Aster was in a separate part of the building being escorted by security to Seto's office. Unlike his classmates, he was there on official business. He might have been a student but he was still the country's top duelist. He had a meeting with the head honcho set up by his manager to promote a booster pack he wanted to collaborate on. He held the titanium briefcase in his left hand, a little nervous about being able to pull this off.
The security knocked on the door. "Mister Kaiba. Aster Pheonix is here for his 2pm appointment." "Let him in." Said Seto. The large double doors to his office swung open and Kaiba sat at his desk, with his elbows resting on the table. "I've been expecting you Mister Pheonix. I assume you have what we bargained for." Aster approached him and placed the briefcase and opened it up, showing off the rare cards.
"These are the cards that my manager spoke about on the phone with you. Like he said, he wants me to collaborate with you guys about a booster pack. But he also wants to do a lottery draw and have these be the rewards. They're copies of my favorite cards that only I own you see. He wants to make some kind of special event where only the winners get these special cards."
Seto looked at the cards closely. He could tell that there was something off about them but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Hmm, okay. I do like that proposal. A lot of kids look up to you, all wanting to become the next Aster Pheonix. I can see money in that. However, I have had shady business with your manager in the past. Is it alright if I hold on to these for a little before I decide?" Aster nodded; he didn't want to seem suspicious. "Of course, Mister Kaiba. Contact my manager when you've decided on the matter and then we can talk some more."
Seto agreed and gestured for the security to escort Aster out of his office. After leaving, Aster let out a sigh of relief. That was really nerve wracking to say the least. Seto Kaiba was truly an intimidating man, and he hoped that their plan would go smoothly now that the payload was out of his hands. Hopefully, Seto wasn't able to sense the essence within the cards. "I need to contact Master Sartorius right away-" "No need Vermin." Aster spun around abruptly to see Maynard who walked up to him and had on a cocky smile. "What the hell are you doing here?" Said Aster annoyed.
"The Master was worried about your mission. Don't forget, even when you think you're alone you're really not. He found out about your fight with the king vermin. So, he sent me as your backup." Aster growled underneath his breath. "I don't need your help. Go do something else, just stay out of my hair…" "Hmm, okay. I'll go find Jaden and have a little fun with him then." Upon hearing that, Aster's hairs stood up on the back of his neck and his arms. "You will do no such thing!" Said Aster defensively.
Maynard chuckled. "And why not? Don't tell me you're turning traitor. Are you sympathizing with that vampire scum?" Aster grinded his teeth, accidentally biting his cheek making it bleed. "No. Never. I just don't want you to make more of a mess for our master to clean up." Maynard pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and started sucking on it. "Before you left you mocked me for losing. But then you get your ass handed to you on a silver platter. Besides, Master Sartorius asked me to scale the Supreme Kings power once more. Because of your fight, the Vatican has been alerted about his return. He wants me to see the progression of his powers before the Vatican gets more involved and get in the way of his master plan." Maynard started to walk away. The Vatican? Aster thought. This spells trouble for everyone if those guys got involved.
Haou looked up at the sky, feeling an uneasy energy. "Is everything okay Haou?" Ask Syrus, concerned. Haou shook his head. "Nothing you should worry about, human. But I think I need to check it out. I'll be back." He started to walk away but Syrus grabbed him by the hand, catching him off guard. "Oh no you don't! You're taking me with you! I'm not going to let you do these things all by yourself anymore! Rely on your friends more!" Haou giggled, what did this puny human think he could tribute? "Oh yeah? And just how do you think you could help me?" Syrus looked at the king with confidence radiating off him. "I can't fight. But I can still be there to support you. That's what friends do." There was that word again. What did it mean to have a friend Haou asked himself. It was such a foreign concept to him.
"If you insist. Just don't get in my way human." He then started pushing Syrus's wheelchair and taking him to the rooftop where he felt the uneasy aura emanating from. Upon entering the rooftop, Haou looked around and saw Maynard standing near the ledge, staring off into the sun. "Do you feel that? I can feel the glorious light washing over my entire body. What a wonderful feeling! You should give into it too, your majesty." Maynard turned to face him with an unhinged look on his face.
Haou glared at the werewolf. "I should have known it was you. Did you come back for another beat down? I'm happy to oblige." Maynard wagged his finger at him. "I have a message to pass off to you first before we get into any of that. Because of your little stunt, the Vatican is hot on your trail. Which means trouble for the Society of Light. You see, even though we have similar goals we aren't exactly buddies with them. They have all these laws and regulations and that's just no fun at all."
