Gohan woke up, his back against the wall as he sat on the floor. Dozens of other soldiers sat across from him, slumbering as well; some snored like pigs. He looked to his left, wincing at Arepa as she slept with her head on his shoulder and snored every bit as loudly as the grown men.
Thanks to the extensive repairs the aftermath of Gohan and Vegeta's fight required, the unit on Planet Frieza #79 divided themselves among three other planets in Frieza's network and caused overcrowding. Besides numerous brawls over food rations, it also meant soldiers sleeping on floors.
After rubbing the crust out of his eyes, Gohan remained seated. A couple of soldiers passed by, leering down at the slumbering Arepa with grins on their face. Gohan sternly glared at the pair with folded arms as a nonverbal warning. They both flinched, wary of inciting a half-Saiyan's wrath.
Even as soldiers started to get up and go about their usual duties, Gohan stayed where he was. It wasn't until Arepa finally yawned and groggily backed off of him to stretch did Gohan stand up.
"Helluva couple of days, eh?" Arepa said, following Gohan down the hall.
"Hn."
"At least they got Vegeta's crew on another planet," she observed. "I'd be needing to protect you while you slept."
"Yeah, right," Gohan snickered. Arepa playfully shoved his shoulder.
Gohan hadn't just been dismissing the joke. He couldn't definitively tell because of Vegeta's sour-by-default disposition, but everything that went down in Frieza's chamber seemed to clear the air between the two. Which Gohan suspected was the real reason Frieza put them on a different planet.
"Gohan, Arepa, report to assembly room 2 for your briefing."
Zarbon's voice over the scouter. Arepa laughed at the sound of it.
"Boy, I wish I coulda been there to see Zarbon get hit in his jewels," Arepa said, trying to smother her laughter. "Bugger probably sang some high notes after that."
"You probably wouldn't have wanted to see where it got me," Gohan said. He didn't want to say it out loud or he'd have to relive it. Electrical cables hooked to his crotch - that was as far as his brain got before he instinctively flinched. Though the healing tank had taken away the physical pain, his foul mood persisted. He couldn't wait to unleash it on whatever hopeless planet he was headed for next.
Or, on the smiling lime-green teen standing in his and Arepa's way.
"Move or be moved," Gohan ordered Gomayn through a menacing squint. He met deaf ears.
"I think pretty boy wants another black eye," Arepa said, cracking her knuckles.
Ignoring Arepa, Gomayn widened his grin at Gohan. "Up to no good, Gohan?"
"Move." Gohan's hand flickered with Ki. "Or be moved."
"By all means," Gomayn finally said, moving to the side.
After one last threatening once-over, he left with Arepa. There was an assurance in Gomayn's face that unsettled him.
"You'd think he would learn by now," Arepa said.
Figuring it was best to move on, Gohan directed his focus to the incoming mission. When he and Arepa moved past the sliding door and into the room, Zarbon and Dodoria greeted them with scorn. Frieza kept his vexing neutrality.
As Gohan and Arepa took knees, Frieza stroked his chin with scrutiny towards the former. Every second of his silence made the half-Saiyan sweat anxiously. The laser pointers that were his eyes scanned his appearance, like they were marking Gohan for death.
"I hope the past few days have been a time of learning for you, Son Gohan," Frieza began. "Though I still find your combination of power and intelligence highly valuable, you are not without fault and are no more subject to the rules than anyone else. What I saw in you was a boy who could act in line, and I expect that at all times going forward."
Unconsciously, Gohan flexed his jaw. He brooded over the nature of his new arrangement. Over Vegeta. How much longer could Gohan keep a hold of himself and remain on the quickest path to the strength he needed?
"Do I make myself clear?" Frieza's stare probed Gohan with the sharpness of a surgeon's scalpel. Gohan had no choice but to clear his throat.
"Yes, Lord."
"And Arepa, my lovely lady. I understand that you, too, are young - but I expect the same from you." Arepa nodded. "Even in the hopefully doubtful event that your superior acts recklessly out of turn, know that you still answer to me at the end of the day. Clear?"
"Yes, Lord Frieza."
As if a light switch flipped, Frieza puffed up into a cheery smile. "But now that the ugliness is past us, let's get onto a mission that I'm absolutely sure will be thrilling."
The odious shift in Frieza's tone on that last word made Gohan flinch. The lizard wasn't short in methods of crawling Gohan's skin.
"There's a planet in the south sector that I need you to purge of all its population. A beautiful, fruitful planet. It's name is..." Frieza clasped his hands with a wicked smile. "Planet Mamba."
Despite the effort he placed on all of his facial muscles, Gohan's eyes sprang open with shock. No...no. How? That couldn't have been right, could it?
Frieza laughed haughtily into the air. "My child, I know fear when I see it! Don't tell me you've heard of this planet before?!"
"No, sir," Gohan said, like it was an automated response.
"But you're right to tense up...it is a most powerful planet indeed. But I'm sure you can handle yourself."
Gohan practically forced his sweat glands not to leak his nervousness as he agonized over his dilemma. How had the planet slipped through the cracks of Kiyomi's meddling? His mind produced a few dozen possibilities, and they all led to suspicion.
"So let's say I give you about...three days, trip length included? It's a small planet, so I'm sure that will be plentiful." Frieza flapped his wrist, shooing the teens away. "Now go on, you are dismissed. No time to waste!"
As they both stood up, Goha moved with more trepidation than typical. He exhaled as he turned around, walking - nay, marching - from the room.
"Don't disappoint me, now!" Frieza said in the harmony of a nursery rhyme. As if Gohan needed more anxiety.
Gohan darted for the door faster than Arepa could keep up. Neither could see Gomayn smiling wickedly at them from afar.
