Its early morning and Eighteen steps out of the shower after a nice, warm bath. She has gotten accustomed to this routine so much that she can’t get her morning started without taking a quick bath first. It has been over six months since Eighteen has adapted to living as a normal human and Bulma was happy to provide her with one of those domed houses that popped from a capsule so she can have a place to live in.

Eighteen has been living on a hill that overlooked West City not far away from the metropolis itself. In the months that passed, she had been given countless “refresher” tutorials by Bulma and even Goku’s wife Chi-Chi on how to behave not only as a proper human but as a decent lady too. From the feedback she’s been hearing, she’s a quick learner. She has learned to be social toward other people, she’s knows what humans do for fun and although chronic stupidity still irritates her from some of the people she encounters, she has learned the art of simply walking away. She has even taken a liking to cooking to which Krillin eagerly samples her dishes every time he comes over to visit her. Today, it’s going to be a simple bacon and eggs breakfast for herself. Just because she can survive on one meal a year doesn’t mean she has to. She understands now why people can be so attracted to food not only for nourishment but because it simply feels good to eat.

As Eighteen sizzles her eggs on the pan, she plans the rest of the day ahead in her mind. She’s supposed to meet Krillin later and they would go to the mall for some shopping, another human ritual she undeniably enjoys. Eighteen and Krillin have been inseparable since she moved into civilization and her transition to modern living was made easy by the acceptance of the rest of the Earth Special Forces. Even Vegeta has learned to tolerate her presence albeit under Bulma’s watchful eye. Still in her robe, she starts working on her meal in the dining room of her small but comfortable house.

Of the all the Earth Special Forces, surprisingly or unsurprisingly, it wasn’t Vegeta she had to be constantly on her guard for, but Master Roshi. This bearded old man who wore dark sunglasses and a turtle shell on his back is responsible for training Goku and Krillin in their childhood. A former fighter himself back in his day, he ingrained in them the fundamentals of all fighting techniques. However, his talent in the martial arts is overshadowed by his unbridled lecherous behavior. No female introduced to him has escaped his attempts to touch, jump, grope, or peep on, and Eighteen was no exception. Her stunning beauty caught his attention right away after Krillin first brought her home and Master Roshi immediately went to work on her.

Eighteen remembers exactly how events took place on that day.

“Well! Hello there! Hehehe. How do you do?” Master Roshi said as he sticks out a hand to shake hers along with a big smile.

“H-Hello. I’m Eighteen.” she responds and shakes his hand. Eighteen is immediately uncomfortable speaking to Master Roshi. His eyes looked a little too eager for her.

“Eighteen, eh? What unusually beautiful name. I’m Roshi.” he tells her, still not letting go of her hand. “It’s finally nice to meet you. Krillin here has said many things about you. Yup, wouldn’t shut up about you and I now know why. Hehehe.”

“Master Roshi! Be quiet!” an embarrassed Krillin butts in.

“What? There’s nothing wrong with flattering such a pretty lady, is it?” Master Roshi told Krillin, still shaking Eighteen’s hand. “Why won’t he let me go?”, Eighteen thought and she felt very uneasy by this time.

Master Roshi turned his attention back to Eighteen and said, “You know, in my day, we were accustomed to kissing a girl’s hand as proper introduction. Let me demonstrate to you this old custom that I still practice today. Hehehe.” Master Roshi then pulls up Eighteen’s long sleeve up to her elbow with his other hand and leans forward to kiss hers. It was at this moment that all sorts of red flags started blaring in Eighteen’s mind. There was nothing that Bulma or Chi-Chi told her about being kissed by some dirty old goat that had to be right. “Oh no! This is what they must have meant by watching out for ‘that feisty’ Roshi!” Eighteen suddenly remembered.

She quickly twists his hand that he used to hold her toward him and Master Roshi reacts in pain.

“Hey! W-What are you doing?!” he screamed at her.

“Giving a dirty old man what he deserves!” Eighteen then swings Master Roshi behind her and throws him forward through the wall which made a hole that was a perfect outline of his figure.

Krillin was wide-eyed and didn’t know how to react. On one hand, he wanted Eighteen to exercise tolerance. But on the other, he thought Master Roshi had it coming.

“Serves him just right. That old man finally met his match.” said Oolong, a pig that walked and talked and dressed like a man. Even after Master Roshi was put in his place that night, that still hasn’t stopped him from making his advances on her.

