It had been an entire year since Yoko had seen Tommy right in front of her eyes. After a few moments of being absolutely immobilized by the shortlived reunion, she comes back to her senses realizing that Tommy had left minutes ago and that she didn't even get to talk to him.
"He has returned after so long... I have to find him... Where could he even be...? I can't afford to let him out of my sight again!" Yoko thinks to herself while chasing Tommy's location down all across the streets.
"Have you seen a kid around my age with shiny silver hair, sparkling blue eyes and a really handsome face here?" She asks several people on the way while looking for Tommy.
"Hmm... Oh! If you mean that adorable boy who helped me cross the road, he went that way my dear!" An old lady tells Yoko the direction Tommy went to.
"Oh! You mean the nice big bro who patched my wound up and got me ice cream? He went that way Ms.!" A little girl tells Yoko which direction Tommy was headed to.
While on her way running, Yoko feels a sudden shock which makes her fall dizzy and wonders, "Odd... I never had an issue running so much before... Why do I feel dizzy today all of a sudden...?"
She then sips some water, gets back in shape and starts running to look for Tommy in no time. While on her way, she sees giant clouds of smoke coming from the direction she was told Tommy was specifically in. Upon realizing that, she screams, "TOMMY!!", and starts running even faster towards the direction of the smoke.
A large crowd had gathered around the area. A whole building had been burnt down while the people are watching the scene in utter shock.
"Has any of you seen a boy my age with silver hair and blue eyes around here?" Yoko asks without a second to spare.
"Yeah... That boy went inside that burning building when he heard that there was someone still inside... I'm worried they both might die at this pace if the fire department doesn't show up in time..." An old lady there replies.
"Just what I was afraid of... Always playing hero even in the most dangerous situations... He hasn't changed one bit..." Yoko thinks to herself before running into the fiery building herself which causes the crowd to panic but she refuses to listen to any of them who are concerned for her safety there.
The scene shifts to deep inside the burning building...
"Come on kid! Walk! The fire is still far away! Walk while you can before it spreads! Then I promise I'll save you!" Tommy exclaims to a crying kid that got stuck alone in the burning building.
The kid continues to cry while Tommy continues, "Kid, you can't live in fear all your life! If you stay here instead of trying to get out, the fire will get to you and kill you anyway! Do you understand??"
The kid then stops crying a little and tries to walk towards Tommy. On his way, there's a wave of flame in front of him that scares him while a giant burning shelf is about to fall onto the kid. Before this could even happen, Tommy pulls the kid onto his side and covers him up in his jacket.
"You good kid?" Tommy asks, to which, the kid replies with an enthusiastic "Yes big bro!" as they both start running towards the exit.
Right as they're about to reach the exit, another huge wave of flames burns the ground ahead of them. Tommy then lifts the kid onto his back and jumps over it successfully. Much to his dismay however, another huge wave of flames ahead burns the ground underneath his feet which leaves both him and the kid hanging onto the last bit of the week wooden floor that had been broken through the fire.
Due to being in there for so long, Tommy starts to feel suffocated and starts losing his grip. Right then, Yoko shows up and grabs onto his arm and helps him get up.
"Thank you... You really saved our meat at the last moment..." Tommy replies to Yoko while panting, unable to recognise her at a glance.
"Save the thank you's for later! We have got to get out! FAST!!" Yoko screams as she grabs Tommy's hand and starts running towards the exit.
Right when they reach the exit, another wave of flames surrounds it which makes all three of them stop right where they're standing.
"What do we do now..." Yoko wonders with a serious expression and sweat on her face.
"Alright kid, hold onto my back tightly! And you girl! Hold onto me from the front! I'll carry you!" Tommy asks both the child and Yoko in a moment of desperation.
"How's that gonna help!?" Yoko screams and asks Tommy with a shy look on her face upon the thought of being held onto so closely by Tommy right on their first reunion after a whole year.
"You've got to trust me on this one if you wanna get your beautiful face out of here alive girlie! I know a way out of this mess!" Tommy replies to Yoko with a concerned expression.
"Okay fine! I trust you!" Yoko replies to Tommy with a shy and hesitant expression while grabbing onto his neck and having her hands on his shoulders.
"Alright! Ready mates?" Tommy screams.
"AYE AYE CAPTAIN!" The other two scream in accordance.
"Then here we go! Force: Repulsion Field!!" Tommy screams as he runs towards the exit surrounded by fire.
As Tommy jumps through the fire, all three of them have their eyes closed while they're surrounded by a blue force field that dispels all fire away from them.
