Welcome back to GPSG folks! Before I begin, I wanna thank all of you as GP Officer has over 100 favs & follows! I won't lie, I may favor this fic over my other ones, so seeing that it's gotten that many followers warms my heart! Here's hoping by the end of 2016, we have 200!

ENOUGH RABBLE! Here comes a new chapter of GP Officer: Son Gohan folks! Enjoy!

Chapter 8 (The Other Players): Start!

"This is the place where they have it Gali?" Gohan asked his NB who was currently floating next to him. Today was one of the two days the cadets had off in the week and so the half breed decided to spend it exploring the city again on his own. As much as he enjoyed hanging out with his roommates, everyone needed their 'me time'; and he wanted to spend his own me time at a bookstore. There was a certain book he heard about in Hiro's class the other day that had sparked his curiosity and so he took his NB and, using its map feature, ventured out to pursue it. After a half hour of walking, Gohan and his NB arrived at their destination: '

"This is the area my map function points to Gohan," the robot responded. "The desired item is held within this store." The hybrid nodded and walked into the store. After a few seconds of discussing with a store clerk, he was in the History section of the store, his index finger trailing along the book until he found what he came for.

"You've located the book." Was Gali stating the obvious; and Gohan reacted in kind by grinning at the AI.

"Yep, now all I need is a place to sit down and read it…" The first born of Goku did a quick look around the shop and found not only a nice table for him to sit and read near the coffee shop that was a part of the store, but he also saw a familiar face currently reading and enjoying a cup of hot coffee. He made his way over to the table the person was sitting at. When she noticed the presence of someone walking up to her and when her eyes met the stranger, a smile made its way upon her face.

"Well. Isn't this a surprise." she noted.

"I'll say. I didn't expect to see you here Erma." Said Gohan. "You here to book shop?"

"Not exactly," the Wau softly giggled. "I'm actually doing a little work while waiting for a friend."

"Work huh? I better leave then; I wouldn't want to bother you."

"You couldn't bother me Gohan; besides what I'm working on isn't all that important," Erma gave the side of the table across from her a couple of light taps and added: "Have a seat, I promise I won't bite."

"What about your friend?" He asked.

"It'll be a while before he gets here." She told him. Not wanting to be rude, the black haired warrior pulled the chair up and sat down across from the Wau. With it placed on the table, Erma was able to see the book the cadet had with him. "So what brings you here? Shouldn't you still be training right now? Or are you playing hooky?" She asked with a grin.

Gohan chuckled a little before answering: "Not at all, the instructors ended our sessions early so that the cadets could be rest up for the training mission we have tomorrow."

"That's right; I almost forgot that you and the other cadets are going out into space tomorrow." She noted. It was standard in the Academy Curriculum that when the first phase of the conditioning and academics were taken care of, the cadets were to board a cruise ship and get some experience out in space; and tomorrow was going to be they're first time doing as such.

"Yeah, so with the free time I had I took Gali here and we went out into the city to find the store with the book I wanted to read." Soon after his explanation, Erma began chuckling, much at the confusion of The Z-Fighter.

"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at you." She told. "It's just…I never knew someone that named their NB."

"Oh, that's it?" Questioned Gohan as he rubbed the back of his head. "It felt weird calling him NB all the time, so I decided on calling him Gali."

"He is correct with this statement." The NB agreed.

"That I can see." She noted. "So what book drew your curiosity?" She was a little surprised with the book Gohan held up in front of her. "The Saiyan Society?" She read the title of the book aloud. She was very familiar with the book as it was a best seller that gave insight of the Saiyan Race from the perspective of a member of the PTO who spent years working with and observing them before their demise at the hands of Frieza.

"I know it's a little…strange for me to have this book." Gohan rubbed the back of his head while saying this. "But I overheard a conversation where this book was mentioned and, I don't know, I guess I got curious. How Saiyans lived, what was Planet Vegeta like, what was their culture like?" He never gave much thought about it on Earth, which is ironic since he could've gone to Vegeta at any point to discuss it, but here in the galaxy, where the Saiyans have played a part in causing havoc for years, he was curious to know what Saiyan life was beyond food and combat. "It's so odd; I never cared about it much back at home." He noted while patting the top of his robot guide. "But out here, I feel like I kind of need to know…"

"I think I understand your situation Gohan," Erma began to reason bringing the topic back to the book. "When you're away from home for a long period of time, you start to think about all the little details of your life there you never paid attention to. Of course in your case it might be a little different from it."

"I take it you have some personal experience with those circumstances," Gohan spoke, noticing the faraway look in her golden eyes as she spoke those words.

"You could say that…" Responded Erma as she took a sip from her cup. "Every now and then, I think of my parents; the kindhearted people they were, the time we all spent together, just how…sweet they were to me in general."

"They sound like they were kind people."

"They were…even on their death beds…" Gohan's eyes widened from those words and the grim way the Wau said them. "You don't have to apologize, there's no way you would've known…" she said as though she was reading his mind. "They passed away when I was much younger, so it doesn't hurt as much to talk about them. But every now and then, I do wonder what it'd be like if they were still here with me, how different would've things been, if even for a day."

"I…I get the sentiment…" He told her. "My dad died eight years ago, and those first few weeks he was gone were pretty rough for me and my mom. I even asked myself what would've happened if I did things differently…I'm sorry, I thought I could relate to you, but I really couldn't…" he apologized. He didn't see their situations as ones to be compared to. Erma lost BOTH of her parents, something that Gohan couldn't even imagine; and even after Goku died, Gohan was allowed to have some kind of closure with his dad after his death, if not from his encouraging words the day of his death, it certainly came after the tournament last year. He was pretty sure that Erma couldn't say the same.

With how silent the two were after that exchange, Erma decided to speak up once more: "I think we relate to one another more than you think," she had an earnest smile on her face as she stated that. "I didn't mean to put a damper on things with this Gohan. I probably shouldn't have brought this up…"

"No…It's not that," insisted Gohan. "I'm just wondering and sorry if I come off as rude here, but why are you telling me this?"

"To be honest, I'm not too sure myself; I don't talk about my parents much with others…" Erma took another sip of her drink with her confession. "But you just have this…trusting aura about yourself; like I could come to you for anything."

"That so huh? I'm…flattered you think so highly of me…"

"You're probably thinking 'I wish I could say the same for you…" The Wau's statement made the hybrid jump.

"Didn't know you could read minds." Gohan's joke managed to get a giggle out of Erma.

"We aren't the closest of friends I know," she admitted. "But I'd like for us to get to know one another better."

"I'd…I'd like that too." Gohan said with a happy smile on his face, one that Erma returned.

"Excuse me," The half Saiyan turned to his right when he heard the new voice call to him. There he saw a brown haired man dressed in the standard GP Uniform that appeared to be much older than him.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd get here…" It only took a few seconds after that statement from Erma that the Demi Saiyan put two and two together. It must have been her friend that she had been waiting on.

"I guess I'll leave you two to your business. I'll talk to you later Erma." He got out of his chair so that Erma's associate could have it and for the sake of not being rude, he greeted the newcomer as well: "Nice meeting you sir." He said with a respectful bow. Before he could leave, the Wau called to him.

"Oh Gohan, I have that book myself! If you want, I can lend it to you!"

"Really? Thanks very much Erma! I'll come by whenever I get the chance! I'll see you later! Gali let's go!" With her offering her copy of the book to him, he decided there was no real need to stay in the store. He could be patient and wait until she gave him her copy; and with that in mind, he and his NB were out of the store.

With Gohan now at least a good distance away from them, Erma's associate sat down in his chair and asked: "Do you really have that book?"

