Gohan's face hurt. A lot. In fact, the throbbing was what woke him up. Why was his face hurting? Did a bee sting him? Did Mr. Piccolo make him chop a tree down with his face again (don't ask)? Opening his eyes, he immediately squinted them. The sky, it was full of color. Was it evening already? Boy, Mr. Piccolo was going to be mad that he was sleeping through the day.

Bringing himself up, he found himself near a road. Nothing unusual there since they had camped on roadsides before. However, the packs weren't anywhere in sight. Had someone robbed them? Looking around, Gohan found no sight of Mr. Piccolo or the packs. Feeling nervous, Gohan moved his hand to grip his sword hilt, surprise hitting him when he grasped nothing but air. Jerking his head down, he saw that his sword wasn't in the scabbard. In fact, the sword and scabbard weren't anywhere.

And that's when it hit him. He and Mr. Piccolo had been attacked earlier in the day. He had seen men tackle his comrade, one of which had been killed. He had rushed to help his mentor but had been disarmed moments later. Now that he thought about it, he was a bit embarrassed by that. Mr. Piccolo would be having some words with him about it the next time he saw him.

Getting up onto his feet, his eyed the area closely. His first few observations had only been quick, not allowing for much scrutiny. This time, he was looking for anything out of the ordinary.

The whole place had been cleaned from what he could tell. No weapons or clothing or people were anywhere. Well, except for him for some unknown reason. Unless Mr. Piccolo was very well hidden, it appeared he'd been taken with them. But why? It wasn't like he was important or anything. Nothing was making any sense.

Well, first thing's first, he needed to know where the green man was taken. Once he found Mr. Piccolo, he could figure out what to do from there. So…which way did they go? Moving up to the road, Gohan was happy to see a mess of footprints. That was good! He could follow them to where he wanted to go! But…what if other people had traveled this road while he was unconscious? Then he wouldn't know where they went!

Wait, if he had been unconscious and someone passed by, then it was possible they would've seen him and done something to help, or so he hoped. People weren't so selfish they would leave him lying there, right?

Right?

Staring at the road for awhile, it soon became apparently that a large group of tracks were heading towards his left, towards the west if he weren't mistaken. It was his best guess in any case. Perhaps he might run into someone that would confirm it.

It was at that moment that something caught the young man's eye. Looking, Gohan immediately found an object lying on the ground, something he recognized as Mr. Piccolo's old storybook. That was something at least, he had Mr. Piccolo's storybook! Quickly, the lad moved to pick it up, running one of his hands over the cover and binding. Oh yes, this was the book; he could remember like it was yesterday. Smiling, Gohan felt the urge to look at one of the many stories he had heard from the book and opened the cover, rifling through a few of the pages until stopping abruptly at one.

For a moment, Gohan wasn't quite sure what he was looking at. There were some things he recognized as words, but most of the page had pictures on it. Pictures of women to be precise. And even more precise would be pictures of women wearing nearly nothing at all…

Quickly, Gohan scanned through several more pages before slamming the book shut, his face pale. Was this what Mr. Piccolo was looking at when he told him those bedtime stories? This…this wasn't a storybook. This wasn't a storybook at all!

As those thoughts settled in, Gohan's mind began feeding him more thoughts, different ones in fact. Looking around him for a moment, the young man then opened up the book again and began staring.

The first village had confirmed what he had hoped to find. A large group of men had passed through, heading to the west. Considering the symbols they carried on their banners, it was thought they were headed to the capital. It was more than a week since the attack and Gohan found himself staring at a large castle, the likes of which he had never seen before.

Well, to be more precise, it was a city with a large castle at its center. The tall walls that circled the city were composed mostly of large grey stones, the same being said of the battlements and the castle in the distance. Flags flapped strongly in the breeze throughout, an armored guard patrolling the high wall. A moat surrounded the city, a drawbridge being the only apparent way to enter the place, fortunately lowered at the moment. He couldn't tell much of the city itself, but there were more important things to worry about.

Taking a deep breath, Gohan walked across the lowered bridge and entered the city. There he got a better look at what was within the walls of this huge place. Buildings and gardens stretched all the way from the walls, reaching the castle at a distance. Gohan could feel himself gulp. It was gonna take awhile to get to that castle from here.

And as he predicted it was a long walk, but once he was there he came upon a new obstacle. The only entrance into the castle he could see was a huge gate being guarded by men more heavily armored than the ones that had attacked him and Mr. Piccolo. Instead of the more mobile leather armor, full metal plates wrapped around the bodies of the men, heavy looking axes and spears resting in their hands. Helmets with hinged visors covered their heads. It must've been quite hot in those things.

Almost as if to confirm that thought, one of the armored men collapsed into a heap of metal. One of his fellow guards looked at him and shook his head. "N00b," he said.

One of his fellow guards turned his head and looked at him. "N00b? What the hell kind of word is that?"

The first man shrugged. "Don't worry, it'll never catch on."

"It better not. I rather not have my kids calling each other that. Ugh."

An uncomfortable silence passed before the second guard spoke again. "Well, what are we gonna do with him?"

