Like the phoenix, I shall always return! But seriously, I'm back guys. I really didn't mean for it to be almost a year since my last update. In fact, I've been wanting to post an update since like March but due to various family and friend situations, work, my personal life and hobbies, and random drops in inspiration, it's been hard for me to always get the time to write. Not only that but until a few months ago, I was dead set on working on my stories in a set release order and that also really killed my inspiration because I wouldn't let myself write for any other stories until I updated whichever one I wanted. So, I quit doing that and now I should hopefully be updating more often again. But I won't make any promises. I'm just glad to be back! Now then, some of the reviews!

Limit-Breaking: To be honest, your review was absolutely hilarious and I loved every bit of it haha.

Boblets: Got it, no censorship. Thank you for the constructive criticism even if you were a little harsh about it.

Phenomenal Ultra Instinct: Ok, so since your name changes by the time I make every update, I'm just going to refer to you as Phenomenal haha. Anyways, yeah, Gohan really does have a lot going for him at the moment. But will that come crashing down? Or will things get even better for him? You'll have to wait and see! Mwahahaha.

Goku Black: You think this is one of the best DBZ/Attack on Titan crossovers? Thank you so much! Also, I'm honored that my story inspired you to make your own crossover. I hope to see it someday!

maesde: In regards to the pairing, Ilse just isn't an option. She honestly just sees Gohan as a little brother and he sees her as a sister. So, she isn't going to be part of the love triangle haha.

Aiamthelegendaryssj: You'll just have to wait and see who he's shipped with then haha.

Prt 1: Hmmm... I'll take some of that into consideration.

Galaxy Creator of Pisces: Sorry, but Gohan will end up paired with someone. The romance isn't going to be heavy but it will definitely be important later on in the story.

Popo: Yep! That is exactly why! They prefer humans over Gohan because he's only half human.

derpmaster9000: Thanks haha. Grammar can be pretty hard for anybody.

Need Moar: Dear "lazy user that didn't want to go through the effort of logging in", thank you for the concern but I'm relatively alright. Also, by all means, write as long and rambling reviews as you like. I love seeing what people have to write about my stories.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z nor do I own Attack on Titan. Please support the official releases.

Chapter 8: Training Mission

It was early morning, just past sunrise, as the sounds of grunting could be heard throughout the forest. The reason for said grunting being that a young woman was hurriedly carrying a large backpack of random supplies and tools as a young man jogged beside her.

Unfortunately for the girl, the titans that dwelled within the forest began to awaken as the sun began to rise.

"Shouldn't we be about done with our training for the night? It's becoming daylight." Ilse huffed as she continued to try keeping pace with Gohan.

Gohan then came to a slow stop as Ilse followed suit before bending over to catch her breath.

"You're right, I guess we lost track of the time a little bit. I would like to do one more thing before we leave though." Gohan replied as Ilse let out a muffled sigh. This was definitely her least favorite part of Gohan's training sessions.

With that, Gohan loaded Ilse on his back and flew her off to another part of the forest where a 3-meter titan was just waking up.

"Alright, so all we're going to do today since we're in a hurry today is practice some basic weaponless combat for a minute and then we will leave. Just remember to control your fear and don't let it make you hesitate." Gohan instructed as Ilse hopped off of his back and removed her backpack.

Ilse merely nodded at his words and cautiously began to walk towards the titan as it groggily stood in place. These sparring sessions had since become commonplace for the girl as merely a month and a half had passed since Gohan came into her life and took her in as his pupil.

Although at first Ilse had been extremely frightfully and jittery when Gohan would set her off against a lone titan, she had found herself gradually becoming less fearful as she learned how to better use her surrounding environment to her advantage to stay alive until the training session ended

Out of the month and a half that he had been training her, it wasn't until a whole month of repeating this process daily had passed that Ilse had managed to begin dodging the attacks by either scaling a rock formation or using the nearby trees. Not only that but she had successfully even counterattacked a 3-meter titan once by taking a medium sized rock she found and lunged at it from above off of a rock and smashed its face in temporarily before retreating again.

This was when Gohan knew she was ready to begin some strength training on top of her normal titan exposure training.

As such, Gohan began making her carry a 25-pound bookbag while going on half-hour jogs with him for a week before her titan training. However, due to her training as a scout proved to be too little of a challenge. So, after a week of her doing this, he amped up her weight to 50 pounds and made her jog for a full hour instead.

Suddenly, the titan snapped its attention to Ilse as she paused to wait for its next move. Then, without any warning, the titan made a mad sprint towards here closing the distance in a matter of seconds.

However, Ilse remained still as she focused on the oncoming titan. Then, just before it could grab her, she made a quick barrel roll to her right and successfully dodged her assailant. But she didn't have any time to waste as she immediately dashed behind a tree to better plan out her attack strategy.

She had come to realize over time that Gohan wanted her to learn how to not only dodge but attack as well. So, if she wanted to pass today's training, she would have to land an attack at some point or another. Otherwise, he'd double the titan training the next day like he did when she failed to attack in the past.

So, with this in mind, she watched as the titan made its way to the tree she was hiding behind. As she waited though, she noticed a low hanging branch. Just then, an idea came to her.

She then grabbed on to the branch and just as the titan got close, she jumped back while still holding onto the branch and swung forward and kicked it hard in the gut. Thankfully since this was only a 3-meter titan, the strength behind the swing was enough to topple it to the ground.

As Gohan watched this from the sidelines, he couldn't help but smile. He could tell Ilse had come a long way since the beginning of their training. So, he continued to watch his pupil reap the rewards of her training thus far without interference.

The titan then began to stand itself back up however, Ilse wasn't going to give it the time to do so. Instead she hopped onto its chest, effectively knocking it back down, and began to punch it repeatedly in the chest.

