288. Kapre ~Just Kapre~

Mercuria tries to control her animalistic behavior with the help of Monroe. Gabrielle and Nick search for a Kapre in the forest who falls in love with Gabrielle and gets both of them lost. Also, they encounter a close ally.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" howled Mercuria. She growls as she is held down by Narcos in her Blutbad form. She barks and growls at each of them.

"Monroe!" yelled Nick. "Close the windows shut!"

Monroe woges and acts erratically as well, as it is a full moon. "Sorry..." he struggles to keep his woge under wraps while closing the curtains. "I'm just a bit... *bark... growl... grunt...* tipsy, too... that's all..."

Gabrielle woges into an Aswang and hums, allowing Mercuria to feel sleepy.

Nick backs away, surprised by her sudden woging. "What are you doing?"

"Aswangs have the ability to soothe prey by humming. Remember how they suck out the viscera of pregnant women? Well, they prefer the lady to be asleep during the process," said Monroe.

"How many Aswangs are out there!?" asked Narcos.

"Well, she's a different subspecies of Aswang. She's the Vampiric Aswang, unlike the more common wingless Ghoul Aswang. There are five subspecies: Vampiric or Tiktik na Lumilipad, Ghoul or Tiktik na di-Lumilipad, The Self-Segmenter or the Manananggal, The Witch or the Mangkukulam, and the Weredog or the Askal Itim," said Monroe.

Nick turns to Monroe with an annoyed look.

"Right. Sorry," said Monroe, nodding.

Nick holds down Mercuria as she slowly gets hypnotized by Gabrielle's humming, and finally, she falls asleep.

The next day...

Mercuria awakens. Her eyes are blood red and she has black eyeballs. She gasps as she snarls.

"Hey!" yelled Monroe, grabbing her by the shoulders. "Calm down, okay?"

She sees that the whole inside of the bus is a mess. Dishes shattered. Furniture was thrown around. And she is bound in chains on the seat at the far back.

"Full moon again?" asked Mercuria.

"Yeah," said Nick.

Everyone on the bus looks like they had a rough night. Gabrielle's clothes are torn. Narcos is a bit bruised. Nick is disinfecting the wounds on his arm. Monroe is the only one fine.

Mercuria rested her head on the headrest. "Sorry..."

"You're going outside?" asked Narcos. "Together?"

"We're going to check out if there are any Rock Humans nearby and how close we are to the top of the mountain," said Gabrielle.

"I wanna come!" yelled Narcos.

"Relax. I'm married," said Nick. "Gabrielle? Come on."

Nick opens the bus's door and walks outside.

Gabrielle follows after him.

"Uh... I hope to see both of you again! Safe!" yelled Narcos.

"Thanks, Narcos!" smiled Gabrielle.

"Be safe," sighed Narcos, as the pair walked into the forests.

"Well, Anastasia?" asked Mercuria.

"What?" asked Narcos.

"You think somethin' inappropriate is going to happen between those two?" she smirked.

"Shut up," sighed Narcos.

Meanwhile...

"Why are we really going out here?" asked Nick.

"I asked for a friend to get in here," said Gabrielle.

"A friend?"

"Two, actually."

"Why would you ask this friend of yours to get here? This is outside Portal Gun territory." Nick looks at the far beyond of the trees below on top of a cliff.

"Yes... They climbed here."

"They... climbed here?"

"Yeah!" smiled Gabrielle.

"It took both of our groups a few days to get this high up the mountain. How could these couple of friends of yours possibly-?"

He paused.

"Nick?" Gabrielle sighs. "Nick. You stopped talking for a sec-..."

Gabrielle turns around and sees no one is there anymore. 

*thud... thud...*

A large humanoid shadow looms over Gabrielle. She turns to it and sighs. "Hay Naku... Great... Just... great..."

The creature grunts softly.

Meanwhile...

"Gabrielle!?" Nick called out to Gabrielle. He looks left and right in the deep woods. "Gabrielle!" he put his hands over his mouth to call out her name. "Gabrielle!"

*rustle...*

Nick immediately takes out an ax and tossed it at the bushes.

