by Jamie L. Word
"Gao Travels Snake Way"
Gao frolicked along Snake Way, skipping as he went, childishly amusing himself along the path. Gao then ran forward a short distance to build up speed and jumped, coming down on Snake Way backside-first and sliding a tremendous distance, thoroughly enjoying the ride. He cheered and laughed as he rounded curves and sped along Snake Way like a water slide, but without the water. When he finally came to a stop, he stood up again.
"That fun!" Gao proudly proclaimed as he wore a gigantic smile upon his happy face. "Gao do again!"
Once again he got a running start, jumped into the air, landed posterior-first on Snake Way, and began sliding along the winding pathway like an amusement ride. Way up ahead, a large street cleaner made its way towards him from the other direction. The street cleaner saw Gao coming, and he was alarmed to say the least. Gao didn't see the street cleaner for a while, but, just before he collided with it, he noted it with a bewlidered look on his face.
"Oooh! What that?" Gao muttered to himself in curious confusion just before he slammed into the oncoming street cleaner with a jarring impact, knocking the street cleaner off of Snake Way and down through the fluffy, orange-looking clouds surrounding Snake Way. "Uh-oh! Him fall off slide! Him go down through funny clouds and go bye-bye, bye-bye! Wonder what down there. Gao go see!"
With that said, the perky genie stood up with a big smile on his face and jumped into the air, plummeting posterior-first through the clouds surrounding Snake Way and laughing all the way. Down he plummeted like a huge rock, enjoying the ride like a child at an amusement park. Down below the plummeting giant, the street sweeper stood looking at his wrecked street cleaning machine. He scratched his head as he looked at the machine.
"How am I gonna explain this to King Yemma?" he muttered out loud to himself while pondering his predicament. "I mean, he was pretty miffed when I fell off Snake Way twice when Goku was going to and from King Kai's planet. He's gonna skin me alive this time! Huh?"
Looking up after hearing a strange sound, the street cleaner driver saw Gao plummeting towards his vehicle, and then a panicked look came over the face of the driver of the street cleaner.
"Oh, no!" the street cleaner driver screamed as he clutched his head in utter disbelief with both hands and watched helplessly as Gao landed on the wrecked vehicle, further damaging it with his great bulk. "This can't be happening! Why me?"
"Gao!" the jolly genie exclaimed in thrilled excitement as he landed on the street cleaning machine, denting it horribly with his mass.
"Now how am I supposed to explain this to King Yemma?!?" the horrified street cleaner driver screamed as his eyes widened dramatically at the sight before him.
"Oh?" Gao sighed in bewilderment as he hopped down off of the damaged vehicle and beheld the driver's anguish over the plight of the vehicle. "Oh. Gao land on little man's choo-choo. So sorry. Gao fix!"
With that said, Gao put his hand on the vehicle, and a glowing aura enveloped the vehicle from out of Gao's hand. A couple of seconds later, the glow faded, and the vehicle looked as good as new. The driver was amazed beyond anything he'd ever seen before.
"There!" Gao declared with pride and joy at his handiwork. "Little man's choo-choo all better! Now Gao take a look around! Hmmm. Where Gao at now? Gao not know what this place is!"
They gazed around at the theme park/boot camp spliced environment around them. The driver of the street cleaner looked sad as he realized where they were immediately.
"The Home For Infinite Losers!" the street cleaner driver sighed somberly as he looked down in shame.
"The Home For Infinite Losers?" Gao replied in his childish fashion. "Gao never heard of this place. Chen not tell Gao about this place."
About that moment, two athletically inclined ogres wearing 'H.F.I.L.' T-shirts ran up to them, looking like summer camp instructors but behaving like boot camp drill sargeants. The driver of the street cleaner kept his head down in shame and embarassment. Gao took note of the newcomers with great interest in his child-like mind.
"Down here again, huh?" the ogre with the glasses on said as he gazed at the street cleaner driver.
"What happened?" the other ogre inquired, just as confused as his partner. "How'd you manage it this time?"
"Gao run into little man's choo-choo and knock it off fun slide way up there above funny clouds," Gao began, gesturing with his hands as he told the ogres the story of their collision. "Him fall down - BOOM! Choo-choo not look so good, but Gao fix!"
