Chapter 1: Aftermath
She stared out the window. Thousands of questions flowed through her mind. Why him? Why me? What was he thinking? What can I do? Tears filled her eyes, like they always do when she thinks about it. It had been a while since it happened and she still felt the same way. She lost track of how long it was. Each day was like the other. She hadn't done anything and every time she thought about it, it made her cry. She walked over and took a tissue and wiped her eyes and blew her nose. She threw it onto the pile of tissues covering the trashcan. She had done a lot of crying here lately. She lay down on her bed and cried some more. She heard the doorbell ring. Her dad answered it. "Hello Ubuu," she heard him say. Ubuu's been coming over a lot lately. I wonder why? Her thoughts were interrupted by Ubuu's face sticking through the door.
"Marron, it's me," he said with a weak smile on his face. She nodded and he entered the room. He was hiding something behind his back and he wasn't doing a very good job. "I…uhhh…got these for you," he stuttered as he pulled flowers out from behind his back.
"Thank you," Marron said, smiling through tears. He's so nice to me.
"How are you doing today Marron?" Ubuu asked.
"The same as every other day you've asked me…shity," she replied bluntly. Ubuu didn't react in any way. He never did.
"Are you ever going to get better Marron?" Ubuu asked with hope in his eyes.
"I don't think so…" she replied.
"Oh…" Ubuu trailed off as he sat next to her. In that case, I guess I'll have to make you better.
* * *
Practicing with a sword had become an everyday activity for Krista. Since she had seen Tapion use it to keep the Dragon King at bay, she figured it would come to good use if she ever needed it. She had gotten pretty good too.
She had to reasons for deciding to stay in the past. She had heard the story about Mirai Trunks hundreds of times. So she thought she would train in the past and go back to the future and take care of that Dragon King herself. The other was Tapion. She had never found anyone like him in her time. Of course, everyone in her time was weak and hiding. He treated her like someone special.
She stopped slashing the sword through the air and looked at him. He was sitting on a stump playing his ocarina. She closed her eyes and listened to the music. It was lovely. That was something else about him, he made beautiful music.
Tapion noticed Krista staring at him, "What's the matter?"
"Oh…nothing, just thinking," she answered. She blushed slightly and returned to her training on his sword. He went back to playing.
* * *
"Bulma! Let me in, woman!" Vegeta howled through the door.
"After what you did? NEVER!!" Bulma screamed back through the door.
"It's been long enough!" Vegeta yelled back. He was sick of being outside. He'd been outside since it happened. Why he stayed around, he didn't know why, but he felt compelled to. He spent most of his time training outside since Bulma wouldn't let him in the gravity chamber. That made him mad, but he knew that he deserved it, especially after hurting his only daughter's best friend. He tried to keep telling himself that she's a weak pitiful human, but he couldn't help but feel bad.
"Bulma, I'm…I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I should have thought it through, but I didn't. I let the Saiya-jin in me take over again. I'm sorry. Please forgive me," Vegeta said softly through the door.
The door flung open and Bulma was standing there crying, but she had a smile on her face. "Oh Vegeta," she sobbed and wrapped her arms around the prince and gave him a deep passionate kiss.
* * *
Dende and Mr. Popo sat on the stairs of Kami's Lookout watching Piccolo meditate. He was floating above the floor glowing.
"Oh no! He's being Bug-Zapper Piccolo again!" Mr. Popo cried.
"Don't worry Popo," Dende said, "I'll try and save any butterflies he zaps. Dende patted his friend on the shoulder. He put a smile on his face, but all the time Dende was trying to think of a way to wish the heroic young Drake back.
What Dende didn't know was Piccolo was trying to think of the same thing in meditation. I've never seen a human be so courageous. He was the only human I've ever seen with a pure heart. How can I get him back to this plane?
* * *
Tapion threw ki blasts at Krista. She blocked each of them with the sword and flew at him. He tried to move but she knocked him back. He landed on the ground looking up at her. She put a foot on his chest, holding him down. She had a smirk on her face, "You're getting slower Tappy."
"Don't call me that," Tapion said.
"Well how about this, you spar me, I win, I can call you Tappy, you win, I call you Tapion," she offered.
"Okay," Tapion agreed. He got to his feet and got into a fighting stance.
Krista laid the sword down by a rock and got into a stance also. The two stood there for a moment, but quickly shot at each other. Punches and kicks were soon flying at and from the two. Krista caught Tapion under the chin but he countered with a punch to the stomach. He hated hitting her, but he knew she would knock the tar out of him if he didn't defend himself. He also knew that he would come out of this spar being called "Tappy," but he had to try. Krista was much stronger than he was, and he knew it.
"You're getting better Tappy," Krista teased. Tapion huffed and threw a wild punch. Krista dodged it and shot a ki blast powerful enough to knock him down. She put her foot back on his chest. "I win Tappy-Wappy," she said smiling.
"Tappy…just Tappy," Tapion groaned.
* * *
Pan was being held tight by Trunks. She looked across the room to look at Bra and Goten. Both the couples had gotten closer since what happened to Marron, but she kept feeling sorry for her friend. They had tried so hard to make her happy again, but all she did was mope around and cry. Ubuu had told Bra that he liked Marron, but they couldn't seem to get her interested in him. Pan let her gaze move to the window. Snow fell from the sky outside. Marron, what can we do for you? We've done all we can by being your friends.
It was true. They had tried every way they knew how to cheer the human girl up. Nothing worked. Pan really thought Bra hurt her feelings when she smacked her and told her to snap out of it, but Marron just shrugged it off. Pan looked back to Goten and Bra, but particularly Bra, who had the same look on her face that Pan did. She could tell that Bra was thinking too.
"Has anyone come up with anything?" Pan asked the other three.
"No," Bra, Trunks, and Goten answered at the same time.
"What are we suppose to come up with?" Goten asked. "There's nothing we can really do. Shenron doesn't exist anymore and Dende can't create a new dragon."
"We know Goten," Trunks said. "Dende can't create a dragon, Piccolo can't create a dragon. What are we supposed to do? There's nothing we can do."
Suddenly a knock came to the door. Trunks got up and opened it, letting a cold air in. Ubuu walked in. "Guys, I know what we can do for Marron," he said once the door had closed behind him.
"What?" the teens said in unison.
"I'll tell you after Tapion and Krista get here. We'll need their help too." He told them as he sat down and warmed his freezing hands by the fire. The other teens sat down with him and waited for their friends to join them.
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What is Ubuu's plan? Will it be better than anything the teens have done already? Will everyone adopt Tapion's new nickname? Will Tapion learn to like Tappy? Will the author work on this story faster than he did the other one? Well, to figure that out you have to review. The more reviews the faster it gets out. Check out the next chapter to find the answers to the other questions I've put above.