The scene then shifts to the area outside where they see Tommy break through the fiery exit unharmed while carrying Yoko on the front and the little boy on his back.
The little boy gives Tommy a tight hug, thanks him and starts running towards his concerned mother who also holds onto Tommy's hands to thank him for saving her only son.
"Hey... I wanna thank you too for saving me back there... For a moment I thought we'd all die..." Yoko also replies to Tommy with a shy expression on her face while still being held onto him.
"Oh come on! If you weren't there, me and the boy would've been baked to death! Count this as us being even!" Tommy replies to Yoko while continuing, "Also... How long do you intend to hold onto me?"
Yoko's face gets redder than ever upon hearing that which makes her immediately step away from Tommy and reply, "I'M SORRY!"
"Relax! It's okay! I don't mind!" Tommy replies back to her with an awkward expression on his face.
"Wait... Has he not recognised me...?" Yoko thinks to herself with a sad expression on her face and replies, "If you say so..."
"Why do you look so sad?" Tommy asks her.
"Well... I've just been wondering if you even remember me... But it's been so long! It's fine if you don't... Tommy..." She answers.
"Wait... How does she know my name... OH!" Tommy thinks to himself before realizing who she really is and continues, "Hey uh... Are you by any chance... Yoko...?"
With seconds, Yoko's sad expression changes to a smile as she grabs onto both of Tommy's hands and screams, "YES! SO YOU DO REMEMBER ME!"
"Of course I do! You're that one girl who had zero Darby dolls but way more fighting skills than the rest of the girls! I found that cool hahaha!" Tommy replies back with stars in his eyes and a smile on his face upon seeing his friend after so long.
"Where had you been all year...? I really missed you..." Yoko replies while looking the other way with a shy expression on her face, hands at the back and one of her legs just moving around a bit.
"Sort of a long story... I had just been training to get stronger... So I could protect the ones I care about... Like you today for example... Although, you saved my life too today haha..." Tommy replies with a humble expression with sweat all over his face.
"HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT ME WHILE HE WAS AWAY!" Yoko thinks to herself while her face gets even redder upon hearing what Tommy had just said.
Just then, a bunch of police cars are seen speeding through the road.
"We'll catch up later Yoko! It seems there's an emergency!" Tommy exclaims as he runs towards the police cars.
Yoko surprisingly manages to run at at least half the speed of Tommy to which he replies, "You always amaze me... Not a lot of people can keep up with my speed!"
"Haha... You're really fast though! It's difficult for me to keep up!" Yoko replies back.
Tommy then runs a little more ahead and asks the policeman in the car, "What's going on?" While it's still speeding through the streets.
"We've found the guys responsible for burning the building back there! They're a group of anti-military terrorists that are threatening us to cease control to them! Otherwise they'll keep attacking innocent civilians! They're right up ahead in that armored vehicle!" The policeman replies.
"I'll catch onto them in no time!" Tommy replies as he starts running even faster which makes it more troublesome for Yoko to catch up who feels dizzy yet again and holds onto a wall nearby to catch a breath.
"Why is this happening today of all days..." Yoko thinks to herself.
The scene goes back to Tommy chasing the armored vehicle down.
"Ugh... I can't use the Stellar Flash here... There's too many people... I've got to think out of the box and get faster..." Tommy thinks to himself.
Tommy then starts gathering repulsive force from his binding energy onto his feet, jumps high into the air, gets his feet together and prepares to make a huge impact onto the ground that is nearer to the armored vehicle.
Right as when he is about to land in an angular manner, Tommy screams, "FORCE POWER: INFINITE PRESSURE!!", which splits the road ahead in two and makes the armored car stop in its tracks.
"Hah! By landing very close to a right angle, I quite literally managed to minimize infinite pressure from my feet of all places, which then caused the road to split and shatter while also slow the armored vehicle down... Sometimes my genius scares me!" Tommy thinks to himself.
Just then, a huge bunch of angry goons come out of the armored vehicle holding metal rods in their hands.
"You dare to stop us kid!? You better prepare to pay for what you've just done!?" The goons scream in a very cliche manner as they head to attack Tommy.
Tommy of course, takes the goons out with ease and while he's beating one of them up, another one of those goons grabs onto an old lady walking by and threatens to slit her throat if Tommy doesn't surrender.
Right then, the goon is kicked by Yoko screaming, "HEE-YAAH!!!", onto a pole, saving the old lady in the process who thanks her for it.
"Great job Yoko! One win after another is crazy! This is why I like you!" Tommy speaks up to Yoko for helping him.
