Author's note: Hmm, this chapter is…I don't know

Author's note: Hmm, this chapter is…I don't know. I think it's kind of weird but I'll leave you people to decide that for yourselves. I hope you like though, and PLEASE, please, please don't forget to review. Thanks to all of you who reviewed already. It was really encouraging. ~nightgale.

Chapter 8:

One of them was no other than that strange girl who had came to her apartment a few days earlier, the one who warned her to stay away from Trunks. The other is an old man who has a wrinkled face and white bushy hair. Marron tried to scream but no sound came out, the gag was stuck tight in her mouth. She wrestled her tongue around and tried to remove the gag. No luck.

The strange girl smiled. "Master," she said in her monotone voice. "I have brought her to you. Are you going to begin the operation now?"

Marron could feel her heart in her throat. Did I just hear she say the word 'operation'?

The old man smiled a slow, evil smile. "You did well, #25," he said in a deep voice. "She is definitely #18's daughter. Look at that blonde hair," he reached out and touched Marron's hair.

Marron tried to roll out of his reach.

"And she's real tough too. She is way more powerful than her mother or her uncle. Maybe even stronger than Son Goku, if he was here." The old man grinned. "That's why I spared her and only killed her parents."

Marron froze, the old man's words stuck in her head. That's why I spared her and only killed her parents, that's why I spared her and only killed her parents… He's the one who killed her parents! She could feel her blood rushing to her head. She burst free of the ropes that tied her hands and legs together and spat out her gag.

"You bastard!" she screamed at the old man. "I'm going to kill you!" She rushed over and tackled him to the ground. She placed both hands on his neck and squeezed, tighter and tighter. She could see the old man's eyes starting to bulge out of their sockets.

"#25," the old man gasped. "Hurry…get…needle!"

Marron punched him right in the face and blood trickled down his nose and mouth. "I hate you!" she screamed. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, and I am going to kill you!" She felt a small pinch on her back. "What the…" she turned around and saw #25, holding a needle.

Instantly, she felt all her power draining away from her. "Hey…" she called out weakly and fell onto the floor. Then everything turned black again.

Trunks pounded on Marron's apartment door. "Marron! Marron open up!" he yelled. "Marron!" He punched the door hard. "Shit! Where is she?" The door gave a moan and it collapsed.

"Good one Trunks," Goten said dryly. "Now on top of everything else, you have to pay for a new door."

Trunks ignored Goten and walked into Marron's little apartment. Everything is neat and tidy. Except, there on the kitchen counter, was the charm bracelet he gave her. He grabbed the bracelet and slipped it into his pocket. He inspected the apartment carefully. Then he sighed and picked up the door.

He noticed that the door was unlocked.

"Hey, Marron never leaves her door unlocked," Trunks said to Goten.

"Trunks, there's a first time for everything."

"You don't know Marron. Something bad happened to her. I just know it."

"Well, what do you want to do now? We don't have a clue where she is." Bleep, bleep! Goten looked down at his cell phone. "Sorry, excuse me a moment."

Trunks sighed. Probably another one of Goten's many girlfriends, he thought with disgust.

He was wrong. It was Gohan.

"Hello big brother?" Goten said into his phone. "Yeah, really? Sure, okay we'll see you soon okay? Bye!" Goten put his cell phone back and grabbed Trunks' arm. "Come on, we got a serious problem, my brother just sensed a very dangerous ki, flying towards our house! And it doesn't feel very friendly!"

"What about Marron?"

Goten sighed. "Trunks, which one in more important? The world or Marron?"

"Marron."

"Uh, forget about what I just said. How about this, the world gets destroyed or whatever, then we all die. Marron will die too. If we go and save the world now, everybody stays alive and Marron, well, we'll save her afterwards."

"Um,"

"No 'um', no 'buts', no 'I don't know'. Let's go kick some ass!"

Fine," Trunks gave in. They ran out of Marron's apartment building. When they made sure no one was looking, they turned into Super Saiyans and flew to Goten's house.

"Hey Gohan!" Goten called to his father. "Whoa," he whispered to Trunks. "It is serious, look at all the people here. Can you sense the enormous power?"