"Sheesh Gohan, I'm here, too!" Arepa said when they got outside, where two pods awaited them. "You must be rarin' to go for this one!"
Gohan didn't answer her, plopping down inside his pod with heavy breaths. As soon as the door closed, he pressed a button on the pod's control deck. "What are the landing coordinates?"
Silently, he prayed for any answer besides the one he expected.
"0824LA."
"Shit!" he yelled in response to the automated voice. Indeed, it was the very same planet he allowed Kobe, the remorseful green-skinned boy, to refuge in eight years prior. Gohan may have allowed himself to become a lot of things, but unlike what some were starting to think of him, he was not a traitor. He smashed the space pod's intercom.
"Arepa, listen to me," Gohan said.
"What's up?"
"Don't go with me on this mission." His voice ran ragged, like his throat was filled with sand. "Stop at a Frieza planet and tell them that your pod malfunctioned."
"What the hell, Gohan?!" Arepa yelled, sounding disappointed. "Don't tell me you're tryin' to protect me or some dumb bullshit. I can handle myself just fine."
Gohan hissed through his teeth; he was trying to protect her - just not from anybody on that planet. "It's not that. Just - this is something I have to do alone. Whatever decisions I make there, you shouldn't be held responsible for. Okay?"
"Umm...okay, if you're plannin' on doin' some stupid shit, I should proably be looped in on it."
Tightly closing his eyes and shaking his head, Gohan growled sternly. "I'm the boss here! Just do it, okay?"
"Fine," she answered with a frustrated grunt.
"Just...be careful, okay?"
It happened again - Gohan's chest fluttering. Her tone wasn't that of a comrade, but of someone who genuinely cared expressing her concern.
"I will." It was a promise.
As his pod took off, Gohan sorted through his scouter until he found a link he had bookmarked.
"Hey, Kiyomi?"
"Yeah, Gohan?"
"Remember Planet Mamba, the planet I told you to hide? Frieza just sent me there."
"What the hell? I've made sure that the planet wouldn't show up in any directories."
Gohan breathed a sigh of relief. In his anxiety and paranoia, he feared Kiyomi had written him off as a lost cause and stopped protecting him.
"But with all of the chaos from you and Vegeta's fight, I can't stay on top of everything like I could. I'm not even on the same planet as the folks I'm usually in contact with anymore. I'm sorry, Gohan."
"Don't worry about it," Gohan assured, smiling at the knowledge that he still allies. "But I'm not going to purge it. Do whatever you can to make sure Frieza's surveyors go nowhere near it."
"You Saiyans are sure as shit running me thin." Gohan could practically see her eyes rolling. "But since it's you...I'll do it."
"Thank you."
"You are one polite intergalactic terrorist, kid."
With bitter laughter, Gohan cut his scouter off. The planet he was heading for would hopefully prove he was worth more than that.
When Gohan stepped out of the space pod, the pretty golden sky and purple clouds immediately struck him. An increasingly frequent dilemma hit him again, reminding him of every beautiful planet the wondrous part of his mind marveled at...and then eradicated in pursuit of a goal. But they were weak and didn't deserve to live, right?
No matter. Gohan floated high into the clouds and did a scan of strong Ki signatures in the hopes that he'd find Kobe. When several formidable forces came about, Gohan growled. Those would certainly hamper his hunt. He could weed out the few evil presences he felt, sure, but that was as far as he could go.
He instead ventured for a city rich in life in search of a lead. The first island of buildings he came upon was a beauty, loaded with skillfully crafted architecture. Luckily, he would do them no harm.
After blasting down to the sky, Gohan landed in the middle of the street to the alarm of hundreds of multi-colored aliens. Many cowered from him, pointing to his uniform and scattering. Gohan frowned deeply - why did he even agonize over how he was perceived when his uniform and tail were an immediate mark of death?
Sighing, Gohan went to a stand occupied by a few warily side-eying patrons. An older spectacled man, pink-skinned with grey hair and wearing an apron, stepped behind the booth.
"The hell do you want? I know that armor anywhere," he asked with a stern glare.
"I'm not here to cause trouble," Gohan replied. "I'm looking for a...friend I guess."
"A 'friend,' or just somebody to kill?" The man to his right asked. Like Kobe, his skin was green; unlike Kobe, he was tall and muscular. Like Doore from Cooler's crew. "We ain't about to be another transaction for that Frieza guy, ya hear me?"
Instinctively, Gohan sized him up - him, and the thin, yellow-skinned man to his left. Neither had any power of note, meaning an easy win. When they both stood up, Gohan followed with squared shoulders and a defensive stance.
Until he remembered his real mission. Before either of them could strike, he hopped away.
"Look, it's like I said - I'm not here for trouble, alright?!" Gohan reached his arms out. "I don't want to hurt you."
"Who says you'll hurt me?" the bulky green man challenged. He stomped on the ground, sending a vibration that Gohan could feel in his boots. His eyes twitched, dreading an escalating battle. Rubberneckers creeped into his peripheral vision, gawking at the confrontation; others fled.
"Hold on, boys," called the geezer from behind the stand. His withered eyes squinted at Gohan. "I think this kid is alright. I sense a darkness within him, but no malice."
Gohan hung his head. Darkness - of course. But he clenched his fists, trying to heed Vegeta's urge to take more pride in himself. The man hobbled his way from the stands, placing his hands on the two younger brutes to calm them. He stepped just inches from Gohan, his hands clasped behind him in a gesture Frieza often assumed.
"People come with hearts of all shades courtesy of their lived experience, but their intentions vary." The salmon-colored man adjusted his glasses. "Your intentions are good, aren't they?"
