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.

26. Chapter 26: A New Life?

Hey you! Thanks for reviewing on the previous chapter!

Previously on A Half-breed's Life 1:

Vegeta sat down on a branch and yawned again. He frowned as he looked around. What was taking the brat so long? He noticed a small rodent and he pointed his finger at it. A purple beam shot right through the rodent, killing it instantly. Vegeta smirked as he got up to fetch it. That would make a nice waiting snack.

The man lazily ate the flesh of the rodent as he waited. He left a small bit for the half-saiyan. The young warrior would appreciate that. However, when Vegeta finished eating Gohan still wasn't there. The saiyan prince frowned as he got up and looked around. "Half-breed! What is taking you so long?" He snarled. The man reached up to scan for Gohan's power level.

Vegeta widened his eyes when the scouter could not find Gohan's particular energy level. The man opened the line of communication to the half-saiyan. "Half-breed. Come in…. Are you there...? If you don't answer now I'll have your balls for dinner, brat!"

Vegeta waited for a few second as he realized what was happening. The Saiyan prince opened the communication line to the other two Saiyans. "Raditz. Nappa. Half-breed is gone."

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

"Dear Vegeta, I seem to miss one of yours. Has he been beaten up so much that he needed to consult the rejuvenation tank?" Frieza asked curiously.

Vegeta considered lying but he knew Frieza would find out eventually. The man asked for Gohan to meet him often enough. Same went for the Ginyu Force and Zarbon. Vegeta would only get in trouble if he lied to Frieza now. "No sir. We lost the boy."

"He died?"

"No. He… He left the planet without our permission." Vegeta decided to just throw it out there. The whole situation was a huge blow to his pride and if he ever saw that runt again, the boy would pay for it dearly.

"He left the planet without your permission." Frieza repeated slowly. "So, he ran away?"

"Affirmative, sir."

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

Gohan looked up when he heard screams. Miles and miles away he could see that a building was crumbling down and a particularly large bit of debris was about to crush a group of volunteers that was digging there. Gohan didn't think as he powered up and flew towards the scene. He caught the danger easily as he put his hands upwards and caught the debris before throwing it away to a safe area. Gohan smiled in relieve. He made it. They were saved.

However, this smile froze on his face when he heard clapping coming from someone above him. The half-saiyan looked up and a cold sensation ran down his spine.

"Well well, that was quite a show." A man was floating in front of a group of warriors. They were all dressed in uniforms that appeared very familiar to the half-saiyan but they were also somewhat different. Gohan couldn't really put his finger on it but something was different.

The foreign warrior was obviously not from this planet. The entire squad was made up of different races. The man who appeared to be the leader was tall and bulky – typical – and he had a light-blue skin tone. Small grey spikes erupted from his skull and the same spikes were seen on the man's light-blue tail.

"I'll admit I never thought I would see a saiyan so small." The same warrior exclaimed cheerfully. "Most of you are all grown up by now and since the planet was destroyed even before I was born, I never expected to see child saiyans."

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

"Are you sure it's a saiyan though?"

"Let me show you, master."

A door was opened, footsteps approached and a moment later hands grabbed Gohan's arms and roughly hauled him up. While he was forced forwards he realized there were two pairs of hands coming from either side of him. Two guards? Maybe the people he fought before he ended up here. He couldn't remember much of what happened before he lost consciousness.

Before he could focus on the sounds around him the young warrior was forced down on his knees. The half-saiyan managed not to make a sound when his knees painfully crashed down on the ground. A hand pushed against the area between Gohan's shoulder blades, forcing the young warrior to bow down to the ground, before grabbing hold of the half-saiyan's furry tail and holding it up.

"I'd say this is a frank giveaway, lord." Furani stated as he showed the tail to the unknown person.

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

"Do you have any experience in fighting?" Cooler asked. Gohan only shook his head. "Furani." Cooler only had to say the word and Furani grabbed hold of Gohan's shirt and ripped it off. Gohan's lips tightened on each other as he realized what Cooler was getting at. "So you grew all these muscles just by staying on a good diet, right?"

"I just want to go home." Gohan tried as he crossed his arms over each other.

