✔️Pokemon: Beastly Hunter (Leaf x Gary) (leafgreenshipping)

Episode 4: The Monster Bride

After Leaf and Gary finished their breakfast, Gary brought the dishes to the sink and sat back down and facing Leaf, demanding information.

"So, tell me. What are these brides you were talking about earlier?" Gary asked.

"I just want to make sure that you never heard of the brides before?" Leaf replied with a question.

Gary leaned back on the chair and folded his arms in front of him. "If I had heard of it before, I would not have asked you," he said arrogantly. But in Leaf's ears, it sounds like a sulking child, causing her to giggle a bit.

"I got you. It is amazing how the villagers just execute girls under 'protecting the village from the beast'. I personally didn't believe it myself. That is just ridiculous. I do believe in monsters, but not when we have to send 'brides' to the monsters. Since you live in this forest and you never heard of it, it means that the villagers are basically speaking crap. I wonder how many girls they tormented. Ugh. Just the thought of it made me sick," Leaf ranted angrily at Gary, who just sat there and listened to her rapid speaking. After a while and taking a few deep breaths, Leaf began the legend of the Monster Bride, the story that had been passed down for generations.

"The story of the brides has been passed down for many generations, and it has been a tradition of the village. It had been said that a long time ago, there lived a beast in the forest. It was a friendly beast, helping the people who were lost in the Dark Forest. Despite the beast contacting many people, he still feels lonely. He knows that the people feared him because of his appearance. He never tries to leave the Dark Forest and the villagers never bother him. It was all peace and tranquility.

"However, one day, a young maiden got lost in the forest. She is the most beautiful maiden in the village. That day, she enters the forest to visit her grandma on the opposite side of the forest. She wears a beautiful white dress and a red hood. Along the way to the forest, she got surrounded by wolves. Luckily, the beast was there and saved her. Like any other kind girl, she helped the beast clean his wounds from the wolves and cook some food for him as gratitude for his help. As usual, the beast would send the girl back home the next day. The young girl, however, would frequently visit the beast because she has to visit her grandma every once and a while. Slowly, the two fall in love.

"It is a very beautiful love story. If the story ended that way, how beautiful would it be? But no, things are not that easy. After a while in their secret affair, the son of the head of the village falls in love with the girl. 'It was fate,' he said and forced the marriage on her. The maiden disagrees and cries. That night, she ran into the forest to the beast. No one ever enters the forest before, unless necessary, as you know. So, if the story ends there, the maiden and the beast would have a happily ever after.

"The maiden lives with her mother back in the village. The son used the mother to threaten the maiden. Fearing for her mother, she left the village to go to her son. She agrees to marry him, as long as he lets her mother go. She was carried and locked in a dark room, where she will stay without outside contact until the day of their marriage. Every night, she would cry for her love and her family. She blames her beauty for her tragedy.

"The son eventually heard of the maiden's love for the beast and was furious. He is being compared to a beast, who is not even 'human'! How dare the maiden! On the morning of his wedding, he gathered up all the villagers in the village and charged into the forest where they planned to get rid of the beast who was 'terrorizing the land.' The maiden secretly heard of the plan when she was dressed up for her wedding. She was scared. She can sell herself away, but she will never allow her love, who was innocent, to get hurt. When the women were distracted, she rushed out of the room and into the forest. She went through the forest so many times that she knew where the shortcut to the beast's home was.

"The beast knew that day was his love's wedding. He was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do. He cannot leave the forest and terrorize the people. He stood at a spot in the forest where he could see the wedding place. He was planning to watch from there, silently, until the end. Unexpectedly, he was greeted by the villagers with weapons.

"I believe you can tell what happened to the rest of the story. The beast tries to resist the villagers, not harming them, while the villagers are aggressive. While the beast was distracted by everyone else, the son pointed his spear at the beast. The maiden was able to arrive in time and saw what she was about to do. She blocked the attack that was aimed at the beast and fell.

"When everyone noticed what had happened, it was already too late. The damage was done. The beast's heart shuddered into millions of pieces. He held his love as he roared in anger. After the maiden took her final breath, the beast turned to the villagers and attacked.

"Since then, the villagers feared entering the forest, because there was a beast. Every year, they send a young maiden in red, to the beast, hoping that he will forgive them for the death of the maiden. It was said that at night, you can see the maiden taking a stroll in the forest," Leaf finished the story and sighed. "It was such a romantic story, if not corrupted by the people."

Gary just looked at Leaf with wide eyes. "Wow, it is such a deep story. I never heard of it before despite living here all my life. Is that what you mean by being a bride?"

Leaf nodded her head in response.

"Then what happened to the brides then? From what I remembered, no beast lives here besides for me," Gary chuckles lightly, trying to lighten up the mood.

"The thing is, no one knows. The second they enter the forest as a bride, they disappear the next day," Leaf answers.