Unfortunately, she failed to notice that her opponent's arms were still free and was promptly grabbed between both arms like it was trying to give her a bearhug.

Ilse began struggling as the titan rolled over with her in its grasp until it had her between its belly and the ground and stood up without letting go.

Panic began to set in as Ilse saw the titan open its mouth ready to take a bite out of her. However, before it could do so, the upper half of the titan's head was kicked off by Gohan as he swooped in to save her.

"Good, I made it just in time." Gohan sighed with relief as Ilse felt the titan release its grip and fall to the ground with steam coming from its head.

"I'm sorry you had to save me. I messed up again." Ilse said in a defeated tone with a few tears rolling down her face as this wasn't the first time Gohan had to save her from her "training partners" as Gohan liked to call them.

Instead of replying though, Gohan merely gave her his hand with a smile and pulled her onto his back before flying off towards the city.

Halfway to the city though, Gohan decided to voice his opinions of the match as he could tell that Ilse was still distraught over having to be saved.

"Believe it or not, you actually did do good today, Ilse." Gohan complimented without looking back at her.

"But you had to save me?" questioned the girl as she sadly looked down at the ground far below them.

"That's true. That was only because you let your guard down though. To be honest, that happens to the best of us from time to time. Even me." sighed Gohan as he remembered letting his guard down against Cell.

"However, you did show that you can be very resourceful like when you swing from that branch. Plus seeing you punch that titan repeatedly in the chest reminded me of some of my old fights from back home." Gohan continued with a slight laugh at the end.

"You really think so?" Ilse hesitantly asked with hope to which Gohan merely nodded with a smile.

As such, the two continued to fly home in silence as they each reflected on not only their pasts but today's training.

Soon enough, Gohan made it to the Walls and had to sneak in without anyone in the Garrison noticing their arrival. Once inside though, Gohan promptly walked Ilse home before saying goodbye and rushing towards the barracks he shared with the other trainees.

If he remembered correctly, the cadets were going to be given a training mission today. He just hoped he'd make it back in time to get a little bit of sleep. He may have been able to leave to train Ilse but that didn't excuse him from the rest of his training.

"You're late." Keith stated firmly as Gohan arrived at the gates of the Training Corps.

"I know, I'm sorry, today's training..." Gohan started before Keith interrupted him.

"I don't care for your excuses. Get to your barracks and get ready for today's mission. You'll be heading out in an hour." demanded Keith as Gohan merely sighed. So much for his sleep.

About 45 minutes later, Gohan found himself in line with the rest of the cadets as he watched Keith walk up onto a podium of sorts with a large map behind him so he could Give everyone their instructions.

"This exercise is a simple one!" Keith began. "You may think this will be a walk in the park, even for maggots like you!"

"Well, you're wrong! Whether in battle or in peacetime, a soldier is always a soldier! Always retain your readiness to fight, whatever the situation! Do not surrender to boredom! Do not let tranquility distract you! This exercise is a battle in itself! Do not forget that!" lectured the man as he let his words set with the young cadets before letting them reply.

"Sir!" everyone in attendance shouted simultaneously.

Meanwhile, Gohan's thoughts began to wander upon hearing these words. Just how would he have ended up if he had never arrived in this world? Would he grow complacent and weak over time? Would there be a new threat and he'd never get to relax? He knew he trained every day in this new world but that was only to honor his old world so maybe he would've slacked off if given the chance.

Just then, his musings were interrupted as the details of the exercise were explained to them.

"Your task is a simple one! You will be separated into squads each with 2 detachments! From there you are to retrieve an object that has been planted in a specific location somewhere on this map, and return to base with it! Your mission will cover a distance of roughly 80 km in total!" Keith began as everybody listened intently.

"Each squad's detachments will have a leader and a scribe! The scribe's job is to record every event that happens during the journey! After assigning a leader and scribe to your detachment, each group will leave the camp at the same time while taking separate paths encircling the forest you see on the map behind me!" continued the commandant while looking everyone over.

"Then, after exchanging information at the destination of your object, you are to return back to camp via the other group's route!" Finished Keith as he walked down from the podium to let everyone decide their groups.

After another 15 minutes, Gohan's group had been comprised of Eren, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Armin, Krista, Mina, Marco, and himself.

Over the past month and a half, Gohan had managed to learn the names of most of his fellow cadets.

For example, Armin was the blonde-haired boy with blue eyes that he saw with Eren when him and Jean were fighting in the mess hall. Meanwhile the black- haired girl with gray eyes was named Mikasa. Armin had been designated to be the scribe of the group so that he could document everything that happened.

Meanwhile, he knew the short petite girl with a heart shaped face, large blue eyes, and long blonde hair was named Krista. From what Gohan had gathered, she was a very kind person who always wanted to help her fellow trainees. Although Gohan hadn't really talked to the girl much himself, he could tell that the rumors of her kindness were indeed true.

Mina, was a slim girl of average height and fair skin. She had grey eyes and thick black hair that was parted in the middle and extended past her shoulders in two loosely tied pigtails. Unfortunately, Gohan didn't really know the girl much except that she seemed to be kind.

Lastly, Marco was a guy of average height with short black hair that was parted in the middle. He also had a broad and muscular body, light brown eyes, and freckles. Through varying conversations with the boy, Gohan had determined that Marco was a truly altruistic and idealistic person. Marco was also the one who took the role of the leader for the group on the mission.

After a while, everyone packed their gear and set off on their mission. However, due to it being so early in the morning, many of the recruits were still tired.

So, as a result of this and the general tranquility of the mission, several of the members of Gohan's team were barely keeping themselves awake as their horses trotted along the trail. This included the likes of Jean, Connie, and Sasha. It was especially true the latter two as Jean was more awake than them by this point.

"It's better not to gallop all the way, right?" Marco spoke up finally breaking the peaceful quiet of the journey.

