Hunted or Busted: A Side Story

by Master Attlon

We have stories of heroes. We have followed their lives, know what makes them tick, and what pushes them on. But the world has always been bigger than them just what happens to them. What happened long ago before they were ever born. What happened between their fights and adventures. What happened if the smallest choices changed. This is what happened before our heroes.

32. Tales of The Angriest Man

Hunted or Busted: A Side Story

Dusted 32: Tales of The Angriest Man

I'm obsessed. I need help. Someone send help. I'll be the one scrounging up hacksilver from every available crevice I can.

((((((((Hunted))))))))

"Boy?"

"Hmmm…"

"Boy?"

"Hmnalsfer-"

"Wake up, boy!"

"Gah!' Oscar snapped up in shock at such a commanding voice. He sat on the ground and looked around in fright, "W-What is this?! Where am I?" He looked over himself and saw the unfamiliar rags and tunic and ancient Norse clothing that adorned him, "What am I wearing?!"

"Hello, Oscar."

"Ozpin?!" He heard the voice in his head, "What's going on?"

"I think this is your first foray into the non-canon madness we find ourselves plagued with every now and then."

"N-Non-canon?" Oscar repeated in a panic, "What does any of that-"

"Do not just sit there, boy. We have work to do."

Oscar looked up and was completely overshadowed by the silhouette standing over him. A burly giant with muscles over every inch of his body and a rugged beard holding an axe. As Oscar looked up at him he gulped, "H-Hazel? Is that you?"

"Of course it is." Hazel shrugged, "Who else do you think was going to play the giant, angry, super powerful screaming man with a beard who shrugs off damage and beats everything in front of him?"

Oscar opened and closed his mouth repeatedly before shrugging his shoulders.

"Thought so." He hefted his axe up on his shoulder, "Come boy, we have work to do."

"What?" Oscar quickly picked himself up and stood to follow the giant of a man as he strode forward without hesitation. The young man quickly followed after him as they walked through the doors and headed outside, "Where exactly are we - HOLY CRAP IT'S COLD!"

"Of course it is cold. It is Fimbulwinter." Hazel said as he casually walked through the raging snow and ice around them without a care in the world, "The freeze to end the world. The cold that signifies the end of days."

"Or climate change. Hard to tell honestly."

Oscar rubbed his arms to try and keep himself warm as he followed the huge man, "Where are we going, exactly?"

"To the store."

"Why?"

"You are a fool, boy. Is it not obvious?" Hazel's deep voice boomed out his inquiry, "We are going to buy the new God of War game."

"A game? We're traveling through the cold in this weird cosplay just to buy a game?!"

"Yes. Yes, we are."

Oscar looked like he'd just been slapped in the face by an obvious answer that didn't make any sense. He shrugged, "Wouldn't it be easier to just order it the normal way? Online or get it delivered?"

"You fool! Do you think we would be on this treacherous trek if that was an option?!" Hazel grumbled as his breath came out white with the cold, "There are no other ways to get it. The copies online have all been sold. The preorders have reached a critical point. The only avenue of purchase left is to venture into the physical stores and search for copies ourselves."

"T-That makes no sense." Oscar pointed out, "If this game is in such high demand, wouldn't they want to meet it with an equally high supply? This isn't some necessary commodity that has to be spared and auctioned as much as possible - it's a game! They should want as many copies of it on the shelves as they can get!"

"Well, Vale has always had an issue meeting demand. I kid you not the prior troubles with games and consoles would make your blood run cold if you lived through it."

Oscar sighed and shook his head, "Okay, well how do we get copies of this game?"

"They have some at the general store."

The little freckled boy threw his arms up, "Then how is this a quest if we're just going shopping?"

"You little fool," Hazel spoke direly, "It is not procuring the game that is the challenge…but the obstacles that stand in our way."

As if to punctuate his point, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky above and seemed to crash into the roof of a shop they passed along the road. And they stopped walking when they heard a second and third consecutive strike hit the roof.

