Chapter 32 - Worse 2.0

"So, will the kid be able to heal up?"

"I don't know! There are just too many factors involved."

"What are the chances?"

"Twenty percent. I think!"

"What do we need to increase the chances?"

"A beast called the Dragonfly-hunter."

"I will go get it!"

Wilson recognized that last voice. That was old man Jenkins' voice.

"Are there no alternatives? Dragonfly-hunters can only be found in places with extreme dark energy."

Wilson recognized this voice as well. It was the old cane lady.

"There are alternatives. But they are a lot more difficult to find and even more difficult to capture alive. The chances of merely surviving in their habitats is already low enough, you will have to go to Planetria's capital city before finding anybody who will be willing to take the risks. And unless you are willing to spend all our money on him, there is no way we can hire them!"

"We will just stick to the dragonfly-hunters. I know where to get them anyway." Old man Jenkins said.

"You don't mean the slum, right?"

At this point, Wilson was mostly lost. What was a dragonfly-hunter? A beast that hunted dragonflies? Most probably! But what was 'the slum'? Was that where the dragonflies lived? And what was this talk about dark energy?

So many questions, but not one word found its way out of his mouth. He realized he could not talk, or move or anything at all. In fact, the only part of his body that seemed to be working was his ears and brain. Oh, and his nostrils. He was definitely breathing. Every other thing, dead.

"No, the slum is out of the question! It has negative energy not dark energy!" Old man Jenkins said.

'Negative energy? Not dark energy? What is the difference? Sounds like the same thing to me.'

"I will have to get to Tiger city first. Then, take a bus to the dark dragon habitat."

'Dark dragon? Dragons are real?' Wow, I know nothing!' Wilson thought to himself.

"Stop wasting time and get going! I don't want his death on our hands. The earlier you go and come back, the better for all of us. We have to save this kid!" the one who, by Wilson's observation, seemed to be the doctor spoke exasperatedly and with a tone of urgency.

"I will get going then." Old man Jenkins said and Wilson heard him walk out. Other footsteps soon followed him out the door. Very soon, all that was lef was a slow, soft clack-clack sound on the floor.

'Oh great! The old cane lady stayed behind.' Wilson would have shivered if he was capable of doing that. Unfortunately, he was totally paralyzed.

"What a stupid boy! If you had just stayed and listened to us, none of this would have happened. Now your village is completely gone, you are paralyzed and a seventy year old man has gone out to a dangerous place so that your chances of being healed will increase if only by a little bit. I really don't know what 'little J' sees in you!"

'Listened to us?' Wilson tried to think about what she meant by that. It really strained his brain, but he continued to try to recollect. The memories slowly came back to him, in bits and pieces.

**************

He had woken up in the forest. Old man Jenkins was nowhere in sight. He stood up and walked towards a huge tree. His plan; to try his hand at navigating. He wanted to see the forest from a high point, so he climbed. Halfway to the top, he saw old man Jenkins approaching the campsite- so to speak- at an incredible speed. The old cane lady followed closely behind and then a bald headed man.

'How are people this old able to move this fast?' Wilson wondered. It just did not make any sense to him. He was the young one but they would easily leave him in the dust. He immediately felt ashamed of himself.

Wilson climbed down and waited for them below the tree. They soon arrived and stopped abruptly when they saw him.

"Come on, let us leave. We have very little time!" Old man Jenkins said and immediately turned around, proceeding to walk back the path he and the other oldies came through. Wilson wanted to ask where exactly they went. The old cane lady shut him up by simply raising her cane. Wilson never wanted to experience it again. Who knows what she did with the cane to make it that painful.

'I bet she would be able to easily dominate a match by simply hitting her opponent with her cane once.' He said to himself.

*************

"Hey don't go! You are gonna jeopardize this mission." A voice whispered at him

"Calm your balls down. You son of a bitch!" Another said.

"Wilson, I know how you feel but if you can't calm down, you will end up getting yourself killed instead of getting your revenge." Old man Jenkins' voice sounded through the tiny communicator inserted in their ears, but Wilson was already far gone. As for his communicator, he had been ripped off his ear and left it behind with the owner of those voices. His four teammates were infuriated as well as the other twenty something teams of varying sizes who were involved in the mission. Wilson's hot bloodedness was going to ruin their several weeks of planning. All that time they spent scheming, came down to this, and that six feet tall musclehead was just about to spoil things.

Wilson grunted and swung a fist at Ruthless. He, along with the many other members of the Revolutionaries, had been taught to identify each and every noble and their henchmen at sight. It was then he discovered that Ruthless was the main man behind his woes. He hated this nobleman named Ruthless with passion. And so, when he saw him, rage and hatred clouded his thoughts (as always) and overwrote everything he had been taught. All he could think of was killing this bastard this second and so he could not hold back.

Ruthless dodged very smoothly but Wilson was no longer a rookie fighter. He was a member of the revolutionaries' special forces (so to speak). Wilson immediately changed his punch direction towards Ruthless, who blocked with his right palm. Wilson followed up with a left hook. He was back to his boxing habits.

Ruthless, simply grabbed that left fist.

"Too slow!" he said with disappointment and used that fist to raise Wilson off the ground and then, slammed him back down so hard, the floor caved in. Wilson was knocked out and then that was were the problems began again. 'Woes 2.0.'