Videl Satan's body was stiff and sore as her muscles screamed out in pain that cloudless night. Now, being a martial artist since about the age of five, she was used to sensations like that after a few days' worth of hitting the gym and working out her body or sparring against her father's best students (and always winning fairly easily at that).

What she was not used to was being forced to plow fields with her bare hands, or carry and deliver milk throughout a small island that SOMEHOW managed to have a jungle, swamp, desert, AND a lone monk that lived atop that mountain with the staircases carved out of stone. All while wearing a 100 pound purple artificial turtle shell on her back.

It was that damn shell that had her as drained of energy as she was, laying lying on her back in a semi helpless state as she stared up at the clear night sky, panting and drained to her utmost. If anyone from her school saw her now she would have no doubt been the laughingstock of all of Orange Star High School the next morning.

However, instead of being the victim of sideways snickers in the school's hallway, she was just the victim of the school's rumor mill, how she had taken the next couple of semesters of school off for personal training out of shame/revenge.

How she was ashamed of showing her face around the school and the city that still bore her father's name for losing to the mysterious short blond haired woman who had beaten both her and her father. How she had no doubt run away seeking revenge on the woman who had bested the strongest man in the world and, by proxy, the strongest daughter as well.

These rumors, being rumors, were by nature of course, crap. So of course, they had spread from the school hallways, to citywide gossip, to high enough status for the reporters at ZTV to comment on and make worldwide news.

While Videl had taken a leave of absence from her school, she had done so to train (ironically) under the husband of the woman who had beaten both her and her father. Ideas of revenge or restoring her father's honor hadn't even entered Videl's mind when she had left Satan City. And even if they had, Videl wouldn't have gone through with it. Krillin, had, in fairness, proved to be a good teacher these past few days, one that Videl wouldn't have betrayed for something as petty as revenge for all the power in the world.

He was encouraging, always shouting out for Videl to keep moving no matter how tired her body was getting. He was compassionate, never above the occasional five-minute break to allow her poor body to rest. He had a good sense of humor, which he had showed every night so far for the past few days that Videl had been training by telling stories of his time when he trained under the same methods as Videl and all the crazy adventures that he and his friends managed to get into.

But what struck Videl the most was how modest he was, oh to be sure, there were moments of bragging in his stories, but that was forgivable as they were stories in the end and some embellishment was to be expected.

But mostly, he didn't make a big deal of himself, or the fact that he'd had the courage to attack beings like Freeza and Cell with nothing more than his rage and his wits. He was also surprisingly honest about himself, such as admitting that he had brought a stack of girly magazines with him in order to convince Roshi to take him on as a student at the age of 12 (Videl's initial awe of being in the presence of such as legendary martial arts master had quickly worn off when she soon learned that his pervert antics like the ones from the 25th World Tournament, where she had first meet Gohan's friends, were sadly the norm).

Compared to her bombastic blowhard of a father, who had never met a publicity stunt he disliked if the money was right, it was very refreshing.

Videl let out a deep sigh that morphed into a yawn halfway, so she put a hand over her mouth when when heard a voice behind her.

"The stars are very pretty out, aren't they?"

Glancing around at the world around her from the view of her backside, Videl saw little seven year old Marron, Krillin and 18's daughter and the current Junior Champion of the World, standing above her as her small face came into view. That much Videl could make out by the nearby light radiating from Kame House.

"Hey kid," Videl said in a weary voice. "Not to be rude or anything but isn't it past your bedtime?"

"It's only 10 O'clock. It's not that late. And besides, you look like you needed some company out here."

"I'm going back inside," Videl said in a somewhat defensive tone. "I just needed some fresh air since the house is so small."

Marron nodded, a thoughtful look on her small face. "It is a bit cozy. Mother's always been going on how if 'normal' life doesn't work out for us and if Kame House is the only place we can stay, then the house would need to have extensions added on so we could have more than just one upstairs bedroom. Well, that and the usual stuff about Master Roshi keeping his hands out of her underwear drawer and off her ass and stuff like that, but that goes without saying."

"Hunha."

"That was a joke," Marron said, when a few moments of silence had passed between the both of them. "I'm not very good at telling them I'm afraid."

"I know. It was a joke kid, I'm just resting myself from all that killer training we did today."

