Wow. wow wow wow. Seriously, you guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all the love and support this story has been getting! Over 200 followers in three chapters?! thank you so much! xD Im so sorry I havent been able to post recently, I've been so busy with life, wedding planning and work! Hopefully you'll enjoy this chapter and find it entertaining and worth the wait! Love, ES x

Chapter Four

Training Begins

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This was not what he had in mind when he thought of destroyer training.

The morning had started off along the lines of what he had envisioned - with a literal bang, caused by the sudden appearance of a floating sand timer that exploded at the crack of dawn. Slightly singed, but by no means undeterred, Gohan threw on the required attire of a clean light blue tracksuit and white trainers and hurried out into the meadow to meet Whis along with the rest of the recruits. His talk with Alala last night had certainly improved his mood, and had made him even more determined to make a difference to the universe. However, he couldn't help but feel put out when Whis was nowhere in sight, and seven sets of mops and buckets were waiting for them instead.

He was awfully confused, though his peers did not seem fazed by this in the slightest and proceeded to take a mop and bucket each before flying out to the enormous tree that housed Beerus' castle. The young saiyan followed hesitantly, slopping half of the warm soapy water over himself as Eris snapped at him to hurry up. He wasn't sure what mops and buckets had to do with their training, but he wouldn't have to wait long to find out.

"Ugh, I hate housekeeping," Makhai whined, abandoning his scrubbing and flopping against the bark of the ancient tree.

"Do you really have to do this every morning?" asked Gohan, dipping his mop back into the water, "Not even my mum cleans this much!"

It was unbearably hot so far up in the sky, the air thick and humid. Beads of sweat were evident on the young saiyan's brow as he continued to scrub the ageing tree bark. And his peers were in no better state. The heat almost reminded him of his time in The Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where it was so impregnable that it was difficult to breathe. Even so, it wasn't much of a work out, all it did was make him sweaty.

"Oh stop your whining," Eris said haughtily from a few branches back, her wild air pinned into an up-do over her crown, "The quicker you get off your arse Makhai, the faster we will be finished."

Bia chuckled heartily from the trunk below them, "In answer to your question Gohan, yes, we do this every morning, as well as carry out other duties such as fetching food items from other planets, cleaning the palace and gardening."

"But why?" the halfling enquired, "I don't see what this has got to do with becoming a God of Destruction."

"Exactly my point, Sparky," Makhai drawled, closing his eyes and resting the back of his head against the tree.

"Performing menial tasks is very good for maintaining discipline," said Bia, unknowing just how much she reminded Gohan of his mother in that moment, "Plus it keeps everything spick and span, I trust you saw the mess you made after you and Kratos fought yesterday? Battle dust certainly is a nuisance to get out of tree bark you know."

The halfling heard a disgruntled noise behind him at the comment, and wasn't surprised when he saw Kratos hovering above the branches with his own mop, cleaning rather aggressively. The older boy had ignored Gohan all morning, apart from shooting him the occasional glare.

"But didn't Whis just wave his sceptre and everything went back to normal?" the pre-teen asked, the thought crossing his mind, "Couldn't he just do that for all of the cleaning?"

"Absolutely not!" Kratos finally snapped, his hard blue eyes narrowing at him, "How dare you even suggest it! It is your duty at this time to do as Master Whis asks of you, and I won't hear any more complaining!"

Gohan huffed, grabbing his mop rather haughtily and flinging more water than was needed across the branch, silently hoping that some of the excess hit Kratos in the face.

"It's not all bad Gohan, the housework won't take too long what with seven of us now," Alala chimed from the bark to his left where she was mopping with a rather disgruntled Deimos, "And I'd lower your voice if I were you Kratos, you might wake up Lord Beerus and you know how he can get if you disturb his nap."

"Does he really sleep that much?" asked Gohan, "Whis said that he had been doing a lot of napping recently."

"Destroyer Gods go through cycles of hibernation and destruction," said Bia, "although their sleep cycles can vary from days to a few centuries."

"Oh right, Beerus mentioned that Whis had woken him up early, he didn't seem too happy about it," he replied thoughtfully.

"That's Lord Beerus to you child, and you will address him by his full title," Kratos growled, "Master did indeed rouse him earlier than planned so that he could inspect the new recruit, though I hardly think it was worth the effort."

The young saiyan shrunk back slightly. He was still getting used to the formalities, but still, did he have to be so mean about it?

"What's got your knickers in a twist Kratos?" Makhai jested, "Aww did the iccle bitty saiyan cub scare you with his shiny golden hair?"

The warrior snarled, "You'd better wind your neck in Makhai before I shove this mop up your -"

"The amount they destroy works in harmony with the amount they sleep," Bia continued, cutting across them, "for if there is too much destruction, the universe will implode. The same goes creation."

"So where are the creation Gods?" Gohan quirked, "I haven't seen any around."

