Chapter 1: The Start of the End

Piccolo stood at the apex of a mountain, a deep look of disdain and hate across his face. It had been five years, almost to the day, that Goku had beaten him in the Worlds Martial Arts tournament. He remembered it all vividly; the fight was going his way until Goku pulled one last trick and struck Piccolo with such force that he fell into unconsciousness and was near death. That wasn't even the most humiliating part of the tournament either; it was after the fight was over when the largest blow of all was dealt to the Demon King's son.

Goku, in his self righteous way, saved Piccolo by feeding him a senzu bean. This single act was more devastating to Piccolo than anything that had ever been done to him, he had been saved by the one person whom he hated the most, and it was due to that single moment that Piccolo dedicated his life to training to defeat his nemesis. For five years now he'd been honing his skills, steeling himself for this battle, the one in which he would finally strike down his accursed opponent, the one who haunted him day after day. Piccolo remembered the last words that he had spoken to his opponent;

'Mercy is a loathsome trait, and you will soon learn that I have no such weakness.' This boast struck fear into the hearts of all that surrounded the area, all but Goku who stood firm, taunting Piccolo. 'When that glorious day arrives the whole world will be mine!' Remembering these words causedPiccolo to grin. It reminded him of how much more powerful he was now, and how he would kill Goku and claim the wretched planet he had lived on for his own. However, before he had flown away, he left one final speech for Goku to hang onto, one that he hoped to have come true for those fools who had heard him say it.

'I'll see you real soon, until then I'll see you in your nightmares!'

Of course, he had not seen Goku for five years as he had needed that time to not only strengthen himself physically, but also mentally. During that time not once did he ever forgive or forget what Goku had done to him. Occasionally Piccolo would take to spying on Goku just to see how much stronger he had become, and Piccolo was not impressed by what he had seen. Goku had been too busy raising a family to train quite as much as Piccolo had, and the green warrior decided to use his time developing new techniques rather than brute strength.

More often than Piccolo would have liked, Goku came up in his thoughts. The sheer torment of his smiling face enraged Piccolo, who had desperately wanted to kill him and his friends for the longest time. He held off, however, because if he had learned anything from his encounter with Goku, it's that all good things take time. He was not yet ready to take on Goku when they fought at the Worlds Martial Arts tournament, but now, after all these years of pent up rage and aggression, Piccolo planned to strike.

However, an unknown circumstance would prevent him from acting.

While Piccolo thought, he felt something off in the distance. A massive energy, it was clear that it couldn't have been Goku, but someone had definitely surpassed his strength. An uneasy Piccolo flew down off of the mountain and onto a more flat surface, crossing his arms and honing in on this huge power of which he had never felt before.

Two things were clear as Piccolo sensed this unknown being. One was that whoever's power this was, it was not from Earth, and two was that whoever this was, their aura exuded malice and hatred.

As he began locking onto where exactly this power was coming from, Piccolo noticed that it was moving, and quickly.

"What the hell?" Piccolo asked aloud, wondering where exactly it was heading. A few seconds later and he had his answer; it was heading directly for Piccolo himself.

After only a minute or so of preparation and waiting, the long haired warrior landed behind Piccolo, who pretended to act disinterested.

"Who are you and what are you doing on my planet?" Piccolo asked this new fighter.

"You aren't Kakarot, your power level is similar, but he is somewhere else." He explained, getting ready to fly off. Piccolo stopped him in his tracks.

"I asked you a question you wretch, now you better answer me!" Piccolo shouted, turning around and clenching his fists. The powerful enemy simply laughed, knowing that Piccolo had only a measly power level of around 300.

"My name is Raditz, and if you're smart you won't speak again green man." Raditz chuckled as he began to fly away.

"No one talks to me that way; I am the ruler of this world!" Piccolo proclaimed, charging a ki attack and shooting the beam at Raditz. The warrior dodged the attack quickly, staring down at Piccolo with rage.

