Raindrops

Chapter 11: The Road

A/N: I've been listening to the same 3 Prince Royce songs on repeat, someone help me. I'm also exploring a little of a new thing, I suck at writing action scenes so I'm curious how this will turn out. Sorry for the delay I had a LOT of things happen between February and March that kept me from writing. This chapter may be a bit shorter so I apologize!

Dressed in dark cuffed jeans and a tight, cream-colored long sleeve shirt - Marron swirled in the sunny blue sky, trailing behind the white trail of energy left behind her close friend. In an effort to get Marron out of the difficult rut she had shoved herself in - Trunks invited her on something they haven't done since they were children. Though Trunks could never admit, he wished Goten were there too. It felt vacant without him but as of the events that transpired recently...their friendship has suffered a severe blow. And in turn, he was relying on Marron to fill such a void. But Trunks had always cared about the blonde to a degree...despite never being her protector like Goten, there was always a special place of worry and concern for the pigtailed blonde he held so fondly in his halcyon memories.

He turned his head back to watch as the blonde swirling around the sky, in a gleeful expression. Albeit slow, she seemed to be getting the technique down. "Doing great there, blondie," Trunks commented, prompting the blonde to smile brilliantly, "but you'll never catch up." With that, he watched her furrow her brows before Trunks pushed his energy to boost himself even faster, watching as she made a miserable attempt to catch up.

"Hold on Trunks!" She shouted behind him, "this is totally unfair, you're a Saiyan!"

Trunks paused, bracing his back against the direction he was previously flying in, causing the blonde to quickly speed to a stop - nearly crashing into him. "So?" Trunks asked, quirking a brow, "your dad and mom can both fly equally as fast." Marron looked down to the side, biting her lip. "You don't really have an excuse," Trunks continued, now floating on his back almost swimming in the blue sky. "You just gotta train, I mean...do you even know the keinzan?" Trunks stated snarkily. Marron harrumphed, raising her hand in the air to form one of the smallest keinzans that Trunks had ever laid his eyes on. And thus, burst into a fit of laughter at the blonde's attempt to prove him wrong. "Alright, alright, I'll give ya' that!"

He watched Marron's pigtails swish as she turned her head, "I'm only trained to defend myself," Marron stated defensively. "I don't fight, obviously."

Trunks crossed his legs forcing him to spin in a clockwise manner whilst staring at her. "Huh, child of two z-warriors only fights to defend herself, what a waste!" Trunks exclaimed, "you could have done a lot more Mar, I mean you're Mom and Uncle can go toe-to-toe with Goku in his god-form...surely you must've gotten some of that!"

Marron squinted her eyes at Trunks, arms crossed as she watched him spin. "You do realize my mom is an android, right?" Marron asked, "she was modified to be super strong by some scientist."

Trunks stopped as soon as he was right-side up, waving his arm. "Excuses!"

The blonde shook her head, beginning to fly past him. "Let's go," Marron urged, "I wanna get to the reserve already!"

The blonde landed near the humble wooden home, her feet crunching the grass of her uncle's reserve. She breathed in the thick, humid air as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. Trunks glancing about the area, already dreading the mosquito bites he was about to get from being in the reserve. He watched the pigtails bounce as Marron reached the door where she presumed her uncle Lapis would be. She knocked gently with the back of her hand, to find a very stoic man greeting. "Marron," Lapis said, a cool expression on his face, "what brings you around these parts."

Marron smiled brightly, her hands eagerly bound behind her back. "Well," Marron began, "Trunks and I," she continued as she moved slightly to reveal the hybrid Saiyan who waved awkwardly, "were wondering if we could...volunteer around here."

Lapis leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed as he cocked his head, black hair shifting as he did. "That depends," he began, cracking his knuckles, "what kind of volunteering?"

The blonde's sweet grin remained as she swayed her shoulders giddily. "Oh you know, the usual," she began, "protecting the reserve...beating up poachers..." Lapis scoffed knowing all too well what his niece was asking for the moment she mentioned the word volunteering, the excitement in her eyes was far too easy to read. "Oh, I promise I won't beat 'em up too hard."

Lapis crossed his arms, looking over to Trunks who was currently glancing at his shoes. "Can your friend over there promise the same?"

Marron blinked and glanced over to Trunks, "Oh him?" Marron asked innocently, "Pfft, don't worry about him, he's practically harmless."

"Sure, Vegeta's kid is 'harmless'," Lapis mused before glancing over to the blonde. "Alright, sure...I could use some help around here," he stated watching as Marron's pools of blue grew larger in size. "The eastern quadrant of the reserve has been having a serious decline with this specific animal's population," he continued showing a picture of the blue animal, with extremely curved, white antlers. "They are called Blue Stags, they are rarer than a white stag," he explained, handing the image to Marron.

