[Indigo, March 1, 2017, 4:00PM]

I sat down on the rough pavement, too tired to worry about the commute back home. Xavier sat beside me while Char walked over to a nearby mom-and-pop store to get us some bottled soda. In typical Filipino fashion, the drinks didn’t come in bottles but were transferred into a small plastic, with a plastic straw placed on the opening, like some kind of improvised drink pouch.

“You’d think killing a bunch of Ludroth would be easy,” Xavier says after taking a sip, “But goddamn I’d rather fight 1 big monster than running around a subdivision killing multiple small monsters and making sure none of them escape.”

“It’s an extermination quest, like every other quest we’ve got so far,” Char sighs, wiping sweat off his brow with the back of his arm, “We should be thankful we’re even getting jobs, it’s better than nothing.”

On the corner of my eye I notice a bunch of kids staring at us before getting back to whatever street game they were playing. Looks like jumprope or chinese garter, or some weird hybrid they came up with. I turn my thoughts back to my cousins and co-hunters.

“I’m starting to think Raptor Brothers was not a very sale-able name for a hunting guild,” I muse aloud. Raptor Brothers was just a random name I came up with for our discord and messenger group, a place we use to share memes and keep up to date with one another.

“You suggested it,” Xavier stood up to throw his empty drink sac at a nearby trash can. Right next to the trash can was a sewer grate with more trash than the actual can itself, “Besides, I think it’s pretty badass, plus it has sentimental value.”

“I’m just worried all the other hunter guilds are getting the better jobs,” I say, noticing that one of the kids was playing with what looks like a small Ludroth claw, probably taken from one of the corpses we killed. A bunch of personnel had arrived, presumably to clean up and collect monster corpses. If there’s one thing the new monster crisis had done for this country (and presumably the whole world), it’s create new jobs.

“True,” Char replied with a nod, “If our work history is all small monsters, we might not get any requests for bigger ones since they’ll think it’s not our expertise.”

I stood up, brushing the dust off my jeans and throwing away the plastic I was previously drinking from. Char and Xavier followed suit as I tell them that we should make our way back home and probably get some take-out for dinner. During days like these where the “quest location” was nearer our house, Xavier sleeps over at either my house or Char’s so he doesn’t have to commute too far.

Before we could even get far from our current resting spot, I noticed a lean guy who looks around my age talking to the playing children. One of the kids points at us and the guy starts walking our way. I look him over, noticing he wore what looks like a local university’s uniform: white short-sleeve polo and black pants, with the university’s patch stitch-ed on the breast pocket. His hair was a curly mess and he wore round glasses that really solidify a nerdy aura.

I point him out to the other two, and Xavier walks ahead of us to act as a bouncer despite his nearly child-like height.

“Whaddya want?” Xavier asks, arms crossed as if he was trying to act tough. Oddly enough, the guy legitimately looks intimidate by him and starts fidgeting as he tries to speak to us.

“Um, my name is Aldritch Dela Cruz,” He says nervously, his hands clasped together tightly making him resemble that ‘had to do it to em’ meme, “I was-uh, I was told that you were the ones to speak to if I should need some hunters’ services.”

I could feel my eyes light up, and I could feel that Char and Xavier felt the same way. This man’s demeanor implied that whatever hunter services he needs may be of the high threat variety. With a new burst of inspiration and energy, I walk up to him with my hand outstretched.

“Indigo Solas, pleasure to meet you,” I say shaking his hand, it was clammy but it didn’t bother me. Seemed to bother him though, as he pulls back the splitsecond the handshake finished, “We know the hunters that exterminated a bunch of dangerous monsters here recently, how can we help?”

“Oh thank god,” He sighs with relief, “We’ve been looking for other local hunting groups but they were either too far or too expensive. I was told your group was very affordable.”

That was the other compromise we had to make as we built our guild. After checking a bunch of other hunting guilds in the country, we noticed how high their rates were. As much as we want to make money from this, we’re not gonna get a lot of jobs if we’re too expensive to hire.

“Well, we’re doing this to help people,” I reply with a smile that I can only hope looked sincere, “We’d do it for free but we still need to pay the bills.”

I could feel Char’s questioning gaze from the back of my head.

“G-great,” Aldritch continued while taking out his phone, “I need an escort while I transport some monster eggs back to my university.”

Oh. An escort mission.

I could feel my shoulders slumping and had to consciously hold myself back from looking disappointed and keep smiling.

“Suuuuuure…” I say through gritted teeth.

“Just give us the when and where and we’ll meet you there,” Char butts in with a nice save, “Let’s exchange contacts so we can schedule it immediately.”

Aldritch does exactly that, and we finish our formalities, with him telling us that he’ll message us the date, time and location. He says that it will most likely be within the week, and with his budget the best he can do is commute via train.

Great, I thought, We’ll have to ride this country’s fish-in-a-barrel style train cars while wearing our bulky armors. If I had my own car I would’ve driven him myself.

We started walking back, drained and exhausted from both the hunt and the false sense of hope. The sun was beginning its melancholic descent as the sky glows a soft shade of pink. The polluted yet refreshing breeze caresses us as we wait for a taxi by the side of the road.

“I really hoped we would get a big job this time,” I muttered to no one in particular, “I finally get this unique ability, and we’re still stuck with mundane shit.”