"How dare you! You insolent fool, I am a Saiyan warrior!" Raditz yelled towards Piccolo, who was slightly confused as to what this "Saiyan" was talking about "I will crush you!" Raditz then began to charge a ball of ki in his left hand, lowering himself to the ground and raising his left arm up.

'What the hell is he doing?' Piccolo asked himself, readying a ki attack as well.

"This is going to be fun!" Raditz shouted, beginning to throw the ball of charged ki at Piccolo "Double su-" An audible beep could be heard from the machine on Raditz face, and the Saiyan quickly lost control of the ball of ki. In fact, he had stopped everything and shot straight into the air, ignoring Piccolo's curses.

The green warrior stood completely dumfounded at what had just happened. Who was Kakarot? Why did this warrior have a tail? And why did he call himself a Saiyan? It wasn't clear, but what Piccolo knew was that Raditz was looking for a fighter of similar power to Piccolo, and the only person like that on this planet was Goku.

'Perhaps he can shed some light on this subject.' Piccolo thought to himself, 'and if not, it will be fun torturing him anyway.' He grinned as he contemplated ways of hurting Goku and his annoying friends, and finally blasted off towards Kame house where Goku's energy seemed to be coming from at the time.

Piccolo had made it just in time to witness Raditz stealing away Goku's child, the one who had the four star Dragon Ball atop his hat. Raditz had even knocked Goku flat without even trying. It was obvious that this Saiyan was quite powerful, perhaps even more than Piccolo had expected. Then a thought came into Piccolo's mind as he watched Raditz fly away with the screaming child, perhaps in order to take down this massive power he would have to work with the man whom he despised most out of all others.

The thought made him cringe, he had come there to torture the man, not enlist his aide, and yet when he thought further, no other option came to him. It was either team up with his old nemesis or try to take on this massively powerful individual by himself, which was an even that Piccolo was sure that he would not survive.

It was settled, as Goku's friends surrounded him, Piccolo spoke up and announced his presence.

"Listen up you worms, if you want to live I suggest you hear what I'm about to tell you." Most of the people in the area donned horrible faces of fear and anger.

"Oh this is just great!" Krillin shouted, infuriating Piccolo.

"I didn't come here to listen to your whining, cur!" The evil warrior shouted, silencing Krillin quite effectively "I came here for you Goku." Almost instantly Goku took up a fighting stance.

"I'm not interested in fighting you Piccolo." Goku shouted towards the green fighter "That guy just took my son, and I don't plan on wasting time to settle your grudge match!" He explained, causing all of his friends to nod in agreement. Piccolo chucked, bellowing an evil laugh that struck fear into everyone in the area.

"You fool, if I wanted you dead I would have killed you by now." Piccolo boasted, lowing himself to the ground. Many of the people cowered before Piccolo, everyone but Roshi and Goku, who stood firm. "No, I'm here to offer you a temporary truce." Goku looked confused for a moment, but shook it off and lowered his guard slightly.

"You want to work together?" Goku asked in astonishment, wondering if perhaps the son of the evil Demon King had somehow changed. Piccolo shook his head.

"I want to kill this guy, nothing more. It's obvious we can't kill him without our powers combined." The green skinned fighter explained, crossing his arms, waiting for a response. Some of the others didn't like the idea, however.

"Oh come on Goku, don't listen to him! Remember what happened last time we fought this guy?" Krillin shouted, gaining Goku's attention "he nearly killed you! Nearly killed all of us!" The bald man had a point, but Goku needed to get his son back, and if working with Piccolo was the only way to do it that he was going to have to trust his nemesis.

"I know Krillin, I haven't forgotten, but he's the only one who can help me stop Raditz." Goku said, attempting to calm his friend. Goku turned to Piccolo and nodded, fully letting his guard down. "I'll do it, please help me get my son back." Goku pleaded.

