Dragon Ball Z 1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I**

_15 Years After the Defeat of Majin Buu_

Something was very wrong with him, that was all Vegeta was sure of at the moment. His mind was a confused blur. Just a series of random images passing through his memory. _'So this is it...' _he thought to himself _'I'm dying and there won't be any coming back this time...'_

But no, that didn't seem right. He had died before after all. This was something different. He focused on the slowly fading images and even he, with all the horrible things he'd seen and done in his life, found himself recoiling from them. They were his own memories, that was obvious, but it was like he was just now seeing them for the first time. Entire worlds blackened and died, the life seeming to be simply drained away from them. Earth had been one of them, he knew somehow. Everything was ending around him and there had been nothing anyone could do to stop it.

Then he remembered the fighting. One by one they had fallen, there had never even been a chance. He watched, unable to do anything to help, as his son and Kakarot's youngest were each struck down with a single blow. Who were they fighting though? All he could remember of their foe was a power too incredible for him to describe. That power seemed to be burned into him and the very thought of it sent chills down his spine.

He had not stood alone in the end. His final memory as the images vanished entirely was of himself and Kakarot standing against...something. They had had a plan. Some final hope for victory. And then it was all gone, just like that.

Vegeta awoke laying on his back staring at a black sky filled with stars. It was familiar somehow, though he couldn't quite place it. He felt weak. Weaker than he had since he was a child. He climbed to his feet, surveying the open field that he had found himself sleeping in. He was unhurt, he confirmed as he stood, the weakness was not from injury. He was also wearing rags. Plain black clothing that looked like it had been to hell and back.

Before he had time to think any farther on any of it though he heard a rustling in the grass nearby, instantly catching his attention. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he was able to make another figure laying on the ground. Kakarot, in the same black outfit, thrashing about in his sleep. _'Seeing the same thing I did, most likely.' _Vegeta decided instantly from the other Saiyan's actions.

Then, without taking more than five seconds to think about it, he kicked Goku hard in the side. "Get up, Kakarot!" He shouted as the blow landed.

Goku blinked blearily, looking up at him from where he now sat on the ground rubbing his new bruise. As normal he showed no anger about the rude awakening, and spoke in his usual carefree tone. "Hey! What was that for, Vegeta?"

As he stood up he glanced around, and before Vegeta had time to answer, Goku asked a completely different question. Having seemed to have forgotten about the first entirely. "Wait a second...where are we?"

Vegeta pondered on it for a moment, staring up at the stars with an expression saying that he was both confused and slightly disturbed. "This sky is familiar, Kakarot. I don't know how it's possible, but I think we're on Planet Vegeta!"

"What?! That's impossible! Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta years ago!" Goku's immediate surprised outburst would have been almost comical under better circumstances.

"Thank you, Kakarot." Vegeta replied dryly. "I don't know how I would ever get by without you and your firm grasp of the obvious around to help me."

Goku said nothing in response, suddenly lost in thought himself. Vegeta brought his gaze down from the sky to glance at him. It was rare to see a completely serious look on Goku's face and whenever it did appear, something was seriously wrong. After a moment of silence, Goku began to shout as he raised his power as high as he could push it.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow as a faint white aura appeared around Kakarot. The serious look turned to one of deep concern as he finished powering up. He spoke slowly, trying to find the right words, then decided to just take the blunt approach. "Vegeta...I can't transform."

The Prince's face became one of shock as he sensed out Goku's power. It was weaker than it had been when they had first met decades ago. If this was as high as he could go right now...but that couldn't be possible. He felt weak, but had yet to power up at all himself. He had to know. With a shout he drew on all of his hidden power, called on it to empower himself. To become a Super Saiyan. And nothing happened.

The two simply stood in that field at their apparent full power and stared at each other, trying to understand what was happening, for nearly fifteen minutes before finally allowing their energy to drop back down. Goku took a deep breath and the carefree attitude returned. If there was nothing they could do about it, that was that. "So, what do we do now?" He asked as he began to stretch.

Vegeta just scoffed at him and rose into the air to get a better view of the area. He got about a hundred feet up before he heard the startled shout from below. Three words. "Vegeta! Behind you!"

He spun in an instant, but not quite fast enough. A knee collided with the side of his face, hurling him into the ground beside Goku with an impact that sent bits of rock flying from the site. In the blink of an eye Goku was in a battle stance staring at the attacker and as soon as Vegeta's vision had stopped spinning he got back onto his feet beside him.

Hovering in the air above them was a single man with a bored expression on his face. He had a Saiyan build except for the fact that he had no tail and wore armor and a scouter similar to what Vegeta had once worn. Other than that, he looked a lot more like a Super Saiyan. His hair was spiked and golden and his eyes were a bright blue. High above them they heard the man say "This is what I got out of bed in the middle of the night for...?"

"Who are you and what do you want?!" Goku shouted up at him.

The man just gave him an annoyed look and dropped to the ground about twenty feet in front of them, giving the button on the side of his scouter a tap. His face immediately turned to an enraged scowl. "Power Level 200 each?! They sent me to step on insects?!"

"Hah! Come and try it then. You really don't feel like much yourself." Vegeta commented absently, already becoming excited by the idea of a fight.

No response, just a sudden rush of movement. The man's fist slammed against Vegeta's forearm as the Prince's power surged back up to it's maximum. Instantly Vegeta was glad he had blocked and not just powered up. The hit sent him sailing backwards for a moment before he was able to catch himself in the air.

Goku was already on him a flurry of blows that the enemy dodged and blocked, though appeared to be having some slight difficult doing so. "What the hell is this? Now you're reading at 1,200 and your friend is at 1,150!" The golden haired man shouted in Goku's face as he finally broke through his offense and struck Goku in the chest.

