Rewrite: A Half-breed's Life 1

by Xj9

New Version: At age four, Gohan is taken by Raditz and brought to a camp where Gohan is taught how to fight. Five years later, Vegeta, Raditz and Nappa are back to take Gohan away again, and they expect the half-saiyan to help them purge planets. Gohan resists from the beginning, but as time progresses he finds out that playing by his comrades' rules is the only way to survive.

3. Chapter 3: Iron Snake Camp

Last time on a Half-breed's Life

"You were never planning on leaving me here like you promised my father, were you?" Gohan whispered, staring at the ground.

"You're a smart kid." Raditz smirked as he leaned back fully, placing both his hands behind him. "Just hope that my boss will allow you to make the same decision your father has to make."

Gohan slowly sat down. "Your boss?"

"Our leader." Raditz looked up when his scouter beeped. "That's probably him." His hand moved up to press on the receive button but then hesitated. "Do you see the bushes over there. With the apples?" Gohan looked to where Raditz pointed and nodded. "Good. Go grab them."

**** DBZ **** DBZ ****

The man stepped closer to his nephew, who was lying unconscious on the ground. "Vegeta?" Raditz asked as he looked up at the sky.

"You made some rash decisions there. Decided that we can't use your brother anymore without my permission etc."

"I'm sorry, Vegeta, but I can really see potential in his son. He is already stronger than his father and it will be easier to tame a young boy than a grown man, right?" Raditz asked as he knelt down and picked up the young half-saiyan.

**** DBZ **** DBZ ****

Vegeta approached Gohan and grabbed the half-saiyan by his collar, pulling the boy up in the air. "Alright. We are going to leave you for a couple of hours. The people on this planet are hostile but we made sure there is nobody close to this place so nobody can find you here."

"Don't try to run away. If you leave this place and an inhabitant of this planet finds you, they will kill you brutally. It's not a gentle race." Vegeta smirked when Gohan gave out a whimpering sound at being treated like this. The man raised the boy up in the air even more, still holding the boy by his collar. "And even if you manage to get away without being noticed, I will find you and when I do…" The man dropped the boy to the ground. He placed his foot on Gohan's chest and pressed down, hard.

Gohan screamed out, earning a nasty grin from the man. "I will make sure to break every bone in your body before I pulverize you, got it?" He looked down at the boy, expecting an answer.

"Yes!" Gohan cried out when Vegeta pressed down again.

"Good boy." Vegeta reached down and pulled Gohan up by grabbing the edge of the boy's armor. He briefly tousled Gohan's hair before turning his back on the boy.

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Chapter 3. Iron Snake Camp

Later that day, Gohan was sitting on the ground near the fire. He did not really know what to do. He made himself small as he leaned against the branch. That scary man told him to stay put, and he figured he was not allowed to even step away from the place where they gathered earlier.

The half-saiyan looked over his shoulder when he heard a rustle in the bushes behind him. The boy whimpered as he wrapped his arms tighter around his legs. Sitting here out in the open was scary, but those saiyan were even scarier. Though, he assumed they would not kill him. He figured that if they would want to get rid of him, they would do it right away. No. They decided to keep him alive… But for what?

Another rustle made him hide his face against his legs. The boy shook and shivered when he heard more sounds around him. Gohan flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder. He jumped up in the air and landed on the other side of the fire pit, where Vegeta stepped aside to let the boy land.

Raditz placed his hands on his hips. "He jumped all the way over there." Raditz observed. "That's impressive."

Nappa chuckled as he stepped closer. "That's nothing. I bet Vegeta could jump farther at that age."

"Of course I could." Vegeta made his way to the other side of the fire pit, using his tail to push Gohan aside. The half-saiyan stumbled back and landed on the ground. "Then again, I've been training since I was three." The man knelt down next to the unlit fire. "You could have started the fire already instead of sitting there like a useless baby." He snarled, glaring at the poor half-saiyan.

"I don't think he knows how to start a fire." Raditz sat down on one of the branches. "Do you?" He asked as his gaze moved to Gohan. The half-saiyan slowly shook his head. "See. His parents pampered him. I bet he's never even prepared any food and was always living under a safe steady roof."

"Then it's time to start your education." Vegeta was still kneeling near the unmade fire. "Come here, boy." Gohan quickly walked closer to him. Trying not to look at the blood-like stains on Vegeta's clothing, Gohan watched as Vegeta arranged the pieces of wood, sticks and leaves. "Do you know how to use your energy to create blasts?"

