Nosa stood before a large screen in a hobbled creation of a command center. A few of the soldiers scattered about were preoccupied with their own individual monitors. Some had handsets on as they relayed information to soldiers in the field; others were moving in and out of the room with reports in hand. It was rather chaotic.

But the hustle and bustle of the command center couldn't hold a candle to the events playing out on the screen before him. Using drones, command was able to follow the events of the cleanse and relay information as necessary between the varying parties.

With an array of spilt screens to choose from on the giant monitor, Nosa made note of Riva and her men leading an assault on wilderness camp, several tents dotting the background of the battles raging on. Nosa particularly made note of the boredom on the woman's face as she shot down enemies with her fingers and evaded attacks as if they were hardly worth her time.

A couple channels down, Leek and his troops were carrying out on attack on a small city. He'd been given a few extra soldiers to help with the denser population. Judging by how the lieutenant was sending hoards of combatants flying with his wild kicks, he didn't really need the extra help.

Onen had taken a few soldiers of his own and were locked in a battle over an ocean with battleships below constantly trying to blow them out of the sky with laser cannons. Though his team was smaller than Riva's and Leek's, the Saiyan certainly made up for the lack of hands. He was practically handling the charge all on his own. Nosa was frankly surprised to see the wild assault. Onen had always exuded a slight meekness, but that was in stark contrast to what was being displayed now.

Finally, Nosa looked over to the channel displaying Troop O2's leader, Lt. Commander Namu. The creature was reminiscent of a catfish with its violet, scaly skin and the two, whisker-like protrusions drooping at the sides of his mouth. He had two, rather large ear holes at the upper sides of his head. His attire was nothing striking. He was clad in orange-accented, shoulderless armor, dark blue spandex, orange boots and gloves, and a green scouter.

Nosa could tell that Namu wasn't as hands-on as Riva or Leek, considering he was lazily hovering while his troops took to battle. He'd step in when need be, saving one of his soldiers or taking out a rogue that thought it was a good idea to attack him, but would otherwise hang back and let his men do the dirty work. Maybe he thought his rank excluded him from such menial tasks.

They were about 3 hours into the cleanse on the planet. Events thus far had been uneventful, for Nosa anyway. Namu had been competent enough to find a really good hiding place to set up command. A couple aimless rebels had stumbled upon them, but it was nothing the patrolling soldiers couldn't handle.

He was honestly bored.

"How much longer do you think this will take?" he asked to no one in particular. A long pause was offered before the Yadratian looked around to see that he was either unheard or ignored.

He sighed and picked a soldier by random in the room. In the blink of an eye, he appeared right by the soldier, nearly making the poor guy jump out of his seat.

Nosa was unfazed, though. "How much longer do you think this will take?" he asked, squatting down so he and the soldier were eye to eye.

The soldier, who didn't look the slightest bit made for combat, shrunk back from Nosa's presence before taking a look at the monitor before him. "U-u-um…they've nearly pushed past zone 2 and are exceeding projected invasion time. O-once they've reached sector 2 of zone 3 and take out cluster 7, they should…"

The man might as well have been speaking in binary. Nosa groaned as the soldier prattled on before gently grabbing his arm to stop him. "Time to completion?"

"Approximately 14 hrs!" the soldier squeaked.

"Thanks." Nosa stood back up and walked away from the man. He fought the urge to groan. He didn't exactly want to be on the front lines of this assault, but he would've never guessed that he'd be so uninterested with lounging around.

He couldn't even get involved with the technical aspect of the mission because they'd have to spend the next 14hrs just trying to catch him up on all the jargon.

"Two soldiers down in Troop R!"

Nosa perked up. He glanced over to the monitoring soldier, who was looking at the screen in front of him in panic.

"…isn't that her troo-."

"There's a massive power level growing in sector 8. Readings are approaching 35,000 and still rising!"

Nosa's head turned to the other soldier, who was now looking just as worried as the other.

"Radio Commander Onen at once!"

"Another soldier down!"

