My hand is in pain.

I'll explain why in a moment.

I went to the pond park in search of the Thorned Prince. I had the sword hidden inside my satchel just in case. I found him pretty quickly.

"I've been waiting for you Daniel," He said.
"You knew I was coming?" I asked.
"I read your blog," He said. "And before you ask, I have no idea where your friend is. But I know who might."
"And who would that be?" I asked.
"I believe it's the same bitch he works for," He said, pointing behind me.

I turned and saw that Akihiko had followed me there.

"Hello, Daniel," he said.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I ran into an old acquaintance earlier," He explained. "He informed me that you lived in this town, so I decided to check your blog, and I found out you'd be coming here to search for Ren." Then he drew a really long sword which was at his side.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"I have orders to eliminate you both," He said.

He charged at me, sword ready, but before I could react, someone else appeared there between us and blocked his daito with a cutlass. He looked younger than me, but I couldn't actually see his face behind his mask. It had a weird looking symbol on it, but I didn't get a good look at it.

"Stand down, Samurai," he said.
"And what do you plan to do if I don't, Estren?" Akihiko asked.
"If you try to harm Daniel, I'll have no choice but to unleash the fires of hell," Estren said.

That didn't seem to bother Akihiko. He continued to swing his sword, but then something bizarre happened. Estren's cutlass burnt into flame and he started fighting a lot more aggressively.

"Had enough?" He asked, kicking Akihiko in the chest and knocking him over. Something about his voice had changed.
"Not even close," Akihiko said, getting back up.

I reached into my bag and pulled the sword out.

"You don't plan on interrupting them do you?" The Thorned Prince asked.
"You said that Akihiko works for the person you took Tony, right?" I asked. "I have to get the answers from him."
"I thought you might say something like that," He replied. As I watched him, I saw the craziest thing ever. His right arm started to harden and change. It grew and became gnarled like a tree branch. Then it actually became wood and started dripping blood. Yeah, that's kind of creepy. I charged at Akihiko, and started fighting him. I think Estren and the Thorned Prince got in a fight with each other. I wasn't really paying attention.

It wasn't easy, but I eventually beat Akihiko.

"How?" He demanded. "How could you overpower me?"
"I'm just that bad ass," I said. "Now tell me where Tony is!"
"Do you really want to know that badly?" said a woman's voice from behind me.

I turned around and saw a woman made of solid wood standing there with Tony lying on the ground unconscious at her feet.

"Here he is," she said coyly. I tried to run to him, but it seemed as though some kind of invisible force was holding me back. Almost like i was attached to super strong strings that were restricting my movements. Now that I think about it, Maybe that is what it was.

She continued taunting me. I got really frustrated with her. I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to break free from whatever was holding me back. I rushed over to her and slugged her straight in the temple -which is why my hand hurts- then I side blade kicked her in the jaw and proceeded to stomp repeatedly on her face after she went down. Then Akihiko tackled me from behind. I grappled with him for a while, but then Estren put him in a head lock and they both vanished.

I got up and looked around. That woman was gone, but Tony was still lying there. the Thorned Prince shot me a quick glance, then vanished through a portal. There were a bunch of black-leaved trees on the other side of it.

I picked up Tony and dragged him home.

He's still asleep right now. Needless to say, I've got some things to ask him when he wakes up.