Year 472

After all of this time, all of this searching, all of the pain, suffering, sweating, and bleeding, he had finally found it. He, a Kai who was given the first name of King, had finally located the resting place of a legendary sword, the fabled Zeta Sword.

His only regret was that he hadn't searched for the bright neon lights in front of the cave in the first place.

With his favorite illumination spell lighting his way, King Kai stumbled through the cave until he reached a room in the back, there he saw a large stone, the sword resting in it. After searching this mountain range for who knows how long, the sword was within his grasp and he could finally go home, a hero, a legend, and ultimately be crowned the funniest Kai in the world. After all, everyone laughed at a hero's jokes and believe him, a lot of those jokes weren't funny at all.

However, he was genuinely a funny man, so when he would crack a joke, it would be a funny one, one worth laughing at. All of those other charlatan funny guys would have to kiss his big, blue bottom after this if they ever wanted to be funny again.

Approaching the sword, King Kai couldn't help but feel he was trekking across sacred ground, a place where only those who were worthy would be allowed to set foot here. Seeing as that no booby traps had been sprung suddenly, King Kai was of the mind that he was considered worthy. That was his proof and he was sticking with it.

As he came closer to the sword, the Kai soon saw a sign sitting nearby. Taking a moment to read the words "Thou who seek out the power of the fabled Zeta Sword must prove thyself worthy of its power. Thou must commit thyself to a feat of strength and remove the sword from the stone from whence it rests. May Fortune smile upon thee and we vow to refrain from laughing too hard as thou fails epically," King Kai was taken aback. So they thought he was a failure, huh? Well he would show them! No one laughed at King Kai without him making them laugh! Spitting on his hands and rubbing them together, the Kai grabbed the sword hilt and pulled with all of his might.

He never expected the sword to come flying out of the stone, causing him to lose his balance and fall onto his butt. Unfortunately, his momentum was so great his body kept falling backwards, causing him to hit the back of his head on the ground. Lying still for a moment, King Kai then dropped the sword in his hands and grabbed the back of his head, rolling around on the ground as he spoke unintelligible curses.

Damn it, that hurt! Why the hell did that sword have to come out so easily? Huh? Wasn't it supposed to be locked in that stupid rock or something? Kai almighty, what he wouldn't give for some pain killers! Ugh!

As the pain began to subside, King Kai looked up, finding the lettering on the sign had changed. "You should've seen the look on your face!" it read, and beneath that "Priceless!" This caused the smarting Kai to growl in annoyance.

"Oh, so you think you're a comedian too huh? Well, I have the sword! Ha! Showed you didn't I?"

Instead of getting a sense of superiority, King Kai watched as the lettering changed, bringing down what ever sense of pride he had. "You just got lucky. The guys before you probably loosened it up."

"Oh yeah? Well how about this!" King Kai shouted as he leapt to his feet, picking up the sword and swinging it over his head as he rushed the sign. With a mighty swing, he brought the all-powerful sword down on the hapless sign, expecting it to be sliced in half like…well, a sword through paper.

Instead of that satisfying outcome occurring, the sword snapped in two, causing King Kai's eyes to bulge out at the broken halves. What the? A legendary sword wasn't supposed to break on the first swing! It wasn't supposed to break at all! The sign should have been decimated, not mocking him still!

"Epic fail!"

Blast that sign! It wasn't enough that it was mocking him, but it was right! And now all he had was the left over pieces of a useless piece of scrap metal. Oh why did he have to find this place? Why didn't he listen to his mother and become a dentist? He wouldn't be in this mess if he had just listened to her!

"You should have listened to your mother," the sign agreed.

Oh great, now the sign was trying to sound like his mother. Already he could hear her nasally voice reprimanding him because he had gone all gung ho and acted like a macho man despite his funny man motive. Did this humiliation ever end? What could he do now that his quest had crashed and burned like a forest fire? He was in so much trouble that he doubted he could…he could…

What the hell was that?