"WHOA!!!" A man in a Spider-Man suit yelped in fear as a man in a Batman suit grabs the ax in recoil, spins, and tosses the ax back at Nick.

Nick catches the ax by the handle and approaches...

The Batman and Spider-Man.

Nick hammers the ax down at Bruce's head, but Peter thwips the web between two trees just above Bruce's head as the ax is blocked.

Bruce ducks and kicks Nick down, who tumbles backward.

Nick tries to swing the ax but Bruce catches it right before the blade touches Bruce's torso as Bruce bashes his face as a fountain of blood sputters from his nose. He endures it and punches Bruce, who is lodged into five thick tree branches that break as he tumbles to the ground.

Peter's mask opens up as he sits back and watches, sitting on a mossy rock.

"You're strong," said Bruce. "You gotta be a Grimm, huh?"

Nick charges as Bruce uses his grappling gun to swing on the trees, go around and behind Nick, then kick Nick with both feet, knocking him into a thick shrub that snaps in half.

"Same strength as a supersoldier, I presume. Maybe even stronger," said Bruce. "Indeed. A Grimm."

"You a Grimm, too, or are you some maniac from a costume party that got lost in the... mountains?"

"Look... We could do this in two ways. You attack me and I break you or you don't attack me and I don't break you."

Nick charges at Bruce.

"Uh... Mr. Wayne?" asked Peter. "He's charging..."

"I know," said Bruce.

*THWAP!!!*

Bruce tosses a Batarang and lodges it into Nick's shoulder, which causes him to bleed.

The Batarang has an appendage that shoots out a grappling hook and hooks Nick on a branch, pulling him up.

*CRACK!!!*

Nick screams in agony and tries to pull it out but some sort of nanotech forcefield is keeping him from pulling it out.

"I can't move my-!"

"The Batarang paralyzes the lower half of your body. And judging from that cracking noise from earlier, your shoulder's dislocated."

Nick tries to breathe slowly and not succumb to the pain.

"Well? Grimm?" asked Bruce. "Give up, yet?"

"What kind of Wesen are you?" his voice broke.

"Not a Wesen."

"You're a Grimm?"

"No. Just a man in a Halloween costume. Who's also rich."

"And I'm your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man!" smiled Peter, who wall-crawled up the tree and stayed before Nick.

"You're the couple of friends Gabrielle talked about..." sighed Nick, heavily panting and shivering in pain. Blood drips from his lips.

"And you're the Grimm she met a few days ago," smirked Bruce.

Peter gently presses Nick's nose. "Boop."

"You're lucky I wasn't aiming your vitals."

"You're the one who's lucky if that's the case," smiled Peter.

Meanwhile...

Mercuria woges and looks at herself in the reflection. Unlike regular Cryptids, she retains more human-esque features like most Blutbaden. She has burning red eyes. She has long curving claws, formerly her fingernails. She has pointed ears and a pointed nose. Her eyebrows are more pronounced and are furrier. She has sharp teeth. She has fur on her torso and limbs.

She slowly hums trying to study what she looks like.

"Y'know, it freaked me out the first few months I knew what I was, too," said Monroe, entering the bus.

Mercuria turns to Monroe and snarls. Kiss emerges from her body.

"OSHYA!!!"

Monroe woges as well, sensing danger. Gray hair, burning red eyes, sharp teeth, more facial hair with a certain spikier aspect, more body hair, longer claws, pointed nose, and pointed ears.

Both agree to woge back after a short moment.

"Huh... just... knew that I gotta agree with you..." Mercuria smiled awkwardly.

Monroe smiles with a cup of coffee in his hand and nods.

"How do you live with... knowing what you are?" asked Mercuria. "Being... not human."

"I believe we're all human in our own ways."

"Could you teach me?" smiled Mercuria.

Monroe sighs. "Alright."

Later...

Nick's injury is bandaged by Bruce through some sort of healing alloy from his belt.

"What is this stuff?" asked Nick.

"Some piece of Promethium," said Bruce.

"That's the same stuff Miguel used to make my axes," said Nick. "Where'd you get this stuff?"

"That doesn't matter," said Bruce.

"He gets it from Wayne Mining-..."