"Likes me!?" Yoko thinks to herself while her face turns completely red again.
Just then, the boss of the goons comes out and throws a giant iron ball towards Tommy's direction. Tommy of course dodges it and the ball sticks to a wall behind him.
The boss then throws another iron ball but at Yoko's direction this time who also dodges it while the ball hits a wall behind her.
The boss then punches his goon in the gut, lifts him by the head and throws him into the air. Suddenly, the goon's body is split in two and his legs go flying to the wall behind Tommy while the rest of his body goes flying to the wall behind Yoko.
"What the-" Yoko and Tommy wonder.
"Surprised I killed my own henchman? Sadly, he was way too useless! It's his third fumble this month! I can't tolerate failure at all! And you know what I cannot tolerate more? PEOPLE TRYING TO STOP ME!" The boss screams.
Upon hearing the testament of ruthlessness from his speech, not just Yoko and Tommy but also his own henchmen act shocked.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME FOR? ATTACK THEM ALREADY BEFORE I USE MY MAGNETIC SPLIT ABILITY ON YOU LOSERS AS WELL!" The boss screams.
Tommy starts taking the goons on with ease but almost gets caught off guard into getting hit by one who is then stopped by another one of Yoko's strong kicks.
As they continue fighting the goons, Tommy does the same by saving Yoko from a goon's attack by punching his face in.
"Nice moves there Tommy!" Yoko exclaims.
"You too! We're quite good fighting together!" Tommy replies.
"Then let's coordinate our attacks more together!" Yoko replies back to Tommy who continues, "With pleasure!" as their backs stick to each other and they start taking on goons from the opposite directions, reaching an extreme and coming back together like a zig zag pendulum as they fight.
"You kids sure fight well. Sadly, you'll both die in your youth. I wouldn't have stood a chance had you both been grown ups." The boss speaks up after Tommy and Yoko take all his goons down.
"Hold up buddy! You're quite literally a nameless mobster! We can't even count you as a villain of the week!" Tommy speaks back to the boss.
"Yeah, don't you think it's kind of cliche for a villain to say that the heroes are being cocky when they themselves are the ones who're actually cocky and losing the battle?" Yoko continues to sync her conversation with Tommy.
"Hah! We're gonna have quite an easy time taking you down! Us as Grown ups will be overkill!" Tommy and Yoko speaks together while clenching their fists.
"Why you annoying brats!?" The boss screams as he charges to attack them.
Both Tommy and Yoko coordinate their attacks again and give the boss a more than even match as their hits sync to the point they land a punch on his face at the same time and give each other a high five as the boss is sent flying.
Right as they're celebrating before the smoke even clears, two iron balls fly opposite from each other through the smoke towards Yoko and Tommy.
While Tommy is able to dodge it with ease, right as when Yoko is about to dodge, the strange dizziness strikes her again which causes her to get hit by the ball and automatically get dragged towards the other iron ball.
As the smoke clears, the boss is seen standing while the other iron ball that had missed Tommy, reaches his hand.
The boss then swings his arm around which causes Yoko, who is stuck to the other ball, to spin in the direction of the ball that being swung by the boss.
Right as the boss pulls the hand he is holding the ball in, towards himself, Yoko is also being pushed towards the ball in his hand at a much faster speed.
Tommy gets a look of exploding rage in his eyes as he gathers binding energy into his own fists and his eyes start glowing blue.
He then raises his left palm towards the ball the boss is holding while raising his right palm towards the ball stuck on Yoko and screams, "FORCE STRIKE" which binds the respective balls into his own binding energy as he spins his arms in such a way that it revserses the polarity of the boss's attacks into making Yoko fall onto Tommy while sending the boss flying into the air.
While Tommy is busy taking care of Yoko, the boss crashes into a giant wall and falls to the ground from a high altitude only to get arrested by the cops.
"ARE YOU OKAY YOKO!?" Tommy screams.
"I'm okay Tommy... Just feeling a little nausea from all the spinning..." Yoko replies while trying to stand.
"See! I'm okay!" Yoko continues as she starts walking normally having been freed from her head spinning, however, she gets struck by the dizziness again and almost falls to the ground, only to be caught by Tommy.
While Tommy holds onto her, she starts losing consciousness and Tommy notices blood dripping down from underneath her skirt and going all the way to her feet.
All this really scares Tommy, makes him lift Yoko while holding her close to himself and running through the town extremely worried.
"What is happening... Yoko... Please hold on... I promise I'll get you treated as soon as possible..." Tommy thinks to himself while being extremely worried, having tears in his and running endlessly in search of a hospital.