"I do in fact," Erma answered. "It's quite the page turner if I do say so myself." Taking another sip from her cup, she asked her friend: "Did you have any trouble getting here?"

"Not at all, this replication device is pretty good. Shame there isn't a way for you to ship them to us." He noted. If a numerous amount of those devices went missing, there was no doubt that the GP would've been suspicious. "So…that was him you were talking to? The guy who you said easily defeated two members of the PTO?"

"That's him, Gohan Son." Erma answered.

"I was skeptical when you first told me that one GP cadet took out two high ranked PTO Officers. But when I took a good look at him before he left, I could definitely see it.

"See what?"

"Those eyes of his, they gave off those of a seasoned warrior; one who's been through some serious battles in life; and yet, he looks no older than you…"

"He's only a year younger than me." Erma stated.

"Only a year huh? Are you sure this mission of yours isn't some secret confession of love from you?" The older man joked. Seeing the unamused look on Erma's face, he quickly added. "I'm joking, I'm joking. So what's the plan of action?"

The Lady Wau activating her holo-computer and began to type on it: "He's going out in space tomorrow for a training mission, part of what the cadets in the GP have to do. It's a small hyperspace jump just outside of GP headquarters. I say we make our presence known then."

"Wait a minute, a training mission? Won't other cadets and the instructors be on the same ship as him?"

"Yes, this is why we will approach the GP ship he's aboard peacefully: Show no ill will towards the crew of the ship and convince them to make our offer to Gohan."

"That sounds easier said than done," The man joked.

"A lot of what we do is," the dog alien agreed. "But it's our best opportunity, which is why I need you to head back to the ship and make the preparations for tomorrow."

"Don't need to tell me twice," The man stood out of his chair and turned his back to make his exit. "I'll see you tomorrow…Lady Ryoko…"

A coy, maybe even devious, smile made its way across the face of Erma as she drank from her cup once again; for she knew that tomorrow would be a face to face she's been very eager to have…

XXX

When Gohan first heard of this training trip the cadets were going on, he didn't expect much. After all, he was still a cadet so it wasn't like he was going to be fighting pirates or embarking on grand spaceship battles. Even with the lowered standards, the last thing he expected to do on this training was stamp some packages going out to other planetary systems…

"This was not what I had in mind for our training…" He couldn't help but mumble. He and many other cadets were all lined up side to side, each with their own line of mail coming down in front of them.

Hearing his complaints caused Kenneth to perk up and make a rebuttal: "Who cares as long as it's easy right? Besides, we'll get to do other stuff eventually; just think of what we're doing as taking baby steps."

"Well it's definitely slowed our training to a crawl…" stated Gohan as he stamped another piece of mail.

"Hey, if it was excitement you wanted, you could've signed up for Latrine duty." Joked the red head.

"I'll pass on that," Gohan laughed. The half Saiyan's attention was then focused on his other roommate, who had been rather quiet. "You've been pretty quiet Rajau, you holding up okay?"

"…" This was the response Gohan received from the Wau, this came after the heated glare Rajau gave Gohan followed by him resuming his activities.

"I think he's still upset with you…" Kenneth whispered to Gohan.

"I noticed…" Gohan responded with a nervous smile. When Gohan came back from his trip to the city, he of course told his roommates of his venture, including his encounter with Erma at the bookstore. Hearing the mention of his love, Rajau immediately began questioning Gohan as to what he and the female GP Officer discussed, more specifically, if Rajau made his way into the conversation. Gohan at first disappointed the dog alien when he said that the brunette wasn't mentioned; but he quickly angered Rajau soon after when he told them of Erma's desire to get to know him better, this added by the fact that sometime soon, he would meet her again to borrow her book.

Since then, Rajau had been slightly fumed at Gohan; hence the silent treatment the Saiyan hybrid had been given the last twenty-four hours.

"Rajau," Gohan called out to him once again. "I told you, I went into the city because I wanted to find the book I was looking for. Me meeting Erma and talking with her happened by coincidence; and she happened to have the book and offered to lend it to me, which to me sounded a lot more convenient than just reading it in the store. I'm not trying to… ruin your chances with her." He mentioned, using the brunette's exact words from yesterday.

"Not like he had a chance to begin with…" muttered Kenneth.

"Shush!" Gohan hushed his other roommate down, even going as far to place a finger over his lips. His focus went back to the Wau and with an uneasy smile he asked him: "You understand right?"

"…Yes Gohan, I do understand." Those words would've comforted Gohan had it not been for the dry and lifeless monotone voice Rajau spoke them in. Speaking of lifeless, the blank far off expression on his face was one that raised some concern in the half saiyan.

"Love is such a cruel mistress…" The Wau said after sighing. "It can hit you at a moment's notice and throw your very core off track and at the same time it leads you to pain, misery, and betrayal; and you're spent wondering why you ever bothered loving in the first place…"

And now Gohan felt completely guilty from the words Rajau was speaking. He thought nothing of his meeting with Erma other than him borrowing the book from her for a little while; he didn't think he'd hurt his friend's feelings for doing so, whether intentionally or not.

"Don't let him get you down Gohan," Said Kenneth, picking up on Gohan's sullen mood. "This is a normal occurrence for Raj whenever he experience "tragic" heartbreak. He'll mope for a few days and he'll get over it."

"Uh…if you say so…" the unsure warrior said.

"How can you say that to a man who's heart is so weary right now?!" Rajau yelled. He was rather offended by his best friend's lack of caring in regards to his predicament at the moment. "I don't know if I'll ever be the same…"

"My heart bleeds for you Raj…" Was the sarcastic reply of Kenneth while Rajau continued to fume at him. Gohan all the while merely chuckled at the interactions between his two roommates.

That was before the counter he was under started blinking mail. From what he was instructed, this signal meant he had to hop on a cart and deliver more mail to those that needed it. The black haired young man got up from his station and began walking to the cart. That was when, upon reaching half way to the cart, he bumped into someone. Upon seeing white hair that he had been far too familiar with in the last few months, he froze up.

"A-Aisha…hi…" he awkwardly greeted. He wasn't sure what to expect from the girl. Since their very first spar, the Ctarl-Ctarl had been hell bent on sparring with him, practice after practice; she would come at him with even more intensity and vigor than the previous day. He considered throwing their spars a few times, but she was already aware that he never used his full strength when they went at it, if he started throwing spars, he had a feeling that explosive temper of hers would go into overdrive.

The cat girl gave him a most hate-filled glare followed by an "Hmph!" and returned to stamping mail. If one were to pay close attention, they could see that the girl's body tensed up a little. Whether that came from the rather mundane activity they were currently undergoing or from her seeing the Half Saiyan, he was unsure. He soon left her to her own devices and went to the cart

XXX

Seiryo Tennan sat upon his captain's chair with a quiet yet intense stare as he looked out into the far reaches of space. His focus was solely on what lied ahead, no otherworldly distractions could throw him off. If one were to look at him, they would see just the kind of imposing presence one would need in order to be a captain of a ship. That, or just how plain ridiculous he looked sitting in a horribly decorated plastic chair. Although no one on board the ship would tell him that, whether out of pity or their own amusement, was a discussion for another day.

"Captain," Seiryo heard his name being called and turned his attention to a young man whose large brown afro covered his eyes. "We will arrive at our hyperspace jumping point momentarily." He informed the captain.

"Good!" was all the pinkette said. After quickly checking the time, he noted: "The cadets should be well done with their morning shifts by now. Ah, I remember the days I was a cadet: young, vigorous, ready to take on the universe. Such simpler, beautiful days…"

"You sound like an old man…" The captain deadpanned when at that jab and he turned around and saw his First Officer Amane looking at him with a smug expression on her face due to her getting the reaction she wanted. "I still don't know why you're taking this assignment so seriously. We're just doing a jump."