"Can you not?" asked Bruce.

"Right. Sorry," said Peter.

Nick stands up and rolls his arm to see if his shoulder is okay. "Yep... It's all good."

He looks around. "Gabrielle's lost somehow."

"Did you turn around and she's gone?" asked Bruce.

"Yes," said Nick.

"Sounds like something you would do," said Peter.

"Shut up and play with your phone," said Bruce.

Peter shrugs and plays with his phone from his pocket.

"Well..." said Bruce. "Sounds like something a Kapre would do."

"A what?" asked Nick.

"Common tree spirit in the Philippines," said Bruce. 

"Great... trees," said Nick. "Not something I haven't dealt with before."

"Some Kapres tend to fall for beautiful women," said Bruce. "According to the Diaries your people made, there had been reportings of Kapres capturing beautiful women."

"Probably why Gabrielle got captured," said Peter.

"Well?" asked Nick. "Shall we?"

Meanwhile...

"What's your favorite color?" asked Monroe.

"It used to be green, but now..." said Mercuria. "Probably red."

"So do I. Now, we, Blutbaden, portray a certain... let's say... erratic behavior when they see the color red."

"Alright," said Mercuria.

Mercuria smiles.

"Okay. Now, there are two versions of this. Erstewoging and Wahrewoging," said Monroe.

"Which I learned from Gabrielle's Diaries that the first one means the one only Grimms see and the second one means the one anyone can see!" smiled Mercuria. "That's woging."

"Woging (Vohging)," Monroe corrected. Monroe nods. "Very good! Now. How do either feel?"

"The first one feels like my face twitching for a second and I don't feel much. My face feels like it's wriggling. Every vein moves around at first then just stops to a halt. It happens when I'm excited or I have... strong emotion. Because when I'm scared or angry, it happens around those times, too."

"The second?"

"The second one... feels the same. But... it kinda hurts. My veins actually... physically... shift... Not the way it was before. It's more... explicit... I feel my blood boils at one point... My muscles and skin harden... Hair... grows in places..." Mercuria turns red and Erstewoges.

Monroe sighs and closes his eyes. "Okay. Not too... explicit there... What do you see do both have in common?"

"They're... a rush. Like... I feel wilder!"

"Yep. Now, you have to be careful not to woge all the time and to control it. Now... I want you to look at this without woging."

Monroe shows her a picture of a full moon on his phone and she Erstewoges.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa..." said Mercuria, with her voice sounding a bit gruffer and deeper.

"Shush... Whoa... It's... It's okay! It's okay..." Monroe calms Mercuria down. "Try to woge back into your human form."

She tries, grunting and growling, but fails.

"Hey... Come on... I'm here... It's just a picture. It's way worse when you're actually touching the light, remember?" Monroe eases Mercuria.

"I don't want to be a Cryptid or Wesen or whatever!" she sobbed.

She grabs her head and sobs. She then howls.

Meanwhile...

Narcos is cooking marshmallows outside by the fire.

*woooooooooooo....*

Narcos yells, "Keep it down!"

Back in the bus...

"Yeah... I know... But acting out isn't gonna change that," said Monroe.

"So what do you suggest I do?"

"You learn to control yourself."

She wipes her tears and tries to woge back while staring at the full moon.

The sound of warping skin, muscles, and veins could be heard as she woges back into a human.

"Great job," smiled Monroe. "Now we'll take a break for now..."

Mercuria pants and smiles.

"Just... learn to be ready," smiled Monroe. "In case you Erstewoge (Er-Stuh-Voh-Guh) in the wrong moment."

"Why?"

"Well... predators, basically."

"What could possibly eat Blutbaden?"

"Well... Actually, we're top-dog," said Monroe, while Mercuria rolls her eyes. "But..." Monroe explained. "There are Grimms... relentless ones that wouldn't stop until you're dead."

"Like who?"

"Usually the ones working for the Verrat who attack if they find you to be 'in their way'... or even Endezeichen Grimms... who kill for sadism... or just regular hunters... who have either very traditional understanding of us or no understanding of what we are."

"So... Grimms like Gabrielle and Nick... They're dangerous, huh?"