"I don't like it when my subordinates are dishonest to me." Cooler snarled in response.

"I don't work for you." Gohan stated calmly. "Please. Allow me to leave the ship."

"It's a little too late for that. You're young but you're obviously a trained fighter. You could be very valuable for my army. I want you to join us." Cooler stated, smirking as if he just gave Gohan his dearest deepest wish.

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

Gohan decided to cooperate once more and he knelt down together with Furani and Iona. Lord Cooler showed a cold smile when he noticed the young warrior. "At ease." Cooler stated as he motioned for them to get up. "So, little Saiyan, have you considered my offer?"

The young warrior swallowed heavily, his throat feeling dry. "Yes, I have, sir." He stated loudly and clearly.

"And what is your answer?"

Gohan looked up and met the monster's gaze. Lord Cooler, the brother of Lord Frieza, and co-owner of the Planet Trade Organization. The man would not take no for an answer, just like his brother Frieza. Gohan knew this. Accepting the man's offer would be the one and only option. Then again, Gohan was never good at meekly following the rules created by those more powerful than him.

No. Gohan knew exactly what he was going to answer. The only thing left to do now was just say it and accept the consequences. The young warrior took a breath to prepare his body for what he was about to say and he opened his mouth to say it.

Chapter 26. A New Life?

"Why don't you sit down?" Cooler stated as he motioned to the lushly covered table in front of him. Gohan's gaze lowered to the table and eyed the many different types of foods and drinks. The half-saiyan decided to follow the man's order and sat down at the table. He hadn't eaten anything for hours now and he was famished.

Gohan knew Cooler wouldn't be happy with his answer. People like Cooler were used to getting what they wanted. Then again, people like Cooler probably didn't meet a lot of stubborn half-saiyans… And he probably didn't allow them to live long enough to defy him.

"Please understand me, Lord." Gohan stated as he sat down. "I cannot accept a position I have no knowledge about. I don't know what I'm getting myself into."

"Fair enough." Cooler was already seated at the table. The man looked to Furani and Iona. The two soldiers sat down as well. Cooler reached out for his glass. "I considered testing your strength before placing you in a team of your level. However, I think it will be so much more beneficial to you if you join my elite team. I'd say you join them for about a year and if you haven't caught up to them sufficiently at that time we will reconsider." Cooler sipped from his rosy drink. "What do you think, Furani?"

"I agree." Furani nodded once before looking to the half-saiyan. "I hear Saiyans are able to make super jumps in strength when trained well. I'd like to see how that works for myself."

Gohan pressed his lips together for a moment. Of course he would like to see how strong Gohan could become in a short amount of time. Cooler glanced to the young warrior. "Do you agree, Saiyan?"

"Yes sir." Gohan responded. "It sounds fair enough."

"Good." Cooler appeared satisfied with this arrangement. "Do you have enough room for the boy in your wing, Furani?"

Furani exchanged glances with Iona. The female soldier showed a brief smile but she didn't say anything. Furani took the lead. "We have a couple of spare rooms that belonged to former members. They might be a bit dusty but the cleaning crew can take care of that."

"Good. You can stay in the room you're in now until everything is settled." Cooler stated as he looked at the half-saiyan. Gohan nodded once in response. "Let's eat for now and afterwards Furani and Iona can show you around."

After their brief breakfast Furani and Iona ushered the half-saiyan out the door and to their own quarters. Gohan looked around when they arrived. The room was spacious, which he already expected. It was basically a large living room filled with several places to sit down, comfortable looking couches and chairs, large screens that were probably there for pleasure only and a gentle music was playing.

Gohan felt the eyes in his back and he turned around to find out that Furani was studying him silently. Gohan could already tell what the man was thinking. He was tempted to ask what type of exercise Furani thought would suit his current inefficiencies best.

Furani approached Gohan before the half-saiyan could say anything. "Stand still for a moment." He stated before circling the half-saiyan. Gohan considered flexing his muscles and striking a pose but he decided not to. Even if Furani was only a temporary leader, he didn't want to get on the bad side of his new squad leader just yet. Gohan wasn't planning on staying here long though.

