Hi guys! I hope you've all had a good week - welcome to another chapter.

Massive thank you to PrincessShotgun, Varjotin and SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta for leaving a review on the last chapter.

I mentioned in my first chapter that I have most of this story mapped out, but I'm approaching a bit of a gap in that mapping. So, if there's anything you'd like or anything you hope for in this story, pop it in a chapter review and it might make its way into the story in some shape or form!

Anyway, now that all that is out of the way; lets get on with the chapter.

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Chapter 10

Just as he had suspected he probably would, Cooler arrived bright and early into an empty training room. Gritting his teeth in frustration he made his way back out into the corridor, tail swishing behind him as headed towards Hana's room. He needed to build a rapport with her, and he needed her to commit properly to their training sessions. Aside from some brief chatting during their training, he had barely managed to get any real dialogue out of her since taking her into his care. It occurred to him in that moment, that he actually knew very little about her or her background.

Sure, she had a brash and aggressive exterior, not to mention a pretty foul mouth, but he had already begun to see there was a little more to her than that. From the moment she tried to rescue her useless comrade back on her planet, all the way to her fighting various members of his crew to protect a being that she didn't even know, who would have had no hope of defending themselves alone.

Cooler was fairly certain by now that most of her attitude stemmed from a defensive and guarded stand point. He'd trained with enough soldiers over the years, with varying backgrounds to get a good idea of what they were like pretty quickly. Her seemingly genuine care for others simply wasn't consistent with the behaviour and attitude she was displaying towards him most of the time.

Heck, she behaved like Vegeta usually did, but Cooler was fairly certain that Vegeta wouldn't have defended Sheena, nor would he have put any effort into saving a comrade. Not unless he thought it would directly benefit him in some way, and even then it would be touch and go depending on his mood.

Whether he liked it or not, he was stuck with her for the foreseeable future, and it would be far easier on both of them if they could start to get along better. In order to get past that high wall of defence Hana seemed to have built up around herself, he'd need to start gaining her trust. Which would certainly be far easier said than done.

With a swish of his tail Cooler arrived at her room but just as he raised his fist to knock, he saw a small figure making their way up the corridor towards him from towards the front of the ship. Frowning Cooler glanced from the door to Hana, he was sure he hadn't seen or heard her leave her room this morning, but perhaps she had slipped out while he was waiting in the training room. In any case, at least she was up and dressed, this was a marginal improvement on the previous day at least.

"Morning!" she chimed making Cooler feel instantly suspicious. She had never greeted him like that. In fact she barely really ever greeted him at all.

Deciding to let it go he simply nodded in response, turning to walk along side her back towards the training room. When they entered Hana turned to face him expectantly as Cooler made his way towards the side of the room, opening up a concealed panel in the wall.

"We're going to try something different today" he started as unloaded three spherical objects, each around the size of a basket ball, and slightly squished in shape out of the wall.

"First, I want to make sure you can successfully generate the technique again." He turned to face her as Hana held her clenched fists out in front of her, elbows bent and close to her sides. A few seconds passed before red Ki billowed around each fist like a flame, and a small, triumphant smile appeared on her face.

Good. Just as he'd suspected, she was very much capable of the technique, and he was pretty sure he had identified what was causing the problem.

"These," he gestured to one of the metal objects in his hand, "are training bots. I want you to apply the fire hands to combat, but you won't be sparing with me, instead you'll be using these"

Judging from her expression, Hana had never come across a training bot before and it was obvious that she was a little sceptical.

"You want me to fight... a ball?" she questioned sceptically, her brows furrowing in confusion as she looked it over.

Cooler pressed a small button on the side of the training bot and with a small bleep, it opened up. The top popped up to reveal the 'head' which held a small camera that the robot used to function. The sides opened to allow room for the small thrusters that kept it airborne and a small firearm descended from the bottom. Cooler released the training bot and with a short burst of the thrusters it remained where it was while he activated the other two.

"These are on a low setting, so they won't do much damage if they hit you." he explained as he activated the next two "they are pretty quick though, but the main purpose of this is to help you keep the technique up while in combat."

Hana surveyed the three chrome spheres, before her ruby gaze shifted back to Cooler. "So why am I not going to spar with you? Are you just gonna stand there watching?"

"No, actually. I need to take a call with my father, so I'll be in the control room. The training room is monitored, so I'll be able to check in on you from the surveillance and see how you're getting on. I'll come join you when I've finished the call."

Hana shrugged before turning away from him to stretch. "Makes no odds to me. So, how do those get started?" she asked as she nodded towards one of the training bots. Picking up the small remote Cooler adjusted the settings and activated the bots.

The first one fired a shot at Hana's shoulder which she barely dodged, leaning her upper body backwards. In a fluid motion she rolled herself backwards, onto her hands in a backwards cartwheel before she launched herself up into the air, the three bots in hot pursuit.

"If you don't beat them with the technique it doesn't count!" Cooler called up to her as he started to make his way towards the door, a smile pulling at his lips as he heard the familiar burning sound as Hana reactivated the technique.

Smirking as he disappeared up the corridor Cooler made his way into the control room, sitting himself down into the large pilot seat at the very front of the ship and dialled a video call to King Cold, who answered quickly.

Cooler forced a smile onto his face as the image of his father appeared before him. As he always was, King Cold was lounging in his large throne, his chin propped up on his palm as his elbow rested on the arm of the throne.

"Ah! My son!" his sickly and overly friendly voice billowed through the speakers, but his eyes cold and unfriendly.

