Chapter 9 For My Friend

"What do we do drunken master?" Mark was shocked by Leroy's disappearance. 'It was stupid of me not to suspect that bastard. Every time we killed him, he kept coming. I should have caught on, what an idiot!' Mark punched his own face. "We're gonna go after him, aren't we Drunken Master?" Mark quickly took out a bottle of beer from his backpack, he then quickly drank it all in a matter of seconds. "We're not going, kid." Gabe was surprised, but not the good kind. "What do you mean no!?" Mark said nothing, he just started walking in the direction of Red River. "Come on kid, let's get to Red River." Gabe got frustrated with Mark, he immediately ran toward him looking mad as ever. Gabe proceeded to reach for Mark's revolver and aimed it for his head, Mark didn't have the time to stop him because he was so shocked Gabe would do such a thing. "I'm gonna pull this trigger!" Mark started to walk toward Gabe, he then proceeded to back up in response. "Kid, don't you do that…" Gabe still looked angry. "Why? Because I'll mess up your mission!?" Mark didn't know what to do in this situation, he then thought to himself that he knew Gabe for about a month now, and he thought he knew him well enough that he wouldn't go through with it. "Listen, kid, I know you're not gonna do it so stop preten-" Gabe then cocked back the bullet and readied to fire. As soon as Mark looked at Gabe's serious angry eyes, he knew that he did have the balls to do it. "I will do it! If you don't tell me why you won't save Leroy!" Mark didn't want to tell Gabe the real reason why he didn't want to do it, as it would show his true feelings. "DRUNKEN MASTER YOU BETTER START TALKING!" Mark tried his best to hold it in. "YOU'VE GOT THREE SECONDS!" Mark stood there silent still. "Three! Two!" Gabe was frustrated that Mark didn't move a single inch. "ONE-" Gabe then pulled the trigger, only for the nozzle to be blocked by a hunter knife. Gabe turned around to see that not only had Mark been standing behind him, but it looked like for the first time he had actually cried. "Drunken..Master?" Mark was crying extremely hard. 'Why am I doing this?! I haven't cried since I was a boy!? Why is it that this boy has triggered my emotions!?' Mark then grabbed the gun and put it back in his holster. "Just tell me then..why do you want to save Leroy? He's been nothing but a jerk to you from the very beginning. You have no real reason to do it." Gabe then fully turned to Mark, he looked down at first and didn't speak, he then looked up at Mark's eyes. "Because you see, I will do anything for my friends, no matter how impossible it is." Mark had never been more shocked by those words, they were the exact ones that he once said.

Mark had been a young boy crying in the middle of a town on the ground, he was now an Orphan, a terrible life was on the horizon. Just then, another boy put his hand out to Mark, to which Mark looked up to see this boy smile. "Who, who are you? And what do you want?" The Boy kept smiling. "You look like you need a friend. So I came to help!" Mark took the boy's hand and got up off the ground. "Well? Do you wanna be my friend?" Mark looked at the boy again. "What is a friend?" The boy looked surprised, someone didn't know the meaning of friend? "Well, you see. A friend is-" The boy looked as if he thought hard and long about it. "I guess there isn't really a fixed definition of a friend, well, a friend typically is there for another person and sticks with them to the end. They do whatever it takes to be there for their friend, and will go to extreme lengths to do so." Mark thought that a friend sounded interesting, he then decided. "Alright then! You could be my first friend!" The boy smiled and they shook hands.

Another time, Mark was being beaten up by a bully, only for that boy to show up behind the Bully. "HEY UGLY! BEAT ME UP FIRST!" Mark was shocked to hear this, the Bully then turned to him. "You wanna call me ugly? Then show how tough you are!" The Bully beat the boy up so badly to the point that he had bruises and blood coming out of his face. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!? I COULD HAVE BEEN BEATEN UP NO PROBLEM! AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE!" The Boy smiled, even with all those bruises. "Because, I will do anything for my friends, no matter how impossible it is." Those words echoed through Mark's head.

