Author's Notes: Hi again everyone! Thanks for all the reviews!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN DBZ!
Chapter 3:
"Thanks again, Gohan!" Krillen grinned cheerfully. It was barely an hour after his search and he had already found the first two dragon balls. Of course, that might had something to do with ChiChi and Gohan holding on to them after Goku's death.
"Anytime, Krillen!" Gohan exclaimed as he and his mother walked their friend to the door. Once the three were outside, Krillen started floating before getting pummeled into the ground by an orange blur.
"Hiya Goten!" Krillen greeted the beaming toddler. It was always both nice and painful to see the young boy. Goten was the spitting image of his father after all. And ChiChi's now almost forced smile proved that she was having similar trouble with Goku's son.
"Where are you going, Krillen? You've only just got here! And you promised that you'd play with me next time you came!" Goten whined with his sweet, innocent voice that reminded Krillen of a young Goku.
"Sorry, Goten. Maybe next time, I'm kind of in a big hurry now!" Krillen apologized to the now pouting boy. Krillen ruffled his black spikes, waved to the other two Sons and bid them farewell before taking off to the next point indicated on the radar. Just five more to go, Eighteen, I promise I'll make everything alright again! With determination he never showed before, Krillen's speed reached a whole new level as he flew to his destination. The bald man finally landed in a barren desert. The wind was dry and there was no water or shrubs visible in the distance. The sun was glaring down at the desert and Krillen could almost see the steam rolling off the sand. However, Krillen could not make out an orange ball in the light-brown sand. This will take a while… his disheartened thoughts did nothing but help the time crawl by more slowly as he checked the radar and tried to follow the point.
-oOo-
Eighteen sighed as she finished brushing her daughter's hair. She looked out the window and noted that Krillen still hasn't come home. It didn't help that when she caught him sneaking out of his own house he had a huge cat-grin on his face. Nope, she didn't like it all. That she was certain of just like she was positive that she wouldn't like whatever caused her husband's weirder than usual antics. She shook her head to get rid of thoughts related to Krillen and focused on their daughter instead.
"Mama, can you tie my hair up like a kitty cat?" Marron asked with her big eyes. Eighteen let out a frustrated sigh through her nose.
"But honey, I just finished tying it up in a ponytail. Wasn't that what you wanted?" Marron shook her head.
"It was, but then I decided that pigtails would look much better!" Marron said with all the seriousness she could muster. Her daddy gave her a mission after all. A very important quest he had said, one she was supposed to take very seriously, and that's exactly what she's going to do. Commence mission 'Keep Mommy Busy for the Rest of the Day'.
-oOo-
"Found it!" Krillen exclaimed after half an hour of searching thoroughly through the sand, "That actually took less than I expected!" He grabbed the ball and stuffed it with the other two in his backpack, "Now let's see," he checked the dragon radar again and found the nearest dragon ball. He strapped his bag on his back and took off. The ball was not that far. It wouldn't take more than twenty minutes to get to it if he flew at top speed.
Thus, Krillen landed in a whole new area. Lush green fields were all around. He could also hear the faint sound of water dribbling down. The air was refreshing and the warm sun bathed the land without being too strong like it was in the desert. Krillen pursed his lips. He remembered this place very well.
*Flashback*
His tall friend grabbed his arm and took off the ground, leaving a trail of excited energy behind as he raced the wind to get to his destination.
"Come on, Krillen! I found the best waterfall there is! It's really incredible!" the black-haired man exclaimed eagerly as he pulled the shorter man to this place he called heaven.
"I'm sure it is, Goku. But seriously, you don't have to pull so hard! I'm right behind you!" Krillen said as he grasped his seized arm and brushed his younger friend's hand off. He rubbed his freed arm for emphasis.
"Sorry, Krillen! Just a bit excited!" Goku exclaimed as he lead the way and landed in a green field, his best friend quickly following suit, "Come on!" Goku ran through the sun-bathed place and past the tall grass to where Krillen could make out the sound of running water.
"Wow…" he said breathlessly when he saw the beautiful cascade of pure, unpolluted water falling down. The sun's rays immersed part of the attractive waterfall provoking a small rainbow to be produced. The whole place seemed… calming. Obviously, his saiyan friend found the place to be appealing and soothing as well since not a second has passed before he heard him lie down in the warm sunlight. Krillen sighed in content as he, too, followed his friend's example and relaxed on the soft grass in the comforting atmosphere.
"This is life…" Krillen said aloud, but the soft snoring of his saiyan companion let him know that he hadn't heard anything. Krillen chuckled. There was nothing better than cooling off with his favorite saiyan friend.