"Huh?" one of the ogres inquired, turning his attention to Gao at that time. "Who are you, and how did you get here?"
"Who me?" Gao asked as he pointed at himself and smiled. "Me Gao, and me jump off of fun slide! Land on choo-choo - BOOM! Make choo-choo messed up more! Gao fix choo-choo, and here Gao is!"
"Goku was gullible, but this guy's just beggin' to be duped!" one of the ogres thought to himself as he shared a knowing smile with the other ogre.
"We can have so much fun with this guy!" the other ogre thought to himself as he grinned misceviously.
"I tell you what, Mister Gao," one of the ogres told the jolly genie. "If I can throw you hard enough, I can get you back onto Snake Way!"
"Really?" the child-like giant inquired in amazed innocence. "Show Gao! Show Gao! Show Gao now!"
"Okay! Okay!" the ogre replied as he noted the overenthusiastic response of the eager and excited genie. "Just follow me, and I'll show you!"
Gao laughed and skipped along as he followed the ogre, and the other ogre smiled mischeviously at the sight.
"Goz is going to really give this guy the treatment!" the glasses-wearing ogre muttered in near-hysteria as he restrained from laughing out loud at the sight of Goz leading Gao to a makeshift see-saw.
"Now, you get on that end, and I'll launch you up to Snake Way!" Goz said with a mischievous grin on his face, gesturing for Gao to get on the see-saw and get ready for the ride.
"Okay!" Gao answered excitedly as he climbed onto the see-saw and sat there like a small child on a playground.
"This is going to be so good!" Goz thought to himself as he prepared to launch Gao off the see-saw. "I don't know how Mez is keeping from busting a gut over this one!"
With a big leap, Goz jumped high into the air and landed on the end of the see-saw, propelling Gao skyward. Goz smiled as he watched the jolly genie soaring high into the air.
"Ohhh!" Gao cried out in excitement as he enjoyed the ride towards the clouds. "Gao go up, up, up! Here come clouds!"
Suddenly, Gao's upward momentum began to slow until he came to a complete halt in the air, just below the clouds.
"Uh-oh!" Gao sighed with realization of what was happening. "Gao not quite go high enough! Little man on see-saw not gonna be happy! Gao go down now! Oh, well! Have fun ride anyway!"
Gao thoroughly enjoyed the ride down, but Goz was completely oblivious to the plummeting genie's return as he was laughing hysterically, still seated on the other end of the see-saw. Suddenly, he looked up, and he saw Gao coming back down. Realizing he was still on the see-saw, he realized his precarious plight.
"Oh, no!" Goz muttered in terrified realization as he watched Gao come crashing down on the opposite side of the see-saw, hurling Goz straight up into the air like a missle.
"Oh, ho, ho!" Gao laughed as he watched Goz being launched towards the clouds with incredible velocity. "Now little man go up, up, up! Maybe he make it up to clouds! He go up fast!"
Goz slammed head-first into the barrier that prevented passage upward from the H.F.I.L. to Snake Way, stopping abruptly. Goz then began plummeting back down towards the see-saw.
"Oh, ho, ho!" Gao laughed, quite entertained to see the ogre's incident. "Him bonk head on clouds and fall down! Him so funny!"
Gao laughed so hard that he fell off the see-saw and began rolling around on the ground kicking and laughing hysterically. Goz saw this, and he realized that he was plummeting towards the see-saw with no one to break his fall. Goz crashed onto the see-saw, breaking it into pieces as he crumpled to the to the ground a near-senseless heap. Mez was stunned to see the sight, but he eventually began laughing as well.
"Oh!" Goz groaned as he looked up in agony from the ground. "It's not funny, Mez! Oh, my aching body! I feel like a planet fell on me!"
"Oh, see-saw break!" Gao said almost sadly, looking down at the wreckage of the see-saw. "No more play on see-saw! Too bad!"
"It depends on how you look at it!" Goz thought to himself as he gazed up from his prone position on the ground. "Actually, I'm kind of glad the see-saw's broken! I don't think I could survive another ride like that one!"
Gao scratched his head before skipping away to look for something fun to do elsewhere. Goz pulled himself up and rubbed his aching body, and Mez chuckled at him as he watched the jolly genie.