Piccolo was expecting Koronu, so when she finally ascended to the top of the tower and landed on Kami’s lookout, he was standing there with his arms crossed, waiting. The Saiya-jin woman tromped over to him in a huff, with tangled wild black hair and an irritated expression. Piccolo guessed that she was not too happy about having to come all the way up here to fetch him, especially since he had known that she was coming in the first place. Up here, Piccolo knew everything. When he and Dende stood on the edge, they could see all the world beneath their feet, and sometimes it felt as though he could hear every murmur from every human’s mouth in his ear. Up here, he was able to see many things that others couldn’t --- the true feelings that they kept bound up inside of them. As he stared at Koronu’s obviously angry expression, he realized exactly what she was thinking: if he had known that she was coming, couldn’t he have at least met her half way?

Piccolo gave a crooked smirk, revealing one gleaming fang. “It certainly took you quite some time to get up here.”

She glared at him.

Next to Piccolo, Dende shook his head in the same manner of a frustrated parent. “You two certainly know how to get on each other’s nerves.” He observed, then smiled. “I suppose that’s what makes the friendship work so well. I am so glad that you decided to join us on Earth, Koronu. You’ve definitely livened things up around here. Between your antics and the antics of Trunks’s young companion, I’ve had more amusement than I’ve had in years.”

Koronu raised an eyebrow. “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

Dende smiled again. “Hai, it’s a compliment. I see a lot of things while I’m looking down at the Earth --- I’ve experienced a lot of drama and felt many, many disappointments. It’s always wonderful to be able to have something that I can always look at and smile. In your case, it’s the way that you are getting along so well here. You managed to fit right into this world, changing all of your old Saiya-jin habits and becoming a true Earthling. There are still some instances when that Saiya-jin instinct peeks out, but for the most part you have adjusted quite well. I am just happy that you were able to walk into this with an open heart and an open mind. Vejiita wasn’t able to do that, and that is why he is still fully Saiya-jin, even after all these years. He’s slowly beginning to come around, but that Saiya-jin dark side will always be lurking around in his soul.”

Dende was right; Koronu had adjusted very well here on Earth. When she had first stepped foot on the planet, she had been very cool and very detached. She had been distant from even her family, although they were all being as warm and cheerful as they usually were. For the first few days that Piccolo watched her, the Saiya-jin woman mostly stuck to ChiChi’s side and acted as though she didn’t quite know what to do in this new, strange place. Then she slowly began to smile a little bit more, and the ice that had gathered around her heart began to melt. In comparison, Piccolo didn’t think the Saiya-jin no Ouji had ever smiled --- unless he was about to kill someone. And the only person that had ever managed to sneak through Vejiita’s steel defenses was Bulma. Piccolo supposed that was probably one of the main reasons that her death had affected him so deeply. The only person that he had ever let inside of his heart was suddenly gone, in the most violent of ways.

“Speaking of Vejiita,” Piccolo began. “Do things appear to be any better at Capsule Corporation?”

“I didn’t stick around long enough to find out.” Koronu answered. “I think things are a little too hectic right now there anyway, with our future friends still there. I doubt that things are going to calm down until they pack up and depart for their future world again. Let’s just hope that Mirai Bulma can do some serious work on the jinzouningen before she has to leave. I imagine you already know about Juunana-gou attacking that young girl. Getting those wind-up toys back to normal is absolutely essential. There is no way that she could leave for the future world without finishing what she started here. And from what everyone else is telling me, it looks as though this is our only option. Mirai Bulma is the only one around with the knowledge and skills it takes to be able to undo whatever was done to the jinzouningen in the first place.”

Piccolo thought briefly about the conversation he had had with Dende earlier. Their future visitors had already caused a rift between the two timelines; they had already managed to change the course of life in this world more than once. And yet it was difficult for him to imagine what life would have been like without Mirai Trunks’s first visit. The future warrior’s appearance to warn Gokuu of the heart disease and the jinzouningen just seemed so perfectly natural that it was hard for him to believe that it should not have happened. As a guardian over Earth, he often didn’t want to think about what would have happened if Mirai Trunks had not shown up, had not been able to warn them of the impending danger. He knew that the future world was desolate and empty, just a damaged shell of what it used to be before the jinzouningen. As someone who cared very much about this planet and the people who lived and breathed here, the thought of the horror and pain of the future world was almost more than he could bear. Both Mirai Bulma and Mirai Trunks had given them all perhaps the most beautiful gift that they could ever receive. They had given them hope --- a chance to live in a world that was untouched by evil. And although he knew it was wrong for the two timelines to mix in such a way, he was glad that it had happened. He appreciated the fact that their future friends always seemed to show up right when they might need them the most.

Dende leaned on his staff and smiled at him --- that gentle, slightly quirky smile that made Piccolo think the younger Namek held some special secret. “Perhaps the two of you should start on your journey. The others are probably ready to begin by now. I’d wish you luck, but I doubt that you will need it. With so many people going along with you, you’re sure to find all of the dragonballs within in no time. So I will only wish for your safety --- and your sanity.” He flashed that same smile again. “I have a feeling you’re going to need both.”

