DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.


Gohan's eyes darted around fearfully, by the time he had peeled himself up from the metallic smooth floor- wincing at the sensation of his body sticking to it messily- Raditz had disembarked from the pod as well. As if by magic, the once empty hallway attained another inhabitant. Gohan had not even heard him coming, which was weird considering Gohan had excellent hearing; usually he could easily hear his mom's soft footsteps padding throughout the house in the morning, before he had to get up to eat and study. Considering his mother was a world renowned martial artist, this was no small feat. Although Gohan was not supposed to know of his mother's reputation... His dad had gotten a real goose egg after that one.

Shaking the fond memories from his head, Gohan returned to reality -albeit reluctantly- to analyze the reasons behind him not hearing someone approaching. Because of this Gohan assumed that the reason he had not heard the stranger coming was because he was in such a terrible condition. It relieved him some that he was no longer alone with Raditz, but the more logical part of him was frozen stiff with terror. He guessed that Raditz had to have been exaggerating before when he spoke of 'giving Gohan what he deserved' or something along those lines. But even after working this out, Gohan could do little but feel fear. Especially after getting a good look at the new visitor joining him and his uncle in the desolate halls.

The alien, most likely a male if Gohan had to guess, was a gross, mottled shade of green. In addition to being tall and bony, he also had what looked like warts and strange colored freckles all over what was revealed of his shiny skin. This only added to the effect of his too small squinting eyes and blood red wiry hair. He was wearing the same strange armor as Raditz, only more clean and well taken care of. The guards and plates covering his vitals looked freshly waxed, seeming to sparkle in the light. There was no dirt, blood stains, or whatever else was marring Raditz's suit to be seen on the new aliens' apparel.

Gohan didn't think he wanted to know the significance behind the particular matching uniform that the two were wearing. As far as he was concerned it was too much similarity to Raditz to be anything pleasant.

Despite all his other disturbing characteristics, Gohan still found that the most disconcerting thing about it turned out to be the gleeful smile nearly splitting his face in half. His pointed needle like, discolored teeth seemed to be aimed directly at him. Gohan couldnt tear his eyes away from the sight, he just stood and stared in mute horror. By the looks of it- when his mind slowly began to process again- Gohan figured that Raditz and itseemed to be conversing.

Gohan snapped out of his trance abruptly the moment he felt a large long-fingered hand pick him up by the scruff of his neck. Yelping in pain, Gohan grasped at his captors beefy fingers, attempting to pry them from around his neck. They could have been carved from diamond for all the good it did him. Eyes wide his hands still tugging fruitlessly at the one wrapped around his neck, Gohans' vision darted around spasmodically; and saw that the skinny green alien was now walking away with a steady gait. Choking slightly due to the unforgiving grip, Gohan felt Raditz follow the alien confidently. Holding Gohan in the air like a trophy, akin to a cock-sure knight carrying the spoils of war back to his king.

They- well Raditz- trailed closely behind the green alien as he traveled through a veritable maze of hallways. They walked in complete silence, broken only by Gohan and his occasional grunts and chokes; through all the twists and turns they roamed. Gohan tried his best for a time to remove the hand holding him captive, but after -he didn't know how long- he finally gave up struggling. Raditz didn't even seem to notice. Walking along through the halls, not even the subtlest change in pace, no matter what Gohan did. It made no difference whatsoever. And so he did nothing. Becoming dead weight, limbs dangling in Raditz' grasp. Thinking of possible scenarios to get away.

He thought for a second and remembered the fishing show he had caught a glimpse of on his grandpa's television once. It had displayed a fish cleverly escaping from certain death by fooling the fisherman that he had complete control, after going limp for a little bit, the fish had sprung up quickly, surprising his captors and escaping in the process. Gohan figured that if a fish could do it, then so could he. Gohan didn't think about what he would do if and when he escaped, he didn't bother to think of what would happen if he was caught again, he only focused on what he needed in the now, and in the now he needed to escape.

Forcing himself to relax his muscles more completely, gohan waited until an strange foreign alien walked by, this one looked to be female and she was wearing… Gohan didn't know what she was wearing, but it wasn't much. Her outfit consisted of ribboned, transparent material, showing of more than it covered if that was possible. She was pale purple in skin color, and she had two extra arms, long green slightly curled hair, and big bright pink half lidded eyes. She seemed to be sauntering down the hallway, barefoot, the way she moved was rhythmic and graceful, she almost seemed like she was floating and the hypnotic way her clothes moved as she moved seemed to draw the attention of everyone within sight; in this case being Gohan, Raditz, and the strange green frog person escorting them. She was one of the prettiest strangest most exotic things Gohan had ever seen.

