"Hey beauty" Param called out to the beauty who was wandering around, as if she were in an amusement park. She turned around, and was surprised to see someone.
"You have healed?" he asked looking at her perfectly smooth skin. There was no evidence of having any injury on her body.
She looked at him and nodded. Apparently she could understand what he was saying. Param was not surprised at all, twelve hours ago she was smashed into a rock and she was alive. As a fantasy creature, it was a given that she would have some sort of abilities.
He lead her into the cave, and surprisingly she followed meekly like an obedient child.
"Here, eat." He handed over some fruits and watched her eating like a squirrel. Param sighed. By her reaction, she was neither a hidden expert nor would she become his girlfriend. She looked at him, as if asking for more.
He ignored her burning gaze and asked her: "Who are you?"
She put a finger over her cheek, as if seriously trying to remember. Few moments later, she suddenly raised her brows.
Param waited for her answer, and she replied-
"Hungry"
"…"
A few days passed, and Param got to know everything about the beauty. What he knew was- he knew nothing! The girl had amnesia, and a serious one at that.
Of course, that doesn't mean she was a freeloader. He made use of her ridiculous strength to do tasks which seemed extremely difficult. Although he felt embarrassed at first when fooling the mature-beauty-looking-kid, he got used to it after doing it a few more times.
Evening came, and both returned to their temporary home, which was the cave.
"Come on! Let's play again!" Param excitedly said. Anyone could tell he was faking it by looking at his exaggerated expressions. Unfortunately, the other lass fell victim to his acting.
He started rubbing branches against each other, and watched the other rubbing at ridiculous speeds. Eventually smoke came out, and they made fire. The girl thought she had won, so she started jumping.
Years later she would remember this moment and curse Param.
---
In the vast waters far from the Gateway Continent, a huge ship sailed. There were multiple sails, and even more rows from the sides. Although the ship seemed extremely old fashioned it's huge size was capable of deterring almost everyone. Of course, what was more frightening was the insignia of the Imperial family of the Dragons.
On its deck stood two men- one young and one old. The old one was Elder Bahut Accha while the young one was a prince named Bahut Shur.
"We should be arriving soon, Elder" Shur informed.
The Elder nodded. "You must know that the Profound Energy Pressure at the Gateway Continent is 50% more than that of Dragon Continent. So you may have difficulty in breathing and in controlling Profound Energy."
"Yes, Elder. I know the risks"
Bahut Accha glanced the prince from the corner of his eyes. Prince Shur, was an insignificant person in the palace. The palace had many princes, and almost all of them was very talented. As such, Prince
Shur had no right to join on this expedition. But this brat hid himself on the ship before it started sailing.
The Elder sighed. The palace was a brutal place, filled with tyrants, hypocrites and manipulators. The young ones had no rights and were forced into their grand schemes.
Unlike the gloomy elder, Prince Shur was excited. Unlike his siblings he had no particular talent. He disliked cruelty and schemes of his relatives, so he was always called as a feminine boy. Many said he'd shamed his name.
(Author's Note: Shur means brave in Hindi)
He felt he could not progress within the confines of the palace. He had to get out into the vast world, and seek answers for himself.
"We've arrived" The Elder's words broke his thoughts. A tiny mass of land appeared on the horizon, and they could vaguely see two peaks creating a door.
Shur excitedly spoke, "Gateway Island, here I come!"
Like the Dragon ship, there were many other ships swimming in the ocean. Although the Gateway Island sounded like a side-kick of the Forbidden Island, in truth, it was the real treasure island for all.
After all, there were only a few who went to the Forbidden Island and came back alive.
---
It was morning, and Param and the beauty were hunting. Or more precisely, the beauty was hunting, and Param was 'guiding'.
"Yes, throw it now" Param whispered and the beauty threw the makeshift spear at a small rabbit-dog like creature. The creature winced for a while and finally died.
"Good job!" Param gave a thumbs-up to his 'apprentice', and she stuck her chest out, obviously proud at her hunting skills. Her milky breasts jiggled a little, and Param had a hard time controlling his drool.
Param took out his makeshift stone knife, and started dismantling. More like cutting randomly, even he couldn't tell what he was doing. At least he knew some basics- remove skin, remove head, and remove anything that looks weird.
He'd noticed that all creatures had white wire-like things in them, like nerves. He'd no clue what they were, except that it was tasty. So tasty that his 'apprentice' started drooling after seeing them.
He continued dismantling until…Thump. He heard something near him.
Raising his head, he saw triceratops like creature looking at them disdainfully; at least that was what he thought. He saw the beauty from the corner of the eye. She was frozen stiff, and her legs were shaking. He was the same as her, and almost wet his pants when he saw the creature walking towards them. But he was a man. He could not show cowardice in front of the kid-like beauty.
He grabbed some sand with one hand and the dismantled meat with the other, and signaled the beauty to be ready.
The beast started running, and the earth slightly shook.
"F*ck" Param cursed and ran towards it. The beast lowered his head for a barrage with his horns and Param threw the meat towards it. The meat slapped onto the beast's face, and Param turned at an angle, swiftly running near its face.
The beast had a moment of confusion; his eyes were at the front unlike a real triceratops. His vision was blocked for a moment which was what Param needed. He quickly threw the sand into the beast's eyes and backed off.
The creature clearly did not expect this, and thrashed his head. One of his horns struck Param while he was retreating, and was thrown like a sandbag.
The beauty was waiting fearfully and she finally saw an opportunity. She rushed out like a bullet and struck the spear into the beast's open mouth. The spear broke and only slightly pierced its mouth. It shook his head violently and sent her flying. At the same moment, Param straddled it and started stabbing his neck. It's horn clearly could not reach him.
The beast ran at a random direction to bang into. Param could not get off the beast's back- he would die. He could also not allow the creature to bang onto some object- he would die again.
He had no idea what to do, when suddenly the beauty jumped in front of the beast and punched him in the head. She went flying from the force, along with Param who was on the beast's back. The beast stumbled uneasily like a drunk. His feet wobbled and he finally collapsed.
Minutes later, Param got up and weakly walked towards the beauty. Although she was thrown away, she was alright. Even her fist did not show any abnormalities.
They walked towards the beast. It's skull was cracked where the beauty had punched. Param was dumbfounded. He turned his head and asked her.
"Are you One Punch Woman?"
She clearly did not understand what he said, but still stuck her chest out proudly, her hands behind her back like an expert.
Param smirked, shaking his head. He didn't notice the beauty was caressing the palm she'd punched with behind her back.
The beast had the same fate as others. He was made a meat sludge with Param's poor skills and his cracked knife.
What he felt about was that there was no crystal or core in its body like those in fantasy and wuxia novels. They took some meat, and left the battlefield.
When they got ready to sleep Param remembered that the beauty had no name. Or that she had but she could not remember it. He'd been calling her 'beauty' all this while. She needed a temporary name.
He looked at the slouching beauty near the bonfire and asked.
"Why don't we decide a name for you?"
The girl nodded furiously and said, "Name"
Param thought for a while, then looked at her.
"You have a kind nature, and you are beautiful. So you are precious."
She kept looking at him.
"In ancient times, sweet was a luxury. Natural sweet things like honey were very valuable. You are like honey…"
He slowly looked into her eyes, and said.
"So you are Madhu"
(Author's Note: Madhu is a modern name used in India and probably derives from the word 'Madh' which means honey).