Maynard raised his hand in the air and shortly after, a gunshot could be heard ringing out in the air as a sniper popped off a shot aiming at Haou. But instead of actually shooting him, it hit the holy lock on his wrist shattering it. Haou quickly pulled his hands over his eyes as the sun immediately started effecting him and he fell to his knees, feeling his energy starting to sap away. "That's a dirty trick!" Yelled Syrus who tried to comfort the suffering king.
Maynard shrugged. "What do you expect? That guy's a total monster. I need to have some kind of way of making the playing field even." Haou glared at him through winced eyes, the sun felt like a thousand needles poking at his skin. "You noble vampires are powerful creatures but yet you have so many weaknesses. It's hilarious! A little sunlight and you're on your knees!" Maynard walked up to Haou and placed a gun right at his forehead. "This gun holds special blessed silver bullets. Perfect for putting you monsters out of your misery."
Haou looked up at him unfazed which only pissed Maynard off more. This was his moment to instill fear and shame into the king's heart but here he was acting like he didn't care at all! "What's funnier to me is that you're resorting to such desperate tactics. Using guns, a human's tool. Have you no shame werewolf?" Haou slowly stood up and grabbed the barrel of the gun, crushing it in his hands as if it was made of plastic.
Maynard took a step back, surprised that the king still had that much energy left in him despite being directly underneath the sun's blazes. "You really are a beast amongst beasts." Said Maynard who pulled out yet a second gun, but this time aiming it right at Syrus. "Why did you bring this pipsqueak? He's just another easy target for me." Maynard then pulled the trigger, the bullet flying at Syrus. "MOVE FOOL!" Yelled Haou as he jumped in the way of the bullet, taking the shot instead. The king spit up blood, clutching his stomach as he started bleeding out. The sun was stopping him from being able to heal. Why did he do that? Why did he put himself in harms way for someone else? The king fell to the floor, barely hanging onto his conscious.
"JADEN!" Screamed Syrus who stood from his chair and weakly walked over to him, placing his hands on the bleeding wound. Haou could feel the silver starting to flow through his blood like poison. "Jaden please! Stay with me buddy!" Said Syrus with tears in his eyes. Haou tried to push him away, his eyes glowing from hunger and also from anger. The blood loss was about to send him spiraling over the edge. "S-stay back! Damn idiot.. This is why wanted you to stay behind!"
Syrus quickly wiped the tears out of his eyes with his sleeve and hickuped as he spoke. "I'm sorry… I just want to be able to help you. But maybe I still can." Said Syrus as he pulled up his sleeve revealing his arm to the king. Haou looked at his arm, seeing his veins flowing with his precious blood. Haou gently grabbed his arm, contemplating on biting down. "Are you sure about this?" Asked the king. Syrus nodded slightly. "Of course, I am. Drink up Jaden." That strange feeling in Haou's heart came back, but this time it felt warm and fluffy. He hated to admit it, but he actually started to care for these so-called friends of his.
"Like hell I'm going to let you do that!" Maynard started to transform, turning into his semi wolf form and dashed at the both of them, when seemingly out of nowhere Aster appeared in front of him, deflecting the attack with his sword. "So, you have become a traitor! I should have saw that coming. Vermin always stick together!" Aster glared at him. "I'm not doing this to protect him. I'm doing this to stop you from taking things too far again. Besides, he's mine to kill not yours!" Said Aster as he continued with his barrage.
The two continued to fight with Syrus holding Haou in his arms who looked like he was on death's door. "Stay with me buddy! I'll save you!" By now, Haou's vision had become blurry and his hearing muffled. The silver was starting to get dangerously close to heart and if he didn't drink blood to fuel up soon, he would only get worse. But then he felt the familiar warmth of that red liquid hit his lips and his eyes widened as he came back to his senses and bit into the young Slifer's arm.
Syrus winced in pain; he could feel as Haou drew the blood out of his body which made him feel slightly cold. "I trust you Jaden. Take as much as you need. I know I can't help you in a fight but I know this is the least I can do." In the recesses of Haou's mind, Jaden stood in a dark void surrounded by nothing. But from above he could faintly hear the voice of his best friend, calling to him. "S-Syrus?" The king appeared behind him and grabbed his shoulder turning him around so that they could face each other. "Stop moping around will you? You hear him calling for you don't you? Go. I won't stop you." And little by little, the void around him started to crack.