"Alpha team not responding!"

"We need reinforcements!"

While the chaos of command suddenly went into overdrive, Nosa turned back to the massive screen before him and zeroed in on the drone following Riva's troop. True enough, he caught sight of three soldiers unmoving on the ground and two more being thrown aside.

The attacker, a bloated wolf-like creature with strikingly long arms and razor-sharp claws. Audio wasn't being transmitted through the feed, but somehow Nosa could still hear the ravenous growls of the monster as it moved. It then turned and focused in on Riva. The lieutenant, though, was preoccupied with a group of attackers.

"They're distracting her." Nosa gulped as he watched the scene unfold.

As the panicked orders of the soldiers in the background grew more concerned, Nosa couldn't tear his eyes from the sight as the creature drew back, arcs of blue light drawing into its maw. Riva finally cleared the nuisances in her presence and had just enough time to turn as the monster released the blast.

Riva's vision was suddenly a blinding hue of blue.

It was so warm.

…until it wasn't.

The woman opened her eyes, not even realizing that she'd closed them. She looked in front of her, seeing the scorched path in the ground where she'd once stood.

"What the hell?" She turned just slightly, her hair moving just enough for her to make note of Nosa at her side. "What are you doing here?!"

"…saving your life." He looked at her as if it wasn't obvious.

It wasn't.

She wanted to protest his unconcern, but was drawn back to the battlefield as the monster that had nearly killed her released a rattling roar.

"Oh yeah. You." Riva scowled at the creature and cursed herself a thousand times over for dropping her guard, but things had been going far too easy.

"I'll kill you, you bitch! The PTO won't run me off this time! I might die, but I'll bring you bastards with me!" the monster roared, practically foaming at the mouth as it dropped onto all fours with an orange aura gathering around it.

"You should probably retreat." Riva looked to Nosa, who was watching the creature impassively. She had figured his determination to not get involved had to do with a low power level. However, as she read her scouter – which was putting the monster at near 40,000 – she marveled at how laid back he was.

She hummed, ignoring the monster before them as she tossed her hair back. "I thought you were supposed to be my hero?"

Nosa turned to her with unflinching eyes. "This is not my fight, and I won't get involved. I'll get you out of here. That's it."

Riva watched the Yadratian with a hint of intrigue before smirking. "You really do interest me." She ignored the blush creeping up Nosa cheeks as she stepped forward. "Thanks for having my back, but I've got this under control."

Nosa resisted the urge to let his jaw hit the ground. He looked around the woman to the monster, whose aura had grown erratic, flailing around and carving into the ground as the monster charged up for an attack. "Riva, you really should -."

"Just watch!" the woman offered, tossing back a playful glance before training her eyes back on her opponent. She took up a casual stance, arms lazily drooping at her sides. Locking eyes with the beast across from her, she smirked.

"Bring it."

With a chilling roar, the monster launched from the ground, tearing the earth asunder as it did so. Claws forward, the creature rushed Riva, its mad dash ripping up the ground as it did so. Its speed was incredible, crossing the expanse in the blink of an eye.

"DIIEEE!"

Nosa watched with baited breath as the monster looked ready to charge straight through Riva. However, at the last possible second, Riva dodged to the side with an impressive show of speed.

But then, the monster was suddenly halted in mid-air, collapsing on itself as if being caught in a net. It fell to the ground in a heap and snarled. It stood back up and began clawing and gnawing at its invisible confines.

Meanwhile, Riva was throwing her long hair out of the way with one hand while she held up the other toward the creature. Her smile was deadly confident. "You see, Nosa. It doesn't matter how big you are, how bad you are, or how much your power dwarfs mine."

She started walking toward the monster as the invisible binds around it finally stood out, a purplish hue glowing as the monster howled.

Nosa watched in awe. He could feel the monster's energy decreasing.

"I will drag you down to my level…"

Riva pointed her fingers at the monster and released a kiai. The invisible wave struck the monster's right knee before a rapidly fired second attack hit the other, forcing it to fall to its knees. The creature turned to Riva, snarling and showing its dagger-like teeth.