After collecting himself from Amane's old comment, Seiryo with his signature bravado answered with: "It may be a simple jump as you put it, Amane dear, but even so, it is a simple jump that we are in charge of! And as GP Officers training young cadets, we have to set examples for the next wave of officers. Which is why, even if it's the most mundane of tasks, we must put forth our very best, so we can be the inspiration these cadets need!"

Amane blankly stared at her childhood friend while also wondering if she was going crazy. She could've sworn she saw what could only be sparkles behind Seiryo as he went on another of his pompous speeches. But she had to admit, he made a pretty good point about wanting to motivate these cadets by giving it their all. Granted, she would never verbally tell Seiryo that. The man's head was already big as is.

"Hyperspace Jump Program loaded and ready for launch." Alan, One of the pilots on the ship, with spiky blue hair that pointed in different directions and with a pair of glasses on his face said.

"Well done lads!" Seiryo complimented. "Now begin loading the hyperspace jump program!"

"Roger that captain!" Cohen, another member of the crew with features that included short shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and a round belly spoke. "Engine output at 120…130…140…mark. Hyperspace transition: ten seconds and counting. And in 9…8…7…6…5…" the jump was put to an immediate stop when some kind of crash shook the ship and jammed the systems.

Amane rose from her chair and questioned: "What's wrong?"

The third member of the piloting trio answered the first officer's question: "We're losing power! Internal pressure is also dropping fast!" With all that was happening within and surrounding the ship, it was nearly impossible for the ship to keep its jump going.

"Status report!" Seiryo demanded.

"There's a malfunction with the primary ventral engine sir!" Alan stated

"Main power is going offline! Activating back-up generator!" Cohen spoke.

"We can't maintain hyperspace integrity; aborting jump!" the cancellation of the jump brought the crew right back to their location before the attempt.

When everything calmed down, Seiryo took a calming breath. "How long would it take to get the engine working again?"

"Not sure Captain," the young man with the afro said. "We're gonna need time to check the engine and see exactly what's wrong with it."

"Take your time guys," said Amane. "In the meantime, we should get in contact with the cadets and let them know what's happening."

"Good call Amane, we don't want them getting worried over the situation." Seiryo acknowledged as he pushed a button to activate an intercom to alert the cadets.

Before the Jump

The morning activities for the cadets came to an end and now they were in a mess hall for lunch. Because many cadets had different body types and genetic makeups, their appetites varied greatly, which in turn allowed cadets a three tray maximum with great proportions of food for each tray. While for many this satisfied their hunger, Gohan was a bit of a special case. Even with the decently sized (Decent by his standards anyway) quantity of food, the Saiyan hybrid still found himself wanting more food. Luckily, he had a remedy for this situation: a Senzu Bean. While they've been a reliable item in terms of healing injuries, their other effect can be easily forgotten as a single bean can have a person full for ten days. But for someone with the appetite of a Saiyan, it was a good enough supplement to go along with the rest of his lunch; and it'll make his stomach content until dinner at least.

The environment in this moment of reprieve was a pretty nice and friendly one. Cadets were sitting with one another and conversing while others were going to grab seconds (or thirds) for lunch. Gohan himself was looking around the hall in amazement. Even after being here in the GP for a little over two month, he was still impressed with the internal layouts of these ships, more specifically, how much is fit into them. Before this venture, he had only been in two spaceships. Well, three if you count the very short amount of time he was in his father's ship in Namek, but even so none of them had the sort of complexities that these GP ships had.

"Hey man, why're you spacing out?" Kenneth asked.

"Heh Heh, Sorry; it's just the makeup of these ships still leave me speechless. I can't help but think about the work that goes into all of them."

"Yeah? I don't know, it isn't all that amazing. Then again, I don't care that much about that kind of stuff."

"So after this we move on outside the ship?" Asked Gohan.

"Yep, we'll be there for the rest of the day. So, you might wanna prepare yourself." Kenneth and Gohan's conversation was put on hold when their attention was brought a girl standing right next to their table. She had the female version of their uniform on; and the color of the uniform clashed greatly with the color of her skin, which was an abnormal color of Ash gray with her coal black eyes. But the color of her skin made some facial features apparent, such a light the red blush on her face.

"Um…hi…" she meekly said in the naturally soft voice she had. "I was wondering if y-you'd like… maybe we could…g-get together and spar sometime…or maybe s-study. That's if you're not busy, if you are then, I completely understand." Her face became redder as she seemed to ramble on with her words.

Kenneth saw this girl and grinned. Finally! One of the main reasons he joined the academy was coming into fruition: a nice and pretty looking girl approached him and asking him out. Yes, he was aware that she said she only wanted a spar and to study, but look at her body language as she asked that. That was practically code for asking him out!

The red faced Kenneth laughed a little before responding: "R-Really! You want to…well this is pretty sudden, but if you really want to, then I just can't say no!"

The girl's black eyes grew a little big in realization of the misunderstanding of what just took place. "Oh, I-I'm sorry. That question wasn't meant for you." When Kenneth heard that, his body froze in shock. "I was asking…h-him…" her finger pointed at Gohan.

The red head's eyes grew dull before he backed out of the girl's view so that Gohan could see her properly. "Me?" The half Saiyan asked in surprise. "Um…sure! Whenever you have time just swing by my room." He said.

"Right…t-then…I'll see you later?" she shyly asked to which Gohan nodded his head in agreement. With that bout of success, the girl quickly turned on her heel and walked back to her table, where her friends were all giggling at her and waving at Earth's strongest warrior.

Gohan nervously waved back to all of them and laughed. "Well, that was unexpected, huh Kenneth?" He looked at the red head and was met with a very familiar expression, a very blank stare that looked off into who knows what. "Kenneth?" he called his roommate once again.

"My Gohan, you're pretty lucky. Getting the attention of a pretty girl like that." Yep, Kenneth had the same dead expression and infection in his voice as Rajau had throughout most of the day.

"Some of us aren't born with such luck. Our opportunities at romance are often ruined. Perhaps it is our destiny to die alone…" This time, it was Rajau, who had remained quiet throughout most of their lunch, finally spoke.

"Such a sad destiny we have Raj…" Said Kenneth.

"Sad indeed Kenneth…" Gohan sweat dropped seeing the two with their matching expressions. Sad as he was with Rajau's behavior, his and Kenneth's over dramatics just then didn't earn them as much pity.

*CRASH*

The entire ship seemed to shake and tilt in different directions, shocking many students and taking some off their feet.

"What's going on?!" Gohan asked aloud. This continued on for another minute before it finally ceased, and the cadets took this moment to get themselves back to their feet and collect themselves.

"What just happened?" Kenneth wondered.

"Don't know, your guess is as good as mine…" speculated Rajau.

The sound of an intercom warranted the attention of the cadets. "Attention cadets, this is your captain Seiryo Tennan. We seem to be experiencing some minor engine troubles and are performing emergency repairs. Report to your quarters immediately until further instruction." This news caused cadets to begin murmuring about the situation and just what could have happened to cause engine troubles.

"Engine troubles? That doesn't sound good…" Gohan noted with a worrisome look on his face.

XXX

"You guys don't think there's anything wrong; with the ship, I mean?" Gohan asked his roommates as they sat in their room. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, something bigger than what the cadets knew.

"It can't be anything too serious. If it was, we wouldn't be here." Rajau said.

