Chapter 1 – New Beginnings (Prologue)

Written by RJ =)

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Disclaimer: Plain and simple...I don't own Dragonball Z.

A/N: Well, here I am writing yet another Gohan fic. I decided I needed a break from the typical Gohan goes to high school fics so here I am writing this fic. I don't think this idea has been done too much, so I'm hoping that it won't be too cliched...

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They stood there, each of them stunned as they stared at the newcomer.

He just laughed at their silence. He was Raditz, Saiyan warrior. They were Goku, Gohan, Bulma, Master Roshi and Krillin of the Z-Fighters.

"Why are you here?" Goku demanded, lowering himself into a fighting position in case the need came to fight.

"Why, to check up on you, my dear brother" Raditz said, and laughed "You've failed your mission and my orders are to terminate you"

A collective gasp ran through all those present, perhaps the most shocked was Goku's son, Gohan who was hiding behind his father.

He was probably the most scared too, as he'd never done any fighting in his life due to Chichi's strict studying schedule.

"Go to Bulma" Goku instructed, pushing his son away.

"Daddy!" Gohan cried as Bulma grabbed him and pulled him over to where she was standing.

"Shhh, it'll be okay," Bulma said as she tried to comfort the small child who was still trying to struggle out of her arms. But her words sounded rather hollow, she didn't quite believe them herself. By the way Goku was rather nervous of this guy, she could tell that they could be in over their head.

"Ah, Kakarot" Raditz said when he spied Gohan "Is this your offspring? He must be, he's a true Saiyan. He still has his tail, his heritage"

Gohan grabbed his tail and cuddled it to himself, he didn't like this strange guy talking about his tail like that.

Raditz just laughed again "No need to be worried, brat, come see your Uncle Raditz" he took a step towards Bulma and Gohan.

Bulma took a step backwards, pulling Gohan in tighter.

Suddenly, before she could even think, Raditz had appeared beside her and taken the small five-and-a-half-year-old.

Everyone else was just as shocked as she was.

"Hey! Give my son back!" Goku demanded, he rushed towards Raditz, ready to fight for his son.

Instead Raditz smirked and took off into the air and flew off in the direction of his space pod.

Raditz flew along as fast as he could, he could feel Kakarot's energy following behind him, but he was slowly lagging further and further behind.

He smirked and turned his attention to the crying boy. He held the boy far away from him, like he was radioactive or something.

"Shut up, brat" Raditz growled as he turned the boy to face him, "A true Saiyan does not cry"

Gohan stopped crying for a second as he looked at his kidnapper. He stared at him with wide, teary eyes.

He sniffed and wiped his nose with his sleeve.

"W-what are y-you going to do with m-me?" he questioned

"Ahhh, well that would depend on you"

"M-me?"

"Well, you'll see in a minute, won't you?" Raditz said, "We're here"

Gohan looked down to see a rather strange round pod on the ground. Raditz landed beside the pod and growled "Open"

The door slid open and a computerized female voice said "Welcome back, Master Raditz, I hope your mission was successful"

Raditz ignored the voice and he concentrated on shoving the struggling boy into the back of the pod.

"You, boy, get in there, we're going for a little ride" Raditz growled

Not wanting to get the warrior mad at him, Gohan meekly followed orders and crawled into the back of the ship. There wasn't much space there, it was rather obvious that these pods were only made for one person.

He curled up to make himself as little as possible. One reason was because he needed to fit into the space and the other was a natural human reaction, to curl up into foetal position in times of danger.

"Hold on, brat, this is going to be a rough ride" Raditz said as the pod burst into life and the computerized voice started a countdown.

"Taking off in 5...4...3...2...1"

On 1, the pod shook for a second and them blasted off. Gohan burst into tears again when he realised what was happening. He wouldn't see his mom or dad again.

"Daddy! Mommy!" he cried, beating his tiny fists against the back wall of the pod.

"Lemme go, you meanie!" he yelled at Raditz who just turned around and laughed at the young boy's plight.

"I want my daddy!" he yelled as he managed to wriggle his way into the front of the space pod. He stood on Raditz's lap and tried to punch him, his tiny fists pitter-pattering over the older warrior's chest-plate.

Raditz laughed at Gohan for a second, but quickly tiring of the small boy's efforts.

He seized the boy's fists in one of his hands and held them there as he gave the boy a talking to.

"Brat, if you behave then the consequences will be good, but if you don't, then let's just say that you will not want to know what will happen. Now, answer me this: do you want to be good or bad?"