"Uh, I guess..." was the first response he received curtesy of a still sleepy Sasha.

"You'll look like a real idiot if you rush on ahead and your horse gives out. Let's just take it nice and slow." Jean reasoned towards his friend. It was a reasonable response however, Jean also wanted to avoid the embarrassment of said scenario. That, plus, he'd much rather take things nice and slow in general.

"Well, I don't know how to hold back." Eren shot back at Jean with annoyance. "Jean, if you're going to ride at a snail's pace, I'm going on ahead."

Just as Eren started to speed his horse up to go ahead of the rest of the group, Gohan decided it was time for him to give the boy his own two cents before any rash decisions were made.

"Actually, Eren, Jean is right." Gohan stated causing Jean to look to him with slight surprise. This was the first time Gohan had actually really spoken up for him. Normally only Marco had done it in the past.

"Huh?" was all that Eren said as he gave Gohan an annoyed look but it didn't deter Gohan.

"What I'm saying is that on long journeys, its best to save as much energy as possible. Have you ever heard the story of the tortoise and the hare? Slow and steady wins the race so to speak." Gohan continued as he mentally noted that teaching Eren to have patience would be a priority for him once he finally starts training him.

"Fine... I guess that makes sense. Besides, I'd rather take your word for it than Horse Face's over here." Eren shot at Jean causing the two to begin bickering like always.

Meanwhile, Gohan merely sighed at this. He truly hoped that the two will eventually learn how to get along without fighting every five minutes.

"Thank you Gohan." Marco smiled before looking back at the squabbling pair. "Anyways, for now let's just focus on the exercise, ok?"

"Fine..." was the only response the two grumbled.

Meanwhile the group that Gohan's team was supposed to meet up with were discussing their own strategies for making it to the rendezvous point on time.

This squad consisted of several other people that Gohan had come to know. Said people consisted of Thomas, Mikasa, Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt, Daz, Ymir and two other recruits that Gohan didn't know.

Gohan had come to know that Mikasa was the name of the black-haired girl he always saw looming around Eren like a hawk. She seemed nice towards Eren so he could potentially become friends with her since he will one day be training Eren. However, what he had come to realize was that she had a coldness to her but, at the same time, he also knew she had a kind soul as well. Mikasa was the scribe for her group.

Thomas, however, was their leader. From what Gohan had gathered, Thomas seemed like a pretty down to Earth guy. He had an average body build, short blonde hair and sideburns, and brown eyes.

Bertholdt was a tall yet slim guy with short black hair, green eyes, and an elongated face. Gohan, like many others had come to realize that he often sweated and was seemingly shy towards anyone except Reiner.

Daz was an averagely built guy with short gray hair and brown eyes. Out of everyone Gohan knew in the Training Corps, Daz was definitely the most jittery of them all. Not only that but he was also very pessimistic when things got tense.

Lastly Ymir was a tall, slender girl with intense gray eyes, and messy black hair that parted in the middle and had a small pony tail in the back. From what Gohan had managed to observe, she was almost always found with or around Krista so he assumed they must be close. He had also realized that she often had Sasha doing her chores. But whenever he would occasionally ask either one about it, they'd both just agree that Sasha owed her for something.

"But if we go that way, we might not make it there before sundown." Thomas stated matter of factly towards Mikasa.

"Well, how about taking a more easterly route?" the girl suggested after taking a moment to think about what Thomas had said.

"Problem is, that route leaves us out roasting in the sun." Thomas countered before taking a large drink out of a leather waterbag.

Just as this happened though, Mikasa thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye on top of a nearby ridge. However, when she jerked her head to see what it was, there was nothing to be seen.

"What's wrong, Mikasa?" Thomas asked out in worry.

However, the girl didn't respond right away. But, after a few seconds, she turned back around to properly address him.

"Nothing... I'm just being paranoid." was all that she said.

As the hours passed by, the Gohan's group managed to cover quite a bit of distance as it was now noon time. Unfortunately, some tensions still lingered among the group members as they weren't happy about the current pace they were going.

Just then, Jean looked over to see a nearby iguana-looking lizard running along the path they were traversing.

"Tch, we've even got a lizard as a running buddy..." was all that he said in annoyance at their slow pace.

"You don't see lizards too often." Marco said with a little bit of surprise at seeing the decently sized critter.

"He's right, you know? Besides, you shouldn't sound so annoyed about it, Jean. You, yourself, said you wanted to take things nice and slow after all." Gohan quipped with a sigh. Not only was he a set off by Jean's hypocritical attitude, seeing the lizard made him think of the dinosaurs from his world as well as about his early days of training under Piccolo.

"They're really tasty." Sasha threw in hunger.

"You can say that again. I don't normally eat lizards but they are really good." replied the demi saiyan in equal hunger. This caused him to recall the time he cut off a dinosaur's tail and ate it, as well all the times he ate lizards while living in the wild before meeting Ilse.

"Huh?" Was all that Krista could say due to her shock that both Gohan and Sasha had not only eaten but enjoyed eating lizards.

"They are! We used to eat them all the time back home. They taste a bit like chicken." replied the female glutton of the group as both her and Gohan got hungrier and hungrier.

"You guys know how to cook them?" Jean happily asked at the prospect of finally getting some food in his stomach to which Gohan and Sashsa both confirmed.

"All right then!" Jean shouted out in determination before galloping off on his horse after the lizard.

"Hey!" stuttered Marco while he watched Jean speed on ahead of him.

"If they're going to send us on a glorified scavenger hunt, then lizard hunting tops it any day!" Jean shouted back at the group with a smile on his face.

"Hey, stop!" was all that Krista could respond with which caused Gohan to feel guilty about thinking about eating the lizard. Of course, he wanted to eat it, but seeing her cry out like that made him feel bad because he didn't want to sadden his comrade.

"I'll go after him." Eren said while Gohan was deciding whether they should eat the lizard or not.