Trunks glanced around, and sure enough, everybody who could fight came. There was Gohan, Pan, Vegeta, Piccolo, Ubuu, and Yamcha. They all looked very worried. He can feel the power too. Wow, it was huge. Something was wrong though, but the power had a familiar feel to it, like he had sensed it before. Don't be stupid, Trunks told himself. How could you sense this big a power and not remember it?

He walked towards Gohan. "Gohan, what is this about?"

"I don't know," he said with his fists clenched. "But I have a feeling this isn't going to be good. Whatever it is, we'll be ready for it."

Trunks nodded, he went over to Goten, who was sitting under a cherry blossom tree, and sat down beside him. They were all silent for a while. Then someone shouted, "Look!" There was a red glow in the distance and it's heading towards them, traveling in incredible speed.

Trunks' mind was not on the power at all. Instead, he remembered how pretty Marron looked with red ribbons in her hair. I'm coming for you Marron, he promised to himself. Just hang on!

The red glow is now right above them. It slowly descended onto the ground about 5 metres away from the tree where Trunks and Goten sat. When the glow faded a small figured stepped forward. Trunks turned and stared at the figure. His jaw dropped. "Marron?"

All the warriors turned to stare at him. "Trunks you know her?" Gohan asked.

"Uh, that's Krillen, um, and #18's daughter," Trunks stuttered.

"She's also the one who Trunks was taking to dinner today!" Goten exclaimed.

Trunks was numb, he couldn't hear what the other people were saying and he didn't care. All of his attention was fixed on Marron. Dende, what have they done to you Marron? He stared at his girlfriend, horrified at the sight. Her long blond hair was spiked up and dyed blue at the tips. She had a tight black tube top on and tight black jeans with metal spikes at the ankle. She wore knee high boots and her lips formed a smirk. Her eyes had lost their clear blue innocence and are now a blazing red. She can't be Marron! His Marron, the girl he had loved since he found her on the streets, the real Marron is trapped underneath all that evil.

Can he save her?

He must.

Goten stared back and forth at Trunks and Marron. Uh-oh, Trunks is getting psycho too. Great, the situation had just gone from VERY bad to EVEN worse. Suddenly, an energy blast cut through the air and is heading directly for Gohan. He ducked and the shot missed. Goten let out a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing?" he shouted to the girl Trunks claimed to be Marron.

The girl ignored him and continued to shoot energy blasts at Gohan. Gohan managed to get away from all the blasts but the girl was shooting faster and faster. At this speed, I don't even think Gohan can hold on much longer, Goten thought.

"Marron! Hello?" he yelled again.

An energy blast came his way. "Don't you ever call me that AGAIN!" the girl growled. "Or else."

She laughed. "I'm squash you like the bug that you are."

Whoa, Goten whipped his head around and watched as the blast missed him by a few inches. That was WAY too close for comfort.

"Marron!" he heard his best friend cry. His voice had lost all of its sanity and he is now sounding hysterical. "Please, tell me what have they done to you?"

For a split second, Goten thought he could detect a small change in the girl's expression. Her blazing red eyes turned icy blue and her lips relaxed into a small smile. But the frown quickly returned. "Shut up! I'm here to destroy Son Gohan and whomever that comes in my way. If I were you," she glared at Trunks. "I would stay as far away as possible and mind my own business."

"No Pan!" Ubuu yelled. Goten turned and saw his little niece firing a huge blast at Marron. Marron held up one hand and gently pushed the blast back to Pan.

"Ah!" Pan screamed and Gohan grabbed her out of the way just before the blast could do any harm. Goten noticed that his brother's power level had gone up. Uh-oh, big bro's mad. The girl's probably toast.

He watched as his big brother power up to a Super Saiyan and threw a punch at Marron. She blocked it with ease and landed a swift kick into his stomach. Gohan winced but quickly regained his posture. He fired a blast at Marron but she hit it away with her hand. Then they started fighting a lot faster, Goten started having trouble detecting their movements.

"This is so pointless," Vegeta growled then he flew up and joined the fight. So did Piccolo and everybody else. Only Goten and Trunks stayed back and watched.

But Marron was stronger. Very soon, all the warriors are lying on the ground, either suffering from a severe punch to the stomach or a fatal kick to the head. Marron walked slowly towards Gohan, a small power blast forming in her hand.

"Son Goten, any last request before I blow your head off?" she sneered.

All of a sudden, someone yelled, "Stop!"

It was Trunks.