A small burst of laughter escaped them, as Makhai spoke, "The Supreme Kai has his own realm and attendant. There used to be more but a manic ancient monster wiped four of the five out some years back. They may be Gods but they are much weaker than Gods of Destruction, as their job is to create and fill planets with life. They'd wet themselves if they were asked to come here, but I doubt they'd be even permitted to visit. Destroyers can mostly go where they please though."

"Is everyone really that scared of the Gods of Destruction?"

"Like you wouldn't believe," said the older boy, "You'd be scared too if you saw him in action."

"He sneezed once and destroyed three suns," Eris told him, "You would be wise not to take his power lightly."

The halfling gaped, "Is he really that strong?!"

"Insanely so," said Makhai, "No one can stand up to him in this entire universe. Well, except for Whis, but he was the one that trained him."

"Whis trained Lord Beerus?!"

"Of course he did you fool," Deimos piped up with a roll of his eyes, "He is Lord Beerus' attendant, and that would include training, like he is doing for us."

"Oh," Gohan mustered, feeling a little stupid, it did make sense after all, "Sorry, I didn't know."

"Don't worry about it little man," Makhai smiled, throwing his arm over his shoulders, "The first time Kratos showed up here he thought that Whis was the God and Lord Beerus was the attendant. Nasty business."

"Right! That's it!" the recruit in question roared, throwing down his mop in a hissy fit as the rest of the group snorted with laughter, "I've had enough. You two idiots are on maid duty!"

Makhai scoffed, "Who died and made you boss?"

"Don't make me tell you twice Lethien!" Kratos spat, "You're both slowing down this whole process, and at this rate we won't be doing any training until nightfall."

"Well you're the one that just chucked your cleaning utensil off the tree," the ginger-haired boy said pointedly, "I'd say that's rather counterproductive if you ask me."

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" He bellowed, yet Makhai merely shrugged.

"Fine, your loss," he sighed, lifting off into the air, "Come on Gohan, I'll show you the ropes."

The young saiyan didn't need to be told twice, and quickly followed suit, spiralling down from the world encompassing branches and towards the palace below them.

"I think he's still mad at me," sighed Gohan, as the stone temple came into view.

Makhai snorted, "Don't take it personally, that bloke has a permanent buzzborg in his overgrown bonnet. He has a sad story, but so do we all, he just let it get to him. Though it probably doesn't help that you bruised his ever expanding ego. I however, find it hilarious."

He didn't know what a buzzborg was, though he presumed it was some sort of alien bee. He didn't ask though, he was too ticked off. Kratos was the one who had taken their fight too far, not him. And he felt as though he was being punished for it.

"He's a git Gohan," said Makhai, catching onto the look on his face, "Don't let him get to you. He'll come around you'll see. And if he doesn't, then just take the piss out of him like I do. At least I'll get a laugh out of it."

The young saiyan couldn't help but laugh at that, "What does maid duty involve anyway?"

All he received was a mischievous grin as they landed outside the temple. "Oh," said Makhai, pushing open the doors, "You'll see."

"How the in the bloody hells are we supposed to do this?!" Gohan hissed, gaping at the task at hand.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Makhai scoffed, folding his arms across his chest and giving him a pointed look, "You're too young to be swearing."

"I'm too young to do most things apparently," the halfling shot back in annoyance.

The older boy chuckled at his display, holding his hands up in defence, "Alright, alright, I'll ease off on the toddler jokes."

"Thank you."

"Doesn't mean I won't still call you shortie though."

"Is everything a joke to you?!" Gohan griped.

"No, not everything," Makhai said seriously, "Mass genocide isn't very funny. Well, for most people anyway. Deimos found it a good crack, that's what got him locked up in HFIL."

"You what?" the young saiyan gaped, no wonder he got such a bad feeling from the boy! Still, he was so quiet now, what with his nose buried in textbooks at every given opportunity. He just didn't seem capable. Still, he reasoned, he was a candidate to become the next God of Destruction.

"Yeah, Deimos was this crazy warlord in the living world, used all kinds of evil magic to kill off a shit load of species until a good wizard did him in," Makhai informed him almost indifferently, "He's changed a lot though, I suppose that a couple of centuries hanging around ogres can do that to a bloke. They look quite scary, but they're a simple lot."

"I can't believe it," the pre-teen whispered, "Mass genocide, really?"

"Yup," the boy whistled, "My cause of death too, inadvertently though I suppose. No one really had it out for me that much, just wanted to lock me up in prison."

"H-how?" Gohan asked tentatively, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. Even though he knew that it wouldn't change the fact that Makhai was dead and had been so for quite some years, he still didn't like the thought of him dying.

"I was an outlaw," he explained, "A thief, a rebel. Ran away from my home planet Lethe in the North Galaxy when I was wanted by every law enforcement in the world, though it wasn't long before the galactic patrol were after me too. I was hiding on a planet off the beaten track when Frieza and his cronies rocked up and decided to blow it up."

"Frieza?!" the young saiyan gasped in horror, "You're telling me that Frieza killed you?!"