Gohan only nodded.
The man stuck his wrinkled hand out.
"So, you're alright with me."
So this was what positive assessments from somebody outside of Frieza's army felt like. Nothing pertaining to his power, only his heart and intentions. Though he took a few moments to stare at his hand, he accepted the handshake.
Though the two younger men behind him shook their heads in frustration and walked away, the old man smiled. "Name's Boa. What's the real reason you're here?"
"I won't lie to you. I wasn't sent here for anything good." Gohan turned to the golden skies. "But there's a guy here that I saved years ago. I made him a promise no harm would come to him or this planet, and I plan to keep it that way."
Boa stroked his chin in thought. "I do remember hearing of an attack on one of our space units years ago by some guys. They weren't Frieza's goons, but they were nasty in their own right."
Of course - Kabnet's men.
"One of them was taken away. A kid, like yourself," Boa lamented. "I could only imagine what his family went through."
Gohan grimaced. He could certainly imagine himself. "We must be talking about the same guy, then. His name was Kobe. Ring a bell?"
"Sadly, no. I'd need more than one name!" he replied with a laugh.
"Well do you at least know anything about this space unit?" Gohan asked. "That could lead me to him."
"They've got bases all over the planet. We call them the Vipers." Boa looked into the sky. "I believe the closest one around here is over in Arboc city, a few miles south." He pointed in the proper direction.
"Alright, I'll head there." The universe's most polite intergalactic terrorist nodded towards Boa. "Thanks."
"No problem. Safe travels, kid."
Letting the wind burst around him, Gohan flew into the sky in pursuit of Arboc City. Hopefully, there would be another kind old man to cool off the harsh response his presence brought. Another advanced city came into Gohan's view; figuring it was Arboc city, Gohan flew down below. Learning from the last city, Gohan kept his landing inconspicuous and dropped down to a quiet alley. As he observed his surroundings, he overheard some shouting from around the corner.
"I don't know how much more I can make myself clear."
"I know, I know, but leave my son out of this, please!"
BANG!
A gunshot. Curious, Gohan peeked his head behind the wall and saw a blue-skinned man in a grey shirt and sweatpants sitting against the wall, wincing in pain as he clutched his bleeding foot. To his left?
"You're lucky I only went for your foot!"
Another blue man with long hair dressed in all black. In one hand, a smoking gun and in the other? A frightened small boy, helplessly writhing in grip. As he yelled for his father, the thug in black laughed and made a run for a silver hovering vehicle.
"It's quite simple - no money, no son!"
He tossed the kind into the backseat and hopped into the passenger's. In the front seat was a purple man who hit the gas and sped the car off.
Hissing through his teeth, Gohan popped out from the corner, observing the injured victim. Though initially startled by Gohan's outfit, he reached out.
"Please, that's my son! They're gonna kill him!"
Simmering with quiet rage, Gohan nodded. In no time at all, he flew ahead of the speeding vehicle and spun around to face the drivers. They screeched to a halt and tried to swerve out of his way, but the half-Saiyan only needed to dig his foot into the hood and kill the engine to stop them. As he held the car in place, Gohan bent down and smashed his arm through the windshield to grab the driver by his neck. Treating him like a lawn dart, he chucked the driver thousands of feet away.
While Gohan methodically approached the driver's seat, blue kidnapper cowered away and tried to spill out from the opposite door. Though he stumbled out and hit the pavement, Gohan's boot was an inch from his face. The half-Saiyan picked him up, tossed him into the building behind them, handheld him in place with his forceful fist. In a gesture more fitting of his full-blooded ex-comrades, Gohan grabbed the collar of the thug's shirt and thrust his head into his. He even dug his knee into his stomach out of pure spite. As soon as the man fell to his knees, Gohan smacked him in the face with the back of his hand.
It was only after his head cracked on the pavement that Gohan remembered why he'd gone after him - the boy whimpering in the backseat of the car. Gohan ripped one of the doors from its hinges and beckoned the kid to run away. He listened, stumbling out of the door with bewildered sniffles.
His father, the shooting victim, limped away from the alley. "G-Garter! You're safe!"
"Dad!"
The boy rushed to his father, gleefully ignoring his injured foot as he tackled him. Somberly, Gohan looked away and turned around to leave the scene as quickly as he could, but the father called out for him.
"Hey, you…!" Gohan turned back around. Though weak, the father wore a gracious smile. "You saved my son! I don't have any money but there's got to be some way I can show my gratitude!"
"No, it's fine," Gohan replied.
"It's not every day a Cold Force soldier does good," he said, sitting down on a bench while he tended to his foot. "Hopefully that's all you're here for."
"It is." Gohan looked ahead. "Actually, I guess there is something I need. I'm looking for a friend I made a long time ago, named Kobe."
Though the father scrunched his face in confusion, Garter, the kid, lit up with excitement. "Ooh, do you mean Kobe Bean?! You know him?!"
"Huh? Well, what does he look like?"
"He's tall, green, and has an afro!" Garter said, spreading his arms above his head to demonstrate.
"Oh yeah, the basketball phenom," the father remarked.
"Yeah, that's him!" Gohan said with a smile.
"He lives around here! I've met him a buncha times," the kid cheered.
"Cool. That's all I need." Gohan turned on his heel, focusing his Ki on strong presences within the vicinity. One particular Ki stood out from the other, to the east. "There he is."
"Thanks, mister!" the boy said before Gohan flew off.
Gohan reflected on that encounter as he sped towards that Ki signature. Everything pertaining to the planet felt like a constant reminder of what Gohan could have had; a salvation he'd twice rejected.