"What?" Gohan looked mystified and Vegeta growled in annoyance.

"No again. We'll do it the old way then. You might as well learn this." The man grabbed a couple of stones that were lying around on the ground. "Watch, boy. I'm only going to show this once." The man used the stones to get the fire going, slamming them against each other to create the sparks. Once he created the fire, Vegeta used his energy to put it out again.

Gohan sent the man a confused glance when Vegeta handed him the stones. "Try it." He ordered before he rearranged the small wood-pile. The half-saiyan looked up at Vegeta but quickly looked away when Vegeta's gaze landed on him again.

Gohan tried to mimic Vegeta's movements but he could not create the sparks. After a few minutes of waiting, Raditz snickered. "I feel sorry for the specialists already. They are the ones who are going to have to teach him this when he arrives at the camp."

"We have all day." Vegeta replied, smirking a little. The man watched Gohan try again and he reached out to grab one of the stones Gohan was holding. "You need to put more force into it."

The half-saiyan stumbled back when he realized that Vegeta was reaching out to him. The older saiyan growled in annoyance. "Get back here and continue." He snarled at the half-saiyan.

Gohan got up and walked all the way to the other side of the fire pit, as far away from Vegeta as possible, and sat down there. Ignoring the surprised glances from the others, Gohan continued to try to make a fire.

Vegeta scoffed as he got up and sat down on the branch. Gohan narrowed his eyes as he smashed the stones into each other and he widened his eyes when the sparks landed on the woodpile and a small fire started. "I did it!" He said, grinning widely.

"Not yet." Raditz nodded to the fire. "Try to blow on the fire to get it going. Be careful." The man said when Gohan leaned down to blow on the fire. Raditz hesitated for a moment. "Ehh… Don't get caught by the fire."

"I won't." Gohan replied, almost sounding cheerful. "I've seen campfires before, you know."

"Right. Now that we've got that settled." Vegeta said, taking over. "Half-breed, when you got the water earlier, did you see fish in the water?"

Gohan thought back and nodded. "Yes. I did see something that looked like fish."

"Nappa. Go catch some fish. Raditz, get our vegetable reserves out and start making something eatable." Vegeta grabbed one of the self-made cups. "Half-breed. Go grab some water."

"Yes sir." Gohan said.

"Vegeta." Vegeta said as he looked up. "You don't have to use titles when you speak to us."

"Yes sir. I mean…. Yes Vegeta." Gohan said, making a face when he realized he was making the same mistake. The boy grabbed the white bucket that had been lying around since others left and started for the stream.

The boy knelt down next to the stream and leaned forwards to let the water run in the bucket. Suddenly, a dark animal got a hold of his wrist and pulled him in the water. Gohan squealed as he fell forwards. The boy got up, coughing and spluttering and whimpering. He could not swim. How was he going to get back to the shore?

A shadow appeared in the water near him and Gohan cried out in fear. The dangerous water monster surfaced right beside him and…

"Hahaha! You should have seen your face!" Nappa called cheerfully. His tail curled around Gohan's wrist and pulled him up in the air and out of the water. The man tossed Gohan to land, where the half-saiyan landed with a cry. The bucket landed next to the soaked half-saiyan.

Nappa flew up, carrying a massive green fish-like creature. "Get the water, kiddo." He said before he flew to where the others were.

Gohan got up, sighed and grabbed the bucket. After this he filled it with water and returned to the others. Vegeta did not even look at him when the boy placed the bucket near him. The Saiyan prince was already busy preparing the fish.

"I'm bored." Nappa complained as he sat down on one of the branches. "I want to do something."

"You're always bored, Nappa." Vegeta did not even look at the man as he said this, but continued to focus on the fish. "Entertain yourself."

"There's nothing to do though..." Nappa frowned as he kicked against the dirt on the ground.

Vegeta looked around for something that Nappa could do. The older warrior could get very annoying when he was bored and Vegeta was not planning on dealing with that right now. His eyes landed on the half-saiyan, who was curled up on one of the branches, staring at the ground. The young boy sat down there after he followed Vegeta's last order and was still sitting there now.

"I know something, Nappa." Vegeta looked back to Nappa. "Why don't you play with our new toy?" He suggested as a smirk appeared on his face.

Nappa followed Vegeta's gaze, noticed Gohan and got up. "Great idea!" He said, grinning widely as he stepped closer to the young boy.

Gohan looked up when Nappa appeared in front of him. "So, kid." Nappa placed his hands on his hips and leaned forward so he could look at Gohan better. For the young warrior, this only made Nappa appear bigger and scarier. "Do you have any experience with fighting?"