Gohan did his best to snap out of it and tear his gaze away from the she-alien, he came into awareness real quick when he felt Raditz loosen his grip ever so slightly. A lesser person would not have even felt it at all. Raditz had reached over to do something to the alien lady walking by, but Gohan was too preoccupied to see what. He waited until the hand holding him stopped loosening, and before Raditz could even think about tightening it again, Gohan struck. Moving his legs in an upward motion and twisting in an attempt to get free, Gohan rotated in mid-air with all his might. Hearing a rip from behind him and feeling the already weakened dirty clothes restricting him give way, Gohan dared to think. Feeling the lightness and hope burst inside of him, Gohan kept moving- or at least he tried. Almost at the exact same second he was released, he was once again caught.

Gasping Gohan couldn't make a sound. His tail had been grabbed mid-spin. The sensation was terrible, it was as though Raditz wasn't simply pulling on his tail itself, but trying to pull Gohan's spine out as well. Gohan's eyes widened and his mouth gaped silently as he hung there, it was disturbingly similar to the position he had been in when his father had died. All that escaped him were small gasps, like a fish out of water. If that wasn't enough, Raditz- using his grip on Gohan's tail- rapidly smashed Gohan into the wall a few times. After the third hit Gohan couldn't count anymore. He did take strange notice of the growing red stain on the wall in front of him. With every hit it grew.

When he felt his thoughts become cloudy and his vision got dark, Gohan thought he would be welcomed into blissful unconsciousness. But that fate would be too sweet; as though reading Gohan's thoughts, Raditz stopped what he was doing immediately. Gohan hanging limply in his grasp. Gohan didn't know what happened to the lady alien after that, he didn't even know if they spoke or if they were even moving. For a time all Gohan knew was blurred and sluggish. He was completely numb.

As they kept walking for an extended amount of time with nothing happening, Gohan -regrettably- became more lucid, and he could feel his limp body begin to try to heal itself, becoming rubbery and unwinding. As his body began to shut down at the lack of action, Gohan could acutely feel all the aches and pains in his muscles. The stinging stabbing sensations ratcheting through his body in steady waves. It would seem as though with 'relaxation' came nothing but pain. The adrenaline that had once been flowing so potently through his veins- keeping the pain on the edge of his mind- was now retreating back to who knew where. Gohan began crying at the pain again. The silent tears streaming down his face dribbling off of his face into his hair and onto the floor, his face at this point was unrecognisable with all that had happened. He was starting to wonder if he would ever be clean again.

With his walking captors ignoring him still, even now that he was crying, nothing changed save the fact that the halls were filling. Occasionally crossing their path more and more frequently was the strange looking alien, the only sense of consistency to be found between them all was their outfit, they were all clad in the same strange uniform. A uniform that Gohan was coming to loath and fear. Gohan stared at them all as they walked by through watery eyes. Their forms were distorted slightly due to the tears, but their features were not all lost. There were so many different shapes and sizes, and colors; sometimes humanoid, sometimes less so. Gohan latched on to the passing aliens desperately with his eyes, drinking up the brief distraction they provided-any distraction- as much as he could. Anything to keep his mind from wandering to his cruel fate and what was to happen to him. So focused was he on not focusing, Gohan didn't expect the sudden stop of motion.

Reluctantly tearing his gaze from the small purple humanoid with an antenna and webbed feet strutting down the hallway, Gohan looked up to notice that they had stopped in front of a lavish door. Well, more lavish than the others seeing as all the others that they had passed in the hallway were the same drab metal as the floors and ceiling. The door that they were currently standing in front of was a burnished gold color, the waxed metal gleaming in the light. Gohan fleetingly wondered what it was made of; some alien metal no doubt. He wondered what planet mined it and if it was anything like Earth. Like his home.

Gohan spared a glance to Raditz to see that the big burly man looked to be a tedious mixture between excited and nervous. Gohan felt his insides chill. Gulping, the inside of his mouth feeling more like sandpaper than ever before; he looked at the door with a new attitude. What could possibly be inside that room that could make Raditz shake in his boots?

It would seem as though, willing or not, he was about to find out.

DBZDBZDBZDBZDBZ

Gohan drifted in and out of awareness. The gentle flowing sounds of water and mechanical whirring lulling him in and out of awareness. He felt nothing to show for the complete emotional roller coaster he had been on since he last woke up, and even for some time before that. He felt light, weightless and there was no pain.

Pain.

