What the hell... is it me, or does the font look smaller when I'm editing? IF SOMETHING'S WRONG AFTER I PUBLISH THIS, I'M SORRY. Other than that, please enjoy! I'm telling ya, I'm getting lazier as I age. I just finished my semester exams last week and- JESUS CHRIST THANK FREAKING GOD YES IT'S FINALLY OVER!

Feeling that he finally put his time to good use, Ness grinned. He was wearing the most worst clothes he could find in the castle, ones that would blend into the society around him. Black and slightly tattered shorts, brown shoes with tiny rips in the soles, a black cap to cast a shadow over his face, a white collared shirt, and a black sweater vest covering over it. He found this getup in Duster's room inside the castle. He snuck in. He decided it must have been his outgoing clothes when he was a kid.

So far, Ness has only been outside for about 5 minutes and he was already enjoying what he was seeing. Markets selling fresh fruit, a baker's store that's displaying new cakes, and kids of many running around having fun. Everyone was on the go, with things to do and get done. Ness loved the liveliness of the town. It really differed from that in the castle. Back in the castle, there was barely anything happening. Only meetings, and balls that his dad, the king, would throw for celebrations. Even then, it was still boring. There were no kids his age.

And speaking of the castle, it wasn't even hard for Ness to escape. He didn't expect for the gatekeepers to be so stupid. Not to mention, such pushovers.

Anyways, leaving that aside, Ness decided to go exploring. He made sure to bring money with him (which was in a brown sack that is tied to his waist) to buy some souvenirs. First, he walked around the whole square to get a feel for the place before entering any stores. Once he did, the first place he went into was the bakery.

After flipping the door open, he was greeted to the smell of baking bread. It wooshed over him. The scent made was the greatest thing he's ever smelled.

"'Ello there, little boy!" The portly baker waved his hand. "Likin' the smell o' the bread, aren't ye?"

"Sure am!" Ness said, looking around at all the treats. His mouth watered.

"Hehe, well help yourself! There's plenty to go around! They're free too."

Ness' eyes widened. "They're all free?"

"Yes- well, the first 3 are free, you'll have to pay for the rest. Say you want cookies. The first 3 will be free."

"Woah... thank you!"

"Hey, don't thank me, thank our rulers. The way they rule the town and the people in it is perfect. They make sure we're all taken care of. We can only treasure what time we have left."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ness chewed on a cookie.

"You haven't heard? Rumor has gone around that once the prince takes over, all of hell will come. As in, the town's economy will sink. I know the prince is young, and it'll be years till he becomes king, but we can't help but be anxious!"

Ness' jaw dropped.

The baker saw the worry in Ness' eyes. "Eh, but don't worry! Rumors are rumors! Most are untrue, ye know?"

"O-Oh... I see." The prince felt worried and sad to find that the townspeople think of him that way.

"Ah, chin-up me boy." The baker put a bag of buttered biscuits in his hands. "I believe the prince will figure something out, all we can do is have faith in him."

With that, Ness led himself out of the store. He took a moment to stop and think.

Everyone thinks I'll be a terrible prince.

The young boy shook his head. No! He shouldn't be thinking that way. But if he doesn't think that way, how should he think then? Stressed feelings overcame Ness.

However, it all ended when he spotted two guards on horses from the castle.

"UH OH-" Ness dashed behind a nearby barrel as they passed by. They stopped to ask a subject a question.

"Excuse me, have you seen the prince?" The guard held up a flyer with a picture of Ness on it.

Ness gasped as he saw the flyer they were holding.

The person shook his head no, and the guards continued on.

Now that he looks around, Ness started noticing the flyers everywhere. Under his name was a money award for his return, $100,000.

"Are they serious?" Ness said aloud to himself, tearing down a flyer. "I'm only worth $100,000? I expected myself to be worth at least a million!" He facepalmed. "All well, at least this picture isn't half-bad."

The flyers may have been numerous, but the guards weren't. The kingdom was huge, so there'd only be a few at each place. And he has a good disguise on anyway. So Ness concluded that he'd just continue on his exploration, but with a bit more caution.

The next place he went was the market place, which was outside. They had a little wooden stand where they'd display their products on. There, Ness went to lots of them and bought some stuff. They include cool looking roped bracelets and necklaces, collectible seashells, and a mini catapult. It was all carried in a paper bag. The things he bought were pretty pricey (through a commoner's point of view), but even in the end, he had a lot of money left.

Other than his buyings, along with that, he even made a few friends with the salespeople. The toy seller's name was George. He was a nice, old white man. He looked like Santa Claus to spare the details. Another person he became familiar with was the woman who made the roped bracelets and necklaces. Her name was Juney. The last person he befriended was the fruit seller (named Jerold) that kept forcing bruised apples on him.

Ah... so fun! Ness thought. He felt the freedom of being independent as he ventured. Absolutely nothing could ruin this day! Unless a guard caught me. That would be bad. But what else should I even look out for? This town as nicer than expected!

However, that thought ended. Because the day did indeed, find its way to ruin itself.

As Ness strolled through a clear alley to get to the other side of a city quicker, something unexpected happened to him. Someone has been following him. At first, Ness figured he should just ignore it, until he heard the figure's footsteps turn into running. When that happened, he immediately turned around. Mistake.

A fist connected with his cheek dead-on. The prince fell to the hard cemented floor and dropped all the things he was carrying. As soon as he did so, the attacker went for it and took off with everything. Getting a grip of himself, Ness ran after him.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" Ness chased. He tried looking at the figure, finding someway to identify him. Hair color, facial features, anything. But he couldn't. The figure had on a hat, in which the rim shadowed his face.