The Ki signature rested in the neighborhood down below. As Gohan observed the various brick houses lining the streets, he asked himself one question:
How many?
How many neighborhoods just like this had he set ablaze over the years? How many people just like Kobe, or that kid and his father, or the friendly old man, had he laid waste to for committing the grievous crime of being weak? Sure, he executed his purges as quickly as possible, blindly destroying buildings en masse so he wouldn't have to reckon with the catastrophe he wrought in Frieza's name - but putting faces to his victims brought nothing but questions.
Preferring not to brood over it, Gohan approached the home where the Ki signature was the strongest - a small, red building. He knocked on the door so he wouldn't make a scene.
The door swung open, revealing a tall woman with golden skin that practically glistened, and luscious black hair. Her beauty immediately struck Gohan; he looked away with a blushing face.
"Um, hello," Gohan squeaked out.
The woman studied him for a few moments. "Long hair...a tail. Ah, wait! You must be the Saiyan that brought my son back to me!"
Gohan shook his head in disbelief. Kobe's mother?
"Y-Yes, that's me," he meekly answered.
With a wide smile, the woman stepped back. "Please, by all means come in! I'm Ana, by the way!"
Gohan followed her inside, looking around at the house interior. It took him back to before Raditz, where couches, pictures, kitchens and televisions decorated Gohan's living experience; not drab slabs of stone. And the smell - Gohan nearly salivated at the delicious aroma of food emanating from the kitchen.
"Oh, Kobe's gonna flip when he sees you," Ana said, leading Gohan to a door in the back. She pushed it open. "Hey, Kobe! You have a visitor!"
Outside was a plane of black pavement lined with white markings and circular formations. Faraway stood a pole topped with a white board and a basket. A boy in black shorts and a shirt stood across from it, his back to them. His puffy hair made him easy to find.
When he turned around, he put the orange ball in his hand down and smiled.
"So it was you who I sensed, Gohan."
Relief hit Gohan at Kobe's face. It was just the same as back then, only he'd gained two feet and shed the grief he'd carried. After taking a sip of water, he joined the two and extended his hand to Gohan. His handshake was gladly reciprocated.
"Ooh, I don't want to be the embarrassing mother," Ana said. "I'll leave you boys alone!" She went back inside, closing the doors behind her.
"It's been too long, Gohan," Kobe said. "What brings you here? Actually, don't answer."
"I was sent here...mistakenly," Gohan said, measuring his words. "Coincidence or something else...I'm still working that out. But I'm not here to cause any problems."
"Still dealing with Frieza, I see."
Gohan didn't reply. There wasn't any judgment in Kobe's tone; but there was nothing to say, really.
"So I see you're kinda popular around here," Gohan observed, looking at the pole dozens of feet across from them.
"Yup," Kobe snickered as he walked towards his orange ball and picked it up. "Basketball. You heard of it?"
"Actually, I think I heard that word once or twice on my old planet," Gohan replied. "Never actually saw it, though."
Kobe picked up the ball, bounced it against the ground a few times, and threw it precisely at the basket attached to the board across from them. It fell through the basket, flapping the strings of its net with a clean whipping noise.
"I've gotten pretty good at it, I guess," Kobe said, modestly. "I'm not 18 yet, but a lot of people around our country are saying I can make our big league right out of school. I got an advantage with my power and all."
Gohan did recall Kobe mentioning he wanted to be an athlete instead of a soldier - and it looked like that had come to fruition.
As if to demonstrate it, Kobe picked up the ball, zipped back, and sprinted towards the basket while bouncing the ball the entire time, and then slammed into it with brute force.
"Of course, there's plenty of folks even stronger than me who do it. But I love it," Kobe said, bouncing the ball a few times. "Thanks for giving me the chance to try it out."
Gohan smiled forlornly as he nodded at him. When would he get such a chance? While Kobe had flourished into what he wanted to be, Gohan had simply become what was necessary, because he didn't have to like it.
Before he could muse any further, the basketball was thrown at him.
"You give it a shot," Kobe said. "Just get the ball in the hoop."
Gohan picked up the ball and bounced it like Kobe had done. "Seems simple enough." He didn't see Kobe's cocky smirk while he rolled the ball around. Haphazardly, Gohan tossed the ball at the basket.
It violently hit the rim and ricocheted back to Gohan's face.
After catching the ball, he irritably bounced it on the ground while Kobe laughed.
"Ain't that simple, huh?" Kobe said. He slapped the ball out of Gohan's hand and bounced it some more. "It's a finesse game. There's an art to it, instead of just brute force like I did working for Kabnet."
"Funny thing is, I have to tell people the same thing in Frieza's army," Gohan replied. "Finesse over brute force, I mean."
"Now here's how you do it," Kobe said. "You right-handed or left-handed?"
"Right-handed."
Kobe spread the fingers of his right hand wide and picked the ball up. "Place the ball in your right hand using only your fingers. Try to keep your palm off of it." He placed his left hand on the side of the ball. "Then you just use your left hand to hold it in place. When you shoot it, you're only using your right hand."
Kobe raised his arms, focusing intensely on the basket.
"And then, it's just a little hop and a flick of the wrist."
Indeed, Kobe jumped, flicked his wrist, and the ball flew to the rim with the arch of a rainbow, cleanly falling through the basket.
"Now that's how you shoot."
Kobe tossed the ball back at Gohan, who caught it effortlessly. "Try to shoot it the proper way, now."
Gohan nodded, keeping a tight grip around the ball with his fingers but struggling to keep his palm away; he couldn't help it, really. He wanted to just grab the ball like he would normally, but evidently that wasn't the proper shooting form. It took mental discipline to restrict the grip to only his fingers.
With his left hand, he guided the ball. He jumped, lifted his arm, and flicked his wrist. After it left his hand, he grimaced; unconsciously, he put some of his left hand into it. And the arc wasn't anywhere near as graceful as Kobe's. When it reached the basket, it bounced against the rim a little bit...but it went through.
Just throwing it certainly seemed to make sense. That's what it seemed like was the obvious way to do it. But there was way more that went into shooting a ball, apparently.
Kobe laughed as he picked the ball up. "There ya go! Good first proper shot. Just gotta get the timing with your jump right."
After spinning it around in his hands, Kobe bounced the ball against the pavement a few times. "But the game's not just shooting. It's the most free-range sport there is. You run up and down the court but you can't just run around with it in your hands. Every step you take, you have to dribble," he bounced the ball against the ground to demonstrate. Much like he did when he slammed the ball through the basket, he ran around while bouncing the ball with his steps.
"Lot of rules for something that's free-range," Gohan scoffed.
"That's the point," Kobe snickered. "It ain't supposed to be easy!"
Kobe dribbled around Gohan until he was standing with his face towards the basket again. "Here, let me show you the type of skill you need to really get good at this. Just crouch in front of me like you're defending yourself in a fight and try to stop me from getting to the basket. No hitting, though."
Gohan did as directed, and what happened next scrambled his brain. Sure, Kobe's movements were easy to see, but then he started dribbling the ball between his legs and busting out an assortment of coordinated footwork. The next thing Gohan knew, Kobe had zipped past him and slammed the ball into the basket.
"W-What the…?!" Gohan yelled as he stood there, stunned. "I could see your movements, but I couldn't follow them at all!"
"That's good ol' footwork," Kobe snickered as he put the ball down and sat on top of it. "The skills I learned in Kabnet's army went to a lot of bad things, but now I've managed something positive out of it."
With a sigh, Gohan sat down across from Kobe. Science was just about the only productive thing Gohan had gotten out of Frieza's army besides fighting.
"How are you holding up?" Kobe asked.
"I'm alive, and that's all that really matters," Gohan replied from the confines of his defense mechanisms.
"Ain't that the truth," Kobe said, though his expression grew somber. "But I mean...are you, like, okay?"
With folded arms, Gohan looked away. "There's not much to be okay about. I do what I have to do, knowing one day I'll either get rid of my problem or drop dead."
"You want to overthrow Frieza, then?"
Gohan raised an eyebrow. "Of course I do. That's the whole reason I was dragged into this mess in the first place. Frieza won't be satisfied until everyone in the universe with spiky hair and a tail is his slave, so we have to stop him."
"So you guys are stopping him...by being his slave?"
It was the same thing Gohan had thrown in Vegeta's face, only he had just been going for a victory in a verbal joust. Hearing it plainly spelled out by somebody else threw Gohan off his game.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
No answer.
"Look, Frieza can kill anybody in the blink of an eye if he thinks they're an enemy. The only way you can try to stop him and live to tell about it is if you make him think you're on his side." Gohan's tail had uncoiled and waved restlessly behind him, betraying his anxiety.
"Makes sense," Kobe conceded. "But the toll it takes...the actions you have to resort to. Do you truly think it's worth it?"
Gohan turned to look Kobe in his eyes. On his face was that same expression from their fateful first meeting, one ridden of guilt and shame.
"I mean, things are okay for me now, but I still have nightmares," Kobe said, resting his shoulders on his knees and sitting with his chin on his hands. "When I see kids run up to me and cheer, I think about the kids on planets we struck that ran away screaming before I blasted them away."
It looked like Gohan wasn't alone in that regard.
"I was just like you, playing the game because it's survival of the fittest. But really, I just robbed a bunch of people like me of their lives to spare myself." As he lifted one of his hands to dig through his messy hair, Kobe looked up at the gold & purple sky. "I thought I was being strong, but at the end of the day I was too scared to fight my masters the hard way."
In a flash, Gohan shot right to his feet.
"What the hell are you trying to say, then? That I'm some coward?"
"Of course I'm not." Though startled by Gohan's sudden hostility, he remained outwardly calm. "But I was just like you-"
"You're right, you were just like me," Gohan sharply interrupted, baring his teeth like his savage Ape transformation. "Crying and feeling sorry for yourself. But I don't have anybody who's gonna save me. The only one who gave enough of a shit about me was too weak to do anything about it!"
"But you saved me," Kobe said. "And unless you get any madder, you're not killing me right now. The good guy's still there."
Bewildered by Kobe's disarming quip and smile even in the face of a pissed off murderous Saiyan, Gohan calmed down. With a few steady breaths, he sat back down on the pavement in concession of Kobe's point.
"I get it," Gohan said with an exasperated sigh. "I've pretty much punched my ticket to hell after everything I've done, but it's the only way. And if I don't do it, he'll kill me anyway."
"Is that really the case, though? You can get strong without ever having to step foot on a Frieza or a Kabnet base."
"Bullshit. My father's a Saiyan, just like his brother that kidnapped me. Only, he didn't grow up like he did." Gohan didn't realize it, but his eyes dampened. "He grew up on a weak, carefree planet where he was stronger than everybody, and when a real Saiyan came around and snatched up his son, he couldn't do a goddamn thing about it."
Kobe didn't answer immediately, instead nodding along and allowing Gohan a few moments to grieve and cool off.
"It sucks knowing that you're not good enough," Kobe finally said, "But that's why you push even harder. I'd bet anything your father would wreck everyone's shit if he's ever able to find you."