Marron took a deep breath outside of the laboratory door and clutched the dragon radar tighter in her hands. The small phone that Tayhei had given her was in her pocket, along with the keys to the car. Her heart was pounding. She knew that her father was in there meeting with Mirai Bulma and the doctor. They were talking about the surgery, which made her very nervous. She was glad that she was going along on this dragonball hunt instead of staying here and having to worry about her mother’s safety. Although she wanted to be able to be there for her mother and comfort her, she had to admit that it was too much. She simply couldn’t stand there and wait around for the surgery to be over with. In order to keep herself from going completely crazy, she needed to stay busy and have something to concentrate on. She would still be there for her mother --- still praying and hoping, but she wouldn’t physically be there. She knew that her mother would have understood a decision like that. She just wondered if her father understood.

She squeezed the dragon radar between her palms again, anxiously. Then she quietly opened up the door and entered the laboratory, making sure to place a cheerful smile on her face. She had taken just a moment in the bathroom to clean herself up a bit, smoothing out her pigtails and straightening her clothes. She knew that she would appear more capable and more grown up if she looked polished and perfect. In a moment of extreme vanity, she had actually tried to mimic the sexy pout that Tayhei always seemed to have, but only managed to dredge up something that looked like a cross between a snarl and a frown. It was really no use trying things like that --- She simply didn’t have what it took to be a sophisticated, attractive young woman. But she hoped that her straightened out appearance would at least give her a boost of maturity in front of her father now. Ordinarily, he most likely wouldn’t have let her go on this adventure at all, but he was too distracted with her mother right now to care about anything else. She was still a bit afraid that he was going to snap out of that though, and tell her that she couldn’t go.

In the laboratory, the meeting was obviously still taking place. Mirai Bulma was seated at the desk, with her coils of turquoise hair pulled back into a loose ponytail. Her father and the man who appeared to be the doctor were sitting across from her, both listening intently to what she was saying. There was another girl in the laboratory as well, who was fumbling around with the medical equipment that had been brought in. Marron watched as she almost dropped a large tray full of shiny metal instruments, but bobbled it and maintained her balance. Warily, the girl looked around as if to make sure that no one had seen her near accident with the tray.

Mirai Bulma spotted her first and smiled warmly, for a moment appearing very similar to the Bulma that Marron had known for so many years. Then the wrinkles around the eyes and on the edges of the mouth appeared, and the warm gaze was replaced with the same cool detachment that she usually had. The smile faded into a hard line that was edged with worry. “Marron, you’re a little late for the meeting. Would you like to sit in and catch up with what we’ve been talking about?”

Marron shook her head, and smiled politely. She clasped the dragon radar behind her back and leaned back on her heels. “That’s okay. I am leaving soon to hunt for the dragonballs, so I really don’t have time to sit down. I just wanted to say goodbye to my father….And my mother and uncle. I’m sure that both of them would like to know where I am going and what I am going to do to change all of the things that have happened.”

“Of course.” Mirai Bulma said, while reaching to pick up the phone next to her. “I believe Vejiita is already back there with the jinzouningen, but I could call Trunks in here if you would feel more comfortable with him.”

Marron’s eyes widened. She didn’t want to be alone in a room with Trunks or Vejiita. She didn’t want anyone to be in that room while she spoke to her mother and Juunana-gou. She just wanted to have some privacy. Trunks would most likely be understanding, but she knew that he would also act bored, and Marron had always tried to stay as far away from Vejiita. The Saiya-jin prince had never been friendly to her and she didn’t think that he was about to start now. Besides, she honestly just wanted to have some time alone with her mother, without anyone else standing over her shoulder and crowding her, or listening to what she was saying. It was hard enough just having to see that evil look in her mother’s eyes. She didn’t need the added pressure of having to guard her words and her emotions around someone else. She bit her lip and stared at Mirai Bulma with her eyes still wide and pleading. “Couldn’t I just see them alone?”

Mirai Bulma shook her head, and the turquoise coils waved back and forth like seaweed under the water. “Unfortunately, after the mishap with Tayhei and Juunana-gou earlier, we’ve put a new rule into action. No one can be alone in the same room as the jinzouningen. There has to be someone in there with you who is authorized and able to protect you if a need arises. We can’t take any chances. Tayhei being alone in the laboratory earlier was completely unacceptable. She was too vulnerable not to have someone there to be guarding over her. If Trunks hadn’t shown up in time, she most likely wouldn’t be alive right now. We should have put this rule into action in the first place, but that was an oversight on my part. From now on though, no one goes in there alone.”

“I can go with her.” Kuririn offered with a faint smile. Marron looked into her father’s kind eyes and felt her heart swell slightly. He had always been good to her. He had always watched out for her and he did his best to make sure that she was happy and well taken care of. However overprotective he may be sometimes, her father had a pure and generous heart, and she loved him for it. She felt bad leaving him at a time like this, but reminded herself of the necessity of the dragonball hunt and making this wish for her mother. Her mother didn’t want to come back and have to face the guilt and horror of all the people that were killed in Satan City. It just wouldn’t be right. So even though she felt bad that her father had to face this alone, she also knew that she was doing the right thing by gathering the dragonballs to make this wish.

