Raindrops

12: The Road

Dressed in dark cuffed jeans and a tight, cream-colored long sleeve shirt - Marron swirled in the sunny blue sky, trailing behind the white trail of energy left behind her close friend. In an effort to get Marron out of the difficult rut she had shoved herself in - Trunks invited her on something they haven't done since they were children. Though Trunks could never admit, he wished Goten were there too. It felt vacant without him but as of the events that transpired recently...their friendship has suffered a severe blow. And in turn, he was relying on Marron to fill such a void. But Trunks had always cared about the blonde to a degree...despite never being her protector like Goten, there was always a special place of worry and concern for the pigtailed blonde he held so fondly in his halcyon memories.

He turned his head back to watch as the blonde swirling around the sky, in a gleeful expression. Albeit slow, she seemed to be getting the technique down. "Doing great there, blondie," Trunks commented, prompting the blonde to smile brilliantly, "but you'll never catch up." With that, he watched her furrow her brows before Trunks pushed his energy to boost himself even faster, watching as she made a miserable attempt to catch up.

"Hold on Trunks!" She shouted behind him, "this is totally unfair, you're a Saiyan!"

Trunks paused, bracing his back against the direction he was previously flying in, causing the blonde to quickly speed to a stop - nearly crashing into him. "So?" Trunks asked, quirking a brow, "your dad and mom can both fly equally as fast." Marron looked down to the side, biting her lip. "You don't really have an excuse," Trunks continued, now floating on his back almost swimming in the blue sky. "You just gotta train, I mean...do you even know the keinzan?" Trunks stated snarkily. Marron harrumphed, raising her hand in the air to form one of the smallest keinzans that Trunks had ever laid his eyes on. And thus, burst into a fit of laughter at the blonde's attempt to prove him wrong. "Alright, alright, I'll give ya' that!"

He watched Marron's pigtails swish as she turned her head, "I'm only trained to defend myself," Marron stated defensively. "I don't fight, obviously."

Trunks crossed his legs forcing him to spin in a clockwise manner whilst staring at her. "Huh, child of two z-warriors only fights to defend herself, what a waste!" Trunks exclaimed, "you could have done a lot more Mar, I mean you're Mom and Uncle can go toe-to-toe with Goku in his god-form...surely you must've gotten some of that!"

Marron squinted her eyes at Trunks, arms crossed as she watched him spin. "You do realize my mom is an android, right?" Marron asked, "she was modified to be super strong by some scientist."

Trunks stopped as soon as he was right-side up, waving his arm. "Excuses!"

The blonde shook her head, beginning to fly past him. "Let's go," Marron urged, "I wanna get to the reserve already!"

The blonde landed near the humble wooden home, her feet crunching the grass of her uncle's reserve. She breathed in the thick, humid air as she stuffed her hands in her pockets. Trunks glancing about the area, already dreading the mosquito bites he was about to get from being in the reserve. He watched the pigtails bounce as Marron reached the door where she presumed her uncle Lapis would be. She knocked gently with the back of her hand, to find a very stoic man greeting. "Marron," Lapis said, a cool expression on his face, "what brings you around these parts."

Marron smiled brightly, her hands eagerly bound behind her back. "Well," Marron began, "Trunks and I," she continued as she moved slightly to reveal the hybrid Saiyan who waved awkwardly, "were wondering if we could...volunteer around here."

Lapis leaned against the doorway, his arms crossed as he cocked his head, black hair shifting as he did. "That depends," he began, cracking his knuckles, "what kind of volunteering?"