While running around carrying Yoko, Tommy spots Mari and M1ke on their date together and tarts running even faster.
"MS. MARI! THIS GIRL! MY FRIEND! WE WERE FIGHTING AND THEN SHE WAS SPINNING IN THE AIR AND THEN SUDDENLY SHE GOT ALL DIZZY AND STARTED BLEEDING AND-" Tommy screams while crying to Mari who interrupts him and says, "Relax Tommy! Let's take her to my place first!"
Mari then takes Yoko from Tommy's hands and then the three of them, Mari, Tommy and M1ke run towards her place immediately.
While Tommy's sitting in the living room worried to death, M1ke tries to console him by saying, "It'll be okay! From what you've told me, she couldn't have been injured! Nausea can cause people to faint! She's a strong girl! She'll be fine!"
In Mari's bedroom, Mari finishes patching the minor wounds on Yoko's body, giving her a dose of vitamins and then cleaning all the blood up around her legs.
"Hehe... She's just fine. She really is a strong girl! Tommy really got worked up over nothing! Seems like it's this girl's first period. But it's still adorable to see Tommy so worried about her. I wonder if these kids have a thing for each other..." Mari wonders.
"Where am I...? WHERE IS TOMMY!?" Yoko exclaims immediately upon waking up.
"Relax Yoko! Tommy is in the other room waiting for you! He was really worried!" Mari replies to Yoko.
"Worried...? What happened...?" Yoko asks.
"Oh it's nothing! Your periods have started! That's really it! While you were fighting, you overexhausted yourself and the period cramps started affecting you and probably made you too dizzy to handle all the heat from the battle!" Mari replies back to Yoko while explaining her situation.
"Periods...?" Yoko seems confused.
"You don't know what periods are? Well I guess it is your first time but usually mothers are there to warn their daughters about such stuff!" Mari continues.
"I have no mother..." Yoko replies with a sad expression and starts getting tears in her eyes.
Mari then hugs Yoko and says, "No no! It's okay... I'm sorry for what I said... Allow me to explain you what's up..."
After a decently long conversation about hitting adolescence, changes that girls and boys face, etc., Mari gives Yoko some painkillers while finishing her explanation saying, "While these may not get rid of the pain entirely, these should help!"
"Thank you for everything Ms. Mari!" Yoko replies while holding onto Mari's hands with a smile.
"Anytime! You're such a sweet girl! Plus you're Tommy's friend! He's a bit like a son to me at this point... I wouldn't mind a daughter though either! If you know what I mean!" Mari speaks up to Yoko with a wink.
"Huh!?" Yoko blushes.
"Don't hide from me! I was once your age too! You have a thing for Tommy don't you?" Mari asks.
"What do you mean!? We're just friends Ms.!" Yoko exclaims while turning her red face away.
"Oh! Just friends? And here I was, ready to help you have Tommy all for yourself! I know his likes and dislikes after all!" Mari teases Yoko with a smirk on her face.
"WAIT PLEASE TELL ME! I REALLY DO LIKE HIM! I LOVE HIM! I WAITED AN ENTIRE YEAR TO SEE HIM AGAIN! I HAVE TO KNOW!!" Yoko screams.
"Relax! What a tsundere... I'll help you don't worry! By the way, why do you like him so much?" Mari replies back while patting Yoko on the head.
"It's just that... He's the only boy who saw me for who I am... He thought of me as strong... He helped me believe that it's okay to be myself... And that I'm not lower than any other boy or girl... That's when I fell for him... Then I found out that he lost both of his parents... I know how it feels like to be orphaned and have no one there for you... I planned to see him but he had disappeared for an entire year... I can't let him go again... I want to help him be happy... Live a normal life..." Yoko explains her love situation to Mari with tears all over her face.
"You really are a sweet girl... Much to the point I don't know if Tommy even deserves you... Haha, but that's the case with most men... It's the job of us close to them that they don't do something outlandish... You both would make a great pair considering how much you both care for each other... I can trust you'll take good care of him right?" Mari asks Yoko while holding her close to herself.
"I will..." Yoko replies to Mari while hugging her with a shy face
After sometime, Yoko and Mari come out and Tommy runs immediately towards Yoko to hug her which makes her blush really hard.
"ARE YOU OKAY!?" Tommy asks with an extremely concerned expression.
"I am completely okay silly! I was just not feeling well from the start! I'll be more careful next time!" Yoko replies back with a smile on her face while her cheeks are completely red.