He went sprawling back, slamming against a rock ten feet away. "Regardless, I have no time for this!" He screamed as he launched a ball of red energy straight at the prone Goku.

Vegeta was between the two of them in a flash, swatting the attack into the sky with the back of his hand. The attack stung, but he'd managed to deflect it without any real damage. He whipped his head around for just moment to shout at Goku to get back up because he was making them look bad, then threw himself at their opponent.

The two met in a furious exchange of punches for a few seconds, before the man grinned and launched himself backwards. Vegeta saw it coming out of the corner of his eye and dodged the blast from above just in time. Two new men dropped from the sky on either side of the first, these two both appearing to be normal Saiyans. "About time you got here." He didn't really seem to care that much about their tardiness though.

Both instantly dropped to their knees, to the surprise of the two out of place Saiyans. One also bowed his head and spoke. "We apologize, Master. It won't happen again."

"Whatever. Just kill that other guy. This one's starting to piss me off." He said with a glare at Vegeta.

Goku had long been back on his feet when the two Saiyans wasted no time in obeying their order and lunged at him. For just a second he considered trying to talk them down, but then he saw the look in their eyes. These men would not be swayed by anything other than force. "No choice then...wonder if I can still do this."

He braced himself for impact as the two men reached him and swung. In that moment a bright red aura burst from his body as he activated the technique with a shout of 'Kaioken!' He caught both of their fists, one in each hand, and threw them into the ground hard. One faltered, but the other was up almost instantly chasing Goku into the sky.

_'It worked...but not right. My power went up, but not nearly as much as it should have.' _Goku thought as he felt how weak even the Kaioken Technique seemed compared to normal.

In moments both men were in the air with him and the fight had begun in earnest. Despite how weak Goku felt, these men were clearly both weaker. Significantly weaker. Hard as they tried, neither could even land a solid hit on him. On the ground below Vegeta continued to clash with the man who appeared to be a Super Saiyan but was clearly too weak to actually be one, so really it didn't matter to the Prince.

He landed a hit to the man's jaw, knocking him into the air and following up immediately with a beam fired from both hands straight into his enemy's back. The explosion lit the field around them for a mile and Vegeta smiled with satisfaction. At least until the man came flying back out of the smoke, breaking Vegeta's jaw with a kick that he never even saw coming.

He slammed into the ground hard, but was instantly ripped up by the shoulder to receive a knee into his gut. He coughed up some blood, but the assault was far from done. One after another the punches collided with his face, the golden haired man pummeling him with such ferocity that he wasn't giving Vegeta even a second to bring up any kind of defense. Finally, he ended it with a powerful single-handed blast of energy straight into Vegeta's chest.

Once again he was face down on the ground. He could tell that above him Goku's battle was already over, though his own opponent hadn't seemed to have noticed yet. Had he lost? _'More importantly...am I going to lose?!' _Vegeta thought, the idea enough to get him back on his feet despite how much pain he was in. His jaw, left shoulder, and at least three ribs had been broken by the attacks. This man might not be for much else, but he definitely had a good amount of brute force.

"Not half bad for a Saiyan. Most of you things would have been dead a while ago." The man said with a grin, speaking to Vegeta for the first time since the battle had begun.

This time it was the Prince's turn to remain silent. Instead he launched almost all of his remaining energy at the bastard, a huge purple beam of destruction. The man arrogantly attempted to stop the attack with one hand and begin to slide backwards, his feet digging into the ground. "That's how you want to play then, is it Saiyan?! Fine!"

The man slammed his other hand against the blast, holding it back easily, and fired his final attack. His blast quickly began to overwhelm Vegeta's , pushing it back towards the Saiyan Prince. And then he saw the other one. Goku dropped down beside Vegeta and cupped his hands at his side. The man couldn't hear what he was saying, but it looked like he had started to chant something. If he was there, that meant his slaves had lost. But no huge lost. Then Goku fired his Kamehameha straight into Vegeta's attack, the two joining together. "That's...impossible!" The man screamed in surprise. He had never seen a joint attack like this before.

There was no time to react. No time for anything at all. Goku and Vegeta's combined power overtook his with ease. The energy washed over him, ripping the armor from his body. When it was finally over fell face first to the ground, nearly dead. Vegeta walked to the spot, standing over the defenseless man. Goku realized what he was doing and shouted for him to stop, but it was too late. There was a final flash of light, and their enemy was dead. As for the two Saiyans Goku had fought, he had left them unconscious somewhere in the field. At least they would survive.

Looking at Vegeta, Goku couldn't help but wish he'd been able to jump in sooner. His partner was beaten worse than he'd seen him in a long time. He was distracted as they both heard the clapping at the same time. Above them flew another Saiyan, this one wearing an unfamiliar dark red suit of armor. "You want some too?! Come and get it!" Vegeta shouted up in anger at the man who, by all appearances, was amused by the battle they'd just taken part in.

Both Goku and Vegeta stood defensively as he floated down to the ground, but this man no aggressive movements at all. He just kept smiling at the two of them with his arms crossed. "Are you a friend or another enemy?" Goku asked bluntly, receiving an annoyed look from Vegeta.

The new man just laughed. "Well, you know what they say. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And seeing as you just killed one of my enemies...well, you know."

Goku laughed too and scratched the back of his head, dropping his pose entirely and not completely getting what had just been said to him. "Yeah, I guess!" was all he could think of in response.

Vegeta however had not dropped his guard. "You said that guy was your enemy? Who, and more importantly what, was he?!"