'He's just like you...so much like you…' Mark thought of nothing but the parallel between Gabe and The First Sheriff. Gabe couldn't hold it in any longer, he proceeded to hug Gabe and cried while doing so. "HEY GET OFF ME DRUNKEN MASTER!" Gabe then stopped yelling when he realized the hug was not an attack and it was a genuine hug from the heart. "Kid, the reason is, I don't want to lose you." Gabe was shocked when he heard this. "From the very beginning when we met, I've realized how much you remind me of the First Sheriff…It makes me work even harder with my mission...and it makes us really good friends." As soon as Gabe heard the word friend, he smiled and began to cry as well. "I'm your friend right kid?" "Yes, more than my master. You are my friend." Mark knew he would say that. "I think when I said we wouldn't save him...I was being a bad friend, and deep down I knew that. Which made it all the harder to move on from Leroy." Mark felt that he should ask another question. "Is Leroy your friend?" Gabe hesitated before answering this. "I don't think he sees me as one, but I do care about him." Mark wiped away his tears. "Then I believe we should go save him, you'll do anything to save him, right?" Gabe nodded. "Well then! We have a friend to save!" Gabe jumped in excitement. "Now first things first, where would the Lone Stranger be hiding?" Mark thought about it for a bit, he then had an idea. "Well, from the looks of it. He must have some witch powers." Gabe was confused. "I'll explain it to you later, but anyway, I know for a fact that every witch power has its limit. His power, in particular, must have its own limits, and I believe he uses a type of energy to do what he does." All of this was confusing to Gabe, but it was more understandable than the other things he told Gabe. "Basically, the one who talked to us used that teleportation ability and he wasn't the one who held Leroy in place, that was the other Lone Stranger. It was also the one who talked to us who teleported them back. So it must be difficult to use that teleportation ability." Gabe understood. "Oh, I get it! So it takes more of that energy to teleport, so he brought one Lone Stranger to teleport and the other one for capturing Leroy!" Mark smiled at Gabe, proud he caught on. "Also, we need to make an estimate on where he is. I think the best possible answer for that is it takes more energy to teleport to farther places, so the place must be close by." Mark looked around the area and he realized that he had been there before. "I know this place, and I also know that there is a ghost town nearby." Gabe thought of an idea. "Which would be the best place to make a base that you could kidnap someone in!" Mark was still hesitant with this plan. "Keep in mind Gabe, he might not actually be there and we could be wrong, but it's sure worth a check." The two were off, to save Leroy.

Meanwhile in an unknown town

Leroy was still horrified at the sight he was witnessing. 'He can't be human...there's just no way…' Leroy remembered a wanted poster from when he was a kid of the Lone Stranger, and the thing in front of him did not in fact look like the Lone Stranger from many years ago. "JUST WHO OR WHAT ARE YOU!?" The thing smiled. It was then revealed that his skin had been white as snow. Looked to be extremely shriveled up to the point where he looked like a corpse, he had long white hair, skinny limbs, a black cloak covering his entire body, and two blue eyes that looked at Leroy with nothing but evil. "I am the Lone Stranger." He smiled as he said it, showing his decayed teeth.

Leroy had been standing in front of the abomination that said he was the Lone Stranger. "There is no way you are the Lone Stranger…" Leroy backed up and eventually hit the people in the back who just stood there. "Sorry, sir." No answer came from the figure he hit. "I am the Lone Stranger…" Leroy was both confused and afraid, he wanted answers, but he knew he wasn't gonna get them without forcing them out of the Lone Stranger. Leroy proceeded to stick out both his palms in both directions, the Lone Stranger put his hand out before anything happened, and the building proceeded to explode in flames.

Meanwhile back with Mark and Gabe, they saw the explosion of fire coming from the ghost town as they were about to enter it. "Drunken Master! What's that!?" As soon as Mark saw the fire, he instantly knew that Leroy was there. "Come on kid! We have no time to waste!" They both then began running toward the town as fast as they could.

Leroy jumped out of the building that was on fire, he immediately ran out to the middle of the road and looked in all directions, finding out he had been in a ghost town. 'Where the hell am I?!" Leroy's guard had been down when all of a sudden he was suddenly pushed forward by air and fell to the ground. He looked behind him, only to see the cloaked Lone Stranger walk out of the building on fire. "I am so close to getting that bounty..and you won't be the one to stop me, kid!" The Lone Stranger then looked as if he noticed something in the distance. "They're here, they must have somehow tracked me." Leroy wondered what he was talking about until he realized that it had to be Gabe and Mark. 'They're here! Good! I have some backup to take him down!' The Lone Stranger smiled. "No matter.." He snapped his fingers, only for the house to stop being on fire. It also revealed that the house had been merely a pile of rubble. 'What the hell is his power?! He put out my fire with the snap of his fingers?!' He then snapped again, only to make the rubble shake and something come out from underneath it. As soon as Leroy saw what was coming out of the rubble, he freaked out. There had been at least 30 Lone Stranger clones who looked exactly like the Lone Stranger in the poster. "What the...HELL ARE YOU!?" The cloaked Lone Stranger then turned back toward Leroy. "Very well then, I guess I have time to tell you. Not to mention you're going to die anyway."Leroy began to listen. "As you know I was once a famous bounty hunter, I still am a bit, but not as much as I used to be." Leroy knew that much, that mask had been iconic to many people. "I caught really high-priced people, and killed hundreds of bounties, but one day."

