Note: This fic is dedicated to MasakoX, whose stories and boundless well of creativity inspired me to write this story. I have great respect for you, and I wish you and your channel great fortune in the future. And also to the other Dragon Ball fans out there who have taken a moment at some point to sit down and wonder, "What If 'X' happened instead of the main story?"

Time.

A complicated path, one filled with infinite possibilities and outcomes created by a single change. Whether it'd be a young infant not losing the memories of his people or the total annihilation of all life by a monster created to spread chaos, each of these actions stems from that one change. One moment in time that would shift the fabric of reality into a new timeline.

I monitor these timelines and while I do not interfere with them, that doesn't prevent me from observing them. For I am the Supreme Kai of Time, and I am the one who watches all. And here, I have found a timeline that might interest you all if you dare to take a step into that great unknown with me.

In many universes, the situation plays out the same way: the low-class Saiyan warrior, Raditz, has come to Earth to recruit his lost little brother, Kakarrot, into the Freeza Force to bolster his comrades' numbers for future contracts. But upon arrival, he is met with an amnesiac calling himself Son Goku and is engaged in a battle against the man and his strange, green ally for the life of Kakarrot's son. In one universe, Raditz meets his end and becomes a footnote in the shadows of great and terrible evils our heroes are forced to overcome.

But in this universe, something changes in the moments before Raditz's defeat, and history is forever changed...

Age 762, October 12th

"Damn you, let go!" Raditz roared with hate, trying to break himself out of the full nelson lock his little brother had on him. But Kakarrot wasn't giving in, instead choosing to scream towards his one-armed green ally.

"Piccolo, hurry! That attack of yours, use it now!"

The Saiyan warrior's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. His right shoulder throbbed in pain from the mental reminder of that beam attack the green man fired. Raditz had been lucky to dodge it the first time, but if Kakarrot was dead-set on having his ally fire it in the position they were in...

Oh hell, he's going to kill us both!

Even from a distance, he could see the growing sparks on the green man's fingertips as he assured Kakarrot he planned to use his attack. Raditz broke out in a cold sweat, the gravity of the situation settling in, and it doubled his efforts to break out of the lock on him.

"Release me, you idiot! Don't you understand what that also means for you?" Raditz questioned his brother, thrashing all over the place. "Once he fires that blast, it'll pierce through both of us and kill you too!"

The response he got wasn't what he was expecting. A mad little chuckle set his hairs on edge, and the whisper from Kakarrot struck fear into his prideful heart.

"If that's how it's gotta go down, so be it."

"You're insane! Your son, wh-what about him, brother?"

"He'll be fine. Frankly, this is the only shot we got at beatin' you!"

Raditz opened his mouth to curse, only to gasp in pain at the tightening of Kakarrot's arms around his. Pulling back on them made the chest wound Raditz receive ache in pain, a grievous injury he took from that little brat of Kakarrot's not too long ago. To think a child could possess such strength on a dirtball like this.

Damn, I can't break free like this. Kakarrot's hold on me is too strong, and I've not recovered from the shock of the brat's attack.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go down. Raditz had followed Prince Vegeta's instructions to the latter, waiting until their downtime after purging planet Shikk to go and retrieve Kakarrot from Earth. The prince and Nappa (Vegeta's lapdog, an angry part of Raditz hissed with a black rage) had grown tired of living under Freeza's boot and wanted to bolster their numbers for a potential coup against the galactic emperor. Given the unfortunate circumstances of planet Vegetasei and the widdling down of the survivors' numbers, Vegeta must've grown desperate if he wanted Raditz to retrieve Kakarrot from Earth.

Kakarrot, whom Raditz could vaguely recall as an infant still in his incubator with a pitiful battle power of two. Two! Not even their mother's power level was that low, and she was a damn pacifist among their people. It was a disgrace to think that the Saiyans had to enlist such low-class trash for conscription, but there was no other option.

Yet for Raditz, orders were orders, so he arrived this afternoon expecting to find a dead world and his brother camping out among the ruins. But the situation was worse than he could even imagine.

He would've preferred death claiming Kakarrot on Vegetasei if it meant he didn't have to die like this, a caught animal by his amnesiac little brother for the survival of some Earthlings and his son. Although, Raditz didn't mind the idea of raising the boy to become a proper Saiyan warrior... at first. The crying saw a swift end to that thought.

And the dramatic increase in his battle power gave Raditz the resolve to end the child's life before it could become a greater problem down the road.

