Death Won't Stop Me

I hope you're okay.

Jon was looking at his hands wearing boxing gloves as he tried to grip them as he was standing in the ring. Then he looked towards the boxer in his front as he asked. "So what do I do? Do I just dodge, or can I punch back."

"Hahaha.. You can do what ever you want. Just no elbows, knees, and kicks." The coach outside the ring was the one who answered while laughing.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy." Max, the boxer interjected.

"Okay." Jon said. "I'm ready."

"Start when you hear the bell then stop when you hear three." The coach reminded him.

He just nodded as he looked at his opponent and drew a deep breath to calm himself.

*DING*

He walked a little wobbly to the center as he heard the coach shout. "Don't be nervous kid! Put your hands up!"

He immediately put his hands up as he saw a punch suddenly come up to his face. Although it was a sudden, he felt like the speed of the punch was a little slow for him so he managed to raise his hands to block.

"Max don't put too much effort into it, he's new to this!" He heard the coach shout his opponent. Then added another shout directed to him. "You okay there kid? Wanna stop?"

"I'm good!" Jon replied as he returned his focus to his opponent. "Keep going."

"Haha! I like you, kid!" The boxer said as he continued to rain punches on Jon.

Seeing it is different from dodging it. Jon kept on trying to dodge his opponent but the result was he kept on getting hit. And when he tried hitting back, all he could hit was his opponent's gloves.

*DING* *DING* *DING*

"Time's up!" The coach went up the ring and wen to his side. "You okay kid? You're a tough one! You kept getting hits but you're still standing." He added.

"So, how was it? You gonna sign up?" The coach said as he was helping Jon get the gloves off.

"Yeah. It's fun." Jon replied, smiling.

***

Time flew by and another month has passed. Jon continued with his usual routine with the addition of going to the gym for a few hours after work. His strength kept growing bit by bit this past month. He noticed that although he does not have any experience, he was able to learn very quickly. By one week after he started training at the gym, he was able to match Max's speed and can dodge and hit accurately. By two weeks, Max was having a hard time sparring with him. And by the third week, Max was losing at every spar. This last week, he was paired up with a more experienced boxer, but to his delight, he can go toe to toe with him.

Everyone at his gym was astounded, and the coach even asked him if he wants to go pro. He declined as it was not his passion and he was only interested to learn. But after one month, he was thinking if he should just quit that gym and practice by himself. Or if he should go to another place to learn another art.

A thought suddenly hit him. "What if I try to learn all of them? Would I master all of them?" He laughed silly at the thought of him mastering different types of martial arts. It does seem doable with his learning speed and he grew excited at his own idea.

***

Another month has passed. It has now been three months since Jon's first encounter with the supernatural. This month, he switched to learning taekwondo. He still kept practicing boxing from time to time but he felt it unnecessary to keep focusing on it as he thinks that he already learned what he could. He felt that as he kept getting stronger and faster, what he needed were the basics, not the techniques.

Today, Jon has just finished work and he was on his way to his friends' get together. It has been three months since he saw Joey and his pals from college.

*Ring*

His phone suddenly rang as he was walking. He looked at the caller's id and saw that it was Joey so he answered. "Hey, Joey, already on my way there. I just got off from work."

"Yo, Jon! How's that "condition" of yours? Haha.. Got your mojo back yet?" Joey joked.

"Not funny, Joe." He answered seriously.

"Alright, alright! Touchy dumbass." Joey mumbled on the phone.

"Jackass." He said back. Then he asked. "So why are you really calling me for?"

"Oh, right! Remember that chick you molested on our graduation day? Just saw her with a friend come inside the club. I asked them to sit with us. I hope you don't mind. Hahaha!" Joey said then mockingly laughed like he was gloating at Jon's misfortune as he suddenly ended the call. "Can't wait to see you! Bye!" 

"Wait. Joe!" *Beep* *Beep* *Beep* He tried to know a bit more when he got cut off.

"Hah.. I can't believe this. I thought my luck was turning for the better?" He sighed as looked up while asking himself a question.

He saw a shadow suddenly flashed passed him from building to building as he looked up. "What the?" He rubbed his eyes and looked again.

"Am I seeing things?" He asked himself. Then suddenly, he saw a person wearing a tracksuit jumping in the air as "he" followed that shadow.

Curious, he looked at the direction the shadow and the tracksuit guy went and gave chase.

***

"Give up! You cant' escape anymore!" Ana shouted to Eddie as she was chasing him above city. During the three months of tracking him, she was able to catch up to him two times. Stopping him in time from absorbing more seeds. She managed to chase him back towards the city but up until now, she hadn't managed to corner him.