Syrus felt like he couldn't hold on any longer and was about to slump to the floor when Haou grabbed him right before he hit the floor. The king's bangs were covering his eyes, but when he looked up, Syrus was happy to see the warm honey brown eyes of his best friend once again. "JADEN!" Said Syrus happily as he jumped on his friend and gave him a much-needed hug. "I can't believe it! You're back!"
Jaden reciprocated the hug and softly smiled. "Only because I heard your voice. Thanks for being here with me. I think… I think that's why I was scared to come back. I was scared of what I am and thought if I just stopped caring, then I couldn't be hurt anymore. But then I only ended up hurting other people so that I wouldn't hurt myself. I see how wrong I was." Syrus shook his head cutting Jaden off. "Jaden, you are NOT a monster. You have this great power and an awesome destiny! It's up to you how you use your powers!"
Jaden laughed. His best friend was right. "You're right Sy. Now you just stay here and let us handle the rest, alright?" He then stood up and plunged his hand into his wound and pulled out the bullet himself, shortly after the hole had completely closed. 'Damnit Haou. Be more careful with our body!" Him and his other half were going to have a serious conversation after this.
Maynard and Aster were still fighting, with Aster having the upper hand. Maynard was covered in cuts while Aster still looked practically unharmed. "You've gotten stronger. Did you give into your urges and finally drink blood?" Aster actually hadn't realized but Maynard had a point. He felt stronger. Faster. Was this thanks to the Supreme King's blood?
Jaden walked over between them stopping their fight, his eyes glowing red with fury as he glared at the werewolf before him. "He's all mine Aster. Thanks for protecting Syrus, but I have a score to settle with this guy. And I don't need the power of the Supreme King to do it." Maynard leaned his head back and bolted out a sinister laugh.
"We all know that you're the weak one out of your two halves!" Jaden then appeared in front of him and sucker punched him in the face sending him flying. "It's going to be different this time. Thanks to Syrus, I have the power to stop you!" Maynard stood up and dusted the rubble off of himself. "Not bad, not bad. But the king packs more of a punch." Before he could react, Jaden was standing in front of him yet again and delivered another devastating blow to his gut, making him lose his breath.
Jaden continued to lay the hurt on him and Maynard laid below him with his face a bloody mess. "Enough!" Maynard yelled as his canine like eyes began to glow like the color of the full moon, and his dark aura grew even stronger blowing Jaden off from on top of him. "Stop you fool! If you transform all the way then the wolf will take control of you!" Said Aster he shielded his eyes, the pressure Maynard was giving off was as strong as a vortex.
"What the hell is this?" Asked Jaden. "I feared this. Maynard is no ordinary werewolf. He is a true alpha, one of the strongest of his species. Keep your guard of Jaden. Even with my power, this will be no easy fight." Said Haou from within Jaden's mind. "A true alpha, huh? And yet he calls me a monster." said Jaden who braced himself for another attack.
Maynard lurched over laying on his hands and knees as his body continued to morph. Fur started to coat his entire body and his bones broke and reformed into the shape of a wolfs. After his transformation was done, Maynard had become a giant grey wolf standing well over 8 feet tall. "He's coming! Dodge it!" Jaden jumped out of the way, but when Maynard landed on the ground where he targeted his attack, it caused the entire building to shake, simulating an earthquake.
"If he keeps this up he's going to bring the entire building down! Jaden, we are nowhere near friends. But we're going to need to work together to subdue him! Everyone in this building is in danger if we don't stop his rampage!" Said Aster who stood by Jaden's side. Jaden had a smile on his face. "Alright… let's do this partner!"
The two stood their ground as Maynard came at them again with his sharp teeth bared as he went to bite down into Jaden's shoulder, but Aster stood in front of him barely being able to push the blow back. They then switched places and Jaden balled up his fist, focusing his energy into his hand as he drove it right into the giant wolfs face, causing it to fall over and seemingly knocking it out. For now, it looked like the fight was over. "Oh man that was a close one! Thanks for the assist-" said Jaden with his back turned to Maynard, who quickly rose up again and lunged forward, successfully biting him in the shoulder causing him to scream out in pain.