Their blood ran cold as they heard mocking laughter through the raging storm and saw a shadow walk over to the edge of the roof to lord over them. Two other shadows joined its side before they jumped off the roof and landed across from them. Hazel immediately retrieved the axe from his back as Oscar fumbled to pull out the bow and arrows he found himself stuck with. The three shadows started to become a little clearer through the haze and snowfall. And with that clarity came a feeling of confusion and dread when Oscar realized who stood in their way.

"Well, well, well! We seem to have found some wandering trespassers trying to claim the prize before us. Now we can't have that, can we?"

"NORA?!"

"Hi, Oscar!" The ginger girl quickly abandoned her menacing and ferocious attitude to return to her bubbly, welcoming normal demeanor, "Welcome to the fun! So glad you get to finally join us!"

She effortlessly held her hammer up with one hand and waved at them through the snowstorm. Unlike her normal attire, Nora was instead wearing furry pants and fur-lined metal pauldrons along her shoulders. Also, she only had a single wrap to keep her breasts covered and squeezed together in the cold.

Honestly, it made looking in her direction incredibly difficult.

Behind her, Ren and Kiba were wearing similar articles of clothing that looked more like they were preparing for battle instead of making their way through the cold. Although, unlike Nora who simply shrugged it off without a care in the world, the two men looked like they were struggling to stay focused through the chill. The thinner man stepped forward, "I think the smart thing to do would be to return to our homes and stay out of the cold for a while."

"Y-Yeah." Kiba nodded in agreement as a line of snot started running down his nose that he quickly sniffed back up, "Can we just go back home, sit by the fire, and try to unthaw? It feels like that would be a better use of our time than-"

"Quit whining you babies!" Nora swung her hammer down and caused a lightning bolt to strike down just off to the side, "We came to play and that's exactly what we're going to do!" She turned back around with a grin, "And if you wanna warm up, there's no better way than getting the blood a'boilin!"

Oscar gulped, "Um, Nora, what is going on?"

"Huh?" She blinked and tilted her head before realization stuck with her, "Oh, duh! This is your first time! See when games or stuff we like comes out, we dress up and role-play characters or being in that world! And whoever does it best gets to win and play the games!"

"B-But there should be enough copies to-"

"WE DON'T HALF-ASS THINGS LIKE THAT, YOUNG MAN!" Nora bellowed out in time with another strike of lightning. As Oscar cowered, Nora smiled, "If we don't have fun while we do this then we won't be able to enjoy the gaming experience as much."

"O-Okay." Oscar looked himself over, "So I guess I'm that boy and Hazel is the man. But who are-"

"I'm Thor!"

"You're Thor?"

"Well it hurts!"

No one laughed at her witty wordplay.

"Yeah, I was born to play the part! Obviously!" Nora exclaimed with a grin, hefting her mighty hammer up on her shoulder as she stood half-naked with just a fur pelt covering her lower body and her chest, "I tried to gain weight, carbo-load and get fat so I could sell the part of Thor…but it just didn't work."

She slapped her thighs with a mighty clap, "This is one body that just won't quit!"

Oscar took a deep breath and turned away to hide his blush.

"You know it's unbecoming to have inappropriate thoughts of both a friend and a former student. You might get us in trouble."

He was just a boy! He had no control!

"And seriously, I did my best! Pancakes! Cake! Butter! Everything! It just didn't stick! Ren!" She called over her shoulder, "Is this a body that just won't quit or what?!"

"Yes! We've established that already!"

"Thank you! Hey Kiba, is this a body that just won't-"

"Don't make me part of this!"

Oscar blinked in confusion as he looked back at the pair of oddly dressed men following behind Nora, "Wait, why are Ren and Kiba here?"

"Because they're playing Magni and Modi!" Nora happily chirped as she hugged her hammer, "They're my boys, and I love them~."

"But Thor was a notoriously bad and abusive father. He would beat his sons regularly to instill devotion and loyalty into them."

Nora blinked a few times before looking back at Ren and Kiba. They both paled at the idea of receiving her abuse. She pouted and shrugged, "Okay, but I'll only go as far as spanking them. That seems like the best way to discipline them."