"Go to hell, you fucking cu-!"

Riva darted forward, her sharp nails swiping out. The monster didn't get to finish his comment before his head was sent flying from his shoulders.

Nosa marveled at the decapitation. He watched the head fly up into the air, spinning wildly as it did so, before finally falling back onto the ground. He then turned to Riva, once again throwing her flowing locs to the side as she turned to face him.

"…and make sure you never get back up again."

Onen looked out upon the dark, tranquil forest below his high perch on the cliff. Beyond the forest and over the horizon, he still saw faint signs of destruction and bellowing smoke. It made him smile at the thought.

He leaned back, knocking back the bottle of sake in hand and was completely unconcerned with the small amount drizzling down the side of his mouth.

"AHHH!" he announced with a bright smile.

"Having fun?"

If Onen weren't so buzzed, he might've jumped at the unexpected voice. Instead, he tossed a lazy glance over his shoulder as Nosa hovered above.

"You really should show me how to do that teleporting thing you do someday," he offered and then motioned for Nosa to take a seat next to him.

The Yadratian hesitated before sighing and doing so, gingerly lowering down next to the Saiyan. Onen offered the bottle of sake, to which Nosa gratefully declined. A moment of silence passed between the two as they looked out over the expanse.

"You stink."

Onen laughed a hearty one. "I bet I do," he grinned and looked down at his slightly damaged armor and spandex. He lifted a hand and pulled his chest plate back just enough to get a whiff. It only made him laugh again. "Okay, yeah, I do."

Once his laughing fit was over, he sobered enough to say, "I just wasn't ready to wash the day off of me yet."

Nosa turned to observe the Saiyan, but remained silent as Onen looked contemplative. He waited.

"It's been so long since the last time I went out on a mission. I forgot how thrilling they could be."

Nosa scoffed. "As long as you're on the winning side, I suppose."

"Exactly. That's what makes it so thrilling." Onen turned to Nosa with a twinkle in his eye. "Making sure you're on the winning side."

Nosa frowned and turned away before sighing. Just as another moment of silence was creeping up on them, he asked, "Why are you doing this? Your job is to maintain command in Cooler's absence, not lead missions. I mean, considering how much he likes things to be in order, it's possible that he'll be upset that you even did this without his permission."

"Yeah, he probably will." Onen took another swig of his sake bottle. "But I really hope that he won't; that he'll see that I can do more than just watch over things for him." The Saiyan paused again to take a long gulp of the bottle, knocking it all the way back before throwing it over the cliff.

"I'm a Saiyan…and I hate my people." Onen took on a contemplative expression, almost as if daydreaming. "At the age of three, I was taken from my parents, thrown into a pod, and shipped off to a planet that I knew nothing about."

He offered a dry laugh. "I don't even remember what my parents' faces looked like."

Another pause entered the conversation while Nosa waited patiently.

"My instructions were simple: survive and conquer. The complicated thing was that I was sent to a planet with powerful people. Every attempt to 'conquer' was met with stiff defense. I can't tell you how many times I nearly died on that rock. Eventually, I just focused on surviving, and I could barely even do that. Everything wanted me dead. I couldn't even use the pod to escape because it was damaged from the landing. For 15 long years, my life was hell."

Onen sighed and leaned back until he was lying down, eyes facing the night's sky above. Nosa looked back and watched as the Saiyan watched the sky, until he smiled.

"I was doing this when I saw it: Lord Cooler's spaceship cruising into the atmosphere. What happened next was…incredible. In less than a day, his forces laid waste to that miserable planet. I ended up fighting off a few of them before the Armored Squadron arrived and put me down. They nearly killed me, but instead took me back to meet Lord Cooler. He talked to me, asked of my whereabouts, my intentions. He actually listened to me. He showed concern; allowed me to eat, bathe, and sleep.