He shrugged, "Call it being in the wrong place at the wrong time, along with a dash of bad luck. Why, did you know him?"

"Know him?!" Gohan spluttered, "I fought him!"

"You," Makhai stared, pointing his finger at him, "You fought Lord Frieza. The moat fearsome tyrant to ever rule over the galaxies?"

"Uh, yeah."

"When?!" the boy scoffed disbelievingly, "Were you in nappies or something?!"

"I was five."

Makhai gave him a deadpan look, before erupting into hysterics, much to Gohan's chargin.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHA - Oh wait you're serious," he said, stopping himself short as he caught onto the pre-teen's glare, "Bloody hell! You're actually serious aren't you?"

Slowly, the halfling nodded, causing Makhai to gasp, "Blimey, no wonder you're so strong! What happened? I got word about that bastard being killed. Don't tell me it was you who did the deed?!"

"Well actually, it was my dad that defeated him," Gohan explained, "He survived unfortunately and came to Earth, but a boy from the future finished him off for good."

Makhai gaped, "I can't tell if you're completely off your head or not, though you must have been to have a go at Frieza at age five."

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly, prompting the older boy to give him a bewildered look.

"Sorry? For what?"

"Frieza," Gohan sighed heavily, vivid, cruel memories flashing through his mind, "I'm sorry that it was Frieza who killed you. That heartless monster was the worst."

"Ah it's fine," Makhai smiled, "I was sixteen when I died, and I'd had a good life, though a few years of running and hiding was enough for me anyway. They locked me up in HFIL for the crimes I'd committed, but the ogres were much nicer to me than the other inmates. I didn't have mummy and daddy to steer me on the right path you see. I bet they must have been so disappointed, but I have no regrets. I only took this gig on for a laugh, but I suppose it would be nice to give something back to the universe. It's a shame though really, Frieza got the lot of us in the end, my race the Lethiens were incredibly gifted warriors and he was rightly scared of them. Easiest solution of course was to blow us all up."

"It was kind of his thing," the young saiyan spat darkly.

He chuckled, clapping him on the shoulder, "And don't worry, I won't hold it against you for not killing him. As long as you got a good hit on that bastards smug face."

Gohan couldn't help but shoot him a wicked grin, "Oh you bet I did."

Makhai smiled back, before turning to the mighty assignment in front of them, "Right then, let's get to work."

"Mind explaining how we do this again?" he asked, tugging on the pink frilly fabric around his waist, "and are the aprons really necessary?"

"Of course not," said Makhai, "I just want to feel pretty."

Gohan shot him a most hateful glare.

"Great Zalama among us I was joking!" he exclaimed, "Whis makes us wear them, and what he says goes I'm afraid. Blimey, you are way too serious for a ten year old."

"I'm eleven!" the halfling spouted hotly, "and you said that you wouldn't make jokes about my age anymore!"

"Hey don't look at me," he replied, "I'm training to be a deity, not a saint. You shouldn't be so trusting."

"Evidently," Gohan snarled, causing the older boy to snicker.

"Ah come on," Makhai smiled, showing off his fangs, "Seen as it's your first time, I'll be gentle. You can play look out and make sure Lord Beerus doesn't wake up whilst I change the sheets."

"Fine," the young saiyan drawled, he had a really bad feeling about this.

Lord Beerus' sleeping quarters was unlike anything he had seen before. Situated in a vast chamber with no windows, the only light reflecting off the dozens of floating sand-timers that Gohan had been extremely careful to avoid for want of them not exploding. The entire room was engulfed in a soft yellow glow, though the pre-teen could not depict just where the light was coming from. They were deep within the palace after all, and the air was suffocatingly warm and humid, it didn't help the fact that the God of Destruction was emitting that same energy that weighed a tremendous pressure on his senses.

Lord Beerus was sleeping peacefully, and didn't look all that threatening as his body was contorted at an odd angle, his long pointed tail twitching at every breath he exhaled. He wore a faded blue nightgown, his blankets twisted at the end of the oval shaped bed that was suspended in mid-air by a jagged rock that protruded from the darkness below them from which Gohan could not see the bottom.

"Right so," Makhai spoke, clapping his hands together as his features became more serious, "First rule, don't wake him up. Lord Beerus doesn't take lightly to people interrupting his nap, if we wake him it could cost us our lives. Well, wipe us from existence."

Gohan was so shocked that his startled voice echoed over the chamber, "WHAT?!"

"Shhh!" the older boy pressed, causing the young saiyan to clamp his hands over his mouth sheepishly.

His eyes darted towards the dangerous deity but was shortly relieved when he found that he was still fast asleep.

"Yeah if you die when you're already dead then poof!" Makhai continued, "You're wiped from the planes of existence. Though, it wouldn't matter if we were alive anyway, alive or dead if you're destroyed by a destroyer then there is no coming back from that."

Gohan gulped, slowly removing his hands, "So how are we going to manage changing his sheets without waking him up?"