After dinner that night, Eighteen stepped out of the house while Krillin did the dishes inside. She took a look around and saw that the sandy island was just big enough to hold the house. “So this is the island home where Krillin lives.” She was struck by how peaceful the seas were under the light of the full moon. Looking far ahead, she sat down on a big rock to enjoy the view when suddenly, it moves from right under her and talks. “Hello there.”

Startled, Eighteen flew straight up and shrieked, “Whoa!! What’s that??” At this time, Oolong stepped out as well and sees Eighteen about 20 feet up in the air. “Hey, Eighteen. It’s okay. That’s just Turtle.” he shouts up to her. What she thought was a rock turned out to be big sea turtle, and a talking one at that. As she floated back down, she thought of how many more of these talking animals were there? It’s totally bizarre.

“You must be Eighteen. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Turtle. I’m sorry if I scared you.” the aging and slow talking sea turtle tells her.

“It’s okay. It’s nice to meet you. I didn’t mean to sit on your back.” said Eighteen.

 “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it.” Turtle turns his head to face Oolong. “Is this her?” he asked with a smile.

“Yup. The one and only.” Oolong said.

Eighteen by now has heard enough of these innuendos to figure out what they meant. “I see Krillin has mentioned me, huh?”

“Yeah he has but ‘mention’ has to be an understatement. Hahaha!” Oolong said.

“What has he said about me?” Eighteen asked curiously as she sat to get comfortable on the sandy beach.

“That you are a nice person, just misunderstood for a long time.” Oolong replied.

“Hey, don’t forget about how he thinks about her looks.” Turtle said.

“Oh, yeah. About you having the most beautiful face he’s ever seen. Something like a budding red rose, or a freshly cut gem. Something like that. Hehehe.” Oolong said with a bit of exaggeration and Eighteen’s face turns red after hearing it.

He continues, “Well, so far he’s right. I’ve never seen Krillin so happy. And it’s all thanks to you.”

“It’s nothing, really.” Eighteen responded still a bit embarrassed.

“Krillin has certainly pulled himself out of the hole Maron put him in.” Turtle mumbled loudly.

“Hey, Turtle. You’re not supposed to mention Maron to Eighteen. Hahaha.” Oolong said.

“I’m sorry.” Turtle said.

“Who’s Maron?” asked Eighteen.

Oolong looks out to the sea as he explained, “Maron is an old flame of Krillin’s. She took him for granted then dumped him altogether.”

“Krillin never mentioned her to me.” Eighteen revealed.

“Maybe because it’s was such a painful episode in his life. I think it was over 4 years ago when that happened. I have to admit she’s a pleasure to gaze at from head to toe. Never too shy to bring out the big guns especially in this beach environment. Oh yeah. But as much as she is entertaining to the eyes to look at is inversely proportional to how less she’s got in that rock on her shoulders she calls a head. You know what I’m saying?”

Oolong saw the mystified look in Eighteen’s eyes and said, “I’m sorry. Am I making you uncomfortable?”

“No. Please keep telling. I’m interested to know all about Krillin’s life.”

“Not much to tell anymore, really. Except that Master Roshi is only too happy to have her around, as you can imagine.”

“So what’s she like?”

“You really want to know? I’ll bet Roshi has a picture of her in his room.” And Oolong stood up and reached in Master Roshi’s open window from outside. He grabbed a photograph and handed it to Eighteen.

“Yup. That’s Maron, all right.” Oolong pointed out. Eighteen looked at a picture of a scantily clad, bikini bombshell. She has the same green hair as Bulma but longer and the way she was sitting on that beach ball with her legs wide apart was something Chi-Chi wouldn’t emphatically applaud that a decent girl would ever do. Just as well, Eighteen understood now what he meant when Oolong alluded to her “big guns”.

Oolong was right. There was nothing in this picture of this Maron that suggested she was in the pool of higher intelligence as far as Eighteen was concerned. She was more what Chi-Chi would call a “loose cannon.”

“Hey Eighteen. Could you keep this conversation under wraps from Krillin? It’s not something he’s proud to share with anyone.” Oolong asked her while scratching his head.

“Don’t worry. He won’t find out from me.” and Eighteen didn’t concern herself with the topic any further.

Krillin found his way outside to where the three were talking. “There you are. What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, just nothing important.” said Eighteen.

“Or smart. Hehehe!” Oolong follows with fits of snickers in between.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Krillin said with a raised eyebrow.

“Nothing! Oh, look at the time. Gotta go!” said Oolong and he was gone in a flash. Turtle, on the other hand, starts pulling his bulky self away from Eighteen and Krillin and says, “Okay, Krillin. I’ll leave you alone with your pretty girlfriend now. Goodnight.” Eighteen’s heart skipped a beat after hearing that. That was actually the first time that anyone mentioned that she was Krillin’s girlfriend and she liked it.

They spent the rest of the night on the beach under the stars and Eighteen remembered Krillin say how he wished that night would never end. She felt exactly the same way.

That was quite a night, Eighteen recalls as she zips up her pants. With breakfast over, she’s prepares to leave to meet up with Krillin for some leisurely shopping. Some clothes to go along with her wonderful figure won’t hurt, she thought.

She doesn’t hold a job but money is not an issue. Other than the wealthy Bulma supporting her, Hercule Satan, the impostor who proclaimed himself Cell’s conqueror and world savior, was happy to give all the Earth Special Forces a handsome amount of money that he earned from well-wishers and endorsement deals he got from the grateful people of Earth. Attached with this incentive, of course, was the tiny request that they won’t ever mention who really defeated Cell. People will crucify him if they found out the truth. Earth Special Forces agreed and Krillin along with the rest of the gang is able to live comfortably in this period of new-found peace thru Mr. Satan’s “hush money”. Besides, saving the world is a responsibility they took seriously and they weren’t interested in the credit, although Gohan’s mother Chi-Chi would beg to disagree since it was in fact her son that put an end to Cell’s evil reign of terror.

Screw Mr. Satan, as far as Eighteen’s concerned. If she had her way, Hercule Satan would find himself in deep dark ditch and he would be nobody more than a man who tried to fool the entire world for his own ego. She hated credit-grabbers.

It’s about nine o’clock and she’s going to meet Krillin in about an hour. As she stepped out of her house, she jumps up and flies to the air toward West City. She decided that she’d do a bit of window shopping before he arrived.

As she flew high up in the sky, she thought of how beautiful today was. The sun’s mild heat combined with the slight chill in the air together with the infinite blue sky, Eighteen has learned to appreciate every single day and treated it like a gift. She’s feeling good about herself until she reaches the city and sees a network of giant billboard ads lined across the rooftops of buildings with Mr. Satan’s face all over them. Her mood instantly turned sour by the sight of this irritating man in his ridiculous white cape. How she would love to fly through one of these ads right in the nose and blacken out a few teeth to deface him but she imagines a 3-hour lecture from Bulma just wouldn’t be worth it.

She refuses to let Mr. Satan ruin her day any further and she lands at strip of high-end shops just outside the mall and begins to look around. Oh what wonderful new clothes there are, she thought. After walking and stopping outside every single shop she passed by, she sees a long black dress with glitters that sparkled under the light. Krillin did mention to her that the next time he took her to a fine dinner out, she should try getting a nice dress and this would just be perfect, she thought to herself. Although Eighteen enjoyed shopping, she never tried anything on without Krillin around to approve it. If she even sensed he didn’t like it, she got rid of it immediately. “Maybe now would be a great time to surprise him”, she wondered.

Speaking of Krillin, it’s almost ten o’clock, the time she’s supposed to meet him. She begins to walk to their designated meeting place which is at the small park just outside the mall itself. There are three benches there at the one at the center is where one would always wait for the other.

As she walks toward it, she can see that Krillin isn’t there yet which was unusual. He’s almost never late when they agree to meet so she thought this time, it’s her turn to wait for him. However, she notices that there’s somebody else already on their bench. Eighteen didn’t care much at first but as she walks closer, she notices how familiar this girl’s face was to her. She’s sure she seen that long green hair before, that figure accentuated by those tight clothes as well as that blank stare on her eyes.

“Wait a minute”, Eighteen thought, “That’s Maron, Krillin’s ex-girlfriend! But what is she doing here? She can’t be possibly meeting Krillin too, is she?” Eighteen is at a total loss on how to react to this situation. She scours her databanks to determine if anything from Chi-Chi or Bulma’s tutorials called for a specific course of action but unfortunately, she couldn’t find any. Eighteen doesn’t want to engage in a conversation of any sorts with Maron but she also certainly refuses to be driven away by her either. Eighteen stood frozen about 10 feet away from Maron assessing how to deal with this circumstance, playing with the idea, even if only for a moment, of kicking that bench to the high heavens along with her just to get it over with.

Maron notices a pretty blonde lady standing a short distance away just staring at her. Although she’s used to people giving her prolonged looks, it’s usually the guys that do that and she wonders what this girl’s deal is. “Could it be that I am so gobsmackingly stunning that I am attracting the girls too?” Maron thought. “Oh well. Only one way to find out.”  And Maron waves at Eighteen and calls out to her. “Hello there! How do you do?”

Eighteen is instantly snapped back from her thoughts by Maron’s greeting.

“Hello. Do you know who I am?” Eighteen asks as she approaches her.

“No. I’m Maron.”

Eighteen was right about who this girl is. “I’m Eighteen.” she responds.

“Really? You’re only 18? You’re very young!”

“I mean I’m Eighteen. That’s my name.”

Maron twists her head sideways and says, “But that’s not a name. That’s a number.”

“Wow... No kidding.” Eighteen mumbles softly. “So this is Krillin’s type? Slow and hussy?”

“Come over here and sit beside me.” Maron tells her. “Why were you staring at me? Would you like to get some beauty tips from me?”

“Huh? No. I’m here to meet someone.” Eighteen remembers how Oolong showed little respect for this girl’s thought-processing capacity and now she understands why.

“Me too. I’m here to meet up with my boyfriend, Krillin.”

“W-What?! Krillin??” Eighteen shockingly exclaimed.

“Yes. You know him?” Maron asks.

“I…well. He’s…and I’m….” Eighteen, for the first time as far as she can remember, is at a loss for words.

Maron immediately interrupts her. “If you’re friends with Krillin, then I’m your friend too!” and suddenly gives Eighteen a big hug. A wide-eyed Eighteen is so surprised by this act that she didn’t know how else to react. In fact, Maron hugs her so tight that Eighteen felt as if there were a couple of volleyballs being squeezed right between them, courtesy of Maron’s highlighted features, and Eighteen wanted to pull away as quickly as possible.

All this craziness is only adding more stress to an already confused Eighteen. How is it possible that Krillin is still Maron’s boyfriend? Has he been lying to her all along, using her to fill the void until this Maron comes back to his life? Eighteen swears that if she finds out she was being played, Krillin will pay for it.

Eighteen decides to remain on the bench with Maron until Krillin arrives. He sure has some explaining to do.

Meanwhile, at Krillin’s island home out in the middle of the sea, there is a frantic rush in the atmosphere. Krillin is brushing his teeth and changing clothes at the same time in a desperate haste to get to West City to meet with Eighteen.

“Arrgh! I’m late! Why didn’t you wake me up Master Roshi? Eighteen will kill me for sure.” Krillin says while moving as fast as he can.

“Eh? What are you talking about? You never needed anyone to wake you up.” Master Roshi replies.

Krillin buttons up his shirt and makes for the door. “Gotta go, Master Roshi!”

“Okay. By the way, you had a visitor while you were asleep. Maron came over wanting to see you.”

Krillin stops instantly. “Maron was here? What did she want?”

“Don’t worry. I know you don’t want to see her anymore. I got rid of her. Told her she’d meet you somewhere.”

“Great. Good work, Master Roshi. Where did you send her?”

“I just told her to go to the place you always went to meet her, wherever that is.”

“What?! You did…..WHAT?!? That’s the same place I’m supposed to meet Eighteen right now!”

Oolong is watching the two and butts in. “You mean your girl and your ex is possibly at the same place right now? Krillin, you dog!”

“I have to get there now! They might meet up and who knows what insane things Maron might say to Eighteen.” And with that, he’s off in a flash.

Eighteen is the best thing that ever happened to Krillin and he couldn’t have her get into any kind of conversation with Maron. Maron is all stuck up with all her delusions that he’s afraid she’ll tell anything to Eighteen to make her believe that they’re still together which they’re not. What’s worse, Eighteen might believe her. Flying as fast as he could, he races towards West City in an attempt to avoid a disaster.

Back in the park, Eighteen is feeling uneasy but very curious about Maron’s claim that Krillin is still her boyfriend.

“How long have you two been seeing each other?” Eighteen asks,