Po thought it would be quite an interesting trip to the next village. Especially since they managed to get Mantis under their ranks. Not officially, but he was confident he could sway him to his side in due time, and enough persuasion. He already caught his interest with the promise of food.
Who knew someone so small could be so gluttonous? It was ridiculous, but he could clearly prove it. And Po was very impressed with him because of it. That and he found yet another person who enjoyed his and Mr. Ping's cooking. Though he was aware that food alone wouldn't be enough to change his mind, it was a good start. A start is all he needs in order for progress to be made.
Lidong was not too different. He had come along because he was deeply connected with Mantis, he could tell by their interaction. The two of them seem to be very close to one another, that their bickering has become normal. They explained this to the best of their ability. It was a rather complicated relationship due to their sizes seriously contrasting one another. Everyone figured that Mantis was under Lidong, but that was not the case. They were thought of each other as equals. A crocodile and a Mantis managed to get along for a very long time. It sounded unbelievable, but it was true. The only question they had for the duo...
How?
"See, it's quite simple. We taught each other a very valuable lesson, among other things." Mantis said. "Which was quite surprising for us since I'm not too good at learning."
"And I'm pretty slow-witted." Lidong added, staring at the ground. "I think that's what I get for using more of my muscle instead of my head most of the time."
"Luckily we were able to snap each other out of our arrogance. And the two of us meeting was somehow enough to make us realize that we had too much confidence in ourselves. My speed, Lidong's size...we thought we were untouchable. Then something had to happen to us to bring us down to earth."
"Humility?" Shifu asked.
"Well that...and a life-or-death situation. Nothing much."
"I hardly think that a life-or-death situation is considered nothing." Fung said with his eyes half-closed with disbelief at the statement. "What could have happened?"
Mantis hopped on Lidong's head and turned to everyone. "Okay, to be completely honest, our friendship is pretty recent. As in...3 years ago recent. Stuff happened. What kind of stuff, I'll tell ya right now."
(3 years Ago)
18 year old Mantis was hopping along the road, with a sack in tow. Due to his size, this sack consisted of a small stick and a bit of a wrapper. It was what he chose, he stuck to it. Anyone who laughed at him for it was promptly kicked in the face at high speed.
Which is where the problem immediately kicks in.
Mantis was by no means evil, yet he wasn't the nicest person around, either. His overconfidence in his fast movement made this very clear. He kept thinking that everyone was far too slow for him, and that he thought that if they ever wanted to do any good in the world, they would need to get a little bit faster. He is always boasting about being the fastest around, and that the world was too slow for him. As expected, not a lot of people liked his attitude. But overall, he was a good person.
What everyone thought he needed was a bit more discipline. Everyone thought that his parents would have put this into h, but then they remembered...he's a Mantis. His parents were also mantises, obviously. Which means his mother ate his fathers head out of nature before he was born...yeah...that might have something to do with his poor behavior. He did accept that rather unfortunate event as natural for their species, and yet his mother couldn't stop smothering him with motherly love, out of guilt. She honestly thought she could restrain her natural aggression, but it could not be helped. He did not blame his wife one bit. In fact, he was quite content with his fate when it was far too late to escape it. He merely hoped she'd find him delicious. In a disturbing way, while wearing a genuinely crying guilty face, she agreed. A long while after that, she was raising Mantis all by herself.
The story was all Mantis needed to hear in order to decide one of his life goals: DON'T FALL IN LOVE WITH A FEMALE MANTIS. EVER.
Anyway...due to his mother's constant smothering and lack of punishing him for bad behavior, he acted like a spoiled child, yet not in a 'stepping on others' way. He was arrogant, sure, but not a complete jerk. He always helped people along the way, be them his size, smaller, or bigger. No one was out of reach from his helpful forelegs. His overconfidence is what derailed a bit of their gratefulness to him, however.
Yet one day he met someone who could do what many tried to. Make him realize that being fast is not always the answer. There's a time when one must slow down and show immense caution when it comes to completing a task.
It happened one stormy day while he was hopping on a stroll. There was no one around, and he had to carry a leaf over his head. Because his endurance has not yet been developed, rain might as well be infinite miniature punches to his form. It was highly irritating, though not life threatening.