"You maintain that you're not a professionally trained fighter?" Furani asked as he stopped in front of the half-saiyan. Gohan nodded once in response. "Still you have a body that tells otherwise." Furani continued. "You're fast as well. You picked up that rubble like it was nothing." Gohan was silent while Furani studied him. "You keep an eye on the people around you. Easily pick up on things." Before Gohan could respond, Furani grabbed the half-saiyan's chin and forced him to look into his eyes. "A fiery soul." Furani stated as he locked onto Gohan's gaze. Gohan pulled back and pushed against Furani's arm with his hand in order to free his chin from the man's grip. "Juvenile temper." Furani added as he lowered his hand and stepped away from the half-saiyan. "But we'll punch that out of you soon enough."

Gohan frowned in response to the last comment. It was more a mutter than a real utterance but it sent a shiver down Gohan's spine. The moment Cooler officially gave Gohan to Furani, the latter changed in behaviour significantly. During their brisk walk to their quarters, Furani told the half-saiyan to be quiet until spoken to before Gohan even said anything. That was a significant difference to the Furani who meekly answered all Gohan's questions on their way to Cooler's room this morning.

"How old did you say you were?" Furani asked as he walked to a lonely desk.

"I didn't." Gohan responded. He couldn't really remember giving his age.

"Don't hold out on me now, kiddo." Furani stated as he looked at the young warrior. Gohan was silent in response so Furani continued talking. "Fine. You're relatively small for Saiyan standards which means you're still growing. Your voice is fairly high-pitched and since you were living in the woods it is somewhat safe to assume you didn't have access to a razor of some sort which means that you don't have hair growth like that yet. Then again, you're relatively smart and strong. I'd say you're somewhere between ten and thirteen."

Gohan pressed his lips together for a moment. Close enough.

Furani held Gohan's gaze for a moment before he blew out a sigh and pushed away from the desk he was leaning against. "Icarus. You're part of this team now." He stated as he approached the half-saiyan. "I know you think you're on a trial run but once Lord Cooler wants a new soldier, he's getting that new soldier. There's no going back for you now. Well, only in death, I guess." Furani stopped right in front of the half-saiyan. "I will be in charge of you for the rest of your life. So if I were you I would start behaving. I can make your life very difficult if I want to. Do you understand me?"

The half-saiyan was not impressed in the slightest. He'd heard all this before. "Yes sir." He stated meekly.

"Good. Now, I have to get a cleaning crew over here to get started on your room. Iona, keep an eye on him." Furani gave Gohan one last strict glance before turning to the door.

Iona was watching the conversation passively from one of the comfortable-looking couches. She now smiled and nodded in response to the order. "I'll definitely keep an eye on him." She stated cheerfully.

Gohan tried not to make a face in response to her statement. The young warrior waited for Furani to leave the room before he looked over at Iona again. The young woman smiled as she got up. "Alright, kiddo. What do you say we start with a tour of the quarters?"

Iona made a wide gesture with her arms. "This is the living quarters. Here we spend the time we do not spend anywhere else." She explained before moving to the one hallway. Now that they approached the hallway Gohan's noticed several doors. "Here are the rooms. Every room has its own bathroom. Even yours. Our squad used to have a few more members so there are a couple of spare rooms."

"What happened?" Gohan asked curiously.

Iona's smile dropped for a bit as she considered the question. "What always happens in this line of work. They died." She responded before taking a breath and continuing her tour. "This will be your room." She said as she opened the first door they encountered. Gohan stepped inside and studied the room that was to be his. The room was spacious enough. He noticed a large comfortable-looking bed with a bedside table on either side. He saw a desk with a chair and a light. He also noticed the doorway to what was probably the bathroom.

His own room…

Gohan couldn't help but smile as he considered this. Iona was waving her hand. "It's a bit dusty. The cleaning crew will fix that right up for you. After today they'll come by once a week to clean everything." She explained.

Gohan looked at her with wide eyes. "A cleaning crew comes over to clean everything?" He asked. "We don't have to do it ourselves?"

Iona smiled in response. "Of course not. We're elite soldiers. We have better things to do than keeping our rooms tidy." She chuckled as if Gohan was an idiot for asking the question. "This is my room." She stated as she turned around. The young woman opened the door and allowed Gohan to look inside. "You can come in whenever you want. Don't be shy or ask for permission. If I don't want you to come inside the door will be locked."