"I…" Gohan said hesitantly.

"Speak up, kid!" Nappa yelled at him. "I can't hear you!" He placed a hand behind his ear and pretended to listen very hard.

Gohan cringed when Nappa yelled at him but then clenched his fists and spoke louder this time: "My father wanted to teach me how to fight, but my mom wouldn't let him and..."

Nappa was already waving his answer away. "I didn't ask for your entire life's history. I asked a simple question that requires a simple answer: Yes or no."

The half-saiyan frowned at him. "No." He replied, almost yelling himself. Those Saiyans were testing his patience. They were mean and ruthless and always seemed to want to hurt him.

"Weakling." Vegeta complained as he turned back to the fish.

"I'm not weak!" Gohan yelled back. They kept calling him weak. It was making him very angry.

Vegeta's gaze met Gohan's eyes and the half-saiyan tried hard to meet the man's eyes without fear, even though his hands were trembling. A smirk appeared on the man's face as he looked up at Nappa. "Well then. You wanted to play. So play."

"Should I though?" Nappa stood up. "His power level is puny. I could really hurt him without even meaning to."

"I hear that Saiyan half-breeds are tenacious." Vegeta's gaze moved back to Gohan. "He's a tough guy, right? Just try not to kill him." Vegeta's grin widened when an expression of fear appeared on Gohan's face.

Gohan looked up at Nappa when the older warrior moved away from him. What exactly did they mean with 'playing'? What was that to them? What was Nappa planning on doing to him?

"Come here, kiddo." Nappa said as he turned back to the half-saiyan. Gohan got up and walked closer to the man. Nappa smirked as he watched the boy walk closer. "Hmm… You can't fight... So... We could play hide-and-seek." Nappa suggested.

Gohan raised an eyebrow but stayed silent. Vegeta glanced sideways. "Don't go too far though." The prince warned. "The boy is not allowed to leave this area."

"Yeah. Yeah." Nappa waved this away. He seemed to consider this for a moment. "I know. You hide and I'll try to catch you once I find you. It will train your dodging skills. I'll count to ten." Nappa placed a hand in front of his eyes. "One. Two."

Gohan sent a hesitant glance in the direction of Vegeta and Raditz. His uncle waved the half-saiyan away. "You'd better hide." He stated.

"Three. Four..."

Gohan turned and ran for the woods. He ran all the way to a bush and hid under it. He did not really know why he played along with Nappa's ideas but, in a way, he figured that listening to the three warriors was in his best interest right now.

The half-saiyan could not help but shiver a little when he realized that Nappa's footsteps sounded awfully close to him. "Gotcha!" Nappa's hand reached for him, but the half-saiyan quickly crawled to the other side of the bush and started running.

Nappa was right behind him, choosing to go by foot and running after the half-saiyan. He seemed to be enjoying himself while Gohan was almost in tears. He did not know what Nappa expected of him. Was Gohan supposed to hide again? Should Gohan try to fight Nappa? That's what they liked, right? Fighting?

"Watch out!" Nappa launched for the half-saiyan, trying to snatch the boy from the ground, but Gohan managed to jump up and over the massive Saiyan. Nappa made a surprised sound and he looked around. The man tilted his head sideways when he realized Gohan was sitting in a tree. "Get out of there!" He yelled.

Gohan shook his head as his arms hugged the tree tightly. He did not know how he got there. One moment Nappa was catching him and the next he was sitting up in this tree. He had never experienced anything like this.

"How did you get up there?" Nappa asked curiously. The half-saiyan was located rather high up in the tree. "You can't fly, right?" Gohan shook his head in response. "That's interesting." The man laughed. "Well then. Have fun up there." He waved before he walked away.

"Hey!" Gohan yelled after him. "You can't leave me here."

"I didn't put you up there."

"But…." Gohan let out a heavy sigh. The boy leaned against the trunk of the tree with his forehead. How was he going to get out of this?

Vegeta and Raditz looked up from their work when Nappa returned to them. "Where is the boy?" Raditz asked.

"Up in a tree." Nappa replied, shrugging. "It was very interesting. I tried to catch him. One moment he was there and a moment later he was sitting high up in that tree. The boy himself did not know how he got there."

"He did not know?" Vegeta repeated. "He's playing you. Of course he knows how he got there." The man made an annoyed sound and got up. "I'll get him to talk. You start on your food."