"Stupid rain...making my life so much more difficult." He grumbled to himself while he was on he move. Mantis hated the rain. "Now it's gonna be even harder for me to get home, especially since rain on my body is heavy as hell. Not to mention it's hard for me to see through all of it..." These are one of those times when being small was a very annoying disadvantage of his. At one point, he's gonna have to learn how to dodge all droplets of rain with his speed. It may be close to impossible, but he was fully willing to take on the challenge when he was ready.
There was a (to him) large quake that rumbled around him for a couple seconds, and he could make out the sound of footsteps going along with the loud rumble. He immediately deduced the phenomenon as something huge, because these weren't normal footsteps. He wondered what could make such a quake, though.
His question was answered moments later.
"OUTTA MY WAY!" he heard a shout, following multiple cries of pain from multiple other other voices. Mantis immediately made his way there, the rain no longer deterring him. He reached an area where multiple crocs were scattered around, looking severely beaten. He looked up and saw a large croc that was the biggest of all, which was shocking to him. He doesn't think that he's ever seen a croc that huge.
What he doesn't like to see however, was that these crocs were clearly bandits. Which mean that this guy was beating up his own comrades. There were lots of things Mantis was not okay with. Turning on your team was always going to be one of them, whether they were good people or not. These crocs barely looked alive, and it didn't look like the big one was stopping his assault. He had to do something. But first, he had to get his attention.
"HEY! BIG CROC GUY! OVER HERE!"
The giant croc stopped choking his subordinate in his hands promptly dropping him and turning to the sound of the voice. He looked around for the source. "Who's the dead meat that said that...?"
"Down here.'
The croc looked down and laughed loudly. "BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You?! Who do you think you're talking to?"
"I'm the only one speaking and everyone else is unconscious. So I must be talking to you." Mantis deadpanned.
"Whatever, what do you want?"
"Look, I don't know how croc bandits work, but I'm pretty sure the way you're treating them is supremely unfair. They can barely stand up to you because you're so huge."
The large croc huffed. "Damn right I'm huge." He pounded his fist to his chest. "Lidong is bigger than everyone! No one is bigger than me, no one is stronger than me! And anyone who stands up to me will be crushed!" He glared down towards Mantis. "Like YOU, if you don't hop off, little bug."
Mantis's eye twitched. 'Pal...you made quite a handful of mistakes these past few moments. You're disturbing the peace in the nearby village. You beat up your own friends because YOU'Re disappointed. And you called me little." He raised his forelegs. 'You're gonna pay for all three."
Lidong rolled his eyes, folding his arms. "Pfft, as if you could actually-" POW! He was caught off guard as Mantis swiftly kicked him in the snout, which made him growl in pain and step back. "You...little...PUNK!"
"Whaddya gonna do about it, big guy?" Mantis taunted.
Lidong completely lost it, letting out a savage roar and chasing Mantis down. His attempts of stepping on him or pounding him with his large fists were repeatedly met with failure, with some extra taunting from Mantis. This only aggravated the croc even more while they both forgot that a storm was raging above their heads, and the rain was getting even heavier.
Eventually they came across a bridge, a bridge that was not strong enough to support Lidong's weight and the pressure from the storm. Mantis could see the effects already taking place, and held his foreleg up.
"Wait."
"Nice try, you're not getting out of this!"
"I'm being serious you giant moron! We're treading on some VERY sensitive terrain here!" He warned gesturing to the bridge they were standing on. It was visibly and continuously cracking once Lidong set foot on it. "If you move too quickly...it'll completely fall apart...then we're in for a very painful fall. There's no water to even TRY to cushion the fall..."
Lidong looked down to see that Mantis was right. There was nothing below them but a deep abyss. He looked back up in anger. "Way to go, bug! Look at what you dragged us into!"
"ME?! You're blaming ME for this?!"
"YES! YOU SHOULD HAVE MINDED YOUR OWN BUSINESS!"
"I WASN"T GOING TO LET YOU CONTINUE YOUR UNFAIR CRUELTY!"
Their shouting was not helping the bridge's stability, as even more cracks began to form. Mantis realizes he gravity of the situation, and began saying what he'd never thought he'd say. "STOP! Don't move a muscle. At ALL." He was being dead serious. One more heavy move this bridge was coming down.