*End of Flashback*
Krillen rubbed at his water-filled eyes. The two had come here many times after that to let off some steam without having a spar. This place, they decided, was to be a place for peace. And since no one else knew of it, their resting time was never cut short. However, the bald man never stepped into this place again after the terrible crisis known as Cell. It contained heart-warming memories. That was true, but these memories no longer helped Krillen live his life and move forward. It kept him from forgetting his late friend. It held memories of him and Goku when everything in the world was right and peace was always around the corner. These once happy recollections no longer brought the cheerfulness they did and created sorrow and misery instead. He shook his head. This was not the time to reminisce. He had to get the dragon ball and get out of this place as quickly as he can.
-oOo-
Eighteen tied her daughter's hair in yet another hairstyle.
"Hey Mama…" Marron started.
"Please don't tell me you don't like this style either?" Eighteen said, her eye twitching dangerously and her voice slightly coated with underlying anger. Marron gulped inaudibly. It was time for a change in tactics.
"No, I love this one just fine," Marron said with a happy smile. She paid her mother's sigh of relief little mind, "Can you help me read a story?"
"Yes, yes, of course. What kind of story do you want to hear?" Marron rolled her eyes.
"I don't want to hear a story… I want to read a story," Eighteen nodded thoughtfully. This was easy; she only needed to get one of Marron's baby books. Thus, the blond woman stood up and walked towards her daughter's shelf.
"What about 'The Ugly Duckling'?" Eighteen asked. Marron shook her head, "Okay, 'Little Red Riding Hood' or 'The Three Pigs'?"
"None of those, Mommy. These books are for babies and little kids," Marron said and continued decisively, "And I'm not a kid!" Eighteen pursed her lips. The only other books they had in the household were Roshi's magazine collection, and there was no way she was reading that to her lovely girl.
"How about we go to the library?"
"In the car?" It would take them about an hour to get to the library with Eighteen's great driving skills, yet it would take them even less than that if Eighteen carried Marron there.
"How about we fly there?" she asked with a raised brow.
"Nah-uh!" Marron said as she stomped her little foot, "I want to go in the car!" she shouted, "Please," she added after a moment of thought.
"Okay, I'll go change and you should too," Marron nodded as her mother turned on her heel and headed to her room. The little girl grinned triumphantly. Plan B was working perfectly. If her calculations were correct, both she and her mother would get bored after the third book. Therefore, that would make a grand total of three hours, an hour for each. She reminded herself to ask a lot of questions to extend that time even further. After all, she only had five more back up plans, and Trunks said that she needed at least ten to be able to succeed in anything. She hoped that her mission would be a success.
-oOo-
Krillen found the orange orb on the riverbank in the exact same spot he and Goku usually came to. He wondered if anyone up there was enjoying his agony. He quickened his pace and grabbed the ball. He didn't bother putting it in the backpack as he sped away from the area. Figuring that he flew far enough away from the painful site, he landed and chucked the orb in his bag. He looked at the radar and found that the next ball was a lot farther away than he imagined, and so were the other two. In fact, all three were on the other side of the planet. He sighed, it was already noon and lunch time would come around soon. This was not going to last much longer if all went according to plan. He took a deep breath and thrust upward.
-oOo-
Mother and daughter finally made it to the library exactly one hour later. Eighteen was pleased to say that she didn't get stopped by any policeman over the course of the trip.
"Well, what do you want to read first?" Marron bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. She walked through the first aisle she could find. Numerous books with a colorful cover caught her eyes immediately. She frowned. It didn't look like the kid's books she used to read, but judging by the cover, they just might be good.
"How about this one?" she asked as she randomly picked one of them, "I love the cover!" Eighteen grabbed the book from her daughter's hand and put it in place.
"Never judge a book by its cover. How about we go to the aisle that I know you would find something to read in?" Eighteen said as she held Marron's hand. Marron nodded enthusiastically and kept marching alongside her mother. She had to make sure that she prolonged the time it would usually take her to pick three books. She cannot risk failing this assignment!
-oOo-
A couple of hours later, Krillen had finally made it to his chosen ball's position. He wobbled his head from side to side and spotted a red-starred ball between the bushes in the forest he landed in. He glanced at the radar and was pleased to note that the other one was not at a great distance. It was just atop that mountain he could see. He flew and reached the peak in record time. He found the ball chucked between a mass of sticks and leaves. Beside the ball, he could see huge pale-blue boulders. Weird… he noted as he made his way towards his target. He felt a strong gust of wind rush past him. He heard a few twigs get crushed and footsteps falling behind him. He looked behind him and blinked when he saw a giant vulture-like creature squawking furiously at him. He glanced at the stones and everything finally dawned on him. He was in this creature's nest. And it would be a huge understatement to say that it was angry.
