The Terror of Misty Woods




It was a windy night and Nocturne was doing one of her usual patrols around
the streets of Fortune City. The thugs had learned to fear the Mistress of the
Night and her mercilessly grip on Fortune City. She had earned that title for
a reason, yet on this very night, Nocturne was about to discover that she is
not the only thing lurking in the shadows of the night. It all started like
any other patrol, Nocturne was hoping to wrap this one fast, wanting to get
back home and get some rest. But the night had other plans for her.

As she glided from rooftop to rooftop, her scanners picked up some trouble
near a grocery store. Apparently some thugs had thought that it was a good
idea to try and rob the small shop. Nocturne took vantage point outside and
scanned the store, quickly noticing that there were only three thugs holding
the clerk at gun point. Without hesitation, Nocturne sprang into action.
"Please take the money and go!" The clerk cried out, "Heh, boys maybe we
should rough this one up just for...What...the?!?" Before the thug could
finish his sentence, the entire store got crowded in smoke. "OH CRAAP" was the
last thing one of them managed to say as Nocturne bashed his head against the
counter, quickly incapacitating him. The other two tried to run, but with the
mist, they only managed to land in Nocturne's grip who swiftly incapacitated
the goons. The clerk was in complete shock of how fast Nocturne had dealt with
the thugs, "Th...ank..you!" "Just doing my job." Nocturne replied, smoothly.
Once the thugs were detained and ready for the police, Nocturne ascended into
the rooftops once more.

The windy night continued making its presence all across Fortune City, the
wind flowed gently against Nocturne's cape and hair. Nocturne's communicator
began to ring, signaling that her friend and assistant, May had something for
Nocturne. "Alright, what do you got for me?" Nocturne asked, "Since like
things on the city are relatively calm for once. Not many reports going on."
May replied, "Good, I like to go home early for once. Need to catch up
with..." Nocturne was interrupted by May, "There's one thing that might be
worth your attention. Though I personally don't think you should go." May
sounded somewhat nervous, "How come? I'm sure I could handle it." Nocturne
replied. "Honestly, the report is creeping me out. Hell, even the PD seems
somewhat scared about this one?" May's tone wasn't her usual energetic one.
"Well, the PD is usually afraid of even dealing with local thugs, so that's
not telling me much. What is it, May?" "Apparently there was a strange
occurrence at Hill Park. Someone went missing and people are claiming it was a
monster that took him." May seemed more distraught now. "Monster? Well I'm no
monster hunter, but I'm intrigued. I'll go check this out." Nocturne replied
in a confident tone, "Please be careful!" May seemed worried, "Don't worry,
I'll be fine. Now I gotta go get my bike and make my way to Hill Park. I'll
let you know how it goes." Nocturne cut off the transmission.

A few minutes later, Nocturne jumped into her bike and swiftly headed into the
outskirts of the city and the unknown. Hill Park as the name implies, was a
small park located in a hill overlooking Fortune City. It was a hot spot for
families during the day and for lovers during the night. There were a couple
of attractions in the area tailored for these crowds, such as restaurants and
even a theater. If Hill Park was a small area full of attractions and people,
what you would find on the other side of the road was the complete opposite.
Standing right next to Hill Park, was a thick forest shrouded in mystery known
colloquially as Misty Woods. Originally when Hill Park was founded, there were
attempts into making Misty Woods an attraction as well. But due to a series of
tragic circumstances, some protests by concerned environmentalists and the
fact that the forest is so dense and thick, the plans were scrapped. Some have
tried to explore the forest, but very few return and those who do, often times
come back traumatized. All of this combined to give Misty Woods its namesake
and aura of mysticism that has led to wild speculation. Some even think there
are monsters in there, lurking in the woods. And thus Misty Woods remains
unexplored and unchallenged, clouded in perpetual fog.

