Chapter 3 The four men stood facing one another, glaring at his opponent. Where Andrew the man had been standing was now a wolf, big and hairy, growling at Hotohori to bring it on. Phil gave a smug look at Nakago's direction, making the general laugh. Andrew gave a great roar and jumped at the Emperor, knocking to his feet. Hotohori gave a wave of his sword, fighting off the wolf that was now gnawing furiously on his robes. Hotohori swung down his sword against Andrew's head, hitting him hard. Blood flowed down the side of Andrew's wolf face as he staggered to his senses. "You dare defy the Emperor of Konan?!" Hotohori cried. He swung his sword at the wolf, but Andrew dodged, and jumped high into the air. His jaw clamped around Hotohori's shoulder, bringing him down to the ground. In anger, Hotohori swung his sword around, and cut deeply into Andrew's face, damaging an eye. Andrew backed off, whimpering. "Is that all it takes for the Emperor of Konan?!" the wolf cried (in his mind). Out loud, he barked angrily at his opponent. He made a high leap into the air, aiming for Hotohori's face. The sword came up, and stabbed Andrew in the side. The wolf growled in pain, landing on Hotohori's chest, knocking the Emperor down. Then, he slinked off of Hotohori, who got quickly to his feet, and pointed the sword down meancingly at the Lone Wolf Warrior. "The battle is over," Hotohori said, his voice low and grave. Standing besides him, Nakago and Phil had watched the fight, not moving an inch. At the moment of sudden silence, Phil made a strange sound like a tuba, and cried out, "Ah! It's my turn now!" With a smile on his face he ran towards Nakago, his theme music of tubas getting faster and brighter in anticipation of the commencing battle. In two seconds, Phil was fifty feet away from Nakago, hurting all over and laying on his back. He had barely touched the general, and the general had barely touched him. Kristin ran from her swing to Hotohori's side. "Your Highness!" she cried. "Are you alright? Your shoulder is wounded." Hotohori winced in pain, but managed to smile at Kristin. "Everything's alright," he said. "Anything to protect the priestess of Suzaku, Kristin-sama." Then, his face became serious, and he turned to face Nakago. Nakago said, "Hm." "My shampoo," Hotohori said, his voice grave, "This isn't over yet, general. You will see. I will take back my shampoo, and summon Suzaku to stop your crazy antics of war. And, be careful. You might find your-self short a closet of cheez-its!" Nakago growled at this comment. Then, he closed his eyes, and smiled a faint smile. "Hm." He looked down on the head of Martha, who was still clinging on to him as before. She looked up, her eyes bright with concern. "Don't worry," she said, "I'll save one of my wishes for you, and then you'll have all the cheez-its you could ever imagine!" He grinned an evil grin at Hotohori, making sure he heard that last part, and then, his voice became confused and embarrassed as Martha squeezed his sides and pronounced, "He, he, he. love handles are soo cute!" Hotohori tried to hide a smile as Nakago growled, "This isn't over yet," with a red face. He picked up the priestess of sieyru, looking kind of disgusted at her, and then, asked her how to get back to the world of the Four Gods. "Hm," Kristin said, as Martha gave Nakago a blank stare. "I really haven't thought of that yet. We managed to summon you here, but the link to your world is in Japan. and hey, how do you guys know English?" "Taiitskun," Hotohori replied. "Naiidoska*," Nakago said. The four all looked at each other. Hotohori turned his face away from Nakago. "I don't want to be stuck in this world with him. He's the one who took my shampoo, and used it on that mullet of his!" Nakago growled again. Martha shivered in delight, hugging him still. She just couldn't get enough of the beautiful general! Nakago suddenly gave a strange smirk, and strode over to Hotohori, with Martha hanging on his waist, pinching his "love handles". Hotohori backed away a bit, but let Nakago come close up to him, expecting insults, or even a blast of his incredible life force that had put Phil out. Instead, Nakago grabbed the music box on his head, letting the long, black hair of the Emperor flow down. Nakago grunted. "Hm! Your hair is still prettier than mine. What are you complaining about?!" Hotohori frowned, and grabbed for the music box. "Give that back, you big, dumb blonde," he demanded. Nakago took a step back, and wound up the music box. The teddy bear picnic song came up, and Nakago laughed a low laugh. "HA! I always knew you had a weak spot for teddy bears!" Hotohori was just about ready to pounce on him when Kristin got everyone's attention. "Hey. where did Andrew and Phil go?" The men stopped their childish fighting, and scanned the area to see that the wolf and. boy were no where to be seen. The woods were silent, and the park had suddenly turned almost cold. "What.?" Martha whispered in the sudden silence, hugging Nakago tighter. Then, a strangled cry was heard in the distance of the trees. "Ashitare!" Nakago said. "Nope," Kristin said, shaking her head sadly, "Andrew."