"Right." Gohan responded. He could remember that. Right now he didn't really consider that he would want to go over to her room and have a chat with Iona. Unbeknownst to him he would be taking her up on this offer many times in the upcoming months The young warrior allowed Iona to talk him through the rest of the rooms. She didn't show him the rooms because she considered it an invasion of privacy of the other members so she explained who slept where and which person Gohan could approach without getting his head bitten off.

After a tour of the rooms Iona invited Gohan to a room she called the 'play room'. Gohan could see why. The room was filled with different types of game machines. Gohan did not recognize most of them and he was eager to find out what they were for. Luckily for Gohan, Iona was just as eager to show Gohan how to have fun in this play room and that is exactly what they did for the following two hours until they were called to the training room.

**** Meanwhile on Planet Frieza ****

"I have dibs on the shower." Vegeta decided as they headed into the apartment. The Saiyan prince headed straight to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Raditz slowly walked to his own room. The man looked around the small bedroom and once again realized how empty it was without a little half-saiyan crawling into the bed complaining how long he had to wait until he could shower. Raditz glanced at the unmade bed. The half-saiyan always forgot to make his bed properly.

Raditz blew out a sigh and headed over to the bed. He pulled on the sheets to straighten them before gently pushing the ends under the mattress. Looking over to the pillow, Raditz was in mid-reach when he noticed something under the crooked pillow. The Saiyan warrior picked the pillow up and widened his eyes at the small tooth that was lying on the mattress.

Raditz's memory went back to a moment several months ago when Gohan asked him if he ever heard of a fairy that collected teeth. At the time Raditz wasn't sure how to respond to it but he decided to tell the truth, which was that Raditz was not aware of the existence of such fairies. Gohan appeared rather disappointed at the time but he didn't ask any more questions.

Raditz reached down to grab the tooth and he studied it. Tiny, just like its previous owner. Raditz could feel a tight sensation in his chest, as if some invisible blanket was wrapped tightly around his lungs and was now being pulled tighter and tighter.

"Raditz."

The Saiyan warrior snapped out of his thoughts and he looked sideways only to meet Vegeta's eyes. "Didn't you hear me call that you could take a shower?"

Raditz shook his head and blinked to take his mind back to reality. "No. I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." He responded as he lowered his hands.

"Clearly." Vegeta studied Raditz for a moment but then stepped back. "Get to the shower. We have half an hour before we have to report to Frieza and I quickly want to scout the intergalactic net for any signs of possible half-saiyan sightings."

"Right." Raditz nodded once and Vegeta turned to leave the room. Raditz placed the tooth back under the pillow and headed for the bathroom.

The three Saiyans searched for Gohan for several months before Frieza called them back to the army. Vegeta was resistant at first, saying that they needed more time to find their youngest comrade but this only earned them an earful from their master.

Frieza considered Gohan one of the saiyans' failures and he insisted he would be the one to find the half-saiyan. Not the Saiyans themselves. Vegeta disagreed with this and used every spare moment they got to search for the young warrior. Raditz personally wasn't sure what he thought about it all. He thought Gohan was happy, or at least somewhat happy, with them. Not unhappy. Apparently not. After all this time, Raditz didn't feel like forcing Gohan to come back to them. If the boy was happy somewhere else, they might as well let him go…

**** Cooler's Ship ****

"Alright. Everyone here?" Furani asked as he looked around the group. "Good. Now as you all know we received a new team member." Furani nodded to the half-saiyan. "Icarus here is the kid we found on planet Yiq. Lord Cooler has allowed him to join our team for now. If he can't catch up to us within a year he'll have to find a lower-level team to join."

Gohan was studying the rest of the soldiers casually. He didn't know their names yet but he could easily feel their strength. Most of them were stronger than Gohan on his max. Iona was easily the strongest warrior safe for Furani. It seemed this team's hierarchy was also based on strength. Everything was based on strength in this world. There were six members in total, including Iona and Furani. All from different races.