He shrugged indifferently, "We just have to wait until he rolls over."

The halfling blinked, surely he wasn't serious? Lord Beerus looked incredibly comfortable, his light snores filling the air, who knows how long they would be waiting for the deity to untangle himself from his bedsheets. It wasn't fair, Gohan wanted to train, not hang around an ancient destroyers bedroom in a frilly apron waiting on the off chance for him to turn over in his sleep.

After a few minutes of silence, the young pre-teen sighed, hovering over Lord Beerus as he continued to snore. He couldn't help but giggle, as the most deadliest God there was mumbled something incoherent in his sleep, a bubble of snot protruding from his nostril.

"You know," Gohan chuckled quietly, "for someone so powerful he doesn't half look silly in his sleep."

As his voice echoed over the chamber, Lord Beerus snapped open one eye without warning.

Gohan squeaked, nearly falling out of the air as the destroyer God's beady pupil fixated on him. It felt like it was penetrating his entire soul, and he could have sworn that his entire life flashed before his eyes - again.

Luckily, Makhai was quick to intervene.

"Good morning Lord Beerus!" He chirped, shoving him out of the way and standing to attention, one hand raised in salute, "This is just a dream! Go back to sleep now, that's a good kitty cat."

Gohan held his breath as Beerus continued to stare at the boys, when slowly, his eyelid closed shut and his snores reached their ears once more.

"Phew," he breathed, turning his back towards the deity as he spoke, beads of sweat evident on his brow, "That was close."

"Too right," said Makhai, clapping him on the back, "You'd better stay back and let me handle this, you've got to be careful mate."

"Yeah, maybe you're right," Gohan replied tentatively, "For a moment there I thought I was a goner -eek!"

His sentence was abruptly cut short, as a strong, powerful arm suddenly wrapped around his neck from behind and he was pulled backwards onto the mattress below. He had to bite the inside of his cheeks to keep himself from screaming both out of shock and out of pain. Somehow, in his delirium, Beerus the Destroyer had sat up in his slumber and thinking that Gohan was some sort of large teddy bear, pulled him back down with him, cradling him close.

So close that poor halfling was currently being held in a headlock, his neck burning with agony and his head swimming with lack of oxygen. He was fighting to keep himself conscious, though didn't want to struggle to much for want of not waking Beerus up and having to explain just why the new recruit was nestled in bed with him.

"Brilliant Gohan!" Makhai beamed, keeping his voice to a whisper, "Stay just like that, and lift him up whilst he still has hold of you. I'll change the sheets underneath!"

He nodded wordlessly, and gritting his teeth in pain he gathered his Ki, pushing it underneath him so that he was able to levitate both him and Beerus off of the mattress and into the air. Gohan thanked his lucky stars that he was still snoring, though the hold on his neck was tighter than ever.

"Will you hurry up?!" Gohan hissed below him, where he could depict the sound of flapping bedsheets. "I swear you're going slow on purpose."

Makhai chuckled mischievously, "I'm just ironing out the creases!"

The young saiyan honestly felt like slapping him.

He was struggling for breath, though relief filled his chest when a small shout from the older boy signalled that he was finished. He made to lower them back down onto the bed, when a pungent smell reached his nostrils, nearly causing him to gag.

"Lord Beerus," Makhai cooed, holding something wrinkled and smelly in his palm, a peg attached to his nose, "Here sleepy kitty, a dried sardine! Yum yum, come and get it!"

Slowly, but surely, they landed softly on the now fresh sheets, and Beerus finally rolled over, releasing Gohan in order to chew on the smelly fish.

The halfling gasped for air as he was freed, gulping down relieving breaths of oxygen as he rubbed his sore neck. He winced as he recovered, watching as Lord Beerus swallowed his mouthful and licked his lips, drifting back into a deep sleep.

He had no idea just where Makhai had pulled the sardine from, and in all honesty he really didn't want to know.

"There, all done!" the boy chimed happily, his nose now peg free, "A successful venture I'd say."

"Successful?" Gohan spluttered, "I almost died, again!"

"Exactly!" he grinned back, "You almost got destroyed, but you didn't. I'd call that a win, wouldn't you?"

As the pre-teen opened his mouth in an angry retort, did a loud, thunderous bellow interrupt him.

"WORST DISH EVER!" Lord Beerus cried in a fit of rage.

He was still asleep, thank goodness, quite obviously dreaming. Though that didn't stop him from failing his tail around and walloping the two startled boys in the chest.

Gohan and Makhai went flying across the chamber, the wind completely knocked out of them as the careened through the air. They hit something solid with a sickening CLANG and it took them a few seconds to realise just what they had crashed into to.

"Oh SHIT!" Makhai swore loudly, as the sand-timer glowed an alarming bright yellow, a whirring sound reaching their ears.

Then, before Gohan could even blink, Makhai had whizzed the pair of them and the ticking time bomb out of the palace, far away from Lord Beerus and his sleeping quarters. They somehow reappeared where they had started, within the twisting branches of the enormous ancient tree and right in front of a flabbergasted Kratos.