As Jean got close to the lizard, he failed to pay attention to his surroundings and didn't notice Eren tailing him. The, just as he was about to kill the lizard by slicing down on it with his blades, they clanged with Eren's own blades preventing the lizard's death.

"What are you doing?!" Jean shouted out in anger as he watched his prey run off.

"This isn't a game!" Eren shouted back at him.

"An exercise without an instructor isn't going to score us any brownie points!" retorted Jean with increasing frustration.

"That's enough." Gohan sternly declared as he and the rest of the team approached the pair.

"I can support killing the lizard out of necessity for food but you seem more focused on doing it for sport and I will not support that. Besides that, you ignored the cries of your comrades who were against killing it." Gohan continued while gesturing towards Krista as she looked on at him in surprise since she wasn't used to anybody except Ymir standing up for her.

This caused Jean to visibly recoil a little as not only had Gohan brought up a fair point, but this was the first time he had actually seen the hybrid any degree of mad. It was kind of unsettling to say the least.

"Yeah, plus if we show up late, we'll end up having to report all of this." Marco added with a sense of both desperation and irritation towards his friend. "Armin, please don't record any of this just yet."
"Sure thing." was all that the blonde hair teen could reply with due to the tense atmosphere.

"Fine..." Jean reluctantly agreed as Gohan's words against killing for pleasure and his disregard towards others reverberated through his head a little.

"They're VERY tasty!" Sasha shouted out in a defeated pout which caused any and all attention to be immediately drawn to her.

"Let's go." Marco eventually commanded after a moment of awkward silence to which everybody complied.

"We could've fed the whole group with a lizard that size..." the brunette sulked as the group began to set off once more. Just then, Gohan pulled his horse next to her.

"Hey, if you'd like, I could take you hunting sometime and we could get a whole lot of food." offered Gohan causing the girl to light up like a Christmas tree.

"Really? I'd love that!" she shouted out with a smile causing the rest of the group to look back at them with small smiles on their faces due to Gohan's generous offer.

"Hey, if she gets some, I want some too." Jean confidently smiled as the group continued to travel towards their destination with the entire group's morale having finally been increased for a change.

"Just not tonight though." Sasha happily chirped piquing Gohan's interest.

"Why is that?" the saiyan hybrid asked.

"You've never heard of the ferocious titan that only emerges on the night of a full moon?" Sasha began. "From what I've heard, nobody has ever seen it before but if you go out during the full moon, you can sometimes hear it's mighty roar. And those who have bravely checked out the area the following day, say that everything in the area is completely destroyed."

"Oh, that's just a myth made by parents to keep curious children from trying to sneak off and exploring titan lands." dismissed Jean with a wave of his hand.

"Is not! My father saw the damage himself!" the brunette backfired. Meanwhile, Gohan began to have an internal mental breakdown.

'Oh no... are they talking about me in my great ape form? What if there's some people who actually did see me and I... No... I can't think like that. I just have to relax and pretend I don't know anything. If I start questioning myself now, all of my training would have been for nothing. Besides, it's still possible that what they're talking about is an actual titan and not just me. In either case though, I should make sure to not look at the moon tonight or things could literally get hairy.' Gohan silently thought to himself as the rest of the group began to debate the existence of such a titan.

Several hours later with Thomas and Mikasa's group, the sun was finally beginning to go down. However, not everything was going well for them.

"Are you sure?" Mikasa questioned as the group looked at the trunk of a large tree.

"There's no mistaking it. I put them down here. When I came to get them, they were all gone." Daz confirmed to the group with fear and stress written all over his face as he stared at the spot where he had place all of their gear.

"Our 3D maneuver gears..." Thomas said in defeat as he knew that they absolutely needed their gear to pass the mission and to kill titans. Not only that, but they'd get in a lot of trouble if their instructors found out. Also, it raised the question: where is their gear now?

"Hey..." Annie's voice suddenly interrupted any further thought before she gestured to a used firepit. This prompted everyone to check out the pit.

"Whoever was here has been gone for a while." Reiner stated as he felt the now cooled pieced of burnt wood.

"I saw another over there. That tells us their numbers." Mikasa calmly but seriously chimed in.

"Also... look over here." Annie replied as they noticed footprints and wagon tracks in the dirt behind some bushes.

"Wagon tracks... And more than one set." Reiner responded as the situation grew.

"We weren't given any information about anyone living out here." Annie once again added to the conversation.

"Must be bandits." Reiner started gathering the attention of the group. "I've heard stories of gangs stealing military equipment, then selling their haul on the black market. 3D maneuver gears fetch a high price."

"Are you saying we were targeted?" asked Thomas as panic began to set in among some of the cadets.

"If they'd seen us, they might've attacked. We should consider ourselves lucky to be alive." Mikasa answered. Unfortunately, that didn't calm the blonde's nerves.

"Do you think we'd better call off the exercise and report back to base?" Thomas question Mikasa as his panic of the situation grew.

However, it was Reiner that answered instead.

"No, we're close to our objective. We should hurry there and fill Marco's group in before we head back." he stated seriously. If the bandits were still in the area, then letting their friends know of the situation would be better than leaving them for dead so to speak.

About half an hour later with Gohan's group, the sky was now mostly dark as everybody was settling down to eat their food.

"These rations are so bland." Jean complained as he took a bit of their fire roasted stew.

"We should've just caught that lizard." Sasha said in agreement as her mind was still stuck on the prospect of eating meat.

"Forget about that now. Lizards are dumb." Eren shot at Jean as he forced himself to eat his food while watching Gohan eat bowl after bowl of the bland soup.

"It's more sensible than chasing titans." retaliated the young man with equal irritation.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Eren annoyedly asked the man sitting with his back to him. He then stood up and turned towards Jean.

