yeeee short story finished.

Terry needs to be shown more respect. He's such a bro.

It'd been two and a half weeks since he had last been allowed to walk around on his own volition, and finally, after Dr. Curry ran him through a gauntlet of tests to clear him, he was back in SouthTown.

Riot… you caused all this trouble, you know...

KKKKKKKAAAA

Whatever man...

The hospital stay sucked. Things hurt pretty badly, but it could have been worse. After all, Iori had friends in Japan.

The Fourth had swung by a couple of times per week to sit and chat - which was really nice. Iori hardly spent any time with him. Kagura had stopped by once, it was good to see her. Kyo had brought him an old 'KOF Champion' cardboard cutout of himself, saying 'I'll always be here for you'. But honestly, he didn't really need to - since he literally spent nearly five hours a day in Iori's hospital room. He had even bought Yuki a few times - who also seemed happy to see him. She immediately asked for concert tickets. Iori had promised to mail her some.

Thank goodness the fans didn't figure out where I was… ugh, that would have been chaos...

As far as Iori was concerned, everything was going back to normal. He was back on good terms with Riot (who seemed rather apologetic after the ordeal). His house hadn't been burglarized, save for his routinely missing plasma TV. Shates (after bugging him for rent) presented him with a bouquet of flowers and a plate of her famous lemon bars.

Life was good.

Well… aside for a few things.

Freeman's murder case was still an active investigation. Officer Ryan had been breathing down his neck the moment he landed in to city. Sooner or later Iori was going to have to deal with it. Maybe he'd...have the current Sheriff fired… or something.

Everyone takes Geese's bribes… right? Ehh… I'll call DiBrando if I need to… let's see how this plays out...

Iori had also developed a sudden and unexplainable fear of Terry Bogard. He hadn't the foggiest idea where it had come from, but assumed it was Riot's emotions affecting his own. Maybe because Terry had subdued Freeman during their little hunting party? It was possible… but then again, Riot got choked out by Kusanagi all the time, and never really expressed fear of him.

Riot you make no sense.

WOLF! WOLF!

Shut up.

Finally, Iori was still unsure how his protege had been affected by the body-swap. Considering the severity of the rebound, Iori knew that riot had a conducted hostile takeover. As a result, Rock wouldn't have been able to see what the body was doing. In this particular case, it was probably for the best… but even so, it was only a matter of time before rock figured out who Freeman was. Worst case scenario, the boy would quit. Again.

Well… guess I'd better go find out… urgh. Hope Bogard isn't there…

It was 8:30 in the morning, and Iori was fumbling with the keys to the store's backdoor. He had parked the Volkswagen in the back, and caught sight of his Mustang (currently being held hostage by Rock Howard) sitting at the meter. Looks like the kid was already at work.

Weird for him to be early.

DUCKY DUCKY.

Whatever

WOLF!

Iori ignored the babbling in his head, and with a sigh pushed open the heavy steel door. He was a bit tired from jet lag, and felt quite bloated from spending two weeks strapped to a bed and barely moving. All in all, he was neither physically nor mentally prepared for what was on the other side of that door.

"Rock! This is ridiculous. You can't just-" *Thunk* "oh… Yagami. You're back..."

Terry Bogard had managed to run right into him as he entered the store, knocking him flat. Normally instinct kept him out of these sort of accidents, but he (Riot) had been struck with a paralyzing terror. He was also still on pain meds.

Terry hauled him to his feet, and continued to argue with Rock, who was…

What the hell.

"Dad! You don't understand the importance of anointing this space, okay? It's because you're too acidic. I can feel your vibrations. You've eaten meat recently, haven't you?! Don't you would know that affects your oneness with the universe?!"

Rock was enthusiastically shouting nonsense from the other end of the room. He was wearing a tie-dyed hair band, and was carrying a bowl, which he used to periodically splash a foul smelling liquid everywhere he walked. It was green.

Iori observed the strange scene with curiosity. Terry was less amused.

"Rocky… ugh… look, you need t-" Terry paused from berating his sons erratic behavior to turn and look at him. Iori felt himself go pale and involuntarily clutched the doorframe, gouging holes in the metal.

"Hey Yagami, your nose is bleeding… Are you alright?"

The only response Iori manage to give was a startled nod. Rock took one look at him from across the room and ran to get his backpack.

"Boss! Hi! I have an essential oil for that! Silver Acai emulsion essence will fix you right up! You drip it into your eyes!"

"Rock! Stop that! Give me the bowl!"

The blonde teenager shrieked a response.

"Dad! You're not enlightened enough to understand! Just let me banish the dissonant energies! Boss! You're gonna help me! Hold this crystal and hum!"

Rock is going to put boss right back into the ICU with his alternative t healing methods.

Eventually he calms down a little bit... But not before I've gotten my laugh

Riot scared of daddy wolf. Lol. He be like - he beat me up and choked me!

I kind of wanted to include whip in this, but I think I'll reserve it for another story.

Leave me a rev guis :heart: