Cosmic Crisis 2 - The Return of Orion

Chapter 21 - United, They Stand

The entire Briefs family all gathered in the family room, united at last. Bulma brought out the capsules, each full of various foods, drinks, and other appetizing things. She had wanted to have the son family over as well, but it was obvious that Chi-Chi had other plans for her family. Bulma was ecstatic that Vegita had returned. She had forgotten how lonely it was without him. It was obvious that he was happy to be home too. Kira took turns fawning over each member of the family while Bra kept herself busy by giving Natalie and Trunks "I told you so" looks.

"Tell us, what did you two do?" Bulma asked. "Natalie how was the journey?"

"Well it took me almost three hours!" Natalie said, pausing to take a bite of a finger food. "And then when I got there, I couldn't move around well for the first hour or so."

"Heh, it gave us a chance to beat the mmph-" Vegita broke off when Bulma slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Honey we have *children* in our presence" Bulma whispered harshly to Vegita.

"Fine then. Why don't you tell ME about the girl?" he said, looking over at Kira, but without hostility.

"Kira." Natalie corrected, looking at Vegita suspiciously. She would make sure that he didn't try anything. Bulma stood up from her chair.

"Vegita, honey, why don't you come and let me *show* you something in the science wing." Bulma said sternly. Vegita looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" He asked. Bulma jerked her head towards the entrance to the science wing, suggesting that she wanted him to follow her. Vegita stood up and walked across the room nonchalantly. Trunks, Natalie, Kira, and Bra followed their footsteps with their eyes. Suddenly an awkward silence fell upon the room. Trunks looked at Natalie nervously.

"Trunks?" Natalie said, suddenly sitting up from her relaxed position on the floor. He looked at her questioningly. "I just remembered. Oh my gosh what did they say at school? Did you tell them what happened?" she asked frantically.

"No, no Natalie calm down." Trunks said soothingly. "Mom's going to home school us."

"Oh." She said plainly. "Just like Goten, right?" Trunks nodded. Natalie sighed a heavy sigh of relief, and slumped back onto the floor. "I have so much to do." She thought to herself. It was a good thing that she didn't allow herself to grow close to anyone at school. She had drifted away from all of her friends ever since the first encounter with Orion. She only did it for her own good, as well as the protection of the Briefs family. Now there would be no worry about her friends questioning her of her whereabouts during the past 2 and a half months.

"Are you okay?" Trunks asked, breaking her train of thought and startling her.

"Oh, sure. I was just trying to gather my thoughts." Natalie replied. "Kira, why don't you and Bra go play in the backyard?" she suggested. Kira nodded and lead Bra outside.

"What did you do that for-?" Trunks broke off.

"Just a little peace and quiet." Natalie replied. She ran a hand through her hair. "Gross." She said, looking down at her hand. "I need to shower." She got up slowly and headed upstairs towards her room. Trunks followed behind, watching her walk up the stairs. She turned around and looked at him. "Need something Trunks?" she asked, turning to face him.

"No." he whispered, drawing closer. She leaned in and they stood together on the stairs, sharing a kiss. Just then, as if already planned, Bulma and Vegita walked back in from the science wing and caught them. Unfortunately the two teens were too preoccupied to notice. Vegita grew red in the face, but Bulma grabbed him by the hand to stop him.

"Honey, don't." she whispered. He clenched his fists and dropped them to his side, proceeding to quietly exit the room with Bulma. As soon as they were out of sight and hearing range, he spoke.

"They could have at least gotten a room or something." Vegita said harshly. Bulma smiled at him.

"Thank you." She said, kissing him lightly on the cheek. "I'm glad you're back." He smiled wryly at her.

"Oh, really?" he asked. "Then prove it." She looked at him strangely for a moment before she got the idea, and pulled him into the powder room and slammed the door, revealing Trunks and Natalie standing at the end of the hallway with disgusted looks on their faces and huge sweatdrops.

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Natalie whispered.

"I don't know." Trunks answered. "But I don't think I want to."

"Do you think they saw us?" Natalie asked, looking up at Trunks fearfully. "After all we didn't pick the BEST spot in the house." Trunks laughed at her.

"Nah, I don't think they saw." He said. The two then left the area and headed upstairs.

"I still need to get my shower." Natalie said, reaching inside the linen closet for some towels. "Make sure that Kira stays in the yard and doesn't get hurt, and if she gets hurt, call-"

"Natalie." Trunks interrupted her. "I've been watching her for 2 and 1/2 months. I think I can handle 20 minutes." He assured her with a smile. Natalie looked down at her feet.

"Oh...right." She said. She then kissed Trunks on the cheek and headed inside her room, shutting the door behind her.

While Natalie stood in the shower, letting the hot water run down her back, she was deep in thought. She was worried about Kira. How was she going to get back to her time? And if she did, would she end up like Mirai Trunks and still have a bleak future ahead of her? When was she going to leave? Natalie hurled the soap into the shower wall in frustration. Why did everything have to be so hard? Why couldn't she just lead a normal life like any other 15-year-old girl? While she was on King Kai's planet, she didn't think about much besides training. She had put it off, as usual, and now everything had built up on her. She was so out of touch with reality, that shampoo ran into her eyes and brought her back. She emitted a cry and attempted to flush it out of her eye, slipping on the bar of soap in the process and hitting her head on the soap rack.

Meanwhile, Trunks sat in his room and listened to the crashing sounds that were coming from Natalie's room and laughed to himself, realizing that she would probably be in a bad mood when she was finished. He made a mental note to stay out of her way.

Ten minutes later, Natalie emerged from the shower with red, irritated eyes and a knot on the back of her head. She looked rather annoyed as her eyes crawled around the room, observing the scene. Her room was just as she left it, with a few exceptions. She figured that Kira had been sleeping in here, so of course the bed was unmade. A knock at the door startled her.

"Nat are you okay?" Trunks' muffled voice was heard from the other side of her door. He had obviously disregarded his previous mental note. Natalie approached the door slowly, then swung it open to catch him off guard.

"Why do you ask?" she questioned, looking at him with a crooked smile on her face.

"Well....er...I was just-I mean..." Trunks stumbled. Natalie play punched him in the stomach,

"That's always like you. Don't think a girl like me can handle a little bump on the head, huh?" she said, crossing her arms, but not angrily. "Is Kira in yet?" she asked. Trunks shook his head.

"No she's still outside with Bra." Trunks replied.

"I see you've been training her." Natalie commented as she stepped into the bathroom and tied her damp hair into a ponytail.

"Did she tell you?" Trunks asked.

"No. But I can tell." Natalie replied with a smirk.

"She went super Saiyan you know." Trunks pointed out. Natalie turned to him with a doubtful look on her face.

"Trunks, please. She's five." She said.

"I'm serious!" Trunks said. "You can test her. She did it when she saw you..." he trailed off. "Well, you know."

"Oh really?" Natalie asked. "Wait until Vegita hears about that. He'll be so proud he'll forget all about his hostility towards us." Natalie said dryly.

"Come on, Nat. You know that dad loves you both." Trunks said.

"Even so...he sure loves to hide it." She replied.

"He's like that with everyone. It's just part of his personality." Trunks said. "Remember when he saved you?" Trunks asked.

"Saved me? From what?" Natalie questioned. "Usually I need saving FROM him."

"Remember? When we were fighting Orion the second time." Trunks said. Natalie still had the look of doubt on her face. "That doesn't even matter. You love him, though, don't you?" he asked. Natalie looked at him with a "you're crazy" look on her face. "I know you do, Nat. After all...it was his death that pushed you to the super Saiyan state."

"Who cares anyway?" Natalie said. "How did we get on the subject of Vegita?"

"Yes, how did you?" a voice asked form behind. The two spun around to see Vegita leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"Oh, were we talking about you?" Natalie said sarcastically. "I could have sworn that we were talking about someone with an over-inflated ego." Vegita sneered.

"Testy today, aren't we?" he commented, and then turned to Trunks. "Since the girl is back, Bulma said that you two need to begin your studies immediately." Trunks and Natalie groaned. "Hey if it was up to me you two would spend most of your time in the gravity room. You know how she can get." He commented.

"I heard that!" Bulma called from the lower level. Trunks and Natalie snickered. "So you think I'm wrong in making them study, huh?" Bulma said as she walked up the stairs. "Well just look at Chi-Chi! That poor Gohan never saw the light of day unless Goku dragged him out of the house!"

"Hmph. Studying is a waste of time." Vegita said. "If another threat was imposed on the planet, what good would your textbooks do?"

"Vegita, maybe you just don't understand since your skull is full of nothing but muscle." Natalie commented. Vegita spun around angrily.

"You brat! We'll see about that!" he said. "After you two finish your *studies* I'll show you what it's REALLY like to work."

"You're on." Natalie challenged.

"There they go again..." Trunks thought to himself. "Come ON Natalie let's get our work done." He said, grabbing the girl by the wrist and dragging her into her bedroom. "I brought your books home for you." Trunks said, walking into his room and gathering a pile of textbooks and paper.

"Oh, well you could have just left them, or lost them on the way home." Natalie joked. They threw their work onto Natalie's bed and got it organized for studying.

"I didn't know you took french." Trunks said, picking up her french textbook, reading the cover. "Allez Viens?" he inquired.

"It means 'Let's Go'" Natalie answered. "Now let's hurry up and get this over with." She continued, pulling out her physics book and calculator. They had been studying for about ten minutes, when Trunks broke the silence.

"It's too quiet in here." He said. Natalie looked at him with a look of rage on her face. "What?" Trunks asked.

"I was JUST about to solve this problem!" she said, pointing to a question in her book. Trunks backed away sheepishly. "Oh, fine. What, you want music? You wanna open a window?" she asked, standing up.

"How about both." He suggested. Natalie walked over and opened the far window, letting in a cool breeze and sounds of the outside world. She then walked back across the room and flipped on the radio.

"There." She said, sitting down again. After five more minutes, Trunks spoke up again.

"I'm thirsty. You want something to drink?" he asked. Natalie slapped herself on the forehead. Trunks shrugged and left the room, and Natalie seized the opportunity to continue working. A few minutes later, after Natalie had diligently scribbled over the entire front side of her paper, Trunks returned with two sodas and a tray of sushi. Natalie grabbed her can and gulped down the contents, not even breaking for air before she finished.

"I haven't tasted anything that good in...2 and 1/2 months!" she exclaimed. Trunks looked at her with one eyebrow cocked and a sweat drop.

"You should have told me, I would have brought more." He said. After she took a few bites of sushi, she returned to her work with a curbed appetite. Trunks finally got around to doing some studying as well.

About half an hour went by before they were interrupted again. This time, it was by Kira. She popped into the room out of curiosity.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching Natalie and Trunks.

"Oh, hi Kira." Natalie said. "We're just working on catching up in our studies."

"I hate studying." Kira said, and made a face.

"Well then it's obvious that you take after us." Trunks joked.

"You two stop wasting time and keep working!" Bulma called from down the hall. Trunks and Natalie sighed simultaneously and slammed their heads into the bed as Kira tiptoed out of the room to avoid confrontation.

The two slaved over countless assignments and tests until Natalie could hardly think straight and Trunks began misspelling his name. He looked over at the clock and realized that they had been working for three hours. Finally, Bulma walked in.

"Well I see that you two have gotten plenty done. You can take a break!" she said. Natalie and Trunks were on the verge of tears of joy, when Vegita stepped in.