“Well,” Mirai Bulma began hesitantly. “Kuririn, you’re not really qualified for something like that. I know that you are stronger than the average human, but I do believe that both Juuhachi-gou and Juunana-gou are much stronger than you. I really don’t feel like the two of you would be safe on your own.”

Marron’s heart sank a bit, but she had to admit that she was a little relieved that her father wouldn’t be able to come in with her. A lot of the things that she had to say, she couldn’t say in front of him. She wanted to be alone with her mother and Juunana-gou. As much as she adored her father, she didn’t want him there either. He would only complicate things further and she just didn’t want that. She wanted to be able to look into her mother’s eyes and speak from her heart --- to say whatever she felt inside. This was not the time to be holding anything back because she was afraid of wounding her father’s feelings. This was a time to be open with everything and to bare her soul, to let everything pour out. As much as she trusted and loved her father, she just couldn’t do that with him there. His arm might be comforting around her shoulder, but it might smother her as well.

“Don’t be stupid, woman.” A voice snapped from the back of the room. All eyes turned to see Vejiita standing in the storage room doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes looked cold and hard compared to softness that Marron had just seen in her father’s eyes. He glared, narrowing his dark eyes down into slits and pulling his mouth down into a frown. “The girl can go inside and see the tin cans. I’ll stay right outside the door. It’s not like I have to be right on top of her in order to protect her. I can stop those damn machines before they even think about moving.”

Satisfied, Marron cautiously stepped past the Saiya-jin warrior, feeling uneasy under his scrutinizing gaze. When Vejiita stared at you, it was almost like he was trying to stare straight through you; as if he thought he could pierce holes right through your skin with his eyes. He had the most uncomfortable, awful glare that Marron had ever seen, and sometimes she wondered how Trunks and Bra and even Bulma were ever able to live with it. If she were constantly glared at in that same manner, she didn’t think she’d be able to hold herself together. She was used to the kind, compassionate look in her father’s eyes and the cool pleasantness of her mother’s. All in all, she was just used to kindness and understanding. Perhaps that was why people like Vejiita and Tayhei unnerved her so much. It was just something that she wasn’t used to at all --- this obvious dislike and suspicion. Vejiita was staring at her now as if he honestly expected her to all of the sudden flip out and turn into a raging jinzouningen monster as well.

The storage room was well lit when she went inside, and it had just recently been cleaned up. The shelves on the far wall were split down the middle and broken, but other than that the room was completely neat and organized. There was a trash can next to the doorway filled to the brim with broken pieces of glass, which made Marron wonder. There must have been quite a fight in here; the broken shelves had probably held beakers and other scientific things that Tayhei used for her work. She suddenly thought back to the cabinet that they had in their dining room; it was large and oak and held the fancy crystal and dishes that her mother had purchased over the years. And once a month, the two of them would take out each individual piece and dust it, to keep them looking perfect. She missed that.

She missed everything. She just wanted to be able to talk to her mother again and have things back to normal. The need to have her life settled and normal again all but burst into flames in her chest. And as she crept up to the examination table that her mother was strapped to, the feeling grew even stronger. She looked at her mother’s smooth, pale skin and glossy pale hair, and simply couldn’t believe that so many things had gone wrong. Their lives had been turned completely upside down and there was absolutely nothing she could to change it. Their perfect life as a family would be forever tarnished because of these events. Even if years passed and the world forgot about the jinzouningen and their evil, she would never be able to forget. Her memory of these days would last much longer because she actually lived it. She felt the anguish of the situation on a deeper level, in the very depths of her heart.

“Mama….” She said softly, tracing her hand along the leather strap that ran across her mother’s chest. Mirai Bulma had told her before not to touch her, but she couldn’t help it. She missed her mother’s gentle touch and cool hands so much that it brought tears to her eyes just thinking about it. “Mama, I just wish that none of this had happened. I wish that I could take it all back and everything could go back to the way that it was before, but I can’t. I feel so helpless sometimes that I can’t do anything to change this awful feeling in my heart. And I look at Papa….He’s so upset. He’s so worried about you that he isn’t even thinking about anything else. I don’t think his heart is allowing him to think of anything else. You have to make it through this, if only because of that reason. I don’t know what he would do without you. I know that I would not be enough to comfort him. He needs you in his life in order to be whole again.”

Marron paused for a moment, and drew her hand away. “I’m going on an adventure. I am going to go find the dragonballs, and I’m going to wish back all of the people that were killed in Satan City. I know that it wasn’t your fault, and I don’t think that you should have to live with the guilt and the sadness that came along with that horrible disaster. So after you come back, after their done with the surgery, you won’t have anything to worry about. You won’t have any reason not to come back, because everyone knows that this wasn’t your fault.” She brushed back a strand of hair that had fallen loose from one of her pigtails. “I can’t be here for you while you are in surgery or recovering, but I will be wishing and hoping for the best. And I know that Papa will be right by your side the entire time.”