Guntz was at home one morning, going through some of his old ammunition to find useable rounds when the door opened and someone walked inside, keeping quiet so he didn't notice. Just when he was about to get up and stretch he felt a tap on the shoulder and leapt into the air, letting out a decidedly unmanly shriek of fear before calming down when he saw who it was: Popka, looking smugger than usual.

"EEK! I mean, argh! What the hell, Popka! Make yourself at home, why don't you?!" Guntz yelled in indignation.

"Sup, Guntz." Popka said. "You look busy."

Letting out a derisive snort, Guntz turned around back to the pile of miscellaneous shells he had been combing through. "That's right, and I'm not getting less busy so make with why you're here or make yourself scarce."

Grinning to himself, Popka got right to business and pulled something out from behind him; a photograph. "Very well. Do you, by any chance, recognise this photo?"

Guntz turned around with a sigh, before catching sight of the photo and turning white in panic. Unable to say a word he tried to scramble to grab it from Popka's claws but the dog-creature simply jumped up to the rafters and out of reach, leaving Guntz collapsed on the floor looking up at him.

The photo was from a few weeks prior, and showed Guntz and Klonoa both dressed up in full girly pink dresses and makeup, while Lolo stood between them showing off her handiwork. He had lost a bet, and had been forced to sit through a makeover courtesy of Lolo and Tat, the latter of whom had taken the photo for posterity. The grim expression on Guntz's face in the picture told the whole story of how enthusiastic he was about that.

"Where in the name of FUCK did you get that?" Guntz croaked.

"Found it." Popka said plainly. "I was looking at some of the pictures in Lolo's scrapbook and spotted this. Seemed odd so I decided to verify that it really was you in the photo. Seems by your reaction I was right on the money."

Trying to regain control of the situation, Guntz attempted to get up when something occurred to him. "W... wait, you go through Lolo's stuff?"

"Don't change the subject."

Popka held the photo in his hand, running it between his fingers. "The way I see it, this seems like something you'd prefer not to be seen by anyone. Hell, think about what would happen to your tough mercenary reputation if your peers were to see this and realize what you get up to?"

Horror crossed Guntz's face as it dawned on him what Popka was getting at. "Oh piss off, are we actually doing this? Are you REALLY trying to blackmail me right now?!"

"Is it working?"

Guntz groaned in frustration and buried his head in his hands. As much as he hated himself for thinking it, Popka was right. Guntz's tough outward demeanor was the bread and butter of his role both as a hero and as a bounty hunter. He'd be a laughing stock if any of his tough guy buddies saw that photo.

Finally, after a long silence, he spoke. "Fine. You win. What are your terms?"

With a triumphant grin, Popka jumped back down from the rafters and stood in front of Guntz. "Let me lay it out for ya real easy. If we work this out, I'll see to it that this photo never gets seen by anyone. But I want a few things from you, and if I don't get them I'm sending this to every news service in Lunatea. And you'd better not go blabbing to anyone that I have it. Capiche?"

Guntz winced. He didn't need this, not today or any day. "Screw it, fine, yeah. Whatever it takes to keep that photo a secret, I'll do."

Chuckling to himself, Popka put the photo away again and rubbed his claws in anticipation. "Good lad. Now, to start, I want you to buy me enough bottles of fizzy soda to last me the rest of the week. A pack of twenty should do. And I want tickets to the new Revenge Of The Cyber-Moo movie that premieres this weekend. And while you're at it, make sure it's a good seat! And of course I'll want you to order takeout pizza for me, give me your old comic books, give me a backrub, a glass of ginger ale, a donut..."

Guntz's jaw dropped as Popka's list of demands grew longer and longer. All of a sudden he was starting to consider if he was better off just showing everyone the photo himself...

...

Later that day, Klonoa and Lolo were walking through the park in La-Lakoosha, enjoying the sunny day. The flowers were in bloom, which was exciting for Lolo's gardener side, and Klonoa was happy when she was happy. The only flaw in this nice walk was that Guntz wasn't with them. They had gone by his house but he wasn't in, so he was perhaps off chasing down some criminal.