The man seemed confused by this question and cocked his head to his side, carefully reexamining the two of them, before finally making up his mind and giving them each a wide grin in turn. "I can explain everything, I suppose. For now, if the two of you can keep fighting like I just saw, I have some friends I think would be very interested in meeting you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

Piccolo sat outside in the grass just to the left of the doorway with his back resting against the wall of the small building where Gohan and Videl slept. He thought back to the night before, not that night ever really fell on this planet with it's three suns, to when the three of them had first woken up from what had seemed like a memory mixed with a nightmare. They had all been in beds in the same building that Piccolo now stood guard outside. According to the locals they had been found face down in the field outside the village and been brought there for treatment, though when they arrived it was discovered that despite being unconscious none of them had so much as a scratch.

Speaking of the locals, they were Namekian. A group of them moved about the large gardens on the outskirt of the little town watering the young trees and removing weeds. Piccolo paid no mind to them. He had bigger things on his mind. This was not their world and they did not belong here, that much he had been sure of since the previous night. Though the date, according to the Namek's here, was correct...nothing else was right.

For starters this was Planet Namek. Not New Namek, but the very same planet that had crumbled around Goku and Frieza as they clashed decades ago. When Piccolo had suspiciously questioned their apparent 'saviors' none of them knew anything of a being called Frieza aside from a few comments that it sounded like a Changeling name. They had laughed at the idea of the planet being destroyed. _'Nobody is strong enough to destroy a planet,' _They had said _'And nobody ever has been.'_

Whatever had happened that brought them here in the first place must also have drained Gohan and himself of their power. He felt weaker than he had in a very long time and Gohan was no better. Piccolo could remember facing some terrible enemy, who he was certain had killed him, and whom he could remember absolutely nothing about. Nothing except for that power. Those details were just a void in his memory. But now here he was alive and well, in a place that looked just like home but clearly couldn't be.

The idea of Dragon Balls had also been laughable. Another thing these strange Namekians had never once heard of. Wherever they were now, it was definitely not home.He grunted in frustration, unable to come up with any real answers. "None of this makes any sense!"

"I know what you mean." Gohan replied, catching Piccolo by surprise as he emerged from the small Namekian house and sat against the wall on the opposite side of the door from Piccolo. "We need to get back to Earth and try to make sense of this."

Piccolo's expression darkened immediately. "I don't think it will make a difference. The Earth that we returned to wouldn't be our own."

"Yeah...I was thinking the same thing, actually. This really can't be our world, can it?" Gohan replied with a forced laugh.

"And even if it was, we don't have a ship. We have no way off this planet." Piccolo was clearly growing more and more frustrated by the entire situation. A feeling that Gohan could easily sympathize with.

"Actually, I was just inside talking to Elder Ukelin. Turns out there's a military outpost about an hour north of here." Gohan stated with a triumphant look on his face as he got to his feet. "I was wondering if you'd stay here and look after Videl while I go have a chat with them."

Ignoring the question, Piccolo gave Gohan a sudden, surprised look. "What? A military outpost on Namek?"

"Yeah, I reacted the same way at first. Really drives home how off this place is." He replied with another forced laugh. "Most of the details were nothing I've ever heard of, but I got the basic idea. The outpost belongs to a race called the Matokens, who are at war with some other race called the Suriets. Long story short, the Matokens are protecting the Namekians in exchange for being allowed to use the planet as a safe haven."

Piccolo narrowed his eyes in thought, letting this small amount of information process, but said nothing. Another mystery had presented itself now. He had never heard of either of these races back home and here it sounded like they had dominant positions in the galaxy. His train of thought was cut off by Gohan, who had grown impatient in his eagerness to leave after a moment of silence. "So...will you stay with her?" He asked again.

Piccolo looked the boy over carefully, trying to decide whether or not this was a good idea. Part of him wanted to go along, but that was the part of him that still saw Gohan as the child he had trained in the mountains. Gohan was perfectly capable of handling himself now, that training had been nearly thirty years ago. If nothing else Gohan would come back with more information, so Piccolo nodded in confirmation. "How's she doing?" He asked as Gohan began to rise off the ground.

Gohan just looked back down and smiled, but Piccolo could tell it was taking some effort. "She'll be fine, she's still sleeping at the moment. She's so worried about Pan right now that I don't think she even got to sleep until a few hours ago. Anyway, I'll be back as soon as I can. See ya later!"

"Just be careful! Don't do anything stupid!" Piccolo shouted after him, but doubted Gohan even heard him with how fast he had shot off, so he just sighed in general irritation and retreated back into the house.

A much older Namekian sat at the small table in the center of the room sipping at a glass of water. Off in the corner Videl lay on a cot, sound asleep as Gohan had said. "Your young friend seemed to be in quite a hurry to go meet the army. Planning to join up, is he?" Elder Ukelin asked in his slow, calm voice.

Piccolo grimaced at that thought. Mostly because it was exactly the kind of reckless thing he'd known Gohan to do. Piccolo crossed his arm and faced the Elder, trying to keep that thought out of his expression. "I would hope he's smarter than that. From what I understood he's just going to find us a ride off this planet."

The Elder just seemed confused by this. "If you don't intend to fight, then why leave? This is one of the safest places in the galaxy right now, you know." He stated matter-of-factly.

"This isn't our battle, but even so we can't just hide here. There are things that I...we, need to know. And Gohan seems to think that our best chance at figuring those things out is getting back to Earth somehow. If that's the path he wants to take, I intend to follow his lead." He explained, earning a very concerned look from Ukelin.

"Whether you want to fight or not, if you go to Earth you aren't going to have a choice."

Piccolo raised an eyebrow to this. "What are you talking about?"

The Elder couldn't help but chuckle a little, causing Piccolo to growl quietly but other than that he kept his mouth shut and let Ukelin explain. "You three really are odd. It's almost like you were living under a rock somewhere before we found you in the field. Earth fell to the Suriets six months ago. The entire planet is a war zone right now."

