If one was to ask Lynn when exactly she fell for Tarble, she likely wouldn't be able to answer. For her, it'd just kind of… happened.
But it was entirely Pepper's fault.
In fact, it wouldn't be a stretch for Lynn to say that she'd probably fallen in love with Pepper first. The girl was awkward, selfish, airheaded, and careless… but she had this way of deliberately pulling her heart out of her chest and pinning it to her sleeve so that everyone knew where she stood that was oddly endearing.
Which was probably why, after they'd built their little village on Earth, Lynn had found herself spending almost all of her time with Dahlia, gardening and beautifying the other side of the island, away from the village.
Whether consciously or not, she'd drifted away from Tarble to silently support Pepper's extremely obvious crush on the guy.
Then, that day came. The day Tater went rogue.
It'd felt like Lynn's entire world was falling down, or maybe just walking away from her. So, to the older girl's utter shock, Pepper'd simply given her permission to love Tarble. No, she'd made Lynn admit to the feelings that she'd been denying for the younger girl's sake.
In the span of a day, the weight of the world seemed to vanish from Lynn's shoulders completely.
She'd always admired Tarble for that. The way he casually balanced the weight of the world, all the expectations and duties that came with being the leader of their little band, on his shoulders like it was nothing, while still having the time and energy to devote most of his efforts to his own things.
It always seemed like it was easy for him… but Lynn knew that it wasn't. No matter how incredible Tarble was, nobody could hold up the sky by themselves without getting tired. As she got closer to him, she could see it in the little things. The way he retreated to his lab when the pressures got to be too much, the way he played around during training to make it more difficult, so that he'd be able to simply throw himself into the fight and forget everything else for a moment… it never perfectly worked, though.
She and Pepper weren't strong enough to pressure him by themselves.
They weren't strong enough to stand by his side, so the two girls silently took on their own roles. Pepper would be herself, make Tarble smile, help him shut his brain off and just go along with her selfishness for a little while, while Lynn acted as a backboard for his shortcomings and insecurities, someone who just listened and was there.
Pepper wasn't good at that. She ignored the little things and focused on her goals with tyrannical efficiency. She was the type of person who'd make a Fire Eater saddle, even though the Fire Eater in question needed five minutes of Saiyan-speed chasing (sometimes through lava) before she could wrestle it into allowing her to ride it.
Lynn was the opposite. The dynamic worked well.
But they still weren't strong enough to stand by his side. Not as equals. Pepper was close… but Lynn herself had some sort of wall.
While Pepper could easily tap into the Oozaru's rage, the pool of Blutz Wave energy inside Lynn's tail could only be tapped into during the full moon. In her human form, it was out of reach.
It was only last year, when Tater finally beat Lynn without tapping into his SSJP power at all, that Lynn finally realized it.
"You're stuck." It'd been Pepper, in an unusually serious tone, who'd brought it up one morning, while Tarble was off in his lab, or maybe playing video games with Tommy or something.
Lynn's hand had stilled on the doorknob for a moment. "I'm going to train."
"No. You're going to be trained. By me."
"I can figure it out on my own, Pepper. I want to." Lynn had replied, still looking at the door, rather than the other woman in the room with her.
"If you think you can catch up to him like this-" Pepper'd started.
"I know what you're going to say, Pepper! But I have to. You don't understand, I need to stand by his side my-" Lynn was interrupted by the younger Saiyan woman unceremoniously slamming the older woman's face against the wooden doorframe. It shook, but held. Barely.
Pushing Lynn into the door again, Pepper backed up to look the other girl in the eye. "He's on the verge of another breakthrough, Lynn. But… we can't push him to it. We're just not strong enough. If you honestly think that you can catch up if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again, then I judged you wrong." The younger woman walked past Lynn, reaching for the doorknob. "If you don't want to stand by his side, then get out of my way. I'll push Tarble past his limits myself."
The words hit Lynn like a freight train. 'If you keep trying the same thing, over and over again, then you're not my partner. You're just in my way.'
Her hand reached out to catch Pepper's wrist before her conscious mind even realized she was doing it. "What's your plan, Pep?"
Pepper just smiled. It wasn't an airheaded 'fun Pepper' smile.
No. This was the 'sadistic Pepper' smile that always came right before something terrible happened. Something terrible that usually ended with multiple people suffering horribly, but in a way that wasn't permanent, and thus made Pepper laugh.
This was the side of Pepper that she usually used as a cute little weapon… But Lynn knew the truth. The younger girl was cute and cuddly most of the time, sensitive and easy to handle… but when she got like this, she didn't listen to anybody, and genuinely enjoyed making others suffer.
This was the Pepper that she was when there weren't immediate consequences. When she knew that she wouldn't be able to truly break someone, or turn them away from her, no matter how much she hurt them.
This Pepper didn't care about others, and didn't hold back.