"I'll make some brief introductions." Furani said as he uncrossed his arms. "This is Liom." He stated as he pointed to a tall warrior. The man had a violet skin-tone and dark eyes. The wrinkles on the man's forehead made Gohan wonder if that was normal for his race or if he was getting older.

"Mako." This man was smaller than his colleagues but still taller than Gohan at the moment. His bright beige eyes were a little mischievous and he showed a grin, showing off grey-ish teeth. Gohan returned the sentiment uneasily. He still wasn't sure whether these people would be nice to him or not.

Plamu was stronger than most of them. Interestingly enough he looked the tiniest when concerning muscles. He had blue intelligent eyes that seemed to look right through the half-saiyan. The man also had a long mane of dark brown hair that was tied together in a braid.

Qiso was the last soldier to be introduced. The man had dark blue eyes and severely white hair that looked untameable and was sticking out in every direction. He had an orange-y skin tone and wine coloured spots were spread out all over his body.

"Okay. That's that." Furani stated as he finished the round of introductions. "You don't know our routines or hand signals so you have a lot to learn in a short amount of time. We'll help you out though. It will probably be fine. For now we can have a free-for-all and see how it goes. Everyone agree?"

The other soldiers made agreeing sounds and they all flew up. Gohan hesitated before he followed them. He wasn't sure if he wanted to fight right now. He was eager to find out how strong the others really were and how he would do against them but he also feared that they would try to push him further than he wanted to go.

Gohan took a deep breath as he watched the others prepare for battle. The match started so suddenly Gohan wasn't actually sure when it started. In a second, Qiso was upon him. The man threw a couple of punches in his direction just to see whether Gohan could block them or not. The young warrior blocked these easily so Qiso changed the speed a little bit.

Gohan spent the first ten minutes studying the fighting style of his opponent. The man was obviously trained well. It was difficult to find a gap or fault in the man's defence. However, Gohan was trained well too. The young warrior narrowed his eyes and tried to push a punch through a tiny flaw in the man's defence. Qiso pushed Gohan's punch away easily and tried to retaliate by kneeing the half-saiyan. Gohan scrambled away just in time to avoid it. That was way too close.

Qiso sent the half-saiyan a bright smile. He was clearly enjoying himself. Well then, Gohan returned the smile. No reason to worry just yet. The young warrior powered up a little more. They weren't wearing scouters so Gohan assumed they couldn't sense his power level. After this brief take of additional power, Gohan clenched his fists and attacked the warrior once more.

As the training progressed Gohan realized they were taking turns on him. After exchanging a couple of attacks, Qiso flew off and Gohan was faced with Plamu. The half-saiyan found it difficult to switch techniques. Plamu was more of an offensive fighter. The man tended to try an attack rather than waiting for Gohan to come to him. Qiso was different and Gohan realized he would have to study every warrior separately to examine their individual way of fighting. It would be tiring and difficult. The saiyans were more alike in their fighting styles. Gohan assumed these warriors were not that intend on training their team spirit but rather focused on their individual progress. It was interesting to see.

His third opponent was Iona and she was eager to fight. The female warrior raced at him, sending several punches in his direction. The young warrior blocked these easily but he had a feeling she was just warming up. Iona briefly narrowed her eyes before she appeared right in front of him. Gohan only had a moment to widen his eyes before he was punched back so hard that he could swear he felt his bones shiver. The young warrior crash-landed on the floor of the training room and he let out a pathetic whimper when his body realized what just happened.

"I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" Iona was suddenly right next to him. The half-saiyan quickly scrambled to a standing position and stepped away from her. "Ah, that's better. People do say children bounce back easily."

Gohan didn't return her smile. He still wasn't sure what to think of Iona. She was such an enigma. She treated him nicely but then suddenly used such force on him. And he was supposed to believe she did it accidentally? No way.

"Are you ready to continue, sweetheart?" Iona asked sweetly as she studied him closely.