Vegeta tracked the boy's power level by pressing on the button on his scouter. The man found the tree Gohan was in and watched with some amusement as Gohan tried to climb down. The boy was currently trying to get to a branch that was somewhat lower that the one he was sitting on. His tail was curled around the branch and he tried to reach the lower one with his foot but he could not reach it.

"Having any luck?" Vegeta shouted up.

Gohan looked up right as he slipped down, losing contact with the branches and plummeting down to the ground. Vegeta sighed as he stepped forward and held out his hands. The man caught the half-saiyan and held him for one second before dropping the boy on the ground again. He did not know whether Gohan could survive the fall to the ground without damaging his body, which is why Vegeta decided to catch the boy.

Gohan quickly got up while Vegeta knelt down to his face level. "So. How did you get up in that tree?" Vegeta asked, glaring at the half-saiyan.

"I don't know." Gohan looked down. "It just happened."

"It just… happened." Vegeta reached out and cupped Gohan's chin, forcing the boy to look up at him. "Are you lying to me, hybrid?"

Gohan frowned at him. "My name is Gohan. AAH." Vegeta's hand had moved to Gohan's cheek and was now pinching him rather hard.

"I asked you a question." Vegeta snarled at him. "Answer me."

Gohan whimpered before he shook his head. "I'm not lying." He replied when Vegeta's hand landed on his shoulder. The man frowned as he grabbed Gohan by his collar and pulled the boy closer.

Intimidation always worked on small children. Gohan started to tremble and he made the typical sounds of a child that was about to start crying, but the boy knew not to cry. It had only made the men angry until now.

"How did you get up in that tree? You told us you can't fly so how did you get there?" Vegeta growled in Gohan's face.

"I don't know." Tears leaked from Gohan's eyes. The half-saiyan yelped when Vegeta hit him, but he did not change his answer. "I DON'T KNOW!"

Vegeta kept his gaze on Gohan for a moment before he pushed the boy back, forcing Gohan to trip over his own feet and fall down. Vegeta did not like that Gohan did not give him any answers, but then again, Gohan had no reason to lie about this. The man turned away from the half-saiyan and walked back to where the others were.

Vegeta sat down on the branch after he returned. "He doesn't know." He said in response to their questions. Gohan appeared in the clearing a few minutes later. The boy did not have anywhere else to go so he came back to them. That was his only option right now.

After eating, Gohan realized that the saiyans did not prepare to leave right away. Raditz and Nappa both chose their own tree and sat down under it, leaning against the trunk and making their bodies comfortable.

"Boy." Vegeta said. "Go sit with your uncle."

Raditz looked up and patted on the ground next to him. Gohan did as told and sat down next to his uncle. "What's going on?" Gohan whispered as he looked up.

"We're going to take a nap." Raditz replied. "Just an hour or two to get out strength back so we can clear the rest of the planet."

"Clear?" Gohan repeated. "What does that mean?"

Raditz placed a hand on Gohan's head and tousled his hair. "Get some rest, boy. You've been up for a while too." He pulled away and closed his eyes.

Gohan's gaze moved to the other two saiyans but they were doing the exact same thing, closed eyes and relaxed postures. Could they really fall asleep that easily? It always took Gohan's ages to fall asleep. The half-saiyan leaned against the trunk too and closed his eyes. He might as well try to sleep too then.

Vegeta's scouter beeped exactly two hours later. The man woke up almost instantly. He got up and stretched his body. "Raditz. Nappa. Wake up." He ordered in a raised voice. His two comrades responded to his order and slowly started their own waking ritual.

"What about the boy?" Raditz asked. Gohan actually managed to fall asleep and he was now curled up on the ground, sleeping.

"Leave him. If we're lucky he will sleep through the next few hours and we'll be ready to leave when he wakes up." Vegeta flew up. "We should get back to work."

Raditz glanced at the defenseless half-saiyan for a moment before he flew up too. The boy would have to fend for himself for now.

Vegeta's hopes that Gohan would sleep through the next four hours was not granted as Gohan slowly woke up exactly one hour later. The boy rubbed his eyes for a moment before he sat up. Looking around, Gohan realized where he was and he got up fully.

The boy yelped when an explosion happened near him. The ground shook and Gohan fell back to his knees. What was happening? Gohan looked up and realized a large cloud of smoke was hiding the blue sky from sight.

Curiosity…. It was dangerous. What was going on? Should he go check on it? Gohan looked around. The three saiyans were gone. Were they the ones who were responsible for these explosions? The ground shook again and Gohan placed his hands on the ground.