Wait a second… Surprisingly it was strange for there to be no pain. It was a thing that Gohan had become accustomed to already. He found it shocking that he had already become so used to something so ugly. His mind wandered to those books on adaptation and darwinism. Slowly he drifted off to sleep. Recalling his moms soft voice as she read the books to him as he went to bed.

DBZDBZDBZDBZDBZ

Gohan came into consciousness much more abruptly this time. He had been recalling what had happened before he slipped into the blissful darkness. He and Raditz had entered the big open circular room together, the escort alien leaving them not to long after. Gohan had seen three people in all in the middle of the room, one sitting in a floating chair like contraption, the other two flanking him closely. Gohan had felt a strange, powerful feeling of abject fear jolt through him the second he laid eyes on the floating alien. It came across as male, but it seemed more asexual than anything. And dangerous. Definitely dangerous. Gohan could feel his synapses going off like crazy, instincts telling him that a dangerous predator was in the premises and he should get out; get away. NOW.

But no, it was not to be. As Gohan stared wide eyed at the middle alien, not daring to look away- hardly even daring to blink- he was aware of the fact that Raditz and it (him?) were having a conversation. When before gohan was worth less than a passing glance, after hearing Raditz say something about 'half-breed filth' and 'for your amusement' however, Gohan received a gleeful stare and amused twisted smirk. It was similar to that of a spoilt child Gohans own age unexpectedly receiving a much coveted toy. A lesser boy would have wet his pants at the sight.

It was then that Gohan focused more on the conversation, his now dry eyes taking in the situation. Raditz was still in the process of finishing his speech. Gohan came in at

"...Dragon Balls." he could feel dread seep into and settle in his bones. He knew where this was going. He could assume that the sentence began with being able to make a wish. Gohan had only been here for a few minutes and he knew with startling clarity that this, this thing being allowed to make a wish would not end well. In fact, he knew that it would be downright disastrous. And so he knew that he had to do something. It was worth more than him.

And yet as he thought this he could feel the terror and the pain paralyze him. He could do nothing. The helplessness drowning him, Gohan tried to force himself to take action. He had been there when the Dragon Balls had been mentioned, he knew just as much if not more than Raditz, he knew of the implications of such powerful objects. But for some reason he could not move. Every time he would resolve himself to move, he kept flashing back to all the other times he had either attempted to escape or otherwise brought attention to himself. The pain was fresh in his mind and his body was still potently feeling it as well.

So fierce was his internal struggle, that he failed to comprehend the ever approaching sex-less alien, as well as as the ever tensing state of the man behind him.

Just when Gohan felt he had finally mustered up the courage one last time to say something, something to throw them off the trail, something to discourage them, something to mislead them, anything really; disaster struck in the form of a long white and purple tail.

Before Gohan could even open his mouth to say something, before he could comprehend anything in his young but overly mature brain he was splashed with a warm substance; he was covered in blood. It was not his own blood splattered about, but Raditz'. Gohan remained silent as he stared at the source of the blood everywhere.

Impaled fully through the chest was the man who had kidnapped him. The impossibly strong and seemingly invincible man who had killed his dad- the strongest man on earth who until recently Gohan had also considered invincible- was lifted off the ground impaled like a bug before him- utterly defeated. Gohan hadn't even seen it, it happened so fast.

Pale and stuttering with blood flowing from him freely Raditz hung there like a broken rag doll, before he was abruptly flung away with seemingly nary a thought. He slammed brutally into a shiny waxed wall that looked exactly the same as the door they had entered through, before dropping limply to the ground, unmoving. He was as far as Gohan could tell, dead- with his armor cracked and bloodied more so than it already was; Gohan could swear that he heard things snapping that wasn't the body suit when Raditz slammed into the wall. As Gohan looked he could see Raditz' open eyes glaze over and although he held no love for the now dead man, Gohan felt the killer was still standing right in front of where Raditz was standing, where Gohan was still standing. He couldn't have been there for more than a few seconds but to Gohan time seemed to move faster, making those few seconds feel like an eternity. It's tail, stained a dark wet crimson, curled and flicked like a snakes tongue before receding out of sight back to where it was before.