"I don't know Rajau, I can't shake this hunch I've got…"

"You worry too much Gohan," Kenneth said as he lackadaisically laid on the floor. "For all we know, this could be part of the training. Next thing you know, Tennan's gonna announce a mock pirate raid. And if something were wrong, one: we've got Amane and the instructor on the ship, and two: if we were in any kind of trouble, we'd be sent straight to the life pods to get out. We'll be fine…"

'I don't know something just doesn't sit right with me…' Gohan thought. His concerns weren't for naught as an alarm started going off, taking them by surprise.

XXX

"What is it now?!" an agitated Seiryo asked.

"It's bad sir! An unidentified vessel is steadily approaching us! It's pirates sir!" Alan informed the captain.

"Pirates? You can't be serious!" the pinkette exclaimed. "Damn it! And all of our cannons are offline…"

'So much for my zero percent encounter rate…' Amane joked to herself. "Send a distress signal to the GP!"

"Yes ma'am!" the officer with the afro said.

"We're being hailed by the ship captain!" Barry informed the crew. "They're sending a boarding party to negotiate!"

"Negotiate?!" Seiryo repeated, much more confused than Barry.

"Identification data sequence has been confirmed sir." Cohen said, and when he realized what the ship was, he became very giddy with his eyes bugged out and he let out what could only be describe as a squeal. Alan and Barry who were right next to him looked over to the source of what made him overreact the way he did. Soon enough, their expressions matched his.

"Could it be?!" They were all eagerly anticipating the outside ship as it drew closer, and on their holographic screen it showed a ship that resembled a barracuda that was purple and with red eyes. There was no doubting the possibility now.

"It's Ryoko Balta's ship!" The trio began typing away from the posts accepting her request to have a boarding party come aboard their ship, all the while giggling along like school girls.

"In my wildest dreams I never thought this would happen!" Alan shouted.

"The opportunity to meet THE Ryoko Balta in public!" Said Barry.

"An opportunity not every man is blessed with!" Cohen added.

"This is the greatest day of our life!" This was the conclusion the three all came to. The joyous emotion they felt was ruined when a fist came crashing down on top of all of their heads. The pissed captain shook his fist at his insubordinate crewmates who just did what they pleased.

"Have you imbeciles lost your minds?!" He snapped. "You don't make decisions like this without the captain's orders!" he rubbed his temples in annoyance. "Damn it, they've already agreed to her terms and allowed her to board the ship. What should we do now?"

"If they're already on their way, then we don't have much of a choice than to let things play out. If they aren't here to cause a fight, then we should see why they're after." Suggested Amane. "What we should before anything else is to alert the cadets of what's happening. The alarm probably confused or even scared them; and the last thing we need is for them to come in contact with the pirates, especially if things go south…"

"That's probably for the best. I'll make the announcement to try and put them at ease and then we'll…discuss with these pirates." The calm yet stern look on Seiryo's face lasted for less than two seconds before he glared daggers at Alan, Barry, and Cohen who began whooping upon realization that they were going to see Ryoko. When he got them quiet, he sighed frustratingly. If he got his way, those three were going to have a hell of a punishment coming their way for this act of insubordination. But now wasn't the time to worry about that particular matter. He had to make an all-important announcement to the cadets.

XXX

"Attention cadets! This is your captain Seiryo Tennan! An enemy pirate vessel has invaded this ship and we, the members of the crew, are about to engage in combat! You students are ordered to stay in your rooms and to not leave under any circumstance! Over!"

This orders caused a sense of confusion for the two girls in one particular room, but for the last one, this caused the predator instinct that she kept buried inside her the last few months to spring to life, as evident by the glint in her slanted green eyes, her clenched fists, and her tensed muscles. She stood up and made her way towards the door.

"Hey! We aren't supposed to leave our room Clan Clan!" One of her roommates told Aisha. She looked back and the girl who told the cat girl those words let out a meek squeal when she saw the dangerous look in Aisha's eyes. "Uh…never mind…" Were the only words she could say to follow up that statement.

A smile was on the face of the white haired young woman; a smile that if anyone saw it, they would feel a sense of unease within themselves. The door to the room opened and she stepped out. Pirates: she had a bad history with them; and while there was no guarantee that they were the pirates responsible for her being where she currently was, she was going to take a lot of pleasure in tearing them apart…

XXX

"See, what'd I tell you guys?" Kenneth told his two friends. "Before you know it, they're gonna call for some kind of drill…"

"That sounded pretty serious for a drill there Kenneth…" Gohan said, the questionable feeling he had still wouldn't leave him.

"I think that's just instructor Tennan doing his job Gohan. We wouldn't take his order seriously if he didn't sound serious."

"That would imply he ever sounded serious, or we ever take him serious…" Kenneth said, taking a jab at his teacher.

Those answers weren't enough for Gohan, his suspicions just wouldn't rest, and because of that, he just couldn't be at ease; and there was only one way for him to do that. Letting out a deep exhale, and he closed his eyes so that he could feel out the energies on the ship. He wasn't trying to feel out every source of energy in particular, he'd be sitting there all day if that were the case. Instead, he was trying to find energy levels that may be bigger and stand out. Hopefully this way, he'd be able to tell if Seiryo was being right about their being pirates on the ship.

He was able to sense a power level that was higher than the other cadets, and one that slipped right past their room. Unfortunately, this power level was one that he felt many times in sparing and it caused him to break his focus. His eyes widened and he walked to the door and opened, surprising both his friends.

Looking to his right he saw the white crop of hair that belonged to Aisha getting farther away from him.

"Dude, what part of don't leave our rooms didn't you get?" The red head drew the attention of Gohan. The Z-Fighter looked behind him and smiled at his roommates.

"Sorry guys, I'll be back in a sec." This statement got both Rajau and Kenneth to look at him questioningly.

"But you don't need to do that Gohan." Rajau told him.

"Yeah, and if you do, let us go with you." Kenneth said with a cheeky grin while Rajau glared at him and his desire to disobey the instruction of their teachers.

"No, we'll all stay in here!" Rajau barked at Kenneth.

"No, you two will stay in here, and I'll go. I'd rather only one of us gets in trouble for not following orders than all of us. Besides I need to go after Aisha and stop her from doing anything crazy." When the name of the cat girl came up, Gohan's two friends gave him a rather smug look, much to his confusion.

"Ah, going to see Aisha? Okay, we understand." Rajau said.

"You know, if you just wanted some private time alone with Aisha, you could've just said so…" Added Kenneth.

Catching on to what the two were implying, Gohan blushed and adamantly said: "It's not like that! I'm just trying to stop her from trying to fight those pirates! If they are on the ship, I mean."

"Riiiiiight…" The red head and Wau both said in a casual, laidback manner. Gohan only sighed and walked out the door, closing it in the process.

XXX

"You buffoon! Invaded the ship?! Engage in combat?! How's that supposed to put the at ease?!" Amane shouted at Seiryo.

"Haha! There is a method to my madness, my dear!" Seiryo responded with the utmost confidence. "It's not what you say to people that sways people; it's how you say it! And I made sure that with the inflection in which I gave my commands, the cadets will be sure to not take what I say seriously." He followed this statement by flicking his pink locks with his left hand, giving off a very cocky aura about himself.

The blonde ran her hands through her hair, completely lost at her old friend's sense of logic. "How was that supposed to calm them down?! If anything, your statement would scare them even more! And going by your logic, then what makes you think the cadets will listen to you and stay in their rooms?!"

"Because kids these days are quite the lazy bunch Amane. Any chance they have to sit in their rooms and laze about, not doing anything, they'll take it. Quite the spoiled lot they are…"

Amane pinched the bridge between her nose in annoyance. She decided not to argue with the pinkette's nonsensical arguments and just moved on to the bigger and more important matter. "Fine, whatever! All that matters is the cadets are in their rooms. Now what do we do abou-" before he could finish the question, the lights in the room were turned off.