"Hmm…" the first guard thought. "Get me a paint brush and some paint. I'm gonna paint on him."

If there was such a thing as a man covered in metal looking incredulous, Gohan was definitely seeing it. "Paint on him? Paint what? What can you possibly do?"

"I was thinking of small penises."

"…I'll get the paintbrush."

Gohan slowly took a few steps away from those men. He wasn't too sure he wanted to get caught up in whatever mischief they were up to. Though that still left him one big problem: how the heck was he gonna get into that castle?

"Hey Mister, are you lost?"

Gohan practically jumped out of his skin. Looking around, he didn't see anyone that would or could talk to him. Was…was he hearing voices?

"Mister! Down here!"

Down? Tilting his head down, he soon found two children, both of them looking at him adorably. One was a boy with wildly spiky black hair and a face any old lady would want to pinch. The other was a purple-haired lad, who's blue eyes could give him a more serious look if he so wished. The current looks on their faces, though, immediately put him on guard. Every time he had run into a child with such a look, they had ended up using him in some bizarre prank, scam, or one time a human shield. No, he didn't want to go into details, though for each time it happened, he ended up having to pay for the damages with sweat, blood, and back-breaking labor while Mr. Piccolo yelled that he was doing something wrong. Hmm…why was he trying to save Mr. Piccolo again?

"Umm, is there something I can do for you?" Gohan asked, eyeing the kids warily.

Each held their adorable look. "If you would be kind, could you spare us some money?" the child with the purple hair said. "We're trying to collect some for a good cause and anything you could give us would be much appreciated."

Gohan stated at them for awhile. "What kind of cause?"

"Umm…we…need the money…to…save...something. Yes, we needed it to save something."

"What kind of something?"

"Umm," the kid said before looking about, his eyes falling on the guards, who were just leaving their post, all except for the one that had fallen earlier. On his armor were bright paint colors, each describing various sizes of the male anatomy and sometimes the very word itself. "We want to make sure that guards have the proper armor they need to do their jobs. After all, they do put their lives up to protect the common man."

"I guess that's a good cause," Gohan said reluctantly. "Unfortunately though, I don't have any money. I was robbed several days ago."

Both kids lost their cute faces. "You sure you don't have any money?" the purple-haired kid said.

"Yeah. Sorry."

The kid rolled his eyes. "C'mon Goten, this guy's a cheapskate. Let's find someone else."

"Okay!" the kid called Goten said. "Bye Mr. Cheapskate!" Both kids then began walking away, heading to who knows where. Though he wasn't too fond of the name, Gohan supposed there were worst things to be called.

Returning to his previous source of trouble, Gohan couldn't help but say aloud "Now how do I get in there?"

Apparently the two kids weren't too far away to hear him say that. "Get in where?" the purple-haired kid asked, looking back at him.

Turning to look at the kids, he pointed his finger to the castle and simple replied "That."

Both boys looked at the castle for a moment before Goten said "Why would you want to get in there?"

Hmm, how much should he tell these kids? That he was on some kind of rescue mission? What if they told someone that would cause him trouble? Well, who could they tell anyways? It wasn't like the lived there or anything. "A friend of mine was taken there a few days ago and I want to get him out. Unfortunately, I don't know where he is in there or how to get him out."

The boys looked at each and then back at him. "You want to bust him out of prison?" the purple-haired boy asked.

Huh, when he put it that way, it sort of sounded like he was doing something bad. "Uhh, pretty much."

For the longest while, the two young boys stared at him. Slowly, the corners of their mouths began to twitch up, their eyes starting to shine. "You…you really want to do a prison break? A real life one?" Goten asked in an awestruck voice.

Uhh, hadn't he already answered that one?

Before he could answer though, the other boy's face lit up with a smile, his body trembling. "This'll be so awesome!" he exclaimed. "C'mon Goten, let's help him out!"

"Alright! But…how do we get him in, Trunks?"

Trunks fell into a thinking pose, one of his hands rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "That's a good question. Perhaps we can disguise him, but with what?" Looking around the area, his eyes soon fell on the lonely guard who stilled laid unconscious on the ground. "Hey, maybe we can dress him in that guy's armor! No one will notice him if we say he's our bodyguard or something."

"That's a great idea Trunks!" Goten agreed, jumping in place. "Hey you! Go pick that guy up. We need to hide him somewhere and get you in that armor!"

Gohan gulped. How come he was getting a bad feeling from this?

He was right. Wearing this heavy armor was hot. In fact, he could swear he was sweating from the encased heat and the amount of energy he had to exert just to move in the thing. After Gohan had huffed and puffed and dragged the man in the armor to a somewhat secluded spot, namely behind a shed that just conveniently happened to be close by, he and the two boys had struggled to remove the armor and place it on him. It had been hard but they managed to succeed.

And like the boys said, it got him in the castle, though with plenty of snickering. Though he could barely hear much in the helmet, he caught some of the guards they passed laughing at his private parts-covered armor. Apparently some of them thought the boys had done it to him. Fortunately, it helped with their story of him guarding them so that was all that mattered.

