It was the worst possible time to notice it. Truly, any time before now would've been so much better to make this discovery. How she hadn't noticed it, she didn't know, but she had now and there was no way she could travel in this predicament. She had to fix this first before they would be going anywhere.

She needed some new clothes.

Videl couldn't help but blame the state of her dress on that fight yesterday. She knew it was covered in mud of course, but she really didn't care since she had been so exhausted. But the mud was of little concern at this point. Her dress was ripped and torn all over the place, making it unable to cover her in any way, shape, or form. There was no way she would be walking the roads of this world with certain parts of her body showing. She wasn't like Launch in that regard. So, the first thing she needed to do was get the remains of her male companions and make them get her a new outfit.

Walking through the halls of the inn, Videl searched for their rooms. She had first went to the baths since that had been the last place she had left them. Sometime between then and now, the two had been removed from their various states of unconsciousness and/or possible deaths and placed somewhere else; thus her reason for looking for their rooms. Curse her inability to figure out where exactly those rooms were.

Resorting to checking every room that she could find, she grabbed the handle to the latest door she arrived it, swinging it open and looking into the dimly lit room. Seeing no one in there, she slammed the door shut with a look of disgust. Her patience for this was growing very, very thin at the moment.

Coming to another door, she repeated the first step, this time finding the room occupied. Squinting her eyes, she looked to see if the person she saw was who she was looking for. When that did nothing to reveal the person's identity, she barged in and announced her presence. "Hey moron, wake up! We have to talk."

A low groan followed her announcement, reluctant movements being made as well. A familiar head of black hair appeared and Videl knew she had found one of last night's victims. "But Mr. Piccolo, can't I have five more minutes?" he mumbled.

Videl could feel her anger rising again. "Do I look like a guy to you?" she bellowed. That caused Gohan's head to shoot up, turning to look at her a moment later as his eyes focused on her. He adverted his eyes from her robe-clad body once he realized that was all she was wearing. She couldn't help the smug feeling she felt well up in her after seeing that; apparently he had learned his lesson from last night. There was hope for this lad yet.

"Wh-what I can I do for you, Princess?" he asked hesitantly.

"First, you can get out of bed and find Sharpner. Second, I need to get some knew clothes."

"What's wrong with your dress? Is it still muddy?"

So Gohan hadn't noticed the other damage to her dress. She didn't know whether to take that as a good thing or a bad thing. "My dress is completely ruined. It has tears all over it and there is no way I am traveling around in something that will not be able to hold itself together for a day."

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he began climbing out of his bed. "I'll go find Sharpner then. I'll get some of the money he won yesterday and leave a note for him."

Videl cocked an eyebrow. "And why are you leaving him a note?"

"Well, I figure you want to take care of your…uhh, wardrobe problem as soon as possible and it'll be easier to just take the money and get you new clothes then to wake him up. He can meet us there if he wakes up before we get back."

Videl pondered that for a moment before nodding her head in satisfaction. "I will be waiting for you at the front. Do not be long."

Gohan stared at the wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Unfortunately, it was the only thing interesting in the shop he could find to entertain himself. Videl had been in a closed off area trying on some new clothes and he had yet to see her reappear. That had left him to settle on his own devices and it was just his luck that this shop had absolutely nothing that could distract him for some period of time. Heck, the two had been in that shop for so long, Sharpner had had enough time to wake himself up, wonder where the hell he was and why he had such a pounding headache, wandered about the inn trying to find an outhouse, do his business at said outhouse, find Gohan's note, make his way to the shop while harassing any attractive girls he could find, and finally arrive at the shop to be as bored as he was.

And the sad part of this whole thing was that the shop had only one outfit.

That's right, just one set of clothes. The shop had run out of women's clothing and men's clothing the day before. The only thing the shopkeeper had was a set that he had been keeping for…a special occasion. Gohan wasn't sure what occasion it could possibly be, but Videl had snatched the outfit out of the man's hands and disappeared into an area that had been cordoned off for changing.

Sharpner seemed to share Gohan's sentiments as well. "How long does it take to put on some lousy clothes? I swear, women practically need someone to hold their hand when they need to buy something."