"Oi Kratos mate, hang onto this for us would you?" Makhai winked, before disappearing once more.

BOOM!

The force of the explosion rocked the entire tree, the branches and leaves blowing back from the force as the bright yellow light eclipsed the atmosphere.

As the dust subsided, Makhai and Gohan were nowhere to be found, leaving the rest of the recruits coughing and spluttering through the smoke.

"Well," said Bia, brushing the remnants of sand off her tracksuit before clasping a seething and singed Kratos on the shoulder, "You've got to give them points for creativity."

Far away from the others, the troublesome pair reappeared in a flower filled meadow, both of them roaring with laughter.

"That was brilliant!" laughed Gohan, tears in his eyes, "what was that move? Instant transmission?"

The way Makhai had just materialised them in front of Kratos and away again was all to reminiscent of his father's technique.

"Instant transmission?" he quirked curiously, "Nah, never heard of it. That there Sparky, was just teleportation, you'll learn it from your time here."

"Wicked," the young saiyan beamed, he couldn't wait to learn more.

"Come on, the fun doesn't stop there," Makhai grinned, guiding him by the shoulders, "Now that we've changed Lord Beerus' sheets we've got a lot more to get done before we can start training."

House keeping, as it turned out, involved a lot more than just scrubbing the ancient tree and collecting daily food supplies. Although their food haul had increased substantially with the addition of the young half saiyan. Every morning started off the same way, they would be rudely awoken by the explosive sand-timer, and spend the hours until late afternoon mopping, washing, scrubbing, cutting a entire field of grass that only grew back the next day, and cleaning out slimy smelly fish bowls that belonged to some oracle fish.

They would stop for a short lunch before heading out into the meadow to meet Whis, who would put them through their paces in regards to strength and resistance training. They would be subjected to lifting a tremendously heavy block that resembled cinder and run laps around the planet, however, there was a catch as the pathway would begin to disappear underneath their feet and should they fall they would be cast into another dimension from which there was no return. Once the recruits got comfortable with the weight, Whis would double it.

Another interesting way to train was to perform fifty-thousand thumb-ups in gravity dense suits that created more resistance than Bulma's latest artificial gravity simulator she had built for Vegeta in the run up to The Cell Games.

His new master had many weird and wonderful ways to train them, each one as gruelling as the next. Though despite a rather shaky start, Gohan found that he was beginning to fit in amongst the rest of the recruits, catching up steadily to their level of intense training. He spent the majority of his time with Makhai, who was quickly becoming more of a best friend despite the age difference. Alala and Bia spoke with him often, but more often than not were they wrapped up in their own training, however, the rest of the recruits mainly ignored him. Things had been tense with Kratos ever since their fight, though he was more inclined to brush it off as Makhai had suggested and not take it personally.

He had learned the backstories of the two other recruits in the meantime. The dark feeling he had gotten from Eris was solid in it's truth. According to Makhai, Eris had been an evil seventeen year old empress that had brought chaos and war to her planet some hundred and fifty years ago. She was killed by rebels when they managed to overthrow her vindictive rein, though just like Deimos she repented, and he dark humour and haughty attitude was all that was left of the corrupt princess that once was. Makhai loved teasing her, and the pre-teen as inexperienced as he was, couldn't help but think that the ginger-haired Lethien had a bit of a thing for her.

Bia, on the other hand, was as good as they came. She died around a hundred years before Eris at just nineteen, and was apart of a planet of all female warriors who lived to bring peace to surrounding planets, though were fierce and deadly when attacked. Bia gave her life to save her sisters when their planet was attacked by outlaws, and had been training on the Grand Kai's planet ever since.

Weeks, maybe months fled by, though Gohan had realised he had begun to lose count of the days since he had died. He could feel himself getting stronger, and was even managing to dodge Lord Beerus' catastrophic sleep sneezes. He was close to mastering his super saiyan two transformation, something that only Whis and Makhai had been informed of and had taken to venturing out alone in the dead of night to power up into the ascended state and see how long he could maintain it. He would spar with his shadow, perform katas that his father had taught him many years ago, and meditate to clear his mind. In truth, he was still conflicted over his decision to stay away from his family and friends, though he reasoned that time healed, and he hoped that his would heal soon.

In between housework and training, the young saiyan would study in the common room with the rest of the recruits. He was utterly fascinated with the structure of the universe, and the various rules and regulations that deity's had to abide by. He would spend time next to the roaring blue fire pouring over thick leather bound books and fill his brain with various languages and information regarding races, galaxies and stars. Things that would have seemed like fantasy a few months ago, but now was all too real, and there was a lot to learn. He hadn't even started on the books that Makhai had given him on his first day of the camp, instead he had taken to raiding the bookshelves in the common room.