Unfortunately, the gods seemed to be against Raditz this day. Nothing out of the ordinary for him, but the concentration of power coming from the green man forced Raditz to realize that he had to do something soon or else he would die.

He pleaded with Kakarrot but found himself rebuked by the younger man. He cursed his brother for growing an extra brain cell during the beating he gave him.

The flickering light became a bright sizzle, and the green man smiled viciously at the wrestling brothers. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Saiyan. Are you ready, Goku?"

Nononono-

"DO IT!"

NONONONONONONO!

"STOP!" Raditz cried out, only to find no mercy here. The green man only yelled his attack's name once more and stretched out his fingers to fire.

Time seemed to slow down for Raditz, who stared at the spiraling purple-and-gold beam in horror. It grew closer to him, burning air molecules and ripping up the dirt beneath it, a visual indicator of the power behind this technique. Raditz thrashed about wildly, trying one last time to break free of his brother and escape from this situation. To survive and kill the green man for putting him through this; to see all of Kakarrot's friends and family burn for this. He cursed, he screamed, he flailed, he threw his head back-

A sharp gasp of pain escaped from Kakarrot, blood spewing onto Raditz's neck from behind. Kakarrot's arms grew slack momentarily, but that was all he needed.

He broke out the grip and attempted to dart to the side as the beam's heat sizzled the hairs of his legs, but Kakarrot seemed to have regained a second wind, wrapping his right arm around Raditz's and his left around the warrior's neck.

"WHY, YOU LITTLE-"

Raditz's curses got silenced when the beam struck its target. Or at least part of him. The beam cut into the edge of his right breast near his armpit, melting armor and destroying skin and flesh, making Raditz's vision go white from pain. Behind him, Kakarrot took the full brunt of the blast, and the beam ripped through his chest, destroying his heart and most of his internal organs in one fell swoop.

Kakarrot's arms lost their grip, and Raditz broke free, doubling over on the ground with one arm outstretched to keep him up.

Behind him, Kakarrot's body hit the ground with a loud and bloody thud.

"No, he broke free at the last second! Damned fool, you let your weakness compromise you when we needed you most!"

Piccolo shouted at the fallen Goku, whose only response was a bloody gurgle.

For his part, Raditz took a moment to sit there, panting heavily and his mind reeling from the fact that he almost died. Had he not done what he did, he would've been on the ground like Kakarrot, dead or in the process of dying. But it seems the gods took mercy on their favorite punching bag today.

He tried to get up and proceeded to scream. Glancing down, his blood froze at the extent of his injuries.

M-my arm...

The blast had done more than cut through his armpit; it had severed all feeling and nerves to his right arm, which now lay limply at his side. Blood trickled down in several rivets, dripping onto the battle-torn ground he stood on.

"T-to think," He coughed violently, saliva mixed with blood trickling down his chin. "To think that you ve-vermin would push me to such lengths. For scum, you are tenacious. I'll give you that."

He cackled at the green man's trembling, enjoying the sight of watching what little hope the Earthlings had slipped away from them. He had seen it on a hundred worlds before, and he'll see it on a hundred more. First, he had to take care of some business.

Staggering to his feet, he cast a withering look back to the dying Kakarrot. "Oh, foolish little brother," He cooed, limping over to the body. "You tried so hard, yet failed so completely. Let this be one last lesson from your big brother on your trip to Hell; once a low-class, always a low-class."

He raised a foot, savoring the look of fear on Kakarrot's face and ignoring the green man's cries before bellowing out, "KNOW YOUR PLACE, TRASH!"

Raditz brought the boot down on Kakarrot's neck. Hard. The snap was audible, even from a distance, and the sound was satisfying to his ears. Kakarrot's eyes went vacant, and his head slumped to the side at an unnatural angle.

He was dead.

Raditz removed his foot, observing his handiwork before nodding to himself. A shame, but the prince would have to understand the position Raditz was in. Besides, Kakarrot's battle power was so low that even a common foot soldier in the Freeza Force could take him out as easy as swatting a fly. For now, he had to focus on survival, which meant getting out of this encounter alive.

"I have to thank you, green man," Raditz called out to Piccolo, who flinched back at the derisive comment. "You managed to rid me of a problem with Kakarrot, so truly, you have my regards. However," He gestured to his bleeding right arm and scowled at the one-armed warrior. "You've inflicted more damage to me today than I've received my entire life. And to think that it was with the same blasted technique too. I can't let you get away with such an act, oh no."