"I'm not here to do any harm!" he talked to the bird as if it understood what he was saying; "I was just coming here to take this and will now be on my way!" he said with a nod blasted away. Somehow, the force of his take off caused the eggs to fall to the side and one of them got cracked. Apparently, the bird did not take kindly to that and flew after the ex-monk. Krillen sped up, but the bird pushed on and followed after him.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Krillen said as he flew faster, "I swear I didn't mean to!" The bird opened its huge beak and let out the highest yell Krillen had ever heard. Being the peace-love that he was, Krillen did not strike the bird down, yet he kept on flying onwards in hopes of losing the bird. After what seemed like eternity, Krillen chanced a look backwards. He did not like what he saw. At an unknown time, the bird had finally gotten bored of following the noseless man, and had returned to its nest. This meant that for an indefinite duration, Krillen had been flying away from nothing at all. Krillen let out a breath in an attempt to calm down and gripped the dragon radar and ball with a lot more force than necessary, but neither suffered any damage. Krillen threw the ball into the bag and checked the last ball's location. The ball was right under him. He let himself freefall towards the ground and caught himself at the last second before hitting it. It didn't take him very long to find the last one. He put it in his bag and chucked the radar inside too. He was done and the sun was just starting to set in his part of the planet, according to his watch. He just hoped that he could make it back before Marron ran out of ideas.
-oOo-
Marron was starting to get desperate. She only had one more method before she was officially out of ideas. After going to the library and reading one book, Eighteen said that she got bored and suggested doing something else. It took one hour to get to the library and one hour to read the whole book, which summed up to make a total of two hours. That was a lot less than the four hours Marron planned on spending on that plan. Then, Marron whined that she wanted ice-cream; thus, the two got to the park and bought a cone each. That was another plan and thirty minutes gone. After that, the two went shopping and easily spent three hours at the big shopping center. That was plan three. Plan four was goading her mother into taking her to the theme park. To which she got a flat no. Plan five was returning home and watching a movie. However, her mother got her home but didn't want to watch a movie. With the hair episode at the beginning, the six plans took about seven hours since nine o'clock. Lunch took about two hours to prepare and eat. Thus it was now five p.m. and her father had not yet returned. She could feel the suspicion rolling off her mother in waves. It would only be a matter of time before she decided to go look for him. And her daddy specifically told her not to let that happen under any circumstances. Her seventh and final plan of action was telling her mother that Master Roshi had yet again told her something. The lecture her mother gave the old man was longer than usual (since this time, Roshi was denying telling the girl anything), but that was only one hour. At six o'clock, Eighteen decided that Krillen had been gone long enough and was getting prepared to hunt-er- bring him back home.
Marron widened her eyes. She should have listened to Trunks and cooked up ten plans instead of seven. Trunks! That was it! She would tell her mom that she wanted to go play with him. That would certainly take a lot of time. Hopefully, her father would have returned by then. Therefore, the girl all but sprinted to the door and stopped her mother at the last second.
"Please Mommy, can we got o Trunks' house?" she added the puppy dog eyes for effect. Eighteen instantly agreed. She would look for her husband later.
-oOo-
Krillen's flight was almost over; he could see the telltale signs of reaching his home. He was giddy with excitement. He couldn't wait to see Eighteen's reaction once he told her the news. Her wish will finally come true!
He got to his house at eight o'clock and was almost knocked over by his wife.
"Oh, Krillen…" Eighteen said, "Where have you been?" she shouted angrily.
"Sorry, Eighteen!" Krillen quickly said, "I was actually getting you a present!"
"Oh?" He revealed the seven dragon balls and his wife's eyebrows rose even higher.
"Well, you see… I've been worried about you lately. And every time I ask you something, you snap. So I told Bulma to ask you. And when you told her that you were thinking a lot about your past, I wanted you to have your wish," he explained. His wife's face, which was contorted in anger at the beginning, was now stretched in a small smile.
"Thank you Krillen," she said as she bent and hugged her husband closely.
"Since it's now late, we'll summon the dragon first thing after breakfast!" Krillen exclaimed, "I'll call Bulma and see if she can keep Marron at her house for a while!" His stomach grumbled loudly and he instantly rubbed the back of his neck.
"You do that, and I'll heat up some dinner," Eighteen said as she made her way to the kitchen. Krillen beamed cheerfully, tomorrow will finally bring balance back to their life. Once they were back from their adventure, everything would be back to normal! He was surprised when Marron approached; she looked like a war-ridden soldier as she saluted him.
"Mission accomplished, sir!" she exclaimed. Krillen smiled at his cute daughter.
"Good work, soldier. At ease!" Marron returned his smile before scrambling up the stairs to her room.
Author's Notes: And here's another extra long filler chapter for everyone who is still reading this! Thanks again for all the reviews and I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! Don't' forget to leave me a review on this chapter as well!