"Hateful! Why won't this b***h give up?!" Eddie was getting anxious as he was flying away trying to get away from Ana.

"Can we defeat her?" Eddie asked as he looked at her gaining on him. For the past few months, the two times that she was able to catch up to him, he just uses his full power to push her away then fades to escape. But this time, even as he fades, she could still follow him and when he fades in, she is almost near his place so he had to keep running. He had enough just now and decided to fight her as he felt that there was no more escape.

A black wolf head suddenly materialized from the mist covering him on his right. The wolf then growled in a low tone indicating that it was not that confident.

"Then even the odds." He replied to his wolf. He kept looking for a place that could help him to his advantage as he was being chased.

"There!" Up front, he saw a closed area with an ongoing construction. It had lots of beams and floors, and with the darkness of night, he could his use it to his advantage.

He suddenly turned around formed a fist and punched towards Ana. With this punch, the black mist that was hovering around him seemed to become an added force to the punch as it traveled from his whole body to his fist then connected with the force he emitted.

Shocked at the sudden attack, Ana pushed both hands to her front in a rush and channeled her energy to form a makeshift barrier. Her barrier just formed when the attack landed. She was pushed for at least a few dozen steps and her makeshift barrier forming a spider web like crack from the middle to the edges. The attack dissipated the same time as her barrier exploded to tiny pieces.

She looked over and saw that Eddie was already far away and headed inside a construction site.

"Tsk!" She clicked her tongue and brought out her compass to make sure if Eddie really went in or just faded out again. She saw his energy reading was staying still up front, not moving an inch. 

"What are you planning now?" Ana asked to herself as she kept the compass and brought out grey colored gloves with white linings and put it on her hands then followed Eddie to the construction site.

***

"It seems like you decided to fight." Ana said as she floated down right in front of Eddie.

"That's right." He replied with an eerie smile.

Ana's brows furrowed as she felt that something is wrong with Eddie's sudden confidence. She tried sensing their surroundings but found nothing, still, she did not relaxed as this opponent of hers has been quite crafty in the months she has been chasing him.

The air around her back suddenly rippled as a shadow formed a sickle went straight towards her neck in a breakneck speed. Sensing that it was too late to dodge or even turn around, she felt no choice and called out. "Nugget!"

The dragon bracelet in her right hand suddenly flashed and the same foot long dragon materialized on her back. It roared as it coiled it's body to form a small shield and blocked the incoming sickle.

Seeing his sneak attack failed, Eddie manipulated his energy to converge in his palm as he pushed it forward to Ana almost at the same time that the sickle hit the dragon shield. A gigantic palm as tall as a human suddenly formed in front of him, lined with black lines with vague, black mist hovering over it shot barreling towards Ana.

Seeing this palm, Ana snorted then used her own energy to converge on her fist and used a punch to counter. The glove in her right hand flashed and the power on her punch suddenly doubled as it shot towards the barreling palm. A loud blast sounded in the collision of the palm and fist while dust and rubble were blown away forming smoke dust all around the area. Even her hat was blown away, with her long black hair that was tucked neatly fell as it was blown by the wind of the collision.

She looked towards Eddie and all she could see were smoke dust all around her. Beads of sweat stared forming on her forehead. The air above her were swiftly pushed as a hand formed into a blade was thrusting towards her. She dodged to the side as the hand grazed her shoulder and a rip was formed on her jacket while a line of blood formed on her skin.

"Hahaha. How does it feel to be on the receiving end?" Eddie laughed mockingly as he looked at the dripping blood from his hand. "Now go back to your hole and leave me be!"

Ana looked intensely at him as she urged her energy to cycle faster inside her body. A strong and heavy pressure burst outwards from her body as she stood back up. The little dragon teleported to her side as it roared towards Eddie.

The black mist returned to Eddie and hovered around him as a black wolf head materialized on his right side. He lifted his in a claw like form with his palm facing upwards. A black flame emerged on top of his hand while emitting an eerie noise and the temperature around started to fall.

"You know what I found out after these few months?" Eddie suddenly asked as he walked slowly towards Ana.

She looked at burning hand seriously as her eyes narrowed then looked at his smiling face.

"Your kind can die too." He said as he clenched his hand. The black fire burst and a strong gust of wind blew outward.

***

At this time, Jon has just reached the site. Panting while he looked at the construction site. Smoke dusts suddenly burst out form the floor near the top and then flashes of black and gold light could be seen inside the smoke.

"I hope you're okay." He thought of Ana as he rushed inside.