Gary had left as soon as rugby practice was over, following an unexpected message on his secret phone from an unknown number. Given the content of the message it wasn’t hard to figure out who it was though.

[Kai gave me this number and told me to text you. He told me that the two of you have already talked about our little Billy situation and our upcoming tag team match. I’ll be waiting here.] The sender had attached his location on the map, marking his position.

Honestly, Gary wasn’t looking forward to meeting Innu so soon, mainly because the high schooler figured that the other would want to either have a sparring match or just train together. Until he had a way to solve his Energy problem, neither option seemed like a good idea.

[52/110 Energy]

His Energy points were going down far faster than he had expected, even though he hadn’t felt like he had actually done much during rugby practice. It seemed as if just staying awake was taking up Energy today.

The primary reason why Gary had decided to meet up with Innu was in hopes of solving this very same problem. He intended to follow Kai’s suggestion and ask his fellow gang member to borrow some money.

Arriving at the location, Gary was surprised to see that it was quite a nice looking park. There was a large open green field where people were playing football, a set of swings and some families. It was half way between Gary’s school and Innu’s school.

‘I don’t even know what gang runs this part of Slough. Although the Underdogs have most of the Slough under their thumb they don’t own all of it, this place is so…peaceful.’ Gary thought, which was why he was wondering why Innu had asked him to meet up in such a place.

“Over here!” Innu shouted, waving with one hand in his pocket. The first thing Gary noticed was that both of the fighter’s hands were still bandaged up. He looked almost exactly the same as when Gary had first seen him in the arena, the only difference was that he was wearing familiar looking clothes. It took him a moment to recognise them as the gang uniform that Kai had prepared for them.

“What gives? Here I do my best to make myself presentable by wearing our gang outfit, yet our ‘mighty leader’ isn’t wearing the clothes himself?” Gary wasn’t sure whether Innu sounded more annoyed or embarassed about the fact that he was the only one who seemed to have put some thought into this meeting.

“Sorry? I didn’t really consider this like a gang meeting and I also just came out of school. Besides, is it really wise to wear our colours so openly? Isn’t this like sending a challenge to all the other gangs?” Gary asked.

At this point, Innu couldn’t hold it in any longer and let out a big sigh. Someone who was in a gang wasn’t supposed to act like that in front of their leader, but the more he interacted with Gary, the more he was convinced that Kai must seriously be pulling his leg about who the actual leader of their gang was.

“As long as the big gangs don’t know who we are and who is supporting us, they won’t be messing with us. They just don’t roll that way. Why do you think so many colour gangs are able to roam around freely sprouting their colours? Unless it gets pretty serious, those behind them don’t usually get involved.”

“Secondly, brandishing your colours is the whole point. A gang isn't meant to show any fear, or back down from those around them. If you’re serious about starting this gang stuff then you need to do it right!”

Gary wanted to stop Innu there. This whole creating a gang business had never been his idea in the first place. However, explaining to the other that Kai had practically forced him to act as their leader, didn’t really seem like it would be possible or actually help in this situation.

Innu had already gotten in a fighting stance, pointing for Gary to go opposite him in the large grass field. They weren’t even too far away from where the kids were so the parents were able to easily see them.

“Really, here?” Gary questioned.

“Well from what I’ve heard, it’s not like we have a hideout yet, so yes, here. Don’t tell me you’re shy, Green Fang. When I fight, I always intend to win. You’re my partner so I need to see what you got.” Innu explained and straight away threw out a kick.

Out of reflex Gary tried to evade it, but he was too slow and as such was only able to partially block the attack. As soon as it hit though, he realised how heavy the hit was and just how powerful the strike was.

[-5 HP]

‘Damn that hurt, and it didn’t feel like he was serious yet. Shit, if I keep losing Health then my Energy will be used up to heal me once I’m idle, which will just worsen my situation!’

Innu didn’t give Gary much time to think and just kept on attacking. His opponent couldn’t do much but try his best to evade and block, but it was near impossible for him to counter given his passive fighting style. Thanks to the buff the moon provided him, Gary’s speed was faster than usual, but it was a far cry from him using Charging Heart.