An hour later Gohan stood at the edge of a cliff looking out in awe at the plains below. He had expected a couple dozen soldiers, instead the outpost he'd discovered was massive. Dozens of buildings of designs he'd never seen before dotted the area and he counted no less than a hundred ships. He stood there for probably ten minutes before he spotted two figures lifting off from the ground somewhere near the center of the base. Both hovered there for a moment, then headed straight for him.

His first thought was to take a defensive stance, but then he second guessed himself almost the moment he had the idea. _'I'm not here for a fight...and they're probably just coming to make sure I'm not a threat. Keep cool and see what happens.'_

In an instant the two were floating in the air just a few feet in front of them. Gohan did his best to grin and held up his hands in a gesture to let them know he wasn't armed. Hopefully that would be good enough. The first man looked very Human, aside from the hair and eyes. Both were completely white, his eyes appeared blind and his hair was wild, though not quite as bad as the average Saiyan's. He wore a huge jagged sword on his back that was longer than he was tall and nearly a foot wide. The second man was much more familiar to him, obviously a Namekian. Though the scouter he wore looked completely out of place on his face.

The swordsman looked at Gohan, clearly trying to appraise him. After a moment he glanced to the Namekian. "Get a read on him, would ya? I left my scouter at base again."

"Yes, sir." The Namekian replied in a tone that almost made Gohan laugh out loud. Seemed like this happened a lot. "Hmm..." the Namekian continued after hitting a button on the device "It's only reading at 100."

The other man looked disappointed. "That's it? Oh well...guess he wouldn't be trouble even if he wanted to be." He commented as he dropped to the ground right in front of Gohan. The two spent a moment exchanging stares, sizing each other up, before the man finally thrust his hand out for Gohan to shake. "Name's Rilan. Something we can do for you today?"

This guy felt really strong and so Gohan was instantly relieved as he accepted the handshake. "My name is Gohan, and I need to get to Earth as quickly as possible."

"Straight to the point, eh? Well if you're here to join then who am I to say no? Come on then, Gohan. I'll take you to the Commander." He blurt out all at once, giving Gohan a hard but well intentioned pat on the back that sent him stumbling forward.

"Wait a second, I think you've got the wrong idea." Gohan attempted to make his tone convey just how important this was. "You don't seem like bad guys, but I'm not to join an army. I just need to get back to Earth."

In response Rilan's tone also turned serious, and Gohan swore he heard a little bit of genuine concern. "What's the big emergency?"

Gohan hesitated for a moment, deciding how much to tell this man, then decided on the simplest answer. One that would be the easiest to understand. "I need to find my daughter." He responded bluntly. He knew there was no reason to assume that she was in this place too, but he just had a feeling that he couldn't quite explain. His daughter, his brother, his father...all of them were still alive, and they were all here. They had to be.

"If she's on Earth...I'm sorry to say I don't know how good her chances are."

Gohan questioned this, understanding the implications of the statement but not wanting to believe it, and it didn't take Rilan long to realize that the Saiyan really didn't know anything. "Come with us. The Commander can explain everything. Then you can decide whether or not you want to go anywhere near Planet Earth."

With that he and the unnamed Namekian took off towards the largest building, set right in the center of the base, with Gohan on their heels with his mind spinning. If Pan was here, maybe she wasn't even on Earth. It would be the most logical place...but still, here he was on Namek with Videl and Piccolo. Really, she could be anywhere. But if she was on Earth and was in immediate danger, he knew he would have to get there by any means necessary.

The three of them landed gracefully in front of a set of large wooden doors. With Rilan in the lead, they pushed them open and stepped into a large chamber. The place was well lit by the windows ringing the entire dome. Two men and a woman stood around a table in the center, heatedly discussing something. The woman had the same white hair and eyes as Rilan, though she appeared to be at least ten years younger than Gohan, she also wore a sword though hers was much more practical than Rilan's appeared. At first he thought they had to be siblings, but then another thought crossed his mind. _'Are these the Matokens?'_

One of the men appeared to be Human, though what a Human was doing on Namek was beyond him. This place got stranger by the second. It was the third individual that really caught his attention. The man stood at least seven feet tall and was covered in muscle, but more importantly he was a Super Saiyan. His hair was spiky, golden, and wild, and his eyes were a deep shade of blue. Then Gohan realized that couldn't be possible. The power he sensed from this man was huge compared to his own, but he was weak right now. There was no way this guy was a Super Saiyan with a power level as low as his felt. Still though, Gohan was fairly confident that the giant was the strongest person in the room by quite a bit.

All eyes fell on him as they entered, the young woman speaking while the other two fell silent. "About time you showed up, Rilan. Who is this?"

"Name's Gohan. We found him up on the cliff...doesn't seem to know anything except who he is." The white haired man offered, giving Gohan a slight push to the front of the group. "Gohan, I'd like you to meet Commander Senna."

Before Gohan could say anything the giant man had a small outburst of anger. "His power level is only 100, Rilan. What use could we possibly have for someone that weak?"

"Well...he seemed like he needed help and-" Rilan started, but the man cut him off before he could finish.

"I don't have time for games! When you're ready to plan for war, you know where to find me." And with that he stormed off, giving Gohan a nasty look as he exited the building.

The woman, Senna, just sighed and shook her head. "If he doesn't learn to control that damn temper of his..." Then she changed her focus to Rilan and Gohan. "Explain what this is about." She prompted.

She listened as Gohan explained to the room that he couldn't remember anything except for who he was and memories of his family. He figured that would be easier than trying to explain the life he had come from and the faded memories that seemed to have brought him here. Instead he simply claimed to have no memory of coming to Namek, and that his family could still be on Earth. Then it was Senna's turn.

