6 Chapter 6: Foe and Friend

Seeing the weird guy begging to the sky like a person lost his mind, Yang could not take it anymore and decided to confront the crazed snatcher.

But just when he got close enough to the bald fatty, Yang's hand swiftly tried to hold onto the big guy, but the bald fatty's reflex was faster, Yang's hand missed and the bald fatty suddenly rolled to the side.

The iris of Yang's eyes sharpened like that of a wild beast. His Aswang instinct was slowly awakened. His body turned like a cat and tried to grab the bald' fatty's ankle, but the latter also reacted by jumping upward.

Yang's eyes grew wider at the scene of a bald fatty jumping that high. It was like seeing a floating buddha, especially with that sparkling bright bald head and a big fluffy body.

Unfortuantely, the next thing Yang saw was a wide heavy stomp to his face.

Puhhk!~

"Sorry!~" added the big bald fatty before running away.

Yang rolled for a good three times before stopping. There was a black mark on the shape of a shoe at the center of his face.

Yang's beast eyes sharpened to the extreme. His pale face showed fuming anger ready to explode any time. The muscles on his arms twitched and the calf muscles on his legs stiffened.

"You think you can run away, you thief?" Yang shouted angrily as he sprinted to chase against the fatty who happens to be also incredibly fast despite his big fluffy figure.

Fwoooooosh~

Fwoooosh!~

Two figures, one huge and one small were, actively chasing each other towards the school's rear grounds. Thru broken windows and crowded spot, Yang struggled to catch up to the bald fatty because of the latter's incredible reflex. Not to mention, the big fatty seems to be also instinctively snatching purses while running away from the chasing school janitor.

"Whooah!~ hey! Watch where you are goi-whoa!~"

"Eeeiik!~"

"Hey no running on the school corridors!"

The two chased for quite a while and the more purses the big fatty snatched, the more angry Yang became. Unfortunately, Yang doesn't want to create more commotion and decided not to explain why he was chasing the bald fatty. Not to mention, he hates attention.

It was just incredible and at the same time infuriating. The big fatty was supposed to be slow, but the way he moved and expertly maneuvered against hard turns was just incredible. Every time Yang tried to grab or corner, the bald fatty would slap his hand or make an unexpected move that would always catch him off guard - sometimes to the point of falling into an ankle break or trip.

Incredibly, the big fatty was moving extremely agile and smart. He was an expert in situational and spatial awareness and sometimes made Yang feel like he had an eye behind his head. However, giving up was not in Yang's dictionary, at least not today.

After almost 20 minutes of chasing, the big fatty was finally cornered at the deep back alley of the wide school.

Gasping heavily and holding tightly to his chest, the bald fatty could not help but collapse due to overfatigue. They were in the middle of an alley, with an eight-meter wall behind him.

"You have nowhere to run criminal. haah...hahh.." said Yang who is also gasping hardly for air. It was only thanks to his unstoppable will and overwhelming stamina that he managed to corner the snatcher bastard so far.

"I..must be honest..haaah, haahh. You are quite fast and persistent. haah." the bald fatty replied. He was slowly recovering his stamina and stood with both his hands assisting his waist.

"Just to let you know, In my twenty years of being a snatcher and drug runner, only one person managed to catch me so far in the whole Cebu province. Basically, you were lucky I am not in my top form."

"I am surprised as well, how such a huge body can actually run that fast. But let's stop the crap here and I want you to return the stolen phone and wallets." Yang demanded while getting to a 'ready-to-chase' pose.

"Here." unexpectedly, the bald fatty surrendered the stolen items quickly by throwing them towards Yang. Then he raised his hands and explained calmly.

"To tell you honestly, I never wanted to steal them. It is just a terrible habit of mine after living on the streets all my life. I may have stolen them but I always threw them away without getting a single cent out from them. I am trying my best to change and have been to multiple drugs and mental rehabilitation centers. So if you can please forgive me just this once, I promise to-"

"You expect me to believe you?"

Yang immediately cut him off.

"So you are another proud Cebu City bastard huh. If there is one place where you can explain, it will be at the prison." Then with a cold gaze, Yang continued,

"Do you even have a slight idea how terrified those students are the moment they realized that they lost their money? In this island, money is hard-earned by real hard work. No one lives under a dirty way of snatching. Here, people grow crops, breed chickens, cattle and go fishing in order to sustain and afford education. And here you are, pulling out their hopes. Unforgivable."

