Authors Notes:

Disclaimer I don't own DBZ or the characters, yada yada yada...lets hop to the fanfic shall we

Chapter One: The Arrival

Goku sped through the air on his Nimbus Cloud holding his young son, Gohan, in his lap. It had been so long since he had seen his old friends he adventured with long ago. And wouldn't they be surprised to see that he had a son now? Goku was practically exploding with excitement as they raced on. Little did he know how different his life was to become later that day.

At last Goku could see the small island closing in on the distance.

"There it is Gohan," Goku called over the rushing wind, "Master Roshi's island!"

They finally swooped down over the island and Goku nimbly hopped off his magical Cloud while holding Gohan in his arms. The door to Roshie's house burst open and there came Bulma, Krillin, and Master Roshie himself.

"Goku!" Krillin cried out in joy.

And so the old friends reunited and began catching up. Goku's friends were all just as shocked as he thought they would be, when he revealed that the young boy was his son. All was going well when suddenly Goku felt it. His first premonition that something was horribly wrong.

"What...is that?" Goku abruptly asked in a hushed whisper.

Krillin and Master Roshie looked alarmed, while Bulma seemed simply confused.

"What is what?" she asked.

"That power!" Goku snapped. His heart was racing, his palms were sweating. He looked fully alert and agitated. "I feel a tremendous power coming towards us fast. An evil power!"

"Is...is it Piccolo?" Bulma asked shakily. All at once the joyful mood of the occasion seemed crashed.

"It can't be Piccolo," Goku hissed, "its way too strong to be him!"

"Stronger then Piccolo?" Krillin asked. Now it was his voice's turn to be shaky.

"Goku I see it!" Master Roshie called out, and pointed into the distance.

Sure enough a lone figure was flying through the air. The speed at which the figure approached them was like nothing the three of them had ever seen before. Gohan whimpered weakly and hid behind his father's leg. The figure swooped down over the hermit's house and then landed in the sand standing before them. He had the look of a seasoned warrior. He wore a strange battle armor, and was built up with muscles. He had long, wild black hair flowing behind him, reaching nearly to his waist. He was tall and had a certain fluid look to his movements as he landed that gave Goku an extreme sense of unease.

"Kakarot, I've found you at last." The stranger spoke, clearly addressing Goku.

"Kaka...what?" Goku stuttered.

"Who are you?" Krillin demanded, "why did you come here?"

The stranger took a step forward causing everyone to step back in fear. "Don't you recognize your own brother Kakarot?"

"Is he talking about Goku?" Bulma asked, her curiosity momentarily replacing her fear. Then all at once it rushed back to her as she studied the new comer's face closer. "Oh my god! He...He looks like you Goku!"

"Wh..who are you?" Goku demanded. "Why do you come here, and why do you keep calling me a Kakarot?"

"You really don't remember do you?" the stranger snarled. "I never trusted those so called automated programming units we used to install on the ships." Now the stranger once more focused his full attention on Goku. "I am your older brother Raditz, a member of the warrior race: The Saiyans. And so, little brother, are you."

Goku gasped at this. No way it could be true...could it? Goku realized he never really did know his real family. Only that the old man he had named his son after had found and raised him. Was there more to the story he wasn't told?

Raditz continued talking, not even giving Goku time to digest what he was being told. "You were supposed to have wiped out all life on this backwater planet by now. Using a full moon it shouldn't have taken you more then a month to do it all." Then Raditz took a half-step back in shock. His eyes were wide. "Your tail Kakarot? What happened to your tail?!"

"My tail?" Goku asked, "how do you know I used to have a tail?"

"Used to?" Raditz growled. Suddenly he uncoiled a tail identical to the one Goku used to have...and identical to the one Gohan did have. "A saiyan's greatest strength is the ability to become an Oozaru during a full moon, but we can only do this if we have our tail. Tell me little brother did you loose your tail in some great battle?"

"As a matter of fact I removed it myself, a long time ago." Goku said, making eye contact with Raditz. He tried to act like he wasn't frightened, but his head was spinning. Goku turned to Master Roshie, who he knew was once the master of his surrogate grandfather: Son Gohan. "Roshie...please tell me none of this is true. I...I can't be from outer space can I?"

Master Roshie simply looked down. "Goku long ago...your Grandfather...I mean..." He trailed off, then took a deep breath. He looked Goku in the eyes. "Son Gohan found you inside a strange capsule in the woods. He took you in and raised you, but you were always so violent and difficult to control. To make matters worse you had superhuman strength for a child of your age. Eventually your grandfather was forced to fear for his own life until the day of your accident?"

"My Accident?" Goku spoke in unison with Raditz saying "His Accident?"

"Yes," Roshie continued, "Gohan dropped you into a ravine by accident one fateful day. Your head was injured. Any normal child would have died, but you recovered and ever since that day you were a happy loving boy."

Goku closed his eyes and looked down. What a shock. To discover he wasn't even human after he had spent his whole life here. To finally find out the mystery of his, and his son's, tails. He didn't know what to think or what to do. Now the dizziness was going full throttle.

"Listen Kakarot. The Saiyans are a fighting tribe. Used to be anyway. We would clear worlds of all life forms on it, and sell that planet to the highest bidder. To keep up with demand we even sent newborn Saiyans into space so they would grow up and carry out the mission of wiping the planet out. That is how you got here."

"You disgust me!" Bulma shouted, "you sent babies into space all by themselves?"

"Silence wench," Raditz snapped, "...listen to me brother. Twenty years ago a giant meteor struck our home world. All the Saiyans are dead now except for four. You are one of those four. Brother, we need your help. You will come with me and rejoin your race."

"I've...I've lived here my whole life..." Goku spoke, "and now...I'm not even...part of this world?"

"Don't get sentimental on me Kakarot!" Raditz hissed, "I told you we need you. You can either come with me, or you can die."

Goku's head was spinning. Finally he took a deep breath. "I will..." he spoke.

Krillin, Bulma, and Master Roshie gasped in shock. "Goku you can't be serious!" Krillin yelled. "You aren't buying this freak's story are you?"

Goku turned to face his life long friend. "Krillin, I belong with the Saiyans, they are my people. You guys couldn't have told me the truth? Did you not trust me to know? I don't want anything to do with any of you!" Goku turned back to face Raditz. "When do we leave big brother?" he asked.

Raditz frowned. "First you have to prove to me you really want to redeem yourself as a Saiyan," Raditz spoke. "Prove that you are willing to leave behind the life you've always known. You can start by killing these weaklings you call your 'friends'" Raditz spat.

Goku turned slowly around. Gohan took a step back from his father. "Daddy?" Gohan asked in a whimpering voice.

Goku took a deep breath and then lunged forward. In a blazing second his fist collided with his son's temple, knocking him out cold.

"GOKU!" Bulma screamed.

Gohan landed to the ground sound asleep. Goku looked up from his son with a regretful look on his face.

"I don't want Gohan to see what I'm about to do." Goku spoke quietly. He began walking towards his old friends...