Still, gaining all this knowledge and strength wasn't all that worth it to Gohan without having the chance to test it out. The recruits hadn't been permitted to spar with one another for some time, having been instructed by Whis to explore their power separately. This was confusing for the young boy, as he didn't understand just how they were supposed to compete or test their power when they weren't allowed to spar. However, his patience was rewarded, when one sunny morning were they roused from their beds with yet another sand-timer bomb.

Gohan yawned and stretched indifferently, before clambering out of bed and pulling on his usual blue tracksuit. Slightly singed, though undeterred, Gohan and the rest of the recruits filed out of the camp and out to the meadow, where instead of the usual mops and buckets, was Whis standing before them with a quirky smile.

"Do you always have to use the sand bombs Master Whis?" Makhai whined, blinking the sleep out of his eyes and squinting up at the Angel in the morning sun. "I swear I keep getting sand in my underpants."

Whis simply chuckled, "You'll have to get used to them if you want to become the next God of Destruction."

The ginger haired teen huffed, "You wouldn't be saying that if you had sand stuck up your-"

"Master," Bia interjected before Makhai could finish his sentence, "may I ask why you have greeted us with your presence so early? Has our training schedule changed for today?"

"You could say that Bia my dear," Whis smiled ever wider, "Training is cancelled for today, as you have been chosen to go on a mission."

Gohan's eyes widened, Whis had mentioned something about going on missions when he had first arrived on Beerus' planet. But what would the mission entail? A feeling of dread suddenly crept its ways into the pit of his stomach. Oh no, he was really hoping that he wouldn't have to destroy anything so soon.

His train of thought was cut short however, by the sound of Makhai squealing in his ears.

"FINALLY!" He beamed, throwing his arm over Gohan's shoulders, "It's about time you gave us something exciting to do Master Whis! And it'll be Sparky's first time too! Don't you worry little man, we'll be gentle. Ooh this is the best day ever!"

"Do calm down and have some dignity!" Eris snapped in disapproval at the display.

"Sorry love, lost that when I died."

"I doubt you had it before."

"Oi!"

"Settle down, settle down," Whis chuckled, before he surveyed the seven recruits, his features becoming serious, "Now, your first mission as a party of seven will not be an easy feat by any means. Just because you are new to us Gohan, doesn't mean that I'll be taking the others back to basics."

The young saiyan gulped as Makhai nudged him in the ribs and said, "Gutted."

"As it is, the Supreme Kai has been in touch, as an inter-dimensional beast has been reeking havoc across the cosmos," the Angel continued, the recruits standing to attention, "This creature gains power by feeding off off light energy and has been devouring suns, already destroying countless worlds over the last few days. It needs to be stopped, or else the universe will become imbalanced. I thought it would be a perfect task for my destroyers in training, don't you agree?"

Kratos smashed his fists together, "An excellent task Master, we will destroy this monster without a moment wasted. Though I do not think you'll need all seven of us for this mission."

Gohan frowned, as the warrior inclined his head towards him.

"Let's find out, shall we?" Whis winked, tapping his staff so that they were all engulfed in a white beam of light, "The Supreme Kai believes he knows where the beast will strike next, and it will take us approximately nine minutes and forty-eight seconds to get there. Keep your arms and legs inside The Warp at all times now."

And they were off. The young saiyan felt a tremendous pull at his navel as they jerked forwards and shot up into the sky, past the atmosphere and hurtled headlong into deep space. Now Gohan had experienced space travel first hand on the way to Namek, but this was on a whole new level. Once he had gotten over the shock of being thrown into space, the pre-teen could admire the vast array of stars and planets whizzing past them at break neck speed, though he held onto the back of Whis' garb tightly, weary of falling out of the white foggy light that carried them towards their destination. The others seemed completely unfazed by the speed and the fact that they were flying through space without a spaceship.

A part of Gohan was excited, he had been waiting for something to test his strength for ages now. And yes, they were heading off to destroy something, but whatever this creature was, it had taken countless lives already, and would surely continue in it's destructive path if it wasn't stopped. That, the young saiyan could live with, though it didn't help stop his knees from knocking together.

"You nervous Gohan?" Bia asked when they had been warping for a few minutes.

This drew the attention of the other recruits, causing him to blush and look down at his feet. He really wished Bia wasn't so good at reading a persons emotions. He could feel Kratos' eyes burning into the back of his head, though to his relief he didn't say anything.

"Nervous?" Makhai scoffed, before breaking out into a fanged smile, "Don't be nervous! You have nothing to fear little man!"

"Aw the little saiyan cub is tense," Deimos snorted, causing Alala to shoot him a glare.

"No he's not!" she snarled, hunching her bow further up on her shoulder, her sharp pointed arrows strapped to her back in a quiver. She smiled brightly at him, "Don't worry Gohan, your power is amazing."

"Yeah and we've got your back," said Makhai, "Even though we're competing we're not about to let anyone get hurt."

Eris scoffed, "Speak for yourself."

"Oh ignore her," the boy said with a roll of his eyes, as Gohan gulped, "What do you need man? Deodorant? Breath mint? Fresh pair of underwear?"