"And you two can head straight for the gravity room." He said, looking right at Natalie. She cowered, since she wasn't in the right frame of mind to challenge him.

"Dad, why?" Trunks asked.

"Because we have to teach little miss spoiled brat here a lesson or two." He shot back.

"I am not spoiled you pig headed prince!" Natalie said angrily. "You're the one who has a heart attack when someone dares to talk back to the honorary prince of Saiya-jins!"

"Why must you two constantly fight?" Bulma cried, stepping in between Natalie and Vegita. "How do you expect to live together like this? This bickering only makes things worse."

"I am not submitting to him this time until he apologizes for making false accusations about me." Natalie declared. Vegita shot her a distasteful look. "I think that I have proven myself worthy of respect from even you." She continued, and looked right into Vegita's eyes, not even flinching. Seeing this, he backed down.

"Well, girl, I must admit that you have an impressive fire in your eyes. Just don't get carried away." He said, and with a smirk, walked away. Bulma and Trunks looked with doubtful surprise at Natalie. She masked it, but inside she was beaming with pride. She had taken down the mighty prince, and had done so on more than one occasion.

"Well I came to tell you guys that I finally finished my latest invention!" Bulma said happily. She looked like a child who had just finished a sandcastle at the beach.

"What is it?" Natalie asked curiously.

"Well come with me and I'll show you!" Bulma exclaimed, and bounded down the stairs towards the science wing of Capsule Corp. Natalie, Trunks, and Vegita all followed in pursuit. Finally, they reached the main lab, and stepped into one of the sub-rooms. "Here it is! What do you think?" Bulma said. Next to her was a large robot, standing at about 6 feet tall. It was obviously plated with some kind of metal alloy, and had "CCHD no. 1" printed on its forearm. Bulma opened a plate on its chest and flipped on what was presumed to be the main switch. The machine's eyes lit up and a low hum was heard.

"Wow." Natalie said, gaping. "You made that all by yourself?" Bulma nodded with excitement.

"I've been working on it since before you even arrived, Natalie. It's a droid designed to assist people. It can tap into the main computer network, and it can also help out greatly with training in the gravity room or using other mechanisms in the building." Bulma explained. Natalie studied the droid with a look of pure awe on her face, while Trunks and Vegita looked at Bulma as if she were speaking a foreign language.

"That's great." Natalie complimented.

"Oh, and I have one more thing to show you." Bulma said. She walked across the room and picked up a small device. It was very similar to a scouter, with the exception that it fit over both ears and extended entirely across the face. "This," Bulma began, "is for Kira."

"What do you mean?" Trunks asked, looking over at an equally confused Natalie and then back at his mother.

"We haven't been able to think of a way to return her to her original time, right?" she asked. "Well I've been experimenting. And I've come up with this gadget. It's designed to use power from her ki, as well as her brainwaves, and convert them into a code that will be used to transport her to the future." She said. Everyone looked impressed. "Obviously, it hasn't been tested. I'm quite confident with its ability, though."

"Y-you mean you don't know if it works yet?" Natalie stammered. "And you want to use it on Kira?"

"Now calm down, Nat." Trunks said. "Remember that mom worked on this for a while, and she knows what she's doing."

"Don't worry about the little brat." Vegita said. "She'll be fine, if she is a true Saiyan." Natalie rolled her eyes. Vegita and his Saiyan pride. Just then, Kira and Bra walked in.

"We're hungry." Bra complained, looking up at Vegita with longing eyes and pouted lips. Trunks and Natalie slapped themselves on the heads and fell on the ground.

"What is it now?" Vegita said, obviously irritated.

"When's dinner?" Kira asked with a cheesy grin on her face, as if she had taken lessons from the master, Goku himself.

"Why don't we order a pizza!" Natalie exclaimed, suddenly jumping up with a hungry look on her face. Trunks did the same. Bulma and Vegita looked at each other with doubtful looks on their faces, and then sighed.