"Not that it's any of my business Miss Satan, but taking the turtle shell off and sitting up right might help some."

Videl opened her mouth half way for a sarcastic comeback, but stopped when she figured that it would be low to do that to someone who was only trying to help her. Instead Videl did as Marron suggested and moments later she was sitting on the cold, dirt ground, the light of Kame house casting her large stationary shadow before her as it was swallowed into the darkness of the nameless island's night.

"Feel better?" Marron asked.

"I do." Videl was turning her neck in a 360 degree spin as she said this. "Thanks kid."

"How long are you going to keep calling me kid Miss Satan? You know my name's Marron."

Videl's lips turned up into a small smile. "Depends, how long are you going to keep calling me Miss Satan?"

For a moment, Marron said nothing and only bit her lower lip in response. Videl could tell that even with the shadows of the night concealing most of Marron's face, that she had touched some sort of nerve. "Hey, if I offended you or anything-"

"You didn't. It's just... I know I call everyone Miss and Mr. more than I probably should, but it's polite. And politeness is all I have to call back on when it comes to social situations."

Videl blinked and leaned her head a little closer to Marron's' in interest. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, think about it Miss Satan: I live with a 300 year old perverted martial arts master, an equally old talking sea turtle, a father that was raised in a temple whose members bullied him until he was 12, and a teenage cyborg mother whose equivalent of a hug is an affectionate pat on the head and monotoned 'I love you sweetie'. With the occasional perverted transforming pig who comes to visit for a few days. That does not a good social skills building network make, I know that, so I've always been polite to make up for my lack of skills in that category."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I didn't know it meant that much to you."

"Don't be, you had no way of knowing."

More silence, then:

"You can keep calling me Miss Satan if you like.," Videl said at last. Much to her surprise, however, Marron shook her head no, her blond pigtail swinging left to right as she did so.

"I've been meaning to call you Videl for a while now truth be told, its just force of habit that's kept me calling you Miss Satan Miss S- Videl. So no harm done."

"Oh, that's good."

"Mind you, you can't tell anybody, it's my personal secret that not even Master Roshi knows about, and he can read minds."

Videl couldn't help but give a small chuckle at the mind reading comment, sure Gohan and his friends had some amazing powers at their disposal: flight, ki manipulation, and that odd ability to turn your hair blond and become even stronger than before, but mind reading was where Videl Satan drew the line. Because if that was true, you may as well say that Korin and his mythical Tower was real while you were at it.

"So what about you? What's a secret of yours? And it better not be one of those 'I have a crush on X boy from PE class', those sort of so-called secrets are dumb."

"Alright, how's this for a secret: My goal is to become strong enough to be able to make Gohan flinch freely when we spar."

"And that is why you are doing the same training that Mr Goku did. You hope to reach a level of power to fight on at least some sort of a level playing field, right?"

"Basically... yes," Videl said, hoping that the shadows would conceal her blush from Marron's eyes. They didn't, but Marron said nothing about the subject of Videl's face regardless, TV had given the small fighter-in-training at least that much tact.

"I know Gohan's way, way more powerful than I could ever hope to catch up to, even if he would never admit it to my face to spare my feelings. So training to surpass him is like training to destroy the whole earth in one punch. It's so beyond my limits that seriously attempting it would be insane, but if I can just make him flinch freely instead of relying on him to consciously flinch for me... I can live with that I think."

There another was a moment of silence between the blond child and the black haired teen, before Marron broke in. "This... This might be very rude and very off base, but does it hurt?"

Videl tilted her head with a perplexed expression written across her face. "Does what hurt?"

"Going from being the daughter of the world's strongest man, and ergo the strongest woman in the world, to find out your you're just a small time fish in a vast planet sized ocean worth of them. You do get my meaning right?"

"I do I- … I do. Deep down Marron, even since I learned Gohan's Saiyaman secret and stepped into this crazy world of flying and glowing balls of doom and 300 year old perverted men, it's scared and angered me. And... and I'd be lying if I wasn't a little jealous as well."

"But above it all, there's a thrill, a rush of excitement, isn't there? That's why you're here."

"Yea, there is, how did you know?"