"Underwear?" the dark princess wrinkled her nose in distaste, "You need help."

"What?" Makhai blinked, "It's best to come prepared!"

Alala gave him a reassuring wink as the pair continued to bicker, and steadily The Warp began to slow. The stars became clearer and the dusty ground beneath them came nearer - too near, Gohan thought as he ended up landing heavily on his backside as soon as they landed.

"Ouch!" He winced, his coccyx throbbing painfully as the others, who were still standing much to his chargin, looked towards him in amusement.

"We will have to work on that landing of yours Gohan," observed Whis, as Alala helped him to his feet, "But alas, another time. I believe you have more pressing matters to attended to."

For the first time, Gohan took in his surroundings. They were situated on what appeared to be an abandoned planet, it's surface made of crimson chalk. The sky above them glowed bright orange, due to the sun that burned incredibly close to the planet. He didn't know if the planet had been abandoned due to the sheer impregnable heat or the fact that the inhabitants had perished because of it. He was certain he wasn't feeling the intensity of the elements as bad because he was dead, though he could still feel the sweat rolling down his neck and back.

Broken buildings lay crumbled in heaps over the desolate wasteland, and as he stretched out his senses, he realised that he couldn't sense anything else on the entire planet. It was certainly eerie, and he wondered just where in the universe they were. However, there was no more time to contemplate as a sudden bloodcurdling screech reached his ears.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, as the high pitched screaming grew louder. It sounded as though a million souls were being tortured at once, ringing in his ears and making his stomach clench with anticipation and fear.

A bright green light erupted from somewhere above the atmosphere, and what followed it made the young saiyan gape in horror. For Whis was certainly talking about a beast, the likes of which Gohan had never seen before, or imagined in any of his worst nightmares. It looked like some kind of giant deformed octopus, about four times the size of an adult Oozaru. It had eight enormous tentacles that seemed to propel it forwards towards them, it's bulbous head thrashing around wildly as it screamed, baring rows and rows of sharp jagged teeth. The pre-teen felt sick, it's entire body was covered in gelatinous slime that glistened sickeningly in the blinding sunlight. The stench emitting from the beast was overwhelmingly foul, it smelled like rotting eggs, flesh and a bucket load of those nasty dried sardines that Makhai always pulled from Kami knows where for Lord Beerus emergencies.

"Well, that's a little intense," said Makhai, as the deadly creature hurtled towards them.

"And this is where I leave you," Whis positively beamed, "Toodles!"

And with a flash of blinding white light, he was gone.

"INCOMING!" Kratos roared as the beast landed with an enormous crash, causing the rest of the recruits to shield themselves from the impact.

"Yuck! What in gracious hell is that thing?!" Eris spat in disgust, uncovering her arms from her face and glaring at the monster.

"It doesn't matter what it is," said Kratos boldly, "All that matters is how we're going to destroy it."

"And how do you propose we do that, oh mighty one?" Makhai mocked, bowing to him comically.

The older warrior ignored him, immediately taking charge as the gigantic beast let out another high pitched wail, "The situation is simple, we go at that monster all at once with everything we've got before it eats any more suns, destroy it and get out."

"Sounds a bit boring if you ask me," Makhai snorted.

"Why you-!"

"For once I agree with Makhai," said Eris, her eyes hardening, "Experienced in leading a battalion or not, I'm not taking orders off of you, or anyone else for that matter."

"Aw, I didn't know you cared, my Princess of Darkness."

"Shove it!"

"When you've done arguing," Alala interjected pointedly, drawing her bow, "We've got a job to do."

Slowly, Kratos swallowed his pride, "Fine. Alala, you go ahead, the rest of us will follow. We need to power up to our maximum to ensure this beast's demise. I can sense a well of evil energy within it."

"Right," said Bia fiercely, before her body was enveloped in a striking silver glow.

Blues, reds, purples and oranges suddenly lit up the dusty crimson ground as they powered up. Deimos did so rather reluctantly, rolling his eyes before his own green aura accompanied the rest.

Gohan let out a sharp cry as he brought his power to the surface, immediately jumping to his super saiyan two form, lightening bolts jolting around his frame as his eyes turned emerald and his unruly hair a brilliant gold.

"And you," Kratos growled suddenly, his piercing gaze fixated on the halfling, "Stay out of my way."

The young saiyan was left stunned, as before he could retort did the six recruits kick off from the ground and speed towards the awaiting tentacled beast. Alala was first into the fray, releasing multiple arrows from her bow in rapid succession. They must have been manipulated with Ki somehow, as they were encompassed by violet flames that caused them to rip through the monster's slimy flesh and melt the surrounding skin away.

The creature howled with rage and agony, as the young assassin landed effortlessly before it, her dark hair whipping about her from the rapid winds that were steadily engulfing the planet. The influx of power from the recruits was mind boggling, and it was clear that the beast stood no chance against them.