“We’re getting jobs, we’re still fighting monsters,” Char replied, “We’re helping people, that’s good enough for me.”

“Besides,” Xavier followed with a pat to my back, “Eventually the real hardcore monsters will show up, and by then the other hunters won’t be enough and it’ll be our time to shine. Show ‘em what true Monster Hunters are like.”

We all laughed together, weakly but sincerely, at his last statement. I agreed with them, but deep inside I was hoping I’d finally get a chance to truly be special.

But even with this new super power, guess I’m still meant to be the mediocre nobody that I’ve been living as for the past 24 years. Oh well, it’s not like someone like me deserves all this good to begin with; I suppose I should be thankful I even got this lucky at all.

[Char, March 3, 2017, 3:00PM]

Indigo had insisted that we all scout the potential route that we will be taking during the escort mission. Aldritch had recently updated us that the he will be moving the package in 2 days, and will be taking the main railway transit that circulates through Metro Manila. The train itself wasn’t a subway, but rather the opposite of one, with its tracks mostly above ground and high above the highways. We will be able to avoid the constant heavy traffic, but the trains in this country are infamous for being constantly a tight squeeze especially during rush hour.

“Not to mention they occasionally shut down or have random fuck ups,” Indigo noted while we stood in the first northern station, planning to ride the train to its last station at the southern area of the capital. The entire trip should only last around an hour or so, but the real issue was the discomfort. Lining up and waiting for the train already shows the large amount of people ready to board with us.

“I can’t wait to have my own car,” I say while trying to avoid hitting other passengers next to me, expecting already that we would be all standing at least until the 8th station or so where most of these people will leave.

“And get stuck in a 2-3 hour traffic down there in EDSA?” Xavier asked with a raised eyebrow. He had a point, the long ass highway from north to south had brutal traffic especially during the rush hour. A drive that should take less than an hour would take 3.

The train finally shows up, and we board one of its cars while Indigo instructs us to place ourselves deep in the car. He has a point of course, it’s etiquette to place yourselves near the doors if you plan on dropping off on a nearby station, but place yourself deep if you expect to be riding longer than others.

Of course, as with all common sense and etiquette, very few people were exercising it. Almost everyone we lined up with were creating a blockade near the doorways of the train car. No one wanted to be ‘trapped’ inside and risk missing their stop, so everyone ends up standing near the exits and creating and trapping everyone else who were pushed back deep in the car.

“Just another day,” Indigo sighs as he wipes sweat off his brow and started fanning his shirt, “We should probably tell Aldritch to pick a more dead time to travel otherwise it’d be very difficult to squeeze in while in hunting armor.”

“And who knows how big his luggage would be,” I added, remembering how some eggs in MH were nearly half of an adult human’s body size.

We all discussed things to expect during the day of the mission. It was just a simple escort mission, but Indigo always expects things to go wrong and wanted to prepare himself for all the potential bullshit that could happen. Xavier was usually winging it while I’m the one who has to make sure neither of them end up in any deep shit.

Halfway through the trip, the car was becoming more spacious and we were finally able to sit down and rest our tired legs. Indigo wanted to stretch his legs, but considering how tall he was he couldn’t do it without accidentally tripping anyone in front of us. Xavier was playing some mobile games while I decided to plug my earbuds in and try to lighten my mood with some chill music.

Imagine Dragons’ Rise Up was playing as our stop came into view. Indigo motioned us to wait by the exit, as leaving a train car can be a hassle in and of itself especially if there was a blockade of people by the doorways. Entering and leaving a train in this country is a battle, forcing yourself through a crowd of people who barely give a shit whether or not you get to leave or get stuck in the train. I kept the song playing so I could get some background music, only removing my left earbud to make sure I can hear Indigo and Xavier if they talk.

I was hoping for an indication

I was seeking higher elevation

We made it out of the train and the station with less hassle than expected. Luckily enough our train car didn’t have as much people blocking the exit and we were able to squeeze out with our limbs intact. Indigo looked around, double-checking possible fire exits and alternate pathways we can take through the station. After all, commuting is one thing but escorting a guy carrying fragile cargo is a completely different challenge.

I've been shaken, waking in the night light

I've been breaking, hiding from the spotlight

Before we could even fully scout the area, a crowd had begun forming on the footbridge outside. The footbridge itself connected the train station to nearby plazas and hotels, as well as having stairs that go straight down to the sidewalk and bus stops. The footbridge also overlooked a large portion of the highway and side streets of this city.

And speaking of side streets, one of them seems to be under a monster attack, based on the crowd gawking and taking pictures of something down there. Loud noises of pavement breaking, people screaming, glass shattering, and cars skidding and honking are beginning to make their way to us.

The more I stray, the less I fear

And the more I reach, the more I fade away

The three of us shared a moment together, thinking that it was finally our time to shine, as Indigo grins and nods at us to check out what was truly going on.

We rush outside, and see chaos line the streets below us. Cars crashed into one another as people try to swerve away from the giant pink bird towering over them in the middle of the road. Its wings had claws protruding at the edges, and its head was a large curved beak and a crown that expands like a fan as it tries to put on an intimidation pose.

Darkness right in front of me

It's calling out, and I won't walk away