"Yeah!" Trunks said, running out of the room and heading towards the living quarters. Natalie let out a cry of happiness and followed, as well as Bra and Kira.

"It's nice to see them so happy." Bulma said, smiling at her husband. "Don't you agree?"

"Sure." Vegita said sarcastically. "I feel like jumping for joy."

"Vegita why don't you just live a little?" Bulma joked, elbowing him in the ribs. "You're always so serious. I hardly see you laugh, unless you're laughing at the kids' misfortunes."

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"That pizza sure was fast!" Natalie said, looking at the door with an astounded look on her face. She slowly walked up to the door and opened it cautiously. In the doorway stood Krillin, Number 18, and blonde haired girl.

"Well hi Natalie!" Krillin said with a grin on his face. "We were in the neighborhood and decided to stop by and see how things were going! I see that you've been wished back." Natalie nodded.

"This morning." She replied. "Is this your daughter?" she asked, studying the girl for a few seconds.

"This is Marron." 18 said. "You must not have met her, since we didn't bring her along to the beach outing."

"Hi." Natalie said cheerfully. "We ordered pizza just a few minutes ago, do you guys wanna stay for some?" she asked, looking up at Krillin and his wife, and then back at Marron. Trunks walked into the foyer and stood next to Natalie, greeting Krillin and his family. Vegita and Bulma soon came as well, and Bulma started a conversation with 18 about the sale at the shopping center, while Vegita and Krillin shook their heads sadly. Marron looked up at Trunks and blushed. She was wearing a pink sundress over a white, long-sleeved blouse, and her blonde hair was topped by a pink hat. "I like your dress, it's cute." Natalie commented. "You must take after your mother. I hear she's very fashion conscious."

"Thank you." She said shyly.

"How old are you Marron?" Natalie asked.

"Eleven." She replied. She was very quiet and reserved.

"I'm fifteen." Natalie said. "And Trunks here is sixteen. But being friends, I'm sure you must know that already."

"Why don't you come inside and sit down?" Trunks offered. "That is, if you guys can stay for a while." Marron's eyes lit up and she bounded into the building. While she headed for the living quarters, Natalie pulled Trunks aside.

"Don't quote me on it, but I think she likes you!" she whispered into his ear. He looked at her like she was crazy and blushed. "You're cute." Natalie said, this time out loud, and punched him in the ribs. He chuckled and places his arm around her playfully. Marron was witness to the event and pouted at the sight of Natalie close to him.

Bra suddenly appeared behind the blonde haired girl and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hi Marron!" she said, obviously excited to see her friend. Kira joined Bra and looked at Marron curiously.

"Who is that?" Marron asked, studying Kira as well.

"She's Kira. You don't know her because she's from the future!" Bra said cutely with an excited tone of her little girl voice.

"The future?" Marron said, confused. "Why are you here?"

"My mommy sent me. She's over there with my daddy." Kira said, pointing to Natalie and Trunks. Marron glanced over and her eyes went wide in disbelief. Kira was their daughter!

"O-oh." She stuttered. "I didn't think that she was his type." Bra and Kira looked at Marron confusedly.

Natalie and Trunks were standing near the entrance to the kitchen, looking rather bored.

"Hey wanna spar?" Natalie asked, looking at Trunks.

"Sure." He replied. The couple walked into the main living room. "Bra, Kira, Marron. We're gonna go outside and spar. If you need anything we'll be in the back." Kira and Bra nodded, and Marron just stared. "Tell us when the pizza arrives." Trunks finished, and then walked towards the back door. Natalie waved to the three and followed Trunks outside. The stood in the sun for a few minutes, enjoying the day air and bright atmosphere.

"I've almost forgotten what this is like." Natalie commented, shutting her eyes tightly and tilting her head towards the sun.