'Don't order me around as if you were bigger than me! Because you're NOT!" Lidong didn't get the hint, as he roared and jumped at Mantis, narrowly missing him. but the damage was already done, as the bridge completely gave out beneath then. Lidong's eye's widened as he began falling into the abyss along with Mantis, who was loudly scolding him for failing to listen.
All they could do was fall into the abyss, as their shouts were drowned out by the storm.
(The Next Day)
Lidong moaned as he bright a paw to his aching head, sitting up to scan his surroundings. He looked to see that he was sitting outside a house which was still soaked from the hard rain from last night. He tried to remember what he was doing. He noticed that his head was covered in bandages, as well as his left arm and his snout. What would have caused these injuries?
He began to ponder this more, until he sees Mantis hopping out of the house, and snarled at him. Mantis rolled his eyes. "Oh don't you start. You're still hurt from that nasty fall. Your skull is slightly fractured, and your arm is broken. I wouldn't move around too much if I were you."
Lidong growled. "Telling me what to do again...who do you think you are, bug!?"
Mantis hopped on Lidong's snout, pointing his foreleg towards his eyes. "This 'bug' you speak of, just saved your ass. I could have left you out there to die, but then I'd be a bigger jerk than you."
"I didn't ask for you to save me!'
"Yeah? Guess what? I DID ANYWAY. So just shut your trap and lie back down. You're not done recovering." Mantis snapped back, hopping off his snout and walking back into the house. "You're a pretty annoying dude, you know that?"
Lidong huffed, looking in the other way. "The same could be said for you. You go and try and pick a fight with me, then you try to talk down to me, and now you saved me. What's your deal?"
Mantis looked at him again. 'I picked a fight with you because you picked on your own guys. I tried to talk down to you because you about to fall and I tried to stop it. And I saved you because you needed help. It's plain and simple. Though you made it hard to be nice because of your loud boasting over your size. Dude, no one cares. Like...at all. Although I shouldn't be talking so smart, I do the same thing when it comes to me being fast. Though our little incident made me rethink the entire thing. Had to stop and slow down in order to see our situation."
To go into better detail on what Mantis was saying, it was the main reason why he was able to tell that the bridge was falling apart before Lidong was able to. He managed to see the world moving faster than him for a couple moments. It was enough for him to see the small cracks in the bridge's pillars, and that they grew the first couple moments after Lidong stepped onto it. It was a shock to him, but he was able to tell what was happening, very quickly. He couldn't act on it, however, due to Lidong's arrogance that almost killed them both. He was somewhat proud that his own arrogance was not the cause for Lidong's injuries, then he'd feel guilty.
Lidong was staring at the insect with confusion replacing all of his anger. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that you may be physically bigger than everyone, but that doesn't mean that you're bigger than them as a whole. And at the rate you're going, you'll be smaller than anyone else." Lidong' eyes flashed with horror as images of his childhood kicked in. Pushed around by his relatives...mocked for being small...feeling weak all the time...he didn't want to go back to that. "There's a major difference between you and me. You boast that you're bigger, yet your heart is small. I boast about my speed...yet my heart is bigger."
"How is that possible?"
'Size matters...and at the same time, it doesn't. You may be a big guy, but that doesn't justify you picking on people smaller than you. Just like I'm...mostly unnoticeable due to our major height differences, but that doesn't mean that I can't help people of all sizes. My attitude needs work, but overall I'm a pretty decent guy. YOU, however...yeah...you're acting like an asshole."
The large croc looked on in surprise as he listened to Mantis speak. "You REALLY want people to be impressed with the power that comes with your size? Do something good with it. People will notice that much better than you trying to force your size upon them."
"...Do you really think that will work...?" Lidong asked. He was harsh on others because it was all he knew how to get people to pay attention to him. He thought being nice was far too slow when it came to progress...but Mantis had confidence that the long-term payoff was worth it. So...he was going to take the chance. "Maybe I can..."
"That's the spirit, bro. You got this!" Mantis chanted.
"Do I really...?"
"Hey hey hey!" Mantis hopped on his snout, pointing his foreleg between Lidong's eyes. "Lidong. Look at me. Look. At. Me."
"I'm looking, I'm looking!" Lidong growled in annoyance.
"Listen to me. You got this. You need to say it yourself so you can believe it better. YOU GOT THIS."
The croc was unsure about what this would accomplish. "I got this."
