chapter 4: Blue in the Face Terry Bogard examined the results sheet for the day's matches, as his brother put the phone down. "Who was that?" He asked. "Guess."Andy replied. "Oh,"said Terry as he looked away and rubbed his chin. "Her...". Terry looked at Andy over his shoulder "Your mystery kidnapper, or should I say, saviour!" Andy turned away "Humph." Terry and put his hands around his face in a mocking -scared-little-boy-pose, and continued in a chirpy voice: "Oh help! I'm surrounded by girls! Oh what will I do?" Then he jumped onto the sofa by the wall, and pointed to where he just sat, "Big Brother isn't here to say the day! I'll be ripped to shreds... or even worse, stripped naked! OOH!" Andy turned towards his brother with unhumoured scowl. But Terry pointed to the cieling of the dresser room. "Wait! A shadow blocked out the sun! Could it be? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No... It's super-wife!" At this point, Andy's scowl turned into a growl. But still Terry continued, waving his arms and looking into the imaginary sky: "Oh I'm saved! Oh my, my, mai! Will you stay and protect me for ever?" Terry then switched his sweet tone to a gruff one. "Sure thing, hubby-darling, but one thing.... What are you doing out of the kitchen?". With that Terry fell to the floor, laughing his head off. "CHO...REEEEPADAN!" Andy flicked his hair back, and headed for the door. "I'm sorry bro, I guess I have to learn how to control my temper...." Andy opened the door, and took one last glance at the crippled and burnt form that faintly resembled his brother. "I hope you're alright....or should I say, 'OKAY'!?... AHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAH" As the door slammed, Terry wondered to himself about wether he was too old to be teasing his brother, or too slow to dodge that damned flaming kick of his... Terry stared at the cieling. At least he didn't have to fight today. He could recover from this mild injury by tomorrow. He could join Joe at the bar. "Heh," he chuckled to himself, "Joe's probably trying it on with King, and he'll blame it on the drink..." Then a knock sounded at the door. "Who is it?" He called. "Mary...But you can call me Blue." was the reply. Terry shot up like a rocket. "J-just h-hold on a sec- I'm not dressed!". He ran to his wardrobe and opened its doors. "Hmm, what today? Blue, Dark Blue, Black, or Red?" He closed his eyes and reached out. He grabbed an oufit. When he opened his eyes he found his traditional outfit in his hands. Red waistcoat, white tee, denim blue jeans. Well, he had a dozen of them made for occasions like this... He shoved the charred old oufit under the bed and made for the door. He opened it to find Blue Mary leaning against the side, asleep. He motioned a finger to touch her, when she opened one eye and said with a smile, "Hiya Handsome!". ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- They chatted crap for twenty minutes, avoiding the topics of fathers and martial arts, before Terry could take no more and asked: "How are you feeling after today's fight?" To which she replied, "Absolutely fine! I took one hit clean hit to the rib and that's it! No problem!" He couldn't believe it. "Are you sure? What if you have to fight tomorrow?" "Yeah, so? I'm tougher than you think! Is that a burn on the side of your face? You look a little roughed up!" "What, this? This is Nothing! I had a little sparring with my bro... Heck, I could take on anyone right now! AND wake up tomorrow for more!" He smirked at her. "So could I!" she retorted. "Oh yeah? Well, how about now! A physical challenge!" He was confident. "Okay then ...endurance! We'll see who's the toughest... Let's do press ups!" She smiled back. "Fine" Terry said as he dropped to his hands and knees. "Okay!" said Blue "no pun intended." "Are you ready?" said Terry "Hey, c'mon, c'mon!" was the cheeky reply. "GO!!!" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Andy walked past the lift, and took the stairs to his floor. He had sneaked out of Mai's room as she slept, so he was spared more embarrasement, avoiding her team-mates. "Mai Shiranui.... Mai Bogard.....hmmmm, I just don't know....." As he looked up from his thoughts, he found himself in front of the Fatal Fury Team dressing room. Just as he was about to push the key into the lock, he heard..... he thought he heard, no, it couldn't be.... but there it was again.... he could swear that was the sound of a female... making.... noises.... He looked around, and then put his ear to the door. This was what he heard: "Uh!....huh!....Hey! ...you're slowing down!...uh....c'mon!... Faster..uh!" "What? How long ..uh...have we...huh... been doing this?" "Half an ....hour....ohhh...huh!" "That it? Huh....I could..huh...go on ...for....at least another hour!" "Whooo look at you...you're all sweaty!...huh..." At this point an arm slid around Andy's waist. Andy was so suprised he jumped straight up onto the ceiling. Seeing Mai giggling below him, he hopped off the lightbulb and brushed himself off. "Humph! I thought you were asleep!" He looked away, nose upturned. "It was pretty funny," She said, with her hand over her mouth, trying to repress her laughter, "watching you put a log into bed and singing it soft love songs!!!" 'Oh great,' thought Andy 'Now I really hate that trick. Damn Hanzou, Galford and all other stinky ninja tricks!!!' ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Back at the Hotel Bar, taken over by King, Joe Higashi took delight in watching the waitresses pick up his wallet off the floor for him. But now he felt, the games were over. He beckoned King over to him. "Sayyyyyyy baaaaaaaaaabyyyyyyy! I....." he was stopped by a large orange, muffling his speech. "Sorry Joe, I've told you before, I don't go for men who walk around in their boxer shorts 24 hrs a day, and especially when they keep it that way four years running." Joe gave the "puppy dog eyes" look. But she just gave him the bill. He took the orange out of his mouth and threw it over his shoulder. "Oi!!! Did you throw this orange?" Joe looked behind him to see a man in a white karate suit, wearing a mask. The mask had a long nose... "Yeah, so what???" replied the drunken Higashi, raising his fists. "You bastard! Try this melon!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- end of chapter 4. thegunsmith@hotmail.com characters (c) SNK otherwise (c) Gunsmith 1997 All chapters now accessible from my page, with others at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/3860/neogeo.htm ...loving HK Young And Dangerous movies and Jet Lee!