangs peeking out beneath his lip.
The eyes, the teeth, the fact that he was using his own blood as a weapon. The answer hit her like a sack of bricks. Red, the funny quiet kid who seemed the most normal out of anyone in their group of friends, was a vampire.
With a howl, the werewolf surged forward, rising onto two legs to gain more force as it lunged with its claws. Red sidestepped the blow easily, striking a hit of his own inside the beast's guard. The creature howled, this time in pain.
It became instantly apparent that Red could actually hurt this huge monster. Blue became panicked, knowing that she couldn't let this continue. If she wasn't able to explain things, someone here could end up dead.
"Stop it!" She screamed. "Wait, Red!"
The boy didn't seem to hear her, a strange feral expression having fallen over his own. It was the face of a predator preparing for the kill. As one, he and the wolf rushed each-other again, intent on striking the killing blow.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!"
Before the two could close the distance, crimson flames burst up from the ground, swirling together to block them from meeting. It was hard to say who looked more surprised, Red, Yellow or the werewolf.
Blue lowered her hand shakily, tendrils of smoke flowing from her painted nails. She gave the two fighters a hard stare. After a few seconds, it was the werewolf who turned and ran, hurtling off into the night.
"You're a..." Yellow began breathlessly.
"There's no time for that now," Blue shook her head as Red stalked over, blood-formed claws retracting into his hand, which healed instantly.
"You stopped me," Red noted. "Why?"
Blue looked down, knowing that she couldn't keep the secret back any longer. "That thing you just fought wasn't some mindless beast. It's a person, just one who's confused and unable to control themselves."
"Who is it?" Yellow asked hesitantly. The paleness of her expression told Blue that she already suspected what the answer would be.
"That thing you just fought was Green," She explained somberly. "Green is a werewolf."
FIN
AN: Well that was a bit longer than I had anticipated, and I hope it wasn't too unclear. I started this chapter months ago but had to put it on hold when NaNoWriMo started again. I'm back now, however, and ironically after a full month of writing, have even more drive to do so.
Was this the twist you guys were expecting? If it wasn't totally clear what all was happening, don't worry! In the next chapter we will see a bit more detail on what happened between Blue following Green and Daisy and the moment when Red and Yellow arrived. So be excited for another chapter, which hopefully won't take three months to complete this time.
Also, I've been persuaded to do a sort of Q&A session at the beginning of these chapters, so if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in a review. I wont be able to answer all of them (I need to keep a few secrets to myself for now, don't I?) but I will try to give the best explanations that I can.
Thank you for sticking with this story, and I hope to see you in the next chapter of The Darkwing Chronicles!
