Paranatural (paranaturalcom) wrote, @ 2023-09-08 01:23:00 |
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https://www.paranatural.net/comic/chapte
Get hype for ape fight. Thanks for reading you kooky kids.
~
[Transcript]
âWhoops! You give up the ghost there, little man?â Crush let Ed plop down upon the porch.
Ed checked their feet to see if they were gas. âOh, uh. Nope. Still kickinâ.â
âStill? If you had kicked at all before we mighta had a real dang match. HA!â Crush laughed hugely to himself. âYou were like a wet fish the whole time, little man! Ha ha!â
âThatâs good for fish to be,â Ed said, but their opponent had stopped listening.
Ed noticed now that almost everyone else had left or was just leaving. They glimpsed the tip of Master Guerraâs trail as it phased through the wall, and all the other students that were halfway round the house. Crush, though, was floating in place, staring off into the darkness of the woods.
âHey,â he said, still smirking, though his eyes shone like a catâs. âLittle man. You see something out there? Past the bush, behind those branches.â
Ed blinked up at him, then out towards the murk at the treeline. The air was alive with nocturnal things, the porch lights blinding... but sure enough, there was a shape there. Something large and humanoid, and blacker than all of the black surrounding it. Except for its face. Yes, its face... only that was white as scoured bone.
âThought so,â Crush said, taking Edâs expression as an answer. He cracked his neck and then his knuckles, floating forward down and off the deck.
Edâs hair stood on end. They were used to ghouls and spirits, but the figure watching from the woods... it wasnât supernatural enough. Something about its spooky aura seemed more slasher film than ghost story. âHeyâ! Crush! Where are you going?!â Ed hissed in a whisper. âDonât you think you might need backup...?â
âNah, you stay put. Master Guerra had it right. You kids should leave all the junk that goes bump in the night to us.â Crush flexed, glancing back over his bicep. âItâs what weâve all been training for, yâknow?â
Ed gulped. Theyâd meant that theyâd fetch Master Guerra or some other adult, not follow Crush into the woods. Either way, they still had to warn someâCrush was a meathead, and heâd already gotten himself killed fighting a spirit solo once before. Ed rose shakily back to their feet.
A sudden sharp guffaw from Crush set their nerves sparking
âHA! You can stop sweatinâ, little man!â he called back. âItâs just a training dummy someone left out. Trick of the dark!â
Edâs shoulders sagged. â...O-oh. Really?â
âYep!â lied Crush, meeting with his gleaming gaze the vacant, pitch-black eyes a foot away. âSo run along now, little man! Go get some sleep!â Crushâs grin widened to mirror the unmoving skeletal grimace staring down at him. â...Iâll clean up here.â
â...Okay,â said Ed, and scurried back inside.