The Lone Stranger was at Red River in a bar, with lots of Bounty Hunters sitting in the booth nearby. "Yo, Lone Stranger. You best check out that one over there, she's new." He looked to where that bartender told him to look, only to see a bounty of an old lady who looked to be in her hundreds, the price said one sentence at the bottom. Once you get to bounty, name your price and no matter how high, it shall be granted. The Lone Stranger saw this as a great thing, he decided to go after her. After countless days of traveling in the desert on his black stallion, he finally made it to the cave he was supposed to go to on the bounty. Go inside the cave and you shall find the bounty right in front of you. The Lone Stranger walked into the cave with his revolver at hand, he looked around and saw nothing. Eventually, it got dark, and he then lit a match, only to see the Old Woman right in front of him. She had been old, extremely so, she wore a black cloak over her with a hood that covered her face, she had also been short, at least 4 feet tall, which the Lone Stranger towered over. "What...is...it...you….seek...traveler…" The Lone Stranger was at first afraid because of her coming out of nowhere, he then got the confidence and aimed his gun up to her head. "You've got a bounty on your head lady, and I'm after it." The Woman didn't move or do anything. "How...much...do...you...wish…" The Lone Stranger smiled cockily, "I want a billion." The woman did nothing again but stood still. "Very...well...traveler...you...shall..receive...your...reward...once...you...kill...me…" The Lone Stranger was beyond excited. 'This was too easy! Time to make some money!' The woman then put her hand up in front of his nozzle before he could fire. "Wait...just...a...minute…" The Lone Stranger was confused. "I...offer...you...a...reward...better...than...money...if...you...spare...me…" The Lone Stranger wondered. "What kind of reward?" The Old Woman spoke. "All...I...can...say...is...it...is..better...than..wealth…" The Lone Stranger was angered by this statement. "You're just begging for your life now! Nothing is better than wealth you stupid Old Lady!" He then cocked back the revolver. "I said I wanted a billion, now make that happen!" He then pulled the trigger, a gunshot was heard, and the sound of something dropping. The Lone Stranger laughed like a maniacal villain, all of a sudden the body of the old woman turned into dust and blew away. "Wh- what?" His match went out as he heard the sound of strong winds in the cave. "YOU HAVE CHOSEN WRONG! AND THEREFORE SHALL BE GIVEN A CURSE FOR YOUR DISRESPECT! AND THE ONLY THING THAT SHALL REDEEM YOU AND GIVE AN EVEN GREATER POWER IS IF YOU PAID THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU WANTED TO THE SAME CAVE!" All of a sudden the Lone Stranger began to hear loud noises in his head that made him drop the ground and shake. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He then woke up at Red River, he thought he was dreaming and that he knew the bounty was too good to be true. He then went to the Red River Bar, where he sat at a booth and drank his heart out. "Tough night?" the Bartender asked. "You can say that." The Bartender then handed him another beer, "It's on the house brother, I feel bad since I saw you on the ground in town for about a week. You have probably drunk a week now." This shocked the Lone Stranger. "What do you mean I was on the ground for a week!?" The Bartender was now concerned because the Lone Stranger was concerned. "You weren't drunk the night before?" The Lone Stranger was confused, to him, the memory of him and the old woman felt too real, not to mention it felt like it happened an hour after sleeping. "You ok man?" The Lone Stranger then got up and started to walk to the exit, he was stressed and confused, just then a giant muscular man appeared in front of him. "HEY, YOU! YOU'RE THAT LONE STRANGER GUY! I WANT YOUR BOUNTY!" It had been the Behemoth, a bounty hunter who used nothing but his bare fists. He had been one of the strongest men in the world when it came to physical strength. 'Shit! What do I do?!' Behemoth then got ready for a punch, he then thrust his fist. "THIS WILL BE HALF POWER! TO KNOCK YOU OUT! YOU LITTLE SHRIMP!" The Lone Stranger blocked his face with his hands, but Behemoth didn't touch him. It turns out that The Lone Stranger was given psychic-like powers from the old woman, he then felt the urge to put out his hand, and Behemoth was sent flying into a building. Once the Lone Stranger realized he had these powers, he was excited. The Lone Stranger then went on a killing spree, he discovered certain abilities when it came to these powers. He could make barriers around him that were practically invincible and invisible to the eye, he could put out his palms and push people away from him with psychic energy, he could sense people at least a mile away from him, and he also had one more deadly ability that he never used at first. It turns out that he could control people like puppets, and he could change the way they look on the outside, carrying out his tasks for him, along with the people being immune from pain, but they could be killed by being shot in the head, and also whenever he used this power, the person he controlled was killed. The Lone Stranger practically took over the bounty hunter world when it came to hunting with these powers until something happened. After every mission, the Lone Stranger went back to a village he took over but felt weaker than before. The Lone Stranger assumed it was because his powers were connected to his energy, like a person when they exercise, but he didn't look too much into it. Then one day, when he got back from a mission, he felt super weak. His body began to shrivel, his hair grew and turned white, and he was coughing out blood. It turns out that as the witch said, it had been a curse, the more he used his power, the more his body grew weaker in the worst possible ways. This included growing older rapidly, weakening his immune system exponentially to the point where it can't handle any disease, and weakening his body. The Lone Stranger tried everything he possibly could, but it wouldn't work, but he then remembered what the old lady said that day she gave him the power. 'THE ONLY THING THAT SHALL REDEEM YOU AND GIVE AN EVEN GREATER POWER IS IF YOU PAID THE EXACT AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU WANTED TO THE SAME CAVE!' Her words echoed through his head. The Lone Stranger saw how much money he had from those small-time bounties he went to catch for fun, it turns out he had 173,000,000$ Which was nowhere close to a billion, he then decided that he would get that money, but also remembered one other thing she said. 'AND GIVE YOU AN EVEN GREATER POWER.' He then had his plan set, even though he was slowly dying, he smiled. Ever Since then, he sent clones on bounty hunting missions to do his bidding to make a Billion dollars. 'Once I do pay the woman, I shall get this even greater power and take over the west with it! I'll be unstoppable!'