"To just burst in here and ask for one of our ships shows determination...not to mention balls. But I can't give you what you're asking for. We're at war and can't spare anything for free. I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until after the battle. Until then you can remain here in the camp if you wish. We've vowed to keep these world safe from the Suriets, and I've no intention of breaking that promise."

"Who are these Suriets anyway?! And what exactly is happening on Earth that I need to stay away from?" Gohan asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. His plan was falling apart already.

"You really don't remember anything, do you? Listen carefully, I'm only saying this once and then I'm going to have to ask you to leave." She seemed to be getting a little annoyed now, but went into a brief history less nonetheless.

"A few centuries back an offshoot of the Saiyan race began to appear, children born with golden hair and no tails. It quickly became apparent that this new race was physically superior to the Saiyans in every possible way and it didn't take long for them to declare themselves a separate race entirely. The Suriets." She drew out the last word, disgusted by it.

"The first thing they did was force the Saiyans, their own ancestors, into slavery. They slaughtered the royal line of Vegeta and renamed the planet Suren. But they weren't satisfied with that. They began to spread through the galaxy, conquering worlds just for the enjoyment of it. It eventually grew into the Suriet Empire, an alliance of all the most vile races known all under the banner of Emperor Vyden, the current overlord of the Suriets.

We held out against them for as long as we could, but six months ago they managed to push through the defenses around Earth and were able to launch a ground assault with Princess Aethys herself at the army's head. While there are plenty of warriors among the Humans, most of the race is relatively weak. They never stood any real chance. And ever since the Empire has had the planet blockaded, preventing us from sending in any reinforcements.

And that's where we stand now. If you had your memory you'd know that troops have been arriving here for weeks. From here, we're going to break the siege on Earth and take the planet back from the Suriets. We're just waiting for the right moment to strike." She finished finally, Gohan taking in every last word.

This situation was bad. Really it couldn't be much worse. But even so he couldn't help but smirk about what Piccolo was going to say when Gohan ran the new plan by him. "He's gonna kill me for this, but there's really not another option." He muttered under his breath.

Every scouter in the room went off as Gohan's power surged up from 100 to 1,000 in the blink of an eye, looking right at Senna the entire time. He was still the weakest person in the room. He knew it and so did they. But he could see it in the surprise on all of their faces. Now they knew he could fight. "What's this, then?" Senna asked, raising an eyebrow at her sudden newfound interest in the stranger before her.

"Earth is my home. If you're going to help it, then count me in. I'm not taking no for an answer." Gohan kept a friendly expression on his face, but his voice was so firm that it surprised even him.

She seemed to consider it for a moment, then turned towards Rilan to ask his opinion. "What do you think? Should we take this man?"

Rilan gave a bellowing laugh as his first response, smacking Gohan on the back again. "Can't speak for his skill in a fight, but he's strong enough to be useful. And besides, look at the fire in his eyes. How can we say no to that?"

"Very well, then." She said with a professional tone, staring at the powered up Saiyan. "I suppose we might find you useful. Welcome to the Alliance...Gohan."

This had not even gone close to how he'd planned it. He was pretty sure he'd just joined the military, in fact. But whatever got him to Earth was good enough for him, so he couldn't help but feel accomplished. Rilan slapped him on back again, laughing his loud laugh, which just make Gohan grin wider. They might be stranded in an unfamiliar world with no idea how to get home, but now they had friends. And that was a step in the right direction.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III**

Pan charged blindly through the almost pitch black forest, she had stumbled over more rocks than she could count and could feel the sting of cuts on her arms from the branches, but she couldn't slow down. She was very well aware that she was running for her life. Trunks and Uncle Goten weren't far behind judging by the sounds they made as they crashed through the woods just as blind as her.

She had no idea what was happening, even though she'd been wherever she was for over a day now. They'd been given no time to even begin to understand what was going on around them, she and the two men had simply woken up in a burning city. A city that was still under attack when they had escaped from it.

It hadn't taken long for the three of them to be discovered. They had been attacked by two men that Trunks believed were full blooded Saiyans based on their appearance and armor, something they all knew was impossible. But right now wasn't the time for questioning that. They had only barely been able to escape from the city after that battle, Trunks and Goten bringing down one soldier after another to clear them a path out. But she knew the only reason they'd had such an easy time was because they had taken their enemy by surprise.

Now they were being pursued. She could sense no less than half a dozen power levels not far behind them. Most of them were weaker than either of her two companions individually, but not by enough to keep them from being overwhelmed by numbers. One of the members of that group was at least twice as strong as any of them in their unexplainably weakened states. Fighting was not an option. As thankful as she was to have Trunks and Goten with her, she'd have given anything to have her dad there. He would know what to do.

Not far behind, Goten was thinking the same thing as his niece. Gohan would be able to make sense of this. He'd have a plan. Goten on the other hand couldn't think of anything to do but run. Deep down he knew it was pointless. Their enemies would catch up eventually and they'd have no choice but to defend themselves. He also knew that he and Trunks were at a serious disadvantage right now even without the numbers stacked against them.

The two of them had grown up being practically invicible. The only serious threat to themselves that they'd ever had to face had been Majin Buu, when he was only seven years old. That was fifteen years ago now, and in that time nothing had appeared again that they had been even slightly vulnerable against. Except, there had been someone. Something. He couldn't remember who it was, or what they looked like, or even why they were fighting them. He shook the lost memory off and continued to run. That was something to be figured out later when they weren't one wrong move away from all being killed.

All of them felt it at once when the powers they had been sensing, which had been flying in a widespread pattern over the forest behind them, suddenly converged and began to shoot straight for them at a much higher speed than before. "Dammit!" Trunks cursed loudly, not worrying about his volume with all the noise their trip through the brush was making anyway. "Their scouters must have picked one of us up!"

