I am too amazing. :D Nahhh, but here we go, another chapter!! WOOHOO!!

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We pretty much kept walking in silence, until Tong asked, "Where the hell does a guy, um, relieve himself around here?"

Gan Ning snorted. "Hey, out here you get two choices-- oak, or pine."

"Huh?" Tong asked, obviously not understanding.

"Tong, you pull your pants off, and you do your business behind the tree so WE don't get blinded," I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

"You sure know a lot about this kind of stuff," Ning commented.

"I have two older brothers. I know things I shouldn't," I said.

"How do I clean up when I'm done?" Tong asked, still naive to the ways of the wilderness.

"Save the trees. Wipe your ass with an owl," Ning said, sounding bored. "Now go, before we have another mess on our hands."

"Fine. But nobody look! I'm not performing here!" Tong said, putting Xiao down and stomping off.

"Oh darn, what a shame," Ning said sarcastically.

"You better not be looking, either one of you!" Tong hollered.

"We're NOT. Just hurry up! We're burning daylight!" Ning yelled.

"What do I do again!?" Tong hollered.

"I already told you! Bend your knees, wiggle your hips, and think about waterfalls!" Ning yelled.

"He sure is taking a while," I commented, after a couple of minutes passed without any sarcastic comments. "Yo Tong, did you die back there!?"

"Umm... how should I put this? It's not what you think it is," Tong hollered.

"Oh. EW!"

"I think a bug just bit my ass!" Tong wailed.

"That's more information than I ever needed to hear! Now hurry up!" Ning screamed.

"Sheesh! Where'd YOU learn to be such a jerk? You're not the one hunched over trying to drop a--"

"TONG, PLEASE!! I do NOT need these kinds of details!" I screamed.

"It's out," Tong yelled.

"Thanks for the update," Ning growled.

"Hey! I can't find any owls!" Tong screamed.

"Just pull your pants up and let's go!" I said angrily.

"I refuse! That's disgusting! Hang on, I'll just use these leaves," said Tong, STILL insisting on providing us with horrific mental images.

"Aah, that's better," Tong said, FINALLY coming back. "Wow, these leaves are really soft! Maybe they're aloe leaves," he said, holding up a few in my face. "Look Shang Xiang!"

"Please be clean, please be clean," I begged to the Gods.

Ning took one look at the leaves and snorted. "That's poison ivy."

"What does that mean?" Tong asked.

"It means you're gonna be pretty itchy," Ning said, snorting. "And if you rubbed them where I think you rubbed them, it also means you're gonna have
trouble dropping a crap for a while."

"WHY must my life be terrible? What did I EVER do to deserve this?" Tong wailed. His expression changed. "Oooh... ITCHY! ITCHY! SO ITCHY!" he screamed.

"Don't scratch!" I yelled.

"Why? Does scratching make it worse?"

"No, I just don't want to see you scratching your ass!" I growled.

"Yeah! Haven't we been tortured enough?" Ning asked, picking up Xiao.

"HEY! What are you--"

"Since you're too pre-occupied with your itchy ass, I'll carry the girl! I'm not gonna kill her or anything!" Ning said, rolling his eyes.

"BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP," I growled. "I don't care HOW many pit stops we have to make! We are NOT failing this mission!"

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27 pit stops later, (no comment) we finally arrived at the Nanman palace. It was actually a large conglamoration of stones, arranged in a pyramid-shape, surrounded by tropical life, but I guess it was considered a palace for these kinds of people.

"So, what do we do now?" Tong asked, scratching his itchy place.

"Knock on the gate, itchy butt," Gan Ning said.

I knocked on the gate. "Um, hello?" I yelled.

One of the gates finally swung open, revealing a woman who looked older than me, dressed in Amazon-like clothes. "Who the heck are you?" the woman demanded.

Tong shoved me out of the way and stuck out his dirty, butt-scratched hand. "Hi! I'm Ling Tong! I'm from Wu and I am SIN-GLE!!" he said, grinning like an idiot.

"Whatever you do, don't touch that hand!" Gan Ning hollered.

The woman looked at him like he was a piece of trash stuck to the sole of her boot. "I'm Zhu Rong, the Goddess of Fire, and I'm also NOT interested," she said. "Can I help you kids?" (Zhu Rong is wearing her DW4 outfit, with her DW4 VOICE!!)

"Um, yes. I'm Princess Sun Shang Xiang, of Wu, and we've come to speak with the King, Meng Huo," I said.

"Oh. In that case, come on in," Zhu Rong said. She looked at Xiao, then back at Gan Ning, who still had her over his shoulder. "Aren't you a little old for her?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, this girl ain't my girlfriend! She's just unconcious!" Ning said.

"Oh. Hey, wait a minute, you look familiar..." Zhu Rong said, her eyes narrowing. "Aren't you that stupid kid from a while back?"

"Umm, I don't recall," Ning said, obviously lying.

"Yeah, you were the little ass who tried the 'Is it hot out here, or is it just YOU' line on me," Zhu Rong said angrily.

"Oh, um, yeah, that was me," Ning said innocently.

"Try anything like that this time and I'll set you on fire again," she warned. "C'mon, Meng Huo's over here." She turned and lead the way.

I grabbed Ning by his collar. "Hold your horses, hotpants. Exactly HOW long ago was this?"

"I was 17, baby, relax," Ning said. He glanced over at Tong, who was busy scratching a place I'd rather leave unknown, and leaned over and kissed me. "Don't worry 'bout it, I was a stupid kid."

"Okay, just making sure," I said.

"ARE YOU COMING OR NOT!?" Zhu Rong screamed.

"TONG! Get your tongue off the floor, and let's go!" I hollered, and we ran after her.

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Another short, I-want-those-5-minutes-of-my-life-back chapters. Ah well, (I think) Ch 27 is long. :D But if it's not... err... YOU SHALL SEE MONDAY!!