Well…. Vegeta had already hit him a couple of times. What could he do if Gohan disobeyed now?

Gohan made a decision. He got up fully and started running towards the explosions. The journey was difficult. He tripped over random objects, falling to the ground, and often was thrown off his feet by the earthquakes that were created by the explosions. Gohan finally managed to reach a clearing and he looked up. He must have been close now.

There! People were flying up in the air. They seemed to be fighting. Gohan recognized the three villains immediately. They were fighting strange green men. The green men had eyes all over their bald heads, which made it easier for them to keep an eye on their enemies. He had to admit, those saiyans looked amazing, fighting a bunch of warriors at the same time and defeating them. Though, Gohan gasped when he realized why the aliens did not get up after being defeated by one of the saiyans.

Vegeta dodged a punch from an alien and ran his hands right through the alien's stomach, his fist emerging from the other side. The man smirked as he pulled back and then disintegrated the body by sending an energy blast at it.

He was kidnapped by murderers. Gohan slowly shook his head as he stepped back. How was he going to survive this? Were they planning on killing him next?

"What do we have here?"

Gohan whirled around and was faced with a small group of aliens. They eyed the half-saiyan with interest and Gohan already saw one of them glancing up at the saiyans and down at Gohan, making the connection in his mind.

"He's one of them." The alien said as he stepped closer to the half-saiyan. "Look. He has the tail and everything."

"He's just a kid." The other one said. "What is he doing here?"

"Help." Gohan said as he stepped closer. "They kidnapped me and they threatened to kill me. " He knew this was a long shot. The three Saiyan warriors were destroying their planet and Gohan could just as easily be one of their sons. They did not know the real story. "You have to help me."

"We don't have to do anything." The first alien said, making a disgusted face. "I say we kill him."

"No, we take the boy and threaten to hurt him if those goons don't leave this planet." The other said, looking at his friends.

Gohan shook his head. "Please. I wasn't supposed to leave the campsite." He pleaded, folding his hands together. "He's going to hurt me if he finds out I left."

"A very believable rehearsed story." One of the aliens said as he sent Gohan a grin. "But we're not falling for it. Grab him."

One of the warriors made a move for Gohan but the half-saiyan jumped back. Gohan looked at his own hands. How did he just make that jump? The second alien managed to get a hold of the half-saiyan, grabbing Gohan by his arm and twisting it on his shoulder.

"Bring him to those goons."

"No!" Gohan yelled. "Stop. You have to believe me!" Gohan shook his head when the alien started to fly up, bringing Gohan closer to the fight. The boy struggled and pleaded to be released but the aliens ignored him. "No! Stop! Please!"

Gohan tried to fly back but he did not even know how to fly. Vegeta told him he would hurt him if Gohan tried to flee. The man would kill him for this. Slowly. Gohan didn't want to die. He had to survive. He had to get back to his mother. He had to….

Gohan screamed as he powered up. The young saiyan kicked backwards, hitting the alien in the stomach, whirled around in the air and punched the man away. After this he turned to one of the other aliens. The one who was planning on bringing Gohan to the saiyans from the beginning. Gohan launched at the man and punched him in the stomach several times before he slammed the man down too.

Three scouters beeped and six eyes glanced sideways. The last alien glared at Gohan. "You're going to regret that!" He yelled as he pulled back a fist. Gohan caught the fist and whirled the man around several times before he released the alien, letting the gravity of that planet take over and watching the man getting launched away.

Gohan let out a relieved breath and blinked. What just happened? "Oh no…" Gohan suddenly started falling to the ground. The boy closed his eyes and waited for impact, but the impact never happened. His hand reached out and got a hold of a branch. Ignoring the small wooden splinters in his hands, Gohan let his body drop to the ground and landed on his hands and knees.

There he started running. He had to get back to the campsite. He wasn't allowed to leave that area and he was sure the saiyans were going to be angry. The half-saiyan stopped running, stumbling to a halt, when Nappa landed in front of him. The half-saiyan almost bumped into the man's legs but managed to stop his body just in time.

"Naughty little hybrid." Nappa said cheerfully before he reached down and grabbed the resisting half-saiyan by the back of his shirt.

The man placed Gohan on his shoulder before he flew up to where Vegeta and Raditz were floating. Sitting on Nappa's shoulder, Gohan felt incredibly small, but that probably wouldn't matter in the end. Vegeta was glaring at him, and that was way more important and probably way more lethal.

"What was that?" Vegeta asked, narrowing his eyes at the half-saiyan.