Well alright, Gohan didn't agree completely with Sharpner on all he said, but he had half of a point. That counted for something, right? Deciding to see if he could speed this process up somewhat, he walked over to the curtained enclosed space the princess was in. "Videl? Are you having any trouble in there?"

The young man was greeted with silence before he heard a mumbled "I am not coming out. Not in this." This caused Gohan to frown. What was wrong with the clothing? Was she just trying to be difficult or something?

"We can't stay here all day," he tried again. "If we have to, we can stop off at another village to get you something else, but right now it'll have to do. Alright?"

"No, it is not alright. In fact, it's beyond not being alright! I look ridiculous in this!"

Gohan sighed. "It can't be as bad as you think it is. Why don't you come out so we can get going. The longer you stay in there, the further away your friend gets and we've lost too much time here as it is."

Again, the princess responded with silence. Eventually, she muttered again "Alright. I'm coming out." Taking a few steps back to give her some space, Gohan waited patiently for the girl to come out.

When the curtain was drawn aside, Gohan's mouth immediately dropped to the ground, his eyes bulging out before a stream of blood shot out of his nose, causing him to fly off his feet and land on the ground. Dazed, the young man swore his eyes were playing tricks on him. There…there was just no way Videl of all people would wear something like…that. Tilting his head towards the girl, he quickly figured out that yes, yes she was wearing what he thought she was wearing.

It was all tight. Nothing was left to the imagination, and men all over the world could imagine a lot if you gave them the chance. A dark blue leotard covered her torso, stopping around her chest and pushing up her assets. Those were the first things Gohan's eyes kept going too and it was proving harder and harder to look anywhere else. The little white bow nestled between her breasts weren't helping to direct attention elsewhere either.

Videl held herself ramrod straight, her fishnet stocking covering her legs from toe to the high-rising cut of the leotard leg holes. Her arm length gloved arms crossed over her chest, indicating how uncomfortable she was and causing her breasts to become even more prominent than they already were. She had seen the dark-haired youth's reaction and well, she wasn't use to such reactions being caused by her. In fact, she felt rather foolish in this…what ever the hell this thing was.

However, she wasn't the only one to see Gohan falling onto his ass. Sharpner and the shopkeeper, the same guy that had tried to get Launch's attention the previous day, had seen it too and had come to investigate. Their reactions were close to Gohan's except they had more drool and managed to remain standing.

Well, that and Videl's fist striking their faces in one blow to stop them from staring.

Apparently though, libido was a very powerful pain reliever as both men continued to ogle the princess from high-heeled feet to the bunny ears perched on her head. "I would kill to see more women dressed like that," Sharpner finally said.

"Are you insane?" Videl shouted, her face burning in embarrassment. "I can't go out in public like this!" Twisting her pretty face into exasperation, she added to the shopkeeper "Why do you even have this?"

Upon being addressed, the shopkeeper woke out of his lust-induced stupor. "Some guy came into town a few months ago. Talked about starting this pamphlet thing with pictures in it of women dressed like that. He gave me a sample outfit in case I found a girl that would wear it. Said it would revolutionize the world or something and I must say, I think he's right."

A rant about how sick and perverted men were was about to spring from the depths of Videl's vocal cords, but she had her attention diverted at the last second. Hanging on a stand right behind the shopkeeper was brown woolen dress, one that looked just about her size. "Hey, I thought you said you were out of women's clothes!"

The man looked stupefied, not that he already wasn't. "Yeah, I am. So?"

"Then what is the dress doing right behind you?"

Turning around, the shopkeeper's eye fell on the dress. A few seconds went by as he processed this new development, which was followed by a split-second decision. Grabbing it, he pulled it off its stand and proceeded to tear it into a pile of rags. Once he was done, he turned back to Videl and said "Now we're all out of clothes."

Videl's Pervert Punisher collided with his face a second later, knocking the man out cold. Standing with her legs spread and her arms holding the mallet in front of her, the princess seethed, her chest expanding and contracting rapidly as she made loud huffs. Apparently even her weapon could somehow fit in tight-fitting clothes. "We're leaving," she growled as moved her mallet behind her, her hand moving back empty. Stalking towards the door, Sharpner and Gohan were treated to the sight of Videl's backside swinging from side to side, a large puff of cotton moving with it as it sat right above that body part. They were even given the bonus of seeing the uncovered upper half of her back, though the princess' hair did its best to provide some cover.

