The giant lightning bolt had disappeared, along with the man who had summoned it. Where he had stood was just a patch of black, burned grass.

“Damn! He escaped!” Deng Dandan said. “Just like all men, cowardly!”

“The knife thrower is trying to get away!” Chun said, exiting Wang Zen’s protective Moon Aura. “I’m going after him!”

“No!” Lao said. “We need to stick together to be more effective at protecting Ms Xiu!”

“Relax, I know what I’m doing!” Chun said, disappearing into the woods. “You’ll be happy when I bring that jerk back!”

“Idiot!” Dandan said. “He won’t survive on his own.”

“I better go after him, Captain Lao!” Zen said, stopping his ki technique which vanished from around them. “And it will increase our chances to catch that bandit.”

“Fine but make it back here as soon as possible.” she said. “And no unnecessary risks!”

“Got it!” Zen said, running into the woods after Chun.

Zen caught up with Chun. The boy smiled.

“Huh, come to join the real men, huh… what’s your name again?”

“Wang Zen!” Zen said. “You know, its kind of dumb going after this guy on your own.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“What are you talking about?” Chun said, touching a low quality storage stone. A wine skin appeared in his hand and took a sip. “I’m clearly not on my own. You’re here!” Chun laughed.

Zen resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Chun took another swig of the wine and offered it to Zen. “You want some liquid courage?”

Zen shook his head. “I don’t think now is the best time to… look out!”

A knife went flying through the air, the two dodged it.

“I see you!” Chun shouted. He kicked at the ground and a section of it went flying at the person they were chasing who dodged the rock missile. “Damn! Almost got him!” Chun put more gas, leaving Zen behind.

“Hey, don’t go rushing too ahead!”

“Relax! I can handle my…” Chun had to dive to the side to dodge a knife. Another one was coming at him and he jumped to the right to dodge that one but into the path of an already oncoming one! Chun knew that he could not dodge this one and this would probably be his end.

That is until Zen slashed at the knife, knocking it away.

“You would have been so dead if I wasn’t here,” Zen said, offering him his hand.

“Good thing you were here.” Chun took Zen’s hand and leveraged off him to get back to his feet. “Now, let’s catch this guy and go back to the girls as heroes!”

Chun charged forward. Zen sighed and followed him.

They finally stopped.

“Seems we’ve lost him,” Zen said.

“Man,” Chun said in frustration. He took another swig of his wine. “I guess we better make it back to the women, huh?”

Zen nodded.

They abandoned their search and began making their way back.

“So, this your first guild, Zen’er?” Chun said.

Zen nodded. “You?”

“Yep!” Chun said, taking another sip of wine. “I need the money.”

“That’s understandable but if so, why are you making such waves?”

Chun frowned, “What do you mean?”

“Captain Lao is our leader but you seem to be set on giving her a hard time.”

“Pssht, she isn’t my leader.” Chun said. “I’d rather trust my instincts than someone who will give me orders and put me in danger.”

“Might not be that simple.” Zen said. “You should give her a chance.”

Chun shrugged. “We’ve been walking for a while. You sure you know where we’re going?”

“Me?” Zen said in confusion. “I’ve been following you!”

They both stopped.

“No, I’ve been following you!” Chun said.

Zen sighed. “Oh no, I think we’re lost!”