"He's a low-class Saiyan who doesn't have anybody worth a damn pushing him," Gohan scoffed, rattling it off like a rehearsed statement programmed into his brain. "My uncle's from his stock, and even with Frieza's system and three other Saiyans to keep up with, he sucks. I'm only as strong as I am because my mom's an earthling and that causes some weird genetic mutation, I guess.
"So the same planet you dismiss as weak is the source of your power, then?" Kobe asked with a smirk. Gohan blinked, genuinely stumped.
"Look, we all take losses. I didn't just wake up this good at basketball," Kobe said, sliding back until he fell onto the pavement so he could scornfully squeeze the basketball like a grapefruit. "A few years ago my team got demolished in a championship game. Like, I mean, it had me questioning if I even knew how to play. And it was awful seeing another team celebrate with the trophy I thought should've been mine. But all that did was fuel me to work like a demon, and I didn't have to compromise myself."
"That sounds good and all, but the trophy wasn't a four-year old who was forced to play for the winning team or die."
Kobe chuckled. "Maybe so. But the point is, you don't have to give in to the other side. This planet's not that strong either, but I'm way better now than I was the day you saved me."
"I'll believe it when I see it," Gohan scoffed.
His competitive fire lit, Kobe smirked. "Is that a challenge? I ain't just good at the ol' shootyhoops, y'know."
"Try me." Gohan returned his splendor.
They both stood up - shoulders squared, fists clenched, and ready for battle.
"I'll give you one free shot," Gohan arrogantly offered.
"Really now? So you'll have no right to complain."
"Do your w-"
All the wind escaped Gohan's mouth when Kobe punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, clutching his abdomen as if he were trying to prevent his scant lunch from spilling out. Eventually, enough strength left him that he had to kneel.
"Oh...okay…" he finally spat, grinding his teeth.
Kobe reached his hand out to help Gohan up, but the fiery half-Saiyan swatted it away. Kobe laughed, as if he'd expected such a reply. Gohan stumbled back up, still clutching his stomach and letting out the occasional cough.
"Now I doubt I'm as strong as you. The Saiyans are no joke, from what I've heard," Kobe said, kicking the basketball up and catching it. "But you see what I mean?"
Kobe took another shot, with his graceful form. "You mentioned how basketball seems restrictive but free at the same time. But that's the whole thing. You can't just take what looks like the conventional route and just run to the hoop. You gotta be creative."
He tossed the ball back at Gohan. "Drive to the hoop, like I was doing. Just remember to dribble with every step."
After staring at the ball in his hands for a few moments, Gohan bounced it on the ground. With Kobe's earlier basketball wizardry in mind, Gohan bounced it between his legs a few times - and in fact, he did it easily. A few dribble-aided strides later, and he was slamming the ball in the hoop like Kobe, too.
"See? You pulled your first dunk, and you looked like a damn pro out there," Kobe said. Gohan bounced the ball back to him, but not before having some fun and dribbling it between his legs a few more times with the smile of a kid to a new toy. "Look, I'd never say you were a coward. In your world, you can't be."
"You'd be surprised," Gohan replied, thinking of Cui and his dumb face.
"Good point," Kobe snickered. "But you never gave yourself a chance to try a different way. Sure, you won't see the shot bounce off the rim like a brick if you don't take it...but you're damn sure not gonna see that ball fall through the hoop, either."
The longer Gohan looked at the orange basketball, the more it resembled a planet itself. A pretty, blue planet actually.
"And you said if you don't follow Frieza's orders, you'll die, right?" Kobe said. "But you're not killing us right now. You're sitting here playing basketball. You're already taking the risk. Unless you change your mind," he added, laughing morbidly.
Gohan squinted his eyes at Kobe - not as a warning but in deep thought. Kobe's logic was free of any holes.
"Slaving for someone is a dead end. That's part of why I wanted you to kill me when you first found me," Kobe said. "You can get as strong as you possibly can, or you can stay on Frieza's good side. But you can't do both."
But you can't do both.
Gohan didn't visibly react. But hearing it defined so flatly made his heart pound. It was that dark shadow of doubt that followed not only him, but Vegeta. It was the reason Vegeta had been behaving so recklessly - he was trying to be more creative, but at the same time going through extra hoops to make sure Frieza still saw him as a loyal soldier. Was Vegeta, the bold, stubborn, fearless, Saiyan Prince, afraid to take the shot, too?
No, he couldn't be. A true Saiyan feared nothing.
He stayed silent for a few moments, unable to conjure up the proper response. Was he just going to agree with Kobe, after all he'd put himself through to play the game in the assumed smart way? Was he going to be defiant and insist on doing things the bad way? Figuring out what to make of such a message was perhaps a tougher challenge than any of the life-threatening battles Gohan faced.
"This got a little heavy," Kobe said, cringing. "Shit ain't easy where you live, so I get it. So let's just not think about it for a minute."
Could Gohan afford not to think about, though?
"Now, I know you have nostrils, so you had to smell what my mom was cooking up." Kobe gestured towards his house. "Wanna come inside and enjoy a meal before you get out of here?"
A home-cooked meal? When was the last time Gohan had ever been treated to such a thing? Between all of the purges, hunts, and pathetic excuses for lunch served at Frieza's bases, Gohan's acquaintance with food had been difficult at best. He forgot what real cooking even tasted like.
And when he got a chance to get it again, straight from his mom on Earth, he turned it down.
Gohan hung his head, trying to mask his eyes. "No, I'm fine. I don't…" Don't want to impose? Don't want to hog the food? "I don't...deserve it, right now."
With a faint smile, Kobe nodded. "I understand. I guess you'll be leaving, then?"
"Yeah," Gohan replied. "I have...a lot to think about on the ride back."
Kobe put the ball down and extended his hand. "Well, wherever your mind takes you, good luck. I hope you figure out all the answers."