He stretched out his left hand, summoning what little reserves of power he had left to form a crackling red orb. "So, consider this my farewell gift to you, from one warrior to another."

"Y-you bastard," Piccolo hissed, his body shaking more from the energy exhaustion than the fear he felt at the moment. He had gambled everything on that last attack, and even if he had the chance to regrow his missing arm, it wouldn't do any good against Raditz, despite the Saiyan warrior's current condition. He was low on energy, and Son Goku was dead; there was no one left who could help him stop Raditz now.

Raditz chuckled at the despair in Piccolo's eyes. Ah yes, he mused to himself, throwing back his left arm. I do love my job.

"Now DI-"

*PI-PI-PI-PI*

"Wh-what?!" Raditz cried out, momentarily losing focus and causing the orb to go out with a fizzle. He cursed himself for his weakness and glanced to his scouter's visor, paling at what it was picking up. In the distance, three life signatures were approaching their position, two of which have slightly higher than average battle powers. To Raditz, those numbers would've meant nothing to him, just more bugs to stomp out.

But in his current condition? He didn't like his chances.

"Impossible! There's no way anyone should be able to find us out here," He ranted, growing frustrated at this planet and its strange secrets.

From afar, Piccolo noticed Raditz's distraction and saw an opportunity. It's now or never.

Piccolo crouched down, tensing his body, and focused, ignoring the waves of pain racking through his body from the natural process of regenerating a lost limb. A scream escaped from his lips at the last second, just as his left arm popped back into its natural place while covered in a gross greenish slime.

"What the hell? You could regenerate lost limbs all this time, but... that's-" Raditz stammered, a slight sheen of sweat growing on his temple. The sight of the panicking Saiyan brought a cold smile to Piccolo's lips, but it was soon lost when he picked up the sound of engines in the sky, looking up in tandem with Raditz to see a small hovercraft rocket onto the scene with two familiar kis inside of it.

The bald one and the old man. Figures they'd come out to help Goku at the last second, but at this point, I'll take anyone if it means stopping this guy.

The hovercraft circled the battlefield for a moment before a window opened on its side, and two figures leaped out of it. They landed next to Piccolo, flanking each side, and giving Raditz a look that could kill a man three times over.

"About time you made it," Piccolo scoffed.

On his left, Krillin growled, his body trembling from anger and adrenaline. He had stayed quiet on the way over here, resigned to the outcome of him dying in battle with no chance of revival this time around, but now he could care less about that. When he saw Goku's body lying on the ground, all rational thinking had fled the monk's mind, leaving him with a burning desire for vengeance.

"Calm yourself, Krillin," Roshi said softly, fingers wrapped tightly around his worn-out cane. "Losing your cool will only get you killed here. We need to work together with Piccolo to take down this beast of a man."

"Beast... yeah, that's an accurate description for this guy," Krillin hissed, angry tears in the corner of his eyes. Piccolo was slightly unnerved by the bloodlust in the bald warrior's voice. "And I'm gonna make sure he pays for what he did to Goku!"

"You talk a big game, little man, but do you have what it takes to back it up?" Raditz called out, shifting his body back and forcing a confident smile onto his face. Inwardly, he cursed the timely arrival of the new fighters and knew that this would be the moment in the battle that would determine the victor. He, the wounded Saiyan elite, battling the 'noble' Earthlings fighting to avenge their fallen comrade. On Vegetasei, it would've made for a great story out of the ancient texts of old.

But this was not planet Vegetasei. It was long gone, along with everything and everyone Raditz knew.

A battle cry erupted deep from within, and his aura flickered to life, creating a violent gust of wind that forced the Earthlings to shield their faces from the intensity of it. They tensed up, falling into stances that they had spent many years honing and preparing themselves for the fight of their lives. At this point, it was all or nothing.

"COME AT ME!" Raditz goaded. And as one collective unit, the Earthlings did just that.

History has changed from its intended course, and only time will tell how much the ripples of this change will affect the natural flow of events.

And so it begins...

While not similar to the way the original 'What If Raditz Turned Good?' video started off, I wanted to try to capture my own take on the story and offer a deeper insight into Raditz's mentality before he switches over to the good side. Expect an arc of conniving, villainous Raditz in the near future :)

So, leave your thoughts in the comment section and theories about what could happen, as well as what other What If's I could be included in this story. After all, it's not just one I'm only adapting, mwahaha.