"You better!" Tommy replies while wiping his tears and giving Yoko his iconic smirk.
"Oh wait, we're late for school!" Tommy continues.
"Oh! You shouldn't worry about that! It's Sunday! We don't have school on the weekends!" Yoko speaks up.
"Wait.... WHAT!? WHAT WAS I IN A RUSH IN THEN!? THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT MR. M1KE!!" Tommy screams in rage.
"Come to think of it, I told you to give him the uniform and the school bag tomorrow, not today! Did you not listen to me M1ke!?" Mari joins in on the conversation.
"Oh! I forgot haha!" M1ke replies back while trying to run away from Tommy, however, right before M1ke could run, Tommy hits head with a baseball bat which makes M1ke collapse on the ground while seeing stars circling around his head.
"Anyways, did you, ya know?" Tommy continues.
"Oh yeah!" M1ke exclaims and continues, "Mari... Now that you've got your PhD finally... I've been meaning to ask this to you for quite a while...", as he takes the small black and shiny box from inside his pocket, opens it up to reveal a ring and says, "We've been together for years... You've patched me up at my worst times be it physically or mentally... and every time it was my fault... My stupidity... But you're the one who keeps me on the right track... whenever we argue... I'm always wrong... I want you to continue taking care of me like that... While I try my best to do the same for you... For the rest of our lives this time... Will you marry me?"
Mari's entire face turns red as she hugs M1ke tightly and screams, "YES! I WILL! I LOVE YOU!" while M1ke continues, "I love you too!"
"What a happy ending." Tommy says with a smirk.
"Awww! I'm happy for you Ms. Mari!" Yoko speaks up as well.
"Thank you lot of meddling kids..." M1ke and Mari, both reply with a shy face as they give each other a long kiss.
"Your welcome... See ya..." Tommy and Yoko reply back as they leave.
"Love is a wonderful thing, don't you think so too?" Yoko asks Tommy.
"I guess so...? I argue a lot with them but they're both like parents to me after my own parents died... I want to protect them too... It's why I am rather happy those two oldies got together finally..." Tommy replies.
"Haha, cute! I'm sure you will protect them..." Yoko replies back.
"I want to protect you too Yoko... That's why I trained so hard the past year... So that I never lose anyone I care about ever again... That includes you... You're no less than family to me either... I'll do anything to save you guys and make this place better... " Tommy continues.
"Oh stop with the flattery! I'd give my life up for you too ya know! I wanna protect you too! You deserve to live a normal life just like we do! And I will make sure of it! Because I..." Yoko exclaims but as she speaks further, she can't control herself from blushing upon hearing what Tommy had just said.
"Cute... I promise I won't let anything like what happened to you today, happen ever again! I'll keep you safe at all costs!" Tommy continues.
"HE CALLED ME CUTE!!!" Yoko thinks to herself but immediately regains her composure, turns back a bit, then faces Tommy again with a gentle expression saying, "I love you..."
"Say what...?" Tommy replies with a slight blush on his face.
"I said I love you..." Yoko replies back.
"Wait really...?" Tommy asks again.
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT!? YES!! STOP MAKING ME FEEL SO EMBARASSED!! WHY ELSE WOULD I WANT TO PROTECT YOU, WANT TO BE WITH YOU!!!" Yoko screams back at Tommy and continues, "Okay maybe I yelled a bit too much...", with a shy face.
"No... It's not that... It's just... I'm not used to..." Tommy tries to reply but this time, he is the one turning his completely red face away.
"Huh...?" Yoko wonders while blushing.
"I LOVE YOU TOO YOKO!! I HAVE SINCE THAT DAY A YEAR AGO!!" Tommy gathers all courage he has and screams his feelings out as well.
Upon hearing what Tommy had just said, Yoko hugs Tommy tightly with tears in her eyes and continues, "I'm so happy! This might be the best day I've ever had!"
"Haha! I'm happy too!" Tommy replies back with a huge smile.
As they walk together, they reach the place they first met and reminisce about the time a year ago.
"I'll never forget the day we met here..." Yoko speaks up while having her head leaning onto Tommy's shoulder.
"Me neither..." Tommy continues.
As they walk around, the sun is about to set and they both head their separate ways to home from the same spot they last saw each other a year ago.
As they're leaving, Yoko turns back to give Tommy a short yet meaningful kiss on his lip and says, "See you at school tomorrow!", before leaving with a big smile and a blush on her face.
"Maybe a normal life isn't too bad after all!" Tommy thinks to himself while blushing about the kiss he had just received from Yoko.
To be continued in Chapter - 10...