"Frieza." The tyrant almost jumped when Cell suddenly appeared behind him in the courtyard. "My goodness Cell, do you have any manners?" Frieza retorted with an unamused expression, although Cell didn't hesitate to sit next to Frieza on the log bench and leaned forward. "I have a question, if you don't mind me picking your brain that is." The tyrant was curious as to what the bug had in his head to ask, and he was intrigued. "Sure, shoot for the stars my buggy-little friend." Cell scoffed at the nickname and cleared his throat. "How do- sorry, how did you- make your subordinates listen to you if they were rebellious but still in your army?" Frieza was almost ecstatic to talk about himself and the privileges he laid upon those poor soldiers he brought into his army. "Oh my! Well, first of all- I would just kill them, simple as that! But of course if they had more worth like Ginyu Force strength, at least at that time, I would simply throw in a psychological reverse of conversation!" The words seemed almost too big for Frieza, and they had Cell lost. He didn't want Gohan dead, not until he could see the satisfied faces of his friends and family watching the life be squeezed out of him. "What do you mean by that exactly?"
"Well, instead of being absolutely furious when they didn't obey or follow an order correctly, I would instead ask them what made them not want to do it, then I would find a reasonable curve where they would get a small- very small benefit from if they did." Cell felt like he understood, but was still a little lost in the scenarios. "If they did something like completely ruining a crew's order or refuse for a long time to do something, so more major than previous, I would do a small punishment like not feeding them and making them feel bad that they didn't listen, and then eventually they would either do it to the best of their ability or they would be on their knees begging me to feed them! If it was anything like they killed another soldier without permission or went somewhere without permission, I would interrogate kindly, activate a longer version of a small punishment, and sometimes I would very rarely do physical harm but if I did it would be so horrible and painful they wouldn't do it again!" So what Gohan was doing was simply not listening to him, but from what Cell pieced together, he was too harsh with the punishments so far, meaning Gohan would rebel even more since there wasn't a plus-side for him. The android began to understand. "Why did you want to know?" Cell smirked at him and chuckled. "Well I figured that it's been boring recently, so I wanted to ask to pass time."
"Awe you absolute doll you came to me to cure your boredom! Want to hear anything else from the great Lord Frieza or shall that be it?" Frieza spoke with such priority it made Cell gag, but he got the overall gist why the tyrant did what he did. "I'm fine for now, I appreciate the conversation, but now I need to be off."
"Join us for game night soon huh?" Cell huffed with a smile and stood. "Sure." He flew off into the distance from the courtyard, leaving a curious Frieza behind. He had left when he made triple-sure that Gohan was sound asleep so that way he couldn't escape and cave into finding one of the ogre workers to leave. Now that Cell knew some beginning stepping stones to getting his 'training partner' to listen to him effectively, it was time to put it into motion, and while he hated that he knew it was going to be a long while, him and the other had all the time in the world before the brat could ever be sent back to Earth.
—
Gohan awoke to Hell's sun shining painfully bright into his face and he groaned, facing the other way. He could faintly sense Cell's energy, but he wasn't exactly awake completely, his eyes sticking when they blinked the sleep away, now uncomfortable with staying asleep after remembering where he was. His stomach rumbling also didn't help. Cell was closer and he didn't want to move to face him. "I know you are awake, brat." Groaning, the teen sat up and looked up at the other annoyed. "So what?"
"Someone is snippy today, aren't we?" Cell smiled, crossing his arms and looking down at him. Gohan snarled and just sat on the edge of the rock-bed. "Hungry at all?" The android asked, and Gohan reluctantly nodded, holding a hand over his stomach. "Too bad." The hybrid looked shocked. It had been two whole days since eating, and he hasn't exactly had a moment to think about how hungry he is with all that had been happening. "Wha-"
"Think of this as punishment for not listening to me yesterday, and then I wouldn't even have to go out of my way to get a fruit for you, one that could easily show us to those demons who could kill you in a heartbeat and not let your soul go." Cell played the card well, everything he thought about saying beforehand. "Y-you found out what they'll do to me?!" The kid looked like he just watched his father die all over again. "Oh yes, and then they erase your soul too, it's a shame now that because of that healing fruit I can't even get your food anyway, seems like you may just have to starve for a bit, or at least until you listen." Gohan scowled, he saw what the other was doing, but he couldn't call his bluff about the demon-soul killing stuff, but the eating and not listening to him part? All a part of some ploy to make him submit. "Then keep away from whatever food you can get since apparently I'm too stubborn to listen to a single thing you say." That was the most bite in days that Cell had heard, and he laughed, or even relished in it. The boy was by far softer than any saiyan born, meaning he would eventually succumb to begging if he didn't listen. "Then have fun starving, and don't worry I won't let you die from it, after all, all I have to do is make sure you stay hydrated and you can go without food for how long before all of your organs start to shut down?" Cell walked away after saying that, knowing fully well Gohan knew the answer. He didn't walk far as he went to one of the table-like rock formations in the cavern and brought over a bowl of red-water. "Drink." Gohan gulped, realising just how dry his throat was at that moment. It was a moment of Cell holding it before Gohan finally grabbed it and sipped carefully at first, before gulping down the whole thing. After finishing the bitter-tasting water, Cell was nowhere to be seen in front of him, but his energy wasn't far, it was just outside the cave entrance, one he wasn't going to try again without energy. He would ride this out, somehow, he survived in the wilderness for six months with no help, so what difference is there with living with a monster who was just as bad?