"That…." Raditz started, smirking smugly, "was why I decided to take him. He did the exact same thing on planet Earth. That's how he got through my armor."

Vegeta looked at Raditz. "He gets stronger when he gets angry." The man looked at Gohan again. After this he started laughing, earning confused glances from Nappa and Raditz. "Great." Vegeta smirked as he reached out and gently pushed against Gohan's chin with his fist. "You are definitely going to that camp. The specialists and the cadets there will push you to your limits every day and once you're ready I will shape you into my perfect little soldier."

"You just saved your own life, half-breed." Nappa said cheerfully. "Now we're sure we don't have to kill you."

"No, keeping you alive will be much more rewarding." Vegeta added, still smirking. His expression fell as he looked around. "This planet is giving us way too much trouble. If we were with more than three we would have been done by now." He complained.

"Maybe half-breed can help." Raditz suggested as he studied the half-saiyan.

"What are you suggesting?" Vegeta asked.

"Oozaru." Raditz said. "He's got a tail, and the young ones are so violent that he will do all our work for us."

Vegeta nodded. "Yes. Excellent." The man cupped his hands together and made a small energy-blast. He threw the energy-blast up in the sky and made it explode so that it was similar to a moon. The man looked at the half-saiyan. "You're just making yourself more and more useful. Look at the fake moon."

Gohan hesitated. "But… My mom told me never to look at the moon because it's dangerous." He said as he looked at Vegeta.

"Did she now?" Vegeta rolled his eyes. "So, the human knew about it. She must have seen Kakarot transform."

"Why is the planet still intact if Kakarot transformed? That doesn't make any sense..." Raditz said thoughtfully.

"It doesn't matter." Vegeta pointed up at the sky. "Look at the moon or I'll make you look at it." He ordered.

Gohan obeyed and looked up. The boy soon found himself entranced by the orb, staring at it with wide eyes. The others knew exactly how it felt and they had seen the transformation many times before. Though, every transformation was interesting in its own way.

They watched as Gohan started to breathe heavily. The boy's mouth was wide open and showed the fangs that were sharpening and growing as his tail wagged behind him. That was when Gohan jumped off Nappa's shoulder on his own and grew in size as he fell down. Once he landed, he was a full grown massive ape, slamming his chest with his fists.

"He's a real saiyan alright!" Nappa called as he watched Gohan slam his fist down on a house, destroying it.

Vegeta smirked. Watching one of their own destroy a city like this fired them all up. "Let's get this party started!" He called to encourage his comrades. The two cheered before they dove right into the battle.

A couple hours later, Vegeta sent a blast at the fake moon and watched as Gohan slowly changed back into his original tiny form. The half-saiyan fainted right then and there, so Nappa knelt down next to the boy to wake him up.

"What happened?" Gohan asked as he sat up, placing a hand on his forehead and looking rather dazed.

Nappa helped Gohan stand up. "You showed us how much of a saiyan you really are." Nappa answered, placing a hand against the back of Gohan's body when the boy swayed a bit.

Raditz and Vegeta were both messing with a remote control, and Nappa reached into his armor as well. Three space pods appeared in the air and landed near them.

Vegeta walked to his space pod. "You two can rock-paper-scissors to figure out who is going to share his pod with the brat." He said before he got into his own pod.

"Don't we have an extra pod?" Raditz asked.

"Nope. We only brought one extra for Kakarot. We thought the space pods were indestructible." Vegeta settled in his pod and glanced at the half-saiyan. "Though I guess they're not half-breed proof."

Raditz rolled his eyes. "Come here, boy. I'll take you." He said before he turned to his own space pod and opened it. Gohan followed his uncle and crawled in the space pod once Raditz was already sitting in there.

The half-saiyan waited until the door was closed before he sat down and leaned against the door. Raditz pressed in the coordinates in the computer and spoke to a voice Gohan could not hear. "How long will that take? A month? That long... Okay."

Raditz reached over and pressed one last button and a shiver went through the space pod. Gohan watched as Raditz reached up and pressed on a large black button. "That will make us sleep for the month." Raditz explained as he looked down at Gohan. "Good night."

The half-saiyan nodded in response. "Good night… sir." He said slowly before he closed his eyes.

After exactly four weeks of sleeping, Gohan was woken up by the shaking pod. The boy opened his mouth to say something but Raditz held up his hand.

"Silence."

Gohan made a face but he decided to stay silent. The space pod landing seemed even more shaky and horrible than the first one, at least to Gohan. He hoped he would not have to travel in those small pods anymore.