Nocturne arrived at Hill Park and she quickly noticed that the police had the
place on lockdown. Nocturne parked her bike and headed towards what seemed
like the "crime scene". "Thank God you are here, we need your help." One of
the cops said as he spotted Nocturne, "What's going on?" Nocturne asked, "I
honestly have no clue. But rather than talk about it, let me show you." The
officer said, instructing Nocturne to follow him. They arrived at parking
overlooking Fortune City, a place where couples goes to enjoy a romantic
evening and more if they are lucky. Nocturne noticed a woman sobbing next to a
car, an officer was trying to calm her down. "Who is she?" Nocturne asked,
"The witness, name is Stephanie. Claims her boyfriend was taken away by a
monster..." "What?!" Nocturne asked, "Told you, I honestly have no clue. Thing
is, take a look at the car." Nocturne took a quick glance and noticed that the
door had been ripped by sheer force, there were also marks all over the car.
"Well, one step at a time. If you don't mind, I like to question the witness."
Nocturne asked, "Go ahead, though she is in a panic. So be a tad careful."
"Don't worry, I know how to handle these situations." Nocturne gathered her
thoughts and approached the witness, she quickly analyzed and profiled her.
Stephanie seemed like a young woman, probably a college student, there weren't
any signs of physical trauma but her panicking clearly showed that whatever
happened, had caused a deep impact in her psyche. "Stephanie, can I have a
word?" Nocturne spoke in a gentle tone, "You you you are Nocturne?!" Stephanie
looked at Nocturne amazed, "I am and I'm here to help you. But I need you to
cooperate with me. Can you do that?" Nocturne kept her gentle tone. "Yes, of
course! Do you believe me?! No one here believes me..."Stephanie was still
nervous, Nocturne crouched and gently placed her hands over Stephanie's, "I'm
here for you. I'll do my best to help you. Now I need you to tell me what
happened so I can solve this." Nocturne said, gently. "Yes, of course..."
Stephanie gathered her memories of the encounter, her expression showing some
distraught, "It happened a couple of hours ago. John and I were here because I
wanted to watch the stars, we were celebrating our anniversary....In any case,
we were enjoying the night when suddenly we heard a loud noise. John got out
to see what it was when suddenly a big black creature attack him. He managed
to evade him and tried to get back in the car, but that...thing..took..him!
That thing ripped the door and took my John!" Stephanie was sobbing, "Now now,
calm down Stephanie. I will track this thing and see if I can find John."
Nocturne kept holding her hands, "You will?" Stephanie tried to stop sobbing,
"I will." Nocturne smiled, "Thank you!" "Don't thank me, yet." Nocturne
replied.

Nocturne stepped back and left Stephanie so she could rest a bit, the officer
from before came back and asked Nocturne,"How did it go?" "Fairly well. I'm
still in the dark about what's going on here, but the issue now is finding
John." Nocturne replied, "Agreed. Problem is, we don't really have any leads."
"Well I'm no hound, but I think I can track him down." Nocturne replied,
"Really? How?" "Simple, given the nature of the struggle, John must have bled.
With a a bit of blood, I can scan it and track him down with my visor. The
bleeding should more or less create a trail." Nocturne began to search the
area, she looked near the car and in a matter of seconds, managed to find a
bit of blood on the floor. She scanned it with the visor and started her
search with the trail of blood. A few seconds later, what every cop there was
afraid of became true. The trail led towards Misty Woods, the dense forest of
the unknown. "John's been taken to Misty Woods." Nocturne said to the
officers, who quickly showed that they weren't too happy with the idea of
going into the woods. Nocturne sighed, "I'll go look for him. You guys stay
here and watch the area in case anything shows up..." Nocturne instructed.
"You heard the stories about that place? Are you sure you want to go in?" One
of the officers asked, "Well someone has to do it...." Nocturne crossed her
arms, "We could search in the morning. That way we have more visibility..."
"By then the chances of John alive will be next to none. I have to do this
now." Nocturne replied, "Well we would join you but we need a..." "Don't
worry, I'm better on my own. I'm the only one that can track him in the first
place." "In any case, take these..." The officers handed her a flare gun and a
bunch of flare sticks, "If you find him, or need help, use that to help us
track you down." "Thank you, these will come in handy. I have to go now, wish
me luck.." The officers watched as Nocturne headed into the Misty Woods,
wondering if she would come back.

Nocturne stepped into the forest and began her search for John. As she got
deeper into the woods, the trail became somewhat easier to follow, a sign that
John was losing blood fast. Nocturne knew she was in a race against time and
truth be told, she didn't want to spend more time than she needed in that
forest. The officers' fear was warranted, the forest was thick and the wind
had intensified with small wind gusts singing a bone chilling tune that echoed
through the woods. Nocturne could hear her heart beating faster with each
step, not knowing what could surprise her at any moment. In the end, it was a
good thing the officers didn't enter, Nocturne was only able to see thanks to
her visor. The fog was so thick that Nocturne felt she could cut it with a
knife. Despite the eeriness, Nocturne pressed on, hoping that she could win
this race against time.