After some more of what could only be called a ‘one-sided bullying’ Innu called off the fight. Gary was very thankful for that since he was left with merely 31 points of Energy and the pangs in his stomach were getting stronger.

“What’s wrong with you? You seem distracted and a little... weak?” Innu asked. “Are you that worried about that whole Billy situation?”

Gary shook his head. “No, it’s just that I’m exhausted. As I told you, I just came from rugby practice, and these days I can’t really afford to eat anything decent. Actually I was hoping you could-“

“I can’t.” Innu replied straight away, not even letting Gary finish his sentence. “Finance wise, I’m not exactly in the best situation myself. Otherwise, I would have never ended up joining your gang. If you're really hungry, you’ll figure something out, I had to do the same. Whether you need to hunt for food yourself, steal or what, a really hungry person will find a way.”

“Alright that might explain the lack of energy, but not you being distracted. Look, I know Kai said the two of us should look out for each other, but honestly you just need to look out for yourself. You don’t need to worry about me.I also don’t have time to babysit you either.”

“Heck! I beat the guy three times already and now that I know that he might be after me, I won’t mind beating him a fourth time. Maybe I’ll even get some sort of reward if I can hand him over to the police.”

Gary wanted to say that Billy had changed since then, but there was no way that Innu would believe him if he started talking about werewolves. He would probably consider him to be crazy on top of being an incompetent leader and fighter.

“Anyway, that was my pep talk. We can meet up and train here before the match. When you have more energy I’ll show you a few things, you might know about fighting, but you don’t know how to fight.” Innu said and got ready to leave. “Next time make sure to have more energy! Also, come in uniform, so I won’t look like an idiot!”

“Wait!” Gary called out. “If…something happens… if you happen to see Billy or if you think he’s somewhere near you, promise you’ll text or call me! I’ll be there straight away!”

“I already told you, there’s no-“

“Please, just tell me!” Gary insisted.

Innu looked into Gary’s eyes. He didn’t know why it was so important for his leader, but there was more fire in his eyes when he made his request than the whole time the two of them had been fighting.

“Sure, whatever.” Innu shrugged and waved him goodbye as he walked off.

[30/110 Energy]

[Your Energy is now extremely low]

[in order to conserve Energy, Marks will no longer be visible]

‘Huh? Wait, that was an option? Couldn’t you have told me about that earlier?!’ Gary felt a migraine coming up due to the system’s seeming antics. ‘Well, it’s as if knowing that would have solved the issue anyway. Looks like I have no choice now, I’m going to have to use the secret stash. I’ve never felt this pain before.’

The mist from the Marks that would usually hover around in the air had disappeared. The only good thing was that the Energy was now decreasing at a seemingly lower rate. It seemed like nearly everything the Werewolf body did required Energy.

Gary thought about how much meat he had already eaten since he had become a werewolf and more importantly how much money it had cost him. He shook his head, to think about something else. Gary passed by his school and headed home. The more he thought about food the hungrier he was getting.

‘Is… is this hunger or is my eyesight worsening as well? ... No, my sense of smell is also… could it be that I'm becoming more regular?’ Gary realised his situation. He checked his menu. While his Energy points were low, his stats remained unchanged, which was a good thing to find out.

While walking down the street, Gary was pondering whether he should stop by the gym after replenishing his Energy. He had missed yesterday’s session and now that he had increased his base Strength, he was sure he would have to train even more if he wanted to further raise it.

Although his hearing had also suffered, he noticed the sound of someone coming up from behind. Gary didn’t think anything of that. It was still the middle of the day and he was on a public street. At most he thought that he might have dallied around too long and someone wanted to pass him. Garry turned around to let whoever it was pass him, but in that moment he recognised the guy behind him.

“Barry?!” He called out in surprise.

The next second, Barry had closed the distance between the two. Suddenly, Gary felt a familiar type of pain. It was a dull ache that continued to worsen, and a warm liquid trickled down his leg.

[You have been stabbed!]

******

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