After the landing, Raditz opened the door and nudged Gohan with his tail, encouraging the boy to get out quickly. Obeying, Gohan crawled out the space pod and looked around curiously. They were in the middle of a landing area. Once they got out, Vegeta took the lead and the others followed him.

They made their way to a wide open area filled with soldiers in all sizes and colors. Gohan looked around with wide eyes. He'd never seen so many different creatures. The boy was often distracted to such an extent that he strayed from the others and one of the three adults had to pull him back.

Gohan looked up when they reached a large gate. The gate showed a figure of two snakes that curled around a large fist, their tails entwining under the wrist of the fist and their mouths hissing at each other above it.

Vegeta called his name after a voice asked who was there, and the gates opened. The moment they entered the gates something changed. It was like they entered a new world, a different world.

"There's a force field around this camp." Raditz said when Gohan asked what was wrong with this place. "It's supposed to be a small world for the cadets."

"This is the camp?" Gohan asked as they walked through the forest.

"The entire planet is the camp." Vegeta replied without looking back. "There's a small area for visitors with a hotel and a space pod center. The rest of the planet is for the cadets."

They reached a clearing and Gohan slowly let his gaze move up the large white building. The middle area was smaller than the two towers at the sides.

The two windows in the black doors showed the symbol with the two snakes again, and those doors were so massive that Gohan felt like an ant when he entered through them.

"What are we going to do here?" Gohan asked curiously.

"Ah, Vegeta." A man interrupted when they entered the building. The man was rather tall. He had a big scar on his dark grey cheek and his face was shaped a lot like the seals Gohan had seen in his biology book, complete with whiskers and everything. "You've grown up." He stated when they walked closer to him.

"I'm not here for me. I'm here to drop off one of my soldiers." Vegeta said as he reached back and motioned for Gohan to come closer. The half-saiyan sent a hesitant glance in the direction of Raditz but his uncle only pushed against Gohan's back with his boot.

"That's him?" The large man frowned as he eyed Gohan up and down. "He's too young. We won't accept students younger than ten."

"That's too bad, headmaster." Vegeta replied as his tail reached out and gave Gohan a push as well. "He's yours. We'll be back for him someday."

"I can't guarantee his survival."

"Good. If he cannot survive he's not worth our time." Vegeta turned away from the headmaster and Gohan. "We're done here."

The other two turned without saying goodbye and the three saiyans started for the door. Gohan blinked but then ran after them, stopping in front of them and preventing them from leaving.

"You can't leave me here!" Gohan yelled at them. "Why did you take me away in the first place if you're just going to drop me off again? That doesn't make any sense."

Vegeta's tail released itself and smacked against Gohan's cheek, throwing the boy aside and out of his way. Gohan landed on the ground next to them and could only watch as they resumed their trip out the doors.

The door closed behind them and Gohan got up, running to the doors and trying to push them open. When they didn't open, he jumped up to grab the handle but he couldn't reach it.

Headmaster studied the half-saiyan for a moment before he called the boy over. "Come on, boy. We've got to get you signed in."

"I want to leave." Gohan said as he turned around. "Opens these doors for me!"

"You can't leave. Even if you go outside the force field will keep you within these grounds and the gate won't open for you." Headmaster motioned for Gohan to follow him. "Come with me."

Gohan decided to follow the headmaster. Several minutes later, they entered the man's office. The office wasn't all that big. There were several closets, filled with what Gohan assumed were files on students. A desk was standing in the middle of the room, also littered with papers and documents. Gohan later found out that it was such a mess in headmaster's room because the man was just a scatterbrain.

"Sit down, boy." The man grabbed a new form and placed it on the clean area of his desk. "What's your name?"

"Son Gohan." The half-saiyan replied as he sat down on the chair opposite the man's desk.

"Age?"

"Four."

"Race is a saiyan…"

"Half-saiyan." Gohan corrected, earning a surprised glance from the headmaster. "I'm half-human too."

"Humans, huh? Interesting. There's not much knowledge about humans." Headmaster said as he wrote it down. "Alright… Then we'll just need to…." Headmaster was interrupted by a knock on the door, "Come in."

The door opened to reveal another large man. He was dressed in the same black uniform as Headmaster so Gohan assumed he was another specialist. Gohan's gaze settled on the man's scary entirely black eyes and then moved to the man's lilac skin tone.

"I heard we've got a new victim." The new man said cheerfully as he closed the door behind him.