"Well I'm sure you'll have had enough of it by the time we're finished. That is...if you really want to spar heavily." Trunks said.

"Oh, I think you'd be surprised with my improvements!" Natalie said, sneering.

"C'mon. Show me your stuff." Trunks said. They then got into fighting position and bowed out of respect. Right as Trunks was returning to his upright state, Natalie lunged at him and landed a blow straight to his gut. He winced in pain for a few seconds and then quickly recovered. He then tried to counterattack, but she put up a ki shield to block him, knocking him back. He shot a kamehameha at her, but she knocked it off course and sent it flying into a distant mass of trees, which were vaporized instantly. Frustrated, Trunks flew at Natalie, harder this time, and almost caught her off guard, but she took charge and faded away quickly. She reappeared about five feet away and swiftly charged a ki blast. Of course, Trunks would block it. But she knew that and was using it merely for distraction purposes. As soon as Trunks made his move to block the blast, Natalie took advantage of the situation and sent a fury of hundreds of small blasts flying at him. If it worked, he would be so overwhelmed that he wouldn't be able to block them all, rendering him vulnerable. Just as he finished blocking her first blast, he turned back to discover what seemed to be thousands of ki bombs heading straight for him.

"Shit Natalie!" Trunks cried, and crossed his forearms over his face. His form then disappeared in the light and flying dust as the blasts made impact. After all of the blasts had dissipated and the dust settled, Trunks was seen, still in the same position, breathing heavily and covered in singe marks. Natalie chuckled slightly at the sight.

"Didn't expect that, now, did you?" she said.

"Not at all." Trunks said, regaining his composure. "I have to hand it to you, it was pretty good." He said, and walked over towards Natalie. She jumped back and got into position. "Relax, I'm not going to fight." He said. She slowly lowered her arms and dropped them to her side. Trunks walked over to her and put his arm around her. Suddenly, he grabbed her wrists, forced them behind her back, and spun her around to face him. "Just kidding." He said with an evil grin on his face. Natalie had a look of sheer surprise on her face.

"Hey! You lied!" she complained, struggling to get free.

"Never trust the opponent." Trunks said, smirking. "My dad taught me that the hard way as well."

"Okay, okay I give up. You win." She said. Trunks held her for a few seconds longer before releasing his grip. She then retaliated by grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back so that it bent the wrong way. At the angle, he wasn't able to use his free hand either. "Gotcha!" she cried victoriously.

"Oh, come on, Nat! You know I was only kidding." Trunks said.

"Of course." She said, and twisted his arm more, furthering his discomfort.

"Ow!" he cried in protest. "Okay, let me go and I promise not to do it again."

"Not enough." She said.

"And I'll clean your room for a week!" he said, hoping to be free of the uncomfortable position as soon as possible.

"Done." Natalie said, and let him go. He rubbed his arm and looked over at Natalie.

"I guess I should be more careful around you." He said, looking at her with a crooked smile. She put her arm around his shoulder.

"Just know, that you have to be careful when you make any woman mad." She said cockily. Trunks laughed and kissed her on the cheek as they headed inside. Marron watched them from the window and glared angrily at Natalie.

"Why does she get to have him?" she thought to herself. "I've known him longer than she has." She could feel herself growing angrier, and her ki began to rise as a result.

"I've been thinking about Kira..." Natalie said to Trunks as they stepped inside the building.

"You mean about sending her back?" Trunks asked. Natalie nodded in response. "You're afraid of sending her?"

"It's not exactly like that." Natalie replied. "I just don't know exactly how to do it, or when." While they were talking, they passed by Marron, and Natalie thought she could sense a hint of hostility in her ki. "Hmm..." she thought to herself. "She doesn't look like the angry type. I wonder what's up."

"Something on your mind?" Trunks asked.

"No I'm fine." Natalie said, linking her arm in his. Bulma, Vegita, Krillin, and 18 were all sitting in the living room, carrying on a conversation, and Bra and Kira were playing together in the corner. Marron was standing alone, staring out the window.