XXX

Ryoko Balta and a man much taller than her were walking through a hall of the ship. Everything was quiet surprisingly. While Ryoko's right hand looked left and right observingly, Ryoko kept ahead, not looking anywhere else but forward till she made it to where she and this ship's captain agreed they would meet and she made her proposition.

"It's awfully quiet in here, don't you think?" The man asked his captain. "What if we're we're walking into a trap?"

"I'm sure that it won't come down to that." Ryoko said.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Call it optimism on my end."

"More like naivety…" Ryoko looked back and raised an eyebrow at the man, the smile on her face remained.

"Have a little faith…" was Ryoko's response. The two reached the door of her destination and it slid open. She stepped forward, her and her colleague completely unsure of what to think or how to act. Those thoughts went out the window when a spotlight shone down on Ryoko followed by a series of other lights and confetti streamer poppers started going off, much to the confusion of the pirate. Even stranger, the spotlight went off, giving way for the usual lighting of the room, and she was greeted with three men: one playing a marching bass drum, and the final one playing maracas, and a final one playing an accordion. She was aware of just how popular she was with the male populous of the Galaxy Police, but she never received a treatment so over the top.

"SURPRISE! Welcome aboard our ship Ryoko Balta!" They all greeted them.

Ryoko, quite taken aback by this greeting, respectfully bowed to the trio "Th-Thank you, I'm honored."

"No ma'am! The honor is all ours! We are nothing but blessed to have you on boa-" Suddenly a fist came flying on top of the heads of Alan, Barry, and Cohen.

"ENOUGH!" Seiryo shouted at them. "I have had it up to here with you three!" Accepting this woman's request to negotiate without his orders, to that strange set-up for her after turning off the lights and that little welcome dance? He could only put up with those three ignoring him and his orders for so long before he lost his cool. Where did they even hide those instruments in the first place?

No matter, his focus was now a hundred percent on Ryoko. "Ryoko Balta, of all the possible pirate ships that we could've bumped into, it was yours. I don't know if I should feel honored or if I should curse my luck." Throughout his short spiel he had a cool and collected air about him, assisted by his left hand on his hip and the smirk that wouldn't leave his face.

The pirate matched the captain's smirk with a genuine smile of her own. "I assume you're the captain of this ship?" She questioned.

"You assumed correctly!"

"Could I have your name captain? After all, you know mine."

"I hate to disappoint you young lady, but my name is information that I'd prefer to not share with pirate scum…" Seiryo immediately shot down Ryoko's request, which in turn earned him the ire of Alan, Barry, and Cohen. But any fuss those three could make was immediately shut down by the stone cold stare from their captain.

Even with the rude comment from the pink haired man, the smile remained of Ryoko's face. "I suppose that's fair. Maybe one of your crewmates feel differently about the topic…"

"Either of you three says a word; I'll shoot all of you into space without suits…" Seiryo warned the three when he saw their ears perk up and they were on the verge of shouting who they were. The trio immediately deflated afterwards.

Ryoko giggled at the interaction between the four. "I wasn't exactly thinking of them…" she told him as her eyes wandered past him and the other members of the crew before they settled on the only female on deck. "I was thinking someone more like…you, Miss Amane Kaunaq."

Amane's eyes narrowed before she walked up next to Seiryo so that she and the pirate were a little more face to face. She wasn't exactly sure what to make of the young woman. It also didn't help that this was her first encounter with a pirate and it was with one that had the reputation of Ryoko Balta, who, if her many fan clubs in the GP were to go by, carried herself very differently than most pirates. This showed the most in her posture and body language, not to mention the inflection in her voice which had a more prim and proper feel to it, which was the only way she could put it.

"I was quite the fan of yours back when you were still modeling. I had a lot of the magazines you were on the cover of and I have to admit, I was a little broken up when I heard you stopped. It's an honor to meet you." She greeted, bowing afterwards.

"Right…same to you…" Amane said, still a little uneasy at the moment. She wasn't so much concerned with the fact the pirate knew her name, all anyone who was unaware of her had to do was less than thirty seconds of research, and they'll know who she was. It was more of the fact that she couldn't get this girl's angle. So instead of ping detective, she decided to be blunter. "Why are you on this ship?" she questioned.

"My, I wasn't expecting you to be so direct." Ryoko spoke. "This ship…it contains students does it not?"

"No," Amane immediately lied.

"There's no need to lie Amane, I heard the captain clearly when I boarded on the ship, weren't his orders something along the lines of: 'under no circumstance are the cadets to leave their rooms'?" This time it was Ryoko lying, albeit her's was a very much smaller white lie. She actually hadn't heard Seiryo's orders and her knowledge of the cadets was the info she gathered the day before. That guess was something that could be easily made considering the situation.

Seeing the blonde tensed up, Ryoko followed up her question with: "You don't have to worry. I promise you, I have no intentions of causing harm to your students."

"And how can I trust that you'll stay true to your word?" The skeptical Amane asked.

"We came unarmed Amane; and even if that weren't the case, the way I see it, your students are still children, and I wouldn't dare hurt a child. While I'm not here to hurt them, I am here to talk with them, one of them in particular if he's on the ship." she answered.

"And just what would you want with a cadet?" She asked.

Ryoko opened her mouth to answer, but the opening of the door, along with the screeching angry voice, drew her attention.

"RYOKO BALTA!"

XXX

"Aisha!" Gohan quickly caught up to the Ctarl-Ctarl as she continued her walk. The cat girl didn't even focus on him (a rarity when it came to the two of them), instead she just walked. "Aisha, you shouldn't be here. You need to go back to your room."

"And just who are you to tell me where I'm supposed to be when you're out here too?!" Aisha not-so-kindly remarked.

"I'm here to keep you from doing anything reckless," Gohan stated with a sour face, fully aware that he was being somewhat hypocritical in this instance as part of the reason he left the ship was to help fight the pirates himself; and while he was aware of Aisha's skill, it was the unknown factor of just how tough these pirates were that made him unsure of whether or not the cat alien should get herself involved in this manner. He didn't want to risk her getting hurt. "You heard what Instructor Tennan told us: there are pirates on this ship." Gohan informed.

"That's right, and I'm going to find them and take them out one by one." Aisha's irritation only grew when Gohan walked in front of her and cut her off.

"This isn't the time to go picking a fight!" He scolded. "We're just cadets Aisha. We don't know how to deal with pirates while the instructors do. It's better to just stay out of their way and let them handle it." Gohan was thankful for the very sharp reflexes a decade plus of martial arts training gave him, for he was able to catch the incoming fist Aisha threw at him, one that was thrown at a speed that would've caught anyone else off guard.

"How dare you!" She snapped at the half saiyan. "I am a member of the most powerful race in the galaxy, not someone that needs their hand held! I've been prepared my whole life to face pirates and any other threats to the galaxy!" Green eyes looked right into black ones, neither of their resolves faltered as they strongly believed in their argument. After what seemed like minutes had gone back, The Ctarl finally released her fist from Gohan's admittedly impressive grip.

"When I was a little girl, I read about how Saiyans were a proud warrior race that thrived on combat." She informed him right before she roughly bumped his shoulder and followed with: "Imagine how disappointed I am to know the first Saiyan I met was nothing more than a coward…" Her ears perked up when she heard the faint sounds of instruments being played, but more importantly, she heard a name. A name that in the last few months made her sick to her stomach and red with anger whenever she heard it.

