The Cryptid Club, Part 3

  Emily strolled down the sidewalk, jamming loudly to the music blasting in her earbuds as she passed by many worn down, abandoned buildings. The quiet street was a stark contrast to the rest of Manhattan, never mind the rest of New York City as a whole. There was the occasional corner store open for business for the locals, a few bars, and one particularly gaudy store hawking bootlegged action figures and dolls of monstrous beings that once fought in these very streets.  The one thing that stood out the most, however, was the big, boarded down bar three blocks down. The pool beside it was covered with a tarp, the lights that once lit up the signs long since blown out.

 As she gazed upon the shameful state of the old King of Beasts, she frowned, pulling her earbuds out just enough to hear the wind rushing past. The Zoofights Quarter had seen much, much better days. The glitz, the glamour, and the massive bloodbath between heavily modified animals… those were gone. And so, too, were the ragtag team of ZF fans-turned-vigilantes. She remembered watching an eight-headed dragon get absolutely wrecked with glee, cheering on various Kobbers as her brother watched with mild bemusement.

“I’m going to become a Kobber!” she remembered saying with glee. “I’m gonna become a Kobber and kick so much ass, nobody’s gonna forget about me! I’ll make you guys proud for sure!”

And yet, by the time October rolled around that fateful year, there was no one to welcome her into the fold. 2012 came, and she was already busy studying for the GREs, too focused to join them. By the time she was done, there was no one left.

 After staring wistfully at a place she never had the chance to visit, she heard someone say, “Hey, Em! Figured I might find you here!”

Emily turned towards the source with little doubt as to who it could be: Brandon, sitting on a bench near the King of Beasts as he waved at her happily. A surge of excitement rushed through her as she bolted over to the bench and sat beside him. She only wished she had sparks flying out from her hands right now from how hyped she was, just like Sammy.

“Dude, I didn’t even expect you to be here!” she said. “I thought I’d have to go over to your house but broooo, listen to this!”

She pulled out a crumpled flyer from her pocket and held it up. Several cryptids were doodled on the borders in crayon, surrounding the words “Get ready for the GREAT CRYPTID HUNTING TRIP! Today at 2 PM in the Zoofights Quarter!”

“Can you fucking believe it?!?” she shouted, grabbing Brandon by the shoulders and shaking him. “We’re actually gonna be hunting these guys and kicking ass! We’re actually doing KOBBER things before we even MEET Kobbers! How fucking awesome is that shit?!”

“What?! Here?”

Emily backed off when she heard to worry in Brandon’s voice, although now she was puzzled. “What do you mean, ‘What’, bro? You see anywhere else we could find giant bugmen and shit?! Where’s the hype, bro?!”

Brandon turned away, laying his hands on his lap as he replied, “Sorry, but… The Zoofights Quarter is pretty dangerous. I know you could handle yourself well here, and Hannah has her Telepathy, but Julie and David? I don’t know what they can do to defend themselves against any kind of monster.”

“That’s why we’re here, B.C.!” Emily punched her open palm with an eager grin. “With your brains and my brawn, we’ll kick ass before they even think of touchin’ H.D.’s pretty face! Or D.M.’s!” She paused for a moment, then added reluctantly, “And Julia too, even though she’s a bitch.”

“Em.” Brandon looked at her, worry still plastered on his face. “Could you do me a favor, just this once?”

Emily suddenly got a terrible feeling in her gut, as if someone unleashed a mongoose and a cobra to duke it out inside her. “Y-yeah, what’s up, B.C.?” she asked, grabbing one pink curl of hair and playing around with it with one finger.

“This is probably a bit much, but for now, could you not try to pick a fight with Julia?”

 Emily stood up straight and shot Brandon a glare as she yelled, “What, and let her walk all over you again?! Not a chance in hell, B.C.! Next time, I’m going to knock her into next week, I swear!”