The enraged expression the thing had been wearing was now dimmed down some, but was still thunderous. Gohan wished he had listened more to the conversation it had been having with Raditz-in the off chance that it could be if help to him now. Turning it's head to Gohanit put on an obviously fake tight smile before saying,

"And then there was one..." chuckling to itself delightedly at the cheesy joke with a double meaning, Gohan could only wonder why it was so funny before in an alarming switch, it snapped his attention back to Gohan. Out of nowhere with no warning the very same tail responsible for the death of Raditz slammed into Gohans side, slamming him into the wall opposite to the one Raditz had hit. All the while the thing was screaming madly, incomprehensibly

"Dragon Balls, what a lovely notion, and they will be mine, but the fool ruined it! One year he took to inform me, one year for Vegeta and Nappa to defect and also go for them! I want the one who was supposed to be monitoring their communications dead, bring him to me! Call the Ginyu Force send them after it once, don't tell them of its powers just make them bring them to me! And this thing! Get this monkey out of my sight, it enrages me just seeing its species at the moment. Heal the thing for all I care it's the only slightly intelligent thing Raditz did before I ended his pitiful life! I need a new monkey now anyw..."

Gohan missed the last parts as he faded out of consciousness.

It wasn't until later, much later that Gohan realized that he wasn't going home. He wasn't sure how old he was really, time was different in space, it had no meaning. He had only his thoughts and what little Freeza said about earth to bide his time. He wondered if everybody was Ok. He knew that they had to have beat the bad guys, after all if they had wished his dad back, he had no doubt that they would have won, his daddy was the strongest. Whenever he thought that though, he only saw a growing pool of red blood and glassy sightless eyes.

If he was honest, it was all he could see whenever he closed his eyes really. Unless he was unconscious, a state he found himself in more often than not actually. He found that Raditz' views were not uncommon among the crew. In other words, crying was not an option, only an annoyance. When he had first received his collar- given to him after one of Freeza's rages, something about not having enough control over the monkeys- he had cried. It wasn't that long since arriving on the ship and Gohan only could hold his tears back for so long.

What he had received for his tears was enough to make him never cry again.

His tearless eyes now understood, viscerally, the philosophies of his former life. He called it that because he didn't want to relate his current situation in anyway to the dream that was his life on earth. Whenever he got supplements for dinner, whenever he was allowed no sleep for who knows how long, whenever he was punished for simply existing as an lower class creature, he could only do all he could to separate his past from his present.

He had become a low rung trainee, or so he assumed. With all of the 'training sessions' where he supposedly learned how to 'fight' he was left afterward to clean the mess and tend to the equipment. When his tail was crushed, when his arm was nearly detached, when his puke was bloody he still cleaned the mess and tended to the equipment. When he was left unconscious, as was common, he was left until he woke up, or was woken up, to clean the mess and tend the equipment. He was rather numb to it all, he surmised.

Thankfully, he guessed, he had his own little bed chamber to himself. Apparently it belonged to the monkeys on the ship. Gohan was left to assume that that meant that it used to be Raditz's and whomever else had a monkey tail and looked like him. It was small and only received enough supplements to keep him alive and able to train- monkeys don't deserve real food, bitch- and he had a slightly cushioned area to sleep in. He knew that considering his treatment thus far, it was miraculous. He knew that it was only because nobody wanted to use the same rooms as monkeys and they were scared of some 'Vegeta' but Gohan was only thankful.

As far as cleaning himself, he was able to do so after training- well after cleaning. It was an electronic cleansing device, but Gohan was still grateful, it took the blood out of his clothes and the grease out of his hair. As was norm for trainees he wore a black undersuit and white armor. Only those approved for purging were permitted to wear the envied navy blue.

When Gohan had first found out what that particular word, purging, had meant he had vowed to keep his place at the lower rung of trainees. Not that it was that hard, being a Saiyan monkey and a kid. No, he wanted nothing to do with causing others pain and death. He had experienced enough himself to last a million planets. If he wasn't barely surviving himself, he would see if he could help the planets being destroyed, but a quick punch to the abdomen always 'purged' such thoughts from his head. Among other things.

It was an average day, wake up, go to training, prep the room, teacher comes in and directs the sparring matches, class ends, go to back after everyone leaves and tend to immediate dangerous injuries, clean up the mess of blood- teeth and other debris, go to the back and clean everything else, and then head for chambers to eat, sleep, and begin again. It was as he was limping back to his chambers as he always did that he was run into. Expecting the usual attack Gohan had let himself fall to the ground and lay in a fetal position, protecting all he could of himself. Outside the training chamber, fighting back was something to be punished for. Gohan would rather one average set of injuries over the injuries he got when he was feeling a bit more rebellious.

He had laid there until he realized that he wasn't going to be punished. No, as he sat up he looked to see that there was more than one person fleeing down the hallway, like the person who had knocked him over. He looked to where they were running from and he heard a bang followed by an explosion. That made him nervous. As an explosion of that magnitude on a spaceship was indeed something to be concerned about. Seeing as he was not dead yet however, he decided that for now at least, it wouldn't lead to the ship's complete destruction.