"Ha, I'm not helping to get your precious child." Piccolo chuckled "I'm simply removing this obstacle from my way in order to attain my goal of world domination." The rest of the people at Kame house were horrified, but they knew what had to be done, and so did Goku.

"Fine, but if you harm my son at all-"

"Yes yes, I know, I'll face your full wrath or whatever." Piccolo interrupted, leaving Goku's mouth agape. "Now let's get on with this, we don't have all day."

The ensuing battle was a grim one; the two fighters were outclassed in almost every way. No matter how many blows they dealt Raditz he was always up for more. It appeared as if they weren't harming him at all, and Piccolo's arm had even been blown off by one of Raditz's attacks. It looked as if they Goku and Piccolo would meet their demise, that is until Raditz was caught off guard by the small child Gohan. Piccolo had taken note of the power he felt emanating from the boy as he charged Raditz, dealing a massive blow to his armor and winding him enough for Goku to hold him in place. The two were locked, and it was too perfect of an opportunity to let go to waste, especially because of Goku's pleading to kill them both. Piccolo began to charge his attack, chuckling to himself.

'You always were a fool Goku.' Piccolo thought, readying his devastating attack. 'and now you're going to die!'

Piccolo had an awful grin across his face. This would be a feat to remember, he was about to vanquish the man who had taunted him all those years, the one who had utterly humiliated him and his father. He tried his best to contain all of his inner maniacal laughing as he shouted the name of his special technique; "Special beam cannon!"

Out of his fingertips came a yellow blast of energy that spiraled towards the pair, Piccolo could hear the screaming of Raditz, telling Goku that he was a fool to die for the pathetic planet. It was all garbage he spouted to save his sorry hide, and Piccolo didn't care. The beam cut through Raditz as if he were a piece of bread, as well as it did to Goku. As soon as the beam went through the two, Piccolo knew the deed was done. He had finally achieved what he and his father had failed at multiple times. He had killed Goku.

He looked over at the body of the two Saiyans, and then something caught his eye, it was the unconscious boy Gohan.

'That kid has some potential' Piccolo thought, he had been able to severely damage Raditz after both Piccolo and Goku had proven to be ineffective against him. 'After I deal with these two idiots I'll take him to the mountains to train. Maybe one day he'll be useful to me.'

He was about to re grow his arm when he saw something that surprised him, Raditz was still alive and breathing, however, Piccolo knew that he didn't have much time left.

"Hmm, still alive are we?" Piccolo asked the Saiyan, who grunted in pain. "Don't worry about your precious brother, those fool friends of his will try to bring him back. Not that I'm going to let that happen anyway." The green alien grinned and laughed quietly to himself, Raditz was confused however.

"How is that possible?" He managed to grunt out, blood dripped from his mouth. There was a momentary pause where Piccolo thought about killing him right there without indulging any information whatsoever to the Saiyan, however Piccolo decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell the dying man.

"Not that your idiotic brain could handle something like this, but on this planet there are things called Dragon Balls, and whoever gets all seven of them together gets any one wish granted. Goku's friends will try to wish him back, unfortunately for them they'll have me to deal with." Piccolo grinned once more; however he was surprised to hear that Raditz, despite his grievous injuries, was still able to belt out an evil, twisted laugh. Piccolo lost his smug grin and snapped at the Saiyan "What the hell are you laughing about?" Raditz smiled and told Piccolo;

"This device on my face is also a communicator, they heard everything, and now they'll want to make a wish." Raditz laughed once again, with Piccolo staring at him.

"What are you babbling about?" Piccolo shouted, obviously annoyed at this new development.

"Two more Saiyans will be here, and they are much stronger than me!" Raditz kept laughing, with Piccolo too deep in thought at the moment to care about what Raditz was doing. Suddenly, Goku spoke up;

"How long until they will be here?" He yelled over to his dying brother. Piccolo looked over at his nemesis with chagrin 'How the hell did he survive that too?' Piccolo thought.