Gohan extended his hand, only to be caught off guard when Kobe scoffed.
"Man, none of the handshake shit, Gohan," Kobe said, chuckling at the awkward Saiyan boy. "Just slap it."
With a smirk, Gohan obliged. It was far less formal, and far more enjoyable.
"Maybe next time we see each other, you won't be in that armor," Kobe said. He turned around, heading back inside. Before he stepped through the door, he raised his arm and flashed the peace sign.
After a nod packed with respect, Gohan flew off. As he raced for his space pod, his mind went back to Planet Trident all those years ago. Back then, he had allowed himself to find a friend in Mentos, and cowardly strung him along knowing the grisly fate that awaited him. Worse yet, he had been forced to do it himself. That wouldn't be what happened to Kobe. As long as Gohan was around and had an inside connection through Kiyomi, Planet Mamba would remain safe.
When he finally reached his space pod and floated down to the crater, he gave Planet Mamba's majestic skies one last, hopeful look before he sat back in the pod. A day without fighting, training, or coping - just having fun and playing basketball with a friend. How long would it be before he could have a day like that again?
Gohan stepped inside his pod, and clicked his scouter on as the door closed.
"I'm done, Arepa."
Several days later, Kiyomi shuffled through her scouter, searching for the entry for Planet 0824LA, a.k.a Planet Mamba. Fiddling with the books was a precise process - she couldn't do things too early and set off suspicion. Keeping the deadlines and travel length in mind was the key, and thus she waited until Gohan's probable return date and report to finally finagle with the planet's status.
After a few more swipes, she finally found it. She clicked.
And froze.
"Purged" in red letters under its name?
Drone shots of destroyed buildings and corpses?
No, that couldn't have been right. Gohan wouldn't have made her go to the trouble of changing its status and blocking off inspection avenues if he was planning on wiping it out, anyway.
And it was just something that the boy, loyal and principled to a fault, wouldn't do.
Right?
When Gohan arrived back at the base, Arepa was the first person waiting for him.
"So, what happened, exactly?" she asked.
After a drawn-out sigh, Gohan sat on his space pod, a pensive gaze painting his face.
"I don't know what to do anymore."
Arepa scrunched her brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Just...I dunno." He looked up at Arepa, taking in the inquisitive worry in her eyes. "Do you ever really think about what we do? All the people we kill?"
With an exasperated breath, Arepa took a seat next to Gohan on the pod. "I mean, sometimes? But, I'm a little different from you. I come from a long line of gangsters and scumbags. Pulled my first armed robbery in diapers. I was a hopeless little shit from the word 'go.'"
Picturing a baby Arepa cursing and pushing people around made Gohan snort a laugh.
Arepa tapped her hands against the pod's steel surface. "But I can't stop myself from thinkin' about the girls like me. Just livin' their life until I come in and kill 'em all because of orders." Her fingers gripped the steel tightly, leaving small dents. "Or what happens when some of the pigs around here get their hands on 'em."
Even imagining that made Gohan's skin crawl.
"But...this is what we do. There's no such thing as a peaceful planet 'round here. They're just places these guys ain't gotten to yet. It's Frieza's universe, and we just live in it." She didn't realize it, but she had more or less quoted Vegeta. "Better to be on the side that lives, for now."
"I thought I was seeing it that way," Gohan confessed. "But I don't know what to think now. Why should I keep doing something so awful when Frieza can kill me the minute he thinks I'm a threat?"
Gohan sat up from his pod, curling and uncurling his tail. "You were part of Kabnet's resistance before all this. Maybe he was braver than any of us."
Arepa pounded the space pod and swiftly stood up. "Kabnet was a rotten bastard who just wanted to cosplay Frieza" Her icicle eyes lit with a resentful flame. "I don't have a father or a home because of him, so don't you dare prop him up!"
Out of shame, Gohan averted his eyes from her. For as long as he'd known her, he had rarely seen her flustered or sorrowful.
Arepa got a hold of herself and took a quick breath. "Shit, sorry, it's just -"
"No. It's fine. And I mean...when you saw me that day all chained up, you took a risk and fought against him without a second thought." Gohan swiped his hand out of frustration. "I didn't fight against Raditz, I didn't fight against Vegeta when he forced me to kill, and I'm doing nothing against Frieza. Me, Vegeta, the other Saiyans...maybe we really are cowards."
He was so absorbed in thought, he didn't realize he was really answering what he had inferred from Kobe.
"Stay right where you are, Gohan."
Gohan blinked in confusion.
His eyes flew wide open when Arepa wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a tight hug. He tensed up, shuddering with confusion while she rested her head against his neck.
"You're no coward," she whispered. The breath of her words breezing against him gave Gohan goosebumps. "Out of all the apples 'round here, you're the least rotten."
In his entire time in Frieza's army, Gohan had never received a hug that wasn't really an iron-tight assault from one of the many people that dwarfed him. Feeling one now, and especially from Arepa, incited a wave of emotions inside him.
But he couldn't accept her platitudes. He would be lying to himself.
So, he backed away, ignoring Arepa's peevish huffs and puffs.
"Sheesh, can't even hug you either, huh?"
"It's...fine," Gohan replied, awkwardly wiping his hair. "Let's just go. Frieza knows you had 'technical difficulties,' right?"
"Yeah. I was runnin' out of problems to find with the damn pod towards the end."
"Fine. Just leave everything else to me." He turned around and led the way inside the base.
"What happened there, anyway? Why did you need me to stay back?"
"While you were in Kabnet's army, did you ever meet a guy named Kobe?"