"Why did YOU join the Training Corps!?" Eren shouted which prompted Jean to stand up and face him as well before momentarily face faulting at seeing how much Gohan had been eating.

"I'll tell you this much. I didn't sign up to throw my life away." retorted Jean while getting up and turning around to properly face Eren.

"What did you just say!?" Eren shouted back. "There are some topics that are off limits!"

This prompted Armin to attempt recording these events in his journal. However, Marco stopped him.

"Heh. Did seeing the titans in person turn you into a try-hard for these stupid training exercises? Congratu..." Jean attempted to mock before Eren abruptly grabbed onto his collar.

However, before Eren could speak his mind, Gohan had decided enough was enough.

"Stop it guys!" Gohan began before grabbing the two and forcibly separating the pair.

"This is getting out of hand. Do neither of you two understand that any important aspect in any given mission is teamwork and cooperation? It doesn't matter which regiment you ultimately decide to go into because standing around arguing like this doesn't get you anywhere at all. Especially when you do it every other minute like you two have been doing ever since I first joined you guys and to be honest, it doesn't help either of you prove yourselves worthy of either regiment." stated the hybrid with an annoyed tone before facing Eren.

"Eren, you have to stop acting out like a child every single time Jean disagrees with your dreams of freedom and slaying titans. I told you myself that I don't want to kill the titans and you don't see me verbally attacking you every time you say you want to kill them. Not only that but your rebellious streak doesn't look good for people who are looking to recruit you onto their squads. Nobody would want to recruit a loose cannon who defies every order. That stuff can not only get yourself killed but your comrades as well. You'd be nothing more than a liability." Gohan told Eren as a matter of fact. He then looked over at Jean.

"And everything I just said goes for you as well Jean. Do you really think they'd want someone who just slacks off and argues with everyone to join their ranks? True they have it easy in the sense that they don't have to deal with titans and I can understand wanting to live a nice laid-back life. In fact, I would personally love to devote myself to being a scholar but you don't always get what you want in life. It's about time you decide what's important to you in life other than just yourself." scolded Gohan before backing away from the two to let his words sink in and walking back to his meal.

Meanwhile, everybody else was just sitting in pure silence. Not only was what Gohan said true, but they were also shocked as this was the first time they had ever heard Gohan tell anybody off.

Just then, Krista thought she saw some type of figure silently bolt behind some trees and was about to ask if anybody else saw it. However, due to the tense atmosphere still lingering around the campfires, she hesitantly decided not to. But what she didn't realize was that Gohan had noticed that she had subconsciously risen her arm out toward the group as if she wanted to say something.

'Hm. I wonder what's on her mind. I'll have to ask her sometime later what she wanted to talk about.' Gohan thought to himself before slurping down the rest of his meal at a much slower rate than usual due to his bad mood.

After a little while it was decided that Krista would take the first watch followed as everybody slept followed by Gohan as the next shift. It was during that change of shifts that Gohan had decided he was going to see what the kind blonde had wanted to talk about.

So, as everybody slept without her, Krista had decided to sit with her horse next to a small pond that was glistening underneath the moonlit sky. It was during this time that she had decided to process everything that had happened today. Everything from the lizard chase, to Eren and Jean fighting, to even Gohan's words about deciding what is important to them.

'What even is important to me...?' Krista lamented while staring blankly out at the water before rubbing a little bit of a tear from her right eye.

Then, as if sensing her distress, her horse gently put its face down next to her for her to pet which thankfully helped the girl feel a little better as she rested her face against its own and petted it.

Unfortunately, though the touching scene didn't last as Krista heard the sudden crunch of a stick nearby. So, she did the first thing anybody would do and looked to where she though she heard the sound from.

As she was looking though, she heard the chittering of a squirrel in the bushes which calmed her slightly. But, before she could get a closer look, she felt a pair of hands firmly grab her from behind and as such she let out a loud scream on instinct.

This scream was so loud that it echoed all throughout the nearby areas of the forest as was even loud enough to startle everybody who had been asleep.

But before anybody could ask who had screamed or why, they all noticed guns pointing at them as they lay unarmed in their sleeping bags.

All around them were men with potato sacks tied on top of their heads to conceal their identities aside from two holes for their eyes.

"Gather up all the 3D maneuver gears. And make it snappy." one of the men ordered the group causing everybody to become tense with Gohan being the least tense because if it absolutely came to it, he could easily save everybody. But he had to remember not to reveal just how much he outclassed everybody in strength, speed.

"What are you going to do with them?" Eren hesitantly asked as he laid on the ground with the barrel of the gun facing his head.

"Gonna sell 'em to our contacts. It's not as if you're gonna rid the world of titans. So what's wrong with putting useless equipment to better use?" Replied the main aiming at Eren's skull only to infuriate Eren.

So, as a response, Eren quickly jumped up while lifting the end of the gun so it wouldn't shoot him and held the man still while the others took aim at him.

"Now, guys, now!" Eren shouted as he struggled with the man for ownership of the gun. Meanwhile, as everybody scrambled to their feet, Gohan noticed Jean trying to take Eren's advice and run off in another direction.

However, he noticed that as Jean began to run, one of the men took aim at him and began to pull the trigger.

Then without wasting a single second, Gohan immediately body slammed into Jean and seemingly took the bullet in the head for him as they both tumbled to the ground.

Not even a second later, Eren joined them on the ground as well after the man had regained possession of the gun and bashed him in the face. As a result of this, the men finally regained their bearing and took aim at the recruits once more.

"Don't even bother working out your next move. Just give in and shut up or else you'll end up just like him." One of the men irritably ordered while pointing towards Gohan.

Meanwhile, Jean and several of the others stood frozen in a mixture of both fear and anger as they looked at Gohan laying on the cold ground.

Just then, the boy in question began to stir from his spot and stood back up only for one of the men to take immediate aim at him once more.