As soon as Leroy heard this story, he recalled the time that his father mentioned something similar happening. 'A Witch gave your Grandfather this power to the whole family, but out of the entire Suden family, you were the only one to unlock it besides me.' This old woman must be quite powerful, being able to give abilities like this to people in the west. "I take it that you need Gabe's bounty to finish the amount you need." The Lone Stranger said nothing but smiled. "Your words not mine kid." Though Leroy didn't particularly care about Gabe, he still remembered what Gabe said that day he took the bullet for Leroy. '"Leroy...I'm gonna beat you one day...I promise…" Leroy then stopped tearing and gave him a smirk. "Like I'd ever let you actually surpass me. Dream on."' Ever since Leroy met Gabe, they've had conflicts. '"Who are you?" The boy at first said nothing, he just stared at Gabe. "Why would I tell you my name? I don't know your name, and that makes you a nobody to me." Gabe started to get angry at this kid. "Anyways, I don't speak to nobodys, I only speak to somebodys."' And through that conflict. 'Gabe felt upset after hearing that, he thought the best way to help this situation was to comfort Leroy. "Are you ok Leroy?" Leroy looked as if he didn't care for Gabe's sympathy.' Grew rivalry. "One day, I'm gonna be the greatest bounty hunter!" What Gabe didn't know that day was that Leroy was listening, he secretly did believe in Gabe and silently wished him good luck. Leroy then got up from the ground, immediately, his arm caught fire and burned his shirt and cape. He looked absolutely angry. "I won't ever let you take Gabe away! Do you hear me, you bastard? I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY FRIEND AWAY!!!!!!!!!!" His arm flame then grew ginormous. 'What is this? This isn't anger or hate? Why are my hell flames growing? Is this? Compassion?' Regardless of what it was, Leroy clenched his fist, meanwhile, the real Lone Stranger put his hand out and made a barrier around himself. 'I know I won't be able to get past that barrier, even with a blast like this, but I will be able to weaken him, and destroy his clones.' Leroy then proceeded to pull back his fist and thrust. "DEVILS FIRE BLAST!!!!!!!!!!!" He then blasted a fireblast that was the size of a building, which could be seen miles away. Gabe saw the blast and freaked out, he then ran faster. 'I'm coming Leroy, I promise.'