Looking towards the cave entrance, King Kai frowned at a bizarre-looking cave formation. Towards a corner of the chamber, completely out of sight from the door but perfectly viewable from the stone that use to hold an all-powerful sword, what looked like a store front was chiseled into the cave wall. There was no door as the entrance opened up into a store, a sign above the entrance announcing in big, bold letters GIFT SHOP.

Immediately, King Kai shot over to the gift shop and peaked in. All over the place was merchandise associated with the Zeta Sword, ranging from T-Shirts to cups, shoes, watches, figurines, posters, books, and statues. However, all of that became secondary when he noticed at the far wall something that filled him with relief.

Barrels and barrels filled with replica Zeta Swords.

Hurrying over to the replica swords, King Kai pulled one out and began inspecting it, feeling renewed hope with each passing second. From what he could tell, the sword looked exactly like the now broken Zeta Sword, all except for that little lettering in the base.

A soft coughing caught the Kai's attention, causing him to whip around and look at a short, fat man with long shaggy hair. "You gonna pay for that?" the man questioned impassively, sounding as if he didn't care if he did so or not.

"Uhh, why yes! In fact I was gonna pay right now!" King Kai said loudly, pulling out his money bag—he would be damned if he ever called it a purse!—and approaching the fat man. Handing over some gold coins, the man studied the currency, nodded his head with approval, and gruffly said "Enjoy your sword, don't do anything I wouldn't do." Turning his head, he then hocked a loogie, much to King Kai's disgust.

"I don't think I even want to know what he wouldn't do," the Kai muttered to himself as he hastily left with the sword. Approaching the stone, he then looked around to make sure no one was around and quickly forced the sword into the stone. Swinging himself around, King Kai than walked as nonchalantly as he could, whistling a tune only he knew.

All the while, the sign behind him had once again changed its lettering. "What a moron."

Gohan watched in wonder at the sight in front of him. Never would he thought he would see something like this come to pass, even in his wildest dreams, not that he had wild dreams to base this off of.

Videl was smiling. And humming. Truly an unusual combo.

Not that he was complaining. Most of the time the princess seemed aloof with her surroundings. Like she wanted nothing more than for this whole quest to be over and done with. But looking at her now, Gohan almost swore as if the girl was enjoying herself. What chapter that character development happened in, he wasn't sure, but it was definitely a nice change from what it used to be.

At that moment, Videl suddenly turned her head towards him, giving him a big smile as her eyes lit up. That had been the third time she had done that all day and every time it filled Gohan's stomach with a warm, fuzzy feeling, as if he were the one behind the princess' good mood. Maybe he was the reason, but he had no clue as to why. It wasn't as if they were any different than the day before. Well, being direct seemed to work best on her, so this instance shouldn't be any different.

"Hey Videl?" the young man called out, causing the girl to slow down her pace as she continued to look at him. "I couldn't help but notice you're in a really good mood today."

"Hm? Why yes, I am," she replied. "Is something wrong?"

"Umm well…what brought that on suddenly? Not that I didn't like it, but it's…sudden."

Videl turned her head forward maintaining her pace, her body language not changing the least bit. "I just feel like it. I did some thinking last night and I felt as if I wanted today to be different, more pleasant. I know I haven't been the easiest person to be around since we met and I want to change that. It's getting tiring being crabby and unfriendly all of the time."

Hmm, that made sense. Though what made her start thinking this way, he still had no clue. "So what made you think about these things?"

This time Videl gave him a thoughtful look, one that he wasn't quite familiar with. "During that whole shoe fiasco, you did your best to take care of me. If you were to tell me beforehand that this would happen and you wouldn't take advantage of me, I would've laughed and called you an idiot. I really didn't trust you then so I figured you would've tried to get back at me for any perceived wrong I may have done to you."

