AnimeWolfGirl16: Thanks and here's the next chapter!

Chapter 15: Confusing Relations

"Leyla! What are you doing here?" Gohan nearly wanted to scream at his crimson eyed friend.

Leyla only looked over at him with sadness as she walked to stand in front of the Tako.

Gohan started to worry that it would attack her, but when it didn't, he was relieved but confused.

"Stop it!" Leyla shouted at the figure, "This wasn't part of the deal!"

Deal? Gohan thought, feeling his heart stop for a moment in surprise, what does she mean?

"Oh I know, but it would have been more fun this way," the figure said, clearly annoyed at Leyla's actions.

"Fun?" Leyla retorted, making Gohan wonder why she was so angry, "Seriously? You almost killed my friends!"

"They would have had to die sooner or later," the figure answered with a wave of her hand, "why keep getting any more attached to them?"

Gohan suddenly glanced over at the Tako, realizing that its eyes were glowing red.

That's never good, Gohan thought, feeling suddenly wary of what the Tako would do.

Glancing over at Marie, he saw that she had realized it too, but she also looked mad about something. Following her gaze, he noticed that she was staring at Leyla.

Gohan didn't have any time to think on it though, since he felt the Tako's Ki spike suddenly. Looking back to the eight legged creature, he saw that it was forming some kind of red Ki blast.

Not good, Gohan thought, but then realized something, where have I seen that before? Frieza maybe? But does that mean that the Tako can copy moves?

Yes, but it has to absorb you first, Marie answered his question, making him feel somewhat startled.

But daddy defeated Frieza back on Planet Namek, and then it blew up, so how in the world would the Tako have been able to absorb him before the planet exploded? Gohan thought with worry about what he had just learned.

Realizing that the Ki ball was getting bigger, Gohan tried to move his leg, but that only resulted in more red lines being drawn where the tentacle was attached to his leg.

Giving up on getting free for the moment, he looked over at Leyla. Something seemed different about his longtime friend; she seemed almost disturbed about something, that and angry.

Leyla's gaze suddenly hardened as she stared at the Tako, making Gohan wonder why it wasn't attacking her.

"Stop it," Leyla stated suddenly, staring at the Tako. It seemed to almost direct its attention towards her for a moment. When the Ki blast still did not dissipate, Leyla seemed to get angrier.

"I said stop it!" she shouted at the Tako, making it somewhat flinch and lose its concentration, the Ki blast then dissipating.

Leyla walked calmly over to the Tako, rubbing one of its tentacles in an almost apologetic manner.

"That's no way to treat your future pet, now is it?" the figure questioned Leyla, who was still near the Tako.

"No, it's not, but it needs to learn its place," Leyla stated softly, making Gohan very confused.

Future pet? What does she mean? He wondered, still looking at his friend.

He suddenly felt the grip on his leg loosen and looked down to see that the tentacle was slowly creeping away. Marie ran over to him and looked at his leg with concern.

I'll be fine, he told her, not wanting her to worry for the moment. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but she then shook her head and stayed silent.

"What are you doing?!" the figure shrieked at Leyla when she saw that the Tako had let them go.

"Just leave!" Leyla demanded, "We can deal with this later!"

The figure gave her a hard look before walking back through the tunnel behind the ledge she had been standing on. Leyla gave one last look at the Tako before the octopus vanished after its master.

Marie was quietly staring at the ground; Gohan guessed she was just as confused as he was.

"Leyla, how did you get here?" Gohan asked, feeling weak, "and why was she saying all that weird stuff?"

"That doesn't matter right now," Leyla stated softly while staring at his leg, "We should probably just get out of here for right now."

Gohan nodded, feeling too tired to argue. He guessed Leyla would tell them when she was ready.

Gohan walked over to see Krillin still passed out on the ground and started to help his friend up.

"We can carry him," Marie stated softly as Leyla and her came over to help.

Gohan nodded, understanding what they meant. As they started to walk back towards where they had come, Gohan glanced over at Leyla.

What is going on? Why was Leyla here? He wondered for the tenth time, but decided to let it go.

He suddenly felt the pain in his leg return, along with his strength being sapped, made him suddenly fall towards the ground.

Marie and Leyla both turned around when they felt Gohan's Ki drop suddenly. Marie's eyes widened when she saw that Gohan was now passed out on the cave floor.

Marie dropped Krillin's feet and ran over to Gohan, hearing a sharp intake of breath behind her when Leyla had to put Krillin down suddenly.

She felt Leyla put Krillin down and run over beside her. Marie felt the signal from Gohan's Lotus, so at least he wasn't dead again.

"When you said something about bad guys making things hard, sometimes you do too," Marie whispered as she smiled, starting to pick him up, but she realized her problem when he was heavier than her.

Leyla apparently saw this and came over to help, but Marie didn't want her to touch him.

Especially with what she's been doing, Marie thought with a slight frown on her face.

"I'll help him, you help Krillin," Marie stated before Leyla could try and help. Leyla stood there for a moment and then sighed.

"You know that they are both too heavy for one person to carry," Leyla said, making Marie feel somewhat a bit annoyed.

"I know," she stated, hating how Gohan had just accepted Leyla after everything she had done.

"Maybe we could take them out one at a time?" Leyla suggested hopefully, but Marie shook her head.

"No, because then we don't have a way of getting them back to the house," Marie said, "and they would be too vulnerable out there if we just stayed up there."

"Maybe they will wake up by then?" Leyla asked hopefully, but Marie just gave her a look before staring around at the cave.

It seemed to be an old mining cave, with pieces of wood and rock scattered around the cave.

"Maybe we should just stay here," Marie suggested, but then realized another problem.

It was going to be nighttime soon, and the one thing she had learned when living with Gohan was that it got really cold at nighttime.

I could make a flower to keep us warm, Marie thought but then glanced over at Leyla, but I don't want her near Gohan and I don't have enough energy left to make three flowers.

She glanced back at Leyla and saw that the girl was looking around them with a thoughtful expression on her face. Marie glanced down at the ground and sighed.

"How are we going to keep warm though?" Marie whispered, knowing that Leyla didn't know that she could make giant flowers.

"We could make a fire," Leyla suggested and then started to walk around, gathering pieces of stray wood and putting it in a pile in front of them. Leyla put the sticks together so that they formed a circle and then fired a Ki blast at it, making Marie fall back a bit when a fire suddenly erupted in front of her.

"See?" Leyla asked with a smile on her face, but even though Marie felt somewhat grateful, she still had doubts.

She is playing us; Marie thought with sadness, I know what will become of her.

Marie shook her head and lied down on the ground, hoping that Gohan would wake up soon, but knowing that she might never have the heart to tell him everything.

I'm sorry that this is a bit late in the month, but I have been a bit swamped with preparations for Thanksgiving and life in general. But here's the new chapter! And I wasn't actually planning on doing the last part in Marie's POV, but I thought that you guys might enjoy it since I haven't done the story in her POV since Gohan died. So please tell me what you thought or any suggestions in a review, and Happy Thanksgiving!

-AnimeWolfGirl9