"So the bullet just barely missed you. You should consider yourself lucky. Well next time we won't miss you again." The man who shot at Gohan and Jean threatened just before another bandit came through the bushes with Krista tied up and struggling to free herself as he held her on his shoulder.

Upon seeing this, Gohan glared at the men before looking at his comrades.

"Come on guys. Let's do what they say for now." Gohan firmly ordered before turning and helping Jean onto his feet.

This of course had mixed reactions among the group but everyone eventually conceded and began loading up their 3D maneuver gears into crates on one of the wagons. Although some of them, like Eren, did so much more hesitantly.

"We don't plan on ending her life. We'll release her en route. But if you come after us, we won't hesitate to kill her. You got that?" One of the bandits warned after everything was loaded up.

Then, without waiting for an answer, they all hopped onto the two wagons and left with Krista in tow.

"If you'd... if you'd all acted when I said, we could've done something!" Eren yelled after a moment of silence which caused most of the cadets to lower their heads in shame.

"That's just your opinion. I don't agree." Jean started before pointing over at Gohan. "In fact, your rash actions put everyone in danger. If it wasn't for Gohan, I probably would've been dead right now."

"We'll call off the exercise" Marco decided with a somber look.

"It's for the best." Armin added on.

"Are we just going to abandon Krista?" Eren asked angrily without turning to face his team.

"That's not it at all. We can't do anything by ourselves. We have to wait for the instructor's orders." Marco interjected hesitantly.

"And if it's too late by then?" Eren began before turning his head back to face the rest of the group.

"I'm not letting this go! I'm going to save her! I'll go alone if I have to!" declared the boy as tears of frustration began to fill his green eyes.

"Eren..." Armin began in an attempt to console his friend before Eren began to charge off.

Just then, Gohan began to trudge after the boy as Jean yelled at Eren to stop before following closely behind Gohan.

"Look Eren, I know you're mad but you have to take a breather and think things through. Remember what I said earlier about being a loose cannon? Well, that's exactly what you're doing right now. If you just rush in, you're going to get yourself or others killed. Then who will save Krista?" berated Gohan as he grabbed the boy by the shoulder to stop him from walking off.

"Yeah, like Gohan said, you need to stop and think. We don't even have our rides anymore. How are you going to track them?" Jean added on in frustration.

"Well we have to do something!" Eren protested against the two smacking Gohan's hand off his shoulder in the process.

"It does matter Eren. Because we're going with you. She needs our help." replied Gohan while looking Eren dead in the eyes.

"Exactly. Plus, I need my share of payback too." Jean said in compliance with Gohan's words as the rest of the group followed in with similar feelings of determination swelling within them leaving the boy surprised.

"But he's right... How are we going to track them?" Connie asked nobody in particular. However just as Gohan was going to suggest he could track them, albeit without explicitly explaining how, it was Mina who spoke up first.

"We could split up, but there's a limit to how much ground we can cover." the girl reasonably suggested which reminded a certain brunette of something she was once told.

"At times like these, we should get a higher vantage point!" Sasha eagerly said as everybody else nodded in agreement before heading up a path leading to a small overlook on the mountain.

Upon reaching their destination, Sasha decided to quote her father's advice as most of the trainees caught their breath.

"'If you get lost on a mountain, climb it. If you get lost in a forest, climb a tall tree.' Those are sayings my father taught me." Sasha proudly quoted as everybody looked down the mountain for signs of the bandits and Krista.

"Your dad is right. He must spend a lot of time in the woods." Gohan said smiling back at the proud girl which only seemed to make her beam with confidence. But before she could reply, Jean spoke up.

"Look!" Jean shouted before looking at what appeared to be a faint smoke cloud a few miles away.

Upon hearing this, everybody got silent as Eren reached inside one of their bags and pulled out a scope to get a better view.

"What shall we do?" Marco asked after Eren looked down the scope only to see the bandits at their base camp along with Krista and their gears before passing it to Jean so he could see as well. "They've got guns. They'll blow us away."

"I've got a plan." Armin began pulling out a map as everyone gathered around him. "They need to sell their stolen wares. And the only place around here they can do that is the town of Odel. We should make a beeline for it and ambush them there."

"We're going to beat them there without horses?" Connie inquired taking the map from Armin to better understand how far they'd have to travel.

"Odel? Shouldn't be a problem." Sasha replied. "We can cut straight through the forest."

"She's right. Plus, I've spent a lot of time in the forests out here so I can more or less guide us there." Gohan added on.

Nodding at this information, Armin decided to continue planning out their strategy.

"On the other side of the forest, the road splits in two. One road leads straight to Odel, so if they take that route, we have no chance. So..." the blonde boy thought out loud.

"So, all we need to do is find a way to block the road leading to Odel." Gohan stated while Armin nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I can do that!" Connie said with determination to which Mina and Sasha also volunteered.

"Gohan, do you think you could go with them to guide them where to go?" asked Armin without looking up from the map.

"Yeah, that won't be a problem." Gohan responded.

"Assuming that all goes according to plan..." Jean began while looking at the map from behind Armin.

"We still need to know which wagon Krista and the 3D maneuver gears are in. How do we find that out?" Finished Eren seemingly on the same page as Jean for once.

"When we hear the sound of the wagons, we'll know. I can make a little pully system and attach something onto it to make it ring so that I can let you guys know which wagon the gear is in." replied Marco volunteering himself.

"I'm not that strong so I can help you make the pully system." Armin offered to which Marco nodded.

"That leaves Eren and Jean to be the ones who attack the wagons once I give the signal. If our gear is in the front wagon, I'll ring it once. If it's in the rear wagon, two rings. And if it's in both, I'll ring it three times." Marco explained to the pair so they'd know what to do.

Now, everybody had their mission.