Lord Cooler whisked me away from that planet. I even got to sit front row when he blew it to space dust. I'll be forever thankful to him for rescuing me, and what I'm doing now is my attempt at showing a token of my gratitude. If I can do anything to lighten his load, to ease his burden, I will. Things are complicated right now, but I know once he assumes power then he'll have everything he ever wanted."

"What about Frieza?" Nosa asked.

Onen sat up and looked at the Yadratian curiously. "What about Frieza?"

"He eliminated the Saiyans. Are you not grateful for him?"

Onen hummed and returned to looking skyward. "It's the only good thing he's done, I guess. Otherwise, he's made Lord Cooler's life miserable. That's unforgiveable."

Cooler watched his approach with a disturbed scowl and involuntarily folded his arms tighter.

On cue, the small vehicle began rattling as it broke into Imecka's atmosphere and suddenly became a flaming sphere. The volatile shaking only grew worse the further it went. The temperature within the tiny cabin even grew steamy.

"I'll never understand how people tolerate this," Cooler groaned and allowed himself to relax once the pod had safely entered the planet's lower atmosphere.

However, Cooler's moment of relief was short lived as a warning light suddenly began flashing on the piloting system.

The tyrant reached forward to read out the alert, only to suddenly have his body pressed back into the pod as it suddenly gained speed.

"What the…" Cooler urged himself forward, only to go wide eyed once he read out the error on the screen.

Landing Disabled! Rerouting flight!

As Cooler made note of the error, he could hear – as well as feel – the hum of the engine of the pod kicking up. The pod continued to gain speed, the outward view of the planet becoming more like a blur as it approached hyperdrive.

It was taking off for sure, but not back into space.

Panic written all over his face, Cooler watched as the pod broke through the clouds above and rocketed straight toward the ground below. With no other option, Cooler warped out from within the pod, leaving the malfunctioning transport to crash explosively into the ground below.

While the smoke and debris from the massive explosion clouded the sky, Cooler reappeared and looked down to the secondhand pod that was now surely a mess of scrap.

He scowled. "Yet another reason to despise that Saiyan monkey," he growled before casting his eyes away from the mess below to take in his surroundings.

The sight didn't make him much happier.

"Exactly as I feared…" Cooler folded his arms in disdain as he made note of the ever-expanding desert terrain. "…a dirt clump of a planet."

The tyrant remained aloft for a few more moments before he slowly drifted to the sand, landing a few meters outside of the crater of his still smoldering pod. His scowl only grew more strained the longer he looked in front of him. However, as the smoke from the explosion slowly wafted away, a truck appeared beyond the smog.

Cooler arched a questioning brow as he watched two soldiers jump out of the vehicle and aim guns at the galactic tyrant.

"Hands up! Now!" one of the soldiers yelled, taking up position with his door in front of him and his gun propped up on the window opening.

Considering this was technically a PTO-owned planet, Cooler found the request laughable.

He took a step forward, opening his mouth to offer the imbeciles a warning. However, before he could utter a single word, the other soldier fired off a shot, a laser beam-like blast shooting outward to strike Cooler in his chest.

It didn't even leave a mark.

Cooler narrowed his eyes on the soldier, who was suddenly shaking in his boots. "My turn." Before the soldier knew what was happening, Cooler lifted a hand and fired a Death Beam, also aiming for the chest. Cooler's beam did far more damage as the creature was blown off his feet and sent flying back a few feet before striking the ground, an unmoving body with a sizzling hole in his chest.

The other soldier took a second to look over to his comrade in shock, but quickly turned back to fire on Cooler, only to nearly jump out of his skin as Cooler materialized at his side.

With a look of utter boredom, Cooler snatched the gun out of the creature's hand and crumbled it in his fist before latching onto the soldier's throat with his other hand. Any thoughts about fighting back were quelled as he struggled to breathe.

"Now, I'm only going to say this once," Cooler began as he lifted the soldier from the ground and pulled him so close that he could feel its weak attempts at breathing against his face. "Take me to the leader of this fucking rock."