As they rounded a corner they heard an odd noise and stopped in their tracks at the sight in front of them. Guntz was on all fours and walking down the path towards them, while Popka was riding on his back shouting things like "GIDDYUP!"

Guntz's heart sank when he saw Klonoa and Lolo were up ahead. Of all the people who had to see him be humiliated like this...

Klonoa and Lolo were both so shocked at the sight that they were at a complete loss for words before Lolo finally spoke.

"Um, Guntz, are you alright?"

Laughing sarcastically, Guntz made a face. "Yeah! Fine! Never better! Everything's real fuckin' peachy here!"

Popka kicked Guntz in the side to shut him up. "Quiet! Noble steeds don't talk, do they?"

Lolo turned her attention to Popka. "Popka, what in Claire's name are you doing?"

Popka shrugged. "Oh, nothing. Just didn't feel like using my legs this afternoon. Luckily I knew just the person to lend a hand and he was all too happy to help!"

Klonoa was completely stupefied at the sight, not quite able to rationalize it. Lolo, meanwhile, looked increasingly concerned.

"Popka, what's going on here? Why are you making Guntz carry you around? Surely he didn't just agree to do this."

Deciding that he had no interest in trying to come up with excuses, Popka instead decided to make his escape. "Sorry, no time to talk! Gotta be down at the ice cream place within the hour!"

Kicking Guntz's side again, he cried out "RIDE LIKE THE WIND!" and Guntz, looking decidedly pissed off, crawled away with speed and round the corner out of sight.

Only when the pair were alone did Klonoa find his tongue and speak.

"J... Jeez, Lolo! Did you see that? I never thought Guntz would do something like that!"

"I don't like it." Lolo said quietly with an uncharacteristically firm look. "You and I know Guntz well enough to know he'd never demean himself like that. Looks to me like Popka was forcing him to do it."

"Forcing him?" Klonoa said. "How'd he manage that?"

"I may have some idea." Lolo muttered. "Do you know what I found missing this morning?"

"No?"

"One of the photos from my scrapbook. A photo of the makeover me and Tat gave you and Guntz, remember?"

"Oh!" Klonoa said in recognition, before the implications sunk in. "Oh... you think Popka took it."

"Who else could have gotten into my room and seen it? Mark my words, Popka's holding that photo over Guntz's head. Probably has him doing all sorts of stuff for his own amusement."

Klonoa considered these words, and he began to feel worried for Guntz's sake. "What do we do, then? He might show everyone the photo if we tried to confront him. He'd probably think Guntz snitched on him!"

Lolo thought hard. She cared a lot for Guntz and seeing him being treated like this by someone she considered her best friend really upset her. She thought he was better than this. What if he had been the one who had an embarrassing photo taken of him...?

Then she got an idea. It was probably diabolical, but at this point she was sure Popka deserved it. And she wasn't going to take Guntz receiving such shabby treatment lying down.

"What we need to do is give Popka a taste of his own medicine..."

...

Popka yawned as he walked up to Lolo's dorm room at the Claire Moa temple. It had been quite a fun day of bossing Guntz around and having him wait on him hand and foot. He'd probably do it for a few more days, then cut the guy some slack and put the photo back in Lolo's scrapbook.

It wasn't like she would notice it was gone, or anything...

As he opened the door, he saw Klonoa and Lolo waiting for him, both of them sat down and facing the door.

Lolo smiled sweetly at his arrival, though there was a dangerous look in her eyes. "Hey, Popka! What did you get up to today?"

Popka chuckled nervously, not liking the look she was giving him. "Oh, not much. Was just out with some friends and stuff."

Lolo got up from her chair. "Is that so? You seemed to be having quite the time with Guntz earlier." There was a slightly accusatory tone to her voice which made Popka sweat nervously, unable to think of a good excuse.