"Yep, and you're going to like this one, Crimon. He's a saiyan." Headmaster replied as he wrote something else down.

"Half-saiyan." Gohan corrected again, earning a small smirk from the headmaster.

"Really?" Crimon walked around the chair to get a better look at Gohan. "He's just a baby. What's he doing here?"

"Vegeta." Headmaster responded, sighing. "Left him here without any explanation. He probably doesn't want to keep an eye on the boy during the missions."

"So he lets us do the dirty work." Crimon growled as he leaned on the desk with his large hand. "What's his other race?"

"Human."

"Really? That's interesting. Hitora will like that. There's not much known about humans. Fragile little race that only exists in the outer area of the North Galaxy." Crimon studied the half-saiyan. "Hitora might want to do some tests on you. For extra credits, of course."

"I see no reason to give the boy extra credits." Headmaster shook his head. "Vegeta never paid for his stay here and I doubt he's going to pay for Gohan's stay. We might as well make the boy pay off their debt."

"How? By letting Hitora perform tests on him?"

"That and we were thinking about hiring a help to clean our private quarters. Now we could let the boy do it." Headmaster looked rather pleased with the turn of events. "It's not like he's going to follow the regular classes any time soon anyway."

Gohan clenched his fists. "I didn't want to be here!" He called, earning their attention. "If you don't want me to waste your money, then let me go."

"We're not going to let you go." Headmaster shook his head. "Vegeta brought you here so you're staying here."

"You can stay in one of the single rooms. Just until you get older." Crimon suggested and headmaster nodded in response. Crimon turned to Headmaster fully, placing both his hands on the desk. "I want to train him."

"I expected that. He's all yours." Headmaster cleaned up the papers and filed it away. After this he got up and walked to one of the large cabinets. He reached inside and pulled out a purple uniform and basic white armor. After this he grabbed a golden belt which again showed the snake symbol in the middle.

"No, I'm not!" Gohan jumped up so that he was standing on the chair. "You can't just decide all of that without asking me anything!"

Headmaster started for the door. "Follow me, Gohan." He said, ignoring Gohan's earlier outburst.

Gohan frowned at being ignored but he also got off the chair. The boy noted that Crimon was following them as well. They entered a long hallway that had windows on both sides. Headmaster walked to one side and nodded to the widows. "Look down there."

Gohan tried to look over the window edge but he wasn't tall enough so Crimon reached down and carried the boy in the air so Gohan could look at what Headmaster was looking at.

Down there, a large cafeteria was filled with soldiers, large bulky noisy men, all dressed in the same uniform. Some were eating, some were talking to others. A fight had just broken out in the corner and guards were trying to keep the violent warriors apart, but they weren't really succeeding.

"You have two options, Gohan." Headmaster started when he noticed the rather scared expression on Gohan's face. "One. We can protect you, train you and give you your own room. All you have to do in return is obey our orders and do your chores. The second option is that we leave you right here to fend for yourself and you'll have nobody to protect you from those warriors down there."

Gohan looked down at the cafeteria again before glancing up at the headmaster. The decision wasn't that difficult to make. "Okay." He said softly. "I'll do what you say."

"Good." Headmaster turned away from the half-saiyan and Crimon put the boy down again.

The two specialists lead Gohan to a small single room. A round window looked out on the massive forest and Gohan could see a large lake far away.

"This will be your room." Headmaster placed the uniform on the bed. "You can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in our private quarters. Stay here for now and someone will come for you later." Headmaster walked to the doorway. Gohan noticed that Crimon was already gone. "Oh, and change into that uniform. You're a cadet now, Gohan."

The half-saiyan watched as the door closed behind the headmaster and he sat down on the bed. Letting his body fall back, Gohan curled up on the bed and cried silently.

At one point, Gohan sat up and wiped the tears away. He grabbed the uniform and armor and changed into them. After this he walked to the small bathroom, climbed on a small stool and threw some water against his face.

His father's screams rang through his head. Raditz's laugh as he tortured his father. Vegeta's last words before he left…

"If he can't survive he's not worth our time."

Fine. They wanted him to toughen up? He would toughen up. Those specialists wanted him to work and train? Fine. He would do just that and he would become the strongest warrior in this camp and once those three saiyans returned…

Gohan narrowed his eyes at the wall in front of him as he leaned on the sink.

"I'm going to kill them."

**** DBZ **** DBZ ****

Get ready for a time jump in the next chapter.

I hope you liked it. Please leave a review and let me know what you think~

See you next time!