With a loud battlecry, they charged, the already weakened beast snarled with fury, it's long tentacles flailing around violently in the air in an attempt to bat the recruits out of the sky. Sickly green blood poured from the wounds that Alala had inflicted, though Kratos still instructed the warriors to fire, serious about ending it quickly.

One, two, three, four, five, six multicoloured blasts intermingled with one another as the recruits unleashed their power. It propelled towards the snarling beast, igniting the crimson wasteland in a brilliant hue of light. The monster's beady eyes widened, before it became dazzled by the fused energy. It penetrated it's skin before it could react, erupting out of the other side of it's chest cavity and causing it to quiver.

Coming to his senses, Gohan made to follow the others, but before he could so much as make a move, the beast dropped to the ground. Dead.

The young saiyan sighed, dropping back to the first level of super saiyan, his golden aura dissipating in an instant. He couldn't help but feel disappointed. Why had Kratos held him back like that? He thought he had gotten over being intimidated by him by now. The other recruits had managed to get in there before Gohan could even blink. It wasn't fair. When was he going to be given the opportunity to test his strength? To prove his worth? To prove to himself and the others that he wasn't just a little kid playing some kind of game?

Then again, he surmised, nudging a motionless tentacle moodily with his foot, this manic monster that the Supreme Kai was so worried about didn't seem all that strong anyway.

"Well, that was easy," said Makhai, shrugging at the others, who also seemed a little disappointed at the challenge their mentor had set for them.

"Almost too easy," Alala mustered, picking up a bloodied arrow and wiping it clean on the hem of her tracksuit hoodie, "I don't like it."

"Oh come off it," the ginger haired teen scoffed, "Why are you being so sceptical all of a sudden? The Supreme Kai was scared shitless of this thing after all. I say we defeated it so easily because we're all getting stronger."

ROARRRRRRR!

They froze, as a monumental roar sounded from somewhere in the distance. Not only did they hear it, did they actually feel it. The sound was so intense that Gohan could have sworn that his bones actually shook from the force. Goosebumps appeared on his arms as it sounded again. It was deeper, more thunderous than before, as if a tremendous thunderstorm was waging in his eardrums. He was certain that his expression took the same shape as the others, as their eyes darted about them cautiously.

"W-what was that?" asked Bia, and the pre-teen was surprised at her weary tone. Usually she spoke with such a calmness, and gave the impression that she was not fearful of anything. Even though she was brave enough to speak, she wasn't expecting an answer from them. Though her answer swiftly came in another burst of green light that erupted from the atmosphere.

Gohan's jaw hit the floor, as a similar being to the one they had just defeated careened towards them from a dimension unknown. Except this time, their opponent was even bigger than the last, colossal in comparison. It seemed to suck the light from it's path as it charged towards them, the gaping black hole of a mouth roaring with an anguish so intense that it was enough to make his ears pop.

"You were SAYING?!" Alala roared at Makhai, whose mouth was gaping like a fish.

"Um, I think the one we just fought was the baby," the young saiyan mustered meekly, earning himself a few exasperated glares.

"AND HERE COMES MAMA!" Makhai hollered, the beast approaching fast, "EVERYBODY DUCK!"

6th June, 2018.

Reviews:

Aaron Leach : Thank you, keep coming back!

victor0606 : Thank you :)

heyskeytiem: Nice to hear that you're coming back for more even though it isnt really your thing! Thanks!

SeanHicks4: thanks for your review, ill keep them in mind!

MrChuckMan : glad to hear!

SonJubbi : wow thank you so much!

Knight of elves: oh they'll get stronger, dont you worry, and I deffo havent forgotten about Gohan's mystic/ultimate form!

Lazymanjones96 : thanks! :)

Guest: All will be revealed eventually ;)

Iwik: yes I have based the OC's on names from greek mythology, think it just gives it a nice vibe! Ooh you havent seen super yet you say? You're in for a treat!

Srblack28: thank you!

JesseJames2308: thanks, glad you think so!

Star1X: thanks for your reviews! For the story's sake, I wanted to keep Goku with his family so it creates a bigger impact on Gohan leaving his family behind. Like, his father wouldnt do it but he did. Creates an air of guilt around the young boy which adds a better dynamic that we will see grow as his character does. As for VidelxGohan, it will happen as the story implies, but I dont want to give anything away just yet. The interactions between Beerus and Gohan I'm planning on being quite entertaining and as for the OC's I aim to keep them throughout the story though some will have minor roles and others major depending on chapter ;)

Chosen To Die : thank you! Yay Whis and Gohan!

yunayuu: Glad you found this too!

Guest: Haha! yes I wanted the OC's to have spectacular meaningful names and Im glad you find it as entertaining as I do that Gohan's name just means rice!

Lightningblade49 : thank you thank you! glad you enjoyed Gohan's rage moment! More to come ;)

Beta117 : thank you so much!

animeflunky: yay thank you :)

Guest : not to worry, there will be a time skip in a few chapters :D