As Kouga was fleeing the cursed springs, he didn't even take a moment to notice his surroundings.
About an hour later, he stopped for a break, near what appeared to be an ocean's edge. He walked over, and took a dip in the water.
"Whew! Man, that was some run..." He said to himself. As he shook off the water, he took a look around. "Where am I...? I don't remember seeing any of this on the way here... Well, no problem! A big-shot wolf like me won't have any problem returning home!"
After his short break, and a little self-encouragement, Kouga was back on the road, heading back to meet up with his tribe. After yet another hour, he stopped for another break, this time in the middle of a clearing in the forest.
"Damn!" Kouga groaned, wiping his forehead, "I should have easily been there by now!" He looked about at his surroundings. "Man, am I in some kind of gigantic forest or something...!?" He said, looking all around. He started walking, taking his time this time to try to figure out just where the heck he was!
Everything looked so big! "Must be something in the water or rain..." Kouga thought idly to himself as he continued through the green labyrinth.
Just then, Kouga saw something that REALLY sent a shiver up his spine. A gargantuan cicada, at least 3 feet tall, was crawling right along the ground in front of him.
"Whoa whoa! How the hell did that thing get so frickin' huge!?" He said to himself, pulling back, away from the beast. Eventually, it merely flew off on it's own, doing no one any harm. "Okay... Now I KNOW there's something freaky going on..." He told himself.
Just then, there was a loud stomp! It nearly made Kouga jump out of his skin! Without even looking back, Kouga sprinted off, not wanting to know what made such a powerful, earth-shaking stomp!
As the wolf man continued to flee, the stomps didn't seem to end, and no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't escape! Not to mention he had yet to recover from his earlier fatigue. After a few mere minutes, Kouga fell forward, completely worn out.
"Hey! Look!" A man said, who then picked Kouga up.