"Yeah," said Monroe. "You should've seen what Nick is capable of. Nick killed one of Lucifer Morningstar's kids."

"You mean... The literal Devil?"

"We thought he was the Devil. Turns out he was a being known as Caliban, the Destroyer."

"Oh... great... Christianity's real, too."

"Actually, ever religion is true," said Monroe. "The ancient ones, I mean. Modern ones are probably mumbo jumbo."

"Who's the God I should follow?"

"It's a free country."

"It's the Philippines."

"Oh, right... Eh... You choose. Up to you."

Later in the evening...

The trio walked silently in the woods.

"What did Gabrielle want you to send by coming here, anyway?" asked Nick.

"Something that you two might need for your journey," said Bruce.

Bruce is shown to be holding a holster on his belt. A rather long one, about 2 feet long.

"We've been walking for hours. How are we supposed to find a Caparey?"

"Kapre (Kahp-Preh)," corrected Bruce. "When we smell Tobacco."

"Gabrielle says they like taking smokes," smiled Peter.

"The tree-protecting giant spirit... likes to take smoke breaks?" asked Nick.

"Yep," said Bruce. "The reason this particular one took Gabrielle is that Kapres are incapable of feeling morality and understanding actual human emotions."

"So we have to kill it?" asked Nick.

"You can't kill a spirit," said Bruce.

"I can. I'm a Grimm. I've found ways to kill them."

"I'm not exactly in agreement with you."

"I don't kill. Not anymore."

"Even when-?"

"Even what? They're Wesen? I prefer incapacitating my victims. Don't you?"

"Incapacitating them won't stop them from killing."

"Not when they can never do that anymore."

Nick pauses. "Are you suggesting to physically disable it?He's kidding, right?"

Peter shrugs. "Well... The thing is... We don't agree with the way we deal with things, actually. I don't kill either. I prefer incarcerating the bad guys I fight."

"And what if some big organization gets them out?" asked Nick. "Bribes a couple of cops or bails them out."

"Then we come, hunt them down, and incarcerate them ourselves," said Peter.

"Wait... you're actually authorized? I thought you two were vigilantes?" asked Nick.

"Correction! We used to be vigilantes!" smiled Peter. "We're authorized by the Maharlican government of protecting and guarding, protecting, policing, enforcing justice, and avenging the multiple universes Maharlica governs and the different Multiversal dangers that could happen.While we protect the physical realm, Sorcerers like Doctor Strange, a friend of mine, protect the world from beyond."

"Like from Zauberbiests and Hexenbiests?" asked Nick.

The pair turn to Nick, looking confused.

"I can't be the only one who knows about that," said Nick.

"We're kidding," said Bruce. "Yes. Warlocks and Witches are a bitch to hunt down."

"Hey... My wife's one, actually. So watch it," said Nick.

"Your wife's a Hexenbiest?" asked Bruce, smirking. "Sheesh."

"It's complicated."

"Wait. Do you smell that?"

"Tobacco," smiled Nick.

Bruce nods.

The trio walks toward a group of trees with smoke rising above the leaves.

*thud... thud... thud...*

A 20-foot tall giant stood before them. He was muscular and had lots of body hair. He had very dark skin and long uncut nails. He wore a large skull of something that resembled a giant bull with four eyes.

"I'm... questioning..." whispered Nick.

"-... The giant or the animal skull having four eyes?" whispered Peter.

Peter looks down. "Have you guys seen the Empire Strikes Back?"

"What kind of question is that?" whispered Bruce. "Of course I have. We watched it on the sofa of my house with Clark and the others. Except for Diana, because she called it 'Nerdy Shit.'"

"Your wife's weird. That was a masterpiece," whispered Peter.

"I haven't," whispered Nick.

"You should watch it. It's a really good film. Skip Episode one, start with four, then five, then watch two and three as a flashback, then end with six. Seven, eight, and nine should be watched optionally," Peter whispered.

*ROAR!!!*

The trio ran away.

(theme begins at 0:21...)

"What was the point of the film!? I haven't seen it!"

"Tie his legs up!" yelled Peter, as he thwipped out a web and grappled onto a tree.

