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2ND NOTE: I think, therefore I . . . um . . .

THE NEW YEARS DEBACLE

CHAPTER 5

Trunks glanced at his watch. 11:38 pm. Well, they'd missed the party and New Years was twenty minutes away. What a terrible way to end the year. He only hoped that this whole incident was not some sort of preview of things to come next year. He'd die of stress if this were his luck in life.

He was sitting besides his girlfriend on two rickety, greasy chairs in the mechanic's workshop. Pan didn't seem to mind the dirty chairs because she was a mess already. She was hunched over, her head in her hands in defeat. She was worried about her parents.

Trunks was worried about his parents too. Both her parents and his were probably out of their minds in worry and there was no way to contact them and tell them that they were fine. They were cold, hungry and tired. Sadly, there was no way to fly home in this weather; they could be blown offcourse, get lost or catch hypothermia.

Don approached them then. "I'm goin' to start work on her tomorrow," He motioned to the car. "But I'll need t' order some parts. She'll be in here for a while." Don smiled toothily then. "Looks like you youngin's wont be gettin' outta this town til that there storm blows over and ye car's fixed."

Trunks sighed. Don was right; they were stranded. "Do you know of any place we could stay?" Trunks asked him.

"There's a motel just down t' street," Don said thoughtfully.

Trunks offered his thanks before recovering their things from the car then pulling Pan to her feet. They headed out into the storm and started walking down the snowy street. The storm was so thick and seemed to be getting more and more fierce; that the only way Trunks knew they were still on the same street was the continuous line of glowing street lamps.

Scanning the line of buildings through the snow, Trunks narrowed in on a glowing sigh which pronounced: 'Sunny-Side Motel: Vacancy'. He eagerly pushed the call button and waited. He started pushing it again and again in impatience. Suddenly Pan came out of her mopey state and looked up at him in alarm. "Trunks! My wallet is missing!"

Trunks looked around, "Did you drop it?" He knew that Pan was the only one of them who had the money for this room. Trunks hadn't brought his wallet, deliberately leaving it at home so Goten would have to pay the bill at that Chinese restaurant the other day before he went to Pan's house. Without Pan's wallet, they were sleeping in the snow tonight. "Damn me and my love of inexpensive Chinese food!" Trunks cried. Pan stared at him in confusion.

"Help me find it," She ordered him as she started sifting through the snow. Trunks was doing the same when he heard her gasp in surprise.

"What? Did you find it?"

"You!" Pan accused. Trunks looked over and saw Pan pointing angrily at a squirrel. The squirrel was sitting innocently in the snow, Pan's wallet at its feet. "Why are you bent on robbing me!?" Pan screamed at the small creature.

"Oh boy, she's flipped." Trunks mumbled.

Pan dove at the squirrel, but it was too fast and she landed in the snow. It scooped up the wallet in its teeth and scampered away. Pan leapt to her feet and dashed after it.

"No, Pan! You'll get lost!" Trunks cried, running after her. Trunks followed the pair down an alleyway, which was sheltered from the storm, where Pan had it cornered against a wall.

"Give it back!" Pan ordered. "Or I swear, I'll throw you in a blender and drink your BLOOD!"

The squirrel's chittering sounded like laughter to Pan. She was about to dive on it and wrestle for her wallet when she noticed that the squirrel was motioning at something.

"Pan, I think you should calm down," Trunks said carefully as he edged towards her from behind. "It's just a squirrel . . ."

The squirrel was actually pointing up at something. Pan followed the squirrel's pointed appendage up to the roof of the building to the right of the alleyway. Pan saw icicles dangling from the gutter. Large, sharp icicles. Pointing at her.

Pan looked back at the squirrel but it was gone. She heard a chittering above her. The Squirrel had scampered up the wall and was now walking along the gutter, wallet clenched firmly in its teeth. It grinned evilly at her.

"Pan, are you listening to me?" Trunks asked, as he came up behind her. Pan kept her eyes on the squirrel. It started pushing on the icicles enthusiastically.

"Trunks! Look out!" Pan leapt at Trunks and pushed him out of the way. Several pointed icicles landed just where they had been standing seconds before, embedding themselves into the dirty alleyway floor.

