“All this from a simple package? I’ve never heard of such a thing happening before.” Tom commented as he placed his hand on his chin. “It doesn’t really help that you didn’t even see what was in the package because you said you passed out.”

This bit was partly true, only that Gary had passed out due to being stabbed.

‘I wonder how Tom would react if I told him the real story. I guess I can tell him once everything is cleared up. And I will also have to tell him about Kai eventually…’

“We need to look into where that package actually came from, this could be a big deal! And if it's a big company they might even send people after you to get their little experiment back. It’s best if you keep this a secret.” Tom noted.

Gary gulped, and was surprised at how quickly his friend had grasped the entire situation. What’s more, the case that Tom was worried about was actually occurring. Fortunately, that at least meant Gary didn't have to tell him to keep this whole thing a secret either.

“Well, from what you told me it really does seem to be the case that your heart rate might be connected to your transformation, so learning how to control it should be the first thing on the agenda. For the next few days we should also observe your behaviour. I haven’t seen any huge signs yet, but you might start to get a little bit more moody the closer we are to the full moon. I would also advise you to drop out of the rugby team.”

“Drop out of the rugby team? But then how am I meant to impress Xin!” Gary blurted out.

“Really, Gary? Do you think now is the time to be worried about how to impress the new girl?!” Tom facepalmed. “Part of you transformed when it was you against Blake. What will you do when it actually occurs in the middle of a match? You could hurt or even kill others!”

“Come on, I’m not a monster!” Gary tried to defend himself. Unfortunately, his first ever transformation was testimony that Tom did have a point. Alas, the hormones in Gary’s body were unwilling to lose this opportunity. “Besides, don’t you think if I put myself in more situations where I have to control my heart rate, that it would help me get better at it?”

“Aargh, fine. It’s not like I can force you to do it. You know your body better than me, after all.” Tom was still worried, but he knew Gary long enough to know how stubborn he could be. “Speaking off, it's a shame, but it looks like I'm going to have to eat all that chocolate I brought myself.” Tom joked, and the two of them were soon well on their way to being the same pair they were once again.

Once the poison effect had worn off, Gary could use his Energy to heal his body once again, but the Energy didn’t seem to recover, and as his Energy went down, he could feel a hunger in his stomach. It was a small pain like a cramp, but he could bear with it for now.

‘I have to keep this Energy bar up, when I'm fighting it doesn’t seem to bother me so much, but when I'm doing nothing it hurts. Hopefully it doesn’t get worse once it falls lower, I can’t exactly bring raw meat to the school.’ Gary thought.

Since Gary was feeling better, the two of them were walking down the hallway heading to their next class. They had decided to stay in the nurse's office until the bell had rang, allowing them to skip the first two periods and now could go out on break with each other.

The kids filled the hallways, as everyone was excited to get a nice breath of fresh air. Now that Tom and Gary had cleared the air a bit, they were chatting as they did until they banged into what felt like a solid wall in front of them.

It was so sudden that Tom nearly fell to the floor, but Gary’s quick reflexes allowed him to grab Tom by the hand and pull him back up before he did fall over.

“Looks like we got a little super hero over here.” The student said that was towering over the two of them.

When Gary looked at the person, he noticed that there were two of them and recognised them straight away, Barry and Gil. Although they didn’t share any classes together they were part of the same club, the rugby club. These two were part of the scrum in rugby, one of the ones that would fight over each other as they locked and pushed forward the other meaty guys.

They were essentially walls of muscle, explaining why it had felt like they had literally run into the wall, but there's one thing for certain. Tom looked at the hallway, and it was plenty wide enough for them all to walk in and more.

“Did you bang into us on purpose?” Tom questioned, a pissed off look on his face.

“Watch it, scrub! You were the ones who didn’t pay attention! I still haven’t heard a single sorry from either of you!” Barry went and grabbed the scruff of Tom’s neck. “We were just waiting here for a chance to talk to the onion head over there.”

“Look Gary, drop out of the rugby team, we all know what you did against Blake was a fluke and if you join us, it means one of us regulars will have to warm the bench and become your substitute.” Gil explained, but then noticed that Gary wasn’t looking at him at all. Instead he was looking towards Barry, who was holding Tom by his collar.

Suddenly, Barry felt Gary grab onto his wrist.

“Let go of him now!” Gary demanded. Of course, seeing someone so small act like that Gil wasn’t afraid, but the same couldn’t be said for Barry, as he felt something when looking into his eyes.

[Bloodlust has been detected]

[Forced Bond has been activated]

‘No those eyes, if I don’t do something, Gary might just snap!’ Tom thought.