Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball Z or any of it's many characters. They belong to Akira Toriyama, TOEI animation and a bunch of other lucky guys. I do own some original characters that might appear later on in the story.

A/N: This is the very first Fanfic that I've ever written. Dragon Ball was the first manga that I ever read so I guess that it would only be appropriate if my first Fanfic would be about it as well. I'll warn you right now that I have seen very few episodes of the anime but I've read the entire manga, so this fic will be based on the manga rather than the anime. So if some things doesn't fit with the anime its because A.) I haven't seen it or B.) I've deliberately changed them for the sake of the story. Most of the names of characters or attacks will also be those from the original Japanese version.

Chapter 01

A Change Of Events

The Saiyajin warrior Raditz was just about to deal out the finishing blow upon his younger brother, when his scouter reacted on a close energy signature. He quickly turned his head upwards and was surprised to see his brother's strange, green companion, charging up a huge amount of ki for some kind of finishing move. The scouter gave a second beep and Raditz read its readings.

"Power level 1330?!" he yelled, shocked to his core. "And all of his power is focused to his fingertips. Damnit all! Both of them can control their power how they want!"

The longhaired Saiyajin pulled back his left arm and started to gather ki for a blast of his own, so he could kill his enemy before he fired whatever he had prepared. But it was already to late.

"Makankosappo!" roared the tall, greenskinned warrior known as Piccolo as he thrusted his remaining arm forward. His index finger and middle finger crackled with the energy that he had gathered in order to perform his newest, and by far deadliest, technique. In a flash of light, the energy shot forth in a beam, formed as a screw, that drilled through the air. Faster than any speeding bullet, it aproached its target.

The beam shone stronger and stronger, until neither Piccolo nor Goku could keep their eyes open. A loud bang was heard, indicating that Piccolo's attack had hit something. The tall Namekian opened his eyes to behold his handiwork.

The entire area was engulfed in a cloud of dust. Piccolo's lips curled upwards in an evil smirk, believing himself to be victorious. But all thoughts of victory were replaced by those of horror when the dust finnaly lifted, revealing a badly hurt, but very much alive Raditz.

He had managed to dodge the beam in the last second, but it had still managed to hit him in the side. The beam had torn right through his battle armor and given him a huge gash in his right side. Raditz clutched his side in an attempt to stop the bleeding as he struggled to stand upright. He was loosing blood fast and shook his head to clear it from the spots that danced across his field of vision.

"That hurt like hell, you bastard," Raditz growled through clenched teeth. "Had that thing hit me properly, I would have been done for. Too bad for you that you had to concentrate for so long for that move to work, ´cause I'm not giving you a second chance to pull that thing off!" The Saiyajin raised his hand and started to gather ki in his palm so he could finally destroy this damn insect. Then he would kill his traitorous little brother along with the rest of the planet's vermin.

Piccolo knew what was coming. The Makankosappo had been their last chance and they blew it! There wasn't anything more they could do. He closed his eyes and waited for the end to come. One second. Two seconds. When the third second passed, he opened one of his eyes to see what was taking so long. He saw a paralyzed Raditz and behind him stood Goku, holding his older brother's tail in a firm grip, with a triumphant smile on his face.

"How incautious of you," Goku snickered, almost playfully, despite the seriousness of the moment. "I've got your tail."

Raditz had a shocked look on his face. Where did Kakarotto come from? He had been so focused on The green one that he hadn't even noticed when he had snuck up behind him and reached for his tail. He felt horrible pain surge up his spine when his tail was squeezed and he couldn't help falling to his knees. After another squeeze he fell face first into the ground. He forced his face around and locked eyes with his younger brother, despite the pain. "...You...bastard...!" he hissed before the pain and the blood loss send him into blissfull unconsciousness.

Goku thought it had ended much easier than he had ever expected, but then again, that was a pretty nasty wound Piccolo's attack had inflicted. But what should he do now? Every rational part in his body screamed for him to kill this man while he still had the chance. He was a ruthless killer. He had kidnapped his precious son Gohan. He had threatened his friends and wanted to kill every single person on the entire planet! This so called brother of his, represented everything that he hated. And yet...he couldn't force himself to kill him. Not like this. In the heat of battle was one thing but now...he just lay there, completely defenseless. He wouldn't be any better than him if he killed him now. This man had told Goku that he was a member of the Saiyajin race. A people who had made their living by exterminating innocent races of people, only so that they could sell their planets to the highest bidder. Goku wanted nothing of that! But still...Goku had his whole life wondered where he came from. Who were his parents? What were they like? This man held all the answers to his past. He wanted, no he needed to know. No matter how horrible the answers might be, he still needed to know. There was another thing that bothered him. When he had looked into the eyes of his older brother, he had looked so...betrayed.