He stopped immediately and spun around, glancing at Goten as he did the same. "I was hoping if we kept our power levels down they wouldn't be able to detect us. Their models must be more sensitive than the one my dad kept around. We're not going to be able to outrun them now, so...you ready to do this?"

Goten's face immediately became one of determination, though Trunks couldn't make out that detail in the night despite the two of them only being a few feet apart. Looking back over his shoulder he could just barely out make the form of his niece, who had stopped moving before the other two had. She was trembling, he could tell. She'd never been in a situation like this before and had no idea how to handle a life or death battle. It only took him a moment to come to a decision. "Get her out of Trunks. As far as you can run."

"Are you serious?! You don't stand a chance alone! They'll tear you apart!" His best friend responded immediately, not moving an inch.

"We don't stand a very good chance together either! I can buy you time to get away, at least!" He snapped back. Then added in a calmer but still dead serious voice. "We're the fighters...Pan shouldn't be involved in this and we can't just send her off alone. Go."

"Don't just count me out like that! I can fight too!" Pan chimed in, though her voice was unsteady. The powers were close now. They had less than five minutes.

"No!" Goten and Trunks replied in almost perfect unison, with Trunks adding "You're not ready for this."

She said nothing more in protest and Goten continued as they enemy continued drawing closer. "Please, Trunks. Don't let anything happen to her. And don't worry about me, I'm not going into this planning to die. I've got an idea."

Trunks could hear the confidence in his best friend's voice, though he was unsure whether or not Goten could back up his words when it came down to it. Finally he turned and bolted towards Pan, grabbing her arm to guide her along with him. "I'm serious, Goten! Don't you dare get yourself killed!" He shouted over his shoulder, and then the two of them were gone.

"Alright...no time to waste." Goten said quietly to himself, taking a deep breath as he began to draw energy into his hands.

Moments later five baseball sized balls of energy hovered in the air around him. The approaching powers would be there in less than a minute. It was now or never. Keeping his energy focused he launched into the sky, willing the balls to remain exactly where they were. Above the trees there was significantly more light. The sky was cloudless and a half moon hung overhead. _'At least it's not a full moon. If these really are Saiyans...I don't even want to think about that.'_ He thought as eight figures surrounded by energy came into view and rapidly approached.

Seven of them were Saiyans, he could tell as they approached, but the man in the lead was different. Goten couldn't even believe what he was seeing. This leader, the strongest of them, had the build of a Saiyan and spiked golden hair with bright blue eyes. _'A Super Saiyan?! No...he's not nearly powerful enough. But still, there's no mistaking that look.'_

He released his power as the group came to a stop in the air in front of him, some members looking amused while others looked confused about why he had stopped. The golden haired man immediately tapped a button on the side of his scouter, then grinned. "He's all yours, boys. Not even worth my time."

The attack came immediately. All seven of them surged forward at once. It was now or never. Goten flung his arms upward, bringing his hidden attacks to life. Five streaks of light shot up from the forest below. By the time the Saiyan's saw it coming, it was already too late. Each blast struck a different target from below, the light from the blast illuminating everything for a moment before the air filled with smoke and the sound of a deafening explosion. Five charred bodies dropped out of the sky, landing somewhere among the trees. The attack had taken almost half of Goten's energy, but it had been worth it. _'Now I just have to take advantage of the confusion.' _ The thought raced across his mind as he shot through the cloud of smoke towards where he sensed the fake Super Saiyan.

The man pulled back in surprise as the much younger warrior emerged, but still shocked by the surprise attack from below was not able to react quickly enough to defend himself. Goten slammed his fist against the side of the man's head, shattering the scouter into a million pieces. In the same motion he spun around sending a kick flying out to his right, sensing one of the two surviving Saiyans approaching and breaking another scouter as the attack connected.

Before those two had time to recover he flew at the last Saiyan, who was staring at him in surprise. This one saw it coming though, and that was all that mattered. The two met each other with a frenzy of punches, their powers evenly matched as Goten felt himself already starting to wear out. It only took about half a minute before the other Saiyan recovered and joined as well, the two assaulting Goten from both sides with almost perfect coordination.

He felt his guard quickly breaking, and with very little effort from the two combined, one finally got a solid punch through. Goten felt a tooth fly out of his mouth and tasted blood as he went crashing into the trees. He was barely back on his feet when the barrage began. The beams of energy vaporizing the trees and leaving small craters in the ground. He was thrown from his feet as one struck the ground near him, but caught himself hovering just above the ground.

Finally a beam came hurtling straight at him, probably from the Saiyan who still had a working scouter he figured. Not taking time to even think about it he cupped his hands in front of himself and released what he knew would be his last real attack. "Kamehameha!" He screamed as the blast ripped out of his palms, overwhelming the Saiyan's beam and killing it's creator instantly.

He launched back up, breathing heavier than he had in a very long time and locked eyes with the remaining Saiyan. Off to the side the Suriet hovered in place, clearly unharmed by Gohan's punch and watching with amusement. _'It's over...even if I can kill this last Saiyan, that guy hasn't even gotten started yet!'_

Doing everything in his power to push the inevitable defeat out of his mind, he prepared himself to go at the Saiyan one last time. And that was when he felt it. Heading towards them at an incredible speed from somewhere to the North was the largest power he had felt since they had come to this strange world. He froze, feeling himself trembling simply from feeling it at a distance. "Please...please be a friend." He muttered under his breath, latching on to this last hope as he engaged the Saiyan again.

Goten was pretty much out of power, and began taking a beating that proved it. His swings were sluggish now and the Saiyan avoided them with relative ease. The ones that did find their mark had little to no effect. It was instantly clear that he could no longer win on his own, something he had suspected but been unable to accept from the start. And then the huge power was on them and everything stopped. The Saiyan froze mid-swing, his mouth hanging open as he stared wide eyed at the woman that now hovered above them all.

