While running through the forest, Frank had the idea to call his mom. He wasn't sure he could deal with the monster in the forest, but he knew for a fact he wasn't ready to face the wrath of his mother if he didn't give a good reason for not coming to dinner without an explanation. Following the noises of breaking branches and the wide, clawed footprints of the monster in the fading twilight he listened to his dial tone.
"Hello... Frank, why are you panting into the phone? What's wrong?"
"Can't talk much, running. Just wanted you to know-" He turned, a change in direction and the sound of more ragged screams, the snapping of branches mixed in, "Just wanted you to know I'm gonna be late for dinner. Someone is getting abducted by a monster out behind Whacko Burger and I'm running after it, I'll be fine! Love you, bye!" Frank lied to his mother, not sure if he was going to be fine. But Frank smelled opportunity. A monster on the loose, a damsel in distress to save for a reward in Spiritual Power. His family would understand, right?
A few more twists and turns and the path seemed to straighten out a little, just in time for [Teleport] to come off cooldown! Frank teleported forward as far as he could see through the trees, took a quick look to see if he was still following the monster trail and ran in the direction it led. Once the shorter cooldown for basic [teleport] was done, he jumped again. The breaking branches and sobbing in the distance grew louder, echoing in the falling night. He was gaining ground despite the speed and stamina the beast seemed to possess, even as the trail became more erratic again.
Trailing the duo further into the forest became much easier, but he still had to double check to make sure he didn't lose the trail. The sound of scraping and scratching of claws in the distance was reassuring, if not disturbing. But it was also less reliable than the footprints and scratch marks the beast left in its wake as it scrambled away with its prey. Just what sort of monster was it anyway? It seemed like it was hairy, and big. Perhaps a werewolf? Or if Frank were to think more fantasy than horror, it could have been a gnoll or kobold, if the idea of hairy kobolds was the true interpretation as opposed to lizard-like kobolds. Although Frank was more inclined to believe it was the former, given how both scaled and hairy kobolds were always depicted as small creatures, not massive creatures like the one he found himself tracking.
Ten minutes of teleporting through darkness and the trail straightened, merged into a larger, more well used trail. The noise seemed to die down more. Frank failed to hear sobbing or scratching. He carefully followed the trail by turning the flashlight on his phone on and off quickly, luckily this trail was finally a straighter one and the monster seemed to be following it almost exactly. A few more jumps later and he caught sight of the pair. She was crying while bent in a fireman carry over its shoulder while it walked on two legs, panting like some kind of demonic, snarling dog. The features of the monster were otherwise hidden in shadow.
Frank activated [Total Invisibility] and made another jump, careful not to make much noise in his pursuit, his gun out as he tracked the monster by the scarce moonlight. He could have probably shot the thing after another jump, but for all the good his new skill in [Firearm Marksmanship] did him, he wasn't willing to risk injuring or killing the poor young fast food worker who had been captured. That being said, he had to end things quickly now that [Total Invisibility] was ticking down. He had the element of surprise, even if he announced himself the thing couldn't see him.
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Another jump and he was practically strolling along with them. Frank was careful not to make much noise as he moved, slowing him down. But if he needed to reposition, it was as simple as teleporting around them. This was it, no escape for the beast now.
Frank gently clicked off his safety, teleported ahead of the pair and took aim, right above the creature's muzzle. Then it began to speak. It took Frank a moment to process it, because the sound was guttural and clearly not meant to be spoken by something with the sort of animal features it possessed. But it was English all the same.
"Nora, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come to this. But you weren't returning my calls, my messages-" A snarl escaped its mouth, and the beast flung its flat tongue out as if to lick its nose like a dog will sometimes do. Whether human speech irritated its nose, or if it was somehow nervous wasn't clear to Frank, who was now dumbfounded and more lost than ever.
'Just what the fuck did I walk in to here? What is this thing?' Frank checked the duration of [Total Invisibility] and found he still had a little over 4 minutes, given how each rank so far seemed to add more time to the duration. If this thing was able to speak, and knew this woman as it claimed to, it couldn't be a monster from the other side of a portal, could it?
"I knew things wouldn't be the same between us like last time. I changed. You can tell, I'm faster now, stronger. Even when I don't look like this. But the power... I don't want to be anything else. You told me you didn't want to be mine anymore, and I couldn't take that lying down. I need you back in my life"
"Gerald?! What happened to you?" The woman called out with no shortage of shock in her voice, "Wh-what are you? Some kind of werewolf? But you were just a scrawny loser when I saw you last"
The beast quickly ran ahead into a clearing and threw the woman, Nora, onto the ground.
"Not Loser!" The beast seemed to have lost some control of its speech as its anger flared "Lover! I got second chance, you" wild snarls escaped its mouth as it bared its fangs, "supposed to give second chance!"
Frank finally got a good look at the monstrous being before him as he made another jump to the left side of his target. It was huge, well over seven feet tall with rolling muscles hidden beneath a wildly tangled coat of thick brown fur. Its features, from its muzzle, ears, even its backward bent legs were canine. On closer inspection the legs weren't exactly the same as a dog, but more like a halfway compromise between a dog and a human. In fact, it did seem to have two knees. The backward bent knee of a dog or wolf above its massive feet which featured a longer, human like shape ending in claws. Then, higher up in front of the thigh a forward knee more in line with a human. The strangest feature, however, were the eyes. They appeared human-like in the moonlight, a deep brown even, but at the right angle were reflective like a dog's eye.
"N-n-no, G-gerald I can't. I-I told you that I didn't really love you, I felt bad for you. S-stop this, take me back to work, I want to go h-h-home" Nora began crying again, then after some more snarling, the beast howled so loud he shook leaves down from the trees. With bared fangs and eyes that spoke of desperation, he pounced on Nora and bit into her shoulder. Her screams moved Frank to action, to something he should have done long before instead of watching the drama unfold.
He aimed and fired, straight into the beast's side. Then again, and again. 3 shots, all of which found a new home right in Gerald the beast's chest cavity.
This was it, no turning back now. Judging by Gerald's whimpering and snarling, he wasn't dead yet. The fight had only just begun.