It felt like an eternity, each step she took felt like one step closer to her
coffin. The trail continued and the forest seemed infinite, the howling wind
almost sounded as if it was taunting her. Nocturne was losing hope of finding
John, yet she kept on. And just when she was starting to lose hope, she heard
a voice. Could it be that he's still alive? She wondered, chasing the trail
and voice. After what seemed like a hopeless chase, Nocturne found him. At the
end of the trail, she found a man wounded, resting against a tree. "John?!"
Nocturne asked, running towards the man. "Who...are...you?" John muttered,
"I'm here to help! Hold on!" Nocturne said, checking to see if she could treat
his wounds, "Be...careful....it's...playing with me....stalking...me..."John
said, "It got...my leg...can barely...move..." "John, I'm gonna get you here.
But what are we dealing with?" Nocturne asked, "Something....from..the
pits..of hell..itself...WATCH OUT!!"John screamed but before Nocturne could
react something tackled her.

"HHSSSSHHHRAHH" The beast growled as it attacked Nocturne. The beast tried to
bit Nocturne, but the heroine retaliated fast, dodging his attacks and trying
to get back on her feet. Nocturne couldn't believe what was standing in front
of her. A black creature with orange eyes and sharp teeth, it looked like a
humanoid lizard. The beast launched at Nocturne once more and the heroine
dodged as fast as she could, she tried to counterattack but she noticed that
the creature's skin had some sort of metal as well, like armor. "What. The.
Hell?!?!"Nocturne was at a loss of words, she didn't even know how to defend
from the creature. Nocturne tried to dodge and retreat from the beast in order
to plan, but the beast was agile, not letting her catch her breath. Thinking
that she could perhaps dodge him by climbing the trees, she launched her
grapnel at a tree, but the beast was able to climb trees, so Nocturne had to
take the fight back to the ground.

Backed into a corner, Nocturne didn't have many choices. Most of her gadgets
couldn't do anything against the creature and she could dodge the creature
only for so long. The beast continued its attack on Nocturne, trying to hit
her with its sharps claw when it couldn't try to bit her. Nocturne kept
dodging all of the attacks, but sooner or later it was bound to connect a hit.
Without many options, the only thing that came to her mind was to use the
flare gun to see if someone could find them before the beast decimated them.
As the beast came close to her she shot a flare into the sky and curiously
enough, the burst of the flare seemed to stun the beast. Nocturne quickly
notice and hatched a plan. "John! I think I know how we can make our way out
of here. We'll use the flares to keep it at bay!" Nocturne helped John get up
and used her shoulder as support. Nocturne handed the flare sticks to John so
he could keep the beast at bay while Nocturne carried them back to safety.

After being stunned for a bit, the beast recovered and restarted its hunt for
Nocturne. The beast was quickly gaining ground on them, "JOHN NOW!" Nocturne
shouted and John lighted a flare stick right in the nick of time, causing the
beast to be stunned once more. Nocturne continued following the trail of
blood, like before, this was her only shot at escaping this nightmare. The
beast launched at them at couple more times, but each time John managed to
keep it at bay with the flare sticks. They were almost at the exit of the
woods but to their dismay, they had ran out of flare sticks with only the
flare gun having anything left. The beast managed to catch up with them and
before they could react, it attacked John once more. "HEEELP!" John screamed.
Nocturne thought of something, but she only had one shot at it, if she failed,
that would be the end of her. Without hesitation, Nocturne tackled the beast.
The beast managed to get the upper hand and pinned her down, it opened it's
mouth and growled, ready to bite Nocturne. "Go to hell!" Nocturne shouted,
quickly taking the flare gun and shooting a flare straight at the beast's
mouth. "HSSSAAAAAAAAAAH!" The beast shrieked and coiled, running away
completely disoriented. For now, that was the end of the beast. Nocturne
checked on John and thankfully his injuries hadn't worsened. She picked him up
and carried him towards Hill Park. The nightmare was over.

Nocturne and John made it out of Misty Woods and the officers were already
waiting. Stephanie was there as well and as soon as she saw Nocturne helping a
limping John she ran towards them. "John!! You are alive!!!!" Stephanie
started crying, "Thank you so much!!!!" "Just doing my job." Nocturne replied,
"What happened over there?" One of the officers asked, "Something from hell
attacked us. It was some sort of weird creature. Kind of looked humanoid and
like a lizard...."Nocturne replied, "What the hell?!" The officer couldn't
believe what she was saying, "I dunno, but for now, I don't intend to stick
around to find out. I think you guys probably make some precautions, don't let
anyone venture there. Not until I figure what's going on there..." Nocturne
replied, "I'm gonna send that creature back to whatever hellhole it came
from."

The officers quickly took John in and called the medics to attend his wounds.
After making sure the couple was going to be fine, Nocturne hopped back into
her bike and headed back to Fortune City. Although she managed to outwit and
escape from the beast, she wasn't at ease. That beast was still haunting the
Misty Woods and it needed to be stopped before it hurt anyone else. But for
now, she was thankful that she managed to face the terror of Misty Woods and
lived to tell the tale.