"Marron you okay?" Trunks asked. The girl turned to him and smiled.

"I am now." She said.

"Do you like pizza?" Natalie asked with a smile. Marron nodded shyly. "You don't have to feel shy around me, Marron! I'm harmless, even though I can kick Trunks' tail around." She joked. Marron chuckled, but kept her gaze on the floor. She knew that Natalie was a good person, but she couldn't help but feel jealous of her relationship with Trunks. Just then, the doorbell rang. "Pizza's here!" Natalie cried, and raced to the door, leaving a trail of flying dust behind her. She swung the door open to reveal three men, each struggling to hold what seemed like ten boxes of pizza each.

"Did you guys order 30 pizzas, ten with extra cheese, ten with pepperoni, and ten with ham and onions?" the guy in the middle said, straining to see over the boxes.

"That's us." Natalie said, grabbing the armload from his hands. Trunks got ten more, and Marron grabbed the rest.

"How many people you thinkin of feedin with those there pizzas?" the one on the left asked. He was missing a tooth and had a five o'clock shadow appearing on his face.

"Um..." Natalie said, pausing to count everyone. "Nine." She said.

"Only nine? Gosh darned we thought you'd be feedin an army." He said, grinning and bearing his gap. "That'll be...276 dollars." He said. "Hop you got that much pretty lady."

"Oh, believe me, we do." Trunks said, tossing him a wad of bills. The man caught it and looked at it as if he were holding a tarantula.

"Bye." Natalie said, slamming the door in his face. They all carried the pizzas into the kitchen and set them on the table. The kids ran in with hungry looks on their faces. Soon, the kitchen was buzzing with activity as each person made attempts to serve his or herself. After about ten minutes of commotion, everyone had begun munching on their dinner. Natalie and Trunks, each carrying about eight slices each, headed for the back door. Natalie saw Marron watching them and gestured for her to follow. The three sat outside and ate, trying to carry on a conversation with mouthfuls of food. Natalie and Trunks were stuffing their faces, being Saiyans, while Marron held her single slice to her mouth and gaped. After her fourth slice, Natalie looked at Marron, who hadn't taken a bite while watching the other two.

"You must have been hungry." Marron said.

"Yeah, I was. Saiya-jins tend to be more on the piggish side." She joked. Trunks choked on a string of cheese.

"You're not a Saiya-jin." Marron said, looking at Natalie suspiciously.

"Well, yeah...I am." Natalie said. "Did your parents not tell you?"

"Dad just told me that you were from outer space." Marron said.

"Well I have the tail to prove it." Natalie said, unwrapping it from her waist and swishing it around.

"Oh, I thought you just had some weird kind of belt on." Marron said, smiling with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I guess it kinda looks that way. But I am a genuine Saiya-jin hybrid." Natalie said proudly. Trunks, who had now recovered from the previous incident with the cheese, smirked at her.

"Oh." Marron said. "I'm just a normal human...nothing special."

"I thought your mom was an android." Natalie said. Trunks choked again.

"She's not a robot." Marron said defensively.

"Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I meant...oh nevermind." Natalie said. "I heard she's got an unlimited power source. That's great."

"Yeah." Marron said, still a bit irritated.

"Do you have it?" Natalie asked.

"I don't know. I've never really trained much." Marron replied.

"Krillin never trained you?" Trunks asked.

"He tried but mom didn't like it much." Marron said.

"I think it's a 'mother' thing." Trunks joked. Natalie, of course, elbowed him. Marron looked at him and her eyes sparkled as she laughed. Natalie immediately recognized the attraction. The trio finished their dinner and headed inside to relax.

"Now all we have to worry about is the situation with Kira." Natalie said, sighing heavily.

"Nat, just focus on having fun for once." Trunks said. Natalie smiled, forcing back tears.

"I wish I could." She whispered.