"Dude, I'm sooo gonna be enjoying this trip," Sharpner said.

It had been hard, but eventually the three had gotten word about Erasa. They had to search most of the village, but when they finally got something that pointed in her direction, they jumped on it and hit the road without looking back. It wouldn't have been so hard if Videl had been in her normal choice of clothes. As if were, the whole village was buzzing about her new attire, the women scoffing about it and their offended sensibilities and the men continuously trying to get a better look at her. It was for that reason that asking anyone with a Y-chromosome was utterly useless. They ended up having an old lady point them in the right direction, though they had kept Videl out of her sight.

Unfortunately, their encounter with Launch had delayed them. Erasa had been seen the day before, shortly before the three of them had entered town to get supplies. Now she had a whole day on them and this did nothing to help Videl's increasingly violent temper.

And then there was Sharpner.

Aside from a quick stop for lunch, Videl had been avoiding the blond the best she could, usually using Gohan as a human shield between her and his lecherous eyes. The two had run circle around the dark-haired youth practically all day. In the end, Gohan had gotten dizzy—she wasn't sure how that was accomplished but it did happen—and forced the two to separate, something that Videl was eternally grateful for and Sharpner was less than thrilled about.

However, now Videl was facing her latest obstacle. The sun was setting at the horizon, darkness claiming every inch the burning ball of light gave it. The three of them had made camp and dinner—a much acceptable one than that measly bread and cheese from earlier—had been consumed. Neither of those was her problem though.

It was their sleeping arrangement.

While Videl truly despised this…this…bunny rabbit monstrosity, it really made her scorn it more when she discovered in her changing room that she couldn't keep her protection on, i.e. her chastity belt. Just to make this thing fit, she had to remove it and store it in one of the packs. This made her feel very defenseless.

A fact that Sharpner was well aware of. Very well aware of.

Biting her lip as she sat on a stump near the fire, Videl pondered endlessly what she could do, crossing her legs as she weighted her options. There was no way she trusted him to keep his hands to himself if she fell asleep and she needed to sleep. She had considered knocking the blond out, but there was no telling when he would wake up. While the morning would have been preferable—or even better, never again—it would be her luck that he recovered in the middle of the night and decide to pull something on her. She needed a buffer, something that would make the blond thing twice before he attempted something unsavory.

She needed a handful of bear traps.

Unfortunately, they were lacking in that department, so she needed to come up with something else. As her eyes began slowly looking about, she found them focusing on the other male in their trio. Gohan had been an okay shield earlier and it was very likely he could do the same now. But what could she possibly do to use him as her new protection? It wasn't like he was Sharpner-resistant. If anything, he was the reason why Sharpner was here to begin with.

"Hey Sharpner?" Gohan suddenly spoke up, catching his and Videl's attention. "You're good with a sword right? Could you do a quick spar with me?"

"Of course I'm good with a sword," Sharpner scoffed in reply. "I'd probably run you through on pure instinct. But if you want me to train you in my deadly art, I'll be happy to show you."

"Alright," the man replied eagerly. "I've been slacking off a bit lately, so I'm rusty. I really appreciate this." Looking around, he spotted some stick lying nearby, moving towards them and retrieving two decent sized ones. "I don't think we have any swords on us, so I think we could practice with these."

"What ever," Sharpner said. Videl watched on as the two of them moved off a small distance, each holding their stick in front of them and facing each other. And as they began, Videl couldn't help the thoughts that were running through her had at the moment.

There really was a Kami. Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Kami! Really, she couldn't have asked for a better miracle than this. If Gohan could tire Sharpner out with this exercise of theirs, then perhaps the blond wouldn't be able to do anything but sleep! This Gohan guy wasn't as moronic as she thought!