"Father" Cooler acknowledged with a nod, his voice flat and monotone by contrast. His demeanour was completely ignored by Cold, who continued on regardless.

"It looks like you're ahead of schedule," Cold observed, "you should arrive within the next day or so. How are things going with young Hana? She's not blown any more holes in this ship has she?"

Cooler clenched his jaw at the sly, amused smirk his father gave. He hadn't told Cold about the wall, and had no doubt that it must have been included in one of the 'reports' Dr. Jaeger was sending him. It irritated him to no end that he had to tolerate Jaeger on one of his ships for the purpose of reporting back directly to his father, but he knew there was nothing that could be done about it. He wouldn't give King Cold the satisfaction knowing it got to him.

"No father, thankfully no damage to this ship. In fact, Hana is making satisfactory progress." he paused, surveying his fathers mood, which seemed to be positive today.

"Although... she did request if it was possible to speak to her friend, Zee. I think allowing the two to keep in touch will help keep her motivated."

"Her friend? Oh! You must mean the Talvek! I'm afraid he's not currently assigned to one of my squads." Cold waved his hand dismissively and went to move on the discussion, but Cooler stopped him.

"What do you mean he's not in one of your squads? I thought he was assigned into squad two? Where is he?"

King Cold waved his hand with a flourish, "your brother needed to boost some numbers in one of his squads as his headcount was running a little low, you know what he's like. So I've loaned some resource, including the Talvek to him. I have no real use for him after all."

Cooler felt his stomach clench. This could prove to be a massive problem. Zee had been reasonably safe being within the ranks of one of Cold's lesser squads, but being assigned any where near Frieza... well, that was a particularly unsafe place for anyone to be. As much as Zee seemed to be far more level headed than Hana was, that could only be so much help around the likes of Frieza.

"Of course, if you stay for a while after you deliver the convict you can ask him yourself in person."

"Oh? It's not like Frieza to visit?"

"Well, it would seem he has a few issues to discuss in regards to the little rebellion that's going on. Your brother seems to feel that the Saiyans are now involved in it. Naturally Frieza's suggestion is just to kill them all and be done with it, but they are far too good an asset to us to dispatch so quickly."

Cooler had been fortunate enough not to have had too much problem with the rebellion himself, as surprisingly the issues mostly seemed to arise within Frieza's ranks. Even so, if the Saiyans had now become involved then things were far worse than they first had seemed. Cold was not wrong in stating they were an extremely valuable asset to the organisation.

"That reminds me," King Cold started, "we've had some information that suggests the convict you are retrieving is not only involved in the rebellion, but he had the assistance of someone on the transport ship when he escaped. They both seem to have got away in the same pod. I'll arrange for both of their files to be sent to you."

"Fine, send them over. I think it would be prudent to discuss Zee's placement when we deliver the convict. Hana's compliance is very much dependant on his well-being. She'll be far easier to deal with if he's assigned somewhere close by."

King Cold pursed his dark lips in thought "I suppose he can be reassigned... We'll discuss it with Frieza. For now I won't keep you, I'm sure you want to get back to Hana's training. Just make sure you bring back the runaway alive, he needs to be made an example of, especially if he's involved with the rebellion" with a smirk the connection cut off and the screen went blank.

Cooler sighed and leaned back in his chair. This complicated things. Frieza was unlikely to be helpful without wanting anything in return, but if Zee's safety was to be assured something needed to be done quickly. Frieza was well known for his thin temper, and even better known for his habit of murdering his underlings when the mood struck him.

Mulling over his options, Cooler thought about what to say to Hana. In a lot of ways, it was far better off not telling her anything. The odds were that Zee was probably still fine, and there was no point risking her playing up for nothing. Especially given that the retrieval had potentially just got twice as hard now they had two beings to apprehend.

The best option was probably to stay quiet for now, and then tell her once they had arrested the pair they had been sent to go and get. Cooler could then explain everything on the way to King Colds ship.

With a sigh Cooler turned to look at the surveillance screen to check on Hana's progress. One of the training bots appeared to be smashed to pieces on the floor, and Cooler had glanced just in time to see Hana swipe a flaming fist through the second, gracefully throwing her body to the side and dodging a blast from the third and final bot. Cooler couldn't help but smile. His plan had worked perfectly, and Hana seemed to be executing the technique perfectly without any issues. Raising to his feet Cooler made his way back along the hall towards the training room.

Just as the door swooshed open and Cooler stepped in Hana smashed a flaming fist into the final training bot, smashing it to pieces. She landed gracefully on the ground in a crouch, her back to him. She rose upward to her feet and turned her head slightly towards him. Just as she did so, the flame encasing her fists flickered and died. Yep, he'd solved it.

"What the fuck?!" Hana blurted as she turned towards him, her fists unclenched before her as she glared down at them.

"You've not worked it out?" Cooler asked as he strode towards her, bringing her attention back to him. She gave him a questioning look as he reached her. Cooler pointed at the debris on the floor that had previously been the training bots.

"They don't have Ki. Yesterday you were fine with al of the drills, until we started to spar, that's when you started to falter. I figured you were focusing on tracking my Ki more than on the technique you were trying to do"

Hana glanced back up at him, her expression one of surprise. It made perfect sense of course, but it was clear that it hadn't been something she had considered herself. Chewing on her lower lip, she paused for a moment before the flare of Ki burst back into life. A large grin spread across her face, and as she allowed the flame to disappear she threw him a genuine smile, which Cooler returned.

"So, now that you've got it down, do you want to put your new move into practice?" Cooler asked, making Hana smile again.

"You bet your ass I do!"