Chapter 1 – "Death and Arrival! Goku to Gohan!"

"This is it. I can finally have my revenge on the fool who killed my father."

Piccolo Jr. stood near ringside at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai tournament, as the source of his bitter hatred took his fighting pose against his opponent, King Chappa. Piccolo watched the fighter, sickened at how nonchalant he was, and how innocent he made himself to seem. He didn't care for the tournament at all—now that he had a clear shot at Goku, he'd take it.

As the two fighters in the ring were being introduced, Piccolo got a good sight of the messy-haired warrior, and put his fingers to his temple.

"After all my training in seclusion… I should be able to pull this off. Doesn't matter if it's the first time."

Energy began to spark between the two antenna on his head, and his eyes seemed to glaze over with a demonic bloodlust. He felt his power rising, and he let out a fanged grin. Goku was so focused on the fight that was about to start that he didn't bother trying to sense for any other powers. It was too perfect, it seemed.

The sparking energy soon became a golden aura around Piccolo, and the charging stage was complete. Just as the announcer told the fighters to begin, Piccolo aimed his fingers forward, right at Goku.

"MAKANKOSAPPO!"

A winding drill of energy burst ahead, and before Goku had any time to prepare, it pierced him straight through the heart. Gasps and screams were heard from the stands, and everyone looked to see the source of the beam—and they saw an elated green figure grinning madly. Goku fell over, almost immediately killed by the blast. King Chappa and the announcer instantly scattered from the ring in fear, and Piccolo walked out into the center of the ring, standing proudly over his prey.

"People of Earth," he let out, still holding his disturbing grin, "your strongest warrior has just fallen at my hands. Now there's nothing stopping me from ruling this whole pathetic world. Anyone who dares protest will suffer a worse fate than our poor friend here," his eyes glanced down at the bloodied figure beneath him.

"N-Not if I have anything to do with it!"

One of the fighters, a geeky old man, rushed out, and Piccolo turned around to face the ignorant fighter. The man, dressed in a simple white shirt and wearing thick-framed glasses, put a small glass jar on the ground. Piccolo observed with a look of bewilderment, before the man put his hands forward.

"Evil Containment Wave!"
"What? Kami?"

A spiral of green energy shot forth from around the man, whose plan was to trap Piccolo inside the jar so he could do no more harm to the people of Earth. Piccolo had prepared himself for something like this, however, and put his hands forward as well, pulsing forth his energy and reversing the containment wave. The blow hit Kami, who had overtaken the man's body. So the man wouldn't be absorbed with him, Kami left his body, and shortly after, he was absorbed into the jar. Piccolo's grin grew even wider as he realized he had just imprisoned the guardian of Earth without killing him, therefore insuring him his own life without worry of Kami's health or doings, seeing as their lives were linked. Piccolo quickly grabbed the jar and swallowed it, so no one could open the lid and release his counterpart.

"Any more tricks?" Piccolo turned to the audience with a glare. There was silence; they were all in fear. Roshi, who was sitting with Bulma, Oolong and the others, grit his teeth in frustration— Goku was the only one strong enough to beat Piccolo… if only he were younger, he mused.

Amidst the silence, there was a loud bang before a strange pod appeared in the grass outside of the ring, in between it and the stands. This immediately caught Piccolo's eye.

"WHAT NOW?"

He was ready to simply blow the machine to pieces, but the top hatch opened up. Gohan, still a bit woozy from the hit by Cell, crawled out, before slumping over on the ground. He had to take a moment to recalibrate himself, and figure out what actually happened. It looked like he was at the old Tenkaichi Budokai arena, before it was renovated and made bigger. That was odd. He then looked at the pod beside him and immediately realized, in fear, what had happened. He turned around to see a familiar figure glaring at him. His eyes widened.

"P-Piccolo? You're… alive?"
"Of course I am, are you deaf? I'm the ruler of this world now. Shut up and move your little machine or I'll kill you like I killed the other guy in your outfit."

Gohan hadn't seen it at first, but when it was pointed out to him, it sent chills down his spine. His father, a much younger form of him, was lying dead with a hole through his chest. This wasn't the same Piccolo who had loved and trained him, he realized… but, with Goku dead at this age, he himself shouldn't be alive! It didn't make sense, but Gohan cast that thought aside. He realized where his responsibilities were now, and all that mattered was that he still existed. He had no idea how to work the time machine, so it was useless; he couldn't simply go back to his timeline. For now, at least, this was his home, and like his original home, he was going to defend it.

In the stands, Bulma and the others looked on.

"Who… who is he?" Bulma let out, noticing he was adorned in a uniform much the same as Goku's. He even looked like Goku, albeit with shorter hair and lighter skin. He looked older, too; her age, at least. His face was much more mature than Goku's, and much less innocent. He looked strong. She couldn't quite rap her head around why he had appeared in that machine out of nowhere, but she didn't care; neither did the others, for that matter. He was their last line against an empire under a new King Piccolo. Bulma gritted her teeth before pumping her fist in the air.

"You big green jerk! There's no way you're gonna be our ruler! Take him down, guy in orange!"

Gohan looked over to the source of the noise, and saw a younger Bulma. She seemed a little older than him, 22 perhaps. All of this was so farfetched, but there was no time to focus on that. Bulma rallied the crowd, who had overcome their fears, into shouting out "Orange! Orange!" until it was all that could be heard echoing through the arena. Gohan tightened his blue belt and hopped into the ring, before taking a battle stance. He could sense Piccolo's power level, and it was much lower than the Piccolo he had known. He hadn't had as much time to train. Still, he remembered hearing stories about how Piccolo had swallowed Kami after he trapped him… if that was true, he'd have to save Kami and find a way to trap this Piccolo. If he hit him too hard, then Kami would die and the Dragon Balls would be rendered useless.

"Goku was the strongest this planet had to offer, what makes you think some nobody who appeared out of thin air can dethrone the king of the Earth?" Piccolo folded his arms and looked down upon Gohan, obviously not taking his new opponent very seriously. Gohan's brows furrowed with controlled anger, images of his father dying of heart disease and now dying before his time at the hands of a truly evil Piccolo… if he couldn't save his friends in his own timeline, he'd save them in this one.

"How do I know I can beat you?" Gohan clenched his teeth and shot a piercing look straight into the eyes of Piccolo. A white aura, a swirl of air at first, burst into existence around him, so fierce that even those in the stands could hear it roar. "Because…"

"Because I am Goku's son!"

Words from the author:
Still no fighting? Oh, but don't worry. I wanted to go ahead and get the back story completely over with so I could focus completely on plot development from here on out. Perhaps you're seeing the changes I foreshadowed last chapter, eh? Anyway, next chapter, Son Gohan vs New King Piccolo! Gohan meets the younger Z-Warriors! (Perhaps I shall refer to them as the Dragon Ball Gang, since this isn't Z yet?) Review and rate, and stay tuned, because if this morsel gets you amped at all, you haven't seen anything yet!