Everything seemed to fall together as dark set in. Despite Sharpner's boasting, he was more of a practice dummy than sparing partner. Videl was no expert when it came to fighting mind you, but even she could tell Gohan had some sort of training, though not completely honed. But it was more than enough to parry aside Sharpner's sloppy strikes and flashy maneuvers. By the end of it all, both were sweaty and exhausted, though it was the blond that looked like he was about to collapse into a pile of useless jelly. Gohan on the other hand seemed satisfied, a smile on his face as he sat down a ways from the fire, right where a blanket just so happened to be. Videl didn't remember that appearing, but knowing this guy, he had probably set it out when no one was paying attention.

"Oh Kami, I can't feel my arms," Sharpner complained out loud, breathing heavily. Shifting a bit, he looked right at Videl and allowed himself some sort of brain activity. "Hey, that doesn't look like it'll keep you warm tonight. Why don't you come here and let ol' Sharpner give you all the warmth you'll need."

Videl scowled. "I rather cuddle next to a rotting corpse. Besides, you smell."

The blond smirked. "That's the smell of manliness, babe. You better get use to it now cause you'll be smelling it for the rest of your life."

A shiver went down her spine. Did he really think she wanted to spend the rest of her life with a nimrod like him willingly? Over his dead body she would! Reaching out, Videl's hand found a piece of the firewood the men had collected earlier, one that just happened to be a thick, stout log. With a swing, she threw it at Sharpner's head, her aim ringing true as the piece of wood nailed him in the face. The blond's body went prone as its resident brain went lights out.

"Pervert," Videl grumbled, shifting herself to look away, her nose sticking up into the air while her arms crossed over her chest. There was just no reasoning with the guy. At least she knocked him out for the night; yet she couldn't help but want some…insurance while she slept.

Looking at Gohan, who had made himself comfortable under his blanket, an idea sprang into her head. Though she rather not have to do it, she was quite positive it would have the desired result she sought if her imagined worst case scenario occurred. Getting up, absently brushing off her backside as she did so, she strode over to the young man and laid down next to him, grabbing part of his blanket and pulling it over her.

"Vi-videl, what are you doing?" she heard Gohan asked, clearly startled by this development.

"What does it look like? I'm going to sleep," she said, turning her back to him as she made herself comfortable.

"B-but I was using this blanket—"

"And? As much as I hate to admit it, Sharpner was right about this thing I am wearing not keeping me warm. So instead of using him for something I need but refuse to get from him, you will have to do it." Turning her upper body so she could look at him somewhat, she added "Is that a problem?"

"I…uhhh, well it…." he stuttered, not able to come up with something coherent.

"Is there a problem? I thought men wanted a woman in their bed. Or am I not good enough for you?" she then said, her eyes narrowing.

Gohan gulped. "N-no, I s-suppose you can stay. I just—"

"Then it's settled," Videl ended the conversation, turning back to face away from him. Unfortunately, sleep didn't exactly come to sweep her off her high-heeled feet as she wished it would. And telling from Gohan's rigid posture behind her, he wasn't either. Well, she might as well try to occupy her mind rather than fitfully wait for sleep to come.

"Who taught you to fight?" she said, causing Gohan to jump slightly.

"You mean with the swords?" he clarified. "Umm, Mr. Piccolo taught me not too long ago. I kinda wish I had been keeping up with it, but I sorta lost track of it over the last few weeks."

"Who is this Mr. Piccolo you keep talking about?"

"He and I were travel companions since I was little. I've practically been with him all my life. You could even say he's my mentor or guardian even."

Videl frowned. "Why were you with him? Why not your parents?"

She felt Gohan shrug behind her. "I don't really remember my parents. I do remember having them, but then one day I was with Mr. Piccolo. I'm not sure what happened and how I ended up with him, but he grew on me." A chuckle came from him then. "He used to be so grouchy, I remember. He would try to purposely be mean me, to scare me. But then he just calmed down one day and started teaching me all kinds of things. How to climb trees, pack a pack, build a fire, and other stuff. He even taught me some magic too."

By now, Videl had turned to face the young man, looking at him curiously. "You know some magic? What kind?"

This time, Gohan looked embarrassed. "Just some basic defense magics really. Mr. Piccolo always said I had no talent for it."