They both covered their butts because they feared her idea of spanking would include winding up her hammer.

Hazel only watched the entire exchange silently as he was already tired of it.

Oscar…felt his cheeks warm up. He wasn't sure why but the thought of spanking involved with Nora in any way made him nervous and kinda hot under the collar.

"Oh, you have mature and developed tastes for someone so young. Thank goodness. I thought I was going to have to start with vanilla and work my way up to the more comfortable cultural wheelhouse."

Vanilla? What did ice cream have to do with this? And how was spanking a culture?

"Now, no more talking!" Nora spun her giant hammer around and gripped it with both hands before swinging wildly, "We want to get a move on already! So let's settle this nice and quick!"

"But-"

"Stop wasting your breath, boy." Hazel warned him, "Logic and common sense will not help you this day. Today…we let greed and bombastic wildness control us!" He waved his axe aside, "I shall handle the girl, you hold off the other two."

"You're making me fight two people all by myself?!"

"Would you rather switch with me?"

Oscar wordlessly looked over as Nora casually spun her giant hammer around like it was just a stick in her hands before bringing it down, blowing away the snow around her, and cracking the street underneath it.

"Oh hell no," Oscar shook his head and raised his bow, "Good luck with that."

"Smart choice."

Oscar ran forward, clumsily firing some arrows at his opponents who quickly avoided and retreated. And as they ran off to fight each other, the focus returned to Nora and Hazel, standing across from each other as the snow and wind blew fiercely.

Nora looked at the camera as it panned back to her before jumping up close to it with a grin, "Cool! It's a Oner just like the game, right?! Don't know if this form of media works well with that but hell we'll make it work!" She jumped back into place and raised her hammer at Hazel, "You seem like a calm and reasonable person. Are you a calm and reasonable person?"

"Are we only going to quote at each other, or can we fight now?"

"Oh yeah, let's fight!"

Hazel reared back and tossed his axe at the short girl who swung her hammer to intercept it. The shockwave of their collision blew back all the snowflakes around them until Nora sent the axe flying back. Hazel quickly caught his axe before it could be lost and charged at the hammer-wielding girl.

Every blow their weapons exchanged caused the ground to shake and the street to tremble with their power. And even though Hazel could riposte and deflect her swings, he could tell with the rush of pink lightning on her body that each attack was only getting stronger.

"Hey, so I've gotta ask," Nora spoke up through the struggle of their weapons, "Why do you want the new game?"

"My lady is extremely particular. Half the time she sends us out to gather games and other media that fascinate her. She seemed particularly fond of this franchise where you brutally kill and torture gods without restraint. I have not the faintest clue why though."

"Oh cool," Nora nodded, "You think she'd like games enough not to destroy the world?"

"That is a question for her to answer, not me."

"Fair enough." She shrugged, "Well anyway-"

She pulled her hammer back suddenly and caused Hazel to swing in the air. She then jabbed the end of her hammer down into his knee and caused him to buckle over. She then slammed the pole of her hammer up into his face and nose to knock his head back. And finally, she brought the hammer down on his temple until he slammed into the ground.

Hard enough that his vision started to blur and everything went black.

((((((((Hunted))))))))

Done

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"Oh no! I say when we're done!"

"GAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Hazel screamed as Nora slammed her hammer down on his chest and sent a terrible shock through his system to wake him up. The hammer was pulled away and Hazel suffered the pangs of electricity running through his system as he gagged and lifted himself up, "Was that necessary? I was just about to get up myself."

"Were you?! Because the chapter end overhead says otherwise!" Nora complained while pointing up, "I know these chapters are a lot shorter but come on – we need some more meat to this!"

"Well, if you insist." Hazel shrugged casually before digging his hands into the ground and hefting up a giant slab of concrete and rebar on his shoulders. With a thunderous roar, he spiked the giant rock toward Nora and immediately charged after it. The rock shattered against her hammer but the opportunity gave him a chance to grab her by the neck and lift her. He punched her square in the face before slamming her into the ground hard enough to shatter it. And once she was there, his hand snagged her foot and spun around before spiking her into a building hard enough to bring it tumbling down.