"It's something I've felt every day since I was 3. I will never be the strongest out of the others, Bra, Trunks, and Chi I mean. That position goes to Trunks. Is it because he's a boy? Because he trains harder than me? Well, those factors play a role in his being the most powerful out of us four but the simple matter is he's just got good space people genes. They all do, even Bra and she's mocked the Saiyan race's brokenness many times. And Chi, Chi is a good friend and while she likes fighting and sparring like any half Saiyan would, she still looks up to ME because I'm 'the martial artist'. I love martial arts and training and bettering myself. And that's how I've dealt with what might otherwise have been a great blow to my self esteem."

"What is?" Videl asked.

"I better myself. That is my goal in life, in part at least, better myself as a fighter and expand my knowledge as a martial artist. And then, when I am an adult, I will open my own school, or take over my father's job if your training with him keeps going at the rate it's going Videl, and take on many students and help train their bodies past human limitations, and teach them about ki, and flight and, and... Videl, I have another secret I want to confess, and you must promise not to tell anyone, not my mother, not daddy, and NEVER my Master Roshi."

"O-Of course I can! What is it?"

"I think that Master Roshi was a fool to live out his life as a hermit, taking on as few students as he did, barring his training and keeping it smuggled away at Kame House. If... If I were the Master, I would take in a far greater number of students, not an unwieldy amount like a million mind you, a more manageable number like a dozen or so. And I don't think it's fair of him to keep all his knowledge and techniques locked away like that, never teaching them to any of his students, all of them passing away with him for good if he dies again in battle. I know I'm being childish, and I know that my Master has his reasons for doing what he's done in his life but I STILL feel it's wrong of him you know?"

"I have an idea, you're looking at the girl who grew up with more ponies than she ever knew what to do with. And I hate ponies."

"Hey Videl?"

"Yea Ki- Marron?"

"I don't like ponies either. What Bra sees in My Mini Pastel Colored Horsy: Magicalfriendship Z is beyond me. Than again I'm the girl who thinks that the CompassionBears would be better if they solved their issues by punching one another and yelling at random."

At that Videl couldn't help but laugh, from the absurdity of Marron's statement to the deadpan delivery, it was just too funny to pass up laughing at.

"I wasn't joking that time Miss Satan.," Marron said, her voice a mixture of a child-like whine and mild annoyance. It took all of her willpower as a trained martial artist to resist from bursting out laughing even harder.

"I... know..." Videl said, wheezing and winded from her hard laughing as the last of her chuckles began to die down. "And I'm sorry."

"I know you are," Marron said simply, her voice now sounding very much like a childish version of her mother's voice.

For the third time that night, silence fell between Marron and Videl.

And when the two learners in martial arts tried to break the silence, this time they spoke in near unison, both their faces visible to one another despite the low lighting and difference in height.

"Thanks for talking wi-"

Another pause, this one short but sweet as Marron spoke first. "Thanks for talking with me Videl, it helps to be able to rant to someone for a change of pace instead of acting as a certain girl genius's voice sponge smiling blankly while she goes on and on about how her father continues to yammer on about being the Prince of a long dead people of space monkey jerkheads."

Videl couldn't help but smile humorously at that comment. "Likewise Marron. It felt good getting some of that stuff off of my chest truth be told."

Just then, a third voice suddenly crashed into their conversation. "Alright you two," Krillin yelled out some number of yards away so that he had his hands cupped around his mouth. "You've spent enough time stargazing, now come on in. You both have to wake up at 4:30 tomorrow after all."

Videl stood up and took a step forward in the direction of the pink and red house, when Marron's voice stopped her. "Race you."

"I'll win, I have longer legs than you do."

"And I'm fast enough to keep up and beat at least two Super Saiyans. Now let's race!"

Videl was about to object again, but the pout on Marron's face, combined with Marron taking advantage of every bit of her natural child based cuteness, was too powerful a force to resist.

"Alright, you're on kid!" Videl said with a grin.

"You'll be eating my dust for breakfast Miss Satan.," Marron said with a smile of her own.

With that, both the Devil daughter and chestnuts ran off, leaving the darkest of the night and the glittering stars above them behind as they sped off to the warming beacon of light that was Kame House.

AN: So remember those two dragon ball short stories I'd said I'd get around to posting a while back once the first part of the Ribbon Saga was done with? Yeahhhhh... Still, better late then never. Thanks goes to Ness Frost as always for helping correct my egregious blunders against the English language.