Upon seeing Gohan about to react to that, Videl held up her hand to stop him. "Just hear me out, please? This isn't easy for me to admit." Frowning slightly, Gohan just nodded his head for her to continue. "From the time we met, I assumed you were just another guy, a pervert that wanted to get underneath my skirt. So when you took me to King Kai's and removed those shoes, well, I felt like I needed to do some soul searching, so to speak. And I think I can say that you're a better person than I first thought."

"Thanks?"

A small smile appeared on her face, one of her hands moving up to shift a few strand of hair from her face. "I see that I've confused you."

"Just a bit," Gohan admitted, scratching the back of his head. "So…does this mean we're friends?"

This time the princess looked shyly at him. That was an unfamiliar expression, especially from her. Though it did bring back that warm fuzzy feeling again. "Well, against my better judgment, yes."

Huh? Why was she so reluctant when she had just confessed her thoughts? Shouldn't this be a simple yes or no answer? "So why is it against your better judgment?"

"Because of who we are. You're an everyday peasant and I'm an upper class princess. There are entire libraries that explicitly say that we shouldn't mingle. My father owns two of them in fact. Yet despite our upbringings, you've been so nice to me and even helped me when I was in trouble." Videl paused for a moment. "I've become fond of you because of that."

Gohan didn't know how to respond to that. This was one of those emotional thingies that Sharpner had told him all about. Though if he remembered the blond's advice on it, the young man felt that he shouldn't repeat any of those things. The nice atmosphere between him and the princess would most surely end with flames, blood, and probably castration were he to mention any of it. So what did one do in these situations?

"Umm…I'm…fond of you too," Gohan tried, hoping he was saying the right thing. Apparently he had guessed right as a blush appeared on the princess' face. Sweet, now he wouldn't be castrated!

"Well I'm not fond of you whatsoever!" a voice suddenly shouted, interrupted their tender moment.

Videl whipped around, an enraged expression on her face. "No one asked you!" she bellowed, horns suddenly sprouting out of her head as a devil-tipped tail whipped about angrily behind her. Apparently the princess did not like having her moments ruined.

Warily keeping an eye on his pissed-off princess, Gohan looked at their intruder and found an old lady in a black robe who was giving him the evil eye. Huh, wonder who that could be.

"Like I care," the old woman retorted. "Besides, I'm not interested in some sappy teen drama. I have come for revenge on the boy next to you and if you get in my way, I'll make sure you suffer his fate."

Staring at the old crone, there was only one thing Gohan could say to her. "Umm, who are you?"

The old woman fell flat on her face upon hearing that. Lying there for a moment, she suddenly flung her head up and began shouting at the young man. "How dare you forget about me, you clod! I am the Great Witch Baba and you owe me a new mailbox!"

Sirens went off in Gohan's head. Crap, crap, crap! What the heck was Baba doing all the way out here? Shouldn't she be stomping around in her little candy house instead of hunting him down? "Baba?" Videl spoke up, much to Gohan's horror. "That name sounds familiar."

Back on her feet, Baba seemed to look pleased at that statement. "Well, I am a very powerful witch. My magic is second to none in all the kingdoms so naturally I am a household name. A true celebrity in all the lands!"

That was when Videl's head perked up, though it was for something other than the witch's claim. "Now I remember! You were the one that put a curse on Launch!"

"…who?"

Deciding not to enter the conversation between Videl and Baba, Gohan began looking about his surroundings. They had entered a forest earlier in the day, but now that Baba was right in front of him, the young man couldn't help but think most of the trees here looked very familiar, especially since they looked to be wilting from the marshland a stone's throw away. In fact, he was pretty sure he had been running at the time since he and Sharpner were leaving this place quickly. Oh…he and Videl had walked back into Baba's Woods, hadn't they? Wrinkling his nose in disgust about their unaware trekking into hostile territory, not to mention the fumes from that nearby swamp, Gohan had to wonder if they should've followed Erasa's trail in here.