A lot.
—
Cell waited for one more sun down, and sun rise before he even showed back up on the cliff side in view of Gohan, taking his time sitting on top of said entrance instead of going in and terrorising the other. The teen needed time to marinate in the thought that if he didn't listen to Cell, he would starve to death, which was more gruesome than simply just being killed honourably in battle. He sighed and hopped down, just in time for Gohan waking up and looking at the entrance weakly. A saiyan's system was more demanding and strained than that of a human's and surely the brat would have seen that by now. "Ready to listen now?" Cell asked with a smirk, arms crossed in his natural fashion. Gohan flipped him off and he shrugged. "Haha, suit yourself then!" Cell turned and walked out, hopping back up to his perch again, he already knew how fuming Gohan was, but surely one more day would be it.
—
He was wrong. Gohan was stubborn, and he brought him one bowl of water once a day near dusk, yet the boy was determined to ignore Cell. Eventually it felt like a game for how long Gohan could last before begging, and Cell honestly was patient enough to see the day. It had been four days since the start of the whole punishment, and unfortunately Gohan looked a little worse for wear, but today was the fifth day and Cell was going to once more ask if he was ready to listen, and he may find himself pleased with the response.
He dropped down and what he saw before him was almost a full shock. Gohan was standing just before the entrance of the cave, eyes glazed over and form shaky. "What… what do you want me to do exactly?" Gohan asked, voice hoarse. Cell smiled and walked forward with pride, placing a tightly gripped hand on Gohan's shoulder and leaned down. "I want you to bow. Properly." Gohan bit his lip, unable to look Cell in the eyes as he got onto his knees and leaned his body forward to the ground. "From now on, we are going to have training sessions to get you back to your glory so we can fight once more, and by fight I mean the true definition of impeccable performance, absolute perfection. I want your best so we are going to make that happen. Moment you wake until your feeding, we will train." There was no question if Gohan was on board, but the saiyan simply kept his head down and hummed. "Sure…" It wasn't a proper agreement, it was sarcastic more than anything but Cell could care less at that moment. "Good, now get up and wait on the bed, I'll be back with food." Gohan heard that word and wasted no time in scuttling away until he stood to run to the bed and sit on the edge of it. He also assumed when he said bed it was so he was out of sight as next to the caverns that linked the opening deep into the mountain, the bed was the farthest thing into the 'home.'
"Be back soon." Cell flew off after waving to the other, a look of pride and success painting his features.
—
Gohan waited for what seemed like a few hours, as the sun was already setting, but he was determined to sit still. As much as he hated himself for giving in, he was hungry, so, so painfully hungry and Cell didn't give into his fighter-tantrum so if surviving meant being a personal training dummy for just a little while, long enough to get wished back to Earth, then so be it.
Cell arrived with food in hand and Gohan happily hopped forward to eat whatever he presented. The android couldn't be happier to see the other practically bending already, although once back to full health Gohan wouldn't be so eager as he was today, and Cell counted on it.
—
"Well, if my subordinates did excellent one day, I would reward them with some type of affection akin to what they preferred. So if they liked gifts, gifts, and if they liked affection, then anything that related to touching them in a friendly way, although disgusting, gave much more successful results than only punishment. Then being playful with your words and threats over time leads them to think there is trust, it's simple really." Cell took mental note of his visit with Frieza in the courtyard again. "Truly Cell, what ever got you so interested? Planning on being revived soon and stealing my job?" Frieza jokingly teased, which led Cell to fully piecing together all he said. "Maybe, you never know. I have been itching to get back at those Earthlings for what they did for me, especially Goku's son, don't worry though I'll make sure you come back too and then we can torture the duo together." Cell smirked through his joke, Frieza laughing beside him. "Oh you are a gem! Anywho, poker is tonight, you in?"
"Absolutely, I've been itching for a bit." Frieza was pleased with the answer and waved Cell off. It had been almost two weeks since he last talked to Frieza about the initial ways Frieza ran his crew, and this was particularly intriguing to the frost demon, perhaps he would have to see for himself soon just exactly what the bug was up to that kept him so busy and away from the group.