Hazel stood still and squared up his shoulders as he saw the building crumble down on top of her and bury her in debris. He walked over and retrieved his axe before staring at the rubble and waiting for some kind of response that a building coming down and flattening her somehow wasn't enough to kill her.

The explosion of debris and smoke proved he was right to be wary.

"Woohoo!" Nora cheered as she easily tossed aside a giant hunk of stone that had pinned her down and grinned despite the lines of blood over her body, "See! That's what I'm talking about! Now we're having fun! And since you got a hit in," Nora hefted her hammer as pink lighting started to dance over her arms and travel along her weapon, "I guess it's my turn to land a few blows, right?!"

"Hey Hazel," Oscar walked over to the large man's side, "I was just talking with Ren and Kiba and I don't think any of us want to fight so fiercely in the cold-"

"HIIIIYYYYAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Nora brought the hammer down and cracked the ground. The crack spread over both sides of the street and started to unsettle the entire foundation they stood on. The street split open beneath them and Hazel had to quickly grab Oscar before they could get separated as they started to fall into the darkness below.

It was a few moments of total freefall before they crashed into the ground. Hazel grunted and lifted some rubble off himself before he picked Oscar up by his collar and got him back on his feet. He grumbled, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm good." Oscar said while looking up at the open hole the street had once been in over their heads, "Wow, I can't believe we fell so far. Where are we anyway?"

"The tunnels under Vale." Hazel was with a grunt, "The abandoned passage linking the city to Mountain Glenn."

"Oh, right. T-That's not scary at all." Oscar gulped, "It's so dark. I wonder how far it goes."

"It goes on for miles. Although our most pressing concern is the current inhabitants instead of the distance we must travel."

"Current inhabit-"

"Grrrrrrrr!"

"Oh, of course!" Oscar immediately panicked as he heard the sounds of growls and monsters surrounding them. He drew his bow and pressed into Hazel's back as the large man drew his axe and prepared to fight. Steadily they were surrounded by Grimm of all shapes and sizes. They were predating and encircling them so they had nowhere left to run. And also-

"Hoho, look what we got here, boys! Fresh meat!"

"Oh, come on! Naruto! Is that you?!"

"Oh hey, Oscar!" The whiskered Faunus smiled and waved at his young friend amidst the top of the rubble looking over the Grimm, "This is your first time participating in the gaming craziness, right? Welcome to the party!"

"What are you doing down here with the Grimm?!" He squinted his eyes as he spotted the other shadows, "A-And Jaune?! Sasuke?! Why are you here?! Why are you siding with the Grimm?!"

"Oscar, you don't understand!" Jaune called back desperately, "Like…we've been looking forward to this game!"

"Oh my god!"

"Yeah, we know it's really bad and we should be ashamed. And we are…" Sasuke shrugged, "But we're already this far so we might as well see it through to the end."

"T-That is not a good reason to be crazy! And why are you down here anyway?!"

"Were you up there a second ago?"

The duo nodded.

"Did you meet Nora in all her hammer-swinging lunacy?"

They nodded again.

"And you need to ask us why we're hiding out down here with the Grimm?"

The duo could quickly see some logic behind their decisions.

Oscar gulped and looked around, "Okay, but are you seriously going to sick all these Grimm on us like that?"

"Don't worry, anything that happens in these chapters doesn't count. If you just let it happen then-"

Hazel grabbed a Beowolf that got too close and dragged it in. He then stepped on its paw to keep it pinned and grabbed its jaw. His other hand grabbed the top of its head and with a roar, he tore the beast's jaw and neck down so hard he also cleaved the chest away from the rest of its body. Once it went limp and dead, he tossed the decaying corpse aside for everyone to see.

…

"Like I said," Naruto, Jaune, and Sasuke slowly retrieved their weapons and dropped them on the ground, "We would love to escort you out of here so you could get the new game." All the Grimm trembled and cowered back away from the behemoth, "No need to fight…o-or dismember us."