"I told you, it was not my intention. It was my old habit!"

"Then why don't you return all those stolen items?"

"I can't. I don't remember all of my victim's faces and also, I don't want to be branded as a snatcher nor a criminal anymore." the bald fatty explained with an obvious struggle in his face.

"Aren't you already a criminal?" Yang bluntly said.

Unfortunately, those were words that truly hurt the bald fatty the most.

There was a long silence before the bald fatty finally replied.

"You are right, I was a criminal. My full name is Mark Gantes from Carbon, Cebu. I have been in and out of a prison more than five times since I reached fifteen years old. I was famously known as the Pulang Askal (Pulang means red, Askal means a Street Dog). A well-known street kid, an elusive snatcher, fastest drug runner, an undefeated street brawler, and fears no one. I was a hopeless scum of society. To be called a criminal is already an understatement for me."

The air started to become heavy. The eyes of Mark changed from the previous guilty-coward to a serious blood-hungry gaze. Yang felt extremely uneasy. The bald fatty who was just gasping cowardly a while ago suddenly changed to a different person.

For some reason, he could not see a bald fatty anymore, but his mind felt like he was facing a massive mad rabid dog. It was like looking at a beast of hell preparing to gnaw on him with full sharp fangs.

Right now, Yang's instinct is telling him to back away but his sense of justice refused his body from moving.

Mark Gantes was moving forward to the exit where Yang was standing firmly. There was dark and coldness in his deep eyes. It was like an eye of a mindless murderer. It was the eyes of the old Mark Gantes.

Cracck~crack~

Ganti's fluffy muscles were starting to tighten and while his knuckles started to pop. He was walking slowly and did not mind stepping on the high-end phones and wallets scattered on the ground.

"Here is your last chance. Move away, or I will make sure to break every single bone of yours. I still have a promise to fulfill, I don't want you to cause my old self to return." Mark warned with a cold voice.

"First, you need to return those items. Or else, I will have to report you to the authority." Yang refused to back out and stood his ground. Mark's figure is now in the full display just two meters away from him. The big guy is about two feet higher than Yang and a size that is almost double his.

"You really want to be in trouble huh...You should know that I am known to not having patience." Mark whispered at the smaller guy before him. His cold gaze are locked at Yang's sharp eyes hidden behind his hair.

"You can either return those items to the students or you can go to jail today. The choice is yours." Yang calmly replied, his body prepared to fight.

Mark stood proudly just before Yang's face. The two men, facing each other at the back alley of the school and seems like there is not a single soul who is there to stop them.

Mark mockingly smiled, "You forgot the third and fourth option."

"and that is?"

"You, either going to the hospital or grave."

And the next moment, Mark's heavy fist came out aiming towards Yang's pale face. But the latter was prepared, his Aswang instinct activated and his extremely sensitive senses allowed him to track Mark's furious movements.

Wooossh!~

Mark's surprise attack missed when Yang quickly dodged to the side.

Woosh!~ Woosh~

Mark followed with another hooking punch but Yang avoided it as well. Then, Yang countered with a fake face jab, causing Mark to cover his face, before switching to a leg sweep to take the big guy down.

However, the big guy was also prepared. His long years of street brawling allowed him to fight mano o mano with the guy gifted with an Aswang's instinct.

Taking his huge size's advantage, Mark managed to grab Yang's sweeping leg.

"Go eat the cement ugly cat!" Mark beckoned as he swung Yang's figure like a human stick and threw him, towards the hard cement wall.

Mark was expecting Yang to finally collapse after this but what he saw next made him drop his jaw.

Yang, was able to turn his body in mid-air like a flexible black cat repositioning its body before landing. And like a springboard, Yang bounced back towards Gantes with a spinning axe kick!

"Take this!" Yang's vision was spinning but he was completely in control of his movements. He was confident that he could knock the big guy with this vertical spinning axe kick.

"I like your fighting spirit! But it's over!" Gantes was not intimidated. His fist tightened and was preparing to catch the spinning black cat with a full-force uppercut.

But just when the two of them are about to break each other's faces, a poor-looking guy with a red jacket on his waist has suddenly fallen between them. Mark happens to see the guy faster and managed to modify his attack from a fist to a palm-strike.

"Aaaah! Out of the way!"

Paakk!~

Poww!~

Gante's uppercut-turned-palm-strike and Yang's spinning kick both landed at the poor man's body who happens to have accidentally fallen after climbing from the other side of the tall wall.