"One year! Then they will be here to wish me back!" Raditz was laughing even harder now. Piccolo decided that he had enough, mustering up all of his remaining strength; Piccolo rammed his fist into Raditz's body, killing him instantly. After he had killed the pathetic Saiyan, he turned his attention to Goku, barely hanging on to life. He thought about ending it right there, but then he saw Goku's friends coming closer in a Capsule Corporation vehicle.

'Great' Piccolo thought to himself 'I guess I should just tell them about the Saiyans, take the kid and get out of here.' Piccolo walked over to Goku's body as all of his friends rushed out to his side.

"Goku! Are you alright?" Krillin asked his best friend, holding onto one of his hands. Piccolo rolled his eyes at this 'How the hell could Goku be alright, can't you see the big hole in his stomach?' The green one joked to himself.

"He's not long for this world." Piccolo claimed, holding back a chuckle as he watched the humans reactions.

Bulma quickly ran over to the unconscious Gohan, who seemed to have broken out of Raditz's ship, and held the child tightly.

"Piccolo is right… take care of Gohan for me, ok guys?" Goku quietly said to his friends.

"No Goku! Don't leave us here with this maniac!" Krillin yelled as he cried into his friend's hand "We need you Goku!", Goku smiled and tried to calm Krillin and the others.

"It's ok, guys. P-piccolo changed," Goku proclaimed, looking straight at the green warrior who had helped to defeat Raditz "I can t-tell." Goku coughed once and looked back towards his weeping friends. "Everything will be alright…" And with that, his eyes went blank, and his body started to vanish slowly. All of Goku's companions wept for him, although the reason why escaped Piccolo, as they would just bring him back with the Dragon Balls anyway. While they were grieving, Piccolo had decided to break to them the news of the two other Saiyans heading to Earth.

"Before you get too depressed, Raditz left us somewhat of a parting gift." Piccolo explained to the others.

"What are you talking about Piccolo?" Bulma asked, holding young Gohan protectively in her arms.

"He alerted a few of his Saiyan friends that the Dragon Balls were here, and he claimed that they were going to be here in one year's time." Upon hearing this, the others shot back in horror. "So I suggest you train in the meantime." He started to walk towards Bulma, who defensively held Gohan as if he were her own child. "I'm going to need that kid."

"No! Leave him out of this! He's been through enough already!" Bulma screamed at Piccolo, who only grinned with a sort of sadistic pleasure.

"He showed exceptional promise today, and he can be of use to me against these Saiyans." Piccolo explained to the blue haired woman, surprising those who didn't feel as if Gohan could muster up enough power to be useful in a fight. Piccolo took one more step towards Bulma, raising his hand outward as if to reach to the boy. Bulma shot back and shook her head "If you don't give me that kid, I won't hesitate to kill you." The demon's eyes seemed to glow red as he spoke to the woman, causing her to lose a breath in sheer terror.

"Just do it Bulma, no one can stop him from taking Gohan, it's pointless to die for something that's going to happen no matter what you try to do." Roshi added in, Krillin nodded and for a moment. Bulma thought about it, and finally she handed him over to Piccolo, who grabbed the boy by the collar of his shirt.

"Why would you want the kid anyway, he's not strong enough to become a fighter!" Krillin yelled, Piccolo only turned around and flew off, ignoring Krillin's question.

'Pathetic, I almost forgot how stupid these people were.' Thought the green one, as he sped off to a find suitable training ground. 'Now how am I going to do this? I need to train this kid to his very limits in order to make him stronger.' Piccolo thought of some training strategies that could work, but then another idea came to him. An evil grin that would drain the happiness out of everyone who saw it crept upon the face of the demon, who had come up with an idea so ingenious that it would have been idiotic not to attempt.

What does Piccolo intend to do with Gohan now that he has seen the boy in action? Will the boy survive Piccolo's hellish training? Find out next time onPiccolo's Choice!

Written By: Saucemonkey