Featuring ShadowOnTheLoose, TheGrimmKnight, and CrownDeluxe. Published at 11:58 PM on Saturday, November 5th, 2022.

It was a dark and stormy night. (Cliche, I know.) Gaél was working a late shift as a highway patrolman. At night, the road was very eerie, with the forests on either side of it looking very creepy without any lights except the ones along the road. It is 11:27 AM. Gaél is driving down the road in a Jeep with his coworkers Shadow, Grimm, and Tem. As they’re driving, however, the headlights flicker, and then go out. “We should recharge the car battery.” Shadow suggests. “Grimm, can you check the map for the nearest station?” Gaél asks. “Yeah, sure.” Grimm says. He checks the map. “There should be one right around here.” After driving a few feet, they find the station. “Whose turn is it to recharge the car battery?” Gaél asks. “Mine.” Tem responds. He gets out of the car and walks in the rain. He recharges the car battery and lights don’t turn on. “What the Hell?” he wonders aloud as tries to figure out why the headlights won’t turn on. Suddenly, a tendril creeps up behind him and drags Tem into the darkness of the woods. He screams as he is dragged away. It was 11:31. Little did the remaining three highway patrolmen know that this was the first encounter they’d have that night with… the Midnight Monster.

They continue to drive back and forth on the highway, and at the middle point of the road, the car stops. There are no nearby gas stations, but the odd thing that Gaél notices is that the fuel is still at a half of a tank. “What’s going on?” Gaél wonders. “Grimm, Shadow, wake up!” The two had fallen asleep. It was 11:47 by now. “Why have we stopped?” Shadow asks, still sleepy. “No clue, but we’re at half a tank.” “You sure the fuel meter isn’t broken?” “We just checked it 20 minutes ago, remember?” Gaél responds. Suddenly, magenta tendrils wrap around the car, and begin crushing it. It was 11:50. The trio try to get out of the car, and Gaél is able to blow the door off with his energy beams. Shadow transforms into her shadow form and floats out of the car. Grimm uses his sword to slice his door in half, escaping. Then, as he runs around the car to meet up with his friends, a tendril grabs him and drags him to the edge of the woods. From the darkness emerges Tem! However, he looks different. The part of his skin that was normal human skin is now colored a dark purple. His purple skin (a result of him having a skin condition which Gaél also has that results in half of their skin being colored a different color.) Tendrils are wrapped around his arms. “Hello, friends.” Tem says in a deep, emotionless, and demonic voice. “I hope you don’t min me killing Grimm.” He says this as if he never cared about Grimm or any of them. Then, he lifts up Grimm using the tendrils he controls. Grimm is being held by his legs and head, and as soon as Tem snaps his fingers, the tendrils yank Grimm from either end, ripping him in half. The patrolman’s guts fall out as the tendrils drop the halves of his body to the ground before Gaél and Shadow.

Then, the pieces of Grimm are lifted up by a mysterious force. It is 11:58, two minutes to midnight. Gaél and Shadow hear rumbling. A puddle ripples, and they see a massive monster that stands about 5 stories tall. Four massive magenta tendrils sprout from its back, and it has arms that end in magenta claws with only three fingers each. Other than the magenta, the creature is the same midnight purple as Tem and the tendrils. The only other color on it is its glowing yellow eyes, which stand out in the darkness. The creature roars as it absorbs Grimm’s remains. Then, the tendrils grab Tem, who has been enslaved by the Midnight Monster, and they transform his body into a sludgy essence, which is absorbed by the monster. Gaél and Shadow make a run for it. Gaél looks at his watch as they run. It’s 12 AM exactly.

The two run and hide behind a tree. The monster sends more tendrils to find them, and one creeps up behind Shadow. Gaél shoots a light beam at it, and it fades away. They realize that Gaél’s light powers are able to kill the tendrils, which are made of pure darkness. However, they can’t just keep shooting light the tendrils. They need to keep the monster at bay. Shadow grabs Gaél and the two enter shadow form (Shadow can enter shadow form with people she is touching). They run to the car and grab the flashlights from the back. However, the Midnight Monster has a light-cancelling aura. Gaél powers the lights with his powers, and the two run down the road. They lure the monster to the highway patrol main station, which has several large searchlights. Shadow keeps the tendrils at bay, and they start transforming into quadrupedal dog-like creatures. Shadow is overwhelmed, and she doesn’t have enough energy to turn into a shadow. She begins to be absorbed. Her shadow powers can strengthen the monster. Suddenly, everything fades away, including the Midnight Monster, as Gaél gets the searchlights on with his powers. Shadow is safe, but the two mourn the loss of Tem and Grimm. By now, it was 12:09 AM. The next day, they explain to the manager that Tem and Grimm got lost in the woods searching for what they thought was a human lost in the woods. They said they’d search for them later, alone, but what that meant was that they were going to come up with another lie.