Bruce takes out his grappling gun and points outward. "Keep running, will ya?" Bruce then grapples away.

"Oh my God..." sighed Nick.

Bruce and Peter grapple onto a leg each. Bruce grapples onto the right and Peter onto the left. They then swing around the legs. Bruce turns on his Iron Knight suit, an upgraded version of it that is much thinner. He flies around the legs of the giant. Meanwhile, Peter swings around the Kapre as the Kapre trips over and is knocked out by a giant boulder. Nick manages to sidestep away and dodge him completely.

(theme ends)

Nick sighs in relief. "Holy shit... wonderful weather we're having..." he walked toward the pair who landed behind the giant's feet.

"Thank you enchanted weapons," smiled Peter.

"What is the weather for these parts tomorrow, by the way?" asked Peter.

"The hell if I know what the weather report is. I've been in the mountains for four days without any signal," said Nick.

The trio approaches the large trees where they hear laughing.

They open a large bundle of bushes before them... and...

They see...

...Gabrielle having tea with a giant Kapre, who looked just like the other giant, but with a tree trunk on his head with four holes. They sat on a couple of tree stumps with a large round table of some sort like a table. Above them are enchanted torches.

"Oh! You've guys met! I was just about to leave!" smiled Gabrielle.

"Where's Dave and why didn't he tell me about you?" asked the Kapre.

"Dave?" asked Peter.

"The other Kapre like me," said Kapre. "I'm Phil, by the way."

He shook each of their tiny hands.

The trio looked at each other in awkwardness.

"We didn't see anyone," said Bruce.

"Yep," said Peter and Nick.

"Wait a minute!" Phil sees Dave on the ground from far away after standing up. "DAVE!!!"

"Right... he's tall... He could see that," said Peter.

"We figured," said Nick.

"Oh my God! What did the three of you do!?" asked Gabrielle.

"We thought that there was this evil Kapre and-..." said Peter.

"There was this root. This really big one and he-..." said Nick.

"We disabled your friend. We're sorry," said Bruce.

"You're lucky Dave was wearing his biking helmet!" yelled Phil, who walked back to the table with Dave, who is unconscious in his arms.

"Oh, great!" smiled Nick. "I am so sorry, Phil."

"It's fine. It's not the first time Dave hit his head by approaching the people he wants to meet in an intimidating way," said Phil.

"Yeah... You guys should... You guys should watch it," said Nick.

"Right..."

"Nick... Bruce and Peter will be staying with us for tonight!" smiled Gabrielle. "Bruce will just give me something important."

Bruce takes something out of the holster.

A Stand Arrow.

"Is that-?" asked Nick, pointing to the Stand Arrow. "That's the arrow that gives people Stands, right?"

"I have a bunch of them in storage. Thousands of them, actually. And there are probably even more," said Bruce. "Different shapes and sizes... This one's arrowhead is in the shape of a butterfly."

Gabrielle happily takes the Stand Arrow.

"Well, see ya, Dave and Phil!"

Phil waves them goodbye as they walk away.

"How'd you guys think of that?" asked Gabrielle. "Tying his legs with enchanted rope by swinging around them?"

"Remember Empire Strikes Back?" asked Peter.

"*GASP!!!* I love that movie! Dad and I watched it all the time when I was a kid!"

Later...

Gabrielle, Mercuria, Narcos, Nick, Monroe, Bruce, and Peter all watch Star Wars on the bus at night.

"No... I... am you father."

"WHAT!?" asked Mercuria. "No!" She Erstewoges in excitement.

"Wait, seriously?" asked Nick. "That's not a lie, right? To trick Luke into joining him?"

"I don't think so," said Monroe, who is also Erstewoged. "Eh... Doesn't excite me too much."

Nick smiles, seeing that Monroe lied.

"WHAT!?" Narcos is Erstewoged. "George Lucas must be some sort of genius, huh!?"

"Well..." Peter and Gabrielle said with doubt.

"Jury's still out," said Bruce. "By the way, where's the Stand Arrow?"

"Outside at camp. It's near the pond where I washed it."

Meanwhile... in the pond... the algae begin to multiply rapidly... glowing with Stand Energy...