"It sounds to me like he is always a grouch. Why did you stay with him for so long?"

Another shrug. "What else was I suppose to do? I had no where else to go and eventually I had been with him for so long, it was just the way life was. Wake up, practice, travel, eat, drink, sleep. That was how every day was and I was use to it."

"Excuse me for saying this, but that does not sound like a very exciting life," Videl deadpanned.

"I suppose not, but I liked it. I'll probably spend the rest of my life doing it and I really wouldn't mind it," he replied.

"Are you serious?" Videl said incredulous. "Why not try to raise your status in the world? Join a house and become a lord? Do something with yourself. I mean, you have all this free time on your hands, you could be having grand adventures."

The young man shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that sounds fun, but to be honest, I rather just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm not hurting anyone and no one's hurting me." He paused for a moment, lost in thought. "It's the only life I really know."

"It must be nice to know what your future is."

"Huh? You don't know yours?"

Videl gave him a look. "You found me all alone in a giant castle with a dragon for a guard and a blonde girl who would somehow get through a field of booby traps for company. My life is not my own and I must do what my father plans for me. If he tells me I must stay in such a solitary castle, then stay I must."

"Oh…so was it your father's choice to keep you there. Does that also make him responsible for making you wear a chastity belt?"

The look became a glare. "So you were peeping. How else would you know I wear one?"

The young man began to sweat nervously. "N-no, I just heard Sharpner yell it out and when you climbed over the fence, I could only assume he meant you."

That made sense, though Videl had this feeling that her claim was much more on point. But for now, she'd let him have his fantasy. "If you must know, yes he wants me to wear it. Unfortunately, I am unable to wear it now."

A few seconds passed before she felt the blanket lift off of them for a moment. Did…did Gohan just check to make sure her words were true? How could he not notice that already? The only way would be if he wasn't checking her out, unlike their other travel companion…

"How…how did you take it off? I thought it had locks on it?"

"How else? I picked the locks. It was not too hard."

"Lock picking? How would you know something like that?"

Again, she gave him a look. "As I said earlier, I was all alone in a big castle. I had to do something to occupy my time and that was just one of the things I tried out. I used the locks on the belt for practice many a time."

A silence passed. "So is that why you're sleeping next to me? Because you don't have your belt on?"

"Oh heavens no! I think you are a very strapping lad and I wish to make you notice me so that we can start a family and live happily ever after," she replied in a voice so thick with sarcasm, even a deaf man could hear it. "Of course that's the reason why! I don't want Sharpner trying anything on me like this and the only way I can think of to keep him at bay is to have another man within two feet of me."

"Would it help if I…put my arm around you?"

"If you so much as lay one figure on me and I will collect your manparts and feed them to a pack of wolves."

"Right, no touching," Gohan said quickly. "Umm, sleep well I guess."

Returning to facing away again, Videl felt satisfied. Oh yes, she definitely enjoyed putting the peasant in his designated place. Now if she could get some shut-eye, everything would be perfect. That and Sharpner's sudden death during the night. That would be greatly appreciated.

This makes the second homage in a row! Toriyama had his lead heroine, Bulma, dress up in a bunny suit waaaaay back Dragonball; I now pay homage to that great idea with my own heroine, Videl. It's another idea Ms. Videl Son and I joked about when coming up with costume ideas. At first I was hesitant to do so because I couldn't figure out a good place to use it...until I remembered the mud wrestling scene. That proved to be too good of an opportunity to pass up for this lovely set of clothing. I sincerely thank Mr. Toriyama for that wonderful inspiration. Truly a great man.

You can also check out our lovely Princess Playmate in megaminoeien's DQZ Bunny fanart along with her costume sketches. I'm pretty sure the bunny suit and the bathrobe are on the same...yes, they're on the same sketch page; DQZ Wardrobe - Page 2. There's a repeat of the bunny suit in DQZ Wardrobe - Page 4 as well. And yes, I am promoting fan service; nothing wrong with that at all...

To I'm a person: He is, but just saying no isn't that hard to lie about. It's when you tell a complex story as a lie that you're bound to get caught on.

RyRy tested; MaMa approved.