Hunted (1)

{IN THE EARTH WORLD}

"Alright, see ya guys." Hunter leaves the backyard cookout that was hosted at Jaylen's house. He went to the cookout to hang out with his friends Saul and Jaylen, not just to enjoy the food. "Phew, I'm stuffed," Hunter said, patting his belly. Hunter kept talking while eating during the cookout, so he was too distracted to even realize that he was eating beyond his limit. He was bloated; his stomach aching as he needed to use a toilet badly. 

Hunter and his friends lived in a rural area, not too far from their school. They lived relatively close together, alongside the one friend who was there too—Ben. He mysteriously died in class three weeks ago without any reason. Ben's other friend, Gray, also died alongside him but Hunter and his friends were never really close so he didn't really care about him. The only person that they really took note of is Ben. ("It's been three weeks ever since Ben died at school. Honestly, things haven't really been any different whatsoever. Maybe Saul's theory that Ben was fated to die by god was true after all.") The voice chat conversation made him giggle, but he recalled Saul's words.

"Guys, maybe we shouldn't laugh about a dead person," he said. Jaylen replied, "Yeah... maybe we shouldn't," causing everyone to quiet down their laughter. You could tell they were still smiling behind their mics. Hunter finishing his recollection took a deep breath. "Man, we're terrible friends." 

Hunter finally reached the street where his house was, reminiscing about how stupid the name was. "ESEX" was the name of the street and that name always made Ben die of laughter. "Hey Hunter look, it's E-Sex!" he would always say to Hunter when they passed by his street. Hunter found Ben's joke funny at first, but it soon became annoying. ("Well, it's all in the past, can't do anything about it now.")

Nearly finishing his walk, he saw a familiar short figure in his street. It was a guy at his school named Logan. Ben and Logan were great friends in school, bonding over their shared rarity as Asian students. Hunter was confused about why Logan was near his home at this time of the day so he approached him. "Hey Logan, what are you doing here?" Logan seemed worried; his eyes pacing in every direction possible. "I'm looking for my pet dog Teddy. He just started to bark outside at something before somehow escaping through the front door. He came to this street before I saw him blip away from existence." he replied.

Hunter began slowly stepping back from Logan. ("Okay, he's insane. I'm just going to go back home, he never asked me to help him anyways so he can handle this himself.") Turning around to get back to his house, he sees a dark ominous figure staring at them at the end of the street. He wore a mask and had armor shaded with some type of dark smog. Hunter stood still, overwhelmed by the figure's imposing presence. The figure pointed in the direction of both Logan and Hunter, releasing a wave of despair upon them. Logan turned his head to the figure, feeling his ominous aura. "W-What's that..." he muttered.

The figure then spoke. "I'm the bloodhound for the Everlasting Darkness. I've come to obtain your Origin Points for my great lord."

Hunter gulped upon hearing this. "Hey... is this some kind of prank?" he asked. The bloodhound did not respond, he only took action. Dashing forward, the bloodhound first went to Hunter. He opened his hand like he was attempting to snatch something from him. His armor had jagged gloves, these gloves looked like they could pierce his body even with the slightest touch. Hunter saw this but was too scared to move or even muster any strength to scream. 

Coming to his rescue was someone he did not expect. Logan stepped in front of Hunter before throwing a strong right hand upon the bloodhound's face, knocking him back a couple of steps. Logan winced in pain and shook his hand after striking the armored man. "Punching someone with armor hurts more than I expected," he said. Logan turned his head back to Hunter. "Hunter, do you have your phone?" he asked. Hunter shook his head. "No, my phone died at the cookout that I just came from."

Logan faced the disoriented bloodhound after dealing a sudden punch to its face. "Hunter, you need to call the police! This guy seems like he's not joking." 

"But what about you Logan? Are you really going to fight this creepy dude with armor?!" 

"Don't worry Hunter, Ben taught me boxing. I'm not perfect with it but I'm still pretty decent at it."

"Boxing? What would a dumb punching sport do in this situation?!" 

The bloodhound eavesdropping their conversation began doing a haunting laugh. "Boxing, eh? That forbidden martial art..." Logan was perplexed by his laughing. "What's so funny about boxing and what's so forbidden about it?" he queried. The bloodhound stopped his laughing to answer his question. "Back in the original timeline where I came from, boxing was pretty annoying. Your Ben pal is a real sucker for making the Everlasting Darkness's life harder with his damn boxing techniques!" finishing off his sentence, the bloodhound suddenly dashed at Logan, making Logan shout his final commands towards Hunter. "Hunter, start running now!"

