Crikit had lots of important tasks to do in the Kingdom. She had to keep an eye on Miss Ayeka (not to be confused with Princess Ayeka), to make sure that she didn't steal any more wallets. She had to keep the kitchen well stocked with Scooby Snacks (Don't ask why, she just felt that it was something that should be done, okay?). She had to carefully laminate and frame all of the Kingdom's posters of Kuno and Tamahome. She had to debate with Jaf, who kept insisting that Mihoshi was a bimbo for some odd reason.

Yes, Crikit had lots of important things to do in the Kingdom. They were very, very important things, and this made her a very, very important person. Make that a very, very, VERY important person. So... why was she feeling totally bored out of her skull?

Pacing down the halls of the castle, Crikit could think of nothing but how bored she was. Chan Makibi, who had recently returned to the Kingdom after a prolonged absence, was racing down one of the halls, giving his adopted daughter Sasami a piggyback ride. Chan's wife, Kiyone, ran alongside him, laughing happily. At first, this had been a sight that always made Crikit smile, but lately she was bored of nearly everything in the Kingdom. "I guess I need a change," she murmured to herself.

She envied Lesell Charis and the rest of her team of adventurers, whom she had met in Lemonwood Forest on the way to the Kingdom. "I bet they're having the time of their lives," she said to herself, "I wish I had gone with them instead. Whatever they're doing, it's probably better than staying here... I'm beginning to think that this life is worse than being forced to read bad lemon fics!"

Just then, Crikit heard the sound of someone stomping down the hall. Whoever it was, he or she was doing it with such force that the pictures on the walls were rattling. One of the pictures even crashed to the floor, and its frame broke. Crikit peered at the picture to see who it was portrait of. "Tamahome!" she shrieked, absolutely horrified, "Okay, whoever is responsible for this damage is going to pay..."

With that, Crikit pulled a giant spatula out of nowhere, and stalked off in search of the troublemaker. (Don't laugh, folks... her spatula is a registered weapon!) Before long, she saw an angry young man pacing up and down the hall, muttering unintelligibly.

After thinking for a moment, Crikit realized who the young man was: Kale, the brother of Lesell Charis.

"I can't just stay here when my sister and my friends could be in danger!" Kale shouted at no one in particular. He turned around to stomp about some more, and nearly smacked into Crikit.

"Well, that's tough," said Crikit, "As a high priestess of anime, Lesell is the one in your family with the most rank. If she says that she doesn't want you trying to follow her, then you can't follow her, and that's that! Now quit the Stomp recital and go clean up the mess that your little performance created!"

"I don't have to listen to you!" Kale snapped.

"Oh yes, you do!" Crikit replied, swinging at Kale with her spatula.

Kale nimbly dodged the attack, and ran down the hallway.

"Hold still, darn it!" said Crikit, running after him and swinging wildly. Her oversized kitchen utensil seemed to strike everything EXCEPT Kale. Tables were tipped over, vases smashed, and countless picture frames broken.

The strange thing was, she didn't care. In fact, Crikit felt great! She didn't experience any of the guilt that she should have felt for creating such a mess.

Kale seemed to be feeling better, too. There was an exhilirated smile on his face, and every once in a while he would laugh.

That was when Crikit understood that she and Kale had more in common than she had thought. The problem was that the Kingdom was such a wonderful place in which to live, that it was a little too peaceful! It was boring with a capital "BOR"!

It was even worse if, like Kale, you had a loved one who was away from home, because there weren't enough things to do to keep you from getting really restless. She had seen that in Kiyone, before her husband had returned. Even though Chan Makibi had come back, there were still other examples. Mihoshi missed Seion terribly, and had paced in her room so much that she had worn a deep groove into the floor. (It had taken a team of twelve people several hours to get her out.) And just yesterday, Tsunami had been seen sitting in a corner, wearing a set of bunny ears on her head (no one could figure out why) and muttering, "Cyraqs, Cyraqs, Cyraqs..." The goddess had also been fidgeting with what had at first glance appeared to be Chinese worry balls, but on closer inspection turned out to be Cadbury Eggs. How odd.

Crikit's thoughts were interrupted when Kale suddenly stopped running and turned to look at her. From the look in his eyes, Crikit could tell that he had been thinking the same thing as her. Suddenly, they both grinned, and Kale began to run again, while Crikit laughed and chased after him with her spatula.

Meanwhile, Jaf was walking down the other end of the hall, wondering what to do about the latest problem that had been nagging at him. GenSao, Bob, and Acid Tenchi had left when the Kagato's Revenge incident had begun. Even though there no longer seemed to be any immediate danger in the Kingdom, none of them had returned from their respective kingdoms. Any attempts to contact them had failed. What could have happened? Was something wrong? Jaf wondered if he should send people to look for them. At the same time, he wasn't sure that he wanted to put any more of the Kingdom's residents into danger...

WHAM!!!!!!!!!

Once Jaf regained consciousness, he saw who had collided with him: Kale and Crikit.

"Er, sorry about that..." Kale began.

Shakily standing up, Jaf glanced behind the two, and saw the trail of destruction that they had left in the hall. "That's it!" Jaf roared, "You two have just volunteered yourselves for the mission!"

"Mission?" Kale and Crikit said, baffled.

Some time later, Kale, Crikit, and PA (the Kingdom's diplomat), were shoved outside the castle gates. "And don't even think about coming back until you've found at least one of the missing kings!" Jaf said.

Kale and Crikit remained silent and solemn until Jaf went back inside. They then grinned at each other and said at the same time, "YES!!!!!!!!".

"Hey, Lesell said not to follow her, she didn't say that I couldn't go on a different quest!" said Kale, eyes shining with excitement.

"This is just what we needed!" said Crikit, "Goodbye boredom!" She gave her new friend a high five.

"Yeah, yeah," said PA, "Let's just @#$%ing go and get this $%@$ing mission over with. Really, for the ^%$# that they call my salary, I don't know why I bother! What a bunch of @*?@!!!"

Large sweatdrops appeared on Crikit and Kale's heads.

"This guy is a diplomat?" Crikit said worriedly.

"Yes, I am!" said PA, "You got a #$%@ing problem with that?"

"With this guy," Kale whispered to Crikit, "We're more likely to start a war with another kingdom than convince anyone to come back with us."

"Oh well," said Crikit, "At least we won't be bored anymore!"

The three companions headed for the horizon, the prospect of great adventure and discovery rendering them speechless.

"@#$%ing seagull!" said PA, "It just dumped a load of its @#$% on my head!"

Okay, well, two of them were speechless, anyway. Two out three ain't bad, right? Right? ^^;;;