However, due to his thoughts, Gohan was oblivious to the heated conversation going on between the women around him. Apparently, they're association with each had fallen into an outhouse and neither one wanted to reach in and dig it out. "You petulant, little girl!" Baba shouted. "You should learn to respect your elders! Why, I could put you into a never ending sleep with the snap of my fingers! And to ensure no handsome prince comes around to kiss you awake, I'll mangle your pretty face to badly, not even your mother could stand the sight of you!"

"So you want to make me look like you?" Videl shot back.

"Exact—" Baba started to say, quickly stopping when she realized the backhanded insult. "Hey! My mother loved the way I looked! I was voted the most beautiful woman in all the lands five times in a row I'll have you know!"

"More like you'd break every mirror in all the lands just by looking into them!" Videl retorted. "I'm sure you've got several hundred years worth of bad luck by now!"

Baba smirked at that. "Jokes on you, I haven't needed a mirror in two hundred years."

"Just two hundred? I'm surprised it's only been that long since you look older than dirt!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Gohan interrupted. "Can't we all just get along?"

"NO!" Baba and Videl shouted simultaneously at him. Cowering away from the two, Gohan's meek actions ensured he wouldn't be trying anything dumb like pacifying their verbal sparing match. In fact, he was looking for the nearest hiding place he could find so these two could fight out it out and destroy the surrounding area if they felt like it. With the way things were going, that conclusion was just inevitable.

"So you think you can take me little girl?" Baba said menacingly. "Well, you're in for a rude awakening. You're a thousand years too young to defeat me and I'll prove it!" Raising her hands up, she began waving them about, her fingers rapidly flexing at random. "Rise dead men from your silent sleep, rise dead men from your graves and leap!"

The sky began to darken as a strong wind began blowing around the three. Serious expressions were on the dark-haired couple as they stared down the witch as a crackling blue aura appeared around her old form. "Rise dead men and feast on flesh, rise dead men and moan and retch!"

A tremor began to shake the ground beneath their feet, but that didn't last long as random places along the trail burst upwards, dirt and dust flying high into the air. Low moans began to assault their ears, alerting them all that they weren't alone in these woods. Yet despite these theatrics, nothing threatening appeared from the broken pieces of earth. Looking at one spot to another, a vein began to grow on Baba's forehead, throbbing with each passing second. "Alright you lazy oafs! Come out already!"

The moans came to a stop as movement occurred by the trees nearest to the swamp. Soon, large, bulky creatures made of moss, algae, sticks, slime, and other marshy goodness appeared, staggering out from the tree line and surrounding the three. "Sorry about that," one of them said to Baba in a surprisingly normal voice, sounding quite sheepish about the whole thing. "We would've climbed out of the ground like you asked, but we all had to use the bathroom so we didn't have to go later."

"Fine, fine, whatever," Baba waved off irritably. "Just attack these annoyances already."

"Yes Ma'am!" A chorus of moan started up again, the faceless, awkward-moving, dripping, reeking monstrosities began closing in on the dark-haired couple. Looking at them as quickly as he could, Gohan immediately felt that this wasn't the place he and Videl should've been at the moment. The other side of the kingdom would've been more preferable. Since that wasn't an option at the moment, Gohan quickly ran through all of his other choices, crossed off any he felt were useless at this point, weighed the likelihood of success and failure on the others, and finally came to a successful course of action.

Scooping Videl into his arms, he took off running, flying through a gap between two swamp creatures, and racing off down the trail. Moving closer to where the two had last been standing, the swamp creatures stopped moments later and then slowly turned to look off where Gohan had raced off to.

It was a full minute later when one of them said "That guy's fast."

Alright, I've gotten three comments about this, so I figured I'd head off the rest of y'all. At the end, Gohan is simply running, not using his RUN AWAY spell. I hope that helps.

To I'm a person: Naps are always nice. In fact, I think I'll go have one now.

RyRy tested; MaMa approved.