"The fight's not over idiot!" Aster ran over and slashed upward, cutting into Maynard's side who finally released Jaden and let out a deafening howl. Jaden fell to his knees, clutching at his torn shoulder. "This isn't good… We're at a disadvantage here. There's no way we can kill him when he's like this!" Said Jaden, his wounds slowly starting to stitch itself together.
Maynard wasn't done as he rushed forward heading straight for Aster who already had his sword up to defend himself, but out of nowhere a dart shot out and stuck itself into Maynard's leg effectively paralyzing him and finally putting him down for good. "Who did that?" Aster whipped his head around to locate the culprit and saw Seto on the roof too with a tranquilizer gun in his hand. "Mister Kaiba?!"
Seto walked over with disdain on his face. He walked over to Maynard and kicked the giant wolf in the side, making sure it was really down for the count. "I'm sure there's a good explanation for this. But for now, I hope you know that you guys are in a lot of trouble." Aster sighed, "Yes of course. You see uhm…" Seto rose his hand up, cutting him off. "Don't bother trying to make up an excuse. I'm well aware of vampires and werewolves." Seto said as he pulled out a badge showing that he himself was a member of the Vatican. "I'm a head investigator first class for the Vatican order." His eyes fell on Jaden, who's eyes were still glowing red. "A noble vampire? I don't think I've ever seen you before. I think I'm going to have to call this in." He said he pulled out his cellphone, ready to call the Vatican.
"Wait Mister Kaiba!" Yelled Syrus who wheeled himself over to the CEO. "Please don't report this! Jaden isn't like the others! And Maynard was the one who attacked first, so can't you just cut them some slack? They only fought to defend me." Seto's eyes snaked to Syrus's arm which still had Haou's fang marks on it. "You speak highly of that vampire. I assume he was the one who bit you? Still, it's surprising you're not dead or turned. That takes a lot of restraint. Fine, I won't report this. But I do want an explanation from all of you later on. You, vampire. You're a student from my academy right? I will be coming to visit you personally later." Said Seto as he walked away back to his office.
Syrus helped Jaden stand up. "Syrus, really. I'm okay. Your blood is already helping me heal, see?" Said Jaden as he pulled his collar back, the wound looked like it was almost completely gone but still healing slowly. "How's my bite by the way? I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" Said Jaden with a frown gracing his lips. Syrus quickly pulled his sleeve down to hide it from his best friend and let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm fine! I told you I could trust you. See? You only took what you needed. I'm still right as rain!" Proclaimed Syrus proudly, albeit he was still kind of woozy. "I still feel bad though. Next time, I'll be more careful." Jaden then looked at Aster who looked ready to take off. He had already called the society to update them on the situation and for them to come pick up Maynard who was still stuck in his wolf form.
"Why did you help me anyways?" Jaden asked Aster who stopped walking. "Ask that evil king inside of you why I helped…" And with that, he was gone in a flash. "Come on Jaden, let's get out of here. We don't want to be here when those Society of Light goons come back." Jaden nodded and returned back to join their classmates. After Maynard shook the entire building, the tour was cut short and an emergency evacuation was enacted. They went back to the lobby where the rest of their class were waiting for them.
"Syrus! There you are good chum. Where were you?" Bastion looked up and saw Jaden who was helping to push him around with his clothes still bloody. At first he mistook him to be the Supreme King until he recognized Jaden's welcoming friendly gaze. Jaden rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hey Bastion. Sorry to make you guys worry. It's all okay now." He said trying to nonchalantly avoid the topic. "What do you mean by okay?! You look like a bloody mess!" Exclaimed Bastion, still taken aback by Jaden's bloody attire. "Why are you injured every time we see you?"
Jaden laughed sheepishly. "I guess it's to be expected when everyone is out to get you. I just can't seem to catch a break." His eyes then fell to the floor as he approached his two other friends. He then bowed before them and humbly offered his apology. "I am so sorry for any trouble I caused you guys! I wasn't in control of myself, and I know that is no excuse… But still. I can't begin to explain how sorry I am for treating you all so poorly. I was weak, but I've learned from my mistakes."
"I could care less about what you've done, slacker. But we're not the one you should be apologizing too." Said Chazz kind of harshly. Jaden was confused by that statement but then realized that Alexis was not amongst them. "Oh god. What exactly did I do while the Supreme King was in control?" Said Jaden as he buried his face in his hands, regret and fear rising inside of his conscious. Bastion walked over to Jaden and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's a long story. We'll fill you in on the way back to the hotel."