Title: Off the Beaten Path
Author: miss-apple-dbz (aka, MandereLee on DA)
Rating: PG – Due to the large number of authors participating in this event, rating is subject to change at any time.
Disclaimer: None of the authors taking part in this Round Robin claim to own Dragonball/Z/GT.

Summary: Round Robin. Gohan and Videl get lost in the woods, and Videl doesn't know about Gohan's powers! What's a demi-Saiyan to do? (donated by texaspeach)

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Chapter Four

Videl gasped after registering her current position and taking in the fact that Gohan had just saved her… by grabbing her on her rear. Her head snapped up and for a moment the two could only stare at each other, unmoving. Gohan blinked and all too suddenly relinquished his hold. Videl ended up in a heap on the ground.

"Ah!" she exclaimed, scampering to her feet quickly. She faced Gohan once again and gave him a good slap on the chest. "Don't go around groping girls! It's not polite, you know!" she yelled angrily. She seemed to have forgotten that she was suffering severe cold.

Gohan placed his hands in front of him defensively. "I was just trying to save you from falling!"

"Well, I did anyway!" she shot back, stompingoff angrily. "As a matter of fact I would have preferred that to being harassed by you!" She continued to mumble.

"I wasn't trying to harass you, Videl! Really," he protested. "Don't you think you're overreacting a little?"

"Overreacting?!" she yelled. "We just got lost from our trip, Gohan! I almost drowned, you flew and almost drowned, so I'm sorry for having a reaction!" She furiously stormed off past the bushes and into the thick forest. Gohan slowly followed behind her.

The sun crept down on the horizon, ending up in an upturned bowl of bright red and orange. The contagiousness of the sun's color washed the sky with a similar hue, but the darkness was rapidly overpowering it.

Gohan looked ahead and realized that his good night vision was helping him find a tolerable path around the wild forest, but he could tell that it would was becoming more and more difficult for his partner to see. She was slightly ahead of him, still giving him the silent treatment, and occasionally tripping here and there over branches and rocks well hidden by the thickening shadows. He wasn't worried much about her stumbling, and even went as far as to pretend that he hadn't noticed it, because he knew it would hurt her pride if he pointed it out. What he was more concerned about was her shivering. Her clothes had not dried yet and the approaching night would not help dry them,either.

She cornered around a tree and appeared to go to a different direction. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"T-there seems to be b-bigger trees… h-here," she answered. "I-It'll b-be easer… t-to b-build a sh-shelter out of them… especially if they're… cl-close to-together. Th-that way, they c-can block m-more wind."

Gohan frowned and surveyed the route she wanted to go to. He sensed a wild pack of wolves that way and he didn't want the two of them to encounter the creatures.

"How about we just keep heading this way?" he suggested instead. "I know you're cold, but I have a feeling that there's a cave nearby. I mean, not that I would actually know if there's a cave nearby, but there usually are caves especially around rocky areas like these. There's bound to be one somewhere. And it's probably near. Not that I'd know, exactly. But just trust me on this one."

Videl glowered at him and crossed her arms. "And why can't we go here instead?"

"It's just … if there should be a lot more plants there… that will make our traveling a lot harder, because we can't see them."

She closed her eyes, and wearily trudged over to his side again. "Alright. But just because I'm letting you win this time doesn't mean that I trust you. I know you're hiding something."

Gohan sighed and began to walk. He was certain there was a cave here; he had been trying to reach it all this time. It wasn't far away now, but he also sensed some untamed animals lurking there. Hopefully, they would be gone before the two teens reached it.

Only a few minutes later, they arrived at the rocky dwelling Gohan had remembered.

"Wow, you were right," he heard Videl whisper. Before he could take a sigh of relief though, she added, "There's something suspicious about you, Son Gohan."

He could only chuckle. "Heh heh...what do you mean? I've just read about them, that's all. And it helps that I live on the mountains because we do have some pretty thick forests like this. Really…"

"Can you hurry up? I'm freezing!" said Videl as she dashed off towards the cave.

Gohan was about to follow when he realized that there were still some animals left inside. Large creatures. Most of the ones he'd sensed had dispersed already, but there were still some left…

"Videl, wait! Hold on a moment!"

But she had disappeared already into the cavity amongst the rocks. She came out several seconds later, squealing. Gohan had braced himself to see some kind of a monster hot on her heels, ready to munch on her for dinner.

However, she came out alone, grinning. "Gohan, guess what? There seems to be a hot spring in there!" she exclaimed. "Quick, let's build a fire. Then, I'll take a torch and warm up in the hot spring."