Arepa's eyes lit up. "Ooh, the green cutie with the puffy hair?!" When Gohan glared at her, she giggled and backed away. "Heh, sorry."
Gohan rolled his eyes. Why was he even jealous, anyway?
Just before they reached the entrance, he stopped. A couple of soldiers from the other side swung the door open and stepped out, rolling their eyes at the two teenagers. It wasn't until they were out of earshot that Gohan resumed speaking. "Well, Mamba is his home planet. He's there, and I didn't attack it. But as far as everyone else is concerned, it was purged. Okay?"
Though Arepa nodded, a very real and very justifiable level of concern captured her eyes. They walked through the doors and into Frieza's makeshift throne room soon after. Zarbon and Frieza were present, though Dodoria was missing.
"Ah, Gohan and Arepa; back so soon," Frieza glowed as they both got down onto one knee. "I take it you had no problem purging Planet Mamba?"
"Yes, Lord Frieza," Gohan replied automatically.
"See, this is why I favor you," Frieza said. "Even with Arepa unable to participate, you got the job done. But your efficiency is in dire need at the moment."
"Huh?"
"Conspicuous in his absence is Dodoria. I sent him to purge a planet named Fugu but evidently underestimated its fortitude. His life is hanging on by a thread."
Really, Gohan was happy to hear the pink blob was about to kick the bucket; but that didn't make him any less shocked. Dodoria was a fearsome warrior who always handled himself fine in any setting.
"With the disorganization rampant in the wake of your, shall we say, kerfluffle with Vegeta, I need Zarbon to stay here," Frieza explained. "I've sent some of my top reinforcements, but I think this mission will require a Saiyan's touch. Your plesiomorphic Great Ape form will put an end to the struggle in an instant."
"Yes, sir," Gohan replied, though he really wanted to test his normal might against this threat.
"Given the scale of this fight, I will need you to stay put until Gohan has returned, Arepa," Frieza instructed. "This is a job for the very strongest in my ranks."
"Yes, sir," Arepa replied.
"Head to the launch room, and briskly. A high-speed pod will get you there in a matter of hours. It goes without saying, but don't damage it, as it's among the few we have."
"Got it," Gohan said, standing up and bowing respectfully before he left the room. Though his mind was a mess of conflicting questions, his Saiyan blood always stewed at the prospect of a fight.
"Arepa, you are dismissed, though I expect you to train," Frieza directed.
When Arepa replied affirmatively and left the room, Frieza turned to Zarbon and opened his mouth to speak. However, a voice from his scouter interrupted him.
"Frieza?"
The lizard sighed. "What, Cooler?"
"We require your presence, and fast."
"Ugh, seriously? The fun was just about to begin," Frieza whined. "Fine, whatever. I will be there as quickly as time allows."
Frieza clicked his scouter off, annoyed but following his brother's orders. Cooler and his stupid extra transformation. Whatever. He turned to Zarbon with a tense, scrutinizing gaze. "I trust you'll be able to take care of everything yourself, Zarbon?"
"Yes, my Lord," Zarbon replied, suddenly sweating with excitement. He couldn't fight the eager smile that curled his lip upward.
After Frieza and his chair floated out of the room, Zarbon clicked his scouter and scrolled through a few names.
"Kiyomi. Report here to Planet Frieza #81 at once."
When Gohan stepped out of the crater left in his landing on Planet Fugu, his eyes fluttered in confusion. Evidently, he had been late for the party, because all he could see for miles were piles of corpses. Smoke filled the pink skies. And he could only sense Dodoria's Ki, actually.
Gohan hadn't taken even five steps when an explosion went off behind him. The force of the shockwave rocked him face-first into the ground. When he sprang back up and turned around to find the source of that blast, his heart dropped to the pits of his stomach.
"My space pod!"
It was Planet Zuna all over again. His space pod was destroyed. All that remained were scraps of metal and electricity sparking from the wrecked control panel. The half-Siayn clenched his fist in contempt. Who the hell had the gall to do such a thing?
An obnoxious fit of laughter from up above interrupted Gohan's thoughts. When he looked up to the sky, his eyes nearly bulged out of his head – floating several feet above him was a certain snickering alien-
"Dodoria?!"
The rotund, pink hunk of spikes only laughed more rambunctiously. He jumped down, flipping in mid-air before landing on the ground in front of the stunned half-Saiyan. If he had been knocking on death's door like Frieza described, he sure as hell didn't look it. Instead, he methodically stalked towards Gohan, his malicious grin growing with each step he took.
Sweat swam down Gohan's head as he stepped back. What was going on? It didn't take a rocket scientist to see Dodoria's face and not tell he was looking for a fight. But why? Had Dodoria decided to rebel against Frieza? Or was he-
Before Gohan could even complete his thought, Dodoria phased right in front of him and rocked his jaw with an explosive punch. He flew back and hit the ground so hard it cracked beneath him, clouds of dust building around his body.
Gohan sat up, muttering curses under his breath as he rubbed at his jaw furiously. Though he couldn't quite place what was going on, he sure as hell knew he despised Dodoria. He sneered hatefully at him as he made his approach.
"W-what the hell are you doing, Dodoria?" Gohan snarled, both angered and flustered.
Dodoria just ignored him, walking until only a few feet separated them. He raised his arm and opened his palm, enshrouding it with deadly Ki. It was only as the light grew in size did Gohan start piecing everything together.
This couldn't have been about Planet Mamba, could it?
The chuckle that left Dodoria's lips chilled Gohan to his bones. That glow of light kept growing until it was the size of Dodoria's own head.
"I'm afraid you've been…excommunicated."
He then fired.
It happened almost a year ago, but R.I.P. Kobe Bryant. Mamba Out!