"I haven't been able to pinpoint exactly what's causing such a decline so...I'm trusting you use your skills to good use," Lapis smirked, "I'm sure you and Briefs over there will handle yourselves just fine."

Marron saluted Lapis, winking at him with a toothy grin. She folded the image, stuffing it in her back pocket and whilst she backed away as she shouted: "You can trust us!"

Marron was quick to brief the Saiyan on what their "mission" was, and Trunks was equally as fast in retaining the information the blonde told him. The two currently were flying slowly over the reserve, careful not to disrupt any of the animals that currently resided on the island. They flew to the eastern quadrant, carefully watching the top of the exotic trees, speckled with colorful spots much like sprinkles on a mint ice-cream.

"So it's some sort of deer, right?" Trunks asked, exasperated as his blue eyes scanned the ground for what Lapis was asking for. "A blue deer?" He continued for clarification.

"Yes, Trunks a blue deer," Marron replied, "that's what a blue stag implies doesn't it, genius?" Trunks rolled his eyes at the blonde's sarcastic tone and quickly stopped her by holding her wrist. She whipped her head around only to be facing a Trunks with an extremely intense expression, she watched as his pupils dilated slowly as though he were extremely focused on a single subject. "Trunks..." Marron stated warily, noticing the cat-like way the hybrid nearly hunted its target. "D-Do you see something?"

Before Trunks could reply to the frightful woman he dove straight first into the trees, startling the girl as she chased after him into the thick mass of green. She must admit, the hybrid had an immense ki signature, even at his repressed state...it was actually rather easy to follow him around thanks to that. Marron landed on the dirt, nearly crashing into a tree from her terrible landing skills. "Crap," the blonde moaned glancing at her white sneakers, "now they are all dirtied up!" Trunks was quick to shush Marron as he was prowling about on all fours like some sort of animal, causing her to nearly burst out in laughter at the wacky position he was in. "Trunks what on earth are you doing?"

Trunks snapped his head back at her, thick lavender brows knitting at the center in anger. "I'm hunting, now shut up before we get caught," he responded more acerbic than usual. "See that guy dressed in tan," Trunks stated, pointing from behind the bush. Marron slowly nodded, crouching down to Trunks' position. "Alright, look at what he's pointing the gun at..."

Her eyes flew open as she frantically searched her back pocket searching for the image her uncle had given her of the blue stag. The royal white antlers, the proud posture...and that fur, it was unmistakable! "A blue stag..." Marron whispered softly.

"That's right," Trunks stated, "and if we don't do something that's going to be another dead stag...so here's the plan..." Before he could finish his statement, Marron lifted her palm flat in the air charging her puny kienzan and aiming it towards the poacher's gun slicing straight through the metal. With the scary lightning show that displayed in front of the blue stag, it took its cue to run away from its serene scene. The short, stubby man stared at his gun, flabbergasted at the destruction of his weapon. "Damn it, Marron, I had a plan!" Trunks silently cursed at the blonde who smiled childishly

The poacher held his gun closer to his body, though the weapon was practically useless now. "W-Who's out there?" He yelled pointing at the thick bush that hid Trunks and Marron, "I swear I'll shoot if ya' don't show ya 'selves!" Marron was quick to stand up, with hands in the air. She smiled innocently whilst sauntering closer to the poacher, making sure Trunks didn't jump out first. "Well, well, peaches," The man said, lowering his guard, "what' cha doing all the way out here."

The woman placed her raised hands behind her back, nearly puffing out her chest to seem more attractive to the creep. "Oh lil' old me just got lost from my tour group," Marron said putting up a faux accent, "I was wondering if you could help me find my way back to them." She continued blinking flirtatiously at the poacher. Trunks was behind the bush, stifling his laughter that this blonde actually had a strategy that worked! Now he was fully convinced that her not becoming a fighter was truly a full-on waste.

"Of course!" He stated, with a near bounce to his step as he snaked an arm around Marron's waist. That was Marron's cue to turn them both towards the bush, and out of the bush pounced a near-feral Trunks who easily apprehended the sleaze. "W-What the-" The poacher stated attempting to register the events that took place, glaring at the blonde once he realized she had fooled him. "Why you little bitch!" The man grunted as Trunks flipped him, pressing his face onto the dirt. "What do you and your little boyfriend get outta this!" He exclaimed causing the blonde and hybrid's cheeks to flush wildly. Trunks dug the man's face deeper into the dirt.

Right on cue, they simultaneously shouted: "We aren't dating!"

AN: This was an actual struggle to write, so much writer's block. I was very disappointed with how this chapter came out...and wasn't sure how to fix a lot of the problems in it. Since my score with my play at states my writing energy was sapped out of me, but I'm trudging through it! I refuse to let it get to me...even though it made me want to sob. Anyway...too much personal crap, there's no excuse!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter regardless! I will come back to adjust it more when I feel I can though.