C-17 grabbed Marron's shoulder just as the door slammed open. The maiden shut her eyes closed and screamed, jumping from her seat and away from her uncle. If she had only known who was stepping in, she would have ran up to that person, but unfortunately she was turning back to the door and she ran to the opposed wall.
- You! How dare you break through my house like this?! shouted C-17, clenching his fists.
- Look who's talking, sharply replied Oob, his charcoal eyes moving swiftly between the cyborg and Marron. I'm taking her back home.
Marron sighed with heavy relief, telling herself that her fast heartbeat was only due to stress and fear combined.
- Come here, added the youth with a softened voice, giving her a slight smile.
- No! yelled C-17. She stays here!
He was now shaking convulsively, his blue iris shinning with angry madness, his fists so tighten that the knuckles were more than white. But what scared Oob the most - actually C-17 himself wasn't scary for the young fighter, he would only deal seriously with him - was that the upset man had no ki. It was like having a blazing fire just in front of one self, and not feeling any heat.
Nothing had ever prepared him to that. But he would still fight if he had to, because he was Son Goku's student, because he was a fighter, because he had to protect Marron. Because, although he wouldn't admit it even to himself, he wanted to show her what he was worth.
Goku, Goten and Trunks were geedily eating a 'little' snack under the disgusted eye of Bulma.
- I'll never get used to this, she sighed as her own son burped loudly.
She was about to leave them alone when she noticed that Goku had stopped shoving food into his mouth and was staring the emptiness, obviously attentive to something his mind had detected.
- What is it? she asked, hoping it wasn't a new problem.
- Oob, he's powering up. And he's in the North. He never goes there...
The Saiyan frowned, rose from his chair.
- And Krilin is flying toward him! What's going on...
Goten and Trunks exchanged a similar look, swallowed quickly and got up.
- Maybe it's that robot!! We should go, no?!
Their identical smile beamed with excitation and Goku couldn't help but narrow his eyes at them.
- And they say they don't like fighting...
C-18 stared at the broken glass spread on the floor and that partly covered a picture of little Marron. She easily guessed who had taken it from its place on the table. C-17, of course. But she wasn't sure if he had dropped it or threw it away... She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
With slow steps, she went upstairs. The shattered glass was glowing softly behind her, with the first rays of the sun.
There was a huge hole in the wall of her bedroom and the broken window was stained with a little bit of blood. C-18 stared at the dried substance for a moment and then left the room. She didn't want to think about what could have happened there... Her feet took her to Marron's room, and it wasn't any better. She remembered when she found him holding her daughter right after shooting Muten Roshi with what could have been a mortal bullet and she remembered how Marron had been holding onto him. Suddenly the image changed from the dark child bedroom to a blinding desert where she had found her brother... Dead...
The silence broke apart as the cyborg let go a sob.
C-17 had attacked first, only because he was impatient and it had been so long since he had last fought seriously. He didn't know this young idiot, but he felt it would be a fairly good challenge. Plus, he had to keep him from Marron.
Oob allowed the cyborg to push him outside, since they would have much more place there and there would be less risks for Marron to be injured. He yelled at her to stay inside and then gave all of his attention to the fight. Although he had no ki, this man was strong and he was skilled. It was obvious that he had experience, in which the dark skinned youth lacked. However, Oob believed himself to be stronger than most people on Earth (his sensei had repeated it so many times already: 'You have the greatest potential, Oob... One day you'll find it out.').
They quickly began rising in the sky, speeding up their motions and putting more strength in their attacks. A blast from one of them missed its target and blew up a couple of giant trees, some miles away from the house.
Marron looked at the fight until she couldn't see the opponents anymore, for they were moving too fast for her inexperienced eyes, then she sighed heavily, rubbing her arms to chase the gooseflesh. She looked around, trying to remember when she had come here and why, when she noticed an old, dusty and loathsome pile of blankets in a corner. She stared at it thoughtfully, wondering what was worse: well nigh nudity or the filthy fabrics that could cover her.
- Do you feel that?!
Krilin stopped moving all of a sudden, his eyes widened in shock. Lunch sighed, brushed her blond hair behind her shoulder with annoyance and poked him on the head.
- Keep flying, Krilin. I've gotta stay with him. It's bad enough I lost the Dragon Balls...
- Yeah, that was smart. Our detector...
- Shut up!
She smacked him angrily, but instead of bringing a look of sore sorrow on his face like when he was a child, it made the small man grin.
- It's good to have you back Lunch, even if only for a few hours. I hadn't noticed how much I had missed you all those years long.
She stayed silent and he didn't insist. In the green eyes, a dancing light had appeared, and the blond woman was glad he was bearing her on his back, because there was no way he would notice it.
Oob was the first one to touch his opponent: his fist hit the cyborg's jaw with full power and sent him down. C-17, now truly mad, stopped his fall just before touching the ground and sent a giant blast upwards. The young fighter knocked it away with his joined hands, his eyes stuck on the other who was already coming back in the air. There were only a few meters between them when a new voice stopped C-17's ascension.
- I see you are handling this pretty well by yourself, Oob!
- Sensei!
Goku gave his student the thumb up. Behind him, Trunks and Goten were cracking their knuckles, glancing at C-17. The latter had floated up to their height and had crossed his arms, not caring to wipe the thin tickle of blood on his chin. His pale eyes shone with anger.
- What's going on? asked Goku.
- He kidnapped Marron! explained Oob, his voice bearing too much of passion.
- Where is she? asked Goten, suddenly losing his smirk.
Oob pointed the house and the saiyan hybrid disappeared, immediately chased by C-17.
- You're not going to take her away!! he screamed, grabbing Goten's leg and literally throwing him aside.
Goten, too surprise to resist, hit a tree's trunk and fell onto the grass, unconscious. Seeing his best friend being treated like a vulgar object, Trunks became Super Saiyan and attacked right away, while Goku's only reaction was to shake his head at his son's poor skills.
C-17 was strong, but his strength was nothing against an angry Super Saiyan's one and it didn't take long before he was only trying to avoid the young man's powerful fists. "Dammit, I didn't do this all just to die again!" But his mind was a mess of anger and pain - and something he refused to admit - and he couldn't defend himself.
That's when Krilin and Lunch arrived.
- VEGETA! GET YOUR LAZY ASS OUT OF THE GRAVITY ROOM AND GO TO HELP GOKU AND THE OTHERS!!!
Bulma banged on the door furiously, until her husband opened it, almost as upset as she was.
- They don't need my help for such little business!
- I say you go, so you go!
- But I...
- There's no 'but' if you want to have a place to stay at tonight! You fly to wherever they are NOW!
Vegeta sighed and figured he would simply obey. His ears didn't need any more of this high-pitched screaming.