Focusing her ears towards where she heard those sounds, she raced towards the location full speed, rounding the corner with Gohan keeping up right behind her. They soon made it right in front of the door where the conversation was happening, and when the door slid open, she saw the instructors and the other members on the ship's deck but more importantly, she saw dark blue hair that she couldn't forget and a wardrobe consisting of a full body burgundy suit with stripes of blue covering her left breast and around her left leg. There were three cut holes in this suit: two on each of her sides, and one cut open that revealed cleavage. And the outfit was topped with a cape with shoulder pads that stopped down to the middle of her back.

She bared her fangs and glared holes in the back of the young woman's head as she shouted her name with venom: "RYOKO BALTA!"

Amane's eyes widened upon the sights of Aisha with Gohan right behind her. "You cadets shouldn't be here! Get back in your rooms immediately!" The order seemed to fall on deaf ears however as neither cadet moved a muscle, albeit they had their own reasons for not doing so.

Gohan, on one hand, felt kind of bad for disobeying the orders of the instructors, but that was completely overshadowed by his refusal to sit around and do nothing knowing that he could help the teachers against the invading pirates. Although he was puzzled to see that there were only TWO pirates on the ship, considering from the sounds of Instructor Tennan's announcement, it sounded like the ship was flooded with them. What more so, he was a little concerned for Aisha at the moment.

Her chest rose and fell and she snarled at the woman in front of her, the only thing her slanted eyes were on; and he was pretty sure nothing else in the room existed save for the pirate to the white haired woman. Her fists were clenched and shaking. Her body language was something he saw from himself many of times and if he had to guess only from his own personal experiences with anger, the best way to describe Aisha at this moment was an animal about to break out of her cage and run amok.

"You have no idea… how long I've waited for this…" she said in a low guttural voice. Just the mere thought of the woman was enough to make her see red; and now being face to face with her? It was nothing short of a miracle she hadn't completely lost it at this point.

"Do I know you…?" Was the only question the pirate asked.

Aisha surprisingly grinned at being asked this question. "You probably don't remember me, but let me remind you of an incident from three months ago: A base owned by the Ctarl-Ctarl was raided and you made off with some of our property and crew mates."

"Oh yes, the memory is coming back to me," Ryoko smiled. "I also recall a ship being hot on my tail not too long after that happened. You wouldn't have happened to be on that ship, were you?"

"No, I wasn't just on it. I was the captain of the Orta Hone Hone!" She told the pirate. "Your actions dishonored not only me, but the entire Ctarl name!" The more he spoke to the woman, the more she was reminded of the day where she lost all she worked for, and the more the dam that barely contained the ocean that made up several months of rage crumbled. The GP cadet uniform she wore began to strain and tear away as the cat alien's arms suddenly began to bulk. "And it's high time you paid for your actions…"

"Stand down cadet!" Was the order of Seiryo. "Your vigor is commendable, but this isn't the time or place for it! Return to your room this instance!"

"SHUT UP!" Aisha already hated having to take orders of people she felt couldn't teach her anything, but she really didn't want to hear anything from these buffoons. Not at this moment. Not when this woman was right here within her reach. More of her uniform tore away as her eyes began to look more like a tiger's as she continued to glare daggers at Ryoko.

"Stop this now and go back to your room Clan-Clan! Don't make us say it again!" This time it was Amane who made the command. She got no response from the white haired girl. Instead she just lowered herself into a squatting position and her clawed hands rested on each of her sides. Ryoko's eyes narrowed as her lieutenant walked in front of her and reached behind him, no doubt to reach for a concealed weapon.

"Damn it…" Amane swore under her breath. With Aisha refusing to follow her and Seiryo's orders, she and Ryoko's Lieutenant were going to fight any second, something that the entire crew on the ship couldn't afford given the place they currently stood. Apparently she, along with Seiryo weren't the only ones who thought so.

In an unexpected turn of events, Aisha's eyes that shined bright suddenly became dim and lifeless. Her arms fell limp at her side and the animalistic features of her face and hands dissipated. Consciousness left her as she hit the ground; or at least she would've hit the ground hadn't Gohan been there to catch her.

He felt bad for doing what he did to The Ctarl, especially considering deep down in the far recesses of his mind he took pleasure in knocking her out, what with her rude and arrogant behavior. He wasn't sure what these pirates wanted, but considering neither they nor the instructors had come to blows prior to him entering the room nor Aisha wanting the opposite of that, this confrontation was a nonviolent one as far as he was concerned.

"Sorry about this Instructor Tennan, Instructor Kaunaq. We thought we could help you with the pirates so…" He tried to come up with an excuse, especially in the case of the cat girl who may get the worst of the scolding from the two teachers because of her attitude towards their instruction.

Amane only sighed. "Just get her back to her room Son…" she told him. She would deal with punishing the two later. For now, they needed to be far away from this room.

"Yes ma'am." Gohan was not going to argue against the teacher as he lifted the white haired girl over his shoulder and was going to carry her back. But he was stopped by none other than Ryoko.

"Wait a second…" Amane's eyes grew wide when she heard Ryoko speak to and walk towards Gohan.

'Is he the one Ryoko wanted to see?' the blonde thought. Gohan was a special case as far as what he's capable of when compared to most cadets. But there was no way Balta would know that, is there? Either way, she needed to keep a close eye on the woman, and speaking of women…

"Seiryo, I need you to get Clan-Clan out of here." She told him.

"What?" the pink haired man confusedly asked.

"When she wakes up, she's going to raise all kinds of hell, and we don't need that, especially now of all times. I'll keep an eye on Balta to make sure she doesn't try anything."

"Here I thought I was the captain of this ship…" he half joked, half complained as he walked over to Gohan and took the Ctarl from his shoulders and exited out the room.

Amane looked over at Alan, Barry, and Cohen along with the afro having young man and as if she spoke telepathically to them, they made their way to the door. "No need to say a word, officer Kaunaq! We'll make our way out now!" Alan spoke for all of them and they all left the room, only leaving Ryoko, her LT., Amane, and Gohan to only them.

"I told you didn't I Amane?" Ryoko said to her. "I won't hurt your cadets…"

"Sorry, but I was trained to not trust the word of a pirate…" She fired back.

"You must have had a wise teacher…" The pirate joked. Her focus went right back to eyeing the cadet in front of her, she looked up and down noting his appearance. "Roughly five foot nine, spiky black hair, black eyes, peach skin. You certainly match the descriptions I heard…"

"You've heard of me?" To say Gohan was surprised would be a bit of an understatement. He didn't think he'd be on anybody's radar, let alone the radar of a pirate. He got his answer in the form of a nod from the woman.

"Tell me, what's your name cadet?"

"Gohan, Gohan Son." He answered. He raised an eyebrow when Ryoko extended her hand to him for a handshake.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Gohan Son. My name is Ryoko Balta." With a smile as pleasant as hers, it was hard to believe that she was a pirate; and speaking of pleasantries, her mannerisms would throw anyone's expectations of facing off with a pirate out the window.

This was exactly the case with both the blonde detective and the Saiyan hybrid. "Um…thank you?" Gohan hesitated for a couple of seconds before finally responding. His eyes slowly and subtly drifted to Amane, hoping that she would have some sort of advice for him pertaining to this interaction. Unfortunately all she had to offer for him was a shrug of the shoulders and a motioning of the hands telling him to go on with the discussion.

Fortunately, Ryoko brought up the question that was currently on his mind: "You're probably wondering just how I know you Gohan."

"I didn't know pirates could read minds…" He joked to which the lady pirate did chuckle at.