He let go of his tail and turned to Piccolo. "Piccolo, I want you to keep an eye on him but don't kill him."

The Namekian was more than a little surprised but agreed non the less. It wasn't like Raditz could do anything at the moment.

Goku walked towards the crater where Raditz' space pod was located. He ripped of the door from its hinges and out flew Gohan who immediately clung on to his father, sobbing heavily into his orange gi. Goku tried his best to calm down his son and it didn't take long before the little boy fell asleep in his father's secure embrace. The days events had been to much for the little four year old. He walked back to Piccolo who had by now regenerated his arm and dressed himself in his regular white cloak and turban.

"Any particular reason why you don't want to kill him," his arch nemesis asked.

"It just...wouldn't be right," Goku hesitantly replied.

"Do you honestly believe that he would have done the same for you?" he inquired. Goku just kept silent, held Gohan a little tighter and looked at the ground. "You're too good for your own good, you know that Son Goku?" Piccolo growled.

Goku looked into his eyes and said, as calmly as possible. "No one can be 'too good' Piccolo. Everyone deserves a second chance, even those who have done the most evil. But if I had had to, I would have willingly sacrificed my own life if it meant that I could stop him from hurting those that I care about."

Piccolo chuckled. "Sacrifice yourself huh, but then those friends of yours would most likely collect the Dragon Balls in order to wish you back to life."

Goku smiled softly. "Yeah. I guess they would."

Little did anyone of them know that their converstion was being owerheard.

Their entire conversation was sent via Raditz' scouter to both of his comrades who were located on a planet far away on the other side of the galaxy.

Both of them were sitting in the middle of a forest on the planet wich seemed to be mostly covered in swamps. Both of them wore the same kind of battle armor that Raditz did.

"Raditz has lost," said one of them. He was very tall and extremely muscular. A neatly trimmed mustache covered his upper lip and his bald head seemed to almost glisten in the sun.

"What a loser. Letting himself get beaten by such weaklings," snarled his companion. He was a fairly short Saiyajin, with black hair formed in a haircut that seemed to defy all the laws of gravity. His body was covered in a tight, blue jumpsuit and a vhite and yellow version of the battle armor. He was currently feasting upon one of the planet's inhabitants.

"We should probably await with conquering this planet," said the tall one.

"Yes, those 'Dragon Balls' sounds interesting. If they can bring back a person from the dead, then they should surely be able to grant other wishes as well. Let's go," the short one replied as he rose to his feet.

"We could always...," the tall one began but was cut off by his partner.

"If it's got something to do with Raditz then forget about it Nappa. We don't need a weakling like him. We should rather wish for something better, like immortality. Just think about it. An eternity of glorious battle, wouldn't that be something."

"Yeah, that sounds great! You've always been the smart one Vegeta." He grinned evily. "So first we exterminate the vermin of the Earth, then we get the Dragon Balls to attain immortality and no one in the entire universe will be able to stop us," the Saiyajin known as Nappa exclaimed.

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Vegeta replied with a cold smirk.

Goku and Piccolo heard something and looked up into the sky. A yellow howercar with the Capsule Corporation logotype was aproaching quickly. It landed not that far away from them and three people stepped out from it. A bearded old man, a beautiful turquoise haired woman and a short, bald man who wore the same kind of gi that Goku wore. Goku's three friends Muten Roshi, Bulma and Kuririn quickly ran up to them.

Bulma was the first one to speak. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Goku answered. "A little sore is all."

"I knew you would beat him," Kuririn exclaimed.

Goku smiled and then looked at his sleeping son. "Bulma, can I ask you of something?" he said.

"Sure, but what?" she replied surprised.

"There's something I have to do. Can you take care of Gohan in the meantime?" he handed her the small child, carefully so that he wouldn't wake him. He then walked over to his brother. He had lost a lot of blood and wouldn't live for long if this continued. With some difficulty he seated the heavy Saiyajin on his back. "Kintoun!" he called out. It didn't take long for his trusted golden cloud to arrive. He got on top of it after some trouble because of the heavy extra weight. He turned towards his friends, smiling. "This will hopefully not take to long" he said. Then he flew off, leaving three startled humans and one Namekian behind.

A/N: So what did you think? Did you like it? Didn't you like it, and if so what can I improve? Constructive criticism is appreciated.