Her hair was the same deep gold color as the other man and it ran almost all the way down her back in spikes. He couldn't help but picture his father in his Super Saiyan Three form when he saw it. She was small, a full foot shorter than himself and probably at least a couple years younger. She wore a very elaborate white robe-like outfit and wore no armor like the rest. More noteworthy, Goten thought, she didn't wear a scouter like the others.

Beautiful was the only word that really described her, and based solely on appearances she looked harmless. If not for the power he sensed coming from her he'd have been confused why everything had suddenly gone still around him at her appearance. She looked down at the leader of the squad with a completely passive expression and a voice to match as she spoke. "This is one of the unknowns from the nearby Human city?"

The man looked even more shocked than the Saiyan did. The moment she spoke he seemed to snap out of a trance and immediately dropped into a kneeling position, which Goten thought looked really odd considering he was still hovering in the air. He said only two words in response and kept his head down when he spoke to her. "Yes, Princess!"

"I see..." She said thoughtfully, then turned toward Goten and smiled in a way that was almost kind. _'Maybe I can reason with this one.' _He thought hopefully.

He did his best to compose himself and spoke as clearly and respectfully as he could manage. "My name is Go-" He never even got to finish the sentence.

It was over before it even began. She moved so fast that he couldn't follow her, and in that same instant he felt every bone in his body shatter. As he began to drop from the sky he wondered how many times she had struck him, then accepted that he'd probably never know. The last thing he saw before everything went black was the girl standing over him with the gold haired man slightly behind her. "With all due respect, Your Majesty, what is your interest in this man? He's strong for a Human, but nothing compared to your might..." The man cautiously questioned.

"I forget that commoners have no sense for things..." She responded in her same casual tone. "The way he appeared on our radars out of nowhere...and more important than that, this man is not Human. His energy is distinctly Saiyan. Bring him to my ship, if he survives my father will want to have a few words with him..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV**

Cabago sat at the edge of the roof of an abandoned house in his gleaming red armor watching the other Saiyan training by himself out in the field near what was left of the town. This man, whose friend called him Kakarot but who called himself Goku, was definitely a mystery. He and Vegeta, who Cabago must not be his real name seeing as the royal line of Vegeta had been dead for centuries now, had appeared seemingly from nowhere. They had then proceeded to defeat a Suriet warrior, albeit a low-class one. Still it had been an impressive feat. But now the real question was beginning to take form. _'How is he gaining power so fast?'_

Neither of these newcomers were anywhere near his own level yet, but in only three days Goku had almost exactly doubled his power level. It was also only a matter of time before Vegeta was fully recovered from the battle and the more he healed the stronger he became as well. Normal for a Saiyan, of course, but leaps like this were practically unheard of. With the addition of these two their fighting force was still only up to twenty-five men, but if these two could continue to improve like this...

For a moment he allowed himself to feel a little bit of hope, then found himself laughing at the idea. Two strangers show up and in less than a week he was almost willing to place too much faith in them. He knew it was a sign of just how desperate he was to leap at any opportunity that came along. It hadn't been too long ago that the now ruined and abandoned town they had moved into as their home base a few months back had been full of his people. Probably all dead now.

Decades had gone by with the Saiyans living under the rule of their Suriet overlords. Over the generations slavery had become a way of life for them. Skirmishes between Suriets and Saiyan rebels had happened, of course. But such events had been few, far between, and crushed quickly. Then, twenty years ago, Emperor Vydus had killed the previous Emperor and taken the throne for himself. Under his rule the Suriet Empire had formed alliances with two of the galaxies most ruthless races, the Changelings and the Asaad. With that one move he became the most powerful man in the known universe.

It was when his armies were scattered across the galaxy, mostly fighting pointless battles with the Matokens, that the Saiyans had finally risen up in force. Cabago had only been a child then, but he remembered it clearly. The day that the Emperor turned his royal guard against an army of untrained slaves. In a single, great battle more than half of the resistance forces had been killed. The rest had broken into small groups, striking when the chances presented themselves.

Now the Suriet Empire ruled most of the galaxy and even the ever persistent Matokens had begun to break. The only hope left at this point, he knew, was to kill Vydus and his daughter. With them dead the Suriet's alliances would crumble and just maybe the Saiyans could finally take their planet back.

He snapped out of his thoughts as scouter reacted anew to the training warrior, and the number it now displayed caused him to rise to his feet. Goku was surrounded in a dark red aura and his power had shot up from barely over two thousand to nearly three thousand in an instant. Still low by comparison, but another unexpected increase. After a moment however the aura faded and his power dropped back down to where it had been. "Exactly who are you, Goku...?" Cabago couldn't help but wonder aloud.

* * *

Vegeta lay on his back staring at the same plain white ceiling that he'd spent countless hours staring at for the last three days. While Goku had been outside training for most of his time, Vegeta had his recovery thinking. He still couldn't make sense of much of it, but he was almost positive that wherever they were now they had come here by choice. How and why were the things that eluded him completely and they were clearly the most important.

Kakarot had been keeping him informed on what was happening on this world, and on top of that he'd been paying careful attention to any conversation taking place within earshot. At this point he was fairly certain he had heard every rumor there was to be heard regarding this Emperor Vydus. Officially, he had defeated his predecessor in fair combat. The more popular story seemed to be that he had killed the former Emperor in his sleep.

Those that believed the official story placed Vydus as the most powerful man in the galaxy. Those that didn't said that his power was a ruse and that his daughter was in fact more powerful than he was. The one thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that he was not fit to rule. Even a large number of the Suriets had turned against him. Though they were the enemy, many of them were honorable warriors with no taste for slaughtering the weak as Emperor Vydus often ordered his men to do. In several other groups across the planet, Suriets had apparently begun actually joining the Saiyan rebels.