"Let's go guys." Gohan suggested as everybody else followed him as he hopped from rock to rock down the mountain.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Sasha in glee while sliding down the rocks in close pursuit of her demi saiyan friend as the others stumbled their way after them.

Finally, after a while, the cadets made it down the hill before splitting off into the teams they were assigned got into position. Thankfully, they made it ahead of the bandits too or else their plans would have completely fallen apart.

As for Gohan's group, he and Mina hid in the bushes waiting for the bandits to approach. Gohan of course could feel them getting close but since he didn't want to blow his cover, he opted to do things the more traditional way of waiting to actually see them.

"They're here." both Gohan and Mina said almost simultaneously as the first wagon came into view after a few minutes of waiting.

"Okay!" responded Connie before leaping off a tree branch with a rope in hand that was tied to the tree he was on as well as a few neighboring small trees. He then proceeded to swing across the road only to be caught and pulled up by Sasha whom was also in a tree.

Upon being pulled up though, he immediately jumped off Sasha's branch, thus causing the small trees that Connie's rope was tied onto to fall over and block the road.

This, in turn, caused the bandits to steer their horses onto the other road all while being completely unaware of the actions that had transpired just moments before.

"Let's not waste any time. We still need to meet up with the others once Eren and Jean attack the wagons." Gohan said not wanting to waste any time. After all, there's no telling if they'd need backup.

"Right." Mina, Sasha, and Connie all replied.

So, the group of four all started running on foot a good distance behind the wagons so that they wouldn't be noticed. Although, two of them were reaching their breaking points with all of this running around.

"Do you two, need a break? If so, Sasha and I can go on ahead while you catch your breath." Gohan asked Mina and Connie as they continued to run.

"No, we're fine. We're a team so nobody gets left behind." Connie smiled through labored breaths.

"Yeah." agreed Mina although she really did want to stop running so much.

Just then, the group heard the distant sound of two rings and saw Eren and Jean jump out of the trees just seconds later.

'So, they're in the second wagon then.' thought Gohan while his teammates had similar thoughts.

As they followed to keep up, they watched as Eren and Jean fought off two men inside the wagon as a third steered the horse. Just moments later, they even saw Jean tackle someone only for him to knock the guy out of the wagon. Then, right after that, Eren promptly knocked the other man to the ground with a quick move similar to the one Annie had once performed on him.

After taking a second to internally smile at their cooperation, Gohan looked to Mina and Connie who were still struggling to keep up.

"Connie, Mina, I want the two of you to tie that man Jean knocked out of the wagon up. Meanwhile, Sasha and I will continue to follow in case anything else happens." Gohan ordered as the two gratefully nodded realizing he was giving them a break while also giving them something useful to do.

Then, right after the second man fell out of the wagon, everybody heard the sound of gunfire as a man from the first wagon attempted to shoot at Eren and Jean but missed.

"Come on Sasha, we have to pick up the pace! We'll leave those men to Connie and Mina!" yelled Gohan as the driver finally fell out of the wagon. He then grabbed her by the hand and pulled her along to help make her go faster as he sped up considerably much to the girl's surprise.

As Gohan dragged the brunette with him, he barely got a glimpse of a man from the first wagon holding a gun while Krista fought with him to keep from shooting anybody. Then, everything seemed to slow as two shots fired from the gun. The first shot hit the wagon's front left wheel, which then obliterated upon hitting the ground. Meanwhile, the second bullet was heading straight for them.

Gohan, being ever thankful for his incredible reaction time and speed, quickly stopped and pushed Sasha out of the way of the oncoming bullet as she let out a small squeak in surprise. Just as soon as he did so, the bullet just barely grazed past her shirt making a small tear just above the left side of her stomach before she fell to the ground in shock.

Stopping only for a second to glance at her to make sure she was alright, Gohan then ran even faster to catch up only to see the wagon sliding across the path only to crash into the tree line while the first wagon made its escape with Krista.

Once this happened, Gohan stopped while Connie, Mina, and Sasha caught up with him. He then saw Marco and Armin following close behind. Deciding not to waste any more time, the group hurried to the wagon to make sure Eren and Jean were alright.

"Jean! Eren!" Marco cried out in concern as they approached the wagon only to see the two slowly sitting themselves up.

"We're fine. Our 3D maneuver gears are too." replied Jean as he looked over towards Eren and their gear.

"But Krista's still..." Eren began. However, everybody already knew what he was going to say.

"We're going after them!" Marco declared with conviction. With that being said, everybody grabbed their gear, suited up, and prepared to give chase.

'I wish I could just use my powers instead of having to keep a low profile. If I could, then none of this would have even happened...' Gohan lamented to himself as he put his gear on only to see Armin approach Sasha and ask her something.

He then saw her give him a flare gun before Armin took it and fired a green smoke signal high into the air.

'I wonder what he's planning.' pondered the hybrid before slinging off into the air with his gear in pursuit of the wagon.

Within moments, he managed to catch up to the group and together with Eren and Jean, they lead the charge.

As they got close though, they could see one of the men pointing their gun at Krista as she laid on the floor of the wagon. Without wasting any time, Gohan shot one off on of his gear's cables at the wagon and knocked the gun out of the man's hand surprising him.

Shortly after, the man picked his gun back up and attempted to shoot at them only for it to be expertly dodged by Jean. Then, another shot was fired and missed as it passed by Gohan and Eren. But they didn't relent.

Then, with that, Eren and Jean moved to either side of the wagon, brought out their swords, and simultaneously slashed at the horse's reigns freeing it from the wagon causing it to go out of control.

Meanwhile, as all of this happened, Gohan flung past them and landed directly in front of where the wagon was headed.

Seeing this, the driver of the wagon, attempted to pull on its emergency breaks which caused it to tip onto its side as it continued to get ever closer to the boy.

Then, without warning, Gohan let out a small mental energy blast at the wagon causing it to "inexplicably" fling ten feet into the air seemingly without reason just as it was about to hit him.