"Good. You are learning." Hazel walked down the path as Oscar gulped and quickly followed him as the others joined as well. What followed was a lot of walking, some mythological lore drops, and crushing the odd crate or treasure chest along the way.

None of the boys wanted to be the one to question why those were so deep under the city anyway.

They continued to trek through the tunnel until they spotted a light source and the sound of banging metal. As they approached they saw two figures working away on creating armor and weapons.

"Oh, we got guests!" A dirty Ruby with smudges of grease and charcoal on her face called out as she leaned over the table, "Tenten, come check it out!"

An equally grimy Tenten put her forge aside and joined her partner to look at their incoming patrons, "Hey guys! Funny seeing you down here!"

"Why are you down below the city forging things too - you know what, never mind." Oscar quickly cut himself off with a sigh, "I don't know why I bother asking. S-So who are you supposed to be?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Tenten said with a chuckle as she wrapped an arm around Ruby's neck and pulled her in with a smile, "We're the dwarf brothers who handle all the upgrades and armor enhancements!"

Ruby chuckled, "If there are any changes you wanna make to your kick-butt weapons then look no further than yours truly!"

"I thought they were supposed to be brothers?"

Tenten shrugged, "Name another duo in this story as obsessed with weapons and tweaking their specs as us."

"B-But Ruby, you already have a sibling. What would Yang say if she saw you like this?"

A faint tear came to her silver eyes but she quickly wiped it away while steeling her determination, "I will always love Yang, and I will miss her dearly, but the call to make weapons was just too strong!"

The guys looked at the odd duo in silence before Hazel stepped up and placed the axe on the table, "Can you give this an upgrade?"

"Can do!"

"Oh hey," Oscar pointed behind them at a set of blades connected by chains hanging from a hook, "Aren't those the blades from the game?"

"Yes! Yes, they are!"

He looked up at Hazel, "Doesn't your character use them?"

"Yes. Yes, he does."

"Then can we get those too?"

"No! No, you cannot!"

"W-Why-"

Ruby leaned over the table and ushered them in so she could whisper, "Look, we can't bring out the Blades of Chaos. We involve them in the fight scenes, it's going to take a lot longer to get through this. Why do you think the writer kept downgrading Naruto's weapon from multiple blades on a wire to just one sword? Do you think they were trying to convey the steady progress of character growth over the first semester? Is that trying to face the problems and difficulties of life with a façade crafted to make things easier would stand before it broke down and then you had to face hardships with the truth? No! Fewer swords to deal with, the easier it is to write them!"

Naruto sniffled and wiped his eyes, "I miss all my swords. I used to be a walking blender when I could still use them." He whimpered and sobbed as Jaune and Sasuke patted his back. And then he hit the floor when Hazel tried to give him a comforting pat on the shoulder.

"Here you go!" Tenten handed the axe back to them with a smile, "Bring us more materials and we can do even more to upgrade your weapons. Oh, and make sure to watch out for the enemies along the way."

"We know," Oscar nodded, "We already had a nasty run-in with Nora earlier."

"Nora? Oh no, Nora's not the only one traversing the tundra to try and find a shop that sells the game."

Oscar stared at the girls blankly and wanted to ask what they meant but felt the pull on his collar from Hazel that they were moving on. The group of men made their way further down the path until they finally found a light and wind at the end. They emerged into the chilling landscape-

Hazel raised his axe and blocked the incoming spear that flew towards his head. The spear then flew up into the air before immediately being dragged back through the air into the hands of its original owner.

Pyrrha, Weiss, Blake, and Yang all stood over them with brilliant metal wings spreading from their backs.

"Oh shit."

"Halt!" Weiss announced sternly as her wings spread out widely behind her, "You stand before the Valkyrie Elite Attack Squad! You shall not take another step forward!"

"We have come to stand in your way." Blake warned them in an even tone, "If you do not want to incur our wrath then I suggest you stay back before we have to fight you."

"Weiss?! Blake?! You're here too?! I didn't think you two would be into a game as violent as this one."