"There we go. Now...just lie there for a couple more hours."
"What?! Why?!"
"You still haven't recovered from your injuries. You're gonna have to keep still for a while if you want a full recovery." Mantis said as he hopped off into the house. "Are you hungry, man? I got plenty of dumplings are still good. I'd invite you in...but I'm pretty sure you'd accidently crush my house. Want me to just being it out here?"
Lidong was contemplating whether or not he should take the offer. Then he could hear his stomach growling loudly,and he sighed. "Yeah...why not. It's not like I'm expecting anything. Those crocs of mine probably never want to see me again, in fact I'm pretty sure they must be like, miles away from here by now. So...is it okay if I just...move in with you. Obviously not inside since...you know. But...if I live with you...would you be alright with that?"
Mantis looked Lidong in the eye, and smiled. "Yeah. I can be cool with that. I just moved out of my mom's house, and it's getting pretty boring living alone."
"I see. Just moved out of your Mom's house." The croc blinked. "Wait...you only lived with your mother...so that means-"
"Yep. She ate my Dad." They both shivered violently at the thought. Mantis DID come to terms that it was a natural phase...that doesn't mean it didn't disturb him. Lidong clearly shared the same sentiment.
"Nature...is scary."
"No arguements here..."
(End Flashback)
Po folded his arms. "You guys bonded over liking food, conversing about your size, and agreeing on the fact that nature can be terrifying?'
"Yep." Mantis and Lidong said with smiles on their faces.
The panda nods. "Yeah that is something to bond over. Nature IS scary."
"What?" Crane asked in confusion, adjusting his hat. "That one strikes you heavier than the others?"
Po looked at him with a scared look. "Hell yeah it does! Just imagine it. You get your head, and your entire body if you're supremely unlucky, eaten by your wife!" He pulled the sides of his hat down in fear. "How scary is that?"
All the guys(including Shifu) took a while to process this, and they all shiver violently from the thought of it. The three females rolled their eyes. Although...Monkey decided to poke a tiny bit of fun.
"Hear that, Tigress? Better try to be nice to your future boyfriend."
Tigress eyed Monkey in confusion. "What are you talking about...?"
"You know~" The primate said slyly with a smirk, as his eyes darted to Po and back to Tigress. When the hidden messsge sank in, the feline blushed brightly.
"W-What are you trying to say?"
"I dunno. What do ya think I'm talking about?" Monkey said innocently. Tigress immediately deduced one of Monkey's...less than innocent parts of his personality. Probably has something to do with his days on the streets. She then looked at him with a deadpan face.
"I'm warning you now. Stop where you are if you value your health."
"Why?"
"Because I've never used my teeth or claws in combat...yet." she placed emphasis on they 'yet' as she cracked her knuckles. "And it would be rather...unfortunate...if someone found you lying on the ground bleeding and uncnscious with claw and teeth marks...don't you agree?"
The primate gulped, and broke his gaze with her. She's so freaking scary...how is Po not intimidated by her?
"Hey Tigress, look! No hands!" Po said as he was balancing his straw hat on his head by the tip, swaying back and forth so it wouldn't fall off. Tigress sees this and it instilled a chuckle from her. Monkey sweatdropped.
Of course. He actually makes her laugh. Though I can understand that, she's not as connected with the rest of us like she is with Po. Her scarf makes that quite apparent. Still, she leaves me a bit unhinged at times...
Fung contemplated the story Mantis and Lidong told about their meeting and friendship. Fung turned to Mantis completely...and bowed to him. "I thought my cousin would never straighten up his attitude over his size. I need to thank you for helping him do so."
Mantis shook his head. "Don't mention it. Was the last I could do."
Lidong smirked, patting Fung's head. "Aww...is my wittle older cousin a bit annoyed with me?"
"Gaaaaah..." Fung groaned, rolling his eyes.
"Oh don't be so embarressed, Fung." Mr. Ping attempted to comfort, patting his leg. "Being smaller than your younger relative."
"Easy for you to say. You're a goose, Mr. Ping." Fung mumbled, glaring at the ground as if he wanted to burn a hole into it. Mei Ling snickered at the display, Monkey straight up laughed, and Mr. Ping himself just tilted his head, not knowing what just happened.