This, of course caused the wagon to fly over Gohan's head before it made a loud crash several feet behind him.

With that, everybody soon landed next to Gohan as they looked down at the rubble while they waited for the dust to clear.

However, when the dust settled, they saw an unsatisfactory sight. The man who was driving the wagon had blood dripping down his face while he angrily held Krista with a hooked sword threateningly pressed against her throat while the man who had been shooting at them earlier once again was aiming at them ready to shoot.

Thankfully, Krista didn't look too bad other than a few scuff marks here and there and a small cut on her knee.

'At least she's not too banged up.' Gohan thought to himself before he sensed several energy signatures closing in on them. Before he could think though, the man who was holding the gun spoke up bringing everybody's attention to him.

"Stay back! Drop your weapons!" he ordered as everybody stood there hesitantly.

"Hand over your gears without another word! Do it now!" commanded the wagon driver to which they reluctantly replied.

However, Gohan wasn't happy about this. Not at all.

'Ok, this is getting really out of hand. I need to do something now!' Gohan thought as he saw the wagon driver mumbling something to himself while Krista watched him intently.

So, with this in mind, he moved his right foot forward as he prepared to dash at the driver. Which, if his theory was correct, would draw the gunman's attention to him as well. And with that, he could take out the driver, grab Krista, run her behind the crashed wagon for safety, and then knock out the gunman.

However, just as he moved his foot forward, he caught a glimpse of two figures jumping out of a nearby tree at the two bandits.

'It's Annie and Mikasa!' thought Gohan with a sigh of relief as relaxed himself. He then watched as the pair took out the bandits' weapons with their own swords, freeing Krista. However, they didn't stop there as they then stood up and swung their blades at the bandits' throats.

Not wasting any time, both Gohan and Krista called out to them simultaneously.

"Stop!" Gohan hollered.

"Don't kill him!" Krista yelled.

This thankfully did the trick as both girls heeded their requests and stopped their blades just centimeters from either men's throats causing both Gohan and Krista to give a sigh in relief.

"Okay." Mikasa merely relied before withdrawing her blade away from the driver's throat causing him to fall to the ground in defeat and shock.

"You guys alright?" Annie asked as she too removed her blade from the gunman's throat.

"So that's why you had Sasha give you a flare gun." Gohan remarked towards Armin causing the blonde to blush.

"Yeah, that was a good idea!" Sasha complemented as his blush deepened because of all of the attention and praise he was getting.

With that, everybody tied up all the bandits together as both groups met up with each other as they sent out a report and waited for the Military Police to arrive to meet them and pick up the bandits as the sun began to shine through the trees indicating that it was now officially a new day.

From there, the groups just chatted until the Military Police finally showed up and then everybody finally departed back to camp.

"Hey, thanks for saving me earlier from that bullet." Sasha, said as she strolled up to Gohan as they rode on their horses.

"No problem. I'll always protect those who are important to me." replied Gohan with a smile before she smiled back at him.

Just then, his eyes caught a glimpse of Krista as she passed them on her own horse as she looked off into space deep in thought.

Upon seeing her in thought like that, it reminded Gohan that he still needed to talk to her about what was bothering her the previous night.

"Hey, I'll be right back." Gohan said as he went to catch up to the girl.

"What's wrong, Krista? I noticed that you wanted to say something last night during dinner but you never did." Gohan asked quietly so that nobody could hear him once he finally caught up to her.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing. I just thought I saw something in the bushes." the girls replied as realization hit the two.

"We could have just avoided this whole situation if we had only been paying attention..." Gohan complained as he rubbed the back of his neck in mild irritation.

"True... But at least things weren't boring." Krista replied optimistically which caused them both to smile. At least that much was true.

"You're right. Plus, I believe it worked as a good team building exercise if you want to think like that." Gohan added on with a small laugh.

And so, everyone continued on their way home with various conversations and a few arguments here and there courtesy of Eren and Jean. All in all, though, everyone had a good time on their way back.

A few hours later, after an official report was made and handed in to Keith thanks to Armin and Marco, Gohan went out to find his friend and pupil, Ilse only to find her at home eating lunch.

So, he did the only thing any teen would do after such an experience and told her all about the mission. He told her everything from Eren and Jean constantly arguing, to telling them off for arguing so much, to the bandits and how he really wanted to use his powers but didn't.

"Sheesh Gohan. Sounds like you had a busy mission. At least it wasn't boring like when I did that mission during my training days." Ilse stated surprising Gohan due to it being a similar response to what Krista gave him.

"That kind of sounds like what Krista told me. She said 'at least it wasn't boring' too." Gohan laughed which caused the girl to nod in agreement.

"By the way Ilse, I think it's finally time I gave you your first lesson in harnessing your ki." Gohan began catching the girl's attention. "Unlike your other training, you can practice this anywhere so long as you can be in a calming environment. Although, being outside is recommended because you're more in tune with nature."

"Alright..." Ilse said as she listened intently.

"So, in order to harness your ki, you will first need to learn how to feel the energy in your body and basically just pull it out." Gohan finished.

"Huh...?" the girl asked with confusion which caused Gohan to deadpan.

"This is going to be harder than I thought..." Gohan sighed which caused Ilse to laugh in amusement due to her friend's plight.

Alright, so that's it for this chapter. I thought I'd end it on a humorous note. But again, I'm sorry for being gone for so long as that definetly wasn't my intention. Like I said, many things in my personal life had been causing me to not have the time to write in combination with me previously having a set update schedule and random drops of inspiration. I'm really hoping that I will be able to update more frequently again but don't hold me to it because I can't promise anything. I'm also only going to update whatever stories I'm feeling inspired to work on but that doesn't mean any of my other stories are abandoned. Anyways, thank you all for the continued support and I hope to see you all in the reviews!