"Hahaha! Loser!" the figure teased. That angered the prince even more. A few feet behind the attacker, the two continued the great chase towards the end of the alley, and into another part of town. There were many people, but not enough to shield the figure away from Ness. People momentarily took a moment to stare at them, but went on with their day as soon as they were out of sight.

The more time passed, the more Ness got closer. That started making the one running away, nervous. Ness could tell by how the person was stumbling and almost running into people. Soon enough, Ness was a hair's length away, and took this chance to take the target down.

...NOW!

Ness grappled the boy and brought both of them to the ground. They both hit the floor harshly, knocking both of their caps off, as well as the goods. A dazed feeling came upon them, but Ness took this time to see who stole from him. His eyes widened. It was a boy! A boy with emerald eyes, and orange hair that had a crazy cowlick. The boy stared back and growled at him. Ness' hair was messed up completely and layered over his face, so the other couldn't tell he was the prince. Even so, Ness growled back too and held the boy down. He punched him across the face just as hard as he did. And a rowdy fight commenced between the two boys.

Because of the huge commotion, a crowd formed around the two. Some people yelling, 'Fight, fight, fight!' and others simply worrying. This dragged attention to the guards, and made them approach the boys.

"HEY! BOYS!" the guards called terrifyingly. Ness and the orange haired boy stopped. As they came forth, the unknown boy took this time to escape. He wiggled out of Ness' grasp and ran for his life, taking Ness' things with him. He smirked evilly at Ness as he ran. That angered Ness to no end. He'd never be able to forget that smirk.

Ness was about to run too, but it was too late for him. Some other guards went after the other boy, but he ended up getting away. One of the guards picked up Ness by the collar of his shirt.

"YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE, BOY!" he yelled. This terrified Ness. "Tell me, is it your job to start fights in town?"

"N-No I-"

The guard shook Ness angrily. "YOU DISGRACE!"

"B-BUT I-"

"ENOUGH! You broke the law-" The guard stopped mid-sentence. He stared at Ness with big brown eyes. Then, with all the silence in the world, he whispered. "...Is that you... Your Royal Highness?"

Ness nodded. The guard looked surprise, too surprised, but he reacted quickly. He did so by putting a big hand around Ness' face. So far, no one of the crowd recognized him as the prince yet, and they didn't want him to be anytime soon.

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE! CLEAR OUT! NOTHING TO SEE HERE!" he boomed. Everyone did as told, and slowly cleared out and went back to their lives again.

Regrouping all the guards back again, they called off the prince disappearance. All of them returned to their regular posts around the entire town. Except for 5 of them, which escorted the prince back to the castle, making sure no one saw his face on the way.

Ness was petrified. He knew the consequences of being caught, but he was entirely sure that he wouldn't be. He has expected to arrive home unnoticed, and just tell his father and mother he was exploring the deep parts of the castle or something like that. But no, this wasn't the case. He was going to arrive home to two pissed off parents, that will be even madder when the bad news get to them. His fate was anything but good.

The gates to the castle opened with a dreadful creak of the metal, and the 5 moved on in. They entered the castle and brought the tattered prince to where his parents were, the Grand Office.

Once at the door, the guards stepped back for Ness to enter in on his own. As Ness laid his hand on the handle, the guard put a hand on his shoulder.

"Good luck, Your Royal Highness. And greatest apologies for yelling at you," he apologized.

"Thanks. And it's okay... I deserved it..." Ness forced a smile, then walked into the Grand Office, closing the door behind him. As expected, when he looked at his parents who were seated at the desk, they were very, very, very angry. His mother's face was almost the shade of red. Quickly and quietly, Ness sat at the singular chair in front of them. His expression shown bravery, but his eyes showed fear.

"So," his father started off. "Mind telling where you have been?" His parents know what happened (they got the news from a messenger guard), but they didn't know specifically.

"I-I..." stuttered Ness, but he gained back his composure. "I snuck out of the castle in this disguise I'm wearing right now," he stated bluntly, then continued. "I went over to the bakery and market place, and I bought lots of things. Then while I was walking down an alley, a boy my age assaulted me and stole my belongings. I chased after him, and finally got a hold of him. Then we fought. When we did, guards noticed us. The other boy got away with my things, and a guard caught me. Now this is where I am." Ness sat up straight in his seat, not only because it was a few of those princely habits he had, but because he regretted nothing.

The king pounded his fist on the desk, which echoed throughout the whole room. "How... COULD YOU?!" he said, not holding his anger back.

Ness furrowed his eyebrows and looked away.

"This whole time you were out and about, messing around in the town as your mother and I were worried sick about you! DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU HAVE CAUSED?!"

Ness grimaced, but remained quiet.

"Just imagine if the townspeople recognized you as the prince as you were sparring! Do you know what would've happened?! YOU'D RUIN EVERYTHING! The townspeople would NEVER recognize you as future king! And you should know better than to fight! HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM US?! You never listen! We try and try so hard to make you a fitting king, but all you've done is nothing! Why you've-"

"King," Ness began, his eyes slowly fixating on his father. "King, king, KING!" Ness arose from his chair harshly. "THAT'S ALL YOU EVER WANT! You never pay attention to what I want!" he yelled. "You always care about your needs and not mine! Dad, I try! I try so hard! I stress, I worry, I care. But I can't become a well-fitting prince as fast as you want me to! Why can't you understand?! WHY CAN'T YOU SEE MY PART OF THE STORY?!"

The king and queen were speechless. The king especially, the information was coming so fast and suddenly.

With the silence, Ness walked out of Grand Office. However, before he closed the door, he looked back at his father. "I hate you, dad, and hell will get to me first before I rule in your place." Then he slammed the door shut.