Gohan barely got time to nod in response before she was upon him again. This time Gohan was prepared to block the first punch but Iona landed a second punch a nano-second later. Too fast for Gohan to realize what was happening. The half-saiyan had to take a couple of steps back but managed to stay upright. The young warrior tried to catch Iona off guard by throwing a punch immediately but she brushed it off easily only to allow one of her tentacles to retaliate and smack Gohan's cheek harshly. The half-saiyan couldn't stop his body from falling to the ground now. Ouch, why did this hurt so much? And why couldn't he see her movements? What was wrong with him? Was she really that much stronger than he was?

The half-saiyan mentally shook these negative thoughts from his mind as he got up again. Luckily, Iona allowed him time to get up. She didn't seem to be in too much of a hurry.

Gohan decided to attack this time. He needed to get the upper hand in this fight in some way. The problem was that he couldn't seem to land a hit on her. Every time he tried to punch or kick her skin, she just wasn't there. It was very disconcerting. At least with the Saiyans he could land a hit once in a while. Here he appeared to be so weak he couldn't even hit the others.

After yet another miss, Gohan let out a sigh of despair. His only warning was a raised eyebrow on Iona's face before one of her tentacles hit him fully in his stomach. The young warrior was launched backwards and smashed into the wall.

"Are you giving up, honey?" Iona asked once she appeared in front of him. Gohan had to use all his power not to slide down the wall and fall on the ground. The young warrior frowned at his opponent. He was not going to give up just yet. He just experienced a brief moment of despair and look what that got him.

Gohan shook his head as he pushed his body away from the wall. "I'm not done yet." Iona gave him an approving expression before she suddenly appeared even closer to him. The female warrior head-butted him first and then she tried to punch him but he blocked her punch. Gohan's head was almost bursting with pain but he refused to be hit by her again. He was not going down so easily. The young warrior powered up even more and he noticed how Iona's eyes lit up. Did she notice his power-up? Could she the fluctuation in his power level?

Gohan clenched his fists and he pulled back his arm to punch her but….

"Time's up!" Furani called loudly.

Gohan's moment was gone immediately and the half-saiyan gave a distracted look sideways. "Already?"

"We've been at it for four hours already, kiddo." Iona responded as she stretched her arms. "I'd say that's time enough."

Wow.. Time had gone by so quickly during this training. Then again, he'd been in close combat every single second of the past hours. The young warrior followed the rest of the squad to the doorway. The group headed for their personal quarters, where they dispersed to their own rooms.

"I'm pretty sure your bathroom is usable by now." Furani stated. "I told them to hurry that up since you would need to clean up after the training. Go check it out."

Gohan nodded in response. He walked to his own room. The door was open and showed several slaves from all different sizes and races cleaning the room. They all got up and bowed to him when he arrived. This made Gohan a teensy-tiny bit uncomfortable and he nodded to them.

"Can I take a shower?" He asked as he pointed to the doorway that lead to his bathroom.

"Yes sir." One slave stepped forward. "We cleaned the bathroom first. This room will be done and ready for you in half an hour."

"Thank you." Gohan responded before he headed for the doorway to his bathroom. Closing the door behind him, Gohan could not help but smile. An entire room to himself. A bathroom to himself. Everything here was his to use and his alone. There was nobody who would pull rank and use every utility first, forcing Gohan to wait. No he was highest in the hierarchy of his room.

Gohan took a shower with nice hot water. The young warrior had forgotten how enjoyable a shower could be. In the army and in camp he only showered in icy cold water. Hot water was a luxury. Once more Gohan couldn't believe his luck. He was a high-ranking soldier now. He was a soldier that could get a luxury such as hot water.

After the shower Gohan was whisked away for a lunch he had never before seen the size of. Furani told him to eat his full and that was exactly what Gohan was going to do. The dinner was comfortable and cosy since the slaves kept filling the glasses of the other soldiers with wine and other types of alcohol until the high-ranking soldiers were all laughing at the smallest things. All except for Gohan. He did get a glass of wine but he was not feeling like getting drunk so he only took small sips.

The young warrior got used to the life in Cooler's army faster than he imagined at first. The training sessions were long and rigorous but he was used to going through situations like that. He spent most of his spare time hanging out with the other squad members. They all liked to play games and every single soldier was incredibly competitive. This led to rematches until deep in the night. Gohan could eat everything he wanted, whenever he wanted and he even had a few slaves that he could order around. He didn't have to clean a thing. He had the slaves for that. It was a life he could enjoy very much and maybe even… get used to.