"We aren't, but we're good at reading people and better at predicting obvious questions." Ryoko joked along with him. "The guild I'm a part of has a very reliable network where we gather info."

"You belong to a guild?" Questioned Gohan.

"Not just a guild. The most powerful pirate guild in the galaxy: the Daluma Guild."

"The most powerful guild? That's a pretty bold claim to make." Stated Gohan. "And what would someone from a guild with that kind of reputation want with someone like me?"

Ryoko began to recall past events to Gohan: "A few months ago, the Daluma Guild had some important technology stolen from them by The Planet Trade Organization."

"!" This definitely got the attention of Gohan, and Amane as well as this was information that she wasn't aware of. "What technology would they want from you guys?" Gohan had to ask this. From what he read in class, Frieza's PTO wasn't a group that was behind in its tech. For them to hunt after another group for their equipment was a pretty big issue as far as he was concerned.

"It was a prototype for new hacking tech, a small little bug that was easy to miss."

'A bug? You mean the technology those two Prison Z escapees had on them belonged to the Daluma Guild?' Amane wondered as she listened on to Ryoko's story.

"Our previous models were slowly losing their value as enemies had adapted to them. That was when the PTO had sent two members to attack our tech crew and steal it along with their blueprints from them. The names of these two members were Abo and Kado."

'Abo and Kado? Those were the names of those two guys I fought when I first showed up in the GP!' Gohan mentally noted to himself as his eyes narrowed.

While he didn't say a word, Ryoko saw the way he reacted when he heard those names and she knew he had some involvement with them. "Before they ran off, our tech crew managed to place a tracker on the ships of Abo and Kado. Since then we were on their tails trying to get the bugs back. That was when they were captured by The GP and thrown into Prison Z. Our trackers managed to keep track of the two even after they were locked away. We spent our time trying to find a way to enter the GP and take our technology back but that was when they broke out of the prison and attacked the GP; and I think you yourself know what happened afterwards Gohan."

"So that's your big plan?" Everyone's attention was brought towards the door where captain Seiryo made his return to the room. "You saw young cadet Son in battle and now you and your guild of scum want to bring him in. And just what makes you think he'll want to join you and your group and criminals?! You all go from planet to planet, stealing from the natives and forcing them to join your guild! As far as I'm concerned, you lot are no different from the PTO!"

Seiryo had to admit that when Ryoko's eyes locked onto him with an intense hatred, he flinched. Her body twitched as she no doubt had plans to head towards Seiryo and rip that man apart, but the LT. stopped her from doing so with a firm hand on her shoulder.

"The Daluma Guild is NOTHING like those murderous monsters! They only care about destruction and ruining the lives of innocent people!"

"Oh, forgive me young lady, I was wrong. When you and the rest of you ruffians do it, it's for profit. Much different, I'm sure…" The pink haired man sarcastically replied.

"Seiryo…" Amane's voice sounded like she was scolding her old friend and for good reason. After Aisha nearly blew things for them, she didn't need her old friend to raise the ire of the two pirates, his own personal feelings for them set aside.

Gohan on the other hand, took notice of Ryoko's little outburst and his eyes softened a little bit. "It sounds like you have a personal experience with the PTO…" No one would've snapped at Seiryo with the fire she had if there wasn't some kind of incident she experienced with them.

This time it was the pirate whose face softened from the hard edge it had and her eyes quickly found the ground. "My parents…they were murdered by Frieza and his men. I was a little girl when it happened…" she explained to everyone.

Everyone's hearts felt heavy when they were told of Ryoko's history with the PTO. Even the pirate hating captain Seiryo couldn't help but pity the young woman. Pirate or not, no child should ever have to experience to losing their parents at a young age.

"General Daluma…he took me in to his guild when I had nowhere else to live. He taught me how to fend for myself, so that I could make it out here in the galaxy, so I could help him fight…them..." The pure hatred laced in her voice as she spoke that last word was not lost on anyone on the ship. The eyes of Ryoko went right back to Seiryo, but her eyes were much calmer than they previously were. "Captain you were wrong, there is one thing that separates our guild from the PTO. You say we take people from their homes, but that's not true at all. What we do is bring people into our army, under our protection to help in our war to overthrow the PTO, something you and the rest of the GP to do. The people that come into our guild become our family; and Gohan, I want you to become a member of our family." She said bringing the topic of the discussion back to the Z-Fighter. "The Daluma Guild, it used to be a part of the PTO, serving under Frieza and running his errands for him, that was before Frieza died, and he broke from the guild shortly after. Since then, we've been fighting the PTO and we could use your help in fighting them."

"That's a nice story," Amane cut in. "But what about the PTO owned planets you've raided? And the enslaved natives you took under your guild?"

"We're helping those people. Which is a lot more than I can say for the GP." Before Amane could open her mouth for a rebuttal, Ryoko cut her off with: "Tell me this Amane: do you think sending a group of officers down to a planet for a few months is enough to undo the YEARS of damage done to them? Most of these people were born and spent their whole lives working for Frieza and his ancestors! Some don't know how to read or write! The work for the PTO is all they know how to do! The Daluma guild helps them through that, we educate them! We give these people purpose! We help them restructure their lives!"

Gohan fell into silence as he absorbed all of this info before Ryoko asked him once again: "Ryoko…I'm sorry for what Frieza and his men did to your family; and I can respect the help you've given to the innocent people under his reign. But I have to ask, why aren't you and the guild working with the GP? I mean, we all have the same enemy here, so we should all help one another."

"It's a nice sentiment, isn't it? Ryoko asked. "But we're still pirates at the end of the day, and how we do things and our interests are far different from the GP. We want to stop the PTO once and for all, but in doing so, we want the position they have and all of the power that comes with it. We're not trying to run a dictatorship like they are, but when it's all said and done, we want the galaxy wrapped around our finger."

"Do you really believe in that Ryoko?" Gohan asked. "Call it a bad judge of character, but you don't strike me as someone that wants to rule over the entire galaxy."

"You were right. It is a bad judge of character." She then walked closer to Gohan so that he was in touching distance and took his right hand in both of hers. "Gohan Son: I would you like for you to join my crew. You have limitless potential, potential that'd only be wasted with the GP. With your skill, you could end up not only taking control of my ship, but also being a high ranked member of the Daluma Guild. So, what do you say?"

With an exhale through his nose Gohan made the all-important decision "I can respect you guys' desire to put an end to the PTO. But…I can't join you. I made a promise to the GP that I'll lend my help, and that's what I plan on doing."

"Won't you please reconsider?" Ryoko almost sounded like she was begging.

"Afraid not. Even if you want to stop the PTO, you're going outside of the law to do so. I want to bring them down the right way."

Ryoko's eyes widened for a few brief seconds before she settled into a smile. "Very well then, I'm sorry we couldn't come into an agreement, but I shall respect your decision."

The two pirates made their way towards the door before stopping and turning the corner and looking at Gohan. "Now this Gohan Son, the next time we meet, we'll be enemies."

"Right…" The pirate took note of the look on Gohan's face, it was like there was something heavy on his mind that needed to be let out.

"Is there something you want to say?" She asked.

"I just can't shake this feeling I have…that you're way too honest and noble for the line of work you're under. You're a much better fit with the GP."

Ryoko blinked for a few seconds before she softly giggled at Gohan's words. "You're still naïve to the ways of the galaxy I'm afraid. Take care of yourself Gohan, I admit I'll look forward to facing you…" The door opened and she and her lieutenant left the room and slowly made their way back to their ship.

'Ryoko Balta…I'm gonna have to watch out for her in the future…' Gohan said to himself. With an entire pirate guild aware of him now, he was gonna have to take his GP training to the next level. But deep down, he did feel a sense of sorrow. Because deep down, he honestly believed that under different circumstances, he and Ryoko could've become friends...