"Oh you know Guntz, always ready to make people laugh, that scamp!" was the cover story he finally decided upon, the desperation all too clear in his tone.

Klonoa chuckled a little at that cock-and-bull statement, but Lolo stayed quiet, circling Popka slowly as she planned her next move.

"Say Popka, we've been thinking, Klonoa and I, and we've decided that you've been left out of some of our get-togethers as of recent."

"Oh?"

"Oh, yes." Lolo drawled as she returned to Klonoa's side, one hand behind her back. "And we decided to change that. We've been going on some makeovers together recently, and we're certain that it's high time you joined us!"

Popka stared at her, not expecting that. "Um, I'm flattered, but I'll have to pass. Dressing up as a girly-girl doesn't sound like my idea of a good time. No offense."

Lolo shrugged. "None taken. Just seemed like you would be interested considering how much of an interest you took in Guntz getting involved!" She said, raising her voice before bringing her hand up to show the pilfered photograph in her hands.

Popka yelped in surprise and searched around his person for the photo, only to find it not there. He was certain it had been when he walked in.

"How did you..."

Lolo giggled. "A lady never reveals her secrets. And considering how much of a hard time you gave Guntz, it only seems fair to see what the appeal of it is for yourself, don't you think?"

Popka looked around, backing away slowly, ready to bolt for the door. "C'mon guys, it was just a joke! Can't you take me having a little fun?!"

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Lolo gave a smile.

"Klonoa, sweetheart, could you get the door?"

Klonoa nodded and went over to open it, before a blur of black and white came hurtling in.

"HI POPKA DARLING, THERE YOU ARE!"

Popka screamed in fear and jumped back as he saw Tat floating in the doorway, her arms laden with different makeup and dress-up supplies.

"I must say, Popka, it's broken my heart how you've always refused to come down to the salon so I can make you look all nice. But Lolo and Klonoa gave me a call and, well, let's just say they convinced me to show the initiative! I've got everything set up and ready for you!"

Popka tried to crawl away in fear before Lolo picked him up and brought him towards Tat.

"N-no! Guys, no! I refuse! Timeout! TIMEOUT!"

"Sorry, Popka." Lolo said gravely. "I really don't like it when you try to bully my boyfriends."

Holding her arms out she passed Popka over to Tat, who quickly started floating towards the door with him in a firm grip.

"Don't you worry, Popka, you're gonna love the new you!" Tat trilled as Popka screamed, the door closing behind them as his fate was sealed...

...

Guntz lay down in bed, utterly dejected. This had been a really bad day. Maybe not the worst day of his life, he'd had his fair share, but it was in the top ten. Hopefully that mutt would eventually get bored and stop tormenting him.

The rotary phone on his bedside table rang, and Guntz groaned in frustration as he went over to answer.

"What?"

"Guntz?" Klonoa's name rang out. "You up?"

"I am now." Guntz muttered. "This better be good."

"It is. Listen, we figured out that Popka was blackmailing you with that photo. We confronted him just now and you can be sure he won't be doing it again."

Guntz jumped out of bed, now fully awake. "Y... you did? A-and the photo?"

"Lolo got it back." Klonoa continued. "She's going to make sure it's kept safe so you don't feel embarrassed about it being seen anymore."

Guntz stared straight ahead for a moment, before jumping up in silent joy that the ordeal was finally over. Then, he collected himself so Klonoa wouldn't notice over the line. "I, um... I see. That twerp is getting his just desserts, I hope?"

"Something like that?" Klonoa replied, a little amusement in his voice. "Actually, Lolo called up Tat and arranged to give Popka a makeover of his very own. Thought it seemed like a fitting punishment for running you ragged all day. She took him down to the salon just now."

An evil look crossed Guntz's face. "Say no more. I'll be right there." he said, before hanging up. Throwing on some clothes, he rummaged through some drawers before finding an old camera with a reel of film still inside. He grinned.

Now the ball was in his court...