The Prince sat up in bed to face the doorway as he heard three sets of footsteps approaching in the hallway outside. Before they had even entered the room he had sensed that one of them Kakarot and another was Cabago, the Saiyan who had found them out in the field when they had arrived. The third was a female Saiyan who he'd never seen before. "Something's happening, Vegeta. Cabago wants us both at the meeting." Kakarot immediately blurted out with that familiar stupid grin across his face.

Vegeta got to his feet to face the group. His muscles still ached slightly, but he could feel how much his power had increased from the beating. He was even stronger than Kakarot now. He chose to ignore the man entirely and instead addressed Cabago. "What is it?" He bluntly asked the other Saiyan.

"Come with us, I'd rather just explain it to the whole group." Cabago responded, then turned and walked back out the way he'd come with the woman and Kakarot on his heels.

Vegeta grunted in annoyance at the lack of explanation, but decided to follow the rest. Cabago led them out of the house and across the small town to what had once been a town hall. It still stood, but the roof was now completely missing and the broken wood that had held it up were blackened from an explosion.

Inside every member Cabago's little force was gathered and waiting. Some of them greeted Goku, but most just looked at the two of them with suspicion. It didn't take long for one of the warriors to speak up. "The hell're they doing here, Cabago? You're too quick to trust them!"

Cabago stopped dead in his tracks and glared at the man, causing him to back off a little. "They're with us now, Amot. We need every soldier we can get. I've seen them fight the Suriets and that's good enough for me."

The man just nodded and said nothing more, and after a moment Cabago began scanning the room and nodding to each of his subordinates in turn. Then he glanced at the female Saiyan. "Go ahead."

"Your recent activities have been effective enough that you've finally begun to draw real attention from the Suriet military. A mid-ranking General is on his way to the nearby camp as I speak." She began, drawing worried looks from the entire crowd. "They don't know exactly where you are yet and he plans to meet with the local commander before starting the hunt. With their combined forces, it will only be a matter of time before they're on top of you."

"But we aren't going to allow that to happen!" Cabago announced suddenly, taking a step forward. "This is what we've been training for men and I for one am sick of running every time they catch wind of us!"

"What are you suggesting, Cabago...?" The same man who had been most opposed to Goku and Vegeta's presence questioned cautiously.

"I'm suggesting we go on the offensive. If we send a small group ahead, the commander is the type of man to insist on fighting alone to prove himself to the General. If we take advantage of the distraction and hit them behind, we can take out most of their weaker forces before they even know what's happening! Then...I'll deal with the General myself."

"Kakarot could come up with something better than that." Vegeta blurted out of nowhere, laughing. "I've been here three days and I can see that allowing these two armies to merge is the worst thing you could possibly do."

Everything went silent and all eyes were on the Prince, all wondering how Cabago was going to react. There was a collective sigh of relief when Cabago explained himself calmly. "The fact is, Vegeta, that the Suriets are both stronger than us and faster than us. The only weakness they have that we can take advantage of is their pride. We have to hit them in a way they'll never suspect."

"Pride?!" Vegeta demanded, his temper rising quickly now. "Saiyan pride is what matters! We are capable of being the most powerful warriors in the universe and here you are cowering in fear from a man that may or may not actually even be stronger than you! You're all pathetic!" He spat as he began to rise up off the ground, Goku stared at him in shock but said nothing.

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Amot screamed in rage, stepping forward with his fists clenched.

"I am the Prince of Saiyans! And I refuse to take part in your sneak attack! I'll attack them head on and show you all what a true Saiyan is! When that General arrives there will be nothing but rubble and death waiting for him!" And with that Vegeta shot up through the open roof and disappeared into the sky.

As he disappeared, Goku finally snapped out of his daze at the outburst. "Vegeta, no! Wait!" He shouted after him, and then he too was gone.

Cabago just stood there letting everything that had just happened sink in. Things had shifted so quickly he hadn't even been able to fully process it while it was happening. "Dammit!" He shouted while slamming his fist into the nearest wall, sending cracks running all the way up it. "They're going to get themselves killed..."

"Should we go after them?" One of the Saiyans thought aloud in an almost confused tone.

"No...there's no point. I won't risk anyone else on a suicide attack." Cabago responded immediately, recomposing himself. "We stick to the plan. Everyone take this time to prepare yourselves. We move out in two hours."

As the room dispersed, Cabago sat down on a broken table. It was like these two, especially Vegeta, were from a completely different world. They really didn't seem to understand what they were up against. No sense worrying about it now though. If they managed to survive then he'd know the hope he wanted to put in them wasn't misplaced. If they died, then things would just continue as normal. Either way, things didn't really get worse. He sighed and headed off to prepare himself for the coming battle.

* * *

A few miles away Goku managed to catch up to Vegeta in the air. The Prince just glanced sideways at him and said nothing. "I don't suppose I can talk you out of this, can I?" Goku asked lightheartedly.

"No. Someone needs to show those fools what it means to be a Saiyan." Vegeta responded sternly.

"Alright, then." Goku said with a nod. "Let's do it."

"Nobody asked you to come, Kakarot. I can take care of this by myself."

Goku didn't even respond, he just shot out in front in the direction where he sensed the most high powers. That had to be what Vegeta had been using as a compass and nothing else nearby felt like it could possibly be a military base. "Very well, then." Vegeta muttered under his breath, then shouted "Let's go then, Kakarot!" in the most irritated tone possible.

The two of them continued on towards their destination in silence. Completely unaware that they were about to set into a motion a chain of events that would change everything.


End file.