XXX

Ryoko made it back to her ship and took a seat in her chair as she let out a breath. The meeting was finally over, and even worse, it was a failure. Perhaps it was naïve of her to believe that she could've convinced Gohan to her side. Even when she first met him as Erma she could feel the huge wave of loyalty he had, along with his desire to do good. Even though she tried to get him to understand where she was coming from, there was probably no convincing him to figt alongside pirates.

"How long did it take you to come up with that story about the hacking bug?" Her Lieutenant asked her.

"I spent the better half of yesterday coming up with it. Although it does sound very natural doesn't it?" She spent days as Erma looking up the bugs and Abo and Kado's connections with them so of course she would know of their functions. The problem came to explaining how she knew of them to the GP Officers without tipping them off as to Ryoko and Erma having some sort of connection

"So what should we do now? If he's GP we should register him on the pirates' guild enemy database."

"Actually Lieutenant, you should hold before doing so. I have a call to make."

"If it's who I think it is, then he's been looking to call you as well." The right hand of Ryoko informed her. And because of this, she pressed a button on her chair and it only took a few seconds before a holographic image of a short bald man wearing sunglasses appeared in front of her.

"Ryoko! Just where have you been! And why didn't you answer my calls sooner?!" The old man was none too happy.

"Forgive me General Daluma, but I was handling very important matters."

"Matters? Like what?"

"I just left a GP vessel General." This statement alone caused the General to go silent. "I had gotten word from a reliable source that the GP required a cadet capable of manhandling two members of the PTO. I tried to convince him to join the Guild but I was unsuccessful…"

"Someone that can mop the floor with PTO members, that's a very dangerous person. We can't let him freely do as he pleases." Yes, Daluma quite easily believed Ryoko. She was not only his most successful pirate, but his most loyal one. She earned his trust and if she were to deliver info such as that to him, he was very inclined to believe her. Not to mention considering her popularity with the male members of the GP, it was very likely that she used that to her advantage to dig up whatever info she could get on the Police. "You know what to do with him Ryoko."

"Actually General, I was thinking maybe we SHOULDN'T put him on the enemy database." Seeing the raised eyebrow of the old man, she followed with: "The way I see it, he's much more useful for us if we let him be for the time being. Someone of his power would be able to eliminate armies in the PTO. While we do that we not only collect the leftovers from the spoils of war, but we can focus on increasing the strength of our weaponry for the day we have to face him ourselves. By then, we'll have a clear estimate of his power and will have a counter measure for it."

"Hmm…" The old general was obviously contemplating Ryoko's advice. There was the obvious consequence that would come with letting someone with as much power as Ryoko described loose to his own devices, but the benefits also had a very nice ring to them. After several seconds, he gave the young woman his answer. "Very well, we'll leave this cadet alone. But know this Ryoko, if this young man becomes a problem for us later on, then he becomes your responsibility…"

"I fully understand General Dalum, thank you." She bowed.

"Good, now I will end this call, I have a very important meeting to tend to."

"Yes sir. I will leave you to it." Ryoko said as she ended the call.

XXX

With the call ended, The General was left with much dimmed lights to walk through. He was currently in a mysterious hallway as he ventured all the way to a slide in door, when it opened he walked into complete and utter silence.

"General Daluma," The short old man heard his name being called. He took a couple of steps before stopping, save he wanted to bump into something. "This is a very unexpected surprise. What brings you here to my lab?"

"Cut the nice guy crap Doc," The inflection in Daluma's face showed he was in no mood for playing games. "You know why I'm here. I gave you an assignment a month ago: you were to make me new weapons as long as I provided you the materials you needed."

"That you did General," the doctor calmly responded. "And I've been working on them, but they've been on the bottom of my list as I've been working on my own side projects…"

"I'm not spending all this money and resources for you to just screw around whenever you want!" Daluma said in a very threatening tone of voice. "You're supposed to be making me weapons Doc, not pissing away my time with your own little science projects! So you can get off your ass and you start doing what I order you to do or else I-Gkg!" All of Daluma's threats were turned mute when he felt a large hulking hand wrap itself around his entire face and lift him off his feet. Daluma kicked his feet, desperately trying to ground himself once more, but the grip currently on him far surpassed inhuman, and it only got stronger. It was as if his head were an orange and it slowly had the juice squeezed out of it. The only thing he could make out in the moment was the blurry sight of the color blue crushing his hand.

"Now General, if there's one thing I hate more than anything, it's when my work is being rushed." The doctor said. "I easily get stressed and when that happens I don't perform at my best, I forget things and I'm often not pleased if I ever do finish my work. As a matter of fact, you could say I tend to. .Head."

"MMMMMMPH!" Was Daluma's muffled cry. He continuously smacked the hand of this stranger, but to no avail. This lasted for ten for more seconds before he was finally released and hit the ground, his now crushed glasses fell from his face and he collected his breath as his blue face returned to its normal coloring.

"But if I'm left alone to work on my projects at my own pace, the finished project will eventually be revealed to the world, and it will blow people away. So please be patient. I promise you, you'll be quite satisfied with what you get."

"R…Right…" Was all Daluma could say as he slowly made his way back to his feet and left the room.

"Oh, and General," the short old man stopped hearing his name being called and when he looked back, he saw two red dots along with what looked like a pair of blue glasses. "It was good to meet you…"

Daluma weakly nodded as he opened the door and exited the room, not even bothering to look back. All he wanted to do was to get the hell out of this place.

All the while, the doctor looked down as two of his many computer screens flickered to life. One screen showing Daluma's ship while the other showed the insignia of the PTO.

"Fools, all of them." He said. "They're all nothing more than pawns in my game." Suddenly another huge light shone, revealing a mysterious metallic creature trapped inside a tube filled with a green liquid. "Of course, the game will change completely when my King enters the field…"

Chapter End

When this chapter goes up on the site, the preview will be gone, so I'll tell those that don't know: I will be going back to the earlier chapters of the story and doing some rewrites. The main goal I to tweak Gohan and Amane's first few meetings. As for this chapter, it was a tough one. It's actually my third time rewriting it and while I'm not totally satisfied, I figured it was as good as it was gonna get. After Gohan knocked a chick out, Aisha ain't gonna be too happy, and next chapter we may see things finally come to a head between these two. But as it is now, it's 4 A.M. in my corner of the world, I'mma upload this chapter then get like 4 hours of sleep cause I have class tomorrow. Till then, I'll see you all for more GP Officer: Son Gohan!

Reviews Response

IchiIchi: Romance will happen in GPSG. TBH it's still up in the air whether or not I'll go with a single pairing or go with a Harem (leaning towards the latter)

Warhaler: Thanks, glad you're enjoying the story even if you haven't seen GXP. Don't know if I could recommend it as a show seeing that it's not really for everyone…

Okami Princess: Will I incorporate elements from Super? …Kind of? Problem is, Super uses a lot of the ground work laid down in Battle of Gods, and outside of maybe a couple of mentions, I highly doubt that I'll use much of BOG in this story (Of course, this could always change later…). It all depends really.

Cerxer1: Was thinking of maybe doing a Harem TBH, what with this fic taking place in a harem series and what not.

Bucio: Hope you liked seeing Gohan and Ryoko interact!

Anon: Why Thank you Anon. I hope I can continue to impress as this story marches on :)

Jackalope89: Videl? Eh…don't really see her playing much part in this story.

With all that said Ladies and gents, I hope you all enjoyed! Leave a review and if you liked the story, why don't you favorite and follow it!