As they got closer to the targeted village...Fenghuang and Shifu narrowed their eyes. Something...didn't feel right. They could feel killer intent begin to fill the area. While they were not too affected, the others began feeling a bit of weight on them. It caused them to stop and turn to the younger ones, who also stopped to eye their elders. Zeng was feeling most vulnerable to the change in the air. He could have sworn that he felt like something was suffocating him.
Like...like a snake...
He placed his wings on his long neck just to make sure. He sighed in relief when he realized that he was only imagining it. Though he desparately looked around to see if anything was causing said killing intent. But he could not see anything.
"Something is watching us." Fenghuang said bluntly, as her eyes kept darting back and forth, and her head did a 180° in both directions to get a better understanding. The display briefly made Zeng jump. "I don't know who...but someone has their eyes on us...and they hide their presence well."
"Is it an enemy?" Shifu narrowed his eyes, his ears listening for the slightest movement. He could clearly hear something moving around them, he just couldn't find an exact location. Only clue was that they were nearby for sure. "Who's there...?"
Now.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
The scream caught Shifu's attention, and he ran in the direction it came from. "Wait up, Midget!" Fenghuang called out as she flew after him when he began running. Out of a need for an assurance of safety, as well as worry for Shifu's wellbeing, Zeng and Mr. Ping ran after them.
"Wait! Where are you two going?!" Mei Ling shouted after them, trying to bring them back to no avail. Crane was getting increasingly nervous as he heard the voices drown out with distance.
"Something's wrong." Tigress said in full warrior mode, her eyes piercing the darkness. "Separating us from our Masters won't do you any good! Come out!"
You heard the feline. Introduce yoursssself. Remember what me and your father taught you.
I will.
Po rubbed his head as he kept looking around in confusion. "What the heck...? I swear I heard something hissing...I wonder if-" His sentence was immediately cut off as he felt something smack his face at high speed, sending him tumbling backwards for a couple yards. Everyone chased after him as he was moving. When he finally stopped, he sat up and rubbed his stingin redg cheek. "AAAAAAAAOOOOOWW! What the...what the hell?! What was that?!"
"That...would be me."
He heard the chilling cold hiss that came after that sentence, and he was surprised to see a Viper slithering into the clearing, her blue eyes were slitted and her tongue snuck out along with her hiss. She was the one emitting that killer intent, Tigress could sense it clearly. Though...she found it strange that the snake had lilies on her head...and lipstick? If she wasn't looking at them with a look to kill, she'd call her cute.
"Two leggarsssss are ssssssupposed to enter through the ssssside of the village. You were about to enter through the front, which is not allowed for you." The snake hissed dangerously.
Po thought a long while, and he gazed at her with surprise. "Hey...your name wouldn't be Viper by any chance, would it?"
"What'ssss it to you?"
"Hah! I knew it! We found her!" Po cheered. Then he blinked and tended to his cheek again. "Oww...but why'd you hit me...?"
"Yeah, what's your deal? Amd why'd you call us two leggars?" Fung said, helping Po stand up.
"I ask the questionssss, two leggar!" Viper spat. "I don't have to explain my reasons to you. Not to any of you!"
"Hey. You better calm down!" Lidong stomped. "We don't want to hurt you."
Viper laughed loudly, in a tone that unnerved Crane, Monkey and Mantis. The laughter died down as she glared at Lidong. "That's too bad. Becausssse I'm very interesssssted in hurting YOU." After she said that, she shot forward as she slithered to Lidong's leg and wrapped around his neck as her tail stretched to his giant paws, making it form a fist. Before he could even react, she used the limb to make himself punch himself in the face HARD, so much that it could be heard all around the forest, and this continued for a full minute. When she relented, she slithered from his body and to the ground in a disturbingly calm manner. After a couple minutes, Lidong fell forward, creating a cloud of dust around him. He was unconscious.
Mantis and the others stared at the snake in shock. Lidong was big, powerful, and his punches packed a lot of force behind them...and she turned this against him to defeat him in under a minute. Her tail strength was unbelievable.
Tigress narrowed her eyes. She took the biggest of us out first...she's dangerous...VERY dangerous...
"Letsssss see...the big one is down for the count. Which do I strike next...?" Viper hissed, as she eyed her prey with a dark look.