Unfortunately, he was dying to get out of this metal suit. "Uhh, kid?" Gohan spoke, trying to keep his voice down. "When can I get out of this armor?"

The one with purple hair, Trunks if he remembered right, turned and glared at him. "My name is not kid. It is Trunks."

"Sorry Trunks, but can I take this stuff off soon? It's very uncomfortable."

"How do you expect to get to the dungeon without it? That was the whole point of putting it on."

That was a decent enough point. "Well, I'll be able to move faster without it. We can stash it somewhere hidden and get to the dungeon quicker."

"He is kinda right," Goten said. "He is so slow in that thing that we could run all over the castle and back and he would only get to the end of the hallway."

Trunks snorted. "Fine. We just need to find a closet or something." Looking around, he immediately found a door he thought would do the job. "Over there. You head for that door and I will check it out to make sure it is not being used."

Before he could reply, Trunks had scampered for the door, leaving Gohan to sigh. These kids had an odd way of talking, he noticed. It was almost if they wanted to pronounce every word to perfection. What was the point of that anyway? They didn't do it outside the castle, but now they were acting like completely different people. Ugh, it was too much to think of at this point. He might as well follow the suggestion; it wasn't as if he knew the place well. Awkwardly, he marched to the door, arriving in time for Trunks to finish his inspection of the room and hurry him in. "We are in luck, this room is not in use. Quick, get that stuff off so we can go!"

Entering the room, Gohan didn't bother looking around. Once the door was closed, both boys in the room with him, he began stripping off the armor, grateful to be feeling fresh air. Hearing and feeling the boys working on the straps and buckles, Gohan could feel as the weight on him slowly dissipated. What a glorious feeling it was! When all the armor had finally been removed, the young man felt as if he could collapse on the ground and sleep for ever.

Unfortunately, Trunks wasn't going to let him have that pleasure. "Alright, let's get going." Opening the door, he looked to the left and right before opening it wider and motioning for him and Goten to follow. Once in the hallway, they were back on their journey to the dungeons.

"Hey! Who the heck are you?"

Gohan froze in place. Just as he and the boys had rounded the corner at the end of the hall, they happened to run into another guard, this one wearing the lighter leather armor. "I don't believe I've seen you before" he said, inspecting Gohan.

That was when Trunks made his presence known. "Hey, he is with us!"

The guard looked down surprised. "Lord Trunks! And Lord Goten! I didn't see you there!"

Both kids didn't like the sound of that. "Hey! Watch your tongue!"

The guard straightened out his posture. "My apologies, lords. But I still must ask who the young man is with you."

For once, Trunks seemed stumped. "Umm, he is…uhhh…"

"He is my brother!" Goten blurted out.

"Your brother? I wasn't aware you had one, Lord Goten."

"Yeah, he is my older brother. He usually does not come to the castle here because…umm…Mom…Mom! Yeah, Mom wants him to be a sch…schal…schol…scholar! Yeah, so he is usually back at the Monkey House studying old papers and stuff."

"Hmmm," the guard said as he studied the increasingly nervous Gohan. "He does have a resemblance to you. What is your name again? So I can make sure I recognize you with your full title."

Okay, he needed a name, something that would go with the Monkey House. But, he didn't know how they named their families. That was a problem and a big one at that. He only had to go off of Trunks and Goten for the mo—

Hey, Goten, Gohan. Those were similar enough. "I'm..." he paused, coughing a bit when he saw the guard narrow his suspicious eyes at him. Great, he needed to sound like these kids now. Thinking the words in his head, he then corrected "I am Gohan."

The guard seemed satisfied by that answer. "Lord Gohan," he repeated. "Many apologies for not recognizing you, milord. It won't happen again."

Gohan nodded his head. "Uhh, sure."

And with that the guard left them, traveling down the hall they had just used. Once the guard was out of hearing distance, the three continued down their new corridor. "That was a good one, Goten," Trunks said. "The guy believed it and everything."

"Thanks Trunks!" Goten replied, a hand going to the back of his head.

Huh, that looked a bit familiar.

"And you, good name," Trunks said as he turned his attention to Gohan. "I would not have thought of making up a name like that."

"But that is my name," Gohan responded.

"Huh? Really? Wow, that was dumb. You should not give your real name to people, especially strangers."

"But, you gave me your name," Gohan protested.

"That is completely different. We already met."

"Yeah!" Goten agreed. "We were asking you for money so we could buy that sweet food in the city!"

"Goten! You weren't supposed to tell him that!" Trunks reprimanded.

Goten squeaked as his hands quickly moved to cover his mouth. "I'm sorry Trunks!" he said, his words being muffled by his hands. Huh, weird. They would speak in that weird tongue around the people in the castle, but then talk like any regular person around each other. How did they know when to use which tongue? Very confusing.

It was then that Gohan could feel himself sweatdropping. These kids were something else.

To TheMasenkoMan: Correct! Have a cigar!

To Fan: Thanks!

RyRy tested; MaMa approved.