Goku had managed to grab a hold of Raditz from behind. Despite how much the saiyan tried to, he was too weak from the blow Gohan had dealt to shake off his little brother. "Kakarot, let go of me! Don't you realize that if he fires off that attack, you will die as well?!"

Goku mustered a weak chuckle as he kept a tight grip on Raditz "That may be true, but unlike you, I have don't have to worry about being dead."

Raditz's eyes widened in panic at the words of his brothers. What was he talking about? Had the damage dealt to him caused him to go insane? Before he could continue his thoughts, his scouter beeped, reminding him of the increasing power level in front of him. He turned to look at the green warrior in front of him, his remaining arm building up energy towards his fingertips.

"Sorry Goku, but I don't plan on hesitating to finish you off. Killing you along with him is a win-win for me." Piccolo grinned as he continued to build up his attack. Of course, this happiness will be short-lived if your friends succeed in bringing you back with the dragon balls, he thought.

Raditz became even more desperate as he tried to shake Goku off, knowing that his time was growing short. "Kakarot please! You have my word that if you let me go now I will leave this planet forever!"

Goku only kept his grip firm and didn't waver. "I'm not gonna fall for that trick. Not a second time. Piccolo, do it!"

Piccolo grinned as he lowered his hand from his forehead. "Sorry to keep you waiting. This is the end for you." He aimed his swung his arm forward and aimed it at the 2 saiyans "Special beam cannon!" A rapid spiraling beam shot out of his fingertips and zoomed straight for Goku and Raditz.

Raditz watched in horror as the beam approached them at rapid speeds. He then got a quick idea and shot a blast at the ground, the impact forcing Goku to let go, giving Raditz the chance to move out of the way. He turned to watch as the beam penetrated through Goku's chest.

Piccolo was horrified to what he just witnessed. While his attack did just pierce through his greatest rival, he had no way of enjoying it since he cant muster any energy to charge up another special beam cannon.

Raditz breathed heavily and grinned as the situation couldn't be any more perfect. With his brother quickly dying and his only opponent being the green one, he should be able to win with ease. However, when he took even a single step, his entire body began to hurt. The damage done by his nephew was a lot more than he realized. He was in no condition to fight. In his condition, he could only fire one more blast, and there was no way it would be able to take care of his remaining opponent.

"Listen here, green man." Raditz said, giving a show of bravado to hide his weakened state. "As much as I'd love to finish you, I have bigger matters to attend to. Once I find a way off this rock, I'll be sure to finish you off!" He fired an energy blast at the ground between them, creating a smoke cloud to cover him as he quickly started to fly away.

Piccolo braced himself in case Raditz was planning another cheap trick, though lowered his guard as he sensed the saiyan's energy quickly get further away. He then turned to Goku and walked over to the fallen warrior. "You still alive there, Son Goku?"

Goku grunts in pain as he lay on the ground with a giant hole in his chest. "Ye.. Yeah.. Though I don't know for how long. Sorry. I wasn't able to hold onto him to let you finish him off." He coughed up some blood as he finished talking.

"With that bastard still alive, who know's what'll happen when he regains his strength." Piccolo turns his head to look at the unconscious Gohan not far from them. That brat of yours dealt a lot of damage to him. Perhaps I can make use of this time to make use of him before the saiyan can recover. He then looks up and sees a flying vehicle. Judging by the energies, they're most likely the same ones who were there at Kame House.

Meanwhile, in a secluded area of a forest several miles away from the battle area, the saiyan warrior had landed and nearly collapsed, leaning against a tree with his hand on his chest. "Damn, I think that kid broke some of my ribs. How could this have happened to me? I am a Saiyan warrior, I should have defeated them easily! This never would have happened to the others."

"Of course it wouldn't."

Raditz's eyes widened in horror as he heard a familiar voice in his ear. He had forgotten everything was being broadcast to the other saiyans. "V-Vegeta! How long have you been listening?"

"Ever since you arrived on that planet. And I've gotta say, we're very disappointed with you Raditz." said Vegeta from the other side of the comms, somewhere far in the depths of space.

"Yeah, you had a simple job and you botched it up in more ways than one." said another voice.

Raditz was outright terrified. He knew Nappa and Vegeta would be angry if he didn't convince Kakarot to join up with them, but there was a tone in their voice that was both calm yet overflowing with bloodlust. "I'm sorry Prince Vegeta, but the fool came at me even after my generous offer. Not to mention his half-saiyan brat destroyed my ship. If you can just come here with another ship, I can have this planet completely void of life by the time you arrive."

"You don't get it do you? You didn't just fail to convince Kakarot, you failed to uphold your honor in the fight." Vegeta tossed the arm of a freshly killed alien aside as he spoke to the failed warrior. "Of every creature you came up against on that planet, you failed to kill even a single one. You weren't even the one to secure the kill against Kakarot and had you not made such a cowardly move, you would have surely died as well. You're on your own from now on. Just talking to you is making me sick to my stomach."

"Now hold on Vegeta. That guy who killed Kakarot sounds pretty strong. And who knows if there are any other capable fighters on that planet. Sounds about worth it to check it out, wouldn't you agree?" Nappa says in a convincing tone.

"Maybe you're onto something. Plus Kakarot's brat had quite a high power level for such a small creature. Maybe we should investigate that." Vegeta got up from sitting on the alien's corpse. He pulls out a remote to call his own ship straight to him while Nappa did the same.

"Wait, does that mean you've decided to help me get off this rock?" Raditz felt a brief moment of joy before Vegeta's next words reinstalled his terror.

"Don't get the wrong idea. We have no plans to rescue a useless warrior." Vegeta's tone returned to its menacing tone. "So how about this. You can either stay out of our way while we deal with the inhabitants of the Earth, or you can die along with them. It's your choice." He then cut off communications with Raditz, with Nappa doing the same.

Raditz was petrified. He didn't know what to do now. The only beings in the universe who he could rely on had just given him a deadly ultimatum. He grit his teeth and slammed his fist into the ground. "Damn you Vegeta!"

And that's the first installment of this alternate telling of Dragon Ball Z. I'd been thinking of doing this one for a while and eventually just decided to do it. In the past I've tried to write stories on a weekly basis, but end up burning out rather quickly and not touching on it for months. So I won't make any promises on when the next part will be. If you have any suggestions on what you want to see happen, feel free to let me know and I just might include it. Anyway, that's all for now. Tune in next time for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Z: A Saiyan's Tail.