Po watched the snake slither back and forth in front of them, with his widened eyes. "Ooooookay...this might be harder than I thought." Even with the situation quickly turning for the worse, he was still thinking mainly about the difficulty for recruiting her. He was thinking about something else. It was so quick that if he blinked, he would have missed it. He saw a flash of great reluctance cross her eyes, which was sign enough for him to make a guess.
This is a front...a very convincing one...but why...?
"I'll sssstart with..." Viper placed her tail on her mouth, tapping it like a person would with their fingers. She gazed each of them with a curious look. Po, Tigress, Fung, Crane, Mantis...
Monkey.
"YOU!" She shouted as she lashed out at him with her tail, as the primate's eyes widened exponentially.
"AH CRAP!"
(With Shifu and Fenghuang)
The two led Mei Ling, Zeng, and Mr. Ping, to an open clearing. They could see a goat shivering on the ground, as he could hear him mumbling something. Shifu approached him with a calming paw.
"It's alright. You're not hurt, are you?" Shifu asked with concern. The goat eyed the red pands with bloodshot eyes.
"Y-Y-You're Master Shifu..." He muttered. He then shot forward and grasped his robe. "You gotta help us! My village can't take anymore of this abuse! Always living in fear because of the poison in our veins...please, help!"
Shfiu looked at the goats neck...he sees the bite mark. "Fenghuang. He's been bitten by something."
Fenghuang laughed a bit. Hahahaha...no...it couldn't be...could it? "Say...do you know who bit you, goat?"
He shivered more, as Zeng and Mr. Ping tired to comfort him. "L-L-Lord Fu-Xi..."
Dammit!
"H-He's bitten everyone in the village...f-filling us w-with fear-inducing toxin..." He shivered. "S-SO that we w-were too afraid to resist him..."
DAMMIT!
"Why did this happen? I know that Great Master Viper is the guardian of this village. Why doesn't he do somethint?" Shifu asked in disbelief.
The fear-induced goat gulped. "H-He's forced G-Great Master Viper to be his subordinate...s-since he failed ro protect the village years back when a gorilla bandit attacked..."
DAMMIT!
Fenghuang took a deep breath to calm down."Any other information thay would be very surprising to hear?" She said with an irritated twitch in her eye.
"H-He also brought Great Master Viper's daughter to his side. She just goes by Viper."
"AGH!" She said, throwing her wings up. "He turned the old snake's daughter into his secret dark apprentice that wear's a sweet innocent face! What's next!? I suppose he set up a trap so that she would take on the young-" Fenghuang's eyes widened, then lowered as she tucked in her wings.
Mei Ling cocked her head to the side. "Master Fenghuang?"
"It's a trap, isn't it?"
"Indeed it is..." They heard an elderly voice call out to them. They see Great Master Viper approach them with a regretful look on his face. "You have been deceived..."
"Great Master Viper...? What is the meaning of this?" Shifu asked in confusion. His confusion turned to shock as he sees his old friend get into fighting position. "What...?"
"I cannot explain it to you at the moment." He said solemnly, as he stares at them. "You must defeat me if you want to know what's going on, in better detail."
Shifu and Mei Ling got into defensive stances,Zeng and Mr. Ping stayed close to Fenghuang, who was just standing there processing all of the information. "Lemme get this straight...Fu-Xi has both you and your daughter being manipulated...the village is in a fear-induced state due to his toxin...and now he separated us from most of the younger warriors so that they would be easier to take down...and the only way we'll get more information...is to defeat Mr. Snake Sage?"
"It seems to be that way." Shifu said, not taking his eyes off of his reluctant opponent.
"...Wwwwwweeeeeeellllll then..." She says as she reviews the situation again. "This situation escalated quickly." She sighed. "It won't be the last time, will it?"
"Probably the first of many." Zeng raised a wing nervously.
"Of course." She sighed. "I could really use a drink right now..."
With the reluctant look still on his fave, Great Master Viper hissed and lunged at the Masters.
Both Vipers have began their strike. And Fu-Xi hid in the shadows, watching the battles unfold...
Part One of "Serpent's Tooth" has been completed. Part Two will becoming soon.
This was mostly to get Mantis and Lidong out of the way so the next chapters can focus more on Viper...one must consider how strong she must be, living and taught by two mighty serpents...
Yeah...
Anyway, next chapter will be up as soon as I can write it. It's the first part of four, after all.
Bye for now~