That is, he was thinking until he was hit by a stray beam of light. He wasn't the only one, no the people running down the hallway were hit as well, and those still alive and able kept running. Gohan himself was sitting on the ground shocked. Where his left shoulder was, there was a slice running clean through from the outside of his shoulder to about the center of his arm. In shock, the usual pain didn't seem to hit him yet; he numbly realized that the beam must have sautered the wound a bit as it went through- the lack of profuse bleeding made him think this.

As if through a tunnel, he heard high pitched screaming; it was familiar and it sent chills down his spine,

"What do you mean the Ginyu force has not responded since they landed?! It has been more than enough time for them to make it there and back to me with the Dragon Balls!" at this another beam sliced through the hallway, taking down even more runners and slicing through the outside of Gohan's ear. As the pain kicked in, along with a healthy amount of numbing adrenalin, Gohan dreaded what would undoubtedly come next. He had heard about and now would witness a superpowered temper-tantrum. More and more beams shot through the hallway, and form the far off explosions he heard, they weren't the only beams being shot off. He received another slice further down on his same left arm and a deep slice to his lower left cheek and jaw.

"Sire, it is likely that they destroyed the planet, even if they have not returned yet!" A panicked, pleading voice wheedled. The words making Gohan's heart stop.

"We received word anyway that there are more powerful and plentiful Dragon Balls on Namek. I have commanded we set course at once and we are but a few short months away, they will be yours to use as you wish, lord Freeza" The shaking voice wavered slightly, but Gohan could only repeat what he had said earlier in his head, 'destroyed the planet'. His home, where his heart was, destroyed? He told himself that it wasn't true, and like his father had beaten Vegeta he was sure he could take these Ginyu Force people, but there were the doubts. He didn't even know if Daddy had defeated Vegeta and his partner, who were supposedly stronger then Raditz. Then this force was sent, that was stronger than Vegeta?

Gohan felt like he was choking. He felt like his heart was being chipped away at, like it was being squeezed right through his chest, before he knew it as his vision was going blank, a surge of electric gold pumped through him. It was as though he was invincible. And he was mad.

So very mad.

No more putting up with his situation, his everything that he knew to be good was on the destroyed earth, the place where he was Gohan. With that gone who was he even. As his rage grew so did his power. He could feel his wounds sliding away, but all too soon he was interrupted. His collar, the very one bestowed upon him by this new life, was electrocuting him. It was pumping so many vaults through his system he was sure that he wouldn't be able to ever move properly again, his nerves felt as though they were vibrating and tingling and on fire. He heard before he passed out, other lower class lucky enough to receive the collar screaming- one of them sounded really close, but he couldn't be sure that wasn't himself.

After what he was dubbing the incident, things went back to normal. Gohan was roughly awakened, and forced to clean the mess of the hallway that he was in, then allowed back to his chamber as though nothing had happened. Thankfully, he was able to sneak a trip to the regen tanks; with so many needing usage after Freeza's freakout, Gohan was thankful that things were so hectic and it was easy to get authorization- if only for a little while.

As life went on, and the fleet moved ever closer to Namek, Gohan continued on. It wasn't much, but he still told himself that Earth had to be okay. The blind faith keeping his spirit alive, if barely, was seeing him through the days and nights. Gohan noticed that he never slept deeply during the night, and he always woke exhausted and scared, curled in his protective fetal position.

It was as he was cleaning the cleansing area, about to partake in a cleansing himself, that the alarms went off. There was little warning after that. Gohan was only given a brief moment of confusion before the ship- well the ship exploded.

Gohan, thankfully, was passed out, and so missed the part where he became flaming debris. He also missed his crash landing into a busy intersection.

Unfortunately he was the only one.

Luckily he hit nobody, and nobody was killed, and the only damage done was to those who had crashed in their panic. Go give or take a few frustrated civilians, there was no trouble. There was however much confusion once they looked inside the crater to see a boy with a tail.

"Fucking Mutant." Were the first words spoken, before a man wearing ripped jeans and a thin shirt spit into the crater. Striding away angrily, it seemed his actions were not completely approved of by the crowd and no one followed his example; however, there were a few who glared and walked away much the same. Most stuck to their confused expressions, turkey-necking at the scene.

There were a few kind souls who bothered to give concerned looks, and even kinder folks who bothered to call the authorities and enter the crater to check on the child.

No one bothered to stay with the child on his way to the hospital. Nobody thought much further on the subject, after all, loathe as they are to admit it, as of late, things such as this have become a regular occurrence in New York city.