Beast Driven

On The Low

As his eyes slowly opened, the first thing he did was take a look at his surrounding. From the smell of disinfectant and the constant beeping sound, Kayden knew where he was.

"So I lost that match..." he muttered to himself. Although he wasn't too sad about it since he still had one more day to made up the remainder of the money he needed. He was just sad about the fact that he had lost.

A little while later, and a nurse had arrived to do a check-up. After confirming that he was alright, he was then discharged and allowed to go back home.

A little something that ability users have that others don't is super healing. Although this comes in the form of an ability itself, all ability users naturally have a faster healing rate. Meaning that all the injuries and burns he had incurred from the fight would quickly heal. This would take up Mana to do.

He still had a low amount of Mana. Kayden decided to call it a night and head back home. However, he couldn't sleep well that night. Ever since his cousin was kidnapped, he had been having nightmares about her and his uncle. And in most of them, Stacy would either end up dead or barely clinging onto dear life.

The next day, Kayden was determined to finish what he had started. In his bedroom, Jake had a number of thoughts running through his head. He had no idea about what Kayden had been doing all this time. But just like his nephew, he had been unable to sleep ever since that day. 

With no way of knowing whether or not she was okay, all he could do was assume the worst. She was all he had in this world. He didn't know how he could keep on living knowing that she had been taken away from him. Everything he does. The fact that he wakes up everyday and faces life head on is because of her, and if she ends up dead...

"That's it. I have no other choice. I need to ask him for help," although he was adamant to get into contact with this person, he had no other option. "Pick up the damn call!" he yelled I'm frustration. However, the person he was calling didn't answer.

"Fuck!" he screamed, slamming his table. Meanwhile, in his own room, Kayden had received another call from the kidnappers.

"Today's the last day. You know what that means," the man said. "I hope you've made progress?" he asked.

Kayden's hands shook and he struggled to gather his thoughts.

"Y-yes. I-I have most of the money already. I'll hand over the ransom tonight," he responded. He wished to ask the man a question, but wasn't sure how he would respond to it. But it was very important, so he managed to barely push past his gears and ask the question.

"I'I want to ask you something," he started off.

"What is it?"

"After I get the full amount, how will we do the exchange?"

The man on the other end chuckled upon hearing this.

"You don't have to worry about that. Once the money is ready, everything else will go as planned," the man replied before ending the call.

"Everything else will go as planned?" Kayden had no idea what that meant. In a school somewhere in the city, a group of teenagers were discussing about Kayden.

"So we all agree that we'll go visit him after school today?" a boy asked to confirm.

"Yes," the all replied.

In the principal's office, the principal was discussing with a group of teachers regarding the current matter of two students who had been absent for nearly a week now.

After that teacher had headed back to the school, she quickly went to the principal's office to tell him what had happened to Stacy.  Shocked, he decided not to send teachers to disturb the family for the time being.

Meanwhile, he thought of helping them however way he could. However, he soon realized that the authorities aren't as helpful in the case as he initially thought.

"I just hope they find a way to bring her back safely," he said, taking off his glasses.

The school staff had agreed to keep this matter from the students. They knew how cruel some could be and didn't want them spreading false rumors or maybe even tormenting them once they had returned back to school. If they would even come back to school to begin with.

Also, they didn't want to cause fear and panic amongst the students from this kidnapping issue. They wanted everyone to focus on their studies instead of the current issues the city was facing. Stacy wasn't the only person that had been kidnapped.

During the day, after spending hours inside, Kayden had decided to head out for a change. He decided to go for a walk to clear his head. It was at the same time that his friends were planning on visiting him.

"Hey, isn't that Kayden?" one of them pointed out.

"It's him. C'mon, let's go say hi," another one said.

Kayden had five friends at school whom he was close with. The group decided to update Kayden on the things that had been going on at school while he was at home.

"So how are you feeling now?" a girl asked him.

"I'm doing better. I'll start attending classes soon," Kayden replied.

He didn't want to tell them about what happened to his cousin. After a while of catching up, they eventually parted ways. Later that day, and Kayden went down to the underground fighting club. Once it was his turn to fight, he had made his way to the ring along with his opponent.

Although there was an upset after his loss last night, it was still his first ever loss. He still had many chances to redeem himself in the future. The match had begun, and his opponent charged forward. After a full day had gone by, Kayden had regained back all of his Mana, bringing him back to peak condition.

He had transformed into his werewolf form, and was as quick as ever, dodging attacks. His opponent was someone with a fire class ability, similar to the person he had fought the day prior.

Unlike fire breathing, his ability allowed him to produce lightning.

It was a powerful ability that demanded a lot of Mana to use, but it seemed like his opponent had a large Mana pool, allowing to use the ability so violently. ulses of lightning went flying in all sorts of directions, however, the audience was safe due to the use of a shield ability protecting them from the lightning.

'This guy is quite reckless,' Kayden noted. 'Perhabs I can use that to my advantage.' For his plan to work, he would have to move between the gaps of lightning. What he was attempting to do was quite dangerous, as there was the chance that he could end up shocked. He didn't know how severe it would be, and he didn't want to find out.

He ran as fast as he could, doing his best to avoid the lightning. Seeing this, his opponent moved his hands, altering the direction the lightning was moving. Kayden was quick to dodge the lightning strikes as he quickly closed the distance.

'Let's end this!' he yelled in his mind. His claws were extended, he was really to deal damage to his opponent, however, images of his last match started to cloud his mind.

He was in the same situation. As he was about to slash at the Viper, he suddenly stepped back, causing Kayden to hit nothing but air. Then, like a blur, he felt a stinging pain, before loosing consciousness.

'I... can't loose again...'

He was so close, he couldn't afford to mess this all up. His claws were inches away from his target. He was inches away from being electrocuted. His opponent was reckless with his attacks. Although that allowed him to get close, he wasn't sure if he could land blows of his own.

His biggest fear came true. Luckily, he didn't go down without inflicting damage on his opponent. His claws went deep into the latter's skin, drawing out lots of blood. The effect of the lightning, might not have knocked him out, but it did injure him severely. But, he still managed to stand on his two feet. He wasn't down for the count yet.

His opponent seemed to be affected by the attack. He stopped generating the lightning, giving Kayden a clear patch to proceed further with the attacks. He wasted not a second of this golden opportunity. He sprinted forward, slashing violently at his opponent in all sorts of places. 

The man yelled in pain, trying his best to shield himself, however, he didn't make use of his lightning, something Kayden was thankful for. It also seemed like this guy wasn't into hand-to-hand combat and relied more on his ability instead.

Not long after, and Kayden had emerged the winner. Although heavily damaged, he had succeeded in the end.

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