Without any delay, Hunter began sprinting towards his Grandpa's house. ("My grandpa has his phone and he has tons of weapons, this is probably the best bet we have!")

Logan backstepped from the first swipe the bloodhound did with their jagged claws. He could feel the breeze of the swipe hit against his face as he avoided the attack. Even though the bloodhound could've killed Logan with one slash in the neck, Logan had planned this thoroughly. ("He charged at me and fell for the bait, he's wide open for a check hook!") 

Taking this opportunity, using the force from backstepping with his right leg to propel himself, he pivots to the rear of the bloodhound using his left leg. While he pivots, he throws a left hook to the side of the bloodhound's face, striking him. Getting struck by the left hook, the bloodhound staggered. ("Now it's the time to strike!") Logan takes a deep step forward to go in with a stiff jab, staggering the bloodhound even more. At this point, the bloodhound is covering their face with their arms. Seeing this, Logan notices a gap between the arms of the bloodhound. ("Now!") Using his back foot to propel his entire body's momentum forward, he goes deep in for a strong right uppercut in between the gap. 

Having his neck snap back from the fierce uppercut, the bloodhound falls to the ground. "It's been a while since I last boxed... that was intense," Logan said, breathing heavily.  "Now, I should probably check on Hunter," Logan said, looking in the direction Hunter ran off to. 

Then, grabbing his left ankle, was the sharp claws of the bloodhound. Squeezing it tightly, he pierced through the bones of his ankle. Logan freed his ankle by yanking his leg, leaving a bloody mess. Wobbling around, he attempted to regain his footing. "Urk! My ankle can barely move now!" he said, trying to bring life to his ankle. The bloodhound starts to do a raspy chuckle. "Phew... it's been a while since I've been hit by genuine boxing!" The bloodhound then aimed his palm at Logan. Logan's fighter instincts were screaming for him to duck down, so he did. As soon as he ducked, a dark bolt was sent flying towards his head, grazing his hair. 

"What was that?!" Logan said. It was something that was out of this world—something truly magical. "Heh, that was magic, you buffoon. It's something that you lower-class beings don't have!" The bloodhound shoots another dark bolt and directly hits Logan's shoulder. Logan winces in pain but bears through it. ("My right fist is broken from that uppercut and my left ankle can barely move... the best I can do is leave it to one punch!") Prepping up his back foot to propel him forward once more, he prepares to go for a stiff and powerful jab. He closed his eyes for just a moment, having a flashback of when he was first taught this move.

"Hey you know Sunny Listun, that boxer that nobody liked back then? You should try doing what he did with his jabs because it's pretty cool!" Ben shouted. Logan stood there awkwardly with gloves that were nearly the size of his head. "Umm okay Ben but... you don't need to shout." Ben gave a thumbs up to Logan before continuing his tutoring. "Alright, so here's how you do the technique!" Ben shouted once again. "Ben, I said you don't need to shou-" Ben cut Logan off with a stiff jab that spiked through his head. This makes Logan fall on his back and makes his vision go blurry. "Alright, that's how you do it!" Ben shouted.

Remembering the flashback, Logan had a feint smile. "It's all or nothing...!" he said, going all out for this final attack. He feels the surge of emotion and adrenaline fill his body as he knows that if he fails to beat him with this final move, he will be slaughtered. 

As he's about to thrust himself forward, a car crashes into the bloodhound, rolling him across the street. Logan paused all his actions and turned to look at the car, feeling completely dumbfounded. "what"

Jaylen hopped out of his car with his hands on his head. "Oh god, did I accidentally kill someone...?" Jaylen's voice trembled heavily. Saul then decided to blast the airhorns that they had just bought in the direction of Hunter's house. Jaylen snapped his head back to Saul. "SAUL, WE'RE NOT DOING THE DAMN AIRHORN PRANK ON HUNTER RIGHT NOW, I THINK I JUST MURDERED SOMEONE ON ACCIDENT!" he screamed in a panic. Jaylen then noticed Logan bleeding heavily from his wounds. "Logan, what happened to you?!" he asked.

Logan—without saying a word—pointed in the direction of where the bloodhound was, trying to signal that it was the cause of his injuries. 

"Umm, Logan, there's nobody there...?"

Logan glanced over to see the bloodhound gone. Logan snapped his head back towards Jaylen's direction. "I swore he was there just a second ago-" he paused. 

The bloodhound was right behind Jaylen.