"A hot spring?"

Videl grabbed his hand and led him to opening. From there, a warm, thin mist was evidently flowing out, and a strange aroma that clearly indicated the existence of a small body of sulfuric water.

"It's dark inside so let's hurry and make a fire. I want to take a dip as soon as possible," she said. The two teens used the wood they had collected on their walk to make a fire by the entrance of the cave. Because Gohan was proficient with such things, he was able to speed up the building process, much to Videl's delight. As soon as the fire was bright and healthy, the girl took a thick branch to blaze it alight.

"I'm heading off now. I can't wait to get these soggy clothes off of me." She threateningly glared at Gohan. "Don't even think about coming to peek or you'll wish I hadn't saved you from drowning at the river."

"Haha, you know I wouldn't do such a thing!" Gohan laughed and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "But I think there may be some animals in there."

But Videl was already walking away. "I can handle a few animals," she said. "And I'll make sure to inspect the place before getting too comfortable. In any case, I'd better not see an inch of you trying to get in."

The crime fighter left Gohan sitting on the ground.

The cave, illuminated by the fire, was a very interesting sight to Videl as she was quite unfamiliar with nature. The stalactites that hung lazily from the ceiling of the cave were lustrous and dark gray and shone back the yellow intensity of the fire. The hot spring was not too near the entrance, but she saw it as soon as soon as the waters began to reflect the light. After she had wedged the torch between a group of thick stalagmites, she removed her damp clothes and settled them among the rocks.

Videl walked over to the water and settled in until she was chest-deep in it. The hot liquid eased her aching muscles and she shivered away the dangerous coolness her body had acquired in the past half hour. It would be an understatement to say how relieved she was that they had found this place. Videl had been afraid that she would come down with a bad case of hypothermia and then a good fire might not be enough to warm her up with the flimsy materials of her clothes. It was a real misfortune that had struck them; the girl couldn't believe she'd lost everything she had brought with them in that river.

Videl sighed wearily and stretched herself out. Ah well… at least she had this. The teen leaned back against a smooth boulder that was perched near the bank of the spring and closed her eyes. She could fall asleep like this. That would be nice....But she'd wouldn't leave Gohan alone all night. Who knew what kind of trouble that boy would get himself into?

There was a soft, deep rumbling that echoed in the caves. Videl opened her eyes and inspected her surroundings. The fire could only elucidate fractions of the cave because, even though it was rich and bright, it caused dark shadows to tango along the walls. Gohan had mentioned that there could be animals here, but she didn't see anything moving.

There was a sudden scratching near her back. She climbed out of the spring, walked away from her rocky shelter and squinted to see what kind of creature was out there in the darkness.

There was nothing. Just a big rock.

She continued to stare at the same boulder and could have sworn that something around it had moved.

…Hold on. There wasn't anything on it. The whole rock was shifting away! It lifted a couple of feet above her head and stopped there.

Videl was glued with fright and wonder, thinking how in the world things managed to defy the force of gravity so easily. 'Gee! First it's Gohan and then this rock? Why are things suddenly flying away?'

It was only moments later that she realized it was not a rock. Two slits opened up on the sides of the boulder and what seemed like flattened pebbles were actually its… eyes?

The deep growling continued again, and this time it was followed by the opening of a wider and bigger slit on the rock, right under the two orbs. It revealed sharp, gray teeth that greatly resembled the roof of the cave.

"Videl!" she heard Gohan yell from outside. "Are you okay in there?"

What in the world? It was almost like Gohan knew there was something strange going on inside the cave!

"Videl! Hey! Can you hear me?" His persistent calling, however, was not returned. Videl knew that a single sound would attract this creature's attention and if she answered… well, she would be done for.

Slowly, she retreated back from the water, pacing herself so that she would not stumble from the uneven grounding of the spring. The level of the water began to lower, and she was halfway out when she heard Gohan's voice call to her again. Closer this time.

"Hey Videl!"

She turned around, and from what little she could make out near the entrance of the cave, she saw Gohan's silhouette coming towards her clumsily. The shadow peeled away from his face once he got close to the spring.

"Ah!" he cried out, and Videl was very much aware that he had not reacted in such a way because of the monster behind her. His eyes were fixed on her.

"Ooh…" he muttered, but still did not move an inch. Videl had a strong urge of rushing towards where he was and smacking the senses back to him, except she was afraid of what sudden movements would do to the monster behind her.

She didn't have to wait as it let out a hungry, earth-shattering roar.

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Beta'd by Ms. Videl Son (aka, megaminoeien on DA).