One morning Gohan woke up, stretching out on his bed, when he realized eyes were on him. The half-saiyan quickly sat up as images of enemy warriors cutting him apart flashed before his eyes but he soon realized the person studying him was no enemy.

"Good morning, handsome." Iona gave him an innocent smile.

Gohan groaned quietly as he rubbed his face with his hands. "You've got to stop staring me awake." He complained.

"Awww but you're so cute when you sleep." Iona responded sweetly. She was clearly enjoying this situation as she kept doing it almost every morning.

"I'm not cute." Gohan said as he let his body fall back down. He pulled the sheets up to his chin and closed his eyes. "I'll be up soon. Just five more minutes." He muttered. Iona didn't respond but the fact that she was still there, staring at him, woke Gohan up more than any alarm could have done. The young warrior opened his eyes only to meet her gaze right away. "I don't suppose you're going to leave any time soon?"

"I don't think so." Iona smiled in response.

"Right." Gohan did get up now and he threw his legs over the edge of the bed. The young warrior ignored her stare as he walked to the dressing screen and hid behind it so he could change into his uniform. "Are we going to do anything special today?" Gohan asked in order to keep the conversation going.

"Training as usual and we have a meeting with Lord Cooler later today." Iona responded, her voice wandering around, which told Gohan that she was moving.

"A meeting?" Gohan asked as he walked around the screen to meet Iona. He was still attaching the band to his armour as he walked closer to her.

"Yep. We're going off a mission soon." Iona responded. She was looking out the window so she didn't notice how Gohan looked up with a worried expression on his face. "It's about time too. I was getting bored here."

"A mission?" Gohan repeated as he lowered his hands. "A purging mission?"

Iona turned around now and sent her younger comrade a smile. "Oh right. You are not really looking forward to that huh?" She said as she realized that Gohan was looking worried. "You never killed anyone before, have you?"

Gohan slowly shook his head. Iona shrugged as she headed closer to him. "You should try it out sometimes. It's quite fun."

"I would rather not." Gohan responded as he lowered his gaze. The young warrior thought back to his time in Frieza's army. He recalled the horrible missions. The murders he committed. The dark look on the faces of his comrades… Former-comrades. Gohan blew out a sigh and now realized his hands were clenched into fists. He relaxed them.

Iona apparently didn't notice as she was already heading for the door. "Let's get you something to eat." She said cheerfully. Gohan followed her meekly to the common room.

"Icarus!" Liom called as he waved. "Wanna have a rematch on Ikumo?"

Gohan grinned in response. "Sure. Right after the food." He stated as he headed for the breakfast table. Slaves were walking in and out, bringing food and drinks and replenishing everything that could possibly run out until all the soldiers left the breakfast table.

The young warrior ate until he could not eat anymore and immediately headed for the game room after that. He spent the next couple of hours playing games, losing and winning here and there. It was too soon that Furani collected them all so they could head to Cooler's office.

It was the first time Gohan was in Cooler's office. The room was less impressive than Frieza's massive office. Cooler's room had a simple desk and several metal closets running along the walls opposite of the gallery of windows. Gohan recalled that Furani told him Frieza was a hopeless show-off when it came to his possessions. The youngest of the Cooler family tended to make his rooms and possessions big and monstrous, as Furani called it, and Cooler kept things more simple. Gohan had to admit he preferred the simple style as he followed the others to the desk.

Cooler mainly addressed Furani. This was a procedure Gohan was used to. Leaders usually only addressed the other leaders and the common soldiers were not considered important in the slightest. "Planet Gooi." Cooler stated as he turned on the large screen behind him and a picture of a planet appeared. "I sent a third class team there recently and they were all wiped out. Apparently there is something on that planet that destroyed them." The Lord of the army smiled at his subordinates. "There is an unknown and dangerous force on that planet. Just the perfect mission for you guys."

Gohan could feel his heart sink as he noticed the exhilarated expressions on the faces of his current comrades. They were all ready for this mission and Gohan realized he was not getting out of this one. He would have to go on a mission again.

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

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