"I'm not!" The prissy heiress responded with a huff and turn of her head, "I still think all the gratuitous violence and gore is just unsettling."

"And while I do find the exploration of mythology and the devolution of a man consumed by hatred before being reconstructed into something more akin to a real person, I haven't kept up with the series and should probably start from the beginning." The black-haired Faunus said, "But the reason we're here fighting is-"

"HAHAHAHA!" Nora's bellowing laughter echoed out as she landed with a stomping crash in front of the other girls. She grinned and looked down at the traveling boys, "We found you! How do you like my squad of kickass soldier girls, huh? I'm Nora, and these are my Valkyries! Get it?!"

…

No one laughed at her joke.

"That was funny," She pouted and then looked aside, "Hey Yang, you're the master of puns! Was that a good - Yang?"

Everyone looked over and saw the usually energetic and boisterous blonde kneeling in the snow and glumly dragging her finger through it to draw random shapes, "Ruby. Ruby left. She's making a sibling duo with Tenten. I'm her sister. She should be teaming up with me. But she'd rather be a blacksmith than a Valkyrie. Did I do something wrong? Did I upset her? Is this her rebellious phase?"

"Okay~, Yang's off in another world." Nora turned to the other side, "Pyrrha, you always cheer us on! I made a good joke right - oh no."

Pyrrha on the other hand was deadly focused on the group below them and was spinning her spear along the tip of her finger with killer intent. And her focus was on one person in particular.

Oscar gulped, "H-Hi there."

"Hello," She answered with none of her usual warmth or charm, "I'm Pyrrha Nikos. You are Oscar Pine, correct? We haven't gotten the chance to meet…because you showed up after I was gone…and took. My. Spot."

Everyone stepped away from either Pyrrha's fury or the general vicinity around Oscar.

"Whelp, Pyrrha's got murder on her mind, so let's get to it." Nora pointed her hammer behind her, "The last few copies of the game are in that store behind us! And if we want to decide who gets them, we have to settle this with a fight!"

"W-Wait! I was brokering a peace deal with Ren and Kiba before we were separated! Can't we work on those terms again?!"

Nora pouted, "Those naughty boys are ruining the fun. So I gave them an earful," She hefted her hammer up, "And a quick spanking with this baby."

They died. They definitely died. That or they were paralyzed now at least.

"Talking is pointless!" Hazel retrieved his axe, causing all the other boys to draw their weapons as well. The girls responded by getting ready to fight as well, "Let us settle this in battle!"

"Oh, Hel yes!" Nora cheered, "This is gonna be awesome!"

And with that, both sides charged at each other ready for battle-

Oscar screamed out, "DIGITAL PURCHASE WAS AN OPTION AS WELL! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The battle was long and difficult. Buckets of blood were spilled by both sides as the landscape crumbled with their confrontation. Buttons were mashed and combos were used as giant set pieces were toppled and it blew the mind of everyone who saw it.

Some time passed before the doors of the castle were opened and Salem sat up from her couch, "Hazel, is that you? Did you get the new game?"

"I did, ma'am." The taciturn giant said, blood and injuries over his entire body even though he didn't give them the slightest notice. In one hand was a copy of the game while the other carried an exhausted, beaten Oscar, "This young man helped me secure your prize. Is it alright if we let him rest until he can recover?"

"Sure, whatever - gimme!" Salem impatiently reached out like an excited child as Hazel passed her the game. As she jumped to the ground to enter the disc Hazel dropped a groaning Oscar on the couch. He bounced as Salem plopped back down beside him, "Here we go!"

"I-I hope this was worth it."

"It will be! Once the update finishes loading!" Salem said as the download bar appeared as her console read the game. As she got antsy, she looked over at the exhausted boy sharing her couch and asked, "Are you Ozpin?"

"Oh shit."

Oscar sniffled, "I wanna go home."

((((((((Hunted))))))))

Done

The story of a giant, a boy, and the disembodied voice that guides them. Who else would it be?

So I'm conflicted. I need to write and I have a big milestone coming up. But I want to play! Just play! Let me play!

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