“That’s exactly what I DON’T want you to do!” Brandon clutched at his pant legs, his hands shaking as he looked Emily right in her face. “I don’t expect you two to be buddy-buddy- hell, I already get bad vibes from her – but I just want you to resist the urge to sock her or even threaten to sock her.” Emily opened her mouth to retort, but Brandon continued, “You’ve worked hard to get where you are before, and if you decide to fight her… You’d be suspended, even expelled from school! And… and…” Emily’s heart twisted as she heard his voice break. “I-I’m just worried about you, Em! I don’t want you to get in trouble again, and…”

 “Brandon.” Emily placed a hand on his shoulder, her look softening just a little as she saw Brandon’s eyes watering. “I can’t promise you anything. I don’t want a shitstain like her fucking with your head the same way your other shitstain friends did.” Brandon flinched, looking away from her in shame. “But at the very least,” she said softly, “I won’t start shit with Julia while we go hunting.”

“Sorry… I, I know it’s a lot to ask for...” Brandon said, taking off his glasses for a moment to wipe the tears out of his eyes. “And… thank you. For looking out for me, I mean.”

Emily shrugged it off and turned towards the sky as she took a seat next to her friend. “I’m just doin’ what friends should be doin’, bro.”

The two basked in the soft light of the sun for a while, Emily listening as Brandon hummed a song off-tune and scrolled through blogs idly on his phone. It wasn’t too long before Emily spotted David and Hannah waving at them as they rushed over.

“Hey, you guys are here early!” David said with a grin. “Thought you guys might be a bit late; the subways were a mess today! That, and-”

“-And most people start running away when they hear ‘Zoofights’!” Hannah finished pulling out a big bag of chips and happily chomping away.

Emily crossed her arms and glared at nothing in particular as she grumbled, “Those are the kinds of people with shit tastes, yo. They don’t know what the hell they missed out on.”

“There, there, Em,” Brandon said, giving Emily a pat on the head. “Anyway, you two are here; now where’s Julia? I need to ask about-“

“HeeelllOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, my beautiful frieeeends!”

Bursting onto the scene with aplomb was Julie, dressed exactly in the same way that Emily thought a peacock would. All those loud colors made her eyes hurt. She had to admit, if this was some grand plan to blind a monster with ugly clothing, then it was already working its magic.

Julie strutted over to the group with an award winning smile and waved cutely as she said, “Hellooo! I’m here, ready to take on the esoteric!” Hannah was the only one waving at her back with a smile of her own; David was gawking at her as if she decided to walk in public in a meat dress, Emily was unimpressed, and Brandon was most definitely concerned. “What’s with all those looks?” she asked as she narrowed her eyes. “It’s as if you’ve never seen a beautiful lady before!”

“Uh, yeah, beautiful beyond my wildest imaginations!” said David, putting his hands up and faking a pleasant smile. “Truly the epitome of beauty!”

“I’ve seen cuter,” Emily said bluntly, looking over at Hannah and smiling as if to prove a point.

“Um, aren’t you a little cold in those heels?” Brandon asked, pointing down at her feet.

Julie ignored David and Emily as she leaned over and put her face on his shoulder as she said, “Ooh, you’re too sweet! I’ll be perfectly fine, but thank you for asking~!” Emily shot her a dirty look as Brandon flinched and scooted away from her. Julie frowned for a moment, but she quickly found it in her to smile and say, “Well then, what are we waiting for? Aren’t we going to go hunt for beautiful, beautiful Cryptids? It’d be a shame to keep them waiting!”

Without waiting for an answer, she rushed off with a hearty ‘Ohohohohoho!’ David and Hannah exchanged glances and followed after her with a mix of glee and worry. Emily stood up, stretching as far as she could go before grinning at Brandon.

“We can’t let them have all the fun, B.C.! Let’s get going!”

“A-already? I didn’t even ask them how they’re going to defend themselves against-“

“Ask them later, bro! They’re already heading into the FYM Arena!”