Both Pan and Trunks landed with a 'thud' on the ground, immediately getting covered in grime. "That was close," Trunks commented trying to untangle their limbs from one another.

Pan pulled herself up and look up at the squirrel that was staring down at them. "Alright," Pan said mysteriously, as she stood and brushed herself off. "This time, it's personal. No one tries to kill my boyfriend but me . . ."

"Excuse me?" Trunks asked.

"Wait here," Was all Pan said. She scaled the wall in lightning speed, using the tiniest indents in the bricks as foot and hand holds, and jumped onto the roof. Suddenly exposed the wind and snow again, Pan shielded her eyes and scanned the rooftops for the squirrel. She spotted him a little way off, leaping from the top of the building to another, wallet still in his little mouth.

Pan started chasing after him, leaping from building to building, rolling over as she landed to absorb the shock. She could feel the adrenaline pumping as she gained on the furry little thing. She felt like she was in a seventy's cop show as she leaped again from one building to the next.

Pan dove forward and landed on top of the little rodent. "Give it back!" was the first thing she said as it tried to break free. Pan finally pulled the wallet out of the squirrel's mouth; it was covered in teeth marks. She stood and opened it to check that everything was in its place, ignoring the annoyed chittering of the squirrel. Pan looked up in time to see the squirrel launch itself at her. Pan screamed and stumbled backwards as the squirrel went for her throat. Her foot caught on the building's railing and she fell over the edge. Pan desperately caught hold of the building's edge with one hand and hung there.

The squirrel peeked over the rim at her. It was a five-storey fall; she was screwed. The squirrel held up her wallet in triumph. Pan growled, "Fine! You win! Now leave me alone!"

The Squirrel picked it's way over to her aching fingers and started nibbling at them. Pan laughed, "Stop! That tickles!" The nibbling turned to biting. "Ah! No! I'll be killed!" Pan cried out. Her grip started to loosen. She couldn't believe it; she was going to be killed by a squirrel. She could fight, shoot Ki blasts and fly . . . yet she was brought to her knees by a . . . wait a minute. She could fly!

"What they hell am I hanging around here for?" Pan asked herself. She flew back up and landed neatly on the roof. She picked up the squirrel, retrieved her wallet and chucked the squirrel unceremoniously over her shoulder and over the roof's edge in one fluid motion. She hugged the wallet to herself like it was a lost teddy bear and checked that all her money and credit cards were still there. Smiling triumphantly to herself, she headed back towards the alleyway where she'd left her boyfriend. She was going to treat the both of them to the best room that motel had to offer.

Marron scanned the party scene again. She only had about twenty minutes until New Years was here. That meant she only had twenty minutes to put Project: 'Change Marron Into A Go-getting Young Minx' in action!

She waltzed her way over to a handsome looking red head who was leaning mysteriously against a wall.

"Hi, I'm Marron." She said. He nodded his head in acknowledgement. "So how do you know the Briefs?" She asked him.

He turned and looked at her, taking in her appearance. "I'm their family lawyer."

"Wow," Marron said appreciatively. "So . . . uh . . . are you seeing anyone at the moment?"

The man turned to her and smiled. "Actually, I am. Here he comes now!"

Another man dressed in a blue tank top and short shorts bounded over and leapt at the red headed man Marron had been talking to. "Hi darling! I misthed you!" The new guy lisped.

Marron's eyes widened as the two started fawning over one another. She started backing away slowly into the crowd of people before they noticed she was missing. When she was out of eyesight, she sighed in defeat. This night was a disaster. Nearly every guy she talked to was taken or gay. And when she talked to the others, she was interrupted or embarrassed.

Marron sighed for the millionth time that night. "I'm never going to finish anything I start . . . I'm going to be a terrible college student," She mumbled.

She wanted to go home and cry herself to sleep in utter embarrassment but her parents had already gone home to celebrate New Years at Kame Island, leaving her here. They'd given her permission to sleep over at Capsule Corp. and Marron had a feeling she knew why they wanted the house to themselves. They'd even managed to get rid of Marron's housemates, Oolong and Master Roshi for the weekend.

Marron trudged up the stairs to find a bedroom to sleep in. She was so depressed that she didn't care which one at all. She didn't even care about sticking around for the New Years count down either; she just wanted to be alone.