The group searched all sorts of places in their hunt for even a single cryptid. The FYM Arena was the obvious first place to search, given the many fites between unusual people and things that took place here. David shuddered as Hannah gave her best impression of the giant, mutated Widow Maker that fought in the Big Bar Brawl, while Julie searched every nook and cranny of the arena in between giving Brandon lovey-dovey eyes.

Next up was the junkyard, Emily digging in and finding a nice, sturdy pipe to use as a weapon just in case something hostile arrived. Julie commanded David to dig through the piles to find something cool, but instead of something like Mothman, David ran the hell away from what Hannah lovingly called “Roachmass”. Brandon managed to freeze the mass before they decided to crawl up anyone’s legs, Julia seizing the moment to swoon and say, “Oh, my heroooo~!”

Emily briefly wondered if she could toss her pipe right in Julie’s face and get away with it before banishing that thought. Now wasn’t the time. She gave her word to Brandon and goddamn it, she needed to stick to it. Damn if Julie didn’t make it hard for her, with her kissing up to Brandon and making him more than a little uncomfortable.

After searching the alleyways, the supermarkets, and the burger joint on the corner for any sign of a cryptid, the group wandered the streets, no closer to exposing the esoteric but definitely closer to a full stomach. As they hung out around the closest bench with burgers in their hands, the group sighed in unison and stared out into space.

“One full hour and we haven’t found a damn thing,” David groaned, pulling out the pickles he never ordered out of his burger. “I thought it would be easier to find something here, but…”

Julie huffed and crossed her arms after taking a bite of her burger. “Don’t they know we’re trying to help them?” she asked between bites. “All we’re trying to do is show that they exist and what do they do? They hide and act like they don’t want all the attention! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“They wouldn’t be called Cryptids if they weren’t Cryptic, too!” Hannah pointed out, dumping as much ketchup and mustard on her burger before taking one giant chomp. “They’re probably not very photogenic, either!”

Emily shrugged and stared at her bucket of fries for a moment before looking back up at the sky. “Least we got to see more of the Quarter while we were at it. And B.C. beat up some roaches!”

Brandon’s thousand-yard stare sent shivers down Emily’s spine. “You never truly beat roaches,” he said. “You can only halt their advance.” After a bite or two of his four-patty burger, he smiled and said, “Anyway, I’m sure we’ll find something! If not, there’s always another day!”

“But then I’d have wasted all my time for nothing!” Julie said dramatically, clutching at her heart and pretending to faint. “We need to find something, anything! Even if it’s just another stag beetle!”

“It’s still not a cryptid, Julie,” David said bluntly. “And why a goddamn beetle? Seriously? Why not a swamp man?”

Emily scrunched her face, thinking about where to search next. The actual King of Beasts bar? No, it was already boarded up and probably didn’t have anything like Gezora trapped inside of it. Zoofights HQ? No, wait, they were still actually using that place, and the last thing she needed was to fight their newborn monstrosity. (Not that it stopped her from dreaming about it.) The sewers?! Brandon would pitch a fit if he had to go anywhere near there while he was wearing his favorite pink and purple hoodie. Think: where would there be something exotic, something crazy to fight?

Wait. There was one place. She looked over at Hannah and raised an eyebrow, trying to see if she’d read her mind. Hannah squinted for a moment before giving her a big ol’ thumbs up, bolstering her confidence.

“Listen up, homies, cuz I’m only gonna say this once… How about we take a trip through WCW Labs? Bet they have some leftovers from all those failed shows they got!”

Emily was surprised to see even Julie’s face light up with excitement at the suggestion.

“Of course! Why didn’t I think of it before?!” Julie said, slapping her forehead. “It was so OBVIOUS! There’s no time to waste dilly-dallying on burgers! We must go onward! ONWAAARD!”

All five of them pumped their hands in the air before Julie took off without them, the rest struggling to keep up with her pace and her, “OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO”s.